Holy Craziness.

I know its only been two weeks since I posted last...but I seriously feel like its been MONTHS. All the moms out there know what I'm talking about: when your kid manages to pick up two consecutive illnesses that both require medical attention, and one of those times you're on vacation. You have to love a child's ability to know when NOT do do something, and do it anyway. :-/

In any case, I'm glad we're finally on the mend. We spent 8 days visiting family in Ohio, and Cameron was sick almost the entire time. At one point he wouldn't stop crying, which totally freaked me out. Typically I can soothe him and calm him down to just a whimper, but he was screaming, arching his back and tightening all his muscles like he was in a lot of pain! After a trip to urgent care (God bless Children's Hospital in Cincinnati, which is well known nationally, because they have created a group of Children's Urgent Cares around the Cincinnati area, so I knew we were getting really good care from doctors who specialize on kids!) and a couple of tests, it was determined Cameron had a virus. Way to narrow it down for us! Sheesh. Lots of motrin and cuddles, and he was finally better the day before we left to come home.

So I have had no time to do any crafting. I have a thousand craft-related things on my plate right now, so I better get crackin'. :) I'm the Creative Activities Director (maybe "director" isn't the correct word, but whatever...I like thinking I'm the Director...hee hee!!) for my local MOPS group, and our first meeting is coming up the first week of September. We're going to be making "No Sew Memo Boards", which just means you use a lot of hot glue. :) Actually we will be sewing briefly, as the original instructions I found involve using staples, but I found they don't hold as well as they should. Plus, goofball me actually managed to staple my own damn finger. Not kidding!!! I stapled almost straight through my pointer finger. Hurt like heck! I couldn't bend my finger for almost two days. Needless to say, I feel a needle and thread is less involved than a stapler. :)

On top of that, I have to create some banners to welcome new moms to our MOPS Kickoff Party, which is next week (eeeek! I'm procrastinating on this!). I also need to create swaps for the Stampin' Up regional coming up in a few weeks. It would also be nice to actually attempt to get some workshops and whatnot on my calendar, as I should attempt to do this in order to make MONEY.

As for my digital scrapbooking life, I've had no time. Seriously no time. Ugh.

The only thing I managed to do this week was join Weight Watchers. I'm seriously sick of being the fat person in the room. And no, I'm not being hard on myself. I'm fat. Seriously fat. I'm in the "obese" category...which is disgusting. 10 years ago I was the skinniest I've ever been, a size 8. I have only kept a few items that I had back then...and I think I could get one thigh in and that's about it. Its pitiful. I've also noticed health problems that are related to obesity. Acid reflux, sleep apnea, joint problems, exhaustion...And I know that these problems could only get worse with age. Did you know there is a direct correlation between waist size and a bunch of types of cancers? And strokes? And heart disease? Its appalling. Its even more appalling that I let myself get to this size. In any case, after my first week of WW, I lost 4.8 pounds! I'm stoked. I can't wait until I've lost enough to actually see and feel a difference. And the wonderful clothes that will be available to me in my closet....woohoo!!!!!!

In my "spare" time, I thought I'd be reading these last few weeks. I've now accrued a few more books that I want to read...my nightstand is looking like the local library. I must have 10-15 books scattered around the bedroom, study, and living room that I'm either hoping to read or have started and never finished. I loooove reading, and hopefully will get Cameron more into reading. Frankly, I think I might throw up if I have to read "That's not my bear! His nose is too squishy. That's not my bear, his paws are too soft. THAT'S my bear! His ears are so fluffy!" one more freakin' time. Cameron loves the "That's not my..." series. But he's loved them for almost 8 months now...will he ever branch out of that stage?? I'd like him to at least comprehend books come in other shapes and sizes that don't involve touch and feel. :)

I'll hopefully have some crafty stuff to post soon. As long as no illnesses threaten to send me over the edge.

(I apologize for my rambling post. Its 10:30PM, I'm tired, it was something like 108 degrees here today, and the heat is starting to wear on me. So there you go.)

