Kiss and Tell Scrapbooking

Ten Things - August 2012

Ten Things is a blog series by Shimelle.  I love this concept but don't always make it on the tenth - same deal with 12 photos on the 12th.  I took some photos this morning so I thought I'd do my ten things today - that and TODAY is the last official weekday of summer in our house - SCHOOL starts on Monday!

1. iPHONE GENERATION: They used to complain that I was on the iPhone all the time - now they've joined me.  Not sure how - or if -  I'm going to solve this one.  Mac is a big fan of Weird Al And Nyan Cat and Allison likes to make lemonade on the iphone - there's a game where you actually - ok, virtually, squeeze the lemons.  That's all educational right?

2. PROOF OF SUMMER FUN:  Still thinking about whether I am going to order this - it is seriously pricey - but it is PROOF that we DID HAVE FUN this summer!  If you ask my kids they will assure you we didn't have any fun!  Granted, I usually make a much bigger effort to do more fun things - but it was seriously lots easier to tell them to "get in the car - we're going on an adventure!" and bring them to the park when they were smaller - now they have a zillion questions about exactly what we'll be doing and they have their own agendas - and they don't let me be "cruise director" like they used to - I keep trying to tell them that they should trust me, that I know what I'm talking about and they will have fun - but they just aren't buying it; now they'd like to know if I could buy them something... maybe at Toys R Us... And seriously?  I HATE - really HATE - bringing them to stores - they turn on their wild child act and I always end up spending more than I planned, so I just don't take them to stores anymore.  Maybe that's not the best way to handle it, but, well, it is working - for me at least.

3.  SCHOOL SHOPPING:  It was the first year I didn't bring the kids school shopping!  Instead, I took detailed inventories of their current clothes and MADE A LIST of what they needed and sent Charlie and Allison off to Target.  He later told me they had to hit Walmart too and there was a giant crying meltdown in Target.  Ahhhh, I think he was happy to take Allison and I was happy not to!  Plus last time we put a Summer Olympics together with me taking the kids school shopping, we impulsively bought Chinese miniature hamsters - and, well, I didn't want to take any chances.  Uniforms? Check!  Hamsters? Thankfully NO!

4. MODEL BEHAVIOR:  Allison put on this outfit recently and said this is her version of me - what I look like when I go to work!  Not exactly and I wish I was that cute, but she did let me take some fun pictures - a rare treat for this scrapbooker mom.

 

5. TACO NIGHT:  Mac loves meat and Allison is a vegetarian but somehow they both LOVE taco night!  I don't often make the same meal twice but taco night is becoming a regular thing around here.  (And "not wearing a shirt" has been a regular thing for Mac for the past couple of years - I am so not a fan - especially because it makes taking pictures of him difficult - but hey, it is summer and it is Florida, I let him run around the house without a  shirt.)

6. SEAWALL FIREWORKS:  We never used to, but doing our own fireworks on the seawall has become a bit of a tradition.  I was happy to get a picture of this with the point and shoot and have it come out decent.  We also spent some time a couple of nights ago watching shooting starts - some kind of meteor shower apparently - I didn't get any photos but imagine this flying by you in the sky - it was pretty spectacular - Mac and Charlie and I laid in the dark on the dock and watched the show in the sky.

7.  PICTURE TAKING:  I've been a bit lazy with my picture taking lately and I haven't been printing on a regular basis but I have been scrapbooking a lot; I'm getting to where I want to have better photos and more current photos for my scrapbooking, so I'm recommitting myself to taking photos everyday and maybe trying, just a little, to make the photos better.  I took these this morning, its a start.

8. HEAVY.  I was doing really well for a while there.  I started at 180 in the summer of 2010.  I got all the way down to, I think 159 or maybe 149, I can't remember.  It is all a blur.  Because after doing the Bikram Yoga Challenge in April - 30 days of hot yoga - I gained 10 pounds that month!  TEN POUNDS!  Anyway, I got completely discouraged and haven't been back to yoga and have only been getting on the stepper 2-3 times a week - on a good week.  Losing weight and maintaing a healthy weight is HARD.  And FRUSTRATING.   So I'm back to about 173.  YUCK.  I feel like complete crap.  I am disappointed with myself.  I have been avoiding mirrors and the camera.  But I'm back to being tired of that too - so I'm BACK to my Weight LOSS GOAL:  I want to get to 130 pounds.  I'm going to take it slow and just focus on losing the first 10 pounds right now.  Back to the everyday stepper routine - which means you can catch me more often in the Pinterest and Two Peas Galleries - I Pin while I step.

