Thursday, December 13, 2012

Sweet Girl

Hello!  I don't have much to report, just wanted to share this page:
 

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Monthly Journal

Remember how I said I wanted to do monthly journal pages once Jeralyn turned a year old?  Well, I had these great intentions of doing so, but then time got away from me.  I absolutely loved doing the weekly journal because she changed SO much the first year, and literally each week she did new things and learned new skills--and I have it all captured in photos/words.  I'm SO thankful I kept up with it!  Well, a few months after she turned 1 year, I realized I hadn't done much as far as continuing with her journal, so I made myself sit down and type out what I could remember her doing since she turned a year old.  I'm SO glad I did!  And because we take a gazillion photos, it's easy to look back and see what she was doing.
 
I'm not sure how long I will do a monthly journal/scrapbook page...but my goal will be at least until her second birthday.  And then I will re-evaluate.  And I'm trying to make these pages as simple as possible.  I will use only ONE photo, which means I will pick my favorite photo of her from the month (this could be difficult) and use that as center stage for the page.  This is the first month:
 
 
 
I have a draft in my email account that I use to type my journal notes.  It started out as a list.  Last night I sat down and expounded upon the list, creating sentences and eventually one paragraph.  This is similar to what I did for her weekly journal.  It's a lot of reading, but hopefully one day she will appreciate it. 
 
Actually, the other day I let her look through her journal.  She was just having fun turning the pages, but she did notice things, like "kitty".  It's so cute to see her enjoying her baby album!
 
I also still plan to do a digital version of Project Life.  And then after that and monthly pages, I may not do too many separate scrapbook pages along with that.  I'm not sure.  I want to simplify, simplify, simplify because I don't have a LOT of time...but I need some time to be creative.  I was telling Quent that I don't feel like myself if I don't scrapbook.  Ha!  It's a very important outlet.  *wink*

Monday, December 10, 2012

Family Photo

Happy Monday to you!
 
A few days ago I started this page (another 8-1/2x11) and I just couldn't get it to work for me.  I had to walk away and I'm glad I did.  Sweet shoppe Design is having a Bargain Bites 50% sale through this month.  I'm not sure how often it changes, but the designers pick what they want in the sale and it changes throughout December.  I really liked Zoe Pearns' kit called Tis the Season.  Sometimes a page just needs something new to work with--and then it all comes together!  And of course I had to change some of the colors on the paper/elements using the hue/saturation tool because I wanted more pink.  I love how this turned out!
 
This was a picture my mom helped take back in March.
 

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Ski Baby

Hello!  It's hard to believe it's almost 2 weeks until Christmas!  And 2 weeks from my birthday!  Whoa!  And I'm still in denial that it's actually December.  Anywho...here's a page I finished up yesterday morning.  It holds one of my favorite pictures we have of Jeralyn.  I just want to kiss her sweet little lips!  And her pointed finger!  She's so CUTE!
 

Saturday, December 8, 2012

Gray with snowflakes

Does that describe your December?  It does as of yesterday, except it wasn't gray, it was partly cloudy.  It's nice to have a little snow, and it's beautiful on the mountains!
 
I've really been into gray as of late.  I realize I like to scrapbook on a neutral background.  This last week my "go to" has been gray.  And the wonderful thing about digital scrapbooking is that you can change any colored paper to gray because of the hue/saturation.
 
For these pages I used Katie Pertiet's Bunny Slope.
 

 

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Sun Shine

It's been awhile since I've made an 8-1/2x11 page.  I'm working on another one, but I got stuck.  I've actually been scrapbooking a little bit here and there the last few days; it's been nice!
 
 
I have an update on the play kitchen we were going to build for Jeralyn.  Turns out it was going to be quite spendy.  We went to the hardware store to pick up a few items for the project.  After about 20 minutes we tallied up how much the items were in the basket I was carrying and we looked at one another like, "uhhh..."  It was then that we decided to just buy her a kitchen.  It was going to be cheaper AND already made, just have to put it together.  And free shipping!  Who can turn that down (especially when you live in Alaska!)?  So we put everything back and went home.  It was disappointing, but we felt good about our decision.
 
Guess what?  I'm almost done with one of the knitting projects I have been working on!!  Yeah!!  All I have to do is bind off and figure out what the directions are trying to say about stretching it out.
 
I have also decided that I am going to do Project Life.  And it will be digital.  I will post more details about that soon.
 
I have more pages to share...soon!





