Friday, November 29, 2013

11/29/13 - "Thankful"

Good Morning!
Happy Friday/After Thanksgiving Day!
 
Yesterday was a very good day!
Slept in.
Spent lots of quality time w/ my hubby and kids.
Ate lots of yummy food I didn't have to cook because David did all the cooking.
And the best part I didn't have to leave the comfort of my home!
Best Thanksgiving in a long time!
 
I was also able to scrap a little.
I made the following layout:
 
"Thankful"
Journaling: "Joseph - 18 and Madison - 11 October 20th, '13"
 
 
I used the following sketch from "Stuck?!":
 
 
 
They paired up w/ "Scrap Our Stash" this month and "Scrap Our Stash" added the following twist:  Must include any type of wood - veneers, stamps, paper, etc.
I used a wood heart and wood grain washi tape (and a lot of my stash!!).
 

Also entering in the following challenges -

{Pin}spirational Challenge #85
This is their inspiration piece:
 
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/141581982009113247/
 
 
"Twisted Tuesdays" challenge # 2TC64:  Theme = Autumn / Twist = Thankful
 
"Frosted Designs" : 11 item challenge
you must use at least one of the following 11 items (you can use as many as you want, all 11 as well:


1.Tags, 2.Paper layering, 3. Washi tape, 4.Flags/banners, 5.Patchwork, 6.Circles, 7.Stitching, 8.Stars, 9.Flowers, 10.Buttons, 11.Arrows
I used: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, & 9

"Use it Tuesday" challenge #68:  Anything Goes
Hoarded items used = The "Gratitude" and "Thankful" tags, the flower, leaves, "Autumn", and "Fall Frolic" stickers, the wood heart, the leaf PP scallops, the PP the pictures are adhered to, the green and tan journaling sticker at the bottom right,  and the leaf border behind the "Gratitude" Tag. So... almost everything on here, LOL!

6 challenges w/ this one!
I follow a lot of blogs and love participating in their challenges. Problem was I used to have lots of trouble keeping track of them all. I finally decided to write the challenge description and due dates on a calendar.
Yup, these challenges are serious business! LOL!
Hopefully it works!

Thursday, November 28, 2013

11/28/13 - "Where Have the Times Gone?"

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!
(When I first planned this blog post I didn't even realize it was Thanksgiving!
I had to go back and revise the post before I published it.)
I'm not big on holidays so even though we will be having turkey and all the fixings today, to me it's really just Thursday.
I'll probably be scrapping today after eating and napping! LOL!
Actually I plan on cleaning up my scrap room; it is a mess!
But a good mess because I have really been scrapping away lately! I'm up to 114 layouts for the year; only 6 away from my goal! Yay me!!!
 
Okay, for the real reason I'm here:
Today there is a new challenge up at "Scrap It With a Song".
The challenge song is "Payphone" by Maroon 5:
 
 
Here's my layout:
  
"Where Have the Times Gone?"
 
I chose a lyric from the song, "Where have the times gone?", and used it as the title for my layout. These are pictures of my son in 1996, at approximately 7-10 months, and now, in 2013, at 18. I used a digi from our sponsor, KennyK, to help embellish my layout; this time I colored it.
If you're wondering why I used yellow for his hair, my son was a blonde when he was younger, not so much anymore, but I just wanted to stick to his original color, plus I like the little bit of extra color it adds.
 
This layout includes 4 of my latest obsessions: washi tape, hexagons, misting, and office labels.
Not sure why I'm into the office labels, but they're working for me right now...
I've used them 6 layouts in the last month. 
 
I remember having a hard time w/ misting, and being scared of washi but now they are 2 of my favorite things to use! And the hexagons, well I as I mentioned in another post, I bought the punch but was intimidated by it, but once I finally used it, I loved it!
I wonder what my next obsession will be?
 
How about you? What's your latest obsession?
Leave me a comment letting me know...or better yet, use those items to create a project for one or more of the SIWAS challenges!
You have until November 30th to enter. 

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

11/267/13 - December Daily Fail? Not!

