Mom is doing Great and I've Been Scrapbooking!

Hello everybody!

I've noticed a few extra (hundred) hits on the blog lately and I am sure that it is because of our announcement regarding the closing of the WBW that we published to our mailing list! If you are joining me on my blog from the link that we sent you, then Welcome!! I am glad to have you here and hope that you will continue to stay in touch with me!

It has been a busy last half of the week for me since my mom had her shoulder surgery! She was so funny because she thought that she would bounce right back and be just fine, but little did she know it would eventually (when her pain block wore off) be quite uncomfortable and even difficult to do some of the things we ordinarily do without even thinking about it! It has been such a treat to spend some additional time with her! I love her so much and really appreciate any time I get to be with her! If I haven't said it before, my mom is the best mom in the whole wide world. She is the best patient in the world, but a little stubborn when it comes to letting me help her do things! I love you Mom!!

This is a picture of me, my daughter Tiffany and my mom from Christmas this past year!

Today has been a fun day for me! Other than the fact that it started with a 7am C-section and it rained all day, it still had some special parts to it!



For starters, Tom and I went wedding ring shopping and I think that we have come very close to finding the rings that we want to give to each other at our wedding! I had to turn my engagement ring in to the jewelers to have it reset into a Tiffany setting so that it would fit into the type of guard wedding band style that I liked. I have to go one week without my ring and my hand feels so naked!! I love the ring that we might get for Tom, but he still wants to do a little looking around and make sure that we are getting the right price!



And then the other part of the day that is so cool is that I am having a slumber party with Tiffani and her boys!! And then tomorrow we are going to go to an all day crop with some of our friends in the area! We have spent the evening preparing pages (and Jello-shots!) for the crop! We are so excited and motivated to be scrapbooking again! We feel like we have lost our confidence in scrapping a little and we are looking forward to seeing if we can find our scrapbooking mojo again!



I'll give you a hint and show you the sketch that I am using to complete a layout with the photos that were taken of Tiffany (my daughter) at the Thresher's game where she threw the first pitch as Wendy!


This sketch came from an online source and was made by Mona! I definitely altered the sketch to turn it into a double page spread that is 12 x 24. I will show you the finished product after I get it done on Sunday!

I hope that you are having a great weekend and I will try to check in again tomorrow! Oh and by the way... I am still dieting and losing weight! Not as fast as I would like, but at least I keep going down and not up!

Kelly :-)

Sometimes We Have to Let Go of Things We Love!

Many of you likely know already that Tiffani and I finalized our decision yesterday to stop designing new files for the Wishblading Well and to eventually close the store! While in some ways it was a very hard decision, in others it was easy!

The Wishblading Well has been our baby! It was born when we had the first thought about trying to sell our files to others and it grew to be a website rich in theme and product that we were very proud of. It has truly been a passion for us over the last nearly two years.

Most everyday for over a year and half has started with my first morning cup of coffee enjoyed while reading and responding to emails from the site. My to-do list (virtual, not for real like Tiffani makes) always had "designing files" or "converting files" on it...day after day!! It came to be that we felt like we were failing you all by not designing files and converting files fast enough to keep up with the demands and requests! Because we are such perfectionists at what we do, we didn't see that it was possible to continue on without doing the best job we knew we could. So the decision was made to relieve ourselves of the pressures and admit that we just don't have the time that it takes to continue to do the Wishblading Well at the level we feel it deserves.

Are we going to miss it? Of course we are in some ways! We can't even tell you how many wonderful people we have met during this process! I thank God for new friends and acquaintances that I have found through the Wishblading Well and through the Cutting Community! I do not want to lose touch with any of you and hope that you will stay involved with me and my life as your time allows through my blog and through email! Even Tiffani has promised that she will pop in now and then and leave a note for you guys on my blog!

So what am I going to do now? Well, I am going to keep up with my blog because I started this for a more personal reason to keep me accountable to my own goals and to maintain connections with my friends, loved ones and family members. So, I will definitely keep blogging!

I am going to spend a lot more time actually scrapbooking! It is really funny if not sad, that the reason we got into cutting files and the Wishblading Well was because of scrapbooking, however, since starting the WBW, our time to scrapbook for our own personal use has practically disappeared! That is going to change immediately! I have plans to scrap with some friends this weekend and I am really looking forward to it!

