Monday, May 31, 2010

Here it is....the outfit!

It's probably not a good idea for me to be writing my blog yet, since I have had only 1/2 cup of coffee so far, but let's see if I can manage coherent sentences here. ;o)

I went shopping yesterday to find my outfit for Ben's retirement ceremony. I had promised Jacob some new jean shorts and had an extra 15% off coupon, so I started at Kohl's. It was a good plan because I actually ended up with 2 outfits (plus Jacob's shorts) and that was the only store that I had to go to.

Here is the one that Ben decided that he likes best (and he is the most important vote here,) but you all can state your opinions in the comments too (unless they are just to tell me that my arms look fat, and I already realize that so you don't have to take the time to type it out...I need to get back into my workout routine, stat!)


His comments were that I "looked nice" and "not frumpy" and then went on to say that so many women at these things look like they are wearing the same clothes from when their husbands went into the air force 20+ years ago. So I guess it is a good thing that I shopped in the junior dept. even though I clearly don't belong there...hehe!

It's hard to tell because the black is absorbing all the light, but this little jacket is ca-ute! It has a little ruffle at the bottom and little tiny pouf sleeves (thus the fat-looking arms.) I had originally planned on wearing the tee untucked and hanging slightly below the jacket, but at the last minute decided to check on what it would look like tucked in...I immediately look like I had lost 10 lbs (arms notwithstanding,) so that decision was made!


This is outfit #2 and is definitely more comfortable of the two and will work awesome later for date nights (I am hoping that we will get to take those every once in a while now that we are moving within driving distance of the grandparents.) Notice the ca-ute yellow shoes! You all haven't seen those yet...they came from an emergency shoe-shopping trip on Saturday. Yes there is such a thing when you are with a 3 year old who has shoes rubbing blisters, you are out shopping a long ways from home, and payless is having a buy one get one half off sale...hehe! 


Now I have to brag a tiny bit about what all this cost. It was Kohl's, right, so you all know it's going to be good! I bought that black pair of pants, date night shirt, purple tee, black jacket, matching jewelry, an additional black sweatshirt (that you didn't get to see, but it's really cute too!), and Jacob's jean shorts for a total of...


are you ready for it???



OMG, I was so excited!!



$115

I had budgeted $200 (we don't count all the shoes because they can be worn to multiple occasions/outfits so that wouldn't be fair to their value for my wardrobe) so I was able to splurge and go buy these two pillows that I saw last week in Target and fell in love with...


My living room is yellow (that is the backside of my couch that you see there) and red. Remember Kat's bed??? Well, it's not working out. She falls out of it pretty much every night and sleeps mainly on the floor...not good! So when we move, the arrangement of the furniture in the house is changing (more on that later) and her bed is coming into my humongous living room where we need more furniture anyways. These pillows are for the ends of that piece. 

And I am going to go off on a slight tangent here....how the heck do you arrange a sunken living room that truly only has one wall?!?! I have NO IDEA what I am going to do with that huge room as far as furniture arrangement goes... Of course, I am having the same dilemma with our huge bedroom too and it actually has walls!


And while I was getting dressed up and photographed, Kat felt left out so she had to put on her pretty dress for the retirement ceremony. This is a dress that my mom bought her for her birthday and is so absolutely perfect for this day! Thanks Mom!!! And notice her cute little ballet flats...she LOVES those so much and did NOT want to take any of it off yesterday after we had taken photos. She does love to be girly!


And you all are (mostly) crafters so I thought that you would want to see this. That first jacket had a flower on the lapel of it. I am not a flower on the lapel kind of girl, but this flower is awesome! Do you see??? It's made from a zipper!?!?!?


Here is a shot of the backside.... How awesome is that?!?! I have no idea what I am going to do with it...maybe attach it to a fun/funky purse. I love it!

And finally, just a quick not because it is Memorial Day. Enjoy your day. Have fun at your barbecues with your friends and family. But remember, you can have all this fun because of our veterans who have sacrificed so much so that we can have the lifestyles and freedoms that we have. Take a moment to remember them today too...




Sunday, May 30, 2010

Makeup 4 the Weekend -- COLORS!

Good Morning!
I hope that everyone is having a glorious Sunday morning. 
Here, I am listening to the birds singing (with a bit of Max&Ruby mixed in) and the sun is shining. It looks like it is going to be a gorgeous day here. 

I feel the need to hit the ice cream shop tonight. When I was in high school, we would go out on Sunday evenings for ice cream at Baskin Robbins. Hot summer evenings + ice cream = it's a wonderful mix!

Speaking of wonderful mixes, I love this week's Makeup 4 the Weekend challenge! This week's challenge came from Gabby (she's been in the hospital, so head on over to her blog and give her some "get well" wishes) and it was to create a card using the Stampin' Up colors: 

Buckaroo Blue, Close to Cocoa, Kiwi Kiss, Summer Sun, and Perfect Plum. 

I don't use Stampin' Up so I just went with colors that seemed like they would be close and managed to include 4 out of the 5...


This is a super-simple card that relies mainly on that gorgeous sentiment (out of the set, Faith Hope Love) that works totally on it's own and the beautiful paper.

