Scrappy Inspiration

I love, love, love organization and looking at magazines - but I hate the thought of reading them and doing nothing with the fun things I find. SO, I have a few notebooks of things that I save from from magazines. I take out the articles/ideas/recipes/exercises that I like and put them in a notebook (cut out nicely and mounted on card stock in page protectors of coarse). I have a notebook for recipes, one for all "health" things, and one for scrapbooking "inspiration".

My "Inspiration" Book

I use it to get general ideas for pages that I'm working on.

For instance.....

I saw this page......

and ended up with this......

for the bouquet toss at our wedding.

I liked the way they used the circles on this page...

so I used the idea myself to make this page.....

as a part of this 2-page spread in my Summer Project Album.

I liked the simplicity of this layout & the way she rounded the edges

& used card stock to extend the photos ....

So I did the same thing on this page & added circles ...

I really love the way she used ribbons to border the pictures on the page....

So I used the same general idea to start this page

that I clearly haven't finished yet....

for the introduction of the wedding party at our reception.

(As you can tell, I take FOREVVVVEERRR to finish a book.

I'm not a third of the way done with our wedding album and we're going on 3 years now)

Scrapbooks, etc. has lots of "etc." ideas that I love for different crafts that use paper, as well as ideas for mini-albums and greeting cards that I keep in my idea book too.

These are some of my favorites... Christmas tags, an earring holder frame, card kits, orbs...

.... and I LOVE the little canvas with the bird and flowers and the alphabet canvas.

Scrapbooks, etc. comes with templates for a lot of their layouts that are helpful as well.

So that's my scrapbooking inspiration book.

I hope you can take some joy in my world of organization.

Sometime I'll show you my office / scrapbooking closet and "health" magazine notebook. It has lots of dividers :)

I would love to order my entire world this way...

but I think I'd drive everyone around me crazy and end up going nuts myself.

A side note.... this is what I'm enjoying tonight....

My sweet puppy LOVES the fire.

Joyfully inspired & scrapping,

Michaels!

I had to run out to get a printer cartridge today at Staples.... which happens to be across the street from Michaels..... and I just happened to have a coupon for 20% off my entire purchase at Michaels from this month's Scrapbooks Etc. magazine .... AND there are a few little projects I've been wanting to do AND I needed some new paper for my wedding scrapbook.... SO I couldn't help but make a little pit stop..... that turned into a large shopping trip. I think I looked at and found something I "needed" in every section of the store. I had the coupon SO it only made sense that I stock up on some things.... right? Right!

Here are the goods:

Some highlights-

Chipboard albums (bottom left) for $1!!!! (Jamie, I know you appreciate this!)

Some of the scrapbooking paper was $0.25 a sheet.... which I really do need more paper for my wedding scrapbook.

Chipboard Letter STICKERS!

A new seam ripper (for my "not so perfect" sewing endeavors that I intend to take on)

AND quite possibly the highlight of my day.......

if you look closely at the bottom, right of the picture..... that is most definitely a "Samantha" sticker..... American Girl has a whole scrapbooking section at Michaels. AMAZING! I wanted to buy it all.... but exerted self-control. I actually have one of Samantha's dresses for myself. My mom had professional pictures made of me in 4th grade with my Samantha doll in our matching dresses :) I'll try to dig one of those pictures up someday to share with you.

I intend to try to do one of these projects this weekend before we leave the country next week and I'll definitely share it with you when I do!

Joyfully Crafting,

One-Yard Wonders

Jamie gave me this book for Christmas this year. Actually, she gave me this book, her boyfriend's mom also gave her this book, she gave her boyfriend's mom a book on cupcakes, that I also gave her. Great minds think alike and we all scored fun, creative books :)

I love sewing; well I love the IDEA of sewing. My Granny gave me a new sewing machine for Christmas when I was 10 or 11. Back then, I thought I had the ability to sew just about anything, so just that I did. We made jumpers, shorts, doll dresses, bags, all sorts of fun things. Well 15 years later, I'm such a perfectionist, that I am scared to try to do anything for fear of screwing it up. I made drawstring bags all the time in high school, but that was about it. Throughout college, I just used it to embellish my scrapbook pages by sewing on them. Clearly, I'm a little rusty when it comes to sewing. When one of my Vandy girls stayed with me this summer (who happens to be a phenomenal seamstress- look for a post soon about her soon) I took advantage of having her with me, and re-kindled my desire to sew more than draw-string backpacks. We made a skirt and a "nursing hood", which turned out really well and I am very proud of by the way! I am still very reluctant to try anything new on my own- SO this book is a perfect place to start! Lots of simple things that don't seem so daunting AND if I screw up, I've only wasted a yard of fabric.

Here are some of the things I really want to try.....

This doesn't require any sewing, but I think it's super cute

and want to do it to our book case in our office.

I think this laptop case is so cute.

I think I'll try it first not quilted or appliqued,

then take a stab at it.

