W-E-E-K-E-N-D

It's 9pm on a Saturday night and I'm EXHAUSTED. Funny how I am more tired on the weekend but am supposed to have more help on the weekend too. I know it's because we cram so much in that it just poops us all out. For instance today... we woke up, did some cleaning, tried to put up our Christmas lights, but failed, went shopping for little hook thingys for our lights, came home put the lights up, fed the baby, went to the Santa Clause parade, decorated a cake and now here I am. Phew. Busy day. Lot's of fun though. I did get lot's of pictures though. So that's fun...

Here are a few from the Santa Clause Parade...





I wish I remembered what setting I had on the first picture. I LOVE it. It was a 'lucky' shot.

Here are some pics of the 'gateau' I did tonight. It's for my sister in law, it's her birthday this week. Her favorite colors are pink and brown.





I'd say I'm pleased with it. I sketched out quite a few ideas before I decided to go with this. I hit a few bumps in the road along the way, but it really is all about learning. Right?

Anyways... I'm off...time to sit back with a glass of eggnog and rum and flick, cause Saturday night TV SUCKS...but that's ok, because my brain has shut down for the day so paying attention to anything would be out of the question.

Hope you and yours have a fabu-lo-so weekend too.

...Happy Ending

I spent the day with little miss cranky pants. In fact I got a picture of her 'attitude' today...



I also got a SUPER cute pic



I know...impossible to think that cute, precious, little face could have been anything but adorable, BUT, it's true. Today I was ready to call it quits. I almost called my work to see if I could go back early. I love her to pieces...but today she just knew how to push my buttons and she was so whiny. That's what bothered me the most. I kept taking deep breaths and told myself it could be her tooth/teeth coming in (the one that came out a few days ago is playing hide and seek, cause it went back in, so hopefully it'll be out for good soon.)

Anyways...tonight I had cake class. I was dreading going, but I knew how badly I needed to get out and have some 'me' time. OMG. I had the best night. It was so nice to be out and doing something for me, without a baby to watch or worry about. I just got to sit there and decorate a cake. Ahhhhhh it was heaven. It really was. To top it off, I'm SO proud of my cake. I LOVE it. Here are some pics:





It turned out so well. Paul was really impressed too. I really feel rejuvenated. So now I think I'll get to bed early and tomorrow will be a new day. Funny how just a few hours can make SUCH a difference. I'm so happy that my day had such a happy ending. Now I can go to bed and look forward to tomorrow. Nighty night.

Happy Birhtday...

Mia!!!
9 months old today.
Wow.

Oh Christmas Tree...

(Sung to the tune of the Christmas Carol Oh Christmas Tree)

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree
Why do you shed so darn much?
Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree
You shed like Molly, with just one touch.
I vacuum all day and night, there really is no end in sight,
Oh Christmas Tree Oh Christmas Tree,
Why do you shed so darn much?

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree,
Why does the baby love you?
Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree,
Why does she need such a close view.
She tries to pull your branches off, I did not know she was that tough,
Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree,
Why does the baby love you?

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree,
Will we survive till Christmas Day?
Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree,
I think we both might need to pray.
You pray to keep standing tall, I'll pray for you not to fall,
Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree,
Will we survive till Christmas Day?

Tree Dilemna...

So... Yesterday I was ON FIRE. I cleaned the storage room, the storage area under our steps, I took out most of our Christmas decorations and put them up last night, all in an attempt to cheer myself up. I've been in the dumps lately...but I'm beginning to think it's related to the fact that I will be going back to work very soon. Instead of fall into a deep scary place I'm working on finding positive...and I LOVE Christmas...so I don't care if it's 'too early' to decorate. By golly I'm decorating and I'm going to enjoy my house for the FULL month of December. :) Heck...Christmas is 1 month from today...so I want to enjoy every minute. So from now on...Christmas music 24/7, Christmas lights, Christmas socks...the whole shebang!

