(diva)logues

New product from SRM Stickers...

Have you seen all the cool new products from SRM Stickers?  I have a project on their blog today, using 2 of their new products that just debuted at the 2013 Winter CHA Trade Show...

SRM Thank You Stickers By The Dozen and SRM's Glassine Bags

Just a very quick + easy way to make gift card holders!  Place the card inside, fold the top over, add a journaling card (mine were from the Simple Stories Fabulous collection), punch 2 holes & lace your ribbon through.  A little bling, of course, will finish it off...

Check out the SRM Stickers blog daily to see more creative ways to use these products and MORE!

"My homey lent me some cash... thank you. Bartender filled my glass... thank you."

Did you know that SRM Stickers has teamed up with The Twinery and is now selling their twine in their online store?  How FUN is that?!

One of my favorite fun ways to use twine on a page is when making "balloons."   I used their Caribbean Teal Blue twine on this page about the birthday dinner we had for my dad last weekend.  My sister surprised him by coming in town for it...

I added a SRM We've Got Your Border sentiment.  And of course... more SNAP goodies on there too.   Oh... and some of that Target washi tape.  Gotta love it.

Also gotta love 7-hour birthday lunches.  Fun times!

That is all.

Good news...

 

Check out the fun announcement over at the SRM Stickers blog today! 

Yep... I was asked to come back & be part of their design team for this next term.  Very cool! 

Not that I ever really stopped using their stickers.   I LOVE THEM!

As you know I was part of their very first design team & then was asked to stay on as one of their Emeritus Designers for a second year.   And now I'm excited to be back again & working with some FUN new products! 

 

Oh... and it's Monday too.  And you know what that means?! 

Time to go teach ZUMBA!   Woot woooot!  What a GREAT DAY!

"We will, we will, ROCK YOU..."

Ok so who wants to see more SNAP?

Cricket... cricket...

Well obviously I do, so here we go!   It's really just a few of the journaling spots on here, but let's face it... that's what most of the collection is & why I love it.   The photos are from Bryn's band concert in December that also involved the "parent concert" I'd been practicing for too.   The things I will do for this child...

I added a SRM We've Got Your Border sticker sentiment to the bottom of my journaling spot.  And the musical notes is a very OLD clear overlay on blue cardstock to match the letter & number Thickers.  The polka dot paper on the sides is Echo Park Springtime...

I shared this video Bob took of our stellar performance on Facebook last month, but I thought I'd share it here too since it goes along with the photos.  It's totally hilarious.  Actually we sounded a lot better than I thought we would though.  And yes, that's me right in front.  My friend commented on Facebook that I was "first chair"... something only those who have played in band would understand.  Cracked me up though!!! 

Did we or did we not rock Hot Cross Buns?

 

Ok nevermind, don't answer that...

Well that's just purrrfect...

Since January is a big month for birthdays, I've been busy making a few cards.

Now that I think about it, EVERY month is a big month for birthdays.

Anyway, I happened to have the Simple Stories Fabulous collection still laying on my floor, so I used one of the journaling cards as the background for this one...

In addition to my SRM sticker sentiment, I added my own grass, an extra wing & a punched butterfly to add some dimension to the card...

I went out & bought some cat stickers just for this next card.  It's a long story.  Not even sure how it began...

Another journaling card for my background (this one from Echo Park) plus some added punched clouds & a border punched strip for my grass...

To add to the "cat" theme for this particular birthday party last Saturday night, I happened to find cat masks while shopping that day...

 

What can I say... it got a few laughs.

And in my world... getting a few laughs is golden.

"I'm easy to see, I'm with the girls on the dance floor..."

It's almost birthday party time.  A party that just might involve a dance floor. 

My FAVORITE kind of party.  For reals. 

In fact I just finished making a fun cd of party songs per the birthday girl's request.   

A warning to my Facebook friends... there will probably be a ton of pics on there Sunday.  That's how we tend to roll.  LOL

And what is this I see?  A Christmas page that WASN'T made with the 12 Days of Christmas collection?  I know... finally.  Sheesh.  And it's not even a Christmas collection.  It's the Echo Park Today's Story collection.  Sorry, I know.  I'm addicted to that one too.     

