Silhouette University!

Been awhile since I last posted. That's what struggling to have and then having kids will do to you!

I wanted to share my new love, Silhouette Cameo and paper/vinyl creations! I'm loving my membership to Silhouette University with Melissa Viscount leading us through tutorials on how to use our machines t their (and our!) fullest ability. Definitely check out www.SilhouetteU.com if this is something you'd like to check out! Did I mention there are giveaways?! :)

Joy and Peace

Joy & Peace New Year's Card

Get custom holiday cards online at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

I Shudder if it's not Shutterfly!

I'd like to talk to you for a minute about my *favorite* photo-sharing site -- Shutterfly! When I got my very first digital camera, I began looking for a site where I could easily upload and share my photos without worry of them being lost or deleted. I eventually landed on Shutterfly! While it wasn't as big of a site then as it is now, I knew I could trust them with my memories. I first used them to upload all of our wedding photos from a CD so that I could easily share them with friends and family, as well as have the peace of mind knowing that if anything ever happened to that CD that I would still have access to all of my precious pictures! After all, there's no going back to repeat that day! :)

Now after 5+ years of marriage, we're finally "at that point" to start sending out holiday cards. Naturally, I turned to Shutterfly to see what sort of designs they have available. Check them out here... http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery There were so many options, it was a little overwhelming to an indecisive person like myself. ;-) But I do like having such a great selection to make sure I'm able to get exactly what I want! I like that you can see online proofs and play around with different photos to get exactly what you want. In my experience, they print out exactly as they appear online.

Another great holiday gift idea that several of my Mom friends have used for Christmas gifts are calendars! http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars You can personalize your calendar with special dates to let your friends or family know ahead of time that your birthday is just around the corner... and share seasonally-appropriate pictures of you and your family from month to month. It is a great, personalized, well-appreciated-by-Grandmas-worldwide type gift!

I know, I know, you're pressed for time! You just can't find the time to sit down and upload the hundreds of pictures you have sitting on your computer or your memory card. No fear! The Express Uploader is here to upload your pictures at 4x the speed of a normal uploader. It really is so easy. If you're not already a Shutterfly customer, I think you should highly consider signing up and trying it out. Go here to upload your photos and see exactly what I'm talking about: http://www.shutterfly.com/upload-pictures/

Thanks for indulging me on sharing just how much I LOVE Shutterfly... I recommend it to my friends and family all the time. The photobooks I made for our wedding and vacation photos have been the hit of the party and have made great gifts for the mothers and grandmothers in our lives. I hope you are just as satisfied, and truly consider giving them a looksie this holiday season! Happy Holidays!!

Neglected

My poor blog has been so neglected... the truth is, we just haven't done much with the place as we're both so busy with work. Slowly but surely, we're starting to decorate. Maybe we'll even by some new furniture in the not-so-distant future. I do have a plan for a new post this week with pictures of the handiwork my aunt Chris did while she was down visiting for the day. Yes, a year with no new posts and she's here for a day and manages to completely redo my decor! Someone give Martha Stewart her number, Martha could learn a thing or two from her! Anyway, pictures are to come this week. Also in the works is our guest bathroom re-do. Exciting stuff!

New Kitchen Valances!

My Grandma made me some valances for my kitchen nook windows and will also be making me one for my small window over the kitchen sink with some of the extra lime green plaid print. So I had an excuse to do some shopping and found a great deal at Target. The full 72" curtain rods with finials for $14.99 each on clearance! :) So here are some pictures of the nook with my new valances! Thanks, Grandma!

It's been awhile, but we are moved in -- here's proof!

Well, it's been awhile since I last posted! We closed and moved out the day that our lease was up on our apartment... nothing like cutting it down to the wire, right?! That was more than a bit stressful, even though we hired movers to do most of the work! We still made several trips with small stuff in the car, plus moving the cats once most things were unloaded into the house (furniture, etc.) and then cleaning up in the apartment. Craziness! Then my Grandparents came into town that evening. They stayed at a hotel that first night, which was good because we didn't know where anything was at this point! Then they came and spent a few more days with us at the house.

I warn you that it is still very much a work in progress. We're saving up to decorate it more in a year or two, but we've got the basics for now and we're just grateful to be out of apartment life and into a home of our own. We still need things like window treatments, new paint colors, and new furniture (everything but our bed and bedding is a hand-me-down from someone)! I've been getting asked how things look with furniture in the house, so I have a few pictures of the living room and kitchen areas to show off for now. Nothing from the bedrooms as they are really still a work in progress. Just beds and dressers in there, nothing really. So here's some pictures, enjoy!

Different Views of the Living Room



Our Built-in Shelves and Fireplace Mantel



Our Front Door Entry Area, Swirly Frosted Door Film, and Extended Tilework into Kitchen




Kitchen Nook


Kitchen Artwork from Ikea with frosted glass and herbs/spices (a steal for $10!)



Counters and Appliances




My cute country canisters from Cracker Barrel


Organization table w/ recipe books, coupons, menus, pens, etc.


Kitchen counter with silverware caddy and serving tray


View From Kitchen into Living Room



And just because it was random and I caught it on camera... there is a small object on the outside of our door's window. I opened it up to see what it was (mind you, it was pitch-black outside) and found it was a small green frog with little suction-cup hands. The cats had a lot of fun trying to figure this one out! I turned on the light outside to get a picture of him. Apparently this attracted a lot of bugs (mainly moths) and he scurried up to the top of the door and proceeded to eat them! I guess we can keep this little guy around since he's pulling his own weight! :)




Well, that's it for now. I'll get some more pictures up when I can of the bedrooms. Thanks for looking!

Less than a week to being homeowners!

As promised, here are some pictures taken this morning at the house. Unfortunately they were not completely done with fixing things, so I will have to wait until after the final walk-through to get the rest of the pictures! Some paint touch-ups, nicks, and the crown molding are still not completed yet. But here are some to show the painted front and back doors, the painted garage door, landscaping in front and back, the back hill cleared of brush, screened-in patio, carpeting, tile work in entryway, and appliances installed. Those are the main updates since the last set of pictures! Can't believe we're moving in less than a week! Okay, enough playing around on the computer... back to packing!