Scrapping Projects and a Bridal Shower

Well it has been a fabulous weekend! It began with heading to a local bar to hang out with some of my teacher friends on Friday afternoon. My drink of choice? Pepsi, of course. :)  I really enjoyed catching up with everyone and finding out how school was going for all of them and what fun and interesting things everyone was up to this summer. As I was sitting there, I realized that the one thing I miss the most about my job is seeing all of my friends and co-workers on a regular basis.  A job is not just the work you do, it is also the relationships/friendships that you form and the interactions that you have with these people every day that make a job worthwhile. Afterwards I came home and finally finished a layout that I had been struggling with for 2 days. I really love how it turned out. The colors are so bright and fun and I got to use my new blue glittery embossing powder from American Crafts which totally adds to the fun feeling of the page.

On Saturday,  I woke up later than usual (11:00 a.m.) and dad and I headed out to get gas for the mower and lunch too. It is a fun little ritual that we sometimes do to make Saturdays more fun. Then we headed home and I ended up beating him at a game of Skip-Bo pretty badly.  I really thought I was going to lose but all at once I went on a huge streak and played half of my pile of cards in one turn.  :)  Dad and I really love the game and play at least once a week.  We actually wore out our first deck of cards and are now breaking in our new deck. Then Renee came over and she and I ended up going shopping because her car was in the shop and she needed to run some errands. So we ended up in Archivers and I now have an interview on Tuesday morning to work there. I am still not 100% sure that I want to go back to working retail again, but I need a way to pay the bills and sustain my little "scrapping addiction", so here goes. I came home and worked on another layout and had a lot of fun pulling out tons of flowers and embellishments to add to this layout to make it really stand out. I also played with glimmer mist on the chipboard letters and love how it turned out.  The colors are so soothing and the embellishments frame the pictures perfectly too. :)

Then today we had Renee's bridal shower. I can't believe her wedding is just 34 days away! It has come so quickly. Anyways, the shower was fabulous. Maria and Amy put a lot of hard work into making this shower simply fabulous. Everyone said the food was fabulous and everyone felt welcome and at home too. We visited with friends and family, laughed at the trivia about Zach and Renee, and introduced ourselves with silly foods such as jello, dates, and "pam"cakes. :) Renee got a lot of great gifts, including a popcorn popper, kitchen gadgets, and a domino set from me so they can enjoy one of our family's favorite games, Mexican Train Dominoes.

I have also been working on some other scrapbooking projects over the past few weeks. These are some of my favorites. This top one was a quick and easy one for me and I had fun using these beach themed products from Making Memories "Great Escape" line.  The bright colors and bold patterns were perfect for these pictures of Emily and I enjoying the local cuisine in Daytona Beach. I also used a fun technique to create the orange scalloped circle.  See the instructions below to recreate the look on your next layout. :)

I used my medium-sized EK Success corner punch and my Cricut Expression to create this fun look. First I die-cut a circle out of cardstock that was 1/2 inch larger than I wanted the scalloped circle to be.

 I removed the corner guides from my punch and lined up the notches on the punch with the edge of the circle and punched my first scallop.

 I then slid the punch over and lined the left side of the punch and the right side of the punched scallop up and punched again to create the next scallop.

I continued this all the way around the circle to create my scalloped circle.

If your punches don't line up at the end like mine did, just take a pair of scissors and snip the paper in a scallop shape like I did or cover that part of the circle with an embellishment.

I completed the layout below with some of my beach pictures. I really loved the colors in the ride so I found patterned papers and accents that would compliment them. I found this great paper from Deja Views and some fabulous accents from Making Memories and K and Company to accent them.  I created these fun collages and used a variety of word stickers, tags and buttons to complete the look. :) Another fun punching technique I learned was that the border punches from Fiskars line up perfectly and can be overlapped to create fun new borders. Here I used the Effervescence and Scallop Sentiment punches to create this fun border. What other punch combinations can you create?

