mem oirs (mem'warz)
n.pl. 1. an autobiography 2. a record of events based on the writer's personal observation and knowledge

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Christmas Banner

Yes, Christmas is over. But if you're like me, you like to store away ideas for next year.

So here's an idea for you!

I created a hybrid banner from JessicaSprague.com-- a steal of a dollar deal back in November!

I actually made several of these to give as gifts, and on my own I took a little extra time to jazz it up with some distress Stickles (have you tried these out???) in Aged Mahogany and regular stickles in Xmas Red. I love the extra bling it gave to the banner!

Stash this idea away for next year, or better yet... get started on it now!

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Wordless Wednesday

(found a minute to share a project w/ you!)

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Merry Christmas!

Hello my friends...

Thanks for sticking with me! I imagine you have a busy holiday season as I do.

I'm trying to not be over-busy, though. The days are short and I try to make the most of the time I have with my kids who are old enough to keep me on top of all the fun traditions we enjoy this month.

And we're trying to focus on the birth of Christ to keep us centered.

So as much as I love blogging, I may be away for the next few weeks. I will be doing some updates to my family blog as a part of our annual Christmas card/letter, but I may not make it back here until the new year.

Until I'm back, I pray that you too can take time to enjoy the season and celebrate the birth of Christ. Enjoy food, fun, friends, family and a little frivolity!

And I hope to see you sooner rather than later! I'm crafting away in these holidays, so I hope to find time to share a bit of it!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Friday, November 26, 2010

Friday Fave-- GWAP (Gifts With a Purpose)

There are several great ways to spend money on gifts this Christmas that will benefit more than just the recipient... my favorite this year? The Abbey Project.

Abbey Mae was a sweet little girl who was only three days older than my own oldest daughter. Abbey and Sadie were a part of a fabulous dozen of children born about the same time in our community. So we got to know Abbey at our regular playdates.

Just a couple of months before Abbey turned three, Jesus took her home after a tragic pool accident. We've missed Abbey ever since.

I have been AMAZED at the choices Abbey's mom, Amy has made to trust in God and continue to live with joy and a positive outlook after the tragedy. Amy is a pillar of strength and I'm blessed to be her friend. :)

The Abbey Project is a service mission to keep Abbey's memory alive and help people who need it. Currently, Amy is crocheting hats for sale and the money will go toward needs in their community.

You've got to see these hats! They are super adorable and I've already made one order (came in the mail today... I'm just DROOLING!). But I can't show you the hats because the recipients read my blog. ;) I plan to make another order soon to get myself one of these beauties.

Here is just one of the large variety of hats she makes for children up through adults. (And the photos are taken by my fabulous friend Becky who is a great photographer if you need one in NW Washington!)

Go visit Amy's site and read her story. And possibly you'll want to place an order too. Get a GWAP for someone on your gift list this Christmas!

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Be Still

I've been overwhelmed and anxious recently... realizing that I'm in over my head when it comes to my over-scheduled days.

Most things I've been doing are GOOD-- regular exercise, taking time for kids homework/AWANA verse memorization, meeting with small groups in christian fellowship, etc.

But one key priority I've let slip away for awhile. It's the time I should be spending being STILL and knowing God.

I've been blessed to have little retreats over the last few years where I take time to listen for God while I'm I'm located in a scenic and quiet location of God's creation. Unfortunately, these once a year visits cannot grow my relationship with God enough. I would most benefit my walk with Him by taking time every day. At home. Among the busyness.

So my goal is to find a bit of time each day to BE STILL. To add to my current prayers during chaos and reading of the word while other things are going on. I believe I need to have complete quiet to really hear from God.


I created a layout to remind me of this (instead of a string around my finger, it will be framed in my dining room where I'll see it many times each day). I trust that seeking God each day He will remind me that He is the great "I AM"... he's everything I need to get through each day. I use Psalms 46:10 on my layout.

This layout was in response to a challenge at Nana Campana's "My Paper Tree House" Blog. I have been so blessed to "meet" Nana via her blog and see her passion for seeing God's fingerprints on all elements of her life. It's become the center focus for her scrappy business and I would love to use my scrappy skills to grow my relationship with God the way she is. Thanks for the inspiration, Nana!

Friday, November 19, 2010

Friday Fave-- Top 5 from a Recent Shoot

So, I was lucky enough to get to take more photos of my adorable niece and her family this last week.

And since I can't pick just one (although I think this first one is my very fave), I thought I'd share my top 5 favorites with you.




Isn't their family just adorable???

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Monday, November 8, 2010

Crazy Run

If you would have asked me a year ago if I'd run a 5K I would have laughed at you. Hard. And then I'd have said a firm NO.

