End of the Year: Goals Update

Well I started to year with 10 goals.

I updated you in April and August on my achievements. Now I'm back again to update you at the end of the year.

I started the year around 175 wanting to lose 20 pounds. I gained a few, lost a few, and now I'm back at my starting weight plus a few nasty little pounds. Somewhere after I completed goal #7 I just stopped going to the gym. :(

Boo...

But I will not let this get me down and I will try again with another goal in this area of my life for 2011!

Goal #2: Complete Taxes by the end of February - COMPLETE!

Goal #3: Finish The Perry's Scrapbook - COMPLETE!

Goal #4: Read 12 Books - COMPLETE! You can read what books I read in the August Update. Since then I have only added 4 to the list...slacker!
13. Love and Logic Magic by Jim and Charles Fay
14. Bitter is the New Black by Jen Lancaster
15. Mission Motherhood by Sally Clarkson
16. The Penny Tree by Holly Kennedy (And I'm not quite done with this one.)

COMPLETE!

UGH! This is the one goal that I have avoided all year! YUCK!

Goal #7: Run a 5K - COMPLETE!
I didn't run a real race but I did run it on a treadmill and my goal was to be under 40 minutes and I clocked in at 39 minutes and 18 seconds! NOT BAD!!!

See those two boxes full of cards??!! Well I'm almost done with this goal.

I have 4 card packs left! So while I didn't complete this goal this year, I made a huge dent in it! And I'm calling it good! YAY!

Goal #9: Go on one date per month with my man!

July: Inception at Fork and Screen and then Ice Cream! YUM!

August: Waldo Pizza! YUM!

September: While we didn't get an official date night this month, we did go on vacation with our family and we are going to call that our date this month. Ok?!

October: Dinner at Pei Wei and Gelato for dessert! YUM!

November: Breakfast Date at the Downtowner in Gardner!

December: Nikko Japanese Steak House for Sam's birthday dinner! YUM!

Goal #10: Write a Will. Incomplete.

So I ended up completing 6 goals this year! And if I count goal #8 as done that makes 7! WOO HOO! I am thinking about goals for 2011! I can't wait to share them with you! Join me!!

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

I love the way we wrap our presents Christmas presents! You know that packing paper that comes in every Stampin Up order you have ever received? Well we use some to get creative on: painting or coloring. We sometimes use it as a fun play toy: it's fun to walk on it (or crawl when Brooke was younger), it makes great sounds! But at Christmas time we stock pile a little of it and wrap up all of our Christmas packages!

I just love the crinkled paper look! I also add a colorful bow with great ribbon and a cute handmade tag! I love recycling and not spending money on wrapping paper that is thrown away anyway!

Merry Christmas!

Still Need Ideas??

Just 3 more days until Christmas but if you still need ideas for me you will find them here!

Also, my birthday comes just 26 days after Christmas. This might be just what you need to wrap up for me!

Echo Park's - Be Mine Collection. I LOVE IT! I wouldn't even mind having two of them! SERIOUSLY!

AND...
Echo Park's - Little Girl Collection. This one is not yet available. But maybe soon!!!

Hope you all are having a great day! I have had a day full of baking goodies, preparing appetizers, and getting cheesey potatoes ready to go in the oven! YUM!

Merry Christmas

Since I don't have all of your adresses, I thought I would create a Christmas card using My Digital Studio for you!

We hope that you all have a very Merry Christmas and a happy 2011!

The thing I love about My Digital Studio is that I can create a card like this or a blog header in a matter of minutes! I just used the program to make a present for my mom this year and I can't wait to share that with you all too! After she gets it of course!

merry

I love this card that my mom made using the "A Cute Christmas" stamp set. Can you tell that that was one of my favorites this year?!!

My mom made this one at the last CROP I had for one of my challenges. I can't remember which one now but I wanted to share it with you before Christmas passes us by! Isn't is coming so fast? Only 4 more days to wrap, create, and bake!

All About Me

I was tagged by my friend Jinny to answer these questions about myself. Sounds like fun!

1. Four shows that you watch:
Glee

Survivor

The Biggest Loser

Bones (we are currently in season 3)

2. Four things you are passionate about:
My husband

My daugther

Scrapbooking

Sonic Diet Dr. Pepper with Cherry

3. Four words/phrases you say a lot:
"Do you want milk or water?"
"No you have already watched Elmo and Abby once today, you can watch it again tomorrow."
"I love you."
"No, Daddy is at work. He will be home for dinner."

4. Four things you've learned from the past:
Babies will eventually sleep through the night!
I love my husband more and more each year.
You can't please everyone.
Stand up for your faith. Don't let others bring you down to their level.

5. Four places you would like to go:
Alaskan Cruise
A beach in Florida
Paris, France
Back to Washington

6. Four things you did yesterday:
Avoided the Laundry
Took a nap
Made peanut clusters
Had 2 Sonic sodas

7. Four things you are looking forward to:
Eventually having a bigger family...no that's not an announcement!
The start of 2011
Seeing Brooke experience Christmas
Brooke turning 2!

