right now and PL week 18

It's Right Now Wednesday, and I am ....

*listening - to the morning news and weather
*eating - blueberry bagel with cream cheese
*drinking - water
*wearing - still in my PJs

*weather - another nice summer day with small chance of rain
*wanting - to live closer & see my scrapbook friends more often
*needing - some inspiration ... or a scrapbooking muse :)
*thinking - I will have time to work on some sketches today
*enjoying - a quote from Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson on the last episode of The Hero ... something like it's not how you deal with success, it's how you deal with failure that is most important ... I need to look it up, but I really liked that

Now for my Project Life Week 18 ... I used Doodlebug's Take Note collection again for these pages - not only is it super cute, the numbers, quote bubbles and office supply icons lend itself to these types of pages.  It just makes me happy! :)  Highlights for this particular week ... I had my nails painted cute (pink with one silver glittery pink leopard print), Gracie got a new Nylabone, we made our homemade Mother's Day gifts, and I got to participate in National Scrapbook Day challenges.  Another week of the regular day-to-day things.

Thanks for stopping by! :)

PL week 17

For my Project Life Week 17, I continued using my new Doodlebug collections - this time I used Flower Box.  Super cute colors, patterns (love the woodgrain and yellow houndstooth) and stickers.

Highlights for the week were ... Josh got new glasses, Griffin turned 5, my nephew had a skating birthday party, our Engagement Day, I made my dry erase board for the kitchen menu and reminders (Josh left me a sweet message one morning), and we had our first sno-cones of the season.  Not a particularly busy or exciting week, but as I keep saying, it's the everyday moments that I love documenting.

Thanks for stopping by! :)

PL week 16

Continuing on my Project Life catch-up ... we're up to Week 16, which was April 14-20.  I was so excited to use Doodlebug's new Take Note collection for these pages, and challenged myself to use ONLY Doodlebug ... so these pages are 100% Doodlebug! :)  One of the many things I love about Doodlebug is that everything, no matter how old it is, mixes and matches perfectly.  Genius!! :) 

I used lots of die cuts, and several flags for photo captions.  Highlights for this week were:  finally putting out my Spring/Summer flamingo decor, our first real severe weather of the season (Gracie's first), my first pedi of the season, new MAC lipsticks, a delicious homemade pizza that Josh baked, making a decal for my car with my Silhouette Cameo and vinyl adhesive .... and the biggest thrill of the week - the big get-together of my Scrapbook.com friends!!!  :)  We had such a BLAST that day!! :)

I wanted to note too ... someone asked me about using the different page protectors and how I plan which one to use, and how it effects the following week's page ... I keep notes for my week about things I want to include, and put a note if a photo for it is landscape, portrait or square (or how I'd like to crop it).  I also know that each week I will need a space for my "This Week" list, and an area to journal about the week (although I have at least once done this as a pull-out tab).  I then sort of see how many of each I have ... if I have a lot of landscape, I obviously use a mostly landscape page protector ... if I have several portrait that I'd like to use smaller, I would still choose a mostly landscape, since I can fit two 3x4 portrait spaces on a 6x4 landscape area.  Make sense?  As far as dealing with the week before, I just layout what will fit, and go from there.  I guess I hadn't really thought about it too much until I got the question.  Hope that answers it, though!  :)

Have a great day, and thanks for stopping by! :)

photo Friday

I'm SOOOOOO glad it's finally Friday! This has been a REALLY long week for me, in several different ways.  Looking forward to some fun, some down time, lake time with friends, a little scrappy time, maybe even a bit of scrappy shopping ... and most of all - SLEEP!! :)

Today I had a post ready that I decided to push back to another day, and instead share a pic that I took a couple of nights ago.  It made me laugh.  Junior was laying across the end of our sectional couch, with his gangly legs hanging off.  He looked super cute.  Last week we celebrated having adopted him 3-years ago, and how spoiled he's become.  We love it though, he's such a silly, loving boy.  As soon as I grabbed the camera for this quick shot though, Little Miss Gracie jumped in the way.  She has learned to associate the camera with sitting and getting treats!!  So .... here is the pic I ended up with.  While it's adorable to me, the story behind it is even funnier.  And her "suspicious" look (she's like Zoolander, in that she only has the one 'look', LOL) makes me laugh even more.

