Keeping On The Narrow Way

March

2011-04-02T16:11:00.004-05:00

Hello! Here are pages that I did during the month of March. My CT commitments have gone down to just one team, Haynay Designs, but I am still having a lot of fun. Just don't have as much pressure to produce.....which is nice to not have to worry about when you go through a little period when your mojo has left the building.

P.S. - Just realized that some of my older slide shows have gone wonky. You can still see my layouts if you click on "See All Photos" though. :D

Latest layout is an important reminder!

2011-02-03T10:42:00.005-05:00

This is a layout with a picture of my husband and my son Sam, taken on December 4th. I won't forget this day. Read the journaling below to find out why. December 4th, 2010. I will always remember this day. It just so happened to be Mike’s birthday as well. A few weeks earlier, we had noticed that Sam had a lump on his neck. On this day Mike took him to the doctor to have it looked at. I remember when they came home, Mike tried to not alarm me, but let me know that the doctor was very concerned. It was a Saturday and he wanted us to call first thing Monday morning to make an appointment for a consultation with a surgeon. We had to wait an agonizing 1 1/2 weeks to be seen and everything turned out okay. But on this day it hit me like a ton of bricks that life is short and we can’t take any moment for granted. I even remember thinking that I needed to make sure I took a picture of everyone as we celebrated Mike’s birthday that evening. It was definitely a wake-up call! Make every moment count folks.....especially when you're with the ones you love!!

2011-01-26T20:38:00.003-05:00

Some recent scrapbook pages.....

Happy DSD!!! And a FREEBIE!

2010-11-06T09:00:00.002-05:00

*** This freebie has expired***

Happy Digital Scrapbooking Day 2010!!!

Welcome!!

If you're following the ScrapMatters DSD blog train, you're in the right place.
You should've just come from Becca's blog.

And here is the freebie I have for you....a pretty quick page made with "Many Thanks" collab. by the ScrapMatters Design Team! It's a beautiful kit and don't forget that it's FREE with any $20 purchase this weekend. And on top of a great sale, that is a TERRIFIC deal!

You can grab this freebie HERE.

And here are some layouts that I've done with some of yesterday's new releases at ScrapMatters.

Haynay Designs DSD Grab Bag

A Pirate's Life
A Pirate's Life: Princess
by Haynay Designs

The Magic Is Here by Mye DeLeon Digital Designs (November Guest Designer)

Cerise Noir Collection by Studio Flergs (November Guest Designer)

Your next stop on the blog train is Mye's blog.

And if you should get "dereailed," head on back to the ScrapMatter's blog for the full list of train stops.

Happy Scrapping everyone!!!

Happy Fall!

2010-09-24T09:00:00.000-05:00

Well, it officially arrived a couple days ago. Fall is here! I love this time of year. The color pallate is just so gorgeous! We are back into the school year full-swing. LOTS of 5th Grade homework this year! ACK!!!! Seriously. WAY too much homework! The kids are enjoying playing outside now that the weather is not quite so hot. Sugar needs a haircut (that always happens this time of year). We are getting excited about a vacation in November. And the kids are already starting to talk about Christmas lists!

It's been a fun, "computer-problem-free" month scrapping for the designers at ScrapMatters. This month I was scrapping for the wonderful ScrapMuss Designs, Stolen Moments Designs, and Sahlin Studio. Not to mention some great new releases by some of the other designers. Here are the pages I did.....

Today at ScrapMatters there are some new "Twice As Nice" collabs. being released. Design Team members paired up to create some really great kits. Check 'em out!

Enjoy Fall! Savor every moment!

August Scrapbooking

2010-09-01T16:05:00.001-05:00

YIKES.....it's September!

C'mon, join the party train!

2010-08-07T11:00:00.003-05:00

Welcome!

If you haven't heard yet (but how could you not?), ScrapMatters is turning 3 years old! And they are having a HUGE celebration!

If you've been following the birthday blog train, you probably just came from Jenna's blog. I have a little gift for you too. But first I want to share with you one of my best birthday memories.
I love telling this story because I get to brag on my wonderful husband and how he outdid himself for my 40th birthday. Not only did he plan a getaway trip for just the two of us to Florida (including two Cleveland Indian's Spring training games and a day at Disney World's Magic Kingdom), but he also helped me celebrate my 40th birthday for the 40 days leading up to it. Beginning 40 days before my birthday he would do something special for me each day such as a give me a card, a favorite treat, a gift card, doing a household chore for me that I dislike.....all kinds of different things.....he was very creative. When it first started, I was like "what is he up to?" But after a couple days I caught on and it was fun to wait and see what he came up with each day. It really is a special memory to me because of how thoughtful and creative he was.

