(diva)logues

"You will remember me for centuries..."

 

This blog has gone from being a mostly scrapbooking blog... to being a mostly I'm-not-sure-what kind of blog... but probably heavier on the fitness talk than anything. 

Because well... that's been my job for the past 3 years.  Whoopsie. 

So... I thought I'd post a few pages that were made in the past couple months.  Just to prove that I do in fact still scrapbook sometimes, even if I don't ever post the pages regularly anymore.

Just grabbed products that matched... old & new... and made it work.  Some of the photos aren't of great quality either, but as I've mentioned before... I'd rather have "real" photos & stories in the books... than staged, professional one-photo pages without any journaling.  Just not my style...

 

 

 

 

All of Bryn's extra-curricular activities keep me pretty busy too, outside of teaching classes all the time.  Gone are the days when I sat in my craft room while Bryn was next to me playing with her "babies." Now I'm lucky if I can even get her to set foot in the craft room! 

Yep... those days are long gone....

And did I mention she just recently tried out for and MADE the freshman winter cheer squad?

High school here we come! 

"You're as cold as ice, cold as ice, I know... "

 

Cold weather is a sign that it's time to hide in my craftroom & get caught up on some scrapbooking.  Not that I'll ever be "caught up" on it.

And that hiding only takes place after I get my daily work-out in.  I'll leave the house to do that in ANY weather. 

Well maybe not a tornado.  Or ice. 

But rain & snow are just fine with me.  I have an umbrella & boots.  

I can even bust out the neon pink leg warmers if necessary.  I'm pretty versatile like that. 

And working with warm-weather photos & colorful paper makes a cold, gloomy & windy day seem brighter as well.  You can dwell on the negative or look for the positive in every moment. 

 

A mix of products here, but mostly Simple Stories DIY on these 2 pages + SRM Stickers...

 

 

Bryn usually looks at all my pages when they're finished.  When she saw that 2nd one she said, "You ampersand me???"

I said, "Ampersand is what the "and" sign on the keyboard is called."

She said, "Oh.  Ok."

 

See... I don't always give her "pimento answers."  Sometimes I'm honest right away.  LOL

 

Off to get a massage for this beat up body of mine.  Then 2 classes tomorrow & one on Saturday.

Bring it on!!

 

 

"I never miss a beat... I'm lightening on my feet... "

Heard of Hurricane Odile?  I probably wouldn't have paid much attention to it, except my parents are in Cabo this week, where it hit & caused quite a bit of destruction.  Not exactly how they planned to spend their 47th anniversary, but we're hoping they're being flown to Mazaltan or Mexico City today via military plane so they can take a commercial flight home from that city, as Cabo's airport will be closed for awhile.  That was the hopeful plan as of last night, when we finally heard from them after 2 days of no phone or wi-fi access & their resort running on a generator.  Aside from no AC there & a couple days without access to the outside world, they did have food, water & booze so I guess they were able to make the best of it.  They were never sent to a shelter like many tourists were, and the resort staff took good care of everyone.  My sister & I, in the meantime, have been freaking out all week playing the waiting game & wondering when we'd ever hear from them!  Thank goodness we found the resort's page on Facebook that was updated with awesome info in the past few days.  Continued prayers for them as they somehow make it back home & for the locals who have endured not only destruction, but looting & all the awful things that follow when Mother Nature wreaks havoc.  

Craziness. 

Onto more pleasant things, like paper & cute photos!

If there's one fun little thing I love for adding a little something extra to a page (besides bling... duh), it's Glossy Accents.  I go through phases of using it on everything & recently used some on these pages.  It's goes on as a liquid, but then dries with a hard, clear finish that adds a little realistic dimension to the page...

As you can see on the pencils, I'm clearly NOT into applying it perfectly.  It's more wham bam thank you ma'am I'm done.  I swear I'm usually more of a perfectionist than that.  Whoopsie daisy...

 

 

I redeemed myself a bit on the crayons.  But the good news is that no one will notice or even care about any of these details in 20 years... and frankly I'll rest peacefully in my grave if anyone even reads all these scrapbooks when I'm dead.  So I shall carry on with my wickedly awesome Glossy Accents skills...

 

And there ya go.  Perfection is totally overrated.  

Especially in Zumba. 

Accidental solos are the best...

"Wine it up... wine it up... wine it up... move your body... "

 

Had a question submitted here the other day about the photo collages on my scrapbook pages.  After I responded, I thought I'd go ahead & address it here as well just in case anyone else had the same questions. 

As you know, I love multi-photo pages.  I also love clean lines & creating a "scene" on the page... so the combination of both can be tricky.  My main reason for using lots of photos, is that I can't usually seem to narrow it down to just 1 or 2 to tell the story.  Sometimes I don't have any photos to tell the story... but most of the time I have several, if not MANY. 

Sheesh.  I just HAVE to use ALL of them.

Which brings up the question.... what do you do with all YOUR photos that don't make the scrapbook cut?  Would love to hear your ideas.  Before digital camera days, I just stuck the rejects into photo albums.  Now... they either don't get printed or just pile up in a box.  Ughh...

And boy does this topic bring up the guilt I feel for not having/making enough time anymore to scrapbook all the photos that continue to pile up daily. 

Oh well... moving on.  Zumba anyone? 

 

Here's a few new pages that show examples from the app & website I most frequently use to create my collages.  Using collages takes the guess work out of either printing small photos or cropping photos to fit to the right size for your pages. 