I am going to enjoy my time with my family more! The days of me sitting in front of my computer while they are out watching TV without me will be few and far between! We live in beautiful sunny Florida and I want to spend more of my time out enjoying this beautiful area instead of spending it mostly in front of my computer!

I am going to be planning my wedding!! I am blessed with having found my soul mate and we have finally chosen a date of November 15th to get married! I can't wait to spend some time getting all of that organized and planned! We are having a beautiful beach wedding at sunset and then VEGAS here we come!! Look forward to many more posts on this topic!!

I also want to spend more time doing gardening and kayaking and other hobbies that I also love. And I want to find more time to spend with my local friends. It will be nice to have more time for Tiffani and I to get together for more girl time including shopping, movies, lunches and etc! (Think Sex and the City! LOL!)

If you remember when I first started this blog, my goals included finding moderation in the things that I do! Well with this new decision, I hope to continue to work towards that goal and actually find the time to do all the things in my life that are so important to me!

We can't tell you how appreciative we are of the wonderful notes and words of encouragement and even sorrow that many of you have left for us in our email! It is people like you that we will miss servicing! But please don't go far! Come back here and visit!

You can sign up to receive my posts via email on the left side of this blog! I promise there will be some content that interests you if not some occasional free files! I am not leaving the cutting community, just changing avenues a bit!

Thanks for understanding this hard decision we made and I hope you have a great day!

I am taking my mom to surgery later this morning so she can have some shoulder spurs removed. Please say a prayer for her!

Talk to you soon!

Kelly :-)

My System of Stamp Organization!

Hello there! I disappeared again!! It is so easy for time to slip away and not find time to add some blogging to my daily routine. I will keep trying for daily posts, but it may be hit or miss sometimes when this busy life gets in the way!

It is a beautiful Saturday morning here in Florida and I hope to get to spend some time outside this weekend and maybe even catch some rays! If you saw my skin you would think I still lived in Michigan... I am so white!! LOL!

Tom and I had a really nice time at Chad and Tiffani's house last night! They made us a wonderful dinner of steamed shrimp and crab stuffed Tilapia. Yummy! And it was even on my diet too! Unfortunately the evening got interrupted with a call for me to go in to work, but any time we get to spend with them is worth it!

It is nice to hang out with Tiffani, not only because she is my best friend, but also because she is dieting with me and we try to be good to keep each other on our diets and not tempt each other. We both are doing pretty well, I have now lost a total of 7.5 pounds since I started. My goal is to lose 11 more before the 4th of July! I think I can, I think I can... I know I can!! I have been a little stronger this week and not had as many urges to really cheat like I did last week!

Tonight I get to hang out with my sister Michelle, and her new boyfriend Claude. We are hopefully going to go the restaurant that Tom thinks we should have our reception in! I am excited about that! Then we are going to listen to my mom and the band that she plays Folk music with at a local hang out. It should be a great night!

Tomorrow is Father's Day and unfortunately I won't get to see my dad because he is still in some pain from a bulging disk in his back! He got his cortisone shot this week, but it still looks like surgery might have to be in his future! :-( I hope he gets his card in the mail by today!

So I promised you a look at how I have chosen to organize my stamps! It isn't anything fancy, just what works for me! Many of you may even think that it is a silly way to do it, but I believe that the important thing about organizing your things is so that it makes the most sense for you and lets you work efficiently.

I started collecting SU stamps probably about 4-6 months ago and admit that I went a little crazy on EBay! I am a little obsessive that way, but had just fallen in love with all the beautiful stamped cards I was seeing on my favorite blogs and I wanted to make sure that I could have a variety of stamps to be able to choose from for my creations too!

So as all these stamps started flooding in, along with my monthly orders from Monica, I knew I had to come up with a system of organization! With all my other scrapbooking supplies, I organize by color, but obviously this wasn't possible with stamps!

So here is how I store mine! This is a picture of all my wood mounted stamps (on the top) and the CD cases below hold all of my unmounted stamps and clear acrylic stamps. They are all organized by theme!

Here is a closeup of one of the shelves.

I decided that made the most sense to me, because let's say I wanted to make a birthday card for someone, instead of looking through all of my cases of stamps, I just have to locate the ones titled Birthday and search through them! Here is a closeup of how I label my bins! (Sorry it is blurry!)

