Layout: Time of My Life

Last month I participated in a fun scraplift chain with some lovely gals at My Scrapbook Nook. It was really neat to see the evolution of a sketch as it was passed from scrapper to scrapper.

I had the privilege of lifting Sarah and this is what my layout ended up looking like:



I’m still trying to document our wedding, honeymoon, and everything since then! Time sure flies when you work tons and try to have a life outside of the home!

Layout: Hula Hooping

Last weekend I went to a fantastic workshop on the healing nature of hula hooping. I got some fantastic ideas of how to use the hoop in the therapeutic process, but mainly, I had fun and made my own pretty hula hoop.

I have started hooping as a daily practice and find it very centering (and fun!!).




I’m so happy to dive back into scrapbooking with this layout about that awesome day:

Simple Decor: Fall Door Decor

I have been pinning and pinning beautiful wreaths for all seasons so I decided to take a crack at one of my own. For my first wreath I decided to use a grapevine base with some autumn themed flowers in one corner. Our town house is strangely placed and the ‘front’ door is not used as the parking lot is on the ‘back’ of the building. I decided to hang the wreath on the ‘front’ door even though the only people who will see it there are the college-aged neighbors who smoke on the front porch.

I hope they enjoy my festive craft:

Layout: Kitten Dad

One of my biggest joys right now is watching Ryan interact with Eureka. I love seeing how he has taken to her when at first he was uncertain and only said yes because he knew having a cat would make me happy.



Sometimes I’m a little jealous of all of the snuggles Ryan gets from her, but the sight of it always makes me smile!

Layout: Personal Training

I have been participating in a journaling class at My Scrapbook Nook with the fabulous Leah Killian. I loved the idea she had about using ‘found’ journaling. On this layout I not only documented my feelings about working with a personal trainer, but also some of the exercises she had me complete.



I used the tissue paper from the new running shoes I purchased following the 5k I ran. I decided that if I was going to be serious about becoming a runner, I needed to be serious about what I put on my feet.

I’m exploring with a slightly messy style this month, playing with paint, mist, and gesso. What do you think? Keep it? Keep working on it? Get rid of it?

Layout: Father & Daughter Dance

At my wedding I was lucky enough to have two father daughter dances. For my first father daughter dance my step-dad, Wes picked out the song and it was a complete surprise to me what we were going to dance to. It was light-hearted and fun, but still very special.



I’m so happy to get some of my favorite wedding memories scrapbooked, but I’m thrilled with the wedding album my photographers provided me with, because I have the wedding day bound from start to finish and anything I scrap from the wedding is just a bonus! No pressure!

Layout: Current Fears

While I drive around all of East Tennessee I have lots of time to think, dictate notes, and listen to talk radio. (Yes I’m a dork.) However, I get bored easily and one of the solutions I have found is to listen to podcasts. I love all sorts of podcasts, but one of my favorites is Mental Illness Happy Hour. One common segment is a “Fear Off” between the host and the guest. I have been struggling with some difficult feelings recently so I decided that some scrap-therapy was in order.



The journaling is hidden, but it talks about two of the fears I’m currently dealing with.

My first fear is that my career in mental health is detrimental to my own wellbeing. The past few weeks have been rather rough and I have not had the time or energy to take care of myself mentally or physically. I know that self-care is important, but finding the time has been difficult.

The other fear came up last week as I have had some back pain and what the doctor said is sciatica. I’m afraid that this back pain is not temporary and it will be something that i will have to deal with for the rest of my life.

It felt good to get these out and onto paper and playing with mists, gesso, and paint always makes me feel better.

What do you do for self-care? How do you make yourself a priority?

Weekend Pool Lounging

So this past weekend was refreshing and much needed, but I didn’t spend time by the pool. As summer comes to an end I feel that I didn’t fully take advantage of summer activities available in my area. One activity I was able to take advantage of on an occasional Saturday was our gym pool.

Maybe we will have nice weather for a couple more weeks and I can do some more relaxing by the pool before it closes!

Layout: Wild & Crazy

One of the most memorable moments from my Bachlorette weekend was trying to fix six grown women into a photo booth. We went to the mall to do a little shopping and pampering before our night on the town and I saw the photo booth and wanted to capture all of the beautiful women who shared that special weekend with me. It was hilarious trying to move around so that each person could be seen. While we didn’t accomplish that, we had some fun pictures to share!



Last weekend, I participated in a crop at My Scrapbook Nook, one best scrappy hangouts online. Leah puts together the best kits and I love them each and every month. This layout was created during a scraplift challenge and I scraplifted the talented Pam Brown’s layout A Boy and His Box. I love her linear style and how she uses color!

