Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Cats


I haven't been scrapbooking much in the last week, but I want to. I just don't feel as inspired right now for some reason. The other night I tried to create this page twice, but the power went out both times. UGH! Ha! So I thought I would try again today...and I saved it as soon as I remembered what happened when I tried to create it before. Whew! I love to scrapbook the cats. I love their cute little expressions. Because I don't feel as inspired right now, I just decided to use a template page from Jessica Sprague. I just printed it out and plan to make a hybrid page with it.

I have a stack of 12x12 patterned paper in my scrap room, but I don't even remember what it looks like for 2 reasons. 1. I haven't spent hardly any time up there recently, and 2. I have no desire to traditional scrapbook...what?!?? Yes, digital has my heart right now and I have to admit...I am in love with it! Ha!
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Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Get Back in Line

I don't always read what Ro writes on her Scrap Girls newsletter each day, but today I felt drawn to it (really, I just wanted to see what the freebie of the day was). Ha! I really like what she wrote today and I thought I would share it here.

Get Back in Line
Hands folded across my stomach, I stretched out in bed trying to calm my mind down long enough to get sleepy. I felt out-of-sorts with myself as I sometimes do after a session of blog surfing.

Why?

Because sometimes, particularly when I read some fairly interesting blogs, I start to compare myself, my life, and my blog with the fascinating lives of other blog writers. And when I start to compare myself, I begin to think that I live a remarkably unremarkable life. I get up. I get dressed. I work. Sometimes, I cook. Usually I don't. On rare occasions I bake. Usually I don't.

My house isn't as clean as I'd like it to be. My haircut is easy-to-do. I'm using the same makeup I've been using for years. My children graduated from public schools. I could continue making this list of items meant to prove that I can be fairly boring, but I'll save us all and stop it.

Anyway, I lay there thinking these things when I started to hear a phrase in my head. It was unexpected and it took three or four repetitions to get my brain to stop and listen to what it was saying.

"Get back in line," my inner voice commanded. "Get back in line."

I hadn't realized I was out of line.

When I attended elementary school, the teachers lined us up as part of a preparation exercise prior to each episode of taking us from point A to point B. As we walked, the teachers would look for stragglers or wanderers and shout, "Get back in line!" as a method of correction.

But hey... I didn't know I was out of line.

As I considered it, I realized I had become a wanderer, searching for something I am not. My life doesn't allow me to be as domestic as I'd like to be. Most days, I simply have to survive, to do the best that I can. If you want to find out what I am like by method of reading my blog, you'll read meditative posts meant to straighten myself out, see photos of random things I find interesting, find out what crazy thing I'm considering at the moment, and learn about the realness of a family filled with the challenging individuals I adore.

You won't find perfection in my blog. Instead, you'll find a woman who vacillates between being sure and unsure of herself. It's all good though because I am who I am and by approaching my life and my blog as myself, I am being authentic. I am a geeky, sometimes sloppy, sometimes philosopher, other times spiritual, and eater of most things unhealthy. I am the stopper and starter and stopper again of good intentions that get sidetracked by life, business responsibilities, and illness.

I don't live on a farm, in a cute apartment filled with vintage furniture, or in a tree house. I live in a house positioned in a typical Utah neighborhood at the end of a cul-de-sac. My furniture, purchased in super-sales, is post-current fashion, but pre-interesting style. My children have moved past the "cute" stage of childhood as they move toward independence. As they grow older, I have fewer funny stories to tell about their current adventures. I console myself with the thought that someday I'll have cute grandchildren to blog about.

But for now, my life is as it is and my blog proves it. I guess that's okay.

Sigh... I'm back in line, life. Yes, indeed... I'm back in line.

It feels good here.


So many times I find myself (Christina) comparing myself to others. Just last week I realized I had these wrong thoughts going through my head. I kept on thinking "because I'm not as pretty as her, then I'm not pretty." "Because I'm not as ____ as her then I'm not _____ enough." And God was like, "Why are you comparing yourself against others?"

