More Scrapping

Hey everyone! Happy Friday....woot woot!! :P Just wanted to share a couple of process videos I've put up on my You Tube channel this past week. Take a look and please leave a comment...I love to hear everyone's input. Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by!

"Right Now" scrapbooking process video

"#Love You" scrapbooking process video

"You Love Him"

Here's a layout I started on Saturday. I just finished it off tonight. I had been on a scrappy roll there for a bit and inevitably, I lost my mojo. Or maybe it's the weather. We got a cold front (cold for us) move in and it makes me just want to stay snuggled up on the couch in my favorite sweater. There's no process video for this one because when I started it, my sis and I were Skype scrapping. I hope to have a new process video up this week. Thanks for stopping by :)

A Move....

In my scrap area that is! Even though I JUST moved my stuff around about a month ago....I don't know what possessed me to do it again! lol Actually, I really wanted my table in front of the window to get as much natural light for when I record my videos. My scrap area is actually half of our living room. We don't have any extra empty rooms that I can take over. Our living room is pretty long, so half of it is mine and the other half has our sofas, tv, ect. It has its advantages and disadvantages. I like that I can be scrapping at my table and talk to the kids or The Hubby if they are watching tv or playing video games, but sometimes they're too noisy and it would be nice to have a room I could close the door to and escape all the noise for a while. I also don't like that my stuff is out where everyone can see it. Although, I'm not messy and I rarely leave stuff out on my table, all my supplies and shelves are pretty much out where it can all be seen. For now though, it will have to do.  I've actually had my scrap area set up in this same way before, but had moved it...don't ask me why! Well, actually...I am one of those people who LOVES rearranging furniture every so often, so that's probably why I do! I gave myself and hour, but it took me TWO! Half way through, I was tired and wanted to stop and wondered what the heck I had been thinking! And sadly, I don't know what I did, but I ended up hurting my left shoulder. It might have been lifting and moving my HEAVY stacks of patterned papers. Funny how it's usually when I'm moving stuff that I realize just how much stuff I have...and sometimes it's SCARY! lol In a good way! I really like the way it looks and is set up now and hopefully, the pain in my shoulder will serve to remind me to stop moving things around!

I also went by Michaels today in hopes of finding and buying all of those Heidi Swapp stamps from the Hello Today line, but sadly, there were only 3 sets there. Not 3 different styles...literally THREE stamp sets! They were pretty wiped out. I picked the two I liked the most and left the other there and had my hubby use a coupon as well. Next time, I will take the kids and hubby and use four coupons! lol

I was working on another layout earlier today. My sister and I were Skype scrapping, but I didn't get to finish because The Hubby came home from work and we left to run errands. I hope to finish it up tomorrow and I'll post a picture of the finished product. Here are some pictures to look at. Thanks for stopping by!

"The Kiss"

Here's a layout I worked on yesterday. Watching Patty (Patty Sandberg on You Tube) work on all her amazing wedding pages recently, inspired me to print out some wedding pics and work on a page. Here are some pictures and process video link. Thanks for stopping by :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YNB_A0n8ps

Process Video #2 "Max"

So, I was able to make another process video last night. I tried a different set up with my webcam and worked at a different table at a different angle. It worked out pretty well and I think I'll be doing them there from now on. I really think the video quality would look a lot better if I had more natural light, but our house is a dungeon. I had my scrap table in front of a window not too long ago and for a brief second I thought about moving it back there, but I just recently....VERY recently (like the Monday before New Years Day) moved everything around and I don't feel like doing it again. And the set up I have now gives me more table top space. We shall see. Below is a picture of the finished layout and further down, you'll find a link to the process video. I forgot to mention that a few days ago, I saw my friend Emily who is omgitsemily074 on You Tube post a link to a DT call for Hip Kit club which she is a part of. I think I've tried out for 2 other DTs (can't remember which at the moment) and have never made the cut, so naturally I'm a little hesitant.....buuuut...I'm going to give it a go anyway. Doesn't hurt to try. Either way, you have to submit 3 LOs and 3 cards, but one of each has to be made specifically for the DT call. This will be my LO submission. Now, I just need to work on my card which I think I'll do later on today. Not sure if I'll do a process video on that or not, but if I do...I'll post the link and a picture here. Thanks for stopping by!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SPgUOyyR1E

Long time coming.....

