Project 365 Update

Whoops! Haven't posted these in a few days. Brace yourselves, folks! It's a long one!

January 21st~Today I found out that I made the A Walk Down Memory Lane Design Team. I was so excited, I called Andrew, Mom and Granny and squealed their ears off!

January 22nd~We took Granny to Costco with us today. Mickey was adamant that he ride in her cart. They had a great time hitting all the freebie snacks!

January 23rd~Mickey is really into doing things himself lately. I've found that the more he gets to do on his own, the more likely we are to have a smooth day. He also likes helping me around the house.
January 24th~Another example of doing it himself. He's not quite as good at spreading peanut butter as he is at putting toothpaste on his toothbrush. Since he'd spread PB on both sides, I decided that it was high time he have his first PB&H. Peanut butter and honey! He loved it! January 25th~Our first outdoor walk of the year! We only made it down to the animals and back because Mickey got thirsty. Next time we'll bring water and he'll be able to go the whole length of our road!
January 26th~Mickey and Audrey love playing together. Especially in Mickey's room. They actually play really well together. Mickey likes to close the door so she's "safe". It's very sweet.
January 27th~Dad came over for a haircut and to visit. He took Mickey went outside to feed the goat and then they walked down to the creek. When Mickey got back he was so excited! They'd seen raccoon tracks!

January 28th~Granny came over for crochet day and Audrey was playing peek-a-boo with her at the end of the couch. Aud's not actually tall enough to see over the arm but she was standing on the walker so she could see. It was so cute!

January 29th~Dad got me a gift card to Barnes & Noble for Christmas and the books I ordered arrived today. The Pioneer Woman Cooks is one of those cookbooks that you can actually sit down and read. Learning more about PSE7 is my goal for February and I've heard this book by Scott Kelby is awesome!

January 30th~These two cute boys spent last night in Devo's kennel. Some kind folks found them on the highway and, living in town, didn't have a place to keep them overnight. We volunteered and took them to the vet in the morning. Their owner was very glad to get them back.

Quick Funny

Me: "I'm watching Project Runway at nine."

Him: "You'd better rephrase that in the form of a question."

Me: "Did you know I'm watching Project Runway at nine?"

Us: Laughing

That's how we roll. :)

And to your right as you walk in...

Hee! I couldn't think of a title for my scrap room posts so I'm just going to start in on them and take you around the room. :)


This shelving units is one of the original ones that were in the closet when we bought the house. I moved it next to the door and it's my gift wrap area and misc crafts/kid crafts area.


On top of the shelf and the highest shelf are the craft supplies for kids. I didn't want them to be able to get them down on their own so up they went.


The next shelf has some of my random crafts. Clay beading, painting, regular beading, felt stuff, and my Spirograph. (Yeah, I'm old school!) Oh, and my hot glue gun!


The bottom five shelves are all gift wrapping supplies. Bags, boxes, scissors, tape, bag filler, curly ribbon...all the good stuff! There's a tiny little one inch high shelf that has my huge pack of white tissue paper from Costco. I love that shelf! It's the perfect place for one of the things I use a lot when wrapping yet never have had a great place for. Sigh. :) A few of the containers in this section need replacing/repainting/decorating to match the room scheme but they work for now!

Oh! I almost forgot! The basket with the green lining is my gift basket. It holds all the gifts I have for people so I don't forget where they are when the time comes. It's a life saver!

To the left of the unit is a box with my rolls of wrapping paper. It's the perfect size because it's one of the boxes that Hallmark uses to ship their paper to their stores. I got it when I worked there. If you don't have anything you like for your wrapping paper, just drop into your local Hallmark, they will most likely be glad to save one of those boxes for you! :)

The shopping bag next to the gift wrap has a lot of large empty bags. I know, it sounds silly, but they are big enough for 12x12 paper and so I use them for layouts in progress, kit bags, and stuff like that. It's not a permanent solution for storing them but it works for now.

Uhg, and now for one of my not so favorite areas of my scrap room. This little corner needs some help! LOL!

