Embracing the Camera-Feb 24th

This picture was taken back last summer and I just ran across it on my computer. I love my little family!

*I always welcome sweet comments and new followers. Check back for my upcoming giveaway beginning on March 1st*

Mini scrapbook giveaway winner...

The winner of the Valentine scrapbook giveaway is...

...drumroll please...

Miss L from Lessons from La Frontera who said

"Hi Amanda! This project of yours is too cute! I'm taking notes for the future, as I don't have a "special" valentine right now. Lucky me, I have 10 this year! (Ahem, that would be my students.) I teach in a self-contained unit for children with autism, and of course we celebrated the day in style yesterday. My favorite special Valentine's moment this year was when one of my formerly non-verbal students came up to me and asked to take a Valentine's Day picture with me! So exciting to see his transition from non-verbal to seeking social interaction this year!"

I will be emailing you later for contact information. Be checking back for another giveaway beginning on March 1st!

Thank you to everyone who participated in the giveaway. The winning number was selected by random.org.

*Check back later for a picture of the finished project!*

Project Life...

So around Thanksgiving of last year I decided to take the plunge and purchase my very own Project Life kit from the incredible Becky Higgins.

If you've never seen it you really need to check it out. It is genius in a box. There are all these cute little cards for journaling and decorating, a spot for a picture a day, a date stamp, page protectors, a beautiful binder. EVERYTHING.

The main concept is to take a photo a day and then journal about them.

I thought about doing that.

And then realized that I really sucked at it.

So I decided to use the materials as just a generic annual family album.

One of my favorite things about the album is that is has these beautiful month dividers, so if I want to look at February pictures I just turn to the February section of the scrapbook via the nifty divider tabs. It is also in a 3-ring binder so nothing is stopping me from adding my own traditional scrapbook pages throughout the book. Like I said, genius.

So I finally got around to printing off my photos from January-Valentine's Day. I used mostly 4x6 photos but I followed this tutorial from one of my favorite bloggers, Erin at Sunny Side Up. She does a fabulous job of explaining how to create 2 wallets from a 4x6. You get 2 2x3 pictures out of each 4x6 which cuts down on printing cost. And I found that if I just selected wallet size in the printing options they were much too small. Erin's technique works perfectly. They are the perfect size for the spots in the middle.

I just trace a journaling card around the photo to round the edges and stick it in the album.

I am almost caught up through January with the journaling. I hope to get totally caught up this weekend, but I wanted to show you a little bit of what I have been working on.

(this is what my living room table has been looking like this week)

Here are the pages that I have completed so far for this year:

(album and cover page)

(pages 1 & 2, but I collaged them backwards for some reason)

(pages 3 & 4 . again, backwards, oh well)

(pages 5 & 6...why are all my collages backwards!! epic fail!)

I love that Becky provides a date stamp in the kit. It makes it so much easier to remember exactly what day something happened!

Since I didn't take a lot of pictures in January, and I didn't get to take any of when I wrecked my car, I scrounged up some coordinating scrapbook paper, cut it to size, and used it as a background for the business card of the collision center that worked on my car. I then used one of the tabbed journaling cards to journal about the wreck itself. Worked perfect. This is a great example of how versatile this kit is.

I am really pleased at how it is coming along!

DON'T FORGET! The give-away for the Valentine's mini closes at midnight TONIGHT! Check out my post here to read the rules and to comment and qualify!

Happy Friday everyone!

The weekend has arrived!

I am linking up here today to showcase my sweet-tea idea from my 14 Days of Love.

Embrace the camera...Feb 17th

It's time to

with Emily over at 3 boys and a little lady.

You've already seen this photo. Just yesterday as a matter of fact. But in honor of getting in front of the camera I think this is the biggest accomplishment of the week.

In the last few weeks I have lost 12 pounds and am almost halfway to my goal weight of 118. It has been an amazing, trying, tear-filled, cheese puff-less, journey. So I wanted to take a moment to gloat about myself. You can follow mine and L's weight-loss journey by checking out any of my Blubber Butt Chronicles posts.

I am definitely embracing the camera this week!

I love, lOvE, LOVE comments, so feel free to leave one below..

and if you follow me I WILL follow back!

Now,

Project Life is calling my name.

