Monday, November 14, 2011

a new direction

So....a lot has changed in the past two years.
In my former life I lived in Texas with my minister husband, 3 little boys, and a black lab named Addy. Our parents, siblings, and friends all lived within 30 minutes of us. I worked for a delightful company called Create Joy, designing and teaching different home decor and scrapbooking projects. I loved it...life was good. :)

But sometimes God takes us in a different, unexpected direction. Things change. I've changed. Now I live in Georgia with my minister husband, 3 little boys, and a black lab named Addy. Our parents, siblings, and friends now live way farther away than I would ever choose.
And I've had the pleasure of being a full-time stay-at-home mom for two years now.
I've LOVED that part. Being away has taken a lot of getting used to. But God is faithful and has not only made it possible for us to see our family and friends often, but has given us people here who love us too. Definitely blessed.

I've taken a little sabbatical from the crafty world that I love. Not giving it up completely~ I still do some things here and there for my faithful customers, and have made a few things for some church events~ who knew art could double as ministry? ;) It's no longer my job though. Honestly, I had found that I was a little burned out, so a break was good. However, these past few months I've started to see that something is missing.

Turns out that you can take the girl out of the studio, but you can't take the studio out of the girl. ;)

SO....I'm moving things in a little different direction.
I've been asking myself what I am passionate about, what I love to do most, what would be the perfect thing to do and still take care of my family?

You see....I'm a scrapbooker. Have been for most of of my life. I have the sad-looking drill team scrapbook from high school to prove it. ;) There's not much that thrills me more than a scrapbook store. I get lost in the papers, the embellishments, ribbons, chipboard....it's dangerous. ;) But I've been playing in the digital scrapbook world lately, and I've found that I like it too.
It's fast. It's fun, and when it's done well....it's strikingly beautiful.

Good photography is REALLY important, and when my best-friend-who-is-also-our-photographer and I partner up like we did for these projects, well it just makes the process that much more fun.

Our first project was for my sister. She and her husband have been in the process of adopting for awhile now, and needed a book for the birth moms to look through. They asked Tomi to photograph them for the book, and asked me to turn it into a digital album for them.

Here are a few of the pages from their book:
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We're pretty sure the book might be magic~ they've already become the parents to two-year-old twins! I shared their story on my family blog here if you'd like to read it.

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I had so much fun with Reagan and Jon's book that I decided to make some for us. I have 4 years of family photos that needed to be in books. I've finished two so far. Here are a few from last year's photo shoot:
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(not sure why this one is cut off...I have lots to learn about html stuff. :/
I promise it's not cut off in the book.

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The way I see it is like this: your family is art. Your family photos? Also art. They don't need a lot of extra stuff to share their story...sometimes some words or a fitting quote is plenty. Some stories need to be told, journaling, one thing I have always stressed as important when it comes to scrapbooking.



These photos are from 2007...my childhood friend Kelly took these for me. She's AMAZINGLY talented...can't believe how much my babies have grown. It was fun going back through these and remembering what they were like back then.
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SO....here's the plan:
Your photos in a full color hardcover album, available in 3 sizes (8.5x8.5, 8.5x11, and 12x12), edited, personal touches added, your stories told, and shipped right to your front door. :)

And if that isn't enough? I'm seriously throwing the idea of starting a party planning business. After lots of prompting by family, friends, neighbors, church members, etc.....I'm finally really thinking seriously about it. Lots of details to work out. These digital albums will be part of a package deal, which will also include handmade paper invitations, cake/cupcake toppers, personalized party decorations, balloons....think like this: your party or shower planned from start to set up to finish, with a beautiful digital album so you're sure to never forget it. :)

I'll be launching a new blog at the first of the year with more details, pricing, photo samples, etc.
In the meantime please contact me at jaclynhatcher77@gmail.com with any questions.

And please know....I'm not giving up my love of paper. ;) Let me stress this~ the invitations, banners, cupcake toppers, etc. will all be handmade, with all the paper, ribbon, and embellishments. It wouldn't feel right otherwise. ;)

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Fall

Fall is my favorite time of the year. At least until winter comes. And then spring....and summer. I'm not a super decisive girl, and I love all of the seasons for different reasons.
But I get extra excited about fall...the cooler temps have a lot to do with it. And it's so unbelievably gorgeous here with the trees turning all of these amazing shades of red and orange, gold and brown. It's breathtaking.

The official first leaf of fall. Or, the first official leaf that landed on our driveway. Details. ;)

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Oddly (or really, not so oddly) enough, this change in weather makes brings out the crafty girl in me even more. I love decorating the house, the porch, and usually start wanting to change things up in the house. I bought a 12x12 canvas last week that was on sale at Hobby Lobby, having no clue what I was going to do with it.

