I've Been Made!

Yup, it's true, I've been made!!! I was accepted as a guest for the month of October by Sophia Sarducci!!! And if you haven't been to the shop lately, you're missing out. I count Sophia Sarducci's shop along with Catscrap as the two most underrated, highest quality, unique little shops out there! I just love their stuff! Here are some of my favorites:
Creepy Christine

Button Supplies Set

Industrial Staples


And the shoppe is so cool, they have a feature called Off-site Must-haves where they recommend products from OTHER stores! How neat is that?!?

I also discovered that they have a wonderful selection of stock photos - cheap!!

So, yeah, I'm happy to be MADE and I'm excited to post my first Sophia Sarducci layout, hopefully tonight! I'm having a hard time finishing it cause I want it to be perfect, so tonight, I load up the iPod and look for some mojo to finish it up! :)

Adobe Lightroom Preset FREEBIES!

Ok, so I bit the bullet and got Lightroom, at least as a trial. Well, I might as well just buy the darn thing now, cuz I'm HOOKED! And one of the main reasons is presets. They are easy to use, easy to tweak and FAST FAST FAST! Check out these awesome presets that are FREE!



Hope I've enabled some of you who were on the fence!

BWO

So, I was just blog-surfing, looking at pretty scrapbook pages mosly and I ran across a fantasticly talented group of ladies in Australia. Check out the link that got me started here They are paper scrapbookers and, to me, that is like scrapping from another planet. I tried to paper scrapbook for about two months and I was horrible at it. I had all these grand ideas and simply could not execute them to my satisfaction so I was delighted to discover digital scrapbooking which, for me, had a much shorter learning curve. Anyway, I like to look at paper scrapbooking pages because it gives me a different inspiration pool. They are working in a different medium and with different tools than digi-scrappers. Anyhoo, somehow or other I came across a link to something called Blogging Without Obligation. The basic idea is that we should blog cause we want to not cause we have to. Pretty cool, so I'm adding the blinkie to my COLLECTION! ;)

9/11 Day of Remembrance

September 11, 2001
The Day The World Changed

When I woke up this morning, my first thoughts were of 9/11 (2001). I can hardly believe that six years have already passed. My personal memories from that day:

I started a new job with ADP in April 2001 and we got Rufus as a puppy that same month. Brian and I got married in 2001 (June 16). On September 11, I was in the office. It was a Tuesday and, at the time, it was the one day of the week that I was required to be "in-house". Most days, I was working from home or making sales calls. So, all the sales reps were in the office that day. I remember that a lot of the guys had News-alerts set up on their cell phones and on their laptops. Someone saw the video on CNN (I think) when the first plane hit the tower. We all watched it and my first thought was that it was a private plane gone amok. By the time the second plane hit the other tower, we had all abandoned the pretense of working and a tv was set up in the conference room downstairs. A group of us sat together and watched the first tower fall, live on TV. I was in shock and many of us were crying. ADP made an announcement that any employees that wanted to, could leave. There was a lot of fear and paranoia. Our office was located across the stree from Ford World HQ, we were in a city that was predominantly arab-american, etc etc. So, I went home. I called Brian on the way home and for the next 24 hours I was glued to the TV. I never felt so frightened and sad. I am lucky that I didn't lose anyone personally in the attacks. My heart goes out to everyone who did. God bless.

Thursday thoughts?

I am not 100% sure why I have a blog like this, but it does seem mildly therapeutic to write down whatever I'm thinking about. Lately I've been thinking about losing weight. I am at a point in my life where it's not as easy as it used to be to drop 10 or even 15 pounds, while it is easier than ever to gain that amount of weight. I realize that I need to make changes, but thus far, have been unsuccessful in implementing said changes. So, maybe if I write it down, for the WHOLE world to (potentially, at least) see, I will be more accountable...? We'll see. But here are my thoughts:

1. No more beer or wine during the week. It's just extra calories that I don't need.
2. No more snacking on cookies and chips BEFORE dinner. This is actually what I perceive to be my biggest sin. I tend to get hungry right before meals and just grab whatever is in the cupboard. From now on, I am going to snack only on healthier options, such as carrots, raisins and figs (all things I love)
3. Exercise everyday, even if it's just a long walk or a bike ride. This is the most critical and the most difficult one for me. I have no idea why, because I love how I feel while exercising, I love how I feel after exercising...I just LOATHE getting started! This is where I need my own personal butt-kicker!

