Vanessa's Ventures

Spring is Magic

2011-04-30T08:11:00.000-07:00

not quite one, but oh so much fun!

2011-04-27T06:38:00.000-07:00

So even though Sage's Birthday is still a few weeks away we decided to have a little play date cereal party with a couple of her buddies. I got the idea from mer mag's blog and pretty much tried to emulate her brilliant party, from the invites to the take home cereal boxes. Kid's were asked to come in their PJ's and enjoy gobs of cereal goodness while enjoying morning cartoons and coloring. It was a grand ol' time and Sage really enjoyed it.

Granny came all the way from San Diego to be there.

Lyla discovered fun new way to eat Trix, between her toes.

Sage enjoying her birthday muffin (instead of cake)

2011-04-18T06:43:00.000-07:00

So I found this amazing new site called pinterest. If you are like me any constantly putting images from the web on your desktop or in folders but then really bad at going back and viewing them, this is for you. You can organize photos you have collected onto separate boards so everything is nice and tidy, but the best feature is that you have a button for your tool bar that you click when you are on a site and you want to pin a picture to your board. You click the button it shows you all the images on that page and lets you select which one to pin and what board to pin it on. This is the perfect solution for all my creative friends who can't get enough blogger eye candy! Go sign up today, it is free but there is a little waiting list to get invited. In the mean time peruse and feel free to look at my pinterests.

recycled seed starters

2011-04-09T16:39:00.000-07:00

I love Spring and this time of year always makes me wish I had my very own vegetable garden. I don't really have a green thumb naturally but every year I pick up a few new tricks and manage to help my plants survive little longer then the year before. This spring we had a packet of extra sweet basil seeds lying around and some seed starter soil, so Lyla and I got creative about what we could use to plant the seeds in. We made little greenhouses that have worked amazingly. Using a rinsed out yogurt cup we just punctured the bottom then filled it with soil and planted our seeds, then I rinsed out a baby food jar and stuck that on top and put it in the windowsill - within a few days all of our seeds were budding. Can't wait to make some pesto with these guys!

one little word - 2011

2011-01-04T12:12:00.000-08:00

Hello friends,
Happy Holidays and all that. I hope your first few days of 2011 have been blessed. We are currently walking in a winter wonderland in West Michigan - It is Beautiful!!! I took this photo today and I feel like it is a perfect start to my one little word for 2011 - Dream. I know that 2011 is going to be very busy, tiring, and full of new experiences as a family but Aaron and I feel like for our family the one little word we want to have as a theme for this year is to remember to Dream. We want to continue to look ahead expectantly and sometimes just sit in the moment but either way just continue dreaming. Dream for our kids, Dream for ourselves, Dream for our loved ones and really grasp the Dreams that our heavenly father has for us as well. What would be your one little word for 2011?

We did the monster mash...it was a graveyard smash!

2010-10-19T14:27:00.000-07:00

I had some of my good Mamma friends over today for a crafty playdate. It was so much fun, we followed this tutorial I got from the latest issue of lmnop.

I honestly didn't know how it would go and if we would be able to get ours to look as good as the pictures, but I think they look even better. What do you think?

I think the kiddo's had fun too!

After everyone left I made one more potato stamp, Eva and Rebecca, this one is for you!

The potato aftermath! Is it sad that I still haven't thrown them away

Autumn Love

2010-10-18T13:37:00.000-07:00

The fall weather has hit Florida and I am LOVING every moment of it. I am having a little fall craft party at my house tomorrow with some of my Mamma friends, should be fun I will post pics.

My husband had the opportunity to go to David Crowder's Fantastical Church Music Conference with some friends in Waco Texas a couple weeks ago. He had an amazing time and came back raving about this stop motion music video Crowder debuted at the conference that he swore I would love, as I love all things stop motion. It was released today on Vevo and "oh my!!!" there are no words! David you ARE fantastical! Check it!!!

And lastly, I am a guest blogger on my friend Eva Scott's blog Tales of the Scotts today! I made this crafty little number in honor of Eva's blogiversary so go over and take a look-see and show Eva some love!

30 years!

2010-09-22T22:48:00.001-07:00

To an amazing Husband - Father - Brother - Son & Friend! What an incredible man you are! You turning 30 today is not really that shocking, because I believe those who know you would agree that your God given wisdom has always far exceeded your age. I look forward to spending 30+ more birthdays with you! - All My Heart

Project Life

2010-09-07T08:27:00.000-07:00

I finally started my Project Life album yesterday. Becky Higgins has a great new website including a digital book making program where you can build a Project Life album and have it made into a beautifully printed 12x12 book. It's lemon squeezy! I like the idea of starting my book at the beginning of a new school year. If you don't know about Project Life go here to find out more about it. So that's what I did with my Labor Day, that and homework. What about you?

No Pressure

2010-09-05T12:14:00.000-07:00

One of the things I love about scrapbooking is that I feel no pressure with it. There is no one to please with what I do but myself. I'm usually scrapping at my own leisure and I have intentionally not made any themed books or scrapped in any particular order. Some people might find this maddening but for me I absolutely love that I can start on what I want whenever I want to - One of the few area's of my life I feel No Pressure, what a joy. Here is some of the chaos I have created recently.

This page is a scrap - lift from a page Ali Edwards did for Creating Keepsakes

10 reason's to go drastically red this fall

2010-09-03T20:26:00.000-07:00

I have been considering dying my hair this color for about 9 months now. But at the time I was pregnant with Sage and didn't want to take any chances (like so many other things in pregnancy their is controversy over wether or not you can dye your hair.) I swore if I still felt that way after she was born I would do it. I think it would be the perfect color for fall and here are my top ten reasons/inspirations behind wanting to go red.

A Fine Frenzy - pretty pretty

Victoria - I love that scene where she is swimming under the water and you can see her fire red hair so vividly approaching.

Molly Ringwald - I love 16 candles.

Julianne Moore - so classic

Gustav Klimt's painting's

Joan Harris from Mad Men

Ariel - She is my favorite!

Claire Danes on My So Called Life - I was in love with this show.

Anne Shirley - Gotta Love her!

Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine - I love her music and style so much and she was the catalyst for my desire to go red.

