For Cath (sans CHA) with Love Blog Hop (and TWIP)

As many of you know, Moxie Fab World's Cath Edvalson (Trends Editor of Paper Crafts) won't be able to attend CHA next week due to a nasty pain in one of her shoulders. So... to cheer her up and thank her for "bringing" all of us to CHA with her during the past years, we are surprising her with a blog hop. Today, we are sharing our creations to help cheer her up! After all, Cath does so much for us card-makers over at Moxie Fab World, I think this is a great way to show her our appreciation and love!

For my card, I pulled out my "Type" set from Hero Arts. In all of the photos that I'm seeing from CHA on Facebook, I've noticed that typewriters and typewriter keys are still very in. So, I thought it appropriate to use this set for her card.

This one's for you Cath!  I still remember our delightful conversation at CHA last Fall and how things were about to change for you.  Sending HUGE hugs your way and praying you are back on your feet in no time.

A big thanks to Virginia and Lorena for helping pull this hop together.  Make sure you go back to the list of blogs on both of their blogs to see all of the ways everyone is loving on Cath.

And, since today is normally my "This Week in Parenting" post, I thought I would just share a quick tidbit.  My 7-yr old has been begging me to show her how to sew.  So, I thought it would be perfect to get her started by having her make a quilt out of scrap squares.  She is one anxious little girl and I tell ya, she's got the gift because after about 3 tries, she was sewing a perfectly straight, quarter inch seam allowance.  Here she is really concentrating on her work.

I can't wait to show you all the end result!  Thanks for stopping in and have fun with the hop.

The "Brand New" Technique Tuesday Blog Hop

The winner of the Stamp It! 3 Ways magazine was TRINH!  Congratulations Trinh and thanks for stopping by.  Thank you SO MUCH to everyone that stopped by here this past weekend and left comments.  You guys stole my heart and I was smiling from ear to ear all weekend from reading all of them.  You guys are the best!


Hello!

Welcome to the "Brand New" Technique Tuesday blog hop.  Are you ready for a few sneak peeks of some of the great new stamps that Technique Tuesday’s is debuting this week at the CHA trade show in California?  Good, because you are in for a real treat.  I've seen them and they are amazing!

I was delighted to receive a copy of one of the new sports sets that are being released, called "Football".  I have a a few football fanatics in my house and I knew I could put it to good use.  In fact, one of those fanatics just so happened to have his 9th birthday yesterday.  Check it out:

I made him a cake topper and a matching card!

Despite the horrific season our beloved Colts had, we are still huge fans.  So, I fussycut a few horseshoes to add to that helmet in our team colors.

The texture (if you can see it) on the footballs was created by pressing sandpaper into a brown ink pad and pressing it onto the cardstock.

The sentiments from this card use a retired TT stamp set (super sad face).  The best part is I tried my hand at making that ice cream cake all by myself.  It tasted just like the Dairy Queen cakes, but was a fraction of the cost.  I was pretty darn proud of myself...once I came out of the sugar coma. :)


Be sure to check out the blogs of everyone taking part in today’s blog hop:
Tanis
Ashley
Charlene
Daniela
Tobi
Laura
Sharyn
Kris
Jaclyn <---you're lookin' at it!
Teri


We love reading your comments so we will have some random draws for prizes.  From the comments received on all the blogs, we will pick one lucky person to win the Flurry stamp set. (that's one of my faves)  We’ll also pick one person to win the Missing You by Ali Edwards stamp set.  You don’t need to comment on all the blogs to be eligible to win. But the more comments you leave, the more chances you have to win!  Comments must be posted by midnight on Feb. 2nd The winner will be announced on Feb. 3rd sometime on the Technique Tuesday blog.


Enjoy all of the sneak peeks!

Inspired by Blogland

The week has come to a close and a new one is about to begin.  Let's send it out the door with some superb inspiration from our friends around the blogosphere.

• I know I've showcased Jenny already, but THIS CARD seriously had me gasping.
• Check out this amazing PHOTO of snow.  I love this woman's photography...as her title says, it just makes me happy.
• Love this silly CARD by Debby.
• A fantastic nautical SCENE created by Anya.
• Some gorgeous paper piecing done on THIS card by my friend Savannah.
• I really love the CAS style of BOTH of Lynn's cards and some fabulous colors too. (and I'm really excited that we will be meeting up at the end of Feb.)