More about that later.

Blubber Butt Chronicles...oh wow!

I know that I usually post my Blubber Butt posts on Mondays but with Monday being Valentines Day it just didn't work out and then yesterday I blogged about Valentines Day and the awesome giveaway that I am having (scroll to the bottom of the linked post to find the rules and to comment) that I just didn't have to time to blog about our weight loss too.

So sue me.

I also wanted to take a little bit of time and actually blog about our weight loss journey. It seems like every week something else is going on and the whole weight loss thing kinda gets thrown in the middle somewhere. It totally does not deserve that. It has been kind to me. It deserves recognition. So let me recognize.

This whole journey has been a whirlwind.

I sound like I am at the end of the trip when really I am not even halfway. But I just feel...dare I say it? different.

I posted before of how I no longer feel controlled by food. I have prayed Romans 14:20 so many times over the last 7 weeks that I am sure my husband repeats it in his sleep. If my dog could talk it would probably be the first thing she'd say since she is with me so many times when I want to reach for the dang Cheez-it box and stopped myself by chanting it.

It really was a life changer for me.

Over the last several weeks I have consistently lost weight. It may have only been a pound or two but it was still something.

The hardest times come when I am alone or at the store and I know dinner is still a couple of hours away. I want so bad to reach for that bag of Cheese Puffs (I'm noticing a trend here with cheese) or that bag of honey roasted almonds (which was my temptation today). But somehow, and it is only by the strength of God that it's possible, I resist.

It seems like everywhere I look God is putting things in front of me to keep me true to my journey. I think the biggest difference between this weight loss goal and previous ones has been 1.accountability with L, and 2. a spiritual change.

I never thought I needed to trust God with my body.

I'm a big girl, I can turn down those Doritos on my own!

Well, obviously not doofus or I wouldn't have checked in at 146 lbs. My largest weight ever.

I had to give it to God.

It hasn't been easy though. Some days all I want is to go somewhere buy some chips and some Reese cups and sit on the couch and veg. Last week was one of those weeks where I really thought I was just going to throw in the towel. It all started last Monday when we found out we were getting a pretty significant pay cut. Then L found out that her wedding venue had left town and took her paid in full check with it. The rest of the week just had a sort of stink to it. Everyday I woke up feeling fatter and fatter and wanting more and more fatness to put in my stomach.

I finally had to drop to my knees and give it to God.

I felt even worse the next day.

It was almost like God was testing me...saying "how much do you really want this. If you want it bad enough you will deal with the junk that goes with it. There will be good days and there will be crappy days. I am with you through them all."

I think it was probably at weigh in on Monday when I weighed it a whopping 135.4 pounds! that I finally started feeling okay with things again. I started logging my food again and I started forcing myself to exercise.

I don't do the treadmill everyday, but I do think about it everyday, which is way more that I used to do.

So yeah, I have lost 11 lbs. Amazing. I can't believe that I am so close to being in the 120's again.

L weighed in at 129 so she was pretty ecstatic! And even though I was sooo happy for her. That was great motivation too, I WANT to be in the 120's again! And soon!

I have had some triumphs along the way too though.

A renewed sense of control in my life when it come to food.

A closer dependence on God.

And I'm back in my size 6 jeans! I was a size 10 when we started this whole thing in January.

On Saturday, I was needing to run errands and my regular jeans were dirty. The size 10 ones. When I cleaned out my closet back in December I got rid of most of the things that were too small except for a select group of size 6 things. A couple pair of jeans were included in this. I wasn't expecting much but I took a leap of faith, went and got a pair, and lo and behold...they fit! And they were even loose!

I'm so stinking proud of myself!

My plan has been pretty simple:

Cheerios and tea for breakfast: 100 calories

Salad with fat free Balsamic dressing and some sort of tuna or chicken salad: 200 calories

Jif-on-the-Go peanut butter cup for a snack: 250 calories

and that leaves me with about 650 calories for dinner.

I eat lighter during the day because I don't want to starve Landen to death and I like having the freedom if we want to go out or something.

As far as exercise goes I try to exercise 3-5 times a week either doing a video or doing stuff on the treadmill.

