Come and join us!

Scrapshotz is putting on one awesome online crop at the end of this month, there will be prizes, great challenges and a whole lotta scrapbooking and cardmaking going on! Come out and join us :)

carving out a bit of time

Does is seem like every year life gets busier and faster paced than the year prior? It sure seems like that to me. I had all these big plans over the summer to do so many fun things, spend more time just relaxing with my kids, spend time in my scrapbooking room, exercise and take care of myself, watch movies that I'd like to see. Well not much of that got done and whether I like it or not that's the way it is. What I did miss and would like to fix is the fact that I didn't have much alone time, specifically time away from everything. Still trying to figure out how to fit that in but I'm coming up short. Running allowed me that quiet but since I've been running on my treadmill it still seems like there are always people around, c'est la vie right?

Now with full time work, family time, extra curricular activities for the kids and my scrapbooking classes the balancing act is in full swing. Still learning to balance it all, not succeeding on some fronts, but doing well on others. My running has been slowed down due to a potential hip injury. I say potential because I'm hoping my doctor and I caught it before it became a full blown injury that would have stopped my running all together, instead of taking only a few days break.

So like all of you, I can't do it all and I don't every claim that I can...personally crafting time has been severely limited so my postings won't be regular. But I will leave you with a layout that I've done semi recently.

Cause I haven't posted a layout in a while

I thought I'd share one that I did last week after finishing up the SU! class kit. Just used some Cosmo Cricket papers, leftover AE stickers and stamps and a Scribblz artz vinyl rubon. Photos are taken with my android phone with the retro camera app.

Happy Labour Day!

Wow so many things going on lately has made me stop and just breathe. Its funny how things start out one way and end up doing a complete 180 degree turn. This summer began with me not working. We had planned for it but I found that I need to work, for my mental health, the paycheck and just for the interaction. I even took a break from teaching scrapbooking/cardmaking classes and I sorely missed it! Don't worry, they'll start up again very soon. I just finished up the final project and I'm tickled with the whole class! So along with the start of a new school year for both of my kids, being in Grade 8 (!) and 4 respectivly, I'm hopefully starting a new job. I've closed down Little Blessings Dayhome and I'm heading out for job interview on Tuesday afternoon. Prayers and good thoughts would be greatly appreciated :)

On the exercise/healthy lifestyle front, things have been going well. At the beginning of May I changed my eating and then starting at the end of June I started a running program called Couch to 5K. The exercise was to help boost my metabolism and the funny thing is that it had a couple side effects that I didn't expect. First I ended up getting muscle and tonning areas that I never considered. Weird, you'd think that I would have thought of that but I honestly didn't. Secondly I ended up loving to run. This was the big shocker for me. I was always of the midset of "why run unless something chases me?" and now I've completed the program and am running 5km every second day. I so so so love it! I crave to run now, I sweat and look disgusting but I feel strong and powerful. Totally blew my mind that I'd be a runner. I'm now considering the next program called Bridge to 10K but for now I'm happy running my 5k.

Its so weird because the farther that I got into the running program the better I felt, the more toned I got and the less concerned I became about the number on the scale. This is the first time that I've ever experienced this. Truthfully, I'm about 15lbs away from my "goal weight" but old clothes are fitting better and my body feels different. Sure I'd like that number to go down some more but really, if I'm strong, healthy and eating as best as I can I'm happy. I'm happy with my body right now, any extra that comes off now is total bonus but if I stay like this and continue to run longer distances or faster I'm happy. And honestly isn't that what we all strive for?

life changing...

