Baking and Crafting...

Couldn't be better! :)

For the KI 12 Days of Christmas blog party, I volunteered to make candy/cookie containers because that's pretty much what I spend 2 weeks doing in December anyways. :)

Everything from my (in)famous double doozies, brownie bites, cake balls, white chocolate popcorn, apple bread, and more gets mixed, baked, and prettied up in the E*Crew house! :) And then I just have to stay out of it and keep the kids out of it! LOL :) Which is even harder than it sounds! ;)

I made pretty little containers for the teachers gifts that I hope made the yummies inside taste even better! :) Here's the pics...

There's step-by-steps for each project on the KI Blog if you want to check them out.

For now, I'm back into the kitchen. I've got double doozies cooling in the fridge, apple bread to mix, and popcorn to make. Bob is working on the grandmas' photo albums. The kidlets are playing happily in the toy room, unaware that its about to be reading time (aka "quiet time") in thier rooms for a bit.

LOVE a nice cozy day at home, chilling and loving! :)

XOXO...Stac :)

KI Lovin'...Havin' a Blast...

trust me...you're lucky you can't hear me singing along with that title. My singing is NOT something you want to hear. ;)


Point is...

I'm up for the blog challenge at the KI Memories blog (http://www.kimemories.typepad.com/) and had a blast with the layout I made. I got to play with one of the supa-fab pics I took on our recent photo tour downtown. The kidlets were sooooo good and had sooo much fun playing on the railroad tracks, which makes me love this pic even more! :) (family members who are reading...act surprised when you see these pics in your Christmas albums, 'k?) ;)


My challenge is called "Blank Slate" and I challenged the KI blog girls to take a patterned paper and blank it out with paint. It lets just a bit of the pattern peek through prettily. I left the block where my pics/goodies were going paint-less so the pattern would help make that area pop!


Got a nice little surprise too when I came home from a day of running around to find my layout in the Top 10 Votes on 2Peas! Sah-weet! :)


So without further chattering on, here's the layout...








Now that Tayvan is napping and won't catch me, I'm off to eat a little ice cream for lunch. Sssshhhhh! ;)
XOXO...Stac :)

doo...doo...doo...doooooo UPDATE! :)

I warned y'all it was crazy around here in October, right? And I was really hoping for a slower November, but I swear that my calendar went straight from November 1st to November 30th in one big blink!

Quick run-down of this month...

* Bob got a nasty buggie and spent about a week lounging on the couch, sure that he was dying...from a really bad case of the coughs. ;) No worries, he's all better now and of course, is my big strong manly man again. ;)

* Super-Duper Exciting News...I got my ZUMBA certification! A dark (& way toooo fast) drive to Oklahoma, a long day of dancing, dancing, dancing, and Woo Hoo...I'm for real! :) I'm so excited to have this new opportunity in my life...something that brings me joy, that I can share with others, and that I'm actually a bit good at (not bragging, just happy to find my *thing*). I'm looking into teaching locally, another FUN opportunity. I'm really blessed to not *need* to work, and have the luxury of patiently and actively looking for a regular class that I can do while the kids are at school. In the meantime, you know I'm shigglin' it every chance I get, especially now that I have the cd's at home and can practice 24/7! :)

* Lilli is a ROCKSTAR gymnast! :) After some mega-rough weeks (to the point that her coach threatened to put her back on Level 3), she has really blossomed. He had her set some concrete goals and work towards them. She's been crossing them off the list, one by one...including her biggie...front handsprings on the trampoline and tumble-track, which she did successfully last week! :) But even more that the physical skills she's been improving lately, her attitude towards hard work, repeated practice, and "failure" have been sooooo much better. She's been thinking positively (she told her coach that she's "keeping happy thoughts in her head b/c she stays on the beam better that way!"), being engaged in her school projects, and just overall ROCKIN' it! :) Love that chickadee and am so thrilled to see her have so much positive reinforcement from a teacher/coach for a change!

* Thanksgiving was the usual...well, for us anyways! That means...no turkey in sight, no huge family gatherings, and no drama! Sah-weet! :) We only do "mom Thanksgiving" b/c both Bob's and my dad go to other family get togethers. So we headed down to MawMaw's to start cooking. The last 2 years, I've had the pleasure of showing my mom and grandma that I can actually cook like a grown-up now (last year, I made chicken cordon bleu; this year it was homemade pork taquitos). They made the sides and fixins' so that I could just fry, fry, fry. Yummy lunch was had by all...then we made our plan of attack for Black Friday. Dinner at my SIL's is always a bit crazy b/c of all the kiddos (our 3, plus her 5 in a tiny house!), but it's *awesome* b/c we always end up playing card games. Soooo fun! :) Learned a new one called KIMPS and Bob and I actually won! :)

Some seriously fun KI goodies this month too...

