Where We've Been

• 3 days, 2 nights camping in the desert at Dead Horse Point Utah State Park. Slightly chilly and jacket weather but definitely better than the snow, rain and dreary clouds that we left in Provo. We survived a miserable first night of constant strong winds and freezing. The next couple of days were beautiful. We all came home sporting sunburns.

• Spent time with our close friends the Lilywhites. Reminscing about that first time we met. They sat next to us in church. Beau introduced me to Kirt, telling me that they were in the same major. Little did we know that 9 years laters and 8 kids between both families, they'd both be getting their doctorates together in Robotic Vision - Engineering and looking at starting a business together after graduation. These are the best kinds of friends.

• Getting messy. Nothing is greater than watching your kids get dirty, kick off their shoes, throw rocks, make mud pies from the red dirt, run hard, climb rocks, hike, and fall asleep exhausted for the nights.

• Family hikes and bike rides in another one of God's amazing creations. Red dirt, sand, cliffs, the Colorado River, cactus, lizards, bluffs and the desert sun.

• Dutch Ovens... yummy breakfasts, chili and cornbread, Honey BBQ Chicken and rice, and our new favorite - popcorn.

• Car rides listening to Ramona and Beezus. We've decided that although we loved these books as children. They were not fun to listen to now as parents. The lady reading the audio book did too good of job and it felt like we were listening to our own whiny, arguing kids, non stop for 3 hours. Too close to home. We'll take Lemony Snicket instead!

• Sick little girl. Poor Mirian didn't feel good the second day. She had a tummy ache, was tired and we wore her good spirits right out on the hike. Luckily the next day she was back to normal running, climbing, digging and playing.

Just ones of those great family memories. Small mini vacations are just perfect, especially when it involves sleeping in a tent, and no showers.

Little Lambs

About a month ago we had the chance to go to Idaho and spend a weekend with both sides of our family. It was an awesome weekend! At the end of our trip we were able to spend about a day and a half with my sister and her family. Our kids are always so excited to get together to play with each other. This year they have been on the adventure of raising sheep and goats. We got there in time to help feed about 70 bum lambs and boy did my kids think it was the best thing EVER. They were squealing with delight when they'd have about 10 lambs come up to them at a time sucking on fingers, the bottle or nibbling on their pants.
This little girl was besides herself. She was the highlight of my weekend. She would pack these babies around that were just slightly smaller than herself, laughing and squealing with delight. "It's sucking my fingers!" she would laugh with her whole face lit up. She was always the last one out of the barn. The next morning when we woke up the first thing she said when she walked in the room rubbing her eyes was "feed the cows?" "the lambs you mean?" I replied. "Yeah the lambs. Feed the lambs?"

At the last feeding before we left, we were getting ready to leave the barn when she picked one up and started carrying it to the door. "Take it home?" she'd ask. Jeremy would have let us, if we thought we could have raised a sheep in our tiny backyard in the city. We told her we had to leave it here. "It sad," she declared with this sad hopefully expression. "No Mommy, or Daddy." Boy could she melt your heart right then and there. We tried to explain that it would be even sadder if it came with us because it wouldn't get to be and play with all the other lambs. She felt like that was a good enough answer, and didn't break down dad enough to load a lamb into our car for the 4 hour drive home.
It's times like this, that I am sure I don't want to stay in the city forever. I want to be able to have some animals, and have my kids learn to take care of them and learn how to work, even though it would loose all it's excitement and fun after the 2nd or 3rd day. But how can you look at these pictures, and faces lit up and not want some land to run around on get dirty in, with a few cowboy hats to wear, animals to feed, and live a bit slower paced life than in the city.

Since we couldn't convince dad to bring any lambs home... maybe we can still convince him that we need a few of these since we are allowed a few with our city ordinances. :)

Raise the Praise Printable

After my Life Lesson post on April 4, 2011, I decided to make me a little reminder to frame and hang within my constant view. It's a saying that was on my sister's wall, that I've always loved. I thought I would share it with you as well, if you need a little reminding.

