handmade cratfs are fun!

so i've really been getting into making my own gifts this year. i sound nerdy. thats ok. i love it! ha! at first i was a little worried about making my own. the boys mom seems a little materialistic. and i was worried she wouldn't appreciate our gifts. but then i talked to my mom (my hero). she made me feel better and i thought, "i'm going to do this" i know how hard i worked on these gifts. and they are turning out sooo cute! i love them! and i was talking to my sister (my other hero) about the craftyness too. i told her if she didn't like what she got she could have coal in her stocking next year! ha, and she didn't want coal :) and to give the creativity a little boost, i joined this class! i'm so excited for it to begin. i can't wait! we just got a post of our supplies for the next 2 weeks. wow, we're going to be doing so much. it will be fun. now if i can keep my ideas straight. :) i keep getting new ones, and as soon as i start on one thing, another pops up. and my attention span? forget it. its tiny. i can never do the same thing for very long, lol. *sigh* so frustrating some days! not much to say. my camera is still with my sister :( so not alot of pretty stuff to look at. (i do have some cute sky photos that i don't think i've posted before though :)) my christmas collection of presents for the family is actually growing, for the gifts that i won't be making. thats exciting. i usually have to wait til the last minute to do that stuff. (i'm not the greatest with money, i'm still working on budgeting :)) so far though its been going good. which is awesome, bc i love looking for those unique and lovely gifts. love it! well here's to a fabulous fall that we had this year. so many beautiful colors! <3 and now to wait for the snow and cold. i don't mind the snow. i hate being cold. he he. xoxo des *can't wait to meet everyone!* *elsiecake*

word to yo mother!

happy halloween a few days late! no new pics for halloween. not for a while anyway. the digital is at my sisters house :( so i've been using my mom's film camera. yeah, it's been awhile to use one of those! the rad thing though? i was thrift shopping the other day and found expired film! (but thats for another blog post ;) i needed to blog. so i thought i'd show off some old halloween photos! thats always fun! (above): pumpkin carving at the boys' familys home.this^ yep, mommy's little devil! 2006

and my fairey princess. 2006 i think. pretty sure.

then there's the lovebug! who is in that """i refuse to get my photo taken'' stage 2007

kaci i think is supposed to be a vampire. quite lovely i think <3>

then there are these really great photos! oh yes. my sister and i dressed as clowns. we had some creative looking costumes back in the day. i love looking at old photos! so much! lol 1986 or 87ish. yeah. old.

and this one. its just funny. i look like i'm ready to stab my sister in this photo. ha ha. i wouldn't. this is in the basement of our old house on Sheldon St. carving pumpkins. this would 1987 or 88ish.

not halloween related but this photo is just too cool. ha! thats what they are saying. ""look Mommy! we're too cool!""" they are the funnest! is that a word? it is today. i'm always at a loss of words on how to describe these two. so when i can come up with fake words to use, they'll have to fly! they are getting so big so fast! december is on its way. birthdays for everyone! Kaci will be 8 on the 3rd. Dang! when did that happen? for real? 8 seems like such a big number! for my 'little' girl. *sigh* and kira? yeah she's going to be 4!! on the 21st. wOW time flies. me? yeah i'll be another year older on the 30th. december. its a busy month!love, des xoxo

Make A Wish...

Its a little blurry but i love it just the same!

We've taking the puppers out a lot lately, enjoying the lovely leaves that are so pretty! Taking the girls for walks has been a of fun lately. I can just feel the excitement in my daughters. such a lovely feeling! We aren't even a block from home and kira is asking for piggy rides! I have the dog in one hand. he's about all i can handle! So kaci always offers :)

this is my puppers. Apollo. kaci took this one. we are about 3 blocks from our house and kira thinks we need a break ha! it must be this spot, a week ago some guy stopped here to talk to me about Apollo, :) Asking about what kind of dog he was (american and english bulldog mix) saying how he was a beautiful dog, (he is!) and telling me about his dogs. hi make old englishe dog passed away a few weeks ago :( the kids had taken him to the park and the dog didn't get enough to drink while he was playing. he ended up having a heart attack. it was sad! anyway! the guy was super nice. it was a very nice compliment.and this is what Apollo looks like after his walk. ha!

and...here is my news i've been soooo excited about! i have wanted to do little mini kits and embellishment kits. I love sharing random little finds that make me think, 'that would be so fun so scrap with!' my sister is supposed to be helping me, wink, wink. :) but she is super busy right now. she is taking a nursing course and working full time. but she will (i hope) be joining me soon!

