Bad Blogger

Grrrr! I am such a bad blogger.

I constantly stalk my favorite blogs everyday and completely forget about my own.

Today was a HAPPY MAIL day! I received my prizes from ScrapStreet.com's Star contest as well as my May kit! YAY! So much fun to play with this coming weekend when we head out for a 3 day crop with Scrapbook 'n Such.

All of my scrapbooking supplies are packed up (or at least the ones I will attempt to use) but my scrap room still looks like a scrapper lives there. How is that possible? I have no idea how I have accumilated so much stuff! (I think it breeds....or at least that is what I tell my husband)

We watched the Golden Compass tonight. LOVED this movie. Was so impressed with it. Cannot wait for the sequels.

Well, off to watch 27 Dresses. Will let you know how that one turns out.

Love ya!

-B

AND THE WINNER IS....

Me!

Omg.

Can you believe it?

A year ago at this time, I was congratulating Janneke on her win. I had been knocked out in the third round and was playing along in the green room.

I am SO honored to be asked to be on ScrapStreet's staff as well! These girls are AMAZING and now I am a TOTALLY thrilled PitCrew member too!

My brain is going about a million miles a minute right now so its hard for me to concentrate on writing down thoughts I am having. I will post more tomorrow night, as well as update all of the 30 days of change posts. I do have them, just have not posted them. Been doing well!!

Love you all and I am SO thankful to each and every one of you that voted for me. You honestly have no idea how thankful I am for you.

-Brianne

Final Round Voting!

Final Round Voting at ScrapStreet.com

Remember, tomorrow marks the opening day of voting for your #1 pick of the final five. Voting opens at 6 pm Central time and closes at NOON on Sunday, April 27th. Get those votes in!!!!

You will be able to find the post here at or around 6 pm:

Round Five Voting

Thanks for your continued support, I could not have made it this far without you!

-Brinane

Day Two: REthink, REdefine, REnew

RE:

The dictionary defines the prefix "re" as "again" or "anew". In order to really face this change head on, we have to begin anew. I think "re" is a pretty good fit for Day Two.

Rethink:

It's time to face that change head on.
WHY this change?
WHO will this affect?
WHAT are my possible road blocks to success?

Redefine:

What is the ultimate goal?
STATE IT! Be strong in it.
Let it be your mantra.

Renew:

Give yourself credit for the small goals reached.
Don't get discouraged if the change doesn't come quickly.
BELIEVE in the possiblity of the change and it will happen.


As I stated before, mine change is my lifestyle and the way it surrounds food.
I need to change for myself and my family.
I want to be around in years to come to see my children grow.
This change will only affect my family and myself for the better!
Road blocks will come in many different forms. Travel, seperation from my husband for training, and a two-year old's tantrums.
My ultimate goal is to change the way I live. I want my family to eat healthy and BE healthy.
CHANGE IS OK! LOVE YOUR LIFE!

Quote of the day:

"A person who aims at nothing is sure to hit it!"

Love life, be strong, and have fun!

-Brianne

30 Days of Change (Day One)

"Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending." - Maria Robinson

For the next 30 days, its about change. It can be a change in the way we think, the way we live, the way we connect, or even the way we scrap.


It's about breaking out of a shell; rethinking and redefining the way we do something.


For me its eating. In all honesty, I am an emotional eater. I eat when I am bored...I eat when I am happy, sad, or even just content. I eat just to eat and its time to break the cycle.


For the next 30 days, I challenge YOU to come with me on this journey. It doesn't have to be a big change or even something LIFE changing, but challenge yourself to make that change. Break out of that box.


Each day a new idea will be given. Some days it will come in the form of a challenge, other days it will come as a quote or a love note from me. Every day you will hear from me on my journey and I would love to hear from you.


Even if you don't need this yourself, I could really use my sister's (that being YOU) support in this. I am going to document my journey on my blog and pose the "ideas" here. Follow me and cheer me on!! :)


Change begins with you.

Final Round *THUD*

Stunned:

I cannot believe it. I made the final round of Star. I am in the top five.

Wow. Just wow.

Ok first, thank you again to my family and friends that have been voting for me. You all ROCK! I could not have made it this far without you! Remember that this week Friday starts the voting for the FINAL ROUND!! WOO HOO!!

The above layout is my final round entry. If you click the image, it will take you to the site to check out the details.

Round Five:

Round Five is about challenges. You had to create a challenge, have another scrapper complete it, and then complete it yourself. I created a Slogan/Logo Challenge. The objective was to take a company's slogan and use it as your title. Next, you had to use their colors AND you had to use an element of their logo's design and use it on your layout. I had picked GE for myself. You can read more about it by clicking the picture.

New Quote:

If you noticed, I have a new quote at the top of my page. I am a lover of quotes, but never in my life have I ever run into one that sums it all up perfectly for me. This one does. Thank you Beckie!!!

Additional Images from other's challenges:

I did a few layouts for others to help them complete their objective. Here they are:

Again you can click on these images for more details.

There are a few more I am going to complete before the end of the week. Some of those challenges are too good to pass up!


Words of wisdom for your week:

"If every word I said could make you laugh, I would talk forever..." - Author Unknown


"The person who knows how to laugh at themselves will never cease to be amused." - Shirley MacLaine


Go out, create laughter, and enjoy it yourself!


