am happy

{{tap*tap}} Is this thing on?? ;)

2011-10-08T00:06:00.005-04:00

Have you seen this?? The sassy new bag from drop it Modern!! I admit...I just recently found diM backdrops {embarrassed...how did I not know about these??}..and I've been drooling over all the fabulous designs and now this??! A fabulous Carry-All bag!! Big enough for all those diM backdrops I will have one day (*sigh*) and there's even a convenient spot for a small reflector on either side! Handy!

You know you want it. :) How could you not, right??

Happy iDSD!! Woohoo!!

2010-11-05T10:56:00.010-04:00

EDIT:

So sorry about the broken link. It should be fixed now. Please let me know if there are any more problems. Sorry! eep.

Can you believe it's that time again??? It's International Digital Scrapbooking Day and Mscraps is celebrating with one heckuva huge blogtrain! You won't believe the amount of amazing freebies! SO many goodies...quickpages, mini kits, word art, templates, even some awesome Lightroom Presets! Make sure you hit all the stops along the way! If you missed any stops along the way, you can always return to the first stop at Mscraps.

Enough babbling, right? Just get to the goodies! lol! Okay...here's what I have for you...I made a quickpage using the awesome new Mscraps "Organic" collaboration kit.

Click HERE to download.

I hope you like it! Thanks for stopping by and have fun on the train! Woot! Woot!

(Just a note... since we are all on different time zones, there might be some delays in postings but keep checking! The freebies will be there soon...I promise!)

Your next stop will be the amazing Miss Rachelle's blog! Wait til you see what she has for you!!

Happy iDSD!!

Babbling, Rambling...the usual. :)

2010-05-12T20:51:00.003-04:00

A little warning...I might gush shamelessly about Stephen Lynch in this post. Yeh...I'm gonna...be prepared. Sooo...I went to the Stephen Lynch show that I was so excited about a couple weeks ago. I was a little worried that the anticipation that I had for the weekend might set me up for disappointment. I was wrong. It.was.AWESOME!! I laughed from the minute he walked on-stage and might have finally stopped by the time we got home. Mr. Lynch brought out a couple of his friends, JoBurg and Rod, who were absolutely incredible! JoBerg is not only hilarious but he can wail! What a voice on that man! Gees! (Not dissing Mr. Lynch...his voice is awesome as well...that goes without saying, right?) The three of them play off of each other so well...it killed me! I laughed so hard I was in tears and in pain...and I loved it! They played right to every child of the 80's. Totally awesome, dude. heehee! And did I mention that our seats were fabulous?? Cuz they were. And I was in good company, too. Bonus! It was seriously a night that I will never forget. My only regret...I left my camera in the car. I didn't think they were allowed. So imagine the look on my face when, right before the show started, they made an announcement that photography was "encouraged." DOH!! Heartbreak! iCry. Oh well...no matter. I don't have photos but I have the best memories. It was divine. I highly recommend catching a Stephen Lynch show when you get the chance.

Moving on...guess what I got for Mother's Day...go 'head...guess!! {pausing...waiting for a guess...} My hub got me a new camera!! Uh huh...he did!! I've always been a Canon chick but had started toying with the idea of trying out a Nikon a few years ago. Sooo...he took the plunge for me and surprised me with a brand new Nikon D5000! Woohoo!! Now if I can just figure this puppy out!! (And if I can keep my sister from stealing it...hehe!!) I haven't had the chance to really play with it yet. Icky weather and sick kiddos. eww. But soon...soon I'm heading out on a photography roadtrip to play!! And maybe, just maybe, I'll talk some of my fam and/or friends into modeling for me. (Bribery might have to happen.) Can't wait to play!! eeeee!!!

Summing it up: Stephen Lynch....I heart him muchly. New camera...awesomeness...need to play. Here's a pic of my sweet Sydney that I snapped with the Nikon...(edited using 'vintage action' by photoshop stock)...thanks for stopping by!! mwah! :)

Happy iNSD!! Woohoo!!!

2010-04-30T15:00:00.001-04:00

Hellooooo!!! Welcome aboard the blogtrain!! woot-woot!! I hope everyone's enjoying the ride so far. hehe!! I'm so excited about this weekend!! So many fun and fabulous things happening all over the internet but especially at MSCRAPS! Games, chats, giveaways, new designers revealed, sales, sales, sales, and lots of freebies!! Definitely need to hop over there and check it out! On to the reason you're here....the freebie!!

I have a cute little quickpage for you! I made it using the awesome new Mscraps designer collaboration, Sonny {Heart}s Candy kit that's free this weekend with a $10 purchase! Wha?? yep...free. This kit is huge and amazing!! Over 400mb of digi goodness! Here's the kit:

And here's the page that I created and the quickpage:

(click image to download)

Or Download Here

I hope you like the quickpage! Now scoot along to the next stop...you have SO many freebies to pick up! This train is huge and the freebies are going to blow you away! Have fun and enjoy your weekend!! Your next stop on the blogtrain is the fabulous Qonita aka Qoqo!! Just wait til you see what she's has for you!! Enjoy!! Thanks for stopping by!!

Bad blogger...bad, bad blogger!

2010-04-28T00:30:00.007-04:00

My poor deserted blog...so lonely and neglected. I have been a terrible blogger. {hugging my blog} All better...my blog forgives me. ;)

Sooo...this weekend is going to be a busy one. First of all, I'm going to see....STEPHEN LYNCH!!! weeeee!! I am beyond excited!! Not only do I get to hang out with my hubby, my sister, and a bunch of friends for a night out...I get to see Stephen Lynch! {happy dancing!} I have no idea what made him decide to come to our neck of the woods but I.am.thrilled!

And...May 1st is iNSD! And Mscraps is having a huge celebration! Tons of freebies, lots of games, chats, giveaways, exciting announcements, and of course, amazing deals in the store! I'll be having a little freebie on my blog on Friday...make sure you come back and check it out! :) In the meantime, here's a little peek at the amazing collaboration that will be free with a $10 purchase! It is huge and gorgeous!

And here's the list of all the fun stuff that will be happening at Mscraps this weekend...

So there you have it...to recap...bad blogger, Stephen Lynch...totally excited, iNSD, lots o' fun stuff! I hope everyone is having a great week and planning a fabulous weekend full of good times with family and friends! Thanks for stopping by!!

Somebody save me...

2010-02-11T14:28:00.007-05:00

All I asked for was a white Christmas, which we got...our ground has been snow covered since two weeks before Christmas. Now...I'm over it. Around 4ft of snow on the ground. Cabin fever alert!! Stir crazy!! Winter blues...all of it...I've got it. Be careful what you wish for, right??Anyway...I just wanted to share some new layouts to occupy my time...heehee!!
{supplies: Connection collaboration kit by Fei-Fei's Stuff and Ange Designs at Oscraps, Mulitples template from Polly & Rufus at Mscraps}

{Spring Fling kit by Joyce Paul at Mscraps}

{Template by Fiddle-Dee-Dee Designs, More Than Words kit by Bren Boone at Mscraps}

{Color Pop kit by Joyce Paul at Mscraps, Page Me Template by Polly & Rufus at Mscraps}

{Love Blooms kit by Jenn Barrette at Mscraps}

{Let's Have a Talk Template by Fizzy Pop Designs guesting at ScrapOrchard, The Gift kit by Fei-Fei's Stuff at Oscraps}

{Photog Pretties template pack by Fizzy Pop Designs guesting at ScrapOrchard in February, Set My Soul on Fire kit by PixelWorks at ScrapArtist}

And finally...Sydney informed me yesterday..."No more princess. I have black nails and tattoos. I'm a rockstar." So in honor of her adorable transformation into a rockstar...I wanted to share this pic. It kinda sums her style up these days...skullies and black tips on her nails, ripped jeans, and pink & black fingerless gloves. yep...she's my little rocker.

Thanks for stopping by!! I hope everyone has a fabulous day!!

Mscraps Grand Opening Blog Train Freebie!!

2010-01-29T19:00:00.004-05:00

Woohoo!!! It's finally here!! I can't believe it!!! I've been so impatient and so excited to share the big Mscraps grand opening news with everyone!! Joyce Paul's new store is absolutely overflowing with amazing designers!! And the forum has been hopping and the store hadn't even officially opened yet! It's quickly becoming THE place to be in digiland! Sooo...I'm sure you're all here for your blog train freebie so I'll get right to it! I had the pleasure of working with this amazing collaboration kit from the Mscraps designers to create a quick page for you. AND...this fabulous, huge kit, New Beginnings, is absolutely free when you spend $10 in the store! Anyway...I hope you like the QP!! Don't forget to check out the store & forum to see all the fun stuff that's happening!! Here's what my page looks like:

Just click on the picture to download or DOWNLOAD HERE. Hope you're having fun on the train and enjoying all the goodies!!! Your next stop will be Sabrina's Blog...wait til you see what she has for you!! Have fun!! Can't wait to see everyone over at Mscraps!! {Just a little note...a lot of CT members and designers participating in the blog train are in different time zones so please be patient if a link isn't up yet. Just check back later Thanks for understanding!} ;)

Coming soon...for a good cause!

2010-01-17T19:11:00.004-05:00

As you know, the country of Haiti has been hit by unfathomable devastation and loss due to earthquakes. There are countless people that have been displaced and in need of the basic necessities...food, water, and shelter. Not to mention the need for medical assistant. The destruction and loss is beyond heartbreaking. Soon, you will have your chance to participate in the relief effort so stay tuned...the picture is just a peek at what's to come! It's going to be amazing!!

It's a sale!!

2009-11-26T22:37:00.006-05:00

From November 26th-29th, LizzyFizzy, aka Fizzy Pop Designs, is having an incredible sale in her shop at Catscrap!! Did you see that?? Her templates...only $1 per pack?? That is awesome!! Here are some pages that I've made with her templates...and using kits by Just Joyce (formerly Joyce Paul Designs) available at Catscrap and PickleberryPop:

Joyce's name has changed but her designs are still just as gorgeous as ever!! Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful evening!!

NSD News & Sales

2009-11-06T13:03:00.003-05:00

Joyce Paul is having an incredible sale at Catscrap!! If you've been a lurker and tempted to buy her designs, now is definitely the time to give them a try!! Three fabulous kits for only $1 each?!? Wow!! Run over and grab them now! :)

And Shaui, aka Fei-Fei's Stuff, is having a sale, (25% off!) AND a challenge on her blog! You need to check this one out...the prize...a $25 gift certificate to her store at Oscraps!! Wha?? Incredible!! Don't forget about Fizzy Pop Designs...her store is live and open right now!! Woohoo!! Have a good day...happy shopping!! :)

Exciting News!!!

2009-11-05T23:35:00.006-05:00

Everyone in digiland knows the fabulous LizzyFizzy! Her layouts are divine and awe-inspiring! Well...she is now the newest designer at CatScrap!! Templates (and more) by Lizzy, are you kidding?? I've always wanted to make layouts as amazing as hers and now...I can get pretty close using her templates! Seriously...I think I squealed when she told me the news and invited me to join her CT!! Want a little peek?? Here's a page I created using one of her templates (and the "Sheer Elegance kit by Joyce Paul at Catscrap):

Don't forget to hop over to Catscrap to check out the deals in honor of NSD!! Lizzy has some amazing things to come so be sure to run over to her blog and get signed up for her newsletter...don't want to miss out on all the latest! :) Lizzy's shop will be live in about 10 hours...Friday morning!! EEEEEE!!! Thanks for stopping by!!

Woot!! Woot!! It's a Blog Train!!

2009-10-30T22:47:00.005-04:00

Welcome everyone to the my stop on the first-ever Scrap Artist Blog Train! I have little treat for you!! You'll get a 12x12 inch QP using some of the goodies from our blog train downloads! (Mine features elements and papers from Dianne Rigdon and HGD.) Here's a little preview:

(Click image to go to download link)

Make sure to follow the link to the next blog on each of the blog stops to gather ALL the goodies, from kit parts and pieces to 12x12 Quick Pages from our wonderful CT members! Where do you go now? The next stop is the fabulous Miss Dianne Rigdon herself!! She has a beautiful kit on her Facebook page for you!! And if you get lost along the way, just head back to the Scrap Artist blog where you can find out all the details!

Have fun on the train and HAPPY HALLOWEEN to all!!!

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood!

2009-10-21T21:59:00.003-04:00

What a gorgeous fall day we had today!! I had the chance to get out and enjoy the sunshine with my niece, nephew, and puppy for a bit. Even though we were over run with ladybugs!! Those things were all over the place and they would not stay off of us! We played in the leaves, let Bailey swim in the pond for a bit...just enjoyed the sun on our faces after some cold, wintery days. This was Morgan's first time playing in the leaves and he had a blast! (It was Bailey's first time, too. I have to admit...she's a bit of a leaf-pile hog. Crazy dog.) And...my dog has been raiding what's left of my dad's garden. First she was stealing little tomatoes...she loves those but she looks so goofy with that little red tomato hanging out of her mouth. Goofy dog. And now...she's moved on to the cabbage. Yep...she eats cabbage. It think my Newfie might be a vegetarian! I didn't get any pictures of her raiding the garden but I did snap a few pictures that I wanted to share. It's been a while.

See what I mean?? Those ladybugs were impossible to get away from today! They were on our clothes, in our hair, and even hitchin' a ride on the shades. :) But it was okay...still a beautiful and glorious day. It was a good day. *sigh* Don't you just love those?? Hope you had a good day, too!! Thanks for stopping by!!

Sneak peek...

2009-10-20T10:45:00.005-04:00

Joyce Paul has a new coming soon...it's called "Dreamy" and the colors are so soft and delicate. *sigh* Like a dream. :) And she has a free add-on kit for all of her newsletter subscribers so make sure you run over to her blog and get signed up! Don't want to miss out on that!

It's beginning to look a lot like...

2009-10-17T23:38:00.002-04:00

Christmas!! EEE!! We are getting real snow this time!! Big, fluffy flakes pouring down! Only a ground covering so far but we're supposed to get some accumulation overnight. We must be getting something...my DirecTv is having an awful time. (Those of you with satellite tv know what I'm talking about...right, Gail??) :) Just making a little test post to see what I think of the new template...not so sure. Gonna give it a day or two but at least it's not that boring black blog anymore!! heehee!! Did I mention...I think it's about time for me to tweak some security settings and give Facebook another try?? I miss my FB buds!! Hope everyone is having a great weekend!!

Under construction...

2009-10-15T22:39:00.002-04:00

Well...something happened with my blogger template. It kept showing "image not available" via Flickr and I was waiting and hoping that it would get fixed but...alas...I had to finally give it up. So for now...my blog is boring and black until I can figure out what I want to do with it. Pardon my boring dust while I'm getting things adjusted. Argh. Did I mention we're getting snow, sleet, fog...fun stuff like that?? We're under a winter weather advisory. I'm so not ready for this yet. And...70 days until Christmas. I think I'm having a wee bit of a panic attack...ack!! Thanks for visiting my boring black blog!! (Say it...it's hard to say! Boring black blog...boring black blog...heehee!!) I'll get it lookin' better soon....hopefully!! ;)

This makes me sick...

2009-10-14T22:15:00.002-04:00

Ralph Lauren decided that being 5'10" and 120 pounds (and a size 2-4) was too big. They altered her photo to make her look like this! Can you believe it?? And then they fired her for being too fat!! A size 2-4!! Too fat!! Seriously?? This has to stop. Don't get me on my soapbox about the connection between the media and the epidemic of eating disorders!! SO many things to say! THIS is too fat??

They looked at this girl and decided that her waist and hips were too big and her boobs were too small and photoshopped her into that ridiculous, big-headed, anorexic creature! How sick is that?? The good news for her is she's all over the news now and women everywhere are outraged. She was a super model before but hopefully now...she'll be even more successful and Ralph Lauren will just go away. K...I think I've made my point. Vent and rage over...Ralph Lauren sucks. Okay...now it's over. :)

Another teaser...

2009-10-12T17:15:00.002-04:00

Shaui and Amanda have collaborated again!! EEE!! You have to see this!! Coming soon!!