Life Lesson

My little girl is turning 6 soon. How time does fly. She is so excited about her birthday and has been asking for a birthday party for weeks. She wanted to know if she could invite Jenny, a girl from her school class. Her face lit up and was so happy when I said yes. Every day since, she has asked about the party and exclaimed how excited she was to invite Jenny. She has reminded me over and over to make sure that we make invitations today so she could take it to Jenny during school and to make sure that I put on there directions on how to get to our house because her mom wouldn't know.

I smiled at her pure delight and enthusiasm for that special day and the excitement of inviting her friend to the party. I kept thinking how glad I was that she had a really good friend at school that she wanted to invite and that she felt like was her friend.

Today after making the invitation and while eating lunch though, she opened my eyes to the real picture. "Jenny is always mean to me," she commented, having that look of introspection. It took me back. Why was she so excited to invite a girl that was mean to her? "Do you know why she is mean to you?" I asked. "No" was her answer.

"Do you play with her at recess?"

"No I play with Aslan."

"Would you feel bad if she didn't end up coming to the party?"

I wanted to know, not sure how this Jenny would feel about the party if she was constantly mean to her. She thought about it for a minute, smiled and shook her head no.

She jumped in the car clutching the invitation because she didn't want to forget it, rode all the way to school and declared, "There's Jenny!" when we pulled up to the school. She bounced out of the car and skipped over to the kids heading into the classroom, and I watched as she timidly approached her, and followed her into the school.

I left with my mind full of questions. Would she give it to her? Would Jenny be rude and brush the whole idea aside? Would she be happy and excited that Mirian invited her? Would she come? but the question most of all... "What makes this daughter of mine be so excited to invite someone that is mean to her all of the time to her special birthday party.

I left with my heart breaking that yes my children aren't exempt from being hurt in the world. They will be teased, they will have others be mean to them, and life will not always be easy. It about kills a mother to think that her kid she loves so much, is experiencing these hard things, but in the moment I saw a huge part my husband and I must play. A part of being a builder. Of making sure that there is no meanness, hurtfulness, or criticism coming forth from my lips and mouth out of frustration and impatience.

Every day they hear how they are not good enough, smart enough, pretty enough or popular enough. They are told where they are lacking. They are told to do better, they are asked why they keep making this same mistake over and over. They are being torn apart but other heartless comments, remarks and things that kids say. They may not have much self worth left when they are finished for the day.

Do the need to come home and get the same thing? Irritated voices, frustrations at their weaknesses, impatience and reprimands?

No.

They need to be able to come in the door of our home and be able to breathe a huge sigh of relief. They need to know they are loved by everyone in that home. They need to hear how much they are loved and how great they are doing. They need to hear appreciation for helping out and how well they treat their siblings. They need to be complimented on everything and develop a sense of worth and ability. They are not perfect because they are children, they are just learning, and they need that room to make mistakes and not be torn down. They need to feel like they can make mistakes and will be built up and become better from them. They need our love. They need to know they are amazing.

Because they are.

It's not always easy after a long tiring day, and they are doing the same annoying thing for the hundredth time after being asked not to do it... I just need to stop, take a breath, and remember I can either add my comments to the rest of the world or I can help erase the rest of the worlds comments.

I'm a little anxious to see how it went at school with Mirian... she is far better than me to reach out in love to someone who has not shown it to her. And when she comes home I can make sure I let her know how much I love her and how amazing she is.

Do I need Photoshop?

My cousin asked recently in a comment if she really needs to get Photoshop in order to do Digital Scrapbooking. No you don't have to. But.... if you really want to be able to do all the cool things that are out there, create your own papers, use styles, brushes and honestly do all the fun cool things... then yes. You can create basic layouts in Word, which can be really tricky. You can do it in other Photo editing programs as well such as Paint Shop Pro, or Microsoft Digital Image. But honestly... if you want the best and want lots of options and tools then Photoshop Elements is the only way to go.

