cj lawlor designs

a day in the life... february 8th

2012-02-09T20:26:00.002-03:30

yesterday i mentioned that i was going to be doing "a day in the life" inspired by Ali Edwards (love that girl). i admire Ali so much and her dedication to documenting her family's life is amazing. i decided that since i already take photos every single day for my project 365, why not go a step further and do the day in the life challenge. but if i was going to do it, i figured i would do it my way - which meant as little printing, editing and digi work as possible because of course, it's still during the week and my computer time is limited to evenings during the week.

so i'll spare you the nitty gritty details, but i thought i would share the 12x12 photo collage that i plugged the photos into and since i did this on the 8th, here are 8 random facts about the day:

#1: I do have a husband, we do love each other and he is very involved in our daily life. He just happened to be working all day and I taught a class in the evening so unfortunately, he doesn't play a huge role in this photo montage :-)

#2: I broke the no television, video games and computer rule by letting Adam play Aiden's DS in his crib for five minutes while I grabbed a shower. Shhhh... don't tell!

#3: I discovered reason #433 never to buy another Dell laptop when the ground part of the plug on the charger came off the charger and stayed stuck in the electrical outlet. Yuck.

#4: Adam had a meltdown just before lunch because I wouldn't let him sit in the refridgerator.

#5: We had a true Newfie dinner - eggs, toast and molasses beans.

#6: I primed a 24x24" canvas while Adam was napping and now I'm itching to start working on it.

#7: It was day seven of Adam not having a bottle during the day. So far so good.

#8: I am amazed at how well Aiden is doing with his reading.

so there you go... a day in the life of the lawlors.

shabby chic birthday cards

2012-02-08T08:53:00.000-03:30

So... I spent yesterday trying to take photos of recent projects and dropped one of the lamps that works with my light box, so all of my photos have a weird color cast, shadows or something else going wonky with them. And since it's constantly snow flurries these days, taking the projects outside was not an option. So you'll have to bear with my poor photography skills for the next little bit until I get a replacement bulb. Yuck.

These two cards were part of a recent class I did featuring the Apothecary Art stamp set in the Occasions mini catalogue. There are two more cards and a small gift box to coordinate and I was really pleased with the way these projects turned out. I used the Beau Chateau patterned paper and the new framelits dies - love those!

Pretty, yes?

Today I'm doing "a day in the life" along with Ali Edwards and so I'm documenting this day in the form of photos, notes, ephemera, and even screen shots of what I'm doing online! So I just finished taking a screen shot of this blog post in progress. There won't be any other computer time for me until tonight though, since we've detoxed our family from electronics during the weekdays when the kids are up and about. And it's so much better not to have the tv as background noise all.day.long. I've never been a big tv person, so I chose to give up the computer during daytime hours so that my attention would be on my family. So far, no one has the shakes and we're all doing just fine without our electronics. Yay for time that is actually quality!

Anyhoo...gotta run, my time has expired :-) I'll be back tomorrow.

art, emotions and self expression...

2012-02-06T21:08:00.001-03:30

Something happened today that made me both proud and not so proud all in one moment. We have some issues with temper tantrums in our house. For Adam, it's a normal stage - he's eighteen months old and I can remember Aiden going through the exact same stage at that age. For Aiden, well, I think it just stems from not being able to figure out what to do with his frustration.

A little while ago I saw a post on Pinterest for a desk created in a child's closet and I showed it to DH, thinking it really might be a good option for Aiden's room since he enjoys art so much but we've had to really be careful with art mediums these days because the littlest sir is such a budding artist as well. And his canvas is any wall that looks like he hasn't yet gotten to it! Anyway, hubby tackled it earlier last week and Aiden is loving having that dedicated space. I suggested that when he gets a time out, instead of going in his room and working himself up even more, maybe he should try sitting and drawing a picture of how he's feeling. So today when he was done his time out, he was happy to show me that he had taken my advice. So the photo above is of the drawing on one side of a piece of computer paper. It's of me when I'm being "nice". And he loves me when I'm nice to him, which is of course why he wrote "I love you" at the bottom. Sweet, right? Moving on to the other side...

Can you guess what word he sounded out here? That's right, this is a picture of me when I'm being mean. I had to take a close up of my face...

Do you like my fangs? And those nasty eyebrows I've got going on? All jokes aside, it made me so proud that he channeled his emotions and frustrations into a piece of art because that's what I do ALL the time. My art, whether it's painting, scrapping, etc. is all therapeutic for me. It helps me destress, helps me get things down on paper or canvas that I wouldn't otherwise say. So despite the fact that this is not a flattering portrayal of me, I am still proud. And relatively certain that I am not a vampire with fangs that slide out when I'm upset. Just to reassure you that it's not all temper tantrums and scary mommy moments around here, I threw together a quick collage of some of our photos from February so far. Though I fell behind on my digi scrapping, I am still working on taking the photos every day so this is a sampling from the first 6 days of February.

