before i go...

...i just wanted to share a few more pages I've done over the last little while.






Okay, can we talk about this freakin' awesome chandelier stamp??? I love it. LOVE it.




My Gabby girl in her tutu...(I was very scared to scrapbook these photos!)









And Payton...


(I stamped directly on the mirror butterfly using stazon ink)




And my sign-page and layout for Kim's circle journal.... (Kim, don't look if you want it to be a surprise!)






And last, these two pages I did of my girlies...





Remember a while back I had mentioned that I want to start duplicating layouts for both of my girls? You know....when you do a cute page, then just do another one for your other kid(s). I love this concept. Not every page has to be a masterpiece and 100% original. I think it's fun to re-create and re-do. And for me, these 2 pages were more about the process and just having fun, rather than trying to get another layout completed for their albums. I was staring at all of my Love, Elsie stuff and just went to town. Fun, fun. And you know what? I didn't stop there...these pages came together so easily that I did another one of Graham, and then one of our whole family, too! Yup...that's 4 similar layouts, and I love them! (Oh, and a little side-note: I had all of these little square pictures left over from another project, and they've been so awesome to have on hand when I want to quickly do a page. I'm gonna keep on using them till they're gone!)




Okay....I am officially saying bye-bye to blogland for the next week. We're off tomorrow morning for sunny California and I can't wait. Disneyland, here we come!!!




T:)

a little peek...

...at Payton's "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" dance at her recital on Saturday morning.

Everything went awesome, no problems at all, except our camera battery ran out, of course. AAaaarrgghh! Hence the 30 second video. Ah, well...what do you do? We did get a couple videos of her practicing the whole routine at the studio, so at least we have something. Freakin' batteries! Always dying when you need 'em. The one thing I forgot to check the night before! Anyways, she was adorable and her class was so cute...they actually watched their teacher (for the most part) and they were great. My big girl! So now we're done dancing for the summer...and in the fall she'll be doing tap, too. She's very excited to get tap shoes!



Here's a layout I did of Payton in her costume...I've been so inspired by Kim's little flaps that she's been doing on her pages...so thanks Kim! I've never been good at using multiple photos on a page, so this has been fun.










We leave for Disneyland on Saturday morning, so I've just been busy getting things ready to go. I cannot wait...it'll be fun to have a little getaway.



Oh, and I've updated my scrapbook album for anyone who wants to take a peek.
See you soon!



Tal:)

happy father's day

Hope everyone has a Happy Father's Day today and spoils their daddy's and hubby's. This is the "card" that I made for Gray...












Every year I make him a card, and this year I thought, why not make the card an actual scrapbook page? That way I know it'll never get lost, and he'll always be able to look back on it. And Gray really does love and appreciate my scrapbooking, so I think he'll like it. This is something I think I want to keep doing, for any occasion...I love the idea of "Layout Cards"...aahhhh! My mind is spinning with all the possibilities. So excited.



Anyways, the other morning the girls and I quickly took some pictures for Daddy with Father's Day in mind. It was fun to fit so many pictures on 1 layout...this "card" makes me so happy!! Oh, and inside the brown envelope is a letter from me, and a picture that Payton drew for Daddy. And for Graham's present I got him a broom...may not sound very exciting, but he's always using my broom to sweep the yucky floors in the garage, and then when I go to sweep the kitchen, all the dust and dirt from the garage gets all over my floor. So I got Gray his very own broom with a note that says "Stop using my broom. Love You. Happy Father's Day." I think Gray will get a good laugh at that.



Have a great Sunday!!




Tal:)

a quick share...

If you haven't been to the Goodie box yet this month, it's all about fabric. I posted this pillow today, you can see more images here. I just love fabric...it's been fun to play around with it this month and challenge myself a little bit. Now there are so many projects I want to do...if only there were more hours in the day!



June has been a crazy month. Payton had her last day of ballet yesterday and her year-end recital is this Saturday...let's hope all goes well and we don't have another incident like this one. Aaaahhh!!



So did anyone watch "so u think u can dance" last night? Aaaaahhh! Love it! It's hard to tell who my favorites are so far, but there were definatley some that stood out to me more than others...we'll see what happens tonight!


I'm busy today cleaning my house and just trying to get my life in order (thanks mom for watching the girls today). I was reading this post of Maggie's the other day and I totally relate...I go crazy when my house is a disaster, but I could honestly follow my kids ALL DAY LONG and clean up after them. Trying to find the balance between having a clean house and still finding time to play with kids without everything being a complete disaster. Is this even possible?


Anyways...excited for Father's Day this Sunday. I've already got Graham's gift (hope he likes it!) and I even made something for him yesterday, too, that I LOVE. I'll share those things later! Next week will be another busy week and then Gray, Payton and I are headed to the happiest place on earth. I can't wait...I need to get away and I can't wait to see this place from a child's perspective again. Payton will be in heaven. And Gabby will, too...being spoiled by nana for a week is just as good! (thanks again, mom!)


Okay, off I go to clean a little bit more before everything gets messy as soon as the kiddies get home! hehe!



