(diva)logues

Love...

 

How to stay young...

 

1.  Try everything twice.

2.  Keep only cheerful friends.
The grouches pull you down.

3. Keep learning: 
Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever... 
Never let the brain get idle.  'An idle mind is the devil's workshop.'

4. Enjoy the simple things.

5. Laugh often, long and loud.
Laugh until you gasp for breath. 
And if you have a friend who makes you laugh, 
spend lots and lots of time with HIM /HER.


6. The tears happen:
Endure, grieve, and move on.
The only person who is with us our entire life, is ourselves.
LIVE while you are alive.

7. Surround yourself with what you love:
Whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever.. 
Your home is your refuge. 

8. Cherish your health:
If it is good, preserve it. 
If it is unstable, improve it. 
If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.

9. Don't take guilt trips. 
Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county, 
to a foreign country, but NOT to where the guilt is.

10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.


11. Forgive now those who made you cry. You might not get a second chance.

"Will it ever stop? Yo, I don't know..."

See yesterday's post for the Nikki Sivils + Ribbon Carousel blog hop. 

 

Today's going to be a fabulous day... starting with dancing & ending with a brand new closet.  Woot wooot!  More on that soon.  I'll try to post photos this weekend. 

There was one last card was posted the other day on the HIP 2B SQUARE blog that I created using their August kit.  There's so many fun little embellishments included in the kit & I was able to add a few of them to this card.... like the tiny wood veneer star, the bling, the button & the twine...

Go here for more information regarding this totally cute HIP 2B SQUARE kit!  I can't say enough good things about it! 

And thank you again to HIP 2B SQUARE for asking me to guest design for you this month!  It was a TON of FUN! 

Nikki Sivils + Ribbon Carousel blog hop...

The Ribbon Carousel Crewmates are teaming up with the talented designers from Nikki Sivils Scrapbooker to bring you a blog hop jam packed with crafty eye candy and some great prizes!

At Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker, we create distinctive and original designs. Our designs are based upon two core beliefs which also serve as the foundation for our company and everything we do to support it.

We believe that scrapbooking, card making and crafting are always:

• Authentic artistic expressions
• Created with love

Our designs are driven by imagination; we strive to be different, not for the sake of being different, but to inspire you to express yourself in meaningful and fun ways. We mix elements from different sources, including styles, colors and materials. Our designs are genuinely eclectic. Our papers use vibrant colors with unique patterns and often contain irresistible characters. We are authentic in intention, action and results. We have achieved our goal if you are inspired (and tickled) when you see our paper.

The Ribbon Carousel was very generous with the Nikki Sivils' team & sent us some FUN ribbon!  I used 2 different ribbons to create my card using the School is Cool collection.  Love that tape measure ribbon! 

... and the striped ribbon matched really well with this collection...

Now, lets talk prizes! 

 

The Ribbon Carousel will be giving away a $25 gift certificate to the Ribbon Carousel Store and Nikki Sivils Scrapbooker will be giving away a scrapbooking kit (winner's choice!)  Enjoy the hop andbe sure to leave some blog love along your way to be eligible for the prizes!  Winners will be announced Saturday night at 8:00 PM EST.

"I need perfection, some twisted selection...well that tangles me, to keep me alive..."

I heart Mondays... back to Zumba, back to school, back to impromptu lunches, back to making more fun plans with friends... what's not to love?

Here's a new page I finished last week with some photos from the end of last school year + a reduced size photocopy of the Presidential Award for Academic Excellence that Bryn received.  The original size was just too big to use, so I reduced it to 50%.  I used more of the Echo Park School Days collection too.  Been using that a lot lately.  And after completing this page, I have now used almost every single bit of that collection so I guess I got my money's worth for once.  That rarely happens! 

I used googly eyes again.  There's glasses... so it's a must for me! 

Bryn said, "Why do you use googly eyes all the time?" 

I said, "I don't use them ALL the time... just on the last 2 pages I made." 

Love that she's keeping track of my every move.  I suppose someone should.  LOL

Yay for Mondays!

Have a fabulous week! 

Discounts on work-out clothes? YES please!

My own special discount just for all my friends!  Yay! 

Happy Shopping! 

"I think I maybe think too much..."