Just so you know, my kids don't spend every day in their pjs as these photos might suggest. There's been a lot of pj time for the past two weeks because we've had some very sick little boys. The photo in the bottom right hand corner is a close up of Adam's pj pants, compliments of the little man himself :-)

Tomorrow I have some great projects to share from a recent class. In the meantime, thanks for stopping by and go create something today!

scrappy goodness after a loooonnnggg week!

2012-01-29T16:07:00.003-03:30

Wow... it's been over a week since I posted. And believe me, it seems that long. I was quite busy last weekend with hubby's birthday, my parents visiting (those were the days that went quickly), etc. and then I thought things would be calmer once we got back into the routine of the weekdays, but on Tuesday Aiden started feeling a little under weather, nothing alarming, just not himself. On Wednesday he got a little worse and by early Thursday morning it was clear that a trip to emerg was in order. Poor guy has been lethargic for days now with a bad infection in his throat and both his lungs. Luckily today the antibiotics are finally taking hold and he is just a little hoarse. For almost three days he had no voice at all and sounded like a swamp creature with every breath. So I was, as you can imagine, super busy cuddling him while still watching what Adam was getting into, which was pretty much everything. For example, in the split second I left the living room yesterday, he climbed up onto the coffee table, then proceeded to stand up, walk backwards off it, coming down and splitting open his chin. Fun times!

Anyway, Aiden is on the mend but now Adam has been running a low grade fever since yesterday afternoon, which of course means we are watching him like a hawk now, because he has febrile seizures. I'm just grateful that I'm just now feeling a scratchy throat coming on - which means the kids will likely be over it before I feel like garbage! You have to be thankful for the little things, right? And any mom knows that there is nothing worse than being sick at the same time as your kids. Much better to get sick before or after ;-)

So I figured I would share some scrappy goodness with you since it's been a little while. The first project is a digi 12x12 of Adam - cutie! It uses the Celebration suite of digital papers and elements from Stampin' Up.

And these photos are from the 2011 edition of Aiden's yearly mini album. Every year, I create a little mini album that is kind of a snapshot into him at the moment. This year I did a five years in review type thing that turned out really cute.

Aren't they the cutest kids? Yeah, I know I'm biased :D

buttons, buttons, buttons

2012-01-20T09:04:00.001-03:30

I've just realized that this photo it a little unfocussed and I'm not sure how I didn't see that before. Maybe I thought it was a smudge on my glasses?! Anyway... a super simple card to create but I love it! I am totally, head over heels in love with buttons and lucky enough to have my grandmother's collection. Those get added to my scrap layouts mostly, because I want to keep them - most of them are vintage.

A lot of the ones on this card are vintage too - I got them at a really old sewing shop that had them since the beginning of time I'm sure. Anyway, they were selling off and I got an awesome deal.

Today we are having a bit of a snow day, not enough for school to be closed, but enough to give you that feeling of wanting to stay inside and cuddle. My parents are on their way here cause my mom is doing the class I'm offering tonight and then we are going to celebrate hubby's birthday after that.

Yesterday I took a day off from posting and checked back in with my art journal and worked on some canvases and it was fun and I'm thankful for that time. Today we have to take Aiden back to the doctor and I'll be very thankful to have that off my mind. Keeping our fingers crossed that all of his tests came back fine! Keep my little man in your heart for me?

Have a great Friday and I hope that your weekend is shaping up to be an inspired one!

a little love for you :)

2012-01-18T08:00:00.000-03:30

Stampin' Up Supplies: Wild Wasabi, Pacific Point, Whisper White cardstock; Early Espresso, Wild Wasabi ink pads; Beyond the Garden DSP; Early Espresso baker's twine

Other Supplies: metal charm by Vintaj; stamp by Hero Arts

I thought perhaps, since most of the papercrafting blog world is heading toward Valentine's Day, I would post a love themed card for you today, even though I am totally not into Valentine's Day. I guess I'm a bit of a Valentine's Day grinch. It certainly isn't because I have no one to love or love me back in my life. Quite the opposite! But, I'm just not into the commercialism of it all. And for some odd reason, I don't like the shape of hearts. I know, weird. But nevertheless, I do get in the mood to make some cards for the occasion, but I'll most likely steer clear of the usual reds and pinks. Unless I grunge em up a bit. I guess I'm just not much of a girly girl. I think that comes from growing up hanging out with mostly boy cousins and now living in a house where the only other female is our dog Bailey. Yep. I need to like boy stuff to survive, lol!

