Jennifer Cardwell

Military Life

Anyone who knows anything about military life knows that you have to move from time to time to different bases.

Well, my husband is up for orders this summer. So far we have heard several things as to whether we are moving or not. I really wish that they would make up their minds. If we move, we are only 4 months out from where we would have to be out of our house, having it ready to sell or rent. I really don't want to get the ball rolling on one of those to find out we aren't going anywhere. And, at the same time, I don't want to wait for them to make up their minds, because at this rate it will be last minute and then I won't have time to get the things done that I need to do.

It is very frustrating. I don't even want to mention it to my kids until I know a definite one way or the other. They don't want to move anymore than my husband & I do. So, telling them would just upset them, because they won't hear the part that nothing is set in stone right now. What child ever hears all the information when you are telling them something potentially upsetting? I just wish that our original plans had not gotten cancelled by my husband's command. It would have made things a lot less stressful.

Here's to hoping we get news soon! Hope you are doing well in your life, right now!

Jennifer

30 Day Power Purge

This month, I have been doing what is called the "30 Day Power Purge." It is being hosted by my dear friend Hannah Keeley. She is a mother that has set her life to helping other mothers. I appreciate this immensely, as I have taken all of her programs and used much of her advice to better enrich my life. Feel free to find more information on her website http://hannahkeeley.com/

So, in this 30 Day Power Purge we are deep cleaning and decluttering many areas of our homes. She breaks the areas into zones. Each zone has a week. And, she is sure to add the most important factor of everyday life: A Day of Rest! Believe me, we need it by the time we are done.

She began this purge at a time that I was working on my own sort of purge. I was happy to hop on board when I found it. I was well aware that she would be sharing her own tips, and so would other mama's as we work through each day. Who doesn't need that? I know I do!

Although I am posting this half way through the purge, it is not too late to join in. She has all the information on her blog. You can start at the beginning, start on day 16 with the rest of us, or start somewhere in the middle, whatever works best for you. I plan on working it through now, and then re-running through it another time or two, until I get things the way I want them in my home.

I hope you will join in, and find some light to add to your home!

Jennifer

100's of Layouts

I have been working, for the past 2 ½ months, fairly diligently on hundreds of layouts. The kicker is they aren't for me.

During parent teacher conferences this past fall, my son's teacher happened to mention that she always has this plan to do these scrapbooks for her students, but it never gets accomplished due to the year running away from her. Well, I mention that I scrapbook frequently, next thing I know, I have managed to volunteer myself to do the layouts for these scrapbooks this year. I don't know how it really happened, nor do I mind, but it was a rather interesting conversation that I can't even replay in my head.

Anyway, so, I have been working on the layouts for each individual student in the class (plus one for the teacher) rather than spending too much time on my own projects. The deal is that I do the layouts and then come in and assist the class in doing the journaling themselves. That way, at the end of the year, each of the students will have a personalized mini scrapbook of their 3rd grade year.

I really wish that I could show you some of the layouts, as they have been taking up a lot of my time, and I have so many of them done. Unfortunately, I don't have permission from the parents or the teacher to do so. I don't want to infringe on anyone's privacy, so I won't show you. Just know that I am working on them. I am having fun doing them. And, I will be glad when the project is over (not because I am tired of it, but because I want to focus on a few other projects that I have not had the time to do).

I challenge you to find a way to share your talents (whatever they may be) with others to enrich their lives this week.

I hope you have a wonderful day!

Jennifer

As anyone following can see, I have posted several posts today. I am running on 4 hours of sleep, and have a migraine, and since I didn't feel like doing a whole lot this evening, I decided that I was going to catch up on some posts that I had begun, but not quite finished.
I actually have a few more to finish and get posted. With any luck, I will have them finished by the end of the month. I do have several other commitments that I need to get finished as well. But, I am pushing hard to get them completed.
Stick with me, and you may get a more accurate/updated look into my family and I yet!
Jennifer

Imitating Life

Children really do imitate everything you do.

I have a young daughter who sits with me and watches class videos. She fell in love with one of the instructors, Stacy Julian. I admit, she is one of my favorite instructors too. So this daughter loves to pretend to be Stacy Julian teaching how to scrapbook. One of these days, I will have to get my dear husband to assist me in loading a couple of short videos that I made of her doing this.

I happened to look over the other day, and found my little boy imitating things as well. Check out what I caught him doing.

Can you tell what I do often? I even give each of my kids these disposable cameras so that I can get their perspective of things. I think he looks adorable! Soon he will be managing his own disposable camera.