Now...the only think that's left, well I guess there are a few. I have yet to get my shopping done. I'm not too concerned with that though, we seem to be in good shape. Mia has more than enough, so it's best that we stay OUT of the malls for our bank accounts sake. lol. I'd like to get some baking done. I LOVE Christmas baking. I was thinking of doing 12 things and doing a 12 days before Christmas for Paul to bring into work. They're like Vulchers there. So I thought they'd appreciate that. It is an expense, but I LOVE baking. We'll see I guess. We need to get our outdoor lights up. We'll do that this Saturday AND we need to get our tree up. This is where our dilemna is... we don't know where the heck to put it. I've rearranged the living room about 12 times now... Given that there's hardly anything left in the living room due to baby proofing, you'd think this would be easy. Not so much! I think it might be trial and error, but with a large Christmas tree...that's not easy! I guess I'll just have to keep at it...somethings got to work eventually...

Time to go soak in some more of that Christmas cheer. :)

FRUSTRATION

So...Mia was napping and I took this as an opportunity to get something done around the house. My thought was...hmmm I'll take something out for supper and be ahead of the game. So I go downstairs to our deep freeze which is in our storage room but I can't even open the door because the room is so clutter. This room as been a disaster since we moved in. I attempted to clean it a few times but only got so far. Paul has this thing about keeping boxes. Big ones cause they're great for storage and they would come in handy if we ever move , small ones cause they're great for Christmas gifts, if we need a box. I'm totally on side with keeping a few small ones for Christmas, but not if small + big = boxland, expanding about 6 x 12 ...that's FEET PEOPLE. So...in my anger I start going through stuff and chucking boxes here and there. In the meantime I realize how many 'little' boxes are full of Paul junk. So I try to put the little boxes into the 'great for packing' big boxes. I chuck a bunch of garbage, that was just sitting around, I tear up a bunch of old, torn boxes, cause they're useless...FINALLY I can get to the deep freeze. But why stop there? So I keep at it...I couldn't believe how much I got done in 2 hours. Paul has spent at least 3 or 4 hours about 3 times now and I swear all I think he's done all 3 of those times is go through the EXACT same boxes. Now, I actually have room to store some of the baby stuff we don't use anymore. That said. I still have a corner that's FULL Of boxes, but I just couldn't tear anymore...my hands hurt. Plus Mia woke up from her nap. Now I'm pumped...just knowing how much I got done in such a short time.

Now there's still a whole area full of mouldings, old and new... I'm not sure how to tidy that up. Not to mention our bottle graveyard...there MUST be some ingenious way to recyle. There has to be. To people really make a trip to the bottle depot every month with just a bag or two of bottles? Then again, we don't bag them nearly as quickly as we should. I think I might tackle that tomorrow. I need some CHEAP organization tips... I think it's time to go surfing....

Welcome to Mommyhood...

So I think Mia is really trying to break us in pretty good. What a weekend we had. So I'm pretty sure Mia's second upper tooth is coming in. That, or as I was reading last night, she may be going through a bit of separation anxiety. Last night she woke up 30 minutes after being put down, screaming so horridly that it scared us. So Paul went in to try and calm her down WITHOUT picking her up. She just started throwing herself against the crib. So he came back out, she got louder and scarier, so I went to check in, now she was standing up in her crib holding on to the rails. I thought, maybe she has a fever, maybe there's something wrong because she was NOT happy. I picked her up she settled down right away. Nope...she just wanted Mommy. BUT here's the thing. Paul and I were both really sick from what we think was the pizza we had last night. So I knew I wouldn't be able to stay in there and rock her to sleep. So Paul came in to hold her and Mia lost it, punching him and screaming and just going bonkers. Finally we agreed to just put her in her crib and let her deal...she would eventually go to sleep, which she did.

On another note...we tried baby proofing...removed a bunch of stuff from the living room. We're just realizing how fast Mia can really be. In a matter of seconds she's pulling herself up on furniture or has something in her mouth that she really probably shouldn't. I'm exhausted. It's fun...but really mentally exhausting, to have to keep tabs on a little person ALL the time. I'm trying to see if there's things around the city for us to do. Baby class has ended and I just think we need to get out and let Mia burn off some of that energy.

Anyways...I feel like I have a million things on the go this week. I'm off to make my to do list and then get started...Have a great week!

Christmas Ornament (2) & Snowman

Now this one is SUPER DUPER simple. Would be fun to do with kids.

What you need...

4 strips of .5 x 12 PP (My example is .5 x 10...so really it's whatever you want) - oh and I would recommend double sided PP.

