12 in 12

I like to have resolutions for the new year, but I do not like calling them resolutions.

I prefer to not really call them anything.  

This year I am referring to them as my 12 in12.

1. Cook at least one new recipe each month.

2.Scrapbook at least one page per week. 

3. Complete my capture my life 365 plus one..

4. Finish 8 more classes towards my degree.

5.See the sunrise on the coast and the sunset on the other coast all in one day.

( I live in Florida so this is achievable)

6.Get and keep my house visitor ready.

7. Go camping.

8.Have dessert at Bern's Steakhouse.( Cherries Jubilee or Bananas Foster)

9. Go to a fair/carnival and ride the Ferris Wheel.

10.Spend quality time with my girls.

11. Have a savings account, with money in it.

12. Go to New Orleans. The place where I was born.

These are in particular order.

None is more important than the next. 

They are just my 12 in 12. 

Wish me luck on my journey to complete them, or on my attempt to be consistent in my journey to complete them.

Color me Crazy......

     yep.

red. 

pink.

I must be crazy.

My husband is not going to be happy.

The girls have both wanted some color in their hair.

For some reason I agreed. 

It is not permanent right?

This is what little girls are made of......

These are going to be fun to scrap.

I am thinking a grungy kinda page. 

What else did I do today?

Clean. 

Laundry.

Play on the computer.

Made dinner. 

A new recipe.

From Pinterest.

Crispy Cheddar Chicken.

See you tomorrow.

I need sleep.

Starting again?

I know I do this every few months. I start and everything is going great and then all of a sudden....boom..I stop. Well, I am going to start again. Will be things be different this time? I really hope so. That is part of my 2012...One little word. Consistency! I need more consistency in my life. My kids need me to be more consistent. My work needs me to be more consistent. Will I succeed? It is not always about the destination or the completion, but about the journey I will take to get there.

    One more thing I will be working on is my Capture 365 plus 1. I have started this the last 2 years and again, I have never been consistent with it. But, when I look back at the photos I do have, it inspires me to go for it again. I think I am a bit better organized and a bit more planned out than I have been in past years. I have a visible display area for them in my home, that I am hoping will be my daily reminder.

Back to life as I want it.......?

Not what has really been happening the last few weeks. Life tossed me a few curveballs but you turn so many times and you end up back on the track you started. I am back to my blog, my camera and my scrapbooks....the things that make me....ME! So thanks for everyone that has been there for me. Watch out paper and glue eaters....I have been scrapping away the last few days and have lots to share with you in the next week or so.

Rain Rain......

even though we could really use the rain right now...this day I am sure I was wishing for it to end. I dug these photos out of the box of pics from childhood, because I thought they were perfect for the theme of this month's challenge over at My Mind's Eye. You had to use the sketch below and the theme April Showers.

Playing dress-up

During homecoming week, the kids have dress-up days. For character day Amanda was at first unsure of what to dress up as...then a light went off. She loves to watch NCIS and loves the character of Abby, played by Pauley Perrette. She has that little bit of bad girl side while still be a good girl and using her intelligence. Amanda found a black tee and a skull iron-on. She got a lab coat and even made a cafe=pow cup. She colored her hair black...for the day. What a day that was. I took a few pictures before she left for school and thought they worked great with this weeks Sketchy Thursday sketch.

Yes, the sketch is a 2-pager, but since I rarely scrap 2 pagers anymore I turned it into a single, but kept the bones of the sketch. I used Crate Portrait collection for this.

Catch me if you can....

Kimmy has the possibility of being added to next years WinterGuard team at Springstead High, because there are no middle school teams in the county. It has become Amanda's job to have her ready to go by October....so they have been practicing everyday. I captured these shots of Kimmy the very first time she was trying to twirl rifle! It took a little while but eventually she caught one or two. It is going to be a long summer.I mad this layout of that day using this months sketch over at Scrap with V..a new blog that I recently found and love..you have to check out all the inspiration and ides over there.
I used the new Basic Grey Hello Luscious line, the colors are so happy and bright.

1,2,3,4,5......

that was the challenge over at Kraft it up this month.

1. sheet of Kraft paper....check
2. photos smaller than 4x6....check
3. different alphas....check
4. pattern papers.....check
5. different embellies...check
Here is my take on the challenge.

Kimmy's science fair project this year was on diffusion and osmosis. To prove her hypothesis, she "grew" gummy bears in different solutions. These photos worked awesome with Jillibean Soups Atomic Soup line.

Thursday shares....

Every Sunday Creative Scrappers post a fabulous sketch. I do not often to get play along...atleast not in a timely manner, but this week I finished the last 2 sketches.
First we have sketch #150
This photo was taken when we were walking along the beach watching the sunset on Honeymoon Island a few weeks ago. The water was really cold and Kimmy was staying along the edge.

