Paper Moon...Studio Calico June.

just jumping in here quick to share my June layouts for the Studio Calico gallery...the Paper Moon kit had some unexpected surprises i ended up loving!! this one may seem kind of muted for this kit, but i focused on the kraft accents...to go with my Instagram photo of my desk. the orange thread from the hand-stitched tag didn't quite work (i wanted it to...LOVED the color!), so i took it out and restitched it in grey. i stamped the film strip from the Countdown add-on with Versamark and used Brown Sugar Zing on it...LOVE. i treated the openings like little windows and filled them with bits laying around my desk.

if you haven't picked up the Girls Paperie Sticker book yet, YOU SHOULD. the floral border sticker, typed words and blue alpha are all from there...a steal for $5. :)

supplies: Countdown + Main Kit + Brown Sugar Zing + VersaMark + White Mister Huey + Lemon Drop JBS Ink + Cough Syrup JBS Paint + Girls Paperie Sticker Book

found this old photo and wanted to use it immediately...look how small she was!! this one uses items from Ray Gun, and a Martha punch i'd forgotten about.

supplies: Ray Gun + Cough Syrup JBS Paint + Martha flower punch

this last one was made after a 'just girls day out'...we had such a fun time and i realized how much i love spending time together right now. the heart was cut with my Slice and i switched up the colors of both of the alphabets...one with Blush Zing (used my Zig Embossing Pen...seemed easier to me), the other with Clover Mister Huey. i layered strips of the blue Smash tape ont the chipboard star from Ray Gun, and typed some thoughts onto one of the Travel Smash tags. the 'May' was stamped with Leaf Zing and filled in with Piglet Mister Huey...more on that soon. ;)

supplies: Main Kit + Leaf Zing + Blush Zing + Piglet Mister Huey + Lemonade Mister Huey + Clover Mister Huey + Bracket border punch + Heart punch + Girls Paperie Sticker Book + White Mister Huey + Zig Embossing Pen

***just a quick note: no sure how long it will last, but WHITE Zing and the ZIG EMBOSSING PEN (less than $3!) are still available...usually they fly right out the door during Reveal, so grab them while you can!!

enjoy your weekend :)

coming to terms...a revelation.

the best laid plans...right??


we had plans that we made quite a few years ago...when Allie was done with elementary school, we'd sell this house and move.

something newer.
something better.
something bigger.

and then, we realized last year that with all that has happened in our area with the housing market..that just wasn't going to be possible.

i'd be lying if i said that initially i wasn't bummed. that was kind of our mantra for several years: 'we won't be here forever...we'll fix it when we are ready to sell...'.

you get the idea.

until we talked with a friend who is a realtor in our area after a soccer game last week, and Mike and i kind of looked at each other and admitted (with no words) to ourselves that we are going to be here for awhile.

by the time everything sorts out market-wise, Allie will probably be heading to college...is that when we would choose to move to a bigger house?? spend the $$ we have saved for that...or invest it in her??

no brainer.
she wins every day of the week and twice on Sunday. :)
we don't want to be stressing about house stuff when she is heading off to her future...we'll be stressed enough about her growing up, lol.

so there it was.
a revelation.
we accepted that it's time to make this house our home once again...and it started with me impulsively going out to buy a gallon of paint. the BEST grey ever. Granite Grey by Glidden, seen here on my kitchen wall. :) does it match my countertop?
nope.
but thats easily fixed.
and i am reminded how easily a $30 gallon of paint can completely transform a room.
bonus of having a small home?
there was enough left over to do the bathroom as well, lol...so Allie and i did that when she got home from school.

i've recently gotten addicted to the time suck that is Pinterest...and this is one of the very first things i added to my board:
coming to terms.
a revelation about what matters.

at least to us.
:)

my heart is racing.

from this picture i snapped outside yesterday.
(in the rain, no less)

from the thought that 12 years ago, i was a brand new mama...100% sure that i was going to goof the whole thing up.

weeeelllllll...i HAVE goofed up here and there, but not nearly as bad as i thought i would.

we have had our struggles.

at 3, it was about bedtime.

at 5 it was about flip flops during winter.

at 7 it was about losing a tooth.

at 8, choosing your friends wisely.

at 9, horribly loud nail polish.

at 10, back to flip flops.

at 11, revisiting choosing friends.

and now at 12...well, we're only one day into that lol.

the funny thing is, it's cyclical, right?? it all comes back around.

and through it all, we are BOTH reminded that we are actually doing one heck of a job at this mother/daughter thing...we seem to have found our groove.

she opted out of a 'party', in favor of a 'fancy' dinner out with us and her best friend.

i picked up a few corsages for them to wear to the restaurant (i couldn't help doing SOMETHING cheesy).

we came back home for a cupcake.

opened some presents and called it a night.

it was very low-key.

but SHE loved it.

perfect. :)

she and i 'click' in lots of ways.

we had a crawl into bed/watch tv together session the other night. she likes to sit with me and do crafty things while i'm scrapbooking (she is way excited about the Smash stuff we ordered from 2peas, lol. says it was 'made for her'...planning on documenting her crazy summer). she likes to go shopping together, even if we don't buy a thing. she looks over at me during her soccer games, i think for encouragement.

we kind of have this unspoken connection.

sometimes all i have to do is nod just a wee bit from across the room, and she breathes a little easier when something is tough.

