Project Life

Wow. This blog has definitely neglected for a while. I remember scrapbooking before having kids and not really having many pictures to scrapbook besides the cats and me and my husband. I would look at all my friends scrapping all these cute pictures of their kids and long for the days when I finally had kids so I had better pictures to scrap. And then I had kids, and while it's true that you now have all these pictures to scrap, you don't have nearly as much time! I still try to get together with my friends about once a month or so, but there is a lot of socializing and eating that goes on during these days, and not nearly as much scrapping! Last year I decided to give Project Life a try and I am hooked. I still have a couple months from last year to finish the journaling for, but I am determined to stay up to date on 2014. I have a new organization system as far as how I store pictures on my computer until I'm ready to print and a paper template that allows me to sketch out each week. Both of these are  really helping and I am all caught up on journaling through yesterday even though I don't have the pictures from the last 2 weeks yet. Anyway, I decided to give some Project Life challenges a try. Hope you enjoy!

This week, the challenge was to either dry or wet emboss. I chose to get out an embossing folder and my Big Shot and use it on the arrow filler card.

For this week, the challenge was  to use vellum. It's hard to see, but I put a vellum heart sticker on the picture of my oldest working on a heart craft and then I put a vellum arrow sticker on the bottom right picture of him doing a science experiment. I also made a shaker pouch using cardstock, vellum, sequins, and red thread.

 This week I used my heart punch and put them on my filler card. I used pop dots to give some of them dimension.

Name changes and more

I'm home today with a sick kiddo, and I started thinking. I really want to become a better blogger, but sometimes I just don't have any new scrapbooking projects to show. Lately, I have definitely been more of a crafter than a scrapbooker. I think I may change the name of the blog to reflect that. I am bouncing around a couple ideas, but if you have any, leave a comment!

With that out of the way, here is the latest craft I have been working on.

Josh and I got different sized boards at Home Depot, he cut them in half, sanded them, and stained them. I cut out the stencils using my beloved Cameo and because I was exhausted and not feeling well, the hubby aligned them and painted. After it all dried, I rolled rosettes until I thought my hands would fall off and hot glued them to the heart. I LOVE how it turned out...pun intended! But, even better, the bride loved how it turned out. I definitely CANNOT take full credit for this gorgeous piece though. The original tutorial was from Shanty 2 Chic and can be found here.

This was a combined shower/wedding present and since she knew about the sign at the wedding, I wanted to surprise her with a little something extra. So, I got some dish towels at Walmart, ironed on some Heat n Bond Ultra Hold to the back, and once again, turned to my trusty Cameo. Once more with the iron, and viola, monogrammed dish clothes! So easy, and so great looking. I'm definitely thinking Christmas gifts with how quick, easy, and cheap it was!

Sunday Night Chit Chat

I don't quite know where the time has gone...I feel like I just participated in the last Sunday Night Chit Chat, only to realize it was quite a few weeks ago! Anyway, I'm back for this week!

Picture of the hubby and I at a wedding last night.

What are you…

Reading? The Shadow Children series from Margaret Haddix. This series is SO good. Even though I teach seventh grade, I'm looking at using the first one with my remedial English class that I'm teaching this year.
Watching? It's fall, and with fall comes football! It doesn't even matter who is playing, if football is on one of the few channels we get, it is on our TV.
Listening to? Josh doing dishes and the football game.
Cooking/Baking? Nothing. My parents were visiting and my mom did leave me with a yummy apple pie. I'm also looking up soup and pulled pork recipes. I was feeling a little bored when I was doing the menu planning this week, so I pulled up Pinterest to try and find new recipes.
Happy you accomplished this week? Hmm..I got my fall wreath finished, the wedding present for yesterday, and some stuff done for school.
Looking forward to next week? Friday? The weekend? I have a REALLY rough bunch of kids this year, so I always look forward to the weekends...haha! I am looking forward to the Fall Fling on Saturday. We go to a hunting camp with Josh's family and friends and have a good time...tractor rides, food, drinks, laughs. It's a great time!
Thankful for today? My parents. They made the 5 hour trip up to watch Liam on Fri and Sat which saved us babysitting money and let us go to the wedding on Sat. I'm also thankful that they made it safely back to where they live.

