Project 52: Week 13

This week's theme is technology.

I couldn't resist snapping this photo of my iPhone 6. Couldn't live without it. (Although I could live without my recent high phone bills.)

I made that wallpaper in the Project Life app, in case you were wondering. Fun fact: I nearly always use photos as my lock screen wallpaper, but rarely as my main menu wallpaper. :)

Interested in joining in on Project 52? Go here. 

Easter Egg Hunt

Our kids love to hide Easter eggs around the yard. I did a Project Life layout for my friend Tara's class over at Big Picture Classes recently about how they love to hunt for them, and thought I'd share it. :)

To create the spreads, I used papers from the Jade Project Life kit and word art from Ali Edwards. The font I used to journal was CK Becky.

Sometimes I like to do these layouts and just create a regular old layout in this format, rather than a week-based layout. It's all about getting those stories told, after all.

Project 52: Week 12

This week's theme is silhouette.

When I saw this was our theme, I knew exactly what photo I took this week that I wanted to use. We walked down to our lake earlier this weekend, and I was able to get some amazing sunset shots using my iPhone. Yes, that's right, my iPhone. When we were close to our house, I captured some with my camera, but this one I'm just in love with. You can see the little fishing boy statue that always sits by our lake, the reflection on our lake, and obviously, the sunset was just outstanding. I felt so happy taking this shot and so lucky to be able to witness it.

Interested in joining in on Project 52? Go here. 

Project 52: Weeks 10 & 11

The theme for week 10 was self portrait. The theme for week 11 was texture.

Wow! Life has been crazy these past few weeks. It's been go-go-go, so I'm playing catch up on blog stuff. :) Here is my self portrait, taken at work for a friend who's step daughter wanted to see me (lol):



And here is week 11's photo for texture:



I had several photos I could use for texture, but I'm in love with this photo and the fact that I took it with my iPhone. Man, technology. It just gets better and better.

Be back soon to tell you what we've been up to. <3



Interested in joining in on Project 52? Go here. 

Project 52: Week 9

This week's theme is black and white.

More snow. It just won't stop, people. It's pretty much all that happens here anymore. The first shot is a photo I took on our way to work yesterday (no, I wasn't driving). The other is from when we picked up Cam early from school the other day. Mom-of-the-year over here forgot his gloves, so J let him use his. If you also notice, he's really mad because we interrupted him watching Duck Tales at school. Life is hard at 5 years old. :)

Interested in joining in on Project 52? Go here. 

Project 52: Week 8

Last week's theme is outtake.

Last week was not a good week for me. I came down with a nasty stomach bug at the end of the week that threw me all sorts of off for days. I don't recover like I used to from illness.

Here is an outtake from when I was attempting to take of the kids in the snow the other weekend. Our other cat Zebra happened to be on the deck and I snapped this of him.

This snow just won't go away around here. I am officially DONE with it. It is interfering with my life in all sorts of ways (Scentsy deliveries, plans with friends, etc.) I'm tired of canceling and rearranging stuff! Here's to spring coming soon!

Interested in joining in on Project 52? Go here. 

I Made It Monday: Easy Crockpot Buffalo Chicken Dip

 Another round of "I Made It Monday" here today. I just LOVE making this dip - it is so darn good. I made it recently for our Superbowl Sunday get together at our house. I also make it a lot for food days at work because it's so easy.

Here are the ingredients you'll need:

• 8oz Philadelphia cream cheese
• 1/2 cup Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing 
• 1/4 cup Frank's Red Hot Sauce 
• 1 cup of Colby Jack or Mozzarella shredded cheese 
• 1 - 12.5oz & 1 - 5oz Tyson white meat canned chicken

You'll drain your chicken while you put the rest of your ingredients in a skillet on the stove on low. I cut up the cream cheese so it melts faster and more evenly. Add your chicken in once it's drained well, and after everything has melted, transfer it over to the Crockpot on low until it's warmed up nicely. Then I just keep it on warm until it's gone!

I made a recipe card for this recipe I wanted to share today too. Just click on it to download! :)

Project 52: Week 7

This week's theme is love.

I had to post two photos of my gorgeous roses J got me for Valentine's Day. He knows someone who opened a flower shop last year so I told him I expected flowers for a lot of occasions now (jokingly... sort of). As I marveled at how pretty they were, he asked if he did okay. (DID HE DO OKAY?!) I said yes, obviously, that they were very beautiful. That's when he told me he'd never bought flowers for anyone before. I was shocked, and I felt so very special. It was the best gift he could've given and it was about more than just the flowers.