This hot & cold pack looks fun and easy

If you've ever been in my car, you know that I could really use this guy....

Whenever I do try to use a trash bag, I never know where to put it. It always gets in the way sitting on the floor so I figure you might as well just go ahead and throw the trash in the floor.

I like this idea... maybe it will help me change my ways!

This is really funny concept to me-

They are called "spats". If you've ever been to East Asia, you've definitely seen the things that the women wear over their arms to...... I'm not really sure why actually. I guess to keep their sleeves clean. This reminds me of those things. Maybe I'll move over there and rack up some extra cash selling some stylish ones that aren't hello kitty and mickey mouse print.

I really love these purses....

This is the "Folklore Bag"

This is the "Flouncy Bag"

I've been hanging onto some fabric with the intention of making a purse like one of these.

This is really fun and so cute! You could really do a lot of things with the pattern besides just a doll house. It would be a great thing to make and sell on Etsy.

These are just a few of my favorite things from the book. There are so many more fun, easy things to try. Hopefully I'll get over my fear of trying new things and make something. Maybe posting this will give me some accountability to try something new. If I haven't posted anything in the near-ish future, you have permission to call me out.

Joyfully,

Your paralyzed by perfection friend 

Reminiscing

Few things bring me joy like Kentucky basketball. After living through this "not so hot" era of what should be phenomenal basketball since after my freshman year at UK, this season has been INCREDIBLE.

Jamie and me in the Eruption zone at a game our Freshman or sophomore year.... going by how young we look / J's necklace, I'm going to go with Freshman :)

I've been anxiously awaiting the start of the Kentucky, Tennessee basketball game all day today. I even proudly wore my "Beat the Vols" t-shirt to mom's little East TN gym to run this morning. With 30 minutes until tip off, I can hardly contain my excitement! In fact my stomach is full of butterflies. I've been looking forward to this game all season. This morning while watching College Game Day from Rupp Arena (which was OUT OF CONTROL by the way), I became VERY nostalgic just like I do every time we play at home as I mourn the loss of $5 student tickets 3 years ago.

Our last home game our Senior Year

This morning, I was feeling even extra nostalgic and thought back to my days at Kentucky, rarely missing a home basketball game. I'm still going through withdrawal 3 years later.

But I thought about how fun it would be to go back to my freshman year, when sitting in the Eruption Zone was still the fun thing to do / we had much better luck at lotteries, when we'd stand in line in the FREEZING cold for hours to sit as close to the front row as we could (this is until my friend Brooke became buds with the old man who had been working there for YEARS who started saving us seats).

Brooke and me at a game my freshman year

Waiting in line outside Rupp arena with 3 of my best friends from college: Jamie, Brooke & Katie

So as I sit here anxiously awaiting this game, preparing myself to feel even nostalgic, followed by lots of screaming and intense emotions as there is NOTHING I love more than beating Tennessee (except beating Louisville of course) ......... I can only hope that the scoreboard looks just like this when we played UT at home 6 years ago:

So here's to wishing that this was my view of the game today, but instead of Chuck standing on the free throw line it's John Wall.

Oh well. Watching from my mom's living room will have to do. Did I mention that my mom LOVES UT basketball as much as I hate it? This could get really ugly!

Did I mention how horrible that nasty orange looks in a sea of Kentucky blue!?

JOYFULLY cheering the wildcats to victory,

'Just Add Ice' Orchids

I have a love/hate relationship with orchids. Lets back up. You must first know that I have a BROWN thumb. I have tried SO hard to keep plants of many different kinds alive for quite a while now, to very little avail. I can't even keep these 2 little shrubbery tree things in pots outside of my front door alive! How hard can it be!? So orchids. Sometime last year after walking by dozens of orchids every time I walked into Kroger, I caved and bought one. How hard could it be to keep this one plant, with one stem and like 4 flowers on it alive? Very.

I think I kept that one alive for a month. Don't worry; I tried my hardest to keep it alive. As one poor little bloom hung onto the stem, I diligently tried to keep that little guy attached in hopes that the tiny buds further down would soon sprout. Nope. Everything died. But a friend told me that if you give it one really good watering and leave it alone, more buds will bloom. Nope. Nothing.

SO I tried again, but this time I was going to do some serious research to figure out how to keep it alive..... via google. Well I got more conflicting information than I bargained for, but I gave it my best. Died. Again. This time I did leave the country for a significant amount of time, so maybe I had an excuse. Maybe. I decided I was done. At $20+ a piece, this could have turned out to be an expensive ongoing failure. If I was getting another orchid, it was going to be made of silk.

I really, really love orchids; I think they are so pretty and so unique. So I bitterly keep walking past them every time I walk into Kroger, muttering something about "stupid high maintenance flowers" under my breath.

WELL last week, I walked into Kroger and saw the bright neon sign that said, "PREMIUM ORCHIDS $9.99!" Half price. That was enough for me. I picked one with 2 stems and light pink flowers.... a little different from the last 2. As I continued my shopping, I began plotting my strategy for keeping this one alive.

