whew. Another busy week. The kids start their new year of school in the spring instead of the fall here in Japan. And even though we homeschool, we follow that schedule more.So this past week we started in with the new school year.Levi has is own "school" that he started too. He was SO excited about it lol. I had sort of gotten into the rhythm of teaching the older two, but now with new books, a higher level and then Levi's added in, it sure can be...well, it takes alot of time. I've been busier than I'm used to. And I don't handle that too well...*grin*But it came off to a pretty smooth start considering. I will be glad when we work out our new rhythm though. I think we are slowly.

Rhys also had his birthday party this weekend. I usually prepare for the parties slowly over a couple weeks. But with my having strep for a weeks then the new school year, I had to get it done all this week. I did though and fun was had by all :) It was Goku themed (again-this phase of his has lasted for years!). I will post some pictures hopefully in the next couple days. I don't really do any editing, though I might like to get in to that with Photoshop etc, but I don't have it. So these are all straight of the camera. I just need to get them out of the camera lol.

I can't believe I've been sharing layouts the past few times instead of cards. That never happens! I do have some cards too, but I'm going with the layout again :)These are some of Miss Emma's 5 month pictures. I did some more machine stitching--at the bottom and for the butterfly trail. I usually do that kind by hand, but I thought it would be fun to try it this way for a change. It was a little tedious turning the layout to get the loop, but I think it turned out cute :) The butterfly is one of my favorite Quickutz butterflies. I made the ribbon flower at the bottom. I pretty much just gathered and then stitched together lol. I like it though and might try it again.

I like how you can layer this butterfly. So quick and easy but it still gives you nice detail :) The cute heart paper is BoBunny :)

Thanks so much for stopping by! I am still working on balancing all my new schedule with some me crafty time.... I hope to get to post alot more this week. How do you do it? How do balance the "must do"s with the much needed fun time to keep you sane? I would love to hear how you all manage it. I'm still trying! I hope your weekend is going great. It's already Monday here for me so I'm getting started on my week :)

I cannot believe that it is already the middle of the week! When did that happen? We have been having more perfect weather here lately. So nice and warm :) I {HEART} spring weather :) Tomio says he hates it though-- is it warm or is it cool? or is it cold? what's up with the warm wind?---apparently that's what he thinks.(I really just think its because he has developed some allergies lately...)ANYWAY, I still love it :) Puts me in a cheerful mood*smile*.

I finally got some pictures of some more recent layouts I made. I just finished this one this week.

Miss Emma when she was just tiny :) She actually DID enjoy the bath, though she was a little nervous at first. I used some really pretty Basic Grey paper. I think it was last year's Valentines collection. I never have that many Valentine's pictures, but the papers are great for girly layouts :) I stamped some polka dots on bigger circle at the top, and I embossed the smaller on with one of my 2x2 Quickutz embossing dies. Then I inked it up. I always like to scatter some bling on my girl layouts :) You can never have too much--really:)

Thanks for stopping by! Levi's strep stopped bothering him as soon as he got some medicine, so he's just fine now. I sure hope were done with it  for good. Hope you're having a great week!!

Sorry for the slow week here. Thanks for checking in anyway! I haven't gotten to do nearly any crafting at all this week. I actually made 2 cards, but ended up not liking either of them, so they are with us no longer :) I have several pieces left to use on other cards though! I worked on a layout too, but its not finished either. I strayed way too far from my normal comfort zone which means I'll probably be fiddling with it for the next week or so lol. I sure hope my mojo comes back soon :) So, here is a little bit older layout. Some cute pictures of Levi and some fun bright papers from Bo Bunny:

Nothing real fancy-just some pictures I wanted to scrap :) I had fun mixing up a few different Quickutz fonts. The "ice cream" font is called Cosmopolitan. When I first saw it, I didn't think I even liked it. But after an interesting series of events I ended up getting it--and I LOVE it. Use it all the time.

Isn't the ice cream cone so cute?! It's a stamp from Pink Cat Studios that I colored with some copics. I just love it heehee:)

Thanks so much for stopping by! I went back to the doctor today to get a few more days of meds to make sure the strep is gone for good. Fortunately I'm feeling fine now though. Have a fabulous weekend!

I guess "they" were right...

Well, in case you were wondering, what "they" say is true---you really do need to get in your full 10 days of meds if you want to knock out strep. Here they only gave me 3 days... I dudn't go back for more, and sure enough, by Sunday night I was feeling sick again. I ended going back to the doctor and being out of commission for 2 more days...ugh. I hope I never get strep again!!( have you had it as an adult? seriously not fun :( And I feel sorry for anyone who has to deal with it. truly.) The kids were good sports about it though. Only moderate whining to be dealt with--I think they were just glad to get a couple of days off from school.hee hee:) One of the perks(?) of homeschooling right? lol.

