Stacy's Stamp-n-Scrap Loft

Blogfiction

2010-11-04T14:10:00.002-05:00

This is what I'm doing at the moment, if anyone is interested:

Caddie Emerging

That will take you to the very first entry. If you want to know what it's about, click on the "What the Heck is This?" tab at the top.

It's a blog, but it's fictional. I am the creator of the person writing it, although she is the "writer" (with help from her husband and the occasional guest blogger). It's not a traditional blog, more of a journal, but sorta blog-ish. Anyway, if you're interested check it out, and if not, I promise not to hate you forever. ;-) If you do like it PLEASE subscribe! You can take your time getting caught up. Really. I promise.

Still no scrapping/stamping/digiscrapping mojo. *SIGH*

Taking a break

2010-08-21T13:25:00.002-05:00

Okay, I think it's probably "official" that I am not scrapping right now, in any form, or stamping. I don't know exactly what's up, just that I'm burned out and my mojo has taken an extended vacation to Jupiter or somewhere.

I don't know when I'll be back in the saddle. It could be as early as tomorrow, if a burst of inspiration (and energy) seizes me. It could be a year from now. It might even be never. I just don't know. This is so typical ADD/ADHD, so I shouldn't be surprised, but I am disappointed in myself. I really loved this stuff when I was doing it, but now it just seems overwhelming to even think about.

I'm not to the point of selling my stuff yet. I still have hope that this will all come flooding back to me and I can get right back up in that loft and start again. (Even getting back to the digital stuff would make me happy -- I still have a ton of heritage photos I'd like to scrap so I can finish that book).

We just got back from two weeks in London and Norway. I logged onto Shutterfly and made a (huge) photo book from most of the photos (it has 68 pages!), because I knew I would never scrap them. I have one Norway scrapbook from ten years ago (that took four years to get to/finish), so I don't really have it in me to do another one.

So ... I don't know. If you're following the blog or get it delivered to your inbox, I'll understand if you decide to stop following or unsubscribe.

I'm hoping that, once Aidan gets back in school I'll decide I want to do this some more, but I can't promise. It's his senior year, I'm depressed about him leaving home in a year, he keeps scaring me with wanting to apply to colleges far away from home, and I am officially in menopause. So I'm struggling with depression, and maybe that's part of why I can't get the mojo going.

Okay, enough explanation. It be what it be, and I'll just have to see what happens over the next little while.

I do appreciate everyone who has been a faithful reader of this blog. I'm not shutting it down, because I'm hoping this is temporary. But I do want y'all to know I'm grateful for all the kind words about my work.

So, until next time (hopefully!) ... Happy scrapping and stamping to you all!

Baby Granny

2010-07-15T11:09:00.004-05:00

Well, I'm back! Just two days after my last post! Try not to faint or choke on your morning latte.

As I promised in the last post, I will now reveal to you one of the other two heritage digiscrapped pages I found in my Unfinished folder. This one is of my grandmother when she was a li'l baby. I think the pictures are hilarious, not because anything particularly funny is going on, but because it's so weird to think of my grandmother, who died at the age of 95, as ever being an actual baby. I can't imagine her ever being helpless or unable to take care of herself. (With the exception of her last days in the hospital, and we won't go there.)

Granny is the one on the left in the oval photo, on the right in the other. And, actually, something funny is going on in the oval one, or was just before it was taken. Apparently Granny had a set of keys in her hand, and had reached over and bopped her cousin Ida Lou on her head! Heee!

Here are the ingredients of the layout:
Vine: Brandy Murry, “Bees Knees” (ScrapGirls)
Papers: Doris Castle, Michelle Shefveland, “Butterfly Wings” (Cottage Arts); Cheryl McCain, “June’s Cadence”; “Divine Damask” (Atomic Cupcake)
Paper template: Syndee Nuckles “On the Edge” (ScrapGirls)
Flowers: Syndee Nuckles “Noteworthy” (ScrapGirls); Michelle Stone Designs “Romantic Beauties” (Two Little Pixels)
Butterflies: Forget-me-nots Designs, “Stories to Tell” (Heritage Scrap)
Brushes: Erica Hite “Frayed Edges” (ScrapGirls)
Frame: Diana Burton “Heritage Helpers” (Digital Scrapbook Pages) – altered using Kerry Veale’s “Intaglio 7601” style (ScrapGirls)
Tags: “Guy Thing” (Atomic Cupcake), altered using Durin Eberhart’s “Antique Paper 5101” style (ScrapGirls)
Title alpha: Nini’s Notions “Shiny Copper Alpha” (Digital Scrapbook Pages); altered
Font: Lettering Delights “LDAntique”
Scatter action: Christy VanderWall, “Scatter Things PSE 11101” (ScrapGirls)
Template: Loosely based on Kristin’s Scrap Design “Template 15” set
Styles: Mandy Steward “Framed Ink 1801” (ScrapGirls); Sarah Batdorf “Basic Shadows 6501” (SG)

I might actually start another digital family heritage page today. Or try to get caught up on my Scripture words layouts. Might. Don't get too excited. I'm waaaaaay tired this morning, so it might have to be after my post-lunch nap. (Hmmmm ... wonder if I could hurry up and have lunch, even though I had breakfast an hour ago, just so I could take that nap sooner?)

Anyway, hope you enjoy looking at this layout, and that you have a simply fabulous day!

Behold, I hath scrapped!

2010-07-13T14:05:00.004-05:00

Digitally, even! I started a page about my granddad a couple of weeks ago, but still wasn't quite ready to be digiscrapping. So yesterday I decided to take a deep breath and go for it ... and it was okay! I didn't throw up, I didn't run screaming out of the room, I actually pretty much enjoyed it!

So, without further ado: Here. Is. That. Layout!! (Have to be a fan of Larry the Cucumber/LarryBoy to get that fully.)

Wasn't he spiff?! My mother says he was the cleanest carpenter she ever saw. He also worked on his parents' farm AND taught school, but carpenter was what he eventually stayed with. I remember him always looking nice, even just to sit around the house and work crossword puzzles -- not in a suit, no, but nice pants and a clean, pressed shirt. Heck, even his pajamas were spiff!

Here are the ingredients for the layout:
Paper: Dana Zarling “Vintage Artistry” (Scrapbook Bytes)
Grunge edge overlay: Inked Edge Grungy 1 (Atomic Cupcake)
Curved paper strip: BubblyKori Designs “Autumn in Paris” (Heritage Scrap), altered using Erica Hite’s “Fabric 5401” style (ScrapGirls), Syndee Nuckles’ “Damask 6301” style (SG), and Mandy Steward’s “Inked Edges 1801” (SG), and possibly some other step I’ve forgotten.
Ribbons: Lynn Griffin “Southern Porch” (Heritage Scrap), recolored; Syndee Nuckles “November Sky” (ScrapGirls), recolored; Diana Burton “Marguerite” (Digital Scrapbook Pages), altered; Heather Roselli “Mint Chocolate” (DigiChick), recolored
Tag: Michelle Coleman “Bohemian Summer” (Memory Makers Magazine), recolored
Brad: “Shabby Mommy” (Shabby Princess)
Font: Lettering Delights “LDAunt Elizabeth” (altered on title, forgotten how)
Other Styles: Sarah Batdorf “Basic Shadows 6501” (SG)

I also found two other layouts I had finished but had not yet completed the supply lists for, and so had not moved them from the "unfinished" folder to the proper "finished" folder. I'll save those for other posts.

I still despair of ever getting into the craft loft again. I got the new Stampin' Up! catalog the other day, and really, there were only a few sets that just grabbed my attention and turned on the "WANT!" button. Some nice papers and accessories, too. Of course, the stuff I really liked would look great on heritage layouts, but I'm doing all those digi, so I can only hope that SU will create digi stamps out of those sets SOON!!! Or else buy 'em anyway and hope they spark some creativity. I hate to do that, though, when I already have ten jillion stamps sitting there unused.

Maybe one of these days I will feel better and that will be all it takes to get me up there. Really, right now I don't feel much like putting the effort in. I had a few good weeks, there, but was busy Genealogy-izing, and now I'm having problems with my head/neck and don't much want to be sitting up straight and looking down at the table for too long at a time. (I slouch when I'm on the computer, and can fix it so I don't have to bend my neck to see it.)

Ah, well. I read about a lady the other day who had been poisoned by E. coli a year ago and was still in the hospital trying to recover from what it did to her internal organs. So I'm definitely blessed not to be that bad off!

It's my Mama's birthday today (78! she can't be that "old"!), but I didn't hand-make her card (I feel so bad about that, even though she understands!). The gift I ordered for her hasn't arrived yet, either. It's a 12x12 stretched canvas version of the layout I made of her when she was 8 years old. I hope they do a good job with it. But, so, yeah, that won't be here. She says celebrating on a Tuesday is kinda silly, she'd rather celebrate on the weekend, anyway, but we'll at least do something smallish today. I have a headache and don't feel up to making her a cake (which she probably couldn't eat anyway because she's having some major digestive issues lately, along with the fact that she can't eat sugar or wheat anyway). No, we are not "normal," easy-to-party people around here. But we love and celebrate each other every day, anyway. I've always been so thankful that my Granny knew how much we loved her (because we always wrote tributes in our cards we gave her for her birthdays), and we gave her lots of flowers, we didn't wait until her funeral for that stuff. We're like that about Mom and Dad, too. I say, if you love somebody, tell 'em, dang it! Let them know what they mean to you and why. Celebrate them every day, don't wait until they're gone and can't benefit from it.

Okay, I'm rambling now. Off to do ... something (maybe a nap?). Hope you enjoyed the layout!

Quick update

2010-06-18T20:21:00.002-05:00

Okay -- I do NOT have to have a tonsillectomy!! So the deviated septum will remain as-is. I do have lumbar arthritis, and I'm having procedures done to sort-of cauterize some of the nerves in my neck to help with headaches these nerves cause.

I haven't scrapped since my last post (maybe once). Still can't stand the thought of digi-scrapping, but it doesn't make me queasy now. I have been doing heaps of stuff with family history (mainly just finding documents and adding sources). No writing going on yet.

No huge plans for the summer, although Aidan will be attending the National Junior Classical League convention in July. It's in Fargo, ND. Whoopee. We'll probably all end up going there because I'm one of "those" moms and can't quite see letting him fly by himself. So, yeah. Fargo. Can't contain the excitement.

And, that's pretty much it. As I said in my last post, don't give up on me yet, because I'm sure I'll be back in the saddle in the craft loft one of these days. And if I should ever decide I'm done for good, I will be selling huge amounts of scrapping supplies! (But I don't see this happening.)

Until next time ...

Oh, the irony

2010-05-04T19:08:00.003-05:00

So last time I blogged, I went on and on about how much I love digital scrapbooking.

In the couple of weeks since then, I have crashed and burned. I am totally burnt out on it. Maybe it has to do with the looooonnnggg period of illness I had this winter/early spring. Just something about the thought of sitting down and digi-scrapping makes me queasy. And it's not just that. I'm feeling that way about family history, too. And my story -- the story I have laboured over for several years now and whose characters I dearly love -- my story isn't going anywhere, and I'm almost burnt out on it.

The only thing I have left is paper scrapping. The jury is still out on that, but I have thought about just going into the loft and sort-of cleaning it up, just to be around the stuff. Maybe that would spark something. I haven't felt up to it yet, though.

The good news is, I don't have strep anymore!! The bad news is I may still have to have a tonsillectomy AND have my deviated septum fixed at the same time.

I've been reading a book called From Fatigued to Fantastic by Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum. It's for people with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (which I clearly have) and Fibromyalgia (which I don't think I do). LOTS of good stuff in there, but it takes months for the effects to start showing up. I may end up going to a CFS/FMS clinic in Dallas to help me get all the supplements, etc. sorted through. It's a cool book because he recognizes right off the bat that there are scores of different causes and effects in different people with CFS/FMS, so at the end of each chapter you fill out a little questionnaire, which links you to an appendix. You check off treatments in the appendix depending on how you answered the questionnaire, and by the time you finish reading the book, you should have a pretty good idea of what kind of treatment you need. Several of the things he talks about involve prescription meds, so that's one reason I think it might be worth it to go to the clinic. Of course, they don't take any kind of insurance (you can see what your insurance company will reimburse you for), so it could be expensive.

Also, my doc (PA) wants me to try a detoxification program. It sounded pretty good, and this program is the only one which actually puts immunoglobulins into your system, so I think I will try it once her office starts taking orders.

So, that's pretty much where I am right now. I hope to have SOMETHING here to show you soon. Please stick with me ... I can't stay away from being creative for long!

Time to confess

2010-04-03T11:32:00.007-05:00

[stick with me -- there are photos in this post!]
... I love digital scrapbooking. I mean, I REALLY love it! Which totally surprises me. I'm SO not a "techie" person. If I could live in Victorian times, I would (as long as I had a couple of servants to help me with all the hard stuff! lol). This may be why I love the new Steampunk craze. I also love the "artiste" thing about being able to FEEL the materials you're working with. But digital is amazing -- you can do so many things digitally that you can't do with paper (and the reverse is also true). Plus you can reuse the stuff you buy as much as you want to, and you can alter sizes, colors, etc. with digital. There's also the plus of storage and portability. And one thing I love -- you can get the "feel" of 3-dimensional embellishments without the bulk. (You should see the uber-bulky scrapbook I made for my Grandmother a few years ago ...! Whew! I had to design non-scrapped facing pages that used BATTING to keep the embellies from smashing or ruining the page in front! Someday I'll photograph it and show you.) If you use drop shadows properly, it's often hard to tell that what you're looking at digitally is NOT real paper. At least on the computer.

I don't think I'll ever really give up paper scrapping. As soon as I get well and start to feel better I'd like to go up into the loft and give it a shot again. But for now I'm loving digi and, sadly, yes, spending too much money on it!

Oh, BTW, I would like to thank Diana Burton of Digitals for placing a link to my blog on her blog! I am VERY flattered that she considers me worthy of such an honor! I shall endeavor to continue in that worthiness!

I have so much to post and write, but I won't try to get it all into one entry. Today I'm going to show you the layout I just completed for Patter Cross' "Triple the Scraps" 2010 Scripture word challenge. The word for this week's challenge was "Perfect." As a human being I am nowhere NEAR God's standard of perfection. But thanks to the sacrifice Christ made on the cross, and His glorious resurrection (I LOVE Easter for what it means for all humanity!), I can be made perfect in Him. It's a twofold thing -- once I accept Christ as my savior, I am made perfect in His reckoning. However, I'm not actually to that point yet in my actions, behavior, thoughts, etc. So perfection is a process, as well. It's attainable only through Him. I believe we can have moments of perfection here on this earth, but being human, they don't last long! Heaven is where we will finally be "perfectly perfected." I'm glad to know there's hope!

So here is my layout, and the verse I chose to represent this word:

The background photo for this page is one my husband took of a yellow (yes, yellow) rose a few years ago. Here's the photo unaltered:

That's a stunner all by itself, isn't it!

But it was too bright for what I wanted to do with this layout. I know the layout LOOKS simple. A photo, slap some brushes on and a verse and, voila! Right? About five minutes' worth of work? Not even.

I used one of the "Moody Photo Textures" overlays from Something Blue Studios over at CatScrap on top of the photo. (This was my final choice after trying a couple of other overlays from this and other sets. Took me 30 minutes or more just to decide on this one!) This overlay is opaque, so you couldn't see the rose. I used the "Color" layer style thingy (aren't I so technical? lol) to get the effect you see here (it makes the overlay more transparent and alters the colors). Then I made a separate layer and used Durin Eberhart's "Dynamic Brush Set: Sketched Borders" (ScrapGirls) for, yes, the borders, lowered their visibilty a bit and used Sarah Batdorf's "ScrapSimple Styles: Basic Shadows" (also ScrapGirls) on them to keep the layout from being just totally flat. I wish I could tell you where I got the Decorative Alpha brush, but I've had it for over a year and didn't keep any record of the site it came from. I tried googling it with no luck, so just know I didn't create it! After making the word "Perfect" with that brush, I then added the scripture with the "Pristina" font, and had my "Perfect" layout! ;-)

So, yeah -- you can't use overlays and morph them with real paper like you can digital. Of course, you can stamp images like the borders and the title (and the verse, for that matter), and lighten things up by stamping off first. So you could do this page as a hybrid if you altered the photo first and printed it out, then stamped on it (using StazOn, I would think).

Okay, I was going to show you another of my heritage layouts, but since this post has gone a little long, I'll save that for another day.

Healthwise, I STILL have strep. I was supposed to go to an allergist/immunologist yesterday, but he got SICK, so that's been rescheduled for Monday. I also have an appointment with an Ear, Nose, Throat doc for later this month. Hopefully I can get in earlier on someone else's cancellation. My bloodwork from last time all came out just fine, and my strep isn't anything more sinister than just plain ol' Strep A, but it's been two months now and it's REALLY getting old! Please pray that I don't have to have my tonsils out -- as far as I'm concerned that is an absolutely last-resort deal. I will not have it done unless it's the only way to keep me from dying or something! (Just google Adult Tonsillectomy and you'll understand why!)

Blessings for a blessed Easter weekend! And remember -- He is Risen! He is Risen indeed!

Catching up

2010-03-18T22:17:00.005-05:00

I am now in my 6th (or so) week of The Strep that Would Not Die. Yep, came back on me Monday, two days after I finished the antibiotic, just as I had predicted. My doc did the quick test, but also sent in a culture to the lab to see what strain of strep this is, and if there could be something else going on. Lah dee dah, oh the joy.

Anyway.

I have managed to catch up on the 2010 Scripture Challenge I'm doing with Patter Cross' "Triple the Scraps" blog. I did the previous one ("Follow") on Sunday, and finished the current one ("Neighbor") tonight.

So, here's the one for "Follow" (remember, both of these are 6"x6")

I had just bought this very cool mask set over at Pickleberrypop, and thought it would be fun to use the wedge-shaped mask to sort-of "reveal" a cross. (I dreamed about wedge-shaped tornadoes the other night ... wonder if it was because of this mask? lol) So that's where the idea started, and ended up with what you see above. I had the dickens of a time getting the verse to look good on here. Finally tried white for the font and it made all the difference! Here are the ingredients:
Cross: Lifesong Kreations “No Greater Love” (Faith Sisters)
Mask: Fly Pixel “New Beginnings” (Pickleberrypop)
Alpha: Erica Hernandez “Vibe” (2Peas)
Papers: Aprilmouse & Hanulienka “Summer Field” (aprilmouse.blogspot.com)
Style: Framed Ink (ScrapGirls) (you can tell I like this style because I use it A LOT!!)
Font: Colwell

And here is the current one:

I don't know why I've been so into green this week -- maybe it's because the yard has turned green here, the leaves are coming out on the trees (as well as some beautiful buds!), and Spring is definitely in the air (never mind that on the actual First Day of Spring it's supposed to be down in the 50s F for the high -- we've had 60s and 70s and even one day with low 80s lately!). Anyway, I wanted a sort of "universal" theme for this page, to indicate that everyone is my neighbor. I ended up finding these hands from the Google Images search page, and decided they would get my point across just fine!
Ingredients are:
Paper: Lorie Davison “Port au Prince” (Songbird Avenue)
Design by Schaarka “Summertime” (schaarka.blogspot.com)
Blending template: Brandy Murry “Background Blenders” (ScrapGirls)
Font: Teen
Style: Framed Ink (ScrapGirls) (again, lol!)

I was originally going to use the "love your neighbor as yourself" verse, but in searching for it at BibleGateway.com, I came across this other verse and decided I really liked the sound of it.

So, that's what I've been up to this week. I have also spent a lot of time re-organizing my digital photos through ACDSee Photo Manager 2009. I like it for organization because it's quick and easy and you can do quite a bit of editing in it, too (like adjusting levels, contrast, color, etc., as well as resizing, cropping, all the basic stuff). Of course, I totally prefer Photoshop Elements for scrapping.

Speaking of ... I heard that Close to My Heart had a new digiscrapping program out, and went to their site to check it out, but was reallllllly disappointed to find out that it's an online program, which probably means you can't download any of their elements in .png form for use in other programs. BIG mistake, IMHO. Stampin' Up! has their own program (a download), but they were smart enough to make their elements available as .png and .abr (brush) files so those of us who have other programs could still use them. If I'm wrong about the CTMH files, I would love to know, but it sounds like it's exclusive of other programs' files. It also sounded like you can't download and print your own creations from your home printer, that you had to order them through CTMH's printer. So it's too inflexible for me. Someone there should have thought about how much potential business they might lose by being so.

Well, I am officially wiped out and ready for bed. Is it just me, or is Daylight Savings harder to get over these days? I'm sorry, it's NOT 10:45, it's 9:45 as far as my body clock is concerned!

Hope you're all having a great week and looking forward to an even better weekend!

A new layout

2010-03-13T16:47:00.004-06:00

Less than three minutes to the Louis Vuitton Trophy race (yachting) between Emirates Team New Zealand and ... somebody else, doesn't matter who, lol. They're racing in the Hauraki Gulf in New Zealand, looks like an awesome day there, bit windy, but gorgeous. WISH I WAS THERE!!!

Okay, so I have a scrapbook page to show you! (Digi) After I said something the other day about not having any mojo, I decided to try anyway and it all came back!

This is a double-page layout of one of my dad's great-grandparents' family. There are a few nephews in the lefthand pic, but it was still a large family. And then look how huge they were years later, with spouses and kids adding to their number! As I mention in the journaling, these pictures are photocopies of originals that are in the Heart of West Texas Museum in Colorado City, TX. My aunt got them made a few years ago, so actually, what I have are probably photocopies of the 1st generation photocopies. Thus they are not great pics.

Here's the layout:

Of course, my direct ancestor, Una Palestine Dorn, is the one who will be just to the right of the page crack in the album (she's at the far right of the lefthand picture). I was going to copy the pic of her and put it in a little frame off on the side somewhere, but it just didn't fit.

Here's the supply list:
Butterflies – Brandy Murry “Bees Knees” (ScrapGirls)
“grunge” look on left photo: Christina Renee Designs “Glass Negatives 2” (oScraps)
Journaling block: Cheryl McCain “Spring Bonnet” (Digizines Studios)
Paper: [DDiva ?] “Floral Stamps” [store]
Ztampf “Velvetoire” (Scrapbook Graphics)
Cari Lopez “Memories in Blue” (Heritage Scrap)
Template: Page Maps
Font: ?
Styles: (all ScrapGirls): Framed Ink (Mandy Steward)
Basic Shadows (Sarah Batdorf)
Antique Paper (Durin Eberhart)

I tweaked a lot of stuff -- the butterflies (I changed them to a deeper blue -- Royal vs. Teal -- and used one of the Framed Ink styles on them); I used Framed Ink on the white/blue patterned paper; I altered the journaling block (with the torn spiral edge) using the Antique paper style, and I did the same on the bracket-edge papers, which were part of the template. I messed around with the font, too, but I don't remember exactly what I did.

I like the way it turned out! I also just finished a layout using my mom's 1st Grade class picture. I'll post it later.

Team New Zealand won -- they are now 5-0 in the round-robin portion of the competition. And that was even with a broken spinnaker pole! (They had to use their genoa/gennaker sail instead, but it wasn't a problem!)

The month that wasn't

2010-03-08T15:56:00.004-06:00

February was ... not a good month. And I'm not sure how March will be. The strep came back a third time, I tried Ceftin, which made me sick as a dog, so now I'm back on the Amoxicillin for two weeks (one more week to go). I'm not sure I'm making a lot of progress. I felt a bit better for a couple of days last week, but didn't feel well this weekend at all, and I've got smallish white spots on my tonsils, still, that keep migrating around. So I don't know.

And as I mentioned before, Strep is NOT conducive to visual creativity. I've been able to write (on the days I haven't felt like garbage), but not scrap. I don't know when that gift will come back to me. No mojo whatsoever. And then I had to get a new computer, and I think I've lost my Photoshop Elements digiscrapping catalog, or at least the most recent version of it, which means I've lost tons of tags on tons of files, so there will be a lot of designers I won't be able to credit for certain of their creations. I'm trying to figure out where a more recent version of my catalog is, but it's not looking too hopeful.

I do, however, have a couple of layouts to show, things I finished before the Strep took over my life. Here they are:

This is my mother's maternal grandfather. She called him "DeDaddy" which is now what my son calls my dad. It occurs to me that I'm not sure I was finished with the journaling, I'll have to check that later. (I've got a nasty headache at the moment and don't really feel like doing much.) Somewhere I have a list of the elements credits, but again, don't feel like hunting it down. Suffice it to say I did not create any of the elements in this layout, just the layout itself.

And one more:

The top photo includes, again, Wilburn "DeDaddy" Reece (far right) and the bottom one has my mama's daddy Les Campbell (on left with banjo). I LOVE that we have these old photos of them with their bands (or at least with buddies they played instruments with, I don't know if they were official "bands" or not). The musical gene runs deep in my family.

So I'm still stuck with this catalog issue. I guess if I can't find a more recent one than the one that's easily accessible, I'll just have to go with it and update new stuff as I purchase/download it. I don't keep my elements in their kits after I've catalogued, them, I split the kits up and put the elements in their respective folders, like "Papers" and "Butterflies" and "Word Art." The Organizer tags are what keep track of the kits, designers and stores/sites for each piece. What a mess.

Anyway, I hope I still have a couple of readers left after my hiatus. I don't know when I'll get back to digiscrapping, since now my writing is occupying my head (and since I'm still confused about my PSE catalog), but please don't go away and give up on me. You know I'll be back!

Enjoy your week!

Scripture Challenge -- two layouts

2010-02-14T21:13:00.006-06:00

Well! That's about all I can say ... well! Apparently Penicillin VK wasn't strong enough to knock out my strep throat and it came back to bite me in the ... tonsils! I am now on a massive, huge Amoxicillin tablet twice a day (800-something mg) that could choke a horse. Hopefully it will choke out the strep nasties and get me well soon!!!!

The worst part of this is that I haven't felt the least bit like scrapping. I haven't thought of a best part yet. I did, however, manage to scrap the Scripture challenge from Patter Cross at Triple the Scraps for last time, last week when I had that one good day between Round 1 and Round 2 of the strep. Then today I had a few lucid moments and got the new one scrapped -- on the day the challenge was announced! Not bad, that.

So here is the one for last week, the word being "Abide":

This is one of those that took ages to do because I had a concept in my head that I just couldn't make work, and my brain was fried from being sick. I wanted to use the photo (my son and hubby several years ago at Lake Travis) as the "background paper", and then do some blendy things, etc. Nothing worked. So I left it for a couple of days then came back to it and still had to fiddle awhile before I tried this overlay/template idea. I was pleased with how it turned out, so just finished it from that.

Ingredients (everything resized to fit 6"x6" where appropriate):
Overlay/template: Syndee Nuckles "Isn't it Grand" (ScrapGirls)
Paper: Ztampf Designs "Port au Prince" (Songbird Avenue -- this is a gorgeous charity kit to help with the situation in Haiti)
Photo action: Donna Rafferty -- "Toasty Burnt" from "Photo Decor" actions (Plain Digital Wrapper)
Word art template: Kim de Smet "Word Art Templates" (oScraps)
Font on "abide": Dreamer One
Other fonts: not sure ...

Then today the newest challenge word came down from Patter: "Home" As in "heaven." Now, being quite ill for the last couple of weeks, as well as knowing people who have been in terrible, life-threatening car wrecks (an 18-year-old girl who went to school with my son last year, and who is still not out of the woods), who have lost their husband in a terrible snowmobiling accident (the president of Conoco/Phillips Alaska, who was caught in an avalanche yesterday -- he is the son-in-law of one of my mother's best friends), having a member of one of my Yahoo groups lose her husband this week, reading about terrible accidents in the news ... I'm a little "nervous" about Home/Heaven coming up just now! lol Seriously, it is a HUGE comfort to know that we have an amazing, love-built home in Heaven waiting for us, I'm just not in a huge hurry to get there. All that aside, though, I had just the perfect paper for this layout -- and I just bought it this week! Perfect timing!

Papers:
Jean Daugherty "Home Sweet Home" (Digizines Studios)
Thao Cosgrove "Daily Bread Collection Mini" (ScrapGirls)
Blending template: Brandy Murry "Background Blenders" (ScrapGirls)
Layout frame: Diamante Designs "Layout Holders" (Pickleberrypop)
Alpha: Syndee Nuckles "November Sky Alpha" (ScrapGirls)
Font: Gabrielle

I was pleased how quickly this one came together. I thought the gate on the other paper was so cool to use here -- hints of Pearly Gates, all that. I decided I really liked the sort-of soft, cozy feel of the muted colors here, even though I know there'll be streets of gold, God's glory and all that going on in Heaven. To me, the seaside is the most beautiful place on earth, and I love it when it's a bit foggy and everything is muted -- colors of sand, gray, soft blue. So, yeah, I like the way everything just worked out so perfectly on this layout!

I decided I had to drop the "My Lifetime Story" challenge for now -- a new topic coming down every week, and some of them were HUGE, like "my grandparents" or "my parents." Heck, I still don't even have the journaling done for "my birth story." So while I love the concept, I was feeling overwhelmed, especially since I wanted the pages to be really special, AND I was too sick to do "special". (The two pages above are special, but small, simple, no journaling to do.) I may start on Michelle Stone's "Book of Me" challenge, but we'll have to see. Journaling when my brain isn't on full is tough.

Well, hopefully this will be a better week for EVERYONE! Please pray for Ella (the car wreck victim), for Kathy and family (family of the Conoco/Phillips exec), etc. Lots of folks needing prayer right now!!

We interrupt this program for a news update

2010-02-05T22:07:00.003-06:00

Okay, nothing dramatic. I just wanted y'all to know I've been too sick to scrap these last few days. I always thought I could scrap sick as long as it was digital, but strep throat makes you a complete brain-zombie. I'm doing better now, so will hopefully be back to scrapping tomorrow.

I guess I could show you a page I haven't posted yet. This is of my dad's mother. This is the page I was talking about a couple of posts ago as being so difficult. I don't know if it was the pressure to make my dad's mother's page as pretty as the one I made my mom's mother (I was closer to mom's), or if I just couldn't get it to work the way I wanted to. I started with a sketch/template and had a great deal of difficulty working with it with this particular photo, so that was part of the problem. I like the way it turned out, but it was a toughie!

