make time to dream

another layout from my scrapbook happy weekend!  for this layout i took a diecut page and used it as a screen for some misting with studio calico white.  i really like the effect it gave to the page.  one think i kind of regret doing on this page is putting all the embellies around the pic.  i like pearls and rhinestones, so it is very me, but it feels a bit forced and too symmetrical.  i may go back and change this page up a bit.

~ jess

right now

saw this post over at confessions of a twenty something artist and thought it would be cool to fill out...


'right now'
listening: echo by free chapel - downloaded it from itunes today
reading: still working on redeeming love by francine rivers - almost done
eating: the new lean cuisines recently stocked at my local supercenter
drinking: this wonderful green smoothie - really, it tastes good, i promise!
wearing: my workout clothes, i hate going to the gym but i know it's so good for me
feeling: tired and rejuvenated at the same time if that's possible
weather: chilly this morning with frost on the car, but it was in the mid 60s this afternoon
watching: catching up on my dvr - fringe being what i'm most looking forward to
waiting: for vacation - only a few more weeks
wanting: for spring to get here quicker
needing: to get into the gym more
enjoying: a bit of pampering - eyebrows and hair done last week, facial tomorrow
wondering: when one of my friends will be delivering her baby girl - due today
working: on getting some blog posts up


~ jess

11.11.11

so i finally got around to creating some scrapbook layouts a couple weekends ago.  i was just right on a roll...not sure what happened to all that mojo as i've not created another one since. 

as i was going through all my photos i came across my photos taken at 11:11am and 11:11pm on 11.11.2011 and decided it's as good a time as any to get those scrapbooked.  i used one of my studio calico kits for this layout and all layouts actually that weekend.  sorry i can't say which kit as i'm so far behind with using them up that i no longer remember which is which.

~ jess

organized scrapbooking

Goodness...Two posts in a row!  Maybe I'm finally getting on a roll for this year. So last week I hinted that I'd be posting a project that I worked on that weekend.  Well, I finally took some completed pics of it this weekend so I'm all ready to show it to you.

I have a really small space (old closet) to keep all my scrapbooking products in.  And I used to use that space to actually scrapbook in as well.  But then toward the end of last year I realized that I just hated going into that small space to scrapbook, so I purchased a folding table.  It works out so well to just pull out that table and set it up in my room whenever I want to do some crafting.  But one problem was still that I kept going back and forth to gather products to use.  I was looking for some kind of carrier or storage unit that could store a lot of product that would make it easier by just moving that unit instead of individual items.  When I came across this post on kinsey wilson's blog I knew I had to rush out and buy one!

I had actually never been inside of a Harbor Freight, but I knew there was one right down the road from my office.  Even though I found such a great product there...I'm still not fond of the store.  Anywho, I knew right away that I didn't want to leave mine black and I decided to make the sections gold glitter on the outside and shiny gold on the inside.  This is the part in the story where I could have not shared my mistake with you and happily went along like I'm a perfect crafter...but I'm NOT!!!  Haha.

So, here's a tip, if you want to cover up black with this gold glitter spray paint, I suggest you start with a plain gold first. Anywho, here you can see the paints that I purchased and the box of the storage unit.

I forgot to get a pic before I started so you can see a bit of glitter from these from the wind blowing it. I tried and tried to wait for a non windy day and even tried to use the house to block some of the wind. It worked out in the end as I wasn't trying to paint totally different colors...that could of been a nightmare...lol.

Okay, so here you can kind of see the beginning of my mistake. After I spray painted this one with the gold glitter I was noticing that some of the black was still coming through...not what I was looking for. At this point I should of switched over to the plain gold and then did a final spray with the glitter. But sometimes I just forge ahead without stopping to think. So I kept going with the gold glitter...and just toward the end, guess what!?! Yep, I ran out!!! So I would of had to run to the store 20 miles away to pick up some more of the glitter and I wanted to finish the project that weekend. So I made an executive decision to try and save the project by going over all the pieces with the plain gold. And you know what, it worked. And I ended up really liking the final project. It's not super glittery, but it ended up with a really nice texture.

As I was spray painting I used a mixture of newspaper and old boxes to keep the paint off the grass. And there were quite a few pieces to this storage unit.

No joke, after putting this thing together, the next day my hand/wrist hurt from working with all the screws and nuts. Each divider had to have four each. It took a few more minutes to put together than I thought it would, but it was a really easy project. The top two rounds have 5 dividers and the bottom two have 3 dividers. This was how it showed to put it together, but you could definitely switch it up to work the best for you. I'm fine with the way it's set up.

A top view showing the dividers.

This is how it looks filled up. Every time I use it I find myself adding a few more products to it. And I still have room for more!

