Falling for Family

The fall is nearly upon us again, and to highlight the season our Glitz challenge of the week focuses on autumn photos. On a family drive in the mountains last year, we were overwhelmed by the beauty of the fall colors. With my camera balanced on our trunk and set to timer, we snapped a few family shots against the golden background. (The photo of the layout didn't do justice to the actual background of leaves, so I added the original photo as well.) 

All through the month of September I've been trying new things. This week I cut some large chevrons from a full sheet of patterned paper, then layered snippets here and there. The style is a little different than usual, but made for a fun experiment. 

I decided to do a little quick tip video with this layout. Forgive the video quality, it's a little hard to watch since I was holding my phone in one hand while moving the other. Any video tips would be appreciated. I'll try to do better next time!

"Fairytale Family" Supplies:

Glitz Design "Finley" papers: Stipe, Neon

Glitz Design "Wild & Free" paper: Small Hearts

Glitz Design "Finley: 6x6 Paper Pad

Glitz Design "Wild & Free" 6x6 Paper Pad

Glitz Design "Finley" Words & Alphabets Sticker Sheet

Glitz Design "Finley" Titles & Accents Sticker Sheet

Glitz Design "Wild & Free" Rubber Stamps

Glitz Design "Wild & Free" Tiny Hearts Washi Tape

other: heart punch, ink, tulle, die cut clouds, wood heart, chipboard alphabet

watermark tutorial

the question i've been asked most often about my project 365 is how to get that scrolly watermark on the bottom. well, after some google searching, downloading, recording, editing, rerecording, editing again... having a random program shut down, starting over, then editing some more... i finished my first ever screen capture tutorial on how to make that cool scrolly watermark in photoshop elements for your pictures. in the tutorial i used photoshop elements 8. i am on a mac, but all of the instructions are the same for pc users. the brush i used for my tutorial is available here, but the options are endless for cool brush styles you could use. let me know what you think, or if you have any questions!

and because it's 2:33am right now, and i still have a few minutes before my video is done uploading, i'm going to throw the 365 picture from today in.

today was a much more sunshiny day, both in the weather and in spirit. i'm sure the one helps to encourage the other, and for both i'm thankful. i worked this morning at my killer 2.5 hour/a week job. (i am a receptionist/weigh in person for weight watchers. i'm not responsible on my own, so having to maintain my lifetime status to work there is a bonus. plus the girls i work with are fabulous!) it is an encouraging job though. having been on the other side of that weigh in table myself, it's wonderful to see people succeed on their journey. and it's equally as wonderful to come alongside people as they struggle (just like we all do) to make it to the next step. of course i am ever grateful for the people who encouraged me when i was there, and 41 pounds and three years later... i'm still so thankful for their constant encouragement!

wow, i'm not really sure where that tanget came from, i had intended to write about the girls playing with their walkie-talkies after school. hum, i am a distractable one, aren't i?! but yes, onto the picture of the day... the girls decided to make the most of the sunshine that was leftover after school and get some backyard playing in. they've recently rediscovered their walkie-talkies, and i've been blessed to hear them in the mornings getting ready saying things like, "yes, mom's doing my hair, but you better get down here quick. OVER." so after school they grabbed them again, and went to play outside in the waning light. emma got geared up like an explorer and set out around the house... torrey spied on her from the deck. i spied on torrey, who was spying on emma, who was being a goofball. this was the result of all that spying. :)

happy tuesday!

in a funk

{other shots from today}

ever had one of those days where  you're just in a funk? happened to me. i think i may have awoken to the funk day this morning. there was no particular reason... i awoke to an amazing, nearly scarlet sunrise behind the mountains, but apparently even God's perfect morning masterpiece wasn't enough to get me to pull out of my mood. oh, i went to church and took pictures for our first service in the new building, but i was feeling very alone. funny how you can sometimes feel so alone even when you're surrounded by those that you love. {sigh} i'm not a big fan of the empty-feeling days, but it's all part of the gig of life, i supposed. we all wade through them here and there.

i think, perhaps, it hits me most when we have fun family times without stan. you know, those moments when it's just not quite complete without him there. the girls and i headed up to the mountains on saturday for our second ever skiing day. it was wonderful and fun, and all the things it should have been... and yet i was there without my missing piece. (i know now that i've hit the two-months-into-deployment blues.) i took a ton of pictures for stan - i know he's dying to go skiing with the girls. then there's that twinge of guilt that we started something new while he was away. stan grew up skiing, but it's all new to the girls and me. i know it kills him to miss these  little moments.

but then i think... we are so blessed. 10 years ago, on our first deployment, we didn't even have internet access. we had $5 a minute delay-action phone calls. not only do we have the vast improvements in communication to be very thankful for {skype, facebook, email, ustream, youtube, etc} but beyond that we have that something that's hard to put into words, but helps you to get up in the morning and be ever so grateful for each day. that something that makes my heart ache when he's not here for things. that something that makes you fall on the floor laughing until you can hardly breathe. that little something that makes the same mundane everyday stuff a joy. that little something that makes this life possible for us. and i know that little something is really a thousand little somethings, all mixed up into one big little something. but all the same i'm thankful for it. and sitting here, thinking of all i have to be thankful for, i can feel pieces of "the funk" falling off.

so there's me, wading through and lifting my head out of the muck to see the beautiful life that is my reality. it's one more reason i'm so grateful for project 365 and for scrapbooking. they both help me to look at those precious moments that compile together to make up life. not just any life, but our life... together, even when we're apart. and the magic moments with my babies that i have to treasure and to share. life is beautiful... even when it's dark out.