I came across this comic and it made me laugh because it is so true and the funniest things come from real life! Yup, that "introvert" is so me! LOL!
 
 
 
Anyway that's not why I'm here today.
I am here today to share a story of what I thought was a "fail" but apparently wasn't!
Yay, me!
Last year I was super excited to complete a December Daily.
It was my first year and I found what to me was the easiest format possible.
I even completed the difficult part of taking a picture every day...actually 2 a day because I took pictures for the December Daily, plus pictures of our "Elf on a Shelf", Sparkle.
 
I was actually really proud of myself!
But then came the boring part, putting them into a book.
It's boring to me because I suffer from a mild form of "ADD", the part where it's hard to concentrate on tasks, and the thought of working on this book was way too much repetition for me! I started off good, completing 4 pages and then I couldn't do it anymore!
Ugh!
Mind you, my December Daily is soooooo simple you'd think there would be no way to fail. But for me there was. I have never completed an album focusing more on individual pages for different events. And I don't scrap in chronological order preferring to scrap what I feel.
Both of these are not what a December Daily is.
 
Okay, enough about my fail and on to the good stuff.
Monday night I was talking to Madison about her elf Sparkle returning to us for the Holidays.
This got us talking about all the shenangians Sparkle got into when she was w/ us last holiday.
Some of the events Madison couldn't remember but luckily I had photographic evidence! Madison asked me to pull out the pictures. We went through each and every one of them, laughing  and reminiscing about our adventures w/ Sparkle.  My son even joined in on the fun!
This fun time made me realize that whether they are in an album or not I am happy that I took those pictures!
 
Based on this I have decided that I will not create a December Daily album this year but will  still take the pictures each day, after all the pictures are the best part!!
 
Before I sign off I wanted to share our families favorite pictures of Sparkle from last year:
 
 
Sparkle and her Snowman friend tied up David's Chuckles doll after he called her
out for cheating at checkers!
 
 
 
Chuckles got his fellow clown buddies to help him get revenge on Sparkle!
They tied her up and destroyed the marshmallow snowmen she created. The big clown
still had marshmallow in his mouth from biting the head off one of them! Yikes!

 
But it's okay becaus they eventually made up and joined together in a snowball
(marshmallow) fight w/ the Monster High Dolls that were jealous of Sparkle.
 
LOL!
Can't wait to see what fun she brings us this year!
 
 

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

11/26/13 - How to Handle an Introvert

If you have been following my blog, or know me in real life, you may know that I am a serious introvert!
Why do I bring this up?
Because the holidays are upon us and this is the worst time of year for us introverts!
The time when we are thrown into social situations when all we want to do is stay home and enjoy the peace!
I have been accused of being "snobbish", "rude", "mean", and another word that I probably shouldn't post on this blog, but it rhymes w/ "witch", because of this personality trait...and that truly makes me sad. :0(
Yes, I admit there are times when I can be one or all of those things, but for the most part I'm just really super uncomfortable around people and I have a tendency to retreat into myself in uncomfortable situations.
I don't have any friends... No seriously I don't! But not because people don't try to be my friend, because they do! It's because I can't handle the socializing needed to maintain friendships.
In fact 99% of the time I am invited out, I say "no". The thought of going out and having to participate in anything remotely social sends my anxiety through the roof!! Because of this I get invited out less and less. Does it make me sad? A little. But the sadness I feel not having "friends" is so much less then the anxiety of having to spend time w/ those "friends"!
Also I don't trust easily, having been burned one too many times in the past.
Another thing, I very much enjoy my "alone time" even when I'm in a place of comfort. I love my family and do spend time w/ them but I always get to a point where I NEED my alone time!
 
With that being said, I wanted to share an article I came across recently that does a great job of explaining what goes on in the mind of an introvert and how to handle one.
Maybe you have one in your life or will soon come across one...if so, hopefully this assists you in better understanding him/her.
Or maybe you are one and you will see yourself in this and, like I did, feel relieved that finally someone understands you!!!!
Whatever your situation, I hope you enjoy this!


