I have been terribly slacking when it comes to this blog…as you can tell by the last post being about Madeline’s party in November! Of course, the last few months have been full of broken bones, gymnastics, homework (Tristan and Neal) and such, so I’m going to cut myself some slack.

Anyways, here are a couple of digital layouts I created (the first I blogged about on the BPC blog last Saturday). I’m fairly new to the world of digital scrapbooking, but I’ve met a few great ladies who really know their stuff and I’m excited to be trying something new! I made this layout with a template created by Jenn Lindsey for her Beginner Blends class. http://www.bigpictureclasses.com/blends.php Pretty cute huh?

Supplies: template by Jenn Lindsey (included as part of her BPC class Beginner Blends); papers by Karen Lewis Designz (Hello Sunshine Freebie-Part 2); buttons and title by Crystal Wilkerson (April 2009 Spring kit); flower and ribbon by fee Jardine Designs (A New Day)

Madeline’s third birthday ended up being so much fun! (Can you tell she was excited?!) The little princess enjoyed playing with all her friends; I expected some meltdowns and screaming with seven 3-year-olds all in one house, but amazingly there were none! (We think that maybe it was because there were no boys in the house?! Just sayin’!)

A princess party wouldn’t be complete without friends, and a little dress-up! I made tutus for all the girls (so incredibly simple, and fairly inexpensive!) and found some little tiaras at a party supply store. Here’s a tutorial on how to make a tutu.

I also made mini tutus for the flower vases. After the party, Madeline can use them as tutus for Barbie dolls and her other baby dolls.

I made lots of yummy food: homemade macaroni and cheese, sandwiches (cut out with princess cookie cutters), fruit salad, olivesorinda, homemade mints, wedding punch, and cupcakes. (Note: some of these recipes were requested, so I’ll post them below).

We played Kiss the Frog (a version of pin the tail on the donkey). I just painted a huge frog prince on a piece of butcher paper and printed lips on PostIt sticker paper. Easy! The 3-year-olds loved it (but the younger kids weren’t really interested)…still fun though!

Neal and I made a princess castle out of cardboard…complete with towers. Of course, even though Stacy told me to take pictures of it, this is the only picture I have of it! (It’s deconstructed in the garage right now).

It was so cute, after Madeline opened her presents, she hugged and thanked whoever gave it to her! Such a precious memory.

After the party we were still smiling. I think that is Princess Party Success!!

Recipes:

Olivesorinda:

Mix: 1 cup of mayonaise, 3-4 chopped green onions, 1-2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, 1 small can chopped black olives, 1/2 to 1 cup of shredded cheese (Jack, Cheddar, etc); Spread on slices of french bread and broil on high 4-8 minutes.

Mints:

Beat together 1/2 a box of cream cheese, 3-4 cups of powdered sugar; Add 1 teaspoon peppermint extract and food coloring, beat again; Freeze for an hour and then place in molds and freeze again. Store in refrigerator.

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese:

In heavy saucepan on low, melt 8 tablespoons butter. Add 8 tablespoons of flour and pinch of salt. Whisk in 1 quart of heavy cream. Raise heat to medium and add at least 10 ounces of mixed shredded cheese. Stir constantly. Pour over cooked noodles and bake if desired, or serve immediately.

You are invited to a FREE festival packed full of big ideas at Big Picture Scrapbooking this August! Join 13 talented instructors for 13 fun-filled days. Each will be sharing 3 project ideas with you – that’s 39 projects, all for free!

Oh, and don’t forget the fun daily challenges and amazing giveaways!

You won’t want to miss this summer extravaganza! Registration is completely FREE, and you’ll have forever access to the materials in class!

We have officially kicked-off the summer promotion, and have opened registration. You can learn more, and register for the free event, by visiting  http://www.bigpicturescrapbooking.com/summerfun10.php.

Note: Some of my favorite pictures from the trip are the ones that aren’t “posed”. Keep your camera at the ready, and when you see a sweet moment, capture it! These pictures can tell a story, where a posed picture sometimes just documents an event.

The kids were sitting next to each other in papa’s chair…giggling and being adorable. I took a few pictures of them – and as cute as they were, they looked like so many other pictures I’d taken of the kids in that chair. So, I lay down on the floor by their feet, and focused on the feet. It isn’t perfect, but I love the look, and plan on trying this again.

Camera Settings: ISO: 1600, aperture: 1.8f, shutter speed: 1/125

Note: I hate using 1600 ISO, it makes the photos kind of grainy (noisy), but we were inside, it was fairly dark, and the only light was from a small lamp, so a high ISO was necessary.

1. 7:30am Tristan watching cartoons. 2. 8:30am Madeline waking up. 3. 8:50am Madeline eating yogurt-she wants yogurt everyday. 4. 9:10am Dropping off Tristan at school. 5. 9:11am Tristan waving and blowing kisses goodbye. 6. 9:20am Daily Habit-iced Americano. 7. 9:45am Madeline potty training. 8. 10:30 Dishes-yuck. 9. 12:00pm Macaronia and cheese for lunch. 10. 1:00 Scrapbooking. 11. 1:15 Madeline watching Dragon Tales. 12. 1:30pm Working. 13. 3:00pm Getting on flipflops to go get Tristan (she’ll only wear flipflops now). 14. 3:05pm Quick chat with neighbor/friend Carri. 15. 3:10pm Waiting for Tristan. 16. 3:15pm Tristan and his friend Mattie. 17. 3:16pm The after school hug. 18. All day-Droid. 19. 5:15pm Daddy’s home! 20. 6:00pm Dinner-fajitas. 21. 7:00pm Jammie time. 22. 7:15pm Ice cream treat. 23. 7:30pm Cuddle time. 24. 8:15pm Tristan putting on socks for bed (can’t go to bed without them). 25. 8:20pm Tristan in bed. 26. 9:30pm Madeline sweaty-asleep on my lap.

I’m tired just writing about this day, and it was a pretty uneventful one! I’m going to try and do this at least once a year-there are so many things that change as the years go by, and I think it will be fun to go back and look at what a typical-boring day looked life at different points in our life.

Who would have thought that a picture of feet could tell so much about a relationship. This picture says so much about Madeline and me. Madeline wanted to paint her toenails, just like mine…and she loves wearing her flower shoes, that look like mine. If you look closely though, you’ll see that her toes are a bright pink, while mine are orange…as much as she loves to be like mommy…she definately has an opinion of her own!

I love a good portrait as much as the next girl…but sometimes a different perspective can tell a more complete story.

Be sure to check out my About section for more of my complete story.

My other blog felt more like an exercise in writing, and as much as I love to write, and I love my job editing, I’m just not a hoity-toity grammar girl. So, I think I’m going to transition the other blog into more of a writing blog…for when the urge moves me…but really my life is about so much more.

My spirit is fed when I spend time being creative–whether that be scrapbooking, painting, photography, cooking, crocheting, sewing…I dabble in it all. Note I didn’t say I’m great at it all, because I’m far from it. I do enjoy writing, hence “articulate”, but find that lately I’ve spent more time writing on Facebook, and journaling on scrapbook pages than working on my novel. And I feel that I have a fulfilled life. I have a beautiful family, great friends, a meaningful spiritual life, a valuable job…and though some days I feel like I could pull my hair out…I am utterly fulfilled.