And one thing I learned in sales was that your goals need to be measurable, so since my true goal is to lose weight, I am going to commit to trying to lose 10 lbs by October 15. Phew, now it's out there! Wish me luck, I have a feeling that I'm going to need it!

On to scrapping stuff -

I recently completed my Hodge Podge layout and I really like the result. I am developing a personal style and I have to say that I think it is grungy/edgy. I seem happiest with my layouts when they are a little grungy or edgy. When I try to get cute, the whole thing just falls apart, IMO. So here's my entry:


(credits can be found at any of my gallery links, at right)

And I decided to enter the Stand Up and Scap contest after all. I think I will enjoy it, as I really enjoyed the Queen of the Crop contest at scrapbookgraphics.
I have a thought (I was going to say "concern", but that is too strong a word) about the attempt at anonymity. I understand the goal of keeping it anonymous, but I suspect that it will be impossible. I have only been around the digiscrapping world a short while and I already recognize layouts as "belonging" to one artist or another based on their children, who, understandably, star in 90% of the layouts! So, we'll see if they can take the PROM QUEEN/MOST POPULAR aspect out of it, but I doubt it. Still, it's for a worthy cause and the kit alone (with the coupons) is seriously worth it. The deciding factor to enter for me was actually the cost. To get it at SSD, and to register, the kit was $10. To get it at LDD (no registration), was $12. The $2 decided it for me, although I don't really have serious thoughts about winning. I was doubly glad I bought the $10 kit and registered when I found out that the coupons in the registration package don't come with the $12 kit!! (yes, I'm a bargain hunter!)

So those are my thoughts for today!

Happy September!

I can hardly believe that summer is over! We crammed a lot into August and now I'm just zausted!!! And a little sad that winter is coming, so instead of being melancholy, I will focus on the top ten things I love about fall...
Here goes,
1. Cider mills
2. Sweater weather
3. Riding boots
4. Carving pumpkins
5. Football and hockey seasons start
6. New TV season (Heroes, Lost!!)
7. Great sleeping weather
8. Hot cocoa
9. Halloween
10. Christmas catalogs

Happy Blogging!

Hodge Podginess

Yay - Gina Miller asked me to be a guest artist for this week's Hodge Podge challenge - check it out here!!

The challenge is to scrap someone new! A new face starring in your layouts! I chose Gabrielle, my adorable, 8 year old niece and my first God-daughter!

Here's my layout - Just Be You



And since the last time I posted, one of my layouts was selected as the Page of the Week at Scrapbookgraphics (last week! whoops!)



And another layout of mine was selected to be in the Mini-Skinny newsletter at Scrapbookgraphics! Fun stuff for me this week!



On the homefront, Declan is potty-trained 100%! No diapers (except at night) for a week and ZERO accidents since day three (0r thereabouts) of potty-training! It was really much easier than I had anticipated - guess he was ready after all!

I'm in the spotlight!!

Ok, I have to toot - I'm in the spotlight at Traci Reed's Hawt Mama Team Blog!! Wihoo! Check it out here!

And I made a couple of layouts for your viewing pleasure (click on title for credits):
Life is Beautiful


The Lake


Memories


Giraffe Encounter


AND, last but not least, you HAVE to check out the Funky Train Collab at scrapbookgraphics. And definitely hit the forum for the coupon code BEFORE you buy, nudge-nudge, wink-wink!



Have a great weekend bloggers!

Glut of layouts!

So, I guess when the stars align, my ds will nap, DST will go down and I will have nothing to do but SCRAP!!! (ok, so I could have chosen to clean my house or do laundry - but, seriously, is that what YOU would do with an extra hour?!?)

So here are the results of my freetime - a GLUT of layouts!!! (ok, so actually there are only TWO layouts, but I'm feeling so good about it, let's all pretend there is a GLUT!)