8. Four things you love about winter:
That feeling when your nose hairs freeze when you breathe in cold air.
Fires in the fireplace at my parent's house
Sweats!
All of the lights outside on houses

9. Tag 4 people to play along:
Natasha
Jen
Emily
Nichole

Hope you enjoyed this. Have a great day!

Animal Sounds

If you also read my family blog, then you have already seen all of these pictures. But, you haven't seen them on a scrapbook layout!!

At 18 months Brooke had a ton of animal sounds that she liked to make. And for a few months she got really into making the sounds with her facial expressions. So I had to capture them and record them in some way. They are just too cute! Don't you think??

Journaling reads, "Animal Sounds. September 2, 2010. Brooke @ 18 Months".

I loved using this paper (I think by 7 Gypsies) and adding a few Stampin Up glimmer brads to it! LOVE IT!

Journaling reads, "Today we captured your facial expressions that go along with your animal sounds. I think dinosaur is my favorite! :)".

Here are the facial expression up close.

And here is a look at Stampin Up's great glimmer brads! They come in Basics, Brights, Subtles, and In Color collections (just 5 colors from each family). 40 Glimmer Brads for $4.95 USD!! Above you see two colors from the Brights collection: Tempting Turquoise and Old Olive.

Hope you enjoy this page and the pictures of my little girl!

Get Well and Sympathy Cards

About a month ago a customer of mine asked me to create 30 Get Well and Sympathy cards for her to send out when she needed them. So here are my 5 designs. I made 6 of each card for her.

This card was created using the stamp set "Herb Expressions". I used the Lavender image stamp ink in Old Olive and Rich Razzleberry. I stamped the image multiple times after one inking so that I could get a lighter image on some of them. I love how it turned out...

The color combo for this card was: Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White, and Early Espresso.

The "Thinking of You" sentiment came from the stamp set "Silhouette Sentiments". Level 1 hostess set in the current Stampin Up catalog!

This card uses the stamp set "Thoughts & Prayers" and is actually a CASE of the card on page 150 of the current catalog. I loved that card and I thought it would make a great Sympathy card.

Color Combo for this card was: Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip, and Whisper White.

This card is probably my least favorite of the five I made. But they can't all be spectacular. And I had to make sure that some of the cards were able to be sent to men.

I can't remember the name of the set that I used to creat this card. It was my mom's and I think it might be retired now.

Color Combo is: Crumb Cake, Real Red, Not Quite Navy, Whisper White, and Chocolate Chip.

This card also used the stamp set "Thoughts & Prayers". I love how it can be manly and also girly!

Color Combo: Not Quite Navy, Crumb Cake, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White.

Can you tell I have certain Stampin Up colors that I run to??!!

This last card used the stamp set "Vintage Vogue". The Bible verse was printed on cardstock and then cut apart and matted in Old Olive. (All of the cards actually had a printed Bible verse on the inside too.)

Color Combo: Melon Mambo, Old Olive, Concord Crush, Whisper White, and Basic Grey (button).

I love the added details of 3 different sized jewels to make up the center of the flower!

I hope you enjoyed these cards! And if you would like custom cards made by me, just let me know. demokimsu(at)yahoo(dot)com.

Card my MIL Made

This card was made by my Mother-in-Law. She was completing the same challenge as my mom was in this post: Color Combination of Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, and Early Espresso.

I just love her use of the Pick a Petal stamp set which just sits on my shelf ALONE these days. I don't really have motivation to use it but this card is so stinkin cute!!! It gives me new inspiration!

My MIL is a source of constant crafty inspiration for me! She is always creating something whether it's a card or something she sewed. This weekend she showed me a skirt for her Thirty-One skirt purse that she made! And it's ADORABLE!!!

You Could Win!!

Check out this great blog for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to Two Peas in a Bucket! I'm trying to win and you could too!

Card My Mom Made

I have to brag on my Mom and Mother-in-Law a little bit. When I first started selling Stampin Up in August of 2005, neither of them was really into the whole cardmaking thing. They both came to my first workshop/open house and they ordered stuff to make their own Christmas cards. Little did they know that they were going to be starting a life-long hobby!

They now both have craft rooms that could compete with the best of them and they are full of stamps, inks, embellishments, tools, and more. They are both VERY creative (even if they don't think so). I am often inspired by the cards I get in the mail or see them make at a crop. I love to see what they are coming up with.

So today I am highlighting a cute card my mom made.

This card was made at my last crop for the challenge - Create a card using the color combination: Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, and Early Espresso.

Don't you just love how she used the little "A to Z" stamp and then punched it out with the 2-3/8" Scallop Circle Punch??!! I do!

More cute cards from my Mom and Mother-in-Law in the days ahead!

Noel, Noel....Noel, Noel...

Here is another Christmas card that I created a few weeks ago for a stamp-a-stack event. I just love the "Big on Christmas" stamp set. I have had it for a few years now and I love finding a new way to use it!

