Thursday, February 21, 2013

Crafting Ireland, A Layout and 25 Things You Just Have to Know About Me :)

The announcement went out today and I will be returning to the Crafting Ireland magazine design team for 2013! You can see the blog post and a list of the other designers Here!

And I did get some scrapbooking in on Tuesday. I decided to create a layout about the "favorite things" exchange I did with my scrapbook friends using one of the Instagram photos I just had printed.
My photo had just a small mix of the items I received in the mail. And I decided to use a few of the cards and lists as well on the layout. Plus, I loved the fabric that came with Desiree's package and cut a piece of it into a heart.

Journaling:
I met the best group of women a few years ago on-line through scrapbooking and we still stay in touch! When Nadine suggested a "Favorite Things" mail exchange, I knew it would be a great idea. She divided us into groups and the fun began. I loved putting my packages together to send out. And really loved receiving my fabulous mail in return. The photo is only a small example of the goodies that arrived and weren't taken by the kids or eaten immediately. Love my Suziebeezie friends!

It was a fun layout to put together :)
*ETA - I am linking this page up for the current issue at Paper Issues, "Sew Cute, You Keep Me in Stitches" :)

And now, thanks to a fun tag by Julie, it's time to get to know me a little better :)

1. Where Were You Born? - Right here in St. Louis, Missouri

2. Were You Named After Someone? - Well, supposedly my middle name, Josephine, is because of my great- grandmother on my mom's side. But my mom also had a doll named Mary Josephine. And I always tell Mike (my husband) we were meant to be together because his grandmother's name was Mary Josephine and his grandpa was Michael :) Fate!

3. If You Have Children, How Many Do You Have? - Two. A Boy (10) and a Girl (5) that I blog about all of the time :)

4. How Many Pets Do You Have? None. Although we had a fish for six days that did not do well. The kids are always asking for a pet though. Dog, cat, fish, and now lately a guinea pig. Not sure about it though.

5. What Was Your Worst Injury? I was in a pretty bad car accident in 1998. But thankfully no broken bones. Just lots of bruising and neck pain. Plus some anxiety and panic attacks that started up then for a while.

6. Do I Have a Special Talent? I have been told on by many people, many times that I have a gift with children. Which is why I became a teacher. I remember a friend of my grandma's telling me I was like the Pied Piper at parties with all of the kids following me around :)

7. What's Your Favorite Thing to Bake? I am a disaster in the kitchen. Not my favorite thing to do. But I can bake banana bread. That is probably my favorite thing to make if I have to bake.

8. What's Your Favorite Fast Food? I don't like fast food. I gave it up in January and haven't looked back. Glad to see I don't miss it at all.

9. Would You Bungee Jump? If my life depended on it, yes. Otherwise, nope.

10. What is the First Thing You Notice About People? Their eyes. You can tell a lot by a person's eyes.

11. When Was the Last Time I Cried? When Evan and I were reading "Bridge to Terabithia" That book is so good, but so sad. And reading it from a parents perspective made it that much harder.

12. Any Current Worries? With a husband who travels as much as mine does, there are always worries. But I have learned to put them on the back burner and not let it stress me out. Too much. As for currently, a big wintery mix is heading our way today and I do not like wintery mixes!

13. Name Three Drinks You Drink Regularly? Water, Dr. Pepper/Ginger Ale and Mango Orange juice. I went the longest time without drinking soda, and now I am back on. Although next month my health goal is giving up soda. So we'll see how that goes.

14. What is Your Favorite Book? Hands down, "Jane Eyre". Ever since I was a freshman in high school. Has not changed.

15. Would You Like to Be a Pirate? Not so much.

16. What are Your Favorite Smells? Vanilla, Mint and fresh rain.

17. Why Do You Blog? I have two blogs. One is personal and private now. It was my original blog, and is almost like a diary. Love reading back on the older posts, and use it a lot for journaling on scrapbook pages. This current blog is more my "scrapbook" blog with a little personal mixed into it. I love connecting with other people in this hobby and have met some amazing women through blogging!

18. What Song Do You Want Played at Your Funeral? Ave Maria and anything by U2. Maybe Magnificent or Bad, which hold special meaning to me.

19. What is Your Least Favorite Thing About Yourself? Where should I start?! No seriously, it is easier for me to point out the bad rather than the good, so I am trying to focus more on the positives about myself these days then the negative. So will pass on this one :)

20. What is Your Favorite Hobby? Scrapbooking of course! :)

21. What Do You Look For in a Friend? Honesty but kindness. Someone who is not judgmental and will accept me for who I am.

