Vivir la vida al maximo!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

I have created this altar for a friend.  She proves to be an inspiration to me time and time again.  It has been a pleasure to try an art form that is outside of my heritage but definitely follows my

 "use what you have" philosophy.   It's my hope she loves it.

The theme revolves around tequila.  Tequila is one of the things that brings us together.  The vintage bottle in the middle is filled with the lovely gold goodness inspired by tequila, note the worm crawling out of the bottle.  The sides of the altar are wallpapered with "One Free Drink" tickets.  The skeletons represent our friends with sharp dress and angel wings.  It's a fun and different way to thank them for just being them.

Live life to the fullest!  Every day.  Seriously, every day!

It's like Cupid on Crack.

Valentine's Day is once again upon us and I,once again, achieve to over-achieve.  Elvis, the first grader, of course, is first on the list because let's face it.... 5th grade boys have no interest in creating valentines because "it might send the wrong message."  And in 8th grade, you are either making out or you aren't, and thank my lucky stars Ladycakes aren't!

So Elvis is just slightly, mildly.....okay, overly obsessed with a video game (I swore I would never introduce them or guns as toys, I failed on one.)  Skylanders.  If you have a 6 to 11 year old boy, you probably know what I'm talking about.  In my effort to spin all things positive, I decided to take Skylanders to the level of valentines.

Let me just clarify, if you have tried since Christmas to find, touch, look at or even come in the vicinity of, much less throw down cold hard cash for one of these Skylanders you are out of your mind.  They are 2011's Tickle Me Elmo gone amok..... why, why do I fall for this stuff?  So it would make sense to push them forward to the next holiday, am I right?

Holy Shit, you can get Pokemon, Star Wars, Hot Wheels, Phineas and Ferb, Justin Beiber or Dr. Dre Valentines but not Skylanders?  Well, probably not Dr. Dre.....

Each Skylander character comes with a "trading card" so I put my color printer to work and got started on some super cheesy sayings (this is where an 8th grader really comes in handy) and we were like Cupid on Crack.

The resulting valentines are not only handmade ( I love this kind of stuff ) but also something Elvis will be excited about handing out and totally unique.

Next stop a 5th grade party!  As Room Parent, how do I come up with something different for kids that have been decorating cookies for years?  I'll fill you in next time.....


This is my way of forcing myself to post more than once a month!  See you soon!

Gene Autry was known to wear Easter bonnets.

Okay not Gene Autry.  But you get where I am going with this.  We have decided to boycott the Bunny since 13 year old is still dragging out Santa and my pocketbook refuses to buy anymore crap.  Seriously, my wallet bitch-slapped me at Wal-Mart and told me "NO MORE CRAP!"  It was thrilling.

Wishing you and yours a Happy Easter.  My frig smells like hard boiled eggs and Ladies and Gentleman, that's not a good thing.  Farts and green grass to you.  Right now, it's snowing!  Ugh, oy, and you gotta be f__ing kiddin' me!

Another VD (Valentine's Day) comes and goes. And I feel great.

I remember when Valentine's Day was important to me (college).  I waited for it with great anticipation.  I wondered what I would "get" for Valentine's Day.  I hated Valentine's Day.

It's a weird holiday.  I am a romantic.  But not really.  I think I might be a little to practical for romance.  I kind of feel like you should be romantic all year round.  But that's cliche.  I do not practice what I preach because life takes over.  And since when have parent/teacher conferences been romantic.   The last time I took my car to be repaired, hardly romantic.  Scooping the kitty litter.  not romantic.

I love watching my kids discover love.  Crush like love.  But a little love none the less.  I love watching my kids celebrate their friends.  Loving their friends.

Happy Valentine's Day.  However you celebrate, with whomever you celebrate.  I love love.






Add "Eternal Flame" by The Bangles to my Life Soundtrack.

Fondue? Do you? It's fun to fondue, you should too. please do.

Okay, I know it looks like we live in the 70's.  Busting out the TV trays and  the fondue pot, totally living bi-centenial.  Look out 1976, we are making our move.  Tonight's New Year's Eve celebration involved fondue, broccoli, cauliflower, french bread, pretzel sticks, lil smokies and cheese, cheese, cheese.  It was delicious and fun and I want to thank Hilary for the inspiration!

Dick Clark is on the agenda, really Ryan Seacrest but I feel like I should pay homage to the man who owns New Year's Eve.  We might even play a little Pictionary on Udraw, if we get it set up.  Safe and sound at home.  Looking forward to starting new.

Wishing you and yours a Happy New Year!

It's almost 2011!

