(diva)logues

Monday. Let the madness begin...

  

I'm just finishing up my "Week in the Life" project.  I need to find out if SRM Stickers wants to use it before I post my book though.

I have a very busy week ahead.  Kind of glad I tackled that project last week and not this week.  Today after I pick up Bryn late from school after her Drama Club, we go back up there a half-hour later for my Parent Dance practice.  Last week was the first practice.  She asked if anyone was a former cheerleader.  A couple of us raised our hands.  So... yours truly gets to stand on 2 poor parent's legs & play a guitar during the dance when we'll be performing on the same night as the kids.  Oh, how I love to make a fool out of myself for my daughter's enjoyment.  Or not... 

Tomorrow I'm having lunch with the girls, then off to the dentist before I have to pick up Bryn.  This time my visit to the dentist is for fun.  I get to have a consultation for some veneers.  I've been wanting to get Invisalign mostly because my 2 front teeth have gone a bit crooked again.  So, Bob just told me he talked to our dentist (who works in the same office building with him) & got the info on veneers.  He told me it's my birthday, Mother's Day, anniversary present (all those coming up in May).  A few veneers on the top row, means I don't go through a year & a half of braces... AGAIN.  Some people want new boobs... I want straight teeth.  LOL!

Wednesday after Spin class, I'm going to get a facial.  I swear it's been almost a year since the last one & it was time to quit putting it off.  Plus, the gift card I still have from the spa is going to expire in May.  Nothing like waiting until the last minute here. 

Thursday is Bob's birthday.  Let the birthday celebrations begin.  His is in April, mine in May, Bryn is in June.  Poor Bryn has to live with 2 Taurus "The Bulls."  My sister's is in May, too.  Lots of stubborness in this family...

Zodiac tiles found here.

We are going out to lunch to celebrate & then out to an early dinner with Bryn, since she has dance class that night.  So far, Friday is still pretty open.  Saturday we attend a First Communion in Illinois for Evan.  I think Saturday night should be "Game Night" again.  We had way too much fun the other night.  Of course, that may have been because Bob had a long day at the zoo & needed some wine & popcorn!  With any luck, I'll be sleeping in on Sunday morning.

Craft-wise... a new challenge is going to be posted at the Nikki Sivils blog on Thursday and SRM Stickers is involved in a Blog Hop with Bo Bunny begining on Thursday.  My day on the Bunny Hop is Friday & I got to create with the Flower Child line.  Thank you BO BUNNY!    

Stay tuned & enjoy your week! 

A HIP little mini book...

The March HIP 2B SQUARE add-on kit includes a Maya Road mini album!  What I really love about this album are the kraft colored envelopes that are included along with the chipboard pages.  Not only was I able to put all my extra Spring Break photos in the envelopes inside my mini book, but I also used the extra envelopes on a couple of my pages that I posted here...

 

 

 

For more information on this amazing kit, contact Kimberly at kimberly@hip2bsquarescrapbooking.com You will LOVE her kits!  

This month's kit is MORE than HIP... it is a MUST-HAVE...

Words cannot describe how fantastic the March HIP 2B SQUARE is.  I am serious.  Each month I think, "THIS is the BEST kit EVER."  And then... Kimberly knocks is outta the park AGAIN & AGAIN.  So happy to be part of this team.  I REALLY loved the new Paper Doll line from Crate Paper when it debuted recently and guess what?  It's in here.  Throw in some My Minds Eye, Prima & American Crafts and swoon...

The March main kit...

... and the add-on kit...

 

There's a diamond-shaped pattern on one of the Prima papers.  So, I cut out some of the diamonds & then cut them in half to make my flag banner.  Yes, the banner has been done over & over again... nothing new here.  But, it looks sweet & girly... and that's Olivia... so what can I say?  My journaling was printed on one of the envelopes included in the Maya Road mini book that's part of the add-on kit.  I also hand-wrote my SEVEN title letters & then cut them out.  (Hmmm... idea for a tutorial, perhaps? ;-) 

LOTS of Easter morning photos here.  Just a basic design to fit many photos + journaling.  The little pink pieces on the "tree" are from the i's & j's in the Thickers set...

