ShabbyGrace

Happy Birthday to Jack and Me...

Well, I guess this blog is still here but is anyone reading it? I REALLY do want to post here again so I decided that since today is my birthday and I have some free time, I would do a quick post. We celebrated Jack's 8th birthday on Friday and had a party with him at The Farm for his friends. This was his third year picking the farm for his party and it really is a fabulous place. Here is the invite I did using stuff from Shabby Miss Jenn, Shabby Princess and Gina Cabrera. I just LOOVE fall!! 

 

So, now that it took me FORever to do this one post, I must go. I am working on a budget for us. We have not been very good about that and it is getting out of hand, so very excited to start this. Also, doing some planning/thinking on regular allowances for the boys and getting them involved with managing money as well. Lots of great ideas that I hope to share soon.

Big hugs to anyone who might still be reading this!

Quilty Goodness...

Ok, So where have I been? Doing lots of stuff- but most importantly, finishing the boys' lap quilts I told you about last fall.  I had these machine quilted and got them back right before Thanksgiving, right before we moved. So in February I finally pulled them out and did the binding on them. I LOOOVE them! Even more after I washed them and they got that old-fashioned puckery sweetness  and even more because they are my first quilts!!  You can see more photos here.

I decided that I wanted to make them each a lap quilt using charm squares. The one on the left is Cody's and was pretty much my "if it ain't broke don't fix it" version of this quilt from Monica aka Happy Zombie (using Cherries Jubilee by American Jane). I was a little intimidated for my second quilt but it went together so easily. The directions from BHG Quilts and More were awesome!! I will definitely make this one again. The one on the right is Jack's (using Peas and Carrots by American Jane). I got inspiration from this pattern from Acorn Quilts. Since it was for a boy I left the applique off, then the white part was too stark so I improvised the borders, similar to Cody's quilt.

With that behind me I was itching to get some new fabric and this is what I came home with last Friday!! Yummy. This is Swell from Urban Chick. Love the retro feel to this line and the colors.

Chirs took the boys to Iowa for a guys getaway to see his parents and I opted to stay home and have some girl time. They left this moring about 5:45 and arrived about an hour ago. I ran some errands this morning and plan to mostly hole up and sew. I can hardly stand it! So many options when I have 4 days alone and want to do 8 million things!  The possibilities are endless.  So, with that I leave you. I am off next door to watch The Kite Runner with mom and dad. Mom and I read the book- Great Book!!- and have been eagerly awaiting the movie!

OK, I have some other quilty goodness to share with you this weekend! Stay tuned. I mean it this time!

Good Morning

I am ready for a fun day around here. By FUN I mean tinkering around, being creative, working in my office on fun stuff, all the things I probably WON'T be doing today. LOL I need a full weekend without interruptions just to have some "me" time. Don't you think?

Cody had his first sleepover last night at a friends house. 4 boys, 9-10 year olds. Swimming and movie watching and probably lots of boy talk and disgusting noises and laughter. I was/am a little nervous about this so I am very anxious to pick him up at 10 AM. Just a couple hours.

I made a fun new desktop calendar/screensaver. I do this every month and the boys always look forward to seeing what the next one will be. It is ALWAYS photos of them. You can get this fun freebie here. I am planning on an update to my blog this weekend so look for that late Sunday or Monday morning! Fun stuff!

The little man had Daddy and I around his little finger last night. We took him to eat pizza, where he got a refill on his soda! then Sportsmans Warehouse to use a gift card he got for Christmas, I should say Daddy took him, they dropped me off next door at JoAnn Fabrics. Then we came home and went next door to show Oma and Opa what he purchased. It was after 9 by this point. Watched a Zach and Cody episode that Oma taped for him. Then about 9:45 he said he was hungry so Oma cooked him a fried egg. Wolfs it down in 30 seconds. More. Oma fires up the griddle again. 30 seconds. Still hungry. Oma turns on the griddle AgAiN. Third one is just as good as the first 2. I can't believe this little beanpole kid of mine ate 3 fried eggs at 10 at night. Where does he put this stuff?

