It's Fall Y'all!!

(Well on Setember 22nd it will be)

Absolutely my all time favorite time of the year!  I was ready to start breaking out my sweaters, buy new boots and get my fall decor out about 2 weeks ago.  

Living in Washington you don't speak of fall too soon though...you might lose friends that way and end up on a black list of sorts.  

In preparation for getting my house all cozy and fallified for the season I found some fun new ideas and inspiration, old ideas that I love and have incorporated in my home in the past and of course a fun fall project that probably any one of us can do!  

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Now, I know, this seems a little weird, but I love how it's a pretty spin on a spooky little day of the dead pumpkin head.  I think i want this on my living room console this year.

I  <3 Mums soooo much!!!  Love the hanging mums and yes I love how symetrical this front door/porch is!

One of my favorite projects for my house!  I started doing a "Thankful tree" 2 years ago and

I hope that I always take the time to create one for the years to come.  Mckenna loved writing on her cards and always had something sweet and random to be thankful for.  I guess we all do right?  =)  

Totally going to switch up my photo wall with some fun quotes and Fall inspiration like this.  

Doesn't get easier when you already have the frames up, right?

Yum!  I love the vintage blue chair!!

I love this because I'm about to paint my front door "Glowing Firelight" by Behr!  

 Martha Stewart...you came up with some great ideas while in Prison!  

I love the corn husk wreath!

Have fun getting your house all Cozy and "Fallified"!

xo Shelley

Heyyy out there to my few faithful followers! 

I know, I know, it's been like 7 months since I posted anything! (Whoa!!) You might be thinking 'wow, is this how her follow through is for everything in her life'  Um, kind of...don't judge to harshly.   I have a short attention span!  Seriously!  I want to change, I really, really do, but then I get distracted as to why I'm changing.  

I'll get right to the point.  I have missed (like a fat baby misses a snack) scrapbooking so much!  

Life in the Heck house has been busy and great!  Busy as in, sum, sum, summa time fun busy and also I'm staying super busy with House of 3 my Etsy shop.  Such a blessing for that kind of busy...it feels so good to finally have a home business doing something that I truly, truly LOVE!  

{see how easy it is for me to get distracted?}

Ok, back to the point of this blog post....SCRAPBOOKING my love! 

So, as most of you know {if you didn't you will by reading this post} I have a passion for photographs, journaling and recording memories.  I think it comes from the fact that I have very, very few pictures of my years growing up.  Makes me kinda sad thinking of that, but I wanted to change that for McKenna.  So, when she was born I went crazy with pictures and had scrapbooks for her first 3 years.  Then enters changes in life routines and schedules.  I started working at Rendezvous back in June of 2011 and of course my Etsy shop in April of last year.  Left very little time for my beloved hobby.  

So, here I am getting started again...with a little bit of a twist.  I'm getting back to my purest form of scrapbooking (grown up and modern) with the new Smash Journal !  Have you seen these?  They are kind of new to the scrapbooking world.  I love'em...you might say, I'm smitten with smashing!  Here is where I'm starting and I'm going to take you through  my smash journal journey with me {well, it's up to you to follow along of course} Hopefully it will inspire you (my friends you know who you are!) to get started with your kiddos, families, pets, boyfriends, girlfriends, boss' (some people really love their boss), home decor, cooking...you name it journals!!  Get started with me!  Here is where I'm starting....

{My first pink SMASH journal!}

Isn't she cute?

If the outside is not simple and sweet enough, check out some of the pages...

 One of the things that I love about these journals is that each page inspires ideas for me!  Like this one...

I have some adorable pictures of McKenna baking in the kitchen.  Boom...going on this page with some fun embellishments of course!

 If you know me, you know I love making lists so I love this page for that reason =)

 Sweet pretty florals..

 My girl is a big reader already {so proud of her} so this page makes me want to go  set up a natural looking photo shoot showing her reading or in the library or something...yes, I will set up "natural" looking photo shoots...once again, don't judge ;)

No journaling page is complete without some yummy embelishments...

Look at these fun little diddy's that I will be adding to my pages!  

Cute little Journaling pads to let you write down details of the pictures and the moments.  My second favorite part of scrapbooking is telling a story for McKenna to read later in life

 I seriously get giddy looking at all this fun stuff!

Journal plates 

 Agghhhhh, I can't wait to get started!!  

So, here are a few completed pages I found to show you how adorable and creative these journals can be...even for the beginner...check it out...

Let's get started!  I can't wait to start sharing MY pages with you!  