 
This one came together using scraps & pieces of packaging.  It took me FOReakinEVER to come up with this design.  Shuffling paper here & there is what I do best.  Actually ahering stuff to paper... not so much.  I was determined to use this little paper-pieced dress that I made, so this was the best I could do...

This 2-pager was based on the sketch that Melanie provided for the team.  The design based on Shannon Zickel's HOOPS page.  I REALLY didn't mean to include that cloud on here.  Technically, I made it through this entire kit without one stinkin' cloud.  But I got a little carried away with my doodled border & needed a way to cover up my crooked line.  So... I printed Orlando, Florida on it & stuck it on there.  I also inked the edges of the cardstock with the green chalk pad included in the add-on kit... 

 

Honestly, I meant to be finished by this point so this page was an after-thought.  I had these photos as "maybes" for this kit, but didn't think the color combo was going to work.  After staring at these busy patterns over the course of the past few days, I finally decided it might kind of work with the houndstooth pattern of my jacket, so I went with it.  Plus, those darn kraft-colored envelopes kept sucking me in so I had to use another one, just one last time!  Love those!

And I made a couple quick cards with my left-overs... a definite MUST. 

  

 

And if ALL that's not enough?  There's a mini book in the add-on kit.  I'll show you the whole book tomorrow...

For more information on this FANTASTIC kit, contact Kimberly at kimberly@hip2bsquarescrapbooking.com. You'll thank me! 

On the daily...

My December Daily is finally finshed.  I thought I'd post the whole book here, since I've only posted 1/2 of it so far anyway.  Oh & I stopped at Day #24.  It was either that or add photos & journaling to the back cover & that just didn't seem right to me.  I also had to add a ginormous ring because the small size I was using wasn't fitting all the pages anymore & apparently I have no size in between small & ginormous.  I also skipped 2 days... #10 & #16.  I had no photos or recollection of those days other than I worked-out, Bryn went to school & Bob went to work.  See... it pays to stay current with projects when you have short-term memory loss.  :-)  

So here it all is (minus a few pages that I didn't have permission to post).  Pay no attention to the fact that the ring gets bigger 1/2-way through.  I wasn't about to reshoot the whole book...

 

 

 

 

Have a GREAT WEEK!

Happy 2010!

Hard to believe it's a new decade, too.  Bob & I got married in 2000, so we'll be celebrating our 10-year anniversary in May.  That's hard to believe, too!  A lot happened in the last decade, the best part giving birth to Bryn.  The worst part, losing my sister suddenly.  But all in all... it was a good & very memorable 10 years. 

I have officially finished up my projects for CHA & am ready to send them off.  I sent another package a couple weeks ago... a handful of old projects Nikki wanted as well.  I'm honored to have some of my work in her catalog again, too.  It's an exciting event all around.  Maybe one of these conventions, I'll jump on a plane & attend?

So... I've been busy.  And thankfully I'm still waiting for my December HIP 2B SQUARE kit to arrive, so I'm going to have a clean craft room & a clear mind when it gets here. 

In the meantime, I finished up a few more pages in my December Daily...

... found some fun things on SALE (yes, Julie, I did NEED more shoes)...

  

... and something with a rebate...

...making some sales...

 

... wearing some new Christmas gifts...

 

... watching a couple movies with Bob...

 

... and playing games with Bryn...

 

As for this new year & this new decade, I am going to continue to focus on healthy living.  Because really, in the end, our health is the single most important thing we can have.  All the STUFF in the world doesn't matter if you can't get out of bed to enjoy it.  Why not make this the year & the decade you focus on your health, too?  Maybe it means taking a 10-minute walk every day.  Maybe it means cutting out 1 soda or 1 candy bar a day.  But the first thing you need to do, is to replace all those negative thoughts in your head with positive ones that say, "You CAN do this.  You ARE worth it."  It's not easy.  Nothing worth having ever is.  But trust me.  Once you start noticing a difference in the way you feel, you'll keep up with it all.  One foot in front of the other... baby steps.   