Many of the stamp sets from SU! come in collections that have varied themes in them. For example, my recently purchased Artfully Asian collection has three flower or plant images and two sentiments: "Thank you", and the phrase "Each day provides its own gift". So when I first get my stamps, I take a picture of the labels before I put them on the stamp blocks (or I stamp each of the sets images onto a piece of paper) and store it in a binder so that I can have a master list of all my stamps and know which stamps are together in a set.

Then I separate them into the categories I believe they fit in. In this case, the three flower and plant images go into my Flowers bin, the Thank you stamp goes into my Thank You bin, and the other sentiment I have placed in my Encouragement bin. I know that some of you are probably gasping at the fact that I separate my sets from each other and not use the cute little container that SU sent with them. But for me this works! I do save all my SU clear boxes in case I would change my organize style in the future or want to sell the set!

My binder is still a work in progress. I have all my stamp sets either stamped or copied onto a piece of paper, but I haven't organized the binder yet. Eventually I will have all of the papers organized into themes also. I will copy any pages that fit into multiple categories and place a copy into each category the stamp set fits into. On the bottom of each page I have stated who the stamps are from, the name of the set and how many pieces are in the collection and then also which bin it is categorized into.

So now, when I want to make a Thank You card, I can pull out my binder and scan through all of my collections that have the Thank you theme. Each set will say which bin it is contained in if there are more than one of those bins. Currently I am on my third bin of Flower stamps. So I would mark on a certain stamp set page Flower 1, Flower 2 or Flower 3 to help me find it faster. It is so much easier to peruse pages to find what I want then to look into each bin that is in a stack of six tall on my shelves!

My next phase of organization will be to take a full bin of a certain theme and stamp each image onto a sheet of paper that will be kept in the bottom of the bin so that I will always know how the stamps fit into the bin. That is going to be a big job, but that will be necessary! Once I figure out the best way to fit all the stamps into each bin, I want to make sure that they continue to fit well. It is kind of like putting a puzzle together and I like doing that part actually!

In a similar fashion, I do my unmounted and acrylic stamps the same way except instead of keeping them in bins, they are in CD cases!

This shows a closeup of the CD case labels...






In case you are wondering, the cases I use for my stamps are purchased from JoAnn's and they are made by Darice. They are a hard plastic case that is clear and doesn't have any dividers in it. I love the way they look on my shelf, but I have been disappointed in the way that many of the hinges in the back have broken off with little or no stress placed on the joints! They still stay closed and stack just fine so I am keeping them, but I probably wouldn't recommend these bins if that would bother you. My friend Jenn uses a similar bin that is made from more durable plastic, is less see-through and is slightly more expensive. I lost the link to JoAnn's where it is from. If you want it let me know and I will see if she can give it to me again! I paid between $4.99 and $5.99 per bin at JoAnn's initially. Then I found them online for only $3.99. However, I can't share that link with you because they have discontinued that item. (Probably because they keep breaking LOL!)




So anyway, now you have gotten a little taste as to how my mind of organization works! It may not be the best system, but it works for me and I love the way that they look on display on my shelves. Oh and by the way, the shelving unit is from IKEA! I love IKEA!!



Enjoy your weekend and if you have a daddy around, whether it be your own, your children's or a special friend, be sure to send him some love tomorrow!


TTFN!
Kelly :-)

Stampin Up Delivery Day!! Woohoo!!

Today was a great day! I was able to pick up my SU! order from Monica! (Thanks for risking being late for work Monica!) She is my local rep for SU! (we use the term local lightly because we meet in the middle somewhere because I am about an hour from her house, or Tiffani will meet her if I can't.) I belong to her monthly stamp club. I have been building on my stamp pads and papers and have been collecting stamps too! I really like SU! stamps a lot. Their taste matches mine and there aren't many of their collections that I don't like!




So anyway, I got one new stamp set (Artfully Asian), a set of paper and a set of stamps from the Bold Brights collection, a roller handle and I also got the word window punch that was on back order. I feel like I hit the jackpot and can't wait to dig in to my new things! You should expect to see some cards with word window used, because I think that is really neat!