One day we will be besties and I will call her Flo because we're cool like that :)

1st Day of School

2010-08-30T07:21:00.000-07:00

Lyla started her first day of school this morning and of course in true fashion I was snapping photos all morning. She looked so cute and all grown up!

Here is a sketch of the backpack I decided to make her.

I decided to make the pencil part out of felt to cut cut down of having to sew seam. Here are all the pieces cut out before they were sewn together.

I used an old dress I got from a thrift store and wore once for a costume party. I Used the straps for the backpack straps, some of the material for the backpack lining and the zipper.

I designed it so that the pencil is actually a front pouch. Here is Lyla sporting her smart backpack at her new school. Eeek - It is so quite here this morning without her, what am I going to do with all my free time? maybe....Get stuff DONE!!!

Cherry Pie in the sky

2010-07-21T10:34:00.000-07:00

I recently saw this lattice pie pocket mold on the williams-sonoma site and had to grab it to make some pretty little pies with Lyla. This mold is so easy to use you just cut out the dough using one side of the mold and then seal the pocket together using the other side. Then bake on a cookie sheet for 25 minutes. It's as easy as Pie!

I wanted to use fresh cherries since it is cherry season, but I figured that would be too much work for Lyla. She thoroughly enjoyed the canned stuff anyways.

I love her face when she is concentrating - Aaron makes the same face when he is concentrating.

Oh so Yummy!!!!

felt flower headband

2010-07-17T21:26:00.000-07:00

I made this felt flower headband using this tutorial from the purl bee to make the flowers.

Then applying hot glue to the bottom side of the headband and wrapping yarn around it.

Then I left the excess thread attached to the flower and simply sewed it to the yarn that was glued on the headband. P.S. I love my new macro lens!

Pretty Little Lyla! I'd like to make these in a few colors - maybe using blues and greens. I really like girly stuff life flowered headbands but in more masculine colors, I guess it's my tom-boy roots that keep springing out.

Toddler Music

2010-07-16T07:03:00.000-07:00

I have recently discovered Laurie Berkner and Lyla loves her so much. It's so cute she runs around the house singing her songs - I love the sound of Lyla's sweet voice when she sings. I recommend The Best of Laurie Berkner if you are looking for fun music for your kids to sing along to.

july 4th photos

2010-07-14T10:41:00.000-07:00

I made this little flag banner for july decoration to hang under my mantel, which has become my seasonal decoration spot. I used this tutorial and I love how vintage all american cute it came out.

Then of course I had to take 4th of july photos of my girls in front of my homemade banner in their very cute matchy but not too matchy jean dresses. I would like to make this a yearly tradition. Can't wait to scrap these!

Beautiful Sage's first 4th of July!

7 years of Love

2010-07-05T07:44:00.000-07:00

Today marks seven years since Aaron and I committed our lives to each other. Marriage has truly been one of the most amazing things that has happened in my life. Not that it hasn't had it's trying times but when I sit and think over the past 7 years I can truly say it has been an adventure beyond my wildest dreams and I am more in love with Aaron today then I was on the day I said I would spend the rest of my life with him.

So to my love - I have truly loved the past 7 years being your wife, best friend and mother to your children and I still look forward to growing old with you!

- Pokey

Aaron did a photo journey for our anniversary last year so I wanted to do one this year. Here is our story (the short version) in picture form. I'm also including my favorite songs that remind me of us.

On our DTS outreach in Laos

Vietnam at Angkor Wat

Saying goodbye at the airport before we came back on staff with YWAM

Our crazy hair stage

Engaged

Married

Our honeymoon to the Florida Key

Kunming, China

Adventuring in China

You and me plus baby Lyla makes 3

Our trip to Savannah this year

Our family of 4

Pass the Peas Please

2010-06-29T12:09:00.000-07:00

Preface

I have always enjoyed cooking. I think it's actually a passion that was passed down to me by my Mom and Dad. My Dad was always cooking some exotic cuisine and my Mom loved trying new and different recipes . Some of my favorite childhood memories where making apricot jam from the fruit we picked in our backyard and making homemade pumpkin seeds after carving our jack-o-lanterns in the fall. When I began thinking about how I want my children to have a creative, lively childhood full of fond memories - teaching them to make food from scratch possibly even from a home garden was one of the things I felt would inspire a wondrous childhood. We have yet to make a home garden (maybe next spring) but for now we have begun to play with our food! I'm hoping to make this a regular part of my blog - nothing weekly or anything (I'm too unorganized for that). But just something I feature at least once a month - hopefully more.

When I started looking for fun recipes to make with Lyla I came across this ladys blog. She has a book published called toddler cafe which looks like a lot of fun and these minty pea pops are from her book but she has also graciously put the recipe on her blog click here to see it. Now I don't know about your two year old but mine isn't the best pea eater. I usually have to hide them in mac n' cheese or other pasta dishes but to no avail - she usually eats around the little green intruders. So I was a little uncertain about how these pops would be accepted. I also have a personal experience with pea popsicles in China (both peas and corn are seen as dessert foods in China), and let me tell you they where disgusting.

Right from the get go I thought we might be in trouble when I told Lyla to put the cup of peas into the food processor she said "Mamma these are not tasty." I convinced her we were going to make them tasty and she hesitantly poured them into the processor. Lyla totally enjoyed making these pops and they were a success - she love love loved them! I even tried one and thought they were pretty great.

Bought this on amazon - perfect little 1 oz size portions and I can use it later when I start making Sage's baby food so I can easily freeze it into individual portions.

finger lickin' good

Having way too much fun eating pea's!

We had to break the sticks in half so they fit better

Perfect Summer Snack!

picture frame bow holder tutorial

2010-06-24T12:26:00.001-07:00

Anyone who knows my Lyla knows that she has been challenged in the hair department since birth, she will be 3 in a couple months and is only now getting enough hair where it actually looks messy if I don't brush it. She has recently begun to build up quite a bow collection and I am always finding them around the house and trying to keep them in one place (pretty unsuccessfully) So I decided to make my own bow holder. I saw one of these on etsy and said I can DIY that. So here is my little tutorial for a DIY bow holder.