That's all for today.  One of these times I'm going to find something I really like and just CASE it to show you how inspired I really am by these people.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Stamp It! 3 Ways Blog Hop

Hello.

Welcome to the Stamp It! 3 Ways blog hop.  I am over the moon excited to be participating in this fun event.  Stamp It! 3 Ways has to be one of THE BEST issues I've been able to participate in.  The concept is to take one stamp set and show three very different ways to use it.  It is a must have for you devoted stampers out there!

Click HERE to get your own copy.

For today's hop, several designers from the issue are taking stamp sets that were featured in the magazine and are using them in fun and creative ways.  I'm using "Beyond Borders" from Mint Motif, which also happens to be featured HERE on the PC connection blog.

So, here's the true story about the card I've created.  I had the stamps sitting out on my desk and my 4-yr old came along and started fiddling with them.  She took the stamp on the far left and was making it into fun shapes.  She said, "Mom, look, it's a balloon". She was making the shape without the block, but, as I stared in disbelief, the idea for this card formed. Here's what came out:

It sure did look like a balloon, well, more like lots of balloons.  I curved that stamp on my block, stamped it and then doodled in the rest with a sharpie.  To finish off the realism of the balloons, I added highlights with my white gel pen.

What's a blog hop without a prize, right?  Paper Crafts has been kind enough to give me a copy of Stamp It! 3 Ways to give to one of you.  Leave me a comment below telling me which of the five borders is your favorite by Sunday, January 29^th at midnight and I will draw for a winner.  And, if you want to win the bomb-diggity of all prizes, leave a comment over at the Paper Crafts Connection as well.

Now it's time to see what the rest of the designer's have cooked up.  Check out their blogs and leave comments there too for more chances to win.

Jaclyn Miller <----That's me!

Julie Masse

Laura Williams

Heidi Van Laar

Emily Leiphart

Mariana Grigsby

Julia Stainton

Sarah Moerman

Karen Baker

Laura O’Donnell

Kelley Eubanks

Kimberly Crawford

Happy Hopping!

Springy Sympathy (CFC #37)

Friiiiiiiiddddaaayyyyyyy!  Woo-hoo.  Payday!  Now I can buy groceries. :)

Alright, so Friday on my blog really means a new CAS-ual Fridays challenge.  This week there's a cutesy tootsie little sketch from our dear Laura.

(psst, did you notice that it has our sponsor listed on the graphic as Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps? Ok, just checkin')

For the ole sketch-a-roo, I decided to use up some of my paper scraps.  The pile has been growing and I'm pretty sure if I hadn't dug into it, it would've taken over my craft space.  I decided to make a sympathy card for this challenge.  Many of you probably know the amazing Teri Anderson.  Her father passed away this week, so I'm gonna send this one her way.

Please make a trip to the CAS-ual Fridays blog to see what our sponsor is giving away for a prize and to see what my teamies have been up to.

So glad you visited!

Just A Note (PDCC #116)

Hello friends.

Some new, bold and a little challenging colors are coming your way from The Play Date Cafe.  Kapow!

I like to call these plum, pear and, my fave, moldy cheese (think of the veins in bleu cheese)

A pretty simple card this week.  The fun part of this is that blue rose that I twisted and stitched all by my super self.  I quite like how it turned out and had no idea I was able to do that. :)

This week is bittersweet at The Cafe as we are saying good-bye to Andrea and Michele.  Even though my style is completely different from Andrea's, I'm always amazed by how intricate and gorgeous her work is week after week.  Nobody can put together layers quite like she does.  She is one of the sweetest girls ever too!

Michele is one amazingly organized gal.  I think I could learn a thing or two from her.  I will miss her quirky style and some of the fun cards that she has brought to the PDCC.  I particularly remember getting a good chuckle out of one she made using a bra stamp.  We will miss you both and your beautiful work girls!  Please let them know how much they will be missed by stopping by their blogs and leaving them some love.

Also, pop into The Play Date Cafe to see what this week's sponsor, Sweet 'N Sassy Stamps, is offering up and to check out the projects done by our design team.  They have done an amazing job showcasing these tough colors.

