Scrapbook Weekend!!

I'm so excited, this weekend my sister and I get to scrap the day away at the local scrapbook store, Memory Bound. I so need a day away to get some stuff done! It feels like forever since I've done a layout~ well actually it has been forever in my book! I don't think I've ever went this long without scrapping! Should be a fun time! My sis and I have been scrapping for quite some time together and we usually try to get out together once a month but this winter has just been brutal! I'm looking forward to it! I'm gathering the latest pics that I want to incorporate into some pages right now. I'm trying to decide if I do the latest Birthday party and try out my new Cricut Cartridge "Sweet Treats" or if I finish up some of the Christmas pictures from a couple of years ago that I also have a Cricut Cartridge for "Winter Wonderland", that I started on the last retreat. Hmmm... decisions, decisions!! Either way I'll definitely have something to work on, I always do! Here's a pic of my sis and I at Scrapfest in September, I swear that's the last time I did any scrapping~ not true but it feels like it!! I miss you sis~it's been a busy few months and can't wait to spend time with you!



Other news... back to the office remodel front, so I've finally got my dream desk! The one that was in the Scrapbooks Etc. magazine as the best scrapping desk eva! That would be the Trestle Desk from Target. Well I've been looking at this desk for over a year now and just haven't bitten the bullet and purchased it. I was so lucky today, I happened to find someone selling this desk in excellent condition on Craigslist. I got it for a steal!!!! I can't wait, I pick it up on Friday! I love Craigslist!! Between that and Etsy I'm not sure which one gets more of my moolah!! Ha!

Sooooo... now I've got to decide on my office paint color. The desk is black which originally I wanted the chocolate brown to stick with the brown and pink decor that the room already had. I've taken down the nursery curtains- the pink and brown gingham will be missed (secretly dying inside knowing my baby is an official toddler now!) but I also found another steal this weekend at Target, some white colored tab top curtains for $3.74!!!!! I couldn't believe it, so I purchased those and thought I could dress them up by adding some ribbon and floral to the tabs and maybe even some adorable scrapping jewels. Definitely going to have to think about what will happen with those! Back to the wall color, it's so hard, I can accent black with any color, so I could still go with the antique pink, but I've also thought about a pale yellow or tiffany blue but a really light version! What should I do?

Well, I'll take any suggestions! Just leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

So far, looking at the color scale at Benjamin Moore Paint the colors I've narrowed it down to are:

Pink Dynasty
Picture Perfect (light blue) Imagine that for a scrappers room! ;0)
Lemon Souffle (Always thinking dessert!)

Anyway, I'll be happy with any of these I think as long as there is color on the wall. I'm so excited to get this space moving into functional direction!

Here's a pic of my new desk! Isn't it so adorable!! I love the space underneath to store lots o' baskets and other scraps!! I'm dreaming of my new space and it looks so good with this desk in it!! I'll post pics next week once I get it and everything is back in it's rightful place!
Hopefully I'll have some fun scrapping posts to come once I have a space to finally be productive in! Sooooo looking forward to that!!

Have a great rest of the week!

Scrap it Swanky Sister~
Nicki

Happy Valentine's Weekend!

Hope you all have something fabulous planned for the big weekend! I do have a little surprise for my hubby, but he's been sick all weekend so I'm hoping he'll be awake enough to enjoy it!!

My daughters and I will be making some yummy heart-shaped sugar cookies here when they wake up from their nap! Can't wait!

The last few days I've been working on rearranging my office and crafting room, I moved my daughter out of her nursery into a big girl room now and I've taken over the nursery space, which I admit is much smaller! I have weeded through a bunch of stuff though. It feels good to purge the old stuff to make room for new! (oh whoops did I say that, nothing more can fit in this room!!) Anyway, I am trying to decide what paint colors to do in this room, my favorite color is pink so I thought about doing an antique pink with Espresso accents, after all I still have the nursery curtains that would match they're pink with brown plaid soooo cute~ not to mention I paid an arm and a leg for them! OR I thought about a really light yellow or possibly a tiffany blue but bring down the shade about 4 notches. Decisions, decisions! Maybe I'll post the colors on here for a vote! I'm in the middle of organizing and then my new desk should be here in a couple of weeks just in time to paint and put things in order. It's so much fun getting organized in a new space! I have some before pictures and when it's all done I'll take some after pictures, I think you'll be shocked on the before pics (I was!).

Switching gears now, I worked on some very simple treat bags for my daughters pre-school Valentine party and I've posted them here. For the kids, I just took the store bought valentines that my daughter had to have (LPS) and a bag of sweet-tarts and put them in a small jewelry bag that has a zip lock, I took some Bo Bunny Paper and cut it 2x3 and folded it over the top of the bag and added a "Happy Valentine's Day" note to the paper. Easy and cute! For the Teachers, I just put 4 Dove chocolates in a bag and did the same thing with the note. Simple and didn't cost me a thing, I used up stock I already had!

