Motherhood and time management...

Good morning all!!
My post is a little bit late for Mothers Day... but I decided to share it none the less. Why is it late? Because I was busy being a Mama. Sure, I could have taken some time and written up a blog post. But I figured it was more important to not be on the computer this past weekend. It is time for some changes in my life.
You see, I have a problem... I tend to hide from my responsibilities sometimes by playing on the computer. No, I don't play any games on it... and I don't do message boards often... But I do facebook, pinterest, blogs and things like that. And it sucks SO much time. I'm not talking about the things that I need to do, or checking into facebook occasionally. I just do too much... without wasting time explaining, let me just say that I'm making changes. My kids get home from school at 3:00... so just before then, I shut my computer down. It doesn't come back on until they are in bed. Why shut it down? Why not just stay away from it?
Because I just can't. It is an addiction I'm sad to say.
So, I have decided to make some drastic changes. That being one of them! :) And I like it! I hope to be more productive with my time online now and get things done that need to be done! Not just waste my precious time doing nothing... while one of my  beautiful children stand at my leg waiting until I am done reading someone's blog post, or pinning something on pinterest. Shame on me...
The reason I am sharing this very personal struggle here on my blog, is because I know that many other people struggle with this same kind of thing. I hope to encourage you... let's not waste our time doing nothing... lets enjoy these precious moments... because as we are constantly being told... time goes by so fast.
I am not cutting out my creative time... because that is my job, and does not take over my entire life. There is also a lot of paperwork that goes along with that... it must be done! But all that will be done during designated times... and all the other time that was being wasted is going to be reduced drastically.
Being a Mom is an amazing gift. It is not always easy... actually is seldom easy. But it is a blessing none the less. I don't know why God chose me to be the mother of these 5 beautiful and healthy children. I feel so unworthy and so incapable some days of doing a good job. But it is my responsibility to be the best mom I can be. That does NOT mean perfection... It just means loving them with everything that is in me, and realizing that I have them in my arms for a short time. In that time, it is up to me to teach them how to live life... how to act and react... how to practice self discipline and self control. I have not been doing a very good job in some of these up until now.
So I am praying that God will give me strength and wisdom... discernment and patience... and that HE will make me into the kind of mother that my children need...
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I want to leave you with a card that I made for my Mom for mothers day. It's late too... but she will get it and know how special she is to me...

This card took me 10 minutes to make!! I started with a card base from Kaisercraft... it has the scalloped border and black design already on the card! I used one of Spellbinders™ M-Bossabilities™ (ES-005 Enchanted) to emboss the top portion. I added the ribbon by running it thru my Xyron 1.5 create-a-sticker and adhered it to my card. Then I tied on the bow. I added a bit of yellow to the embossed areas (which my hubby kindly told me looked like I splattered mustard on it... ;) ). I die cut S5-086 Bitty Blossoms using Melissa Frances Crepe paper and added that to the center of the bow. 2 stick pins, and a ribbon banner with MOTHER on it and this card was good to go! So simple and quick... but bright and cheery just the same!

Thanks for stopping by... I hope that my post will help you to stop and evaluate your time... Spend it on the important thing...
Until next time...
Happy Creating!

Spellbinders Spring Blog Hop and Give Away Day Four

Spellbinders Spring Blog Hop and Giveaway Day 4

Hello everyone and welcome to day 4 of the Spellbinders ™ Spring Blog Hop!! I am so pleased to be able to share my project with you today! Today I am featuring Classic Edges One and Classic Ric Rac Edgeabilities!
I hope you have been enjoying the hop so far! Are you not AMAZED by the talent of this new team!?!? I know I am! They are SUCH an inspiration!
I hope that you will be inspired today while visiting my blog! I get to show you some more fun things to do with Edgeabilities!! So grab a cup of your favorite drink and sit back! This is going to take a while! I took lots of photos of the entire creative process for those who would like to recreate this project! 
I created a shabby styled scrapbook page for you today. Take a peek…

SWEET  CHEEKS

Spellbinders Supply List: 
   • E8-007 Classic Edges One
   • E8-004 Classic Ric Rac
   • S5-086 Bitty Blossoms
   • S4-345 Picot Edge Circles (#3)
   • S5-029 Nested Lacey Pennants
   • S4-329 Butterfly Circles
   • GC-001 Grand Calibur

Cross Promotional Partners
• Melissa Frances (Wreathes of Glory, Newsprint, Dotted Kraft, Antonia, Kraft Damask, Octavia, Crepe paper)
• WorldWin® Papers (Cream Cardstock)
• Want2Scrap (Lecreme baby bling)
• Xyron Mega Runner
• Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L™ (Foam squares, sm)

Other products
• Ranger distress ink, Liquid Pearls
• Hot Glue Gun
• Copper brads
• Sewing machine
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Here’s how I created this project…

1. Begin by trimming ½ inch off 2 sides of Melissa Frances “Newsprint” paper. “Wreaths of Glory” will be your back ground, so have it handy as well.