In all honesty, I hadn't planned on posting a pic tonight, so I don't have the list of supplies ready. I tried so blessed many different papers, then a horde of different ribbons, etc., that I can't even just remember off the top of my head who made what, although I think the metal flourish was from Jean Daugherty. And the template was a PageMaps (I think).

Anyway ... my big challenge right now is the layout for the Scripture challenge. This week's word is "abide" and I've already picked my Bible verse and the photo I want to use, but I'm trying to keep it kinda "artsy" like the other two, and I am having a very difficult time of it. I tried working on it a couple of nights ago, which was when I realized that strep just doesn't make for the ideal scrapping-brain circumstances. I'm also already VERY behind on the "My Lifetime Story" challenge. Last week we were supposed to write/scrap about our parents, one layout/page each. Well, of course being sick I was NOT up to that, especially since I want to make these pages extra special (at least journaling-wise). Well, next thing I know it's time for a new week, and the challenge is to make layouts about your grandparents. Well, that's six pages total (including my parents), or four if I were to double up the grandparents, but that's still a LOT to do when you don't want to just slap something together. *SIGH* The challenge hosts say not to worry about it, just to do what you can when you can, but that doesn't always work for me. I end up feeling completely overwhelmed by all the stuff I haven't done yet, and give up. I don't want to do that with this one, but we'll just have to see ...

Okay, that's enough for tonight. I got my hair colored today (finally -- I'd had to put it off three times because of some physical ailment or other) and went to the grocery store, so I'm sure I totally overdid it. I'll probably pay for it tomorrow -- but I sure hope not!

Blessings, grace and peace!

After three tries ...

2010-01-25T18:49:00.006-06:00

Killer headaches and weird reactions to medications don't usually make for a very productive day of scrapping, but things seemed to go in my favor today!

Well ... after several days of trying to get this layout "right," including three different iterations of it, that is.

For some reason this layout would NOT come together easily at all. I don't know if it was just my brain fritzing or what, but I tried and struggled and struggled and tried, spent hours making a pretty cluster for it, only to realize that the horizonal orientation of the cluster wouldn't really work, so then I spent more hours making a vertical one, which I very nearly chucked until God had mercy on me and I finally made a change or two that made it work. (Thank You, God!!)

I started out with a PageMaps sketch (from July), but it ended up being very different from the sketch. I'll still give 'em credit, though, since I did use a few elements from the sketch, like the bracket mat and the stitching that goes around it.

Oh -- you wanted to actually SEE the page, huh? Silly me ... here it is:

I totally fell in love with the blue and cream background paper I used (I'm turning into my mother!) It's from Jean Daugherty's "Wedding Diary" collection (I got mine at Heritage Scrap, she may also have it at DigiZines Studios). Most of the supplies are from that kit, actually. Here are the others:
Journal tag: Jean Daugherty "The Storytellers" (HS)
Wedding rings (in cluster): Jean Daugherty "Memory Box" (Digizines Studios)
Large rose: Michelle Stone Designs "Romantic Beauties" (Gotta Pixel)
Small ribbons: Lynn Griffin "Serenity" (Heritage Scrap)
Tassel: Joey "Pelemele" (blog)
Heart scatters: Studio Flergs "Pretty Little Things" (Scrapbook Graphics)
various styles from ScrapGirls
Font: Edwardian Script (I'm using it on nearly every heritage page for consistency and for tying things together -- clever of me, no?)

So, don't know what I'll be doing the rest of this evening ... possibly more scrapping, possibly reading, maybe even writing. Just depends on what turns out to be the most fun and least brain-taxing! lol

Hope your day is wonderful!

Precious Ole Cowboy

2010-01-23T15:11:00.004-06:00

Before I get into the above-reference cowboy topic, I'm happy to announce that Aidan is back from taking his first SAT test and he feels very good about how he did. He said there was only one math problem he just flat didn't know how to do, and he feels like he "definitely got right" at least 80% of all the questions, although he ran out of time to be able to finish his essay the way he wanted to (he had five minutes left in which to wrap it up, so he had to leave out a lot of what he wanted to say). So we'll see in ... oh, say five years or so ... whether how well he thought he did matches up with reality. (It takes ages to find out your scores on these things) Next try is in March.

So, okay, while Aidan was out taking the SAT and Bjorn was running errands, I sat myself down in front of my computer and did another layout! After the last one I did (which I haven't shown you yet, probably next time), this one came very easily, and I really, really like it.

This is my dad's maternal grandfather, T. C. ("Pa") Richardson. I don't know the horse's name, but I just love the photo. It was given to my dad and his sister by their Aunt Ida (T. C.'s daughter), and the inscription on the back says, "To Danny and Sister -- Christmas December 25, 1939 -- Isn't he a 'precious ole cowboy?' -- Aunt Ida" I think it's odd that Ida referred to my Aunt Barb as "Sister" but maybe that's what they called her back then (I'll have to ask!)

Anyway -- I used a template by PageMaps (Nov. 09), but I liked the background paper so much I didn't want to cover it up with much, so where there were spots for two other, different papers, I decided to just copy the background paper over the template's clipping masks for those two papers, then use a medium drop shadow to make those layers pop a bit. Now, the part of West Texas where Pa Richardson lived at this point does NOT have hills like the ones portrayed on the paper, but I still thought it was nice and "western" without being hokey.

Here are the ingredients:
Rename Layer and Supply Tracker scripts: Christy VanderWall -- Scrap Girls
Label: Dana Zarling -- Vintage Artistry -- Scrapbook Bytes (which I completely altered by using Durin Eberhart's Vintage Paper style -- ScrapGirls)
Fonts: FranciscoLucas Briosa (titles); Angleterre (label)
Template: PageMaps Nov 2009
Paper: Raspberry Road Design -- Frontier Days add-on -- Raspberry Road
Braided straw ribbon: Designs by Crystal -- Wild West -- Scrap it Sassy
Net/mesh; Texas medallion: Jean Daugherty -- Lone Star -- Heritage Scrap
Wheat stalks: Kristin Skjaeringrud (Kristin's Scrap Designs) -- Crisp Air -- Pickleberry Pop
Frame: for some reason I can't for the life of me find this frame in my frames folder! But it doesn't look much like the original because I altered it with the Vintage Paper style, anyway ...

Too much fun! And now I really, really need a snack and a nap! lol

Enjoy your day!

Week 2 Scripture challenge, and other goodies

2010-01-19T21:46:00.008-06:00

Aidan has been sick since Saturday -- nothing serious (I hope!), just a bug, and he's not as sick, but still very tired. I hate that. I really hate it when he's sick, and especially when he doesn't bounce back very quickly. When he has strep he's usually better the day after he begins the antibiotic. But, of course, with a virus you can't have antibios, and it seems to take him longer. Which makes his worry-wort mother very depressed. *SIGH* I know God is taking care of him, but I'm still a mom and I still have worry tendencies (sorry, Lord!). Plus, he has to give his Junior Thesis presentation tomorrow morning, and he's in a play at school on Friday where he has heaps of speaking parts. He missed school today, but insisted on going for rehearsal after school, and he said he made it 1-1/2 times through the play before needing to sit out. He has another LONG rehearsal after school Thursday (the dress rehearsal, to which parents are invited -- they're giving the play for the elementary school kids), then the play twice on Friday, then he's taking his first round of the SAT on Saturday! God really needs to give this kid strength! (And his mother, too!)

Okay, so maybe this week's scripture challenge is very appropriate -- the word this week is "Temptation." And I am SO tempted to worry and fret and all that when Aidan is sick. There are plenty other temptations in my life every day, too, so it's good to be reminded that God will always give us a way out, and that we need to pray to keep up our temptation-sensors, as it were.

So here's my page for this week:

I really like the Bible verse about how God does not tempt us, and that when we are tempted He always provides a way out. But I chose a different verse to highlight on my page because I think it's so important to remember, as I said, that we need to be on our guard against temptation so we'll recognize it when it comes and not just capitulate straight into sin. As far as the layout goes, I kept to my semi-artistic style and also to the 6"x6" size (because it would be ridiculous to change the size, since it's all going to fit into one album). Here are the ingredients:

Gold paper (border pattern): Amanda Thorderson "Christmas Rhapsody" [Digitals]
Red paper w/ stripe: Stacey Mann -- "Morocco Meets Modern" [Digitals]
Pattern overlay: Durin Eberhart -- "Rubber Stamps" paper template [ScrapGirls]
Mask: Joyce DeJong -- "Christmas" kit [Digitals]
Font (scripture): Lettering Delights "Adornment"
Font (title): Birmingham
Supply Tracker script for PSE: Christy VanderWall [ScrapGirls]

So, today I also finished another layout! A two-pager, no less! This was inspired by a challenge at one of the sites from whom I receive a newsletter. I have no idea which site, so I guess I won't be posting this in their gallery!

Anyway, the challenge was to scrap about our obsessions. Immediately New Zealand came to mind. And, since I got this awesome digi-scrapping kit called "Aotearoa: New Zealand" by Michelle Stone from Digital Scrap Cafe. She's a New Zealander, so her kit was, of course, a must-have for me. But since I don't live there, I had to find something else to use her kit for -- and since I WISH I lived there, I thought scrapping about that wish/obsession was a fun idea.

Here is the first page:

And the second:

Everything is from Michelle's kit (LOVE the page of Kiwi slang!! Wonder if she got that from the same website where I got one of my lists of Kiwi slang? It sure looks familiar). Except the lettering for the title and the journaling -- the font for those is Blobfont. Also, I did use a number of styles and actions, and honestly, at the moment I am way too tired to go look through and remember which ones I used. WAY. My deepest apologies if any of them belong to you. I will give you credit in future layouts, I promise! And the photos all came from "teh interwebs" as they say on I Can Has Cheezburger. Since I'm not selling anything or making a profit from using them, I hope the owners of the photos will be nice and not sue me.

If you want to read the journaling, just click on the picture and you'll go to a larger version of it.

Well, everyone has gone to bed, I have to get up early and I'm very tired, so I'm going to toddle off now. I hope everyone has a great rest of the week! (And please pray for Aidan if you wouldn't mind!)

Cheers!

Maternal great-grandmother

2010-01-17T17:14:00.007-06:00

Wow, don't I come up with exciting and imaginative titles! As I've mentioned a few times before, the Title Queen I am not.

Anyway, I spent yesterday and today working on a layout about my mother's mother's mother (heee -- isn't "maternal great-grandmother" easier to visualize?). We have some beautiful photos of her, so I thought it would be fun to make a page using those photos.

First, I hunted for a layout template to use. For some reason now that I've started using those I rarely ever just make a layout up off the top of my head. I guess I figure that someone else has done the balancing work for me, so why not use their experience, expertise and efforts? I never stick 100% to the template anyway -- it's sorta cheating to do that (in my book). So, after going through every template I have, finding one that was okay but wanting more choices, searching online for an hour, then deciding the one I had picked was just fine, I had the template settled on and was ready to go!

This is the template (PageMaps October 2009):

Except that I first had to rearrange the order of the smaller two photos. I wanted the larger photo first, rather than the smaller first as they had it. Once that was done, I set to work making the layout.

So here's the result:

The journaling says:

Nina Maud Reece must have been a very strong woman. She had many hardships in her life to make her that way. Her father was a harsh man, her mother had a nervous breakdown and died in a state hospital. Things were better after she married Wilburn F. Reece, but when two of her children died of diptheria while still very young, she had to become the strong one again. Her husband simply could not handle their deaths and he had a nervous breakdown. Maud, as she was always called, was the one who had to hold the family together, and by the grace of God she succeeded quite well. Eventually Wilburn pulled out of his funk, and they had two more children, one of whom was my grandmother, Dorothy. Maud's father asked her forgiveness in his later years, which she gave even when some of her siblings could not do so.
In the later part of her life, Maud was diagnosed with cancer, first breast,then stomach. She fought the battle bravely, but succumbed on 19 September 1937 at the age of 54 years, a great loss for all who loved her, but a wonderful gain for Heaven.

Personally, I think the journaling is lame, but it's hard to write about a person's life in such a small space! And it was also difficult because I didn't have my mother right next to me retelling her story. I've got a couple of layouts still unfinished because I'm waiting for my mother to feel like reminiscing for me, so I decided I would just write what I knew without her help this time.

The reason the journaling is lame is because the sentences can't tell the story without being expanded upon! "Her father was a harsh man" doesn't really tell that he beat the children regularly. I didn't really want to make that a point, though, since he did repent in later years, after he was rocked to the core by the suicide of his wife in the state hospital. We don't really know the story of why Maud's mother (Laura) had the breakdown -- my mother says she was a clean-freak, probably OCD by today's understanding, and we know that played a part. She was also undoubtedly profoundly angry at her husband's treatment of the children. Her obituary says she had been suicidal before being "convicted of being insane." What a horrible label to have to wear, especially since I doubt highly that she was "insane," but more likely had some mental illness (like OCD) to deal with.

So that must have been incredibly hard on Maud. And then, just when things in life must have been getting better (her husband was a very kind, loving man with a good sense of humor), she lost her second and third children within just weeks of each other from diptheria. One was 2, the other 4. Her husband really fell apart, and she had to hold everything together as well as tending to him, all while her own heart was broken to pieces. Wilburn did recover, as the journaling says, and went on to be a wonderful, caring father and grandfather -- but he could never, ever talk about his two little boys that were lost to diptheria. Nor could he visit their graves. So now we can't find where the little ones were buried, although we know where the family was living at the time (Duffau, Erath County, TX)

And, as also mentioned, Maud developed breast cancer in her 50s, which then developed into stomach cancer. I don't know exactly when. I do know that my grandmother, who was married and had my mother by then (my mother was 5 when "Meemaw" died), spent a great deal of time tending to her while she was sick.

So I couldn't tell the whole story in that journaling block. And I didn't exactly use my best writing skills, but for some reason this was the best I could do. (I promise you my fiction stories are MUCH better written!)

At any rate, I am otherwise very pleased with the layout and I think both my grandmother and her mama would be pleased, too.

Before I forget, here are the "ingredients" I used:
Papers:
Jean Daugherty -- "Memory Box" [Digizines Studios]
Teri Hanson -- "Magnolia Lane" [Heritage Scrap]
Lace:
Across top -- Cheryl McCain -- "Hint of Summer" -- recolored [Digizines Studios]
In cluster -- Diana Burton -- "Heritage Helpers" -- recolored, resized [Digitals]
Ribbons:
Brown -- Lynn Griffin -- "Southern Porch" -- resized [Heritage Helpers]
Cream -- Cheryl McCain -- "Spring Bonnet" -- recolored, resized [Digizines Studios]
Roses -- Wetfish Designs -- "Dreaming of Paris" -- recolored, used Vintage Photo action
Cameo -- Jean Daugherty -- "Family Roots" -- resized [Digizines Studios]
Swirls/flourishes -- Diana Burton -- "Helianthus" -- probably resized [Digitals]
Oval frame -- Katie Mann -- "Antique Brooch Frames" -- [Digitals]
Journaling book -- Jean Daugherty -- "Memory Box" [Digizines Studios]
Brad -- Dana Zarling -- "Vintage Artistry" -- resized [Scrapbook Bytes]
Tags -- Cheryl McCain -- "Vintage Memoirs" -- recolored, altered (bow removed, used Vintage Photo action) [Digizines Studios]
Fonts -- Edwardian Script; CK "Legacy"
Actions: Ariadna Wiczling -- "Scrap Simple Tools: Actions -- Warped PSE"
Sarah Batdorf -- "Scrap Simple Tools: Actions -- Vintage Photos 6502"
Sarah Batdorf -- "Scrap Simple Tools: Styles -- Basic Shadows 6501"
Page template -- Becky Fleck -- October 2009 PageMaps

Well, this weekend has been pretty boring. Aidan has been under the weather since yesterday, and I had a brief atrial fibrillation episode that unnerved me a few hours ago. It only lasted for about a minute or two, but now I'm worried that I'm going to have a Big Episode like I did 1-1/2 years ago when I ended up having to go to the ER. My cardio doc says I don't really need to worry unless it's gone on for four or five hours, but, um, no -- I'm not going to sit around for that long while my heart is pretending it never heard of the word "rhythm" and is going ninety-miles-a-minute. Two hours is my maximum limit before I head off for the ER! So, anyway, those two things combined have made me a bit depressed this evening. But I do know God is in control, and I can trust Him to be taking care of us.

So, off to start another layout ... after I feed the kitties and decide what to feed the sick one for dinner!

Hope you have a great week!

Poignant Pansy

2010-01-12T19:34:00.005-06:00

I started a layout last night of a really cute photo of my mother when she was 8. I think it was a school portrait -- there are two versions, the b/w one I used in this layout, and a tinted one in a slightly different pose.

Since my mother loves pansies, I knew it was the perfect opportunity to use my new "Poignant Pansy" kit by Jean Daugherty of Digizines Studios. So I set to work. I tried using a template, and I hated the result I got -- I liked the template, but it just wasn't working with the papers (it had a bit of a grid feel to it). So I tried a different idea, using a big bracket-square for a background, but, again, it just didn't seem to work, it sorta overwhelmed the photo.

So then I was looking through the Faith Sisters "Made Ya Look Monday" blog for this week, and I found an inspiration. It had a central photo surrounded by all kinds of frufy stuff, very tastefully done, of course. Somehow I knew that would be a much better look for this photo. So I started all over again for a third time ... and, like they say, third time's the charm. Here is the finished product:

Isn't this a sweet picture! Gosh, I love my mom!

All supplies/ingredients/whatever-you-wanna-call-em are from Jean Daugherty's "Poignant Pansy" kit. I did do a little "messing around" with a few items. I extracted the white pansy from her pansy duo, then scaled it much smaller to use as a "scatter" element. I also made a copy and recolored it blue for a little variety, as well as extracting one of the other pansies from the background swag for the same purpose (making little, tiny scatter elements). And I copied a single pearl from the pearl swirl, shrank it and scattered it, too. And now that I think about it, I believe the mat behind the photo is actually a paper from one of Jean's other kits. The font is Calamity Jane.

I have the feeling I will be using this kit many more times, especially in layouts about my mom. I have such a bad habit of sticking with blue-and-white for her (her favorite colors, as I mentioned before), and using pansies, just like I use pink and butterflies for my grandmother, as those were her more notable Favorite Things (Granny also liked birds, especially hummingbirds).

So, even though this didn't take a terribly long time, I really like the look of it!

Today I got a Stampin' Up! mini catalog in the mail, and as I looked through it, I found myself wondering if I would ever take up physical, paper scrapping/stamping again. I hope I do, actually, because I have a ton of stuff up in that craft loft (and my guys worked hard a couple of years ago to fix it up for me). Maybe this summer when I feel better (I always seem to in the summertime.) Of course, it will be HOT up there in the summertime ...

Time Traveling

2010-01-10T20:23:00.008-06:00

First, thanks so much to all of you who left such sweet comments about my Scripture page last time. You made me feel very good, and I appreciate you taking the time to say something!

So, I bought a really cool Digi kit from ScrapGirls this weekend, called "Time Traveler," and I couldn't wait to play with it (of course, that's true of most kits I buy, but I don't always get around to them right away). I thought it would be perfect to use to make the cover of the "My Lifetime Story" challenge I'll be doing this year through Faith Sisters. I feel a little guilty that I didn't use any Faith Sisters supplies on it, but, hey, it be what it be. We were supposed to do a photo collage using pictures of ourselves at various stages in life.

So here is the cover page:

I have some of my childhood photos scanned and digitized, and my more recent photos (like from mid 2000s on up), but everything in between is film print, so I had trouble finding much of me beyond high school. I already had the Paris photo scanned, but I had to scan the one of my and my guys last night. It's probably not the best photo ever of all three of us, but I was in a hurry.

So here are the ingredients:
Papers, titles and all elements: "Time Traveler" (Brandy Murry, Kerry Veale, Caroline Kaiser -- ScrapGirls)
Photo Folds template on Senior portrait: (Theresa Kavouras -- ScrapGirls)
Photo Bends PSE action (Jen Caputo -- Scrapbook Graphics)
Scallop frame on Paris photo (recolored): "Serenity" (Lynn Griffith -- Heritage Scrap)
Inked edge on last photo: Mandy Steward (Scrap Simple Tools/styles - "Framed Ink 1801" -- ScrapGirls)
Background Blenders (Brandy Murry -- ScrapGirls) (I used two different background papers and blended them using one of these templates)
Drop Shadows: Sarah Batdorf (Scrap Simple Tools/Styles "Basic Shadows 6501" -- ScrapGirls)
Font: I think it was Birmingham Titling, but I won't swear to it. I used a "stroke" PSE style to outline it in brown so it would be more visible
Scripture: New International Version, from biblegateway.com

I've spent some of today finishing up a couple of heritage layouts I still had not done. This means I have several to show you now, but I'll only do one today so I can spread them out:

This is a photo of my mother and two of her cousins Way Back When. My mom is the one on the right. The story goes that her cousins came over one afternoon, and the little girl, Glenda, was frufed out in a sweet little dress with a bow in her hair and patent leather shoes. My mom was in her playclothes, and when she kept hearing everybody going on and on about how cute Glenda was all decked out, Mom got very, very jealous. So when this photo was taken, Mom was fed up, cutting her eyes very spoiledly (is that a word?) at Glenda. It's hilarious! My mom is an only child, and she was always pulling something funny like this. She was notorious for "cutting her eyes" around at people and things that didn't behave the way she thought they should. (I think "cutting one's eyes" is an East Texas phrase ...) I will be quick to point out here that she was mostly a very sweet little girl, she just knew how the world should be run (and, ahem, she still does ;-) ). I'm happy to report that she got over her pout pretty quickly and she and Glenda always did, and still do, love each other very much.

So, I used blue as the basis for the layout because my mom's favorite colors are blue and white.
Ingredients:
Page template: PageMaps digital templates
Background paper: "Days Gone By" (Jean Daugherty -- Digizines Studio)
Large-dotted paper: "Memories in Blue" (Cari Lopez -- Heritage Scrap) -- recolored
Bracket: covered in some paper or other ... I did this on the plane going to Phoenix for Christmas, and I think I altered whatever it was, so I can't find it right now.
Ribbon strips: again, I can't find them, and I can't remember
Brads: part of the template, I just recolored them
Flowers: "Blue Willow" (Lynn Griffith -- Heritage Scrap)
Bow: "Have Faith" (Teri Hanson -- Heritage Scrap)
Fonts: No clue at the moment

Wasn't that incredibly helpful? Well, in all honesty I've got sinus pain going on here and I'm not thinking incredibly well (maybe from the 3 Extra-Strength Tylenol?). "We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause."

So, speaking of sinus pain, I'm off to bed to read for awhile then go to sleep. I've been reading a lot of Lynn Austin lately ... right now I'm reading A Woman's Place, but I think my favorites are her Civil War trilogy. She's a fantastic Christian fiction writer, and I highly recommend her books. They have romance in them, but they are NOT romance novels (I despise romance novels). The romance just happens to be part of the story, but the main gist of her stories are how people grow and change over time with hardships, extraordinary world events, etc., going on in their lives. VERY good stuff.

So, gotta run. I hope to be back soon with more of my heritage scrapping stuff!

I've actually been scrapping ... really, I have!

2010-01-05T13:16:00.003-06:00

I just haven't posted anything in awhile. Christmas vaca was crazy ... trip to Arizona, and there we were at two different places (the in-laws' house in the Phx area, and their cabin up on the Mogollon Rim, which is at 7700ft altitude, had 1-1/2 feet or so of snow, and was freakin' cold!), decorating for Christmas, then un-decorating. We had a leak in our washing machine, which is right behind the under-stair storage closet, so we had to drag everything out of this closet (which used to be the closet we had designated as shelter in case a tornado hit, then eventually just became "the tornado closet" because it looked like one had hit it dead on! lol) -- luckily the leak had not gone through the wall -- then we decided we had to go through everything, sort, give away as much as possible (which wasn't really much, mostly just old purses and bags), then put the remainder all back in, with new Sterlite drawer units to help with organization. That took a few days!

Anyway, that's all just to let you know I HAVE EXCUSES -- uh, I mean REASONS -- for not posting anything.

I did some heritage scrapping at the in-laws' (of my family, ironic as that is), but none of those pages are 100% finished. Some of them need journaling, and for some reason it's just not coming.

But I DO have a finished page to show you. I decided I would participate in Patter Cross's 2010 Scripture Challenge this year. The first challenge is to scrap a Scripture or Scriptures that are meaningful to you about HOPE. There are tons of great verses in the Bible about hope, so I had trouble narrowing it down, but decided that this one really fit my life situation the last few years:

This is a 6"x6" digital layout. I know, it doesn't look like "real scrapbooking," but in the digital world you can do different kinds of things than you can do with paper, so I decided to go "artistic".

The photo is one we took when Bjorn and I went to Pt. Reyes in California over the summer while Aidan was at the National Junior Classical League convention in Davis. The waves weren't huge, but I loved the way they were rolling. I love the ocean more than any other of God's "scenic" natural creations, so it's always an appropriate theme for me when I think about God, my faith, etc.

As you know, the last few years have been tough for me physically. And since I tend toward depression anyway, they've definitely been a challenge as far as keeping my focus on Christ, on positive things, on HOPE. So this Psalm is incredibly meaningful for me.

Here are the ingredients for the layout:
Background "paper": Cheryl McCain "June's Cadence" -- DigiZines "The Studio"
Blending mask: Background Blenders -- Brandy Murry, ScrapGirls
Shell brush: Ronnie McCray -- "Clam Brush" -- Scrapbook-Bytes (this one is old, so I'm not sure if she was designing for them when this was made, or what)
Grunge edge overlay: Carrie Stephens -- ScrapGirls
Fonts: Bahia Script SSK; Artistamp Medium
Canvas style: Sarah Batdorf "SSStyles: Vintage Canvas" -- ScrapGirls
Drop shadow style: Sarah Batdorf "SSStyles: Basic Shadows" -- ScrapGirls

I've got two other challenges I'm participating in this year. Both are at Faith Sisters. Hopefully I'll have something to show for those in the next few days.

Hope you all have a wonderful year this year, full of God's blessings, provision, love and guidance!

Still secret ...

2009-12-08T20:05:00.006-06:00

... so if you're a family member, go away now! ;-)

Here's the November page for my in-laws' 2010 calendar that I'm digi-scrapping. I LOVE this page. It's a beautiful photo of my sister-in-law, with a beautiful kit, and it just all worked together so well!

Most of the elements used are from Jean Daugherty's "Autumn Sonata" kit, found at Digizines Studio. Whatever bits I didn't use from that kit are from other Jean Daugherty kits (also found at Heritage Scrap), except for the violin (no idea where that came from ... another designer who didn't put their name on their file!); the alphabet is Glass Alpha, and I can't find the designer name (really, I would go look it all up in my PSE catalog, but it takes ages to load up PSE in the catalog mode ...)

I did a lot of resizing and some recoloring (the alpha, for example). I warped the green ribbons so they wouldn't be straight, and I created the music note buttons by using a button from a different kit, adding the notes and using an "embed" style to make them look, well, embedded. On the photo of Tasha, I used both a softening style and an inked photo style to give it a bit of "shabbiness" to go along with the vintage/shabby look of the other elements. I believe all of the styles were from ScrapGirls. Oh, and the template I used was from PageMaps. They have layered digital templates now, based on their paper templates, which I think is totally cool, even if they are $6.95/mo.

So, I really love the look of this page! This is more my style than anything else, I think.

I must be fairly serious about this digi-scrapping thing, since I just spent nearly $100 (birthday money) on a Wacom Bamboo graphics pad & electronic pen, which contains a copy of the next-to-newest version of Photoshop Elements. The newest version just came out, I believe, so this is what was already bundled with the Bamboo "Pen and Touch". It's too complicated to explain why I think I need this gadget, especially to my dear readers who don't do digi, so just trust that it was necessary, okay? ;-)

Well, the husband is finally home for the night, I'm exhausted, and so I think I will end this post now. Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying Christmas preparations!

Blessings!

It's a secret ...

2009-11-30T14:33:00.008-06:00

If you are in my family, please move on to something else and don't read this blog post. Unless you want Christmas ruined.

Okay, I've been working on a Christmas present for some of my family members, and hadn't wanted to post in case someone I'm related to decided to read my blog on a whim. (Not that I think any of them actually read it regularly, lol). Now that I have warned them off, the rest of you can see what I've been up to.

Still digital. Yes.

I decided to make calendars for my parents, in-laws, and other various closely related types. I thought, hey, it's homemade, always a plus (well, for most of us), it shouldn't be terribly expensive, and it'll be FUN!!

Scratch that "won't be terribly expensive" thing. I thought, hey, I make "calendar topper pages" and find a place that will put them on a calendar and print them out, no worries. Um, yeah. Except that the FIRST one I did was all in 12x12, and for the life of me I can't find anyone who does 12x12 calendars. So I will have to tack on a 6-inch calendar at the bottom of each page and have someplace like Office Max print them out and bind the whole thing. Probably expensive. So that's my mom and dad's gift.

Getting smart after making theirs 12x12, I made my in-laws' 11x8-1/2. I should say, I'm MAKING my in-laws' ... it's still a work in progress.

Here is a page from the in-laws' calendar:

Almost everything is by Jean Daugherty (of both Heritage Scrap and Digizines Studios), and most from her "Revolutionary War" kit. The red background paper is by Atomic Cupcake.

In this case, there were no family birthdays during this month, so I resized some papers and ephemera from the Rev War kit and put in the place where the photos would normally go. Oh, I suppose I didn't explain that I used a page template (same as a scrapbook sketch only better) for the layout design. This particular one is a freebie by SimplyScraps Designs, from the GottaPixel November blog train. In digi, you can place your photo, paper, element, whatever over the corresponding space in the template, "clip" it to the template piece (i.e., a photo piece or a ribbon piece) and it will conform to the size and shape of that piece. You don't HAVE to use every piece on a template, or even keep everything in the same place. It just makes it a lot easier when you're in a hurry and don't want to have to plan everything out. (On this one, since I needed an 11x8-1/2 size, I resized the template to fit, then moved the entire photo cluster bit off to the side so George Washington would show.) It's NOT the same as a QuickPage, which is basically a layout that's all prepared and all you do is add photos. That is TOTAL cheating in my book!

