My funny Valentines

What would you name a pet snake?!?

My oldest child is the most knowledgeable person I've ever known when it comes to animal facts.  He likes to read books about animals, he watches videos on YouTube involving various animal fights, and he even does research papers on amazing animal facts...FOR FUN!!  He has been known to catch mice in the field behind our house, and it's pretty routine to look out the back door to find him sitting next to an ant mound watching them work.  The kid considers Steve Irwin and Billy the Exterminator as his heroes.  As someone who prefers to enjoy animals from a safe distance, I find his interest both amazing and a little scary.  I've tried to appreciate and respect the interest - we've, at various times, welcomed a rabbit, cat, turtle, rat and dog into our home.  However, I had to draw the line at his latest request - a snake.  Although the letter he wrote me was full of well thought-out reasons and promises:  "...I will clean its cage...I will give it plenty of water and sunshine, I will give it a good habitat and bury its lost fangs....I'll play and hold and give it baths...", the thought of a snake in my house is an idea I just can't climb aboard.  His letter, though, is something I hope to never forget.  So, I scrapped a quick page this morning and had a lot of fun doing it.  I doubt he will be as impressed with the "pet snake" as I am, but it's as close as this gal is getting to one!

Note cards for one of my besties

Here are some note cards I made for one of my besties.  I wanted something I thought she could use for a variety of occasions...note to a teacher, friend, relative.  My personal favorite is the high heel shoes, but that's probably more because of my personal shoe obsession.  :-)  I also love how the antiqued map of the world card turned out.

Some wild party!

Jack attended a birthday party last night that lasted about 90 minutes. After we arrived home, I told him that because he had showered before the party he should fold and put the clothes he was wearing back in his drawers. His response? "But mo-ommmmmm. I can't do that!". Why? I asked.  "Because there was A LOT going on here!" (as he waves his hand up and down his body).

The clothes were placed in the dirty laundry. After mothering three boys for the past eight years, I'm not sure I want to know what was "going on" there.

Note cards for a sweet little lady

Since the beginning of my mommy years, it's only on rare occasions that I've made something crafty for my three boys that they thought was pretty cool. My best way to their hearts is through superhero-related stuff they can actually use: capes, pillowcases, light sabers, and the like. When I make them something I would consider really crafty, the best compliment I can expect to receive is that the item (which has been folded into some sort of airplane or rocket within minutes of leaving my hands) has much more "air time" with all the extra glue and stickers. Jocelyn (the baby girl who arrived into this house of testosterone at just the right time!) is still a little too young to sit with me to make cards, scrapbook, or sew dresses & bows. So, I get a little excited when I get to play with my pretty paper and make something for a girl!  Oldest son Jack attended a birthday party last night for a little girl he's known since preschool. After choosing two little items from a local boutique, I started thinking about a gift I received when I was about 8 years old from one of my mother's friends. She sent me personalized stationery, envelopes and pencils that had rainbows and flowers on them, with my full name printed in calligraphy across the top. I remember keeping them in a box on my bookshelf and taking out one piece of paper at a time to write a letter to someone. It was such a special gift. I'm sure a lot of the significance was that the woman who gave this gift was very special to me. She recently passed away and I think that's why the memory of this gift has been tugging at my heart...Anyway, I asked Jack if he would like to include some note cards for his friend. He's a very sentimental kid and was more than happy to pick out which colors and designs he thought she would like. I used my Once Upon A Princess cartridge for the images, and my Sure Cuts A Lot for her name. I think they turned out pretty neat. And while I don't expect this gift to have the same significance to her that my gift had to me, I think most little girls appreciate and enjoy seeing their name on something pretty.

One of my Valentines!

Kyle said, "Mommy, look! I'm a pretty "vow-in-time!". I have to agree....

Bumble bees and Legos

After a morning of playing Legos with my littlest guy...and I use the term "playing" loosely -- it was really just me building & re-building towers for him to knock over with his Incredible Hulk action figure. But we had a lot of fun and his laughter was infectious. With four children, I sometimes find it a bit hard to have quality one-on-one time with the kids (outside of homework, chores and taxi service). I love it when I'm able to just sit and completely listen to one of them. Anyway, we started talking about Valentine's Day while we were playing, and he said that he wanted to send a Valentine's card to a friend. I thought this was a fabulous idea -- an excuse to get my hands on some paper & glue! After a lengthy discussion why he couldn't mail one of the Legos to a friend, we settled on making a Lego Man out of paper. I'd recently found a Lego Man that I could cut using my SCAL software, so this was meant to be! I think it turned out pretty cute, don't you think?

Once I put the little guy to work with some scrap paper, scissors and stamps, I played around with a cute bumble bee svg, a Cricut marker and some glittery paper (I just love glittery paper!). I punched up the flower with a foam glue dot and added some silver glitter glue to the middle of the flower for a little extra sparkle.

Saturday mornings are awesome!

I'm a morning person. I could probably count on one hand the number of times I've slept longer than my children (who are also morning people -- as in 6AM morning people!). While we are usually meeting each other in the kitchen bright & early for the handing out of cereal bowls, juice and milk, there are rare occasions when I beat everyone out of bed and have the house to myself. I not only look forward to these moments, I treat them like a secret my best friend has shared with me. With the lights still off, I tip-toe to the coffee pot for a cup of caffeine and then I quietly grab my laptop, settle onto the couch with the dog's head keeping my feet warm and re-acquaint myself with the world. After the customary email, Facebook and Yahoo news, I start checking to see what my favorite Bloggers have been up to. This morning I had some fun on my first Blog Hop, courtesy of one of my favorite websites, The Pink Stamper. What's a Blog Hop, you ask? Well, I visited several super cute blogs, picking up one keyword from each stop to figure out what our challenge was. At the end of the "hop", the challenge was to create a card using stamps and/or the color pink. I've been wanting to create something "girlie" for a few days now, but in a house full of Star Wars, Legos and Mario, it's sometimes hard for me to find inspiration in the color pink. I hope you like my pink birthday card as much as I do!

Wintery thank you card!

First of all this is my first post, so if you're reading this - Thank You!! I've been scrapbooking since early 2008 when my BFF, Christi, guided me through my first page layout. It didn't take long before I was hooked! Later that year, my sweet hubby gave me a Cricut for my birthday and it's been a love affair ever since. I scrapbook EVERYTHING...but I've decided that 2010 is going to be the year of card-making. I love cards - I love sending them, I love reading them, I love receiving them. But have you taken four kids to Hallmark?! Good Lord! Up to this point, I haven't been as good at the sending part, so I've made an agreement with my Grasshopper (that's what my 6 yr old calls my Cricut!): I'll do the creatin' and she'll work her magic. Here's a Thank You note I created for my boys to send to a neighbor who let them slide down the BIG hill on her property during our recent Southern Blizzard (it's, like, 3 inches of snow, but in the South that's a blizzard!).