Confessions Of A Scrapaholic

Loosing the Baby Weight

My friend Lisa sent me a link the one of the funniest videos I have ever seen online. It could be that it struck close to home because I just had to drop a bunch of baby weight. Regardless, you should watch, especially if you have kids.

HOW TO WORK OUT FROM HOME - watch more funny videos

I am always on the lookout for good exercise programs and this video motivated me to come up with my own. In all honesty, I haven't done a whole lot since Eden was born. Nursing pretty much took care of the weight loss. I play Wii Fit occasionally, but that is really about it. Even though I am back to my pre-baby weight, things are where they should be. You know what I mean? I'm sure you know what they say about muscle weight versus 'other' weight.

So, my exercise regime... It is easy and I do it while I get ready in the morning.

First up: Squats done to Womanizer by Britney Spears. The woman is a complete wackadoo, but she makes some pretty catchy songs. The beat is perfect for squats. I can put on my foundation and blush while I am doing it. (I wouldn't recommend mascara.)

Next up: Abs. I tighten up my abs and sway side to side to Love Story by Taylor Swift. You'll want to really throw some funk into it. Get your hips swaying the entire width of your shoulders. Trust me, you'll feel it. I do my eyebrows, eyeshadow and lip gloss at the same time.

Today I added side leg lifts to combat muffin top. (Nobody likes a muffin top.) I tried doing them to Keeps Gettin' Better by Christina Aguilera, but I think I am going to try some other songs. It worked, but the beat could be better.

And there you have it. My exercise regime. It takes about ten minutes and my make up is finished when I am done (except for mascara and eye liner, that would just be scary.) Oh, and I wanted to share some of my favorite healhty snack food: Nut Thins, Lära Bars, raw almonds, sugar snap peas and Fiber One Bars. And that my friends, is that. I would love to hear about any fun exercise regimes you have tried and healhty snacks you enjoy.

A Four Year Old Love Triangle

During mid-winter break last week Zoë had a class playdate at the local bouncy house. When she and Becky came home I was informed of "an incident." The incident? Zoë BIT a little boy in her class, Griffin. Zoë has never in her life bit anyone. Ever. So I was pretty shocked. And she wouldn't tell us why she bit Griffin.

Today during dinner her daddy got the truth out of her. We were talking about appropriate ways to express our anger and told her that biting was not one of them. The conversation went something like this...

Zoë: Griffin was making me mad.

Daddy: Well, biting is not acceptable even if you are mad.

Zoë: But he was shooting me. (With his finger/hand gun.)

Daddy: Do you know why he was shooting you?

Zoë: Because he said he loved me and I said that I don't love him. I love Noah. So he was shooting me and I didn't like that. So I bit him.

Awwwww. It's a little four year old love triangle. So sweet. (Not the biting part of course, the rest of it.) Becky said that while the kids were bouncing and playing on the slide, Noah and Zoë would slide together, her in front and him behind with his arms around her. So darn cute!

It's All About Incentive

You have heard the saying, "You catch more flies with honey?" Or is it bees? Anyway, I find that is true with flies and children. Especially my child. Zoë responds much better to positive reinforcement for good behavior than punishment for the negative.  I have come up with some very creative ideas recently and wanted to share with my mommy blog readers.

First up, cartoon coupons. The cartoon watching had gotten a bit out of control at our house over the last few weeks. It happens each year as winter drags on. A person can only do so many indoor activities, you know? At the same time Zoë decided to (for the first time) start coming out of her bedroom at night after we tucked her in. She would come out for water, to tell us that we were being too loud (nice), to visit... basically for any reason she could possibly thing of.

Enter cartoon coupons. I was pretty impressed with myself when I came up with this idea on the fly one night. I told Zoë she could earn a cartoon coupon if she stayed in her bedroom after we tucked her in, and that she could redeem it in the morning and watch a cartoon. It worked like a charm. We now have a stack of cartoon coupons that Zoë can earn by doing things like:

-Taking a good nap.
-Being patient.
-Using good manners at a restaurant.
-Being a good helper.
-Being quiet on the way to school if Daddy is on a conference call.