I don't like the way the "July" tag ended up looking on the page, so I may change it.

Here's a sample from my parents' calendar, with birthday people included:

Again, almost everything here is from Jean Daugherty, in this case from her "Seaside" kit. There are some paper strips and ribbons behind the photos that are from other people, but I hope they -- and you -- will forgive me if I don't remember off the top of my head who they were and I really, really don't feel up to hunting them down on PSE's organizer. (I'm sick again.) Also again, I used a template. The designer's initials are EAM, and it was a freebie -- that's all I know.

My dad and my son both have August birthdays, so they're featured on the calendar top. Don't you love Jean's papers? That whole beach scene behind the photos and elements is a background paper! Gorgeous.

Since my parents are Christians, I decided to use Bible verses for each month; for my in-laws I'm just using various quotes.

Aside from the printing costs, these are still NOT cheap calendars. So often I have in my head exactly what I want for a page, and if I don't already have that exact thing, I have to go hunting for it. Sometimes I score Freebies, but often I'll end up having to buy a kit, or a style or action (ways of manipulating photos or elements without having to know how to make it work myself!). Yeah, so lots of money invested in these things.

Well, that's it for now. I'll try to post a few more later on. I want to get these finished so I can get back to heritage scrapping!

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving (those of you from the States).

BTW, I'm no longer taking the Medicine From Hell, so at least I'm not severely depressed anymore. Just sick. :(

Is it live? Or is it Memorex?

2009-11-16T12:27:00.003-06:00

Or is it ACTUAL PAPER!!!??!!!

I would make you guess, but chances are you'd get it right. It is, indeed, an Actual Paper layout! One I worked on for weeks before getting it the way I liked it. Okay, I worked on it one day, then a couple of weeks later worked on it again, then a few weeks later finished it. I got digitally sidetracked, AND it was a bit of an "outside of the box" deal. Plus I didn't use a page sketch, which, in this case, made it infinitely harder.

Anyway, this is my adorable grand-niece Rachael. She was visiting her Aunt Kenni this summer and they went to see "G-Force" in 3D. Now, I had taken Rachael to see it the week before, and mean old fogey that I am, I made her turn her glasses back in. Looks like Aunty Kenni was much nicer than me! lol Anyway, I think these photos were taken outside the movie theater. I snagged 'em from Kenni's facebook page.

This new medicine I'm trying to take is making my brain buzzy at the moment (not a good thing), but I think I can remember most of the ingredients for this:
heart paper, "fabulous" title: DCWV "Rockstar" paper pack
"Dare to be Fabulous" stamp: Stampin' Up!
Everything else is stuff I got at Archivers, with little to no clue as to the manufacturer. Except that the crystals might be Basic Grey Bling.
Technique used on the "Dare to be ..." label: Technique Junkies "Cling and Scrunch"
I used a Valentine's Day mini-cupcake holder thingy for the red center of the flower (used a punch)
Pink brackets cut using a QuicKutz die in my Cuttlebug
Butterfly cut using the same paper that the "Fabulous" was on, using my Cricut "Home Something-or-other" cartridge

I may have been calling that cartridge the wrong name. I'm calling it Home Decor, but it may be a different name. They have another cartridge out that shares a very similar name, and I get confused. Mine's the older one.

So, I keep wavering about whether or not to just sell all my paper scrapping stuff now that I'm doing digi, but then I look at this page and think how cool it is that it's 3D, and I just can't do it. I know I'll do more paper stuff, so those of you who thought you might benefit from a sale of my stash -- sorry, cupcakes!

Okay, gotta run get some lunch before I pass out. Hope you have a great week!

Texas Proud

2009-11-13T07:09:00.006-06:00

Now, that's not a surprising title for me, is it? lol

Here's the other digital scrapbook page I've made so far using Jean Daugherty's "Lone Star" kit. It's honoring my great-great grandfather on my dad's dad's side. He was a Texas Ranger (law enforcement, not the baseball team) for only a few months in the late 1800s, but in the 1920s he started the "Ex-Texas Rangers Association" for, obviously, ex-Texas Rangers, and it was quite a popular group. Sadly, the association eventually died out, and I think they have something else in its place today. But it went strong at least up until "Major" Green's death in the early 1930s. His title of Major was honorary, given him for forming the ETRA.

The journaling is actually the historical marker, which is next to his grave in Colorado City, TX. It puts things waaaaaay more succinctly than I ever could! lol (I see you nodding your head!) You can see the image larger if you click on it.

Everything is from Jean's "Lone Star" kit, except the frame and the photo mat, which are from Kate McLellan's "Civil War" kit, both of which can be found at Heritage Scrap. Jean's kit can also be found at DigiZines Studio. Her "papers" are so lovely I don't want to cover them up!

Hopefully today I'll get my latest paper scrapbook page scanned so I can show you. I really like the way it turned out. I've been using page templates on some of my digi-scrap pages (like sketches, only you can actually "clip" your photos, papers, etc. to shapes and they'll become that shape -- far less "trimming" and trying to deal with fitting things together), and it's helped me sort-of step outside the usual box I often stick to. I'm still not real cool on this white-space thing, but if the papers are as detailed and gorgeous as Jean's, it's good to have it. Anyway, so this latest paper page is a little out-of-the-box for me, and I think it turned out well! I'll try to have that ready next time.

Medical update: I can't tell yet whether the new narcolepsy med is working. Of course, it's the "beginner's" dose, and I will be titre-ing up over the course of the next week or so. Tonight I start a slightly higher dose. It's also been hard to tell what's going on because I have another sinus infection, and those make me feel rotten. But I'm on an antibiotic, and this morning feel MUCH better than I did yesterday morning, when I was ready to chuck it all. So, we'll just have to wait and see. I either have narcolepsy or I don't, so the med will either work or it won't. Life is full of having to be patient, which I am SO not good at! (My brain does seem to be a little more clear than usual -- which is awesome!)

Whatever is going on with me, God is good, He is in control, and I'm just counting on Him to be doing what's best. It's not really a change from the last post, but I'm able to feel that more now. Yesterday was kind-of a rough day, and when I was getting ready to shut things down for the night, I ran across the card my mother had given me for my spiritual birthday on the 8th. The front says, "Sunshiny day, grace-filled, joy-filled, love-filled day -- 'Jesus right beside you' kind of day." Well, it wasn't exactly all those first things, but I realized it had definitely been a "Jesus right beside you" kind of day. He pulled me through it, as only He can do. Boy do I love Him for that!

Hope you have a "Jesus right beside you" kind of day, too! Every day!

Gone to Texas

2009-11-10T20:58:00.006-06:00

So ... I've actually been scrapping lately. A lot. But I can't show the stuff I'm doing because it may end up being Christmas presents, and just in case anyone who would be a recipient reads my blog, that wouldn't be good, KWIM?

I will, however, show you one of my two (so far) Texas history layouts. Jean Daugherty of Heritage Scrap (and DigiZines Studios, now, too) made me a Texas history kit when I put in a request in the HS forums. I may have told you already, but I'm going to tell you again because I don't remember what I said. Anyway, it is a GORGEOUS kit, and I only hope I can do it justice!

This is the first one I did. It's about my 5-greats grandfather who was one of the original settlers in Texas with Stephen F. Austin. (Those folks are now called the "Old Three Hundred.") There is so much to tell about Alexander Hodge, hard to just get it down on one scrapbook page, but I think I managed to condense it fairly well. Of course, there are no photos of him, and I don't even know if there were ever any paintings/drawings. We certainly don't have them if they exist. So it was a bit tough to figure out how to do a page that was all about the journaling without it just being boring. Here's what I came up with:

Gorgeous stuff (Jean's, not so much mine). I think pretty much everything is from her kit, which I purchased from Heritage Scrap, but it's on the DigiZines site, too. I'll show you the other layout next time.

Now I just need a kit about the U.S. Navy so I can scrap my dad's Navy years ...

Anyone want to hear about the medical front in my life? Well, if not, you're probably done with the post now. If so ...

I went to a sleep doc last week who thinks I may have narcolepsy, never mind that I don't suddenly and "accidentally" fall asleep during the day, and I don't have the cataplexy that a lot of narcoleptics have (something about sudden emotional stuff making you go weak, like laughter or anger). Trust me, I laugh enough to know I don't have that aspect. But he said that I have a LOT of the other symptoms, like a "fractured sleep architecture" and messed-up REM cycles. My utter, total exhaustion during the day is a pretty good sign, too, although there are heaps of disorders and illnesses that can cause that.

Anyway, because of that, rather than make me go back to the sleep lab to do the daytime test, he's just going to go ahead and try me out on some medicine. You take it at night, and it's supposed to help you have deeper, more restful sleep. Downside is you have to wake up three hours after the first dose to take the second. Also, it makes you SO sleepy that it can be disorienting if you have to get up in the middle of the night for anything. And it can make you very woozy if you have to get up. No driving for six hours after the last dose. It's very high in salt, so I'll have to really watch my blood pressure. For the first couple of weeks it can cause headaches and nausea. And if I don't have narcolepsy, it won't do anything other than just make me feel weird (i.e., it won't make me feel more rested in the mornings). Also, it's a "regulated" medicine. Which totally freaks me out. I have to keep it hidden away, if anyone steals it from my home I have to let the police know, etc. Did I mention I'm freaking out?

I have my first try with it tonight. I'm afraid I'll stop breathing or something. Or I'll get really sick. Or I'll have one of the "rare" nasty side effects. Or, worst of all, that it won't work.

Something has to work. If this doesn't, or if I can't take it, I really don't know what I'll do. I am DESPERATE to feel better, to stop having so many stupid illnesses, to be able to function like other people. Right now there is no way I could hold down a job. Fortunately I'm able to take care of my family, but mainly because they aren't here during the day, so I can rest (which is why digi-scrapping is such a good thing -- I haven't felt up to paper scrapping). I've had so many tests, all of which come out negative (which is a good thing, but leaves me with no answers). My doc figured I had sleep apnea, which is why I did the sleep test, but I don't.

Another thing is, I am so SICK of the weird, complicated, exhausting dreams I have all night! This is part of the messed up REM thing. Normally people go into non-REM when they first fall asleep and don't hit the first REM stage until about 1-1/2 hours later. Not me. I go straight into REM sleep and spend more than my fair share of the night there. A couple of nights ago I had this really stressful one involving tornadoes. Last night I dreamed about Phil Joel, skateboards and the girl Aidan likes. Among a lot of other things. I used to like dreaming, but not any more. If I never remembered another dream I would be ecstatic. I always feel like when I lay down I just close my eyes and go into an alternate universe, where I do all kinds of stuff all night long, and come back to my normal universe when the alarm goes off in the morning. Really. Really. Exhausting.

So, there, my long tale of woe. I hope I still have any readers and/or friends left after that. Sometimes it's just hard to hold back the need to talk about it. I spend so much time trying to mask it, paint over it, push through it, minimize it that I feel really uncomfortable when I let it all spill out. My mom doesn't mind me complaining, but everyone else in my family does.

Now, life is not all bad. I realize I have a ton of things to be thankful for, and I truly am grateful for them! And I have God to help me get through each day. But I'm ready for a positive change now, and really, really afraid there will never be one. I'm only 46. I shouldn't feel like I'm 86.

So, enough of my whining. I promise next time not to spill all over you. Unless the medicine proves a problem ... ;-)

Huntin' Punkins

2009-11-01T17:20:00.004-06:00

Okay, I've been lax in posting, but I have been scrapping a lot lately. Digi-scrapping, that is. I have a paper layout almost finished, but need to find some kind of alpha things to finish it up. In the meantime, I've been continuing to celebrate my heritage in the digi-scrap world.

BUT ... I took a break from heritage stuff a couple of days ago to scrap my super-adorable nephew. His mama had taken him out to a pumpkin patch and posted the pics to facebook, and they were SO cute that I snagged 'em and did a layout with some of them. Unfortunately, Facebook's resolution for photos isn't the greatest, but it was all I had to work with. I need his mama to e-mail me the "originals".

Anyway, here it is:

I used a page template (like a scrap map, only layered for digi use) by SammyD/Scrappin' Digi Kreations as the guide.
Here are the rest of the ingredients:
Background paper: Moani designs "Colours of Fall" (blog)
Other papers: Farrah's Creations "Fall Freebie" (which, oddly enough wasn't free, I had to pay $1 for it, so I guess it had once been free)
Alpha and buttons are from Farrah's Creations "Shabby" kit (blog)
Overlay (the red edge on the background paper): unknown (another designer who doesn't put their initials/name on their files)
Autumn cluster: Diana Burton (I think it's her "Autumn Equinox" kit) (Designer Digitals)
Olive rick rack: Diana Burton "Members Only" (her newsletter)
Cream floral ribbon: Lynn Griffin "Southern Porch" (Heritage Scrap)
Green stitching: Kathryn Balint (K and Friends)
White stitching: I honestly have no idea -- there are so many "straight white stitching" elements in so many kits and they all look alike

I think that's everything. I find it odd that, when I post my digi layouts on digi sites, the people who comment are always amazed at "how well [I] combined kits," as if combining kits is somehow a wild and crazy idea, somewhat unorthodox idea. I mean, I'd love to be able to stay within one kit, but no one kit is the be-all and end-all and often the idea I have in my head requires something that kit doesn't provide. Maybe it's the mentality of a paper scrapper -- you just buy stuff you like and then combine stuff to make your layout.

Anyway, no real biggie, I just thought it was weird.

I have several heritage layouts to show off, but I will save those for another day. Hope you enjoyed this one. And Happy Holidays! (Can you believe we are now into the "holiday season"? AAAAAAAAA!

Scrapping sick

2009-10-20T21:45:00.004-05:00

No, that's not "sick of scrapping" or even "scrapping about being sick." I've been sick this week, and yet have managed to get several layouts done because I've done them digitally, which I can do from the "sick couch." I did run by Archivers on Friday and get some things to finish up a paper layout, but then felt too bad the next day (and following) to feel like going up and giving it a try. For some reason this paper layout has me STUMPED!! It was a concept I thought would be so easy, but has turned out to be ridiculously stumpifying. Well, if I ever get around to finishing it, I'll let you know more about what was so hard.

But, as I said, in the meantime I've been cranking out heritage layouts like crazy! Of course, it's super easy when the basic framework is all the same and you just have to plug in photos, names and dates. (And connecting bars.) I did have a very hard time dealing with a family who had THIRTEEN children, but finally managed to find a way to tackle it and am happy with how I did it.

Today I also finished up a layout I'd started several days ago about the little country church some of my ancestors built out in West Texas. Originally I was just kinda playing around with clipping masks and blending templates, but I really liked what came out, so tonight I just added the title and journaling, and voila! The layout was done! Here's what it looks like:

Ingredients for this one are simple:
Dark teal blue paper: Lynn Griffin, "Aurora" (Heritage Scrap)
Blending template: Brandy Murry, "Scrap Simple Background Blenders" (ScrapGirls)
Paper template: Durin Eberhart "Rubber Stamps" (ScrapGirls)
Fonts: Edwardian Script; shoot! I can't remember the other one (Foxboro?)
And of course the photo, which I took this summer

I had a dove on it at first, over the "a" in "Chapel," but Bjorn said it looked too much like a wedding brochure that way! lol -- It still kinda looks like a wedding brochure, but I don't care, I like it!

Well, that's about all I have tonight.

Hope you all have a great rest-of-the-week!

Cowboy up!

2009-10-12T09:54:00.006-05:00

(Before I start ... I lost a subscriber over the weekend. I don't know the reason, but that always worries me -- y'know, wondering what the reason was, if it was that they didn't find my blog "relevant" anymore, whatever. I know that sometimes people get overwhelmed with the number of blogs they've subscribed to -- I've even had to unsubscribe from blogs before for that very reason. But I worried that maybe it was because I'm doing so much digital scrapping and blogging about that instead of paper. So, please, keep in mind that, if you're inspired by anything I do, you can ALWAYS transfer that inspiration to paper! Just remember to please not copy my design EXACTLY; make it your own!)

Now to our not-so-regularly scheduled blogging:

In my treasure trove of family history photos, there are two of the most adorable pictures of my daddy when he was 3 years old on a pony. Clearly, it was one of those "get your picture taken looking like a real cowboy!" things -- he did not have a pony of his own, nor did he own a stetson, as far as he can remember. (He's clear on the pony part.) But the photos are so deliciously cute they absolutely HAD to go in my heritage album!

So here he is, this man who is a distinguished 78 years old now, when he was a very huggable 3 years old:

This is another one of those "God had to give me inspiration to finish it!" layouts, I will confess. I had an idea in my head what I wanted to do, and in the end it morphed considerably from the original idea. But that's okay, because I love the way it turned out!

So here are the ingredients:

Background: Valerie Randall "Buried Treasure" (Scrapgirls)
Bandana: Beth Rimmer "Bootleg Alley" (Digitals)
Sunflowers: Diana Burton "Helianthus" (Digitals)
Dried flower: Kate McLellan "Civil War" (Heritage Scrap)
Wheat stalks: Kristin's Scrap Designs "Crisp Air Sampler" (Pickleberrypop)
Star circles: Aprilthescrapaholic "Chris' Freebies" (Scrap it Sassy blog)
"Wanted" poster: Kathryn Balint "Cowboy Sam" (KB and Friends)
Nails: "Frontier Days Add-on" (Raspberry Road Designs)
"Cowboy Danny" letters: Victorian Rose Designs "Autumn" alpha (Heritage Scrap)
Font: Country Store
Bend Action (photo): Jen Caputo "Jen's Bends" (Scrapbook Graphics)

I spent the weekend rounding up (pun intended) free digiscrapping stuff (and buying some for the above layout). I found one site that was fantastic -- a French designer named Cajoline. She has the most beautiful things, and all free! And then I discovered that everything is 72ppi instead of 300ppi (which is good print quality, and most commercial kits are in 300ppi). After I'd downloaded a ton of them. So, yes, I can resize them (in PSE you can do this without losing too much quality, depending on the difference in ppi), but they won't be as usable as if they had been 300ppi to start with. Bummer that. But, what do I expect for free?

I really, really need to get back into the loft and work on a layout I had started (sorta) up there a few weeks ago. Adorable pictures of my great-niece, so I need to get them scrapped!

Well -- gotta go wake up the kid. He's home today. He was home almost all last week with some mysterious ailment (our PA figured it was probably a virus). He's doing much better today, so he got up, got showered and dressed, I got up to fix breakfast, Bjorn was, astoundingly, already up doing work on the computer. In checking the weather forecast, I discovered that today is Columbus Day. In checking the school website, I discovered there IS NO SCHOOL today! Instead of being mad, we all laughed uproariously about it. Then Bjorn went to work, I went to the couch for a nap, and Aidan ... stayed on the computer. He is now napping away (at 11am), but I need to wake him up so he can do a practice PSAT test. The test is Wednesday, and being sick has really messed up his study time for it. PLEASE pray that he does the best he can possibly do on the test (and makes accurate guesses!) -- it would be so amazingly lovely if he could win a National Merit scholarship!

Catch ya later!

One nice thing about digital scrapping ...

2009-10-08T16:29:00.004-05:00

... is that you can go back days, weeks, months later to fix something if you need/want to. As I was finishing up the fourth of my "Family Tree Branches" layouts last night, I realized that, on the second, third and fourth LOs I had put the child who was my direct ancestor in their birth order, just with a larger picture; as opposed to the first LO where I had my direct ancestor in the middle with a larger pic, even though he was out of order birth-wise. Originally I had planned to do all of them that way, but for some reason I had brain fog and did the rest of them without the ancestor being central.

SO ... I just went into the original of the first LO (the PSD file, since it still has all the layers) and rearranged the children until they were ALL in the right birth order, recopied it to .jpg and went merrily on with life! So simple (especially since I hadn't had it printed yet.) With paper I would have had to either rip the page apart and start over, or just lived with the inconsistency. (Don't worry, I still love paper scrapping!)

I will show you the Paternal side pages for my Tree Branches LOs. The reason I'm going to show you two instead of just one of them is to show you the rather striking difference in a page with only two children vs. one with about a million kids (okay, so it's not that many, but it was crowded and tough to deal with!)

Here is my dad's father's page:

No worries putting this one together! Actually, that's not true -- finding a good balance on the distance between the siblings required some effort. (Not to mention that, again, it took me four days to get an embellishment cluster I could live with!)

Now, here's my dad's mother's page:

Yeah. It took me a large chunk of a day to get this one arranged! (I don't remember when I actually started it -- sometime after lunch -- but it was late last night before I finished, and I didn't even have to do a new cluster!)

Okay, now for the ingredients/credits:
Background paper, all frames, bars and labels, "Paternal" tag and chain: Diana Burton "Heritage Helpers/Recollections" (Digitals)
Red velvet ribbon: Gunhild Storeide from her "Friday Freebies" (via DigiScrapDepot.com)
Lace: Lynn Griffin "Serenity" (Heritage Scrap)
trailing ribbons: Lynn Griffin "Vintage Charm" (Heritage Scrap) (I recolored a light orange-ish ribbon to get the dark red, then lightened that up to get the pinkish one)
flower: Jean Daugherty "The Storytellers" (Heritage Scrap) (recolored)
pocket watch: Michelle Coleman "Vintage Rag Tag" (ScrapGirls)
chain on watch: Miss Tina (individual element from Funky Playground Designs)
Fonts: Edwardian Script, Adobe Caslon Pro

So guess from what purveyor of digi goods I purchased some things today ... STAMPIN' UP!!! They have entered the world of digital scrapping and are now offering some of their designs in digital!! They actually have their own software for digiscrapping now, but since I have plenty of software for that, I just purchased the sets separately. Amazing -- I bought two stamp sets and the entire line of punches (all in digi form) for less than it would have cost me to buy ONE physical stamp set! Unfortunately right now they don't have that many sets I really want digitally (they're mostly -- or maybe all -- digi versions of actual physical stamp sets they sell). Since I'm mainly focusing on the heritage stuff, I need sets that coordinate nicely with the vintage look, and so many of the ones they're selling digitally are too hip or too modern or whatever. Or they're card sentiments, which doesn't work for me because at this stage of the game, I REFUSE to make cards digitally.

Anyway, I do think it's cool that SU is entering the 21st century, and I'm hoping that they'll release some more of the sets I would be interested in soon.

On the personal front (I didn't warn you this was a long post, did I? lol) I went to the pain management doc today and got "diagnostic" shots in my occipital nerves (the ones that go up the back of your head and over from the base of the head). The doc shot 'em with anesthesia to see if it helped with the pain (it did, and I knew it would because I've done this before), so since it did, I am scheduled to have a cryo-cauterization procedure done in about a month, to freeze the daylights out of the offending nerves and see if we can't put an end to what causes 95% of my headaches. I'm not looking forward to the procedure (even though it isn't a big deal), but I am looking forward to being mostly headache free! (Just for the records, yes, the shots did hurt, about like when you're having dentistry done and get anesthesia shots in your gums), but I lived through it!

Next thing we're going to work on is my lower back. But that's another story for another day!

I'm sure I have thousands of more things I could bore you with, but I'll let that do for now. I know you're so disappointed! lol

Have a good 'un, and happy crafting!

A paper layout!

2009-10-07T12:06:00.003-05:00

Okay, so I confess I've gone a little "digi-batty" over the last few weeks, but I do have in my possession a recent layout that is PAPER!! (The crowd roars, lol) The other confession is that I've had it done for a couple of weeks, but just hadn't got around to scanning it until a couple of days ago. And then a million other things prevented me from posting it until today. But now, HERE IT IS!! (Ta-da!)

Are these boys not uber adorable!?! These are my twin nephews, Karl and Aksel, who were, obligingly, born on my birthday nearly 5 years ago! I can't believe they're growing up so fast, but then my own son has moved through life like a rocket, so I don't know why I would be surprised.

In all honesty, this is a bit of a "hybrid" layout (traditional with digital elements). The photo block is actually a collage done with a program I BOUGHT (I actually downloaded the free trial, but then as these things often go, I couldn't print out the collage unless I bought the darned thing, so I did, since it wasn't terribly expensive -- it's called Picture Collage Maker from Pearl Mountain Software, and I think it was about $20). This is actually what got me back into digi-scrapping, because the program can be used for digital scrapping and allows you to use digital "papers" as a background even in plain collages (the red in the collage block is a digital paper, and I have no idea of the source). I'm not using it to digi-scrap (using my old trusty Photoshop Elements 4.0 for that), but in looking for papers to use in a different collage that I haven't scrapped yet, I found myself online looking for the "perfect" one and toppled headlong over into the digi-scrapping world again. (Did ANY of that make any sense???)

I don't know the manufacturer of the red background paper with the circles on it. I do know I bought it at Archiver's a year or so ago. The rest of the ingredients are:
Other DP: Little Yellow Bicycle "Zach's Life" -- also the border strips
Arrow punches: Stampin' Up!
Chipboard "2": I think it's Basic Grey, but I could be wrong
"Boy Oh Boy" rubon: SEI "Beatnik Boy"
"x": Cricut cartridge (the name escapes me at the moment)
Brads: random stuff from my stash, probably Making Memories
Cardstock: SU "Very Vanilla"
Vellum quote: DCWV ((I think)

Don't you love how well I keep up with my supplies' manufacturers? lol -- the truth is, I'm just too lazy to go upstairs and verify. And some of them honestly don't have the names on them.

I have also finished another digi-scrapped heritage layout, but I'll wait until later to post that one.

Gotta run -- I need a nap before I head out to the pain management doc this afternoon. I am SO hoping they'll schedule me for an anesthesia nerve block treatment for the occipital nerves in my neck. They've been giving me some really nasty headaches lately!

Ta ta, and have a great [insert day of week on which you're reading this]!

North or South?

2009-10-01T21:48:00.005-05:00

I know, my titles can be so lame sometimes! I just finished a layout (well, last night) featuring one of my great-great-great grandfathers who was in the Civil War (he was a Johnny Reb). He's not one of the ones who was a captain, but we have a photo of him with a group of CW veterans from both sides of the conflict, and I thought it was definitely worthy of scrapping. Especially since I have a digi-scrapping kit called "Civil War"! The kit is by Kate McLellan of Heritage Scrap, and it's pretty cool!

Here is the layout:

Everything is from the Civil War kit except:
Journaling tag -- Heritage Scrap design team
Red frame (around my ancestor in the picture) recolored from gold, journaling frame (with his name on it) also recolored from gold -- Diana Burton (Digitals)
Ribbon clip -- unknown
Velvet strip -- from 12x12 velvet paper by Zstampf Designs
Fraying brushes -- Erica Hite (Scrapgirls)
Fonts -- Edwardian Script, and something I can't recall the name for at the moment

It's a pretty plain page, but I'm not trying to tell J.B.'s whole story on this one. I'll do a separate page for the best of his other photos, and tell a little about him on that.

Gosh, digi-scrapping is beginning to grow on me. In fact, I've been trolling (as in what you do when you fish) sites now for Heritage or Vintage-themed kits and I'm actually PAYING for them, as opposed to mostly snagging freebies. And I've got thousands of dollars' worth of paper/traditional scrapping stuff getting dusty in my craft loft. Ah, well, I guess we go through stages. Maybe I should just sell off all my traditional scrapping stuff and stick with digital ... nah. Not yet, anyway!

Tree branches

2009-09-30T11:56:00.003-05:00

Well, I finally finished my first "branch" page for my Family Heritage album. I sort-of randomly chose my mother's maternal grandparents for the first page. It doesn't really matter what order I go in, as most of the pages will be "stand-alone," so I could go do my parents' page or my great-great-paternal grandparents', whichever I'm in the mood for. They layouts will be basically the same -- all the maternal side ones will have the same look as this page. I'll change up the paternal side pages a little bit -- put a cluster on the upper-right-hand corner instead, and make it a little different than the "maternal" cluster. I might even choose different paper, or colorize this one to make it a tad different. I'll also probably have an entirely different look to the page for my parents.

Anyway, here is the page:

Again, it's all digi-scrapped. I used a lot of items by Diana Burton, especially her "Heritage Helpers" set. Here's the breakdown on ingredients:

All frames and bars, plus the tag frames, the "Maternal" tag and chain, the background behind the baby silhouette and the lace ribbon are from Diana Burton's "Heritage Helpers" kit (Digitals)
Bow -- Diana Burton "Helianthus" (Digitals)
Paper -- Lynn Griffin "Autumn in Paris" (Heritage Scrap)
Ribbon -- Lynn Griffin "Vintage Charm" (Heritage Scrap)
Stickpin -- Lynn Griffin "Aurora" (Heritage Scrap)
Key -- Kate McLellan "Civil War" (Heritage Scrap)
Ribbon on key (barely visible) -- Kathryn Balint "Dear Grandma Rose" (KB and Friends)
Baby silhouette -- Jesse Edwards "Silhouettes Brushes and Stamps" (Designer Digitals)
Fonts -- Edwardian Script ITC; and I don't remember which straight font I used :(

When I purchased the Heritage Helpers kit, I was an idiot and didn't order the whole combo kit that included all the papers, otherwise I would have more than likely used one from that kit. (For some reason the papers weren't offered by themselves.) However, I really do like the paper from Lynn Griffin, so it wasn't quite the end of the world.

Designing this page was a difficult, long process. First, it took me eons to pick the paper. I tried all kinds of things, even tried to stamp a large tree on velvet-looking paper to sort-of mimic the Heritage Helpers paper that I didn't get. It just didn't look all that great. I tried several others, then finally settled on the Lynn Griffin "Autumn in Paris" paper, and now I think it was absolutely the right choice. then it took me two days to design the ribbon cluster. I must have had four different iterations of the cluster, most of which just got too busy. I finally erased the whole thing and just started over, and I'm much happier with this one!

After that it was mostly just the task of finding photos, resizing frames, cutting the photos to fit the frames, attaching the bars and getting the nametags done. The nametags took a little while because I added a background (just opened a blank page, colored it with the paint fill and applied a texture), plus I also had to resize the tags to fit, which involved some cutting and pasting. Then I did all the type, and finally, FINALLY -- voila! A finished page!

