Thompson Family-Life

vinyl picture frame wall decal update...

Thought I'd post this really quick... yep, it's an actual wall decal! No photoshopping! :-)

I still have some tweaking to do on these (on the images), but this was a sample test print they did for me. A few more tweaks, and another test print, and hopefully we're good to go on these!! The material they used is really great though. I'm going to leave it up on my wall for a while and make sure they don't go anywhere! ;-) This particular frame has a very intricate diecut as you can tell, but it really turned out great. And goes up super easily.

Now to figure out how the heck I want to ship these.. dealing with shipping and the post office i think is the single worst thing about selling things online.. dontcha think? Will have to peruse shipping materials at Uline again.. I spend alot of time on that site. But man they rock. And there's a Uline warehouse only about 20 minutes from my house. Makes me happy! :-)

Here's a project that Cooper's working on today.. picked up some Perler beads at Michael's. He made that heart necklace for me at school last week, so we knew we had to make some at home. 

That pattern and color palette is so fashionable, don't you think? :-)

 

(skirt from Anthropologie.. but sold out!)

(my new shirt from Mod Cloth... "Technicolor Dream Top"... yeh, because I had to return my "Love Boat" shirt because i didn't fit. But I like this shirt better... and it fits! :-)

I also got this shirt because one of my other Mod Cloth purchases didn't fit either.. but this one fits... yeh! :-)

It's actually a dress, but i'll be wearing it as a shirt... it's waaaay too short for my legs. lol!

I was looking thru some old photos that my cousin used in a slideshow for my grandmother's 80th bday party.. and saw this one of my cousin and I.

I thought I'd compare it to a photo of her son (Mason from my previous post) and Cooper.. they are about the same age as we were in the above pic. I was CONVINCED that I would see some of me in Cooper... but alas... not so much... looks just like his Dad... ;-)

But as you can see, Mason is the spitting image of his Momma. :-) (not a great pic of Cooper, since he's out of focus.. but good for comparison!)

And apparently, NONE of my children look like me.

Yeh, Campbell is sad about that too. ;-) He actually looks like neither Ethan nor me. But looks just like my sister (and Dad). Funny how genetics work! 

Make sure to hop over to the Kitschy Digitals blog.. I've posted lots of new artwork by team members... they are so talented! SERIOUSLY! i'm a lucky gal.

Here's a sampling of what's over there.. see the blog post for even more eye candy and info on the kits!

(artwork by Karine Courtemanche) 

(artwork by Anna Backstrom)

(Artwork by Marie Lottermoser)

(artwork by Karine Courtemanche) 

(Embroidery by Larissa Crescini Albernaz.)

Post made of photos...

Can't say alot right now, gotta go to work.. but I thought I'd post a few pics from our weekend trip to Louisiana. It was wonderful. :-)

And despite what these photos may depict, I was not capturing a Coca-Cola commercial.
It was **HOT** and a nice cold beverage was in order. And these boys were quite proud of their Coke-Colas. (i love mr. grumpy roly-poly in the background. :-)

There's a cute story that goes with this camper... more on that later...



Photo Actions used: Eye Candy Actions & DeLight Actions (see sidebar for link)

Spent yesterday getting my Blythe headband orders together.. sometimes designing the packaging is more fun than designing the actual products! :-)

more photos and words to come...

Afternoon with the girls, and fashion inspiration...

I spent some time with my girls yesterday. It had been so long! Like a month I think! I needed them to model my headbands for the shop update, and I remembered how fun it is to dress them up and photograph them. It's a guilty pleasure for sure! :-) I'm sure this doll thing is strange for some, but it still blows my mind how on a weekly basis someone new tells me that I converted them to Blythe and that they've bought one (or two, or three!) for themselves and that they're hooked! It's an addictive hobby for sure (and did I mention expensive?):-)

I scored this little bike on Ebay (of course).. I was really lucky and no one even bid against me on it! It's the perfect size for Blythe and it's vintage, made in a Japan! It is sincerely cute (although Cooper told me it's dirty and I need to clean it. Lol!) and it just reeks summer-love to me. I want a bike just like this with wildflowers sitting in the little front box.. It was a beautiful summer day yesterday (which was a nice change from the FREEZING weather we had a few days before! so strange!)