Now back to watching the Olympics!  Go U.S.A!!!!


xo-Shell

Snow day project...one of them...

So, I was (of course I was) on Pinterest and came across a link that brought me to another link that led me to this super cute FREE printable that now has a home in a frame in my office!

Just thought I would share ;)

I just happened to have an 8x10 frame lying around. =)

This is the start of my gallery of artsy fartsy stuff that I love looking at wall in my office.

It's just a start =)

xo

Shell

Inspired by Cupcakes

I'll be the first to admit that I'm no Bakerella! I rarely bake anything actually, but for McKenna's birthday this year I made cupcakes! I had test kitchen a few days before I had to put our guests through the torment of dry, heinous baked goods from our kitchen; thank the baking gods I did. The first batch was a bit of a hot mess!

So, I googled the best way to turn a box cake mix into cupcakes, got my helper {sassy helper, might I add}, got set up and WaLa! Amazing cupcakes!

I followed the box cake directions, but after a little research learned that for the bomb.com cupcakes with a box mix, to replace the water with buttermilk and add an egg. Made the world of difference.

I even ventured out and filled them!!! Lemon Mousse filled cupcakes! Yummmm!!! I found the recipe for the mousse Here. I highly recommend! Great for newbies to the baking world like me!

She might be sassy, but I could eat those cheeks!!

Trying so hard to be patient...5 seconds later she was off in her bedroom. Short attention span, kind of like...um...her dad!

Look at that cute muffin top...I can relate! haha!

I even made some chocolate ones!! I only filled the yellow cupcakes with the Lemon Mousse though. The picture below was taken after they were all set up at the bowling alley.

So, this inspired me to make more cupcakes!

I was looking around on Pinterest {of course I was looking around on Pinterest} and found these cute little cakes! From this sweet and I mean sweet blog called with love from the oven

{Recipe }

I think I'm going to have to get busy this Valentines and make some to give away! I definitely do NOT need to keep them in my house...I just want to make them! Stay tuned for the results.

I might even have to try these...

{recipe}

Bowling Party!

Who knew that twelve 3-5 year olds would have so much fun bowling! Who knew how fun it would be {and hectic} to help/watch them bowl! If you have never had your kiddos birthday party at a bowling alley...well, you must! There are lots of fun, sweet, adorable pictures so I will keep the words to a minimum!

Here is how Kenna's bowling birthday party went down at Daffodil Bowl in Puyallup.

That happens to be a 6lb bowling ball...I promise I didn't throw a 13 lb'er at her for her first try. That will be our next round...when she is training for the Olympic bowling team.

SUCCESS!!!

She is proud!

I'm also so proud! I love this girl to pieces and can't imagine our lives without her!! So happy I get to be her mommy!

Now THAT my friends is a sincere BFF hug! I love how Kennedy calls McKenna her 'sister'.

We love our little Ms. K!

It's never a party without the token I-have-my-daddy-wrapped-around-my-finger photo op!

Here come Benny Boy!! McKenna's sweet little cousin Ben {melts my heart} and Kennedy's obession! That girl loves her a baby!!

Ben = what a stud!

The stud muffin and his hot mommy {my sister} Callie.

I love this picture so much! These girls are totally into it...sassy as can be, but they are into this bowling thing!!

Yep, we kind of took over the place...blessed to have these people in our lives. We love them and McKenna loves their kiddos!

Aww, twoo lub. McKenna was so excited that Cale was coming to her party! It's the sweetest thing to see her in full conversation mode with her little friends. Sweetness!

"That ball better make it down the lane...all the way, I mean!"

Cupcake time!

patiently waiting for me to find a lighter to light that #4! =)

"Really, you guys are really gonna sing happy birthday to me here???"

Haha...I honestly have no idea where she gets a look like that!

A few more sweet bowling pictures!

Little tiny Owen bowling! He was so enthusiastic!

Go Benny Boy!!

At home we opened some gifts!

All in all it was a great birthday celebration for our sweet 4 year old McKenna. She is amazing in every way {except when she's not...ha} and we are blessed to have such a wonderful kid!

Sometimes I look at her and can't believe I actually kept her alive! I mean, I barely keep a house plant alive! I believe that God gave us the perfect child for who we are and for our family.

I'm so excited to see her grow and become her own person, but it sad to watch everything change so quickly. I'm thankful for the people in our lives who are a positive influence on our daughter. I believe in the well known quote "it takes a village...". Yes it does and we are blessed to have met wonderful people in WA who care and love our girl.

Happy 4th Birthday Kenna girl!

Thank you to everyone who came out to help us celebrate!

xo

Shell