Smiling.

I've been kind of in a slump lately. For the past several weeks. Just feeling very... not myself. It's been strange. But then the other day, when I started scrapping again?! I felt SO good! I guess I forgot how much I love to scrap. Or how much I enjoy it. It was such a nice feeling to realize that I'm in a better mood if I'm sure to do something crafty. Tee hee. Lots of smiles here now. :D

Last night, I finished this layout:



*sigh* I had such a great time doing this layout. For several reasons...

1. My nieces are the most beautiful girls in the world. :)

2. I used up ALL (but one) of my Sassafras chipboard flowers.

3. I used a scalloped square punch to make the photo corners (I just cut it in half; then cut the centers out).

4. I actually used a *colored* background! (go me!)

5. I got to use some Thickers I had not opened yet. :)

6. My nieces are the most beautiful girls in the world. :D

And I can't wait to scrap some more...

Crafting.

Sometimes, I can be a real dork. Soooooometimes... ;)

So... I have these red shoes, right?! Super adorable red mary-janes?! Remember?! Yes. And sometimes when I wear them with a non-red outfit, I need something else red (according to my friends at Studio Calico... and you know, most women...) to "tie" it all together. So I jumped on Etsy to find a cute, red bracelet. Well, I sifted through about a hundred bracelets before I realized something...

Hey! I'm crafty!

Yes, after scrapbooking and altering stuff for about three years, I'm just realizing this.

I could make my *own* bracelet! HA! And it would be free! Well, relatively free. :)

I called my mom to tell her this. I was like, "Hey, Mom! I'm crafty!" And her response in a very cute, I'm-trying-to-be-cool-but-can't-really-pull-it-off voice?! "Ya think?!?!?" That made me giggle.

Anywho, I got to work with some yellow ribbon, some red buttons, a little red flower, embroidery floss and a needle. Oh! And then I picked up some snaps at Michaels. :)


I REALLY love this bracelet. I can't wait to wear it! Yay. :) And my arms are kinda hairy. Sorry about that.

And posting this reminds me of something else crafty that I did recently...


I have my oven mitts (because they're cute) and my apron (because it's this one ... the cutest apron EVER) hanging on the wall in the kitchen. This red oven mitt was boring, so I sewed on a felt flower (from American Crafts) with blue embroidery floss. Much cuter now! I'll try to take a photo of that whole wall sometime, but it's really hard because the fridge is in the way. LOL. And I'm not sure why you'd want to see a photo of my kitchen wall...

And after I was all happy after realizing that I'm crafty, I also realized that I haven't scrapped since May 4th! FOURTEEN DAYS! So yesterday, I did two layouts and started a third. Here are the last three layouts I did:

[removed for publication]

This shopping trip happened TWO years ago, and I've been wanting to scrap it since then. But I didn't feel inspired until now. :) I really love how it turned out. I should have taken a picture of it in better lighting. Yuck!

And then this layout I did about this cRaZy house we saw in Newport, Rhode Island. Seriously, who needs 19 ladders?! They only had 3 or 4 dudes working. Laaaa-zzzy! And this cool-awesome-neato-wow paper from Studio Calico?! Perfect for this photo! I was so excited when it arrived on my doorstep. (My friend Michelle came up with the title for this layout...)


It's been a while since I've loved a layout I've done. Like... LOVED a layout. As in... finished it and said to myself, "I LOVE THIS!" That's rare for me. So imagine my surprise, when I finished this next layout in about an hour and then said to myself, "I LOVE THIS!" It doesn't hurt that my hubby's cutey face is staring back at me.

I love that I ventured from my go-to white cardstock. Black! Me! Yay! And... I don't like chipboard much. I don't like stickers much either. So it surprised my socks off when I did this entire layout with stickers and chipboard stickers (all Sassafras except the letter stickers, which are Heidi Swapp)! LOL. I'm growing, I think... LOL.


That is all for today. Lots of photos.

And I think I may be becoming crafty...

Introducing.

Last July, a cat appeared at our building. She was so sweet, purring and rubbing up against me and the puppies. She took a liking to them RIGHT away. Following them around, trying to cuddle them on our walks. Very sweet. The puppies loved it... at first. LOL. Then they were like, "Whoa, Kitty! Back off! I'm trying to pee here!" They snapped at her a few times when she didn't let up.

And she did.not.care. At all. She still followed us EVERYwhere. If she wasn't outside when we came out for a walk, she'd find us. And she'd follow us on our walk (again, brushing up along side of them while they tried to do their business). If she didn't like the route we were taking home, she'd go a different way and meet us back at the stairs.

A few months ago, she started following us *all* the way up to the 3rd floor. So... we let her in. Then we started feeding her and loving her. Hey, she loves us! And she's cute! And sweet! And hungry! And, and, and...





