Friday, December 31

Top 10 of 2010

It's the last day of 2010! So many wonderful things happened for us in 2010. In March, we got a new golden retriever puppy and named her Mya, we got engaged in June and started planning for a wedding, we built a garage and immediately bought a new pickup to fill the empty spot and we got our first piece of adult furniture, new couches! Some moments are big and some are small, but they are all important to making up our lives in 2010. 
I also want to share with you my top 10 layouts of 2010. I got this idea from my scrappy friend Rachel and our other friend Shannon has also completed a list like this. These are not listed in order of favorite layouts or favorite memories. 
1.
2.
3. Not a layout but my all time favorite mini. You can see the whole thing at 2Peas.
4. Used up lots of scraps and old product on this one.
5. One of my first digi layouts and by far my favorite picture.
6. Another digi layout
7.
8.
9.
10.
I think most of my layouts show that I really like layering patterned paper and using more than 1 picture on a page. I played around with a lot of new things and styles in 2010 but I'll always love using lots of patterned paper.
If you want a chance to win a great prize pack in the New Year, go check out Sarah's post here and leave a comment!

Hope you have a Happy New Year!

Friday, December 24

~Merry Christmas Eve!~

I hope everyone is safe and warm and with family this holiday weekend! We're heading to my parents' in about 3 hours but I've been up since about 5:30. Couldn't sleep! So, I thought I would share my latest digital layout with you this morning.
Have a wonderful Christmas Eve!

Wednesday, December 22

*Let It Snow!!!*

Let It Snow, Let it Snow, Let It Snow!!!
Oh, how I hope that we have at least an inch or two for Christmas. I always dream of white Christmases and last year we definitely had it but this year is so brown and gray. There is a chance tonight so I'm crossing my fingers! It has been busy around our house, buying and wrapping presents, making and delivering cookies and I came down with a cold on Saturday. So, mostly since then I've been taking it easy. I have been taking a few pictures here and there for my December Daily but I know I have stories I want to include that I can take pictures for later. I have also decided that I will work on the actual pages after Christmas. It was a bit too much for me to do all at once and still actually enjoy the season. However, I would like to share a few of those pictures with you!
Our Christmas Card picture
Working on Christmas cards
Birthday cupcakes
Nativity
Chad and Mya with a pheasant
That is all I have to share today! Hope you enjoyed the little recap of my last week. Can't wait to finish my DD after the holidays. Have a wonderful holiday and Merry Christmas everybody!!!

Friday, December 17

Catching Up - December Daily Days 10-15

I know, I've been a really bad blogger lately! We've been busy with holiday preparations, shopping, making cookies and of course I've been trying to stay caught up on my December Daily. I finally put my pictures and journaling together last night for days 10-15, so I had better share them with you before I have to start working on the next couple of days. 
Day 10
Day 11
Day 12
Day 13
Day 14
Day 15
Ok, I know I should take the time to explain each page/day but I am just so tired from working on the pages that all I really want to do is show you how my pages are coming together. I know that the next time I do this, I will be taking pictures and journaling during December but the book will be made after the holidays. I also don't think that I will be doing pictures/journaling for EACH day of December. Hopefully my future album will be more collaborative of the month as a whole while still chronological. Would love to hear your thoughts if you are doing a DD! Thanks for stopping by!

Friday, December 10

December Daily Days 8-9

Hi blog friends! I took the afternoon off to get some stuff done and have some time with our puppy before it gets super cold this weekend. I came inside for a little bit to work on my December Daily. I have some quick DD advice for you...use a printing service to print your pictures!!! I did days 1-7 with my printer at home and have used half of a $30 ink cartridge. I went into a local store and got pictures printed today and they have 6x8 for $1.38! So much better! I can even get my collages done at home and then get those printed any size from 4x6 to 8x10. Ok, enough about that...here are my pages...
Day 8



 

Happy Friday!!!

I'll be spending my afternoon at home with my puppy girl Mya! She misses us at work all week and it's supposed to be nice, although it's looking cloudy now. In the mean time, I wanted to share a card I made with you. Our friends' 2 year anniversary is coming up on Monday and I've been wanting to try this out for a while so what better way than with a card! I've loved the subway art look so I just opened a 4x6 layer in PS and then started typing different words in different sizes. I love how it came out! Can't wait to print it and put it on a card for them! 

Wednesday, December 8

December Daily 5-7

Last night I was working frantically to get caught up with my DD. This is a lot harder than it looks people! I'm having fun though and now that the house is decorated and documented, I think I'm going to start sharing some stories and favorite memories and that sort of thing with my DD.
Here are the pages I completed last night.
Day 5
I can't share the second page for day 5 because I was working on wedding things that my MOH/future SIL can't see and she does check here regularly! Hi Brenda! ;)
Day 6
On day 6, I included an envelope that served as a journaling spot about our Christmas cards and will also hold our Christmas letter when it is written. 
Day 7
On day 7, I had to include this picture of Chad making rice krispies so I used that cute post card digital frame. I love the mix of digital and paper that I can use in this album!

