Summer time...

Hi Bloggers! Oh my stars how I have missed you all. Summer has flown by and I have not had too much computer/blogging time.  So I thought I would give you a little recap and post a few pictures for you to enjoy. I wish I could say that I have had a crafty, scrappy summer, but my projects have taken a backseat to being mom. I am just now getting back into my creating and will have some pretties to share with you all in the months to come.

May began with my nephew Joe graduating from high school. The entire Willaert family was present at Pat's brother Gerald's farm and we had a great time eating and socializing. The above picture was taken at the farm and I played around with it in Photoshop to get the effect I was after. So wish I could tell you what I did, but it was so long ago I can't remember. That's Desi and Cole running for the corn field.

Desi celebrated her 5th birthday in May and we had a super glamorous time at her "Make-Over Party". We performed manicures, pedicures, hairstyles and applied makeup to 10 little girls. I could not have pulled it off without the help of my nieces and sister-in-laws. Thank you ladies - you did a phenomenal job! Above are the party invites I created using my Cricut and the Forever Young cartridge. I liked the idea of the little mirror and Desi was able to help apply the pieces of the invite together. Such fun!

Here she is getting her hair straightened by my niece Whitney. She has curly hair, so whenever someone will take the time to straighten it for her, she is all smiles and oh so grown up. She opted for cupcakes and below you can see her getting ready to blow out her candles.

One of my favorite lines that made it's way to the stores early in the season was Melody Ross's Homespun Chic by GCD Studios. I could play with these papers over and over again, they are so shabby but bright, simple but complex. Love them and would buy this line all over again! Ellie made her way onto the layout below and of course I shed several tears while piecing it together. I loved this line so much I even used pieces from the packaging!

And a little birdie house. This little house had been painted and crackled back in December and then sat unfinished for the winter. The Homespun Chic papers dressed it up nicely and it is now displayed in my kitchen.

Cole also celebrated a birthday as he turned 2 in May. We kept his "party" very simple since I was spent from Desi's little gala. He is big into anything that drives, moves, bales hay or digs dirt. His cake was simply adorable and decorated with an excavator that now takes its place in his sandbox. A little dump truck adorned with brown sugar dirt completed the look and Cole could not have been happier. He held onto the excavator the entire time he "ate" his cake and fed some to Grandma Joy. Precious - cannot wait to scrap the abundance of pictures I took that day:)

Ellie's memory garden was just gorgeous this year. Delphiniums, yellow peonies, clematis, johnny-jump-ups and yellow roses bloomed brilliantly in May and June. I was thrilled to see that all of the work we had done last year planting Ellie's favorites came back with such beauty. Oh so pretty - she would have been so very proud of me.

We have had lots of crazy weather this summer too. Very heavy storms and lots of tornadoes. The stormy picture below was taking from my window looking out over the backyard. We were headed for the basement that day. Below I captured Desi in the rain and was able to scrap a cute little page using some fun products from KI Memories. The colors in the Posh line were so fun to play with. KI was the sponsor over at Scrappin' Mojo for June and they were more than generous with their product. Thank you KI Memories!

I have not posted a picture of my sweet hubby in some time so I thought I would do that in this post. Here's Pat and Colson snuggling while we watched Desi at her swimming lessons. I love getting pictures of my two guys together; Cole is the spitting image of Pat at age two! They look so much alike, don't ya think?

I will leave you with a little something that I made for my mom's birthday. Keeping Ellie's memory alive is something I do on a daily basis and I enjoy creating little pieces of art to hang here and there. Often they have scripture on them to remind me to keep God first; and many times they have pictures of my precious angel child, my Ellena. I say it in every post, but my heart continues to ache for her. She continues to inspire me to keep moving forward and so I do. Each step a little tougher than the last, but none the less, a step.

I will leave you all now. My kiddos need supper and my thoughts are starting to blend together. I hope to be back sooner than later with a few more shares for you. Be Blessed my sweet blog friends!

XOXO, Nik