you've always wanted to learn....
and so have i!

its been a dream of mine to learn how to edit photos using things like brushes, frames, masks, and textures. and now here's our chance to learn it for FREE!!

jessica sprague, known for her brilliant teaching and digital skills is offering this free class as part of their 2-year celebration.
click HERE to sign up.
i think its gonna be awesome!!
:D

{things i love} thursday

its that day again...my favorite day of the week. :)
just a small post though. i have some of my stuff to share!

but to begin, my Flickr faves!! *swoon*
1. dont take my kodachrome too...., 2. Untitled, 3. Untitled, 4. Lone swing sets creep me out., 5. hmmmmm......, 6. 24 june 2009, 7. the art of contemplation, 8. Bench Monday 1, 9. Untitled, 10. life is more fair than we can ever imagine if we are there to live it, 11. Untitled, 12. "Once there was a Princess. ...And she fell in love...", 13. Untitled, 14. Self, 15. Katie and Joy, 16. Untitled

there is also some new goodness up over at thePINKninjas. we're weekly over there!! hop on over and check out everyones "jacked face" and get some fun ideas about how to incorporate that into your scrapping. here is my take:

journaling says: "make friends who love to see you smile...and marry the man who knows what this face means." haha!! ;)

i also finished up another blog re-design!! totally LOVE this one! :) tara contacted me via facebook! i guess word is traveling. one thing she did that i really apreciated is sent me a link to one of her favorite paper lines that had the feel she was going for with her blog. that helped sooo much! here's the paper:

and here is her blog:


not bad eh?? she totally loves it, which makes me sooo happy.
i'm having so much fun designing. :) i've got another 2 in the mix, so stay tuned.

i hope you all have a wonderful thursday.

chris and i went to see transformers 2 last night. a cool thing about our theater here in our tiny town, is that it has a pizza parlor along with the concession stand. and along with regular seating inside, there are booths with tables. how cool is that?? so we called ahead, ordered our pizza and reserved a booth. and the movie was sooo good! even better than i was anticipating. lots of perfectly time comedic relief. brilliant! i enjoyed it, and the time with my baby.

on our anniversary...

i had a surprise little trip and dinner planned for monday night, our anniversary. i packed clean clothes for chris and went to pick him up from the plant. we drove to wenatchee, stopped by his mum and dad's place so chris could change and clean up. then we headed to applebee's and met up with a group of our friends for drinks and food. it was such a nice evening. :) so good to see everyone.

then yesterday my mum and friend sue came to spend the day with me. mum brought our anniversary / house-warming present: a lawn-mower!! just what we needed! and chris got right to work on our new little yard.


i'm eager to see what year 3 together brings... its been an interesting year 2. :)
i love this man, and glad to spend my life with him.

its a special day.

tomorrow the 22nd is our 2 year anniversary. *sigh* i can't believe how fast the time has gone by. i am still so smitten. this boy is my husband...my 'best of friend.'

i'm so glad that chris got off work early today. we could really celebrate together. he even bought me a gorgeous bouquet of flowers....


today (sunday) my canadian family came for a visit. its been too long since we'd seen them...my fault. but i'm glad they came down. chris cooked, and we had a lovely evening. my little sister katrina is just a ball. i'm sad that i can't be more a part of her life. hopefully she'll be able to come for a visit this summer and stay awhile. here are a couple pictures we took tonight.
i also wanted to share some recent re-edits of some of my favorite shots from our wedding. it was such a perfect day.
this was us....2 years ago.






happy anniversary baby... i love you to life!
<3

{things i love} thursday
june 18th

its thursday again... luv luv!
and i've got some fun things to share with you today!!
first of all, my Flickr faves of course. some soft, lovely images. *sigh*


1. just a girl in the world..., 2. two lefts don't make a right (356/365), 3. Red Leaf Studios, 4. Untitled, 5. Untitled, 6. white, 7. free falling, 8. Chris and Denise, 9. now departed, 10. At the beach., 11. 160/365, 12. Jen, 13. tear, 14. golden, 15. Be glad today...., 16. .my new fave.


i want to share something that just made me smile this past week. what a neat concept and fun execution! love love it!!















Its called The Shadow Project. take a peek at it HERE.
what fun!






i also stumbled across this stop-motion movie that just melted my heart.
enjoy!