Monday, December 3, 2012

Tears

Hello!  Happy Monday (but it feels like Tuesday).  I can't believe we are in the last month of this year!  Crazy!
 
Here's a page I created last week:
 
 
 
Have you done Project Life?  I'm considering doing it for next year, but I'm wondering if it's something I will actually be able to keep up with and/or if it's even worth it.  How do you know what supplies you want to use?  Or do you just get the kit and then stick to that?  Right now it seems overwhelming and complicated to me.  I have considered doing it digitally, but I was also thinking the traditional way might be fun, too.


Thursday, November 29, 2012

Play Kitchen Sketch

So this isn't a stamping, scrapbooking, or knitting project, but it is a project...a building project.  Quent and I are going to make Jeralyn a play kitchen.  We don't want to go too crazy with Christmas gifts for our little girl, but it's almost hard not to.  Oops!  Originally, we were going to get her a couple of books (she LOVES books), a couple of stocking stuffers, a scooter car thing, and maybe some Duplos.  Well, I scratched the Duplos idea when we were recently visiting at my inlaws.  My 22 month old nephew has a play kitchen and Jeralyn just loved it!  She played with it and it's accessories a lot!  He has Duplos too, but she just tossed them around.  Haha!  Maybe for her birthday...  So I started looking for some kitchens on Amazon.  They tend to be rather spendy, so I had to keep on searching.  My dear friend Carrie suggested that maybe we could build our own.  I think I honestly laughed out loud when she told me that.  Maybe if I was sipping water I would have spit it out--it was one of those reactions.  Me?  Build a play kitchen?  My husband is waaaay to busy for that.  The excuses flowed.  She encouraged me to look on Pinterest for ideas.  Haha...maybe.  But I did!  And soon I was in this whirlwind of DIY (do it yourself) play kitchens.  Now I'm obsessed!  I'm glad I took Carrie's advice because now we are on our way to building this thing.  After looking at ideas on Pinterest I sketched this out:
 
It's not to scale, but it's close.

We will be transforming this entertainment stand into the kitchen.  Tonight we will start cutting and maybe start painting real soon.  I will take a lot of pics and show the progression.  Stay tuned!
 
P.S. That basket is where I keep my current knitting projects and knitting tools.  And it's stored most of our DVDs, which I moved to some shelves yesterday.  It all lives downstairs in our "family room".

Knitting here and there

I currently have 3 knitting projects going.  Here are some glimpses:
 

A beaded shawl.  Probably one of the most challenging projects I've done.  I was intimidated at first because I never did beading with knitting, but it's been surprisingly easy.  There are 300+ stitches each row and it's lace thread, so this is taking awhile (aka forever).  The picture doesn't really do justice to the beauty.

I knit this Christmas stocking for Jeralyn.  I'm NOT a sock knitter, but this was a fun project (and there was only ONE--I don't like knitting socks because you finish one and then have to do another--unless...oh never mind).  I simplified the project by just doing two colors, where the original pattern calls for 3 colors.  I should have taken a picture next to a penny to show scale.  You can find the FREE pattern here.  It took me about 2 days to knit this, but it would have been less time if I didn't have to pull out the toe part two times.  The 3rd time is a charm, right?  I really like this simple pattern.  I will probably use it for future children (future--when that time comes).  *smile*  Oh, and I just bought some purple sequins that I will sew onto the purple.  I will take more/better pictures (showing scale) once it's truly completed.
 
How about you?  Any projects you are trying to finish up this year?

Monday, November 19, 2012

Sweetie

Hello!  I just wanted to stop by to post this page.  Happy Thanksgiving [to those in the states]!
 

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Sittin' Pretty

Hello!  I hope you all had a good week and are ready for the week ahead!  I'm ready to celebrate Thanksgiving Day and eat some turkey!  Yum!  I have so many things to be thankful for...so many people to be thankful for... 
 
I didn't create much in the scrapbooking realm this week, but my fingers have been busy with knitting.  I'm not used to having knitting "deadlines", but with Christmas right around the corner, the pressure is on!  I enjoy it though!  This is the time of year where the weather and less light create a perfect situation to sit, knit, and drink some warm tea or coffee with creamer.  I'm loving it!  Oh, and I can't forget to watch a movie either!  I need something for my eyes and ears to focus on while knitting.  I guess I like to involve all of my senses.  And lately I have been watching the Little House on the Prairie seasons (for probably the 20th time).  But today I think I must take a break from knitting just to give my wrists some relief.  I tend to get a knitting "injury" in my left wrist if I knit too much.  So sad!  Ha!
 
