Controlled Chaos

i <3 Cosmo!

So, Cosmo Cricket (one of my favoritest manufacturers ever!) is having a DT call, and I thought I'd give it a shot!  We are supposed to show our projects on our blog, so here are some of my favorite Cosmo Cricket projects!

The Jones Family 1st Annual Memorial Day Camping Trip!
(AkA, the longest title for a mini ever! LOL!)

I used the Mr. Campy and Snorkel lines on this one!  Don't you love how they coordinated so well together even though they are two completely different lines?!

I used stickles to create the stars on this one...

Goofy In Goggles

I made this layout using the Snorkel line!  Isn't it perfect for this picture of Joey with his new swimming goggles?!

Lily Banner

Here is a super fun banner I made for Lily's room!  I'm thinking I'm either going to hang it above her dresser or above her changing table...isn't the Girl Friday perfect for a baby girls' room?!

If you look closely, you can see that the bloom of the flower is actually made up of a bunch of tiny butterfly punches! 

Meeting Auntie Sarah

This layout is all Girl Friday!  I love this line with it's whimsical butterflies and polka dots!  SO cute!

For added dimension, I stickled the title!

Play Time

This layout is also all Girl Friday, but I wanted to show how easy it is to turn it into a boy layout!  By using all the non-pink papers in the line, I was able to scrap these pics of baby Jake without it looking too feminine...

Hello?

This one features some of the Girl Friday line!

Little Swimmer

This one features more Snorkel, I just love this line!

Play

This layout is pretty much all Get Happy from Cosmo, I swear I used this one so many layouts last year and I'm still holding onto the scraps!

Girly Girl

Love love love the soft and sweet colors in Girl Friday and even though I didn't have the chipboard set for the line, I was still able to create a title by cutting out the letters from the patterned paper!

Yum!

This one is also Get Happy, love these newsprint letters, they are so fun to ink and play with!  I used a black ink first and then outlined them with yellow marker, then pop dotted them to pop off the page.

A Typical Joey Look

Cogsmo is still one of my favorite lines ever!  I love robots and the colors and characters here are adorable! I love how easy it is to cut out the cogs and by pop dotting them, they actually look like they could start turning any minute!

Hi Card

This is a fun little card and envelope set featuring the Get Happy line...such a fun and easy way to use up your scraps!

Bus Rider

This layout is so fun!  I used mostly the Snorkel line, but the background paper is from the Jack's World collection...I also used some of the blackboard shapes and used watercolor pencils to color the stop sign...watercolor pencils actually work wonderfully on the blackboard!

Happy Campers

This layout is all Mr. Campy...I think this is probably my most favorite paper collection ever!  The s'mores totally melt my heart! (No pun intended! ;-)

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

This little mini is actually a little photo album that I altered...I think I got it at Michaels for $1.99 on sale, and I just fell in love with the bright yellow color!  I cut out the Popsicle from the Snorkel paper and decided this would be a fun little summer keepsake for Joey to show his friends when he goes back to school in the fall!

 

So there you have it!  My latest and greatest Cosmo projects!  Cross your fingers for me!  I love Cosmo Cricket and would be HONORED to have a spot on their team!  I tried out last year, but didn't make it, so here's hoping for 2nd chances!!!

I'm off to scrapbook some more!  I'm on a roll this week!

Hugs!

-Em

Busy, Busy!

Things have been so crazy the last couple weeks!

On the moving front, we are officially out of the old house and into the new!  We have about 60% of the boxes unpacked, but because of the schedule this last week and this week, it may take us until july to get all the way unpacked!

The birthday party for the boys on Sunday was so fun!  Unfortunately it wasn't hot enough to go swimming in the lake, but the kids all ran crazy on the playground!  There were about twelve kids total and their parents, we had a big cook out with burgers and dogs, and played pin the tail on the donkey and did a pinata.  Overall it was a big ole fun BBQ!
The boys made out like bandits in the gift department for sure!  Remote control cars, hot wheels galore, books, cute summer outfits, movies, a scooter for Joey and a talking construction hat for Jake, super soakers, and the biggest gift of all, the wii!  I think part of the lack of unpacking may be due in part to the wii!  LOL!  We've been playing like crazy!  The boys got a Ben1o game and a Bolt game, and of course it comes with the 5 sports games, so they've had plenty to play with! 
Joey picked up on how to use the controllers within minutes and is already on level three of Ben10 which is a 10+ game!  Jake LOVES the bolt game and likes to play with mommy.  I will hold the controller and he holds the nunchuck so we work as a  team!
After the kids go to bed J and I have been battling it out with the Wii sports!  I rock at bowling and boxing, he's better at golf and baseball...we're pretty evenly matched at tennis though...so funny...after playing for hours one night I woke up the next morning and my shoulder was sooooo sore!  It's the tennis game!  You slam the controller like a tennis racket, and J says my shoulder hurts because my "technique is lacking" HA!  I beat him a lot on tennis, so my technique can't be THAT lacking!  LOL!  We have now coined my sore shoulder as my "Wiinjury" hahaha!