AND...Joyce Paul is now selling at PickleBerryPop as well as Catscrap!! Yay!! Two places to find her fabulous designs!! And she has some amazing new stuff coming soon, too!! Stay tuned!! :)

A little teaser....

2009-09-28T12:36:00.003-04:00

It's true!!! Another fabulous collaboration from Shaui and Joyce!! Just had to post a little teaser. The last collaboration, "Serendipity," was such a huge hit! The people were begging for another one so...ta-da!!! Ask and ye shall receive! But it's not here yet...soon...but not yet. Make sure you're signed up for Joyce and Shaui's newletters so you can be the first to know about the official release of "Family Ties" and...get those fabulous coupons!! Wait til you see all the fabulous pages the creative teams have made with this beauty! You won't want to miss it!!

I can finally share!!

2009-09-18T22:36:00.004-04:00

Joyce Paul is now selling her designs at Catscrap!!! Whew! That was a hard one to keep secret! Love Catscrap! And all of her stuff is 20% off this weekend!! She's been so busy designing new stuff...beautiful new stuff...and there's more to come so don't forget to hop over to her blog and sign up for her newsletter to keep up with the latest and get those snazzy coupons!! (Oh yeh...I said snazzy. heehee!!) I hope everyone has a great weekend!! Thanks for stopping by!!

Little More News...

2009-09-16T12:14:00.002-04:00

Can you believe it?? Another blog post...already?? :) Well...I have some more news but I can't share all the details just yet. The fabulous Miss Joyce Paul is moving to a new store. We are SO excited...you should see all of the stuff she has coming up. {tease, tease} You'll definitely want to run over to Joyce's blog and sign up for her newsletter so you can get coupons (and maybe even a freebie or two from time to time) for the new stuff. You won't be disappointed! And, while you're over there, check out the contest/challenge that she has going on. All you have to do is leave a comment and make your guess...which store is going to be Joyce's new home?? Everyone that guesses correctly will be entered to win a $10 coupon to Joyce's new store!! So go ahead...take a guess for a chance to win!! And...here's a little teaser of some of the new stuff that she'll be bringing to the store:

And she's retiring most of her designs that are currently in her store at Shabby Pickle and everything's on sale...discounts from 20%-80% off!! So you might want to check that out, too. ;)

So don't forget to check out Joyce's Blog, get all the details, and sign up for the newsletter. Hope everyone has a great day!! Thanks for stopping by!

News...

2009-09-14T23:43:00.005-04:00

So sorry...I won't waste time with excuses about why I haven't blogged lately. You know how it goes. :) So everyone has heard the news by now. Mr. Patrick Swayze has lost his battle with cancer. It's so sad. I had to give a "WOLVERINES" shout out in his honor. You know you love "Red Dawn," too. ;) And...I'll freely admit it...I have "She's Like the Wind" on my MP3 player. Yep...it's true. And who hasn't uttered the phrase, "Nobody puts baby in the corner" at least once. Okay...more than once. And one of the funniest skits I've ever seen on Saturday Night Live was the one with Patrick Swayze and Chris Farley in a dance-off for a Chippendales spot. He seemed like such a great man. My heart goes out to his wife (of 33 years!) and family. He will be missed. Tragic news.

Shifting gears...I do have some other news to share. Some happy news for all you digi scrappers out there. Fei-Fei's Stuff and Paislee Press have teamed up again for another fabulous collaboration!! It's going to be released on September 17th at Oscraps so be sure to check it out!! And....Liz and Shaui will be hosting a contest on their blog to celebrate!!

So don't forget to check out their blogs on the September 17th to get all the details on the contest! You won't want to miss this kit...it's a must-have!!

That's all for now. If you haven't seen one of Patrick Swayze's final performances...a cameo appearance as Velvet Larry in "Powder Blue," you should check it out. It's not the greatest movie but Mr. Swayze's performance was definitely a scene-stealer. He will be missed.

A Beautiful Meeting...

2009-08-16T17:24:00.006-04:00

I'm so excited to finally get to reveal this!! A collaboration kit from two amazing designers...Joyce Paul from Shabby Pickle Designs and Fei-Fei's Stuff from Oscraps!! I'm a member of both designers' CT's so I was really excited at the possibility of these two getting together. And they have created a gorgeous, must-have kit!!! I give you..."Serendipity!" Take a look at this:

The colors are stunning and such gorgeous papers!! The elegance and versatility that you'd expect from both of these talented designers. So...of course...I have some pages to share...

It really is one of those kits that I'm going to keep reaching for over and over again. Oh!! Did I mention that I had a LO featured on Gallery Standouts Blog?!? Miss Tiina has a fabulous new collaboratioin kit called "Cassidy" and I created a silly little layout about the 80's that Miss Kate Hadfield herself picked to "point" at on the blog! I was so excited!! Here it is:

I just grabbed some of the super cute elements from the kit and journaled about how they reminded me of the 80's. It was so fun to make!! I have a bunch of other LO's that I need to upload so I can get caught up but I don't want this to be one of those super-long posts. Just wanted this one to be about Joyce and Shau's awesome new kit!! Lovin' it!! Check it out if you get the chance!! ;) Thanks for stopping by!!!

A break from our usual programming...

2009-08-07T00:27:00.010-04:00

So, I have about 20 (literally) layouts that I need to upload but...I just didn't feel like it tonight. Tonight, I just wanted to take a little break and share some things. First of all...I was SO sad and shocked to hear that my beloved Mr. John Hughes passed away suddenly today. A heartattack at the age of 59...so sad. My life wouldn't be the same without "Pretty in Pink," "Some Kind of Wonderful," "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," "Sixteen Candles," "The Breakfast Club," and the list goes on. Such a sad day. Thank you, Mr. Hughes, for sharing your talent with us. I was and will always be a fan. K...enough of the sad stuff...

A lot of you know that my son started playing football last week. Wellllll....after three practices, he decided that he has fun playing football...but he wasn't having any fun. Plus, he hurt his leg on the third practice and it's still bothering him so that might have worried him a bit. But, I did manage to snap some pictures during one of his practices! Yay!! I bought some fabulous photo overlays by Emily Powers today at We Are Storytellers and had a chance to play!! :) (By the way...sadly, WST is closing. But the good news is...everything is 50% off!!) Anyway...here's my little man at practice:

Straight out of the camera...I was digging it!

And here it is with a subtle overlay:

He caught me...oops!! Having mom take your picture at practice is like, SO embarrassing, dude. He's such a handsome young man. Wish he'd let me take more pictures!!! Maybe one day. ;) And...of course, I have to share a little picture of Sydney. This one is a little more vintage feeling. She had her favorite pale pink lip gloss on and it reminded me of the retro model looks so that's the look I wanted the picture to have....

It felt so good to actually get out with the camera and just play. And then get back into Photoshop and actually play with the pictures without scrapping. I have some senior portraits to do soon so I need to get out and practice some more!!! Thanks for letting me share!! And check out WST...they have some seriously good deals on some awesome photo overlays and actions. I'll share all the layouts soon....have a good night...and go watch your favorite John Hughes movie for me. ;)

Quickie for today...

2009-07-20T18:26:00.005-04:00

Hi, all!! Just wanted to share the post that Leah made as a guest over at the Simple Scrapper blog!!! And...there are some freebies for ya!! Four quickpages made with her Super-cute "Cherry Pie" kit!! So buzz on over and check it out!! :) Here's the quickpage that I made for you...

Speaking of buzzing...Leah has a new kit in the store today..."Sweet as Honey!!" It's so cute!! Check out the honeycomb paper!! Here a little page that I made with it...

That' all for today!! Run and grab the freebies!! ;) Ta!!

Does it mean I'm old???

2009-07-18T22:06:00.010-04:00

I just admitted to my friend, Amanda, that my hubby and I are looking for......an RV!!! Wha?? When did that happen?? I never pictured myself as an RV'er...does that mean I'm old?? (Don't answer that!) And I have a big class reunion coming up in a couple weeks...that's not helping my decrepit feeling. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone, though! I think I'll be needing a sassy new haircut for the big occassion. (It's a good excuse for a haircut and a new outfit, right??) The fact that all of my favorite movies are getting remade must mean I'm old. I have to chuckle at some of the remakes, though...can you believe they're actually remaking "The Karate Kid??" Why would they do that? If they try and remake any John Hughes films like "Pretty in Pink," I'll have to through a fit and protest. (No one can replace Miss Moly Ringwald and Jon Cryer as Andi and Duckie...it just can't be done.) And I've been might cranky these days...that's a sure sign that I'm old. (If I say 'youngster' or 'teeny-bopper,' that'll just push me right over the hill!) :) Anyway...enough will the babbling. How about some layouts?? Here we go...

Leah has the cutest new kit in the store at the Playground!! It's my favorite from her so far...yummy houndstooth papers and the cutest little flag elements! Here are a couple pages that I made using the "Cherry Pie" kit:

Leah's going to be making a guest post over at the Simple Scrapper blog (with some freebies...woohoo!) next week. I'll post the link to the post when it's up.

The fabulous Kitty Designs is the guest designer at the Playground this month...so exciting!! I made a couple LO's using her "Toy Box" kit.

And some more FPD CT layouts:

(I was in the GSO thread over at DST for my "i see" layout! Yay!!)

And Joyce Paul has some amazing new stuff in the store at Shabby Pickle....an adorable kit called "Cutie Pie" and she also has a fabulous (and huge) collaboration kit with the talented Lauraskathi!

And I did a page using Jodie McNally's word art from the Oscraps collaboration kit, Homespun...

(That's my dad's parents and one of his sisters in the photo.)

A simple little page using Dianne Rigdon's GloryWorks kit at ScrapArtist:

And finally, a couple pages using Fei-Fei's Stuff's new kit, Reflections, over at Oscraps.

*whew!* I think I'm all caught up now. So....when Amanda gets her trailer and I get my RV, we're going to meet up and park our campers side-by-side and have a big ol' redneck-fest...anyone want to join us?? (Oh yeh...I told hubby, Amanda...it's on!!) :) Thanks for stopping by!! Let me know if you guys find me an RV...and a cane!! ;)

BLOG HOP!!!

2009-07-10T00:15:00.007-04:00

I have been so excited to share this news with everyone!! I "met" an amazing digital designer, Joyce Paul, at Funky Playground Designs and instantly loved her work! She had a CT call and I was lucky enough to be invited to join her team!! Recently, Joyce was given the opportunity to sell her designs at a different store but the only drawback would be...she would have to be exclusive to that store. Joyce was heart-broken to have to leave FPD so soon after getting started but she just didn't think she could pass up the opportunity to sell her designs at.....

SHABBY PICKLE DESIGNS!!!!

So to celebrate Joyce's grand opening at SPD, I have a little gift for you!! Two, actually! Two quickpages...one created with Joyce's "Copacabana Loco" kit and one created with her "Summer Fun" kit. And that's not all...we're having a blog hop! Freebies at each stop! So, after you pick up your goodies here, make sure you visit these CT member's blogs to see what they have for you!

Joyce herself!!!: http://queenofscrapz.blogspot.com

Conny (aylin): http://dingenvangisterenenvandaag.blogspot.com/

Mariska (monalisasmiles): http://monalisascraps.blogspot.com

Tonje (vissarah): http://vissarah.blogspot.com/

And make sure you stop in at Shabby Pickle Designs to see the deals Joyce is running for her grand opening!! (I've heard rumors of a 20% off sale...I'm just sayin'...)

Onto the goodies...here's the first quickpage that I created:

Download "Copacabana Loco" QP here!

And the second:

Download "Summer Fun" QP here!

I hope you like them!! Have fun on the blog hop!!

Rants and news...

2009-07-09T14:31:00.006-04:00

Maybe I've been watching too much TV...maybe I'm just in a bitchy mood but here's some of what I've been thinking lately...

If I see one more over-lit commercial or photoshopped ad trying to sell me anti-wrinkle cream, I think I'll scream.

Shouldn't it be illegal to use fake eyelashes in mascara ads??

Isn't it wrong to use botox-filled, cosmetic-surgery-having chicks to illustrate how to be "fabulous-over-40??"

Am I the only one that thinks Nicole Kidman looks...ridiculous these days??

I'm beyond ready for the new season of "Project Runway!!" "The Fashion Show" just isn't cutting it. Poor dillusional Merlin.

And finally...on a happier note...I love all of these spaces but how cool is that wall with the log ends??

Okay...all done with my ranting!! Onto the news...well, I can't actually share the news yet, I just wanted to tell you that I have news!! {heehee!} I'll be posting it tomorrow and...if you're good, there might even be a little sumpin'-sumpin' for you! (Hint...QP...maybe more.)

So hopefully I didn't scare you away. There's going to be a blog hop tomorrow with freebies so be sure to come back and check it out!! Thanks for stopping by and letting me be bitchy!

What a day for my generation.

2009-06-26T17:13:00.013-04:00

Even though I didn't watch "Charlie's Angels," I was still so saddened by Farrah Fawcett's passing. Her fighting spirit with all that she went through was so amazing and inspirational. I remember watching a movie on TV with my mom when I was young called, "The Burning Bed." Farrah played a battered wife with children in a time when there was no such thing as child support or help getting child care. Her character did everything she could think of to get help and get out of that abusive situation but she just couldn't get out. I remember being glued to the TV and my heart aching for her! I was so mad at the man that played her husband, I haven't been able to like him in anything I've seen him in! LOL! For some reason, I think I really expected a miracle for Farrah in her battle with cancer. Even with the reports of how fragile she was , I think I still believed that she would beat it. Beat It...it's stuck in your head now, isn't it?? You all know me...you know I'm a metal/rock chick but I have to admit it. When I was in middle school, I was obsessed with "Thriller" and all things surrounding it. The videos, the dances, and yes...even the glove! It was so sad to see the spectacle that his life had turned into...the allegations, the ever-changing face, the marriages, the veiled children, Neverland...need I say more?? But no one can deny the impact that he had on the world...not just the music world but fashion, dance, movies, comedy...everything! What will comedians do without Michael Jackson to use as fodder? Anyway, I just wanted to give my nod to the passing of two cultural icons. And yes...I owned a Thriller-style jacket AND the glove...and I could Moonwalk. That's right...I was fierce. :) Now you know...
Okay...moving on...
Joyce Paul is having a big birthday sale this weekend over at the Playground: 50% off all of her products!! Run and stock up while you can! Here are a couple new LO's that I made using two of her newest kits, "Summer Fun" and "Copacabana Loco."

And I created two freebie desktops for the Playground! Yay!! They're posted, complete with all the links, on the Funky Playground Designs blog today. And Traci Murphy has a fabulous new kit in the store..."Too Cool." I made a couple pages using it:

And Leah has a new kit, "Cocktail Party," and date stamps, "Date Me," in the store! Here are a couple little pages I made using her new schtuff. :)

And another one for Jodie McNally using my favorite word art by her...the "Whatch Love" pack:

And one using Jodie's word art from the "Modern Art" collaboration at Oscraps:

And Shaui, the creative master behind Fei-Fei's Stuff, has a new kit, "Full Bloom," and some new date elements, "Save the Date," at Oscraps. A page using the new goodies:

And finally...a page using some of my favorite Dianne Rigdon pieces...a little of this, a little of that...

I think I've covered everything now. ;) In closing...feather your hair and do the moonwalk tonight and remember our icons with me all you PYT's. :D Signing off 'til next time...

Total Random-ness!!

2009-06-15T12:50:00.021-04:00

I'm so scatterbrained now that school is out!! Having the kids home all the time and not having homework to help me keep track of the days is really messing with my head!! (Today is Monday, right???) So I just thought I'd post some of what's been going on in my little world. K...here goes...be prepared for total random-ness.

First of all...did you hear the news?? My friend, LEAH FARQUHARSON, is one of the newest designers at Funky Playground Designs!! YAY, LEAH!!! She is really rockin' the digi designs!! She has a super cute collaboration, "Mary Mack," with the cutest little potty people and some super chic houndstooth!! Here's a page I made using it:

Her "Journal Your Heart Out" journaling spots and date stamp are a must-have...especially if you're a hybrid kind of girl. LOVE those!! Here's a page using the Green Peace solids & alpha and bits and pieces from Leah's other kits, (Chinese Whispers, Hopscotch, and Merry Go Round), and those fabulous journaling spots...

