Saturday morning Jam session

Sometimes I think I'm as addicted to my kid as I am to coffee.

I don't really care to waste time wondering if that's good to bad, but in the meantime... I thought it'd be nice if we had some photos of us doin' what we do when we're hanging at home on a saturday morning.  This jam session happened after we built a snow fort in the living room.  We froze our toes off the day before so I decided to be lazy and just bring the snow in so I could enjoy coffee and the couch while she enjoyed the snow.  

I think it's important to stop organizing, stop packing, stop worrying, stop everything and just enjoy being exactly where you are right this moment.

I usually forget that and just run around the house like an  angry person and stay up all night fretting and scheming.
So for my new year, I'm going to not plan to do anything or stop doing anything.  I'm going to just try to remember to enjoy what I have today, and realize that I can live with much less.

And I'm going to put down all the sad pages...





Along with the happy ones.



I'm still trying to get my december daily mini album finished, so I'll get to that...  it's just these darn impromptu photo shoots that get me side-tracked!



I feel like I don't know what the heck I scrapbooked about before Eleanor?  I don't know what I did? lol.  I know all parents say it, but it's so true...  have no clue what life used to be before I had a kid.  All I do know is that it's so much better.  No matter what hard times we're going through.

:)  xo Fitts

Apple seedy yes indeedy!

So despite the back of the hand slapping we always receive when we go here, we somehow ended up back at Russo's in Chesterfield for Apple picking this year.
We thought about not going and trying another place but... we thought misbehaving again at the same farm is more fun than behaving at a new farm?!
We think at least. Next year we'll discuss again briefly and then probably end up back there letting our kids ride in the wagons, move the gourds out of place, and throw hay.


Eleanor knows how to spell her name, but I don't think she knows how to spell mine.. which made it funny when I realized the wagon she picked had my name on it. Yes, that's how you spell Fitty on wagons.  On the interwebs it's F  I T T Y.  Wagons, K A R E N.  Got it?  Good.    And Collin on a wagon is spelled K A T H Y.   It has something to do with the Secret National and International Association of people who use wagons for secret agenty purposes.   How do I know about it... heh...

I love how this blog has turned into a big crunchy photo share...  I've been busy but I don't even have to promise that I'll be scrapbooking these pics...  they are just too yummy! I might even do a mini album!



This is the newest member of our clan, Collin.  I just can't stand the adorable that pours outta this one!!!  He's the little nugget belonging to one of my besties Mary.  Right now he's also the easiest to grab shots of because he's not running around chasing other running around boys while throwing rotten apples.  So I was able to snap a few of those bad boy blues!!



Can you stand it!

And with each new pic of Eleanor, I say it's my fav... just like the latest song you wrote, you might as well throw out the rest.. But in this case, I'll be keeping them all. This one reminds me of an Olivia Newton John record album cover... Have YOU never been mellow?



I probably shouldn't point out the dirt smudge on her nose... coz before I wrote that, I was the only one who noticed.



oh, and they have pumpkins too.. all mine lost their stems rolling around the back of my car... :( boo!



Horsey is the ewesh when it comes to what Eleanor carries around with her, but the little sewing kit she found in one of my bags is a new addition. I don't know if she thought she might need to sew some apples back together or something. When we got home she did tell me she was mad at me for not fixing Luke's stuffed Sonic yet... It hasn't been a week yet, but I guess I should get right on top of that. After all it is a neck wound and this is the stuffie ER!!


And with that, the lost boys and I bid you farewell! Happy OCTOBER!!! YAY YAY! I mean HAPPY I WISH IT FELT LIKE OCTOBER AND NOT A RAINFORST THAT MAKES IT HARD TO DECIDE WHETHER TO PUT THE AIR ON IN MY CAR OR JUST LEAVE IT OFF AND FEEL COLD AND STICKY AT THE SAME TIME OCTOBER OCTOBER!

This is me

So last month I took part in an online Studio Calico class called "This is me"with Lexi Bridges. She is awesome, just go check her out!

