My Eclectic Life by Jessica Bolton

hello february!

2011-02-02T00:26:00.001-06:00

Hello February! I was not expecting to see you so soon. But now that you're here, make yourself comfortable and please stay as long as you'd like...

ha...ha..

Seriously, what happened to January? And all my plans, mostly unwritten, starting last year to be a more active blogger? Ugh. Not doing so good, but I have some friends out there who are inspiring me to be better. Once life settles down a bit, fingers are crossed that there will be more time to devote to recording my (our) lives and sharing more here on my blog.

January was a whirlwind. In a nutshell... we got some snow which resulted in the boys having quite a few snow days, I've had a bout of the winter blues, basketball season started for one of the boys, and we started doing a lot of work on the house which has been the largest source of chaos the during the last month. HUGE deterrent to me being able to play around with my computer. But we are slowly getting closer to being done with all the major projects (paint, floors, and such), slowly things are being put back in place, and soon it will only be a matter of needing to attend to finishing touches and decorating. That, my friends, will be a slow process for sure.

The beginning of the year also brought back my desire to attempt to participate in the 365 Project again. We shall see if I can actually keep up with it this time around. I made it through the whole month of January - one month down, eleven to go! I'm not gonna stress out about uploading them anywhere on a daily basis, but so far I've been (kind of!) good about adding them to Facebook as I get around to it. Here's a peek at some of them...

Even though the wind is howling outside right now, and tomorrow is sure to be chilly, it seems as though the worst of winter may be behind us. *fingers crossed* Soooo looking forward to spring!

I do love February though. Two of my boys, Jared and Jace, have birthdays in February (plus several other family member's birthdays), and then there's Valentine's day, a.k.a. - the day every other woman in the world is showered with chocolates, given roses and cards that make me want to gag myself with a spoon, taken out to dinner, and so on... I, on the other hand, have to settle for whatever candy I can ~~steal~~ ask the kids nicely for AND the only (very sweet I should add) cards I will receive will be from my two younger boys, who fortunately still realize just how amazing of a person I am. Ha! Even though my husband and I had our first phone conversation on Valentine's Day of 1992 (which is worth a day of celebration in itself, huh?!) he still does not take the opportunity to exercise his romantic side. But, I digress... Like I said, I LOVE February! I'm looking forward to the boys' birthdays most of all. We aren't planning any extravagant parties or anything like that, keeping it low key as usual, but birthdays are exciting! My soon to be 9 year old, Jace, has been reminding me about his birthday every. single. day. since. Christmas. Let's get this over with already! ;)

OK, so here's to a fabulous month of February!!! It's already past midnight here and although I could probably write a few more paragraphs I need some sleep.
Goodnight world!

toot! toot! here comes the SBG blog train!

2010-12-23T07:00:00.009-06:00

{chugga-chugga-chugga-toot-toot}

Finally, it's the day for SBG's "Santa Brings Goodies" Blog Train to stop on my blog. You should be arriving here from the blog of Doodelle Designs, or if you just happened upon this post, go back and check out the wonderful goodies she has to share with you!

I've been having a little trouble finding my Christmas spirit this year, but my boys have plenty, and I have to say... it is kind of contagious! This may be the last year my younger two actually believe in Santa Claus. They are 8 and 7 years old and in the 3rd and 2nd grades. Needless to say, plenty of their classmates are all too eager to tell them that Santa isn't real. But both Jace and Joey claim to still believe in him though, and while there are lots of questions and comments that make me think they are starting to doubt Santa's existence, it is also obvious that both of them still really want to believe regardless of what their common sense (and those obnoxious kids) is telling them. Sometimes I think it'd be easier if they knew the whole truth, but I don't want to spoil the fun for them just yet! Here's a quickie layout I created using a couple of photos from yesterday.

Credits: Santa Brings Goodies Blog Train Freebies by myself, Charlize Creations, Em-Ka Designs, and Flergs

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And here is what I know you've come here for, my GOODIE for the blog train...

download via 4shared
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download via mediafire

Hope you enjoy!

The next stop on the blog train is Anna's blog...

If you get lost, just go back to the Blog Train Stops posted on the SBG blog!

Hope you all enjoy the "Santa Brings Goodies" goodies, and a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone!!!

in hiding

2010-12-21T14:49:00.001-06:00

Well geez, it's been a while since my last post. Although I've popped in here and there, played in Photoshop a bit... "in hiding" best describes my recent behavior; avoiding the internet world as must as possible over the past month. It's hard to explain why. Not only have we been busy as a family, but I've just been overwhelmed. When I'm not busy or rushed and finally get a chance to sit down, there's so much I want to do that I don't know where to start. Ugh. So it is easier just to hide. Where is the fast-forward button? I think everything will be alright if I can just survive Christmas. And Winter.

Here are some of the layouts I've completed since my last blog post... (lots of images, hold tight!) The images are linked to the layout in one of my galleries.

Credits: Srsly Stoked collaborative kit by Kim Jensen and Kate Hadfield
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Credits: Impressions of Time by the Studio Girls; CF-OUAT; The Stitches by Redju
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The next two layouts were done for the font challenge I host each month at ScrapbookGraphics. This months font is Rickles. There's still plenty of time to come and join us. It's a super cute font this month, huh?

Credits: Tickle by Studio Doodelle; papers from Impressions of Adventure by the StudioGirls used as overlays; font is Rickles

A card front... that I never printed. At this point, I think I may be better off focusing on sending out Happy New Year cards instead.

Credits: Home of My Heart by Studio Gypsy; Little Buddies (ribbon) by Dianne Rigdon; Font is Rickles by Font Diner
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This one was done for one of the weekly PlayDays at SBG. I love when a PlayDay gives me reason to pick out something I wouldn't ordinarily choose. I can't look at this layout, or my silly little dog for that matter, without smiling. So very fresh, if I say so myself!

Credits: Tickle by Doodelle
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The one thing I absolutely love about Christmas is Christmas morning. Boys looking cute in their new jammies, opening each gift with excitement, snacking on treats, playing new games, etc... We never have enough time before we have to get up and go again!

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I suppose this is a good place to stop for today, as I'm nearly out of time. But on the Christmas note, I have to tell you that you should stop back soon to catch my stop on the 2010 Santa Brings Goodies Blog Train!

My contribution to the Santa Brings Goodies Blog Train will be posted on December 23! Check the Blog Train Stops posted on the SBG blog if you are lost or just now hearing about the train.

my contribution to scrappers give thanks

2010-11-23T14:54:00.000-06:00

If I am doing it correctly, above you should see a slide show of the cards I created to contribute to the Scrappers Give Thanks project. Once I got started with these, I had a hard time stopping. Not only is it such a feel good type of project, but it's fun to create something with no pressure involved. If the slideshow doesn't work you can see my set of cards here, plus many other cards from other contributors are in the SGT group.

There's still a little time to create and contribute your own cards!

every little bit counts

2010-11-13T18:15:00.000-06:00

The season of giving, gratitude and joy upon us. It is also often a very busy and hectic time of the year, creating a challenge for those of us with lengthy To-Do lists. However, no matter how busy we all get, it really is important to remember that when it comes to charity, Every Little Bit Counts.

To demonstrate this simple truth, a call went out across the digital community to designers everywhere inviting them each to contribute only one element to a charity collaboration for the Sick Kids Foundation.

The end result is an eclectic collection of unique elements, ranging from classic to quirky and everything in between.

The Every Little Bit Counts collection will only be available until the last week of December. 100% of the profits will then be donated to the Sick Kids Hospital Foundation.

Find out how you can receive this very special collection for only $5 and let your little bit count towards this very worthy cause.

bring back my babies!!!

2010-11-10T10:33:00.001-06:00

*sigh* time goes too fast...

Dianne's new stuff prompted me to search out some baby pictures. Pre- Joey, all my baby photos are in print, and I currently don't have a scanner or access to one. Actually, I didn't own a digital camera until Joey was about 2 months old (it was an anniversary present from my husband and the photo used in the layout below is the, or one of the, very first digital pics I ever made), but prior to that I would occasionally order the discs that CVS used to offer with their film processing. Speaking of film, I would like to get my hands on a film SLR camera, just to play around. Until I was going through my old photos on CD, I'd forgotten how much difference there is in film and digital. I've come a long way in my photography skills since I last had a film camera so I'd just like to experiment a bit with film. Anyway. I digress...

Dianne Rigdon's Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep kit at TwoPeas prompted me to create these two layouts. I miss these fellas being so little... not to mention seeing the love! *sniff*

And here is another one, in the photo used below Joey was just a few minutes old. And now the baby fever has struck again. I can feel it in my gut.

And I am tickled that Francine from the CraftGossip Blog picked up the above layout to use for her Inspiration du Jour feature. Thanks, Francine!

coming through... it's-a mario & luigi!

2010-11-09T12:49:00.001-06:00

Halloween is over and done with and no doubt everyone is now looking forward to Thanksgiving, but I wanted to come in and finally do my post-Halloween blog about the boys costumes. To have spent so little money and not very much time on them, we were all so proud of how they turned out so I'm also sharing some tidbits for anyone who may be interested in putting together their own Mario and/or Luigi costumes for next Halloween, costume play, a themed birthday party, or whatever.

Once the boys had decided they wanted to dress up as Mario and Luigi, the first thing we did was to make a trip to Goodwill. Within a minute (!!!) of walking in the door I'd found the first pair of overalls. A few more minutes of browsing through the racks I had found another pair. I took my harder to fit child to the dressing room to try them on, and there was yet another pair of overalls hanging up right there in the room that we ended up buying. Since I have never, ever, in my life had so much luck finding what I need at Goodwill, I knew it must be fate. Haha.

We were all excited about our great Goodwill finds! The kids know me and my frugal ways and kept going on about how awesome it was to spend less than $10 for two pairs of overalls. Jace even asked if he could wear his everyday after Halloween. However, my excitement over the fab find did not last long. I was on a mission and was soon feeling a little weary about putting together the rest of the costumes. We'd found a very crucial part on the cheap, but in my opinion, the most important part of the whole look ... is the hat! No problem finding Mario and Luigi hats online in costume shops and on ebay, but at about $15-$25 a pop, there was no way I wanted to pay that much for something they would only wear out of the house two or three times at the most.

So, I started looking around for ideas on how to make the hats myself, and came across a few ideas involving a baseball cap but still wasn't thrilled with the look. Not authentic enough, in my opinion. After more extensive searching (looking for anything for over 10 minutes feels extensive to me, so this may be an exaggeration), I finally came across this tutorial, How to Make Mario or Luigi Hats by Helen, on the Groovy Kids Stuff Blog. This was the perfect starting point! I was lucky in that the next week, fleece was 30% off at Hobby Lobby so I ended up paying around $4.50 for 2 yards of the most basic cheap fleece I could find, which was more than enough (what am I going to do with all this extra fleece??? Christmas crafts, anyone?).

I read through many of the comments left on the How to Make Mario or Luigi Hats blog post and suited the instructions to what I was visualizing... for the bill I traced the bill of a baseball cap onto a thin piece of cardboard (I used a cereal box) and used that as a template to cut out the felt. Then, after trimming it down a bit, inserted it into the bill for stability before sewing the pieces up. Also, instead of using sticky foam for the circle, I used sticky-backed felt for the white circle as well as the letters. Since I have very little skill in hand drawing anything, I used this Mario & Luigi font by the Super Mario Bros Club as a tracing guide for the "M" and "L" on the hats. I also used sticky-backed felt for the yellow buttons on their overalls.

