My First Smash Book

About a year ago I bought my first SMASH book from K & company. I have slowly been filling it with random things I like, events and places that I go, and things from Pinterest that make me happy. Well I am thrilled to say that that first book is complete! Now of course I need to get to work on all of the others that I have... slowly but surely. Here is my cover with AC rose trim added on and rubons from Fancy Pants.

 My inside cover with self portrait and my first washi tape, oh that seems like so long ago! Many, many rolls of washi tape later!

 My first page I wanted to feature the person that I love the most in this world on, at that time, his new motorcycle.

 These are pictures that I took of things that I love and use on a daily basis, first off my coffee, and not last (just added last) is my adorable kids.

 Random things that I am thankful for. This was still very early in my Smashing style, later you will see that I evolved into a much more scrapbook/artistic style.

 A page about my starting a photography business, and our trip to see Breaking Dawn.

 Outfit inspiration from Pinterest, yes I printed out all of those pictures and cut them each out!

 Pictures of me and our trip with my parents to see Kellie Pickler in concert.

 My wish list on the left and on the right is a few of my favorite things which it took me a while to realize that it was all becoming food related.

 Places that my husband and I want to go someday. Oh, someday...

 My top 10 desserts from Pinterest that I want to make and try.

 I decided to fill in a few of the smash pad lists and put them here. Then I used Pinterest to find images to go along with some of those things.

 Bible Verses that make me happy, many are ones that I need to read often.

 Home Decor ideas that I got off of Pinterest. This was before I dedicated a whole book to Home Decor/Ikea hack ideas. I really should get started on that one, I have the dividers done but that's it so far. Whoops!

 Blogs I love to read are on the left page and on the right are some things in my house that make me happy.

 Scrapbook pages that I like and things about them that I want to try out on my own pages.

 DIY projects from Pinterest that I would love to do at some point. In all of that spare time you know!

 More DIY ideas and I used the YOU to write my journaling about doing these projects.

 Favorite books from my life on the left and recently read titles on the right. I need to read more often.

 Pictures of Neil and I and words from poems and stuff that I have found online and liked.

 Scrapbookers that Inspire me.

 Recipes that I want to try, I need to expand our family menu desperately!

 Shoes I love on the left and shows that I love on the right. I'm thinking now that I need to do a whole smash page dedicated to BBC Sherlock.

 iPhone apps that I love are randomly written on the left and different accessories and gadgets for the iphone on the right.

 This is the page that I wish wasn't there. I was trying to cover up the ugly horse face before I realized that you could just use paper to cover the whole page. But you try and you learn right? So this is about nail polish and the colors and how much I like them.

 My mom and I work the scrapbook expos here in SoCal and this was the Anaheim one. Lots of fun!

 I love Purses! These are just some of the ones that I have found on Pinterest and wanted.

 My Right Now page is on the left and on the right is where I started getting a little more artistic with my pages. I took that picture of my new shoes while we were in Maui and it makes me happy.

 A few more scrapbook layouts that I like.

 My mom and I drove all the way to San Diego for the day just to take an all day class with THE Amy Tan AND Kelly Purkey! It was a dream come true for me to get to meet them, learn from them, and get to know them a little.

 I love color lately and can't seem to get enough of it to add into my wardrobe.

 About our trip to Vegas with my parents last August. We had a lot of fun.

 A way to save and do something with all of the little drawings and "treasures" that my kids bring me.

 Scrapbook supplies that I love and seem to reach for over and over again.

 Tags from clothes that I have bought recently.

 The cosmetics and skincare that I use including a peek inside my makeup drawer and medicine cabinet.

 My obsession with the royal family.

 Some random pictures of my that I haven't been able to find another use for so they found a home here.

 I ended the book with my favorite drink, a Lava Flow, because anytime there is one of these in my hand, it's going to be a good time!

 My back cover using a Queen & Co. strip and one more rub on.

Lucky Day

I am so very excited because I finally took the plunge and joined Studio Calico! I have wanted to for a very long time but just couldn't commit the money. But now that my photography business is taking off I figured that I could handle it. So I got my first kit last week and was finally able to sit down and start playing with it. I have a pretty long list of pages that I need to complete and I figured that I am going to force myself to find a way to scrap any theme of pictures using my kit rather than being so reliant upon theme sets of papers and embellishments. I have gotten pretty tired of having to buy a new collection of holiday/birthday papers every year just to have something new to work with. NO more! My Studio Calico kits are going to take the place of that and the nice thing is that I don't have to choose it. It shows up on my doorstep and I am instantly inspired, I think it's a pretty good deal. 

So here is my first Studio Calico page about our St. Patrick's Day (yes I'm a little behind!) But I loved how in the kit was this great green paper from October Afternoon and the some beautiful navy that seemed to compliment the green so well.

I used my new bubble mask with the Estate Green Mister Huey's (the best spray ink ever!) and I added in the arrow stamp from Amy Tan. A sheet from my 6x6 Hey Day set was a nice neutral to even everything out. I also used some of the October Afternoon chipboard buttons, circles, and banners to add dimension and reinforce the circles in the masked green. In my kit was also the tag and the "just a note" stamp which I am in love with! This all came together pretty quickly and I am so in love with it. I did add my own washi tapes, bare thickers that I colored with navy spray mist and a wood veneer camera that I stamped with black stripes and then colored in green and navy stripes but you can't see them very well. My final touches were to use the pearl crystals that came in the kit and I took a regular hole punch and punched out a few navy dots to fill in a few more holes in the bubbles. 

