Dress Up

I had a lot of fun with this one... feathers, flowers, rhinestones, lace, glitter... all the things that are perfect for a 3 year old to dress up in!!

Guess what we did yesterday....?

Yup! We made this:

Candy Cane Hearts

Candy Cane Hearts, originally uploaded by Glorious Treats.

I love this idea!! I think Ellie and I will be making some of these as part of our holiday activities this year! So cute, and edible / giftable, too!

Next Year...

... I'm grinding my own spices for the pumpkin pie. I already make the crust and puree my own pumpkin, so why not??

Believe

A Home Canned Thanksgiving...

Our Thanksgiving plans didn't pan out like we'd expected, and we ended up having a last minute Thanksgiving meal with just me, Leif, and Eliana. It was actually a very nice day, and we got to spend some much needed family time. Leif and I worked side by side to prepare the food, which was great. I'd already made a turkey (since I was supposed to bring gravy for our originally scheduled plans - and I don't believe in making gravy from anything but the juices from a freshly cooked bird.) and a pumpkin pie (from scratch, down to making my own pumpkin puree) so that was already done, and the rest was pretty easy.  Potatoes, gravy, green beans almondine, stuffing and yambake we whipped up in a couple hours. The rest I had already canned... cranberry sauce, pickled beets... All in all, a good meal, especially for last minute!!

Along with the relaxing family time, I got some knitting in, so that was exciting! I've pretty much used up 3 skeins of yarn in 2 days and make 3.5 projects. Yarn crafting is a great way to spend time and relax in the fall.

Today we put up the Christmas decorations and Leif took Ellie sledding. We ate leftovers. We listened to Christmas music. It was great.

And through it all, we have no pictures from the holiday. But it's okay. We got to spend time together as a family, and that's what I'm thankful for.

Dopey McDopester

That's what we used to call Eliana. She always made the dopiest faces!! Here's a closeup of the layered title.

How Many Frogs Do You Have to Kiss?

Played with a friend's Cricut cartridge for this one, a cartridge I probably won't get myself. I'm not sure I completely like this layout, but I do love the pictures, so for now it will have to do.

More Water Please!

Another take on the last sketch! I played a little more with the title pane on this one and I like how it turned out!

Fire Works

These were not the greatest pictures to work with, but they are what we have and I love them because of it. It was Ellie's first time playing with sparklers and setting off fire works in the yard.

The Egg Hunt

A good sketch for lots of 4x6 photos. I used it more than once at Susan Beth's scrap day last month!

River Walk

I made this layout at Susan Beth's house, and by the time I got home the letters were already starting to fall off. That's what I get for using dollar store letters, but I came up with a quick fix that I like considering this is a river themed page...

Just a wavy stitch with the teal thread that was already in my sewing machine did the job! It adds a little texture, too, which is always fun.

Love by the Riverside

Yet another SPS layout from Susan Beth's house!

Little Sicko

Another from Susan Beth's house!

Fox in Sox

One of the pages I put together last month at a scrapbooking day at Susan Beth's house. I love these pictures of Leif and Ellie, and I got to use more of one of my backlogged Sweet Pea Scraps kits. I'm looking forward to scrapping with her again this month!

Another card

Another Technique Tuesday card. I am loving the Copic Markers! The best part about these cards is that they really take very few supplies - and I can use up some of my stash a little at a time! Inexpensive is good... =D

Technique Tuesday Card!

Cards, originally uploaded by elizabethwickland.

I decided it had been too long since I'd stamped, so I pulled out one of my favorite-but-rarely-used stamp sets and set out to make a card. I stamped the petals, then colored them with my Copic Markers, which, again, I rarely use, but love!! This particular card was a Thank You card to my friend Amber. It was fun to play with my stamps again. Oh, how I miss them! I love scrapbooking, but I was a stamper for so many years before that. There's just something fabulous about creating something beautiful out of a white piece of cardstock, some stamps, and some ink. I love it!

A Father's Love

I LOVE these pictures of Ellie and Leif. We were hiking around the river near our house and on the way back, she got tired. So Leif picked her up and carried her home, and she just laid her head on his shoulder the whole way. It was so sweet and I am so thankful for these pictures!

When I showed Eliana this page, she pointed to the feather and said, "I don't think that belongs there." When I asked why not, she told me very matter-of-factly that, "I think it belongs in my feather duster." And so it did! It fell out at some point and I swiped it, knowing it would be fun to use on a page. Ha ha! She caught me! I thought it went well with the outdoorsy theme, though...

A little bit of PAINT

I love these pictures of Ellie painting my mom's toenails. These are the simple every day things I want to remember about my family!

Window Shopping

Do you ever go window shopping online? Add things to your cart, just for the satisfaction of doing so, and see how much your whims would cost you?

I am not feeling well today. So I am window shopping. Who knows, maybe I will buy something but right now, I'm just looking. And it makes me happy. =D

From Ormolu's Etsy shop, I apparently want $53 of stuff. Her shop also makes me inspired to pull out some stamps and make some of my own tags and labels and such. Pretty, pretty things!

From Bake It Pretty, if they were a retail shop and I were walking down the aisles, I would apparently have just over $73 of stuff in my cart. It makes me want to bake!

If I got every stamp set I want from Paper Trey Ink, I'd spend a whopping $459. Wow!! If "I really scale it back to the ones that are on my I really "need" that list, the cost drops to $140. Still, wow! I love their stamps...

From Hambly I have a list of papers and overlays totaling $50.40 that I'd love.

So there you have it. My window shopping for the day. =D It's much later now than when I started making this list, and I'm happy to say that all my money is still in my wallet. =D Success!