This closeup you can see the texture that the glitter spray gave the sides.

A final view of it filled up sitting on my table I pull out to scrapbook on. One thing I'm a bit worried about is that it's a bit heavy after filling it up. I'm sure it was meant to just sit in one spot and every time I move it back and forth between the table and closet I have this fear it's going to fall apart...or things are going to fall out. So I've been extra careful about moving it.

I would definitely recommend this product to someone looking for a storage unit for their crafting space. It is $20 which is I think is a pretty good price. I did spend the extra money on the spray paint, but I bought the glitter paint at Michaels with a 40% coupon and bought the plain glitter paint at Walmart. If I had the space, I could definitely see having two of these...but a bigger crafting space is something that currently only appears in my dreams ;-)

Have a great day and enjoy some crafty goodness!

~ Jess

daily pics 01.17.2012 - 01.22.2012

Another week of January has just flown by.  I hate to see time move so swiftly, but in a way, I'm a bit excited.  You see Spring is my favorite season, so I love that we are getting closer and closer to it.

No pics from Monday.  I have decided that evening what I was going to take a pic of but for some reason never got around to it.

tuesday - 01.17.2012

Have you ever used a Butter London nail polish? I LOVE them. Now, they are rather expensive at $14 a bottle, but I try to get them when Ulta has a sale. Also, I only try and buy colors that are not easily duped by cheaper brands. This color - the black knight - was part of a set. I must say, this is the worst formula of a Butter London polish I've ever applied. It was very thick and if you tried to apply a sheer coat, it streaked and dried so fast it would literally pull the polish back off of the nail. However, with several thick coats, it is a very beautiful color. The pic lacks showing the true dimension of the color and also the fact that the glitter pieces are teal and pink. I don't know that I'd recommend purchasing this color unless you have the patience to deal with thick glitter polish. Also, it was one of the worst ones I've tried to take off my nails.

wednesday - 01.18.2012

So when I was doing a bit of grocery shopping the other night I found this Healthy Choice Top Chef steamer entree. I happened to be at a Walmart near work, which I don't shop at often. It's always fun to see what items they have the Walmart by my house does not carry. I was very surprised at how yummy this was and will definitely be repurchasing...actually, I bought another one this weekend for lunch this coming week ;-)

thursday - 01.19.2012

The other day I caught a glimpse of these chips in a pic posted by a facebook friend. I'd never even heard of them but once I saw them I had to get my hands on them. You see I really, really LOVE dill pickles. I thought for sure Walmart would have them, but after going to a Supercenter and Neighborhood Market I came up empty handed. But I finally found them at a small grocery store called Price Cutter. And I must say, they were definitely worth the effort of trying to find them. I can't eat too many in one sitting, but they are very addicting in that I find myself grabbing a few all throughout the day.

friday - 01.20.2012

This is just a quick pic I took right before walking out the door to meet up with some friends Friday night. We all met up at Firehouse Subs, which was really good (I'd only been one other time). The best part was the coke machine they had though. It's called a Coca Cola Freestyle and it's a touch screen machine that has 125 different options. I had 1/2 coca cola with raspberry and 1/2 coca cola with lime. It was really good. I may have to stop back by there again soon.

saturday - 01.21.2012

Just another quick pic I grabbed of myself right before church Saturday night...

sunday - 01.22.2012

I can hardly believe it, but Saturday and Sunday I scrapbooked 7 layouts! Seriously people, this is epic for me. That's probably more than I created last year all combined. While I love scrapbooking, I usually just make cards more often. So as I was working on the layouts I pulled down all my AC thickers - holy cow I have a lot of them. But you know what, on a couple layouts I was wishing I had more...LOL!

I promise I'll have more blog posts coming up besides just these daily pics!

ps - if you use blogger, have you been having issues when creating blog posts? it keeps kicking me out saying i've signed out from another location and it is really annoying... it means it takes many attempts to get a post up...

~ Jess

daily pics - 01.09.12 - 01.15.12

Another week gone in 2012!  Already 1/2 way through January!  OH MY!!!...where does the time go!?!