It's mostly the entire 12x12 journaling cards page.  I changed it up just a bit to cover the yellow & blue.  Also added some SRM Christmas-themed stickers + some of my own embellishments...

The grid made it easier to finish in a reasonable time. 

And by reasonable, I mean less than 2 days.  LOL

Have a FABULOUS weekend, everyone! 

 

Wha' shoe lookin' at?

You know it's really cold outside & HOT inside when the windows in the Zumba room are all fogged up.

Zumbliciousness.

Just a couple more pages here using some more of my December photo stash, along with more of the My Mind's Eye 12 Days of Christmas collection.  You'd think I'd used it all by now, but hang tight!  I still have a few more scraps.  LOL 

I mixed in some old Cosmo Cricket (the polka dot background paper) + some Simple Stories Fabulous stickers.  The shoe is a downloaded clip art image to fit the theme, with some added bling.  It doesn't look like any of the 3 pairs of shoes she received, but frankly I don't care.  It matches the page.

This kid is a total NUT.  I'll admit she gets the crazy faces from me, along with the outta control excitement over shoes.  She better study hard & get a good job... that's all I can say...

On the next page I wanted to use the photos Bryn had taken with her iPod Touch when she attended a parade with her friend.  They aren't the best quality photos, but I'm all for using imperfect photos in the books to document an event...

I made my own tree + added some bling.  I do love me some bling...

I also kinda love graph paper.

Duh.

It's almost the weekend!  ROCK ON...

"Now would I say something that wasn't true...I'm asking you sugar would I lie to you..."

Well apparently I lied.  I thought I was only going to do a couple pages from December (Christmas Day & Christmas Eve), but I found this page I had finished last week and hadn't yet posted.  The photos are pretty busy, so I wanted to keep the rest of the page pretty simple & streamlined... 

More My Mind's Eye 12 Days of Christmas, some Doodlebug Designs North Pole + more SRM Christmas sentiment stickers...

In addition to that I found some photos Bryn had taken at a local parade she attended with her neighbor friend, so I guess I'll have a handful of pages from December.  

Or well... I guess that assumes I actually do something with the photos.  One never knows!   

Happy Friday & have a great weekend, everyone!

"So this is what you meant... when you said you that you were spent..."

Ok, so now that I finally managed to finish my December Daily mini book, I thought I'd create a couple pages using my leftover My Mind's Eye 12 Days of Christmas collection that I had used to create the book.  Since the mini book only allows room for a few photos, I like to do some 12x12 pages too.  We all know I like to use as many of my photos as possible from every event!  In all likelihood I'll just do a Christmas Eve & Christmas Day page, but we'll see.   I still need to go through all my photos from the month.  I've started with Christmas Day though.  I printed my photos in wallet size so I could fit a lot on the page (8 to be exact)...

In addition to the My Mind's Eye, I also threw in a couple bits of Nikki Sivils' Gingerbread Land (an oldie but a goodie!) + some SRM We've Got Your Border Christmas stickers (love them!)...

... and I made my own tags using a tag punch + some SRM Merry Stickers...

It was "early release day" at school today.  I brought Bryn & her friend home to hang out for a few hours, so since they're busy... I think I'll hang out in my craftroom.

Yay me!

Can I get a do-over. Please.

Ummm 2013.  The first 11 days... not so great.  The year literally began with Bryn having a REALLY bad stomach virus.  A few days later I had the stomach virus.  Then last Monday, I got in my car to go teach Zumba & had a dead battery so I started walking to work since I had 15 minutes until my class started.  Luckily a friend who takes my class drove by, saw me walking & picked me up.  I know...so random.  An angel in a van!    

And just when I was thinking that's all just random craziness that happens to everyone... then... worst of all... one of my bestie's husband committed suicide.  Not sure how else to say that without it being so abrubt.  It's an awful horrible tragic mess.

No comments necessary for me though.  Just requesting that everyone who reads this say a quick prayer for her and her daughter.  I love them so much.  And I don't think one can ever have too many prayers. 

 

My December Daily is finally complete, with the exception of Day #23 which must've been such a boring day I couldn't even remember what to say.  Ok well... actually I wasn't able to find a photo either... 

Most of the book was created using My Mind's Eye 12 Days of Christmas + SRM Stickers.  And like I said at the beginning of the month, it's a 6x6 format which made the pages pretty quick + easy to complete.