Next we have sketch #151
Just a quick snap of the camera as she was whizzing back past me and throwing me a no more glance...but I love the movement.

To the world

He is my world...though many days you may not know it...and I may not feel it. Without him there would be no me..no us....no anything. He may not be much to everyone else but he is my world....for better or worse until death do us part.These photos were taken on our 18th wedding anniversary at Flagler Beach. When I first took them I was not sure I was even going to scrap them...just having fun taking pictures. Then when I saw this weeks sketch at Sketchy Thursday I knew they were the right photos for it.

I turned the sketch and added lots of layers. I love this My Mind's Eye line..very masculine colors. Along the bottom I was playing with rolled paper...sorta reminded me of buoys at the beach.

She finds sea shells

Late on Wednesday evening and I am just getting around to finishing this week's Sketchy Thursdays sketch...yet again. I always have such good intentions because I an always so inspired by their sketches, but life seems to always get in the way...right up until the last minute. This week I really "stretched" the sketch, but love the way it turned out. I really wanted to be able to use both photos of Amanda on this layout. This Bo Bunny line( Vicky B) has to be one of my favorite..and to think I was maybe not going to get it, because I was not sure of what it would like in person. Boy, am I glad I splurged..I love the colors, the embellies and the patterns.



More layouts and post coming soon...Winter guard has finished and actually have 3 weeks until the first Saturday band practice starts again.

I love to watch her read...

This week Crate Paper offered up a fantastic sketch challenge. I had so much fun with t. Used the new Emma's Shoppe for my layout. I love the colors and designs in these papers and thought they went perfectly with this picture of Kimmy. When I first purchased these papers I was afraid I would not be able to use them on my current photos, because my girls are older. I was so wrong. These papers can easily work for my pictures of the older girls.

I used Playhouse paper for my base, and layered on some of the book strips from the Book paper. I cut some squares from the Quilts paper. This really helped me to capture the essence of this picture.

The Scrappiest..sketch 110

Another guard picture of Amanda... been taking a bunch of these pictures.
For this sketch I flipped it a bit. Used a lot of stuff my stash.

another sassy sketch...

This has to be one of my favorites from yesterday. I absolutely love this picture of Amanda..I wish it was not so blurry....new camera will not be here soon enough. Hey FujiFilm...are you sure you can't release your new cameras before April 15th......I need it now!!!!!!!!

This is for the March 7th Sassy Lil Sketches sketch. Lots going on in this sketch...love all the layers and room for dimension.
I chose to use fancy Pants Togetherness line for this layout because I rally liked the subdues patterns and prints, as they do not take away from the photo itself, they just compliment it.

Sassy Little Sketch March #2

I have been scrapping up a storm this week....well really only yesterday, but I spent almost all day scrapping. I really needed that break!
Here is one I did for Sassy Lil Sketches, the March 14th sketch. Again I dug into some older pictures for this one. I also dug into my stash and used some older October Afternoon.

Times 2

For anyone who has not figured it out already... I love Sketches. I love to flip them, turn them, manipulate them ..any which way I love Sketches. This week I fell in love with the sketch over at Sketchy Thursday to be their April GCT, part of the challenge was also to use spring colors...that was a little tough for me. I am more of a fall color type scrapper. Here is my take on this challenge.... I have had this pic of Amanda and Dan since early spring last year...they loved spending time gardeing together. When The new Bo Bunny Vicky B line arrived on my door step yesterday afternoon I knew it was perfect for this pciture. I especially love the "growing memories" sticker.
But wait, I loves this sketch so much I used again for this layout. My favorite toy as a child was my Simon game. I hate that they do not make this game anyomre because I know my kids would love it. We spent many many evenings playing this as a family and it holds many good memories.

Happy St. Patty's Day

I am fully German, but hubby is partly irish....so the girls love St. Patty's Day. amanda was actually upset it did not fall on a school day...she really wanted to dress to the nines covered in green and shamrocks.

We do not have real traditions for today, but it appears that we are starting one. Last year, I was trying to be a good mom( lol) and make green eggs and ham. Well, when I started cooking th ham steak it was GREEN, and I did not add anything to it. We ended up eating at Carraba's for dinner. Yesterday our fridge and freezer decided to stop making cold air.....so I joking asked Dan if we are going to Carraba's for dinner tonight..and he said I guess we are going to be starting a new trdition...Italian on St. Patty's day.....lol! Atleast I can get myself some green beer!