9. CHARLIE.  My husband is a saint.  As much as I am a "fiercely independent" kind of girl, I really couldn't survive without him.  I don't think I'd be able to use a phone, computer, or television without him; I'm also sure that I'd have a seriously hard time running the office and successfully getting the kids to school.  I am completely dependent on this man.  The man can fix anything, knows how stuff works, and thinks of things I never even thought.  I know I don't tell him enough, but I'm thankful and lucky to have him as my husband.  Here he is making p-touch labels - one of his very favorite things to do - and this time there was a really good reason - last weekend we had a giant malfunction at our house - a technical thing that would have been seriously expensive and difficult to fix, but he fixed it.  And no, thankfully, neither me nor the kids caused the problem (this time), but we were super glad to have such a clever Daddy to fix everything.  God Bless Charlie.

10. REFRESH.  So I feel like I'm hitting my REFRESH button on at least my attitude about a bunch of things, I'm ready to recommit to losing weight, working hard and having more fun.  This summer has been fun - but really?  It probably could have been a bit funner - I have been "calling it in" a bit lately - especially in the fun department - and while I think its ok to take a breather - its also good to LOOK FORWARD AND GET BUSY which is exactly what I'm planning to do starting right NOW!

 

 

 

Vacation Scrapbooking: How to Reconnect With the Stories, Adventures and Emotions of your Trip

How to Reconnect with Your Vacation Memories when you get home and scrapbook the trip weeks, months or years later:

1.  Scrapbook During Your Vacation - This is easy, really!

 

2. Get Home, Get Back to Your Routine, and Feel Confident That You Can Scrapbook Your Vacation Anytime - When You Have Time.  I went on an amazing vacation to Durango, Colorado and I did some scrapbooking on the road.  I'm back now, I've actually been back for about 3 weeks, and I haven't done much work on my vacation scrapbook, until last night.  This video shows how I am incorporating my vacation photos into Project Life, my homemade smash book, my "regular" 12x12 scrapbooks, and my vacation photo albums.

 

Please leave a comment with tips and tricks you use for vacation scrapbooking or a link to your vacation scrapbook!  I'd love to see what you do.

If you would like to support this blog, check out these affiliate links:

 

12 Things

I was only on vacation in Colorado for 6 days but it feels like its going to take that long to re-acclimate to my life.  I'm not really sure why, its that MOM-entum thing I talked about on the blog yesterday.  Here are 12 Things I've been up to since I've been home.

1. I checked in at work and everything seems under control, I did a bunch of paperwork.  This morning I got the news that one of the laws that relates to my practice has changed dramatically so there will definately be changes in the coming year.

2. Allison talked me into going to the school's Chuck E Cheese night, Allison was amazing skeet bowler (is that what it is called?).  It was noisy and hectic but they really wanted to go.  We got a chance to talk to the principal who said he's been personally working with Mac in a small group, Mac never mentioned this, for the essay section of the FCAT which happened a couple weeks ago and the essay assignment was to write an essay about riding a camel.  We don't get the results until the end of the year.

3. I did the stepper twice and burned about 800 calories each time but I'm feeling a bit heavy.  I did bikram yoga this morning and I feel like I'm way out of shape and practice, its been a week or so since I've been to yoga, I need to get back in there several times a week.   Even though I skied all day everyday of my vacation, I really need to focus on exercising.

4. Allison insisted that I go on a field trip to "play in the dirt" which turned out to be a trip to Myakka River State Park and we saw several very large alligators, lots of water birds including white pelicans, and wild turkeys in the woods.  We walked on a very high wooden bridge and climbed a tower to get a canopy view of the forrest.  The guide had one leg, she joked that it was because an alligator bit it off during a school field trip but then explained that she had cancer and they took her leg to save her life.  She had a really cool artificial leg and the top part of it had sea turtles painted onto it and she shared that she has the same doctor as Winter the Dolphin from A Dolphin's Tale.  I got to talk to her husband for a bit and he told me about their trip to a cancer hospital and the day he got off on the wrong floor, pediatrics, and that we should all just think of that anytime we think we're having a bad day.  Wow.  Crystal Clear Perspective There.  I am doing the Relay for Life Cancer Walk coming up in a couple weeks.  We've known several people in a short amount of time who have been diagnosed with cancer.  I've got to get up to speed with my part in the relay including the fund raising part.

