Time for a new look...

Maybe I will be more motivated to post here if I jazz the place up a little! So, give me a few days and I'll be back in business. Happy New Year!

A blessed day

Today started out as "one of those days". Now I admit that phrase is one of the most over-used phrases around, but truly...this day was extra special! Everyone woke up in a good mood (which is unusual around here, as none of us are morning people and usually someone is crying. So I'm thinking, "Great! We are off to a happy start". Rob was kind enough to start my car for me so it would warm up. We had coats/backpacks laid out, breakfast eaten...and we were out the door on time.

So I go to open up the van door and...it's locked. And the van is running. I call Rob and tell him to come home (good thing we live close by). In the meantime we walk up and down the sidewalk trying to keep warm, since it decided to get cold this morning. It occurred to me that I hadn't tried the driver's side door. Well guess what? It was open!!! I quickly called Rob and told him to turn around. We arrived at school at 9:05am (which is the first time it's happened this year).

Next I quickly designed/printed a sheet of Christmas cards for the kindergarten class, at Rob's request. When you know Photoshop you get volunteered for all kinds of things! But I like doing it, 'cause it makes me feel useful.

Then I ran to grocery store to pick up supplies to make porcupine balls for a funeral meal at church. It's pathetic. Every time I do a love meal, I end up making these. I'm not much of a cook, and they are so easy. Want the recipe?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mish's Porcupine Balls

1 pound ground chuck
1/2 cup rice
1 can Campbell's tomato soup (15oz can)
1 can milk
salt and pepper

Mix meat, rice, salt and pepper in a bowl and set aside. Empty the soup into another bowl and fill the soup can with milk. Combine the milk and soup; mix well. Add 6 tablespoons of the soup mix to the meat, mix and form into balls (should make around 8 or 9).

Put the meatballs into an 8x8 baking dish and pour the soup over the top. Cover with foil and cook at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and cook another 15 minutes.

Serve with a salad and/or a baked potato. Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, back to the saga. I didn't have enough time to finish cooking these, so I ran to school to pick up the girls and ran back to grab the food. On the way back to church, the sauce spilled all over. BUT...I had the pan inside a quilted cozy-thing, so it didn't mess up the car. Yay!

Next on the agenda was a trip to the downtown library. A friend of mine plays in a group called the Moody Flutes, a flute choir, and they gave a little free concert at lunchtime. I had packed peanut butter sandwiches and apples for lunch (I'm cheap!). We made our way to the second floor, which overlooked the concert. We found a table but realized that area was reserved for a business luncheon. The waitress let us sit there anyway. I kind of felt stupid...here I was with my jeans, fleece vest and unwashed hair (which desparately needs a color job!) and my little sweeties in the midst of a bunch of well dressed business people. I even saw an acquaintance of ours who has a high-level job at a big company here, looking really important. But you know what? I was eating lunch with my kids, listening to the beautiful Christmas carols and watching their joy...and her kids are in school/daycare. I think I'm the lucky one.

The frosting on the cake was when the waitress came over and asked if the girls could have cookies. She returned with a big plate of cookies and brownies. Wasn't that sweet? And we weren't even supposed to be there!!

We found some Christmas books and were on our way. Oh, I can't forget the "angel in disguise" man. Heidi had left her Cinderella doll sitting on the table downstairs. While we were browsing in the children's area, a man asked me if we had lost a doll. He had tracked us down up there to make sure we got the doll back. Now, how many people would go to the trouble of doing that?

All in all, it has turned out to be "one of those days"...but it's the kind of day when you know God is here, working through people doing the smallest kindnesses, just to make your day a little brighter.

I hope you are having "one of those days".

Long time, no blog...

...at least it feels like it. Dawn, are you still reading? Or did you think I fell off the planet? LOL

I am doing okay on my list of "to-dos" so far. I still need to:

1. Wrap presents
2. Finish shopping
3. Make arrangements for Christmas schedules (ugh)
4. Make little treats for neighbors...he he

Not bad, eh?

I have managed to do a little scrapping and a little designing in the past week.

Credits: Christmassy Templates 1, Page 1 by Mish Gasser at 1HourScrap
Figgy Pudding kit by Iron Orchid Designs - DST December Exclusive Kit
Alpha by Robin Carlton from Tis the Season at The Digi Chick
Font: Kingthings Christmas, Century Gothic

Toni Berman's Holiday Sparkle kit and Painted Flourishes, both available at
Plain Digital Wrapper
Template by Danni R.
Font: MA Sexy

I made the second one to frame in an 8x10 frame for our Christmas decor. I think it turned out really cute!

I must confess that I have become involved in a ... hold your breath now ... paper scrapping group! I was invited to join Scrappin' in Toledo and it is so much fun! I attended their annual Christmas crop and let me tell you, these girls can scrap! It was 12pm - 10pm on a Saturday. They had tons of food, games, prizes...what a blast. I took my laptop and never even opened it.
But don't worry, I'll never give up digi. I think maybe I'll end up being a hybrid scrapper, adding real elements to my pages.