22. Name Something You Have Done You Never Thought You Would Do  - In the summer of 2009, my husband and I flew to Ireland to visit his family and see U2 in concert for two shows at Croke Park. Some place I had only dreamed of visiting. But I had to get past my fear of flying and over an ocean no less. Plus leaving our two children behind was really hard for me. It turned out to be one of my favorite trips ever!!!

23. What are your favorite things to do? Hang out with my family and friends, listen to music on my ipod, scrapbook, do yoga and pilates, play computer games and read.

24. Any pet peeves?  People who can't admit they are wrong and blame others or are judgemental. Road rage or not using blinkers appropriately.

25. What's the Last Thing that Made you Laugh? Not sure. I like to laugh a lot! :) And my children and husband are always making me laugh!

And now that you have read more about me then you probably wanted to know, I am going to pass it on to you! I am not good at tagging others. So if you want to share 25 things about you, just paste and copy the questions to answer. But make sure you let me know when you post, because I will want to come see your answers! :)

 Have a great weekend!





21 comments:

  1. Loved reading more about you!! SO fun!! And love love love your page!! Beautiful!!

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  2. Congrats on staying with the DT! :) Love your layout. I have gotten on a memorabilia kick lately and have a few more layouts to share soon. Getting all that Duran Duran stuff out started it all! LOL :)

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  3. Congratulations Mary Jo, what fantastic news to be with Crafting Ireland for another year!!! I love that you made a layout for your exchange :) I blogged about it today, we must have been on the same wavelength. Haha! I did this tag today to, too funny! Giving up pop is SO hard. I haven't had one in over three years, best decision ever, but sometimes when I hear someone open one, I'm like Pavlov's dogs and I start salivating! This storm came out of nowhere! It was not snowing at all and then we had an inch within like 30 minutes! Unfortunately looks like they got it right... :(

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  4. Congratulations on another year of design team....that is wonderful! Thank you so much for joining in on the "tag". I love learning about people in this way....so much fun! Your layout is great and getting surprise packages is the best!

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  5. Many congrats on another year on the DT for Crafting Ireland Mag! You must be delighted. I am delighted too as I know so much more about you than before. Loving your layout too. Hugs, Anne x

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  6. What a great post! I hear you on the pet issue. My kids want a dog, and I am not going there (for now).

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  7. Congrats on another term with the DT team!!
    Love your LO beautiful and love the design!
    You received some fun scrapbooking goodies!
    Love reading the 25 facts about you!

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  8. Congrats on the Crafting Ireland extended assignment...
    Thanks for sharing these 25 tidbits...it is fun to get to know someone slowly through their blog posts...but it is a slow process...fun things like this speed up the process!

    Thanks for the kind comments on my cards...I really only liked the owl card but hey...I need to make so many that I have released my critical, negative Nelly inner voice and just got them done! In retrospect I wish I had used a little embossing on the card stock to liven them up... Buy Hey!...Done is done!

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  9. Great favourite things layout! - Great idea! Nice to get to know you - with a few chuckles along the way!!
    Jasmine
    alittledabofglue.blogspot

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  10. I really enjoyed reading your answers and learning more about you :)
    Warning if you get a Guinea pig, they love to squeal during the night...and loud, lol.
    Congrats on making the DT again...easy to see why they wanted to keep you :)

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  11. What a great list! I think I need to give this a try! Great LO too!

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  12. Fun post, nice to get to know you a little better! Congrats on another year on the DT!

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  13. Congrats on another year on the design team! Nice to get to know you. :)

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  14. Congratulations on another term with Crafting Ireland, Mary Jo! How exciting! I love your idea for this page, the page itself, and getting to know more about you. :)

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  15. Congrats! And how interesting to read all about you. I liked thinking of you as the pied piper at parties! x

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  16. Yay! CONGRATS on being on the team again!

    You handled that tagging well..I am not good at that.

    Loved reading through and learning more about you. Those are not easy. That is just so awesome that you got to go to Ireland and see U2 twice!

    And such an awesome LO! And so meaningful, love that!

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  17. Congratulations on a new year with _Crafting Ireland_!

    P.S. I'm a Jane Eyre fan, too. :)

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  18. Your layout is great! I love all of the embellishments!

    I really liked learning more about you! I love the story of your name and Mike's name and his grandparents. That is so special!

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  19. such a fun post and HUGE congrats on the DT!!!!!

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  20. Very fun post and pretty page. It is nice to know a little bit more about you. Thanks for sharing!

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