Alter This

Fall is in the air!

I have been away for a couple weeks enjoying some sunny, warm {perhaps a bit too warm} weather in Florida.

So when I arrived home on Friday I was a bit sad knowing Fall had arrived while I was away. Cool, crisp days, apple picking, pumpkin patches and football are all part of the norm replacing warm days spent at the beach, barbeques and pool parties!  As much as I love the warm colors of the Fall, I never can really completely enjoy this Season.  I know that Fall will evidentially lead to Winter and this girl is not a big fan.  *sigh*

So with Fall in the air, i did what any good 'honey' would do, i made plans to take the assistants to the their first pumpkin patch!

Which way to the pumpkin patch?

Checking out the 'mean' birds....

Poor brody was bit by the 'mean' birds....:(

Grampy giving boo boo kisses...:)

Picking out the perfect pumpkin

Grampy I want a pumpkin "this" big!

climbing mt. pumpkin

Braeden's pumpkin

finally two perfect pumpkins!

Guess who threw their pumpkin?

Brody following his brother's lead!

Oh oh........we have pumpkin pie!

This was the perfect ending to a fabulous weekend! I think the best part of traveling so much {besides seeing so much of this wonderful world} is coming home to my family!  I didn't stop all weekend, impromptu dinner with Stephen at a favorite restauarant friday, Saturday morning football with Samuele and spending Saturday night and Sunday with Michael and Ashley. 

Today is exactly two weeks til Stephen and I leave for our Carribean cruise.  He does not often travel with me when i am teaching so i am excited that he has decided to join me this time! My schedule is very crazy for the next two months, I arrive home from our cruise and leave the next evening for London and then South Africa!  I am excited but will miss my family very much.  

And of course a few favorite quotes...the last one I am holding near as I start back running tomorrow...my goal is to run the five mile this Thanksgiving! Wish me luck!

"The love of a family is life's greatest blessing" ~ Author unknown

"If I had my life to live over....I'd dare to make more mistakes next time." ~ Nadine Stair

"People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing"~Dale Carnegie

 Wishing you a blessed day!

Honey....

As most of you know, ever since the assistants were infants, we have kept them overnight a couple of days a week.  Even with my hectic travel, we still try to maintain this schedule with them. 

Yesterday they arrived for their Thursday sleepover {Tuesday this week as Thursday is their birthday}. After changing them and giving them breakfast, Braeden hugged me and finally called me "Honey" {a name for grammy}. 

Melt.my.heart! 

 

Assistants at the Zoo with Stef!

September!

September is always a big month in the Mezzetti home!  The "assistants" as i love to affectionately call them, will be turning two on Thursday. Very hard to believe that another year has gone by!  I want to stop time as i love this age so much!  They are both so inquisitive, active and chatty!

I think Stephen and I are the only two that can tell them apart now, Jon and Samuele have to ask us, and i admit sometimes it takes me a minute too.  But their expressions always give it away for me!

Braeden taking Brody for a ride.

 

The boys yelling to grampy to come back!

Bird watching errr chasing! :)

 

Love this little face!

September is a memorable month for our family, besides the birth of these two adorable boys, we will be celebrating our 26th wedding anniversary and my son Michael's 29th birthday! On a more serious side, September is a time of reflection for me, this month marks another year of remission for myself and my son, Jon.  I pray that we will see an end to cancer in my lifetime. In the meantime, we are truly blessed and I am grateful to celebrate these special moments together. 

On the designing side of life, I have been creating in my studio for lots of travels coming up..  First stop next week - Minnesota Mall of America to teach two classes!

 

This Brings me Joy Class at Mall of America

I am only home for a few days and i am off again to Florida to teach for Tim Collins Retailer event.

Vintage Christmas {new vintage IOD Night Divine and Gorgeous Petaloo mulberry flowers and leaves and these incredible new ribbons by May Arts!} 

I will be extending my stay in Florida and teaching at three stores my Fall pumpkin book, tree album and new Christmas tree album!

Above images fall pumpkin book
You can find this class at these three stores {all three classes will be taught at Cherry Blossom Studios}

Scrappy Boutique in Orlando

Whim So Doodle in St Petersburg

Cherry Blossom Studios in Coconut Creek!

It is the beginning of a very busy couple of months with my teaching schedule! I am excited to be one of the teachers for Croptopia Getaways Cruise to the Carribean and then off on a dream trip to S.Africa!