I still have a long way to go before I reach my goal weight. But now, more than even before, I feel like I can reach my goal weight. I am not going to destroy the work of the Lord for the sake of food. (that's the verse I was talking about earlier)

So now, lets see the pictures.

I actually feel pretty skinny in this picture.

and now for L who is looking amazing!

thank you so much for all of the encouragement that you guys have been!

I love checking my blog each day and seeing y'alls smiling faces!

A valentine, a tutorial, and a GIVEAWAY!!!

14 Days of Love.

I can't believe it's over.

I had such a fun time creating gifts for my awesome hubby and watching him get so giddy every time I handed him a new package to open.

I already have big ideas for next year, including a cute little paper mache mailbox I got on clearance!

For day 14 I stole an idea that I saw in a magazine at the beauty salon (BHG maybe?) and I knew I just had to try it.

Behold, the day 14 gift.

My binder rings were a little on the small side so I am going to buy bigger ones and redo that part but all-in-all it turned out great and he was really pleased!

At one point I was trying to get him to put it down so that I could tell him something and he said "No! You spent a lot of time on this and I am going to spend a lot of time looking over it! You deserve it!

*Insert beaming face here*

This cute book is super easy to make, but there is a little bit of time involved because I had to cut out a lot of little cardstock pieces. 53 of both the red and the black. But it only took me about an hour and half to complete the whole project.

Here's the step by step process.

1. I bought a deck of cards at the Dollar Tree (2 decks for $1- shhweeett!)

Then I inked the edges, wadded them up, spit on them (not really), and did anything else that would make them look all old and distressed.

I cut down my cardstock to the appropriate sizes and then matted the black on top of the red. I found this amazing product at my local craft store called Chalkstock! It comes in both 12x12 sheets and tags! I was super pumped! 3 sheets of 12x12 will do the job and I think I used 4 sheets of 12x12 red cardstock.

All that was left to do was write my little sentiments with a white gel pen, attach them to the cards, make my cover, punch the holes with my Crop-A-Dile and put the binder rings in the holes.

Super cuteness!

And he loved it!

This doesn't have to be just a Valentines gift. It would work great for birthdays, anniversaries, or just about anything!

If you make one I'd love to see your versions!

And last but not least: GIVEAWAY TIME!

The giveaway will run from today (February 15th) through Friday, February 18th @ 11:59pm

I've been working crazy hard to complete my 14 Days of Love Valentine mini scrapbook.

At first I was going to include a page for each day but I changed my mind due to the lack of people linking up. I decided to make it more versatile and do a generic Valentine mini. You could totally still do a 14 day album if you choose.

Giveaway rules:

Leave a comment on this post about either

1. A special Valentine's moment with a loved one.

or

2. Something you would like to see me blog about.

or

3. What you would do with the album if you won.

YOU CAN EARN EXTRA ENTRIES IF YOU:

refer my blog to someone, they follow me, and then leave your name as a reference in the comments section!

I am super pumped about my first giveaway and I can't wait to see who responds! Pass the word please!

Thanks to all who linked up throughout the 14 Days and I hope that you enjoyed slowing things down for Valentines day this year and enjoying your loved ones everyday. Don't stop here! Why not do 365 Days of Love? (Oh my!)

You can find me linking this project here:

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Happy Valentine's Day from us to you!

I will be posting day 14 of the 14 Days of love challenge tomorrow as well as details about the giveaway which will also open tomorrow.

It's been a crazy day.

Word's can't explain

but lack of blogging can.

Luckily,

I know you guys are loving and understanding and will check back tomorrow.

Right?

Thanks!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

14 Days of Love Day 13: The perfect one...

While searching for my husbands valentines present I stumbled across the most perfect card I have ever seen.

I got it at our local Family Christian Bookstore and it must have been good because when Landen finished reading it he looked at me and said "I like that a lot!"

I know a card seems like a lame excuse for a gift but when you read it I think you'll understand why I decided to use it as my 13th day of love gift.

Now, my only problem is finding a card I like as much to give him tomorrow!

Now on to something else non-Valentine related.

God has really been convicting me to trust Him lately with some areas of my life that are scary and out-of-my control. Which is not the perfect scenario for a control-freak like myself.

Anyway...

I am about to step out on a leap of faith spiritually. I am about to do a crazy, no-sense whatsoever, Abraham and Isaac, David and Goliath, leap of faith type thing.