Here's a look at my life in daily pics from last week...

monday 01.09.2012

Finally made it back to the gym! I even recorded my time and was going to do a small post showing how much exercise I got in this past week. Well I'll tell you now that I only exercised for 30min for the entire week! It was just such a crazy busy week that I only made it into the gym once :-( I'm going to try to do much better this week!

tuesday - 01.10.2012

Monday I was wanting something to brighten up the dreary winter day. Although I will admit we've been having unseasonably warm weather this winter. In fact it's hard to believe it's only January and not April. I found this lovely shade of buttery warm sunshine at Ulta. It's Pippa by Zoya. This is the 2nd bright yellow polish I've purchased, the other being from Sally Hansen. For some reason, bright yellow must be a bit difficult to create in a polish because I found both brands to be very thick. Other than than one complaint, this was a lovely color.

wednesday - 01.11.2012

Just a pic of the outfit I wore to work and church on Wednesday.

thursday 01.12.2012

I'm going to be brave and admit something right here and now... I'm a nail polish addict!!!...can't.stop.buying! Last month I purchased a nail polish rack for my wall that holds 96 bottles of polish (like the ones at nail salons). I figured that I'd probably fill it up about 1/2 way. NOOOO. It's full to capacity and I've had to start storing the rest of the polish on my desk. I think I'm up to about 105 bottles. So the yellow zoya and this lovely red (essie really red) were both purchased this week. Ulta really should quit giving me coupons! I've never really been one to wear red polish, but for some reason lately I've been wanting the perfect shade of bright red polish...and this is it! I'm on day 5 with this polish with minimal chipping. It will probably be coming off tonight, but I think I'll be getting a lot of use out of this bottle.

friday - 01.13.2012

Friday it was a bit chilly here. Okay, it was only in the 30s, but that feels chilly after all the 60s we've been having. So I thought it was a perfect opportunity to pull out this cute hat I'd purchased last month. It may look a bit silly, but it is definitely warm!

saturday - 01.14.2012

I completely blame pinterest for this outfit. I keep seeing people pin red/pink/orange clothing combos and am LOVING it!!! So I thought I'd try an attempt at it. Success. Yeah, I think I'll be trying this out again.

sunday - 01.15.2012

One of my goals for this year is to read more. I think I mentioned this in one of my prev posts. So this is book two for January reading. I just started it last night. And it was pretty late when I started reading, so I only made it through the first chapter (it's kind of a long first chapter). So far I'm really interested. I've never read anything by Francine Rivers, but I'm loving her writing style. Chapter 1 covers a bit of ground and definitely lays a riveting foundation...so I can't wait until tonight when I can get through a few more chapters. I'll be doing a review at the end of the month of all the books I'm able to read through. So be sure to look for that...

~ Jess

daily pics - 01.02.12 - 01.08.12

goodmorning.  i usually don't care for monday's...okay, who am i trying to kid...i usually hate monday.  that dreaded start back to the work week.  no more weekend fun.  but idk...something about today feels different.  it feels fresh and full of possibility.

so far in 2012 i've not quite kept up with the goals i wanted to.  i didn't sit down and write out a list of resolutions, but i do have a mental list of a few things to try and accomplish this year.  one thing that usually spells defeat is when i begin to realize i'm not meeting a goal instead of hunkering down and working harder on that goal i just give up.  this year i'd like to remember that not only is each day a fresh start but truly that each moment, that is each second can be a new start.

life is short, i want to live it to the fullest as much as i possibly can and enjoy every moment.

this morning i thought i'd get you caught up on my daily pics from this past week.

01.02.12 - monday

i've tried greek yogurt several times and just haven't cared for it's thick tanginess. but after years of thinking yoplait was the best, i've been loving some organic brands like brown cow, stoneyfield farm and wallaby. so i thought i'd go ahead and give greek yogurt another try. omg. this stuff is divine. and when i use the word divine to describe foods, that means to me it is the best of the best. so now i'm on a journey trying all different kinds of greek yogurt, but so far, the one pictured above has been my favorite. if you enjoy greek yogurt too, leave me a comment letting me know what your favorite brand/flavor is so i can try it too!

01.03.12 - tuesday

idk if the best thing they did for cars was to add the low gas light or if it was the worst. my first car didn't have an indicator light and after a costly lesson (which i'll share one day w/ you guys) i learned that when the indicator gets down to 1/4 of a tank i should start looking for a station to fill it up to be on the safe side. but with the car i have now...i've gotten into the habit of waiting for that little light to come one. and usually my indicator still shows about an 1/8 of a tank when i get gas, but this morning it was sitting on "e" when i pulled into the gas station and that was a bit scary. i kept wondering if i was going to make it or if i'd have to call someone to bring me gas.

umm....i'm not sure why there is no pic for wednesday. i didn't do anything special...just worked.

01.05.12 - thursday

do you live in an area with a lot of trains? oh.my.goodnes. it seems like they are everywhere here around where i live. no joke, on a daily basis i probably pass over train tracks at least 8 times, if not more. and so i often find myself, as i did thursday night, sitting at a crossing waiting for the train to make up it's mind which direction to go. i know they are moving the cars around, adding to and taking away...but it sooooo irks me when they are just past the intersection while they are doing this. i know, i know, they don't do it on purpose, but it's just one of those annoying things that gets to me. this night i finally gave up after watching the train go back and forth about 10 feet a dozen times and finally stopping for who knows how long. it meant i had to go a bit out of my way, but i was just tired of waiting for it to move!