Oh, I can't forget to share this:

This one was actually a refrigerator magnet swap for Digital Art Quirks. Check out the gallery of awesome magnets here!

Well I better get back to my list. I need to go to UPS...wish me luck!

Cranking it up!!

It's been a while since I've had time to update my blog and I miss it!!

December has been amazingly calm...and I don't know why. It's almost eerie. I sent out my cards last week, have most of my shopping done (except for Rob (DH) but that's another story...) and am in good shape on my homemade gifts. WHAT is going on?? LOL

I've also been busy designing. I figured since it's Christmastime I should step it up and really try to get some products into the store.

Grab it here!

I also have a couple more that should be in the store by Monday. Woohoo!

In other exciting news, Toni Berman asked me to join her CT! I love her stuff...she has some fun, different products. Check her out here.


We finally had to have our big old maple tree cut down. I was so sad, but it had to be done as it was mostly rotten and we didn't want it to fall on our house!






And there are a couple of the girls doing their thing at gymnastics...




Well we are off to go grocery shopping now. Happy week!

Speed Bumps

I think I have finally recovered from Thanksgiving. It was really that stressful, but just busy. Thursday we hosted dinner here for Rob's family (7 adults, 2 kids...not bad). We got to cook the turkey, much to Rob's delight, since he loves to wake up to the smell of the baking bird in the morning. Yes, we cook the thing overnight...his family has always done it that way and thus, we do too. Everything came out great and tasted even better! I forgot to take pictures of the whole event though. Oh well.

Saturday was our second dinner at my parents' house. It was also good, although later I got to hear comparisons of "their food" vs. ''our food". Who cares? It's all good in my book.

I mention speed bumps because that was the theme of the sermon at church yesterday, which is something I'm going to remember all through the Advent season. Things get so busy this time of year, and going to church is a sort of "speed bump" to slow us down and help us to reflect on the season's true meaning. It may sound cliche, but I do think it is necessary. Especially after I venture into a store and come out feeling comatose. Do they pump something into the air to make you completely veg out while you are in the store??

We got our tree up last night, and will decorate it tonight. I highly recommend an artificial, pre-lit tree. Up and beautiful in 30 minutes or less! I have my card designed too, and the photo taken...now I just have to put the two together and we'll be in business. I'm going to try WinkFlash this year and see how it goes, on the recommendation of about 100 of my closest digiscrapping buddies. LOL

I'll post pics when I get motivated enough to unhook my computer from my new kick butt setup and hook in into my printer so I can download them. And maybe one of these days I'll make a layout...

Walk Slowly, Stop Often

Have you ever heard such a profound quote before? I certainly hadn't. I didn't realize that my dear friend Nicole was so full of wisdom. It's funny what you learn about people after a bunch of beers! LOL

We had a gathering for the biggest football game of the year...the Ohio State vs. Michigan game. The rivalry is one of the biggest in all of college sports, and living in Toledo is a blast during this game because it's in between Ann Arbor and Columbus. Unfortunately, I was the only Michigan fan in our house. But, I had fun anyway, as you can see...

Aren't we a cute looking bunch of girls? Sometimes I still feel like I'm 16.

The guys had a good time too, but they had to sit down for it. They just don't have as much energy as the girls do!

See what I mean? What's a football party without a little bit of ballet?

I should elaborate, but I need to go to bed now. My parents kept the kids overnight (lucky us).

Bye now!

I didn't realize it had been so long since I've updated this blog! Guess that means I've finally gotten a life, eh? LOL

Halloween was a blast. We did more that day than I can believe.

Credits: Doodles by Melissa Renfro, Orange paper by Audra Little, Striped paper by Melany Violette, Plaid paper by Kim Smith, Black glass and antique paper alphas by Meredith Fenwick, Date stamp by TMARU

Credits: Fall Day QuickPage by Mish Gasser, available at 1HourScrap; Stamped Alpha by Lisa Whitney; Cardboard Leftovers by Melinda Staley; Font: Accoustic Bass

After the Halloween festivities died down, I got sick...with my quarterly case of bronchitis/sinus infection. Yuck! Fortunately, my doc gave me some antibiotics and I'm feeling much better. That cough still wants to hang on though...same thing for Heidi. Guess we better drink more orange juice!

Yesterday I had the chance to go to Ann Arbor with my friend who plays in their community band and hear their concert. They performed in an old, renovated theater downtown. It was just gorgeous…navy blue, crimson and gold color scheme, and very ornate décor. The band played my all-time favorite band piece – Lincolnshire Posy by Percy Grainger – and performed it very well. Afterward we had dinner and a local pub (yes, I did order a local beer, and boy was it good!). What a nice getaway it was. The kids went to Mom and Dad’s, and Rob FINALLY got our bathroom walls sanded and primed. Funny how having a party will make you finish projects in the house.