she is my heart.

and man...is it ever racing.

peachy keen kitty.

sharing my latest layout from the Garden at 2peas... copyright 2peasinabucket. supplies: OA ledger paper + AC Peachy Keen tag + Webster's Pages thread doily + Crate Paper button + Webster's Pages button + Hambly rub-on + Bella Blvd. paper + Bella Blvd. Chipboard pennants + Bella Blvd. orange alpha stickers + Aqua Divine Twine + Studio Calico Mister Huey in White, Orchard, Bonny Blue, Barnwood and Lemonade


i snapped this photo of Lola plopping herself right in front of my computer monitor recently...she just likes to hang out with me, what can i say lol? when i saw the chipboard pennants from Bella Blvd that spelled out her name (ok, ok...it was intended to be used to say 'loyal') i decided to us them as my starting point. i am in love with the creamy yellow of this ledger paper...and had the orange/grey/yellow cardstock scraps laying around, so i used 2 different circle punches to make those for a border. the paper with the pawprints needed a little something, so i painted a few of the open circles with my Mister Hueys.


i snatched up the Webster's Pages thread doilies on a whim, because they remind me of something i'd find at a old shop or a flea market...i just trimmed the inside and outside of the blue one to make a circle insted of using the whole piece. great way to stretch your supplies AND your bucks!!
now i'm off to pick up a few things for this girl, who happens to be turning 12 today...


have a great day!!

fun + EASY mini album :)

just sharing my latest project for the 2Peas Garden...they are doing a 'Connecting with Creativity' feature, and this is the mini album i came up with. i've done a couple of pages using photos my daughter has sent me via text message, so i thought this would be a fun way to keep them all together. copyright 2Peasinabucket. Supplies: Doodlebug Mini Album + Collage Press Alphabet Stickers + American Crafts Camera sticker + Studio Calico Mister Hueys + Studio Calico Veneer Hearts & Stars + Crate Paper Chipboard Frame + Lawn Fawn Stamps + Jenni Bowlin Ink & Paints + American Crafts chipboard alphabet + Hambly banner rub-ons + American Crafts Metal Pin + Websters Pages Embroidered Doilie + Tim Holtz canvas measuring tape

(the album can be seen in it's entirety HERE...please check it out!)

i started out with this great 6x6 Doodlebug mini album...i opted for muted tones since the photos i printed were spruced up with the Instagram app on my phone, and the effects i usually apply there are muted. Instagram is AWESOME. and...it's FREE!! it allows you to take pics with your phone and 'pretty them' a bit with cool filters. you can follow people's photo streams and just have fun. when i want to print one of my Instagram pics, i just send the photo to myself in an email from my phone and print it right at home. i choose the 3.5x5" sizing (on 4x6" paper), and it prints out the size that you see here...with a white border around it. i trim to about 4x4.5 and it kind of looks like an old Polaroid that way...fun!

i'd been holding onto that AC camera sticker for a couple of months, waiting for the right project...this was it. :)



the SC Veneer shapes take Mister Huey like a charm...and i nestled one small heart inside the larger one...me + Allie. (cheesy, right lol?) i LOVE the veneer hearts, and they've done a great job replacing the old Heidi Swapp chipboard hearts as a staple for my projects. BUT...buy them when you see them!! once they're gone, they're gone...no more plans to make more. :(

i snuck a little 'mini page' in between these photos, and added a banner sticker + the Lawn Fawn stamps...they were a perfect fit. i kept the layout of this album EASY...i wanted to focus on the pics (since they melt my heart when she sends them), and so i just added the same thing to each page. used the SC Star Veneer as a mask, spritzed on the background with one color of Mister Huey, then grabbed a paintbrush and 'painted' with a different color inside where i had masked.

here is another 'mini page'...made with leftovers from other projects.

i think the thing that still gets me is that she takes the time to text me and hit send while she's away...because it let's me know that she is thinking of me. as a mama, that warms the heart a bit, doesn't it? i actually choked up a bit a few weeks ago...when this one came through: she had gone to her girlfiend's to get ready for the big spring dance, and i was at work...she let Mike take a few pics of her before he dropped her at her friend's, and i would have been happy with that. but after she got all dolled up, she had her friend take this pic with her phone and she sent it to me. i literally gasped. not only is she 100% beautiful, she asked her friends to wait an extra minute before they left so she could get this photo taken...BY A WINDOW for 'better light', lol. man, i love her.

i finished the last page with more leftover bits...i am in LOVE with the Webster's Pages fabric/crocheted doilies, and the rest of the pieces kind of fell together.

so, just a reminder...that just because the quality of a cell phone/text pic may not be professional caliber, that really isn't what's important, is it? these types of photos are a sign of our times...and a great, EASY way to capture moments we may not initially have thought about.

enjoy your week!!

Happy Scrapping to my fellow peeps!!

how fun is this?! all of us from Studio Calico 'posed' for NSD in our creative spaces...too funny lol. lots of challenges/virtual Make & Takes/chats happening HERE this weekend...make sure to check it out!!

then...2Peas is making offers that are hard to refuse!!

FREE GIFT with purchase.

FREE SHIPPING (orders of $30 or more...use code: NSD511)

ADDITIONAL 10% OFF SALE/CLEARANCE products!!

sounds like a perfect reason to shop, right?!

off to scrap...enjoy the festivities!!