Organization & Weekend Getaway!

Who doesn't love jewelry? I have to say that is where I started in crafting, originally was beading and making bracelets and necklaces. There's so many cute things on the market right now to make your own, including a lot of scrapbook findings. I've got so many ideas but haven't started making anything yet because I needed some organization. I used this photo holder at my wedding 11 years ago and found it in the wedding box this summer while cleaning out. Thought I would re-purpose it and use it to hold some of the new jewelry findings that I've got. Maybe if I see them displayed like this it will motivate me to use them and start creating some new pieces.

Here's the before and after pics.




I am also close to being ready for my girls getaway this weekend to SCRAPFEST 2010~ at the Mall of America in Minnesota! Getting my pics printed and gathering the needed supplies. I can't wait to see what the hot new items are!

I'll be cropping Friday night at the Mall of America store for Cosmo Cricket and Saturday night in Woodbury at the Basic Grey crop. These 2 companies have some fascinating product, so excited to see what they have in store for us!

Til next week!
Scrap it Swanky Sister~

Let's get ready to....

GO TO SCRAPFEST!! Well it's almost here, the moment I've been waiting for all year long! (ok maybe not the only moment I've been waiting for since my oldest DID go to kindergarten and I can't overlook that my youngest starts preschool tomorrow) BUT I truly have been waiting for this for a long time! Scrapfest is next weekend!!! So, this weekend I will be busy trying to decide what I'm going to take to work on. I'll be gathering photos and paper and stickers and all kinds of other stuff I don't need to drag along but I will because I can't live without it ALL!

We'll be leaving at the butt-crack of dawn on Friday, actually prior to the butt-crack of dawn 4:30 a.m. This is so we are at the mall by 8:30 when most sane people are just getting out of bed! All due to the fact that we do not want to miss out on all the amazing make and takes that our badges will allow us to partake in! I will be heading up with my sister and a friend of mine this year. Should be tons-o-fun!! We'll be attending the crop around town Friday at the mall and Saturday in one of the suburbs, the Cosmo Cricket and Basic Grey crops! Love, Love, Love both of these scrapbook companies! They have amazing products!! I'm also taking a few classes on Saturday, leaving Friday for an all-day make and take marathon!

I have a few things to do before this all takes place...
1. Run 3 miles everyday to work off about 8 extra lbs I put on over the last 2 weeks just so I can put it back on while I'm away!
2. Decide to take a cricut or not to take a cricut~ that is the million dollar question!
3. Make a list of the must have products (this is the one time during the year I buy scrapbook stuff~ if you think I'm serious, you're crazy!)

And that's enough of a list to get me started!

If you're going to Scrapfest I hope to meet you!

Scrap It Swanky Sister~

Little Ones Creations

Oh how I love spending the day with my girls, we are always crafting up something! Before my 5-year old headed off to kindergarten, I took some time off to spend with her and the 3-year old tagged along as well. What better way to spend the day then to scrap up some in the moment pictures! I had just purchased a new thermos and lunch bag for my daughter for school and of course the 3-year old had to have a new thermos as well. One Hello Kitty and one Littlest Pet Shop, I will be stealing these when they're tired of them, they're really pretty cute! Anyway, I took some pics of the girls with their thermos and printed them out on the handy dandy pogo printer and voila, we have some cute pages that the girls did all on their own, and I'm not kidding they slapped the pics on to these cute little page kits they picked out at Hobby Lobby on the clearance rack! A whole $1.99 to create these. I did help with the placement of the crown gems though~ that turned out cute!!


Then these happened... $1.00 glitter foam stickers from the dollar store, some hair clippies and we have new hair bling for the school year! (God LOVE the dollar store!!!)



The first week of school was great, now we're almost wrapping up the second week and we're still hanging in there. Still adjusting and with much tiredness I can say, this kindergarten stuff is for the birds!!

Hope all of you had a great first week at school as well! Hello fall and hello scrapbook season!

Scrap it Swanky Sister~



P.S. Anyone else going to Scrapfest? I am! BOY am I excited!!!!

Banner of a week!

I know quirky title right? Well, I just took some time this evening to create one of these cute banners that everyone has been raving about in the scrapbook world! I had some cute floral paper leftover from a page I was working on and decided to use the scraps to make a "LOVE" banner that I'm going to hang on my door to my office, it signifies my love for scrapbooking/paper crafting!





Had fun using up some of my leftover scraps as well, the green little pom-pom ribbon at the top was also leftover from a previous layout! I LOVE using up my scraps~ I feel a sense of decluttering accomplishment (OK not really~ but it sounded good)!! :0)



This picture you can see more detail, I added some little pearls and the purple buttons were from Michael's dollar bin! I think it turned out pretty cute!

