All good things...

I'm going back to work tomorrow and I'm not looking forward to it. I need to tell myself I'm lucky to have a job. I need the money. I was outside with Penny yesterday having a very zen moment, and then I was feeling so great because I haven't been stressed out, stuck in traffic or anything like that all week.

We did go see Avatar on Wednesday - and while I thought it was entertaining, I thought it was long for the sake of being long and too similar to about 15 other movies I've already seen. It looked cool in 3D, but there were some parts where I was trying not to laugh. Randi hated it.

Later Wednesday, I went to karaoke with my high school friends at Sparky's and then Thursday I saw more old friends at Kerry's birthday party at Tapas. Then there was more karaoke. Good times! I needed Friday to recover from it all!

I spent Saturday at a crop with the girls and even though we didn't stay to late, I got a bunch of scrapping done. I finsished my last 365 pages - now I just need to do a cover. Here's some of what I got done...
I loved Kaye Winieki's It Pays To Believe kit so much I finally scrapped Taylor's first lost tooth. And here are my November and December pages! I'm sooooooo glad these are done!



I got up early today to feed Penny, but think I'm going to rest a bit more before I enjoy my last day off.

Did I mention that my Words page made the Gallery Standouts at DST? I thought that was pretty cool.

And earlier I posted a Studio Spotlight on the Studio Matters blog after a bit of a break due to some technical difficulties.

I'm procrastinating today so I figured I'd post some new pages. :)

Here's T and her new locket. I did this for an On Designs play day. I forget sometimes how much I love their kits. Credits


Here are my Christmas cookies using some of Pixel Works' goodies. Credits

Working on the list

I'm still working on that to-do list this week. Glad I put fun stuff on there. Yesterday was mostly a bust, but I did better today! Here's what I've been up to.

Saturday: After shopping and blogging, I worked on a cute little sewing project that I got at Michael's while I was updating Grandma's GPS. Oh, and I saw Up In the Air, which I really loved. Here's the owl I made. It's an ipod case. I know Amanda will be proud of me! :)


Sunday: Went to lunch at Bobby's Burger Palce - where I had an awesome blue cheese burger and shake - and ran into my friend Bonnie from college and her husband. I spent the afternoon scrapping and then hung out with my friends at the Rover's open mic.

Monday: I was so lazy! I slept until almost 1. (Could have something to do with that open mic.) I did do some laundry, but not much else. Then I went to Charrito's for Mexican food with Randi and Aunt Lorraine.

Tuesday: Played Wii, finally got my GPS updated after dealing with Garmin's lousy customer service, stocked up at Shop Rite's Can Can sale, saw Leap Year with Randi (the movie was cute in a cliche kind of way) and then dinner at Sorrentinos. I've been doing some more scrapping and organizing tonight, too.

I really need to stay in tomorrow and cook after all this eating out. I think we may go see Avatar tomorrow. I really am not that interested in it - but I want to see what all the hype is about. I have a feeling the movie won't look as good on my TV.

Furcation!

I am so glad to be off! It was another crazy week at work and after these last few months, I am ready for some time off. I got up early (for me) today and went out to Michael's, Layne Bryant and Target and since then I've been crossing little things off my list here and there. It's nice to just hang out!

I worked on a little project today. I was looking through Kaye Winiecki's store at Lily Pad (where they're having a nice sale!) and admiring her felt pieces, wondering whether she's make me a little pug. And then I saw Tangie's altered artspirations challenge to create a figure from found items. So I was inspired to make this version of Penny!
Credits

And here are some other pages I've done. I'm on roll lately!

This is a photo that Betty gave me awhile ago and I've been waiting for the right kit. Luckily, Kim Jensen just created Random Moments! Credits

Here's one I did for a Flergs Play Day. I loved the windows in NYC this year - and I love large image with the building in the reflection. Credits

I saw this kit from Studio Rosey Posey and knew what photo I wanted to scrap right away! Credits

Three more days

And then I'm off for a week of furlough. And I'm actually excited about that! I really need the break from work so I don't care that I won't be getting paid.

I have been working of my list of stuff to do that week and it's already a mile long. I want to clean up this place, work on some projects, see some movies, hang out with friends....

I hope I can stay motivated to get some of it done. I usually end up being so lazy on my weeks off. But having finished everything on my Christmas list has me ready for the challenge of another list.

I have been a list making fool using Evernote on my computer and iphone. I love lists and I don't lose them or forget them at home this way. I can jot things down at work or when I'm out. If something's not on a list, it never seems to get done. (Although there are a lot of things on my lists that don't get done, too!) There's something about January and the new year that makes me want to do a million things that I don't have time for, so I'm hoping this will help me out a bit!

Lots of credits

I am not a neat person at all. My room is such a mess that I have to move stuff to get to my bed! (I need to work on that!) But one thing that is always organized is my computer. I can't stand having things out of place on here. I can't even scrap if I know there are files that need to be unzipped, renamed and moved to the proper folder.

I've gotten a lot of comments on my art journal pages and the massive list of credits. I wouldn't be able to find anything or keep track of what I've used if it weren't for ACDSee. I created a category for each page and threw items in the catergory as I went along. I also have been renaming my word art files to reflect what they say and make them easier to find. It takes awhile to get it all done - but I usually do my organizing while I'm sitting here watching TV.

Now if only I can my room in some kind of order!