Many people get confused and think that they need to buy the large Photoshop CS5 for $700.00. WRONG. That program is for designers and people that are creating anything from scratch, do it professionally, and are pro's. If you are just wanting to digital scrapbook all you need is Photoshop Elements.

The newest version is 9.0 and is $79.00 if you get it straight from Adobe. Sometimes you might get lucky and get some version of it with a new printer or other software bundles. But honestly do you need to pay $80.00 and get the newest version?

When I first started, Adobe had released either version 4.0 or 5.0. It was around $79.00 and I could not afford that at the time. We were broke. My boss told me to look it up on the internet and find an older version which would do everything I needed it to, and so I found 2.0 for $20.00. It did everything I needed it to, and I could afford that price. If you don't want to spend $79 then look on the internet for an older version. I just looked up Photoshop Elements 4.0 software and found some on amazon for $30 - new, or $15.00 used. (someone upgraded to a newer version and is getting rid of their older version.) I looked up 6.0 and found some on Amazon for $60 new, or $20 used. There are options out there for cheaper versions if you are on a tight budget. If you feel like you want to go with the newest version because you plan on using it forever and that way it won't become too outdated - go for it.

Photoshop does have a learning curve though, and as my mom found out from getting the digital download version, that there is no instruction book. (Unless she goes to help within the software and reads it on the internet) but even then it won't necessarily tell you how to scrapbook with it.

You might want to consider finding other tutorials, books, or videos that teach you how to use it. One example is Scrapbook Software Secrets Revealed: Photoshop Elements that is sold in our store at ScrapGirls. The CEO of ScrapGirls, taught herself how to digital scrapbook using Photoshop Elements, and eventually created a series of 33 videos that teach you all the basics you need to know to create great layouts and use all the tools in Photoshop Elements. It is well worth the money, if you'd really like to learn how to use the program. There are other things out there and available on the internet as well.

At ScrapGirls we also put out a daily newsletter that has tutorials in it to teach you basic skills and fun creative techniques to use in your scrapbooking. It's free and you get free scrapbooking supplies with it too. If you prefer not to get it everyday then you can sign up for the weekly roundup which is a summary of all the tutorials, products, and articles sent out through the week.

It can seem intimidating at first, or out of reach. But there are ways of doing it for an affordable price, and learn how to do what you would REALLY like to do. Honestly, I promise if you were to buy Elements, and then take the time to learn how to use it, you will never regret the purchase. You will use it for everything! Editing photos, creating handouts, making calendars, gifts, and of course digital scrapbooking. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask! I'm more than happy to answer them!

I'd love your vote!

I thought I would try the contest at Spoonflower - Project Selvage. A fabric design contest for baby boys. I made it past the first cut and am one of the 75 semi-finalists. It's now open to the public for voting, to narrow it down to the 10 finalists who ill then go on and design 5 more coordinating fabrics. From there the winner is chosen to have their line of fabric printed through Michael Miller Fabrics. I thought it might be fun to at least try. If you like it enough that you feel it's worthy of your vote, I'd love to have it! I think it would be fun to try and come up with 5 more coordinating fabrics.

Surprise, Surprise!

Yesterday we found out that another girl will be joining our family in August. We were all hoping for a little boy... we're a little out numbered in that direction. Even more so now. :) We weren't sure how disappointed the kids would be when we told them. When I told Mirian she replied "Another Girl?! Really?" And then started laughing. They weren't too disappointed. They're pretty excited. I'm glad that I have children that really enjoy having brothers and sisters, and get so excited about having another one join our family.

A couple of weeks a go, I started drawing up some little animals in Illustrator to start learning the program, and it evolved this new "JIF 6 Plus: Lil' One." A way for me to get excited and celebrate a new addition to the family and a healthy pregnancy.

These digital stickers felt like such an accomplishment. I've been trying to learn how to draw in illustrator for a long time, and I think it has finally clicked in my brain how these vectors work. Yeah... so it's been addicting drawing with it. I still have lots to learn, and skills to perfect but it was a breakthrough!

layout by Laurel Lakey

Here's to more pink, dresses, princesses, emotions, and little mothers.