2 medium sized brads (Not the huge heidi swapp ones, but not the small 'regular' ones...then again it depends on the size of your whole puncher.)

1 hole puncher

Now... punch holes at the top and bottoms of each strip and then in the center.

Using 1 brad, lay the strips on top of one another, and then place the brad through the center hole, and now 'fan out' your strips.

Carefully bring up each strip to meet together and align all remaining holes. Fasten with the second brad.

TADA...

Imagine 'hanging' something on the inside...maybe a photo of someone, a star, another smaller version of this ornament, use your imagination!

After I posted this technique at today's Crop on CompuproScrapbooking.com someone suggested making a snowman with one ball on top of the other. I thought this was BRILLIANT...so I gave it a shot...here's my little man. I love him!

** I did not 'invent' any of these ideas...most of them are inspired by projects I've seen various places online. I am simply sharing how I made my version of these projects.

Christmas Ornament

Some of you may have seen this ornament featured on a few popular sites. I fell in love with it when I first saw it and thought I GOTTA make that... So here it is...

First you need 10 circles, any size, the bigger they are the easier they'll be to fold.

Then you'll need to measure a triangle to perfectly fit in the circle. The way I did that was find the center of the circle and drew a line. (so half and half) then from one of the points (ends) I measured out a triangle until all sides were the same size. I then cut the triangle out and used it as my template.

I traced the triangle on the inside of every circle. I then folded along the lines.

Then, using adhesive (I used a glue stick) I glued all the folds together. (5 and 5 - then glue the 'top' to the 'bottom')

I left one of the ends open so I could glue a piece of ribbon in, then I glued it together.

To add a special touch, I then used my glue gun to glue buttons at all of the joins. You could add some bling...sparkles...whatever...to 'touch it up'... and tada..a beautiful ornament.

** I did not 'invent' any of these ideas...most of them are inspired by projects I've seen various places online. I am simply sharing how I made my version of these projects.

6th place...

That's what I got in the contest at justcre8.com. I'm really pleased with that...especially since in my dream I placed 7th. lol. So I get a GC to their store! WOOHOO.

Today at Compuproscrapbooking.com there's an online Christmas crop going on. The DT are issuing a bunch of challenges, make and takes and a few fun games. With the snow falling outside it's really a perfect day to stay in and scrapbook. My first challenge is being posted at 11...so I should go prep. I'll be sure to share them all on here too.

Have a great snowy day... Anyone else getting into the Christmas spirit? I sure am!

Got Tooth?

FINALLY I am thrilled to say that tooth #3 has broken skin and is finally out for full time viewing. I'm really hoping that this will help with Mia's crankyness. The poor thing...I can't be upset with her but she wouldn't eat, she wouldn't sleep...I was beginning to lose my mind.

I'm thinking I need to get a good photoshoot in, I just don't know how these days. She won't sit still...I considered duct taping her to the floor, but then again that might not go over well with child services. We'll see.

Oh...and today is Friday...I love Fridays...cause that means that at 5:30, when Paul walks through the front door, I'm not alone...I've got him for the whole weekend. What's funny is that by Sunday I look forward to Monday...to having Mia all to myself. Funny how it works hunh?

And finally... the contest I've been participating in came to an end on Wednesday...results will be posted tonight. I was in 4th place as of last week. The top 3 receive prizes and the top 10 receive gift certificates to the online store. (btw it's: www.justcr8.com ) There were some AMAZING layouts this week. I'm trying not to think about it...I dreampt I got 7th place, which I would be thrilled with. To be top ten would be nice. I guess I'll have to wait and see and just not think about it... I'm pretty sure there's an obvious winner. She's really ahead in points so I'm thinking she's got it in the bag. lol. Anyways...Here's my entry....

A couple of close ups:

Have a great weekend!!! Chow for now.

Nanny's birthday...

I'm pretty sure it's today. I always got it confused. That makes me so mad... I can't even remember her birthday! What's wrong with me? I've been feeling really down in the dumps lately and I have been thinking about her a lot. I miss her SO much. She passed away January 2003... only 64 years old. She wasn't supposed to go that young...I remember always thinking how lucky I was to have young grandparents cause I knew they'd be around FOREVER...I lost my grampy at 54 (in 1993) and then 10 years later my Nanny. It's not fair. She was supposed to see me get married...she was supposed to meet her great granddaughter...she was supposed to celebrate her 70th birthday this year. I miss her... so much...

