Tip Time Tuesday With Kiwi Lane and My Mind's Eye

Hi all! I am up again with a fun Tip Time Tuesday Technique over at Kiwi Lane Designs! Make sure to stop by to see how I created a unique journaling block using template #3 from the Wacky collection and some fun My Minds Eye products. Make sure to post on their Facebook page what you create. Here's a little sneak peak of what to expect…

Thanks for stopping by and can't wait to see what you all come up with! Have a great day! 

Inspired by Pinterest

Hi all! I have a quick post for you all today featuring some fun We R Memory Keepers products and some Kiwi Lane Design Templates! It's my turn to take a stab at the Inspired by Pinterest feature over at Kiwi Lane. I was given the Notable collection along with Tiny Accents to work with. 

My inspiration piece was this one I found while searching Pinterest looking for decor ideas for my girls room…

And here is my take on the Pin…

Make sure to head over to Kiwi Lane and check out the blog post to get all the details. Once again thanks again for stopping by! Till next time all. 

Blog Hop With Kiwi Lane Designs

Hello Kiwi Lane Blog Hoppers! Welcome to my little slice of the hop. You should have arrived here from the creative Deborah Johnson's blog. If not head back to Kiwi Lane Designs and start from the beginning. Trust me you don't want to miss any of the fun along the way! For this months hop I decided to work with the templates Tiny Accents.  

Here is the layout I created using T4 from the Tiny Accents collection. The layout features me and my little brother who isn't so little anymore, measuring in at 6'4"! I really enjoy working with the fun shapes of the accent bundles. I like to usually focus in on one of the shapes and repeat it throughout my layout. Keeps it simple for my mind and makes it nice and easy to get a layout done quickly! For this layout I went the extra step and added pop dots to the backs of some of the shapes to break them up a little and add a fun dimension.  

From here you should be heading over to the wonderfully talented Brenda Smith's blog. Make sure to stop and comment on each blog along the way. A winner will be announced on the Kiwi Lane blog on March 13th. The winner will get a $25 gift certificate to use at the Kiwi Lane Shop. The hop will run until Sunday March 9th at 11:59 PM MST. Thank you for stopping by and I hope you get some great ideas to try out at home! 

Tip Time With Kiwi Lane and Adornit

Hello, Hello, Hello!!! I am up over at the Kiwi Lane Blog with a Tip Time Tuesday. I was given Viva La Glam from Adornit to work with, a fun, bright, and girly collection! For my Tip Time I decided to uncover the world of using the templates to help achieve the die cut look. 

Here is a little sneaky peak at what I created. Make sure to head over to the Kiwi Blog to get the full look and to see how to create your own! 

Thanks for stopping by today and having a look. 

MWM Lolite # 5

Hello my scrappy and blogger friends! I hope that everyone's New Years was great and that 2014 is welcoming you with open arms. Over here in our section of the world we have been enjoying lots of family time, getting ready for baby #3 and of course some crafty time. 
Needing a little motivation and inspiration to get started I turned to Scrapbooksteals and their MWM's. This week I worked on Lolite #5. The sketch and all the info can be found right HERE!  

Here is my take on the sketch…

I had the girls Halloween costume photos I needed to scrap. I decided to go against the grain and NOT use Halloween themed paper. The orange and black color scheme you usually find on them just wouldn't have gone with the photos. So instead insert Bella Blvd. and their bright fun collection Kiss Me! I think coming up with the title was the hardest part of this layout for me. In my mind I just had to come up with a play on words that would incorporate BOTH girls costumes. But any who…thanks for stopping by once again and until next time! 

Just for Fun!

Hi all! I had a little extra time and I was able to whip up this layout in between doing "chores". It is based off a sketch from the North Ridge Publishing Sketches Edition. It was so nice to scrap just for fun. 

I used October Afternoon's Midway line for this layout. I received the 8x8 pad in my Santa Sack from them this year. The 8x8's work GREAT for 8 1/2 x 11 layouts! Thanks for stopping by and having a look. I hope everyone has a fabulous Holiday. 

