New Christmas Designs!

So things have been crazy hectic around here. I'm still trying to catch up. I keep adding things to my to-do list without ever crossing any off. It's kinda getting pathetic. I might just have to put things on there that are easy, like "kiss the kids." Then I can feel all accomplished for the day!

At any rate, I've been listing some new holiday Christmas card designs in my store. I'm really excited about them and I have a few more in mind that I need to work on, but that's only when I find the time. All available at my store HERE.

There's either a white or a black border aroudn these images that won't be printed on your card if you choose one of my designs. It's just the easiest way to format them and make them square for etsy's photo restrictions. All designs are completely customizable and more can be found at my store HERE.

20 Week Photography Challenge Week 11

This week's (ELEVEN!) challenge of the 20 Week Photography Challenge is orange. Again, I had such high ambitions of getting things done around here and then having plenty of time to snap away til my heart's content. It didn't happen. I did manage to snap two orange items for you...

Some orange popsicle sticks, and red, and purple, and..

These circus signs are showing up everywhere around here. They're kinda creepy.

So there you have it. My pitiful attempts at orange. But maybe this weekend I'll finally get to the pumpkin patch or the castle at the top of our city to shoot some lovely fall foliage.  Linking up to the challenge HERE.

Cork Monograms

Inspiration from Pinterest strikes again! I've seen it several times pinned all over pinterest, so I just had to do it myself: a cork monogram. I actually just did one initial (for our last name). It turned out really really cute, so I made one for my brother as well for Christmas (shh..don't tell him!). His kitchen's decorated in a wine theme so his cork monogram should be absolutely cute and fitting.

I tried two different versions of the monogram, one with the corkends showing and one with the long sides showing. I can't figure out which one I like better. The one with the corks on their end definitely takes a lot more corks, but I think it's a more substantial piece in the end. There's really no tutorial here, since it's just as easy as it looks: you layout your letter, then once you're happy with it, hot glue the corks together. The M initial got a bit unwieldy and unsturdy due to its size, so I hotglued popsicle sticks to the backside as bracers. Thank you, Pinterest and all its wonderfully creative people!

20 Week Photography Challenge Week 10

This week's photography challenged hosted by A Step in the Journey is Hands. We have plenty of cute little hands around here. Hands that get into trouble, hands that get messy, hands that explore their world, and hands that give hugs and caresses. Here's some of my favorite hands shots this week:

Linking up to http://www.astepinthejourney.com/. Cheers!

You Capture - Green

This week's theme over at You Capture hosted by Beth is green. I had such high ambitions for this capture, but alas, life intervened. I've been incredibly busy with my new job, my old job, being a wife, being a mom, and just generally being. So I snapped very few photos of green, but here's what I've got:

Love the intense stare of my oldest boy while he practices soccer

Drake always has fun at soccer, here he's practicing with Daddy

Night glow sticks for bedtime as an incentive for going to bed

Spider web in the grass with morning dew

There's a bit of green still about, look closely in the fog

Linking up to http://www.ishouldbefoldinglaundry.com/. Check out all the other greenness on Thursday!

Party Time!

I love doing graphic design, especially for fun theme parties. Awhile back a friend of a friend contacted me with a custom request for a kitschy party she was having in honor of her birthday party. Each table would have a kitschy theme, like garden gnomes, Care Bears, and unicorns to name a few. I was totally on board with this! I love designing and getting to cover such a wide range of designs is right up my alley. Recently she was nice enough to send along the photos of her party. Check out all the kitschy cuteness!

LOVE it. Thanks to Stephanie Proffitt (no relation :)) for providing me those photos, which were taken by the very talented Lanna Hoffman (check her out HERE).

Lazy Weekend

Around here, we had a lazy weekend. We did absolutely nothing, which is what I think the family needed. We spent loads of time playing (cars, blocks, and more cars) but we kept it low-key. Everyone in the house seemed like they needed time to unwind (I'm decompressing from a nasty cold and my first week at my new job, the husband had to work weekend duty, and the kids are getting over the sniffles).

My littlest guy fought and fought against a nap. Around 4 pm I noticed it had gotten incredibly quiet upstairs, so I went to check. This is what I found:

Yeah, he'd fallen asleep on TOP of his dresser. Even though his bed's right there, and much more comfortable. I guess the dresser looked like a great place to nap. Once I recovered from my shock and worry (he could have really hurt himself if he had rolled!!!) I grabbed the camera, because it was just too cute and too funny. Silly guy!