Busy, busy...

I have been in kinda a depressed funk the last couple days, so I'm glad I was feeling better enough to be creative. I called Josh this morning shortly after I had gotten to school and almost started crying for no reason. I think I'm just annoyed with subbing, especially after working consistently in a special ed classroom last year. I'm really not cut out for the younger ones and I have pretty much only been subbing for kindergarten and first grade. Every day I leave one of those classes I thank myself for having the presence of mind to switch from elementary education over to adolescence. Everyone thought I was nuts, but my family is finally starting to realize that I'm just not a huge fans of the little ones. As crazy as it sounds, I really enjoy working with middle schoolers. I will take a group of hormone-driven, crazy seventh and eighth graders any day over a bunch of 6 and 7 year olds. I did get asked today by the middle school to fill in for a long term sub as an aide. I would LOVE to accept, but just with needing subbing days as a teacher towards my first teaching certificate, it looks like I'm stuck subbing in the elementary school more. I know that subbing as an aide makes less money, but it would be more consistent, better hours, and a better age level. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind subbing in the elementary school, and I don't dislike children by any means, I'm just anxious to get my own classroom and have sicks days and vacation days, and a routine back. Maybe it will get better when the semester starts next week. 

OK, on to scrapbooking stuff! Sisterhood of Scrap posted their Monday challenge today. This week's challenge was a simple one...create a thank you card. This is what I came up with. I used stamps and punches from Stampin' Up. In case I haven't mentioned it, I LOVE their products! 

I also finished the altered project I was talking about last week. Last week I had covered all the letters with the paper, but tonight I decorated all the letters. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. It was difficult to have enough creativity and originality to come up with 6 different designs, but I really tried to get creative and use all of my supplies. I really liked the stamping I did on the 'R', but it was too flat, so I needed to add some stuff that would make it more 3D. Now I just need to get Josh to hang them up on my wall, which could take a while since opening is this weekend and he's busy with RD training/RA training now. 

OK, time to go watch some TV for tonight. I'm getting sleeeeepy. Luckily I'm only subbing 1/2 day tomorrow and don't have to be to school until 11:30, which means I get to sleep in! YAY!! Hope everyone had a great Monday!

Without further ado...

OK, so it's been a few days. Oops! I went to the doctor on Thursday for what was supposed to be a "simple" procedure, and of course with my luck, simple turned into complicated and incredible painful. And I have still been working and going about my day like normal for the most part, and I am paying for it! So I've been trying to take it easy, rest, and take my meds like a good patient. Which left no room for scrapbooking. :-( I'm back though! I did this layout for Julie's sketch challenge and it fit the criteria for the Sisterhood of Scrap weekly challenge as well. I was REALLY hoping to not use my sketch challenge layout for their challenge, but with not being able to scrap, it didn't happen. Maybe next week. And in case you can't read the resolutions they are: pay off my credit card, get a teaching job, be a better wife, maintain my weight, organize, clean, and de-clutter. Josh told me I needed to get rid of number 3 because I'm already a great wife (aww...isn't he sweet?!) But, I think there are always things I can do to improve...clean more, cooking or doing the dishes once in a while, be more supportive, encouraging...you get the picture!

Despite not feeling the best, I still went to Watertown with all of Josh's family on Saturday. We had a great time. I ended up getting a change to go to Michael's and picked up some alcohol inks from Time Holtz. I have seen these used, and have wanted to try them, but I've always been kinda scared and unsure. But, I want to experiment more with my pages and try stuff like that I sew and other techniques that I consider a bit "out of the box." I also picked up some papers that match the colors in the living room so I can get started on that altered project. I'm excited to get started on that. OK, that's all for now. Working on this page left me in quite a bit of pain and I'm subbing tomorrow so it's time for another pain pill and bed. Have a great Monday everyone!

Another card and lots to do

Although I wasn't really feeling very motivated today, I did manage to make this birthday card. My SIL birthday is tomorrow and we are all going out to dinner on Saturday. We are going to Applebee's, which seeing how the closest one is a little over an hour away, is going to be a treat. I am also going to splurge and order a Mudslide. (They are SO good there!!!) Anyway, I haven't decided whether to give her this one, or the birthday one that I posted a couple days ago. What do you think?

In other news, I started an altered project today, but I don't want to post pictures of it until it's all finished. I'm pleased with how it looks so far and think it will be really cute when it's completely finished. I was thinking today that the spring semester starts back up on Jan 19...a week and a half away! And I don't have anywhere near enough on my to do list done, so I've gotta kick my butt into gear! Here is what I'm hoping to get done before the new semester starts:

-finish the altered project for my scrapping room

-altered project for the living room

-making the fleece blanket and pillows for the living room

-paint and cover with paper the black cubes and put them up in my scrapping room

-organize all of my paper scraps

-organize, sort through, and de-clutter my school stuff

-sort, organize, rename some stuff on my computer so I'm all organized for the new semester to start

Not to mention I found out about a special ed job that is open, so I printed off an application today and need to get that filled out and sent in. I don't know when the position starts, and I don't know if they will even consider me because I technically don't have special ed certification yet, but it doesn't hurt to apply. 

