Happy Things.

So.
I've kinda been avoiding blogging the past few days. Just feelin' a little unsettled and crazed. Ya know? So many, many things to do. Great things. Awesome things. Just lots of things. :)

Yesterday I received a HUGE order of buttons, and I couldn't wait to pour them into one of my canvas bins and just look at all the prettiness...I know. A grown women shouldn't be so obsessed with buttons. But, geez. They're like little bits of plastic sunshine. Buttons make me happy.
















Not a lot of time these days to read and relish, but these paper morsels keep me sane. Seriously. I love reading abt politics/ art/ literature/ fashion all in one place. It makes it easy peasy. The New Yorker makes me feel centered.















New scrapping tools. I've never speant money on the right scrapping tools. I buy cheap adhesive and cheap scissors and cheap inks...you get the idea. It was so great to go out and buy the right tools and I'm soooo happy with the results. Erica totally inspired me to exacto! I had a ball at the class learning so many great tips and gaining a bunch of inspiration. I'm soooo gonna start investing in the right tools. My cool little glass mat: 12.50. Me learning the right way to exacto: priceless ;).
















My little man. He has been a pill lately. What is up with the twos? Two days a week he stays at my sisters house so I can have more time to work on Poppy Ink stuff. Her house is like Neverland! They have a massive yard with a huge treehouse/ swingset, a trampoline, a bazillion bikes/tricycles/ bigwheels/ wagons, a dog, a cat, cool water toys, an awesomatastic sandbox.... Needless to say, the boy doesn't like coming home. And when he is home all he can talk abt is Auntie Jens house. Not so easy on the mommy. Robb thinks I'm silly, but I want him to like being at home, too.
O-well.
He had a ball in the pub tonight (his words) playing in his new Thomas Train bubbles. I don't think they have those at Auntie Jens. ;)




















LOVE this photo of my niece at the lake. She loves gathering living things. She found this tiny dragonfly and wanted a photo snapped. I love her sandy hands. When I see this photo I can almost hear her bubbley giggle. :) That's happiness.

"There are sounds to seasons.
There are sounds to places,
and there are sounds
to every time in one's life."
--Alison Wyrley Birch

*I'm In!*

This weekend I started my KI album for the contest! Can I get a woot-woot?! :)
I didn't think I'd have time, but I decided that I'd make time! Because I LOVE the Color Theory papers. They're amazing and sooo fun to work with! I came up with a theme that's totally doable in the time frame, and one that I'm so excited about that I can hardly see straight.

I've had good luck with album contests in the past, so it'll be fun to see how this one goes!
Look at all that yumminess...:) I took a photo of everything because it's so very pretty and it totally makes me happy.

I have to say though, that I am not a fan of buying stuff at my LLS. It had been a while since I'd been in there and I don't really want to go back anytime soon. Besides the yummy KI, they didn't have anything new or really great...I NEVER thought I'd be saying that, but it's kinda true...

Here's to an amazing and productive week, my friends! :)

Here's my to-do list for this week:
-cut and roll all ribbon for kits
-start working on August gallery
-get Gibb's Dr. appointment
-finish off the KI album
-get the new forum for Erica Hernandez's class up and running
-LAUNDRY!!
-finish off the projects for the week of tips and tricks at Poppy Ink
-POOL TIME> man it's hot here!


...lots to do! :) What are you up to this week?!

A little bit sentimental...

I don't know why I get like this.
All emotional and sentimental. And just drained.
Totally feelin' like I need three thousand hugs and a nice hot cup of tea.

I was a bit apprehensive about "showing and telling" my BasicGrey Be Bold album, but I think it'll be cathartic. And I think this is the right time.

I made an album dedicated to my brother, James. He passed away as a newborn. I wasn't even born then, but I've always known about him. I was born a little less than a year later. I think because I wasn't alive when he left, I was never able to grieve. How do you grieve for something you've never really lost? I still feel a very strong connection to him. Like I knew him before. Believe me. I know that sounds strange, but it's true. I've always felt like I missed out. I felt a bit cheated. I felt lost without my big brother. This album, "Who I Am: A Letter To My Brother" is a compilation of moments that he missed. My wedding. The kissing tag fiasco in Kindergarten. Meeting Robb. Meeting Gibb. Teenage angst. Moving to Hawaii. My love of books. Grandma's Funeral. The birth of my son. Small glimpses into my life without him.
On the back of each layout is a letter. The last one reads:
Dear James,
I am a 25-year-old mother, star-gazer, wife, sister, daughter, dreamer, scrapbooker, writer, reader, dish-washer. I am brimmed with memories and moments that you missed. That we missed. Hollow in spaces that even my dreams can't fill. I am still just a sister searching for her lost brother. I can't stop wondering who I would have been if you had been a physical part of my life. James, I've forgiven your absence. I've forgiven the holes. I concede to you being my Gaurdian Angel. Patched, mended, we'll swap stories soon.
Always Missing You,
Heather

Yea. I know.
I'm really grateful to BasicGrey for having a contest that required us to dig deep and be bold. I never would have created this album without that push.