Have a wonderful day!

This Week in Parenting (TWIP)

First of all, thank you to all of you who gave suggestions for my son's birthday present this past week.  There were some amazing ideas there for me to consider.  I really appreciate your input.

Onto this week's parenting adventures.  It was a big week at the Miller household as my sweet, not so little, 4-yr old lost her first tooth!

We were sitting at the table at breakfast and she started to whimper a bit.  I asked her what was the problem and she calmly showed me how loose her tooth was.  I was like, what?  You're only 4, how can that be, your brother and sister were in first grade before they lost theirs.  So, in my disbelief, I proceeded to tell her that if she wiggled it and pulled it out, she would get money for it.  Two hours later, it was in her hand as you see it in the photo.  So, not only is she my early bloomer at everything, she is also my motivated and courageous child too.  God must have some amazing things planned for this little girl.  I'm just sad at how quickly she is growing.  She is my last and already this week, we are going to the school for her kindergarten meeting.  I just KNOW I'm going to cry that first day this one gets on the bus, and I'm not a touchy-feely, get all emotional kinda gal.  So, that will be a big deal.  Before I know it, I'll blink and she'll be all grown up.  Sniff, sniff.

There are actually a few positives to her going off to school though.  I have been wanting to volunteer at an animal shelter or vet's office for quite some time now.  Having the free time available will allow me to do that.  Plus, I have been focusing a lot on my health, so having a morning where I can just go out for a run whenever I want will be quite nice.  Of course, my husband's idea of using my free time is to get a part-time job. ;)

Thanks for popping in today and I hope you have a great day!

Candy Cups for Your Loved Ones

You may have seen this fun tutorial run over on the Technique Tuesday blog this past week.

Do you like to give special things to your loved ones for Valentine's Day?  It seems like every store has aisles and aisles of candy for this holiday.  So, let's create these cute, little candy dishes today to put all of that sweetness in.

These are actually cupcake wrappers and they are so easy to make.  Start with the pattern found HERE. I created my own background paper using stamps from Smooch by Ali and the heart from Sweet Baby by Ali. Cut out your pattern and glue the ends together. 

To hold my liners in place, so that my goodies didn't fall through the bottom, here's what I did. Place the liner inside and punch 2 holes in the back and three holes in the front, going through both the wrapper and the liner.

Then thread your ribbon through the holes, placing both ends out the middle hole in the front.

This also prevents your ribbon from moving around on the outside of the cup.  Tie a bow in the front and place a 5" x 5" square of tissue paper into the cup.  Fill with candy and your cups are ready to please all of your guests and family members (or if you're me, they can go straight into your mouth)

As I mentioned above, these are actually cupcake wrappers, so you could just as easily wrap them around your baked cupcakes and frost.  


Now, go make a whole bunch of them for everyone you know. :)

Inspired by Blogland

Are you ready to be inspired?  Let the eye candy begin.

• What a fabulous masculine CARD by Karen.
• I'm normally not a shabby chic individual, but THIS CARD by Andrea blew me out of the water with its gorgeous neutrals.
• Therese makes such beautiful CAS cards like THIS ONE.
• THIS is one amazing scene that Nina created.  She has some awesome stuff on her blog too.
• I love how Emily made THESE cuties look like their snuggling in a tree.
• Eli was so creative with her "around the house" item on THIS card.
• How about THIS for being creative with what you've got.

I hope you enjoyed.  Have a wonderful rest of your weekend.

A Black & White Affair (CFC #36)

Black and White.  White and Black.  Opposites attract.  You would think it would be easy to work with such wonderfully polarizing colors, wouldn't you?  For some, maybe.  For me, I struggled.  I don't know if it was the wide array of possibilities, or the lack of any other color being used with it, but I definitely had trouble.  I finally rested upon a clean, one layer card to fulfill this week's challenge at CAS-ual Fridays.

I went back to that same set that I used last week from Close To My Heart - Boutique Borders.  Sometimes old sets have the best stamps.  I then combined that with several sentiments from Technique Tuesday.  I love to combine words from a variety of sets.  I think I like this one, but I also think I could've done so much more.  Maybe I should do a study in Black and White.

