2 Peas Friday Blogger Challenge

Today's challenge question: What is one thing you feel you do best in this hobby?

When I think about scrapbooking there are so many different things I think of.
I think of the feelings I have inside when I create.
I think of my excitement at being able to document my girls lives.
I think of my abilities to really share myself on the pages I create all about me.
I think of the inspiration I get from color.
I think of the excitement the girls get looking at pages about themselves.
I think of my love for journaling.
I think of the fun I've had learning how to digital scrapbook.
I think of my love of Photoshop.
I think of my love of taking pictures.
I think of the fun I have completing scrapbooking challenges from my favorite blogs.

The think I think I do best in this hobby is that I really share myself on my pages.
I love to journal.
I journal straight from the heart.
I journal what's really on my mind.
I journal about the good and the bad.
I journal so that my girls will remember the stories behind the photographs.
I journal so people who see my pages can know the real me.

2 Peas Thursday Blog Challenge

please feel free to join us if you blog.

Challenge for today~
What is something your thankful for....

The thing I am the most thankful for today is that the girls and I have a roof over our heads. Times are tough and money is tight, but at least I know everyday that the kids are warm and safe. I know that they have somewhere they can play and grow and learn. Someplace they can call their own.

2 Peas Wednesday Blogger Challenge

Challenge for today~
Is writing a form of self therapy?
Can be on your blog or a journal

For me writing is definitely a form or self therapy, sometimes even a form of healing. I am able to express myself the truest when I write. What I write comes from the heart, often putting down what's in my heart onto paper helps me to sort things out or see situations in a new way. I blog and I journal for me two wonderful ways to share pieces of what's in me. Whether I share something on my blog or in my journal often depends on the topic and how private it is to me. Writing is so freeing - it allows me to really be myself. Sometimes I don't know what I'd do if I wasn't able to write down what's going on for me. Sometimes it's a deep driven need inside me to get it all out. Writing is the best way I know how.

2 Peas Thursday Blogger Challenge

today's challenge is Why do you write/blog?

funny, I just wrote about this very topic in my journal last night. Here's what I wrote:

"feeling the movement of my pen is such a freeing feeling. love the flow, the movement, the feeling of every aspect of putting my thoughts and feelings down onto paper. Sometimes it feels like I can think clearer when I am putting down my thoughts and feelings. somehow feels like I can speak through my words what's in my heart. let's me be me."

2 Peas Sunday Blogger Challenge

Please feel free to join us if you blog. Challenge for today~ Are you good at remembering dates on pictures? Or do you have to write it all down...The photos I have taken since owning my digital camera are all organized really well. They are in folders sorted by year, then month, then date. I have to admit though all the photos I have actually printed out are just in big boxes. Nothing is sorted, nothing is dated, nothing is organized. I have got to get on that before I forget all the little details.

2 Peas Tuesday Blogger Challenge

Share with us your favorite season of the year and why?

My absolute favorite season is fall. There is something about it that is so magnificent. I love the cooler air and the gorgeous colors. I love that in fall we have so many special things we do as a family. Every year I take the girls to the apple orchard and to Saunders Farm a local pumpkin patch that is the coolest place on earth. And then there's Halloween. The kids love Halloween, but for me it is an important day to celebrate. You see I was adopted on Halloween day back in 1981. So it is so special, I always get my parents flowers to say thank you to them for taking me and loving me. Ahhh fond memories of fall.

2 Peas Monday Blogger Challenge

Do you print all your pics and have them on hand to scrap. Or do you wait to print them as you need them?

Ever since getting my digital camera all my photos are kept on my computer. I have about 4 or 5 G of pics saved on my hard drive. Since digital scrapbooking I really haven't been printing hardly any pics. I just play with them in Photoshop and then re-save them on my computer. You know, I really should make a point of getting them printed. I love being able to physically look at old pictures.

2 Peas Wednesday Blogger Challenge 10/09/08

Please feel free to join us if you have a blog. Challenge~ What is something you would love to find at an antique shop?























Journaling reads: I love going to antique shops to just look around and think about all the possibilities for what I see. I love looking for milk cans and old saws and saw blades when I am browsing the antique stores. I believe this is because I look at them and imagine what I could tole paint on them. Simple pleasures.

2 Peas Thursday Blogger Challenge

Feel free to join us if you blog

Challenge~
10 unfinished projects hanging over my head

Good challenge - Perhaps if I post these I'll actually get the motivation to work on some of them.
1. Gord's Christmas present
2. Niagara Falls album
3. I haven't scrapped in Emily's album for over a month
4. I haven't scrapped in Amber's album forever
5. my all about me album
6. the milk jug I am tole painting
7. the bird house tole painting for my dining room
8. I only have 1 of 4 tv trays tole painted
9. I need to finish the sweater I am knitting
10. I need to work on my cross-stiching

2 Peas Sunday Blogger Challenge

hi bloggers.. your challenge today is journaling!!

do you think you do enough of it? does it always relate to the story?

In all honesty my journaling really varies depending on what I am doing. When I make actual paper layouts I tend to journal more. For some reason with my digital layouts they are kept fairly simple with just a bit of journaling. When i am planning layouts I often think of tons of things I want to say - stories I want to tell - things from my heart I want to share, but then when I am actually completing the layouts my mind is so focussed on making a nice page that I often forget to include the most important part - the journaling from the heart. I do however get in my fair share of journaling with this blog - it is my outlet - my escape. Where I can put down my thoughts, speak from my heart and speak all that's in my head. I should start speaking on my scrapbook pages the way I do while writing these blog posts. Perhaps this is going to be my new challenge to myself - to journal on my scrapbook pages from the heart.

