Happy 2015 !!!

T

Been Busy

I did some of my home decor stuff this week. Took the flowers out of watering can and put in a pip-berry garland and tied a homespun bow on handle.

Rearranged corner. Switched tulip wall hanging and Americana wall hanging. Hung the wooden flag I made next to it and put the letter holder with pip-berries under it. I think looks great.

I spray painted the wall candle holders oil-brush bronze.

I hung my "Believe in Family" primitive sign up in the living room. I'm going to hang family photos under it. I'm going to get wooden picture frames and chalk paint black then distress them. 

Revamping Cabinet

My daughter Laura gave me a white  cabinet that was just "too white". So I decided to revamp it by painting it using chalk paint and destressing it. I forgot to take a before pic when hanging on wall but have a picture I downloaded. I think it turned out great. 

Found My Picture

I found the Billy Jacobs "Antique Barn" picture today that I wanted for my bathroom. It looks great. I have to decide if I want to paint, stain or leave the shelf as is. I'm not sure. 

Making New Look Old

I read that White Vinegar would make shiny metal age so I thought I'd give a try. I have this shiny small bucket that I wanted to look old. I soaked the bucket in vinegar overnight and it worked. The bucket is no longer shiney. I love the new look. 

Changing Home Decor - Kitchen

Well, I've gotten the redo home decor bug. For every room. Get rid of the cluttered and overly lived in look and go for simple country/homespun/primitive look. It's slowly coming together. Problem is I'm not focusing on one room start to finish but jumping around room to room. But I'll get it done. For the kitchen I got new balances but now I have to figure out how to install a curtain rod on a steel door. Do i need a special drill bit? I don't know. I bought new blinds but of course got wrong size even though I measured. Typical. But here a pic of the somewhat finished kitchen window. I love these valances.

Chalk Finished Distressed Picture Frame

I made this cross stitch picture several years ago and had it in a plain wood frame. Lately, I've been re-doing my home decor. Taking it to a more homespun/primitive look. The wooden frame was plain dark brown and looked blah so I decided to chalk paint & distress it. I've found out if I mix a little cream chalk finish paint with acrylic paint I still get the chalk finish for a quarter of the cost and a wider range of color options. I have to say that I think it turned out good and makes the cross stitch picture "pop". This was a test project. My next project is to chalk paint & distress a white wall cabinet that my daughter gave me. If it turns out like this, I'll be tickled.

Believe in Family Primitive Sign

I decided to try my hand at making a primitive sign out of pallet wood. I took a board from a pallet and painted with Americana Decor Chalky Finish Paint. The first coat was in a light green and then I took a dry brush and spot painted a light top coat of a creamy yellow. After the paint dried I lightly sanded with fine sand paper to get the distressed finish. 

For the lettering I created a stencil using my Cricuit Explore and poster board. I placed my stencil on the board and using a pencil outlined the letters. I mixed a little of the cream colored chalky finish paint with dark brown acrylic paint. This made the acrylic like a faux chalk paint and using a small brush painted the lettering. I then used a red acrylic mixed with the the chalk paint and painted the hearts. For my first time doing this I think my project turned out really good. I'm planning on making more of these signs.

End of 2014

I can't believe it's the end of 2014. Seems only yesterday I did my last post announcing my grandson was born. Time has a way of getting away from me. Here is it almost a year later and I sit down to write. So much has happened in the past year. The bridge project I'm on is going great. My grandchildren are growing fast. I found then lost a love in a whirlwind romance. Lived in Lexington, Va for a time. I've made wonderful friends. Had a great vacation in Myrtle Beach. Bought a horse. Finished a few projects. Started a couple more. Getting over my lost love. Redecorating my home. Moved back to Edinburg. Gained a new granddaughter Emily Jo, my son's adopted daughter. Looking for a new love. It's funny how during times of sorrow, time seems to stand still yet when happy time flies by. I wonder if I settle for just being content if time would move at a more steady pace.