You can see the book in it's entirety here.

Ok.  Do-over begins now.  Keeping the faith for good things to come...

We're all in our places with sunshiny faces...

The weather is a-mazing today and yet I just spent the whole day, minus my 6:30am spin class + a quick run to Starbucks, in my craftroom working (or playing, really).  And to be perfectly honest at 3pm I thought to myself... this was the best day ever.  And Bryn has volleyball intramurals all week after school, so that gives me an EXTRA hour to do whatever the heck I want.  Strange, I know, but with everything else going on lately, to have an entire day to devote to choreographing 2 Zumba songs + getting a couple scrapbook pages completed... I was a happy girl. 

Or... perhaps it's this Simple Stories SNAP collection that makes me so happy?  Page number 3 is here, so sorry in advance if you're not quite as into SNAP as I am.  You're going to see more of it too.  That's how I roll.  When I like something, I just keep using it.  Like rainbows and clouds and buildings and... well, you know the drill. 

 

In addition to the SNAP collection, I also used a SRM Stickers 12x12 calendar page + some SRM Calendar Companion stickers on the bottom...

Ok, so today wasn't really the best day EVER.  Clearly I've had better days.  Like with people.  I'm not just a recluse or anything.  

But it was really nice.  And I really am a happy girl right now. 

And according to the forecast we have 3 more days of weather in the 50's & 60's, so I'm pretty sure this will be the best weekend EVER!  Well maybe not EVER, but my weekend involves really cool & fun people.  Oh and 2 birthday parties.  And probably a headache on Sunday.  WOOOT!

Enough exaggeration.  Off to pick up my volleyball girl...

Friends are like Louis Vuitton bags. No one wants the fake ones...

Happy 2013!  It's been an interesting year so far... and by interesting I mean it's kinda stunk.  Bryn came down with a bad case of the stomach flu on New Year's Eve, which totally changed our plans right after we went out that night.  She ended up spending that night sleeping (kinda sleeping anyway) on the floor next to the bathroom.  It was an AWFUL, AWFUL night for her & she's still not feeling well.  Doubting that she'll be going back to school when that resumes tomorrow, as she still hasn't been able to eat a normal meal.  A couple popsicles, a couple crackers, electrolyte water & Sprite is all that she's been doing lately.  And she's wanted a LOT of mama time, which I actually kinda love.  Just wish she'd feel better soon.  She rarely gets sick, so she's not liking this. 

In the meantime... some crafty stuff.  I attempted to clear off my craft table so I could actually use it to create on, but ended up with a total MESS on the floor.  So... with all this random stuff staring me in the face, I started using some of it.  Funny how that happens.

I finished these 2 pages a couple weeks ago (before the mess on the floor happened)...

... and this next page WAS finished over a month ago, but I hated it & never posted it... so I totally re-did it with less color & pattern  recently.  Still not much to write home about, but better than it was...

The SRM Girl Scout sticker is sold at Girl Scout Council Stores.  And I thought it was quite perfect considering I had just taught Zumba to 2 groups of Girl Scouts so they could get a badge for learning a new dance!

I used a photo collage on the next page which was made via Picmonkey... a somewhat free photo editing site.  They have recently added the option of upgrading ($4.99/month) to use of a lot of their editing features though.  Poop.

And more SRM Stickers.... the We've Got Your Border Halloween stickers were used on the top & bottom of the page... love them...

I finished one more yesterday, but I'll save something for tomorrow.  Still need to finish up my December Daily too.  Maybe I'll work on that later. 

We'll see what happens.

If you have any questions on the products I used on those pages, just leave a comment & I'll email you links.  Too lazy to link everything up right now.  LOL  

"Everybody in the club... all eyes on us..."

Another memorable Christmas has come and gone!  It's time to put away all the decorations & prepare for the new year.  And I'm ready for it!

 

We already have 3 trips booked, but I'm ready to plan more. 

I'm ready for my 2nd year of teaching Zumba & loving every second of it. 

I'm ready for another design gig to begin (more on that soon!). 

I'm ready for more fun times and laughter with family & friends. 

I'm ready to make a bigger effort at paying it forward & doing random anonymous acts of kindness.

I'm ready for whatever 2013 will bring... but I hope it's HAPPINESS.

