vol.25

Happy New Year!

This is the last post I'll make for 2011. I think every year seems to go by just a little faster than the year before. I feel like we were incredibly blessed this year, and I can only hope that 2012 will be just as great. :)

I've been designing 2012's Printable Valentines, below is a sneek peek! :)

They're super cute! :) I should have them up in the digital shop next Friday.

Tonight I dipped marshmallows in chocolate and then rolled them in other yummy goodies, like peppermint pieces, semi sweet mini chips, reeses chips, white chips, and heath bits. :) I wanted to do this before Christmas to give to friends along with a couple packets of Starbucks flavored hot chocolate (the salted caramel is my fave) but I didnt get around to it. So- I'm doing them as little New Years gifts for a couple people.

I had to be careful or the dipped part of the marshmallow would melt! :) I think one of these little guys would be perfect in a cup of hot chocolate. :) I'll have to update you on just how yummy they are. :)

Happy New Year! We're staying inside tonight, snacking, and maybe playing kinect adventures with the kiddos. :) Trinity is so excited about staying up until midnight. I don't think she will last longer than 10:30 but I could be wrong... :)

How do you celebrate New Year's!? I've been following Rubyellen's blog for awhile, (she is so sweet) and I love how they bring in the New Year!

 

A Love Story Storyboard templates

They're live now- and 50% off for the next week! :) Use CODE: ALOVESTORY and grab them here. :) I also plan to release 2012's Valentine's themed overlay set sometime tomorrow... Here is a peek:

Happy Thursday! :D It was gloomy here all day, and even started raining this evening... so the above picture is making me anxious for warmer weather and blue skies! :)

 

Sneek Peek- A love story Storyboard Templates

I hope everyone had a nice Holiday. :) Ours was a little more low key than normal, and it was nice that way. :) I'm still enjoying my "holiday vacation" I've been doing nothing computer related, which explains my lack of posts around here! :)  I've felt no inspiration or motivation to work on new products/art and surprisingly, I've welcomed it. Today however I had a little bit of inspiration strike when I found some sketches I did this last Spring. So, I opened photoshop and realized I had already started on this project... but quit when things just weren't working! :) This time around things fell into place and deciding to keep the general design simple and gray scale really made everything feel right. :)

I'm not running at my normal pace- so I don't expect to have these listed too soon. :) Trinity goes back to School on the 2nd of January- so I'll be re-opening my etsy shop then! :)

For my Christmas present this year- Jaydon helped me build and order a custom computer. I'm so excited about it. It is going to be a powerhouse of a computer- with 32 GB of RAM and specially designed to work really well with photoshop and premiere pro... I'll finally be able to edit videos I've taken with my Sony a55. :D We deferred the delivery until January which saved some money, so I won't be seeing it until January sometime. But the case looks like this!! :)

White! :) My productivity should double, my current computer is starting to fall behind, and I spend way too much time waiting for things to load and run. Because this was also a business expense and write-off Jaydon thought I deserved something else for Christmas, so he bought me this Polaroid GL10 mobile printer. Isnt he sweet. :) I'm loving it, and finally printing pictures that have been on my cell phone for far too long. :) I'll have to devote a separate post specifically for the little guy. The quality of the photos isnt the greatest- but it is fun to use. :)

I heart Calico Critters

I really do! I think I am living through Journey, she loves these little guys as much as I do, and I seriously can hardly resist them. Jaydon and I went to Toys R Us last week to finish shopping for the girls, and they had a Calico Critters section, and I'm not gonna sugar coat it- I almost squealed out loud. I'm used to drolling online, and hadnt really seen so much cuteness in one place/dose.

I really really wanted to buy the Cherry Cruiser for Journey but she received this green guy and the camper caravan last year for Christmas, and we really do not have room for two cars this size!

