Midnight Madness

Not sure what got in to me today but long about 10:30 I sat down at my craft table (that should read, folding table in between the "dining room" and "living room") and started making stuff. I started with

this cute little bookmark. I saw it on my friend
Stephanie's blog who got it from the super talented Mathilda Making these bookmarks is so easy and quick, it is a great way to turn scraps into a cute little project. Since that project took less than 10 minutes I decided to keep on going. I made a birthday card for my brother, not that the card is going to matter half as much to him as what is in it but that is okay. Since I know he will pay close attention to the inside of the card (of course looking for cold hard cash) I wanted to do something more to the inside of the card that I usually do, so I grabbed my spiral punch to dress it up just a little.... I love the spiral punch and use it every chance I get. Finally I made a card to include in a catalog pack I am sending to a new customer. My favorite thing about this card.... no stamping!! I love to stamp; however, sometimes I enjoy making cards without stamping and this is one of those cards. Of course I used my spiral punch on this card too, because as I said, I love it!!

I had fun creating today, when I sat down at the table I had no idea what I was going to work on or create which is usually very frustrating for me.... not tonight though, I just enjoyed the process and had some fun.

Historical Recap

Watching the historic Inauguration of Barack Obama today made me think about history and all of the things I have been witnessed in my life time. Not all of the events have been good ones, many tragic; however, all of them have impacted our country and world so dramatically making us better people and a stronger nation.

In no particular order, the historic events that happened during my life time…..

1. The Challenger explosion
2. Terrorist Attack on 9-11
3. The Berlin Wall came down
4. Operation Desert Storm
5. Operation Iraqi Freedom
6. Barack Obama became the 44th President
7. Michael Phelps won 8 Gold Medals in the 2008 Olympics
8. Nelson Mandela was freed from Prison
9. OJ Simpson got away with murder (since this is my list, I am entitled to my own opinions)
10. Attack on the USS Cole
11. Death of Pope John Paul II

I am sure there are some I am forgetting, and I can only hope and pray their will be more to come.

Regardless of party affiliation or political beliefs I hope you have found some renewed faith in the country I am proud to call home, the UNITED States of America.

Week 2 already?

Wow I have have been a blogging fool lately, I am very proud of myself. So week 2 of the new year is over and continue to take a photo a day (sometimes I take more than 1- how exciting is that) I have not created any of the layouts that go with those pictures yet but I have created the collages that I am going to scrap-that has to count for something!

Day 4 is the crockpot- D and I have been cooking fools lately, loving the crockpot!!

Day 5 shows how ridiculously warm it was for the beginning of January.


I love being an American and the American Flag and all it represents, I can't begin to tell you how many pictures of the American Flag I have, day 6 is the latest addition to my collection.

Since D and I have been cooking more than ever before, our refigerator has tons of "real food" in it. I don't think it has ever been this full, of course I had to take a picture of it for day 7.

The warm weather on day 5 didn't last long, which is why I had to make that over size cup of hot cocoa with extra marshmallows on day 8.

My boyfriend in brown came on day 9 I just had to take a picture of all the goodies he brought me.

Day 10 found me at the movies seeing "Bride Wars" twice in the past 2 weeks I have gone to the movies and brought snakes home with me- most people sneak food into the theater with them, not me I bring it home and take pictures of it!

Feeling Creative

I have been feeling kind of crafty lately, hope that feeling stays around for awhile, especially since next weekend Kimmie and I are getting together to scrap. Regardless I decided to participate in Kristina Werner's Color Inspiration for the first time. What Kristina does is post a picture weekly, she translates the colors in the photo to Stampin' Up! colors and gives you a few days to create something using those colors. I am not one who likes to be told what to do, nor am I someone who usually participates in challenges; however, in an effort to balance myself a little better, I am trying new things. This is what we were given,


As someone who reads tons of blogs stalks the Splitcoast Gallery, I had a design layout in mind but had no idea what I was actually going to do. I knew I wanted to use some of the new goodies my boyfriend in brown delivered yesterday and that is about all I knew. After playing around for a little while, this is what I came up with.

As usual the scan is not the best, a little crooked but you get the idea. I used the new Rub-ons called Loop-to-Loop for the birthday greeting some DSP from the Holiday Mini- Frosty Day. The layout was a total CASE from The Splitcoast Gallery of course I had to change the colors to comply with the challenge.

This is color inspiration challenge #37 and yet it is the first one I am doing, off to go see what other creations I can come up with based on the other challenges.

1 done 51 more to go.....

Project 365 contines to be in full swing, I am impressed I have kept up with it thus far, afterall it is Jan 7th, usually I lose interest in things like this by now. Again I am not going to say my pictures are impressive but they do document my everyday life.

 

This collage is pictures from Jan 1- Jan 3 (Thursday-Saturday) of course I had to include a picture of the scale to remind myself 2009 is all about Balance. The picture of my laptop and the Facebook game "Fashion Wars" is just because I play the game far too much and spend way too much time on the computer when I should be doing other things. The rest of the pictures were taken at the annual holiday party hosted by my former DM; being at the party and surrounded by people friends reminded me how important work/life balance is. However, getting up and going to work the next day reminded me how of my age, I swear I just can't hang like I used to!

Balance.....

So it has been almost 2 months since I last blogged, not sure it really matters because my blog is not one of those blogs that has millions of followers, afterall I am not the Pioneer Woman! Even though I have not blogged in forever, I am still reading blogs at a great rate most of the blogs I read are scrap related and I forget if it is Ali Edwards or Donna Downey that talks about "having a word" and letting that word become your mantra. Kimmie and I were chatting online the other day and she asked me what my word was, without giving it much thought, I said "balance." I have come to realize how little balance I have in my life. This year I am really going to work on changing that, I am not saying it is my New Year's Resolution because that puts too much pressure on it. Instead I am going to stay it is my focus or 2009. I need to create more balance in my life (work/life balance, more time for friends/family, taking time to do things for me, etc....) one of the ways I am doing that is through Project 365, it is a year commitment to take a picture a day and scrap it. Now the pictures don't have to be anything major and I promise the layouts won't be over the top but it is something that I WILL do. Taking that time every day to snap a quick picture will help me create the balance I am looking for, it will force me to do something I enjoy and take the time for me- not to mention it will help me with my blogging because what better place to track the project than here? I have vowed to keep the entire process simple and today's picture is exactly that simple.... when I think about the word balance I always think of a scale, actually I think of the big scale that is in court rooms to represent the judical system because I don't have one of those in my house and didn't have plans to go to court today (or ever if I can help it) the best I could do was take a picture of my household scale (of course I made sure there were no numbers on it, the last thing I want documented in a photo is my weight) I think when I scrap the photo I may incorporate this blog post.....