I leave you with some quotes that have spoken to my heart this week

"A decision today changes tomorrow forever." ~ John De Lemme

"No matter what you've done for yourself or for humanity, if you can't look back on having given love and attention to your family, what have you really accomplished"~

"A successful life is one that is lived through understanding and pursuing one's own path, not chasing after the dreams of others."~Chin-Ning Chu

Last day of August!

It is hard to imagine my life without these two adorable boys.  It is even more difficult knowing they will be turning two in only 9 days, where has the time gone?

I am so focused on remembering everything about their first two years with hundreds, okay thousands of photos of every milestone! This past Summer has been wonderful with my new camera and these two moving so fast I have managed to take nearly 10,000 photos. Yikes!

Here are a few favorites over the past couple of weeks!

 

bye bye!

 

Braeden

Brody

New haircuts!!! Brody looking adorable!

Playing at the beach this past weekend - perfect weather!

These two love the water

 

Grampy making sandcastles...:)


A quiet moment.

And those quiet moments will be getting shorter - these two are starting to talk. Some words this past weekend, brother, momma, boat, ball, thank you, Braeden. 

I am grateful to have enjoyed most of the Summer with these two with only a few weeks of travel.  That being said, my travel schedule is about to take off, so for now i am going to treasure all these great moments over the past few weeks and keep them close while i am away.

I have received quite a few emails to purchase kits -- thank you for your support.  I will be adding some more later today -- be sure to check out my sidebar.  I am also updating all the stores that i will be visiting - thank you for all the requests to teach I am honored!

Have a blessed day!

It is that time of the year!

Love this time of year when all the new scrapbooking products start being released! All the excitement to see each collection and new tools! I am looking forward to the CHA show, so if you are at the show make sure you drop by and say hello - i will be  working for Creative Imaginations demoing in our booth!

I have been busy creating with some of the new products for both Creative Imaginations and Petaloo! And in my spare time {ahem} i have managed to create 3 new dies for Accucut!

The first two are my new Album builder dies and are truly one of a kind! Layer on the shapes for an amazing 3-D effect.

 

This album can be fall or Halloween just by switching out the front layering piece.

 

My second 3-D layering die ~ Snowflake Album!

The album building die series allows you to purchase only the front covers as the inside die {shown below} remains consistent for each of the books. 

And my new "family" tree die that is 3-D as well! The die allows you to layer the top of the tree add little birds! This sample i used Creative Imagination's new wood veneer and ran it through the Tim Holtz bark embossing folder for an even more realistic trunk! I added our new cinnamon brown Luminarte dauber to color the wood and bring out the dimension!

 

 

I can't wait to head off to Chicago and the excitement at the show! 

Marah Johnson and myself will be co-teaching a class using my flower album die and lots and lots of IOD loolah,Christine Adolph Boho Girl, Petaloo's beautiful flowers and the gorgeous luminarte product!

 

The details for this class and others can be seen here.

And I can't leave you without posting some favorite photos of the assistants..

 

Fascinated with the ants....kept them busy for awhile.

 

Brody...:)

Lookout!!

Braeden waving goodbye to Brody!

 

Have a blessed day!

 

July already?

Time is certainly flying by....June went by way too quick.  I love everything about Summer, warm weather, days spent at the beach, spending time with family and friends and cookouts!  In my opinion our Summer Season is far too short, I find myself wanting the days to slow down a bit! 

I am happy to have the ability to enjoy the Summer with my family until the end of the month when my teaching/traveling schedule starts back up!  I always loved reading during the Summer and just finished the book "Prayers for Sale" - loved it and highly recommend it for your Summer read.  Right now I am enjoying "Three Cups of Tea" [was recommended by a friend].  I am a fast reader and was thinking of dusting off that library card of mine and head over to what used to be a favorite hang out for me! snicker...  What are some of your favorite books you are reading this Summer? 

Summer also means that CHA is just around the corner.  I have been creating with some of the beautiful new products that Creative Imaginations will be releasing at the show - look for the sneak peeks on the Creative Imaginations blog later this week! And look for a big announcement and link to our new Petaloo blog! 

Lot of great things planned with some fun challenges, giveaways and sneak peeks of their amazing new products!!

This fourth of July was incredible, we were lucky to have really warm temperatures, and lots and lots of sun!  I love to look over photos from the previous year and came acorss this photo from last fourth of July  - can't believe how much the boys have changed.  They are going to be two this September and have lost their 'baby' look. 

 

July 4, 2009

 

July 4, 2010

More favorites from this past weekend!

 

Braeden telling a tale to Brody {in twin language}

 

The cutest face.....