Another reason it took so long is because I decided to sign up with Mozy.com for backup service, and it's been backing up all my chosen files for a couple of days, thus rendering PSE pretty slow.

Hope you enjoy looking, and maybe get some inspiration for your own heritage layouts. Remember -- you can copy this look on paper as well as doing it digi, so no excuses! ;-)

More heritage stuff

2009-09-19T17:00:00.006-05:00

Well, for some reason right now digi-scrapping has become my scrap method of choice -- NOT surpassing my love of paper/traditional, no way, but for right now I'm kinda "into" this heritage scrapping thing, and I think most of it's going to end up being digital.

So here's the next one:

These three darling girls are my dad's mother (in the middle) and two of her sisters. I just love these photos! (Of course, I just love about all of the really old photos we have.) Makes me wish I could have known them all when they were young. I did know my dad's Aunt Kate (the girl on the left), but not well. She didn't pass away until I was ten, but for some reason I just don't remember much about her.

Anyway, I have decided definitely to do a Heritage scrapbook (well, I'd always wanted to do one), and I'm forming in my little mind the way to do it. I think I'll have a big Family Tree at the beginning (probably paper scrapped, since I have some good paper, etc., from Ancestry.com via K&Co, and you know how I love that company!), then smaller "branches" for each grouping (parents and children) on other pages, with personal pages (like this one) in between. It will be a major project, but I'm up for it. I just hope I don't do what I often do and "burn out" in the middle. To keep from doing that I'm going to plan on doing paper scrapping of other subjects, too, along the way.

Digital layout kits are like candy -- it's hard to stop (in this case collecting them). I've got some great ones for vintage-type and ancestry-type stuff, so I definitely need to make use of them!

I wish I had more photos of my Civil War soldier ancestors. I've got a great Civil War kit (did I already mention that last time? Hey -- I'm sick today so I have an excuse for being Not Of Brain).

Here are my ingredients: (Some are from REALLY OLD kits, and some have been recolored to fit my color scheme)
Oval frame: from "Shells and Angels" kit by BannerWoman
Rectangular frame: from "Civil War" kit by Kate McClellan (Heritage Scrap)
Title alpha: "Civil War" alpha, Kate McClellan (Heritage Scrap)
Bow: from "Seventies Stylin'" kit by Raspberry Road Designs
Lace: from "Natural Selection" kit by Diana Burton (Digitals)
Stick pin: from "Serenity" kit by Lynn Griffin (Heritage Scrap)
Wooden tags: unfortunately, I can't find any information on these
Pearls: from "20s Chic" kit by J Baechtold (ScrapDish)
Lace ribbon: from "Gift of Faith" by Dahlia Co. (Faith Sisters)
Flowers: from "Autumn in Paris" by Lynn Griffin (Heritage Scrap)
Background: unknown

You know, it would help a lot if digital designers would include their initials and some indication of the kit in their filenames. Yes, I have the digital stuff all categorized and tagged in PSE, but I have over 14,500 files in there, so I'm not going to go hunt it down through there. I spent over an hour trying to find the names of designers, kits and stores/websites for these elements, so I'm not going to spend any more looking for the ones that have no clue as to where they belong in their filenames. (Note to self: Write the filenames down as you go instead of having to look everything up at the end!)

Whew! So I hope you enjoyed this page. There will be more to come!

A tribute

2009-09-14T20:57:00.004-05:00

So I was bored and surfing the digital scrapbooking sites over the weekend, snagged some freebies, even bought a couple of things, then thought -- "Wait a minute, why am I DOING this? I rarely ever digi-scrap!" And I decided maybe I'd better put some of my huge stash of digi-scrapping stuff to good use, especially since I'd actually shelled out money for some of this stuff.

So I thought -- heritage photos. I have a ton of those now and maybe rather than printing them out and paper scrapping them, I could do some in digital. Of course, this is a struggle for me, because I want to FEEL the 3-Dness of the stuff on my page, not just have it LOOK 3-D. But I broke down and did a page anyway, and I am very pleased with how it turned out!

This is my grandmother (Mom's mother) when she was 16. It's my favorite photo of her, and I wanted to do something really special to set it off. And here's what I came up with:

My grandmother was the very epitome of the Proverbs 31 Woman. If you don't know what I'm talking about, here's a link to the chapter. Start with verse 10. And keep in mind, this passage isn't something women HAVE to be, it's something to aspire to. I think my Granny did a very good job of reaching that aspiration, just by being herself. I really miss her. I was thinking today about when she was in the rehab "home" a few weeks before she died, about her struggling to walk between the parallel bars. She was a super courageous lady. Thinking about it makes my heart hurt, though, so I have to kinda slam the door on those thoughts.

Granny loved pink, roses, butterflies and hummingbirds. I couldn't figure out how to add hummingbirds without it just getting overboard, but I think she would have liked this layout a lot, although she would have disagreed with my declaration that she was a Proverbs 31 Woman!

Anyway, here are the "ingredients":
Brads: Michelle Underwood "Chocolate Soup" kit
"31": Amy Teets "Sunporch" alpha
Bkgd paper: Atomic Cupcake "Divine Damask"
DP: Raspberry Road Designs "Seventies Stylin'"
Bible verse: Eyelet's Scraps Designs "Scripture Pack 1"
Flowers: Paula Yagisawa (Dreamer Paula) "Sunday Morning"
Buds: Dyp Designs "Eastermania"
Butterflies: Ana Flor "Silk Butterflys [sic]"
Frame: Diana Burton "Heritage Helpers"
Ribbon: ScrapStreet "New Orleans Valentine"
Raffia: Thao Cosgrove "Raffia Embellishments"
"Proverbs" letters: Zee Helmick "Vintage Buttons" alpha
Font: Lettering Delights "Wedding"

As you can see, I'm no more a "one-kit" girl with digi-scrapping than I am in "real life" scrapping, lol!

So, I'm working on a paper-scrapped layout about my twin nephews. At the moment I don't like how it's turning out, but I'll go up and play with it some tomorrow and see if I can't figure out what's bothering me and fix it.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Good times

2009-09-09T20:56:00.003-05:00

So I finished another layout!! That's two "biggies" and two "little uns" in a week, so far! (I think ... when did I finish the other one? My brain fails me.)

I've been home with a "broken" husband this week. He hurt his back somehow -- doesn't know exactly how or when -- and it gave out totally on Sunday evening. It's been getting a little better each day, but he's still having a lot of pain when he moves too much (adjusting position on the couch, bending, etc.) I don't know what's up -- I wish he would go to his chiropractor for it, but he doesn't want to. When I was rubbing his back today I found a little lump next to his lower spine a few inches above the pelvis. I know he's had a couple of "fatty deposit" lumps in his back, but this felt larger. So I hope it's nothing to worry about. I don't want to worry him, but I do think he should get it checked out.

Anyway, that's DEFINITELY NOT the "good times" I was referring to in my title. No, that has to do with my layout. As I was going through my "Favorite Photos" stack the other day, I ran across these three photos of me when I went overseas to spend a semester in London in 1988. So, rather than making separate 6"x6" pages of each one, I decided just to do a big 12"x12" LO with all three.

After I'd been working on it a little while, I really did not like what was happening on the page. So I decided to leave it overnight, and fortunately the next day I had fresh inspiration (pretty cool what a little "Help, God! I'm creativity challenged today!" prayer will do!). My only "complaint" about it now is that it looks like it should be a Christmas page! lol

Ingredients (if I can remember them):
Background paper: Club Scrap
Other DP: I honestly can't remember -- (it's one of those cases of individual sheets out of context and with the brand name already cut off or not on it)
Chipboard letters: Stampin' Up! ("t"); Basic Grey (all others)
Acrylic paint; clear nail polish with golden glitter in it (on the letters)
Pearls: Basic Grey
Rhinestones: something I bought at M's today
Watch face: no idea -- I've had it lurking around for years
Punch: Fiskars "Apron Lace"
Cricut cartridges: original "Home Decor" (flowers); "George & Basic Shapes" (brackets)

I think that's it. If you're dying to know about any of the "no idea" papers, I could try to find out who makes them, but some of them were kinda old, so no promises that I could find them. The red glittery paper came from Archivers last Christmas.

I made a couple of collages recently with a new collage-maker program (like I don't already have enough image-messing-about-with programs!). It was a "free download" that turned out to be a trial version, and you couldn't save or print anything without a watermark unless you bought the full version. And, of course, I didn't know this until AFTER I'd already spent ages making a collage and liking and deciding to print it. So I gave in and spent the $30 on it. Kinda a "rook", as one of my brothers used to call being gypped or scammed. But, it seems like good software, so hopefully I'll find a lot of uses for it. Anyway, I now have three collages to play with scrapping-wise, and I also have a "filmstrip" sort of thing I did in Photoshop a few weeks ago of my great-niece. That will definitely be fun to play with.

Well, it's getting late and I need to think about getting to bed. Please pray for Bjorn, if you think of it. And pray for me, too -- it totally disrupts your routine to have your husband hanging around the house all day! lol

Wow -- I did it again!

2009-09-03T20:45:00.006-05:00

Scrapped, I mean. Last night I started a 6"x6" layout for my "Favorite Photos" album -- basically I picked out paper, cut it and adhered the photo to it. Today I finished it up, then later went up into the loft again and made yet ANOTHER 6"x6" layout! These are so fun, although I will admit that sometimes it's daunting to come up with something creative for a page where the photo takes up most of it (most of my photos are 4"x6"). I've tried using Page Maps "Mini Maps" sketches -- they're for 8"x8" layouts, but you can reduce the size for 6"x6". Trouble is, a lot of those use more than one photo, and on a 6"x6" that can be less than satisfactory (because the photos have to be so small). Of course, it's not always true -- wallet sized photos do work okay as long as the subject is large.

So, anyway, here are the layouts:

Is not this photo the most adorable ever?!? This is my dear son thirteen years ago when he was three years old and serving as the Ring Bearer for Bjorn's brother's wedding. I honestly don't remember this moment at all, and wonder if someone else took the photo. I was a bridesmaid (matron?), and Bjorn was the Best Man, so we had my dad fly out to be Aidan's "chaperone." He may have taken the photo. Anyway, it was at this beautiful sort-of B&B/Wedding venue out in desert near Tucson, and it was just a very gorgeous, wonderful day! So here Aidan is expressing his "joy of life" as only a uninhibited three-year-old can do!

Ingredients:
Bo-Bunny DP; Sparkly paper I got at Archiver's for Christmas last year, cut using the original Cricut "Home Decor" cart; a red glitter pen; "Freebooter" font, Verve flourish stamp with SU ink; HP printable cardstock; Nestabilities oval cutter, done with a Cuttlebug

Here's the other:

This is my mother and her great-granddaughter Rachael when Rach was somewhere in the 2-3 yr. old range (don't you love her ponytails!). This was about 2004.

Ingredients:
Bazzill textured shimmer paper; an old kit from TAC (DP); small photo corners by K&Co; Large photo corner punch by EK Success; rhinestones from K&Co; rub-on from Stampin' Up!; Cricut original "Home Decor" cart

SO much fun! I'm glad I'm scrapping again and loving it. Unfortunately, I don't seem to be able to keep two things going at once, so my family history stuff is suffering, but I did that all summer, so it's okay.

Be back soon with more goodies! Until then -- have a good 'un!

I have resumed scrapping!!

2009-09-01T20:27:00.003-05:00

Yay! Can you believe it? I actually got up into the craft loft yesterday and started a 2-page layout, then finished it today! I think we should call tomorrow a world-wide holiday and no one have to work or go to school!!

After around three months of total lack of inspiration, I hauled myself upstairs yesterday and said, hey, I'm just gonna look through some of the photos I had pulled before my hiatus and see if anything hits me. Well, I had pulled 11 photos of my sister-in-law Liv from my categorized boxes, and I thought, know what? It would be fun to do a girly page -- any paper I want, no "theme" other than girly, choices wide open. So first I picked a sketch to work off of (a Page Maps sketch from many moons ago), then I chose papers accordingly. I had to fiddle with the sketch layout a little since the sketch used 7 photos and I had 11, but I managed to come up with a satisfactory adjustment. Then I just went with it!

So here is the layout. You can click on it to see it larger.

So let's see if I can remember the ingredients:
Cardstock: Basic Grey; Stampin' Up!
Designer Paper: DoodleBug Designs (I think)
Flowers: D'know, something I picked up at Archiver's
Ribbon: the zigzag pink is SU; the brown under it I don't know
Cricut cartridge: Jasmine (y'all think I need to invest in some more Cricut alphas? lol)
Buttons: not sure, I think they're K&Co, but don't quote me on that
Journaling chipboard: Another something I picked up at Archiver's, in the "Hot Spot"

That's all, I think. Liv, I hope you like it!

I'm certainly glad I'm not a Stampin' Up! demonstrator these days. Seems like they just got informed they can't mention ANY product other than Stampin' Up! on their blogs, whether personal or business. So if they make a card, say, and use products in addition to the SU stuff, they're not allowed to give credit for the other products. Nor are they allowed to link to other pages that have non-SU products on them. I just think that's wrong. If they're so worried about their bottom line, they need to come up with new stuff and better marketing, NOT clamp down on their demos. Sounds like a lot of people are quitting as a result of this.

Anyway, no such restrictions on me, so I will continue to do whatever I darn well please with my blog!

Hopefully I'll be back in another couple of days with a new layout to show off. Until then, have a great week!

OMG! OMG! ("G" being "gosh") ...

2009-07-12T22:16:00.004-05:00

I actually got up into the craft loft tonight and FINISHED A PROJECT!! Not only that, I also personalized a card I had already made to use for my Mother's birthday tomorrow.

Maybe I should have warned you. Try not to hyperventilate. Nice, deeeeeep cleansing breaths ... lol

Well, I have been TOTALLY unmotivated, as you well know, to do anything remotely crafty for the last few months. Even for Mother's Day I just sorta whipped something out that involved no stamping whatsoever. (Well, except for the sentiments -- it was a double pocket card with tags.) Poor Bjorn and my dad had to just get store bought cards. Yes, I humbled myself and got STORE BOUGHT. I was so ashamed!

But I knew I couldn't let Mom's birthday pass without a home-made card. Regardless of how super sweet my Mom is, I know she would feel cheated with just a store-bought. Okay, maybe she'd still love me, but she deserves better. (Bjorn and Daddy do, too, but you know how it is with dads ... they have lower expectations, lol.) But I have been SO TIRED the last few days, and it's been SO FREAKIN' HOT that, even with the A/C on, it's still too warm in the loft.

Nevertheless, I trudged up there tonight to make Mom a card. And as I was putting away the small stack of things I've ordered, bought, etc. over the last few months and haven't used yet, I came across a little bag. It contained a Stampin' Up! Definitely Decorative (or whatever) catalog, my receipt from my demo's Open House a couple of weeks ago ... and TWO cards I'd made at the Open House!! Joy of joys!! All I needed to do was personalize one of them and Mom's card would be made! So here is the one I chose ... the personalization is the sentiment:

Everything is Stampin' Up!, but I couldn't tell you the name of the image set we used, since I don't own it and the catalog is waaaaaay over in the other room. The blue is one of the new In Color colors. I'm not up on the names of them this year. Eventually I will be, but not at the moment. I only ordered two of the six new In Color pads from Kathy because I just can't afford to do all six at once, like I did last year. I wanted to get paper and markers, too (MARKERS, mates! in the In Color colors!!), but decided to buy a stamp set instead, so I'll have to make the investment in all that stuff little-by-little.

While I was up there, I decided to finish the layout I started in, like, May or something. It has been staring me in the face all these weeks, so it was time to finish it off and move on!

Here it is:

I'm honestly too tired to try to remember all the supplies I used. I know there was SU cardstock and K&Co designer paper. I used the Cricut "Home Decor" cartridge (the old one, not the new one that has come out with the same name) and a couple of font cartridges. I used an EK Success border punch. I don't remember what company the flowers are by, and as for the glassy looking brads in the small flowers, those were something I received as blog candy. Can't remember the buttons' manufacturer ... Foof-a-la, maybe? I do know the ink and stamp I used (on the smaller flowers) was SU.

Anyway ... yes, I am a silly goon where my nieces and nephews are concerned. I was that way with my own kid when he was little. Heck, I'm that way with just about any little kid! They think it's fun, and that makes me happy.

It also makes me wildly happy that I SCRAPPED!!! It was FUN!! I hope to be doing it again!! Wooooooooot!!

*AHEM* Anyway, hopefully I'll have more fun stuff to show off in the NEAR future! But for now, I'm just happy I did this much!

Blessings!

Please Stand By ...

2009-06-17T00:29:00.003-05:00

This is an alert to let you know that I am experience a temporary creativity malfunction and will be back on the air as soon as the problem is fixed. I apologize for any inconvenience, despair and inner turmoil this may have caused/be causing.

Please stand by, as the malfunction is expected to be corrected shortly.

(Please, God.)

Way cool old photos

2009-05-22T23:03:00.008-05:00

So, I just feel like blogging even though I haven't been in the loft (other than to put things in it) for what feels like eons.

I have a nasty migraine tonight. Bjorn's parents are coming tomorrow. Somehow the combination figures. The migraine is hormone-related, so it has nothing to do with stress. Since we started with the housekeeping service, that stress has blissfully been relieved. Sure, we still had things to do to get things ready for them, but none of that running around like a madwoman, barking orders at everybody for two days straight and nearly killing myself to get the house mother-in-law ready.

But I marvel at the consistency with which I have some kind of health issue whenever I'm around them. I actually called my mother this morning and said, "Please pray that I don't end up having to go to the hospital while they're here!!" It has become a joke (that I don't like) about my hospital visits that seem to happen around them. Only two out of three, though! As far as ambulances are concerned, anyway. Yeesh.

I've been spending (way too much) time lately doing the genealogy thing. I've gotten to the point where there's really just not a whole lot more I can do online, but I keep trying. And it's frustrating. But since I've hit the black hole of lack-of-scrap-inspiration, I don't know what else to spend my time on. I have managed to find some good stuff by sheer perseverance, but I really wish I could just get in the car and drive to some of these places and get the records I want from the courthouses, etc. Of course, I could just drive to downtown Austin and go to the General Land Office, the library, and the other records-holding places down there for a start, and I don't even do that. I am so lazy!! The thing is, so many of my more recent ancestors were right here in Texas, and some of them in counties not so far from mine, so it would be a nice little day trip for some, a couple of days for the others (I was gonna say weekend, but the courthouses aren't open on weekends). A couple are pretty far off in West Texas.

My folks have given me some of their old photos to scan, with the intention that I will eventually get all of them digitized. I find I really enjoy scanning the old-old ones, but the newer ones (1940s and 1950s) don't have as much "cool factor" to them, because they're so much more recent. And because there are jillions of those and I don't think I'll ever get through with them, and this is just the tip of the iceberg!

I love the old photos, though. Take a look at some of them:

Remember my grandmother who passed away last year? That's her on the right, in about 1913 or so. The other two babies are her cousins. I love this picture, because it floors me that my incredibly capable, wise grandmother was ever a baby! lol

And this is her in 1929 when she was a teenager. Quite the flapper queen! (Well, a wannabe -- she was way too much of a good girl to be a REAL flapper!)

The dude (and I mean that in the old sense of the word) on the right with the banjo is my grandfather, who later married her. He was ten years older than she was! Boy, do I love them!!!

This is my daddy when he was three years old. Li'l Texas cowboy dude! Hee!

And my dad's mother (in the middle) with two of her sisters when she was five years old. Aren't they cute in those old-timey clothes?

I guess I can save SOME photos for another time (don't worry, there are plenty of them!)

It's interesting to find out about your ancestors. We were totally on the WRONG side of both the Irish issue (we were the usurping protestants), and of the Civil War (Confederates all). But at least we got it right in the Revolutionary War (colonials, rebels, whatever you wanna call us, we were fighting for independence), and we done good by Texas!! I think the Texas thing just makes up for all the wrong stuff. That whole Texas heritage is really the part I'm most proud of.

I ran across the fragmented memoirs of my (I think) 4-greats grandmother as I was leafing through the family history notebook I'd put together a couple of years ago. There is some amazing stuff in there! I'll have to post some of that at a future time. She was a little girl of 12 when the whole Alamo/Goliad/San Jacinto stuff (Texas won her independence at the Battle of San Jacinto) was being played out, and she knew several of the people who were instrumental in the whole birth of Texas. She even watched the Battle of San Jacinto with her family from a thicket! But that's a story for another day.

I really have to go now -- can't keep this up with the headache I've got. On to bed (where I get to lay down in a dark, quiet room with no distractions and REALLY think about how much it hurts!), and then tomorrow Bjorn's parents arrive!

Have a wonderful, safe Memorial Day weekend if you're here in the United States. And all the rest of you, have a wonderful safe weekend, too!

Remembering the Alamo ;-)
Stacy

Explanation ... apology ... whatever

2009-05-13T10:39:00.002-05:00

Okay, I feel like I owe my readers an explanation or apology or something for not being faithful lately. So, I apologize, and here's my (probably lame) explanation:

1) I am in serious Craft Slump mode. At the moment I'm not the least bit interested in setting foot in my craft loft. It's not so much a loss of mojo as a loss of interest. I actually found myself thinking the other day that I might just sell all that scrapbooking stuff and go back to sticking photos in albums, or maybe just have everything printed out in Kodak/Snapfish/whatever photo books (this was after doing one for my MIL for Mother's Day). It's SO easy, it looks so cool, and ... I don't know. I'm just not "there" with paper crafting right now. I hope this is just a phase!

2) I have been spending (way too much) time doing family research. It's like an addiction, it kinda feeds into my collector's mentality. I'm collecting ancestors! lol No, really what I'm trying to do is collect information about my ancestors. All I can get. I don't know if it's sad and pathetic to do that or if it's a valuable family service. Yesterday I received an obituary I had ordered for my grandmother's maternal grandmother. She had committed suicide after being sent to what we would now call a "state hospital," but what back then was lovingly and tactfully called a Hospital for the Insane. In this very tasteful and loving tribute to her, they talked about her going bonkers (not using that term, of course), about her being "convicted" of being insane, and then proceeded to give details of how she had hung herself in her "cell". It was horrible and depressing and I really wish I hadn't read it! I wasn't aware that having emotional problems was a crime. And based on what my mother told me about her (the g-g-g grandmother's) situation, her husband drove her to it. What made her "insane" was that she was suicidal in the first place. (And probably OCD -- her husband beat their children, which was often considered "normal" in those days, but not to her!) So they ship her off to a "Hospital for the Insane" where she sank into even more despair and hung herself. Apparently her husband spent the rest of his life trying to apologize and make amends to his children for his behavior and her death. Some forgave him, some didn't. So ... among all the wonderful stories of loving, adored farmers, ministers, store-owners, etc., comes this one. Is it something I want to preserve? I'm certainly not going to let Aidan know about it ... he doesn't need that "legacy" hanging over his head if he ever gets that depressed. Thorns among the roses, I guess.

I'm not even sure why I told YOU this, except that I'm a writer and I have a penchant for the dramatic.

Anyway, in addition to info gathering, I've been photo scanning (the old family photos). That in itself is going to take awhile.

So ... I haven't gone away, but I'm kinda on a crafting "sabbatical" -- unintended, but there ya go. I did make my mother's Mother's Day card (haven't scanned it). I've also got an unfinished layout on the craft desk waiting to be completed. And I did a digi layout for the SHINE group, but I'm going to have to tweak it a bit before I post it here.

I'm also going to close out the SHINE group, or transfer ownership to someone else. It was going along fine for awhile, but I can't get any participation at all now. I don't know where everyone has gone, or why, and I know people get busy, but I think my challenges/projects are good and worth pursuing, so I'm not sure what's up. I don't want to keep putting time and effort into it if no one else is going to participate but me, so ... it's time to move on. Someone also started a Christian paper crafting social network (very much like Paper Craft Planet, only Christian-focused), which may have drained off some of my participation. So, I'll just point people there and go on with life.

Okay, that's all for now. I promise I'll be back, just maybe not as frequently as I have been. And then I'll get through this phase and I'll be back as regularly as ever. That's just how I (and other ADHD people) function.

Grace and peace until next time!

No liability ...

2009-04-30T22:13:00.004-05:00

I just want y'all to know that I hold no liability if you fall out of your chair and injure yourself to see that I have actually blogged again! And I can't believe it's only been two weeks since my last post. It feels like at least a month.

I FINALLY got a scrapbook page done. A ... page. Of course, I'm working on another one now, so that makes me feel a little better. But here, without wasting too much of your time, is the finished one:

This is the epitome of my husband, right here in these photos. He cannot just go somewhere and relax. He's always got to be thinking, doing, learning, fidgeting. We were at the beach in San Diego over Thanksgiving and went out to just relax, go for a stroll, etc. He sees a weathered board. Now, a lot of people would ignore the weathered board. Some people would think it was interesting as a sort-of "flotsam" sort of thing. But my husband looks at the weathered board and the waves washing over it and thinks: SCIENCE!! So he picks up the weathered board and sticks it vertically into the sand so he can watch -- no, STUDY -- the physics of the waves as they swirl around the board. And not just in one place. He has to try it out in different places along the beach, in different flows of water.

So, am I making fun of him? Absolutely not! Although this personality trait drives me crazy sometimes, I think it's pretty neat. It's one of the reasons I married him, actually. He never can stop learning. "Education" is all around Bjorn, all the time. It's amazing. Just like him.

Wow, that journaling was better than what I put on the page! Maybe I'll print it out and put it on the back or something ...

So, let's see if I can remember the ingredients (it took me two weeks to finish this ... not constant working, but one day to put the papers together, stick the photos on and do the journaling, another day to print out the title and adhere it, and a third day to do the twine thing and the writing around the edge. Spread out over two weeks):
Paper -- K&Co; little scrap of SU for the journaling
Teal twine -- Club Scrap
Hemp twine -- some hardware store or other
Lacing brads -- no clue. I took them out of the packaging, poured them into a little drawer and that was the end of any credit to the company.
Marker -- SU

Yeah, so why that took two weeks ...?
Well, I've been hangin' with the ancestors, chasing tornadoes vicariously through the more-exciting lives of other people, having migraines, dealing with weird hormones, nursing a sick kid (no, not swine flu, this was before all that), going to the kid's play two days in a row -- they were TOTALLY AWESOME, BTW, and, well, I don't know what else. Just doing whatever. I had a scrapping mojo crisis, to be honest, and not only did I not want to get into the craft loft, I had a horrible "purpose crisis" and lost the plot of scrapbooking for a few days, like, why do I do this, it doesn't make sense, it's pointless, etc. Thank God (literally) I got over that!

Great news -- Bjorn finally has allowed me to get housecleaning service!!!! Had the housecleaners for the first time almost two weeks ago, it was expensive (because the first time they charge by the hour), but it was so AMAZING to have the house clean again! I felt like royalty! And even though Bjorn had to take a 20% pay cut at work (all the exec-level employees did, and the rest had to take a 10% cut), he's still allowing me to keep the service, at least for now. We have all been doing a fantastic job of keeping things nice, so when the housecleaners come back on Monday, they won't have to work so hard and maybe can get to a couple of things they didn't manage to do last time (minor stuff). Oh, the bliss! And it has actually made me want to do some of the stuff I used to hate, like putting away clean clothes (instead of just folding them and letting them pile up on the dryer), folding towels (okay, I confess I make the guys do that), keeping the kitchen clean (as in, no one will want to call the health department), etc. It's just amazing. I am so blessed. Thank You, Lord!!

We really do need the service, because I'm having major sacro-iliac joint problems in my lower back, which make it very hard to do certain things (like mop), and Bjorn, poor guy, was just diagnosed with degenerative disks in his neck, and bone spurs that are growing toward the INSIDE of his vertebrae, which is not a good thing. So he can't do a whole lot of physical stuff, either. Please pray for him. He's really upset about the diagnosis -- but he hasn't seen a neurologist or spine doc yet, just his chiro, so we don't know really what the prognosis is. He may be jumping wildly to conclusions about the degenerating quality of his life.

Well, Aidan is ready for bed, so I need to go. I hope to have another LO and blog entry for you soon ... until then, it's tornadoes (by proxy -- I don't want any near here!) and ancestors.

Cheers!

One week later ...

2009-04-14T17:08:00.007-05:00

Sorry I haven't been posting lately! Don't know if I've been busy or lazy, but the result is the same, so I apologize.

Got caught up in virtual storm chasing (via TornadoVideos.net) and genealogy and who knows what all else, so I haven't been incredibly busy in the loft, but I do have a few more things to show off. Here are the last of the Easter pages:

Ingredients for both are pretty much the same -- We R Memory Keepers and K&Co papers, plus some misc. stuff. On the Easter '97 one, I was over at Elizabeth's house and had only one sheet of the WRMK DP, but needed both sides at once! So I cut out the yellow-gridded rectangle and flipped it over to put where I needed it, but there were some gaps that showed between it and the striped bits, so I had to get creative, since I wasn't at home and didn't have all my usual "stuff". I had taken my Cricut over there, so I cut out a bunch of caterpillars to put across the top (so, yeah, they don't have anything to do with Easter, but you do find them in yards), and I had my SU spiral punch along, so I did that one for a border across the bottom. I didn't manage to finish the page at Elizabeth's, though, so when I worked on it again at home, I found some SU green wide grosgrain ribbon that worked great down the vertical gap. Then I just cut out the letters and numbers with my Cricut, added a few extra touches, and it was done! (Love this simple scrapping philosophy!)

For some odd reason we don't have any egg hunt pictures from '98 or '99, so the next (and last) set was from 2000. I used the same line of papers, to keep things tied together. At first I thought the layout ended up TOO simple, but I grew to like it. I was going off a Page Maps sketch (gosh, I love Page Maps!), and they had flowers where I put the buttons. Being a boy page, I didn't want to use flowers (I know some people do, but I just can't go there), and I tried all kinds of things there -- big brads (don't try to use rub-ons on Making Memories' colored brads, they don't take), smaller brads in larger numbers ... finally settled on the buttons. I wanted some texture, so I think they served the purpose. I also really like the "stitched" border punch I got the other day from EK Success. It's not too girly or frufy for boy layouts, and I like the embossed stitching effect.