The big containers have alterable items and schtuff in them. Behind them is my flat stuff. My white foam board for taking pics of layouts, my extra desk calendars for protecting my work surface and my large framed cork board that I can use as a work surface if I take my scrap project into another room.

Well, that's this section of my scrap room! Next up, the wall that borders Mickey's closet! :D

Exciting News!!!

I just found out that I am on the design team for A Walk Down Memory Lane!!! I am so excited to be a part of their team. :D My term starts in February and I can't wait to get started! It's going to be awesome!

Scrap Room Sneak!

Good Gravy!!! Did I really post three times yesterday? LOL!

Well, I got my scrap room pics done and I just realized that it will be one heck of a long post if I post it all at once, especially with all my ramblings that are sure to accompany it.

So, here's a quick sweep of my scrap room. If you have any questions, fire away! I'm planning a few posts that detail what's what, where it all goes and what my future plans for my room are.

Those doors lead into our master bedroom as this room used to be the master closet. It's 155 feet, can you imagine? LOL!

Thanks for looking! :D

Project 365 Update

January 17th~Mickey, Audrey and I all went to Jo-Ann Fabrics to buy fabric to make napkins. Andrew was at his folks helping them with their septic issue.

January 18th~At the store I picked up some of my favorite holiday candies, the conversation hearts from Necco. Well, they changed them and they are awful! I can only hope that they change them back next year!

January 19th~We've had a few dry, warm days lately so Mickey was able to go outside today. Audrey watched him the whole time he was out there. I think she's going to love it as much as he does.

January 20th~This is going to be a common sight around here for the next few months. We're having issues with our well and so I've stocked our garage fridge with drinking water.

A New Layout!

I scrapped this layout for a challenge I saw on the My Mind's Eye blog. I had originally bought this paper to do a layout about Little Man but it wound up being perfect for Andrew! :)


The journaling reads~ Andrew, You make me laugh on a daily basis and I love that about you. No matter how crazy you drive me, I'll always go along for the ride. Love, E-

Everything on the layout is My Mind's Eye except for the cardstock which is Bazzill and the Rock Candy Stickles on the exhaust puffs. (Side note~I think I'm gonna love those Stickles!) The letters were cut using Studio and Metro fonts from Quickutz. The papers, journaling spot and chipboard are from the Abbey Road line and the buttons are from those cute little jars that the Tres Jolie line had. Remember those? I have way more of those than I care to admit! :D

This was the original sketch. I combined two of the photos into one because I didn't want to crop the photo of Andrew hula-hooping. :D I also schooched (technical term) over the title and flipped the location of the three circle elements.

Thanks for looking!

Weigh In Wednesday and Contest Update!

I'm holding steady at 164. :)

Anyone else trying to lose weight at this time of year?

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Contest Update!

I posted the picture of the prize for the random drawing. Check it out here.

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Random Updates!

~Audrey took two steps a couple nights ago and Andrew saw it! We tried to get her to walk to him but she crawled instead. :)

~I'm working on some new blogs and hope to have them live by the first of February!

~Mickey has started playing "school" with me every day. We found a Kindergarden work book at Goodwill and he's having a lot of fun with it. I may have to find the Preschool one!

~Our well has some bacteria issues so we're buying water until late spring when we can get a truck back there so Andrew can fix it.

~I'm still editing the scrap room pics and my goal is to get that post up this week!

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What's new with you? :)

Project 365 Update

Brace yourselves, folks. It's a long one!

January 12th~Audrey's nine-month check-up was today. She and Mickey both ended up getting their H1N1 boosters and they both were very brave and hardly cried. Audrey is in the 50th percentile for height, weight and head size. Perfectly proportioned!

January 13th~Today Mickey and I went on a Mommy/Mickey date. He's been having a bit of a hard time lately and I think it's the lack of one-on-one time. We went to Costco and had snacks and pizza for dinner and Michael's where we both got toys.