 

I'm almost finished with my December Daily book.  Just 3 more pages to go.  I probably would've been finished by now, but I ran out of ink so I couldn't print my photos.  Minor technicality. 

More My Mind's Eye 12 Days of Christmas + SRM Stickers throughout the book...

Totally loving my new upper arm bracelet that I found on etsy...

You can see the book in it's entirety here.

Our Christmas was a total blast.  So glad my sister was in town & I got to see her 3 times this week.  We also had fun having dinner with friends this week too.  More celebrating to come... starting with my New Year's Eve morning Zumba class!  

Can't wait!!! 

Hope your Christmas was memorable too! 

"What do I stand for... most nights I don't know anymore..."

Welp, here we all are on December 21st.  Much to be thankful for & much to wonder about & pray about.  I'm so glad that as soon as school is over today, Christmas break begins.  The kids could really use a break from what's happening in the news and the "rumors" circulating through schools that "there will be a group of people bringing guns to school today... there will be a lock-down... "  it's all just too much.  Their innocence has certainly been replaced by uncertainty.  School can be hard enough without this added stress.  We're doing a lot of talking though & reassuring the best I can.  Things will be ok.   

More pages here from my December Daily book.  Our Christmas cards finally went out too.  A quick upload of a photo to Walgreens one-hour photo developing, some help from Bryn & Bob stuffing envelopes & they were finally in the mail this week.  Nothing crafty about my cards whatsoever.  Major over-achiever here, folks! 

 

More My Mind's Eye 12 Days of Christmas + SRM Stickers throughout the book...

The envelope holds our Christmas Day invitation that I mailed.  After the holidays I'll also add as many of the Christmas cards we received from family & friends as I can fit in there...

That series of photos of Bob helping Bryn study for her science test literally made me laugh out loud when I saw them.  She was making faces at Bob while he was trying to be serious.  She is a total nut bag.  Sadly for her she can't help it... she gets it from me.  And of course she makes me laugh all.the.time. 

When she's not driving me nuts, that is, because well.... she's just like me!!! 

Off to finally begin wrapping all our Christmas gifts... and see if I've finished my Christmas shopping yet.  Still can't say I'm 100% sure I'm finished yet.  Insert big sigh here... 

Big hugs & have a great weekend everyone! 

If you're happy & you know it... don't clap your hands as hard as I do...

Seriously.  I must REALLY clap my hands hard (or maybe just too much) in Zumba, as I now have 3 strips of calluses on my left hand where the fingers from my right hand hit it every time.  In addition to that, I usually bruise the tips of my fingers on my right hand during most classes. 

I was a cheerleader in high school & apparently didn't clap then as much as I do now.  Odd. 

 I know... maybe I ought to take it down a notch.  

OK.  Moving on...

Just taking a little break here from my December Daily book with a new page using Echo Park's Today's Story.  And while it's one of the collections in their Photo Freedom line which is catered to the Project Life crowd, it still works for your standard 12x12 pages too.  I also used quite a few random SRM Stickers on there and that scalloped border strip is from Nikki Sivils' Beatrice collection...

On this particular "date night," we went to a new sushi bar we'd heard good things about.  We were also told to order the "OMG Roll," which was set on fire before they brought it to your table.  Great presentation and totally yummo...

Love the colors & patterns in that collection.  And speaking of cute collections... I also FINALLY received the Simple Stories SNAP collection yesterday, that I had ordered in.... ummmm September. 

It arrived by Pony Express.

A very OLD & SLOW pony.

In fact, I started clapping when he arrived with my package after waiting 3 months for it. 

So unlike me...

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus...

I have to say, I cried quite a few times over the weekend & the tears continued today.  Columbine set the precedent for having lock-down drills in schools, and although I was not yet a mother at the time, it's always been unsettling for me that my child has grown up in a world that needed lock-down drills as part of the school curriculum.  I'll never forget when Bryn was in first grade & she came home from school after one of these drills & asked me, "What do we do at home if we have a lock-down?"  I fought back the tears & told her we had an alarm system to keep us safe.  What else do you say?  I didn't grow up in a time when people went on shooting rampages in schools... or malls... or movie theaters.  