I got home and looked closer at the tag around the stem..... "Just Add Ice" ....hmmm.... I continued reading.....

"1. Place your orchid in a well lit area with in-direct sunlight.

2. Once a week, place 3 ice cubes in the pot.

3. Enjoy your orchid."

You must be kidding me! Could it REALLY be that easy!? We'll see! It makes sense to me from things I've read- about the "pace" with which to water them, to let the water "soak through".... whatever that means. I could never figure out the right water temperature and exactly how much water to use. Apparently COLD and the amount of 3 ice cubs suffices for a little pot.

So 11 days later, it is going strong on my kitchen table! If you see me on Mondays, make sure I've "iced" my orchid. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this is the trick. SO my new question is... Are these special orchids that you take care of this way? OR Is this the secret we've all been missing all along? Surely it can't be that easy. I'm assuming there's some kind of rule of thumb for how much to use according to the size of the pot.... clearly you shouldn't rely on me for any advice in this department. Go google it :) I'll let you know how mine holds up!

So go out and find a "Just Add Ice Orchid" and add a little joy to your day! They have gone back up to $20 at Kroger, but I'm sure you can find a cheaper one if you look around.

Joyfully,

Your brown-thumbed friend 

The Joys of Life with Lucy

I am obsessed with blogs.

My friend Julianna introduced me to "google reader" after she left to go live in Central Asia last year and I started following her blog. (If you don't use google reader, you must. It's fantastic.) She created a monster. I LOVE logging in a seeing all of the pictures and stories of the lives of everyone from people whom I love dearly to people I've never met before, but aspire to be as creative as they are like this creative lady. I love seeing pictures of my friend's growing children like cute Grady Warren or their growing baby bumps as they await the arrival of little ones like my beautiful friend Bethany; of their creativity in sewing, scrapbooking, crafting and decorating like my friend Brooke. I love reading about the funny things that their children say or their humorous, satirical perspectives on life like my hysterical cousin Lori. Sometime I even go searching on facebook for people who have links to their blogs on their profiles. I can't get enough.

I haven't started a blog myself because I didn't think my life was interesting enough to follow. It's kindof like my recent discovery of Twitter. I vowed for the longest time that I wasn't going to "Tweet". Then I discovered that I could follow the lives of my beloved dancers from "So You Think You Can Dance" and my heroes from "The Biggest Loser" after the shows were over, and that too opened up a can of worms. I have still vowed that I'm not going to follow anyone or anything that would be considered "celebrity drama" and that I wasn't going to tweet myself. Again, who wants to know what I'm doing every 30 minutes throughout the day? I have to say that celebrities feel a whole lot more "normal" when you follow them on Twitter, and I have done a pretty good job of avoiding anything "celebrity gossip" wise. So I have no regrets thus far from "tweeting". Enough about Twitter; you get the picture: my life = not interesting enough for people to "follow" whether on Twitter or a blog. I have said that I'll start blogging when I have kids or when we move to the other side of the world someday.

That all changed this morning, as I was looking at my friend Holly's blog (she is quite the decorator and crafter). Enter into my thought process- I thought to myself, "I would love to put pictures of the scrapbook pages I make on a blog," but then decided that blogging about my scrapbooking would leave posts few and far between. Then I thought, "I don't have to just blog about one thing.... and maybe my life isn't interesting enough by itself to blog about, but I have a lot of friends whose lives are and who are really creative..... and there are other things in my life that might be interesting to follow.... like different projects I take on, or fun things from fun places that I get to go, or books, music, and podcasts that I've found that I really like..... I'm going to start a blog!"

So why "The Joys of Life with Lucy" you ask? If you know me well at all, you know that I am madly in love with a brownish, orangish four legged, "I look like I have the potential to be a vicious attack dog, but instead I'm scared of everything and have the temperament of a sedated cat" mutt named Lucy. I never though a dog could bring as much joy to my life as she does. She has the funniest personality of any animal I've ever met, and anyone who spends any time at our house with her leaves loving her too. So maybe "The Joys of Life with Lucy" describes my life well. Don't worry.... this isn't a blog about my dog. She is just my inspiration :)

Here she is.....

I'm not one of those people who dresses their dog up, but Lucy loves squirrels so much that I couldn't resist buying this costume at Target this past Halloween. Every time someone came over, I made sure she modeled it for them. Adam hated it :)

She was awake... with her squirrel on her face.... and stayed that way for at least an hour....

Here she is sitting on my friend Emma.... like it's no big deal...

So there's Lucy. If you haven't met her yet, you should.

I look forward to letting you into the joys in my life.... whether that be something crafty I've created, something fun about a friend, something interesting I've come across, or something from a fun place I've been. You never know - I might just blog about you and your interesting life, so keep following!

Have a joy-filled day!

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