And finally.... the moustaches. They were a labor of love! Who doesn't love a sweet moustache? On a 7 and 8 year old? Too funny. Once again, because I don't possess the ability to draw or cut anything freehand, I first created the moustaches in Photoshop, printed on brown cardstock, applied a thick layer of glue stick on the backside, layered a sheet of brown felt on top, allowed to dry, and then cut out. You could also use sticky-backed felt, but Hobby Lobby was out of stock. Fake fur may be an interesting look to try (not for my sensitive kids though!) for the most realism, aside from actual fake moustaches. I tried attaching the moustaches with double sided tape, but it lasted about as long as it took me to take the above pictures. Eventually I settled on threading fishing line through the moustaches and making loops to go around their ears, in addition to the double sided tape, which worked pretty well.

If anyone can use them, below are the moustache templates. Please keep in mind that these were very rough sketches that I created in Photoshop using the pen tool. The edges are obviously a little "rough" and are simply intended to be used as a guide in helping you create your own fake moustaches. They are NOT up to the standard set for digital scrapbooking use.

Click the image to download.
(link updated Nov. 10, 2010 it should work fine now. thanks!)

The boys' looks were completed with cheap knit gloves and long sleeved red/green t-shirts, which I did end up purchasing new, but because red and kelly green are two of their "school colors" they will be able to wear them to school, under their polos and button-up shirts.

Dressing up as Mario and Luigi was so much fun for them. They got a lot of attention and compliments, which they loved of course!

I've even done a couple of layout for them already. I saw these cool KGU Famous Frames in Berna's shop and knew they'd be a perfect match for my famous pair! For a full credit list, just click on the layouts to see them in my SBG gallery.

And with that, I am officially done with Halloween until 2011! Thanks for reading :)

still just a boy (and the font challenge)

2010-11-03T10:28:00.001-05:00

This is the layout I created for November's 'I Can Use That Font' Challenge at ScrapbookGraphics. (click the layout to go to the gallery)

(Almost every used from the Born to Be Bad kit by Studio Rosey Posey)

Please come join me in this month's font challenge for a chance to win a $10 coupon to the Studio Collective!

scrappers give thanks

2010-11-02T16:44:00.001-05:00

I just read about this project on a fellow CT member's blog and thought I'd share because it seems to be for a wonderful cause, and I definitely plan to contribute some pages. I hope you all will join in, too!

From the Scrappers Give Thanks website:

The 2010 Project

The 2nd annual Scrappers Give Thanks project has a goal of assembling 2000 participant-created 4×6 pages into 100 ten page (double-sided) mini albums to be delivered to 10 children’s hospitals across the country. Submitted pages should be scrapbook-style mini artworks containing positive words, happy images, jokes etc. and may be in digital or tangible formats.

Specifications

The Scrappers Give Thanks mini albums will be assembled with 4×6 page protectors and o-rings. To ensure a consistent look and feel, participants must adhere to the following specifications:

Single-sided 4×6 pages

Vertical orientation only (4″ wide by 6″ tall)

Include age-appropriate positive messages and/or images

No glitter, embellishments greater than 1/4″ thick or copyrighted images

Examples

Visit the Scrappers Give Thanks Flickr group to view great examples from our creative team and fellow participants. The following digital submission is an excellent example of a fun page designed to bring cheer to kids:

Submission

Digital contributions should be emailed to jennifer@scrappersgivethanks.org as attachments. (Please do not zip.) All digital submissions will be printed by Scrappers Give Thanks through our printing partner, Persnickety Prints, and thus should be created at 300ppi and saved as a high resolution JPEG.

Paper submissions should be mailed to the following address no later than November 20, 2010 and MUST include an email address. Entries must be received by Wednesday, November 24 to be eligible for the giveaway.

the pumpkin patch

2010-11-01T20:26:00.003-05:00

I have been so very busy the past few weeks, so I am relieved that Halloween is over and done with. Costumes were made (more on that later) and trick-or-treating has been done. Now I really don't have too much to stress out about, other than the general day to day stuff, until it's time to think about Christmas gifts. And since we only have one more weekend of Fall Ball, I'm looking forward to sleeping in on Saturdays again. Now to enjoy the remainder of fall with no more stress... I hope!

Sadly, we only made one trip to the pumpkin patch this year. It is one of my favorite fall activities and at least two trips are usually necessary for me to feel content. For this trip, originally I was just going to take the boys by myself and had been trying to talk my oldest into going along, as well, without much luck. But the day got away from us so I ended up calling Jason/Daddy to see if he wanted to go along, too. Fortunately, he was up for it and was planning on closing up the shop an hour early. We still had to wait a while for him to get home, showered, and dressed so by the time we got to the pumpkin patch, the sun was starting to set and my photo op options were few. It doesn't help that my boys don't have a lot of patience for my picture taking like they used to, so calling them back to pose by a scarecrow or a pile of pumpkins just doesn't work like it did several years ago. It really makes me sad that they're growing up so fast. Time to have another baby I guess! (hahaha....NOT!)

Here they are looking ever so excited in front of a field of cotton. This was taken as they were running to climb aboard the hay ride that was about to take off. I literally had to yell "STOP!!!" to get their attention and take a picture.

Joey has his wallet. I just noticed that. If I had to guess, I'd say that he wanted to purchase a pumpkin as soon as we walked through the gate. He's been intent on spending his birthday money and is always offering to give it to me or Jason/Daddy or to buy one of us something or to give it to us for groceries or gas (LOL), but we refuse. Despite trying to rid himself of the huge responsibility of saving money he has been very responsible. He's kept up with his $55 for over a month now.

By the time the hay ride was over the sun had set and my photo op's were just about nil - sometimes I forget that my camera even has a flash, I use it so rarely... but even then, in low light, the camera (maybe it's a lens issues) has a hard time focusing - so even with the flash up, I hardly captured any usable shots. I can't believe I was ever worried that the younger two boys would be scared to be at the pumpkin patch at night. They had so much fun climbing up the tower of tractor tires, as well as sliding down the huge slide on potato sacks. The photo used in the layout below was the best shot I could get of them all after dark.

Everything used is by Dianne Rigdon at TwoPeas. Click the layout for full credits.

That's all for now. After three days without a drop of coffee - the first two days I was too busy to notice, but today I found myself stranded at home with a sick kiddo (yes...again with the germs!) and then almost passed out when I went to make myself a pot and realized I'd never replenished my supply - needless to say, I am in somewhat of a forced caffeine-withdrawal-mode with the aches and pounding headache, so putting together anymore coherent thoughts in one day may cause my head to explode.

I will be back soon with another post-Halloween blog post.

love, love, and more love

2010-10-22T12:35:00.001-05:00

I'm totally slacking in pretty much everything at the moment. Boys have been back in school this week, thank goodness! Although Jace was out Wednesday and Josh is home today. Totally unrelated illnesses and symptoms, too. It's always fun wondering how many more of us will get sick. Even though I've had a few days to catch my breath after being full time mom for two weeks, I am still behind on housework, laundry, creative team responsibilities, email, projects for my husband's business. Seems to be... the story of my life. How many times have I said that? Ha! How many times have I complained about not being able to balance everything? LOL Geez, it's embarrassing to think about. So enough of that. Moving on to the good stuff.

First, tooting my own horn. How many of you have seen the Fall 2010 Edition of the Altered Hearts Zine?

Two of my recent layouts (love them & life with 4 boys) were picked up for this edition, and I have to say I'm honored to have my work appear alongside the other talent featured in this zine. Wow. If you happen to acquire a copy for yourself, look for me! Also, SherrieJD, who is the editor (?) of the zine and a fabulously quirky designer is having a newsletter drive. Once she has 1000 subscribers, everyone gets a $5 coupon! So hurry to her blog (find the newsletter link in the header) and sign up!

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I'm happy that after the recent closing of ScrapArtist, Dianne Rigdon has now opened shop at Two Peas in a Bucket! Congratulations and good luck with your new store, Dianne!

Here's my layout using Dianne's latest release, Journalique. The photos used were just sort of random ones that we took last Friday, and even though they're just candids I really love them.... (click layout to see it in my DST gallery)

Last Friday was a really wonderful day, not to mention my husband Jason's birthday. Sweet to have a way to remember it, even though he's not in the pictures (he was at work)... we were leaving the house to go get a few of the ingredients I needed to make this carrot cake and this icing for him. The cream cheese icing was the best I have ever made myself, and possibly ever eaten! The cake itself ended up being slightly over cooked, in my opinion (I reduced the oil and added applesauce as one of the comments suggested - that may have been the problem?). Still edible, and quite tasty, just a little dry. What I was most proud of though was the fact that Jason ate at least five pieces of this cake over the course of a few days. LOL He is not a big sweets eater, so the fact that he liked my cake and ate a lot of it made me happy and proud. I wish I'd taken a picture of it, as well as a picture of him blowing out his candles. Ugh. If you have a microscope and can read my journaling above, you know I am already aware of my laziness in taking photos. Sometimes it's due to laziness, but other times I just want to be in the moment (and then later regret not pulling my camera out). Rambling on...

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Here's another of my recent layouts using some of PixelWorks latest releases at The Lily Pad (click layout to see it in my DST gallery)

It was just a phone picture of the two of us taken at a wedding of one of his friends, but we have so few of us together... this one means a lot. We're one month away from our 15th wedding anniversary. Sometimes I'm just blown away by that thought.

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We have a very busy weekend planned, won't be much time for cleaning, but it some of it needs to be done before everyone is home again. So I am off to get busy. Thanks for reading, and hope you all have a wonderful weekend, too.

love them

2010-10-08T13:37:00.001-05:00

We are just about at the mid point of the boys' 2 week fall break. They are keeping me active (think I've lost 5 lbs! for real!), busy, frustrated, entertained, happy, irritable, down in the dungeon that is in the laundry room... and so on. I've lost my cool a couple times. The 17 yr old is moody and grumpy and thinks he's in charge. My 13 yr old and 8 yr old are constantly bickering, fighting, wrestling. My 7 yr old thinks no one likes him, wants to play with him, or ever pays him any attention. Ugh. To top it off, Mama (that's me!) has been a hormonal mess the past week so writing all this just makes me want to cry.

Through it all, through all the ups and downs, the good times and bad times, one of my biggest wishes has always been that my boys know how much I love them. Because I love them a whole freakin' lot!!! Even when they're not getting their way, and even when I refuse to buy them that one thing that they really, really, REALLY want... "if you love me, you'll buy me this". Even when I take the keys, or the phone... I love them. I am "mean" because I love them and need them to learn something. Hopefully when they're grown they'll remember all the books I've read, all the hugs & kisses I've given, the walks we've taken together, singing together in the car, all the long talks we've had, homework I've helped get them through, and on and on.

So anyway, when one of the Frameworthy challenges came up, and the challenge was to use some hearts (I have tons!), I browsed through the inspiration we were given, and with all of the above on my mind, this was what I came up with one sweet and quiet night after my rowdy bunch were in bed...

And yesterday, I was so delighted to see that it was pointed to on the Gallery Standouts Blog. What an wonderful surprise! I needed that ego boost for sure!

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The two posts in one day was not intentional. LOL, I forgot to set a publish date for the last post. But when I realized that and came in to double check everything and proof read one last time, I realized I even forgot to zip, upload, and link the file. Ugh. Out of practice much? LOL

Thanks for reading and I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. We are hoping to head out to a pumpkin patch and enjoy some kind of fall fun this afternoon.

scary stuff: impressions of fright

2010-10-08T13:02:00.001-05:00

This kit contains some frightening stuff, but this is one sweet deal! (click image to see bigger previews in the shop).

I used this freaky, fun kit to create this layout...

Everything used is from Impressions of Fright, except for the vortex, which I created (download at the end of post).

