around here

A very busy, but absolutely fabulous past several days around here. Getting my workspace cleaned up and organized little by little (a new post series is coming soon on workspaces! look for it within the next month :)). Enjoying a new washi tape dispenser my dad made for me :) 

Working on a few projects, including two more custom wedding books similar to this one, as well as putting together some mini scrap packs for the shop -- these are itty bitty packs (4"x6" bags) of color-coordinated paper scraps. Hoping to have these set to go soon. 

Celebrated my sweet Jimmy's birthday this past weekend - with family and friends - a trip to the park, his fave restaurant (a kabob grill ;)), cupcakes and a birthday party. And had a lovely Mother's Day (sadly my wee one Joshua was a little under the weather - see him in his pj's? sweet boy), complete with handmade cards, pizza for lunch and a Thai-food-at-home date with my hubby. 

Our little container garden is doing great. Since our yard doesn't get much sun (we have tons and tons of trees), it's nice to be able to move the containers around with the sun (albeit sometimes a little stressful moving 10+ containers all over the yard ;) our neighbors probably think it's funny ;)).

Celebrated "Muffins with Mom" at Jimmy's school last week. So fun to eat breakfast with him at school, receive adorable handmade gifts and attend Chapel with him :) 

All of these wonderful things happening, which is also why the Summer Minis are a little behind schedule and will definitely be in the shop this week :) Be on the look out for those if you are thinking about grabbing one. I usually post shop details on my Facebook page if you are interested.

around here

around here. + it is finally strawberry season (!!). i love that we have a local strawberry patch 10 minutes from our house. so easy to run over there and pick fresh strawberries every couple days. + am really wanting to make this cute "market tote" i found in my 1, 2, 3 Sew book. + i just ordered and received a bunch of vintage playing cards. so fun to look through all of the different pictures on the cards. will be putting these in paper scrap packs and using as little "extras" in my etsy shop packaging. + starting to collect little pink clothes :) + i bought this paper a couple weeks ago and have decided to work them into some more art journals at some point (hopefully soon). + mostly finished planting seeds. we chose to direct-sow them all (instead of starting indoors several weeks ago), we'll see how it goes :) still have a couple more different seeds to plant and will do that in the next several days. + we planted sugar snap peas a couple weeks ago (apparently they are to be planted early while it's still cool). hoping it's not too hot for them since we had such an unexpectedly short winter and very warm start to spring. love going out to look at them (they're about 4"- 5" tall!) and water them each day. i hope the other seeds do as well as these! + herbs and newly planted seeds. i tried planting basil seeds a couple weeks ago and they didn't take (i think we have a bug in the soil that ate them. thankfully, the plants are doing well in a container on my porch). i had already bought some basil (I couldn't wait!), but went ahead and bought some more, in addition to some other herbs. so excited growing season is here. praying we have a good crop this year :)

around here

around here. enjoying warm weather. with a few cooler days sprinkled in. super busy as the end of my hubby's semester (and graduation!) is approaching. savoring and am thankful for the little things each day :) + working on lots of things for the shop, including paper packs and more journals. have lots of journal ideas lined up. paper is bought or ordered. trying to find the time to put them all together :) hoping to finish and list these by this friday or monday of next week. + bought a few more plants that we aren't starting from seeds - oregano and romaine. putting these in the ground soon. + our first sprout came up the other day -- sugar snap peas! yay! + my new food obsession is fruit and yogurt parfaits. vanilla yogurt, fresh (or frozen but thawed) berries, and granola. such a yummy warm weather treat. + i bought a new pen - a Recollections Marker. am loving it. a lot. highly recommend it + we love us some fresh pineapple. also a yummy snack. + my sweet boys love digging in the garden box. just have to make sure it's not where seeds are planted ;) + taking lots of family walks and/or playing out in the backyard in the evening after dinner. love.