~*Erin*~  

It's Time To Hop With Kiwi Lane

Hello all my scrappy loving friends! Welcome to my little corner of the Kiwi Lane Designs blog hop. You should have arrived here from Apryl Holland's blog. This month for the hop there is SO much scrapbook inspiration floating around I can't wait for you to see it all! The theme for this month for the most part was the holidays….and I of course jumped on board with the festivities. 

First up I made a simple gift tag to add to a holiday package. I used Tag 7 from the Tags Bundle. To add a little detail to the bottom I also used my Mini Scallops 1A. 

To help with staying in the spirit of the holidays I made an advent like calander. I put a little twist on mine and turned it into a mailbox. In the mailbox I rolled up little pieces of paper and on each slip of paper there is a daily festive activity to do. I again used the Mini Scallops 1A to help with the decorating and also turned to the poinsettia shapes from the Tiny Holiday collection and the Christmas Bundle. My girls are really enjoying taking a piece of paper out each day and finding out what fun activity they will get to do.    

From here you need to head on over to Brenda Smith's lovely blog. Make to comment along each stop of the way. A random winner will be chosen from one of the participating blogs. The winner will receive a $25 gift certificate to the Kiwi Lane shop. The blog hop will continue till Sunday December 8th. As always thanks so much for stopping by.

Tip Time Tuesday With Kiwi Lane

It's that time again!!!!! It's my turn to provide some scrapbook inspiration over at Kiwi Lane Designs. This month they are featuring a few different fun templates. Make sure you head over to the Kiwi Lane Blog and check out which ones I used for this layout. 

I decided to create an embossed background for Tip Time Tuesday, which was SUPER quick and easy using my templates! Do you recognize the papers? They are from Teresa Collins  and her Family Stories collection.

As always thanks for stopping by and make sure to swing by the Kiwi Lane Blog in order to see how I created this fun background!  

Tip Time Tuesday With Kiwi Lane Designs

Hi all, I am here today with my FIRST Tip Time Tuesday for Kiwi Lane Designs! The designer templates are always so easy to work with and the many ways that they can be used is just amazing! For my layout I decided to use the Mini Aspen templates and wanted to create a distressed look with them. I was lucky enough to get to work with the new Cut & Paste Collection from American Crafts & Amy Tan. The collection worked perfectly with McKenzie's milestone photos that I have had sitting around. 

Make sure to head over to the Kiwi Lane Blog to get all the details on how to create the distressed look using only the templates. As always thanks for stopping by.

Kiwi Lane Designs Blog Hop

Aloha my lovely blog hoppers and welcome to the Kiwi Lane Designs Blog Hop! You should have arrived here via Tammy Smith's Blog. If not head on back to the Kiwi Lane Blog and start from the beginning. Kiwi Lane has some very fun and unique designer templates to work with. They make creating gifts, cards, and layouts a breeze!

I was sent the journey accessory set to work with which is a great collection for vacations and all things that GO! My daughters and I are heading back to the mainland in a few weeks to visit with family so I decided to use the templates to make a countdown for my girls to keep track of how much longer till we leave.

For my next project I really wanted to create a mini album but was at a bit of a loss on where to start.  After looking through the templates for what seemed liked forever I noticed that the suitcase sort of looked like a camera. So I totally decided to just go for it.

I did end up trimming the feet off the suitcase because it gave it more of the look that I was going for. 

Thank you for stopping by and checking out my little corner of the blog world. From here you should be heading over to Deborah Johnson's blog to see the goodness that she created. Make sure and leave a comment on each stop of the blog hop so that you can be entered to win the fun prize package from Simple Stories. (Note: Only US & Canadian residents are available to win the pictured prize package. If an international resident is chosen they will be given a $25 gift code to the Kiwi Lane shop) The winner will be announced on the Kiwi Lane Blog on September 12th. 

Studio Calico Sunday Sketch

Good morning friends! So I have some BIG and exciting news! I was asked to participate in the Sunday Sketch over at Studio Calico! To say that I am excited and extremely honored would be a total understatement! As soon as I got the sketches I was ready to get to work. Here is what I created...

