Sit Back and Relax

It seems that time and activities are coming at us at a record pace lately, so it was amazing last month to get away on a cruise and take some time to sit back and relax. One of the best things about a cruise is that you can really unplug and just enjoy time alone and with family and friends. No texting, very limited internet and a lounge chair by the pool forced me to slow down and I loved it.

One of my favorite pictures that I took was while I was in a hammock on the Disney private island, Castaway Cay, on the quiet adult only beach. My friend, Jennie, and I had gone to the beach to take a yoga class, but when we arrived, the class wasn't happening. We decided to each sit back in a hammock to wait and see if the yoga class was going to ever start. The class never started, but it turned out just fine. It was a perfect opportunity to just sit back and relax.

This layout was really fun to put together. I started out knowing that I wanted to use the picture plus the "grateful for" card on this page. Then I started trying out different 6 X6 papers to see what looked best. I just stacked them on each other to try out the patterns and then bumped the paper and the papers all fanned out a bit and had lots of pieces of patterns showing. I loved the look of all of the different patterns on the page, so I stuck them all down and had a finished page.

Layout Supplies /// November Scrapbook Circle Little Moments Kit /// Sweetness Add-on /// Home Sweet Home Add-on

Around Here >>> October 2014

Unpacking from my week away with Craftsy.

Trying to get back into the exercise habit (ran 1.5 miles + a one hour yoga class today.)

Thinking up ideas for my kids' Halloween costumes.

Wishing for some cooler fall weather.

Craving these pumpkin cookies.

Committing myself to healthy meal planning for November.

Organizing scrapbook layouts from the past four years and putting them into albums.

Reading a Nancy Drew book with Hannah for an upcoming book report.

Enjoying a quiet house while I regroup from my last big project (Craftsy) and focus on things that were pushed aside.

Planning new products for kits for Scrapbook Circle.

Celebrating my brother's birthday here on Saturday.

Hoping to have a night night with Ward soon.

Loving night walks around our neighborhood.

Attempting to take my to do list one task at a time.

Finally! Free TIme to Read

A couple of weeks ago our family was lucky enough to get to take a Disney Cruise over fall break. It was an absolutely fabulous week that will be hard to top. One of my favorite things about getting away is having time to read. It really is such a treat.  When I’m at home, it seems the only free time for reading comes right before I go to bed and it’s almost impossible these days for my eyes to stay open for more than a page or two.

I’ve had a hard time finishing books lately because the stories having been grabbing me and pulling me in. I think I’ve been starting the wrong books. So I was very happy that the two books I choose for this trip were both fantastic.

 The first book I read was The Rent Collector by Camron Wright. This book pulled me in from the start. It is about a family in modern days living in a dump in Cambodian. This story was filled with hope and inspiration. It not only really put all of the blessings in my life into perspective, it also reminded me to always look for the best in others and to never give up hope. This was a quick read and an easy to follow story that wasn’t too complicated. Perfect for a vacation book.

The second book I read was The Lavender Garden byLucinda Riley.  This was recommended to me somewhere online (likely on Amazon or Goodreads) as a book similar to Kate Morton’s books (which I love.) This is a story that takes place in the current day and during World War II. The stories are intertwined and it was engaging and kept me quickly reading to find out how things turned out in the end.  It’s a bit of a mystery and has well-rounded believable characters that you are cheering for throughout the story.

Let me know if you end up reading one of these books. I’d love to hear what you think!

Craftsy > Here I Come!

This blog space has been quite neglected for a few weeks. It certainly wasn’t intentional, but my time has been pulled to other places lately. My biggest project has been doing class prep for two Crafty classes that I will be filming for four days this week. Now that the work is finished and I’m on a plane to Denver, there is finally time to blog.

Have you heard of Craftsy? I’d heard of it, but hadn’t spent much time of the site until recently. It’s an online crafting education website filled with inspiring classes on all sorts of crafts such as quilting, sewing, photography, jewelry, woodworking, gardening, cake decorating and more. They have done a few paper crafting classes and plan on adding more. I'm excited to be part of their paper crafting class expansion.

I was contacted a couple of months ago by Cratfy to see if I would be interested in working on two upcoming classes for them. It was a great opportunity that I couldn’t pass up! I’ve worked on class outlines, materials and lots of demos and it’s all finally prepped and ready. I’ll be in the filming room at the Craftsy Studios in Denver for the rest of this week. Wish me luck!

Here’s a little peek at some of the pages I’ve been creating for the class.

Want to follow along with me on this adventure this week? I’ll be posting updates to my Instagram account (lisaandrewsaz) and I can’t wait to report back on how the week goes.