January 14th~Granny came over today for our first weekly crochet date. We would have started sooner but the kids and I all had colds. I set Mickey up with his own needle and yarn and he had a great time "crocheting".

January 15th~Andrew had to work at the Home Show in Salem on Friday and Saturday so we went to see him on Friday night. Mickey and I walked around and saw all sorts of cool stuff. Then we took Daddy to dinner at Burger King.

January 16th~We met Andrew's family for dinner at Olive Garden in Salem to celebrate Grandpa Norman's 75th birthday. The restaraunt was packed and the wait was almost two hours. We all mingled in the waiting area and had a great evening.

Challenge: Photo Free Layouts

I recently did a layout with no photos on it and I loved it!

Here's the layout I did.

It's really got me thinking, how else can we do layouts with no photos? Since I love being inspired by you all, I figured a challenge is a great way to see your ideas.

So, here's the challenge. There are two ways to compete.

First way, post a layout you've done in the past that you love that has no photos on it.

Second way, create a new layout (honor system here!) that has no photos.

You can enter either or both ways. I figured this would be good for people who have a photo free layout that they just adore and for people who have never done one before. :D

Link back here by midnight, January 31st PST. There will be two prizes. One winner will be chosen at random and for the second, I'll pick some of my favorite layouts to post and then you will vote.

What's that? You want to know what you will win? OK, here goes. The randomly chosen winner will receive the little goody pack pictured below.

In honor of the company who made my layout possible, the voted on winner will receive Cosmo Cricket's Earth Love/The Boyfriend Double Deck paper pad!!!

note 1~This challenge is not sponsored by CC, just inspired by my love of them
note 2~International players are welcome, however you will be responsible for the difference in shipping costs. (Sorry but we do have a septic tank that will probably need replacing! LOL!)

Sound good? Then, get crackin'! :D

Weigh-In Wednesday is Back! (And More!)

I finally got up the courage to get back on the scale this morning.



And, the result is....



164!!!!



Whoo-hoo!!! One more pound gone, baby! I was really worried because getting sick normally means a bit of a weight gain for me. I know, I'm weird. But, I'm all healthy again and I lost a pound.

And, as I was 154 when I found out I was pregnant with Audrey (and stopped my last round of weight loss) this means I've only got 10lbs of baby weight to go! Yay!

Now for the more part!

I'm going to host a challenge here on my blog. I'll post all the details tomorrow, so check back in soon! :D

P365 Update

January 9th~Kathy, John, Norman, Karly, Dad and Claire all came over to help out. I was deemed unfit for manual labor by Andrew and was sent for pizza. I'm so glad we have such a wonderful family.

January 10th~We borrowed a tractor from our neighbor Jerry so we could clean up the mud that was created yesterday. Mickey got to ride with Daddy and loved it. Andrew has a small case of tractor envy!

January 11th~It was just one of those days. Mickey we the bed, Audrey had a blow out, Devo pooped in the house and then Mickey forgot to "aim". He even managed to soak the shower curtain. Oh well, the bathroom was due for a good scrub!

Project 365 and a Blog Hop!

A few days of Project 365...January 5th~At nine months, Audrey is starting to eat the same foods as us. She really loves the independence of being able to feed herself.

January 6th~Mickey and I cleaned his room and took photos of some of his toys to make labels for his bins. He used his camera to take pictures, too!

January 7th~Mickey was helping me dust in the master bedroom when the sun came out. We stopped and had an impromptu photo shoot.

January 8th~Andrew took today off work to get a head start on our septic system. We had a truck deliver rocks and another deliver a digger. Mickey loved all the trucks. I'm just hoping it works.

And, now for the blog hop! My Scrapbook Nook is having a blog hop! They have a kit club, scrap store and fantastic message board. They also have an amazing design team, one that I do aspire to be on ... someday! :) Well, they are having a blog hop to start off the new year and it all starts at their DT coordinators blog, Leah Killian. Anyway, it's a week long hop, so hop on over and you won't be sorry!

