Saturday, May 31, 2014

Sweet Digi Scraps Sale!

 

Be sure to check out the kits Liz of Sweet Digi Scraps has on sale at The DigiChick this weekend.  Here are a few of my layouts using the kits…

shore thing

Kit: Shore Thing

 

2013 summertime

Kit: Summertime

 

tea 4 two

Kit: Tea 4 Two

 

fun night

Kit: Fun Night

 

STO_TC_8_16

 

1982 HH beach left1982 HH beach right

Kit: Summer Daze

 

abc_City Schools

Kit: Find Yourself, The Scholar

 

Other kits on sale: Life’s Lemonade; Find Yourself, The Photographer; Find Yourself, The Performer; Find Yourself, The Trainer; Find Yourself, The Daydreamer; Find Yourself, The Crafter; Find Yourself, The Artist; Find Yourself, The Undecided

All kits are $1.00

HURRY! Sale ends soon!

Friday, May 30, 2014

Dream Manager: June 2013


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Session 5:
The Genius of Personality
We started by reviewing our session 4 homework along with our check-in and discussion of our reading from the book.
Kim then handed out the results of our short quiz to determine our Myers-Briggs personality type. We looked over our results and discussed whether they were right.  During the month I had found several Myers-Briggs quizzes on the internet. Depending on the questions, I would come up with different results.  My result from Kim’s quiz was ISFP: Introverted-Sensing-Feeling- Perceptive.  At home, my results were either ISFP or ISFJ.  More of the ISFJ though. ISFJ: Introverted-Sensing-Feeling-Judging.
When reading through the descriptions of these 2 personality types at several different websites, I always came back to the ISFJ as my type. We discussed our personality types during our session and for the most part everyone felt that their type fit them.
Each month we also would spend a few minutes celebrating the achievement of dreams.  If we could, we would share pictures.  This session was my turn to brag...  I had taken my first ever 2 week vacation.  In a way, this one dream also had some other dreams involved with it.  I wanted to see the Wright Bros Memorial located in the Outer Banks, NC.  Dad and I did this. It was a great day spent with my Dad. He enjoyed it as much as I did! I also wanted to experience some part of WDW with Allison and her kids. Allison, Wendy, the kids and I spent a day at the Animal Kingdom. It was a great time and Allison was glad I was along so she could ride Expedition Everest! I also made it to the Magic Kingdom.  Never thought I’d spend a day walking around there by myself but I did.  Bruce did come over and meet me for the evening.  We also had a great time. It was so nice to spend some alone time with my “big brother”. I really should just do some posts about my vacation!
Homework included more reading and also exploring our personality type:
  • How might your personality type impact your group interaction?
  • How can you explore your opposite personality type so that you could learn more about yourself and others?
  • How might your personality type impact your conflict style?
  • How does your personality type reflect jobs or work situations when you’ve succeeded or faced challenges?
  • What personality type strength do you most celebrate?
Next session… Time and Energy!

Friday, May 23, 2014

Dream Manager: May 2013 Individual

 

We discussed my final plans for vacation. Since everything was under control with that, we started discussing my dream of bringing the Core Financial Wellness program to the company.

My steps for this dream consisted of:

  • follow the FPU program myself – in progress
  • investigate whether FPU vs Core Financial Wellness would be a better program
  • present a Financial Wellness luncheon for interested employees – sometime in the fall

I also planned on listening to my 2 sets of FPU CD’s as I drove the highways during my vacation. They are very motivating to me and would give me ideas of what to present in the luncheon.

Another energizing session!

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Layout: You Complete Me

 

Those words sum up how I felt the first time I saw each of my kids and held them in my hands.  I had fallen in love with them from pictures, but holding them just completed me.

Sweet Digi Scrap’s “You Complete Me” kit and template were used for this layout.

You Complete Me

Monday, May 19, 2014

Layout: A Hero Takes Flight

 

I am very proud of the fact that my hometown is also the hometown of a real American hero, Neil Armstrong.  Neil not only served in the military during the Korean War, he was the “first man to walk on the moon” in 1969.

Dad and Neil were in high school at the same time and the same age although Neil was a year ahead of Dad because of skipping a grade in school. Mom’s parents were very good friends of Neil’s parents and because of that we also knew them.  When Mom and Dad built our house, we were living very close to Mr and Mrs Armstrong. In fact, I can see that house from my office window.