Hello! I remember you! Just kidding, I realize that its been a while since I've posted and honestly I don't have a good reason. Oh I could say I was busy with school ending, new nieces being born, trips to Calgary but while those are all true, I just didn't post. You see since the beinging of May I've been embarking on another type of journey for myself. Those who know me well know that I've always struggled with my weight. I've been up and I've been down, 60lbs to be exact, and kept if off for 4 years. After having Owen I lost that bit of willpower that I had to say "no" to cheesecake, bread and bailey's. I told myself that I was eating well why couldn't I loose weight? Eventually I came up with the solution. I had a thyroid problem. So off to the doctor I went, armed with information about why I had a thryoid problem. After all the testing was done and I went back in for my checkup I got told no thyroid problem, infact my levels are so perfect that they wouldn't even retest. The doctor told me it was all in my head, perhaps depression and meds might be in order? As for the weight loss, she said to exercise. After crying in her office and telling her I ran after 4 kids all day long I left feeling defeated, insulted and honestly angry. How dare she not tell me what I wanted to hear? I wanted an answer! Darn it I wanted the meds with the side effect of loosing weight! Depression she guessed, well she was right to a degree. I was depressed that I had allowed myself to get so big (in my eyes) again, so my response was to eat more because it made me feel better, for the moment.

After my pity party I decided that I wanted a clearer picture of my food intake. I journalled everything that went into my mouth for  week. When I went back I got hit with the cold hard facts, I was eating too much bad stuff(processed carbs), too often and not enough of the good (veggies/fruit/water). I decided then and there I was smartening up. I re-read the GI Diet book that I had used previously and had a really serious self talk about the simple fact that it won't be quick and fast weight loss, anything that is worth doing takes work. I know that slow and steady weight loss is the safest and the most maintainable, I've done it before I can do it again. So after 6 weeks of proper eating and loosing 17lbs, I began exercising. I really felt like I couldn't start 2 things at once because I really needed to get a handle on my eating. So as of 2 weeks ago I've started the Couch to 5K running program that my sister did a couple of years ago. Armed with good shoes and a smartphone app I was off. I loved it! I feel so incredible when I run, something that I never got when going on the elliptical at home. Maybe its those runner endorphines but I'm totally hooked. I don't go fast but you know what? I'm lapping everyone who is sitting on the couch ;)

So while I haven't been crafty for  while, I've been taking care of myself. I feel better, my clothes are fitting so much looser, plus I've been able to buy a new outfit that is almost 2 sizes smaller than what I wore at Christmas! I'm hoping to be at my goal weight by the time my birthday rolls around but if I'm not, I'll just keep going. I've saved some of my old clothes just in case, course buying new wouldn't hurt my feelings.

Two sided papers

Have you ever run into those 2 sided pattern papers that have one side divided into quadrants of different patterns? I've seen them and thought that they would work so well for small scrapbook pages or mini albums but I've never been able to work them into a full size page. Well, here's mine take on that. I cropped my photo of Owen and used it for a photo mat! It worked great and I love how it highlights my picture! This paper was the Bo Bunny Ad lib collection (love it!) and I adore how it turned out!

sometimes I just need space to write

This was the case for this layout. Owen's potty training story was a big story to tell so I picked some of the Bo Bunny Ad lib  papers that had built in lines and worked around my photo and title. I love how it came out with the different colored journalling pens :)

the elusive family photo

Family photos are not easy for us. For one, I always have a certain look in my mind that doesn't always come out, my kids are not always cooperative and my husband isn't such a fan of photos. That being said, I was happy to have this one done by Adrienne Ulliac. The papers used are BG mellow (I think), Maya road sheer journalling spot and pink paislee pleated ribbon around the back of it.

bad photo...great memory

I'll freely admit that I don't always take perfect photos. Sometimes I snap too fast or I don't have the right settings for every situation. But I take pictures for the memories not the technique. This layout and photo tell the story of Owen's first ride on a merry go round. He was scared to death until it started moving...then he loved it! Papers used are BG life of the party.

these photos crack me up!