-Yes I really did take pictures of her car. :) I've been wanting to just take some time and photograph the individual families, the car, the camper (still have to do that one) etc. etc. I photographed Trinity's doll house back when she first got it for Christmas back in 2008, and I had not done so with Journey's doll house yet... lets just say I felt like a kid again today. :)

Yesterday I started designing wallpapers for Journey's house, and went with the rustic woodsy theme. I'll try to have a more official post up in the coming weeks, but I did finish it today. I also set it all up and took some pictures, but I'm gonna retake them in some sunny natural light.

Here is a little peek though!

and here is a sampling of what the family portraits look like:

Aren't the hedgehogs so stinking cute? I think my faves so far is the Ellwoods Elephant family.

They were lots of fun to take pictures of. :)

It has been forever since I've done any sort of a crafty project like this, and it has felt good!

We bought my niece jada her own little Calico Critters house (although we grabbed it on sale for 39.99) for Christmas this year. She always enjoys playing with the girls' when she comes over, so she definitely needed to start her own collection! :)

Although he doesnt get played with as often, the bear in the lion costume is another fave of mine:

adorable huh? :)

In other news, I can hardly believe tomorrow is the 23rd!? Crazy. I have some baking and cleaning to do, but all my presents are wrapped! :) I've gone through the kids' toys and clothes and I have a bag ready to be donated. I always like to declutter the house before Christmas, maybe it because of the upcoming New Year? Am I the only one who has that urge this time of the year?

We may be leaving town next week, still not sure... but I'll be keeping my etsy shop closed until the first part of January. :) I hope you are enjoying the holidays! I'm trying to soak it all up, it always goes by so fast. The cold is so much easier to endure when Christmas music is played, and twinkly lights are up. :)

 

It would appear as though I have a pint sized decorator on my hands...

Remember the doll house we bought for Trin for Christmas a couple of years ago? Well, we bought journey her own smaller calico critters house last year for Christmas, but she still likes to play with Trin's the best. She did however think it needed a little re-decorating- aka smiley faces on the floors. Fortunately we only stock washable crayons in this household... and I was able to get most all of it up. :) She did get in trouble, but I HAD to take some photos of her handi-work. I was reminded of the time Trin drew on her hands. :)

I've been a bit MIA around here lately, I closed down my etsy shop and it has been nice to un-plug and spend time with the kiddos. We just finished making Christmas trees out of cardboard - turned cones, and I think we are planning to set-up and decorate they're doll houses for the holiday, and I am sure a photo shoot similar to this one will follow. :) I've wanted to print "pictures" to decorate the walls of the doll houses for over a year now, and I'm going to finally do that now. :)

Presents are wrapped and decorated, and all I have left to do is a little baking!

Happy Holidays! Hope you are enjoying them!

rawr! Kinectimals themed party

I'm just now getting around to posting these pictures taken on Trinity's birthday. :) We had her party at a close friend's house-  she is somewhat of an adopteded grandma you might say...

Anyhow, Trinity wanted a kinectimals themed party, and I tried my best. Drawing cat masks for the kids, and cat faces as cupcake toppers. I'm planning to turn the masks and toppers into a free printable sometime soon!

I made the cupcakes using a Devils Food cake mix, and I put a marshmallow inside each cupcake, and used a homemade buttercream frosting recipe. :) They were GOOD.

We took her and Jada (my sisters daughter) out for Pizza earlier that day. I think the day was a huge success! We bought trin a Leap Pad for her birthday and she is loving it. :)

Good thing these girls were sweet cats!

In other news- I'm BUSY trying to finish up our Christmas Shopping. I think I just about have everyone finished. My parents are watching the girls for us one day this week, and Jaydon and I are going to finish it up. There is a really good chance I will be closing my etsy shop next week, until the first part of January. We will be out of town during part of that time, and enjoying a bit of a Christmas Vacation from my shop. :) I'll update when I have a bit more specifics, but as of now I will probably be closing the shop down this Saturday.

