Serious Play

Half Marathon Training :: LO

So, I am training for a half marathon.

 

My cousin, Richelle, posted on Facebook at the beginning of the month that she was running in a half marathon. I totally admired her for it. I have always wanted to run a marathon.

I texted her, "Oh, next time let me know and I will do it with you."

She replied with, "It's not until May, you still have time to train and join me."

That made me stop. I didn't even know what a half marathon involved.

So, I looked it up...13 miles!

I can't do that much. I haven't run long distance in a very long time. But I love running. And I have always wanted to do it. And I am not getting any younger...

So I said yes...at least, I will train towards it and let Richelle know in a few weeks if I will do it.

Well, this week I finally registered, so it's official.

I am training to run in a half marathon in May.

 

NOTE: Sorry for the terrible pic of the LO. It was taken in my hallway at 9pm, just to get posted for today! 

 

 

 

Layout :: Wondering

So, this layout comes on the heels of my OLW post last week.

 

This is where I am right now. It consumes my thoughts.

So good to hear in the comments that there are others out there who can relate.

 

For this layout, I used map paper from an atlas for the lettering. I opened Photoshop and typed the Blackout font to spell the word wondering, then reversed the letters (mirror image) before printing them on the back of my map paper. I do not have a Silhouette Cameo machine, so I cut my letters by hand. I like how they blend in a bit to the background.

I have seen so much confetti in the blogland lately, that I decided to try my own take on it. I trimmed two pockets from baseball card page protector, filled them with confetti punched from scrap paper and then used a zigzag stitch with my sewing machine to tack it closed. I like how they just sort of float around in the pockets.

Both of the pics are taken with Instagram.

 

 

 

Torn Layout

So, the title of this layout says it all.

 

I am torn.

I love so much about the phase of life we are in right now...and yet, we are so close to entering the next phase in our lives. 

I am loving what is today, but drawn by what is possible for tomorrow.

 

 

Love Layout

So, I am in love with pink and gold glitter.

 

I created this layout of my girls for Valentine's Day.

 

Taping off the rays with green painter's tape allowed me to use my OA Sprinklers with accuracy. Following that, I spread a little glitter over the rays.

 

 

The word "love" I drew by hand with a paintbrush dipped in glue and then I sprinkled the wet glue with gold glitter.

 

Each of the embellishments were stamps and punches that I had on hand.

 

These days, it is rare to capture a shot of my girls but this particular day I happened to get them both together.

 

A Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

 

 

 

 

 

Much Love Layout

So, I am already thinking about Valentine's Day approaching.

 

I pulled this photo out of the archives from last year sometime. I love the composition of the photo and our expressions...happy yet not overstated. Would love to remember what was going through my head at the time.

The "100% Loved" ticket is a digital download from Katie Pertiet. I love it. I just printed it out onto cardstock and trimmed it with my scissors. There are 15 tickets in the set. I hope to use all of them soon!

The doily tucked in under the right side is also a digital download from Katie Pertiet. It came in a set of crocheted doilies in a bunch of holiday colours.

I cannot claim originality on this layout. I totally scraplifted the idea from Marcy Penner. I love everything she does. Her style is just so clean and artistic. I have had this idea noted in my Pinterest and wanted to emulate it for some time now. Not sure I did it justice. I just really like the concept.

 

Do you have a favourite scrapper that you try to imitate?

 

 

 

 

NYE 2011 Layout

So, I am still catching up on a few of my holiday layouts.

 

The pic is one taken with Instagram. Underneath of the photo is thick paper that I cut and reused from a Banana Republic shopping bag. I simply folded it over itself a few times, purposely not square.

 

The gold and silver are two different products. The gold colour is OA Sprinklers. The colour is called Treehouse, which is a yellow/green, but I did not shake the bottle thoroughly and the colours had settled. This is how it ended up and I love it!

The silver colour is glitter glue by Elmers. 

 

I punched some stars from velum and used more glitter glue to adhere them to the page, leaving the corners of the stars to curl up just a touch.

 

I kind of just played around with this one. I had no plan before I started.

But I like the end result.

 

 

 

 

 

 

i *heart* us

So, here is my first layout of 2012.

 

I am still reminiscing over the Christmas season.

It was such a wonderful time. I didn't want it to end.

Throughout the month of December, my husband was off work. No, he didn't lose his job. It was his scheduled holiday time. He gets three tours off in a row, which works out to about 28 days off in a row. 

Shift work is brutal on family life. But being on holidays meant having my husband home every night and on weekends. This is the first time he has not been working over the holiday season in 7 years.

I soaked it in.

We spent a lot of time together last month and I realized that the more time we spend together, the more we like each other. Funny how that is. When we are not together (on different work schedules) for periods of time, it gets easy to just grump on one another about all the stuff that bugs us. But when we interact and have time to listen to one another, the connection grows and the stuff that bugs us goes away because we are enjoying one another's company. 

 

In this layout:

• an Instagram photo of us at Starbucks
• layers under the photo of tissue paper from Christmas wrapping, some notepaper, the printed side of a security envelope and a bit of doily
• the red tag is from Mara Mi and is actually a holiday gift tag
• the heart is punched from a doily
• the little 'together' card behind the picture is actually a hidden journaling card on which I recorded my story
• the pink drops are OA Sprinklers

 

 

Big Deal LO

So, my daughter Ashley reached a goal this week and it was a big deal.

 

A while back, she decided to lose some weight. Ashley had endured a difficult time in her early junior high years (kids can be so mean) and slipped into a pattern of helping herself to comfort food.

After two years of homeschooling and a successful transition back into high school, she set a goal to lose 20 lbs. I am so proud of her efforts. She did not starve herself or go on a trendy crash diet. Instead, she learned about metabolism and the effects of sugar on one's system. She set herself up on an exercise routine and motivated herself to lose the weight for all the right reasons.

We had a deal that when she had reached her goal I would take her to lululemon to buy an outfit. Well, the other day, with tears of joy in her eyes, she announced that she had met her goal! That very night we went shopping and this is the outfit that she chose.

 

Way to go, Babe! This is a Big Deal!

Be proud of what you have accomplished...I sure am. xoxo

 

 

 

The Beauty of Fall LO

So, up until last week, we have been enjoying an extended Fall.

 

I dread the cold that comes along with Winter, so we had been making the best of every moment outdoors that we could. Here, we had been out geocaching in Canmore.

I treasure these moments that we have with our two girls together. The oldest one is wanting to move out at the end of this school year to go away to college. This could be our last months of living as a family of four!

Also, with two teenaged girls together in the same house, there are sparks that fly at moments. So, seeing the two of them together and smiling is a good thing for a mother's heart.

 

 

 

In 42 Years LO

So, I converted my birthday post from last week into this layout.

 

I simply copied all of the text from my list and, using Photoshop, I played with it in a text box until I liked the size and shape of the box. After printing the text out onto the kraft cardstock, I used the October Afternoon Sprinklers to make the paint splatters. The title is a variety of letter stickers. I chose different washi tapes that fit my colour palette and finished it off with a vintage typewriter sticker from an Echo Park paper pack I purchased back in the spring.

Now, my list will be something I can look back on in a few years. It will be interesting to compare my thinking at 42 with what it will be in the future.