**heart day ideas**

with valentine's day right around the corner, i thought i'd share some things related to that special day of love.

super adorable (and very personalized) valentines

if you are interested in doing some homemade valentine's from your kids (to their friends) becky higgins has shared cute, but easy, ideas for the last few years. check them out. click on the link above each photo to hop over to the related post and see the details on creating each one.

2008

last year

this year

thoughts on love

becky higgins also had a good post with some thoughts on love. i enjoyed reading it and you might as well.

read her thoughts here

gift idea

lisa leonard designs has some adorable jewelry that would make a great valentine's gift. some of it is customized, such as the necklace below, which is my personal favorite. i'd love to have one of these.

party ideas

if you're thinking about having a special *heart day* party, here is some fabulous inspiration.

lovely valentine's day dessert buffet

look at those drinks - how fun!

early valentine party

Valentine's Day Party Ideas for Kids

**blog party**

hello blog readers!!! do you know what today is??? it's the FOUR YEAR ANNIVERSARY of chronicles of a southern scrapper. it's hard to believe it's been that long. every year, i've let the anniversary slip by without any fan fare. but not this year! not only did i remember it, but i decided to host a month-long blog party! i got the idea from elsie flannigan's blog. elsie's "blog party" was a day filled with tons of posts, which I considered. But, with my being on a business trip on this anniversary, i thought it'd be easier to spread things out ... make the fun last longer!!

so, you're probably asking yourself...what's a blog party? well, i'm not promising anything ground-breaking, but my plan is to post something at least once a day for a full month. i will touch on all of the aspects of *me* and my blog - scrapbooking, family, reading, tv, writing, photos, faith, organization, you name it!

so, to get started...let's go back to the beginning. click here to read my very first blog post. the general idea of why i blog really hasn't changed much. "This online home will serve as an outlet for my ramblings – of which I have plenty, a gallery of sorts for my scrapbooking creations, and a studio to which I can post the latest and greatest of my photographic obsession." yup, i think that still pretty much covers it!  check out the family photo - we've changed a little, wouldn't ya say??? since that day, we've all aged four years, we've added another four-legged fellow, and of course, a sweet baby boy!

this week {2.1 to 2.7}

~ i changed the wallpaper on my computer since it's now february ~

~ i worked at home monday and friday ~

~ matt was still quite sick for the first half of the week ~

~ aj and the local schools were closed on monday because of the snow/ice ~

~ i put together contact information and notes for the BTMS events committee ~

~ i paid bills ~

~ coleman brought home a craft from daycare ~

~ i wasn't able to attend the hoa board meeting where we met with a management company potential ~

~ i worked on uploading some photos and scrapbook pages for printing ~

~ i shopped at michael's, party city, cvs, target, bi-lo, books-a-million and hobby lobby ~

~ i got breakfast at mcdonald's one day and dunkin donuts the next. then i felt guilty. ~

~ i bought a cupcake/cake caddy ~

~ i cvs'd for the first time in a long time ~

~ we had our taxes done ~

~ brigitte and sydney came over for a visit ~

here is sydney playing with rio and coleman

~ coleman actually slept well for two nights in a row ~

~ i made a flyer for the dhf golf tournament ~

~ i emailed instructions to my family on how to save high resolutions photos from my flickr account ~

~ i emailed instructions to my mom on how to set up a free online email account ~

~ i bought birthday gifts for coleman, colton and john michael ~

~ coleman threw up at daycare. scared matt and i to death. (he was fine) ~

~ i missed the BTMS committee meeting because coleman was sick ~

~ coleman finally started feeding himself finger foods!! ~

~ spencer started archery practice (as a team) and brought home information on their first tournament ~

~ i found the most adorable red canister set (something i've been wanting) ~

~ matt turned coleman's car seat to face forward (in his truck) ~

~ we took matt's mom out for her birthday (to longhorn steakhosue) ~

matt's mom eating her birthday ice cream

just in case wonders why monkeys are an appropriate theme for his party..

