Confession #1: Not My Style

Normally when I scrap, I don't tend to embellish my photos much.  I prefer to let the photos speak for themselves.  That being said...this layout while not my style, I actually really enjoy this page.  I think it's the direction I'm heading as a scrapper, but haven't quite fully gotten there yet.  I don't know why my mind wandered to the box of sequins, but I'm glad I had these clear ones so that I got just a little bit of shine and shimmer from them without losing the background paper.

A lot of the other pieces are just random bits and pieces that I found in October Afternoon embellishment packs that I would have never probably used.  The main papers are from My Minds Eye, the plaid is from Kate & Co., and the stripe is from Nostalgia. 

That's all for this confession...thanks for stopping by!

2015

Well...

What a crazy year that was.  Based on those last year events, I have decided to change this blog around a little bit.  I realized I need a better outlet for my thoughts & emotions and I love to write so I've changed the name from My Paper Confessions to These are My Confessions.  Yes, I am keeping the Usher title in tact- as a little nod to my dad and his weird knowledge of R&B singers and rappers.  This baffles me so much, but I digress.

But don't worry!  There will still be scrapbooking and also some DIY projects that I'm working on. 

Thanks for reading my little update!

Project 12 :: August

Hi!  It's been an amazing couple of months & I can't wait to show y'all.

August is one of my favorite months, but then again maybe I'm a little partial since it is my birth month.  My spread this month documents a lot of special events.

• My dad also celebrates his birthday at the beginning of the month.
• I've been working to loose weight and after 2 months I had lost 20 pounds and have so far kept it off.
• I celebrated 3 years at the store.
• I tried all summer to get various tickets to a couple of different concerts and the one I finally got tickets to Florida Georgia Line - which is tomorrow!
• I completed my first and maybe only 5K, but it was never about proving I'm a runner, but proving to myself that I could do it.  I think it's a bigger accomplishment that it was almost a hundred degree day the day that we ran.

 Thanks for stopping by!

 

What A Ride!

All I can say is WOW!  These past couple of months have been some of the craziest that I have ever experienced in my life - don't get me wrong they've been the best months of my life but it did lead to   no any postings in months.  So, for those of you who are reading my blog - thanks :)  and hopefully there will be more postings over the next week.

First Up:

Run or Dye - Layout

 

Ever since the Color Run started, I've wanted to run/walk one of these - mainly for the experience and to say that I have done one.  I'm not a huge fan of running but I can walk pretty quickly, well if it's not 96 degrees outside at the end of August. 

There is just something perfect about these Hero Arts stamps that worked perfectly with this specific page.  I think these might be my most favorite pages I have ever done.

So I created my own background with the stamps in a variety of different ink colors to play along with the different colors of dye that they used. 

When I was trying to decide what to use as the title, I didn't have too many creative ideas so I just used the name of the race and their same font - cut on my Silhouette Cameo, Niles.  I also added a few details about the day just so I wouldn't forget that I had actually completed something that was on my bucket list!

I'll be posting all of my project 12 pages within the next week!  Thanks for stopping by!

Project 12 :: June

June in my life was a pretty crazy month.  From my mom starting physical therapy on her ankle to house/dog sitting at the end of the month - there was a lot going on.  Surprisingly, I was able to finish my June pages a lot quicker than I thought I was.

 

My layout this month features "The Perfect Summer" line from Echo Park.  Now if you know Amy, she knew I was using this line and proceeded to ask me if she could use it too.  Which of course I said yes but I thought it was kind of her to ask if she could use this paper too.

I love the 4x6 - 3 months of summer rectangle - it was the whole reason I decided to use this line.  

Going to baseball games is one of my favorite things to do in the summer - so far I've been to 2 and am hoping to at least go to one more before the season is over.

That's all for now - there are lots of other projects to get done.

Thanks for stopping by!

I Work Out

Just about an hour ago,  I was traveling through the blogs that I frequent and found a new challenge site, 2 Broke Girls Challenges.  I love the show 2 Broke Girls, so I figured I'd look around their site and was inspired by their sketch of the week.

 

Here is my take on their sketch:

 

 The wood grain paper had been taunting me since I bought it.  I had no real use for it except for looking at it (which is never a bad thing). But just looking at my pretty paper is not part of my scrapping philosophy for this year, so now that I've worked with it - I feel better about picking up this piece of paper.

The flags are scraps of October Afternoon papers that I had just laying around that perfectly complemented the teal paint on top of the wood grain.

Thanks for stopping by and checking it out!

Project 12 :: May

Well it's a new month and I some how managed to finish my May pages before the Project 12 pin by date was published.  I don't know how it happened, maybe a mix of a well-timed crop night mixed with me actually being on top of editing and printing my photos.  

Here are my 2 pages:

I am so proud of these pages.  They don't look like anything I've ever scrapped before and that makes me happy.  I love the colors in this layout - they're just so spring.  

Here are some of my favorite 4x6's:

 

This one of my mom's surgery is one of my favorites because I love the gem detail on the hearts. They give them a little something extra with something that I typically don't use.

 

 

I have probably listened to this cd 75 times, at least and that might even be on the low side.  Which definitely makes it deserving of it's own 4x6.

 

This picture of me and my brother is the first one in a long line of photo-bombing by him (which is truly what he does best).  He decided that while I wanted to take pictures that he needed to eat some candy so I have 8 pictures of him enjoying his candy and this one good one.  

This section talks about what I've been cooking since mom had her surgery.  I've become quite the cook and am kind of impressed myself.  Each night I like to challenge myself to see if my meals taste like what mom makes.  

I also had a bit of an epiphany when I was doing this title.  I was trying to decide if I wanted to use the letters that I had cut from the cameo or the negative spaces from where the letters once were.  Once I decided I wanted the letters, I used the other part to help align and make sure my letters were straight.  Which is something that I had never thought of before and worked quite well!

Thanks for stopping by & happy June!

Project 12 :: April

Hello there!  I'm going to do a quick post here at first, but I'll be back soon to add more detail about my April layouts.

 

I know on the top left picture of the right page might not look like much, but the actual picture is of a rain storm and is pretty much just a solid picture of rain with the silhouette of the tree behind the rain.  It's actually a pretty awesome picture.