I have decided that I need to be more diligent at posting on my blog. Even if no one but myself reads it, at least I have a "journal" of my accomplishments. My children and grandchildren can read it. Who knows, maybe someone will read it and be inspired to do something. With that said, I am going to commit to writing at least once a week what I've done for the week. Perhaps that will help me get projects I'd like to do completed. Let's see how disciplined I'll be this year.

Time Flies!!

Wow!! I can't believe that the last time I posted was the end of January. So many things have happened since then. 

My newest grandbaby has arrived. Lochlan Pierce born February 10, 2014. He is such a wonderful baby.
 

 
 I started on a new project down in Lexington, VA in February  - renovations on Delta Frame Bridge on Rte 64. It's a great opportunity for me to be a part of this. It's the first VDOT project to receive a Tiger Grant, the first project in Staunton District to have an Outside VDOT SharePoint site for partnering and since it's the only Delta Frame Bridge in Virgina that's receiving these extensive type of repairs, the project is being monitored by Virginia Research Council. It's a very exciting project and is a career opportunity. I am super excited to be a part of this. I've learned so much and there is so much more to learn. Very interesting.

School is going good. I'm now down into my Introduction to Technical Drawings section. Just took my first exam for Introduction to Print Reading and got a 90 on the exam. Now I get to start on the Dimensions and Tolerancing section. A very attention gripping subject, don't you thing? Lol. I'm a little behind in my studies so I need to pick up my pace. 

I'm also taking some classes through National Highway Institute for Plan Reading and Basic Bridge. I'm hoping that these classes will help me understand what's going on at work. All the help I can get, I'll take. 

I've gotten some project completed but not too many. I did complete the Buttons & Bows Quilt for June. That was a major accomplishment since I've been working on it for a while. I think it turned out beautiful.

I'm now working on a skirt that's I've wanted to make. I made the top a couple of years ago but didn't find the pattern I wanted to use until recently.  It's a real pretty light purple silky material. The pattern I'm using is the one with the ruffle on the bottom but without the tie.

 

I've gotten several scrapbook layouts completed but here's the one I just finished last weekend. I ordered lots of photos from Snapfish and am now putting them on layouts. I love the quality of Snapfish photos. It's a layout from Out on a Limb Scrapbooking I got a couple of years ago. I have so many of their layouts but I just love them. The layouts are great to take to crops since there is so little I have to take with me to complete them. Makes packing for crops a breeze.

 There's been so much more that's happened in the last few months but I am not going to recap all of it. I'm going to try to be more diligent about keeping my page up to date. Who knows, maybe someone will enjoy what I do and start following me.

 

Washi Tape

I always seem to be the last to get on board with the latest fads. And that holds true with the Washi Tape phenomena.  But I don't think this time I'm the last one to get with this. So anyway, I had won a $10 gift certificate from Scrapbook.com for uploading layouts to my gallery. I decided to use my gift card to buy me some Washi Tape. I seem to be drawn to the We R Memory Keepers brand. I just like the colors and styles that are offered. I've looked in stores at the tape but none really caught my eye.  So here's my first investment into Washi Tape. I got started from top left to right Pumpkin, Butter, Avocado, Aqua, Blue and Orange. The next batch I get is going to be Red, Pink, Purple, Yellow, Sea Foam and Green. Those were out of stock but I'm waiting to be notified when available. I am excited about using these tapes especially in my Project Life album. Gives me a new way to adhere my pictures and embellishments and be decorative at the same time. 

"Nevertheless" Attitude

Today my daily devotional from Joyce Meyer "Trusting God Day by Day" was about going through life with a “Nevertheless” Attitude. This way of living consists of acknowledging a difficult situation and then finding an offsetting positive thing to put the challenge into perspective. I’ve decided that from now on I am going to do my best to live by a “Nevertheless” attitude.

Catching Up

I've been behind in my writing. As much as I keep telling myself I am going to post at least every other day, it just isn't happening right now. So much is going on. My daughter has a baby on the way and I get the chance to spend time with my grandchildren when Laura needs me to watch them. I'm also trying to keep up with my school work and projects I want to do. I'm working to get caught up with my Project Life for 2014. I have Week 2 complete and am starting on Week 3. I'm not too far behind. As long as I only get a week or two behind then I'll be able to keep up.