Pic Monkey is a favorite for all my digital/non-iPhone photos.  Personally I find it easier to navigate than Photoshop for editing photos.  There's lots of free editing tools on there (as well as collage options), but I've upgraded to pay for the "Royale" features.  At this age, being able to erase wrinkles is worth every single penny.  Those people know what they're doing by making you pay for that feature. 

You're so vain... you probably think this song is about you...

You can also add text to your photos/collages as I did on this one...

 

I ♥ google eyes.

 

On the next 2 pages, I used the free PhotoGrid app.  It pulls the photos you've selected from your iPhone & then puts them into a collage design based on the number of photos you're using.  If you don't like the collage it puts them into... you can choose from other designs.  Once I've created my collage, I'll save it & then email it to myself so I can print it in the size I want.  Love the app. 

 

Gosh that was a fun week.  Love me some Vegas.

 

Mostly lots of Simple Stories DIY Boutique on those pages.  Lots of random SRM Stickers too, including the calendar on the last page which is made by them as well.  Questions on the rest of the products... just ask & I'll attempt to answer.  LOL  

 

As for the question about my blog post titles... a lot of the time I use song lyrics.

If only I could've memorized all my school work the way I can memorize song lyrics, I would've graduated Suma Cume Laude. 

Usually the song lyrics somehow tie in to the content of my blog post.  Sometimes it's the just the lyrics or title of a song that I'm using in one of my classes.  Sometimes it's just a song that's stuck in my brain that I recently heard.   Sometimes the titles have nothing to do with song lyrics at all & then I have a friend tell me they googled my title & no song came up.  TOO DARN FUNNY. 

You all are an observant bunch! 

So read into the titles however you'd like.  Sometimes our own interpretation of what something means... is much better than the intended meaning...

 

BOOM.

 

"Your bridges were burned and now it's your turn... to cry... cry me a river... "

 

February was heart health awareness month.  My good friend and fellow Zumba instructor at the YMCA, was interviewed by a local TV news show to promote her annual American Heart Association Zumbathon.  It's an event near & dear to her heart, as you'll hear in her interview.  A group of us helped with her Zumba routine on the Great Day St Louis segment.

You can see her story & watch us dance here.

 

 

Love those girls. 

It was a memorable event worth journaling, to say the least. 

 

2 days of LOTS of rain & storms around here.  We had the craziest winter ever... and I guess this is our spring now? 

One big river of hot mess...

 

"Take me away... a secret place... a sweet escape..."

 

Been trying to get photos off my phone.  Bryn showed me a fun app that I've been using a lot recently to make photo collages... Photo Grid.  You pick the photos you want to use & the app puts them into a grid for you.  Lots of other choices of grid designs, too, based on the number of photos you're using. 

Plus I don't have to email myself all the individual photos this way.  I can just email myself each photo collage once I've created it...

 

 

I used the app for my photos from our trip to the Bahamas that I posted here.  I also used the app for these 3 pages today.  I like that I don't have to mess with measuring the photos & putting them into a design that works for the scrapbook page.  I just print the grid in the size that I want... quick & easy.  

And for the first 2 pages, I used some SRM Stickers along with some more of the free downloadable journaling cards I found on the Pocket Source blog...

 

 

 

I've deleted about 400 photos off my phone & am down to around 700 now.  Still don't have enough storage space to do the latest iPhone update, but hopefully eventually I can get there.  Craziness.

And yes, I know.  Adding more apps like this one, doesn't help free up storage.  Oh well...

 

"Take a picture, sweetie, I ain't got time to wait..."

 

Ok... so LOTS going on lately.  Mostly good stuff keeping me really busy and laughing... and other stuff.  Stuff that karma will take care of for me, I'm sure.  Gotta love that!  And my eye was twitching for 2 days straight. It drove me frickin nuts.  A friend of mine had her eye twitching for a week & thought it was stress.  Hmmm. 

Anyway.  Eye twitching has ended.  Booty twitching & shaking, however, never ends.  

It was awesome to be gone for a week & it's awesome to be home.  I always miss my friends & my daily routine at home.  Even though I'll hit the treadmill while I'm gone, I especially miss my routine at the gym.  Zumba anyone?  And while I know it's good for me to tune out from my phone/internet/etc... that contact is what keeps me laughing most of the time.  Because I have very funny friends.  And somehow there's always funny situations.   Even situations that aren't funny end up making me laugh. 

I mean like laughing until I cry. 

Or laughing & typing on my phone, while eating in public, by myself.  That usually gets a few stares.

Why did my daughter call me a weir-do?  I don't get it.

 

Anyway, I have lots of pics from the Bahamas & have even started a blog post about it, but that's about as far as I got. 

Apparently I ain't got time for dat. 

I got time for Zumba though!  Fun times coming up!

 

And apparently I have time for scrapbooking too.  Yay me...

I used an actual map of Phoenix/Scottsdale for my background...

All I can think about when I look at this next page is the thousands of screaming girls that literally screamed for 2 hours straight.  Never heard anything like it...

 

Love the Today's List of Awesomeness journaling card on the next page.  I say that word all the time...

 

 

And speaking of that Today's List of Awesomeness journaling card, here's more awesomeness...

Bryn got accepted to the National Junior Honor Society at school the other day.  Could NOT be more proud of that girl.  She didn't think she'd get accepted since she had no leadership experience, but I told her she had 100% chance of not getting accepted if she didn't try.   

The only Honor Society I was accepted into in school, was for excelling in my social life.

 

Oh well... Zumba anyone?

"But I'm a creep.... I'm a weirdo... what the hell am I doing here..."

 

The other day I asked Bryn to describe me in 2 words.

She replied, "Weir- do."

