create

loving life...

So creatively I am sort of in a rut, but I do have to say that despite being tired and cranky some days as DH is always working (big promotion on the horizon), I am loving my life.  Even with all the good and the bad and the ugly stuff. 

We got about 6 inches of snow on Sunday.  What an unexpected joy!!  See my family blog for pictures (link on the left side)...we had such a total blast playing in it.  I had several moments where I just looked at all I had and was truly thankful.

I've done 4 layouts in the past 4 days - which is great considering I hadn't done anything in over 2 weeks.  Just wasn't feeling it lately.  The problem is that I've gotten into the hybrid stuff and am just loving it.  I got my little craft room set up (now that the boys are sharing a room) and am getting some supplies together.  I still need to find a "real" scrapbook store (as opposed to AC Moore/Michaels - which are ok, but I want to see ALL the goodies available).  I did just buy these stamps today...called Cowboy's Ransom from Limited Edition (see here)

Also got Rhonna Farrer's Scribbles numbers (from Autumn Leaves).  Before I use them I will have to practice, because I've only stamped once in my life and it looked pretty bad.  It's hard to work without an "undo" button......

So here is a sneak peek at my altered board book (using Jessica Bolton's Not Quite Men kit).  I've gotten the pages together with all the pictures and papers and now I need to "decorate" it - some journaling - some other stuff (I guess??).  This is where my lack of experience with paper stuff rears it's ugly head!!  But other than that I have to say that I just LOVE this little book.  I'm going to call it "a fish tale" as it has all of Alex's fishing pictures from our Lake trips last summer.  I was going to stamp my title on the front, but can you stamp with "white" ink.....hmmmm...   

I did get one of those little light studios for Christmas, so I think I'm going to have to set it up as there is only so much an afternoon light through the window will do for photographing these projects!!

Here are some of the layouts I've finished over the last couple days.  Most of them were done for one challenge or another over at my fav place to hang out - Scrapbookgraphics.  It's funny when looking at these, it is totally clear that I don't really have one specific style....i'm like all over the map.  Is that bad?

 

back in the saddle...

It seems like every February I fall off the face of the earth.....boy, I'm not a big fan of this month.  It always seems to be just SO hard to keep all the balls in the air!!  They announced on the news this morning that we hit a record - 36 days in a row of under 32 degrees temp.  I live in the Mid-Atlantic - Not North Dakota!!  Yikes, it has just been too cold and this ice is just horrible.  But....as with all things...it is coming to an end and if I can make it just another three weeks I will get to see all my daffodils I planted last fall. 

Typical with my February blahs, I hadn't scrapped a page in like two weeks.  But I did manage to do one here.  I did it for this Reality Scraps challenge I am hosting at Scrapbookgraphics.  It's a fun weekly challenge to scrap those everyday moments.  For Week Seven, the challenge is to scrap about an emotion, joy, concern or thought that you are experiencing right NOW......here is mine.

I will post it at DST tomorrow...but for now you can see the credits here at SBG. 

I also did another layout for the SBG Scrap Therapy challenge which will be out on the Studio Crew blog tomorrow.....i gotta say I am sort of happy with it.  Used Jessica Bolton's new Delight in Photographs - Part 2 kit.  She is just unbelievably, amazingly talented......

Well off to spend some time with the hubby as he is heading out to NY tomorrow for a couple days.  So the good news is that I won't get much sleep the next couple nights, but hopefully I can get some of my altered projects done (especially now that I picked up a HUGE photo order at Costco this weekend)!!

Thanksgiving!!

So we had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  For the actual Thursday meal we went to my aunt's house (my mother's sister).  She met and married Jay at like age 55.  Neither had been married before and don't have children.  My brother and, of course, my parents came.  Between my brother and I, it was 5 boys five years old and under.  Their house is totally not child-proofed.  Between Ben escaping through every door they have and Alex and his cousins wrestling on the oriental rugs with the Baccarat vases and marble tables...it was nerve-wracking!!  I did come prepared with the Cars DVD...and boy was it a life-saver.  My uncle has this giant and I mean HUGE High Def TV that sits on the floor.  It must be like 60 inches or something.  It seems like it is even bigger.  Anyway, between the DVD, the unbelievable sound system and the huge comfy leather couch, it was better than a movie theater.  All five boys were mesmerized!!

So, more layouts....Here are some of the ones I did the last 2 months for Dani's team.  The stuff she creates is gorgeous.  Her Fall Crush kit and Merry Kitchmas kits...awesome.  Boy, does she keep me busy.  Her new stuff for December is phenomenal...now I just wish there were more hours in the day. 

See link on the right sidebar for a link to my DST gallery which includes all the credits for the below layouts!!

Where have I been?

Ok, so you'd think being a SAHM now I would have TONS of time to update this thing.  I mean at least once or heck, even twice a day.  LOL.  Not that case.  But, I am happy to say that after 6 weeks of having no job (the first time in 15 years) that the boys and I HAVE a schedule.  I absolutely adore being home with them.  I admit I was slightly worried that I would be pulling my hair out by now.  It isn't easy and not always fun, but I do love it. 

