Gettin' By

Five on Friday.

We're in the process of re-doing our master bedroom decor and now that we've got the furniture nailed down, I'm trying to figure out the bedding/drapes/paint, etc.  Right now, I'm leaning toward a primarily gray and white color scheme, with a few pops of color in the accessories.  I haven't found the perfect neutral duvet yet (on a quest for that this weekend!), but when I do, I'm hoping to top it off with some colorful, textured throw pillows.  I have quite a few bookmarked, but here are five of my favorites!

 

1.  Hydrangea Pillow at dedeetsyshop

2.  Crochet & Felt Floral Pillow from Pier One

3. Orimono Pillow from Anthropologie

4.  Yellow Rosettes Pillow by DwellStudio for Target

 
5.  Embroidered Floral & Leopard Pillow by Pier One

 

You can see the whole she-bang of lovely pillows I've got my on over at my "For the Home" Pinterest page.  Happy Friday people!

Whip-Up-A-Page Wednesday.

(Hey there!  If you're looking for the dress giveaway, it's still open - just scroll down to the post below!)

Today I wanted to share a quick page with y'all that you can easily whip up on this Wednesday! And do you have any idea how I struggled to come up with that oh-so-creative alliteration of whip up + Wednesday this morning? My brain function is severely impaired before that large mug-o-coffee. 

So yeah....onto the creating stuff!

I did this page for the February Inspiration Gallery at Elle's Studio.  You can easily create the look with a pack of circular journaling spots, or even different sized cardstock circles.  A  few random embellishments complete the page:

My Heart  | supplies:  Bazzill Quartz cardstock + Elle's Studio Valentine Mix & Match Vintage Number Tags + Jenni Bowlin letter stickers + Jenni Bowlin vellum butterfly +  Maya Road chipboard heart + Jillibean Soup felt flower + Fancy Pants corduroy brad + American Typewriter font + misc buttons, date stamp

To create a circular photo, you can either print it as a rectangle and crop it with a circle cutter, or use these steps in Photoshop:

1.  Open photo and add a new layer to (Layer > New > Layer...)
2.  While working in the new layer, use the circular marquee selection tool while holding the shift key (this keeps your circle proportional) to select the area of the photo you wish to crop.
3.  From the Select menu, choose Inverse.
4.  Fill the selected area with white (Edit > Fill...)

 
I also have a page tutorial over at the Jenni Bowlin Studio blog today featuring paint & ink (and no hokey alliterative titles there!) so come on over if you get a chance.  Happy Wednesday!

 

A Fashionably Fabulous Giveaway.

UPDATED WITH WINNER!

I randomly drew the lucky winner of the Shabby Apple dress and she is....

Yay for you, Jenny!  Please shoot me an email and I'll get you the information!

  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •

Over the long President's Day weekend, I joyously celebrated our founding fathers by catching up on work assignments, scrubbing my house top to bottom, completing an 18-mile run, and pigging out on nachos at Rock Bottom Brewery.  Not sure how any of that relates to presidents per se, though I bet Abe Lincoln enjoyed a big cheesy plate of nachos as much as anyone.

Today feels a lot like Monday, and the fact that pay bills and organize taxes are on my to-do list today just heightens that feeling.  So to lessen the back-to-the-grindstone blahs, let's do a giveaway, shall we?

It's no secret I love the fabulous dress offerings over at Shabby Apple. Their boutique is filled with one-of-a-kind dresses for both women and girls and their jewelry and accessories always have me swooning. It's the perfect site to chase away those Monday blues with a little retail therapy.  But the best part? Shabby Apple has offered to give away a free dress to one of you lucky readers!

The dress up for grabs is this stunning Cider Dress.  This gorgeous a-line frock is adorned with a bouquet of summer blossoms fluttering across the scoop neckline.  And the orange color is perfection, no?  But one of my very favorite details about this dress is the the contrasting purple zipper down the back:

So if you'd like a chance to win this dress (and who wouldn't?  Heck, I'd enter myself in this drawing if only I could!) post a comment here today.  You can also get another entry in the drawing by liking the Shabby Apple Facebook page (just note that in your comment and you'll be entered twice.) 

Comments will be open until Thursday at 5 pm MST, after which the winner will be randonly drawn and posted here around 6 pm MST.  The giveaway is open to US residents only.

Have a terrific Tuesday!

Five on Friday.

A list of things that are making me particularly happy this week:

1.  New running shoes. I didn't think Newton could make a shoe I loved more than my pink Universal Racers, but these new Terra Momentus are quickly winning me over.  Being a trail shoe, they are bit more hefty than the racers, but so far I'm loving the additional support and cushioning.  The only drawback is the gorgeous color combo makes me want to slow down and show them off...if my feet are a blur, you can't truly appreciate the artistry of the shoe. (That's what I keep telling my coach, anyway!)