-Brianne

On my mind...

It's been a while since I just posted my random mussings....

In my ears:

I have said it before but I will say it again, Jordin Sparks is, by far, one of my favorite singers. She sings about topics that are SO real to me and I just love her voice. Her name may sound familiar to you because of American Idol. She was the 2007 winner. If you haven't heard any of her music, hit up Youtube.com and check her out.


On my table:

I just finished up a layout for the kit club section of the May ScrapStreet E-zine. The challenge was to ONLY use 5 products (as if you walked into a scrap store and put 5 items into your cart). It was a VERY difficult layout to finish, but I am very pleased with the results. I cannot post it at this point due to it being submitted for publishing.


Round 4 of Star at ScrapStreet.com is in full swing. You can check out my layout in the post below. I am really happy with the way that one turned out as well. My family humbles me beyond words with their wonderful support and beautiful comments. They bring tears to my eyes with every little word they say about my work (thank you ladies!).


Wearing me out:



I think Matthew is going through a growth spurt. He is SO argumentative, eating like a cow, and sleeping a lot. Poor kid. The arguing is starting to wear on me, but I am totally believing it is just karma's way of getting back at me for being a headstrong kid myself (right Mom?).

We painted tonight and he did such an awesome job! I will post pictures of that later. I am going to use them on an up-coming layout so I don't want to spoil the surprise.


In my heart:



Every day is another day closer to my husband leaving for training and then Korea. He will be gone from us almost two years when all is said and done. It's really hard living this lifestyle but I am positive we are strong enough to do it. I think that Matthew will take it the hardest, with Dad coming in a close second. I really need to focus on being strong for the both of them but I have such a great support system to lean on that I will be ok. Keep us in your prayers for strength and safety please?


In my cup:

Lemonade. Ahhhh. I love lemonade. It reminds me of summer. Yum.


Parting Thoughts:



Well, that is it for me tonight. Time to go to bed. As always, I will leave you with a few parting words of wisdom:


"Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower." - Steve Jobs

"Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will." -George Bernard Shaw

Have a great rest of the week!


-Brianne

Clunky Hybrid "Ink Slinger"

Round Four Layout & Article

"Ten years from now, when my extended family opens up my old scrapbooks and takes a look at my past work, what will they take from it? Will they look at my work and wonder WHY I would create a layout on this subject, or will they be sincerely thankful that I took the time to scrapbook such a moment or event? These questions are what drives my scrapbooking and inspire my style. They mold my layouts and push me to create works of art that my family will treasure forever.


I would clearly define my scrapbook “style”, and myself as a “Clunky (Clean, yet funky) Hybrid Ink Slinger”. Now that I have your complete attention and your laughter, let me explain what I mean. Clean lines & white space draw my reader’s attention to the subject of my layout. I love paper and embellishments as much as anyone else, but I really try to keep the amount I use to a good balance with my topic and contents of my layout. Combining both the clean lines and right amount of embellishments, I can leave my reader with a lasting impression of the subject and design, as opposed to the overwhelming hunch that I have WAY too many scrapbook supplies (which I do, but that is beside the point).


My journaling takes my reader to a place in my heart where I keep these loving memories under lock and key. I let them see into my life and really get to know how special my family is to me and how valuable each breath-taking moment truly is to my life. I find that by using hybrid techniques for my journaling and page design, it gives my reader a clear, unobstructed view into these memories by flowing with the clean lines and not veering from the page’s substance. Each page I create is a souvenir of the moments I am genuinely blessed to experience. I create to give my future generations a glimpse into how truly special life is."

These are my Round Four entries at ScrapStreet.com. I have really enjoyed the challenges they keep coming up with and I am SO blessed to have had this experience. It has made me look into myself and really pull this art out of my soul. Thank you ladies, you rock!

Other Notes of interest:


I have added a few galleries on the side. One contains pictures of another passion of mine, cakes.

Will add more later. Off to pick up my little man!


-Brianne

Round Three Voting

Round Three voting at Scrapstreet.com is now open.

Check out the link and vote for your favorites!

------->Round Three Voting<--------

You can fly!!

Round Three at ScrapStreet.com

Round three is about stars. The shape itself and incorporating it onto a layout and three cards. The challenge itself sounded great to me at first, until I started to sketch. Where to put the star? Tried small, tried tiny, but went with large! Overall, very happy with it. For my three cards, I was just in a Peter Pan mindframe. Kept the trend going...

More from me later. Weekend was not refreshing in terms of sleep so I am going to bed early.

Parting Quote: (this one hits home for me)

"Forget about the consequences of failure. Failure is only a temporary change in direction to set you straight for your next success." - Dennis Waitley

Keep smiling and keep focused.

Love you all!

-Brianne

To baby again or not...

So Rich and I have been talking about trying for another baby soon. I know this will thrill our families to no end, but I am totally scared about it. I did not really enjoy my first pregnancy and am very hesitant to take care of a toddler and baby on my own while Rich is deployed. I had to take care of Matthew (3 months old) by myself for 8 weeks while he was TDY. That was one of the scariest times in my life LOL! I feel like we have finally created a nice little "flow" to our lives and I am scared to disrupt that. On the flip side of that, we both had one other sibling and cannot imagine our lives without that other person.

Tell me what you think?