Anyway, I spent a ridiculous amount of money on that Vintaj metal heart charm because I just had to have it and then I used it on this card and to be honest, have contemplated taking it off and reusing it several times since because I'm sure I could use it on something prettier. But I do like the layout of the card and so it's stayed :)

Do you ever feel that way about something in your stash? Like you're saving it up for something but you're not quite sure what and the occasion to use it never seems to actually come? I think it might be a papercrafters affliction. Or at least I hope it is. Or maybe I'm just a little loony!

tutorial tuesday...easy peasy watercoloring for a detailed stamp

2012-01-17T08:00:00.000-03:30

I've been compiling a few tutorials for some of my favorite go to techniques and thought I would start sharing them with you. This tutorial originally appeared on the front page of the Scrapbook News and Review in August 2011. I love really detailed stamps, but sometimes the effort that goes into coloring those images requires too much time so I started using this technique for a quick and easy way of coloring those images.

Supplies

cardstock (Stampin' Up Very Vanilla and Blush Blossom used here)

inks (a very light beige or grey and a darker shade of the same color - dark brown or black)

a watercolor medium (I used Stampin' Pastels)

a detailed line art stamp (Serendipidity Stamps used here)

Step 1 : Cut a piece of neutral cardstock to the exact same size as your stamp/stamp block.

Step 2: Line up your stamp perfectly over the piece of cardstock and stamp the image in your lighter color ink.

Step 3: Add blobs of color using whatever watercolor medium you prefer. You don't have to be particular about where the color falls - you are simply using the lightly stamped image as a guid to choose which color to use. As you can see in the photo above, at this point, your image is not going to look pretty!

Step 4: Ink your stamp with the darker color ink, line the stamp up over your cardstock like you did in the first step and stamp the image.

Voila! Isn't that awesome? And soooo easy! If your second round of stamping is a little off, then I've found that a little light sponging of the darker ink all over the image will make it look near perfect!

Place your image layer on a piece of coordinating cardstock and go ahead and create a beautiful watercolored card... in ten minutes!

you never know how strong you are...

2012-01-16T08:00:00.000-03:30

Stampin' Up Supplies: Island Indigo, Basic Black, Whisper White cardstock; Island Indigo, Calypso Coral, Crushed Curry, Early Espresso, Pear Pizazz; Riding Hood Red ink refills; Basic Black journal marker

Other Supplies: paintbrushes; cold press watercolor paper; Liquitex Acrylic Ink in Burnt Umber

I thought I would share this watercolored card today that I created to encourage a friend who is battling breast cancer. I know from experience that that this quote is true "you never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have" and I think it's the perfect reminder for anyone going through a tough time that they do have the strength inside to conquer it, even if they don't realize it.

I used some of my Stampin' Up dye inks to watercolor the flowers and the background and then once it was dry, I went back in with my Liquitex Acrylic Inks to add shading. The fine details were done with a black journalling pen.

I hope that my friend has found some comfort and strength in this card... hugs to you M.!

digi sunday... bayview playlist

2012-01-15T10:00:00.000-03:30

Credits: Unknown

For some reason, when I'm doing digi pages, I have a thing for creating pages with no photos on them. I just love playing around with the design elements and I really love lots of journalling, so photoless pages develop easily for me. I created this page as a tribute to my home town bar. I hardly ever go there anymore, but it sure brings back memories whenever I hear typical "bayview songs" and it's gotten to the point where my hubby, who has only been in there once, will hear a song on the radio and turn it up because he knows it must be a "bayview song" :-)

When I hear these songs, I think of being just legal, coming home from university on the weekends and meeting up with my friends at the club. I think of some of the best Singapore Slings I've ever had, of the awesome customer service, of the regulars who hang out at the bar, of owner trying his best to act perturbed because we bugged him with song requests and of a friend who never let you sit out a dance.

All that from a song playing on the radio. So I thought that the "Bayview Playlist" deserved a page dedicated to it.

scrappy saturday... fun in the sun

2012-01-14T08:00:00.000-03:30

Stampin' Up Supplies: Tempting Turquoise, Summer Sune, Real Red, Whisper White cardstock; Pink Flamingo patterned paper; Sparkling Summer stamp set; Real Red, Cameo Coral, Tempting Turquoise, Summer Sun markers; Simple Alphabet dies; Sticky Sheets; Turquoise Fine Cosmo glitter

Can you tell that the nasty weather is getting to me? I'm an all or nothing kind of girl. I either want loads of snow - like enough to actually play in, go snowmobiling, etc. Or I want no snow at all. This pattern of sunny day, snow day, rain day... well, it's totally not for me. I think I was totally spoiled by the beautiful climate in Lillooet because I would like to hibernate for about 8 months of the year in Newfoundland, lol!

