Friday, March 28, 2008

It's gonna be some kind of fun!!

We're gearing up for our first cyber crop as a team at The Scrapbook Site and I cannot wait! I'm so excited for what's coming. We'll have games, classes, chats and more. The team has some amazing talent on board and frankly, I'm kind of amazed I was selected to be a part of it. I'm thrilled of course, but I suppose it's also quite humbling.

The crop is on April 16th and will be on the site. Don't forget to register ahead of time so you can get your membership verified before the festivities begin!

Saturday, March 22, 2008

My new toy has arrived!!

A little background...

With our tax return, we decided to have extensive dental work done for Kevin. He's needed this for a long long time and I'm so happy it's going to be done. At the very least maybe he'll have a better attitude with the lesser pain!

The other thing we did is to set aside the money to put two tires on the car, order some parts for the Honda and .....
I made an executive decision to get a new baby that will ultimately benefit the family (that's my story and I'm sticking to it...). I bought a new camera. I found an amazing deal on it, it's a brand new release of this camera. I fell in love with a sister model that Michelle's dad bought her for her birthday. The photo quality was amazing and who would have expected any less from Canon. When I saw this new release and I saw that I could get it for $80 less than retail at another on line location I jumped at the chance to buy.

I bought the new Canon Powershot A580 and got it for $139!! It was an amazing deal. 8.0 MegaPixels, 4x zoom, lots of interesting options and MAN I love the quality of this camera. Ive been more and more disatisfied with the photos that were coming from my other camera. It's a GREAT camera for a point and shoot and it was a great deal at $75! The quality for that price is absolutely phenomenal. The only problem I have is that I like to take close up shots and the quality for a close up is not good. It's very grainy and can't be 'fixed' using PSE or PSP or any other program I've got. I really needed something different. Top that with my shakiness, that is only getting worse with the degeneration of my muscles, and the image stabilization and face finder on this camera is just what Dr. Lissa ordered!

This baby is fantastic and I'm so glad she's mine!

Here's a shot I took just playing around with it night before last. Look at those tiny little freckles under his eyes! And those dimples! Is he not totally adorable? (I know, I'm partial but even the hardest of toughies could look at him and love that face! LOL) (click on it to get the full effect!)



Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Fun challenge!

There was a really fun ad challenge issued at one of my fav sites - Go Be Creative!

The challenge was really for those people who subscribe to the monthly kit that Lainey puts out but I couldn't resist it!

Here is the inspiration piece.



And here's mine!



Fun or what??! Let's see what YOU can do with that ad. Come on - I DARE YA! Link me here and you just might win yourself a RAK!

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

A Walk Down Memory Lane Kit of the Month and more!!!

You guys will absolutely freak at the kits that are coming out from "A Walk Down Memory Lane" for April. Lisa is working on getting the previews but I've got a basic run down of the two new kits being offered and

Holy Cow!!!

That's all I can say!

Here are some hints for you to get excited about:


Kit #1:
Prima Dude papers (from CHA)
My Mind's Eye Dreamy Starbright papers (from CHA)
Clear Scraps acrylic 6" star
American Crafts foam star shapes
Bo Bunny polka dot ribbon
Queen & Co felt fusion in blue stars
MM Pebble Brads in Childhood Stars
Heidi Swapp Chipboard label holders in Crimson
Around the Block painted metal Dingbrads
Bazzill cardstock including one of them with the eyelet scalloped edge
KI Lace Cardstock Boogieboard Stars (new from CHA)

This kit is so cool...it has blues, green, yellow, red, and orange and is covered in stars on a lot of the papers.


Kit #2:
Bo Bunny Organic paper (from CHA)
My Mind's Eye Tres Jolie papers
Queen & Co chipboard alphabet
Tim Holtz Crackle paint
MM Fresh Anthology dimensional flower stickers
Robins Nest Dew Drops
MM Chipboard Buttons in Emery
Tinkering ink Floral Frippery rubons
Bazzill ribbon


this kit is just pretty. Lots of ivory, soft greens, mauve-y pinks...yummy!


You can get an idea of what her past kits are like here:
Past Kits

Here is some information on the kit club:
Kit Club Information


Now to get you even more excited, there's a contest going on to NAME THESE KITS... so hurry on over to the store blog and get your "Name" in. You never know what you might win in your next order from the store!

This is the store affiliated with The Scrapbook Site. The owner is awesome. What an amazing kit or two! Check it out!

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Not sure if I told you about this...



I'm selling my cards at a local consignment shop. They agreed to put me a little stand by the register for regular greeting cards and gift cards. I'm so stoked about this! It will keep me motivated to keep making them instead of getting a bit slack and not doing what I should be doing to get them going. Here's one I made today using sketches by Lucy Chesna. One was for her Origami challenge at Iscrap last weekend and another was on her blog for the sketch to use for her Blog DT. Both were great sketches and the Origami class was bangin'!



It's Official!