We were given a photo with Neil’s signature that has been proudly displayed in our home all these years.  I decided it was time to scan and scrapbook the picture along with a picture I took of a drawing exhibited at the Neil Armstrong Air & Space Museum.

I used Sweet Digi Scrap’s kit “Comic Heroes”.

comic heroes

Friday, May 16, 2014

Dream Manager: May 2013


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Session 4:
Money and Your Dreams, Part 2
Besides the review of our reading and our check-in, we discussed how we felt about doing the homework.  A few participants had a hard time with it but saw the need to become more comfortable with budgeting.  Both Kim and I emphasized that budgeting is the key to you being successful since you are telling your money where to go, not wondering where it went. Yes, Kim was a participant in a Financial Peace University class at this time and I’ve participated in several classes myself.
We did an exercise on calculating a number where we would feel “financially free”. Then discussing what things cost in relation to that number. We also talked about the financial component of our dreams. Some dreams will cost us more than others and we need to account for the cost in our planning for the dreams.  We also talked about calculating our net worth at this specific point in time.  We can come back to that later and see how things are going.
Before ending the session, we had to do short personality type quiz. Kim would give us our results in the next session.
Our homework includes completing the financial components for our target dreams and to calculate our net worth calculation.  We also needed to look at what works and what doesn’t work in our budget and what is the hardest thing about implementing the budget.
In doing my homework (after my vacation), I did some internet research on the cost of apartments in the Orlando area.  I’m seriously thinking about retiring there!
Myers-Briggs personality types in the next post!

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Layout: The Best Gift

 

Christmas 2003.

I decided to get the kids a bunch of toys. For fun, I wrapped them up and put them under the tree. On Christmas Eve, Pepper got one of the gifts and brought it into the office where he proceeded to open it by himself! Such a smart little guy I’ve got!

They then had a great time tearing the paper off the rest of the toys on Christmas morning.

Kit is “Merry Kissmas” by Sweet Digi Scraps and a template from Scrapping With Liz’s Recyclables 22 collection.

2013 SWL Dec MIS

Monday, May 12, 2014

Layout: Snow Balls

 

Sweet Digi Scrap’s “Frosted Splendor” and a template from Scrapping With Liz’s Recyclables 22 collection were perfect to highlight the snow balls on the kids.

frosted splendor

Friday, May 09, 2014

Dream Manager: April 2013


IMG_3374
Session 3:
Money and Your Dreams, Part 1
We started the session with celebrating the completion of a dream by a member of the class.  Dale always dreamed of going to cooking school.  He went to a weekend course in San Antonio, TX in late February.  Another member of the class and I got together and got him his own chef’s hat, coat and pants.  We also had the coat embroidered!  The up side to this is that he fixes something for us each meeting!
IMG_7788
After that we discussed our reading and did our check-in of our 4 areas.
We started discussing the financial aspect of our dreams this session. We discussed how we feel about finances and what some of our financial dreams are for our future.  We also discussed budgeting and how it helps us to achieve these financial dreams.
Our homework included preparing a working draft of our personal budget and organizing our financial paperwork and details. And, of course, more reading in “The Rhythm of Life”.
Some other questions we were to think about before the next session.
  • What will you need for retirement?
  • What do you need now? In 5, 10, or 15 years?
  • What finances are needed to achieve your dreams?
  • What might be holding you back financially?
  • Who can provide information, support, or guidance to you with your finances? What resources are available to you?
  • What do you need to improve your comfort or confidence with your personal finances?
  • What questions do you have about your finances? Where can you find answers?
  • How would you like your finances or financial awareness to be different?
More on this topic in the next post!

Wednesday, May 07, 2014

Layout: In Honor Of


In Honor Of” Ted Marker, USN
Kit by Sweet Digi Scraps. Template from Scrapping With Liz’s Traditional Temps II collection.
in honor of

Monday, May 05, 2014

Layout: Deck The Halls


Sweet Digi Scrap’s “Holly Jolly” was the perfect kit to highlight pictures of my cousin and his family at the Dancing Lights at Hollywood Studios in November of 2013.  I also used a template from Scrapping With Liz’s Fun With Chevrons collection.
holly jolly
Thank you to my family for sharing these wonderful pictures on Facebook!

Friday, May 02, 2014

Dream Manager: Dream Boards

 

As a part of our group training in January, all participants were to write one dream on a card and put it on a dream board provided by Floyd Consulting. This is what we ended up with:

IMG_7700

During our first couple sessions, the topic of dream boards for display in the company came up.  Kim asked (or rather suggested strongly) that I put them together because of being so creative due to scrapbooking.  Wendy volunteered to help me.  Kim hoped that the 2 guys from Cleveland, and the 1 guy from Springfield would also do boards for their locations. 