Anyway, I figured I would dig up a nice sunny scrap page for you today. Yep, it has all discontinued product but the layout is fabulous, don't ya think? Aren't you impressed that I stamped, coloured and fussy cut all those images to create a frame around the left side of the photos. When I set my mind to it, I can get things done :)

Anyway, thanks for stopping by, but run along now and find a way to bring some sunshine into your world today! And even if you can't, grin and bear it anyway. Cause eventually, winter has to end, right?!

elements of style in peach parfait

2012-01-13T20:24:00.001-03:30

Stampin' Up Supplies: V ery Vanilla, Pear Pizazz, Early Espresso cardstock; Elements of Style stamp set; Peach Parfait, Pear Pizazz markers; Early Espresso ink pad; Vintage Wallpaper emboss folder; Ovals die; 1 1/4" and 1 1/2" square punches

Other Supplies: sentiment stamp by Verve Stamps

I'm doing a quick blog post this evening while waiting for the munchkins to fall asleep. Well, the oldest munchkin. Adam loves to sleep and goes to bed an hour earlier than Aiden, who definitely does not love to sleep at all. But that gives us an hour in the evenings to devote to Aiden, which is nice since Adam gets us to himself during the day when his big bro is at school. We have homework long done by this time, so it's just quiet, relaxing time to read some books or watch a short movie together. I'm especially thankful for the opportunity to relax a little bit this evening after tornado Adam colored on the walls and threw his dinner on the floor. Yep, we're at that stage now :D Thank goodness Crayola started making washable crayons.

I'm also looking forward to spending some time in my studio tonight since DH is working and I haven't been in there all day! I have so many fun projects in the works and sometimes it's hard to know what to do next. But I'm truly just grateful to be this inspired and you'll be seeing tons of papercrafts and art as a result of that over the next few weeks.

This particular card was created months ago and was published in the April 2011 issue of Scrapbook News and Review Magazine. It's such a simple card, but I love the little details. I have a little bit of an obsession with using bits and pieces of a larger image and quite often cut apart my focal image like I've done with the flowers on this card. The color combo was completely new to me, but I'm totally in love with it!

I hope you like this card - it's so easy to CASE! Hopefully you'll be inspired to create something for yourself today.

one little word for 2012... gratitude

2012-01-10T14:02:00.002-03:30

a month ago i posted a heartfelt post about how we've been reorganzing our life and how our family runs and i was both surprised and touched at the emails i received from readers who were also struggling and that my story had inspired them to continue trying. it absolutely meant everything to me to know that i helped in some small way. keep faith, my friends.

since our family is still organized and everyone is happily helping keep it that way, i decided to take the past month to reflect on my personal goals for 2012 and what i want to achieve. one of the things i knew i wanted to do this year was follow Ali Edwards' one little word journey. it took a little bit of time and pondering, but i finally chose my one little word for 2012 and it might surprise you, but my word is 'gratitude'. of course, since i'm a girl in love with paper and art, i decided to create an art/gratitude journal to keep my heart and my mind reminded of my word.

so what does the word gratitude mean for me right now? well, i have to admit that in the middle of the health battles, the pain from my fibro and various other upsets in our life, sometimes if forget about all that i have to be thankful for. i kept seeing this quote floating around online "what if you woke up today with only the things you thanked God for yesterday?" and everytime i read it, it settled deep inside my head and heart and refused to budge for days. so this year, i'm trying to live a life of gratitude. i want to be conscious of the beautiful life i have... and remember to be thankful for it. my new art/gratitude journal will sit on my studio table and at least once a week i want to check back in, create a new page inspired by something/someone i am grateful for. so that is one of my goals for 2012.

over the next week or so, i'll be posting more artwork and filling you in on some of the other things i'm aiming for this year. we still have a lot going on in our life, so i'm going to take it as it comes and not beat myself up if i can't achieve it all, but i'm going to try all the same!

scrappy saturday & digi sunday combined

2011-12-11T11:41:00.001-03:30

Since I got convinced by hubby to put up the Christmas tree yesterday (there was pouting involved), time just flew away from me and I didn't get to post a traditional scrap layout for scrappy saturday. So today you're getting a double post today.
I'm trying to share a little bit more of who I am these days because a lot of my personality goes into my artwork. So the layout above is one I designed to showcase some of my favorite things. Each of those little squares is actually a 3x3 card that can be opened to reveal journalling inside.
I decided to use a black, white and red color combo because it's seriously my absolute favorite color scheme to work with. Some of my favorite things are: books, music, shoes, purses, buttons, the ocean/water, flowers and ice cream! The photo is a candid shot one of my best friends snapped of me on our wedding day.

