Post-Weekend Randomness

• I heard this song for the first time this weekend, and I loved it! I had to go to YouTube and find the video..I love the wide view, but its covering my blog favs right now...still learning this blogging stuff, lol

Aren't the two little ones at the beginning cute? This would be nice for a wedding song!

• I got the chance to finish Kimberla Roby's latest book!

I really could not put it down! Book review coming on this one soon...

• It was really nice to crack the car window for a change...I missed that...
• Working on an accordion book...still really rough, y'all. I KNEW I should've gotten TWO pieces of THAT patterned paper. Went to the Michael's tonight, but couldn't find anything close. Have to make another trip to the LSS...way out there...*sigh*
• Finally got the hair done! YIPEE...so glad to get rid of the scrunchie...for now
• Measure twice, THEN cut--famous last words

That's all I have...It's your turn! What little and big things did you do this weekend?

A Star in the Making

A few posts ago, I mentioned a crafty project I was working on while scrapping on New Year's Day. Well, after a little delay, here it is...my first star album!

It's an album I made for my friend Jewel of some of the pics we took while I was in Chicago. She let me stay with her and took me around to see all the sites, so this is a little "thank you" gift.

Please don't look too closely at me inhaling consuming that Garrett's popcorn, lol
I have "flashbacks" everyttime I look at that pic, lol

Email me if you have any questions about any of the papers/embellies you see. I did use the Jolee's Boutique stickers through out the book, along with some papers and stickers I picked up there. Because of the album's size, I used smaller pics. Most of them were 2x3, but I made some of them 3x4 to give the album "pages" variety and to cover the stars/circle paper. I loved the print because it matched my color scheme, but once I got it in the book...not so much. The photo sizes solved that problem! I learned how to make this album at an SDV in VA, but this was the first time I applied what I learned there to a personal project! I like that its different than a traditional album. I love how it turned out so I'll definitely be using this one again soon! Thanks for stopping by and that's all she wrote!

Cheryl

My Words for 2011 (Long Post)

Hi everybody! Hope everyone had a great Wednesday! We're over that hump now, and the weekend is in view!  It's funny how even with a short week, how you can still feel like you've worked the whole time! I'm having a week like that...*sigh* It's okay though...I'm trying to keep my head up and just be grateful, ya know?

Well, this evening I want to tell you about my words for this year. Now I know I'm all late with this, as many bloggers posted about this weeks ago. However, I went back and forth trying to find one that was a good fit for me at this point in my life...before I go any further, let me back up and start at the beginning...Now as much as I like setting goals for myself, I have really become disenchanted with the idea of setting resolutions in the last couple of years. In my 20's, I used to write LONG lists of them in my journals. However, I would start to panic about getting behind on them in February, and become frozen in moving ahead on anything and achieving very little in the 10 months left in the year...has anyone been there? So those SAME goals would end up on my list each year--like a broken record. I didn't feel like I was covering any ground with what I wanted to do in/with my life.

A few years ago, I found out about Ali Edwards' blog and her One Little Word project. I loved how she formed her activities, goals, and even craft projects around her selected word to integrate it into her daily life. So in 2008, I decided on the word maintain. I chose that word because I was unemployed at the time. I didn't expect to experience a lot of personal gains then, but I didn't want to lose ground either.So in a way, it represented stability.  In 2009, my word was excavate. Yea..I know...its a unique word. However, I liked the idea of "chipping" away at "shoulds" and expectations, and get to know myself and discover those unique things that are inside of all of us. God made us like that...I wanted to "chip away" at personal debt and find my way back to financial health, back to goals that I had put on the shelf for "someday," and excavate my home from clutter and things I didn't use anymore...Yep, its a great word! So good, it was my word for  2010 too. I thought about using it this year too. Like a dog with a bone...I didn't want to let it go. However, in revisiting the definition, something struck me funny this time:

ex·ca·vate: to make hollow by removing the inner part; make a hole or cavity in; form into a hollow, as by digging: The ground was excavated for a foundation.

Now as much as I love the word, I didn't like that part about being hollow, smh...so I had to find a new word--something that carried the same meaning of excavate/excavation for me, but had something at its core, a foundation. I saw this and thought this is a good one:

So there you go...recover and rebuild are my main words for this year. 

So I've "talked" long enough, and I want to hear from you!! What is your word of the year, and how/why did you pick it? What are some of the things you want to accomplish with your word? Or borrow mine--is there something you want to "rebuild" in 2011? If you've done a scrapbook page or project using your word, post a link in the comments below so I can check it out! One more thing...like Ali Edwards, I have a secret word as well. In 2010, she selected the word athlete. You can read on her journey with that word here. As for mine, you'll have to come back and see, but I think that leg of the journey will be kinda fun! So if you've gotten to this point (and haven't jumped ship, lol), thanks for hanging in there with me! Stop by again soon!

