Amanda O'Banion

dear adeline// you amaze me

 

Adeline,

How is it possible that you are almost two years old? As I sit here typing this I am watching you prance around the living room with your sippy-cup dancing to "Pizza Angel" from your favorite Veggie Tales episode.  You amaze me with how much you can communicate with us now. Not only have you mastered 'yes' and 'no' but you have also started nodding your head yes and no in response to questions.  It seems just like yesterday you were sitting in my life cooing and grabbing for things. Now you take things to the trash can and feed yourself, and you even peed in the potty for the first time the other day!

I can't believe just how fast time flies. You are still your daddy's spitting image but you have your mama's stubborness for sure.  You get so frustrated when we don't understand what you want the first time and my heart goes out for you. I know that as you continue to grow you will get much better at asking for things specifically.  We are trying to be patient and let you go at your own pace. 

I am reminded over and over that this is the time that parenting begins getting tough. Now is the time that we have to put into action all of those things that we said we'd do "when we have kids".  Disciplining you is hard. I totally understand what 'this hurts me more than you' means now.  Having to tell you no, or remove you from a situation when you are screaming is never easy. More than once we have left a store or the church service because you can't calm yourself down. I'm not going to lie, sometimes being your mama is tough right now. Sometimes it's embarrassing, but I have to keep telling myself that this is just a phase. We have been through so many phases with you and I know that there are so many more to go through.

I love how you call me "MomMom". You will sit in your crib in the morning asking for me to come get you. You also have started cuddling with me at night right before bed. This is our special time. You rarely want your daddy before bed so after our nightly bedtime routine I will sit in the rocker and hold you and we'll just rock and talk for a few minutes until I lay you down. I cherish these times when you are quiet and still and I try to quiet my mind and just live in the moment.  

You are the best big sister!  I can't believe that there was ever a time when I worried about how you would adapt to having your sister in the house. On a daily basis I am brought to tears by the love and compassion your show Eleanor. Every morning you burst out of your room yelling "Sissy!". You can't wait to find her and hug her. You always ask "Why she cry?" with your eyes huge with worry everytime she makes the slightest whimper.  You are a great helper when it comes to feeding her and changing her diaper.  I can't wait to see the bond that you two are going to have. As hard as it is sometimes having you two so close I am so glad we did.

I know that this road is still just beginning for us.  You are going to continue to change and to mature and to develop your own little personality.  I know that we are going to have our rough patches and we aren't always going to be each other's best friends. And I'm okay with that. My job is to be your Mama and to raise you and care for you and to teach you to love others and to love Jesus with your whole heart. I know  that this will be hard in the years to come. Right now I am going to love on you as long as you will let me. I am going to sing and dance and cry with you. I am going to spend every single minute I can with you. These are the moments that I will hold onto when we don't always see eye-to-eye.  I am now, and will always be, in your corner. I am your Mama. It's the best job in the world.

I love you sweet girl,
Mama  

right now and a giveaway winner

This week has been a whirlwind of crazy, but in a great way. Eleanor has slept through the night 2 nights in a row so I hope we have crossed that hurdle. Fingers crossed. Her sister slept like a champ so we are having a hard time adjusting to having an almost 6 month old who still wakes up multiple times.  We also had our first snow of the season. It's always so pretty to see but I hate driving in it. I fell in love with a new project that I attempted this year with my students. Their pumpkin book reports were so much fun and they turned out so good! I will definitely be repeating this next year!

I am also falling in love with watching the relationship grow between Adeline and Eleanor. Adeline adores her little sister and is always asking "Why she cry?" when Eleanor gets upset. Eleanor thinks her big sister hung the moon and cackles with delight when she hears her voice.  

We are figuring out pretty quickly that we have to keep things away from the edge of the counter. Parenting is a constant state of adjusting.  I am also gearing up for the release of my new stamps. More about them coming soon, and I am loving working with Carrie's Christmas Countdown kit and getting my album all ready. You can read more about the kit and my workshop here. 

So far we have nothing planned for the weekend so we are going to do lots of relaxing and drinking coffee and enjoying being with each other! 

OH! And the winner of yesterday's awesome giveaway is....

Kate Morrow who said...

How exciting to "meet" new artists with the same passion! I have much to learn and am excited to spend more time looking at both of your work in the future! Thank you for a chance at the giveaway. I think giveaways are such a fun way to bless someone. Thanks for all the sharing!!!

Kate, please contact me at amandaodesignsATgmailDOTcom to claim your prize!! 

*winner randomly selected.