Pop into CAS-ual Fridays to see what this week's sponsor, Cindy Coutts is offering up.  You are sure to be inspired by the design team while you are there.

Coffee At Its' Cutest

Hi guys.  I'm a bit queasy right now, so this post is gonna be fast.  My youngest has the flu and I'm certain it will be passed around...it usually is.

It's time for an amazing neutral challenge at The Play Date Cafe.  I have been seeing neutral everywhere lately and there's just something so cozy about it.  Observe:

As I stared at this inspiration board, I really wanted to pull out a few paper bags and recycle some stuff.  Or tear apart some cardboard and shape it into something neat, but instead, I decided to make a coffee bag with a tag as a gift. (Coffee is earthy and counts as recycled, right?)

I bought this bag at The Container Store and cut a hole in the front.  I filled a plastic baggie with coffee grounds and tucked it inside.  Made the tag and tied it on.  Simple and neutral.

Hop on over to The Play Date Cafe to be inspired by the design team's work.

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great day!

TWIP (This Week in Parenting)

Did you know that a mom is a walking dictionary?  This past week has really pushed my brain to the edge and back.  My youngest is obviously curious and trying to learn things, so she has been constantly asking me what words mean.  Do you know how to explain the word realize, or way?  I found those two particularly difficult.  Then I made the mistake of saying freaky...and, of course, the next words out of her mouth were, "what does freaky mean?"  Maybe I just need to dumb down my vocabulary a bit....but then I wouldn't have all those learning moments...or I wouldn't be exercising my own brain.  Forget trying to use Webster's too.  You've gotta love when a dictionary describes the word production as "the act of producing".  You don't say?  I wonder if they have a dictionary that uses kid's lingo.  You think?  I'm gonna have to look into that.

So, we have two dogs.  They are like my children too.  Actually, they were like my kids before kids, and darn good practice for it too.  My sweet yellow Labrador turned 12 last week.  She was the first thing that my husband and I bought together.  I remember when we brought her home, how scared she was in the car.  She has had many adventures since then and led a good, long life.  Anyone who has pets, knows how sad you get when you realize they are coming to the end of their life.  I'm hoping she has another 3 years left in her, but it's all on God's time and I've had to start preparing my children (ok, and myself) for the inevitable.  That is a hard thing to explain to young kids.  Often times, it is a kid's first experience with death.  I'm sure once the time comes, God will help me through it.  In the meantime, I've been giving my furry friend a bit of extra attention knowing darn well that today could be her last.

Opening her present at Christmas.

Sitting in the park with my other dog and my husband who is, oh so thrilled to be holding them. (he has a love/hate relationship with them...well, more of a hate, but I keep trying)

Before I go today, I need your help.  My son is turning 9 in a few weeks and I have NO flippin' idea what to buy him.  He's very athletic (plays basketball and baseball) and loves to watch football.  He also likes Lego's and video games.  The problem is that this kid grows tired of all material things in like a week.  PLEASE help me with ideas.

Until next week's adventures.....

Inspired By Blogland

Well, the weekend is almost over.  How about I cheer you up with a few adorable projects from around the crafty blogosphere?  Here are some that caught my eye this past week (and there were so many more, but we'd be here all day).

• This stamp set from Unity has me "rolling" on the floor and I love how Stephanie used it on her card HERE.
• Are you ready for Spring?  I sure am, and apparently Laurel is too.  She used such cheery Spring colors on THIS beautiful card.
• Oh my heavens, the dedication to the stitching in THIS amazing card.
• THIS is just plain pretty and she has a super funny picture of her dog.
• Black and white perfection can be found HERE.
• Jenny has recently sprung up on my radar and I'm finding that I am in love with everything that she makes.  THIS CARD was no exception.  She is amazing at making things from scratch...I think I'll try to convince her to participate in Gallery Idol this year.
• And, I pretty much love everything that Aga makes on HER BLOG.  She is always making my jaw drop.
• Finally, I just love THIS super easy, but cute project that my sweet friend, Savannah made.

I hope your eyes were overcome with pure crafty awesomeness and that now you are feeling inspired to go create!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Scallops (CFC #35)

Friday.  It's here.  Any big plans for the weekend?  Nothing much here.  In fact, our weekends are pretty uneventful right now.  Of course, I know that will all change come Spring once baseball starts up.

