My organized CHAOS...

I took the day off...

because I was feeling a little blah. 

So I threw on these:

 

heehee, I know you are totally OVER seeing my fuzzy toe socks. 

But in all honesty, they really do make me happy. 

And those green striped thingys on them that look like spinning tops are actually upside-down Christmas trees. 

I wish they would make toe socks with images that the person wearing them could see right-side-up.  They seem to be designed to be viewed by the people who are not wearing them.

Because seriously, when am I going to be prancing around out in public in just my toe socks?  No one else will frickin' see the design! 

*sigh*

Anyway, back to me feeling a little blah.

I guess this post is about what I'm trying to do to get out of this state of funk that I'm in right now.

It's raining outside, which makes the INSIDE of my house quite dark. 

So I lit this candle:

 

and now my house smells divine.  So at least, for the time being, my house smells "good"...not like the dirty laundry that is sitting in my boys' laundry basket, waiting to be washed :(

I peeked out my window, ready to curse the rain and noticed this:

 

The rain actually made my dirty car look a lot cleaner.

Positive outlook, right?

So, as of right now this is what my:

"GET OUT OF YOUR FUNK AND MAKE YOURSELF HAPPY" list looks like:

1.  Wearing happy toe socks with green-striped spinning tops :)

2.  House smells like pumpkin spice....not dirty boy underwear.

3.  Car looks clean when rinsed with rain water.

Pretty good right?

Okay.

Now tell me.

What.  Do.  You.  See.  Here?

 

Let me help you:

 

For those of you who are "tracking with me"...the first word that comes to mind is.

KARMA.

Yes, KARMA.

Those.  Are.  ROCKS.

Pet Rocks, to be exact.

They belong to the boy who once owned a groovy

GHETTO-MOBILE.

But whose stupid mom convinced him that we need to be mindful of the environment.

So what does this clever little boy do?

He brings the environment INDOORS.

And decides to save our planet....

3 rocks at a time.

But sadly,  I know that these 3 pet rocks

will multiply

like GREMLINS.

They will have brothers, sisters, cousins. 

And before I have a chance to exhale.

We will have a small quarry in the middle of my livingroom.

And again.

I. 

WILL.

LOSE.

MY.

MIND.

But this mom has learned her lesson.

I will not chuck those three "ROCK ANIMALS" (who I'm sure have names by now) into the garbage.

I am just wondering...

Why are they sitting on my leather cushion in front of the window?

Was his bedroom too dark for them?

The window overlooks our pool.

Are they sunbathing?

Does he plan on letting them take a swim later on today?

One.  Last.  Question...

Should I be afraid?

Yes, be afraid....

Be very, very, afraid.

Okay.  I have to say, those three stupid rocks overlooking our pool did make me laugh today. 

Isn't it funny how our children can truly make us joyful even when they're not physically in our presence?

Gotta love a creative mind...

So before I go, here's my final list of

 THINGS THAT GOT ME OUT OF MY FUNK TODAY:

1.  Happy toe socks with green-striped spinning tops :)

2.   A house that smells like pumpkin spice....not funky underwear.

3.  A clean car washed with rain water. 

4.  Little boys who leave rocks by the window to remind me that I truly have a reason to be happy...ALWAYS :)

xo

It's 69 degrees outside! So that means....

time for toe socks and pink, fuzzy slippers!!!!  Yeah, we're having a few days of "Winter" here in Miami.  Sadly, I fear that tomorrow we'll be back to our typical hot, humid, armpit-sweating days that make me wonder why the heck we live here :(

I've been wanting to blog for the past few weeks, but Typepad has been freezing up and deleting my posts--probably because I tried to post a picture of this:

GO GREEN!

 

Yeah.

Remember my son's groovy little GHETTO-MOBILE?

Yeah, it's seen better days.

Don't be a hater.

We kept the wheels.

Christopher and I had a long talk about saving the planet and we BOTH agreed that this would be his little contribution.

And now the Earth and my teeny weeny house will be so much "cleaner".

I. LOVE. MY. SON.

U and I both know that the little ghetto-mobile was driving me

INSANE.

I know that I promised to blog regularly.

Sheesh.

My life is just not cooperating.

But.

I have been working on some layouts.  I have 8 scattered across my house and I'm working on them simultaneously, heehee.  Hopefully I'll have them finished soon. 

I do have one SIMPLE layout that I completed yesterday. 

It's not my typical chunky-layered style.  But I like it nonetheless. 