So maybe some scrapping will take place instead!
 
I created this page about a week ago:
 

Thursday, November 8, 2012

My lil sunshine

This layout was inspired by a layout Kaleigh Wiles did from Designer Digitals.  She is such an inspiration to me when it comes to scrapbooking.  I just really enjoy her stuff!  And now her Studio-D templates are available and they are really a lot of fun.  I didn't use her template for this page though.  And speaking of Designer Digitals, they are having a 30% off sale for a week for their quarterly sale.  I took advantage of it today.  I had a bunch of stuff in my cart and was in disbelief when I saw the total.  Yikes!  I thought, "There must be something wrong with their site calculator!"  Ha!  So I had to take some stuff out and figure out what I really wanted.  Cough.
 
 
 
And can I say once again how extremely difficult it is to not scrapbook every picture of my little cutie pie?!  I had to skip over some pictures because they don't really exemplify anything except that she's just so stinkin' cute!  There are thousands of pictures that I have to pick from, so I am trying to make the wisest choices.  Ha!

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Love this girl

I bet if I would have scrapped this page back in February/March of this year I would have been very emotional because it was a very emotional time right after my lovely appendectomy (surgery to remove my ruptured appendix).  It wasn't fun at all.  But the hardest part about it was being away from Jeralyn.  She did great, but I did NOT like being away from her when I stayed in the hospital.  It was a short time of 5-6 days, but at the time it felt like forever.  My body went through so much at the time and because of the medications, antibiotics, and just not feeling well, my body stopped producing for my nursing baby.  And then all of that combined with hormones because of all of that stopping--well, I was just a mess!  And then I couldn't lift her for 6 weeks!  When the doctor told me that I just started crying. 
 

 
But you know what?  It could have been so much worse!  When I was about 21 weeks pregnant I woke up in the middle of the night with extreme pain on my right side.  Quent was gone and the pain was so bad that I had to hunch over when I walked.  After maybe 2 days (have I ever mentioned that I'm quite stubborn?), I sent a prayer request out to family/friends and within a very short time the pain subsided.  At the time I (and my doctor) attributed it to round ligament pain, but honestly, I think it was my appendix.  I think it was doing something.  I am so thankful that God stopped all of that and held it together for me.  I don't even want to know what that would have been like to have a ruptured appendix during pregnancy.  So I count my blessings!

Monday, November 5, 2012

Grandpa

Hello!  Happy Monday!  I worked on this page this morning...
 
 
I'm feeling terribly behind *chuckle* on scrapbooking.  I look at all of the photos and think, "HOW am I going to pick my favorites?"  How?  I don't know, but I will figure something out.  I'm sort of going in chronological order, but also going with the flow.  Does that make sense?  I'm not in a rush by any means.  I want to capture those memories through photos that mean the most.  But even that's hard. Hmmm...
 
I feel like this blog has turned into "this is what I scrapped" and "this is where I'm at with scrapping photos" and blah, blah, blah.  I want it to be more.  So I'm trying to define what "more" means.
 
So in the mean time I will leave you with something I wrote out on paper and have it in my bathroom to remind me:
 
Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know your labor in the Lord is not in vain.  1 Cor. 15:58

Friday, November 2, 2012

Weeks 50, 51, & 52

Guess what???  I'm done scrapping her baby journal pages!!  Woot!  Woot!  And these last few pages had a turquoise them--oops!  I guess I just like the color.  *shrugs*
 
So I have officially decided to do a monthly journal for her second year.  There's just so many things that I want to write down and capture with journaling.  I debated about doing it because I hadn't been writing things down after her birthday.  But I started writing down things from memory the other day and I think I have a good foundation to work off of now.  Instead of doing a collage of pictures I will just pick one picture per page and then journal about what happened in her month.  I'm excited to get started!  But I'm also excited that I have completed the first year for her baby journal/album!   Yeah!
 



Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Weeks 47 & 48

Only 4 more page left for the weekly journal.  Well, it's 5 including her birthday.  Ok, so 4 pages.  I'm thinking 'outloud' here.  I scrapped these pages today while listening to Chrismas music.  Christmas music?  Yup, that's right!  And it made me quite giddy, too!  Which I needed today.  Nothing more to report...
 


Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Weeks 43 & 44

Hello!  Persnickety Prints sale over the weekend motivated me to get a little more caught up with scrapbooking Jeralyn's weekly journal.  I'm so close to being done.  I could have scrapbooked more, but I think my brain needed a break.  But I was able to send a good chunk of pages to be printed, so I am happy about that!  Here are a couple of pages I created:
 

 
Have a super awesome morning, afternoon, evening or whatever time of the day it is for you!

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Insecurity and people-pleasing

I think it's time for a 'soap box' post...or a muse if you want to call it that. 

Recently I have been learning some things about myself.  And some of the things I have learned have been surprising to me.  Like for instance, I have felt uncomfortable in situations recently that I thought I was over, and I have felt insecure (in an odd way) because of not being able to please a person's expectations.  I thought I was confident in my introvertedness, and I thought I was over being a people pleaser.  Apparently not.  So...it's time to grow, learn, and change.  I know I'm not the only one who has dealt with insecurity and a lack of confidence, so I thought I would share.  Sometimes in the sharing I learn as well.

Years ago, God showed me all of the things I was putting my security in--things like people, jobs, looks, etc.  He began to shake all of those areas of my life so much that I realized that none of those wonderful things were substantial foundations to put my confidence.  I realized that the only sure footing was in God--in His foundation.  And from there I went on a journey of getting to know who I was in Christ.  In the end I found that I actually liked myself.  I learned what I genuinely liked.  I am secure because of Christ. 

So why all of a sudden this change?  Why do I see my confidence sinking a bit?  Maybe I lost my footing a bit.  Or maybe I need a tune-up.  Or maybe these are new areas.  Or maybe they have always been there and now God is shining His light upon them so we can take care of it. 

I know who I am; I know what I like.  I need not to compare myself with others.  For example: I don't like hand-motion songs (ie patty-cake).  It's not my thing.  (Did I just hear someone gasp?)  So when I go to story-time and everyone is doing, "Where is thumb-kin..." I want to pull the lever and sink into the floor.  It's not me.  I can sing and dance with Jeralyn all day, but please don't make me do hand-motion songs.  But when I'm sitting in that library and most of the other moms are singing and motioning along, I feel uncomfortable.  I feel so out of place.  Like I don't belong.  But WHY do I care?  Why do I care that I'm not following everyone else?  I'm not the only one not doing it, but even if I was, why should I be uncomfortable?  I want to not care.  I want to be ok with being me; and being me in those situations is smiling and watching everyone else enjoying themselves.  I need to come to terms with this.  YOU may like the silly songs.  THEY may like the silly songs.  I like the songs, I just don't like the hand-motions.  So just because YOU and THEY like it doesn't mean I have to.  See what I'm saying? 

I like the color orange. YOU like the color blue.  THEY like the color yellow.  We are all different.  I have to be me and you have to be you.  They have to be they.  I am not they or you... I am ME!

And about the people pleasing.  I know there are people in my life that want me to be a certain someone to them.  Expectations.  But I cannot fulfill those expectations.  And because I cannot fulfill those expectations I feel like I'm letting them down.  And then the people pleaser wells up inside of me.  And then I worry.  And then I feel like there's this battle.  I thought I was over this.  I am not responsible for someone else's happiness.  We all have to choose to be happy all on our own.  It's a choice; no one can make you.  So I have to disect this ugly people-pleasing mindset and just say NO!  I'm learning.  I want to be FREE to be me.  When we allow others to be who they are and release them from any expectations, there is freedom...then there is this beautiful, flowing spring of unconditional love. 

If we could all just be who we are and release ourselves from the ugly expectations of others, this world would be a better place!  It's poison to ourselves and to others when we allow ourselves to choose to be insecure and worry about people pleasing.  Let me be me and you can be you.

Let's be ourselves. Let's stop being uncomfortable and just face the facts. 

Okay?  Okay!

*stepping off soap box*

I'll post more pages soon!

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Week 42

Wow!  I'm posting 2 days in a row!  I remember the days when I would post every.single.day.  That was "before Jeralyn".  Anyway, I wanted to share about a page I worked on this morning while Quent took Jeralyn on a hike (what a great husband/daddy!).  I'm waaaaay behind on her baby journal, but I have things organized pretty well so that I can just come back on the computer and know where I left off without feeling terribly overwhelmed.  Yesterday, my creative juices started churning again.  So that along with some motivation to get involved in a sale that Persnickety Prints is having, I thought it would be good to complete some of these journal pages.  So this morning I played!  But I felt myself getting stuck in the creative rut again.  This is my first draft:
 
I don't like it.  I don't care for it.  But I was ready to settle so I could continue on.  I took a break and when I came back I just knew I had to change something.  The pictures were too big on the page, so I shrunk them and then I felt like the creative juices could flow again.  It's amazing what one little change can do!
 