OK, time to go to bed. I gotta get up bright and early for a massage, doctor's appointment, meeting, then home to get to work. Hope everyone is having a good week so far!

No scrapping today

Wow...it was a long day after being on vacation for 2 weeks. It didn't help matters that I didn't sleep well last night. I have been dragging all day, I meant to go to the gym when I got home, but I was too tired. I also didn't get home until close to 4 and Josh was getting out of work then so I didn't bother going because we had too many errands to run. After running all the errands I was too exhausted to do anything except watch Office Space and watch Josh play Wii Madden. I do have 2 pictures to show you today though. The first one is a Christmas present from my mom that I forgot to include last night. I was SO excited to get the cat album so I can include layouts of the cats in that album. 

The second picture is something I am thinking of ordering to help organize all of my scraps. I keep them in a folio type thing now and it isn't working! It just isn't easy/big enough/convenient to organize and sort through all of my scraps. I was thinking of almost like a filing cabinet type thing, but I want something more portable to take to crops. So, my wonderful hubby found these adorable bags. I really like the lime green one, which would match any Cricut bags or anything I ever bought, which is an added bonus. Anyway, what do you think? Any scrappers out there have any good ideas for storing your scraps? 

OK, time for me to go to bed! Back to the world of being a third grade sub again tomorrow...night!

Late post

Whew! Just made the cutoff deadline for 52 Sketches...52 Weeks. That is a great website that Julie hosts and she has an AMAZING new sketch each week and she also gives away great prizes to one lucky winner each week. She is changing it a little bit this year and I'm really excited about the changes she is making. Anyway, here is the layout I did for this week. I took much longer than I expected it to take just because of the 28 brads and eyelets. The ribbon looks really crooked, but that's just because the picture is a little crooked, it looks much better in person. 

As promised (a day late), here are pictures of some of the goodies I got for Christmas. I got the new cutting mat, Stickles, brads, 2 Cricut cartridges, and LOTS of Glue Dots from my parents. (I didn't include the brads or Glue Dots in the picture.) From my MIL and FIL and got the wavy trimmer, circle, wavy frames, and oval templates and cutter from Making Memories. I have tried many circle cutters and none work as good as the ones from Making Memories. I LOVE them! And finally, my wonderful hubby (he told me I couldn't call him DH anymore because he thought I secretly meant it as dumb husband...lol) got my the Cricut Expression!!!! YAY!!!!!! And of course 3 new cartridges and the wonderful cart for the Cricut and the cartridges. I still have my smaller, more portable Cricut on my scrapping desk, but there is no way the Expression or all my new cartridges would have fit. I am having so much fun playing around with the new Cricut and love that I can cut things out so much bigger. 

OK, I hope you enjoyed the LO and the pictures. It's time for me to go to bed since I have to be up early. I of course got a subbing call already for tomorrow, which I'm actually pretty happy about going back to work because I have been pretty lazy on my 2 week vacation. Goodnight everyone!

New layout

OK, no pictures of my Christmas gifts yet as promised, but I do have a new layout to show you today. This was from a trip I took with DH and the in-laws down to NYC. We drove down for the weekend, went to a Yankees game, and wandered around the city. It was a great trip! 

Anyway, hope you enjoy the layout. It's time for me to go work on my scrapping and cleaning/organizing to do list. I still hope to be back later with pictures of some of my scrapping goodies that I got for Christmas, but right now I'm waiting on a desk to be painted another coat and then dried before I can really take the picture. Have a good day everyone!

Quick post

Just a quick post for today. As much as I can't believe I'm going to say this, I need vacation to end. I have no motivation to do ANYTHING! Seriously, I laid on the couch reading a book today. I did manage to go to Wal Mart to get some things for dinner and clean/organize some of my receipts, tags, and junk drawers in my scrap room, but the scrap room just looks messy now because I just piled everything that I want to save from the junk drawers on my scrap table. I'm hoping once I start to sub again motivation will quick back in. I am not anxious for vacation from school to be over. I am dreading January 19, it was a TOUGH semester and I don't want to start all over again. 

OK, on to the reason of the post. Despite the laziness, I did manage to create a quick birthday card. I believe all the ink, stamps, punch, and cardstock is all from Stampin' Up. (I LOVE that company!!!) 

OK, it's time to get back to catching up on the whole season of Grey's that DH and I taped. With all my classes and school work, there was no way I could stay up to do on all the TV shows I like to watch. So far we've only watched the first 2 episodes, so we have a LONG way to go. 

Have a good night everyone, and I'll be back tomorrow with pictures of some of my amazing scrapbook presents that I got for Christmas. (I know Christmas is over, but I just had Christmas with the in-laws and I want to post all the yummy goodness!)