Happy Mail and a Layout

 week it was fun to get the mail or hear the UPS truck pull up, because there were lots of good things arriving.  First I received the custom boys hoodies I ordered from Gina's Etsy shop, Baby Fish Designs.  I worked with Gina when she was on our design team and I love how she has taken her talents into the sewing world.  She does custom orders and these are perfect for the little dudes and princesses in your life.  Nicholas loves his Thomas hoodie.  Jackson is still too young to have a preference so I picked Nemo for him.

My crochet skills are lacking (lost with mommy brain cells apparently). I had asked Evelyn (my 2nd mom, I am  lucky enough to have more than one mom in my life), if she knew how to make crocheted flowers, because I wanted to learn how.  Well we just didn't get a chance when I was out in California last month for me to learn.  But imagine my happiness when a little box showed up with these fun, pretty flowers inside. I still would like to learn, but these will keep me supplied in the meantime.

And finally after almost 2 weeks of anticipation, my July Studio Calico kit and add-on's came.  Doesn't this look like fun.

I ordered all of the add on kits this month.  I have several travel related pages I want to do, and now I have enough coordinated product to make a cohesive album.

Oh my look at all those embellishments & all that paper...

Shop extras, including some new Maya Mist colors.

I have been working on a few other things, but I did get this layout done from mostly the Amerigo add on kit.

Have a great weekend!

This reminded me of something very important....

Last weekend Nicholas did something he often does.  Grabbed his mini book from our day at Disneyland in 2008.  A little while later Jackson was in the mix.  He isn't in the pictures (he was just about 3 months in my tummy).  

What it reminded me is that I hadn't made a mini book in a while.  And it reminded me why my Library of Memories system is so worth the effort.

So when I stopped into one of my LSS this past Saturday and saw some older Cosmo Cricket blackboard photo boxes and cigar boxes for $5, I picked up a couple with an idea.  

Saturday night I sat down with Basic Grey Oliver papers and embellishments and in 2 hours I put together this little mini photo box for Nicholas.  I covered the box with paper and embellishments and punched a hole for a ribbon handle.  The interior 16 pages used up 32-4x6 photo's from my 2009 & 2010 photo storage binders. I paired just 4 sheets of kraft cardstock with strips of patterned paper and coordinating embellishments. I kept the pages simple since they were going to be for frequent handling with little hands.

On Sunday morning I handed Nicholas the box and I got the sweetest "aahhh" I have ever heard.  Later I heard him call it "my book mommy made".  He kept looking at his pictures and talking about things we had done and the different family members in the pictures.

Now I need to come up with an idea for smaller hands, because it is time Jackson had his first book just for him.

Adventures in Cooking from the Weekend

This past weekend went way too fast.  Saturday I went to a baby shower, so Mike took the boys to the mall and out to lunch at Kona Grill.  He had planned to make a couple new dishes this weekend, so he picked the easier of the two on Saturday night.  So we ate Chipotle Cajun Pasta.  It was a bit spicy but very good.  It was great for left overs last night and we'll be eating it up for lunch today.  

Sunday he had more time and made Teriyaki Chicken with Pineapple Mexican Salad.  I was busy on the computer when he was in the kitchen, so I didn't realize he made his Teryaki sauce from scratch.  It was the tastiest teriyaki sauce I have ever had.  

The salad was really yummy and pretty easy to make.  It was a chopped pineapple and jicama with some sliced onion and minced cilantro.  Toss in olive oil (2T) and white vinegar (1T, I used white balsamic).  Then top it off with a little feta cheese and fresh cracked pepper. 

I needed a card for the baby shower I was going to.  My friend is not a fan of pink, so I wanted to make a card with lavender (the baby's room color).  Apparently I am not a purple fan, I got rid of every piece of purple patterned paper I had back when I cleaned out my scrap stuff.  Finally I found an old class kit, I took apart the layout that was partly finished and made this quick card.

ScrapTiffany - Brads & Eyelets Oh My!

This week for ScrapTiffany the Design Team was challenged to bring back eyelets and use brads on our project.  This was definitely a challenge for me.  Because in the "Great Scrap Room Clean Out" in January 2010 I got rid of almost all of my eyelets.  But I did keep a small amount in a few colors so I came up with this.

All I can say, is thank goodness for the Crop A Dile.  I hadn't used it to set an eyelet in a very long time (if ever).  With my short supply of eyelets I had to be careful with the practice to get the hang of it again.  But I was happy with the playful look the eyelets and the colorful brads gave the page, and then of course what page is complete without some buttons.

The background white was a bit too bright, nothing a bit of Maya Mist can't fix. I also threaded some bakers twine through the eyelets.

Highlight bullet points with some tiny brads:

Shopping and Trains

Last Friday I hit up the local scrapbook store, Scrapbooks Etc., where I have a big fat store credit from selling off my unwanted supplies.  They had the new Basic Grey Oliver goodies which are perfect for one little train dude in this house.  So I picked up several fun things to play with.

And I started using them to make this page from a sketch from the Camp Scrap class I am taking at Big Picture Scrapbooking.  I don't do many 2 page layouts on my own, so a sketch works good for me on the 2 pagers...I have had these pictures for a few weeks now looking for the perfect home.  I think I found it....

Side 1

Side 2

This Kid Made My Day

Jackson is VERY, VERY vocal, even though he only says about 5 words and doesn't point, wave or make other gestures to communicate.  He was advanced in all his physical milestones so we have assumed that he was more focused on that than talking. Tonight I walked in the door and he started waving at me (which he had never done before).  I was pretty excited because being at work during the week I miss some of those firsts.  It made my day to see this one.

Weekend Cooking Adventures

Saturday was my night to cook.  We had wanted to have a roasted chicken recipe I had made a couple of years ago, again. It was from Cooking Light magazine.  So I gathered my rather simple ingredients....

Did some cleaning and chopping...

And about an 1 1/2/ hours later I had this beautiful bird....

and these roasted vegetables...

along with the best gravy I have EVER made....

All turned into this yummy bowl of goodness, with lots of weekday leftovers...

While I was busy with the chicken.....Mike mixed some peaches and berries....

and put together a little cobbler....

Now time for the true test....

and it tastes even better than it looks....as if that were possible....

Sunday's are for grilling....

Grilled salmon with Adobo Chile Merlot BBQ sauce and tasty rice pilaf.

Who needs to eat out....