First...I just wanted to say THANK YOU for the kind comments on my blog & on Facebook after yesterday's post.  Each one made me cry and/or smile.  And no one said I was a wack nut, so that was nice too. 

I've pretty much felt like a depressed mess these past 2 weeks, but I'm thankful for daily work-outs as a distraction, awesome friends who make me laugh & a family that loves me inspite of my mood.  Just need to get out of my head soon.  This isn't working for me.  LOL

Onto happier things...

Here's one more page I created using the HIP 2B SQUARE kit for August.   I'm guest designing for them this month if you've missed that on previous posts.  LOVE this kit.

This was the photo I took of Bryn's dolls & texted to her while she was at the lake with my parents & her cousin over the 4th of July.  Just wanted her to know I was taking care of her "little girls" while she was gone.  ;-)

The washi tape in the kit is a quick & easy way to make a border. 

Go here for more information on this month's HIP 2B SQUARE kit!

Have a great weekend, everyone! 

Here's your sign...

If you missed the HIP 2B SQUARE post yesterday, there were 2 more of my projects posted.  One of them was this page I made with dimensional hearts, similar to a technique I used on a page that was included in the Scrapbooking Family Vacations workshop I was involved in. 

The particular placement of my hearts this time was inspired by a page by Nancy Damiano from awhile back.  I happen to adore her work.  She inspires me. 

You wouldn't know it by looking at the photo on this page, but it's probably the most special page to me ever because it's the story about a blatantly obvious sign given to me by my deceased sister about a year ago. 

I never blogged about it at the time, because I'm sure there's people who would think I was a complete wack nut, but I think if you've ever lost someone you were very close to, you may have had similar experiences where you KNOW without a doubt it was them. 

Here's the story...

My sister's old boyfriend, who is still a friend of mine, wrote a book.  The book is mostly about his life during the years when he was playing with a particular band (same band as an old boyfriend of mine).  And since he wrote about my sister & me in the book (he changed our names in the book for privacy, I suppose), because they were together during part of the story line, he told me he wanted to email me the book before it went to press to see what I thought about it.  It was good.  Made me laugh quite a bit & also made me cry at one point... because it made me think about how much I miss my sister.  This particular night when I was crying, I was reading at the kitchen counter in the house by myself.  Bob & Bryn weren't home... had gone for a snowcone.   All of sudden I heard a loud crash on the floor on the other side of the counter.  This pen & my iPod that were sitting on the counter were now on the floor over by the dishwasher... nowhere near where they had been sitting on the counter.  And incidentally, neither was on the edge of the counter.  There was no reason they should've fallen.  And quite frankly they hit the floor with a crash so loud, it sounded as if they were thrown to floor.  When I walked over & saw them laying there, I simply picked them up & said, "Hi Kaysy.  I know that was you & I know you know that I'm reading this book.  And I love you." 

It was only the 2nd time in 10 years that I'd had that obvious of a sign from her, but there really was no other explanation for it. 

So... believe what you want. 

I happen to believe our loved ones are still with us.  I hate that I can't see her & that she's not physically part of my life, but I know she's there & I know I'll see her again. 

I know I'll see all my loved ones again...

Coolio...

Last night was the 6th Grade Open House.  I had a moment of my own middle school deja vu when I heard someone behind me after I walked in the door saying, "Deana Newsom!  Deana Newsom!"  It's not every day that I'm called by my maiden name, so it took me a moment to turn around.  Turns out a girl I went to high school with also has a 6th grader at Bryn's school.  Small world! 

Anyway, it was a parents-only event where we got to go to each classroom of our child's schedule... starting with 1st hour.... ending with 6th hour.  We had 7 minutes per class & then the bell would ring, just like being in school.  And the hallways were PACKED in between classes.  We had 3 minutes to get to our next class.  Evidently the kids have 5 minutes in between, which is good since it was like herding cattle & impossible to walk quickly.  Bryn would later tell me that she's figured out to stay to the side when she's walking through the hall & push people to get through.  I said, "Ummm... you shouldn't be pushing people."  She said, "I don't push them hard.  I just have to get through all the people." 

Ummm...no. 

At one point walking through the maze of people last night, I overheard a dad behind me say, "I hated middle school." 

Well, thank you for letting us all know.  We're so impressed.  

