living life in real life

Good things happening right now:

1. Annie got home from her mission for our church on January 22. She just missed going back to school for Winter semester, so we've been thoroughly enjoying having her home. She'll go back to BYU in August.

2. Ethan's graduating from High School and will be heading off to BYU in August to complete his freshman year. He gets to go to school with his big sister, something he's worked really hard to accomplish.

3. Summer's on its way! An

Daydreaming

Oh summer has gone! It was such a busy one, it went by super fast!

Lots of road trips to Utah to see family, drop son off at an Arabic language camp, pick him back up, go to a funeral of a wonderful man. Another quick trip to NM for a favorite nephew's wedding reception. Also a family vacation to San Francisco, just because I've always wanted to go. My husband is the sweetest. :)

Lots of yard work. Move the dirt and put in a new garden. Plant said. Move perennials from front yard to back so we could get a tree taken out. Keep perennials alive. Keep vegetable garden alive. Weed. Put in a new deck (actually have someone else do that). Add rock border to various beds. It was so good to be outside so much this summer.

Scrapbooking for Cocoa Daisy's September kit collection, Daydream. I am happy with how the projects turned out. :)

enjoying summer

A quick recap on my life.

I taught seminary for my church this past year. That meant getting up at 5 every weekday morning and learning about the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the high school kids in my church. It was the best. It was hard, but like I saw on Pinterest, "If it's not challenging, it won't change you." So very true. We wrapped up a year of studying the Doctrine and Covenants, a book of scripture from the early years of our church. It's beautiful because it's the Lord speaking to His people. Encouraging them, teaching them, chastising them when needed, but most importantly, loving them. It was a good year. And now I'm having a hard time sleeping past 5. :) But I'll adjust.

Annie's doing great. She's still a missionary in Frankfurt. She's growing, learning, trusting, praying, and being formed into who the Lord needs her to be.

Ethan's doing great. He finished his Junior year in really fine style. He's really grown up this year, doing a lot of things without being asked. My favorite thing? He still tells me I'm the best mommy ever. I'm enjoying having him around. :)

Kelly is doing great too. He got released as Bishop of our congregation a week ago. He served for five years. It was a blessing for our family. He's enjoying not doing anything, but that will change very soon I'm sure. It's been nice to have him around more. We're doing a lot of yard work now.

Oh, and he's started eating spinach. He said he was wrong about it his whole life. He was thinking of Popeye version of spinach. I introduced him to fresh. Yah!

Here are my projects with the June Cocoa Daisy kit, Let's Go. I loved how varied this kit was, I have pink and turquoise and red and yellow. But somehow, it all works together so very nicely.

For my friend MK. Writing 50 things you love about someone is a good exercise, you should try it today.

Because reddish pink and charcoal grey go well together. Add some feathers, and life is good.

I think the triangle paper may be some of my most favorite ever. And this layout isn't about washing a car. :)

Here's the kit. It's a good one. All in all, it's just like life. It's good. :) I can't complain. Wouldn't want to anyway.

Thinking it's been a while. Understatement.

Let's see if I remember how to do this... Life sure has changed since my last blog post. Annie is now in Germany, she's been there since September. It's really cool to see her growing. It's also hard to not be able to just pick up the phone and call her. We get sad and droopy somedays missing her. But she's doing well. I update her blog fairly well, so if you'd like to follow her adventures, you can check it out: www.23epicthings.blogspot.com.  This is a layout I just made about her using the March 2015 Cocoa Daisy kit called Hello Again. She likes to take pictures of cute cars, the love of cute cars runs in our family. My mom loves them too. 

Ethan's now a junior in high school. He just planned out his senior year of classes. Holy cow. I know how this ends, it's not something I'm looking forward to. He's such a fun kid, I really enjoy our after school visiting sessions. He's got a great mind. I made this layout to let him know how much I enjoy picking him up from school every day. It's not cool for him, but he is almost always cheerful about the whole thing. I'll miss it. I erased the pencil on my journaling a little too soon, but it was all stitched down, so I just left it. Grrrrr. 

I have the best husband. This just happened last week. I was busy with my to-do list that was up to here. He gently reminded me that people are more important that papers and computers. I always tell the people I work with that very thing, but sometimes I forget to take my own advice. How blessed I am to have him to remind me. This layout was for the Bonjour add on. I loved that paper from Crate Paper. I just kept cutting it up. :)

And me? I'm loving teaching Seminary. It's been such an amazing opportunity, I am learning so much and feel very loved by my Heavenly Father and Savior. It takes a lot of my free time, I hope someday to figure out how to balance. :)

I did get a chance to get some decorating done for the main floor powder room (that sounds so fancy). I wanted to get it done for some wonderful guests who were coming to town, but didn't quite get it done, as usual... I will post a picture as soon as I have the last two elements: a plant stand and a garbage can. And I have to print off something for some frames.