01.06.12 - friday

friday was a very rough day. i don't want to go into the details and i'm not sure i'll really ever share it on this blog because it was a tragedy involving a family i don't really know, but it did affect me and makes me realize how precious life is and to take advantage of it. this pic was from later that day. i was getting ready to go out and snapped this just as i finished getting ready. i had dinner with friends at a local place that specializes in wings and we watched the first part of the cotton bowl since our beloved hogs were playing. then during half time we drove over to a yogurt shop and enjoyed some yummy frozen goodness while watching the finale of the game. which was an awesome game as we won! wps!!! (that's wooo pig sooie for those who aren't razorback fans or familiar w/ the term) it was a really good ending to my day to have a great night out with some of my closest friends.

no pic for saturday either. i actually did take some pics, but it was of a crafting project that i worked on and i'll share those pics later this week.

01.08.12 - sunday

i love breakfast. it's one of my favorite meals. but i also really, really love sleep, which means during the work week breakfast is usually something pretty quick. but on the weekends i like to indulge a bit. i always keep those muffin mix packets on hand, not to make muffins, but because on the back they give directions on how to use the mix to make pancakes! so sunday morning breakfast was chocolate chip pancakes with some turkey bacon...and it was yummy!...and no, i did not eat all those pancakes. there was enough left to enjoy during the week too.

take care and i'll talk to you later!

~ jess

busy first week of january

Good morning!  How is your week going along so far?  Hard to believe we are at the half-way point.  Because I was off work on Monday, yesterday and today I woke up confused as to the day.  Looking forward to the weekend.  I have a crafting project I'm wanting to work on that involves spray paint.  It was too windy to work on it last weekend.

Anywho...just wanted to give you a heads up that I might not have any more posts on the blog this week.  A bit busy with work.  Not sure if I've shared this before, but I'm an Art Director for a furniture company.  This week we are having some catalogs printed and I have to be at the printer to approve the color as it's printed.  So lots and lots of trips to the printer, which means not so much time for crafty projects or blog updating this week.  I'll try to get some more posts up, but just wanted to let you know why I might be mia...

~ jess

01.01.2012 photo

i love to read.  i'm not sure when this love began, but it was definitely somewhere in early childhood.  that wonderful feeling of seeing the words pop of the pages of the book and turn into these magical stories.  for me, i'd probably rather read a book than watch a movie any day.  part of the reason is that when you read a book, even if the author gives you lots of details, you, as the reader, are able to take those and visually create your own interpretation.  with a movie, it's all done for you and there is no creativity you can add to it.

so my first photo of the new year is of me with my nose in a book right before bed. it's the time when i really have no excuses not to read.  the only downside is if it's a really good book i might not get as much sleep as i need because i can not seem to put the book down.  but i'm glad i'm back to my guilty pleasure.

in 2011 i didn't finish a single new book.  i think i must of started half a dozen.  looking at my bookcase i have over 30 books of fiction that i've yet to read and probably a dozen devotionals.  so one of my goals for this year is to work my way through these books and discover lots of new adventures!

~ jess

2012 - a fresh start

oh my goodness.  i'm a bit embarrassed at my absence.  you see, i was getting a bit obsessed with facebook/youtube/blogging for a bit and i decided to stop my youtube channel.  i was just going to focus more on my blog.  but then, when i stopped youtube, i found that i just didn't have the desire to really blog anymore either.  i was putting so much pressure on myself to get everything just right that i'd lost the joy of blogging.  so in the end, i just dropped it all.

and you know what, it was kind of what i needed for the time.  i've been busy at work and then i came down with a cold and i was stressing my body so much that i couldn't get rid of that sickness.  after having the cold for a month i finally went to the dr and after shots and meds i'm finally over it, thank goodness.

so here it is, a new year - 2012!  it's hard to believe how quickly time flies.  but with the fresh start of the year, i feel like it's time to give my blog a new start.  i have a lot of ideas for the new year of things to blog about.  one thing is i'm taking two classes this year that will prompt some blog posts i'm sure... studio calico's photo a day and ali edwards' one little word.  i'm pretty excited about both of these classes.  and the word that i've chosen for ali edwards' class i'm hoping will push me to see some goals through this year.

so if you have been following my blog for a while now or are just stumbling across it, i hope you keep coming back to share this experience we call life in 2012!

~ jess