Friday, February 25, 2011

jillibean cards

Here are a couple of simple five-minute cards . . . take some time this weekend to create something!



Be sure and stop by next week for an Ella giveaway!

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

stampin' up sale!

I've never done this before, but I see other people doing it on their blogs, so I thought I would give my readers first dibs before I sell them on ebay. These are some Stampin' Up! sets that I am clearing out of my craft room. I've put my price on each set which I obtained by averaging what they are selling for on ebay. Stamps are great for KIDS to play with and to make birthday invites, thank yous, etc. For my local friends, the perk is that you can just pick it up from me--no shipping! For my non-local readers, I am happy to ship if you want to add the shipping on. Just email me at johnstonhouse at gmail dot com if you are interested. Here goes . . .

 Paint Prints $4

 Delight in Life $5

 So Very $5

 Simply Circles $5

 Heartfelt Thanks $9

 Alphabet Soup $6

 Congrats $8

 Riveting $5

 Darling Dots $7

 Polka Dots and Paisley $5

 alphabet attitude $7

 alphabet antiques $6


Happy Stamping!

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

heritage designer's challenge week 6

This week, we are focusing on fun and games. What did people do before the Superbowl was around to entertain them? I grew up in Minnesota where Superbowl and World Series parties were huge! Probably because it was too freezing to do anything outside. My dad was a pastor and on Superbowl Sunday afternoon he would invite the congregation to come and watch the Superbowl at church--on the big screen--via projector! (This was before anyone had big screens in their homes.) 

Was it sports you were into or board games?  Did you play any sports in high school, college, or professionally?  If you weren’t into organized sports, did you enjoy hiking, fishing, gardening or any other outside activities? What childhood outdoor games did you enjoy?

I chose to document part of my dad's childhood. He came down with the polio disease two years before the vaccine was invented. He spent much of his childhood in a hospital undergoing various surgeries. He and the other boys in his wing had to come up with creative things to do for fun!

Have a great Tuesday!

Friday, February 18, 2011

january month-in-review and valentines


Some of you may know I have the fun job of designing the Month-in-Review kits for Green Tangerines Kit Club. Last year I used many of the sketches from Project 12--a totally fun experience! This year I wanted to use these awesome calendar die-cuts on every layout, so I am doing my own thing. But I am still doing the same concept of Project 12--my entire month of random highlights on one layout. This gets me to scrapbook the everyday ordinary events. Here is January. You can purchase this as an add-on with January's kit.

If you don't know this about our family, we homeschool our kids. This usually means we don't have as much of the party stuff that comes along with holidays--though our homeschool group does celebrate some of them. This semester I have Faith enrolled in a homeschool Kindergarten class. It's a class just for homeschooled kids in which they do "extra" fun school stuff and have a chance to interact with other kids. She goes Tuesday and Thursday afternoons for three hours--and she loves it! On Tuesday they had a valentine exchange. This was my FIRST ever valentine exchange! My oldest is in first grade, but since I've never had either of the girls in a class setting, this was a first for me--I had to do something CUTE--but quick and easy!


I found this adorable idea at eighteen25. It was SO EASY! Just a few clicks in PSE and I was done. The photos are each 4x3 and I put 2 on a 4x6 canvas and had them printed at Costco. The two bags of lollipops I had to buy cost me $5. Total spent on the project: $6.30. And can I tell you they were a HIT!? You could use this idea for birthday party thank yous or some other festive occassion. Thank goodness for other gals who are much more creative than me willing to share their ideas! I love the internet!

p.s. If you use google reader (as I do) you won't have noticed that I finally changed my blog header--after over a year! Figured it was time to have an updated picture of my kids!

Hope you have a great weekend!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

heritage designer's challenge week 5


This week I am challenging you to document a childhood home. I grew up in several different homes. We lived in a house on a creek . . . where several leeches once attached themselves to me, we lived next to some noisy railroad tracks and we lived in a typical suburban home. One thing I remember is that homes back then seemed to be smaller than they are today. I often wonder if that meant less cleaning! I chose to document my grandmother's home. I learned so much about her during this interview.

Document something about a childhood home, either yours or a relative’s home. Here are a few questions to get you started:
  1. What was your childhood house like? Size? Location?
  2. Did you have your own room?
  3. Did you have running water? Electricity? Refrigerator? Toilet? Telephone? Radio? Television? If you didn’t have some of these conveniences, what was it like when these were installed?
  4. Did you have a vegetable garden? Fruit trees? Were they canned? Did you have a cow for milk? Chickens for eggs?
  5. What kind of chores did you have around the home? Did you do them before or after school? What did you do for fun?
If you are local, stop by the Green Tangerines blog for more details on how to participate. Have a great Tuesday!

Monday, February 14, 2011

ella sale!

Happy Valentine's Day! We surprised Tim at work this morning and brought him homeade cookies, cards and a balloon. The girls and I have been talking about surprising him for two weeks and they actually kept the secret!


Want to treat yourself on Valentine's Day? Check out the sale that Ella is having today! Buy two eBooks and get one free! 


This is one of my personal favorites! And you don't have to be a scrapbooker to enjoy it! Go check it out! The sale lasts through tomorrow!

