NO excuses for even family, life & work don’t keep me from Facebook LOL so I should pull up my socks and start blogging more.

LOTS of updates:

Family- we took a day trip to Canada’s Wonderland (an amusement park) this summer, what a blast!!! I rode my first roller coater and faced that fear! My girls are back in school  YAY … Grade 9 for Nicole and 11 for Tiffany – both in high school now sporting the emo look of dark hair with purple and pink LOL I say be creative!!! Hubby is doing great, we are slowly renovating our house SO excited!!! We also started a family chore chart, I LOVE IT!!! Every Sunday after dinner we sit down and pick our chores for each day of the week, and the girls each cook dinner for us once a week. ITS AMAZING

Work-I have completed a few more websites since my last post (will post the links soon when I makeover my website).

Personal Time -I have read some really good books and discovered some new authors that I really enjoy. I almost always stick to romance and have my favorite Author (Nora Roberts, Nicholas Sparks) but I have discovered Susan Wiggs, Kat Martin, Johanna Lindsey and I am SO happy. I read every day and almost get a panic attack when I run out of books to read LOL. I thought I would read something different for me, I  just finished this one last week and what an amazing true story. The book was written by a foster mother about one of her foster children Jodie. As a survivor of abuse I thought that it would be something I could relate to (sort of a self help), but I can’t even imagine what this child has endured!! The Author (Cathy Glass) is an inspiration to me – not only for handling stressful parenting situations but for her patience, unconditional love, understanding…WHAT A WOMAN!!! Click here for the summary .

My sister Misty turned 30 this weekend and for a b-day present I made her a little website of her own, you can check it out here. I also joined us up for a tutorial site for digital scrapbooking at Hummies World. We both enjoyed the ADSR so much that I thought we might like the challenges on this site. What I also liked about it is that the tutorials are done for Photoshop Elements which I got when I purchased my wacom tablet – but have never used it. SO here’s to hoping I can expand my creativeness with a new program Speaking of my Wacom Tablet, it has been sitting in the box collecting dust so I thought I would give it a go…I need more practice and I am not liking how the lines are turning out. Not sure if it is because of the programs I am using but I am determined so I will figure it out LOL I do have a little imperfect freebie for you though. Click on the preview to download.

My goals this week…back on my diet  (although it felt really good to put on a sweater I have not worn since last year and it was big on me) I have been cheating . I am going  walk home from work (about a 45 min walk) at least 4 out of the 7 shifts I have in a row (starting tomorrow).Do a new layout, make a new blinkie AND do a makeover my website…it NEEDS to be updated.

I did this layout today from the Inspired Impressions challenge @ 9th & Bloom using this AMAZING End of Love mini kit (that I just HAD to buy) from Lily Fisher of Lily Designs… I think I may even write a tutorial with it I LOVED IT THAT MUCH lol. The challenge (and my layout) was lifted from Libra’s beautiful page HERE.

Til next time

Hugs <3 Amanda

Once again I hang my head because I have neglected my blog lately…BUT I pledge today to post at least once a week! WITH FREEBIES!!!

I have been SO crazy busy with work & web design that I feel there has been no play time and I am in desperate need of tagging & scrapping LOL

Since my last update I have done a few websites to mention a couple…T.N.W.S.G, Trade Wind Labs, Source1Herbs

I am in the process of finishing up 2 more – One of them being for my good friend Jessica @ Jessica’s LaLa Land – and I have a few more to do…I LOVE it!!! But like the shoemaker with no shoes, I want a makeover on my site SO I am committing to myself that within 2 weeks I make time to do it!

I cannot believe June is here ALREADY…..wasn’t it just Christmas! In a couple of weeks my baby girl graduates from grade 8 (her dress is SO pretty) and then both of my girls will be in highschool YIKES

I did find some downtime to make a banner for myself  FINALLY… it is not done but at least it is something for now.

Also….. Your probably visiting today for the Gothic Inspirations CU June Blog Train…so how about that freebie

I made 2 styles…. a first for me sharing…They are CU friendly of course and you can download them HERE.

