Webelos

Did I tell you that Mike and I are Webelos leaders?

Fun times. 

Here we are at the Air Force Academy last Saturday for the Cadets hosting of the Cub Scout's Winter Spree Activity.

Our little group consisted of two dens, ours and the one that was recently split off from our ward. That was great fun for the boys who don't get to see each other often anymore. On this day they got to spend over four hours together. 

MyMike, checking his work email, as we watched the Cadets teach our boys.

Here the Cadets were teaching the boys how to make warrior sounds, as they proceeded to the obstacle course, complete with camo nets, crawling on their bellies, and jumping through hoops, literally. The boys loved it!

Everything took place inside or outside the Stadium where the Cadets have football games and where graduation takes place. Our boys were really fun and excited to participate in everything. They're eager to do everything we're teaching them each week also. I know that BSA is changing policies soon. . . guess we'll wait and see how it all works out in the future.

Oh, and as for my exercise plan. . . hiking up and down all the stairs at the stadium twice that day, that counts!

Healthy Habits

Already the 21st of January and I haven't even begun to start my exercise program for the year! I know! (I have been really bad since I moved here!) It was my only resolution for the year and I haven't even begun for one day!

All my family exercise regularly. Cowgirl just completed her first 5K race. LittleBuddy is playing basketball whenever he can. MyGirl does her Pilates. BigBuddy is like his dad, and has always been very disciplined to take care of their bodies, and exercise them regularly. Then there's me.

I really have no excuse. I have a treadmill at home. We have a family membership at the Y if I want more socialization. My family inspires me to want to improve myself like they are. Now I just need to motivate myself to DO IT!

Am I undisciplined? Not in everything, but definitely when it comes to exercise. I tell myself - How old am I? Old enough to know that its high time I got this part of me under control. I know part of the problem is that I have become quite used to making time for everyone else's needs and ignored my own and become physically lazy in the process. Sure I get up and do what I have to, but so much of my day is spent sitting.  I can feel myself having less energy, and I know exercising will bring it back. I love to eat all kinds of foods, and I'm able to maintain my weight by making healthy choices most of the time, but its time to lose what I don't need, that has accumulated over the years.

With everything else going on in my life, I hope I can stay focused. I'm writing this here because I need to hold myself accountable. Expect an update in a month. I plan on writing more about this subject because as I'm creating the life I want, I need that to include healthy habits. There is so much that we can't control in life - other people's choices, weather, the price of gas. But, we can change ourselves to be more healthy. That doesn't necessarily always mean to lose weight. Some people need to gain weight or sleep more or quit an unhealthy habit. But for me, exercise and eating even more healthy will help me to be the me I want to be.

Note to self: Quit sitting and get moving!

Valentines Banner

I made this last week and have loved having it up. 

Here's the directions:
 I used chipboard CTMH triangles for the base of each letter but any sturdy cardboard would work. The fabric was leftover from my Christmas quilt. I folded a 2 1/2" piece in half and gathered it, putting doublesided tape on the back to hold it in place, keeping the folded side up. I covered the cardboard in scraps of pink cardstock and patterned paper I had used in a YW bulletin board last year. Again I used double sided tape to adhere the lace, about an inch down from the top. The scallop and letters are both cut from the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge. I added some clear sparkles to the center dot on the letters and some heart pins are sticking into the thick pop dots I used to raise up the scallops. I tied each piece together using pink organza ribbon and a thin silver Offray ribbon I had in my stash.

I have more of these triangles, so expect to see more for other "banner days" in the future.

A Cup of Cheer

MyGirl made these for New Years. She found the idea on Pinterest, including the directions, and with six pieces of copy paper and some glue dots, made this wonderful snowflake. 

 Here it is both at night and in the daytime in our kitchen. It just brings a happy feeling to our room with its large size and beauty. She loves Pinterest, as do I, but boy is it addicting. . . I have to limit myself to half hour time limits when I get on. . . . too easy to get lost in time there!

 I found these glasses many years ago at Ross on an after Christmas sale. A literal cup of cheer - perfect for welcoming in the New Year. At our house that meant sparkling cider or cranberry ginger ale. The only downside, these are hand-wash only, but since we don't use them that often, its okay.