 

guest scrapper 007: Carrie Elias

Oh boy oh boy and I excited about today's guest scrapper! I have been a longtime fan of Carrie's scrapping style and videos and recently we have began getting to know each other through our collaboration on my e-course, An Intentional Christmas.  I am using her Christmas Countdown kit for my class album and wowza! it is crammed full of goodies! Carrie's fun personality and beautiful photography make her work a blast to look at and her videos are so inspiring! I know you are going to enjoy what she has to say today, and she has even been generous enough to give you the chance to win some goodies so make sure you read all the way to the bottom!

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Hi!  I’m Carrie and I live in Seattle which just so happens to be right across the water from my most favorite place in the whole world, the Olympic Peninsula.  I’m married to my love, a musician who adores our two puppies just as much as I do.  My favorite color is green.  I name my laptops (my current laptop is named Maple), and my cameras (she’s named Clementine). Hiking through the forest makes me happy, especially when there’s a big waterfall to see.  I turn on music after I get out of bed.  Right now my hair is blue.  Charlie Brown is my best.  I purchased a sewing machine a few years ago just so I could learn to sew onto my scrapbook pages. 

 

1. A little bit behind your scrappy process.  Usually the thing that inspires me the most are my photos.  I take the time to custom edit my favorites and have them printed at Costco (I really like their “satin” finish).  To begin my scrap process, I choose the photo(s) I want to use and find product to match.  I prefer a colorful and patterned background rather than a solid, and also really enjoy combining colors and patterns that you wouldn’t normally think go well together.  Something I try to add to all my projects are movement, texture and depth.  I like to create movement in different ways, but one of the easiest is where I decide to place color.  For depth I use a lot of foam adhesive to pop things up, and for texture one of my favorite embellishments are Thickers because of the textures and depth of the differently coated chipboard.  Right now I also really love puffy stickers and neon!

 

2. When do you scrap?  I’m not much of a routine type person.  I use to scrapbook at night, but lately I’ve enjoyed playing my favorite CD quite loud (right now It’s Katy Perry’s Prism) or listening to Slacker Satellite Radio and scrapbooking during the day…..mid to late afternoon.  The light coming through the large windows in my craft room is so nice.  I’ve yet to find scrapbook friends here in Seattle, but one of my favorite things to do use to be when I had craft dates with my girlfriends.  In the morning we’d drive somewhere pretty like to a lavender field to take photos, grab lunch somewhere yummy and then head back home where we’d set up a big craft table and scrapbook for hours.  For the minibook below, my girlfriend and I visited the botanical gardens, and scrapbooked together at a later time using the photos we took.  I love my mini SO much and the memory if how it all came together is just as precious!

3. What inspired you to begin scrapbooking?  I have always loved memories.  Years ago I learned a little about photography (from my husband who attended film school), and immediately dove into memory keeping.  It all blossomed when I found this great scrapbook store in San Diego called Pink Pineapple Scrapbooks.  I made some awesome friends and learned that you could really make scrapbooking into whatever you want.  So I decided for me it would be a form of artistic expression.  I now scrapbook to create art and preserve memories the way I want to remember them.

 

4. Favorite techniques. A favorite technique I add to almost all my pages is sewing.  The texture and depth of the thread is super fun, and I like that you can sew frames, shapes, homemade garland, or just bunch up some loose thread for layering.  When I am extra inspired by a photo and want to use it as an oversized print, one of my favorite techniques is to print the photo directly onto scrapbook cardstock sized to 8 1/2x11 inches.  I then use it as my background paper, embellishing on top of the photo (see example below).  Additionally, another easy way to add movement to my page is with spray paint (Montana Gold is my favorite brand), and sometimes mist or glitter splatter. 

 

 

Now, to pick up from where I left off above…..in designing a layout once I have my photo picked out with product to match, the next step in putting it together is to find inspiration from a specific idea.  It could be creating a homemade embellishment (like the paper garland), deciding it’s time to try out a non-traditional scrapbooking element (like real feathers, fabric, modeling paste, chalkboard paint, or gold leaf), adding a more interactive focal point (like making the background pop off the page by adding popped up punched out shapes), or on the rare occasion I’ll find inspiration from a scrapbook sketch.  From this point I really like to take a photo with my phone of what my layout looks like so I can decide what it’s missing.  It may not make sense, but I find that viewing a photo of my page helps me see it differently and find balance.  Once I have things the way I like, I assemble it all.  Another example using some of these techniques is in the minibook below, created from a 30 day photo challenge.  I just added the photo for each day using spray paint behind (movement), the name of the photo prompt with Thickers (depth and texture), and sewed a vellum pocket to hold the journaling (the interactive element)…..and then repeated it all for each page/day.  Make sense?