Here was my layout for the Faithbooking project week before last:

I meant to post this on Good Friday, but the day got away from me. It's digi-scrapped. I found it was actually a bit difficult to do this layout -- I had to really slow down and meditate for awhile on what the Cross really means, not just to me, but to mankind in general. I get so jaded to the story, having heard it all my life, but it is absolutely the most important, amazing love story ever! That Jesus would willingly go to the cross to die for my sins ... because He loves me! (He loves each and every one of us that much.) Blows me out of the water.

So, anyway, that gets me caught up on my scrapbooking. I still have a couple of cards to show, but I'll save that for another day (soon!).

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Another Easter page!

2009-04-07T18:10:00.004-05:00

Yes! The fun never ends! Here is the page for Aidan's 3rd Easter, which, by now, was in Arizona. Where it's, like 102 degrees in April already. (How did I ever survive that place???)

Wasn't he gosh-darn cute? Again, I ask, why do they grow up so fast? And yet, I love the age he is now, too. (Mostly) Except back then I could pick him up and cuddle him and he didn't mind, and I didn't have college and him leaving home looming on the horizon. Then it was kindergarten that was looming. Boy, I didn't know how good I had it! (Actually, I think I did.)

Ingredients:
DP: We Are Memory Keepers (or is that "We R Memory Keepers?"); K&Co.
CS: not sure -- poss. Club Scrap or SU
Punches: Fiskars (edge); EKSuccess (photo corners)
Journaling pen: I think it's Zig (would be the same as the SU black journaler)
Cricut cartridges: Base Camp (with "Charm" function on), Jasmine

Simple page, but I like the way it turned out. I think as busy as the paper and the photos were, any more embellies than I had would have just been too much.

I got a new Cricut cartridge today -- "Life's a Beach"!! I've been wanting it since I heard it was coming out, and I finally took the plunge (no pun intended) and ordered it last week. Tons of beach/ocean/nautical images, a sort of "tiki" font, even a whole set of beach-oriented titles! I'm thinking I'm gonna love this. I hope I'll use it alot. I thought I would use "A Walk in My Garden" a lot, but I've hardly cracked it open. I'll probably use that one more when I do more "girly" pages (about me, Mom, nieces, etc.)

Hey, speaking of the subject of my Easter layout (Aidan), he got home from school yesterday and announced (well, his dad did, who had picked him up) that he'd gotten a perfect score on the National Latin Exam! This makes two years in a row! Aidan claims he should have been given a "harder" test (i.e., a level harder), but I think he was just being humble. Anyway, only a tiny percentage of the kids who take this test nationwide (like 5% or fewer) get a perfect score, so I'm pretty proud of him! And this will definitely look good on that college-app resume (especially for someone who's going to major in linguistics!)

Ack! There's that "college" word again! ;-)

Well, my aunt is still in town, and we're invited over to dinner again (lovin' this free food!), so I'd better get going. I've only got one more finished Aidan Easter page to show you (until I make more, mwuhahahahaha), so I need to get up into the loft and get to scrappin' again!

Have a good 'un!

More Easter stuff ...

2009-04-06T21:42:00.005-05:00

Connected to a couple more old friends on a social networking site today. It's so cool to do that! These are people I haven't seen in what seems like a thousand years, and now they all have families and some of their kids are in COLLEGE ... how did we all get this old? ;-)

Okay, I have another Easter LO for today. This one is about Aidan's 2nd Easter, when we still lived in Colorado.

This is one of the layouts I made at my friend Elizabeth's house last Tuesday. Now, Connie and Andy are two people I would really love to catch up with again, but they don't live in this house anymore, or even in this town, so I've lost touch with them. I tried finding them on the social networking site, but no luck.

Pretty much the same materials as the "First Easter" one, I think. The green color isn't really that gross -- for some reason I couldn't get it to scan properly, nor could I tweak it to make it look right. I promise it's MUCH more pleasantly colored than this!

Anyway, it's been Easter-theme focus around here scrapbooking-wise lately. I have two other Aidan-oriented Easter layouts (and at least one more to do -- there are a couple of years missing from the batch of pictures, so I want to see if I can find any from those years), plus I did a faithbooking page about the Cross for the SHINE group at Paper Craft Planet. That one I digi-scrapped. Somehow most of the faithbooking ones seem more suited to digi-scrapping, for me. Don't know why.

I honestly don't have much to say tonight. I'm tired and have a teensy headache. My aunt is visiting at my folks' house and it's been fun to hang out over there and just have a three-way girl-gabfest between her, my mom and me.

OH! I do have something to brag about, though: Aidan aced the National Latin Exam again this year (perfect score)! That's two in a row now! He claims it was an easier level than he should have had, but I don't know how true that is, and anyway, he still could've screwed something up! He says next year's will undoubtedly be harder. I told him next year he will have had another whole year's worth of Latin studying under his belt. Anyway, it's a pretty big deal (this is a nationwide exam), and it will definitely look good on his college-app resume!

Okay, I've run out of things to talk about (gasp! I can see you wanting to check my temperature right now!), so I'll just leave it at this. Hope you have a great [insert time of day, day of week here]!

Easter Card

2009-04-04T17:38:00.005-05:00

I got a sweet blog award from my sister in Christ, Lynn!
Thank you, so much, Lynn, for thinking of me!
I'm supposed to come up with ten other people to reward, and that may take awhile, so I won't take the time to do that right now ... stay tuned for the list!

Well, I realized I had already taken a photo of the Easter card, it was sitting here in my files all the time! Now I have three Easter layouts I need to scan and stitch so I can show them to you. So much to do!!! ;-)

Here is the Easter card, without further ado:

I bought this Easter set from Club Stamp (Club Scrap) a year ago, but by the time I got it, it was too late to make cards to send (since I'm the world's biggest procrastinator), so I've saved it all the way until this year to use! And now I have a TAC Easter set that is gorgeous and I want to use it, too, but Easter has, once again, crept up on me and I will be lucky to make cards for my own family!

I don't have the card handy to look at, so let's see if I can remember the other ingredients:
DP: K&Co.
CS: SU, The Paper Company
Inks: SU, Ranger Distress
"Drops of blood": Michaels, clear, colored with permanent marker -- I think by Crayola? -- on the back
Misc: Crystal Effects glue; EKSuccess punch

Can someone explain to me why, in heaven's name, it costs almost $1000 to have your house de-termited? And we're not even talking the tent thing, here. We had a termite guy come out on Thursday to give us an estimate on how much it would cost to rid us of the colony of happy termites that live in one of our walls, and to prevent any more from moving in anywhere in the house, "guest house" and storage room, and it was that much! And the deal is, we really trust this guy and his company, and will probably go with them. They have a ten-year warranty on the chemical, as long as we pay out another $125/year (for yearly inspection). At least I think that's how that works. Anyway, it's ridiculous how much it costs to maintain a house. If I'd really thought it through, I think we would've stayed in a rental house forever. (Okay, probably not, but still ...) I hope termites don't eat cardboard boxes, because that's what we'll be living in after Bjorn retires, at the rate we're going.

Anyway, that's all for today. My aunt is up from Houston, staying at my parents' house, so we're going over there for dinner and to visit. She's a very cool lady, I love visiting with her.

Hey, great, awesome news! "Treasure Quest" -- the Discovery Channel show about Odyssey Marine Exploration, which is a company that does archaeological and commercial shipwreck exploration and recovery (old ships) -- is being renewed for a second season!!!! Wooooooooot! We just watched the last episode of the season Thursday night and were feeling so bummed, and then the announcement came out on Friday that Discovery had decided to go another season, so we (Aidan and I) are totally psyched. It won't show until ... I don't know, next spring? This fall? But we're okay, because it will probably be like this for us: Mythbusters until Fall, then Storm Chasers (for me -- Aidan doesn't like watching tornadoes, for some reason), then Treasure Quest again. *SIGH* Life is good. :-)

Okay, the kittehs are demanding their evening "treat," so off I go to acquiesce.

Happy weekend!

Addictive personality -- fun or trouble?

2009-04-01T20:27:00.003-05:00

I have a confession to make -- I joined a social networking site (not going to tell you which one, since the last thing I need is a hundred people wanting to be my "friend"). And it is eating my time like my cats eat food! (This would be majorly frequently.) Not only have I found some long lost friends from my high school youth group days, the semester I spent in London, our old church in Arizona and other places (and that's the reason I joined up, and it's a very cool thing!!), but I have discovered the time wasters -- the stupid little "tests" and quizzes, the things you can send to your friends, some of which are incredibly cute and addicting. And if, like me, you have an addictive personality, it can be fun -- and it can be huge trouble because you WASTE ALL YOUR TIME!!!

BTW, if you're interested, the Strong Woman of the Bible that I am is Mary Magdalene. And which Star Wars character am I? Han Solo, of course! (that one rocked).

But I have, as I said, caught up with old friends, and that is so awesome!! Seeing their photos and the photos of their children is so cool! And I now have a very convenient way to keep up with my nieces. We never call each other, so now we actually communicate once in awhile!

So, anyway, it's a good tool when used properly. I just have to remember to be responsible and not get sucked into the time-wasting stuff. (Oh, boy, Phil Joel's "Don't Waste Your Life" song, which is all about spending too much time on video games and on social networking sites, comes raging to mind here -- "Don't waste your life, it's the only one you have." That's just part of the chorus.)

AND NOW ... on to scrapbooking! I spent all day over at my friend Elizabeth's house yesterday (well, about 5-1/2 hours), and I got two-and-a-half layouts done. She got six done in that time. Does that tell you anything about how slow I am? Of course, I do tend to put a lot more layers and stuff, but still! I haven't scanned the finished ones yet, so I can't show them to you.

However, I CAN show you the other 6"x6" Favorite Photos LO I finished over the weekend, just as I promised last post. So here it is:

This is my absolute, hands-down, ultra-mega favorite picture of Bjorn. I took this twenty years ago when we were on our London Semester (which is where I met him) and he was just a baby -- did I rob the cradle or what? lol (I'm five years older than him.) Bjorn hates this picture, complains that his hair was too long and bushy. But I LOVED his long hair! And he was so skinny then! *SIGH* Oh, for those days-gone-by. Although, back then he wasn't a Christian, so I'll take him the way he is now, thanks, grumpy mid-life crises and all. ;-)

When the photo was taken, he was over at our flat (I shared it with four other girls -- well, young women, really), doing some homework. This was the typical state of our dining table, at which we did not eat because it was always piled with stuff. Including wilting flowers! lol Bjorn's flat was right next door, but because of the very interesting way in which the building was laid out, it was down a level and a half from ours. I met him, the boy next door, literally out on the front sidewalk the day we first got to London. It was most definitely a God-thing.

So, that's really all for tonight. We spent an hour this afternoon with Aidan's college-prep counselor about all the things he needs to be doing right now towards college planning and preparing. It sounds so exciting! ... until I stop and remember that means he'll be leaving home in two years. And then I want to just sit and cry. Ah, the joys of being pre-menopausal! lol

Six by sixes, and an Easter card

2009-03-30T21:10:00.006-05:00

Ha! Bet you thought you would get to see all three of those today! Well, no. Because I have to have things to show you when I'm NOT being creative, right? But I did manage to accomplish these things in the last several days, so at least I'm not just vegging in front of the computer ALL day long!

So today we'll start with a 6"x6" Favorite Photos page.

Even though you can't see Aidan's face, can you see why this is one of my favorite photos? Typical boy pose, digging around at the ocean's edge, big ol' plaid shirt on, cool hat, clunky shoes ... when you consider that my son is a TOTAL geek, these "typical" boy pictures are kinda priceless! Not that I'm the least bit ashamed of his geekiness, because I'm actually very proud of it. But it's fun to see these "all boy" pictures, since he's certainly that! He's just not a "jock" boy. (Geeks break far fewer bones in childhood!)

Anyway, this was taken on Whidbey Island in Washington State, which is where my parents lived when they were first married. My dad was in the Navy and based at the Naval station in Oak Harbor. My oldest brother was born here, and what was really cool was that we were there in Oak Harbor on his birthday! We called him from there and he was totally surprised and very pleased we'd thought of him. He'd had no idea we were going. We went because Bjorn had a business trip to Seattle, and back in those days the company he worked for sometimes paid for the wife to go along, so we paid for Aidan and took a mini-vacation to see my parents' old stomping grounds. It was a very special vacation for me. I had so much fun calling my mother every half hour and comparing notes!

Speaking of Aidan, thanks to all of you who prayed for him and his classmates and sponsors/teachers to have a safe trip over the weekend. He arrived back at school safely at 1:00 in the morning Sunday, and was so excited about it he talked all the way home. He placed third in state in the Decathlon test (basically a general-knowledge test about ancient Rome and the Latin language) and the Advanced Latin Grammar test. Plus, the Open Certamen team he was on placed first! So he was pretty psyched! Although being on the "Open" team doesn't mean they go on to Nationals, his teacher still wants to take his high school group along with the middle-school group (who actually did win first in state with the "regular," qualifying-type Certamen team) to the National Convention this summer. Aidan and his bunch can still take the tests, you don't have to qualify for those. So we may be going to Sacramento for vacation this summer! (Yes, we are going along on this one. I'm not ready to let my child fly on a plane without me yet -- I know the teachers and other sponsors would take good care of him, and he's a very responsible kid, but ever since 9/11 and the teacher and kid (or kids) who were going to some kind of national competition were killed on one of the hijacked planes, I just have this weirdness about him flying without one of us (and preferably with ME).

Still spending time digging around in my family roots. Now I'm trying to find the burial sites of two little boys who would have been my mother's uncles. They died of diptheria within just a few weeks (I think) of each other before my grandmother (their sister) was born, and my great-grandfather had a nervous breakdown over it. He moved the family to a different town in a different county and never could go back to visit their graves. So as a result, where they're buried is now lost to us. And I really would like to find their final earthly resting place so I can go there someday and pay my respects and those of my mother and grandmother (even though Granny is with them in Heaven now!) I found the death date of one of the boys, who was two years old when he died, but I can't find the other one in the Texas Death Index at all, and it should be there, same year. So someone must have either mis-transcribed the name when they made up the list, or else it got lost somehow. I'm determined to get to the bottom of it!

Well, it's getting late, and I've got things to do. I'm going to a friend's house to scrap tomorrow, and I am taking WAAAAAAAAY too much stuff, but I find that I have no idea how to pack for a crop -- I don't know which pictures I'll want to scrap ahead of time out of the stack I've picked to take; I don't know what papers I'll want; I might want some of my new punches; I'm not even going to begin to think about taking stamps, that would be TOO much; not taking any ribbon or markers; am taking some embellies, but not nearly enough to be comfortable! lol; and I decided this time to take my Cricut, which is exceedingly heavy and requires that I take the cartridges and the cutting mats (thank goodness I remembered those!), and etc., etc., etc. What I'm taking tons of is paper. ALL my K&Co pads, of which there are many. Most of my "boy" papers. ALL of my Club Scrap paper, because it is the most awesomely heavy cardstock and great for layout bases. And several small pads. I am a crazy woman. I hope Elizabeth doesn't mind me "moving in" to her craft room!!

So, off I go to tie up the day's loose ends and get ready for bed. I hope everyone has a wonderful day, whatever day you read this!

Going back in time

2009-03-26T21:59:00.004-05:00

Well, I meant to get back to y'all yesterday, but just didn't quite manage to find blogging time, so here I am today. First, the layout:

When we lived in Colorado, our townhouse was directly behind the house of a very sweet, wonderful couple who befriended us and became sort-of our fill-in parents/grandparents in a way, Connie and Andy O (our houses were on the same lot, shared the same address, just had different "unit" letters, like apartments would have). When Aidan was born, Connie crocheted him a blanket that became THE "Blankie", which was loved to absolute death (we still have the remnants). On Aidan's first easter (and the next one, too), they had an Easter egg hunt for their grandkids, and invited Aidan to join them, making their little side garden into Aidan's very own hunting ground. I think Aidan got more from picking at grass and looking at Connie's flowers than "hunting" eggs, but it was a lot of fun. (The hat he's wearing, BTW, became his "signature" toddler hat.)

Ingredients:
CS: Stampin' Up!
DP: Autumn Leaves
Ribbon: Stampin' Up!
Buttons: SU; unknown
Diecuts: Cricut "Home Decor" cartridge
Alpha: Cricut "George & Basic Shapes"
Punches: SU; Fiskars; EKSuccess
Date stamp: The Angel Company
Inks & markers: SU

The "grass" at the bottom was made with various elements from the "Home Decor" cartridge, cut up and stuck to double-sided adhesive on the back of the green scalloped bit, which took some time to do. (Why doesn't "A Walk in My Garden" have a grass border shape??? I mean, gardens do have grass sometimes!)

Aidan is going on a school trip to Dallas tomorrow (Friday), so I would definitely appreciate prayers of traveling safety, as well as just general safety for him and his fellow-travelers. They'll be getting in very late Saturday night. No, we're not going with him. Yes, this makes me nervous. Yes, I'm a helicopter mom.

Hey, remember last time how I made the joke about the TornadoVideos.net (it is .net) team, how if they showed up in your neighborhood you knew it was time to take cover? Well, yesterday afternoon we had some storms blow up in our neck of the woods, and I checked their tracker, and sure enough, they were just northwest of here where there was a tornado warning! I had to laugh at the irony. Fortunately, the worst part of the storm went north of us -- people up in northwest Austin got serious hail, some as large as baseball size! -- but I still made sure the tornado closet was cleared for if Aidan and I and the kitties needed to get in it! (Bjorn was at the chiropractor at the time.) There was a tornado sighted up near Llano, but it was never confirmed. Don't know if the guys got any good video of rotation or anything.

Well, I went to the allergy doc today to get the scoop on my blood test results (remember the nine vials I had drawn a few weeks ago?). Everything looked mostly okay, or within normal ranges, except for my pneumococcal antibodies, which were somewhat low. Apparently this includes strep as well, and these are some of the most common bacteria floating around. SO -- I got a pneumonia shot! (Ouch!) I'm to be tested again on just that one thing in four weeks, and if my antibodies have gone up, then we're all good there. Supposedly this will help with the frequency of my sinus infections (and hopefully eradicate them entirely, please God!)

So, that's the scoop for now. I did do a 6"x6" "Favorite Photos" page today, but haven't scanned it yet. I'll do that tomorrow. I started another one, we'll see how that goes. I've been kinda blah on scrapping the last few days -- gotta pull out of that quick!! I remembered the other day that I still have a couple of months on my Ancestry.com membership, so decided I'd better get back to work on my family history stuff before it expires. Ancestry.com memberships are not cheap. Maybe I can get it renewed for Mother's Day ...

Happy Friday, and a good weekend to all. (I will be missing my boy, and praying for him to pwn all the other kids in the Latin competitions!)

A colorful change!

2009-03-24T20:55:00.004-05:00

Okay, after the last post, I figure y'all deserve something on a much more colorful scale! And not quite so austere, either.

So I give you: A Slice of My Life -- March 12, 2009

This layout is based on the "A Slice of My Life" quiz from a scrapbook idea book I got a year or so ago. I just answered the questions and printed them out, found an acceptable, relatively recent picture of myself (I think it was in December), then stuck them together in a layout, going ... shall we say, a little wild with the embellies! It started out innocently enough with a few buttons. Then I had to add the felt flowers I'd recently bought. Well, then I needed some ribbon to delineate the questions from the title block, and of course more felt flowers and buttons. Then the bottom part of the questions section looked kinda blank with nothing outlining it, thus the brad party. And a bit of ric-rac to separate me from the date section. And the stamped flowers on the question bit needed some 3-D centers. Yeah. I got a little crazy, used up some stash there! But it was fun, and I actually like the way it turned out. It screams "I am a girl in a household full of guys and I don't get to scrap girl stuff very much!!!" Either that or, "This woman needs serious therapy!!!" lol

So, let's see if I can remember the ingredients, since I forgot to write them on the back:
DP: K&Co; Basic Grey (go figure)
CS: Gina K Designs (white); SU (tiny bit of Pacific Point -- the punched bit with the pink ribbon on it)
Stamps: SU; and I forgot who made the alphas ... I'll have to look that up
Die-cut alpha: Cricut "George & Basic Shapes"
Punches: SU; Fiskars
Buttons: SU; Basic Grey; Heidi Swapp; misc from fabric store
Brads: Making Memories; Queen & Company (along with the little flowers); misc
Ribbon & Ric-rac: SU
Felt flowers: dang, I can't remember. I got them at Archivers in the $1.99 Hot Spot section
Swirl template: Don't remember that either.
Acrylic paint: Making Memories
Fonts: no clue

The journaling/questions aren't cut off at the top in Real Life. My stitching program just does that. You can click on the photo to see it larger if you really want to know about my life on March 12, 2009!

I finished a layout of Aidan's first Easter this morning, and have actually scanned it, so will have that next time. And I made my hubby an anniversary card this afternoon. It's our 18th wedding anniversary today! That's a lot of time to put up with each other ;-) -- and I'm very glad we've stuck it out this far, and I know we'll make it to the "death do us part" thing, or til Jesus comes back. (And, no, "til death do us part" doesn't include murder! lol)

I actually signed up for Twitter today -- I can't believe I did that, but one of the teams on Storm Chasers (the tornado-chasers show that comes on the Discovery Channel in October every year) has a website called TornadoVideos.com (or is it .net?), and they've started sending out e-mail notices when they're out on the hunt, now that tornado season has started. You can track on their site where they are, and they even have live video feeds when they're out on the trail. Anyway, I thought it'd be cool to get tweets from them while they're out, if they remember to tweet while they're chasing. I'm just doing it via e-mail. I don't have a cheap texting plan. Tomorrow they're going to be basing out of San Angelo, which is a couple hundred miles or so west of here. Apparently we have a slight chance for severe weather tomorrow, and I guess they think there might be some action down Texas way. Yay. (Not.) Anyway, I figure if you get a tweet or e-mail from these guys and they're in your direct neck of the woods -- time to start rounding up the family and the cats and head for the tornado closet! (San Angelo is not direct enough, but I'll be keeping an eye on my e-mail tomorrow!)

At the moment I'm ambivalent about tornado season this year. I mean, normally I'm sorta freaking out about the whole concept by now. Not that I want a tornado to hit my house, or neighborhood, or Aidan's school or Bjorn's workplace, or anywhere that we happen to be! But usually when I see the green circle with "SLIGHT" in the middle of it on the National Weather Service severe storms outlook page, I start getting this nagging thing in the back of my brain, which, of course, increases exponentially when the circle is red and says "MODERATE". Maybe it's just because it's early in the season. Maybe it's because I've watched so many storm chaser shows. Maybe I'm just beginning to trust God more? I don't know. Today I am not freaking over the possibility of severe weather in our area tomorrow. Tomorrow may be a different story entirely. My brain is not predictable these days. (Not that it ever has been!)

Okay, gotta run do some other things. I'd love to stay and chat, but, hey -- I'm sure you're SO sorry I can't keep typing away! ;-)

Hello again! Whew, what a week ...

2009-03-22T22:26:00.007-05:00

In Memoriam:

Dorothy Campbell (Granny)
Sept. 9, 1912 - March 22, 2008
She went to be with her Lord and Savior one year ago today. Boy, do we miss her! But she wouldn't want to come back to this earth if we dragged her by the ankles! Not when she gets to spend every day with Jesus!

This has just been a rough week! Not sick, although there was a two-day mini-sinus-migraine involved at one point. More just a little, um ... strife, I guess you'd call it, on the home front. Things are better now, but the first part of the week was pretty much h-e-double-hockey-sticks (or for those of you who are Newsboys fans, "the place where they don't serve breakfast"). Terrible, terrible pit of depression. Followed by okay-ness. But I didn't feel much like scrapping. Then the headache, when I wanted terribly to scrap and couldn't. Then on Friday, Aidan had a friend over and we had pizza, and I ate it. Which I'm not supposed to do because I'm allergic to wheat. It makes me tired and kinda "brain-swell" grumpy (I mean, it does, literally, swell the brain a teensy bit, and that's just irritating!). So I didn't scrap then, either. So, yeah, bleah on the scrapping this week! And then thinking about Granny dying a year ago (I hate thinking about her last day, there in the hospital ...) And it was a kinda bleah Spring Break, too. Aidan and I both want another week to do "right" this time.

However, on the spiritual front, things are waaaaaaaay better. Probably because of having to work through the ick at the beginning of the week. On Friday I made a playlist on Windows Media Player of worship songs, so yesterday I had that playing in the house, and it was AMAZING what a difference it made in the general atmosphere of things, as well as in my heart and spirit. Very, very awesome.

I did actually do a digi layout early in the week. It fit my frame of mind, conveniently, but it was also for the SHINE Faithbooking project. This week's theme (starting tomorrow) is "Struggles and Scars". So here's one of the pages:

I'm putting the whole layout (there are two pages) on my Foggy Specs blog -- somehow it seems more appropriate there.

That picture of me is about 20 years old, BTW. A self-portrait taken at the elementary school I went to growing up. I had just broken up from an emotionally abusive relationship and was having to pretty much rebuild my life. Not a happy time in my life. But God was there in it with me, all the way, and He got me through it. I don't see how I could've made it any other way.

Okay, it's late and I have one more blog to post on, so I've gotta finish this up!

I do have another paper LO that I finished earlier this week, but keep forgetting to scan! Tomorrow!! (I hope!)

Blessings for a great week!

A "quick" card

2009-03-13T22:04:00.007-05:00

Um hmmm -- this is what I believe the Kiwis would call a "Tui moment" ("yeah, right"). Y'all know me. "Quick" card? Not even. Ever.

No exception here. But I did get it finished FINALLY, and have it posted now on Paper Craft Planet for the SHINE challenge for the week, so WHEW!

I decided we'd do "Praise" as the theme this week, and I like this verse a lot, so there ya go.

Ingredients:
CS: Stampin' Up!
Watercolor paper (unkn source)
DP (unkn source)
Stamps: SU; Above the Mark; Verve; Eureka
Inks: SU "Taken With Teal"; Versamark Watermark
EP: "Stampin' Stuff" clear
Cuttlebug music embossing folder
Fiskars "Threading Water" punch
Technique: Technique Junkies "Background Smoosh Resist"

I'm not THRILLED with this card, but it's okay. It didn't turn out anything like I had imagined it would, but, hey, some days are like that. I had wanted to use some felt flowers on it, but by the time I got the bird, the embossed music and the verse on there, it was just too much. So I'll just save the flowers for something else!

I was naughty and went to Archivers today even though I had vowed I wouldn't spend another penny on scrapping supplies this week. My frugality pledge seems to have flown partway out the window. So I'm trying to bring it back, but I failed utterly today. Hey, I had a 30% off coupon that expired on the 15th, and I knew I wouldn't be back up that way again before then, so I had to use it, right? I mean, Archivers is the only place where I feel like I'm wasting something important if I don't use their coupons there (at least the ones that are pertinent to me), since they don't really have "sales". Michaels -- eh, if I miss a week, no biggie. But Archivers is ONCE A MONTH, so if I waste a coupon, that's a WASTE, KWIM?

What did I buy with it? A 12x12 pack of Basic Grey's Marrakesh paper. I really like it (except for the elephant paper -- guess I could use that for a little boy page), but at $20 for a pack, I don't really like to get the whole thing without a coupon of some kind. I also bought a few sheets of individual-sheet paper (other stuff, not the BG), the felt flowers and some adhesive refill.

So can somebody explain to me why I keep buying paper??? I have TONS of the stuff. But they keep coming out with this gorgeous/awesome/hip-cool stuff that I "have" to have! It's an addiction, like buying stamps was when I was making cards (I have managed to curb that addiction now that I'm scrapping again -- so many of the stamps just don't work for scrapping, or they're too small or something). Now the thing is paper, and, granted, paper is cheaper if you look at it piece-by-piece, but it's so easy to go in and pop off $40 for a handful of paper without even trying! (I didn't do that today, BTW, but I have in the past.) I mean, it ain't just paper anymore, KWIM? There's double-sided paper, and there's shaped paper, and there's flocked/glittered/slick-embossed paper, and there's laser-cut lace paper and laser-cut felt overlays and fancy-edged paper and shimmer paper and metallic paper and ... first thing you know you've spent your kid's first year of college tuition on stinkin' SCRAPBOOK PAPER! Is it because it touches the little girl in all of us, the paper-doll buying, coloring-book using little girls who drooled over Barbie clothes and were so heavily marketed to about fashion that even if we're not "into" fashion now (so we say), we have to have the latest scrapbook stuff? And I'm not talkin' because it's the latest, but because it is APPEALING! Heck, I should just use the stuff as wallpaper if I love it this much! Otherwise it gets cut up, stuck behind photos and journaling and stamping and whatever else and stuck in a scrapbook album to be looked at once every six months or so. Or worse yet, slapped into a file with other Gotta Have It scrapbook paper and left there for ten years until I'm searching through for something else and go, "Oh, wow -- remember when that [insert trend here] thing was all the rage and I just fell in love and had to have it? Ewwwww -- what was I thinking? THAT stuff goes in the give-away pile!" lol (Never! Never! Not my Basic Grey and my K&Co, and all the other pretties ...)

Okay, it's late and I am really getting tired. I got my baby RAV4 back today! I'm so happy! Except that I do have to take it back on Monday to get the "TOYOTA" decal put on the tire cover. Somehow they ran out of time to do that before I got it at closing time today.

And it's Spring Break next week!! Wooooo hooooo! I would LOVE to be going to New Zealand, or lots of other places, but since we're homebodies (as usual), I'm going to enjoy sleeping in and goofing off and riding my kid about spending too much time on the computer when he needs to be working on his Bible class project and his Physics one. Okay, not so much that last part (about nagging Aidan). I will be doing a lot of that, I'm sure, but I won't be enjoying it.

Happy weekend to everyone!

Scrapbooking whirlwind!

