Why do we have so much stuff?

So here is the much anticipated acrylic album that I started to create this weekend. I found that you have to think a lot while making these. You have to watch where you glue, where you place pictures, and what you lay over what. So it took me about 3 hours to complete what I have here to show you! There was a lot of starting over and asking others how it looks. I hope you like the results!

Here is the cover.

The photo on the right is just placed on cardstock and measures just bigger than the picture.

I just love these pictures!

This page is a clear transparancy (?). The white flowery thing is a rub on!

It lays on both photos very nicely! On this one I also used Stazon to stamp directly on the picture!

I realized after I had made this page that I used the picture on the left on the cover page. The picture on the right is on a kraft colored envelope. So fun!

Here is the envelope!

And here is what is inside!

So tonight after I got home and we had dinner, I started cleaning this...

Why do we have so much stuff?!! This is the crawl space. The hardest thing about cleaning this space is that it's only 4 feet tall. I wish it was 5 feet! While putting things from here to...

HERE (The garage...getting ready for the garage sale), I found a few fun things!

#1 - I found my wedding notebook. Look at the cover...I must have been in love. There are doodles all over it!

This was on the inside. I was practicing writing my new name. Kinda like we all did in middle school! HA!

#2 - I also found this great book that the girls from swim team in high school made for me. When I was a senior, I was the only one on the team. They loved me!

This is one of my most favorite pictures in the book! I am in the midle of the picture in the black suit (4th from the left). And look how skinny I was! Geez! I think one of the best parts about this picture is my sister. She is 2nd from the left, holding the flipper! Such a funny face!

I'm sure that I will have more teasures for you as the week progresses!

Comments You Love to Hear

So today at work, I'm walking down the hallway and this lady in my department is behind me and says, "So you've lost a few pounds haven't you?" I was like, "Yeah! Thanks for noticing!" Gotta love that!

P.S. I will post again tonight with some pictures of my work from the weekend! I did pretty good! 34 layouts at the crop on Saturday. I was booking it!

Friday's 10!

1. Lately I have been feeling rather stressed by all of the things that I have to do in the next 30 days. This is what runs through my head on any given day.

{I need to go to the grocery store tonight before I head to scrapbooking so I can get snacks. Oh what am I going to wear on May 13th to see Wicked? I need to go shopping. I wonder if my sister will go with me on Sunday to get an outfit. I need to start thinking about what I want to pack for the cruise. We leave in 30 days. That's only a month. I have to have 2 different dressy outfits that I haven't worn yet for the end of May. I'm having a garage sale in 1 week. I can't believe that I thought I would be together enough for a garage sale. I wonder when I will have time to set it all up and pull things out of the crawl space. I need to get a wedding present for 2 people, a few shower gifts. Did I get paid today? I need to workout today.}

It's really crazy! I just need to remember to take it one day at a time. Why do I need to worry now about what I'm going to wear to Wicked on May 13th?! I don't!

2. I'm so excited that I'm scrapbooking 2 days in a row...here is my "To Do" List...

Friday - Create 10/$10 cards for tomorrows crop. Cut for 8 people to create them. Start working on album for our protrait pictures (more on that below).

Saturday - Work on Stacie's albums: Jesse's, Jacob's, Caylie's, Christian's, Christmas, and Vacation. Mother's Day cards. Invites for our company Christmas party. Scrapbook page for clubs coming up.

Do you think I can do it all? I will let you know on Sunday!

3. I am excited to go shopping with my sister on Sunday afternoon. We are headed to the mall. I hardly ever go to the mall. I want to try this dress on. It says online that it's $70. I got a flyer that there were sundresses on sale for $20. I'm hoping that this one is $20! Isn't it cute?