I burst out laughing.  Not the answer I was expecting, but it definitely works.

Poor kid.

 

But hey... at least I'm not doing the kissy face on all my Instagram photos.  Now THAT is weird.  And I have asked her over & over to please stop doing that all the time & just uhhhh I don't know... smile maybe?? 

And then she asked me to do this "Transformation Tuesday" photo and it occurred to me that I must've taught her to do that dumb pose when she was a little girl. 

Just add that to the list of all the other dumb things I've taught her & will probably teach her before she moves out. 

Or sprints out as fast as she can. 

The good news is she's not flipping off the camera yet.  That's always an attractive pose.

Ahem.

Lots of dimmensional hearts on here created with a heart punch & a stapler...

 

 

Speaking of weirdo... is it weird that I love googly eyes?  If I could use them on everything, I would.  Well everything with eyes, that is...

The animals look cute with googly eyes on them...

 

 

And here's some more cute animals...

 

 

LMAO. 

Ok then... carry on with yo Hump Day. 

Yo Lenten Hump Day, that is.

 

Maybe I'll give up being a weirdo?

Or not...

"People will stare. Make it worth their while."

 

It's Thursday.  Thought I'd share some of what's been keeping me busy lately... aside from Zumba which is always a distraction. 

I mean, this IS primarily a blog about crafty stuff.

Or at least it was supposed to be anyway. 

And people DO actually visit to get ideas. 

Or... at least they used to visit for ideas.

 

Don't give up on me yet. 

 

So anyway... Zumba anyone?  LOL   2 new songs... & working on a 3rd.  Somebody stop me...

 

 

No, but really.  I finished 8 pages recently... 3 of which that went straight into the books because they either weren't that great or were essentially mostly just photos & not much creativitiy... and a 4th one that I may or may not post on another day.

Here's 4 today though. 

And if you've paid any attention to my stuff, you'll notice that I used some of my past page designs for inspiration to quickly finish these.  I do that a lot.  Less thinking involved. 

And let's face it... when I think too much, it's never a good thing.

 

What's that she's playin'.... Annie... get your gun...

 

You'll also notice that I did the banner thing on 2 of these pages.  Ask me if I care that the pages will look similar in the scrapbook.

Let me think about that..... ummmmm no.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did you notice another common thing about all the pages? 

All of them had SRM Stickers on there somewhere.  I am a forever fan of those awesome clear stickers & sticker sentiments. 

Lots of Simple Stories Daily Grind & Harvest Lane on those pages, as well as Recollections Winter Woodland on the Christmas page.

A mix of old + new on everything. 

It pays to stay home sometimes.  Zumba AND crafting get accomplished.

 

Fun times with friends on Friday & Saturday!  Bring on the weekend!  Yahoo... can't wait! 

"Forty days and forty nights..."

 

Just sitting here thinking about some of the things that make me happy, so my mind doesn't trail off with worry.  Like let's see... here's something... warm weather.  As in no snow.  None.  Not even a few flurries.  Like the warm weather we had in Arizona last summer... when my crazy daughter & her crazy father decided to do this FlowRider thingy... which to me looked like an ER trip waiting to happen.  Or at least looked like a major time-out from my Zumba career.  After watching all the people ahead of them bust it onto their butts, shoulders, heads.... I said HELL TO THE NO.  I'll just take pictures, thankyouverymuch. 

Lots of Simple Stories I Heart Summer on this one, along with a few SRM Stickers...

 

 

Here's something else making me happy.  This song I've been obsessed with all day, since I heard it in the WAY too early 5:15am spin class I did.  And when I say obsessed, that usually means I've played the song like 50 times. 

Kinda like I've done my whole life when I love a song.... like since playing 45's on my Donny & Marie record player.  

Ok.  So I'm old.    

 

 

Helping to lead a 2-hour Zumbathon, along with my 5 other awesome instructor friends made me happy.  Lots & lots of fun...

Attending crazy 40th birthday parties makes me happy too.  Especially when it means laughing at all the photos on my camera the next morning. 

Even if I did feel like my head might explode. 

 

My mom always said.... when you play, you pay. 

True dat, Mom.  True dat.

Ego. Remove the E & let it go...

 

A few months ago, I noticed I was getting a lot of hits on my blog from 2 Peas in a Bucket.  I noticed it was from a link on their message boards about "simple scrapbookers."  Any of you been around the scrapbooking world long enough to remember the magazine "Simple Scrapbooks?" The thread was started by someone asking if anyone could recommend scrapbookers that had more of a simple style, rather than the artsy style that is so often posted these days.  About half-way down on the thread, I noticed someone had a posted a list of people that inspired her & that she thought had a simple style.  I have to say, it was very flattering to see my name listed among people that happen to inspire ME as well. 

And even cooler than that... when I responded on that thread to thank her, she responded by telling me that reading my blog had not only inspired her scrapbooking, but had also inspired her to start doing Zumba because she said I made it sound so fun. 

I mean seriously?  Now that is WAY cooler than inspiring someone creatively.  LOVE IT. 

And it IS fun.  Not to mention a GREAT work-out.  

 

Back to scrapbooking... the products that I've used have changed over the years... depending on if I'm designing for a company using their stuff, or just using what I've got on hand.  But what's remained constant over the years is that I love multi-photo pages + lots of journaling.  And in my opinion... if I'm going to have a lot of photos on a page... I really HAVE to keep it simple or else it will just look like a jumbled MESS of a page.   Every once in awhile I may have a page with only 1 photo on it, but I'll never have a page without some kind of journaling.  There's no way anyone will ever look through our scrapbooks some day, look at the photos & wonder what happened.  I'm all about telling the story.  I do feel like my pages have become a little too simple lately, but at least I'm getting something accomplished & putting them in the books I suppose. 