This is an everyday, mundane moment at our house.  THESE are the moments that make me love my life, and keep a smile on my face, no matter what else (and there is ALWAYS a lot else) to bring me down. 

I've had a very hard week, including the passing of a childhood friend that has put everyone into shock.  So this photo seemed more appropriate for today.  I needed a smile, and these kids do that for me.  I hope they make you smile too.

I wish you all a very happy, safe weekend.  Hold your families and friends close, tell them how much they mean to you, and THANK YOU for stopping by!! :)

PL week 15

For Week 15 of my Project Life album, I used Echo Park's Photo Freedom collection papers and stickers.  I really like the colors and patterns.  Highlights for my week ... a crazy ice storm in the middle of Spring, Gracie being a silly dog, going back to the dentist, take out for dinner, watching The Ultimate Fighter, and a sad story about a dog.

I wanted to use some hidden journaling here.  The story was important for me to document, but I wanted the photo to be the most prominent feature on the page.  We saw this beautiful dog but knew we had a full house.  We talked one evening about fostering her temporarily until a space opened up for her with a real foster at a rescue.  We were busy all the next day and that evening, found out she'd been put down.  It absolutely broke my heart.  I felt so horrible.  I know I can't save them all, but I didn't do enough in this case, and a beautiful baby girl paid the price.  :(

Thanks for stopping by today! :)

right now and PL week 14

It's Right Now Wednesday, and I am ....

*listening - to the whirrrr of the computer
*eating - blueberry bagel with cream cheese
*drinking - water
*wearing - PJs

*weather - should be another gorgeous summer day
*wanting - a few more hours for myself this week (been busy, will stay busy)
*needing - to get all my errands done
*thinking - about a million things, all at once, most contridict each other
*enjoying - my shoulder is finally starting to feel a bit better

Continuing with my Project Life layouts ... Week 14 was Easter, so my layout used Doodlebug's Spring and Easter collections from last year.  Lots of die cutting on this one too!  Highlights for this week were Easter (of course), my nephew's birthday, an overnight trip to the lake cabin, being sick, rainy days and becoming a Contributing Artist at Ideas for Scrapbookers! :)

Thanks for stopping by today! :)

PL week 13

Still catching up on sharing my Project Life layouts.  This is my Week 13 ...

I used scraps from Echo Park's A Walk in the Park collection for my layout this week.  I really like using a 6x6 pad, or one collection each time, because everything matches.  This is also the first time I used Lori Whitlock's 4x6 Photoshop Templates, with my digital version of the same collection.  It came together very easily!

Highlights from this week were ... Josh finally got his PICC line removed and was off his antibiotics, a hair appointment, Spring was finally starting, we watched quite a few movies, and I got my big Doodlebug order, of their new products.  I tucked my journalling for the week, as well as my movie reviews, behind photos and used some pull-out tabs.  I love this technique, since it allows you even more room to add little details from your everyday life (or more photos).

Thanks for stopping by today! :)

PL week 12

This year I started doing Project Life, and I really love it!  I find that I am keeping up with it pretty well.  I keep notes and pictures organized and sometimes might put together 2 or 3 weeks at a time, instead of weekly, but I haven't given up.  I find that I spend quite a bit of time on the layouts, and haven't done AS many regular layouts during this year.  It's just a change, and for me it's been pretty good.  At least I know I always have something to work on! :)

I thought over the next couple of weeks, I'd get you all caught up on my Project Life layouts.  My Week 12 started with St Patrick's Day, so the layout uses a lot of green and shamrocks.  During this week, it was my duty to dress the dogs in silly holiday attire, I met several scrapbooking friends, my in-laws bought a lake cabin for the whole family to use at our favorite lake, we had the opportunity to help a dog find a home, Spring finally started to show, and I finally had time to make Droopy-Doo's stepping stone (but more on that later).

