Mom Always said KISS

I've realized lately that I need to relax and simplify (ok I've always known this) but I've recently felt the need to take action. This link is borrowed from Ali Edwards' twitter on her blog http://mnmlist.com/fake-needs/. I need to understand and differentiate the big things from the little things, to relax and know when something is good enough and perfection is not necessary, to enjoy life rather than worry or scrutinize all the time, to accept what comes my way. 

Mom and I built a fence one time for her garden. There was a very noisy grain bin right next to our yard so this fence was to keep the noise out. We were definitely not professional carpenters or anything but we got the saw horses, the saw, a measuring tape, a level and the drill out and went to work. At one point, Mom was holding a board up and asked if it was level. I replied "level enough." Our fence became known as the "fence enough." I want to remember this story and draw my inspiration from it. When I get too picky about something, I need to remember that perfection is not necessary. All I'm striving for is "good enough." Simple happiness does not come from perfection every hour of every day. Sometimes the greatest joys come from the smallest most imperfect things. 

Mom also always told us to "KISS" - Keep It Simple Stupid. And it's true. This morning, I didn't make the bed all the way and put the pillows back on perfect. I just pulled the sheet and blanket up and folded them over. It's good enough. No one will see the bed again until we go to sleep tonight and it really doesn't matter. As long as my days are simple and I accept that things are good enough, then I believe that I can relax and enjoy my life and all of its moments.

Prayers Please!

Coming to you all with a huge request this morning. A friend of ours was scheduled for a C-section on Sept 15th but was having contractions on Friday. They delivered Landon on Friday night. His lungs were sticking together and he was life flighted on Saturday morning. He was doing better by noon but his mom couldn't leave the local hospital yet because of the C-section. Sunday morning he was put in NCIU with a blood infection. If you could pray for little Landon, his parents, his brother and their family it would be greatly appreciated. We are all hoping and praying for the best for them.

Best Friends and Cousins

This is a digital layout for a challenge at the 2Peas digi blog. The challenge was to scraplift a traditional layout. I chose this picture because my cousin and I have always been very close. He is four months older than I am and he has helped me through a lot and we always have a ton of fun together. I got to meet his girlfriend at our other cousin's wedding and she is so sweet and I know I'll love her just as much as a real cousin too! 

Credits : 

• Karen Funk - Mini Bloom - solid paper (recolored)
• Karen Funk - All American - stitch frame, brackets
• Jen Allyson - Notions - Blue flags, Blue dots
• PKnox - Bare Tagboard Alpha 
• Mary Ann Wise - Grungy Solid Paper (on alpha)
• Ali Edwards - font

                 

Wedding Shoes Poll!!!

I'm looking for wedding shoes and I want your opinion! Here are my choices and it would be great if you leave me a comment on which one you like best! (If I get heels, I will probably get flip flops for the reception, just keep that in mind as well) Thanks for you input!!!

#1 

#2

#3

#4

#5

All That's Left is a Kitchen Table!

As you know, I have a newly remodeled house. If you didn't know you probably could have figured it out from all the before and after layouts I've been doing lately. It's always so hard with a new house to decide how to fill it! I have shown you pictures of our new couches but our dining room is lacking. Right now it has my college table in it, covered with all my scrapbooking stuff. I really really want a new one so maybe I could chose one of these kitchen tables....

 or this... 

I really like the dark wood (the rest of the house is a light oak). Hopefully, I will be able to show you a new table sometime in the future! Hey, maybe we'll get it as a wedding present to ourselves! 

Wow...you could win 1000 sheets of paper!

You wanna know how right?! Check it out here!

Kitchen

Just popping in to upload a layout about our kitchen. I used a sketch over at Creative Scrappers for this one and it is probably one of my favorite layouts! Well, I'm off to the cabin with a group of friends for the rest of the weekend!

Love - Sketchy Thursdays

Hi everybody who's still out there reading my blog! As you might have noticed, I'm not an every day blogger or even a regular blogger. Sorry! You might have also noticed that I've started to add some digital layouts to my collection of work. I'm loving experimenting with digital even though I still love sitting down for an afternoon to play with paper. Today, I decided to play with a sketch at Sketchy Thursdays and transform it using my limited digital stash and skills.
Here is the original sketch...

And here is my take on it...

Thanks for looking!