So with that, more "simple" pages.  And I'll keep it even simpler, by not giving detailed image shots for each page so this isn't a mile-long post.  There's SRM Stickers on every page too.  Love them.

 

 

And I swear this next one doesn't look crooked in real life, but it sure does on here.  Hmmm.

 

 And speaking of keeping things simple... divided page protectors make it very easy to do that, especially if you have a lot of photos like I always do...

 

Speaking of SRM Stickers... lots of brand new cool stuff in their online store!

 

By the way...  did you see that Archivers is having a going out of business sale?  I need to get over there & buy some stuff before it's all gone.

Because.... you know...  I need more scrapbooking stuff like I need more Zumba clothes.

I'm kinda bummed about this though.  Looks like I'll be shopping online now & paying shipping.  While I do love to shop online, I don't like shopping online for scrapbooking products.  And Michaels stinks for carrying the latest & greatest.  So boooo...

Brickhouse Cardio Club...

The way I ended up teaching at Brickhouse was totally by accident.  Although "they say" there are no "accidents"...  that everything happens for a reason.  I totally believe that. 

Unless, of course, you try to convince me of that when it comes to my sister passing away.  NO.  No reason for that.  People say the rudest things.  Even better than that stupid saying, was when someone (2 different people in fact) said to me, "Well at least you still have another sister."   REALLY asshole???! 

 

Oh well.  Nothing anger management can't handle. 

Or... in my case lots of "Zumba therapy."

 

Just a couple new pages here documenting a couple events in the past 7 months of my teaching at Brickhouse.  Crazy that it's already been that long!

Lots of Simple Stories SNAP & I ♥ Summer collections on this one + several SRM Stickers.  Can you spot them all?  There are 4 different ones...

I know I said I wasn't digging the whole diagonal layout thing when I posted another similar page a few weeks ago, but I did it again anyway.  If I get something wrong once, I like to do it again just to be sure I can make the same mistake twice.  LOL 

And the background paper for this one came from the Pebbles Love You More collection.  I bought the whole collection pack a couple weeks ago.  Even though it's a boy-themed collection... most of it seemed like it could cross-over to girl things, school events & even travel...

 

 

My balloons were just created using a circle punch, left-over scraps & some Twinery bakers twine...

 

 

Coincidentally... I found this video on Facebook today from a franchise owner of Brickhouse Cardio Club...

 

 

Very proud to be part of this company... with such amazing instructors & members that show up with a smile & ready to dance every single time I teach at the Troy, MO location.  They ROCK. 

It all happened by accident.  But I'm so thankful it did...

"Baby it's you & me you see... we can turn the night up...."

 

Gimme some of that...

 

I've got a couple birthday themed pages today... 1 of which I finished before I left for Arizona, but never got around to posting.

Probably because I don't seem to get around to posting ANYTHING lately.  Sheesh.

 

Anyway... random mix of stuff on the pages.  You know the drill... like whatever I have laying around that matches the photos...

And this next page is actually part of a 2-page spread, but the other page is just party pics that I tucked into a 12x12 divided page protector.  I didn't do anything special on that page, no journaling spots, no embellishments at all... yep just crazy party pics that don't belong on the blog... LOL! 

 

Love the bold black + white chevron...

 

Oh how I love celebrating birthdays.

And going out with my friends.

And dancing.

And being crazy.

And then laughing about it all the next morning.

Actually laughing about it is the best part. 

 

One of these days I guess I'll start acting my age. 

Whatever that means...

Life is about KICKING ASS... not kissing it...

 

Don't you agree?

 

Ok then... here's a quick page I made after I read an old blog post from last December.  Literally used the title and the journaling from that day.  Just cut & paste from my blog onto Word, printed it & then ran my journaling spot back through the printer.  Easy peasy.

 

I used all Simple Stories SNAP collection + some SRM Stickers  (the sentiments at the bottom & the date &  year at the top)...

And if you read all the journaling, I'm happy to say that I'm no longer addicted to the Artisan Roasted Garlic & Black Bean chips.  I gave them up for Lent (even though I'm not Catholic) & just didn't go back to eating them after that.  Tried once & they tasted gross.  Which is weird since I was eating like half a bag per day.  Not kidding. 

Red Hot Blues chips are good though.  Ahem.

Pretty sure I'd have an ass the size of Manhattan if I didn't work-out every day.

 

Scottsdale tomorrow!  Time to pack...

"Maniac brainiac winning the game... I'm the lyrical Jesse James..."

I ♥ old school hip hop. 

Thanks for the feedback on here & on Facebook after my recent post about my blog the other day.  I'll probably continue with the irregular blogging for now, as it may eventually lead to something else down the line.  I'd really like to design again for another manufacturer so it really leaves me no choice but to keep this somewhat current.  While I don't get a lot of comments on here, I do still get a lot of daily hits so I know people are reading this and hopefully somewhat inspired if nothing else. 

There was one comment I received that sums up exactly how I, too, feel about blogs...

 

"I like seeing your layouts. I like reading about the parts of your life that you like to share. I get drawn to blogs by the scrapbooking but I stay when I like the whole picture."

That's so how I operate.  I have a pretty long list of blogs on my feed, but the large majority of them I scroll through for inspiration or simply to keep up with what's going on the in the scrapbooking world.  There's a much smaller number of blogs that I actually read because they've hooked me with something about their life.  Usually it involves a sense of humor... or sarcasm.  Because if you can make me laugh... you're in. 

