Organization?!?

Going to admit it... I need HELP!!!  Serious help when it comes to organizing my craft stash.  What worked in the past isn't working now and I need to finally get some of the projects on my list finished.  Why do I still have boxes upon boxes in my crafting room, because I can't seem to stay in the "FROG" longer than my time on the treadmill.  It stresses me out that I have such a mess in my craft room and I just walk out.  Well, today that ends!  See in one of those boxes is the new organization system from Close To My Heart, I think I'm going to love it, just need to clean off one of the tables and actually use it.  

I need to really learn to not just buy the amazing products from CTMH, actually USE them!!  This month the super cute Thin Cuts are on special and I'm going to use them, just after I either find the proper plates or order a new one.  It's an issue, not quite ready for a hoarders support group, potentially getting close.  Wish me luck as I go in, if you don't hear from me in the next few days, send help!!!

Happy Crafting!

Goal #5 Advent Cross-Stitch

While on a Disney Cruise to the Norwegian Fjords, I stumble into a shop and found this amazing cross-stitch.  I looked at it and thought to my self, "I LOVED to stitch when I was little, I could totally do this".  That was the summer of 2015 right before moving to North Carolina where our first few months were turn upside down with the delay of our household goods shipments and the loss of 2/3 of our storage.  To say I was depressed was putting it mildly.  I didn't want to do anything or even think about stitching.  After a few months of feeling sorry for myself I decided to take out the cross-stitch when my parents were visiting.  My Mom (an expert stitcher) looked at it and laughed, she said "good luck, it's going to take a while."  Oh great!!!  We tried to start with the fabric that was provided, only to get frustrated.  So I ordered new fabric and put the pattern away.

About 8 months later, on a trip to California during my huband's last deployment, I started to stitch.  I managed to complete the top girls hat.  Again, the project sat.  I set the goal of finishing during the deployment, I would stitch here and there, not making much progress since I was both parents to 3 active kids and focusing on other things.  I decided to make it a goal for 2017 and have stuck with it for the past few months.

This is the progress I've made!  I'm loving seeing it come together and feeling a sense of my childhood come back as I finish each line.  The progress is slow, daily stitching helps keep my mind off the potential of upcoming orders and at least one of my kids has expressed an interest.  I hope I can teach her to love something that has been passed down from generation to generation.  After working the past few days, I've assessed it should take me most of the year to finish this with daily stitching.  Here's to having this cute decoration for Advent 2017!!!

Happy Crafting!

2017 Goals

In an effort to be a bit different this year with my goals and view of 2017, I decided to listen to a few different people and their take on goal setting. One person talked about setting lifetime big goals and each year breaking them down into manageable steps.  So one night, I set a date with my Lovey and we talked about some lifetime goals we would like to set.  After about 15 minutes we had only come up with 10 between us.  After thinking it was sad, we actually started talking about all the things we have done already that would normally be on that list.  We have traveled to many amazing places, lived in 2 different countries, and run the original marathon... then the ideas started coming.  From there I set goals that would help us towards our big goals of retirement, traveling, and growing old together.  

My top 5 for the year are:

1. Read 30 books

2. Save $10,000

3. Run 2 half marathons and 1,000 miles

4. Finish 6 scrapbooks (from my list)

5. Finish my Advent cross-stitch

Once broken down into monthly, weekly, and even daily goals, I see how this year will be busy.  I have found a love for reading this dyslexic girl would never have thought.  It's true the more you read the faster you get.  I have a huge stack of books by my bed and can't wait each day for my reading time.  Currently I'm readying 3 VERY different books, Flying Black Ponies by Kit Lavell, Uninvited by Lisa TerKeurst, and Craft A Life You Love by Amy Tangerine.  I don't normally ready 3 books at once, each one is so different and easy to read a chapter a day without being overwhelmed.  Honestly, they all represent a little about who I am and what I like; history, faith, and crafting.  Bonus points: the history book is about VAL-4 the squadron my Dad was in during the Vietnam war.

Saving money has never been something I've been good at, I was about to set aside money while Cory was deployed last year and still have lots of fun with the kids.  This year it might be hard to save much as we are waiting for orders and if the USMC plays nice and we move back home, we have lots of things to do around the house that has been a rental for the past 5 years.

Running, this is a daily thing for me or at least 4-5 days a week.  Broken down it's about 83 miles a month or just under 3 miles a day.  January was an awesome month with 91 miles, February was a little less with taking a week off after traveling with 73.  I'm still on track towards 1,000 miles and we have signed up for a half marathon next month.  Again, we are waiting to see what is next for us before signing up for the second half.

Crafting, specifically scrapbooking has been challenge for me the past few years.  I have had the same goal each year to finish 2 kids 1st year books.  This is the year!!!  I also need to get our Christmas book up-to-date along with the kids school albums.  Easy day, that all manageable and once I get started watch out.

Finally my Advent cross-stitch, which when I bought it looked so simple.  Guess that's what I get for buying something while on holiday in Norway.  It's super cute and I don't know if I'll actually use it as an Advent calendar or just a cute decoration during the Advent season.  I started last summer and have not been very consistent with my time.  There are 3 pages to the pattern, so far I'm almost finished with the first page.  As my sister said "just keep stitching, just keep stitching!"  It will be a project that I will be happy to cross off the list, no pun intended!

There you have it, 5 goals for 2017.  Below is a picture of my Vision Board that I started and will add as time goes on.  I love having a daily reminder of what I'm working towards, a wonderful life with my husband and kids.  Off to log some miles on my treadmill and maybe get a little crafting done after reading.  It's going to be a great day!  

How is it March?!?

  Where has the year gone?  I really don't know what happened, it seems like I blinked and here we are turning the calendar for MARCH!!!  Since my oldest started school, February seems to kick my backside every year.  This year was no exception and seemed to be worse.  Not only did we have Valentine's Day and a birthday for my pre-teen, we took an amazing holiday to the Italian Alps.  It seems that just now are we recovering from all our excitement and its time to get down to business.

    In early January, I set aside time to really think about what I wanted to do in 2017.  I decided I wanted to really be happy and learn new things.  For the most part, I'm a very happy person and am knowledgeable to a certain extent.  What I wanted to do was really apply myself since I'm a stay-at-home mom for now.  After reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin, I set out to focus on one aspect of my life each month.  So far I have cleaned and de-cluttered my house (January) and expressed love (February).  Here we are in March and I'm focusing on work, for me that means 'working' my Close To My Heart business and really being crafty.  I'm setting resolutions/goals and will work daily on finding my happiness in crafting.  I'm also going to be working through the book Craft A Life You Love by Amy Tangerine.  

    As for the learning part of the year, I started out with figuring out our budget and where all our money goes in January and February was to be learning more about photography.  I think I have our budget figured out, my camera on the other hand... not so much!  I guess along with learning how to REALLY use my Cricut machine I will also be figuring out my fancy camera and hopefully be taking better photos and learning a bit about editing.  I hope to be sharing more of my creations with you on the blog, my Facebook page, and Instagram.  If you aren't following me on those, you can find me at Semper Crafty-CTMH Scrapbooking and Stamping on Facebook and Sempercrafty on Instagram.  

Happy Crafting friends!  Here is the CTMH special this month, I'm so excited to be working with these thin cuts, I'll post some photos soon.