So now that you've listened to my lovely story, here's a frame cluster I created for you from this wonderful collab. kit, "Cupcakes & Candles, by the Scrapmatters Design Team....

You can download this freebie HERE!

[Sorry, this freebie is no longer available.]

The next stop on the blog train is Jen's blog. If you should get derailed along our little party train, head to the ScrapMatters blog to see the whole list of freebie stops.

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Birthday ScrapMatters! Here's to many more birthdays ahead!

So let's just call this post "Summer 2010"

2010-07-28T14:28:00.004-05:00

Wow, I'm a lousy blogger!

It's been a busy Summer......lots of medical appointments, fun activities, and a little bit of travel. Less than a month and school starts again! YIKES!!

We are still working down the kid's list of things they want to do this Summer. And this weekend we have a family reunion....FUN! We are going to squeeze every last minute out of this summer that we can!

In between all the family moments and computer problems that keep plaguing me, I have managed to scrap some pages. So here you go.....

Savor every moment!!

My, Oh My!!!

2010-05-28T19:56:00.004-05:00

Where has the month of May gone??? It seems like just yesterday the month just began and I was anxiously anticipating our trip to Disney World and now Memorial Day Weekend is upon us!

Well, it's been a crazy month with a couple unexpected twists and turns! Mike and I had four wonderful days at Disney World. On the evening of our fourth day I started to not feel so well. I felt feverish and then during the night my leg started to hurt. I spent the next day in bed at our resort with a fever and my leg blew up like a watermelon. The last day and a half of our vacation were spent in our hotel room. I stayed in bed and mostly slept. We flew home the next day, but we knew something was not right!

[I want to interject here that our friends Tina and Brian stayed with our kids while we were gone and did a WONDERFUL job keeping our kiddos in their routine, getting them off to school, helping with homework, etc. We are SO thankful for the generosity of their time so that we could take our trip!]

So, the morning after we got home, we first headed out to a nearby urgent care center, later in the day we went to the ER, and I was ultimately admitted to the hospital for four days. Turns out that I had developed cellulitis in my leg. But not only that, when they did labs, they also discovered that I was SEVERELY anemic! So I wound up getting a bunch of antibiotics and blood.

I've been home for a week and a half now and my leg is finally getting close to normal size. I will have to have some tests next month to determine the cause of the anemia.....but I'm trying not to think of that just yet. :/

A couple days after I got home, Mike had to go on a business trip for three days. I am SO thankful for family who has helped with getting the kids off to school and home from school, making meals for us, and driving me where I needed to go. We are so blessed!
So now it's officially Memorial Day Weekend. And the kids only have three more days of school next week. So that's been our May 2010 in a nutshell!

You can see I haven't had a ton of time for scrapbooking, but I did manage to get a few pages done. Funny thing.....you would think that I would've gotten a ton of pages done while I've been home recouperating. But a couple times when I had the laptop out and tried to scrap, I could hardly keep my eyes open and kept dozing off. I guess pain meds will do that to you. LOL!

Here's some layouts......

Shabby Chic by WM[squared] Designs
Template from ScrapMatters' Black Friday Mega Template Pack
Focus by Page Frocks (collab.)
Template from Inspired By Denise by Darcy Baldwin

My Honey Bunny by Connie Prince

Patriotic Pride

Love Me Some White Space Templates both by Trixie Scraps

Life's Little Surprises a collab. by the ScrapMatters' Designers

Template from ScrapMatter's Black Friday Mega Template Pack

Good Times All Around by Haynay Designs

Have a GREAT weekend!!

Happy iNSD Weekend!!

2010-04-30T13:06:00.004-05:00

iNSD.... WHAT???? Tomorrow is (International) National Scrapbooking Day!! Did you know?

My scrapbooking home, ScrapMatters, is having a HUGE celebration!!

I love scrappbooking celebrations because that means GRAB BAGS!!! Love 'em!! I've said it before, but I'll say it again....they are the BEST deal!!

