The second time around...but on new paths

You never know where life is going to take you, unless you make the decision that you will direct your own life. I've always believe that those that fail to plan, plan to fail. So imagine my surprise when I ended up loving a hobby that I tried out in my teen years and didn't enjoy.

Sometimes the timing isn't right, but sometimes it's our own mindset I think. We look at things differently as we get older and our value set changes a bit.

Take scrapbooking for me. As a teen, I thought it was all about putting snippets of my life's experiences in one place to recall them and have them together.Were the snippets important to me? I honestly can't remember. But at the time, I thought they were things I didn't want getting lost in the rest of the junk in my room, so I put them into a large scrapbook/sketchbook. And I quickly gave up on it once I started experiencing life in a way that didn't have little tickets, or papers, or things attached to them to put into the book.

But now, my life is more about the everyday and not the events, or the moments. And I want to remember the everyday little things that I did and enjoyed, and maybe that means I don't have anything to put on the page, like a ticket, or a photo. But of more importance to me is to put down my feelings on the page. I don't want to lose touch with that.

Using Scrapbooking from the Inside Out's May Curiosity kit

So for me, getting involved in this hobby for a second time in my life is almost like taking a new path. I'm still on my feet and still moving forward, but the scenery is different, and so is the enjoyment of the journey.

Have you ever gone back to a hobby or recreational activity that at first you hated, but now you adore? Tell me about it in the comments! 

I hope you have an amazing long weekend! 

Do you see what I see?

Dwell in the world of possibilities and you'll be sure to tip the scales of life your way for sure!

I dwell in Possibility --
A fairer House than Prose --
More numerous of Windows --
Superior -- for Doors --

Of Chambers as the Cedars --
Impregnable of Eye --
And for an Everlasting Roof
The Gambrels of the Sky --

Of Visitors -- the fairest --
For Occupation -- This --
The spreading wide of narrow Hands
To gather Paradise --

by Emily Dickinson

Created using Scrapbooking from the Inside Out's May Curiosity kit

Created using Scrapbooking from the Inside Out's May Curiosity kit

Here's my happy place...where's yours?

You know that feeling...the one where you feel like you could just shout from the roof tops, feel like you are on top of the world? Do you have that feeling in mind right now? Think about it...really feel it again. Hold onto that feeling for a little bit more...Ready?

Now, imagine that you've just received some amazing news, or gotten that raise, or booked that amazing vacation for your family. I bet now you have that feeling even stronger in mind. Are you feeling the excitement? Anxious for it to all be real?

You've just found your real happy place. Now, when things get low, and sometimes they will, head back to that happy place and focus on it. Really think about your happy place and feel as if it's already happened.

Art journal page using Scrapbooking from the Inside Out's April Fortune kit

Now you are ready to tackle that low mood and get on with being excited about life's possibilities! We never know what life will hold, but I can tell you something that the future has in store.

Scrapbooking from the Inside Out has an amazing kit coming in May! It's true! Are you curious?

Something to celebrate!

Sometimes it's difficult to find something to celebrate. Especially when you live in this area and get a freezing rain and snow storm in the middle of April. And it's still on the ground too. So it can be challenging to look around and be positive about your surroundings. 

I've been challenging myself to "tip the scale" when it comes to having a positive outlook. I fully believe that if you are focused on positive things, you see more and more positivity in your life. And sometimes it's just a matter of increasing your outlook by 1% to get that scale tipping to being more positive than negative. 

So I recently decided that I would create art that would help me be more positive, such as my recent art journal page I did for Scrapbooking from the Inside Out, and a positive affirmation mini album using Prima's Songbird collection.

Using Scrapbooking from the Inside Out's April Fortune kit

You can read the positive journaling

My positive affirmation mini using two paper bags and Prima Songbird

And I have some pretty amazing news to share as well today.

It's going to be an amazing year, because I've been selected to join a group of very talented ladies on the 2013 Helmar Design Team. It's such a thrill to be on this team, because I love their products and am anxious to challenge myself to use their adhesives and products differently.

Needless to say, this boosted my positive outlook and I really am in celebration mode, ready to continue to tip the scale every day and reap the benefits.

I hope you've had a great weekend so far, and continue to be positive about the future. What are you celebrating today?

First World Problems

You know you have them too. We all take our lives for granted sometimes, and that's why I decided to scrapbook one of my first world problems using Scrapbooking from the Inside Out's April Fortune kit. After all, it seems rather appropriate that when you think about fortune, you think about what you have. So I thought about that, and had these pictures from a fairly recent vacation, and a rather interesting dinner party that my family had that evening in Prince Edward Island, so I scrapbooked it with tongue in cheek.

A seafood dinner on Prince Edward Island

The East Coast of Canada is truly my happy place

Leave a comment with one of your recent "funny" first world problems and how you feel about it now. I'd love to hear about your experience too!

I Loved making this canvas!

It's been an incredible week! It's Friday and I am so happy about that...not because it was a hard week. There was a lot to do and pressures to be sure. But it's been a week where I've been feeling in control, and appreciated. Appreciated by peers, and loved by family.

This month I finally got back to doing some art canvases. This is my first love of mixed media, one that I used to do fairly regularly but got away from. So it felt really good to get back into it. I did this piece on a canvas board and have it framed on my mantle now.

Mixed media canvas board using Scrapbooking from the Inside Out's April Fortune kit.

Everyone who knows me knows I cannot have a layout without flowers. It's not in my nature. No pun intended! So I had to create this layered flower using my Sizzix machine from the yummy papers! I threw in a few other flowers from my stash and some ribbons that I had as well. I used Helmar 450 Quick Dry glue to allow me to have a bit of flexibility to move them if I needed to while making the layout, and at the same time make sure that it would have a solid sticking factor, especially since it was going to be moved around from time to time. I also used some Golden Light Molding Paste through a Prima brick stencil to give the layout some additional texture, while toning down the bright numbers that I didn't want overpowering the picture.

When's the last time you decided to create a layout on something other than paper? Try it out! It's a great easy way to create home decor that you'll see every day, and it's just as easy!

Respect Yourself - it's about self care!

Today is the perfect day to show you a layout that I recently created using Scrapbooking from the Inside Out's March Respect kit. Why? Because this layout is all about respecting yourself by caring for yourself in one way or another. And I took steps in that direction today.

In my case, sometimes self care is about learning to live with my own limitations, and not challenge those limits because that will have negative consequences. Many times we think about how we need to take care of ourselves better, and we do a lot of thinking about it, and a lot less putting it into practice. Know what I mean? After all, think about the last time you decided to go on a diet because you wanted to lose pounds to feel better, both mentally and physically.

Well today I put these thoughts into practice and decided that I needed to practice self care in my life more often than talk about it. I decided that it was time to really live with my limitations instead of trying to challenge them. And I took a baby step in that direction and it feels really good. Even though I haven't actually implemented my plan, just knowing that I have one, a plan I mean, feels really, really good!

Using Scrapbooking from the Inside Out's March Respect kit

Layers, lovely layers

What do you do to take care of yourself? Do you exercise? Get regular massages? Do you prescribe to the retail therapy side of things? LOL

Leave a comment here and let me know! I'd love to hear about it.