Inked Butterflies

Without a camera...

2012-02-12T14:40:00.001-06:00

You have no idea how hard it is to live without a digital camera. Yes, my phone has a camera...but its not the same!! My wonderful Canon Powershot that I've had for almost 6 years bit the dust on the first night of Stampin' Up Leadership about a month ago. Seriously...the first.freakin.night. How ill-timed is that?!?!

Fortunately the gals I went with took a bazillion photos so I was able to get some copies of their shots to continue to live blissfully within the joy of SU Leadership. :)

Wouldn't this be a great teacher gift?? Crazy what people can make out of paper!

Beautiful fabric pillows. This fabric will be released later this year. Our Leadership bags were made out of this fabric..and I get compliments on the bag every time I'm out with it. In fact, a recent hostess tried to steal the bag from me. :)

Beautiful roommate gift from my up-upline. Made entirely out of border punches...can you believe that???

We were challenged to create a book using the art journals in the catalog. This was one example that was shown. I'm such a sucker for butterflies.

Isn't this gorgeous?? This was one of the sets we received at Leadership. Now I just need to get my greedy little hands on that punch...

Isn't this amazing!!! On March 1st customers can purchase a Diagonal tool insert that fits on top of the Score Tool. It will allow you to make boxes like these with absolutely no cutting! The diagonal tool will also allow you to make beautiful envelopes and packages using designer series paper. Just another thing I can't wait to get ahold of. :)

I sure do wish my camera didn't break when it did. Seriously, it was the first night of Leadership, I was walking around after the make-and-take session and was only able to snap about 50 photos of displays before it started making this completely heinous sound and then the lense jammed and wouldn't go back into the camera. I even hit up a professional photographer there to see what he thought, and he basically said, "buy a new camera." So I'm currently pricing new ones and trying to decide which will be the best option for me.

Some of the pictures above showcase Occasions Mini catalog materials as well as Sale-A-Bration materials. If you haven't received these catalogs yet, contact me and I'll get them to you! Remember, for every $50 you spend, you'll receive one FREE item in the Sale-A-Bration catalog! Great time to stock up!

Stampin' Up announced at Leadership that the catalog program will be revamped this year. Gone is the summer mini catalog, and the two remaining "mini" catalogs will be bigger (both in size and pages) and last longer (five months instead of four). Also the main catalog will change on June 1st instead of July 1st. I encourage you to look at your stock now to see what items you might need, because accessories, embellishments, and In Color items go FAST. The current 2010-2012 In Colors will retire effective May 31st. Stock up NOW!!

Tot School is hard with tantrums

2012-01-09T21:33:00.003-06:00

Man Alive.

My child has seriously exhausted me the last 18 days. 18 days since he attended his normal 2.5 hour preschool. That is 432 hours...not that I'm counting or anything. But he has been a NIGHTMARE all the time. Seriously! I have a behavior chart with a bunch of tasks, one of which is whining. I haven't been able to give him a star for not whining since putting the chart up. In early December.

My son is 39 months, or 3 years, 3 months (for those of you who wish to keep your addition/multiplication/division at a minimum unless ~~doing~~ helping your kid with his homework). When he was just shy of hitting the 2-year-mark, I was trying to convince my husband to start trying for another baby. Then C hit the terrible two's. And that just never stopped. Needless to say, I think if C becomes a big brother, he might be in kindergarten by the time I give birth. And he has a late birthday, so kindergarten is 2.5 years away. :)

Needless to say, the pics are slightly chaotic. Its hard to take pictures when your child is having a full on kicking-and-screaming tantrum and throwing things at you. Oh yeah, my kid's a thrower. I'm proud. Especially of the red dry erase marker line on my arm after he barely missed my face earlier.

One great thing I did was buy a large dry erase board and hang it on the wall. Its basically right above the trim so my son can either stand, kneel, or sit and fiddle on the board. I bought a bunch of different colored glass gems (hit up the floral department of Hobby Lobby: lots of times they are 50% off and you can get them for only a couple bucks). Then I bought some circular magnets and glued them on. The gems typically have a rough back which means the magnet tape won't stick on them perfectly, so I just add some gorilla glue...those suckers aren't going anywhere. :)

My goal has been that C enjoy playing with these things, but also learning about shapes, colors, and following directions. So I would draw a line or shape and ask him to put the magnets ON or IN the shape. He didn't much care for putting the magnets on the line, but loved outlining the star. Go figure! (my mom told me today that, duh, a line is soooo not fun. Shapes are more fun. Umm, okay.)

Over the weekend, in an attempt to get a cute idea that would involve a lot of creativity on his part, I drew a snowman shape and had him glue cotton balls onto the shape. To say he was THRILLED with the glue stick would be an understatement! But, do you know how hard it is to explain to a 3-year-old how a glue stick shouldn't be jammed into the carpet? Note to self: glue sticks only given AT THE TABLE.

According to C, a snowman doesn't need two eyes. It needs a gazillion, all over its body. And one on its arm.

Due to his enthusiasm with the snowman, I quickly just ripped up a piece of paper and asked him to glue them onto a new main piece of paper.

I have to admit, this required more of my husband and I than my son. He really just wanted to play with the glue stick. He, of course, had a tantrum when I took the glue stick away.

Looking for a cheap toy? This one can't be beat! Take a drink container (this is the WalMart version of Crystal Light). Cut a small hole in the lid. Put a $.99 container of small pom poms in. Give to your kid. Watch the fun.

C is in love with anything that requires dumping and then putting back into containers. That is why I can say he's actually quite good at cleaning up toys. He loves to put stuff back. He's now started helping us empty the dishwasher...obviously we only give him his plastic cups, bowls and plates to put away. But he thinks he's pretty cool helping out.

Dump 'em out, put 'em back in. Awesome fun! (excuse the horrible glare off the tv, my husband was searching the schedule for something to DVR).

Very intrigued with the lid and the hole. I made the hole slightly smaller than the pom poms, because I wanted him to have to WORK to get the pom poms into the container. This is a great task for working on fine motor development. He also loves taking the lid off and putting it back on, another good thing for fine motor skills. Our dog apparently felt the need to get involved. If you think he's big, you'll enjoy knowing he's not even 9 months old yet. The vet who told me he would "only" be 40-50 pounds is full of it! I can't even lift him anymore, I think he's at least 60 pounds.

Capping off the week with more dry erase board fun. C is definitely left-handed, so I positioned all of his magnet letters on the right so he has more than enough room to draw and be crazy with the markers. His favorite color to work with is definitely red.

Some other activities we completed this week but didn't get pictures of included working more in our Toddler Book letter A stuff, playing with stickers in a lined notebook I've decided is only for his stickers (another great fine motor game!), painted with water colors and paint daubers (my water baby was much more enthralled with the small container of water I had on the table for the watercolors...although he didn't quite understand why the water wouldn't show up with the amazing colors I could produce when I actually painted correctly. :). My camera had a coniption fit and "locked" for some reason, so I couldn't take pictures for a few days. Him working with the Letter A stuff is pretty cute. I've decided to hold off on printing the Letter B packet, and instead printed the Winter Tot Pack and The Snowy Day printables...I just have to get to a bookstore to buy the book. :) Or, incontinuing my desire to stay cheap, maybe I'll see if the library has it.

For next week, C GOES BACK TO SCHOOL!!!! Oh Joy. Now, I know there are moms out there who will be aggravated with me for being excited about that. But he goes to a fantastic preschool within the local elementary. Their resources are things I could NEVER give him. I'm not trained in physical therapy, speech therapy, and occupational therapy. ALL of the ideas I've posted over the past two Tot School posts have been things I've found online. The preschool also means my son has fantastic opportunities to engage with other children. He has a "best friend" in the classroom, who is the same height and blonde like him. Its really quite cute.

Having him in school also means I will have more time to devote to a couple of at-home jobs I do. I sell Stampin' Up, as well as write for a couple of local newspapers. It brings in a little extra money, which means I get to stay home with C and not have to think about him being in full time care. Plus, my son LOVES school. He loves the way they make him think, the fun activities they do, and the great amenities that my house just doesn't have. They have a big gym with lots of toys and whatnot, plus a P.T./O.T. room with swings, gym pads, and lots more. The improvement he's made since beginning preschool in mid-October is phenomenal. I'm so glad we live in the place we do, and that his teacher chose to come back to preschool developmental delay when she did. Having 2.5 hours by myself each day isn't bad either. :)

This post is linked up with Tot School over at 1+1+1=1. Amazing stuff over there! Lots of the printables we work with were from there!

My First Tot School Post

2012-01-01T23:04:00.001-06:00

This post will be quite a bit different from anything I've ever posted before. As this blog is typically used for crafty purposes, its a big departure to focus on toddler/preschool learning!

Quick update on our situation. C is 39 months old. He has a genetic condition called Velocardiofacial Syndrome, meaning a section of the 22nd chromosome is missing. 90% of these cases (1 out of every 2000 births) are just chance. The other 10% are genetically passed down from a parent. C now has a 50% chance of passing this syndrome on to his children.

VCFS has over 180 characteristics associated with it. C doesn't have a lot of the extremely horrible ones (heart defects, kidney issues, cleft palate), but he does have low muscle tone. If you consider how many things can be effected by muscle tone, you'd realize why he's delayed. He didn't crawl until 14 months, walk until 26 months, and just within the past 2-3 months he's finally talking. The tongue is a muscle, and he's had a lot of trouble figuring out how to properly work it.

After two years of physical therapy, he's catching up quite nicely in gross motor development. Speech therapy was almost a waste of time because of a less-than-stellar therapist who seemed quite nonchalant about C's development. After adding two different therapists in 2011, he definitely improved. Now he attends a developmental delay preschool for 2.5 hours each day, and the improvement has been phenomenal!

Because of seeing his improvement, it became disgustingly clear to my husband and I that we should be giving C so many more learning opportunities at home. Thanks to the best invention in the world, Pinterest, I've found countless blogs and learning sites that have the most amazing ideas for play learning. The first one we tried over the past two weeks has been water beads.

This is what water beads actually look like to start. I found them in the fake floral aisle at WalMart, they are pretty cheap. I started with the clear ones because I wasn't sure how much they would stain...and now I realize WHY all of the blogs I peruse never show clear ones. Those suckers are hard to find! And they bounce pretty easily...so if your child misses the container, they will just roam around freely. So I don't think I'll do clear ones again. :)

You just can't experience something unless you stick your hands and arms all the way in. And C's a multi-tasker: the television was on with Sesame Street at this point. We don't miss Elmo.

To add another amazing quality, I made my own lightbox with two strands of Christmas lights and an empty sterilite container. I didn't take any photos of C actually playing at this point. I realized very quickly that the containers being the same size would be a problem: i.e., tipping over and crashing to the floor (probably taking the toddler with it). So I changed it up for the next session, and put a very large under-the-bed container as the base with the lights in it.

(Okay, this pic is soooo not mine, but how cool is this sensory table?? This was C's last day at preschool before Christmas break. I was so amazed by this, it might be something I do next year!)

Here we are playing again. Taking out of one container, and dumping into another. The water beads were such a hit, I think we played with them every day for a week! (Just a note...they will mold after time. C was devastated to see that I disposed of them today.)

One of the rather interesting characteristics C has is that he doesn't like to have sticky fingers. His teachers comment on his distaste for paint and glue. So I decided to bring out some finger paint and see what he did. He immediately went for the paint brushes, as I assumed he would.

When in doubt, two hands and two brushes are better.

Uh oh, its on his hands! What ever will he do?!?!

He began to experiment, by dipping just one finger into the paint and smooshing it onto the paper.

Now he has multiple brushes in one hand, but is feeling paint between the fingers of his left hand. :)

Success! Full-on finger/hand painting. I may have had a "hand" (har har) in this, as I ~~forcefully~~ gently took his hand and smooshed it into the paint, then put it onto the paper. He thought that was pretty cool.

We also began (although I don't have any pictures) the Tot School printables found on 1+1+1=1. Beginning with the letter A, I put all of the printables into clear covers in a binder and gave C some dry erase markers. He thought it was the coolest thing EVER!! It was such a big hit. C has never really been into learning things like colors and numbers...sometimes I wonder if he's hearing me, ignoring me, or just not caring about it. But these printables are really allowing me to reiterate things like colors and a general theme (the A printables all revolve around apples). Plus he likes having the control over flipping pages. My clear covers aren't the best for constant erasing, so I've purchased some heavy duty ones.

This week we will move on to the letter B. I've also began looking at the preschool packs on the 1+1+1=1 website, and have downloaded a cool one that I think C will enjoy. I'm going to try it and see if he's ready for it or not, and I might start doubling up on the toddler and preschool packs that the website has.

We've seen such amazing improvement in C over the past month. My husband and I joke that C always performs in December (crawling, walking, talking...that's the past three Decembers!!) because he wants to make a good impression on Santa. :) I really look forward to learning and growing with C throughout 2012 and helping him to catch up developmentally. Its going to be a great year!

Tot School

Check out Tot School info at http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/TotSchool.html

Remaining Christmas Projects

2011-12-21T22:23:00.004-06:00

I figured I better post the remaining projects from our Christmas Stamp Camp...since Christmas is only 3 days away, and the doggone stamp camp was 6-ish weeks ago! Do you ever feel that November and December are on the Audobon just hauling ass? I cannot wrap my head around Christmas being in a few days. This is unreal.

In any case, here are the remaining projects from the stamp camp. It really was a lot of fun. We're hoping to do another one this spring, focusing on birthday/mother's day/father's day/baby/wedding stuff. Sheesh, that is a LOT of stuff! I think I better start thinking up projects. :)

A wonderful gift using the milk carton die and creating a flower out of fabric. These are perfect to use as gifts on a table. Last year I created boxes like this for Thanksgiving, and put two truffles inside each box. Every guest had to then tell us two things they were thankful for.

An easel card. I used relatively "non traditional" Christmas colors of Rich Razzleberry and Old Olive. It actually looks pretty good together, and the satin ribbon was such a nice sophisticated touch. "The Sounding Joy" was my favorite set from the Holiday Mini...which is only available for another 10 days!! Better order NOW!!

Another easel card, with a twist. This was designed to be a Christmas photo card. I didn't have any pics small enough to fit here...hence why it is blank. :) The top note die was used to create the base and easel portion of the card. I have to admit, I had a heck of a time getting this thing to work correctly! I went through 4 or 5 different pieces of cardstock and cutting it incorrectly on the Big Shot. Another demo even put a nice little mark on her top note die to show people where they had to cut...and I still didn't do it correctly. I think by the end of the day I was so exhausted I could barely see straight!

This box also used the top note die, and included 4 gift tags using various punches and dies. There were supposed to be two leaves on the box...but they mysteriously disappeared between the camp location and my house. 6-ish weeks later, and they still haven't shown up. :)

So those are FINALLY all the projects we completed!! 11 projects for only $50, and all the participants had to bring was adhesive and sticky tape. We even sent out detailed instructions after the camp so every customer could recreate the projects. It was loads of fun!

Keep on the lookout for more info about upcoming stamp camps and classes. The new Occasions Mini goes live January 3rd, and then Sale-A-Bration starts at the end of January. Stampin' Up Leadership Conference is mid-January, I can't wait to see what they have in store for us! I'm so excited!!

I hope everyone has a fanastic Christmas and New Year!

More Christmas Projects

2011-12-17T14:58:00.001-06:00

Here are three more projects we did at my Stamp Camp in December.

Isn't this the coolest ornament? Using barely any paper, we made this! I love it. Sooo easy to make too! You just get a bit sticky when adhering all of the paper cones together. But it turns out so pretty, its worth the stickiness!

This was designed to be a cute gift you could give at the holidays, using a stamp set that has a bunch of different greetings in it called Easy Events. All the cards are 3x3, and envelopes are included too.

This awesome creation is a cupcake box! We used a bunch of different accessories to create this beauty, including the Score Tool, punches, embossing folders, and Big Shot dies. The velvet ribbon we used from the Holiday Mini is sooo luxurious. I didn't think I would like it, but I briefly considered wrapping it all around me. Really plush stuff!

Rather than having a box be adhered, this box "falls open" to reveal the cupcake, also allowing you to see the embossing detail on the inside of the box. Oh, and the red velvet cupcake was AWESOME.

I'll post some more projects later this week, including the beautiful ribbon wreath I finished, some acrylic ornaments I painted, and other fun stuff I've done recently. Fun stuff!

The Spirit of Christmas

2011-12-14T23:40:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite memories of Christmas as a child was the little tradition of Santa returning to our house Christmas morning. Oh, he'd stop by overnight, drop off a few small gifts...but I knew he'd be back with something big at some point on Christmas day. I'll never forget the year when my cousin and I found that big gift hidden in our basement, and my nosey little self just couldn't wait to find out what it was! A torn edge of the paper revealed my ULTIMATE gift that year, twin Cabbage Patch Kids (I later found out my mom and aunt would scower the stores in two different states trying to find those silly dolls! Yep, I was definitely a child of the 80's). So the next morning, when "Santa" stopped by, I finally figured out that my dear mother was eating the cookies, singing "ho ho ho" and wrapping all the presents. You would have thought that I would have clued into the small detail of all the gift tags being in the same handwriting. :)

This year, with a rambunctious puppy in the house, I have to admit, we don't have our normal Christmas tree up. I was so scared he would either knock the whole thing down, or just chew it up like he's chewed everything else up (carpet, outdoor trees, toys, wood furniture...you name it!). So we have an itty bitty tree up on our kitchen counter. Not that I'm being Scrooge or anything, I've been fanatically listening to Christmas music since November 1st. My son has been sporting Christmas pajamas since about that time as well. But I know some people think I'm not in the "Christmas spirit" just because I don't have a tree up. That makes me wonder when a TREE became a staple of the Christmas season. What about Christmas lights? I have two neighbors up the street who compete every year to have the best display. I'm beginning to think in a year or two, we'll be able to see them from space.

So, I decided to do a little research. Did you know the Christmas tree is dated back to the 1400's in Estonia? Interestingly, one detail is that men would take a tree into the town square and dance around it. I would LOVE to see my husband do that. In the 1500's, a new tradition was started, where the dancing would end when the tree was set aflame. I'm thinking in today's day and age of eco-friendly times, there would be a gazillion organizations that would be reeeaaaaally irritated.

In another flame-worthy note, Christmas lights were first used in the 1800's, when candles were glued onto trees. I wonder how many house fires there were when animals or children jostled the trees!! The first "electronically illuminated" tree was created in 1882.

Saint Nicholas

A portrayal of Father Christmas riding a goat...I think I can understand why he transitioned to a sleigh!

Now comes my research of Santa. I have many friends who are Catholic, so I've already been versed in St. Nick. For those of you who don't know, he was a 4th century Greek who was famous for giving to the needy. St. Nick was modernized by the British in the 1800's to "Father Christmas", and then onto Santa Claus by the Brits and Americans. Originally he was supposed to be small, as his "miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer" show in the "Night Before Christmas" poem. Slowly he has evolved into an overweight jolly man who knows all the kids in the world.

As a parent myself, I have found it difficult this year to think about what traditions I want to continue or start with my family. We live 13 hours away from my family, so its up to me to keep the spirit of Christmas continuing. But what is the "spirit" of Christmas? I find it hard to believe that our generation has gotten sucked into the spirit of "too many gifts and spending too much money" on Christmas. The news on Black Friday was dismal. Pepper spraying other customers to get to the sales racks first? Standing in line for 24 hours? How on earth does this teach our children anything good?

I debated on starting the "Elf on a Shelf" tradition this year. A friend of mine, however, pointed out something extremely important. She is teaching her children to be good EVERY DAY, not just during December. Who is looking over them for the remaining 11 months? She feels her children need to learn good from bad, making good and respectful decisions and doing that through the entire year. This really hit a chord with me.

To me, the "spirit" of Christmas has always been giving. Yes, getting things is nice...but I really enjoy giving to others and seeing the thankfulness in their eyes. This is something I want to teach my son. I want him to appreciate how good we have it, and that we should give to others just like Jesus gave to all of us.

Some of you know my son has special needs. He has a genetic condition called Velo cardio facial Syndrome (VCFS), which is when there is an area of the 22nd chromosome missing. He (thankfully) has a very mild case, but is delayed in many areas. He didn't crawl until 14 months, walked at 26 months, and at 3 years still really isn't talking. But he is the most beautiful thing in the world to me, and I thank God every day for giving him to me. I truly believe God gives things to people He knows they can handle. My son might run me ragged quite often, but he is the best gift in the whole world. I am so lucky to be part of his life.