I believe I can fly...

I am not nearly as graceful as Cathy, but I am learning. I LOVE my aerial dance class!

Learn to FLY

I love these pictures of Cathy. She is so graceful, so elegant, and she makes aerial dance look like a breeze! I feel privileged to get to learn from her!

Lake Fun

This isn't one of my favorite pages, but it turned out okay. I still have more of these pictures from camping at the Hyalite Reservoir last year, too. What am I going to do with them all??

Sweet Davey

Sweet Davey, originally uploaded by elizabethwickland.

I was really excited to use these double sided papers for this layout. I didn't have any pictures in mind when I started, just the layout itself, but then I went digging through my box of photos and found these - aren't they perfect for this paper?? Pictures of my dear friend Tam's little boy. He's so sweet!

winter cookies

winter cookies
Originally uploaded by sweetopia*

I'm thinking these I might actually be able to do... wouldn't they be a fun addition to a Christmas gift? I'm thinking they'd make good tags... ;)

decorated owl cookies

decorated owl cookies
Originally uploaded by sweetopia*

Aren't these the most adorable owl cookies you've ever seen?? I am pretty sure I don't have the ability or patience to make them myself, but I love them!

Inspiration...

Do you ever find that there are just some blogs that continually inspire you? I have not been crafting of late again, but I have been finding a few snippets of inspiration. I went through my starred items in Google Reader this morning and thought I'd share what inspires me lately...

Jana Eubank is one of the bloggers whose work I often LOVE. She was one of the SPS designers and I could always find inspiration from her layouts for my kits if I was stuck! This layout I LOVE! It inspires me to play with my die cut paper and do some fussy cutting!

Allie Edwards, queen of simplicity. She ties in more digital elements than I would, but I have a 12x12 black and white baby photo of Eliana that I love and I'm thinking this would be a perfect layout to mimic with it. I love it!

Danielle Flanders is another blogger whose work I love. I have pulled so much inspiration from her blog, especially from her cards! I think this is such a fun layout, though... I love the stitching, and the hopping stars. It's just so cute!
The Prima blog always has beautiful work from their designers. I'm a HUGE fan of Prima products, so I love to see what everyone does with them! I particularly LOOOVE this layout by Jaime Warren. It just makes me want to pull out my patterned papers and start playing with texture and layering!

Anilu Magliore's work first caught my eye when I fell in love with her jewelry designs. She has inspired some of my own favorite pieces and I started following her blog. Then, I watched her get into digiscrapping and it has been fun to see her great eye for design carry over there, too! I'm not a digiscrapper, but I really like this layout. I think as a sketch there's a lot you can do with it!

Jana Eubank again. Love this layout. Love the stars. Love the buttons. Love the twine on the photo. I pretty much love everything about it.

A lot of what I find on the Hambly blog is a little too funky for my tastes. I love their products, though, and I'm glad I follow the blog because occasionally jewels like these come through! I don't know who Kerry Lynn is, but I LOVE the Old School layout. I have old photos. I have lace. And now I have inspiration...

Danielle Flanders again. I am not so much a Halloween person, though I do like the cute things you can make for the holiday. I am thinking, however, that these would make adorable Christmas goodies! I'm tucking that inspiration away in my head for winter...

Is this not the most precious baby album you've ever seen? I absolutely adore it. I love all the detail, its monochromatic beauty. It is so soft, so precious, just like a newborn! I found this gem on the Melissa Francis blog, which I follow just so I can see beautiful stuff like this! The designer was Kileigh Wirth. As a side note, Danielle Flanders designs for this blog, too, which is probably how I found it...

Like I said, not much for Halloween as a holiday, but I love this card! And I have that stamp set. So I might just have to make a few of these cuties! Melissa Phillips' blog is another place I've gotten lots of inspiration over the last couple years. Cute stuff abounds over there!

Again with the hybrid scrappery, I LOVE this layout. It's so fun, so fresh, so artsy. It makes me want to play. CD Muckosky does some really fun stuff.

Lauren Hagerman is someone I "met" on 2peas and then started following her blog. She had a subscription to SPS, too, so that was another connection we had. Recently she posted this project on her blog, and I'd really like to do the same thing one of these days. I love how simple hers is, and yet includes a ton of details. I want to do this.

Danielle Flanders again. I just think this layout is beautiful. Stunning. Gorgeous. It inspires me in so many ways.

So there you have it. A little of what inspires me these days. Now if I could only sit down and scrap for a bit and actually put this inspiration to use!

I really want to make these...

I saw these beautiful candied apples on one of the blogs I follow. I really want to do this with the apples we picked off our tree this year...

Let them eat cake?

While I love the idea of cake decorating, I have to admit that I am much more enamored with cupcakes. They're easy. They're cute. They don't require cutlery, or a plate, for that matter. Cupcakes are an afternoon. Cakes are, well, a project. So I have been resolved to make Eliana cupcakes for as long as I am able.

I might change my mind, though, since I got a princess crown cake pan today. =D Not something I would ordinarily buy, but Michael's had all (and I mean ALL - even the cake pans!) their princess (and pirate) party supplies on clearance. For $0.25 each. Everything. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I got a princess crown Wilton cake pan for 25 cents.

So don't be surprised if we have a princess themed party in July for a little 4 year old. (And since I got the tip-off from a friend of mine and let another know, don't be surprised if Ellie and ALL her little friends have princess parties with the same decorations, LOL! They're 3 and 4 - are they really going to tire of princesses?) And don't be surprised if there's a princess cake involved. Since I'm not making all the decorations and whatnot, I'll theoretically have a little more time to decorate the cake, right?