That was a wake up call for me. I was created to be the way I am, to have this face, this body, this mind, these hobbies, my personality, etc., so why should I compare it to someone else who wasn't created to be me?

I even find myself comparing myself to my old self...that doesn't work either. I'm not who I was 10 years ago, 5 years ago, or even 1 year ago. After I cast those wrong thoughts down and realized that I can like myself right where I'm at, I got really excited! I can like my quirky humor. I can like my introvertedness (is that a word?). I can like being a homebody. I can like it that I prefer a small group of people over a large group. I can like it that after being social for so long, I need time to myself. I can like it that I sing to my cats. (I really do) I can like ME!! So I'm with Ro, I'm back in line and I'll probably need that reminder to "Get back in line!" from time to time.

Friday, December 26, 2008

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Kitties

I am excited about this time of year, but there's something so nice about having time to relax. It's like a sigh of relief for me today to not have much to do...so what better way to spend my time in doing something I absolutely enjoy!? So I scrapbooked. Our cats, Tigger and Shadow were the focus of these pages.


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Saturday, December 20, 2008

Birthday Card



This is a birthday card my Aunt Kathy sent me. I received it yesterday. Inside she wrote that this one of the last cards that my Aunt Judy made before she passed away. I had tears when I read that part. I feel so honored to have one of the last cards she made. Tonight I was thinking about it and I rememebered that she passed away a year ago today. I truly miss her and sometimes it's so hard for me to believe she is gone. It hurts to know that. Aunt Judy loved to stamp and being the giving lady that she was, she was always so good at remembering her friends and family with the gift of her cards. When she was battling with cancer she received hundreds of cards. I wanted to share the beautiful card she made...
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Collage



When I look at my photo program (Picasa) to look at the pages I've created or to blog, I just have to stop and stare at all of the pretty colors staring right back at me from the screen. I thought I would put this collage together to show what I see when I look at Picasa. I've been having so much fun lately with digital scrapbooking...I just don't want to stop. Ha!
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Saturday Pages


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Friday, December 19, 2008

Friday Pages


I made the background paper with some free tags from C.D. Muckosky through Little Dreamer Designs. I really like her bright graphics, so I thought it would be fun to make a collage of them. I did some overlays with paper and called it good. The pictures on this page make me smile. Poor kitty!


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Tuesday, December 16, 2008

July 4th



I guess this is what you call "July in Christmas".
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Celebrate



Another digital page. Click on it and you can see the texture on this page. It's so fun!
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Sunday, December 14, 2008

Funny Farm



Lately I have been enjoying creating digital scrapbook pages with texture and with a big emphasis on the photos. The challenge with this page was trying to find something that would fit the theme of this page where you see the barn and the cow. The barn and the cow are parts of pictures we took this summer. I really like how it all turned out.
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Clam Diggin' & A Yawn

Both of these are digital pages.




Before I started posting these I thought, "I'm caught up to July on my scrapbooking." But then I realized that I am not. Ha! I still have pictures from June to scrapbook...and that's ok!

It was nice to take a break and be lazy and doing whatever I want over the weekend. I feel like I've been busy with getting the Christmas cards in the mail and other projects.
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Saturday, December 13, 2008

Maze


Here's my Saturday digital scrapbook page. Now I'm going to warm my freezing fingers!
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Friday, December 12, 2008

Card Holder

I really wanted to find a card holder, so when I saw this one in a Southern Living home magazine/catalog, I decided it was the one!


There's 2 parts to this. After Christmas I'll only use one part and use it mainly for pictures. (Notice the rays of sunshine??)


There's also a part that comes with this that allows you to hang it over a door.
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Wednesday, December 10, 2008

River Pages

These 3 are digital pages.



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Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Color Inspiration #34




This card is so simple...almost seems too simple to me!

I think it's kinda funny that the picture is of yarn because right now I'm in the process of looking for yarn to make a sweater.
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Monday, December 8, 2008

Flower Card


I couldn't leave these crackled flowers alone (see post below), so I put them on a card. I'm going to have to make more of these flowers because they are just too fun and pretty to not make more. Haha!

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