Tal:)

pictures galore

Okay, just a fair warning...I went a little camera happy today, so I've posted LOTS of pictures! I couldn't help myself. You know how it is...you take pictures of your kids, and being the parent, it's impossible to pick out the "best" pictures 'cause you think they're ALL cute. That's what happened to me today. I decided to get the girls in their tutus this morning and with daddy's help we did a little photoshoot. Payton...easy as usual to take pictures of. Gabby...oh, my goodness. Literally didn't look at the camera once, and was basically screaming her head off if daddy wasn't holding her. Oy. But I think still think she's cute. (wink!)


















There's something about little girls in tutus...lovelovelove. I will never get bored of taking tutu pictures. Just so feminine and young and girly. I dread the day when I have teenagers and I can't do this kind of thing! (hehe) I ordered the bright tutus from here, and my mom made the light pink and the seafoam tutus. The girls love getting them on and dancing around the house...I have to hide them so they don't destroy them while I'm not looking.



Anyways, lots of photos today, I know...one of the main reasons I blog is because this is a journal for myself to look back on. Sometimes I post for me, and sometimes I post for others. So thanks for stopping by, I hope everyone's having a good weekend!!



Tal:)

friends

Whoa...another post already??? I know, I can't believe it either. But I've been playing around with these pictures of my friend Kristin and I, and I just had to post them.



This is my friend Kristin. And we literally have been friends forever. Our mom's were friends when they were pregnant with us, and since they went to church together...we've been friends since we were babies! Kristin moved away when we were about 7 years old, but we always managed to keep in touch...she has family here that she visited almost every summer so we always got to "play" whenever she came home. We were major letter writers. Like, the doodled, 10-page letters talking about every single person in our grade that year, what boys we liked, who our best friends were, etc, etc, etc. Typical, typical tween stuff. So hilarious. I even went on a plane all by myself (gasp!) when I was about 10 or 11 to visit her in BC...that was a big deal! I remember that trip...the puffy bangs, matching peace sign neclaces and jumping on the trampoline.



I have been so blessed in my life with so many amazing life-long friends. And Kristin is one of them. We are actually very different...and that's what I think is so cool about how great we get along. When we get together, it's just constant laughing. Like the I know-we're-totally-annoying-everyone-around-us-right-now-but-we-
can't-help-it kind of laughing. Oh, I love it! Now, we're both mommies...I live here in Edmonton, she lives in Colorado...but does it really matter? Nope. There's always something to laugh about, something to chat about, something to catch up on. I love that.



My hubby took these pictures of us last night on our way to a movie...so glad to have these. We went to a chick-flick...has anyone seen "Made of Honor"? We had some good laughs. Cute movie. Go see it with a girlfriend. Much more fun that way if you ask me!



I love friends...get some of your girlfriends and take some pictures together! It's a great reminder of how lucky we are to have these special relationships.



T:)



(p.s...Kristin...instead of a 2-page description of your face, I thought I'd go with the pictures...hee hee!)

pictures and projects

Well, good weather is finally here and I am officially becoming a crappy blogger! That always happens in the spring and summer for me...I have a hard time focusing and making myself do things...it's much more fun to be outside with my kids!



I've been wanting to share this little mini album that I did at our scrapbook night in June...it is 100% inspired by Kim's project that she did at the Goodie Box last month...when I saw it, I had to make one for myself, and I thought it worked perfectly for Payton's birthday pictures. Thanks, Kimmy!






(You can see the rest of the album here.)




And another simple page that I did a while back...nothing too exciting, but I least I got the memory in my scrapbook, right?





And some pictures that I snapped of the girls today...man, that Gabby is a hard one to take pictures of! She was running away from me the entire time...just wanted to play!









Off to put the kids to bed...this day has flown by. Whew!




Tal:)

all done

So, after a loooong week (and a bit) our floors are done. The carpet, too. I had to take a picture this morning while everything was clean and swept and vaccumed...just to prove that once in a blue moon my house is clean. (even if it only last for a few minutes!) I love how they turned out. I had it in my head that I wanted dark floors and I'm so glad we went with it. And the carpet is soooo awesome...just totally soft and comfy. I love it!! The house feels totally different now. It's definately starting to feel more like "us"...moving is such a long process. We've been here for 6 months, and it's just been the past couple that this has felt like "home". So I'm happy.



And a new addition to my kitchen:




I found these jars at Walmart and had to get them, even though I had no idea what I was going to do with them. So yesterday I filled them with (fake) fruit, and voila! A new kitchen decoration. I love the bright colors and the black lids.



So, I'm hoping life will get back to normal now that all of this house stuff is done and over with. I just don't do well when my house is a disaster, so I think this afternoon I'll just recover by taking a nap (heehee). We'll see if the kids let me. I'm sure they won't, but it's worth a shot!


Wish me luck!!


Tal xo

reads

So it's Saturday night, 10pm and I can't bring myself to do anything except waste time on the computer...I wish I could bring myself to scrapbook but my room's a mess and I don't have the energy to clean it. Messiness really sucks the creativity out of me.


However, I AM reading this book right now. If you're a fan of the "Twilight" series, then get your hands on this one! I'm just at the beginning, but LOVING it so far. Love, love, love it.


Oh, and go here to see a movie trailer for "Twilight"...Karly, we are SO waiting in line for this movie and watching it on opening night! I can't wait!!!!



(Did you guess that I loooove the Twilight series?)