a beautiful work

a few things to love…

Daily doses of inspiration from the Master’s Blog and fun FREE digital downloads at Memory Makers Magazine. You can download some gorgeous kits by talented MM artists and try your hand at digi all for free. (Wild Sorbet Kit shown)

Shantay making Belle’s dreams come true by finding her a Hermione Granger costume for Halloween. I am sure to be “expecto patronum“ed til Christmas

Jack Kerouac American Haiku…

Born Red Mary Janes

German Glass Glitters

Pinch My Salt’s Recipe for Pumpkin Scones

Favorite blog of the moment Red Aprons & Lunchboxes

Lobster and Swan’s Estate Sale Kits. Gorgeous. Decadent.

Belle writing in her School Interview book that her favorite book is The Merchant of Marvels and the Peddler of Dreams by Frederic Clement.

Baby Gap Kimono Sets

Pottery Barn Brooke Nursery Bedding

that’s all for tonight. just felt like a quick list. be back soon with projects and layouts and all kinds of scrapbooking sweetness. check out Memory Makers Magazine til then!

The lovely and supremely talented Summer Fullerton tagged me on her blog “so there I was”. I have been so busy and baby crazy lately that I am finally getting a chance to tag some others. So here we go! Thanks Summer… you’re the best!

So here are the rules:

(1) The winner can put the logo on their blog.

(2) Link the person you received your award from.

(3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs. (I’ve also seen 6…)

(4) Put links of those on yours.

(5) Leave a message on the blogs of the girls or boys you’ve nominated.

1. Of course I have to tag my best friend in the entire world, Shantay. Maybe this will encourage her to update her blog. GET TO WORK MISSY!!
2. Jana McGhee takes seriously some of the most beautiful children’s portraits I have ever seen. Check out her life, photographs and generally craftiness at In My World
3. Kristy writes beautifully. Every time I read her blog I feel like I have stepped into her own private magazine of daily musing and beautiful scrapbooking. I love her and you will too!
4. When I am in the mood for a mix of gorgeous scrapbooking and killer style I always click over to Delaney Gate’s blog . Add it to your daily blog roll!
5. I don’t just worship Lisa Pace… I HERO worship Lisa Pace. She is such an inspiration to me. The ways she works with patterns and glitter is heaven. I adore her.
6. Check out Courtney’s blog Cady Cupcake. To know Court is to love her. She has so much personal style. She is one of the coolest people I know and she is a wonderful wonderful mommy to the sweetest cupcake in the entire world and universe.
7. I met Louise Williams over at the Memory Makers boards. She is such a talented scrapbook artist. I love reading her blog. Her work is divine. I feel like if I met her in person we could have hour long talks about the importance of a weathered edge and polka dot!

Can’t you just feel it in the air… those first few hints that Autumn is on its way. It is definitely my favorite time of year. I love everything about it- the weather, the colors, the holidays. I can’t wait for the first day to wear a jacket and seeing pumpkins pop up around town for sale. In lieu of a super crafty post, here is one of my favorite Autumn photos of Belle and her friend Elizabeth from last year, a few of my favorite Autumn themed products and a couple of crafts I can’t wait to do.

Left to Right: K&Company Fall Harvest Specialty Pad, K&Company Fall Harvest Wreath Kit, K&Company Fall Harvest Paper Ribbon, K&Company Border Rub Ons, Fancy Pants All Fall Cards, Fancy Pants All Fall Recess Paper, Fancy Pants Designs All Fall Penmanship (which maybe the coolest paper of all time), Martha Stewart Crafts Autumn Leaves Stamps, Fancy Pants All Fall Rubons, Fancy Pants All Fall Acrylic Stamps, Art Warehouse Trickery Die Cut Paper, Scenic Route Chipboard Leaves

Belle and I are certainly going to try out these seasonal crafts from Martha Stewart

Don’t forget to check out the Master’s Blog at Memory Makers Magazine! Tomorrow is my blog day!!! Hope you all enjoy! Love, M

Hey Everyone, my first Masters’ blog post is up at Memory Makers Magazine. I added a new layout that you might enjoy so come on over and check it out!

Memory Makers Masters Blog

add it to your bookmarks. The 2009 Masters will blog every day so you can have a daily dose of inspiration!

See you guys tomorrow. I have some cool stuff to share!

I can’t believe I am actually a part of the Memory Makers Masters. This is a dream come true for me. Memory Makers was the first scrapbook magazine that I ever got. I kind of feel like Memory Makers was my Scrapbook Teacher when I first started out. I remember my mom gave me a few back copies she had and said, “You might get some ideas from these”. I would have never thought that 5 years later I would be a part of such an amazing team. Congrats to everyone that entered and to my fellow Masters… omg… just saying that “My fellow Masters” sounds so crazy to me still. It is a wonderful group of scrapbookers.

You can view the announcement here: Meet the 2009 Memory Makers Masters

I can’t believe it!! What an honor.

Congratulations to all the Winners and Runner-ups and Thank you to Memory Makers Magazine.