Take any frame - this one was $5 at walmart - and take the glass out of it.

Paint it any color. I used acrylic (gasp) because I didn't have spray paint on hand and didn't want the hassle. Spray paint would make a nicer finish though.

trace the glass onto mat-board or cardboard (a diaper box would work great if you don't have mat-board)

Cut out the traced mat-board

Cut pretty paper to size.

Adhere pretty paper to mat board ( I used double sided tape - less mess)

Go through your stash and find ribbon to match - I picked two sizes because she has little bows and big bows. DUCK TAPE!

Put it in the frame

VOILA!! (that's the fancy way of saying TA-DA, we like being fancy like Nancy)

Daddy's Day

2010-06-16T07:09:00.000-07:00

For Fathers Day this year Lyla made daddy an omelet before church and FINALLY got to give him her gift she made him. The same gift she had been relentlessly asking me to let her give him all week, so much for "we're going to surprise Daddy with this on Fathers Day." I think it still made his day.

This was Lyla's handmade gift for Daddy's office at work, mommy helped with the picture printing and paper cutting but other then that it was all Lyla, she shared the glory with Sage though. I got the idea from this lady who got the idea from Martha.

Lyla also picked out this horseshoe game from the dollar section at Target as you can see she was pretty stoked about getting to play with them.

Sage gave daddy hugs *sigh*

and smiles :)

It was a good day!

Kuler Colors!

2010-06-11T11:23:00.000-07:00

So I use this amazing application called adobe kuler when I am doing any sort of design work. Recently Aaron and I decided to switch up the rooms in our house so that we can put both girls in the same room, once sage is ready to move out of our room. The big switch up is going to take place while I am in California with the girls in July because Aaron said he will have a much easier time doing it while we are all away and he has no distractions. He said my only task is picking out paint colors, how can you argue with that deal! So I used my much loved app for this task and discovered a new very cool feature. You can upload an image and it will identify the main color scheme from the image and give you a working pallet. SO COOL!

I loved this photo by Danielle Thompson and the colors that came out of it are brilliant and just what I was looking for in my new work space at home!

I will post before and after pictures of the rooms. PAINT is the best way to decorate a room - it takes a bit of work but it is always worth it afterwards.

getting back in the swing

2010-06-08T08:35:00.000-07:00

So I have been absent but I have a very good reason. It would be the arrival of my new bundle of joy, Sage Jennie who made her way into the world May 14 - a whopping 10 days after her due date, brutal, but oh so worth the wait! She is so sweet and we already all love her to pieces!

Since the birth of Sage I have been inspires by all the handmade fashion out there in the blog world. I, myself have a limited budget to spend on clothes and am needing some transition wear as I don't quite fit in my old clothes and my maternity clothes are thankfully too big and too hot (seeing as I was mostly pregnant in the winter). So I think I just may need to go thrifting and score a new look. I saw this girls blog on the craftzine blog, one of my favorites, and I was so inspired by her ambitious endeavor. For a whole year she is repurposing second hand clothing and making it her entire wardrobe. Not only is she super creative but she seems to have gotten even more creative with her remakes since she first began, not just that but she is giving herself a budget of a dollar a day - nice! Go check her out - you'll want to look all the way to day 1! Below are some of my favorites she has done to date.

I saw these bags and thought they were AMAZING! I would like to attempt to make one but I know it would not turn out near as bright and pretty. sigh*

P.S. I love publix brand seasonal ice creams! Yesterday I was at the store and spotted dolce de leche banana pudding and peach cobbler and now it's all I can think about. Haha!

Spring Time

2010-04-18T15:31:00.000-07:00

It has been so beautiful here in Florida, I feel like we normally don't get a spring but this year has been different. We have been loving every moment of it. The other day it was so nice we took Lyla's new easel she received for easter and did some painting outside. She loves to paint!

Disney on Ice came to Jacksonville so went with some friends from Lyla's playgroup. Lyla was so enthralled with the show and if anyone tried to talk to her she would put up her hand and say "I'm watching!" It was too cute.

sweet easter eggs

2010-04-08T12:00:00.000-07:00

For easter this year instead of the doing the traditional dying messiness. We decorated rice krispie treats that were shaped like easter eggs. I got the directions from the rice krispie website here. Then I made a dessert platter with the eggs cupcakes and lemon bars on easter sunday for some friends that came over.

St.Patricks day

2010-03-30T18:35:00.001-07:00

I figured I should probably post this before march is over. For st. Patty's day Lyla constructed a beautiful rainbow made of fruit loops. We talked about the different colors of the rainbow and we even read the bible story of the flood in her message bible. But of course what she most enjoyed about this activity was snacking on the fruit loops (something I normally don't have in the house.)
I took this picture on a beautiful spring day when we took a walk in the neighborhood. We have been having really great spring weather here in Florida which I am so grateful for, I love this time of year.

mango chutney

2010-03-13T17:22:00.001-08:00

About a week ago I spent part of my weekend on what has become my annual mango chutney making/canning day. Aaron and I are huge Indian curry lovers and we especially love our curry with naan bread, yogurt and chutney - all of which make a pretty economical meal minus the chutney - which usually sells for 5 - 8 bucks a pop at most stores. Considering how much chutney we go through a year I decided to start making and canning my own a few years back during mango season. The best price we can get our mangos for here in our part of florida is 2 for $1, so last week when I saw the sale at the grocery store I figured it was about that time and went to work. This is the recipe I used if you are also a curry connoisseur and would like to make your own chutney. Be warned it is a long process but so worth it in the end - and if you can it, you can enjoy the fruits of your labor all year long.

crystalized ginger is the best. Some recipes call for regular ginger but I prefer crystalized, you can find it at most asian markets.

Also another trick to awesome chutney is using golden raisins!

shamrocks and such

2010-03-05T14:57:00.000-08:00

So I have been in a nesting mood and unable to start putting the baby's space together due to our schedule being crazy until April. So I have taken up crocheting again at night to relieve stress. It has been so refreshing, I generally prefer knitting but certain projects require crocheting and these are two such projects I have been working on.

The first is a shamrock garland to hang under my mantel which I think came out really cute. Here is the tutorial if you want to try it out yourself.

