Your Peaceful Place

Good afternoon. Back to normal after a very crazy weekend for us. Homecoming week was crazy but so much fun. I am loving the experience of having a boy in high school. So many new things to see him experience and watch with different eyes than when we were going through it. We had a busy weekend and let me tell you, there is no rest for the weary in site. I look at my calendar for the week and think how in the world did all of this end up on here?? Do you ever feel that way? I know lately it has been like that more than I want it to be. Some days I just need a moment...one moment to just chill out, calm down, let go of the crazy and find some peace. My layout today shows you just where I have found to make that moment happen. We recently moved back to Colorado after living in Nebraska for 10 years. We have been settled into our house for a little over a month and while I am very happy with the house and find it to be so us, my favorite part of our place is not the house itself or anything inside, it is the backyard. David and I fell in love with the backyard the minute we stepped foot onto the deck when house hunting. You see, our backyard has a hill sitting at the back of it and it is landscaped beautifully with tall trees, gorgeous flowers and plants and best of all a stream running all the way down the hill that has several waterfalls in it. It is amazing and the sound of the running water is so peaceful and relaxing. In Colorado the weather is so much drier than what we have been used too, the nights actually cool down when the sun sets, and there are fewer bugs and mosquitoes to swat. This translates to dinner on the patio most nights, evenings chilling on the deck with friends, peaceful mornings drinking my coffee and having my quiet time (after the kids are gone). It is all a good break from the crazy that happens in between.

I used the Basic Grey Picadilly collection along with the brown background paper that I have actually had sitting in my stash for a very long time.  The letters are also from my old stash and were painted to go with the layout. I wasn't sure what I would use for this layout until yesterday when I went to grab the mail and found a prize pack I had won on a blog hop. It was the Picadilly line and was perfect to capture the feel of nature and bring the calm feeling I wanted.

So tell me what your peaceful place is? Where is it that you find yourself letting your stress go if even for a moment?

Can't wait to hear what you have to say.
Lisa

Welcome!

September 4, 2012

Welcome to my little place! So excited to be starting this new adventure though I am totally nervous too. There is a giant learning curve ahead as I dive into the bloggy world. I am really doing this hoping that I can share a little of me with you and share the hobby that I love so much.

A little about me... I am just a day shy of turning 39. Hard to believe I am saying that because I certainly don't feel it. Sometimes I think back to my parents when they were this age and wonder if they felt the same way because I don't remember them seeming this young. I am a mom, that is the best word to describe me. It is who I am, what I do and all that consumes me! My oldest son is almost 15 and he is the reason I left teaching and decided not to work outside the home. I also have a 12 year old boy and have found that being a mom of boys has a lot of rewards attached to it and a lot of noise as well. It's a profession I hope I wear well.

Now on to the crafty stuff...

I am a scrapbooker and card maker. I also love to do other types of projects that take from those hobbies such as altered items, minis, frames, gifts etc.  You will see a lot of layouts and I'm hoping they will be ones that you can find some kind of inspiration from to use in your own craftiness! I hope to share lots of projects, put out a few challenges, encourage you to use some sketches (my favorite!) and maybe add a few little giveaways in there as well. I love to watch the newest trends and releases and will try to share some of that as well. I am a Cricut lover so you will see projects using my Expression 2 as well. Maybe sometime I will show you my collection of cartridges but not now. I don't want to scare you with my obsessions :)

Today I want to share the last page I've created. It is a 2 page layout using the Simple Stories Awesome collection. I love Simple Stories. This is a layout of my son and my husband as they both participated in races over a weekend. My son was in kindergarten (yes, in some ways I am that far behind) and was able to participate in the Mayor's Run in Lincoln, NE for the first time. This is a race that proceeds the Lincoln Marathon which my hubby participated in for many years. He ran the half marathon each time which I think is an amazing accomplishment!

I used my Cricut on here to create the little triangle arrows that I added to the layout. I've been seeing these on pages all over and finally found the right place to use them myself. 

I didn't get the best pic to upload. I used the SS transparency overlays on two of the photos and the glare just wouldn't go away. 

Thanks for stopping by my blog today. I am hoping that you will return and also share this blog with some friends. In my next few posts I am going to do a series of Lisa's favorites so that you can get to know me a little better. I have a special giveaway planned at the end of the mini-series so stay tuned!

See ya soon!

Lisa