NEW layouts and products from "The Ettes"

"Child of My Child"

"Sweet & Sassy"

"A Very Good Life" (this is one of my favorite kits ever!)

This weekend is "International Digital Scrapbook Day" and so there are amazing kits and products coming out all over in the industry. The Ettes have some GREAT stuff releasing in their store this weekend. BIG kits full of awesome products! Check out their GREAT stuff starting Friday, November 6th. And stay tuned for more great Digi Scrapbook Day stuff!

Project 365

I didn't get these posted Sunday night - but I'm still sticking to my goal of posting my Project 365 pictures each week. So here you go:

Monday: The boys were so excited to try a recipe called "Be Bim Bop". We had read a book from the library about a Korean meal and it included a recipe for the food in the story. We made that for dinner and then headed into town for "Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs for FHE."

Tuesday: I don't have an official picture for this day. This was the crazy day when my mom and I decided to hop in the car and run to Disneyland. I wish I had taken a picture of me running around like a lunatic.

Wednesday: We drove to Anaheim and ended the day @ Mimi's Cafe for dinner. The boys enjoyed their "Mimi" Mouse pancakes. The boys still didn't realize where we were or what we would be doing the next day.

Thursday: DISNEYLAND! It was so fun to see the boys faces and their excitement. After we had told the boys what we were doing I told Gabe - "All I want today is for you to make sure that everytime you realize how much fun we're having I want you to tell me that you love me and give me a hug." All day Gabe would wrap his arms around me and my mom filled with hugs and love. It was all decorated with Halloween decorations - it was AMAZING! What a completly magical day & trip!

Friday: California Adventures and another day at Disneyland. We ended the day with 2 fireworks shows @ Disneyland. Another great day full of awesome memories. Friday was also Cory & my 11th anniversary. It was so odd to have an anniversary and be several states away from each other (did I mention he didn't come with us?) We'll celebrate later together, but we love each other. He gave me some beautiful flowers when I got home. Thanks sweetie!

Saturday: We drove home from California today just in time for Trick or Treating. There weren't many trick-or-treaters that came by our house, and the boys didn't go to too may houses either - but it was a good holiday. I dressed up for the first time in years (as requested by the boys). Gabe was a Red Power Ranger & Hunter was in typical "hand-me-down" mode and wore Gabe's old Buzz Lightyear costume. It was fun that my mom - "Nana" got to see the kids during the holiday. Truthfully though, we were exhausted at the end of the day.

Sunday: EXHAUSTION - nothing but pure exhaustion. That meant my favorite Sunday dinner - scrambled cheesy eggs. We added orange cinnamon rolls (that were for Halloween) and oranges. A totally orange meal.

Project 365

Monday - I took Senior pictures for Madison Wray, our neighbor. We also had spider-hot dogs, bones & eyeballs (mac and cheese w/ peas) for lunch.

Tuesday - Pictures for Mindy's dental office. This stressed me out more than almost anything ever has. I was already worried about it but a few seconds before we took the pictures I asked what the picture's size needed to be. I knew it was going to be in a phone book. She said, "It's the back cover". THE BACK COVER OF THE PHONEBOOK!!?!?! Anyway, they didn't turn out great (because I am NOT a professional photographer, and we were going to originally take them outside, but it was pouring rain and we had to do them indoors @ their office). Anyway - after taking some mediocre pictures I came home and fell apart because I felt bad they hadn't turned out. Sorry Mindy...I tried...

Wednesday - We went to dinner with the boys @ Rusty's. Gabe wanted shrimp and boy oh boy - he got shrimp. We joked that they were as big as his head. He so kindly held them up to my head (or in my hair....) to show me how big they were. Silly kid. Yummy food.

Thursday - While I was on the phone with my childhood best friend (Jana) Hunter couldn't keep himself entertained without making a mess of cereal all over the kitchen floor. I guess catching up with a great friend was worth a few minutes with the dust-buster. (We found out earlier that a mutual friend of ours from high school - Ben Hill - had died in a plane crash on Wednesday.)

Friday - We had Gabe's friend Jase come play for a good part of the day. Gabe & Jase were friends from preschool last year and Gabe asks about him all the time. I aws glad they could catch up and play together. We made "donut hole eyeballs" as a treat while they played.

Saturday - Gotta love the annual "Livestock Festival" parade. The highlight - after the parade of farm equipment and tractors is the massive flock of sheep being herded down main street. It was kind of a boring parade this year, but we still had fun together. (note to self - sit on the other side of the street for the next parade - the blaring sunlight was a bit much for my head).

Sunday - while we were reading bedtime stories Gabe insisted that he was "SO HUNGRY". I would have felt sorry for him if he'd eaten better for dinner (we're struggling with meal times - any suggestions?), but since he was already ready for bed I told him if he was really hungry he could have a cup of carrots. He tried proving his point that he was really hungry and took me up on my offer. But not until he had already used the carrot sticks for "vampire teeth".

So there you have it - another fairly uneventful week @ the Ellis home.

Great Quote!

"If I had my child to raise over all again:
I'd build self-esteem first, and the house later.
I'd finger paint more and point the finger less.
I'd do less correcting and more connecting.
I'd take my eyes off my watch and watch with my eyes.
I'd take more hikes and fly more kites.
I'd stop playing serious and seriously play.
I would run through more fields and gaze at more stars.
I'd do more hugging and less tugging".