 

It's about Alexander's newfound appreciation for Dunkin' Donuts' coffee and coffee rolls...yum.  Man, I wish I had one of those right now.  But we're on this stupid budget AND I no longer have a gym membership :( So now I can't stuff myself with coffee rolls and massive amounts of junk food :(

*sigh*

Edited:

Okay sillies.  Alexander drinks DECAF!!!!!  For real?  My boys have enough "natural caffeine" to power the entire universe!  I didn't have enough letters to spell out "decaf coffee" and that would look stupid on my layout, heehee :)

Christopher made the Kumon North America Math honor roll.  He ranks number 3,235 out of 11,468, heehee :)

He's so cute, walking around exclaiming, "Mom, I'm number 3,235!"  Gotta love how cute 6 year olds are and how even being number 3,235 is fantastic!

Jessica, Jessica, Jessica...thank you for being so patient in waiting for your RAK.  I had to replace a few things.  It appears that my son likes Webster's pages as well.  Your box will go in the mail with a few extra goodies to make up for the fact that you've had to wait so long.

My friend Iris Babao Uy is hosting an online class where the proceeds will go to the victims of Ondoy.  The cost of the class is only $5.00 and starts on November 6th.  If you're interested, visit here

One last thing to share.  It was Crazy Hat Day at my boys' school on Tuesday.  Christopher chose not to participate but still wanted to be in the pictures with Alexander.  They are both so goofy. 

Not the happiest-looking shot, but they look calm, right?

And then Alexander has to start with the bunny ears...

 

Which really aren't so funny when Christopher joins in.

 

and this continues back and forth...

back and forth...

 

Until I decided that I've captured the perfect moment...

xo

BASB layout...Go mini!

My take on "mini" kind of turned into more of a "maxi" layout since I still have not been able to contain myself when it comes to scrapbooking. Here's Greta's challenge, taken from the BASB site:

"My challenge to you is to go mini. Use mini photos or embellishments on your layout, create a mini layout within a larger layout, or take the "go mini" theme in your own creative direction."

and here's her fabulous layout:

Isn't it beautiful?!  And you can definitely see the direction she took with the whole "mini" theme.  Diana, Judi, Denise, and Anilu have also created some amazing layouts.  Make sure you go by and check them out.

Okay, here's my layout:

Here's my "mini" part...heehee.  See those tiny pictures?

They started as the inspiration for my layout.   I chose to do this one on my oldest son, Alexander.  He's my little "thinker".  We do a lot of talking.

Right now he's at the vulnerable age where everything in life seems a little overwhelming for him. 

He experiences doubt and fear...and questions everything about EVERYTHING. 

I spend time each night before he falls asleep reassuring him, answering his questions, and letting him know how much he's loved. 

I guess my take on this challenge was also a play on the word "mini". 

Even though Alexander's my "big boy", this world really makes him seem so very small.

I guess that logic  works right?  Okay, enough chatter...

Everything from this layout came from my yummy Studio Calico kit, Over the Rainbow.  

And one sheet came from Cotillion. 

Here's my journaling.

Hmmm, maybe the little letter tiles that I hand-wrote qualify as "mini".  My journaling wasn't as "wordy" as I normally make it, heehee.  That would require a gazillion mini tiles!   

Really, doing my journaling this way wasn't hard to do.  I just wrote the words "spaced out" on thin journaling strips.   I drew boxes around each letter.  Then I snipped the individual tiles with my scissors. 

The most tedious part was gluing them down. 

I held them with a pair of tweezers and stuck a dab of glossy accents on the back. 

I made the sun and clouds out of the Maya Road chipboard (from my kit).  It was a full sheet of shapes that resembled gears and different sized circles. 

I cut the shapes in half and covered them with patterned paper (that I distressed).  The patterned paper doesn't cover the chipboard completely...I liked seeing some of the raw chipboard.

I cut out some of the multi-colored sun rays (Sass patterned paper) and stuck them behind my chipboard cloud and sun.

I glimmer misted that yummy floral diecut paper by Making Memories (Cotillion kit)...it was white so I squirted some "Riptide" on it.

I used a black sharpie on my sticker alphas.

And used a strip of the crossword patterned paper and an edge from some Sass and put it across the bottom of my layout.

Hmmm, I think that's about it. 

Thanks for coming back to my blog everyone and taking a peek at my layouts.  I'll put a pot of coffee on tonight and begin answering your comments and stalking your blogs.  We'll see if the boys will cooperate tonight. 

Before I go, I have to share a few more pictures with you.

My youngest son, Christopher, can really drive me bonkers.  These next pictures aren't fabulous because I had to capture them quickly and like Karen Russell taught me, sometimes it's more important to just capture the moment.

No, your eyes are not deceiving you. 

Yes, that IS an entire roll of toilet paper rolled out across my floor. 

It's a road. 

And as I was taking this picture it was slowing moving....disappearing as it snaked around the corner.

As I followed it, I found this.

Yeah, it's blurry but boy doesn't it just capture the moment perfectly?...the look of shock and slight horror on my son's face.

Priceless.

And just one more picture before I go.

I found this sitting in front of my linen cabinet.  So I told Christopher, "Sweetie, all this (as I waved my hand above the box) doesn't work for me.  You need to move it."

