Project Life: Week 8

Taking pictures for the family cookbook I am trying to put together and caught this great shot of my sister making dinner.After the Wii charger died, we got tired of buying batteries so we never played. . . now we have a NEW charger!!! Yeah game night!Nothing sweeter than the sight of your own front door after a long exhausting day out!Electrical issues causing me to lose power ONLY in my scraproom. Not a good idea to scrap by lantern, so bad for the eyes.Gas leak on our block. . .we were evacuated for almost an hour, but Peco was there ALL day long fixing it!Dad and Carrie had half day at each of their jobs, of course they spent the afternoon "annoying" each other :) Love the scowl on my sisters face, what a "real" picture!Found this tiny camera in a box of my grandfathers photography stuff. Love it! and love that I inherited my love of photography from him!

1000 Gifts: #148-168

148. I got a secret shopper assignment, yeah for a little bit of $$ made
149. Carrie was willing to help me out, even though she had other things to do
150. no snow! even though it was in the forecast
151. 55% off coupon!! Yeah!!
152. special turkey dinner, just because.
153. new Wii charger, so we can play again without having to buy a million batteries

154. I just got placed on the substitute teacher list (at preschool) and already have a few days scheduled to assist
155. Biggest Loser night
156. working out with mom
157. warmer temperature, i actually got to wear short sleeves!
158. dad was able to fix my electrical issues, thank goodness it wasn't something major
159. dog sitting job from a friend
160. new Bible study teacher. It is already amazing the way God is using her!
161. safety thru the gas leak on our street
162. an event at church that I can invite my friends (with kids) to!!
163. everyone had a 1/2 day of work today (for various different reasons), but we all got to spend some family time together for the afternoon
164. Combined Bible study/dinner/game night with another church (I got picked to be on one of the charades teams!)

165. Carrie kept me company, so I didn't have to do any errands/tasks alone on Fri. rainy night!
166. Received some more heritage photos of my family

167. tried a new recipe from pinterest. My family loved it!
168. Family night! And not a single complaint!

Project Life: Week 7

My journal addiction, I am currently using 6 journals: 1000 gifts/gratitude journal, quiet times journal, verse journal, scrapbook ideas journal, my everyday journal, and my lists journal!

February's self portrait day. . .I love using mirrors!

My "little sister" Ashley custom making a bouquet for us for Valentines day

My morning routine: hot coffee and quiet time with God

I had to record my new buddy, I have started using this water bottle to cut down on all the plastic ones I was going thru. Now this bottle goes everywhere with me, keeps me from drinking to much soda too!

I got another "you're taking a picture of me doing this why?" look tonight. I actually almost forgot to take my POTD so I snapped one of mom folding the laundry! Yes she officially thinks I'm crazy!!

Hanging out with my sister while she cleans her room!

1000 Gifts: #127-147

127. the ability to have fellowship with God

128. celebrating the Lord's table

129. the gift of organization

130. a nearly completed to-do list!

131. activated 5% cash back on my gas card

132. mother-daughter chats

133. dad's willingness to drive me to my hearing

134. custom made bouquet from Ashley

135. my photo printer works!! (after sitting in the closet "needing repairs" for almost 2 years!)

136. quick responses

137. little naps

138. prayer

139. good friends to hang out with

140. praise songs

141. Hallmark movies. so good.

142. CD/bonds from my great grandmother we didn't even know about!

143. grilled cheese and tomato soup

144. received a $10 Starbucks gift card

145. spending quality time with my busy sister

146. "date" night with my dad

147. received my AC Moore gift certificate just in time to use my almost expired 50% off coupon (and I NEEDED to go shopping to!)