But I have this friend...

She's so inspiring! And encouraging... just enough to push you to try but not enough to push you away. It's a good thing. :)

And when you're around her you can't help but think that running might just be fun. I'm not sure I think it's fun, but I've learned to enjoy it enough that I ran a second 5K on Sunday night.

With my inspiring friend Harmony beside me. She's the greatest. Wish I'd had my other running partner Amy with me that night too! (Insert her blog address here... once we finally convince her that she needs one!) She doesn't really love running either, but we like that running is good for us so we've kept it up for months now...(months!!!) but Sunday she was recovering from the great Barf-O-Rama at her household... yuk. :)

Do you want to be inspired to do something good for yourself? And to look at life through the eyes of a loving mom, wife and true follower of Christ? And win cool "bloggy prizes" for runners? Then you've got to visit Harmony's blog. You'll be blessed if you do!

Come to think of it, I never got around to posting photos from my first 5K in August for Children's Hospital that I blogged about HERE... so here's some photos from the first big run! I got to run with my sister that day and it was such a joy to be with family for a great cause. I'd do it again in a heartbeat! (Get it? Mya and the Heartbeats...)

Friday, November 5, 2010

Friday Fave-- John Deere Gear

My son loves tractors. Anyone who knows him KNOWS he loves tractors.

So we also like clothing that talks about tractors or has tractors on it.

Here's my son's favorite shirt.
Sad story-- he was being cared for by lovely people who were generously giving their time to help me. But they gave my son craft paint that was not washable and he got it all over his favorite shirt. Glittery paint. And I can't get it out. (I even scrubbed it with one of those magic erasers-- those things are incredible and have saved me from other art supply mishaps, but no luck on fabric.)

Guess we need to keep our eye out for a new shirt, but does anyone have any ideas on how to get paint out of clothing?

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Friday, October 22, 2010

Friday Fave--White Bean, Sausage and Pasta Soup

Well, I believe our lovely fall weather is leaving us. It will be rainy and cold this next week, and something tells me that our 70+ degree weather from earlier this week will not be returning until next spring.

That can only mean, my friends, that we make ourselves happy with soup. :) I'm prepping to make a pot of our family favorite tonight!

And here's the recipe in case you'd like to warm up with a hearty, kid-friendly pot of soul warming soup!

White Bean and Pasta Soup


1 ½ cups dry great northern beans
¾ lb. bulk sausage
1 med. onion, chopped
1 lg. carrot, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
6 cups chicken broth
3 cups water
1 tsp. dried basil
1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 cup uncooked small shell pasta
Grated parmesan cheese

Place beans in a dutch oven or soup kettle; add water to cover by 2 in. Bring to a boil; boil for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat; cover and let stand for 1 hour. Drain and rinse beans, discarding liquid.

In the same pan, cook the sausage, onion, carrot and garlic over medium heat until the meat is no longer pink; drain. Add the broth, water, basil and beans. Bring to a boil, Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 1 ½ to 2 hours or until the beans are tender, stirring occasionally. Add the tomatoes and pasta; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until pasta is tender. Serve with parmesan cheese.

Enjoy!

Monday, October 18, 2010

All You Need is Love

I'm back, peeps.

One of the best parts of my annual scrap weekend is my Sunday morning "church service". Our group generally packs up to head out by lunchtime. But since I don't have a long drive home, I spend a little time with God up in the mountains of Idaho.

Just me and God. No one else. (well, the Palouse Divide resident dogs Max and Noser joined me for a portion of my quiet time yesterday). I hike the hill, find a serene and scenic spot and read scripture or a book (yesterday it was Crazy Love by Francis Chan) and pray. Sometimes I sing, too.

Each year God pulls me a little closer to Him. And He reminds me of His great LOVE for me. Undeserved love. And I'm sure thankful for it.

Taking time to remeber God's love always refuels me to love others beyond what they deserve, too. So, because God gives second (and third... and fourth...) chances I'm working at it again: trying to remove worldly distractions that pull me away from Him and instead focus on sharing the love of Christ.

Since it was a scrapping weekend, I'll share a couple of my favorite layouts where I've shared my faith. I hope to do more of that in the future-- passing on what I believe to my kids and anyone else who runs into my scrapwork. Starting with YOU! :)

(I can't show the entire layout for this one... it's out for publication!)

Thanks for stopping by. May you see God's love today.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Friday Fave--Scrapbooking Retreat

I know. It's not Friday.

But that's because on Friday I will be enjoying one of my faves.

A scrapbooking retreat w/ friends at the Palouse Divide. This year happens to be our little group's 10th Annual Scrap Camp event. I wish you could all join us!