Credits are HERE

Grayness

So, I've experienced some serious frustration recently. Just bad vibes, bad feelings and I have been carrying it around. Today, I had an epiphany. It was predicated by my son's nap. A rare occurence, but for some reason, today he napped. And I checked out a Writing challenge at scrapbookgraphics. The challenge was based on synesthesia which is is a neurologically based phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. (according to wikipedia!)
Well, the challenge was to take a sensation and to apply a color to it. For example, what color is "hungry" to you? I chose to write about my frustration and here is what I came up with:

Frustration - the gray stone walls surround me and I am enclosed in a prison of futility. I fight it, I bang on the walls repeatedly using my hands, my feet, and eventually my head, but by then I'm not trying to escape so much as I'm trying to shock myself with pain. Fruitless, useless, pointless to try that way again. By now I should know that there is only one way out of this cold, dull and dim confinement. Let it go. Just let it go.

And you know what? Just writing this down made it easier for me to let go of my frustration and to accept what I need to accept. I feel freed!

And I also managed to finish a layout today - here it is:
MINE



Credits here.

Just a layout and random rambling

I finished a layout today and I am very proud of myself!! I've been slacking, HARD and need to get back on track! My computer is the main excuse, I mean, reason. ;) The monitor has this unbearably annoying FLICKER that I cannot get rid of! It's giving me fits and I spend almost all my free time trying to figure it out!! Yuck - sometimes technology is so darned complicated! Troubleshooting is NOT my favorite past-time, so I've been avoiding the computer somewhat. So, there's THAT, and teh fact that we've been rushing around trying to enjoy the last month of our lovely summer, so I've genuinely been busy! :)

Well, there's nothing really more to say, except this layout features my little guy (as usual) and I used one of Chantal's wonderful photo clusters! These things make scrapping SOOO easy! :)



Credits here

Woot Woot!!

Wahoo - I get to be a guest CT member for Trish Jones for the month of August - I'm soo excited! Trish just moved on over to scrapbookgraphics and that is my favorite board so I'm thrilled!!! I love her style and I am a huge fan already! The new collab between Sausan Designs and Trish is to-die-for - Big Girl Panties - and isn't that title a hoot?!?


It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of Sausan Designs and now that I'm on Trish's CT (for a month anyway), I am sooo thrilled!!! Anyhoosle - here's my very first layout using Trish's awesome stuff -

I used her Journey in Time kit, plus her taped stars (recolored blue). (I also used Jessica Bolton's vintage mat which you can get at scrapbookgraphics)
You can find Trish's stuff at her own shop here and at scrapbookgraphics!

New Month Resolutions - August 2007

So, today is July 31st and that means that tomorrow is the last month of summer - WHEN did summers start going by so quickly?!? I've only been to my neighborhood pool ONCE so far this summer and we bought a pool pass!!! Luckily, my dh takes my ds a couple of nights a week after dinner so I can do some digi-scrapping so the passes weren't a COMPLETE waste of money! ;) I intend to take ds to the pool once a week starting TOMORROW! This is one of my New Month Resolutions! I have decided to start new and fresh in August! (and will probably have some New Month Resolutions in September too if these work out! ;) )


So, without further ado, here are my New Month Resolutions for the month of August, 2007:


1. Go to the pool once a week


2. Work out three times a week (an oldie, but a goodie!)


3. Comment more in the galleries I post layouts to (Scrapartist, Scrapbookgraphics and DST and maybe go back to Scrapbook-bytes again.)


4. Participate in one contest per week from Scrapbookgraphics, and Scrapartist AND do either the Hodge Podge challenge OR the Digidare challenge every week.


5. Try to get back to completing one layout per day


6. Make dinner five days a week!!!! (that's a big one!)





I think that's PLENTY!





To help me with resolution #3 (more commenting in layout galleries), I am participating in contests at DST and at SBG for the most posts. I won June's contest at SBG with over 1900 comments for the month of June but that will be impossible for me to replicate! My personal goal is to comment on 24 layouts per day at each site. That's a LOT, but should help keep me inspired to create my own layouts!





So, that's the skinny here.





