to my love, on valentine's day

My Dearest Mister,

You proposed to me 15 years ago this month.  Of course I said yes (how could I resist you?) and we have built an amazing life together.  You are so very far away on this very lovey day, but I want you to know this:  I love you.  I love you.  I love you.  I cannot say it enough.  I am beyond blessed for being able to be your partner into the eternities.  You are perfect for me & I for you.

Thank you for making sacrifices so our little family can have the things we need.  I look forward to holding your hand on date nights, hugging you as you come in the door after a long day at work, and kissing you before we say goodnight.   These little tokens of love are ones I miss but I know it won't be long now.  We will be together in just a few short weeks and all will be well again.

Yours,
--Anna
PS - I baked up some delicious chocolate chip cookies to fill your belly.  They are slightly gooey, just the way you like them.

folded hearts

I admit that I have no Valentine decor.  I know what you're thinking - what the what?!  Uh yeah, you heard me.  Zilch.  Oh wait, I did buy a small plastic plate with cute owls on it at Target 3 years ago.  But that's it.  So what am I to do?  Make something!  First on my list are these fun origami hearts.






I checked out a fun origami book from my local library, grabbed some scrapbook paper from my stash (note to self: I really need to start scrapbooking again), and got folding.  My first attempt ended up in the trash but got the hang of it enough to produce 3 more hearts in 10 minutes time.  I'm excited to spread a little love this month!  How about you?

xo,
--anna

Father's Day

Father's Day is sandwiched between our wedding anniversary and the Mr's. birthday most every year.  This year, I made him a special something he could wear to church.  A special pinwheel, in fact.  The ladies loved it.  Guys were jealous.  I think I did good ;)

I'm so grateful for my Mr.  He works lots of long hours to provide for our little family & it never goes unappreciated.  He's amazing.  Amazingly perfect for me & the kiddos.

Our early weekend getaway was just what we needed this last week.  I'll share a few photos of our fun tomorrow, so be on the lookout! 

--Anna

5 Merry & Bright DIY's: Day 4

Hello friends :)  It's overcast today with a bit of chill in the air.  It finally feels a little bit like Christmas here in the desert.  As promised, today I am back with another fun DIY for the holidays.  Actually, today's post is more of a DIY idea than an actual DIY with instructions.  An instruction post would be quite lengthy.  I'm up for it if I get enough requests, though.

My sweet hubbs and I were in charge of a church Christmas party last weekend.  I had the fun task of creating centerpieces for 17 tables.  My first idea just wasn't going to work out so I headed to my favorite scrapbook store - Scrapbooks Etc. - and picked out lovely Christmas papers with my husband & find some inspiration.  He is an even better shopper than me & always finds good stuff before I do.   Case in point: While hunting for papers, he overheard some little girls talking about some paper that had a house on it.  Mike found it in about 10 seconds and asked them if that was the paper they were looking for.  And it was!  Back to the story....as we were walking up to the counter to pay for our paper, Mike spotted a mini version of another centerpiece idea I had.  I was giddy.  I had no idea how to make 17 of them, but found directions for the cones online after hours of searching and came up with this:

Martha Stewart glitter rocks.  And it's messy.  But still, it totally rocks.

The back must look just as fabulous as the front.  Cosmo Cricket sure does make lovely papers.

For the party, I took a piece of green flower foam (found at Michaels) and cut a small piece to fit into a quart size jar.  Then I stuck 2 sticks into the foam (sticks are shown in the first photo).  Finally, I carefully filled the jars with white navy beans.  The tables looked amazing.  Sadly, I have no pictures from that night.  I was too busy playing hostess.  And I would have loved to show you how the centerpieces looked altogether, but the jars ended up going home with the people who I borrowed them from.  Sigh.  So you will just have to imagine the prettiness of them all. 

I'll be back tomorrow with DAY 5 of DIY's!!

--Anna

rediscovering

I finished up a layout I've had sitting in my "scrap this" pile for a few months.  Why is that being a mom of 4, 3 of them in school, 1 of them with Encopresis, 1 of them potty training, 1 of them in Cub Scouts, 1 of them in Young Women & orchestra makes a mom forget who she is??  Finding a balance is so hard right now.  I keep telling myself that one day they will all be adults & I will be grateful for the personal sacrafices I am making so that they can have a mom that has time for them now.  In making those sacrafices I have felt like I have lost my identity in some way.  I used to love to do certain things but now I just don't have time for them.  I'm sure you moms out there know exactly what I'm talking about.  I need a happy medium - a time each day set aside just for me to do whatever it is I want & no one can interrupt me to help them go potty, get a snack or pop their favorite movie into the VCR (yes, we still have one).   I desperately need me time.  

Somehow I managed to finish this layout, am almost done with a 2nd, & have a 3rd started.  This is something I used to do all the time.  But I've lost that spark.  I want it back.  I need it back.  This is going to be a long journey for me & I am hoping by the end I will know exactly what my spark is, how to maintain it & what it is I want to do with my life.  (I am 32 years old.  Shouldn't I have already figured all this out??  Geesh.)

So I hope you don't mind but occasionally I will share the triumphs & failures of my path to rediscovering me & my artistic self. 

Out of curiosity - what is your spark??  what's that thing you love to do that keeps you ticking & still allows you to have time to be a good mom, wife, friend??

back into scrapping :)

It's been a while since I've played with paper & glue. 6 months to be exact-ish. You know how when you take a break from something you love for a while & get that itch to do it again? I've been itching for a month, so I finally made the time to scrap again. It's been a much funner process for me & even though I've been doing this for 12 years, I'm loving it more now than ever.

Obviously I need to practice taking better pics of my layouts, lol.

Happy Monday!