2009-03-12T20:41:00.008-05:00

Wow -- I've been a scrappin' whirlwind lately! I figure I've already done more layouts in 2009 than I did in all of 2008, and it's only the second week of March! Unfortunately, I was too busy and then too tired today to do much, but I did get some journaling typed and started the process of picking paper and a photo or two for an "About Me" page. I found a Simple Scrapbooks special edition magazine-book I'd bought a year or two ago that's all about quizzes and questions you can ask yourself and others for scrapbook starters or entire LOs, so I picked one and went with it. Hopefully I can finish it tomorrow.

But tonight I have a couple of recently finished LOs to show you. The first is that other 6"x6" I was going to show last time but realized I hadn't scanned:

This photo was taken three years ago on a school field trip. Aidan had had his iPod for about five months. He might have been listening to music on it (at that point it would've been contemporary Christian -- he hadn't discovered Japanese anything yet), but more than likely he was listening to excerpts from Monty Python's "Holy Grail" movie. He had just discovered them, although Bjorn and I had been quoting bits forever. (No, I didn't journal that on the LO -- I should have, though. Maybe I'll make it a "hidden journaling" thing on the back)

Ingredients:
Papers: Basic Grey; DCWV
Letter Stickers: Basic Grey
Corner Punch: EK Success
Journaling Marker: Creative Memories (? - I borrowed it from my friend Elizabeth)
and as I put on the back ...
Boy by God

And now I have the big LO I was working on yesterday and the day before. I will show you the whole thing together first. And you will be gracious enough NOT to point out to me (or to snicker over there behind your computer screen) the rather glaring continuity mistake there is in where the middle strip of striped paper is placed in relation to the one on the other page. Which is accentuated by the Apricot ribbon. I am usually SOOOOO picky about those things, but I was clearly thinking about something else (like getting the vertical edges on the striped paper and the base paper aligned) and not lining up the pages together. *SIGH*

Now the separate pages:

So this LO started out as a sort-of "Aidan on the Beach in San Diego" deal, but by the time I got finished laying it out, it had morphed into a "looking over the horizon" thing and the whole metaphor for the Horizon of Life just hijacked my layout and ran away with it. But the truth is, I had taken all those pictures of him last Thanksgiving week on the beach in San Diego because it suddenly hit me as I was watching him walk around and draw in the sand and all that, that this kid that I love with every fibre of my being, every ounce of my essence, won't be my "kid" forever. In fact, the next time we go out to San Diego for T'giving (assuming we stick to our every-other-year routine), he'll be a senior and truly looking AT that Horizon of Life, getting ready to head out into the Big Adventure of Real Life. It almost ruined my whole trip, but I realized that this is just the way it has to be. In our society, in our times, kids grow up and leave home and lead their lives away from their parents. Sometimes "away" might be in the house next door, sometimes it's across the globe. Almost always there's a period of separation in there when they go off to college or go off to "find themselves." So how can I expect my kid to be any different? He WANTS to grow up and leave home. He WANTS to go "off" to college (although right now it's looking like UT, which is just downtown -- yay!!), and he WANTS to live his own life. And what's more, God has ordained this from the beginning. Aidan has a purpose in God's scheme. God has a design for Aidan's life, and it most likely doesn't include living at home for the rest of his life and being a Mama's Boy. Which is a good thing, because I don't want him to do that. I want Aidan to have the life he's supposed to have.

I'm just not quite ready for that yet!

Thus the journaling (you can click on the picture to see it larger). And, yes, I shed a tear or two when I wrote it. But I'm so glad to know that this kid IS in God's hands, that I CAN trust my wonderful Heavenly Father to look after him as he goes Out There on his own, into his life. I don't see how non-Christians do it. I'm so thankful for the power of prayer!

Okay, so enough philosophizing and Mom-izing and whatever. Here are the ingredients:

DP: CTMH, K&Co, Karen Foster Design
Chipboard Letters: Marcella by K
EP: "Stampin' Stuff" (Mark Enterprises)
Cricut alpha: "Jasmine"
Stamps: Crazy Mountain Stamps; The Angel Company
Compass Rose Digital Element: Buried Treasure Collection (ScrapGirls.com)
Ribbon: Stampin' Up!
Inks: SU; Ranger Industries Distress
Chipboard circle: Blockheads Stamps

I just realized to my horror that I forgot to make the card sample for the SHINE challenge that's supposed to start tomorrow! I did make some cards at a stamping get-together this morning, but none of them seemed to fit with what I want the theme to be, so I was planning on making a different card this afternoon, but I FORGOT! Geez. Okay, so I'll go apologize at PCP and do it tomorrow.

And I am utterly exhausted from the busy day, so I am off to bed! It rained all night last night, and even though it didn't rain during the day today, it's supposed to rain a lot tonight. It's raining right now, so I hope it'll keep doing it!

Cheers!

Featured Artist! and stuff

2009-03-11T22:46:00.004-05:00

Oh, wow -- a lot to say and a short time to type it in (because I'm tired and I wanna go to bed!)

First -- check THIS out. I was one of the "Made Ya Look Monday" featured artists this week at Faith Sisters, for my "Voice of the Sea" layout!!! Is that amazing or what? I mean, I haven't been digi-scrapping all that long, and it was a "standout layout"! Very kewl. And, as always "Soli deo gloria." (Check out the "About Me" to see what that means.) I'm supposed to have a "Featured Artist" blinkie, but as of this typing, I haven't figured out how to "snag" it and post it on Blogger yet.

Second thing: It's cold and it's pouring rain! I'm THRILLED about the rain. The cold, not so much, but as long as it's raining, I can live with it. I hope it rains like this all the way through Friday (as they're predicting). It didn't rain much during the day today, but has started up a lot this evening. YES!!! Even thundered once. Scared the cats to death!

Third thing: Here are the most recent "quickie" 6"x6" layouts for my "Favorite Photos" album ...

This is Aidan at Torrey Pines Beach in San Diego when we were there at Thanksgiving. Obviously I love this picture, it being in my Favorite Photos album, but there's just something kinda ... fun about it. It doesn't actually look 100% like Aidan -- there's some Hayden Christenson (sp?) in there, I think. (You know, Anakin Skywalker, but let's don't go the Darth Vader route, okay?) Anyway, it's just there because I like it!

Ingredients:
DP: K&Co, Basic Grey, Unknown (the mat)
Sand dollar paper ribbon: K&Co (I hate that it ended up looking like lace ...)
Corner punch: EK Success
Stamp: Heart & Soul Rubber Stamps
Ink: Ranger Distress, SU
Brads: Oriental Trading Co.,
Marker: Sharpie

... and then this one (please don't say "Darth Vader!" when you see it! lol)

I think actually he may have been scowling because I was taking a lot of pictures of him that day. And the sun was bright. But this is also his "determined" look, so I chose to go with that on the journaling! (Hey, artist's prerogative and all that.) The ugly blotch in the bottom right-hand corner isn't there in real life, it's just where I blurred out some personal information.

Ingredients:
DP: Basic Grey "Marakkesh" (however the heck you spell that)
Marker: Zig
Brads: Making Memories
Punch: EK Success

I just realized that I haven't yet scanned the third one, so you'll have to wait until yet another post to see it. Apologies!

Fourth thing: One of my Stampin' Up! Friends friends called me yesterday and informed me that Peter Furler, lead singer of the Newsboys, is retiring as concert frontman! (Read about it here if you're interested.) It's a very strange sitch, if you ask me (and a lot of other current fans -- remember, I'm a past fan). He's going to stick around to write songs and produce albums -- like there'll be any more -- but they've tapped Michael Tait, formerly of DCTalk to be the lead singer for their concerts.

This. Is. Wrong.

The Newsboys have a particular, certain sound, in large part from the actual music, as played by the instrumentalists, a great deal because of the songwriting and uniqueness of their songs, but also majorly because they are (or at least started out as) an AUSSIE band. Yes, they have Americans in the band. Yes, Phil is a Kiwi (I started to say "was" because he's a past member, but he's actually still a Kiwi, last time I checked). But Peter sings with a freakin' Aussie accent. And Michael Tait does. not. So if they're gonna keep this up, they need to graciously retire the "Newsboys" name, call themselves something else and go from there. Because "Newsboys" this ain't.

Nothing against Michael Tait. I loved DCTalk, and Mike's a great guy, wonderful singer (definitely not Aussie) But he is not and can never be a Newsboy. Sorry, Mike, but this just doesn't work.

Of course, have I asked about GOD'S will? No. But, I mean, c'mon, God! Michael Tait? No Peter?

For me the band carked it when Phil left. I mean, in my heart the epitaph reads "Newsboys -- 1987 or so through Dec. 31, 2006". But the band did go on and, much to my chagrin and major disagreement, made another album and had a bunch of concerts. I just don't see how they're gonna pull this one off. (For one thing, Pete is supposedly going to still sing lead on albums ... WTH?)

So, yes, this is weird and disturbing. Not that it affects me. As I said, for me the Newsboys died when Phil left and I've had no interest in any new songs, albums or concerts since. But I have to admit that I do have a very strong opinion about this latest move. And now I'm glad that Phil left before Pete did, because if Phil was still in the band and Michael Tait was the lead singer ... I would want to go to the concerts because of Phil, but without Pete it wouldn't be the same. His leaving, even with Phil there, would pretty much kill the Newsboys, too.

Of course, some people say, as Christians we shouldn't be "into" the personalities, we should just enjoy the music, we should be into it for its message (this was on the message boards at Newsboys.com). Um ... look, if you're a huge music fan, and if the band is amazingly good and has a specific, unique sound (as does Newsboys), then the personalities are what MAKE then band, and you don't go changing them 'round without changing something about the flavor of the band. When Jodi Davis left as guitarist, they never really did find a perfect replacement. Paul Colman did a decent job, but no one could replace Jodi (who is back, now, BTW -- another weird development -- since Paul decided to go back to his solo career). When John James left early on (after the first album Phil was on), that changed the sound a bit, but Peter was really the head of the band, anyway. They survived that just fine (at least IMHO.) But you can't make major personnel changes like they're doing now and expect the sound and "feel" of the band to remain the same. It was true when Phil left (especially with the "feel"), and now with Pete no longer the lead singer ... Nope. I don't see this flying. I could be very wrong, but it just seems too fundamentally wrong, like John Lennon leaving the Beatles and them replacing him with Harry Belafonte. (I love Harry Belafonte, BTW.)

Oh, well. As long as Phil keeps putting out great solo albums, I will be fine. (Now. It took me two years to get to this point!)

Alright, it's late, I have things to do tomorrow (another club/class at my SU Demo's house), and I'm worn out. So ... thanks for putting up with my Newsboys rant (if you actually did). I'll be back later with more layouts -- I did get another 2-page 12"x12" finished tonight, as well.

Blessings ...

Part two of my "black" art period

2009-03-09T22:03:00.004-05:00

Okay, so yesterday as I was finishing my two scrapbook layouts, I became vividly aware of the fact that both layouts use black as a base color. Although nothing I did today involved black at all, I'm calling those two layouts my "black" period (you know how famous artists often had specific "periods" where they were doing certain things). Yes, it was short-lived, but you never know when it may surface again. Black is a good base color!

So today I'm going to show you my faithbooking layout that is the sample for this week's topic in the SHINE group at Paper Craft Planet. I decided we would scrap about the Names of God this week. (Gee, Stace, could you have please picked something bigger? Cause, like, this one won't be enough of a challenge. -- Tui moment (yeah, right)) (I discovered the Kiwi phrase "tui moment" at a Kiwi scrapper's blog this weekend. I hope I'm using it right. If you're a Kiwi and you read this, please correct me if I'm wrong!)

Anyway, it is a rather large, awe-inspiring topic, since the Bible has many, many different names for God (if you read Hebrew or Greek). Fortunately there are a number of wonderful websites with the scoop on His various names. It's really awesome to be able to focus on those names and what they mean (like Jehovah-jireh means "Provider", so you can think about all the ways He has provided for you). One of the sites had a 30-day devotional based on His names, and several years ago I did a Kay Arthur Bible study that was all about His names, and it was fantastic.

So, anyway, my challenge was rather vague -- just to scrap about the names of God in any way that seemed to fit you. I gave the group a couple of website resources, and of course they can always google "Names of God" (with the quotes). So here's what I did with the assignment:

Left side:

Right side

God's biggest name is that He calls Himself "I AM" signifying that He is eternal, from time immemorial forward forever. So that's the significance of the "I AM" on both pages. If you want to read the strips you can click on that page image to see a larger image (that's true of the other page, as well).

There's also hidden journaling behind the list of names at the bottom of the right side. I had to hide it because I ran out of room, and even then it's more vague than I would like it to be. Here's what it says:

At some time in my life -- and at all times in my life -- God the Father and God the Son have been (and are) all these things to me: Creator (I see that in [my son]); Preserver; Mighty & Strong against the enemy who tries each day to destroy me; My Banner as He goes to war against that enemy; He has always provided for me and my family; I have seen His healing hand so many times -- physically, mentally, spiritually; He has definitely been my Peace in the many, many storms of life. And He is my Savior, both as God the Father and as "Yeshua" -- Jesus -- the One who has set me free from the law of sin and death. Praise His Holy Name -- all of them!

I picked this paper (the black with red swirly flowers) because -- well, it was cool and kinda awesome. Also, the red reminded me of the blood of Jesus. And I thought doing red letters against black would really stand out. So now you know. ;-)

Ingredients are:
DP: BoBunny "Le Jardin Poppy"
CS: GinaK Designs white; Paper Company text-weight (gold)
Stamps: Stempleglede "Grunge Collection"; SU monograms; Kiwi-Impressionz (crackle -- kissing tech, can't see it too well)
Ink: SU Real Red classic
Big Bracket on left side: Katy Pertiet "Old Alpha" brush set
Cricut cartridges: Base Camp; Jasmine
Brads: Making Memories; unknown source
Krylon gold webbing spray (on large "I AM" letters)

I think that's all.

So today I spent a little time in the loft. Finished a 6"x6" that I had started at my friend's house, and then did another 6"x6" (both are for my "Favorite Photos" album). You'll have to wait to see those another time because 1) I left one of them at my mother's house and haven't scanned it yet, and 2) you've already seen a layout today!

I had major fog-of-brain today and almost forgot I was supposed to take my car to the body shop up near Aidan's school today to get the rear-ending damage fixed. They had called on Thursday (or Wednesday) and set it up, and I was laying on the couch not in the best of shape, so I didn't get right up and write it down. So, as I was driving down to Michaels to check out the albums and punches they had on sale, I saw a car with a window decal from my son's school on it, and I thought that was kinda interesting since the school is so far from where we live (this was in our neck of the woods). Then I thought about my license plate holder which is one of those you buy at Target or someplace and it has interchangeable letters so you can make your own plate holder. I had made one with my son's school name and mascot name on it because when I first got my car I didn't want anything on the windows. And now it's very faded and I have a window decal for the school, so I was thinking that once I got the back of the car fix I'd just have the body shop guys throw the holder away, and all of a sudden I went HOLY COW! I was supposed to take the car in today! And it's, like 1:30 in the afternoon. So I went into panic mode (as I am wont to do) and called Bjorn to see if the other guy's insurance had called us yet about a rental car (which they had not). And I got all antsy about needing to get the car up there!

But did I turn right around and go up to the collision place? No -- I still went to Michaels (although I rushed my trip)! Am I a diehard scrapper/stamper or what! lol

Anyway, got the car turned in and went next door to rent a car and they couldn't rent me one without a credit card. I don't have a credit card. I have only debit cards. This is for the safety of our budget and our marriage. The couldn't take a debit card unless I brought with it a paycheck stub and the stub of a utility bill. I'm fifteen freakin' miles from home with no way to get ANYWHERE, and I can't rent a car. Of course, I could call my poor elderly father to come get me, but I didn't want to have to do that. So the guy and I go round and round for awhile, and I finally call Bjorn, who ends up having to drive from his work, which is also about fifteen miles or so away from the school, just so he can use his credit card to get me a friggin' car! He is a saint (my husband) no matter what else I may say about him. So now I am driving a Chevy Impala instead of my RAV4 -- and what a change! It's weird. I'm too low to the ground. I hit my knee on the steering column getting out of it at the grocery store. There are no restraints in the trunk to keep the groceries from rolling around (and it is a spacious trunk!).

However, it is more roomy than my baby RAV. And it's kinda cool looking. So I can do it for a few days. But I definitely want my RAV4 back!!

Okay, it's bedtime around here. The hubster has already toddled off, the kid is making noises in that direction, and the cats are demanding to be fed. Come to think of it, I need a snack, too!

Hope y'all have a great day whatever day it is you read this!
Various fonts on names list

The loft has seen my face!

2009-03-08T21:41:00.005-05:00

And all the other parts of me. And I have PAPER scrapped! Oh, YES!! Real ink on my fingers, real scissors and hand cramps! Pop dots for 3-Dness! Actual Real Live Brads! And even webbing spray for texture! *Deep sigh of contentment* Digital has its place, but there ain't NUTHIN' like the Real Deal, fellow babies. NUTHIN'.

I did go to the allergy doc on Friday, as I had mentioned in Thursday's post. He didn't check for fungus, but he DID want to have my immune system checked. Let's just say that after that little procedure I believe in vampires. I think my doc has a secret contract with the lab down there. They drew nine vials of blood out of me. You read that right. NINE. Now, no, they weren't all the large size. Some were quite small. But still ... NINE. They'll be sending some to the Mayo Clinic, some to Johns Hopkins, some to the Centers for Disease Control ... I don't know whether I feel like a lab rat or a celebrity! Or if I should panic? Nah, I won't do that. My history is that there is NEVER anything "wrong" with me. Which is really a good thing, but it would be nice to have an ANSWER now and again.

Okay, on to the scrapping, which is why you came here. I won't show you both layouts today (mwuhahahaha), but I'll show you one of the others I had started at my friend's house week before last and only just now got around to finishing. Partly because I had to wait for the other set of fancy giant photo corners to come in (I only had one and had to order the other), and the other was because of the lovely sinuses. (Should Peter Jackson do a movie called that? I mean, he did do one called "The Lovely Bones" -- I think it was him. I haven't seen it.)

Anyway, here's the LO. It's two pages, but I will post one after the other, since it really doesn't matter that they be viewed together. Heck, maybe I'll post the "together" view afterward. Please keep in mind that occasionally my freebie page-stitching program does a Weird Thing, which it did in this case and made the Right Page (the second one) come out looking a bit skewed. I promise you it isn't this way In Real Life (Elizabeth, you can attest to that!), but I was too lazy to re-scan and re-stitch it, since I was doing four pages in that round:

Left page:

Right side

This was many moons ago when I was a)young and b)thin. I got to spend a semester in London (actually met my husband there!), and the week before we settled in to live there, those of us who wanted to and who paid the extra $$ went on a "mini-tour" of Europe. It was very "mini" -- one day in Brussels (basically an overnight and a few hours the next day), two days in Amsterdam, and three in Paris. I'm not complaining! It was awesome for a rather sheltered girl from the tumbleweed fields of West Texas. So this LO is the beginning of the Paris bit. Man, I wish I could look that good again! Alas, one husband, one child and twenty years later ... yeah, probably not. But at least I have it to look back upon.

Here's the LO with both pages together, BTW (nearly forgot):

And here are the deets on the ingredients:
DP: Paper House Productions; Basic Grey
CS: GinaK Designs; SU: Paper Company
Corners: Heidi Swapp
Pearls: Hero Arts; K&Co.
Punch: EKSuccess
Journaling Marker: Zig
Brushes on photo: Decorative Alpha; KM-Paris; something swirly (I tried several and didn't note which one I settled on -- my bad!)
Stamp: The Angel Company
Ink: SU Whisper White craft
Chalk: Pebbles shimmer chalks (white)

We are supposed to have a Rollercoaster Weather week coming up. AKA a "Typical Texas Weather" week. Starting out in the 80s F, and then by midweek we will be plummeting to a high of around 50F. So, okay, this has been our winter. And it's weird and I'm tired of it. For WINTER we should be in the 60s and 70s with occasional bouts of 40s and 50s. And now that it's spring here we should have 70s and 80s with the occasional drop into the 60s until about April, then the 60s are usually gone. And I KNOW I shouldn't be whining because when it's 105F, I'm gonna be wishing for much cooler. But not 51. I was ready to put away the winter clothes (not the long jeans -- I hate giving those up). I was ready to shift the air vents from the heater configuration to the A/C config (we have a two-story house, so how we do the vents varies depending on the season). Okay, yeah, I'm whining, but still. Around 50? Not even. I do hope we get the rain they're promising, though. We are officially in an "Extreme Drought", worst since 1917, so we are definitely, definitely needing any raindrops we can get!

Alright, that's enough for today. I gotta post over in the Foggy Specs blog, then gotta get to bed. This Daylight Savings Time shift thing has not been an easy shift! (And I won't get started on that -- we didn't have to do it in Arizona and it was wonderful!)

Blessings for a wonderful week!

A virtual scrapbook page

2009-03-05T16:14:00.004-06:00

...because I am still on the sinus infection rollercoaster, and haven't felt up to doing anything that requires much effort all week. I am going to the allergy doc tomorrow to see what the heck is up. His nurse prac or whatever said it could involve fungus, since I've been taking so many antibiotics. Isn't that a lovely thought? Aren't you glad I shared?

So yesterday I finally gave in and made a digi-page. But it's not "in place of" a paper page. I decided that if I'm going to do the occasional digi-page, it should be something that probably wouldn't include a family-type photo, or at least not one that I intend to scrap paper-ally. I thought the "about me" type pages could be digital, if I wanted to do a digital thing. Or, as I have already done, some of the faithbooking. Really, I think digi-scrapping looks pretty cool (and you can get TONS of free kits and stuff, so it's actually cheaper), but once you get your page actually printed out, it's just 2-D, no matter how skilled you are at making it look 3-D. It's flat. And somehow that just bugs the crud out of me.

So, anyway, here's the page I finished last night:

As you may know, I LOVE the ocean ... actually, that's a huge understatement. And it's just SO WRONG that I don't live where I can go walk on a beautiful sandy beach every day of my life! Ah, well -- I do love Central Texas. Except for the allergies, and the fact that it's not New Zealand.

Here are the digital elements credits. Oh, and the photo -- it's not mine. It's one I pulled off the internet awhile back. It's -- surprise, surprise -- someplace in New Zealand. I wish I had put the photographer's name in the file name but I didn't. My apologies to him, whoever he is.

Paper: "Beach Glass" kit, Ginger Scraps designs (ScrapStreet site)
Cords: "A Touch of Japan" kit, Michelle Batton, designer (Faith Sisters site)
Glass dots: "Spontaneous Delight" kit, Carrie Stephens, designer (Shabby Princess site)
Journaling tag: "The Promise Collection", (designer unknown) (Shabby Princess)
Sand dollar: "Maritime" kit, Ronnie McCray, designer (unknown site)
Distressing on photo: Photoshop Dry Media Brushes
Alpha letters: "Shabby Mommy" kit (recolored); designer unknown (Shabby Princess site)
Fonts: Font Garden "Jayne" (journaling); Freebooter (Scripture); BahiaScript SSK (title)

Some of the kits I pulled from are new, some are a couple of years old (from my first toe-dabble in the digi-scrapping world), so that's why some of the credits are missing.

Anyway, it was fun, but my shoulders are sore (I don't have the best posture at the computer, especially when I'm hanging on the couch), and ... yeah, no great tactile experience. Still, I really like the way it turned out! And it is one I'll have printed, eventually.

Okay -- not much else to report, except that Spring has sprung here in Central Texas -- low 80s F, wind, lots of sunshine and lots of trees are blooming (we have several Mountain Laurels that are bloomed out and, while the scent of the blooms would be lovely in moderation, at this strength they just about knock you out!). Hang on, all you who are stuck in winter -- Spring will come! (Wanna borrow some?)

Under a Blood Red Sky

2009-02-27T23:16:00.004-06:00

Yeah, baby. Remember that video? "U2: Live -- Under a Blood Red Sky". The Red Rocks Concert. 1985. I was at the grocery store today and they had the DVD for sale. Cleaned-up video, extra songs, commentary, etc. Do you think I could pass that up? I mean, heck, this was the defining music of my young adult life, the defining concert video. I bought the vid back in early 1988, watched it constantly (enough so that my parents began to get worried about me and I had to sneak watch it when they weren't home -- and I was 25 years old!) I do tend to be obsessive, if you hadn't noticed that yet. (Does the name "Phil Joel" ring a bell? lol) So tonight I watched it. First time since we got rid of our VHS player several years ago. Gosh, I love this concert! (And, boy, did Bono ever have THE DEFINITIVE mullet!)

I got interested in U2 in 1988 when The Joshua Tree album came out. Because I liked that one, I dug up their older ones and bought them, too. "Sunday, Bloody Sunday" really caught my attention, and I began to wonder what the song was talking about. So I looked up "Bloody Sunday" in connection with Ireland and discovered the 1972 massacre of civilians at the hands of the British army that had happened in the town of Derry in Northern Ireland. (You can look it up in Wikipedia if you're interested.) 1988 was the same year that there was a sort-of tit-for-tat thing going on in Northern Ireland involving funerals of IRA men and members of their counterpart Protestant terrorist gangs. I can't remember who was killed first -- I think a Provie (an IRA man), and then I think the UVF or one of the other Prod paramilitaries killed someone at his funeral, and then if I recall correctly some Provies killed someone at the UVF guy's funeral. I got very interested in the Northern Irish conflict from that and the "Sunday, Bloody Sunday" song, which started me off on an over-12-year-long obsession with Ireland.

I know the terminology because 1) I did an Independent Study course on the "Current Troubles" in Northern Ireland when I was in college at Arizona State, had to write a 25-page research paper on the topic, and 2) I later wrote a novel that was set in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in the early nineties, before everybody began to become more level-headed and the Cease Fire started up, and the Modern Troubles pretty much changed irrevocably so that the IRA and the Protestant paras are no longer a huge factor in the lives of the Northern Irish people -- at least where violence is concerned. In all honesty, I've lost track of what's going on over there now. But for ages I knew so much about it, and I can even talk with a Northern Irish brogue (which is very different from other types of Irish brogues). To get a hint of it, here's what it sounds like when a person from Northern Ireland says "Northern Ireland": Norn Iron. It's so cool!

Anyway, I totally love U2's stuff up through Rattle & Hum. Then they went weird on me and I couldn't stick with them anymore. I think lately they've supposedly gone back to their roots a bit, and they have apparently put out a new album that I'm mildly interested in. But for me Iconic U2 is the "War" album, "Unforgettable Fire" and "The Joshua Tree." Their best stuff ever. Ever.

I promise I'll show you my two finished mini-scrapbook pages in a minute. Allow me to wax a bit more "nostalgique" about U2 and then I'll be done.

It's their sound that does it to me. There is NO other band that has the U2 sound except U2. They started it, and no one can do it half as well. And they are the standard by which I measure all other bands. I know the Newsboys are not U2, but they were unique in the Christian music world when I first heard them (and I still consider them to be unique in the flavor of their sound), something I considered "worthy of U2" because of their freshness, their uniqueness, and their excellence. That's the main reason I fell in love with them, and the main reason they're still my favorite band today. And I still measure my Christian bands by U2 (because I don't really listen to anything else). The only other band I've heard that halfway compares in my book is Tree63. They have a U2-meets-Sting sound, and they are awesome. They just aren't the Newsboys ;-)

Okay. To summarize -- U2 are AWESOME (even if I'm not still their #1 fan today; I do really think Bono is an amazing person, incredibly intelligent, his world-saving ideas are brilliant and really will work if we can just get enough support going for them, and he's a Christian, albeit a rather unconventional one, but much more Christlike, despite his filthy mouth, than a darned awful lot of "good Christian people" I know); U2 is probably the definitive music influence in my life, even more so than the Beatles, who I really grew up with as a small child; U2 is my measuring stick by which all other rock bands are judged.

Oh, and I had a mullet in 1988, too -- just like Bono's (his 1988 one, not the 1985 one in "Under a Blood Red Sky"). It was unisex, remember? And very, very cool despite what people think now.

AND NOW, if you're still with me, here are the mini-pages you've been waiting for:

Now, I realize that the photos aren't exactly high quality. I don't even know for sure who took them. These are pictures of my dad and my nieces when the girls were in high school and were in town for a bowling tournament. (They were excellent bowlers, BTW!) The reason these pictures are in my Favorite Photos album is because they capture so well the huge amount of love my daddy has for "his girls" (granddaughters). And you can tell the girls love him, too, in their "too cool" high school way. I don't know, I just really love the feelings coming out of these pics.

They're 6"x6", and I used Bazzill scalloped CS for the yellow base, and SU textured Riding Hood Red for the BG. The DP is from a K&Co mat pack, and the flowers are from a K&Co diecut pack that coordinates with the mat pack. Brads are Making Memories, marker is Stampin' Up! Ruby Red, and I think the rhinestones were also K&Co. I used the SU scallop-edge punch for the journaling tabs.

Gosh I love these girls! And gosh, do I ever love my daddy! I'm glad we have these pictures, and I had fun making these little pages.

Well, it's really late, and even though it's Saturday tomorrow, I need to get to bed. I'm hoping we can get some Actual Housework done around here this weekend. We'll see. A cold front is coming through tonight, and that always messes with everybody around here. Hopefully we'll feel good and have the energy!

Grace and peace, and a good weekend to you!

God broke the mold ...

2009-02-26T23:10:00.005-06:00

Well, today I finished exactly half of the layouts I had begun at my friend's house on Tuesday. Okay, I don't know if you can TECHNICALLY say half, because I finished one 12x12 page and two 6x6's, and now I have to finish two 12x12's and one 6x6, but I did do three out of six! PLUS a card for the SHINE challenge at Paper Craft Planet. Yeah, babies! I was rollin'!

I'm going to be stingy and only show you one of the projects I finished today -- hey I've gotta have other stuff on hand for the days I don't get anything done!