On a side note...I love that Dan bought the extended warranty when we got our fridge. Not only will it get fixed for no money oop, but I will re-imbursed up to $200.00 for all the food that spoiled. Way to go hubby!!!!!!!

Wanna be published????

That is the question they asked this past week over on the Cosmo Cricket blog....and even though I am aware there is no chance in H.....L, I love the sketch and love Cosmo,( who doesn't) so I had fun playing with the sketch. Some lucky lady is going to be published in my #1 favorite scrapbook magazine...SCRAPBOOK TRENDS! Just in case you have been living under a rock...or a pile of scrapbbok papers, scissors, ink or whatever else is covering your desk...you have to peek at this magazine. It has the best inspiration pieces and stories.
I love the fact these 2 awesome companies have teamed up. What a great combination!
I used some old photos I just found stashed in a box, man did they bring back memories. Not, that I am sure I would want to go back to that time...even though it sure was great. I am feeling old though, as I have only 2 years until Amanda is wearing one of these robes.
I chose to use one of my favorite lines.. Circa 1934. The colors worked perfectly with the colors of our graduation robes and tassles. I love the chipboard emebellishments along with the fabulous cardstock stickers.

A little late....

but better than not at all......right??? This is the layout I did for the Sassy Lil Sketch sketch last week. I finished it ontime but forgot to upload it to their link.....oops.



Also, It is already Tuesday and that means I missed Meal Plan Monday... probably because we are not going to be home for dinner most of the week.
Monday...everyone fend for yourself....everyone was someplace apart.
Tuesday.... Amanda is cooking Pork Chops
Wednesday...Chicken Fried Rice and egg rolls
Thursday... Dan is cooking
Friday...Pulled Pork sandwiches at the Will Mclean Festival.
Saturday.....depends on what we decide to do, if we are home I will make Kimmy a meatloaf and mashed potatoes....she has been begging for this all week.

Future fashion designer?

I do not think she will go into fashion design....she hardly even carres if her clothes match. But she does love to draw and create. this Project Runway design toy was a big hit last year after Christmas. I really liked this sequence of pictures and thought they were perfect for this weeks Sketchy Thursday sketch.

Used lots of my older Cosmo Cricket on this as well as lots of stash stuff....thickers, Sassafras Lass alpha. I love using pieces off the paper borders on my layouts...like the material girl and inspiration tags on this one.

Findings on Friday.....

Since it is Friday I thought I would do a little recap of some of my faves from this week.
The first is this layout By Brooke which was layout of the week over at Studio Calico.

Next is this one By Kinsey Wilson-- I love the way she cut hte paper and turned it into flowers, and I am so stealing htis title!

LISTENING: telephones ringing and the normal ICU commotion
EATING: Subway Italian BMT on wheat
DRINKING: Cherry coke....they were out of Dr. Pepper and diet Dr. Pepper...boo hoo
WEARING: old scrubs... I so need to get some new ones.
FEELING: content
WANTING: to be scrapbooking
NEEDING: to do laundry when I get home
THINKING: about Amanda's guard competition at Jefferson tomorrow
WONDERING: if Kimmy is having a good time with daddy at the fishing expo
WEATHER-- PERFECT!!!!!!!! Mid-upper 70's, blue sky and a light breeze

Here is a catch-up on my project 365. Still going strong.

Day 63-- Amanda after her FBS concert band performance. Straight excellent on performance, straight superior on sight reading. Day 62-- Strawberry smoothies...awesome afternoon snack.
Day 61- Amandas gotta a new bag. Her other backpack broke.
Day 60- The crew walking home from school...actually missed Kimmy in the picture because she walked up to take Mollie for a walk.
Day 59- Chillin in mom's bed, playing on Guffins....just chillin out before bed.
Day 58- Happy good eats...Kimmy and her Gingerbread chocolate chip cookie. She gave him a heart.
Day 57-- Only the best place to get a cuban. Picked one up on our way to get a new stove.



Day 55- Amanda immediately after having 4 teeth pulled. So sorry baby...but one day you will be happy about this.







Day 56- Dan being Dan....yeah I am taking a picture of you...what you gonna do about it????Day 54- You have to love depositing a check at 6am...being able to do this via ATM makes life so much easier.
Day 53---Dan bought me a new scratch-off ticket. Took me almost 20 minutes to scratch it and find out I won $10.00.
Day 52- loving my new paper racks for scrapbooking. Dan even helped me put them up. Now he wants me to fill them up.... He does not know what he is asking...shopping here I come!
Day 51-- Kimmy made daddy peanut butter cookies all by herslef.

Day 50- 2nd place again at Plant City High. So proud of you girls...keep up the good work!Day 49--- Amanda and Hannah..Hannah spent the night.