My Week 2 of Project Life turned out to be three pages. But that's okay. Some weeks may only be one page and others may be more.

This week was my granddaughter June's third birthday so lots of pictures was taken. Then I had some things that documented what I did. I worked on June's quilt and almost got it completed. I read about an "new" way to do my hair. I gave a sock bun a try. It was so much easier than I thought it would be. 

Last year I didn't get past my Week 1 in Project Life in this format. I switched to a smash book Project Life because I was on travel and that was an easier form to carry with me. I still have to complete that but it's doable. I'll work on getting that done here and there. 

I've also been doing the Capture Your 365 challenge. Although I'm not diligent to take a picture every day I've been following the prompts and taking pictures of some of what's on the list. It will take time for me to get into the habit of taking a picture every day.

Here's more of my Capture Your 365 photos. 

January 9 - Where I Stand (Capture Where I Stand)

I've not gotten any of my January Bucket List completed yet. I still have some days in January left to complete it. I have to admit I am not too hopeful that I'll get them done so I'll just roll them over to February. February may fly by just as quickly as January. The new baby is due to arrive February 10th so free time may be at a minimum then too. I may just have to give up on sleep and get my stuff done. But with the excitement of a new baby, who can sleep anyway?!

Pound Pup

My pound pup Rosie doesn't let anything bother her. As long as she is in the middle, Rosie doesn't care.

52 List

I was doing some surfing today for Project Life stuff and came across a great blog. As I was reading the posts I realized how special this would be to incorporate into my Project 52 album. To see next year where I was this year. To see how I've changed in a year. So I am going to be adding these Weekly Lists into my album.

If you'd like to check it out for yourself, here is the link.

http://www.moorea-seal.com/

52 List for Week 1 is "Words that Touch Your Soul"
This really made me start thinking about what hits home for me. So far my list has the words:
Nevertheless
Children (my son Brian & my daughter Laura)
Grandchildren (Grayson, June & to be decided)
Rosie (my dog)
Monster (my dog I lost to cancer)
Baby, Sweet Pea & Herby (my cats)
Friends
Calm
Quiet
Content
Sunshine
Warm
Home

I know it seems odd to have the word Nevertheless as a Word that Touches My Soul but I have a reason. I was recently reading my morning devotional from Trusting God Day by Day by Joyce Meyer and the reading was about the word "Nevertheless". To go through life with a "Nevertheless" outlook. A "Nevertheless" is a positive that I can focus on to help me get through the difficult time. This way of living consists of acknowledging a difficult situation and then finding an offsetting positive to put the situation into perspective. Right now one of my "Nevertheless" statements is - "It's cold outside right now, nevertheless, in a short time Spring will be here." Since I don't care for being cold this is a great way to help me push through Winter.


52 List for Week 2 is "My Greatest Comforts" -
The Lord
Children
Grandchildren
Rosie
Baby
Chocolate
Popcorn
Heating pad
Sewing
Scrapbooking
Warm weather
Sunshine
Comfy PJs
Comfy bed
Flannel sheets in cold weather
Warm vehicle
Warm house on a cold day
Cool house on a hot day
Cooking & Baking
Watching a favorite show or movie
Sitting outside on a nice day
Reading a book
Taking pictures

Hot water

I'm sure before the end of the week I'll have more words that will go on these lists. I'm looking forward to next weeks.

Link to my previous blog

I had started a blog a couple of years ago decided to start a different one with a new name.  Here's the link to my previous blog. I do have some projects and pictures that I've taken on it.

http://scraponit-dj.blogspot.com/

Check it out & see what you think.

Busy Week

This has been a pretty busy week. Last Sunday was my granddaughter's birthday, I've been editing & uploading pictures to Snapfish for printing, working on my Project 52, studying and working, Last night I got my first week of Project 52 or Project Life complete. Here's what it looks like -

I'm using Becky Higgin's Project Life 5th & Frolic, Honey, Seasons and Holidays as my core kits. I'm mixing things up by adding paper from other lines as filler and background cards. I like things to flow so I tend to coordinate and match colors. At least for that week. The only reason I'm adding to the core kits is that I like to have filler card with sayings on them and background cards to put pictures on. But using Project Life Core Kits as my "jumping off" point is a big help.

