Sometimes it’s nice to just do something for yourself.  Sometimes it’s nice to just use a template.  Sometimes it’s nice to not think but just do!  I found this very relaxing tonight!

Milly Molly Lynn Grievenson
Weathered Neutrals Anna Aspnes
Template JMDesigns

Corey was actually surprised to see me making something for myself tonight rather than designing.

I hope you enjoy yourself and your family this holiday weekend.  Maybe you can sneek in a few minutes for something just for you! ;D

I am pleased to announce that I have opened my own store right here on my blog!

Picture me doing the Chandler (from Friends) dance! ;D

Just some of the products you will see there are…

And here is a layout I did using the products above.

This has been an interesting adventure and it is by no means over.  I remember when I posted my first digital paper here on my blog.  Then my first paper pack.  I wasn’t ready.  I may not be ready now either.  However I read a fantastic blog post here about why taking imperfect action is the perfect action to take.  I am one of those people who want to wait till everything is perfect before stepping out and going forward.  That said I’ve noticed that I wouldn’t be here today right now opening up my own store if I had waited till everything was perfect or waited till I knew everything about digital scrapbooking design.

I have to add a huge thank you to my husband for all his hard work.  I would not be here were it not for all his computer expertise.

So stop by the store and let me know what ya think! ;D  I’m sure there will be more tweaking as we go.  (I have to remind myself…this is an imperfect journey!)  I’ll be adding new products all the time so stop by often!

Five years ago we moved from Maine to Colorado.  Sometimes it seems like yesterday, other times it seems like we’ve lived here forever.

When we moved here Ava was 3 and Laney was 19 months.  Ava has memories of Maine.  Laney does not.

At first I didn’t like it here.  Now I can’t think of living anywhere else!  ;D

Some of you know that Ava took gymnastics during the school year.  And if you know that you know that she got a little burnt out and decided to take a break.  Recently she decided to make that break permanent and wanted to try something new.  She landed on horseback riding.  After researching local facilities we picked one.  This particular place teaches Vaulting which is basically gymnastics on horseback.  The concept is supposed to help riders have better control of themselves and understand the horse’s movements and help with safety so when they move on to actual riding they will have more confidence and knowledge.  I’d never heard of it before but it made perfect sense when they explained it.

We had our orientation and Ava had her first lesson today.  It went very well!

I don’t consider myself just a scrapbooker, photographer or designer.  I consider myself an artist.  It is not just cause I went to art school or that I like to create or that I appreciate art.  Maybe it is all of these mixed together and maybe some other things mixed in there that I cannot explain.  I see so many creative things around that inspire me.  The Fibonacci Spiral happens to be one of those.

Unfamiliar with the Fibonacci Spiral?  Let me give you some visuals.

The Fibonacci Spiral is created by drawing arcs connecting the opposite corners of squares in the Fibonacci tiling.  Fibonacci was a mathematician in the 13th century.  He first discovered the Fibonacci number sequence by estimating how fast rabbits could reproduce in an ideal environment.  Now I’m not a mathematician and I don’t want to get too technical or boring but the premise behind the squares, or the sequence, is adding each number in the sequence with the number occurring before it in the sequence.  Like this…

1
1 + 1 = 2
2 + 1 = 3
3 + 2 = 5
5 + 3 = 8
8 + 5 = 13
13 + 8 = 21
21 + 13 = 34 and so on.

While I must admit I really don’t care about the math I did want to include that part in my post so you at least have some knowledge of what I’m talking about.  What I most care about is what the spiral looks like in nature, architecture and the like.  I did a basic search on Google and came up with some of the following images…

Naturally these images and this spiral concept can bring so much to the imagination!  And so I give you my take…

You can download this template for free here.

Below is the layout that I made.

Template No.4 JMDesigns
Paper So Fancy JMDesigns
Katie Pertiet Journaling Brushes-n-Stamps
Katie Pertiet Barely There Brushes-n-Stamps

Are there things in art, nature or life that inspire you?  Take a look around.  Take a new look at something you see every day.  You may be surprised!  If you use the template please share what you do.  I would love to see!

There is a trail just 10 minutes from our house that Corey goes mountain biking on all the time.  He takes Ava there now.  Ava was really wanting me to see what she can ride on her mountain bike now.  I was very impressed by her biking prowess now, btw, as she showed me all the things she can ride over.  We went hiking on the trail last night.  We had to wait till the heat died down so it ended up being about 7:30pm when we started.  The trail is stunning.  I can’t believe I haven’t hiked it before now.  We saw so many interesting things!  With all the rain everything is so green and there are tons of wildflowers this year.  ;D  What did you do this weekend?

…the way you plan.  Have you ever noticed that?  Especially if you are a planner by nature.  Which I am.  I have things all mapped out in my head and all my ducks in a row and life happens and the whole thing gets thrown out the window.  I’m a firm believer that the reason God gave me children was so I could learn the lesson of go-with-the-flow.  Kids always throw a wrench in the works.  Having them has taught me to not be so disappointed when plans all fall apart.  And they always do.  Both the kids…and the plans! ;D

So my web hosting was supposed to be all done.  And it is…technically…but there are still bumps.  Why is technical stuff always so…well, technical!!!!  Without boring you with the details of the technical stuff…cause frankly I get bored with the technical stuff myself…my site was supposed to be all bump free and I was supposed to have launched a new part of my site by today….but it is going to take a few more days.

So I’ll leave you with a freebie that I designed in the spirit of the 4th of July which is right around the corner.

You can download Patriot here.

I hope you enjoy it.  Please give a shout and let me know what you think.  You may notice a new logo on the paper pack as well as a new blog header. ;D  New looks for the new thing happening.  I’m so excited.  Have a fabulous weekend!  So the goal is to have the new part of my blog up on July 1st…I don’t like putting dates out there…but that’s the goal.  So keeping my fingers crossed!!!

I think everything has been moved over to the new hosting.  But it seems like every time I go in and look I see something that is missing or doesn’t look quite right.  So while we Corey is “T-W-E-A-K-I-N-G” (I have a project that needs some “tweaking”…You’ve Got Mail)…

I took the girls to the skate park yesterday morning…early…as the heat has FINALLY come to Denver…;D

They were glad because there was no one there…and they became very adventurous…much more so than the last time.  And they told me it was because there wasn’t anyone there to get in their way.

I’m switching my web hosting.  While that happens there may be some bumps in the road.  Please be patient.  My husband techy person is working hard on the last few things to get it all done.  I also have some more exciting things to post…I’m very excited about the days ahead!  More later…;D

…too much of a good thing right?  ;D

So here’s another free template for you.

If you would like it you may download it for free here.

And here is my layout that I did with it…

I hope you enjoy!  Have a fantastic weekend! ;D