5.  After the field trip, Allison and I went to the Ellenton Outlet Mall which is a bunch of outlet stores, we don't get there very often.  I don't particularly love shopping but my girl Ally does.  She was in heaven in the pre-teen store Justice.  I was still sticker shocked at the prices in Justice, even in the outlet mall.  She got some very fashionable outfits.  We also did some shopping for me, I bought a few work dresses and a few weekend outfits at Tommy Hilfiger and Ann Taylor, I think Allison was a bit unimpressed with the boring nature of my choices - she picked out and had me try on some "fashionable" things but none of them seem to work on me.

6. Allison and I also came up with a plan to reorganize her Barbie play area.  I am right now trying to muster up my gumption to attack that project.  I'm not sure I'm up to it, we'll see.

7. On my Scrapbooking Agenda:

* Do the posts for District 2, District 1, The Capitol, and District 13 for my The Hunger Games Scrapbooking Challenge.

* Catch up on the last 2 weeks of Project Life.

* Get some 12x12 layouts done for the BPC Twelve class I am taking.

* Catch up on One Little Word and Move More Eat Well BPC classes.

* Make a photobook of our three ski trips this year, it has been awesome to take three trips in three months.  I'll be grounded for a while which will give me time to get back to my routine.

8. I would also like to do something with all of my Pinterest Boards.  Specifically, I have a "word up" board with sayings I like and I would like to use those in some way.  Also I have a "homemade" board with ways to alter t-shirts and easy sewing projects and I'd like to do a closet overhaul and make some projects with my old clothes.

9.  I need to tend to the garden we planted a few weeks ago, the marigolds were completely eaten by something but the basil and mint are doing well and we have several sprouts.

10. I'd like to get on my kayak this weekend.

11. I did a major grocery shop and cooked curry chicken and we've been eating leftovers for days, it is delicious.

12. I am re-committing to my goal of losing 50 pounds.  I was doing really well and then too many people gave me compliments and I got lazy and somehow I'm back to only about 10 pounds down from my original weight - which means that I've put on 20 pounds since my lowest weight at 30 pounds down.  I'm a little frustrated since it seems like I have worked really hard for the past two years and that losing weight and keeping it off is a 24/7 hard work constant kind of thing and that I really love to eat and not worry about what I'm eating.  I'm totally fine with a very rigourous exercise routine, but I'm a little less excited about getting super strict with my diet again, but I'm even less excited about how my thighs look right now.  So I'm back on my weight loss goal routine and I'm hoping to make some significant progress by my birthday which is coming up on June 6.  I don't think I'll attain my goal by that time but I would like to get there somewhere over the summer and maintain it until Christmas and beyond.

 

January 2012: Photo Round Up & February Photos to Take List

I'm planning to do a Katie Nelson type January Scrapbook Round-up, but in the meantime, I wanted to round up my favorite photos from January.   Excluding photos that I took of scrapbooking layouts,  I took about 1600 photos in January.  Most of the photos were taken during our family ski trip to Ober Gatlinburg.  I didn't take a lot of everday photos, I'm guessing that is a bit of a reaction to the high volume of daily photos I took during the December Daily process.   

Here are my favorite photos from January 2012:

If I'm counting right that's 130 favorite photos from January, so if I had to choose one favorite photo from January I'd pick this one:

It was my in-laws' 70th (yes seventy years of marriage) and our 13th anniversary.   I got this self-timer photo of all  of us.  Why I love this photo even though it isn't perfect:  It was an important day that we didn't have a big deal party for - just a small little family gathering; we all are looking and look happy and it also shows a bit of how my in laws' house looks; so I know there is flash reflecting in my inlaws' glasses, but their eyes are still visible; and I haven't gotten a photo of just the six of us in a long time.