Middle school seems to be going well for Bryn, so far, and yesterday she "bought" her lunch at school for the first time EVER.  She said she was going to pick a burger (plus 2 sides, which I would later find out was a bag a chips & "she lost her bowl of pineapple"... WTH?).  We went online the night before to check ingredients to make sure she could eat what was being served & not be allergic to any of it (no dairy, eggs, peanuts, treenuts).  I also made her PROMISE me that she would go immediately to the nurse if she felt any kind of reaction & we also made a deal that this would be OCCASIONAL that she bought... so I wasn't worried about it every time it happened. 

Sheesh.

Moving on.  New page here regarding preparations for 6th grade, as well as first day of school.  I used the Echo Park School Days collection along with some school themed SRM Stickers...

That's a SMASH journal pocket calendar on there, purchased from Target.  And gotta love googly eyes... :-)

By 8:20am this morning, I had already done a 6:30 Spin class, rushed home to drive Bryn to school by 8:00, drove to Starbucks, then to the gas station when Bryn called me to say she forgot her binder & "could I get it & bring it to her?"  At least I got half the tank filled before I had to leave.

The rest of the day should be a piece of cake after all that.

And one more quickie...

My Navy Pier page that I posted the other day is featured today on the Craft Gossip site  as their Inspiration du Jour...

 

Coolio!       

Who needs therapy... besides me...

It's Monday... aka. ZUMBA day!  Had LOTS of fun teaching today, as usual!  And thank goodness for the "therapy" afterward.  

Mondays are good... ♥

Here's a couple more cards I created using the August HIP 2B SQUARE kit...

The October Afternoon paper that was included in the kit had butterflies on one side of the paper, but rather than hand-cut each butterfly individually... I made the job easier & faster by using my Martha Stewart butterfly punch, making them just a bit smaller than they were originally.

And a birthday card, which I've already given to a friend...

I just machine-stitched the lace trim that was included in the kit.  Don't have a sewing machine?  Simply adhere with staples or some glue...

Have a mentioned enough times how CUTE this kit is?! 

Find out more about this HIP 2B SQUARE kit here! 

Have a FABULOUS week! 

"Do you wanna, wanna dance, like it was the last dance..."

A few more of my projects have been posted today for my guest design spot this month at HIP 2B SQUARE, along with my answers to some more fun questions.  Check out my projects here.  Kimberly, the owner of HIP 2B SQUARE, emailed me after I sent her all my projects & said she had to laugh when she saw that I used the balloons included in the kit on this page.  She said when she saw the balloons included in the Studio Calico Heyday emphera pack, that she thought of me. 

Clearly my reputation preceeds me.  When I like something, I tend to use it over & over.  LOL

Ummm... there were clouds in the kit too.  And you KNOW I was loving those.  ;-) 

And speaking of Studio Calico...

Since I had used so much of their Heyday collection on the first page posted from my HIP 2B SQUARE kit the other day... I decided to post it in the Studio Calico gallery.  It's only the 2nd time I've ever posted there & the last time was in 2010.  When I checked out some of the comments I received on it, I noticed it was pinned 104 times! 

Ummm.... wow!  And thank you, pinners!  :-)

Find more information on this month's HIP 2B SQUARE kit here!

Happy Friday & have a GREAT weekend, everyone! 

It's Deana. Not DeAnna. Just sayin'...

Although the older I get, the more I'm willing to answer to anything.  Well don't be mean.  Oh & don't come in yelling a childhood nickname at me while I'm working.  But that's a story for another day.

This story here involves my name being mispronounced.  So what else is new.  But it wasn't until after I printed my journaling that I realized I didn't even include that part of the story.  Thus the sticker in the top that says Hello My Name Is.  Hopefully some day when I'm old & senile the sticker will remind me of that part of the story.

Anyway.  If you're new to reading this blog, my craft room was on TV again last summer for the 2nd time.  The first time it was on TV, it was for a segment KMOV's "Great Day St Louis" was doing on gift wrap areas, as I have a whole area of my craft room that was built to be a gift wrap station.  You can see video here... forward to around 7:30.  This particular time though, the producer of the show had emailed me & said they were doing a segment on "mom caves" & said I had a "great one" & asked if I'd be interested in shooting footage again.  You can see the mom cave video here... forward to around 6:10. 