And here is a sneak peek of the baby blanket I am working on for baby Sage. It is a granny square blanket and I am really loving how it is coming together. I am about halfway done with my granny squares, then I have to put it together - we'll see if I get it done before she arrives.

Oral Hygiene Month

2010-03-04T06:54:00.000-08:00

Among other important holidays in February was also the less recognized oral hygiene month. Lyla was busy with a week of activities learning about how and why we need to brush our teeth. It was very fun and also very helpful because now she seems to have a better appreciation for brushing her teeth. Here are a few of the activities we did that where fun easy and required little to no supplies.

Math & Snack Time:

We made these fun replicas of a mouth full of pearly white teeth using cut up apples, peanut butter and mini marshmallows. Lyla had to count out three marshmallows for each mouth and then once we had made all four sets of teeth she had to count how many teeth there were all together. great counting activity and using addition. Plus she really enjoyed eating them.

Discussion Time:

I told a story about how Tinkerbell had a sick tooth that was hurting her and what she had to do to make it feel better again. We spent time brushing Tinkerbells teeth to make them feel better.
Reading:

Some of the books we read during this week to learn more about our teeth and how we can take care of them were;

1. The Tooth Book, Edward Miller

2. How Many Teeth?, Paul Showers

3. Little Rabbit's Loose Tooth, Lugy Bate

4. The Bears Toothache, David McPhail (this was Lyla's favorite)

5. Rosie's Baby Tooth, Maryann Macdonald

6. Those Icky Sticky Smelly Cavity-Causing but...Invisible Germs, Judith Anne Rice (this is the book she is reading in the picture below.)

Science & Snack Time:

We conducted an experiment seeing what certain foods did to our teeth. We first ate an oreo cookie then looked in a mirror and I asked Lyla a series of questions about what her teeth looked/felt like. Then we ate some apple pieces and observed what happened to our teeth after eating the apple. She had a lot of fun looking at her teeth and what the effects were in the mirror.
Art:

We pretended the egg carton was our teeth and the paint was the tooth paste and Lyla need to brush the egg cartons teeth and see how "clean" she could get them. She attempted to brush her own teeth about 3 times during this project and I had to keep reminding her that the paint was yucky and that we were only pretending. So if you do try this craft with your little one you need to keep a close eye on them the whole time.

Olympics Part II

2010-03-02T10:16:00.001-08:00

So I didn't get a chance to post these before our trip to Savannah but I wanted to share the rest of Lyla's Olympic school activities we did. I recorded the figure skating and Lyla and I watched some of the highlights together the next day. On another mom's blog she suggested having some "play skate time" with your child in your socks and prompt them to pretend to be figure skating. Well, Lyla needed no prompting after watching about 2 minutes she hopped off the couch and proceeded to copy the skaters routine who was on the ice - it was amazing!

I think we have a future Olympian on our hands.

Another activity we did for school was making our own olympic torch. All we needed was foil, paper, markers and a water bottle with the bottom cut off - easy peasy. Lyla loved making it but has enjoyed playing with it even more, she still every day at some point runs around the house waving it in the air. It is crazy how she has always preferred playing with trash as oppose to her actual toys we spend money on. Go figure!

Praying together

2010-02-24T13:38:00.000-08:00

So we have been going through the My First Message Bible by Eugene H. Peterson, and it is great - I love the message translation and the illustrations are fantastic. So the other morning we read about how God created the animals and at the end of the story we went to pray suggesting that Lyla pray and thank God for making the animals (because she loves animals). So Lyla's prayer starts out with, "Jesus, please make baby brother sister not grow bigger in mommy's belly" well ok, not quite what I had in mind lets get back on track. "Jesus, thank you for the dog and the cat and they lived happily ever after, amen" Ok I liked that prayer! She is so funny!

My birthday weekend in Savannah, GA

2010-02-22T18:07:00.000-08:00

So for my 27th birthday my wonderful husband took me to Savannah, GA. A place I have wanted to visited for quite some time now. It was the perfect weekend. We left friday the 19th (my birthday) and returned sunday evening. It was a much needed trip for Aaron and myself and our first time leaving Lyla. We figured we better do it now before baby #2 gets here.

Day 1:

The drive from Jacksonville to Savannah is only 2 hours but of course I needed to stop along the way, so we took a break at this cute Starbucks. Then on to Savannah where we checked into the B&B we stayed at in the historic district near Forsyth Park. We arrived near dinner time and Aaron picked out the cutest restaurant called the Firefly for my birthday meal. It was a tiny place in the basement of an old house with really yummy food. Then we walked to this great coffee place to have my birthday dessert - peanut butter pie (so good). A great 27th Birthday!

Day 2:

The B&B we stayed at was so cute and they served a great breakfast in the morning, which meant we couldn't sleep in but it got us out the door nice and early so we could get the most out of our weekend. It was a victorian styled B&B which I loved, even all the tiny porcelain cats. There was this coral mask hanging in the bathroom which I swear every time I looked at it I half expected it's eye's to pop open like in Pirates of the Caribbean. Also I loved the claw footed bath tub, I've always wanted one.
There are so many beautiful squares in Savannah with historical statues. This Lion was one of my favorites, the leprechaun was Aaron's. We had such a great time walking around the beautiful parks and squares at one point we came across a street musician who was playing patriotic tunes on his flute - it was great.

We ate at the shrimp factory on the riverfront for lunch. Their lunch specials came with the best salads and blueberry muffins with a praline whipped butter. The food in Savannah is yummy yummy, and it's funny because when I came home I noticed most of my photo's are of us eating.

Day 3:

Our last day in Savannah we wanted to end our trip by trying out some southern cooking at Paula Deen's restaurant Lady and Son, but we were told you need to come at 9:30 in the morning if you want to be assured a reservation. So we showed up at the door at 9:30 and made a 1:00 lunch reservation, then headed back down to the riverfront and city market to kill time and do some souvenir shopping.

Aaron and I don't have much experience with eating southern cooking but we really enjoyed Lady and Son's Sunday buffet. The fried chicken, BBQ pork and candied yams were my favorite and of course for dessert we both had Paula's famous banana pudding. Such a great way to end our trip to Savannah.