Wow! It has been a long time since I updated my blog. It has been so neglected and I think it's time to breathe some new life into it. I will still keep it for taking note of personal stuff going on in our lives, but will definitely use it to showcase my latest scrappy projects and purchases and give you all any links to process videos on my You Tube channel which I am going to try to start doing more of. I recorded and uploaded my first one a couple of days ago and other than a small mishap in the middle of recording where I knocked my webcam from where I had propped it up...lol...I really enjoyed doing it and would like to make some more. So, with that being said, here are some pictures of my recent layouts for 2014. I haven't set a LO goal for myself like I have in the past years as I'm not always feeling the scrappy mojo and don't want to put any unnecessary pressure on myself to complete x amount of layouts. Thanks to all of you who still read my blog. For those of you who don't know about my You Tube channel, here is a link: https://www.youtube.com/user/mrslaura6615

A new obsession? Um, yeah....I think so! lol I've been wanting to try my hand at a mixed media canvas for a while now. I tried a few years back I think and it was a DISASTER! lol Turned out NOTHING like I had imagined! And thankfully, I do not have a picture of it! lol In my defense, I just jumped into it. I bought a canvas and a few paints and just went at it. This time, I watched a TON of videos on You Tube because as everyone knows, you can learn how to do ANYTHING by watching You Tube vids. After all, that's also how I learned to cut my side swept bangs ;) lol So, I watched a bunch of vids....alot of them being by Christy Tomlinson....just LOVE her stuff and style and the way she just "goes with it". Or at least that's the way she makes it seem. This time, I was a bit more informed, had a better idea of what I wanted to do, what I wanted it to look like. I'd already gotten a few ideas from watching the vids, knew a little more about what products are used for. Anyway, this is what I came up with and I just LOVE the way it turned out! Not too shabby for my first canvas if I do say so myself! lol So, yep....I already have an idea for my second one which I plan to try to work on later today. I've been watching even more videos and making a long list of stuff I just NEED to get! lol Good thing my birthday is coming up in about two weeks. I can ask hubby for some art "shtuff". I'm dying for some more gelatos and some Pitt pens. I want more acrylic paints, want to try some of those Claudine Helmuth transparent paints, oh and molding paste....want to try that...oh, so much crafting, SOOO little time....and energy! Okay, sometimes I'm just plain lazy! lol So, that is my new obsession. I hope it lasts longer than my card making phase which only left with me with a bunch of sentiment stamp sets I hardly used! lol Good thing I was able to unload them on the Scrap Yard! Last Friday, both kids had Flex day which just basically meant they didn't have school, so Lij stayed home and Mikey and I hung out at Chon's (my sis) and we scrapped (and shopped) they day away. I got four more LOs done which brings my grand total to 83 for the year! I'm pretty sure I'll make my goal of 100 and might even pass it up a bit. I'll try to get those pages up later today, but no promises :)

Tap...tap....is this thing on?