For some reason, I feel almost wrong scrapbooking about myself... like I'm saying...  "Hey, I think I'm cool!" or something.  It's like a selfie on facebook, you just don't do it unless there's some good reason or you have something ridiculous on your face that covers most of it. I don't know, but I think you all agree, it feels weird to move the direction of the focus off of our family, friends, and pets and onto ourselves.  And if you're a mommy, it's always all about the kids.

What intrigued me about this class was that the goal was to make a mini album. This is something I've never done. Like cards, I had little interest. But I can't lie, I'm now hooked. I love the idea that you don't have to pick out a cover (you can), but you can create the entire thing from scratch.

I cut some chipboard, covered it in fabric and vvvv wwaaa laaa I had the beginning and the end.  Now I just needed to fill it. To do the pic on the cover, I used printable fabric and then sewed it on the cover fabric that I chose before I modge-podged it to the chipboard.

The whole process was pretty dang enlightening. What was I going to include? That was tough... I feel like there are so many things that can be part of someone's life.. things that affect them on a daily basis. Though I felt like cleaning the house was not something that particularly touched me on an emotional level. Though re-organizing does have a way of setting free the endorphins of inspiration!

No, but seriously... I pretty much have to re-arrange my peg board or something before every craft session to get the juices going. It's like magic!

So anyway,  I narrowed my book down into a few catergories:

1. Family: ok, I know... but that's what makes me who I am. My family. And they're the most important. So of course, there's a big spread of my favorite little lady as well as the Hubs and the fuzzys.

The big swingy pic of Roo was also printable fabric. 

2. Interests/hobbies: Basically my crafty adventures using paper and a collection of sewing machines that each have a strength and weakness.. one with the fatal weakness of not working! Yikes!

3.  Music: Besides giving piano lessons, music is a big part of my life. When I was making this book, I decided to collect a handful of artists that I admired and just make a little pic collage. By no means did this include all, but whatever came to mind or what I've been listening to lately. This is where I really got sad... and happy at the same time... because I couldn't remember the last time I just sat and listened to an album... just for the sake of enjoying it. Granted, there's been a lot of disney and nick music blasting in my car due to Roo, but in-between audiobooks, there hasn't been a recent "GOD I CAN'T STOP LISTENING TO THIS SONG!" So I'm on a mission to change that. To make an effort to just listen like when I was a teenager with a new Belinda Carlisle cassette on the bed following along with the lyrics.

 4: Some random current interests/likes.

5: Goal. Yes one goal. To cure my headaches.

6. A short note to my Grams.  She's the one person I think about everyday. She was awesome and I miss her.

It's not over embellished... some pages are down right messy! But I decided not to over-think it and just let it be what it was going to be. So it ended up longer than I imagined, and much more journally than I imagined. I felt like I had so much to say about every page...  and in the end I was re-introduced to myself and I'm now kinda itching to pick up things that I put down throughout the years.

To not do things because I care what people think, or don't think... or say or don't say... but just to do them because it's fun and enjoyable.  To share for the sake of sharing and not worry about who will make fun of me tomorrow...  After all, does it matter? The most important things are the simple ones. So ENJOY them! And don't forget to take pictures!

I know ... I keep saying I'm going to do a workshop and never follow through... but I will! And I think this would be a great first project. So if anyone's up for finding yourselves in June, I'll make it a point to set something up.

Planning is Important!

I say turn everything into a scrapbook! Like your planner!



Peter: "Hey Fitts, you up for roller skating this saturday at 6pm?  All the cool kids will be there!"

Me: "Yea sure, that sounds off the chain! Or should I say, off the left side wheels on my right foot! I'll be there for sure"

Peter: "Cool franks!  I'm so glad you could come, Wendy is going to be there and she hasn't seen you in like... EONS!"

Me: "No way! That's awesome!  I can't wait to catch up with her!"

and then my friend Mo texts me and says "ARE YOU SO EXCITED ABOUT GEORGE'S WEDDING TO PRINCESS BEAUTIFUL THIS SATURDAY!!!" 

and then I check my planner calendar thingie shoved in my way too many notebooks bag and there it is with little flower and heart stickers surrounding it. "George and Princess Beautiful get married"

So anyway, I'm on yet another mission to make my planner so damn cute that I can't go  a day without adoring it's pages and consuming the dated information!