Supplies used:
*Paper Makeup Stamps Faith Hope Love
*Martha Stewart seam binding
*Websters Pages Vintage Sparklers
*Martha Stewart butterfly punch
*Martha Stewart border punch

Now it's YOUR time to shine!! Make a creation using any color combo from the colors listed above (substitutions are fine), link it up to Mr. Linky (direct links only please) on the PMS blog, and please mention the challenge in your blog post. That's it! You do not have to use Paper Makeup Stamps but if you've got them why not show them off! If you link up to SCS/PCP please use keyword M4TW29!!

Friday, May 28, 2010

Blue & Yellow = French Love

Blue & Yellow

That was our challenge issued from Kim for this week for our Friday Fun Challenge.
She chose those colors because her beautiful daughter, Chelsea, 
is graduating from high school this week and those are her school colors.

But when I think of Blue & Yellow, I think about a French Room....
 so I headed that direction with the style of my card....


I used this week's Mojo Monday sketch (#140) for the layout of my card and some seriously OLD Making Memories papers (love it when I can pull out my old lines and use them!)


I used the new Brave Girls Collage kit from Unity Stamp Co. I LOVE this kit and think that it fits the French Country feel that I was going for with this card.



Supplies used:
*Unity Stamp Co. Melody Ross Brave Girl
*Making Memories paper collection
*Making Memories trim
*eyelet trim
*Stampin Up punch
*button
*string
*StazOn jet black ink pad

Be sure to check out the other Friday Fun Girls blogs for more inspiration.  

We would love for you to play with us-
 just use keyword FFC84 when uploading to your SCS gallery.

And be sure to go check out the Unity blog
for the entire list of Friends with Flair participants!!!




Thursday, May 27, 2010

Unity + Donna = INSPIRED!

Hello to all of my Unity Stamp Co. Peeps!

This is post #2 for today. 
If you are looking for my Limelight Papercrafts Sketch post 
(which also features Unity stamps,) then it is located below this one.

If you have been following along the Unity Stamp Co. hop, then you have already seen how absolutely fabulous the new Donna Downey stamps are! If you haven't been hopping along, then you need to start over at the Unity Stamp Co. blog.



For this first project, I featured some of those fabulous new singles from Donna. This layout is 12x12, so that gives you a good idea just how huge and fabulous these stamps are!!!

I stamped this heart first onto the kraft, but it just didn't have enough pop on the layout so I decided to try a bit of paper-piecing on it...OMG, I love it now! I think that I need to make one of those "trust" blocks simply to frame and hang on my wall!

Supplies used:
*Unity Stamp Co. Pixie Sprigs
*Unity Stamp Co. Trust
*Unity Stamp Co. She
*Girls Loft May kit (all those fabulous Girls Paperie products!)
*Martha Stewart border punch
*Palette burnt umber inkpad
*American Crafts glitter chipboard alpha
*kraft cardstock

Can I just preface this next project by saying how much I adore this She kit?!? 
FABULOUS!
I love the free-style, but still elegant, style of it. 
LOVE IT!
"She" was colored using my watercolor pencils

Supplies used:
*Unity Stamp Co. She
*Basic Grey Green at Heart 6x6 paper collection
*Martha Stewart border punch
*Martha Stewart glitter flowers
*watercolor pencils
*StazOn Jet black inkpad
*black brads


Now, you need to continue along the blog hop and hop on over to 



And be sure to come join us for the fun, games and chatting in the forum today!!!

Fuzz&Fluff-- Limelight Sketch Day!

This is post #1 of 2 for today. 

Today for our Limelight Papercrafts sketch challenge, we are featuring fuzz & fluff....

You should be coming here from the LPC blog. If you didn't do that, then you need to head on over there so that you can do this hop in order!


Here is the fabulous sketch that we are featuring today....


The Deets:
**Use the sketch above and try to incorporate your favorite FUZZ or FLUFF!!
**Key word for SCS upload is LLPC048.
**Post a comment with a link to your card to the Limelight Papercrafts blog on the challenge post by Sunday, May 30, at midnight (or before winner is drawn Monday).
**PRIZE ~ One lucky winner will receive a package of Websters Pages Coco Bloomers!!


For my fuzz & fluff detail, I stamped my flowers using simple black ink. I then came back with a glue pen and dabbed dots of glue all over the floral heads. I then poured my fluff over top of the glue and this is the effect that happened. Pretty cool, isn't it? I had never used this stuff before and I think that I may be hooked now. It adds so much texture to the card.


Supplies used:
*Unity Stamp Co. Moments in Bloom
*Martha Stewart border punch
*Fiskars border punch
*CTMH Spring Leaf inkpad
*STazOn Jet black inkpad

Now you need to hop on over to 













Wednesday, May 26, 2010

New Shoes for the Snow Girls....


5 pairs of shoes = $70
Time spent girl-bonding over shoes shopping = Priceless

 

uh oh...we have a new fake smile...

...and this is what happens when you encourage her to fix it....

awww, there we go! That's the cutie we know...