The horrific events at Sandy Hook Elementary hit closer to home because I am now a mother.  And I can't imagine what these poor parents are going through.  What do you say now?  What do you say as you're dropping your child off at school besides, "have a great day & I love you."  I don't know.  I think we just have to keep living our lives without being afraid and trust that all will be ok. 

It is scary though, when all you really want to do is keep your child at home with you forever.   

Anyway... I'm pretty caught up on my December Daily album.  I included the letter Bryn received from Santa, which by the way, made her laugh out loud before she even opened it.  And while she still hasn't come right out & asked me if I'm Santa, it appears that she no longer believes in "him."  So... on the other side of the letter from Santa, I included a letter I found on Pinterest about Santa.  I know she'll read it, as she flips through my book occasionally while I'm making it...

Here's the letter if you want to use it...

And speaking of believing in Santa... I believe that there really is more goodness in the world than bad.  I see it every day.  In fact, every Monday in my Zumba class I see really good, thoughtful people that give me more than I could ever give them.  Their smiles, their encouragement, their willingness to show up... it makes my day.  And this has been a very special year for me in my first year of teaching because of them.  And I think I've thanked my friend that encouraged me to get certified about 100 times since then.  She's the one who knew I could do it and it's changed me... for the better. 

Just one of the many blessings in my life for which I am grateful.

Hugs and love, my friends...

"Get up, get up, get busy, do it... get up & move that body..."

Moving right along here... and I'm up-to-date.  Yay.  All it takes is some uninterrupted time, an hour of The Voice & a glass of wine... it helps with the creative process.  LOL

As with the rest of the book... lots of My Mind's Eye 12 Days of Christmas collection + SRM number stickers & border stickers...

Dear Santa... I really need a pedicure, but I'd kinda rather have a Gucci, so just ignore the toes.  Thanks.

I should probably pull these pages out of the page protectors to photograph them, since some pages look kinda wonky, but you get the idea...

And I've already started on Day #10, aka. the 6th grade band concert day, but we'll save that for tomorrow. 

Good thing The Voice is on again tonight!  Work time!  ;-)

Who's watching besides me? 

Mondays totally ROCK...

Well.... except maybe when I have to play the clarinet during the "Parent Concert" that happens during Bryn's first 6th grade band concert tonight.  Then Mondays kinda don't really rock.

Do I know the 2 songs I have to play tonight (Hot Cross Buns & Merrily We Roll Along)... YES. 

Can I make a pretty sound with my instrument... ummmm sometimes, but NO not really. 

Acccckk!  Can't wait to get BOOED off the stage tonight!  LOVE making a fool out of myself!  (Well, actually I don't really mind making a fool out of myself...I do it often!  LOL!)

At least ZUMBA rocked today!!!  Thank goodness for that! 

Anyhoo... I finished a couple more pages in my December Daily book last night, which means I'm only a couple days behind now.  ;-) 

 

More My Mind's Eye 12 Days of Christmas & SRM number stickers...

I also included a reduced-sized copy of Bryn's Christmas list...

You can see the book in it's entirety here.

Planning to try to get caught up tonight... well... after the concert, that is.  It was a busy, busy weekend & the Zumbathon on Saturday ROCKED BIG TIME!  SO MUCH FUN!  

Have a great week everyone!! 

"Don't you worry, don't you worry child... see Heaven's got a plan for you..."

Moving right along with my book here!  And the running around from here to there every day continues as well.  In addition to everything else going on, I had to pull Bryn from school early the last 2 days in a row... yesterday for the dentist & then today for the orthodontist.  This morning I got up early to do the 6:30am spin class & after I got home I agreed to go back & sub the 10:45 Zumba class.  Bring on the big lunch please.  And thank you.   

Once again I'm caught up here... but still not convinced that I'll stay that way as the month progresses...

 

More My Mind's Eye 12 Days of Christmas collection.  It's making it very easy to put pages together by primarily using one collection for the whole thing...

Those are my glasses I keep in the car now for driving at night.  Had Lasik surgery about 8 years ago, but in the past year the street signs had started getting fuzzy at night.  Most of the time I'm not even driving at night anyway, but I need them just incase.  Bryn got them out & made me put them on to take a picture. 

Off to another Christmas party with the girls tonight & then I have Bob's company Christmas party tomorrow night! 

Tis the season to be jolly! 

"We can dance all night long until the morn, with nothing but our shades on..."