Yesterday I hopped down to Ikea to pick up another expedit because the one I currently have for my scrap stuff won't fit up the stairs!  We are too afraid to take it apart because of how hard it was (and totally drilled incorrectly IKEA!) to get to fit together, so we just bought a new one to put together upstairs in the loft which is where my new scrap space is going to be.  That's on the to-do list for this weekend!

Oh, and tonight is election night at James' local!  He is nonminated for Vice-President!  Wish him luck and cross everything!  We will find out tonight at the meeting if he was elected!  I'm heading down there at about five tonight and will update tomorrow with the news!

This weekend we are going to our friend Michelle and Jorge's house for their kids bday parties...Isaac is turninig 9 and Bella is turning 5!  Hopefully Michelle and I can get in some scrapping time this weekend because we both have MLS projects to work on!

Okay, I'm off to get Lily dressed!  She is being such a stinker lately!  She is definitely a toddler these days, randomly undressing and running around in her diaper, tantrums galore when I won't let her have a drink of my diet coke or coffe (I know, I'm such a MEAN mommy! LOL!) and talking up a storm!  She has so many words these days!   Some new ones include:

Up!
Banana (not just nana, she now says bananananananana!)
Pew!!! (said while smelling her toes! LOL!
Mommy, Daddy (not just mama and dada, she now said Mommmmyyy and Daddddyy!)
Bo-Bo (her nickname for Joey, he loves it)
Kuh (what she calls Jake, I think she's making the K osund at the end of his name)
Car
Vroom!
All Done!
Mine! (this one we're not too excited about! ha!)
Puppy
Baby (this girl loves her some babies!)
Yum Yum!

And those are just a few!  She's quite the chatterbox!

Anyway, I'm gonna go get her dressed, go grab some coffe and maybe unpack a little before Joey heads off to school!  I'm gonna try to find my usb cord for my camera so I can take pics of the house and upload soon!

Hugs!
E

My Little Shoebox June Projects!

As promised!  Here are my June Projects for My Little Shoebox!

Playin' Out Back

Lolipop
 

Goofy Faces

This month we partnered with Clear Scraps Acrylic Albums to create some super fun cuteness!   I got the mini deco book which I made into a purse sized album to showcase my sweet family!

I also received the 8x8 tabbed mini.  I inked the edges with alcohol inks and then made a super fun mini about our Easter this year!  I love how it turned out!  Thanks Clear Scraps!

Be sure to check out the rest of the DT's projects on the MLS blog!

Hugs!
Em

We are moved!

So, the last couple weeks have been INSANE, insane I tell you!

We are all moved into our new house, and tomorrow is both Joey and Jake's Birthday Party at the Lake! 

We had about 5 days to get completely packed and out of the old house and into the new one, and we couldn't have done it without John and Michelle!  They were so great to help us haul our crap out!

I LOVEEEE my new house, it's so much bigger and better laid out, my kitchen is HUGE and the pantries, yes 2 pantries are gigantic!  I actually have the smaller pantry in the kitchen as an art closet for all the kids projects and painting easel, Christmas decorations and games.  Did I mention I love my new house?  I will add pics as soon as we get everything unpacked!

What else is new?

Oh, I think I forgot to mention that J spent a week in DC lobbying congress on behalf of the Carpenters for Universal Healthcare, and Infrastructure funds from the Stimulus package.  He was honored to be there and meeting with congressmen and women.  He met Nancy Pelosi, and our WA state sentaors and congressmen.  He had a great time and also got some AMAZING pics which I will share soon!

We've also been camping a lot, the Carpenter's Union has their own private beach on the lake and we've been taking full advantage!  We have our own campsite all set up whenever we want!  That's where we will be hosting the birthday party tomorrow!