As always if you have made anything with my freebies I would love to see it so PLEASE shoot me an email with it and I will be posting all my gifts in my new gallery (within 2 weeks lol)

Thank You so much and here is the rest of the train!

<strong>Amanda with:</strong> <a href=”http://amandakelleher.com/blog/” target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow”>You are Here </a>

HEADQUARTERS

Kelly with Angels Designz

Julie with Bits N Bobs

Candy with Candys Treasures

Jill with Created By Jill Scraps

Stuart with Creative Crazy Scraps

Muriel with Creative-Disorder

Dani with Darkmoon’s Dream

Sarah with Designs By Sarah

Pia with Digital Blue Print

Conchi with DNScraps

Foxy with Foxys Designz

Jessica with Gothic Inspirations

Brandi with Grunge & Glitter

Hezalin with HezaScraps &Tags

Mystee with Intoxxikate Intentionz By Mystee

Victoria with Maitri’s Digital Scraps

Sally with Mythical Designs

Angel with Naughty Angels Creations

Nette with Nette’s NightOwl Works

Jessica with Scraps By Jessica —> Jessica’s LaLa Land … Her new blog & website is coming SOON

Sky with Sky’s Scraps

Kara with Sweet Cravings Scraps

Alyson with Tygers Tidbits

Judy with Winter’s Loft

Life has just been crazy this past month, let me see I went to my sister Kristy’s baby shower (out of town) it was a blaassst! Came home and 2 days later my sweety ended up in the hospital with stomach issues (that we are still dealing with). I got hired to do 2 major web sites (major to me lol). My sister had her baby Kasyn (mom and baby are beautiful and healthy).  Oh and I got bumped from part time to full time night auditor at work!

NOW its Easter weekend and I am excited to have been in a creative mood, so I signed up for the Gothic Inspirations Blog Train. Here is my part of the freebie Goth Chic.

Please visit all the other ladies too

http://gothicinspirationsblogtrains.blogspot.com/

We had Jon’s birthday on the 13th, a couple of friends and family for dinner which was nice. Then Valentines Day, which was amazing. We “kicked” the kids out for the night and enjoyed a romantic evening together. He bought me roses (which I used a pic for a challenge this week) and gave me a romantic card. Jon also made me an amazing chinese dinner with chocolate dipped strawberries and cheesecake for dessert … was SO yummy! I have some things to share that I made him for Valentines Day, Love Coupons from my “My Sweety” kit, and a template to make your own coupons…the nice thing about love coupons is that you can give them any day of the year.

I also made his card by hand paiting the heart on and then printing the word art from Paper Crafts Mag on to the card. He loved them

I uploaded my 365 pics to my facebook for this week…I am going to work on my galleries this weekend and get them up and running.

I am really enjoying the ADSR5 with my partner & sister Misty. This weeks challenges where fun. You can check out our blog here.

Challenge 3 required parts are:

1. One focal photo with selective coloring
2. 20 or more words of journaling with possible highlights
3. At least one date element!

and here is my layout, I used the roses from Jon and a Poem I wrote him LOL

Credits:
Paper: Sherry Tierney (a lovers walk)
Frame: Rekneipp Designs (a lovers walk)
Staple: Valarie Ostrom Designs (a lovers walk)
Journal Strip: Sherry Tierney (a lovers walk)
Heart Ribbon: Janice’s Scrap (a lovers walk)
Word Art: A work in progress- Designs by Vicki (Doodle Love)
Font: Bradley Hand & Comic Sans

Challenge 4:

ATC’s 1 & 2. Since its the season of love, each racer will make one Artist Trading Card on the theme “The One I Love.” Think of your spouse or significant other, children, God, pets, friends, etc.

ATC’s 3 & 4. Then each racer will make one trading card honoring their ADSR teammate.