Journaling
Halloween 2008: This was the last year that Jace and Joey dressed up as something “safe”. Both were too freaked out by the idea of being some kind of scary character so after a lot of brainstorming, Jace decided that he wanted to be a boxer and Joey was Alvin the Chipmunk. So, I lovingly created both costumes for them, and they were just as cute as could be! Unfortunately, we couldn’t keep the goblins from coming to our door, so by the time we left for a Halloween bon-fire they were both frightened and on edge, but at the same time a little excited about what kind of monsters they’d see next!

I have always loved making the kids costumes, even if I am not technically making them, but pulling random things together to create some kind of character. I have always felt like we were cheating when we used a store bought costume. They always seem so expensive for what you get. Plus, who wants to be one of one thousand Spongebob's roaming the streets on Halloween night?

Last year, Halloween of 2009... we didn't have any room in our budget to spend on Halloween costumes. Fortunately, with only two that really wanted to dress up, it wasn't quite as stressful as having to outfit all four boys. The morning of Halloween we started weighing our options, which were very few because everything the boys thought up... would have required a trip to the store. Ahhhhh! Eventually I raided the bathroom closet and found an unused package of Halloween make-up and one white sheet. I came out and said "OK, you two are going to have to decide who wants to be a ghost and who wants to be a zombie-slash-ghoul-slash-something that has a painted face." They both sort of whined and moaned and acted like the very idea of dressing up as a ghost or zombie was actually going to turn them into a monster. I gave them some time to think about it, and eventually they gave in to the idea. After all, they weren't going to go trick-or-treating without being dressed up as something. So I cut up my favorite white sheet and made a ghost costume for Joey. And then we found some old clothes for Jace to wear and ripped them up to shreds, dripped fake blood all over his clothes, and applied the make-up to make him look like "the walking dead". They were a pretty hilarious sight by the time we were done, but I was a proud Mama for having dressed them up without spending a dime. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of them in their costumes last year. I can't remember why. I assume either my camera battery was dead or it was one of those times that I decided to stay completely in the moment. Nevertheless, it was a fun Halloween for them and one I will always remember.

It's October 5th as I am writing this, and still no word of what anyone wants to be for Halloween this year. Bless their hearts, I think maybe they're afraid to bring the topic up!

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In my last post, I said that my next post would be something besides layouts. Because I try to be a woman of my word, I want to give you the vortex that I used in the layout above. Play with blending modes to get different effects. I know.... I know. It's pretty simple, but I'm working my way up (maybe) to sharing more freebies from my blog. But anyway, I think this would look neat with some words or rambling thoughts being sucked into the center of the vortex... if you do something like that with this or a vortex of your own creation, I'd love to see how you worked it into a layout!
FYI: created @ 300dpi & overall size is under 2000px X 2000px
Download HERE (link updated Nov. 10, 2010)

october challenge layouts & more

2010-10-03T23:00:00.001-05:00

So it seems like I came down with whatever the boys had a few days ago - it went beyond just a "funky feeling" to say the least. Fortunately, hopefully, the worst of it has past because the belly is already starting to feel a bit better tonight. Twelve hours of sleep last night (with a few interruptions), lots of rest today (and lots of scrapping haha...) seemed to be the best medicine.

The blog makeover is still on hold (mostly because I just don't know what I want - just that I want to change the look). Hopefully I will find the direction I want to go soon. So to fulfill my creative urges, LOL, I've done a bit of scrapping the past few days instead. Two are for challenges at SBG, and one was just for fun.

First up, my favorite, is one that I did for the October Frameworthy Challenge Part 1 @ SBG. This was my first time participating in the Frameworthy challenge, but I had a lot of fun trying out a new medium, forgetting some of the rules I always try to adhere to when scrapping, and just having fun doing something a little more quirky.

People don't realize how much drama happens in a house full of boys... (click for full credits)

Next up is the layout I did for October's I Can Use That Font Challenge @ SBG. My favorite fonts seem to be those that are big, chunky and suited more towards titles, so this month I mixed things up and went with a handwriting style font for the challenge. Come and play with us!! Please???

Scrapping for Inky gives me a chance to use things I ordinarily wouldn't be able to use...

Other than the font, everything here is from Studio Manu's Harmony Page Kit. It's so beautiful and elegant.

Next up is the layout I created just because I wanted to scrap these pictures that I took of Jace while we were waiting for Jared's cross country race to start. Sometimes he is a good sport for photos, and doesn't act too totally goofy! LOL (click for full credits)

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Thanks for looking! My next blog post will be something besides layouts, I promise! :)

pumpkin guts

2010-10-01T09:32:00.001-05:00

Never fails, when we're carving our jack-O-lanterns, as soon as the top comes off the pumpkin every boy is scrambling to be the first to get their hands in to see who can pull out the most disgusting glob of pumpkin guts. Joey's expression in the framed photo below cracks me up. He was four at the time, and had just put his hands in a bowl of pumpkin guts. Can't you just hear the "ewwwwww, slimy!!!" ;)

This page uses PixelWorks new BYOC goodies for October (click layout for full credits)

I'm really looking forward to our annual pumpkin carving night this year, as are the boys. I'm already hearing about what kind of faces they're going to carve, more so than I'm hearing about Halloween costumes. We aren't fancy about it - normally we create our jack-O-lanterns' faces from drawing/cutting them freehandedly, but last year we finally tried some templates (from a book that came in a kit I bought on clearance years ago). And then Jason usually roasts some of the pumpkin seeds. So, see... nothing fancy, just a simple family night at home with all of my guys. Most definitely always fun (although messy) times! If it weren't for the clean-up, this would be my favorite fall activity.

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No work on the blog yet...

Yesterday morning, Joey woke up and said "I feel great!", and it seemed to be true so he went to school yesterday. He was sick again last night, and again this morning. Ugghhh. Bad Mama moment. Totally gave me déjà vu. To the other Moms out there - I'm sorry for contributing to the spreading of germs. Then to add to my fun... Jared vomited in the bus room when he got to school this morning so they called for me and asked if someone could please come pick him up. I was like... "do I have to?" LOL. Poor kid. He's sleeping peacefully at the moment. Two kids down, two to go. Jason and I are holding out so far. I've been feeling a little funky since yesterday afternoon, so I'm trying to take it easy and NOT GET SICK. Ugh. Mostly I'm just tired. Now I wish I hadn't procrastinated and got some work done on my blog makeover because now I have two sick ones at home, which means having to stop what I'm doing every five minutes for one reason or another, and I would really love to just go lay down... if I wasn't scared of falling asleep and sleeping the entire day, I would do that. Fingers crossed they get over it quickly. Not a good way to start not only the weekend, but the beginning of their two week fall break.

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Thanks for reading. Have a great weekend!

more layouts

2010-09-30T00:15:00.001-05:00

Sheesh! Suppose people will get tired of me and my layouts, huh? LOL I'm on a roll this month. I've sort of gone into overdrive creating layouts for PixelWorks. It's been fun, not complaining. I just don't know how people who are on 5, 6, 7, or 8 times seem to keep it all balanced so well (there's that *B* word - the one that haunts me)! Anyway, I haven't posted them all on the blog, but if you're interested in seeing them all, here's my gallery @ The Lilypad.

Here are my latest two layouts, done for a couple of the challenges over at TLP... (click the layouts for credits)

"things I love about fall"

"why?"

Thanks for looking! Comments, constructive criticism, etc... are always more than welcome!

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I appreciate the nice things that were said about my doodles. I guess I am my own worse critic (aren't we all?). The action used is for CU, and since I'm on the team, I need to ask and check the TOU to see if it is OK to share what I have made. If it is, then I will share. :)

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I'm ready for a blog makeover! It occurred to me earlier that it is time for me to overhaul the look of my blog. I had hoped to work on it tonight, but my baby came home with an upset belly, he's not sleeping well tonight, and I think he'll end up missing school tomorrow. He just so happens to have a field trip to a farm/pumpkin patch so needless to say he is upset over that, too.

So, I think I will take it easy tomorrow, and in between nursing the little guy back to good health I am going to try to find some ideas and figure out what I want to do. Not really a whole lot you can do with blogger anyway. :) But I'm so eager for a change!!!

Thanks for reading and maybe by the next time you stop in, there will be a new look. Wish me luck!

doodling + scrapping

2010-09-28T23:50:00.001-05:00

Today the Studio Wendy Playday was featured over on the Studio Matters blog. I'd already helped test Wendy's ACTION: AI Doodle Tracer, but didn't have a lot of time to play around with it so was eager to put it to the test again and see what I could come up with for her Playday. I am completely aware of the fact that I am not really artistic in the least when it comes to drawing or even doodling (so please be kind! LOL), but my younger boys especially appreciate my attempts so I thought it would be neat to include some of my own personal doodles in their layouts (one day we can all look back and laugh together! LOL) Wendy's AI Doodle Tracer makes the process of transferring my doodles to something I can use in PS especially easy and quick, so I know this won't be the first time I use the action to create doodles/elements for my personal use. I can't imagine what the results would be for someone who is actually a talented artist!

First, here's an example of my original doodles and the finished results once extracted and finished out to create usable scrapbook elements. My good, black Sharpie marker has mysteriously disappeared so these were done with a blue Sharpie and changed to grayscale before running the action in Illustrator.

Below is my finished layout using my doodles (click to go to the gallery and see full credits):

On one hand, it's a little embarrassing to show how bad I am at drawing, but on the other I am quite proud of the finished results. The doodle elements are 100% clean and crisp. If I'd used my old method of tracing/extracting, I wouldn't be so confident in making that statement. Once I have more time to really sit down and try a little harder I'm going to see what else I can come up with, and I think it would be neat to have the boys draw some things for me to run the action on, just to see what happens. Once I do, I will be sure to share the results here. With a two week fall break fast approaching, we will have plenty of time on our hands to be crafty and do artistic things :)

Thanks for reading! I am off to scrap for a few minutes before hitting the sack.

september's "I can use that font" challenge

2010-09-28T14:19:00.000-05:00

I should have blogged this earlier in the month, but as everyone who reads this blog knows... I am a complete scatterbrain and failure at blog authoring. Although, I suppose it's better to do something late, rather than never. *sigh*

With that said, there are still a few days left to get in one the font challenge that I'm hosting at SBG so PLEASE come join us for a chance to win a $10 coupon to the Studio Collective. You know you wanna! :)

Below are the layouts I've created using this month's challenge font, Sway:

My little Jace, last year. He's like a mini version of his Dad sometimes, but a whole lot more sensitive and sweet! LOL I've actually already shared this layout on the blog, but I failed to mention it was for the challenge. I love it so much though, so it's worth sharing again! Click to see it in the gallery, and a full credit list.

"Just a few of the things I love about you..."
Journaling:
Your gentle touches
(you often touch my arm, my nose, my hair
when we are having a conversation)
Your sense of humor
(You’re kinda silly! Here you are
pretending to eat a bunch of leaves)
You are creative, artistic,
and inventive!
You talk a LOT!
(everyone always says you are so quiet!
You actually talk a lot when you are home)
journaled bits around photos...
-love the dimples in your hands
-I love your sparkly hazel eyes!
-I love your freckles

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My second for the font challenge is also not brand new, but this is the first time I'm showing it on the blog. This is layout for my cute little mess of a nephew's first birthday. I can't believe he will actually be TWO soon. Time flies by much too fast! Click to see it in the gallery and for the full credit list.

That's all for now! Hopefully there will be more to come later! Don't forget to come and play along in this month's font challenge for a chance to win a $10 GC! Just visit the challenge thread for even more inspiration using this month's font, Sway.