 

Braeden pointing {which means i am going to take off on you}

 

Brody giving himself a "mudd facial"...

 

Brody has his eye on Samuele's ice tea...

Beach bums!

QOTD:  "I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way - Things I had no words for". ~ Georgia O'Keefe

Check back soon for some sneak peeks...

Until then, have a blessed day!

Playing with my new camera

For nearly a year, i have been reading up on buying a new SLR camera.  Reviews, pricing, settings, lens, the reading was endless. With each new article my opinion would change, Canon or Nikon...flopping back and forth at least a dozen times.  I drove my family crazy; taking them from store to store, price comparisons and chatting with the store clerks. 

Last month, my husband decided he had had enough and purchased me a new Canon XS camera for my birthday.  I am so happy to finally own an SLR but now i am completely overwhelmed trying to learn all the bells and whistles.

So be warned, I will be posting lots of pictures ...feel free to critique the photos, make suggestions or even share some of your favorite links or photography websites!

Hope you are enjoying this beautiful day.

xo

 

Love these shirts...{braeden}

 

He has his "stinker" face on...

Braeden harboring a rock....

Love this shot....

  

the "thinker"

 

future football star {braeden}

silly brody!

 

Grampy playing in the water...

 

Love the little water droplets in the air..:)

and a couple of shots of my tiger lilies.....

auto setting

 

playing with some buttons...

A work in progress...

Note to self: Do not blog without glasses...geesh just noticed that i wrote "A word in progress" ....

Lynda the superstar graphic banner maker did it again! She created my new Summer banner and i love it!  I wanted some toadstools, butterflies with a vintage flair - she captured all i was looking for! I am still tweaking this blog of mine, in fact, i am working on images for the sidebars {thank you Lynda}!  You can find her incredible etsy shop here if you are interested in a make over for your blog!

Okay off to create some projects ...in the meantime i leave you with my two assistants and some shots from yesterday with my new camera!

 

 

 

New Blog Banner coming soon!

Stay Tuned, I received my new blog banner and I LOVE it!!!

So darn excited to share.....

In the meantime, a few photos from our playground outing a few weeks ago!

Be blessed...

Love the converse!

Brody's face is priceless!

weeeeee!

 

One of my favorites from the day!

I am back!

I am not even going to start this blog post and mention my inability to update my blog...i am just going to move on and write about what makes me happy, hmmmfph!  Those of you that have sent me emails letting me know the # of days since my last post...you crack me up! 

Since March i have traveled quite a bit, Florida, minnesota, texas, oklahoma to name a few.  I enjoy this part of my job so much - creating and meeting fabulous ladies who share the same love of papercrafting! A huge thank you to everyone for their support of my classes.

I am home now until mid July enjoying my family, the beautiful Summer days, my two adorable "assistants" and lots of creating!  CHA is just around the corner so I am working with Creative Imaginations new releases which by the way are FABULOUS!  Last week I sent over some drawings for some new dies with Accucut! Very excited about this release - I just wish i could share some sneak peeks - unfortunately it will have to wait a few weeks as I have been sworn to secrecy!

This weekend I am teaching at Right at home Scrapbooking for their summer retreat getaway! It is hard to believe it has been nearly a year since i have taught at RAH!  I am looking forward to spending some time scrapbooking with friends, demoing our new Luminarte paints, and teaching two classes!  The first class, Inspired traveler uses the new Art Warehouse collection and some fun techniques!

 

My second class, All Things Grow with Love, starts with my new accucut petal flower die, Brand New IOD Loolah Collection and Petaloo's gorgeous flowers!  

 

If you have not visited the Creative Imaginations blog lately then you are certainly missing out! Each month we are offering two prize packages for 2 winners. What do you have to do you ask? Just create either a layout or card {or both} using our card and/or layout sketch using at least 80% CI product and post it in either our June card gallery or our June layout gallery! 

And of course a post is not a post without my two assistants! I received a new camera for my birthday {a beautiful new Canon SLR}, so i have been spending some time learning all the new settings.  Here are a few favorites from Father's Day!

 

One of my favorites from the day.....Brody {left}

 

Braeden taking advantage of his brother ...it backfired a bit. :)

 

3 balls and they have to wrestle for one.

Braeden and his silly faces.

Mirror image?  Love this photo
 

Sweet Brody.....

Have a blessed day!

QOTD:  "Focusing on what we already have and are grateful for right now is one of the most powerful things we can do to alter our life in a positive way." ~ Mike Robbins