SO here are mine, I had so much fun with these LOL

Credits
Paperbag Studios: Journal Jumps
Paperbag Studios: Stenciled Arrows
Paperbag Studios: Stamp
Cindy Doerksen: CU Metal Bits Pieces & CU Pressed Flower
Wetfish Designs: CU Vintage Fun 2
Tootlebugz: CU Messy Stitches
Tinette: CU Butterfly
akizo Designs: Craft Alpha
Painted background paper by ME (you can hardly see it LOL)

Paperbag Studios: Journal Jumps
Kaklei Designs: CU Wings
Sassy : CU Paper Stuff
Sisters Digi Scrap: CU Children 1
Veronica Spriggs: CU Lacey Goodness
Papillon_freebie
Paperbag Studios: Stamp
Cindy Doerksen: CU Vintage Ladies
akizo Designs: Craft Alpha

and here is our submission of combined ATC’s

Back tomorrow with an update

But seriously this week has been very hard on our little community. My youngest daughter Nicole lost a friend this week and I have never felt pain as a mother like I do for my daughter. It is SO hard to see her in such agony and confusion over loosing a friend

Katie was the little girl’s name she was 13 years old. Katie and her father Andy where killed in a collision with a train. My heart hurts for Katie’s Mom and her 2 younger sisters, my prayers are with you all. If you want to show support please join this Facebook group Railroad Crossing Signals Should Be Mandatory

Tomorrow is the hubby’s birthday going to make him a nice supper and spoil him. Then Valentines Day <3 we are “kicking” the girls out for the night so we can have some romantic time together…we are going to order in Chinese food and he even said he would watch a girlie movie with me I am thinking he needs to be Notebooked And then Monday is Family Day and we all have it off, so we are going to have a game & movie day

SOMEHOW – I don’t know how with the birthday party (cake and candy and stress this week I still managed to loose weight (5 lbs this week YAY) So in one month I have lost 26 pounds I hope this weekend (another bday and valentines day) will be nice to me too LOL

SO SO SO Excited for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Ceremony to kick off tonight!!!!

LOTS of new updates, so I will get started right away.

ADSR5 Challenge #2 (this was FUN)

Recipe/Challenge:

Theme: 5 things I LOVE about….(choose a person, topic, idea, etc. Be Creative!)
Title: use a combination of 5 fonts and/or alphas (example: use 2 different fonts and 3 different alphas)
Photos: use 5 photos, one of the photos must have the number 5 in it!
Use 5 different elements of the same type (example: use 5 different flowers or 5 different buttons, etc.)

Season to taste: add ingredients from your digital pantry to make this layout your own!

SO here is my layout

Credits:

Title:
Chrome word art by Fiore Bello (Lovers Walk colab)
Love Tag by Chris Greiser Designs (Lovers Walk colab)
Font:Outlaw, Mareen’s Print, Only By Request

5 Same Elements: Chrome
Chrome Gear 1 & 2, Chrome Rays & Chrome Circle by Captivated Visions (Urban Funk kit)
Chrome “Love”: Fiore Bello (a lovers walk)

Background Paper: by me (all about me kit)
“I” Paper: Michelle Batton (a lovers walk)
Staple : Valarie Ostrom Designs (a lovers walk)

You can see Misty’s on our blog Twizted Sisters

I made this layout today for the Digi Dares Challenge 166,  I just LOVE their site!

Challenge:

Use a thick chunky font and make your one word HUGE.
-Use at least one photo and fit it into your word in a creative way.
-Use at least three colors on your layout.
-Incorporate journaling on why you chose that word and its importance to you.

Credits:

Background paper by Captivated Visions
CU Overlay by Flergs
CU Easy Emboss by Flergs
Red Heart by Flergs (Lovers Walk)
CU Ribbon by Sashinamama Designs
CU Photomask by Scrappin Cop
Fonts: Masterplan & Pea Jack & Jane

Some project 365 Pics:

UPLOADING SOON ….I am going to bed – haven’t slept yet and last night I was on night shift

The party was a success, it never stops to amazing how fast time goes. It seems like yesterday all of these young adults where little kids. The candy bar was fun to do (and seemed to be a hit), the cake was amazing (although not enough), the laptop with play list and my speakers worked perfect! Musical chairs was FUNNY and the 80’s hair was wild LOL

Also today is the first day of the ADSR5 and this is our first challenge :

There are only three basic rules:

1) Your layout is about your partner. Introduce your partner to us. How you do this is entirely up to you. You can interview them, you can send them a questionnaire, you can use 5 words that best describe them, you can journal how you met for this race, or if you’ve been partners for years, you can make your page about a friendship that started with a crazy internet race and has since turned into so much more. The only rule is, the layout is about your partner and you need to tell us something about them.

