Amanda O'Banion

the 30 minute scrapper // a new series

Welcome to a brand new series here on my blog and also on my YouTube channel!  One thing that I have worked extremely hard at during the last couple of years is becoming a more productive scrapper in the limited amount of creative time that I have. Where once I had large amounts of time to play with paper and photos nowadays I am lucky to get a half hour 2 or 3 times a week. 

In this new series, The 30 Minute Scrapper, I put myself on the clock, and on camera!, and show you how it is possible to create a beautiful scrapbook page in 30 minutes or less. 

In this first video I am scrapping two photos that I took at a dinner theatre that my husband and I recently attended. I pulled together a few supplies from my Two Girls and A Kit supplies as well as the sketch that I created for the month of May.  You can find the download for the sketch here. 

In only 24 minutes I created a multi-layered page with embellishment clusters and journaling and I love how it turned out! My challenge to you is to grab a few supplies and photos, and set the clock. You might just surprise yourself with how much you can accomplish in only 30 minutes! 

I hope you enjoy this series. For the time being I'm going to call it this a "regularly-irregular scheduled" series. This simply means that some weeks may see more than one video and the days may vary but there will be one video minumum per week! 

~*~Supplies I used~*~
Glitz: 77 Title/ Accent Sticker Sheet: http://tinyurl.com/obveume
Glitz 77 Giant Rhinestones: http://tinyurl.com/nphsbaw
Glitz 77 Alphabet and Words: http://tinyurl.com/ofte3wt
American Crafts Front Porch Thickers: http://amzn.to/1vpKNFn
American Crafts POW glitter paper: http://amzn.to/V4T3zC
Zig Memory System Millennium Marker Assortment, Black: http://amzn.to/1lHZO58
Heidi Swap Color Shine Black: http://amzn.to/1iP0NR6
Studio Calico Feather Vellum: no longer available
Basic Grey Persimmon Ginger Snap: http://amzn.to/TKy4Rx
Dear Lizzy Little Trinket Paper: http://amzn.to/1iTXmsa

 

our backyard project

When we built our house a few years ago one of the things that attracted us most to the lot was the size and the fact that it ended at a pretty creek that runs behind the property. We had huge dreams for the space but it was very overgrown with honeysuckle and dead trees that needed to be cleared.  Fast forward to three summer's later and we are finally getting to work on the space. 

This is the only before picture I have of the lower part of the yard. This is just past the grassy part of our yard that is functionable. This was last summer when we had started clearing things out but still had a long way to go. 

This summer Landen spent an entire weekend excavating and now it looks like this (minus the brush pile which has since been removed):

A huge improvement for sure! Our goals for this lower space are to:
    1. sow grass
    2. put in a picnic table area
    3. add a play area for our girls
    4. add a wildflower and bird feeder garden
    5. and of course a hammock

The second part of the project involves giving us seating in the back of our house and place to relax and enjoy being outdoors. When our house was built we added a small deck, but we knew that we eventually wanted to add a patio because the upkeep to a deck is more than we want to handle. This is what the back part of the house looks like where we are wanting to develop the patio space: 

Our plans for this space involve:
    1. removing the deck
    2. adding a paved patio and firepit
    3. eventually adding a wall around the patio
    4. planting privacy shrubs

This will be the largest improvement we have made to the house so far and while I'm super excited about it we will be doing it all by ourselves which is a little intimidating. 

What plans do you have for home improvement this summer? Do you tend to DIY or do you have someone do it for you? Also, any help with laying a brick patio would be greatly appreciated! 

the day I messed up

You will never get me to confess to being a perfect mother. I will be the first to admit that I have lost my cool a number of times in my two year journey as a mother and I know that in the next 90 years I will make hundreds (thousands?) of more. I've shared on this blog before that disciplining is the hardest part of parenting for me. The fear of disciplining my kids wrongly and out of anger instead of love is a fear that weighs over me everyday and one that cripples me with anxiety each time I put Adeline in timeout or have to give her a consequence. I'm terrified that I will be too busy to teach them the right lessons and to quick to teach them the wrong ones like responding out of anger, giving unjust consequences, and pushing them away. It's a fear that I have to give over to the Lord daily. 