~ coleman and i went to tara's house for a visit on satruday ~

our walkin' boys

~ scott came over saturday night ~

~ i bought toddler 411 for tara ~

~ i ran into deneane at books a million. she is a for real author :) ~

~ i ran into some old neighbors at the grocery store ~

~ in the parking lot of hobby lobby, some (very young) kids told me i look like taylor swift ~

~ i slept in until 9:00 on sunday (thanks matt!) ~

~ spencer went snow tubing for a friend's birthday ~

~ matt, coleman and i went to colton's birthday party ~

this is just a tee-tiny sneak peek. i took over 130 photos at the party :)

~ we watched the super bowl ~

~ i procrastinated packing for my trip to ohio ~

{coleman's birthday party}

~ at michael's, i purchased some basics like icing color, sprinkles, clear treat bags, favor bags, etc ~

~ at hobby lobby, i purchased lots of cardstock and patterned paper ~

~ at party city, i purchased a lot of solid colored tableware and a few other odds and ends ~

~ online, i ordered the brown items that party city doesn't carry ~

~ from an etsy store, i ordered the baby party favors ~

~ i got the invitations printed, matted, and ready to mail ~

~ i started printing and assembling some other party items ~

 {pedometer challenge}

total steps = 31,640; average 6,328

high = 8,264

there were three days that i'm pretty sure the pedometer malfunctioned.

{savings tracker}

spent = $169; saved = $137 (45%)

annual savings = $481 (40%)

*today*

*today* i'm in a funk and i'm not really sure why

*today* i ran late getting out of the house and felt guilty for ask aj to feed coleman his breakfast

*today* i smashed my finger in a drawer

*today* i got in the car to realize i was on empty

but

*today* i told myself to stop sweating the little things and it was going to be a good day

however

*today* i'm feeling a little bit incredibly overwhelmed

*today* my to-do list feels impossible (professional and personal)

*today* i need some serious snuggle time with my baby boy

*today* i have so much to be excited about and can't muster it up

i guess we all have our days...at least it's only for *today*

this week {1.25 - 1.31}

~ i shopped at bi-lo and office depot ~

~ finished january newsletter for our neighborhood ~

~ revealed neighborhood website ~

~ matt made peanut butter cookies ~

~ i did the elliptical machine for 20 minutes one day...hey, baby steps ~

~ we got spencer caught up on school work after missing three days ~

~ we watched two episodes of the singing bee as a family ~

~ spencer had archery tryouts and made the team!!!! ~

~ spencer got his report card. he got three As and one B! ~

~ spencer got his reading assessment scores back. he was above average and reads on a 8.6 grade level ~

~ i sent in a rebate ~

~ i sent in our first dependent care reimbursement form ~

~ i worked on a list of ideas for a blog party...oh yeah, that's right! more to come ~

~ i began reading old blog posts ~

~ coleman fed himself some finger foods ~

~ we started replacing some of coleman's bottles with whole milk instead of formula ~

~ i found a block in my slipper and my contact lens solution in a toy basket ~

~ i attended a meeting for the events & activities committee for the new middle school that spencer will eventually attend ~

~ at that meeting, i somehow became the "events coordinator" for the pep rally. as if i have time for that ~

~ i missed teddy's basketball game because the meeting ran long ~

this is coleman with aunt sherry at the game...

~ michelle wasn't able to come into town on thursday as originally planned (she came friday morning) ~

~ coleman and i went to sherry's on friday. i scrapped (somewhat) and hung out with  my sisters ~

~ i picked spencer up from school on friday; later matt came and picked up both boys ~

~ friday night i started throwing up. i thought it was food poisoning. ~

~ saturday we woke up to snow/sleet on the ground. i went home early from our scrappin' weekend ~

~ spencer's basketball game and snow tubing party were cancelled ~

~ my sisters missed me ~

~ matt got sick saturday night. this changed the 'food poisoning' diagnosis to 'stomach virus' ~

~ on sunday, we had spencer's mom come get him early. sherry took coleman for the night so we could sleep and get better~

