IKEA Adventures

Well,six months after it opened, I finally got to go to the new IKEA that opened in Denver. My sister and I took the day (with Baby J) and spent several hours in this super fun store. Instead of showing a bunch of pictures, I thought I would make a video of our adventures:





I looked at entertainment centers, but my good hubby talked me down from spending a BUNCH of money. We decided to really plan our living room and make sure we get something we will love for a long time. In the meantime, I picked up some storage boxes for the living room and closet, some drawer dividers, and bins for the amazing amounts of legos that are now in our home. We sure had a great time!

PS - I know the video is SUPER cheesy. My mom and dad gave us a great new video camera for Christmas, so be expecting a lot more super cheesy videos in the future.

Shoot and Edit - Week 49 - Bokeh Lights

There. How's that for Bokeh? :)   (PS - I just learned what bokeh meant earlier this week....)

Christmas Lights Photo Shoot (Shoot and Edit Week 49 - Bokeh Lights)

Be sure to sign up for my online mailing list to receive a list of my favorite online "Momtographer" resources!

This shoot has all three of my kiddos and my adorable niece. (Sorry, no actual bokehs today, just plain ol' Christmas lights) I love it!

Individual shots:

PS - this post has been linked up!

Four Months Old

Baby J is four months old! I think she is going to be a bit more serious than her big sister. She weighed in at 11 lbs. 4 oz (10th percentile) and is at the 50th percentile for length and head size. She loves to smile and laugh and SING, but she is pretty picky about when she does those things. Sometimes she is the happiest baby in the world though! She had her first cold and her first flu and went through them both very gracefully. She visited Santa twice and didn't cry either time, and she is getting stronger every day. She still hates tummy time but she rolls back and forth on her sides all the time. Her favorite person is her big brother and always has a smile saved just for him. Happy four months, baby J!

3am

This is what insomnia must be like. But does it count if I am able to sleep during the day?

Goodbye Hair, Hello Pixie!

Oh my, what a week. The sickies have traveled around my family, hitting me and Little Miss today. I think Baby J might be sick as well, she is super crabby when she is awake, but fortunately she is sleeping right now.

I have been working on SO MANY projects lately! I turned 30 cards in to the Cherry Lime Boutique to sell for Christmas. Hopefully they will sell, since I have yet to make enough to pay my rent in that booth so far. Last month I only sold one card! (sigh). I also tried having a booth at our church's first "Holiday House" to support single moms. Unfortunately, the event was pretty much a bust. I sold a total of 5 cards to a vendor. But we have a lot of ideas for next year to make it happen! Plus I have been knitting like CRAZY, but I can't show any of that because it's all for Christmas. So, expect lots of knitting yumminess after the first of the year to show up here.

In other news, I chopped my hair off. Yup, 14 inches of hair. Gone. In two ponytails, ready to be sent to Locks of Love after I get better and can drag my sick butt to the grocery store to get a padded envelope.

I loved my hair. It got super curly during this last pregnancy and I finally figured out the amazing thing that is hair product, so I was able to keep my frizzy curls under control. I got compliments on my hair all the time over the last few months and I definitely felt feminine and pretty.

Most recent pic, with product (and wind)

Sans product

Straight with no product

I could wear it curly or straight, up or down, and it was easy peasy to take care of. No time for a shower? A pony tail worked just fine. It was grand.

So why in the world did I decide to chop it all off and do a pixie cut? I have no idea. The idea came to my head, and it literally WOULD NOT LEAVE for a week. I texted my hair girl the first day asking to get on her schedule. The ends needed some touching up anyway, and I figured I would have a whole week to chicken out and decide to leave it long if I wanted to. But the idea would not go away, and I became obsessed. I read about 25 blog entries and watched countless youtube videos on people making the "big cut" and styling their new hair. And do you know what I found? Not a single person regretted chopping all of that hair off. Most of them looked much prettier and more mature after the cut. There are a lot of great styling products out there (product is my new best friend) and plenty of people willing to share how they make their poofs into attractive hair styles.

The night before I texted my hair girl a picture of what I wanted. She about lost her mind. Here's what I was going for:

When my hair girl finally started cutting I think she almost started crying. It was a traumatic experience for her. I just kept yelling "keep going! Keep going!" When she styled it I wasn't 100% sold yet, she kept poofing it and spiking it and spraying it with hair spray. But the next day I tried out my own hair products (which I got from The Body Shop, thanks to Aunt Pam for the gift card!) and I LOVE IT.

Post Pixie

I still have some work to do, this looks a little messy still. And I want to get a good flat iron. The Wet-to-Straight I have had for 9 years just might not cut it any more. But I have to agree with the other girls who chopped their hair off, I don't regret it. Besides, it's just hair and it will grow back eventually! So to girls who are considering making the cut, do it!

Thanksgiving SOOC and Edit

Happy Thanksgiving all! We had a quiet Thanksgiving this year, my immediate family (minus one sister, her husband, and baby), and my Aunt Pam. It was fun and very enjoyable, but I have to admit I really missed having the BIG family Thanksgiving with lots of noise and kids playing everywhere. Oh well! Here are my SOOC and edit for this week. (Mouse over to see the originals).