Looking forward to February, I'm going to focus on taking more everyday type photos, more photos that show what we are doing from day to day, and more photos that show relationships.  I want to re-focus on being more intentional about the types of photos I am taking.  That said, I am happy with my mostly travel photos from January and happy that I did get some everyday type photos taken too. 

Here is my FEBRUARY PHOTOS TO TAKE LIST:

1. Valentines Day:  Hearts. Red Things.  Hugs.  Whatever the kids bring home from school related to Valentine's Day. People together posed and candid interacting photos.

2. Work:  Photos of Charlie and I together inside and outside of our office.  Some kind of photos that relate to some of the plans and goals we have.  I'm starting a new lunch group so I'd like to get a photo of that too.

3. Home: Details and things that I thing will change in a short amount of time.  I think I might replant my herb garden and then take some photos of that.

4. Celebrations: Mac's Birthday - he is turning 10!  Cake, presents, friend, party, Mac holding up 10 fingers, a photo of him and I, blowing out the candles.

5. Vacation:  We're taking another little trip this month, no doubt I'll take a 1,000 photos in a few days, but I enjoy taking them and I like to have lots to pick and choose from later.

6. Accomplishments:  Mac has a karate belt test coming up; I'm going to documentment my weight loss journey in conjunction with the MMEW (Move More Eat Well) class, Allison reading, and Charlie playing drums.  Maybe some photos of school work and the kids doing school work.

7. Everyday Things:  Breakfast.  Business Lunch.  Family Dinner. Family Game Night.  Bowls of Popcorn.  Daily Routine List / Calendar.  What we are Reading, Watching, Listening To.  Everyone's shoes all lined up together.  The Contents of My Purse.  The Contents of My Kids' Backpacks.  The Contents of Charlie's something - maybe truck trunk.

8. Family: A photo of the whole family together; a headshot & full body photo of each family member.  A full body photo of each family member next to a blank exterior wall so that I can put text over the photo later for journaling.

9. Photo Play: I'd like to surf Pinterest and some other photography sites for interesting photography techniques or poses or subject matter or way to stage photos.  I'd like to do some creative photography and learn some new things to do with my cameras.

10.Places.  Places we go around town all the time.  Home - us in our home in different places than where I normally take photos, but also in the go-to photo spots in the house. 

Here are some links to other "Photos to Take" lists and inspiration:

 1. My Pinterest "Awesome Photos" Board.

2. 30 Day Photo Challenge.

3. Creating Keepsakes' 10 Can't Miss Photos to Take Every Month List.

4. My Pinterest "Picture Taking Ideas" Board.

5. Photo A Day Challenge List

6. Manual Photography Cheat Sheet

7. Low Light Photography Tips and Tricks

8. How to Pose to Look Thinner in Photographs

9. 10 Posing Tips for Group Photos

10. iStock Photo Playful Family Poses - lots of ideas for how to get great interesting photos of your own family.

If you have any great photos, picture taking lists, or photography tips links, please leave links in the comments, I'd love to check them out and brush up on my photography skills this month.

 

12 Thing I Loved in January 2012

This is sort of a Katie Nelson {otherwise known at "Katie the Scrapbook Lady"  - I generally love all Katies but Katie Nelson is an extra special Katie} style Round- Up, but I'll have my official round up on the blog next week; in the meantime here are 12 things I loved in January 2012:

1. Project Life.  I need to post my weeks from January - that post will be up sometime next week - but I must say that I am completely loving  Project Life and, specifically, the Clementine Core Kit - it is eye candy, love it.  I also love seeing everyone else's Project Life Albums - it is creating a real commonality and community amongst scrapbookers and crafters.  I love seeing how different and how the same people's lives are.  Love it.

2. The Eureka Optima Lightweight Vacuum.  It was an impulse buy for me as we already have two or three other vacuums in our house, but I thought it would be awesome to have an "upstairs" vacuum and it is.  Totally awesome.  Not only that, it is very easy to use and my kids love using it so they actually beg to let me let them vacuum.  Mac did both of the cars this week and he loves to vacuum my very messy floor in the scrapbooking room - he seriously loves it and always make a little comment that goes something like: "Wow Mom, you must really be working at scrapbooking because I just vacuumed in here two days ago and this place is a mess!  Just look at all this stuff!"  And he happily vacuums up the tiny little bits of paper and thread and those things from the self adhesive tabs.  So awesome, this vacuum was a bargain and it is a work horse, I love it.  Highly recommend, especially if you are a bit like me and believe you can never have enough vacuums.

