Sunday, December 24, 2006

merry christmas...

this is what makes the trip worth it - my grandma with her great grandbaby noah:

traveling on the street (notice how relaxed noah is) - the strange thing is that strangers are coming up to rub noah on the cheek!

and at night when we are walking outside and it is cold and noah wears his toque (hat)


these are all priceless memories for us. it truly makes the 27 hours of travel time worth it.

Saturday, December 23, 2006

we are here...

after 27 hours door to door traveling time, 20+ hours on 2 planes, 10 dirty diapers, a barely sleeping noah, we arrived in hong kong. oy what a trip that was. but noah was a trooper. he probably wasn't happy sitting on our laps the entire time but we made it. all during the trip, noah decided that he wanted only to sleep when he was lying on top of his momma - he hasn't done that since he was 3 months old and i can honestly say i have missed that so much (so hey, i will take the baby hugging and sleeping whenever i can get it!)

we have taken a lot of pictures already. my grandma loves him and my cousin's baby girl too! she is really having a hard time getting her words out after her stroke earlier this year but the photos we took are priceless. you can see when she is holding her great grandbabies - her eyes light up and have a sparkle to them that transcends even the words.

my boys are asleep right now - it is too sweet - they are hugging each other and snoring together (it is 6 am here right now).

i even have had a chance to work on my traveling scrapbook journal - capturing what we have done each day (so far a lot of sleeping - LOL) but it will be something we can read and look back at together in coming years.

we want to wish you all a very happy holidays. more soon. if i can figure out this downloading thing for the laptop, we will post some pictures soon.

PS. i have seen our new ribbons in real life now and they are AWESOME! i might steal a couple of pieces to use in my journal!

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

time...

wow, time flies. look at this picture of my baby noah:

can you believe he is holding a picture of himself from when he was less than 2 months old? (the frame is a $0.50 IKEA one that i painted and added some MR rubons). noah looks so much older in this picture - almost like a toddler. everyone is right, time does fly esp when you have a baby. thinking back to the first couple months of his life, i can remember so much but also some of it is a blur. like i remember the moment he popped into this world and but i can't remember him being small. i am sure some of it has to do with the sleep deprivation but i keep asking myself if 3 months from now if i will remember him at the size he is now?

but i guess that is the beauty of scrapbooking and photographs. to help you remember the little things that tend to slip your mind. and truly that is what is so great about this hobby!

and getting ready for the holidays is sorta something new for us. david and i (and our families) aren't big holiday decorators. but for noah's sake, we are making a effort. no, we don't have a 6 ft tree but i did manage to get some decorations up this year - i am not into heavy decorating b/c that also means heavy cleaning up. i did make noah a tree full of ornaments all with his photos.

i also made him this reindeer:



it is a tiny one but each year i hope to slowly add some decorations for him!
right now though we are working on planning our big trip to asia. it is AMAZING how much stuff a little dude NEEDS! his bag might be bigger than mine when it is all said and done. but i think i am going to bring an 8" binder album to use as a travel journal. i will be working on that in the next couple of days and will post here! i am also excited to be seeing family i haven't see in many years.
have a great holiday season!
PS, please offer david (my DH) some kudos - he has taken a big step and signed up to take chinese classes at a local college here! i am so proud of him. this will go far in our quest to make noah tri-lingual. and i know david stalks my blog and reads the comments to make sure you encourage him!

Thursday, December 14, 2006

the birdhouse



my DH got this birdhouse from his sister and brother - BC (before Caroline) - so a long time ago. they had gone to a specialty store in santa fe to pick this birdhouse out for him. we had kept it indoors until the day came when we bought our first house.

when we got our house, we put our birdhouse out in the front yard hanging in the big tree. day after day, month after month, season after season, this birdhouse hung in our tree. through the rains, the occasional snow and the 100 degree weather, this birdhouse hung faithfully in our tree.

but alas, last year, the jute holding the birdhouse up gave out. i remember b/c i was about 4 months preggo and i had gone out to get the mail. i remember thinking "oh i can use one of our MR ribbons to hang the birdhouse back up!" well shortly after that, the local elementary school let out. and when i went out to hang up the birdhouse again, it was gone. i looked all around the yard and the birdhouse just vanished.

later than evening, i had to break it to David that his birdhouse was gone. he was quite sad about it (and upset too). i figured some kid probably went by and saw it on the ground and said "finders keepers" and scooped it up to take home...

