Valentine's day cards

 Ethan and Madie love to make their Valentine's for their classes...and of course I have just as much fun.  I have been searching Pinterest. http://pinterest.com/  To look for new ideas that they can create.  I found this one...   http://www.makeandtakes.com/recycled-chunky-crayons  and decided that I have always wanted to do this with my left over crayons...and so Ethan being in 3rd decided to go for it.  Here is what it turned out like.....(in pictures)


Here are the crayons we started with

We peeled of the crayons....may was that a pain

Smashing the crayons....E's Favorite part

We placed them in the heart shaped tin.

And here are the final Heart Crayons....

We did little cards that said......"for Crayon out loud Happy Valentine's Day"  Love E

They are so cute.  I loved watching him get excited as they melted and turned into the shape that they are.  For sure a must do again project.

As for My M she is making fortune cookies for her class....out of felt or form....still a work in progress.  BUT she is doing them so it is fun to watch them come to be.  She is old enough now that Really her creativity stands out.  I can't wait to see how they turn out.  Will post soon.  Here is the link to the pinterest idea I first found...it is of course Martha Stewart.... http://www.marthastewart.com/273591/felt-fortune-cookies?backto=true

Getting down to business

Over the last month I have made lots of different changes or done things that I have been wanting to do.  I have applied different things to my life physically or spiritually.  I have made things or got rid of things that have been taking up space.  Here is one of the things that have been fun to do and have made life around our house a bit more fun or easier. 

OUR Chore Chart.  Our pastor that married Travis and I gave me this idea while we were in our pre-marital classes years ago.  He told me how he worked chores into a positive thing with his kids.  They chose a bunch of activities that need to be done all over the house and divided them so every one could pick an even amount.  SO we did that.  We sat down one day and talked about all the things that needed to be done and how to do them....we picked about 15 things so that would be about 5 things each per week.  Then we picked out of a hat who would choose first.  Once that person chose the 5 things that they wanted then the next person would chose 5 and the last would get the 5 left overs....it has worked out well so Far.  I am excited that the kids are doing the chores that they chose and I am not yelling at them to do things around the house.  Now it is a work in progress so we have eliminated some items and the one the gets to pick first gets the reward of less chores.  It was also interesting to see how the kids really enjoyed doing the chore and were asking others to clean up after themselves to make it easier on them or to not have to feel that they JUST CLEANED it....I thing all this have been a great lesson...let's hope we can keep it going through all the different changes in the year to come.

Here is the start of the board...decided to use the Magnetic board idea that Sheila my Stamping up friend showed me how to make with the calendar thing.  It was easy and done by the time the kids got home.  The Board is a great success to getting the house much cleaner than I could have ever gotten it.

Decluttering

It really is a nasty word.  I find the word makes me feel dirty and sad.  SO instead of de-cluttering all the things I have accumulated over the last 38 years of life....I am going to let go and let move on to bless someone else.  It really is a hard process but with a few different websites I think that I am off to a good start.  I think that I will make real progress this year....why different from other years you ask?  well I think because I am ready.  One has to have  a mind set that you are not hurting yourself to get rid of things that take up space that really you don't use or truly love anymore.  I am realizing that I am not in need of some of these things and life is much easier and calm without the CHAOS that I have placed around myself. 
I have started with my scrapbooks.  I will move on from mostly traditional ones to digital ones this year.  I very scary thing for me but I am also excited all the same.  I plan to pare down the paper and other things that I have had for years that I just don't love anymore.  I will be using the help of  Tammy Morales
http://www.ScrapbookersInnerCircle.com

And a few other sites like http://www.ecokaren.com/    and   http://blog.kanelstrand.com/2012/01/i-challenge-you-you-challenge-me.html  I am hoping that with the help and inspiration of these blogs I will get through this year a lighter and happier person.  I am stuck in a rut that I just can't brake....so here is hoping that something will budge. 

A Year of Project Life complete

So the year has come to a close.  2011 has come and gone......and I have 365 pictures to show for it....( well a little more than that)  BUT all the same I have a pictures a day for 365 days in 2011. I started off with a bang and really kept it up till about end of June with printing out pictures and journaling.  As the months got busy with going back to school and the holidays I did not get to the journaling but I kept up printing once a month.  I think that really was the key.  I look back and wish I kept the journaling up.  I now plan to send the rest of this week catching up.  If I spend just 15 min a day I should be done really soon. 
Here is what my journey started like
http://thecoylegoodlife.blogspot.com/2010/12/my-project-life-journey2011.html

The other fun thing about this project was the fact that I inspired others to do the same....of course in many different ways.  I have friends that are taking this journey this year for the first time.  Or others who were inspired to finish and hopefully will this year. 

I am not sure what my plan is this year.  I just know that my outlook on scrapbooking has once again changed.  I am glad it has.  I may even try my hand at more blogging and digital scrapbooking.  I am excited for 2012 and what pictures and memories I will capture this year....anything from the day to day journey through my crazy life to the more stand out events like birthday, holidays and a 5th grade graduation......
I also looked at my new years resolutions from last year.  I did not do too bad.  I accomplished about half of them.  The one that I really want to accomplish this year is fitting in my workout.  SO I am only making one resolution so that I can focus on it and it alone.  Join me and let's get healthy together......signing off and getting ready to surf pinterest.....