OK, little man and Daddy are up now so I think I will go see if I can sweet talk DH into making a Starbucks run. Yummm. Grande Iced Latte!

Happy Saturday! 

Happy Saturday...

Hellooo... anybody out there? LOL I guess the holidays have come and gone. We had such a good time with family. Chris' parents and Grandma came out from Iowa after Christmas to spend a few days and New Year's with us! It was a noisy evening with 13 people, tons of fun and the kids had such a blast as usual with our annual balloon drop. This year Chris' mom brought confetti so they loved that!!

We have been cleaning up the post-holiday-just-moved-in mess and are finally getting into the groove of a routine at the new house. Still need to get us back into the chores routine! My House Works book, which is my home management bible, has been with my a lot the past week.

I did take some time this week to make a new page layout with Jenn’s amazing new Valentine kit, Love Shack. I think is my newest favorite kit, at least until her next one. Jenn packs her kits with gorgeous goodies and this one is no exception. And it so versatile, can be used for far more than Valentine’s Day. Check out all the cool new goodies on her site.  And for great inspiration check out the Team Blog.

OK, I am running behind today with my chore list. Have to finish filing some office papers, organinzing for taxes and then clearing off my work table so I can get my sewing machine out and finish up those throw quilts I am working on for the boys. They have been quilted so I only have the binding left. If I can just get the first part sewn on, I can sit and hand sew the back while we watch a movie! Can't wait to finish them up so I can start another.

Fa-La-La La-La-Land...

That's where I have been lately. Actually most of 2007. I have gotten way behind on my scrapping too. But I am SO thrilled with all the yummy new stuff from SMJ. Check out these GORGEOUS kits. They are HuGe, loaded with yummy, scrappy, vintage goodies and glorious color. I just love all her stuff~ so amazing and SO my style!

We did FINALLY move into our new house a few days before Thanksgiving. And we've been busy ever since trying to unpack, organize and decorate for the holidays! Important lesson learned: do not move right before the holidays! It is much more chaotic for the moving and the holiday. We did manage to get some lights up outside the house and the tree up and decorated. A few decorations are out but my favorite, my nativity, is not out yet. Mainly because the piece I have set it on the last few years is now being used in a different capacity. Also. our stockings are not hung on the new mantel yet because I need to get a way to hang them. We do have the kids advent calendar up and running and they of course are LOVING the holiday preparations. We kicked off the holiday season with the Boulder Lights of December Parade.

This past weekend, we had snow and the husbands all had to go out so my sister and her kids spent the night with us. The kids had a blast playing in the snow and we did our Gingerbread Houses together and decorated cookies. And tomorrow night the 10 of us (my parents, my family and my sister's family) are heading out to see THIS show! The kids are SUPER excited. Should be an incredible evening!

Alive...

I am alive! It has been too long. I can't believe how long it has been since I posted here. I am amazed that I remembered my login information! My goal is to get back into this blog posting. So, where have I been you might ask? I've been packing and moving and getting the boys settled into a new school. And lots of moving. In June we moved my parents into their temporary apartment. Took a trip with my mom, sister and the 4 kiddos to Illinois this summer. Dropped the boys off in Iowa for 5 days, then Chris' parents brought them out here where we all met up at Copper Mountain for 4 days! Then in August we moved into our temporary apartment the weekend before school started. Boys started a new school and they seem to be enjoying it. I think it was harder for Cody since he had attended Discovery K-3rd grade. And they LOOOVE school lunch. I made Jack a lunch the first 2 days and they have both had school lunch ever since. I love it!!

My parents closed on their house 2 weeks ago, so MORE moving. We spent the last 2 weeks setting up the business office in their home. New office furniture, hooking up computers (that would be me- UGH!), arranging things etc. But we did manage to get our October billing done yesterday so we are back on schedule. We close on our new house in 2 weeks, 13 days actually. We are SO excited. Can hardly stand it. Especially since my parents have moved in. I go to work (mom and dad's house) and look over into my house that I can't move into yet! We did go over to trick-or-treat on Wednesday in our soon-to-be new neighborhood. Now we are getting ready to pack up this apartment and move one last time! Just in time for the holidays! I hope I can find all the Christmas decorations in our storage unit right away.