This digi page is one that I want to get printed on a wall or desk plaque. It's my favorite quote, one from Maya Angelou. I totally admire that woman. We could all do to have just an ounce of her wisdom. I'm going to have to look through my digi kits and come back and fill in the credits because it's been a while since I created this one and I have no clue!

And now I'm going to run because I have a little bit of down time that I can use to create something and I still have a tiny bit of Christmas wrapping to do! Have a wonderful Sunday :)

christmas spirit...

2011-12-09T19:22:00.001-03:30

I think that I often get mistaken for a scrooge or the grinch because of my reluctance to decorate for the holidays. This really couldn't be further from the truth, since Christmas is my absolute favorite time of the year. But, I prefer to enjoy Christmas and all the traditions in the week leading up to the actual day. You won't find me digging out Christmas decorations while my kids are still sorting their Halloween candy. Not a chance.
I'm not really sure why people have become so anxious for the holiday season to begin. Don't get me wrong, if you're one of those people who puts the tree up on November 1st, kudos to you, I wish I could do that and still enjoy it.
I think my feelings about Christmas come from the way I was raised. There were quite a few families when I was growing up who put their decorations and tree up really early but I always loved the fact that my parents waited until we were finished school for the holidays. It was something to look forward to when you got off on that last day. And we knew that if the tree and the decorations were going up, then the actual visit from Santa was just around the corner. I remember spending almost every evening as soon as it got dark sitting in the living room with the lights dimmed, all of us enjoying the glow from the tree. Around that time, people started visiting and mummers started making the rounds. Christmas was here.
That's the feeling I'd like my children to have. That the decorations, the Christmas tree, the lights, visitors, Christmas cookies... that they are all a part of something amazingly special. It's not something to take for granted or wear out. You have to wait because it only comes once a year and waiting is a part of the excitement.
What are the things you remember about Christmas from your childhood? What are the things that stick out in your mind - those taste, sights, smells, etc that bring you back to your family childhood Christmases.
Here are my top ten, in no particular order:
1. flings (these were chips that we only had at Christmas time... I don't even know if they are still made, but they were yummy)
2. Quality Street candy (back when they were still a quality candy)
3. opening Aunt Myrtle's gift on Christmas Eve
4. marshmallow log cookies - yum
5. the smell of a real Christmas tree
6. the little fruit tree ornaments that my grandmother put out every Christmas
7. Christmas shopping with dad for mom on Christmas Eve just about every year
8. the icicle things that my grandmother put over the lights on her tree
9. mom's pineapple cheesecake
10. being surrounded by family... cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents - in the days before everyone moved away to work or grew up and went away and had their own families.

About the card: I better say a word about the card at the beginning of the post! Sorta got a little carried away with the Christmas reminiscing :-) This was one of the cards we created at a holiday class back in November. It uses SU supplies - Holiday Treasures DSP, Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Whisper White cardstock, Riding Hood Red, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip inks, Christmas Collage and Holiday Best stamp sets, Top Note die and the Big Shot.

Thanks for stopping by. Make sure to leave me a comment about your childhood christmas memories!

life, time, organization, success, failure...

2011-12-08T11:07:00.001-03:30

I'll take a moment right now to give you a heads up that this is going to be a non-crafty post and probably a lengthy one too :-) Hopefully you'll stick with me while I get these thoughts out of my head :)