These are my first set of embellie kits. check out my etsy shop for a detailed list of goodies. i finally decided to jump in and put them out there. Kara and the girls at THe Art is Found had a post up looking for sponsors for their challenges. i thought to myself, this may be a great time to stick my neck out there and try to fly! haha. so yep, i get to sponsor the prompt this time around. can you believe how excited i was? Thank you Kara so much!

so...yes. my blog title has meaning behind it today... make a wish. it may come true on its own. sometimes you need to work a little or a lot for it. but maybe... little by little it will come true. cross your fingers! xoxo danielle

here's to lazy sundays

ahhh, today i plan for a good day. sundays are the best. and today i have plans. yay! i've been very inspired lately. so i'm very excited to see what i get done. the very best part? it's thundering out! my favorite! rain storms and creative*ness, oh yes :D creative? yes, i thought i'd try out doing something lovely with my hair. i liked it a lot. i couldn't get any good photos of it inside, so i asked the boy to take some outside. i felt silly asking him, why i don't know.but he did a good job. this one is my fave.

and here's one of us together chiilin' on the

porch swing. love that thing!its also that time again when i need to take kira's pictures. the home photo

shoot didn't go so well. i got one of her. but it wasn't quite the shot i wanted. but i got a good one of teddy :) i think he may be smiling, a little. ha! anyway i thought i'd give the portrait studio another chance. it actually didn't go half bad! i only got a few good shots, but hey, that's better than none. i will show those off sometime soon. the poor thing. kira, for some reason has weak teeth. she had a molar cave in on her last week :( she cried for 2 hours! i had to take her to the dentist. she's only 3 and a half mind you. and there are no children's dentist around here. so the regular dentist did what he could. thank goodness! and she behaved a million times better than i ever thought she would. hooray! so we will see how she behaves when i take her to the childrens dentist :)

i got a few updates for my etsy, i know, it's been looking bare and dusty for quite some time. but i got a few things for it. and i have tons today that i'm working on for it! so excited. this is my rock star blanket i put in there. i love, love the colors. nice and snuggly for those chilly nights!

and...my friend and i had a rummage sale and i made a few handmade journals to sell. i've got some left over that i put in the etsy. i love these little things! they are soo cute! great for notes and ideas and sketches.

one more thing. me and this lovely girl are dreaming up big ideas for mini scrapping kits. these have really been getting my blood moving! wish us luck! i can't wait for them to totally come together. it's been so fun looking around, searching out cute little tid bits here and there. i can't wait! i just hope it works out! well i'm off. lots of creative*ness to do before those ideas float out the window with the rain. i have those ideas written down, but sometimes its just not the same. xoxo, des

it must be getting dusty in here :)

so here is one of the goodies i had talked about forever ago!

so very proud of this. a scraplift of Ashley Wren. i so love her

style! and its rubbing off in my scrapping. it feels good : ) all the journaling can be found here.

another fun one i did. i've been having alot of fun with paint and gesso.

it always looks good. no matter what! ha! just a quick one of the 'quiet'

things my daughter and i do together after kaci goes to school and daddy

leaves for work. i love these photos. they feel so fresh!

the little tags i made to hide under the scallops

and my 'little' kaci. ( ha! having fun using the apostrope today :) } its a few weeks past, but here is her first day of second grade. can i believe it? barely. second?! how did we get this far already? sadness of letting her get bigger and grow, mixed with the happiness of seeing her happy and growing. having fun with school and friends *sigh*

but with the beginning of school...it brings library books. i can't believe how well kaci is picking up on her reading! my heart was quite full hearing her read. and then i thought it would burst! :) when i saw kira climb up behind her to hear the story and tell her own story with the pages.

and my fave silly times together. there's not usually a fourth person to take our pictures together so i take our own. we're just chilling on my bed having tickle wars and jumping parties. good thing my mattress just sits on the floor. the frame was broken sooo long ago from said earlier jumping parties. on the funny thing is... jesse, 'DAD' is the one who jumped onto the bed! yep, it just kind a caved after that...ha!

yeah, so i know i've said it before, but....i hope to be back with a post. you know, like sooner than a months time :D ( i can't help it! there are so many good shows on this season! Gossip Girl, Project Runway, Heros) ( wow!)

xoxo, des

silliness is afoot

i feel so full of excitement!! I made it to the next round for SFAC.

