my life by design

Afew pages featuring Reminisce

I am so happy to be sharing these pages!! When the LSS got these papers in I knew I had to work with them!! I really love the finish on the papers and I hope that they show up as beautifully here as they do in real life.

 

This paper has both glitter on it and a frosty sheen. It's BEAUTIFUL!! I love the word stickers and how easy they added little touches to my page.

 

Same paper line, only this page is for Jackson! Ok when I got the page of phrases I thought... there are so many of these that I don't really have pages for. But when you use them as a design element you can come up with really cool boarders like the one here. Maybe I can share some other pages later that show how you can use those phrases to create cool shapes...

 

Ok this one has to be my MOST favorite page in a LONG time! I really love these halloween papers. THey are printed on one side and a "solid" on the other. I used a corner rounder to make the scalloped edge.

Here is a fun card that I did! One of the gals over at Maya Road (Katie) did this adorable witch wall hanging... I loved the little witch so I created my own mini one for this card. I also did a mini book with these papers... can't seem to find the pictures of it. I'll have to re- shoot them and share. It's a fun little book.

just some shots from our trip....

We had the most wonderful trip in June. Although the timing wasn't perfect, we loved being in Alaska again. We also drove down to Disneyland... to see the west coast version, along with some other CA sights.

This silly whale thought he was a bird... lol! He jumped about 3 times in a row. It was amazing!! Stunning really. It was a great day out with Cap't Larry of Orca Enterprises. We also did the Killer whale tour from last summer. It was wonderful but different. I'll share pictures from it later.

 

We drove through the Redwood forest... breath taking! Simply breath taking!!

 

 um... we ended up with the car in a tree....well it was planned but SO cool!! The kids loved it too!

 

Then it was off to the Golden Gate bridge. It was so great to drive across this national icon! We could see Alcratraz (sp?) out in the harbor. Man do I wish that I could have gone out to see it!

 

Our last stop was DISNEYLAND! Yep... we had a great time! I'll share more later this week.

 

Have a great day!

Eruption... yep that is what I would call it

Hello... my name is Karen and I'm an emotional stuffer. yep, i keep stuffing what I am feeling until the point that it erupts! I call it an avoidance due to fear of confrontation. Yep I really dislike confrontation. So I stuff...one feeling on top of the old one. Until there is no more room and all those stuffed feelings get mad and out they come.... ERUPTION.

WOW... what a way to start of the first blog in several months. lol We got salon 1 open and up and running, we open salon 2 on August 1. Not sure that I am ready for this. Not sure that I can handle the pressure of two. I'm just in a place of not being sure... so the stuffing starts. Guess that is where the confession came from. There are so many fears in my head, I can't seem to see past them. And to top it off I don't have time to do the things that help... like creating.

So what I had done in the last 3 months... opened a salon, started working on the second salon, took a trip out west that we never should have taken (timing was all wrong), and I've worked on reviews for scrapfriends. I really wanted to complete the MMM contest but that isn't going to happen. Oh well...it's not like I would win anyway.

I wanted to share some of the pictutes from our trip... but I haven't had a chance to edit them. So I'l share some of hte projects that I did for scrapfriends.

 

This page was for the Karen Foster Designs review on the Celebrate collection. I REALLY love how this turned out. Here's a detail:

 

How about a page of the princess? This was also done for the Karen Foster Designs Review.

 

 

This was a fun review to do. It was for watercolor crayons! I painted the flowers in the circle below the title.

I'm hoping to find the time to do a blog overhal soon. I need to do a new banner and I want cut little titles along the sides (got to figure that one out!)

Hope you have a wonderful day!!

Pages for the month

I've been dying to share these pages with everyone! These were all done for different reviews at scrapfriends.us.

Here is a deatil of the doodling

Both of those layouts were created for the Doodle Formula book review.

I love this photo!! I'm the one on the right and I was about 3 at the time. We went every summer to the Foxes on Clearwater Beach to stay for a week with another family. I've grown up loving this photo. When I came across the negative I had a print made so I would always have a copy around.