I am going to test God and His faithfullness.

I'm not going to go into much detail here, i know, I'm sorry!

But at some point I will open up and let you know what's going on. Let's just say, I hope that my conviction in this area is from God because if not, I'm going to look like some kind of fool.

For real.

So I am enlisting you as prayer warriors in this. Pray that God will answer my test and show up and amaze everyone around us. I have faith in my God. I know that He is in control of everything. I am surrounded by people however who do not feel this way, who are living in fear and uncertainty about what the future holds. My hope, is that my leap of faith will show them how great a God we serve.

Thank you in advance for being willing to covet this in prayer. I am faithful that God will provide.

After all, He has already provided so much!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's day tomorrow!

And if you get a chance I'd love to see your Valentine's ideas so link up below:

*Be checking back for more information about my giveaway scrapbook album*

14 Days of Love: Day-12

I am horrible at surprises.

I mean, I stink at them.

For example: I had planned a surprise overnight trip to Chicago for next weekend as part of Landen's valentine present.

But....big mouth here blabbed and the idea was totally shot down so that we can "save our money" psssh...what's that even mean.

So anyway of course when I went this morning to pick up his actual Valentine's Day gift I couldn't contain myself.

I had to give it to him today.

Good thing is, he loved it!

He already has the MacArthur NKJV version but has been wanting an ESV translation Bible for awhile. I had no idea that MacArthur also had the ESV in study Bible form so I was super stoked when I found it.

And doesn't his name just look fabulous on it?

He was really thankful and it felt good to get him something that I know he will use.

And since we're on the topic...

I also finally bought myself something that I know I will totally use!

I have been wanting one of these for so long! I go through my other adhesive crazy fast so when I got my Michaels coupon this week I knew the time had come.

I brought that pretty little pink thing home!

And the best part of it all:

So all in all it has been a pretty great Pre-Valentine's Day for the both of us!

I would love to see how you are celebrating Valentine's Day with your loved ones!

Link up below!!

Help!

Okay,

here goes.

I am a loser at editing photography.

I have this amazing DSLR camera and I know absolutely zero about taking great photos and then editing them to make them even more great.

So here is where I am asking all of you for help.

Do any of you have any great pointers for

1. getting the most out of my Canon DSLR camera

and

2. editing my photos to make them look amazing.

I would appreciate any help you could give.

I know there are a ton of great photographers out there so share the love!

And I'll be posting day 12 of the 14 Days of Love challenge later on after I actually give it to the hubs.

Thanks!

14 Days of Love-Day 11: A necktie affair

There is one thing about Landen that I can't stand.

I mean I HATE it!

It makes me want to scream...punch something...anything.

His stupid ties.

I mean, he has a ton. And every Christmas it seems like everyone else has the perfect gift, more God-forsaken ties!

I probably wouldn't hate them as bad if it weren't for the fact that they usually end up everywhere else BUT his tie rack in his closet.

Maybe I should do a blog post just on the random places I find his ties.

What do you think?

Anyway

In honor of my hate/hate relationship with his ties I figured I should do something "tie" related.

I'm loving this card. I combined some origami YouTube videos and some creative genius on my part to create this gatefold necktie card. In true Landen style, of course.

Inside I attached a cute little journaling spot letting him know how thankful I am for constantly providing us with financial stability and food (healthy food) for our table. I thank you for the lettuce Landen.

I am going to post a step by step tutorial on how I created this card tomorrow. My stud-muffin, tie-wearin man just got home and I'd like to go smother him with suga.

Happy 11th Day!

Have a cute Valentine project? Link up below!

This says it all!

Happy 10th Day of love!

I loved the whole idea of giving my husband a cheesy Valentine's card!

I'd love to see your acts of love! Link up below!

Embrace the Camera- February 10

It's another Thursday and I am so excited about my embrace the camera photo for this week.

This past weekend I hosted a Valentine's Day party for my besties at my house. Dance videos were made. Sundays were enjoyed. Sugar-hangovers were suffered by all. And needless to say we had a blast! This is my favorite photo from the night. Sorry for the horrible lighting.

Isn't it great that no matter how old you get, when you put a bunch of girls together you can't help but act like you're 12 years old again?

Love it.