4. So this morning I got up super early. I think I take after my mom in the sense that if we have things on our minds, when we wake up we start to think about them and we just have to get up. There is no turning back to go back to sleep. But I'm also like my dad in the sense that I could take a nap just 2 hours after I wake up too! HA! Anyway...I got up at 6am this morning (normally don't get up until 7). Friday's we can to wear jeans to work. So just for fun I got my size 12's down and tried them on. They fit! I mean...I still need to loose a little because they are tight but...I could button them. And if you are a woman, you know that that is more than half of the battle! So I'm excited that hopefully soon I will get to wear those jeans...some still have tags on them! HA!

5. Remember in #2 when I talked about the album that I'm going to do with our pictures we had taken? Well...I'm very excited. I have been seeing acrylic albums more and more. And now I'm thinking that I need to try one! There is an example of one below. This one was made by Ali Edwards. She works for Creating Keepsakes magazine! She is awesome.

The acrylic album comes with 8-10 sheets total (I think). It's 8x8. You can put pieces of paper, envelopes, transparencies, or whatever in between each sheet. I love the fact that the pages are see through. I'm excited to start creating my album tonight! I will post back with my creations next week!

(My picture was deleted...I will add back in soon!)

6. Guess where I went for lunch today.....

YUM!

7. And now I'm eating...

There were on sale at Amazon...that's where I got this picture. But that's not where I got my sprees...I got them at QuikTrip!

8. Since I was up early today, I came into work early, 7:30am. So now I can leave at 4:30! YEAH!

9. I'm having a garage sale next Friday with my sister. If you are in the area, stop by and see what we have for sale. We sell things CHEAP!

10. 30 days until I sail away...

The Dress

So yesterday was D-day, Dress day. I was excited to get there and try it on because with losing 16 lbs from the time you are fitted for it, you would think that you would have to have it altered. WELL...I get to the store and I am surprised because the dress fit perfectly. Now, you would think that because I had lost 16 lbs there might be some part of the dress that I needed to alter. But since there wasn't, all I can think is that they measured incorrectly! How sad would it have been if I showed up and hadn't lost weight and it didn't fit at all! HELLO! Anyway...here are a few pics of the dress!

This is me with the bride, Kristin. The mid section is still a little tight so I think that losing a few more pounds and toning that area won't hurt!

Here I am holding up the top two layers (there are 3 total) so that Ashley could pin the hem. I think they have to take like 10" off the bottom! HA! But as you can see in this picture, the dress doesn't even look that bad on my back. I could stand to tone up a little bit in that area but it's not that bad!

Here is the front of the dresses after it was all pinned up. I will also be working on toning the arms and the under-arm fat (if you are a woman that has ever worn a strapless dress, you know what I'm talking about!).

And lastly...I will be working my way through this book for the next 30 days (that's exactly how many there are until the wedding). I have gone through it many times and it really does tone...you just have to keep it up in order to keep the results! Doesn't the pictures on the front of the book look inspiring! So, for the next 30 days you will see me in the gym 5 days a week...tone, tone, tone. Maybe 5-7 pounds off. We shall see!

WOO HOO Wednesday

Hey there Ladies! It's actually Thursday morning now but I just did not have the energy last night when I got home to go into detail about these beautiful cards. They deserve much better than what I would have been able to give them last night.

These 2 cards were the cards that my technique club made this month. Our technique (or product...sometimes we pick a product too) was Rub Ons. Stampin Up has a great selection of Rub Ons in this Spring/Summer catalog! Have you tried them yet? My favorite use of them is to rub them on pictures. They make the perfect accent!

This card was made my Heather. I think that she recently bought a new tool because when you look at all of her cards this week, they all have beautifully embossed backgrounds. Please share Heather! The stamp set used on this card was the Sale-A-Bration set, Merci (That is French for Thank You...see Mom, I do remember something from high school!). I didn't really like this set when it came out and to be honest I didn't even get one for myself. But I have to say that this card is beautiful! I love the little jewels on the butterfly wings! What a great idea!

These next two cards were also made by Heather. She used the new stamp set, Independence Day on these cards. That big star is super cute! Again...not a set that I had my eyes on but the way that you have paired the stars with the heart is so cute! I think I might have to get it as it gets closer to summer! The card below used the 5/8 grosgrain ribbon...I love that ribbon. I want to buy one in every color...but I have to pace myself!