Just listed in the digital shop! 2012 Calendar Templates

Whew! I worked like crazy, and actually managed to finish the templates up. I've updated the homepage as well. :) Always feel like I need to when I list a new product. Definitely makes the process take longer, but I think it makes the release seem more exciting!? :)

Anyhow, here is a closer look at the new calendar templates for 2012:

I do plan to adapt the vintage blush templates into a 2012 calendar set as well... but I may not get to those until January some time. I need to get started on taxes, and all that other fun end of the year stuff. :)

I have to give a special shout out to Jenn Duguay Photography for e-mailing me a couple weeks ago, and asking for a set of calendar templates... she definitely helped inspire these templates, and I enjoyed collaborating with her. :)

Anyhow, the templates are available HERE!

Since this is a super new product, I'm a little more nervous than normal releasing these... so please, please let me know if anything looks funny after downloading.

 

As always- new releases are 50% off for the first week, and this release is no exception! Use code: 201250. It expires 12/16/11

Well, I'm off to finish up dinner for the family :) I'll be checking back in for the next hour or so...

Sneek Peek- Photoshop Calendar Templates

I'm working on these right now! :) I had hoped to have them listed today, but then I decided to go ahead and add 4 slightly modified 5x7 sized templates with this set... and well that means I'm not finished yet! :) I still need to work on graphics for the home page, and the actual listing... but I am about 85% done. :) I'll update when I do get them up! :)

I hope your day is going great!

Homemade Twix Stix!

I made these last saturday afternoon before we decorated the tree. They were YUMMY! Found the recipe on pinterest, and followed the link over to Peppermint Plum's blog. I followed her recipe pretty much to a T. However, I ran into a couple minor issues... like when I tried spreading the caramel my crackers woudlnt stay put! I dealt with it and everything was peachy. Then I ran into some problems with the choclate melting aspect. I used mini morsel Semi Sweet chocolate chips in combination with white chocolate chips. The mini morsels melted super quick, and the white chocolate chips just WOULDNT melt. They seemed to want to stay chalky. So I ended up overcooking the chocolate just a little, before I found it to be a lost cause. I added some wax to my chocolate and just stirred the white chocolate chips as best I could. But, because it took so long the chocolate didnt stick to the second layer of crackers as well as it should have. Only noticeable when I slice them... cause the chocolate separates sometimes. :)

HOWEVER, this was a suuuper good recipe! Soft to chew, and the salty chips go so well with the saltine club crackers. salted caramel is one of my all time favorite combinations right now!

Next time I would probably line the pan with some parchment paper. I did grease the pan like suggested, but it still stuck a little. :) What is your favorite candy bar? My fave candy is Reeses! :)

a quote for your week chap 80

This quote is SUCH a powerful message, and when I came across this quote on pinterest this morning... I KNEW it had to be today's quote! :) It definitely made my morning a little brighter.

So, how was your weekend? I finally did some Christmas decorating, and we put our tree up. This year we bought a new tree. Not as tall... but it is flocked! I'm crazy I know. I went looking for a white tree this year, always wanted one and Jaydon was finally going to a "allow me" to. ;) Only I couldnt find any white trees! I called Jaydon up from Craft Warehouse and told him that I needed him to talk me out of buying something. Only when he heard I was looking at a 9' tall tree... he did anything but talk me out of it. It was gorgeous.... but sadly they only had the floor model left.  So, I brought home the 6.5" tall flocked tree. It is definitely a charlie Brown looking tree... but oh so cute. :)

The girls are so fascinated with the "snow." It is a little messy, but not as bad as I was expecting. :)

see how sad it was before a little fluffing? :)

The tags and everything were coated!

That night we decorated the tree, and after the girls went to bed I had to tend to a few things:

Journey seems to think there is strength in numbers... I think this poor branch thought otherwise! :)

p.s. the birds and star are ornaments I made a couple years ago. See more on that here.

I didnt take a picture after I strung more lights and finished the tree... will have to do that and update the blog. I always enjoy reading back on my old blog posts. I've never been good at keeping a journal, and this blog has definitely helped in that dept. 

So, I'm curious? Have you, or someone you know owned a flocked tree? Did you regret it? Right now, I'm not regretting it... but we'll see how I feel after Christmas? :)

Happy Holidays guys!