And her Green Peace kit, alphas, and solids are some of my faves from her.

Here's a page using the kit,alpha, and journaling spots...

And...I'm on Leah's CT!!! Yes!!! And guess who else is on the team??? My friends, AMANDA & JESS!! We're all former AC Bailey DT members and now we're all back together again!! It's been SO much fun!!! And Leah is having a CT call!!

She'll be adding a few fabulous creative peeps to the team and I'm so excited to see who'll be joining us!! You can check out all of Leah's fabulous creations in the store at Funky Playground Designs. (So exciting!!)

And I added another CT to my list....Joyce Paul is another one of the new designers at the Playground and I just joined her team!! I've made a few layouts using her kits...

You can check out her designs in the store at the Playground. And since we had so many new designers joining the store, I've been whipping out the layouts left and right so here are just a few random ones....

*whew!* Overloaded yet?? Just a few more! ;)

The fabulous Miss Traci Murphy asked for guests artists at her awesome challenge site, Hodge Podge Art, and I was one of the lucky ones!! This week's challenge was all about "emotion." So here's my layout for the "show your{emotion}" challenge...makeup-less photos and all!!

And I haven't forgotten about Miss Jodie McNally's team...here's a little something I did for her...

And Shaui (Fei-Fei's Stuff) is expecting a new baby!! Awww...yay!!! But she's having lots of morning sickness...boo!! But I haven't forgotten about her team either!! Here we go...

Woohoo!! I think I'm all caught up now!! And now to the random-ness...

I am in love with every single print from this fabulous etsy seller, carambatack. How gorgeous are these??

And I think I need one of everything from the amazing designer, Kate Towers. drooollll. This especially

Okay...I'm seriously done now! No wait!! I just say the news today that my friend, Becky Williams, has just landed a two month guest spot at My Scrapbook Nook!!! CONGRATULATIONS, BECKY!! You rocked that contest, girl!! I'm so happy for you!!! WOOHOO!!!

K...really...now I'm finished!! I hope everyone has a wonderful day!! Thank you for stopping by!!

Where Have I Been?!?!

2009-05-28T13:14:00.013-04:00

EEK!! I'm such a terrible blogger! Ack! So let's see...how can I sum up how my last few weeks have been?? Hmm...I know...with a visual aide...here we go...

Yep...that was my view when I went to my daughter's school to watch their little talent show. For about an hour and a half...I got to take in this lovely image. I don't know if you can tell, but his shirt actually says, "Horny as Hell." (Always appropriate attire for an elementary school, right?) I've been in therapy ever since. LOL!!! Pfft!! I know what you're thinking...why did I take a picture of THAT?? Well...I just had to have evidence...I didn't think words alone could do it justice! Oh my...Okay...so I think you get the picture...probably a little too vividly, right? Things have been a little hectic and sometimes, a little crappy. (Boo...bad pun!!) Enough of that...moving on...thankfully! ;)

Things have really been buzzing behind the scenes over at Funky Playground Designs!! Lots of exciting things to come...I can't wait to share!! Only a few more days and I'll be able to spill it all!! But I can share some of the layouts that I've been making for FPD...

And Fei-Fei's stuff was in the Spotlight over at Oscraps. Shaui hosted such a fun challenge! Nothing on your page could be straight...everything had to be turned on an angle. Here's the page that I did for the challenge:

And this is just another page for Shaui's team...

And this is a little tribute to all the mom's that I did for Jodie's team for Mother's Day...

And here's a little page I did for Dianne Rigdon's team...

And a hybrid baby shower invitation for Dianne's team...

Okay...I think I'm all caught up now. But I have more to share...soon!! Yay!!! I hope I didn't scar anyone with my lovely picture...I hope no one has nightmares!! {heehee!!} Have a wonderful day!! And I promise...next time...my blog will be crack-free!!

2009-05-02T13:13:00.007-04:00

Happy {i}NSD to everyone!! So...I have some news that I can finally share!! I made the CT for Fei-Fei's Stuff at Oscraps!! AND...I'm now on the Funky Playground Designs site CT with my buddy, Leah!! How cool is that?!? I have to thank my friend, Amanda, for giving me the heads-up about Fei-Fei's Stuff call and for all the encouragement when I wasn't sure whether to give it a try or not! And I have to say "Thank You!" to my friend, Leah, for shooting me an email to let me know about the FPD site CT call and giving me all kinds of encouragement and telling me to give it a whirl! Thank you, girilies!! You guys rock!! I'm hosting my very first challenge for FPD today and I'd love it if everyone would come over and say 'hi!' Here's the link but you'll need to sign in.

Shaui has a super-cute new kit, "Explore the Jungle," and some fabulous swirlies, "Pop Swirls," that I've been playing with...here are a couple new layouts:

And Traci has a fun and fabulous new kit...."all about da funk" and I made a LO with it...my first page as a Funky Playground Designs Layout Artist!!

So that's all for now...I have to pop back into FPD and checkon my challenge...I hope to see everyone there!! And I hope everyone is taking advantage of all those fabulous NSD sales that are going on this weekend!! Can you believe it...I have bought one thing yet!!! That's just wrong...I need to shop!! Have a wonderful day, everyone, and thanks for stopping by and letting me share!! mmmwwwaahhh!! :)

A New Obsession...

2009-04-17T22:59:00.013-04:00

I have to admit it...I've been bitten by the Through-the-Viewfinder bug! Have you given it a try?? Basically, you find an older camera with a super cool viewfinder...some of them have really cool markings or guides or numbers. Then you just put your digital camera's lens up to the viewfinder of your old camera and take your picture that way. Such a cool effect! I was lucky enough to find an old Minolta 35mm of my sister's that has a very cool viewfinder with numbers down the side. Here are just a couple of the shots that I took...they're straight out of the camera, other than a bit of cropping to get rid of excess black around the shot:

Now I need to start looking for some more old cameras to see what other kinds of viewfinders I can find. Give it a try...but I'll warn you...you'll be hooked, too!

Let's see...what else is happening...the fabulous Jodie McNally is in the Designer Spotlight over at Oscraps! She has some really fun challenges, freebies, and prizes...you should check it out!! Here are a couple layouts that I did for her retro challenges...one for the "i'm still obsessed" challenge and one for the "what's old is new again" challenge:

And she has some new word art in the store, too. Anyone like games?? She has a very fun "game night" pack:

And I've actually made a couple pages just for me...can you believe it?? :) I picked up Fei-Fei's Stuff's new "Make It Count" kit and made a couple pages.

I haven't done a big-picture-page in a while but I just loved that shot of my niece, Emily, with her little toesies and her colorful book so...I decided to make it huge! :)

Oooo...have you been following the "Capture the Flag" contest going on over at Funky Playground Designs?? It's a contest to find the next big digital designer and my friend Leah has been rockin' the competition!! Only two weeks left!! I'm so excited to see what she creates for this round!! (Shout out to Leah...holla! LOL!!) You are doing an amazing job, girl!!!

Okay...I think I've sufficiently bored you with my babbling and layouts. :) I'm off to bed...seems I've developed another sinus infection...yay. Thanks so much for stopping by!!

A Good Cause...

2009-04-02T15:00:00.002-04:00

Can you believe it's April already?? Thank goodness!! I can't wait for the warmer weather to start! We have some little buds on our trees and some flowers are starting to bloom...not many but at least it's a start. So not only is April wonderful because of the promise of Spring...it's also National Autism Awareness Month. (The layout above is a page I did about my sweet little niece, Emily called "i wish you would let me in.") It's such a misunderstood disorder and they're learning more and more about it all the time but we really need to do what we can to help spread awareness. It's so frustrating when people give the looks and the comments...like "that child needs some discipline." They have no idea what's really going on. It's much more complicated than just needing a time-out. If we could get the word out to parents and children alike, to raise awareness...to promote understanding and patience and tolerance...that would be such a wonderful thing!! Since today is Worldwide Autism Awareness day, I thought I'd tell you all about a really good cause. This amazing digital kit is available at Oscraps:

These amazing designers got together to create a beautiful kit to help a friend of Kitty's whose child was just diagnosed with a form of autism, just after her husband lost his job. They have no insurance and can't afford to pay any therapy. If you know anything about autism, you know that early intervention is key. It's a huge kit...just under 500 MB!! And it's 20% off today...$7.20 and it all goes to help a child in need. I'd love for you to help if you can. If you're not a digi scrapper, please consider giving a donation to Autism Speaks . And I understand that money is tight so if you're not able to make a monetary donation, please just take the opportunity some time throughout this month to bring up the subject of autism in some way. To your friends, on your blog, on a message board, in some way, let's help break the silence surrounding autism. Thank you for letting me stand on my soapbox a little today!! I'm hoping and praying for a day when autism is a thing of the past. Thank you for stopping by and have a great day!!

You guys are so sweet!!

2009-03-21T15:36:00.011-04:00

Hi, everyone!! (That's my little card for all of you! {cheese!} I made it using Dianne's Hearts and Crafts kit.) A little info to share...Unfortunately, when Jesse was in the hospital, I felt like I had to step down from my DT position at AC Bailey. But can I just tell you how sweet all of the DT ladies have been through all of this??? I have received so many gorgeous cards and beautiful ATC cards to lift my spirits. I'm so touched at their thoughtfulness. Jesse went back to school almost two weeks ago and his first day back felt like the first day of kindergarten all over again. I was so worried! DH and I struggled with the decision...we didn't want to send him back too soon but we knew he was getting stronger and missing his friends so we just felt like it was time to get him back to a sense of normalcy. Well...on that first day back, my mailman knocked on my door and guess what?? Leah had sent me a big ol' box of happiness!! The timing was perfect! She sent me the most beautiful papers (can you say, Sassafras Lass??? yummy.) and fabulous journaling spots and super cute Flair and Thickers and..oh my...just a ton of wonderful goodies! I couldn't believe it. It seriously made me teary. (I had been a weepy mess all day so...it was bound to happen.) Anyway, I just want to say thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to all of the super sweet and uber thoughtful ladies over at AC Bailey. You guys are the bestest!! {{HUGS, hugs, and more hugs!!}}
So Jesse is better and back to school but...Syd came home Wednesday...with the stomach flu. Ugh. She's still sick...poor little girlie can't keep anything down...but it does seem to be letting up some. But before all of that started, I did manage to get some pages finished that I thought I'd share. Here's a hybrid layout that I made using Dianne Rigdon's Flit and Flutter kit and a digital layout using her "Shabby Love" kit:

And...Traci Murphy has a new collaboration kit, "Love in the Rain" in the store at Funky Playground Designs. I made a little layout with it and it ended up in the Spotlight at ScrapArtist. Woohoo! A $5 gift certificate to the store! :) Yay! Here's the page:

Let's see...what else...Jodie has some new word art in the Oscraps store that I love so I put this layout together using it:

And one using her holiday/vacation word art:

And finally...I bought an amazing kit from Catherine Designs at After5Designs called "Creation 23." Oh my...it's loaded with fun little elements and gorgeous papers. So I did a little playing...just for me. :) Here are a couple pages that I made using it:

Did I overload you with pages?? :) Thanks for hangin' in there with me! And thanks again, to everyone for all the sweet comments and lovely cards and ATC's and thank you, again, Leah, for your amazing generousity. You are a sweet and caring lady...thank you!!! I'm off to tend to a little lady that's not feeling so great. Is anyone else ready for summer break?? Have a great day!! Thanks for stopping by!!

Some good news...

2009-03-03T11:32:00.004-05:00

Most of my online friends know about the scare that we had with my son, Jesse. In case you don't know...my son was in the ICU in Morgantown for four days a couple weeks ago. They suspected meningits which was scary but seeing Jesse in so much pain...even the morphine wasn't helping at first...was the worst part. We had lots of things going on...waiting to see if it was meningitis, knowing that he hada super-severe sinus infection that they were treating, acute renal failure, low heart rate, fever, vomiting...it was all very terrifying. But, after it was all said and done, it was not meningitis...just the crazy sinus infection wreaking havoc on his body. He was released after five days and he was sent home with five different meds and a heart monitor that he had to wear for 48 hours. We have to monitor his kidney levels and they're continuing to fall which is wonderful news and he has an appointment with a pediatric cardiologist tomorrow so hopefully we'll get the 'all-clear' on that, too. He's doing SO much better...it's been a few days since he's had a headache. Yay!! And we're doing a pretty good job of keeping up with his homework thanks to his Aunt Kelli and cousin, Kylie. They've been gathering his work from the teachers and getting it to us. We have had so many people praying for Jesse and the family and people offering to help in any way they can...it's been overwhelming to say the least. John's co-workers took up a collection to help out with travel expenses, his grandmother gave us money in case we needed to stay at a hotel, my brother and sister-in-law kept Sydney a few nights while we stayed with Jesse at the hospital, my mom and dad kept Sydney and drove me to the doctor (I had bronchitis and sinusitis while all of this was going on) and back out to Morgantown, they fed our doggie and kept everyone up to date on Jesse's progress, John's sister Kelli has made sure that the school and all of Jesse's teachers know what's going on and we have had countless people adding Jesse to prayer lists and prayer chains...such blessings in the midst of a tough time. We'll never be able to thank everyone enough but...thank you everyone!! Your kindness overwhelmed us and continues to do so. Hugs to all and keep us in your prayers for tomorrow...I thought I'd post a little picture of Jesse with his comfort food...toast with jelly and hot tea. Have a good day, everyone...thanks for stopping by!!

My First Freebie Attempt...

2009-02-01T16:25:00.005-05:00

I was working with one of the fun little digital kits from the one of our designers at AC Bailey for my DT requirements this month, and I decided to make a little freebie! I emailed Jenn, the designer, and she gave me permission to post it...thank you, Jenn!! The kit is called "Spellbound" by Creative Confusion and it's available in the store now. :) So...I decided to make some Valentines for those (like my son) that don't like all the pinks and reds of Valentines day. These Valentines are blue, green, cream...a touch of black for good measure. ;) I made a sheet that's ready for printing...each Valentine is about 3x4 inches.
Download here

Like I said, this is my first attempt so if you have any problems, let me know! I hope you like 'em!! Have a great day!!

I'm a StepMom!!

2009-01-26T20:39:00.013-05:00

Well, technically I'm a hybridMom but MiYon's back-up CT is called StepMoms so I'm a StepMom! MiYon is the fabulous Scarletheels whose fabulous designs are at CatScraps and I am honored to be part of her team. She put out a call for her back-up team...one layout per month...I can handle that!! :) And she emailed me to ask if I would be interested in being a hybrid CT member. Um...heck yeh!! So I can create as much as I want but my requirements are one hybrid LO every other month...digi on the other months. Sooo...I downloaded my first kit and it is gorgeous!! It's called "Muse's Return" and here are my first official layouts for MiYon. (The first one above, the second one here...)

Isn't that kit dreamy and magical??? It's funny...I always sort of leaned toward the digital stuff that looked like traditional pages but I am really loving the freedom that comes with the whimsical, dream-like pages. And Traci has a fabulous new kit in the store now! It's called "Love Plus One" and it is so yummy! Lots of doodly hearts and the cutest little elephants EVAH! :) I made tow LO's over the weekend using the new kit and even though they're similar, I liked both of them for different reasons so...I uploaded both of them. Here they are....

Awww...weren't we cute?? That's a picture of DH and I that my picture took a *few* years ago. {hehe!} Let me see...what else....Jodie McNally has some really fun new date dots and alpha dots in the store and some new papers so I made a quick and simple P365 layout using all of her new stuff.

Hangin' in there?? Too many layouts?? :) I've been away from the blog so long, I got a little behind on my layout posting. So I have a few more...Dianne Rigdon has some really fun new goodies in her store. Lots of bling and super cute doodles...I played a little with those...here's what I came up with:

And I almost forgot...I broke out Traci's Artistic Frames and Alphas again and my a little layout those and a bunch of other Traci-goodies. :0)

*whew!* That's the last of 'em!! Did you make it through?? ;) What can I say...I've been busy! {hehe!!} And I really am keeping up with my pic-of-the-day...haven't missed a day yet. I'm just very bad at getting them uploaded to the internet. I'll be sharing some of those next time.And finally...have you all been to AC Bailey lately?? Erica has been hard at work giving the store and message board a facelift and it looks great!! You should stop by and check it out when you get the chance. Thanks for stopping by and hanging in there with me all the way to the end! Have a great night!

