Author: Raptor Mama

Oh my gosh, the time has been flying!!!  I’m not quite sure how it happened, but it’s already December!  And I am determined to make this an awesome December.  First, let’s see how I did in November.

1.  Gratitude Banner. We skipped this this year, but I’m planning to do it next year for sure.  I just need to think about it in October, not November.  lol.
2. December Daily prep.  I ordered another kit on Cyber Monday, does that count?  hahahahaha
3. May Project Life.  Nope.
4. June Project Life.  Nope.
5. Scrap January 2017.  Yes!  Whoo hoo.
6. Jake’s Stocking.  I have been working on this a ton and I’m getting so close!  Maybe I’ll post a progress pic on instagram later today.
7. Take down Halloween decorations.  Done.
8. Bake for Thanksgiving.  Done.  Oh my y’all.  I ended up making 5 pies and oreo truffles.  Because I’m a crazy person.  lol.
9. Christmas Prep.  I have so many ideas!  But I didn’t get much done other than deciding that I was going to make a Christmas tree skirt.  Perhaps it will be done before Kate graduates high school.  lol.
10. NaNoCraftO.  This was hit or miss.  I think next year I want to be more intentional and organized about it.  It was fun though.  🙂

December Goals!

1.  December Daily.  This is one of my favorite projects of the year!  I would really like to keep up with it this year, with a one day delay.  (So scrapping the 1st on the 2nd, etc.)  I doubt I will manage to keep up with that, but I would like to finish the project by the end of December, and not have it hanging over my head in May.
2. Jake’s Stocking.  This must be done.  Must.
3. Order Christmas cards.
4. Address/ send Christmas cards.
5. Take Christmas pics.  I’m not using them for Christmas cards, but I do want to get some pics of the kids in their Christmas outfits.  Especially since we got Baby Jake a matching outfit too!  Yay cousin pics!!!
6. Road trip book.  We’re taking 2 road trips this month, one with just me and the kids to San Antonio, and one whole family trip to Houston.  I want to make Kate an activity book for the car.
7. Decorate Christmas tree.
8. Christmas Menu.
9. Cookie Booth plan.
10. Planner stickers.  I’m getting closer, but I still can’t figure out the settings on my silhouette to have it cut through the sticker but not the sticker backing.

Wish me luck!

October was a crazy busy month!  We went camping twice for Girl Scouts which was fun but exhausting.  lol.  I didn’t get a much accomplished as I was hoping to, but tomorrow is another day.  😉

1.  Halloween Costumes.  Done.  We tossed our original (super complicated) plan in favor of skeleton pajamas for all the kids.  I felt a little bad phoning it in, but it was nice not to be scrambling at the last minute.
2. Hang new pics.  Done!  I am so happy with the way it turned out.  🙂
3. May Project Life.  I didn’t get anything done on Project Life.  Whoops.
4. June Project Life.
5. Scrap November 2016.  Done!
6. Scrap December 2016.  Amazingly enough, I finished this one too.  All of 2016 is done!
7. Yoga Shirt.  Ugh.  The actual shirt that I ordered disappeared, but I did cut out the vinyl and give it to her.
8. Jake’s Stocking.  I didn’t get nearly enough done on this.  Whoops!
9. Hexies!  I bought some more fabric, does that count?  😉
10. Find Interview Book file.  Nada.

November Goals:

1.  Gratitude Banner. Um, I really need to figure this out today, huh.  I’m planning to use this to help us focus on gratitudes this month and to help Kate work on her writing.
2. December Daily prep.  I ordered a kit today!  Yay!  But I want to go through and sort through my Christmas stuff.  I’m considering making a little kit for Kate with stuff I won’t use so she can make a December Daily of her own.
3. May Project Life.  Maybe?  lol.  I need to get caught up on this.
4. June Project Life.  lol.  A girl can dream.
5. Scrap January 2017.
6. Jake’s Stocking.  Oh boy.  Maybe this should be my only goal for the month.  lol.
7. Take down Halloween decorations.
8. Bake for Thanksgiving.
9. Christmas Prep.  We’re hosting Christmas Eve this year for my fam and I’m super excited!  🙂  I’m thinking of sprucing up some of our decorations.
10. NaNoCraftO.  Michael does NaNoWriMo every November and I get BORED!  I’m thinking of giving NaNoCraftO another go.  lol.  This is where I try to do something creative every day.