Well, it's time for a new CAS-ual Fridays challenge.  Are you ready?  This week it is to use scallops in some way on your card.  I don't really own a scalloped edge punch, so I decided right off the bat that I wanted to use a stamp somehow.  I dug deep into the stamp stash and pulled out a very old, but one of my favorite stamp sets from Close To My Heart called Boutique Borders.  It has this delightful polka-dotted scallop stamp in it.  I got to playing and this is what came out:

In real life, this kinda looks like an optical illusion.  My daughter said it looks like it's popping out at you.  I kinda wish now that I would've just done the whole thing close together all the way down instead of spreading them out.  The colors here are moonstruck, ocean, sorbet and sweet leaf...but they look sorta rainbow.  I'm definitely gonna use these colors together again on something else.

This week's sponsor at CFC is Annabelle Stamps.  Hop over to CAS-ual Fridays to see what they are offering up and to be inspired by the DT's work.

Have a great weekend!

Wine & Birthdays (PDCC #114)

Those two go well together, right?  You know what else goes well with wine; this week's colors from The Play Date Cafe.  Check it out:

As soon as I pulled out the Vino set from Technique Tuesday, I knew I wanted to use it for these colors.  It just fit.  At first, I tried to color in the grapes, but I'm not so good at coloring.  Then, I thought, why not utilize the white space and this is what came out.  I really liked the minimalist approach.

This week's sponsor is Simon Says Stamp.  They will be joining us once a month as a sponsor.

There are some gorgeous projects from the Design Team this week, so you won't want to miss them.  Take a peek over at The Play Date Cafe and then get your craft on with these colors!

.....and why not have a glass of wine too while you're at it. :)

Clear & Simple Stamps iPhone App

Just a quick pop into here today to share a sneak peek of one of my projects being featured on the Clear & Simple Stamps iPhone App.

If you have the App, be sure to pop in and take a looksie.  If not, click the image to get a copy! There are lots of great samples to look at and this company has wonderful stamps. (they have an amazing new release line-up this month)

Have a great day!

TWIP (This Week in Parenting)

One day this week, I woke up to find a note on the counter in the kitchen.  It read:

dear elizabeth,
I Save the cinnomon crunch Just For You.
Love, Haley

Is that not the sweetest thing ever?

I'm finding that my son is getting more and more frustrated by the realization that he is the only boy in the family.  His sisters play together A LOT and it is usually with Barbies, or babies, both non-boy toys.  Ellie even informed me that she didn't want her sister to go back to school this week.  I asked about Ethan and she said, no, just Haley. This piggy backed on top of Haley telling me the other night that she doesn't love her brother.  Sigh.  That makes me sad.  I can completely understand him feeling left out.  It makes a mom wonder if she should've had an even number of children.  Sadly, he is reduced to playing video games and throwing the football around in the yard by himself.  Yeah, another kid would've been nice...too late for that though.

So, what is a mom to do?  Anyone know when the "protective older brother" phase will start to kick in?  We are doing our best to try and fill his brotherly void with parent time and play dates, but I know it just isn't the same.  On the bright side, my 7-yr old really likes to go out of her way to be kind to others and she is SO into nice notes.

Speaking of notes, I just realized that I never shared a family project with you guys.  Awhile back, I picked up a few of those small metal mailboxes at JoAnne's.  Each of the kids helped me choose papers to decorate theirs with.  Here's how they came out:

We have a chore list here that the kids can pick and choose from.  They mark when a chore is done on the list and then at the end of the week, they get paid for what they did.  To pay them, I put the money in an envelope and place it into their mailbox.  The flag goes up and they know they have mail.  I've also put envelopes next to the mailboxes so the kids can leave notes for each other if they'd like.  Sometime we will write encouraging notes to them as well.  It's a great way to communicate with each other and the kids think it is incredibly fun.  Now I need one for mom and dad, right? :)

Inspired By Blogland

Here on this little ole blog of mine, I'd like to start another regular post.  If you ever frequent The Moxie Fab World, you've probably seen Cath's "Out & About" posts.  Those are one of my favorites.  I really enjoy getting out into the blogosphere and meeting new people and being inspired by their words and projects.  Sometimes, I find somebody new that I just have to add to my list of blogs to visit.  There are so many wonderful crafters (and other bloggers) out there and they deserve recognition.  That said, I'd like to list things I've seen over the past week that have really inspired me.  I hope to be able to do it every week, but it could end up being a bi-weekly, or even monthly thing...but always on Sundays.  Sit back and enjoy the few projects that really caught my eye this week.

