Life in recent-November

Life has been a blissful chaos in the Marshall home lately. After our move across country just a few short months ago, we are all falling into a daily ebb and flow that works well for the time being. We are preparing for the holiday months, as all are, but we are exceptionally excited for the holiday season this year as it will be the first time in 3 years traveling "home" to Maine to be with family. We were so blessed to spend the past 2 years with our West coast family, but with a brand new baby niece, a new family pet to share, and the ache of a motherly hug, this year is set up to be a beautiful Christmas. Until than, I fill my moments in between with what speaks to my heart, and I felt it would be a lovely thing to share with my friends. So here is my life in recent, what I am doing lately!

Doing:
 Honestly, lots of filling time with background T.V, some playing with paper, and basic daily cleaning. I know, its a very exciting thing, this life of a stay-at-home mom!

Reading:
I have been on a reading streak lately. I have soooo many books saved up, that as much as I desire to enjoy these books, part of me is just as excited to read one book so I can start another! I just picked up this book the other day and is my current read. I have always been drawn to stories of the holocaust for the connection of empathy and sociology, a reminder of what is truly necessary in life.

Watching:
Seriously, hubby and I happened upon this new show last night, and being from Southern Maine where the cast and crew shoot, it is my own little slice of nostalgia.

Listening to:
Is it wrong to be a 30 year old and jam out to a once boy band member?? If it's wrong, I don't want to be right!

Thinking:
Oh how I missed the four seasons. First snowfall of the season touched lightly upon my boots( yet to be worn in years due to west coast weather), and it took all restraint not to screech out in excitement like a little kid!

Thanks for peeking into what life has been like for me lately! I hope everyone has a BEAUTIFUL day!!!
                                                                      Brianna

and I shall keep you!

Happy hump of the week day! It has been long days here. Hubby has been working long hours, leaving me to my babies, and than books at bedtime. Of course on my down time, I have been filling the hours with my paper and glue. I created this fun layout to go along with this weeks sketch over at Elles Studio. I am not one to often scrap pets, but we captured this amazing photo of Chester-Bu and I just had to put it to paper. Those that have followed me for quite sometime now will remember this post of our previous pet, Sunnie, whom passed away suddenly. This layout became a beautiful thing for us as it was the only layout ever scrapped with her. I vowed to include our next pet more in my projects when the time came. Fast forward 2 years after her passing, we stumbled upon the cutest ball of wrinkles at the pet store and just had to bring him home.

He is now known as the majestic lion, mountain goat, as he feels the need to climb on everything, to the highest peek. Quite the feat for such a large dog, if I do say so myself. So here is to Chester-Blu, my always slobbery, sometimes stinky, but ALWAYS playful and loveable beast of a dog!
                                                          Brianna

Ode to thirty!

Good morning friends! It is a chilly day here in NY and I am spending it with lots of paper and glue, playing along with the crop over at My Scraps and More! Its a fun group! I wanted to share this layout I created just for fun , documenting my 30th birthday! I have really come into myself in my late 20's, and I HIGHLY embraced the upcoming of my 30th birthday, so here is to the past 3 decade, beautiful memories, and optimism of the next 3 decades( hopefully more). Stay warm and have a beautiful, blessed weekend!

                                                        Brianna

Getting fancy!

Good morning friends! I wanted to share the optimistic layout I created just for fun! It has been a rough few weeks in our household. It is with heavy heart to share that we lost a beautiful family member last week. My husbands Nana, a beautiful woman through and through, sadly lost her battle with Cancer. Are we sad?? Greatly, but amongst all the sadness is great blessing.We were truly blessed, as a family to get the chance to be stationed 2 hours from here these past two years. We will forever reassure the time spent and memories made. On the home front, I have had a declining issue with breathing since the move. It may be something in the home, or outdoor allergies, but I have been struggling to breathe, ontop of being asthmatic. It finally became to much, and I chose to got to the ER Monday morning. This resulted in a crazy long wait, as to be expected, and lengthy treatments of liquid inhalants and liquid steroids, to be sent home with steroid pills and inhalers! So, seeming necessary, today, I rest.