(They are giving away some of their awesome kits!) :)

Project 365 and Project 12!!!

First off, two more days of P365.

January 3rd~Andrew took down the Christmas lights and Mickey got some more outside time on his "dump". I finally got all our Christmas boxes put back in the shop.

January 4th~Today we had the septic tank pumped. We didn't get the news we wanted as we may have to spend thousands to replace it. Mickey did love watching the big truck, though!

Now, onto Project 12! Davinie Fiero along with Scrapbook and Cards Today magazine are challenging people to create a layout each month documenting that month. They have also provided a sketch by the fabulous Becky Fleck to use if you'd like. Here is the post on Dav's blog detailing the info on the first month's challenge. And, here is SCT's post on Project 12.

This is my title page!

I think that this challenge along with P365 will really go hand in hand for me. I'll get a lot of the day to day stuff recorded and then once a month I'll be able to sit down and scrap the fun highlights of that month.

Project 365~The First Two Days

Here are my first two days of Project 365.

January 1st~We started off the year with a cough. Mickey, Audrey and I all had colds. Andrew, as usual, escaped the bug. The boys rang in the New Year at the Reynoud's, while we girls stayed home and recuperated.

January 2nd~Our septic system started backing up on New Year's Eve so Andrew, Dad, Mickey and one of Dad's friends dug up the access hole for the setpic tank. Hopefully, it will get pumped out on Monday.

Project 365~The Set-Up

So, I've done it. I've committed to doing Project 365. One photo every day for a year. I knew that if I was going to attempt this, I'd need to have everything planned out and set up so that it was very easy for me to accomplish. I'd also need some sort of daily reminder so I wouldn't forget and an incentive to actually do it. :)

First off, I decorated an American Crafts 12x12 album. This is the first one of these I've actually altered and it was huge for me. If I don't do P365, I'll have wasted this album. That's a big incentive for me, right there.

I used Glimmer Mists, Heidi Swapp masks, American Crafts Thickers, Making Memories stickers, a Prima leaf, a sheet from a mini album, a black Zig pen and my trusty white Signo Uniball pen.

I also set up a P365 kit. It has pens, my "journaling cards", some extra 4x6 sheets of patterned paper for the current month, a set of stamps and an ink pad. It's all right there, sitting on my craft table ready to go.
I labeled the container "capture 365" as Capture is my word for this year. I really want to capture 2010 as it's our first full year as a family of four and our first full year in this new home.

Finally, here's the interior. I used American Craft's divided page protectors. Each sheet holds six horizontal 4x6 photos on each side. Now, some people are having a hard time with this year starting on a Friday because it messes up their weekly two page spreads. So, they started their year last Monday or last Sunday. For my set up, this "half week" actually works out perfectly.

The top left opening with the patterned paper is going to be my title card for the week. The next three openings that have photos are for, well, photos. :) I just plopped three pics in there to show you. The bottom two openings are for journaling. I have a piece of patterned paper in each slot and I'm writing my journaling on 3x5 index cards with a line drawn down the middle. In a full week, I'll have one extra space for more journaling or some sort of fun embellishing. I have an extra space for this half week as well.

I'm not sure if I'll keep the index cards as my final product but they work fantastically for now. They are already cut and lined and all I need to do is grab one and start scribbling, er, journaling. Well, I had to draw the line down the middle but that was a cinch.

I'm writing the date on each photo in Photoshop using Monotype Corsiva font at size 250 on a new layer set to Overlay so that it looks like a watermark. (Check out my next post for that.) I'm saving each photo in a file on my desktop labeled P365 2010 and I'll order photos every week or so. I'll also try to post each day's picture and journaling here on my blog every day or so.

So, from here on out, the only big thing I have to do each month is just choose my color scheme/patterned papers for the month and cut them into 4x6 sheets and I'm good to go.

If I really get crunched for time all I have to do, bare minimum, is take the picture and scribble some journaling on my index card. Or, heck, I could even use a napkin if I don't have a card handy. LOL!

Are you doing a Project 365?