a little craziness + a beautiful mess

after the storm last week, you'd think life would be a little better. but it really feels like a whirlwind of everything happening all at once!

i started a new job, i'm working on projects, trying to do some summer cleaning (not spring cleaning because i was in school then, but it's the same principle), running errands and theeeen... a three day weekend. how nice! we had a relaxing one, which was great. just hanging out. we also went to the last day of the norman rockwell exhibit at our local art museum which was awesome! unfortunately, i wasn't allowed to take pictures. sad day. but way cool! he's fabulous!

on another note, has anyone downloaded the new app from a beautiful mess?? love it! here's some of my little edited shots since i downloaded it a couple weeks ago. well worth the dollar!

Just some things that make me happy

well friends, i'm nearing the end. next friday I will officially be on summer break. with that comes cleaning projects, more blogging {yay}, 2 weddings, and lots of exciting stuff.

until then, i will be a nutcase. but here are some things that have brightened my day.

 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6

not to mention, my new iPad is currently making me very happy. and so is the moodboard lite app which i made this mood board with. super fun, totally recommend it if you love creating mood boards or are a pinterest fan, or whatever!

have a happy week friends!

foliophoto {link-up} bright

i was almost going to skip this week of foliophoto-ing.

i had no inspiration for the prompt: bright.

but this morning while i was eating breakfast i saw this image and i couldn't resist. i know you have probably been bombarded with images, thoughts, and prayers that go to boston and victims and their families, but i'm adding mine anyways. it's such a tragedy, but things like this continue to bring us all closer to one another, appreciate our loved ones, and come out a little stronger.

i have never been to boston. i don't know what it's like there. but this mug came from some friends who were there recently. i know a family who lives near there. and i found out this morning that my mom spent the first few years of her life a mile away from the explosion. it's a small world, and somehow we are all connected.

i add my prayers to so many of yours.

there is hope for boston.

 camera: iphone | filter: amaro via instagram

next week's prompt: smile

craft time: DIY journal

i know i promised trip updates, but this is more important.

i just finished making my general conference journal for this weekend. i had to share it first... just in case you wanted to make one for yourself. i needed to give you time to make one :) see? more important. 

ok, i found this last week at one of my fave blogs: fox + hazel. isn't it so cute?? check out the full instructions on this bad boy right here.

photo credit to the lovely lady, torrie, at fox + hazel

she is using hers as a way to keep that healthy life style on track. mine is for general conference this week. i will most likely make one for every single one after this because a) they are the perfect size, b) i can have one for every conference and feel better organized and archived, and c) i am slightly obsessed. here's my version:

 

a couple things i did differently than the original:

• my envelope was too big, so i cut it and edged it as follows:
• i took 4 strips of paper 2in wide and  folded them in half. Then bordered my notebook by putting the edges of the envelope inside the fold and sewed around the edges like a hem.
• i also sewed on the piece of lace underneath the front side folded paper and around the edge.
• my title strips are sewn on, too.
• i used 15 sheets of graph paper and no washi tape {but if i had some, you best believe my notebook would have been covered!}.

as you can see, i get a real kick out of sewing on paper. i love the look of it.
hint: if you are going to be sewing paper, i suggest having a needle just for paper. paper will dull your needle just like it does your scissors. 

happy notebooking! and if you decide to make your own, send me any pictures or tag me on instagram! i would love to see.

xo

foliophoto {link up} twins

i feel like i have been a little m.i.a. this week. sorry friends! that's what happens when you go on vacation: you come back and have to do all those things you didn't do when you were gone... like homework that i have been chasing to keep up with all week, church responsibilities {meetings, potlucks, planning, fund raisers, whew!} and getting my house back in order. it's been crazy.

things are finally starting to mellow out... at least as mellow as it was before vacation. so keep an eye out this week for vacation recapping fun! i have lots to share.

in the meantime, it's a foliophoto day! this week's prompt was twins. goodness glaciers. i was racking my brain on this one. and i decided to go with something that just happens to be my most favorite thing about arkansas {besides brock, of course}: flowers!

subject: tulips {see what i did there? TUlips, twins. get it?}

camera: iphone filter: none

i love springtime. all the flowers make me so happy! daffodils pop up everywhere {my faave}, every tree has a different colored bloom, and the air is filled with freshness. don't be surprised if more flowers show up on the blog over the next few weeks. 

next week's prompt: hidden

foliophoto {link-up} memories

it's a foliophoto day!

i hope you have been keeping up! if not, my last two contributions can be found here and here.

this week's prompt, memories, was pretty open to a lot of options. i chose something not so long ago, because it is one of my favorites.

camera: iphone3 | filter: orton via picmonkey

brock and i love love love camping. this was on our first trip camping just us two. i love camping with my family, and brock and i have been with some friends. but it was so great to go last fall, just us. we  drove up the mountain through all the fall-colored trees. we worked together to set up camp {in the dark}. we built a nice cozy fire and roast marshmallows. side-note: we wrapped them in a crescent roll sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and i loooved it. end side-note. and then we spent several hours just talking.

before the sun came up, we woke up and hiked to the edge of the site.mountain to watch the sunrise!

and then this picture took place. we drove down to the lake after a breakfast of fresh fruit and nuts and granola bars. and then we just took pictures. and this was my favorite. in case you can't tell, i took a sneak shot of brock taking photos.

next week is twins. oh buddy... i'm gonna have to get creative. 

a little inspiration

today has just been lame.

i don't really have any other words for it. lots of homework to catch up on. it's been gloomy outside since we got home thursday afternoon {no sunshine!}. i'm not wearing any cute clothes.

it's just a debbie-downer day.

so i decided to award myself, give myself a little pick-me-up, for completing my homework with a project. listening to one of my favorites in the news world {glenn beck, don't judge me!}, i was inspired by his words. i was also inspired by some lovely color combos at one of my favorite color palette sites: design seeds.

this is oh, so true in all aspects of our lives! we can apply this to ourselves, our friends, our work, our children, those we work with, for, etc. in all areas, demand excellence.

see! don't you feel better? i do! now i'm gonna go demand an excellent snack. happy weekend!

inspiration: spring glow || design seeds

 

date night! {sushi + painting}

i love date nights. one thing that brock and i pride ourselves on in our marriage is that we are pretty good at having date nights. we don't go having them every single week because we are home together every night. but we do go on dates. and they are not always dinner and a movie.

this past weekend's date started with some sushi {i literally haven't had any since january last year} and the second part was inspired by my friend over at besidesign. she is fabulous and blogged about this idea {and her results!}. i loved it so much that i planned for it with brock. he was skeptical at first, but he enjoyed it!

basically, we took turns painting blind folded, picking each others paint and just feeling ridiculous! it was super fun and the result is going on my wall! brock didn't agree with that either at first, but our handy work is growing on him. lucky me, i got a deal on canvases, two for the price of one ;) so we might be doing it again sometime.