I took a huge break in scrapping and worked on throw quilts for the boys. They are being quilted now so I will show photos as soon as they are done! They turned out so cute! And in honor of our house being close to done I did my first scrapbook page in MONTHS using this fabulous new kit from Shabby Miss Jenn! Check out her Digital Scrapbooking Day offer today only! Love her stuff SO much. And I am working on a fun album with her gorgeous Thanksgiving kit right now! Can't wait to finish that.

Ok, I am off to scrap some more. Chris and boys are off running around and it is Digital Scrapbooking Day so I figured I would use my alone time to do just that... scrap in peace and quiet!

Helloooo?

I am sure no one is reading this anymore... if they ever were. But it is still my journal so I shall post. Hoppity Crud- what happened to the last 2 months? What does one write (in case anyone is reading) when one has vanished for almost 2 months? Hmmmm.  Well, I must say it got harder and harder to post here after being gone so long but I figured better late than never.

So, What have I been up to? Well, shortly after my last post DH and I started the process of building a new house. Yes, we knew we would be moving back to Boulder County but once we decided, it all happened so fast- like a hurricane really, a 2 month long hurricane. LOL We had to list our house on the market within 2 weeks so there were TONS of half finished projects to finish up. Lots of painting, packing, decluttering and orgainizing in a very short tine frame. But we got it done. Then other things came up, like birthdays and holidays and meetings and spring school activities and WORK. This time of year our business is in full swing and always makes us crazy for a couple weeks. So things have settled to a tornado level and I actually spent a few days doing some sewing this past week. The boys have had lots of school stuff this spring, Dinner Theater, Mothers Day Tea and a field trip to Colorado Springs last week. This week is the heaviest week with Spring Concert last night, Horse Show Wednesday afternoon and Art Show and Auction Friday evening.  Pheewww And only 11 1/2 days of school left!!! Can you believe it? 

Anyway, both boys had solos in the concert (each child has a solo- very good for their self esteem). We were very proud of them. I was especially nervous for Jack. Being in kindergarten this was his first year to perform onstage all alone. And he is a tad shy. But he did great. Cody is playing keyboard and really just started with the chords and had to play a new song that was a challenge for him but he practiced a lot and was awesome! And they did their usual multi-cultural music: singing their French songs plus a song in German and songs from Japan, Brazil, Jamaica. They danced the Minuet, which was darling- TOO CUTE, the Hula and a country line dance. Very fun to watch but I did not get decent photos. I am bummed about that. It was very dark in there, we were not in a good seat and I have lots of blur and red eye.

OK, I could prattle on and on about everything that has happened recently but I wanted to share my sewing project. {And sorry my photos are horrible, took them as I was trying to dash out the door with them} Our boys school has an Art Show with all the kids artwork on display which is my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE thing to see. Anyway, they also have parents donate things for a Silent Auction. I wanted to make something but also had to do it quickly since my grand schemes always come at the last minute. LOL So, I cheated a bit and bought these book bags and aprons at Hobby Lobby and just embellished them with my own patchwork.  Have you ever checked out this blog from my "Inspiring Blogs" list over there on the left side? LOVE Love Love this blog. Very inspiring to me. I am only a lurker on that blog but I find it SO inspiring and fresh. Yummy stuff. So, my inspiration for these next 3 things came from Shim and Sons.  I did these patchwork towels  (got these Fieldcrest towels at Target- love them) which I sent with a Colorado Cache Cookbook, 2 pocket aprons (1 boy, 1 girl) with a kids cookbook and 2 book totes with Barnes and Noble giftcards. And used Shabby Miss Jenn's yummy goodies to make the tags.

 

And then I just had to whip up some of these. I altered them a bit and made them 3-fold to hold a 12-pack of the Twistables. These were SO quick to sew once I worked out all the drawings on paper for my alteration. I think I need one for me. And I just love some of these Alexander Henry fabrics. That numbers fabric is too perfect for a school auction- dontcha think- I knoW!!! OK. I hope everyone likes these and that they get some bids. LOL

I gotta run now to get boys but I promise I will be posting regularly again. And more details baut our move coming soon!