I had to wait until to day to let everyone know (yeah - all 2 of my readers lol) that I've been selected to be on the new Design Team for The Scrapbook Site! It's a wonderful place to play; there is a gallery full of inspiration; they have a fantastic kit club and there are some delightful people to play with (including a great guy named "Scrap Man" who had an amazing sense of humor).

So come on over to play! You'll love it!



And if that's not enough good news for the weekend, I also found out that I won a RAK and a prize at last weekend's big Cyber Crop at the International Scrapbooking Association! Now if you've not been to, or become a member there, you're missing out too! It's a paid site, but well worth it. Rub elbows with some of scrapbooking's most inspiring people! I was a charter member of National Scrapbooking Association and they merged with Iscrap last summer. My membership transferred and it's been a great move!




I feel like I hit the motherlode of good luck this weekend! Woo hoo!

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

I've got a secret!

I'm so excited but I can't tell it yet - not just yet.

Check in with me on the 15th and I'll let you in on it too!

In the meantime, check out this amazing kit club I just found! I am amazed by the product in this kit and for the first time in a long time I'm wanting to find a way to sub to a kit. I love the MW kits but I can't afford them. Now, I'm wishing so badly I could do both! I'm so torn. Check them out!

A Walk Down Memory Lane

Don't you want to sink your teeth into that Silly Pea kit? I tell you I wish so badly my funds weren't so tight. In the meantime, I'm hoping for some scraptime to keep my mind off my severe lack of funds.

(Not that I don't have enough to keep me busy for about the next 10 years without buying a single new item LOL...)

Monday, March 10, 2008

Oh my gosh I've had so much fun!!!

I've got a loaner from the rental company while they replace my motherboard. I finally got to scan and upload my fun! I had such a blast this past weekend. Since blogger is not letting me post my layouts, I'm putting them in via my photobucket.

Hope you like! I have had an absolutely blast!

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This was a transfer using packing tape.

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Two cards; one 8.5 x 11 layout and eight 12 x 12 layouts in one weekend. What a blast!!

It's been such a productive weekend!

I've been so happy this weekend. Despite my frustration at not having a computer at my disposal, I've scrapped my little heart out. I can't wait to be able to share all I've done. So far I've completed 8 projects and have many more to complete today before uploading everything tonight. I've got to be able to take photos today during the beautiful day light and then somehow get my photos from my camera to a computer.

I'm hoping since my computer is a rental they'll replace it today. If so, I'll be uploading tonight! WOO HOO!!

I really love the inspiration the team at Iscrap has shared this weekend. They're a great group of folks and have such great imaginations. I have thoroughly enjoyed being without a computer at my fingertips. As much as I have felt handicapped by it, and I despise being without, I've enjoyed being so creative.

Sunday, March 9, 2008

I"m so stinkin' frustrated...

I have been participating in the weekend crop at Iscrap.com. LOVING the inspiration over there and having a blast. Well guess what happened last night...

My motherboard died. Yep - dead - I even bit the bullet and reformatted it today knowing I was going to lose a bunch of stuff but did it anyhow.

Dead - still won't complete sign on - gets to the whole sign "Microsoft" screen, begins booting up and dead... it dies half way through booting up.

Can we say DAMN!

I'm so frustrated.

On the other hand, I'm really grateful Taylor has his computer home this weekend because it means I can take photos of my layouts and projects and still get them into the site by tomorrow night for credit.

The other thing is that I can check my emails (although sporadically) and also check my beloved sites as time will allow.

So folks, if you know anyone who wants to gift me a computer (ROFLMBO) let me know! HA HA HA

I'm in the market...

In the meantime, happy Sunday - many blessings to all...

Saturday, March 8, 2008

A question to ponder

A long time ago, in what seems like another lifetime, I received a wonderful TLC kit that was all about why I scrap. At that time I created a fun little mini album (this was when I fell in love with mini's and created 5 in a span of about 3 months).

The title of the album was "So they will know". While I abandoned the majority of the comments from the kit, the one that really spoke to me was this:

" I believe that scrapbooking is a perfect gathering place for everything we cherish in this life. This album is for my loved ones so they will know why I scrapbook."

I included various quips from life that I wrote or printed onto vellum (hot at the time) such as "Prayers go up and blessings come down!" and "Life is shat you make it... You will only get as much out of it as you put into it, so BE GENEROUS!"

Recently I had a chance to revisit this album when a friend on one of my message boards posted the question, "Why do you scrap?" I quickly posted my response and wondered if my thoughts had changed much since I created this little mini. What do you think?

"I scrap so that when I'm gone, there will be proof that I didn't always want to string up my kids by their toenails and once upon a time, we did fun things!

All kidding aside, I did an entire album of why I scrap. I scrap so they'll have a record of our family for future generations, so they'll have record of their past, so they'll know where our roots are, so they'll have an idea of where we've been to give where they're going more direction.

I scrap because I love them..."

It's not so far off from my original thoughts. A little more refined and yet simplified. I guess it really does all boil down to scrapping because I love them.