No TV: Day One

We are trying to get out of the winter blahs, and trying really hard to not turn on a movie during the day what so ever.... pretty tough some days when you resorted to it too often during the winter cold months.

So with cabin fever, only random beautiful days to be outside, and the desire to have my kids be creative and get away from the tv, we having been trying to come up with alternatives. So we thought we'd share a couple things we've done that has helped us make it through the whole day with NO Movies.

Printables.... I ran into these through some link to familyfun. They had a variety of fun craft printables to cut out and put together. I let the kids each pick one, and we spent the day building and playing with them. Caitlyn chose the farm.

I bet you can't pick which one of my children chose the swamp monster that took his turn scaring the tiny fairies and woodland creatures.

This set is a fun one, it has a tree and mushroom house that you can build and then it also has a whole bunch of mythical creatures to play with. Mirian had fun with this for hours. We also found out later that they work perfect for replacing any game pieces you don't have. Now we have elves and fairies journeying through candy land and up and down ladders.

This kept them entertained for the day, especially those times when they were in the habit of turning on the tv instead. It seems if we can make it past those key moments, they are good for the day. They were excited for me to post the pictures on the blog so that they could show other kids what they could do instead of watch TV. So now we have a NO TV mission to share with others... so stay tuned for other episodes.

My Own Leathers

This was a Designers Life for the ScrapGirls newsletter yesterday. Thought I'd share it here too.

I had never been on a motorbike until a month after I was engaged. My father-in-law declared that if I was going to marry into the family, I needed to know how to ride a bike. He had me climb on the front of a dirt bike, then he sat down behind me and told me to give it some gas. I drove him straight into a fence. He's never had me try to learn again.

Instead, I've enjoyed the thrill and view behind my husband as we've ridden dirt bikes in the mountains and road bikes down the freeway. Years ago when I was dating someone else seriously, I thought horses were the best thing around. Boy, was I wrong. There is nothing like the wind whipping through your hair, weaving around beautiful canyon roads, or gunning it for the speed. Yes, my husband has sold me on bikes.

We never knew that when we purchased our house that the garage would be our best investment. Winter comes to Wyoming (where my father-in-law currently resides) two-to-three months earlier than Utah, and then stays two-to-three months longer. Because of this timely seasonal happening, for the last couple of years, I have started to count down the days till winter chills start hitting Wyoming. As soon as they do, I can count on a beautiful red road bike being dropped off and stored in my garage for the winter. The only thing is, when it's dropped off, it's not winter here. It's beautiful, and the scenery calls for as many rides as possible on this new love of mine, at least until it's so cold that it's impossible to ride any more.

We plan date nights and excitedly drop the kids off so the two of us can climb on and speed away for a night together. One day recently, in the middle of winter, we actually had a beautiful day in the 50s. It was warm, it felt like spring, and it was all I could do to not call up my husband, tell him to come home early, bundle up, and go for a mid-winter ride.

The last couple of summers we've been able to take a two-to-three day road trip on his bike for our anniversary. It's been so much fun. The first year we were caught in a downpour of rain for the two-hour ride home. I was frozen, but what a thrill. The second year, we took long drives in the Idaho countryside, saw beautiful farmlands, gorgeous mountains, and geocached when we needed breaks. I came back with dry swollen lips, saddle sore, and a wind-burned, sunburned face. I never had so much fun. We hope to make it a continuing tradition.

I joke with my husband that when we finally graduate from school we're going to forgo that second car we'll need when he gets a real job. We'll just go straight for the bike. When the day comes that we have a bike for keeps, if he knows me well, he'll hand me a large gift at Christmas of my own leathers. Yes... that's right. This girl wants her very own leathers.

This collection has to be the most fun collection I have ever designed. Maybe because I felt like I was creating it for my husband and my father-in-law. Really though, I was creating it for me, all those things I love about the biker "attitude" and the ride. All those things I have started to love. Most people don't realize that the collection can be used in so many other ways besides the obvious biker theme. There are aspects and embellishments that can be used for Cowboy (old west), teens, masculine, road trips, truckers, first car or bike, Americana, mid-life crisis, silver wedding anniversaries, proms or elegant evenings, and more.