Happy Day!!

Spring... Finally...

So tonight, 8 pm, Spring arrives. And we are SO ready for it here in Colorado. We have had a nice couple of weeks weather wise though so no complaining. The boys were on spring break last week and the weather was fantastic. We had a busy week. The boys had a sleepover with my niece and nephew at Oma and Opa's house. I "worked" 2 days last week and I use that term out of habit only because it consisted of 4 kids and a puppy. LOL My mom and I entertained them all Tuesday, which was a glorious day, with hopscotch games on the driveway. Fun! I tell you that would be a good way to get some exercise, LOL We were huffing and puffing by the end of it. And Thursday I had purchased these plates at Hobby Lobby for all the kids to make. I traced each of their hands and they decorated them and wrote their name and the date. Then they each decorated one however they wanted. My aunt had these when we were little and we used them forever and just loved having our own plate. I can't wait to get them back in the mail! The kiddos all had a fun week!

Funny Leprechaun story: On Friday I took the boys to the party store because they wanted to get some St. Patrick's Day things. Cody really wanted a leprechaun outfit SOO BAD but they only had them for adults. So, they each got a hat and Cody picked out a bow tie while Jack wasn't as keen on dressing up so he picked a green lei. So we got home and Cody immediately changed into his stuff and a green shirt. Then he disappeared in the bathroom for awhile and when he came out he had this fantastic orange beard painted on his face. Too cute. So they wanted to surprise Daddy with the St Pat's stuff so we washed his face and hid their gear. Not a word mentioned Friday night about the next day being St Pats. So at 6 am they woke me up and after I make the required coffee, I helped them get dressed. Cody painted both their faces and then they snuck in to wake up Daddy. What a great way to wake up~ to your 2 little muchkins as leprechauns. They just loved it!

So, I used Shabby Miss Jenn's "Shabby Poppies" kit for the St Pat's page as well as some of her other goodies. And you need to check out all the new spring goodies she has right now! Several Quick Pages that make scrapping SO quick and easy and beautiful!

And a fabulous new Spring Desktop freebie for you to enjoy.

OK, Happy Tuesday everyone. I am off to do some painting now. Lots of painting in the house this week.

It's A Girl...

   

Say HELLO! to the newest member of our family! I know, I must have LOST my mind, but after the boys and Chris have been bugging me for over a year about getting a dog, I finally gave up the "good fight"! LOL. I did want a dog someday, a nice outside dog. I think kids need to have a dog, but I just wasn't ready yet. But we all fell in love with her and the rest.. as they say...

Thus we have been busy since Saturday with our newest family member. Chris is having one of our guys come and help him start on her kennel in the yard tomorrow. Although she is NOT an outside only dog, she loves people too much. She loves being around us and will be an indoor/outdoor dog. Needless to say the boys are enchanted with her and Cody especially is doing great with caring for her.

I've already taken her to work (our company's office is at my mom's house) and she seems to be adapting just fine. We got the biggest one of these travel crates that is super easy for me to put in the back of my car and she loves it so far.

And don't you just LOVE those license plate letters! GREAT idea! One of those ideas where you think "why didn't I think of that?" I can see me using these a LOT with the boys' pages. You can get them here.

Pieces of Europe...

Have you ever ventured over to "Inspiring Blogs" on my sidebar and visited Jen of The Cottage Nest? Jen was recently in Europe and put together a little package to sent off to one of her lucky blog readers and guess who won? Oui, C'est Moi! I rarely win stuff like this so I am thrilled! I am happily awaiting the little package to arrive on my doorstep in the near future and I will post all about it!

In the meantime, if you haven't visited yet, go check out The Cottage Nest RIGHT NOW! Jen has a charming home and is always sharing her wonderful ideas and projects. And don't forget to check out her Flickr photos of her trip to Europe. SO inspiring. I cannot wait to see how Europe has inspired her decorating!