Mango Island

December is supposed to be a quiet month

 

It's been awhile since I've last posted and honestly, I've been avoiding my blog. Not really on purpose but the reality is my life is super busy right now with work being mad crazy. December is traditionally a slow month, work wise, but this year I am finding that anything and everything is falling on my lap while I am struggling to complete several major projects by year end. I'm overwhelmed at the moment, which means I have no motivation to scrap or blog. 

Just wanted to check in to let you know I'm still here. Hopefully by taking the week of Yule off I will be more relaxed and you'll see more fun stuff from me. I'm trying to keep up with your blogs still but haven't had time to comment. 

Thanks for checking in! Back to work. :|

Peace.

You can do it!

You've eating more food than you care to admit this Thanksgiving. You want to get to the gym but you feel like Homer Simpson and are struggling. I'm here to tell you that you can do it! Don't get Homer Simpson on me. If you need some incentive to go I'll tie the donut to the treadmill if you need me to. :D

*It's starting to look a lot like Yule*

What a week! I feel like I was a SAHM this week because I got so much stuff done. Ok, having 4 days off helped immensely. With it being the holidays I really kicked it into gear and Yulized the house. The holidays are my favorite time of year and not because of the gift giving or receiving, but it puts me in a cheerful mood decorating the house and putting up the tree.

BTW- We call it Yule in our house instead of Christmas. Yule is more traditional from the ancient days and actually pre-dates the Christian holiday of Christmas. It symbolizes celebrating the winter solstice, the earth, the seasons. I could go on and on about why we celebrate Yule but I have fun things to share with you instead.

I have tons of photos to share today, including the projects I made from Kayla Aimee's DIY Holiday class.

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With the success of the gingerbread cookies Joey and I made the other week I decided it was time to do sugar cookies. Joey didn't enjoy the gingerbread cookies too much but he sure did love the star and tree sugar cookies. He's becoming quite the baker. 

Joey is quite the carpenter. We picked up this wooden train you can paint and put together. He loves doing this kind of work. We think he's going to be an engineer someday because he loves seeing how things work.

I had a 30% off coupon to Beverly's craft store so I picked up some supplies for one of my projects I made today. See further down for what I made with these!

Thank goodness for Trader Joe's .99 advent calendars filled with chocolate. Joey loves these. he paraded around the house all day today with the "countdown calendar" in tote. I told him he could open it up on garbage day, which he knows is Tuesday. I think the anticipation is killing him. LOL

I love Trader Joe's, not only for their wonderful food selection but also their flower section. I picked up winter berry and tulips to beautify the home. As of this last spring I made myself a commitment to have fresh flowers in the house at all times. Thank you Trader Joe's for your unique flower assortment!

Since December 1st is right around the corner I had to make sure I took pictures of the kids today so I can get started on our Yule cards. Joey's idea of smiling for the camera is having his mouth wide open. Crazy kid! I think I'll use the other one, but Miss Akela wishes I would wrap her up in Yule lights with Joey holding on to the lights instead... good idea, but maybe next year.

The hubby and I celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary (almost 11 years together) at Joe's Crab Shack. It was awesome! We both had a bucket of crab legs, about one pound each, to our heads. We already want to go back asap.

My friend and I went to go see New Moon for the 2nd time, which was so much better than the first time! I'm planning on seeing it a few more times in the theaters. Crazy, I know.

Now on to the good stuff! I have thoroughly been enjoying Kayla Aimee's DIY Holiday class. There are so many projects I have yet to make, but I do especially like what I've made thus far.

The reason why I signed up for her class was not only to make cute holiday projects (and you know me, I am ALL about projects- call me Martha) but the reason I really took the class was in hopes of making this curled tree. I absolutely love how it turned out. Instead of a star on top I opted for this cute glittered bird that I got from Michaels. I'm thinking I'm going to have to make another one real quick. And yes, these are pages from a book.

That says it all. It wasn't a book I was fond of anyways. LOL

The brown tree is a creation of my own. In the next few days I will post a tutorial on how to make this cute tree. yes, those are pins holding folded pieces of ribbon on the tree. I am quite pleased with how this turned out.

The glittered tree is another DIY Holiday project using more book pages. I got really messy with glitter on this, but it was worth it.

The frame is yet another DIY Holiday project and probably my fave after the curled tree. You can use pins to hold up your pics. I'm keeping this one for myself but will make more as gifts.

Last, but not least, our Yule decorations. We got our Yule tree today and it's bright and pine smelling in our house. I love it!!

Well, it's late and I must get to bed. I hope you enjoy the pictures and crafts and had a fantastic Thanksgiving.

Peace.    

Crafty goodness

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and you're able to roll out of bed. I know I'm going to be hitting the gym next week to burn off all this ham and bread I've been eating. Our Thanksgiving was good. We spent the morning with my dad and his wife and mother-in-law and then quickly came back to spend time with my mom. Luckily eating wasn't involved in that visit. To top off the night we went to my father-in-law's house to eat with him and my 2 brother-in-laws. I tried not to eat too much at each place but the gorging happened the day after. Left overs! Oh yeah.

