Mommy and Tommy Date!

I love love love three day weekends because it is extra time with my little man!  Tommy and I went to the movie theatre to see the Muppet's today.  The basis of the story line is that the Muppet's had not been together for almost 30 years (I am 31 years old) and now they need to reunite to raise money for their Muppet studio.  This hit me right in the heart because it was probably 25 years ago I was going to the movies with my parents to see the Muppet's and now I was taking my little guy!  My favorite line of the movie was "growing up is becoming who you always wanted to be".  Being Tom Henry's mother is more than I could have ever imagined being!

Christmas Scrapbooking with Kiwi Lane Template

Well it's that time of year again, time to get all your wonderful Christmas memories in your scrapbooks.  This year I discovered Kiwi Lane templates and I wanted to share my Christmas Eve page and how I made it with each of you.  If you are not familiar with Kiwi Lane check out their web page here.  They are amazing and they have tons of tutorial that show how to use their products.

 The first thing I did was cut my craft card stock to the size of my photos.  You may even notice I labeled each of the frames so I knew what photo was going where.  Next, I used my Kiwi Lane templates to frame the rest of the page.

 Next, I took the templates and traced them on paper and cut out each piece as I was replacing the template.

 I order my photos from Walgreens and if I am looking for a smaller photo I will add a thick border and it creates a photo that is 2.5 x 3.5 inches.  This size photo is perfect for scrapbook pages.

 The next step was to get all my photos down on their frames.  I did not tape them to the actual page yet.

 The next step, distressing is very important and something I live by in scrapbooking.  I just take my dober (you can see it there in the photo) lather it up with ink and distress the edges of EVERYTHING!

I taped everything down and added the bling and tada!  

Weekend Project Complete

Well I did it and the rest is going to have to be left to the professionals!  It is not pretty but is it very functional and that it just what I need.  With time I will get some shelves and bookcases and maybe on day I will have a pretty scrapbook room.  And now friends it is time to get down and scrappy!

 Walking in the scrapbook room.

 I really need some shelves of some type.

 Not sure I can put anything more in this closet.

 Work space

My mom made me this for Christmas.  It is for holding Christmas cards but I am going to leave it in my scrapbook room all year long because I love it so much!  I should also add I have another organizing "thing" from IKEA to put together but when I realized the directions did not have any words, I quickly decided it would be a great project for my husband!

Weekend Project

Besides reading about 17 chapters for school this weekend, I have a little project on my plate.  Maybe not a little one, actually and huge one and I am really not sure where to even begin!  I need to get my scrapbook room organized!  This is not so easy for a creative girl who is domestically challenged!  So I have decided to post photos of the chaos and hopefully you will all see some updated photos by Sunday night.  Wish me luck and if you have ANY advice I would really appreciate it!

Going into the scrapbook room!  Can you see the cute project Lindsey is working on for her baby girl?

 The closet!  I love the closet in this room!

 The other side of the closet!

So there it is folks!  See you tomorrow with some updated pics!

My Favorite Christmas Gift

So this year our department adopted two families from the Boys and Girls club in Phoenix.  A couple team members set up a tree with goodies the two families were wishing for.  I was heartbroken when most of what they asked for was what many might consider necessity like blankets and clothing.  Anyways, our department did an amazing job coming together and buying these two families all the things that were on their wish list.  Yesterday I had the opportunity to go and drop the gifts off to the families at the Boys and Girls Club. 

The first family was a mom and her 3 little ones and their Grandmother.  They were so appreciative of the gifts and there SUV was packed when they drove away. 

Only one of the children was able to be there for the second family.  This little girl's mother had just started a new job (yeah!) and her brother had behavior problems.  The little girl who was about 8 was dressed in a t-shirt that was way to big and pajama pants.  She was such a beautiful young girl.  She stared at the pile of gifts and cried tears of joy.  One of my co-workers hugged her and let her know everything would be okay and after all good things happen to good people.  Seeing the joy she experienced was amazing and I knew this was my favorite Christmas gift.  As a department we were able to provide magic, joy, hope, and the ability to believe.  I was instantly reminded of being a child on Christmas morning and running to the living room to see Santa had visited.  There is nothing that can ever explain that joy and excitement and I am so glad we were able to provide this gift for children who may not be touched by the magic of Christmas otherwise.

If you are reading this post I encourage you to get your community together to adopt a family and give to those kids who really deserve and need a Christmas.  Give the gift of joy, hope, love, and the ability to believe.  I promise you, it will be your favorite gift of the season!

Doctoral Program!

Well it's been a long time since I have been on here but since my scrapbook days are becoming less and less because of school I want to make sure I get on here often to right down my memories and thoughts.  Life has been very busy lately and I really have so much to write about.  But I want to start with my doctoral program.  The truth is I wanted to blog about every step of the way but there just has not been time for that so I will get you up to date.

I have been thinking about this whole doctoral thing for almost 2 years.  Then one day I realized I was making excuse after excuse and I just needed to start the dang thing since my employer is paying for most of it and I am forking over the rest.  I started the program in July and let me tell you the anxiety I had!  Making the decision to start a program like this is huge.  I needed to make sure we were financially ready and I had the support of my family because God knows I will need to lean on them often.  I started the qualifying class and let me tell you every time I opened my student web page I had a panic attack, I could not believe I was actually doing this!  I earned at 95% in the qualifying class and I was in the program, doctorate of management in organizational leadership.  The first class was amazing!  It was a leadership theory course and I was applying what I was learning each day to my work environment hence the reason my team has taken part in peer coaching and after a two month commitment I asked them for, they decided they wanted to continue! I am so proud of them and what they have accomplished!  I am so blessed to work with amazing people!  So anyways I earned a 98% in that course and now I was on to residency.

Residency is 3 credits in 5 days and once again I was anxiety ridden and had no idea what to expect.  Residency was one of the coolest learning experiences of my life.  It was like leadership boot camp.  I was in class for 5 days with people across the country and the bonds we grew were amazing.  I am looking forward to working with my class members and accomplishing our goal together!  One night we all went out to Oregano's for dinner and It was so nice to take some time and get to know my classmates outside of the classroom.  I am really looking forward to my second year residency and getting my dissertation approved.

Next it was on to epistemology, the philosophy of learning.  I will say I was a lost soul until the fourth week of class and then it all just clicked and I got it!  I earned an A- in that class and now I am 10 credits complete and 52 more to go... oh and who could forget that really BIG paper I have to write! :)

100 challenge

So Thursday morning I am having my second cardiac ablation and well as you can imagine I really just want it to be all said and done with.  But as most of you know I am a very positive person and I am trying to focus on all the good things that will come along with ablation number 2.  I will have 5 whole days of recovery and recovery should include scrapbooking for sure, right?!?!?!  So I am ready for a challenge, a good challenge at that.  For my scrapbook friends and family you understand the "investment" it takes to have all the supplies.  Not to mentions Michael's, Joann's, and Hobby lobby are some of my favorite places to be except Total Wine of course.  I have a whole scrapbook room full of "stuff".  My mother likes to say, "we are saving for retirement".  Funny lady!  So here is my challenge.  I am going to make 100 projects.  They will probably include cards, scrapbooks pages, and maybe some mini books.  I am going to stay away from shopping until all 100 projects are complete.  The goal is to use what I have and use some of my stash.  So check back and I will try to post all of my projects.  Just how long do you think it will take me?