Well, off to werky...  Have a FUN Wednesday and stay dry if you're in Jersey like me!

xo

Sometimes... the day before is better than the day of...

Sometimes your daughter has a 3rd birthday.  Actually, it normally only happens once.  After 3, sometimes it skips 4 and goes right to 5... but it never goes back to 3 again. And you're at your moms house because she always has a picnic on labor day, so you bring your newly 3 year old daughter and you also bring your camera because you think you're gonna get some really good pics of her on the exact day she turns 3. But then it turns out to be the yuckiest most HUMIDIFIED day ever there was the whole summer and  your daughter spends the entire day in the pool with TURNY... (i love when nicknames evolve out of mispronunciations from toddlers ) .  Should be Tierney.  :)

So let's just say the birthday pics were a wash...  but the dancing vids from that day will be cherished!

Luckily the day before, I just happened to tote my camera to my friend Michelle's house for her son's 4th birthday party...  and sitting across from Roo, I was able to snap a series of her eating her philly swirl push up pop.  Though I could've easily included 15 pics, I chose my 5 faves and smooshed em into an instagram collage and then cut em apart after I printed them. And this is probably to be my last layout of summerness that I'll do until next year.



So just this past August I

finally got my hands on some Studio Calico kits.  So this is mostly from the August one ... or the September one... I'm not really sure because Roo mixed them together...

But hopefully I can dedicate some pages to just one kit exclusively..  because I LOVE THEM.

And I'm trying a new thing where I just kinda ...  turn off the brain and just go with it.  Ya know how when you think too hard, you just get frustrated and end up with nothing. This way, I just throw it all down and then edit later. Because after you've thrown down, inspiration surely follows and you suddenly just start getting ideas.

To make these sunshiney spotty lights, I used this simple app called "Bokehful".  You can make them in a few different shapes.. the hex is my fav...  as is prob. for most.

If I ever get a new iphone... I fear I may abandon my camera all together because between the apps and the ever-evolving quality of photos it takes...   I may just lose the need...

I've also been addicted to foam adhesives lately.  I feel this need to make things pop out..  So there are several different heights going on with the photos.  You can probably tell from the shadows... a couple are flat... then some are off the page a little, and some a little more.



There are some things in the works that me and my hubs are trying to plan.  Maybe some workshops or collage clubs.. lol.  But we'll keep you posted.  Would love to get together with some of my local friends and make some art!

Digital scrap

 

I know I've mentioned this before, but it just got easier...

 

Close to my heart has this great ONLINE software you can use to make digital scrapbook pages.  You have a lot of artistic freedom like you always did, but now they've got what they call "express layouts". 

So if you don't want to think, you don't have to!  They've made layouts for you that are adorable!

 



There are a bunch to choose from, you just pick the one you want, and slide your pictures over onto it. 



And when you slide in your photo, you'll see this window pop up with more options for editing your photo.  You can change it to sepia or black and white. You can zoom in or out.  You can crop, rotate, and matt it!



And the prints come out beautiful.  I've made books on snapfish, shutterfly, walgreens, cvs, blurb, and Studio J.  And I've loved every one of them.  But the biggest difference I noticed between the photo sites and Studio J is the quality of the photos.  The pages in my photo books seemed to have faded over time and my Studio J prints are still as bright as when I first got them.  They are 12 x 12 high quality prints. Perfect to just slide into your favorite scrapbook.  Also a nice idea to make one here and there and add it into your project life books.

So check it out, play around!  I know you'll love it if you have very little time and want to make something special!

STUDIO J

CLOSETOMYHEART

 

TADA!!!

Thanks Ernie.

We had a blasty blast!

Just collaging some memories in my smash book of my bad parenting. Heh. Ok. I don't think it was bad...
I'm sure everyone takes two year olds to concerts. Actually... She was weeks away from 3 so even better!

Yay! Thursday night!
Cha cha cha!