We had a great St. Patrick's Day this year especially because Neil finally let me cook Corned Beef and Cabbage. He liked it more than he thought he would. I loved it and the Irish Soda Bread that I made from scratch. The kids favorite was the green grapes that I coated in Lime Jello powder. They were sour and oh so addicting. We also made Shamrock shakes for dessert and I loved how my shelves came out decorated for the holiday. What would I do without Instagram and Picframe?! They have made documenting life so much easier. 

Hope you enjoyed!

Our Entryway

I wanted to share with you what we did for the section of wall between the door and the stairs. I had this portrait that we had taken last year by Rachel Clare made into a canvas from Costco.

 I was very impressed with the quality of the canvas and how it turned out. Of course, it also helps to start out with a great picture! I wanted to incorporate the same color that I painted the kitchen wall so I painted this 4'x5' rectangle on the wall and then my wonderful husband added white trim around the edges. Very easy and it adds so much to this wall where as just the canvas would have looked plain and small on this big wall.

Overall, I am really happy with it and I'm thinking of doing something fun here for the holidays but we'll see if I get around to that this year! I have more plans for the area to the right of this, a mudroom! I am desperate for a place for the kids' shoes (I include my husband in this!) plus jackets, backpacks and all of that other stuff. But I have to take it one project at a time right?
Right now we are actually in Lake Tahoe with some great friends so hopefully next week I will have some pictures to share from our trip!

Class Pictures

 I was blessed with the opportunity to come in to the boys' preschool class and take school pictures. We turned it into a fundraiser for the class and overall it went very well considering I had 23 kids to shoot!

 Of course, the two kids that gave me problems were my own, but I think that is because they are so tired of me taking their picture all the time! Zachary was pretty good although that face in the picture above is pretty funny!

 These are the kinds of pictures that Gabriel was giving me...

 A face only a mother could love, right?

 Zachary was pretty cute although then he started laughing and I got...

 this one and...

 this one, the little funny boy!

 I do love this face though, classic Zach complete with sweater that he continually tells me has a rumbus on it, they are learning a lot in preschool!

I had each kid start off with a picture of them holding this chalkboard sign that we wrote their name on with the year. It is not only great for the parents to have the child's name and the year on it but then it also helped me when editing and copying the pictures to know who was who! I just got to do the other preschool class' pictures so maybe my friend will let me share a few of her son when I get them edited!

I'm BACK!!!

Okay, so I know that I have been MIA for a long time now. I have had several really tough months and the thought of opening up my heart on here has been too much to handle. But I am ready to celebrate the holidays and then start the new year fresh, but more on that another day! For now, let's just pretend like I was never gone... ok? 

Ever since I took that online Photography Class by Maggie Holmes my photography skills have improved so much and I have now officially gone professional! It's a scary thought for me but when I am behind a camera I feel at home and there is something about watching people through a lens that makes my heart sing. So let me share with you some of the photos that I have taken over the last six months and kind of fill you in on what has been happening in our lives...

 This is once again that gorgeous couple that I have had the opportunity to shoot several times. We have this plan to take photos every 3 months for their first year but November got too crazy for everyone... boo! I still want to take some and just pretend that it is November.

 We shot these out in Barstow at the Harvey House. This building has beautiful architecture and was a lot of fun to wander around and find new places to shoot.

 Sometimes you don't even need to see faces to feel the emotion, and that is something that I love to capture!

 As we walked down this little walkway I saw this arrow painted on the pillar and instantly had the idea for this picture, it is so perfect!
Next we jump to Halloween and my adorable children, I know I'm biased, but they are pretty cute!

 Zachary was Bumblebee from Transformers and they were obsessed with their costumes for weeks wanting to wear them, I have learned my lesson, next year I will not buy them so early because they don't understand.

 I love this one of them walking away holding hands. It is not very often that I get to capture the connection between these two. Usually the only connection that I see is one on top of the other while they wrestle.

 And here is my Optimus Prime. Every year I find it funny that Gabriel picks the lead character and Zachary always picks the sidekick or secondary character, when in real life normally Zachary is the dominant one.

 Kaley was Hermione and she loved having the robe and tie which came in handy when the final movie came out on Blu ray and we were able to dress up to watch it.

 Madison was my beautiful Cleopatra and I had so much fun doing her hair and makeup for this.

We went to the pumpkin patch with the playgroup that I have been taking the boys to  and we had a great time.  I took each of the kids over to the pumpkin field and shot some pictures of them. They were surprisingly very cooperative.

Kaley was pretty cute as usual.

Madison picked out the perfect shirt since it matched the tree almost exactly!

And my Gabriel always has so much personality!

Madison turned 9 in October and Kaley turned 7 in November. I have never really done a big birthday party for them and their friends so this year we decided to do one big party for both of them since they share quite a few friends. I will share more on the party another day, but I these are the photos that I took and printed to sit on the mantle above where they sat to open presents.
Well, I guess for now that is it although I have so much more to share, I promise that I won't be gone for long!