3.  The Millionaire Fastlane by MJ DeMarco.  This is actually a favorite for my husband, he read it cover to cover (I guess - he actually read it on his ipad - so what is that? cursor to cursor - I don't know) and plans to give it a second read.  He wants me to read it, so its on my "I'll read it within 2 weeks list", I first heard about it on Tim Conley & Izzy Hyman's podcast The Foolish Adventure, so I was familiar with some of the concepts, but apparently it deserves an actual sit down read - maybe the weather will be nice and I'll take the ipad into the hammock for some quality reading time (need to carve out a few hours sometime soon).

4. My Canon Point and Shoot Camera.  I have it with me all the time and I love the self timer feature and it took thousands of pictures on a recent ski trip that my family took and that thing stood up through snow maker machines - even though I wouldn't necessarily recommend using it in snow maker conditions - I couldn't resist getting those photos and it was and is totally awesome.  Love it.  I should say, it is actually my daughter's Canon - I bought a new one for me but it didn't have the self timer feature - but the new one is pink & hers is red so I think I can probably convince her to trade with me - and the pink one has less buttons so I think she'll love it more, both are great cameras - I just happen to adore the self-timer feature.

P.S. The red one (Canon PowerShot A3100IS) is actually slightly larger than the pink one (Canon PowerShort ELPH 100 HS) in real life.

5.  Covergirl Concealer.  Not only do I enjoy the commericals with Ellen and Sofia Vergara from Modern Family, but it is awesome and I think it works better than any other concealer I have ever used.  And you don't have to mess with that wand thing.  I love it.  It is the first time I have ever thought a concealer actually worked well without looking weird.  It is awesome. 

6. Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project One Sentence 5 Year Journal.  How clever and it is so cute.  I bought one a couple weeks ago but haven't written in it yet because I was midway through January - I think I'm going to put it in my nightstand drawer and write in it everynight before bed.  Totally do-able and totally awesome and it is cute to boot. 

When I was searching for the Happiness Journal link, I found this 5 Year Mommy Memory Journal - what an amazing concept, I wish I would have had one when I first had my babies - all in one place, just one line - so simple and clever and totally do-able for a new mom.

7.  The Schwinn Eliptical Stepper.  Our Nordic Trac broke about a year or so ago - it literally fell apart while I was using it - but I did put some serious time on it so I'm not complaining; but when we went to buy another stepper the Nordic Trac steppers seemed too big and too expensive, the Schwinn had less features, but was smaller and half the price.  Its is holding up really well and between my husband and I it gets 2+ hours a day of use.  If you actually use a stepper, go for quality - but it is nice when quality comes at a bargain price. 

8. Blue Ultra Fine Tip Sharpie Markers in boxes of 12.  I used to only buy the black ones, and then I bought the multicolored ones - but there are certain colors that I seriously never ever used - who needs a pastel yellow sharpie?   So I bought a box of the blue ultra fine tip Sharpies and I love them and use them in my scrapbook journaling all the time, its a nice alternative to black and I love this bold but happy shade of blue.

 

9. Judy Blume books, specifically the Fudge Series.  I remember reading and loving Judy Blume books when I was in 3rd, 4th and 5th grades and I've been reading the Fudge series with my son and he absolutely loves them.  Judy Blume really knows how to connect with a young person's mind and feelings; and its a nice reminder to me of how it feels to be that age - it is a good communication starter for me and my almost 10 year old and it also provides a nice way to laugh together at something simple and good and something that doesn't have some sort of screen attached to it.  Judy Blume wrote some seriously entertaining and quality books for young people.

10. Stacy Julian's books on scrapbooking and her class Twelve at BPC.  I have been cranking out the layouts this past month and I think a big part of my creativity spike can be attributed to Stacy Julian's Twelve Class; and I have owned her books since they came out, but I still refer to them now and again and they are still inspiring when I pick them up, every time.  If you wish you were scrapbooking more or would like to start scrapbooking, these resources will get you there.