Here it is:

This layout celebrates my oldest nephew Milo. He is absolutely the most interesting, unique and amazing young man! He is 25 years old and has lived on the streets of San Francisco as a "starving artist", traveled up and down the West Coast trying to raise money for Ralph Nader (when he was still too young to vote for him), he has tramped around all over India with very little money and a backpack full of audio recording equipment (instead of a camera), making the most amazing recordings of everyday life there (staying in a buddhist monastery as a sort of hostel because he didn't have any money at one point), and he does some truly fantastic and, again, unique artwork. He's basically an artist, just kinda works at whatever jobs he can to keep a roof over his head (he could live with his mom, but he would rather not be a "moocher" that way). He is funny/witty, incredibly loving, and I wouldn't trade him for the world! (BTW, my other nephews are wonderful, too, just very different people -- one 20-yr-old, and twin 4-yr-olds!) Milo doesn't drive, doesn't want to, so he gets around everywhere on his bike. Occasionally he does have a girlfriend with a car, so that helps!

Not that he doesn't have his problems, the largest of which is pretty serious ADHD. Well, and that he's my brother's son. (JUST KIDDING, David!) David is an artist, too, so I'm joking about inheriting the "starving artist" gene. My other brother is also incredibly artistic ... somehow that gene skipped me. I couldn't draw my way out of a paper bag (whatever that truly means). However, I can sing. If they can, I don't know it because I've never heard them.

Anyway, back to the layout: I found these pictures in a pile I had had printed from my mother's camera card. They're a couple of years old, I think, and apparently Mom had told Milo she wanted to take his picture, so he hammed it up for her. And the series was a perfect Scrapbook Moment sort of deal. I had so much fun putting it together. Just looking at all his expressions was fun. I can't wait to show him the layout next time he comes out our way for a visit!

Oh, yes -- ingredients:
DP: "Zach's Life" collection -- Little Yellow Bicycle
CS: SU
Stamps (alpha): Stampendous
Ink: SU (also marker)
Brads: Making Memories
Diecut: K&Co.
Cricut "George & Basic Shapes" cartridge (MILO font)

Well, it's very late and I have to get to bed (should've been there an hour ago). Tomorrow will be a busy day, which may include getting the damage on my car appraised for repair (finally). So I'll have to get an early start to cram everything in.

Hope everyone is having a great week and looking forward to a great weekend! (My Down Under readers will already be into their weekend by the time they read this, I think.)

Another digi page!

2009-02-24T19:57:00.004-06:00

So what did I say last time -- that I wasn't "getting into" digi scrapping? Well, it's still true, but it's awfully handy to have a few digi kits around when you don't feel well enough to go mucking about in your craft loft and you have a deadline for a page!

Yes, I had a page due on SHINE at Paper Craft Planet on Monday morning and I was NOT feeling well over the weekend, so on Sunday afternoon I decided I would grab the laptop, lounge on the couch and whip out a digi page. Did I say "whip out?" Um, it took me about four hours, a page I could've "whipped out" in the craft loft in about an hour or so (after designing it, of course, which easily could've taken three hours, except this time I had the idea in my head when I sat down to scrap it). So, no, I am not turning into a digi scrapper. I will admit I'm having a love affair with Photoshop brushes ... so I'll have to think up lots of other ways to use them. (I actually did that on a photo last night, but you can't see the results until I finish the PAPER scrapbook LO I'm working on that includes that photo. Oh, yeah, I made my blog banner entirely with brushes, too!)

So, here is the digi-page I did on Sunday:

The theme this week is to scrap our "Life Verse" -- the Bible verse or passage that God has given us (as individuals) that guides our life, gives us a beacon to follow in dark times, etc. Obviously, the entire Bible is our guide, but sometimes there will be a verse/passage that just speaks to one's heart so strongly that you know God has "given" you that verse specifically. You can read the journaling on my page to see why Isaiah 43:1-3 is my "Life Verse" (verses, really).

Because the passage talks about not being overwhelmed when we go through "the waters," I had this image of high ocean waves as they might appear to a person in a small boat. I found some old brushes I already had loaded on my computer that were PERFECT for what I had in mind (if I had paper scrapped this, I would have used swirl stamps). Then there were other brushes that were kinda wavy, so I used those for the ocean part at the bottom, and finally I used another set of stamps with a stipple effect to get the spindrift/foam look that's behind the verses. If you really need to know the names of the brush creators I can try to find them for you. I probably have the documentation somewhere. At any rate, I didn't create them. I don't even have the first clue about creating brushes! The "paper" is from a kit I downloaded two years ago, so I would have to look up the documentation on that, too. I altered the color of it slightly so it would have a more sea-green look (I think it was originally more green.) Oh, and the "brads" were from a kit I recently downloaded called "Sun Porch". I thought it needed something "three-dimensional."

I spent five hours today at a friend's house scrapbooking! Her son and mine go to the same school, and although they aren't friends, she and I have often sat through various school events and chatted. So she decided she needed to get back to scrapping, and invited several people over to her house for a crop. It ended up being only me and her most of the time, and another lady came for awhile but had to leave early. It was really a lot of fun! Now, I had kinda stressed over what to take, since the only other times I've ever scrapped outside my own home were for classes, and then all I had to take was a paper trimmer and adhesive. Here I had to know what I was going to scrap so I could take the photos, pull the paper, pick out embellies, etc. I was up until midnight last night doing all that. But it all ended up okay, and I came out with three almost-finished pages (I'm doing the journaling and titles at home, since I didn't take my Cricut and she doesn't have anything like that, and I might add another embellie or two), and three almost-finished 6"x6" inch pages for my "Favorite Photos" album. Not bad, I'd say! She'd like to make this a monthly thing, and I think that's a great idea. I told her we could have it at my house at some point -- I have so many stamps, plus all the SU inks, several others, the Cricut, a Cuttlebug, etc., so that would be fun for them to play with. I'd have to haul it all downstairs, of course, since my loft is too small for more than one person, but it would be worth it. Plus, my house would finally actually get clean!

Okay, I'm exhausted so I'm going to go veg out now. Tomorrow will be busy, since I have to take the kid to the ortho for "banding", whatever that is (he already has his braces, so don't remember what they said this deal was), then grocery store, allergy shots and hopefully time for a quick trip to Archivers for a couple of embellies I need (I needed a matching set and I only had one half). After all that I hope to still have the energy to finish at least one of the layouts! (Technically, two of the pages belong to one layout.)

Hope you're all doing well -- and happy scrappin/stampin!

Stampin' Up fun today

2009-02-19T21:01:00.003-06:00

This morning I went over to my former upline's house for a class/club get-together. She has a Big Shot club which I didn't join since I don't have and don't want to purchase a Big Shot (my Cuttlebug is good enough, thanks), but you can go to the classes as a guest for $5 (waived if you purchase more than $15 in anything SU). I should have joined the club -- it's not entirely Big Shot based, and you get to be a hostess one month (like any regular stamping club), but, oh well. It's still a lot of money to fork over for SU-specific stuff each month. (I think it's $25).

We had fun, though. We made two non-die-cut cards, and then one Big Shot card and one little box. I decided to use one of the cards for the SHINE challenge sample for this coming week (since I need to post for tomorrow). I've been sick again (yep, again; yep, sinus infection), and that's one of the reasons I went to the class even though I didn't feel very well -- I could make a challenge-useable card without having to think! I did leave off the SU sentiment, though, and substituted a different one after I got home because I had wanted to use this specific sentiment on whatever card I made for this week. And I knew ahead of time what sets we would be using, and I LOVE the one we used for this card (and, yes, ordered it today), so it all went together well.

So here's the card:

Obviously all supplies are SU except for the sentiment, which is from Rubber Stamp Shack. (And isn't that the kewlest saying?!)

I got my printed-out hard copy version of my "Watching Over You" layout in the mail today, and it looks great! I don't remember if I mentioned where I had it printed, but I am going to give them a huge plug right now, because I probably won't be giving them a lot of business, not being much of a digi-scrapper. They are called Scrapbooks to Share (www.sbtoshare.com), and you can actually order a sample page from them for free, plus $6 shipping. The cool thing is, it's any of your layouts that you choose, and you get two copies of it. Here's what they say about it:

We print digital scrapbook pages on acid and lignin-free paper for as low as $1.00 a page! We are so confident in our quality that we offer a sample package of one of your digital scrapbook pages so you can judge for yourself for only the cost of shipping and packaging - $6.00. If you order a sample package you will receive your digital layout printed on a couple of the different types of paper we offer.

They have text-weight paper and cardstock-weight. When you order your sample, you get to choose what you would like to see (i.e., text-weight or cardstock). I chose cardstock and got my layout printed on both matte CS and glossy CS. Plus they sent two 6"x6" samples of their text-weight paper (plain, no layout). I really loved the quality and texture of the matte CS. It's so much nicer than having a layout printed on photo paper (I think, because I don't want my layout to have the photo paper texture. They can do photo paper, but I just don't like it. And no, I'm not getting paid or discounts or anything to plug them -- I was just really impressed, that's all.) What's awesome about getting the free samples is that now I have one for my scrapbook album, and one I can frame and hang in the office!

Anyway, I will TOTALLY be using them again whenever I do anything digi, and if you digi scrap and don't have a printing place or don't like the one you use, try these people out. I haven't looked into how much they charge per page yet, but I'm pretty sure it will be cheaper than the other places I looked at online before I picked them.

I need to ask for personal prayer here, so if you aren't interested in hearing my health woes, you can stop reading and go on to the next blog on your list now. Would those of you who pray please pray for me about my chronic sinus infections (if you aren't doing that already)? I am really, really discouraged about this (it's been probably two years now since I started getting them so frequently). It's so hard for me to get things done when I feel this bad. If you've never had a sinus infection, you just can't imagine how bad they make you feel. I totally do not understand how something that sounds so minor can so completely wipe you out, but all you want to do is sleep, and even though I've been out doing things today, I have just felt like jello all day long. I can't take care of my family properly, I feel guilty ALL the time because Bjorn is under so much stress and I can't pick up the slack. I don't think I'll be able to go to Aidan's big Latin club meet thing this weekend and support his team (I've missed every meet so far this year). I haven't been able to sing on the Praise Team since October, and even though I'm planning on going back to the team in March, I don't know how realistic that is.

What's really scary is that I have a friend at church who also has chronic sinus infections, and she is a real mess (health-wise). It doesn't give me much hope. She's been to specialists, had the sinus-clean-out surgery, the whole nine yards, and is still getting them just as often as she ever did. My allergy doc says mine will get better once my allergy shots start really taking effect. But that won't be in, like, three or more years (it takes that long for them to build up enough in your system that they begin to make a real difference). In the meantime, my house is dirty, my husband is overwhelmed, and I feel like the worst wife in the universe.

So, yeah, anyway, enough whining. But please, do pray for me. Some days I just want to go walk off a cliff, not because I feel so bad, but because I can't take care of my family the way I need to. If it were just me and I had somebody taking care of me, I wouldn't care. But I have a family to take care of, that's my JOB, that's my CALLING, it's a big way I show them that I love them, and I can't do it well. That's hard and it hurts (especially since I don't think my husband truly understands).

Alright. Enough for real. I've got to go post my card to Paper Craft Planet now. I really hope I feel better tomorrow because I WANT TO SCRAP!!!!!

This is My Song

2009-02-17T18:19:00.002-06:00

So I said I would show you my digital layout of the Christian song that speaks to me the most, and, without further ado, here it is:

My favorite song? "God is Watching Over You" by Phil Joel (surprise, surprise). It's the one song in all the world that can get through to me when I'm in the depths of despair, or worried, or lamenting the past, or whatever. Consistently, this is the one. And that was even true before I fell in love with Phil's hair!

It's pretty rudimentary digi-scrapping. No baubles and embellies and shadowing and all that, just words layered around and a pic in the corner. That's Phil in the corner, BTW, a still taken from the video of the song on the "it's time to fly!" part. (Free fun fact: Now that I know more about Phil AND New Zealand, I have deduced that he is standing atop Lion Rock at Piha Beach near Auckland in New Zealand -- Piha is his favorite place and he and his wife and kiddies have a vacation home there. Must be nice.) The original pic was very small, and was pretty pixelated by the time I got it to the size I wanted, so I decided to mess with it to make it "artistic." I used PaintShop Pro 7 (yes, it's a very old version, I know) and applied the "Photo Grain" filter, then played with the color until I got it to a close enough match for the layout. I'm not sure Phil would be thrilled to be pinkish-purple, but, hey, it's for art's sake, y'know?

I spent a large chunk of today making layouts to send to Jennifer McGuire so she can send them on to the lady in Australia who is putting together scrapbook albums for the Aussie fire victims. I said yesterday that I wasn't good at doing photo-less layouts, but when I was re-organizing my paper this morning, I found some "already started" layouts I had purchased at Target a couple of years ago on sale. They had layers and some stitching and ribbons or other kinds of flat embellies on them, so I added photo mats, some DP and a few other bits, and voila! Scrapbook pages for the Aussie fire victims! I didn't put a whole lot of embellies on them because we're supposed to leave a lot of that part for the people who get them to do. Plus my pages all ended up being pretty masculine because of the pre-done bases I started with and the DP I ended up picking to go with the bases, so I didn't stick Prima flowers and rhinestones and glitter and all that all over them. But I think they turned out nice, and I think whoever gets them will enjoy adding photos, journaling and their own embellies to make the pages truly their own.

If I get a chance I'll scan the pages. Otherwise I'm going to try to get them out in the mail tomorrow, so it just depends on how much time I have.

I'm going to a Stampin' Up! club/class thing at my former upline's on Thursday morning. From the projects she showed and the sets and paper she'll be highlighting, I may have to break down and purchase a couple of things. *SIGH* It sure has been hard to keep my New Year's Resolutions!

Hope you have a great day, and I'll be back soon!

Successful loft day results

2009-02-16T19:52:00.005-06:00

Well, as promised, I'm here to show the results of my Successful Loft Day yesterday. Today I didn't quite make it up there, but, hey ... some days you make the stuff, some days you post it.

First, here is the card I made for the "Friendship" challenge on SHINE Christian Crafters Challenge at Paper Craft Planet:

A different style for me, huh? I got the inspiration from the Winter 2007 "Take Ten" magazine. I used a stamp from smARTworks, then stamped over it using Versamark on a square stamp I'd made out of a piece of stamp-carving rubber (once upon a time I carved a whole Celtic alphabet stamp set out of this rubber, which I'd purchased at Michaels), then chalked over the squares. The verse (part of Proverbs 18:24, it says, "... a friend who sticks closer than a brother.") was printed out off the computer. CS is GinaK Designs (white) and SU (Cameo Coral). I used SU Cameo Coral, Chocolate Chip and Garden Green markers to color the stamp.

And here is the layout I made "for fun" (I put that in quotes because, even though it WAS fun to do and it wasn't for a challenge or to post for a project, it's still part of my "serious" life-archiving scrapbooks):

These are my two kitties, so the layout goes in my "All About Us" album (yes, I include them as family). I got the "guidelines" from a webpage called "Guidelines For Cats", and modified the ones I liked best so they would fit the pages and still leave room for my kitties' pictures. (Max is the orange tabby, Mokii is the Russian Blue mix.) You'll need to click on the picture of the layout to read the quotes and see the pictures very well.

DP is KI Memories (cats) and K&Co. (the non-yellow Cricut-ed stuff)
CS is Stampin' Up!
"journaling" printed from computer
diecuts from Cricut "Home Decor" and "George & Basic Shapes" cartridges
Marker: SU "Ruby Red"

So those are the two I promised you last night. Tomorrow (or soon) I will post the digital page I did for the Faithbook project. I meant to scrap today, but it's fibromyalgia weather today, and whether or not I truly have fibro, I definitely felt yukky today, so didn't get much done at all, other than posting things here and there on various groups and forums. What I really need to do is get cracking on the "blank" pages for the Aussie fire victims (see post here). I want to do this, to help out, but I've never actually made a scrapbook page without photos before. At first it sounded pretty intimidating, since I plan my pages around my photos, not the other way around. But as I was looking through a scrapbooking magazine tonight, I saw some layouts that I could see taking the photos out of and adapting, and I thought, "Hey, maybe I CAN do this!" So perhaps tomorrow I'll try to get some of those done. (I'm the world's worst procrastinator, so I hope I don't procrastinate until it's too late to send them.)

Well, that's really all I have tonight. Hope your Monday wasn't bad and that you're off to a good start this week.

Happy scrappin'/stampin'!

A successful loft day!

2009-02-15T22:32:00.004-06:00

Well! I spent TIME in the loft today. (I know I did that the other night with the Valentines, but that was "required", and most of today was "for fun.") My shoulders are tighter than a drum tonight but it was worth it!

I won't show you the fruit of my labor until tomorrow, though, because I still want to show you the last two Valentines I made, and I don't want to just inundate you! I mean, you might pass out or something! lol

So here's the first of the last two:

This one was for my mother. I used all Basic Grey paper and my Cricut, as well as the Fiskars "Threading Water" punch, a couple of random buttons and a sentiment stamp from Stampin' Up! I'm happy to report that she loved it, even if it wasn't blue and white (her favorite color combo, and the one I tend to lean toward when making things for her).

And last, but not least:

For my dad. No, Dad isn't a cowboy. He IS a Native Texan. But the reason behind this card (and a few others I've made him) is that, when he was little somebody dressed him up semi-cowboyish, sat him on a pony and had a "portrait" made of him. Yeah, the classic "little boy on a horse in the 1930s, '40s, etc." picture. He was SO CUTE. So, unfortunately for him, this is the image that pops into my head when I think, "What kind of card can I make Dad?" Of course, there aren't too many stamps that reference Chemical Engineering ...

Anyway, I don't know where the bandanna paper came from, and I can't remember who made the lil' cowboy stamp (gee, who woulda thought?). I do know that the blue paper behind the bandanna paper is actually a piece of faux denim that I made using a Technique Junkies tech awhile back, but, sadly, it doesn't really show up (not even in real life). I made the title with the JustRite "Braydon" (sp?) font set. And, yes, Daddy loved the card.

So, that's all I have for you tonight. But next time I will show you the card I made for the Paper Craft Planet SHINE challenge I was supposed to have had ready last Thursday (now posted there), and a scrapbook layout I had started (barely) several days ago, and which I finally sat down and worked (hard) on and finished today.

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Until next time ...
Blessings!

Late Valentine's Day Wishes

2009-02-14T18:33:00.005-06:00

Well, by the time most of you read this Valentine's Day will either be over or at least almost so. Therefore, I wish you all belated Valentine's Day wishes for lots of love in your life all year long!

I have several things to cover in my post tonight, so let's get started:

First, I have started a new blog, "Foggy Specs" (as in "spectacles"), which is where I will be writing new and posting older writings dealing with my walk with Christ. Hopefully there will be some profound things there, but mostly it will be me journaling this walk, trying to figure things out, asking the same questions you do (and hopefully sometimes having some answers), giving praises for the good stuff and the things I "get", sometimes crying on God's shoulder or just talking to Him straight. So if you're interested in that kind of thing, or even just want to see the kind of stuff I'm talking about, you can click on the link at the top of my sidebar and check it out.

Second, y'all know how I've been touched by the fires in Australia. Well, Jennifer McGuire (of Jennifer McGuire, ink) has discovered a creative way we can help out. Here's the blurb, and I'll follow that with links:

Jennifer has come up with a way for U.S. scrappers to save postage ... you can send your project page(s) to her and she'll ship them all to Australia on her own nickel, which is a very generous thing for her to do, I think! Here's how to find out more from Jennifer.

And, third (and possibly last): I spent 4-1/2 hours last night making four Valentine's day cards for my family. There are many reasons why I waited until the last minute to do this, but I'm pretty happy with the results (at least on the inside -- I got a little brain-dead by the time it came to write inside them, lol). I found inspiration in the Winter 2007 "Take Ten" magazine. It still took me around an hour to make each card (some more, some less). I guess it's hopeless!

So here are the first two. I'll show you the others tomorrow:

This was for the hubby. The "love" stamp is by The Angel Company, and the background stamp that I used in the "Shimmering Wallpaper" technique panel is SU. It's pretty simple, but it says it all. (Of course, being WAAAAAY too influenced by the I Can Has Cheezburger site, on the inside I wrote "We has it!" Bjorn's was the last card I made, and I was a bit loopy by then.)

And here is Aidan's:

Aidan is not into Valentine's Day (obviously, he does not yet have a girlfriend). He says it's all a commercial ploy, etc., etc., etc. He did not give me a card, but he did "go in" with Bjorn to buy me some roses. (I imagine he didn't actually have to fork over any money.) So I decided to make him a card that was not Valentiney. And, as you all know, he is very into Japanese stuff, and somewhat into Chinese stuff, too, so I decided to go with that. I'll have to double-check, but I think the bamboo stamp is by Stampendous. I know the "love" kanji is SU. The background paper is ... oh, pooh! I thought I would remember! It's from a paper pack I got at Michaels, but I'd have to go upstairs and look at it, and ... no, not today, sorry. Oh, and I used SU "Kiwi Kiss" ink.

So those were two of my creations. As I said, I'll show the other two next time (for my parents).

And I did finish my digi layout for Monday's SHINE Faithbooking project today, and even ordered a 12x12 print of it, but I can't reveal it until Monday, since it's "top secret" until I post it for the project.

Well, I've got to go finish supper -- I'm taking a pot of gumbo over to my folks' house tonight! (Go, me!)

Blessings!

Chocolate bar wrapper

2009-02-11T21:31:00.003-06:00

I had some loft time today. At Aidan's school they encourage parents to "adopt" a middle/high school teacher ("officially" so only one parent has one teacher), and you're supposed to help them out through the year, etc., as well as give them little gifts on holidays and their birthday. So I adopted Aidan's Latin teacher, since we have the most interaction with her (him being in the Latin club, on the Certamen team, etc.). So far she hasn't asked me to help her with anything (which might be good, considering how often I'm laid low with sinuses, etc.), but I have done my part with the goodies. Since her birthday is coming up in just a couple of weeks, I decided to go a little light on the Valentine's Day treat and just do a bar of chocolate.

Now, for her, this should be a good thing. She's a dark chocolate fanatic, and I would think any bar of decent dark chocolate would be appreciated. It's Lindt "Excellence" 78% dark, so that should be up her alley.

Being slightly under the weather again I wasn't up to making her a full-fledged card, so I decided to make her a custom wrapper for her chocolate bar. This is what I came up with:

All the paper except the cream backing is Basic Grey (the cream bit is from The Paper Company). Oh, and the bit I stamped on is SU Very Vanilla. The stamp is from The Angel Company (they had a 1/2 price sale on a couple of weeks ago and, I mean, how can you pass that up? So this is one of the stamps that just showed up in my mailbox today!). Ribbon is unknown, and ink is SU "Riding Hood Red".

So, I hope she likes it. I also hope she doesn't rip into it to get to the bar. She can just slide the bar out -- I hope she figures that out. And then, of course, she has to keep the wrapper forever, right? I mean, because it IS handmade! ;-)

Tomorrow night I'm supposed to be a "tour guide" at this open house thing A's school is having ... have I mentioned this already? (Whew, brain fog is thick tonight!) Anyway, just in case I haven't, the open house is for current parents so they can go get a glimpse of what the high school is like so they'll get very excited and decide they simply MUST send their kids there, and so they'll commit, like, NOW so the Powers That Be will see the commitment and won't feel like they might have to shut the high school down the year before A graduates. So I'm supposed to go lead a little tour group from classroom to classroom (where there will be "high school class" sort-of demonstrations ... A will be in the Latin classroom being part of that) and, I guess, be a sort-of cheerleader for the school. They were asking for volunteers to do this, so I decided I'd better put my money where my mouth is, so to speak, and DO something about encouraging the lower-school parents instead of just talking about doing something. So I hope that goes well. I have a bad habit of volunteering for something and then, like, the next day really wishing I hadn't because it disrupts my non-schedule. How pathetic is that?

I'm actually working on a digi-scrap layout! Gasp and horror! lol I don't really like digital scrapping (I mean, for myself) in general -- I've tried it in the past and it just doesn't have the "thrill" of paper scrapping for me. But next week's theme for our faithbooking project on PCP is going to be "This is My Song" (shhh, don't tell yet ;-) ), and I realized I had started a digi-page on this very topic a year or so ago. Since my favorite, most encouraging Christian song hasn't changed in that time (guess what it is -- "God is Watching Over You" by ... oh, you knew it, didn't you ... Phil Joel!!), I figured I might as well finish the page for next week, then have it printed out somewhere and stick it in my scrapbook. It will sure look flat next to my other pages, but, what the heck. I like the way it's looking, so it's all good. (If I could only figure out how to do this one thing I'm trying to do that isn't working ...) I have Photo Shop Elements 4.0 (can you say "archaic"? I knew you could.), so that's part of the problem. All the tuts are for the current edition.

Anyway, I need to go so I can plan the theme for the Friday SHINE challenge. I need to make the card tomorrow, and I won't have the evening in which to do it!

OH! BTW, please remember to pray for the Oklahoma tornado victims from Tuesday night. Last I heard there were 8 dead in one little town, and lots of damage in several places. And there may be more tornadoes going on further east tonight.

More later!

Another Faithbook page

2009-02-09T17:26:00.003-06:00

So, like I promised yesterday, I'm here today with my second Faithbook layout for the project over in the SHINE group at Paper Craft Planet. This week's topic is "This is My Story" (a phrase from the chorus of a great "old" hymn called "Blessed Assurance"), and we're to tell our salvation stories, the story of how we came to "trust Jesus as our Savior and Lord" in Southern Baptist parlance. Other phraseology might be how one made the decision to follow Christ, or when one realized they wanted to truly be a disciple of Christ. However one phrases it, the basic idea is that each Christian has a story about the time they decided to truly follow Christ, so that's what I want each participant to scrap about this week.

Here is my page:

November 8, 1970 was the most important day in my life, and that will always be true. It's even more important than the day I got married or the day I gave birth to Aidan, because it's the day I said "YES!" to Jesus and invited Him to come live in my heart and be the Lord of my life. It's the day my name was written down in the Lamb's Book of Life, that book that Jesus will consult one day to see if I'm allowed to enter Heaven, or if my reservation is somewhere considerably hotter. And because of what I did that day, I know He'll find my name there, and I'll be welcomed in as a daughter, a child of the King, a full-fledged member of the Royal Family of God!

No, that's not my journaling! lol If you would like to see that better, you can click on the picture and see a larger version of it.

All papers on this layout are K&Co., I think it's from the "Sassafras" collection. I also used some self-stick rhinestones from them, but I'm not sure where the pearls or some other of the rhinestones came from. Nor am I sure about the lace. The buttons are just random buttons collected over time. (I have a bad tendency to take things out of their original packaging and store them in accessory drawers or boxes and not remember who made them.) The picture is a scan I made off a bulletin from the church I grew up in, Sherwood Baptist Church in Odessa, TX. And, last but not least, the title lettering was cut with the "Jasmine" Cricut cartridge.

I am so naughty (yeah, God still has a LOT of work to do in me, even 38 years later!). I had a doc's appt. this afternoon, and had lots of time to kill afterward, so after I had my car safety inspected (in Texas you do this once a year; mine was due last September -- do not laugh ... how many of YOU look frequently in the lower left-hand corner of your car's front window, huh?) I went to Archiver's just to get a few embellies. Uh huh. Let him who is without Archiver's sin cast the first stone. I came out with a package of chipboard letters (very necessary), some adhesive (boring, boring, boring,), a package of 12x12 paper storage folders (boring, boring, boring), some buttons in colors I didn't have last night when I needed them, and paper. When did they start charging $1.99 for a piece of stinkin' paper??? Now, granted, the paper was double-sided and did have "texture" on the front (some kind of slick stuff in the stripes), but yeesh!!! And I always buy two of every piece of paper I get in case I want to do a two pager or if I screw something up, which I have been known to do from time to time. And then there's the 99-cent paper. Come on! But, yes, I had to have it. For a kitty layout that I want to make. And then there was some gorgeous "guy" paper from Basic Grey (blues and greens). And ... and ... *SIGH*. Like I don't already have enough paper?

So what is it with paper, anyway? I have a ton of the stuff, and yet I'll sit down to scrap, and I'll discover that with all that paper, I do not have the exact right piece to go with the layout I'm designing! I may have two pieces that I want, but then I don't have that exact, right piece that would coordinate perfectly, or that exact right color of blue/brown/yellow/red/insert-color-here. It's uncanny! I'm thinking this is a secret magic ploy of the scrapbook paper industry. Somehow they know. Somehow they know that when you buy a certain piece of paper, you will need that intangible, undefinable "something else" that doesn't exist, not even in their matching collection, until three years later when you finally decide to use that piece of paper. Then you will have to go back to the scrapbook store, even if you've taken a pledge of No New Paper For Ten Years to get the piece you need to finish the layout. And of course, you'll have to get the other gorgeous pieces you see there. It's kinda like "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie," only with scrapbookers.

"If you give a scrapper a piece of Basic Grey ..."

Anyway.

I hope I get some time to scrap tonight. Don't know if the hubby will want me to spend the evening paying attention to him or if I can slip away to the loft and Be Creative. As much as I love him, I hope it's the latter!

Keep praying for the Aussies. The death toll from the fires now stands at 171. (And thanks, Leonie, for your very sweet comment on yesterday's post.)

Prayers for Australia

2009-02-08T22:49:00.009-06:00

I don't know if y'all have been keeping up with this in the news or not, but there are some terrible things going on Down Under the last few days. The main big news is the bushfires (bush = "forest" in general for us Americans). Over the last two or three days 128 people have been killed in horrible fires that are raging in the Australian state of Victoria near the city of Melbourne. There are a lot of national parks in that area with a lot of trees, and the weather there has been ridiculously hot lately, and dry. (Hot, like Arizona summer hot, like 115 degrees F or even more -- remember, it's summer Down Under right now.) All that's been contributing to the speed at which these fires are spreading. Last I heard there were 30 fires going in this area. Whole towns have burned to the ground. It's just unimaginably devastating. So we need to remember to pray for these folks -- the survivors, families and friends of victims, those who have lost everything, firefighters, emergency and medical personnel, everybody. It's just amazingly horrible. Here are some pictures:
This bloke's face breaks my heart ... he's trying to get the firefighters to save his farm.

Hard to start over in your 80s

Even the little blokes have to start over ...

The white ashy looking places were once homes.

I also understand, from Leonie Schroder, who lives in the Aussie state of New South Wales, that the state of Queensland, to the north, has been experiencing flooding, so they need prayer, too!