Oy.

I'm so exhausted.



Seriously, its not even 9PM on a Saturday night and I'm debating on going to bed. It has been an absolutely CHAOTIC week. My child, who will turn 22 months on Monday, has decided to really get into the throes of the terrible twos. With complete concentration and clarity. I never thought I'd see so much food be thrown at the same time from two little hands. Or the look of evil that comes across a toddler's face right before he head-butts you.



On top of that, he suddenly spiked a fever of 104 degrees on Thursday, for no freakin' reason. He was fine Wednesday. Sick all day Thursday, fever Friday morning and then fine by the afternoon. Weird! A quick trip to the pediatrician found a sore throat to be the culprit. Poor kid. He just laid on the floor. He was so pitiful.



Needless to say, I'm exhausted. On top of all this, I made waaaaaay too many appointments and plans this weekend to be working on virtually no sleep whatsoever. I had a MOPS (Moms of Preschoolers) retreat last night where we discussed what vision we had for our MOPS group, and really have some great ideas for our new year. This morning I met with two Stampin' Up demonstrators to see all the goodies that one of them brought back from the recent Convention. This afternoon I went and got my hair cut and colored. Tomorrow its cleaning day. Monday I have to meet with some people from the Air Force Base (I'm a "key spouse" for the Air Force, meaning I'm the contact person for spouses, a liaison for them to get in touch with the command if needed). Then Tuesday my son and I are flying to visit family for a week. Eeeek!!




I haven't done any scrapping this week, or any crafting at all. The closest I got to crafting was cleaning out my craft room and reorganizing all of my crap. Yep, I call it all "crap". :) Oh, I did do one crafty thing. I made a "no sew french memo board". I'll take a pic and post it at one point or another.

That being said, here's what I've done in the past few weeks that I forgot to post. :)

Template Challenge at MLAS. Kit was an MLAS Designer Collab called "And Many More." Lots of cutesy birthday elements.

Speed scrap at MLAS. Using a kit called Fresh & Wet by Rucola Designs.

Speed Scrap at MLAS. Using a kit called "Love Checker" by Rucola Designs.

Since I'm on vacation for the next week-ish, I won't be posting. I won't be bringing my laptop, I just don't feel like dealing with carrying it onto the plane. Its bad enough I'll have my son in my lap (hello!! Gotta take advantage of him flying free until the last freakin' minute!), so I doubt I'll want to deal with expensive breakable electronics in my carry-on. :)

Hope everyone has a great week!

Update

So I know I haven't updated this in awhile...I've been reorganizing my crafting priorities and trying to make important decisions about what I want to do with my "spare" time.

I've decided to rejoin Stampin' Up! as a demonstrator, and had my first workshop last week! My upline was wonderful with allowing me to essentially take over the workshop she planned herself...so I'm very fortunate that I was able to. I have a few customers in my client base so far, and am hopeful I'll be starting with workshops, classes and clubs this fall.

I'm very excited about this new endeavour, and looking forward to doing something that can help my family financially.

I'll have new projects for you soon!

New stuff!

Typically I like to do individual posts for each new layout I do...but frankly, its 11PM on a Sunday night, and I'm exhausted. So here you go.

First up is Dream Big Design's kit called Enchanted. Isn't it pretty?


I did a speed scrap with the kit at MLAS. I had to blend a photo into the background, which was my first time doing that! Fortunately another online contact had given me pretty good directions on how to do it. I love how it turned out. These two photos were taken right after we returned from a weekend trip to Dallas, the weekend where my son got horribly sick and had a temp of 105 degrees. After a shot of antibiotics (you can still see the band-aid on his leg), a bunch of drugs (hello, Tylenol and Motrin!), he was just completely exhausted. He was crawling between the bedroom door and bathroom door and just conked out on the floor. Poor kid!

The next layout I did was for the font challenge at MLAS. They do bi-monthly font challenges there, its a great way to accrue a lot of free fonts! I really like this font, its so cheeky and unique. The kit I used was a bunch of mini kits I picked up on a blog train MLAS had called Polar Opposites.