Interested in joining in on Project 52? Go here. 

Snow Day

Yesterday, Cam's school had a snow day. I had heard that he would be having school so I picked him up yesterday evening after work. I couldn't get a hold of his dad or grandma, so I had to stay home with him. It was probably for the best though, I think we both needed a day of rest.

We did puzzles.

 

We were silly.

We watched shows and movies (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and several Veggie Tales shows).

We even got a little crafty and I made this Cardinal for him. (Earlier in the week, M made a duck but Cam decided he wanted a Cardinal when he saw her bird.)

It was a good day. I always enjoy spending time with him, but also I really did need to work. It's such a struggle being a working mom. I was ahead on my bills and due to the snow now I probably won't be. I also feel guilty when I have to call in. I just have to step back and be thankful for the time we got together today and that maybe we both just needed it. We don't get many days together like this anymore.

I Made It Monday

I've decided to do a little blog series here called "I Made It Monday" where I can either post a layout or a craft I've done recently. I've been very crafty here recently since I'm DIYing my wedding (more on that soon), and it'll make me accountable to post on Mondays at least. ;)

With that said, a while back I made a digital scrapbook template based on a paper scrapbook page I did. I decided to give it new life and create something with it, and put it in my Etsy shop. I have dubbed it "Hello Happy" and it's available now in my shop. :)

What have you DIY'ed lately?

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Supplies Used: Echo Park Hybrids Playground kit.

Project 52: Week 6

This week's theme is unbalanced.

This was kind of a hard one. I actually had another idea, but didn't have time to actually go get the photo. This is a set of magnetic toys the boys play with a lot. Their creation is definitely a bit unbalanced. :)

Interested in joining in on Project 52? Go here. 

Animal Love

I've been getting back into all aspects of scrapbooking and it feels really good. :) I bought this kit from One Little Bird the other week for another project (more on that soon), but decided I wanted to use it on this page of me and Cam too.

My computer hasn't been running right recently, so J reloaded it yesterday. Man, it feels good to start out with a clean slate. This process really made me go through all of my old stuff and clean it out. I burned a bunch of products I don't use much anymore (baby products and random other stuff) onto CD's. Freed up quite a bit of space on my external hard drive. The rest I finally moved over to my computer so I see it and use it more.

I've also been creating real, paper layouts recently. My soon-to-be step-daughter M wanted to learn how to scrapbook, so I bought her an album and have been helping her put together layouts. She's quite the little scrapbooker. I really enjoy helping her, and it's actually made me sit down and do some layouts myself too. I'll have to show you some soon. Still been working on our 2014 Project Life album. Slowing getting all those weeks done!! I'm working on a layout I really like today so I'll share it soon too.

Other than that, I've been cooking and baking. I've made dinner several times this week since I was off work on staycation. I baked brownies earlier in the week and my hubby-to-be's favorite cookies Snickerdoodles today. I normally am not a good cookie baker, but man, these turned out great!! I got a lot of wedding planning done this past week, as well. Also, I found THE dress last Thursday!!! But that's another post itself... ;)

What have you been up to this weekend?

Project 52: Week 5

This week's theme is morning.

Well here we are at week 5 and I'm just trucking along! I'm pretty proud of myself for sticking with this thing! I am off on vacation this week so I had the opportunity to take the DSLR out this morning once the sun was good and up. I actually got the idea for it yesterday as I was getting the mail. I realized what a good photo it would be from this angle and sure enough, there it is! I was excited about my little bit of sunflare I got too. :)

Interested in joining in on Project 52? Go here. 

The Second Time Around

Getting married for the second time is something I think about a lot. When J and I decided we wanted to get married (which was a long road with a story for another day), I knew I wanted to have a wedding this time around. I always regretted not having a real wedding. Of course now I am thankful I didn't back then (hehe). This time I know that this is right, and I want to do it the more traditional way.

I've spent a lot of time in my life feeling like I've missed out on things or that I didn't do things the right way. Now, of course, I realize everyone has their own path and the way things work out is really for the best. I just knew the 'ol courthouse ceremony wasn't for us though.

J and I have been through a lot over the past two and a half years. There were times that I wasn't sure we would ever get married. I knew I loved him, and I knew he was really the one, but outsiders were putting so much negativity into our lives that it made it seem like it just might not happen. We don't need marriage to define our relationship or our family. I know J will be by my side no matter what and I know I will always be there for him, but to me it just feels like the last step to making our family official. We have so many friends and family that have cheered us on along the way that this really is a time for celebration for them too.