I've been playing with some "embroidery" stitching lately. I saw "embroidery" b/c I truly don't know what I'm doing...I just stitch and see how it looks. If it looks bad, I pull it out. If it looks good, then I go with it. I made a cupcake with silver sequin "sprinkles" from a KI digi brush (Lucy kit). I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the cupcake yet...although I think it might be turned into a pillow for a friend's Christmas present! :)

The layouts I posted this month are an old and a new...

newer one is a quick & easy one using paper scraps. (stripe is from KI digi Roxie...altered to match Heirloom paper). The notebook papers behind the pic are letters the kids wrote to each other, paperclipped in place so that they can be removed and read without disturbing the picture.

older one is the one I did for Kim and Ira to celebrate their new baby Austin! The sheer wings are cardstock backed, the ribbon is popped up so that she can slip pics in without disturbing it, and the stamps are mixed in with buttons and glitter glue dots.

So that's me in a nutshell right now! :) I promise to be back soon...before Christmas at least! Ok, ok...WELL BEFORE Christmas. December got to be less crazy, right? (please say "right!" so I won't go crazy!) LOL :)

XOXO...Stac :)

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...

hee hee...I LOVE Dori! ;)

October is always the craziest month of all for us and this year is no different. Lots of busy bees buzzing around here and my calendar looks ridunkulous if I say so myself! But it'll all get done, or it won't, but it's all good either way. :)

Scrappy news...

I had some messy fun last night, inking and distressing my paper till it cried for mercy! Take that! ;) Check it out...

You might notice some little "stitchy" dots around the edges. Yeah, I cheated a little. Okay, okay...a lot! I want to sew so badly but time hasn't magically multiplied enough for me to actually have some time to learn. My pretty little sewing machine sits here, lonely and begging for love. But I want the sewn look, so I pulled out my trusty Cutter Bee Bug to do the holes. It's really great to pre-poke holes to hand-stitch, but I'm going with the "doesn't it look like there's clear thread there?" (say yes) That's my story and I'm sticking to it! ;)

In Mom Identity Crisis news, I've been nudged again to try something a bit left of my comfort zone...teaching Zumba. I'm totally Zumba obsessed, taking around 4 classes a week and have loads of the choreography memorized already (thank you high school drill team!). But the idea of getting up on stage, with a mic to blare my admittedly twangy voice, and leading the way with my shigglin' is +more+ than a little scary! But I figure that I have a chance to try just about anything right now, so I might as well go with something that I know I'll enjoy (once I get over my nausea-inducing nerves!) So, I'm registering for training and then I'll have to market myself to local gyms (this might be where my Marla-directed PR dept comes in! LOL)

House-wise...spent all.day Saturday hitting garage sale after garage sale. Lots of goodies for crazy cheap...including a cute little set of steps for Van's bed ($2), an already-black distressed kid chair ($2), a gothic iron & wood mini-screen ($2), a huge red bead necklace ($1), several kids books, a Justice outfit for Lilli ($1), a huge sterling silver serving platter with a tree on it (.50!), and more! The steps are going to be an upcoming project for Van's room. Oh, and my piece de resistance (don't check my spelling on that, just go with it) was the craigslist bedroom suite I got for $75! For a headboard, dresser, mattress, box spring, and frame! Woo Hoo!!! I'm going to resell the headboard and dresser I think b/c I've suddenly found myself dresser-full! LOL :) I can't wait to get going on Van's room...especially now that I've got most of the stuff and can really make a difference in the cute-ness of her space! :)

Got to get ready to shiggle tonight. I'm thinking its going to be a grilled cheese for dinner kinda night. Shhhh! ;)

XOXO...Stac :)

Pantry Pics and a Return to Scrapping...

As promised, I've got pics of our Pantry Makeover Extravaganza!

First off, I have to explain the uselessness of our builder grade pantry.

Its under the stairs, so super narrow (just 36in wide) and had a whopping one built-in shelving unit. Granted, the unit had 5 shelves, but they were super wide-spaced, so I had resorted to a combination of wire stacking units and baskets to make the space work a bit. Oh, and had to add in some random Sterilite drawer units for kid snacks and such.