Sometimes our kids have a way of teaching us things that no one else can. Recently I completely overreacted to a particular mess that Adeline made. I wasn't feeling very well as it was and even though she had only gained access to a jar of baby food because I left it on the table with the lid off, I flew off the roof and acted like a mad person, yelling, moving her (rather aggressively) out of the way and responding with harsh words like "what were you thinking?", and "are you crazy?" and my favorite "you know better than that!!!!" (she's two so she probably doesn't).  I could see her emotions reflecting in her eyes as she went from fear to sadness to embarrassment and I immediately felt horrible. I was all to aware that I had messed up and that I had not reacted in a way of love at all.  I walked over and held her little face between my hands, gave her a kiss and apologized. I asked her the same question that I do every time I mess up: "Do you forgive Mommy?", to which she responded "Yep!" and gave me a kiss and went on her merry way.  In an instant God spoke to my heart and I realized:

She will always forgive me until she realizes she doesn't have to.

Wow. Just like that I realized that one day, I will do something wrong, I will apologize and ask her if she forgives me and she will realize that she has a profound choice. She can choose to forgive me once again, or she can choose not to. It will be in her court. It will be a defining day in our relationship and in her development as a person.

I immediately began asking myself what I could do to make sure that she never stops forgiving me, never stops trusting me, never stops loving me. The answer came rushing to me straight from the precious word of God. 

    Luke 17: 3-4: Be on your guard. If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and comes back to you seven times, saying 'I repent', you must forgive him. (HCSB)

She has to see forgiveness lived out through me. 

The lesson that God smacked me in the face with was that she has to realize that even though she has a choice between forgiving those who do her wrong or not forgiving them, she must forgive. As her mother I need to show her over and over again that as Christians, we forgive. We forgive when people say mean things. We forgive when someone breaks our heart. We forgive when we don't get what we want, We forgive when someone hurts us so bad we can't see the other side. We forgive because Jesus demands it in his word and because HE FORGAVE US!" 

The longer I'm a parent and the older my children get I realize that the word of God is entangled in every single aspect of raising my kids. There isn't a moment of my time spent as their mommy that I shouldn't be teaching them to live like Jesus and part of that is teaching them to forgive. 

I know that I am going to mess up so many times while I'm their mama. I'm going to hurt them and make them mad and do things that are just plain mean because I'm not 'feeling it' that day. My only hope is that in the times in between, the times when I'm not messing up, that I am teaching them enough about love and compassion and forgiveness that when something bad happens or someone hurts them (even their Mommy) and asks for their forgiveness their first reaction will be to say 'Yep', show them love, and go on their merry way. 

What lessons have you learned from your children? I pray that no matter what comes our way that we can always respond with a forgiving heart. 

 

i've been doing some tweaking

The blog has gotten a small, not too drastic but totally awesome uplift over the last couple of weeks and I'm working hard on finishing things up. By the end of the week my FAQ page will be updated as well the About page. I will also be letting you in on a little project that I have in the works that I am pretty excited about! Thank you for being understanding and if you arrive on the blog and it looks like a hot mess.. I apologize, but the change is going to make this little piece of paradise of mine function so much better for all of us! Woohoo for change! 

the importance of taking time for yourself

This blog post is probably written more for myself than for anyone else. I am the absolute worst at taking time for myself. This doesn't mean that I am some selfless individual who puts others before herself 100% of the time, goodness I wish that was true. It means that when I get a free minute I usually spend it doing things that can wait instead of doing things that would make me happy. 