Anyway, there is so much to share, incuding my DT work for MLS, which I promise to do as soon as I get five seconds to sit down and do something besides unpack boxes or make 400 cupcakes!  (The last batch is in the oven as we speak!)  I can't wait for my boys to open their big gift from us (we got them a Wii!!!  Shh!  Don't tell!)

Also..thank you to my neighbor whose internet I'm currently bouncing off of! ;-)

More soon!  I promise!

Night!
Em

Congrats Are In Order!

To my sweet friend Michelle!!!!!!!!

She made it onto the My Little Shoebox Design Team!!!

There were over 400 submissions, I am just so proud  and excited for her!!!!!!!!!!  She will do an amazing job on the team, and  it's going to be so fun working with her..we can work on our monthly DT work together!

Here is what was posted on the My Little Shoebox Blog this morning!  Check out the other talented ladies who made the team!  Such Talent!  Congrats GIRLS!!!!!!!!!!!

Meet our new team members!!

Hi there everyone!!! I would like to thank everyone for their beautiful submissions! Let me tell you, it was the hardest thing for me to do. I never expected 400 submissions!!!
Please help me welcome our wonderful new team members that will be working with the lovely Gretchen McElveen, Erin Yamabe, Danielle Holsapple, Emily Jones, Norma Kennedy, Jana Eubank, Molly Peckham, Michelle Lanning, Pattie Beltran, and Tanisha Long....

Robyn Weatherspoon

Melanie Stanczyk

 

Heidi Sonboul

Pamela Young

Michelle Magana

 

Bethany Kartchner

 

and our correspondents at the MLS newsdesk (they will be making fun videos)

Heather Brown

Erin Payne

Monday Randomness....

So, I've been scrappin A LOT lately!

My great friend Michelle moved here earlier this year from Georgia, and she is just as scrap-obsessed as I am (and amazingly talented, you should click on the link above to check out her work!!) , so it's been great having someone to get together with for scrappy-dates!  We try to get together once a week or so, and it's great because she has two kids close in age to my boys, so they all love each other.....(especially my son Jake, he is just in love with her daughter, Bella!)

So, I spent all of  last Saturday (National Scrapbooking Day!) at Michelle's house and we got a lot done....it was so fun, My birthday was April 27th and Michelle wanted to get together, so we decided to hang out Saturday....so I showed up at like 9;30 in the morning and Michelle had breakfast and coffee waiting, AND she had baked me two birthday cakes!  She's such a sweetheart!

We got down to work, but as soon as I opened up my crop  bag, I realized I had forgotten the most important part of scrapbooking!  MY PICTURES!  AGGHH!!  I was so bummed, but in the end I just made the layouts without the pictures, and just left space for them...for some reason I was able to just go, go, go and I made 4 layouts and a mini!  Crazy!

The mini I made was the one in my last post, the mother's day one....(which, by the way, my mom LOVED, and she did cry, lol)  and here are a couple of the layouts....

The "clouds" are actually Heidi Swapp ghost flowers cut in half!

And here are some other layouts I did the last time Michelle and I scrapbooked a couple weeks ago...

Right now I'm working hard on my June My Little shoebox work, and wait til you see who we are being sponsored by this month!  (I'm working with the Turtle and Trees line this month, which is soooo cute!

Happy Scrapping!
-Em

Mother's Day Treat for me!

My mini album is in the Top Ten at 2peas! Yay!!!

So cool!

Happy Day!

-Em

Happy Mother's Day!

To all you Mommy's out there!

Happy Mother's Day!

Tomorrow I'm heading up to my Aunt's house for a Mother's Day Celebration...I am really looking forward to seeing my momma, it seems like I don't see her enough anymore...I made her a special little mini album with gratitudes inside, I hope she likes it...I showed J when it was finished and he said: "You know She's gonna cry, right?" LOL...it's true, my mom's a crier!

Wanna see the album?

Okay, you twisted my arm!  Here it is:

I used A Chatterbox 5x5 Willow Mini album and Embellishments from the "Eclectique" and "Happy Day" lines, and the papers are Basic Grey from the "Urban Prairie" line...

So that's it...do you think she'll like it?

Make sure you tell your mommy's how much they mean to you this weekend!

Loves!
-Em

My Little Shoebox May Projects!

Hey there!

Thought I'd share my MLS projects for May....this month we were lucky enough to partner with Hambly Studios and use some of their products in conjunction with our MLS product!  I LOVE Hambly, so this was extra fun for me!

