ten on tuesday

1. It's been awhile since I have done a ten on tuesday post. I kinda miss them...they are a great way to add little bits of random links/info;)
2. Are you doing a December Daily album? I am and I am sooooo excited that I can start adding stories to it in a couple of days! I have a little peek at what my album will look like on the Ormolu blog.
3. I have a fun little advent calendar on the American Crafts blog...with instructions on how to recreate it:)
4. Another holiday project is up HERE with a tutorial. Kinda funny that I made these before the holiday season was upon us and I was SO not feeling in the Christmas mood, but now I am and I want to make more Christmasy projects;)
5. Which is good because the December Nook kit will be up for grabs any day now and it is soooo yummy! Definitely one of my favorite kits...I played a bit with it last night and didn't want to stop! It is filled with Crate Peppermint goodness;)
6. I am debating on if I should send Christmas cards out this year. If I do, I may use one of these free templates, aren't they cute?!
7. A must-do craft I think...I can see the little man loving it!
8. This was for dinner last night...they were so yummy that they are all gone:( Will definitely be adding them into the rotation;)
9. I am SO very excited for Thursday. Shaun and I will be attending my company's Christmas party-at the Pizza Bar on the beach:) Without kids:) Thanks to my wonderful sister, we are going to have a date night!!
10. Tomorrow is the last day to sign up for a Nook subscription and be eligible for this giveaway;) go go go!

thanksgiving 2011

Did everyone have a great Thanksgiving? We headed to Jacksonville to spend time with family on Wednesday and drive back Saturday. As always, it was too short, but I am thankful we were able to do it. Miss being around these guys and the times when we can all be together at the same time just doesn't happen enough. Oh, and the food...was amazing:)

I never take many photos on Thanksgiving, but we managed a group photo:

Yes, there are a couple of grumpy kids in there;) They don't seem to ever want to cooperate with getting pictures taken;)
This is the crew though...all of my siblings' significant others have been around awhile and are definitely fixtures in our family. They just need to be made permanent:) *hint hint, boys*

My Mom and the kids:

I feel so lucky that my kids have such amazing relatives that ADORE them. It makes me happy to see my brothers and sister be such wonderful Uncles and Aunt to them:)
Uncle Phillip was scoring major points with the kids letting them play with his i-pad:

That's about the extent of the pictures I took!
On Friday, we went to see the Muppets and it was sooooo cute! The grown ups enjoyed it more than the kids, I think, but I would recommend it to anyone, with or without kids;)
If you are familiar with Flight of the Conchords, Brett wrote a lot of the songs that were in the movie, so you can imagine they were pretty clever and hilarious;)

When we were driving home, many of the beach communities had turned on their Christmas lights and now that we have some coldish weather-I am ready for Christmas!Bring it on, December!!!

happy turkey day

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday, filled with family, friends, and food!

xoxo

midnight rooster

I was lucky enough to be asked by Tobi of the Midnight Rooster Kit Club to be November's guest designer. Of course I said YES!!! She puts together such lovely kits, with fun fabric and fancy pins, and an amazing mix of patterned paper, and November was no exception. Meet A Random Story:

Here is what I created with the kit:

As soon as I saw the glittery My Mind's Eye paper, it made me think of A's Halloween costume:)

See how pretty one of the pins included in the kit is? I added some twine from my stash to complete the page;)

For this page, I used the envelope the pins were sent in to house the manila tag. I printed things about Miss A at 6:)

I used this tutorial to do the chevron pattern (which I will definitely be doing again, love the outcome!!!)

I wanted to showcase lots of the pretty patterns from the kit, so I mimicked the stripes from Aislynn's jacket in the photos.

I came up with a card using the sweet little wood houses from the kit:

For my final project, I wanted to make a teeny album of the silly things Aislynn has said over the past year. I went through my facebook statuses and little notes in my purse to find the things I have jotted down/documented.

I still have quite a bit from the kit, so I hope to squeeze out another layout and card:)

Thanks so much, Tobi, for having me this month!!!

hey there old chap

Well, not really old. Chap is American Crafts latest line and I *finally* got around to playing with it! I am in love with the colors and think they are perfect to scrap K:)

Here is a layout I created with some photos of him splashing around in the bath last October:

He looks so teeny here, but he still loves playing in the bath!!

I adore the little tabs that came out with this line. I really hope they release more of those with some of the other lines!!

