Some sweet moves!

I love these fun little videos! Check out how "smooth" Bob and I are!!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

I did it!

I just did it!! I signed up for a Demonstrator Website through Stampin Up! I've debated on whether to get one or not, if it would be worth it, etc., etc., etc. Since we're doing the boutique this weekend, I thought it would be great advertisement, an easy way for customers to contact me, etc. (Have I said that enough yet??) Anyway, it's DONE!! Let the orders begin!!!!

Fun Family Photos

We had family pictures taken on Saturday by Kenzi's brother-in-law at Jensen Park in Syracuse. We had a great time and got some really great pictures of all of us! We have the cutest kids ever...if I do say so myself!! I also have an amazingly adorable dog!! Libby's cute too...just not as cute as Charlie!! :) I'll post more as Maddi gets them PhotoShop-ed.

We've been busy!

Kenzi, Dana, and I have been busy working on the boutique. We took more pictures of our projects to show everyone...it's been fun but stressful! The photos aren't the best...not much lighting but something is better than nothing, right??

These little tins are full of candy. We did two different sizes.

I made about 60 gift card holders that are tri-fold. They are adorable! I did baby boy and girl, birthday, wedding, and Christmas.

Holder folded up (held by a Velcro dot behind the snowman)

Holder opened up. The gift card goes where the red section is.

There's room to write above and below.

This is one of the baby boy ones. Love it!!

Another gift card holder. Made quite a few of these.

We made a TON of Christmas cards! All different ones...FUN!!

This is another little gift card holder. I only made 3 of them because

they were terribly time-consuming!

Kenzi made a ton of these adorable Explosion Boxes. When they are folded up, they look like a box. When you take the lid off, they open up to a photo album. You could put a ton of pictures on them...all different sizes.

I fell in love with the gift bag/coordinating card idea. I've made all different versions of these.

Birthday set

Snowflake/Christmas bag set

We also made a lot of different little photo albums out of clear envelopes. Such a cute idea!

(Love these bears and skeeter spray!!)

Snowman Soup packets would make a GREAT neighborhood gift or Visiting Teaching gift. Sammi is making them for her little Primary kids. Cute huh??

I've made several versions of this notecard box and matching cards. They are so easy and cute!

Dana made these adorable little birthday cards out of punches. How cute are they??

I can honestly say this is a "drop in the bucket" of what we've made but there isn't enough time to post them all! I'll get the address of the boutique and you can come check it out in real life!! :)

Quick prized photo...

Last month, Mallorie and I were able to attend the sealing of her best friend in the Bountiful LDS Temple. It was such a great day to be able spend time with her in a holy place, enjoy a great lunch, and do some shopping at Gateway. While we were waiting for Ali and her new hubby to come out of the temple, we were talking with the Evans family. Brice, their oldest son whipped out his Blackberry and snapped this great picture of the two of us. Isn't she a sweetie?? I'm such a proud mom!! :)

Christmas Boutique Projects

I think I've mentioned before, Kenzi, her sister Dana, and I are working on projects for a boutique in Brigham City on December 6. We're frantically trying to decide what we want to mass produce but keep coming up with more and more adorable projects! Someone needs to ground me from looking at blogs because I find so many wonderful things out there that I want to try! Becky Roberts has been a great source of inspiration! She's incredibly talented and willing to share all her "stuff." I found these adorable milk cartons and holders on her blog and made five of them on Saturday. They're kind of time-consuming but so much fun! You could fill them with goodies (candy) or little toys. So much fun!!

Becky also did a "12 Days of Christmas" instruction packet that was amazing! There are so many great projects in there as well as detailed instructions with pictures. We've made most of the projects in there and then are deciding which ones to mass produce. These little magazine holders and cards are adorable and would make such a cute gift!

Then, I joined a group called "UStamp 08 Holidays" that have several projects posted. One was this adorable "Advent Calendar" which uses Decor Elements vinyl from Stampin Up! I'm so pleased with the way it turned out but worry about how much time it took me (The little dots around the inside oval didn't come off when I separated the papers. I ended up picking them out with a needle!! ARGH!! But...the look is WONDERFUL!) In the little envelopes, you write "service" type projects for you family to do each day like "Bake cookies," "Write a thank you note to the owners of your favorite Christmas-decorated house," "Read a story to neighbor children," etc. They're adorable!! (I use that word a lot!! :) )

I tried taking a picture of this in a frame stand but the flash kept reflecting off the glass in the picture frame. Finally, I gave up and put it flat on the "Diet Coke" table. It looks MUCH better in the stand but you get the idea. The little envelopes are held on with magnets and a decorated clip. Too cute!!

I'll post more projects and details about the boutique as we get them!

A busy month!

I can't believe how long it's been since I posted! It's been pretty crazy around here with school and stamping. Kenzi's sister, Dana, arranged for us to be part of a bazarre in Brigham City on December 6. We've been frantically getting ready for that--making projects, coming up with ideas, etc. It's fun to have an "excuse" to create BUT, it's a lot of stress and money!!