Oh yeah...party. Did I mention we are having a huge football party on Saturday? Ohio State is playing University of Michigan, and in my neck of the woods (which is about 1 hour south of Ann Arbor, home of U of M, and 2.5 hours northwest of Columbus, home of OSU) it is always a big deal. We even have a store here in town called "Buckeye and Wolverine Shop" (the mascots of the two teams). Our neighbors are having a party too, so the fun is bound to burst out of the two houses and become really crazy. :-) I don't ever remember the game being THIS huge, since both teams are undefeated and ranked 1-2 in the national ratings. This event should make for a great layout.

I forgot to say that I'm a huge Michigan fan and DH is an OSU fan. Makes this interesting!!

Until next time...

Fall traditions

I read an email a few days ago by a gal I swap ATCs with who lives in Australia. She commented that it's strange to her that our culture is so driven by the change in seasons. It got me thinking...she's right! I get so antsy at the end of each season, ready for the next one. I can't imagine living somewhere without those expected changes. It gives me something to look forward to, otherwise I think I'd be crazy!

So here's a layout using my friend Audra's brand new kit, Urban Flowers, available at DigiScrapShak. Audra is a new designer, but her stuff certainly doesn't look like "new" material...be sure to check her out!

Fonts: Trebuchet MS (journaling), Adler (title)

Now just as I'm saying that I like the change of seasons, I'm not so thrilled about the weather right now. The girls had to miss out on our school's "Trick or Trunk" last night due to 43 degree rain...yuck! All wasn't lost, though. We took the girls to the Y for family night so Rob could see them in action, doing their gymnastics. I got in on the fun too, and tried out the trampoline and foam pit. Let's just say that being 34, overweight and having gone through childbirth...well, those things aren't conducive to gymnastic ability!!

Rob and I are hoping to go to Cedar Point tomorrow for the afternoon, since it's the last day of the season. Once again we are hoping for good weather.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Rockin' Recipes!

I just released a new template for making recipes! It's 8.5x11 so you can put your recipes in plasic sheet protectors and right into a 3 ring binder...how easy is that? I'm really excited about it.

I'm making DH a family recipe book for Christmas (shhh...don't tell him!) and I knew I'd have to create a fast way to do it, so I figured why not throw it into the store to do how it does? Let me know what you think!

[IMG]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a136/ohiotubagal/1%20Hour%20Scrap%20Products/mlg_0610_RockinRecipes_TemplateSet_.jpg[/IMG]


This is going to be a busy weekend. Tonight we are going to church for the annual spaghetti supper, then I get to go scrapping with a good friend of mine. It's a paper crop, and I think I'll take along the ATC's I haven't started yet for the swap I'm in at Digital Art Quirks. The theme this time is fall, and I have to make 11 cards! Yikes! I better get moving!

Tomorrow Mom and I are going to a breakfast at her church and we'll be hearing my friend speak about nutrition. Should be interesting. And after that, maybe a trip to Cedar Point, an amusement park about an hour from here, for one last chance before they close for winter. We are all going to be pooped!

Sunday is church, then a Halloween party at my grandma's place (she lives in a retirement community). Can you imagine...a bunch of elderly people surrounded by kids full of sugar? Good thing it's only 2 hours!

Signing off now to get out of the house for a while...cabin fever!! Have a great one!

A fun new kit!

~~Scrappin' Fun~~

Amy Knepper has been at it again and she's got a fabulous new kit! Leaps and Bounds is her newest creation and I couldn't wait to play with it!

Credits: Leaps and Bounds by Amy Knepper, available at Scrapdish; Heart template and stitching by
Christina Bartholomew; Font: EscapeTypewriterC

Grab Amy's kit here: Papers Elements

~~Fabulous Fall~~

We had the best weekend, full of fun fall activities. Saturday we drove out to our favorite apple orchard and picked apple with Rob's parents. It's about an hour drive, but it's always worth it to get out into the country and see the beautiful colors. We picked two bushels of apples and bought some fresh apple cider - yum! We also got to check out the farm's llamma, goat and chickens. After lunch at Wendy's (where I totally at a burger and fries...can we say mega points??) we headed back. The girls we soooooo well behaved the whole time. 4 is so much better than 3!!

Sunday we did Sunday School, church, lunch out and then picked our own pumpkins at a local mini-farm. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera for that excursion. The girls were so delighted in run around the fields, checking out the pumpkins, gourds, peppers, tomatoes, etc. And of course they had their church clothes/shoes on! Yikes! They even had a FREE straw maze inside their greenhouse. Fun stuff.

After a drive through the country we stopped for ice cream (DQ Blizzard - 17 points!!!) and then watched football the rest of the afternoon. Doesn't get much better than that. :-)

Okay, getting back to doing some princess puzzles now...LOL!