Credits: Mary Ann Wise-Grungy Solid paper(blue), Sherri Tierney-Crisp Mornings(yellow), Audrey Neal-Organics scallop, Karen Funk-Delighful(brown), Katie Pertiet-Stamped Block No14, Mary Ann Wise-Doubletake Brush Set(love script), Connie Prince-Nature Inspired(flower), Meredith Fenwick - the Bliss Collection(heart sprinkles)

Family

This layout is for the digital challenge over at the 2Peas digital blog. This Monday's challenge is a free template. I turned the template on it's side, left the title but moved my journaling to the circle cut out spots. I will most likely print this out and put info on the back. (Rachel Waltke & Nolan Penner Wedding July 31st, 2010). The journaling reads..."I love them...for better or worse"
I love this page because this is one of the most fun wedding dances I have been too and it was so great to share it with people who will become my family next summer. Right now I am digi scrapping mainly with freebies but as I sift through and use what I have, I know I'm going to want to buy up some more goodies! The great thing about digi (that I sometimes forget) is that you can reuse a paper sooo many times and you can change the color to match anything! Thanks for looking and if you want to play along with the 2Peas digi challenge go to their blog. 

Living Room Remodel - from April 09 to July 10

Just finished a layout of our living room before and after, including our new couches. I used a sketch from Sketchy Thursdays to create this 2 page layout. 

Patty's Big Giveaway!

Hey everybody! Want a chance to win some awesome goodies!? Patty, a blogger friend of mine has a big giveaway on her blog...go check it out!

Wedding Sneaks

Well, I'm busy and the wedding planning is well under way. I've got our back bedroom full of wedding stuff and last night I worked on centerpieces. I now have 16 of 45 vases done...29 to go! 
I've also been working on the tissue paper pomanders that I'm using for aisle decor at the ceremony and table decor at the reception. I like the white better because then I can do coral ribbon and a bow on them. 

This is a semi-finished pom. I put the stick through the middle so I could push the ribbon through later. It's taking a lot of tissue paper for this big of a pom. This one will be the flower girls and then all the others will be smaller. 

Just a pic from the other side so you can see how it will look when done. I still need to fluff and trim so that it's all even. 

This is just the one flower I made and then sprayed with Perfectly Peach Glimmer Mist. It looks okay in the pic but it's kinda uneven in person. 

And here is what our back bedroom looks like! Boxes full of vases and latex flowers, lots of styro foam balls and candles, guest book, ring bearer pillows, etc! Waiting for another 50% off sale at Hobby Lobby and I'll be getting the rest of my cardstock for invites and need to go to JoAnn's to find the right ribbon. Lots of "in progress" but nothing finished! Oh well, I have all winter!

Hope you enjoyed the little sneak into my wedding planning!

A quick post!

I have slowly been working on layouts, the hot weather really lets me stay inside and scrap more. Here's a layout about Mya and the pool we got her for the hot summer days!

digi digi digi...yea!

Hehe...like my funny little title?! I'm pretty excited because I completed another digital layout! Over at twopeasinabucket the digi girls have started putting challenges out on their blog. I definitely think this will motivate and inspire me to learn how to do this! So far, I've only used templates but I really like how easy they are and it's a quick way to get those pictures scrapped!!

My 1st Digi Layout and some Wedding up-dates!

Isn't that impressive!? I'm so proud of myself that I gave it a try and I actually like what I came out with. It's really just a bunch of freebies that I've downloaded and a template. I think I will for sure be trying to do this more often.


Now....wedding stuff! I've tried on a few dresses and found one that I love!!! It's double what I want to spend but I might have found a sample dress from a salon for my budget. Wish me luck! I've added some new ideas to our wedding website and I've been busy working on tissue paper pomanders at night. Go over and check it out and feel free to leave a comment...I'm not sure the comment feature works so it would be great if someone would try it out for me! 


Hope that all of you are staying cooler than we are here in the middle of the country! 90's with humidity in the 100s!!! crazy!

Remodeling Layouts

I have been busy making layouts about our remodel...finally. I really want to get these pages done before the wedding so while I do have a lot of time, it's definitely going to take me awhile. 

These are all layouts about my favorite room in the remodel...the bathroom/hall! Pretty straight forward subject matter, but I just wanted to share with you!