Thanks for reading!

attitude

2010-09-09T13:52:00.001-05:00

"Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference" - Winston Churchill

So true, huh? Originally, I was on a mission to find a quote that worked for the photo used in the layout below, but since I came across this quote again it's been my mantra - and so, I've been taking into consideration how my attitude affects everyone I come in contact with. Oozing friendliness and positivity isn't really who I am, but I'd like to not feel the way I do when out and about. So I'm trying to smile more. Usually people will give a little smile back! That feels better than the blank looks I usually get at the grocery store! LOL I even talked to strangers at Jared's cross country meet a few days ago. I know this probably sounds weird to anyone who isn't the introverted type, but for me it's a big step. And it's all for the sake of overcoming my shyness... one baby-step at a time.
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Credits: Divine Debris by Studio Gypsy; fonts are Phoenix, Tiza, and 01196f

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Living with two teenagers (two male teenagers no less) is not so fun sometimes. On one hand, it's great to have two people who think they are a lot stronger than me and will open jars, carry heavy things, and do "difficult" tasks. They inform me of all the things I don't know (ha ha), and squeeze me nearly to death every time they hug me. LOL, those things are all kind of endearing and entertaining. I can even tolerate some of their bad habits and smells in the hopes that one day they will grow out of some of the not so pleasant stuff and eventually be molded into fine young men. But the BAD ATTITUDE that comes and goes. Oh.My.Gosh. Ugh. When does this end? My younger teenager is usually not so bad, but I can sense it building. The proof is in the above photo. He was irritated with me because I wanted to take his picture and he was hot and not in the mood (and I'm like "so, do I ever care if you're in the mood to have your picture taken?" LOL). Some days it is a struggle to not let the evil looks and bad attitudes affect my own state of mind, because then it's harder to say "this kind of attitude or behavior isn't acceptable" if I've lost my own cool. All this rambling to say that the above quote also applies to my teenagers and how I react to their bad attitudes. In the end, I hope they'll learn that it feels better to keep a positive and happy attitude towards the ones they love... even when they're being annoying!

tooting my own horn

2010-09-07T13:26:00.001-05:00

Toot! Toot! Beep Beep! I have great news to share!

At the end of last week, I was... um... kind of invited ... to join Michelle Godin's (aka PixelWorks) creative team! Some people, who shall remain nameless, helped in this cause, which is slightly embarrassing LOL, but I am not going to complain because I feel have "known" Michelle for a looong time and I absolutely adore her work! It's extra exciting because I am already friends with a lot of her CT and she has just opened up her shop at The Lily Pad, where yet another friend from my circle of friends like to hang... makes it all extra cool. Anyway, thanks to my secret CT pimp. I think you are da' bomb! heehee ;) And thank you to Michelle for allowing me to be a part of your team. I hope I can do your designs justice!

Here are the first two layouts I have done with Michelle's September BYOC pieces... click them to go to the gallery.

Credits: Varsity Chip Alpha by PixelWorks; The Teen Scene - Doodles n' Things by PixelWorks; The Teen Scene - Papers & Frames by PixelWorks; The Teen Scene - Boy Papers by PixelWorks

Credits: Varsity Chip Alpha by PixelWorks; The Teen Scene - Doodles n' Things by PixelWorks; The Teen Scene - Papers & Frames by PixelWorks; The Teen Scene - Girl Papers by PixelWorks; The Teen Scene - Boy Papers by PixelWorks; Ready 2 Go (bow) by Tania Shaw, not currently available

I do believe we are going to be very happy together! Haha!

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And now... I have three more of my layouts, using goodies from ScrapbookGraphics.

Credits: The Long Haul by Jessica Bolton; PooChi by Jessica Bolton; Grungy Neutrals by Studio Gypsy; Robokit by Ztampf!; Cherry Crushed Denim by Veronica Spriggs; Canine Dreaming by Tangie Baxter; Vintage Paper Lace by Tangie Baxter; Creative Fusion OUAT Scribe Elements by Studio Rosey Posey; Discovery by Studio Rosey Posey; To Do kit by Miss Vivi; Magnificent by Manu; Stitches Funny by Natali Design; Font for title is Shifty Chica, and journaling font is Typo American

Credits: {Take 2} Expressions by Studio Gypsy; Story Starters/blog freebie ("you are my..." ) by CD Muckosky; Pastiche for the Boys (brackets) by Jessica Bolton (retired); Font is Neutra Display

Credits: Hesitation by Miss Vivi; To Do Kit by Miss Vivi; Messy Machine Stitch Straight by Emily Merritt; fonts are Sway, typo american, and susie's hand

Journaling:
Your gentle touches
(you often touch my arm, my nose, my hair
when we are having a conversation)
Your sense of humor
(You’re kinda silly! Here you are
pretending to eat a bunch of leaves)
You are creative, artistic,
and inventive!
You talk a LOT!
(everyone always says you are so quiet!
You actually talk a lot when you are home)
journaled bits around photos...
-love the dimples in your hands
-I love your sparkly hazel eyes!
-I love your freckles

That's all for today! I have a very busy afternoon/evening/night ahead so I really shoulda been off the computer and preparing for it about an hour ago!

my guest gig is almost over... last call!

2010-08-30T10:20:00.001-05:00

EDITED TO REMOVE INVALID LINKS: I wrongly assumed my guest shop would be open through the end of the day. Two hours after I wrote this I was informed that my links aren't working. Apologies to those who clicked and didn't get where they wanted to go. Guess I should of done the last call yesterday or sooner.

~~My Guest Studio at Scrapbook Graphics~~ will be closing at the end of the day, or as soon as the switch is flipped off, so if you are interested in purchasing any of these designs before they are gone for good, hop on over and pick 'em up! Not that I will never sell my designs again, but I don't have a permanent home for my designs - real life is just too crazy/busy/stressful for me to make the necessary commitment to being a full-time designer at this time. I totally looooved being a Guest Designer at SBG though! Felt a little nostalgic to be back at my first digital scrapbooking store, getting reacquainted with old friends, and making some new ones, too! I want to be just like all of them when I grow up! Heehee! Fortunately though, when the month is over I won't be going far. I'm lucky enough to still a part of the ever fabulous SBG CREW.

Here is what I had in the shop this month...

~~The Long Haul~~ was my totally brand new kit for the month. Don't let the camper and canopy fool you. Despite a couple of theme-y elements, this kit is completely versatile! It's on sale, 31% off! Example layouts and additional (and larger) previews can be seen in the product description. ~~(image is click-able and will open in a new window)~~

These products are from last year - I added them for the Oldies but Goodies week, but decided to let them hang around for the rest of the month. The are on sale from 44%-54% off regular prices. ~~(all images are click-able and will open in a new window)~~

I would like to extend a HUGE thank you to all my long time friends, supporters, cheer-leaders, and to my customers. Your faith and support over the years means more to me than you could ever know. Thank YOU!
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If you hung around Scrapbookgraphics throughout the past month, you are aware of all the fun that was had during the Summer Soiree celebration. Who went to the all day scrap chat? LOL *raising hand* I did! I did! I spent most of the day there. What a blast! But the party isn't over just yet! You still have most of the day to get in on some fun challenges for chances to win prizes! Prizes range in size from total store access to adorable posting bonuses for playing along. The challenges are EASY, too. The best part is that you have pages done to add to your family album or pieces of funky artwork to add to your portfolio.
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Now on a more personal note... all I can say is WOW. I can't believe it's the last day in August already! I am attending the first set of parent-teacher conferences for my boys this afternoon. Already?! Yes. The month has flown right on by, and although I have a lot of half-finished and barely started projects leftover (which make me sort of feel like an unaccomplished slacker), I am excited for what September will bring: a family get together or two in honor of Labor Day, the beginning of cross country for my younger teen, fall baseball for my two youngest boys, cooler weather (or so we hope), my baby's 7th birthday, my older teenager will start a new after school job (fingers crossed!), and hopefully more good things! I want to keep it simple. No real life drama, please! I don't want to make empty promises, but if I can get my act together I will attempt to wrap up some of these half finished projects that are digi-scrap related and possibly add them here as freebies. Not much else I can do with them, eh? ;) Just need the TIME and motivation to finish those.
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Last, but not least, if you are the praying sort my family could use your prayers. My Aunt Sherry (Dad's sister), who never smoked, was recently diagnosed with lung cancer after going to the emergency room for chest pains, they discovered blood clots in her lungs which led to the discovery of a tumor. The tumor is too close to her aorta for operation, so she has begun chemotherapy. Her PET scan last week revealed that the cancer has metastasized to her liver and bones so she is in stage IV. Aunt Sherry is seriously one of the toughest women I have ever had the pleasure of knowing and loving, so she will fight this with everything she's got, but she could certainly use your prayers, wishes, and good thoughts. Thank you very much!

guest designer @ sbg, new designs, and old designs

2010-08-13T17:54:00.001-05:00

I am a huge slacker. Can't believe is is August 13th, and I haven't gotten around to blogging about this yet, but I have some kinda big news folks! If you are an active member of the digi-scrap-o-sphere then you have probably, no doubt, already heard about the recent activities @ ScrapbookGraphics. If not, then check this out... (image is clickable)

I have to smile every time I see my name on the list! Right there squeezed in between all those talented, creative souls. The festivities will last all month long, and even though the party has already started it isn't too late to jump into the mix. Join one of the games or challenges. You have a chance to win cool prizes! There are also some great giveaways coming soon, so keep watching SBG on Facebook and/or Twitter to stay informed.

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I've just added my first guest kit to the shop @ SBG!

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A little about how The Long Haul came to be...before Maya even invited me to be a guest for August, I saw this post on Etsy's blog. Something about the campers stirred something up inside my head, and it immediately crossed my mind that I needed to open Illustrator and see if I could make my very own lil' camper. A few days went by and then Maya invited me to be a guest for August. I knew right away what direction I would be heading in with my first kit. To tell the truth, in the beginning it was going to be a full camping kit, but I changed directions after I was a few elements into creating it. I only wish it hadn't taken me so long to pull it all together. In my defense, we have had quite a lot of other things going on which kept me from being able to devote much time to design. But my boys are off to a good start at school and things are flowing somewhere smoothly for the time being.

*If you like what you see and are interested in purchasing The Long Haul, better hurry up and pick it up before the month is over, because it won't be available afterwards. I am not ready to jump back into being a full-time designer, and therefore I don't have a permanent home for my digital goods.

Now to inspire you, here are a few layouts created by my wonderful scrapping friends.

Model Camper? by Kim

Journey Together by Melinda

Memorable Moment by Melinda

in it for the long haul by Melissa C.

Memorable Moments by Raji

Long haul by Tania

Photography by Flor

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What else is going on over at ScrapbookGraphics? Check out this amazing sale... so many wonderful deals in there!

Click the image or HERE to go straight to the Golden Oldies sale category. Look for my three Golden Oldies, too! I put up Unamused Boys V2.0, Primarily Educational 2, and Freestylin' Fall. And once you're done shopping you can go HERE to read everything else that is going on at SBG right now. In addition to Twitter and Facebook mentioned above, the SBG Studio Matters blog is another place to go for current, up-to-date info on our Summer Soiree.

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That's all for today! Happy Friday the 13th!

i'm hosting a font challenge!

2010-07-16T00:30:00.000-05:00

I almost forgot, and it is technically not Thursday anymore, but I am back with another post... as I promised to myself. ;) It'll be a short one!

This month I am hosting the "I Can Use That Font" challenge over at ScrapbookGraphics. I went with something with a little bit of a funky western flare. Here's the layout I created for the challenge:

(credits here)

Come play along for a chance to win a great prize ($10 GC to the Studio Girls Collective)!

Here's another recent layout of mine. All this white space is sort of out of the box for me. I always feel as though I have to fill up the page with stuff. Sooo happy with this one though!

(credits here)

Now, it is time for some much needed sleep.

oops, let's try this thing again.