Bad Blogger!

AACK! It's been 10 days since I've blogged!

~~Gettin' Healthy~~

So...lots of stuff has been going on. The most exciting thing is that WW is going really well, and I'm down a total of 9.4 pounds!!! Yipeeeee!!! That's just a month. Now, I know it won't go that fast next month but it's a great motivator to keep going.

I'm re-training myself about portion sizes, exercise, the whole bit. You know, things like...don't pick a chocolate chip scone for dessert while at your nearby coffee shop, as it's 14 points!!! (that's for you, Dawn and Jeanmarie, since you know WW) (600+ calories, 30g of fat...yikes!). I found this out the hard way last night. I was out having "alone time" after Bible Study at a new coffee shop that has FREE WIFI. I had already bought the darn thing and taken a bite before I looked up its nutrion info. AACK! But, I ate it anyway (that's what those extra weekly points are for, right?). The good thing is...I went to the Y afterwards and walked on the treadmill for 40 minutes. A little damage control...

On a healthy note, here are a couple of layouts I've done for the Healthy Chicks Challenge at The Digi Chick:

Credits: LO based on a sketch at Scrap-Maps; Papers by Robin Cabana, from her Colorfully Yours collection, available at SBB; Wooden Alpha by Jeannie Papai, available at Digital Freebies; Flower by Jen Wilson

Credits: Rusty Flowers by Jeannie Papai, available at Digital Freebies; Date Stamp by Gayle Richter; Font: ChinaCat; Based on a sketch at Scrap-Maps

I enjoyed scrapping these because 7x5 is a different size for me, and it's nice to have a change once in a while.

Just one more nutrition factoid: did you know that a half rack of baby back ribs has 1110 calories, 60+ grams of fat and 11 grams of fiber? That's 26 WW points...the same amount I get for a whole DAY!!! I know this because we are going out to a rib place tomorrow night for my dad's birthday and I'm trying to be proactive. Hmmm...think I'll be ordering a chicken sandwich instead!

~~Gettin' Stressed~~

The holiday planning stress has started early this year. We are trying to get the extended family together the week after Christmas and let me tell you, it's not easy. Oh, the drama! I sooooo wish the holidays weren't like this. I love living near family most of the time, but sometimes it seems easier NOT to! Things are pretty easy with my parents and in-laws...it's the cousins that make it difficult. You know, people not wanting to drive a hour because it's too far and the kids get cranky. HELLOOOOO!!!!! It's Christmas, and kids gets cranky!!!! I could go on and on...but I will restrain myself. :-)

~~Gettin' Organized~~

After reading about the cool photo organizing program called ACDSee, I just HAD to download it and try it out. I've kept my scrapping stuff fairly organized, but oh my, this just takes it to a WHOLE new level! I think I could spend more time organizing all my stuff than actually scrapping. Yikes!


Okay, I better sign off now. Gymnastics tomorrow for the girls, and I think I'll workout while they are in class. Happy weekend!

Princess for a day

It's okay to "just be"
I had a bit of an epiphone the other day. You see, lately I've been having an identity crisis about being a SAHM and trying to decide if I should go get a part time job. But then, as usual, God stepped and gently smacked me in the head and said "get a grip"!

I have remembered the importance of being available to people. To listen, to help, to just be. Last week, our dear friends and neighbors lost their FIL. Since my girls are in school now and I'm not working, I was available to go to the funeral and lunch afterward. I was so grateful to be able to spend that time with them when most people didn't have that luxury.

Today I took my girls to a princess party. I couldn't have done that if I was working. Tomorrow, I am going to volunteer at their school to help the new choir director with sorting/organizing music. Once again, I can do these things because I have the time.

It's so easy to get caught up in getting a paycheck and doing some type of seemingly "important" work, but in terms of eternity, will that really matter? I want to look back on my life and know that I was a good wife, a good mom, a good friend, a good daughter...etc. And you know what? In order to be all of those things, it takes TIME.

'Nough said.


Princess Party
I know you are dying of curiousity about this princess party. So here is the layout I did this evening to record the event:

I blocked out the faces/names of the other little girls at the party...just to be respectful of their privacy. See all the credits here.

Melinda is doing a cool AAM challenge at RAKScraps - create an mini album about your favorite things. Here are the first two I've done:

Credits here

Credits here

Oh I have so much more to say but I really should get to bed, as it's 2:12 am. 'Nite!

Orange Sneakers

What a fun day! It's amazing to me how the weather affects my moods. Today was my idea of a perfect fall day...sunny, cool and about 60 degrees. I put on one of my favorite warm up suits (a cute one that isn't frumpy and makes me look like a "hip" SAHM) and took the girls to school.

