Emskyrooney

Recently I received in the mail a copy of a book I made using blurb .  Blurb is a printing service that you can use to create your own photo books or print books.  One of the best features though, in my opinion, is that you can use it to "slurp" your blog into a book.  Since I've been pretty slack about filling out LP's official baby book, but pretty good at updating my blog, I decided to print all of the entries about my pregnancy and LP's first year in book form.  I chose a hardback, standard portrait sized (8x10) book with a dust jacket.  You download a simple program to your computer and then just follow the prompts to "slurp" your blog.  You can then go through and edit anything you'd like- I took out a bunch of posts about American Idol, photos I didn't love, etc.  You can create your own cover and really make it look exactly how you want.  Here's the front cover- I used a piece of artwork I'd created for LP's first birthday as...

Week 3 of Project 365! I'm on a roll- haven't missed another day yet! (knock on wood!) And look- there's only 1 photo of Little Paul in this group!

Wanted to share this project I did recently with my Silhouette !  I picked up a cheapy frame at Michael's (I swear, frames are ALWAYS on sale there- got this one for $5!). I've always been fond of type and fonts and have been loving all of the "subway" inspired art I've seen around lately- here's a link to a bunch of examples of what I'm talking about on Etsy . I used my Silhouette program to design a 10x10 image with a 5x5 opening in the middle (the same dimensions as the photo mat).  I added text with words relating to "family" within that space, turning them and resizing them until they fit the way I wanted them to.   I then used my Silhouette to cut it out onto contact paper that I had laying around.  After "weeding" the design, which basically means pulling away all the pieces you don't want to use (in this case, I weeded the letters so I'd be left with a stencil) I peeled the backing off the contact paper and stuck it dow...

Ever since we moved into this house we've been wanting to re-do the surround on our fireplace.  Currently, it looks like this (photo taken right after we had our carpeting replaced which is why there's no furniture or accessories in the room.  Also, pre-child which explains why there are no toys in sight): I'm not in love with having the t.v. above the mantel (or with the cables that are STILL visible 3 years after installation even though disguising them has been numero uno on the honey-do list for those same 3 years) but due to the limited wall space we decided that one of those TV stands for flat screens just wouldn't work in this room.  (We do have a tv stand for our flat screen downstairs and I LOVE being able to have all of the components right under the t.v and all of the wires and cables neatly hidden away.) While we like the storage that the bookshelves and cabinets provide, they're rather ugly.  And the fireplace itself just blends into the wall.  Anothe...

Every day it seems that little Paul comes home with some new phrase he's heard the "big kids" saying at day care.  For the past week or so he's been saying to me "Leave me alone!"   While it is pretty funny to hear him say it, we certainly don't want him to know that we think it's funny and so we've been very stern when we tell him that it's not a nice thing to say and that we don't say things like that.  Then we laugh about it once he's left the room. Every time I hear a kid repeat something they learned elsewhere it reminds me of our trip to Las Vegas last year.  LP was 14 months old and not talking very much, but our niece who lives out there was 3 and a half at the time and in nursery school.  The first night we were there we all went out to dinner.   I was sitting next to our niece who suddenly blurted out "son of a b$#&h!" when she dropped some of her food on the floor.  Her mother looked at me from across the tabl...

Here's Week 2 of Project 365: If you're interested, I've also started a Flickr set for my Project 365 photos.  I've really been trying to not just take pictures of LP.  That's my natural tendency and I'm trying to think outside of the box a bit more and take photos of other more typical household scenes.  Of the 16 photos I've taken so far, 7 are of LP.  Guess I need to keep working on that

As I mentioned at the beginning of the year in my " Resolutions " post, I've decided to attempt the 365 Project this year- where you take at least 1 photo every day in order to document some of the small, every day moments... So far, I've done pretty well- I missed one day the first week but have managed to take a photo at least every other day this year.  Here's Week 1: As for those other "resolutions"?  Well, I'm not doing very well with the working out thing.  Although I HAVE been faithfully doing the 100 Pushups Program since the beginning of the year and am proud to say that I started out being able to do 11 pushups (on my knees pushups, not full out hardcore ones), and can now do almost 40.  So that's something.  I've cut back a bit on the ice cream, although not as much as I need too- that's a  work in progress.  Less looking, more doing?  Well, I've been doing more crafts and things- when I'm not curled up on the couch wi...

I mentioned previously that Paul got me my very own Silhouette SD Craft Cutter for Christmas.  I've been trying to win one on many a blog lately, along with thousands of other people and have been drooling over all of the great projects I've seen people make with it so I was soooo excited to find one under the Christmas tree! What's a Silhouette SD you might ask?  Well, it's a digital cutting tool.  You can hook it up to your computer and cut almost any design you can come up with.  You can either purchase designs or come up with your own and you can use any font on your computer.  It cuts paper, vinyl, cardstock, and heat transfer material. So you can use it for scrapbooking, card marking, glass etching, vinyl decor, making t-shirts, etc.  The sky's the limit really! I haven't had too much time to play with mine yet, but have managed to do a few small projects. The first thing I did was just practice getting used to the software.  I decided to make a cut-out o...

Back in October LP and I went to Pennsylvania for a week to visit Nana and Pappy and some friends.  While there, my mom (Nana) asked me if I'd be willing to help out with a fundraising project the senior program at their church was trying to put together.  I've helped out in the past, donating some old computers and designing a logo for the group (pieced together from clipart- NOT drawn by myself!):  This time though, they wanted me to take some photographs for them- photos that they would then turn into note cards and sell to church members to raise money for the program.  As much as I'd love to, I've never taken photos for anyone else before, but I've been considering getting more into photography so I thought it would be a good opportunity to try something new.  My mom told me that they mostly wanted close-ups of peoples' hands while they were participating in activities at the senior program.  I took along a few different lenses and my external flash, hoping...

Wanted to share the list of sweets and treats we made for the holidays this year... Unfortunately I neglected to take photo of everything, but at least you can get the recipes if you want them (and next year I can look back and remember exactly what I made!) White Chocolate Fudge with Pecans This is a recipe I found on the Ghiradelli website.  It's very easy, very tasty, and makes quite a few pieces of fudge! (I think this was my Dad's favorite this year- I found him poking around in the tin of fudge quite frequently!) Gingerbread Caramels I've made this Martha Stewart recipe for caramels with gingerbread flavoring (molasses, ginger, cinnamon) 4 or 5 years in a row now.  And every year I complain about the most tedious part- wrapping each one individually in squares of foil or waxed paper.  This year's batch came out somewhat softer than usual- I must have been off in my cooking temperature by a couple of degrees.  They're not sticky, but certainly aren't holdin...