For the holidays, we have been fostering two 6 week old labrador puppies.  It's been our holiday "community service."  I swear everytime I say that I feel like I am admitting my children are criminals.  Hhhhmmmm.    And, yes, I made dog toys for them, personalized and everything. I am the mother of criminals, I have to have a creative release!    Delilah is up there cuddling her toy.


Please meet Delilah, the chocolate lab and her sister Lola, the black beauty.

Miss Emma, our 9 1/2 year old English Mastiff has been a most gracious host.  We are calling her "Gramma Emma,"  She tolerates snuggling (see above) tail tugging, whimpering, wrestling and toy stealing.  She is incredibly kind and plays like the gentle giant she is, soft nibbling, quiet nudging all with such kindness.  We love her dearly and are reminded of how special she is to our family.

The puppies go back to Furburbia on January 5th.  We will miss them.  They snuggle and play and pee and poop.  It's been a great experience for all of us.  We love you Lola and Delilah and we hope you find great homes.

Teacher's Gifts. A highly debated topic.

I do Teacher Gifts.  I feel that these people spend a good portion of their day with my children.  I think they deserve a gift.  So many parents pitch into the "community pot"  and then the Room Parent buys a gift card of some kind.  This isn't really my style.

*Disclaimer:  I did collect money for the Kindergarten teacher this year.  He's a great guy and will really dig a Home Depot gift card.


My style is to make a gift for the teachers.  I am that parent they dread.  "Oh, here she comes again with her handmade gift.  Doesn't she know I want a gift card to Home Depot!" Making a gift requires that I really think about the recipient. I ponder about the great work they have done, I think about how much I appreciate them.

 This year's gift......

Clay plaques with peace doves and the word "peace" embossed on them attached to vintage glass bottles.  The branches are really little sticks with felt leaves and felt berries attached to them.  I love them.  I am really pleased with how they turned out and they truly are a one of a kind gift.

Now, some of my friends forego the gift all together.  What are your thoughts?  Gift, no gift, cash?

Oh say can you see....my house burning down?

We had a groovy 4th of July.

It involved Marching Bands,

Bagpipes,

Mariachi Musicians,

and some thumpin' techno-dance bootie-shakin' stuff.

We totally horsed around.

We rubbed elbows with a bunch of crazy characters.

Headed home for dinner with great friends. Decorations ala kids!  Thanks Paper and Cake for the free download!

 Kid-made flag cake!  Delicious.

Apple pie ala me and mode!  Careful there, careful. This is a family-friendly blog and holiday.

Then we attempted to burn the house down.

God bless America!

BTW, a special thank you to all those men and women in the Armed Forces who keep us safe and allow us to continue to have our freedoms.  Even if the freedoms are the above list.  Here at the Hive, we respect and appreciate you.

Hope your day was fun.

Hope your day doesn't involve breakfast in bed....it's just messy!

This is my Mother's Day loveliness.  Mr. Handsome and I found these shelves at our local Recycle Center.  For $2.00 a piece, I couldn't pass them up.  After a little sanding and painting, I have just what I wanted and needed.  This is my honey pot collection.  It's something I have been working on for a few years.  It's something I will continue to work on.  Some are old (I love these the most) some are new (It's fun to find ceramic artists that make honey pots.)  

My honeypots have been hiding in the pantry.  Now they are out for all to see and for me to dust.  Along with the shelves, the black amethyst pot on the top shelf is new (to me.)  It's beautiful and unusual.

Tomorrow we hope to be outside, hiking and just enjoying each other's company.  It is such a privilege to celebrate this holiday.  And, have it be about me.  I feel so lucky and loved.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you out there.  Enjoy your day, it's all about you!

There she goes again with the "felt" and now she's talking about rainbow trees? This woman's a loon.

In my own obsessive compulsive way, I find myself heavy in the thoughts of felt.  Felt this, felt that...felt, felt, felt, felt!

Awhile back I ordered some felt online to play with.  Just to get a feel for what sewing with it would be like.  That crazy Martha Stewart had a pattern for a "shopper" type bag that was a free download so I thought that might be a quick, easy way to start.  I am all about the instant gratification.  It's terrible.

Some other breaking news,  I love color.  I obsess about color.  I color coordinate the books on my shelves.  And since the felt I purchased was just plain ol' green I decided it needed some jazzing up.

So I sketched out a tree and started cutting out some leaves.  Traced those little fellers onto the felt with a fabric pencil (I've secretly always wanted to use my fabric pencil but never seemed to find a reason.)

Cut the trunk out of some brown cotton, leaving an allowance so I could fold the edges.

