Ross dresses.
Back in May, my friend Jill in California (who I swear should be a personal shopper for a living!) went shopping and found these adorable dresses at a store called Ross. She showed them on her blog here http://my-so-called-scrappy-life.blogspot.com/2008/05/i-love-ross.html.
They’re all darling! But I live in the Midwest and we don’t have that store here, so I asked her to go back and get one for me and mail it to me. I wanted her to get them ALL for me, but could only afford one and needed it for a wedding. I picked the one that would match my glasses 
My hubby is an amateur photographer and loves to “experiment.” I mean, the man can’t just take a photo! He’s got to take 6 photos each with a different pose or from a different angle or with a different lens. The man is exhausting, I tell ya! Anyway, he took this with his “wide angle lens”, which I actually call his “fishbowl lens” cause I hate the way photos look when he uses it.
The second one is a candid shot and actually one of my favorite photos ever of the two of us.
So, Jill, do I look as cute as you in the dress? HA!
Filed under Life | Comments (3)On being a creative mother.
There is this awesome artist I admire, Keri Smith, who is also a mother, and I recently came across a blog post of hers where she tried to answer someone’s question about whether you could become a mother and still be a creative artist. The part about her answer that got me was what I am pasting below. It really spoke to me and I thought I’d share.
there are moments/days that are so very trying it unbelievable, (and I have the sense that there will be many more of these in the future.) on the whole I believe that this discomfort is not only valuable, but what makes life truly fulfilling. For me life is all about contrast and if you are looking for a smooth and easy, maintenence free life then maybe having a child is not for you. Some days in the beginning I thought, “I have to get up tomorrow and do this all over again? wow.” …
but the rewards are plentiful. what no one can explain to you before you have a child and what you can never understand, (even if someone tries to explain it to you) is how you will love this thing more than anything you’ve ever experienced in your life. It’s like falling in love all over again, but on a new plain of existence. it feels a lot like getting the coolest present ever, something that you want to play with all day and show to everyone you know, (I know this sounds terrible but so what). you want to quit everything and give this little being the best life you can imagine.
It’s hard to explain to someone who isn’t a mother what it’s like to be one, but I love how she tried and she describes how I myself feel quite well.
If you want to read the entire article/answer, it’s here http://www.kerismith.com/blog/archives/000555.html
And because I can’t stand to write anything on here without adding a photo, here’s a mother daughter scrapbook layout from a couple years ago.
If you can’t read my handwriting, here’s what it says:
I have learned…
that life doesn’t always turn out like you plan.
that there’s a reason for everything–maybe you just don’t know what it is.
that my time here could end at any moment; I should try harder to remember that.
that there’s no time like the present, so slow down, spend time with your child NOW, this day, this moment.
that it’s little things that make life sweetest.
(Man, I love this kid.)
Twins Baby Scrapbook
I haven’t written much lately because I was dealing with a week of food poisoning. Boy, was THAT fun…….not so much. Then I was busy making this mini scrapbook. My cousin’s wife is having twins in a few months and my aunt hired me to make a baby book to give as her gift at the baby shower. She specifically wanted it to be pink on one side and blue on the other because they’re having a boy and a girl and she also requested that I do a layout for each month so when it was all done they’d have a year of photos. So this is what I came up with. Click on the photos to make them open up larger so you can see the details better. (then use the BACK button to get back here and see more)
beginning page (for photo of them at birth)
first month spread
second month spread
third month spread
fourth month spread
fifth month spread
sixth month spread
seventh page spread
eighth month spread
ninth month spread
tenth month spread
eleventh month spread
last page (1st birthday photo as month 12)
What do you think?
I think I’ll be putting this into my etsy shop for sale as a custom order.
Filed under Scrapbooking, Projects | Comments (2)Irritated!
I love modern technology, but I can’t stand it when I think I’ve done something correctly and it doesn’t work! Sorry for you who have wondered what the video was and couldn’t get it to play. It worked when I wrote that post, but it won’t play for me now either. Darnit!
So, let’s try it this way. I’ll send you to youtube where the video is and you can watch it directly from there. Go here to see it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epUk3T2Kfno
and hopefully that works!
Filed under Life | Comment (0)Does it get cuter than this?
Um…..NO. It doesn’t.
I was over at the fussypants blog (who by the way is hilariously funny) and saw this video. Seriously, it’s like the cutest thing I think I’ve ever seen! Watch all the way to the end cause just when you think it can’t possibly get more cute, it does!