I added some of the Sassafras glitter alphas I have been hoarding because they were the perfect match.

Since I had Chap out on my desk, I came up with a quick card:

I love the starburst pattern that can be found throughout the collection, kinda gives it a retro feel? Lately, when I have been using brads, I have chopped off the prongs and just adhered them with glue dots. I think it makes my projects a tad less bulky. I added some Twinery baker's twine in stone and called it done:)

Supplies for layout: Jacob Paper (35568) - Chap, Cameron Paper (35570) - Chap, Mike Paper (35572) - Chap, Scott Paper (35575) - Chap, Richard Paper (35573) - Chap, Epoxy Brads (85568) - Elements, Fabric Brads (85571) - Elements, Printed Variety Tabs (77261) - Bits, Emilio (42220) - Remarks Books

Supplies for card: Dave Paper (35569) - Chap, Cameron Paper (35570) - Chap, Mike Paper (35572) - Chap, Scott Paper (35575) - Chap, Printed Variety Tags (77260) - Bits, Epoxy Brads (85568) - Elements

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

warning: very photo heavy post

It has been a loooooong long time since I posted any pictures+stories on here. Way too long. I am attempting to catch up what has been going on in the Brown household here, so there will be lots of pictures;)

These go back from late September, the last time we went to the beach! Hard to believe it was that long ago. Between work, school, and everything else, we just haven't made it over there.

Aunt Brynne came with us:)

These pictures actually did make an appearance on my blog, just in the form of a layout;)

Is it just me, or does it look like she has grown up all of a sudden? Between these pictures and her sass, I could swear she was 16, not 6;)

We took these to show off her earrings:)

This was taken when K was sick in the beginning of October. For a couple days, he was obsessed with Aislynn's socks, particularly these fuzzy ones:) I think it had something to do with being able to slide around on the tile floor;)

Poor guy. And poor us. He is sooooo cranky when he feels bad, it makes it hard on all of us.

Markers. Which got banned because he started coloring on himself. Then we moved to crayons, which got banned because he was decorating the walls and floor. I am thinking we need to invest in some Color Wonder goodies;)

Miss Fashionista. The weekends are when she picks out her outfits and I love what she comes up with. Bright colors and loads of accessories are how she goes;)

We did THIS craft before Halloween and they came out really cool. Maybe we should do some for Christmas, with snowflakes?

A fun excuse to eat candy craft we did...making pumpkin patches with graham crackers, chocolate frosting, candy corn and mellowcreme pumpkins. K's is on the left, A's is on the right:)

Most of the time, when they are way too quiet, they are up to no good, but sometimes, I catch moments like this:) A made up beds for them and they were playing "rest." Hee hee:)

We set off  to find fall (trees changing colors, leaves, then went to pick out our pumpkin), and I attempted to take some photos...

She was semi-cooperative.

He was not.

This picture totally cracks me up. What funny, silly kids I have:)

Halloween pictures. Meet the Magical Mermaid:) I am SO glad she chose this over the pink Super Woman costume. She was too. She loved the costume, but when she put on her tiara and held the wand, it was all over. She felt so special and looked so beautiful!!!

An evil witch Aunt Brynne came trick-or-treating with us:)

This guy was a puppy. An awfully cute one at that;) Poor dude was SOOO tired because he didn't take a nap. He perked up a little when we were done trick-or-treating and it was candy eatin' time.

She saw a lot of kids she new from school. This is Rowan. When we ran into Rowan and his Mom, he exclaimed "Mom, this is the girl who wrote I love you, Rowan."

hmmm. This is the first I had heard about that. Another little girl's Mom wanted to take a picture of her and Rowan, and he refused, stating that he was with Aislynn.

Oh dear.

Then they ran into Olivia, a little girl that is in their class.

We also ran into Matthew, the little boy we carpooled with last year, and he is in their class as well:)

An attempt at a family photo?

My little puppy was so sleepy, he was dragging his candy bag all over:)

And now just a couple of goofy shots of K.

I have been really terrible about picking up the camera lately. We are just busy lately. Either I am at work, Shaun is, or Aislynn is at school. I am really looking forward to Thanksgiving next week. We are headed to Jacksonville to spend time with my Mom and siblings-super excited about that. I miss my peeps a lot and I am very thankful we will get to hang out this year for Thanksgiving:)
What are your plans for Thanksgiving?