Although wedding planning is really stressful, I am remembering to enjoy the journey and not get too far ahead of myself. All in all, it's been really fun and I'm just trying to soak it all in. Taking engagement photos, putting together flowers with my mom and bestie, and most recently, the cake tasting have been some of the most special times of my life.

Being in love is wonderful and having the support of everyone around you is even better! Live your life and go with your gut. It is never wrong - I am living proof! :)

Friends are good for the soul...

 

In December, I was lucky enough to be able to reconnect with Lillian. We met on Twitter about 4 or 5 years ago. She moved down here, and we were able to get together to scrapbook and get our boys together for play dates. I miss her and was so excited when she told me her and her husband would be in town to visit. We had a lunch date and it was so much fun. Can't wait to see her again sometime! 

This was the first digital scrapbook layout I've done in years (literally!). It felt good to play around with kits again, and made me want to buy some new ones soon.

Products used: "Geocaching" digital template by 2pawsdesigns. "Storyteller" kit by Paislee Press and One Little Bird. Word art from "Thank You Friend" by Ali Edwards for Designers Digitals.

Project 52: Week 4

This week's theme is shadows.

I had high hopes for this week. I kept thinking of all these cool shadow photos I could take and I just kept forgetting. Then the past few days it's been cloudy when I've been outside. Really frustrating when you realize it's Friday and you missed all those opportunities.

But, I decided to just take my photo inside this week. You win some, you lose some. :)

Cameron is always doing some sort of ninja moves around the house so I told him to strike a pose for me. Turned out better than I thought it would.

Interested in joining in on Project 52? Go here. 

Project Life 2015: Week Three

Hello week three, so nice to have you done.

We did a lot of wedding stuff this week, so that affected this week. My best friend, co-worker, and I went to a local bridal fair. Totally overwhelming, but it was interesting. I got a few back-up options for a DJ, and it was just neat to see all the services offered. There were many photographers, but we already have ours, so that wasn't something I was looking for. We also had a mostly kid-free weekend this particular week, which was very odd. It was nice to be able to spend time one-on-one with J though. We had a date night where we went to go pick out wedding rings and went to dinner. We found J's ring, but my ring is proving difficult to find a wedding band to go with, so I'll probably have to work on that with a local jeweler.

(There is a photo behind that blur. Other than our family, I won't share a whole lot of photos of others' children with "the public". There's a thing I have about it. Best friends and fiance's don't have a choice though. ;)

Seriously though, this Project Life app is a lifesaver! I'm curious if it is more affordable for me to make pages this way or the other way? I haven't done the math on that yet. For one, because I'm horrible at math. I really like how I can mix the kits throughout our album, and just use whatever I want out of them. I haven't tried mixing and matching throughout sets because I'm OCD and it would probably bother me, but it's nice that it's an option!

How's your 2015 Project Life going? If you aren't participating, what is your favorite recent layout or project in general? (Put the link in the comments, I want to see! :)

Project Life 2015: Weeks One & Two

Welcome to my Project Life 2015.

My hope is to post each layout I do for 2015 on here. Everyone was posting about their approaches and what not. My hope is to just attempt to keep up this year. I am VERY behind on last year's album. It is okay though. I was out busy living my life instead of documenting and that's okay. I just want to do better at keeping up this year.

I made this layout using my Project Life App on my iPhone. I love that app! I think it will help me out a lot this year. Plus, I haven't yet picked out a kit I like. I think this year's will consist of me using what I have a lot of the time.

I've slowly been building my scrapbook stash back up. I really want to include some cute embellishments this year... just some things to add a little more to what I'm already doing. Most of the time when I sit down I just want to get. it. done. I'm hoping I feel a little bit freer to do more this year. Plus, I'm not holding myself to the weekly schedule. If I want to do a whole layout about the pumpkin patch and nothing else exciting happened that week, that's what I'm gonna do! :)

Are you doing Project Life this year? What is your "approach"? ;)

Project 52: Week 3

This week's theme is out of focus.

Our cat Pepper is such a lovable little fellow. He is an outside kitty who is always sitting right beside our sliding glass door so he can monitor what we are doing. If we are outside he is all over us. He is never, ever far away from our house. I'm happy he showed up in our yard last summer so we could adopt him into the family.

Interested in joining in on Project 52? Go here.  

December Daily 2014

I know we are half-way to February, but I just recently almost finished my December Daily and I have to share a few pages and highlights with you. Mostly because I'm proud of myself for finally (almost) finishing it!