My goal this Christmas is to bring more CHRIST into CHRISTmas. I want my son to be well aware of why we celebrate Christmas. How fortunate we are to be saved, and how lucky we are to be blessed with good people in our lives. I have started talking to him every night about God, how God created everything (thanks Awana for helping me to learn how to teach this concept!), and saying prayers every night. While he can't talk, I know he's listening and processing this information.

For my followers, and those of you who have come here from the World Vision page or other blogs, I want to tell you about an amazing opportunity to give. Imagine having nothing. And when I say nothing, I truly mean NOTHING. No toys, no shoes, no writing utensils, and hardly enough food to live off of. Would you like that? Do you want to help? You can make donations through World Vision to help those in need HERE. You can provide animals, school supplies, water, and other things. And if you'd like to adopt a child and help them through monthly donations, check HERE. It is such a small amount and can easily be budgeted. You'll create a lasting bond with a child and his/her family.

This blog is part of World Vision's 12 Blogs of Christmas. For more information check out World Vision. To see the other blogs, check here.

Oh Christmas Projects...Oh Christmas Projects...

2011-12-13T15:00:00.003-06:00

It seriously cannot be December 13th. This baffles me. Wasn't it just 114 degrees?? (and no, that was not a typo...we tied the record temp this year of 114 degrees in Oklahoma City! 62 days above 100 degrees!!). I feel like I just got used to writing "2011" on papers. I've already screwed up writing 2012 on future stuff. Jeez.

So I participated in my first ever stamp camp in the beginning of November. Yes, I know, the delay in my posting this is sort of ridiculous. But I don't even know where the month of November went. I have a vague memory of cooking a turkey.

In any case, here are a few of the projects. We *may* have gone a little crazy, doing 11 projects. One I didn't even finish, and I still haven't taken photos of it. :)

A cute Santa-themed box, made out of two milk carton dies. Although the picture doesn't really show it, we used silver glimmer paper to be the buckle. And I just noticed that I'm missing a bit of black "belt" on the center. No wonder it looks a little odd. :)

Isn't this box the cutest?? I love the kraft boxes in the holiday mini catalog. And the red glimmer paper is so beautiful, and cuts so well in punches and the big shot!!

A nice stocking using the stocking die. Hard to tell in the pic, but we starched the fabric, and then ran it through the big shot using an embossing folder so the fabric would "hold" the embossing. It looks cuter in real life. :)

I'll post some more projects soon, I promise! Things have been chaotic, as most people think in December. I had thought I would finally be able to relax in January, but my mom is coming to visit, and then I get to go to San Antonio for the Stampin' Up leadership conference!! I'm so excited. This will be my first time going to leadership. So glad it is close this year!!

Fabric Wreaths

2011-11-30T13:31:00.001-06:00

A few years ago, a friend of mine taught me how to make fabric wreaths. I've made a bunch of these, and even taught my MOPS (Moms of PreSchoolers) moms how to make them. In preparation for the meeting, I think I cut about 35-40 yards of fabric!! My hand was in "scissor mode" for a few days after that. :)

A closeup of the fabric. The fabric is in squares and cut with pinking shears, so they have a nice diagonal border along the edges. The wreath above is a 10" wreath, and the one below is 14".

A comparison of the wreaths. I really enjoy making these. Yes, they take a lot of time. But I get such a joy out of seeing them and giving a homemade gift to people. In fact, the one on the right is a gift for a family member...but I'm not saying who, in case she reads this. :) It took a LOT longer to make, since my ~~psycho~~ wonderful dog managed to get ahold of it sometime during the night last weekend and ripped half of the fabric out and took chunks out of the actual wreath. Thanks to a bunch of mod podge, I managed to salvage it without any noticeable scars. :)

And this beautiful ribbon is my next project!! I found an awesome tutorial on Pinterest that explains how to make ribbon wreaths. I've been drooling over them for months and finally took the plunge at Hobby Lobby over the weekend. 50% off ribbon helped the cause.

Other projects I have planned include making Christmas bath salts for my son's preschool teachers and assistants, making awesome personalized notepads for his teachers as well, and doing some acrylic painting on some totally adorable snowmen and other things I found at Michael's this year.

I should also mention that I have done almost NO Christmas shopping yet. We also don't have any decorations up yet. I don't know what my deal is this year, but I'm sorta scrooge-ish right now. Part of the reason I'm not putting up my tree is because our ~~psycho~~ wonderful dog will undoubtedly destroy it...and it cost too much to justify a destruction zone. So we'll see how things go this week. A friend recommended I attempt to hang the tree from the ceiling, but I figure that would just mean the dog would try to jump up to get it. I'd come around the corner and see him just hanging there, mouth gripping a defenseless branch. Or he would have electrocuted himself. Whichever comes first. :)

Women of Faith was AWESOME!!!

2011-11-14T19:10:00.001-06:00

I tried to think of a better post title than that...but I just don't think I could get the point across better than just saying it was AWESOME. Like seriously awesome. Life-changing awesome. I feel so blessed I had an opportunity to go. Not only did I go, but my friend Jennifer and I scored awesome seats in the VIP section right next to the "porch", which was where all the ladies hung out when they weren't speaking. I was literally 10 feet away from Lisa Whelchel...aka, Blair from "The Facts of Life". I could have reached out and grabbed Mandisa's hand at one point. Amy Grant looked straight at me during a song. Oh yeah!!!!

So let me step back and start from the beginning. About a month or so ago, someone I follow on Facebook posted that her husband had a way to get some free tickets to various WOF events (thank you soooo much Jessica & Matthew Turner!!!!). I contacted him, and he put me into contact with Lindsey Talerico, a Social Media Specialist with World Vision. Women of Faith has partnered with World Vision for many years (look below, I have some information on World Vision at the bottom of the post). Lindsey was able to score two tickets for me, which was thrilling! I knew my friend Jennifer would really love to go, as she's on a new/rejuvenated path in Christianity and this would be a wonderful opportunity for her to grow more on her journey.

So I've been patiently waiting for WOF for about a month. Wouldn't you know it, two days before the conference started, I come down with a wicked head cold. I figured I'd just tote enough DayQuil and Kleenex with me to keep me generally satisfied as to not bother the people around me. It also worked out because I never realized how much I would CRY at this conference!! Blame the head cold cloud of misjudgement. Jeez, I cry at church. I cry at cute commercials, I can cry if my son gives the dog a cuddle. Why it never occurred to me to bring extra Kleenex to a Women of Faith conference is beyond me.

Jennifer and I decided to make it a fun girls-only weekend, getting a hotel and leaving the husbands and kids at home. We lucked out that the first day of the conference fell on Veteran's Day, and both of our husbands had the day off. My husband is a Tech Sergeant with the United States Air Force, so he deserved the day off. Maybe it wasn't the nicest thing to leave him on Veteran's Day with our three-year-old son...but I considered it quality father-son bonding time. It turns out that our son was also sick with some sort of stomach bug...and I found out a bit later the first day of the conference that he had given it to me as well. So I had a head cold plus the stomach bug at WOF. I felt like I should have been sitting in a Lysol bubble. At one point, one of the speakers told us to stand up and shake the hand of two people near us, and I screamed, "I'm sick, don't touch me!!". Really amazing personable skills, don't you think?

Upon arriving at the venue, the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, we were stoked to see our tickets at Will Call said Floor 1, Row B. We were so excited and couldn't wait to get in there!! Of course, they had a wonderful table of WOF materials right at the entrances. Most of you don't know me, but one of my biggest pitfalls is books. I looove books. I love reading all types: historical, fiction, comedy, spiritual, growth/development, parenting...I lose myself in books and love to think of ways books can change my life. Seeing an entire table of books made me entirely too happy. I came home with a daily devotional, two other devotionals, a CD of worship music, a beautiful WOF bag, and a mug. Jennifer purchased a Christmas present for my son, which was an amazing set of toddler based materials, including a book called "I Thank God For Mommy", a bedtime prayer book for toddlers, and a toddler bible. I am so excited to get into reading these with my son!

I'm on the left, Jennifer is on the right

Lori Robertson, VP of Creative & Production at WOF, and our host

One of my absolute favorite parts of the conference was each time we were able to worship. Four lovely ladies led the worship songs, all blessed with absolutely amazing voices. It was so wonderful to hear 7,000 Christian women singing their hearts out with love for their God. Ironically on the way to the conference, I told Jennifer that I was NOT the type of person who felt the need to put my hands in the air and reach to God while singing. That I was just that person who sang the songs and probably spent more time focusing on people-watching. I always considered the actual sermon at church to be the only part that I "needed" to be part of. Well, you know what?? This conference totally changed me. I felt an awesome connection during a couple of songs that I've never felt before. I think I'll approach worship differently from now on.

We were so lucky to have a panel of speakers like this!
Andy Andrews
Patsy Clairmont
Lisa Whelchel
Brenda Warner
Sandi Patty
Marilyn Meberg

Two concerts took place as well, with Mandisa and Amy Grant. Deborah Joy Winans did a couple of "drama" bits both days to provide a comedic break, but luckily all of the speakers were capable of comedy throughout their bits. At one point Jennifer and I were trying to decide how to describe Andy Andrews, and Jennifer decided that he is "very enthusiastic through movement"...in other words, he was all over the place!! He was absolutely hysterical, and made amazing points. For example, don't ask if something is wrong. Ask if something is a wise thing to do. Great point!

I thought this picture was funny just because you can tell how much these gals got into the song Mandisa was singing!!

I wasn't that enthralled with seeing Mandisa....until she opened her mouth. Good Lord, she can SING!! Pick up her CD, she has some amazing uplifting songs on there.

Brenda Warner. In case you were wondering "who" she is, its NFL quarterback Kurt Warner's wife. But she has an amazing story, and is such a great woman of God. And she's pretty funny too. The fact that she has personally given birth to SEVEN kids and looks like this??? Totally not fair.

Mandisa again. Maybe I was a teeny tiny bit obsessed.

Amy Grant. One of the best things about her concert was that she totally just winged it. When she suddenly felt the vibe to do something else, that is what she did. Great concert!!

Andy Andrews. The fact that I got this photo was impressive just because the majority of the time he was on the stage he was running around up there, all the pics were fuzzy! Lots of the time he spent down at the audience level and interacted with people there. He was hysterical, and so heartfelt and full of great information. Wonderful MAN of Faith!!

Throughout both days, I learned how every woman goes through crisis situations. In fact, Andy Andrews pointed out we are all either coming out of a crisis, going into a crisis, or waiting for the inevitable next crisis to come. Its just the way life is. To hear how these remarkable women have faced horrific situations and trusted God really blew me away. It made me reflect upon my life and how I've handled things. When I was pregnant with my son, it was one complication after another. A week after finding out I was pregnant, I was told I was going to miscarry. When that didn't happen, suddenly it was twins. Oh, no, now its just one. Oh, now we are concerned about the location of the placenta. Oh, that's fine now. And lastly, diagnostic tests revealed swelling of of the brain and kidneys. I had to undergo so many ultrasounds and tests to determine what could potentially be wrong with my baby. I vividly remember sitting in the hospital bathroom stall sobbing and repeating over and over again, "I hate you God! Why are you doing this to me?" Now, I don't hate God. I have never hated God. This was just a momentary lapse of my spirit and ability to see clearly. I had been fighting for this baby since the first moment. I couldn't understand why I was on this path and what I was supposed to learn. I now can reflect and look back on things. Maybe this bad thing "happened" to me because it was my opportunity to glorify God. Maybe this was my chance to bring the glory of the Lord to someone else. Or, as I now believe, maybe it was the good swift kick in my own tooshie to get me back on the right track. My son is now three years old, and the most beautiful little angel/hellion on the planet. He makes me laugh and cry in the same minute. As I watch him learn and grow, I am astounded at the fact that I helped create him. He has a genetic disorder that sums up all of the problems he's had since birth, and even some of the issues chronicled during pregnancy. Now that we finally know his diagnosis, we are able to move forward with therapy and get him caught up to his age group. He sees therapists weekly and attends a special needs preschool each day, and his remarkable growth just in the past few weeks never ceases to amaze me.

Here are the amazing things I took away from the conference:

You can say you have Jesus in your life, but are you actually LIVING that way?
When you're faithful in the little things, the Lord will give you more
God designed us with a WILL that is stronger than our emotions
God pursues us until we are on the right path
Forgiveness is a decision, not an emotion. Forgiveness is about us putting away the past
Fear is nothing but misuse of the creative imagination God has placed in us
Mistakes are different from choices: you can apologize for a mistake, but you need to ask for forgiveness for a bad choice

Women of Faith has truly allowed me to take a deep look at my life and think about ways I can change for the better. I feel so blessed I've had the opportunity to attend the conference and I'm already looking forward to next year's conference. I highly suggest anyone take advantage of Women of Faith events if they are in your area. You can check out their website for information on 2012 events at http://www.womenoffaith.com

If you are interested in learning about the awesome things World Vision is doing, or if you wish to learn about how to sponsor a child in nearly 100 countries around the world, visit http://www.worldvision.org for information. There are also other opportunities to donate and help out, as well as information on ways World Vision assists those in needs in the United States.

Goodness!

2011-10-12T14:36:00.001-05:00

This summer was one of, if not THE, hottest on record for Oklahoma. Now my toddler couldn't understand that, so we spent many an evening outside sweating our tooshies off. He, of course, blissfully played in his toddler pool, while my husband and I watched each other's faces melt off in 100 degree heat. Because if it gets to 114 degrees during the day, its well past a 2-year-old's bedtime before temps fall below the century mark.

So how is it, then, that the summer literally flew past?!?! Where did the time go?? My beautiful son, fresh in the terrible two's, has just turned three years old. I can no longer refer to him as a baby...well, at least not in public. I still tell him he's my sweet baby each night before I put him to bed. :)

I can understand where September went, as I was busy planning my son's birthday party, getting organized for a family vacation, and dealing with lots of other things with my son (I'll talk about the changes in C's life soon). So my crafting? Virtually non-existent. BUT, I did manage to put some craftiness into his birthday party, and have added photos below. I'm sure you'll figure out the general theme pretty quickly.

These are yarn balloons. Found how to make them on Pinterest, which is a new obsession of mine. I originally thought Pinterest was just for "pining" away for really expensive items, but its actually a great website for everything! I've found awesome recipes, organizational tips, kids crafts and games...and obviously decorations.

Had a slight miscommunication with my sugar cookie dough, which was supposed to mold itself into Elmo and Cookie Monster shapes. So they got colored icing instead, in shapes I obviously have no trouble making. And a big bowl of goldfish crackers were there, since Elmo sure loves his goldfish. :)

Apparently the idea of guessing cookies and goldfish was too scary, I only had one child guess (and he guessed "a zillion" for both...umm, close enough). Of course, the other problem was that guests kept sneaking a cookie or two, so the original number kept dwindling!!

Oh yeah, I drew the Elmo. My husband was impressed. :)

Right after C's birthday, we flew to Ohio for a week. I only get an opportunity to go back to visit my family once a year, which means I only get to see my niece and nephews that much as well. :( It bums me out. In any case, I'm glad we at least have these opportunities, as I know others who can't get back to their families at all.

I have three nephews and one niece on my side of the family, ranging in age from almost 18 down to 5. The 18-year-old was actually on his way to homecoming (eeek! How did he get that old?!?!) so I only got to see him briefly. The 5-year-old took a liking to my son, and sped him around in his motorized car. As you can see, my son was in HEAVEN.

But, as much as my son likes his cousin, he looooves my niece, who is 8. He followed her around everywhere! It was so neat to watch them interact and play. We were blessed with simply breathtaking weather as the leaves are changing.

After an exhausting trip back, both my boys collapsed on the second plane back to Oklahoma. We got up at 5:30AM to make our 9:30AM flight, got stuck in traffic because a fuel tanker crashed and leaked oil all over one expressway, and barely made our flight. By the time we got to our layover (only a 30 minute layover as well), we were all exhausted. The best part of this? My son is gripping my husband's finger. How cute is that???

So that has been the past few weeks of my life. I'm currently working on a bunch of projects, including prepping for a large stamp camp coming up in November, and a couple of classes I'm planning for late November/early December. I've also been writing a lot, as a few local newspapers have required freelance writing assignments. I'm also **hoping** to attend the Women of Faith conference coming up in Oklahoma City next month and blogging about it for World Vision. I will be so excited if they pick me!!

I'll post some new craft projects coming up soon. Got a lot up my sleeve...its just a matter of finding time to pull it out. :)

2011-07-29T04:59:00.000-05:00

Another project we recently did in my stamp club was a small 3D project that is a template available to demonstrators on the Stampin' Up website. It is something you can just print off your computer directly onto your cardstock, then just cut and score where needed. Easy peasy!

I wanted this to be a project that was guy-friendly, and could contain a variety of things inside. This pocket would be perfect for candy (as seen here), a gift card, jewelry, and many other things.

The hardest part was punching the holes for the ribbon to go through. Using a Crop-A-Dile, I explained to my customers that it was easiest to punch through the lid portion first, then use that as a guide to punch through the front portion second. Then you use the ribbon to tie it together. I debated on using brads to close the package, but figured if this was given to a guy, he wouldn't know what to do with a brad. Ribbon, albeit feminine, is easier for men to understand. :)

Ingredients:

Stamp Sets: Word Play, Circle Circus

Paper: Night of Navy, Marina Mist, Whisper White

Ink: Night of Navy, Marina Mist, Crumb Cake

Accessories: Crop-A-Dile, Marina Mist 1/8" taffeta ribbon, Cutter Kit, cellophane bag

I forgot to post this.

2011-07-25T00:00:00.000-05:00

I think its funny to look back at my blog post and realize there are a few things I forgot to post. :)

This card was done in May, I believe. It uses Fabulous Florets for the floral images, then the grass/leaves image from Just Believe. I masked the three smaller images before stamping them in Basic Black, then used an Aqua Painter to color the images in with Cherry Cobbler ink. Yep, that is Cherry Cobbler. Turned out nice and soft!

Ingredients:
Stamp Sets: Just Believe, Fabulous Florets, Word Play
Paper: Whisper White
Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Cherry Cobbler, Basic Black
Accessories: Pearls

My First Medallion

2011-07-22T00:00:00.000-05:00

A couple things are "raging" in scrapbooking and card making right now: medallions, pinwheels and pennants. While the latter two are relatively simple, this medallion thing was a heck of a lot harder than it looked. I even watched a VIDEO on someone's blog and still couldn't figure it out perfectly!!

Basically for this type of medallion you take a long piece of cardstock (this one is 12" x 1", I believe) and score it every 1/2". The first time I used my actual scorer on my rinky-dink Fiskars paper cutter, and it almost destroyed the paper because it scored too deeply. So the second time I just did it by hand and winged it. :) So while it may not be perfect...at least it isn't falling apart. Since doing this card, I have acquired a Martha Stewart scoring board, so now I know the card will come together a heck of a lot faster using that.

The main problem I had was figuring out how to keep the doggone thing adhered. I finally decided to use my go-to adhesive, the "nothing is getting out of this sucker" type of stuff. Seriously. Crystal Effects is AWESOME. I use it all the time. Got a piece of jewelry broken? It'll work. Need to super glue something? Nah, just use Crystal Effects. Want to keep your door stops on the wall instead of in your toddler's mouth? Yep, glue those suckers down!!

So once I figured out that Crystal Effects worked, this was relatively easy. I have to admit I CASEd the card and I cannot remember which blog I took it from, or I would send you there! I just fell in love with it. The colors are beautiful together, the entire layout is fantastic...and it taught me how to do the doggone medallion. So thank you, unknown awesome stamper. :)

Ingredients:
Stamp set: Full of Life
Paper: Pacific Point, Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler, retired DSP
Ink: Early Espresso
Accessories: Itty Bitty Punch set, pearls, Big Shot & dots embossing folder, 3/4" circle punch, Crystal Effects, sponge

Fabulous Floret Bliss

2011-07-18T00:00:00.000-05:00

I love the new set Fabulous Florets. I was absolutely ECSTATIC when I saw it was in the new catalog too, meaning I get to inundate my customers with it for an entire year!! These flowers look fantastic in a variety of ways, and I really love the sentiment included.