A SHORT LOVE STORY IN STOP MOTION from Carlos Lascano on Vimeo.

and a fun quote i just loved: "make friends who love to see you smile."
there is truth in that. i also believe you should marry the man who loves to hear you laugh. worked for me! ;)

have a wonderful thursday friends. <3

scrappy-goodness

need some inspiration??
swing on by a couple challenge blogs and you'll find plenty.
the challenges this time around are so much fun!!

over at Scrap Outside the Box we're using tags on our layouts. you know those cool tags you've saved...now's the time to pull them out and use em!!
here is my take:



and another place to find some inspiration...T-shirts!! there are a lot of fun ones out there with designs or logos that can inspire. that's what we're focusing on over at THe CrEatiVe TyPe. i did mine about my favorite scrappy shirt that says "got photos?." i love this shirt and wear it when i know i'm gonna be creating.
come create along with us!!


i'm also honored to present my very first PINK NINJA page. the challenge is: "what type of ninja are you?" you know you've always wanted to be a ninja too!! now make a page about it!! :D

guess what??!! remember that blog i designed for the pink ninjas?? well, they've asked me to be a part of their team too! i'm soooo honored and excited. look for some fun challenges and pages coming from there.
check out all the other ninjas on the site too. i think this is gonna be a blast!

photo credit

my tomorrow and yesterday met for coffee
last week at starbucks
because my past is comfortable there
and my future likes the nostalgia of a caramel macchiato

i knew this was going to be the meeting of meetings---
my nervana of perfect understanding

they seems unusually quiet
i sat
waiting for that zen of wisdom
waiting....
waiting for...

"well,"

the floodgates of wisdom had opened and
"you remember jackie?"
"yes," my past answered with that knowing smile
"she got so fat!"
"NO WAY! what happened to the 300 crunches a day?"

everyone's life summed up in
3 hours
5 drip coffees
1 green tea
6 divorces
2 1/2 weddings
15 kids
2 breast implants
1 breast reduction
a fire &
"oh remember that girl who dated your ex-boyfriend and ran over his cat-- she died."

they only mentioned me once.
and that in connection with you.

remember that poem you wrote about string cheese and the blue velocity of love?
i guess one day you will leave it at my house and it will get rained on.
the blue ink will seep onto the table beneath,
staining it.
your words, with their meaning bled out, will be thrown away

but i will keep the table.

poem written and given to me by Salma Siddique.
a treasured friend.
i am missing her today....
(written 2007)

its a busy friday! :D

but i like it busy.
i even had time today to finish up another blog design. after i did ally's she kinda "gifted" one to her friend nely. i think it turned out pretty cute. i love the swirls. :) check out the full blog HERE.


so the other day on facebook a friend from my childhood added me. gosh i love facebook for that...reconnecting people! we knew each other when we were young in canada. but get this...now we both live in washington state. she lives in seattle. and this week she just so happened to be heading to idaho to go to silverwood. and on her way home she stopped by to see me!!! i was soooo excited!!!
now that i'm posting this i wish i'd taken a picture of the two of us... bummer! next time tracy, next time!! (then i can scrapbook you too!)

on the house/moving front.... things are getting moved slowly but surely. its been hard without chris around. he's a good furnature mover! lol. but i called some brothers and sisters from the hall and their going to help me with the big stuff tonight.
i can't beleive its real... i'm a homeowner!!
<3

have a great weekend everyone!!

{things i love} thursday
june 11th

hi all!! its thursday again!!
thursdays are seriously my FAVORITE day...
even with all the house stuff too... 2 weeks ago today we drove by the house and the for sale sign was down. i was literally heartbroken. i thought for sure we'd missed out on our chance. so the next morning i called the realitor and turns out it hadn't sold... we still had a chance! so we got the ball rolling. a week ago our offer was accepted. and then last night was our first night in our new home. still in shock. still smitten. and so excited.
so thursdays are good.

here are some things online that make me happy today too. :D
my Flickr favorties:

1. Untitled, 2. take me somewhere nice, 3. Untitled, 4. 217/365/year2, 5. boots.., 6. girls just wanna..., 7. deb schwedhelm, 8. Untitled, 9. more "art", 10. em falconbridge & girls, 11. Untitled, 12. Untitled, 13. so...i think i love you. [embroidery], 14. Cookie splash! v6, 15. Retro Love, 16. "The soul that sees beauty may sometimes walk alone." ~Johann von Goethe


i spotted this today.... how awesome is this idea??
its all buttons!! crazy cool! check out the full post here.

i have found a picture that just takes my breath away.... i am so inspired by it.
luckily, the photographer that took this picture is my teacher!! she is 503 Photography. and check out her blog HERE. i'm just into week 2 of this workshop and in awe of all i'm learning...and i'm no newbie. LOL. i think she's got a few more spots left in her august workshop if you're interested! grab it if you can!! you won't regret it. :)
here is my little notebook i created for the class. i'm so ready to learn more!!

*you have to swing by Elizabeth Kartchner's blog today.... she's got an awesome inspiration-to-project post up. *swoon* check it out HERE.