Here's a photo of Gibb and my mom at the lake on Monday. This little boy loves his munga fuss (that's what he calls her, silly little guy). These are the moments, ya know?!


"And through and over everything, a sense of glad awakening."--Edna St. Vincent Millay

In other news: We're going to Hawaii for Christmas. Robb's mom and sister both live on Oahu. It'll be my first Christmas without snow. Excited and a bit sad.

Hello, August. :)

"Sweet Summer"

I'm sooooooo excited for August at Poppy Ink! I love the colors in the papers; I love the stamps, I love the sweet pin alphas; I love the flocked chipboard; I love the HUGE ric-rac; I totally *heart* the Poppy Project (It's not an album and won't come with any paper. I think you're gonna love it, too); I love the designer lunch bags; I love, love love all the pretty buttons; ::sigh:: I just really, really love everything about August!

Last night I pulled out all the goodies from the main kit, the three add-ons, and the Poppy Project, and made a little display. There's something from every kit in the photo! ;) We'll be posting more specific sneaky peekies on the site, on the 15th.

Just LOTS of things on my sleepy mind...

I'm over-the-moon about*:

*Erica Hernandez is teaching an online class on July 18th at www.Poppyink.com. It's coming up reeeeaaaally quick.
I'm totally psyched to see what she comes up with.

I need*:
*Like really really need.
We've tried for the past month to get the PO to send us the amt of boxes we need.
Every time they show up they only bring us 25 when we ordered 500.
I'm not happy with USPS.
Not happy at all.

I want*:





*This isn't the exact one, but it's similar.
I'm hoping I can talk the sweetie into it.
I showed it to him today, and he liked it.
The one I like has less pink and more orange and is more paisley then floral...
okay, so really it isn't like this one at all, but they didn't have the one I liked on the website, and I'm soooooo not scanning tonight.
But, this one is pretty too.
It's just not me.
So I guess I don't really want it.

I'm beyond psyched about*:

PopARTist Call

We are currently looking for a few amazing popARTists to join our design team. Submissions are due August 14th and the winners will be selected by and notified on August 21st. If you’re interested please read the instructions below. E-mail me, Heather Burch, with any questions you may have at dtquestions@poppyink.com.

Please e-mail three layouts that showcase your best work and personal style. These layouts can be one or two pages and any size that you customarily scrap in. I’m looking for a variety of scrapping styles.

I would also like to see one altered project that you’ve made. If you don’t alter, just send an extra layout.

Along with those four things, please e-mail a photo or a scan of a card that you’ve made. You don’t need to e-mail work that no one else has seen. I just want to see your best work.

In your e-mail list your name, phone number, location, and when you started scrapbooking.

I would also like to know why you’d like to be a PopARTist on the Poppy Ink DT. And lastly, give me a list of what would be included in your dream kit. What papers, embellishments, and trims would you put in a kit?

Recap:
Email photos or scans (keep attachments under 200kb each):
-3 layouts
-1 altered project
-1 card

Body of Email:
-Name
-Phone Number
-Location
-When did you start scrapping?
-Why would you like to join our team?
-Your dream kit
Email your submissions to: dtsubmissions@poppyink.com

If you are chosen you will have a photo and bio posted in our design team section. You will have your work featured in our gallery each month. Compensation for providing 3 layouts and 1 project a month will include a free kit and you get to keep the projects you make. I also send goodie bags with really great items from the add-ons kits.

Regretfully, we are not accepting international submissions. In addition, we are only accepting submissions from individuals who are not on other kit club DT’s (manufacturers and other online store DT’s are fine).

Let me know if you have any questions.

*C'mon, you know you wanna try out.

Catch ya' later! :)

So you think you can dance....