• THIS CARD by Laurie had me swooning with its soft patterns and gorgeous colors.
• I decided to play along at the Lawn Fawn CHA challenge this week and as I was browsing the gallery of entries, I almost fell out of my chair at THIS ONE. (it ended up winning)
• Virginia wowed me with her use of vellum on THIS CARD.  I am inspired to get my vellum back out.
• I am a huge fan of background stamping and boy did Tracey do it justice with THIS CARD, and using my favorite colors too.
• Finally, I love how Valerie mixed and matched the papers on her trio HERE.

That's it for now.  I hope you were inspired too.  One of my goals for the New Year is to make it out to blogs more frequently and leave some love for all of you.  You deserve it.

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Chip Off The Old Block (CFC #33)

Finally, it's Friday.  The kids went back to school this week and it sure is hard getting back into the swing of things when they are home on break.  I've been dealing with foot pain this week too.  Last week after my little holiday candy eating endeavors, I decided I needed to burn off some of those calories and go for a bit of a run.  I ended up running 3.25 miles outside in a new pair of running shoes.  After all, it's never this warm in January in Indiana.  I guess that's where it all went wrong and my foot just gave out.  I've been icing it and taking ibuprofen with the hopes of the pain going away, but it just seemed to get worse.  I finally gave in and saw a podiatrist.  You know what he told me - that my brand new running shoes suck.  Well thank you for that advice...not only did I waste $40 on the shoes, I also wasted $40 for him to tell me that.  Anyway, Dr.'s orders are one week with no foot activity. Booooooooooo!  It's gonna be hard for this girl to sit still, and of course, right after I FINALLY convinced hubs to do workouts with me.

Friday means a new CAS-ual Fridays challenge.  This week we are using chipboard in our projects.  I'm sure you've got some tiles, letters, or other sorts of chippy stuff in your stash somewhere.  Break it out and see what you can do.  I pulled out some banners by Fancy Pants Designs and came up with this:

So, here's the super fun catch.  The winner of this week's challenge will get a spot as a guest designer for CAS-ual Fridays (easy, don't hyperventilate)!  Now you don't have any excuse to not play along.  On top of that, Simon Says Stamp is offering some goodies too.  That my friends is what we call WINNING!

Hop over to CAS-ual Fridays to get all of the juicy details.

Have a fantastic weekend!

Wintry Shades of Blue & Green (PDCC #113)

Oh friends, I'm so anxious to share today's colors with you.  They are so inspiring and perfect for Winter (and I'm not just saying that because I picked them).  I LOVE the photos I was able to find for this combo...now if only I was more into shabby chic.....

Here they are:

My favorite is that little snowman with his tree - so stinkin' cute.  This week's sponsor at The Play Date Cafe is once again The Sweet Stamp Shop (who, btw, is currently holding a design team call).  I've broken back out "Old School Rock" and this time used a few other stamps from the set.  Not surprisingly (since it's my favorite color), I had a pretty hefty stash of Aqua papers in my scrap basket, so I put them all together to create this:

Now that you've seen what I can do with these colors, how about you give it a go yourself?  Still needing some inspiration, then hop on over to The Play Date Cafe and see how the rest of the team used them.  While there, see what our sponsor has up for grabs.

Thanks for stopping by!

Numbers & Chevrons

What is going on?  This is total craziness; already several posts this year other than DT work?  I think that means I'm off to a great start, right?  

I HAD to play with the Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger again this week.  Cath has provided one fantastic (and again graphical) photo as inspiration - By The Numbers.

I love what you can do with numbers and rows of numbers.  I just so happened to have this fantastic number stamp from Jillibean Soup.