 

5. Your goal as a scrapbooker.  Back in 2011 is when I really found my memory keeping groove and how scrapbooking fit into it all.  It started with me printing out every photo I took time to edit that year.  Sounds crazy right?  Well, I would start out printing the photos 4x6” and fit them into pocket pages, which is ironic because 4x6” is the most difficult size photo for me to scrapbook.  Next, after deciding which photos to scrapbook, I’d have them printed smaller or larger.  Once the layout was assembled I would add it into my 2011 album wherever it fit chronologically.  However, it’s when I started switching up the sizes of my pocket pages AND layouts when I realized this was the exact look and feel I wanted (see examples below).  Now, when I look through my albums, I get to see and touch all my photos instead of just viewing them on my computer and it makes me so happy.  There’s something about having them tactile that adds meaning to me.

6. Anything else?  I also really enjoy a little graphic design, and am known for sometimes creating a scrapbook element for my project.  Today I’m giving away a free set of six PRINTED 3x4 graphic cards (VERTICAL ONLY) designed for my Christmas Countdown Kit.  Just leave a comment below to be entered for a chance to win.  A winner will be announced here on Friday, November 15th.  Thanks so much for having me Amanda! XO

You can also find me here:

Blog | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Market

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See!? I told you that you would be impressed! And how awesome is it that she is hosting a giveaway as well!? I have been working with the kit for almost a week and the quality is amazing! You really don't want to miss out on the chance to win these cards! Make sure to leave your comments below and to check back for a special Christmas Countdown post and to see the winner announced on Friday! I will be including lots of information, pictures, and a video of myself getting the foundation of my album together using her kit.  I know that there are limited quantities of the kit left so hurry over and check it out!

I hope you all have enjoyed another episode of Guest Scrapper! Have a wonderful rest of your week!

a rant on chasing your dreams

It's a crazy feeling. These last few weeks have been crazy! Landen and I have been writing business plans, setting budgets, and I have been making a lot of lists and crossing off less things as I have liked. 

I have already met some amazing people! By taking some chances I have met some really awesome people in the crafting community and it has led me to an awesome collaboration with Carrie Elias for my An Intentional Christmas e-course! 

It is scary as heck! I feel like I am running around in circles. I am constantly double checking my blog, researching how I can drive more traffic to my blog, feeling frustrated when things aren't selling, and overall freaking out wondering if this thing is ever going to get off the ground.

Three are a lot of late night...a lot! Landen always said that if I really had the motivation it would most likely require some sacrifice of sleep.  Right now my schedule looks like this: wake up around 6:30, go to work, come home and make dinner and play with the girls. After they go to bed (around 9:00) I head upstairs and work until around 2. It's long hours but I am loving the feeling that accomplishment is bringing. 

I am reading A LOT of great books. Some of the ones that are really speaking to me right now are The Boss of You: Everything A Woman Needs to Know to Start, Run, and Maintain Her Own Business, HeadTrash: Cleaning Out the Junk that Stands Between You and Success, and Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool's Guide to Surviving with Grace.  The last one is an great book that is both deep and hilarious all at the same time! 

I am allowing myself to dream. The great thing about starting a business is that you are doing just that....starting! I know that I am going to have lots of ups and downs along this amazing journey. I am not looking to replace my current income anytime soon (although if that happened, I wouldn't complain). I am aware that I am going to have to say yes to some things I don't want to do and no to somethings I really want to do.  I know that the late nights are just beginning. But I am so excited! I am so excited to create and to share and to take chances. I feel this insane exhiliration that can only come with doing something that my gut feels in right! 

Thank you for following along with me on the crazy ride!

*Don't forget that my mini books are on sale right now until the end of November! Head here to check them out! 

An Intentional Christmas // an e-course

Today is the big day! I have been looking forward to announcing this news for so long! 

Today is day I am launching the sale of my first e-course! 

I have been working like a mad woman to get everything designed, written, recorded, and prepped. I have written and sent countless emails, drank way to many cups of coffee, and spent way to many hours staring at this computer screen! So, what is this e-course all about?

 

This course is written for you. The tired-worn-out-can't-believe-it's-December-already you. Whatever stage of life you are in; full time professional, stay at home mom, young, old - I want to encourage you. I want to support you in making the decison to make each moment count, to live in the moments, embrace them, and document them.   