I'll be back tomorrow with 2 posts full of new artwork!



Monday, May 24, 2010

Paper Makeup M4TW notebook

You all are going to start getting confused by my posts as I try to work further and further ahead and start scheduling posts. ;o) Try to just grin and bear with me over the next month and a half, then hopefully life will return to some normalcy.

Every Friday, Paper Makeup Stamps hosts a Makeup 4 the Weekend challenge. I try to participate in these, but my Friday post line-up is already crazy so they tend to go up later in the week. 

This last Friday's challenge was to create an altered notebook. Right along with creating bookmarks, this is a huge passion in my papercrafting world so of course, I had to play along.


I live with one of these notebooks attached to my body at pretty much all times. I create a new one every 2 months to track my calendar, dt projects, lists, etc. As you can imagine, this is pretty much VITAL to my daily living right now as we head into this move. So I made this notebook to carry me through to July 4th. My lists are over-the-top and out of control right now so this particular calendar only covers one month vs. my normal two so that I have plenty of space for my list-making.


Lots of fun new products used on this to include that fab new Martha Stewart punch...LOVE IT! I also created the cover using a mix of Cosmo Cricket's DeLovely line and October Afternoon's Thrift Shop line with a little Melody Ross Brave Girl thrown in too. I like the mix of old and new looks to create this hodgepodge collage effect.


For my Moody for Music stamp from PMS, I used my watercolor pencils on her. {I really am starting to become tempted by Copics...any advice???}

Supplies used:
*Paper Makeup Stamps Moody for Music
*Cosmo Cricket DeLovely paper collection and bitty alphabet
*watercolor pencils
*October Afternoon Thrift Shop Collection
*Melody Ross Brave Girls label
*Nestabilities Labels diecut
*Martha Stewart border punch
*lace trim

If you want to play along with the challenge, we would LOVE THAT!
Here are the details:
Alter a notebook, link it up to Mr. Linky (direct links only please) on the PMS blog, and please mention the challenge in your blog post. That's it! You do not have to use Paper Makeup Stamps but if you've got them why not show them off! If you link up to SCS/PCP please use keyword M4TW28!!

And DON'T FORGET! PaperMakeupStamps has a Design Team call out right now. I LOVE this team and cannot tell you how fabulous it would be to have you join us!
*****************

We are exactly 2 weeks from the packers being here to pack up the house. 
*eek*
 I am sooooo NOT READY!!!!

Those lists are starting to get REALLY long with not nearly enough check-marks on them!

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Fashion Dilemma

I am a t-shirt and jeans type of gal. 99% of my wardrobe has come from Target or Old Navy. Every once in a while I will splurge and buy a pair of jeans or shoes from Kohls (I do wear heals/wedges a lot...that is the one area where I look decent usually....my shoes!)

So my dilemma is that Ben is about to retire from the Air Force which means a ceremony where I need to look not so much like a mom that stays home all day. I have no idea what to get. I am actually a teeny part of the ceremony (which I absolutely HATE) so I need to not only look okay, but I need to be fairly comfortable in how I look too so that I don't screw up in front of everyone. 

So this morning I have been trawling the net looking for looks that might work. I thought that I would share a few of them with you. (when I started doing this, I wasn't planning on doing a blog post about it, so I don't have any links. Sorry about that!)

This first look is my favorite and it is from Ruche (last years collection so it's not even available anymore even if I could afford their prices....LOL!)

This is a look that I picked up *I think* from Anthropologie, but now that I am looking at it, I am not too sure about that. I am not sure that it is Indie enough to be one of their looks...

Cute top, maybe from Chadwicks???

Cute jacket definitely from Chadwicks. I adore jackets and this one is awesome and it was only around $22...a steal!

I love this top from Kohls, but so few people, me included, can actually pull off wearing ivory without looking totally sick.

I love this little ruffled sweater from Dillards. I imagine wearing it with a longer tee underneath it. I am LOVING the ruffles everywhere this year!

Another ca-ute sweater from Dillards. It was shown with this fantastic skirt, but I have AWFUL legs so I don't wear ANYTHING that shows them...NOTHING! 



Then because I will need some new pants, I picked up a couple of images of pants from Victorias Secret....not that I would ever look like this in their pants...mainly because I am 5'6", not 6'5". hehe!

You will notice all of these have a washed, comfy look. Totally necessary for me to feel comfortable during that day.



And of course, I am a shoe girl so you better bet I am going to use a new outfit as an excuse for a new pair of shoes! ;o) I LOVE these ruffled ones from Payless...unfortunately, I have issues with 'walking out' of this style of shoes. I don't think I will let that stop me from going and trying them though!


Another ca-ute pair from Payless....


And I think that I am the only person  that doesn't have a pair of gladiator styled sandals. I would love to fix that with this pair, but at $168 I don't think think that these will be making it into my closet anytime soon. I better head back over to the Payless website...LOL!

So what do you think? Have any store recommendations for me? The sad thing is that when I sat down to even trawl the net for ideas...I didn't even know any stores to go explore. How did I become such a mom?!?!

Now I better get off of here and go workout so that I look okay for the day!



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