This DIY card is brought to you by…

Okay, okay…so I figured I’d include a few “projects” in my blog…at least the ones that are quick and easy. 🙂

So, I have a baby shower to go to tomorrow and I’m giving the new mommy a Creative Memories’ Baby Boy album w/ pages, etc. I needed a card and didn’t have one (and really didn’t feel like going to the store w/ the kids) so I decided to make my own.

I kind of wanted the card to “go” with the album but also wanted it to go along w/ the theme of the baby room (sports) so I put the little bit of brain power that I had left together and this is what I came up with…

If you’d like to know what I used, I’m listing the products and tools used below.

Stork’s Delivery Cricut Cartridge for the monkeys, stars, and It’s a Boy sign

This & That Cricut Cartridge for the baseball and bat.

Creative Memories Cardstock – Black, White, Cloud, Orange, Brown and Cement

Cut your card out in the size that you want (I did 5.5″ x 10″) and then score the card using the Rotary Trimmer Scoring blade so that you can fold it in half.

Choose your monkey colors and cut them out using your Cricut machine (My monkey is at 2″, the sign is at 2″, the baseball is at .3″ and the baseball bat is at .7″)

Adhere the pieces together using Creative Memories Precision Point Adhesive Pen (LOVE this tool! Really makes it easy for gluing tiny pieces together!)

After your pieces are together arrange them onto your card in the layout that you like and add embellishments with your pen.

A Tip from The Biggest Loser…

So, my sister and mom informed me a few months ago that their youth minister and his son were going to be on this season’s The Biggest Loser tv reality show. I thought that was really cool so although I had never watched it before I decided to forego my traditional Tuesday night shows so that I could watch and see how they did…go Mark & Chism!

The theme of the show this year is No Excuses and I’ve been impressed at how hard the people participating in the show work. They are going past what they thought they could ever do and are reaping rewards for their hard work.

I have to admit that I really like the No Excuses theme of the show and it’s been making me think about how often I use excuses. I can come up with TONS of excuses as to why I don’t get things done or why I’m not doing certain things. I think that our society as a whole just likes to have something or someone to blame for us not doing what we need to do.

I remember growing up and having my gymnastics teacher, Coach Rhodes, inform us that we were not allowed to say “can’t” and if we did we were in big trouble. Basically, he wanted us to try and give it our best…and if we didn’t succeed the first time to try again. I really think that this basic lesson has stuck with me as I have gotten older and continues to remind me that unless I try then I’ll never know what I might be able to accomplish.

Let my conviction begin… 🙂 So, as I’ve been thinking about The Biggest Loser theme and watching these people sometimes work past their breaking points it’s making me take a look at what I am doing in my life and the excuses I’m giving…

– My house will never be clean b/c I have 2 young children.

– My children’s baby albums aren’t finished b/c I need to complete my client’s projects first.

– I’m not doing my quiet times everyday b/c I’m so tired from the kids waking me up in the middle of the night and just don’t have time during the day.

When I want something (and I mean REALLY  want it) then I can assure you that I make SURE that it happens…whatever I have to do, whoever I have to talk to. I do whatever it takes, even if it is really difficult. Normally, during those times, I’m working so hard at accomplishing it that I don’t have time to come up with excuses. It’s my priority. It seems that the times that I tend to have the most excuses are the times when I usually have more free time to spend watching tv, getting on Facebook, playing games on my iPad.

So, I’m taking a look at my priorities and the things that I really want to accomplish this week, this month, this year and setting a plan and going for it. I know that if I don’t make time for things and plan it out then it’s not going to happen. It also won’t happen if I let myself continually make excuses for just not doing what I need to do.

Thanks to The Biggest Loser for giving me some insight into myself in a way that I wasn’t expecting! (The real thanks goes to God, of course!) 🙂

Here’s to achieving what we sometimes think is impossible!

The dreaded taxes…

I’m not quite sure why I dread taxes as much as I do. They aren’t difficult…it’s just basic addition. It’s probably b/c I just don’t like doing them. So, TODAY is the day!

I’m going to start working on my Creative Memories business taxes so that I can have them finished by the time we get all of our W-2s and 1099s at the end of the month. Of course, my ultimate motivation for getting them started early is because we want to move into a larger house and need to find out how much we made last year so that we can know what we’ll qualify for.

Tip for the Day: Take those things that you really want (i.e. a larger house) and use them as motivation to get some things done that you would normally put off.

Hmmm, my mom is coming at the end of the month…maybe I’ll use that as motivation to get some other things done around my house before she gets here! 🙂

Pinterest…

So, apparently there’s this new site called Pinterest that is spreading like wildfire. Basically, it’s a way for you to share and SHOW other people things that you like and even do some planning by finding things that you like…for example, we’re seriously looking for a larger house so I might want to do some redecorating and could find pictures of things that I like for my new house.

Are you on Pininterest yet? How are you using it? Feel free to check out what I’ve pinned…  http://pinterest.com/andeeyoung/

Andee 🙂

Well, I did it…

I’ve been talking about starting a blog for quite a while now and just haven’t made the jump until now. I’ve given myself all of the “usual” excuses…I have too much going on with 2 young children, running a business and being a wife; it will probably be hard to figure out; I don’t know what I would say. I decided that 2012 was going to be the year that I JUST DO IT (thanks Nike). 🙂

So, if you’re in the Just Do It mindset like me then come along. I’m sure it will be an adventure and I will probably (read definitely) struggle with keeping on top of things but I’m determined to get more done this year than I have in years past…

Happy New Year and I’m looking forward to seeing what all we can accomplish!

Andee 🙂