~ i only took SEVEN pictures???? what's wrong with me? ~

coleman's party

~ i am happy to report that after purchasing new ink cartridges and higher quality paper, i am content with the shade of green that is printing. quite a relief ~

~ the scalloped punch my mom sent (via my sister) works perfectly. the problem? my sister accidentally packed it up and took it back with her. no worries. if i can't find one locally, she will mail it to me. just glad to know it will work. ~

pedometer challenge

it was not a good week at all. my pedometer was messed up on monday and tuesday (readings in the 2000s even though my day was "normal"). then saturday and sunday, i was sick and barely moved.

total = 22,023 steps (average = 4,404) ouch!

savings tracker

spent = $87; saved = $57 (39%)

annual savings = $344 (39%)

{photographer update}

as you know, i was very pleased with the family photos we had taken back in november, and i have recommended the photographer to anyone that will read or listen to what i have to say :) she recently made some changes to her business name and webpages, so i wanted to provide an update. if there are any local folks that are considering using her, i want her to be easy to find :) so here we go...

You can see all of our photos here

the official website

if you watch the slideshow on the home page long enough, you'll see some familiar faces :)

the blog

this is a great way to see a bunch of samples of her work quickly

the email address

digi layout {still scrappin'}

it's a long story of how i got motivated to pull together this digital layout tonight (but i will say, randomly enough, that it all started with kirk cameron). so, anyway... this was actually very quick to pull together. i used a template (as always) and patterned papers from a confectionary kit. the photos are from scrapping throughout 2009 and the journaling is about trying to crop as a mommy. click the layout to view it larger.

scrapping {layouts + revelation}

i am tickled pink that i actually got some paper scrapping done this week. this is going to be a long post, so bear with me. it's another one of those topics that keeps floating around in my head, so i have to get it out of my system :) plus, i have no idea how to "make a long story short", so here goes...

the first layout i did (which is actually a 2-page 12x12 layout), started with this organizational website i mentioned in my projects post. the first part of the challenge was to actually scrap something so that you could take notes of what works in your area and what doesn't work.

i think it was actually last weekend that i started this (while coleman was napping). the layout idea itself was a total scraplift from ali edwards. this post shows how she scraps her christmas cards every year. this post features a scraplift of the idea, as well. our christmas cards were just piled up in my scraproom (aka - junk collecting room), so i figured it was a good layout to tackle. i began by chopping up all the cards. i got the "collage" part of it done last weekend. and there it sat.

fast forward to this weekend. my friend cassidy has been itching to scrap some pictures of her adorable baby girl, so i invited her to come over and use some of my stash to get started. and on saturday, that's exactly what happened. i pulled out my supplies as well, and before cassidy even arrived, i was able to finish up the christmas card photo layout (and yes, i took notes on what worked and didn't work).

as mentioned in this post, i am committed to completing coleman's first year "carousel" album that my sister made for me. prior to this weeknd, i had only done through month three (seven months behind). my goal, while cassidy was over, was to get my notes organized so that next weekend when i scrap with my sisters, i can get caught up. i got a little bit of this done while she was there, but not too much.

since cassidy and i had to scrap while entertaining babies, i had my stuff out on the kitchen table. matt was working this weekend so i decided to leave it out on sunday just in case i might be able to work on it some more. most of sunday went by with no suck luck. after lunch, coleman and i ran a few errands, which included picking up a picture order from walgreen's. included were the photos for the carousel (again, the plan was to tackle them the following weekend).

at some point after we got home, i got motivated. it helped that coleman was cooperative. but between the afternoon hours and after coleman went to bed, i was able to get the carousel completely caught up. not only did it feel great to accomplish this, but it also means that i'm now free to do something else next weekend while scrapping with my sisters.

so...quite a long post to say not much of anything, right??? i do have a point. remember that "work flow" i talked about? and how i wanted to "baby proof" my scrapbooking room? well, these are all great ideas (and necessary to do at some point). but a huge lightbulb went off...to be able to scrapbook on a regular basis, my hobby has to flow...not just in my studio but in my life. and my life is spent in the den/kitchen area of our home. duh! seriously...why didn't i think of this sooner???

