Bugarama 62 Car show

So we went to the Bugarama 62 (Sacramento) today. It was not as busy as the last one we went to and camped at in Sacramento a few months back. It was still just as hot though lol. We got up really early and head out. The kids did pretty good in the car. The boys were a bit busy once we got there. Bella did so good, I walked her in her stroller most of the time. There were lots of great cars and the drag racing was good. The venders (or is it ventors?) had some great stuff and D found a couple things he liked in the swap meet. It was a nice event. I loved this one venter (ventors) booth that had these old movie posters and other "vintage" posters. I took a ton of pictures like I always do but did not want to go through and edit them all right now (LAZY lol) so here are just a couple for now...











I thought that last one was really cool, getting Austin's face in the hub cap :)

Nikki

Austin's first Soccer practice

Okay so it went pretty good....at first lol.

He was doing really good for his first time ever playing and it was only the first practiced. All the other kids on his team played last year so they knew how to play. Poor guy, he touched the ball during one play and all the kids started yelling "DON'T TOUCH THE BALL" of course being very sensitive, he ran over to me and buried himself in my lap and just started crying (he was so embarrassed). Dustin tried to get him back out but he was not having it, he just kept saying he wanted to go home. Poor guy, I am hoping he feels better next week for practice.

Nikki

First day of school and Aidan's first soccer practice

What a busy day today. Well both boys started school this morning. I can't believe Aidan is in school now. He did such a good job in Kinder this morning and he really likes school which is alway a plus right :) Both Aidan and Austin have friends in their classes. Actually there is this brother (Who is in Austin's class) and a sister (who is in Aidan's class) and the brother was on Austin's little league team this year so we all know eachother. That was nice. I have also added walking to my day, Three 30 minute walks plus I walk 40-45 minutes at night. I am determind to get the rest of the weight off me finally! Here are some school pictures of the boys.

Tonight was Aidan's first soccer practice. It was fun, it looks like he is really going to enjoy Soccer. Here are a few pictures from practice and the park.

That first soccer picture of Aidan in his gear was taken after practice, they handed them out and of course all the kiddos wanted to try them on. :)

Nikki

Excited and a little bummed, Creative Xpress and Chatterbox...

WOW! What a day! First I would like to start out this blog post with this fabulous news :)

I made the Creative Xpress Design Team for the second year YAY :) I am so excited and so glad I still get to be apart of this wonderful team and fabulous community, the gals there are truly amazing women! Here is the list of the 15 girls who made the team...

Returning Members:
Elizabeth Carney
Nikki Hobbs
Melanie Douthit
Jen Nichols
Kara Henry
Becki Adams

New Members:
Stephanie Ackerman
Heather Carpenter
Andrea Amu
Joy Hager
Stacy Armstrong
Laura Mendoza
Karen Pinsonat
Megan Peacock
Meridith Watson

I am so excited to get to work with of course the girls who stayed on from last year and now the new girls, like I said so many wonderful gals! SO EXCITED! can you tell ;) lol

Now on to the news that has me a little bummed. Now mind you I "KNEW" there was no way I would be making the Chatterbox team, not with that list of talent I was among with the 35 finalists (35 from 427 who tried out), I was trying really hard (right Anna lol ;) ) to not think about it but I have to admit, I am a little bummed and did think about it a bit to much LOL (refreshing the chatterblog so many times for updates). Those of you who know me know this was my "dream team" (lol I have a bit of a cbx addiction, if you do a search on my blog you will find a photo of I think a 7 or 8 inch stack of just paper (every collection ever made) I have of CBX (which is now way bigger), I have drawers upon drawers of every embellishment from them too, heck I even have the first thing CBX came out with what like 10 years ago, those little "the scrapbookers best friend" spiral books that have quotes, poems and titles inside, I even have all the first rooms in those cardboard covered collections they first came out with. When we moved to Idaho a few years ago someone asked my dh Dustin and I why we wanted to move from California to Idaho (we are now back in CA) Dustin answered for me with one word....Chatterbox LOL, I am so serious, that was my answer and my husband knows me so well. I believe the second reason was "Sonics" lol yep LOVE me some Sonics cream pie shakes and was thrilled they were in Idaho lol.

Like I said a couple post down I am so very honored to have made it to the finalists and that I was given the opportunity to use some of the new CBX products, I made two layouts that I love with this product and had such a great time with the assignments that I was given, I will share them with you in this post, I asked Courtney earlier if I could post them now on my blog and she said of course I can :) The new CBX stuff is awesome! I opened my box and just fell in love with everything. I am totally going to have to get some more of the "Artsylicious" in more colors and I love the colors in the new "Together" line. I may have not made the team but I am so greatful for being apart of the last round. Congrats to the 6 lovely ladies who did make it (wow 6 out of 35, that is something), and for the 29 who did not, I hope you will try again with me next time :) I am not giving up, that's for sure, I will be there trying out again next time :)

Okay now for my Chatterbox assignments...