Believe it or not... inspite of a very busy weekend involving an overnight "date night," a Christmas party with my college friends, running, learning a new Zumba routine so I could use it in my class today, finally getting the ornaments on our tree that's been up & naked since Thanksgiving weekend, a drive-thru Christmas light display last night & a weekend-long headache the size of Manhattan... I still somehow managed to get started on my December Daily album. 

And no, I did not pay Bryn to do it for me, although it did cross my mind... 

I'm using some old wood mini book that I found in my craftroom.  For the front cover, I just cut some of the squares from the cover sheet to this My Mind's Eye 12 Days of Christmas collection & added 2 of the SRM We've Got Your Border Christmas stickers + a 2012 SRM Sticker. 

There were a few 6x6 page protectors inside it and I've also cut down some of my 12x12 Becky Higgins divided page protectors to use in it as well.  I did that in last year's book & it seemed to help slightly with the flow of getting pages done.  Although in my case, nothing is ever quick + easy.  I like to make things slow + difficult whenever possible.  But maybe this year will be different?

More SRM number stickers + various SRM Christmas stickers on those pages, as there will be throughout the rest of the book. 

And well... this could be the only time I'm caught up on my book this month, so I'll just go ahead & pat myself on the back today.  Yay me. 

Oh and Bryn got up & put on shorts + a short-sleeved shirt today.  I said, "Bryn, no.  It's December.  That's not appropriate."

She said, "Mommy... it's going to be 76 degrees today, I'm not taking this off.  I'm wearing this." 

I said, "Oh.  Well at least put on a hoodie then." 

How can I argue with that?  This weather is CRA-ZY.

Happy Monday, everyone! 

"Turkey for me... turkey for you... let's eat the turkey in my big brown shoe..."

Two more days until Thanksgiving.  I think I managed to buy everything I need yesterday, but Lord knows I'll end up there with a store packed full of people tomorrow buying something random I forgot.  We'll see.  Crossing fingers & toes that's NOT the case. 

Here's a quick card I made that was inspired by this card I made 3 years ago... only this time I hand-cut my "feathers" from random scraps.  I cut my feather shape, folded each feather in half to give it some dimension & then snipped the edges...

Ummm... google eyes, of course... and a SRM Thanksgiving sentiment sticker...

My sister flies in tonight!  YAY!!!  Looking forward to seeing her and the rest of my family soon! 

"They can't... they won't... they never will... stop the party..."

Well... as of Saturday I'm officially certified to teach Zumba Toning.  YAY!  It was a long but FUN day with a really fun instructor leading the way and lots of other fun instructors in the class.  And then Bob took me out for a fabulous "date night" afterward.  Fun day from beginning to end!  Back to teaching Zumba again today though!  I'm also teaching tomorrow morning at 5:30am, helping with the Thanksgiving morning class on Thursday & then teaching again on Friday. 

Whew!  Think I'm gonna have 2 pieces of pumpkin pie after all that!! 

Here's a pretty quick page I made using the photo editing site picmonkey to create my photo collage.  My buildings came from the old Basic Grey Wander collection that's been sitting with my Austria photos for ummmm like 2 years now.  Sheesh.     

The black chevron paper is from the halloween themed Doodlebug Designs Haunted Manor collection.  And I even used a SRM border sticker on there... that cute blue loopy line.  Love the versatility of those clear stickers!

And you're welcome for the close-up of the model's butts.

Happy Monday, everyone, and have a FABULOUS week!

Cracked...

Well... another week has apparently come and gone without too much happening on this blog.  I'm on Facebook regularly & occasionally on Instagram (mostly to keep up with what Bryn is posting on there ;-), but my blogging seems to be happening less frequently lately.  Whoopsie.  And it's not because I'm lacking on anything to blog about... I've been quite busy... but it's partially because my design responsibilities are currently non existant.  So lately,creating is happening just for FUN... a good thing, of course! 

If you follow Nikki Sivils' blog, you've already seen this post a couple weeks ago about her indecision with the future and whether she's going to create new collections for the Winter 2013 CHA trade show.  I, along with my friend Julie, have been designing for Nikki since day #1 of her company hitting the industry 3 years ago, so I will be really sad if she decides to make a career change.  It's been nothing but the most positive experience working with her & creating with her products.  I'm a huge fan of her paper crafting products, for sure!  I adore Nikki... as a person, designer and business owner.  But I wholeheartedly agree in following your heart & doing what's right for you, right now.  And whatever she decides to do, she'll be a success for sure! 