It's day 3 of my long weekend off of work. I've been spending this time crafting away. This holiday class I'm taking is keeping me busy! I still haven't taken any pictures of what I've come up with yet, but I'll make sure to upload it before the weekend ends.

Today is also Saturday so that means it's time for Unscripted Sketches. I picked up these cute Yule card embellishments by Making Memories and was itching to use them. I opted for a transparency cover because I love transparency. I traced the bracket out of paper and used it to cut the transparency card I had, which I then trimmed off the rest of the card and adhered it to the brown cardstock. I wanted to make the transparency stand out a little so I added the glitter border. I'm all about glitter right now so I also touched up the rest pf the embellishments too.

I also finished a LO for Sketchy Thursdays. I stole one of Miss Akela's pics that I think is just adorable. She loves to take self portraits of herself and this is one of my favorites.

I wanted to use supplies that were an expression of Miss Akela. She's a little punk girl who has this mad style. I definitely had a hard time finding punk supplies that fit her so I'll need to reup on some. I like how it turned out though. Hopefully she'll like it too.

Supplies:

Papers: Roxie, Love Elsie, KI Memories

Frames, tape, skull & crossbones, wings: Accidental Fix, De Crow Designs, We R Storytellers

Ribbons: Paging Miss Bettie, Traci Reed, Sweet Shoppe Designs

Word strip: Inspire Me, Jomi, The Digi Chick

Word art: Photo captions boys, Art Warehouse, Designer Digitals

Round stitching: Autumbn Lines, Anna Aspnes, Designer Digitals

Have a fabulous Saturday! I have tons of things to do today. Going to finish up sewing these pillow case covers for the couch and some pants for the hubby. I think we're going to get our Yule tree today so I'm excited about that. The best thing I love about the holidays is the Yule tree and the decorations.

Peace.

There are so many things I am thankful for

Supplies: Heart of Thankfulness, Sugarplum Paperie, The Digi Chick

Today is Thanksgiving Day and what's more appropriate than doing a post on what I am grateful and thankful for. I am thankful for:

• having the most wonderful husband. He's an awesome father and puts up with my wackiness.
• my kids, though they sometimes drive me crazy they are the joy of my life.
• my parents who raised me through some tough times and provided for me to the best of their abilities.
• having a job so that I can provide for my family.
• the friends I have who are the best.
• having the creativity bug that allows me to stay sane.
• my health. 
• having an open mind. This has opened me up to so many things, possibilities, and experiences. 
• the Twilight saga. I know, this sounds pretty crazy, but reading the books have changed my life. It is renewed my youthfulness.
• music that fills my life with so many emotions. 
• books that allow me to learn new things about our world and the world as it once was.

I am grateful and thankful for so many things. Take 10 minutes and jot down what you are thankful for. Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Hopefully you didn't get down on too much food!

Peace.

Been hiding under a rock

 

I've been MIA. Have you noticed? 

I didn't do last week's Weekly Rewind. Last week was such a blur and honestly I'm sure you didn't want ANOTHER post on my New Moon ramblings because that would pretty much be what Weekly Rewind was going to be about. Now that the New Moon high has somewhat dwindled down I can return to the normal programming schedule called life.

What have I been up to you ask? Well, because I love lists here's a list of what has been preoccupying my time:

• Finalizing the last few bios for the DT bio page of Unscripted Sketches. Doing bios for 9 designers is a lot of work! 
• With the holidays right around the corner I've been crafting away through a DIY Holidays class from Kayla Aimee. This girl has mad skillz. 
• After making these holiday cards 2 years ago to sell to my friends and family, after much delay I finally set up my Etsy shop so I can spread the joy!
• Catching up on old blogs and following new blogs. I plan on doing a follow up blog post with some of my fave blogs.
• I'm in 2 Twilight swaps- one charm and one ATC. I've been trying to find something to use as the charm. I've looked on eBay, Etsy, jewelry making websites. I'm at a loss. Seriously. This is becoming more of a hassle than it might be worth. But I'm not giving up!

So this is what I've been up to in the last week. I'm so glad we have the 4 day weekend to catch up on things like house work. Oh joy. 

I'll be back tomorrow with a I am thankful post. Until then.

Peace.

From New Moon to my anniversary, this week was a good week

If you read my last post you'll know that last Thursday was New Moon Thursday. Miss Akela, my friend, Kat, and I went to go see Twilight in the theaters at 9 pm and then the midnight showing of New Moon. IT WAS AWESOME!! Miss Akela is already up by 1 in seeing New Moon. Kat and I plan on seeing it again. Did I already mention it was awesome? SO much better than Twilight, though it didn't have too much Edward, the acting was definitely better in this one. Don't get me wrong; Twilight was great, but New Moon was better! Now I'm secretly wishing they would redo Twilight with the same director. But I digress. 