Layout: Wedding Cake Fail

One of the funniest things to happen at our wedding was when we dropped our first slice of cake on the floor. By that point in the evening I was feeling exhausted and overwhelmed and when the cake started falling over, I missed it completely and in landed on my foot. Needless to day we had to cut another piece to feed to each other! I was so glad there was no cake smashing (This is not a judgement on cake smashers, I just loathe being sticky) rather a slight tap of the cake on my nose before I insisted Ryan go ahead and give me a bite!



If you are married, was your wedding day perfect? What happened on your wedding day you will never forget?

Layout: Starting Point Challenge

Another layout inspired by Shimelle!





These pictures were taken in the summer of 2008 when I traveled to France and Germany. On our trip we saw many beautiful sights and places, but this was my favorite part of the trip. Moving from the hustle and bustle of the big city of Paris, into a smaller city of Strasbourg, then into the Black Forest. Getting back to nature- more like home and less like a concrete, foreign land. I love traveling and experiencing other cultures, but Paris was overwhelming for me. After a long layover and overnight flight, we had just enough time to set our luggage down and hit the ground running. I don’t think I was able to process being abroad, let alone in a land where I didn’t know the language . Outside of my ballet knowledge, I could say hello, please, cheese, and thank you. Yep. I was ill prepared for the trip but I fared better once we arrived in Germany!

Layout: Sweet Cousin

Today Ryan assembled a new paper storage unit for me and I sorted my paper by color. I have been skeptical about doing so, but taking Shimelle’s Explore class allowed me to see the benefit of organizing by color rather than keeping all of my kits and collections together. I am able to see new combinations and mix things up a bit!

This weekend Shimelle has been offering lots of challenges on her site- one of them was to scrap a page only using half of the paper. I love using white space so this challenge was meant for me!



Happy Sunday!

Explore: Creating with Color and Adventure

I am still loving the prompts of this class and they have opened my eyes to new ways of scrapbooking, documenting, and thinking about life as an adventure.

I have started several new adventures lately. One of the more challenging is my job. I love working with youth and their families and find it challenging and rewarding. Part of counseling is being creative and seeing different ways to address challenges. One of my youth lives for nature, fishing, and wading in the creek. I find being by by creeks, rivers, and waterfalls relaxing and refreshing. As a reward for when the youth participates, I reward them with time by the creek. Even when nothing is said, I feel that it is a therapeutic time for them as well as for me. I am able to relax and be fully present while I prepare to close one session and move onto another. It is very grounding for me.



It was fun to create this layout using new techniques and ways of thinking. I picked the color combination based on the pictures, then built the embellishments, layered the main part of the layout, added the title, then picked the background paper. I usually build from the background up, but this was very freeing and resulted in a shift in my style. I will surely try this again!

What grounds you? What can you do to relax and renew your spirit?

Explore: Explore with Color

Anyone who knows me knows that I love blue. I have always wanted to dye my hair bright blue, but have never had the courage. When Ryan and I were discussing becoming engaged I mentioned that I would prefer a blue stone over a diamond. We debated between blue topaz and sapphire and I was so thrilled to receive a blue topaz as my engagement stone. (Ryan mentions replacing it with a diamond every couple of months, but I love my ring!)



I loved what Paper Source had to say about my favorite shade of blue, or what my friends call Rachel Blue. I paraphrased what they said in my journaling here:


I've been hanging onto those letters for about a year because I used them to mask the title for this layout and knew that I would use them someday. So glad my hoarding tendencies paid off!


What is your favorite color and what do you think it says about you?

Week In The Life: Friday Tweets and Photos

It's been a busy day and I'm so glad to have a couple of days off to spend with friends and family!

@Friend Happy Birthday!!!

Fishing for work. #weekinthelife

What a view. #weekinthelife

Subway #eatfresh. #weekinthelife

I took a power nap and wish it could have been a power sleep. #weekinthelife

I officially have a new name. And my car is titled it the state of TN. #weekinthelife

Riding to Wilkes. #weekinthelife

Explore: Catching Up!

I have been enjoying the observation encouraging and technique stretching prompts this week.

Here are a few of my pages. I will have some more to post on Saturday!






Happy almost Friday!!!

Week In The Life: Thursday Tweets and Photos

Thursday, Thursday. Kind of like a Monday when you have been away Monday-Wednesday.

Work meeting. #weekinthelife

What should be for lunch?#weekinthelife

Eyetalian BMT w/ letus, toemaytoe, pickled cucumbers, nanner peppers and ranch dressin #ryanssubwayorder. #weekinthelife

The building says "we're all gonna die". Saw it on my ride home at lunch.

So ready for a trainer workout! #weekinthelife

Listening to @nerdist podcast keeps me sane(ish) at work.

Ate a bunch of chocolate today at work. I will pay for that tonight. #weekinthelife

It is difficult to get a shot while on the treadmill.

Salads and #SYTYCD after a good workout. #weekinthelife

I will do better tomorrow. I spent a lot of time in meetings and working on things that I can't take pictures of, so tomorrow I will take more pictures and tweet when I'm not driving!