And speaking of Nikki Sivils... I made this page last week using some of her It's Your Day collection, some SRM birthday stickers & some other random coordinating stash I had on hand...

I'm looking forward to a very FUN week ahead, including the Madonna concert on Thursday!  And I even have a new Zumba class beginning this week that I'm helping to teach every few weeks at the butt crack of dawn... Tuesday mornings at 5:30am.  Whoa... gonna be different I tell ya... but lots of FUN! 

Oh... and I dropped my iPhone 4 for the 500th time on Thursday and totally cracked the front of it.  Yay me.  Good news though!  Bob called & I was eligible for an upgrade to the 4S for $99. 

Hoping my new phone comes in the mail tomorrow.  The little slivers of glass in my finger from too much texting, is kinda getting old... 

BUTT ugly...

There are 100's of reasons I'd like to slow down time and keep Bryn young & innocent forever.  The butt ugly glow-in-the-dark spider webs on our bushes that seem to bring her great joy for 2 years in a row now, are the one lone reason I'm ready for her to grow up. 

Oh and "we're the only house that doesn't have their yard decorated."  Which in layman's terms means... our yard has no giant inflatable pumpkins, no mummys coming out of a casket, no mammoth spiders on the roof...

Ummm nope.  Not gonna happen.  Can barely deal with the butt ugly spider webs. 

And before you start feeling sorry for Bryn & thinking she doesn't have a fun mom... I do agree to doing stupid stuff like this during 6th grader sleepovers...

I've always been into building pyramids, but it takes a glass of wine or two to agree to a butt hovering over my head. 

Ok then.  Moving on...

How about those CARDINALS?! 

Hmmm.  Not a great weekend for Cardinals baseball.  We're still in it though!  Game #7 is tonight and the winner goes to the World Series.  I'm thinking the Cardinals will do it!   

So... while watching that losing game last night, I got out my photos from the winning game we attended last week!  I used some SRM baseball stickers & some of Nikki Sivils It's Raining, It's Pouring collection... since it was POURING DOWN RAIN that night! 

I also used some Echo Park clouds & made my own rain drops...

Happy Monday!  It's time to go teach ZUMBA! 

And LET'S GO CARDINALS!!! 

The boys of summer...

It's October already.  Fall is in the air & summer is fading.  Love that!  And since Halloween is right around the corner, I thought maybe I should finally do something with my photos from last year's Halloween party.  And some brand new stickers that made a surprise appearance in my mailbox were just the inspiration I needed to get started... 

 

 

 

I really love all the SRM "We've Got Your Border" stickers & the new set of Halloween border stickers is just too cute! 

I used a few of those clear stickers on my page + a 2011 sticker on my journaling spot.  The rest of the page is a mix of Doodlebug Designs... paper, stickers & letter stickers.  I had received the Spooky Town set last year from Northridge Publishing after they published one of my pages in Scrapbook Trends magazine.  Gotta love free stuff... especially when it's CUTE free stuff! 

And speaking of October... that means it's baseball Playoffs time & guess who's in it?  Can you say CARDINALS?! 

What a game that was last night!  Woot wooooot! 

PS...

I'm guest blogging tomorrow for a friend, who's a breast cancer survivor.  It's on the topic of mammograms & my own scary experience I had a couple years ago.  Come back then & I'll link you up to her blog!   

What happens in Vegas will probably end up on Facebook...

It's Monday...which means Zumba, of course!  Just finished a mad dash through the mall & now I'm ready to start packing again for Vegas... my 3rd time there this year. 

Wonder if this will finally be the time I come back home a millionaire?  Or I would at least like to have a bit of a tan anyway... LOL

Remember these free Facebook journaling cards I found awhile back? 

Well, I finally used one to make a birthday card.  Although, my original plans were to use them for a scrapbook page, so eventually I'll get around to doing that.  I also used a SRM birthday sentiment sticker on here...

 

And when I get home from Vegas, I finally get to see my sissy again, who I haven't seen since the beginning of August!  I can't wait... I can't wait!!! 