 
 
 
 


 

Sunday, November 24, 2013

11/24/13 - "Pick-a-Tree"

Happy Sunday!
Well it's almost over...at least here it is. 
I started this layout yesterday but didn't get to finish it until today because I went out to a hockey game last night. Our team lost, but it was a lot a fun anyway! My favorite part? The fights! There were 2 of them and I really get into them! LOL!
 
Okay, enough about hockey here's my layout:
 
 
"Pick-a-Tree '13"
 
(I just noticed you can't really see my daughter photobombing the picture of my son and I...boo! One of the drawbacks of printing out your pictures in a smaller size. I may go back and add an arrow pointing her out)



I used this sketch from "My Scraps and More":


I realize it doesn't look exactly like the sketch... in fact I can imagine you're thinking that it doesn't look anything like it. Well I admit it's loosely based on the sketch. I fully intended to follow it more closely but, as I'm sure you've experienced, my layout took on a life of it's own!

I used the following elements of the original to create my layout:
> 4 small pictures
> A horizontal strip of paper
> A verticle strip of paper
> A tag
> A circle embellie
> Arrow embellies

The layout didn't turn out the way I planned it, but it's okay, I love it anyway!
After all, not all good things in life happen because of planning...a lot of them are just happy surprises!
Here's hoping you have many happy surprises and a great rest-of-the day!

Friday, November 22, 2013

11/22/13 - "Then/Now"

Hi!
Almost ruined my goal of posting every day this week! But it is 7:35 PM on Friday and I'm posting so I made it! ::Whew::
As I said, and you already know, today is Friday.
It is my Friday off so as is the usual for me on this day I have ben scrapping.
I completed 2 layouts today: one I can't share until next week and this one -
 
 
"Then/Now"
 
(Now that I am looking at it it looks burry...or is it my eyes? Sorry!)
 
I was looking at Panini today and thinking, "Wow, she is so big!"
So I decided to take a picture of her today and compare it to a picture of her taken about a month after she came to us, 3 months after she was born.
 
I used the following sketch from "My Scraps and More":
 
 
I bought some new washi tape and found a way to use one of them on this layout. I actually bought 4 new rolls when Target had their "Halloween" themed items on sale.  The other 3 rolls are more geared towards a Halloween layout so I'm not sure when I will be using it, but I will! I got 4 rolls for less than $5...I just love clearanced scrappy goodies! 


Thursday, November 21, 2013

11/21/13 - TBT

Hello there!
I realized that I have posted everyday this week so far which is unusual for me so I decided I should keep it up!
And since today is Throwback Thursday what better thing to post but an old picture of myself.
Here it is:

 
I took this picture at 7:34 this morning.
Does that count as "throwback"?
LOL!
JK
 
Actually this is the pic I wanted to share:


 
This picture was taken in September 2009 when we went to Hawaii.
It's one of my favorite pictures of me despite the fact that I was 20 pounds heavier and you can't see my face. I love the serenity I feel when I look at it. Which matches the serenity I felt while it was being taken.
Just this past weekend David and I were looking through our old vacation albums, reminiscing, and talking about how we need to take another big vacation.
The last one was in 2010 when we went on a Disney Cruise.
 
And because this is mostly a scrapbooking blog, I decided to share a layout I created back in  September 2009. Wasn't sure what I was going to find when I went to look for one but I found this little nugget:
 
"My Sleepy Heads"
 
Pictures of David and Joseph sleeping w/ our new "bundle of joy" Madison who was born a few days before the top picture was taken and about a month before the bottom picture was taken.
She's still a bundle but not so much of joy! LOL!
And my son was only 7 years old!
Wowzers time really flies!

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

11/20/13 - CPC: Craft Challenge - Origami

Hello, hello!
Who's ready for a new challenge?
Well, ready or not here it comes!
"Child's Play Challenges" is inspiring you w/ the (childhood) craft of origami.
Here is the inspiration picture:




And here is my layout:
"You Are My Happy"

 
Besides "I love you", "you are my happy" is a phrase I frequently say to David.
It's my way of letting him know that despite the struggles we have been through in the past and may face in the future, he is the person who does, and will always be able to, make me happy.
The BG paper was chosen to represent the fun that we share together.
BTW - the tree in the picture is the one we picked out on Saturday.
 