I still need to get my stamp set put in bins, but I did get the rubber cut and the labels placed already on the wood blocks. One other thing I do is catalog all my stamps into a folder, so I copy the labels before I remove them from the sticker sheet (great idea from Tiffani) and then I keep them in a 3 ring binder. I would like to share with you how I organize my stamps, in case it might be any help to you. But I think I will do that tomorrow since it is getting late already here and I am tired!


Another reason today was great was because I was on second call which decreases the risk of me being called in greatly. However, I still have all the distance and time limitations applied, but I can stretch it just a bit and not worry too much! So after I picked up my stamps, I met with Tiffani and we had lunch! We are both dieting and went to Chili's. We got the nutritional menu to see how many calories were in their meals. We were quite amazed at how many calories are in some of the entrees we would have eaten in the recent past! It is no wonder we had gained a few! LOL!


Speaking of gaining, I didn't!! I actually lost half a pound! I wish it were more though and need to keep working really hard on it. I have definitely had a few weak moments and even "cheated" a tad, but overall I am still staying on my diet! Now on a bad note, I did not make it to the gym this morning! When I woke up (or even turned over in the middle of the night) I could feel every muscle in my body! So I decided to skip today and go in the morning on Thursday instead. I really appreciated it when Monica asked me today if I made it to the gym, cause that is exactly the type of accountability I was hoping my blogging would get me. Somehow when I explained my reason for not going to Monica, it didn't seem as valid as it did this morning! (Oops!) So thanks for having my back Monica and checking up on me! XOXO



Another great thing about today was that it is "So You Think You Can Dance Night" (SYTYCD). I watched it as I made my dad's Father's Day card. I can't get over how great the dancers are this season. It was hard to pick my least favorite, but I think if I had to choose the partners that I would place on the bottom, it would have to be the first couple who did the Hip Hop and the last couple who did the Disco. We will see what America thinks tomorrow! Do you have a favorite yet? Please share if you do!


Report cards came in today for both of my kids and I have to say I was pretty happy! Ricky, my baby who will be starting HS next year got all A's, B's and C's, but had a couple too many C's for my liking. Tiffany though on the other hand has straight A's!! I think this is a first for her!! She was very proud of herself and I am too! Ricky did redeem himself by scoring much higher than the average child at his age and grade on the FCAT. He has always struggled with applying himself on homework, which is why his grades suffer, but he is actually quite intelligent! I hope he will try harder in HS!


My good friend Melissa from work (who is the only other person there that likes to scrapbook too) made a card from the tutorial I posted a couple of days ago. I got her permission to share her card with all of you! I LOVE what she did with hers. The stamping is awesome and her colors are great too! I am so happy that she shared it with us! Thanks Melissa!! XOXO









Finally I wanted to share two of the Father's Day cards that I have made. I still have to make one more! (You know broken families and all!) I need to get them both in the mail tomorrow and I hope that it isn't too late already. One is in this county and should make it by Saturday, and the other one has to get across the state! I better cross my fingers that they make it!


This is the card I made for Tom's step dad who in many ways is more like his real dad! He raised him for much of his childhood and young adult life. Tom has so much admiration and respect for this man. He is an avid golfer and so I guess you will understand the theme of his card!

And this is the card that I made for my dad. I am really lacking in masculine stamps in my collection, so it was quite the challenge to find something that worked with a sweet sentiment appropriate for him.

The outside sentiment says "A Daughter's Love Lasts for all Seasons." Then on the inside it says "Happy Father's Day! I love you today and everyday of the year!" Usually my cards to him are all these long drawn out sentiments that are supposed to elicit crying from all who read it and because he kept making such a fuss about my mushy cards every year, for the last couple of years I have kept them short and sweet! I think he misses my mushy ones!! LOL!



The stamp set I used is the SU set called "A tree for all seasons" and I colored it with my copics and hit some accents with my souffle pens. I used the computer to print my sentiment. The DP is from the Basic Grey collection called Archaic.


Hope you enjoy the cards and have a great night! Tomorrow we will talk about stamp organization!


Good night!


Kelly :-)

I finally made it to the Gym! More Cards to Share.

First and foremost I want to start by thanking all of my faithful blog followers. Your comments mean so much to me and I apologize for not responding to them, but I hadn't figured that out yet. I think I have it figured out now and will try and be better at responding to your comments. :-)


Also, I have added a link to my sidebar where you can sign up to receive my blog posts to your email. If you prefer to read my blog that way, just click on the link and register your email address.