We got TONS (well for here) of snow yesterday. I know its been a cold snowy winter in the States, but here in Japan it's actually been a rather warm winter. The kids were excited and thought it so amusing that we would get our biggest snow this winter in MARCH :) Too bad it rained all night after the snow and turned it into slush....

Ok, I'm really sorry about the awful the picture. Really. But I wanted to share something. I actually LOVE this layout in person. The circles are all hand stitched in different colors of embroidery floss.

I diecut the "leaves" letters several times to get the look of chipboard. I like to do that alot :) It's kind of a pain, but it looks so cute :)

The light brown paper at the bottom is my favorite--Bo Bunny dotted cardstock :) Did you recognize it?heehee:)ok, I didn't realize just HOW bad these pictures were until I posted them, I will try to retake them to post again later...

Well, thanks for stopping by. I hope your week is ALOT less eventful and involves alot less doctor visits than mine :)

supplies: cardstock: sei; pattern paper-light brown-bo bunny, pink-ki memories; buttons-american crafts;diecut letters-quickutz; label die-spellbinders; scallop border-quickutz; butterfly punch-martha stewart crafts;loopy punch-martha stewart crafts;

Goodness. Being sick for the end of last week and beginning of this week really threw me off. It seemed to take forever to get back into the swing of things...maybe its my age lol:) I was so glad to feel better, but I had a hard time getting stuff done...maybe its just me...I had all intention of posting lots, getting the house all cleaned again and being all crafty... I didn't really succeed at any of them I'm afraid. But the house seems pretty good now I think :) OH, but I DID make some really yummy pasta!! heehee :) Tomio raved and raved about it. He actually called me from the car after he left to let me know that it was that yummy :) That really made my day. No real reciped or anything, I just made up some white sauce with garlic, fried ham and some broccoli in it. The kids loved too. YAY :)

Here is a layout I did of  TINY Miss Emma. I really love this layout, but I haven't gotten a decen picture of it yet. I figured I would go a ahead and share it anyway. Its the first page in her album:

I loved the colors of this KI memories paper. So soft and pretty. I think it was really some winter-type paper lol. I didn't have the right color I wanted for the the letters though, so I just inked up some white paper to match. I liked the little varietions in shades it made too. I'm usually terrified of cutting my pictures into shapes. I'm so afraid they will look like my old albums when I just started...you know the kind where for no rational reason you have your baby's pictures all in star and heart shapes lol...*shudder*But it just seemed right for this layout. And I'm glad that I did. I guess sometimes it IS ok heehee :) I really like this Quickutz butterfly too. So simple and cute

I used core'dinations white cardstock of the background. I love white backgrounds, but I really like for them to have some texture. I also used the backside of the pattern paper to print her stats on.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I'm off to put a couple of wild boys in bed :) Hope you are having a great weekend! I know mine will be better than last week *grin*

embellish magazine

Yay! I got to play along with the challenge this week too :)After last time's colors, these colors were alot easier to work with lol. I love just about all springy colors :) I didn't get a chance to work on anything till today though.

I almost didn't use butterflies on this card. Almost.But they just went so well with the pretty spring colors! heehee:) I really like how the pink polka dots look on the yellow. I really want to do that more often. I always just use versamark, which I love, but I definitely need to stay out of a rut lol.  Really loving the wide ribbon lately. Big bows are so fun *grin*. And isn't that sentiment from Everyday Button Bits so perfect? I love it :)

Thanks so much for stopping by!

supplies: cardstock: pti;sentiment stamp:pti;polkadot stamp:chf; ribbon:pti; buttons:pti; punches: martha stewart crafts;gems: hero arts

i'm back...

wow, sorry for the sudden absence. What started out as a cold last week ended up being strep throat *wahh*. Really not how I was hoping to spend my weekend. I'm finally feeling some better. Still resting though, no fun stamping yet. So I thought I would just share some pictures of my cuties :)

These are from a couple weeks ago when we got a *smidge* of snow lol. Leah managed to make a tiny snow family :)

Miss Emma didn't really get to join in the snow fun, so here is a picture of her just chillin'. :) 

So cute :)  I LOVE her slightly mussed just-woke-up-from-my-nap-hair!!heehee :) Tomio watched her alot while I was too sick. I could hear her missing me *grin*...but to be honest, I think I probably missed her just as much :)

Anyway, thanks so much for stopping by! I have tons of stuff I want to work on, hopefully I can share it soon. I hope your week started off alot smoother than mine!