I wanted to do a piece of paper that would be similar to a patterned paper. Instead of layering a bunch of stamps and making it extremely cluttered and busy, I focused on the one floral image and just turned the stamp multiple times so the flowers were all facing different directions. I then took a different floral image and cut it out, layered it on dimensionals with two leaves and popped it on some ribbon. Easy peasy, but beautiful!

Ingredients:
Stamp set: Fabulous Florets
Paper: Certainly Celery, Very Vanilla
Ink: Certainly Celery, Blush Blossom, Basic Black
Accessories: Blush Blossom ribbon

I'm a little behind

2011-07-14T04:30:00.003-05:00

Whoops.

I haven't posted in 2 months. That isn't very nice of me. I can't believe its mid-July already, where has the time gone? It suddenly occurred to me that I need to be thinking about planning my son's third birthday coming up in the beginning of October. OCTOBER. That is only three months from now. 2.5 if you want to get technical. It will be Christmas before you know it. And cold. Ugh. I just threw up in my mouth a little.

On that completely professional note, here is one of the June projects I had for my stamp club. CASEd out of Stampin' Success, the magazine we get as demonstrators. Its wonderful to get beautiful ideas like this, because I certainly wouldn't have thought this up myself!

The picture doesn't really do it justice. I snapped this right before we left for vacation because I had some bee in my bonnet that I'd have time to type up a blog post while on vacation. Seriously. Yep, I was that delusional.

In any case, the card has the wonderful set "Strength & Hope", which is in the Summer Mini Catalog. This set is near and dear to my heart. My mother was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. This set was created for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and for every set purchased, Stampin' Up will donate $2 to BCRA. My mother was extremely lucky in that her case was found ridiculously early. And by ridiculous, I mean that her lumpectomy contained ONE CELL OF CANCER. Her doctors detected an "area" about five years ago, and were monitoring it. It "grew" last year, so they began testing to determine if it was malignant or not. Tests were inconclusive, so she had a lumpectomy and then subsequent lymph node testing. The lymph nodes they pulled out were all fine, so she just has to have two mammograms per year now instead of one to ensure it was caught in time. I can honestly say I've never heard of a case where one cancer cell was detected and retrieved. Which is why this stamp set is so important to me: every dollar will benefit research and the ability to detect cases earlier and earlier.

Check back soon (I swear!!) for more new projects!

Ingredients:
Stamp set: Strength & Hope
Paper: Blush Blossom, Whisper White
Ink: Blush Blossom, So Saffron, Marina Mist
Accessories: Blush Blossom ribbon, rhinestones

My Favorite Thing

2011-05-11T22:36:00.000-05:00

This is my favorite thing.
This little boy keeps me on my toes. Keeps me always entertained. Keeps me constantly looking for ways to keep HIM entertained. And most definitely, keeps me away from my craft room for large chunks of every day.

I seriously do not know how people with kids can make one or two new craft projects every day. I get if its your "job", aka Ali Edwards or Becky Higgins...but if you're just doing it for fun, how do you keep your kids entertained and engaged? My son just so happens to love me so much that he won't leave my side. So if I'm in my craft room, so is he. Which means he's undoubtedly ransacking the area looking for some unsuspecting item he can demolish in record speed. I've had many a stamp set that has been sent on a sliding path down the hallway, with him giggling with glee at the door. :)

Needless to say, I have nothing new to post. I'm lucky that I even have time to blog about this. My son is my number one priority. And while he's probably not what you hoped to view on my blog...he's pretty damn awesome. And since I just looked to see I've crossed 14,000 hits, I guess lots of you might be checking out my cutie. :)

April Club Project #3

2011-05-05T00:00:00.000-05:00

I decided to try a scrapbook page and found a sketch a few months ago that I really liked. I'm a very Type-A personality and likes things that are symmetrical. In fact, a new building is going up in downtown Oklahoma City, and it will be the tallest in the state of Oklahoma. In my mind, I feel this huge building should have been built in the center of the city. But its being built way on the south side of downtown, right next to the doggone highway, so nothing can be built next to it. I. HATE. IT. Bugs me to no end. Yep, I'm just THAT nuts.

My son getting a "big boy" haircut. Ain't he a cutie? Yup. I'm proud. :) The sketch featured these wonderful symmetrical squares, and I chose to make them all 3x3". The sketch did show the photos in different slots...but Type-A psycho here had to make them the same. :)

I used the big flower image from Fifth Avenue Floral. Each flower has three images to it, and then the middle was cut out, then halfway, and each were laid onto one full image. It has a great dimensional effect. The scalloped piece on the bottom is done just using the scallop border punch all the way along each side.

Ingredients:

Stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral, retired alphabet set (Big Deal alpha, my all-time fav alpha set!), Teeny Tiny Wishes, Four Phrases (from upcoming main catty in July)

Paper: Pear Pizzazz, Very Vanilla, Pacific Point, Real Red, Celebrations DSP

Ink: Pacific Point, Pear Pizzazz, Real Red

Accessories: Dots embossing folder, Decorative Label Punch, small oval punch, scallop border punch

April Club Project #2

2011-05-03T00:00:00.000-05:00

One of the great things about Stampin' Up is the monthly magazine it sends to all its demonstrators. It is called "Stampin' Success", and features great products, business tips, techniques, and wonderful stories from demo's around the country. This next project I CASE'd from the magazine, because I absolutely fell in love with it.

This included a new technique I had never learned, which used Champagne Shimmer Mist paint to color Very Vanilla Taffeta ribbon. It makes the ribbon quite stiff, but isn't it beautiful?? So soft and appealing. Now, I will say I learned that this ribbon, once painted, is a pain in the tooshie to get to stay down! You don't even want to know how many layers of sticky tape I have on there. I even got angry at one point and took my two-way glue pen to one little part that wouldn't stay down. But, its still purty. :)

Ingredients:
Stamps: Nature Walk (from Occasions Mini Catalog)
Paper: Elegant Soiree DSP, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Early Espresso
Ink: Early Espresso, Baja Breeze
Accessories: Very Vanilla Taffeta Ribbon, Very Vanilla Hodpodge Hardware, Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint, Scallop Circle Punch, Swirls Scribbles Sizzlit Die

Oops.

2011-05-01T16:24:00.003-05:00

I am the pot. No, I am the kettle. Ahh, who cares. I'm as bad as the people out there that upset ME when they don't update their blogs regularly. In fact, I stalk a blog out there because her stuff is a-MAZ-ing...and she hasn't updated since March 31st. I was upset...then realized I haven't updated in a longer length of time. Hence the title: oops.

So anyway, I'm updating with my April stamp club projects. Since May's club is next week, I figure I better get these suckers updated. :) I'm going to post just one today, then post the others throughout the week. That way my blog actually gets USED more than once per month. :)

I've become a Crumb Cake addict. I find that I'm using it on every project (and did on another club project for April that you'll see in another post). It is such a great neutral and looks fantastic with virtually all the SU colors!

This project uses the Bigz Flowers die that was in the Occasions mini (and is still available, even though its not in the Summer Mini!) and one of the fabrics from the Holiday mini (also still available...betcha didn't know that!!!). The Big Shot cuts fabric so cleanly, there weren't any real tears or ends that needed to be trimmed. I will say that the fabric might not cut completely through at sections...but just have your trusty pair of paper snips nearby. :)

Ingredients:
Paper: Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler
Ink: none
Accessories: Big Shot, embossing folder (can't remember the name), flower brads, Bigz Fun Flowers die, fabric, Basic Pearls

March is a LION. Period.

2011-03-26T21:33:00.002-05:00

Don't you just hate it when you look forward to a new month because the last month sucked? Then you realize the new month sucks even WORSE?? I seriously cannot make these stories up.

So my son was sick a good chunk of the last week of February and throughout the majority of March. Previous posts have discussed this. No need to rehash it. Sick baby = exhausted mommy.

My dog has been taking a slow and painful road down a spiral of yuckiness. The decision was made to put my dog to sleep WHILE my son was going through all of his health related traumas. I may have thought initially that I was ready for this, but I wasn't. The minute the needle had been inserted, I about yanked it out of the vet's hand. My dog was faithfully licking my face...either as a way of saying, "its okay, its my time" or in a dumb dog move like "this is my mommy and I know she won't do anything to harm me". My dog wasn't the smartest, so I'm thinking the latter. Which makes the guilt all the worse.

The EXACT SAME DAY I put the dog to sleep...we had vicious wildfires all over the state. Two were within a few miles of my house. A friendly neighbor, albeit an overexaggerating neighbor, told me the fire was less than a mile from our street and headed our way. To add insult to injury, I thought I saw flames behind the house and frantically started THROWING stuff into our cars. Umm...yeah. It was an orange construction flag caught in a tree. (Hello, my name is dork. I had to call 911 TWICE, once to report the fire, once to tell them how much of a tool I was that I couldn't recognize the difference).

Needless to say, this is why I haven't posted much at all. My emotions are at their limit. My mom came down right after my son got out of the hospital in an attempt to help, but it may have stressed me out more. My dad is currently here, with an already scheduled visit...and its stressful as well. So now I can say: February sucked. March sucked MORE. Oh come on April, be nice to me!!!!

Alright. So on to the cards we did for our March hostess club...three freakin' weeks ago. Can't believe I haven't posted these. Ugh.

The first is some sort of card I found on Splitcoaststampers a few years ago. I love how it turned out! The colors are so soft and inviting. Wild Wasabi is quickly turning into one of my favorites, which I never would have thought!

Ingredients:

Stamps: Full of Life, Fast & Fabulous Level 2 hostess set

Paper: Wild Wasabi, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Woodland Walk DSP

Ink: Wild Wasabi, Crumb Cake, So Saffron, Basic Black

Accessories: Very Vanilla 3/8" taffeta ribbon, Basic Pearls, Crop-A-Dile

This card was based on one of my swaps at the Branson regionals. I posted about it a few weeks ago, and hinted I would switch it up for the hostess club.

We added the floral image in white craft ink, then embossed with clear embossing powder on the inside. I really do love putting images on the inside.

Ingredients:

Stamps: Just Believe

Paper: Concord Crush, Certainly Celery, Very Vanilla

Ink: Concord Crush, Certainly Celery, Whisper White Craft

Accessories: Two Way Glue Pen, Dazzling Diamonds, Concord Crush ribbon, Manhattan Flower embossing folder, Big Shot, Clear embossing powder, heat tool, silver brads

This was based on my other swap from the regional. Again I switched it up by adding more pompom trim and the buttons from SAB with twine through the holes.

Ingredients:

Stamps: Bring On The Cake

Paper: Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo, Very Vanilla

Ink: Various markers, Basic Black

Accessories: Big Shot, Elegant Lines embossing folder, Daffodil Delight pompom trim, cutter kit, Button pack from SAB, twine, Smooch Spritz

So I have two weeks before my next hostess club, plus a craft to plan for MOPS, plus planning an easter egg hunt for my husband's squadron...plus plus plus. I seriously need to prioritize and take some things off my plate. I only have one kid, and I'm this busy. Ugh!!!

RSV is a four-letter word.

2011-03-08T22:28:00.002-06:00

My poor little boy has RSV and Bronchiolitis. For those of you who are unfamiliar with RSV, it is the name of the cold virus...but when it hits little ones, it hits HARD. Cameron started with a runny nose, then it quickly escalated into a debilitating cough that would make him cry afterward. Needless to say, we ended up staying in the hospital overnight last week because it was so bad. His oxygen levels got down to only 88 percent, and you could tell he was really having difficulty breathing.

While the cough is better, the "regular" cold symptoms are not. So he's been really clingy and pitiful for going on 10 days now. We had tons of fun things scheduled this week (a zoo trip! a play date at an indoor playground! a play date with friends from MOPS! a trip to see cousins and a grammy in Dallas!) and we've had to cancel it all. Poor kid. Last night he wouldn't even sleep in his crib, he slept ON ME in my bed. 28 pounds on top of you isn't exactly comfortable.

Today he has the wonderful explosions coming out of both ends due to excess phlem getting into his stomach and digestive system. Ugh. Its not been a fun time.

So that is why nothing has been posted for awhile. I have three cards to show you from my last hostess club, but I haven't even had an opportunity to take pictures of them. My mom decided to come down from Ohio and help...plus she hates being so far away from a grandbaby that is ill. :( So she's been here since Saturday and she's staying all through next week too...thank goodness! Its been a Godsend to have her here with my husband at work all day.

Hopefully I'll get an opportunity to take some pictures soon. We did rearrange my craft room/guest room today, and hopefully throughout the next few days I'm going to go through and actually think about what I NEED to keep and what needs to go. I briefly posted some stuff over on SCS for sale, but haven't even had time to bump the stupid post or reply to the inquiries. Its been a baaad week.

My regional swaps

2011-02-24T14:38:00.002-06:00

Every now and again, I have a stroke of genius and am seriously proud of the work I do. I was sooooo proud of my two swaps I created for regionals. So excited to get the "oohs" and "aahs" I just knew everyone would bestow upon my genius. Well...that didn't exactly happen. I gave others a lot of oohs and aahs, but only a few in return. Oh well. I like them, I think I did a great job. {patting myself on the back}

Ingredients:

Thank you card:

Stamps: Just Believe

Paper: Certainly Celery, Concord Crush, Very Vanilla

Ink: Concord Crush, Certainly Celery

Accessories: Dotted embossing folder, Big Shot, Concord Crush double stitched ribbon, rhinestones, sponge, ticket corner punch

Happy Birthday Card:

Stamps: (the birthday set in the occasions mini...I really need to brush up on my stampin' memorizations!)

Paper: Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Very Vanilla

Ink: Basic Black, assorted markers

Accessories: embossing folder, Big Shot, Daffodil Delight pompom trim, Smooch Spritz, Daffodil Delight 5/8" grosgrain ribbon

For my next hostess club, we're doing at least one of these cards, but probably both. But before any of my gals think they know what's coming, already know that I've altered one of them. I like to change things up. :) So we'll see what I end up with by next weekend. :)

Happiness is a Stampin' Up Regional.

2011-02-21T22:56:00.004-06:00

This past weekend I attended the Stampin' Up half day regional in Branson, MO. I've been very fortunate this year: in September the regional was in Ft. Worth, only 3.5 hours away, and Branson is about 5 hours away. Such a large chunk of my Stampin' Up history was in England, where I couldn't attend anything! So I'm so happy to be able to partake in some of these great experiences.

In a regional, you have a registration fee. In that fee, you receive a free stamp set, as well as a bunch of make-and-takes. You typically have to provide some of the materials to complete the projects (for these we had to bring the ink pads that were used, adhesive, dazzling diamonds glitter, and some shimmer mist, among some other random things like the stampamajig and stuff like that). Some time is spent learning new techniques, discussing business-boosters like recruiting and selling, and then "workshop wows" where local demonstrators get to come up and showcase something they created.

In the Ft. Worth regional, we had five projects and we finished them throughout the day. At the Branson regional, which is only 4 hours long, I felt like we actually had MORE make-and-takes to complete! So I had to finish the last one at home. Here they are, using the wonderful kit "Nature Walk" from the Occasions Mini Catalog.

The little folder above housed the four cards, all 3x3 size.

Close-up of the four cards. All used the decorative label punch, as well as seam binding (my first time fiddling with the seam binding!).

And last but not least, a BANNER! This is what took so long to finish. This banner is created using a die from the mini! Its a really cute banner and so creative.

So you could get the full effect, its hanging above my craft table now. I love how there are little things added to each piece. I will admit when I was getting all of my stuff together at the regional, I didn't realize I was missing some stuff in my bag. So I had to add some different elements to this once I got home that I didn't have. I somehow didn't have the correct number of brads needed, as well as a button we should have had. And I wasn't paying enough attention to notice that I should have used the mini flower punch to punch out some flowers for this...so I used rhinestones and glimmer brads instead. At least I added the accents down the line!

The best part about this was learning a slightly new technique. I have to admit I don't fiddle with dazzling diamonds as much as I should. Now I know a great technique. Four of the circles have DD on the edges. Some have platinum shimmer mist, then glue, then DD. Two of them have Cherry Cobbler ink, then glue, and then DD. What I love about this is that the color below comes through the DD! Maybe this isn't news to some of you...but it was to me! I'll definitely be adding this to projects down the line. :)

And this is what my table looks like after finishing swaps, a regional project, getting SU orders, and just generally crafting. I love it. Means my mojo is going. So its awesome! :)

This was my first experience with regional swapping. I made about 40 cards (I think I was at 38 or 39). There were only about 100 attendees, so I'm guessing I hit about half of them for swaps. Some are awesome! Techniques I've never seen in person, great ideas for color combinations, unique ways to use stamps...that is why swaps are so wonderful! Some demos (including yours truly) put the entire ingredient list on the back of the card. Some only put their names. Some didn't even put THAT...so its just a guessing game to see what they included on their card. You just have to love that. :)

That's all from here! Busy few weeks ahead, as I have a brunch to go to for a bunch of pregnant women that is appropriately called "baby bump brunch". Next week is my next hostess club, as well as a craft for my MOPS chapter...plus a zillion activities involving my son. A SAHM is never bored, that's for sure. :)

My Valentine

2011-02-17T22:06:00.002-06:00

This is my valentine.

Yup, he seriously IS the cutest kid in the world. You might think yours wins...but nope. Mine is the cutest. He totally wins the award. :)

Cameron is now 28 months, or 2 years, 4 months. His delays have meant that he just started walking at 26 months, he still has difficulty with some gross/fine motor development things (utensils are a big issue right now: apparently they are too much fun showcasing aerodynamics than actually using them for food purposes), but he's catching up.

Unfortunately a sedated ABR test (automated brainstem response) showed that sound going into his ears isn't being transmitted to his brain properly. His official diagnosis as of this week is Auditory Neuropathy Dysynchrophy, part of the Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum (like the autisum spectrum: many different types of AN fall on the spectrum). Because of this we will be doing a trial run with hearing aides for 3 months, during which time he'll be observed and monitored. After that, if there isn't any change, we'll most likely have to get Cochlear Implants, which is a very invasive and intense procedure. I did research over the past few days that has literally made me sick. So I'm hoping that the hearing aides will work and that will just be the path we have to take. His audiologist and both of his speech therapists do not think that he will need the cochlear implants...so I'm hoping they are correct.

Now, to show a card! I created these mini-cards for valentines that Cameron gave to his buddies in my MOMS Club, as well as a few of the adults he works with (he has a few "teachers" in my MOPS group, as well as all of his therapists...and it just occurred to me that I forgot AGAIN to give them to his speech therapist today. Dangit!).

All Stampin' Up products used here. Dontcha just love this set? Its so cheerful and fun. And coloring the tree makes me relive my days in kindergarten...except I can color in the lines now. :) I obviously did a pink base for the girls and a blue base for the boys, and didn't really change anything else up. A few of the cards have Smooch used on them, because I wanted to see how they turned out. I didn't like that at all, so I switched it up and used Crystal Effects on the rest (only on the main hearts in the tree). I really like how they turned out, and it was really fun to create them!

Ingredients:

Sets: Valentine Defined

Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Rose Red

Paper: Tempting Turquoise, Rose Red, Pretty in Pink

Accessories: Smooch, Crystal Effects, Ticket Corner Punch, Tempting Turquoise grosgrain ribbon, silver brads

Hostess club card #2

2011-02-11T23:18:00.002-06:00

I meant to post this earlier, but its just been one of those weeks where you feel the need to chew off your own arm to escape. I'm seriously not kidding.

We got hit with another snowstorm, our second in 7 days. This is unheard of for Oklahoma! If it snows twice in 4 months, its considered unusual. So for us to get 12 inches one week, and then 8 inches the next...pretty amazing. Amazingly awful. Cabin fever, party of 1! Err, party of 3. Husband and hellion fit into this too.

Then yesterday, our "wonderful" dog, who I've had since he was 8 weeks old and is now almost 11 years old (which is old for a cocker spaniel) got really pissed at my son. So Sammy bit Cameron. In the lip. HARD. To see my child actually spitting blood was something I will unfortunately never forget. After getting the bleeding to stop and being able to look into his mouth, I saw a pretty large gash on the inside of his upper lip. So, snow be damned, we ventured off to Urgent Care to get checked out. Upon finally being seen by a doctor (and eww, it really sucks being in a waiting room with people spewing germs and debris in every direction when you are there for a non-flu/cold related injury! I could almost see the germs wafting our way...ugh) it was determined that Cameron might need stitches, but the doctor didn't feel comfortable doing them, she wanted an ER doctor at OU Children's Hospital to see him. So we then left to go to the hospital.