With an Exacto knife, I carefully cut out each of the leaves.  Felt cuts beautifully with an Exacto knife, especially if it's a new blade.  Now I have a bunch of little leaf pieces that I can use for another project.  Lord knows I DON'T THROW ANYTHING AWAY!

Pinned the tree onto the bag and sewed it.  Added some free sewing details to the trunk to give it some character.  Then got busy sewing the leaves.  I placed each piece of fabric from my color spectrum behind the cut outs and sewed them on top.  I'm a pretty good multi-tasker but once I started sewing I stopped photographing.  I struggle with doing both!

TA DA!  The finished product.  It's a rainbow tree.  It turned out great.  Coulda just made a plain green shopper but NO.....had to take it up a notch.  It will be a great book bag for the library books or  a reusable grocery bag.    It will definitely get used.


And btw, Happy Earth Day!

Hippity Hoppity Hippity Hoppity, Easter's on it's way. Oh Shoot, it's here and I've done nothing!

It's Easter tomorrow and I've done nothing.  The little bees claim to believe in the Easter bunny and I am failing them.  I have the stuff but just haven't gotten around to assembling baskets and eggs and blah, blah, blah.  I did make an AWESOME casserole for brunch the Gramma and Grampa Bee.  Soooooo, that's somethin'!

The dying went well.  I had enough glasses to hold all of the dyes.  Don't drink that, it's not for drinking. And yes, we went with the brown eggs.

Ladycakes is totally old enough to take charge of these projects.  I get them set up but she takes it from there.  It allows me to photograph and sit back as the quiet observer.  It's quite fun that way.  They figured out the math on how many eggs each had to dye.  They took it slow and waited until the egg was done to "perfection."  It was nice not hearing my voice telling them what to do and how to do it.  I'm notorious for that.

And look what they come up with.  Lovely.  All on their own, photographed by moi'.  No barking, no "you should do it this way."  None of that.  And btw, brown eggs do dye "richly."  I'll do it again.  Guess what' s on the menu this week?

Egg Salad.

Happy Easter, friends.

This is not how I intend to celebrate Easter!

This happened today. THIS!  Really?  Enough already.  Q actually said, "I THOUGHT it was SPRING?" And, uh yes, he wore shorts to school.  The boy thinks he can fool Mother Nature. It's not spring.  It's winter.  I plowed 10 inches of snow off the driveway today.  And, I am bitter.  I thought Easter was about new, kicky sandals, springy skirts, pretty pastel colors (aside from all of it's "religious" stuff.)  How do you have an Easter egg hunt in THIS?

I mean really!  You are NOT going to see any little spring birdie birds bathing their little feathers in that bad boy.  No Sir.

We are going to dye some eggs.  Trying brown because there is a rumor circulating that they really give off a "rich" color.  Plus that's what we eat and I had them in the fridge.  Although I am considering just hucking them out into the snow and encouraging the little bees to "just go for it."  It will make the hunt last longer that's for sure.


And while I'm at it, for April.  My One Small Change is right here.

This is awesome, I found it clicking here and then clicking there and then clicking again.  Find it yourself and join in.






Some cool stuff to show tomorrow.  Tune in.......

Erin Go Braugh, and then I ran an errand and bought a bra!

St. Patrick's Day was eventful in an uneventful way.  Aside from the normal schedule, there were a few side trips.  Check it out.

Elvis's preschool was totally "green" for St. Patrick's Day and went to our local Recycle Center.  It happens to be one of my most favorite places.  The pack rat, creative sort loves this kind of place.  It is a world of endless possibilities.

We saw a rainbow of caps and what not in one particular bin.  This makes me so happy I could cry.  There a million things that could be done with this "garbage."

Then, we went  back to school and had these cuties.  Thanks to Pink and Green Mama and her genius.  These are amazing, easy and " wow"  kids and adults alike.  Thanks for sharing!

Recycling and Rainbow Jello Rock my World.  Just call me Kermit!

Teacher Gifts...you know they deserve it.

This is it, I promise.  Enough with the Valentine's already.  Elvis's party is tomorrow and I think I've mentioned before his teachers are a great bunch.  I got to know them quite well during the lockdown, if you remember.   He has one teacher for his little group but there are 7 teachers total in the school and they really help ALL of the children.

Teachers too often get overlooked.  So many parents take them for granted.  I know because I was one.  There is a lot of expectation for greatness from teachers but then little reward (aside from seeing these little people learn and grow, I'm talkin' goods here people!)

The moneytree is buried (and by "buried" I mean gasping for any signs of life) under a bunch of snow (and by "snow" I mean bills galore)  Here at the Hive, so I was working on a tight budget.  Here's what we came up with.