2) You must include at least one photo of your partner. Large, small, color, b&w, of their face, back of their head, feet, whatever. But it must be a picture of your partner.

3) You must choose one layout from your partner’s gallery and scraplift that as the page design for your layout. Only the placement of items is needed. You don’t have to lift the colors, theme, etc. Just the overall placement of papers, elements, title and journaling.

SO this is Misty’s layout that I am lifting

and this is mine

Made using Sunshine Studio Scrap’s Rainbrella blog train kits
Font: Smitten Kitten

I’ll be back tomorrow with my 365 photos and more layouts

I made a couple of layouts and I have a couple of 365 pics to share.

This layout is of my baby girl Nicole and my oldest niece Desiree, made using Linda Walton’s Heartfully Yours freebie and free template from Scrap Matters Tuesday Template Challenge.

The next layout was a scraplift challenge at NDISB using Blythe Evans- Pretty Full Petals,  Miss Tiina -Flowers,
Vera Lim- A Little Magic Fairy, Dydyge – The never ending Dream kit, Elegant WordArt by Bethany – Reflections

Now for my 365 Images for Wed, Thur & Today P

This one is of a “time out chair” Nicole made in shop class, its the cutest thing…I need a new doll to sit on it I just loved all of the treasures she made and brought home this year. Good Job Nicole

Next….I think this is funny & sad at the same time! For my birthday (at the beginning of December) my husband Jon bought me this BEAUTIFUL frame, I just love it! BUT I noticed yesterday that I have yet to change the picture in it SO I am taking some pics of Jon & I this weekend and it is on my to do list

And Finally for today’s 355 image LOL its cheat day in 3 weeks I have lost a total of 19lbs WHOOOOP it feels good!

So I took a pic of the dreaded scale with my “bad addiction” Farquars chocolate milk.

Kinda funny I think

Back tomorrow night with Sweet 16 Pictures….can’t wait to see the cake!!!!!

Tutorials, almost done re-uploading them all. I have tried to make sure all of the links are still correct and active however if I missed any please feel free to email me. As always I would LOVE to see your results and put them in my gallery.

Scrapkits-NEW freebies are posted in the store, My Sweety a full size kit & Whimsical Grunge a taggers sized kit…more to come soon!

My sister Misty and I have joined the Amazing Digi Scrap Race 5….It sounds like it will be fun and I am excited to play with my sister. We are team # 186 and we called ourselves the Twizted Sisters, you can check out our race blog here, and this is a quick blinkie I made to match.

I made another layout a few days ago using another ChrissyW Template (mix it up 6), Captivated Visions kit (Between The Headlines) which is on sale because she is closing her personal store . This layout is of my baby girl Nicole…and her multiple expressions LOL

Also…I am late starting because I have just found my camera charger (thankfully) but I am starting my project 365

and here is my first pic for yesterday. My sweety Jon made me a yummie stir fry.

Had to scrap it…Used another ChrissyW Template and parts from the A Love kit again (its HUGE)

Back on midnights tonight and day shift this weekend, but I am working on a couple of tutorials SO I’ll be back to post soon

AND…I wrote my first sig tag tutorial in over a year! The kit One Love inspired me and while watching the Hope for Haiti Now on TV (which was amazing) it made me think, that no matter what happens in life it is nice to know that there are people who care…strangers, neighbors, family & friends, even pets.   My heart goes out to all of the people in Haiti and I hope and pray that their hearts heal with time, their communities are rebuilt quickly and they never have to experience this pain and loss again.

On to my tutorial…which was fun for me anyways LOL I hope you like it . I would love to see any results from this tutorial so I can put them in my gallery so please email them to me! There is an animated version and a non animated version…its called World Keeps Turning.

World Keeps Turning

and Non Animated version

World Keeps Turning

My Diet so far today:

Breakfast:

1 boiled egg, 1 whole wheat toast, 1 tsp non hydrogenated becel margarine, 1/2 cup apple juice

1 protein, 1 bread, 1 fat, 1 fruit