Saturday, April 30, 2011

Dream

I put this card together with the 10-15 minutes I could find here and there, ugh..I just wanted to take a big chunk of my time today and scrap,but that didn't end up happening.  I thought it came together nicely though and will enter it in several challenges.  I found a list of challenges over at Feline Playful and tried to fit my card to several challenges.  I used mostly papers from my stash, the light blue dot paper is Bo Bunny, the bigger flower was cut from my cricut, can't remember which cart, the smaller flower is a punch and the bird is a stamp.

Here are the challenges I will enter:

Frosted Designs Fabulous Fridays-Stripes and Polka Dots

Paper Variety- Polka Dots

If the Shoe Fits/Fashionista Friday-Things with wings (bird)

Joyful Stamper-Inspire Me Fridays-Anything goes

Just Add Ink-Add a flower

Paper Cutz-Anything goes

Stamp Something-Things with Wings

Patches of Pink-Anthing

Totally Papercrafts-Glitter (on bird wing and flower center)

I think that's it....wheww, I hope I linked everything correctly.

Now I've got to go finish getting ready, heading for the LONESTAR concert tonight!!!   :D

Friday, April 29, 2011

A secret squirrel surprise!!!





I'm not quite sure what that is referring to, but when I asked my husband the other day what he had been up to.....he said it was a secret.  A secret squirrel surprise.............um.........OK, weirdo!  (said in a very loving way..lol).  So, when I got home, there was an envelope with my name on it.  Hmmmm, the secret surprise must be inside!  Well, the husband was like a little kid.."open it, open it." he said.  And inside were two tickets to see these guys!!!!  I'm so excited! They are coming to my little town of St. George and performing at the outdoor amphitheater at Tuacahn.  I'm not too much into country, but I really do like Lonestar and this song was one of our songs for our wedding!!  How super sweet is that! I'm totally excited and so looking forward to it!  I have a pretty great husband, and he can do his super secret squirrel surprises anytime! ;)

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Meridian Magazine - Way To Be: Optimism

I just read an article and decided to post part of it as a reminder to myself.  I sometimes struggle with being positive, it takes an effort from me to see the good in life, especially when crap keeps getting shoved in my face. I try to be positive, to see the blessings in my life, ( and I do have much to be thankful for) but sometimes I can't see how a situation will work out & I struggle to see the light at the end of the tunnel, when all around is pitch black.  Thankfully, I have a husband who tends to be more on the positive side, he doesn't stress much and doesn't sweat the small stuff. I guess he compliments me very well.  His positive attitude rubs off and I can let go of fear and let faith in.  I only hope........that my little bits of pessimism doesn't rub off on him...then we'd both be in trouble!

I really liked #1-4, actually all of them are helpful, but I do enjoy my tv/computer time and while I know I should limit it a little more, it does bring me a little piece of happiness.

Seven Ways to Improve Optimism


1.  Sleep 6-9 hours per night. Without proper sleep your health deteriorates and your brain becomes foggy. If you are foggy life looks foggy instead of bright. ( I really like this one!)

2.  Every new day is just that. New. Let yourself approach each day fresh. Have a hiker mentality. After a good rest comes some more rewarding work. Without the work, you never reach the summit. Another hiker philosophy is “mind over matter.” Make your mind keep going even if the circumstances around you encourage you to stop. A new day is a spiritual experience. God gives us a rest and fresh start every 24 hours. What a blessing.  ( sometimes I have to break it down into hours....right now is a new hour, breaking it down into smaller time bites is easier to handle)

3.  Look at all the good in life. Even if every child doesn't turn out perfect, or if business is failing there are always good things to look at. You are all still together. You can still go for a walk and talk together. You control what you see. See the picture as okay, and you will be okay. ( what helps is to just look at the bigger picture, this challenge isn't going to be forever, and somehow, I will get through this and it will work out)


4.  Focus. Stay focused on the really important things. Relationships and making meaningful memories are more important than all those stressful emotions. We have the relationships forever, the stresses are temporary. And, as long as we have relationships, we will have the means for happiness. Because good relationships bring happiness, not money and perfection. ( I really need help with this one....FOCUS has been part of my one little word for this year!)