I should also mention that my wonderful child had been having blowouts all morning, and completely went through the entire stash of diapers and wipes in my diaper bag in about 15 minutes at Urgent Care. So we had a pit stop (ummm...pun intended) at CVS so I could stock up. Of course that meant the kid didn't go again for the rest of the day, but at least I was prepared.

At OU, we had to wait F.O.R.E.V.E.R. Yes, I get its an ER. But seriously we were the first people there, we had about 6 people behind us...and we waited for about an hour. Fortunately there were elevators right outside the ER doors, and Cameron was so damn intrigued with them. Pretty funny to have to catch him every time he would attempt to run into one. :) In any case, once the two ER doctors (I'm assuming one was a resident and one an attending...but I think I've been watching too much "Grey's Anatomy") who were seriously both younger than me said he was fine, and just needed to be on antibiotics. But, the entire debacle from the moment he was bitten until the moment I picked up his prescription at the pharmacy was 7 hours. Loooooong day. And, wouldn't you know it, the sucker woke up with a fever this morning and has been a mommy-clinging, fussy, whiny mess. Ugh.

So its not been the best week. The husband and I had a babysitter lined up to go to dinner tomorrow night for V-Day, but I'm thinking that won't be happening now. :( We haven't been on a proper date in ages, so I'm bummed. Next chance we'll have on a weekend will be sometime in March, how sad is that? The lives of busy parents, I guess.

So, on to the card! I can't take complete credit for this, I copied the idea from a blog called Expressive Designs. This gal is so creative it makes me sick...in a good way. :) Seriously, I want to make every single card she posts, she's extremely brilliant! I just love her color combinations. I've always been a monochromatic stamper, so I like using her blog as a jumping-off point to challenging myself on color combos.

Ingredients:
Stamps: Growing Green, Word Play
Paper: Marina Mist, Pear Pizzazz, Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler
Ink: Concord Crush, Pear Pizzazz, Marina Mist, Cherry Cobbler
Accessories: Marina Mist ribbon, sponge dauber

Thank You Triangle Trifold Card

2011-02-06T01:19:00.004-06:00

Man alive.

Ever hear the expression "Be careful what you wish for?" Well all of Oklahoma is learning about that right now. When an entire state wishes for precipitation, in comes in the form of 3 inches of sleet, followed immediately by a foot of snow (and winds up to 50mph, meaning we have some wicked snow drifts!). Two days later, get another couple of inches of snow...and now we're getting a not-so-nice forecast of the potential for ANOTHER foot of snow in three days. Umm....yeah. I'm done with winter. D.O.N.E. And I will say that I follow a girl on Twitter who drove through Oklahoma yesterday to attend some sort of Super Bowl thing. Anyway, she posted on Twitter, "No offense, Oklahoma, but you don't know how to plow at ALL." I sent back a snotty tweet to her (umm, hello! I might not be from this state, but I live her! Don't mess with my backyard!!) that basically said, "what southern state is prepared to plow this type of mess? That is like saying Chicago is always 100% prepared for tornadoes." I was irritated. Our state has enough problems that our money goes to: I see no reason to waste tax dollars on millions of dollars of plow equipment, then pay people to man it...when we may or may not get snow that year. Our first year here, it snowed once in January and once at the end of March...neither of which required a lot of plowing (the first one was more ice and sleet than snow). Last year there were two instances, one of which was 14.5 inches of snowfall on Christmas Eve, the record snowfall for the OKC area EVER. A month later we received another hefty snowfall of 5 inches. Woo-freakin'-hoo. In any case, this week was the first time it has snowed all winter. The first week of February. We went through 3 months of snow season with no snow. Yet apparently the entire state is supposed to be plowed all the time? Ummm, no. Needless to say, her snotty tweet (and her lack of response to my tweet) have made me "unfollow" her on twitter. Ahhh. The joys of technology. Kinda like kindergarten friendships: "Meet my best friend Sally!"...two seconds later..."I'm not friends with you anymore. My best friend is Katie."...four seconds later and one crying child..."Come be friends with me again." :) Okay, off my soapbox now. On to the good stuff. :)

In any case, the yucky weather has allowed for me to be super crafty! I can't tell you the last time I've had an opportunity to be in my craft area for this long of a period. I had a hostess stamp club this morning, which required three projects for 9 women. I'm also attending the Stampin' Up regional conference in Branson in a few weeks, so I'm busy getting swaps ready for that. I've already started getting my projects for next month's stamp club organized...and I'm hastily trying to finish the 2010 Project Life book before my new kit arrives next week (I've ordered the Turquoise edition, which did you get??). Holy busyness. But I {heart} getting this creative. Its been a long time since I've been confident in my abilities as a crafter and Stampin' up demo. Its been awhile since I have had this great mojo going!

So, I'll be slowly posting to show you all of the goodies I've been working on over the past week or so. Here is one of the cards we did at the stamp club this morning. It is a "triangle trifold" card, which you can find a tutorial on Splitcoaststampers HERE. Its fairly easy to do , it just takes forever to score and cut everything when you're cutting for 9!

I wanted to use the DSP from the Occasions Mini to showcase that cardstock and DSP isn't necessarily holiday-specific. You can find ways to use things outside of their typical way. And I absolutely love how great the Daffodil Delight pops off the Real Red cardstock. But the best part? Was listening to my ladies put this card together and consistently mumble, "Oh I just LOVE this card!" :) Not only does it make me feel great as the demo and person who came up with the card, but it makes me so happy to know I created a card that they really liked and enjoyed putting together. And I think a few of them will definitely be popping the "Just Believe" set to the top of their list now. :)

Ingredients:

Stamps: Just Believe, and an older wood set that I seriously cannot remember the name of, eek! But its still current, that much I can tell you. :) I'll add that detail in later.

Ink: Real Red, Daffodil Delight

Paper: Occasions Mini DSP (Lord Almighty, maybe I should write this stuff down...or maybe I shouldn't be doing a blog post from my bed at 2AM. Hmmm.), Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Very Vanilla

Accessories: Scallop Border Punch, Daffodil Delight 3/8" grosgrain ribbon, silver brads

Edited to add: the stamp set listed above as "older wood set" is called Full of Life. Page 152 in the main SU catalog. The paper listed as "Occasions Mini DSP" is called Speciality DSP. Page 7 of the Occasions Mini Catalog. Hey, at least I updated with the correct info...and its only midnight. Woohoo, go me! :)

So check back in a few days for the next new project! Hopefully not at 2AM...I'm the only goofball who needs to be up doing non-mandatory things like blog posts at this godforsaken hour. :)

The Joy of Love

2011-02-01T15:15:00.002-06:00

In an effort to broaden my photographing horizons, I have signed up to take a month-long class called "The Joy of Love". And its FREE!! All you need is a camera and something to photograph. I've obviously chosen to focus on my son. February is looking to be a relatively rough month, medically, for Cameron. A lot of tests are going to be run to rule out anything that might be slowing down his development (at 28 months, aka 2 years, 4 months, he has just started walking, doesn't talk at all, and shows other signs that there might be an issue). So, he'll be sedated a few different times for tests, including an ABR test (to test how his brain comprehends sounds), and an MRI (following up on the one he had at 4 months of age, due to a "potential white brain matter abnormality" detected at a CT Scan when he was one week old), as well as a slew of blood tests to see if there is anything that is wrong chromosomally or genetically.

In any case, if you are interested in taking this class, hop on over to the Willette Designs blog and join up! The first "assignment" went out today. She'll be sending daily emails with assignments and stories.

I made a card...FOR FUN!

2011-01-29T22:44:00.002-06:00

I simply cannot tell you the last time I went into my craft room and made a card just for the fun of crafting. I've either had thank you cards to make, workshop stuff to do, or kid stuff to create. This is the first time I've been crafty in a LONG time just for fun! I'm pretty damn proud of myself. :)

I'm even more thrilled that I actually LIKE the card. I wanted to fiddle with the Concord Crush ribbon, because I have a hostess club next weekend and we're doing something with ribbon like this...I needed a dry run before I made the actual card they will be replicating. I saw how the ribbon was done like this at a Stampin' Up regional last fall, how cool is it?!?! Seriously I just think its awesome. Yep, tooting my own horn here.

I will say that the SU Stitched Ribbon (in the In Colors) isn't the BEST to do this with...this ribbon literally falls apart as you're fiddling with it. I have purple fibers all over the floor in my craft room from cutting this stuff. I suggest always using "ribbon scissors". I have a special pair of SU paper snips that I have a bit of ribbon tied to. I only use those scissors to cut ribbon. I've had them for about 4 years, and they are as sharp as the day I got them!

I will say that I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder for this. I (eeek!) don't own a Big Shot. I know, its like blasphemy for a SU demonstrator to not have the one big ticket item that virtually ALL demos have! I'm working on it. But for now, I love how the embossing folder turned out. As soon as I have the Big Shot, I'll sell my cute little Cuttlebug...but I'm keeping the embossing folders. :)

Card Ingredients:
Stamps: Just Believe
Paper: Concord Crush, Certainly Celery, Very Vanilla
Ink: Concord Crush, Certainly Celery
Accessories: Scissors, Concord Crush Stitched Ribbon, Cuttlebug and embossing folder, flower brads

Its Sale-A-Bration Time!

2011-01-25T23:26:00.000-06:00

Dates: January 25-March 31, 2011

Promotion Details
Our biggest sales event of the year--Sale-A-Bration--is here! This year we've got four great Sale-A-Bration sets for your hostesses and customers to choose from--as well as a Designer Series Paper & Quick Accents pack, a Ribbon & Button pack, digital downloads, and Décor Elements!
There are three ways for your customers to earn free products:

Spend: Your customers will receive a free Sale-A-Bration product for every $50 they spend (before tax and shipping)!

Host: A hostess will receive a free Sale-A-Bration product for every $300 in workshop sales*, in addition to our regular hostess benefits!

*Note: This benefit is only available on qualifying customer, demonstrator, and workshop orders. Online orders do not qualify.

Join: New recruits will receive 15 percent off their Starter Kit (Standard or Digital+), plus a special Sale-A-Bration bonus bundle valued up to $50!

Contact me for more details!!!

One Little Word: January's Prompts

2011-01-18T22:26:00.003-06:00

I finally received my order for page protectors and an 8.5x11" album, and I was able to actually start the One Little Word class by Ali Edwards (which you can still sign up for at Big Picture Classes). Now, I probably could have started awhile ago, but every place was sold out of the kind of album I wanted, and the page protectors Ali is using were also sold out...and I want to BE Ali Edwards, so I'm doing it the same way she is...cuz she's awesome...and so here we are. :)

I figured I'd give you a look into my craft room/guest room. I'm the type of crafter that always has about a gazillion projects going at once. I'm still trying to finish up my 2010 Project Life album, I have a Stampin' Up hostess club I'm trying to get organized for in two weeks (that would be the pile of paper scraps, punches, and stamps on the floor), then the One Little Word stuff is on the table. Like my artwork on the wall? My son. He's a budding arteest. Gotta say it like that: arteeeeest. :)

My purty album. Seriously worth waiting for. I love how clean it is, sturdy, and good ole leather. Its color is "Cobalt"...but seriously, its freakin' Navy. Whatever.

So the beautiful thing about the class is that Ali tells you what to do. You're supposed to use it and put your own spin on it...but since I want to BE Ali Edwards, I'm doing it her way. One of the things I love about her albums is they aren't uniform. Its not all 12x12 pages. She'll custom create a page protector to fit something atypical (just by sewing onto a regular page protector and then cutting off the unused section). I like that everything is unique, which is what sold me on taking this class. Its making me think outside my matchy-matchy-must-be-symmetrical style of scrapbooking.

Ali provided us with PDF and PNG files for many of the things in our January assignments. The front frame with the "One Little Word 2011" was provided, and all I did was add some pretty Sassafrass chipboard letters I've been hoarding for years.

The back of the front cover is a 5x7" pic of yours truly. Hi. Wassup. :)

I was fiddling with the self timer of my camera. Ironically I've had my camera for 3 or 4 years and never used the self timer. I just figured out a few months ago how to turn the damn flash off too. Sad. I almost edited this picture because it shows some dust on my table, but then I decided not to. You know what? My table has dust on it. Its not like we don't use it...we have family dinner at that very table every night. You don't like it? Suck it. There. :)

The "main" assignment was to use our word and choose some definitions, a quote, some synonyms, what we "invite" into our life by choosing the word, and why we chose the word. The main words were all in a 8.5x11 page format provided by Ali. I did choose to edit mine in Photoshop, using all the cool fonts I've picked up over the past few years. In fact, pretty sure I used Ali's font on there somewhere.

The great thing about a project like this is its allowing me to get into my overflowing stash and use stuff that I've had for years. Seriously, I've been scrapbooking for 10 years. Styles have definitely changed (oh Lord, you don't want to know some of the crazy stickers I have from the late 90's!!), but some things are classic. In any case, I broke out some retired SU paper, my date stamp from the Project Life kit, and then used all confetti SU paper for the base cardstock.

Again used retired SU paper on the left, some funky pens I've picked up along the way, then used the Color Spritzer tool with a bunch of SU markers to create the inkblot image on the right. I figured if my word was "create", I better create something on here.

Again retired SU paper, some sort of translucent tag I got from somewhere, and cute polkadot ribbon that I have from a ribbon share I did ages and ages ago.

This was really fun to put together! I can't wait to see what Ali has in store for us in February. Apparently the size of the album (the one that I bought) is big enough to put a couple of One Little Word projects inside...so hopefully I'll enjoy this enough this year that I'll do it again and fill the album up. Hard to believe I'm thinking of doing this again next year considering its only mid-January...but I'm slightly psychotic like that. And seeing as how I'm really really REALLY far behind on my 2010 Project Life, I'm not making any concrete plans right now. :)

Clean your Desk Day....yep, this one is for ME!!!

2011-01-10T18:19:00.006-06:00

Did you know there is a "National Clean Your Desk Day"??? I find this so amusing. Ironically I was already kind of halfway in the process, since I needed to reorganize to get my purty new printer set up. But what I really ended up doing was taking everything off the desk and slapping it on the bookshelves. So I'm sorta getting there.

So these aren't really "before" shots, as that would have been slightly scary. I custom-designed our desk and bookshelves, and the builder was nice enough (or I guess I should say the carpenter) to actually do what I asked. So our built-in desk goes the entire length of the room, probably about 10 feet. It has two cubbies for chairs, two compartments for hard drives with rolling shelves, and then the entire length of the desk has bookshelves that are about 8 feet high. Nice to store stuff...but if its messy, looks really bad!

Here's my side. My desk level is a lot more organized than my husband's, but then my shelves are pretty chaotic. I have so many balls in the air right now (as my mom eloquently told me during her visit a few weeks ago) and so I have a bunch of different "sections" where things have to go. But you can see all my various child development related books over the top two shelves, as well as a bunch of cookbooks I'm not currently using. Oy. I guess actually putting these pictures on my blog mean I better get my tooshie in gear and clean it up!!! :)

This is the middle section and then leading over to my husband's side. As you can tell, we were mid-clean...the bottle of Pledge is right there. You can't really see the compressed air or the computer wipes, but they were in use too. Boy, the amount of dust that came out of my computer would have been comical if I hadn't known what damage it could have done. Gotta make a plan to do that a lot more often!!

So while I was cleaning, organizing, and filing, I came across a page from my son's class at MOPS (Moms Of PreSchoolers). We have a group of wonderful women (and even a few men!) who come in twice per month to lead classes while us moms get a well-deserved break. The teacher in Cameron's toddler room is Terri. She is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. Seriously....{LOVE} her! She is so great with the group. She has a specific curriculum she teaches, brings in some biblical information (not sure of how much he's actually retaining at a 2-year-old level...but whatever!), and always has creative projects for them to do. I hadn't even really looked at his projects from last week, just slammed them in the "pile to be filed" pile. Look!!! It just melts my heart. So it has been moved from the "to be filed" into the "into the babybook" section.

And the AFTER shots. Not sure if you can tell I did much of anything, but I know I did. :) Got a lot of stuff filed, sent off some medical surveys and paperwork that needed to be done for Cameron, renewed some newspaper and magazine subscriptions that needed to be sent in, and reduced my "to be filed" pile by a LOT.

I love this white cabinet I picked up at Michael's. Really helps to keep office supplies organized. I know its meant to be a craft organizer, but it works really well in here too. I have last years file folders from the Stampin' Up catalog (the ones here are retired, but they have a new set available), and it helps me to keep organized. Also makes me realize I have way too many pens, pencils, and highlighters. :)

(hee hee, just realized my computer is obviously showing my blog "in progress". And the Stampin' Up hostess form right there that I better get filled out for my hostess. Obviously my desk will always be a work in progress!!)

Had to put a closeup of the new printer. So far, I'm in love. Love the touchscreen. Love that its quieter than my last one. Love that its wireless and can be used by all four (yep, FOUR...two desktops and two laptops) of our computers. And love the sleek design. Love how pretty it is without fingerprints. Yet. And yes, that is recycling info taped to the wall behind it. Someone in this household argues with me about what the city allows to be recycled. Someone argues with me a lot. Someone thinks I lie, and will suddenly decide to take all of the non-recyclable stuff and throw it into the bin just to prove me wrong. Someone is wrong...and it ain't me. :)

So there you go. Check out the blog that I got this from, Willette Designs. She hasn't even posted her "after" pics yet, so you still have loads of time to do it. In fact, I think I'll be the first one to post about this. :) Yay me! Yep, I can even be competitive about a completely selective, non-required activity. I am just THAT weird. :)

Blessed

2011-01-08T22:18:00.003-06:00

Have you ever had an opportunity just fall in your lap that you truly feel God has sent to you? See, I've been trying to get my Stampin' Up business going as an actual business. I want to bring in some money...but I understand that it won't be a lot. But you know what??? Its hard to get a business going when you are basically pulling teeth to get people to host a workshop or place an order! Crafting isn't everyone's cup of tea, and that's fine. I understand. But its been H.A.R.D.

So Thursday night my upline (the person I signed up under) called me and asked if I could demo a workshop for her this weekend. At first I was confused. She started talking about how her husband had basically said she needed to spend more time at home (she also has a full-time teaching job, various other craft-related activities, and a rambunctious 5-year-old). So I thought she just wanted me to run the workshop or help her do it. NOPE! She actually wanted me to take over a 9-month hostess club!!!! I was completely gobsmacked. This will allow me to actually start a proper SU business! I seriously am so excited. We did the first club this morning, and the ladies are soooo wonderful. I think I'm really going to enjoy it. And I already have some great ideas for projects coming up over the next few months. YAY!

On top of that, I've decided to take a year-long Ali Edwards class called "One Little Word". Ali has been doing this for a few years. She takes one word and creates a scrapbook around that word. Her class will help the thousands of us who signed up (not kidding: in the gallery of the class there are already over 400 pictures and we're only one week into the class!!!) create a scrapbook about how our "word" affects our life. Some people chose words that reflect what they want to accomplish this year, ways they want to change the paths of their lives, or things they hope to see more of in their life this year. I honestly felt like the word chose me. I had seen Ali post about this class for a month or two, but suddenly this week, after reading a blog post from her, I was overcome with a phenomenal desire to create a scrapbook around the word "create". One of my goals this year was to be more creative, actually try to do SU, get into my "craft room (aka: guest room/dump area) and DO something in there. And after reading Ali's post I felt like my brain was exploding with the word "create, create, CREATE!". I knew I had to choose that word...or rather, that it had chosen me. So check out Ali's blog HERE, and the class is over at Big Picture Classes. Its sooo expensive at 3 bucks a month, or 36 bucks total. She posts monthly videos, gives printable handouts, and PNG/PDF files we can use throughout. She also will do quarterly live chats (already missed the one in January, dang it), and has a message board where you can ask her questions. Plus a gallery to post all of the lovely things we create. :) So I'm excited to get started. Kinda got sidetracked this week, my 6-year-old printer finally bit the dust in the middle of me printing the January handout for Ali's class. This poor printer has been moved around quite a bit and actually survived a rather unfortunate wet experience when the military movers left it outside in Houston during Hurricane Ike. I'm surprised it has lasted this long! So I've upgraded to a nice purty HP Photosmart C310, and my biggest excitement is that it can print in 5x7 as well as 4x6...my old one couldn't do that. :)

A friend of mine also asked what Project Life was. Please check out Becky Higgins' blog HERE, she explains it all. You can also check out her specific page for Project Life HERE. Its currently all sold out on Amazon, but should have a new supply at the end of the month. Works out perfectly for me, its my Valentine's gift from the hubby. He said I could get a massage or Project Life...I figure I'll enjoy the yearlong scrapbooking experience a heck of a lot more than an hour massage. :)

Ugh. No time. AT.ALL.

