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!

My Creative Life

Over Christmas break, I was able to get a bunch of scrapping completed. I really like the pages I completed. The layout above is one of my favorite pics of my sister's fiancee. It uses the Basic Grey Granola line. I really love this line because it goes really well with guy pages and outdoors pages. I also was able to use one of my favorite techniques using the eyelets and twine. It is such a fun, unique look for pages. :)

This was a quick and simple layout based on a sketch from one of my absolute favorite designers, Valerie Salmon. Her sketches are so fun and are easy to follow. I have had this paper for awhile and found it perfect for these pictures...although I only used a small piece of each paper. So I guess I have to use it some more. :)

I actually completed this layout about a month ago but I didn't like it so yesterday I added some ribbon and Making Memories tag rims to liven it up a bit, and now I really like it. :)

I absolutely love this layout for so many reasons. I love the clean look it has with the grid layout. I am excited that I got 11 photos on one 2 page layout! I also love that I was able to use GREEN flowers! How fun is that?

This layout was so fun to complete. The paper is from the Black Orchid line from SEI that I picked up at Michaels a few weeks ago. The colors are so fresh and fun...a beautiful aqua, a bright coral, and a fun lime color paired with shiny black accents. I was also able to use some fun chipboard letters that I glossed up using Making Memories clear gloss paint to match the glossy paper.

This layout is one of my own designs. No sketches what-so-ever for this one. I also was able to use this super cute and super fun paper collection and chipboard accents from Scenic Route as well as a diecut paper from Making Memories. I love this color combination and the bright beautiful pictures. :)

This is another sketch from Got Sketch Express. I am totally loving their sketches. This uses the fun Bazzill Dotted Swiss and some awesome buttons and flowers from American Crafts. I really like how I was able to capture so many memories from this awesome day!

This is the page I created on the day of our great ice storm. I spent much of the day in my scrap room surrounded by beautiful bright colors and fun, summery photos. It was great! This is also a Got Sketch Express layout and I love it because I was able to use this great pink ribbon that I have had for quite awhile. I also got to use my new journaling stamp from Impression Obsession! Gotta love using old and new products on the same layout.

These are some of my favorite pictures of my best friend and I at a local park a few summers ago. (I know I am so behind...) This was another super fun layout to make and it was based on a Becky Higgins sketch. I got to use some fun Arctic Frog paper that I have had forever, more green flowers, and my new puffy letter stickers! It is such a fresh and fun layout and it is one of my absolute favorites!

This was one of my more involved layouts. The picture was actually 2 different photos that I merged together in Adobe Photoshop Elements and then I added a digital mask to make the grungy edges. I also was able to print this 8x12 photo at home on my printer saving myself about 5 dollars! This page is super fun with torn cork paper, glittered My Mind's Eye patterned papers, and fun outdoors rubons. It is a great memory from a fun day spent with my best friend!

So that is my creative life over the past few weeks. I have been working on some fun and summery topics to combat the cold and dreary weather outside. Hope you are all having a great week and talk to you all later!

New Year's Notes

Well the new year has officially come. I celebrated the evening with friends. It started at Cebolla's with Emily and Nate (who just got engaged on Friday, December 26th) for dinner. We had a lot of fun hanging out and talking about all sorts of stuff and just catching up on life. Then we headed to our friend Rachel's house for a New Year's party. When we got there the great debate was over whose Mexican Chicken Dip was best...Ryan's or Amy's....since they both brought the same thing. :) Ryan's was more cheesy, while Amy's was more spicy. So they went around asking everyone to try it and vote. In the end Amy's won by one vote...sorry Ryan! Then they started an all-out game of spoons. I played along as well but as I am not good at this game at all, I was out very quickly. And I am fairly glad because it was pretty violent as games between friends go. But it was fun to watch and just hang out with my friends. Then Joel came and we counted down to the New Year. As we waited, Natalie passed out horns and poppers and Joel, Ryan, and Suzanne had a horn-blowing contest. I am not sure who won because they all ended up laughing too much.
Then 3...2...1....Happy New Year! And we all blew our horns and popped our poppers. Then, since Rachel has digital cable, we rewound and did it all over again. In fact when we were finally done, we rang in the New Year 4 times!!! :) And I got my picture of the year all lit up....on the 4th try. Then the crazy picture taking ensued with lots of fun New Year's photos. Then all at once someone threw their horn and began the great confetti fight. Horns, confetti, poppers, and even a few decks of cards were thrown all over the room and generally left a big mess. Who started this fight, you may ask. Well evidence shows that Rachel herself began it. ;) And that
wraped up our fabulous New Year's bash.