***BONUS QUESTION*** You receive an unexpected large sum of money. It's a BIG number. Whats the first thing you do with it? This is unfortunately an easy question...student loans, car loans, and the credit card. If there was anything left, it would either go towards the mortgage or savings so I could leave my job and stay home with the little guy.

Scrap Fit Workout 75- Trendy Twine

I know I have been MIA for a while, but I had to make a card for a wedding I went to yesterday so I decided to play with some twine and participate in this challenge. I punched the sides of my patterned paper with a scallop punch and then wrapped the twine around it. I then tied the two ends of my twine in a knot as a little play on words with the greeting of the card. I finally tried the technique of printing journaling out, temporarily adhering my tag to the paper over the journaling, and then running it through the printer again. It turned out great! Thanks for looking!

Sunday Night Chit Chat

I took a couple weeks off of Sunday Night Chit Chat with Carla, but I'm back!

Ok, first let's start with a picture. This was me and Liam today. He had just woken up from a nap and wanted some cuddle time. Who am I to turn that down?

1. Reading? Nothing at the moment, I just finished a book last night and haven't picked another one to download onto my iPad.
2. Watching? Hubby has the golf tournament on so I am watching Rory accept his trophy for winning.
3. Listening to? Liam clapping at the TV along with the fans at the golf tournament and walking around talking. His language is REALLY taking off the last few weeks and he is a talkative little guy. 
4. Cooking/Baking? I may make banana "ice cream" tonight. It's so simply...just take 2 cut up frozen bananas, put them in the blender until creamy, and you have ice cream. You trick your mouth and stomach into thinking you are eating a guilty treat, but instead, it's just a banana! Don't know if it counts, but I am also freezing blueberries. Both Liam and I LOVE blueberries so I stocked up on fresh blueberries to freeze so we could have them throughout the winter and not have to pay twice as much as we do now.
5. Happy you accomplished this week? I ordered pictures and did week 1 for Project Life/Project 365. I have been taking 1 picture a day every day since January 1, but the Project Life kit I wanted to use to document these pictures was out of stock. I finally ended up choosing a different kit, but still hadn't sat down to do anything with the pictures. I figured since I go back to work next month and I was starting to forget some of the journaling I wanted to include, it was time to get started! I have to admit, I'm in love. I love recording and journaling all of life's little details, and it is SO much faster than scrapbooking!
6. Looking forward to next week? We are having our second garage sale Fri and Sat and I am looking forward to getting rid of it all (either selling or taking to Salvation Army) and FINALLY getting our garage back. (Even if it is just so we can get started on the wood working projects I want to make and sell.)
7. Thankful for today? Family! 
8. *BONUS QUESTION?* When it comes to shopping for clothes for yourself, what item do you have the hardest time saying "no" to? Jewelry and shoes. Both things are always guaranteed to fit! Now that I have lost all of the baby weight I do like looking at shirts too...specifically tank tops to wear under camis. 

Sunday Night ChitChat

Liam's 16 month picture and after his first haircut. 

What are you:

Reading? Driven by Data: A Practical Guide to Improve Instruction. A little dull, but I get paid to read it and I'm hoping it will help improve math scores with the new grading/evaluation system of teachers. 

Watching? Josh has The Cleveland Show on.

Listening To? Luna's nails clacking across the hardwood floor and The Cleveland Show.

Baking/Cooking?  Nothing. I don't cook and I rarely bake!

Happy you accomplished this week? Hmm...I got 4 loads of laundry done, 2 chapters read in my book, grocery shopping done, and most of my felt flowers for my wreath done this weekend.

Looking forward to next week? More summer vacation....don't think we have many plans except maybe going to the campground.

Thankful for today?  My amazing hubby. My allergies were AWFUL yesterday so Josh took Liam to the beach and gave me a few hours of alone time without trying to take care of a 16 month old with my nose constantly dripping.

*Bonus Question*

Grab the book nearest you, turn to page 18, line 4, and type out what it says. This allows the teacher to assess for more critical reading than is often possible with middle school novels. 

Retirement card

I finally got some scrappy time in between the end of the school year and preparing for a garage sale. We had my father-in-laws retirement party this past Saturday so I decided to play with some alcohol inks to create a card. I am taking the Creative Chemistry 101 class from Tim Holtz and am having so much fun learning new techniques and playing around. I have used alcohol inks before, but my blending technique is improving. Thanks for looking!