2.  Green Tea Facial Scrub. I'm not sure what kind of cruel joke Mother Nature thinks she's playing by simultaneously giving me wrinkles AND pimples, but I'm not amused. So I'm fighting back with this scrub from St. Ives.  I've been using it about twice a week and love the results! It's not overly drying and the scrub leaves my skin really smooth. And at about $4, (I got mine at Walgreen's) it's a total bargain!

3.  Black Oak dress.  I'm such a sucker for LBDs, and this simple black frock from Shabby Apple needs to come live in my closet! The petals across the bodice are perfectly feminine and I love how it looks paired with brown cowboy boots. Throw a cardigan on and it's perfect for early fall, or pair it with strappy sandals for spring. LOVE.

4.  Chocolate. These amazing Donckle's Belgium Truffles arrived at our house in a Christmas basket, and I've been hoarding them ever since I got my first taste. Meaning they are hidden in the depths of our pantry, near the petrified rice cakes from 2002.  These small cocoa-dusted bites are the perfect accompaniment to a nice glass of red wine. They are, however, just a tiny bit addictive, but I figure they are better than Prozac, no?

5.  Puffies.  These new felt accents from KI Memories are just too stinkin' cute. Maybe it's because I was a child of the 70s, when puffy epoxy stickers, jeans with roller skates embroidered on the back pocket, and bad perms were all the rage, but this collection just makes my inner child happy. Now I just have to wrestle them away from Riely long enough to use them on a scrapbook page!

 

Have you all have a fabulous Friday!

 

Wordless Wednesday: Favorite Vacation Photos

Wishing you a wonderful Wednesday!

Stuck on You.

 

Well Happy Valentine's Day!  Last night, Hayden and I frantically put together his class Valentines, having just returned from our annual trip to Mexico on Saturday evening. Because I think it's important to pass my excellent procrastination skills onto my children. Luckily I had grabbed the supplies before we left, so it was just a matter of assembling the cards and addressing the envelopes.  Here's the lowdown on these super quick cards:

Supplies:

pre-made cards + envelopes
metal buttons
adhesive
eyelet hole punch + hammer
white & red cardstock for printing sentiments

I spent a whopping $7 on supplies to make 24 cards - probably more than pre-made cards, but the cuteness factor is totally worth it! The cards + envelopes were at Michael's in the dollar section and they come with a pre-punched circle on the card front. (But you could easily use an anywhere circle punch to make your own.) I also got 6-packs of buttons in the dollar section as well.  The buttons are coincidentally just a bit smaller than the card circle - perfect! 

First step is to figure out where to punch the holes that will hold the button. I punched mine about 1/2" apart on the upper half of the circle:

Then insert the pin through the punched holes and secure:

I printed up some sentiments for the front of the card (on white cardstock) and in the interior of the card (on red cardstock) and cut them into strips. I used the font Problem Secretary and a suitably cheesy pun that's sure to be a hit with fourth graders. Because I am nothing if not dillusional about my comedic sense.

So there you have it - sugar-free Valentine's cards in no time at all.  Hope you enjoy your day of love!

The Three Amigos.

When Hayden was about two years old and we lived in New Mexico, I met my first official fellow mom one Sunday monrning when we were at the park.  Alison was there with her daughter, Sophia, and she noticed our jogging stroller and asked if I was a runner. They had just moved into town from Alaska and (like us) knew no one. We got to talking and realized that our kiddos went to Montessori school together and she drove the white SUV that I often ended up behind in line...the one with the bumper sticker that said Life's A Cabernet!

Yep, we were pretty much destined to become friends.

And so were Hayden & Sophia.  They were each other's first playmates and friends, and their little two-year old personalities got along perfectly (except when it came to sharing Thomas the Tank Engine toys - then there was chest bumping and snarling and general nastiness.  Luckily, they outgrew both Thomas and the inability to share!)  We spent increasingly more time together and both parents and kiddos became quite the best of friends.

Now almost eight years later, our families live less than a mile apart and we see each other almost daily.  We take annual trips to Mexico together and have a standing Sunday night dinner at Rock Bottom Brewery. And through it all, Hayden and Sophia remain steadfast in their friendship.  Even the arrival of little Riely couldn't throw a wrench into their relationship - the two became three pretty seamlessly.

Seeing them all together just makes me smile. I snapped these shots of the goofy trio while on a ski trip and had to make a quick page about them:

3 Amigos | supplies: October Afternoon Camp Stove, Party Line and School Eraser paper, Schoolhouse number cards + Sassafras Woodland Whimsy alpha + Doodlebug buttons + May Arts ribbon + Maya Road stick pins

All the supplies are from the Jenni Bowlin Mercantile February kit + add-on.  Enjoy your Friday!