The Sabbath Day

With 4 very small children it can be difficult to try and keep the Sabbath Day Holy, and to find other more appropriate activities to do on Sunday to help us remember the Savior, and his gospel. I thought I'd share a few favorites that we've been using lately that our kids really love.

The Friend magazine is a magazine that is put out monthly by our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints. It is made for children and my children LOVE it. The minute it arrives in the mail the grab it, and sit down and devour the whole thing. There are stories, songs, activities, and opportunities to learn about other kids like them that are trying to live the gospel and be like Jesus.

The beginning of April the new one will be put up with the emphasis on Easter. I love the fact too that for a years subscription it is really cheap only $8.00 the last time I renewed. They also have online games, stories, and activities that correlate with the magazine.

It is also available in many languages through the Liahona, which is our world wide publication that has excerpts from the Ensign (the adult magazine), the New Era (which is for the teenage youth) and the Friend (for children.)

This is a great resource for us on Sundays. We're able to sit down with the kids, read some stories from the Friend and discuss them. They absolutely love reading it.

Mormon Messages... My kids LOVE to watch these, and I love for them to watch them. They are usually a short gospel messages which are perfect for their attention span. It helps them feel the spirit, learn about other members and their lives and learn gospel principles.

Some of them give us great things to discuss afterwards and my kid can usually always remember the messages later.

Pumpkin Spice Pancakes

This has become regular breakfast for our family. Personally it's my absolute favorite. It's healthy and I love it with vanilla yogurt and banana's cut up on top. My grandma and mother came to visit and they loved them this way too. It's a bit more healthier for you than all that sugary syrup. (I have also used whole wheat flour for both cups and it has turned out fine, a bit more grainy but they were still good, and I usually dump into all in one bowl and mix it rather than two.)

Pumpkin Spice Pancakes

1 c. whole wheat flour

1 c. white flour or Hi-Maize Resistant Starch

3 TBS honey

1 TBS baking Powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 c. milk

3 eggs lightly beaten

1 cup canned pumpkin

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tps. ground cloves

3 TBS canola oil

1. In a large bowl, combine flours, honey, baking powder and salt. Ina second bowl, combine milk, eggs, pumpkin, cinnamon, cloves and oil. Stir milk mixture into flour mixture until slightly lumpy.

2. Heat a lightly greased griddle or skillet over medium heat. For each pancake, pour 1/4 cup batter onto the griddle. Cook until golden; turn when tops are bubbly and edges are slightly dry.

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 2 minutes per batch

Serving Size: 2 pancakes

Each serving:

Glycemic index: low

Glycemic load: 14

Calories: 204

Protein: 7 grams

Carbohydrates: 26 grams

Fiber: 2 grams

Fat: 8 grams

Saturated Fat: 2 grams

School Notes Printable

Tomorrow is teacher appreciation day at our elementary school. Need a little something to tell those teachers thank you? Here is a free school note card printable for you. There are two sizes included in the pdf download. Small miniature ones for quick notes or a 3x5 size for longer notes.

You can use them in a variety of ways.

• print out a couple of sheets and bundle them together as a thank you gift.
• write love notes to your kids and leave them in their lunch or backpack.
• use them to send notes to your teachers from home.

If you would like to pass on the word or share them with others, please direct them straight here to my blog to download them. (They may look grainy in the preview, but will print in better resolution when downloaded.)

Somehow let the teachers in your life know how much we appreciate everything they do for our children.

I'm Lucky to have you.

Tonight I'm getting a few of these ready for the morning. You can find the printable topper and instructions at eighteen 25. I really detest sugar packed cereal. There is nothing healthy about it. My kids never get full on it and want breakfast all over again in an hour, and then they're also on a sugar high. They are lucky kids indeed when I will buy it for them, especially Lucky Charms. It's the biggest waste of money for me, since my kids only pick out the marshmallows and leave the rest of the cereal. Can you blame them? I always ate the rest of the cereal so the last thing in my bowl to enjoy was a whole bunch of marshmallows. So I'm leaving the scrooge behind and decided it might be a fun treat for St. Patrick's Day tomorrow when they wake up.