I say almost because I need a few more photos printed from Christmas Eve and from when we visited J's family, and I'm out of ink for my printer. Wah wah.

Either way, here are a few highlights of my favorite pages!

I need to work on my page protector photography skills. Thankful for the light I had, but man, it's difficult to take photos of those!


Did you participate in December Daily?

Project 52: Week 2

This week's theme is my everyday.

I promise I won't do black and white photos every week. I snapped this really quickly one morning as we were all getting ready for school and work. The older kids were getting in some tablet time before getting on the bus, while J was putting Cam's socks and shoes on. He was being... well, Cameron. Super silly and full of morning energy.

Interested in joining? Go here. 

Bear with me as I catch up this week on Project 52 posts. I am easing back into this blog thing. ;)

Project 52: Week 1

This week's theme is time.

This clock is J's, and it is in our living room. It is what we use to tell us if it's time for the kids to go wait for the bus, what time we should leave for work, and what time our favorite shows are on. It is the only analog clock in our house.

Interested in joining? Go here. 

Bear with me as I catch up this week on Project 52 posts. I am easing back into this blog thing. ;)

Currently.

Watching Revenge, Chicago Fire, State of Affairs.

Packing up the Christmas stuff. I'm thankful I didn't put much out this year, but I'm also trying to reorganize everything so it makes sense next year.

Paying attention to sales at craft stores. I'm a lady on a budget when it comes to this DIY wedding! ;)

Listening to a lot of Spotify. Enjoying XM radio in my car, but listening to Taylor Swift's album a lot on my iPhone too.

Celebrating getting my degree. I'm thankful it's done and over with. With getting my degree comes a little bit of panic though. Like "what's next? What do I do now?"

Savoring this age Cameron is at. I'm really enjoying seeing new bits of his personality all the time. He is so aware of everything, and smart as a tack.

Planning for our wedding. My/our summer trip to Vegas. I'm in the beginning stages of planning our honeymoon.

Dreaming about finishing my centerpieces for the wedding. I keep telling myself if I can get them done, I will feel better. I'm not sure if that's actually true or not though.

Working on finishing my December Daily, and purging a lot of "stuff" in this house. I'm in a serious de-clutter mode.

Reading Girls In White Dresses. It's my book #1 of this year. There are a lot of girls to keep up with, but I really like it so far.

Bundling up to go outside. I'm in the thick of my yearly hating on Winter. It's really a struggle to get myself going some days.

New Year, New Goals

As I sit and think of my word for this year (choose), I have been reflecting on 2014 as a year. Man... it wasn't easy. I definitely had to choose to ignore that pile of dirty dishes, and to ignore those toys all over my living room sometimes. There was a lot of change in our household, and many times it felt very out of control and chaotic. I'm hoping this year is a year of settling in. I've already resolved to be home more and be less busy. I won't be doing vendor shows much this year and I'm okay with that. It's time to step back and approach my businesses differently. I want to fully enjoy being a college graduate and not having to worry about homework and due dates. I'm looking forward to having more time to read, scrapbook, and just relax with my family.

Looking back on my goals for 2014... I didn't do so well. Honestly, sometimes I felt like I was lucky just to be making it through the year. (I did run 3 out of 4 of the 5K's I wanted to though.) I hope 2015 isn't like that. 

2015 is bringing a lot of exciting things... I'm going to Las Vegas for the first time in July for the Scentsy Family Reunion. I cannot wait! I've never been to Vegas before and am excited to experience it and explore, even if it means facing my fear of flying! Also in 2015, I'm getting MARRIED! I'm so thrilled. Everything about this relationship and wedding feels right. It's slowly coming together and I couldn't be more excited. I want to try to share some of my planning here, but we'll see because I don't want to give away too much. For our honeymoon we are visiting Florida, and I'm really excited for that because I haven't been there in 20 years. Literally. So that will be fun, as well!

I have no big ambitions for 2015, but there are a few things I want to do:

• Post 52 times on this blog this year. That's only a post a week! Hopefully this will lead me to regular writing again.
• Finish my Project Life for 2013. (There are still some blank spots and pages.)
• Finish my Project Life for 2014. There are more than several weeks that need to be done.
• Finish my Me: The Abridged Version book. I started the project, but still need to do most of it. The holidays and life got in the way.
• Start my 2015 Project Life. (I need to figure out which kit I want to use!)
• Read one book a month. That's only 12 books. It's doable.

  Every time I check something off my list, I'll try to remember to report on it here. :)