2010-07-15T19:14:00.000-05:00

Another couple of months have passed since my last post. I really do hope to get better about keeping up with my blogging...one day. I have so much to share. And so much to say. Where better to put all my favorite photos, creations, and mindless rambles than on my blog. That is the problem with having a husband, four children, and one sneaky chihuahua to care for. I have a severe case of "taking care of everyone else's needs and wants before my own" syndrome. It is something I need to work on. I amworking on.

I will be back later tonight with more to share. I PROMISE! Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye...

almost forgotten

2010-05-19T14:40:00.001-05:00

This is going to be one of those blog posts where I apologize for not blogging in such a long time, blah, blah, blah...

It's been almost a month since my last post, and I haven't even thought of my blog lately until this afternoon when I realized I failed to delete my signature (with a link to my blog) off the end of an email that went out to a family member. Oi. This may seem weird to some, but I feel odd (as in, I cringe with embarrassment) about my family reading my blog, but in all honesty I don't care that much anymore. Not like I used to. I've learned to keep my innermost feelings to myself and not to write them down before I've had a chance to calm down and really think about what I have to say. Hahaha (only some people in the world will understand the humor there or maybe I'm only amusing myself)! Sometimes I think it'd be cool to know that someone besides my immediate family cared about, or showed interest in, my "hobbies". Even my blogging. Even though I'm not too wordy here these days. Especially because I'm not too wordy. Just a dork.

With all that said...

Hello to my favorite sister-in-law!!!
I wonder if she clicked the link? Wonder if she'll comment?

Life is so busy with baseball, t-ball, and such but eventually I'm going to get back here and post my most recent layouts. Of course, I still have time for scrapbooking! And I have a lot to share!

monday again and news to share

2010-04-26T10:08:00.001-05:00

Well, it's Monday again, and I have some news to share!

I'm now happy to announce that I am on the Studio Crew for Scrapbookgraphics. I was surprised (and so very honored) to be asked to join the team last week, and of course I couldn't turn down the opportunity. I have missed the SBG people since I left the site as a designer in 2008 (wow, it's really been that long, huh?). It feels good to be back home and working on the crew side this time. I'm totally looking forward to getting reacquainted with the old timers and getting to know the newer CT folk.

This is my first layout, done for the Wendyzine Scraps Play Day, which will be up on the blog later today.

[credits: Spotlight It by Wendyzine Scraps, Shadow It by Wendyzine Scraps, Splatter Graffiti (black) by Tangie Baxter, Robokit by Ztampf, Fonts are Bramley Std, Doodolonomy Fred, Malgecito <--- my new current favorite title font, find it here]

Quickest layout I have done all year! Normally I use my own shadow styles, tweek them as needed. So often, I spend far too much time on shadows when I just want to be done with the layout. Wendy's Shadow It actions were fun, easy to use and the shadows came out awesome without any tweaking at all. Nice change of pace, and I know I'll be using these often! Also, even though I have fallen off the 365 bandwagon and have yet to get back on, one huge advantage to taking a photo every day and adding a caption, however lengthy it may be, makes for instant journaling for your scrapbook layout. What a time saver. I love that. Another reason for me to work the 365 Project back into my life.

The allergy/cold thing I had going on on Friday has nearly subsided. Since no one else has been sick, and I very rarely come down with a cold that I haven't caught from one of the boys, I'm leaning towards an allergy flair-up of sorts that may have progressed into bronchitis. That's my self-diagnosis. Ha! Still have the cough keeping me up all night long, and every time I have to run up and down the stairs I start hacking, but otherwise feeling a lot better. It's nice to be able to breathe through my nose. I'm having my first coffee since Friday morning, which has cured the splitting headache and lethargy, thank goodness!

Such a busy day we are going to have today. As usual, on Monday there is laundry to be done, cleaning to do, groceries to be bought, dinner to think about putting together, and the list of other stuff I probably won't be able to tackle goes on. Also today, if the rain doesn't hit us too hard, Joey will have T-ball practice tonight and immediately following his practice, Jace has to be at the ballpark for a game. Ack! When to have dinner?!

OK. Time to move my rear end!

success! i did it!

2010-04-23T14:38:00.001-05:00

I scrapped just one layout, closed Photoshop (even though I wanted to keep scrapping), and didn't put off uploading until after I'd scrapped even more. Just to prove to myself that I could. Haha. And my other challenge to blog more than once this week? Doin' that, too!

I came across these random photos of my two youngest sons (Jace and Joey) last night and needed to scrap them. I wish I had journaled more back then. I have my memories, I just wish they were more vivid in my mind. How did I feel in those moments of holding my two precious babies in my lap, with their heads on my chest, and rocking them to sleep for their nap every day? Raising babies and toddlers isn't easy (not that it's rocket science either, but I know most moms can relate, huh?). I was stressed out more often than not, but those rocking-babes-to-sleep-moments... are what kept me going everyday. I miss it, and wish I could remember more of my thoughts and feelings at the time.

(credits here)

[journaling: My oh my, how I miss these days! Having two babies (19 months apart) at home all day and two boys in school was the highlight of my “career”
as a stay-at-home-mom. Sometimes it was tough, and I often wished to never have to change another diaper again - but at the same time I loved every minute of it! My days were full of slobbery kisses, sweet little hugs, and what seemed like hours of rocking and cuddling. Of course, there was a lot of playing, too. I wouldn’t trade any of that for the world! Six years later, there are no more diapers to change (thankfully), no chins to wipe, no peek-a-boo games, but I am still fortunate to consider myself mostly a SAHM. All four boys are in school these days, but I am able to be with them after school, during their vacations, and when they are sick. I am so proud and happy to be Mama to so many gorgeous boys. My only wish is that they would stop growing up so fast! I miss the times that have gone by, but there’s still so much to look forward to as they grow into young men and adults. I will cherish every minute of it, forever & always!]

Journaling is honestly NOT my favorite part of scrapbooking. I feel awkward in my storytelling, always have. But I need to journal more, so I'm trying to loosen up a little bit. Who cares if my grammar stinks, I put too many commas out of place, or if I make typo after typo? NOT the people I'm preserving memories for, right? Right. So the next thing on my list of self challenges is to journal more frequently (even if I am doing it in the form of a blog post), while the memories are still fresh. Because after weeks, months, or years I will have forgotten the little details.

Update on the cell phone: Jason came home from work the other night and thought my phone in a container of rice trick was baloney! The next day I hooked the phone up to the charger, turned it on, and it worked. Unfortunately though, some of the buttons are still sticking, so he's going to need a new phone. Jason knows someone who knows someone who works at Verizon so with that connection we will be able to get Jared a replacement for free. Good news! I don't feel like such a bad mom for not realizing it was in his pocket now.

Update on Josh's driving test: He passed and is now an officially licensed driver. Oi. He doesn't have a car yet. Nor a job, but he is looking for one, so maybe he'll have his own ride soon. I'm not looking forward to the first time he pulls out of our driveway to go somewhere on his own. Already when he leaves with his friends, I get choked up inside. Now that he's older and less tolerant of my overprotective ways, I have to hide my nervousness. He's always saying, "I'll be OK, Mama. Promise." And I know he means it, he is a good kid with a huge heart and good intentions, but teenagers are scary! So, seriously... every time he walks out the door, a huge chunk of my heart goes with him. Gotta let them flap their wings every once in a while, but it's hard for this Mama to let go.

I don't know if I'm coming down with a cold or if all the pollen and crap in the air has finally caught up to me, but I'm feeling horribly ill today. Sore itchy eyes, scratchy throat, drainage, cough, lightheadedness. Really just feeling gross. I don't like taking medicine at all, but I can't stand this! Hoping to find something at the drugstore that'll help. Jace has a game tonight and Joey has one tomorrow and I really want to go without being miserable.

Thrilled that it's the weekend! I'm off...

impossible to scrap just one

2010-04-21T12:27:00.001-05:00

I'm beginning to believe that it is impossible for me to create just one scrapbook page at a time. Just one page and then stop, close Photoshop, and move on. Seems like an easy enough concept, but my creative juices get to flowing and it seems silly to stop while I'm in the zone. This pretty much sums up everything I do though. Once I get started on something I don't like to stop until I feel like I have accomplished something BIG. It's always all or none with me and I feel pretty frustrated when I can't finish something, so I never start or I put it off until there's more time. Unfortunately, there'll never be more than 24 hrs in one day though. I would probably be more productive in life, as a whole, if I could learn to control this "bad habit" and just do a little here and a little there of everything. That's the same thing as learning how to balance it all, right? Funny how even when I know what is wrong, it's so hard for me to put a fix on it. Ahhhh, I'm rambling on about the same ol' stuff again.

So back to scrapbooking. I have three new pages to share.

First, another page for my Stinky Inky Poo. And this time I controlled the urge to use her name in extra large letters as the title. Hehe. This was her first bath in the big tub. We found out that she already knows how to swim. She starts to doggy paddle as soon as you hold her over the tub. It's hilarious!

Since our main bathroom is the ugliest Pepto Bismol pink you will ever see, I changed the pictures to B&W. Black and white works great for Inky photos because she is... well, black and white. Dianne Rigdon's Homey papers and elements seemed to be the perfect pop of color that I needed to finish the layout off. Gotta love scrapping for my doggie because it gives me a chance to use girlie stuff that I can't get away with using on layouts for the boys.

(credits here)

And below is a two page layout that I created for all of my "Mule Day" parade photos. I feel inspired to create more two page layouts with tons of photos more often. It's a nice feeling to have almost every picture I took that day scrapped and accounted for.

(credits for left page here, and credits for right side page here)

What else is going on in my world?

The Boys:
Jace and Joey are still going strong in baseball/T-ball. Baseball has taken over our lives! Have I mentioned that lately? LOL They are loving it and having a great time though so I can't complain. As far as Jared is concerned, I had a very bad Mama moment last night! He left his phone in his jeans pocket, and you guessed it... I washed his phone. So it's currently buried in a bowl of rice in the hopes that all the moisture will be absorbed. He just got his own phone for his 13th birthday in February, had it taken up at school (and they kept it for almost three weeks) the first week he had it, and now this. Someone needs to be a little more responsible. Eeek. And I need to remember to check pockets! You'd think after killing 3 ipods I'd know by now. Sigh. Last but not least, Josh, our 16 yr old, is getting his license today. Well, I am taking him to take the road test at least. We always said he wasn't going to get his license until he was 18, but I think it's time. He needs to find a job by this summer (not to mention buy a car), and while I wouldn't mind taking him back and forth to work, him being able to drive will certainly come in handy.

365 Project:
I've all but fallen off and been run over by the 365 Project bandwagon, but I'm trying really hard to catch up and jump back on and get back into the habit of taking a photo every day. Since May is my birthday month, perhaps I will put extra effort into it. I'm not giving up just yet!

Cooking:
I burnt my hand THREE TIMES on the oven rack last week. Twice on my middle finger and once on my thumb, which caused a pretty nice blister. News flash: ovens are hot!!! Another sigh. I still plan to share some of my dinner creations here. One day, one day...

That's it for today.
I'm going to challenge myself to blog at least one more time by the week's end, even if I gotta do it from my phone again darn it!

springtime-funkity-funk-funk-funk

2010-04-14T10:26:00.002-05:00

You know, there's nothing like four boys being on Spring Break (for TWO WEEKS) to turn your world upside down, just when your brain was needing a little more peace, tranquility, and order. Ugghhh. I'm in a bit of a funk. A rut. A bad place. But I think I'm on my way out. Fortunately, I found a little time (and mojo) over the past few days to create some layouts. That was good therapy. :) And this morning, those four kiddos went back to school (YAY!) and while I should have used every second of the day that they're out of the house to try and catch up on laundry and other housework ... instead I have spent the past hour and a half uploading my latest layouts to galleries, dropping some comments here (not enough though sorry!)and there, etc..., etc... What bothers me is how much time it takes me to do this sort of stuff (although, considering how easily distracted I am, I shouldn't be surprised). Is it just me? How much time do you allocate each day or week for layout galleries?