Just playing...

2009-01-11T20:41:00.010-05:00

Oh my goodness...has it really been that long since my last post?? Gees. Oh well..no excuses...just right to the point. A little (okay...probably not-so-little) explanation about the layout above. I bought a sweet new digital kit just to play with...just for me and I was so excited to get it downloaded and start playing...WWEEEE!! Well...those of you who know me know that I have satellite internet service which can be a little unreliable during nasty weather. Nasty weather like we've been having for days...ice, snow, little more ice...fog...blah, blah. Anyway, this big ol' kit that I bought was huge and it was separated into about 5 or 6 different parts. So I started downloading...and then...kaput. I got one set of papers and two sets of elements before it stalled and I just couldn't wait for the rest of it...I had to start playing. I was able to grab the rest of the kit today and wow!! It's so magical and surreal!! Oh my goodness..I suppose I should tell you the name of the kit and designer, right?? :) It's called "Secret Garden" by Lily Designs and it is loaded with fun goodies like fairy dust and wings and stunning papers. I had such a good time getting lost in my own little world making that magical layout of Syd. Okay...on to some other things.

I've decided to join some of my friends and play along with the Project 365 that's all the rage this year. At first, I found myself taking artsy-fartsy pictures that may have been pretty but really had no bearing on my life. So I decided that instead of just committing to taking one photo a day, I would make sure that I took a photo every day that had some meaning to that particular day in my life. They may not be the best or gallery worthy, but they will be how I want to document my year. My friend, Leah, started a Flickr group for us so we can all help each other stick with the challenge. For that gallery, we decided to upload the pictures straight out of the camera...no tweaking or cropping. But I'm sure I'll be doing some adjusting to my pictures before I actually use them. Here's my first picture....

My kids have cereal every morning before they go to school so I just snapped a picture of Syd's Apple Jacks. Silly...but part of our day. And here's my second one...

The story behind that one is...I was taking the tree down and un-decorating and Syd was really sad about it. She asked me if I would leave her little Christmas tree up in her room "forever" so that's why I chose that picture. Oh...and then our fridge decided to quit working on us so that why I snapped this shot:

So you see...not the most fascinating shots, eh?? :) But at least I've been keeping up...yay!! Okay...here are a couple layouts that I wanted to share...I just made this one for Traci Murphy using her gorgeous Artistic Frames and Alphas:

And finally, I made this fun little layout using Jodie McNally's Geek Chic word art pack.

And I was so excited when I got an email from Lauren Pieters telling me that my geek layout had been featured on the Gallery Standouts blog!! Wha?? Yay!! Oh...and one more thing...I got an email a couple days ago from Scrapbook News and Review telling me that a digi layout that I submitted was accepted and will be published in the next issue! More Yay!! :)

Okay...whew!! I think I really am finished rambling now. Hope I didn't overload you with junk!! Thanks for stopping by!!

Somebody had a birthday!!

2008-12-30T15:21:00.006-05:00

My little girlie turned 7! Wha?? Really?? Wasn't I just pregnant with her?? Wasn't my family just making bets on whether she would arrive on Christmas or New Year's Eve?? Geesh. The time is sailing by. Anyway...she had a pretty good day. She wanted her presents under the tree so she could pretend it was Christmas morning again. So I wrapped her little presents and stuck them under the tree and seh came out the next morning all kinds of ready to open her gifts. She was so cute with her sleepy eyes trying to wake up and her hair all tosseed around. And she finally got some earrings (that Santa didn't bring...darn Santa) and that Holiday Barbie that she wanted!! Yay!! I have to say...Holiday Barbie's presentation was pretty cool. It had these "floating" snowflakes in the box and you know I had to save those! I actually used one of them for a project...I'll be sharing that in a minute. Anyway...this Holiday Barbie was standing there on our ottoman and she was looking pretty sassy with the natural light shining on her so I snapped a picture...is that weird?? Now come on...doesn't she look sassy?? {hehe!!}

Okay...so on to the project that I mentioned. Sassafras Lass (yummy) is having a little contest. All you have to do is go to their blog and download a super-cute diorama and create something with it to have the chance to win the uber cute new "Life at the Pole" line. Well...I had big plans of creating a fabulous shadow box scene but then...life happened and I ended up making a little ornament instead. I still like it though. :) I used a really cute snowy paper from Dianne Rigdon's Christmas in Your Heart kit for the background and just cut it to fit and adhered it to a CD. Then I put my pieces together and fancied them up a bit with some red and Stardust Stickles. And when I first saw this cute little project, I thought it was just screaming for felt so I cut some little whimsical trees out of a scrap piece of felt and tacked them on. Then I just used my Cropadile to make the hole and threaded some scrap ribbon through it. And finally...I added that cute little floating snowflake that I mentioned to the bottom just for fun.

It's super simple but I think it cute. ;) Isn't that just the cutest line of scrappy goodies ever??

And...I have one more little project to share. It's a layout that I did for Traci's team featuring...of course, our new puppy!! :)

She is the hardest dog in the world to photograph!! As soon as she sees that camera, she comes running. Typical. :) So this is the only decent picture I have of her so far. Hopefully she'll get accustomed to the camera and I'll be able to get some more soon...hopefully. So there you have it...that's what we've been up to lately. How about you?? Anyone else giving the Sassafras Lass contest a try?? I know Leah created something fabulous! (I got a little peek...hehe!!) Good luck to everyone that's entering! Thanks for stopping by!!

A Great Big Ball of Christmas Love! :)

2008-12-24T17:04:00.006-05:00

Awww...isn't she precious??? That's our family Christmas present!! She's our newest family member...an eight-week old Newfoundland puppy. When I was growing up, we had a malamute/newfoundland mix named Rex and I have always wanted a full-blooded Newfie. They're such a beautiful breed and just a perfect match for a family....so sweet, loving, and loyal. Anyway, I have apparently hinted (okay..whined) about getting a Newfie long enough that DH finally said, "You're not going to be happy until you get one." What he really meant was..."you're not going to shut up until I buy one!" LOL!! So...we went to look at her on Sunday and I knew I would fall in love with her instantly but so did DH. And of course the kids wanted to take her home immediately. But we got everything ready and DH brought her home yesterday. Our house is in shambles...crates and newspapers everywhere but we just love her to death. Her name is Bailey and she is spoiled rotten already. She is currently asleep on hubby's shoes in the kitchen. Aww...a Christmas puppy...what could be cuter???

And I do have a couple hybrid projects to share. I've probably mentioned this before but I just love Dianne Rigdon's Christmas in Your Heart digital kit. So...I've been playing with it some more. We had a few of those giant Hershey bars in our cupboard so I decided to make a wrapper for it. Can you believe that this is the first time I've attempted a candy bar wrapper?? That seems to be one of the first projects that digi scrappers tackle but...I guess I'm just a little slow. :) Here's how it turned out:

It's already been opened and eaten, by the way! {hehe!!} And I did a hybrid layout. I kept it pretty simple. I love this background paper so I just added an extracted photo of my mom pulling Sydney and Maddie on the sled and a heart and some wings for the digital part. I printed it and then added a bunch of stickles for the snow and some stickles on the heart and wings. Then I just added my own little letter stickers topped with some red stickles. Here's how it turned out:

I thought it was pretty cool that Mom, Syd, and Maddie had snow clothes on that went so well with the paper!! :) So that's my little Christmas eve post. I want to wish each and every one of you a blessed and wonderful Christmas day!! I hope you are able to spend it with the ones you love!! Merry Christmas everyone!!

Prepare yourself...lots o' layouts!! :)

2008-12-16T22:34:00.011-05:00

Okay...I've been promising some new layouts...you guys thought I was lying, didn't you?? :) Well, I finally got around to uploading some!! So let me stop blabbling and here we go!!! I did a couple new projects using Jodie McNally's word art...here's one of Jesse playing in the snow...And here's my Christmas card for this year...I just loved this picture of my kiddos from this summer. They actually looked natural, not those big cheesy smiles...you know the ones I mean. {hehe!}

Ooo...Dianne Rigdon has a gorgeous new Christmas kit over at Scrap Artist called Christmas in Your Heart...love it! I thought it was perfect for this picture of my Dad's tree that he decorates every year...it's SOOOO pretty. It's the first Christmas decoration that go up around here so it definitely signifies the start of the holiday season for us. Anyway...here's my layout:

And I have a few AC Bailey DT projects that I haven't shared yet. I snapped this cute little picture of my nieces adorable red shoes this summer when she took them off to run through the sprinkler. Had to do a layout with that picture, right??

Tired of layouts yet??? Almost done. ;) My son finally got the electric guitar that he's been wanting forever and look...he actually let me take some pictures of him with it!! Can you believe it?? (And he is rockin' that guitar...he's picking it up so quickly!! I'm so proud and impressed!!)

And I haven't forgotten how to play with paper...I did a hybrid layout using some of the new Crate paper Lemon Grass collection. And I have to admit...I am LOVING those puffy Thickers!

And finally...I made a couple new layouts for Traci. She has a fun new kit called "vroom" with lots of fun little cars and cute little papers and for some reason, the first thing I thought of when I saw it was my hubby's first Dodge Ram Quad Cab. {teehee!}

Last one, I promise!!! Traci has some new Christmas-y goodies in the store!! I love that she included orange in her kit!! (And I have to thank my friend and fellow ACB DT member, Becky, for the inspiration on this layout...thank you becky!!!)

*whew!!!* You made it through the whole thing!! Kudos!!! :) So there you have it...just some of the things that I've been up to lately. I hope everyone is having a great time getting ready for the holidays. Thanks for stopping by and letting me overload you with layouts!! Have a great evening!!

For Him...

2008-12-13T22:03:00.006-05:00

I've been away from my blog for quite a bit and I struggled with whether I should make this post or not. But I finally decided that I needed to. On the morning of November 29th, I got a phone call from my dad telling me that one of our family members had passed away. My cousin, Robbie Lyons, died at his home...peacefully. The doctors said that he just went to sleep and felt no pain. But as you can imagine, this has really torn our hearts out. He leaves behind his son, Levi...he loved that boy so much! They were constantly going fishing or to Six Flags...Robbie was a bit of a kid himself. :) He was such a kind soul. He always greeted everyone with a big, genuine smile and a hug. I don't remember a time that I saw him when he didn't have a hug for me. So I just wanted to make a post in honor of him. The picture of Robbie and his family (mother, father, sisters, nieces, nephews) is from our family reunion last year. (Robbie is the one on the right with the curly hair and glasses and his arm around Levi.) He will be missed by all that knew him. I'll be back tomorrow with some layouts to share. Thank you for letting me share a little bit about Robbie!!

Did someone say...snow??

2008-11-25T16:26:00.008-05:00

It's been a while since my last post and yep...we got some snow. Not as much as they were calling for...only about five inches or so. But it has pretty much been snowing every day for a week. And today...we're under a winter weather advisory. It's pouring down but they're only calling for about seven inches. I don't know...if it keeps this up, I'm thinking we might get that and then some. I haven't taken any pictures today because it's snowing so hard that it just looks like fog with a few flakes mixed in so I can't get anything to turn out decent. But I did snap a couple shots from our last snow before it got dark.
That's what it looked like when it started but then we got most of our snow through the night. It sure was pretty.

Okay...enough snowy talk. Those of you that know me know that I'm not much of a card maker...they scare me. But I started playing around with some digital goodies from Dianne Rigdon and I made a couple cards...a digi one, then I printed the digi one and added a few things, and then I made another hybrid one. So I thought I'd share!

This is how my digital card ended up...

And then I printed it out and added some Stardust Stickles to the snow and decorations and, of course, I had to add a little star, right?? It's hard to see the sparkle but it's there...I promise!

And then I printed some digital papers from Dianne and cut out some funky little triangles and added some stickles (surprise) and some Dimension pearls for the snow. The journaling spot is from Pink Paislee. Not sure about this one but I still wanted to share it:

I have one more thing to share...I think it's my latest favorite digital layout. I used a bunch of different kits to make this layout even though it looks pretty simple. My daughter just loves this page so that makes it even more special, right?? So here it is:

I just love being able to make something with such a magical and dreamy feel to it. And I had such a good time putting this one together...except for all those little eyelets that I used to make the chains. I wanted to make the LO 100% Dianne Rigdon so I extracted a few eyelets from a journaling mat and put them together and duplicated it to make the chain. That was not so fun. {hehe} So that's what's been going on in my little world...snow and scrapping. Thanks for stopping by!! :)

We've Been Warned...

2008-11-17T13:57:00.007-05:00

Our area is under a winter storm warning from 2 o'clock this afternoon through 6 pm tomorrow evening and the snow has already been pouring down. The kids were so excited when I told them this morning. Of course they're hoping for the first snow day of the year tomorrow. We'll see!!
So, I mentioned in my last post that I had some exciting news to share so I probably should spill it already, right?? Here it is...I am the newest member of the Traci Murphy Designs Creative Team!! I'm a Rockstar!! (hehe...that's what her CT blinkies say...always wanted to be a rockstar!! ) My friend, Leah totally hooked me up with the gig so a big ol' THANK YOU to Leah!! And I'm still on Jodie's team even though my term was supposed to be up at the end of October...she extended it for us through the end of November. I can't believe that it's almost over! It just flew by! I have another LO for her team to share but I have to wait until tomorrow. But...I made my first layouts for Traci and wanted to share those!! My first one was made with Traci's part of the November Collaboration Kit at Funky Playground Designs:

And for the second one, I used the "Wishes and Wonders" kit that she designed with Kathyrn Wilson.

So there you have it...my big debut for Traci's team!! And can you tell I'm lovin' those brushes from Obsidian Dawn?? Sydney just loved seeing herself with those wings. Fun, fun!!I do have a layout that I made for Jodie that I can share...I used the Oscraps Parsian Holiday kit which features Jodie's fabulous word art for this one:

I'll be back later to upload my other layout and hopefully I'll have some pictures of some big, fluffy snow to share, too!! {hehe!} That's all for now...thanks for letting me share!! And thanks for stopping by!!!

cold. It's just cold.

2008-11-12T17:37:00.008-05:00

Ever have one of those days where you just seem to be chilled through for no reason?? It's cold outside but it's not one of those bitter cold days but for some reason, I have been cold all day. I had my fireplace on briefly while the kids were getting ready for school but that's the only time I've actually felt nice and toasty today. Oh well...just wanted to whine a little. {hehe!}

So...I've been doing a little playing with some new, fun digital goodies. I downloaded a really lovely kit from Dianne Rigdon called "In the Gloaming" the other night. I honestly had just planned on downloading it, unzipping it, and heading for bed. But...once I got a good luck at everything...oh dear. I just had to play before I shut my computer down!! So I put together this layout of my niece, Maddie.

(I should mention that the wing brushes were downloaded from Obsidian Dawn.) And, as part of my design team responsibilities at AC Bailey, I used a sketch that fellow DT member, Brandy, whipped up for us to make this card (I made the card digitally using Digital Scrapbook Memories "Family Ties" CD and then printed it out):

And earlier this year, I took part in a photo-a-day challenge and I've been thinking about creating a photobook using some of the pictures that I snapped during that month. Jodie McNally has some really fun photography word art in her store and I thought they would be perfect for the book. So I made this layout and I'm thinking it's probably going to be the cover of the book:

And finally, I bought a wonderful new collaboration kit by Corina Nielsen and Krystal Hartley (what a pairing, right?!) and I just had to make a layout just for me:

I snapped that picture of our yard this summer and I just came across it and decided to put together a LO about it...is that weird?? I'm looking forward to some pretty snowfalls this winter but I always miss my summertime and the green lushness that goes with it.