O is for Olympics

2010-02-17T11:36:00.000-08:00

For School today Lyla and I talked about the winter olympics in Canada and looked at a book about flags from all over the world. We also looked at a map of the world and talked about the different countries of the world. She really loved the map that had the different animals placed on the continent they live on. Then we made a Canadian flag in honor of the games going on in Vancouver. Lots of messy paint fun!

Cyber Hibernation

2010-02-15T13:33:00.000-08:00

So... I have still been keeping busy and doing lots of stuff but I have unfortunately been neglecting my blog for way too long. I had every intention of starting up again in January once the crazy busy holiday season was over, but alas it is mid February and I am just now posting for 2010. Well I think it is safe to say my season of cyber hibernation is over.

I have started doing school for Lyla in the mornings. She seemed to be getting bored with just random coloring and play-dough time. I wasn't sure where to start so I checked out some preschool curriculum books from the Library and WOW have they been helpful in planning out good activities. If you are looking to do the same I would recommend these books, I may end up buying a couple of them once my borrowing time has expired.

Here is a little post valentines math activity we did this morning. Graphing a random handful of sweethearts. It was a great exploration of colors, numbers, counting and learning about most and least. If you want this chart you can download it here.

of course we ate a few too! :)

This looks so cute! I guess it will be in theaters in April. I look forward to seeing it before baby girl number 2 arrives and crying because oddly enough I have become one of those woman who cries when she sees a baby.

Because we miss Bekka

2009-10-10T12:17:00.000-07:00

I made a box of Poffertjes (dutch pancakes) that Bekka left behind. They were a lot more difficult to cook then I expected, Bekka made it look so easy to do, but oh man were they yummy! A mix between a pancake and a crepe. I made Grandma Jolmans blueberry sauce recipe to go on top of them, we used the blueberries we picked when we were in Michigan. Lyla had fun helping - and eating!

Grandma Jolman's blueberry sauce

Combine 2 Cup blueberries, 1/2 Cup sugar, 1 Tbsp cornstarch, 1 Cup water, 1/2 tsp vanilla. Bring to boil and cook until slightly thickened. Add 1 Tbsp lemon juice and serve!

Cow Appreciation Day

2009-07-10T12:19:00.000-07:00

Lyla made a cow costume using an old pillow case and her handprints as the black spot's she looked so cute. We love Chick-fil-a and all their promotions and their fresh squeezed lemonade.

I entered Lyla in the Dress Like a Cow Photo contest, Go here and vote for her! It's listed under Lyla.

4th of July and other stuff

2009-07-08T13:22:00.000-07:00

Well we had a great 4th of July weekend (if you want to hear all the details go to my husband's blog - aka "the writer") I have pretty pictures from Lyla's friends birthday party. It was so cute and all the kids had a blast.

Also I finally got around to hanging up this beautiful art by our very talented friend John Lee - doesn't it look great! The very cool retro bread box was a gift from my friend Karry for my birthday and I use it to keep letters and cards in - it's so cute and one of my favorite home items for sure. I eventually want to take pictures of more of my house - but that requires cleaning and well... who wants to clean in there "free time."

We also painted the office and dragged all the furniture back into place - I of course made my first project the chalk board on the back of the desk. I love how it came out! Chalkboard paint is THE BEST! I needed a place to store the chalk so I recycled a frosting container I was saving (I have gazillions of old containers I save for reuse projects) put paper on it and nailed it to the desk. Perfection!

Happy 1st of July

2009-07-01T11:59:00.000-07:00

Wow! I can't believe it is july already - the summer is flying by! I have been a little frustrated lately - still waiting for the wall to be finished in my office after the water damage from the bathroom pipe. And so I am making due on the dining room table, but feeling a little creative block without being in a proper working space. I will have some new projects to post soon - just need to take photo's and scan things in.

Here are some recent photo's of me and Lyla that make me happy! Eating ice cream - yummy! Since starting south beach I tend to vicariously eat through Lyla!

I want to play around with taking photo's with sparklers! Loving these one's and feeling inspired to do another crazy photo shoot soon - Tasha you need to come and be my muse and Bekka too!

Will Vastine

Clane Gessel

Oh the messes we'll make!

2009-06-14T18:19:00.000-07:00

I have to say I really love having a toddler. In a few months Lyla will be 2 and with each day she is more curious and excited about life and the world around her. Which in turn makes me curious and excited as well. Summer has officially come to florida and we are feeling the heat - so on days when we are not outside directly in water we will be doing some of these wonderful messy things! I spent some time scouring different mommy craft blogs and such and found some I really love. Here is a list of my faves:

Also I can't wait to see this movie with Lyla! It was my brother David's favorite book! The preview makes me cry.

50 posts!

2009-06-13T14:22:00.000-07:00

I just noticed that this will be my 50th post! I have to say the experience of having a blog since I started a little over a year ago has been quite enjoyable. I like the idea that I can share my experience, hopes & accomplishments with people and also learn from other talented creative people. Also that when I'm an old lady my daughter can read about our life when she was young and see our everyday experiences. Well I did some digital scrapping today - using some sassafras paper I got in the mail - I don't have the heart to cut into it yet, but I wanted to scrap with it. I'm such a sissy!

Music is Magic!

2009-06-11T05:42:00.000-07:00

I hate it when you find something new in music that speaks ace in the hole to you and go figure you can't actually buy any of it. Booo! I had one of those moments this morning. I turned on my computer (just to check email). But when I opened Safari my homepage apple.com came up and I was immediately drawn to a movie ad "what goes up" I watched it and it looks like it will be a good film, but more then that I really really liked the song in the background so I google searched a line in the song "this is where the stars fall down" I found a video on youtube which then confirmed that yes I really really like this artist, dotjr! Went to his myspace listened to the rest he had on there and now I want his music but alas it is no where to be found! So not fare! Can we vote for other people who aren't on american idol to be signed? Vote for dotjr!

I found where to buy his music! Yay! Just go here! I love Where the stars fall down & love song for everyone!