Little girls... *sigh*

I'm going to try to enjoy this time while I have it.

-While she still lets me take 700 photos in a day.

-While she helps me with the outside work.

-While she doesn't mind getting dirty.

-While she thinks watering the vegetables warrants a "special" outfit. (well, that probably won't change... )

   and I'm pretty sure those   hand dimples will be gone soon... 

 

So I went to a scrapbook expo yesterday, and I have to say there was little to inspire.  No real trendy stuff going on, but it was still fun to walk around and browse.  There was one stand that stood out, www.jbsmercantile.com.  I would said besides the october afternoon booth, this was one of the only other that I spent some real minutes at.  So I'm definitely going to check out some more online.  The two little cards popping out of the top of this layout are from Jenni Bowlin.  Super cute vintage style stuff. 

I had started this layout friday night, then finished it up this morning. I had so many good photos from last saturday that I was hard to just use one here, but I think this one stands alone quite well. 

The main thing here is a popped up layered look.  I used some Color mist Sprinklers from October Afternoon to mist the background.. Actually, I misted the background and on top of all the pieces, so the photo ended up with some ink on it, but I just wiped it off her face and left most of the rest of it.   The spraying water in the photo already kinda looked like that, so I figured it really didn't make a difference.
 

  

 
So Eleanor and I had a fun couple weekends.  Now we have to get work on July 4th stuff,  she'll need a special outfit I'm sure.  She's already asking me when we're going to make her Princess Dress.  (every dress is a princess dress to her...   and her puma sneakers she calls her ballerina shoes...  ?) 
 

 
Like I said, I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts and I wish it could last forever...  Little girls are just sooo stinkin cute!

Made by Fitty Layout for LIKES drawing!

Made by Fitty facebook page

Made by Fitty Prize drawing for Likes

Ok, on a mission to boost some MADEbyFITTY webstats!  SO I'm GIVING AWAY a custom 12 x 12 scrapbook layout, made to order, with your photos!  Just hit the "like" button on my facebook page.  That's it!

And all likers, current and new will be tossed into a bag on friday, and the liker I pull gets the prize.

And thank you to all my current customers, It's great to have been crafty with you!

Also, don't forget, I now offer my services through Etsy, so buy someone a special gift for that new baby!  Or that couple about to take the plunge!  Or that friend whose kid just does the funniest stuff! Or if you book just needs some help bulking up...

Good luck!!

 

Catching up on babyness

So I was re-organizing my photo collection and came across these from when Eleanor was about 7 months old. I can't believe she was such a ham already... Well, she was a canned ham, and now she's pretty mobile.

So we started kinda like this... a couple papers, a water squirty pen thing... and some watercolors.
You can see a couple stages of the flowers in this photo. I cut out 2" scalloped circles, wet them with the squirty pen (any spayer will do... even dabbing a little water and letting it soak in). After they're good and wet, crinkle em up into balls. Let em' sit a few minutes, then open em' up. Don't open em' flat because you want that wrinkled look. You can actually start to shape them at this point to how you'd like them to dry.

And though I have the worst handwriting in parts of the world... I love sloppy handwriting for scrapbooking. It just becomes another embellishment. ya know... I hate the word EMBELLISHMENT. I don't know why. It's like... too good for itself or something. embellish... maybe we should shorten it to bellish. Let's BELLISH THAT PAGE! But that page is nothing like a bell although if it chimed, I'm sure it'd sound like Elvis on a tuesday night. Saturday has a higher probability for brain-power diminishing activity. Then again... shut up fits.


Long story short... and without further interruption.

FREE GIFTS FROM GOD

Folks...  when God leaves perfectly good books on the sidewalk at 2am... yes that's right, please deliver them to my front porch. HA!
ok fer serious...  I flippin love books,  the older the better, and the freer, the better.

 And if you leave them outside your house in the dark, I will take them. And if I don't read em, I will cut them up and glue the words together in compromising orders! Or I will rip out their guts and use their spines for wall art! And there will be nothing you can do about it! So keep your books tight if you don't like the sound of that....