And in the past 5 1/2 years of blogging, I've gradually started writing more like I talk in real life... even if it involves slang or not necessarily being grammatically correct. 

Although if you know me in real life, I'm probably a lot more inappropriate than I am on here.  Gotta keep things somewhat professional!

 

Here's another page I completed last week while Bryn was gone.  I used a design I had recently used a couple weeks ago, but put it on an angle to try something new.  And since these pages aren't going in the same scrapbook it doesn't really matter if they look alike anyway.

Although who am I kidding?  Most of my pages look alike.  In fact, I'll sometimes look back through my pages for inspiration when I'm stuck for something to do. 

 

 Mostly Simple Stories on here, along with some SRM sentiment stickers + a 2013 sticker...

Not sure I'm totally digging the diagonal look for me.  I think it works better for others.  My OCD on keeping things lined up is kinda bugging me the more I look at this page.

But hey... gotta try new things sometimes, right? 

 

And speaking of new things... in addition to the Saturdays I'm already rotating with another instructor, I'm also going to be rotating Sundays now for teaching Zumba beginning in August.  Yay! 

And speaking of Zumba... it's MONDAY so I'm home from teaching this morning!  Best way to start the week!   

Northridge Publishing... anyone... anyone??

Any of my scrapbooking friends had their work published in Scrapbook Trends lately?  My card that was published in the March issue was just finally returned to me last week, but that was all that was in the box?  No free magazines & no freebies as I've received in the past.  Just wondering if anyone knows if they've changed their terms?  

Anyway... I'm not going to buy that issue just to see my card in there, because really they should've sent me one... but here's the card that graced the pages of that magazine a few months ago...

 

And let's see... took 2 classes at the Y this morning (spin & Zumba), had lunch & and I'm now impatiently awaiting Bryn's arrival home tonight.  Can't wait to see her!  It's a rainy day here though, so I'm probably going to spend some time in the craft room.  In fact... here's one of the pages I finished this week while she was gone...

Mostly Simple Stories SNAP collection on here & I did a little hand-stitching by my butterfly.  I still need to get my dang sewing machine fixed.... would be nice to actually use that again!....

And the little flowers by my title letters are from the SRM Mother's Day Sticker set.  I just added a little bling to them...

 

Okie dokie then... happy Friday & have a fabulous weekend!

"You beat yourself up... to bring yourself down... let it go, let it go, let it go..."

 

"... when the world is coming down on me... I let it go..."

Spent a couple hours in the craft room today while Bryn was at a friend's house.  Love that.  In fact, I haven't done that in awhile.  I mean I have, but lately I just kinda sit here staring & thinking too much & not accomplishing anything.  Except for maybe the 'thinking too much' part.  It stinks.  But not only does creating help clear my mind... but laughing at hilarious instant messages on Facebook helped my mood today too.   

Gotta love having crazy friends.  

So... during a fleeting moment of aloneness & inspiration before we went school supply shopping this afternoon... I put some of Bryn's recent birthday photos on paper.  It's a page design I use OFTEN... yes I know... BORING... but it works when you have lots of photos. 

And you all know I had way more than this, so narrowing it down to 7 photos is pretty good for me.  LOL

Since it was a chevron-themed party (per Bryn's request) I used some yellow chevron paper on here (from the cheap Recollections paper pack) + some Studio Calico paper + Simple Stories Vintage Bliss for my title letters/numbers...

 

There's a few other random things on here, like SRM Stickers... but as always, comment if you need more info. 

Note to self... print more photos + finish more pages.  Thinking too much is overrated anyway.  Laughing is WAY better. 

You GLO, girl!

"She'll bruise some... she'll hurt some too.... but oh they love to watch her strut..."

I know this may be a surprise to you... but I have more Zumba photos today. 

I know.  Not a surprise.

In fact if you know me... these days I'm in my sweaty work-out clothes looking like a hot mess WAY more than I'm in my nice clothes & high heels. 

Me no likey.

I need a girls night out pronto... which I finally get tomorrow night.  Yay.  And then we're getting up on Saturday morning & driving to Illinois for the One Direction concert.  You know... the concert where there will be thousands of crazy, screaming girls & I'll just be like... "Who's Harry & how can I get a glass of wine around here?" 

Should be an interesting night... but Bryn will love it.  And please Lord... no rain since we'll be on the lawn.

 

Back to Zumba.  I attended the "Caliente for the Cure" Zumbathon last month.  It's held the same weekend as the Susan G Komen "Race for the Cure."  WAY more fun than the race, if you ask me.  Also it's held in the air conditioned gym so yeah... much better.   I actually ended up with a lot of cute photos from that night that people had taken, but only used a few good ones on this page.  Fun, fun night with my friends from both locations where I teach Zumba...

 

More of the Simple Stories I heart Summer collection on here.  Loving that collection... so fun & colorful.  Also added a couple SRM Stickers too. 

And speaking of Zumba... I've taught a few classes this week.  It's been a fun week, but I think I've hit a wall today.  I'm in need of my 2nd wind right now.  Whew.

No rest for the wicked...

"Oh baby baby... how was I supposed to know..."

Every summer, for the past 5 years I think, my parents take Bryn & her cousin to the lake with them for almost a week.  They stay at their condo, do some fishing, spend a lot of time in their boat & a day at Silver Dollar City.  Bob & I have a free "date week" at home while she's gone & usually go out every night.  It's fun... but I miss her like CRAZY when she's gone. 