September has been a bit nutty as we get back in the swing of school time stuff, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.  🙂  I even managed to get some stuff crossed off of my crafty to do list!

1.  Scrap October 2016.  Done!
2. Halloween Costume Plan.  Ugh.  I keep waffling back and forth.  I need to just made a decision and stick to it!
3. March Project Life.  Done!
4. April Project Life.  Done!
5. Finish Drew’s stocking.  Done!
6. Redo bookshelves.  Done!
7. Create 3 Montessori trays.  Done!  In fact, I made 9!  I should blog them, huh.  lol.
8. Print interview book pages.  I got the paper for this, but I can’t actually fine the file on my computer.  lol.
9. Order remaining supplies for interview books.  This didn’t happen, but I did order prints for Kate’s interview book and for our living room wall.  Oh, and I bought new frames!
10. Assemble interview books.  Nope.

October!

1.  Halloween Costumes!  I need to finalize the plan in the next few days so I can get cracking on these.
2. Hang new pics!  The prints should be here this week.  Yay!
3. May Project Life.
4. June Project Life.
5. Scrap November 2016.  Pics are already printed.
6. Scrap December 2016.  This one is a bit of a stretch goal.  lol.  I did edit/ print pics for it today though.
7. Yoga Shirt.  My friend asked me to make her a shirt and I need to get it done!
8. Jake’s Stocking.  I only have 2 months to get this done, so I’d better get cracking!
9. Hexies!  I have a Christmas present idea for some of my hexies, but I need to make loads more.
10. Find Interview Book file.  I either need to find it or I need to recreate it.  lol.  I’d like to go ahead and get these printed even if I don’t get the albums/ embellies purchased.

Mia’s occupational therapist has been recommending for a while that we put some contact paper up on the wall to encourage Mia to work on standing up.  The idea is that you put the contact paper up, sticky side out, and then she can squat, pick something up, stand up, stick it to the contact paper, wash, rinse, repeat.  We had some success with it a few weeks ago, but it needed to be refreshed since it tends to lose its stickiness over time.  Since we’re having the in-laws over tomorrow for a Labor Day BBQ, naturally this was the perfect time to jazz it up.  ProCRAFTination at its finest!

I had RaptorDad draw a tree outline on it (remember that you’re drawing it in reverse) and then we taped it to the playhouse.  I cut out some leaves and clouds out of felt and let the babies go to town.

They loved it!  I thought about cutting out some more leaves, but then I realized I would just have more to clean up.  lol.  But all in all, I give this one 2 thumbs up!

Kate *needed* some mixed media stuff for a homework project so I dug through the hot mess that is my desk and found my spray mists.  Since they got put back on the top of the pile, they were front and center this weekend when I went to go scrap.  I forgot how much fun they were!  Check out this layout.  Y’all, I didn’t even use any paper aside from the cheapie white cardstock!  And that S in cousin?  It’s totally an 8 that I cut up.

I used the “packing materials” method which, if you’re not familiar, involves the cellophane that so many products come wrapped in.  You just spray a few sprays in the cellophane, turn it over, and smush it down on the paper hoping for the best.  I’ve yet to be disappointed.  🙂

How is it already September?!?  We’re getting back in the school time swing of things and it’s bittersweet.  I love the hustle and bustle of back to school and Kate is so excited to start up activities again, but I miss the lazy days of summer and having Kate home.  But enough of that!  It’s time to start crafting for the holiday season!

1.  January Project Life.  Done!
2. February Project Life.  Done and done!  I even got 1/2 of March done.  🙂
3. Cull/ print pics for October 2016.  Done!
4. Scrap October 2016.  Yeah, I didn’t get this done.  lol.
5. Edit/ print pics from San Antonio.  I printed a few pics, but I need to make sure I have enough to tell the whole story without having 30 pages in the book.  It’s a balance.  lol.
6. Scrap San Antonio pics!  Nope.
7. Finish Cross Stitch!  It’s done!!!  I can’t believe I finally finished.  It took me almost 3 years.  Honesty it feels a little like I gave birth.  lol.
8. Cut out hexagon templates.  Still need to do this.
9. Revamp our lunches!  This is going to be a work in progress, but I think we made some serious forward momentum.
10. Steps/ water.  Water is a success!  I’ve switched to drinking from a big ARTC cup so I’m naturally drinking loads more.  Need to keep working on the step count.

