WOYWW

*Hey all - I just read on Julia's blog that we are supposed to ignore non Wednesday posts, after I'd posted and linked up of course! I just wanted to say I do it Tuesday nights because I'm in Chicago (so the linky is already up on my Tuesday night!) and I have to work early in the morning, so I can't stay up until after midnight (yeah, tried that a few times...I don't recommend it if you need to be functioning the next day!) and I tend cut it super close in the morning, so I can't generally start up my computer and link up on Wednesday mornings and still make it to work on time, so I've been doing it right before I go to sleep Tuesday night! But I really love being part of this community, so please don't ignore me because of this. Next week, I will set an earlier alarm to stick to the true Wednesday rule :)

I saw this super cute project and pinned it - of course! But, I don't want to just pin a bunch of stuff and not make it, because then I'll feel bad every time I look at my pinterest boards! So I decided to make it for the little table behind the couch.

I had a frame just chilling out with nothing to do, but the white frame had a white mat, but the mat wasn't white white, so I didn't love how it looked. I decided to paint the frame blue...which is not working out so well!

But the inside of the frame is looking good! I'm going to add something to the middle, either a row of hearts, or one bigger heart, I'm not sure yet. Also, I'm not sure why its sideways...

Well, now that you've peeked in here, head on over to Julia's and peek in on some more desks! You know it wouldn't be Wednesday without it :)

200th Post!

It's my 200th post today! I never thought when I started blogging that I would have found such an awesome community of friends who are always there with ideas, inspiration and a lovely comment to keep me going :) Thank you to everyone who has made this the awesome experience that it is!

In honor of Valentine's Day Month starting tomorrow, I wanted to post some layouts from the scrapbook I made AJ in November. I'm going to leave out all of the mushy gushy I love you parts, because even a blogger needs a few secrets ;) but the pictures and fun stuff I can totally post! I'll show some today, and some later this week...

This is the cover page of the book. I used the We R Memory Keepers Be My Valentine collection for the stickers and cards, and the blue backgrounds are from the Echo Park Summer Days giveaway I won from Mary Pat - you should check our her blog if you haven't. She's awesome! I'll wait for you to get back :)

Of course I had to include the story of how we met. You can read it in this picture, or I'm sure I will post it one day special :) The "How did you meet" is from a Lawn Fawn's Sally's ABC's set, the "love stays in bloom all year round" and "love letters" are We R Memory Keepers Be My Valentine, and the little tag at the bottom is Jillibean Soup Sweet and Sour Soup card stock labels.

Okay, this will be the last page for today :) Most of the pages in the scrapbook are like this. A bunch of pictures from one season (in this case, spring) and a big journaling block about that season. The big blue page here is actually from the We R Memory Keepers Spookville Collection - I like that I was able to use it for a not Halloween project :)

Well, its getting late and I should get this posted! Have a wonderful Tuesday! :)

New Year's Eve Layout

How was everyone's weekend? Ours was jam packed! Not exactly what I was hoping for after being sick on Thursday :(

Sunday, we went to Ikea to get a new table and chairs, which we had researched online. The plan was to go early, pick everything up and make it back to the city on time for brunch with everyone at 11am. Yeah. That didn't work out so well!

We checked out everything in the showroom before we went to pick it up, just to make sure we liked it. We did, so we headed downstairs to pick up everything. We got the table first, then went to get chairs. Except the only had one. As in, one chair. So only one person could sit at a time.

We ended up having to go to the other Ikea (in the exact opposite direction!) to get the chairs. But that worked out okay, because we could barely fit the table in the car, so we'd have to have made two trips anyway! And even though we ended up missing brunch because of this ordeal, we did have a nice lunch out in the suburbs, which is much quieter than lunch in the city!

We were so tired last night, and full from lunch, we didn't even eat dinner at our new table. I'm very excited have dinner tonight!

Anyway, enough about the Ikea drama! On to the New Year's Eve layout. The left side of the layout is on the back of this one, so I had to use the page protectors. But, we had lots of pictures, so it worked out really well!

(Um, I'm not sure why that picture is so blurry...maybe because I took it super early this morning!)

 I used little circles on each picture to tie the two side together. Plus, I got a new circle punch and wanted to play with it!

 I really liked the tone on tone 2012 and circles on this side of the page :)

I hope everyone has a really great Monday!

Scavenger Hunt Sunday {1 28 2012}

Well, this was quite a week. Some big changes (well, big for me...check out the smile picture!) Then, I got super sick with a stomach virus and got sent home from work on Thursday, but I was okay to go back on Friday. Which was good, because AJ and I had plans to go to Little Italy today. Except we got lost in Chicago for over an hour trying to get there! It was quite the adventure! But now we are home, and its so nice to be relaxing on the couch, and eating freshly baked cookies!


Smile

Last Saturday, I went to get a haircut, you know, just a trim, reshape the layers, blah blah blah. Then, after I'd gotten home, I changed my mind. I wanted it cut short. So I went back Wednesday night, while AJ was at work. I'm definitely smiling about my new haircut.

Stand Alone

Our lamp stands alone by the desk...this counts, right?

Rusty or Something Old

When I read this prompt, my mind immediately went to "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue." Probably not exactly where this prompt is coming from, but that's where my mind went :) This is my grandmother's wedding band, which she gave to me on my 21st birthday.

