oh hey, friday! | holiday card edition!

Friday, October 30, 2015
oh mercy. i have problems. not real problems, but problems nonetheless.

i've become mildly obsessed with the holidays...and more specifically -  designing holiday cards.

you guys...i've said it once and i'll say it again - i kind of feel like a fraud when i talk about designing paper goods or logos or design boards or business cards or or or...the list goes on.

i feel like a fraud because i did not go to school for any sort of design whosey-whatsy. i studied psychology in college. psychology and education. and boy do i use that every. single. day...said me never.

but as it turns out...i probably should have thought about a little graphic design schooling. i think i would have really loved it.

regardless, here i am. stumbling through it each night. and i love it.

lately i'm loving it that much more because i've been putting together little holiday card designs to show you all today!

but first...

1 | grab this here snazzy fall-themed button and link back to Sept. Farm.
2 | link up your post at the bottom of this post.
3 | tell all your friends + have a fantastic friday.


here's the thing...i wanted to show you all the goodies i've been working on because...i wanted to give you all the option of buying one of the designs!

here's how it's going to work - 

+ any of the designs below can be customized by me for $25. that cost includes a backer. you'll be able to select your backer (either one of the designs below) or you can select from additional designs that will be e-mailed to you once design has been purchased.

+ if none of the below designs is your cup of tea, please e-mail me! i'd be happy to design a fully custom holiday card! a custom card is priced between $35 - $45. (includes digital files only.)

+ i have five spots remaining for customized cards! if you haven't had family pictures taken yet, don't worry! you can reserve your spot with payment, then once your pictures are in, send them my way and i'll get to work!

+ e-mail me to reserve your spot!

1 | buffalo check

this one. this buffalo check card is my FAVORITE and i'll more than likely end up using it for our holiday card this year. i think it looks awesome with a black and white picture.
 2 | fa la la la la

you don't want your card to say fa la la la la? that's okay. i can totally change it to say...anything. happy holidays? merry and bright? joy to the world? anything.

also, how do you feel about the golden-yellow color? love it? hate it? i can change that too.
3 | joy

if simple and clean is your cup of tea, then this is your cup of card? then this is your card. again, the colors can be easily adjusted to suit your likes!
4 | holiday wreath

awww...look at my two best gals! i bet your family picture would look super cute there too!
5 | ummm...link up! yes! do it, just below!
(and don't forget to e-mail me with your orders! 
remember...i'm only taking five more! then i'm all booked up!)

3 x feature | 3 new reads you'll be adding to your bloglovin' list!

Wednesday, October 28, 2015
happy wines-day wednesday.

happy hump day.

happy blogger feature day!

i have three lovely lovely lovely gals to introduce you to today. 

honestly...sometimes i wonder why some of these gals sponsor me...when it's so very clear i should be sponsoring their blogs. i mean...as a blogger, when you've got it, you've got it.

and these gals have it. they just do. 

so basically it's a trifecta of wonderful. i strongly encourage you to visit their blogs. show them all the love. and find three new reads that will surely zap away some of that time i'm sure you have dedicated solely to blog reading...said no one ever. 

right, don't we all wish we had just a little more time to do some light-hearted reading? maybe while drinking a hot beverage. maybe while cuddled up under a blanket? i give that a resounding yes.

read on and enjoy!
blog // bloglovin' // facebook // pinterest // instagram

1 | my family - two kids, husband, and my two great danes

2 | my iPhone - i admit it, i am totally addicted!

3 | my diaper bag - seriously, everything that i could ever need is in there!

F A V O R I T E  P O S T S

accessorize on a budget


blog // facebook // instagram // pinterest // twitter
1 | my husband - i mean, have you seen him!? i still get butterflies just looking at him...and my kids of course. being a mom is simultaneously the most incredible, difficult, and exciting gift i have ever been given.

2 | early mornings - i'm not talking about 4 am craziness, but i'm a morning person through and through (even as a mom, now). having quiet time to myself in the morning keeps me sane.

3 | good coffee - i'm talking, really GOOD coffee.

F A V O R I T E  P O S T S



blog // facebook // instagram // twitter // pinterest

2 | my people 

3 | tiny spaces (like the pantry) i can still control.

F A V O R I T E  P O S T S

shelly says...

the girl who saved me was written in my first two months of blogging as i shared my heart about my sweet first born and how she truly saved me.

grateful for dreams was written after watching my son become one step closer to living his lifelong dream.

______________________________________________________

and those are my gals this month! aren't they wonderful!?

if you think being featured on Sept. Farm is something you would like to try, i'd LOVE to have you. love love love it. check out your options here!

our family pictures | my farmer + gals

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

give me two seconds here...i need to get my braggy pants on.

to say our family picture session was anything short of wildly successful would be an understatement.

granted...kaye did have a number two accident mid-session and it even started to rain a little, but they  still turned out amazing.

someone was watching out for us. they had to have been. need i remind you of family photos - 2014?

nobody was watching over us. NOBODY.

yes. this was our actual christmas card. it was too funny to not send out to family and friends.

but this year...this year was beyond fabulous.

before pictures we had a little family date night. we stopped at a delicious restaurant called 13th street pub and grill. (they have a great beer selection and a menu that's always changing.) i made sure to get my gal's tummies full and talked my farmer into two beers. i wanted to make sure he was feeling relaxed and smiley. (if there's one thing he hates...it's family pictures.)

we had stephanie mballo take our pictures again, but off the farm. she had a great spot picked out in the foothills, and i loved the colors.

there are actually so many good pictures i'm going to dedicated the next 34 blog posts to showing them off. i'm just so damn proud of my sweet, little family. my girls are gorgeous and sassy. my farmer is...gorgeous and sassy. and the pictures are so lovely...i can't wait to have them printed.

okay...here's round one!

