I'm Back from Paradise!

Hello! Hello! Long time no "see"! :) We are back from our vacation to Anguilla in the Caribbean! Lots of pictures and things to share, so I apologize for the lengthy post! ;)

Anguilla was beautiful. Very different, very lowkey. A great place to force you to relax! We rented a house called Villa Manana. Thanks to my BIL Keith for finding such a great place to stay. It was right on the seashore!

Each room opened onto the back patio. The windows were screened (no glass) so that the ocean breeze kept the house cool. It was amazing! However, I never quite got used to the sound of the waves while sleeping at night. I kept having dreams of a Tsunami!
Our home had it's own pool with an eternity edge. How can you not relax with this view to enjoy all day long! (Kevin and my BIL swimming)
Anguilla is VERY lowkey. Which is GREAT! It forces you to hang out on the beach, read, play games, take naps, . . . RELAX! However, one day we decided to take a ferry over to the French side of St. Maarten. Can you believe that this is the dock? I mean where else is the DOCK this clean, aqua, and beautiful! WOW!
Kevin and I on the ferry.
Here we are enjoying lunch on St. Maarten. The food on our trip was FABULOUS! Here's a funny story about this day. Each restaurant has tables with umbrellas set out in front. We checked several menus before deciding where we wanted to eat. The waiter told us to sit wherever we would like. We chose a table not knowing we were sitting at the neighboring restaurant (they had the exact same umbrellas and tables, just different chairs.) We ordered our drinks and then opened our menus to choose our food. We were at the wrong place! My SIL and I moved over a few tables back to the original restaurant why our husbands paid for and guzzled down our four drinks. HILARIOUS! I felt bad for the waitress, but their food just didn't compare. Oh well! Our last two days were spent vegging at this beach at the Ku Resort. Postcard perfect beach! For $10/day they would set up two recliners and an umbrella for you. Right behind us was a hamburger stand that would bring you drinks and food. Yeah. It was hard, real hard. :) Real hard to LEAVE! :) The sand was incredible and the water was warm, but tepid enough to cool you off when you were ready! We read, people watched, took strolls on the beach, and swam. It was the perfect way to get away and rest! It was gorgeous! But I was ready to come home. I missed my kids like crazy and I was itching to get back to a schedule. I know, I'm nuts. I do have to say it was nice to feel the sun again! It was the perfect thing to get me through the next few months of winter. :)
So that's our trip in a nutshell. We returned home to 10 inches of fresh snow in our front yard, but lots of warm hugs and kisses from the family!

Sweet Pea Scraps February Projects

Hi! I know! I just said a long good bye and I'm back again already! LOL! Seeeee! I told you I LOVED you! ;)

I'll make it quick! I just realized that I could also share with you the projects I created with the February Sweet Pea Scraps kit. (featuring Making Memories Love Story, American Crafts, and Collage Press Grayson Hall . . . . Mmmmmmmm!) The girls at Sweet Pea are so amazing. Keep checking the gallery because things keep popping up all the time!

If you love challenges you'll want to check out their blog. Each week a DT member proposes a challenge and this week is one from me! You have all month long to send things in for ANY of the challenges. And YES there is a prize involved at the end for the lucky winner. And NO you don't have to be a subscriber to participate! Take a peek at the challenges HERE.

Talk to you soon!

Jana

Crop Addict February Kit

Debbie was so nice to upload the gallery early over at Crop Addict so that I could post my projects before leaving out of town. She's so flippin' sweet! And that means I get to share them with you on my blog before I go, too! YAY! :)

I honestly wish I had more time to play with this kit this month. It is packed full of delicious Fancy Pants and Cloud 9 papers that interchange with each other beautifully! Another great thing about the upcoming kit is that it would work for both feminine or masculine pages. Be sure and check it out!






Alright! I'm off to beautiful Anguilla tomorrow! It's 10:40 p.m. and I still need to go pack my bags. Atleast ALL the laundry in my house is DONE and it should make it a breeze to just throw in the things I want to take.