Some kind of feeling

2009-06-09T12:50:00.000-07:00

Had a fun weekend doing a photo shoot with two of my friends. Kind of randomly just happened. We where downtown friday night and one of my friends said she always wanted to take pictures in front of one of the old churches in a thrift store wedding dress, and I said "well it's supposed to rain tomorrow, let's do it." So we did! Had a blast! Here are just a few of the photo's that I've gotten around to editing with more to come.

Summer is here and I am looking at all the summer cuteness! Really love this from Anthro!

I love Color

2009-06-02T11:36:00.001-07:00

This is a two post day cause I want to get all my recent scraps up. I've been playing a lot with bright colors and loving how it looks.

Inspired by what I see

2009-06-02T05:32:00.000-07:00

I saw this ad in a magazine last night and I really loved the layout and tried my first attempt of making my own sketch based on it. So I did a loose sketch.

Used In Design to put together all my photo's and print them on one sheet of 8.5x11 photo-paper

Then scraped the page. It was a super easy page to do, because it's mostly comprised of pictures.

What a great way to do sketches and get pages done!

If you need more creative inspiration go check out Elsie's Blog. She did a 24 hour blog party yesterday of creative, crafty, inspiring, artsy stuff.

rain rain go away! but come again another day! K

2009-05-24T12:30:00.000-07:00

The rain has gone! We are enjoying our memorial day weekend! Just downloaded the new issue of lmnop and it's really good and goes along great with my new Puppet project. I love the rain, but I'm so glad the sun is shining, makes BBQ's and day's off from work and school so much more fun!

Paper bag puppet project

2009-05-21T07:24:00.000-07:00

Still rainy and wet here in the sunshine state! Going on 4 days and I think Lyla is getting cabin fever. But I was determined this morning that we were going to have a fun morning and my daughter would come to enjoy rainy days like I do. So I started a project I have wanted to do for a while. Paper bag alphabet puppets! Yeay! Lyla has been

progressing pretty well in the ABC song and she knows what letters are so now we just have to connect the dots, and what better way to do it then color your own puppet! I am going to be picking things that are important to Lyla and posting them on here as we progress. Today we did an Alligator because

1 - we live in florida (Go Gators)

2 - Lyla loves seeing them at the zoo

3- everytime we go on our walk she insists on stopping and staring at our neighbors gator lawn ornaments, yes our neighbors have gator lawn ornaments, and then she points and says gator, gator, gator about a billion times.

oh and I almost forgot!

4- Because she loves the Disney show "will you teach my Alligator manners?" that's an important one.

so there you go. Feel free to print, color and paste this alligator to your own lunch sack!

We really enjoyed it, especially the part where the alligator munched on the little girl fingers!

*If you want other kid crafty fun things to do check out this girls blog she always has something fun/messy to do with the kiddos!

Download Here

On a totally random side note. I watched this show last night and oh my gosh loved it so much! If you have 45 minutes to kill watch the pilot episode on fox.com!

Indoors

2009-05-20T07:59:00.000-07:00

It has been so rainy and wet here for the last 2 days and is expected to continue for the rest of the week. Perfect stay inside and get creative weather. I even made hot coco the other night and picked up my leg warmer knitting project I started in the winter. I love stormy weather! Here are some video's myself and the hubby have been working on. We will eventually be turning all our home movies into fun little films. Big Love - stay dry!

California winter 2008 from Vanessa Herrema on Vimeo.

Baseball from Vanessa Herrema on Vimeo.

WICKED!

2009-05-02T05:55:00.000-07:00

I went to see Wicked the musical this last week and it was WONDERFUL! It's something I've been wanting to do for a while and when I heard it was coming to town it was too good to pass up. I think "popular" was my favorite part, but the whole thing was pretty great.
I will be posting some of my creative ventures from the last few months very soon! Missed You! Buh Bye for now!

I lemony love you!

2009-02-15T12:42:00.000-08:00

Our Valentines Day was GRRReat! We just hung out all day as a family frosting cookie's and eating chocolate chip pancakes. We had a few love gifts for Lyla and she really enjoyed them. Especially her Curious George doll. What did you do for Valentines?

I learn best from animals!

2009-02-13T18:06:00.001-08:00

This is so cool!

paper pages

2009-02-01T10:48:00.000-08:00

Paper pages from my scrappy weekend! More to come. Trying to get as much done before I get really busy with school.

more digi scrapping

2009-01-31T19:19:00.000-08:00

I've had a scrappy weekend. I still need to take photo's of my paper pages so I'll post those soon. In the mean time here are more digital pages for my childhood album.

Still Life

2009-01-26T06:52:00.001-08:00

My first School project is due today. I had to do a still life photo series. It had to tell a story, so I went with a fairytale. I guess I took the assignment quite literally. It was fun to play with the lighting to try and create that fairytale glow. When I turn it in it won't be framed but I love danielle thompsons frames so much that I'm always looking for a chance to use them.

Prez Obama

2009-01-23T17:14:00.001-08:00

I know this is a little late, but life has been crazy! Just wanted to say how amazing Lyla and I found the Presidential Inauguration to be. I was actually crying during it! And Lyla was clapping a whooting along with the crowd.

starbucks wreath tutorial & reindeer dog!

2008-12-17T12:24:00.000-08:00

I'm sure everyone who has been in Starbucks this season has seen the beautiful yarn wreaths and decor. I love how it looks and was of course inspired to make a look alike with a little Vanessa twist. So here is my first tutorial kind of going through how I did it.First I wound yarn around plastic dollar store ornaments (they were much cheaper then styrofoam balls).
Then I used floral wire to twist the back of the ornaments to a metal circular wreath (you can buy these items at any craft store). Keep doing this until you've achieved the desired effect. Then you can use a glue gun to attach more ornaments, glitter, or whatever. personally I wanted a more simplistic look so I attached a white bow and some feathers to the bottom of mine. Your beautiful wreath is complete! This Christmas we are not going "home" for the holidays, so we will be skyping with family a lot this year. The other night we shared holiday goodness (tamales and eggnog ice cream) with my brother in California! Yum Yum good! I said last time I was in the mood to scrap but I am in the middle of changing desks so my scrap area is a mess. Last night I could no longer fight the urge, so instead of cleaning my desk i made this on the computer! It was a tough choice to make, clean or digital scrap and I feel good about my choice!
Lastly I leave you with this video my mom sent me, to put you in the holly jolly spirit!

