I'm an ISTJ.

Humanmetrics Jung Typology Test™ 

Your Type ISTJ Introvert(33%) Sensing(38%) Thinking(25%) Judging(78%) 

You have moderate preference of Introversion over Extraversion (33%) 
You have moderate preference of Sensing over Intuition (38%) 
You have moderate preference of Thinking over Feeling (25%) 
You have strong preference of Judging over Perceiving (78%) 

 ISTJs are often called inspectors. They have a keen sense of right and wrong, especially in their area of interest and/or responsibility. They are noted for devotion to duty. Punctuality is a watchword of the ISTJ. The secretary, clerk, or business(wo)man by whom others set their clocks is likely to be an ISTJ.

 ISTJs are easily frustrated by the inconsistencies of others, especially when the second parties don't keep their commitments. But they usually keep their feelings to themselves unless they are asked. And when asked, they don't mince words. Truth wins out over tact. The grim determination of the ISTJ vindicates itself in officiation of sports events, judiciary functions, or an other situation which requires making tough calls and sticking to them. 

 Introverted Feeling
Since Fi is turned inward, it is rarely expressed. Perhaps this enables the ISTJ to resolutely accept that "we are all doomed." When told that Lazarus had died, Thomas said, "Let us go and die with him." (He could just as well have said something like, "I knew this was bound to happen sooner or later.") Only in times of great distress is the Introverted Feeling expressed (as I witnessed in my dad when a neighbor's son was killed in a hunting accident). Otherwise, feeling is inferred, or expressed nonverbally, through eye contact, or an encouraging smile. 
 
Extraverted Intuition
The Ne function of an ISTJ does not serve her very well. It needs a lot of help. She was surprised, for example, to find that someone she had talked with only by phone had red hair, because she "didn't usually like" people with red hair! This inferior Ne seems to be a major source of, and a natural breeding ground for, stereotypes. Failure of the banking system is but one bogeyman which arises from the fear which feeds on the ISTJ's mistrust of real world possibilities. The shadow inhabiting the inferior Ne strikes at the precious forms and standards in the heart of the dominant Si function. 

Find out what you are HERE.

to my sweetheart [a card].

Let's Capture our Memories has another great sketch & I created a card this time. I used everything from the Fourteen collection by Crate Paper (patterned papers, die cuts, stickers). I added some twine & also used my tiny attacher by Tim Holtz. 

Here's the sketch:

 Here's my card:

 

The rules:

1.  Make a newly created project using the provided sketch and upload it to your blog or online gallery.

2.  Then leave a link to your project using the Inlinkz widget.  Please use a direct link to your LCOM Sketch post and not just your blog address.

3.  If you upload to online galleries, please also use tag/keyword LCOM**. LCOM products are NOT required to participate, and you can enter as many times as you want.  If you don't have a particular shape indicated in the sketch, feel free to substitute.

4.  There is no time limit - you can always play any week at any time, but the linking form will close on the last day of the month at 8:00pm (Atlantic Standard Time) to allow us to find a prize winner.

The prize:

Here's another shot of my card:

Hope you'll join us!

Also, don't forget about the mini crop coming up (Superbowl weekend) Feb 2 & 3!

December 2012 mini album.

I've never done a December daily album & this is probably the closest I'll ever come. I took a ton of photos this Christmas because I just got my new iphone5. 

I found this red 6x6 album on sale at Hobby Lobby for less than $5. I did 7 pages - 14 layouts. I won't share them all because they will be sort of repetitive but I documented some decor, some traditions, some holiday baking & get togethers, & the year's holiday card. The Glitz Design 6x6 paper packs were perfect for this mini.

Hello Friend 6x6 paper pack, Prima flowers & ribbon from the Prima grab bag

Yours Truly 6x6 paper pack, ribbon & flowers from Prima grab bag

Yours Truly & Cashmere Dame 6x6 paper packs

Prima crystals

Joyeux Noel 6x6 paper pack

Joyeux Noel & Yours Truly 6x6 paper packs

Other embellishments are Elle's Studio, American Crafts (die cuts & brads), letter stickers (Prima), Chic Tags, Tim Holtz tiny attacher, 6x6 sleigh ride paper pack by Crate Paper, Thickers, Amy Tangerine puffy accent stickers, & Fancy Pants stickers. 

Gimmie All Your Lovin' crop at Let's Capture our Memories.

We are having a crop superbowl weekend (Feb 2 & 3) at Let's Capture our Memories. There will be games, prizes, sketches, lots of scrapping! If you're not into either team that's playing & want to get scrappy instead, come hang out with us!

nye.