Then it was on to my WW meeting, where I actually LOST 0.6 pounds! This was astonishing, because I ate way over my point limit for the week. I kind of slipped back into my old habits of snacking late a night (as a result of staying up too late). But I'm so glad I went. :-) Our leader talked about using music to motivate yourself, so I'm digging out all my funky and high energy tunes. I think I'll start with "Pump Up the Jam" by Technotronic.

Speaking of funky, check out my latest layout. I made it for Amy Knepper's CT challenge called Just for Kicks. I think I surprised a couple of people with my orange shoes. :-)

Amy Knepper's Vintage Vashon kit, available at The Digi Chick. Font is Ellifont

Hopefully tomorrow will be just as good as today.

Awww Eli...come on!!!

Eli, you might ask? Who is Eli? I am speaking of Eli Manning, QB of the New York Giants. He's my QB for my fantasty team and he's getting his butt kicked right now...3 to 35!!!

It may surprise you to know that I have a fantasy football team. This is thanks to DH who needed "just one more person" to fill out his league. Wanna know my team name? Wilderness Buffalo Chip. But then, it's appropriate since his league is called the Moose Poops, and the division names are Snout and Rump (I'm in the rump division...fun, eh?).

I have been doing some extremely strange layouts as of late. Quirky, you might even say. Ever since I started hanging out at Digital Art Quirks, I've been exploring the darker, quirker side of my scrapping personality. It's a bit scary, I must say, but also a good thing (I think).

I had to make a layout for their naming ceremony over there, and here is what I finally came up with:

Credits: Paper and beads by Krista Mettler;
Doodle shapes by Catscrap; Alpha by Meredith Fenwick

Oh and I forgot to show this one...it's an ATC I made for the Andy Warhol themed snail mail exchange, also at DAQ:

I can't remember where I found this lovely lady...sorry! I did all the recoloring myself.


I've been tagged by AmyK (thanks Amy!). This one is kind of fun. :-)

Here are the rules:
List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether or not they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your blog along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they’re listening to.

1. I'm So Glad Jesus Lifted Me (from Lifted, by Doulos, my old quartet)
2. Streetcorner Symphony - Rob Thomas (how can you NOT like this if you are a Grey's fan?)
3. How We Operate - Gomez
4. 100 Years - Five for Fighting (makes me cry every time I listen)
5. We Built this City - Starship (yes, I'm an 80's junkie!)
6. Start Me Up - Rolling Stones (great hockey warm up song)
7. Send in the Clowns - Judy Collins (I can't even explain this one!)

I want to tag Dawn T., Tania, Jane, Audra, Robin, Kim Smith and Raji. Have fun girls!

Surrounded by...

...some interesting people right now. I'm at Panera, while my girls are in school. I should be out walking, and I may actually do that once I leave here, but for now I'm catching up on blogging, emails, etc.

A Favio (Fabio?) look-alike just walked in. Give me a break...that look was over a LONG time ago! LOL! Two tables over there are two late 40-something women having breakfast. I think the one lady must know everyone in this end of town, because she has said hello to every other person walking through the door. Right next to me there is something of business meeting going on.

I like to come here just to be around people, specifically adults. I know all you SAHM's know what I mean. I just enjoy hearing adult conversation, even if I am not participating in it.

I'm having a really hard time right now being content with being a SAHM. I'm pretty sure this is where God wants me at the moment, but I'm getting restless. The daily tasks of doing laundry and constantly picking up toys are becoming mind-numbing, and I can feel myself slipping back into a darker mindset.

I had considered really launching into designing, but I've realized I have so much to learn and I just don't have the energy to get into it right now. I already spend too much time on the computer as it is, so I don't want to commit to anything more.

I did this layout last night. It's a somewhat weak attempt to "freestyle".

Credits: RAKScraps September 06 Mega Kit Add-On, available at Scrapdish: Alpha letter by Correen Silke, Flowers and corner swirl by Robin Cabana; Papers by Rachel Dickson;
Font: Batik

Journaling:
There is nothing you two won’t try. Today you decided to make your own balance beam out of
the toy bins. Of course...the toys that were inside all ended up on the floor! I couldn’t be mad, though, because you were having so much fun. Your creativity continues to amaze me every day.

Geez...this sounds depressing! Guess I better go take that walk. It's almost Friday!

Just scrappin'

I think fall is officially here. Today it's about 60 degrees and actually feels chilly! Makes me want to curl up and take a nap (but then, what doesn't?). LOL

I finally finished a layout from the girls' birthday in July. I started two other layouts but didn't like them. Melinda made this cool template which was perfect for all those photos, and of course Amy's new kit had the girls' favorite colors.

Credits: Template by Melinda Staley; Papers from Darling Dreamer, Elements from Clay Creations - both by Amy Knepper, available at The Digi Chick starting tomorrow, 9/21/06; Stitching by Doris Castle; Corner swirl by Robin Cabana, from the September RAKScraps Mega Kit Add-On, available at Scrapdish; Crayon doodle shapes by Tiffany Brady from Crazy Crayon Shapes, available at Plain Digital Wrapper; Hand Stamped Alpha by Michelle Coleman

Well I'm off to watch Lion King II with the kiddos...have to be there to explain potentially scary scenes. :-)

Happy hump day!