OK, on to the layouts...

Here's one for my oldest, Josh (credits here):

And one for my little girl, Inky (credits here):

Truth be told, I am really missing my boys. I can't say I miss all the bickering, fighting, and mess-making, but I miss there always being someone around who thinks I'm awesome and reminds me of that often. Most often it has to do with whatever I have just made them to eat, and it usually goes something like this: "Mama, you make the best peanut butter and jelly sandwiches EVER! Man! You ROCK!" *wink* LOL I am kinda, sorta kidding about the PB&J part. Actually Jason recently replaced my oven control panel last week, so after more than a year of not being able to use my oven, I'm just getting back into baking... not so much desserts, because the only thing that keeps me from eating an entire pie or tray of cookies a day is not allowing pie or cookies to enter my house except on very special occasions. I have absolutely no will power when it comes to sweets. None. But when it comes to meals, I am having lots of fun trying out some new recipes and revisiting some old favorites. Cooking dinner is fun again! Boy was I getting sick of cooking only on the stove-top or in the crock pot! Perhaps I will share some of my favorites here soon. Or at the very least, photos.

Speaking of food, it is time for me to get my grocery list (not to mention myself) ready to go do a little shopping! Then back home to hopefully do the previously mentioned laundry/housework that I would love to get done before school is out.

Easter, in photos

2010-04-06T01:29:00.002-05:00

Jace, for some odd reason, wanted me to take a photo of him with the deviled eggs.

My oldest son, Josh, and my mother, Nana.

My sister took over preparing the eggs for the egg hunt. She included a few surprises. LOL

One of the many overlooked eggs. Right out in the open, no less.

My sister, Wendi, did such an awesome job of hiding the much coveted golden egg that after a lot of searching the adults finally had to pitch in and help look for it, too. Jason finally spotted it and dug it out of the bushes for Joey, who then proudly proclaimed that he had found "the golden potato".

This is the face an eight year old will make after his little brother becomes the owner of the previously mentioned golden potato.

Because I am lazy and dreaded having to dig the boys' Easter baskets out of the attic, I splurged on cheap-o baskets for them this year. Because they were all alike, I personalized them with a simple name tag that I created with a modified journal box from Tania Shaw's Funk It Up kit.

It was a wonderful day! And I am pooped, still. Today was busy, although I didn't accomplish much. Tomorrow I am determined to make more happen, even if it means putting all these guys to work!

i miss glue.

2010-04-03T13:50:00.002-05:00

It's true. I've had this little nagging thought in the back of my mind for a while now. Maybe it's always there, only I have gotten so used to suppressing the urge to squirt glue for so long that it hasn't bothered me so much. But lately, since I made the decision (just about a week ago) that I want to convert the downstairs "kitchen" into my "studio/office", that little voice just won't shut up. It is saying "hurry up and make some progress already so you can CREATE!" Folks, it has been a looooong time since I've gotten my hands dirty! And I really miss the feeling of peeling Mod-Podge (my #1 adhesive of choice) off my fingers, elbows, and clothes! Most of my scrap/crafty stuff is already stored in the cabinets in the area I want to convert so not having to move a lot of stuff is a bonus. Not to mention that having a real office combined with a real craft space, (not just a corner of the dining room where my desk is currently crammed and piled high with papers, baskets and sorting racks - a failed attempt at organization) would be NICE. We have a tiny house as it is, so it's a shame to let that good space go to waste. Now, if only we'd win the lottery!

Below are some of the altered/hybrid projects I've created in the past. These are all old images, scrounged up from my Photobucket account, but I thought they'd be fun to share again since my old blog posts are gone. Keep in mind that these are all old projects - I was altering and doing a little hybrid stuff before it was cool. Hehehe. But like I said my hands are aching to get dirty again one day soon! My head may explode with ideas before the time comes.

Above: One of my favorite hybrid projects, despite being very simple. I used a plain black mini scrapbook. Covered the book with papers by Shabby Princess of The Shabby Shoppe, added the tabs from the kit to the inside and a few ribbons. Originally I was going to put in snapshots of the boys, but after our boxer, Missy, passed away ... we filled it with pictures of her. It has actually held up nicely considering how much it has been used.

Above: I made this accordion album as a birthday gift for my mother, and filled it with black and white photos of all of her grandchildren.The picture really doesn't do this book justice.

Above: This is not an altered or hybrid project, but one of the last few 100% hands-on paper pages that I created. Paper, ink, and paint, oh my! I miss it all! And those two adorable baby boys are the reason I really had to switch over to almost 100% digital. I was tired of little hands swiping my ink pads, tubes of paint, etc... and creating a disaster with them. LOL. So easy to blame the young'uns, huh?

Above: I made this altered clock as a super quick Christmas present for my Dad. I wish I'd laid off the distressing of the photo a bit, but it still turned out awfully cute and was a nice touch for Dad's office. I keep saying I'm going to make one for myself. One day, one day....

Above: An altered box that I made for my sister-in-law for Christmas many years ago. It was filled with handmade cards, too. After all these years, I still love, love, love me some Basic Grey paper. I haven't bought any in a very long time, but I have enough of the old stuff to last the rest of my life. No lie. :) Finding this box reminds me of another phase I went through, but can't find any good photos for (I'll have to dig out some dvd's to see if I still have them): altered cigar boxes. Those things are cool, and very useful for storing alpha stamp sets, and other little odds and ends. Once my new space is ready, quite possibly in 2020, the first thing I'm doing is sending my husband out to all the tobacco places to collect more boxes for me to alter.

Above: This photo of an altered wooden frame is actually one of this years 365 photos. I was looking for something to take a picture of, and this is what Joey suggested. I remember this being quite a messy project with all the layering of paper strips and Mod-Podging, but also one of the most fun. Another project that I wouldn't mind trying again and again.

Editing to add one last project I scrounged up...

Above: Quick and easy hybrid altoid tin using Shabby Princess' Smarshmallows Piece-A-Cake Altoid Tin Album.

Thank you for taking this little trip down memory lane with me. We will have to go again some day when I am prepared with more photos, not just what I can find in my Photobucket account.

Mobile blogging?

2010-03-29T16:24:00.001-05:00

I'm just testing the mobile blogging feature to see if it works. There was a time when I really wanted this feature, but now I fear that I would just get frustrated. Perhaps if my posts weren't so image heavy that would not be a problem though. :)

OK. Here we go. Let's see if third time is a charm!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

life + lots of layouts to share

2010-03-29T00:25:00.003-05:00

Wooohooo! Baseball season is underway for Jace and Joey! We are truly enjoying it this season, and I have to say that I am impressed with how much Jace has improved in just a few weeks compared to how much he learned last fall during "Fall Ball" (which was both boys' first season of playing baseball). Good coaches and lengthier practices seem to make all the difference. Joey has the same coaches as he did during Fall Ball, and we think they are great. Very enthusiastic and encouraging, which is just what Joey needs.

So between two sets of practices (and as of Saturday, two sets of games) life has been busy over the past weeks. But I have managed (some might say selfishly. LOL) to squeeze in some scrapbooking time here and there. And although I am frustrated because I need a new lens just for sports photography (and I know I have a 99.5% chance of NOT getting one), I am looking forward to taking many, many baseball pictures this spring and creating lots of baseball pages!

Speaking of creating pages, here are my latest layouts, oldest to newest. Links underneath each one will take you to the pages in my gallery at MyScrapbookArt if you are interested in supply credits or would like to leave a comment.

see page @ MSA

The above layout made it to the Gallery Standout blog on March 13, 2010! Totally made my day! see page @ MSA

Joey was a little sad because I "never make pages for him" (not true), so I wanted to make something special to show him when he got home from school that day. He was pleased with my usage of green (his fav color) things and told me he loved it. That's enough to warm my heart for a while.
see page @ MSA

My oldest took a turn to ask me to make a page for him, and I was very flattered (at first.... read on) he'd ask me to do such a thing (after all he is embarrassed easily and is too critical of photos of him). Scrapping to his taste makes it easy for me to keep a page very clean and simple. Oddly enough, clean and simple is hard for me, but I like a challenge every once in a while! I also took the opportunity to do a bit of journaling, because it's been a while since I wrote him "a letter" so to speak, and felt like there were things I wanted to say to him. Mainly, that I love him but other stuff, too. ;) The sort of bursting-with-pride-feeling I had after completing this layout was busted when I showed it to him the next afternoon. He said "That's cool, but I meant that I wanted you to make me a web page." LOL. Teenagers, I guess! See page @ MSA

see page @ MSA

Before I wrap up this entry, do you remember the Girlfriends Collab kit (<---click for inspirational layouts) that I contributed to last year? Well, it's on clearance, so this is your last chance to buy it and it is 50% off until the end of the month. Only a few days left!!! It is a fabulous kit which was created with a lot of love by REAL friends! If you support friendship, then you should buy this kit (heehee) or if you like the fact that the kit will work fabulously with your Spring/Summer pics... you should buy it! 50% OFF!!!

Hope your week gets off to a wonderful start!

365 project: i'm doin' it.

2010-03-20T10:57:00.001-05:00

Oops. It's been a little bit since my last post. I was doing good for a few days there though, huh?

You see, I promised to catch up on my 365 project pictures in my next post, and being a girl of my word, I felt like I couldn't post until I was actually ready to do so, so I kept putting it off. And I had pictures on my camera, pictures on my phone, pictures with an incorrect timestamp (I really should just set the time on my camera in order to help relieve some of my frazzled-ness), pictures that needed to be resized for web, levels adjusted, etc..., etc...

Now I'm all caught up, more or less (minus the few days I have not taken photos), with them at this point. However, being that we are already in mid-March, I realize that I can't very well post 70-or-something photos in one blog post. Can I? Hmmmm.... No, I'd better not. hehe. So. Today, I will just start with a few of my favorites. By the way, if you are a facebook friend, I am putting all of my 365 photos in an album/s on facebook, too. Just so you know, they are there for your viewing pleasure. I have been pondering whether or not to post them at the 365project.org site, flickr, or somewhere but I think I am going to stick to randomly posting them here and on facebook. If I have the time, I might start an additional 365 blog. I know that would help me keep up with the journaling that goes along with them. Finding the time to catch up with the past three months though, is easier said than done. Or, I could make the time for it, like I do scrapbooking, and let everything else fall to the wayside. I'm bad like that.

For the record, I would like to say that I am a totally amateur photographer. I am not doing this project to prove my photography or photoshop skills, but I am doing it to have fun with my camera, photoshop, and most of all my family. This project has become a new way to document a year in my family's life. We will have an amazing visual journal covering an entire year, that every single one of us took some part in. My sons are really into it... "did you take your photo of the day yet, Mama?" , "hey, this can be your picture of the day!", "Mama... you forgot your camera!!!!" LOL

OK, enough rambling. Here are a few of my favorites so far:

That's all for now. Thanks for reading :)

most recent layouts and creative teams

2010-03-04T10:13:00.003-06:00

Since I am on another hiatus from designing/selling, I have time to focus on getting caught up on my scrapbooks. And I am WAY behind. My budget for scrapbooking supplies is pretty lame at this point in time, so being on a couple of awesome creative teams helps me accomplish that goal. I'm currently creating for Kim Jensen of ScrapDish.com and Dianne Rigdon of ScrapArtist.com. I don't have their blinkies/links set up in my sidebar yet (adding that task to my ever growing To-Do list), so I wanted to give them a big shout out in this post. Hi Ladies! You ROCK... thanks for letting me create layouts for you!

