Art deprived. . .

I haven't been able to stamp or scrap all weekend. It was for a good reason, though; I was out of town with family and friends all weekend. Friday Abby and I drove 80 miles north to Kankakee to stay with Deata, and saturday morning Abby and I drove another 30 miles north to my mom and dad's. From there my mom drove to my cousin's baby shower--it was a great time! It was so nice to see so much family that I haven't seen in a long time, and the shower was BEAUTIFUL! Rick and Aneta are SO EXCITED about their first baby (girl) on the way! My aunt and uncle are very excited to be first time grandparents, and I know Aunt Darla will make a fabulous grandma--it's always been so obvious how much she loves babies!!

Tell me they're not thee most beautiful couple!!!

So it's monday morning and I've been thrown, head first, into my list of things to do. I am already behind, and I need to get to the bank before 2pm. I *will* make time to walk today, and after that I'll 'reward' myself by hanging out at my scrap desk. OH CRAP! I just remembered I need to return the dvds we rented! CRAP. I didn't finish watching the CSI season I rented! *sigh* This day had better improve pretty quickly, or I just might crawl back into bed. . . (grrrr)

All or nothing. . .

That thought goes along with my 'shrinking' mentality. I've always had this all or nothing attitude; i.e. 'If I don't work out 5 days a week, what's the point?' I know now that thinking is wrong, and the pengilum doesn't have to swing all the way to one side or the other--there IS a happy medium, and it CAN get me results. So although I only worked out TWICE this week (I'm embarassed to admit that), I have to remind myself that I'm building my endurance and muscles, and leaning into a healthier way of living. :-D


Ok! So this is a card I made for my brother! He excels at his job as a student advisor at a well known university, and this little stamping fella reminded me of my 'big shot' brother!

Stamps from stamping bella, ctmh
Inks, markers and cardstock ctmh
glitter is stickles platinum


I had to take this picture for my fellow Creative Memory girls! I love this everyday frame! It's hanging in my scrap area, by my shelves. I haven't changed it in a few months; I put this collage together in March when it was my son's birthday. I need to transfer this layout onto a scrapbook page for good!

The lighting looks bad on this card. Sorry! I need to play around with ways to take pics of my stuff so it looks the best it can. I made a few of these cards for some ladies I know that might like a little cheeriness in their snail mail!

Paper, ink, buttom and 'for you' sentiment from ctmh

ribbon and flower border from Stampin Up!

Ok, enough play time. I need to get to work! (I'll tell you about that in my next post.) I have to be out of town most of this weekend, so I can't promise I'll be back before monday. Have a great day, a relaxing weekend, and praise God for your everyday blessings!

I love this quote, and I don't know where it orignated; "The people on top of the mountian didn't fall there."

Up and running. . .

Today I'm up, ready and going earlier than I've been all week. It feels good to be up and ready to get some things done. I have quite a few errands to run today, and then I'll be in the house for the rest of the day, avoiding the heat and humidity. There's about 4 loads of laundry to do, so I'll plan on getting at least half of that done today. Then I'll work at my scrap desk.

A good and very old (not in age lol) friend of mine is going through a rough time. I made this card for her and her husband.

Stamp image from Stampin Up and great impressions, cardstock, brads and ink by Stampin up.
Sorry it's a little blury. I need to find a way to take good pics of the images I'm posting.

Since it's only 10am, I can't really report on how my weight loss plan is going today. I'll have to back track and talk about the prior day--I do plan on posting each morning.

Although I didn't count calories yesterday, I made great choices and didn't eat late at night. I had ONE taco for dinner (homemade) and felt full. I ate slowly and stayed aware of how hungry or full I really felt. About an hour after that I had some watermelon after folding laundry. No activity yesterday, though. (Outside of normal housework, of course. But I guess that doesn't count for much! HA!) So today I plan on getting extra steps in while I'm out running errands. I will walk the primeter of wal-mart twice before getting what I need.

Quote of the day--"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step."

Get those steps in!

Better late than never!

I'm here, I'm here! (Running, breathlessly, to the computer) Whew! First week of summer vacation and I'm running to catch up! The kids were on the computer all morning while I was oblivious, sorting clothes, stripping beds, yada yada. So I finally booted them outside (it's hot!) and here I am.


So here are a few cards I made for some friends of mine (I won't say who since they may be reading this ;) I love these images from www.stampingbella.com!

All supplies are CTMH, stamps are minivanabella, lattebella and winobella.

Onto the shrinking part of my day.

It's 2 o'clock and I've had watermelon today. That's it. Not by my choice, necessiarily. .. I've just been engulfed in other things. I suppose it's better than over eating, but not eating at all can't be good, either. I don't want what muscle I do have to be used as fuel. *SIGH* It's a delicate balance, isn't it?

I've been walking all over the house, up and down stairs, carrying laundry, blah blah blah. But aside from the daily movements, I haven't worked out yet. My parents are coming in today sometime, so my mom and I will walk for 30 minutes after the sun goes down.

Today I leave you with this quote, although I can't give credit to the author as I don't know who it is~~ "I can't expect more than a days progress from a days work."

See you tomorrow! Thanks for reading!

Check out my Scrap/Stamp space!

Progress, not perfection

That is a quote I read, not sure where I read it. But it's powerful. Everyday I aim for PROGRESS, not necessarily perfection. So today I've made great food choices, and have had water (need to push it some, though) but haven't yet worked out. I will get it in, though. My Dr. (she is great, I love her!) said that I can exercise in 10-15 minute bouts through out the day, so that is what I'm doing. 5 minutes on my air climber (tough work out!) and 15 minutes of walking TWICE each day. I'm aiming, of course, to add time to each of the daily activites.

Ken (my husband) works 80 miles north of where we live, so to save on gas he stays at his parents' townhouse three days out of the week. Dinner on nights that he is gone is waaaaay easy for me; I have a lean cusine with extra veggies. Tonight is one of those nights. When he's home I cook a 'regular' dinner (chicken, beef, pork with potatoes or noodles and a veggie or two). Although I try to keep the portions 'correct' on those nights, it's a feat I'm still tackling.

Am I doing this right?

It's been awhile, I know, but I want to get my blog going! I've taken some pictures of my scrap space as well as some cards I made. My aim is to post a pic of art work every day--be it in the form of a card, a layout, or even an organizational tip or technique. I get A LOT of inspiration from other blogs, so I'll be listing those as well so you can enjoy them along with me. :) For today, here's a baby shower card I made for my younger cousin, Ricky! (I suppose he goes by 'Rick' now, though!) Now let me figure out how to add the image. . .Oh, ok. It's up on top. I'm sure there's a way to change that and put it on the bottom, but guess what--I can't figure it out. So--there's the baby shower card!