I'm done...

...reading about all the drama in the digiscrapping world. Over. Finished.

*** DISCLAIMER *** PMS **** WARNING ****

You are wondering what I'm talking about? Go on over to DST. Check it out for yourself. But I wouldn't recommend it. There was a thread there a few days ago about the digi world being oversaturated with designers. People basically started getting on their high horses talking about how great they were and how a lot of designers should not be selling because their work is low quality. It got pretty heated. One designer even said some of the kits she has seen "made me want to gag". How rude and unprofessional is that? Needless to say, I won't ever be buying from her.

Then tonight I'm reading the blog of a designer I've been following for a while. I like her stuff, but then, I like other people's stuff too. She is doing a guest CT call but is going to chose who gets in just by watching their activity at DST. It's as if it's the greatest privilege in the world to even be on her team for just one month. *Sigh* I'm sorry, but please get over yourself.

I guess I wonder how things went from a bunch of ladies who like to scrapbook, and use their computers to do it...to...a bunch of little girls in cliques who all think they are better than everyone else.

I just going to be taking a step back from the community aspect of this digiscrapping world for a while. I take things to personally that I know I can't handle it. This whole competitive designer stuff has stolen the joy out of scrapping for me. I did manage to finish a couple of layouts this weekend, and it was fun to just scrap, if for no other reason than to do it because I like it.

This first one is just a fun layout about the joy of pizza:

Credits: Whimsey papers and elements, and Slop Alpha by Tiffany Brady
at Plain Digital Wrapper; font = Michelle Marker


Here's a cute picture of Gretchen after she licked all the ice cream and cake off her plate at a family party:

Credits: Kate by Jen Wilson, Template by Melinda Staley, Font: LB Marci, Atomic Cupcake Inked Edges action


Now here is the most exciting one: how cool am I as a brand new 7th grader?? Check out the pin striped jeans, jean jacket (denim on denim would be a fashion disaster now days) and the Trapper Keeper.

Credits: Chocolate Swirls by Sue Bond Hand Stamped Alphas by Michelle Coleman Font: Shelton


And last but not least, my sweet Heidi, who since her 4th birthday has developed a bit of an...


Credits: Birthday Doodles kit by Tracy Blankenship
Fonts: Times New Roman, Stamp Act
Sketch by Robin Cabana
Atomic Cupcake Pristine Chipboard action

That should do it for now...gotta get some sleep. Church tomorrow, then bathroom painting, then another church service...it wears me out just thinking about it. Nite nite!

School shoes

~~ Time to shop ~~
Do you remember going shopping for school clothes and shoes as a kid? I sure do. I was really spoiled. I used to go with my Grammy (great grandma), Ma (grandma) and mom each fall. All three of them are only children, and I just have one brother, so you can imagine the amount of clothes I would receive. We used to go to this little place called "The Moppet Shop" in a small town nearby. I was always so well dressed!

Now...with my girls it's a completely different story. We don't exactly have the funds to be running around buying clothes at upscale stores, so I shop garage sales and K-Mart! LOL Apparently my mom felt it was time to step in when I told her Heidi didn't have any dress shoes and wore her "high heel" princess dress up shoes to church on Sunday (remember, she's only 4). But hey, if she wants to buy them shoes...I'm not going to stop her!!

We started at K-Mart and found some for Heidi, but none in Gretchen's size. Figures. Then it was on to Target where we found some for Gretchen. We just got black paten leathers, but then they wanted to try on the sparkly red "Dorothy" shoes too. Those went on the list for Santa. LOL Mom couldn't resist getting them each a Halloween shirt with a little sparkly bat on the front too. After lunch at McDonald's it was time to come home. I really like having Mom back in town. :-)

I finished this layout for Tiff Brady's contest on her blog. I think it came out cute, and it's a little different than the stuff I normally do, especially since it's a square!

Credits:
Random Scraps elements by Tiffany Brady
Background paper by Maya of Scrapbookgraphics.com
Sketch by Gina Miller (September blog freebie)
Machine stitching by Christina Bartholomew
Hand stamped alpha by Michelle Coleman
Date-It tag by Mindy Wade

I have a new album ready to go into my store at 1 Hour Scrap...it's an 8x8 (yes, another square shape...what it wrong with me?). Hopefully it will be up in the next day or two.

Happy Wednesday!

Oh what a beautiful morning...

...oh what a beautiful day, oh what a beautiful evening, everything's going my way.