I've been holding on to this pictures since January. I *love* the look on my cat's face! Its like she's say "what the heck kid?!) Here I kept the layout simple with just a tad of pattern paper (Basic Grey life of the party), the pattern worked well with Owen's jammies.

smaller photos

Sometimes I have so many photos from one event that I chose to create a single page layout with smaller photos. This was the case for the photos of Ethan and Abby doing their testing for Tae Kwon Do. I took the best pictures and printed them out to wallet size. This allowed me to get 6 pictures on one page but also to still have a white space border that I like to have on almost all of my layouts. Its what works for me :) papers used are cosmo cricket, HS raw chipboard, fancy pants rubons (from way back) and stamps from unknown source.

all you need is simple sometimes

I love layouts that are created with many techniques and layers of papers, embellishments and misting. But sometimes I just need to create a simple page. This photo was a favorite of mine from Adrienne Ulliac. Its been a while since we've looked like this but I love how she captured me and my kids. The papers used here are simple, just some bazzill, a bit of jilliebean soup and AC thickers.

Great photos to work with

This layout was one of the first ones that I was able to complete at the Scrap Shotz NSD crop. I love this photo that was taken by Adrienne Ulliac. I paired it with cosmo cricket's new paper line and added some Technique Tuesday Ali Edward's stamps. I love every stamp that Ali creates because they work so well for scrapbooking!

My beautiful sister in law

Hopefully by the time this layout is posted we have a new baby in our family. I was blessed to take some maternity photos of Nichola and she rocked them! Course being gorgeous helps a lot. I got to use Echo Park's playground papers with some fun baker's twine.

Easter Layout (late!)

Just doing a quick post with a layout that I did yesterday. Papers are Bo Bunny Ad lib (which I love!) and they worked really well with Ethan's shirt. I promise to try and post more regularly :)

Slowly getting back to the swing of things

Thud! What's that? I'm posting more than once a week? Crazy talk! So I'm really late to the scheduled posting thing but wow what a time saver! All part of that seeking a balance thing huh? Might help me to read directions on things.

I wanted to share another layout that I had done this past weekend. I was flipping through the new Spring edition of Scrapbook Cards today that I got in my order from Scrapshotz.com and found this great layout by Kathy Laferty Thompson that I had to lift! Of course she did a better job but I so love this photo of Owen!

I had lots of fun mixing up a few different paper companies on this one. I used Echo Park playground, Bo-Bunny Ad-lib and Jillibean soup.

Trying something new

Wow so apparently I'm not so good at keeping up with 2 blogs. I'm hanging my head in shame. If you'd like to check out the other one head over here...www.stamphappyrebecca.stampinup.net

Finally got a chance this weekend to play around with some new crafty  stuff and to scrapbook some new photos :) that's all kinds of fun in my book. So loving everything about this layout...this is going to be framed on my wall! Thanks for stopping by!

A night at the Oscars online crop

All weekend I've been over at Scrap Shotz participating in the online crop that Sandy has put on. Its been so much fun working on the challenges put forth by the desgin team, of which I'm in my last month as a guest designer. Here are some of the projects that I made.

 Loving this layout about Owen and his cute baby talk that is slowly fading away as he gets older.

 This one is a favorite too! Abby has done the same thing but with eggs, butter and flour when she was the same age.

 This was a cutie make and take calendar put forth by Ruby from SSZ. So easy to do and great to have on my scrapbooking desk.

 This card was one of the easiest to make and I love how great it looks.

Thanks for stopping by!

Get ready for a long one...

Wow so for all my good intentions I've been a horrible blogger. Life has been sort of busy in some areas and not in others. I admit that I've been down in the dumps for the past month or so and it had to do with lots of reasons. Some being the crappy weather, cause when you don't want to examine you or yourself too closely its a good standby to blame the weather, ha! Course with the crappy weather I don't see my dh much and its hard on all of us.

Thankfully I've had great friends, some pretty great kids (most of the time) and some semi regular craft time that's been keeping me going. For a while I was thinking that I picked the wrong word for 2011. My word restore seemed to totally be non-exsistant for what I wanted it to represent. My weight stalled, work stuff was not what I wanted and I was just blech.

