Updates!!!

So I have not been updating this blog very regularly. I blame digi scrapbooking. I just love my new hobby. Anyway, I wanted to take a moment to update you all on our lives. 

We are doing pretty good. Brett is working his normal schedule again, but is starting from home. This is a great program. Starting from home means that he drives his van straight home after his last job and also that he mostly works in Renton. That doesn't mean too much to the rest of you, but for us it means that he is home usually 45 minutes earlier!!!!! Whoohoo! That is great. Sometimes he is even home before 6:30!! Amazing! When we first got married the average time he came home was 7:30. Of course as I am writing this tonight he is still not home and hasn't called to let me know he is on his way...this doesn't bode well for us. Oh well. Once in a blue moon is fine with me and he doesn't have to work again until Wednesday! 

I am staying pretty busy. School is going ok. I am trying to keep up with all the work that comes with being a teacher. Meetings, grading, planning, interventions, etc. All of it takes up SOOO much time! I do love it though. I have some really fantastic kids and supportive parents. Oh, I was able to resolve the whole issue with sending out my sub plans. P finally told me that I did a very professional job of handling it. A couple of parents complained to her about my bathroom policy, so I explained it in my update letter the next day. I have had no complaints since. Glad that is over! =) Now I check my emails BEFORE I send them out. Good lesson to learn from me....=) 

As if I am not busy enough, I decided to try my hand at coaching...gymnastics! I am super excited. I am not officially hired, but will be if we have enough girls show up. It is a HUGE time commitment (until 5 EVERY day after school + matches that go until 6PM some days) For someone who usually has to stay a couple of hours after school just to get her normal work done this is going to be an adjustment. We will see how it all works out. I think it will be fun because I will get to know the other coaches and my students better in a non academic setting. That will be nice. 

Our church calling of Activity Co-Chairs has been keeping us busy as well. More me than Brett though. Mostly because I worry more and am more aware of all the details involved in pulling off a ward activity. Sometimes I think Brett thinks that things just magically will get done...

So if anyone has read this far, I can use your opinion. Our ward is trying to do dinner groups. The idea is that all who are interested are put into small groups of 6-8 and meet one Friday a month for a potluck dinner. The groups switch every 3-4 months. This way the ward can get to know each other better in a small group setting. I think it sounds fun, but we are trying to implement them. Apparently the ward had REALLY successful ones about 10 years ago and have tried since then to start them up again and they haven't been successful. Any suggestions? I am thinking that our March activity will be a dinner group kickoff. The idea is that all the groups will still prepare whatever they normally would for a dinner group dinner and each group sits at a table together. The gym is just the location for the dinner. That way we can get them started and they can meet their group in a less formal/uncomfortable setting. What do you all think? I am really liking it at the moment....

My mom and I have been pretty busy clearance shopping as well. We LOVE Target's Christmas clearance. It is AMAZING!! I will eventually put together a LO with all this stuff, but we ended up with some pretty nice things. I bought new chair cushions, dishwashing detergent, candy, lindor chocolates, napkins, paper towels, accent rugs, bath towels, hand towels, paper plates, paper cups, a beautiful brown with gold trimming platter and matching bowl, gladware, ziploc bags, oreos, ritz crackers, goldfish, planters nuts, etc. all at 75% or 90% off (mostly 90!!!) We had a GOOD time. This took a lot of time to find it all. We had to go to many Targets. I even took a day off from school to go shop. It was a blast! I love the thrill of the hunt. That took up the first two weeks of January. Now Target is clearing out all kinds of kitchen stuff and toys. Fun stuff! Also, JC Pennys is having a sale this weekend on all clearance. It is buy one get one free. So mom and I went today to see what kind of stuff we could find. I bought Brett 7 new shirts and then some pants and shirts for me. I love spending money on cheap things!! 

The other thing that is keeping me busy is my scrapbooking. I am on two CTs at the moment. I am also a guest CT for Nicole for the month of February. I am so excited about that! I LOVE LOVE LOVE her kits, so it is so much fun to get them early and be able to play with them. I love the kit I have received and am pretty proud of the LO I created. I think it is just cute!!! I also applied for a CT position for Sara. And then, I participated in my first ever Speed Scrap. That was so much fun, but a little stressful!! I really was making one last adjustment at 9:13 when it was due at 9:15. I was praying my computer would save fast enough....

Here are my latest LOs including one for my new CT: Mandy of scraps with spunkitude. I will try to add her blog link under my CT list. I will also need to add Nicole! 

This kit is "Girly kit" from Mandy at Scraps with Spunkitude. Really liked the elements in this kit. The flowers and the little doodle thing are great. I am not really a pink person, but I like how this turned out. Click here to go download it. 

This LO I made using Shel's new kit called "For the Boys" that will be released tomorrow. Click here to go download it! I REALLy like this kit and I did not make a dent in all that is there. I just didn't want to clutter this LO up too much. I used a template from the template challenge at Nicole's forum. Mandak created the template. You can find it here. Isn't it a great template? Some people turned it. I think I will try that next...I am really proud that I figured out how to do my picture like this. I am still new ok?!? =)

This was one I did for my first speed scrap. Here were my instructions:

Step 1. Choose 1 picture… have it take up ¾ of the page. You can place it anywhere.

