Anybody "In the Mood??"

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!!)

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The Next Big Thing in Scrapbooking...

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!!!

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

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!!

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My Computer Misses Me...

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!!

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"Simple"

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!! :-)

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More photo lovin'

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!!!

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

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!!!

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