Make sure to head over to Studio Calico to check out the sketches and to find out all the details on how to participate! And don't forgot if you participate you will be entered to win a $5 gift code from Studio Calico. Happy Sunday All!!!!

Back @ The Mid Week Mojo's

Hello everyone and happy Monday! Hopefully everyone had a fun weekend! Over here in Hawaii on Saturday I got to go to a fun crop with my lovely friend Van and Sunday was family fun day. We went to a local beach and spent the day there with some friends and then had fondu later that evening. In between all that I was able to get two Mid Week Mojo's done. I can't tell you the last time I did a Mid Week Mojo and it's so much fun to be back in action with scrapbookSTEALS. 

Aquamarine #1: The Many Faces of McKenzie
Sketch:

My Take:

{Supplies}: Most of it's from Simon Says Stamp July card kit of the month. I added in the red Thickers, Basic Gray Flower, Bella Blvd Crocheted heart, Freckled Fawn cabochon and paper clip heart. 

The photos are a collection of the MANY funny faces that little miss Mac gives us on a daily basis. I swear that girl is such a character and you never know what type of mood she will be in. That seems to be the case with both my girls though. 

Aquamarine #2: Shanley Time

Sketch:

My Take: 

{Supplies}: Most is Studio Calico Atlantic collection with a touch of October Afternoon Labels, cork Thickers, MME enamel dots, Freckled Fawn Star, and Basic Gray Brad. 

We were having a hard time with potty training Shanley and we got the suggestion that if she got 5 days with no accidents that she get to do something special with Mommy that she picked. She chose to make beaded bracelets. The day finally came and Shanley was counting down the seconds till McKenzie took a nap so we could make the bracelets. She had so much fun and I wanted to make sure she had something to remember this moment in time. 

If you haven't ever check out scrapbookSteals and their Mid Week Mojo series make sure to head over and give them some love. As always thanks for stopping by and visiting. 

scrapbookSTEALS Birthday Week Blog Hop

Hello, fellow scrapbookers and scrapbookSTEALS lovers! If you are here for the scrapbookSTEALS birthday blog hop, and I hope you are you should have just come from my talented friend Brenda Smith's blog. In case you didn't and need to start from the beginning just head over to scrapbookSTEALS and start from the beginning.

 I came across scrapbookSTEALS.com back in 2010 shortly after the birth of Shanley. Being the new Mommy I was I decided I needed to scrap EVERY moment of her life from the first poop to 50 photos of her sleeping all in the same position! Thanks to scrapbookSTEALS.com I was able to get a ton of great deals on embellishments, albums, adhesive, and patterned paper all to help me make those fancy baby books. Lucky for me and my scrappy stash they are still going strong and are celebrating their 4th birthday!!! They provide you with amazing deals on crafty products twice a day.

In order to celebrate their birthday they are having a blog hop tied in with their online crop challenges. Get ready to help celebrate the festivities! I decided to take on two of the challenges....those being the USE ONLY 4 THINGS & WASHI FEVER.

First up is the use 4 things and only 4 things! (To celebrate 4 years of course)

 1) buttons 2) patterned paper 3) frames (both wooden and chipboard) 4) Thickers. 

The next challenge I picked was to embrace the WASHI FEVER! Who doesn't love washi tape or have an ever growing collection? 

 

I only used washi tape on this layout actually, no patterned paper (besides my background paper). Add in some hand stitching, thickers, and a few little embellishments here and there and you have yourself a pretty cool and hip washi fever layout!  

From here you should head over to the ever so talented Erica Bass's blog and see what goodies she created! Make sure to stop back by scrapbookSTEALS and link up your entries with them for the online crop challenges. You will have until Wednesday @ midnight MST to get them in. Thanks once again for stopping by! 

Class Is In Session

So on a whim I decided to sign up for the Ali Edwards: Hello Story class over at Big Picture Classes. I had been hearing amazing reviews about her previous classes and this one was looking to be the same. Armed with my coupon code I took the plunge! We are only into week one of the class and the amount of material, examples, and information provided is AMAZING! To be honest it is a little overwhelming all the content you receive. I am excited to see what will come in these next 12 weeks. 