Christmas

Well Christmas has officially come and gone. It was magical and spectacular as usual, filled with lots of family time, laughing and celebrating, great food, and gift-giving. :) Some of the highlights of this year's celebration include:

• church with my family....although it is not my church, it was still wonderous to hear the Christmas story with my family gathered 'round.
• Christmas Eve dinner consisting of Pizza Hut pizza and a delicious salad and the conversations held during dinner.
• Putting together a Harry Potter puzzle with my cousin Tony...I swear it was addicting!
• Coming home to our house all decorated and taking pictures in our Christmas outfits and with 2 rambunctious labs. What an adventure!
• Opening our annual christmas eve presents, pajamas! :) Mine are the best...they say "99% nice, 1% naughty" and they make me smile whenever I see them.
• Popping popcorn and playing Disney Scene It! while sitting in front of a cozy fire in the fireplace.
• Going to sleep knowing that when I wake up it would be Christmas....the feeling of joy and happiness is still with me as I anticipate this day every year.
• Waking up, knowing that it is Christmas and thinking about all the wonderful things that this day holds.
• Spending time with my family as we open presents...I think my favorite moments were when they opened the gifts from me....Dad opening his "Scarecrow" movie that I tracked down online, Mom opening her new mixer and the photo frame I altered for her bedroom, Renee opening her skillet (that she picked out) and not remembering what it was...so cute, and Zach opening his DVD series that I bought him. :)
• Opening my new scrapping toy....my Cricut Expression....which is a huge die-cutting tool for cutting out letters and shapes. Can you believe that was like my entire Christmas?
• Heading to Grandma's to eat a fabulous dinner and play Mexican Train Dominoes all afternoon.
• Going to see Marley and Me in the theaters. It was a fabulous movie, but a real tear-jerker...I cried and came out of the theater all puffy eyed.
• Coming home and scrapping my heart out while playing with my new toy! :)

I will always remember how awesome this day was, in spite of the not-so great things. Like dropping a jar of pickles on my finger...ouch! and being really mad at my camera because it will not work at all! I am going to take it in to our local camera shop this week and see if they can do anything for it. I am so fed up with it not working. It didn't work at all during our family Christmas party on Saturday so I got like 2 pictures, but then it worked fine at our other party on Sunday. Then today it doesn't work at all so I had to borrow my sister's camera....grrrrr. considering my camera is supposed to be top of the line....a digital SLR! Grrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!! It is just so frustrating. Well anyways, overall it was a great day and I know that even with the craziness, this Christmas was fabulous! :)

What a Day!

Wow, what a day! Today was our annual family Christmas party....5o-something people coming to our house to celebrate the holiday. Well we had a pretty major ice storm on Friday and over 70% of the county was without power, but not us. And the temperatures have been below freezing so it is not melting. And on top of that the winds have picked up. So this morning, we woke up to no power. We called everyone to move the party to my aunt and uncle's house. Then about 10 minutes later the power came back on. So we waited awhile and then called everyone back and put the party back at our house. So everyone came over and we had a great time hanging out and celebrating the holiday with each other. Then as people were starting to leave, the power went out again. So people cleared out prety quickly. We waited to see if it would come back on as quickly as it had last time, but it didn't. So 4 hours later, we packed up to head to my sister's house to spend the night. And as we were pulling out of the driveway, the lights came back on. Go figure! It has been crazy!!! I am just glad that we are in our nice warm nousenow and relaxing with power and heat...because of course it is the coldest day of the year at -2 degrees. So I am signing off and wishing everyone a super, fabulous happy holidays! Until next time....