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.

have you seen my poochi?

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!