14 Days of Love-Day 9: A love letter

What a day this has been.

A couple of weeks ago I made a comment about a stressful situation at work right now. Well needless to say today we got a little bit of bad news regarding a pretty significant cut in pay. Bummer right?

It made it kind of hard to think about a crafty, sweet gift for Landen today. I know that I should be thankful that a pay cut was all it was and that I still have a job but I think I deserve a few moments of aggravation.

With that being said I decided to go wayyyy back to the basics for Landen's gift and I wrote him a love letter. Turns out the basics wasn't such a bad idea because I think it might be one of the most personal gifts I've made. I'm not going to post the exact details of the letter on here but let's just say I teared up more than once while writing about how much I love him.

To create the base for the letter I took like 10 minutes and created a cute little scrapbook mini using one 12x12 sheet of paper and then added some journaling spots to it. The journaling spots became the background for my letter. I loved the look of the letter once I finished. I also thought I would take this time in the blogosphere to just brag on my husband a little. For those who know my husband they know that he is an extremely financially minded man. (With his job I guess it only makes sense). He creates our budget, makes sure I reign it in on my spending so we can stick to that budget, and freaks out when we get below a certain dollar amount in our checking account. These things are all extremely beneficial in our relationship because I am the exact opposite.

However,

Even with all of his money-tightness (dare I say cheapness?) he was still able to encourage me that we will be alright even after my pay-cut. He's the best.

For those who don't know I am currently working as a para-educator in a school district. Basically I am a certified teacher hired in to assist the other teachers with reading groups, co-teaching, etc. The downside to the job is that it is a one-year gig. After this year I will be jobless and back on the interview market for a "real" teaching job. S.t.r.e.s.s.f.u.l.l.

I know that God is going to provide but I find myself getting extremely down in the dumps sometimes about what will happen if I don't get a job next year. All of our conversations revolve around "when you get a teaching job we will...". I'm so so SO sick of it.

But God will provide.

Landen has been nothing but encouragement to me during this time in my life. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have him in my ear constantly telling me how great I am and how much he believes in me. It's nice to be believed in.

I love my husband,

and I hope he knows that.

Happy 9th day of love.

Link up below with your cool projects!

14 Days of Love-Day 8: Word Search

So I don't know about you but we totally love puzzles around here.

Not like jigsaw puzzles; more the word and number kind of puzzles.

So I thought it would only be fitting to do a customized word search puzzle for Landen for his 8th day of love gift.

I found a really cool puzzle creator website (of which I totally forgot the name for so I will add it as soon as I can find it again) and I entered in lots of cute personalized sayings, words, places, etc for him to find. I barely got it out of my hands before he was already starting on it.

Looking forward to tomorrows gift already!

I'd love to see your unique Valentine's gift ideas! Link up below!

14 Days of Love-Day 7: And some blubber butt news too.

*Disclaimer* This is going to be one of those post.

You know the ones that cover like 20 bajillion things at once?

I 'pologize in advance.

Now, on with the show.

The morning began with weigh in for us Blubber Butt girls.

And I forgot my camera again. Poop.

However,

....another one bites the dust, bum bum bum...another one bites the dust.

That's right folk. 137.0 and 9 lbs gone!

(Hold your applause please.)

Now here's the kicker, all I want is Chinese food. I.am.craving.it.

But that's the glory of eating in moderation, and having a stomach virus and not eating anything for the last few days. I am totally allowing myself.

Now, onto Day #7 of the 14 Days of Love Challenge.

Can you believe we're halfway through.

I am love, love, LOVING how Landen has reacted to my little "gifts".

Tonight's is kind of special. This past weekend Landen totally put up with a house-full of 2o-ish year old girls acting like 12 year olds. He sat patiently by while we made crazy dance videos and even blew up the air-mattress when we were about to pass out from a sugar-come. He rocked!

So I decided he needed to have the favor repaid...sorta.

I made him a manly little card and included a tag on the inside with a special message. A day out on the town (or ball court, etc) with his best friend, Drew. I have noticed that my guy needs some guy time. And I think he totally misses his bud (in a complete non-mushy way of course). So I write out a little note telling him that Drew would be contacting him to work out all the details. SCORE! He loved it.

Makes a person feel good to do something for someone else.