 
And this is my final draft!  I love it!  I love the blend of colors and all of the fun details.  I'm SO glad I took a break and changed things because now I'm truly satisfied!  Yeah!
 
 
Recently I found myself stuck on whether or not to continue some type of journaling for Jeralyn.  I thought about doing a monthly journal after she turned 1 year, but now that she's almost 14 months and I haven't been keeping track of much of anything since then, I'm thinking I won't do a journal for each month.  But I'm still having a mental debate over it.  I don't want to miss anything about her changes/growth at this time!  I need to make a decision fast!

Friday, October 19, 2012

I'm back...

It's been awhile since I have posted!  Sorry!!  We were on a 2-1/2 week vacation to the Midwest and I've been having creative lulls.  I was also stuck on a page and I wasn't willing to go forward until I finished it.  But now the page is completed and maybe the creative juices will be able to flow again.
 
This is a page I did about my surgery I had earlier this year.  I really like how soft it turned out because it was definitely a sensitive experience.  Whew!  I'm glad appendicitus is a one-time-event thing.  I named it "unplanned circumstances".

And this was the page I had a hard time finishing.  Let's just say this color combo isn't my favorite (must remember that for future photos!).  I thought about graying everything out and only having the avocado green in the picture, but I didn't want to take the time to do that.  I should have though because I spent way too much time trying to make the color combo look right.  Ugh!  Oh well, it's DONE!
 
I've been listening to a few Beth Moore studies on youtube.  I've been real encouraged!  It's been really good to spend more time in the Word each day!  I follow a devotional called Manna for Moms.  I also listen to Joyce Meyer from time to time.  It's been really good!
 
As far as the knitting goes, I have a few projects in the works, but only working on one currently.  Recently I tossed around the idea of learning to crochet, but I'm not sure I want to add yet another thing to my life--I already have enough to do and so little time! 
 
And I'm also thinking about becoming a Stampin' Up! demonstrator again.  But that's yet another thing I'm not sure I want to add to my life right now.  I need a social outlet...something besides story-time and going to the pool...something for me!  Ha!
 
Enjoy your day!  Enjoy the sun!  The rain!  The snow!  Or all of the above like we are!

Sunday, September 16, 2012

1st Bite

It's hard to believe that about 9 months ago Jeralyn starting eating solids for the first time!  My how fast time flies!  She is a good little eater, but she's not big into eating meat--unless it has BBQ sauce on it--like her Aunt Natasha!
 
I have been scrapbooking a little here and there.  I got my digital assembly line lined up for her baby journal pages that I would like to finish--soon!  And yet again I'm having a hard time deciding what pictures to scrap since there are SO many!  I think the next photos on the docket are going to be when I was in the hospital.  And when we had family visiting.  And...
 


Thursday, August 30, 2012

Hair Line

I tell you what, new kits always are a huge motivator to scrap.  Sometimes a girl just needs something new, something fresh.  I will say I have become a big fan of kits from the Sweet Shoppe.  This is a new set I purchased called Fabulous Fall.  And it is fabulous
 
I'm also figuring out that it has been working well for me to have a Photoshop project open and to work on it little by little.  So what I do is I grab some photos, put them on a blank 12x12 page, and then come back to it later.  That way I know where I want to start next time.
 
 
 

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

2 pages

Here I am again with a couple more pages!  I had to get creative with sneaking in purple on these two pages.  I'm thankful that I can change the colors of things in Photoshop with the help of hue/saturation! 
 
And guess what?  I'm officially done scrapping 2011!!  Whoohoo!
 


Monday, August 27, 2012

All Smiles

Hello there!  I don't blog as much as I used to.  Hmmm...wonder why?  *wink*  But I did get to scrap today.  I am almost officially done scrapping 2011 photos.  I may be after this page, but I have to double-check. 
 

My days are full of this sweet girl!  And now she's taking one nap a day, so my time is even more precious.  Well, all of my time is precious because it's spent with her.  *smile*  What I mean is that I am in the midst of figuring out how I want to do some things, like exercising and scrapping.
 