So that's what I've been up to lately. And...I have some news to share as soon as I get the okay to do so...stay tuned!! (I'm so excited!!) I hope everyone's having a great evening!! Thanks for stopping by!! Ta for now!!

Yay! I'm Back!!

2008-11-07T18:10:00.012-05:00

Our ISP is hughes.net because we have zero options when it comes to high speed internet in my neck of the woods. Well...Saturday morning, my sister-in-law came down to visit and do a little online shopping. I was browsing through the AC Bailey store showing her some of the fabulous new goodies that I was going to buy and all of a sudden, no more internet. It just stopped. We have problems with it sometimes and I just figured I'd give it a break and everything would be dandy. I was wrong. DH came home that evening and called Hughes and they really didn't know what was happening but they thought that our equipment was bad so they said they would send us a new one. It arrived yesterday, DH hooked it up last night, and woohoo!! We're connected again!! Yay!! Soooo....I was able to post my DT projects today so I thought I'd share a few. Here's a digital layout that I made using the Digital Scrapbook Memories CD, "In the Mood" from the AC Bailey store.

That's me and hubby back in the day when we first started dating. {hehe!!} I seem to be on a white space kick these days, especially with my digital stuff. But not so much with this layout....this is a hybrid page that I did. I printed the postcard, orange paper, circle journaling spot, and bracket-shaped journaling spot from the Digital Scrapbook Memories "Family Ties" cd. And I used some fabulous Basic Grey "Offbeat" papers, Fancy Pants glitter overlay, Primas...lots of goodies from Erica's October KOTM.

It's pretty busy...not a lot of white-space happening on that one. Okay...let's see what else I have. Oh yeh! I made a super simple little mini album from a sheet of Creative Imaginations cardstock journaling stickers. There were eight stickers on the sheet so I stuck two back-to-back to make a page which gave me four little pages. It's all about Syd and her Halloween costume for this year. So easy. Here's the cover:

And here are a few shots of the inside pages:

I should mention...those journaling stickers are super sticky!! Make sure you have them nice and lined up 'cause once they touch...they are stuck. There's no pulling them apart! At least not without injuring one or both of them. So anyway, that was just a fun and simple little idea and my daughter just loves it! Okay...what else?? Hmmm....ooo...I did a fun little hybrid layout for Dianne Rigdon's creative team using her super gorgeous "Well Worn" kit from ScrapArtist.

I printed my digital page and added some real sequins (and Stickles glitter) to the frame for some added realism. And I just made some wings out of plain white cardstock, colored them brown (just in case the glitter had some bare spots), and covered them in copper Stickles. And then I just added some letter stickers and used my Dymo label maker to make the "isn't she" letters. Again...lovin' the white space. :-)

And finally, Jodie McNally has some really cool new photography word art over at Oscraps so I whipped up a layout using the "Trust me! I'm a photographer" word art. {hehe!!}

Whew!! Too much??? Hey...I warned you...I've been without the internet for a week so you knew it was going to be a chatty one, right?? :-) So there you have it...those are some of the things that I've been working on. And now that I'm connected again, I'll be heading over to Jodie's shop and Dianne's store so that I can grab some new goodies and start playing again!! YAY!!! It's good to be back!!

Thanks for stopping by!! Have a good evening!!

It's Over...Already??

2008-10-31T23:28:00.008-04:00

I can't believe we are already at the end of October!! As of right now...while I am typing this...I'm just thirty minutes away from November! *ack!* The holidays are approaching! Anyway...enough about that for now...if I keep talking about the holidays I may have a panic attack! Actually...I'm excited about the holidays coming. We had our first real snow of the year a couple days ago and the kids had their first two-hour delay of the year. Nasty, slick roads. The winds were so strong, it was hard to tell how much snow we actually got but we had about five inches on our porch. Not much but it was so pretty!! It was the kind of snow with the big, fluffy flakes that makes you feel like you're in a snowglobe. So pretty!! Anyway...I totally got sidetracked. I wanted to share some sneak peeks of my November DT projects for ACB. Here's a little peek at a teeny little mini-book that I made:

And this is just a little peek at one of the digital layouts that I made for November...even though it looks like it might be for Valentine's day...hehe!!

And here's a little teeny corner of my hybrid layout. I have to admit...this one feels like a big ol' mess to me. I just kept adding stuff and it never seemed right to me. I almost trashed it but...I didn't.

So there you have it...just a few glimpses. My official reveal day is on the 7th so I'll share more then. I feel a little odd just sharing little corners of pages and not actually sharing a full page. So here's a digital layout that I did a couple days ago of my DD, Sydney, using lots of fabulous Michelle Coleman goodies.

Told ya' I was in the holiday/winter mood. I just love the glittery snowflakes! Okay...tired of all my pictures yet?? I just wanted to share one more...this one's of Syd in her Halloween costume.

She just loves that costume!! We spent a whopping $10 on it and she adores it! Go figure! When I buy the Disney princess costumes for...ahem...more than $10, she likes them but nothing like she adores this dress. Kids...gotta love 'em. So unpredictable. Okay...I'm all finished rambling and babbling. I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween!! Thanks for stopping by!!

I got to play a little!

2008-10-26T15:28:00.007-04:00

I've been feeling a little...well...blah. I think it's the change in the weather...Jesse was sick last week and I think he might have passed it along. woohoo. But he's feeling better so that's a good thing. Anyway, I've been a seriously bad blogger. And I finally got to play a little so I have a couple new layouts to share. I'm on Dianne Rigdon's hybrid Creative Team but she's so sweet and easy going...she lets us create whatever we want...digi...hybrid...whatever! So I whipped up a digi layout with her new kit:

Love the writing across the paper so I added a little of my own at the bottom...can you see the "two little girls...two big hearts?" It's very subtle and probably hard to see with the image being so small. But I like the way the page turned out. And I also made a hybrid layout with this kit.The rich, jewel tone papers were printed from her kit as well as the branch elements. Here's a little detail shot:

(You know I had to add a little Stickles to the leaves for a little hint of sparkle! hehe!!) The kit from Dianne is called "Well Worn" and I really love the richness of the colors! It will be available soon at ScrapArtist...I'll let you know when it arrives. ;)

Anyway...that's all for now...just wanted to share a little!! I hope everyone is having a wonderful day and having fun getting ready for Halloween!! Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!!

Sharing Some LO's

2008-10-18T20:32:00.007-04:00

So...my layout that I made for last week's Bad Girl's Top Designer class didn't make the cut. I didn't make it through to week 6 but I am still supr psyched that I made it as far as I did!! And my friends Leah and Amanda made it through!!! I am so excited for them!! The list for the top ten will be posted tomorrow and I just can't stand the anticipation! Ugh!! The waiting!! But I thought I'd share my layout from last week:

And...the class for this week was all about breaking the rules. So I decided to keep playing along. I made a layout that's goofy and silly but I had so much fun playing and making this one. I used Twizzlers rope candy to make the red swirlie flowers and the little snail and I used it in the title, too. And just some good old hard candy for the other flowers. I just threw stuff on there and didn't think about it. Fun times! :-)

It's fun to play! {teehee} And I uploaded a couple new layouts for Jodie McNally's design team, too.

I just loved that picture of my "backyard" so much that I decided to make it the focus and not add a bunch of stuff. And here's another one:

Just playing with some extracting....that's my niece, Maddie. She ends up in a lot of my stuff. Silly little girlie. Her mama took those pictures and let me use them. Isn't she a cutie??

So that's about all for now. Just wanted to share some newer layouts and wish my girls luck with the BG contest!!! Good luck, Amanda and Leah!!! I've got my fingers crossed for ya!! Have a great evening and thanks for stopping by!!

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood...

2008-10-11T19:34:00.004-04:00

hehe...is that song stuck in your head now??? :-) Not that I ever watched Mister Roger's Neighborhood {wink, wink} but if you did, then you might have the theme song running through your head now...I apologize for that! Anyway...the last few days have been stunningly gorgeous! The leaves around our pond are at their peak and they just seem to be electric in the sunlight. It's so mesmerizing and breath-taking. And a couple days ago, I had just put the kids on the bus and saw some geese on the pond. I thought they had already headed out for the winter so I was a little surprised to see them. Then, a bunch of ducks decided to stop by and then...an eagle flew in. I still get so excited when I see an eagle that close in the wild. It's one thing to see them at a zoo but when you step out onto your front porch and an eagle does a fly-by, it's just an amazing sight. So I just had a couple quick leafy/eagle pictures to share.

I am truly blessed to be where I am. You can't live in a place like this without seeing the hand of God all around you...gorgeous. Okay...that was my reflective little moment there...now you know I have to chat about Project Runway.

Did anyone watch it?? Spoiler alert!!!! I SO didn't want to like Kenley's stuff...I wanted it to be Korto, Jarrell, and Leanne in the finals but when the did the runway show with their wedding gowns and bridesmaid dresses, I was a little worried for Korto!!! And Kenley's was truly fabulous so I knew she was going to be in. Poor Jarrell. I'm sure we'll see more of him. I am so excited to see the finale!! Yay!! Can't wait for that!!

And i just uploaded my layout for week 5 over at Bad Girls kits. I'm keeping my fingers crossed but oh my...the gallery is just overflowing with gorgeous-ness!!! Seriously talented ladies over there. Have I mentioned how honored I am to still be in the last 51?? So honored!! And shocked!!

So that's all for now...just wanted to share a couple pictures and rant about PR. Thanks for stopping by!!

gasp!

2008-10-07T13:55:00.002-04:00

Oh my goodness...forgive my excited ramble...you'll never guess who stopped by my blog!!! The fabulous Miss Emelie Ahern!! I adore her work!!! I love her digi work and her traditional pages and she seems like such an amazing personality so I was absolutely delighted and thrilled to see a comment from her on my blog. She graced the cover of the August issue of Memory Makers in case anyone missed it. :-) And her gallery is just loaded with beauty...did I mention that I love her work?? So thank you, Emilie!! I'm honored!!
Okay...I should probably stop now so that EA doesn't get a restraining order against me...hehe!! I found a link to a fabulous contest while I was stalking...I mean, visiting Emilie's blog. Handbag Planet is giving away 24 free handbags! 24 hours of giving...one handbag per hour. All you have to do is enter your name and email address, pick a handbag, and you're entered to win...it's that simple!! Their motto is "High fashion handbags without the high price." Gotta love that!! So pop over there and sign up!! Good luck to everyone that does!!
Did I mention that I made it through for another week at TD?? Woohoo!! And congratulations to Leah and Amanda...they made it through, too!! Yay!!! I can't believe I'm in week 5 of 6!!! What an amazing honor...only 51 contestants remaining and I think they had more than 300 people sign up! Wow!! I just know that Leah and Amanda are going to be in the top ten...I can't wait for that!! It's so exciting!!
Thanks for letting me ramble and thanks for stopping by!! Have a great day!!

babble, babble...

2008-10-04T16:27:00.004-04:00

Just a little warning...totally random babbling to follow....I admit it...I love Desperate Housewives...okay...loved Desperate Housewives. And when I heard that they had this little plan of jumping ahead 5 years in the storyline, I was a little nervous but I was still looking forward to the season premiere. Wellll...I watched it and...I'm so disappointed. bummer. Anyone watching Project Runway?? I'm such an addict...I think last season was probably my fave but I'm still hooked. What's up with Kinley and her attitude? And did you see hear "hip-hop" outfit?? Oh my goodness...there wasn't a thing about it that was even remotely hip hop. Usually I have my sister to share all these ramblings with but she hasn't been watching so I thought I'd babble to you guys. hehe...lucky you!!I thought I'd share my last two layouts from the Bad Girls Kit Top Designer contest. Last week's assignment was a less-is-more, white space layout. I actually really like the way this one turned out:

So I made it through and this week's assignment was all about accessories. I don't think this layout is going to get me through but I like the way it turned out. I actually thought a lot more about which embellishments to use, where to put them, and why I was using them. I never do symmetrical layouts but I thought it would work well to emphasize the title...Time after Time. Here's my attempt for this week:

So...this is going to be a quick little post but I just wanted to share a couple of the layouts that I've been working on. I have some DT stuff that I'll be able to share a little later in the week. I hope everyone is having a happy weekend!! Thanks for stopping by!!!

Extra Kids, Stupid Internet, & Tons of Concrete...

2008-09-24T10:33:00.007-04:00

Yep...that's what's been happening in my life...doing some babysitting, super-slow... sometimes non-existant internet service, and my sister's basement walls are up!! But I finally got a chance to post a little something. Let's see...do I have any pictures to share?? Maybe...

I've been playing along with Bad Girl's Kits Top Designer challenges. The first challenge was about layering so I grabbed some yummy Jenni Bowlin papers...here's my layout from that week:

And the second week was all about combining patterned papers, lots of Cosmo Cricket on this page...here's my layout for that week:
And I haven't started on this week's white-space challenge yet but I'm really excited about it. I hope I can pull it off!! Last year, I made it through 3 weeks and got cut after my fourth layout...which was a white-space layout. Looking back on that layout, I can totally see why. {hehe!!} What was I thinking?? Oh well...I learned a lot and it was so fun so that's why I decided to join again this year.
Oh my goodness...I almost forgot!!! We added our new DT members over at AC Bailey!! My friend, Leah, has joined our team!! Woohoo!! So now Leah and I are on two teams together!! But our Dianne Rigdon hybrid Creative Team spots don't require any message board responsibilities or any communication with other team members so it really doesn't feel like we're on the same team. But at AC Bailey...it's we definitely know we're on the same team. {hehe!!} Lots of behind-the-scenes stuff to chat about. And another friend that I actually met on the ACB message boards, April, has joined our team!! Yay!! She is a very talented digi, hybrid, and traditional scrapper and a sweetheart on top of that!! And a newcomber to the boards, Elisabeth, is our third new member. Even though I haven't known her for very long, I can tell she's a very nice and creative lady!! I'm really looking forward to getting to know her more! We're so lucky to have our three new talents joining the crew!!
But I have to admit...I'm still so bummed about my bud, Amanda, leaving our ACB team. I really did try to talk her into staying. Well...maybe not so much talking...more like whining and begging! But I do understand her reasons for leaving. I'm just going to miss having her on the team.
So a big congratulations and welcome to the new members!! And we still have a week left with Amanda on the team so it's not over yet!! And Amanda...I promise to do better with my blog posting!! {hehe!} And you know...if you happen to miss a day or {gulp} two on the ACB boards, I may have to hunt you down. ;-)
Thanks for stopping by!! Have a happy day!!

Gushing and Peeking...

2008-09-01T22:18:00.007-04:00

Okay...I have to warn you...this post is going to be loaded with glowing reviews and gushing comments. :-) My uber talented friend and fellow AC Bailey design team member, Amanda, is one seriously talented girlie!! Her layouts caught my eye from the first time I popped into the gallery at ACB. Each and every one of her layouts could (and should) be published. And I mean that sincerely...not just being kind. Well...after lots of badgering and pestering from myself and the other ladies on the message board at ACB, Amanda finally gave in and submitted a layout to Scrapbook Trends. And...of course...they picked it up!!! Her very first submission and it's being published!! And...she submitted two layouts to their baby idea book call and guess what?? Those two layouts were requested as well!! 3 for 3!!! Three layouts submitted, three layouts being published!! Isn't that amazing?!?! I'm not at all surprised...she really is incredible and it's only a matter of time before she is snagged up by a manufacturers design team. So I just wanted to give a big ol' CONGRATULATIONS to Amanda!! You rawk, girl!!

And Leah is getting published left and right and she's being sought after by a company...they want her to make digital templates for them. And she has big Corina Nielsen-related news coming, too. And she's making quite a splash at SISTV and even our own leader at ACB, Erica, asked Leah if it would be okay to use one of her layouts for the catalog!! I knew it was only a matter of time before she made a big splash in the scrapping world, too. She is SOOOO talented!! Seriously! So big congratulations to you, too, Leah!! And I have to ditto what I said about Amanda...it is only a matter of time before she lands a spot on a manufacturers design team. If those two were to end up on the same team...um...WOW!! That would be incredible!!