This card was also made by Heather! She was busy this week! Love the color combination on this one. Looks like Groovy Guava with Chocolate Chip! I think she got some new punches recently too! I love all of the scallops! The two cute butterflies come from a Hostess stamp set, Cause for Celebration. It's a level 2 set and these butterflies are so cute!

This one was also made by Heather. Look at that very cute paisley embossed background! I love it! I think the name of the stamp set used here was Freindship Flowers. It was also a Sale-A-Bration set. And did you use build-a-brads for the center of your flowers? Very cute!

This is the last one this week that was made by Heather. Great job watercoloring!

And the last card that you get today comes from Kathy, my mom. This is such a cute design! I love the way that you used the hodgepodge hardware. I need to use the remaining pieces of mine so that I can get more of those little loop things! This is a great color combo as well! And...what is your background for taking pictures...I'm interested!

Thank you all for your submissions! I hope that you all have a great weekend...it's almost here!

Inspiration

Check out one of my favorite blogs...http://alimclaughlin.typepad.com/just_me/. I was the Kim that gave her the inspiration for the scrapbook page that she has featured today! YEAH! Thanks for the props Ali!

Update: Sunday through Tuesday

I figured that I would give you an update today about what has been going on in my life since Sunday (since I have neglected to post anything)!

On Sunday afternoon I headed out to my best freind's house to work on wedding stuff. It was so much fun!

My two best friends and I are just a like. We even all have the same cell phone and we weren't even together when we got them!

These are the M&M's that we put had to get ready for the favors. They bought the Valentine's M&M's so we had to pick the red ones out and we got to eat those. But only a few because we still have to fit into our dresses (we try them on today)!

Here are all of the bridesmaids (minus Monica who is out of town). The bride, Kristin, is in the middle. Aren't we so cute!

On Monday after work it was so nice, around 70 degrees! So when I got home I went outside to play with the kiddos!

This first picture is of Chloe...she was just groomed last week and still had her bandana on! So sweet!

Here we all are outside!

Then on Monday night we gave the kiddos a treat...some peanut butter. These pictures are so cute!

This is Gus...look at that tongue!

And here is Chloe!

And...here is the scrapbook that I finished for the lady that I scrapbook for. There are a total of 44 layouts!

Here is one of the layouts that I did. I scrapbook very simple for her. She doesn't mind and I only get paid $5 for each layout plus supplies. So I try to complete 3-4 layouts per hour.

Well I hope to see all of your WOO HOO Wednesday submissions! Happy Wednesday!

Thanks everyone!

Thanks for reading my blog! This one's for Sonja!

On another note...I just finished a 2005 album for the lady I scrapbook for! YEAH! It's taken me forever to get motivated but it finally happened! So now I can give it to her and get paid! WOO HOO! I will post pictures later this week of my work! :) Hope you all have a great finish to your weekend!

"I'm so excited...and I just can't hide it!"

To be honest...I didn't know if anyone other than my mom and mother-in-law were reading my blog. So yesterday I decided to put a counter on it to see how many people actually read what I post. I am in shock that there are 40+ people that have viewed my blog in the past 48 hours! WOW! And I also have to admit that I'm super excited that Chris and Jamie commented on my blog today...see the post called "Friday's 10" to get to their blogs! (I feel like I know them from reading their blogs!)

Well now that I'm all jazzed, I really need to head to bed. I need to be up in a few hours so that I can go to the post office, bank, get my hair cut, Bridal shower (it's the season!), and Old Navy for their 20% off sale "Stuff and Save". But I will leave you with a great scrapbook page that I have had saved on my computer for a while now. I think I might have to use it as inspiration tomorrow night! YEAH!

Friday's 10!