5.  Turn off the distractions. TV, computer, and constant going get in the way of making lasting relationships. Turn that stuff off and play a game, bake, garden or just talk instead. If you do this life will feel better and more productive. Media ruins productivity. (while I agree, I still do enjoy my tv/computer time)

6.  Make a new family culture. If our cultures are based on the things we do or the money we spend we will find stress and unhappiness even if things keep going perfect. Simplify your culture. Teach your children life skills and recreate with games, walks, and good books and you will find fulfillment in life. We often think we need to do more to find that fulfilling feeling we are looking for. Usually we need to do less and do it well. It's a worth while family culture shift. (Simplicity....I need to embrace this!)

7.  Improve communication. When things go wrong, stay calm. Say what is happening, but don't react to it. When things go well, say what happened too. Praise more. When life seems to be going along as normal, stop the normal to talk and connect. Think of yourself as a family therapist. Encourage people to talk to you and value what they say. Really listen.... then help find solutions. Schedule regular talk time with your spouse and children. In my book, Parenting A House United I talk more about how to have effective meetings, and how to correct negative behaviors in a positive way.   (I need to find opportunities to open up and communicate more with others and then really listen, sometimes I feel too disconnected.....I need to work on this)

We live if difficult times. These are not the first difficult times the world has known. Historically, those who focus on family and being optimistic are the ones who triumphantly make it through the hard times. They are the ones who have journal entries full of inspiring observations and lessons learned which strengthen people for years to come. We are all writing stories. What will your story be? One of pessimism or optimism? You Choose.

And remember, what you choose will be what your children choose too. (End of article)



I have a quote book with positive sayings, scriptures, stories, quotes, I read over this now and then and it seems to give my soul a great big lift, I guess I should carry it with me everywhere I go!!  ;)

What works for you when times are tough?  How do you stay positive when negativity is pullin at ya?  If you feel so inclined, please share.   :)

Monday, April 25, 2011

Smile

Hope you all had a great and happy Easter weekend. Mine was nice and quiet, it was perfect!


I just finished a quick page from The ETTES P.S.I love you collection.  I added a bunch of embellishments  and dropped in the cute pic of my Ash! Gotta love those quick pages....cuz that's all I had time for tonight.  
 I'm hoping to find time to play with some challenges this week, but as usual, it's a busy one, so not sure how much scrappin time I will be able to find.  I guess I'll just take what time I can, even if it's just 15 minutes here, and 10 there....I guess that's better than nothin!

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Digi wedding



I have a TON of wedding photos and there is NO way I'm going to scrap them all, so I purchased a few templates that had places for lots of pics.  Here is the first 2 page digi I made.  And, after a frustrating hour last night, I finally figured out what I was doing wrong. ACK, hopefully the next template layout will go much smoother!








Sunday, April 17, 2011

Simple!


I seem to be stuck on clean and simple cards lately.  I've printed out several random digi stamps and have been playing with the few copics that I have and am just having a lot of fun!  So, I've got a few more simple cards to share. 

I also made a few more cards with the cute owls I cut from my cricut using the Paisley cart. I'll post them later, I'm hoping to get a more clear picture, for some reason they keep turning out a little blurry.

Now, a question for all you cardmakers/scrapbookers......regarding challenges.  How do you keep track of which challenges are open, which ones you've entered, all the many challenge sites/blogs out there.  Whew, it seems like there are sooo many and I never can find them all or re-find them once I've come across them. Do you bookmark them all?  Follow them all, use a certain tracking program, write them down?? I'd love to know how you all organize this, so if you have a certain tip you've come down with and wouldn't mind sharing.....I'd be very grateful!  :)

Alrighty, I'm out for the night, got some reading to do and then get ready for the week.  Oh JOY! ;)

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Hoppy Easter


So I made these cards using this cute free digi stamp I found over at Bugaboo Stamps, they have a lot of really cute stamps there, and they add a new freebie one each Friday!!  How cool is that?    Then I  made the cards for the 2 color challenge over at Card Cupids. You can check out the challenge HERE.   I only have about 9 copic markers and so I'm hoping these don't look too Christmasy with the red and green.  I think the frog is adorable though! 

And since it's almost midnight, I'm keeping this short and sweet!  Hope you all have a great Friday and a great weekend!

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Monster Love

I finally played with my Make the Cut and some SVG files.  I really don't know what I"m doing, but I followed a tutorial over at Under A Cherry Tree............easy!!! And look what I made!  So cute...I love it, and am now looking forward to playing around a lot more with different SVG files.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

A must need read!