Friends Treat Sack (sorry the picture is sideways, not sure why it keeps doing that!):

Teacher's Treat Sack:

Enjoy the rest of your weekend! I'll be finishing up the organization and putting things back in order!

Happy Valentine's Day tomorrow!

Scrap it Swanky Sister- Nicki

For the love of Martha and Dove!

I ventured out to the drugstore today to get some cold medicine and stumbled upon a package of Dove chocolates! Who can pass up Dove? Not I! So I bought a package, c'mon it's almost Valentine's day, I'm entitled! I go home and that bag of chocolate is calling my name! First I look at how many of these luscious little milk chocolates I can have~ 6 for 230 calories. Not bad (if I could stick to 6). Then I open the bag and notice the cute little pink hearts on the foil. I unwrap the first chocolate and of course look to see what the Dove saying of the day is. To my surprise, it's a tip from Martha Stewart! It says "Use a heart-shaped craft punch to create Valentine Cards" I love it! Dove has partnered with Martha and on each chocolate from the Valentine bags has a little handy tip from her! So I have to open another, and another and another to find all of these wonderful tips! Before I know it I'm up to 7 chocolates- oops went over the calorie intake I was looking for! Oh well, better luck next time.


Here's the other tips I received:

• Create a heart using two pats of your own ink-stained finger. (I'm going to try this one out with the kiddos!)
• A Dozen roses can camouflage flaws in a less-than-stellar vase.
• For a Valentine care, photocopy a rose between sheets of acetate. (Hmmm... do I have some acetate? I think I do, I think I do)
• Make ginger-laced, heart-shaped cookies for Valentine's day.
• Pipe pancake batter into heart shapes for a sweet breakfast. (One step ahead of you Martha on this one, although I used a heart shaped cookie cutter!)
• Use a heart shaped cookie cutter to make cutouts in pie crust.

Such a great way to share tips! Way to go Dove!

Enjoy your day!
Scrap it Swanky Sister~ Nicki

Cupid's Moment

As we venture into the second month of the year, I dream of chocolate, flowers, romantic dinners, perfume, bubble baths, love songs and red wine. Wow what a great dream! Who am I kidding, I'm married with 2 kids under the age of 5, none of this happens!! I don't know about you though, but I love valentine's day! It's just one of those holidays that I love preparing valentine's even if they're for 14, 4 year olds at my daughter's preschool. It's just a great time to share your heartfelt love with those closest to you.

Do you believe in cupid? In love at first sight? I had a cupid moment in my lifetime, didn't know it at the time, but I believe that cupid worked it's magic and allowed me to find my husband again and destiny took a hold.

What are you wishing to receive on Valentine's day? Here are a few of my favorite things:

Philosophy: Falling in Love Perfume

Chocolate by Stam (So glad they just opened one of these in my town):

Music: Lady Antebellum (LOVE their new album!)


Jewelry: The Vintage Pearl: Such adorable stuff this lady does!!! I want one of everything!!

Dinner: Cheesecake Factory (can't go wrong here, something for everyone!)

Flowers: Roses are my favorite- Classic as well!!

I hope you have a Valentine's day that knocks your socks off! (Literally!)

XOXO~ Scrap it Swanky Sister
Nicki

New Year's Resolutions!

Ok, so I know it's already the end of January and one of my resolutions was to not procrastinate! Well, I've already broken one resolution, or maybe we can just call it I haven't had time instead of procrastinating, but then that would break another resolution of making time to blog. WOW I'm on a roll!!! Well here goes, these are my top 10 New Years resolutions that I'm going to make every effort to stick to these from this moment on!

#1- Family- Make every conscious effort to tell my family how much I love them on a daily basis and spend as much time with them as possible. Life is too precious to not!
#2- Preserving Memories- Spend less time worrying about the scrapping and spend more time taking in the memories and capturing them in my mind, camera and soul!
#3- Organization- Keep, Sell, Donate, Thow Away the 4 piles of my life beginning now! (Love Peter Walsh!)
#4- Buy less Stuff- I'll admit, I'm a shopper, yes for those of you that didn't know, but from now on I'm not buying something unless it has a purpose in this household! (I didn't say this included scrapbooking stuff because that always has a purpose!)
#5- Recycle- I really did a good job of this in the summer when it was really easy to get the recycle bin to the curb, but now that it's winter and you can't make it through the snow drifts, it's an easy excuse- no more excuses!! Save the planet for our kids!!
#6- Excercise- OK now the reason this wasn't at the top of my list is because I've actually not had to push myself as hard to keep my fitness goals going, but it's still a priority! I will be working toward the full Dam to Dam run this year though not just the 5K.
#7- Eating Healthy- Another one that should be at the top, but I haven't fallen too far off the wagon, less Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough would be a good thing for my waistline though.
#8- Blog- Keep blogging! I believe last year I strived for a once a week post, but ended up being a once a month post, that's ok, at least I continued to post, I have a 2 and 5 year old that keep me busy what can I say!
#9- Date Night- Due to the 2 and 5 year old hubby and I don't get much time out together, now I have to!
#10- Remember Me- It's really hard for me to take time out for myself, not anymore!

