toot! toot! here comes the SBG blog train!

{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

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!

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.

scary stuff: impressions of fright

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)

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!

doodling + scrapping

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.

tooting my own horn

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!

guest designer @ sbg, new designs, and old designs

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!

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!

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!