Does anyone still read my blog anymore? lol I have seriously negelected my poor blog! Honestly, it just started to feel like a chore, so maybe it was good to take a little break from it. Even though I am a stay at home mom and don't work outside the house, there are just never enough hours in the day to do everything that I need/want to do. Especially during the Summer. Summer was busier than I thought it'd be. Not that we were running here and there or anything like that, but just having the kids home ALL. DAY. LONG! Mikey is bored VERY easily so that was a challenge in itself just to keep him occupied and entertained. Elijah is no problem at all. He'd stay in his room most of the day playing his guitar or keyboard or on his laptop recording, editing or uploading his music and videos. And eating...ohmygosh! Can these boys eat?! I felt like I was always in the kitchen either fixing them something or cleaning up in there! It was NUTS!! But now they are back on school and we are back on somewhat of a schedule/routine and I have a bit more time during the day to blog or scrap or do whatever I want to do.
On the exercising front, I have fallen off the wagon....again! Summer was not a good time for going to the gym with the kids here and I stopped going. I swore to myself that I was back at it when the kids went back, but I haven't kept that promise. I went TWO days with Miguel who has started going, but we were waking up at 5 a.m. and going while the kids were still in bed (the gym is just right across the street) and coming back in time to wake them up and get them ready for school, but honestly, that was just NOT working for me. I mean, 1.) I liked that I was going with Miguel and I figured it would be good for motivation. To have someone to push me and hold me accountabel. 2.) I liked that I was getting it done and out of the way early and had the rest of the day to finish up my chores and do whatever I wanted. But anyone who knows me, knows that I DO. NOT. LIKE. WAKING. UP. EARLY. I HHHHHAAAAATTTE it!! lol And when I am tired, I am GRUMPY!! lol Those first two days, I felt like a zombie all day long! I was DRAGGING! I seriously felt like I was drunk or in a daze or something and just literally just fall asleep wherever I was standing! I couldn't make myself go to bed early because that's usually my quiet time, when the kids are in bed at night, I can just relax and watch tv or scrap or surf the net..whatever. So I was probably going on about 5 or 6 hours sleep, which might be okay for some people (like Miguel), but NOT ME!! So, I stopped going. And for whatever reason, I just can't get myself motivated to go. Thankfully, I don't think I've put on too much of the weight I originally lost when I started earlier this year, but I'm sad that I probably undid all the progress I had made with my running. Well, I know I did because those two days when I went with Miguel, I could barely run a minute without stopping. I was already up to running a mile, sometimes a mile and half continuously and it's all gone now! :( :( I do want to get back there...to the gym I mean, just don't know when that's going to be.
I've been working on some scrappy stuff as well. I haven't really been uploading my projects there anymore or anywhere for that matter. I used to upload all my pages to my scrapbook.com gallery, but that started to feel like a chore too. Maybe I'm just lazy?! lol It's possible ;) I have been scrapping whenever I get the chance. I've also been working on my Project Life Daily Journals. Don't know if I ever touched on that subject before, but basically, I got the idea from my friend Mari who was using these small 8x7ish address book binders we had found at M's for .50 to do her version of Project Life. She was just taking a pic a day and making little "pages" in the books and I thought it was such a cool idea! I started this back in February ( missed January and didn't want to go backwards and try to remember details and gather pics and stuff) and I've kept it up this far. I really love doing it and because I'm using up alot of my old stash in making these little journals. I got a bit behind on my You Tube videos during the Summer, but I've been playing catch up and recording and uploading them these past few weeks. Here's a link to my channel if anyone wants to check those out :)
http://www.youtube.com/user/mrslaura6615?feature=mhee
I've also starting working on mixed media kind of stuff I guess. I was browing different sites earlier this week and came across the Whim So Doodle site and saw them advertising a class they were having at their store with some woman whose name I can't remember at the moment, but they had some pics of her work posted and I thought it was SO cool and it kind of inspired me to try some ideas out that I had floating around in my head. It was so awesome because after a couple of fails, my project turned out just as I had envisioned it! They were some little altered tags that I inked and doodled on and adhered some cool paper pieced child/fairy type images. I'm really having fun making those and playing with things like my TH distress inks which I hardly ever use. I am debating on investing in some Gelatos becaues Emily (omgitsemily074) on You Tube uses them on her mixed media stuff and I really love the way you can work with them and get like a water color effect. I know she's used them on shipping tags which is what I've been using as my base and she's used them on a canvas which is what I would love to try next. Everywhere I've looked online though, they are kind of pricey. I know they have assorted packs at M's and J's I think and I can always aquire a good variety slowly by buying them with coupons when these stores have them, but I'm so impatient and want them all NOW! lol Maybe I'll ask Miguel for that for my upcoming birthday :) Can't think of anything else worth mentioning, so until next time...which hopefully won't be months from now, here's some of my latest projects to look at :)

Relaxin'