Well, he can. :)

Should I worry that he was the only one at the parade dancing to the marching band? Man he looked cute marching around in circles with his arms flailing...love that little guy! We had a fun 4th...lots of running around and sunshine and watermelon. No fireworks, though. I'm kinda not a fan of the whole fireworks thing. They scare me a little bit. Even as a kid, I was always like, "...and when did it become okay for you to put a lit stick in my hands?" I know. I'm a party pooper. AND my sweetie has a huge scar on his head from when he was a baby and his sister, Cherri, poked him in the head with a sparkler. Yea. I know.
We'll have to go to a fireworks display on the 24th (pioneer day in Utah). Anyway, who needs fireworks when you have a kid who can dance like ^that^?! I mean c'mon people! :)


I totally packed all the add-on kits and Poppy Projects. Yes.
I had some of the project kit's laid out and I thought all the repitition looked really elegant, so I snapped a photo. So pretty. ::sigh:: I love that kit! :)

random fact: Spilled food underneath the burners on the stove can totally make a yummy spaghetti dinner smell like sewage. Yuck.

Funny.

My son has the best sense of humor.
Really, he does.

I had totally forgotten about this photo until tonight. I was going though some photo files and I found it. A couple weeks ago, after he'd woken up from his nap, he asked for his little person bookend that was on his bookshelf. He usually asks for some weired item when he wakes up...So I handed it to him and we went downstairs to have lunch. I was making him some cheese (aka pb&j sandwich on whole wheat bread) and I heard him scream, "Mama, funny! Mama, funny!" I walked into the family room and he was beaming in front of the wooden IKEA sculpture and his little person bookend. He'd posed them on the couch. We both stood there for a second, admiring his little art installation, and then he walked off saying, "Oh mama, it's funny." He's right. I think it's pretty funny, too.

Those little moments are the kinds of things I don't ever want to forget. I start getting all teary and emotional when I think about how fast he's growing up and how much I've already forgotten....Even as I cling to every moment--try to preserve all the nuances that make him him
I feel things falling away from me. If scares me because I want to remember everything. It seems like some women fall into wifehood and motherhood seamlessly, I'm not one of them. Marriage and kids take a lot of selfless work and I wasn't born innately selfless. I have to work at it. I feel like all those little moments are what make all the sacrifice worth it, and I don't want to forget them...Like tonight, Gibby and I ate pizza and watermelon in the family room on the floor for dinner, and I just had the best time gibbering and hanging out with him. There was no time outs and no yelling and no pokes in the eye (Since when so kids do that? No one warned me about that one)...just pure together time. What happens if I forget that moment...

Anyway, enough mindless rambling...
random fact: I want to be the type of person who values quality over quantity. Totally something I need to work on.

Catch ya' later.

A little bit of help...

...can go a really long way. To learn more about how you can buy a shirt and help out a little bit, click on the link and read the story of an amazing individual whose story has inspired me more than I can say...remembering alex

I bought this shirt for my mama because she is a runner. I remember being little and feeling so proud of her when she raced. It was a big deal to me. I'll never ever forget when we all went to St. George so my parents could run the marathon. I was so proud of them. I was especially proud of my mom because she crossed the finish line before my dad... :) He had waited for her when she got sick in the middle of the race, but at the end, when it looked like they'd cross together, she raced in front and beat him. That is sooooooo my mom, for ya'! :)

She just recently had her second knee replacement and she hasn't slowed down a bit. She's a pretty amazing lady...

Oh, and that kid^^^ is pretty amazing, too!

Whew, another week. Lots of kits to pack and ship...
Happy 4th of July weekend, everybody! :)

Happiness is...

poppets! I've had the best time playing around with the Poppet stamp sets from Claudine Helmuth. I did a family portrait for me and one for my dad with all the grandkids. If you can swing it, totally get these sets! The paper is also amazing and the sweet diecut outfits are *almost* too good to be true. I found these super-cheap canvases at Walmart and I painted the backgroud . Fun Project

Here are some other *haPpY* things that have happened lately:

-two BIG boxes of the new Cherry Arte papers showed up at my door (hint, hint)
-seeing Fuss and Papa
-two full days of just creating
-movie with my sister (The Devil Wears Prada! LOVED this movie!)
-seeing my first design turned into a stamp (more news to come)
-holding my sweet boy while he's sleeping (he asked me, in his sleep to sing the "Bye" song...I nearly melted)
-new rug for family room
- overwhelming feelings of gratefulness for the success of Poppy Ink
- sweet e-mails from people I admire
...lots of things to be happy about lately...

By the way, my new word is Moodling. LOVE that word. Here's a quote from Brenda Ueland, "So you see, imagination needs moodling- long, inefficent, happy idling, dawdling, and puttering."
When I was little my mother always told me not to dawdle. I was soooo a dawdler. I liked to take my time, and think things out...to really *see* the world. I've lost that. I've missed being a dawdler.
I think I'm gonna give myself permission to be inefficent--to be happily idle--for the rest of the evening...