Oh, and here are a couple of layouts from this week:

and this one:

Credits here and here

Couple of layouts

So, my dh was traveling this week and it was kind of a nightmare. I thought it would be wise to have some family come over to help entertain my 2 year old so I could get some alone time and that worked like a charm on Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday were not so great, but that is solely my fault since I was the genius who thought an eight year old would be a BIG help. What was I thinking? She's my darling niece who I love soo much but let's face it, at eight years old she's not gonna be much help for very long! To top it off, I decided to have her sleep over and with no spare bedroom and my dh gone, I thought she could share the king size bed with me. Unfortunately, she managed to fall off the bed at 2am and then I couldn't get her back to sleep until 4am. Phew, I'm pooped!


Well, I managed to do a couple of layouts somehow and here they are:

This one is actually animated and you can see the animation by clicking here (credits are there also). It was for the Hawt Mama Challenge on Traci Reed's team blog. The challenge was to scrap about a "first", to use something you bought in the last 4 weeks, use different fonts and use glitter.

The second layout is another challenge layout - this time for the Digidares. The challenge was to scrap about what "they think" about you and about your truth. Also to use 3 fonts/alphas and glitter.

Credits are here.

Have a great week!

Canoodling and Kaboodling

I'm here to canoodle you into kaboodling. (ca-noo-dle v. tr. To win over or convince by cajoling or flattering; wheedle: "his matchless ability to charm, bamboozle, or canoodle most of his political associates")
See, I've recently become addicted to Kaboodle. Addicted to shopping/browsing the digi-scrapping boutiques and expanding my own wanton wishlist and addicted to carousing the Kaboodle lists of other digi-scrappers. What a fantastic source of inspiration for me!

And, I admit, I am enchanted by the whole shopping-list-collecting frenzy - by the idea that a shopping list is a peek into a person's private thoughts and world. So, I voyeuristically (in the purest sense of "observing", "seeing" and "watching") peruse the Kaboodle lists of digi-scrappers that I admire. (Angela Powers, Wellidesigns, twentytinytoes, angelbq, ditzyscrap and many more). I get a rush of shopping joy when I get to see what THEY have on THEIR wishlists...AND I also have discovered that I enjoy seeing what their most recent purchases have been, sooooo, I added that category to my OWN Kaboodle.

And without further ado, here is the latest sampling of things that I have purchased, and I'm even going to include my thought process in selecting these delicious items:

(Let me begin by saying that I am on a bit of a budget this month, since I blew through my paypal account in record time last month! Having said that, I am quite pleased with my purchases, they are unique and extremely versatile. Bargain-hunters - pay attention!)

I hit Sophia Sarducci's shop first since I am in awe of her beads and am on a bit of a bead-binge right now. I picked up these lovelies for only $2!!! (and available for a limited time, I might add!)

While shopping for the above beads, I noticed these sparkly little foil accents in the "other items people purchased" category and since I have admired the foily accents on some other scrappers' layouts recently, I could not resist for only 2 more dollars:

And I checked out the "cheap-o-rama" section for a bit of a laugh, but was immediately drawn to these exceedingly realistic and unique bows that were only $1 And lastly, I must include this item from Pixel Gypsy Designs. I freely admit that this item was free for me because I am lucky enough to be a Guest CT, but I can truthfully say that I would have bought this anyway because it's s0-dang cute and also a BARGAIN at only $1.85



So, there are some fun items I bought today and put on my Kaboodle list! Go and peruse the Kaboodles of YOUR favorite digiscrapper and link me up!

Happy 45th Anniversary Merlin and Thorwald! (July 21, 2007)

Tomorrow is my parents' 45th wedding anniversary and this is the first year of joint retirement for them! My dad retired a while ago, but my mom retired this year, so they are beginning their "golden years!" They've already been on a trip to Yellowstone this summer and are starting to get in the groove of daily life together. Happy Anniversary mom & dad - we love you!