Last summer, which by the way was the last time she was interested in her American Girl dolls, I promised her I'd take care of her "babies" while she was gone.  As a side note, she always LOVED all of her "babies" from the time she herself was a baby.  She treated them like they were REAL babies too.  There was always at least ONE of them that was with us everywhere we went, whether it was the grocery store or a trip out of town.  Sometimes I might even have one in their "carseat" in my car, even though she was at school all day.  In fact, every time we'd have tornado sirens in the past, she'd panic... grab every single doll in her room, throw them all in a big basket & run downstairs so they were all safe.  She was that protective. 

So cute.  I miss those days. 

Anyway... she didn't believe me that I'd take care of them, let alone take them with me when I went out, so of course I had to prove her wrong.  Pretty sure people thought I was nutty getting my picture taken with one of her dolls while I was out, but since I really AM nutty... I didn't care.  And she loved when I would text her the random photos so it was totally worth it. 

She leaves for her annual trip in 2 weeks.  Pretty sure now that she's the ripe old age of 12 & pretty much over the American Girl dolls, I'm going to have to come up with something else to amuse her.

These photos were from last summer & the quality isn't great since they were taken with a phone, but I wanted them in the book.  Plus I'm all for telling the story... whether you have a photo or not.  That's really what will matter the most in the future.

 

Just a random mix on here... mostly the Simple Stories I Heart Summer collection + SRM Sticker sentiments + some American Girl paper of course...

 

And since I still had the googly eyes out from that Monsters University page I posted the other day... I threw some of those on there too. 

 

And speaking of having photos in the books to tell the stories... my sister texted me tonight & reminded me of something funny that happened on a family trip almost 20 years ago.  And it was something I just happened to have a photo of that I managed to find in an old scrapbook.  So I texted the picture back to her.  Totally hilarious. 

Although it really doesn't take much to amuse us, I must admit... 

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, good bye...

Just a quick post, as I should really be finishing up packing for our trip right now.  If I forget something though, I guess I'll just have to go shopping.  Ahem. 

My design term with SRM Stickers is coming to an end this month.  And actually all that really means is that I won't have any assignments with them... because I'll definitely still be using their products!  It's a well known fact that I became a life-long fan of theirs a few years ago when I was part of their very first team of designers. 

Love, love, love their products.

More of the Simple Stories I heart Summer collection here, along with love, wedding & anniversary-themed SRM Stickers...

Since they're clear stickers... they even adhere seemlessly over photos like my Mr & Mrs sticker...

 

 

I have another SRM Stickers project that is already scheduled to be posted tomorrow, but other than that... I won't be back until the end of next week. 

Off to our Meditteranean cruise tonight.  Italy, France & Spain... here we come!

So arrivederci, au revoir & adios, my friends! 

Time to brush up on my French.  I'll have to rely on Bob for the Spanish & Italian...

"Damn right it's better than yours... I could teach you but I'd have to charge..."

What's bettter than Zumba in the morning AND Zumba again that night?  Ok... well maybe lots of stuff... but this day will ROCK fo sho.  Took my friend's class this morning & I'm subbing a class tonight.  CanNOT wait.  LOVE this group of rockin' girls I get to see tonight! 

More Zumba tomorrow night too... Caliente For The Cure!  HUGE Zumba fund raiser event for Susan G Komen... canNOT wait for that either!! Fun, fun, FUN! 

I picked up the Simple Stories I heart Summer collection the other day.  Had a coupon burning a hole in my pocket & the collection pretty much rocks.  So cute.  Other than the pink background paper on here (which is also Simple Stories... the SNAP collection) this page is all I heart Summer...

I also added some SRM Birthday Sentiment stickers to my title...

 

Wake up, eat, dance... eat, shower, dance...  eat, shower, go to bed. 

 

Yep... that's my Thursday. 

And I LOVE IT!

"Sexy people all around the world... the night is young... let's have some fun..."

We're a little over a week into the summer.  Nothing too out of the ordinary so far... mostly some pool time and friends time.  The month of June will be way busier though.  Bryn's 12th birthday is coming up, she's doing a 1-week soccer camp & then we're off to a Meditteranean cruise (Bob's incentive trip with State Farm)... which means Italy, France & Spain.  Long flight to get to that side of the world, but it should be pretty amazing.  I've been to Spain & France, but it will be my first time in Italy.  It will also be my first cruise EVER. 

For now though... some photos from Bryn's recent school band concert from a few weeks ago.  Thankfully there was no "parent concert" this time.  Once is enough for that craziness.  It was amazing how much they had improved since the December concert...

Mostly the DCWV Edumacation Stack on here with some Simple Stories SNAP & Bella Blvd Midterm.  That big "SCHOOL" title is a SRM Sticker, as is the 2013 sticker.  I do love using SRM Stickers...

 

And speaking of SRM Stickers... my SRM Tube storage idea is featured on their blog today.  You can check it out here.

I'm also finishing up choreographing another song for Zumba...

 

I do love me some Pitbull. 

Happy Friday, everyone, and have a FUN weekend! 

Lucky #13...

 

13 years ago today, I married Bob in Sonoma in the company of a very small group of family & friends.  It was an amazing trip that began in San Francisco & ended in Sonoma with our wedding.  To this day we all still laugh about some of the hilarious things that happened during that trip.  Although I do have to say that EVERY family trip usually involves many hilarious things.  I love my family SO DANG MUCH.