 2. Distress edges of back ground paper slightly and ink using distress ink. Distress “Newsprint” paper more severely and ink as well. Spritz with water and curl distressed edges to suit your taste.

3. Stitch using sewing machine approx 1/3” inside edge, allowing paper to fold and curl.

 4. Cut cream cardstock into 2x8” strip. Using repositionable tape, tape scalloped edge from Classic Edges One and decorative insert from Classic Ric Rac Edgeabilities to edge of cardstock. Cut and emboss using Grand Calibur ® machine. Ink edges.

 5. Trim “Dotted Kraft” paper and distress using technique described in step 2. Adhere edges from step 4 under top and bottom. Curl slightly. Adhere to page and machine stitch in place.

 6. Repeat step 5 using “Antonia” paper.
7. Repeat using “Kraft Damask” paper.
8. Trim piece of “Octavia” and a strip of "Antonia". Distress and stitch both pieces in place as shown.

 9. Trim cream cardstock to 8” wide. Tape Classic Ric Rac Edger onto edge, followed by both decorative inserts. Cut and emboss.

 10. Remove Ric Rak cutting edge and floral decorative insert. LEAVE DIAMOND DECORATIVE INSERT IN PLACE. Align edger and floral decorative insert on other side. Lay on cutting plate with the already cut portion sticking out the top. This is to keep it from being “smooshed” during the cutting and embossing of this portion. Now run thru Grand Calibur to cut and again to emboss.

 11. You will notice that the remainder of the cream cardstock has a Ric Rac edge. Measure using that cut piece… lay ruler across top, again leaving some showing. Tape Ric Rac edger there. Cut and emboss.

 12. Ink edges and curl edges of both pieces from step 10 and 11 around a pencil, curling them up. Adhere together, keeping adhesive away from edges. Add pearls and small amount of liquid pearls.

 13. Sand edges of 4x6 photo and adhere to page. Layer decorative border that we just created over bottom edge and adhere. NOTE: You may need to trim ends slightly to make fit properly.

14. Using Bitty Blossoms, cut/emboss 2 lrg blossoms (Photo shows one already rolled for you) and 2 med blossoms using Melissa Frances Crepe paper. Also cut and emboss 2 of each leaf from this set using “First Class Mail” paper. Ink all pieces. Roll flowers to create blossoms. I adhered these using a hot glue gun… due to the delicate nature of them, and also the need for it to dry fast. I then added a drop of hot glue into the center and added an antique copper brad.

15. Cut Picot Edge circles die # 3 (With #1 being the smallest) using crepe paper.

16. Arrange leaves and blossoms over Picot Edge circle and adhere all to bottom left corner of photo.

17. Using Lacey Nested Pennants, use ribbon dies (I used both long and short one) to cut/emboss 6 pieces. Ink thru template.

18. Trim to all same size. Add alpha stickers

 19. Add foam squares to back and adhere to page. Also add SWEET letters. Add pearl between each.
20. Cut/emboss butterfly circles. Save circle for another project. Ink butterflies, add pearl and adhere to page.

 21. Print journaling on computer. Cut into strips, adhere.

 And there you have your completed scrapbook page!
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The Spellbinders™ Spring Blog Hop will begin April 30th, and will end on May 5th, 2012. It consists of 16 individual and one grand prize drawings. Enter the Spellbinders™ Spring Blog Hop by visiting the participating blogs each day.
From each Blog Hop post, click on the Blog Hop "Enter HERE" at the end of each blog to open the entry form. You may only enter once from each blog each day.
Spellbinders™ will randomly draw one winner from each participating blog to receive all of that day’s products. The Grand Prize Winner will be randomly drawn from the pool of entrants that sent entry forms from each and every participating blog during the 48 hours each blog was open. For the full list of official rules please click RULES.

**Enter the Contest by Clicking HERE**

Thank you SO much for stopping by my blog today! I hope that you have been inspired!

Don’t forget to visit all of the other blogs that are live today!!

Yvonnne Van de Grijp

Tina McDonald --- you are here!

Heidi Van Laar

Please remember, in order to qualify for today’s prize you need to use the link provided above. I LOVE your comments, but they will not get you an entry into today’s drawing!
Questions? ContestQuestions@Spellbinders.us No entries will be accepted at this email address.