Filed under Life | Comment (0)Altered Coffee Mug
So I usually mosey down to my Pop’s house once a week or so to have a cup of coffee and conversation with my dear ole’ dad. (It’s just an expression, Pops, I don’t think you’re old. Chill out.) And lately whether it’s a lack of coffee mugs or a lack of clean coffee mugs, I have a hard time finding a mug to put my coffee into. I was at the Dollar Tree I think and I saw these plain white mugs and decided to buy one for myself and leave it in the cupboard at dad’s house! Then after I got it home, I decided to alter it. I don’t know what’s gotten into me; I’ve been this altering fool lately. I was going to put “Do Not Use Unless You’re Corinna” on there or something cute like that, but then I saw these American Crafts rubons and knew I wanted to use the floral one to decorate my cup. I LOVE it. My only dilemma now is researching and figuring out how to seal over the rubon so that the cup can be washed. Anybody have any idea what will work? I figured Mod Podge would eventually peel off and that was my only idea. Leave me a comment if you have any brilliant ideas! Oh, and here’s the mug.
A visit to the Budweiser Clydesdale horses.
We live near a town where there is a fairly large Budweiser beer distributor, and a few weeks ago we had the opportunity to go there and see the Clydesdale horses. Okay, first of all WOW. They’re so beautiful! The word my dad used was “majestic,” and I think that sums it up pretty good. When we arrived about 9 a.m. they were getting their morning exercise of a long walk around the area in a field. What’s so cool is that there is actually a man between the 2 horses in the photo below. Can you see the man? No? That’s cause these horses are so HUGE!
Here’s the Budweiser dalmation after their walk. He tagged along behind them the whole way. He was a cutie and came over to Summer and let her pet him.
Here’s another one where you can see how much taller they are than this man. His head comes up to around the height of their mouths. And these weren’t the biggest ones!
They have beautiful stalls where they are kept. They are covered in fabric and each horse’s name is embroidered at the top of the stall. Embroidered! When they came back from their walk, they each got a drink and then they were put back in their stalls. Which, by the way, we were standing next to and when the horses walked by us it literally shook the ground like an earthquake under out feet. It was awesome!
Anyway, so THIS is the part of the trip where it got kind of interesting. And I’ve been mulling it over in my head to try to think of a way I could tell this story without offending anybody that reads it, especially someone who may be a customer some day and get a bad first impression from this particular post on my blog, but I figure what the hell, ya can’t please everybody right?
So as we are standing there, me and my dad and step-mom and Summer looking at these horses all lined up in a row like the photo below getting a nice butt view while they’re eating their hay or whatever it was……..
when my 8-year-old daughter points to the horse directly in front of us and says to me, “Momma, what’s that pink thing sticking out of that horse’s wee-wee?” I thought I was going to die. My dad immediately cracks up, so I said, “Ask your Papaw.” The look on his face was priceless, people. Wish I’d gotten a photo of THAT. Okay, so I am really not ready to have this conversation at this point in time, but I’m all about telling the truth to my kid and explaining things and all that crap (what am I thinking?) so I whisper to her that it’s his penis, his private parts. We’ve discussed HUMAN private parts but not HORSES for crying out loud!
I live in a very rural, farming type of county, but I’ve never had a horse, or ridden a horse (though I would love to do so), and haven’t been THIS close up to a horse before, so I can’t really explain to her why there’s this darker “thing” hanging down there which the pink penis is sticking out of and “Momma, how come that horse’s penis is sticking out farther than that one’s? And look, that one’s is shorter and that one’s is longer” I don’t know, people! What the hell is wrong with these horses anyway? Um, is anybody else ready to go home now? I think we’ve seen enough, if you know what I mean!
I’m pretty sure I’ll be making a scrapbook page about that!
Filed under Life, Scrapbooking | Comments (7)Altered Dog Treat Container
Here’s a cute little (big) peanut can (could also use coffee cans) that I altered with dog print patterned paper and some ribbon and turned it into a dog treat container. It sits on our piano by the back door so that when we bring the dogs in they can have a treat if they behave. Wish it was that easy with kids!
and here’s the lid
What do you think? Cute?
I think I’ll use some kitty papers next and make a smaller one for the cat treats. Have I mentioned my hubby taught one of the cats to catch? No, I’m not kidding.
Filed under For Sale, Scrapbooking, Projects | Comments (3)Altered Notebook
My daughter had her tonsils and adenoids removed on Wednesday. Wow, was that a long day. Beforehand they told her she wouldn’t be able to talk for a few days because her throat would hurt too much, so I altered a regular size school notebook for her to write notes to us in, with the ulterior motive of course that I could copy the pages and include them later in a scrapbook! The wheels are always turning, people!
I must say, my 8-year-old girl was VERY impressed with my craftiness!
I might even put one of these in the etsy shop www.summerrosescrapbooks.etsy.com.
Filed under For Sale, Projects | Comments (2)