I have

Spreading a Hint of Sunshine wherever I go :)

I love this month's Cocoa Daisy kits. As of late, scrapping has not been my favorite thing to do. Not a good thing for someone who works in the industry. But this month, for my assignments, I decided to just play.


And that was fun.

I tell my critique group they are not allowed to use the word "fun" in their journaling because it's not a strong adjective. And I still stand by that, but I needed to play and have fun again. So I can use the word in my blogging today. :)

This is the Day in the Life: April kit (sold out). I got it because of the wooden dots and the washi tape. I don't like washi tape, you won't find a nice big fancy display of it in my scrap room. But I loved the little stripe and it comes in the cutest dispenser, so I ordered the DITL kit. I had fun.

I also got Prism (sold out) and the main kit, Hint of Sunshine (see below, it's almost gone, get yours now!!! I promise you will not regret it).

Here's the mood board I made for our Cocoa Daisy Pinterest boards, that's one of the most fun things I do for my job as Social Media and Marketing person at Cocoa Daisy.

And here are my layouts. I had fun, can you tell?

Kelly and I have been doing a lot of home renovating the last year. We made a list of things we wanted to finish around the house, it turned into a list of all the dreams we had as well. The kids added dolphinarium and helipad, we're not really planning on them getting done...

With all these house projects, Kelly decided it was time to buy a new drill. His old one is pretty old. My parents bought it for him for Christmas, probably 15 years ago? He decided to upgrade and go cordless. I'll join him in saying it was the best thing ever. It's made our current house project–(this photo is from him and our bathroom remodel at the beginning of the year) remodeling the kitchen–an absolute dream. I love it almost as much as he does :)

This little fox is the basis for a blog post on the CD blog today. You should check out how I did it. :)

This is about Ethan. With Annie away at school, Ethan gets a lot of the scrapbooking spotlight... He bought a fountain pen with his birthday/Christmas money. He's a little bit excited. I love how he gets into things like this. He's definitely got some Grua in him.

See? Another Ethan layout, very fun to do. I haven't been taking many pictures lately, my big fancy camera is feeling neglected. My phone camera is not good, but if you run the photo through enough filters and turn it B&W, it looks kind of artsy. This layout is about Ethan's 16th birthday. We went to Olive Garden after I got home from CHA. I know it's a poor excuse for a celebration, but he was happy that he got a strawberry lemonade. We rarely order anything but water. 

Can you tell I had fun with this?

Did the bird on his shoulder give it away?

And finally, a last project, again for the Cocoa Daisy blog post. I learned this cool technique with embossing ink and chalks when I was doing an assignment for Scrapbook and Cards Today's CardMaps3 issue a few years ago (the newest CardMaps4 is available for pre-order right now, it will be shipping in late April!). Is it overkill to say it was a fun card to make? ;)

I'm glad I tossed the stress out the window this month. February and March were hard months for me, I wasn't feeling well, I have "something weird" as my Rheumatologist puts it. It will show up when I haven't been taking good care of myself and when I'm super stressed out. That was me the last six or eight months. So it showed up and really kind of scared me this time. Symptoms changed (My feet and calves started swelling and I had these hot spots on my ankles and legs) and it wasn't going away like it normally does. I went to the doctor, he put me on a steroid, took a lot of blood, and wanted to see me in two weeks. 

And two weeks later, I'm fine. My blood work showed high inflammation, but two weeks later it's completely normal. I'm feeling back to myself, which is good, but I've taken this as a warning from my body that I need to step back a bit and slow down. I love to scrap but I'm really bad at deadlines, so I'm removing some of them from my life. We'll see if that helps. I know having fun helps. 