I subscribe to the Kind Over Matter blog, and the post today I feel would be very beneficial for every person, everywhere.  How much nicer would our world be if everyone practiced this kind of compassion.  Words for thought, and maybe words to put into practice.  I'm going to go forth today with this in mind and hopefully be kind and loving to those who at first encounter might not seem to deserve kindness, but usually those are the people that need it the most. 

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Owl always love you!

I decided to play with this fun challenge over at Cupcakes Inspirations, they have cool challenges based on cupcakes!  Now how fun is that?  So, here is my card that was inspired by this weeks cupcakes!

I used the Paisley cart for the owl, sparkled her up with some Icicle Stickles, added ribbon and put it all together. I think she turned out cute and can't wait to send it to someone special!

Brought to you by the letter "L"

My husband is gone for two weeks to annual training with the National Guard and I've had a long weekend and had all these plans to scrap as much as possible, HA.......... I've made a total of two cards and 1 page layout using the Project Life idea, you know slip your pictures in, write a little journaling, cute it up a little and you're done.  I did get one project done though, a monogram plaque representing my new last name.  I used a wooden plaque from Hobby Lobby, some light blue acrylic paint, a scrap of light blue from Basic Grey, a damask rub-on, and the L chipboard, also from HL and then just tied a ribbon to hang it from.  I really liked how it turned out and it was super easy!!!  You should totally make one for yourself....really you should! ;)

Friday, April 1, 2011

thank goodness for templates!

It's been such a long time since I did any digi stuff and I've about forgotten anything and everything I learned. I'm going to have to go back through the classes and refresh myself on all the techniques and steps so I can not take so long just trying to put a template together.   Holy cow, just doing this simple template took me an
hour...........UGH!  I love it though and really need to take the time to learn it better.


I received this blog award from Steph over at BZBCREATES and Laurie from Scraps by Sissy, thanks so much girls!!! 

Now the rules for this award are as follows:

1.) Thank the person who gave it to you
                                                         2.) 7 things about yourself
                                                         3.) Send it to 15 other bloggers
                                                         4.) Leave a comment so they can pass along the recognition
 
 
Seven things about me...I will try to think of something different this time!!!
 
1.  I was on America's Most Wanted for about a mili-second!  (Not I'm not on the Most Wanted List, sheesh people, the worst thing I've done is get a speeding ticket!)  ;)
 
2.  I am a little addicted to bejeweled and am totally irritated when one of my "friends" gets a higher score than I do........I gave him my hints and tricks.  NOTE to self: don't share game secrets with anyone!
 
3.  I don't sleep well and have a hard time getting up in the morning. 
 
4.  I wish I could travel the world and take breathtaking photographs.
 
5.  I am constantly trying to lose 10-15 lbs, right now I'm losing that battle.  UGH.
 
6.  I was divorced for 9 years and just got married less than a month ago!  Yay for LOVE!!
 
7.  I love to look at other blogs, I have sooooo many that I follow and not enough time to visit them everyday.
 
Now.....I'm supposed to send this to 15 other bloggers.  The problem is, that most of the blogs I have followed for awhile already have this award, so I'm going to pass this along to some new blogs, some blogs that I have just recently found and started to follow.  I hope you'll visit them and share some love. 
 
Also......thank you to all who visit me and leave comments, I have made some great new friends and have enjoyed sharing creative time, scrappy inspiration, lifes moments and great new ideas!!
 
ok, here is a list of blogs that I am passing this award to.  I'm not sure I will hit 15, but will do my best!
 
Shawna-http://twokidspaper.blogspot.com/
ScrappnBee-http://scrappnbee.blogspot.com/
Stephanie-http://www.iwannabelikemartha.blogspot.com/
Christina-http://seechristinascrapbook.blogspot.com/
Cynthia-http://cyndiscrap.blogspot.com/
 
 
Ok, that's only 5 so far, but I have to get off the computer, take my lunch, go pick up my daughter and get her home.  Whew..always something!  Have a great Friday and a great weekend, I'm hoping to get some scrapping time in this weekend, but Ash has three, yes 3 soccer games tomorrow.........ugh, there goes my whole day.  I think I will take some images to color, I've been playing a little bit with my copics and prismacolors.......I think I LOVE them! ;)