To create my cartoon coupons, I used these coupons by Jen Wilson. I chose the blank coupon and then changed the hue in Photoshop so that I would have a rainbow of colors. I had them laminated at Kinkos to make them a bit more durable. You could just as easily run them through a Zyron machine. (Look at me, remember paper scrapbooking products!) And an added bonus? Zoë had a great job decorating her coupon container. She is so proud of it.
 
Next, Zoë Money. Like monopoly money but cooler. For about a year now Zoë has been earning gold coins for completing all the tasks on her responsibility chart each day. She could use the gold coins to buy things that she wanted. It was a good system, but we kind of fell off the wagon after Eden was born. To get us back on track, and to make it more interesting I introduced the Zoë Money. She earns one dollar each day for completing all her tasks, and as an extra bonus, if she gets every smiley face for the entire week she can choose a prize out of our prize basket.

I like the new system. Not only is it fun, it will help her start to understand the value of a dollar, which was a bit hard to translate into gold coins. I am also going to make Mommy Dollars ($5) and Daddy Dollars ($10) that she can exchange her money for.

Here is how I created the Zoë Money. First, download the dollar here. I am hoping the fact that the president's face is removed along with the serial numbers will keep me from being arrested. :)

1. Open the dollar in Photoshop.
2. Open a photo of your child. Select Image > Adjustments > Desaturate to convert it to black and white. You may also need to adjust the saturation (Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation) so that it matches the saturation of the dollar.
3. Drag your photo to the dollar canvas, making sure that the face layer is below the dollar layer.
4. Size the photo so that your child's face fits into the dollar oval. (Edit > Transform > Scale. Make sure you hold down Shift to keep the proportions equal.)
5. Merge the two layers. (Select both layers then right click and choose Merge Layers.)
6. Right click on the layer and select "Blending Options." Click on "Color Overlay" Choose whatever color you want your Kid Dollar to be. Adjust the Opacity until you get the saturation you want. I was going for a Monopoly money look so mine is set at 24%.
7. Save As .jpg and voila!

Library of Memories - Take Two

I took the Library of Memories class at Big Picture Scrapbooking last year and LOVED it. Honestly, it was the best money I have ever spent on scrapbooking. Stacy Julian is my hero. I mean really, it combines organizing AND scrapbooking. Two words synonymous with Maegan. (Just as my mom about the time I took pictures of the contents of my kitchen cabinets and drawers and made a reference poster in my pantry.) I was thrilled to find out that any alumni could take the 2009 session for FREE! Yes, I remember everything I learned last year, but there is just something about the enthusiasm generated from the class... it is really motivating and makes me happy.

And something else that makes me happy? My newly redesigned website (I put the finishing touches on it last night) and my new product line...

You will find eveything you need to create your own beautiful color coordinated Library of Memories. I have Lickety Split Templates for the album spines and section tabs, cardstock that coordinates with the WRMK leather and linen albums; and for anyone unfamiliar with Photoshop, I also offer custom packages where I create everything for you. I am so excited.

I have already been asked if I am planning to create similar products for the American Craft albums, and the answer is yes. Expect them up in the shop very soon.

Now I am off to listen to my LOM - Week 1 message from Stacy. And then maybe I will sort some photos. Can't wait!

Fancy Babies

One of my very favorite pictures of Zoë was taken when she was three months old. She is wearing a big hat and covered in pearls. It is completely darling. I have been meaning to have a similar picture taken of Eden since she was born and last week I finally got around to doing it. About two months later, but better late than never, right? Little girls are SO much fun. I am converting both of them to black and white and putting them on the photo wall in our bedroom. That reminds me, I should post a picture of our new photo wall... Look for a 365 picture coming soon.

Scrap-y Goodness

I haven't shared any layouts for a while, but I have actually been scrapping. You know how that goes, I'm sure. Time to scrap or time to blog. I've been choosing scrap lately and it feels good!