Last Thursday was also my 4 year wedding anniversary with the hubby. Would I be a bad wife if I told you I totes forgot on Thursday that it was my anniversary? I got caught up in New Moon. I'm not that bad. I thought about it last week actually, just forgot on Thursday. But hey. The hubby forgot too so... 

4 years. Wow. This January will be 11 years of being together. Wow. Time flies when you're having fun. No, but seriously, my hubby is the bomb and I'm so lucky he puts up with my crazy self. He's the total opposite of me: mellow, simple and laid back. I love you hubby!

Well it's Saturday so that means it's time for Unscripted Sketches. Given that this week was my anniversary it was only appropriate to do an anniversary card. Since I went through my scrapbooking supplies and had SO much good stuff I haven't used yet I was dying to use some rub ons. Thank you again, hubby, for talking me out of giving away my scrapbook supplies more than 2 years ago when I went digi. 

Supplies

Cardstock:  Bazzill Basics

Patterned paper: Scenic Route

Rub on: Basic Grey

Key: 7 Gypsies

Well, Joey is dying to play. We're going to see Planet 51 today with some friends. Should be fun! Thanks for stopping by!

Peace.

The waiting is over. New Moon is here. *jumping up and down*

In exactly 15 hours I will be seeing New Moon. AND, as if my night couldn't get any better I'll be seeing Twilight in the theaters for the first time. *squealing* 

I want to give a shout out to Miss Akela for continually telling me to read the books. I wouldn't listen as first, but oh am I thanking her now. I mean, who would want to miss out on this:

*wipes the drool* Y-U-M.

Peace. 

5 reasons why every scrapbooker should use Evernote

A few months ago I downloaded this free app on my iPhone, called Evernote, because it supposedly kept you organized. Two words suckered me into getting it: FREE and ORGANIZED. I am all about free, as I'm sure you all are but more importantly a sucker for organized. Now, if you ever come to my house you'd probably tell me I was lying about the organized part, but work and computer are definitely organized.

Now I can hear some of you saying that you don't own an iPhone. No problem! You can access Evernote through various mediums, such as, downloading it to your desktop, using the browser toolbar, downloading it to your Blackberry or Palm Pre, or using the online version. I have it both on my iPhone and on both my home and work computers. Because all of your data is synced to Evernote's servers you can access your information anywhere and on any medium- iPhone, computers, whatever. Don't forget- it's FREE!

So why should every scrapbooker use Evernote? I'll give you 5 reasons.

1. Have all of your inspiration and ideas in one place, accessible anywhere. I love Evernote for this reason. If you're like any scrapbooker out there you find tons of inspiration online. You wish you could download or print every single inspiration and stick it in a centralized place. Am I right? See a LO you want to save because it has that technique you want to use? Save it to your Evernote notebook.
2. You can assign tags. The tags I use are: LOs, cards, blog ideas and sketches.
3. Upload your cards or LOs and include your supply list. Say you want to upload that card to several websites but you don't have time to do it at home but want to work on it at lunch. Your image and supply list is at the tip of your fingers when you need it. 
4. Keep a list of links to your favorite websites. If you're a true scrapbooker you probably have at least a hundred websites and blogs you follow. Now you can keep that list in place and even organize it!
5. Keep track of those challenges you want to work on. We all have those handful (or maybe more!) challenges you have to do on a weekly basis. You can organize them by assigning tags with the weekday. So tags would be Monday, Tuesday, etc. You save the sketch or whatever challenge you're participating in and tag it with the day it's due. 

I'm sure I could come up with some more reasons but this should get you started. Here's what my desktop Evernote looks like:

So head over to Evernote and check it out for yourself. Don't forget it's FREE!

Peace.

Digi scrapping just doesn't get any better than this

You know the feeling you get when things just flow when you're doing a LO? Yeah, that's pretty much the feeling I got when I put this together, which BTW, was like in less than 3 hours. That's pretty good by my standards!

I am loving this week's sketch from Sketchy Thursdays. After I picked out the pics I already knew what kit I wanted to use with it.

Supplies:

Paper, hand drawn flowers, blue ribbon, coffee stain, title, frame and heart: Cafe Latte, Tracie Stroud & Nicole Seitler, The Digi Chick

Sequent hearts: Glitzy Bits, Sugarplum Paperie, The Digi Chick

Brown ribbon and bracket journaling tag: The Good Earth colab kit, Sweet Shoppe Designs & Scrap Orchard

Tag w/heart: Freebird, Lauren Reid, Sweet Shoppe Designs

Word art background: From Wordie Bird Art Challenge, LDrag Designs

I played around with the opacity on the red patterned paper, the title and the bracket journaling tag to tone down the brightness of the colors so they don't stand out as much. I really wanted to make everything muted to go along with the pictures.

Anyhow, this is my second post of the night and I must get to bed now, though I would LOVE to do an all nighter and just scrap till my fingers fall off, but will need all my brain power for work tomorrow.

Peace.