A few of the ladies at school asked me to come up with a craft for Thanksgiving. It was a lot of fun to get together outside of school (even though it was at the school). I had a great set-up outside my classroom with a lot of tables and tons of room. Oh, to have something like that at home!! This is the project we made...

On the back, I did lines with a stamp at the top that says "Thankful Thoughts." At your Thanksgiving celebration, each family member could write down what they are thankful for. You could either wrap it with ribbon and keep it to review each year OR, cut each letter at the scoreline (6") and put it into a 6x6 brag book. That way, it's protected and you can look at it throughout the year. I think we're going to do this at our celebration. Kenzi's already sold some to ladies at her work (ready-made) and also some for Christmas. (The catch there is...we haven't created one yet!! Guess we'd better get busy!! :) )

Charlie's first snow!!

Believe it or not, we were actually thrilled to wake up to 3" of snow this morning! It meant we were all home for Charlie's first snow storm! (I was afraid it was going to happen on a weekday and I'd have to call in "sick" to stay home and watch him play. At least we had a few minutes to enjoy it before 8:30 church!!) At first, he didn't know quite what to do with it but quickly figured out it was LOTS of fun!! He's been out most of the time since we got home from church (which is unusual) and comes in soaking wet! That fur holds a ton of water and snow!! The paws and legs end up with snowballs...too much fun!!

I uploaded a video on YouTube (our first). I apologize in advance for video of the "morning potty break" but when you gotta go, you gotta go!

What a GREAT weekend!!

This has been a terrific weekend!! It started Friday night when a local book store, Deseret Book, had various artists and authors in for signings. Adorable Jason Wright was there so, of course, Sammi, Kenzi, and I had to go see him and get autographed copies of Recovering Charles.

It was GREAT to visit with him and hear a little bit more about New Orleans. (You really should read the book! It's got a great message!!)

After visiting with Jason, we wandered over to see one of my favorite artists, Greg Olsen.

I've already got one of his paintings hanging in the living room but wanted to see what new pieces he has out. (I wish I had an unlimited budget and I'd cover the walls with them for all seasons! He's AMAZING!!) Standing around waiting to talk to him for a minute, the girls and I found one of his new paintings called "Walk with Me."

I instantly fell in love with it; I loved the way it was framed (it matched the living room so much better than the other one)! We checked out the price (1/2 off!!!!!!) and the girls convinced me I needed to get it. I was kidding around and said I would as long as he would sign it for me. WELL THAT WAS EASY!!!!! So...I have a personalized Greg Olsen painting hanging in my living room now!! It's stunning!! I'm so excited!! Needless to say, the shopping trip was much more than I expected but I'm not sorry!

Yesterday, we had the baby shower for Mysha and Jason. It was so much fun and they got so many adorable things for the baby. She's ready to have her any day and now has a lot of things to take care of her. It made me want to be a GRANDMA!! Someday.......

Last night, the guys went to the Priesthood session of Conference so I took the girls to dinner and a movie at the Salomon Center in Ogden. They'd all been there before but I hadn't. What a great place for Ogden!! We went to dinner at Costa Vida (great burritos) and then went to see the movie, Forever Strong.

What an AMAZING movie!!!!! It's the story of the Highland Rugby team here in Salt Lake City. The coach, Larry Gelwix has a great philosophy of raising championship boys rather than a championship team. In his career of over 30 years as coach, he's won 361 games and lost 9. The comraderie, sense of family, and integrity he has on his teams far out surpasses his statistics of winning games. It was touching, funny, and incredibly inspirational. I recommend it HIGHLY!!

Today will be nice and relaxing as we watch two sessions of LDS Conference. We weren't able to watch much yesterday but will all day today. Traditionally, it's a fun and relaxing "Stamping Day" for Kenzi and I so I'll post what we make later.

Baby Shower Gifts

Kenzi, Mallorie, Sammi, Maddi, and I are giving my niece a baby shower on Saturday. We decided to make her some homemade gifts rather than go buy something. We worked on it all day Saturday and most of the day Sunday. We're really excited about it! I hope all goes well...

Here are some of the projects we made:

These are cute little boxes for "favors" that are made from cardstock, designer paper, and Tootsie Pops! The stamp set is retired but I LOVE it!! (Baby Firsts)
We also made little baby flower circles (like on the Tootsie Pops) that we put on York Peppermint Patties and Reece's Peanut Butter cups. We stuck some on the top of PixieSticks and will put them in jars as "flowers." We made HUNDREDS of the little things!! (Someone miscounted but we won't mention any names..... :) )

We are also making a 6x6 scrapbook for her. We're still working on pages and waiting for the binder to be delivered. I'll post that when we get it all finished. Here are some of the pages though. I took pictures of them as a "spread" so you get the full effect as she will turn the pages.

This is the inside cover (first page). The joke now is they aren't sure of the name: Ella Abigail. I guess Grandma jumped the gun when she told me. I'll just fix it when the baby's born or make a new page. It was pretty funny last night though.

This is the "stats" page. I ran the right side off on the computer and then cut it out. She can add pictures from there.