These are my most recent pages (click them to be taken to the gallery where you can see supply credits), oldest to newest:

I'm off to drop off a trunk full of outgrown clothes at the clothing ministry that my Mom is in charge of running. Just one step towards a more clutter free home. Not doing so hot with my time management as of yet, but I am battling the clutter, which ought to count for something.

Next blog post: catching up on my 365 project pictures.

a few thoughts on time management

2010-03-02T14:48:00.000-06:00

During the last several months I have had the unfortunate experience of going for long periods of time without internet and/or a (non-dinosaur) working laptop. I did have my Blackberry, which I am grateful for, but it's not the same. Eventually, I got used to not having the distraction of Photoshop, scrapbooking, etc... and simply put more focus on being Mama (the kids have been out of school a lot due to sicknesses or snow days, too) and full-time housekeeper. To tell the truth, I think I have even been dealing with a touch of depression, as well. This has been one of the most cold, dreary winters I can remember living through. Seasonal affective disorder anyone? Ugh. Winter sucks. I want to move somewhere where it's warm year round.

So with all this time being stuck indoors with really nothing to do but take care of my guys and the never-ending housework, it wasn't too very hard to manage my time and basically keep up with... things. But now that my laptop is working again, I've realized how easy it is to fall into the bad habit of spending way too much time on the computer when I should be doing other things! Not sure how I managed in the past, or if I've ever been able to manage it all very well at all, but time management is something I need to work on (again) because I hate the cycle I am seeing myself fall into. Even though I know this is something a lot of at-home moms struggle with, it feels so silly and trivial to type it all out.

With all that said, I am sort of on a mission to work out a daily schedule to help keep myself as much on track as much as possible. It is possible. It is doable.

Next post: recent scrapbook layouts

(geez, my writing feels rusty! publishing anyway! )

long time no blogging

2010-03-01T09:15:00.000-06:00

WOW. It's been a long time since I have blogged. I don't know if it's possible to let four or five months go by without blogging and still have any followers or readers, but here I am. I'd like to jump back on the blog bandwagon with or without followers. It's just something I like to do... for myself more than anything.

First on my to do list is to update all my links and such in the sidebar --->
Gonna work on that today. And then maybe on to some eye candy. We shall see how long I last this time around. ;)

a "girlfriends" collaboration

2009-10-13T15:49:00.002-05:00

I got together with a few of my friends and put together this fun new collection called Girlfriends! We've just released it, and it's on sale now 25% off!!

~~You can buy the alphas, papers, elements, or templates separately, or buy the whole thing and SAVE even more!!~~ EDITED to remove invalid links.

Girlfriends is brought to you with love by great friends: Amy Knepper, Jessica Bolton, Kim Jensen, Melinda Staley, Robin Cabana, our friend Rose, Tania Shaw, and Tracy Blankenship.

Check out these fun layouts!
by Raji (rsk)

by Robin (rmcabana)

by myself, Jessica Bolton

The following two layouts use templates from the kit

~~Hurry over now!!~~ Sorry, it's no longer available.

Freestylin' Fall

2009-09-28T11:43:00.003-05:00

Today's entry will be short and to the point. My heart is just not into blogging/writing much today, but for those who do still read and get updates via the blog, I wanted to do a quick post about the new kit in ~~my shop~~, Freestylin' Fall.

And here's some wonderful, freestylin' inspiration from the Eclectic Team...

Hope you enjoyed seeing their eye candy as much as I did!

If you'd like to help spread the word about the kit and/or my designs in general please send your friends to my blog and/or to ~~my newsletter~~ because I have an exclusive newsletter/blog discount that will take an additional 15% off Freestylin' Fall: fallnluveclectic [you must have the above digital kit in your cart for the discount code to work.]

Thanks for your continued support :)

===

just had a thought... and sharing more layouts

2009-09-18T19:22:00.001-05:00

I was puttering around the house (after spending way too much time on the computer today and telling myself I was done being lazy for the day) when it crossed my mind that I still have Windows Live Writer on my computer. This is good news because I have been disappointed with the blogger editor thingy since I started blogging again. I was spoiled by using a wordpress blog for too many years. Back then, I never got into the habit of using WLW because the editor was so user friendly, but this is so much better than the blogger editor! Perhaps I won't avoid blogging so much now!

Speaking of spending too much time on the computer, I feel as though my rear end has literally grown inches wider today. My pants may not fit tomorrow! LOL

It's a rare week, because I've scrapped not one, but two layouts this week! Tania is hosting a ~~template challenge at FPD~~ and I couldn't resist the opportunity to scrap just like her! T is definitely one of my scrapbooking idols. Her style is wonderfully clean and contemporary, and that's a look that I have a hard time pulling off without a little help.

Check out her challenge and pick up her template ~~HERE~~. Here's my take:

I also used FPD's September Collaboration, ~~Sunshine & Fun~~.

I have a few older favorite layouts that I haven't had a chance to blog that I'd like to share, too. This is probably more than enough layouts for one blog post, so more unblogged layouts can be seen in ~~my gallery @ FPD~~ if you're interested in seeing them!

[The layout above uses Kim Jensen's Pinned Purple Paper Tags and everything in her store is 50% off this week! Grab 'em while they're hot!]

Now I'm off to fix up a late, simple dinner before Jason and Jace get home from baseball practice. We've had so much rain the past few days, and are expecting a lot more this weekend so keep your fingers crossed that the boys' (both Jace and Joey, my two youngest) Fall Ball games aren't canceled!

some designing is better than no designing...

2009-09-17T10:46:00.005-05:00

I didn't blog about it here, but last month everyone in our family of six came down with the flu and for some reason I have been having a heck of a time catching up and getting back on the ball (if I ever was "on the ball" to begin with LOL) with everything. Laundry, other housework, paperwork, email, designing, and the list goes on. Yesterday I took another little time out from spinning in circles and sat down to do a little last minute designing in order to have a new product out for ~~Lost & Found Thursday @ FPD~~. So without further ado... "~~mixed paints alpha~~" is brand new in ~~my shop~~ today! It was made to match last week's release, ~~Primarily Educational~~, although it could very easily be recolored to match whatever kit you're using. The best part about today's release is that ~~mixed paints alpha~~ is just $1 for today only!

And look! I scrapped a page to boot! Unfortunately my patience with my camera early in the morning is not so great, but I did what I could to fix the kiddos' back to school pictures so I could scrap them. Gotta love Photoshop, huh?

This layout shows ~~mixed paints alpha~~ in action, and also used in this layout is last week's release, ~~Primarily Educational~~...

The above layout uses a free template created by my good pal, Tracy B.! Find it on her blog!

Thank you for reading, and may you have a wonderful rest of the week and a happy weekend! I'm off to match up socks, scrub the tub, and do lots of other not-so-fun stuff. 'Til next time!

it's all about the education!

2009-09-10T10:32:00.006-05:00

I have been wanting to redo one of my much earlier kits, Primarily Educational, for quite a while now so when my friend Tracy requested a boyish school themed kit I knew that the time was right to finally "make it over", and this was the end result:

~~(click the image to head to the shop, where additional preview images can be found)~~

Only two of the papers and less than a handful of elements from the original kit made their way into this one (in new and improved versions), so it is basically a whole new kit. I'm a paper kind of girl myself, so this one is bursting at the seams with gorgeous backgrounds in a variety of textures, patterns, and prints - such a wide variety that you'll be able to use this kit for your kiddos in kindergarten all the way up to your highschoolers! There are also some hand-drawn doodles, ric-rac, divider tabs, see through ruler, buttons, felt stars, tape, and a frame. Honestly, it seems to be too light on the elements so I feel that an add-on pack will be coming soon as long as I can work the school theme back into my design schedule ;)

For anyone who would like to take this kit for a test run, or those who just love a good, clean quick page... here's a little something for you! Click the image to be taken to the download page. Also, please remember that my freebies are for personal use only.

(Update: link has expired, sorry!)
Thanks for reading and I hope everyone has a great day!

inspiration from jessie's girls

2009-08-11T09:59:00.006-05:00

Is it just me or is this year going by way too fast?! I can't seem to keep up with everything and it's probably time to admit that I still haven't learned how to juggle four boys, husband, housework, designing, promoting, email, etc... Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever get it.

So, on a much happier, scrappier note I have some amazing CREATIVE TEAM INSPIRATION to share with you all today! As you probably know, five members of my creative team are competing in the Battle of the Creative Teams at Digiscrap Addicts! Here's a preview of the layouts Jessie's Girls have created for week four of competition using only 'Eclectic Scraps':

[click on the image below to be taken to the threads containing full size previews of their layouts as well as a links to the gallery where you can find supply lists]

Please help me show support for my team, Jessie's Girls, by placing your vote HERE.
[Please note: If you voted last week, you may have to clear your cookies before the voting system will process your vote this week.]

Last week I took a mini break from "work" as my family was adjusting to our back to school routine, but Jessie's Girls didn't miss a beat! I couldn't be more impressed with the dedication, perseverance, and creativity these five have shown throughout this competition. Here's a look at their BOTCT week three layouts:

[click on the image to be taken to the threads containing full size previews of their layouts as well as a links to the gallery where you can find supply lists]

I would like to extend a huge THANK YOU to Jessie's Girls for doing an outstanding job using and representing my work during this contest! GOOD LUCK to my girls and most of all I hope you had a blast playing in the challenges!!! You are more than just team members to me. I consider you all to be my friends and I love you tons, girlies!!!

new-to-fpd kits, CT inspiration, and more

2009-07-28T01:12:00.003-05:00

Wow. I honestly cannot believe that another week has come and gone! None of the issues that I've been having with my computer have been solved, which is still frustrating. It's difficult to devote time to issues with my machine when all I am aiming to do each day is spend as much time as possible with my boys before they are back in school again. Eight days to go 'til the first full day?! And just like that... summer vacation is over!

Needless to say, today's blog entry will be all digiscrap related, quick, and to the point. Most, if not all, of my readers won't mind, huh?

=====NEW to FPD=====

I have added another "new-to-FPD" kit to ~~my shop~~ at Funky Playground Designs: ~~Love This Guy~~ ...

=====CREATIVE TEAM INSPIRATION=====

Five members of my creative team are competing in the Battle of the Creative Teams at Digiscrap Addicts! Here's a peek at the layouts they, Jessie's Girls, have created this week using only my designs... [click on the image to be taken to the threads containing full size previews of their layouts as well as a links to the gallery where you can find supply lists]

Please help me show support for my amazing team by placing your VOTE for Jessie's Girls HERE.
[Please note: If you voted last week, you may have to clear your cookies before the voting system will process your vote this week.]

It's too late to vote for the week one layouts, but I wanted to share them anyway. If you have been collecting my designs for a while, I know you will appreciate more eclectic inspiration. If you ask me, these ladies are the Queens of Mixing-and-Matching!

=====SAVE $$$ IN MY SHOP THROUGH AUGUST 2=====

I hope that after seeing all that creative team inspiration you are in the mood to shop a little :)

Please use this code: jessiesgirlsrock for 30% off your purchases through Sunday, August 2nd. Enjoy!!! And may you have a day full of eclectic and funky scrapping very soon!

let's review monday!

2009-07-21T00:36:00.007-05:00

What happened to my Monday?! Normally, my absolute least favorite day of the week, but it wasn't so bad overall... it just went by way too fast and I wasn't able to get around to everything on my To Do list.

So, in no particular order, here's my Monday in a nutshell:

=====the boys=====

Jace has been riding on two wheels for several months now, but he is.... was... still rusty when it came time to put on the brakes, getting around obstacles and what not. And Joey always complained about his training wheels being "all messed up", so we took the training wheels off his bike on Sunday and more or less told him that it was time to make the leap to two wheeling. That it was now or never. It took a LOT of help and encouragement at first, and then I spent a good part of today watching them both practice in the driveway and up, down, and around the backyard. But by the end of the day they had progressed to begging me to let them take a ride around the block. I caved (secretly, on the inside I was in total panic)...