This card has the color combo: Sahara Sand, Gardne Green, Real Red, Baja Breeze and Blushing Bride. It goes along with the little strip of DSP from the Cute Christmas line. I just love those glittery red stripes!

Here is a close up of the way I colored the image in. It's not solid coloring and I really like it that way!

One more post to come tonight. I have to catch up for taking a day off!

Gift Tags

Remember when I gave you a sneak peek of one of the tags that you could create at my Tag Party? Well here are all 5 of them!

At the tag party last night everyone created 2 each of the 5 designs. It was fun!

And if you didn't get the chance to come last night, there is always December 17th at the crop. 6-midnight. You are welcome to create these tags...just let me know! (demokimsu@yahoo.com)

Merry Christmas

I've got another Christmas card for you today! I like to make a lot of different designs rather than 50 of the same card. This way I don't get bored!

This card was made using some of the Cute Christmas DSP and the trees from the A Cute Christmas stamp set. I also used the Merry Christmas greeting from the Christmas Greetings stamp set.

And the glitter is Stampin Up's new glass glitter! I just love the silver!!

Hope you all are having a very merry time getting ready for Christmas!

Christmas Tags!

I'm have a Christmas Tag class on Monday night, 12/6! If you want to come and want the details, let me know! It's only $5 to attend!

Sweet Day

This card was one that my card club ladies got to make this month. It was also my submission for 2 challenges online. The first is Wee Memories' Ribbon Challenge and second is Clean and Simple's sketch from last week!

The color combo of this card is: Sahara Sand, Old Olive, Tempting Turquoise, Early Espresso and Rich Razzleberry! I love it!

This card is pretty simple to create. Both of the patterned papers come from the Brights Patterns DSP Stack! I love that stack of paper!

Because it was a ribbon challenge I thought I would use 2 of my favorite ribbons right now. I love the idea of 2 bows on a card! Don't you??

Snow, Snow, Snow

It snowed in Kansas City this week! WOW! Winter is coming. So I thought that today I would share a snowy card with you...

This is a card that I made for my recent stamp-a-stack. We used all 3 snowflakes from "Snow Swirled" in the colors: Baja Breeze, Bravo Burgundy, and Going Gray. I love this color combo!

This card was finished off with a little paper piercing along the bottom and pearls in the middle of some of the snowflakes!

On another note: I'm actually listening to Christmas music right now. (Those who know me will find this shocking!) I really enjoy just a few albums. Number one is Amy Grant's Home for Christmas and number two is NSYNC's Home for Christmas. There are a few more but those are my absolute favorites and I can listen to them over and over again. Sometimes even in July! (Funny how they are both named "Home for Christmas"! I've never had that realization before.)

Snowman w/ a Top Hat

It's a new month! YAY! It's December and I'm gonna try to (keyword is TRY) post once a day this month! Whew!

So we are starting out the month with this cute little card featuring the snowman from the "A Cute Christmas" stamp set! I just love this set and I think this little snowman has been used the most! You can see another card featuring him here.

I started this card using the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder. Then I rubbed Whisper White craft ink over the top of the dots and also used it to ink the edges of the card. The ribbon is Stampin Up's seam binding in Cherry Cobbler! And the snowman was colored in with black and cherry cobbler markers and a little Dazzling Diamonds was added using a two-way glue pen!

So easy and I just love it!

Happy Thanksgiving

Last week we received our first Thanksgiving card. It was from my Mother-in-Law, Jean. (She's the one that sent the turkey too!) I just love this card. She embossed the leaves in black and then colored them some how...share your ways Jean!

I just love this fall color scheme and the layout! I may have to use it for inspiration this week!

Cute Little Turkey

Brooke received this cute little turkey in the mail from her Grandma Jean. I just love it! She was carrying it around yesterday making it tickle me and her Daddy. So cute!

Sneak Peek

Look what I got in the mail!! The new Occasions Mini and Sale-a-Bration catalogs! Can't wait for you all to see them!

October Club Scrapbook Layout

Sorry that it's taken me so long to get this posted. There have been a lot of things going on lately and I have had a super cranky little girl and that just leaves me with little to no motivation to get anything posted on my blog! But I just took tons of pictures this afternoon and hopefully will fill your next few days or weeks with blog after blog!

This month is club we focused on the fabric that is currently in the Holiday Mini! It was so much fun to create these flower-type embellishments for scrapbook pages!

Journaling Reads: "Family Pictures . November 28, 2010 (which upon further inspection should read 2009!) . Brooke @ 9 Months"

The Candy Cane Christmas line has great papers, fabric and buttons that all go together and I just love it all!

And here is the right side of the layout. This layout is going in Brookes "1st Year" album(s).

Journaling reads: "These pictures were taken for our 2009 Christmas cards. I love them! Some of my favorites are of you and Daddy. You both are so cute together! :)"

Hope you enjoy and come back tomorrow for more!