I am celebrating today!! Despite getting called by phone at 2:30 am and then getting called in to work at 3:00 am, I still ended up meeting my mom for aerobics this morning at 7:30 am. I was very proud of myself for going even though I was very tired and could have justified sleeping in. I knew that if I didn't go to the gym one of these days I was going to fight ever going! So today was the day and I really had a good workout! We will see how I feel over the next couple of days! LOL!

OK... so I promised you some pictures of some of my recent cards! The ones I am going to showcase today are all ones that I have used my Copic ( pronounced with a hard c and a long o)markers to color stamped images with. I love my Copics and can't wait to get more of them! Thanks Shelley!!! I am so happy to have been introduced to these wonderful tools to compliment my stamping so well.


If you don't know what Copic markers are, you can visit this website and learn about them. And here is an awesome blog site that gives great lessons on copic markers! They are a little expensive, but I have signed up for a monthly purchase plan through Gina K Designs and spend $25 dollars a month and get six markers shipped directly to me. She makes it so that when this plan expires, I will have purchased one full collection of Copics. I can't wait to get more of the colors so I can color any of the stamps that I have.


So here is a sampling of some recent cards I have made!


To create this card I used a combination of my pink and green copics. The stamped image in the center is and image from the Merci SU set. The rest of the flowers are from the Friends are Like Flowers SU set. The sentiment stamp is from Stamps N More and I got it from this year's Stampfest in Clearwater!

I just had to have this pick up truck from Stampin Up! The set is called Loads of Love and I have loads of fun dreaming up ways to use it! :-) It is so cute and I bought the accessories to go with it too. This image with the "thought you could use a little pickup" phrase is perfect for a masculine encouragement card. I have already sent one of these to last month's Share A Card feature. This was probably my first attempt at really trying to master the shading techniques with the Copic Markers. I still have a lot to learn, but it is really fun and relaxing to color stamped images! I used both nesting squares and nesting Rectangles from WBW in the design of this card!

Here is a closeup view...

See how I tried to make the window look like glass with a light blue copic?

This card is one of my all-time favorites and might have been one of my very first attempts at coloring in a stamped image with my copics. I didn't even know how to blend yet! But I still liked it because of the colors. This was a birthday card I gave to my niece Cassidy. I fell in love with this adorable stamp set from CC Designs called "It's My Birthday!"

This card also uses three of the nesting oval plates from the Lil Bucket of Nesting Ovals and three nesting squares from the Lil Bucket of Nesting Squares at the WBW. I had not quite learned the art of shading yet, but I gave it my best attempt! :-)

This is a closeup shot of the above card...

Not very perfect if you look close up. I definitely still need to practice! LOL!

This card uses one of the dollar bin stamps from JoAnn's and I think it is a pretty nice stamp considering the cost! This is primitive style coloring using my copics. One trick I have learned is to lightly outline your colored image with a light colored ink to make it pop ever so slightly off the page.
Here I have stamped the watering can image from the SU set called Friends are like Flowers. There are also two nesting ovals from the Lil Bucket of Nesting Ovals that are available at the WBW. After cutting my cream colored oval on my cutter, I used my Stampamajig to be certain to center my stamped image inside the oval. I also used the "May a Smile Bloom for You Today" phrase from Stamps N More. I like that phrase! It makes me happy!! The baubles for embellishments are from Stamping Bella.

Here is a closeup of the stamped image and copic details...

The effect I was going for on the watering can was to make it look like the can was old and rusty. I think it worked pretty well, don't you??

Well that's all for now! I actually started this blog post on the 10th for Tuesday, but after getting called in to work it is now Wednesday as I post it! Sorry for being so late in posting!

I will try and have a new post that is meant to be for Wednesday! Well I have to get to bed so I can try to get up early and exercise in the morning again!

Have a good one!

Kelly :-)

Card to share with a Tutorial!

First let me say that after one week of dieting I have lost 5.5 pounds and I am really happy about it. I did not reach my goal to exercise last week (remember the three days that I had no energy?) but I am definitely starting that program this week. If all works out with my call schedule, I will join my mom at the Gym in the morning!