My new project

I didn't cross too much off my list this weekend. The tree is put away - but Mom did that while I was out - and I finally brought all my gifts upstairs. I played a lot of Wii and watched Hotel for Dogs. I caught up on some sleep after too much celebrating New Year's Eve and being woken up early by the nieces on New Year's Day. I wanted to do some cleaning around here, but that didn't get done.

But I have spent a lot of time on my new project - my art journal. I signed up for Tangie Baxter's Art Journal Caravan at SBG. While I'm not really into altered art and can't draw to save my life, I'm giving this a try to stretch myself. I've been in a creative rut lately and just want to do something for myself. So I did this week's assignment and have tried doing a few other pages based on little ideas I get in my head. I've been using my tablet and working left handed (I usually mouse with my right hand) and I'm already feeling inspired.

So here are my first few pages...

I'm a pretty negative person - so I did this page to kind of cheer myself up, try doing something creative and to try to see the brighter side. Credits

Our first Art Journal assignment was to pick our word of the year. Mine is change. Credits

And then this one started out as my word page but then evolved into a sort of inspirational/all about me page. I think there were more than 90 layers on here! Credits

And here are so more scrapping pages that I haven't shared yet.

Penny and I were snowed in a few weeks ago and I got a lot done! I made this for a Ztampf! play day. Credits

I scrapped the girls on Hallween for the Shutterfly book. Credits

I finally scrapped Michelle's wedding for Randi's album. Credits

Here's one I did about trying to get in the Christmas spirit for an Em-Ka play day. Credits

And my 365 page for October. Now I just need to do the last two months! Credits

Crafty stuff!

I finally organized all the photos I've taken of my crafty projects to share. It really is fun to drag out all the paper scrapping stuff and tools I've been accumulating and put them to use! I've had a lot of fun making these.

First here's my Christmas card. It took me a long time to get these done because I just wasn't happy with the design I had going. So I trashed it all and started over with the BOYC December collab from Lily Pad and a few other pieces. I really love the colors, so I was a bit disappointed at the way it printed. I only got one page to print really vibrantly and had a hard time getting the rest to print at all. But I think it still looks cute!

I even stamped my envelopes!


Since I was running behind on my projects, I used these quick pages from the Daily Digi's Scrap and Snap Kit for my covers! The first two are the fronts (one set for Mom and Randi, the other for Vesna and Dad).



And the Shutterfly books arrived just in time for Christmas! Everyone loved them.

I also took the easy route for my calendar this year. I picked up Dani Mogstad's CD Calendar and just plopped in some photos. I use CD insert paper to print them and then just pop them out of the pages. So easy! I have two versions of some pages because I make them for different family members. I also really liked these quick pages because the numbers are big enough. The set I used last year had tiny tiny numbers in a grungy font and I had a hard time reading them.

I used some of Heather Roselli's DIY Printable ornament templates to make these. The box uses elements from Pixel Works and the second is a kit by Gina Miller and Lili Designs. I just love that elf!


I made these hearts to give out as gifts this year. So much fun to make and pretty easy too. I just covered wooden shapes with paper and added some flowers and ribbon.


The frames were a little trickier but still fun to make!

I used Melinda Staley's pillow box template and PixelWorks papers to make these for gift cards. I stole the letters right off my Christmas card and recolored a bit! The turned out a little lumpy, but no one noticed because Kylie stepped on them before I could give them out!

I also decorated my own tags using stamps and markers.

I made this canister for Penny's treats. I've had it sitting around for about a year and finally got around to decorating it. I finally got to use my circle cutter to decorate the top too!


And finally, I ordered all the pages I scrapped from last Christmas from Scrapbook pictures. When I got out my album I noticed Christmas was missing an R! So I had mom help me take off the CH and I added some pieces that I got from Christmas cards to cover up the mistake and make it look even cuter!

Hello 2010!

Happy New Year! I am glad 2009 is over. While it had some good moments, there were a few too many downs for my taste. But it's a new year so why dwell on the bad stuff. I need to think about what was good.

My word for the 2009 was "go" and earlier today I was thinking about how I didn't do much about it, but maybe I did...
- I took a chance and went to a party where I ended up reconnecting with friends who I hung out with all year.
- I went to St. Louis where I got to see some of my best friends, including David who I haven't seen in ages.
- Went to a few concerts.
- Took part in a digiscrapping competition with some friends.
- Got an iphone!
- Went to a bunch of crops.
- I finally got the courage to get up and sing karaoke.
- I got my designs included in the newspapers redesign.
(I'll have to add more as I think of them!)

I also saw lots of movies, read a lot of Diana Gabaldon books, spent a few weeks in dog training class, had lots of fun with friends and family, had two extra weeks off from work (even though they were unpaid), met my goal of scrapping family events and including more photos, and worked on my hybrid crafting skills.

And, I finished Project 365! You can see my entire project here. And I thought I'd share some of my favorites.










Most of my favorites were details - things that are part of my everyday story. It was a challenge to find something to shoot everyday. I skipped two days altogether. If I missed a day, I allowed myself to make it up within the next two days. Some days there just wasn't time or inspiration and there were other days where I had so many photos to choose from. I think I also got more comfortable using my camera. I didn't do a lot of editing to my shots - maybe a little sharpening or noise reduction because sometimes days are messy! LOL!

And now I'm ready to start on my next project, but I'll share more about that later! Hope you all have a wonderful 2010!!!