Artificial

Diet Coke is full of artificial sweeteners. I liked the taste of regular Coke better, but I definitely prefer the calories in Diet Coke!

Repeating Pattern

I recently placed an order at Bath and Body Works. The inside of the package has this pretty pattern in it!

Well, I'm going back to the kitchen for more cookies now! Check out everyone else's photos over at Ashley's blog!

My New Haircut

I got a haircut Saturday:

Then, last night, I went back and got another haircut:

I'm loving it!

I'll be back tomorrow with more layouts :)

What's on My Workdesk Late Tuesday Night?

Yeps, its late Tuesday night, but things aren't going to change between right now and tomorrow morning. Yesterday, I finished this calendar that I just love, so I spent most of the evening cleaning off my desk. And by cleaning off, I mean clear enough that the yellow cutting mat was basically clean.

But I couldn't just leave my desk clean, I mean, what kind of WOYWWLTN would that be?! So I decided to start the New Year's Eve layout.

I have to say, I love doing all kinds of crafts, especially the ones I've been doing lately, but its so nice to be back to scrapbooking :) I think I'll finally be able to start finishing up 2011 tomorrow night while AJ's at work (after my attempts on Martin Luther King Day were foiled by Target's broken photo printer!), but I probably shouldn't say that, because every time I say it, something goes wrong!

Okay, I've been babbling on enough, you're here for the desk. And here it is:

Now head on over to Julia's blog to snoop on check out more desks from around the world :)

Calendar Journal

When I got home from work last night, AJ was finishing his book, so I decided to finish my calendar (I found it on Pinterest, but the original post is here). I love the idea of this. Every year, you write one line of what you did that day, and after a few years, you have this wonderful daily journal of your life!

I was almost done last night, but took a break, because dinner had arrived, and I had just messed up stamping March's divider. If you look closely at the last picture - you can see how I messed March up a second time! Only this time I didn't realize until I took the pictures...for now, I'm just going to leave it!

This is what all of the dividers look like. I really like how they turned out! I'm pretty sure the stamps are Recollections, but they are definitely from Michaels. For January and February I used clear ink and colored embossing powder, but for the rest, I just colored ink and clear powder. I made that change after messing up March because I couldn't see where I'd already stamped!

I didn't have any berry boxes, but last year, my best friend gave me a Vera Bradley apron, which came in this adorable box. Since then, this box has been a card/stamp/return address label holder, a photo holder, and an index card holder. Now its the home for my calendar!

This is everything all ready to go. Can you see how I messed up the March divider again?!

Have a great Tuesday...oh no, its only Tuesday! I woke up thinking it was Wednesday! Don't you just hate when that happens? Well, either way, have a great day!

A Trip to Staples is Almost as Dangerous as a Trip to Michaels

Sunday, I dropped AJ at the driving range and decided to run to Staples to pick up page protectors for Ali Edward's One Little Word project at Big Picture Classes.

I got there around 11:45am, and they were closed! Apparently, Staples doesn't open until noon! I'm still feeling a bit incredulous about it...

But, that didn't stop me from buying lots of fun things once they opened the door! (I know I know, what about the spending freeze Katie? Shhhh...don't mention that right now! Its still on...but I need most of this stuff to complete some projects, except the journaling pages. I didn't need those...oops!)

Lots of different sized page protectors...the trading card sized ones were waaay cheaper at Staples than the scrapbook ones. But because they are for trading cards, they are also acid free and archival!

These day planner pages caught my eye as a fun way to add journaling to a layout. I can't wait to use them!

I got some of these envelopes and scalloped cards for Christmas and I love using them. I picked up some Valentine's Day themed ones!

I also picked up tons of index cards and index card dividers for this project that I found on Pinterest:

I'm really excited that mine is almost done! I wish I had picked up a date stamp though, I wrote all the dates in on my index cards by hand, and used my calendar stamps to decorate the dividers. So far, I did January and February, but then I stopped for dinner! (Um, I'm not sure why these photos are upside down)

Well, I'm off to work on this rainy Monday morning. I hope everyone has a great day!

Scavenger Hunt Sunday {1 22 2012}

Sunset

 I confess. I didn't take this shot this week. I was planning on getting up early Saturday morning to shoot the sunrise, but it snowed like crazy Friday, and was still snowing Saturday, so you couldn't see it! I thought I'd share this sunrise, that I took this summer instead :)

Black and White

I loved these chandeliers at the Shedd Aquarium!

A Day in my Life

Crafting, one of my favorites :)

Four

Four turtle pictures :)

Colorful

This little frog is so bright orange!

Have a great week!

Take 12: January

Ella Publishing Company is doing a Take Twelve challenge this year. On the 12th of the month, you take 12 photos, then you scrapbook them.

I took the 12 photos, and had them printed out, but I haven't had a chance to scrap them yet! So instead of sharing my layout, I'll share my photos :)

1. Heather - I'd forgotten I had that first picture, but there are the letters in the window!
2. It was just starting to snow.
3. My desk, where I spend most of my time.
4. Eating lunch downstairs, a yummy Jimmy John's sandwich, which they delivered because it was snowing!
5. The campus is getting more covered in snow.
6. Yes, I know the copier is printing a black line, but its still working!
7-8. Driving home in the snow.
9-12. Wandering around by our apartment to take pictures of the snow.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thursday! Which means tomorrow is Friday! It also means that I'm doing laundry tonight, but let's focus on the tomorrow being Friday part instead!