We had a very productive weekend. Saturday we spent the whole day cleaning Tom's house where his dad lives. His son recently moved out, so the spare room really needed to be cleaned! It was nice hanging out with his dad also because our time with him has diminished since Tom moved in with me after he broke his leg back in January! Tom and his dad are considering renting out a room in their house to help defer the costs of us keeping up with both houses. At least now it looks clean and ready to advertise for a roomie! If anyone knows of a responsible, stable, middle-aged person who would enjoy a Master bedroom with bathroom and Living room to themselves, with a kitchen and pool to share, feel free to contact me at sownsew@tampabay.rr.com. Thanks!

Sunday Tom was supposed to fish, but none of his buddies could go with him and Ricky was at his dad's house. So he scrapped the idea. When he does fish, it gives me a guilt free day in my scraproom with nothing else to worry about. But since he knew I had a bunch of cards to make for our family this week, he was OK with me spending most of my day in my Studio! I got six cards completed, some of which need to go out early this week!

I eventually will share them all with you, but there is one in particular that I made that I want to share the particulars about making it with you.This is the card that I cased to make mine from! I apologize for not knowing whose card this is, so if any of you know, please leave me a comment so I can credit the designer!

Here is a picture of my completed birthday card that I made for Tom's mom. I love the way it turned out. She is always so complimentary of the cards I make her and she keeps them all out on display for everyone to see! She is so sweet, I love spending the time to create one of a kind cards for her!

Step by Step instructions to make this card:

Supply List:
Four coordinating papers (I used three solid colors and one PP)
Paper Cutter
Scoring device
Adhesives
Scalloped Rectangle cutting file from WBW
White opaque writer
Monogram Letter
Sentiment Stamp or computer printed sentiment
Embellishments

Step One:

Cut your papers using the following dimensions to make a completed card that when folded closed is 5x7, and when opened is 10x7.

CS 1- (Card Base) 10 inches wide, 7 inches tall.
(Scalloped Rectangle) Use the appropriate sized cut line to extend beyond the edges of the monogram when placed on the card. I used the royal blue cutline from the WBW Nesting rectangles (small) but then resized it to 3.25 x 4.5. Doing that slightly alters the consistency of the scallops on the side that was adjusted, but not really enough that it is noticeable!

CS 2- (Inside card accent) 4 3/4 inches wide, 6 3/4 inches tall.
(Optional mat for monogram) Cut to size of monogram plus amount of mat you desire.

CS 3- (Inside panel for sentiment) Cut to the right size so that is hidden underneath your Monogram without showing. Mine is cut 2.5 inches x 3.75 inches.

Accent PP- (Front panel) 2.5 inches wide x 7 inches tall

Step Two:

Score the card base (10 inch length of the card at the top of the scorer) at the 2.5 inch mark (peak fold) and at the 5 inch mark (valley fold).

Step Three:

Attach your front panel (PP) to the front flap of the base card. Open the card all the way and on the right hand side of the card, center the inside card accent (CS 2) onto the base.

Step Four:

Mat your monogram or accent piece if desired. Adhere this piece to the front flap so that when the card is closed, the Monogram is centered on the right hand side of the card.

Step Five:

Stamp or print the sentiment onto the inside sentiment panel (CS 3) and adhere it to the scalloped rectangle being sure to center it. then place this matted sentiment panel so that the scallops show around the monogram when the card is closed and the sentiment panel is hidden under the monogram. This is where you will want to write any additional notes and sign your card so that it is not visible from the front of the card when closed.

Step Six: (Optional)

Optional- On the inside flap I chose to hand write words that start with the letter "M" that describe Tom's mom and their relationship. You can add your own touches here, or you can also use this space for more journaling.

Step Seven:

Embellish the front panel of the card as desired.

Wallah!! Your done!! Enjoy your creation.

To purchase the bucket of Nesting Rectangles from the Wishblading Well, click on the link and go to the Buckets section. This bucket sells for only $4.99 and comes complete with 12 nesting sizes. Other Nesting buckets are also for sale for $4.99 that compliment this one. I have found these nesting shapes invaluable to use for my card making and scrapbooking! I think you will too!

Hope you like the little tutorial! If you happen to use it to make something... please share your creations with me. Just leave a comment with a link to the picture or email it to me! I would love to see your take on this type of card!

I'll share more of my card creations tomorrow! For now I am off to work!

Have a wonderful day!

Kelly :-)

Where Did I Disappear to Already?