Remember that song? I believe it was from the musical "Oklahoma". That's what I woke up feeling like today. Cool, eh? After I dropped the girls off at school (it seems really strange to say that), I gassed up Rocket (the girls' name for Rob's car, which is red...Little Einsteins is one of their favorite shows) and buzzed home to begin the systematic declutter of my kitchen. Wanna see what I got done?




Don't look too closely, because there is a pile of papers still sitting on the dining room table. BUT...since we have to eat dinner there tonight, I have a deadline! LOL I'll get the girls to help me shred papers. They love that.

Well, I better get back to decluttering. I'm trying to use the computer time as a reward to myself for getting chores done. Think that will work? Hmmm....

First Day of School!

Well, we made it through the first day. Woohoo! Everything went very smoothly. Uh, well, almost everything. We had the outfits laid out last night. The backpacks were packed. Rob came down early this morning and made the coffe, emptied the dishwasher and got out all the breakfast stuff. We were even running early. Rob kissed all of us goodbye and went off to school We were right behind him.

But.....









I LOCKED US OUT OF THE HOUSE!!!!


What an idiot I am! I was so hyper about taking the girls' pictures on the front porch for the first day that I forgot to take my keys as I shut the door behind us. DUH!!! Good think school is only 7 minutes away. I called Rob and he came home to let me back in. I kept apologizing and thanking him. He's such a good guy. He never said a negative word, and didn't yell at me (which I deserved for sure!).

The girls went right into their classroom without incident. There was one little girl in their class who was just wailing. I felt so sorry for her, and for her parents. They were loitering out in the hallway, waiting to see what she would do. That would be so tough.

I had intentions of coming home to clean, clean, clean, but instead I went to Panera to drink coffee with two friends of mine who were also dropping off their kids in the same class. I think I'll clean on Thursday...LOL!

Here is a layout I did of their orientation meeting last week:

Credits: RAKScraps August 06 Mega kit: BG paper and ribbon by Jan Bolton, Notebook paper and binder rings by Kim Jensen; Scrapdish August 06 Mega Kit Add-On Kit: Corkboard alpha by Rachel Dickson, Binder backing - paper by Correen Silke; Scotch tape and crayons by Christina Bartholomew from her School Days kit, available at SBE; Date-It tag pack by Mindy Wade at Plain Digital Wrapper

Now of course I have the photos I took this morning, and already have a layout ready to plop them into. I'll post those tomorrow.

Okay, enough blogging time...gotta go fold laundry and thaw some chicken for dinner. I'm going to make Chicken Paprikas tonight. Yum!

Blogger...ARGH!!

I've been trying to post a new message on here for the past several days and Blogger has not been cooperating with me!! Imagine me making that kind of growling, pirate type sound right now...ARGH! At least it worked this time!

So what have I been doing this week? Hmmm...can I remember? One highlight was Thursday. I took the girls to their "meet the teacher and see the classroom" day at their school. I think I was more excited than they were! They did great. When I took them into the room, they pretty much started playing right away and hardly noticed when all the parents left to go have the meeting with the main teacher. *Sniff* I guess my little girls are growing up. Hmpf.

This weekend we were supposed to go to our area's annual German American Festival, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. I think the humidity today is about 99.99% and it's drizzling right now...yuck! It's too bad, 'cause it's a really fun event. Our neighbors dance in the German dancing club and it's so much fun to go watch. And of course my girls love to watch the big girls twirl around in their German dancing dresses. Maybe next year...

Rob has been working like a maniac all week, getting ready for school to start. He's a night owl, so if he needs to work on a server problem or whatnot, he'll come home for dinner and then go back, but he stays until 2-3 am! The other night he went in to find a backup server actually smoking! Not good. But at least we live close to church.

So this week the girls start school on Tuesday. I'll have my camera in hand and will most likely be shedding a few tears, along with all the other moms in the hallway. Maybe I should arrange for us all to go to breakfast or something.

Speaking of breakfast, I have a dear friend in Texas who also has twins who will be starting preschool this year. She suggested we arrange a "champagne breakfast" and chat over the phone while relishing our newfound quiet time. Isn't that great? I'm afraid it won't be a regular thing, though, as she is probably going back to work soon. Bummer.

New product this week...check it out at my store at 1 Hour Scrap.



And some new layouts...

Credits: Something Girly kit by Jeannie Papai; Fonts: Times New Roman, Trebuchet MS

Credits: Boyish Charm kit and Layered Sketch (from Set #4) by Jeannie Papai; Font: OliJo

Credits: Young and Carefree kit by Amy Knepper, available at The Digi Chick Font: MA Flirty


Credits: Vintage Vashon by Amy Knepper, available August 31 at The Digi Chick.
Font: Note This

That's all folks...have a great week!

Last Week of Summer

It's FINALLY time to start school. How great is that? I'm so excited! My girls will be going to preschool this year. It's only two mornings a week, but this means that I get to experience all the fun "school stuff" through them. And, I get two mornings to do what I want!!!

