Fall Update

Summer has flown by it seems.  Life is still moving pretty fast for us here.  The wedding turned out beautiful.  The newlyweds are doing wonderful.  They're back to work and enjoying their new life.

I took some time to relax and catch my breath.  I still haven't caught up on DLP and am not sure if I will until winter gets here.  I've been trying to keep up with Listers Gotta List and have caught up so far.  I am planning to go back and do the month of April and I will have all of the months.  I'm really loving the idea of it and the fact that it's like journaling but doesn't take too long at all.

My cousin gave up her crown on July 4th.  She's so gorgeous.  We attended the Ball.  I made her scrapbook for her year as queen in 3 days.  It was a lot of fun.  Her dress was gorgeous.

Her Mom and I are very close and enjoy spending time doing girly things.  We took a girls trip after the wedding and had a great time. 

Jenn and I at her bridal shower in Biloxi.  It was so nice.  They did the cake in the shape of a dress with white icing cupcakes.  I'll share more photos later, so many in this post.

Randy and I before we left the hotel for the wedding.  I wanted a photo of me with my makeup on since it was an outdoor wedding and it was 97 degrees that day.  The wedding was at 6:00 p.m. and it was so humid.  July in the south isn't a great time to be outdoors.

I love this photo.  She was so nervous.  She didn't want to walk out in front of all those people.  There were well over 100 people there and it didn't hit her until this moment that she had to walk down the aisle and say her own written vows in front of all of them.  I was fixing her veil and hair comb for her and trying to tell her it was going to be ok.

She was beautiful.  When I saw them walking I started crying so the waterproof mascara was a must.  He was smiling from the time he walked out.  When she saw the groom that's all she looked at.  He of course was crying from the moment he saw her.  This was the first time he saw her in the dress.

Snapped with my iPhone.  We haven't gotten the "real" photos back yet.  I'm patiently waiting for them.  We took photos for so long.  It was almost dark when we made it to the food.  It was a beautiful evening I'm sure they'll never forget.  Everything turned out wonderful.  A lot of hard work by a lot of people but we did it.  So happy for them.

I had lunch with my son on Monday.  He started his Sr. year of college last month.  I'm so proud of him.  He's come so far and I can't believe his college years are almost over.  My purse is happy they're almost over but it's zoomed by way too fast.

With the fall semester starting so has all the fraternity events.  Him and some of his "brothers".  Great group of young men.  I'm very happy he decided to go Greek.  It has matured him immensely and taught him to be a gentleman more so than he was before.

And an update on my weight loss.  The photo on the left was me in March of this year.  The photo on the right is me on June 30.  This was just 3 months.  It's now been 5 mths but I haven't taken another photo.  I'd lost 31 lbs. in this photo.  I was trying to find clothes to wear.  I only wear linen and all of my linen clothes are hanging off of me.  I'm rolling up the waist of my pants but they're so baggy.  My shirts are huge and most people can't tell I've lost any weight when I'm wearing my linen. I refuse to buy any new clothes until they fall off of me, not literally of course. lol  I found these jeans and this shirt.  I hadn't worn these jeans in 6 years.  The last time I put them on they wouldn't button.  Well they buttoned, I had no muffin top and the shirt was too baggy in the front of course.  The first thing I lost in 1 week was my large abdomen or "stomach".  I started with a sample pack and in just a week that was gone.  That and the energy I felt hooked me.  You can look at this photo and see the difference.  I didn't retouch it.  I don't have on makeup, I didn't even fix my hair.  My bed isn't even made up.  I posted it because I was so shocked when I put the two side by side.  I was in shock as you can see by my look on my face in the photo on the right.  I'm still going.  I'm down 45 lbs. now.  Yes I need to take another photo....

And this is what I'm going to be doing starting next week.  After 9 years I'm going to take a refresher course to reinstate my nursing license and I'm going back to work.  I'm hoping I can go back to school and get my RN degree.  I'd still love to do travel nursing if I can get my hubby to retire. LOL  I'm still working on that one.  We will see how that goes.  So since last Wednesday I've been going everyday getting fingerprinted, getting a physical, getting blood work, getting a TB test, getting books, buying scrubs, white shoes, pen light, scissors, getting vaccinations, getting more vaccinations and going tomorrow to be re certified in CPR.  Almost finished with all the above and I start next Tues. night.  For 6 weeks.  Then I'll be done.  Wish me luck....