Photoshoot with Auntie Pam

My wonderful Aunt moved down to our neck of the woods from Boise, Idaho this summer. She asked me to do a photoshoot for her Christmas cards, celebrating what a wonderful place Colorado is in the wintertime. I was so thrilled she asked me! We had a blast, and she's such a beautiful lady that it was easy to take her picture :) Enjoy!

Workflow for this session:

-duplicate layers twice and use screen and soft light filters, adjust opacity as needed
-Use spot healing brush to eliminate snow from her face. I know, it might sound cheesy, but there's nothing worse than a great picture with a big ol' snowflake right on the nose
-Use Perfect Portrait action from http://thecoffeeshopblog.com. Hide "color pop" and sometimes "brighten," add vignette. I also did each one in black and white as well and saved an extra copy for her.

Thanks Auntie Pam for letting me do something so fun and special for you! <3 you!

Oldies But Goodies

I'm a little behind on posting cards lately. Not from lack of making them, actually quite the opposite. I'm turning the 2 of the paper stack I have been using (which is actually called "Mrs. Claus's Kitchen," not "Grandma's Kitchen" like I thought) into a very LARGE stack of cards. 39 more to be exact. Plus, I have extra supplies to make a lot of tags out of. I have a craft bazaar coming up I need to prepare for.

To keep the posts going, I thought I would post a few older projects that I still really like. So, enjoy!

These were from my trifold card making days. The first one I sent to a friend after she joined YWAM, and we missed her very much. The second was a more "masculine" Valentine for my hubby a few years ago.

These two I sent to Robyn Cardon, aka "My Pink Stamper." I actually got to meet her for a second at CHA, and these cards were displayed in her craft room and even made it on to a few of her videos in the background. 

Holiday Cards - Day 19

Grandma's Kitchen Paper Stack by Die Cuts With a View

Holiday Cards - Day 18

Grandma's Kitchen Paper Stack by Die Cuts With a View

Holiday Cards - Day 17

Grandma's Kitchen Paper Stack by Die Cuts With a View

Three Months Old

Three months is when I think babies get really cute. Not that they aren't cute before that, it's just that 3 months is when they stop looking alien-like and their real people faces come in. They start to build a little bit of chunk and they start smiling and laughing. Baby J is starting to get a little bit of a personality. She is still super laid back and easy, but she is definitely is not okay being lonely any more. She sleeps about 10 hours at night now, straight through. (I know, you can be jealous now.) I can get her to laugh best, and she talks and growls a lot now. Her biggest smiles are saved for her brother. What a joy she is!

Holiday Cards - Day 16

Grandma's Kitchen Paper Stack by Die Cuts With a View

Holiday Cards - Day 15

Grandma's Kitchen Paper Stack by Die Cuts With a View

Holiday Cards - Day 14

Grandma's Kitchen Paper Stack by Die Cuts With a View

Holiday Cards - Day 13

Grandma's Kitchen Paper Stack by Die Cuts With a View

Holiday Cards - Day 12

Grandma's Kitchen Paper Stack by Die Cuts With a View

Pin It

Holiday Cards - Day 11

A lot of these over the next week or so are going to look really similar to each other. I picked up the Grandma's Kitchen Paper Stack by Die Cuts With a View, and there are a LOT of great items to choose from, so I am just working through one sheet at a time right now. Enjoy!

Pin It

Holiday Cards - Day 10

Paper from Eskimo Kisses by Basic Grey

Pin It

Holiday Cards - Day 9

Paper from Eskimo Kisses by Basic Grey

Pin It

Holiday Cards - Day 8

Paper from Winter Wishes by Cosmo Cricket

Holiday Cards - Day 7

Paper from Winter Wishes by Cosmo Cricket

Little Miss, Age 3

Favorite Color: Red
Favorite Movie: Tangled
Favorite TV Show: Dora or Diego (or "Yiego")
Favorite Food: chicken
Favorite Activity: following her brother everywhere
Best Friend: Norah
What a joy our three year old is! She makes us laugh every single day! I love you, baby girl!

PS - thank you to my bestie for taking this beautiful photo!

Holiday Cards - Day 6

Paper from Winter Wishes by Cosmo Cricket

Thinking of Christmas

Now that Halloween is over, it's officially acceptable to start thinking about Christmas. Actually, I have been thinking about Christmas since June, and I have been working on a few projects since then. Here is a preview of some things coming up for my family:

On December 1st, we wrap our television in wrapping paper. We are not allowed to unwrap it until December 26th, and for the whole month we make more of a point to spend time together. Activities we do include ice skating, making gingerbread houses and cookies, and the annual Christmas wrap at the local mall with our church. We call it our "Christmas present to Jesus." Last year we had a really rough time with our four year old, especially at school. This year we gave his teachers a heads up and we are already talking about it and how much fun we are going to have together, and he seems pretty excited.

The annual "Ugly Sweater Christmas Party" is coming up with the young adults at our church. Even though we are no longer a part of that small group, I really hope we still get invited. This is one of my favorite events every year. (PS - this is our entry in the Gingerbread House contest. It's a jail. I won't go into the details, but it was pretty gory and graphic. And it won first place.)

My great grandma made these stockings for all of her kids, grandkids, and great grandkids. Last year I found the pattern and picked up where she left off 20 years ago. I finished 2 last year, this year I have finished 9 and have 2 more to go. (Like I said, I have been working since June.) I will post more pictures of these after I finish those 9.

Pin It