... well about 1.5 months after noah was born, i was going for a run on our street. as i headed up our hill, i saw that in the yard of a house under a big tree, there was something on the ground. i had seen it before but never paid much attention to it. but i think b/c i was running extra slow i saw that it was a birdhouse. and it was THIS birdhouse. or one that suspiciously looked like it. but what were the odds? i mean this wasn't a birdhouse you found at the local walmart - it had barb wire and a tin door... so i ran by it a couple more times and debated whether to tell david or not...and finally i did. david was not happy. not one bit.

and one day we took noah on a walk so he could see the birdhouse for himself. i told him i would take it right then and there but david said no. so finally in the dark of night i told david, " it is time!", we drove over to the house and i (in shorts and crocs) RAN over to the birdhouse and picked it up. david had the car running and the headlights off. and we drove home in the darkness. (oh yeah don't worry, a grandma was watching noah)... david was sweating before during and after this - he wasn't used to this type of stealth operation!

david took it to the backyard and inspected it under a flashlight. it was HIS birdhouse. and it was finally home.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

RAK winner:

the winner is: MichelleO! congrats! email me at info@mayaroad.com!!!

PSSSTTT - our new CHA WINTER chippies look awesome! that is all i can say right now (wink wink).

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

my layouts...


I will post the RAK winner later tonight. Thank you for sharing all your JOYs with me! I got a smile reading each and every one of them!!!

So to tie you over til tonight, here is a quick photo of my stack of LOs that need a home - I did these (almost all of them) in the last 3 months. That Noah is going to have one SWEET album. But you can see, I don't do all my LOs about him - the top one is one about things I suck at - like laundry, tennis, sitting still, etc... but i am productive this year! i have made more mini albums, mega albums, altered items and LOs in the last 4 months than probably in a whole year span!






And Mr Noah wanted to say a quick hello wearing his new hat:

I can't believe how BIG he is (closing in on 20 lbs!) - my how time flies. The good thing is at this weight, he makes an excellent strength training partner for momma. I can do tricep excercises with him and build up my bicep guns by throwing him up and catching him!

Saturday, December 09, 2006

a special RAK this weekend!

as the year is quickly coming to an end, i am filled with a sense of reflection. i can SEE THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL - well until the next tradeshow that is.

this has been quite an *amazing* year for us here at maya road. we were blessed with 2 bundles of joy (noah and jonathan) and such growth for MR that i would have never imagined! seriously, when we set out on this adventure a couple of years ago, i would not have expected us to be where we are today. every time i think about it, it takes my breath away. (i do have to say the boys edge MR for the top events of 2006!)

i am excited for the upcoming weeks as we are taking our babies to china to see my grandma and there is a big family reunion happening on my mom's side of the family. we all have not been together in many many years (probably 10) and now there is another generation for everyone to meet and to love. i can't wait (i can wait on the 20 hour plane right with a 7 month old though). the thought of my grandmother seeing her 3 great grandbabies for the first time fills my eyes with tears. she isn't in the best of health after a stroke this year. even speaking to her on the phone, i can tell she has so much she WANTS to say but the stroke has slowed what she can get out...i can only hope that she will have many years to come to see her great grandbabies.

and so to celebrate this amazing year, i want to give out this RAK - this is a JOY album i made for scrapbook essentials NZ for their kit club debut. but rather than hoard this book for myself, i want to GIVE this to one lucky RAK winner. the book is filled with 3 tabbed pages that are decorated for you to record the memories of this season.

i created this book using our Maya Road 6" binder, ribbons and chipboards and some cool papers. and i want to give this to one lucky person and i hope that it fills them with joy this holiday season!

so to win, just post here and let me know what fills YOU with joy. post between now and monday and my boyz will pick a winner - please don't post anon or i can't find you!

good luck!



Wednesday, December 06, 2006

need some more blog-spiration?

and another use for our bottlecaps? i had send some to Andrea who had won them in a RAK and she told me the first thing she thought of with the bottlecaps was a pie tin - how creative is that?

so andrea sent me this picture this week of the mini pie she created - is this awesome or what?

when i first saw this, i thought she might have made the pie crust out of clay but NO! andrea was creative enough to use the Maya Road cream rick rack to do the lattice. i would not have thought to do that in a million years (i would be using a very tiny rolling pin rolling away some clay lattice - LOL).

and andrea was kind enough to share how to make this:

supplies:
Maya Road cream velvet rick rack and bottlecap
red beads
glue dots
3D Crystal Laquer
Aleene's Quick Dry tacky glue

how to:
1. To form crust attach your glue dots on the edge of the bottlecap and press on the rick rack.
2. Fill the bottlecap with red beads and cover with Crysal Laquer. Let set for about 1/2 an hour.
3. Put a thin layer of the tacky glue over top of the crystal laquer. Lay down the rick rack to form the strips on the top of your pie. Gently press into place.
4. Once dry you can pin on your little message!