I titled this post "life, time, organization, success, failure" because that's what it's going to be about. Even though I always seem happy and cheerful, for the past year I've been battling this overwhelming feeling of failing in every aspect of my life.
I think it all started when Adam was just over six months old and he had a febrile seizure and stopped breathing. Of course, at the time we didn't know what was happening as we'd never dealt with anything like that before. I reacted in every wrong way possible and I just thank God that DH was there. I spent the next few weeks pondering the what ifs. What if DH hadn't been there. What if I hadn't been holding him in my arms when it happened. How long would he have been lying in his crib sick before I realized it? I felt that I didn't pay enough attention, that I didn't check on him enough, I wasn't on top of his temperature like I should have been, etc. Somehow, over time, those doubts and feelings of inadequacy crept into every aspect of my being.
It seemed like I just couldn't get my act together, I was always juggling too many balls - because of my own tendency to overcommit mainly and because of a general lack of organization that I'd never experienced before. The house was messy, meals were never on time and we ate take out way too much. There was quite often a sink full of dirty dishes and hampers full of laundry needing to be done. I struggled to keep up with my art committments and just generally struggled. I will say this for my family. Despite the fact that everything wasn't running smoothly, there actually weren't that many complaints. I probably envisioned it much worse than the reality because when you're beating yourself up about something, that's generally what happens.
At the beginning of the summer, a number of things happened all at once. I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. The intense chest pain (and all over body pain) I'd been experiencing for months was only fibromyalgia. Now if you have fibro, you may be thinking "only?" and believe me, I hear you. But in comparison to being told that there might be something seriously wrong with my heart, fibro is something I can live with - key word - LIVE.
Around the same time, one of our sons got flagged in an EKG for the same heart disease that killed my little brother at age ten. One of my worst fears had come true and I was devastated. But at the same time, it was a wake up call. Time to get out of whatever funk it was that I was in and get my act together - seriously. I needed to know that if we were going to have to face something life threatening, we were ready for it. That we would all face it happy and whole and solid together. We've since had further testing done and his condition is being monitored closely to ensure that I will never relive what happened to my brother. But it was still time for some changes.
Myself and DH started in organizing and decluttering the house. We had so much junk piled up that it was almost impossible to breathe. Over a period of a couple of months, we removed over a dozen industrial size garbage bags of junk from our household. We also rearranged some of the house to make it more friendly to our lifestyle. My studio got rearranged yet again, the kids got moved into one room with the other being used as a playroom/spare bedroom. I had gotten entirely sick of having to clear a path through toys every evening to settle Aiden into bed for the night and we now have a rule that no friends get to play unless the playroom is clean to begin with. And my two boys have become so close since sharing a room - it makes my heart feel like it's going to burst when I see them together.
A desk got set up in the large dining room where I could keep track of bills, paperwork, etc. I finally got our finances to the point where I didn't go to bed wondering if I had paid the phone bill this month. Yes, I was that disorganized. Nothing ever got missed or anything like that, but I was always second guessing myself about what was paid and what was left to pay, searching through scraps of paper here, here there and everywhere trying to find the evidence to tell me what needed to be done :)
Once things started getting clutter free, I immediately started to feel better. It became so much easier to keep the house clean without all that clutter to sort through every day. It was time to tackle other things, like the continuous meal problem and my lack of time to actually use my studio. I can honestly say I've never neglected my kids or my husband, so I guess that's one success!
The meal problem arose after we moved to this particular town and we have to shop at a small grocery store with a limited selection. The staff is amazing and super friendly and have tried their best to order in foods that we just can't do without (ie. brussels sprouts) but unfortunately, without them revamping the entire store, we aren't going to be buying the super healthy ingredients and foods that we were accustomed to eating. Finally I decided that if I planned our meals monthly, then it would make sense to make the two hour drive into the nearest center to pick up groceries. So that's what we've been doing. And wow - I love it. Having the meals planned ahead means that they are always on time. There isn't any rushing to the freezer for chicken and then trying to thaw it in the microwave or water. I just take the meals for tomorrow out tonight and put them into the fridge to thaw. Our whole family is happy with this and it is surprisingly LESS work than day to day meal prep. This month I actually took one day right at the beginning of the month and cooked a bunch of our meals for the month and froze them. This month has been a piece of cake so far!
Ultimately, I have realized that a little bit of organization goes an awful long way. And when everyone in the house is involved in that organization - that totally rocks.
These days I get Aiden off to school in the morning, take about an hour to putter around the house, vacuuming the rugs, sweeping the floors, washing the breakfast dishes, throw in a load of laundry. While I'm doing this, we have music going and Adam follows me around the house and we dance when he wants to. It's actually fun to do housework like this. I take a few minutes to prep for lunch so that I'll have it all ready for when Aiden comes home from school for lunch. By that time Adam is usually ready for a nap so I put him down and then I have time to work. Or relax. Or whatever my heart desires (like wrapping Christmas gifts). And I can do it feeling good because there isn't a pile of dirty dishes I should be doing instead. Aiden comes home for lunch, DH comes ome for lunch, we all eat and then I do the dishes quickly while the kids are spending the last few minutes of Aiden's lunch break together. I take Aiden back to school and then Adam 'helps' me in the kitchen while I prep for dinner so that I don't have to rush later when I have both kids under foot :) We play together until it's time to go get Aiden, run any errands that need to be done after we pick him up, head home and one of two things happen. If DH is working nights, homework gets done with Aiden right away so that Adam has daddy to hang with. If DH is working days, then homework gets done after dinner for the same reason. Either way, the rest of the time is the kids spending time playing together.
Aside from maybe a half hour here or there, tv has pretty much been eliminated from the kids daily routine. I've always been picky about tv time, but there did come a point when everyone was watching more than they should.
So what is the point of this blog post? Well, now that I look back on the past year and I realize how many times I just thought our household (I should make sure to clarify that I don't mean our relationships) had disintegrated to the point of no return, I realize that I cannot possibly be the only mom out there who has felt this way. And when you are a stay at home mom who has had more than one working mom tell you "of course you can do that, you have all the time in the world" it really makes it all the more painful. So I just wanted to let you know if you are in that spot right now - you ARE NOT failing. Just the fact that you care so much proves you aren't failing. You WILL find your groove again and you WILL achieve what it is you are striving for.
Get organized. Everything else seems to fall into place from there. The organization does not need to happen overnight. For us, it happened over the course of about four months. Just don't lose patience and don't give up.
And me, well I may not be a successful mom, wife, homemaker, artist, etc in anyone else's eyes, but I am for myself and my family. And that's all that matters. I propelled my family into making changes that have immensely improved our quality of life and made us ready to face anything. That's as successful as I need to be!