Wow! That's all I can say for what has happened to me for the past three days! I am sorry for disappearing from blogland, but I couldn't help it!

It all started in the middle of the night on Monday (early Tuesday morning) when my phone rang at the ungodly hour of 2am. It was work and I was called in for the delivery of an extremely premature (26 week) baby. Unfortunately I had only gotten to bed two hours earlier, so I was already very tired. I didn't leave work until 7am after I had stabilized and transferred the baby to a higher level NICU. I tried to lay down when I got home and didn't have much success, so I ended up taking about an hour nap later in the day.

This was my day off and I had plans with Tiffani (my best friend) to go out to dinner, get a couple of drinks and go see the new Sex in The City movie. Since I rarely get days off, I couldn't let my lack of a little sleep stop our plans, so I plugged along. I got home about midnight that night and was feeling very tired!

I slept all night on Tuesday and thought for sure that I would wake up raring to go, but instead, I was dead to the world. I couldn't barely muster up enough energy to prepare any food or start the couple loads of laundry that I managed to do. I can't tell you how exhausted and weak I was. I laid around all day and either watched TV or napped. I didn't even turn on my computer which is very rare for me.

I thought it might have been a combination of the lack of sleep coupled with the dieting and low calorie intake that had left me listless, but I really don't know because I never felt like this when I dieted before. I was certain that by Thursday I would be back to myself, but when work called me in at a little after 7am, I was still exhausted and unable to find my energy again! Now I was really disturbed because I couldn't bear to let my life slip by me without participating in it!

So Thursday turned into another lounge fest where I practically did nothing. Thankfully my oldest daughter Michelle (pictured below with Tiffany) had come over to hang out with me, so I did enjoy my time visiting with her. She shares my passion in the show "So You Think You Can Dance" and we watched some reruns that she hadn't seen yet. I also met Tiffani for lunch which is something we try to do whenever she is inspecting property in my neck of the woods. She is dieting with me so she is the perfect pal to talk about dieting and food with!

I am still just amazed at how tired I was for the past three days. I apologize to our customers, because I didn't design or convert one file and now I feel so far behind. But I am happy to say that I feel back to myself this morning. I awoke at 6:30 this morning and noticed that I felt like my old self again! So I think I am back on track and will try to make up for my lost time!

Now for a quick update on a couple of things...

My diet is going well! I have lost a total of 4 pounds since Monday and I hope that as soon as I start expending some calories by doing anything other than lying around that I will lose some more still this week!

I promised you pictures of my daughter Tiffany dressed as Wendy! She was so adorable and she even looks just like the animated Wendy from the commercials. She pitched the ball across the plate, but because it all happened so fast, no one got a picture of the actual pitch, but just the before and after shots! Oh well... she is still so darned cute and will have these memories for a life time! What a cool opportunity!!

So today starts with a c-section at work, then I hope to work on WBW some and also have to make two more graduation cards and one birthday card! I hope I have my mojo back and will be able to create some nice cards! Again another long post, but try to think of it as four days worth wrapped into one!

Have a phenomenal day! I plan to!!

Kelly :-)

New Beginnings!

So today is the day that I am starting some new programs in my life. I have to be careful not to overdo things and risk failing, so I am trying to be moderate! That is definitely a challenge for this anal retentive, borderline obsessive compulsive girl, but I am going to give it a try.

The first thing that I am starting to work on this week is dieting. I am very disappointed in myself that I have gained back all the weight that I had lost when I dieted at the end of last year. Why does food have to be so comforting to me? In my mind, food is my friend and I call on it all the time whenever things get tough, stressful or even boring! I also have realized that overeating is a product of trying to gain some control in my life! Control is one of those things that I don't get the pleasure of manipulating in my life since I spend so much of it on-call for work at the mercy of nature and the OB/GYN gods!! I have even been guilty of rewarding myself with food when I feel sorry for myself because I couldn't do what I wanted because I got called in. I really need to work on handling the stress of being on-call all the time a little better!

So, I have decided that I have a goal to lose 18 pounds all together, but I really would like to lose 13 by July 4th! We are having a big Independence Day celebration that will involve bathing suits! And I want to be comfortable wearing one by then. So, that should be reasonable right?? That is only 3-4 pounds per week!