2 Peas Monday Blogger Challenge - Favorite Warm Weather Recipe

Post one of your favorite warm weather recipes! This one is a very simple recipe but is one of my absolute favorites on a hot day. TUNA MACARONI SALAD

1/2 c. Miracle Whip salad dressing or Miracle Whip light 2 c. (7 oz.) elbow macaroni, cooked & drained 1 c. sliced celery 1 can (6 1/2 oz.) tuna, drained & flaked 1/4 c. sliced green onions 1/4 c. chopped green pepper 2 tbsp. chopped pimento Salt & black pepper Lettuce Mix salad dressing, macaroni, celery, tuna, onions, green pepper and pimento. Season to taste. Refrigerate. Serve on lettuce lined plates. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

2 Peas Friday Blogger Challenge - Creating

Please feel free to join us if you blog

Challenge~
Do you feel that sometimes you get in over your head with things your creating?

Thankfully I have never felt like I have gotten in over my head with my creating. Creating for me has to be something I am into doing at that specific time. I have to have that desire within me to create. I think if I had to create on a time-line or with a deadline I would not be able to get so much out of it. I think then I would feel overwhelmed and I would stop enjoying the process. I love that when I create I am inspired by something around me. I have a need to create based on what I am seeing or feeling at that time. You know, I don't know what I would do if I could not create.

2 Peas Wednesday Blogger Challenge

Please feel free to join us if you blog

Challenge~
What is the essential core of friendship for you?

The absolute core to friendship for me is trust. If there is no trust in friendship than there really isn't anything. If you build a strong foundation in a friendship, one that is based on trust and honesty then you can build a friendship that is very solid.

2 Peas Wednesday Blogger Challenge

Join us if you blog

Challenge~
One thing you must accomplish today is...

Hmmm lets see - there's lots I need to get accomplished but with that I require energy and motivation. Hopefully after this cup of coffee I will have some of both. Here's what I need to do today
- call the doctors office and reschedule the kids appointments
- call mom and see if I can bring anything tonight for supper
- laundry so Emily has clean pants
- email off resumes and check job bank
- dishes
- clean the house
and lots more if I have time - it'll be interesting to see how much of this list I have done by the end of the day.

2 Peas Wednesday Blogger Challenge - Creativity

Feel free to join us

Challenge~
Why is creativity important?

Creativity means so very many different things to everyone. For me creativity is a means of expressing what is inside of me. It allows me to share my emotions with other people. Whether it is a scrapbook page, a tole painting, or a photograph, the act of creating for me is a way for me to often deal with the emotions or thoughts going on inside of me. Sometimes my panic disorder is really bad and the act of creating for me will help to reduce my anxiety, a form of release that helps me to sort out what's going on that is making me anxious. It allows me to share parts of myself that I would never normally share with others. Creating allows me to be that just ME. I don't think I could not create - it's just in me to create whatever I can whenever I can. I breathe creativity into my life, just as I breathe in air.

2 Peas Tuesday Blogger Challenge - Big Steps

Feel free to join us if you blog

Challenge~
What's the biggest step you've taken this year?

I think the biggest step I've taken this year is moving on with my life after Rob walked out on us. I had thought we would be together forever and it was a shock when he walked out. It hurt and of coarse I was upset but I carried on. I was still the kind of mom that my girls needed. I still did what needed to be done in my life. After a few months now I am adjusting to life without Rob - I am working at making my life and the lives of my girls better each and every day. I still miss Rob terribly but I know that our lives here will be great without him. Moving forwards and getting on with my life is the best thing I could do at this point.

2 Peas Monday Blogger Challenge

feel free to join us

Challenge~
How was your weekend

I for one had a wonderful weekend. I got my new mini van on Friday and I went to the car races Saturday and Sunday. Loved them!! Boy am I ever happy that race season has started once again.

2 Peas Sunday Blogger Challenge

Join us in the challenge for today if you blog

Challenge~
If you could follow someone around for one day (unseen), who would it be and why?

There is this landscape photographer that I am so inspired by. His name is Jeremy Turner. You can see his work here . His work is fabulous! I love that he shoots equally well in both color and in black and white. I would love to spend a day with him photographing and not knowing I was there so I could see his way of capturing images that speak to the heart. I'd love to see his approach, his technique, concentration - just everything about who he is and what he does. Here is some of his amazing work:

2 Peas Friday Blogger Challenge - Favorite Special Occasion

Feel free to join us
Challenge
What's your favorite special occasion?

I think my absolute favorite special occasion is taking the girls every May to the Tulip Festival in Ottawa. There is just something about this little day trip with the girls that always seems so magical. I don't know if it's the beauty of thousands of tulips everywhere (they are one of my favorite flowers), or if it's the amazement of the children but it is always such a special day for us. They love seeing the tulips and there is always lots for the kids to do and see. There is always musicians and little booths. Always a fun special occasion for our family. The first picture is from the Tulip Festival in 2007 and the second from this year.

2 Peas Wednesday Blogger Challenge - A Trip To The Art Museum

feel free to join us if you blog Challenge~ A trip to the Art Museum makes me feel... so absolutely amazing. I feel as if I am in another world ... as if there exists no time ... as if there is no one else there but me. It's a wonderful feeling, a wonderful sense of peace and contentment. My mind becomes so full of ideas and color combinations that I am instantly inspired to create. I love taking my time, wandering around looking at the artists use of color, or technique, or texture. I am inspired both in their creativity and in the emotion that must have been involved in the creating process. When I am looking at the works of others I am compelled to certain pieces. I will often study these pieces for so long trying to focus in on what I am getting out of the piece, and trying to figure out why I was drawn to that certain piece. Art is sometimes a mystery to me ... but it's a mystery that I don't want solved. I want to continue being surprised and moved by art. I want to continue living and breathing art into my life so that I can be amazed and inspired daily.