Monday, January 30, 2006

Our First Scraplift Challenge

We chose to feature Tiffhix for our very first scraplift challenge at Scrapartist - she has so many great layouts to choose from! I think this challenge is going to be lots of fun, so be sure to stop by! You can get to know your fellow artists better in the weekly check-in too :)

I love my layout from this week's challenge - I used a picture of DH in one of his many childhood cowboy outfits - that man really liked cowboys as a kid :)

And, this year's birthday was a success too - no cowboy outfits involved, but the Mississippi Mud Cake was a big hit!

Friday, January 27, 2006

Happy Birthday Sugar!

Today is Bob's 41st birthday! Hard to believe that - I distinctly remember my dad at 41 and Bob just doesn't seem that old yet LOL. It promises to be a big night - I have lamb chops in the crock pot right now for dinner and I'm gonna make a Mississippi Mud Cake too - chocolate and marshmallow overload! I also picked up his present on the way to work this morning - hope he likes it :) As for me, I'm just glad it's Friday - this week has been super busy with work and all the upcoming scrapping adventures. Plus, I just picked up the world's most annoying case today - the record is a mess (they didn't provide us with half of what we need to decide the case) and I had no idea what the case was about after reading the opening brief - that's never a good sign LOL. So, a relaxing weekend celebrating my sugar's birthday is just what the doctor ordered! There's a UA basketball game tomorrow and we're going out with his family for dinner too! Should be a fun day :)

See ya Monday for the Scrapartist Member Check-In and the first installment of our Scraplift Challenge - we have a great member artist chosen for our first week, so be sure to stop by for some inspiration!

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Scraplift Challenge!

There's so much excitment at Scrapartist these days! We have a bunch of new CT members and all sorts of new challenges starting up. I'm very excited to announce that Lauren (aka Ms. Scrappy Pants) and I will be starting a Scraplift Challenge there on Monday, January 30! We're going to lift creative team members and some guests, but we really want to focus on the fabulous artists who make Scrapartist so great - our members! So, be sure to post your layouts and watch your private messages - we'll be looking for artists to feature each week!

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Tagged!

I've been tagged by Mari K! And, by the way, if you haven't been to the Digichick to check out her designs - run do not walk - she's got some great kits already!

What scrapbooking lines/products/etc do you dislike?
I am not a fan of cutesy stickers

What is the hardest thing you've ever had to scrap?
Well, actually scrapping it wasn’t hard, but the reception was - I did a framed picture for my Gramps of him pushing me on a swing when I was maybe 3 or 4 years old. I just love the photo and was so excited for him to get it. But, he’s 95 now and he didn’t remember the day and didn’t even recognize that it was he and I in the photo until my mom explained it to him. He likes it and has it out now, but it was really hard for me to realize that he’s really fading from the man he used to be.

What technique do you use more than any other?
I am completely addicted to Virtual Photographer!

Ever been published?
Yes, in Legacy magazine and a Memory Makers Book - both should be out this spring. I haven’t been submitting much lately though.

What's the smallest scrap of paper you save?
Every scrap I’m afraid to say - my scrap file has some ridiculously tiny little pieces!

Ever have any scrapbooking-related injuries?
A couple of weeks ago I stabbed myself with my awl!

Finish the sentence "If I wasn't a scrapbooker, I would spend my money
on clothing and shoes!” Although frankly I spend money on that even though I am a scrapper - I’m a ridiculous clothes hound.

Give us your best storage or organizational idea.
I love those little photo storage boxes - I use them for my embellishments, tools, ribbon, whatever - I don’t have a lot of space so I can stack them up on one shelf and keep everything consolidated.


You just won a week-long scrapbooking cruise for 5. Who's going with you?
Donna Downey, Ali Edwards, Carrie Stephens, Jen Wilson, Michelle Coleman, Nancie Rowe-Janitz . . . wait that’s six and I still have more on my list, maybe I can pack a few in my suitcase LOL!

It seems like everyone has been doing this one, but if you haven’t - I tag you!

Monday, January 23, 2006

Getting to Know You!

I'm very excited to be starting a new weekly check-in at Scrapartist! With new creative team members and lots of new faces there, we wanted to get to know our members better! So, swing on over to Scrapartist using this link and tell us about your username and, in honor of National Pie Day, your favorite flavor of pie!

Also, it was an eventful weekend for me - Bob and I joined a gym! I'm really excited to start working out again - I always feel so much better when I do! And, as some of you know we were robbed earlier this year and they stole my very favorite piece of jewelry - the locket Bob bought me last year for Christmas. Well, I found another one, very similar to it this weekend so Bob bought it for me as a late Christmas/early birthday present - I'm never taking it off LOL!

Friday, January 20, 2006

A Great Cause

My nephew and niece are going to be in the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life - walking for their mom, my sister-in-law - who is just amazing! They're trying to raise money and I'd love to help them blow their goals away, so I thought I'd post the links to their donation sites here and see if I could get some help for a great cause! Just pick a link below to donate and help the fight against cancer!

Tyler

Taylor

I am Creative!

I signed up for Stacy Julian's creativity class at Big Picture Scrapbooking and I'm loving it so far! A class that requires you to paint your toenails - how much fun is that?! Also this week she asked us to make signs saying "I am Creative" to put on our mirrors. I decided to try some of the ever-popular artist trading cards and I love how they turned out. I have one posted on my computer at work - a great reminder that I am creative :)

Thursday, January 12, 2006

Coming Soon . . . Life is Better Shared!