Happy 2010!

Time to wrap things up...

It's the home stretch... only 3 more days until Christmas Eve.  I'm almost finished with wrapping gifts.  I have a few last minute things to pick up today... a couple bottles of wine for some gift baskets & I still need 1 more gift for my mom.  CLUELESS on that one... which is bad because that means I may be roaming around stores for too long waiting for something to jump out & scream, "Buy me!"  I also have some groceries to get, too.  Tonight, as part of our 25 days until Christmas advent activities, we're having breakfast food for dinner in our pj's.  Bryn LOVES this one.  And since she's already wearing her pj's to school today for "Polar Express Day,"  it works out well!  I ordered a few trays last night from the store for Christmas Day.  We're hosting it & I am not cooking, I am buying!  Zumba is first on the list this morning, though, so that should put me in good spirits to tackle the rest of day!   

Here's my favorite quick & easy way to wrap a small gift like a bottle of wine or, in this case, a bag of chocolates + a gift card.  I use a holiday towel (depending on which one it is) to wrap up the goodies, tie a bow around it & for Christmas I added a little jingle bell with the gift tag.  I love gift "wrap" that is a gift in itself...

I also made a quick card for my Zumba instructor.  There's an iTunes gift card inside, so she can buy more FUN music for class. I'm doing the same for her twin sister, who teaches my Spin class.  Love them! 

   

My little mini accordion book was featured on the Creative Mini Albums blog today.  That was very nice! And speaking of mini albums, I'm beginning to wonder if I'll actually finish my December Daily this year.  With a CHA deadline quickly approaching & my December HIP 2B SQUARE kit coming in any day now, my guess is NO. Maybe I can finish it up in January?  But here's 2 more days anyway... 

  

Day #9 is on the back of an envelope.  I printed my blog post from my hospital stay & just folded it all in there.  I'm into making things fast & easy these days.  By the way, Bob just informed me that my 1-night stay in the hospital cost $8,439 (+ $50 for my own room... LOL).  No wonder health insurance is so expensive.  Then I told Bob, "Yeah, & you'd think for all that money I'd have come home FIXED, but instead I ended up with a week-long sore throat!"

Happy Monday!  I hope you're ready for the holidays!    

Cupcake liners aren't just for cupcakes...

My Christmas shopping is ALMOST complete... yay!  The wrapping, however, has yet to begin.  That is, until this one little measly gift I thought I'd wrap to show you an idea on how to use what you may already have on hand.  Had to buy a roll a brown mailing paper over the weekend to mail off a package & decided I could use it along with the red/pink/silver color combo wrapping paper I was already planning to use for our gifts this year.  To dress it up a bit, I wrapped a green polka dotted ribbon around it & then placed a cupcake liner bow on top.  My bow was made using 4 liners that I just played with a bit to make each one look more flowery & then I added a green corduroy Nikki Sivils brad to the middle to hold it all together...

After making our cookies last night, I made some roasted acorn squash to go along with the grilled chicken that Bob made on the BBQ.  We all love squash & this is just too easy.  Take an acorn squash & cut it in half.  Place it on a baking pan/cookie sheet that has been lined with aluminum foil & then sprayed with a cooking spray to keep it from sticking.  Place the halves squash side down on the foil & bake at 400 degrees for 35-40 minutes.  I added a brown rice/quinoa mixture to each side when it was finished.  Would probably make a more festive-looking side dish at Thanksgiving, but since we love to eat it so much, I made it now!   

I got a little behind on my December Daily last week, so I'm going to try to play catch-up today since Bryn is at school late today for Drama Club.   

Happy Monday!

I do not ♥ Blogger...

Yesterday was my day to post at the Nikki Sivils blog.  Let me just begin by saying that I had a lot of choice words for Blogger on Saturday as I was trying to prepare for my post.  After hours of attempting to load images with my text & hours of me cursing Blogger because it doesn't work in the order to which I'm accustomed, I was rescued by Julie!  She went into my post & loaded all my photos that I emailed to her.  Thank you a hundred times, Julie!  I don't know what I'm going to do every month when it's my turn to blog... perhaps image-less posts?  I don't know.  Feeling very good about the money I spend on Typepad though.  It's worth not having HOURS of aggravation every day. 