1. Today for "Breakfast Friday" at work we had a catered breakfast. We had eggs, biscuts and gravy, bacon...YUM! I tried not to eat too much because I'm going to try on my bridesmaid's dress next Wednesday. I really want them to tell me that I have to have it altered a lot. I've lost about 15 pounds since I was fitted for it in December! YEAH!

2. Yesterday I bought 2 of these...When we got married, we registered for a 3 piece set or something. It came with a regular size and a very small suitcase. I always make Sam take the very small one...I don't know how he feels about that. Anyway...with all of our traveling (which isn't that much) a few of the feet have fallen off the suitcases that we currently own and they are torn and stuff. So I did some research and decided that this is a great purchase. 2 of the same size. There is bright green on it so that we can identify it easily! I think they will work out great. Oh...and I got them from Amazon and got FREE shipping! WOO HOO!


3. While I was online getting suitcases, I figured that I should get a new home for my new camera so that it can travel with us on the cruise! So here is the new camera case that I purchased, also from Amazon!

4. I got flowers today from a co-worker. Before you get any ideas, everyone in our department got flowers so it's not really a romantic thing...just a fun friendly thing! I got the iris bunch...they are so pretty.

5. I am really excited to go home and scrapbook tonight. I am really inspired by Jennifer Pebbles lately. You can see her work at http://paperandink.typepad.com/thegoodlife/ I love her collage style. She groups some things together that you wouldn't normally put together and I love that! I need to try to develop my collage style. I'm going to go home and work on that...I will post pictures soon!

6. Isn't this card just so cute? It's really simple and looks really easy to make. I think I might try to make this one too! You can see more of this designer at http://www.kwernerdesign.com/blog/. She's the one that has the videos every Monday.

7. I'm going to Chili's for lunch. YUM!

8. Remember a while back when I told you and I needed to start flossing and that I made a deal with myself to floss or there was no Diet Coke the next day. Well I am happy to tell you that It's been almost a month and I have only missed flossing 2 times. I actaully feel the need to do it now! I guess it is true...21 days to a habit. That's what my hubby says. So now I have a flossing habit and it really doesn't take as long as I always thought it was and it really does make my teeth feel 10 times cleaner.

9. I discovered a blog of a girl that works at the SU office and I love it! I knew that she was an employee of SU because I have seen her at conventions in the past. Jamiey's post for April 15th is hilarious! http://jaimey.blogspot.com/

10. I'm already looking forward to next weekend! I will be scrapbooking on Friday night at church from 7-midnight and then all day on Saturday at our 12 hour crop. If you are reading this and you are waiting for an invite to the crop...sorry! I'm a slacker this time around.

WOO HOO Wednesday!!

Hey Everyone! I hope that your week is wonderful so far! It's almost Friday so that is GOOD!

This picture features the present that I wrapped for my best freind's shower. You know, however many ribbons you break is how many kids you will have. So I wrapped them up with a lot of ribbon. It didn't work though...she didn't break a single one! And I thought she wanted kids! Hmmm...

I decorated this notebook for her to keep track of all of their wedding gifts in. I just added a few chipboard letters and some ribbon! So cute!

This is the card that I gave to Kristin. The bride and groom were cut out of the wrapping paper that I used. I love that wrapping paper!

This is the card that my mom made for Kristin. Everyone was really impressed by our crafting ability! Hmmm....maybe I will gain a few more customers if I keep up the craftiness!

These plates were decorated by Jessica. She is in my technique club and is also my neighbor and my hairdresser...she's multi-talented! Anyway, our club this month was all about rub ons so she brought these over to show off. She used the SAB Rub ons. They are so cute! They were hanging in her kitchen just plain white and she decided that they needed to be jazzed up a bit. She said that after she did this she started looking around the house to see what else she could decorate with rub ons. Please send us more creations Jessica!

This card was submitted by my mom, Kathy. She just got this set from the mini catalog...can't think of the name right now! What a cute owl this is! And it's perfect for WOO HOO Wednesday!

Keep the submissions coming. I can't wait to see what you do next week!