So, today is a chill day for me...somewhat. Got my chores done early and got some laundry going, but other than that...not much that I HAVE to do today. I skipped the gym because I have really bad cramps, but it usually only lasts for a day. I should...SHOULD...be good to go for tomorrow. I did make it to the gym yesterday. As it turns out, I had kind of been going by the plan all wrong. I honestyly hadn't looked at it since Kim first gave it to me. And somewhere along the line, I just assumed that moving up to the next level was adding a minute to my running time AND adding a minute to my walking time, but I was wrong! I should have been adding a minute to my running time, but keeping my running time at one minute. Anyway, I had already moved up to running3mins/walking3mins, but I didn't think I'd be ready to catch my breath with just one minute of walking between. I remembered seeing another running plan online and looked that one over and decided that at this point, that one would probably suit me better. Soooo, yesterday I ran3mins/walked2mins, ran5mins/walked3mins X 2 and then added (2)run3/walk2 at the end. So I ran a total of 22 mins which makes me really happy. It wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be, BUT I think it had alot to do with my pace. I think I was trying to run too fast and I was getting too out of breath. So I dropped my speed down from 5.1/5.2 to 4.8 and that made ALL. THE. DIFFERENCE. What I'm really going for right now is endurance I guess not time or speed. I want to be able to, say...run for like 30 minutes non stop....eventually of course. And to be able to do it on a regular basis and not just every now and then. So, then I guess what I need to be working on is building up my running time and not my speed. Anyway, so that is how that is going. And I'm still seeing a big difference in my body and the way my clothes is fitting. I had set aside some cargo type pants a few weeks back that were my next goal to fit into. I haven't worn these pants since we were living at our old house which was about FOUR years ago!! I know!! Well, I tried them on last week and they fit!! They are still a TEENY bit snug on my waist, but I'm sure that in the next couple of weeks, I WILL be wearing these pants!! YAY ME!! lol
On the scrapping side, I have been scrapping...here and there. I'm just not uploading my pages here nor on any online galleries anymore. Not sure why.....laziness maybe. Either way, I'm up to 16 pages for this year. I also started a kind of Project Life mini album using a cute little ring binder that I got at Michaels. It's actually a little address book, but they are super cute and awesome to use for mini books because of the rings inside. I also have a little ongoing album that I made a couple of months back to keep all of our GNO pics with our cousins in. I used those new Amy Tangerine Daybooks as inspiration and if you ask me, mine turned out just like them if not better :) I also made some for our cousins and I made one to give away as a prize on a scrapbook group that I have on Facebook.
Well, that's pretty much it for now. Just wanted to update to keep track of my LOs and gym stuff :)

Random thoughts....

***why is it still so hard to run 2 mins? At about a minute and a half...I'm TIRED! lol Today was my 2nd day this week doing the run2mins/walk2mins. I did it, but my ankle was hurting as well as my right knee. Think I'll do this for another week before I try to move on to whatever is next. I did level 1 (run1/walk1) for two weeks as well. We shall see.
**I remember one day before going to the gym, I kissed Mikey and he asked me if I had lipstick on because he felt it on his cheek I guess. I said "no", that it was Chapstick. And he asked why I was wearing it. Miguel said it was "because Mommy wanted to look good at the gym." It's CHAPSTICK not LIPSTICK! lol Besides, anyone who has seen me while or after I have worked out knows that there is nothing GOOD looking about me! I am sweaty, my hair is a mess and my face is RED!
***those green cargo type pants that were my next goal to try to fit into.....FIT! The last time I tried them on, they barely came up on my hips and I couldn't close them. Well, they close, but still a bit tight on my waist....soon, soon :)
***still on the whole exercising thing...I feel GOOD. EVERY. SINGLE. MORNING. I try to talk myself out of going to the gym (yes, STILL...lol), but after I go, I am so glad that I did and I feel SO much better. I have to admit that I feel guilty on the days that I don't go, but I am going at least 4 days a week, no less than 3 with the exception on last week, I only did 2...monthly woman issues :( But my body feels awesome.....I don't feel blah or gross...lol and that's a GOOD thing :)
***I got the idea off of Stephanie Howell's blog to make these "things" lol for Valentine's Day for the kids and Miguel. She used jars that she decorated to put little slips of paper with things she loves about each person and each day up until Valentine's Day, they pick out a slip of paper and read it. I thought it was such an awesome idea! So I made my own version of them. Since I didn't have jars, I made some hanging pocket type things that I decorated with scrappy goodness and a pic of me w/either Lij, Mikey or Miguel. The look on the kids faces after they read their little slip of paper each morning is priceless! <3 I guess Miguel likes it too....I hope! :)
***I've been doing some scrapping here and there whenever I have time and the mojo strikes. I'm up to 12 layouts this year so far. Last year, I didn't reach my 100 layout goal, but that's okay. December was kind of rough with my Grandma passing and just life in general.
***Elijah auditioned and made Glee again. He is getting better and better with his music and his confidence. I love that music is pushing him to come out of his shell more. He amazes me with how fast he can pick up and learn to play a song. I think he needs a little more work on learning how to make the most of his voice, but he does have a voice for singing....just needs more work. I am so super proud of him :)
Well, this morning as I was thinking about this post, I had more things in mind that I wanted to make note of, but they seem to escape me at the moment! I just wanted to make note of a few things going on right now for my own benefit. If anyone reads it....BONUS! :)
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