I've also been doing Capture Your 365. I've not gotten everyday done but the days I miss, I'm going back and catching up on. 

Here's my pictures for 
January 2 - Goals

I hung this on my wall to remind me of what I want to do this year.

January 4 - A Little Bit (Create a Self Portrait) 

  I thought a profile would work.

January 5 - With a Fork 

 The Princess eating her personal birthday cake with a fork.

January 6 - Unique (Create a Macro Photo) 

This is a close up of the quilting pins.

 

January 8 - Blue

 A block from the Buttons & Bows quilt I'm making.

 

I still have to catch up 4 days but I've got some ideas.

 

I recently was doing some surfing and I found a new way to wear my hair. It's called a sock bun. I went out yesterday to the dollar store and picked up a sock. I cut off the foot, rolled the sock up into a "donut" then rolled my hair up in it. It took me three attempts but I think I got it. My hair is almost to my waist so it takes a little bit of maneuvering but I managed. Here's what I came up with.

 

 I'll definitely be using this trick again. The best part is that my hair doesn't feel heavy which is great. A lot of times when I put my hair up I end up with a headache by the end of the day. I'll see how things go.

Cupcakes in a Jar

My daughter asked me to bake cupcakes for my granddaughter's birthday party. June wants a tea party so cupcakes seemed to fit better than a big cake. But I did make June a mini cake so that she can blow out her candles. I decided to go a step further and make Cupcakes in a Jar. My first attempt didn't turn out too well. I filled the jars up too much and there wasn't enough space at the top for icing.

So my next set I didn't fill the jars up as much. And they turned out much better. I had plenty of room to add icing without the lid squishing the frosting.

To make them pretty for the tea party, I used my Cricut to cut circles to insert into the lids and tied ribbon around the top.

Here's the mini cake I made for June to blow out her candles. I think it turned out pretty good too.

And in the middle of all of my baking and decorating, I put up my under the cabinet can opener. I feel like I really accomplished a lot today.

I did get my pictures from Snapfish today. I managed to upload and order during the special that was offered in December. I didn't find out about it until two days before it was to end so I spent every spare moment I had editing then uploading pictures to Snapfish. I did the 300 pictures for $29. Imagine my surprise when on January 1st I went onto the website only to find that Snapfish was offering the same special again until January 15th. Lesson learned - when downloading pictures onto my computer, immediately edit and upload to Snapfish so that when another special is offered I'm not frantic to take advantage of it. The things I do to get my photos done. Lol. Now I get to go through my pictures and organize them. I have to say Snapfish really does great photos and sends them out quick. I got them in four days and that includes a holiday in there.

Starting Capture Your 365 Challenge

I sort of started doing the Capture Your 365 Photo Challenge last year put it was hit or miss. So this year I've decided to participate completely. I am going to do this challenge. I'm sure there will be days that I miss, catch up on another day or substitute with another photo. But I'm not going to beat myself up when I skip. Here is the photo list for January. 

 

  

Here are the photos I've done so far.

Celebrate --

I can't think of a better way to celebrate than a Very Berry Smoothie.

Winter Sports -- 

My grand-children's version of ice skating. 

I've not gotten Day 2 - Goals done yet but I have an idea of what I want to do. To remind me of what I want to accomplish this year I am creating a "sign" that I'm going to hang up where I see often to remind me and keep me motivated. It's hard to stay on track to complete a goal if you forget what it is. Lol.  When I get my sign posted, then I'm going to take a picture and use that as my Goal photo.

 I am going to incorporate Capture Your 365 into my Project 52 that I am doing this year. I started doing Project 52 last year and only got to Week 7. This year I want to complete the whole year. I did print out pictures from last

Happy New Year!!