I've come to the realization that I'm not blessed to be one of those people who can ignore her food choices and still slide by. I was bitter, its not fair that I have to watch every.single.morsel of food that graces my lips for fear of jumping up another size or 2. After about 2 weeks full of woes is mes I've gotten a new mindset. Yup it sucks but I can't change that. So a daily food journal came into play, more water was added to my diet and daily (well 5x/week) exercise has started me down that slow road, again. I'm not going to lie, its a daily, hourly and sometimes minutely struggle to make the good food choices but I'm trying.

My work has gotten a great boost with adding 2 new families to my dayhome. And adding girls has been a great joy! They add a new dynamic to our dayhome and that has been great. Life is busy here but wonderful!

As for my crafting, I've been doing some teaching for Stampin' Up! and creating for Scrapshotz as a guest designer. I've been enjoying both and I've been finding great joy and peace in both. That time I spend creating is so refreshing for me as a mom that I'm better able to cope with things beyond my control.

This was our class for Stampin' Up! that was so much fun. It was great to see some regular students and some new ones, always awesome to find new crafting friends. Can't wait for the next class! I've had a request for a card night so that will be in the works shortly.

The following are layouts and a mini album that was created for Scrap Shotz. I got to use the very new line from Little Yellow Bicycle called Twig. So up my alley! I had a blast creating these layouts and everything went together so easily!

Family Canvas

I've been holding on to 2 of these giant canvases for the last few years just waiting for the right photos. I orginally was planning on use one for each of the kids but then we had Owen and well plans change. So I decided to finally get working on this project. I was very happy with our family photo this year so I printed it out 8.5" by 11" and began. I did run into some problems because it was just a large piece, I never buy more than one sheet of pattern paper at all. And for those that know, local scrapbooking stores are almost non-exsistant. So I actually changed my plan half way through my project.

I'm so much of a complete one project before I move on to the next kind of person that I tend to be a fairly quick scrapbooker. This project has been marinating on my desk and in my brain for a week! Its been very challenging for me! The colors I used match with my home decor (minus the fisher price classic toy colors) of chocolate brown, pumpkin pie orange, so saffron yellow, and cherry cobbler with a hint of cream. I had to have things sort of match with my yellow walls, which I hate but am not able to repaint at this point.  But I'm super happy with how it turned out!

Versitile stamps!

I got this great stamp and punch set from Stampin' Up!'s new Occasions mini catalogue called create a cupcake. Such a great set because you can use it for girly cards, male cards and kids cards.

 If you would like to purchase this set and making punch you can go here http://www.stamphappyrebecca.stampinup.net/

 Check out these cute mini roses! You can get these through the catelogue too. They make great toppers for these cutie cupcakes.

Welcome to a New Year!

For all 4 of you who came back to see my little blog thank you! For those who lurk I love you too, lol! I decided to take an unoffical blog hiatus over the holidays and really it was so nice! I spent the holiday with family, crafting and actually watching movies! I never sit and watch a movie! Crazy.

I also spent a lot of time reflecting on what I wanted 2011 to mean to me and what I could do to accomplish that. I picked my one word to summerize what I want 2011 to be (http://www.aliedwards.com/) and I chose restore. There were many reasons for this word and it fits so well with many aspects of my life. One being that I want to restore my body to what it was before I got pregnant with Owen. I had done so well in losing so much weight and I've struggled to shed a good chunk (litereally) And with the past few months with me struggling mentally with things, eating comfort foods has gotten to be a very bad habit. So I will begin with today. I know it won't be an easy goal to accomplish but I'm committed to doing so. Today will start with me cleaning out the bad foods from my pantry and drinking more water, less coffee.

In continuing with this word, I'm going along with Cathy Z's Move more eat less campaign. http://cathyzielske.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/12/a-year-of-moving-more-and-eating-less-in-scrapbook-pages.html  Still undecided if I want to show pictures, not sure if I'm brave enough :)

The word restore also goes along with something else I'd like to do this year. I want to restore stability to our family, I've got a few goals that go with this as well, but I've got plans set in motion to do so. I'm expecting great blessings for our family this year and I'm excited about them!