Baby Shower

2008-12-15T18:46:00.001-08:00

Here are some photo's from the baby shower I helped throw for my friend! I have been in the mood to scrapbook and I finally have some time so I will be hopefully posting some new layouts soon. Happy Monday!

Schools Out for the Winter!

2008-12-11T09:23:00.000-08:00

Yay! I just finished my final project for my final class I just have to go turn it in tonight! Yay then I can come home and start thinking about all things wonderful like my friends shower I'm throwing, Christmas, and this wonderful new fun thing I want to play with, also my mom gets in to town on the 20th, O happy days are here! I have loved school, but I am definitely going to enjoy my break!

December How I Love Thee!

2008-12-01T20:33:00.001-08:00

My creation
Originally uploaded by avherrema

YOUR HERE! YOUR HERE! YOUR FINALLY HERE!

Black Friday decorating!

2008-11-29T12:35:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving weekend! Hope everyone had a fabulous Turkey day. Well despite the commercial pressure to get out Friday for crazy shopping I slept in until 10, my wonderful husband got up with Lyla and started prepping the living room so we could paint. I'm really happy with how the color came out. Now we just need to find some working couches that will match, I want to go with either yellow, brown, off white/khaki or gray. We'll see but until then here is what it looks like with the new paint.This sofa make's me want to learn how to reupholster furniture! AMAZING! I LOVE IT!

fall accordion book

2008-11-17T07:39:00.000-08:00

First of all Happy B-day to my Momma And baby brother Skylar. I'm so glad you were both born today and that God put you both in my life. You both bring me so much joy and happiness!

This is the fall picture project I was talking about. I did 4 4x6 digital scrapbook pages and attached them in an accordion book style. Then I decorated the cover and sent them as gifts to those I love. Hope they like them, and get them before seeing this. I will take picture of the actual project and would like to have a digital download at sometime but I am still figuring out how exactly to do that.Also my Church showed this video on Sunday and it was amazing, convicting, challenging and just all around awesome. Makes you want to be a part of the change.

Happy Monday!

I Heart Paint!

2008-11-07T11:31:00.000-08:00

We had so much fun today getting messy! Lyla loved painting with the homemade edible paint we made and the weather was perfect for it. Here are some of my favorite shots.

I will be scrapping these at some point but probably not for a little while since I am currently super busy. Right now I am working on a fall picture project and also have a big final logo project due in my graphic design class. The Holiday season is coming and I am getting so excited about it this year. If you want to make these paints at home it is super easy.
2 cups Flour
2 cups cool water
mix together then divide in bowls and add food coloring
Have Fun!

Lyla's August Birthday

2008-11-03T16:58:00.000-08:00

It's taken me a while to post these pic's but I still have to do it cause they are so dang cute. My amazing friend Christina took the photo's and I used this program to make them polaroids just for funzies!

New Hair

2008-10-23T21:39:00.000-07:00

I love getting my hair done! Today a friend did my hair and I think it came out really cute!Aaron likes it too!Also, here is a sneak peak of things to come. I have been decorating Lyla's new room in our new home. These cute vintage lamps I found at a garage sale have been my inspiration.

Something I Love

2008-10-05T15:14:00.000-07:00

Well I decided to enter the PageMaps scrapbook contest. I had to scrap "something I love" using the page map below. By the way this site is such a great jumping off point for any scrapper, it totally helps you get ideas that look great! Wish me luck!

Pages Pages Pages

2008-10-03T07:26:00.000-07:00

Catching up on posting some pages I've done. Wish I could scan them, for better quality, but my scanner is too small. Anyone have any suggestions on how to take better pic's of you pages?

Aaron's B-day

2008-09-23T20:09:00.000-07:00

We had a Heroes Party in honor of Aaron's BIG 28 B-day and also because of the season 3 premier of Heroes (which was awesome by the way)! All I have to say is OMG Sylar!!!! Happy Birthday Aaron! You make a great He-Man!

Jack & Jill are dingbats

2008-09-14T15:54:00.000-07:00

I've started school and it's been pretty great. Really helping me get my creativity flowing in new different ways. I recently had a project where I had to storyboard the Jack & Jill nursery rhyme using the above dingbats that the teacher picked out. a very interesting process and here was my result.

old pages

2008-08-25T22:14:00.001-07:00

When I first started scrapbooking last year these were some of the first pages I did. I'm hoping to eventually post most of my pages seeing as this is primarily a scrapping blog, but like most of my generation I have ADD and can't sit still doing one thing for too long.

Back to School!

2008-08-24T21:46:00.000-07:00

I can't wait to start my graphics classes this week. I was playing around on photoshop tonight trying to get the Tvt camera affect on some of my photo's. I love how they came out! I'll have to do some scrapbook pages using this affect.

Ally & Shawn

2008-08-02T00:13:00.000-07:00

My childhood friend Allyson Price was married today to Shawn Willhite. It was such a privilege to stand beside her as she committed to love, honor and serve Shawn. It was a beautiful ceremony, I didn't get many pictures of Allyson :( but hopefully I will be able to get some later from the photographer. Ally I love you, and I wish you and Shawn all the happiness and love this life has to offer.

round your corners

2008-07-25T09:55:00.000-07:00

Well I'm in Cali for a friends wedding and had some down time so I decided to finally learn how to make rounded corners for my photos on Photoshop. I really like how it looks! I googled "how to make rounded corners on photoshop" and this is the video tutorial I found. Pretty easy!

Great weekend find

2008-07-15T07:54:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in a while, I've been busy finishing up projects I hope to soon be showing you. I went with a friend to a local art & craft fair last weekend and both of us were so disappointed because most of the stuff there was not handmade but rather bought from China and such, where have all the artists gone? But I guess who needs fairs when there's etsy . Speaking of which I am working on some things and I hope to be opening my own shop very soon. Anyways after the not so great arts & crafts fair we went to a local antique shop and I found the perfect wall display for my dishes that my mom made for me. I love love love how it looks and will now be searching far and wide for the perfect buffet table to go under it. Happy Tuesday!

paperbag book

2008-06-27T12:57:00.000-07:00

I started this project before my brother died, originally intending to give it to him as a birthday gift. It was really hard to finish, mostly because I hadn't done any journaling and had to put everything in the past tense, but I'm really happy with how it came out. I've made two copies. One for my mom and one for Lyla, so she can remember her uncle KC and how much he loved her.