Wendy and I decided to do 2 boards:

  • What’s Your Dream? – a place to put the dreams we hope to achieve
  • Living The Dream! – a place to share a dream achieved

We have 2 break rooms in the main plant so we decided to do 2 boards for each break room.  We had the original board shown above so needed 3 more boards.  Wendy was in charge of getting the boards.

I sat down at my computer and did a little scrapbooking and came up with the topics for the other boards:

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I then pulled out an old laptop that I could use to run my Craft Robo and cut out the titles for the boards:

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Wendy and I then put the titles and topics on the boards:

IMG_7772IMG_7773

Wendy and I decided that if the Cleveland and Springfield guys didn’t mind (they didn’t!), we would do boards for them.  So I proceeded to print out more topics and cut more titles.  We glued them on the boards and had them ready for the guys the next time they were at the main plant.

Our maintenance man put the boards up for us.  2 are in the break room in the linen side of the plant.  The decision was made to put the 2 boards for the uniform side of the plant on the wall outside the break room.  They are hanging in between the men’s and women’s restrooms right by the water fountain so the employees can’t miss them!  We’ve got blank dream cards on the boards so if an employee not involved in the program wants to fill one out, they can!

Linen Break Room:

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Uniform Plant:

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As the year went on, dreams were moved from the “What’s Your Dream?” boards to the “Living The Dream!” boards. At the end of the first year of the program the boards looked like this:

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Now that a new 1st year class as well as a 2nd year for class has started, we hope that the dream boards will really start to fill up!

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Layout: Animal Tamer


A blast from my past…
A trip to the Toledo Zoo in 1960 using Sweet Digi Scrap’s “Zoo Keeper” and a template from Scrapping With Liz’s Sweet and Simple collection.
zoo day

Monday, April 28, 2014

Layout: Space Mountain


I spent the day at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom May 24, 2013.  I wandered around the park on my own for most of the day. My cousin, Bruce, met me for the evening.  One of my favorite rides has always been Space Mountain. Instead of riding it during the day, I waited to go on it with Bruce. We got our fast pass for it which happened to fall right between the parade and the fireworks.
I used Sweet Digi Scrap’s “Sort of Cosmic” kit and a template from Scrapping With Liz’s Recyclables 19.
sort of cosmic

Friday, April 25, 2014

Dream Manager: March 2013 Individual

 

I met with Kim Radison for approximately 30 minutes after our group session.  We went over my target dreams so she could get an idea of what I was looking to accomplish.  It was also a get to know you a little better session.

We talked quite a bit about the planning for my vacation in May. We discussed the steps I had determined I needed to do for a successful vacation:

  • schedule the time off – done!
  • save approximately $1500 – done!
  • nail down specific dates for the 2 phases of the vacation
    • 5/11-18: North Carolina
    • 5/19-25: Florida
  • purchase a WDW Magic Pass – need to know # of days needed

I would later add the following steps:

  • determine a location to stop for the night on 5/18
  • determine a location to stop for the night on 5/25

By our next meeting in May, I had successfully completed all of my steps. The WDW Magic Pass was purchased and in hand. I knew I would stay in Georgia close to the Florida border.  I had also made arrangements to stop in Acworth, Georgia to stay with Christy and Craig on the 25th.

After our session, I felt very energized about the program and couldn’t wait to delve into it even more!

Friday, April 18, 2014

Dream Manager: March 2013

 

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Session 2:

The Architecture of Dreams

During this session we discussed the points or ideas we highlighted in the reading material and did our scorecard check-in.

The scorecard check-in is always interesting.  We have to determine if we feel we are “green” “yellow” or “red” in the areas of physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual.  “Green” is on track and working well. “Yellow” is okay…but not quite where I want to be. “Red” needs work and definitely not where I want to be.  We have a couple participants that just cannot bring themselves to mark anything as “green”.  So they developed their own color system.  If they weren’t “green” but better than “yellow”, they became “lime green”.  We had fun with that in each session that followed!