Unfortunately, I don't have a full-on "before" pic. That man of mine decided it was time to start demo before I could get in there with the camera. But I wasn't about to stop his momentum to get this project rolling! LOL :) So here's a semi-before shot, so you can see the yucky floor & useless shelves.

After one day of super-man work, Bob had made awesome progress! He'd managed to demolish the cabinet, paint the walls & ceiling, replace the floor, and (unseen) install a new light fixture.

Next up was an admittedly expensive trip to Container Store. Between my organizer-extradinaire friend Amy and the fab lady at TCS, we got a great system set-up. I've got shelves galore now...literally have EMPTY spots! Whooo Hoooo! :) Love my new baskets and airtight bins too! :)

On the scrapping front, I've been so busy that I haven't had a chance to scrap at all in weeks. But that all changed this weekend! Sooo happy to be back in the saddle, but its always hard to get the mojo flowing at first. Here's one of the layouts I did with bits of goodies I found on my recent desk clean-up...

Off to bed! Got a busy day tomorrow...kids at school, I've a knee doc appt, hair appt, hit the JCPenny sale, assembly at the kiddo's school, gymnastics, costume shopping, dance class, and picking up the truck at mechanic. Yeah, that sounds do-able, right? Right??? ;)

XOXO...Stac :)

Check, check, check...

and check again!

I gotta say...My new House to Home focus is totally rockin'! :) I'm actually making progress here people! This week, I've...

* searched out the fabric to back my kitchen cabinets, bought, chopped, ironed (yes, IRONED), and hung it...looks great if I say so myself. Just gonna finish up some shelf doo-dollyin' and I'll show ya.

* hit 2 Joann's for my new curtain fabric. No luck, but its supposed to be in tomorrow...tomorrow...I love ya tomorrow. ;) I'll have to hit both Joann's again to get enough, but I'm going for it with my coupons!

* bought some cute little grapevine wreaths to hang over ^those^ curtains. They're part of my "fall decor". ;)

* painted Declan's armoire. The hunter green was never my choice (it came to us that way), so I'm thrilled to finally have it a little more "me". It'll be finished up tomorrow with the old table runner that I'm chopping to bits to fill in the door frames.

* been obsessing about Tayvan's room re-do for her big birthday gift. I think I found a bed (wish me luck tomorrow when I go check it out...craigslist can be soooo good or uhm, not).

* hit a flea market and found an awesome 50's plastic faux milk-glass mirror. Even better than the faux milk-glass look is that it's *hobnail* milk glass with a fluted edge all around. To quote Rachel Zoe... I die. ;) It's going to find a home asap...maybe as a part of Van's new room! :)

* and in the project that never ends, I got a whole 'nother section of wall exposed in my laundry room. Yes, the exploded cow look continues. LOL :)

Other happenings...

PTA--of course. Spirit Gear goes out tomorrow! I can't tell you how excited I am! I did it. All by myself...figured it out, made mistakes, learned better ways for next time, but I did it. :) Fingers crossed that everyone agrees when they start getting their orders! LOL

Kiddos--Same crazy stuffs...running from school to Girl Scouts to gymnastics and more! The best kiddo news is...

Tayvan is 4 years old today! :)

Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday dear Tayvan. Happy Birthday to you. :)

We followed e*crew family tradition and headed to Magic Time Machine for dinner. She was thrilled to have Ariel as our waitress, but as always Jack Sparrow stole the show! The guy that plays Cap'n Jack is soooo great...totally hilariously quick witted and has the whole stumbling randomness down perfectly. Fun was had by all! Van's party is coming up this weekend. So far, she wants guinea pig cupcakes. Uhm, yeah...don't know what to do with that business, but I might see if I can find some sort of cupcake pick with Wonder Pets and call it a happy. LOL :)

Scrappy Goodness--The KI Wicked Party was AWESOME! Seeing everyone's cool projects and doing the Q&A's totally got me in the Halloween spirit! :) I can share my projects now too!! Check 'em out...

Well, I'm off to bed! Hey, its only midnight...that's pretty good for me! LOL :) Keep your fingers crossed for me that spirit gear goes well, Joann's has my fabric, and the bed is perfect! That's not to much to ask for in 5 hours is it? ;) LOL

XOXO...Stac :)

Experiements in Identity...

huh? Okay, hold tight with me for a minute...

I have an explanation for my absence that I think a lot of mommas are going to connect with.

Flashback to last year: My bestie, Shonnery, had a really hard time with her youngest starting school. The whole "what do I do all day?" conundrum. I sympathized, I took her to lunch, I supported her through her moments of "hey, maybe I can do ____" with my whole heart. But I didn't understand. Not really.

