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Stephanie Howell

reading, organizing, shopping, momming too close to the sun. Home is wherever the Army sends us.

and the adventure begins

we are here!!! 

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after many adventures along the way (can't WAIT to blog them!) we are now in the cutest house ever. we love it here. i have already become enchanted with RI and i know i will have lots and lots of photos and stories to share this year.

starting with this story. apparently there was a misunderstanding with transportation and our household goods won't be arriving for a week to 2 weeks.

yippee! luckily there are 5 targets in an hour radius. and i'm in the mood to accept this challenge. HA!

it's amazing here. 30 degrees cooler than GA and we live next door to a vineyard. TRUE STORY.

more pictures soon.

xoxo

S 

summer of ’69

I wanted to share my Summer Of ’69 layouts with you guys. It’s bittersweet because it is my very last gallery ever at SC.

I had a wonderful time creating this month and when I was done I felt like everything was so meaningful and special to me.

That’s a great feeling,right? I will miss contributing every month!

And Then There Was Joy

Andthentherewasjoy

Some of the accents in the kit came in a little glassline envelope. I punched the envelope with my Stampin Up heart punch and used the hearts to circle the sweet photo.The rest of it is pretty self explanatory. Simple and sweet. 🙂

Andthencloseup

One Tough Princess

Onetoughprincess

This one is all about how I believe it is possible to have tough, spunky,strong princesses.I hand cut the little banner from patterned paper.

The blue strip at the bottom is MME washi tape, which I LOVE.

Onetoughprincessdetail

 

Out and About

Outandabout

I really wanted to document the wonderful girfriends I had in Savannah,so I did a page about our girls night out. Lots of fun accents here (including that MME washi again) and the title work is playful, to match the theme. I can’t get enough of these sweet butterflies. I think they are so ethereal and pretty.

Outandaboutdetail

True and Pure

Trueandpure

I wanted this one to feel romantic and sweet, hence the florals,ribbons,and laces.

I cut the center out of a doily and used it to frame the photo on the left. The black and white photo is not very good quality (blurry iPhone pic) and I wanted to “pretty it up” with a doily frame.

I adore these little dipped confetti tags in the kit and I used them right up.

This was a great kit for me to go out with. Very “me” and this layout confirms that.

Trueandpurecloseup

T.Y. S.C.

Tysc

I wanted to acknowledge that this was my last month at SC so I made a layout thanking SC (the members,actually) for my time there.

I made a collage of past favorite SC kit layouts,printed it,and “framed it” with October Afternooon washi tape.

A handcut flower, some simple title work and journaling around the frame complete the page.

This one was emotional for me in the end, and I didn’t expect that.

Tysccloseup

Splash mini album (click on any photo to make it larger)

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If you follow me on Instagram (stephaniehowell) you know that I took a zillion tub pictures while we lived in Sav. My master bath had a huge picture window with amazing light.

I am not usually a mini person,but I really wanted to put all the photos in one album. I cut a piece of chipboard into 4×4 pieces. Each instagram is 3×3.

The cover is embossed using Aqua Zing and the SC chevron stamp.

This is VERY simple, I am not a mini expert. Washi and October afternoon label and phrase stickers and that’s it.

 

So…there it is. The end of an era. Thanks for everything, SC. 🙂

xo

a joy,an honor,and a privilege

i get a lump in my throat when i try to explain how special our time in savannah was to me.

i start to type and i backspace…and try again. then the same thing happens. type,backspace,try again.

i simply can’t verbalize how much i treasured our time here.

type..backspace..try again.

it was a gift. i had the privilege of getting to know (and completely fall in love with) the most amazing group of women i’ve ever known. smart,beautiful,witty,accomplished,strong as hell. and saying goodbye to them makes my heart ache.

and that’s just the women.

not to mention the men…the heroes. the bravest of the brave,strongest of the strong,best of the best.

and the city…oh the city. i will love it as long as i live. savannah has a piece of my heart.

on tuesday i attended jimmy’s change of command. it is,quite simply,exactly what it sounds like. he handed over his company to a new commander. it was a day full of tradition,somber moments,funny moments, and speeches.

with that being said…i didn’t think it was appropriate to bring the babies. that’s why you won’t see them in these photos.

it was a joy,an honor,and a privilege to be a ranger wife. and next year i will be a student’s wife. and i am ready. ready for a break. ready for us to be together for every day for a year.

but as i left savannah i had tears streaming down my face. because everything about my time in savannah was a blessing.

i thought i’d share some of my photos from the change of command….and i thought it was a beautiful way to say goodbye to the town and the people who won me over.

love to you all-

S

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snicker.

this one makes me snicker a little bit. hehehehehe!

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for the weekly challenge at studio calico. go check it out and join in HERE!

xoxo

Signature

scrapbooking set free

is it ironic that i had a HUGE burst of creativity yesterday? when all of my supplies were neatly arranged in those cute boxes i shared the other day?

well i did. i had to make something. HAD TO.

it has been so dang long since i felt that way. but you know what i realized? i can make whatever i want to. i’m not being looked at to sell product or be innovative any more. i am not trying to come up with something new,reinvent the wheel. i am not trying to fit in with a certain mold. I CAN MAKE WHATEVER I WANT!

it’s okay if it looks like all my other pages. it’s okay if i mix brands and use something old.it’s okay if i use doilies AGAIN it.is.okay.

so i sat down and played. and used whatever i wanted to. yes, granted…most of it is new MME. but i love it. and i wanted to use it. so i did.

i also used some jenni bowlin, and my new KP stamp. i mixed in a martha stewart envelope i’ve been holding on to for a long time…and of course a twogirlzstuff label.

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and? i love it. welcome to the new me. the me that thinks scallops and doilies and flowers and labels and sequins are just fine. even if i use them on every single blasted layout. i didn’t try to make myself use mist,but randomly i really wanted to use a stamp.WHAT? who cares? not this girl!!!

the one that really is going to start finally practicing what she preaches. that NO ONE CARES if my albums are trendy or “in”. that NO ONE CARES if all my layouts look the same.NO ONE is going to be scrutinizing my layouts in this family and saying doilies AGAIN? butterflies AGAIN? that’s not what it’s about. sigh.

i feel so freeeeee!

hahaha!