Here is a little bit about how the course will work. The course is designed around 25 daily lessons. Each of these lessons center around one particular theme of our life that we could all be more intentional about. These themes range from
      * budgeting our holiday spending
      * fostering relationships
      * making more intentional decisions with our time
      * gift giving

 and many others.

Each day you will receive an email reminder along with a link back to that day's lesson. Once you read the lesson I hope you will reflect on the lesson and think of how you can apply it to your own life. Each day, after reading the prompt you will be given an "intentional moment" activity to try and embrace.  You can choose to complete the activity or you can choose to create your own. While you don't have to complete the activity at all, I do think that it's important to follow up an attitude of change with some form of action. It is my hope that these activities, or moments of action, will help to guide your day.

Along with each prompt and activity there will also be a chance to document how you have conquered your day with an attitude of intention.  Some days this might be a photo prompt, other days it might be a written journaling reflection. I am choosing to compile all these activities together using the Countdown to Christmas kit designed by Carrie Elias. Scrapbooking is how I choose to document my life, but you may be an art-journaler, a writer, a photo-journaler. Whatever form of documenting this journey you choose, I challenge you to go at it in a way that is meaningful to you and in a way that will inspire you as you look back at this December for years to come. 

So to recap, when you purchase this course you will receive:
       *25 daily prompts to inspire you to be intentional in one area each day.
       *25 daily action steps and documentation prompts to help you live with intention. 
       *Exclusive printables and Silhouette cut files. 
       *A look at my own Intentional Christmas album and how I am documenting my journey. 
       *A photo gallery where you can share your own documentation process. 
       *Discounts to my exclusive Intentional Christmas stamps. 
       *Online chats with me 2 times during the course. 
       *3 process videos using the Christmas Countdown Kit designed by Carrie Elias.

Christmas is a time full of love, magic, family, and lots of moments that should be remembered. So many times we get so bogged down by the to-do lists, schedules, parties, shopping, etc, that we miss out on actually enjoying these moments until they have already passed us by.  This journey may be hard at times as you find yourself searching down deep to discover things that really matter in an attempt to eliminate the ones that don't.  However, it will also be fun and exciting and I truly believe that you may find that you will reach the end of December having actually lived in this holiday season more than any other season before. 

Happy holidays!

$15 USD

the wall project // big changes

You may remember from this post that I had big changes in store for the bare wall between our kitchen and our morning room. It was such an eye sore because it was so large and so empty. 

My initial plan for the space was to do a gallery wall of sorts; lots of fun, eccletic things hung randomly on the wall. It really wasn't working for me though because I was quickly realizing how expensive it was going to be to purchase all of the things that I wanted to fill the wall.

Then one day, a magic email appeared in my inbox from Elise Blaha Cripe's blog and I knew instantly that this was exactly what I had been looking for. I quickly called Landen over to have a look and he fell in love with the idea too. That weekend we went to the store, purchased the supplies, and hung the shelves. (Don't you just love those aha! moments!) Within a couple of hours my blank wall went from drab to fab!  

The shelves are much more full now and I arranged them so that I had room to store my scrapbook albums, cookbooks, etc. The top shelf is full of books that were stuck in drawers from the move and I have lots of others pictures and tiny keepsakes items scattered around. I also ordered a Kentucky shaped print from this adorable Etsy shop and placed it on the shelf with the coffee painting on it. The coffee painting is one that a friend painted and gave to us. The flower parts are my favorite self-watering pots from Lowes. 

This shelving unit is exactly what this wall needed and I am so glad we jumped right in and didn't second-guess ourselves. Sometimes when you know, you just know, and with this one I just knew.  

I also decided to do a quick makeover in our foyer.  Before we redecorated everything I had a large canvas print that I purchased from Hobby Lobby hanging on our large entryway wall.  When we painted we hung up some wooden art as placeholders for future things but it never felt just right for the space. I decided to do a 3x3 art wall using 12x12 prints that I ordered from Persnickety Prints and I love the impact it has in the space. 

Here is wall before:

and here it is after:

I purposefully chose photos that were more informal and that showed our true relationships with each other. I am loving the candid feel that my photography has right now.  The Happily Ever After print in the top right corner is one that I whipped up really quick in Photoshop but you can find them on sale in various places on the internet.  The ampersand in the middle came from Michaels and I backed it with some Dear Lizzy paper. 

So there ya go. Two drastic changes to two seperate walls in our house. I am still on the lookout for some additional prints and doo-dads to go on the my shelves so if you have any ideas shoot me a link! 

Happy Monday everyone! Make it a great week! I'm going to get back to my (third) cup of coffee and I might just have Christmas music playing in the background.