Another Team Up ~ means more inspiration

Check out Bella Blvd all week again for some amazing projects

Check out...

I am featured on the blog today. You will have to check out the blog to see what I made. I am very honored to be a part of the Bella Blvd Team.

Monday's post has some amazing cards by Gail Hoecker.

I really enjoyed using all the different glues by TOMBO. This team-up was a lot of fun.

Make sure to look at Bella Blvd's Blog all week to see all the cool projects.

Summer Fun!

I love playing outside in the summer. The girls always have so much fun at the park and even in the backyard. These pictures are from Labor Day...the last summer day celebration! A perfect way to say goodbye to summer and hello to fall.

I'm sad to see summer go, but I absolutely LOVE fall. The only thing bad about fall is winter follows it. Oh well...I do always love the first snowfall.

Steps...

Yesterday night I went over to Katie & Eric's house for awhile to hang out and catch up. I have not seen Owen since I got home from Brazil. He is getting so big. I just love playing with him. He is constantly going...he is like the energizer bunny. :) 

He hasn't been walking yet...he is taking his time. While I was there last night he took some steps all by himself. I was so excited!!! :) A few different times he got 5 steps or so and fell. I was so proud of him. 

Katie and Owen along with her mom, Jean, are leaving for Arizona tomorrow morning. They are going to visit Bryan and Teresa. i predict that by the time they come home Owen will be taking steps all over the place. 

These are older (around Christmas time) pictures of Katie and Owen, but I just love them. I think they are very precious. 

*I have some other news that I will hopefully be updating this weekend* 

Brazil here we come...

Stephanie and I are leaving for Brazil tomorrow night. I am getting really excited!!! :) I have all my clothes laid out, but not in my suitcase yet. I am such a procrastinator. Anyway, I wanted to let everyone know where I will be. We won't have a lot of access to computers so hopefully between the two of us we will be able to update a little. We will be teaching 4 different Bella classes in 3 different cities. Ciao Ciao for now! :) 

Our Little Badge Fan...

I was on facebook the other night and looking at my cousin's pictures. I came across these pictures of our little Avery. I am in love with these photos. She looks so cute! I love when she is acting silly. That sly little smile makes me smile. Sometimes it is hard to get her to stay still and smile normal for pictures.

I love her in her badger gear. Her daddy (my cousin Dan) went to UW-Madison and is a huge badger fan. I still remember her having a wisconsin book when she was little and she could always point out Bucky. I'm sure Dan gets excited when he gets to spend time with his girls watching the Badger games.

Today is the day!!! Let the Crawl Begin...

Go to Bella Blvd's Blog for all the details. Plus you can check out all the amazing...

I can't wait to see all the goodies and to get inspired! Although I am off to work now...I have all weekend to check out all the fun things! 

Have Fun crawling!!!! 

Words & Wine

Friday night was our first book club meeting. I think everyone had a really nice time. As some of the girls told me that night I am going to be the historian of our book club. I took plenty of pictures to document our first meeting. Betsy did a nice job of setting up the atmosphere. I proceeded to set up some great shots so people who couldn't come could see how it went. The girls were making fun of me at first when I set the book up by our dinner, but afterwards I showed them the picture they really like it. :) 

The name of the book is The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, we had a baked potato bar for dinner. We are trying to have our dinner coordinate with the book in some way. We thought a potato bar would be perfect and not too hard to make. Betsy, who was our hostess, supplied the potatoes and each girl was to bring a topping and something to drink. 

We had plenty of wine...I can't believe we drank most of it. Although we had a good number of ladies. Once we made our potatoes it was time to discuss the book. We chatted about our likes and dislikes. In the back of the book there were questions we could ask and go through so we picked a few of those too. After we finished talking about the book we needed to figure 3 things out...

1. Selection of our next book 

2. Decision on when & where our next meeting will be

3. Come up with a new name instead of boring Ladies Book Club

By the end of the night we were able to answer all 3 questions.

1. Loving Frank 

2. Michelle will be hostess since she lives in a Frank Lloyd Wright inspired house and it will be on April 17th

3. Words & Wine Club

I think it was a very successful 1st book club meeting. 