It's been a busy few months around here.

I can't believe it's almost June.  Time is flying so fast this year.  I haven't had much time for art in the past month.  I've been busy helping to plan our daughter's wedding that is in July.  I'm thinking of paying my son to elope when his time comes.  Of course that's a joke because what Mother wouldn't want to see her only son get married?  He will be the last one of 4.

We celebrated Mother's Day and went to church that morning.  It was a wonderful day.

Then the following week I attended the Bridal Luncheon in Biloxi for our daughter and met her wedding party.  We had a great meal and enjoyed visiting.  We are on the less than 6 weeks countdown to the wedding.

That Saturday we went to see Shelby's girlfriend graduate from college.  Over 800 people graduated that day.  It took a long time but we are so happy for her.  She's a year older than Shelby.  Some happy news, Shelby finished this semester with a 3.5 gpa.  We are so proud of him!  He's officially a Sr. now and will start his next semester in August.  He's working full time this summer.  Only 3 more semesters.  Time has got past us.  It seems like yesterday he was graduating from Kindergarten.

Lately I have become planner obsessed.  I start out with a personal size Filofax and that worked for a little bit.  Then I moved up to an A-5 Filofax which was great.

Then I decided I really wanted to try the Travelers Notebook style.  I discovered Foxy Fix on Etsy and fell in love with all the dyed leather colors she uses.  So I got a regular size with extra room.  I LOVE it!

Then I discovered May Designs.  Their books fit the A-5 size Travelers Notebook.  Yes I ordered one in dragon fruit (fuchsia, hot pink).

Foxy Fix offers all different types of options which I love.  I'm even more excited about the book inserts I added.

I always take notes during our Paster's sermons.  So this lovely little book is from May Designs.  I will be using it this morning at church.

I also found this Humbled Hearts Day book.  It's a 4 mth. prayer journal.  It comes in 3 different styles and it's so awesome.  I think it's going to be a keeper for me.

I love planning so much that I joined the Planning Society monthly kit from Scarlet Lime.  Lots of goodies to decorate my planners with.

On a sad note, my son's Poppie passed away in April.  I continued to be very close to him through the years.  He was in his 70's.  He will be greatly missed.


I hope to get back to some art soon.  Maybe after July.....

More Art from D.L.P.

My latest pages from The Documented Life Planner for 2015.  I'm staying current with this one and it's fun to do the weekly challenges.  I've also started Bible journaling with a group on FB.  It took me a little while to be able to actually journal on the pages of my Bible I bought for this purpose but now I love it.  I'm also taking Kelly Kilmer's Making your Mark.  It's a month to month class and I'm hoping to catch up as I can.

The Documented Life Planner Project 2015

I had so much fun with this project last year that I'm doing it again this year.  This year we are using the Dylusions Creative Journal instead of the Moleskine.  I do believe the pages will be studier.  I did get another Moleskine for 2015 for a daily journal because I just liked the process of it.  Below is a photo of what my journal last year looked like after adding all the art to it.  The black Moleskine on the right is what it looked like when I first purchased it.  Quite a bit of difference.

Below I'm going to share my pages from the past 6 weeks challenges.  Hope you enjoy them.

Thanks for stopping by and I'll try to update more often this year.

Where did Summer go?

This summer has flown by so fast.  This year has gone very fast.  I remember my Mom saying the older you get the faster time goes.  I believe her now.  I think we have to experience it for ourselves.  It's been a busy few months. 

I made the page above in my Documented Life Planner because I had 2 neck surgeries this summer.  The be brave today came from a calender I got with a bracelet purchase last year from Lisa Leonard Designs.  I made a little folder and included a wonderful photo of me in the lovely little blue hair net before I went into surgery and my id bracelets and such.

This was a collage page which fell after my birthday.  This is all things from our weekend celebration in New Orleans. 

