And I have fallen into bad blogger status again...

Happy Holidays!  Can't believe Christmas is over and a new year is upon us.  Where has 2014 gone?  These years just fly by.  Ever since I had children time seems to be speeding.  My holiday was nice and quiet, staying home with my family.  Kids seem happy with what Santa brought them.  I must admit, the holidays have not felt special since my mom died almost 9 years ago.  I try to make it fun for the kids, go through the motions but it's not the same.  My mom had such an amazing way of making the holidays feel so special and magical. Every room in the house decorated, she spent hours preparing the Christmas Eve and Christmas meals. Even New Years was festive and magical.  To me these all feel like just normal days.  I try to remember what the day is really about but it's not the same.

For 2015 and I am hoping to do a lot of changes in my life.  1.  Scrapbook more. I haven't done it in so long. I keep taking lots and lots of pictures and do nothing with them. 2.  Change my diet.  I have gained so much weight since my surgery and have not really cared about what I am putting into my body. It has to stop.  I need to change.  I need to and am going to exercise daily and eat better.  3.  Try to get my house in some sort of order.  I have a daughter who dances 6 days a week, a son who does Cub Scouts, and a husband who volunteers with a lot of organizations that he is usually out every night of the week that I can't get a grasp on this house. And laundry. I hate laundry.  4. I need to make dinner every night at home. Because everyone is so involved at night dinner as a family is a rare occurrence.  My daughter and I usually grab take out, the rest of the family scrambles for something fast.  I need to use my crock pot more. So tempted to buy that pressure cooker I see the infomercials for!  

Remodeling.....

I love when my husband gets these bright ideas into his head.  Since our kids are getting older and don't use a playroom anymore, he decided to convert the playroom into my scrapbook room. This is a great idea, I will admit, but it has turned the house upside down.  There is stuff everywhere. Where my old scrapbook space used to be was also our "junk" room.  Some people have junk drawers, we had a junk room.  It you can't find a place for it it went into that room. So all the junk is on my dining room table.  He also decides at the same time to paint our upstairs hallway.  I'm all for that too but one project at a time!  I will post pictures when both projects are complete. Can't wait until my room is finished and I can start working on projects to share!

I'm a bad blogger...

What a bad blogger I am.  I stopped writing on my blog, which I loved to do. So much has changed since my last post...I don't even know where to begin.

I went back to work full time.  I love it. I hate it.  I have 28 years to go until I can retire.  

I had a few health scares but God and my mother are watching over me.

I lost my best friend to Cancer. And it sucks.  And it hurts.

I haven't scrapbooked in FOREVER. And I am so ashamed to say that. But the good news I am getting a bigger scrapbook room so I can get back into the groove of things. I still buy scrapbook stuff though :o)

I have become a full blown dance mom. My daughter dances almost every day of the week. She loves and I do too.  

With no followers this will become more like therapy for me.

That pesky Phil....

When I got my daughter up for school this morning, the first thing she did was run to the computer to see what good old Punxatawny Phil did this morning.  We were both in shock, another 6 weeks of winter? Phil is CRAZY!  It's going to be in the 40's here all week! I hear into next week! Unheard of in PA!  I remember last year being so tired of the cold, this year it hasn't really come yet, which is fine by me. I was really made to live in Florida, I just wish my husband would realize that.  So today, hopefully, I will get some cleaning and scrapbooking done.  Always my goals but they don't seem to work out always.  Hopefully I will be back with some pictures to share!

My first sketch challenge

I have a confession. Well 2 confessions actually.  My first, I don't know how to load my ATG gun. Yes, I know it's sad but it's true.  My husband usually does it for me.  Everytime I attempt to do it, I waste like a foot of tape.  So after I made this page today, I couldn't make anymore b/c I ran out of tape and my  husband won't be home until 5.  My second confession. I am not creative. I need inspiration most of the time to make a card or layout.  I am a serial scrap lifter.  I can copy stuff well I think but to think of it myself, I just can't do it. Which brings me to today's layout.  I joined Networkedblogs.com thinking I may get some followers b/c I love to share my scrap lifted ideas with the masses. So instead of me getting followers, 200 blogs out there now have me following them!  I was browsing through some of them and I found this sketch challenge from scrap-a-little.com .  Not sure if I will actually enter it into the challenge b/c not only can't I load an ATG gun and be creative, I am also not so sure of my work.  But I did like the sketch and I do have 3 maybe 4 Disney vacations to still scrap so I thought I would try it out with the Singing in the Rain umbrella photo's that every person who visits Hollywood studios should get of their children. And if you do something right under that umbrella, it will rain! We haven't figured it out yet though. I guess we'll have to go back to try it out!

