My Friend

Welcome,Thursday! I am not one to talk much about politics with others, but I did vote on Tuesday :) I did my research and felt pretty confident about my choices.
Now that the election is over, I am hoping and praying that these next four years are going to be better for our country!

Enough politics! On to scrapbooking :)
When I found out the theme for the November kit by Scrapbooking From the Inside Out, Mindfulness, of course one of the first things that came to mind was yoga. And the idea for my "Mind Racing" page from my last post, was a no-brainer for me.
But after that I was seriously stumped. So I googled mindfullness and actually discovered a few pretty helpful sites. One of them is here. "Mindfulness exercises to relieve stress."
The other site, Mindfulness.com, is more of a blog with lots of great ideas and thoughts on mindfullness. And this is the place where I found something written on "mindful friendship" which stated that a mindful friends practices "loving speech and compassionate listening."
Right away that struck a chord with me and made me think of my friend Bridget. She is the very definition of loving speech and compassionate listening!

I have known Bridget for over ten years now and in that time we have become great friends. Our children are close and I am grateful for her is so many ways.

Journaling:
I was so blessed on the day Bridget and I became friends. We officially met while we were each separately out walking in the neighborhood with our baby boys in carriers. And immediately a friendship was born! 
Through Bridget, I have learned that true friends can have different ideas, thoughts and feelings, but still not let that get in the way of friendship.
She is what I would call a "miindful" friend because she has perfected the art of "loving speech" and
"compassionate listening". When I talk, I truly feel that she is listening. And when she talks, I truly feel the kindness and love in her words. I treasure our friendship because she gives great advice and is a calming presence in my life. And I hope I am that kind of friend to her as well.

Have you created any layouts about the friendships in your life?

Time Is Flying!

So today I am going to share a nice calm layout that may slow things down a bit :)

Created using the November Mindfullness kit by Scrapbooking From the Inside Out.

Journaling:
I began doing yoga in 1998 as a way to help me relax and deal with stress after being in a really bad car accident. I was having panic attacks and just feeling sick to my stomach all of the time. A friend of mine recommended yoga to help me learn to breathe, so I bought a beginning yoga video to get me started. And my friend was right! Whenever I did yoga, I found myself feeling calmer and more relaxed.
Fast forward several years when my kids were born. Yoga wasn't quite as relaxing for me. I would try and go through a routine, but the constant interruptions threw me off! And whenever I tried to get up before the kids to fit in a workout, they would decide to wake up early, too.
Last fall though, I had a wonderful yoga experience. When Mike and I traveled up to Muskogee Canada for our anniversary trip, the resort offered a free yoga and pilates class. Only a few students showed up, so it was the perfect class size. The teacher was fabulous and very laid back. Once again I found the calmness and peace I knew yoga could provide.
Now that both kids are in school full time, I am able to fit a little of my quiet yoga time in after they leave. Some time to relax and just breathe.

For  me, yoga is the perfect exercise in mindfullness :)
And it was important for me that this layout stayed simple, because simple gives me such a calm feeling these days!

In other scrapbook news, I have a layout published in ScrapStreet magazine for November. One of their last issues :(
You can see my layout here on page eight for the "Black and White" article.

And better late than never, a few photos from Halloween.

Evan's favorite pumpkin.

Our spooky animated witch who talks and stirs her pot when people approach :)

The gang! Evan didn't have his costume on yet. And decided not to go trick or treating, but stay back at the house with me while Erin trick or treated with her friends and Mimi. This was the first year Mike had to be out of town for Halloween which was a bummer!

Erin and her best friend! His mom and I are saving all these photos from when they are younger for the wedding ;)

All in all, it was a pretty good Halloween. Although the kids had school the next day and we are use to having the day off. So it was a little rough getting up and going :)

As for blogging, I think between now and New Year's I will most likely be putting up posts here on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It seems to fit in the best with my schedule right now. And I will still do Wednesday posts at Craft Your Nest. So I will back on Thursday. Thanks for stopping by!

November

Hope everyone who celebrated had a great Halloween! We really did thanks to friends and neighbors. Despite Mike having to be out of town. Although we did miss him and it just wasn't the same!
I will have some photos to share on Monday. Just didn't have time last night to get it all together :)

Now since it is November, I have a layout to share with you from the new November kit by Scrapbooking From the Inside Out.

I think this is a page that a lot of women can relate to on a daily basis! The "Mindfullness" theme of the kit this month, immediately made me think of how I feel like I am always thinking ahead these days. Not feeling relaxed and in the moment, but thinking of the next item I need to check off on my to do list!