My husband took this photo of us.  My son and his girlfriend, my Mom and my Daughter who's birthday is the day after mine.  We celebrate together every year.  It's a lot of fun.

A photo of us on my actual birthday.  We had cake at our house and all of our children came, after we took the photo and then I forgot to take another one.  We were having too much fun to remember.

I started a new Bible Study 3 weeks ago call The 7 Experiment by Jen Hatmaker.  It's very intense but oh so good.  It's about all the "stuff" we collect and why do we need it all.  It's a lot deeper than that.  I've been working through each week and I will admit that I've experienced a lot of anxiety at getting rid of the "stuff" that I felt comfortable keeping around.  It did make me stop and think about the reasons I had been holding on to certain things, mainly clothes.  Lots of clothes.  I got rid of 10 bags of clothes.  I feel embarrassed to say that even in print.  I donated those 10 bags.  The 3 sections I've done are Food, Clothes and this week Possessions.  It's amazing at what will keep us from God and a relationship with him.

I'm also reading Jen's book Interrupted.  It's so great.  She has so much enthusiasm that you can feel it coming off the pages while you're reading her words.  She amazes me with what she has to say.  I can relate to so many things she's saying in this book.  I hope you'll take a look at it.

At the same time I started a Bible study with She Reads Truth which is an online group of woman who are just awesome.  I started their studies awhile ago through the Bible app on the IPhone.  They now have their app and a store with these helpful study plans which help me to keep it all organized plus they're pretty to look at.  The study plan came with 2 nice 8x10 prints that go with this study of Hosea and 2 scripture cards.  I'm thinking I'm going to do The Sermon on the Mount next.

My 20 yr. old started his Jr. year of college last month.  He comes home some weekends since he's had to live in his fraternity house for the past year.  He's looking forward to getting back to an apt. in January for sure.  Not a lot of space in those little dorm rooms.

He left 2 of his 4 English books on the table and I was leafing through them.  How I miss college English.  I would love to sit and read these.  He, however isn't too excited about all of these books about literature.  This is his last English for his degree and I know when Dec. arrives he will be more than happy.  Time is really flying fast.  I think I already mentioned that didn't I?

Of course this little man, Beaux has kept me busy this summer.  Excuse the blurry photo.  He doesn't sit still for long.  He had just come home from the groomer and I think he thought he was top dog that day.  All 5 lbs. of him.  Such a great personality.

I hope you're summer has been wonderful and fun.  I'm looking ready to fall.  No sign of any yellow leaves here yet but we do have ragweed and allergies.  Here's hoping I can make more art as soon as I finish getting my house in order. 

For the LOVE of Paper

I've been in love with paper since I was young.  I started scrapbooking in the early 90's while pregnant with my son before it was "cool".  There were no supplies so I used page protectors and colored paper.  I still have those books and I wouldn't change them for anything.

When I was in elementary school we made paper beads out of the color comics in the newspaper or magazines for fun in art.  I'm not sure what sparked this again but I thought why can't I make them with all of this scrapbook paper I have around?  And then I started researching how to do it easier than with bamboo sticks or toothpicks.  I would roll them while we watched tv or movies and it was meditative.  I soon had a large gallon size bag of rolled colorful beads.  So then I started looking for ideas on what to do with all these beads.  And I found loads of them.

I found this necklace on Etsy for $80.  I loved it but wasn't going to pay that much money for a necklace made with paper.  So I started searching.  Most people call me the google queen because I can find just about anything with google.  I made this in 2 hours.  I needed smaller jump rings which I got later.  Everyone loved it.

I got some memory wire and beads and made these types of bracelets and this one for me.  I love how it turned out, so simple and easy.  I've made several for friends.  I use a product to coat the beads that makes them waterproof and sturdy.

I made my Mom this set for Mother's Day.  She loves these colors.  Sadly I forgot to take photos of the others before I mailed them off.

I've also started making cards.  When I finished April and all of the National Letter Writing Month I was still in card mode.  It was so much fun and I had joined Random Acts of Mail so I kept on.  I made 2 graduation cards for friends and one for a local policeman who lost his son.  I make gelli plate cards too just not as often as I'd like.  I love to do flowers the most.

Thanks for visiting.