As I was looking through the scrapbook I made back then, of the 8 months that led up to the wedding which began with the other Sonoma trip we took where Bob proposed to me... I found a copy of the toast my sister, Kaysy (who has since passed away), read at our wedding: 

"The sisterhood in this family is stronger than any we've ever seen or known.  We've shared some blood (Soccem Boppers), tears, and many joys.  The memories the 3 of us share are endless.  For those who know us, they know that it's a challenge to deal with us because we come as a package.  Bob, we would like to welcome you to our family today.  We can see that you make Deana very happy and for that we are happy to call you our brother-in-law.  I would consider Deana bull-headed.  Marci would say it's a strength, but we both agree that she is one who knows what she wants and goes after it.  It's been a long journey to get to this day, but the happiness we see in you two today make the trip well worth it.  So today as we celebrate our trip to California on the marriage of Deana and Bob, we would like to toast the bride & groom and wish them life-long happiness."

Even more special was that the copy of what she read was in her handwriting.  Very special to me. 

I miss her so much. 

Bob & I have changed a little over the last 13 years as you can see from this candid shot from our reception back at home.  Actually, I think we've changed for the better... as we've both made exercise a part of our daily life since then.

In the meantime, I made this page about our anniversary.  And Susan, the owner of SRM Stickers, asked if she could post it on the SRM Stickers blog today... 

I used a lot of SRM's new Labels By The Dozen on here, along with a calendar sticker, Sticker Stitches, number stickers and Valentine's stickers...

 

In addition to celebrating our anniversary & Memorial Day... I also celebrated my birthday with my friends over the weekend.  It was a total blast, as usual...

Love them, love them, love them!

And it's almost the end of May.  Time is flying by...

"Hey hey hey..."

TGIF... and so far it's been an awesome one.  Although any day that begins with a fun Zumba class usually makes for an awesome day.  As do surprise early birthday gifts! 

For Mother's Day I received a new laptop, which was awesome considering I've had my current laptop for about 5 years & it was just a matter of time before it crashed on me.  So for a few days I was without my old one while everything was transferred over to the new one.   I had a couple scheduled posts this week though, so it appeared that I was still around.  For the last couple days I've been working between the two computers since 1) I haven't totally figured everything out on this new one and 2) I only have Photoshop on the old one.   My next order of business is to get that on the new laptop.  Hoping to figure that out tonight. 

Actually I'm hoping Bob will figure that out for me tonight.  Ahem.

Best Mother's Day gift of all though... was the hand-painted chevron print canvas that Bryn made for me.  I've always told her I'd much rather she make something for me, than to buy something.  She's one very creative girl.  You can't tell in the photo, but the white paint is sparkly.  Gotta love anything with glitter...

 

And speaking of her creativity... I found some random photos from her 4th grade year (2 years ago) and decided to make one page about these random events from that year, rather than dedicate a separate page to each event...

It's a mix of old & new products... plus some SRM Stickers.  Their stickers always seem to find a way onto my pages & projects.  Love them!

 

And YAY... I'm teaching a 90-minute Zumba class tomorrow morning, so the FUN continues!

Have a GREAT weekend, everyone! 

"This is a good place for a stick-up..."

Remember that Airwick commercial from the early 80's?

It crossed my mind. 

Again.

For like 3 days in a row actually.

Oh my... oh my... oh my...

 

Been trying to organize my digital photo files recently.... deleting some... putting LOTS of them in a folder holding photos that I've already put onto scrapbook pages... and realizing how much is still out there that I haven't done anything with yet.  Even worse than the photos on my laptop...  all the photos on my iPhone.  It's like they're out of sight... out of mind.  Oy.

Anyway in doing so, I found these birthday pics from Bryn's 9th birthday.  She'll be 12 next month... so the pics are 3 years old.  I know for sure I put the pics from her birthday "party" in the book that year, but somehow these from the actual day of her birthday never made it. 

The page is pretty simple in design, but there's a lot going on in the photos... and of course I had to use as many photos as possible, as usual!  The products are a mix of Simple Stories SNAP, American Crafts,  My Minds Eye and some graph paper, of course, because it makes me happy...  LOL 

 

Do the Airwick stick-ups still exist? 

If so... I'd like to order a case please....

Oh and I'm teaching Zumba again tonight.  This week I've taught classes on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday AND I have a short little stint tomorrow morning at a Mother's Day party at the Y. 

Goodness... I should probably go buy a new pair of shoes or something...  ;-)

National Scrapbooking Day...

There's a "national day" for everything now... like "World Naked Gardening Day" anyone?  Saw that on Facebook the other day.  Might give trimming the bushes new meaning.  Bahahaha. 

I think I'm gonna have to stick with National Scrapbooking Day.  I'm not really the naked in the garden type.  Heck, I'm not even into gardening WITH clothes on.  I say hire a yard boy & I'll just watch from inside the house.   

And when is National Zumba Day?  I think I can partake in that one too.

Soooo anyway, back to National Scrapbooking Day... which is tomorrow.  I finished up a couple pages in the last few days, which is good since I'm teaching Zumba tomorrow and getting a massage afterward so scrapbooking probably won't be fitting into my plans. 

And what's more fun that scrapbooking about Zumba?  Two of my favorite things to do...

Lots of Simple Stories SNAP collection on here.  Will I ever tire of that collection, you ask?  Ummm, no.  Loving those colorful "kicks" stickers.  Found them for $1 at Target.  Oh how I love me some Target.  I also added that Life is Good border sticker from SRM Stickers to my journaling spot...

 

Yay.... it's Friday!  Hope you enjoy your weekend... scrapbooking or otherwise! 

I just say NO to reptiles...