I've been knitting a lot of slippers and baby booties lately.  I have a project I want to start soon, but it may have to wait until I knit another gift project.
 
I'm also enjoying reading an assortment of books, everywhere from historical fiction to books about homeschooling. 
 
I dream of stamping again...but that may have to wait.
 
This page was used with primarily this digital set.

She's 1!

Jeralyn Promise turned ONE on the 24th!  I can't believe a year has already gone by.  I'm so thankful for our little sweet girl! 
 
 


Tuesday, July 31, 2012

The day after Christmas

Am I really posting twice in one day?  *faint*

I thought it would be fun to post a Christmas page in July.  You know...Christmas in July!  I'm getting real close to being finished scrapping 2011.  I have to tell you, it feels very satisfying!  And it's been so great to have the time to scrapbook while Jeralyn plays in her pack-n-play!  She enjoys it so much!  I can hear her squealing in there!  Lately she's had a lot of fun throwing things out of the pack-n-play.  She's so funny!  It's hard to believe that tomorrow we will be in her birthday month!  Wow!


I'm also working on some knitting projects.  I am knitting Quent a second pair of slippers right now.  I just finished knitting baby booties, and I have a couple of more pairs for baby gifts to knit.  I think I almost know the pattern by heart now.  I would also like to get started on a birthday gift for someone special soon, but we'll see.

Hope you are having a great day!

Pretty Baby

This morning I thought I was being all awesome and going to get a discount code from Persnickety Prints.  Well, apparentely it was a voucher and I missed out.  [insert sad face here]  But I had them printed anyway.  Oh well.  I feel like I was "crusted".

I scraplifted this page.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Week 37

Hello!  I hope you all are having a great weekend!  It's gorgeous here!  So happy we get a summer this year!  I spent some free time this morning catching up on the baby journal pages I had ready to finish.  My goal is to send some more pages to be printed once I have Week 40 completed, which is the next page I have to work on.  And I have a lot of actual journaling to catch up on, using my notes of course.

Week 37 is probably one of my favorites scrapped for this journal. Very pleasing to my eyes!


Have a great rest of your weekend!

Friday, July 6, 2012

Week 35 & 36

It's hard to believe that I only have 7 more weeks left of her first year to journal about and take pictures of!  And then I think I will do a monthly arrangement.  I thought about doing Project Life, but I really don't have the time to keep up with that.  I love that project though!  Looks like a lot of fun!  As you can imagine, I'm still a bit behind on this baby journal project.  I keep up with the journaling (for the most part).  I finished Week 37 this morning during her nap.  So now I have to build the templates for the next several weeks.  I do everything in steps, like a digital assembly line.  And it helps to have new digi stuff to play with!  I will post Week 37 soon!  Have a blessed day!


Friday, June 8, 2012

Great-grandparents

I was inspired by another Pinterest page.  I have another one I want to scraplift soon!  Hopefully I will have time to work on that sometime this weekend.  This was a page that was just really precious to scrapbook.  And guess what!?  I'm almost done scrapping 2011!!!  Yeah!!  I probably have around 10 more pages to scrap, but that's not too bad!  I'm enjoying the process.


A few days ago I bought a phone app to help me schedule when I want to clean on certain days.  It's helped me so much.  I realize that I totally thrive on schedules and lists.  Without them I feel lost and overwhelmed.  Now that I have cleaning stuff "scheduled" I no longer feel overwhelmed and so far I've been keeping up with what I have scheduled.  Sure, I could have written it down on paper, but I'm having fun learning to make my phone a helpful tool!

Well, have a super awesome weekend!  Stay happy!

P.S.  Elements used are from Erica Zane (Sweet Shoppe), Greener Grass Designs (MScraps), Designer Digitals, and Social Butterfly kit (Lily Pad).

Thursday, June 7, 2012

quote

If you worry what people think of you, it's because you have more confidence in their opinion than you have in your own.



I saw that quote on Facebook today.  I don't know if the person who quoted it is the actual "quoter", but I thought it was great and it goes along with some of my thoughts lately.  More on that later.  I have a baby to get ready for a nap!

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Remember

I scrapped this tonight!  The first thing I thought of when I saw these pictures was, "Look at how bald she was!"  These pictures were taken December 17, 2011.  I needed some scrapping inspiration tonight, so I found a page I recently pinned on Pinterest.  I had fun creating it!