Here are a couple of the grab bags that I've had the chance to play around with this week.....

From Haynay Designs' Grab Bag.....Haynay also has a great collab. grab bag with WM[squared] Designs (unfortunately my layout won't upload......darn Blogger!) If you have any Summer weddings or anniversaries coming up, you're going to want this one!!

And using another great grab bag from Stolen Moments.....

Hope you have an awesome time shopping, scrapping, chatting, and playing this weekend!

Oh, and one more thing.......The Design and Creative Teams at ScrapMatters have put together an AWESOME blog train that will be starting TOMORROW!!! There's over 50....yes, 50.....stops!!! How crazy is THAT??? Be sure to check it out tomorrow morning. The train will be leaving the station from HERE.

Have a great weekend!!

Gettin' Scrappy and STUFF!

2010-04-17T14:38:00.007-05:00

Well, a couple more weeks have passed by without a blog post. But I promise it wasn't my fault. Poor little laptop.....had to go to the computer hospital for a few days. But now it's feeling (mostly) better.

Been busy with our home addition. Did I tell you that we're putting an addition on our house? It's a bedroom andhandicapped accessible bathroom for Sam, plus mud room, and garage. It was started way back in the middle of October and we're finally coming down to the home stretch, we think. Hopefully we'll have our final inspection in the next couple weeks. I've made more trips to Home Depot in the last month!

And I haven't told you what else is coming up! Three weeks from today I will be HERE!

YEA BABY!!! Just me and my Honey! Five nights, six days! Just the two of us! We haven't been alone on a trip for more than 2 nights since, well, since we went to India to get Sam! That was definitely a trip of a lifetime....but it was NOT a vacation! So, I'm SO excited! Our dear friends the Riedels are coming to stay with the kids while we are gone. (Bless them, bless them, bless them!!) I've been having fun planning all that we will do.....and now we're only three weeks away. Can't wait!

A ton to do between now and then, between getting the house, new part and old part, in order and just getting ready to go. But it's always nice to have something to look forward to.

I guess that's all of the "newsy" stuff. Here are a few layouts that I've managed to do between computer issues.....

As always, see my gallery for the credits.

2010-03-19T09:42:00.003-05:00

Happy Friday everyone!! It's a beautiful day here in NE Ohio! The sun is shining and it's supposed to hit almost 70 today! Ahhh....perfect!! But of course Spring Break is in another week so it will most likely snow! LOL! Oh well, I'll take whatever gorgeousness comes my way!

It seems like all the digital scrapbooking stores are just filled with new Spring-y goodness this week too!

Here's what I've been working on this week.....

" Tumble Time" by Haynay Designs

"Alvean's Beauty Parlor" by Andilynn Designs (and a template by Connie Prince for the 3/16 Tuesday Template Challenge at ScrapMatters.com)

"Jelly Beanie" by Connie Prince and Bella Gypsy Designs and "Project 365 Template Pack, set 2" by Scrapmuss Designs

"Feeling Moments" and "Template #01" by Pri Rocha

"Hard Hat 101" by Erica Zane

I guess that's it! Have a great weekend! Me?.....I'm going on a date with DS11 tonight! And he picked Outback! Woo hoo!! That boy has GOOD taste!

Bye!

Any Disney "peeps" out there?

2010-03-16T08:04:00.002-05:00

I just found this great new blog called Walt Disney World: It's Not Just For Kids. Lots of fun information!

And she's having a give-away for a $25 Disney gift card. You just have to go and leave a comment at this post. And there are other ways to be entered too (like following on Twitter.) Go check it out....you might win! (But hopefully I will! LOL!!)

CT Call for Haynay Designs

2010-03-13T10:42:00.003-05:00

My friend Heather at Haynay Designs is having a CT call!! Heather's team was the first CT I was ever on and it has been a pleasure to work with her. Her designs are great and she is so layed back and easy to work with. It has been a great "first gig."

So if your interested in giving CT work a try, I would definitely apply!!

You can find all the details at Heather's BLOG.

__________________

Testing....1,2,3

2010-03-12T11:39:00.002-05:00

Doing a little re-deccorating around the blog today. Been wanting to do it for a long time!

This Week's New Stuff

2010-03-12T10:17:00.004-05:00

Happy Friday! Here's what I've been working on this week with some GREAT new products at ScrapMatters.

