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 :)

Wanna Share...

with my living room makeover all done, I felt the need...
the need for scrappy love time!
Okay, so it doesn't have the same ring as "the need for speed", but if you've met me IRL, you know that I don't need speed...most folks want me to slow down a bit (in the car, how fast I talk, how much I can run through on a to do list, etc). LOL :)

Anyways, back to the current tangent.
My scrap happy self.

So I wanted to make a doo-dad to hang in the foyer on my huge green cabinet and thought I'd play with some digi goodies and go old-school too. Check it out...and the details are below the pic so don't run away...





The frame & skull are digi brushes from KI Memories. I erased the original eyes on the skull, replaced one with the "target" style eye, and filled in with a big feltie flower & button stacks for the other eye. The yellow portions of the frame are hand colored with Canvas Corp.'s *awesome* colored pencils. A blood red bow with a safety pin b/c you know she's a tough bow-head! LOL The hanger is one side of a long black zipper. Oh, and the skull & bones are mega-popped with foam tape.

All in all, she's lots of fun! And a little tough! And a lot of bright, which I'm sure expected by now. ;)

Back with the story of my adventurous weekend soon! ;) Let's just say it involved Possum Kingdom Lake (hey, I live in Texas okay?), a lot of family, science lessons using dead animals, and more. Can't wait, right? I'll write it up and post it up asap! :)

Off to PTA all day! :)
XOXO...Stac

Back Home Sweet Home...

We had an absolute *blast* in San Antonio!! Sea World was a total hit with the kids of course. They loved the shows, feeding dolphins, swimming in the wave pool and lazy river, and asking question after question of all the trainers/show folks. LOL :)

Funny on the way there...remember how I said the kids didn't know where we were going?

We pulled them out of bed at 5:30am, set them up with blankets & pillows and headed out. Eventually, they woke enough to ask "What are we doing?" I'm so mean...told them we were running an errand. Bwhahahah! :) When we were about 40 minutes away, I totally jumped into their Hangman game and did really good clues like "road", "trip", "shark", "dolphin", "Sea World". Nada, nothing, nope...didn't get it at all. (smacking head) But with some leading looks, they picked up on the game and were super excited! LOL :)

That first night, they were so excited about the hotel too....oohing and aahing over how "gahgeous it is...very fancy". Good to know that my kids are uber-happy with a generic Marriot! LOL :)

Oh, we took the trip downtown to the Riverwalk, rode the water taxi, and ate dinner. Super late night, but really fun. :) And a sidetrip on the way home to Natural Bridge Cavern. It was a mixed bag result. The kids talk about how great it was non-stop, but halfway through the tour they were just ready to be done & didn't care for the steepness of the walk down or up. Oh well, at least it's a good memory for them. :)

My very patient and understanding also helped me find what is apparently The Scrap Store in San Antonio. It's called Scrapbook 9-1-1 and man, I about needed an ambulance when i walked in. It's a crazy HUGE store! My man gave me 20-30 minutes & told me good luck, so I knew I had to hustle to see it all. Lots of yummy goodies, but the ones that jumped into my bag were the Heidi Swapp papers with all the pop-out diecuts. A funsie that I'd seen at CHA, but not IRL, so I grabbed them happily. :) Thanks to the great guy at SB911...gave us great directions (we were soooo lost) & totally rang me up quickly so I could be out in <30!>

On the scrappy sharing front...

these are some goodies I did for MM that didn't make the cut in the rearranging as they closed. :(

The first one is a card showcasing the gray love with Heidi Swapp Invisibles and my obsession with feathers. LOL :)

The next one is a "pretty" layout. Oooh, those are sooooo hard for me to do...just not my nature! LOL :) But the Webster's Pages products are just so gorgeous that you want to do "pretty" with them! I did manage to build the whole business on painted cardboard so its not totally textbook pretty. ;) Pic is a new fave...our wedding rings propped in a book with directed lighting to make a heart! So fun! :)

Back soon!

XOXO...Stac :)

Sshhhhh...

I'm not really here.

You never saw me.

I'm supposed to be packing for our very last minute, spontaneous, surprise trip to...

Sea World!!!!!

:)

Happy Happy Joy Joy

We are soooo gonna rock as parents tomorrow! ;)

The kids don't know why they went to bed so quickly, but they'll be even more surprised when we pull them out of bed at 5am! :)

I promise some good pics and vacay layouts when I get back, but I didn't want to leave town for the weekend without some scrappy goodies for y'all! :)

These are some American Crafts' lovin' layouts! :)

The first one is "Wannabe". I've got some spray painty goodness on here...totally wild and crazy with, not black paint as usual, but why yes, that is PINK spraypaint. Bring on the girlie jokes, but this layout just needed some frou frou and pink spray paint is about as much as I can handle! :) I spray painted the foam alphas too with reasonable results (aka not perfect but good enough for me!). The ribbon friends at the top include braided embroidery floss. :)

The second one is "bug lover". Dec has finally gotten over his squeamish non-boyish response to buggies. He'd be the one watching Lilli dig for worms, want to see them, and then run when she got within 5 feet of him. LOL :) But he's all over snails especially now, and even the occassional worm. :) I chopped the big sticker out (backing and all) and stuck it down, stamped onto transparency so that design work was easier and scattered groupings of rub-ons, buttons, and pearls. :)

Well, I'm off. Gotta look like I've been packing before Bob gets back from Blockbuster! hee hee (don't tell, 'kay?) ;)

XOXO...Stac :)

Check Mark...

I'm a total list girl. It's a coping mechanism for my total flakiness. LOL

Hey, the important thing is that I admit the issue and then solve the problem, right? ;)

Anyway, there is nothing like the joy of marking stuff off The To-Do List.

This weekend, I got to make a big ol' checkmark on my To-Do List. It's called "The Living Room". That's right, baby...one room down!!!! (2 to go downstairs but don't be a buzzkill) ;)

As promised, I wanted to post pics of the room when its done. Post-painting & flooring, we've moved back in the couches, rug, furniture, quilts, new pillows, knick knacks, and more stuff that I've probably forgotten.

I've got one little blank wall area that will eventually get a pic but I'm not worried. It's just on my "I'll know it when I find it list". ;) The shopping list has much more pressing issues...like the rug-for-the-toyroom issue. My mom & grandma came up yesterday to see the new goodies...total love, but they veto-ed the addition rug with a comment of "too crazy". LOL :) I'm thinking maybe a zebra print instead. (you think I'm kidding but I'm serious!) We'll see what I can find though. :)

On the scrappy front, I *need* to scrapbook! Desperately...NEED! My kids know that I need to, my husband knows that I need to, I know that I need to...so that's next on my to-do list for tonight. LOL :)

I did make a couple of little cards a bit ago that make me smile though. Check 'em out...

This one uses my new Tim Holz sunburst stamp. I'd been eyeing it forever and finally gave it to its siren call! :) The big smiley patch is from the Target $ Spot.



This one is with Cosmo Cricket Jack's World. Such a cutie green giraffe and the yellow stripe is a new fave I think. :)

Well, off to scrappyland for a bit!

XOXO...Stac :)