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...

 

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!

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!

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!

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!

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...

 



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.

 

 

 

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!

 

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! 

 

 

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.

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!

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!

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).

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!

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!

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.

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!