Forever Yesterday Scrapbooks

I'm sure you've heard me mention it a few times . . . Forever Yesterday Scrapbooks. It is something new that I have been working on the last few weeks. It is a side business for me (I am having the worst of luck when it comes to finding a new job, so I am creating my own!) I am going to offer custom made scrapbooks. So many friends and family have expressed interest in having their pictures put into a scrapbook, but either don't have the time or interest in scrapbooking. Well I have both! I am so excited to offer this service. I have spent alot of time putting together a sample album (both 12x12 and 8x8) for folks to look at and get a feel for my style. I had some simple business cards made thru Vista prints too. (I got 250 free, I only had to pay $5 S&H) I also spent some time making a Facebook page. Still trying to figure out how it works, but pretty proud of it. If you haven't already please take time to check it out and like my page. (supposedly that helps your page ratings) I am extremely open to any and all comments and feedback, I have never done anything like this before and am trying to figure this all out on my own. I have been overwhelmed by the support of all my friends and family in this new adventure, but it will be exciting to see how it all works out!! It's been fun getting things in order and preparing to start advertising to my community! By the way, if anyone is cleaning out their stash and wants to get rid of any stuff they aren't using, I can definitely put it to good use! LOL, just a thought:) Okay well I am off to go scrapbook!

Project Life: Week 6

The one thing I love about winter: being able to easily spot wildlife, especially the red-tailed hawks. Aren't they beautiful?

Cannot even remember the last time I was at the library! I don't have the extra cash to buy some of the books that have been recommended to me, so I just checked them out.

Watching the kids for a few hours. . .never knew a pile of dirt could be so entertaining!

My sister took the day off to hang out with me!. . .okay so maybe she was sick too :)

Eagerly devouring some of the books I checked out of the library

Mom preparing her Valentines for school.

Both Carrie and I needed new tires, spent the entire day dealing with Firestone. . . not a happy camper, but I do have some new, good, reliable tires on my car now!

1000 Gifts: #106-126

106. Missionary testimonies
107. children's church
108. sweatpants and sweatshirts (it may not look very cute, but oh the comfort)
109. so many resources at the library

110. finished my DT submission
111. made a facebook page for my "business". Check it out here.
112. encouragement and support of friends on my new endeavor
113. the amzing power of a pile of dirt to keep children busy for over an hour!

114. God's constant promises
115. sister time
116. made some sample scrapbook pages
117. God knows. God cares.
118. found 2 pictures that had been missing for over a year!!
119. stayed within the grocery budget
120. the book Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World
121. started working on typing up my recipes
122. to do lists
123. scrapbooking old pictures
124. new tires
125. memorizing Scripture
126. a sister who is willing to fight for my discount (I am NOT confrontational at all!)

Calendar Journal

Another idea I saw on Pinterest. . .that place sure keeps me busy these days, so addictive. I loved the concept of seeing what was done on a particular day through the span of several years. It only took me a few hours to make the whoile thing, including going back and adding events from the last few years. (I keep all of my pocket calendars on which I record EVERYTHING!!!)

This is what the complete project looks like:

There is a half an index card dated for every day of the year.

I used pictures for my tabbed dividers, I thought it would be more personal than the recommended post cards they showed on Pinterest. I adhered the month to the top right hand corner with a staple for quick access and small punched out month title for the bottom of the photo. Just keep it simple, not a lot of fancy scrappin to it.


I already mentioned that I used a half an index card with the date stamped on the top. For each entry I simply wrote the year and the event. I tried to use a different color to represent each year and also to make the cards look more interesting. Again I kept it very simple and didn't add any extra embellies to the pages, although I was tempted to. i am glad I didn't as that would have not only taken quite a bit more time, but also made my cards too bulky.

I included an extra picture to kind of use as a bookmarker. I keep it on the current day so all I have to do is grab the index card I need and jot down the event. I love this stamp from Stampin' Up's favorite Things set. It worked perfectly!

I keep the whole project in a little file box on my workstation for easy access. It is definitely a neat little project, as I fill in different events I am often reminded, wow last year or 2 years ago we did this today. . . kinda cool!

Pinterest Flowers

Okay so this is my 1st attempt at making these scalloped flowers. They are not too hard, I just can't seem to get them to wrap all the way around evenly, so I left the tail end a little open. I need to keep practicing, but for now I kinda like the I'm still learning look about them.



I am just not sure about this layout though. It was another sketch that I followed. What do you think: with or without the journaling tag? I prefer it without, but wanted to be sure to include the details of the picture. Maybe I can just attach it to the back of the layout. Any thoughts??