This next kit is also by Dream Big Designs, called My Kind of Christmas. How cute is this?? That little reindeer had me. :) I've been in a Christmas scrapping kind of mood, seeing as how its going to be in the mid to upper 90's all week and really humid. The grass is always greener I suppose: now I'm thinking of snow, sweaters, and Christmas jingles...and in December I'll be dreaming of heat. :)

The title is a font I found on dafont.com for free. I **LOVE** it!! Its so cute with little snowflakes. Check out that website, tons of free fonts in a variety of types!

I didn't scrap at all last week, so I spent all weekend (that I could) scrapping. I'm now scrapped out! I think I need to take a day of not staring at Photoshop. :) Of course, that won't happen. But a girl can dream. :)

JK Creations Kit Duckling Rain

I volunteered to work with this cute kit to see what wonderful things I could come up with. I didn't have too much time, or I would have had a few more layouts, because this kit is really versatile and so fun! Its by JK Creations and called Duckling Rain, available at MLAS.



I love how my layout turned out. This was my cutie when he was only about 5 months old, on his first trip to the zoo during Spring Break when it was only about 45 degrees and yucky outside. He was such a trooper, just chilling in the carseat and looking around. :)

Flower Scraps New Kit

Flower Scraps has released a new kit called Eileen, available at Stuff to Scrap. Deanna intends to create kits that are modeled after her kids, so the first is based on her 5-year-old Eileen. Its all pink and girly and b-e-a-UTIFUL! Check out HERE for a free add-on!

I can't even tell you how much I loved working with this kit! Seriously. I am surrounded by boy stuff. All my scrap pages are blue or something that is relatively manly. To get into all this girly stuff....I was in HEAVEN. Freakin' LOVED IT!!!!

I created a 2-page spread based on my niece Lauren, and my husband's niece Isabella. They were our two flower girls at our wedding. Lauren was only 14-months old when we were married, and Isabella was only 2.5 years. They were so cute walking down the aisle! I had them walk with their moms (April, my sister-in-law was a bridesmaid, and Kristen, my sister, was my matron-of-honor), and they were just so doggone cute!

I love how the spread turned out. It was the first time I attempted the true 2-page spread: when I've done them previously, I've just had two documents opened and I fiddled with them. This time I did a full 12x24 inch document, then split them for posting purposes. I had so much fun doing this! I'm so hoping I have a little girl in the future so I can fiddle with more pinks and flowers and cutesy girl stuff. :)

American Girly Girl

I have to admit, when I saw the title for this kit by Jenasis Design, I was scared. I thought with the word "girly" in the title it would mean I would REALLY have to think outside my boy-centered world! But this set, while it does have many girly elements, is so much more than that!! It is great for celebrating Independence Day, or any red/white/blue celebration you need. :)


Here are two layouts I made with the kit. The first was created using the June Template Challenge at STS. The challenge is awesome because it gives you the template, you just fill in your materials and photos. So it really helped me get out of a rut of using single photos on pages.

This layout was created to focus on the WEBN Fireworks in Cincinnati, Ohio. WEBN is a rock radio station there. They've done this fireworks show for as long as I can remember...since at least the 80's. They bring in two huge barges, both chuck full of fireworks. They even close two bridges and have stuff shooting, or falling, off of them! Its an awesome spectacle. It is loooong, going for 30-40 minutes. Its done on Labor Day weekend, typically the Sunday of the weekend so that way people have the next day to recuperate. It draws thousands and thousands of people to the banks of the Ohio River. When you're sitting on the Kentucky side of the river, you watch the fireworks with downtown Cincinnati as the backdrop. My dad used to live in a high-rise apartment complex in downtown Cincinnati, on the 26th (top) floor. So literally the fireworks were RIGHT THERE. :)

So its a great versatile kit! Check out the Jenasis Design blog, her store, and you can grab this specific kit HERE!!