(you can also tack on a magnet to make this lovely pie for your fridge!)

thanks to andrea for this awesome idea!

Labels:

Monday, December 04, 2006

RAK winner:

thanks to everyone who visited the MR DT blog! the ladies have some great ideas for ornaments right now on the blog if you need some ideas!





and the winner of the RAK for visiting the blog is: scrapcat ! thank you and please email me at info@mayaroad.com





now for some instructions on how to make my coffee break book like this one here:



i won't have step by step photos right now but here are the step by step instructions:

  1. Supply List
  • A chipboard book (I used a Maya Road Coffee Break Book)
  • About 20 photos (I used 4" x 6" b/w photos)
  • 2 - 3 sheets of patterned papers (choose ones you like or if you just want photos, you don't have to have this
  • rubons, permanent pen, stickers
  • Brown acrylic paint or ink (optional if you want to just have the edges of the book chipboard color rather than painted)
  • Adhesive (double sided)
  • Fabric tape (for spine - option)

Step 1. - Making a template

The trick to this book is to use it as a template to create one out of paper. All you do is use the book and trace it onto a piece of scrap paper. Cut out. Now, make sure it fits on the cover and insides. If it does, that is the template you will want to use for cutting everything to fit the pages.

Step 2. - Ink the edges of the book

Some ppl like a "completed" look to the book so for that finished look, you can either use an ink pad that is brown and ink the edges or paint with acrylic paint (i used a ranger dabber that comes in a tube like a bingo marker - so easy to apply). So just in the spine and the edge of the pages. If you don't mind the raw look you can leave this step out!

Step 3. Use the template and cut out your photos.

The great thing about these coffee break books, is that one of the pages can be covered with an 4" x 6" photo that is trimmed (i didn't realize this before- LOL). so for each of the left side of the pages, i used a full photo trimmed to the template size. Then accent the photos with writing (permanent marker) and rubons. Ink edges and glue on.

Step 4. Use the template to cut out the paper and add photos.

For the right side of the pages, I just repeated step 3 but with papers and then i trimmed photos small enough to fit on to the paper and i added rubons and journaling. Ink edges and glue on.

Step 5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for all the pages!

Step 6. Back cover

For this, I just used a full contact sheet and trimmed to fit the page. Again ink edges and glue on.

Step 7. For the spine

I added some fabric tape and some rubons and I was done!

If you want to see more picture of this album, check out my gallery here:

http://twopeasinabucket.kaboose.com/pg.asp?cmd=display&layout_id=1033716

Enjoy!

Sunday, December 03, 2006

just another manic monday...

i can't believe tomorrow is monday. bummer. for those of you who think that i am in my dream job, you are right but still there are times i too get the sunday afternoon blues. b/c you know what my REAL dream job would be sitting on a beach in maui catching some rays and learning how to surf.

BUT i guess maya road comes a close second. before going into small business, i didn't realize the amount of hours that owners put in. trust me it is a lot. more than i ever imagined doing. and there are times when i literally have to TEAR myself away from the computer or something else b/c there is ALWAYS something that needs to be done. and that is hard.

BUT this is in many ways a better life. I have not missed out on very much of baby noah's life. And who can resist missing out on this:

(taken during the 1 day dallas snow storm last week)... i never knew how much joy i could get from being a momma and seeing how my baby boy has changed in the last 6 months.

and even though tomorrow will be a manic monday, where else could i find a job where i GET to create this:



..using a ton of things that deb and i created? i mean how freaking cool is that?

oh yeah before i forget, tomorrow i will put a quick how-to together for my coffee break book from my last post for the person who asked how to create one for themself (or their nieces) - it is pretty easy to do and you don't need a lot of supplies (just a lot of pictures).

and finally, yes i DID get a picture of the RAK i am giving away for those who posted on the MR design team blog last week. so be ready tomorrow for one lucky girl or guy to win this:


have a great night!