Sun Rays & Warm Days by Connie Prince

Chronicling Life: An Alpha Set by Haynay Designs

Orchard Elixir by Studio Tangie (guest designer at ScrapMatters in March).

The temperature has been starting to rise a little bit here in Ohio and most of the snow is gone. Spring can't be too far away! Enjoy your weekend and don't forget to "Spring Forward" on Saturday!

Here's some more!

2010-03-06T21:06:00.006-05:00

You thought that was it??? Nope, I'm further behind at posting these things than you thought!

ACK!!!!!!

2010-03-06T20:49:00.005-05:00

Okay....I've GOT to get this blog thing under control!!!

I want to blog.....really I do! It's the images....it's just so tedious! But I just have to get over it.....so I will!

Here are some layouts I've done lately....in no particular order! :o)

And of course.....all items are availabe at ScrapMatters.

And for credits, you can see my gallery HERE.

How's THAT for a whole bunch of layouts???

This week's layouts

2010-01-15T09:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Friday!

There are some great new releases at ScrapMatters today. Here's a little peek at what I've been working on this week.....

Pages, pages,.....and more pages!

2010-01-05T15:14:00.003-05:00

First of all.....HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I have done such a lousy job of keeping this blog updated! I'm really going to try and do better!

So to try and play "catch up" a little bit, I've created a slide show with a bunch of layouts that I don't think I've posted here yet.

The credits are in the captions.

Enjoy!

Ring in the New Year with a sale!

2009-12-30T19:33:00.002-05:00

From my family to yours.....

2009-12-24T10:00:00.004-05:00

......to wish you a

Merry Christmas

and a blessed

New Year!

Choo! Choo!

2009-11-07T10:00:00.002-05:00

**SORRY, THIS BLOG TRAIN HAS ENDED!**

HAPPY DIGITAL SCRAPBOOKING DAY!!! Kudos to whoever decided that there should be a day set aside for us crazy digital scrapbookers!! LOL!

If you are here for the ScrapMatters Blog Train.....welcome to my humble little blog!! And if you've made it this far.....congratulations!! I hope you've enjoyed picking up all the great little goodies that the SM designers and CT have put together for you!

You should have just come from Sya's blog.......

Here is my little freebie.....another quick page for you!

**SORRY, THIS BLOG TRAIN HAS ENDED**

Your next, and last stop is Anna's blog......

AND, I have info on ANOTHER great freebie for you!! How would you like to receive this adorable, **EXCLUSIVE** element pack from Chelle's Creations?

Well, there's only ONE way you can get it! Chelle wants to show appreciation to all her "fans" this DSD weekend. So....become a Facebook Fan of Chelle's Creations between now and Monday (11/9) at 6pm Mountain Time to receive your gift!

Click HERE to go to Chelle's Facebook Fan Page and become a fan.
Not on Facebook yet? No problem, just go to http://www.facebook.com/ to sign up for an account and then become a fan of Chelle's.

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend!

Let the celebration begin!

2009-11-06T09:00:00.003-05:00

Hooray! The DSD weekend is officially underway! ScrapMatters huge sale starts today! Also, if you make a purchase of $15 or more, you will receive the MEGA collab. kit "A Slice Of Life" absolutely FREE!!

Also, many of the designers at ScrapMatters have put together grab bags for this special weekend. I LOVE grab bags! They are such a good deal! You know me.....I LOVE a good bargain! LOL! So here are some layouts that I've done using some of the GB's that are new in the store today.

From Haynay's bag.....

From Stolen Moments bag....

From Denise Beatty Originals and Pressed Petals......

From Sahlin Studio......

So what are you waiting for? Go shopping!!

And don't forget to stop back for the blog train tomorrow!!
"I hear the train a comin', a comin' round the bend......"

BIG weekend coming up!

2009-11-04T21:33:00.002-05:00

Yayyyy!!! Digital Scrapbooking Day/ Weekend is coming up!! ScrapMatters is having a huge celebration.....games, speed scraps, a great collab. kit, grab bags. And who doesn't like a sale??
Plus.....they will be having about the LONGEST blog train I have ever seen. You don't want to miss it.....AMAZING, FREE goodies!!!! I'll be participating, so make sure to stop back on Saturday!