11. The CHA Hexagon Trend.  I am loving all the hexagon patterns that were shown at this year's Winter CHA 2012 in Anaheim, California.  I think all scrapbookers should own some hexagon nesting die cut shapes, or if you can't commit to the hexagons - I think I will always love the circle nestie die cut shapes, I don't think circles will ever go out as a trend - circles are awesome and timeless as a design element for scrapbooking.

12. Anything Hello Kitty Themed.  Hello Kitty was popular when I was a kid so it is so awesome that Hello Kitty has made such a comeback for my daughter's generation and also awesome that she also thinks Hello Kitty is so cute; its a girl thing - and its cool to have a thing like that's just for us girls.  And we've been bike riding this month since Allison got her training wheels off on Christmas Eve, this bike bell would be pretty cute - right?

Ok that's my January Things I Love List.  I am thinking that I'll print this out and include it in my Round Up Scrapbook Notebook.  Do you do the Scrapbooking Round UP? 

One Little Word: 2011 Year of Awesome in Review

Last year I did Ali Edwards' project "One Little Word" but didn't sign up for the class and didn't really incorporate my word into my life except that I did create a Book of Awesome Mini-Album and I did keep my word close to my heart and mind all year long.  I loved this word.  It was both sarcastic and sincere.  The year 2010 was a challenging year on many levels so it seemed like having an Awesome 2011 was in order and I must say that I think that the one little word helped.  At the end of 2011, I felt sad to let it go, but I'm not letting it go, I'm keeping the spirit of Awesome with me.   I never really defined the word, but looking back the meaning I gave it was: 

AWESOME:  The attitude of doing your best and making the best of things no matter what the situation and seeking out experiences and feelings of awesomeness. 

Supplies:  Cardstock, Pokemon Trading Card Box + QuicKutz Studio letter die cuts; 12 photos printed 4 to a 4x6 photo (so three photos), sewing machine stitching.

This year I am signed up for the Big Picture Classes One Little Word and I'm interested to see how doing a montly project will bond me to my word.

My 2011 word worked, even without any class, and we had an awesome year full of totally awesome experiences and attitude shifts and I got to notice it the entire time.  Not to be redundant, but it was AWESOME! 

Looking Forward to 2012 - My Year of HOPE

I am looking forward to 2012 and my year of HOPE.   Hope is my "one little word" for 2012.  The Quote inside the O is "Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.  Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.  BEGIN IT NOW." - Goethe.  I'm a big fan of beginnings so even though this quote does not include my word, I included this quote in my word because it describes how I am feeling.  I like this quote too: "To change one's life: START immediately.  Do it flamboyantly." - William James.  I think I'm going to print out that photo large for my December Daily Album - I still need to finish that up and wrap up Christmas.  I am also a fan of taking down the Christmas decorations relatively soon after the big day.  Maybe tomorrow I'll do that, I'd like to have it done before New Year's Eve.

I got a chance to escape family time for a few hours this afternoon and went out for sushi with extra wasabi and hot tea and then to a home goods store and then to the craft store.  Total Bliss.

I spent about $12 at the sushi bar and another $12 at the craft store.  I bought a bunch of star Christmas ornaments with my word "HOPE" on each one, I put one on my key chain and plan to use the others in OLW type projects. 

I also took a look around the craft store for what else was on sale, what was new, and what had the word "hope" on it.  I quickly decided that my word "HOPE" was not a cursive word and was not pink or purple; my HOPE is yellow green or aquamarine blue and it is in bold letters - probably capitals but not necessarily.   My HOPE is bold and shining and bright and strong.

I got out the paint and made use of some of the Christmas cards we received this year:

I made a little over a dozen of these HOPE cards and I'm going to tuck them away in my Twelve Class Bin to use in my Big Picture Classes in 2012.  Click Here to See My "Twelve Class" Bin.

I'm all signed up for Ali Edwards' class at Big Picture Scrapbooking and I also signed up for Stacy Julian's Twelve Class; Cathy Zielske's More More Eat Well and for Katie Nelson's Round-Up.  So excited and hopeful (wink) about all of these.  I am planning to take some art classes at the local art center too, I stamped HOPE right on the course catalog.

Please leave a comment and let me know if you are signed up for any classes at BPC or anywhere else, what do you want to learn in 2012?