I used Heather Ann's new Love Birds kit. (The "I Love You" heart is from her Sugar Kisses kit.) I was really looking forward to making some cute treats for Zoë's classmates using the coordinating Love Birds Treat Set, but I just got an email from her teacher reminding all parents that valentines and treats are not to be exchanged at school. What a load! Seriously?! What is school coming to these days? No cupcakes on birthdays, no Christmas plays, no Halloween costumes? Those were some of my favorite memories of school. Hmph.

Speaking of school, here is the cover page for Zoë's Pre-K section in her School of Life album. I used a Quick Page by Heather Ann. I have used the same page for her 2 year old and 3 year old preschool classes. I just love it. I had Zoë write her name on a piece of white paper, scanned and extracted it, and placed it on the layout. I want to document how she writes her name at age 4 and watch how it changes over the years. :)

And yet another quick page. This one by the Shabby Princess. (Are you seeing a theme here?) I did something wild and crazy with this page, well wild for me. I combined pictures from Christmas Eve and Christmas day on one layout. I know. Every time I look at the photo on the left I just giggle. You should be able to read the journaling if you click on the layout.

Last up, a baby Eden page. Awww. My little sweetie. It is amazing what a difference five months makes. I can't believe how big she has gotten already. I have an idential page of Miss Zoë almost finished. Yes, I know you aren't supposed to re-do old pages, but I love this template and Zoë's was really cheesy looking (one of the last paper pages I ever made) and it simply will not do. I am actually creating a lot of "twin" pages for my girls. Why recreate the wheel, right? 

And with that, I am off. Have a good day!

The Return of Family Movie Night

We kind of slacked off on Family Movie Night after Eden was born, but no more. It has become such a fun tradition at our house and we missed it!

Wall-E turned into much more than just one night of fun. It became Zoë's favorite movie the moment she saw it. We've seen it at least twenty times, if not more. Probably more. Zoë listens to "Down to Earth" by Peter Gabriel each night before going to bed. She even drew him some Wall-E pictures to say thank you for writing the song. Such a sweet kid... I found some great printables and masks here if you are considering watching Wall-E at your house. Oh, and the treats were "garbage" blocks made out of cocoa krispies. I was pretty impressed with myself when I came up with that one. LOL!

Next up, The Apple Dumpling Gang. Kelly's choice. Honestly, I don't think it was terribly appropriate for children. I know that children have been watching it for decades now, but come on! It was full of smoking, drinking, gambling, bar fights, gun fights... Not anything I want my daughter watching. On that same note, I have also banned Tom & Jerry from our house. Again, another cartoon that has been around for decades, but when I saw Zoë watching the "Cartoon in a Box" episode which included a box with Tom + Jerry + a package of cigarettes + a gun + a bat + a cup of coffee, I put a stop to that real quick. Back to the movie, it really wasn't that funny either. I wouldn't recommend it. For treats we had apple pies and apple juice boxes. Do you like how I lined them up in the picture to make them look fancier than they really are? One other funny tidbit, you can't really see it in the pictures but the yellow shirt Eden is wearing was Kelly's when he was a baby. Pretty funny. And check out Zoë's 'tude in her picture. She was not pleased that we turned off her cartoon to watch a movie. She is clearly abused.

And tonight, Ratatouille. I had planned on Chocolate Croissants for our treats, but as it turns out, they have to rise overnight before baking them. Poo. Instead we had plain croissants sprinkled with powdered sugar. Not nearly so fancy, but still yummy. And now we have Chocolate Croissants sitting in the freezer for a special breakfast one morning. Maybe Valentine's Day?

Remember 2008 Album

I just put the finishing touches on our "Remember 2008" Album. It is a shameless lift of Krista's beautiful album. I just love the clean lines and format. I have grand plans to create one every year from here on out (just changing the color of the circle border and spine so they all coordinate.) We shall see. That is all for now. I have more layouts to share but it is midnight and I should probably be getting to bed. :)

View Project at Shutterfly
Credits: Quick Fill Templates #37 and 39 by Heather Ann, Cocoa Bean papers (recolored) by Gina Miller, Craft paper by Michelle Coleman, Remember Word Art by Ali Edwards.