Here is the LO. I was worried at first, it wasn't coming along. But then I fell in love with it :)not much going on. i've got some stuff i want to show off. but i just relized its not on my computer yet! the suspense. lol! super cute stuff coming soon! lets see. last weekend, my girls and i went to visit these lovelies:haha! so much fun with them. my sister and her fiance, Big E. I flaked on her for the day I was supposed to come up. (sorry) I felt really bad, so I picked up a present for her. and myself. i've wanted one sooo bad for a long time. so I thought I should get one for the both of us. here are some other goodies to enjoy by keri smith. go. have fun. no regrets! no regrets? that reminds me of a recent LO. i need to learn to love being me. just me, no changing me. me who i am. its all i can ever be. lots of love til next time. hopefully soon! :) xoxo, danielle

today is still a work in progress...

nothing to serious going on here. i have been obsessively cleaning my house. i've given a ton of stuff to St. Vinnies in the last three weeks :) it feels good. august 12 marks 5 years for the boy and me. and i didn't even remember until 10 that night. wow. sooo not like me. but jesse didn't remember either, so no body was hurt. but i still feel super bad about it! i hope it wasn't like one of those wherewe are just kind of doomed. bad omen? i hope not!me and the boy at our good friend Brad's wedding. (in my lovely forever21 dress!)aww! so cute! i loves them! they had their reception at a place called the Dorf Haus.it was such a lovely place. with a gazebo and garden and little pond in the back. it was very nice.summer lovin. just chillin around the house. lots of that going on.lol! i love this one! we like to do our make up together! :) its soo cute. she has make up all over her eyes. which she is very proud of! and did herself. randomness...this girl as of late has been my hero. loving her art. checking it out and getting inspired. which i NEED! its almost been 3 months and i haven't hardly scrapped! oh i miss thee! oh well i have plenty else to show for my time.and this lovely. i drove for like 10 minutes trying to find the perfect spot to take this. i heart. and i always think of this lovely girl. when i see pretty sky photos. another great stop of inspo for me. :) have a happy weekend. xoxo.

a whole month? really?

hmm, where does the time go? it is summertime. the girls are always wanting to go swimming. It is where I've spent most of my summer, thus far. I don't mind actually. Swimming is actually good exersise! ha! Yes, I am still trying to keep up with my exersizing. One more thing that has been consuming my time :) And...drum roll please.... I have lost 10 pounds! Another 10 and I will have meet my goal! I am so excited!!(this is kira, who is 3. she loves to swim and put on her *soup, soup* <3) another reason for blog withdrawal? this girl. she practically lives with us :) that's Jakan. the boys youngest sister. in case you wonder? jesse is 25. Jakan is 9. He is the oldest, she is the youngest. And there are 3 more boys inbetween them, ages 10, 14, and 16. She is, the only girl. No worries. She is very welcome to come and play and swim anytime. Which leaves plenty of opportunity for silliness... and sweetness... Not much else has happened. Just living summer life out I guess. Swimming, running (who knew it was so much work! i do enjoy it though), bike riding, walking, lots of working, and...i've begun to enjoy reading again. lol, i want to finish what i'm reading! right now i'm reading 'The Pillars of the Earth' recommended by my mom and sister. another reason for getting sidetracked with the blog. and sadly, scrapbooking too. hopefully the dry spell is over! ha! Oh! and speaking of this lovely, we tried on wedding dresses about 2 weeks ago. sooo much fun! I miss hanging out with her so much! we've talking on and off lately and she really gets my blood going! in a good way of course. talking about the wedding and all the fun stuff, photo shoots, scrapping, cooking and healthy eating. *sigh* so inspiring. <3 ok, thats it for today. I hope to be back soon!

Not much to report

I'm not very exciting. ha! I'm sure I've said that before!

lately I just haven't been into an internet/crafty mood. *gasp!* I don't know what it is...I have been in my health kick kind of mood, that is what I am guessing is the problem. Well not really a problem, but you know... In the last two and a half weeks i haven't drank but one soda. That was at my parents house. They were having a bbq and I couldn't find the bottled water. I don't even think I finished the can. After that, I knew it wouldn't be hard to not drink it anymore. I think about Dr Pepper alot! :( But I know it will taste too sugary after drinking water all the time. I've lost five pounds so far. Hooray me! 15 more to go.

I am very excited today! My package came fromForever21. I ordered a very lovely cocktail dress for my friend Bradley's wedding. It's plain black but I will be able to wear over again with new accessories and will always look awesome! ha!f

I also found a lovely new kit club. They are called the PaperMinxes. Definately go and check that out. They just debuted their very first kit today! (and I would totally buy one if I weren't so freaking broke!) But yes, very lovely papers, and cute little extras! oh my.

One last thing. We'll see how I do. Over at the Happy Cactus blog, Ari tagged me awhile ago. I'm just getting to it. 6 quirks about myself. hmmm.

1. I always have a necklace on. I feel naked without one.
2. i love to drive. anytime, anywhere. i just wish it weren't always to work.
3. i have ocd and i'm ok with it. i don't mind cleaning and organizing :)
4. i love*love*looove! to bake! cheesecake is my fave.
5. i don't want to use my stamps b.c. i don't want them dirty.
6. i'm terrified of the dark

tag you're it! to anyone who wants to play let me know so i can come and read!

well thats all, here's a photo of my dad and the girls. <3 grandpa and the girls. hope y'all are having a great day! xoxo danielle