There are slight lesbian-love overtones on this one... but get your mind out of the gutter, they're just best friends!! ;-) ;-) (although Margaret, the redhead, does seem to be looking at Pauline rather longingly.... hmmmmmmmm......)

:-)

 

I'm thinking i might need to get brave and add some freckles to Margaret's little face. Carrot top + freckles = a divine combination :-)

Some other headband shots...

I added the pleated ribbon to this one yesterday.. i'm loving anything pleated these days...

 

 

 

I'm so happy with the construction on these.. it took me a bit to find the right material for the base of the headband (which I've created from scratch myself!).. there aren't many Blythe size plain metal headbands out there.. actually none that i could find! So I've made them myself and they are very sturdy and not flimsy. I love that. The glue is really strong that I use, so you don't have to worry about things popping off! (i hate hot glue for that reason!) I was using E6000, but now i'm using Amazing Goop. It's not AS fumy as the other one... but sticks really well!

 

I'm so pumped to make more of these! I was so pleasantly surprised to see how fast the headbands sold yesterday!! Thank you to everyone that purchased one (or two!) of these.. i hope you enjoy them! :-) I'll *definitely* be making more in the coming weeks! Sooner rather than later for sure! :-)

I also wanted to thank those taking advantage of my Buy One, Get One FREE deal at Kitschy Digitals! THANK YOU!! :-) The sale ends May 26th, so you still have time if you're interested. :-)

I'm really excited because this weekend we're having a HUGE surprise party for my grandmother who is turning 80! (she doesn't read my blog, so i'm safe i hope!) It will be in Louisiana where both my mom and dad's side of the family are from. I'm really looking forward to some quality time spent with these folks.. everyone is coming out from all over the South... people I haven't seen in years and years. I feel very blessed to have such a BIG extended family.. And i love where they live (both sets of grandparents live in this same city) it's such a small town. With small town people. It's cliche to say, but they really are the salt of the Earth. And I love how we all just slow down when we go there.

I'm personally always on overdrive, ALWAYS working on something.. i swear it's like I've developed ADD in this intensely FAST paced world. Technology and the immediacy of things just makes me feel like my mind is spinning 24/7. It will be so nice to slow down.

My grandmother lives out in the country... I will be sure to take lots of photos (and I might even bring the dolls with me...) It's just beautiful out there.

Here's the gift I got my grandmother, custom-made on Etsy of course! This artist was so kind to turn this around at the last minute for me! I {HEART} ETSY! :-) This would make such a great gift idea for anyone! It's an 11x14 print that I'll be framing..

I also wanted to post some fashion inspiration I've had of late... I have to say that i *LOVE* fashion.. but I definitely have a love-hate thing with it (like most women i'm sure).. you wouldn't think from the way i dress on a daily basis that i love fashion. lol! But i've been finding some items lately that i feel comfortable in which is nice, but still have some real style to them.. it's always hard dealing with an *ahem* larger figure after childbirth.. man, i miss my skinny days. ;-) Don't we all? But it's so nice to find really cool clothes these days in my size!

First, I shopped vintage.. most of my shopping is online as i just don't have time to go out.. so when i found Mandi's vintage shop (i'm sure lots of you know Mandi! :-) i fell in love.. and mostly because she usually carries lots of Large sizes! that is rare with vintage!

I got this... (anything with an ascot drives me over the edge. I just love that word: ascot.)

and this...

I also have been coveting this blouse in a big way, but i'm holding myself back to chill on my spending, lol!...

I also REALLY love a mod collar on any shirt, so i went searching for some detachable vintage collars on Etsy and found these! IN LOVE! :-)

 

 

Another one of my FAV stores (new merch) is Mod Cloth. Most recently I've purchased a few things for some trips i have coming up...