This card took some careful precision to line up those numbers in a chevron pattern - much harder than it looks.  In fact, I had a few takes before I got it right - but, really happy with the end result.

Have a great day!

SUPPLIES

Stamps: (Sweet & Sour Soup) Jillibean Soup by Unity

Dye Ink: (Sweet Leaf, Buttercup, Sorbet) Close To My Heart

Die: (Brothers & Sisters stamp) WPlus9

This Week In Parenting or TWIP

Happy Tuesday.  Welcome to the first of what will be a new weekly post on my blog.  I have been wanting to come up with something that I post every week that is a great expression of me and my life.  Enter TWIP or This Week in Parenting.  I have three children, ages 8, 7 and 4.  There are a lot of things that go on in this household that sometimes have me shaking my head.  In fact, this parenting thing is one of THE HARDEST jobs that God has ever entrusted me with.  I thought it would be fun to share questions, dilemmas, laughable moments and other such parenting adventures in this post.  This could very well change some over time as I tweak what works and what doesn't.  You can join along in this little journey.

That said, let's get started with the first TWIP post.

We have many fun conversations with our children around here, some of which give us a glimpse of what just may be ahead for us.  On Sunday, when we were getting ready for Church, my 4-yr old came into our room and asked my husband if she could wear nail polish.  He informed her there wasn't enough time to paint them, to which she responded in a sad tone, "Awww, I really wanted to wear it so the boys would chase after me."  Oh my.  Later on, I asked her if she thought boys were cute and she shook her head yes.  My son says ewww every time I ask him about girls, but my 4-yr old is already interested in boys?  Gee, wonder which of the two will require more creative parenting.

 In December, my 7-yr old daughter got baptized.  She accepted Christ into her heart last year and we've been talking to her about baptism here and there.  She has been very interested in taking her Bible with her and reading it.  She very religiously takes money as an offering to Church without being  told.  She was ready and we made sure she understood what it meant.

 

Here she is telling everyone just how much she loves Jesus!

With that came a lot of questions.  The hardest of which was:

"If God made everything, then who made God?"

My response: "Well, nobody made God.... (and then after I really thought about how confusing that was to her and how little sense it made, I said)...I honestly don't know how to answer that.  There are some things we just can't think about".

Doh.  What a stupid answer.

My hubs respons: "You can ask God that question when you see him in heaven."

Much better response.

I'm chalking this up to one of those moments I was thoroughly unprepared for.  After all, I'm trying to instill the importance of Jesus into my children's life, but can't even answer all of their questions?  Like I said, parenting is hard.  I'd love to know how would YOU answer that question?

See you next Tuesday for another "This Week in Parenting" post.

A Year of Hair

Well, here we are.

2012.  A new year.  New beginnings.

I was trying to decide what would be fun to do for a New Year's post; a year in review of activites? My Top 10 favorite products? Highlights?  But, as I was browsing through folders on my computer, I almost chuckled as I came to the profile one.  As I scrolled, I noticed that I sure did have a plethora of hairstyles and colors this past year.  I remember my hairstylist once saying to me, "you sure do like to express yourself through your hair!"  You know what, she's right.  I do.  And, I find that my hair is just another way to show my creativity and love for all forms of art.  To me, it's just another palette like paper or wood.

So, I give to you, the many looks and colors of 2011, or "Ways Jax Expressed Herself Through Her Hair!"

In the beginning, there were long, rolling waves and almost black hair:

Long got boring, enter shoulder length and back to original hair color:

And then there was blonde.  I always wanted to try out blonde...and since it was summer, I just HAD to go shorter too.

Ok, so blonde wasn't for me and only lasted about 8 weeks (of which is eternalized on my new license and passport).  Back to brown and well, nothing more you can do cut-wise than to go shorter.

Can also be worn this way if you are feeling especially silly:

That was the shortest I have ever had my hair...probably won't be that short again.
Finally, we come to my most recent do - not knowing what to do. (and a super cute photo of my gorgeous family)

In honor of 2012, I dyed my hair my favorite shade of deep brown by Loreal - Espresso.  I'm gonna go for some length again, I think......but, there could be some red, purple or spikes in the cards for a new hairdo of 2012.  Just sayin'.

....and with that, CHEERS to hair that grows back.  Happy New Year friends!