Well, I hope you have a banner of a weekend!

Scrap it swanky sister~
Nicki

Journaling

Today I was cleaning out the closet in my scrapbook room/office and I found a journal that I had started after my second child was born. I honestly forgot about writing that often and wish I would have kept up with it, but it's so crazy how fast the time has gone. From the first bath to the first time she rolled over, it's such an amazing experience having children. I feel like the day to day grind has me under a spell that I can't get out from under and need to remember how precious the time is with my girls. I wish I could freeze time, hold them under a microscope like we did when they were babies and look at how big their feet are now and how long they are. In the morning when we wake up I swear they really do grow over night. I think it's an extra sentimental time right now with my 5-year old starting school (and me secretly not wanting her to). Can you tell I'm having a very hard time with my babies growing up?

Reminiscing is one of my favorite things to do with the girls, I think they remember a lot of the times we share because I repeat it to them often. Especially my older child, she doesn't forget a thing!

Speaking of reminiscing here's the other October Afternoon line that I meant to post last week, that I'm in LOVE with!! It's called Thrift Shop and brings back memories of when I was growing up! I'm pretty sure my mom still has that camera! Check out the adorable journaling cards~ I'm going to start transferring my thoughts from my journal onto these types of cards for my pages. Too darn cute!




This week my goal is start a journal with weekly posts on my girls, one day it will be theirs and hopefully they'll love that I kept these memories for them. Enjoy your week!

Scrap it swanky sister-
Nicki

Publish Post

P.S. I love you B! Thanks for the comments!!

Bedtime!

Proud of myself today, not only did I have a full work day but I made a point to get a 3 mile run in and got the laundry caught up! That's a successful day in my book!

The only thing I think that could have gone better is bedtime! My 5-year old starts kindergarten in 3 1/2 weeks and I keep telling myself and her that we have to start bedtime earlier so that she will have a well rested brain and I will not be a crazy person trying to get her around and moving in the morning! (I can see how this is all going to play out already!) Anyway, so tonight I got the girls in bed by 8:30 but the actual time they fell asleep was at 9:15 (5-yr old) and 9:45 (3-yr old). I wish I had some fairy dust to sprinkle on them so that they would fall asleep and wake up rested and not grumpy! Oh well, tomorrow night we'll shoot for 8:00 as our in bed time and maybe we'll all be asleep by 9:00!! My plan is to take them to the pool, make them ride bikes and possibly get a walk in as well to tire them out!! We'll see how my evil plan works~ ha, ha, ha, ha. (that's supposed to be an evil laugh;) sorry lots of princesses in my house!)

I've been thinking about the first day of school layouts and what paper I'll use and where I'll take pics at and how we need to go buy school clothes and supplies! Oh geez, I'm overwhelmed already!!

Love the new Learning Curve line from Bo Bunny! I'll definitely be picking some of this up!

Wow that pic is really small, sorry, click on it to see a bigger version.

Learning Curve Collection from Bo Bunny

Next time I post I will be discussing my serious issues with my child starting school, I'm a very nervous parent I believe! Oh October Afternoon makes it all better, check out this adorable line of paper! I have some great beach pics for this line!

Seaside Collection from October Afternoon

They have another favorite of mine, I'll post that one tomorrow! Speaking of tomorrow, Scrapfest class sign up!! Can't wait, I'm going to try and get into the October Afternoon class as well as a few others! So excited for another year of fabulous fun with my sister and friends!

Scrap it Swanky Sister~
Nicki

Lazy Sunday!

It's been a lazy Sunday today! Partly because of me, I've been blech feeling all week due to some vacation time and too much eating and not enough running! I was having a pity party today with my newly growing love handles~ I wish I didn't have to watch EVERYTHING I put in my mouth! But I do so again tomorrow I'm back on the wagon of eating good and running/exercising daily!! While wallowing in my self pity though I did have a chance to read a good book today~ which by the way never happens!! If you're in the mood for an uplifting book just as I was today, stop by the local library or book store and pick up the copy of Molly Ringwald's book "Getting the Pretty Back". It's a really easy read and I enjoyed it today while reading outside in the sun!

The rest of my day consisted of taking a cat nap with my 3-year old, watching 2 of my all-time favorite movies...

Hitch~ with Will Smith and Eva Mendez

AND...
The Goonies~ Favorite from the 80's, I could watch this one a million times and never get tired of it!!

So, the day wasn't half bad, tomorrow, I'm all sunshine and rainbows at 6:00 AM.

Nicki