~Diane Loomans

Scrapbook layouts

Several of these kits are coming out on Monday @ Elemental Scraps, but I thought I'd post the layouts today to give a little "Sneak Peak".

Madi - These are pictures I took of my neighbor Madison Wray. She is such a beautiful girl, so smart and on-the-ball. She also comes from a wonderful family. She was a Beehive when we moved here and it's hard for me to believe that she'll be graduating this year!

Kit: Bella Gypsy - "Better Left Unsaid" @ Elemental Scraps (Available 10-26)
Template: ChrissyW - Coming soon in the Elemental Scraps November Mega



Kit: Bella Gypsy - "Silence I Can't Ignore" - @ Elemental Scraps (available 10/26)
Template: Bella Gypsy - "Sketchology: Passive Agressive" - @ Elemental Scraps (Available 10/26)





Kit: By Bella Gypsy "Falling For Him" @ Elemental Scraps
Template: Freebie from ChrissyW (if you are a newsletter subscriber and will be available to purchase @ Elemental Scraps 10/26)



Kit: by Libby Weifenbach - "Can You See Me Now?" @ Sweet Shoppe
Template: An older one (no longer for sale) by Janet Phillips






Kit: by Bella Gypsy & Connie Prince - "Say Cheese" @ Elemental Scraps
Template: by ChrissyW "Sample Pack #11" @ Elemental Scraps

Bella Gypsy new layouts

Mommy's Little Monster:

Word Art: http://www.elementalscraps.com/shoppe/product.php?productid=23113&cat=363&page=2
Kit: http://www.elementalscraps.com/shoppe/product.php?productid=23111&cat=363&page=2

Mommy's Monkey:

Freebie Template by ChrissyW for the current challenge @ Elemental Scraps: http://www.elementalscraps.com/shoppe/product.php?productid=23126&cat=363&page=1
Kit - Mr Monkey Cuddle: http://www.elementalscraps.com/shoppe/product.php?productid=23105&cat=363&page=2 by Meredith Cardall & Bella Gypsy

Project 365

Look at this - 3 weeks in a row :) Being accountable and posting my Project 365 pictures on here helps keep me working on it. Now if I can just ge them scrapped....

Monday - Gabe and his best buddy Noah playing Noah. They played for hours with the Legos and Noah even ended up staying and playing by himself when Gabe headed to gymnastics for the evening. Love how creative the kids can be with Legos!

Tuesday - My first check from Exfuze. Cory's gotten them, but it was my first check.

Wednesday - We had our friend Ben playing at hour house most of the morning and headed to Artic Circle for lunch after storytime @ the library. Ben ordered mini corn dogs and then asked me very confused why they didn't look like dogs. Later he told his mom he had ordered "dog corn" for lunch. Turns out he'd never had one before :)

Thursday - Hunter and I played bubbles after taking Gabe to school. There aren't many sounds as fun as a 2 year old squealing with excitement over bubbles.

Friday - UGH - Cory started feeling sick this week and has been in bed most of the weekend. Most of the time he'll keep working, keep running around like normal and just complain about it. He's been feeling so crummy this time though that he's pretty much laid around since Friday afternoon. He's doing a bit better today, hoping the rest of the week gets better (and that the rest of the crew doesn't catch it.

Saturday - With Cory being sick I thought he deserved some homemade chicken noodle soup. I haven't made this before, and I went all out with fresh, homemade noodles. Not a big deal to most - but I was pretty proud that they turned out on my first try.

Getting the kids off to bed, a piggy back ride was just what they needed to get into bed.

More layouts

Here are a few more layouts and a Chore Chart I made for Gabe with The Ette's new Chore Chart kit sold @ Scrap Orchard (see last post). The other layouts are with Libby's new "1st & 10" kit with a great football theme. I am in LOVE with the colors in the kit and the rich textures of the papers. And as you can see - I can do a layout with the kit and it doesn't have to be football themed. Check out her kit @ Sweet Shoppe. Have a great weekend everyone!

Scrap Orchard Guest Designer - The Ettes

One of the Creative Teams I get to work with is "The Ettes & Company" and this month they have a fun opprotunity to work with the store "Scrap Orchard" as guest designers. They have 2 great kits for sale at Scrap Orchard right now.



They have been so fun to work with. Here are some of the layouts I created with them. I'll also be posting pictures of another chore chart I made for Gabe with the kit later in the week.

For the Halloween countdown I used both of the kits - the Chore Chart and the Halloween kit and created a countdown to do with the boys. Gabe asks almost every morning "Mom - is TODAY Halloween???" This way he can look at the calendar and know how much longer we have until the big day.

So check out the great kits and support The Ettes while they're over at Scrap Orchard.

Scrapping Layouts

Kit - "Falling For Her" by Bella Gypsy

Kit - "Falling For Him" by Bella Gypsy

Kit - "My Friend Loubert" by Libby Weifenbach

Kit - "Under the Bed" by Bella Gypsy @ Gotta Pixel

Kit - "Barbershop Quartet" by Libby Weifenbach

Bella Gypsy October Color Play items @ Elemental Scraps

Here are a few layouts I've done in the last week or so. Bella Gypsy has released some awesome kits today "Falling for Him" and "Falling For Her". They also have another kit @ Gotta Pixel for their "Gotta Grab It" event - a cute monster kit.

Most of the layouts were using Bella Gypsy templates too.