Okay...I've probably embarrassed Amanda and Leah enough now. {hehe!} I promised some little peeks of my DT projects for September so here are a couple little pics of some of my stuff.

So there you have it...lots of gushing and peeking! And don't forget...we're adding to the AC Bailey Design team so head on over there and check it out!! It's a great place to be!! And we're still looking for digital designers, too! Lots of possibilities and opportunities at AC Bailey Designs!! I hope everyone has a great evening!! Thanks for stopping by!!

Where Have I Been?!?

2008-08-28T10:08:00.003-04:00

Wow!! I have been such a bad blogger!! With all of the back to school happenings and DT requirements, I have been slacking on my blog postings. bad blogger...bad, bad blogger. Anyway...I have BIG news!!! I am a new member of the Dianne Rigdon Design's hybrid team!! I am so excited!! Her stuff is fabulous...she designs for Prima Hybrid and her store at ScrapbookGraphics is just loaded with goodness!!! And...my friend, Leah, is on the team with me!! How fun is that?!?!
And there's some more big news!!! Here it is!!!

AC Bailey Designs is adding to its Design Team again!
We want 3, talented, motivated, enthusiastic Designers. We are looking for scrapbookers who are not afraid to use the latest products and techniques and are willing to share their expertise and knowledge in the craft.
What are we looking for?
- Talented, motivated, enthusiastic traditional or digital or hybrid scrapbookers
- Individuals who are willing to share new ideas and techniques with our customers and subscribers
- Positive and outgoing personalities
- Those who are willing to help promote and grow our online community and store and direct sales business
What will you do?
- You will be asked for a 6 month commitment to our store and community with your DT memberships limited to being on one other team during that time.
- You will be required to create two 12"x12" layouts and one other small project of your choice with instructions per month using supplies we provide and upload it to our online gallery, blog and forum (additional projects encouraged!)
- You will be required to promote AC Bailey Designs and include our DT membership and link information in your signature line of all the online communities and galleries you are active in.- You will be required participate daily in the forum and gallery, add a QOTD, SQOTD and Inspirational Tips on a rotating basis, host challenges and contests for the members and contribute to the monthly newsletter and company blog.
What you get! (The good stuff!)
- You will be provided $30 in supplies to create the required layout and projects each month during your DT term
- anything you don't use is yours to keep!
- You will get a 25% store discount that can be used anytime and as often as you like!
- You will get credit for all your designs, projects and work submitted to us!
- You work will be publicized in our newsletter, on our site, and in advertising for our company and community.
- Your photo and bio will be featured on our DT page of our site and you will have your own gallery in our online community.
How to Apply
Please upload 4-5 creations into our online Gallery at http://www.ACBaileyLtd.com/gallery. These must include 1 layout about yourself showcasing your personality and scrap style, 2 other layouts and at least 1 other project of your choice. You must also be a registered member of our forum with an average of 25 posts a week starting with the date you apply.
Also submit the following to erica@acbaileyltd.com and cc: lcarroll03@yahoo.com
- name and full contact information
- list of current DT memberships, links to any online galleries that you submit to and message boards or communities that you are active in (please include your board name)
- if you have an online gallery or blog, please provide the link.
- list of any or all publications (when and where)
- and answers to the following questions:
- How long have you been scrapping?
- How would you describe your scrap style?
- Are you afraid to step out of your box?
- What would you like to get out of this experience?
- What can you bring to our store, community and customers?
Call will run from August 27th thru Sept. 19th. Decisions will be made by Sept. 22nd and your first shipment of supplies being sent that week. Your first assignments will then be due Nov. 1st. (All dates are tentative based on response.)Thank you! Good Luck! And we look forward to hearing from you!Erica http://www.acbaileydesigns.com/

Isn't that fabulous?!? Don't be shy...it's a wonderful community and Erica is such a sweetheart!! And who doesn't want to play with fabulous new goodies from manufacturers like Sassafras Lass, October Afternoon, Pink Paislee, Making Memories and SO many more! I can't wait to see all of the fabulous submissions!! It's so exciting!!
So that's all for now...I'll be posting some sneak peeks of my DT stuff in a day or so...stay tuned. Get those applications in!! I can't wait to see who's going to be joining the ACB family!!!
Thanks for stopping by!!

Exciting news from ACB!!!

2008-08-15T14:21:00.003-04:00

Big news!! AC Bailey Designs is expanding!! Our fearless leader and fabulous owner, Erica, has decided to add some exclusive ACB digital kits to the store and she needs your help!! Are you a digital designer??? Maybe this call is for you!! (Let me just add that Erica is such a sweetheart and a dream to work with...you will love being part of the AC Bailey family.) I'm so excited about this and I really can't wait to see all of the wonderful designers that decide to apply!! So don't be shy!! Go for it!! We'd love to have you!!!

Quick post today...that's all...I'll be back later...thanks for stopping by!!

I'm a McDude!!

2008-08-14T18:32:00.003-04:00

{hehe!} It's true!! I'm a McDude and it has nothing to do with my love of McDonald's Cokes! I tried out for Jodie McNally's CT and....I made it!!! Woohoo!! She rawks the word art!!! If you haven't checked out her designs, I highly recommend giving them a look at Oscraps!! Technically my term doesn't start until September 1st but Jodie said we could start anytime so I'm going to fly over there tonight and grab some goodies to play with...weeeeee!!!

And...I just won a gorgeous quick page album from the awesome Queen of Quirk!!! It is so darn cute!! I can't wait to get that one finished so I can share it with you! Here's the preview of the album that I won...

Isn't it adorable!? And she included some extras goodies in the kit so that you can really make it your own. And...it's Shutterfly ready!! Woohoo!!

AND...in case you were all wondering about the "Pass the Torch" picture on the side of my blog, I posted it there for a chance to win a new CD from Digital Scrapbook Memories... and I did!! Woohoo! I won the "Family Ties" cd and it just arrived today! It looks like a really fun one and I can't wait to bust it out and play!!

How lucky have I been?!?!? I'm a lucky girl. Thanks for letting me ramble!!! Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!!

I Dared!!

2008-08-12T13:19:00.003-04:00

Olay...I admit it...I've been a lurker over at the digi dares but I've never actually played along...until now! I finally did it...I made a layout for the current dare!! And I actually really like the way it turned out! The focus was on water, had to use greens and blues, pick a corner and focus your attention there, and use a border around the page. Sooo...this is what I came up with...

I had a lot of fun with that one! For all you digi fans, I highly recommend checking that site out and playing along!!

And...I have to thank my friend and fellow AC Bailey design team gal, Jess for giving me the BFF Gold Card award!!

Thank you, Jess!! And seriously...I adore Jess' blog!! She always has such wonderful creations and finds and it's always so well written!! It makes me feel like I'm actually sitting there talking to her about her day...love that!! The rules for the “Blogging Friends Forever” award are:

* Only five people allowed

* Four have to be dedicated followers of your blog

* One has to be someone new or recently new to your blog or lives in another part of the world.
You must link back to whoever gave you the award. The winner can put the logo on his/her blog.

I don't have too many regular visitors so forgive me for duplicating the award to some people but you all are very deserving!! :-)

So here are my picks:

And Margo

Some seriously talented and super nice ladies!! Check them out when you get the chance!!

That's all for me for now!! Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!!

Some DT projects

2008-08-07T16:25:00.009-04:00

I had some fabulous Prima Harmony papers to work with this month and the super fun "In the Mood" cd from Digital Scrapbook Memories....fun stuff!! I had a ball putting this one together! I just sort of went with what I was feeling and tried not to overthink anything! That’s so unusual for me. The wings, heart with wings, and “love” words are all printed from the Digital Scrapbook Memories "In the Mood" cd. The wings are white on the cd and I colored them with a marker but you could color them on your computer before you print them if you want. And then I added some yummy copper Stickles glitter to top them off. I love the way they turned out!! And that bubble wrap is the piece that I used to stamp on my other hybrid layout! (A little recycling…hehe!) That’s my messy, sporadic, but fun little hybrid layout.

And those Prima Harmony papers are so yummy...I couldn't just stop at one hybrid...I had to do another!! For this one, I printed the circle word stamp (“just can’t get enough you”) from the cd and then adhered it to a piece of a box (a pop-tart box, actually…more recycling..hehe!) and cut that out for a little extra dimension. Then I put that on top of a cute little chipboard shape from Bo Bunny. So simple but it adds some nice dimension to the page. And the border strip was printed from the cd as well.

Okay...how about some digi projects??? How could you go wrong with a category called “silly???” All of the elements for this page are from the “silly” folder/category on the cd except for the doodley frame. It’s actually a border piece from the “festive” folder and I just duplicated it and resized it and made a frame out of it. I didn’t add any shadowing to it because I wanted it to look like it was drawn right on the paper. I reworked the title a little, too. It is one long sentence on the cd but I did a little editing and stacked it instead.

And finally...I have to admit…I don’t usually say this but…I love this layout! I did some editing to Syd’s picture…I wanted a really high contrast kind of look. This was simple to do…I made a duplicate layer of my picture, turned that layer black and white and made the contrast levels very high (bright white highlights and very dark shadows), and then I made that black and white layer an overlay. I know it’s not a look that’s for everyone but I liked it. But here’s my favorite part…the circles and bubble wrap-type paint were from a patterned paper on the cd called “celebrate.” I just cleared out the parts I didn’t like and did a little cloning to add more of the blue dots (they were in a very perfect pattern and I wanted them to be more sporadic) and ta-da! It looks like I had an overlay and did some stamping/painting. And I adjusted the opacity of the journaling and some of the elements to soften them a bit and blend them into the background. I don’t really know why but this turned out to be one of my favorite layouts so far.

So there they are...my projects for August. I have some yummy goodies to play with for next month...can't wait to be able to share those!!

*whew!* That was a long post!! Thanks for letting me ramble on and thanks for stopping by!!

Have a great day!!

The Best Email Day Ever!!

2008-08-01T12:41:00.005-04:00

Oh my...yesterday was quite a day!!! I got an email from Scrapbook Trends requesting two of my layouts for their upcoming Go Digital idea book!!! And...while I was bouncing around trying to call my sister or husband or Mom or anyone that would listen to tell them the news...another email came in. From MEMORY MAKERS magazine!! They requested a layout of mine for their Jan/Feb Reader's Idea Gallery!! I have only ever been published online so getting the news that I was going to have three layouts published was just staggering! And I have to thank my friend, Leah for all of the advice and help on getting my page accepted at Memory Makers. She the one that sent me the link to the call and told me to go submit my page. So THANK YOU, LEAH!! And...guess what else??? Leah is having a layout published in the Go Digital idea book, too! I think that is so cool that we're going to be in the same book. What a day!! I'm just so excited!! Oh and since my digital layouts were in my gallery, I finally got to make and use one of these...

Yay!! (Everything that I used to make my "out for pub" little picture is from Weeds & Wildflower Designs Doodly Patterns by Gina Marie Huff...cute, cute!!) And finally, I have a little peek of one of my hybrid layouts for this month.

So that's my big news. Thanks for letting me babble!! I'm off to mail my layout to Memory Makers!! (That sounds so cool!!!) Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!!

A quickie :)

2008-07-28T14:22:00.006-04:00

Okay...so that's probably not the best title for a post, is it? hehe!! Oh well. I just wanted to hop on and say...I got my prize package from the fabulous Miss Michelle Clement!! And the papers are just so fabulous and adorable!! I don't think I can bring myself to actually use them!! Maybe I'll just put them in a frame and hang them on my wall. Love 'em! And the stamps...so stinkin' cute!! I'm not a stamper but those babies are getting used...soon!! I was so excited opening the package!! It was like Christmas morning! So I just had to share that little bit of news and say "THANK YOU" to Michelle. I luuurrrvve it all!!

And, since I hate to make a post and not include any pictures, I thought I'd share a little sneaky-peek- of a couple of my DT projects for AC Bailey Designs. Here's the first peek:

And here's the second...

I used the super-fun "In the Mood" CD from Digital Scrapbook Memories for this month's projects. What a fun little CD...loaded with goodies!! That's all for now but I want to leave you with one more little random tidbit...did you know that today (July 28th) is Beatrix Potter's birthday?? How about that? Thanks for stopping by!! Have a great day!!

Fun with...Panty Hose???

2008-07-25T01:28:00.008-04:00

I've been playing with my camera a lot lately even though our photo-a-day challenge is over. I've still been carrying it around and trying things out. So...I broke out the panty hose the other day. Wha??? What do panty hose have to do with photography you ask?? {hehe!} Let me explain...way back in the day when I had a manual 35mm camera (gasp...remember those?? hehe!) I was very into the idea of filters. I wanted to try them all. Someone...I wish I could remember who...told me to take an old pair of panty hose, cut off a little piece, and put it over the lens and use a rubber band wrapped around it to hold it on. They told me that it was a great way to get a nice soft focus. Well...I gave it a try way back then and took some pictures of my brother on his Harley that I just loved. The panty hose gave the sunlight reflecting a nice star effect and it gave the picture a soft focus. So...I thought I'd break out the old panty hose and give it a try with my digital Rebel!! I wanted to find something that had that same sort of sunlight reflection going on just to see if it would have the same result. So these pictures are for demonstration purposes...not for their fabulous-ness. {hehe!!} I just wanted to show you the effect. So, here's the photo without any panty hose on the lens:

And here's basically the same shot with the panty hose filter:

Imagine that on a nice beachy scene...the star effect and the color would add a vintage feel. I kind of like that!! And then I did a little color adjusting in Photoshop just to show what it would look like if you don't care for the vintage tone:

It still has the star effect but not the color. So what do you think?? Think you'll be grabbing some panty hose and giving it a whirl?? I'll try to get some better examples...preferably with people in the photo. :-) And I did some more playing...this one is super simple and very retro. Remember the old photos that have the burnt edges...vignette type-pictures?? Well...I took a piece of black posterboard (but I'm sure cardstock would work) and poked a hole in the center about the size of a pencil. I put it over my lens and...

It looks like I did that in photoshop but I didn't. That was straight out of the camera. I know it's not an effect for everyone but I was having fun with it! So there are a couple cheap and fun ideas for you to play with the next time you grab your DSLR. Just remember to make sure the panty hose are stretched nice and tight over your lens. (Boy does that sound weird!!) So have fun with it and I'd love to see what kind of pictures you get with your panty hose and cardstock!! Have a great evening and thanks for stopping by!!

Much Better Now...

2008-07-20T10:45:00.012-04:00

First...I just want to say "THANK YOU" to everyone for the well wishes that you sent me while I was feeling icky. I am so happy to say that it has finally passed and I am feeling SO much better now!! Sooo....have you been checking out all of the awesome peeks from CHA Chicago??! I absolutely fell in love with everything from Sassafras Lass! Seriously...I love every single piece of it! And of course, the new Pink Paislee stuff is looking amazing, too! And did anyone see the fabulous "Going Green" line from "Tinkering Ink??" Oh my...it's a wonderful concept...recycled papers, but it's also gorgeous! That's on my list, too. And how about those super cute notepads from Hambly? I have to share a little story about those.

Aren't they adorable?? Well, everyone at AC Bailey has been so excited about all of the peeks and we were constantly adding links to any and all of the peeks that we could find. I just happened to make a little post on our message board about those adorable little notepads and I might have made a little plea for one of the books to my bestest buddies from the design team that were heading to Chicago. I might have mentioned that I would love it if someone could grab one for me. (I hope I'm not incriminating myself...perhaps I should plead the 5th now!!) Anyway, our fabulous Miss Gail Connor made a little post to update us on the situation in Chicago. Apparently the Hambly stuff was under lock and key and heavily guarded. {hehe} There were signs posted and things were tacked down....but anyway, I'll let the pictures tell the story...

The fabulous notepad adhered to the wall....argh..no chance of swiping it! {hehe!}

What?? Had they heard about the plan to lift one?? :-)

Gail came through for me!! I thought their little story was so cute and hilarious that when I read it at about 1:30 in the morning, I just had to put together a super quick little digi layout to share with them...here it is:

It was just a quickie but I do want to put together a good layout about the "Sieze the Notebook" caper. It was hilarious and I love the design team girls and owner, Erica, for making me laugh so hard at 1 o'clock in the morning! Those crazy ladies must have had a blast at CHA!! I'm so jealous but so glad to hear that everyone had a great time.