Here’s the cross stitch!  The next thing I stitch is going to be a giant rainbow of color.  lol.  No more brown!  I also finally made the FALL letters that have been on many a monthly goal list, but ironically not this one.  😉

Time for some September Goals!

1.  Scrap October 2016.  Hopefully now that it’s feeling a little more like Fall, I’ll be in the mood to scrap these.
2. On that note, I need to decide on/ convince Kate of/ plan our Halloween costumes.
3. March Project Life.  I’m halfway done, just need to keep the momentum going.
4. April Project Life.  I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.
5. Finish Drew’s stocking.  I’m giving myself one more month and then I’m putting it away so I can start/ finish my nephew’s stocking.  🙂
6. Redo bookshelves in living room so that I can have all of my albums in a row.
7. Create 3 Montessori inspired trays for Mia and Xander.
8. Print interview book pages.
9. Order remaining supplies for interview books.
10. Assemble interview books.

RaptorDad decided that if I was going to keep taping calendars to the wall, he was going to find a way to jazz them up a little.  And boy oh boy, he did not disappoint!  I can’t get into the specifics of how he made it other than *he’s magic*!  He used some leftover flooring that we’ve had sitting around for years and I absolutely love how it looks.

Instead of taping the paper squares to the wall, I attached them to the board with ticky tack.  My plan is to move the weeks up every Sunday so that the current week stays on the top as opposed to doing a season at a time like I was doing before.  Hopefully I can keep up with it!  Like I said before, I mainly use it for Kate’s activities because she likes to know what’s coming up.

With that, we are 1 week away from our big eclipse road trip!  I am so excited I almost can’t stand it.  🙂  I guess it’s about time to stop obsessively pinning road trip stuff and actually start making some of it.  lol.

I can’t believe it’s already August!  This summer has flown by!  It seems like Kate just got out of school and now we have Meet the Teacher night tomorrow.  :/  Before I get all weepy on you, let’s take a look at how we did with July’s goals.

1.  Scrap August of 2016.  Done!  Yay!
2. 10 current layouts.  I got 5 done which is nothing to sneeze at.  😉
3. Print September.  Done!
4. Scrap September.  Also done!  Man, I was on a roll for a while.  🙂
5. January Project Life.  Yeah, here’s where the momentum stopped.  I didn’t even look at PL.
6. Name vinyl.  Still nada.
7. Print stickers.  I had mixed results with this.  I was able to print and cut some stickers (which is amazing!) but I haven’t been able to design my own.  I need to get better at photoshop…
8. Finish crosses in cross stitch.  Done!!!  And I’m making some serious progress on the back stitch.
9. Stockings.  I focused on the cross stitch, but I’m hoping to pull out the stocking this month.
10. Steps and water.  This was a giant fail.  Oh well, on to the next month!

Time for August Goals!

1.  January Project Life.  I have so many gorgeous kits that I want to be using!  Need to buckle down and print pics.  Maybe I’ll send off a big batch of them…  Something to ponder.
2. February Project Life.  Why not shoot for the moon.  lol.
3. Cull/ print pics for October 2016.
4. Scrap October 2016.
5. Edit/ print pics from San Antonio.
6. Scrap San Antonio pics!  I’d like to do this while the trip is still fresh in my mind.  🙂
7. Finish Cross Stitch!  That’s right, I’m going to push through and finish this dang thing.
8. Cut out hexagon templates.  I’m making a quilt y’all.  Or at least that’s the plan!  I was supposed to finish all of my unfinished projects first, but then more projects (stockings ::cough cough::) kept getting added.  lol.  I might throw caution to the wind and let myself start even if the stockings aren’t finished.  My grandmother got me some gorgeous fabric to play with and I can’t wait!
9. Revamp our lunches!  Kate packs her lunches every day and I’d like to come up with a plan to make them both healthier and more fun.  That goes for the babies and I as well.  I’m afraid Xander’s going to turn in to a peanut butter and honey sandwich if I don’t do something soon.  lol.
10. Steps/ water.  Time to get back on the bandwagon!

On to a new month!  Let’s see how June went, shall we?