So...the past month.  I've joined a gym (with fabulous childcare) and have started eating healthy.  I even made the boys homemade chicken nuggets the other day - grinding my own chicken breasts and making my own breadcrumbs from wheat bread.  Don't be too impressed, because I negated it all the next night by going through the drive-thru at McDonalds for some Happy Meals!! 

Last month I was accepted on Traci Reed's CT.  The group of women there is awesome and Traci is just SO sweet.  I'm loving her designs and sketches.  She is like a designing powerhouse and I'm working to get caught up.  Here are some of the layouts I've done the past month with her designs.  As always, the credits and layout are included in the DST link on the right sidebar.

I'm sure there is nobody still reading this...but I do promise to be better.  Over the next couple days I will be catching up on all my layouts I haven't posted and all the other exciting scrapping news in my life...LOL.

October...where did September go?

It is just amazing to me how fast time is flying by.  Really days are just whizzing by and I am barely keeping up...lol. 

Today was my first day of no work.  It was quite liberating.  Obviously, I still have a ton of do, but one major GUILT factor is gone.  Even though I only worked part-time, i still always felt guilty when I knew I had a ton of work stuff to be doing and I wasn't doing it (which was pretty much ALL the time..lol).

I've done four layouts since I last posted.  Two I have posted at DST in the meantime.  I'll post the other two tomorrow.  So since I made my last statement in the last post, I've gone on to continue doing my one photo layouts....see below...lol.  I am trying to change my ways.....

This one is from Jess' collab kit with Carrie Stephens, called Emily's Wish.  Gorgeous.  My layout doesn't do it justice.  Can't wait to play again and use some of the funky hot magenta papers and funky elements!!  To see credits and to leave some LOVE....click here.

This next layout is using Dani Mogstad's new Halloween kit - BeWitched.  Love this...it is really so versatile and beautiful.  This also uses these new scrappers tool box custom shapes that Dani has put together.  i LOVE these.  Right up my alley.  I just love any type of Photoshop tool.  She has two sets - the the layout below I used these.  Click here to see my posting at DST for the full list of credits.

new promise

Well I forgot to post about this last week (when it was more timely), but here it goes.  I am making a promise to myself to do only layouts with meaningful journaling and more than one photo.  I love layouts with one photo - don't get me wrong - but here is where I am coming from.  One year ago (last week) I did my first digi-layout ever and posted it.  I LOVE this stuff, but in one year I am no where close to what I thought I would have in terms of albums for my boys.  I really need to do more layouts with journaling and photos about our life.  It's not like I don't have the pictures - because I do.  I take them.  I just don't do layouts with them because..well frankly...it's harder to do those layouts.  At least it is for me.  The layouts I do finish about the things we do and special events, etc I LOVE.  I really LOVE those.  So...I am going to start to take the time to do the layouts I really need to do to feel like I am heading where I want to be heading.  I don't want to be published...i don't want to be on more creative teams (ok..maybe one special one)....I don't want to design....i don't want to do anything more than just get more "quality" layouts done.  Quality for me is great journaling that will tell the story of what we do together and who we are are.  ok...done for now.

Here are a couple things I've done recently.  Here is my layout for our beach week trip.  Used Dani Mogstad's Sunny Sorbet kit.  Fun.  I originally did this for the digidareya challenge - but got held up finishing it on time...so I am posting it on my blog instead.  Go here to leave me some love at DST.

So I really love Jen Caputo's sketches.  I love that you can use them as a template and spend time tweaking, adding elements, etc.  Takes some of the stress out of it.  So she has some card templates on her blog that I downloaded.  I had been wanting to make a card for my oldest as he started preschool.  I used Dani's Old School kit available here and made the below card, printed it out on my super-duper printer, slapped it on some cardstock, added a ribbon and then wrote him a note inside.  He absolutely LOVES it.  It had to be on his nightstand tonite when he went to bed.  Boy does that make me happy.  See the credits, etc here at DST.

life

So the day started out great....got some scrapping done.  Had my last "free" day - with no work today and no boys.  Once I'm done work and officially a SAHM, that probably won't happen that often.  So, needless to say, I really took advantage of today to just hang out and relax.  I had the window open by my computer and totally loved hearing the soft rain falling.  Of course, my thoughts were with all the kids that were heading to the first day of school - not the best weather for that.

I did two layouts today....both came from the challenges section at the end of Ali Edward's newest book - A Designer's Eye for Scrapbooking with Patterned Paper.  The book is REALLY growing on me...the more I read, the more I find. 

This one was using Dani's and Shawna Clingerman's newest collab kit - Carpe Diem.  The challenge was to use 9 squares of patterned paper/photos.  Ok, so I only used 7 squares - as I made the middle squares one LONG square instead of 3 small squares.  Of course, now that I look at it I realize that I don't have a title...hmmm..that has never really happened to me before - forgetting a title?  Oh well, I may be editing this in the future.  LOL.  This is posted at DST - see link to gallery right over here---->

 

This next one is using my fav kit of Dani's - Old School.  It is available here.  Will post this one tomorrow at DST (too tired now).  Did one of Ali's challenges here as well - use 7 patterned paper strips!!  Fun!!