going punchy :-)

2011-10-19T19:35:00.001-02:30

I have ultimately decided that I am a terrible blogger. No matter how many times I set off in the right direction, blogging every day, scheduling posts ahead of time, it always drops off the to do list and here we are again, with me apologizing for being absent for two weeks. I even have a whole month's worth of Project 365 layouts that I have yet to post. I need to work on getting those up as well. But DH has been out of town more than he's been home in the past month and I have to prioritize my free time. And I choose to spend it actually creating instead of blogging about it ;-) Anyway, today I'm trying to make up for falling off the grid by posting not one, but three projects in one post! These were the cards that my club members got to make at our September club workshop and they all feature SU punches front and center. The card above uses the pennant punch - super cute!

This one use the gorgeous Beau Chateau designer series paper and the round tab punch to create three tiny little vintage purses. Love me some purses, especially vintage!

And, this card features the Build A Blossom stamp set and the Blossom Builder punch. Don't ya just love the color combo? I seriously think that Calypso Coral, Poppy Parade and Lucky Limeade together makes my favorite color combo ever!

Tomorrow I'll post some of the cards from my upcoming Christmas card class - on October 27th. I still have some seats available so if you're in the area and you'd like to attend, just drop me a line!

digi sunday... me!

2011-10-02T08:00:00.000-02:30

Credits

Digital Kit: Adoration by Misty Cato; Overlay: Vintage by Stampin' Up; Software: My Digital Studio by Stampin' Up

It's Digi Sunday so I've got a layout about me to share with you. I love this digi kit and it was so fun to play around with. Not sure I'm too keen on that really close up photo of me, but that's life!

One of my favorite tools in My Digital Studio, and one I use every time I use the software, is the color picker tool. I love that if I'm using an element from another digi designer, I can match my SU elements no problem. Awesome.

scrappy saturday...surprise!

2011-10-01T08:00:00.000-02:30

I know I haven't posted many scrap pages of Adam so I thought I would post one today. This is the first page in his album, the photos were taken while we were still in the hospital and the journalling is about how surprised we were to find out that it was a boy since we'd been told we were expecting a girl. We were over the top happy though - a nice surprise!

The paper I used was in the last SU catalogue... it's called Elegant Soiree and I stocked up on it before it retired. But I bet you could have guessed that, right?!

fairy silhouette canvas

2011-09-30T08:00:00.000-02:30

I'm sorry I don't have a better photo of this canvas, I created it for my SIL to congratulate her on a recent accomplishment and we gave it to her earlier this week, me forgetting to take a nice photo :-) But I thought I would share it with you anyway.

I will mention that I used an image of a fairy that I found online as reference for the silhouette because fairies aren't something I would normally sit down to paint or sketch, but once I had an idea for the silhouette, I did paint it freehand on the canvas. The background is a combination of paints, gesso, archival inks, and a whole lot more! I was so happy that she liked the canvas - it was about a ten hour labour of love and I was in love with it at the end, but of course, you never know if the recipient of a gift is going to be as excited as you are about it!

I used a combination of Christy Tomlinson's she art phrases for the words on there, it reads "She decided to leap and built her wings on the way down."

black and white christmas cards

2011-09-29T10:37:00.001-02:30

I'm finally getting around to posting the cards from a class I did recently. I wanted to do something different, so I designed each card with a black and white color scheme, just adding a little splash of red and green here and there. I love the way the cards turned out.

And now I'm off to try to get my house back in shape. We just got back in town late yesterday after being gone for a few days for medical appointments with the kids and of course, with all of the packing and unpacking, the house is like a tornado hit it.

