Gluing First. Story Second.

I went to Archiver's the other day, and I found the SUPER-cute Paper Doll by Crate Paper. I had to play with it right away! Funny, this was the first time I had the layout glued and had *no* idea what photo or story I was using! LOL. That was a first for me, but I thought it would be a fun challenge. It was!


And I used mist! Woo! I punched out some labels, put them down, and then started misting. When I took off the labels, the spaces were nice and white, so I could journal there (and put photos/title). :-) Title is a bunch of Thickers.

I love this photo of my dad with my nieces! He is such a great grandpa! He always has *so* much fun with them, and on this particular day, he let them do *whatever* they wanted to dress him up. HEEEE! So cute!

Thanks for stopping by today! :-)

Finishing 28 Before 29 Comes Along...

I can't believe it. I'll be 29 in 37 days. *sigh* Well, at least I got this album done *before* I turned 29! ;-)

I did this entire album with the Joyland kit from Studio Calico. I also used the add-on, Skycoaster, and I had some from Whacky Shack too. This was SUCH a fun kit with some awesome colors!

This is a pretty simple mini. I stamped a whole bunch of journal blocks, and I created my own from some of the K & Company packaging that came in the kit as well!

(How fun is it to make your own pinwheels?! EEEE! :-D )

(On this last page, I'm going to hopefully add this stamp. I don't own it though!
Ha! So I guess I'll have to get it with my next SC order! :-)

Thanks for taking a peek! Soon, I'll have photos and a tutorial of an altering project I did with FabRips. Man, I love those things! :-D

Journaling Jeremy's Favorites.

One of my favorite times of the month! A new challenge at the Journal Challenges blog!

This month, we let someone else do our journaling. I had hubby write down some of his faves, and I had a great time with this layout! (Love the colors/textures in these Crate Paper patterned papers [teal & yellow-green]!)

Cardstock: American Crafts. Patterned papers: Crate Paper, Jillibean Soup, Studio Calico.
Frames: K & Company. Alphas: Making Memories, October Afternoon.
Punches: EK Success, Fiskars. Stickers: Sassafras. Kit: Studio Calico's Joyland.

The design of this layout was inspired by a painting I saw at a Chinese restaurant. Yes, I guess I get inspiration from everywhere! ;-)

Where did you get the inspiration for your last layout or project? :-)

Winning a Watch and Visiting Shamu!

So... there's a Fossil watch giveaway over at Creature Comforts. Get this... you get to CHOOSE which watch you want (under $125) if you win! How cool is that?!

I think I'd want this one...

And though I don't really *like* bling, this one is just very unusual, so that makes me like it. LOL.

The first one is definitely more *me*, but I think it would be cool to own a watch that's super unusual like the 2nd one. LOL. So I'd probably go with the 2nd one! I need to branch out more... you know, get out of my clean and simple box. :-)

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And this last Saturday, Jeremy's parents invited us to Sea World! Yay! The Sea World in San Antonio also has a water park inside, so that's pretty cool. It was about 96 degrees and super humid. We stayed for about five hours, and we were VERY hot and tired when we left. LOL.

Just some of the photos we took... (we didn't bring the BIG camera. I guess we should have for the Shamu show... LOL).

The first thing we did was go to the Shamu show. It was VERY different since the trainer died in Orlando. I was glad they were being safe. :-) They had a baby whale... only FIVE months old! She was timid, and didn't come out of the water much. But oh, how cute!


These next two photos were taken at the END of the day. You can see how tired I look! LOL. I asked Jeremy to smile for the camera, but he turned around and kissed me instead. That was just fine with me. :-)

Then , I get one of his Silly Mister looks...

While resting at a cafe, they had this show for the kids... with dancing and singing. It was HILARIOUS! This guy on the left and all those characters dancing to crazy music! HA! We were laughing SO hard!

And of course, I couldn't leave without getting a handstand photo. I haven't done one in SO long! I had to walk in this one, so it's very uneven. I may or may not be getting too old for this. Tee hee. Ah well. :-p

More projects and organization coming soon! :-)

Creating More... YAY!

It's nice to have time to scrap lately. And *that* is awesome, since Studio Calico's May kit (plus this add-on) is one of my faves EVER! I don't ever want to put it away... LOL. Though, I've realized that I'm happier when I do simple, quick pages. For some reason, I have ADD when I scrap. LOL.

I channeled my inner-Caroline for the strips on this one... ;-)

This next page took me WAY longer than it should have, and I was glad when it was over. LOL. Jeremy works A LOT, and he's been so tired. Poor guy. :-(

Mmm... quick and clean and simple. :-)

This last layout makes me so happy! This is me (and my aunt, Joy) in 1982. The photos my dad took that day are some of my favorite photos ever.

That's it for now. I'll have more to share soon. And I think it's about time I took photos of my new scrap room... LOL. :-p

Confessing Reality.

A while ago, Kelly and Steph both did posts about their "real" lives. Oh, it felt SO good to read these! I feel like this too... I really hope my life never looks perfect... because it SO is not. LOL. And it's funny we do read the scrappy lives of one another, thinking that may be perfect when so many of these people's lives are, in fact, *not* so glamorous.

Steph encouraged everyone to do a list of their own. *sigh* Here's mine...