around here

Just ordered and received a bunch of new washi tape and decorative tape. I love this stuff. *EDITED to add: Thanks for the questions! I purchase most of my washi tape on etsy: the tapes on the right are all from PrettyTape, the ones on the left are from InTheClear (two rolls on the bottom) and itsalwaysfabulous (three rolls on top- Amy Tangerine MixTape). + Finished cutting and putting together some journaling card packs perfect for Project Life (or any scrapbooking layout or mini album, really)- go here to check them out. + We've been eating a lot of grapes around here lately. Random, I know. That whole bunch in the picture? My sweet son ate the whole lot in 20 minutes. By himself :) + Been putting together more and more scrap packs. + We have a walker! Sweet Joshua is walking all over the place. It is adorable to watch. Makes my heart happy and sad all at the same time (he's growing up way too fast... both my sons are). + We've had some unseasonably warm days here. Enjoying going to the park, being outside, and having the windows open and watching and listening to the outdoors. Love.

around here.

Busy around here right now. Wrapping presents, running errands and getting ready to leave town to visit family for a few days before Christmas. Enjoying the season together, Christmas cards in the mail, a fun paper pack I purchased on etsy, and an unexpected gift of a cute little glitter pocket from a customer :) Wishing that the rain we are having was snow (I like cold and snow for Christmas! :)), but so excited about all of the impending festivities :)

around here.

Around here. My hubby got back safe and sound from the Ukraine yesterday morning. Thankful to have him home. He had an amazing time. Difficult traveling with airports, connecting flights and such, but an amazing time with the people there. Am loving hearing his stories and seeing pictures from his trip. Am hoping to be able to go back with him at some point. 

My sweet little loves. These two are such a joy. And our miniature schnauzer, Biz, is hilarious. They (all 3) love to get into my paper scraps. Both Biz and Joshua like to eat paper. Haha :)

We have a crawler! Joshua started crawling yesterday afternoon. Now he won't stop. He's growing way too fast. Both he and Jimmy are. I love it and and don't love it all at the same time. :)

Lots of orders going out from the shop right now. Keeping me busy. So much so that I haven't finished my first month of my autumn journal. Hoping to do that soon :)

This is what my workspace looked like the other night. I seriously don't know how it comes to this. I am somewhat of a neatfreak, but this picture would make you think otherwise ;) I (usually) clean it up as soon as I finish whatever I'm working on. Or whenever we have people coming over. ;)

Starting to cut paper and put together Holiday Journals. So excited to have pretty much all of the pieces (still need a few embellishments!). So excited about how they are coming together. So excited to share them in the next several weeks.

Adjusting to fall pretty much being here. Adjusting to the cold nights, chilly morning, but hot afternoons. The awkward in-between-season season. The heat on at night (my babies get cold!), but windows open during the day.

Blog redesign is on the back burner for now. Mostly complete on my test blog, just not having time to load it here. At some point in the future. :)

around here.

 

Around here. We had a mild earthquake yesterday around 1:51pm. 5.8 magnitude, with the epicenter  up in Central Virginia, right where we lived before moving here. Wow. Thankful all are ok.

- I've been rounding up my art journals and getting them all put together on the shelf over my craft table. Love having them at arm's reach to look through from time to time. Great for jogging my memory about a particular event or trip. *Edited to add: The journal rings can be purchased at an office supply store or on amazon here.

- I've been working on my breadmaking. Using the bread machine a lot, but also trying to perfect a "made-by-hand" loaf using Beard on Bread.

- I am about to put some mini-flashcards in the shop - three different sets. Autumn, School and Winter. Will have them listed by the end of this week.

- My sweet Joshua is a little over 6 months old now and cute as can be. Yes, that is a dimple on his right cheek (he has a small one on his left cheek also). Love.

- Jimmy and I put together a paper chain to count down the days till we go to the beach in September. All he can talk about now is taking a link off each day. He then asks if we can take 2 or 3 links off... at the same time. And how that will mean we can go to the beach as soon as we take off all of the links. Love.

- Tons of green peppers coming in in the garden. This one was my largest one yet. Smelled so yummy.