Sweet Baby Boys and Girls

I always get so excited when I found out a new friend is having a baby. I love love love kids and can't wait until we have some rugrats of our own. Since that's about 2 years down the road, all of my urge for baby-related things goes into gifts and cards for friends {which they're not complaining about}.

Baby Boy card:

Baby Girl card:

{Both cards are inspired by this card from Paper Crafts magazine Card Creations Volume 9 (by Michelle Phillippi called Cute Baby Banner).

I find it sooooo much easier to make things when you know what someone is having. Since I have a dear friend at work who is also expecting soon, I will be sharing a baby banner next week sometime.

I always wonder if Alex and I will find out what we're having. While we will just be happy with a healthy happy bouncing baby, I think that we also would like to find out what the gender is so we can be fully prepared when they come. Can you believe we already have names picked out? No debating about that here!

Hugs,
Kelster Jean

PS: Hope you're having a wonderful Halloween weekend! Hubby and I are just bumming around and do nothing, although I might dress up as a fisherman for work tomorrow!

Weekend Warriors

This weekend....

....we visited with two dear Aunts I don't see nearly enough. We looked at old photos of my Grandfather and Great Grandfather, and my Aunts told me lots of stories.

....I worked on lots and lots of projects to share. All in good time.

Stay Tuned and Happy Wednesday!

Kelster Jean

Weekend Warriors

This weekend we....
....had lots of "in the moment" photo ops.
....listened to lots of sounds of fall.
....played lots of peekabo.
....shared lots of bunny kisses.
....had some "climb all over Daddy time."

This weekend I....
....enjoyed the rest of the fall leaves while it's still around.

This weekend I....
....officially became "Kelly Guzlas" at work.

This weekend I....
....worked on a fun scrapbook layout for a really cool "blurry" challenge.

This weekend I also realized that blogging has felt more like a chore lately than a fun way to document my life and days. Maybe that's why this is my first post on this here little blog in nearly two weeks. I've realized that I've tried to introduce lots of segments into my blog that I don't quite have time for in this little busy life. So...after much realization and thinking, this weekend I....decided to let my blog be my blog and let it flow by what I have time for, am interested in, and what makes me happy. This unfortunately means I won't be doing anymore outfit posts, not too many thrifty finds posts (although I'm going to through them in here and there because I love doing these!), and will be adding/continuing other features. I really have enjoyed doing the Weekly Specials, although lately they have been turning into more like bi-weekly specials, but nonetheless, I am going to attempt to keep up on these. I want to look forward to my blog and to writing on my blog, and freeing myself. I'm hoping this "There really are no rules, do what you want when you want" kind of mentality will be good for me. And I hope you will stick through it all.

Apple(s) of my Eye

As promised, here is a card I made for the Issue Challenge over at Club Creating Keepsakes. The challenge was to use apples in your project. And here is my card:

I really wanted to create a layout for this project, and planned to entitle it "Apple(s) of my Eye" with photos of my dear hubby and two furry children, but ran out of time. Maybe I'll do that in the future.

And to officially welcome October, here are some more photos of apples for you to drool over {sources can be found below photos}:

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xoxo,

Kelster Jean

Weekend Warriors

Okay, we weren't much of warriors this weekend, but we were go-go-going alot, well I was at least. Hubby had to work the whole weekend and I was busy getting things done. Here are some highlights from our weekend:

This weekend, we said farewell to September and hello to a fresh new month. This promises lots of crafting, cuddling in the cool weather, yummy meals to warm the soul, and lots of memories to be made with family and friends.

Since Hubby was exhausted from work, his extra time this weekend was spent with the things that matter: the furry children! {Yes there is a bunny under there somewhere!} Murphy goes through modes where he likes to cuddle nonstop so he was sooo enjoying this.

And here's a sneak peek of a card I created. This, I will share with you tomorrow.

And, if you have never ordered your photos through Snapfish, give them a try. Right now they are having a prints sale where you can purchase 100 prints for $1, 200 prints for $2, or 300 prints for $3 (not including shipping). Their photo quality is very good and I always order tons when they have these sales.

xoxo,
Kelster Jean

80 years!

Last weekend, we celebrated the 80th birthday of my dear Grandpa. 80 years of any lifetime is definitely a reason to celebrate! This was such a great excuse for the whole family to get together, and I was so excited that everyone showed up. My Grandpa was so surprised and was so happy to see all of his family and friends. Here's some highlights:

For my Grandpa's birthday, I created a layout for him to hang in his room. This photo is from several Christmases ago, and is a photo of him and my cousin, the last boy born into the family thus far.

And I created a banner for my Grandpa's party to hang up. I will share a tutorial for this banner soon:

Hope everyone enjoys the rest of their Sunday!

xoxo
Kelster Jean

Weekly Specials 2.0

Good very early morning dearies!

It's 5:30AM and I am getting the hubby out-the-door for work. Lately the weather has been chilly, and I'm looking forward to the colder days where I can spend the time inside crafting, reading, eating good food that warms the soul, and spending lots more time with the furry babes. In the meantime, here are this week's Weekly Specials. {Okay so some of the blog posts are a little older than a week old, but hey, I wanted to share tons of amazing posts, so it took a little longer to get them all together}. A mix of many good things follows:

1. The weather may be chilly, but this Peach Queen-Magic Mocktail looks yummy for any time of year. I'm not a huge fan of peach, but I know my sister Kristy {who simply adores anything peach-related} will love trying this!