How can you not love Stevie Nicks, especially with BIG 80's hair?!  I'm just sayin...

Wedding bells are ringing...

Yep, you guessed it, I needed to make another wedding card.  For once though, it wasn't for one of the 50 weddings a year my mom attends.  Although, it has been a couple months, so I'm sure my mom will be asking me to make her a card soon.  Heehee  

This one was for a wedding that Bob & I attended Friday night for his niece.  I used some of the grey stickers from the SRM Forever set & they adhered perfectly onto my ribbon.  The round bouquet of flowers sticker on my doily is also from that sticker set...

Happy Sunday everyone.  I'm ready for a new week & a trip to Sin City!

Kickin' it old school... Zumba style...

Vanilla Ice was on The View with his special Zumba version of "Ice Ice Baby" with some rockin' Zumba dancers today.  He also performed at the Zumba Instructors Convention recently.  Anyway, The View isn't a show I watch, but I DVR'd it because I heard he was going to be on.  Love that he even dances with them.  My friend & I made up a similar rendition that we do at the Y!  So FUN!  

EARLY day today.  I subbed a 6am class doing Zumba... which by the way wasn't even a Zumba class, but thank goodness they said they loved it!  And I didn't sleep well last night either, because I was worried I wouldn't hear the alarm.  Right now I feel like I did Zumba in the middle of the night & this is a totally different day.  So weird.  After class, they were all but begging me to get a Zumba class on the schedule in the 5:15 or 6am time slot, soooo.... we'll see.  Told them I'd pass the request along.  FUN morning! 

And yes, yes, YES!  I believe I've finished the last event missing from Bryn's 10th year scrapbook.  In the meantime I also finished a 2-pager from my birthday celebration this year, but quite honestly it's mostly photos in the divided page protectors again, so I'll save it for another day.  Assuming another day comes.  Maybe I'll just stick it in the book & call it a day.    

And as it goes lately, I used mostly Echo Park & SRM Stickers on this one.  Think I've definitely used almost ALL of that Echo Park that I had, too.  So unlike me, but what can I say?  I love it...

TGIF! 

Bryn has a friend spending the night.  And her neighbor friend's mom showed up unexpectedly at the door earlier wanting to look at my kitchen for redecorating ideas.  Thank goodness the kitchen was clean & I had actually taken a shower for once.  LOL 

When I grow up, maybe I'll skip scrapbook design & focus on being an interior designer.

Although that might detract too much from Zumba. 

Nevermind.  Carry on. 

Enjoy your weekend!

"... say do you remember... dancing in September... never was a cloudy day..."

Have I mentioned lately how much I love the YMCA & all the people in it?!  Always a great way to start my day!

Anyhooo... I pulled out the divided page protectors again since I had a boatload of photos from Bryn's birthday party.  Each time I use these, I always hope it's going to make finishing a page just a little bit quicker.  But let's just say I watched 2 episodes of The Voice & still needed to finish my journaling the next day.

Perhaps I was just paying more attention to the TV?  Yeah... I think that's the story I'm going with...

It's not easy to photograph these pages without getting a glare.  Close enough though.  I used a mix of Echo Park on here + some SRM birthday sentiment stickers, but quite frankly it's mostly photos.  I had too many that I wanted to use.   

I know.  Borrrrring! 

But someday it will more appreciated in my scrapbook than it is on my blog...

Fall is in the air here.  LOVE that.  And it inspired me to actually clean the house & get out some of the Halloween decor.  Or maybe cleaning the house was inspired by knowing someone was coming over.

I always tell Bob that we should entertain more often.  It always makes me clean the house...

"Come fill my glass up a little more... we 'bout to get up and burn this floor..."

Just a quickie today with something I made before I left town for the weekend, using some of the photos from Bryn's pre-birthday "girls day out" this year.  Gosh those girls are cute.  

I used mostly Echo Park (the Sweet Day collection) & some brown SRM birthday sentiments on the side.  I used my Slice again to make my title (the Handwritten Fonts card).  And that twine was sent to me from Ribbon Carousel... perfect for attaching to my "balloons..." 

Just random coordinating scraps & my circle punch for the balloons.  I inked the edges after punching them to define them a little more...

Off to school soon to watch Bryn's poms performance. 

A shower would probably be a great idea...