Remodeling a kitchen with Kelly? Well, actually that's been fun too. I'll tell you more about that later.

with thoughts on Pantone and Cocoa Daisy layouts

I think the Pantone color of the year becomes my favorite color three years down the road. I don't like pink. I am not a pink person, but the last year, I looked in my closet and realized I've fallen madly deeply in love with fuchsia. I think I like you it's spelled and how it sounds too. Honeysuckle Pink was the Pantone Color of the Year in 2011 and I was like, "Eh, it's OK, but it's pink." Come summer last year and I had hot pink Converse, a pink jacket, and I'm using it on layouts all I can. So when I saw the the Cocoa Daisy February kit, Color Swatch, I knew I'd be all over it. Not that it was all pink, because it's so not, but if you like pink like I do, you'll be happy because there's enough to feed my obsession. And enough to balance it out. Lots of black and white, lots of yellow, and a bit of green and gold. So why put it off creating until the last minute? I was in love with the kit, but at a point where I'm struggling getting anything done. It's not depression, I just don't have the drive to create right now. I hope it passes soon.  

But I did get these done and I love them. That's my issue. It takes me forever to complete something, but I love the finished product. I'm not sure what that means.

One of my kids' favorite things about Switzerland? The chocolate mix boxes we could get at Co-op. They spent a little more of their souvenir money on them than they should have, but they swear there is nothing near as good here in the States. I knew the heart bokeh paper would be perfect for this story. And while it's a little pastel for me, the black and white and blue make it work. I used the water color paper in the kit, painted it blue and used it as a final mat for the photos. Very happy with it now.

This is Gabriel, one of my nephews. My siblings are just now having children, so it's fun to have some baby photos to scrap again. My sister Julia sent this photo to me, with the title of Kilroy Was Here. When I was a little girl, I had a ceramic Kilroy that you could place over a row of books and have his nose hang down. I think he was blue. I have no idea where he came from, but we thought he was cool. I also thought he was an icon of the '70s. How wrong I was. Interesting history on the phrase, figure, story of this cultural image found on Wikipedia. You should read about it.

This picture, I couldn't use pink, it just didn't work. So you see, there's plenty of non-pink to create with in Color Swatch as well. And how could you not love some gold doilies on vellum? Holy cow, I love that sheet of paper that came in the Palette add on. I ordered it simply for that. And the shell buttons in the main kit? Oh my. How absolutely awesome are they?

P.S. I'm way ahead of the curve with the 2014 Color of the Year. Although I won't paint a room Radiant Orchid or go out and redo my bed linens, I'm going on record as saying I do like purple. In moderation. I don't scrap with it, it's the ugly stepcolor in scrapbooking for some reason, but I do like it in bits. So bring it on Pantone!

what's making me happy right now

• Gold glittery nail polish
  
  
  I got it in my stocking for Christmas and I love it. I've never been one to paint my nails much, I don't like the attention it draws to my very utilitarian hands. But I love this polish, I'm actually considering buying a few more of the same color so I don't run out for a while. :) I get comments from strangers, that's how happy it is!
• My husband.
  
  
  
  I made this soup last night. I made it before he came home because had he seen any of the preparations for it, he would have had cereal. But I had a feeling, especially if I added a bit of rosemary, that he wouldn't even suspect that it was cauliflower based. And he didn't. Until Ethan, who had peeked at the simmer pot (even though I told him not to...) said, "Are you going to tell him what's in it?" I told Ethan no, I wasn't and he needed to not as well.
  
  This morning, as we were saying our goodbyes, I told him thank you for taking such good care of our family. He said, "Thank you for taking such good care of me, and feeding me healthy soups that you'd better never tell me what was actually in it, because I liked and and if I knew, I'd probably never eat it again." How can I not love that kind of recognition of truth? He's perfect for me.
• My son.
  
  
  
  Even though he was in hot water for spilling that the soup was full of cauliflower, he told me after he'd peeked that he decided he was going to eat the soup anyway to make me happy.
  
  And he's an Eagle Scout as of Sunday night. I'm very proud of him!
• My daughter.
  
  Having her away from our family has been hard, but texting her goodnight has become a sweet thing, especially when she is there and can answer right back. And ask for recipes of Curried Chicken Noodle Soup, because there might be a boy she'd like to make it for, because he's sick and he likes curry.
  
  
• Gold frames.
  
  I made this earlier this week and it just makes me happy. It's going to be in my bathroom because I need to remember this every day. This year is about building my foundations. This will help.

And there you have a few things that are making me happy right now.

trying something new this december

Driving home from a lovely week in Utah spent with Annie, friends, and family, I started thinking about the fact that today would be December 1st. My heart sunk a little. For most of my married life, I've not been the best at organizing my Decembers so as to be enjoyed.

There was that one December when the kids were little and I single handedly made 200 ornaments and decorated a Christmas tree for charity. My own tree? I think it did get decorated, but at the last minute and not with handmade snowmen, sleds, and gloves, maybe...