I'm a semi-new reader to this blog, Sunshine and Carousels, but have fallen in love already. This blog has some amazing giveaways, diy tutorials, and cute posts about everyday life. Check it out!

2. I really loved all of the Things I Love Thursday features on Little Chief Honeybee's blog last week. {I mean, come on, you have to check out this post to see some very heartwarming things, such as baby platypuses!}

This girl's blog is so so amazing and I am so in love with it! I have been reading her blog for a while now and always look forward to catching up on her posts. From her Things I Love Thursday posts to Wedding Wednesday, and even the regular daily posts {so interesting and cool}, her blog is filled with so much goods to read!

3. Now, I am not the most fashionable person in the world: most days I just opt for jeans, a t-shirt, and flats (my go-to outfits), but this girls' blog, Fash Boulevard, makes me want to be a better dresser! This week, I loved her Always Sunny in LA post {how dang cute is her outfit!} and her Goodbye Summer Trends post. {Sigh, so sad that summer has ended but she has featured some amazing fall posts so far this month}.

I would love to keep up on celebrity fashion and trends, but never have enough time, so I love that I can go to her blog and catch up on the latest and greatest. She offers lots of good tips for dressing and super cute fashion options {if you are so inclined to do some shopping}. Plus, she is one of my early blog followers, to which I am forever grateful.

4. Speaking of fashion, check out this gorgeous outfit by Frankie Hearts fashion! I mean, I never thought I could pull off patterns like this, but now I am dying to give it a try. And is this girl not so beautiful!?

I love seeing all her gorgeous outfit posts. She always looks flawless and wears the most gorgeous and elegant things.

Crafty posts:

5. If you know me {ahem, sisters}, you know I like to make any and all things paper. So reading this post about not being prepared when needing some cute tags was totally calling out to me. I really really love these super simple, yet elegantly cute tags. I really think I will whipping up a batch of these soon!

My Momenta's blog is one of my favorite crafty blogs to read. They always have inspiring LOs, projects, cards, {anything paper-made!} to get your creative juices going. I love that they do regular posts and today, they're having a World Card Making Day Blog Hop in honor of World Card Making Day today. You must check it out!

6. I am absolutely drooling over these gorgeous pretties Maya Road made at Scrapfest {I'll make it there one day!} If you have never seen any of Maya Road's products {which I'm sure you have and just don't know it}, you must check out their website here. They are my favorite favorite chipboard mini album makers in the entire world {I own tons of their albums} and just love all things Maya Road!

7. Thank you dear sister Kristy for getting me totally addicted to Kelly Purkey's blog, which I read religiously now. This week, I was totally in love with her Field Guide post, where she featured three gorgeous layouts and a super super cute mini album, all by Studio Calico. I really love her style of scrapbooking, it is similar to mine {in my opinion} and she is so inspiring!

I also loved her Washi Washi post, where she designed a couple super cute projects using washi tape. My sister Jenny is in love with washi tape lately and I think I may be purchasing a couple rolls for her for Christmas. She would love that!

8. I had the privilege of coming across this amazing girl, Heather, on the Club Creating Keepsakes site. This girl is truly an amazing scrapper and I love her work! Check out these gorgeous Paper Crafts Rejects cards, which I don't think are rejects at all. This girl makes some amazing things!

9. This "Best Big Brother" layout and this "4 is Hard" layout by Loy Joy Paper are both amazing and remind me to scrapbook the struggles of life as well as the happy moments. These are the moments that make up life and are so nice to reflect on in the future. Love Joy Paper is one of the first scrap blogs I've ever read and I love it! Her posts are so refreshing for scrapbooking and her layouts are so heartwarming.

10. Dear Lizzy's blog is the reason I ever joined the blogging world. I fell in love with her work after reading the 52 More Scrapbook Challenges book written by her. Her blog is always filled with inspiring, heartwarming posts {and if you don't know who Cleetus is, you should!} This week, I loved her Story Tags post, which is such an cute idea! I really love her paper craft projects for around the house and really can't wait until we own a home so we can fill it with pretties!

And finally {and because I don't want to end on an odd number}, I will include this little something special:

Violet Bella is one of my favorite blogs. It was a very early "Favorite Read" when I started my blog and I have loved watching her blog, store, and little family grow. Her posts are the most heartwarming and I look forward to spending tons of time catching up on her blog posts.

This week, she featured two amazingly lovely posts. The first: Jimi Hendrix. This post featured a {redesigned} shirt that belonged to her father and is such a heartwarming post. The way she speaks of her parents is so beautiful and cannot even be explained by words. It really makes you appreciate what you have.

The second post: Studio Tour. Her studio is beyond amazing and I spent lots of time studying everything in each photo. There is an adventure around every corner and a story behind every adventure! I dream of having a craft room such as this when we own our home.

Well little dearies, that is all for today. I hope you soo enjoyed my Weekly Specials post this week and found some amazing inspiration and good reads in these features. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

xoxo,
Kelster Jean

PS: {All photos are from their respective blogs}.