One last thing...please pray for my old friend Cheryl.  She was a work colleague who moved away a couple years ago.  We lost touch, but I heard some bad news today.  She is in her mid-30's with a 3 1/2 year old and a 15 month old and was diagnosed this May with colon cancer.  She had only been feeling sort of off for a month or so, but figured she was just run down because of having young kids.  Turns out she has a tumor and has had surgery and chemo, but it still looks like it will be an uphill battle as it has spread to her lymph nodes.  I can't get this out of my head.  Pray for her and her family if you are able.

ok...off to bed.  Have to work tomorrow and try to be somewhat productive even though I don't quite feel like it.

on a roll

I am on a roll here.  I did 2 more layouts.  This time I used Jen Caputo's sketch templates.  OK, I knew these were sweet, but didn't really understand until I played with them.  AWESOME!!  I love that it gives me a basic design and then I can add stuff or change a little something.  It really doesn't cut my time down much - but only because I just spend tons of time changing little things and then deciding I don't like it and changing it back - again and again!!

Here are the layouts I did.  The first is using the sketch template that came FREE with the DST newsletter.  I used Dani's Puppy Love kit (from her This Love CD).

This layout I did using another one of Jen's sketch templates that I got before she became quite the sketch celeb (lol...it was free on her blog...lol).  I used Dani's Retro Autumn Spice 2 kit available this week at her store.  I just love that green paisley paper!!

Anyway, I uploaded both of these to DST so go check out the credits and leave some love - see gallery layout link in the right sidebar----->

I am very bitter that my paypal is turned off temporarily.  I was planning on doing some shopping this weekend (mainly to get Jen's newest templates...see I told you I was addicted).  But, for some reason my account was temporarily disabled and I was supposed to answer some security questions to get it reactivated.  OK..so I did those and the last resolution thing was that they were going to place an automatic phone call to my home phone.  Well, I did that...but didn't know that I was supposed to answer the phone and type in some code.  I was so quick, that I just answered and hung up (as it was midnight!!).  I tried to go back and redo it, but it came up that they were going to send me a verification via MAIL (like real postal service mail) and that I would get it in 5 business days.  I about screamed!!  So, now I wait.  I'm going to miss her sale, but oh well.  Ugh...I guess I could open a new paypal account??!!  Hmmm....I'm off to try that.

lazy day

Today we had a really lazy day.  It was awesome.  We so rarely have a day where we don't do anything.  It felt like fall with drizzly rain most of the day and temps in the 60's. 

I did find some time to do two more layouts...wow, I feel like I'm on fire these days.  LMAO!!

The first one is using Dani's Old School kit available at www.acherryontop.com.  The kit is really awesome.  It has orange.  Need I say more.  I really debated about the picture in this one.  I went back and forth between color and b&W.  Obviously, I decided on the color one.  I have a tough time doing a layout with a B&W photo.  I really just love COLOR!!

This next one is with another new kit by Dani (she is making them faster than I can get layouts done...LOL!!).  This is called Maddy's Smile.  I used an old picture of me.  Don't I look like Ben? My parents always say that Ben looks SO MUCH like me (except for the long hair, of course)!!

Okay, bed is calling my name.  I still have a bunch of stuff to say but it will have to wait until tomorrow.

dinner out

Ok, the weather here is unbelievable.  I'm thankful it is actually September 1st today, because I think I would be totally discombobulated if it was still August with 58 degrees and cold rain and wind.  Wow, it is crazy out there. 

Despite the rain, we got a babysitter and went out with our friends (they don't have children YET) to PF Changs which opened up a couple miles from our house.  YUMMY!!  We got the lettuce wraps and I got the orange peel chicken.  Seriously, fattening and totally not on my diet.  Oh well.  I also got an ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE!!  I say that for my DH's benefit as I never drink - so this was quite the event.  The drink was almost as much as the dinner - $7.95!!  It was very yummy (also extremely calorie-laden) and got me totally buzzed.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not against drinking (haha - ask any of my friends from college), but since I've had kids I just hate having any kind of hangover, etc in the morning because the days are long and hard already.  The last thing I need is something else making me feel like crap all day AND having to referree my boys!!

I did a layout with Dani Mogstad's and Shawna Clingerman's new collab kit - Carpe Diem.  Great stuff!!  Check out their new site. Also, Shawna gave us her new kit to play with - Techno Grunge.  It is so awesome - i love that it is really unique.  Doesn't hurt that I had the PERFECT pictures to use with it.   To see additional credits or to leave some love - check out the DST gallery link on the right sidebar---->

Okay, so I made those "flowers" on the layout.  Hopefully, that binder clip flower doesn't look totally stupid.  I kind of thought it went with the whole "be original" theme of the layout.  I typically don't put flowers on my layouts with my boys, but I thought this was kind of cute.??..?

I'm still going to answer Tania's tag - however DH is calling me to watch this movie with him.  Ugh.  He says it is going to be inspirational and lift my spirits.  I am, however, in a very shallow mood tonite and would be just as happy to watch my old Alias episodes on DVD......Oh well, the price of love.....