As far as inspiration for the layout goes,  I actually used origami as an embelishment.  I found a tutorial on how to make an origami heart and made one to use on my layout. If you're interested in learning how to make one as well, I included the tutorial below:

 
I'm not a big fan of video tutorials so I used the step-by-step picture tutorial that follows under the video.

My heart didn't turn out too bad.
I was amazed to see my 6x6 piece of paper turn into a symbol of love, though.
Very cool!

Now it's your turn!
You don't have to include origami on your layout like I did, you simply need to be inspired by it! Show us how it inspires you and link your project up to the CPC blog by 11/30/13. 

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

11/19/13 - "After Work Style"

Hi!
I recently discovered a new blog and decided to play along w/ it's current challenge.
The blog is called ARTastic and this is the inspiration piece for this month:
 
November inspiration comes to you from "Listen" by Jenny Grant
  
And here's what I came up w/:
   
 "After Work Style"
Journaling: "When I get home from work the pajamas go on and the hair goes
up. Pictures taken 11/13/13"
 
When I saw the inspiration piece, it immediately reminded me of the way my hair looks when I put it up at night after I get home from work. I mostly wear my hair down and curly, so when I put it up at the end of the day It looks like a wild bird's nest on top of my head! LOL! Funny thing, even though you probably can't read it, the list of red words on the left side of the PP is a list of types of birds! That was not planned! I didn't even realize it until after I was finished w/ my layout! I have had that paper in my stash for about 3 years w/ no clue as to how to use it, but it worked perfectly here!
 
Besides the matching hair styles I was inspired by the following in the original piece: the subtle "word" BG , the touches of yellow, and what looks like threading throughout the girls hair.

This layout marks the first time I used the hexagon punch I bought a few months ago. When I saw it in the store, I just "had" to have it, but then I immediately became intimidated by it so it just sat in my supply stash un-opened...until now! Turns out it was easy and fun to use! I definitely see many more hexagon layouts in my future!

Thursday, November 14, 2013

11/14/13 - SIWAS: "Friends"

Hi!
The latest challenge is up over at "Scrap It With a Song".
The song chosen to challenge you this week, and for the whole month of November along w/ other songs, is "Friends" by Aura Dione.
 
 
"Best Friends Forever" 
Journaling: "I realize it sounds cliche but David and I really are best friends. We
totally get each other and genuinely enjoy each other's company. There's no
one else I would rather spend time with. 10/22/13"
 
I was inspired by the title and theme of the song. My best friend is my husband, David, so I created a layout capturing that.
 
We are being sponsored by KennyK digitals this month.
The image of the couple sharing a milkshake is one of theirs.
Once you print the digital you can color it in anyway you want w/ whatever you choose.
I left mine mostly black & white, coloring it with a little bit of pink to match my top and the flowery accents on the layout. I kept the colors to a minimum  because I felt coloring it too much would be distracting and take away from the overall layout. I balanced the pink and mostly black & white image w/ the title BG.
 
The prize for this month's winner is an image from KennyK.
Good Luck!
 

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

11/13/13 - Featured Again

Not to brag but...::ahem::...I was featured over at the  "Use Your Stuff" blog again: http://useyourstuff.blogspot.com/2013/11/challenge-108-highlights.html
 
 



 
 
Knowing how much I love to scrap, but that I will never be "famous" because of it or make a living doing it, the little bit of acknowledement I do receive from time to time means the world to me!

I'll be back tomorrow w/ the latest challenge over at "Scrap It With a Song"

TTFN!

Saturday, November 9, 2013

11/09/13 - "Cherish"

Two blog posts in one weekend?!
What's the occasion?
No occasion. It just so happens I was able to complete another layout for some challenges.
One of which that is ending tomorrow.
 