2011-01-05T22:00:00.002-06:00

Seriously, when did stay-at-home moms become so doggone busy?!?! I seriously don't understand how some moms with 3, 4, or more children can fit in crafting time. Granted, I do typically screw around on the Internet for an hour in the evenings after my son goes to bed...but how do SAHM's come up with these beautiful works of art that seem like they took forEVer to put together...and then post a blog that says the project was "whipped" together? Ummm, Jealous, party of 1? Yep, that's me.

I will say that Christmas I was at least partly crafty, as I made two fabric wreaths for both my mom and mother-in-law, created a photobook and three calendars in Picaboo, and attempted to get caught up on my Project Life book for 2010 (yeah, it would help if I didn't have to get "caught" up from May...oops). But, when you add everyone in this household getting a yucky virus, the holiday season, visiting family, and just the general chaos that exists, I have absolutely NO time to do anything. My 2010 Project Life stuff is sitting all nice and pretty in a beautiful wicker box on my dining room table, just begging to be touched...and I can't garner up the interest to do anything. I haven't even ordered the 2011 one yet, and seeing as how they sold out of the one I want, I'm guessing I won't get it ordered until the end of the month (better, since I really want to actually FINISH the first freakin' one).

In addition to my wonderful son throwing his terrible two tantrums, we are extremely busy. He has some delays, most of which he *should* grow out of, but they require a lot of tests, appointments, and therapy sessions. He has been seeing a physical therapist for the past year, and finally just started walking a few weeks before Christmas (yay! Great Christmas present!!). He has low muscle tone, and that made his ankles turn inward really severely, so he couldn't get good balance. He also had a large amount of fluid in both ears, and had to get tubes. The tubes helped with his balance as well. Cameron also isn't talking, and isn't really a verbal kid at all. I've been teaching him sign language, but finally the doctors got concerned and started requesting lots of specialized hearing tests to determine if there might be another condition. So far he's passed everything, but a big test is coming up at the end of the month to look at his "automated brain response", or ABR. This test basically shows whether or not the ear correctly sends information to the brain. If that test comes back negatively, then he'll have to get the cochlear implants. In the mean time, he sees two speech therapists each week to try and help him gain his speech. One has been pretty nonchalant the last few months, and I got irritated and started the process within my insurance to qualify for a second one. The second one IMMEDIATELY made progress with Cameron...which has actually lit a fire under the first one's tooshie...I think he's competitive. :)

So my week is basically made up of speech therapy, physical therapy, speech therapy, random doctor/specialist appointments, and playdates. I'm active in my local MOPS chapter, and do the Creative Activities for it, and that sucks up a lot of time too. But Lord, I want to be crafty! I'm just so exhausted.

So I apologize for letting this blog go. Hopefully soon I'll be able to slap something together. I have a few friends who want to host Stampin' Up shows coming up in February (gotta get Sell-A-Bration stuff!!) so I guess I better figure out how to get my creative mojo back again. :)

A New Card...Finally!

2010-11-23T16:47:00.004-06:00

I had a workshop for the first time in YEARS this past weekend. Seriously, I think my last "true" workshop was back in 2007, maybe even 2006!! I know I had a stamp club that took the majority of 2007 to finish, but I didn't really do many proper workshops outside of the club each month. Isn't that crazy?? Even joining back up this past July, I had customer orders from friends but no real workshops. So my friend Tabatha finally succombed to my severe whining and had one for me. :) We have a great deal: she had one for me, and I'll have a Pampered Chef show for her. I'm dying to get my hands on the entire PC set of knives, so I know I'm going to be happy!

I don't even know what the name of this card style is...maybe some sort of pop-up? All I know is I learned from my upline, as she did it at one of my workshops earlier this year. Tabatha wanted a Christmas card and a "thank you" card, so I used the card I posted earlier HERE, the top card, and we just used a different sentiment. I actually just brought all of my sentiments so the guests could choose their own, which I think they appreciated.

Colors used were slightly atypical for Christmas, which I liked. I'm trying to branch out and try new styles and color combos. This is Whisper White, Old Olive, and Rich Razzleberry. Its pretty striking, I think. I used an embossing folder on the background (something called Dots...Perfect Dots, maybe? Golly, I need to brush up on my terminology!), as well as the big snowflake die for the Big Shot. Used Whisper White Craft Ink on the sentiment and then heat embossed in Iridescent Ice EP. Seriously that is one of my all-time favorite things...I'll be sad if SU ever gets rid of it! I love putting it on all cards, especially Christmas ones. Fortunately I have a couple of prospects for workshops in the new year, so I'm very excited! I really want to get this into an avid business.

Details:

(all Stampin' Up!)

Cardstock: Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Whisper White

Ink: Basic Black, Whisper White Craft

Stamp Sets: Word Play, Contempo Christmas

Accessories: Big Shot, Snowflake Die, Dots embossing folder, Old Olive 3/8" grosgrain ribbon, Iridescent Ice EP, heat tool, Scallop Edge Punch

Online Spectacular!

2010-11-22T18:49:00.003-06:00

Stampin' Up! is having a fantastic Online Spectacular with lots of awesome deals! Many items are 40-50% off, including My Digital Studio which is 50% off...so its only 40 bucks!!! Also a great feature is orders over $150 will qualify for free shipping! Please go to my website at http://jennifermagreevy.stampinup.net and check it out!!!

Long time no see!

2010-10-10T15:34:00.000-05:00

I don't think I realized that I hadn't posted since August 23rd. Golly, that's not good for someone who wanted to really get a Stampin' Up business going, huh. Oh well. Mostly that reason was because of this cutie:

I know I'm partial, but he's seriously the cutest kid EVER. This is my son Cameron, enjoying the bouncy house at his 2nd birthday a couple weeks ago. I can't believe he's two: I feel like I just found out I was pregnant! I know, all moms say that. :) But getting ready for this party, as well as other things I've taken on this fall, and also Cameron's never-ending schedule of appointments (he's delayed in a few areas and requires physical and speech therapy to try and get him back to where he should be), I'm one busy chick.

One thing that takes a lot of my time is my involvement with MOPS (Moms of Preschoolers). Seriously this organization has been my saving grace! Not only has it helped me to meet other moms in my area, but it has helped tremendously with my growth and development as a mom. I've taken on some leadership roles this year, including being the Creative Activities director and a discussion group leader. The creative activities role is a lot more intense than I thought it would be! Our first craft was a "no sew memo board", which while it sounds easy enough, it involved a LOT of cutting on my part. Here is my board, covered with the projects we did at the Stampin' Up regional in Ft. Worth last month.

Here it is without anything covering it. How cute! I really like it. I'm debating on making a bigger one that can go next to my desk so I can really cover it with stuff. this one is only about 12" x 20", give or take.

Here are the regional projects. We received the "Day of Gratitude" set in our fee, as well as all the materials to make six projects. This really opened my eyes to a couple of things: (1) Old Olive isn't as yucky as I thought it was, and (2) any stamp set can be versatile, if you open your eyes to see the possibilities.

This one is an 8.5x11" scrapbook page. I mostly scrapbook in 12x12, but the best thing about scrapbooking is you can just slap this sucker on a 12x12 piece, add some embellishments, and there you go. :) Easy peasy!

Check below for more stuff I've done recently, including a couple of new cards and an awesome fabric wreath that will be the November craft for MOPS. I'd show you the October craft...but I don't think you'd really care too much to see homemade fingerpaints (using flour, dish detergent, water and food coloring) and homemade playdough (using flour, peanut butter, and honey). Its all a gooey mess. :)

Fabric Wreath

2010-10-10T15:26:00.003-05:00

Okay. This took FOREVER. But it is sooooooo cool. Seriously. I'm already planning on making a larger Christmasy one for our house, as well as one for my Mom's. Plus this just happens to be the MOPS November craft, so I have a lot of fabric cutting in the next two weeks!

I just {heart} this. Seriously. I just keep looking at it and petting it. A friend of mine made one last year, and I had this memory of it, so she told me how to do it and I winged it. I did one thing different (she used a styrofaum wreath ring, whereas I used a straw ring and didn't take the plastic cover off of it). You cut the fabric, then jam it into the ring with a screwdriver. It takes forever. Seriously, this is only a 10" ring, and it took 2 yards of fabric! I think it probably took 3-4 hours to cut the fabric to size, plus another 1-2 hours of putting it together. But so cute. LOVE.IT. :)

Edited to add: the size of the fabric pieces is 3x3" square. Cut them using pinking shears (available at fabric stores and Hobby Lobby), because they cut in a criss-cross pattern so the fabric doesn't constantly lose threads. For a 10" ring, you'll need at least 2 yards of fabric. A 12" ring needs at least 3 yards of fabric. Don't cover the entire ring: leave part of the back of the ring along so that it has a flat surface to lay against the wall or door. I made three more of these: one for Christmas here, one larger one for my mom and one larger one for my mother-in-law. I am so fabricked out! I plan on making a big one (like double the size) for our house...but I'm not doing it now. I think I'll barf if I look at any fabric. :)

Two new cards

2010-10-10T15:06:00.002-05:00

One of the best reasons for being a Stampin' Up demonstrator is that everything matches. It takes the guesswork out of trying to color coordinate things. It also makes it a ton easier to keep track of what you used for a card. :)

I love how bright, yet comforting this card turned out. I had an opportunity to play with a couple of my new stamp sets, Word Play and Growing Green. I absolutely LOVE stamps that can be cut out. I love how they add a new dimension to a card. I used a watercolor wonder crayon and an Aqua Painter to add slight color to the flower, which was stamped in Stazon. I used markers on the sentiment so I could accentuate specific words. I {heart} how it turned out!!

Materials Used:
Stamps: Word Play and Going Green
Paper: Whisper White, Pear Pizzazz, Celebrations DSP
Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Black Stazon
Markers: Pacific Point, Real Red, Pear Pizzazz
Other: Watercolor wonder crayon (umm...I think certainly celery), cutter kit, dimensionals, smooch spritz

I love that Stampin' Up is now selling fabric. The problem is this: I don't have a sewing bone in my body. Seriously!! I have one of those Janome Sew Mini sewing machines, and I can't get the damn thing to work. So I decided that I wanted to showcase that the fabric can be used WITHOUT sewing. This is also without any of the other fancy shenanigans you're supposed to use (something with fabric adhesive sheets, an iron, etc etc etc). I slapped that piece of fabric on with some mod podge adhesive. :) Now, it did end up bending the main cardstock, so I just put it under a heavy object overnight and it was fine. :) I also did some other do-it-yourself techniques on here. I don't have a Sizzix Big Shot, but I'm sure they have a die that could have cut that scalloped rectangle. Instead, I used my scallop border punch and went along to make my own. No, its not perfect. But a heck of a lot cheaper than buying a Big Shot. I also decided after I had already stamped the two ornament images that I wanted them to sparkle, so I restamped over the images with versamark, then used Iridescent Ice embossing powder to give it the sparkle I wanted. I love how it turned out!

Materials used:

Stamps: Seasonal Sentiments, Contempo Christmas

Cardstock: Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla, Versamark

Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Sahara Sand

Other: Deck The Halls designer fabric, dimensionals, scallop border punch, crystal effects EP

New layouts

2010-08-23T21:01:00.002-05:00

I keep forgetting to update with the only two layouts I've been able to accomplish this month. :) Ugh, soooo busy! And to top it off, now I'm sick! I've had a hellacious sinus headache for the past two days. I think its weather/allergy related, as the temp here has been above 100 for the past week, with horrid air quality and its just so yucky out. Unfortunately, my child does not understand those things, and basically DEMANDS to be outside whenever possible. So, good Mommy that I am, I suck it up. And then get slammed with the headaches.

In any case, here's what I've worked on. Both kits used are from RebeccaB at MLAS.

The first is using her kit called Lets Hear It For the Boys, a collab with Dream Big Designs. I did a challenge at MLAS called "Scrap Mix", that requires you to use the numbers of your birthday to figure out what portions of a list you are supposed to do. My numbers worked out to using black & white papers, color extraction (changing a color photo to sepia tone and then "extracting" the real color back onto the photo), a date stamp, and to bring the theme of soap operas somewhere into my page. While I probably could have used the title of a soap opera (These Are the Days Of Our Lives...), I decided to just get dramatic in my journaling and make that my overall soap opera theme. :)

This one is from RebeccaB's kit called Little Boy Magic, or something like that. I can't remember if that's right or not. :) I love the scary tree element and the way I used the star-like element behind the trees. Can't believe my little boy was only 4 weeks old in that picture! Just today I was looking at Halloween costumes for him this year, he'll be two in only 5 weeks!! Wow how time flies. :(

Holy Craziness.

2010-08-13T22:13:00.002-05:00

I know its only been two weeks since I posted last...but I seriously feel like its been MONTHS. All the moms out there know what I'm talking about: when your kid manages to pick up two consecutive illnesses that both require medical attention, and one of those times you're on vacation. You have to love a child's ability to know when NOT do do something, and do it anyway. :-/

In any case, I'm glad we're finally on the mend. We spent 8 days visiting family in Ohio, and Cameron was sick almost the entire time. At one point he wouldn't stop crying, which totally freaked me out. Typically I can soothe him and calm him down to just a whimper, but he was screaming, arching his back and tightening all his muscles like he was in a lot of pain! After a trip to urgent care (God bless Children's Hospital in Cincinnati, which is well known nationally, because they have created a group of Children's Urgent Cares around the Cincinnati area, so I knew we were getting really good care from doctors who specialize on kids!) and a couple of tests, it was determined Cameron had a virus. Way to narrow it down for us! Sheesh. Lots of motrin and cuddles, and he was finally better the day before we left to come home.

So I have had no time to do any crafting. I have a thousand craft-related things on my plate right now, so I better get crackin'. :) I'm the Creative Activities Director (maybe "director" isn't the correct word, but whatever...I like thinking I'm the Director...hee hee!!) for my local MOPS group, and our first meeting is coming up the first week of September. We're going to be making "No Sew Memo Boards", which just means you use a lot of hot glue. :) Actually we will be sewing briefly, as the original instructions I found involve using staples, but I found they don't hold as well as they should. Plus, goofball me actually managed to staple my own damn finger. Not kidding!!! I stapled almost straight through my pointer finger. Hurt like heck! I couldn't bend my finger for almost two days. Needless to say, I feel a needle and thread is less involved than a stapler. :)

On top of that, I have to create some banners to welcome new moms to our MOPS Kickoff Party, which is next week (eeeek! I'm procrastinating on this!). I also need to create swaps for the Stampin' Up regional coming up in a few weeks. It would also be nice to actually attempt to get some workshops and whatnot on my calendar, as I should attempt to do this in order to make MONEY.

As for my digital scrapbooking life, I've had no time. Seriously no time. Ugh.

The only thing I managed to do this week was join Weight Watchers. I'm seriously sick of being the fat person in the room. And no, I'm not being hard on myself. I'm fat. Seriously fat. I'm in the "obese" category...which is disgusting. 10 years ago I was the skinniest I've ever been, a size 8. I have only kept a few items that I had back then...and I think I could get one thigh in and that's about it. Its pitiful. I've also noticed health problems that are related to obesity. Acid reflux, sleep apnea, joint problems, exhaustion...And I know that these problems could only get worse with age. Did you know there is a direct correlation between waist size and a bunch of types of cancers? And strokes? And heart disease? Its appalling. Its even more appalling that I let myself get to this size. In any case, after my first week of WW, I lost 4.8 pounds! I'm stoked. I can't wait until I've lost enough to actually see and feel a difference. And the wonderful clothes that will be available to me in my closet....woohoo!!!!!!

In my "spare" time, I thought I'd be reading these last few weeks. I've now accrued a few more books that I want to read...my nightstand is looking like the local library. I must have 10-15 books scattered around the bedroom, study, and living room that I'm either hoping to read or have started and never finished. I loooove reading, and hopefully will get Cameron more into reading. Frankly, I think I might throw up if I have to read "That's not my bear! His nose is too squishy. That's not my bear, his paws are too soft. THAT'S my bear! His ears are so fluffy!" one more freakin' time. Cameron loves the "That's not my..." series. But he's loved them for almost 8 months now...will he ever branch out of that stage?? I'd like him to at least comprehend books come in other shapes and sizes that don't involve touch and feel. :)

I'll hopefully have some crafty stuff to post soon. As long as no illnesses threaten to send me over the edge.

(I apologize for my rambling post. Its 10:30PM, I'm tired, it was something like 108 degrees here today, and the heat is starting to wear on me. So there you go.)

Oy.

2010-07-31T20:48:00.005-05:00

I'm so exhausted.

Seriously, its not even 9PM on a Saturday night and I'm debating on going to bed. It has been an absolutely CHAOTIC week. My child, who will turn 22 months on Monday, has decided to really get into the throes of the terrible twos. With complete concentration and clarity. I never thought I'd see so much food be thrown at the same time from two little hands. Or the look of evil that comes across a toddler's face right before he head-butts you.

On top of that, he suddenly spiked a fever of 104 degrees on Thursday, for no freakin' reason. He was fine Wednesday. Sick all day Thursday, fever Friday morning and then fine by the afternoon. Weird! A quick trip to the pediatrician found a sore throat to be the culprit. Poor kid. He just laid on the floor. He was so pitiful.

Needless to say, I'm exhausted. On top of all this, I made waaaaaay too many appointments and plans this weekend to be working on virtually no sleep whatsoever. I had a MOPS (Moms of Preschoolers) retreat last night where we discussed what vision we had for our MOPS group, and really have some great ideas for our new year. This morning I met with two Stampin' Up demonstrators to see all the goodies that one of them brought back from the recent Convention. This afternoon I went and got my hair cut and colored. Tomorrow its cleaning day. Monday I have to meet with some people from the Air Force Base (I'm a "key spouse" for the Air Force, meaning I'm the contact person for spouses, a liaison for them to get in touch with the command if needed). Then Tuesday my son and I are flying to visit family for a week. Eeeek!!

I haven't done any scrapping this week, or any crafting at all. The closest I got to crafting was cleaning out my craft room and reorganizing all of my crap. Yep, I call it all "crap". :) Oh, I did do one crafty thing. I made a "no sew french memo board". I'll take a pic and post it at one point or another.

That being said, here's what I've done in the past few weeks that I forgot to post. :)

Template Challenge at MLAS. Kit was an MLAS Designer Collab called "And Many More." Lots of cutesy birthday elements.

Speed scrap at MLAS. Using a kit called Fresh & Wet by Rucola Designs.

Speed Scrap at MLAS. Using a kit called "Love Checker" by Rucola Designs.

Since I'm on vacation for the next week-ish, I won't be posting. I won't be bringing my laptop, I just don't feel like dealing with carrying it onto the plane. Its bad enough I'll have my son in my lap (hello!! Gotta take advantage of him flying free until the last freakin' minute!), so I doubt I'll want to deal with expensive breakable electronics in my carry-on. :)

Hope everyone has a great week!

Update

2010-07-21T21:03:00.002-05:00

So I know I haven't updated this in awhile...I've been reorganizing my crafting priorities and trying to make important decisions about what I want to do with my "spare" time.

I've decided to rejoin Stampin' Up! as a demonstrator, and had my first workshop last week! My upline was wonderful with allowing me to essentially take over the workshop she planned herself...so I'm very fortunate that I was able to. I have a few customers in my client base so far, and am hopeful I'll be starting with workshops, classes and clubs this fall.

I'm very excited about this new endeavour, and looking forward to doing something that can help my family financially.

I'll have new projects for you soon!

New stuff!

2010-07-11T22:50:00.003-05:00

Typically I like to do individual posts for each new layout I do...but frankly, its 11PM on a Sunday night, and I'm exhausted. So here you go.

First up is Dream Big Design's kit called Enchanted. Isn't it pretty?

I did a speed scrap with the kit at MLAS. I had to blend a photo into the background, which was my first time doing that! Fortunately another online contact had given me pretty good directions on how to do it. I love how it turned out. These two photos were taken right after we returned from a weekend trip to Dallas, the weekend where my son got horribly sick and had a temp of 105 degrees. After a shot of antibiotics (you can still see the band-aid on his leg), a bunch of drugs (hello, Tylenol and Motrin!), he was just completely exhausted. He was crawling between the bedroom door and bathroom door and just conked out on the floor. Poor kid!