{{{JUST TO CLARIFY...GAIL DIDN'T REALLY STEAL ANYTHING. It was all just in fun and no notepads were harmed or stolen in the process. {hehe!} I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea about my AC Bailey girlies. It was just a joke.}}}

Okay...I mentioned in my last post that I had tried out for the Corina Nielsen CT call and posted a layout that I had made for the call. What I didn't mention was the fact that later taht day, I made two more layouts with her fabulous freebie kit. And I just wanted to share those...

Oh and I gave Jessica Sprague's Shazam technique a try on my picture for "my girl." I really liked the way it turned out and it was super easy!! Love playing with pictures in Photoshop!!

*whew!* That was a long-winded post!! But I just had so much to share!! {hehe!!} Oh shoot...one more thing to share...I posted my challenge for the mini-crop that's happening this weekend at AC Bailey. It's a simple little challenge to "Switch it Up" and use "boy" things for a girl page or girlie things for a boy page. Very simple. Here's the layout that I did for my challenge:

I seem to be loving black with pops of color these days!! Okay...I really am finished rambling now. Thanks so much for stopping by and thanks again for all of the well-wishes and for leaving messages on my new cbox that I added! And I finally decided to add a counter, too! Ooo...look at me moving up in the blogging world and getting all fancy with my free counter! {HA!} I hope everyone has a fabulous day!! Bu-bye!!

Ick...sick girlie

2008-07-16T10:32:00.003-04:00

warning....whining post to follow.

Ugh...I have been battling some sort of stomach virus since Friday and it kicked my butt yesterday. I feel much better today {fingers crossed} so I'm hoping that I'm finally on the mend. My poor SIL has had it longer and much worse than I have so I'm thankful that I didn't get it like that. Poor girlie...but she was on the mend yesterday so I think it's finally decided to go play somewhere else. *whew!* But, in the midst of my dying yesterday, I did manage to download an awesome digital freebie from Corina Nielsen!! And she's having a CT call and all you had to do was create a layout with her mini-kit. So....I did and I actually decided to give the CT call a try!! I know...it's a super long shot but I just had to give it a try. And I have to say, her new kit, "Live Outloud," looks amazing!! Such scrumptious colors...so vibrant and fun!! Oh...I guess I could share the layout that I did, huh?? Okie-dokie...here it is:

The gorgeous flowers were from a patterned paper...I just got rid of the paper (most of it...I left a little of the pink on the edges just because I thought it looked neat) and just used the flowers as sort of an overlay. I did do some adjusting to a couple of the flowers so they weren't too huge on Emily's face. Oh...and I made a word art sticker for the title...it's my new favorite thing to do!! hehe!! And I did a little adjusting to the picture to give it a little more oomph. I just made a copy of the picture in a new layer, turned that layer b&w and gave it a really high contrast, and then made that layer an overlay. I know the result isn't for everyone...some people may not like the high contrast but I liked it. {cheese!} So there it is...my entry for Corina's CT call. I'm sure she will be absolutely swamped with entries and just overloaded with amazing creations. Wish me luck...I'm sure going to need it!! Her call ends on July 21st so I guess I should know more after that and I'll be sure to give you any news after that. Thanks so much for stopping by!! Almost forgot!! Corina's new kit will be out next week...you should check it out at Funky Playground Designs.

Thanks for stopping!! Have a great day!!

Open Mind for a Different View

2008-07-11T16:28:00.009-04:00

(Anyone recognize the title?? Little tip of my hat to James Hetfield. It's from Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters.") Our word of the day for the photo-a-day challenge yesterday was "angle." So I decided to go for a different view for my picture. It's a picture of a simple little daisy but if you had seen me precariously perched practically on my belly trying to get the sun positioned just right behind that simple little daisy....geesh!! Maybe someone should've snapped a picture of that!! hehe!! But I did like the shot that I got...here it is:

And someone marked it as a favorite photo on Flickr...that's a first for me!! Woohoo!! And here are a couple other faves from our last week or so...

Our prompt for that one was "blue." It's just a big ol' golf umbrella that I borrowed from DH and set in the yard with the sun behind it.

And the prompt for that one was "round." I just love the marbles!! Must be the kid in me! Oh...and I almost forgot to mention our "Summer Camp" challenge happening at AC Bailey Designs. We have some really fun sketch challenges and a really cool member challenge from Brandy. We'd love it if you'd come over and check it out!! Thanks for letting me bombard you with pictures today!! Did I mention I'm loving this challenge?!?! Have a great day!!

I Am One Lucky Duck! :-)

2008-07-07T23:00:00.004-04:00

Oh my goodness!! I posted this at AC Bailey and rambled on like a boob over there but totally forgot to post it here!! I just won some fabulous monster goodies from the amazingly talented Michelle Alynn (Clement)!!! Her work is so incredible...I am in awe of her talent! I love to stop by her blog...it's such a happy little place sprinkled with all of her amazing artwork. Anyway...she was having a monster giveaway and all you had to do to enter was leave a comment about whether you liked monsters and why or why not. I did...and a few days ago, I was reading the comments left on my blog and guess who was there??? Michelle!! She had not only stopped by but left a comment for me and told me that I had won!! How fabulous is that!?!? You must check out her blog, if you haven't yet, and look around at all of her creations. But make sure you give yourself plenty of time...lots of eye candy. And did I mention that she creates for the fabulous Pink Paislee design team?? Oh and she designs for the always scrumptious Red Velvet Kit Club...yummy. And she does super cute digital kits for SIS TV...she is one busy little lady!! And she took the time to stop by my blog again today...thank you, Michelle!! So, there you have it...my gush about Michelle and the celebrity siting on my blog. hehe...hope I didn't sound like a crazy stalker chick with all of my babbling!! And you know I'll have to snap a picture of my monster goodies to share with you. I'm sure you'll all hear me squeal when they arrive. I can't wait to have a mailbox full of furry little monsters!! Oh yeh...and...more happy news...my prize package from Scraptivity arrived!! (For those that didn't hear me babble about that...I took part in a weekly challenge contest at Scrativity and got 1st runner-up...a prize package of $200 worth of goodies!! Woohoo!!) So...you know I had to dump it out and snap a picture to share!! Here it is...

Okay...so that's not the greatest picture but it is a ton of stuff!! Lots of fabulous stuff in there...Tinkering Ink, Luxe, Rouge De Garance...yummy stuff. Whew...did I bore everyone yet??? This was a serious "me" post...me, me, me...sorry about that...hehe!! Thanks for stopping by!!! Have a great evening!!

Anybody "In the Mood??"

2008-07-07T17:12:00.007-04:00

hehe...I know...cheesy title and cheap way to get attention, right?? Let me explain...I got a new digital CD for my AC Bailey design team requirements and I am loving it!! It’s the “In the Mood” cd from Digital Scrapbook Memories and it is loaded with goodness! It has fun little categories like “Festive,” “Playful,” and “Love.” I grabbed things from a bunch of different folders for this one!! I used a cool, graph-like paper from the “Love” category and added some fun little elements from the “Playful” and “Festive” folders to accent it. I used some circle stickers (found in “Festive” sticker folder) down the side of the photo and grouped them together to make them one single element and then added a little drop shadow. I used a piece of orange paper and the cookie cutter tool to make the journaling spot and then added the fun stamp from the Playful category. The light brown paper that I used for the journaling is from the “Love” category and I added lines from the “Festive” folder to finish it off. The font that I used was just a freebie from CK called “Ali.” And finally, the little date stamp is from the “Playful” folder. Quick and fun little summer layout!!

Since my “Summertime” layout had things from a lot of different folders, I thought I’d try making one with just the elements from one folder…sort of like using a kit to make a layout. All of the papers and elements on this layout are from the “Love” folder on the “In the Mood” cd except for the “love” word art sticker that I made using the CK Ali font. The picture originally had Sydney making a wish and blowing on a dandelion but I used the clone tool and got rid of that and added the fun swirlies. I liked the whimsical feel that it added to the picture. The hardest part about doing this layout was trying to keep myself from overloading it all of the really fun little hearts that are on the cd!!

I also had some gorgeous goodies from American Crafts to work with for my hybrid layouts. Let me just say...I LOVE this set of American Crafts papers SO much!! They are from the Amplified collection (Halstead 1) and they are gorgeous! For this hybrid layout, I used “The Twist” for the background and a piece of “British Invasion” for an accent…had to rough up the edges a bit. The branch detail and little paper flower are digital elements from the “Playground” cd that I printed and handcut and then topped it with Stardust Stickles. And the fabulous ribbon is Halstead 3 and it is gorgeous! And the layered foam element is one of five AC Details Halstead. And, of course, some foam and chipboard Thickers for the title!!

And finally...More of the fabulous American Crafts Amplified (Halstead1) papers!! I didn’t even realize that some of these papers had really cool finishes on them until I opened them. The background paper for this layout actually looks like the colors are vinyl…such a cool effect. And one of the papers has foiling…love that, too!! This is another hybrid layout…the notebook paper at the top was printed from the “Playground” cd. (The notebook paper at the bottom was just some random spare piece in my scraps pile.) The chipboard stars are from AC, too but the colors that I had didn’t match the papers so I just used the reverse side and added some doodling.AC papers used: Motown, The Stones, and British Invasion. Ribbon-Indie Halstead 3; AC Thickers, Stickles Stardust

So there you have it...my DT layouts for July. Lots of fun and gorgeous goodies for me to play with and I had a blast!! Thanks for stopping by!! I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend and I hope I've inspired you just a little, tempted you perhaps, and maybe even put you..."In the Mood." (I know...that was lame. hehe...sorry. Just couldn't resist!!)

The Next Big Thing in Scrapbooking...

2008-07-01T20:21:00.004-04:00

my six year old daughter!! hehe!! She sat down today with her box of scrapping goodies and she made three layouts all by herself! I usually help her out here and there at least a little but not this time. And she is so proud of herself and her work. She asked me if I wanted to take a picture of them and put them on the internet and I said, "Of course!!" So here's her favorite page from today...the pictures are of her and her BFF/cousin, Whitney when they were little.

Awww...ain't it cute??? I was very proud of her!! Yay, Sydney!! {{clapping!!}} I'm sure I'll post some more but I wanted to stretch it out over a couple days for her. Thanks for letting me be the proud mama...hehe!!

Oh my...I have been working with some really gorgeous paper from American Crafts for the AC Bailey design team! They are from the Amplified collection...so rich and gorgeous!! And cool names, too, like "British Invasion," "The Twist," and "Rock Opera." But...I can't reveal any of those just yet...next week. But I do have a layout that I did just for the fun of it, not as part of my DT requirements that I can share. It's super simple but I liked the way it turned out. I did a little sketch, (yep...can you believe it?? I sketched!!), inspired by a magazine ad that I saw and then used it for this layout. I actually intended on using the white space for my journaling but I ended up liking it just the way it was for some reason. Anyway, here it is:

I've been having a little trouble figuring out the best adhesive for pipe cleaners. I used glue dots but those crazy little things just don't want to stay on very well. grr. Little frustrating. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them!! Well, that's all for today...thanks so much for stopping by!!!

I Worry...It's What I Do...

2008-06-28T23:25:00.006-04:00

My family thinks I worry too much. And by "family" I really mean my dad, my brother, and my hubby. I admit it...I'm a worrier. But no more than most mothers. Or at least...I don't think I worry more than most mothers. What if I do worry more than most mothers??? Should I be worried about that??!! Anyway, I get that from my mom...thanks, Mom. But she has taken it to new levels. She says things and I swear she is just sitting around trying to find new things to worry about. It's like that Kevin Bacon game for her now...everything leads back to a reason to worry. Like...my brother's house has some pretty steep basement steps but they always keep the door closed. They have a lock on it but it doesn't keep you from opening it from the inside. So my mom is always worried that their soon-to-be three year old is going to open the door and plumet down the stairs. Okay...that's not such a stretch. Here's where it gets a little overboard. She's worried that one of the kids is going to sleep walk and open the door in the middle of the night thinking that they are opening the bathroom door. Neither of the kids has every had any kind of sleepwalking episodes...yet. (They're 6 and 3.) And...Mom & I were taking a little walk through our paths (through the woods but not a deep woods...just close to the house). We had Sydney and Whitney with us and they are both six and getting very independent. They decided that they wanted to walk ahead of us. I said no, of course, because I don't want them out of my sight. My mom, however, says..."No, girls. You need to stay with us. A deer could come running out of the woods and hit right into you and you don't want that." A deer could run into you. She said that. I thought that was hilarious! I mean, I guess technically it could happen but of all the things to worry about when you're in the woods...if you can worry about a deer, how are you able to get past the idea of things like snakes or bears or coyotes. Oh my...my dear, sweet mother. Okay...I think I've rambled enough about that. hehe!!

How about a little sneak peek of one of my design team hybrid layouts??

I had some really gorgeous American Crafts papers to work with and, of course, the Moods cd from Digital Scrapbook Memories. (Did I mention that I'm loving that one??) Oh...and our word for today in the Photo-a-Day challenge at Flickr was "white." I had big plans of snapping a really cool, out-of-the-ordinary shot and...I just didn't have it in me today. So, I snapped a picture of this...

Not so fabulous but...I kind of liked it. And I think I found the picture that I'm going to use for my blog header. Our word for yesterday was "comfort" so I had a few ideas but I settle on...my blue jeans! What's more comfortable than your favorite pair of jeans, right?? And I actually really liked this shot & I think I'm going to use it to make a header...

Whew! That was a long-winded post!! Okay...so that's all for now! I'm heading over to Flickr to see if our word for tomorrow has been posted yet. I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!! Thanks for stopping by!!

My Computer Misses Me...

2008-06-26T21:37:00.009-04:00

I can sure tell it's summer!! I've been outside with the kids and not on the computer nearly as often as I was before school let out! My poor, neglected computer. awww.... But, I hopped on today and did a little digital scrapping. I got my two digital design team layouts finished and I'm going to work on my hybrid one tonight...yay!! I have to say...I'm loving the new cd that Erica sent me. It's Digital Scrapbook Memories "Moods" cd and it is loaded with fun goodies. Here's a little sneaky-peeky of one of my pages...

Oh my goodness...this has nothing to do with anything, it just popped into my head. Yesterday, guess what my mom got in the mail??? The JCPenney Fall/Winter catalog!!! And everywhere I look, there are summer clearance sales! Really??! I have only bought one summer shirt so far this year. I guess I'd better hit some of those sales before the stores are loaded with sweaters and parkas!! Okay...sorry for the random babble...anyway... I've been keeping up with my pic-a-day challenge, too. I haven't posted any pictures in a few days so I thought I'd share some...

Those are my nieces cute little red shoes sitting on the bench waiting for her. I used that one for our free day.

One of my many attempts at the word "bright." My shirt had the little sparkley sequins on it that kept blinding me so I snapped a picture. hehe. And the picture at the top of the post was one of my other bright attempts. I can't wait to see what our word is for tomorrow. I hope it's something I can pull of indoors because I think we're supposed to get storms. Did I mention that Leah is doing a killer job keeping us motivated and organized with this challenge?? She really is...thank you, girl!! Alright...I guess I've done enough rambling for today. Thanks for stopping by!! Have a great evening!!

