My monkey eats maps.

So I guess I'm getting used to this whole blog thing. I've been blog hopping. And since I've been blog hopping, I've discovered that I'm the last person on earth to find out about Sketchy Thursdays. I decided to do this week's sketch.
Here's my layout...I love these pictures! This was from our trip to the San Diego zoo. We went down to meet my husband's dad for the first time. When I say "meet him for the first time" I mean FIRST TIME.. Daniel too. Another great thing about the day was that we also got to meet up with my friend that I met when we lived in North Carolina, Katie. She lives in southern California, too. The day was great, even if my little monkey did eat our map. =)

I hope everyone has a great weekend!
-Dani

Fabulous RAKs!

Pamela is having a week full RAKs this week on her blog, Pamela's World of Scrap. Head over there and check it out!

Pamela also has a ning group, Scrapbook Challenges, that has weekly challenges and sketches with monthly prizes. It is an AMAZING group. I love it so much! Check that out, too!

Hope everyone is having a fantastic Monday!
-Dani

I'm ready to scrap that baby!

My wonderfully amazing husband has been trying to get me to apply for design team calls for a while now. I had wanted to, but wasn't sure if I "could", ya know? I figured I needed a new challenge, and I'm definitely ok with the commitment.. so I did it. I applied for one. And I got it!

I am now on the design team for Scrap That Baby, a new inspiration blog for pregnancy, baby, and toddler scrapbook layouts, altered items, etc. There are 2 prompts each month to inspire you to scrap that baby. Also, there will be 2 tutorials/tips/articles from the DT each month!

The first prompt was just posted on the 15th: Shower Me With Babies. This was before the DT was picked, so I don't have a project to post for it. You can join in the fun and post yours though! The deadline for this prompt is March 29th! Who knows? Your project may be chosen as a favorite and published on the blog!

I'm really feeling these Chinese boxes.

Oh my gosh! I love these little boxes! If anyone else wants to make one like mine, here's how.

You will need: one Chinese take-out box, 2 sheets of matching 12x12 paper, adhesive, pen, scissors, craft knife, ruler, hole punch, embellishments, 2 brads or eyelets

This is the box that I'm starting with.
First, you need to take off the handle. If you are really careful, you may be able to put it back on. I'm not careful though! Once you have it off, unfold your box and lay it flat on a 12x12 sheet of paper. Trace around the main part of the box. The flaps won't fit, but use your ruler to connect the lines from the "main" part of the box. (Ok, that sounds a little confusing.) It should look like this.

On the second sheet of paper, trace the flaps. You may want to leave about a half inch of extra space at the bottom of each flap to account for any space that may be in between the flaps and the main part of the box.Then, cut everything out. Turn your (still flattened) box over to where the outside is facing up. Adhere your paper flaps to the flaps on the box. The adhere your main paper to the main part of the box. Don't worry if there's a little paper hanging over; you can always trim or sand it down with a file to give it a more finished look. ***A SIDE NOTE*** If you plan on using a strip (or strips) of pattern paper as an embellishment across the front of your box, you may want to go ahead and glue that and trim now. I did, so this is what it looked like:

After that, turn your box over to where the inside is facing up. You will see the holes from the handle. If you plan on putting your handle back on, just pierce through the hole with a paper piercer all the way through the paper. If you plan on using brads or eyelets, punch through with a hole punch (but make sure it's small enough to fit your eyelet or brad). Also, find the slit on the one flap for the "hook" to close the box. Using a craft knife, cut the slit open through the paper.
It's time to fold your box up! You'll have to work each fold back and forth to get it loose, then it should fold right back up like it was. Then, line up the holes that were punched on the sides and attach with a brad or eyelet (or the handle if you plan on reusing that).
EMBELLISH!!!
These are so perfect for gift boxes or party favors! Maybe even home decor or as gifts themselves? You could even fill them with candy for Valentine's Day, Easter, Christmas, Halloween... ahh the possibilities are endless!

If you make one, I'd really love to see it!! I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!
-Dani

Why do we eat so much Chinese food??

Well, it's because those darn boxes are just way too cute! I've been "collecting" all of the boxes that our rice comes in (the others are too messy to clean.. ew). My collection has gotten a little out of control. Borderline obsessive really. They've been sitting for a while too. I kept telling my husband I would do something with them, but then just never did. I don't think he thinks that I need to be collecting any more Chinese boxes. Well... I finally altered one to prove that I'm going to something with them!
I think it's the perfect gift box for a thank you gift! Maybe a little gift card or something. Perfect. And the good news is... my husband also liked it. So I suppose I can keep collecting these adorable little boxes.

I think I may post a tutorial on this soon. It was super easy to make.. and I need to do something with those dang boxes!!

I hope everyone is having a great week!
-Dani

So I finally did something scrappy.

I haven't been motivated for much scrappiness lately. It's kind of disappointing because I FEEL creative, I'm just lacking motivation. It probably doesn't help that we've been getting over being sick, too. I finally got some motivation from an UGLY source though.

So I'm a sucker for challenges, right? Aren't we all? Well, my husband talked me in to joining the ugly paper challenge on sb.com. I'm terrified of ugly paper.. well, because it's UGLY. In this challenge, you pick 2 pieces of ugly paper out of your stash and send it to the address given to you. This is what I found in my mailbox:HOLY SCRAP!! Yes, that's one ugly beach paper and one ugly telephone paper. Beach AND telephones?! My husband just died laughing (thanks for the support honey!) as he handed them to me. I thought about it all night last night. When I woke up this morning, I was ready to tackle it. Here's my finished layout:I think it turned out ok. The picture is pretty bright, but I used the telephone paper to make some box flowers. I completely disregarded the telephones.

Now that I've finally found some motivation, I'm hoping that it'll last me a while. So I'm off to my scraproom for round 2! I hope everyone has a great week!
-Dani

Today was a big day.

We're marking March 2, 2010 on our calender. Jonah's first tooth finally broke through his gums!! We've been expecting that little booger for weeks now. And not only that, but he started crawling today, too! He has been scooting around on his belly for a while now, so we've been expecting his first "real" crawl. He's growing up all in one day. Before we know it, he'll be driving. Soon, he won't think we're funny anymore, and he'll listen to terrible music way too loud. He's already blaring Monet from his play pen.
Aside from all of that excitement, I realized around lunchtime that today was my husband's 4 year mark in the Army. Had things happened like we thought when we got married, we would be on our way back to the normal life back in Alabama soon. That got me to thinking about how much things have changed. Four years ago today, I was sitting at home missing my best friend (we weren't even dating yet) because he had left for the Army. I never thought that in 4 years I would be married to him and have a 7 month old baby. The thought that my child would be crawling for the first time and getting his first tooth 4 years from that very day never crossed my mind. So yeah, March 2 is a big day in our family.