And all the years I've been scrapping, I alway put assignments in front of my family, then the family suffers. Not that they've ever complained. I've been the hardest on myself, but I'm tired of beating myself with a wet noodle, so this year, I'm doing something different.

Every day this month, I'm going to look for miracles. We have a favorite folk singer from our days in Minnesota named Peter Mayer. He's got a song about how he sees miracles in the every day, not just in a Sunday worship setting.

I agree.

And this December I'm going to look for those miracles and write a handwritten note to December (yes, silly, but it has a nice ring to it, "Dear December," don't you think?) and thank it for the miracles I saw that day. Kind of a twist on the whole November thankful for thing. So if you're tired of that, please ignore my posts and social media feeds this month.

I don't plan to write a lot on the computer, just in a little notebook. I'll post a picture here every day (maybe).

And hopefully December will take on a whole new meaning. I'll still have all the deadlines and assignments, I'll still have all the Christmas gifts to make or buy and mail, I'll still have the Christmas cards to worry about, but hopefully, by looking for miracles, I'll be able to balance things just a little bit better.

Home Again Finnegan. Ever heard that?

Home again Finnegan. It was in a cartoon I saw in a Family Science college class. I have not a clue what it means. I just say it. :) But I do know what Home Again from Cocoa Daisy means!

I wasn't sure about this month's Cocoa Daisy kit (are you sensing a theme?), but once I started cutting things up, I fell deeeeeeeep in love with Home Again. The kit will go on sale TUESDAY, the 26th of November. We moved Reveal up a few days so as to not conflict with the US Thanksgiving holiday. So be sure to join us on the message boards on Tuesday night.

It's the chartreuse paper that Stephanie designed, along with the Maya Road chipboard alphas, and the huge chevron paper from Lilybee (that totally freaked me out at first, but when I started cutting it up, I changed my mind). And how could you not love the little tiny wood bits? I haven't used the houses yet, but have an idea. Hopefully I can whip it up before I leave for our Thanksgiving break.

Anyway, you are going to LOVE Home Again. The colors are sooooo perfect together. Chartreuse may not be your favorite color, but pair it with red and turquoise and it takes on a whole new feel. I have a chartreuse coat I got last Christmas, I think it's the new IN color :)

I admit, I poo poo'd the potty people, it's a trend I was ready to say goodbye to. Then [b]this[/b] happened and it was PERFECT to have this cute flair from Evalicious to scrap with. I LOVE this layout.

And this is about my boy and how he's not little anymore. Or maybe about his hair. I haven't journaled on it yet and it could go either way... You'll have to wait and see I guess :) All next week, some of the DT will be posting to the blog what they did with their Maya Road chipboard alphabets. This is one of the techniques I'l share.

And my final one, about my new couch. How could I not with that flair?

I've been texting Christine the past two days admitting that I was so wrong, professing my love for this kit. It's seriously awesomeness in a box. And I didn't even get an add on this month, I knew I wouldn't have time to scrap, so the less options, the better for me. But wow, if you get all the add ons as well, you're going to be even happier than I am right now.

I don't know how that's possible really.

Yes, it's the kit, but also we get to see Annie soon! We are SOOOOOO excited. And happy. :)

Stargazing with Cocoa Daisy

Christine says I'm giving her a complex. I say I don't really love a kit when I start seeing the basics of it, she'll send me photos as she's putting things together, I'll say I like it, but don't love it. Then I get the kit and end up loving it. This month was that way. I saw lots of soft pinks and turquoises, which I like, but not for a November kit. I was so so.

She met me and my family Starbucks when she was flying into town to spend time with her sweetie. I got a vanilla frappuccino and we did the introductions and visited. She passed me the kits, we hugged, and said goodbyes.

Then I opened the kit.

So much gold, mustard, and navy blue, I could barely contain myself. I had seen all the wrong colors. I love gold, mustard, and navy blue. :) I love Stargazing, full of more exclusives than ever before seen in a Cocoa Daisy kit: a stencil, our letterpress card, stamps, papers, wood veneer, and flair. All designed with this kit in mind. It was so much fun to create with this kit. You should get your own.

I scrapped old pictures in the first layout :) That makes me happy. I scrapped a success in the second, it made me laugh when Ethan said that he had mastered the bowtie. And the last one, I know I'm front and center, but it's the sweet little photobomb by Annie that the page is really about. I'm so proud of her, but boy do we miss her!

Anyway, loved this kit.