As some of you may have seen in the Digichick newsletter - I'm going to be leading a workshop there! It's called "Life is Better Shared" and it's all about relationships! I'm very excited about it - we're going to have lots of fun and create a great album! And, this workshop isn't just for digi-scrappers either - we'll have lots of great ideas that either traditional or digital scrappers can use. Look for more information coming soon!

Paper Relics at Scrapartist!


Tonight I finished my first layout using Hope Wallace's Paper Relics - fairies, wings, caps, and lots of fun collage items - now in digital versions and at Scrapartist! They're so much fun! I've really been wanting to try some collage stuff, but I just don't do that many paper layouts so having them in digital is great. I also used Dani M.'s chipboard letters - also very cool, from Designs by Dani. The layout, talking about my ongoing love affair with books, is for Jess's Simply Me challenge, also happening at Scrapartist. There's lots of great stuff going on there these days - swing by for a look!

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

A Michigan Christmas


Okay. I’m finally getting to my Christmas post - this year has certainly been busy so far LOL! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday - despite my general Grinchiness this year, I actually had a very nice Christmas. I made the trek north to Grand Rapids, Michigan to spend the holiday with my family. All but one of my brothers were there, along with my parents, my little niece, my uncles, aunt and gramps! It was really nice to see everyone again and spend some time just hanging out with them. I missed Bob, but as is our tradition, we talked on the phone everyday while I was gone and the time went by really fast.

We ended up having several Christmas parties - first on the actual day of Christmas - we hung out at my brother Dave’s housed and had the traditional Dutch get-together meal of ham buns. My niece Mya provided some entertainment for us all, showing off her new Cabbage Patch "baby" and Elmo. We played a round of Tribond (which is a very entertaining board game by the way) and watched some videos of Mya which are destined to become America’s Funniest Home Video classics! On Tuesday we all got together again for our big party - we play a game of Concentration every year with fun little prizes (the board is in the picture - pretty cool, huh?) and this year we did a thrift-store gift exchange (with a $5 limit) - pretty fun to see what everyone found! I went home with a window alarm, some cleanser, a new set of dishes and a Lenox Christmas plate!

We tried to have our family Christmas (with just the immediate family) on Wednesday, but my brother Mike got really sick, so we ended up just laying low for the day, seeing if he’d start feeling better, but no luck. I went to the LSS with my sister-in-law and bought way too much stuff from their 75% off clearance - I mean who can resist getting $150 worth of stuff for like $38? Not me.

Thursday morning was catch-up day - bright and early we opened our presents from the immediate family before heading out for breakfast. Every year my Gramps has us all out for New Years’ breakfast at his usual place (I think he goes there four days a week now LOL), but since New Years fell on Sunday this year, we decided to do it early while everyone was in town. It’s always a lot of fun - this year we had 15 of us and the food’s always good too. The most fun is seeing how tickled Gramps is at getting everyone together!

Outside of all our partying, I did a little shopping and watched a few movies with my folks - it’s nice to be able to do some everyday things with them - I really do miss that living so far away. I also finally got a chance to show them some of my scrapbooking stuff - they’re not really internet people LOL. And, my dad loved the canvas and t-shirt I made for him - I did a layout with his boat on it and used iron-on paper - he wore it almost every day I was there! I was so excited about it, I was thrilled that he liked it!

So, now it’s back to life as usual - it’s always hard to get back into the swing of things after being away, but I kind of feel like I am now. Got a couple of interesting (but tough) cases at work and lots of new ideas swirling around for scrapbooking. Now if I can just nail some of them down!

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Happy New Year!


Happy New Year! Because I haven’t gotten my photos off of the camera yet since coming home, I’m going to do my new year’s post before the Christmas post! For now, suffice it to say that I had a wonderful time in Michigan! And, although I am generally not a big maker of new year’s resolutions, I do have a few this year. In fact, I am 90% done with one of them already! Last year I had very good intentions to send out cards for all my family events - birthdays, anniversaries, etc. I did great until about June and then it just fell apart. So, this year I thought "I’m going to make/address/sign all of the cards at the beginning of the year and put them in a cute little altered file so they’re ready to go." Well, little did I know they sell a perfect book for this purpose - I got mine at Michael’s! It’s pictured at left - it has pockets for the cards, calendar pages to list your birthdays and even an address page for each month so everything’s right there. Yesterday I designed my cards (just two - one for ladies, one for men), printed them out, got them addressed and put them in the appropriate month’s pockets. Took me just a few hours and now I can just send them out when the time is right! There’s four sitting on my desk ready to mail as we speak :) I can’t tell you how thrilled I am with this little project - I’m such a geek LOL.

As for the rest, maybe let’s call them goals or aspirations - something a bit less concrete than a resolution LOL . . .

First - I really want to do better about saving up some money. We need to replace Bob’s truck soon and I really want to buy a house sometime soon. Especially since our break-in, it is harder and harder to think of our little rental house as our own. Along with that, I need to set up an appointment to sit down and talk to our landlord/realtor about what we need to do to get rolling on that. (I will tell you that she is a little reluctant to talk to us about buying - guess we’re too good of tenants LOL).

Second - I want to push myself to be more personal in my scrapping - to share more of my own thoughts and ideas, rather than just making pretty pages. I love the art of scrapping, but I feel like I am missing out by not sharing more of my everyday life and experience through my pages. So, more thoughtful pages are on the list!

Third - I want to do more to make a difference in the world. I will keep on writing my representatives about issues that are important to me, but I want to get involved in something local where I can actually reach out and help someone!

Fourth - I will get back to working out this year - even if it’s just walking in the morning again. I am really feeling the urge to move!