Reading together

Today I am grateful for little brothers who enjoy "reading" together...

Weston got this cute book from our friend Lauren and he just loved looking at the pictures over and over again. One day I walked in and he was showing all of the animals to Kade and talking to him about them, it was as if they completely understood one another.  It truly warmed my heart and I just had to capture the moment.  Weston and Kade are only 13 months apart and they really love each other so much, Weston can often be found just loving on his baby brother and it's so sweet!

For these pages I used the Calamity Jane Stripe card-stock, and dew drops (my favorite embellishment!!) from The Robin's Nest. You can visit and order from their website at: http://www.robinsnest-scrap.com/  

These are such fun little shots of the boys!  I added random dew drops, punched hearts and stamp shaped chipboard to dress up the page a bit without taking away from the photos.

I just added a few words for journaling down the left hand side and the boys names across the top right.

Here is just a close up of the cute embellishments for these pages.  

Thanks so much to stopping by today and checking out the blog.

Happy Crafting,

Tara

Salt water fish tank

Today I am grateful for our 215 gallon salt water fish tank.

Jeremiah started doing salt water fish tanks about 5 1/2 years ago.  When we got married he had a 90 gallon tank. He loved the tank and really enjoyed taking care of the fish and coral.  He started to teach me all the different things about the fish, feeding, cleaning and over all care of the tank.  I have to admit I wasn't nearly as excited about it as he was.  After awhile I realized how neat it was to see all the different things in the tank and I really began to love having the tank.  We upgraded soon after we were married to our 215 gal.  This is one of our favorite hobbies to do together, and it honestly isn't the same doing it without him.....found this out while he was deployed.  

Here I have done a double layout of just a few pictures of our tank.  I used paper from The Robin's nest.  I used Glitter Pink Coral for the base.  Then my mom-in-law cut out the starfish from the Glitter Black Starfish paper and I glued them onto the corners of my paper.  I also used a few of the little green starfish on each page.  I framed the picture on the right with Glitter Purple Crackle and Glitter Pink Crackle, both from The Robin's Nest.

Above is a picture showing the great glitter paper. I used my Criut with the Paper Dolls Dress Up cartridge to create my teal coral here in the bottom corner.

This is the left page really showing off the beauty of the fish tank and all the cute page details.

Here is a close up of the adorable seahorses I made, again with my Cricut and the Paper Dolls Dress Up.  I thought these were so cute when I added them to the page, there are also a few more of the teal coral I made.  This was such a fun layout to do, and I loved working with all the bright colors!!

Happy Crafting, 

Tara

Craving a burger....

Today I am grateful for receiving a much needed burger from my dad-in-law and Jeremiah, that I have been craving for about a week now.... oh so yummy!!

Okay here is the story, because I know this seems like such a funny thing to be thankful for but you have no idea how bad I just needed this last night.  I was having a rough day, we have been remodeling our kitchen since the day after Jeremiah came home from his deployment. Nov. 5th to be exact.  (We left for a full two weeks to go to Utah to spend time with family for Thanksgiving.)  Jeremiahs mom and dad came into town Christmas day. Today we have all been working around the house.  We scored a double oven, drop in stove top and a microwave today for a crazy good deal.  I was stressed about making the decision to purchase these things as we had not planned to replace them, but the price was sooooo right!!  Anywho Jeremiah and dad were headed to home depot to pick up a few more things for the kitchen and I said, "hey just bring me home a burger, that's all I need."  Anyone who knows Jer and I knows we aren't big on eating out because we love cooking and enjoy our food way more than any restaurant or fast food place.   The guys had been gone for over and hour and I decided to start dinner, about ten minutes into cooking they walked in the door with Burger King just for mom and me...I have to say it totally made my whole day and I was a much happier person.  The boys still ate the shepherds pie I cooked. After dinner we watched a movie together to end the evening and I am sure we will have an early start back to the remodeling.

 Here is just a little sneak peak of the process of our kitchen....

Here's to the simple joys in life :)

Happy Crafting, 

Tara

My best friend Sarah..

Today I am grateful for my best friend Sarah.

Sarah and I met while working together about five years ago.  We quickly became friends and over time more like sisters in many ways.  Even though we live far away from one another we are still there for the other anytime it is needed.  She was there for the birth of my Weston and I was there for her little girl McKenna.  She and her husband Donnie are two of the greatest people I know and were there for me through some of the roughest parts of my life.  I love you both like family!

I created this page with some of my favorite pictures of Sarah and her cute little family.  Sarah and Donnie were married in June of 2009 and I was able to be there for their special day, their daughter McKenna was born in April of 2012.  I love this picture on the bottom left of her holding her daughter for the first time, nothing more beautiful than a mother meeting her baby and having that first connection with new life.

I used card-stock from Stampin' Up! as well as a red, grey and black card-stock.

Here is a close up of the flowers I used to embellish the page.  I made these on my post about my mom last week. I think they are so cool and since I have five boys I don't get much chance to use the girly things.  I placed a black dew drop in the center just to add a little more to the arrangement.

For Sarah's name I used my Cricut and the Sophisticated cartridge.  I think this gave a perfect elegance. 

Thanks Sarah for your friendship, love and support always!

Happy Crafting, 

Tara

Christmas

Today I am thankful for Christmas.

I just wanted to start by wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas. I am so thankful to be able to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  I use to not really be a big fan of Christmas because I feel it has become far to commercialized and people are not remembering the true reason for this season.  Jeremiah and I have tried to teach the kids why we celebrate Christmas and that it is not about the gifts we get, but rather the gifts, or better yet the service we can give others. They are still young and learning and yes we still hold the fun traditions of some gifts and stockings. Jeremiah shares the story of the birth of Christ first keeping the focus on him, then we have followed a tradition from Jeremiah's family where we open presents on Christmas Eve, and all of the presents are from mom and dad. Christmas morning they get their stockings filled with goodies and such and this is what comes from Santa.  This is our family tradition, what are some of your favorite traditions you do in your home?

Today I thought I would change things up a bit and craft a Christmas card.  I didn't want the standard red and greens so I when with black, red, white and some silver.  I used white embossing powder to really give the pop I wanted on both the red and the black card-stock.  I used stamps from the Holiday Wishes set.  I really love how this turned out.  I added some silver embossing powder with my white on the little snowflakes and tied a sliver ribbon around the card to mesh the red and black better without having a bold line.  I added some black dew drops from The Robin's Nest for the final touch this card needed.

Here is a closer look at the embossed snowflakes, ribbon bow and dew drops.

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas with family, friends and loved ones, stay safe!

Happy Crafting, 

Tara