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A couple of actually scrapping things (Dawn, you may want to skip this part...LOL!). Be sure to check out Gina Miller's blog today. She has a special coupon good only tomorrow in her newsletter, so check it out.

And I'm excited to announce that Amy Knepper has asked me to be on her creative team! Yay! I love her stuff and I look forward to seeing her "new" style. You can check out her designs at The Digi Chick Boutique. Here's a layout I made with her new Young & Carefree kit:

And here is one I made with her Beachside Holiday kit a while back...


Well I gotta run and go pick up our van, which just had the brakes replaced...another $350 out the window!

I finally picked a name!

Thanks for all the great ideas for the name of my new kit (see the previous post). Here are the two winners:

Paisley Palooza - May's idea

Flannel Pajamas - Debby's idea

I decided to combine the two and I came up with Paisley Palooza PJ's.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to give me ideas!! I'll probably end up doing this again...what a fun way to name a kit.

The kit will be available at 1HourScrap in a day or two.

Help Me Name This Kit!

I'm not the greatest at naming kits, but I usually come up with something. This time I'm stumped! Please help me name this kit. Post your suggestion before Thursday, August 17 at 9pm EST to be entered in the contest. The winner(s) will receive a copy of the kit. Can't wait to see what you come up with!

Please leave me your email address so I know how to contact you. Thanks!

New Week, New Stuff

We had a fabulous weekend! Grandma's party was a big success. She really enjoyed herself and even the kids did exceptionally well.

My brother is in town from San Diego for a few days so we're going to be doing lots of "fun uncle" activities, like the zoo, swimming and shopping for princess bicycles. I can't believe they are big enough for actual bicycles...yikes! But that's what he wanted to get them for their birthdays, so that's what we'll do. :-)

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I finished a couple of new QuickPage sets over the weekend. They should be up in the 1HourScrap store sometime today.


I made this one using Christina Bartholomew's School Days kit. I wish I had some photos to put in this set, but my girls will be starting preschool this year. Maybe I should go back and scrap along with Sue's School Album challenge at RAKs...and get my own school days finished!



I made this set with Christina's Birthday for Her kit, for my girls' birthday party. I always have a tough time scrapping birthdays for some reason (too many pictures, maybe?).

Well we're off to buy the bikes. Wish me luck!

How stinkin' cute is this? A digital grab bag! For only $1.00, I just HAD to go find out what was in it. Even I can afford $1.00!! LOL I won't spoil the suprise as to what's inside, but IMHO, it's well worth it. Tiff Brady is a master of marketing, wouldn't you say?

I found this over at Plain Digital Wrapper. Check out the grab bag here. Hurry though, because the grab bag is only available until tomorrow.

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I finally finished my layout for Grandma's 90th birthday, which we are celebrating tomorrow. I know it isn't very fancy or flashy, but I wanted to make it really easy for her to see/read. Grandma is legally blind so I used the black text against the yellow background for the best contrast.

Credits: August Color Challenge Kit by Lisa West (Zephanee) at RAKScraps;
tag by Robin Cabana; staples by Christina Bartholomew; font is Century Gothic

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Well I better get to sleep. Family gatherings are always so tiring...why is that? Maybe because they require so much restraint? LOL

Nite!

Beauty Treatments

It's Thursday, isn't it? Do you ever lose track of what day it is during the summer?

I'm taking the girls to get their hair cut this morning. My mom is meeting me at the salon (is BoRics technically in the "salon" category? LOL) because I guess she thinks I can't handle taking two four-years-olds to get their hair done. She's probably right. Heidi has been one time, but Gretchen hasn't been yet...could get interesting.

I have to share a recipe I'm going to try tonight. Gina Miller posted this on her blog for all of her readers. I have a ton of cherry tomatoes around here from our garden, so this will be a great way to use them. You can see the credits on her blog.


Okay, we're off to get beautiful! I'm sure I'll have some interesting pictures of this event...

Exciting news...to me, at least...

Well it's official...I just sold my first kit! I haven't done too much kit designing... just for prizes for my RAK chats/challenges. But, I'm on the CT at 1HourScrap, and Christina decided to encourage us to sell our designs there, if we want to. So far I've only sold QuickPages...but I figured...why not try it? This kit is my favorite one I've ever made. Today she emailed and said that someone had actually bought it. Yipeee!!!

My two other kits right now...

Find it here

Find it here

In other news, I took the girls to the park today to meet up with the playgroup from church. It was so nice to see everyone, since we don't meet during the summer. I have found summer to be kind of isolating...KWIM?

Things are shaping up for my grandma's big 90th birthday party on Saturday. My parents are hosting it...thank goodness! DH is in charge of taking pictures of all the guests. I still have to finish up my scrapbook page for her memory book. I find it difficult to "scrap on demand". I have so many good pictures I can't decide which ones to use.

Happy hump day!