Especially when he lets his wife still have slumber parties in her mid-twenties :).

Landen,

You're my fave!

Have a great Valentines Idea? I'd love to see it! Link up below!

14 Days of Love Day 6: Message for a champion

Tonight was the big game!
Go Packers!

And in honor of the big game I honored another champion with a little message of love:

Dear Landen,

Thank you for being the official winner of the Super Bowl game for my heart.

It's yours forever!

Love, me

(I go back to work tomorrow, hopefully, so I will be posting in the evening. Don't forget to stop by and link up! I can't wait to see your projects!

14 Days of Love-Day 5-Top 10

Well I think there might be a light at the end of the tunnel with this stomach flu thing.

And just in time too because I am having a girl's only Valentines Day Party with some of my besties tonight at my house.

You can be sure that pictures will follow.

For today's gift in the challenge I wanted to do something a little more simple for the hubs. It is a lot harder to plan a surprise when he is around all day so I had to steal this time while he's napping to finish up my gift.

I printed off a "Top 10 Reasons I want you to be Mine" list here at loving you.com and I backed it with red cardstock then filled it in with lots of mushy reasons. This website has a lot of cute printables for each season and Holiday.

I think he'll like it. Sometimes we just have to keep things simple around here and to be quite honest, I don't have the strength to do much of anything else. (Boo stomach bug!)

That's okay. I think he will like tomorrow's gift just fine!

Have a project or something sweet you'd like to share! I'd love to see it. Link it up below:

14 Days of Love-Day 4-A cup of tea for my sweet-tea!

Holy moly,

it has arrived.

The stomach virus that is.

I thought I had avoided it.

WRONG!

Luckily, I had an epiphany in the shower last night and was able to whip up my day 4 gift for the Mr. before I went to bed. I definitely would be struggling to do it today.

But anyway, enough woe is me.

I thought I was pumped about all my other gifts so far.

And I was.

Really.

But now, I am so incredibly uber-pumped that I just can't see straight.

It doesn't help that I already gave the gift to Landen this morning and he was so proud that I came up with the idea all on my own.

I told you that he liked tea right?

Well what better for a gift than a cup of tea!

or several cups of tea in a cute little sandwich baggie with cute little matchbox covers! Woot!

I got the basic idea from over at eighteen25 by using her tutorial; you can find it here. I changed my dimension from 3" wide and 5" long.

Then I scored lines 1 inch from the bottom and then 2" up. I stapled my tea bag into the cardstock

and then added just a little adhesive to make a matchbook cover.

Then came the label!

Oh how I love the label!!!

It's simple but how cute! Sweet-tea, not sweetie, get it? I'm sure.

I whipped these up on photoshop, cut them out, and stuck them on the front of each tea bag.

Next I made a sandwich bag topper using the same design as the label, filled my baggie, and stuck it onto the top with some staples, and wha-la!

I super cute gift that he can enjoy for 11 days and it cost me zero dolla.

Woohoo for me!

He has already called me from work to tell me that he has his cup sitting on his coaster with his tea already made. I love impressing my husband. It's the small things.

And as a special treat to you I am including both the printable for the labels and the baggie topper. Happy 4th Day of Love!

Just follow the links below to download!

Full sheet of labels

Sandwich baggie topper

Have a project of your own? Link it up below!

Now if I move from the couch to my craft desk maybe I can continue working on the giveaway prize that one lucky blogger will be receiving on Valentines Day!

14 Days of Love-Day 3

Can I just say that I am having a BLAST creating projects to show Landen how much I love him!

He was really surprised with yesterday's gift and I think it really achieved my goal of showing him all the things I love about him.

Today I decided to do something a little more practical and functional but still special.

Landen always has some kind of drink (tea, pop, water) sitting on his desk at work. And right now his drink coaster is usually a piece of paper or a notepad. This photo coaster can now replace the paper and add a touch of love to his office.

I found a cheap 4x4 tile at Lowes and just modgepodged a photo down to it. I added some felt to the back to make it scratch resistant and there you have it!

A cute, personal, photo coaster that cost me $0.33 to make. Can't beat that!

Have a cute Valentines project you have created for someone you love?

I'd love to see it.

Link up below:

and don't forget to grab my button!

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