hello february!

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!

in hiding

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.

bring back my babies!!!

*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!

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)

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! 

the pumpkin patch

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

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

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.

october challenge layouts & more

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

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

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!

attitude

"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!

monday again and news to share

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!

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

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

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

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!

life + lots of layouts to share

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!