"Simple"

2008-06-21T00:17:00.004-04:00

That was our inspiration for today..."simple." I had some ideas but I just thought I'd keep the photo uncluttered and easy to look at, maybe even monochromatic...you know, simple. So I started with this one...just some little pieces of gravel in a heart-shape on a wooden step. Pretty simple, right?? And I actually really liked it except for one little thing. That little piece of a shadow in the lower left corner. And since we agreed to no cropping, I just couldn't make myself use it. It just bothered me...isn't that silly??? So, I kept thinking about simple things or sayings about simple things like "easy as pie" or "piece of cake" but I didn't want to do something like that. So I thought about my kids and the simplicity of things through their eyes. Like, things are either right or wrong, no grey areas for kids. And love...the love of a child is so simple and pure. No worrying about whether someone might hurt you or being suspicious of people. They love with all of their heart...completely. So...I cut a little heart out of a piece of felt and asked my daughter to lend a hand, literally. hehe! And here's the shot I chose for my "simple" submission:

I'm pretty happy with that one. And I think I see a scrapbook page in my future, too. So those are my two favorite shots for today. Our word for Saturday is "summer" and Sunday is a free day so we get to upload any photo we want! Should be a fun photo weekend!! Thanks for stopping by!! Don't forget to snap a few shots today!! :-)

More photo lovin'

2008-06-19T21:10:00.009-04:00

I am just lovin' getting to know my camera again!! And taking pictures that are just for me...for no other reason than I like it. How fun is that?!? I was out taking some shots for our photo-a-day challenge word of the day, "go," and I decided to snap a few pictures of my good ol' cowboy boots. I wear them constantly and they certainly help me go places. But I have to tell you...I looked pretty silly leaning over trying to get the angle that I wanted on my own leg. Bizarre little position. But I like the picture that I got.

And I did take a pretty normal shot of my boots that I liked, too...

And then while I was checking out the fabulous Miss Elsie's blog, I saw a link that she had posted to a really cool tutorial for a really fun photoshop process. So I gave it a try!! It's very subtle but I kind of liked it. Whatcha' think??

It's just sort of...dirtier, maybe. Anyway...a couple more pictures and then I'll be all done. hehe. I really wanted my "go" picture to show movement and have some level of blurring so I snapped this one from the passenger seat this morning.

But this is the one that I actually chose to upload for my "go" photo-of-the-day....

So there you have it...some of the things that I've been seeing and capturing today!!! Did I mention how much I'm lovin' this??? Thanks for stopping by!!!

Today's "smooth" challenge & other pics...

2008-06-18T18:25:00.008-04:00

That's just one of the pictures that I snapped today...not for the challenge...just because I wanted to...isn't that the best kind?? Our word for today was "smooth." I have to admit...when I saw the word that Leah posted for our inpiration for today, my first thought was the song by Rob Thomas. Ha! But since I didn't have RT close by to snap a picture of, my second thought was a nice, new jar of peanut butter...you know how nice and smooth it is before you dive in. Love that. But...I didn't have Rob Thomas or a new jar of peanut butter, (wouldn't that have been cool if I had RT holding a new jar of peanut butter....now that would be smooth! hehe), I had to think of something else. I kept leaning toward chrome or the really cool lines of a car or motorcycle but I ended up grabbing some of those decorative glass rocks that people use for vases. My son has had a collection of those since he was little...he used them for his loaders and dump trucks. He'd spend hours loading up dump trucks full of those things, hauling them off, and dumping them in just the right spot. Ahhh...memories. Anyway, I grabbed a handful of those pretty little rocks and snapped a few shots. I wasn't too thrilled with them at first so I grabbed a glass that was my grandmother's...some sort of thick, collectible glass...I'm clueless but it was smooth. But I ended up liking the shots of the little glass rocks once I saw them on the computer. Here's the one I chose to upload for today...

The colors turned out much better than I expected. This is straight from the camera...no adjusting other than sizing down for the web. And here's one of the shots of my grandmother's glass...

I liked the green shadow that the sun was casting through the glass...kind of neat. And I grabbed some shots of my daughter and my niece while we were picking some wild strawberries...yummy...and I was pretty happy with some of those, too.

And finally....my very favorite photo of the day...I just love this one....

Sorry for all of the pictures but I have just been having so much fun rediscovering the manual functions on my camera!! I hope everyone is having a great day and I hope you take the time to snap at least one picture today! Thanks for stopping by!!!

More pics and a new page...

2008-06-17T15:20:00.007-04:00

Our word for the ACB photo-a-day challenge for today was "color." It was hard for me to decide what to photograph and then once I started snapping...it was hard to decide which one to choose. But that's the one that I settled on. I wanted to use leading lines and I wanted it to be pretty strong so that's why I chose that one. But here are a couple more that I liked, too.

And...I actually finished a scrapbook page the other day that wasn't digital! Can you believe it?? The picture doesn't really show the little details like the Stickles that I added here and there but you can get the general idea anyway. I used some Sassafrass Lass papers from the fabulous AC Bailey May Kit of the month!! It is such a wonderful kit!!

I think I dulled my knife with the handcutting on that one! hehe!! But I had fun with that one! It started out on red cardstock but that made it a little girlie so I switched to the brown. So that's some of the fun stuff that I've been dabbling in lately. And did I mention that Tab & I finally got that crazy yearbook finished and it is now in the printing process!! *whew!* Tab really stepped up to the plate and knocked that one out! Thanks, again, Tab for all of your hard work!! I hope everyone is having a great day!!! Thanks for visiting!!

A Fun New Challenge

2008-06-17T12:04:00.004-04:00

My friend, Leah, has started a new challenge for us at AC Bailey!! (Thank you, Leah!!!) I'm really excited about this one! It's a photo-a-day challenge to help all of us sharpen our photography skills. Leah will post a weekly focus...this week's is composition. And then each day she will post a word that we use for inspiration for our photo. The first word was "inspire." I snapped some pictures of my daughter...she inspires me in so many ways. To be more open and free, to not be afraid of being silly, to smile...

Anyway...I had to do some running yesterday so I only had about 10 minutes to snap some shots and get them uploaded. I took about 20 pictures but I settled on this one. We decided to limit the amount of editting so I didn't adjust this one...just resized it for the upload.

Our word for today is "color." I snapped some shots already but I haven't downloaded them yet. I think I want to try a few more options before I settle on just one. You know me...so indecisive!! Oh and...a new template for today, too!! This one will be a little more summery and bright. I'll have to live with it for a day or two and see what I think. I'll be back later with my picture for the day. Thanks for stopping by!!!

Quick pic!!

2008-06-12T16:13:00.003-04:00

Okay...just got back from getting my hair colored for the first time ever! I snapped a couple quick pictures but none of them turned out but I'm still going to post this one until I can get a better one. The fabulous Ms. Brianne Smith, owner of Full Volume Hair & Nails, did this for me today!! Thank you, girl!! (And her birthday is on Saturday...Happy Birthday!!) So here's a little peek...ignore the goofy look on my face!!

I'll post some better ones later...just wanted to get one uploaded!! I actaully have a lot more blonde throughout than the picture shows but you get the idea...hopefully. hehe. Gotta run again...thanks for stopping by!!!

I Have Been a Bad Blogger!!!

2008-06-10T12:11:00.005-04:00

Where have I been??? Goodness...I fell behind. With all of the end-of-the-year activities at school and the kids being home now and all of the sunshine that we've been having, I just haven't been in front of the computer much. And I've been trying to work on the yearbook for my kids' school but it's been slow going for me. Thank goodness our PTO president, Tab, has picked up my slack!! She is going blazing through the pages!! THANK YOU, TAB!!
Anyway...I uploaded my DT pages to AC Bailey so I thought I'd share a couple of them here. I'm not sure why but I think this 8.5x11 digital page of Sydney is my favorite for this month. I just love that green paper!! And I am obsessed with the text/letter brushes that I used on this page. I used them a lot to make overlays for my acrylic album and I just loved the way it looked!

And my second digital DT page is one of my faves, too...just not my absolute favorite. I just can't seem to do a digi page without using some brushes! I guess I'm just addicted...what's a girl to do, right?? But how can you not love some fun star brushes?? They were the perfect finishing touch for this page of my son, Jesse.

So there are a couple of my DT layouts for this month. I also have some hybrid layouts that I'll upload this week. I used some more of the yummy Basic Grey Sultry paper for those...so pretty!! Oh and I go to get my hair colored for the first time ever (other than the do-it-yourself kind) on Thursday so I'll be posting some pictures after I have that done...good or bad, I'll be posting!! hehe. I hope everyone is having a great week!! Bu-bye!!

Just babbling...

2008-06-03T13:12:00.002-04:00

You'll probably see that title quite often on my blog. It's what I do...hehe. You'll have to pop over to the AC Bailey blog and check out the fabulous inspiration that Jess posted!! She made some lovely layouts and a super cute tray with the Basic Grey Sultry papers. I have those papers, too...love 'em!! I wasn't sure if I was going to like actually using them or not. Sometimes, I like to look at my Basic Grey more than use it but I actually chopped them up and played with them!! I have to say...I think my favorite piece was the green houndstooth!! I need to pick up a few more pieces of that...it was the first one to get used. We have a lot more inspiration to come on the blog. I'll be posting my DT projects on the 7th so be sure to check back for those!! Hope you get the chance to check it out!! Have a great day!!

It's been launched!!

2008-06-02T14:40:00.002-04:00

I'm so excited!! The AC Bailey blog has been officially unveiled! Once we really get into the swing of things, it's going to be a fun little place to get inspiration and great tips and techniques. I hope everyone will stop by and check us out at
http://www.acbailey.blogspot.com/
And, we have a winner!! Congratulations to Brandy!! She was our big winner at our Scrap Scouts challenge!! She rocked all of the challenges and earned a whopping 20 badges to make her the winner!! And guess what her prize is.....
a $100 prize package!!! Isn't that amazing!! So congratulations, Brandy!! You did an amazing job!! And it's not completely over yet....we have a scrap-off underway to determine the 2nd and 3rd place winners!! So good luck to the remaining ladies!! This should be fun!!!

How 'bout this one??

2008-06-01T11:37:00.002-04:00

Okay, so something happened with the template that I uploaded yesterday...it looked pretty cool while it was working. Oh well...here's the one that I mentioned yesterday. I think it's pretty fun and cute but I'll need to test drive it for a little bit to see if I'm going to keep it or not. I'm so indecisive so don't be surprised if I keep changing things for a while. I'm digging the redecorating thing. teehee.
Today is the big official unveiling of the AC Bailey blog and don't forget...free shipping on all US orders on the first of every month...like today!! I have to place a little order today. Erica has some of those white Uniball pens in stock and I think I've been hearing them calling my name. Once the blog has been launched, I'll be sure to post a link and I think that today is the big announcement for the winners/scrap-off participants for the Scrap Scouts contest. Can't wait for that!! So I'll be back later with some updates!! Til then....

Whatcha think??

2008-05-31T20:18:00.002-04:00

I did a little redecorating...not sure what I think about it. I tried out a bunch of different templates from pyzam.com and a lot of them were "almost," but I didn't find one that was "absolutely!" So I'm just test driving this one for a little bit to see what I think. I just hated having that plain black...needed a little umph, ya know. And until I can actually have time to figure out what I want and make my own, I thought this one would work out...we'll see. I found a really cute one from suckmylolly.com that had cute little girlie faces and cherries on it and I think I'll give it a test run in a couple days to see what I think of it. You guys will have to help me out and give me some feedback. Okay...gottal run...just trying to keep up with my daily posting!! Have a great evening!!

Still not sure

2008-05-30T19:48:00.005-04:00

So we still don't have all of the tallies figured up for the Scrap Scouts...seems like there will be some announcements made tomorrow so stay tuned for that!! Since I didn't post a picture this morning...and I feel like I need to, I thought I would post my layout that I did for the final challenge. Jess hosted a fabulous class called "all about me" and her requirements were...use at least three photos, you must be in at least one of the photos, tell why you scrapbook, and use one of the techniques from the previous challenge which included things like white space, stamping, stitching, distressing...all kinds of cool challenges!! I chose to use white space and I had my little layout all planned out in my head. I wanted to do a digi page but when I finally had a minute to sit down and do it, I couldn't access my digital scrapbooking supplies! *argh!* So...I just used some of the brushes and made my own paper. teehee. I kind of liked it and it gave it a more personal feel, I think. So anyway...here's my final challenge layout. Check back tomorrow for some more contest announcements!!

We've reached the end...

2008-05-30T15:55:00.002-04:00

of our Scrap Scouts challenge at AC Bailey Designs. The gallery is just overloaded with fabulous work from the contestants!! They have all done such a wonderful job...I'm so glad we don't have to pick a winner!! The winner is decided based on the number of "badges" that the contestants have earned by doing layouts based on weekly challenges. And they can earn Extra Credit badges along the way as well. So far...it looks like we might have to resort to a Scrap-off to decide the winner. That should be interesting and exciting!! We should know some time this evening whether we have a clear-cut winner or not. We'll see!! And, of course, I'll keep you updated here as soon as I know anything!! I'll be back later with some more details!!

After...

2008-05-29T16:42:00.005-04:00

Okay, I just got home and snapped a couple self-portraits...they're not the best but you should be able to get the idea. I have to turn around and head back out...more running to do but I promised an update! I think I am SO going to love it once I get to play with it and mess it up a bit. Oh and I made an appointment to get it colored in a couple weeks. I super excited about that...it will have some really nice highlights and funky colors then. *squeal* Anyway...here are some peeks at the new do...

Stay tuned...

2008-05-29T07:20:00.005-04:00

After much debate and back-and-forthing about my icky hair...today's the day it finally gets cut! Woohoo! I'm excited! I just hope it turns out okay...I'm sure it will...just a few jitters this morning. I snapped some 'before' pictures and once the deed is done, I'll snap some 'after' pictures and upload them this evening. We have a tech guy coming this morning (he was supposed to be here yesterday...that didn't work out) to work on our internet so I'm not sure when I'll be able to get back in to update everything but I promise to do it as soon as I am able. I'm not sure if I'll be brave enough to get the "Amanda," but it's definitely going to be shorter. (For those of you that might be wondering...Amanda is one of the fabulous girlies on the DT at AC Bailey and she has a rawkin' hair cut that we've all been admiring....love it!! We've all been requesting pictures so that we can take it to our stylists and get the Amanda....it rocks!) Anyway...we'll see what I finally decide on. I'm not even going to know until I get in the chair and chat with the stylist...I'm so indecisive. teehee. But...it is definitely getting chopped. So stayed tuned...I'll update as soon as I can!! weeeeee!!! This should be an interesting day!! Wish me luck...and courage!

Warning.....another really bad "before" picture follows...

Sure hope my "after" picture is better than that!! *yikes!!* See you in a bit!!!

How long....

2008-05-28T12:05:00.003-04:00

do you think I can keep posting daily without missing a day??? Hmmm...I think I've just given myself a challenge!! So, I did some surfing yesterday looking for hints and tips and templates and ideas of how I want my blog and banner to look. I found some things...hopefully I'll be able to give them a test run soon. But we have another tech guy coming out sometime today to put up a ne satellite for our internet service so I'm not sure how much access I'll have today. So I thought I would share some more pictures. Most of you know that I love to take photography road trips...just driving around for no reason, with no destination in mind, just looking for interesting things to photograph. Well...since gas is $4 a gallon...I won't be doing too many of those anymore. But I did have the chance to take a photography stroll at the beginning of the month. I was home for a couple of hours by myself and it was the first bit of sunshine that we had experienced in a while so I grabbed my Rebel and hit the trails. I took a bunch of interesting (aka weird) pictures but here are a couple of my faves. The first one is just a dead lawn mower sitting by a building but he looked so sad. He's my mower dude. And the second one is just some fungus on the side of a tree. It's my fun with fungi picture. So that's all for now...I'm sure I'll be back soon with some more nonsense. Hope everyone has a great day!!

And so it begins...

2008-05-27T14:05:00.000-04:00

My first official post...how exciting!! I can't wait to actually get in there and change this thing up and make it my own. It's rather...well...blah right now. So this is my little corner of the net...all for me. Just so you all know, let me get some things out of the way...I overuse the "dot, dot, dot." I also ramble and babble. And I've been called bubbly...gasp. Is that a good thing?? I can't make my first post and not include some sort of picture, right?? So, here's one...let's test this thing out and see if I can get a picture to show up...how about a little sneak peek of my first attempt at an acrylic album? Okay...here goes...

So there it is! I'm on the digital design team at AC Bailey Designs and, as a little surprise, Erica sent me this fabulous 3x5 stamp-shaped acrylic album from Scrapworks. Loved it even though it kind of kicked my butt since I wasn't using double-sided papers. I'll post more pictures and details later once I get this blog thing nailed down a little more. But for now...that's it. My first official post...woohoo!!