Paint Crew

What is painting without a bit of indoor graffiti?
And mine speaks the truth!
Happiness was here indeed, as the college and career students from our church came over for the night last week to Bless us with their skillz!

It was so incredible to see how fast things can come together with a whole crew to help. We cracked open that can of "chocolate Fondue" brown, turned up the tunes, and before I knew what had happened the girls had facial hair, and our room was as cozy as can be...strange combo I know, but hey, it worked!A huge huge thank-you to all of you Rawkin' peeps for your time, and for your fantastic happy fun energy here in our home!!!

crazy times

A feature wall and a new pocket door all going in at once thanks to my incredible in-laws


It is one of those crazy times in life where you know you will look back and chuckle and say "
man, that was CRAAAZEEY!"
We have boxes packed up to store until we get to the next house, we have rooms pushed to the middle to receive some pretty paint, we have a bathroom half ripped apart because it is getting a makeover, and family popping in and out to help with the crazies...EVERY spare minute of EVERY day we are doing this thang and OMGoodness we are exhausted! if I even let myself begin to tell you how exhausted we may actually possibly be, then I would be admitting it and might stop long enough to actually realize it and run the risk of slowing down...we DO NOT HAVE TIME for slowing down so I am admitting NOTHING! What I am going to tell you is that I am Loving the bits as it gets finished around here, I have to do the multiple walk bys and to catch a few happy glances just so I can feel all happy and good about it before I go back to whichever Rubbermaid bin I might be packing up.
It's all coming together and that RAWKS!!!

Dreamy pages

A quick inspiration share today.
Here are a couple of pages I have done with the new Dreams take Flight goodies

First is "angel Boy"
I may live in a very very pink world here at our house, but lucky for me I get to be a proud auntie to some precious little boys and I LOVE these little drippy, drooly, happy wiggly pictures of sweet baby Kane, he truly is a little bundle of Joy 100%.
As soon as I started going through his little 3 month session to edit I KNEW I had to do something with these two shots, this kit was just the thing I needed!

This one is called "Summer Friends"
This friendship truly is a gift from heaven in so many ways, and both of these girlies are such radiant wonderful people. These are two girls who know how to use their imagination's and how to explore with open hearts and muddy toes...I Love it!!!

This kit is about the possibilities that are waiting for us just behind the next cloud, about sharing a positive message with the ones we Love to scrap about, and about having the freedom to Dream your best dreams and make them come true!
Sooo... for some more awesome inspiration from the talented Scrap Artist Design team check out these great pages too!

"Dreams Fly" by Danielle Donaldson

"Freedom" by Lili

"Peace and Tranquility" by Alice

"Possibilities" by Gabi

"Possibilities" by Lili

Thank-you ladies and all of the other fantastic designers that have done such a fantastic job sharing their wonderful stories with this kit.

peace and dreams to you all

Dreams Take Flight

Here it is!

meet my current project; Dreams Take FlightAs the guest Designer over at scrap artist this month I couldn't imagine a more free and dreamy theme/ color palette to inspire the Dreamer in me as we get into the crisp crunch of fall. It's the time of year where I get excited to pull out my favorite boots, cuddle up under the best fluffy blankets we have, and get into my pile of books... or just take some cozy time to enjoy my own "freedom to dream"

Come and check out the whole big collab kit available for October only!

ETA: This kit and alphabet have now been moved to my store

whooosh

that is the sound of my life zooming.....whooooosh, see there it goes again!

So. I am realizing this morning that I very rarely update my blog and am being a total blog slacker lately as I scroll down my neglected blog and through my recent facebook updates ( when I actually take a minute to update either) that I MUST be busy!
A sure sign is the lack of kid/life photos being shared...it is obvious that my life as of lately is not being lived with a camera in hand as it so often is. Don't get the wrong idea I'm not actually mad wild paparazzi, well Ok maybe a bit, but I usually do pick up my camera once or twice a day and capture a little slice of life around here. Instead I have been painting, and tearing out old trim, and giving away things I am not using often enough, doing some guest art here and there and then squishing and hugging and loving little girls, and it starts all over the next day...
I know, I know, everyone's life is busy, but me, I like a little but more of a chilled out pace, I am a chilled out kinda gal.
Even though I do know that my silly chilly way of life will grace me with it's presence again before we know it I am going to pretend just for today that all is chills-ville and just to make me happy here is a random selection of photos from the last couple of months....Lots of Tia because she loves the camera and just a few of our other girlies because they are far too busy enjoying the fall to stop for me to grab pictures of them!