The next layout I did was for the font challenge at MLAS. They do bi-monthly font challenges there, its a great way to accrue a lot of free fonts! I really like this font, its so cheeky and unique. The kit I used was a bunch of mini kits I picked up on a blog train MLAS had called Polar Opposites.

This next kit is also by Dream Big Designs, called My Kind of Christmas. How cute is this?? That little reindeer had me. :) I've been in a Christmas scrapping kind of mood, seeing as how its going to be in the mid to upper 90's all week and really humid. The grass is always greener I suppose: now I'm thinking of snow, sweaters, and Christmas jingles...and in December I'll be dreaming of heat. :)

The title is a font I found on dafont.com for free. I **LOVE** it!! Its so cute with little snowflakes. Check out that website, tons of free fonts in a variety of types!

I didn't scrap at all last week, so I spent all weekend (that I could) scrapping. I'm now scrapped out! I think I need to take a day of not staring at Photoshop. :) Of course, that won't happen. But a girl can dream. :)

JK Creations Kit Duckling Rain

2010-07-08T21:51:00.002-05:00

I volunteered to work with this cute kit to see what wonderful things I could come up with. I didn't have too much time, or I would have had a few more layouts, because this kit is really versatile and so fun! Its by JK Creations and called Duckling Rain, available at MLAS.

I love how my layout turned out. This was my cutie when he was only about 5 months old, on his first trip to the zoo during Spring Break when it was only about 45 degrees and yucky outside. He was such a trooper, just chilling in the carseat and looking around. :)

Flower Scraps New Kit

2010-07-08T20:40:00.002-05:00

Flower Scraps has released a new kit called Eileen, available at Stuff to Scrap. Deanna intends to create kits that are modeled after her kids, so the first is based on her 5-year-old Eileen. Its all pink and girly and b-e-a-UTIFUL! Check out HERE for a free add-on!

I can't even tell you how much I loved working with this kit! Seriously. I am surrounded by boy stuff. All my scrap pages are blue or something that is relatively manly. To get into all this girly stuff....I was in HEAVEN. Freakin' LOVED IT!!!!

I created a 2-page spread based on my niece Lauren, and my husband's niece Isabella. They were our two flower girls at our wedding. Lauren was only 14-months old when we were married, and Isabella was only 2.5 years. They were so cute walking down the aisle! I had them walk with their moms (April, my sister-in-law was a bridesmaid, and Kristen, my sister, was my matron-of-honor), and they were just so doggone cute!

I love how the spread turned out. It was the first time I attempted the true 2-page spread: when I've done them previously, I've just had two documents opened and I fiddled with them. This time I did a full 12x24 inch document, then split them for posting purposes. I had so much fun doing this! I'm so hoping I have a little girl in the future so I can fiddle with more pinks and flowers and cutesy girl stuff. :)

American Girly Girl

2010-07-01T21:47:00.003-05:00

I have to admit, when I saw the title for this kit by Jenasis Design, I was scared. I thought with the word "girly" in the title it would mean I would REALLY have to think outside my boy-centered world! But this set, while it does have many girly elements, is so much more than that!! It is great for celebrating Independence Day, or any red/white/blue celebration you need. :)

Here are two layouts I made with the kit. The first was created using the June Template Challenge at STS. The challenge is awesome because it gives you the template, you just fill in your materials and photos. So it really helped me get out of a rut of using single photos on pages.

This layout was created to focus on the WEBN Fireworks in Cincinnati, Ohio. WEBN is a rock radio station there. They've done this fireworks show for as long as I can remember...since at least the 80's. They bring in two huge barges, both chuck full of fireworks. They even close two bridges and have stuff shooting, or falling, off of them! Its an awesome spectacle. It is loooong, going for 30-40 minutes. Its done on Labor Day weekend, typically the Sunday of the weekend so that way people have the next day to recuperate. It draws thousands and thousands of people to the banks of the Ohio River. When you're sitting on the Kentucky side of the river, you watch the fireworks with downtown Cincinnati as the backdrop. My dad used to live in a high-rise apartment complex in downtown Cincinnati, on the 26th (top) floor. So literally the fireworks were RIGHT THERE. :)

So its a great versatile kit! Check out the Jenasis Design blog, her store, and you can grab this specific kit HERE!!

I'm a Challenge Queen

2010-06-27T13:57:00.003-05:00

Seriously, I'm becoming addicted to the challenges on Stuff to Scrap and My Life and Scrap. I need to get ahold of myself. :) MLAS had a "night owl speed scrap", which was held at 11PM Saturday night my time (midnight EST). This actually works for a lot of people that aren't in the U.S., and I chatted with a couple fellow scrappers from Australia. Nice to branch out!! :)

For those of you who are unaware of a "speed scrap", essentially it involves the hostess giving directions every 10 minutes on what you need to do. It helps getting creative juices flowing when you're stuck in a rut. The directions are subject to interpretation, as you can see if you check out the gallery for speed scrap admissions HERE. Everyone reads directions differently, and that's completely okay!

I used JK Creations kit Dotty Boy again. Ahhh, I seriously love this kit. It is just so beautiful and fits so many of my needs for scrapping stuff about Cameron.

I decided to go waaaaay back and scrap a newborn photo. Here he is at 2 weeks of age, can you believe it?? I am flabbergasted that he was ever that small. This was one of the first pics where I feel like he looks like himself. Newborns come home all puffy and slightly misshapen from being in the womb...or at least mine did. He looked a lot like my father-in-law, actually...now he looks like my husband. If they hadn't yanked him out of me, I would have thought he wasn't mind, cuz the kid doesn't look a damn thing like me!! :)

The font on the tag is Ali's Hand font, from Creating Keepsakes. Its Ali Edwards' font, and its FREE! I'm all about freebies. :) The alpha is the matching alpha for Dotty Boy, and can be purchased in the bundle on MLAS to get all the matchy-matchy stuff.

Lots of new things coming in the next few weeks, so check back!

Another challenge

2010-06-26T22:16:00.003-05:00

I completed this layout for the template challenge at MLAS. Ironically I forgot how to do a template, I had to go back through my Jessica Sprague classes to find her tutorial! I used Scrappy Towne's Summer Breeze kit, available at Secret City Treasures and Ahhh Scrap, and soon to be available at MLAS.

A Dotty Boy

2010-06-25T22:38:00.003-05:00

As my first assignment for MLAS's Spirit Squad, I was asked to work with a kit by JK Creations called Dotty Boy. It is SO FREAKIN' ADORABLE! Seriously. And for you moms to girlies, there is a matching Dotty Girl kit, so go check it out!

The kit can be purchased as a bundle that features a matching alpha and word art set, and the alpha is awesome! I'll use this kit a lot, it is so wonderful!

I created this page for a challenge at MLAS using a new font. The font is called "Satisfaction", and is on half of the title, and the date in the lower right corner. I thought about journaling more on this page, but I just really wanted my son to be the main focus and let his cute little grin speak for itself. :)

2010-06-25T00:00:00.000-05:00

Don't miss the Birthday Sale that Jenasis Design is having this weekend!!

Go check it out HERE!

This sale also includes the soon to be released American Girly Girl!!

Frogs and Elephants Kit

2010-06-23T22:53:00.002-05:00

I finally had time to work on another kit from Scrappy Towne, called Frogs and Elephants. And Michelle from Scrappy Towne had some GREAT news today! She's the newest designer at My Life And Scrap!!!! Since I'm getting really involved over there, I'm soooo pumped she's bringing her stuff there so I can showcase it! Anyone still interested in getting on her CT, check her post HERE for information!

I chose to do another challenge at MLAS called "Scrap Mix". Basically its a free-for-all based on your birth date. Yep! There are four categories, you take the month, day, year and your age to figure out where you fall into what category and what rules you have to follow. My four categories I had to follow were to (1) use stitching, (2) use tone-on-tone paper (meaning patterns but within the same color), (3) use a theme of "to do", and (4) use a quote. Well, I started this layout without remembering the last two requirements...so I kept having to go back and recreate it. :) Apparently I wasn't fully concentrating on this or something!

The kit is Frogs and Elephants, which is available currently at Secret City Treasures and Ahh Scrap, and the stitching used as a frame around the photo is from Scrappy Towne's kit called Summer Breeze (also at both places listed above). The title font is Digs My Hart, and the journaling font is Eros Medium. And yes, I already know there is a spelling error on here. The quote is featured on the photo, and there is an extra letter in there. I was trying so hard to get it done, and meet the requirements, that I had a momentary lapse in spell-checking. :)

I hope to have more time to fiddle with both of Michelle's kits, and she's also going to be sending me some more stuff soon. Yay!

Another new thing!

2010-06-19T09:40:00.001-05:00

I know I said I wouldn't post anything this weekend, but I found out this morning that I've been accepted onto the My Life And Scrap Spirit Squad! I'm excited! Check out their website for great forums, challenges, designers, and galleries!!

Summer Breeze...

2010-06-18T20:43:00.002-05:00

...makes me feel fine...something-something-something-...of my MIIIIINNNDDD!!!

Sorry. Everytime I think of "summer breeze" I sing the old song in my head. I think the something-something-something is "going through the chapters of my mind" or something like that. :)

Here is my first layout using Scrappy Towne's Summer Breeze kit, available at Secret City Treasures and Ahhh Scrap. Check out her blog to see what other goodies she has available!

I'll be out of commission for a bit. We have family visiting this weekend, and then my son will be getting tubes in his ears on Monday. He hasn't had too many ear infections (two in the past month, however), but has always had fluid in his ears. Since he's not yet talking, we're concerned the fluid is screwing with his ability to hear correctly. He hears...but we don't think he's hearing as well as he should. So tubes are going in bright and early Monday morning. Wish us luck!

Boo hoo :(

2010-06-15T18:26:00.001-05:00

I didn't make it to week 4 in the STS This Scrapper's Got Talent competition. I'm bummed. :(

Week 3 Challenge

2010-06-12T20:56:00.003-05:00

The week 3 challenge for the This Scrapper's Got Talent competition on Stuff to Scrap was to journal, and we couldn't use any pictures with people or animals in it! Crazy, huh?!?! You also had the option of not using a picture at all, which is what I chose to do. I decided to reminisce about Cameron's story and all the trials/tribulations we've encountered from early on in my pregnancy.

Here is a brief outline:

*I was told at about 5 weeks pregnant I was going to miscarry because I was spotting.

*I was told at 8 weeks it was twins.

*I was told at 10 weeks one twin had probably died: the ultrasound could see something, but they couldn't figure out what, so they assumed it was a twin that died. Apparently this is phenomenally common: kind of Darwinism in the womb, I guess. Survival of the fittest.

*At 22 weeks we were told Cameron had "mild ventricular swelling" of the brain, as well as "mild kidney dilation". These two factors can point toward down syndrome. We began a flurry of specialists and tests, undergoing what seemed like weekly ultrasounds checking to make sure nothing else was wrong. I met a slew of doctors, it was ridiculous.

*Cameron is born, an ultrasound is done and decided there is no kidney dilation.

*A CT is completed and no ventricular swelling is detected, but a "brain matter abnormality" is detected. We begin seeing a neurologist.

*An MRI is done at 4 months. No brain matter abnormality is detected, but excess fluid is seen on the frontal lobe of the brain. (see a trend? One problem goes away, another comes!)

*We've continued to see the neurologist since that point. The fluid hasn't gone away, but hasn't grown or forced swelling of the brain. So they aren't concerned, just monitoring it. Originally it was discussed we would do a follow-up MRI this summer, but the neurologist doesn't feel its necessary anymore.

*Cameron has a very large head (off the charts) but low weight and small height (25th percentile). This has prohibited gross motor development. He's still not walking at 20 months. We started seeing a physical therapist back at his 1-year mark, and that has helped tremendously. We've also added a orthodist to the mix, who fitted Cameron with small foot braces, because his ankles turn inward. Add to that the fact that he has fluid in his ears, so we're seeing an ENT this week to discuss getting tubes (he doesn't say any words yet other than mama, but he recognizes lots of things and does a few signs), in hope that he'll be able to hear better, and possibly walk better because the fluid could be effecting his balance.

In any case, writing this journal entry was hard because it really made me reflect back on things. The brain matter abnormality was crushing to me, because words like "severe mental retardation" and cerebral palsy were thrown out there. The spectrum of possibilities was that Cameron could be completely normal, or be so severely retarded that I couldn't care for him. That's quite a wide array to think about!

Okay. Here is my page. Click on it to maximize, or go to my gallery post at Stuff to Scrap to see more info.

I really like how it turned out. I could have blown up the journaling font and deleted the frame, but I love how it framed the words. Of course, I would love to put a picture of Cameron there...maybe now I will since I've already submitted this. :) I'll find out Tuesday evening whether I made it to week 4. I assume they'll be cutting quite a bit this week because we only have 3 weeks left of the competition. But I'm excited I made it this far!

I made it to round 3!

2010-06-08T21:41:00.001-05:00

I'm so excited, I made it to round 3 of the "This Scrapper's Got Talent" competition at Stuff to Scrap! The judges eliminated 16 people this round, so we're down to 50 contestants. The next challenge is posted Wednesday morning, so we'll see how much trouble I'm in. :)

Scrappy Towne Designs CT Call!

2010-06-08T13:54:00.003-05:00

My friend Michelle is having a CT Call for her wonderful creations! Check out her blog HERE to see some of her work. She sells at Ahhh Scrap and Secret City Treasures.

I, of course, jumped on her CT as soon as she announced it. In fact, I think I emailed her back in April and told her when she was ready I was game! :) I've known her for a couple years now, as we were pregnant at the same time. Her son Alex is only a few months younger than my son Cameron...although from pictures, they could be long-lost cousins with their white blond hair and pretty blue eyes!

I can't wait to start working with her wonderful kits and showing you stuff here! If you are interested, please contact her! She's looking to fill 3-4 more slots!

Puckered Kiss

2010-06-07T10:00:00.000-05:00

Jenasis Design has a new kit called Puckered Kiss available!

Here's what I did with it. Love the bright colors of this kit, and how wonderful the black elements and alpha really POP on the green!!

So check it out at the Stuff to Scrap store, and be sure to check out the Jenasis Design blog for more info!

My very first QP!

2010-06-06T15:12:00.007-05:00

Flower Scraps and Nibbles Skribbles have gotten together to create two kits called "Terrible Twos", and both Creative Teams have some freebies in our own little blog train! This is my first ever blog train, so I'm psyched to give away my very first freebie and my very first QP, or quick page! For anyone who views my blog and doesn't know what a Quick Page is, it is just that: a quick page. :) I've created the page, and you just stick your photo in and add some journaling. Great for when you want to scrapbook in a hurry!

Here are the two kits that started it all, from Flower Scraps and Nibbles Skribbles.

And here is my layout...

Which I turned into a QP for ya!

Go to the link to download!

http://www.4shared.com/file/6lvOhSt9/Mr_Attitude_QP.html

**if this link does not work, send me a comment or message immediately! This is my first time using 4shared, as well as my first time ever "zipping" a file...so I may or may not have done it correctly...LOL!

Now check out the rest of the wonderful Creative Team members and their creations!

Crystal
Flower Scraps
Scrappy Cocoa
Jennifer Myers.
Scrappin' Serenity
Lina
Jennifer Magreevy <<--You are here!

Nibbles Skribbles
Knittin Jen
Donni

NOTE: My QP is for PERSONAL USE ONLY. Do not attempt to sell the layout as it is not YOURS. :) Just enjoy the pretty colors as you have a wonderful keepsake for your scrapbooks!

TSGT Week 2 Layouts

2010-06-05T20:43:00.002-05:00

The Week 2 challenge for "This Scrapper's Got Talent" (check out the gallery of all layouts for this competition HERE) at Stuff to Scrap was just that: A CHALLENGE!! I had to create a 2-page layout using 10 pictures, and then create journaling listing a top-10 of sorts. I chose to do a layout on 10 reasons I love my son. :)

This challenge made me realize that I am NOT as far in digital scrapbooking as some of these ladies are. I still scrapbook quite similarly to how I paper scrapbook: I like layers, embellishments, and everything tends to be symmetrical and monochromatic. I am challenging myself into getting more colors into my layouts, as well as using different shapes. I tried to do this page with the pictures being all different sizes...and it seriously killed me! I changed it back to the pictures being lined up. I don't like it when the pages look discombobulated. However, other layouts done by gals look amazing that way! Mine just aren't there yet. (I started this layout on Thursday...took me 3 days of fiddling with it before I considered it "done" and ready for posting!).

I really have no idea if I'll make it through to next week. In some ways, I'm hoping the same thing will happen like last week: so many people didn't even complete a layout that we all got through (so they ended up "eliminating" 30+ people who signed up) so I can go one more week. Every week we stay, we get coupons and free stuff. So I'd like to make it to week 3. :)

The kit I used is called Muddy Buddies, and is such a cute kit for boys! The designer just released a kit similar to this for girls, called Muddy Girlies, so definitely look on STS for those kits! The brushes I used were ones I received in my recent Jessica Sprague class. I'm still having difficulty understanding the brushes...they aren't quite as easy as Jessica makes them out to be in her courses. Although I was impressed with myself for figuring out how to change the color...yep, that's how deep I am into things. I changed the color. WOOHOO! I tried to change the orientation, but ended up flipping the whole layout, so no clue what I did there. :)

June BAK

2010-06-01T22:21:00.002-05:00

The June "Build A Kit" is available now on stuff to Scrap! Check out the wonderful kit that Colleen and us CT members helped to design for Pretty Pixel Designs! Colleen is so wonderful, she asked us for help and our opinions. I feel so important. :)

I haven't had an opportunity to play with this kit yet, as the weekend "festivities" in the E.R. with my son really dampened my creative abilities. I'll definitely find time later this week to play!

Also check out ALL of my designers who participated in the STS Blog Train, which is where designers contribute free stuff in one theme so, at the end, you have a HUGE kit that centers around one set of colors or themes. The theme this month was "Summer Romance". Check out

Flower Scraps

Jenasis Design

Pretty Pixel Designs

Once on these blogs, you'll see the entire list of bloggers who participated. Some really cute stuff!!

I'm Through to Round TWO!

2010-06-01T22:18:00.003-05:00

So I have made it through to round two...although I'm lucky, because there was a slight mistake on my layout. The judges decided that they didn't give enough information on the rules, so anyone who completed a layout was pushed through to the next round. There were around 95 or so competitors at the beginning, but I guess a bunch didn't actually do the first challenge, so only around 60ish of us are through.

The rules for last week's challenge stated that we were NOT to use complete sentences. Well, I didn't feel that I did. But seeing the results, the judges felt that any sequence of words over 3 words could be deemed a complete sentence. NOW, I will say that the teacher in me says NO. It is NOT a complete sentence unless there is a noun, verb, etc. So my sentence of "full of adoration and love for my child" wasn't technically a full sentence in my opinion. I would have to have added the words "I am" to the front to make it a full sentence. But, apparently the judges felt otherwise.

In any case, the week 2 challenge will be posted tomorrow. Eeek! We'll see what it brings!

Nothing new. :(

2010-05-30T22:29:00.002-05:00

I've been in Dallas visiting family this weekend, and my child got horrificly sick. His temp spiked up to 105 today!!! We immediately went to the E.R. where he was diagnosed with an ear infection, but they arent sure if its a virus that just hasn't shown symptoms yet. So he was given a ton of meds and some prescriptions, and hopefully we'll make it back to Oklahoma City on Monday. Ugh. This is soooooo not the weekend I had hoped for!

As long as I arrive back and can get all of my stuff ready, keep my blog bookmarked for some great stuff! Flower Scraps and Nibbles Skribbles are having a CT Blog Train and you'll get all sorts of freebies...I even made my very first QP (Quick Page!). The June BAK will be going live at Stuff to Scrap, and a new kit is coming up soon from Jenasis Design! A big week for all of us, yay!

Jenasis Design Memorial Day Sale!

2010-05-27T22:19:00.002-05:00

Jenasis Design is having a HUGE SALE this weekend for Memorial Day!!

Check out this awesome sale HERE!!!

This Scrappers Got Talent Week 1 Challenge

2010-05-26T22:32:00.002-05:00

So the competition has started! I was stalking the thread this morning so I could see my options and plan what I wanted to do. Soooo exciting!

(note, you cannot sign up anymore!)