With Weight Watchers, you can expect to lose about 2 pounds per week, but since I am doing the more extreme diet pill with very low calorie diet again, I think it is reasonable to lose 3-4 pounds per week. I know that some of you are thinking that it is unhealthy to do this type of dieting, (so please don't comment on how bad I am) and I agree with you. But, please realize that because I can't seem to lose weight or stick to a diet plan that is better for me, I feel this is better than not dieting at all. Plus it is only temporary that I do this. I just need help getting the jump start!

My daughter Leah (the second born shown here with me and Tom at her 21st birthday party before she lost her weight) has the willpower and stamina to make it down the gradual path to healthy weight loss and I am so proud of her! She has been following WW's point system of dieting and has taken off pounds that she didn't want and she looks incredible! (Of course she always did though!) It is funny when your kids have attributes that they obviously didn't get from you... I guess we can't take credit for those then can we?? LOL!

So, back on track! I have already started dieting today! I just had a very healthy salad with chicken and light dressing. The second thing that I am starting with my New Beginnings this week is an exercise regime! I am not going to go crazy and go from no exercise to five days a week like I usually would. But I am going to make healthier choices like parking in the lots a little further from the door, and taking the stairs when I can and I will make a goal of 45 minutes of cardio at least three times per week! Moderation right?? So mom, save a spot for me in the morning because unless I get called in, I am coming to the Gym with you!

Wish me luck, I am very motivated and really want to incorporate this type of behavior into my lifestyle. I want very much to be healthy and live a long life!

One final note that is really cool is that my daughter Tiffany has been asked to throw the first pitch at the Threshers game tonight at the Bright House Networks Field. I guess it is sponsored by Wendy's because this was all arranged by her boyfriend Jeremy's mother who works for Wendy's corporation. Tiffany is going to be dressed up like Wendy with the striped dress, red hair and all!! I can't make it to the game, but I am sure that Tom and Michelle (my oldest) will take pictures for me. I will post them as soon as I can! She shouldn't have any trouble getting the ball across the plate since she has been a catcher playing softball for many years!

OK off to design some files for the Wishblading Well! We have to get a bucket out soon or our customers will think we have dropped off the face of the earth! Have a great afternoon!

Kelly :-)

My Maiden Post!

Well this is it! I am finally blogging!! Call me a latecomer or a copycat, but I really have meant to do this for about a year and a half or so. As my title indicates, though, my life tends to overflow all the time and so I didn't think I was able to fit blogging into it until now!

Why start now? Well my life seems to have come to a new turning point. I am about to embark on a new marriage to Tom, the man of my dreams, I have just moved and renovated my scrapping space/office, summer break is coming in a couple of days and I am finding myself at a moment in my life where I feel it is necessary to regroup and refocus. So I figured that now is as good a time as any to get started.

What do I think the purpose of this blog is? There are multiple answers to that! Here are some that come to mind...

• Keep me focused on the important things that fill my bucket



• Provide a way to communicate my thoughts and feelings with others



• Build deeper relationships with friends, loved ones and our Wishblading Well customers



• Have a place to showcase my creations



• Inspire others in any way that I can



• Share with others
  

I hope that you will decide to come back and visit my blog. I want to be accountable to others as I journey on this new challenge of mine to enjoy and cherish the things in my life's bucket. And work on keeping things from flowing out of my bucket for lack of proper attention. (Do you Wishblading Well buddies get the connection to the bucket? LOL!)

Part of this whole process has stemmed from me moving my scrapping/stamping/office space from the spare bedroom in my house into the formal dining room. I know that it sounds like a funny thing to do, but it was a necessary move so that I could allow Tom to have an office with a closed door. He is such an important part of my life, and making room for him in my home has been something I am willing to do because I want him to know how happy I am that he is here!

I have been guilty of hiding out in my office which was towards the back of the house. Now I am in a very central location of my home and I am already appreciating being closer to my family even when I am working in my office. I am really proud of what Tom and I have done to my new Studio (that's what I call my scrapping area now! LOL!) I am including some pictures of it below so you can see my new space. It was important to me that it look beautiful since it is smack dab in the middle of my home, yet it had to be functional too! I think we accomplished that! I hope you enjoy looking at the pictures. I plan on sharing some of my organizational methods with you in future posts.

Wish me luck with this whole blogging thing and thanks if you made it this far already! I will try to keep future posts a little shorter!