Well of course!!!   

Did not love that during the editing process, the host must've forgotton how to pronounce my name.  Oh well... Deana... DeAnna... whatever. 

I used mostly Simple Stories Fabulous collection for this page with a bit of Echo Park & Bella Blvd...

In other news...

Bryn's first day of school went "great!"  She said she only got lost one time & asked a teacher where to go.  She also said that "middle school is way better than elementary school." 

If she's happy... I'm happy! 

First day of middle school...

Today's the day we're officially back to the school routine.  I was up early for the 6:30 spin class, bolted out of there 5 minutes early so I could rush back home to pack up Bryn's lunch, do her hair as requested, take some photos of her & then drive her to school because she had a TON of stuff to bring with her today.  Her plan is to ride the bus to school in the morning & have me pick her up from school every afternoon.  We're the last bus stop.  So they go right to school in the morning, but it's almost 45 minutes before she would be home in the afternoon if she rode the bus... and school is literally 2 minutes from our house.  Crazy.

Hard to tell in the photo, but she painted her fingernails like pencils for a school theme today.  She's quite the crafty one.  And also a bit obsessed lately with youtube videos showing different ways to paint your nails.  

So with the rest of the day all to myself, I finished a quick page this morning with some photos from last year that already went straight into the scrapbook.  Didn't even bother with photographing it.  The quality of my photos on the page wasn't that great to begin with, nor was the page anything to write home about, so I consider it a quick page into the book!  Yay me. 

Here's another one I finished over the weekend though.  We had a new Marshalls store open in the past year.  I went there shortly after the grand opening with a friend of mine & only bought a few things... one of which was a Me & My Big Ideas Halloween-themed paper pad for only $6.99.  I know right?  Like I needed more paper... and from Marshalls of all places?!  But, after collecting much dust on my craft table all this time, I finally dragged it out & got this photo from last October on paper. 

I edited my photo using Picmonkey, a free photo editing website, to make my photo black + white, with just her pumpkin in color as a focal point...

Lots of Halloween SRM Stickers, of course, and a couple circle punches (round & scalloped-edge)... 

Already in the middle of another page right now & if I get REALLY crazy, I may just attempt to clean the house a bit.

Or not...

"The hitman makes you move, get into the groove, let's turn on the heat..."

It's Monday & I LOVE Mondays!  If you hate Mondays... then clearly you must not be doing my Zumba class?!   If you're local... 10:45am at the O'Fallon Y!  It's a PARTY & a FANTASTIC work-out.  Come join me!!!

All the cool kids are doing it.  :-)

If you missed yesterday's post, I'm guest designing for the HIP 2B SQUARE kit club for the month of August.  For those of you not already aware... I was on their design team from 2009-2011.  I stepped down from my position with them because I was also designing for Nikki Sivils & SRM Stickers at the time and it all got to be a bit too much with all the obligations (and family time, of course!) I already had outside of the scrapbooking industry.  I am really excited to be back for this month though!  Kimberly puts together cute kits for sale every month with TONS of product included, but let me just say that THIS month's kit is exceptionally AWESOME!  You MUST get your hands on it.  I had so much fun creating with this kit.   

My first project went live on their blog yesterday.  I answered a long list of fun questions and my answers will be posted a few at a time, along with each of my 7 projects that I created using this kit. 

And NO, you're not seeing things.  I actually finished something to do with our Austria trip, which as you know, happened 2 years ago.  And if you've been reading this blog for years, you already know how many times I've complained about not getting all my Austria photos on paper.  I finished a few pages of a mini book & that's about as far as I got.  So... it's one 12x12 page with as much journaling as I could possibly squeeze on there just incase this is all I ever have. 

What can I say.  It's a start. 

Check out the HIP 2B SQUARE blog for more product details, information on the August kit and for my introduction for the month!

Who knows?  You may learn something about me this month you never knew before.  :-)

Have a GREAT week everyone! 

So hip...

I'm the guest designer this month for the Hip 2B Square kit club.  Check it out here to see the first of 7 projects I created using the August kit, as well as some of the questions I answered. There will be more answers to Kimberly's fun questions posted with the rest of my projects throughout the month... so stay tuned! 

