A Weinie Winner!!!

Last week, Ellie entered a coloring contest sponsored by Oscar Meyer and our local Albertson's Supermarket. Well...yesterday when we got home from school (I was volunteering all afternoon in her Kindergarten class...that's why I say "we") there was a message on our answering machine saying she had won (in her age group) and to come and get her prize (luckily we're only about 1 minute away from the store, so that part was easy!). So we flew right over and she got this awesome prize pack filled with goodies (see them all below). We're so proud of her!!! 

 Ellie with her prize basket in front of the ultra cool "Weinermobile"!!!

Her winning entry!!!

The prize basket!!

See all the great things that were in it (including the hat she's wearing!).

A 2nd Daughter...(temporarily)

For the past week, we've been watching our friend's daughter, Grace (age 7, who happens to be one of Ellie's best friends). Her parents, Mike and Missy, went on a short-term mission trip to the Dream Center in Los Angeles, and entrusted us with her for a whole week!! It was sorta like having a 2nd daughter for a week (it was cute because she asked Pete and me if she could call us "Dad" and "Mom" for just this week:o)).

Ellie especially had a great time with her during her stay (her parents picked her up last night), and I wanted to share a couple photos of Ellie and Grace having fun together. They spent a lot of time walking our dog, Loretta, playing with their Littlest Pet Shops, and swimming in Nanny's (Pete's mom) apartment's pool (we went 3 different times to take them swimming--thanks Carol for letting us come visit so much!). 

 They also had fun making little brownie cupcakes and decorating them...oh yeah, and EATING them, of course. Don't ya just love Ellie's Chef's hat? That girl cracks me up! 

So...at least for a few days our little family is back down to one daughter. But in a couple more days, we'll temporarily "adopt" another for 3 days as we'll be watching one of Ellie's other best friends, Gabi (age 5, like Ellie) as her parents (our good friends Chris and Candy) enjoy an all-expense paid trip to Colorado that Chris won through his work!  

My 2nd Design Team Assignment

As I mentioned earlier, one of the things that kept me super busy last week was working on the 2nd design team assignment for Craft Warehouse. For this assignment they sent us a box of goodies from Jillibean Soup (2 BRAND new collections) and asked us to make a fall card and layout, and a set of 4 Christmas cards (one photo card, one gift card holder, one simple (easy-to-make) card, and one more elaborate card. 

I really enjoyed this assignment, as I love the Jillibean paper and it's more "cutesy" style. 

Here's what I came up with...

My Fall Layout...I love this photo of Ellie that my friend Anissa (AH Photography here in Boise) took. I knew it would be the perfect photo to use for this fall page.

Patterned paper, die cuts, labels and corrugated alphas (Jillibean Soup-Apple Cheddar Soup Collection), Cardstock and Twine (American Crafts)

Photo Corner Punch (Stampin' Up)

Corner Rounder, Foam Tape

 Some close-up views...

My Fall Card

Patterned Paper and Die Cut (Jillibean Soup-Apple Cheddar Soup Collection)

Stamp (Pebbles Inc-"Hello")

Twine, Foam Tape

My Photo Card

Patterned Paper and Die Cuts (Jillibean Soup-Christmas Eve Chowder collection)

Cardstock (Bazzill Basics)

Foam Mounting Tape

My Gift Card Holder

Patterned Paper, Die Cuts and Label (Jillibean Soup-Christmas Eve Chowder collection)

Cardstock (American Crafts)

Corner Rounder, 1/2 " Circle Punch, 1-1/4" Circle Punch

Mini Glue Dots, Foam Tape

My Simple Card

Patterned Paper and Label (Jillibean Soup-Christmas Eve Chowder collection)

Cardstock and Twine (American Crafts)

1-1/4" Circle Punch, Foam Tape

My Elaborate Card

Patterned Paper and Die Cut (Jillibean Soup-Christmas Eve Chowder collection)

Blue Patterned Paper (Jillibean Soup-Apple Cheddar Soup collection)

Cardstock (Bazzill Basics)

Border Punch (Martha Stewart Crafts-Doily Lace Edge Punch)

Ribbon and Twine (American Crafts)

Corner Rounders-small and large

Buttons, Mini Glue Dots, Foam Tape

 In this photo you can see in more detail how I made the "snow" from the border punch.

I really had a lot of fun creating all these...hope you enjoy them also!

(Last) Saturday!

Again, it's been awhile...it's been kinda a crazy week around here (we're watching a friend's little girl all week and I've also been working on my 2nd Design Team projects for Craft Warehouse plus doing a new bible study), so this is the first chance I've had to post.

But I wanted to share some photos with you from Saturday...

We went to Boise's annual "Art in the Park" (a huge arts and craft show) with a group of friends from church. It was really fun, and there were so many cool things to see (most of them out of our price range, but still really fun!). 

I LOVED these bright fun metal flowers...especially the yellow sunflower looking ones!

 Such cool yard art!

 Even though these next two pieces of art aren't exactly my typical style...I think they're really cool. They painted on the back of the glass.

You can't really tell how cool these spin art things are...but they look so cool spinning in the wind.

 Some really cute floral headbands...I mostly took this photo for my friend Kaytie...she thinks she might be able to make something similar. 

 Ditto for these cute floral rings...

I absolutely loved this crocheted owl hat on Ellie (this one was a bit too small, but you get the idea)...however, the $30 price tag was a bit too steep for my budget!

 My friend Candy's little girl Lucy looked adorable in this

cute monkey hat (this is the face I got when I asked her to smile--what a goof!)

 After Art in the Park, Pete, Ellie and I went to our neighbor's outdoor wedding out on a farm near Marsing (about 40 minutes from us). It was a beautiful day! 

Mimi-the Super Sewer!

My mom--aka Ellie's "Mimi"--recently made Ellie a bunch of new dresses (and a shirt) and hats. They are so cute I had to share. 

And here's the hat that she made with the fabric I picked out a couple months ago...

see this blog post, A Different Style

A New Easter Layout

Sorry it's been awhile since I've posted. We had a busy last week with my mom, Ellie's "Mimi", visiting us (she hates having her photo taken, so I didn't even try to get any). We had fun together...we love to shop and have lunches out, and Ellie just adores her (and Mimi always spoils her terribly:o)). But now life is somewhat back to normal, and this morning I was actually able to finish a scrapbook page that I started a few weeks ago. I haven't had much time to scrap lately, so this is quite a feat!:o)

It's a double page layout...I got the general layout from an idea in the October issue of Scrapbooks Etc, and adapted it a bit to make it work with the photos I had. I used a mish-mash of papers and embellishments from all sorts of manufacturers, but I like the way it turned out.

Hope you enjoy!