A Busy and Fun Day

Well today was pretty busy but it was also super fun. Mom, Renee, and I started the day at David's Bridal for Renee's dress fitting. I totally love how she looks in it and the bustle is so elegant! I can't believe we only have 7 weeks until the wedding...it has gone so fast. After that we met Dad for lunch at Logans and I tried the chicken tender salad. It was fabulous! I really enjoyed getting to spend time with all of my family and just hang out with them. After a quick stop at the stamping store, us girls then headed to Walmart to do some shopping. I got a really cute display shelf and I can't wait to put a layout up on it....I just need to find somewhere to put it and Renee and I started trying to find some great makeup for the wedding. After that we all came home and worked on projects for the wedding. And let me tell you, adding a bit of ribbon to something makes it just that much better. We added ribbon to the flower girl's basket, the ring bearer's pillow, the card box, and the bubbles. They all look so much more elegant and put together. I also spent some time working on a special scrapbooking project...I will be able to let you know more about this in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for the details. :)

A Sister of My Heart - Maid of Honor Speech for my best friend :)

Hello, I’m Janeen Beuchel. I met Emily when we were in second grade and we soon became best friends. Over the years, Emily and I have shared many things: a love for reading, travel, and photography, many elementary and high school classes, bunks at church camp, a bucket of popcorn at the movies, rides to and from various places, and a love for God. We have been there with each other through the times of joy and of sadness. And even though we are from different families, in my heart I consider Emily a sister and feel blessed that she is in my life.
When Emily introduced me to Nathan, I knew that he was special. And over the past few years, I have watched their relationship grow and it is clear to me that these two sitting here next to me truly care for each other, in both the little and the big things in life. You can tell just by the way that Nathan holds Emily’s hand and the way that Emily looks at Nathan that they are truly meant to be together. Nathan has brought out in Emily what I have always seen in her for the world to see too.God has brought Nathan and Emily together and I know that as long as they keep God at the center of their lives, they will have a blessed and life-long marriage.
So, Nathan and Emily, I wish you all the best in the future and I pray that God will truly bless your marriage. Congratulations!

Summer Lovin'

Well, summer is in full swing around here and with July 4th just around the corner I have been busy loving all the fun things that summer has to offer. Lots of swimming, scrapbooking, hanging out with friends, and just spending time with my family. Some highlights so far include:

• Spending a magical week at Disney World with my Dad. I definately needed the away time after a busy, stressful school year and we had a blast meeting all sorts of characters (including many from the Star Wars movies because it was a Star Wars weekend when we were there), riding all of my favorite rides (some even more than once), and seeing the Wishes fireworks show which is my favorite part of Disney!


• Getting to go to dinner and a movie with my good friend Rosalie. We saw The Proposal and it was an awesome romantic comedy. I will definately be buying it when it comes to DVD.
  

• Swimming at the neighbor's pool. Our neighbors are so sweet and they let us swim in their pool all summer long. :)



• Going tubing with my friend Rebekeh and her kids at Clear Lake. I have never done this before and I can't say that I will again but it was fun! (see top photo)



• Participating in Got Sketch 104...a great online scrapbooking class hosted by my good friends Valerie Salmon and Janna Wilson.



• And of course...spending lots of time down in my basement scrapbooking. I will post again later with my layouts. (I really need to figure out how to put photos in after I blog...)

Until later,

Janeen :)

Leaving on a Jet Plane

It sure has been awhile since I last blogged on here...over a month. Well school ended and it was pretty emotional knowing that I won't be going back. I miss my kiddos already!

As I blog, I am sitting here in the Indianapolis Airport with my dad, waiting to board our flight to Orlando and Disney World. We should be in the parks by 1:00. Pray that we have good weather because we have a ton of stuff planned! Tonight we are dining with Minnie and friends in the Magic Kingdom and then we will be seeing my favorite part of Disney...the Wishes Fireworks Show. It totally speaks to my heart and gives me the hope and courage and fills me with the wonder that is Disney!

Our trip began yesterday and we got down here to Indy with few issues and I actually got some sleep last night....about 4 hours! Well I had better go...they just called us to board so I will try to check in again later! :)

Disney Here I Come Again!

Woo-hoo!!! My dad and I finally booked our summer Disney trip yesterday. Six nights and seven days of Disney Magic await us! We have tons of great meals planned...including a few character ones...and best of all it is a STAR WARS weekend which means lots of great meet n' greets with Star Wars characters, a Star Wars parade, and lots of other great goodies!!! :) I am so excited! Now all I have to do is wait another 35 days and I will be seeing my favorite place in all the world...Cinderella's Castle and the Wishes fireworks show!