CD/DVD folder tutorial

Here is my FIRST attempt at making a video tutorial. You have no idea how much time I spent on this. Now that I figured everything out (from realizing that my video camera is MUCH better than my digital camera, to learning the software, etc) it should go MUCH smoother next time. It's a bit long, I say a LOT of uhms, ahhs, and so's but other than that, it turned out ok. SO if you're interested in how I made the folder, this is for you! :)

To be or not to be...

So...I received some sad news today. My LSS will be shutting it's doors. It will be so sad to see it go...mostly because of the people. I'll miss the crops. I will miss the supplies...having a friendly face to buy my supplies from. I'll miss the online board...the chatting... the amazing talent and inspiration from others. As I fully understand the reasoning of it all...it makes it even more difficult to even be angry or upset. Which I guess is a very good thing.

So...instead of crying myself to sleep tonight, I'm looking into a few options that I've been pondering for some time now. The debate is to be, or not to be an independent scrapbooking consultant... I've toyed with this idea for over a year now. I love the idea of getting together with friends to do what we love...I love getting supplies and I love seeing others with supplies they love. :) So... hopefully in a few weeks I'll have some more news for you.

I also have a little suprise for you... It should be ready in a few days... so just stay tuned. :) But it's pretty cool...and I'm going to try and make it a regular.

Energizer Bunny

Well...Mia I think, has officially outlasted the energizer bunny. Seriously that kid never stops. We're having a blast but boys oh boys I'm pooped by the end of the day. Paul was excited for her to start walking. I'm concerned about that. I don't know if I can keep up. That said, it might be a good weightloss program. lol.

So...reason for posting is my project for this weeks challenge. I'm quite pleased with it. Lately my creativity has been very last minute. This one was made in seriously about 2 hours Wednesday morning, during morning naptime. I'm pleased given how it just 'happened'... here's the pic:

Off to watch Greys anatomy... I should really post more soon. Will do that in the next few days. Making mental note.. CHECK...

Nighty night.

Busy as a bee...

That's me! Things have been none stop. The next few months are just going to fly by. :( I'm making sure I enjoy every single day though.

Mia's getting bigger by the minute. She's crawling EVERYwhere. Especially for things that she shouldn't be after. I'm lovin' it though. She's really become her own person.

I've been keeping busy with my cake classes too. I'm not in part two. We're working with Royal icing. In fact, I did cupcakes for someones baby shower...they turned out pretty nice! Here's a pic:

My brother also just got his truck and transport mechanics license. So we had him over at the house for supper and I baked him a congrats cake... Chocolate cake, with chocolate icing and a rolo's in the center and on top. Mmmmmmmmm. Here's a pic of that cake:

Anyhoo... I've been scrapping lot's lately too... Oh...and I'm doing this contest at justcr8te.com and last week I 'won' first place. Overall I'm in the top 10, but I was quite pleased with the outcome for this week. I'm quite nervous for this weeks challenge. I'll keep you posted with how it turns out. Here's the layout that got me top nod this week:

Alrighty...that pretty much somes up the last week or so. Now time to go relax and enjoy my Sunday night. Have a great week!!!

Cupcake Recipe

As promised...the cupcake recipe. No lie...these are the BEST cupcakes I've ever tasted!!!!!

Chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing

A croppin' I did go...

So. Saturday was my first full day out since Mia was born. Out without Mia I should say. I went scrappin' at CompuPro's Birthday crop for a whole 12 hours. I did cheat a little, Paul brought Mia by twice. :) All that said I had a great day. Mom was with me, and we were long overdue for a croppin' day. We really had a great time and I got 6 whole layouts done. I guess that averages 1 every 2 hours...but really I didn't get anything done until after 12...and take into account that we left for supper and shopping (at Nic's store) I figure that's pretty good. Here are my completed layouts...



Also...big news on the home front...
1. Mia started eating cheerios today. :)
2. Mia had her first "big girl" bath, no more baby tub for her.
3. Mia officially crawled, from one side of her playmat to the other. Actually...we caught it on video. I have it uploaded on our family blog... (well Mia blog) here:
Flogeras Family Blog

Off to watch the food challenge...hope you all had a great weekend!