I bought the Studio Calico Sock Hop kit from my friend Bre & I felt it was time to use it. I found a recipe challenge on the SC blog to use 4 squares, 3 small round embellishments, alphabet stamps, paper strips, & mist.

The stamps are from a small wooden alphabet stamp set I've had forever. I also used Technique Tuesday life in pictures with Prima old road chalk ink. The mist splatters I used were Mister Huey sherbet, chalkboard Glimmer Mist in seven seas, & Maya Road emerald metallic. Everything else on the page is from the kit.

Sweet Stamp Shop new release party - coming soon!

Just wanted to share that Sweet Stamp Shop will be having their new release party on their blog on February 12. 

They will be sharing eight new releases!

Visit the blog HERE.

via

 

love my Keurig [the layout].

I don't have much of a Christmas wish list these days but one of the things I wanted was a Keurig.I did a lot of research on them (& other brands) before I decided on exactly the one I wanted.

Dad got it for me & I could not be more excited about this thing. I love it. (This didn't scan very well - I popped some of the embellishments off the page so it's a little lumpy for the scanner.)

The Gelatins stamp set I used here is It's your Day. I think the little heart banner is SO cute. I also added a strip of the silver gelly gem because you know I love a little bling.

The red ink is Prima quick dry fluid chalk ink in ladybug. & the date stamp is Amy Tan.

Almost everything here is from the Echo Park love story collection pack. I did grab some stickers from Crate Paper paper heart collection & Elle's Studio The Sweet Life cut outs & One and Only strips. The buttons are Bella Blvd.

thank you card.

Love orange & grey together! 

The Sweet Stamp Shop is having a guest design team call so I thought I'd make a card today using some of their stamps. This stamp is from their Simple Sentiments set.

I got to guest design with them once before but I just love their stamps & they're so sweet to work with. (Not to mention, their shipping is on point!)

This is for the challenge at Red Carpet Studios to use butterflies & using sketch #67 at Cardabilities.

The papers are from Fancy Pants country boutique collection. Washi is from Ashley & is wrapped around some chipboard banner pieces from Maya Road. The frame is Pink Paislee ARtisan Elements with Prima old road chalk ink. The butterfly is Jenni Bowlin.

favorite snapshot.

In my Prima grab bag from Your Memories Here was this gorgeous art-stitched mulberries specialty paper. I didn't know what I wanted to do with it. It was one of those pieces that's so pretty, you want to save it forever.

Well, in an effort to finish the last few pages of my 2011 album I went through some of the photos in my album on my laptop called "LB's wedding events."[bridal shower, bachelorette party, rehearsal dinner, wedding] I found this one of TJ & me that hasn't been scrapped. I love it (& at the same time I hate it because that's a year ago when I was running regularly & was so fit. as opposed to me now.). I wanted to create a simple layout that focuses on the photo. This Prima specialty paper is also perfect for this becuase it allows much of the paper to show.

The background of the photo was cluttered so I changed it to sepia & darkened the edges.

This Prima paper comes 12x12 so I had to trim it down. I love the trim & stitching along the bottom! So pretty.

Also in my Prima grab bag were the Prima flowers (eminence collection). These were good to use along the bottom of the photo to help hide the clutter in the photo. I thought the Helmar 450 quick dry adhesive was good to adhere them to the page.

I also used some gold Jenni Bowlin rub ons, gold washi from a washi share with Ashley, labels & stickers from the Echo Park everyday eclectic collection pack & labels (The Sweet Life cut outs & One and Only strips) from Elle's Studio.

love my boys.

My two boys.

Inspired by this CHA challenge at Two Peas. My three trends are the banner, chevron, & using a cellphone photo. Everything is from the new Crate Paper Fourteen collection.

 

Reginald [LCOM sketch #2].

This is my second layout about this sweet boy we fostered back in August/September. He was such a sweetie, everyone loved him, & we wish we had the room to adopt him ourselves. 

This is the sketch we used:

I struggled a little with this sketch & realized I was trying to use it too literally. The giant circle, the giant triangle. Once I loosened up my perspective a little, it came together quickly.

 So for this layout, I used Fancy Pants country boutique papers. Love the colors & designs in this pack - so trendy.I also used some old Thickers for the title & Luxe rub ons for the circles. The washi came from Ashley. The stickers are Crate Paper paper heart collection & the labels are Elle's Studio the sweet life.

Now for the rules...
1.  Make a newly created project using the provided sketch and upload it to your blog or online gallery.