M Y  F A R M E R  +  G A L S

 

cookie jar party favors

Monday, October 26, 2015
and just like that...i have a one year old. 

and kaye will be three on friday.

and i'll be officially old. 

and i think my eyebrow hairs are falling out. no seriously. can anyone recommend a good fill in product? 

that's what i'm here to talk to you about today...eyebrow hairs and delicious party favors. 

for kaye and sawyer's birthday i knew i had to go biggish because we were only going to have one party. one. one. one. those things are a lot of freaking work. and they get expensive. 

so when it came to the party favor i knew i wanted to have something cute and delicious for the 15 families in attendance to take home. (that made for over 50 kids and adults in attendance. it was wonderful chaos.)

i originally snagged this idea from amy when she threw these together for beckam's birthday. she had made about 20 cookie jars so i thought, "piece of cake...errr...cookie!" 

in all actuality, they are pretty easy to assemble, but getting all the supplies to actually assemble the jars is a pain, not to mention you have to do math to know how much of everything you need. and trying to complete that task with two kids in your cart is like trying to put eyeliner on while someone is shaking your elbow. 

but the cookie jars managed to get assembled...somehow.

C O O K I E S  I N  A  J A R - R E C I P E
anyway, i ordered my mason jars on amazon, removed the lids and left them in their box.

next i grabbed the only piece of paper i could find to act as a funnel. yes, i would have actually liked to use a real funnel, but who keeps a widemouthed funnel around? people who can, that's who. and i do not. i digress...
all you do is layer layer layer the ingredients one after the other, and hope to god you measured correctly, because if you don't have room for the flour...well...you're in rough shape. this was almost the case with my jars, but i packed it down as tight as i could with a spoon and shoved as much flour as the jar would allow. #closeenough
i wanted the jars to add to the decor of the party so i made up these little instructional cards to match the invitations and overall party color scheme. 
i grabbed some fabric to cover the jar lids, cut a million little squares, tied the instructions to the lid, and voila! cookies in a jar party favor. 
unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it), some people forgot their jars so we had several leftover. i made the first batch last night, and they did not disappoint. but when do chocolate chip cookies ever disappoint? never.
overall, it's a party favor to be enjoyed by the whole family. i hope our guests enjoy their delicious cookies...and i hope everyone had a great time at the party! (including our sweet neighbor boy who caught a foot to the eye in the bounce house resulting in an alarmingly large shiner. thank god he's a tough kid.)

oh hey, friday! | sawyer is 1

Friday, October 23, 2015
hey friday, hey!

so...in case you were wondering...my little sawyer-muff-muff is turning one TOMORROW. tomorrow.

and kaye is turning three next friday.

this year has seriously flown by...i don't even know what would happen if i had three kids. would i lose entire weeks?

this is why we have to stop at two. i don't want to get older any faster.

anyway, before we party our pants off celebrating our best gals tomorrow with a joint birthday party...

1 | grab this here snazzy fall-themed button and link back to Sept. Farm.
2 | link up your post at the bottom of this post.
3 | tell all your friends + have a fantastic friday.

T H I S  T I M E  O N E  Y E A R  A G O

the day before i had sawyer...
and then we got to meet her in the quickest birth...ever. well, probably not ever, but it seemed fast. 
and kaye met her...the pictures look sweet...but she was soooooo not sure of this new little thing in our lives.

we tried to have newborn pictures taken...but sawyer wouldn't stay curled up. she was soooo relaxed from the very beginning.




a few weeks ago we had family pictures taken, and i can't wait to see and share them! our girls have grown so much this year, in size and personality!

happy friday! link up below! share the button!




all about my farmer

Thursday, October 22, 2015
you guys...my farmer. he's got personality for days.

he's super funny.

super...what's the word...he's a smart ass.

he can definitely be a know-it-all...because sometimes he really does know it all.

he's kind.

he's extremely generous...it used to drive me crazy.

and he's my farmer. but let's get to know him better...mmmmk?

+ my farmer grew up in a smaaaaaalllll town. his high school graduating class was nine.

+ my farmer was homecoming and prom king...and student body president. but remember...nine. nine kids in his class.

+ my farmer was in future homemakers of america in high school...to be closer to food and girls.

+ my farmer attended the university of idaho and graduated with a mechanical engineering degree. we met in boise...when i had no clue of his aspirations to become a farmer. i'm not sure he knew he was going to be a farmer at that point either.

+ my farmer ran 30 miles when he turned 30. he said it was one of the most painful experiences of his life. he said it felt like his knees had exploded. this picture was captured at mile 26. his friend rode support the entire way.

+ my farmer survives on candy. you guys. i've never seen anyone consume sweets like my farmer can. if you ask any of his buddies in college what my farmer ate...they'll respond with candy.

+ in college my farmer was saran wrapped to the pole of a sorority house on his 21st birthday.
+ my farmer is super good looking. just thought i'd throw that in there. and he's an epic dancer. nothing is off limits. at his cousin's wedding they had an unchoreographed dance...and they killed it.



+ one time my farmer was picked up by escorts while hitchhiking. he gave them his friend's number as a joke. this friend...

these two also think it's awesome to never smile normally for a picture.

+ and super sappy - my guy. my farmer. he's the best. best daddy. best farmer. he's just the best.

@karlibellmeier