Magic wands , originally uploaded by byjen . So life's been crazy here but really that's no different than usual. I'd like to say things should be settling down, but I'm realizing that's not really true. We are just a few short weeks from the start of the school year. And then before you know it, it will be fall. I can't tell you how excited I am about the fall. I love the crisp, cool Sunday afternoons with football on in the background. Or baking with apples and pears. I love the smells of nutmeg and cinnamon. Or decorating for Halloween and planning Rebecca's birthday parties (she's a Halloween baby). And then Thanksgiving... And then CHRISTMAS!! I absolutely adore Christmas time. I know I'm getting ahead of myself, but it's hard not to when you set foot in stores like JoAnn's with their fall decorations or Wal-mart with it's school supplies. But even with all the excitement ahead, I wouldn't mind a little bit of simple first. So I...

Birth Day , originally uploaded by byjen . My baby girl is 3 years old today (yes, her birthday party was early)! I can't believe how fast time flies.

Dream Big , originally uploaded by byjen . "All your dreams can come true if you have the courage to pursue them." ~Walt Disney Have a great weekend everyone. Next week I hope to share just a bit more princess from Kat's party. And I'm thinking some Christmas in July would be fun, so make sure to visit me here and on Etsy for the holiday fun.

Dress Cookies , originally uploaded by byjen . One of the many princess things we made for Katherine's party was dress cookies. We had cupcakes, but Rebecca really wanted to make these, too. We used a dress cookie cutter from an American Girl dessert book that she found and fell in love with months ago. She loves girly dresses and she loves desserts, so it's the perfect combination. We decorated our dresses using royal icing squeezed from Wilton squeeze bottles . I can't tell you what a great find these bottles were. Bags and even other squeeze bottles have been hard for the girls to manage (especially Katherine), but with the Wilton bottles both girls can easily decorate the cookies. Christmas cookies should be fun.

Katherine's 3rd Bday Party , originally uploaded by byjen . We had Katherine's 3rd birthday party this past Sunday and it was a great success! I hope to share more, but I am pooped. Poor Katherine ended her big party day with a fever, that just now went away this morning. So we need some extra sleep at our house, but unfortunately today's a work day. Soon we'll get some sleep....I hope.

L ast night I got a little bit burnt out on princess party prep (yesterday was house cleaning stage, not my favorite), so I decided to take the night off and watch a little bit of TV after the girls went to bed. Earlier in the week I had already managed to watch my usual summer stuff, the Next Food Network Star and HGTV Design Star , so I had to hunt for something to watch. Well I ended up watching the first half of the Hannah Montana Movie . Now I am not a Miley Cyrus fan or a Hannah Montana fan. I mean have never watched an episode of Hannah Montana. But I seem to be a sucker for tween/teen movies. I love the Princess Diaries (especially the second one) and I even enjoy the High School Musicals , but normally I would never admit this. I think I'm drawn to the innocence of these movies. And the music. I do love musicals. I guess these movies are the closest we get to musicals nowadays, other than Moulin Rouge  (which I loved as well). Nonetheless, I would classify these movies a...

If you asked me, I would have to say I am not that good with words. Spoken. Written. Doesn't matter. It is surprising to me at times since I'm a rather sensitive and emotional person. I would think I should be able to express myself through words better. But I don't. In fact sometimes it's downright uncomfortable for me to find the right words. If I take a look at my family though it makes sense. I believe I've said this here before, but we're more of an express-ourselves-through-action kind of family. So it's interesting to me, as I make art, that words almost always find their way into my pieces, whether it be the simplicity of a word in my Word Art or a quote with an image . I do love inspirational words and quotes. Both are simple ways for me to express what I am feeling. Blogging has also been a great exercise for me, too. Having just completed Kelly Rae Robert's Flying Lessons , I've been inspired by many fellow flyers and their blogs. Th...