(Credits are here)

Thursday thoughts

Just checking into blog-land to put some thoughts into cyber-space. Declan and I are enjoying our week. These are the days that I get down on my knees and thank God that I am able to stay home to be with Declan. We have played at home, in our own backyard, gone on playdates, visited family, had family visit us, gone to the pool AND I managed to clean the whole house (floors too!) AND do the grocery shopping! What a week! I managed to make a couple of layouts but I've been feeling a little less than inspired lately. Maybe real-life is too engrossing right now! LOL I better get some scrapping done before I get my hands on the latest Harry Potter! Can't wait! When Declan was a baby, I read about five books (700 pages each) a week. I was obsessed. I read while I nursed, while he napped and after he went to bed. It was a little nutso and I haven't read much at all in the past six months (since I stopped nursing - LOL). I feel like I burnt out on reading. Now that the latest Harry Potter is about to be released, I am sooo looking forward to it! Hooray for books! Ok, that's enough blathering. Here's a couple of layouts from this week:





Credits Here

Stuff - new layout, and a hooray for my dh!

Sooo, I made a new layout, it's called Funday and it's about our family Sundays. Brian likes to "do" things on the weekend. He's not content unless we can say we "did" something. A weekend lounging around at home is NOT satisfying to my dh (*sigh*). Sooo, in the interest of marital bliss, we DO things on Sundays. Festivals, museums, zoos, art galleries, parties (*my favorite*), you name it, we do it!!! It's EXhausting, but EXhilirating too! So, last Sunday we went to the Children's Museum in Ann Arbor (we're members, of course...) and it was a blast! I had my new camera (yay) and because it wasn't the first time that we had been there, we (read: Brian) didn't feel like we had to see EVERY exhibit! So, here's the layout:


credits HERE
In other news, my dh came home from work today and asked me if i had checked my email. I absentmindedly replied "no". Declan and I had had a VERY busy day (*wink*). Playdate and lunch with Macy and Laurie, a visit at my parents' house and then my Aunt Merrie stopped by for a little bit with her two kids and then Aunt Kathy came over and I cooked dinner. (Yes, busy, but still very FUN, thus the *wink*.) Anyhoo, after dinner, I asked Brian if he had sent me an email and if I should go check it. He said yes, so I begged him to just tell me what it said, but he stubbornly refused. So I ran upstairs to check the email and discovered that he had received word that he got the promotion that we had been waiting for him to get!!! HOORAY! He found out at like 8am so I have NO idea how he managed to keep his mouth shut all day - I talked to him MULTIPLE times throughout the day - LOL, that's a man for you I guess! hee hee I'm SUPER excited for him and very proud! He's a good man and a good provider - thank goodness!

Have a great rest of the week!

Latest layout

Man, I love my new camera, but I cannot seem to get my stuff together enough to scrap any new pics! (I just got the Canon Digital Rebel XTI and the 17-85mm IS USM lens - L-O-V-E them!) So, I've taken hundreds of pics in the last week but I have only scrapped like TWO of the photos from that lens! What is wrong with me?!? Well, I'm posting my latest layout, even though I'm not 100% happy with it. Ok, so, truth is I'm not really even 50% happy but I just want to MOVE ON, ya know? (Personally, I think that I am incapable of completing a purple layout that I love...now, the question is, is it me or the color purple?!? LOL)

So, here's a layout starring my little guy playing the garden.



Credits - Green paper and stitches by Jessica Bolton, Template and Beauty Mark by Two Sisters Design, Alpha by Amber Clegg, Tag by Sausan/Amy Martin collab kit, Ribbon by Sherrie Piegdon

Have a great week!!!

Stuff I want to buy NOW

I am in the mood for beads, baubles and lots of stitching! I've been admiring Artist Trading Cards lately - got the most incredible book called 1000 Artist Trading Cards and there are so many cute cards that have hand-stitched edges and lots of seed beads glued on. I'm dying to re-create the look on some of my layouts, so I'm on the hunt. Here are a couple of things I found today that I want to buy:

Products are Seeing Stars by Corina Nielsen at funky playground designs, Decorative Stitching by Ronna Penner at scrapadelic and the last one is just a fun kit by Heather Ann Designs called Art of Play

First Post

So, my blogging journey continues...what started as a little blog to showcase my digital scrapbook layouts to my friends family has expanded and now I have decided that I need a blog just for the digital scrapbook world. A place to journal, to share layouts, ideas, shopping and maybe some freebies too! Enjoy! TTY soon!