The story/idea for this week is timelines. I had no idea there were so many variations on a timeline. One of the inspiration pieces that was shown was a Save The Date announcement. I really loved the overall idea & construction of it so I decided to go with the flow! I had a collection of 7 photos of Brian and I (one from each year we have been married) that I wanted to work with and put on my timeline. 

Inspiration Timeline:

My Timeline:

I used my Citrus Twist July kit for this layout. I added in some black thickers from my stash, those ever addicting My Minds Eye enamel dots, October Afternoon label stickers, and some Studio Calico wood veneers. Oh I can't forget the really cute white heart paper clip from Freckled Fawn and I even used an Ali Edwards Technique Tuesday stamp! 

I am happy with how it turned out. It is way out of my comfort & normal zone but that is okay. I know 25+ years down the road I will be glad to have this and see how much we have changed over the years and what we went through in our "early" years. 

Once again thank you for stopping by and make sure to swing back by on Friday. I will be helping Scrapbooksteals celebrate their 4th birthday and be a part of their blog hop.

Our Thug Life In Hawaii

Happy Friday everyone!!!! I am so happy to see the weekend get here! Anyone else? Time to kick back relax and enjoy the free time. Today I am up with a layout I made of a more recent photo. I was running errands in a store and Brian was trying to entertain the girls outside while I finished up. He was able to snap this photo of them and I just laughed so hard when I saw it.  It makes them look like such tough little cookies! But really???? How tough can they be when their Mommy calls them cookie!

I used a lot of Studio Calico's new line Atlantic for this one. I am LOVING the pinks & grays with the splash of orange and navy. The die cut arrows are from October Afternoon and my Silhouette Cameo machine. I even used my new Mama Elephant stamp for the little chevron details. 

Thanks everyone for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend! 

Challenge Time

I am always looking for a good sketch challenge and I found one over at The Paper Bakery. They have some fun and creative sketches to play along with! 

First up is Sketch #5...I didn't make it in time to enter it into the actual challenge but still loved the sketch so I played along! 

Here Is The Sketch:

My Take On The Sketch: 

I didn't have 2 photos that I wanted to scrap so I turned it into a 4x6 and turned the sketch on its side! My sweet wild child Shanley! She looks so sweet and innocent here. 

Next up is Sketch #6:

My Take On The Sketch: 

I tried to stick closer to the sketch and thought I did pretty well. But now that I look at it again yeah, might rethink that. But thats okay with me. I am very happy with how it turned out! My little Mac over a year ago! Still amazes me every day how quickly they change and grow! 

Thank you once again for stopping by!

~Erin~

Catch Me If You Can!

Hey blogger friends! It's time for me to play catch up here a little and just post a ton of photos of layouts I have finished lately. I gave you fair warning. Enjoy! 

So first up I have a layout I did for Shanley. She couldn't find her sunglasses so Mommy's were going to have to do. 

Supplies: Amy Tan's Yes Please, Studio Calico wood veneers, and My Mind's Eye enamel dots.

Here we have little Miss Mac with her shades. Such a cute little ham she is!

Supplies: Amy Tan's Yes Please, Studio Calico flair and flower cabochons, Freckled Fawn washi, and a Basic Grey Paper Cottage accordion flower. 

I am a little behind in getting this photo scrapped seeing as Shanley turned 3 on Halloween of 2012. But better late than never they always say right? She was so proud and excited to turn 3 and continues to tell anyone who will listen how old she is. 

Supplies: My Mind's Eye On The Sunny Side, My Mind's Eye washi, October Afternoon numbered washi, Elle's Studio tags , My Mind's Eye enamel dots, and Studio Calico wood veneer. 

Shanley has a SLIGHT obsession with Mickey Mouse. So of course for Halloween last year that's who she had to dress up as. I actually put her costume together for her and she tried to wear bits and pieces of it for days after. 