With all that said, I know this is a long list and there's a million excuses on why I can't do this but there are a million more on why I should!

Scrap it Swanky Sister~ Nicki

Hello Kitty Wrap Up

The first friend Birthday Party was a hit and I'm ready to put Hello Kitty behind me, here's the rest of the photos of the party stuff.


The Cake: How darn cute is that? I want a Hello Kitty Cake on my next birthday!



One of the balloons: Forgot to take pics of the others before they deflated~ DARN, they were stinkin cute too!



Crafts: These were the little felt hearts I picked up from Hobby Lobby the girls decorated, these ones were done by my daughter, now we have our own little valentine decorations to boot!



Flowers: My daughter loves flowers, you ask her what she wanted for her birthday and she said flowers and chocolate! Funny, just like her momma, although I'd skip the flowers and go straight for the chocolate! These were from Target also, pink daisy's~ my favorite~ daisy's, they always brighten my day!



Centerpiece: Here's the flower pots I made, I just made some paper hearts and decorated them with some gems and floral corsage pins, stuck them on a piece of black wire, used some floral foam from the dollar store in the bottom of this pot I found at Target on clearance last year. Adorable little centerpieces!

Thank You: Last but not least, the Thanks Yous I made for the all the little ones that were able to make it, we had such a fun time! And with 14 kids all in one spot, it was actually not chaotic, I think we'll do it again next year!




Stay tuned... some of my favorite new finds at the local scrapbook store and my New Year's Resolutions... yes I did make some, now time to stick to them!


Scrap it Swanky Sister~ Nicki

Hello Kitty Party on a Dime

Well, over the last couple of weeks I've been in Hello Kitty Heaven, trying to find items for my daughters birthday party that's tomorrow already! Wow time sure does creep up on me!! So this is her first friend party~ she's turning 5~ can't believe it!! Kindergarten next year (I'm crying inside) but so happy that she's growing into a sweet young little girl now. Back to Hello Kitty, so it's pretty popular I guess with the little girls, but she's also got a few boys that will be at the party so we've opted to go with the Bolt theme for them with favors and whatnot. So I made up the invitations out of pink cardstock and found a cute hello kitty picture on-line to use for the invite. I love making invitations, I think I've made every year of invitations for her birthday except for last year I think I opted for store bought. Mine are cuter anyway (little conceited, I know). I put some black rick-rack around the photo and used a glitter pen to highlight Hello Kitty's sunglasses and put a gem on her bow! So cute I think! Then I just printed out the party information cut it with decorative scissors on the top and bottom and attached it to black cardstock. Too cute and all stuff I had at home to make it! LOVE THAT!!



Decorations!
I had some pink party streamers to hang, I found some Hello Kitty balloons at the Party Store that will be used as a centerpiece. I also found an idea of printing your children's pictures for each year up to the current year to display, I may do that if I have time, but very cute idea.
I also found some cute pots at Target on clearance last year for $1.00 that are white with pink polka dots, I put a floral foam in the bottom of it and took some skewer sticks and adorned them with Hello Kitty pictures and baubles. Adorable!

Party Games!
My daughter is in to Pinatas, ever since the neighbors had to have one a couple of years ago, so I found a Hello Kitty one at the local party store that just has the pull strings so that no one knocks anyone out with a bat in the house since it's negative 20 degrees outside and snow is 12 feet deep around here.

We're also going to do pin the bow on Hello Kitty, I had high hopes of making a Hello Kitty to stick the bows on out of white felt and make cute pink bows to stick on however the snow has stranded me so I'm now going to draw a Hello Kitty with Window Crayons on my sliding door and viola that will be the Hello Kitty backdrop for the game! LOVE WINDOW CRAYONS!!


Favors!
I made up some adorable favor boxes, I purchased the boxes from the dollar store and added a Hello Kitty Picture and added a little "Thank you for Coming to my Party" to the box. Again, very inexpensive and totally adorable (again I know conceited). These are being filled with some pink cotton candy, gems, stickers, lip gloss, lotion for the girls and for the boys, blue cotton candy, markers and coloring page, stickers & bouncy balls.
For the pinata candy, I used white paper sacks (found at Walmart in the paper goods isle) and put a Hello Kitty Sticker and the child's name on the bag so they would know who's is who.

Crafts!
We can't have a party without crafts! So I have some coloring pages for the kids to do as well as some foam bookmarks to decorate or foam picture frames to decorate, whatever they want to do, this is just to keep them occupied while everyone is getting there and perfect for the age group.

Cake!
What's a birthday party without cake? I ordered a Hello Kitty cake from Target, it's one that my daughter picked out~ way too cute!! My daughter likes white cake so I'll be making some chocolate cupcakes with pink frosting for those chocolate lovers and I made some hello kitty flags from tooth picks.

I'll post pics tomorrow on how everything looked at the party~ so you can see the finished products!

I think that's about it! Whew, one birthday party down this year and one more to go!


Scrap it Swanky Sister~ Nicki