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Today I figured something out. I love birds...these make me happy. :)

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Last week I had a little surgery. Everything went well, thankfully...I'm starting to get frustrated that I'm not up to my normal routine yet, but I'm getting there. I'm supposed to give it a couple weeks, at least. I'm not a patient patient. Not at all. ;)
A sweet friend brought these flowers to the hospital, other friends have brought gifts, meals, offered to take me out of the house for awhile, my mom and dad sent a Starbucks gift card. And B and the boys? Excellent nurses. I'm feeling blessed....downright spoiled, really.

The day before surgery I had a lot of nervous energy. So I took some leftover fabric and made a curtain for our powder bathroom. On Friday I picked up some fun trim to add to it...hoping to get to that this week.

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And I made this pillow too. Was afraid if I didn't do it before it would never happen.

Very simple...burlap tree trunk, leaves made from a package of quilt quarters bought at Hobby Lobby. Using their 40% off coupon to purchase the pillow, this project was done for around $10.
Makes me love it even more. :)

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Added some fallish picks to the wreath that normally hangs on the front door already, and it is now fall ready.

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Saw the idea for adding a monogram letter to a pumpkin on Pinterest, and I loved it. Simple and fun and different. Planted mums and pansies in the front porch pots, and the porch is now ready.

happy fall!

Monday, August 22, 2011

It's Time To....

...order your Front Porch Kit!!

Today is the big reveal day, and I'm so excited to get
to share the fun things I made with this month's kit. :)

Loved getting to scrap 3 of my favorite girls...and I'm (not-so) secretly hoping
that someday at least one of them will be my daughter-in-law. ;)
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This kit is beautiful~ love the Basic Grey papers...they are one of my favorite companies.


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I made this for my kitchen, inspired by this that I saw on Pinterest.
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There's this little skinny wall next to the pantry that needed some love.
I think it's feeling the love now. :)

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I re-purposed an old frame, and made this "You are loved always" piece to put in it.
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And last, had to make a layout of the boys. :) These pics were taken with my phone on Instagram the day before I left them in Texas for a week this summer.
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Love them, and love that this more girly-themed kit
also contains plenty of boy-love scrappy stuff. ;)

It's lots of fun...trust me~ you want it.

Head on over to Front Porch Kits now to order yours.
You'll be so HaPpY you did...yes, you will. :)



Sunday, August 21, 2011

Life is Wonder-Full

So...I may have a new obsession.
It's one I resisted for awhile...prompting friends to ask me what I was waiting for,
that they were shocked that I hadn't gotten hooked yet.
Truth is, I didn't understand it....and I didn't think I had the time to figure it out.

It's a little thing called Pinterest
and it's sucked up way more of my "free" time than I really care to admit.
But I can honestly say that I've reined myself in a lot these past couple weeks....
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...mostly because I've been too busy planning all of these DIY projects for the house.
That I happened to see on Pinterest. ;)
This one on the hearth is my first Pinterest-inspired project.
Changed up some to make it mine and fit my style, but inspired nonetheless.


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4 wooden boards, put together by my dear husband, stained, paper-crafted,
stamped, and polyurethaned by me. ;)

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There are lots of ________-full things, aren't there?
Beauty Full
Hope Full
Peace Full
The list goes on and on...but for our fam and the stage of life the boys are in,
life is in indeed full of wonder here. :)

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Sneaky Saturday

It's Saturday!!! My favorite day of the week. :)

Ready for another sneak? I'm going to give you two today. ;)

This one is all things BoY...
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....and this one a home dec' piece.
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If you haven't ordered your kit yet, what are you waiting for?!?

Head on over to www.frontporchkits.com and order yours today!


Thursday, August 18, 2011

Front Porch Kit Sneak #2

So....have you ordered your kit yet? ;)
It's day two of sneak peeks before the full reveal on Monday.

This is my favorite project from this month's kit, and it is now happily hanging in it's
new spot in our apple green kitchen.
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I really can't wait to show you the whole thing. :)

If you haven't ordered your kit yet, it's too late!
Just kidding...hahaha...but hurry up...you don't want to miss out on this one.
Or any of the others. ;)
There are a limited number of kits this time around, so head on over to Front Porch Kits and order yours. Seriously.

Happy scrapping! See you tomorrow.

Front Porch Kit Sneaky Peek!

It's that time again!
The new Front Porch Kit is set to pre-order ToDaY!! Hooray!
This one is sweet and girly, fun and flowery...happiness.

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Had lots of fun scrapping 3 of my favorite girls on this layout! Girls, you say? Yes...these are my best friend's girls, and I love them like they're mine. :)
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I had lots of fun scrapping my boys with this kit too. And there's nothing girly about that layout...can't wait for you to see it!

