Scrapbooking Christmas Cards

Just wanted to let you know that I did a guest post over at the Come Together Cards blog all about scrapbooking those beautiful Christmas cards you receive each year. Click on over and check it out....and tell Courtney hello while you are there!! Here's a sneak peak:

clean color

I have been following Erin Cobb's blog "The Pig Bear" for quite some time now (still not quite sure why that's the name of her blog??). She is a talented photographer, an amazing mom, and a witty, inspiring blogger....my kind of girl!! So when she finally released her Clean Color workflow video, letting us in on all of her secrets for photo editing, I knew I had to grab it fast. I started watching the video today (it's over 2 hours long, so I still have a ways to go), and then I grabbed a photo from last week's snow day and tried out a few of her tricks.
I still have so much to learn, and I literally did this edit in less than 5 minutes, but I am already so excited about the possibilities!!

BEFORE

AFTER

Not a huge, huge, change....just a little brightening up (and snow photos are notoriously difficult), but for a five minute edit, I am pretty happy with the results. Here's to more learning!!

"studio" ideas

So I have been searching around the net for the past few days getting inspiration for my new scrapbook/craft/reading/art/photography room, and today I came across this:

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!! So now, I am on the hunt for vintage frames of all shapes and sizes that I can spray paint white, add my most favorite photos and hang as a gallery wall in my new space. Thank you Kasey for the inspiration (as usual!!).

monday musings

Today, I feel like a mother with a newborn (despite the fact that my children are 5 and almost 3). Grant has finally realized that he can climb out of his crib, and he is taking full advantage of his new found freedom! Last night, he was up at 3:00am and then again at 6:00am, and although I suppose it could be much worse, my body feels like it has been run over by a very large truck (this is the 4th night in a row that I have woken up at least 3 times during the night!!). Combine that with the fact that we decided to "shake things up" around the Gussio household yesterday, and I am officially ONE TIRED MAMA!!

Excuse the blurry photos taken with my iphone, but I wanted you to get an idea of the complete and total mess that we made at our house yesterday. This is a shot of what used to be our guest bedroom (and will now be Sienna's big girl room) in the process of "demolition." This is our official BEFORE shot, and you will have to wait to see the AFTER photo when I have enough energy to take photos again :)

In other news, I did manage to put together a little project that I have been working on for a few weeks now (I got sidetracked with all the holiday hubub). One of my goals for this year is to put together more Shutterfly books. I still love traditional scrapbooking and Project Life scrapbooking, but I also really love the look of a profesionally printed hardbound book......so here is what I ordered yesterday.

Can't wait till it comes in the mail and I can flip through it!! Happy Monday!

sunday afternoon

1. OK, first of all.....please ignore the state of my blog right now. I started playing around with the design this week and realized very quickly that html code is NOT my friend. That's the bad news. The good news is that I am now in the process of having my little blog re-designed, and I am giddy with excitement about all the changes that are taking place!

2. And because I was so excited about re-designing my blog, I have decided to do a little "re-design" of our house as well. As we speak, the hubby is moving things from one room to another (while I sit back and tell him to be quiet or he will wake Grant from his nap). Here's the plan: The guest room will now become Sienna's room. Sienna's room will now become my studio/reading room (doesn't that sound lovely!!). And the play room will now become an actual play room......without all of my scrapbooking lovelies taking up most of the real estate.

3. Have I ever told you that one of the things on my bucket list is to go to Vermont? When Johnny and I first got married, we had big plans to go there for our one year anniversary, but alas, on our one year anniversary, I found myself pregnant with our first child, so the hubby gave me a Vermont guidebook and an IOU and promised we would go very soon.........seven years later, and we still haven't been!! So I've decided that the only way he can make it up to me is to figure out a way for us to win this year's HGTV Dream Home.......here's some eye candy for you:

I mean seriously people, I could get used to living like that!! A girl can dream right :)

Have a great weekend, and look for a post this week all about how I'm approaching Project Life this year. xoxo

SNOW

Snow in Texas for the second year in a row......the kids are going to start expecting this :)

my sweet boy was much better outfitted this year = he didn't have to wear his sister's pink rain boots

his favorite activity was throwing snow balls at his mama

she had a blast & would have stayed out all day long if we had let her

YUM!!

i took this photo right as the snow was beginning to fall....she had been waiting all morning & was so excited when it finally started coming down (love the 2 different gloves!!)

As I was cruising around a few of my favorite blogs this morning, I came across this quote, and it stopped me in my tracks:

"the experiences you create are the moments that define you."---seth godin

Oh how I believe that to be true!

inspired by....in 2011

Oh how I love a new year, a fresh start, a clean slate! I have a million ideas swirling around in this head of mind: closets to organize, schedules to update, calendars to fill, goals to achieve, memories to make....endless possibilities!

A few things inspiring me lately:

1. I signed up for Ali's One Little Word class, and I am looking forward to finding new ways of keeping my word relevant throughout the year. This year, I chose the word "ENJOY" I really struggled with choosing the "right" word, but after a conversation with my hubby on the way to the airport, he convinced me that this should be the year we focus on enjoyment (and how could I argue with that?).

2. I am completely and totally inspired by these books. Love, Love, Love....can't wait to make them for the 3 loves of my life. I plan on making quite a few Shutterfly books this year (tops on my To-DO in 2011 list).

3. I came home from Florida on Sunday to find the Project Life box on my front porch....so exicted to get started on this project again!! In 2009, I took a photo (almost) every single day. It was tough at times, but I will be forever grateful that I made the effort, and I love looking back at all the memories we created. Last year, I decided to take the year off, and used my Project Life album more as a way to capture bits and pieces of our everyday life with photos thrown in here and there. For 2011, I am back on the picture-a-day bandwagon, and I am really looking forward to it!

i got the Amber edition...can't wait to get it all set-up

4. Have you read this mama's blog yet? I have read and loved Jade's blog for a long time now, and if she is not already on your must-read blog list, she should be!! I am continually inspired by her...she is just like the mama I want to be: simple, fun, sincere, organized, efficient, creative, playful, honest and kind. Check out her living room post-Christmas:

5. If you love organizing as much as I do, you are gonna want to check out this post over at I Heart Organizing.....it's a recap of all the organizational projects she tackled in 2010, and it's full of great ideas.

Hope you are as inspired by these women as I am. Here's to ENJOYMENT in 2011....to adventure, excitement, creativity, vitality, connection, faith, friendship, and love.

and then she was 5

Our sweet little snowflake turned 5 on December 29th, and we celebrated with a Snowflake-themed Soiree. We decorated snowflake cookies, made a snowflake craft, bounced on the bounce house (despite the yucky, rainy, cold weather) and stuffed our faces with all things aqua and red. It was a tad bit crazy getting everything together just 3 short days after Christmas, but in the end (thanks to lots and lots of help from my sweet neighbors), we were able to pull off a fun little party to celebrate a very special girl!!