... unless of course you'd like to buy me a snakeskin bag or something... and then I say YES.  As for snakes, lizards, geckos or any creature in the reptile house at the zoo... ummmm NO.  Somehow though... we ended up with a pet gecko named Junior. 

Who he/she was a "junior" to in our family, I'm not sure. 

And Junior lived in my craft room... which was really all shades of wrong considering how much I don't love reptiles.  And the absolute best part about Junior living in my craft room, God rest his/her soul, was the sound of the live crickets (ie. gecko food) chirping every.  freakin'.  day. 

I mean, I have a nice craft room.  How is it that I felt like I was outside in the wilderness when I was in there? 

The things I won't agree to for this child. 

Anyway... Junior passed away.  Bryn cried.  I did a secret happy dance.  It was a very sad day.

I had a few bad quality cell phone photos... one showing Junior shedding his skin (totally disgusting)... so I thought I'd document our time spent with this pet.  The page turned out kinda cute (helloooo... a rainbow!) considering how NOT cute the pet was...

Speaking of the rainbow... that journaling card was from the super cute and FREE journaling cards found here.  The chevron background paper is Simple Stories Vintage Bliss.  I added a SRM Hello sticker on there too...

So to sum things up... reptiles ok for accessories... not ok for pets. 

And quite frankly... any kind of animal print gets my vote.  In fact... I just bought a zebra print rug for the craftroom....

 

I think I just died and went to Heaven. 

The end.

True dat.

If you're friends with me on Facebook, you've already seen photos from our weekend in Denver.  We left on Good Friday (the first day of Bryn's "spring break") and came home last night.  It was a family vacation involving us & my parents visiting my sister, who's lived there for almost a year now.  Downtown Denver, where she lives, pretty much ROCKS.  I can now understand what she loves about living there.  It kind of reminds me of New York, in that you can walk everywhere.   Our whole point in going was because March 31 (Easter Sunday) marked 11 years since my other sister passed away suddenly from menengitis.  And this was the first year Easter was on March 31 again, as it was the day she passed away.   It was an AWESOME weekend.  So much fun together, so many laughs, a few tears & the most incredible sunrise service I've ever seen at Red Rocks Amphitheater.  It was a blessing to be able to spend the weekend with them.  I'm so thankful. 

And my welcome back home was a last minute request to sub the 5:30am Zumba class this morning after our flight landed last night at 8pm.  It was FUN though & I'm glad I did it.  No rest for the wicked! 

Another thing you may have seen already on Facebook is this letter I found on our printer one morning... a letter Bryn wrote to Harry Styles (you know... One Direction... and the guy I guess everyone is in love with... including my daughter apparently.)

Well I mean, not EVERYONE is in love with him.  Personally I think he's kind of a dork. 

Anyway... I wanted to save the letter.  And rather than just throw it in a box with all her other school stuff  I'm saving from this year, I thought I'd add it to the scrapbook.  The photo was taken while we were shopping one day... before the letter was written... but it worked perfectly with the content of the letter...

The fun chevron background paper is Simple Stories Vintage Bliss.  I bought a few pieces of patterned paper from that collection recently.  I'm not usually drawn to anything "vintage" in scrapbooking, but this collection has some fun colors & patterns.  I also added some random extras on the page that matched...

 

Did you read the letter?  It's pretty funny. 

What am I gonna do with that crazy kid?

Zumba LOVE for sure...

There's something very cool about Zumba people.  I feel incredibly blessed to be part of a "family" of friends that have as much fun working out in class, as we do outside the gym.  And the more you get to know people... the more you realize that everyone has a story to tell.  And what bonds us all... is that Zumba is that one thing that makes you smile no matter what else is going on in your life. 

It's Zumba LOVE.   

Last month was "Heart Month" for the American Heart Assocation.  I attended 2 Zumbathon fund raisers organized by my instructor friend from the Y, who suffered cardiac arrest during a Zumbathon the year prior, and who's life was saved due to immediate CPR. 

 

The American Heart Association chose to tell her story.  I attended this Zumbathon where this video was shot, which also includes a reinactment of what took place on the night she received CPR.  I wasn't there on that particular night, but remember hearing about it immediately after it happened.  It was pretty scary.   

 

Zumba love...

God, CPR and Zumba LOVE for sure. 

"I'm a do it, do it... like I wanna do it... You gon' know me like, you ain't never known me before..."

For me, sometimes inspiration strikes as soon as I get home from teaching Zumba.  Or should I say after I eat lunch, because that's always an immediate must. 

If only I could get inspired to take a shower as soon as I get home?

There's something about a high you get from working out that can translate creatively.  I've come up with page ideas before while running on the treadmill & actually stepped off mid-run to jot it down before I forgot. 

Because poof... at this age, I can lose my train of thought in an instant.

Anyway... I had these iPhone photos already printed so I thought I'd finally do something with them.  It's the photo I took of Bryn & me in our bathroom on New Year's Eve, during a moment where she didn't have her head in the toilet.  It was an awful way to ring in the new year, but it was our night & I wanted to document it.  I also used a screen shot of our text conversation while she was in the bathroom at the restaurant that night.

In fact, text screen shots are something I need to use more often on my pages.  Texting is certainly a big part of my life now. 

Well minus all the inappropriate ones, which pretty much means I won't be using very many.  LOL

 

Lots of the Simple Stories SNAP collection on here, along with some SRM New Year's stickers...

 

 

And speaking of teaching Zumba... I'm off to teach my 3rd class in 24 hours... which I guess is just a walk in the park for a friend of mine who teaches FOUR classes every Monday. 

Clearly we are Zumba freaks.  Just 2 of many...