This one was made for the Prism Papers review. I used Technique Tuesday stamps (LOVE THEM) and the new Threading Water punch! I love how the colors pop off the kraft paper!! 

Salon update

Well we are chugging right alone toward our May 1 opening date. Here are some inside photos to show where we are:

Going back!

There are certain places on this planet that hold my heart. Disney... the Caribbean... Alaska. I love these places. Today I worked on photos from our last 4 years. When I lost my computer a few months back, I also lost my Lightroom. It was one of the last things that I needed to get back. Well, I did that this week and I spent today reloading my photos and labeling them.

It's been SO fun looking back!! And dreaming about future trips. I want to go back to Alaska, and to the Caribbean. Anyone who knows me, knows my love of all things Disney!! I am planning a trip to Disneyland this summer!! Can't wait!! I've always wanted to go to Disneyland... I've often answered the question "if you could spend 30 minutes with anyone, living or not, who would it be?" with the answer of Walt Disney. He was a true visionary! I would love to have the chance to talk to him...

Any way... looking back has made me super excited about what is on the horizon for us!!

Just another day in the neighborhood

I love when the weather starts to heat up. I can open the windows, the kids play outside, and my allergies hit critical mass. I've been so busy getting our staff hired that I haven't had time to really feel sick, that is until today. I've felt so horrible! I slept in and took a nap... it's been a LONG time since that happened. It felt so good. ;)

I wanted to share some of the things that I've been working on. The first is a altered dress form that I've wanted to do forever, a review at scrapfriends.us finally gave me the chance.

Then I got the chance to work on some pages too. I don't think that I have shared these yet.

 

Happy St Pats!

In honor of the day... here is my green post! Both kiddo's wore green to school today. I sure hope that they don't get pinched. But that is about the extent of our celebrations. I'd love to do the pub crawl down at the River Market, but I don't see that happening. Oh well. I hope that everyone has a great green day!

Here is a layout that I did for a challenge at A Million Memories. I really LOVE how it turned out.

These are older pictures of the little guy. Don't ya just LOVE those little cheeks? I can't believe he was ever that little!! He's about 2 in these pictures.

ATTN: Cindy!

LOL... see I am updating my blog! Good Grief but I love you guys!! Let's see... I'm not sure what to talk about today. Ah... I know.... Great Clips. I don't think that I've posted about Great Clips. Thomas, my Dad and I are opening a group of Great Clips hair cutting salons! And no, I don't cut hair! LOL

Our first store is going in to the Target Shopping center in Bryant. Here's a picture of it from the outside:

See the signs in the windows? I made them. They are the first ones that I've ever made and I LOVE them! I like the one with pictures more than the other one... but we need to hire people to be able to open! So if you know anyone who lives in the Bryant area who cuts hair and wants a job working for some of the coolest people on the planet tell them to call me.

How about some layouts?

This is the layout that I taught in Stamping Class at Scrapbook Corner this past week:

This is a mini album that I made about the snow... and for a scrapfriends review.

That last page says "we did". You really can see it in person. The flash didn't do this so good, and I haven't taken the time to re-shoot it.

Well, have a great Sunday!

Evolution of a car

Finally we got snow! Not the huge amounts that they were calling for but we did get snow. I went out around 2pm and measured the grass and the car. The grass said a touch over 2 inches while the car was a touch under 2 inches. 

I have to admit that when I woke up I was very upset that we didn't have snow on the ground. I mean all 3 weather people here were calling for the same thing... 2-4 inches on Thursday and another 2-4 for today. It was really funny that as Thomas flight landed that the snow started... makes me wonder if we would have gotten snow if he was able to get home on Thursday night.

This is my car as I shot it through out the day...The first shot is from 11:30 am.

This next shot is about an hour later:

The snow was heavy and so thick! I loved it!! This last shot was from about 2:30pm. RIght as the snow was slowing. I was sad to see it end. I had hoped that we would get snow until the sun set.

So that would be the progression of snow at our house. I hope that you can tell a difference in each of the pictures.