I don't think she reads my blog, but I have to thank my girlfriend, Charity, for INSISTING on taking my kids for me after school today so that I could run some errands. If it weren't for her, I wouldn't have been able to run and grab a stack of scrapbook and interior design magazines to read on the plane and go to TJ Maxx to try on some swimsuits. It was dumb luck that they received just a few in today! Not that I love trying on swimsuits. I mean come on! It's always an in-your-face reminder of how out of shape and pasty white I am (hmmmm. Maybe I need to apply some self-tanner before I go! LOL!) BUT we've been so busy tying up loose ends with our home construction before we leave, that every time I thought of going to look for a suit it was after school and there was no way I was going to take four kids with me in a dressing room! :) THANKS, CHARITY!!!!

I'll try and check in with ya over the next 10 days, but I have NO IDEA what our internet will be like. So . . . ??? I'll miss you! I LOVE my internet and all my cyber friends! :) Mmmmmmwah!

XOXOXOXOXOX
Jana

More Gingersnap!

Hello! I hope everyone is having a great week! I am getting ready to leave for the Caribbean on Friday with my hubby! So excited! I just gotta get through all this laundry! LOL!

Here are a couple more layouts using the Noel Mignon Gingersnap Kit! I just LOOOOOOOVE these papers that Noel combined together in this kit. So fun, and such a fabulous color combination. I am amazed at the mileage I am getting from it!

Jensyn received a really fun makeup kit from her Gramma for Christmas and has been giving Maryn makeovers. :) Maryn was so proud of her new look and wanted a photo of her hairdo. She was quite the model for me! We took her picture in front of the mirror so you could see the back. :) Gotta remember those cute skeewompus pigtails! :)

This picture is completely out of focus and Camryn isn't even smiling, but I used it anyway because I wanted to remember how much she loves her blankies. Can you tell she's holding two of them? :) Both Grammas have crocheted my kids afghans and they all just LOVE them. Camryn has to haul one around the house with her everywhere she goes. When she sleeps we have to layer one on top of her before we put any other blankets on her or she gets upset. Too funny! I love how each kid has their "thing". :)

Well, have a great week! I'll try and get one other post in before I leave on Friday, but if you don't hear from me for awhile, just know that I am laying on a beach somewhere and try not to miss me too much! LOL!

Hugs,
Jana

January BackPorch Medley Kit

My little guy at one year. Photos by Gallery Photography; Bountiful, Utah.
Jensyn is always saying the cutest things. I love the way she describes how she feels and I'm convinced that someday she is going to write children's books for a living. :) I was working on this one as the New Year turned over, maybe that's why it has such a funky feel? LOL! These two cards were inspired by one of my favorite sites to visit . . . www.cuteable.com I saw a coin purse with this whale on it and knew it would make the cutest card.

The little monster below was a design I "lifted" from one of the cute monster pillows on the site. I just thought he went perfectly with the Loveland sticker. :) I couldn't resist!

Gingersnap Kit at Noel Mignon and Kiss Challenge

Noel Mignon is beginning the New Year with 3 FABULOUS kits!!! Yes, I know! THREE! I was lucky enough to receive one of them to play with as part of the Design Team. The kit I received is the Noel Mignon Gingersnap Kit. And here is my first layout!

Noel Mignon Gingersnap Kit

I am LOVING the beautiful, rich colors of the Gingersnap Kit Everything coordinates flawlessly! Perfect for this photo of my daughter giving her new baby sister an impromptu kiss!

Gingersnap Kit Supplies Used:Cosmo Cricket Hey Sugar Honey, Honey, 7 Gypsies Benoni and Bokburg, Bazzill Cardstock, Jenni Bowlin "Adore" Bingo Card and Journaling sticker, American Crafts Ribbon, Art Chix Pink Foil Angel Wings, 7 Gypsies Pretoria Tag Sticker

Sugar Cookie Kit Supply Used: American Crafts Felt Heart

Other: Buttons, Embroidery Thread, Wishblade to cut the word "You" (Font: MS To Try a Bon?)

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Be sure and check out the TWO other kits also available!

Noel Mignon Madeline Kit

Noel Mignon Sugar Cookie Kit

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Also stop by the Noel Mignon Challenge Blog where a KISS challenge is in session. Upload your kiss-alicious layouts for a chance to win February's Guest Designer spot. Read the blog for more details!