She doesn't have a family. So she adopted us. And we call her Kissa (which is Swedish for "cat"). I so enjoy having her in our home. She doesn't sleep overnight, and that's fine with me (and my asthma... tee hee). And when we move, I'm pretty sure we'll take her with us. :)

Flowering.

I would love to buy fresh flowers every day. They're just so... lovely. :)

I saw these at the grocery store tonight... for only $3.33... how could I pass them up?!

I heart flowers. :)

Reading.

Mairen (my sister's youngest) talked pretty late, but then she started reciting her alphabet at three. At age 3 1/2, she was sounding out letters and learning her sight words.

And now, at age 4, she's reading:



She is in Pre-School, but they're not teaching this at her school. My sister works with her at home.

Gosh, she's just the cutest. :)

Beautifying.

No. Way.

Seriously?!

No way.

There is NO way that is my sister and my 7-year-old nieces. *sigh*

I think every time I see photos of them I'm in shock and awe that they're my family. They are just SO gorgeous! Just gorgeous!

And Alaura? (on the right) She looks like she's about twelve. Not seven. LOL. Brenna has that cute haircut... that really keeps her around age seven. But really, Alaura has this smoldering thing going on. LOL. I can't get over it.

Shaina took them out to get *fancy* dresses (she fixed them to fit) and surprised them with tickets to see Taylor Swift. Apparently, they screamed and screamed... they just couldn't believe it. She has it on video. As soon as I teach her how to upload videos to YouTube, I'll post it here. Tee hee.

So they got all dressed up and headed out. They returned at midnight. They had a *fabulous* time. I can't believe how fast time is going.

Weren't they *just* babies?! Didn't I *just* see them for the first time seven short years ago?! I just can't get over it. And my sister... I knew she'd be a great mom. But I never really realized *how* good she'd be. She's amazing. Those girls are amazing. Her other daugther, Mairen? Amazing.

I'm so blessed.

Lounging.

Six years ago today, I got an email from Karen at Glory Ridge. Rosey and Reilly had puppies. (Well, Rosey had the puppies. Reilly just helped out at the beginning... ;)

We had planned on getting ONE puppy. ONE Shih-Tzu puppy... that was red and white and to be named Ruby. That was our plan.

So after much oohing and awwing over the six pups, we chose puppy #3. And she was Ruby. Right then and there. She would have been Ruby Tuesday, but she wasn't born on a Tuesday... so Ruby Monday she became. :)

We got updated with weekly photos. And at two weeks of age, one of the puppies was unclaimed. Puppy #6. There was nothing *wrong* with Puppy #6. She was cute enough... as a 2-week-old puppy could be. And NONE of Karen's puppies go unclaimed. They ALL get adopted by nine weeks of age. But most of them are snatched up the day they're born.

Jeremy took this as a sign. He whined and whined. Arguing that *he* needed a puppy too... so we could *each* have a puppy to love and cuddle. It wouldn't be fair to Ruby to not have a sister, to not have a playmate.

We debated that if we paid for Puppy #6 in full (we were making payments for Ruby over a 2-month period), we would get quite a discount and could then afford two puppies. *sigh* We just fell in love with her. We had to adopt her too. I told Jeremy to choose a name that was also a jewel or gemstone. I thought of Golden, but he came up with Amber, and it was perfect. :)

They arrived on July 13th... I think. LOL. Pretty sure. Amber was so timid... like a little lamb. And we had Amber Lamb put on her papers. :) I call her Lamb just as much as I call her Amber. Or Amber Lamber... or Lammie. Or Jeremy calls her Lamberto (said with thick Spanish accent)... LOL. We call her Nubbers and Ammie Lammie and Amber Bamber.

And Ruby is Roobs. Or Ruby Booby. Booby. Boobs (yeah, I know... we're weird). Bubs. Bubbers. Boobahs.

They both get called Ninja. "Come on, Ninjas! Let's go outside!"

We had photos of them EVERY week for the first two months of their lives. Then when they came home to us, we took LOTS of photos (of course). *sigh* Unfortunately, all photos from the first year of their lives were lost in our move from California to Rhode Island. The hard-drive fried.

That "fall into love" photo up at the top?! I took the photo, and the breeder inserted the leaves and title. And that used to be on her homepage. That's the *only* photo I have of them as puppies. *sign* So cute. :)

They are the best dogs I've EVER had. They are so wonderful and sweet and fun and beautiful and loving. They're our babies.

So today... Amber Lamb and Ruby Monday are celebrating six years by just lounging about... tee hee...

Amber on our bed... (which I need to make)...

And Ruby on her panda car seat (I took out of the car temporarily)...



Happy Birthday, My Babies!