This is the sketch. Cute and looked simple enough for me.  I am not sure how to link this back to her blog but you can see on the picture it is www.scrap-a-little.com

What do you Tink? (Get it? Tink ha ha!) The sketch Disney-a-fied!

These are the carts I used. The font for "Hollywood" came from OUAP.  The "Disney" is from MAF and "studios" is MF.  The heads were cut from MAF as well.  The circl was cut from PS. The paper was from a fantastic store in Gettysburg, PA called Forevermore Scrapbooks. It is located right on the main street in town. I would make the 3 hour drive just to go shopping there. Great stuff. I have seen the paper at AC Moore too, we were on vacation in Gettysburg so I stopped in. The borders are from a set I got at Disney a few years ago.  1 Disney picture down, 999 to go!

I hope you are having great weather like we are here, 50 degrees in January in the Poconos! Wow!!

Valentine or Birthday Candy Card

I really hate when the days you wake up inspired and ready to work, you are busy.  Today I am going shopping in the afternoon with a friend, have a Daisy meeting afterschool and then Winter Carnival at the school tonight where I  have to take yearbook pictures. Good thing my husband is coming so he can take the kids around and I can take pictures of other peoples children ha ha.  It's rainy and gloomy here today in the Poconos.  The ugly, hard, gravel snow is almost gone. But it's not that cold, I think it's supposed to hit 50 today!  I am sure my dad will call and tell me it's in the 80's in Florida...good weather feelings gone. So today, I whipped up this candy card while my youngest was still sleeping.  I am not a great stamper even though I really want to be.  I belong to a great stamp kit club called The Stamps of Life.  For around $10 a month you get a cute stamp set. Since I really don't know what stamps to by on my own, this is building my collection nicely. They are really good quality, very happy with this club.  This card was easy, fast and fun! I think it could go either way, Valentine's card or Birthday, so I didn't put a sentiment inside. I will wait until I am in a panic of needing a card 5 min before we leave for a party for that :o)

I used a card from Die Cuts With a View.   I then cut white cardstock with my Fiskars cutter and a scallop insert cutter thingy.  I stamped using Stampin Up stamp pads . I have to say, I was so excited to get these stamp pads, I paid over $50 for the set and while the pad itself is nice, I hate the packaging. I have a hard time closing it, it usually pops off the bottom and I get ink everywhere. This was my first Stampin Up purchase too. Thought I would be happier about it.  Maybe I am just a clutz or something but I don't like them. The stamps are called Candy2Share.  So cute and pefect for the Valentine's, Birthdays and even Easter!

These are the supplies I used.

I love Tuesdays!

Yes, I love Tuesdays!! Why you ask? Well, it's my lunch out with the girls/yearbook day!!  We don't get much done but we do a lot of laughing and catching up on the past weeks events. Yearbook needs to be submitted in a month, less eating more editing!  I usually don't have time to scrapbook on Tuesdays sadly.  Tuesdays is also scout night for my Brownie troop. Tonight we don't have it so maybe I can squeeze something in. I really need to get a move on here. I am taking pictures faster than I am scrappin them.  I am taking pictures with the intent of a great page!  How do I keep up with this demand LOL.  I have 3 Disney vacations, a trip to Gettysburg, a communion, confirmation, 2 years of Boy Scouts and 3 years of Girl Scouts to do PLUS holidays and just everyday life! Tell me I'm not the only one who is way behind?  Sometimes I think I should send my family away on a weekend trip without me just so I can get something done but then I would be missing out on great photo ops! It's a viscious never ending cycle!  Enjoy your Tuesday!!