*i don't usually post artists here on my blog, but i stumbled across this one during the week and just melted.... PLEASE take a look at abbey mcculloch's work. check it out HERE.

i have met some amazing people through this online world and my blog. one of those special people is darling jamie. the other day i received a package full of happy mail from her. the kind that makes you squeal with delight and surprise. here is what she sent me:

yes, you saw correctly...i finally have some ELSIE STUFF!!! i'm sooo excited! i have elsie girls!! totally going on my new walls somewhere in our house. eek!! :D
and jamie handstitched me that bird and got a big envelope of stuff that is just so me.
thanks girl! you rock.
ps...a package is on its way back to you soon!!

well, that's my thursday...
i've got some crazy scrapping to do this afternoon... for something that's a little surprise! i'm excited about this too. should be able to share it soon.

have a great day everyone! i hope your thursdays are good and happy and full of smiles and real laughter. <3

"i think its just darling."

so said my little 4-year old friend zoe after seeing our new home for the first time.

it has been a whirl-wind couple weeks. we went from thinking we would miss out on the home we wanted, to qualifying for the mortgage, having our offer accepted, making a deal to rent from the sellers until closing, and now we're MOVING IN!!

yup, we got the house!!! and i have a "tour" of sorts for you. :)
i'm soooo excited!!

i'm in love with these hardwood floors! :D

this used to be a garage. its been finished and has its own bathroom too. its going to be chris' music studio. :)

so there it is... our cute little place at 43 Hemlock road. :)
we're moving in tonight. i'm still in shock, a little overwhelmed, but so excited.
chris has started working for Quincy Foods driving combine for the summer. last night he didn't get home until 10:30. yikes! that's a 15 hour day. the money will be good, especially with buying our house, but i just wish he was around to help me make all these little decisions.
but things are working out.
i'm so happy.
excited to get some stuff moved in.
i also want to take a minute to thank my dad for all of his help and financial advice through this process. he's been such a help and support. its been nice knowing that i can call him whenever i need to with questions or whatever... THANK YOU DAD!!!

oh yeah!!!
its that kinda day.

two days in a row now have been full of this: thunder + lighting + rain!! crazy! but i'm loving it!! :D

have a good weekend everyone!! :D

{things i love} thursday
june 4th

so i took my own advice from last week and actually made a list of things i wanted to share today... go team! :) its nice to have a plan for a post and not just draw a blank when i sit down to type.

first things first! flickr faves for this week. *swoon*


1. Untitled, 2. frustation sets in (343/365), 3. Untitled, 4. Eat more ramen, 5. wedding holga shooter, 6. .., 7. Dream On, 8. vanessa!, 9. Blackbird Raum, 10. A Big Wish {EXPLORE}, 11. Untitled, 12. ..


i have always wanted to learn how to create my own flower embellishments... i never could get the hang of it. but lucky for me i found an AWESOME blog post from Kenner Road today with a few different versions of handmade flowers and step by step instructions. PERFECT!!
these ones are my favorite!!
pop on over to their BLOG and learn how for yourself.
you might just be seeing some of these on a layout near you.... ;)

i got an e-mail the other day from a friend that was full of these adorable pictures of animals. here are just a couple of my favorite. they made me smile, so i wanted to share. :D


i found one of the coolest picture display ideas on Apartment Therapy this week...
how freakin cool is this??
find the instructions HERE. so much fun!!

there was also a really fun and inspirational blog post over at the Hambly blog. lots of great pictures and yummy-ness from NYC. check it out HERE.

and there is a blog that i just love to read. her words just hit a cord deep in my heart. this particular blog post is worth the read... i hope you enjoy it.

i'm also really love this lady's scrappy pages lately. hop on over to her flickr page and leave her some love!! you'll be inspired!

how bout that!!??
nice one eh? lol.

do you have some inspiration or things you love today you'd like to share?? link me up! i love to go exploring.
have a wonderful day my online friends and family.
<3

sHe*sHoOts

last week i did a photo shoot with my friend marta and her sisters.
we started in the local laundromat, moved outside to the sidewalk, and then down to the lake front with railroad tracks and a cool dock.
we had so much fun!

thanks so much ladies for the honor of taking your pictures.

over the weekend there was a carnival down by little soap lake. hubs and i went down, walked around and i took some fun pictures.
while editing i couldn't decide if i liked them better SOOC or with a bit of a vintage wash... then i decided i just liked em together!
what do you think??

i'm in the mood to learn....
today starts week one of my 503Photography workshop.
i have many hopes and dreams and fears for this class. its gonna be a fun experience and i have a feeling i'm going to learn a lot!