Shhhh (Katherine's birthday present) , originally uploaded by byjen . After the girls went to bed last night I started on a tutu for Katherine's birthday. I hadn't really planned on making her a tutu (although I've always toyed with the idea of making a tutu). But what brought this cute little tutu to be was a chance encounter at JoAnn's the other day. I had the girls with me and we were looking for tulle to use as decoration for our upcoming princess party. And there in the tulle section was a woman filling her basket with all kinds of pink tulle. We started talking and she was making a tutu for herself (she's a in a princess bicycling club). She thought my girls would like the project so she discretely showed me the pattern she was working from (the girls didn't even notice since they were happily playing together). It seemed really doable. So I did a search when I got home and found the exact tutorial here  (and I love the blog discovery, Tea Rose , that...

Tom & Abby's Wedding Gift , originally uploaded by byjen . One of my newest creations has safely reached it's new home, so I wanted to share it here. I've owed this to my sister-in-law, Abby, for over a year now, and finally creative inspiration struck and I finished it. I haven't had the chance to talk with Abby, but I've heard she loves it. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, too. I had to rearrange the letters and their names a couple times, but with some input from my daughter Rebecca and my hubby Daniel we got it figured out. I'm glad you like it Abby & Tom =) I'm also excited right now because my younger daughter, Katherine, is turning three later this month so birthday party prep has begun. I'm actually a little surprised to say she's requested a princess party. I've always thought of her as my little Diego, sharks, and dragons fan, but lately a little more girl has been coming out. So prep has begun for a fun princess ...

July 4th Parade , originally uploaded by byjen .

Dreaming , originally uploaded by byjen . Here we are. July 1st. Can you believe it, another year is halfway through? So am I where I want to be? Yes and no. I suppose that will always be true. But with it being the beginning of the month I think maybe I need to set some goals for the month. As I try to form a list in my head, I realize that a lot of my goals are still the same because I am having difficulty making them happen. Well it's time to " believe " I can make the change necessary to achieve my goals. So what do I wish to achieve this month? 1. Finish reading through all the amazing course material for Flying Lessons , especially the part on time management. Because wouldn't you know it, I am 3 weeks behind. It's so hard not to get distracted by all the lovely websites/blogs and art and books, etc.. 2. Start making a daily list of goals and working on them first before allowing myself to get off task. 3. Start weekly meal planning so that my family a...

Turquoise Favorites , originally uploaded by byjen . Red has been my favorite color for years, but lately I have been gravitating towards turquoise. It's such a vibrant color. It just makes me happy. So I was inspired to collect a little bit of happy on flickr with this mosaic. It was a lot of fun to find all these photos. The center photo is one from my friend Kenna . And the adorable camper is from a t-shirt made by Peculiar Momma whom I met through Flying Lessons . And of course there's a little Kelly Rae Roberts . I would have added Donna Downey if she was on flickr, too. She uses a lot of turquoise in her work. I found a lot of fun pictures. Like the converse and the glasses--both are very "me." What color is inspiring you lately?

I have been wanting to make a "Taking Flight" piece for quite a long time now. And here it is! I just love how it turned out. I haven't decided its fate though. "Taking Flight" is of course inspired by Kelly Rae Roberts , her book , and now her e-course . I was first introduced to Kelly Rae Roberts by way of the first Word Art I sold on E tsy in March last year. When I saw her art, it was love at first sight. And when I saw she had written a book, I rushed out to get it and I adored that, too. So I wanted to make a piece that I could somehow share with Kelly Rae Roberts to thank her for her inspiration. I did get sidetracked, but now with the e-course the need to make it reemerged. Last year I started making these words for friends and family. The first few were reminders of our word for the year (inspired by Ali Edwards ). Then a few baby gifts, then a few to sell and so on. I made them using craft supplies I had piling up, since I seemed to like to coll...

My creation , originally uploaded by byjen . This past Monday night I had the pleasure of getting crafty with a small group of friends. We've been meeting once a month for a couple months now, and this month it was my month to come up with a project. So I thought it would be fun to share the process of my word art. Everyone did really great and we all had a good time. For so long I have longed for crafty friends, so its nice to have found a group of women interested in making things and learning new techniques. I look forward to seeing what we make next month. (And I look forward to seeing Paula finish her "Embrace" tomorrow when we get together for even more crafty fun this week). And speaking of crafty fun, don't forget to enter the Freedom Word Art Giveaway ! I'll announce the winner Saturday!