I've since learned that a lot of moms pretty much have an identity crisis every August like clockwork. We're happy to get the kids happily back in school, love the structure & routine, but it does leave a chunk of 7 hours with no official plan.

Flash to current time: Tayvan started pre-school! WOO HOO!! Now granted, its not a full time gig; she's going 2 days a week from 9-2. But coupled with Memory Makers closing & the TN GASC cancelling, all together it has triggered a little bit of an identity crisis. I kinda don't know what to do with myself all day Monday and Wednesday! :) So my goal-setting self kicked into gear and I decided I needed to figure out my big Ta-Da for this school year.

After some thought, my *first* big item on The List is...house decor/organization/cleaning/control. I joined back up with FlyLady (a fab site to get the cleaning happening on a more routine basis). I've flipped through blog after blog of decorating and organizing, so my brain is brimming with funsie stuffs to do! And I've enlisted my friend Amy to help me work the Elfa to bring some much-need organization and storage to my pitiful pantry. And I can't wait! Well, actually...I haven't. A couple of the things that've been rolling on my house to-do list are already done. Pics soon...rooms in progress! :)

But in the middle of this house re-do and minor identity crisis, we've had some fun family moments. I did some quick invites to send out for Tayvan's 4th birthday party.

But the best fun was going to one of Bob's races in Greenville. He did okay, not his best but he was happy with the finish. Immediately after though, the Kids Cup started! Declan and Lilli were both excited and nervous. Declan was so thrilled that he could ride all out...no waiting for anyone to catch up. He's a total Speed Demon, flying around the course, actually doing tricks as he went! Lilli was bound and determined to catch her little brother...had her head down, elbows back, pedaling as fast as she could. In the end, Declan took first place by a good half-lap. Lilli took second place, happy with her performance (especially in the turns which still make her a little nervous). All in all, a great day for all! :)

One last thing before I head to bed (yawn!)...tomorrow night is a KI Blog Party! It starts at 7pm CST, and you definitely want to be there! We had the opportunity to create some Wicked projects...not wicked, Wicked (using the new Halloween line). LOL :) My home decor focus as of late worked perfectly b/c I was selected to make a fun wreath that I am IN LOVE with! :) I can't wait to show it tomorrow...first on the KI blog, then here & 2Peas, so stay tuned! :)

XOXO...Stac :)

hAppY dAnCe!! :)

So I posted my big ol' family vacay album to 2Peas and guess what...

It's the Featured Layout!!!

How *totally cool* is that?!

Check it out...



XOXO...Stac :)

Big ol' update-o-rama! :)

Yeah, so I've fallen into bad blogger habits! In my defense, I was off doing the Mom Thing which is always first priority! :)

So the quick rundown of events...

* 2 Back to School nights which had tons of PTA prep--delivering all the school supplies & spirit gear, setting up the booths, selling spirit gear

* meeting the kids teachers went super well. I think Lilli has a really great teacher this year and Declan is in love with his teacher b/c she has a pet snake and pet lizard in the class. LOL :)

* first day of school fun...getting the kids ready in the perfect outfit, loads of pics, and off to school! Neither kidlet wanted "maahmm" (you know the tone) to walk them into class...they were truly off on their own like big kids! And Mom was off to more PTA meetings and spirit gear booth selling.

* got Tayvan set up for her first school experience (other than working with me at the big kids school). Picking a school that actually has openings, is cost effective, and of course is awesome for the little one is *hard!* We had Meet the Teacher night for her last weekend too. Again, she was totally fine when I stepped out for the parent meeting. I came back and she was just working the room, introduced me to her new friends, and said she wasn't ready to go yet. LOL :)

* ^that^ is the highlights of the last couple of weeks, but of course mix in about 5 meetings at the school, loads of paperwork, researching community program options for the year, school clothes shopping, new glasses for Lilli, reorganizing the house for school mode, and probably a bunch of other stuff I forgotten by now! ;)

In my scrappy world, I've been having a blast working bit by bit on the mini album for our Sea World trip! It ended up a little huge and that's with some of the pics stuffed into the little kraft envelopes I built the album out of! But I figure that's okay b/c its all the family funsies! :)

Fair warning, pics galore below so grab a cup of coffee and come along on an e*crew family vacay! :)

Whew! That's a ton and then some, but the vacay was so fun that the album had to be show it all! :) Everything is KI Memories, kraft envelopes, sequins, and lots of paint! :)

XOXO...Stac :)