...And That's All She Wrote

A Little Sweet, A Little Sassy

Hi everyone! Hope you had a great MLK holiday weekend! I'm trying to get back on track with posting, so I wanted to share a couple of things I finished lately--specifically, a couple of diaper cakes. Here's some pics:

Here's a little sweet...

and a little sassy...

So here's the story: A friend/coworker of mine asked me a few months back about making a couple of diaper cake creations. However, as the time grew closer, she found out the two showers were planned for the same day! I've never built two at one time! So imagine me with this expression:

But before I really started to panic, I heard a little voice telling me that I could do it! I'd just have to plan and start on the cakes earlier--to step up my game, so to speak! So I rolled enough diapers for two cakes. My friend knew she wanted one to be a Winnie the Pooh cake for a girl, but we couldn't figure out what to do for the other. Now, I love the traditional cakes, but its really fun to step out of the box sometimes. When I suggested the pink and zebra print theme, my friend Camilla didn't flinch. She liked the idea...Doesn't it make you feel good when people give you that creative freedom to come up with something?? (I was still a little nervous, but don't tell anybody, lol) Camilla, a very crafty person, painted the "K" cake topper! Each cake has around 120 diapers, and a host of goodies inside and outside the cake. Although they were both for baby girls, it was really fun creating two very different themes. My friend loved them, and I hope the moms-to-be loved them too!

 Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek!

...And That's All She Wrote!

Celebrating the Birth of a King...

“Now, I say to you today my friends, even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed:  we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

Remembering the life and legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King

It's Been a Long Time...

Hello blog readers! It feels like a LONG time since I've really had the chance to post here! I don't think I've "talked" to you since last year...Wait, it WAS last year, lol. Just kidding around though...I hope 2011 will be a healthy, prosperous, and fun year for all of you! Lets make it the best one yet!

Before moving forward, I wanted to backtrack a little and tell ya a little bit about the holidays:

• Christmas: Quiet...I spent it with my parents and extended family (aunts, uncles, and my grandma). We didn't really exchange gifts, and I'm glad about that. See, half of my family is unemployed right now. They have to live after Christmas, ya know--bills seem to be due right before or right after Christmas--so that is the priority right now. We had the food (now y'all know we had the food, right?), but it really was great just enjoying the time together. To top it off, we had our first "white" Christmas in decades.
• New Years Eve: Attended Watch Night Services at church with my mom and aunt, to thank God for bringing us through another year. It just feels like I start the year off on a great foundation when I go every year.
• New Years Day: I spent the day scrapping with my friend Randi over at Archivers. We've started the year off this way for the last four years now, so its become a tradition for us. Hopefully, we can get more of our friends to join us next year...And I hope we'll remember to get some hats and noise makers too...Now don't worry, there wasn't any dancing on the scrap tables...this time anyway, lol...I'll show you want I worked on in the coming week. I'm putting on some finishing touches...

Speaking of crafty creations, here's a pic of my New Years card:

It's really a simple card to put together. The penguin is a Quickutz die (it comes with the hat too). After you cut him out and put him together, he can go on any "festive" looking background--perfect for those scraps you   may have (or if you're like me, probably have) around. Plus, if you make a lot of these, you can use the extra cards for birthday cards--just changing the sentiment. I made a few of these, just changing the colors of the cardstock and patterned paper.

I also spent New Year's weekend watching this:

Now why did Oprah have to go and do that?? I think I'm going to be watching a lot...a whole lot. I think it's putting my love jones for HGTV in jeopardy...it's that serious, lol

Before I close this first "real" post of the year, I wanted to acknowledge my new followers out there! Yes (waving), I'm talking to you! Thank you so much for your interest in my blog! In surfing the internet, I now realize how many blogs are out there!! However, you take time out to stop by here, and that means a lot to this NC Peach! (smile) I am excited about this journey into a new year, and sharing that journey with you!

And That's All She Wrote!

My Favorite Quote for 2011 (So Far)

I will not die an unlived life. I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire. I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my living to open me, to make me less afraid, more accessible, to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise. I choose to risk my significance; to live so that which comes to me as seed goes to the next as blossom and that which comes to me as blossom, goes on as fruit.

~Dawna Markova~

Happy New Year!

Best wishes to everyone in the New Year!

 Here's to a great 2011!