Oregon

2008-06-23T08:08:00.000-07:00

I went to Oregon last week with my Mom and her friend Joann. It was beautiful! We stayed in a beautiful cabin in the mountains near Joseph at a wellness center. We did a body cleanse, the whole juice fast and massages. This is the site if you are interested in doing a body clense at some point. The pictures of Lyla were taken on Fathers Day, which we missed spending with Aaron but Lyla wore her "favorite things" shirt in honor of Daddy!

Bella

2008-06-07T21:17:00.000-07:00

I saw a beautiful movie tonight, Bella. If you haven't seen it yet rent it! Watch the preview here.

A Berry Good Week

2008-06-04T20:03:00.000-07:00

I've been keeping really busy lately. I've been doing a lot of pages that I will be posting soon. In addition I finally bought a canning pot and attempted my first ever canning venture. I made Strawberry-Almond Chutney which was super yummy. I got the recipe from this book. We had it with some awesome Indian Curry with coriander rice. Then I went blueberry picking on Saturday. It was so much fun! It was so peaceful and serene. I would advise anyone who has not gone berry picking to do it at least once. Check out this site to find a berry farm near you! So as you can imagine I have been baking blueberry pancakes & muffins for the last few days non-stop! I love this time of year!

Key Lime Cupcakes

2008-05-24T08:18:00.000-07:00

I made Key Lime Cupcakes the other day and they were very yummy. I got the recipe from this site, but I didn't use their frosting recipe. I kinda fiddles around with that and it came out pretty good. I mixed together
4oz softened cream cheese
4 Tbsp softened butter
2 cups powder sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp key Lime Juice
Then after I frosted the cupcakes I sprinkled Lime Jello on top and added lime juice to my water spritzer for scrapbooking and spritzed the tops of the cupcakes to make the lime jello stand out. It was fun and I brought them to a BBQ where they were a big hit.

Pesto Presto!

2008-05-19T11:48:00.000-07:00

I made my first item from my fresh herb garden this afternoon. This is my beautiful basil that I made pesto out of minus the cheese and put it on my Lean Cuisine sandwich for lunch. It made it a little less Lean but much more Cuisine!

This is a Scrapbook page I made for a friend who was recently Baptized. She is redoing her room using a brown & blue color scheme, so this is my contribution!
Lyla and I went to the park today and she had her first ride on the swings. She wasn't quite so sure about it at first, but by the end she was laughing hysterically. It was so much fun!

KC's Birthday

2008-05-18T18:33:00.000-07:00

To Casey on his 21st Birthday.
I wish you were here.
The Angels destroyed the Dodgers.
Big Bear Hug! Love you!

Amy & Don's Wedding

2008-05-18T18:18:00.000-07:00

My good friend Amy was married yesterday. The wedding was like a fairytale. It was set at a park right along the river where sailboats were passing by. It was such a beautiful day and everyone looked amazing especially Amy. I have to post a few of the photo's I took. Congrat's Amy and Don I wish you all the joy and love in the world.

Mother's day etc.

2008-05-16T09:16:00.000-07:00

A card I worked on yesterday. I heart owls!

This was my first Mothers day and It was wonderful!!! I made paper boxes with homemade fudge for the mothers I see every week who continue to inspire and teach me what it means to be a mother. You Rock ladies!
My Husband did an awesome job this year. He made me breakfast in Bed and then presents!! Lyla gave me the Juno soundtrack and Across the Universe the movie. And Hubby gave me a new bible. The NASB edition, one I've really wanted, my favorite translation that I always have to go on the internet to read at www.biblegateway.com. Anyways, It was an awesome day. I'm still working on my mother's present. But I will post that after I am done and she has safely received it.

Transplant day!

2008-05-13T12:05:00.000-07:00

It appears I may have a bit of a green thumb! Today I successfully transplanted the last of my herb garden I started over a month ago. Sadly the lavender, mint, and dill did not survive. Still three out of six for a beginner gardener, I have to say I am pretty proud of my little garden

Too Busy to Blog

2008-05-05T11:51:00.000-07:00

Did a few more digital scrapbook pages recently. I've been crazy busy and distracted lately so I haven't had a chance to post in forever. So My Garden is coming along swimmingly and I've had the chance to finish some projects and start some new ones. I also recently joined a knitting guild through meetup.com. A fun group of people I look forward to getting better acquainted with. Well since a picture is worth a thousand words-

May Day

2008-05-01T07:02:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid every year on May 1st we would make paper baskets and fill them with candy. My job was always to decorate the outside of the paper basket. Then we would place the basket of treats at the door of a friend and knock and hide. You aren't supposed to let them know who gave you the basket. When I tell my friends about this holiday no one has a clue what I'm talking about. We always called it May Day!

digi-what?

2008-04-08T07:15:00.000-07:00

I started my digital scrapbooking today. I was able to scan photo's from my childhood while I was home and am attempting to digitally scrapbook all of them. Here is my first attempt, I'm liking it so far.

I started my long overdue fresh herb garden today. I planted lavender, cilantro, sage, basil, dill & mint. I still plan on buying a rosemary bush and planting it in my yard, I would also like to plant some thyme but I didn't see any at the nursery

I plan on finishing my Easter cards tonight so I can send them out tomorrow morning. Cheesy I know but, never the less, cute!

Lamenting

2008-04-07T20:05:00.000-07:00

Three weeks ago my younger brother Casey died in a car accident. It's hard to describe the way it feels to walk around in this altered universe now. Everything seems dimmer and like it can never be as bright as it was before. This is not the first brother I have lost. Almost 6 years ago my brother David died suddenly from a heart condition we were unaware of. He was only 17 and now Casey at 20 has joined him in heaven. I know that they are both joyful and at peace now. No longer weighed down by the burdens of this world. Oh... but what I wouldn't give to hug them one last time and tell them how much I love them both and how blessed I am to be their big sister.