Ok... now that THAT'S out of my system... moving on...  

One of the projects that I posted yesterday was my December Daily album.  I'm making mine this year using the North Pole Nights line...

 

Check out Nikki's blog for details on how I made my "wreath!"

 

I really love that line.  So fun & whimsical!  If you notice, I've been using bits & pieces from the My Sweet Cherry Pie line for my book, too.  The green + red in that line works well with North Pole Nights!

Santa came to a local fire station yesterday, so Bob took Bryn over there to see him.  He really took a lot of cute photos of Bryn on the fire truck, too!  I think I've finally made a photograper out of him!  I'm working on a layout about their visit yesterday, so I'll post that when I'm finished. 

You can see the cards & calendar I made on Nikki's blog, too, if you didn't already see it yesterday!

Happy Monday!    

It's snowing...

It's not snowing enough to stick, I'm sure... but it's snowing.  It's cold, too... about 30 degrees... which would be just fine if we weren't planning to go to the zoo tonight for their lights & other special Christmas stuff.  But we'll see.  I guess we could always bundle up & go for a short time.  But then dinner & warmth is in order!

Bob's dad is STILL in the hospital.  Had 2 colonoscopies, the past 2 days in a row.  One colonoscopy is tiring enough when you're in GOOD health.  This is taking a toll on him.  They still haven't totally ruled out surgery & now he's having more & more trouble breathing...

This Sunday I'm doing a post on Nikki Sivils blog, so look for that if you're blog-hopping that day!  One of the projects I'm posting is my December Daily album, using her North Pole Nights line.  Here's a peek at the front, but you can see the first 5 or 6 days of the book on Sunday...

I made my first December Daily album last year.  It certainly was a great way to document our month of activities in greater detail than if I had just scrapped a few of the photos & had limited journaling.  In fact, it was such a fun project it even inspired me to do a Project 365.  Well, almost inspired me.  My blog is close enough to daily documentation... & it's time-consuming enough!    

A quick & belated THANK YOU to Helmar adhesives for sponsoring the Nikki Sivils design team.  We all received lots of goodies from them.  I'm especially loving the Scrap Dots 3-dimmensional adhesive... very cool!

 

I still have some fun stuff to post from my November HIP 2B SQUARE kit, too!

Well, HAPPY Friday to all!  We have plans  to go to the zoo tonight, a work Christmas party tomorrow night & Sunday remains to be seen.  What's keeping you busy this weekend?  Anyone finished their Christmas shopping yet?  Just tell me you haven't & make me feel better.  TGIF!

A HIP accordian mini album...

I made a mini accordian album using the little tin container that came with my Crate kit from HIP 2B SQUARE.  I embellished the top & used my red grosgrain ribbon to wrap around the base of my container...

Then I chose a 12x12 piece of cardstock from my kit & cut a piece.  Mine was approximately 3 1/2 x 12.  I folded it accordian style & then used my corner rounder punch to make the corners fit nicely into the tin... 

 

The little contact sheet size prints are perfect for this size album, if you want to add embellies & journaling like I did.  Otherwise, you could always just use a wallet-size print, too...

It was fun to make & the first time I've made a mini that fits into a small container like this.  Very fast & easy, too!  For more information on this or any other HIP 2B SQUARE kit contact Kimberly!

Speaking of this fabulous CRATE kit... have you checked out this post yet for my RAK? 

It was a HIP Halloween...

The Hip 2B Square October add-on kit includes a Maya Road chipboard house!  So, I made mine a "haunted house" mini & used photos from all of our Halloween adventures last month.  I painted all the pieces black & started layering from there...

  

You can see what I did with the rest of the add-on kit, as well as the main kit HERE!  The October kit was certainly FUN!  For more info on this, or any other kit, contact Kimberly!