For all of you scrappers...

...Come on out and grab the deals while you can!
Little Dreamer is having a store wide Fall sale and EVERYTHING is marked down 25-35% !!!

It hasn't been feeling much like fall around here , in fact it has been Hotter than it was for most of the summer, but with the long cold winters we get in Manitoba, I'm definitely not complaining!

I did manage to get in the fall spirit a wee bit and have a few new things up in the store ( finally!)
Here are my bits, one brand new and two re-releases, and I have lots more in the works for some fun guest stuff coming up in October, so be sure to check back soon and see what's up :)
Happy Creating to you

A little free online lesson to share

Hey there peeps, Today I am the guest blogger over at the CK blog,
There's tons of fun info and ideas shared there all the time, it's definitely one to add to your bookmarks.
Come on over today and check out my lesson on EXACTLY how to make this layout in just one hour!!!

Be radiant, Go strong into this day!

...a message me and my girls have been discussing today...the ability is in each one of us, it is a CHOICE to shine!!!

go forth in all your beauty my fine friends

Kindergarten baby

Our baby girl started school this morning. In that cute new backpack is a cabbage patch kid to hug in case she "feels tears coming" and a little framed picture of mommy "to see"...sigh, I Love having little people to admire and hug and giggle about, they are just so very fantastic!

Anyways, She was so excited that she got up this morning and drew a little picture for her teacher, requested pea soup in the new soup thermos for her first lunch, and got all prettied up in her new knee highs and sweet sweater. Such a funny little monkey she has been so excited and then came the tears when it was time for me to get her settled at her little table. The thing with baby #3 is that I KNOW she will love it, she will be totally fine and she is more than ready for the fun that she is about to have. So I am not having tears in the van this time. Amazing since I thought sending my littlest one would make me sad...but no. The days will go by so fast and I will have her little arms around me every second day for this year anyways, next year when she goes every day I might feel differently, but for today she is our newest school girl and we are so proud of her :)

So are her big sisters who were both very eager to show her the ropes and get her settled where she needed to be

ETA: I had to come back and share how happy she was at the end of the day. Little Bella says it was her BEST DAY EVER! look at this sweet little happy face after school...

Go me!!!!! ...are there Sea snails?

we always seems to have waves when it comes to efficiency around here, sometimes fabulously radiant "high tide" where we are managing to do everything and do it fairy fantastically, and then sometimes we go for the oh so low-on-the-organized-and-efficient-side-of-life wave...
OK.
dude, we are like burrowing down in the ocean bottom sand with the sea snails right now......are there sea snails??? I dunno, maybe I just made them up, but you get the idea.

Today I jumped back on the meal planning bandwagon once again...don't get all excited now, cuz I know I'll fall off in a month or two when life needs attention more in another direction, but for today we are STOCKED!!!!!
I couldn't even fit all of the bags in my superstore sized cart and the bag hangedy hooks were missing too, so it was a fabulous balancing act to get it all out to the van.
But, OH, SO worth it!!!
The menu for our coming suppers this week is...

Lasagna, Cesar salad and garlic bread
Garlic pork steaks, fresh Manitoba corn, and roasted baby potatoes
Perogies and koulbasa with a coleslaw salad
tortellini with 4 cheese sauce and fresh baked buns
Toasted tuna melts and pea soup
french toast, hashbrown patties and french toast ( because breakfast is ALWAYS yummier at supper time!)
I am deciding to chatter about this so that I can look back and remember how good it was to do it right, and do it all over again next time the efficiency is at low tide. Aaannnnd so that I can tell you that I picked up this book last week and it totally inspired me, great buy, worth the money, check it out!

wings of freedom

This canvas is a reminder for me, and for my girls, hung right in our upstairs hallway outside of all of our bedrooms where we begin our day.
I believe that it is so true;
We all have such beautiful potential within us if we can just stretch open our freedom wings and believe that we can each take off in all of the beautiful ways that we were made to fly.
Having said that though, in walks self doubt and a few good ol' bummer days to Rob us of our freedom...that positive mind set is easier said than done right?