1.  Scrap April 2016.  Done!
2. Scrap May 2016.  Done!  And can I just add that this means that I finished up 6 months of scrapbooking in 2 months?  And that I’m no longer more than a year behind?  Because, AWESOME!
3. Project Life.  I finished November and December!
4. Camp Half-Blood.  We’ve decided that a theme every 2 or 3 weeks is more our style.  🙂  We’ve been having loads of fun with Medusa week though.  🙂
5. Camp Half-Blood shirts.  Yeah, this still hasn’t happened.  Whoops.
6. Name Vinyl.  Need to do this too.
7. Order pics.  I blew all of my spending money on planner goodies.  lol.  Soon though.  🙂
8. School Scrapbook.  See above re ordering prints.  😉
9. DAD pics.  Still need to do these.
10. 10k steps a day.  I kind of fell off the wagon here.  Hoping to do better next month.

July?

1.  I want to finish scrapping August of 2016.  I only have 2 layouts to go!
2. I want to do 10 current layouts.  Summer layouts are always my favorite.  🙂
3. I’d like to cull the massive list for September down to a more reasonable level and get the pics printed.
4. I’d really love to get September scrapped as well.
5. I need to get at least January’s Project Life done.  February would be an awesome bonus.  I did already buy a new album for it and I have enough page protectors to keep me going for a while.
6. Name vinyl.  This is just getting embarrassing.  lol.
7. Figure out making my own stickers!  I got some printable sticker paper so I could make my own planner stickers.  To say there’s a steep learning curve would be a massive understatement.  lol.
8. It’s Christmas in July!  Not really, but I do need to start thinking about craft projects that I’d like done by Christmas.  First up, I want to finish the crosses in my cross stitch.  There’s still a ton of back stitching to go as well, but I’ve got to get back on the horse with this one.
9. Stockings…  Oh my.  I need to work on my brother-in-law’s stocking.  I also need to get my sister to order a kit for my nephew.
10. Steps and water.  I ordered stickers for my planner to track these, so hopefully that’s enough motivation.  lol.

July’s going to be busy!  In addition to our regular Camp Half-Blood activities, Kate’s going to go to sailing camp for a week, and my friend and I are taking our kids to San Antonio for a few days without our hubbies.  Should be fun!

You guys.  I have fallen down the planner rabbit hole.  It started off innocently enough.  I was having a hard time keeping track of all of our appointments and the calendar on my phone wasn’t really working for me.  So on a whim I thought I’d check out the Erin Condren planners.  Um, wow.  I <3 them all!  So after thinking about it for about 2 seconds, I decided that I had to have one.  Especially because the timing was perfect since she had just released her new ones which started today.  🙂  No lie, they’re pricey, but the quality seems very high.  While I was going crazy waiting I started watching youtube planner videos.  If you haven’t seen them, these people use tons of stickers to basically cover every blank space in the planner using kits from Etsy.  My response went something like this:

1.  These people are crazy!  Who has that much time to spend on a planner every week.  Not to mention it must be so expensive!  Plus there’s almost no space to write down your actual appointments.
2. Well, they are awfully cute and I do have a lot of washi tape.  Maybe I’ll just add in a bit of tape across the bottom.  But no need for stickers.
3. Maybe I could use some of my stamps instead of stickers?
4. Must buy all the stickers!  And follow all of these people on instagram!

So…  My stickers should be arriving soon.  lol.  I’m not going to be buying a kit every week (unless some etsy shop wants to sponsor me!  lol.)  but I am going to be adding in a few stickers here and there for fun.  Mainly to help me track my water intake as that’s one of my big goals for July.

You get to pick your cover from a bunch of gorgeous options and then you can personalize it with your name.  I added a picture to the back of mine too!  Maybe next time I’ll remember to take a pic of it so you guys can see.

I was having a little bit of hard time getting a pic as Mia was very interested in it.  lol.

I’ve decided to use the top box for appointments, the middle box for day time stuff that’s not an appointment, and the bottom box for important dates and/or stuff that happens after Michael is home from work.  I’m toying with the idea of making the top box stuff during the school day, the middle box after school stuff, and the bottom box important dates/ post bedtime stuff, but that won’t happen until after school starts back up.  I’m also toying with the idea of making the bottom box a daily to do list.  I’ll jut have to see what makes more sense as I’m using it.

Bottom line, the planner is super fun!  I’m glad I finally bit the bullet and ordered it.  🙂