 Then there are our favorite games:  Dalmuti and Farkle. Many a New Years Eve were spent playing Dalmuti with the Gillies. I still miss Amy every Dec. 31. Can't believe its already been 2 1/2 years since she's been gone. We had a good time playing with Mom and Dad this year.

Now that school is back in session, viola lessons and Scouts in full swing with LittleBuddy playing on a local YMCA basketball league too it feels like New Years and Christmas were a long time ago. Its been an exhausting 2013 but we're still going. MyMike gets back from Niagara Falls tomorrow. I've only seen him 24 hours in the last eleven days. Sure have missed him. May have to pull out the mugs to celebrate his return tomorrow.

What Colors are You?

http://www.voiceofcolor.com/digital_color/color_sense_game

I found a fascinating, at least to me, color site, which shows you what colors are YOU.
For us creative types, color is important and essential. Mine surprised me a little, but not really.
Its not the color that I decorate in, but its the color I WANT to decorate in next, so I know
it was accurate, and really representative of my creative feelings at this time. At the end
it also gave me about eight different palettes to use, and some of them really spoke to me.
Try it, and see what you think.

9 Patch

This is the latest quilt I've been working on. The fabric is Cuzco by Kate Spain for Moda. It was love at first sight. Its just a basic nine patch with the same white that matches the sashings being the center square. I had a jelly roll so there is lots of left overs. I may make a couple of these and give one away, but one I'm keeping. The colors just make me happy! They truly do!

Its been an extremely exhausting first week of the new year but its also been a time of progress, and I'm grateful for it. I'm grateful for the time I could spend with those I love, and the blessings I know the Lord is sending to me and my family.  How many times do you go to make an appointment with a doctor, who you're told is scheduling months in advance, and then suddenly, the secretary sees that someone just canceled, and you're in within a week? Not very often. That's a tender mercy and I'm grateful for it!

Today felt like such a gift. I didn't have to get in the car once. Even though there was scrubbing and hundreds of phone calls to make, I could do them all with my slippers on, and sip on hot cocoa.  Tomorrow, school starts, there are lots of appointments on the calendar and new goals to accomplish and I'll be plenty busy again. I'm just glad I have a little project like this calling my name when I have some more down time again. Creative projects are like a breath of fresh air in my Life, and so you know, I'm going to: Just keep breathing! 

The Year Ahead

I have already shown you January and December pages for the year ahead. Check back in November for their previews, if you want. I'm ready for 2013. I've got the latest quilt with a top almost finished. Can't wait to show you the fun colors it uses. But today's post is scrapbook pages for the coming year. This worked out SO WELL for me last year, only took me less than 15 minutes a month to scrapbook the whole month because all I had to do was print the photos, crop and glue them on, then write the journaling. My simplified approach works well for me and helped me get a lot more quilting done and get my son's mission album completed as well as make some good progress on LittleBuddy's album, as well as live real life . . . priorities. 

I also have to say, 2012 was a hard year in many ways for our family and I don't see 2013 changing a lot that way. However, what I've realized about scrapbooking as a hobby is that is forces you to look for the good, and to ask yourself, How do I want to remember this moment? There was a good article in Meridian, an online magazine, that spoke to my heart this week. We are all conductors - for good or for bad. We can add positive energy and warmth to a room or suck it dry and be cold-hearted and negative. I want to be positive. I do believe that life has wonderful moments mixed in the hard times and I'm grateful my scrapbooks help me see the whole picture of my life, for I'm not afraid to write the truth in my journaling but I also can choose to focus more on the positive. I want my posterity to know that in spite of the challenges we walked forward with faith and did our best to create a life of love and service and meaning.

Here is Feb. The font for each month is the Token alphabet from Close To My Heart. I like to pick a couple of things to be consistent with. This year I used neutral backgrounds and this font as my common elements. The hearts on the side are embossed in Chocolate ink then Tulip ink is sponged over the embossing. Easy but messy :-O 

Most all of the papers are no longer available for purchase. Again, my goal was to use up what I have, purchase nothing new to create this, and I met the goal. (LOL - I could do this for years to come. . . there's a lot in my stash!) However, if you use Studio J, all previous papers from earlier catalogs are still available which is nice if there's some papers you really loved and didn't get.