Friday, February 11, 2011

snowflakes

While I can't contribute to all the blizzard talk it seems most of the country has been experiencing (today it got up to 67 degrees), here is the next best thing . . .


The girls spent several days last week cutting out snowflakes for their room. They were SO excited when I said we could hang them from their ceiling! Oh to be a kid again!

Hope you have a great weekend!

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

heritage designer's challenge week 4


It's week 4 of the Heritage Challenge I am hosting at Green Tangerines. I'm enjoying digging through old photos every week. Now that I have a Mac computer with a camera, I can Skype with my parents and show them photos and ask them questions about each one--instead of scanning them all!

I documented my grandparents wedding and honeymoon. I'd done their dating and engagement story last year--you can see that layout here. This week the topic is love. Do you have a great love story to tell? Did your grandmother write love letters to her intended and wait weeks for a response to arrive? What was dating like before email, facebook and texting?! Here are a few questions to get you going:

Document a love story:
  1. How did you first meet your spouse? Was it love at first sight or did you grow into love?
  2. Where did you go on dates? Describe a typical date.
  3. Describe your marriage proposal. What were the words used? Where did it take place? What did your parents say when you told them?
  4. Describe any details about your wedding day. The locations, the clothing, the food, the decorating, the wedding party. Do you remember how much your wedding cost? What memory stands out most from your wedding day?
  5. Did you go on a honeymoon?
  6. Where did you first live as a newly married couple?
  7. How would you describe your spouse? What do (did) you admire most about them?
  8. What do you believe the key is to a successful marriage?
Happy scrapping and have a great Tuesday!

Monday, February 7, 2011

turkey and hummus wrap


Looking for a healthy, low calorie lunch you can make for yourself? This is one of my favorites lately!

Brown rice tortilla from Trader Joe's (gluten free and so good for you) 130 cal.
Sliced oven-roasted turkey from Costco (nitrate/nitrite free) 90 cal.
1 Tbls hummus of your choice (my favorite is Trader Joe's Tomato Basil) 20 cal.
1 oz aged cheddar cheese 110 cal. (you can use a lower fat cheese if you want less calories)
Lettuce and tomatoes--these calories don't count!

Total calories: 330

Put it all together, wrap it up, and you have a YUMMY lunch! Enjoy!

Friday, February 4, 2011

thanksgiving


Showing you all of my 2010 month-in-reviews got in the way of showing you my January Kit Club layouts. And now it's February and I should be showing those layouts. Ssheeesh! I'll get it together soon. Here is one of my favorite layouts that I made with the kit. I love the turkey hands because they showcase my children's hands at their current age. Getting Seth to hold still for paint without squishing his fingers together was quite the trick!



I hope you have a fabulous weekend! We have plans to head up to the snow!

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

heritage designer's challenge week 3


It's week 3 of the Heritage Challenge I am hosting at Green Tangerines! This week is all about community. The rollerskating rink was one of THE places to hang out when I was growing up. I would spend entirely too much time agonizing over what to wear to a skate day. Usually I ended up wearing the outfit with the most neon colors I could find! What I loved more than the skating itself, was the time to meet up with my friends and catch up on each others lives—this was a pre-email and texting era! 
This week I documented the impact my great-grandfather had in his community. He was the designer and builder of the Community Hall that hosted community dances for years to come. The 1937 building is still standing today, but I couldn't find a picture of it in my files or online. So, I did the next best thing. I snagged a satellite photo of where it stands today. 
If you can't find a particular photo of a location you wish to document, check out this great satellite view website!
Here are a few questions to get you thinking about community:
How did you get involved in your community while growing up? How often did you meet up with people in your neighborhood? How did you keep in touch? How did you support one another when times were hard? What are some fun things you did with people in your community? Were any special relationships or friendships formed out of some of these gatherings?

As always, leave me a link to your blog if you have a heritage layout you'd like to share!



Tuesday, February 1, 2011

CHA highlights

I am back from CHA and I'm totally exhausted! Seeing all the latest and greatest is fun, but what is more fun for me is having a little "girl" time with a couple of my favorite people! After the tradeshow on Saturday, Kelly and Paula took me out for my birthday to a fabulous Mexican restaurant--El Torito Grill. Yum!


As we were leaving the restaurant, we came across two police cars that were left running. The policemen were inside the restaurant eating . . . so strange that they left them running. Anyway, Paula thought it would be fun for me to get "arrested" on my birthday. So, Kelly and I quickly posed. Kelly actually looks like she knows how to "spread 'em,"she even hung her head down. I however look like I am dancing! Ha!


There was tons of eye candy at the show, much of which I will be sharing over on the Ella blog next week sometime. Here are a few that I'll share now:


It was so fun to meet Wendy and Angie from Ella along with a couple of the Ella Friends! They were all so nice and fun to talk with. I only wish I'd had more time to hang out and chat. Keshet--the picture I have with you and Jennifer did not turn out--maybe one of you can email it to me? Pretty please? 


I just had to share this dress . . . made completely out of buttons! Wow!

I got home Monday at noon and this is the birthday party I came home to  . . .




Faith said she wanted to throw a "rainbow" party. She was wearing a rainbow dress, they got rainbow streamers at the party store, made a rainbow cake, made rainbow party hats and colored me rainbow pictures. They took me out to lunch as soon as I got home. It was a fun family reunion and birthday party!