I posted about this place last year, and simply believe it's the best place EVER to host a scrapbooking weekend. Peace. Beauty. Laughter.

Leaving this afternoon. I. Can't. Wait.

See you next week!

Wordless Wednesday

(a day late... I simply forgot to post it!)

Monday, October 11, 2010

Guest Posting on My Daughter's SUPER Golden Birthday

When I was chosen to guest post on Liz Qualman's blog last spring, I was excited to see that I was scheduled to be the primary designer for her sketch on this last weekend.

Why? Because our family has been looking forward to this weekend for 10 years.

Ten years ago yesterday I gave birth to my oldest child. Sweet Sadie was born on 10/10/00. It wasn't long after that time when we realized that Sadie girl would turn 10 on 10/10/10! A perfect 10!

I knew my layout for Liz' sketch would feature this super special birthday. Here's her sketch...

 And here's my take. Of course, it features our PERFECT 10 birthday!
We are so blessed to have such a great Sadie Girl and totally enjoyed our celebration for her. We love you Sadie, you'll always be our Perfect 10!!!

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Wordless Wednesday

(I {heart} my hairdresser!)

Friday, October 1, 2010

Friday Fave-- Creative Ways to Make Money

At a ladies craft night I attended awhile back, I got the inside scoop on making money from home.

No. You don't have to sell makeup, kitchen utensils, cleaners or candles.

But you do get to be creative.

Thanks to the internet, there are now many ways to make money from home by doing jobs you may like! A couple web sites I have not yet visited (but you may be interested) are elance.com, demandstudios.com and associatedcontent.com. I think they're mostly writing/editing sites.

But the one I was most intrigued by was Fiverr.com. Have you heard of it?

You can offer to do something for someone (a gig) for $5. The site takes a dollar, and you keep four.

This is where you get creative.

Just what may you be willing to do for $5? There are some crazy gigs listed... deliver a fart sound to your inbox every day for a month...do 20 pushups while wearing random winter clothing and singing "I believe I can Fly"...shave one leg...

Or, they can be really practical and useful ideas...design a logo for your business...star in your movie or film...research or write your college or high school paper... (I'd be skeptical about the quality of these, however.)

So, interested, I came up with a gig. I wanted it to be worth $5 of time (no logo designs from me for that, peeps), but also wanted to use my skills and passion. And I targeted a pet peeve of mine-- bad social networking profile photos.

I like photos that are cropped and colored well and clearly show SOMEONE or SOMETHING on a profile pic. And I'm happy to help people who can't seem to do that on their own.

I created a gig and people are looking. No bites yet, but I'm so curious to see if someone takes me up on my great deal. I even have a widget on my blog to sell my gig. Not sure I'll become a millionare, but I am curious to see if I earn a few bucks with this fun idea!

So, what would you be willing to do for $5?

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Friday, September 10, 2010

Friday Fave-- Candice Stringham Class

"Oh, Shoot!"
It's a great photo class by Candice Stringham via the JessicaSprague.com site! I'm on week one of 7 in a great DSLR camera class. I'm going to learn how to "officially" get great shots on my camera. ;)

 This week we're learning about shutter speeds and how that can depict motion in a photo. Here's some practice shots I have taken:

Bike Fast shutter speed:
Camera: Nikon D40
Shutter Speed:1/500
Aperture: f/9.0
ISO: 200
Focal Length: 50 mm



 Bike Slow shutter speed:
Camera: Nikon D40
Shutter Speed: 1/30
Aperture: f/32.0
ISO: 200
Focal Length: 50 mm


Fountain Fast shutter speed:
Camera: Nikon D40
Shutter Speed: 1/500
Aperture: f/11.0
ISO: 800
Focal Length: 35 mm



Slow shutter speed:
Camera: Nikon D40
Shutter Speed: 1/30
Aperture: f/32.0
ISO: 800
Focal Length: 35 mm


 So far, it's easier than I thought to switch up settings instead of leaving my camera (mostly) on Auto. Looking forward to learning more!

As an unrelated (yet a bit related) subject, do you have a doppelganger? As I've taken this class w/ Candice, I'm eerily seeing someone I know.
Here's a shot of the lovely Candice Stringham. Isn't she adorable?
 And here's a shot of my friend, Kara Telgenhoff. Do you see a resemblance like I do? They're both so beautiful!
If you think of it, please take a minute to pray for my lovely friend Kara. She's a young wife and mom and was recently diagnosed with a serious cancer. She starts some hefty chemo treatments this week. I can't imagine being in her shoes, but I know she will trust in the Lord and fight to get through this tough battle. Praying for you, Kara!