As I have expressed with you all here, Droopy's passing has really hit me very hard.  Even more so than when my boxer Maxwell unexpectedly died in my arms a few years ago.  With Droopy gone, and Josh's back surgery, then second stay in the hospital, I was really frazzled and stressed during this time.  "Running on fumes" would be an accurate statement for some days.  Each time we've lost a pet, we've made a stepping stone for them, and I was upset that it had been a couple of months and Droopy still didn't have his.  So, we made one.  I used ceramic hearts for the "o's" in his name.  Josh tried to figure out when his sister got him, and thought 2001 was it.  After the stone was made, I talked to her, and she said it was 2000 when she got him, making him born in 1999, another year or two older than we thought!  I was sad, but thought it was OK.  It wasn't until I took these photos of my layout that I realized I had also put 2012!!!  He died in January 2013!!  I am just sick about it!!!  What kind of a dog mom am I?!?  I feel just horrible, so he is getting a brand new stone, with everything correct, and extra-special, just like he was to me.  I can NOT believe I did this!!!

Thanks for stopping by today!!

photo Friday

It's Photo Friday!

Today I have a special Photo Friday.  It's a little bit late, but better late than never. 

A couple of weeks ago, on May 29th, we celebrated our 9th Anniversary.  There was a lot going on around that time ... the devastating tornadoes had just ripped through our town, our nephew graduated, Memorial Day weekend, trips back and forth to the lake cabin, more severe weather, the Healing in the Homeland concert, plus everyday work and home things ... and our anniversary landed on a just-another-boring-weekday this year.  We haven't really done a lot the last few years for our anniversary.  I like to think we're saving up for a really good one next year.  I believe that a decade together in this day and age is really something, considering all the people that don't make it that long. :)

I woke up that morning to a sweet message on the dry erase board ...

And after work, I came home to a wonderful smelling kitchen, and a table set for dinner, including a really nice champagne.

Josh surprised me with a more elegant version of the first meal he ever cooked for us, chicken cordon bleu.  They were some of the biggest chicken breasts I'd ever seen, layered with a thick slice of ham and provolone cheese, then breaded with a garlic and herb mixture, and baked to perfection.  He also roasted rosemary potatoes and asparagus.  It was all delicious, and so very sweet.

Even though it wasn't a milestone this year, we didn't do anything extravagant, didn't even exchange gifts ... we had a really nice time together.  I feel like it's these moments that count.  The everyday moments. 

I love you, Baby!  Let's plan to spend another 50 or 60 of these together, OK?!?  ;)

Thanks for stopping by today, and have a great weekend! :)

love your pet day

February 20th is Love Your Pet Day ... anyone who would celebrate this day, already loves their pets enough to celebrate them daily! ;)  I took some cute pics of the pups while Josh was still in the hospital.  I found some adorable wings for a little girl that I got for Gracie at Michaels.  I paired it with a lavender clip-on flower for her baby headband collar. :)  She wore it well for the photos, and got lots of treats for her trouble.  ;)

I used Bella Blvd for the layout, several die cuts and also some stamping.

papers, label stickers, border sticker by Bella Blvd; border stickers, jewel, alpha stickers by Doodlebug Design; cardstock by Colorbok; cardstock, brad, washi tape by Recollections; flower by The Paper Studio; square punch by Marvy Uchida; ink by Stampin’ UP!; stamp (year round) by Technique Tuesday; circle cut with Cuttlebug (Spellbinders standard circles); label, heart, paw print cut with Silhouette Cameo

Thanks so much for stopping by today! :)