Back to Work

Well, Spring Break is officially over, but I sure had a great week!!! I kicked off my weekend by heading to JoAnn's and getting my new Cuttlebug that diecuts and embosses too! I made this adorable card with it too.

Then on Friday I spent the day scrappin' and created this super-cute page. I used some of my new patterned paper, a Fiskars border punch, and one of my favorite techniques of jute and eyelets. And the Woody sticker is so cute!!!

Saturday I spent the day cleaning out my school boxes that I have in the basement to make room for all the stuff I will be bringing home this summer. Sunday we spent the day with my grandma and we went out to eat with her. :)

Monday I checked out the Michaels over on 37....and can I just say WOW!!! That store is amazing! It is like a scrapbook store with Michael's around it. It is definately not your normal Michael's. I found so much cool stuff including Heidi Swapp paper, Making Memories Paperie paper, some cute new embellies, and 3 12x12 American Crafts albums for $10 each!!! :) Then after my fun excursion to Michael's, I headed to lunch with Mom and the little girl she babysits for. We went to Steak n' Shake and it was a ton of fun. Then I headed home to scrap and finished this fun page.

Tuesday Mom and I headed out shopping in search of a few new pairs of jeans for me. Luckily I found them at Macy's...Levis! In my size! I haven't been able to find Levi's in my size in FOREVER, so this totally made my day. Then we stopped at Archiver's and I picked up a few things that I needed. Then Mom and I headed to Logan's for lunch...yum!!! After that, Mom and I headed over to see my Uncle Jerry, who was diagnosed with brain cancer a few weeks ago. I am happy to say that he is doing quite well with his treatments and he looked good when we saw him. Then after we got home, my friend Michelle came over to pick up something up and we ended up talking for awhile. It was fun catching up with my dear friend.

Wednesday, I went to lunch with Emily at Cebolla's. With my crazy work schedule and her planning a wedding, we haven't had much time lately to just sit and chat, so it was fun to just spend some time with her. Then I headed home to scrap the rest of the day with Bailey.

Thursday, my dear friend Rebekeh came over to scrap with me for the day. We headed off to JoAnn's and Hobby Lobby to pick up a few things for our pages and we spent the rest of the day scrapping! I got two great pages done and I love both of them.

Thursday night was also the series finale of ER....my most favorite and most beloved show on TV. I have been a watcher since its first season. I was only 11 at the time but I remember sitting down and watching it a few times. I truly became a fan during season two and it has been rare that I miss an episode in those past 14 years. It has become my Thursday night ritual and now I just don't know what I will do without it. I even shed a few tears at the end, knowing that my favorite characters like Dr. Carter, Archie, Abbie, Nila, and the rest of the gang would not be there anymore. It was so final, so ending. So farewell, ER....you have been a great show and you will be truly missed by this fan.

Friday was the highlight of my spring break. Mom, Dad, and I braved the cool, windy weather and headed down to the Indianapolis Zoo. We saw all sorts of great animals like polar bears, rhinos, elephants, giraffes, penguins, dolphins, brown bears, and penguins. We even got to pet dog sharks. That was probably Mom's most favorite part. I loved every part of the experience and I took over 500 photos too! We also got to see the butterflies and gardens at the White River Gardens, which were exquisite! And the flowers were blooming and they smelled heavenly! We ended our day in Indy with a visit to one of my favorite restaurants, Weber Grill.

Then Saturday and Sunday I undertook the major project of reorganizing my cardstock....updating my cardstock list with all the new and discontinued colors, changing out my cardstock ring, and relabeling and reorganizing my cardstock collection. It was a huge project, much bigger than I would have ever guessed. It probably took me about 8 hours to complete...no joke! But it is complete and now I know which colors I won't be able to restock....which makes me sad because I used some of those colors all the time!!! Sigh...

And then tonight, I saw a shooting star and made a wish....now if only my dream would come true! (And it might, if I have anything to say about it....)

Now I am off to bed to finish this grueling, crazy week of mine (I hate going back to work after a break - way, way too much to do!)....night!