Hope this brightens your day!

Jennifer

Treats for the Missionaries

Over the holidays, we were very busy with all the typical holiday "to-do's." We had the children's parties, the church parties, the crafts during winter break, Christmas eve, Christmas day, and the post holidays clean-up that seems to surround most Christian families.

We have a tradition in our home to make treats for everyone, but most especially the missionaries in our ward. The missionaries spend 2 years, away from their families, serving the Lord. We decided to serve them in return by providing meals when they are in need of them. But, we also decided to do something more. Every major holiday, we make them treats. These treats can include cookies, chocolates, candies, gingerbread houses, cakes, etc. Depending on the holiday, depends on which combination of types of treats that they receive.

The whole family is involved in helping to make the treats. Sometimes I think that there are more treats going in mouths than not, but it is all part of the fun, right?!

We made way more treats than this, but for some reason I forgot to take pictures.

So, in essence, we really spoil the missionaries here. What can I say? They are away from their mom's, so they can't do it. Someone needs to right? Of course, now they are eagerly looking forward to the next holiday! There will be plenty of treats as usual!

Hope you are having a wonderful day!

Jennifer

30 Days of Gratitude Mini Album

As I have stated before, life got in the way of my posting. So, I want to catch up on a few posts that may interest you.

In November, I participated in a project called "30 Days of Gratitude/Thankful." It was a project/challenge presented by Cathy Zielske. I have taken several classes from Big Picture Classes with Cathy, and have enjoyed the inspiration from her. So, when she presented this on her blog, I was excited to give it a go. Now, Cathy was doing a mini album that used photos of her everyday and included a special "layout sheet" (for lack of a term) that she created specifically for this project. It was a nice clean album with Autumn colors, and she kept on it daily. I really liked it, in fact, I had intended on creating the exact same album just replacing her gratitude items with mine.

Well, as I proceeded with this project, it was not coming together for me the way that I perceived that it should. It didn't feel right. It didn't feel enough like me. I tried changing it up a little here and a little there, and finally determined that I just had to start completely over. I ended up coming up with a completely different spin on her concept, which I think she would approve of as she is fond of telling us to "do what works best for you". So, that is what I did.

I want to show you what I came up with. I began with playing with my Gypsy and found a bunch of tag shapes. I decided that I wanted to use many different sizes and shapes and arranged them on my mat. I then found a few Autumn/Grateful elements that I thought would be a fun touch to add to the project, and added them to my mat.

I then attached my Gypsy to my Cricut machine and proceeded to cut out what I had laid out on the screen. I cut many copies of white and the same amount of them in several patterned paper that had an Autumn feel to them.

After getting all the pieces cut, I began the long process of distressing all of the tags using Tim Holtz Distress Inks. I used 5 different colors in combinations to create fun effects on the cards, while also doing some fun techniques such as misting water on them. After getting them all distressed, I used my Xyron to piece the distressed white tags to the patterned paper, creating strength in the tag as well as adding some fun texture and uniqueness to each tag.

My next step was to piece everything together. I began with the numbers and added embellishments to add dimension and color to each tag. No tag is the same. Some tags have the number and decorations on the same tag, while others had a smaller tag for the numbers that preceded the rest of the tag. I even used ribbon to tie a couple of the tags closed to give a little bit of an interactive element.

My final steps were to journal and bind the album. As I had been keeping track of what I was thankful for since the beginning of the month, journaling them onto the appropriate album was relatively easy. I then chose to bind the album using a large office supply ring and embellished it with some fun Autumn ribbon.

I hope enjoyed my little album!

 

Have a wonderful day!

Jennifer

Sickness

Our family cannot seem to avoid illness this winter. Everyone has had a cold, or cough, just about the entire time. We are having to be very judgmental about what circumstances keep people home from school, otherwise people would have missed a lot of school by now. Unfortunately, the doctor says that all we can do is give over the counter meds at this time. It isn't bad enough to warrant anything stronger.

I really think that my family isn't the only ones having bad luck, so far, this year. Two people I work with have broken bones in this last month. One broke her hand, the other broke her foot. Surgery is expected for at least one of them.

Anyone else feel like their year could start over to make you happy?

Jennifer

I've missed sharing with you. We have had illness in the home multiple times lately. It seemed we could go one week with being well and then someone would get sick and pass it through the house.

Hopefully, everyone had wonderful holidays! Ours was well!

Kids are back in school, and routines are starting to get back into place. I have several things that I would love to update you all on, and will hopefully get back to posting soon. Take care everyone!