Also, this month at My Little Shoebox, we are focusing on showing different techniques with our transparencies and chipboard, so I have added those techniques in my descriptions.  You can find the rest of the MLS DT's techniques and projects here starting May 1st!

Playing Ponies

Journaling:

This was the best $2.99 I ever spent!  I found this My Little Pony house at the goodwill and you fell in love!  You now have4 ponies and love to bounce them around their house!

Technique: I used a nail file on the chipboard letters to create a cross-hatched pattern.

Love Birds

Journaling:

We are totally snuggly lovebirds!  Even after all these years, you still make me weak in the knees!  I am so lucky to have  found you and made a life with you.  I love our beautiful family and I love you! April 2009

Happy Lily

Journaling:

You are always smiling!

Technique: One of my favorite things to do with chipboard titles is to layer the letter for extra depth.  I also ran out of the letter "P" and used letter "a" turned upside down with the tails cut off!

Another technique here is creating personalized embellishments with the transparencies.  I used the "Who's There" flowers and stickled them so they popped right off the page! 

Beach Baby (MLS and Hambly)

J0urnaling:

Lily, I think your fave part of our beach vacation was sitting on the beach in your baby bikini!  Although I don't think you liked the sand too much after you figured out what it tasted like!

Expecting You (MLS and Hambly)

I used my square punch to punch out the MLS patterned paper and the Hambly Overlays!  I didn't know if you could punch through an overlay, but surprise! You can!  I then stitched the squares with my sewing machine and embellished!

Budding Artist (MLS and Hambly)

Journaling:

Lily you loved painting at the Children's Museum!  You were very excited to try it by yourself, and even though you got it EVERYWHERE it was great fun!  You painted such a pretty picture!

I created this paintbrush my free hand drawing the base and stem and used a die cut heart turned upside down for the brush!  I then flicked pink paint on the top and bottom of the overlay for added texture.

Congrats Card (MLS and Hambly)

So there they are!

Also, if you get a chance stop on over to Bella Blvd, where I am featured!

And oh yeah.....It's my birthday! ;-) Happy 25 to me!

-Em

Update

Hey!  I've fallen off the face of the earth!  Sorry!

My laptop is once again (DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THAT AGAIN) is in the shop.  Possibly from me throwing it off a 14 story building.  Okay, so maybe only in my fantasies. hehee...I hate that thing!
I am writing from J's computer, which is hard to get onto between him and the boys fighting over it! 

Not much to share today, lots of stuff going on at Joey's school, a couple projects and oh yea!  Joey's teacher finally got him tested for the gifted program and surprised us all by placing out of Kindergarten and into Second Grade!  How cool is that?!  He is such a smart cookie and we are so proud of him.  He is going to get some special work in the classroom and more one on one time with his teacher until the end of the school year and then next year will be a part of the gifted program that starts in first grade.  We made a decision a couple years back when we realized that he was very smart that we wouldn't want him to skip a grade.  I have known and heard people say that it did more damage than good to their child emotionally and socially to have them skip.  Do you have any experience in this?

What else have we been up to?  Hmmmm....well Sunday we went to the zoo with our friends John, Jana and baby Burton and had a great time!  Then Monday I babysat little Burton for John while he worked.  It was so fun (and exhausting!) to have another little baby in the house!  It was like a glimpse of what life would be like if Lily had been a twin!  Burton was great though, and ended up really clicking with Jake!  It was so cute, he kept climbing on Jake's back and hugging him.  At one point they snuggled up together under Jake's blankey and Burton almost fell asleep!  So cute!

Oh!  I also forgot to share that I got two layouts picked up for Scrapbook Trends!  One is for the September Issue and the other is for their Holiday Idea Book!  I'm so psyched! 

So, Monday is my birthday, the big 25!  LOL!  We are planning on celebrating on Friday at weekly poker night with my friend Jana, who's birthday is the day before mine, so we'll have a double celebration....then Sunday we're heading over to my parents house for my bday dinner.  I feel old this year.  LOL....I always feel older than my birthday though.  I feel like this year should be 35 not 25!  I think it's just because a lot has happened in the last 7 years! 

So that's what's up with me!  I am knee deep in my May projects for My Little Shoebox, and they are turning out CUTE!  I can't wait to share them! 

Oh!  And I hope you are voting for my boyfriend on American Idol!  He's gonna win!! I just know it!

Have a great day!
-Em