Here we go!
"Cherish"
 
These are pictures of my kids and me on Mother's Day of this year.
I don't have a whole lot of pictures of us together so not only do I "cherish" my kids, but I "cherish" these pictures.
 
 
Inspired by the following challenges:

Blogs -

"Stuck" - November sketch

 
 
"Use Your Stuff" - Use stencils (see the sunburst on my BG)
 
SB.com -
 
> November "Music Challenge" - Category #2: Song Title
I used "Cherish" by Madonna
*Includes twist of using a 1 word title

> November "Four Categories" - Category #3: Fussy Cutting. Must include at least one fussy cut item on your layout. I used 4: the heart, the 2 buttons, and the tag.
*Includes twist of visible journaling

Okay this should be the last you hear of me this weekend...I have some DT assignments to go work on!
Toodles until next week!


 

Friday, November 8, 2013

11/08/13 - "This is Me"

I enjoy my days off.
Especially my Friday's off because everyone else is at work and school so I get some scrappy time to myself !
Today I created this layout:
 
"This is Me"
Journaling: "After a couple of rough years of soul searching, trying to discover who I
was, what I wanted out of life, what made me happy I finally realized I had
everything I needed and wanted all along. So I am happy to say: 'This is real.
This is me. I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be now'. 8/12/13"

*the flair piece has a glare on  it so you can't see that it says "Live Love"
 
Quite a difference from the "me" of a few months ago: "Girl on Fire"

 
I used the current sketch over at the "Artful Delight" blog as inspiration:
 
 
 
I was also inspired by the SB.Com November "Music" challenge.
This is for category #1 - Song lyrics.
I used lyrics from "This is Me" by Demi Lovato.
*Includes twist of doodling and fiber (flower)


As always, thanks so very much for stopping by!
:0)

Monday, November 4, 2013

11/04/13 - Featured Layouts

Hi there!
It's Monday and although I am usually all about hating Monday's, today is a different story.
I'm actually in a good mood!
The reason for my good mood?
Well, 1 reason is this Friday is my Friday off and I'm also off on Monday, for the Veterans Day holiday, so I have a 4 day weekend coming up! Yay!
Also being off this Friday and off on Monday means 2 weeks in a row of  working just 4 days! Double yay!
Don't get me wrong, I don't hate my job, but I would rather be at home then at work...definitely!!
 
The other reason is as I was catching up in bloggy land I saw that I was featured on 2 different blogs:
"Use it Tuesday" and "Use Your Stuff"!
 
Below you will see my "badges" and the layouts that were featued:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
Coincidentally both layouts featured have a white BG, something I've been experimenting w/ recently! Perhaps this is a sign I should keep it up! Another coincidence is both layouts have my daughter and kitty in them...perhaps they are my lucky charms?!
 
Hope you have a great Monday!

Saturday, November 2, 2013

11/02/13 - Layout "Girl Scout Vest"

 
Hi there!
Just dropping by to share my latest layout.
#104 out of my 120 goal; getting close!!!
 
Journaling: "A Build-a-Bear Girl Scout vest turns into a vest for Panini.
 
 
I was able to complete a lot of different challenges w/ this layout.
Here's the line-up:

SB.com -

November "The Color White" Challenge - Use at least
%50 white on your project.
*Includes twist - Use a white BG

Blogs -

"Scrap Our Stash" - The only paper that can be used, besides the BG, are 6x6 paper sheets. I used 2 of them, cutting one of them so that I have some of it at the top and some at the bottom of my layout.
Also use 6 of one type of embellie:I used 6 eyelets.

"Frosted Designs" - Tag Challenge: use at least one tag on your layout: I used 2.

"Use Your Stash" - Use Eyelets

"Twisted Tuesday" - Free for All

Feeling very accomplished right now and itching to scrap some more so I will see you later!
Thanks so much for stopping by!

03/27/23 Planning with Urban Journal Season Ink

My printer was having issues and I fixed it but during the interim I was not scrapping and lost my mojo ::le sigh:: But I've still been ...