document life now

black and whites

There are my children.

New kit: Bloom and Grow

Oh, doesn't that kit title just make you think of a bunch of kids wearing old, wet curtains, singing a beautiful song for their Dad and his new lady friend?

This kit has absolutely nothing to do with that movie. 

bloom and grow is available here

here's some layouts by my wonderful team!

by Sharon

by Lynett

Next week is National Scrapbook Day. I have *two* kits being released, plus my favorite set of templates and a Free with Purchase offer! See you then!

my boys

I didn't get many Easter shots of Brady. He's just not much for posing.

So I made my other boy pose. Actually, I got him mid-run. He was missing me and he was on his way back to my side.

One boy who can't wait to leave my side. And another little guy who never wants to be far from me. It's all very strange.

Kiah

Kiah and I did a photo shoot on Friday night.

Dan says this was dangerous. I promise there were no trains anywhere near us.

And if he thinks that was dangerous, this was taken in the middle of main street. On a Friday night. I'm telling you, Ellsworth, KS is a rockin place.

 

Mykiah is such a josher.

I did a cloud picture with her, too.

This is my favorite from Friday night.

Chesney

Some Easter weekend photos of Chesney:

love those fluffy clouds behind her. I couldn't get the lighting on her face quite right, but I wanted those clouds. Needed a reflector, I think.

She tossed her basket in the air. And the eggs came tumbling down. They were empty. She was just playing hide and seek with them.

a travel journal project

I can't imagine a better collaboration than Big Picture Classes and The Daily Digi. They were totally meant to be together.

Completely blown away that I was asked to be a part of that collaboration. It was a simple email that turned into a bunch of emails which I answered during breaks in an inservice.

The result is Come Away With Me, my self-paced travel journal project, being offered as a free class at Big Picture.

It's amazing. I'm honored, and excited, and happy that all of you can access this project. For free!

You don't need to be a digital scrapbooker to do this project. If you can use a printer, a pair of scissors and a glue stick, you can do this project. If you are a digital scrapbooker, the downloads include simple templates you can use to create custom pages. 

However you do it, you'll end up with a travel journal that you can take with you on any trip. The journal will include prompts to help you capture the details of your trip on paper. I still have mine from this project, and I love to look through it and read it again. It makes me laugh, and smile and remember. It's a keepsake on its own. 

If you haven't before, check out Big Picture Classes. My class will be a great way for you to try them out -- free -- and maybe it will spark your interest in some other classes you can take. 

P.S. Please do not watch the video of me welcoming you to class. That is the stuff of horror movies for me. 

Thank You Easter Bunny!

Chesney leaves the Easter Bunny notes. And the Tooth Fairy and Santa and all those magical creatures. She probably leaves notes for Dobby, our House Elf.

The Easter Bunny left her a basket. Pretty much everything she ever wanted. Monster High doll, Squinkies and Reese's. Plus a crazy eyed duck.

EB also left a basket for Kiah. It was a carrot shaped basket (cuz all she eats is carrots... get it?). She got travel size stuff from Bath and Body Works, a pack of gum, and a few candies. Which she ate that day.

Brady had a gift bag. No basket for him. He had the book "I Am Number Four" some Skittles and Nerds, a pack of baseball cards, and a keychain. Oh yeah, and all the kids had a drink -- Snapple or Vitamin Water or Bug Juice.

We also dyed eggs.

and made Easter baskets...

It was a good weekend.

we are a reading family

(except Dan)

Since I was a young girl, I have loved to read. I'm told I get this from my mom, who would read while she was driving the horse and buggy to school. Or walking. Whatever.

I can't remember a time in my life when I have not had a book going. I'm not like Chesney, who can have 2-3 books in progress at a time. I read one at a time. Right now, I'm working my way through J.D. Robb's "In Death" series. 

My kids are readers as well. Brady wasn't, but circumstances last year left him with a lot of free time during his school day, and I loaned him "The Stand" by Stephen King. My favorite book of all time... and the book that got him hooked on reading. He recently finished "It" and says it's his favorite. It's a good book, so I won't hold that against him. Right now he's reading "Nathaniel" by John Saul. Kathy, you remember that one. Definitely one of those books I remember having a big influence during my teen years.

Kiah is reading another of those rite of passage books -- Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews. I just think you can't be a teenage girl without a little V.C. Andrews. She's asking a lot of questions though. And not the ones you'd think she'd be asking if you've read the book.

Ches is a huge Percy Jackson fan. She's also still trying to work her way through Harry Potter (I think she's on 5), and just finished The Secret Garden.

On Saturday afternoon, my mom took two of my children out geocaching (which should probably be it's own blog post some day) and Kiah and I sat upstairs and read. At some point, I grabbed my camera. 

And captured our shared passion.

Easter Weekend Freebie... grab it quick!

I am feeling generous (and not at all like loading things into my shoppe, which is a little counterproductive to the ole business plan) so I thought I'd give away one of my favorite templates. 

This actually a template I created from an ancient layout:

And then I updated it a bit last night:

It's clean, classic lines for the template. That's all me. I've always loved using a bunch of color and think I did a pretty good job in both of these at choosing kits which complement the photos. Same girl by the way. Amazing the difference, isn't it?

If you like the clean lines and big photo (which I know is totally out of style right now, but I can't help but love them), I've got a template for you!

Download by clicking here:  Sorry, this download is no longer available. Please see my shoppe for other great templates!

The freebie will be available until sometime on Sunday evening. I'll disable it whenever I get a chance to sit down after our Easter festivities. Grab it now, and tell your friends!

 

foot fetish

For some reason, I cannot help but take a photo of my feet when I'm laying next to water.

Once spring hits, I'm in flip flops about 90% of the time. I would usually kick them off when we get to the beach, but I was working on my flip flop tan. Or I was lazy. One of those.

Then I turned my camera towards Mykiah's black toes. She painted them that way. On purpose.

I love the way the sand is sticking to her toes.

Oh no. Now I've got "Toes" by Zac Brown Band in my head. Mykiah hates that song. Ironic, isn't it?