Here is to many more...

Book Club

During Christmas time, a few of my friends wanted to start a Book Club. I was a little leery to say the least. Don't get me wrong, I love books. I just on the other hand am an awful procrastinator and if a book doesn't grab my attention in the first few pages...well then I am sorry to say I probably won't be reading that book. Eventually some of the girls convinced me to participate. They said to try the first book and if I didn't think the book club was for me then I wouldn't have to do another book. Our first meeting is this Friday night. I am shocked to say I am excited! 

Over the past six weeks we were to read the book: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. We don't have any meetings in between the start and the finish of the book. It is up to each person how fast or slow they choose to read. Now those of you who really know me will not be surprised to learn I only started reading my book a week ago. :) I told you I am a procrastinator. Although I had very good intentions of being on top of the ball and try reading a little every night. I bought my book right away and would carry with me for the first few weeks, until I realized I should stop taking it with me since I was never reading it basically just carrying it and giving it a tour of my town.

I am about halfway through the book and I am loving it! I need to finish before Book Club on Friday because I want to know the ending so the others don't ruin it for me. The book has caught my attention and I can't put it down. The only reason I have not finished it yet is reading makes me sleepy and I tend to doze off while reading. The first night I started reading, I read around 80 pages. I was pretty proud of myself. 

Well I off to more reading. If you want to learn more about the book you can check out these two sites. 

http://www.blogher.com/book-review-guernsey-literary-and-potato-peel-society

and

http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/Book-Reviews/2008/0728/the-guernsey-literary-and-potato-peel-society

surfing the web...

Most people who know me, know that nowadays I do not always enjoy going on my computer at night. I work at least 40 hours a week on a computer...so when I get home I don't want to be on mine. I love my computer which sometimes makes me a little sad that I don't want to be on it. (I think part of it is I also don't have wireless connection) So I really don't want to be sitting at a desk and on a computer when I get home. Anyway, tonight is a rare occasion...I have been checking blogs for over a hour. (I will pause for a reaction) I usually check the regular ones (my friends) Tonight I was looking for some inspiration and creativity. I ventured out to other blogs that I do not check as often. I came across this blog:

http://kristinaisonehappymama.blogspot.com/

While I was looking through all her posts I saw these and fell in love! :)

I love prints like these. I hope you enjoy! :) 

Inspiration & Reflection

I'm an artista for Bella Blvd and one of the new lines is Estate Sale. It is a great vintage line. Stephanie asked me to do a few products with this line because we recently had done some family photos. Between the time she had assigned me to use this line and the time my projects were due...my grandma had passed away. I had a hard time making this page and still have a hard time here and there. (crying while typing) I miss her so much. I truly cherish every moment and memory I have of her. She was the rock of our family. I have learned so much from her. This is the first page I have done of my grandma since she passed. I plan to do a mini book of just pictures and memories I have of the 2 of us. I have already started planning it, but knowing me it will take a while before I finish it. Love you G-ma! 

Today I spent the morning at my grandpa's house. *side note - the whole family for Christmas had their bathroom re-done. Grandma unfortunately never got a chance to see it* I went to Grandpa's house to paint the bathroom with my mom and aunts. I will take a picture when everything is complete, but it will be a little while still. What started as a small project of hiring people to put a new tub in - has now turned into we should fix up the entire bathroom. That is the reason I, along with help, was painting. After lunch today we pick out a new flooring. I am hoping my uncle will have time to put the new floor in this week. I know it will make a huge difference. Their bathroom is so tiny and needed a major overhaul. It is a process that I hope makes my Grandpa happy. :) 

Faded Finds

My Fabulous Friend Stephanie (who owns Bella Blvd) told me a couple weeks ago about this fabulous artist. She is an independent artist. These frames are so beautiful! I wish I had her amazing talent. Her work inspires me to be more creative. She designed some frames that can fit a 12x12 layout inside. How awesome is that? Hopefully someday I will have one of her wonderful frames in my house. Check out the Bella Blvd studio blog for more information and a chance to win one of her amazing frames. http://www.bellablvd.typepad.com/