I wanted to share this layout of a beautiful time for our family, despite the crazy week. We were also blessed the past two years with this view out our backyard! This view and a warm cup of coffee on the back porch; YES PLEASE! How my feet wish to be bare here again, rather than confined in my warm boots!

 I played along with this months FANCY PANTS SKETCH! I loved the lines of the sketch, and knew right away I wanted to build off of the idea of masking and spraying my title! You have until the 10th to share if you feel inspired also! I hope everyone is feeling well and not too sick with tummy aches from this weekends "candy tax" we all love to collect ;)

                                                                                       Brianna

fill your heart.....

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week!!! It is rainy here, but we are excitedly counting the days until family that we have not seen in over 3 years, ( including a niece we have yet to meet) fly in. # days and counting! Between getting things ready for visitors and cleaning, I have found myself needing to fill my time. Hubby finally started at work on Monday, leaving little K and I alone all day until sisters get home at 3. Very long and lonely days as I have yet to get into an outlet to meet new people, so what better way to fill the moments in between than playing with some paper and glue.
I was inspired this week to combine two online challenges. First I used THIS sketch from Paper Issues, their new extension of inspiration. I also played along with the society 52 challenge on Instagram to use a quote and later add some foil! I was happy with the outcome, although its a bit of a softer palette than I gravitate towards.

Its a bit hard to make out the foil, but there is a tiny star tucked behind the sequins on my quote, along with all my floating triangles, gold foil! I was happy to have the time to play along! I hope ya'll have a LOVELY weekend and thanks for peeking in!
                                                         Brianna

the BIGGEST pumpkin ever!

I was up over at the UmWowStudio blog yesterday with my layout documenting our family pumpkin from last year. We had walked into the grocery store with no intention of getting a pumpkin at the time, but there in our face, stood the largest pumpkin we had ever seen. I cannot remember the exact weight but I do remember that I could in no way pick it up and carry it alone. We brought it home, only to create the largest haunted house to ever adorn a pumpkin!

I wanted to use a shape for my layout that could contain my UWS Confetti in a group, and the sunburst just made the most sense! I chose the most festive papers I could find, including an old green Hambly chevron paper( please tell me I am not the only one still hoarding my Hambly stash?)
I used my UWS Sequin Confetti in one section, while placing my UWS Arrow Confetti in another strip, perfectly drawing attention to my photo!

I loved grouping my UWS Confetti together and with just 2 weeks until Halloween, it was just the page  I needed to get me in the festive mind frame!
                                                                Brianna

Life's simple surprises

Good morning friends!
It is quite the chilly day here. I would be lying if I didn't admit that my feet miss being bare, socks and shoes can be so constricting. They just want to be free!!
The ladies and I are up today at LCOM with another fun sketch inspired layout. I love working with sketch's to get my brain working, interpreting the ideas in my head to make the layout mine. I have a personal habit of turning my sketch's. I am not sure where this desire comes from, but its normally the first step. For this sketch, I actually chose to keep the sketch as is to work with!

I started by finding this super fun paper for my base. It is hard to tell in detail, but the white polka dots are a type of fuzzy material, adding a fun dimension. I also realized half way through the page that it unintentionally screamed "HALLOWEEN COLORS", the spirit of the seasons must be deep in my heart this month!

I cannot help but LOVE these photos I snapped of the girls one day. We had a scheduled lawn service that would kick on at night, but on rare occasions it would unexpectedly kick on in the bright sunshine of the day. We always took this as a sign to stop and enjoy this simple little gift by stopping everything and running out to play in the water! You just cannot beat the excitement on the girls faces!
You can check out all of the interpretations and play along for our chance at a this weeks prize by joining in at the LCOM Blog. I hope everyone has a beautiful weekend, filled with little, unexpected joys; Life's simple surprises!
                                                               Brianna