 March's pages use some of my favorite products. This was a former CTMH kit, so the pre-printed stickers were convenient and easy to use. Canvas buttons, which can be stamped on, were perfect for adding a shamrock or two.  I also like using pre-cut shaped pages. If you wanted to, you could also cut these out on the Cricut. And last, but not least, the FlipFlaps. These add more photos to your pages without taking up more space. I LOVE these, and did purchase more last year to use on my children's pages, as I have used up every one I've ever purchased.

April's pages I have mixed feelings about. The truth is, pastel pages are fun to make but don't generally work with the photos I take. So, there's a chance I may make a new page for April, like I did for last August, which was in an aqua and pastel yellow color scheme. I think, eventually I'll just have a baby album already to go with pastels, haha . . . .  However, there were some fun items I used here also. . . multiple ribbons added some great texture, the bottle caps and patterned brads as well as grid paper for either journaling or backgrounds for photos.

May's pattern is from the book, Make It From The Heart, that CTMH sells. I used several of the patterns for my 2013 year. Its so easy to just copy a layout design and choose your own papers without having to dream up the basic layout. Here I used stitching and some fun embellishments as well to coordinate with the Dotty For You paper pack which I love. Journaling will be on some vellum with lines on it I probably bought ten years ago and found in my drawer.

 June's is my favorite of all my pages. I used one of my Mom's Cricut cartridges to cut the sunshine. The cloud and flowers are from the Artiste cartridge. She let me borrow them when she was on her cruise and I just cut a bunch of random shapes and had fun using some of them here.The patterned paper is retired from MyMind's Eye. The colors here say "happy summer," to me!

 Knowing that Littlebuddy is going to Philmont this year in July prompted these woodsy pages. I know the month will find all of us hiking or biking and getting outdoors more, so I focused on that rather than the usual patriotic pages I make in July. Its fun to try and mix and shake things up a bit. These papers are from a CTMH paper pack. The Chocolate ric rac seemed to be a good fit here as well as the retro Chocolate rub-ons and hopefully this year we won't have the terrible fires and get to make s'mores in the back yard with our own chocolate again.

 In August, we're going to California for a family reunion. Its my parents' fiftieth anniversary and with all the cousins around we're sure to have a lot of laughs. We're planning on doing something Disney, so I've added embellishments representing that, and the beach will be part of the mix as well. Its also the month LittleBuddy will start high school. (Can I really be that old - he's my baby!) So, I needed something that would work well for his first day photos as well. Let's see if I can get him to laugh on that day?!  I tried to show that the journaling can be tucked behind the largest photo. I still like to make interactive pages.

September looks pretty blank, but my plan is to fill in the insides with photos, leaving just a small border of the background page around them. There's a spot for journaling and some patterned paper to use as an accent, but it'll be Fall in full bloom here and I wanted to capture that feeling with the colors I used and leaves I stamped and cut with the Cricut as well as the green frames cut apart to add interest.

October's pages again use a large Cricut cut shape. I like to mix papers from several kits and here are papers from three different ones. I found these patterned brads at the local Walmart a couple of years ago in their Clearance racks. Finally found the right place to use them. And there's just something about gingham ribbon that I love. It brings any page a bit of a homey accent which I like. I have lots of this green patterned paper. I've used it for my grandmother's life history book and you saw it last year in April's pages. Adding purple and orange and dark brown/black gave it a whole new feel, and used up a little more!

 November is the first page I started on when designing 2013's pages. I had this idea in my mind, to punch lots of holes in the side of some grid paper I had for the journaling. I also wanted to use different Cricut cut shapes for photos and accents. The scallop actually lifts up for more photos as well. This is also a color scheme I really like - Barn Red, Crystal Blue, Bamboo, Black, Honey, and Kraft/Desert Sand. It was fun to find a compass rub-on in my stash as well since I had some compass paper I wanted to use here also.

Feel free to copy any of the ideas you see here or adapt them to be your own. You know that's what I would do. Happy Scrapping Everyone! Keep it simple, keep it colorful and make good memories in this coming New Year!