Christopher was sitting in his bed.  It was bedtime.  You can see the entrance to his bedroom in the picture.

And in response to my plea he said,

"I can't mommy.  It's my car and I need it there.  It's parked outside of my bedroom."

So we have this little jacked-up cardboard car still sitting...excuse me, I mean "parked" in various places throughout my house, depending on where my little man needs to drive it. 

The thing has awful suspension.  He's constantly flopping out of it onto the floor.  

*sigh*

I hate the "car".

I wish he would get an upgrade...maybe something plastic.

I'm thinking of letting him take it for a ride outside.

And maybe giving it a carwash .

And letting it melt.

*sigh*

Sadly, I think we'll have that frickin' jacked-up,  recycled cardboard, ghetto-mobile until Christmas :(  

life is good.

xo

A layout...

using yummy Webster's pages.  I was inspired by scrap diva, Maryangella because she was totally rocking this paper so I had to go out and get my own. 

I did this layout for the Point. Blank. Period. challenge.  I didn't actually follow all the rules.  For one, my layout is bigger than 8 1/2 x 11.  But when it comes to scrapbooking, I rarely ever follow the rules.

I cut the 12 x 12 Webster's pages paper into the shape you see here by tracing an acrylic template.

So this is the layout, minus the "negative" background paper.  To the cardboard, I added green paint and glued to it the "negative" piece of Webster's paper after crumpling, sanding, and distressing it.

This layout has some layering.  I can't seem to help myself.  I took a second piece of the same paper and cut out the dressform.  I crumpled/distressed it.

I also used my little flower punch and popped up the edges of some flowers.

and some butterflies.

I added some green Hambly butterflies.

and layered them under some Prima bling.  Isn't that Prima flower delish?

I used the green Prima packaging to create this.

and this.

For the challenge, the photo was supposed to be in black and white.  Having the whole thing in b&w looked totally "blah", so I also printed one in color and cut out my cap (it's brown) and glued it on top of the b&w one.  My brown cap didn't add a tremendous amount of color, but I liked having that hint of color in the photo.  I also typed my journaling directly on my photo using Photoshop.  I then picked a few random words and handwrote them on kraft paper.

If any of you want to play along with PBP, you have until the 25th of this month to upload your layouts.  The next challenge I'm working on is one for BASB..."Go mini"!  Go here to check it out.  That's really all I have for now.  Before I go, I do want to mention the fabulous time I had at Sanibel Island.  Damaris put together the most relaxing scrapbooking retreat.  I snagged this picture from her blog.

I attended the retreat with all of these beautiful women.  Can you believe that Damaris's mom made everyone an apron?!  Too cute.  And I roomed with Maryangella who pumps out layouts like a machine!

Well, I hope you all have had a wonderful weekend.  I'm hoping that creating layouts and blogging will become a consistent habit for me from now on, heehee.  Oh, and Jessica Griffin, send me your addy pretty please.  I want to get my CHA goodies out to you!!!  Sorry it took so long.

xo

Miss you Aleida...

I've been dreading this day and I can't believe that a year has already gone by. 

A year ago, my friend Aleida Franklin died in a car accident...and the loss of such a beautiful soul left me feeling completely empty.  I won't make this a long sad post, because honestly, I think Aleida would kick my ass if she knew I was sitting here mourning her loss yet again. 

So instead I'm writing to remind all mommies out there to hand your cameras over and get pictures of  YOURSELVES with your children/families. 

So here's one of me and the three (out of 4)  most important men in my life...my dad makes #4 but wasn't on vacation with us, heehee. 

Anyway, I'm a hot mess in this photo.  We were finally leaving Kings Dominion after being there all day long---and I look totally rough.  I mean rough. 

 

But you know, later on it won't matter.  This scary photo of me will be a photo I cherish...no make-up, big forehead, crooked sunglasses and all :)

xo

Today I officially...

closed my preschool blog.....

wuh?

Yeah, I kept another blog for my Preschool class.  No, of course you didn't know about it.  It was "secret" and password protected, heehee...only for my preschool parents.  I uploaded pictures, videos, parental resources, and pretty much kept a little diary of what we did in class.

And that, plus running my classroom...being a mom, blah, blah, blah...consumed almost all of my time. 

And so this poor blog has been neglected and I have done absolutley NO SCRAPBOOKING whatsoever.  My only saving grace for staying in touch with people is facebook.  And I'm really not a great facebooker, because I refuse to be a slave to my computer.  And facebook just sucks you in horribly.  