the last full day

the last full day

i'm not exactly sure where this past school year went, but it is now 2 hours of school away from being finished. yowza! i'm pretty sure the reason time is going by so fast has nothing to do with me getting any older... that couldn't be it. lol. but really, it has been a wonderful whirlwind school year at our new school. the staff & parents have just taken us in and made us feel so welcome. the girls love the school & all of their new friends. and i have to say i'm going to miss this year's teachers terribly next year. i had lunch today with the girls and their friends, and watched the end of year awards assembly. so so much fun! i even ran a quick errand for emma's teacher for next year. i ran to get some pictures developed for her last minute, and since she was nice enough to trust me with her camera... i made sure to leave a few little "presents" on it for her to find later! we'll see if she ever trusts me with it again! lol

yesterday i was laid up with a migraine, and only got a couple of pictures. i did get these from laying on the couch just before i turned the expander in torrey's mouth. this little gizmo is fondly called "the key to the castle" at our house. i get to use it to crank the expander each day. i got such a kick out of torrey's expressions. what a goof!


i also snapped these quick pics of a butterfly on our flowers which i thought was a cool find. the bottom one has the butterfly and a bee about to land. what are the chances?


a couple of side notes from today. i made my first hairdo video for a friend that asked. but since emma went to all of the trouble of video taping, and torrey did such a great job as the hair model, i wanted to share it here, too. :)



**one last note, i was the guest designer on

create well, create often

this week. a fun blog run by the very sweet, not to mention talented, jen evans. check out her site if you get a chance!**

hope you're having a fabulous week!

something old into something new

i'm all about finding a new purpose for something old. so when we replaced the 80's style plate glass dining room light fixture, i knew we could remake it into something much more fun. we decided to make a chandelier for torrey's "grown up room". so stan took the whole thing apart, and after removing the plate glass & odd cone thing from the bottom, it actually looked pretty cute. now i'm wishing i had a before, before picture of this light.

anyway, we went to michael's to picked up some beads and spray paint. after they sat in the garage for a month or so, we finally got around to making it happen. i strung beads while stan spray painted. i did however, miscalculate my total number of beads needed, so i'll be making one more trip to michael's before it's finished. (i was 4 short on one kind and 6 short on another!) pretty close for a guesstimate, though. :) i love it when a plan comes together!



awhile ago i brought my pin cushions upstairs for a project, and well, since i don't always put things away like i should... they're still upstairs. so today i walked by the counter to find them rearranged (by emma) to this cute little tomato man. i really don't think i could take a pin out of him now. he's too dang cute! i should not put things away more often. lol.

yesterday we were kid central. we invited one of emma's school friends and the cousins over to play. they ran around having a blast & made up dance routines with their chinese jump ropes. how great is it to grow up so close to your cousins. now, i'm definitely not a video professional, and this was shot on my little flip video (which i love!)... but i thought it was so darn funny. they made this little routine up and asked if i'd record it. so here it is guys! :)

chinese jump rope dance from noel culbertson on Vimeo.

oh! and one more side note for today. our family went and saw the new disney/pixar movie UP today. we don't go to the theater often, but this was seriously the best movie i've seen in a long time. the story & life lessons were wonderful. very family friendly, funny, cute, sweet, and even a little sad. i would totally go see it in the theater again! stan and the girls loved it too. just thought i'd share. :)

urban girl & mike wazowski

urban girl & mike wazowski

the girls had a half day today, and stan flew really early... so we got to have a wednesday afternoon lunch together as a family. what a nice surprise. after lunch stan and torrey headed out to our garden to get it ready for some veggies later this spring. emma and i headed down to the spare room vintage flea market store in everett to see if we could find a chandelier for her room (which we did!). they couldn't get it down, so someone will be bringing it up our way this weekend. :)

the store is in the older part of everett, so we walked around a bit and got some fun pictures, had coffee at this funky coffee shop called zippy's java complete with the dalmatian roaming around. it was surprisingly nice after a crazy down pouring of rain all morning. i took way too many pictures, and had a hard time narrowing down a few to put up. i may add some more later on... but this is what i've got for now.





and then enters... mike wazowski. (if you haven't seen disney's, monster's inc. this won't make much sense.) so yesterday i happened to end up getting filmed for a local show called evening magazine. well they were doing this story on facebook, and i guess they needed an intro. since we don't have any channels on our tv, a friend of ours recorded it for us. boy did i pick the wrong day to wear flats. lol. i'm pretty darn short, so short that when they put that little station identifier in the corner of the screen... it covered part of my face (hence the mike wazowski comment). when we watched it this evening stan lovingly added, "...i'm on the cover of a magazine! ow!" the girls and i got a big laugh out of it.

if you don't mind giving up a couple minutes you'll never get back... here is the video. (oh, and never mind the "noel rocks" at the end. our friend made this video, and it's all i've got. lol) :)

scraproom tour

the much requested
scraproom tour

noel's scraproom tour from noel culbertson on Vimeo.

apparently my girls have caught the video bug... this scraproom tour was thought up by them after reading some blog comments. torrey was the wonderful video assistant and emma was the tour guide helper... and there is even a guest appearance by my handsome hubby in uniform. so if you're sitting here on a saturday night with nothing to do... we've got a video to help you kill sometime. :)