Journaling:
Not quite sure why, but I do know that these days my mind is continually racing. Whatever I am doing, I feel as if I am continually thinking into the future about what needs to be done. What can I cross off my to do list? I am afraid I will forget to do something important. And it's driving me crazy!

Back in the days before kids, I would go for long walks for exercise in our neighborhood after work. Just relaxed and focused on the walk. But these days, that isn't the case. Listening to music on my ipod does help a bit, but I still find myself wanting to hurry up my workout so I can get on to the next thing.

I feel fragmented. Like I need to be in a million places at once. I am trying to multi task and do too many things at the same time. And not doing any of them well!

There is the closet in Erin's room that has needed cleaning out and organizing for a year now. I want to go through each room of the house and figure out what we should get rid of and what we should keep. The house continually needs cleaning and upkeep. School for the kids involves overseeing homework, paperwork, checks to be written and more! There is so much to do and it seems less time to do it.

I just want to slow down a bit and not wish the days or time away. I want our family to be able to relax and enjoy time together. And I want to be focused in the present more than I am.

There has to be a way to slow this down and not always feel like I am racing towards a finish line!

That little light bulb embellishment on there is by Prima Marketing.
I have to admit that I was a little thrown by them at first. And then I thought of light bulbs and how they appear over cartoon characters heads when they get an idea :) Which made me think of thinking and the mind. So I decided to use one for this particular page. Although I decided to try and scrape off the letters because I received two and neither of the words really worked with my page. I discovered that it was indeed possible to just scrape off the word with my fingernail and have a plain light bulb which I like very much!

The yellow chevron paper is a resistable paper by Pink Paislee that I just colored with stamping ink.
And the instagram photo was taken on a walk down my street to the mailbox one day. And I thought it worked well with my journaling :)

And here is the November kit over at SFTIO. Lots of Teresa Collins and Cosmo Cricket with a little Studio Calico, Glitz and Prima thrown in :) You can see more photos and the list of contents here! :)


I hope you have a wonderful, relaxing weekend! Ours shouldn't be quite as crazy as last weekend. But you just never know :)

Lots to Share!

Well, if you read my post last Thursday, you know that I had a huge to do list to accomplish over the past several days. And I am happy to say that I checked it all off except for cleaning the house. Erin threw up at school and had to come home on Thursday which was my cleaning day. I decided to keep her home Friday as well just to be safe, but she was much better by Thursday night.

And Friday night we finally picked up this...

We ended up going with the Ford Edge in silver. So now I have a new car and am just a little nervous to drive it. Just wasn't in the plans to buy a car, but that tree didn't give us much choice! I am glad to have the car shopping over though.

Lots of Halloween decorations going up here, too.

and a few from the pumpkin patch last weekend

Plus I managed to finish up four layouts on Friday and one today for the November Mindfullness kit by Scrapbooking From the Inside Out which will be revealed on the site this Thursday, Nov. 1st. So I have a few peeks for you.

And now that I have a week or two before I need to do more design team work, I am going to work on my mother-in-law's Ireland album a bit more. I am hoping to have it done by Thanksgiving. Although I may have said the same thing for Mother's Day :-O

See you Thursday with a new layout!

Crafting Ireland Peeks

Issue 14 for Crafting Ireland magazine will be out on November 12th.
My assignment for this issue was a winter layout and a year in review layout.
One will be in the magazine and the other will most likely be featured on their blog sometime in the future.
So today I wanted to share a few peeks of those layouts :)

Coming soon!

I also have a post up at Craft Your Nest with some musical inspiration for your layouts.
Otherwise, I am cleaning house today, trying to get several layouts done for an upcoming deadline, getting a birthday package together, planning a special anniversary celebration for Mike and I, probably finally getting our new vehicle this weekend and getting things ready for Halloween. Feeling like I am in overdrive trying to get it all done.

So if you don't see me around after tomorrow for a bit, you know why! :)
Hope you have a great weekend!

Found My Way to You :)

Here is the last layout I created this month using the October Journey kit by Scrapbooking From the Inside Out.

This photo was taken before Mike and I were married. Or even really dating. We look like such young babies don't we? :)
It wasn't an easy path for us to end up together. I had actually been dating someone else for almost seven years. But at one point, he decided that he didn't think he wanted to marry me. Ever. And truthfully, it was a blessing in disguise. At the time though, it was pretty confusing for me. I mean no one wants to hear that the person who supposedly loves you, doesn't want to marry you, right?
So I broke up with him.
At the same time, Mike and I had been friends for several years. And even though we were "just friends" there had always been a connection between us. We had so much in common and just really liked hanging out with our other friends. As time went by, I realized that I had slowly been feeling more than friends for a while. And so we started dating. Briefly.
Because my ex-boyfriend decided it was too hard out in the dating world. And that it would be easier to get back together. He even told me at one point that he wanted to get back together because it was safer than starting over. Once again, who wants to be told something like that by the person who is supposed to love you. And that is when I began to see that maybe he didn't really love me. Not the way I wanted to be loved.
But fool that I am :) I got back together with him. It was just so confusing at the time. And a few friends encouraged me to "do the right thing" and go back. To be honest, it probably *was* for the best. Because it gave me the time I needed to see that we weren't right together. And that Mike was the one who had my heart.