For example: in the last week my girls have taken a nap at the same time exactly once. Actually, I don't even know that Adeline slept because it sounded like she was playing the whole time, but it was time I had to myself, me time. I had the world at my fingertips for 2 solid hours. I could have done almost anything. Read, scrapbooked, took a nap. Instead I found myself doing another load of laundry, cleaning the kitchen counters for the second time, picking up the toys that were scattered around the living room, and paying bills. For two solid hours I spent my time doing things that could have waited. There really wasn't any reason that I couldn't have been doing these things while my girls were awake. Adeline likes to help me fold clothes, I let her wipe the counters from time to time. They could have waited, but instead I wasted my precious me-time and used them to do mindless chores that, when finished, didn't make me feel any more peaceful, accomplished, or happy. 

I did an inventory the other night after being told for 5,356,181th time to "make sure to take time for yourself". I know that these people don't mean any harm when they say it. I know that they are recalling a time in their lives when they were living the same way that I am now, minute to minute, mess after mess, tantrum after tantrum (this describes my days at school as well). I know that they are speaking from experience that we need to take time for ourselves because it's way too easy to get caught up in the day to day and forget about numero uno.  The problem with actually taking their advice is that the reality is that I have two very young children who ask demand my time. All of it.

The thing is, I am at my best when I have taken a few moments just for me.  I think more clearly, I am more productive, and I am an overall happier person.  Even though I try to convince myself that taking time for myself is a selfish act, and an undeserving one in my role as a mother, wife, teacher, friend, etc; I find that in the times I give myself the okay to be a little selfish everyone around me is happier as well.  As women we need to let go of the mommy guilt, the wife guilt, the girlfriend guilt, whatever guide of guilt you are carrying around that keeps you from going out and taking a few moments to yourself. We need to embrace that this life is also ours to live. It is not solely wrapped up in our husbands or kids or families. We have to make time to make our own memories and dream our own dreams. Life is still waiting for us when we get back, believe me, but those few precious moments that are spent doing something we enjoy...those are the magical ones.  

When is the last time you took time just for you? I challenge you to find the time, no matter how loudly your guilt speaks in your ear, and lay aside the Tide and the Windex and the Lysol wipes and take time just for you. You need it. 

currently // summer nights

Right now summer nights are full of

long walks in our neigborhood,
eating dinner with the screen door open.
 fruit smoothies,
long conversations,
making mud in our bucket,
sitting outside under the tent,
reading whenever I can,
playing outside, 
harvesting radishes, onions, and leaf lettuce from the garden, 
watering flowers, 
and learning to explore the world with our toes,
staying up too late watching Scandal

Summer nights are the best right now. I'm so thankful for the life that I am blessed to be living.  

What do your summer nights look like? 

two girls and a kit // watercolor and embossing powder

This video has been a long time coming. I recorded this layout back in May and after 7, yes SEVEN, tries at recording the voiceover it finally worked. I was about to give up on it completely which would have been really sad since I love how this layout turned out! The technique that I chose from the recipe card was watercoloring and I thought it would be interesting to combine it with embossing powder to create a resist look on the paper. I used a large woodgrain stamp for my embossed image and then watercolored directly over it.  I also challenged myself to combine the more muted, pastel colors in the Glitz Design paper with the bold colors in my watercolor shape. All in all, I was very pleased with how it turned out! All the supplies for this layout can be found in the description box in the Youtube video. Hope you enjoy! 

You can find all of my Two Girls and A Kit videos here. 

The Midwife giveaway winner and Day in the Life

First of all, thank you so much for everyone who entered the giveaway for a copy of The Midwife! I am very happy to announce the winner is Marsha C who said: 

    Marsha C said...

Would love to win this book. I usually go back and forth between Amish books and light mysteries.

Congrats Marsha!!! Please email me your address and we will get your book sent right out! 