2.  Then leave a link to your project using the Inlinkz widget.  Please use a direct link to your LCOM Sketch post and not just your blog address.

3.  If you upload to online galleries, please also use tag/keyword LCOM**. LCOM products are NOT required to participate, and you can enter as many times as you want.  If you don't have a particular shape indicated in the sketch, feel free to substitute.

4.  There is no time limit - you can always play any week at any time, but the linking form will close on the last day of the month at 8:00pm (Atlantic Standard Time) to allow us to find a prize winner.

The January prize is...

2 stamps from The Craft's Meow (donated by Ally)

Hope you'll join us! For idea from the other design team members, go HERE.

joy peace love [tag]

It's time to share another project for Gelatins stamps!

I put together a tag this week using some items from the Cocoa Daisy graffiti bridge (May 2012) kit. I used a butterfly by Maya Road & the die cuts by Amy Tan.

The stamp set I used is mini retro flakes & sayings. I used walnut stain distress ink by Tim Holtz. I also cut a strip of the gelly gems & adhered that to the bottom. There are so many fabulous colors to choose from!

& here's a shot of the whole tag:

tall skinny caffe Mocha.

On our way to the Bengals/Ravens game a few weekends ago, we stopped at a Starbucks. I'm a new coffee drinker (& my dad got me a Keurig for Christmas!) so I've never had Starbucks before.

I ordered a tall skinny caffe mocha. [actually has less calories than I thought!]

This layout was made mostly using goodies from my Prima grab bag - these are now clearanced in the store & the small one is jam packed for only $25! It's a steal. The papers are from the Melody collection & the floral stickers are also Prima. I got a stamp in my grab bag, which I used with antique linen distress ink on the light colored paper backing my photo. It's light so it provides a little texture but it doesn't take away from anything else.

I snapped a photo of my grab bag stash when I received it. It's not the best photo due to the lighting coming in but you can see all the stuff I got! a 12x12 paper collection, lots of flowers, a mini album, several ribbons/trims, crystals, a stamp, & the trinkets. They're not all alike but this will give you an idea of the goodies in the small grab bag.

Back to my layout... The labels at the top are Elle's Studio one & only strips & the one at the bottom is Jillibean Soup love the.... The small letter stickers are from a Teresa Collins tell your story sticker sheet & the gold ones (totally love these! the size & the font + glitter!) are Dear Lizzy fox glitter foam Thickers. My date stamp is Amy Tan & the washi is from Ashley.

28 acts of kindess.

 Here's what I've done so far: 

•  gave some clothes to a mom for her girls for Christmas (I found her via our local Freecycle group)
• of course I did the angel tree girl again this year (& mom joined me! my girl made out this year!)
• on Christmas eve, TJ & I left Christmas cards with candy canes taped to the outside on 28 random cars all over town
• donated $10 to the Victoria Soto memorial fund
• donated $10 to the Animal Center in memory of Catherine Hubbard
• sent a Christmas card to Dalton 
• returned a stray shopping card at Hobby Lobby

 

• made a $20 donation for Chloe (Hamilton county humane society) 
• donated several sets of scrubs I no longer wear to the nursing school program at a local college (advertised in our work newsletter, they'll be used for single moms who can't afford to buy scrubs)

2012 recap.

I love doing yearly recaps. Every New Year's eve since 2009 I've done a quick little recap on Facebook. Most years I create a recap layout, but I didn't in 2011 & I miss it. So I definitely wanted to do one this year. 

I also wanted to try 12x12 layouts this year. I've always scrapped 8.5 x 11 & I love that size but I sometimes have more photos I want to include or wish I had more room to add more journaling & you just struggle with getting that all onto an 8.5 x 11 page sometimes. 

So I sat down & decided I was going to make this review page a 12x12. It took me almost two hours (with some distractions) but went fairly well. I don't plan to scrap only 12x12 this year though; I'm open to the idea of having both sizes in my 2013 album. We'll see how it goes :) 

For this layout, the background paper is Fancy Pants. The other patterned papers are from the Glitz Design yours truly 6x6 paper pack. I added a strip of Prima cotton tape at the top & used the Prima poppies & peonies mask with Moonlight Glimmer Mist.

The stamp in the middle of the page is from Technique Tuesday simple joy & the ink is walnut stain by Tim Holtz distress ink. 

There's a thankful pennant & a spooky tale circle tag from Elle's Studio & some wood veneer states from Studio Calico. I adhered the states with Helmar 450 quick dry adhesive. The letter stickers are Thickers (red) & October Afternoon (grey). 

The yellow washi came from Ashley.

For a final touch, I added some crystals by Prima.