Journaling:
We went through a lot to be together. We were just friends for several years, and I was dating someone else at the same time. But when that relationship ended after six years, we began to see each other. Briefly. Because when Paul decided he wanted to get back together because he was scared of starting over, I was so confused. And a few well-intentioned friends didn't help matters by saying I should give him another chance. So I did.
But it just didn't feel right in my heart. I was so miserable without you. I missed you so much! You had become not just my friend, but my best friend and I knew I couldn't give you up.
After almost fifteen years of marriage and two beautiful kids, I can honestly say I have never, ever regretted my decision. There are ups and downs to be sure as in any relationship. Like car troubles or extended family drama. Life isn't always easy and it's not supposed to be. 
But I know what life is like without you. I've been there, and it is not a good thing. And I like that we can handle the hard times together. I love that sometimes I can still just look at you and fall in love a little bit over again. And when I look at this photo taken on our "break", I remember how much I wanted to be with you."

To the right of the photo you can see the lyrics to a Jason Mraz song that made me think of those early days in our relationship:
All I really want to do is love you.
A kind much closer than friends use, 
but I still can't say it after all we've been through.

And all I really want from you is to feel me.
As the feeling inside keeps building.
And I will find a way to you if it kills me,
if it kills me.

I really am so glad that I took the chance and didn't play it safe :)

Just two tips I want to share about this layout.
For the numbers in 1995, I used a Colorbox fluid chalk ink pad in Yellow Cadmium to color the foam letter stickers. They were originally white.
And for the canvas resist birds, I used Tattered Angels glimmer glaze in blue and Smooch Spritz in Tea Party to color them.

I will be back on Thursday with a few peeks at my projects for the next issue of Crafting Ireland magazine!

It's Friday!

And today I wanted to share two blogs that are featuring some of my work.
First up is this layout...

up on the Crafting Ireland blog. I also have a very small step by step tutorial on there with it :)
I am so glad I was finally able to create a layout about our Trunk or Treat entry at the kid's school last fall. That was a lot of fun!

I also have a Behind the Scenes post on the Scrapbooking From the Inside Out blog.
I was asked a few questions about one of my recent layouts I created for the design team.
So you can see my layout with some extra close up shots as well.

As for this weekend, it is going to be a busy one here! Car shopping, the pumpkin patch, clothes shopping for the kids picture day at school, a fun benefit dinner at the Circus Flora, the crop and more. Mike and I were both talking last night about how crazy it is going to be. But I am glad we are going to have some fun family time!
Hope everyone has a great weekend!

WOYWW 176

So today is Wednesday. And for me that means two things.
What's on Your Workspace Wednesday and Craft Your Nest day.
I have to say though that Wednesdays have become super busy for me in many areas.
So for now, this is my last *official* Workspace Wednesday.
I love, love WOYWW, but it takes a long time to go through the blogs. And most days, I can only make it to about thirty at the most. Which I am sure is fine, but lately with volunteering at school I just don't have time.

So I am thinking that I don't want to stop completely. But I am not going to link up to Julia's blog for awhile. Instead I am just going to try and pop in to visit a few of my regular WOYWW friends. But you won't see a number by my name. Just me coming to visit you on the occasional Wednesday. I am familiar with so many names on Julia's list now, that I definitely want to keep up with what is going on :)

And now for my workspace...

A little messier than usual. I just finished working on a two page winter layout and this is most of the product that I used. Well except for the blue car. That belongs to the kids, and I am not quite sure when it was put there. I am also noticing an unusually large amount of adhesives laying around as well. But I had fun with the layout. Photos from an ice storm that hit in 2006. It will either be featured in the next issue of Crafting Ireland magazine or on their blog. Not sure which yet, but I will be sure to let you know.

And as for Craft Your Nest blog, I have a post up today here. I am talking a little bit about working with foam alphabet letters. This set actually...

and I have a tiny tutorial on how to change them up just a bit.

That is all for now. And I will try and get by to visit as many blogs as I possibly can today. As always, I will come leave you a comment if you leave one here :) Have a great Wednesday!