Hope to see you there! :)

I'm Melting! I'm Melting!

Do you ever feel like your days just melt into each other? Maybe it's changing over to a new year. Maybe it's having a holiday in the middle of the week which makes it feel like it should be Wednesday instead of Friday. Maybe it's that I've been staying up late scrapping and not getting the sleep I should. Hmmmmm. I'm sure it's a combination of all those things. LOL!

Well, this is just a quick one tonight. I wanted to give you an early BackPorch Memories layout using the Sassafrass Lass Starry Night line. So fun! I had the pleasure of playing with the Medley kit this month which also includes a little bit of Scenic Route Loveland and Collage Press Margot (GORGEOUS stuff!). I hope you are subbed because it's already sold out! Look for the rest of my projects on the 10th.

Have a great night!
xoxoxox
Jana

This layout inspired by a sketch by Janelle Richmond. Check her blog out! She's amazing! http://janellerichmond.typepad.com

Happy New Year!

Happy 2008! We spent the night chilling out. We watched a bunch of TV and Kevin ended up falling asleep. Jensyn, Owen, and Maryn tried sooooo hard to stay up until midnight. I scrapped and then Jensyn and I rang in the New Year together watching fireworks from our deck (a bunch of people around us go crazy) and banging pots and pans. I wonder what it says about my coming year that I gave my daughter the first kiss of the year instead of Kevin? LOL!

I was all ready to tackle my New Year's resolutions headstrong and all committed like . . . And then I passed a bowl of M&M's sitting on the counter in the kitchen. LOL! (Note to self: Put away the M&M's)Seriously! What is it with chocolate and me! I guess I'll start tomorrow.

Kevin and I are going on a tropical vacation to Anguilla (in the Caribbean) in a couple of weeks with my brother-in-law and his wife, so I'm trying to be really good. Sort of like a last ditch effort before I have to step into a swimsuit. Where do you buy swimsuits this time of year, anyway? I guess I better go do some serious googling! :) I better hit the spray-tan booth as well!

It should be fun! My parents are so sweet and are coming to stay with the four kids while we are away. It's going to be weird not to be a mom for 10 days, but I think it will be refreshing and make me a better parent when I get back. I always miss them like crazy. At the same time, it's so fun to be with Kevin alone again! WooHOO! I'm getting excited just thinking about it!

Some of you have commented on my new picture at the top of this page. My "hot" new picture was actually taken by my 9-yr.-old daughter. LOL! She was messing around with my camera from almost 6 yards away and zoomed up really close on my face. She did a pretty good job! And I had her take a few more so I can have a "seasonal" avatar for message boards. (I still need to go around to my boards and change it over.)
Normally, when I'm getting a picture for uploading I'll take it into photoshop and sharpen it up a bit to make it a little crisper. Wellllll, when I sharpened this one I practically FELL OVER when I saw all the WRINKLES around my eyes! Not to mention the parantheses surrounding my mouth! WHAT?!!!! Undo. Yeah. We'll leave that one a bit blurry. ;)

It's the beginning of the month and that means I can share with you the projects I did with the January Sugardumplin kit!

I could see Owen and his friend outside playing in the snow from my office. I thought, "Oh, cute! I'll go get some pictures of them!" When I came around the corner, there they were knocking over Jensyn's snowman that she had finished not 10 minutes earlier. Those STINKERS! See their evil grins! Of course, I took pictures of them anyway and then made them fix Jensyn's snowman.
The past few years Utah's winters have been very mild. Of course, the year we are building a house and we DON'T want it to snow, It does. Oh, well! Pretty ironic, I guess. I had to commemorate all of Kevin's hardwork shovelling snow out of the house and vacuuming up water from the basement with these pictures and layout. He's such a patient guy!

A snow man can have ice cream, right? :)


This was just a fun door-hanger I made. It looks a little crooked in the photo because one of them was twisted slightly, but it actually hangs straight. I think it would be fun to make these for kids birthday parties!

Alright, now that I've talked your ear off, I'm stopping for the day. The kids will be home from school soon, and then life will take over.

See you soon!
Jana