As I've mentioned before in a previous post, I have spent my entire Summer taking Karen Russell's online photography class.  And although the class's primary focus is teaching better photography skills, I have really learned so much more from it.  It's really hard for me to explain.  And I think that everyone that takes her class looks at photography differently...and looks at documenting their family's memories differently.  And for that reason alone, her class is worth taking.  Reading her last lesson had me in tears..."good" tears, if there is such a thing.  I won't tell you what she wrote/discussed, just in case you're waiting to take her class.  I don't want to spoil it for you.  But I'll remember what she said in that lesson for the rest of my life...and definitlely take my camera with me everywhere.

 

These are pictures of Christopher bugging Alexander while they watched cartoons yesterday.  No, Alexander didn't get drop-kicked in the mouth as I sat and took pictures...but I did snap this photo as he was telling me, "Mom, do you see what Christopher's doing...mom, he keeps sticking his foot on my face."  Christopher eventually stopped, but not before he figured out another way to harass his brother.

 

And no, I'm not the world's best photographer....Karen doesn't perform miracles--But I do love how I managed to capture even a small glimpse of Christopher's devilish grin as he messed with his brother's feet.

So, as I get it together as a scrapbooker,  I'm going to post true moments of my family's lives that I want to document.

In the past year, I think I got caught up in "staging" too many memories to coordinate with the latest paper lines.  Is anyone else guilty of this?

I think that's also why I stopped scrapbooking.  I didn't really take any pictures worth documenting.  Sad huh?  I want to document more moments like these:

 

Andrew reads to our boys every night.  Alexander was already asleep, so it's just Andrew and Christopher, sharing a one-on-one moment.

But these are things that are important to me.  My husband is sooooo busy, but his boys and our family are priorities for him.  So yeah, he's still in his work clothes.  And I know he's tired from a long day at work--he's an attorney.  And yet, he's not rushing through the book.  It happens to be a childhood favorite of mine...WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS, by Shel Silverstein.  So am I happy that I snuck in with my camera and snapped a picture...heck yeah....

 

or took a picture of Alexander asleep on our couch?  He loves to fall asleep there when Andrew and I are up working late.  I just think it's the sweetest thing.

Speaking of sweetest things, don't these eyes just melt your heart?...

maybe I'm a little biased, because Christopher's my son...but man, I think he has some of the prettiest eyes I've ever seen.

 

Well, I haven't forgotten about my CHA giveaways.  My pictures are too old and crusty to post, so I'll spare you the agony of looking through the 700+ that I took.  But I do want to say hello to Kim, a total sweetheart I met IRL at CHA.

 

And don't forget that tomorrow marks the launch of Point. Blank. Period

My girls, Sasha Halloway, Holly Hanks, and Maryangella Haberman are just a few of the talented ladies that are part of their design team.  Go check it out!  I can't wait to start their challenges!

And for those of you who live locally, my dear friend Damaris, is hosting her Scrap Pink Crop this Saturday, September 5, from 8am to 10pm.  She only has 4 spots left.  Her crops are amazing and she always has the biggest, most generous goody bags for you.  If you're interested, left me know and I'll give you more details.  Or just leave a comment on her blog.

Okay, now for the CHA giveaways.  I have a few of those really cute MM aprons and canvas bags they had at CHA.  If you're intersted in owning one, leave a comment here and I'll randomly choose a few names and send them out to you.  Have a fabulous Monday.

xo

CHA catchup...

Okay, I still have a lot of CHA pictures on my hard drive to share with you.  Trying to catch up on my everyday life has kept me from blogging.  I have a few errands to run with my boys, but before I go, I want to quickly show you a new product from Craftwell that I'm watching.

 

Meet Gabriella Raffo, a Concept Designer for the eCraft, a brand new personal cutting system by the New York based company, Craftwell. 

What I immediately loved about the system...

NO CUTTING MATS!!!!  The replacement blades are affordable.  And the cost of the machine is affordable....well kinda, if you maybe skip a few meals, heehee.

Here's a video I found on Youtube by Craftique featuring the industrial model:

Eeks, it's almost 12.  I have a lunch date with my dad, so I'm off and running.  I'll be back later with more pictures.

xo

CHA giveaways...

coming soon.  Today I have to finish my photography assignment for the awesome Karen Russell class I'm taking and have them uploaded by this weekend.

But...

I still have a ton of photos to share with you and have decided to share my CHA experience by giving away some of the goodies I collected/won while at CHA this Summer.

Swing by later.  I'll start posting as soon as I'm caught up with my photo assignments.

Before I go, I want to share the cutest little Halloween tree I spotted at the Doodlebug booth.

 

totally cute, right?

xo

More 7 gypsies

A little more 7 gypsies. I know my blog posts look horrible, but I have no control in editing when blogging from my phone. I'm actually driving back from CHA right now. It was fun, but totally exhausting. So I'm showing u pictures I took while walking the show floor.

Don't forget about the 50% off sale at http://papercents.com. Marilou has some awesome deals. Her entire store is 50% off!

xo

7 Gypsies

Goodies from 7 gypsies