In other news, I missed the Day in the Life project that Ali Edwards hosted earlier this year and so I have decided to it on my own day, this Thursday, June 19th. This summer is turning out to be exactly what I picture it and yet so totally different and I want to document what a normal day with my girls at home looks like. I would love to have you participate with me! Who's game? I will be posting my photos all day long on my instagram account. You don't have to be a scrapbooker to do this. It's all about taking photos throughout your day and reflecting on them. I participated in a Week in the Life two years ago and to date it is my favorite memory keeping project I have ever completed! 

*I am in no way affiliated with Ali Edwards or A Day in the Life but it is a project that I love doing and would love for you to join me!*

goodbye dorothy, hello betty

I didn't know that it was possible to get attached to a vehicle until we left our red Camry sitting in the car dealership last Wednesday. 

Last week we decided to finally take the plunge and buy a van. We'd been discussing it for a while and after running the numbers and talking to a couple different sales people we trusted our guts and decided that this was the time. Traveling on any sort of a trip that required packing was quickly pushing limits of safety and we were just simply running out of room.  

I'd had my eye on the Toyota Sienna for a while and when the dealership was able to locate a black one I was pumped! It had everything we could have wanted in car and more. 

So why did I find myself in tears as we pulled out of the parking lot that day and left our beloved Dorothy behind? It could have been that we brought our girls home in that car. We took our first family vacation in that car. There were so many laughs, tears, conversations (both light-hearted and very serious) that took place in that car. It was a storehouse of memories for our family and I felt that I was leaving them trapped in that grey interior. 

I am no idiot, I know that I didn't lose my memories when I traded in my car, but the significance is that we were leaving a part of our life behind. The young couple that sat in that same dealership 3 years ago and purchased Dorothy had morphed into parents of two small children and drive a minivan. The big picture is that time goes by so fast. 

I'm looking forward to all the memories that we are going to make in our new minivan, affectionately named Black Betty (cue the Ram Jam song). This is going to be the car that we take to the beach, relax in at the drive-in, haul our girls sporting equipment and best friends in. This is the car that the fun stuff is going to happen in. I really liked Dorothy but I am going love Betty. 

 

summer reading report and a giveaway

As part of my summer manifesto I have been working really hard to make an effort to read more. Reading has always been a huge part of my life (ask my parents), but over the last few years I feel like I am letting it go more and more. Now that I have my own little girls who love books and could spend hours looking through them I feel it's important to lead by example. I want them to see their mama loving books. 

My first book of the summer is actually a book written by a friend from college, Jolina Petersheim. You may remember this post about her first novel, The Outcast, that was released last year. As soon as I found out that The Midwife was available for pre-order I rushed over to Amazon and snatched it up. It arrived on my doorstep the end of May and I couldn't wait to find time to dig into the pages. Jolina has a way with words that not only makes the story feel real, but allows you as the reader to put yourself into the setting of the story. 

The Midwife takes place in a Mennonite community and tells the story of Rhoda, the head midwife in charge of Hopen House, a home for unwed mothers. The story follows Rhoda, who was baptized into the Mennonite church after seeking refuge at Hopen House herself, on a search for redemption and closure from a past she has kept hidden from all those around her. 

The book centers around the issue of gestational surrogacy and how it effects not only the biological parents but also the woman who carries the child to term. It provokes new ways of thinking with the subject and as I read it, I began to really question what surrogacy is and the long-term effects on everyone involved.

I read the book in 4 days and at the end of the book I found myself sad that the story was over. This is one of those books that has the ability to tear at your heart and mend it, all at the same time. 

You can read all about Jolina and her precious little family here. Her blog is one that I love reading and I know you will too! 

What books have you read lately that have impacted your way of thinking? 

***GIVEAWAY***
Jolina has generously offered to send one of my readers their very own copy of The Midwife! Leave a comment below recommending a book that has impacted your way of thinking and I will announce the winner Monday, June 16th.  

 

*Disclaimer* This review was not written in exchange for product, the book was purchased with my own hard-earned cash. All opinions are my own and from the heart. The author is graciously offering one of my readers a copy of the book out of the goodness of her southern heart!