The Family That Skis Together.

To say that I've been waiting for this particular ski season a long, long time would be a bit of an understatement.  You see, I grew up in a Colorado ski town.  We had a four-day school week (yes, it's true!) and students got free ski tickets on Mondays when there was no school.  From as far back as I can remember, my parents and my brother and I would load up a backpack of high-carb snacks and spend our long weekends on the slopes.  It's one of my most favorite memories of childhood, and it's something I wanted to recreate for my own kids. And as soon as Hayden arrived back in 2001, I started calculating exactly how long I would have to wait to strap a pair of boards to his feet and turn him (and his future siblings) into little ski bums.

And this year, it happened.  We officially started skiing last year, but with Riely limited to the bunny hill (and wearing a harness to keep her from approaching mach speed while descending it), and Hayden ready to tackle the greens and blues on the bigger mountains, we rarely got to ski all together as a family.  Mike would take Hayden up to the more advanced terrain and I'd let Riely tow me down the beginner runs.  But the first weekend skiing this winter, after a few practice runs to hone the snowplow skills of Miss R, she finally ditched the harness and we began life as Skiers of the Big Mountain.  It looks very official when I capitalize and bold it, no?!

We even ventured outside our home ski turf and spent a weekend in Steamboat Springs at the beginning of 2011.  The kids were awed by the gondola and sheer size of the ski area (it's much, much larger than our normal stomping ground of Sol Vista) and it was such a blast to spend time with them in what I consider my "natural habitat!"

Of course, I had to make a page documenting the event (and I used the February Jenni Bowlin kit to do it!) So here ya go!

We Ski  |  supplies:  Bazzill Basics cardstock in Powder, White OP and Java + October Afternoon School Eraser paper + Sassafras Woodland Whimsy alpha + Doodlebug buttons + Basic Grey brads + Jenni Bowlin label + Fiskars scallop scissors + Veteran Typewriter font + misc clear buttons

I fussy-cut the snowflakes from the October Afternoon paper because I liked them on a white background (rather than the yellow they were printed on). This also gave me the chance to stack them and add dimension by adhering them with foam squares.

Hope you are enjoying your wintery Wednesday!

Give a Girl a Camera...

...and tell her you're renting a tux, taking her to a fancy charity event sponsored by your employer, and she's quite likely to set up an impromptu photo session to document the event in your hotel bathroom mirror:

And the photos will have a yellow cast and the camera settings will be all wrong;

and she will crop shots awkwardly:

and many, many shots will turn out blurry:

and some poses will look horribly staged:

But together you will laugh and giggle like kids:
 

and maybe even smooch a little:

and quickly realize that a 50mm lens is ideal for extreme (and somewhat unflattering) close ups!

But if you give a girl a camera, it is quite likely that one particular photo from the evening will stop her in her tracks because it perfectly captures you...and it will remind her that she is, indeed, a very lucky, lucky girl:

Oh, my - I love this boy so!

 

 

 

Five on Friday.

It may be the coldest week of winter here in Colorado (we almost set a record on Wednesday morning with -17º) but I'm thinking spring!  Namely, items I want to add to my wardrobe for when warmer weather appears.  Here's a few of my faves:

1.  Nautical striped tees. I love the crisp look of a striped tee paired with white linen pants or khaki cargo shorts, especially this yellow one from Loft, the red stripe from J Crew, and classic navy stripe from Canvas.  

2.  Espadrilles.  I snagged these cute flower-adorned sandals on zulily.com (for, um, $9.99!!) because I'm a sucker for red shoes.  I adore the color and think they'll dress up my standard spring outfit of tee, cardigan & jeans. (And if you don't get the daily sale emails from zulily, you totally should! Click here to go sign up!)

 3.  Funky patterned swimwear. I ordered this bikini for an upcoming beach vacation because I loved the unconventional mix of patterns and colors. The bonus feature is that both the top & bottom reverse to a simple navy & white stripe with yellow trim so it's like getting two suits in one!  (I won't however, be sporting the string bracelet.  Did she get into a fist fight with a kite, or what??)

4. Polka dots.  How adorable is this dress from Ruche?!? It's kind of an updated take on the dress Julia Roberts wore to the polo match in Pretty Woman.  And paired with my red espadrilles?? Swoon!

5. Ruffle Scarves.  In the past two years, I've more than quadrupled my scarf wardrobe--mostly due to the fact that many of my knitting projects have gone awry and I have no choice but to keep them for myself. Lately I have been loving lighter-weight gauze and jersey scarves (think tee-shirt material!) like this one from FairyTale13's etsy store. They don't itch like knits, but they still keep me warm & toasty.  And since spring is likely not going to arrive in Colorado anytime soon, warm & toasty is a good place to be.

Enjoy your weekend, my friends!