A Little of Everything

It's been a while... and it's literally impossible to catch up with it all. So I'm not going to even try. Instead here's a few glimpses of thoughts, happenings, news.... anything random. :)

My kids have enjoyed the puppet theater grandma made them for Christmas. Here we are enjoying a rendition of How to Tame Your Dragon while having popcorn. Nothing gets better than this.

I'm excited about going to the BYU Basketball game tonight with my husband. Our 2nd in 9 years of attending BYU. Pathetic huh.....

I enjoyed the morning with the three kiddo's feeding ducks, playing at the park and having a picnic. It was a bit nippy, but boy did it feel good to be outdoors.

Really hoping this "new baby" joining us in August is going to be boy. I'm glad to be over the sickness, and feeling pretty decent. Everything has gone well with this pregnancy and we'll find out whether it will be that boy Isaac and I are hoping for in a couple of weeks. (Yes this is an announcement. So if you had no idea, you aren't the only one.)

I'm really excited for this contest with spoonflower and Michael Miller Fabrics. It never hurts to try right! :)

After years of getting up early and having my time in the morning to myself, I'm about to go nuts with the habit our children have gotten into of also getting up at 5:30 in the morning ready to go. All of them awake by 6:00. Where have my quiet mornings gone! (I've always wanted to have my kids get in the habit of arising early, and to bed early.... but now my selfish wants are really fighting this.) So either I have to get up earlier, or figure out how to deal with this issue.....

Since we were up early, and everyone was ready way before school today we enjoy a little bit of competition between the kids having a tug of war, leg wrestling and stick pulling. It was great!

Just a small taste of life right now.

Eating Disorders Awareness Week

I have been enjoying the opportunity to learn from Katie Green about her personal experience with eating disorders. I love to learn as much I can about mental disorders and issues, to hopefully better understand people and know how I can help. For some reason this topic specifically has been on my mind recently with raising a bunch of girls in this culture of ours that is obsessed with 'perfect bodies.' It's been interesting to read her underlying reasons, thoughts and behaviors that led to her disorders. She'll be addressing the topic all week.

How Much Longer

Saturday it was a beautiful day outside and a bit nippy. The kids had been stuck inside for so long, and all week have needed to get outside, for their sanity and ours. So Beau declare that they MUST all go outside and play for a while and get some fresh air. Every few minutes someone would come in and ask if they could come in yet... not yet, they needed to play some more. (How heartless we are to tell our kids to go outside and PLAY, SWING, RIDE BIKES, etc.... but if you would have heard them you would have thought we were the worst parents on the planet that day.)

At one point we heard the door open and then heard footsteps run back outside. Two seconds later Beau's cell phone went off with 'my' cell phone ring. I wasn't calling him. Someone outside was. (Lately Mirian has learned Beau's cell phone number and likes to get on our home line to call his cell phone, even when he's just in the other room. Often he just lets her leave a message.) Today he let them leave a message, when we listened to it a few minutes later, we could help but laugh.

Life Lessons

I have a child that very much likes to be in control. He likes things done his way, the exact way he wants them, and if you don't do it his way the world ends right then. The problem is most of the time he forgets to tell you all his particulars until the world has already ended, and then he will proceed to tell you everything you did not do right. And when he gets upset he tends to just tell you louder and louder until he's yelling at you.

Tonight was one of those lucky nights. It was my husband's lucky night to take the rounds. After 20 minutes of debating which is what he likes to do, it was time to just step in, be a parent, and teach hard lessons. This is so hard to determine sometimes. When do realize that the kids has just had a hard day and needs some love, compassion and attention. And when do you realize that there is a deeper issue that needs to resolved, and lessons that need to be learned. Lessons like:

1) You treat people with respect. All people. It doesn't matter who they are, and you need to learn to communicate properly with them and learn to express yourself in appropriate ways.