This first layout I was to create a layout using predominantly the "Peacock Artsylicious" product included in my goodie box. (I think I may have goofed on this one (blush) see I used a little of the yellow and light blue PP from CBX that was in the box and I read later, on the CBX blog that I should have used 90% of the Peacock colors, yikes). Everything on this layout is Chatterbox, except the glitter I used on the flower centers (doodlebug lily white sugar glitter), and I used my cricut (I have been using it on everything lol) "Home accents" and "Storybook"cartridges for the die cut flourishes, my cuttlebug for the flower centers, I also used my sewing machine. Anyways here is a "few" lol pictures of the first layout. (I am posting a few to show you the detail)...

"Miss Isabella"

This next layout was a "freebie" we got to make what ever we wanted as long as it uses CBX of course :) Again all CBX except the Bazzill CS and I used my Cricut for the diecut stars, Ranger ink, and my sewing machine.

"Good Boy"

I really love these layouts, and am so glad I got to make them. Okay well I better get off the computer for a while, I have been on a few times today "refreshing" lol and now I need to go get some things done, like dinner dishes and finishing the laundry lol.

Goodnight all and thanks for letting me share all of this with you :)

Nikki

OMGosh there are no words....

Twilight Movie Trailer Spoof

of course I had to watch this a bunch of times and I am still cracking up!!!

LRS Aug designs, Cleaning...

I spent most of the day carpet cleaning the house. I still have the boys room and our room left but decided to finish tomorrow, that way I can just close the door and I don't have to worry about Bella walking on the wet carpet.

I read on the Chatterbox blog today that Courtney will be posting the 35 DT finalists layouts and projects this week on the blog. I can't wait to see them all. As soon as mine are posted I will post them here with more detailed photos :) I am so excited and can't wait to see, I am also so nervous, this is it, soon those of us chosen for the team will find out if we made it or not.

I saw the LRS August Gallery was up so I thought I would post my designs here too :) I had so much fun working with this kit. I was a little nervous at first because the line was one I was not sure I would like, it's beautiful I was just thinking it was not my style, But once I got it out and started working with it, I just loved it! It was actually very easy to work with and I think had I not been so tired I would have done more layouts with it.

This first layout "Sweet Cheeks" was the last layout I did with the kit. It only took me about 30 minutes to make, which if you know me is some kinda record because I am usually a 2-4-6 hour layout kinda girl lol. Here is the layout...

Supplies used- Ki memories PP, Bazzill CS, Ki Memories buttons and Soft spots, pearls-Michaels crafts, Making Memories mini alphas, Doodlebug alpha stickers, CI mini brads, Tags-Shabby Chic Crafts, machine stitching, Font- Century gothic, Cricut machine and the Cricut Home accents cartridge.

This next layout is called "Waking up". I just love these sweet pictures of Bella when she was a newborn. Awwwww where did my baby go? :) I used the Cricut Indie Art cartridge and the butterfly diecut. The bottom layer of the butterfly is the shift butterfly ( which is only the wings), I used my doodlebug sugar coating Lily white glitter over the top of it for sparkle. The top butterfly is one size smaller then the bottom and it is only glued down on the middle so the wings pop up 3D off the page. I also added glitter to that butterfly. I then added some rhinestones to the center of the butterflies. I sanded and distressed the patterned paper, for an aged look.

Supplies used-Ki memories PP, Bazzill CS, Doodlebug alpha stickers, Making memories mini alpha stickers, Ranger ink, Doodlebug sugar coating glitter, Rhinestones, Ki memories stickers, Making Memories sanding block, machine stitching, Cricut Indie art cartridge and Font- Century Gothic.

This next layout took me about 4 hours to make, lol yes I know you are looking at it thinking 4 hours, why? LOL, well I had to cut out a ton of things from my cricut for this, then ink them all.

Supplies used- Ki memories PP, Bazzill Cardstock, American Crafts thickers, CI mini brads, Ranger ink, Machine stitching, Cricut Home accents and Base Camp cartridges, Font-Century Gothic.

This four layout was a quick one, I love these pictures of my daughter at the beach.

Supplies used- Ki memories PP, Making Memories patterned paper, Bazzill CS, Martha Stewart lace punch, Prima flowers, Buttons- littleredscrapbook, Ki memories rubons, Rhinestones, Crate Paper rubons, Making memories mini alphas, Tags- Shabby Chic crafts, Ranger ink, machine stitching, Font- Century Gothic.

The next two projects are some quick cards I made. I used the same butterfly technique on the first one with some limeade sugar glitter.

Supplies used- Butterfly card- KI memories PP, Bazzill CS, making memories mini alphas, Doodlebug sugar coating glitter in limeade, Rhinestones, Cricut Indie Art cartridge, ribbon- Prima, machine stitching, Ranger ink. Happy Day card- Ki Memories pp, Pink Paislee letter stickers, Making Memories mini alphas, KI memories flower stickers, Tags- Shabby Chic Crafts.

Thanks so much for looking, I have a couple more things to post and share with you in the next couple days :)

Nikki