The last couple of days have been somewhat busy. I found out that Snapfish was having a special - 100 photos for $10 or 300 photos for $29. I have lots of photos that I want to get printed but I hadn't done anything to them but upload to my computer. I didn't find out about the special until the day before yesterday so I spent all of my extra time choosing my pictures, editing, saving and uploading them to Snapfish. But last night around 11pm I finally got them ordered. But here's the funny part, Snapfish has offered the same deal again good until January 15. So again I've been going through my picture library and choosing which photos I want to print, editing them and uploading to Snapfish. But at least I have more time to decide. The pictures that I sent to print last night were mostly for 2013 Project 52 I want to catch up on. The pictures I'm working on now are for the page kits I have done or for layouts I have planned. I think I'm going to limit myself to 100 this time around. 

I downloaded Picasa software solely for the purpose of being able to create collage prints. Then I can upload to Snapfish as a single print. If I created a collage in Snapfish it costs .15 a print. I need to save every little bit I can. I've signed up for an Adobe Photoshop Elements online class with Jessica Sprague. I'm sure that Photoshop has the ability to create collage prints to but I just don't know how. I am hoping to learn all that I can from this class. I want to be able to utilize Photoshop to its fullest. I am excited to start. 

I also signed up for a class with Zutter to learn more about my Bind-it-All. I've had it for several years and I've only created one album with it. There are so many other projects I can use this for. I just need to learn how. So this year will be a busy year for me. But a good year. 

I completed a layout today. It's a page kit from Out on a Limb Scrapbooking that I purchased a while back. I sort of got addicted to their page kits and I have more than enough. But they are so cute and great to take to a crop. I don't have to drag everything with me. Just what I need to do these page kits so I have more time to create, complete and socialize. We all know that socializing is the main reason we go to a crop. Getting pages done is a bonus. Lol. The next layout I do will be one of mine. An original. I think that I will alternate between one page kit and an original. Then I should be able to meet my scrapbooking goal of 50 this year. 

I did get my sewing room completely organized. I now will be able to start working on my sewing projects. I have a couple projects decided to complete this month. I spent a good portion of my day just sitting in there and working on my pictures. It's nice to have done. I also have my scrapbooking area organized. I put up the second shelf I had and was able to get stuff that was sitting on my desk out of my way. My daughter picked up the curtains from IKEA I needed to hang to divide my scrapbooking area from my bedroom. The bedroom has an alcove that I made into my scrabooking area. I want to be able to close that off so that my bedroom doesn't look so cluttered. I already have the curtain rod to put up just need a step ladder. Once I get that I'll be in business. 

I really am feeling good about this coming year. The Lord has blessed me in so many ways. And He keeps blessing me everyday. I praise His glorious name. The Lord is an awesome God, full of mercy and grace. Thank you Lord for the loving-kindness that your show me everyday. 

2014 New Year Resolutions and Bucket List for January

Happy New Year!! It's a new year and a new beginning. A fresh start. I do have some resolutions in place.  Here they are:

Spend time with the Lord daily
Go to church
Volunteer monthly
Exercise 3 time a week
Do 1 Personal Bucket List item a month
Complete Project 52
Complete CaptureYour365
Complete 50 layouts
Sew 12 projects


I'm starting to get the "itch" to get some projects done. I've made a short list for the month of January to get me started.  I'm hoping as I cross items off I'll start to get really motivated and get the list, plus some, done.

Here's what I'd like to accomplish each month in general -
Scrap four layouts this month
Finish sewing one project 
Exercising 3 time a week 
Getting onto a regular daily schedule 
Keep up with my Project 52

Here are specific things I want to get done this month.
Finish Americana Wall Hanging
Finish Buttons & Bows Quilt Baking page
Scrap Cake Pop Baking page
Scrap Carl's Ice Cream page
Make Spice Cake Balls
Orange Cream Cupcakes

Scrapbook Layout Completed in December

 I decided to get myself motivated and joined some challenges on Scrapbook.com. I joined Volume Scrapping 2013, Monthly Cricut Challenge, Monthly PageMaps Challenge & various other challenges. Here are layouts I got done this month. I think I did pretty good.