They actually said the words "Love Boat" in the description for this one.. YES!!!  I LOVE IT!  lol!

 

 

 

And i covet even more at Mod Cloth.. but can't buy everything of course, or either it's a style that i LOVE but might not look too great on my figure.. like this..

 

ok, gotta get packing!

I hope everyone has a great holiday weekend! Thanks for the nice words in the last post! :-)

Blythe Headband Tiny Bazaar shop update!

Ok, this was very spur of the moment, but the headbands are in my shop!

 
Go to my Tiny Bazaar shop to see them! :-) Thanks!

Two

So a little man turned 2 today. :-) We had a very, VERY small party for him yesterday (just the 4 of us and his Nanna and Papa!) which was sooo nice. It was wonderful to do something low-key and spend only $32 on decorations at the local Party City. ;-) Because really, the boy only really wants to see lots of Thomas, Thomas, Thomas the Train! Thomas banners, Thomas balloons, Thomas streamers, Thomas, well you know. And food consisted of take out BBQ at our favorite local place. Easy-peasy. Not one hand-made decoration. Being a slacker has never been so fun, relaxing and rewarding. :-)

Remember planning his 1st birthday party last year? Terrariums? Cupcakes? Decorations? The works! doing the extreme *opposite* of that was really refreshing this year. :-)

It is very hard to believe that Cam is 2.. so I had to take the time to look back over the past 2 years of photos of him and thought i'd share some here. :-)

Newborn Cam...

 

 

Baby Cam... not much hair...

 

 

Cam turns one.. still no hair...

 

yummm... birthday cupcakes...

waaaaaaaitt..... is that hair i see?

 

YES! we have hair at age one and a half. :-)

And enter present-day.. we have LOTS of hair, a curly toehead.. and apparently a terrible-two-year-old-attitude to come with it. What happened to my EASY, SWEET, baby?!

wait! here he is (ok maybe not so easy, but sometimes sweet). In Poladroid form. (i'm late to the party on this.. it's so much FUN! :-)

 

That is a cracker in his mouth not a gigantic bottom tooth, if you were wondering.

And here are some pics from the party... Cooper trying to show Cam how to unwrap a present...

 

Nana reading to him one of his many new birthday books  (his 2 fav things right now are Thomas and BOOKS!!)

 

His happy demeanor turned mortified when we cut the lights off, put a flaming cupcake in front of him and started singing some strange "happy birthday song"... he had that bottom-trembly-lip thing going, like "what the bloody hell is going on here? escape! ESCAPE!" lol. It was funny. :-)

 

And we took the obligatory family photo to document the occasion, complete with flattering flash, shiny faces, double chins (me), red eye, etc, etc...

 

I'd say it's about as perfect, as perfect can be, for a family photo. :-) (my 70's decor blends quite nicely with the Polaroid treatment, dontcha think?)

I love you Campbell. You are my beautiful little curly-toehead that used to be really really easy and sweet and go-with-the-flow but now you're quite the handful and give your equally-challenging brother a run for his money. But that's ok because you're entitled to your terrible-two's (and threes) and your Daddy and I are (not so) patiently counting down the days/years until you're four, when you'll be a much calmer boy, go to sleep at night like you're supposed to, and not throw your food on the floor. As much as I miss my dream-baby, I'm marveling at your insanely full vocabulary (at TWO! Cooper didn't say much even at THREE!), the fact that you can count to 10 (again, a two year old! blows my mind.. i'm not used to this) and how outgoing you are. Our little flirter and politician. You talk to everyone. You are quite the charmer. Just like your brother. :-) And i also delight in how affectionate you are. You are much more cuddly than your brother was at your age. I love how you hold my face with both hands and kiss me all over.

We're very blessed to have you little man. Happy Birthday. :-)

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On another note! I'm having a BOGO sale at Kitschy Digitals! Read the blog post for more details! :-)

And I have two new kits out! (will be available Tuesday, it's Monday night now, but should be Tuesday once you read this. lol!) Check out my shop for these new kits! :-)