Thanks again for having me back, Hip 2B Square!  This month's kit is one of the CUTEST kits EVER & I'm so glad I had the opportunity to create with it! 

Put me in coach...

It's our last softball game of the season today... yay!  I mean booo.  LOVE the sport... coaching not so much.  I played fast-pitch for 9 years & then played in random co-ed leagues after college, but as for coaching... the Friday night practices all summer really cramped my style.  If I were just the "parent," I could've sent Bob to some of the practices without me.  LOL  And as it was, he did.  Since one night I was in Vegas & another 100+ degree night, I just begged for mercy & he went in my place.  It's been a fun season though & also fun to watch the girls improve every week, especially Bryn.  By the middle of the season, Bryn started pitching & was striking girls out.  Nice, when there's some really loooooong innings. 

HOT, HOT summer here though.  So HOT, that we had games cancelled 2 weeks in a row due to extreme heat.  So today's game is actually a make-up game or the season would've been over by now. 

Anyhooo...

Just a quick page that I made using lots of Bella Blvd (a mix of Family Dynamix + Making the Team) + some SRM Summer sticker sentiments...

 

Weather is in the high 80's today. 

Thank goodness for the little things...

Ready or not...

With "back-to-school" time upon us, the School is Cool collection is being highlighted on the Nikki Sivils' blog for the month of August.  I have a few projects on her blog today, two of which are these cards.

With Bryn starting middle school for the first time next week, I wanted to make a card for her first day of school to wish her good luck in 6th grade...

And then just a quick little card for a special teacher...

I also have a school-related scrapbook page on Nikki's blog today.  You can see it here!

And speaking of school...

We tackled the school supply shopping yesterday & got everything on the list except a few pocket/prongs folders that we're totally sold out.  The first day of school outfit was purchased today.  And now we just need to go rent her clarinet for band and I think we're set.

Well... SHE is set.  Still not sure I'm ready for this new chapter in her life.   

Ready or not though... here we come! 

"When the going gets rough, the tough the get rough..."

Creating is therapy for me. 

Working-out is too. 

The fact that I actually make a little money doing both is a bonus.  I can manage to temporarily forget about everything else going on in my life when I'm doing either one.  This can pose a problem though when I stay up too late creating & then have to get up at 5:55 to do a spin class, like today.   

But at least I had fun making something, right?  Who needs sleep?  And it was something with a lot of photos & memories that made me laugh again just thinking about it.  I needed that.  It's a pretty basic design that I've used before, but it allows for a ton of photos + journaling while still keeping it to just one 12x12 page...

Just some random things here that said "Vegas" to me + a little Glossy Accents on my "wine glass." 

I know... I haven't used it in awhile.  I was long over-due.  Heehee...

Waiting for the sprinkler company to get here this morning & also looking forward to my appointment with the closet company this afternoon.  Bryn's new room is slowly coming together as well.  And one of these days we'll actually finish the school supplies shopping. 

Oy.  Lots to do. 

Maybe I'll just go work-out again & hide in my craftroom afterward instead.  :-)

Life can change in an instant...

Well... I've sat here for about a half hour now trying to think of how to start this post.  I posted on Facebook about this already, but finally have some time to breathe & blog about it now. 

Last Thursday was an awful day.  My sister called me from Denver with news that my aunt had passed away suddenly.  She was only 62 and we were all very close.  She was only 18 when I was born, so she was my aunt (my mom's sister) but also like my crazy older sister.  She was definitely involved in my life and was part of so many of my life memories & events... big & small.  She's probably the funniest person I know.

My parents were in Denver visiting my sister at the time, so they all flew back home together that night.  Most of my weekend was spent with family... planning my aunt's service, looking through old family photos & just being together.  And the funeral service was last night.  It was really more of a celebration of life than a funeral, and per her request it was a Mardi Gras-themed service.  We all wore beads.  Only my aunt! 

To say that I will miss her terribly is an understatement. 

We all will. 

♥

Back tomorrow with crafty stuff... 

The Bees Knees...

Just a quick fyi...

There's a new kit up for sale on the Nikki Sivils' blog.  It's a really CUTE kit that includes the School is Cool collection and more FUN goodies.  There's enough product and instructions to make 6 cards + a bonus scrapbook page! 

Go here for all the details, but HURRY... it's only while supplies last!