Mad for Madras...

I've been seeing it everywhere. A little pop of spring/summer fun! I'm all about mixing patterns and bright colors, so this is right up my alley! :)

Check out these pics...

These are from Target, The Company Store, and JCrew. Soooo super cute! I've managed to get Lilli into some cutie madras shorts, I'm working on getting Bob into some long bermuda ones (sedate brown so as not to scare the poor man), and have my eye on a little beverage bucket I saw this weekend. Might have to throw a party to justify that purchase! ;)

Naturally, anything that I see in out in the "real world" gets translated to my scrappin' addiction. And the search for madras plaid paper began. And ended...rather abruptly unfortunately. I have plaid papers, but no madras...not even plaid in the vibrant hues that are calling my name "Staciiiiiii, use meeeeee!" ;)

So what's a scrap-desperate girl to do? Well, since I wasn't making a late night fabric run (don't laugh...I've done it!), this chick took out those cutie shorts of her daughters! I took a macro pic of them, photoshopped it up a bit for extra oomph, and printed it onto matte photo paper. Yep, I made my own madras plaid paper from Lilli's shorts! LOL :) And you know what? My Madras-Mad Self was quite happy with the result! :)

Check it out...

Supplies: Adhesive (Adhesive Technologies, Provocraft), Buttons (Autumn Leaves), Patterned paper (Dream Street Papers), Pen (Sharpie, Uniball), Rhinestons (Glitz Designs), Ribbon (Cream City Ribbon), Stamps (Fontwerks), Stickers (American Crafts, Autumn Leaves), Misc.: staples

Madras. Yes, its everywhere. Learn to love it and the springy happy feelings it gives you! And of course, scrap with it...however necessary! ;)
Have a smilie-filled day! ...Staci :)

Spirituality in a Song...

I am a spiritual being. Not religious. Not particularly active in my faith (unfortunately). But I am spiritual. My beliefs guide my core values, the presence I give to those around me, the goals I work towards. And sometimes, it's a little thing that reminds me to tune in...to myself, to the world, to the blessings in my life.


That's what this song by Flyleaf (http://www.flyleafmusic.com/) does for me. I LOVE Flyleaf. I have for ages. But this song gives me goosebumps on the 1000th time, just like on the 1st time. That's rare and special, so I take advantage. Next time, your sitting at a stop light, look over at the car next to you. See that Minivan Mom, singing her heart out, banging her head? Yeah, that's me. I'm at church...back in 2 minutes with a lightened heart. :)


Scrap-wise...lots of random goodies on this one! Only took about 20 minutes (other than the writing) b/c I just pulled out my baggie of samples from CHA and picked whatever faves jumped out at me. Love no-brainer projects sometimes, just mix and go! LOL :) Have a great day! ...S :)

Earth Day. Its been a whole week of festivities at Lilli's school. Trying to bring focus to our world in fun, creative ways for the kids.

One of the projects is a Family Recycled Art Project. We had to create art completely from items that can be recycled. Lilli and I brainstormed and I remembered a super-cute mirror frame I'd seen at Urban Outfitters. That one was made with teeny rolled bits of papers. I thought folding would be easier for almost-7yo fingers so we went with a folded magazine bits wreath.

We got to work. Lilli did so great...really doing her best to get everything lined up when she folded all the paper bits, so careful. She was working solid with me through the first magazine. By the time we hit the second one, she was done. Poor baby fingers worked to the bone. LOL :) So Mom is the one staying up tonight to finish it off.

Turned out pretty cute I think. In a random, handmade kinda way. ;)

Lovin' the little family art projects. Can't wait to do more this summer!

Oh, and I hung it on the door to surprise Lilli in the morning. She'll be excited b/c my little clone was worry-warting about it not being done in time for the 1st grade tour.

Right Place, Right Time...

Man, I had one of those weekends!

No, not the ones where you wished Monday would Hurry.Up.Already. LOL

We had a *GREAT* weekend!

Saturday morning: Garage Sale Heaven!

The kids and I hit a couple of sales in McKinney.

At one I found some gorgeous vintage greeting cards that the lady GAVE me! Sah-weet! :) And then I found this...

Coolest thing evah! Totally made me smile all goofy...so I bought it. What am I going to do with it you might ask? Uhm, the answer is: I've got no idea! But I will figure it out and it will be fabulous! ;)

Then off to a HUGE community sale in Providence. I hate going to Providence. Its a delightfully Mayberry little neighborhood, full of cute little painted houses, with sidewalks where kids lay about coloring with chalk, playgrounds every block, fishing ponds, etc. Sounds quite nice, doesn't it? That's the problem!! Everytime I go there, I want to MOVE there! LOL We actually talked seriously about it a couple of years ago, but the drive didn't make sense for Bob. One day, I'll live in Mayberry...

Oh, back to the garage sale! :) We parked & walked up to a lady with a blanket-full of toddler girl clothes. All fancy-brands that I don't pay retail for and all in Tayvan's size. The lady says she wants to go shop too, so I needed to start picking stuff up b/c she was dealing. Well, I do what I'm told so I gathered up an armful of stuff and she says $1 an item. Uhm, WHAT??? $1 for Gymboree stuff with the tags still on it? (picture me gathering more goodies) All said, I bought $18 worth of stuff...great stuff and went on happily with a stroller full of designer duds, imagining all the great pics I was going to take of Van in the cutie clothes. :) On my way back down the other side of the street 20 minutes later, the lady waves me over and tells me that she's taking the rest to Goodwill so if I want anything for free, I'd better grab it! I asked her if she was really, really sure and when she nodded, I started picking more before I fainted away with joy! :)

So, this is my loot for a whopping $18! Every piece is either Gymboree, Gap, Old Navy, or The Children's Place. I took the tags off about 10 pieces!

On Sunday, Bob wanted to take the kids and me to the Superdome to watch the bike races with another family. Being such a fantastic wife, I said yes and acted like I meant it. ;) Really, it was pretty cool, but pretty darn scary b/c those guys are going 40+ mph and they're [thisclosetoeachother]. Luckily, Bob knows better than to ask for a new bike to tackle that side of his biking hobby. When the kids got rambuctious, me and the other mom took off for her house where the kids could be safely crazy and we could sit on the couch. Her house was totally decorated all cute & y'all know I'm a total sucker for decorating talk. :) She told me about a resale shop in The Colony that I'm gonna hit tomorrow. Fingers crossed they have some goodies for me b/c I'm on a decorating roll!

Totally, a Right Place, Right Time kinda weekend! :)

Etiquette?

So what's the correct etiquette here? When you fall off the face of the blogger earth, and then unceremoniously show up again? Apologies...that sounds like a good start. So I'm sorry to anyone who may have been reading when I *poof* vanished. Of course, there's probably no one here now but me, but that's cool. Maybe folks will come back to chitter-chat with me eventually! LOL :)



Can I make it up a little bit with a cute digi project that I did this week?




Lilli's first friend birthday party is coming up. I can't believe she's about to be 7yo! So of course, I wanted to make the invites, but didn't feel that would be practical for the kids to smush into backpacks. LOL :) Digi to the rescue!! I'm relatively comfy with photoshopping pics, but not used to doing full-out digi layouts. So that made it a fun challenge and let me keep the Creative Staci happy and the Practical Staci satisfied. :)

I won't finish with promises of daily posts or anything crazy like that. I want to blog for me, for my family. It is important to me and so I will do my best.

Have a smilie-filled day!! :)