1. On a lot of days that I don't do errands, I stay in my PJs all day... no makeup, wearing my glasses, a few naps, and IMing with Caroline from the time we wake up, till the time we go to sleep. LOL. (Though I should say, that we do *try* to be productive while chatting... ie scrapping, putting a load of laundry in, making food, possibly washing some dishes, and walking the dogs.)

2. My scrap table/workspace is almost always clean. The floor, however, is not...

3. Sometimes Jeremy has to spend the night in Waco, for work. I usually stay up till 2am, sometimes 4am, not being able to sleep and worrying about his safety. Neither of us sleep well and barely get more than four hours of sleep. I know that military wives endure WAY more than this, and I'm so blessed to have Jeremy home most nights, but we still hate these long nights.

4. When my dog, Ruby, gets scared (thunder, lightning, quarry blasts, rain, blender, etc)... it literally scares the pee and poop right out of her. I have had to clean up *a lot* of pee stains. LOL. We own quite a few doggy diapers.

5. I'm sick and weak almost every, single day. I have to sleep... a lot. After working out, doing errands, or hanging with friends, I need a day or two to rest. I hate that I'm unable to work or go to school. Confession: I've been like this pretty much my whole life.

6. We have a lot of credit card debt now. And now that I'm not working, I'm trying to spend as little money as possible, so that we can pay as much as we can toward the debt. It's hard for both of us.

7. I'm not *always* positive and optimistic. I worry. I get anxious. I get scared. I get lonely. I cry.

8. Jeremy works 50-80 hours a week, and I feel bad for him.

I hope that didn't sound like a bunch of complaining. LOL. But it's real. And that's the point, I guess. To be real. :-)

Thanks for reading my real-ness. :-)

Couponning Can Be Fun!

So... my sister is obsessed with the Krazy Coupon Lady. And I wanted to get in on the money-saving action too, so I thought I'd take up some couponning. :-)

My sister has a binder, and I made this to slide in the front cover's pocket:

(Papers/Thickers: American Crafts, Alpha Stickers: Doodlebug, Lady: Studio Calico)

How cute is that Studio Calico lady?! So perfect with her little purse! :-) (When I showed my sister, she said, "Oh! This is SO cute! And I LOVE her dress!" Tee hee.) Now I just need to make a label for the spine and some cute page for the back cover. :-) Yay! She'll have the cutest coupon binder ever. :-)

And I don't need a whole binder, but I did need a few pockets for my planner! I didn't really want to pay $12 for their pockets (though cute and handy!). I knew if I made my own they'd be WAY cuter and... you know... free! ;-)

In each pack of refills (notebook paper, calendar pages, etc) come some chipboard sheets to use to divide your planner (or maybe they just put those in there, so the pages don't get bent in the packaging.... LOL). Either way, they were perfect (with the holes already there)! I just needed to add a strip of paper to make a pocket and some cute details!

Papers/FabRips: Studio Calico, Alphas: October Afternoon, Border Punch: Fiskars
Butterfly punch (punched with Little Yellow Bicycle paper): Martha Stewart

I'll probably make two more for grocery coupons and Target too. Heeee! :-D

Do you have a special place for your coupons (if you use them) and receipts? I love to hear how people organize these types of things. :-)

Forgetting Breakfast and Lunch.

This guy...



Yeah, that one right there! Just in case, you couldn't tell by this photo, he is silly. Very silly.

He came home from work today, and he was a little hyper. Okay, a lot hyper. This surprised me quite a bit because he left the house this morning at 7 am... without me making him his usual breakfast and sack lunch. He arrived home at about 8:15 pm. A LONG day.

His hyper-activity was still going strong at around 9 when we sat down for a late dinner. Here's what went down.

Jeremy: I just ate TWO pieces of chicken! And rice! And green beans!

Reyanna: Two?! (These were HUGE chicken breasts!) Wow, you were hungry! Did you not eat lunch?

Jeremy: Umm... well, I only ate one of the sandwiches I made.

Reyanna: What kind was it?

Jeremy: Ummm... errr.... uhhh... Nutella and jelly sandwich. It was REALLY sweet!

Reyanna: Umm... yeah! That's almost pure sugar between bread! Silly! You're supposed to have Nutella and peanut butter or peanut butter and jelly!

Jeremy: Yeah, I couldn't remember, and I didn't want to wake you up this morning. And then as I was eating my sandwich, I thought, "Whoa! This is sweet! OH! I bet I was supposed to put *peanut butter* with the Nutella! NOT jelly!"

Reyanna: Holy cow! Did you eat anything else?

Jeremy: I bought some candy because this convenient store was having a special: 50% off! So I bought four packages of sour gummy candy.

Reyanna: So... all you ate all day was a Nutella and jelly sandwich and four packages of sour gummy candy? Did you drink some water with that?

Jeremy: No, I had Gatorade! That's good, right?!

Reyanna: *laughing* Umm... honey, Gatorade is almost pure sugar!

Jeremy: Maybe it was PowerAde...

Reyanna: Still has sugar. Sheesh! No wonder you're so hyper! Man, you're gonna crash in about an hour! *laugh*

Jeremy: Oops.

Tee hee. So yeah. That's what happens when I'm too tired to wake up to make him breakfast and lunch.

Yes, I learned my lesson. Yes, I will be going to bed at a reasonable hour and waking up early to make breakfast and lunch for my Silly Mister.

Yes, I'm still giggling at his silliness.

Good thing he's cute. :-)