2) You can't control others and make everyone do exactly what you want,whenever you want. You can not have everything your way.

3) You are an agent unto yourself. You do have control over yourself and how you will act, respond and what choices you will make.

4) ALL of your choices have some sort of outcome. Whether that is good or bad can not always be determined by you. Sometimes you may know what those outcomes will be though and you can either choose the option that will prevent an outcome or you must be willing to take responsibility for any choice you make.

5) You can not expect to procrastinate the day of your repentance, and wait till the end to say your sorry, to apologize and expect everything to change and revert back to the way you want it to be. There will a point where it will be too late, and you will have missed opportunities. Nothing you can do can change it. But you can choose to accept responsiblity for what you have done or the choices you've made and move forward.

How do you teach these eternal truths to a 4 year old. You become the meanest parent on the block and take them to bed kicking an screaming. You stand up for your spouse and inform them that you will not put them to bed beacause they want you to do it instead of dad. (I was technically still the nice parent until that point) . You inform them that their behaviour has caused them to miss out on songs and a drink, because that was a consequence of their action. And then you don't give in depite all the crying, arguing, promises to change and be good if we do what he wants, and you let him know that you were listening to everything he said, and repeat it back to him to prove you were listening. And you show a little love still by at least giving him his teddy bear and doggy to help him fall asleep.

When does this parenting stuff get easier?

Small and Simple Things

This year as I started out the new year, I knew I needed to make huge headway on many projects and yet wanted to simplify everything in my life. The scripture "by small and simple things, great things are brought to past.." kept going through my head. (More on this later).

So I decided to test my theory... and test it with my design work. I have very little time to design. Too often I pick a big project that takes forever for me to get it out and into the store. I might get one product out a month if I'm lucky, and then I get burned out so fast.

So I decided to only do "small" products this year. Ones that were quick and fast. Ones that I could literally finish in 2-3 hours. I only have about 1 1/2 hours in the early morning before the kids awake to do any designing. I wanted something I could easily get done in those few hours, and possibly get two done in one week on my good weeks. If I had a bad week with life and general it was still small enough to get in the store.

I wanted it simple. I wanted it to be doable. I wanted it to work with my ADHD when it comes to having new ideas I wanted to work with. I somehow believe that even though these things are small and don't make big amounts of money, that small, consistent things will bring greater results than random, in frequent large things. So far I'm feeling good about it. It's been very doable. So far I've put something in the store every week, which has not happened for a VERY long time. I'm sort of looking forward to the end of the year, to look back and see if my theory proves correct. That these small and simple things will help out greatly in trying to prepare ourselves for when Beau graduates and we start job hunting. That somehow out of small things great things will come to pass.

These new JIF 6 Kits can be found in my store.

When Inspiration Hits

Recently I ran across this treasury at Etsy. It immediately sparked some ideas for a Jif 6 Kit.Which lead to some sketches and ideas for papers and elements.

Which lead to the finished product.

And a couple of fun layouts to go with it.

Handmade Giveaway

One of the things that I want to do this year is make more time for sewing and making things. For both my house and others. I was able to work on a bunch of things before Christmas and it was just so relaxing and fun to create handmade gifts for people. So when I saw Laurel's blogpost. I wanted to join in on the fun!

So I'm going to give away 5 handmade items created by me to the first 5 commenters on this blogpost. I'm going to try and do my best to create something that you'll like, but it will be a complete surprise what it is. You've got to give me at least the next 6 months to get all 5 completed.

Here is just a sample of one of the projects I made for the Christmas season. A Baby blanket for a new little one our extended family. (I've been trying to teach myself how to quilt on my regular sewing machine... I have a long ways to go, but it's exciting to see all the possibilities.)

So is what is the catch? Be one of the first 5 commentors, post about this giveaway on your own blog, and do the same thing for your first 5 commentors. If you do not have your own blog but are willing to just surprise 5 other people with something handmade, I'll let that count!

I'm excited to spread some handmade goodness! What about you?