Step 2. Choose 4 papers… 1 worn or torn, 2 patterned and 1 notebook.

Step 3. Tear or cut a piece of paper into a strip of any size and shape.

Step 4. Hang something in your layout. It can be a tag, string, picture, etc.

Step 5. Use a glitter swirl somewhere in the layout.

Step 6. Use a minimum of 3 of the following in your layout: ribbon, hearts, staples, flowers and leaves. You can use all if you want.

Step 7. Add a line of journaling and date. Save your layout, upload it to the gallery and link it back here. You have one hour, plus 15 minutes grace to upload.
What do you think? I used a piece of the torn paper template from my first lesson of Now We're Rocking, Sophisticated Grunge by Amber, and the notebook paper from Nicole's Love Notes kit.

This QP was made by Jen of Graham Like the Cracker. You can find her blog here. She used a Lliella Designs kit called Spring Fling Bling. Very cute!! Thanks Jen! =) EDIT: I totally forgot to mention that the wordart is by Bethany. You can find her blog here

Whew! I think that is all! Have a good night! =)

New class, new LOs!!

I am so excited!!! Jessica's Now We're Rocking Class has begun!!!! Whoohoo! If you remember, I took a class awhile ago and now I am taking the second course. I was so excited to see this course pop up today. They give you a week to complete it and I completed it today. I just couldn't wait. Here is the LO I completed. I wasn't sure about using a wedding picture with the materials they provide, but I actually like it. Let me know what you think. 

I really love the torn paper effect. I think I am going to use this template for some more layouts. I can change it however I want. It is pretty versatile. 

"Hope"

Shel Belle Scraps has a new kit out today! It is called "Hope" and is a patriotic themed kit. It is great! I had a good time playing around with it. Here are the previews for the entire kit. 

Click here to go to her blog to download. Don't forget to tell her thanks! =)



Here is my LO done with the kit. I used a template by Moriginals, just turned.


So here is my third LO for Sara's CT call. I don't think she is going to pick me, but I sure had fun playing around! This was made with three different kits by Sara. The background is from Retro Funky Add-on, the elements and other papers are from her Sweet Dreams kit, and the alpha from her Happiness Kit. 2009 word art by Bethany. I hope i got that all!

a Sweet Blossom Designs LO

So I saw that Sara of Sweet Blossoms Designs is looking for a Creative Team (CT). I would love to be on her CT because she creates some really good kits. I have started a couple LOs using her stuff, but I can't get them to where I really like them. Well tonight I succeeded!! I am happy! In order to apply I need 3 LOs using her kits, so 1 down, 2 to go!! Even if I don't make her CT, I know I will be glad I did the 3 LOs just because it is forcing me to use some of the great kits I have downloaded over the last few months. 

This LO was done using a kit called Country Life. I don't know if it is still being offered for free at her blog, but you can find out here.  Hope you like it!

*So I worked tonight (Monday) on another LO from Sweet Blossom Designs. This kit is called Love Me Forever. I re-colored some pieces of this for my purposes. It is a great kit! I think you might still be able to download it from her blog. You should go check it out. Here is my 2nd LO using her kits. 

Creative Team

I am pleased to announced that I made a creative team! I am so excited to share with you the designs of Shel Belle Scraps every week! I have her blinky off to the right to direct you to her blog. 

This week is a versatile kit called Tropical Punch. I loved working with all the papers and the fun elements. I liked the palm tree, can you tell? This kit will be released this week. Today you can download the papers, tomorrow the first part of the elements, Tuesday the second part of the elements, Wednesday the alpha, and then Thursday any add-ons done by members of her CT. Her kits are FREE right now, so go and download!! Don't forget to leave her some love so that she continues to make great stuff for us! =)

Here is the preview of the entire kit called Tropical Punch. Click here to go to her blog and download!

Here is my LO done with her kit and her date stamps, a freebie download.

Stupid, Stupid, Stupid!!

Sometimes I get so frustrated with myself! I cannot believe what I did this afternoon. 

Every week a couple teachers send out an update letter to our parents with me. I am in charge of it and this afternoon I was trying to get out in a hurry. That means of course that I made a stupid mistake. Instead of pasting the update letter in the email, I sent my sub plans to ALL my parents! How dumb! Luckily, I don't mention any students in a negative way, but I don't think my principal is happy with me at the moment. She said that she didn't like some of the comments I made. I think she might be referring to my bathroom pass policy in my 6th period. I gave them one pass to use until Jan 23rd. If they don't have the pass they can't go to the bathroom. They were taking advantage of the fact that I would let them go whenever they needed to. 

I hate the feeling when you know you did something stupid, everyone knows it, and then you have to face the wrath. Goodness, I don't know what my principal is going to say to me...and I really don't want to. Well, maybe I do, but just to get it over with!

Edit: In thinking some more about this, I just want to mention something....The first thing P said to me in response to this email was "Did you mean to send this out to parents?" and I am thinking, "What kind of question is that?!?" OF COURSE I did not mean to send it out to them. DUH! I just do not like her. Oh well, so far the parents have been incredibly supportive. I think that I have a good enough rapport with them by now that they will just think it is funny.

Another Edit: I sent out an apology email to the parents. Brett told me I should have said "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!" hehe. Too bad he didn't think of that earlier!