I'm trying to figure out how to spend my time wisely.  Having a baby changes everything!  EVERYthing!  And I'm SO thankful!  So how do I do everything I want/need to do?  I'm trying to get more organized with things like cleaning house.  What I mean by that is setting up some sort of cleaning schedule otherwise nothing will get done.  I found a phone app to help, so I'm working on setting that up.  I can't do it all in one day or I think I'll cry.  Ha!  So I'm trying to figure out when I want things done.  A lot of times I just want to just relax after she goes down for a nap or bedtime, but if I continuously do that nothing will get done.  And now that she's awake more I am learning to make time to get things done while she hangs out in her Pack-n-Play for some "independent play time".  Tonight she hung out in her Jumperoo so I could clean our bathroom.

I'm also trying to figure out how to spend more time reading my Bible.  Studying has definitely changed.  It won't be the same as it used to be, so I'm trying to find ways to be creative with that.  I used to wake up in the morning with a warm drink (coffee or tea) and spend time reading and writing in my journal.  Well, since writing in my journal today, I've only written in it 3 times since September!  Oh my!  It's not that I haven't been thinking about these things the last 9 months, but now I'm realizing some things.

Anyway...enough chatting!  I'm off to bed!  Goodnight!

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Took the words right out of my mouth






9 months

This is as about as current as I can get with posting a scrapbok page AND picture of Jeralyn.  I created this page yesterday/today.  I'm thankful for the short blurbs of creativity I get to indulge in!  And that's all I have to say about that...


And I obviously still cannot help but use Erica Zane's With You kit!  Although not all of the elements are from her kit.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Owl Always Love You


Hello!  Well, I sure am glad I enjoyed those nice days last week because the weather has turned ugly!  Wind, rain, wind, rain, etc.  It's a good excuse to stay inside and scrapbook!

I created this page a few weeks ago when I was on a scrapbooking sprint:


I added another category to my 'happy' lists on the side bar called Happy Baby & Happy Mama.  I like good resources; I hope you do too!

Have a wonderful morning/afternoon/evening!  I'm off to scrap or read!


Monday, May 28, 2012

I think I still have pregnancy brain

Some moms have told me that "pregnancy brain" never really goes away.  So is it the cause of me not being able to make a decision about anything?  Like even simple decisions?  And then just a moment ago I was like, "Oh, this is the time of year we are usually on vacation." (as I sat there with this day-dreaming look in my eye).  And then I was like WAIT A MINUTE!  This is MAY, not September.  Oh dear!  I was confusing Memorial Day with Labor Day.  This is not good!  And then sometimes I'll be thinking so deeply about something that I'll forget where I am...like not really, but I'll have to bring myself back to reality.  It's so weird!  Haha!  Ok, am I freaking some of you out now?  Please tell me this is normal after having children!  Ha!


And I apologize if I've already posted this page, as you can see, my memory isn't completely back to normal.  Whatever normal is...




A recent decision that was hard for me to make has been to take a break from design.  I've basically already been taking a break.  My time is precious.  Very precious.  I only have so many hours in a day to have time to think and be creative.  I have decided I want to devote that time to scrapbooking and other creative endeavors.  She takes two naps a day now.  My time during her first nap is completely devoted to exercise, showering, putting on make-up (because I don't leave the house without it!), and catching up on blog stuff (if that!). Second nap is like my breather, a time to relax a bit, but it's full of all sorts of stuff, like cleaning, organizing, prepping for dinner, scrapbooking, reading, or sitting on the deck and being a big ole lazy bum on those beautiful sunshine days.  Sorry, I didn't mean to go into great detail about what I do during naptime.  Ha!

Anyway, so taking a break from design (or maybe stopping for forever--who knows!) has been a hard decision for me to come to.  At first I wanted to please others.  When I mentioned my thoughts about stopping to Quent, he was surprised.  Then I wanted to backtrack.  But I realized that I needed to make this decision for myself, and not for anyone else.  I don't want to be a people-pleaser in that regard.  It took me weeks to decide.  And now I'm 98% good with my decision.  The 2% is still that longing to design and fear that I won't get back into it...but I'm ok with that too.

So I'm not sure when, but I will be having a big retirement sale at MScraps.  I will let you know when!

Have a happy day!


Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Week 32

It's been awhile since I've shared a scrapbook page.  Oops!  I'm still plugging away at her weekly baby journal.  I get caught up, then I get behind, and so on.  I really have been enjoying it!  And doing this weekly has helped me remember different stages of her growth.  And it's a clear visual of just how fast this goes by!  It's like we blinked and here she is now 9 months old (in two days).


My friend Rebekah linked me to a great site that I think other mothers would be interested in checking out.  It's been eye opening to me.  It's called Hands Free Mama.  I'll probably share more about it later. 

Until then I'm going to enjoy the sunshine!



Friday, May 18, 2012

Mother's Day

This is a little late...  I feel so very blessed to be a mother.  It was something I desired since shortly after we married, but especially in all of the 7 years we were waiting for our baby.  And the hardest times during those years was when I had to face the issue of not being a mother, like on Mother's Day.  Years ago I vowed I would never go to church on Mother's Day again until I had a child.  It was just too heartbreaking.  (Ok, this is extremely hard to open up like this, but I'm doing it anyway).  We went to a church that honored all of the mothers with a gift on Mother's Day.  It was really sweet, but when all of the mothers get to stand and you are still sitting, that breaks your heart!  I found myself in the bathroom in a stall crying.  And when I came out of the stall there were 5-6 women there to embrace me and encourage me.  I will never forget that day.  And it was the last Sunday I found myself in church on Mother's Day, until this one.  So you can imagine how glorious it felt to be standing there with my baby girl, to be honored as a mother with a gift of a rose and chocolate.  Ha!  It's not about the gifts, it's about the gift that God blessed me with, my little Jeralyn.  My heart is overflowing with joy!  She fills my life with sunshine (and there's a LOT of cloudy days in Southeast Alaska).



And I was so thankful to celebrate this Mother's Day knowing that a small group of friends, who have also been waiting to have a baby, all have their babies now!  God is so good!

Friday, May 4, 2012

Soap box

Every once in awhile I have to hop up onto my soap box, so here it goes:

I've been thinking a lot lately about security/insecurity.  Recently I've been doing a little reading and something got me thinking about it.  From what I read, children start to categorize things at a very young age.  And then there comes a time when they compare themselves to another as in categorizing objects, likes, dislikes, etc.  It's a sense of belonging, a sense of feeling like they are apart of something.  They find things that are common; they see things that are uncommon.  And this goes on through the teenage years through adulthood.  Tis true, but some children, teens, and adults take this comparing and categorizing to a level that produces insecurity.  If they are different than others, they may feel bad about themselves.  If they don't have what others have, they may think they aren't good enough.  This could happen with grades, sports, hobbies, penmanship, anything!  We can all see what we have and don't have compared to the next person--it happens all the time!  But what are we going to do about it?  Are we going to feel like less of a person?  Or think we are better?  Can you stand alone in your preferences?  Are you secure in who you are?  Are you secure in your differences? 

To be honest, it bothers me that kids see the differences.  I wish that they would all notice and then move on, being ok with the differences.  We are all different and unique!  No one is exactly the same!  But why do we feel safe when something is "the norm" or because we fit in to a group or society?  Why do we feel like we have to fit a certain mold?  Are you ok with being yourself?

Over the years I have learned to grow my strengths and stop pouting about my weakness.  I've learned to accept those things I'm not great at and focus on those things I am good at.  It doesn't mean I don't try harder in those weaker areas, but I no longer focus on them as if I'm a failure.  I've also learned to enjoy the differences between me and my fellow man.  For instance, I used to feel jealous when I would see women all dressed up cute and stylish, but now I realize that is not me.  I don't even like to dress up!  And now I admire that about other women and compliment them, at the same time feeling great in my jeans and t-shirt!  Such freedom!  Goodbye insecurity!

I've said it hundreds of times (and this is a reminder for me, too) and I'll say it again:

BE YOURSELF!  It's the BEST person you can be!

Thursday, May 3, 2012

2 pages

I just put Jeralyn down for her morning nap, so I thought I would post some more pages before I exercise.  Speaking of exercise, I've been on working out on my stationary bike 5-6 times a week during her morning nap.  I'm still trying to figure out what time of the day I should do toning exercises.  I'm also wanting to get back into running, but I feel like I need to be more organized in order for that to happen.  My ideal time to run is in the morning.  After she wakes our mornings are busy, so I will have to great creative if I want to run during that time.

The digital scrapbooking kit I've been using a lot lately is With You by Erica Zane.  I just can't seem to get enough of it!  I used her kit for most of everything on these 2 pages:


Posted by Picasa