Supplies: This layout is a whole heap of randoms from my collection. I know I used some Fancy Pants, October Afternoon, American Crafts Thickers, Studio Calico, My Mind's Eye, and even some Crate Paper. 

My cute little pumpkins! I loved seeing the girls dressed up for Halloween. McKenzie and I spent the night before into the early morning of Halloween at the ER. Poor little was sick. She sure was a trooper though and did so well while Shanley went from house to house collecting candy for them. 

Supplies: October Afternoon Witch Hazel, American Crafts Thickers, My Mind's Eye enamel dots, Studio Calico cork arrows and wood veneer. 

This photo was taken from our photo shoot that we had done by Pretty Bee Photography. McKenzie's fancy outfit made her look like she belonged in the Victorian age. (Thanks Aunt Dede for the pretty clothes from Janie & Jack) 

Supplies: This is another heap of randoms from my stash. I think most of the paper is Studio Calico along with the arrows are also by them. There are of course My Mind's Eye enamel dots, Thickers, and some October Afternoon. 

Trying to get a "good" photo these days of the girls is next to impossible. Probably why my memory stick still has so much free space. If one of them isn't crying then the other is looking away. If I am really lucky I can get them to not choke each other or hit, which is always a plus in my book! For now I will embrace and enjoy the funny and goofy photos they are providing.  

Supplies:  I was really on a roll with using up the random stuff from my stash and trying to downsize. I have the usual suspects here though...Studio Calico, Thickers, October Afteroon, and buttons! But oh wait I didn't put any enamel dots on it! I might have to go back and fix that.

Well, if you have made it this far thank you! Thanks for stopping by and checking in with us. Till next time! 

I Will Survive!

Testing, 1 2 3... is this thing on? Hey blog buddies. I promise I will bring this bad boy back and get it up and running. Saying hi and I hope everyone has a fabulous evening!

For Now I will leave you all with these lovely Wacky Wednesday photos of my littles.

How Did This Happen?!?!?

Where is the time going? How in the world do I have a 3 year old and a 1 year old? My little baby girls are growing up in what feels like over night.
Our wild child Shanley turned 3 on Halloween. I swore up and down that she wasn't getting a party this year and that we were just doing cake and her gifts. Well, she actually ended up having 3 different celebrations! Don't ask me how because I don't have a clue. But I guess it is fitting turning 3 with 3 different celebrations. She is always so thankful and excited with whatever she gets.  I love to hear her say "oh thank you so much" in her sweet little voice and have her wrap her skinny little arms around your neck to give you a hug. I have no doubt that she will go far in life and will overcome everything needed with her strong will, determination, smarts, wittiness, and stubbornness. Shanley is such a tough cookie (a little too tough at times) but really does have a sweet sensitive side that is starting to shine more every day. She has kept me on my toes since the day she was born and there is NEVER a dull moment with her around.
Our sweet sensitive little baby McKenzie turned 1 on the 15th but we celebrated with family and friends on the 17th. Of course just turning 1 she was pretty lost with the gifts and what all was going on. Her eyes did light up when she saw her 1st baby doll and she really enjoyed chewing on the boxes. McKenzie's personality is coming out more and more every day. She is much more sensitive, gentle, and cuddly than Shanley ever was or probably ever will be. She is my little cry baby & whiner and would be perfectly content if she could be carried on your hip all day. She loves to eat and really drags out her meals. I can't wait to see her grow and come into her own in the coming days, weeks, months, and years.
Every day with the girls there is already battles over toys, clothes, socks, cups you name it. I know it will only get worse and some days will be better than others. I wouldn't change it or them for the world. I always pictured my "grown-up" and "mommy" life with 2 kids a girl and a boy. Well, that obviously is not the case and I am totally okay with that. I can honestly say now that my family really does feel complete and I love that I have 2 little girls. I love that they will grow up having a bond and a best friend in their sister. Thanks for catching up with us and here are a few photos from Trick-or-Treating, and the girls birthdays.

Her Birthday Present

Showing Off How Old She Is 

Mickey Mouse and Little Lady Bug 

12-Months-Old 

The Birthday Girl 

Our Little Family