 We headed over to TJ Maxx and got the Maxx for the Minn.  Oy.

24 colorful washcloths..... $9.98!
7 assorted shower gels.....$4.99!
Sucking up to  Rewarding hardworking teachers....priceless!

And because I ALWAYS have to take it one step further, here's what I did.  I combined two washcloths, the ribbon all of the washcloths were wrapped in, some pom poms I had in my stash and made some cupcakes.  Cute, no?

Wrapped in a cello bag with a shower gel and a fancy hand-drawn cupcake tag and it's done.  Cross it off the list.  I gotta start thinking about St. Patrick's Day.

Adieu to you, 2009. Good riddance. 2010, you better be nice!

New Year's Eve is an interesting night in my book. I remember being younger and crazier, hard to imagine since I'm still crazy just not as young. Getting ready for a big party. Enjoying the process. Make-up, outfit, when do we arrive, when do we leave? It all used to be so fun and mysterious. Now....not so much. And I like it so much more.

Now...here is the plan.

Snuggy pants. check.

Drink in hand. check.

People I love close and safe. check

Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve dialed in and ready to rock. check. (Oh Ryan Seacrest, you media-whore you! and I hope Dick doesn't show up. It really brings me down.)

7 layer dip. check. (Ladycakes eats it like a starved child. Cotillion might help that.)

Resolutions. check. (All in my head and totally unattainable. Really Jen, debt-free in 2010?Are you high? 20 pounds lighter? Have another! Reading with your children every night before bed? Get a grip!)

However. I do know that I am lucky and happy. Faced with a few new things but that's okay. From pre-pubescent children to an almost Kindergartener. Old dogs who just keeping getting older and young dogs who act old. Household junk that needs to be handled and so not prepared to take care of them. Honestly, I missed the class on budgeting.

I love my husband. He is calm and in control. He keeps me in check. Ladycakes is lovely. Finding her way and becoming her own darling self. Someone I wish I could be. She will rule the world. Q is brilliant and funny and handsome and wonderful. Elvis. Oh Elvis. I am so glad I have you. I relish each and every moment with you. As my youngest, you remind to stop and remember. Don't just blow through it to get to the next, really enjoy it. No matter how rotten or misbehaved or gross it is.

Adieu 2009. I've had enough. I'm done with you. 2010. I love you. You are fresh and new and full of promise. Tomorrow everything changes.

Happy, Happy friends.

Jen

And because it is...just listen. Add this to my Life Soundtrack.

Our wish for the New Year.

From our hive to yours. Merry Christmas!

This could be your Christmas present, all you have to do is ask!

So, someone (like your spouse) says, "what do you want for Christmas?" And you just don't know what you "want." I know it gets hard, you stop thinking about what you want cuz you're too concerned about what everyone else wants. So? How about a class? A really fun class, with a really fun gal. She's the girl next door, the daughter you want your daughter to be, the girl your son has fallen in love with, the best friend you yearn for AND one kick-ass photographer! Check, Check, Check it! MEET JAMIE SAMPSON. I'm not yelling at you, I'm just getting your attention!

Wow, not only is the photography amazing but that child is beautiful

WHOA! What a minute, look at this one, clearly good genes going on here. That kid needs an agent. Anyone know where he could find one?

Here's the scoop in the photographer's words.... wait these are my words, her's follow. " She's awesome and you'd be lucky to receive this, even if you have to buy it for yourself?"

HERE IT IS! In her words.

"A full day with Jamie? Learning everything she knows? Interested?

The details: A full day including in-studio and on-location (natural light) shooting with models (lighting, posing, all the details), photo shop technique (how to get your colors to pop), marketing, learning how to interact with your subjects and getting them to look natural, have fun and be themselves, pricing, developing your own style and branding, the whole sha-bang. If you have questions, I will answer them. Includes lunch.

It is a one-on-one day of whatever you need. Teaching one-on-one allows the day to be customized to you, to work on what you need and the areas that you are interested in.

It is a chance to learn everything I have spent the last 8 years of my life perfecting. I wish I would have had the opportunity to learn from a pro in the business, it would have saved me hours and days of tears and frustration.

The investment: $800 (full day, 8 hours) or $1000 (full day plus 2, 10 hours)

The rules: Prices above apply to those who live at least 150 miles from Salt Lake. If you are local add $500 onto the prices above.

Interested or have questions, please email me at jamie@jamie-sampson.com.

****If you book your mentoring session for 2010 before Christmas 2009 save $150.****

Hubby’s…. mentoring makes a fabulous Christmas gift for your photographer honey."

My words again.

Think about it... it's worth the investment. Merry Christmas to you!