So the Week 1 challenge was to create a layout with only 1 or 2 photographs, as well as lines of text, but no complete sentences or journaling paragraphs. The words "I Am" had to be somewhere on your layout, essentially talking about yourself. Ironically, I completed a similar layout to explain why I started digital scrapbooking for the "My Life" challenge a few weeks ago in a similar fashion, which can be seen HERE.

So here's what I came up with.

I freakin' LOVE how this turned out. Seriously. I'm proud of myself. I guess that's the point of this competition! I used a kit called Fresh Air Adventures by a designer named Scrapalicious Cereal, which is available at Stuff to Scrap. The kit is amazing, lots of wonderful colors in my favs (blues and greens) and I think I can use the kit quite often.

I decided to be ME for this layout. Anyone who knows me knows that I am a comedian. I love making people laugh, I'm the person people turn to when they are really upset and need to get a laugh to make themselves feel better. As you can tell by the photo (taken at Christmas when one of my sister's six-week-old 'goldendoodle' puppies was going to town on my hair like it was her long-lost chew toy), I enjoy even having a laugh at myself! Since I could only use one photo, it doesn't show the series of photos that I took at this time to chronicle the dog attacking my hair. Its pretty funny...and I have funny faces in each photo to go along with the crazed hysteria of the attack. :)

The rules of this competition stipulate that people must complete their layout by the Sunday of each week. The judges take Monday to judge and eliminate some, then Tuesday they tell everyone who made it through. My goal out of this was to just make it past week one. :) Seriously! I'm such a new digi scrapper that I considered making it past week one to be a great accomplishment! If I could make it to week 3....well, I don't know what I would do with myself. Someone would have to scrape me off the freakin' ceiling, that's for doggone sure. :)

Feeling Lucky

2010-05-25T22:12:00.002-05:00

Colleen at Pretty Pixel Designs asked me to play with her kit called "Feeling Lucky" to showcase that it is NOT just for St. Patrick's Day. While lots of the elements focus around clovers and the general green-ness of St. Patty's, I managed to create a very nice layout without anything to do with that holiday. :)

I like how this turned out. My husband I were so proud of ourselves for planting this tree. The sucker is HUGE. Seriously, like 12 feet tall. We had to have our builder meet us at Home Depot because the tree was so big it wouldn't fit in our SUV. And then to dig the hole...oh.my.lord. Seriously, took forever. Both of us were exhausted after it...and we had two more (much smaller) trees to plant in the backyard!

We're still not sure if any of the trees are "taking" to their change of environment. Home Depot is about 30 minutes away, and we unfortunately picked a very windy day to go get the trees. So the trees actually suffered "wind burn" on the drive back to our house. We also realized after planting them that we didn't follow the explicit directions on how to plant them, so we're not sure if we supplied enough loose topsoil for the roots to dig into (the roots may have a hard time getting through the wonderful Oklahoma clay that is extremely tough!). So the trees are still looking slightly forelorn and droopy, but they haven't completely died. So there is still hope. :)

Stay tuned for two great kits from Pretty Pixel Designs coming up in the next few weeks! PPD will be participating in the May BAK through Stuff to Scrap, as well as releasing a brand new kit that has some wonderful colors!

Dusty Rose Garden #2

2010-05-19T22:07:00.002-05:00

I did another layout with Jenasis Design's Dusty Rose Garden. Very pretty kit! Unfortunately, the fact that I have a boy makes it slightly more difficult to create wonderful layouts that aren't feminine, but I think I did okay. He won't die of shame with a little pink on a layout. :)

The frame featured here is one of the elements in the kit, how nice is that! I don't think I'm creative enough to think about doing multiple frames, so I'm glad Shelby created a frame for geeks like me to just shove on there. :) I did, however, create my own little tag using a circular piece of one of the papers included, as well as the small pearl-like frame that is included. The word "reading" is part of the alpha included, and the words "with gamma" are a font called LT Chickenhawk, which is one of my favs.

Check below to see another layout using this kit!

I have to post a link to this kit I just found, which is one Jenasis Design did (not sure when she released it). Its called "Enchanted Evening". How pretty is this??? Ahhh, makes me relax and think sleepy thoughts just looking at it. Totally have to grab this kit, I only have a thousand pictures of Cameron sleeping that I could use!! :) She also has a kit called "Posh Baby" which is considered a mega kit because of the number of elements included...it has FOUR alphas!!! Must.Grab.Soon. Gee. I'm such an enabler. :) hee hee

Dusty Rose Garden

2010-05-18T23:05:00.002-05:00

A new kit is now available at Stuff to Scrap by Jenasis Design! Its called Dusty Rose Garden, and has beautiful soft-colored papers and embellishments. Really pretty kit! Its versatile too...while the theme might be around gardening and/or flowers, I've managed to create a wonderful layout that showcases NONE of that. :) Ahhh, the joy of kits like this, you can create ANYTHING you want!!

Here's my layout. The kit seriously has great embellishments, lots of frames for photos and extra bits that make a page so special. LOVE IT!!

I'll be working more with this kit in the next few days, so keep a lookout for more goodies. Also have tons of other things I'm going to hopefully finish this week. Lots of challenges on various websites I'm trying to finish, as well as the new competition at Stuff to Scrap called "This Scrapper's Got Talent" which starts the last week of the month. It is essentially like any reality competition you see on tv: we get a set of directions, complete them, and each week people are removed from the competition. Every week we go further we get goodies, and the grand prize winner apparently wins some good stuff. :) I'm just hoping to make it through week one!

Flower Scraps Release Time!

2010-05-16T22:24:00.002-05:00

Flower Scraps and Nibbles Skribbles have collaborated to create a wonderful kit called Bubble Bath Buddies! Its adorable...I seriously have about one thousand photos I can use this kit on. You know, babies in tubs are too cute to NOT catch on camera. Except, of course, my child, who seems to only be enjoying bathtime if he's emptied his bowels. At the same time. And can I just tell you he's 19 months old...and he had NEVER done this before?!?!? Now its an every-time-in-the-tub kinda thing. Yep. Not my idea of a relaxing bath before bedtime. :-/

But I digress! Here's the kit!

And here are two layouts I made with it. Lots of great embellishments, as well as a full alpha. Great kit!

Check it out at Stuff to Scrap, and be sure to hit up both blogs for Flower Scraps and Nibbles Skribbles to see more!

Pretty Pixel Designs Mi Amore Kit

2010-05-11T22:27:00.003-05:00

Colleen at Pretty Pixel Designs asked us to fiddle with a recent kit she created called Mi Amore. It was a kit she created during a designer competition at STS. It is now available in her store, so go pick it up! Its quite purty...very romantic. :)

Here is what I created. Yep, actually did a page without my son in it. How exciting! You just can't do a pink page for a little boy. I've already done purple with him, I simply couldn't do pink. :)

For once I decided NOT to journal. I wanted the simplicity of the picture and the elements to speak for themselves. Its my wedding day, do you guys need a play-by-play? Nope. :)

Flower Scraps release!

2010-05-09T23:05:00.004-05:00

Flower Scraps is releasing a brand new kit called Choo Choo. It is soooo cute!

I didn't have any appropriate train pics to use, but obviously this kit is versatile because I made two wonderful layouts with the materials. There are alpha's in this kit, and they are awesome! I'm such a sucker for alphabets. :)

One thing I simply cannot do is leave a scrap page without journaling. I'm a journaling psycho. Seriously! I always feel a story needs to be told. Yes, my pages might be slightly busy, or seem off-center because of journaling, but I always want there to be a story that my son can look back on 20 years from now and completely understand the point of the picture. So while this might not look as pretty as it would without the journaling, its MINE and I like it. :)

Finally on to a new Jessica Sprague class!

2010-05-09T22:56:00.002-05:00

Surprisingly, I talked my wonderful husband into letting me purchase the next Jessica Sprague class, called "Now We're Rockin". Of course, I think I purchased it two weeks ago and today was the first time I could actually sit down to do a lesson! The amount of goodies I had to download for this class took forever...seriously, I think it was 5MB of templates, papers, embellishments and whatnot. Then there were other freebies we got to grab along the way as well, including some downloads for a quickbook that is our "bonus lesson"...and I haven't even downloaded it yet, can't even think about that right now. My brain is on PSE overload!

So now that I'm apparently "rockin" in Photoshop, the tasks are getting more intricate and involved. We learned how to erase today. WOOHOO! I thought that was funny. But the big thing we learned, which honestly if you asked me to replicate without directions, I so could NOT do it, was how to take a photo in sepia tone, then pull color from the original photograph. See below to see what I'm talking about, I pulled the color of the flowers behind Cameron. Pretty cool...takes for.ev.er. Not kidding.

So this layout pretty much took me all day. I kept getting interrupted. Damn husband and son for trying to spend time with me on Mother's Day! Sheesh. :) So I got interrupted right as I was trying to get the major template positioned. Bsically we were given a template with the ripped paper, and we were supposed to position it slightly higher than what I did. But because Cameron woke up from his nap and we needed to go to the store, I sorta just stopped. And then about 30 steps later, I realized WHY it needed to be higher...and I couldn't go back and redo the whole damn thing again.

In any case, I've learned how to flip pictures and brushes, install brushes, work with sepia tone, finally remembered again how to fiddle with shadows, and various other things. I'm seriously exhausted after this lesson. :)

Two layouts for Challenges

2010-05-07T22:49:00.002-05:00

Another website I peruse often is called Divine Digital. This month they started a monthly challenge where you have to complete 10 out of 12 challenges to win some freebies. All I read was "free" and I started to do the challenges. I'm all about some free loot!

This first challenge is called "Use It Or Lose It". You download a mini kit, and you have to use everything in the kit. You can add things that you already have, but you MUST use everything in the kit. I admit, this is not my style. Its too romantic and floral...I don't mind flowers, but I'm more of the type that likes flower buds, not leaves and baby's breath and all that mumbo jumbo. Just give me the flower. I like tulips, they are easy. :)

In any case, I'm proud of myself for going outside my comfort level to tackle this challenge. I thought the picture of Jason with Cameron was appropriate, because Jason is looking at our son with unconditional love and support in his eyes, while Cameron is looking at me with bright-eyed enthusiasm and innocence. Love this picture!!

The only thing I added was the alphabet (title), and that was from a Team Divine Mega Kit called Bless Our Nest. Seriously a HUGE kit, with like 5 alphas and countless embellishments and papers. I bought it on sale the other day for 3 bucks!!! Totally worth it! Ironically, I just tried to find it on the DD website so I could link it here...and it is miraculously gone. I don't know if they've deleted it, or if its being revamped...who knows. If I see it again, I'll post it on here. Cuz its an awesome kit!

This next layout was for a "Font Challenge". They choose the font, you have to use it. Some fonts are very big and bold, which may be used for titles and dates. This font was more flowy, so I chose to use it in journaling. Its slightly hard to read, but its fine when its on your computer screen in PSE.

Everything from this kit came from Bless This Nest. Great kit. Seriously.

So I posted this pic on Divine Digital...and I got a very long email from someone else on the forums who essentially critiqued my layout and told me what to do differently. WTH?!?! I was very taken aback by this! I have never done that to another crafter. While I may not agree with what someone does, it is there perogative and their page! If someone ASKS for my opinion, I'm likely to give it to them, but in a constructive criticism way. I never say "Wow, that sucks. You really shouldn't have done it that way."

I will say this woman was very clear in stating she was not a designer, she just felt that the journaling was hard to read and that I should change my page to put the font as the title, then a different font as the journaling (in order to still qualify for the challenge, I have to use the font somewhere). I think she felt odd emailing me about it, and she said she just felt that I deserve to know a way I could make my layout better and more appealing to an audience.

Is it wrong of me to feel slightly angry about this? I really don't know. I haven't responded to her...I've just never had anything happen to me like this before. Weird.

May font Challenge at STS

2010-05-05T21:34:00.002-05:00

How cute did this turn out?? Seriously, I'm totally tooting my own horn here. I just {heart} it! I can't believe how "in" to colors I've been these past few weeks. But I love how bright and cheerful this page is. While the kit I used may not have been Birthday centered, it shows that you can make ANYTHING. :)

The title is actually made using a font, which was for the May font challenge over at Stuff to Scrap. It is appropriately called "Rebekah's Birthday", as STS is celebrating their birthday in May. I love this font because it can be used as a regular font, or as a title. The journaling font is from Creating Keepsakes, also a freebie, and is Ali Edward's handwriting font. The kit I used is Bliss of Both by Jenasis Design.

I really have nothing else to post. :( This week has been chaotic so far, as I've been really busy, started a new workout program that is completely whipping my butt (literally and figuratively!), and my son has been less than thrilled with our hectic schedule. He has been downright awful at times, even surprising his physical therapist with his tantrums today (then he wouldn't let her go, wouldn't come to me...she HAD to hold him. He screamed when she got there, screamed during the session, then screamed because she left. Gotta love toddlers!). So I'm hopeful both of us get a good nights rest tonight, because we have another crazy busy day tomorrow!

I'm hoping to have a lot of time to scrap this weekend, and a new release is coming up on Monday for Flower Scraps! Be sure to stick around for that... :)

I was a Night Owl last night...

2010-05-02T22:22:00.003-05:00

Which was perfect for the MLAS (My Life And Scrap) Speed Scrap Night Owl challenge, which was at midnight EST.

A speed scrap consists of a specific time limit with set directions. Jac, our hostess, was "easy", as she put it, and wasn't too concerned about the directions. So I may have deviated from her specifications slightly, but not too much. Of course, twice I read the directions incorrectly and basically had to completely redo my layout. Who would have thought that I could somehow read the word "right" and interpret it as "left"? I can't even blame dyslexia on that one...that's just plain stupidity right there!

Anyway, I used the kit Summer Garden by Flower Scraps. I just love these colors!! So cheerful. I have to admit I forgot to put a date on it, so I'll have to edit it and resave to ensure I have that to remember. I like this kit because it came with not one but TWO alphabets to match. I'm seriously matchy-matchy that way! I got into a discussion with Colleen, who is Pretty Pixel Designs, about alphabets recently. She explained how difficult they were to create, which makes a lot of sense. So I have made it my goal this week to download some more cool fonts that I can use instead of relying on alphabets. I downloaded a couple of free journaling fonts off Creating Keepsakes today, but I need more block-y style fonts that can be used for titles. So that is my goal.

I grabbed a few of the freebies for the STS blog train yesterday, did you? Check out two of my designers, Pretty Pixel Designs and Flower Scraps for their submissions. Great colors this time! I've also grabbed the Jenasis Design freebie she created for the STS May Color Challenge, which is also free. Ahhh, freebies. Gotta love 'em!

Lots of new things coming out this month, keep an eye out! I'm going to be busy creating!! :)

May BAK by Pretty Pixel Designs

2010-05-01T00:01:00.001-05:00

At Stuff to Scrap, designers can participate in a "Build A Kit" design, thus allowing customers to purchase multiple small kits to create a mega kit with a specific theme. In the post below this post, you'll see what Jenasis Design chose to create for the theme. Here is what Pretty Pixel Designs came up with!

Here's my layout. I like that I could show how this kit can be used for things other than barbequing. The colors are fantastic, very vivid and red!

You can purchase the kit HERE, and be sure to check out Colleen's website at Pretty Pixel Designs for more info!

May BAK by Jenasis Design

2010-05-01T00:00:00.000-05:00

At Stuff to Scrap, designers can participate in a "Build A Kit" train, where a theme is covered and the designers choose what they want to do. Here is the May BAK by Jenasis Design, as well as two layouts I made with it. Very cute kit!!

You can purchase the kit HERE for only $1.99!!! It has 6 papers and 12 elements!

My layouts!

Jenasis Design has also created a QP kit (quick page kit, where all you do is insert a picture, add some journaling and/or a title, and you're done!) which is also available on Stuff to Scrap. You can purchase it HERE and it is only $1.99 for four quick pages.

STS Birthday Bash!

2010-04-30T19:32:00.003-05:00

Please check out THIS POST at Jenasis Design with some great info on all the wonderful things going on at Stuff to Scrap in May!

Good Garden Eatin'

2010-04-29T23:16:00.003-05:00

Now that I'm a member of Pretty Pixel Designs CT, I got to take advantage of using this kit that was released earlier in April. In fact, I think the fact that I drooled all over the kit in my email to the designer (Colleen) made her pick me for her team. :) But seriously, LOOK AT IT! I. Love. This. Kit.

Here's my first layout with it. There are so many fantastic embellishments in this kit that I got to fiddle with...I actually took some off the page because I went a little embelly-crazy! But I really like how it turned out. I love the alphabet that comes with the kit, and she even included both lowercase and uppercase letters!! Such a great deal. If you want to purchase the kit, go to her store at Stuff to Scrap!

And now that you've seen my layout, you understand the title. Cameron loooooves to put crap in his mouth. Seriously. I have pulled just about any item you can think of out of his mouth at one point or another in his 18+ months on this planet. I found out the hard way that I could not put any furniture together while he was awake and roaming, because I had to drag one of those wooden dowels out of his mouth that is only about an inch long...just about the perfect size for choking! The kid is definitely orally-stimulated, and has been since birth (with a very possessive appreciation for a pacifier from the get-go). So there you go. That's why I said garden eatin'. :)

Lesson 4...I'm DONE!

2010-04-27T15:38:00.003-05:00

So here are my final two layouts for Jessica Sprague's class "Up and Running with Photoshop". I have truly enjoyed this class! I love that it was self-paced, with very specific videos and how-to's for digital newbies like myself. I've already told my husband I'm taking her next class, called "Now We're Rocking". :)

In the actual lesson, we learned how to use a grid to combine lots of different papers. We also learned how to invert specific parts and delete other parts at the same time. We also converted a photo to sepia tone, played with brushes, learned how to create different layers of text, cut out a shape and make it "shadowed"...I think that's it. Pretty involved lesson! All materials were courtesy of the large file you get when you sign up for the class. LOVE IT!

In our bonus lesson, we received a mini kit that Jessica designed, and learned how to make the trapezoid photo box used below. How cool is that? Not sure if I could ever replicate it without watching her video again (which, by the way, I will ALWAYS have at my disposal: part of the joy of taking her classes are that the materials, videos, and lessons are always there for you to look at!). The font used for "Bathtime Fun" was downloaded from dafont.com for a challenge at Stuff To Scrap, which can be found in the forum HERE.

I'm currently working on two releases for May 1st for a Build A Kit featured on Stuff to Scrap. There will be three more kits that will be released for my designers in the next few weeks as well...I'm going to have way too much fun creating these great layouts! I love how quickly I can pull a layout together and really document life. I still enjoy paper scrapbooking, but digi is just too easy and really accessible for me. I'm very much enjoying this venture in my life!

I'm now on THREE Creative Teams!

2010-04-26T23:37:00.002-05:00

How exciting! I'm now a proud creator for Jenasis Design, Flower Scraps, and Pretty Pixel Designs! Click on their names to go directly to their blogs to see wonderful inspiration.

And wait until you see what GREAT things all three have in store for you in May! I can't stop fiddling with all the goodies. :) Ahhh. I love this stuff. :)

Revamped

2010-04-24T14:51:00.003-05:00

So I was so irritated with how my previous post looked, I did the template again. :) Much better!!

I seriously used the same stuff: the same kit, same template, same font, same pictures. Just used different stuff. I liked how this turned out so much that I decided NOT to use any embellishments. I like how its simple and the focus is on the pictures.

I did find that my previous attempt actually was wrong. The journaling around the circle wasn't completed on the last one. If you clicked on the pic to make it large, you probably saw the journaling, but it was from the template and said something along the lines of "click the big T for journaling" or something like that. :) Ooops. :) hee hee Glad I caught it and was able to include journaling!

A SALE!

2010-04-22T23:36:00.001-05:00

JeNaSis DeSiGn is having a return sale! Check out her BLOG for info and her STORE at Stuff to Scrap!

Follow JeNaSis DeSiGn on Facebook!

2010-04-22T23:33:00.001-05:00

Follow JeNaSis DeSiGn on Facebook to see new products, sales, and all things digital scrapbooking!

CLICK HERE

On to Lesson 3 Bonus Activity...

2010-04-22T23:19:00.002-05:00

Okay, I'm not completely thrilled with how this one turned out. BUT, the whole point of this "lesson" was to learn how to manipulate a template, which I have learned. :) But I hate the papers I chose. So I'll probably redo it.