I'll be back tomorrow with an actual layout ... it's finished tonight but there's glue drying on it. (No, it's not about the fires, it has to do with the Faithbooking project over at Paper Craft Planet)

If I have any Aussie readers from these areas -- know that you're on my heart and mind and in my prayers!

A Valentine for ...

2009-02-06T20:40:00.003-06:00

... God! I mean, after all, who deserves my love more? Yeah, the One who redeemed my life from the pit, who brought me into His eternal Kingdom, who wiped away the guilt of all my sin. So I made a Valentine for Him:

Yeah, I know, most of you probably think it's weird. My own husband (who is a Christian) did. He said, "So ... who are you gonna give it to?" I said, "God." And he just looked at me with this look that says, "Okay, just act like it's okay, like she's not really one step into the Funny Farm already and well on her way further in." I get that look a lot. Well, hey, I had to come up with an idea for the SHINE Christian Crafters Challenge this week, and I wanted to do something with a Valentine theme, but I didn't want it to be the usual type stuff. So this is what I ended up thinking of. Meh, even if nobody else understands me, God does.

Papers are all from the Basic Grey "Sugared" collection. Stamp is from SU's "Always" set. Buttons and photo turns are also SU, and the verse is copied from the New International Version of the Bible, and was printed off the computer.

This has been a surreal week. Ended up having to take A to the doc again today (still can't sleep for that cough). We got to actually see our PA today instead of the doctor that's in charge of the place. If only we could've done that on Monday, he probably would be well by now. (She was out of the office Monday.) She says she thinks it's a sinus infection that's drained and settled into his chest, and that the antibiotic (azithromycin) that the doc prescribed on Monday has a 50% resistance rate, so his bacteria were probably in the 50% that resist it. So she switched his antibio, told us what OTC sinus/cough med to get, told him he needs to rinse his sinuses every day (he was thrilled with THAT), and that he should try sleeping on his stomach to keep the drainage from tickling his throat. She is so awesome! Anyway, we're really hoping it works tonight, because he has to take part in a Mock Trial competition for his school tomorrow, and he's determined that he's going to do it and not let his team down. They don't have alternates for these roles (he's a witness), so he feels very responsible to be there. I'm glad he has that sense of responsibility. I just hope he doesn't have to go on two hours' sleep, like he would have had to do if it had been today. So I'm nervous about tonight, but hopefully things will be much better!

Well, we need to start moving toward bedtime. No one around here knows how to use a Neti Pot, but that's what the PA said we should be using (I've been using just an Ayr bottle and salt water), so I went to CVS today and spent $70 on two Neti Pots (one for me), two different bottles of Mucinex (I can't have the decongestant, but he needs it), and a couple of other little things I needed. That was almost as much as the antibio cost!

So, I'll let you know how things go tomorrow. I would really like to get to feeling better, too, so I can get some scrapping done! I've got a new page I need to do for the SHINE Faithbooking project for Monday, and then I've got a cat LO floating around in my head I'd like to do, too.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

"Cardbook" sample -- and my broken car

2009-02-03T20:17:00.005-06:00

Note: The poll concerning my sidebar music has closed. Most people said they didn't like music on blogs, although there were several who thought the music was "awesome" (thank you!). But in deference to the majority, I have removed the music player application. If you'd like to listen to the Newsboys, I guess you'll have to just go buy their music for yourself! ;-)

First, the good stuff. Well, depending on your opinion of my artwork! lol

I managed to get up into the craft loft today and make the "cardbook" sample I had promised to the folks in my SHINE group at Paper Craft Planet. It's for the Faithbooking project, to encourage those who aren't scrapbookers to get involved anyway. So I made a card into a mini-scrapbook page to show them what they could do:

Size is 5"x7". Paper is Basic Grey's "Urban Prairie" line. Stamp is a very old one from a company called Sonlight Impressions (like, 10 years old). Technique behind stamp is the TJ "Floating AI (Alcohol Ink)" tech. And, yeah, the mini-page came out looking a little "girlie" for what I intended, but, hey, Jesus loves us girlie-girls, too.

I did well to get this done today. Yesterday, after taking Aidan to the doc for his cough, we got rear-ended. We had gone to Chick-fil-a for lunch, but the drive-thru line was too long, so we decided to just skip it and go home. So as we were sitting on the street in the left turn lane waiting for our green arrow, some guy in a pickup behind us slams into the back of my beloved baby RAV4. CRY!!! Now, fortunately, he wasn't going fast. And, fortunately, we didn't hit the car in front of us. And, fortunately, no one was injured (so it seemed), and my car actually didn't get the worst of it -- thank God for rear-mounted spare tires! They're better than bumpers! The tire-case is cracked in several places, and the rear door is dented, but it could have been much, much worse. His pickup had a lot more damage to the front than did my precious, beloved, baby RAV4.

However, today I have the most killer headache. And I know this kind of headache -- it's an "occipital neuralgia" headache, i.e., the nerves in the back of my neck that go up over my head were irritated in the rear-ending yesterday, and so now I have pain from h*ll shooting over my head, into my eyeballs and occasionally even behind my nose. How do I know this kind of headache? Because I had to be treated at a pain management clinic for these a couple of years ago.

So now I'll probably have to have the treatments again (two rounds of shots right in the nerves, three months apart). And it's not like I really mind that much, but it's a hassle, and until I get the shots I'll be subject to these very, very nasty headaches that are quite debilitating. As in "more time away from the craft loft". (Oh, yeah, it stinks that I can't take care of my family, too.)

The one good thing that may come out of this is ... my husband got rear-ended several months ago and has had severe headaches ever since, as well as shoulder pain. He's had phys therapy for the shoulder, and is now going to a chiropractor, and nothing has really helped the headaches. It finally occurred to me today to ask him to describe his headaches, and he said, "Well, they start in my neck and kinda shoot up over the top of my head ..." Bingo! Occipital neuralgia! So now we know how he can get help! And if it took me getting rear-ended so we could know how to help him, I'm cool with that.

(Of course, in the current mood he's in, was he thankful that we now probably know what's wrong so he can get help? Nooooo. He just seemed very grumpy and went up to bed to "rest [his] neck." He has been very depressed lately, and I don't know what to do to help! Part of it has been this chronic headache thing, so I'd think he'd be asking for the doctor's phone number right now, but no, for some reason this makes him more depressed.)

Sorry, I digressed. I guess I need to talk about it, but maybe y'all aren't the ones who want to hear it?

Anyway, the cardbook page is done, but tomorrow I need to come up with something for the normal Friday challenge at SHINE, then the next scrapbook topic will be due on Monday ... not a good time for killer headaches! (Prayer would be appreciated, BTW)

Blast from the past

2009-02-01T21:48:00.005-06:00

Well, I have had an interesting weekend. In a weird sort of way. I have spent the weekend with myself from 1964, 1967, 1971, and other random years of the "awful decades", as well as with my brothers, parents, grandparents and various friends and other relations. Time machine? Um, no. If I had a time machine, you think I'd be wasting my time going back to those horrible years of pre-puberty in the 1960s and '70s?? Yeah no.

But I DID spend my time scanning slides. I was sick (sinuses again) and unable to do much else, so I just hung out with my little ion "Slides2PC" gadget and a big stinky bottle of slide cleaner and did my bit for archiving family history. Only ... I don't know if it's the scanner or the slides (I know I could tell by looking more closely), but sooooooo many of the slides are slightly blurry (could be the ravages of time), and either exceedingly dark or ridiculously overexposed, and I am NOT at all skilled in the ways of photo rescuing. I have Photoshop Elements 4.0, JASC PaintShop Pro something-or-other, ACDSee 8, and the scanner comes with ArcSoft PhotoImpression 6 (basic version). And I cannot seem to do any kind of decent job rescuing the bad slides. I can clone out spots and that kind of thing, but I'm talkin' horrible contrasty stuff and darkness and all kinds of yuckness. Here, let me show you:

Here I am at Christmas time with my brothers in 1964. (I was cute then. This was well before the horrors of pre-puberty.) I mean, what do you do with this? Dark, contrasty, slightly blurry. This is the best I could do:

See much difference? I didn't think so. That's because if I did too much it would come out with weird ... stuff. Stuff that I really don't know how to explain, but things like shifts in colors that became highly pixelated, etc.

Anyway. I hope I'm not doing all this in vain because the scanner thing was a hundred bucks of my Christmas money. But I guess the deal is to at least save and digitize the slides so they aren't lost completely. And, honestly, it's been fun seeing the old pictures. And creepy. And sometimes sad. There's a picture of my oldest brother when he was at probably the lowest point in his life, when he was suicidally depressed for three years. And you can just see it on his face. He looks bleak, sort-of hopeless. That picture rips my heart out, and I had to finally quit trying to tweak it because his face was too haunting. Happily, he came out of that time (we discovered his main problem was that he was hypoglycemic -- he should NOT have been eating sugar at all, and he needed drastic vitamin supplimenting) and he's pretty much okay now. Still some scars -- those never go away, I know that firsthand, but he's okay.

Whoops, I digressed.

I meant to get up into the loft today and work on a "scrap-card" sample for the beginning of the Faithbooking project I'm initiating tomorrow on Paper Craft Planet, but I just totally did not have the energy. So, hopefully tomorrow will be a better day and I can get that done. Part of the lethargy prob today was that Aidan was up until about 2am coughing last night, despite all the medicinal interventions. B went to sleep in the guest house, but moms can't do that, y'know? I slept in between his coughing fits, but he coughs like some kind of beast, really deep and really hard, so it's a little hard not to be distressed when he's in the throes of a coughing fit. If he does it again tonight, I am DEFINITELY taking him back to the doctor tomorrow. Well, not to the doc, but to our beloved PA. She'll know what to do!

So, I shall leave you with one more blast-from-the-past picture (brave soul that I am).

Me in 1969 at the Glorieta Baptist Convention Center near Santa Fe, NM. Aren't little girls such wannabe models sometimes! Yeah, well, Twiggy, eat your heart out! lol

Until next time ...

Faithbooking, and other things

2009-01-29T20:49:00.005-06:00

First, before I get too "deep" into my blogging, I want to thank my newfound friend Becky, who I met at Paper Craft Planet, for the Fabulous Blog award she gave me on Tuesday! Becky has her own blog called "A Diamond in the Rough," and you should DEFINITELY go check it out. She makes beautiful cards! Becky, thank you so much for this award! I am truly humbled and honored. Here's the award:
I'm supposed to tell you five addictions I have, so here goes:
1. The Newsboys/Phil Joel (big surprise there, huh?)
2. The Internet. Gotta have my morning CNN, FOXNews, local TV station news, local newspaper, comics hit, then later on it's the New Zealand Herald, the blogs I follow and then Paper Craft Planet. Daily. Without fail. Or I feel like something's drastically wrong!
3. Iced tea (decaf, artificially sweetened because of my various health issues). Right now the acid's getting to me, but I just ordered some drops that are supposed to de-acidify it, so hopefully that will work. It's been tough just drinking water!
4. Peanut butter. Yep. I am a peanut butter junkie. Fortunately, none of the peanut butter I love has been affected by the recent salmonella outbreak.
5. Talking to my mother. She lives down the street from me, but if I don't talk to her at least by phone every single day, I go crazy (she does, too!). My dad will say, "What could y'all possibly have to talk about for an hour on the phone? You just saw each other yesterday!" Men do not understand this mother-daughter connection thing. Besides, she's also my best friend!

Okay, so that's the five addictions I thought of off the top of my head. There may be others, but you'll never know, mwuhahahahaha! (I am, also, addicted to words, as you probably know. Reading, writing, talking, I love words. As the little "writing muse" my mom gave me a couple of year ago says, "I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions." James Michener said that, and I couldn't agree more!)

I will get to assigning the award to five bloggers soon ... gotta do major narrowing down!

Okay, on to paper crafting! I made a card yesterday for the upcoming SHINE challenge. This week I decided we would do cards/paper crafts that were reflective of our position in Christ, the "who we are" in Him, or that show our value to Him. So here's the one I made for the example:

I have always thought it so beautiful to think that God loves me so much He would write my name -- inscribe it -- on the palm of His hand! (Inscribing implies permanence to me, more like carving.) It ties in with the scars in his hands from hanging on the cross (although I know that, technically, those are more likely on His wrists because of the logistics of crucifixion). So I love the verse that says "See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands ..." The stamp here (from Heart & Soul Rubber Stamps, as is the image of the hands) is an adaptation of that same verse.

Card ingredients:
Stamps: Heart & Soul, Stampin' Up!, Inkadinkado
CS: Taken With Teal, Basic Black, Whisper White, Glossy White (SU)
DP: TAC (don't remember the name of the paper itself -- it's the teal strip)
Ink: Archival Black (Adirondack?); Taken With Teal Craft (SU)
Misc: Brads (Making Memories); Clear Detail EP (unknown)
Technique background behind the hands is called Faux Watercolor. I don't remember which colors I used -- it was a piece I'd done awhile back.

I honestly think the card is a little "busy" with the script bits in the corners. I had intended to play on the "writing" theme, but in the end it just was a bit much, I think. Oh, well.

SO, if there's anyone left still reading at this point, I have decided to start my Faithbooking project (technically called "Scrapbook Your Faith") over at Paper Craft Planet in the SHINE Christian Crafters Challenge group. It will begin on Monday, Feb. 2 (this Monday) for anyone of you who might be interested in participating. You would need to join PCP and the SHINE group to do it. If that's a problem and you don't want to do that for some reason, let me know and I might be willing to do it offsite, too. I will post weekly topics to scrap about (such as "This I Believe" or "Struggles and Scars"), and I'm planning on doing it for ten weeks, so we can have a nice little scrapbook started (and I think it would be a good size for anyone who wants to be done when it's over). Also, I'm going to come up with a "card book" sort of thing for the crafters who don't scrapbook, but who might want to participate, anyway. I'm going to figure out a way to just make the pages as a sort of card, but not something you would send to someone, rather something you would put together into a booklet when it's done. It's my hope that when the ten weeks are over, people will want to continue on their own (or even do a "Round Two" in the group), and make Faithbooking a part of their scrapping lives.

I think Faithbooking is a fabulous way to tell your faith journey, to explain to others why your faith (in this case Christianity) is important to you, how it shapes your life, and how you hope to pass it on to your children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, neighbors, anyone who matters in your life who you hope will read your book someday. It's creative, and it's somehow "easier" than sitting down to write everything out. I'm just bad about not sitting down to do it. So I really hope this project will be my springboard, too! It will certainly get my little lazy behind off the sofa, because I'll have to make the pages ahead of time for examples!

Well, I kept Aidan home today because of his cough, and because our doc's office closes at noon on Thursdays and I really wanted to get him in. We couldn't see the Physician's Assistant who we really, really love, so I was a little worried the doctor wouldn't give him anything (the doc has a bit of a reputation for being stingy on the meds if you don't have fever or something obvious). I prayed about it beforehand, and blessedly, Aidan "performed" wonderfully the entire time he was at the doc's, coughing his head off and wheezing appropriately (not on purpose, BTW, that's just how bad things were at that point!) So the doc decided A probably is suffering a recurrence of the allergy-induced asthma he used to have when he was little. He did a broncho-dialator treatment on A while we were there, and that really seemed to help, so he gave A a sample "rescue" inhaler and a daily asthma inhaler to try in the hopes that this will help with the nasty cough. So far it seems to be working. He's still coughing, but not nearly as bad as the last few nights. I mean, I thought he was either going to burst a blood vessel in his head somewhere or cough up a piece of lung! (Okay, that last part is a bit of exaggeration, but I have heard of people who have died of severe coughing fits, so Freakout Mother Queen that I am, I was pretty nervous!) I do think he's also got a sinus infection, though (snotty nose, etc. -- trust me, I would know!) The doc says the only REAL way to tell if a person has a sinus infection is to x-ray their face. Um ...? The PA can tell on me just by looking up my nose. So I get antibios from her. Never from him. (See why I don't like to go to him? I also get the "antibiotic lecture" from him.) So Aidan will just have to tough out the sinus thing, and I'm not sending him to school tomorrow, either. He must feel bad with this (although no fever), because he was cool with staying home. Normally he says it's too much of a pain to make up the school/homework. My thinking? The girl he likes has been giving him a bit of a cold shoulder lately, so he's fine with not having to be there to deal with that!

Okay, I'm writing a book, and I really need to get over to the SHINE group and post the challenge for tomorrow.

DO let me know if you'd like to be in on the Faithbooking project (or just go over to Paper Craft Planet and the SHINE group and sign up!)

Happy scrappin/stampin!

My husband, my hero

2009-01-27T22:43:00.003-06:00

It's really late and I meant to post this earlier, but I want to get it in before I go to bed.

I made this layout in honor of my sweet husband who gets up and goes to work every day, whether he feels like it or not, even when he'd rather go sailing, and faces all the usual unpleasantries of Small Software Company America. There are definitely good things about his job, but right now he's just in such a down period that I wanted to let him know how very much I appreciate all he does for Aidan and me. So here's the LO:

You can click on it to see it larger and read the journaling, if you're interested.

DP is Crate Paper. CS is (I think) DCWV and SU. I used the Cricut Solutions "Home Decor" cartridge, and the title is in a font I downloaded the other day and can't remember the name of off the top of my head.

It is FREEZING cold here today! We may even get freezing rain and sleet tonight, so there's a chance Aidan's school may start late tomorrow. Assuming he goes -- he's up there right now coughing his head off (I just know pieces of lung are going to start flying out any minute, he always coughs so hard!), and wheezing a little. He says he doesn't feel sick, and he doesn't have any fever (so far), so it may just be allergy-related asthma, but it makes this mother incredibly nervous! If it keeps up tomorrow he's going to the doc.

Okay, gotta get to bed. Hope everybody in the path of this ice storm is staying warm! (Oh, hush all you Aussies and Kiwis down there basking in the sun ...)

Cedar Fever Season is peaking ...

2009-01-24T19:26:00.007-06:00

... which is why I haven't been getting much done in the craft loft. BUT I have been doing things toward scrapbooking (i.e. planning things), so I haven't been totally un-crafty.

And I did get a card made this week. That's the nice thing about being the "group mama" of a challenge group -- you have to have something ready every week, and I'd much rather it be something new than something I've dragged out of the archives. So here's what I did for this week's theme, which is "Congratulations!", in which the challenge is to make Congratulations cards with a Scripture or Christian-themed stamp:

This is the simplest design. Should have taken me ten minutes. But nooooo ... took forever to pick the papers, then I had to fiddle with my Nestabilities, then I had to come up with something to make the backing oval not look so BIG (I don't have the intermediate Nesties), so I had to take twenty minutes (or it felt like it) deciding on which Cuttlebug folder to use to give it some spice, then I had to pick a ribbon, etc., etc., etc. So it probably took me a good hour to do it. I guess there's nothing wrong with perfectionism in crafting, but it sure makes things take longer! lol

DP - K & Co.; CS - SU (Ruby Red, Summer Sun, Groovy Guava); Stamp - Eureka Stamps; Ink - SU Ruby Red Craft; Ultra Detail Clear EP (mfr. unknown); Cuttlebug "Swirls" folder; Ribbon - Papertrey Ink; Brad - Making Memories

Hey, I have discovered the COOLEST new "inspiration starter" for scrapbooking! It's this book:
The whole premise is to use calendar days and "special days" (like "National Hat Day") as springboards for layout ideas. And, listen, since I'm ALWAYS needing a creative kick in the pants when it comes to scrapping, I just think this is the most awesome concept! So I highly recommend finding a copy of this book and kick-starting your creative juices (or just sending them down a new road or two). I've spent the last two or three days just looking up holidays and special days on the Internet, and I have a pretty good list of them now. Something for every day of the year (even if it's just "National Cheese Day" or something). Obviously you don't have to use every single holiday/special day, but it's cool to have the inspiration there if you need it!

So I am working on a layout right now (well, today), and hope to have it finished tomorrow. It's the peak of Cedar Fever Season here (not true Cedar, but some kind of tree that's called a cedar around here) -- yesterday we had the highest "Cedar" pollen count that we've had in nine years! And, yep, I was feelin' it. You don't get much done with a sinus migraine, itchy eyes/throat/nose, sneezing, asthma and general "time to move to anywhere-but-here"-ness. (Like, Antarctica -- I don't think they have much pollen there ...) I'm better today, but a little hung over from all the pain meds that DIDN'T WORK. So -- y'all feel sorry for me now? ;-) lol

OH, BTW, before I forget: I'm thinking of starting a Faithbooking project over on Paper Craft Planet. I'd like to get a group of people together who would like to scrap their Christian journey and do weekly pages (with specific themes). If you're interested (even if you're not a member of PCP), please leave a comment and let me know!

Until next time ...

In times like these ...

2009-01-15T20:47:00.004-06:00

I needed a sympathy/encouragement card for someone who recently went through a terrible ordeal losing several members of their family in a terrible crime. She's not someone I know personally, but someone that is a friend of someone that I know through one of my paper crafting groups. So, what kind of card do you make for someone like that, someone you don't know but whose story has touched you and you want to let them know that, someone you want to encourage to keep going in the face of such devastating events? Fortunately, this woman is a strong Christian, and has had an amazing testimony of faith throughout the parts of her story I've been able to read online. That helps! I finally went up into the craft loft last night and this is what God inspired me to make:

I pulled out a 6"x6" Basic Grey "Urban Prairie" paper pad (gosh, I love this line!), used the Mojo Monday sketch for this week, and after a couple of hours of tweaking this and adding/subtracting that, the card finally came together. I've never been one for using a lot of DP on cards, preferring to stamp and make my own background papers using techniques, mainly because I'm never sure if I'm coordinating things well, but Basic Grey (which I have always loved since their first line came out) just makes coordinating so easy! In fact, I have a confession to make ... when I was out with Aidan this afternoon looking for him a new Bible for his Bible class (his got pulverized in his locker), I ran into Archivers for a quick minute (hey, it was just around the corner from the Christian bookstore!) and indulged myself in the 12"x12" version of the Urban Prairie paper pack. I know, I know, I wasn't going to buy any new stuff but just use what I had, but I blew that anyway the other day when I ordered some swirl stencils and a few other little things online. I guess I can't declare a TOTAL moratorium -- sometimes you have to have Giant Brads, y'know? Or chipboard swirls -- but I am going to stop buying scads of stamps (I don't have any more room on my shelf for any new UM storage notebooks, so, really, that's a good enough reason to stop, right there!), and I have SCADS of paper (except the new Basic Grey lines), so I can't see buying much more than just basics like 12"x12" cardstock (I have very little of that, surprisingly -- most of what I bought was the letter-size for card making). And, of course, adhesives. My problem is that I got online to browse layout galleries in several places for inspiration, and the next thing I know I'm thinking "I need more swirls! I need those brackty-shaped-edged papers! I need giant brads! Etc.!" It's hopeless, isn't it?

I got my new SU catalog today. I've only taken one look through it, but I was kinda disappointed. Maybe that's because I'm focusing on scrapping now, but there were very few stamp sets I swooned over. So much of it just looked like, well, all the other SU stuff lately. (I'm talking about the new stuff, here. Obviously a lot of it isn't new.) I was worried I would want a lot of it and need to really budget for it, but ... not really. HOWEVER -- I do love a lot of the new papers and accessories. So that's where I'll get nickled-and-dimed. Did I say I don't need new DP? Please erase that from your memories. I do. Really. It's in the new SU catalog. So what if I already have enough DP to last through all the photos I have waiting to be scrapped AND more? I mean, a girl can never have too much DP, can she? We can always use it to wallpaper the cardboard boxes we end up living in ... (rolls eyes at self).

Well, it's getting late and I am really tired. The one-year-old grand-nephew, his mommy and his granddaddy (my brother) are coming for a weekend visit tomorrow. They'll stay at my folks' house, but we'll be spending LOTS of time over there, I'm sure! I can't wait to see him ... uh, them. From what I hear, he's a VERY busy little boy. Any of you who feel inclined to pray for strength for me and my parents, feel free to do so! You know what a one-year-old boy can do to your endurance levels!

Please keep praying for my husband, too. He's really tired and very stressed these days. Why is it the house starts to fall apart when there are already other stressors going on in life?

Hope your weekend is great!

I Scrapped!!!

2009-01-12T22:53:00.004-06:00

I am so psyched! I finally got to feeling somewhat better on Sunday evening and decided to get out my scrappin' stuff, and I made a layout! A two-page one, no less! I finished it tonight ... got stuck on the "frufy bits" last night, but solved that problem today. I'm really excited because now I think I'm getting on the right track and getting 2009 started off right! And, hey, I didn't go out and buy anything new, even though I was tempted to. I just used what I had. *pats self on back* ;-)

So here is the layout. You can click on it to see it larger:

When I was sorting pictures this weekend, I noticed that there were several pics of A at the beach in San Diego over Thanksgiving where he was just pondering. Now, I did the "photo essay" of him on purpose, because I had this total "mom thing" while we were out there, realizing that the next time we were out there for T'giving he would be a SENIOR in high school, that he was growing up too fast, etc. So that was meant to be the theme of the photo essay. But as I was categorizing these pics the other day, I decided this was really a better use for them (which is exactly the way the Library of Memories system is supposed to work!). They truly capture how he is sometimes (and the "scowly" one isn't really scowly ... he's just trying to look uber serious, I think).

Here's what the journaling says:
"Ever since you were a baby, A, I've longed to know what goes on in that head of yours! Now that you're a teenager and no longer tell me everything that comes to mind, I find that old familiar longing coming back, just to know what really goes on in the mind of my 15-year-old son. I'm very blessed that sometimes you will open up and tell me a tiny portion of the thoughts that swirl in your brain -- something cool about linguistics or con-worlding, or something that bugs you about school or the government. But there are still plenty of times -- like this day on the beach in San Diego -- when your thoughts are your own and I can only be left wondering what you've got going on in there!"

Of course, I don't really want to know EVERYTHING that goes on in his mind these days -- I'm sure some of it would freak me out. But you moms know what I mean!

I really like the way this turned out. I was following a sketch from the October 2008 Page Maps. And the frufy bits? Well, I decided to use a word cloud instead of one of them, and his age in chipboard instead of another (and I put it in a different place, too).

So here's the ingredients for the layout:
Cardstock: SU (River Rock) and Club Scrap
DP: Deja Views "Zach's Life"; Karen Foster (lined paper)
Stamps (yes, they're there on the journaling): "Grunge Collection" by Stempelglede
Inks: SU "Brocade Blue" Classic ink pad; "Brilliant Blue" marker; "Close to Cocoa" marker
Punch: Spiral edge from SU
"15" chipboard -- Basic Grey
Glimmer mists (on the chipboard) -- "Candy Apple Red" and "Oriental Poppy" (Tattered Angels)
Cricut cartridges: "Jasmine" and "George & Basic Shapes"
Alphabet stickers: Creative Imaginations & unknown

I made the word cloud over at this really kewl site called "Wordle" where you can make your own word clouds. You can print them out and/or save them to their gallery, but you can't save them to your own computer UNLESS you do a screen capture (which is what I did). It prints out the size of an sheet of letter-sized paper, but I shrunk mine in PaintShop Pro so it would fit on the page where I wanted it. It's a really fun site, and I'm already thinking it would make great backgrounds or something for other layouts.

I know there were a hundred other things I wanted to talk about, but it's late, I'm tired and just getting the layout done has trumped everything! Oh! I did spend almost the entire afternoon yesterday loading photos into a Picasa album so I could have a slideshow on my blog of my "stuff", if anyone who reads via e-mail update is interested in checking that out. Just for fun, no biggie.

Hope everyone has a great day whatever day it is you read this! Happy stamping and/or scrapping!

Awards ...

2009-01-10T15:24:00.006-06:00

Well, darn it, I'm still under the weather, so I haven't been up to making anything. I'm starting to have paper-crafting withdrawal! I dream of adhesive runners and brads and designer papers. My confidence is faltering terribly. I really, really want my brain back (it's the brain fog that's the worst part of this, and the tiredness).

BUT fortunately this week I received an award from my dear Aussie friend Leonie at Stamp-a-latte. Actually, she had several rewards on her blog that she had received, then she posted who she was rewarding them to, so I'm not sure if I was supposed to pick one or more. But I decided to be humble and just pick one -- that seemed the right thing to do. So here is my chosen award:

I'm supposed to choose five other blogs to give it to ... that's always hard because I don't want to leave anyone out, and I'm always afraid I'll duplicate or that people aren't taking awards, but here goes:

Jamie at Brew Knits
Teresa at CRAFTERESA
Gunhild at Stempelglede
Nic Howard at "It's been one of those days"
Jacki Jones at The Card Castle

So, ladies, the award is now yours! Remember to pay it forward to five other bloggers.

I did manage to start pulling photos yesterday to put in my Library of Memories "file boxes" so I'll be ready to scrap when I'm finally feeling better (I already have a ton of photos in the boxes -- this round is from the last year or so). This involves taking photos out of their "holding" albums, deciding what category and sub-category the photo fits (i.e. "Things We Do" then "Computers" ... or "People We Love" then "Dan/Dad/DeDaddy"), then filing it in the proper box under the proper sub-category division. Then when I'm ready to start scrapping, I can decide what kind of mood I'm in, or what sounds like fun to scrap that day, pull those photos and go for it! The big problem is, I take a jillion photos sometimes (like there were 52 photos alone of my grand-nephew from his first visit to us when he was three months old!) and it's hard to weed out what I know I'll scrap and what I won't. In his case, I decided that whatever photos I'll have left over (and I know I will), I can make into a mini album for my mom. I don't put every single photo I take into the files for scrapping, but sometimes it's really hard to cull enough of them. So often the decisions end up being made as I'm making the page(s). Probably not as efficient as Stacy Julian does it, but it's the only way I've figured out that works for me (so far), being one of those "Oh, I hate to leave THIS picture out!" people. It ends up being a matter of what fits on the page.

I've GOT to get feeling better, because there is SO MUCH I want to do up in that loft! Grrrrrrr!

Well, that's really all I have for now, sadly. I was really counting on feeling better today, but I guess I overdid yesterday when I did feel better, and now I'm paying for it. That and the cedar pollen count is sky high today, so that might be part of it. Anyway, I'll quit whining now and get on with my day.

Blessings!