Friday, April 18, 2014

5 Random Things on This Birthday Friday



1. I am really liking being a blonde. It's different and a lot to get use to but I'm liking it. You can see a pic on instagram. Maybe I'll stay blonde for awhile. Maybe.

2. I haven't forgotten I said I would share the Spring Break Road  Trip 2014 Adventures with y'all it's just some health stuff came up this week that needed to be taken care of. No worries will share the adventures soon.

3. Looking forward to a trip to Milwaukee next weekend! I really hope it works out that I get to see my fabulous friend Emily Spahn! I can't wait to spend some time with Cathi it should be a riot!

4. Changing my scrap room around again but this time it's taken much too long to get organized(going on week 2.5). Trying to figure out what works for me and will get the most out of me creatively has taken a bit longer than I like and that upsets me so I haven't been overly creative. I have boxes of stuff that needs to go.

5. Today is my Birthday. Am I happy about it? I don't know it's one day of the year that is always bittersweet. The getting older part doesn't bother me, the part that I struggle with is that the 2 people who created me haven't contacted me at all to say Happy Birthday.Out of 365 days this one day should mean something to them because I am her only child and his first born. As a momma myself I couldn't imagine hurting my children the way these 2 have hurt me over the years and today again. Put on your big girl panties on Mandy and get over it!

Have a great Friday and Happy Easter!

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

April Scrapbook & Cards Today Colour Suite Guest

Hey Y'all! This month my super awesome friend Summer Fullerton asked me to be her April Colour Suite Guest on the Scrapbook & Cards Today blog. I was super excited about this because I love Summer and I've been a fan of her work for so long and now I can call this fabulous lady my friend. How cool is it that when you're a fan of someone for so long then y'all meet and become friends? It's happened to me a few times now and I still pinch myself when someone starts talking about her or one of the other ladies and I can say "oh yah she's super cool, we hit it off right away, blah blah blah..".

any who back to the Colour Suite.

This month's colors are super cool but I have to admit it did challenge me and y'all know I love a good challenge. When Summer sent me the colors and the inspiration photos my eyes kinda popped out. I mean I love those colors but they aren't colors I normally scrap with and I don't have purple in my stash and you know I'm not glitter or shiny but I am falling for silver & gold. I made a special trip to the D(Detroit) to pick up a few items for this challenge because I really didn't have purple anywhere. All that said, I really love how the layout turned out.

For some reason that purple just didn't want to be photoed right but I promise it's really pretty in person.
Life is Beautiful
Supplies Used:Pattern paper: Studio Calico, Glitter Paper: American Crafts,Vellum: Paper Studio,Die Cuts: Studio Calico, Heidi Swapp, American Crafts,Stickers: American Crafts, 7 Gypsies,Thicker: American Crafts,Chipboard: Heidi Swapp,Tags: Recollections,Staples: TIm Holtz Tiny Attacher,Adhesive: Thermoweb 



Thanks for joining me today. To read more about this challenge or to check out Summer's past challenges  make your way over to the Scrapbook & Cards Today website and Blog.


Monday, April 14, 2014

Spring Break is Over & Back and some Projects

Last week the Little K's had spring break and we had a list of things they wanted to do. At first we thought it would be kinda hard to tackle since Mr. Mav isn't very cooperative when it comes to leaving home unless it's trip to McDonalds or Gma & Gpa's farm but we got lucky all around Mav got to go to the farm and the girls got to cross some items off that list. After Mav left for Gma & Gpa's for a few days the girls and I set off at first thinking just a day road trip but that soon changed and I surprised them. Our first day we just stopped by some photo op spots in towns closer to our old stomping ground Hastings. We saw a tank, a big ol wood fire fighter, the Gather, pitstop at Pops work, Alaska, Lake Odessa, a pizza pitstop then it was time to head home. THe next day was a big road trip that the girls said was the best part of the whole spring break. I'll post photos and more about it tomorrow(just a tease today) but today I thought I'd share a few projects that were posted last week while we were on Spring Break.

First a layout from the Therm O Web blog . This layout is part of a cross promo with Elle's Studio.
Today 

Then there was this one that was part of the Monday Challenge on the October Afternoon Blog. 

There was Mr. Harmonica Man on the Evalicious Blog  . Love the Evalicious goodies!

And last but not least but certainly not least these 2 layouts were on the Jillibean Soup Blog last week. My first layouts created for my monthly assignments with the new Jillibean supplies. Lovin all these new goodies. seriously still pinching myself. 


Thanks for stopping by today!







Sunday, April 06, 2014

Spring Break

Hey y'all this week I am going offline to tackle a list of things my kids want to do on their spring break so we've all turned over the electronics and will have an old school spring break staycation. I will try to check emails and share photos late night if no one catches me with my electronics because you know if ya get caught you're in BIG trouble lol.
So we are off on a Mitten road trip, vintage shop visiting, gma & gap's house, maybe a big surprise, and much more. Here is the hashtag I will be using for this adventure
#thegreatkoeppenspringbreakstaycation2014
if we post anything, the girls are wanting to document the adventure with an instagram account but I'm not sure bout it because we may get electronic sidetracked we shall see tho. ok off to sleep before the fun begins.

Wednesday, April 02, 2014

World Autism Awareness Day


  • Autism Statistics 
  • Autism now affects 1 in 68 children and 1 in 42 boys
  • Autism prevalence figures are growing
  • Autism is reported to occur in all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups.
  • Autism is nearly 5 times more common among boys (1 in 42) than among girls (1 in 189).
  • Studies in Asia, Europe, and North America have identified individuals with Autism with an average prevalence of about 1%. A study in South Korea reported a prevalence of 2.6%
  • Autism is the fastest-growing serious developmental disability in the U.S.
  • Autism costs a family $60,000 a year on average
  • There is no medical detection or cure for autism
  • Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by:
    • Persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction across multiple contexts;
    • Restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities;
    • Symptoms must be present in the early developmental period (typically recognized in the first two years of life); and
    • Symptoms cause clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of current functioning.
  • ASD can range in impact from mild to significantly disabling.
I created this layout for the October Afternoon Blog today. 
The layout started with that heart cut YIKES! I then got the layout done on plain paper but it was missing something so I decided to print "His Story" for the background and cover it in vellum. The wonky view is because the vellum is over the chipboard arrows too. I wanted to keep the focus on the heart with all that's going on I hope y'all like the layout. Me I'm second guessing myself. 

THanks for stopping by! Have a great day! 





Tuesday, April 01, 2014

It's public again...

I've decided after 4 years of being private I would make Mav's blog public again. I have some butterflies about going public because I don't want my personal life or my child torn apart by some and I certainly do not need to be judged more than I already am but I need to share with y'all about Mav, daily life living with Autism, about being a momma, why I'm not perfect and may not be exactly who you thought I was. You see my life is not perfect and I will never say it is. To be honest I call it an F**ked Fairytale. You've read about some of our life here on my blog and if you know me personally you got the real deal. Being Mav's momma has helped form me into who I am today. I always say you don't live my life so how can you judge me or why would you say that?well this is going to give you a little daily insight into the shoes I walk, at times it's wonderful and then you'll see what hellacious days we have. So after reading this if you'd like hop over to M.A.D. 4 Mav .

Today is the starting go Autism Awareness month so I'll be sharing lots of Mavness on the blog here and there along with layouts of him. It will be me just keeping it real. 

Thanks! Have a great day!

This One Time... HI

Hello Friends! I hope you're doing well. I've decided once again to give this whole blogging thing a go in hopes that I'll ...