Anyway, this was using the Bonus activity and materials in Jessica Sprague's "Up and Running With Photoshop" class. I so {heart} this class!! Seriously, totally worth the money. Just to have someone walk me through the craziness that is PSE is worth it!! I'll probably do her next class as well, I believe its called "Digi 2" or something like that.

One of the great things about the class is all the freebies you receive. I was able to download two templates plus a QP (quick page, where everything is done and you just insert a photo and some journaling). The templates were courtesy of KPertiet. All you have to do is insert the paper, then a little typing and it magically inserts itself into the position. I did add the date at the bottom and the three embellishments...because I'm just THAT digi scrapper that has to embellish. :)

The papers and embellishments were from a kit called Muddy Buddies, which can be found on Stuff To Scrap. A couple of my friends have featured it on their blogs, and I just loved how rugged and masculine the set was! Perfect for a little boy who is bound to get into messy stuff in the next few years. :)

Jenasis Design Release Day!!!

2010-04-21T21:19:00.004-05:00

I'm so excited to take part in my very first release!! JeNaSis DeSiGn is proudly releasing the Bliss of Both kit, which you can purchase HERE, which has wonderful papers and elements to create a variety of pages. The Creative Team also combined their creations together for a Quick Page kit, which can be purchased HERE. I loved how colorful and bright my LO's turned out!

Here are three pages I created for this release.

I did this one for a speed scrap challenge over at Stuff to Scrap. Those challenges are probably the easiest way to light a fire under my tooshie...forces me to get creative in 60 minutes. :)

You can read all about the release at Shelby's blog at JeNaSis DeSiGn, for info and a freebie! And be sure to check out the rest of the Creative Team member blogs...you just might find some freebies there as well!!!

Another speed scrap accomplished!

2010-04-20T22:34:00.003-05:00

Aaahhhh. There is nothing better than the feeling of a satisfied scrapping experience. :)

I did another speed scrap at Stuff to Scrap tonight. It is really neat: I love that they give you steps and you can alter them slightly to meet your needs. Just seeing what everyone did was pretty cool, and how people interpreted the steps (which can be somewhat vague or open-ended). In fact, the person who posted directly above me in the forum is also a CT Member of Flower Scraps. She used the EXACT same kit as I did, Summer Garden, yet her page turned out entirely differently! That is the wonder of kits like this, where you're given so many wonderful papers and embellishments that you can really come up with some beautifully creative layouts.

My page was all about Cameron's first haircut. He technically did receive two very small haircuts in the autumn, only to remove the portion of hair on the back of his neck that was quickly becoming a mullet...or a tail, circa 1988 and Jordan Knight from New Kids On The Block (yep, I was sooooo in love with him. I've totally dated myself here, but there you go. I'm a kid of the 80's!). Cameron was well past exhausted at this point, so we really shouldn't have thrown him to the wolves with his first haircut. But he did remarkably well...and since he really doesn't have much hair, she just dry-cut it with scissors for 5 bucks. I guess I can't complain. :)

Waving Hello

2010-04-19T20:15:00.003-05:00

So I'm starting to get the hang of digi scrapping websites...which are a world unto themselves. :) The website Stuff to Scrap has lots of challenges, including a monthly color challenge. Within this challenge people can create free kits for others to use. The pull for this is that you have a main set of colors, and by the end of the month you have a huge amount of materials you have collected throughout the month. Its a great way to get a variety of styles as well, as each designer pulls from something you wouldn't have thought of.

My page came from the JeNaSis DeSiGn kit, which Shelby called Grapes From The Park. You can view it on her blog here.

Here is the preview.

And here is what I did.

Yep, totally made my son into a purple page. :) You have to love that! I just really liked that background paper, and it spun from there. And I think its so awesome that I could create this page out of a kit that was definitely more bright spring colors, and that kit came from a color challenge that had more bright colors. Its all in the mind of a scrapper: we see what we want to see. :)

I'm working on lots of new things this week, so I hope to post lots of good stuff! Be sure to check back for the JeNaSis DeSiGn release on Thursday, April 22nd, you'll love her new kit!!!

Hello exhaustion.

2010-04-17T03:15:00.003-05:00

I'm visiting family in Dallas...and my son is simply NOT okay with the change. He has not slept at all today. He's too keyed up about seeing his two cousins (ages 4 and 8) and because of it he wouldn't nap, took over an hour to get him settled down for sleep at bedtime...and then the little bugger woke up at 1AM and won't go back to sleep! So both my husband and I are up with him because we're trying to keep him quiet so he doesn't wake everyone else up.

I guess he figured the bedtime was actually naptime, so he now assumes he can stay awake for a few hours then hit the sack again? I don't know. I'm exhausted. Unfortunately we were scheduled to stay here until Sunday, but that might have to change. My husband goes back to work again on Monday (he's had three weeks off after coming home from deployment) and I'm really fearful of how things will be if Cameron is this off schedule! Ugh. And I miss my bed. My really big, super comfy, king-size bed. Sleeping on a rock-hard bed that a 4-year-old uses, next to your kid who is really angry about being out of his own comfy bed and into a pack & play, is just not all its cracked up to be. Ugh. I should have had a rum & coke before bedtime...would have made this all a little more amusing. Come 8AM...I ain't gonna be amused. :-/

Lesson 3 layout

2010-04-15T22:29:00.003-05:00

How cute is this?? Seriously, I'm LOVING this Jessica Sprague class!! Not only because I'm learning cool new "tricks of the trade", but also because essentially all of this stuff is now in my greedy little hands for future use! I have to admit, I'm not much of a primary-colors kind of girl. But I (HEART) this layout. Just L.O.V.E. it.

All the pictures were taken the day my husband left for his training last July. We thought he was leaving directly from training to go to his deployment, but fortunately he did come home for a week in August before leaving for 7 months. So these pictures were taken thinking they would be the last together. :(

This lesson was lesson 3 in Jessica's "Up and Running" class. She also has classes that are more in depth, essentially two sequels to this class...which I will be taking. There are just too many doggone bits and pieces to Photoshop, and I like to have someone walk me through it! I'm not the type that just fiddles and messes around with programs. I like direction. Plus this gives me something to do that is structured...and I even like having "homework" assignments.

I've also been working on some layouts for the new release from JeNaSis DeSiGn, which is coming up next week! I'll be sure to post some great stuff on release day from the new kit called Bliss of Both. It is really nice...I was so excited to download it I had to force my husband to put our son to bed so I could play. :)

We will be out of town for the weekend, but I'll have great stuff next week! WOOHOO!

WOOWEEEEE! I'm on a design team!

2010-04-13T20:18:00.004-05:00

I'm so excited, I'm on my first design/creative team! Shelby over at JeNaSis DeSiGn had a design team call...and she accepted me! Woohoo! I'm so pumped.

While I'm soooo new to digital scrapping, Shelby was kind enough to take me on and let me grow with her and the other team members.

Check out her blog!

Edited to add: a friend of mine asked what this means. Basically it means I am on a creative team of digital scrapbookers. We receive some product early and create layouts to showcase the great products that are going to be available. We essentially "sell" the cool stuff. :) And I just saw the first kit I get to work with for JeNaSis DeSiGn...it is sooooooooooooooo awesome! I can't wait to get started! :)

Eerrrrrrggggg

2010-04-11T22:58:00.001-05:00

I'm in the middle of doing a blog overhaul, complete with a new background, a new header (I think) and some other new things I've grabbed for free on the wonderful thing called the world wide web.

Can someone tell me if they are seeing my header twice? One standard one and one sooped up one that is all purty? Also, is the purty header not really centered, but kind of off to one side? ugh. Total frustration. I had someone design that header a few years ago, when I started this blog. But now its not anywhere near the color scheme that I want for the blog, and its slightly irritating me. I am OCD about matchy-matchy. Yep, I'm one of THOSE bloggers. Sadly, I'm also one of THOSE crafters. My hardest challenge is to veer off my monochromatic color template and add spots of colors to spice things up.

Anyway, so that's my post for today. exciting. I do have two "real" scrapbook pages to post, but I haven't taken a picture of them yet. Nothing new to post from PSE, either. One page in progress, still two lessons to complete in my "up and running" course.

This week is very busy with doctor appts and other things to do, plus we are heading south to Dallas for the weekend. So I don't know if I'll have much time to be creative. Boo hoo. :(

Week 2 Bonus Layout

2010-04-07T22:58:00.006-05:00

So this layout came together a lot faster than I thought it would! I'm pretty damn impressed with myself as well. :)

The paper and "brush" (the stamped thingie in the lower left corner) are from the freebies from the class. The strip of Paper is from Jessica Sprague's Echoes of Asia kit, which was free to us for being in the class (not sure if its free to everyone...I suggest you just go to her site and look around). The title is an alpha from a kit called Sweet Romance, as well as the gems on the bottom, which I got for free from Let Me Scrapbook!.

I'm typically not one for plain scrapbook pages which don't involve layers (I'm all about layering cardstock under photos!), but I think this turned out really nice. Very calm, and really helps to get the point across that this was our reunion after 7 months. I could have put a bunch of journaling on there...but why? You all know we're happy. :)

I'm definitely enjoying this class I'm taking...and I can already tell she's probably sucked me in for her two other in-depth classes (which are, of course, more money!) But it is just too convenient for someone to walk me through all of the ins and outs of Photoshop. She also provides a printout of step-by-step instructions for the lessons, so I can go back and find out how to do something. I also believe I will ALWAYS have access to this class, so if I forget how to do something, I can go back and find it in her videos. Nice!!

I'm loving my new foray into digital scrapbooking...and my husband loves that I'm happy about it. And he feels very special for buying PSE for me in the first place. :)

Lesson 2 Layout

2010-04-07T21:37:00.002-05:00

Okay. Here is my lesson 2 layout. This one really frustrated me. Some of the parts were apparently easy...but I had difficulty. And a couple of times she seemed to jump ahead as if we already knew that step, then would backtrack to explain it...and I had already paused the video trying to figure out how she did what she did. Ugh.

So this layout came with the frame already established, as well as the date mumbo jumbo at the bottom. The blue flourishes and the bottom orange one were already there. I added both photos, the green circles for the date info, the bulleted paragraph, and the orange flourish on the top left. Oh, and the title, which was pieced together with an alphabet that was included. That was HARD. For some reason, my PSE just didn't want to do that one! It took me forever. I was getting really frustrated. I finally just closed everything, opened it back up, and it was fine. I guess that is PSE's version of control-alt-delete. :)

So in Lesson 2 we learned how to do bullets, which are more involved than you would think. Also just silly things, like changing the font to make words stand out. We also learned how to choose two layers (in this case, the two pictures) and "combine" them so any changes you make will change both of them. In this case, it made getting them to be even a lot easier. We did the same type of situation with the bullets and with Cameron's name. Essentially the Microsoft Office version of "merge". We also learned how to do the swirly flourish in the top left, which was a "brush". That is the fancy way of saying STAMP. Really involved. Right now it seems too difficult for me to do on my own (you can create your own brushes...eeek!) so I don't think I'll do many of those until I've taken more in depth classes that have more details.

So I have no idea what the homework assignment is. I had this issue with the first lesson too: for some reason, the info just doesn't show up when I get to that screen. Its as if there is a huge paragraph missing or something. Very frustrating! I can get to the bonus materials, but can't see the actual assignment for lesson 2. So I'm frustrated. With the lesson 1 assignment, I just kept clicking and going back, then clicking again...and suddenly the info appeared. Weird. So I might have something else to post...or I might not. Who knows!

Page from Lesson 1 Freebies

2010-04-07T18:44:00.004-05:00

Okay.

I don't even want to admit how long it has taken me to get this posted. Seriously. I have had the darndest time! I was convinced that it was Blogger's fault. Blogger was creating the problem. Blogger was hiccuping and wouldn't let me post the picture. Its' always BLOGGER'S fault.

Ummm.........not exactly.

It really does help when you're trying to upload a PICTURE if you save the stupid document as a picture, and not as a Photoshop Elements document. DUH!!! So it kept saying, "Internet Explorer cannot display". And I kept getting more and more irate at Blogger. WTF, Blogger?!?! Its YOU! Its always YOU!

Nope. Its me. I'm stupid. There you have it.

So anyway, this digi page was created using elements in the "freebies" of the "bonus lesson" from lesson 1 with Jessica Sprague. Golly, that's a mouthful.
Each lesson comes with a lesson, bonus lesson (essentially a homework assignment) and then freebies you can mess around with. So I've already posted my original lesson page, as well as the bonus lesson page, so the page above is the page that I created from scratch using the freebies. It wasn't too hard, but then again, I didn't really do anything out of the ordinary. I'm still needing to learn how to do things like use a corner rounder on pictures or elements, and I want to find out if there's a way to create punched borders out of elements as well. I did figure out how to cut out what looks like strips of paper (the two on the left) out of paper she included in the freebies. I also created a layer for the picture of Cameron, and added the gems from another kit I have (and I totally don't know who I got it from...bad scrapper for not giving props to whoever created that! Bad scrapper!).

I'm now halfway through Lesson 2. I've had some issues with the class being geared towards Photoshop Elements 5 and 6, whereas I have version 8. And sometimes Jessica makes things seem really easy, when they aren't. Right now we're learning how to cut letters out of an alphabet...and my PSE was giving me fits over it! Took me forever to get it all cut out...and it took her about 20 seconds. :) Oh well. Live and learn.

Hopefully I'll post that later tonight. My son is having a hell of a week, and is definitely showing signs of the power struggles we are going to have with him as he hits full swing in toddlerhood. His two new problem areas are bedtime and mealtime. Kinda important things, don't you think?? He fights bedtime every night now, which is so not typical for him! We're not sure if he's just fighting it because he's still not used to the change of my husband being home again, or if this is just how things are going to be from now on. But it can take us anywhere from 20 minutes to 90 minutes to get him settled down...when it used to take me NO TIME AT ALL. Seriously, I would put him in his crib, say goodnight, and he would go to sleep. So battling for an hour is really stressing us out.

Mealtime, his new thing is to take a mouthful of something, chew it half up, then spit it out on the tray. Then he grabs it and throws it. Yep, fun fun fun! The amusing thing is, he doesn't do it with items he doesn't like. He does it with the stuff he likes. Its such a game!! We're having a really hard time doing what we SHOULD be doing, which is just not giving in to him. But when you've had a child basically fuss all day, you're much more likely to pop the damn waffle in the toaster that you know he'll eat rather than listen to him cry for another 3 hours. Ugh. I'm exhausted just thinking about this. Needless to say, I'm NOT looking forward to when Cameron actually turns two.

Lesson 1 in Photoshop plus "homework"

2010-04-04T22:10:00.002-05:00

Oy.

I've been fiddling with this lesson for 2 hours now!

I told you recently that I was going to take a class from Jessica Sprague called "Up and Running with Photoshop". Photoshop is DEFINITELY not a program where you can just wing it. Its not even a program where you can fiddle and figure it out on your own! Especially considering with every new update Adobe makes, new things are added and slight changes wreak havoc on a class where you are supposed to follow explicit directions.

Case and point. During the lesson, we are taught how to change the font color. In PSE 5 and 6, you can just be in the color wheel, drag your mouse over your page, and pick the color on your page that you want your font to be (in the example below, see the striped piece of paper with some brown splotches? We were supposed to just "click" on the brown and it would match the color). My version of PSE, Version 8, doesn't do that. I just had to pick something in this weird spectrum to try and match. A lot of other times things weren't where they were supposed to be, according to the tutorial.

Halfway through the lesson (which is supposed to take 50-60 minutes, by the way), Adobe just decided it wasn't working and shut down. Wonderful! Thank goodness I had just saved the project or I would have been PISSED! Anyway, it took awhile to get it back up and running, find my place, and move on.

So, here's my conundrum. In this lesson, she teaches you how to save your project three ways:
1. As a PSE document
2. As a JPEG (for printing purposes)
3. As a "web friendly" document for adding to galleries and blogs.

The web-friendly document is a lot smaller, but really involved with saving in this format. My version of PSE didn't like her directions. Following her directions somehow changed my document from 12 inches wide to 50 inches wide. Can you imagine printing that sucker?!?! So I decided a slight experiment. I uploaded both the JPeg and the web-friendly versions onto here. See any difference? I really can't.

I was slightly bummed when I bought the course (for 45 bucks) and realized this is pretty much a template. All we did was add the photo, the "grunge frame", as she called it, the text box, date, and the star at the top. That's it. While it was still engaging and interesting to learn how to do all of that, I had really hoped to learn how to cut out specific bits of paper to really "accessorize" my pages. After cutting out the star, I **think** I know how it will be done...but maybe in future lessons she's more specific about it.

So, after you complete a lesson, you get a bonus lesson (aka: homework) and I'm guessing each bonus lesson has some freebies like this one did. Took me forever to find it: for some reason, I kept clicking and the link to download the freebies never showed up. I don't know how I did it, but here it is. Again, a template. BUT, she did include the paper and some other embellishments should I decide to try my luck at creating something unique later on. I'm just about Photo-shopped out tonight, so maybe tomorrow. :)

On this one we were taught how to change a photo to black and white (really weird: you get to mess around with everything! I could have made Cameron out to be a freakin' ghost if I wanted to!!). Then we were supposed to use the things we were taught in the first lesson to add a text box and make sure it was spaced correctly on the lines that were already provided. I added a date on the bottom, just like what we did on the other page...but I have to admit, I think its too big and I'll probably go back and change it.

So there you have it. Two more digi pages. I'm on a roll. :)

First "real" digi layout

2010-04-03T22:12:00.002-05:00

Okay, I don't think this is half bad for my first layout without any lessons or anything! Thank goodness my friend Michelle has some great links on her website at Scrappy Towne (and yay for her, she just became a designer and has some really cute things I'll probably be buying!!) for freebies. She linked this wonderful site called Lori's Freebie List, which is where I found this wonderful animal freebie kit by a woman named Tami.

I still have lots to learn, trust me! I couldn't figure out how to essentially "cut" a paper piece to make layers, nor could I figure out how to get layers for under the photos. I also want to find out if there is a way to add photos in different shapes. I was pretty pumped to figure out (by myself, yay me!) how to turn the photos so they had a cuter look, as well as correctly downloading and "installing" the free fonts I've added, which were courtesy of Free Scrapbook Fonts.

I'm very excited to spend some more time surfing the net and finding some freebies, as well as learning more of Photoshop. I'm having loads of fun!!!

Finally did a digi page!

2010-03-30T22:55:00.003-05:00

My wonderful husband got me Photoshop Elements for Christmas. After getting it all set up on my computer...I was essentially clueless as to how I was supposed to use it! The program comes with virtually no user guide, and I was told by friends that I should "youtube" it to find some videos on how to use it. I love that "youtube" has become a verb, by the way. :)

In any case, I found Jessica Sprague's blog through another blog that I follow, and she has some great classes I intend on taking to help get me into the digi-world. She offered a free class to introduce some concepts, then encourages people to take her "Up and Running" class which offers a variety of lessons and goes into in-depth discussions/lessons on how to use Photoshop. Apparently there is also "homework". That is a 4-letter word, in my opinion. :)

So here is my finished page. Her free class essentially teaches you how to get your picture on the page, get it layered under other materials, and how to add text. Everything else was already on there, included (and unmoveable, so I couldn't "steal" some embellishment to use on another page...boohoo). But considering I have NO experience in Photoshop, this was still fun and educational for me.

I will say her video must have been done with Windows XP, because my setup is completely different from hers! It took me awhile to figure out how to save the files because her examples were different from mine. I'm almost scared what is going to happen when I upgrade to Windows 7...her classes probably aren't setup for that yet, so I might be way off with what I'm doing. :)

Please excuse the SIZE of me. Frustrating! To get the picture to "fit" in there, I had to stretch it...which meant stretching me. And it had to be stretched to ensure my son's face wasn't covered by the red bars with text on the right. So I look enormous. Yep, that is a real confidence booster right there. :)

This photo was taken the day before my husband left for deployment last August. My son wasn't quite yet 11 months old...and he turns 18 months on Friday. EEEK! How did he get that old?!?! Wasn't I just finding out I was pregnant???? Anyway, my husband returned last week, after exactly 7 months in the desert. We're hopeful he will be home for at least a year before going again, but anything can happen with the military. :(

I hope to take Jessica's "Up and Running" class soon, so hopefully I'll have more to post. Plus I've actually started REAL scrapbooking again, and am currently working on two layouts. Its amazing what you can do with another adult in the house!!!!!!!!!