Monday, February 26, 2007

where i've been...

I'll give you four clues:

Sick kids. Sick me. Taking turns. Yuck.

Hopefully we'll see the end of the sickies soon...

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

easy patterns projects...

Last week, I received my designer copies of the new CK book, Easy Patterns - can I just say that there are some AMAZING behind the scenes people that don't get nearly enough credit for these books? Seriously, creating the patterns for all of my projects was a HUGE process to say the least. It took a long time to get everything measured and sketched and looking half decent on a chart...then I sent it all away...really worried about how it was ever going to look "good enough" in the end. I was absolutely AMAZED when I got my copies last week and saw how incredible the patterns looked. Seriously, they look so professional (something I will never claim to be! lol) So, in my effort to prove how incredible those editors are, prepare to be amazed yourself...here's what one set of my patterns looked like when I sent them off: And here's how they looked in the book: Simply amazing. Kudos to those "behind the scenes" people at CK Media!!

And just for fun, here are a few of my favorite projects from the book

I have a confession to make - when I was first approached about contributing to this special issue, I was a little worried. I didn't really "get" the pattern concept and I didn't know if I could pull it off. BUT, my attitude took a huge turn once I started the project and realized just how many projects I could complete (and be HAPPY with the results) from a single set of materials. It was such a rewarding feeling to take a stack of papers, a few embellishments, and a stack of photos and complete so many pages PLUS extra projects (tags, cards, minibooks, etc.) I most definitely want to recommend this book - there are so many wonderful ideas from some amazing and talented designers. But even more than that, I want to recommend trying this process. Choose your supplies and see how much you can do without adding anything else to the mix, I bet you'll be surprised, I know I was!!

Monday, February 12, 2007

note to self...

...make today a HAPPY day.

Am I the only one who needs to remind herself to do this? I hope not. Mondays are notoriously "bad" days for me. It seems like no matter how much I accomplished over the weekend, Monday is jam packed full of things to do...laundry, cleaning, groceries, etc. It's easy to get into a rut and have a lousy day. So, today I'm reminding myself to have a happy day. Why the heck not? The sun is shining, Zach is finally healthy (and Seth is on the mend, I hope), the new entertainment unit is almost completely set up, laundry is going, the house is picked up already (not that it will stay that way for long...), and it's MY choice to have a happy day.

I was cleaning out my inbox this morning when I found this quote...it was the quote of the day sent to me last friday, but so appropriate that I just read it today:

Happiness is an attitude.

We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong.

The amount of work is the same.
— Francesca Reigler

...and if that's not enough, I have this sign hanging above my mud-room door

- a door I pass through at least a dozen times a day...and see constantly since it's just off the kitchen.So, I'm going to do it - I'm going to have a Happy Monday. I've made the choice myself and now I'm going to follow through with it. I hope you have a happy Monday too.

Thursday, February 08, 2007

sick kids...

are not fun at all...especially when they're little and can't tell you what hurts! Zach and Seth have both been sick this week - Zach started getting sick last Friday and when I took him in to the ped. on Monday he had a double ear infection and upper resp. yucks...Monday night Seth started coughing and acting really tired, so it's just been a blast around here the last few days. Hopefully we're on the down-hill-side though, and everyone will be healthy for Valentine's Day next week!

Speaking of Valentine's Day, I was asked to do a challenge on the Making Memories blog for today. My assignment was to share some quick and easy Valentine's Day Cards -- I love it when I can make something for work that I can also use at home. And I'm happy to say that the Valentine's Day cards for my kids and husband are DONE already! Hooray!

I did venture out today and took the boys to Provo. I needed to pick up the 500+ prints that I sent to Costco to be printed. And I'm copying my friend, Angela, and bought some 3-up albums at Costco to organize all of our photos in. I'll just pull out the ones I want to scrapbook when I'm ready - but at least we can enjoy the pictures until that time comes. (Thanks, Ang!) This set is almost six months worth of photos from last year - January through part of June. Feels good to have them printed...now I just need to get them in order and put in the albums.

Of course, we had to visit Target and Gymboree too...and I bought some fun things for the kids for Valentine's day - but it's a secret! (Meagan likes to check my blog...so I won't be spoiling her surprise today.)

Okay, the boys are sleeping and the big kids will be home any minute...time to get something done!

Friday, February 02, 2007

two things...

(1) I am loving this vinyl lettering. It's from Making Memories.
I love how it fills up the space up above my bay window...













and

(2) Look who's walking!!!

Thursday, February 01, 2007

weight loss...

I think I dropped between 100 - 200 pounds over the last two days. Now before you start thinking, "sheesh, that girl must be the size of a small yacht"...I'll let you know that the weight didn't actually come off of my body (though it did feel like it lifted some weight from my shoulders, hee hee).

I've recently shed aobut 8 big boxes of scrapbook stuff!! I wish I had thought to take some photos of the boxes full of "stuff" sitting out in my family room...but I didn't even think of that. I had family and close friends come over two nights ago, then invited all the gals I could think of from the neighborhood yesterday. I told them to take whatever they would use -- and they did! Everyone seemed so excited to take their box full of goodies when they left. I hope they feel inspired and excited to go home and save some memories.

I LOVED sharing the stuff I have accumulated over the years...stuff I can't use or just don't want to store any longer. After everyone took all they wanted, I still had one large and one small box of "stuff" left this morning, so I drove Josh to school and took it inside and left it with a note in the teacher's lounge...hopefully they can use everything that was left.

Ahhh, losing weight feels so good...now if only my butt and belly would agree -- really, guys, it feels SO good...so let's drop it! (Maybe I should call my friends and family to see if they'd like to help me out in that department too....anybody want a few extra pounds?!?)