Created a couple new things for the house too. :D

The full reveal will take place on Monday, but be sure to check back here daily for some sneaks of my other projects.

You can order your Front Porch Kit here today!


There are only a limited number of this kit available, so hurry up! You don't want to miss it.

Monday, August 8, 2011

The Return of the Layout Wall

Today I sent our oldest two boys off to school, and set off to clean the house.
My scrapbook area has been severely neglected this summer. It was such a disaster that instead of dealing with it I just ignored it, working in other areas of my house instead.
Have I ever mentioned that I really hate confrontation? ;)

Today I faced the chaos that is my little red desk head-on, and while I was cleaning up and cleaning out, I came across some of my favorite layouts. These are some oldies but goodies....
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...so I decided it was time to add another row to the layout wall that goes up our staircase.

Here are a few close ups...
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Got my hands on the new Front Porch Kit this weekend.
Lots of ideas brewing in this brain.
Tomorrow I'm hoping to express what is in my head on paper. And a few other surfaces.

Sneak peeks to come this weekend.
Game on. ;)

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Party!

This weekend we celebrated our middle man's 7th birthday, even though he won't technically be 7 until later in the month. Thought it would be best to celebrate at the first of the summer before all of this friends from school were off on vacations and camps. And since his birthday comes right after we get back from vacation I figured it would be best to do it beforehand, while I still have some energy. ;)

I really LoVe to plan a party....so much that I've tossed around the idea of starting a little party planning business the last month or so. Not sure. But I sure had fun planning this one. :)
Kinda crazy about this particular client. ;)
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He's my only summer baby, and I really love a summertime pool party. Thankfully, he does too.

I made the invitations last month....sorry about the poor quality of the photo. It was taken on my phone, and the lighting was horrible. But you get the idea. And yes, I tried to erase the address info on there...assuming you figured that out, but felt the need to give an explanation. ;)
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This is the first party we've had here where we didn't have family here. It was weird. Thankful for the sweet friends and neighbors who were there to love on us and make Hud's day special.
Usually my mom makes the cakes, cupcakes, whatever we need for the party. This is not my area, but I did have fun with the fish cupcakes. Not as good as Mom's, but they were fine.
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Got the idea for the gummy fish skewers online, and thought they were so fun, and a great party favor alternative to giving a bag full of stuff from China that is just going to end up in the trash.
They were a hit! These gummies come in just about every shape you can imagine, and there are lots of online candy companies. I ordered these from www.nutsonline.com
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The fishy beachballs came from Hobby Lobby. I also filled little sandbuckets with some of Hud's favorite things: goldfish crackers, peanut butter M&M's, watermelon, etc. Caught a really good sale on cokes, and iced them down for drinks and we were set!

How in the world is this baby almost 7?
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Peace out, people!
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Thursday, June 2, 2011

Reveal Day and a Give Away!!

Happy Friday! As you well know by now, this month's Front Porch Kit, "One Sunny Day" is now available for order! Go to www.frontporchkits.com for details and to order yours today. :)

Pretty sure my favorite thing about this month's kit is the big tree.
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I'm a sucker for a tree or a bird..what can I say? So I did a little different take on a family tree project. I used a chipboard banner from Daisy Bucket as the surface, then had the tough job of figuring out which papers from this fab kit to use. :)
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"Happiness" is spending time with Mimi and Papa, which we got to do last month. :)
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"Sunny Day"

Party Banner
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This Maya Road pennant mini book is so cute~ I had a hard time deciding what to do with it!
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Being a mom of 3 boys, I don't get many opportunities to sew ruffles. ;) But I thought this banner needed some. And who doesn't love a party banner, right? ;)
So....I'm giving away this party banner to a random commenter on this post.
You have from today until Sunday to make a comment, and then I will randomly choose one of you as the winner!
Good luck, and please....comment away!

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

One more peek....

Good morning! Happy Wednesday! It's the first day of June and already we are reaching record highs here in Georgia. Yuck. Looks like it's going to be a long, hot summer.
Not sure how I feel about that....I'm kind of a mid-70's to 80's kinda girl.
Oh well. :)
We're down to the last two days of the countdown! And I still love this graphic as much as I did the first day. :)
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This is my last sneak before the big reveal day on Friday. Tomorrow I've promised a pool day to the boys, and it's also the hub's 35th birthday (still not sure how we've reached that age already...seems like yesterday we were celebrating 25), so we'll be partyin' tomorrow night. ;)
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But to make it up to you, I'll be doing my very first giveaway on Friday!
Very exciting stuff going on here, isn't it. ;)
Stay tuned...check back on Friday for your chance to win!

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Another sneak

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Here's a couple of little tiny sneaks! I cropped them out of the full size pics...guess that's why they're so small. Sorry. :/

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Full size pics to come on Friday!