here's the catch. matt and i both despise clutter. it's totally unrealistic for me to keep my scrapbooking supplies at the kitchen table. so, here are my thoughts: as i'm evaluating things in my scrapbook studio that need adjusting, i need to make sure that the 'basics' are mobile...that they can easily come downstairs when necessary. they are pretty easy at this point so this isn't too much of an issue, but could be improved. project folders or files will be key too. i need to have some projects that are easy to pack up and work on downstairs at times. i need to be able to bring supplies for a project up or down in only one or two trips. if it's much more complicated than that, i know i won't do it on a regular basis. this will probably mostly be on weekends when either matt is working or when we don't have a lot of other stuff going on. i loved being able to work on this stuff while matt sat and watched tv just a few feet away. no guilt! this could be the key to getting my 2009 Project 365 completed!

as basic as all of this seems...i truly feel this is a huge revelation for me and i hope it will lead to more one-on-one time with my hobby that i adore. if you actually read this whole thing...thanks :) if there are any scrappers reading this, i'd love to know...how do you fit scrapbooking into your daily life?

this week {1.18 - 1.24}

~ i shopped at bi-lo, food lion, walgreen's and hobby lobby ~


~ i got a cold, called in sick on monday and slept all day. really. all day. ~


~ rio ran off again. what's up with that. back to the leash for him! ~


~ sherry stopped by on tuesday and brought me some ice cream. so sweet ~


~ prepped for and attended another hoa board meeting (2nd one this month) ~


~ worked on the neighborhood newletters and website ~


~ committed to be on the events and activities committee for banks trail middle school ~


~ the journey began. and i'm proud to say that i kept up with the daily readings and journaled each day as well ~


~ i ended up having to take another half sick day on wednesday afternoon ~


~ i made a lot of progress on the digital creations for coleman's birthday party ~


~ we missed the meeting about spencer's new middle school because i was sick ~


~ spencer got bad sick (stomach virus) and missed three days of school ~


~ i got my free lee jeans in the mail. they are super duper comfortable ~


~ scott came over to hang out on thursday night ~


~ matt finally finished putting locks on our cabinet doors ~


~ tara, warren and colton came over for a visit on friday night ~


~ cassidy and giada came over for a while on saturday. sherry swung by too ~

~ cassidy created her first scrapbook page. yay! i can't believe i forgot to take a picture!  ~

~ i created a two-page 12x12 paper layout. felt good. really good. ~

~ i worked on getting things together for coleman's one-year carousel scrapbook. then, i actually got it caught up!!! woohoo. ~


~ i gave in and bought a starbucks. with my favorite being gone (pumpkin spice latte), i decided to try something new - the cinnamon dolce latte. it was ok, but not fantastic. ~


~ matt and i decided we are probably going to change the accountant we use to do our taxes ~


~ tara came over for coffee on sunday morning ~


~ coleman had an awesome weekend. he is getting really great at playing independently ~


~ coleman turned 11 months old on sunday. where does the time go???? ~

~ i ordered some photos from walgreen's ~


~ i only took 15 pictures all week. crazy! ~

{pedometer challenge}

i actually ended up with three days without counts this week. monday, i was sick in bed most of the day so i just didn't bother. one day, the battery fell out again so the data was lost. then one day the reading was all screwed up. so, anyway...for one of the "lost" days, i'm going to use a previously unused day (which was that week's lowest).
total step count = 35,507
highest step count = 10,501 (whooohooo)
lowest step count = 3,373 (oh, not good at all...but the pedometer wasn't working in the morning)
average step count = 7,101

{savings tracker}

spent $175; saved $101 (37%)

annual savings = $288 (38%)

{coleman's birthday}

~ friday i made a big mistake and discovered a few awesome party idea websites. as if i didn't have enough, i now have a million more ideas!! ~


~ coleman and i went to hobby lobby. we bought a few things but did more "window shopping" so that we'd know what they have when we have a better idea of what we need. ribbon spools were 50% off so i went ahead and got some of that. also got a few small cool things...don't want to ruin any surprises. oh, i was happy to get the envelopes for the invites without having to order them online. ~