So here we go;
a bright reminder hanging in our hallway right at eye level!
on this project I used a 16x24 canvas, brushed with cream and blue acrylic paint, then gel medium with old book pages, masking tape for texture, india ink and spray inks to build up my background. Then onto the yummy toppings; words are drawn in regular black uniball pen, painted with watercolor paint and highlighted with white charcoal, wings are painted with white watercolor, vintage bird card, prima flower stem, 7 gypsies keyhole and other goodie bits are all a part of the Kenner Road kits this month!May you spread your beautiful wings of freedom my friends, your potential is unlimited!
Take flight in faith.

His mighty plans

Some very cool and surprising developments are stirring for us around here... and so of course my thoughts and feelings about the whole thing spilled out into my Art journal as we drove out on our road trip and Cam and I talked for 4 hours straight. It was good , and fun, and super exciting to be all abuzz together and have that driving time just to talk and share and just BE together in excitement; I'm not quite ready to spill all of the beans in any great detail cuz I want to see how everything unfolds in the coming weeks, but this is truly one of those times where we know that God will provide for our needs and his plans for us are so often better than we can even begin to dream up on our own.

Good stuff.
Just super good.

My little precious

Look at my baby, turning 5 this summer and going into kindergarten, there really is not so much "baby" left in there, is there? she is slowly being replaced with lovely little girl...so lovely, I really enjoy hanging out with her, she is a truly sweet and sensitive little person. It is a gift and a privilege to be the one holding the hands of these three little girls of mine as they go through life, and getting the front row seat to watch them grow into the amazing people they were designed to be.
I am definitely the Lucky one.

This is my 3rd project for Kenner Road this month, about this kid of mine, my littlest baby who is growing FAR too fast! but somehow will always be MY baby no matter how big she gets :)
This page is made on the paper bag that Kerry-Lynn sent everything out in; I used the alpha stickers as a mask for all kind of spray ink, ripped and messied the edges of my pieces, and used torn bits to create my little "meadow" below...Gotta Love this little mama and baby bird, it's US!!! LOL
Wishing that you enjoy all of the little hands you have the privilege to hold!
Peace

Our life is beautiful

Here is project #2 for my "guesthood' at Kenner Road ( see previous post)

This is just a little book celebrating a life I am truly grateful to have.

Made from some green Prima flower packaging as the cover, with light bulb pack inner pages ( y'know the wrapper that keeps the bulbs safe until you get them up and lighting your house? well ya, that stuff) and lots of Kenner Road Kit bits to doll it all up!!!We are getting ready to pick up Emy from camp tomorrow and head out on a family road trip so I will have more inner pages to share sometime later when we are done "summering"...at least it is all ready for me to add to as I have a minute. It is in a big ziploc bag with pictures printed and bits thrown in for embellishing and I have my handy dandy pen and masking tape at the ready all good to go so that I can just cart it along with me in my purse!


Happy life to you my friends!

Italy 08 with Kenner Road

I am the guest designer this month for Kenner Road...Kerry-Lynn creates fantastically gorgeous vintage inspired kits that are totally right up my alley! Check out their gallery and just drool over the work of the amazing team of artists over there!!!

The good news is that I should have a layout/project to share almost every day for the next week or so starting with this layout from the time that Cam and I spent in Italy last spring.

the water splash ( blue India ink) and the Euro coin are on there to help tell the story; in the photo we are at the fountain in Rome where you throw a coin over your shoulder to ensure you will visit Rome again someday :) I sure hope that we do!!! Our friend Helena and her family showed us all of the ins and outs of getting around Rome and having an incredible time doing it! We couldn't have dreamt up better hosts to spend our time in Italy with.
The title is written directly onto the photo using a regular black uniball, and a white out pen to fill it in.