A HIP tag book for Halloween...

Hip 2B Square has some great Halloween products that make creating a mini tag book so easy!  It was also a good reason to put all of Bryn's Halloween costumes into 1 spot!  We're still deciding on this year's costume... although since we're leaving town on Halloween, she won't actually be able to Trick-or-Treat.  (And she's not happy about that either!)

The Rusty Pickle cardstock tags were the foundation of my mini.  Since I needed more tags than were included in that package, I just used one of them as a guide to cut more tags with my additional cardstock & patterned paper.  I did the same thing with my Jenni Bowlin mini bingo card that I used as my cover...

I also used a lot of the Rusty Pickle cardstock coupons to embellish my mini...

and I added some black paint to finish off the edges of all my tags & photos...

I used the American Crafts orange buttons, as well as the bling....

If you look closely, you'll notice that when I used the Thickers numbers that I carefully peeled the number from the cardboard backing/sticky part, so I could ahere it with a slight shadow effect.  It just made it stand out a bit more...

 

I didn't do any journaling in this mini because I've already made individual pages on every costume in my past memory books with detailed documentation.  This was just a fun little flip book to highlight her past costumes & growth over the years.  And Bryn is really enjoying looking at it! 

I also made a couple layouts + some cards with my left-over product from my Halloween kit.  Stay tuned for that!  If you're interested in this CUTE & FUN Halloween kit, contact Kimberly at  kimberly@hip2bsquarescrapbooking.com

Hip 2B Square mini book...

Another FUN kit from Hip 2B Square and the products were perfect for my end-of-summer San Diego trip!  I loved the bright blue Doodlebug letters combined with the espresso OA rub-ons...   

The Bo Bunny mini book was a nice change for me.  Each page is a little bit bigger & has a different-shaped border.  I tried to add a little interest to some of the borders with coordinating buttons & ribbon.  To balance that out, I tied ribbon onto the book rings as well...

 

The Crate Paper line was absolutely ADORABLE!  The first thing I did before I decided what photos to use, was to cut & adhere the paper onto all the pages of the book.  I did it without a plan, so I didn't spend too much time over-analyzing what photos matched with what paper.  (Must do this MORE in the future...) 

 

Then I simply added photos & journaling chronologically from the week.  I referred back to my blog posts for help with the journaling...

Loved the cool crushed velvet brads, as they matched perfectly with the letters...

I loved how you could use some of the patterned paper for paper piecing.  The little bird house paper was yummy & used for several pages.  The Paper Posies were so sweet & delicate...  

As always... if you click on each photo, you can see the details & journaling better...

Gotta love that rainbow-striped ribbon!

I love to use envelopes in my mini books for extra things like ticket stubs, menus, souvenirs & extra photos.  For this mini I used a piece of cardstock included in the kit + an envelope template.  If you don't have a template, but still want an envelope that coordinates with the rest of your mini, just take a found envelope apart & use that as a template for tracing around... 

Sassafras Lass stickers always add a fun flair & this set coordinated perfectly with all the Crate paper...

My lion was made with scraps from the kit & was inspired by a Pottery Barn Kids shower curtain that I saw in their catalog...

  

Order this fantastic kit, that includes directions for only $35.  The number of kits still available is limited!  Contact Kimberly at kimberly@hip2bsquarescrapbooking.com to order yours today!  You will not be disappointed!    

This weekend I'll show you what I made with the remainder of my kit! 

Happy Labor Day weekend...

Ours will be filled with some "girls-only" time making beaded jewelry...

 

The Mizzou vs Illinois football game (and since it's a State Farm-sponsored game, Bob was able to purchase PHENOMENAL tickets, 2nd row, 45 yard line, right behind Mizzou's team... look for us on TV)...

 

We'll also be busy visiting family, working out, doing some scrapbooking & trying to make each moment count.  Hoping that I can finish up an extra project I'm working on for Hip 2B Square this weekend...

 

And something to think about as you head into this long weekend...

"Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so love the people who treat you right, forget about the ones who don't, and believe that everything happens for a reason.  If you get a chance, take it.  If it changes your life, let it.  Nobody said life would be easy, they just promised it would be worth it."    -Author unknown

I hope your weekend is FANTASTIC!

Friday night "delight"...

 

I'm taking an online class this week with Vee Jennings ("Delight" workshop)... involving a lot of misting/masking/paint.  It's something I've wanted to get better at & she's the perfect teacher on that subject.  The class has been inspiring, but coming up with the time to create something is another story.  So far, I have a cover.  I might have more, but my first cover that I completed on Day #1 just wasn't doing it for me.  So, in the trash it went.  Thankfully it's a small mini & shouldn't require much time to complete.  The whole getting messy part & not worrying about making it perfect is my challenge.  But... that's why I took the class... to learn & get out of my comfort zone. 

In the meantime, I've finished a couple other projects that were due & am still waiting for my August Hip kit to arrive!  I was hoping it would arrive before the weekend so I could get a bit completed with it.  We will be out & about for the better part of the weekend.  My sister asked to take Bryn & her cousin, Sydney, to dinner & the movies + keep them overnight tonight, so Bob & I have "date night" planned.  We have dinner plans + a room Downtown tonight.  Yay!  Tomorrow, after we pick up Bryn, we have a picnic to attend around lunch time that will probably last for a good portion of the day.  Not sure what's on the agenda for Sunday, but hopefully it will involve time to complete a few projects.  We shall see!  

I hope your Friday night is DELIGHT-ful, too! 

A HIP birthday mini book...

This is my first all transparent mini book, which is part of the June Hip 2B Square ADD-ON kit.  I have used transparent pages in my books before, but only as extra pages to add interest.  It was really easy to use though!  Basically, whatever you do on the front of the page, you do on the back so that everything lines up & isn't distracting to what's on the opposite side.  PLUS, when you're working with a KIT, everything already coordinates perfectly without having to spend extra time matching up your own supplies!  Between the June main kit & the add-on kit... this is one jam-packed kit full of CUTE, CUTE, CUTE! 

On the cover page, I made my own scalloped border by using my circle punch with my yellow cardstock... 

 

 

I added photos into the book without pages, just to add different layers of interest.  I took 2 photos & glued the backs to each other, then punched holes & put them into the book...

 

 

On some photos, I added rub-ons...

 

I wanted to add an envelope to my mini to hold the invitations I made for her parties, but I can only use items in the kit for my creations.  I thought, "Oh... I'll just add one after I post my pics."  But THEN... I remembered that I had an envelope template, so I used the last piece of cardstock in my kit & made an envelope...

 

The back of the envelope is another good place to add a photo/journaling...

 

 

There's SO MUCH summery cuteness in June's Hip kit!  I made 3 layouts, 4 cards AND a mini book!  Every kit is so cute & so reasonably priced... it's unbelievable!   

Making me smile...

1. This post on healthy eating
2. A place to learn different ways to hand-stitch
3. Actually landing a spot on Catwalk 
4. Finding beautiful blogs (thanks Mandie)
5. Seeing more photos of Willie B's new paper/product line here
6. My first attempt at masking/misting for a new LO to be posted on Monday
7. Coupons from Archivers
8. 
9. "Wacky" challenges
10. Sea of Shoes
11. Finishing up projects that are due
12. New running shoes
13. Making more cupcakes for Bryn's "friends" party on Saturday
14. Reading this great book that I can't seem to put down (I was friends with his older sister in grade school)
15. Hanging out every day with this smiling face

Finally motivated...

... to scrap all my Hawaii photos.  Since I've already made a couple 12x12 layouts with some of the photos, I decided to make a mini album with the rest & use smaller photos.  I also love doing minis because you can use all the scraps, tags & embellies you can't seem to part with.  I was able to use a few of my new GCD tags in my book, too.  Some of my pages didn't photograph well, but you get the idea... 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So glad I kept a journal every day during that trip.  It really made it very easy to put the journaling in this book, without having to rely on my ever-fading memory.