As I mentioned in my previous post, I have recently been inspired by fellow bloggers,  Christi  and  Jen .  I'm hosting a giveaway! One lucky reader will win my Freedom Word Art. Not only does Freedom represent the the spirit of summer, patriotism, and the 4th of July, but it's also a good reminder to give yourself the freedom to dream, create and be inspired by life. And the winner is Lorrie ! Congratulations!!!

Tonight I got a strong urge to put on my Nikes and go for a walk after the girls went to bed. So I did! Not something I normally do. Something I should be doing, but not something I am doing. Well, all good things have to start somewhere. I am lucky enough to have a community lake to walk around and it was perfect. The weather was perfect, the setting was perfect, and I had the perfect music--Dave Matthews Band! It felt really good to get my body moving and to be outside. And it was also nice to be alone with my thoughts. I definitely need to do this more! And speaking of things I don't normally do, did you see I have now posted 3 days in a row this week? Wow! Kelly Rae's class has been quite the inspiration for trying new things. Stay tuned, I should be posting again this week thanks to inspiration from Jen and Cristi . And before I go, I should mention that today I did give my dad his canvas as you see it in the previous post . It was finished and has been finished fo...

So here's what I have been working on for my dad. It is huge (30" x 40"). For months, the white canvas just stayed wrapped up in the plastic, because I didn't know how to handle it. But I finally found the courage to bust open the plastic and add a little paint and paper. I really like how it has turned out, but I'm not sure whether it's finished. I was working on a large B&W print of my girls to hang in the top 3rd, but now I'm not liking how the photo turned out. The color isn't quite right and the words I've added don't have the same effect I was going for in my head. So now it's back to the drawing board. Or maybe it is finished. Maybe it has been finished. By adding a picture over top, my girls were going to become the art and my artwork was going to fade into the background. But by leaving it as is, I feel a bit exposed, like "Here I am. Here's my art." Hmm....

Camp site , originally uploaded by byjen . This past weekend was quite the whirlwind. 1. Daniel and I had a date night and went to my friend Kenna's nature photography exhibit . Kenna and I met at my very first craft show and have been cheering each other on ever since. I am very excited and inspired by her successes! 2. My mom and I tackled the growing mess in my bedroom. I have been aching for a peaceful escape and my bedroom has not been fitting the need. I wouldn't win the messiest house award, but I am a bit of a collector/hoarder. It's amazing what we got accomplished in a few short hours. 3. I took both girls to Costco by myself and got through a fairly long list. I gave them a little scavenger hunt to work on from the shopping basket while I shopped. Rebecca did the reading and Katherine held the stickers to mark what they found. It was a great success! 4. We set up a camp site in our living room, complete with campfire and fish-filled lake. The girls are l...

Today is my oldest daughter Rebecca's last day of kindergarten. Crazy! Where did the school year go? And where did the 5-1/2 years go from when we brought our new baby home? Time sure does fly...

Just before Memorial Day Weekend I had a few extra days off (due to a change in plans, but that's a whole different story). Now, on those couple days, I actually had some time at home alone. And this never really happens, I mean NEVER. I usually always have one or two little girls running around if I am at home. But somehow I had scored some time at home with not even my husband, so I got to create and relax while the sun was up. One of the things I found myself doing was watching a bit of grown-up TV (no Dora or Diego, etc..). And while flipping through the channels I noticed HSN was having a crafting hour (what are the odds on a day I was actually home and watching). So I checked it out and I found a new toy. I know I shouldn't have, but it just seemed like such a good match for me. I bought a Chip Art Starter Kit designed by Melody Ross , made by GCD studios . I will be able to "deboss" different shapes and words into chipboard, and I love using chipboard letter...