It's funny how a really productive morning can get completely derailed just by missing one step. I put Adam down for a nap and went downstairs this morning to start laundry. While I was down there, I thought, oh, why not prime a couple canvasses with gesso. So I did. And was feeling really great about my progress this morning until I realized that I had forgotten to put on the tunic I always wear when I'm working and had gotten gesso all over the brand spanking new yoga pants I bought two days ago. So then I spent about a half an hour trying to get it out. Not quite sure if I completely succeeded or not, but there you go. The little steps are important!

something a little different

2011-09-19T15:57:00.000-02:30

I've got something different to share today. I've been playing around alot in my art journal, but stalled out a couple of days ago on a two page spread and I still haven't figured out what to do with it. My fibro is acting up and I've been in too much pain today to be able to work in my scrap space so I decided to pull out my sketch book and have some fun doodling. Now as a disclaimer, let me say that I don't claim to be good at sketching or doodling. But I enjoy it and it relaxes me so I do it anyway :-)

These flowers were inspired by a piece of art I saw by Alisa Burke. I've been considering taking Alisa's sketchbook class and haven't quite made up my mind yet but she is a fabulous artist and her work is so fun.

Anyway, I just sat down with a black Sharpie and started doodling and this is what I ended up with at the end. I wrote verbs along the vine - words that inspire me.

In case you are curious, the words are live, dream, love, inspire, create, hope, embrace, trust, breathe, give, change, learn, accomplish, have faith, grow, nurture, persevere, succeed, feel, aim high, value and cherish.

Take a sketch book out and just go with it. I promise you'll have fun!

digi sunday...alzheimers

2011-09-18T08:00:00.000-02:30

Credits

Digital Kit: Iris Dawn by Irene Alexeeva

Well, there isn't really much to say about this layout that it doesn't say for itself. I told you I would be sharing something highly personal today. I chose to use the Iris Dawn digi kit by Irene Alexeeva because my grandmother's name is Iris. It's a really beautiful kit and I think I did an alright job of creating with it.

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend, thanks for stopping by!

scrappy saturday

2011-09-17T08:00:00.000-02:30

Who says you can't use flowers on a boy page? I created this page for my personal scrapbook - the one all about my favorite things, the things that are important and precious to me, my fears, my hopes, my dreams, etc. I've been using SU's Woodland Walk patterned paper for it so this page coordinates. I stocked up on the paper before it retired. Of course I did. Cause that's what I do. Now if I could only get the time to start using all the paper I've stocked up on 'just in case I need it later'. It has to be some kind of syndrome, lol.

Anyway, in case you are wondering, this page features Aiden, but it's a double page layout and the other features mister Adam. Loads of texture on this page. See all those beautiful buttons. Actual vintage buttons. Shortly before he died, my grandfather gave me my grandmother's huge collection of buttons and there are buttons in there from way back when. He knew that I would cherish them and that they would become part of my artwork and he felt that she would want me to have them. And every time I use one of those buttons, it makes me happy and sad all rolled into one weird emotion. Anyone who has lived with Alzheimers knows how difficult it is to accept that someone you love so much is travelling down that road. For Digi Sunday tomorrow I am going to share a photoless layout that is extremely personal. Not like TMI personal, but I've poured my heart out in this layout. For me, scrapping is therapy. Some people write in a journal or diary. If I have something hurting me or bothering me, I scrap about it and generally I feel better or find a new perspective. I scrap for a lot of reasons. I scrap for my children, so that they will know the ansers to their questions about where they come from and where they've been. I scrap to clear my mind. I scrap because I am an artistic person and I love the creative outlet. Why do you scrap?

sunset background

2011-09-16T09:28:00.000-02:30

I usually don't make sympathy cards unless I have to, which is really the time you don't feel like making anything. So I decided to create a few to have on hand so that I don't get that yucky feeling about making them. I love how this one turned out. I used an inked baby wipe to create the background and inked up one of my Tim Holtz stamps for the main image. It needed a little something so I decided to go simple with a little bit of black elastic cord and some photo corners. Such a simple card but it's one of my favorite designs yet so I submitted it for one of the magazine calls a few months ago and it was published in SNR in the April issue.
The colors in the background are tempting turquoise, riding hood red, pumpkin pie and creamy caramel.
Now it's time for me to head into my workspace and make something new!
I did the first of my Christmas card classes last night and we did five black and white cards with a splash of red. I'll be posting those sometime very soon.
Have you started building your Christmas card stash yet?

welcome baby

2011-09-15T08:00:00.000-02:30

I've had the Baby Tees wheel for a while now but sadly, haven't gotten many opportunities to use it. I love those little onesies though so I pulled it out a little while ago and had some fun with it. This is one of those cards I'm too sure about. The colors are a bit bright together and I haven't been able to decide whether I like it.

I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of a photographer's light box so that I can take better photos of my artwork. I got completely tired of all the post editing and decided it was time to invest in a light box. Hopefully by this time next week you'll be looking at perfect project photos!