~ i did some test printing and my printer was not printing any of the shades of green any differently (they were drastically different on the screen). so when i ordered some pictures from walgreen's, i added a couple of test prints to the order. i did three and the greens look identical (though significantly lighter than my home printer, but still don't match the party supplies). so, basically i'm a bit aggravated/frustrated with this part of the planning. ~

{coleman's birthday}

When I posted my list of projects (see post below), I should've included Coleman's First Birthday Party. It's probably been my main project focus so far this year (well, that and HOA stuff). It wasn't a hard decision to choose a theme. For some reason, monkeys just worked. Originally I had thought about orange and brown as the color scheme, but Matt wasn't a fan and I didn't want it to look like a Cleveland Browns party. So, lime green and chocolate brown were the final verdict.

I began by scouring the "party" sites, only to find that there were no monkey plates, etc in my color selection, but I was OK with that. A friend of mine was finding all sorts of cool birthday stuff over at etsy, so I checked it out. Sure enough...there was plenty of cuteness to be had, and most sellers will work with you on customization (is that a word?). So, I found all sorts of monkey goodness and thought I was all set.

Then reality set in. You can call it mommy guilt or you can say I'm a glutton for punishment or you can just call me crazy. But the nagging feeling inside me finally rose to the top and said: "STOP. There is absolutely NO WAY you are going to let some stranger create the cuteness that will surround your only child on his first birthday." I mean, seriously??? I actually entertained this idea???

Don't get me wrong. I loved all the stuff I found. And I wouldn't think poorly of anyone that purchased those things. But I know that I can do this all myself. And what I don't know how to do...well, I'll figure it out. I did it for Spencer and I will do it for Coleman. Will he care? No. Will he know the difference? No. Will he be a better child, man, student, father, or person because of my creations? No. Would I forgive myself if I didn't put every ounce of my creative being into making the perfect first birthday party for my perfect baby boy? Absolutely Not. And there you have it.

So, after this realization sank in, along with the loud sound of the ticking clock...I went to town. My goal was to great the elements in a "hybrid" fashion. They'd be done digitally, printed and then enhanced on paper. So, step one...finding the perfect monkey. You have no idea how many monkey clip art images I scanned through. Wow. I'm very pleased with my decision and I actually purchased the clip art so it'd be a higher resolution (a first for me).

Step two...figuring out how to create text in a circle using PSE7. A few google searches later and I learned that you can't actually do it without buying a "text path"...which I did (another first). It was super easy to use and it came with another digital element that I wanted to use, so that was exciting (and frugal). I also used an online tutorial for making a scalloped edge and tweaked it for something else I needed. If I seem vague, it's intentional. And you will not see any photos of my progress either. I don't want all the goodness to be shown on the site before the "big day". Of course I will post everything afterwards :)

Step three...create, create, create. Over the past week or so I have gone to town on my computer, designing the digital portions of my creations. This is the easy part. I'm at a point now where I need to get more physical.

So, what have I accomplished?
Decided on a time/date (spread the word to 'save the date')
Booked the photographer
Purchased clip art and text paths to allow for digital designs
Designed various digital elements
Purchased a punch needed to complete elements
Arranged to borrow some tools from mom
Purchased cupcake liners and cookie cutter
Purchased outfit and bib for birthday boy
Decided what Matt should wear on party day
Submitted vacation day request at work for the day before the party

And what is left to do?
Print digital elements for color testing
Purchase coordinating cardstock and ribbon
Decide on food selections
Purchase tableware
Find my cupcake holder
Decide what Spencer and I should wear on party day
Create and mail invitations
Physically make other "elements"
Finish Coleman's First Year scrapbook carousel
Arrange to have multiple high chairs

I know this wasn't a very exciting post, but I'm so consumed with this topic right now, I felt compelled to write about it. The party is a little over a month from now (Feb 27th), so I feel I'm on track to get everything completed in time. I've been including party related updates in my weekly recaps and will continue to do so.