Thanks for looking at my December Daily!

Sunday, December 5

December Daily - Day one, two, three & four

I have spent my morning catching up on my DD pages. I had pictures and journaling done but hadn't printed pictures and put things into my book. Here are all of my pages so far...
Day One
 Day Two

  Day Three

 Day Four

Some of my stories are Christmas related and some are just our daily lives. For now I like the mix. I have also gone back and forth about using the overlay pages but I do like that they allow more space if I have more story to tell or pictures to share. Thanks for looking!
 

Thursday, December 2

Reverb10 - Day 2

What do you do each day that doesn’t contribute to your writing — and can you eliminate it?


I could definitely eliminate playing games on Facebook. I don't know why these things are so addicting. There is no positive effect of playing them on my life or my creativity. I thought that maybe I could eliminate TV but there are shows that we watch together that make us laugh together and that is family time that contributes to my life story, so I don't think I would really eliminate that. But, after sitting at the computer for my job everyday, I think I could eliminate computer time at home.


What is something you could eliminate from your daily life that would help improve it?

Wednesday, December 1

Dec 1 - Reverb 10

I'm back again to write my reaction/response to the 1st daily prompt from Reverb10. I found this from Ali Edwards's post today and I really like some of the ideas that are put out there as writing prompts. I am going to tackle this as a writing only assignment for right now. Then later I may add pictures and make pages of some of the more meaningful topics to me. I may or may not share my responses everyday.
Today's prompt is one word for 2010 and one word for 2011. 
FULL. This is the word that keeps coming to mind when thinking of 2010. The year has been full of experiences, full of emotion, full of challenges, full of joy and full of life. Some of these things that made my life "full" were good and some were a bit harder to deal with. At the beginning of the year, I was still getting settled and finishing work on our newly remodeled house. Along with making our house a home, we added a new puppy to the family in March. And while I hoped that God would take my life in the direction I wanted, there were stressful times of doubt. Love made our lives very full in 2010 when we got engaged and started planning a wedding. In 2010, it has been all of the little moments combined with the big ones that really made it "full". Thinking of it more now, fulfilled might be a really good word to describe my life in 2010.
There are so many words that I hope will describe 2011 but because of 1 Corinthians, I'm going to chose LOVE as my 2011 word. I want to simplify my life, to deepen my faith, to relax about the little things and even about the big things, to laugh more and to hope for a wonderful future. 

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
 8 Love never fails.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

This verse explains what love is and what I hope it to be in my life for 2011. It is also a perfect word and verse to reflect on because we will be getting married this summer. When I think of love as my 2011 word, I want to remember this verse and how many areas of life that love can play a part in.

*December*

LET IT SNOW!!! It's finally December! Actually, I can't believe it. The year has gone so fast it seems and then again so slow. December is my favorite month! My birthday, my baby brother's birthday, Christmas and Christ's birthday! Such a special time. 
I'm really excited to work on my December Daily. I'm having a hard time with separating it from Week in the Life though. I felt like Week in the Life was very picture jammed and I was pressed to take pictures of everything and I don't want my DD to be like that. I want it to really represent what this season is to me and Chad. Anyways...any thoughts on that?
Well, I have one last layout from November to show you. A month after we started dating, Chad and I went to a Sugarland concert. Chad loved them and I like them alright so I said I'd go. (now I love them too). It was kind of awkward because we didn't know each other that well yet and so it was hard to interact or sing or dance at the concert with each other. Anyways, it was still fun and here is a layout with a few fun pictures.
Check out that picture strip! It's a hybrid layout because those pictures were actually put into a digital template, then all the other layers were deleted and then the strips were printed out! I've wanted to try this for a while and I love how it turned out! Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous December 1st!!!

Monday, November 29

Last Week's Layouts

Well, it is now dark when I leave for work and dark when I get home. So, when is a girl supposed to get good pictures of her layouts?! I admit that I got impatient and these first two were taking inside with some bad lighting but since the others weren't done until yesterday morning, they got all the good sunshine yesterday too. 

These next layouts I completed yesterday when a friend and I scrapped all morning at her house. I think that scrapping is kind of like homework because I always get more done when I'm with someone else who is doing the same thing! If I'm at home or by myself, I get distracted but with a friend, I can crank out great pages really fast!


That's the layout fix for this week! I hope to create some more this week and from now on, I'll just be taking pictures on the weekend. I'll be back sometime this week with some Christmas decorations pictures and crafts!