Sunday, May 23, 2010

To Do

I LOVE lists, especially to do lists! There is just some strange, triumphant feeling that comes over me whenever I get to cross something off of my to do list. And I'm almost ashamed to admit it, but I am guilty of adding something to my list after it's already finished just so I get the pleasure of crossing it off. I also feel that I work best when I'm held accountable, so I thought I would publish my to do list here. :-) That way you can leave a comment asking if I've gotten something done and if you know me in real life you can text or call me if you want to. So now that I have my caffeine by my side and the music blasting I'm ready to get to work!

- get gas for the car

- wash, dry, fold, and put away ALL laundry

- unload and load back up the dishwasher

- make corrections to one IEP and finish another one

- pick up living room

- spend some time in my scrap room (both organizing/cleaning and scrapping)

- update my contact information with the National Bone Marrow Donor Program

- mow the front yard


Saturday, May 15, 2010

Back again with another LO

Just a quick post today, my scrap room is a mess and I have to get it picked up before the night
is over. This is a layout I did today based on sketch #103 from Creative Scrappers. They have some great sketches and some super talented people designing the sketches and as part of the Design Team! I used October Afternoon paper, the County Fair collection. I LOVE this paper. One of the last times I drove to visit my parents, Josh and I stopped at We B Scrappin so I could pick up some "necessities." When there, I saw the label sheets that went with this set, but they were all sold out of the paper. I searched the internet for months and finally found it at 2Peas. I just knew I had to order it then and there. I'm so glad this paper didn't get away from me. I love the colors, the designs, everything!

Anyway, thanks for looking and I hope you are all having a great weekend!


Thursday, May 13, 2010

Is anybody out there?

I was a little disappointed to come back to my blog today and see that nobody had visited it all week, but that's again. Even if people don't visit, at least I still get to talk...hehe.

Anyway, as promised, I am back again this week, this time with three layouts. They may not be new, new, but they are fairly recent. They are just layouts I had forgotten to take pictures of or layouts I hadn't finished. I'm pretty sure all of the layouts I based on sketches from Julie Bonner, but if I'm wrong and you recognize the sketch, please let me know. I always like to give credit where credit is due.

This first one is a picture of Josh and I down in NYC eating out to celebrate our second wedding anniversary. I did a lollipop flower on this layout and I love how it turned out...although I usually do like how anything turns out once I ink and distress it!

This next one is the layout that I made to display in my scrapbook room on one of the display boards that Creative Memories sells. It matches my room, which is hot pink, lime green, black, and white. It's a picture of Josh and I from hiking last year. I didn't really do anything fancy with this one except I dabbed some Alcohol Inks on the bling to make it fit with the rest of my color scheme.

The last one is one of my most recent favorites. It is a picture of my friend Beth and I at my wedding. She was one of my roommates in college, hence the title Roomies. I did some distressing of the papers by ripping...this is such a cool technique and I love how it came out! I used stickers from Close to My Heart that are white, but you ink over them to get the color you ink, but they have white resist polka dots that stay white. I also made my own flowers and then rubbed clear Stickles on them to cause them to glimmer and shine.

Anyway, thanks for looking and have a great Friday!

Monday, May 10, 2010

Bad blogger, bad!

OK, so once again a week (well, a little more than a week) has passed and I didn't blog once. :-( I don't even really think I have an excuse. Last week was busy, but in a good way because it made the week fly by. This week I anticipate being less busy, which in a way, makes me sad because I'm worried it won't go by as fast.

I hope everyone had a great weekend, mine definitely was! On Friday I went to a baby shower scrapbook night for one of the regulars of our scrappy group and on Saturday we had a scrapbook day at my friend's house. It made for a weekend full of scrappy goodness. :-) Unfortunately on Saturday I started to feel very congested and by this morning it had moved into my chest leaving me with a lovely sounding cough. I went home from work early and have spent much of the day on the couch or chair.

OK, since I made you sit through all of that, I should at least reward you with two layouts that I did this weekend.
Sketch is by PageMaps:

This layout I did for the NSD All Week Challenge at Scrapbook.com. The challenge was to create a layout that wasn't based on a person or pet. I used pictures of my espresso machine, coffee cup, and espresso and syrup flavors. The journaling reads"
Student: "Mrs. McLear, you should drink coffee every morning."
Me: "Why is that?"
Student: "Because you were in a really good mood today!"

It was at that moment, I knew I was a... caffeine addict.

Sketch is by Creative Scrappers:

I am in love with this layout. I have never used Webster pages before, but I think I am starting to fall in love with them. I used a picture that was of me and my grandfather at my wedding almost 4 years ago. This is the last picture that I have of just me and my grandfather before he passed away. I originally planned on doing a lot of journaling about what he meant to me, etc... but I think the title that I made stand out in the corner of Celebrate Life is perfect. I'll use another picture of my grandfather to document all of my thoughts now that he is gone. I love this layout because I still managed to incorporate bold, bright colors with a very vintage paper.

That's all for now, and I promise I will post again this week!

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Quilting is infuriating...

Or...
I hate my sewing machine
I need to a door to my crafting room
My crafting room is not conducive to quilting

My blog post today could really have many titles. I went to my first ever quilting class yesterday. And let me just say, it's a good thing I teach special ed. and have developed patience otherwise my sewing machine and the fabric I bought would be out in the trash tonight. But with a good teacher and some good friends who have encouraged me to stick with it, I'll give it a little longer. I'm not sure if the sewing machine is the problem, or if it's human error, but the teacher had to come fix my machine about 5 or 6 times yesterday. Apparently it has tension issues....hmm, like sewer, like machine?

Anyway, even though yesterday was National Scrapbook Day and I did participate in lots of challenges at Scrapbook.com. (And even won one...YAHOO!) I don't have anything scrappy to show you. I did submit a layout to them, but it's not quite posting quality yet, so you'll just have to wait! I do have part of the quilt that I'm working on to show you.


You do have to use your imagination a little bit, but the two white points in the center will eventually form a star. Once I have two more blocks done similar to these, I will put them on the bottom to finish the star. That will form 1 unit. Once I have the 1 unit done, I just need to make 29 more...HAHAHA. It's going in my living room so it doesn't have to be perfect, but I do want it to look somewhat decent. Oh well, maybe this quilt will be done by next winter.

I promise I'll try to be better this week about posting throughout the week, but it's a crazy week at school, so no promises. Have a great Monday!