We also discussed some of our dreams and why we might be excited about them. A priority exercise was done to help us prioritize the steps to achieving our dreams.  We were to list 5 things we wanted to do. For example, I listed 5 books I wanted to read.  We then went down the list comparing #1 to #2 and deciding which was more important to us and putting a mark beside the one we chose.  Next up was comparing #1 and #3, again checking which one was given preference.  We continued on comparing #1 and #4, then #1 and #5, then #2 and #3, #2 and #4, #2 and #5, #3 and #4, #3 and #5 and last #4 and #5.  At the end you will have 10 check marks.  The one with the most check marks is where your priority is. This is how my 5 books priortized:

  1. EntreLeadership = |||
  2. First Man = |
  3. Steve Jobs = ||
  4. A Stolen Life =
  5. Battle for Leyte Gulf = ||||

As you can see, a book about the Battle of Leyte Gulf is the most important for me. The reasoning behind that decision: my father’s brother was killed during that battle on the USS Birmingham.  I never knew this uncle but my father thought a lot of him and I would like to know more about his last hours alive.  A year later and I still haven’t read any of these books! I must remedy that!

We also discussed breaking down our target dreams into measurable steps to achieve them.  It is one thing to say “I will declutter the house”.  Makes it seem very overwhelming.  But breaking it down into areas such as:

  • Paper clutter – shred, recycle, scan important information
  • Clothes – remove and possibly donate clothes not worn in a year
  • Basement – do a “clean sweep” of pitch, sell or keep

This makes it seem more doable.  Baby steps will get you somewhere faster than trying to run a marathon the first time out!

Our homework, besides the reading, consisted of finalizing the action plans for our five target dreams.  We were also encouraged to identify, cut out, and paste pictures of our target dreams in our dream book. Any other dreams would do also!

My first individual session was in March also.  I’ll cover that in my next post!

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Layout: When I Grow Up

 

I’ve always loved this picture and when I saw this kit, I knew I had to use it to highlight the picture of my impression of a teacher.

The kit is “Hit The Books” by Sweet Digi Scraps. The template is from Fiddle-Dee-Dee’s Sunbeam collection.

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Layout: Old Sheldon Church

 

When I was researching for my trip last May, I ran across a website that listed free things to do off the beaten path of the interstate system.  I checked out the stretch of I-95 from Rocky Mount, NC to Florida.  I saw an article and some pictures of an old, burned out church in South Carolina.  It was only 7 miles off the highway in Yemassee.  I decided it would be a good place to stop and take some pictures.

It was AWESOME!  The story behind the ruins is amazing also. The building was originally known as Prince William’s Parish Church.  It was built between 1745 and 1753, then burned by the British in 1779 during the Revolutionary War. In 1826 it was rebuilt.  According to the sign placed in 1937 at the ruins, it was then burned in 1865 by Sherman’s men during their “march to the Sea” campaign.  Since then another possible fate has come to light. A letter dated February 3, 1866 states that the church wasn’t burned out, just torn up inside but could be rebuilt. Evidently, the inside of the church was gutted by local people for materials to rebuild their homes that were burned by Sherman’s army.  Either way, it was not rebuilt but is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

The ruins are surrounded by majestic oak trees and scattered graves with some of them dating in the 1990’s.  The remains of Colonel William Bull who organized and funded the church in the 1740s and 1750s are within the ruins.

While I was there, I saw a couple with a photographer taking engagement pictures.  It is so gorgeous that it is used for that quite often and also is available for weddings.

I used Sweet Digi Scrap’s kit “Like A Weed” and a template from Scrapping With Liz’s Recyclables 20  collection.

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Layout: Punta Morena

 

Sweet Digi Scrap’s kit “Shore Thing” was perfect for this picture I took in February 2010 at Punta Morena, Cozumel.  I also used a template from Fiddle-Dee-Dee’s Sunbeam collection.

Monday, April 14, 2014

Layout: Dream Big Paris


On a whim, some of my scrapping internet friends decided they wanted to go to Paris, France in the spring. Several girls were serious about it so one of them started a Facebook group. She added others to the group that she thought might be interested.  I was one of them. Now, I’ve never really had a dream to go to Paris but I stayed in the group just to see what was going on.  Then one of them mentioned wanting to go to Disneyland Paris. Now that is something I’d like to do!  The more I thought about it, the more I thought I’d really like to do this. Especially when the dates were selected. April of 2015.  Exactly 1 year from now!

Well, what a way to celebrate my 60th birthday (a few months early).  And, this layout was born…
I used Sweet Digi Scrap’s “Dreaming Is” and a template from Fiddle-Dee-Dee’s Piece of Pie collection for the layout.