So I still remember packing Belle’s tiny backpack when she started Mother’s Day out once a week. She was 3 and was a little reluctant to meet new friends. It was so hard to say good bye to her but I knew it was for the best. She needed to meet new friends, become a tiny bit independent from Mommy, and learn how to follow school rules. It took her about a month to get into the swing of things and she loved it.

I think about this every time I get her ready for a new school year. I remember her little Dora the Explorer Backpack, packing an extra outfit & pull ups, making sure her stuffed Rabbit “Ham” was safely inside just in case. Now I make sure she has lunch money, tissues, chapstick, and a small note wishing her a great day. Soon we will have to worry about homework and permission slips making it to school. I used to make sure she had easy on pants and velcro shoes. Now I have to make sure she has clothes that scream, “passion for fashion”. Kind of sad but great at the same time. Wonderful to see how far she has come from the shy toddler to the big kid who LOVES to socialize and learn.

Here’s to the first day of school and all the mommy’s out there who still want to cry a little seeing them go…

I traditionally make Belle a backpack tag with a theme that she chooses. Of course this year was Hannah Montana. I think everyone has seen these cool packaging tags but this one was made with a KI Ice Candy Package, K & Company papers, KI Ice Candy, Random Rose Beads. The Hannah Montana sticker is one from the sticker machines outside grocery stores. She loves it!

and just for nostalgia, Belle’s Dora Backpack Tag posted at Two Peas

Hope everyone enjoys the first day of school!

will be back soon

now you know, xoxo m

edited to add: i didn’t NOT buy any of these because I didn’t think they were super cute… the usual happened when shopping with belle.  I shop the 30-40 dollar range and belle shops the 100+ dollar range.  Most of these shoes are over a 100.  lol  I wish I could buy them all for her.

so school is around the corner. i don’t really have to worry about buying school clothes since grandma sent a giant box to the house yesterday from belle’s wish list. awesome. thanks mom!

so i think i will splurge a little and buy her a super cute first day of school outfit and go ahead and buy her outfit for school pictures complete with matching shoes. we did o.k. at first. quick choosing at gap.com then i made two mistakes.

one: going to zappos.com

two: forgetting that belle is related to courtney and in some strange twist of fate inherited her passion for fashion and love of shoes…

here are a few she picked out…

needless to say none of these shoes will be gracing the school catwalk. i was going to buy the second pair… the little patterned mary janes until i realized they have a skull and cross bones on them to which belle replied, “i know! isn’t it great!” oh and yes, one of those is a pair of roberto cavalli’s. pray for me.

a few things I am obsessed with at the moment…

Inchies… I am pretty sure these are a british scrapbooking thing and they are soooo addictive and challenging. They are one inch by one inch with no cheating allowed. I am swapping with some really talented ladies and I can’t wait to make a really cool framed collage for my scrap room. I have some 6×6 shadow box frames just waiting for them.

I am a hoarder of pattern paper and my hoarding paid off when I began making these. I have had a piece of 12×12 K&Company collage paper for 4 years that looks like this and it was the perfect paper to cut apart and use. I also had been hoarding some french inspired stamps from Vive La France that I got in New Orleans about 8 years ago. Made me happy to finally use and create. You might be able to find this paper on ebay it is from the Life’s Journey line from a zillion years ago.

chipboard buttons… and corrugated cardstock buttons… a great reason to keep your cup sleeves from starbucks. just stick those sleeves in your circle punch and make some! so much fun to make and swap. i make them while i am on the phone. (yeah, that’s the sound you have been hearing in the background)

snapshots of my favorite girls… i am seriously blessed to have such beautiful nieces and a beautiful daughter. they are just my favorite things in the whole world. i have 3 photos of them that i look at almost every day cause i love them so much. i swiped one off courtney’s blog of cadence who is the sweetest, happiest most beautiful little baby doll in the whole world. we miss you!!

i took this photo of my niece ireland over 4th of july weekend. she is soo full of life and fun and just gorgeous. i feel sorry for my brother when she is a teenager. i mean what a blonde cutie and those blue eyes are too die for beautiful. so happy i got this shot of her. she is sometimes too quick to catch in a photograph. she is always a busy honey bee. and she does an amazing impression of ralphie from “A Christmas Story” when he gets his secret decoder ring in the mail. She also has a baby doll she named “Pita Chips“. awesome!

and i just refound this photo of belle that shantay had taken last year. i am in love right now with her messy hair and pink cheeks. i love this girl!

perfect portrait dresses: so belle will turn 6 soon… i am sad at how quickly she is growing up. i am obsessed right now with this dress for her 6 year portrait. i am going to need some help from aunt courtney to get her to wear it. i am sure she would like to wear hot pink boots and a sequin belt with dangly hoop earrings and a rock n roll t shirt but there are teenage years for that until then it won’t hurt her to wear a pretty dress in her portrait. of course the dress is ralph lauren because my world revolves around…

the description says “Stylish wrap dress in crisp cotton poplin, woven in a tonal variegated stripe for a haberdashery-inspired look.” I mean couldn’t you just live off that description. I’ve been going around for days repeating, “haberdashery-inspired look”. It just rolls off the tongue… but you know what else does… “ring ring ring ring– banana phone– banana phone“

til next time

ciao bella!