I'm a bad scrapbooker! I haven't taken pictures myself yet, but I managed to snag one off of hubby's phone. There will definitely be more bicycle pics and/or layouts to come!

(mini layout credit: ~~Ready 2 Go~~ by ~~Tania Shaw Design~~)

=====my creative team=====

Six of my creative team members are competing in the Battle of the Creative Teams at Digi Scrap Addicts! Check out their amazing layouts for round one and please help me cheer them on!!

Tania, Kim, Kimberly, Robin, and Melinda are designing for me via Team Jessie's Girls, in the designer category. You can see all of their amazing layouts ~~HERE~~. And Jenn is designing layouts for the Studio Crew, in the store category. See Jenn's and the rest of the Studio Crew's layouts ~~HERE~~.

Find links to vote for your favorite team ~~HERE~~.

=====my computer=====

It sucks. My internet sucks even more. Enough said.

No seriously. I am considering purchasing a new EHD, dumping all my stuff in it, and reformatting my hard drive. I've never done had to endure a reformat before, and I'm not sure if it will help with the issues I'm having, but right now multi-tasking is out of the question and it's very frustrating trying to do just about anything that involves running more than one program at a time. As much as I'd love to toss this laptop out the window, I can't afford to splurge on a new one right now. What to do, what to do???

=====around the house=====

Since my computer isn't playing nice, it is easier to avoid the stress and focus on something else. So my focus has been on housework the past few days. There has been lots of de-cluttering and flinging and making time for those once-every-couple-of-months chores like cleaning the ceiling fans, vacuuming the mini-blinds (OK, I honestly do not clean the mini-blinds more than twice a year), dusting off the tops of doorframes and windows, etc... and then of course the neverending pile of laundry and trying to keep dishes clean (by hand even, my dishwasher also isn't working the way it should! grrrr!). It's almost to the point of resorting to FlyLady techniques, but for now I am holding out hope that the mundane things, like housework, will flow a little more smoothly once the boys are all back in school and we have a little structure added back into our daily lives. Just a few more weeks!

=====designs=====

Needless to say, there has not been an opportunity for me to create new designs so my focus has simply been on redoing previews of my older (although most favorite) stuff and getting those things added to ~~my FPD shop~~. Like everything else involving my computer, that seemed to be easier said than done when it came time to upload the zips. Grrr! More frustration! But I did make the deadline with ~~my half of Whatever Mama!,~~ a gorgeous collab Tania and I worked on together good while back.

More favorites to be added (and possibly...hopefully more blogging!) in a few days on Lost & Found Thursday!

all of my products, new and old

2009-07-15T20:06:00.005-05:00

I'm still adding some of my older designs to it, but I have put together new albums on photobucket which contains all of my past and present work.

Although some pieces are in a dormant state, if you see something you'd like to purchase which is not currently available for sale in my ~~shop @ funkyplaygrounddesign~~s, just drop me a comment with your email and I can get back to you with prices and more info. Thanks!

happy hump day!

2009-07-07T22:38:00.002-05:00

Is it really Wednesday night already!?? Where has the week gone?

There were only two entries in my "eclectic page challenge" so I am going to give them both a $10 credit to the shop! Thanks for playing along "MoeJoe" and Kara/ "TeacherSpice"!! Please send your email address to me so I have a way to send your coupon codes to you... (jess bolton at gmail dot com)

Hopefully I'll have a little more time to blog in my next post!

Have a great rest of the week!!!

have you seen my poochi?

2009-07-02T10:36:00.008-05:00

If you have, it will be easy to understand why I blog so rarely (it's so easy to blame everything on the dog!). I am sure I haven't introduced her here before. Her name is Inky Doodles and she is an (almost) 8 month old long-haired chihuahua. She really keeps me on my toes and I often feel like I spend half my life with her outside waiting on her to go potty (needless to say after having her for four months we are STILL working on housebreaking)! Oh, she is a spoiled little thing, but we love her sooooo much!

It should come as no surprise that I had to create a digital scrapbook collection in her honor, appropriately titled "PooChi"! However, this is a great collection for pooches of all shapes and sizes, not just the tiny ones with oversized ears...

PooChi is available as a ~~full collection~~ as well as individual pieces: ~~elements~~, ~~papers~~, and ~~alpha~~.
Also, for a limited time, the full collection is 33% off and the other pieces are each .25 off!

For a little inspiration, Eclectic Team Member Emily, who has her own special poochi, created this layout...

Hardly anyone has time to make scrapbook pages during the summer months - it's way more fun to be out and about making memories, so for more inspiration and a little help to you, I have created two quick pages, or "eclectic pages" as I like to call them, for you to download. I kept them simple so you have plenty of room for your title, journaling, and extra photos.

Click the image or download ~~HERE~~. If you'd like to share them with your friends, please be sure to send them to my blog to download them, rather than file sharing. And as always, my free downloads are for personal use only! Thanks for your cooperation!

Want a chance to win a $10 credit to ~~my store at FPD~~??? It's easy! To play along all you have to do is...

download the above quick pages
use either one of them, add your photo/s and make it your own (use any additional designs you'd like)!
upload your finished layout to a digital scrapbook site gallery or any photo sharing site
come back here and leave me a link (in the comments) to your layout
deadline is Tuesday July 7th

Next Wednesday I will randomly choose one lucky lady's (or dude's!?) name out of a hat to win the $10 credit!

Thanks for reading!

BIG (and kind of old already) news...

2009-06-07T00:04:00.007-05:00

I should open by saying that blogging is definitely NOT my forte. Surely, that was already obvious to anyone who might be reading here! I've been trying to get around to blogging all week, but kept putting it off for one reason or another. The boys have been out of school for over two weeks now, and while most of them have summer activities to keep them busy for stretches of time during the day, I feel like I have spent far too much time having to taxi them back and forth throughout the day. Just as soon as my creative juices begin to flow, it's time to get up and go again!

So.... the BIG NEWS is that I am now selling my designs at ~~Funky Playground Designs~~! After dropping out of the SYTYCD contest due to missing a deadline, I was presented with the opportunity to join FPD as a designer, and well... it was an offer I could not refuse! Not only is the store full of awe-inspiring, talented designers, two of my best long distance digi friends (shout out to my girls Tania and Tracy!!!) are also designers at FPD and we are planning to rock the socks off the place. ;) This is going to be FUN!

I started off the week by adding many of my all time favorite products to the shop along with one new kit, Unamused Boys (part two).

[My faithful fans may remember the first version of Unamused Boys, so please be assured that this is a totally new version of the kit. Nothing is revamped or reused from the first kit, although it will coordinate perfectly with all of the old papers and elements]

On a more personal note, I have to tell ya that my own boys played a large part in the creation of this kit and cheered me on throughout the process of the kit design. They are definitely my biggest fans! For me, designing a kit is a lengthy and tedious process as it is so I might as well take advantage of the fact that my boys are intrigued (most of the time!) by what I do and are eager to help in any way possible. Sometimes it's just easier to involve them in the process rather than try to push them away "so Mama can get some work done"! My younger two have already decided which elements and papers I am to use when I scrap their photos with this kit! But alas, there has not been time for scrappin'!

Fortunately the Eclectic Team was on hand to do their magic and create some inspiration pieces for you. Have a look for yourself and see how versatile Unamused Boys is...it even works for girl pages!

By Kimberly:

By Cassie:

By Tania:

By Melinda:

by Jenn:

by Kim:

Never fails, those girls blow me away with their talent to 1.) inspire me 2.) use a kit in ways I couldn't even have imagined!

Through tomorrow (Sunday June7th) all of my products will be 25% off (you will need to add something to your cart to see the discount).

I hope that with my next post, I will have a little more to offer my readers. *wink*

i'm a SYTYCD drop out

2009-05-15T12:37:00.006-05:00

Simply put - deadlines and I do not get along. In my opinion, all deadlines should have a grace period, you know... like utility bills and mortgage payments.

When I signed up for the SYTYCD contest it was about more than winning the prizes at the end. It was more of a personal challenge to see if I was ready to get back into designing. Releasing new products consistently was never one of my strong points and something I wanted to improve upon before I began selling again, so I figured if I could make myself keep up with the challenges then I could most definitely fall into the routine of designing and putting out new products on a regular basis. But I digress...

I don't want to be a whiner and make a bunch of excuses for not finishing my week 2 entry in time, but this has been a horrible week! To make a long story short(er) - it started off with my oldest son coming down with a fever and cold like symptoms on Saturday night. The poor guy, he spent most of Mother's Day in the bed, but fortunately he bounced back quickly and went to school late on Monday. Unfortunately, that afternoon I started coming down with the cold, too. I spent most of Tuesday in the bed. To be honest, I would have stayed there all day long if I'd been able to. I've always had a high tolerance for pain, but give me a fever with body aches and I'm a big ol' baby! Wednesday I felt well enough to start working on my contest entry. I had this nagging feeling in the back of my head that I'd never finish it in time, after all... I am a s-l-o-w designer, but I worked on it every spare minute for two days (can you say carpal tunnel syndrome? LOL) and finally finished it up 30 minutes before what I thought was the deadline (thought it was 11:59 pm CST) and tried uploading it. My internet connection at home is horrible these days, but I never thought it'd take 2 hours to upload! If it'd been earlier in the day I could have gone to find a wifi connection or over to the shop, but at that point I was too stressed and tired to move. The really funny thing is that because I had the time zone mixed up, I got all mad at 4shared for nothing. I would have been an hour late even if my zip had uploaded at a normal rate of speed! LOL Ahhhhhhrrrgggg!!! Although it is embarrassing that I had to drop out, now that it has sunk in, I am feeling a bit of relief. The deadlines can kiss it! ;)

So here it is (please excuse the sloppy preview - I could have done better, but I'm too lazy to go back and do it again now that I'm not stressing to meet a deadline). If you have my previous Delight in Photographs kits, then you might recognize a couple of the patterns in this kit. I can never get enough of these colors together, and since I didn't have time to create quite a few designs that I'd sketched out... there just might be a number four, or an add-on pack at the very least, coming out in the near future.

If you like this kit and want to share it with your friends, please send them here to pick it up. No file sharing. Thanks for your cooperation!!

[free download has expired. thank you]

There's a ton of laundry and housework to be done this weekend, but I am hoping to send the kids off, kick my feet up, and actually do some scrapbookin' with this kit SOON. If you create anything using this, I'd love to see it! Thanks!

So You Think You Can Design: Season Two, Week One

2009-05-08T09:38:00.004-05:00

After being on a design hiatus for six minths, I decided on a whim to put in my application for (and was accepted to participate in) SYTYCD 2, which is hosted at Digi Scrap Addicts. I haven't had the opportunity to jump into the forum and participate much. Well, at all. But I am totally loving the vibe of DSA! I am vowing to be more forum social soon. What can I say? The house, boys, and puppy are still keeping me busy, and I am feeling self-conscience about getting back into the digital scrapping world. I want to. Just need a little push... or perhaps a drop kick?

So, enough ramble, below is my SYTYCD, Week One entry:

(no longer hosted or available @ DSA)

Thanks you to everyone who has commented, downloaded, or viewed my kit. The comments left have touched my heart and made me feel like I really can get back into designing.

random boy layouts

2009-04-28T18:00:00.003-05:00

Since I am once again familiarizing myself with blogger, I thought it'd be a good idea to upload some images and test things out.

a fresh start

2009-04-28T14:40:00.000-05:00

Here I am, posting to this blog for the first time since 2005. Since then I have maintained blogs and a website elsewhere, but have since let those go. At the time I had a need to streamline and simplify my life. But...

I miss blogging, so here I am. Giving it one more shot!