So clear your schedule this weekend and get ready for some good scrapbooking fun!!

You're invited!!

2009-10-19T13:31:00.003-05:00

I know I haven't been keeping up on the blog too well lately, but I'm hosting my very first Speed Scrap at ScrapMatters on Wednesday at 1pm EST and I would love for you to come!!!

And here is the fun participation prize that Wendy of WM[squared] Designs has made for the occasion! Very cool.....huh?

Hope to "see" you there!!!

Want a free kit????

2009-09-30T12:22:00.002-05:00

Then be sure to head on over to ScrapMatters starting tomorrow for the beginning of the October Daily Download!!! This is a GREAT kit! You won't want to miss a day!!

This is where to go for the Daily Download!

A Scrappin' Machine!

2009-09-18T10:00:00.007-05:00

Hey there! I guess it's time to update the blog with some new layouts! I just didn't have the gumption to post last Friday.....so I guess you get a whole boatload of LO's today!

First off, here are two layout using Haynay Designs TWO new releases today. Heather wanted to create a new volleyball kit, but couldn't decide on the color scheme. So what did she do??? she created TWO kits!!! AMAZING!!!

First is "Dig In The Sand." This is a beach volley ball kit and is really cute. It also matches Haynay's "Diamond All-Stars" kit! Mixy-matchy.....love it!!

The second kit is "Side Out." It is a bright volleyball kit that just happens to match Haynay's "Triple Play Sports Pack!

And as you can see, both kits are great for non-volleyball layouts as well!

Next up is a layout I did using a new collab. kit out today by Sahlin Studio and DeCrow Designs called "Play." They've also created an Alpha and word art pack to go along with this fun kit.

Molly of DeCrow Designs is a guest designer at ScrapMatters for the month of September. She has some great products and I used one of her templates for this layout of Noah. (Also using "Dessert" by Juno Designs.)

This one is using a new release today from WM[square] Designs called "Gypsy Girl." I also used "Building Blocks Templates, vol.2" from Chelle's Creations also new in the store today. (Buy both sets and SAVE!)

This is using a really pretty kit from Stolen Moments called "Pure Perfection." Amber of Stolen Moments is a new designer at SM and is really talented. Check out her stuff!

For this one I used "Bright Sunny Day" by MickeyB Designs. It really IS a bright, sunny kit......very cute!

This one is with my new favorite Fall kit......Autumn Blush by Jennifer Barrette Designs. It has such rich colors and I just love it!

I'm REALLY excited to be hosting my first challenge over at ScrapMatters.....Roadmap To Scrap! It just began today and you have all month to complete the challenge. Check it out and come play along! Here is the layout I created for the challenge......using "D Is For Dog" by WM[squared] Designs and "We're Just Dating, vol.2" by Britt-ish Designs.

And last, but most certainly not least, is a layout that I did that is really special to me because of the wonderful memory it tells about. I think I eluded to the amazing experience we had at the dunes in Michigan when we visited family there back in August. Still get teary when I think aboout it.

Here's the layout.......

I used a great kit from Erica Zane called "Sail Away." In case you can't read it, here is the journaling:

"At Warren Beach State Park Mike decided he wanted to try and carry Sam to the top of the huge dune. He made it about 3/4 of the way up and began to lose steam. He and Sam sat down on a log. A young man made hisway over to to Mike and asked if he could help him get Sam to the top. Mike hesitated, but realized he could not do it on his own. A group of the young man’s friends gathered around, cheering them on and taking turns carrying Sam ....all the way to the top! We will never forget that day.......the blessing we received from the kindness of strangers and the lessons learned about humility and our own weaknesses."

It was a day I will NEVER forget because they don't come around every day.

Okay, I think that's it! I gotta quite because, GADS, it's almost lunchtime!!! Sam is still home with me so I need to throw together some grub for my little man.

Have a great scrappin' weekend!!!

New Layouts

2009-09-04T14:30:00.008-05:00

Well hello there!! It's Friday once again and you know what THAT means!!!! New Release Friday at ScrapMatters!

Haynay has a new kit out today called "World Traveler." It's a great collab. with new designer Sarah Bennett. This is a really rich kit with great papers and elements. Here's a layout I did using "World Traveler" from Epcot in 2008.

[All images are clickable for full credits.]

Denise Beatty also has a new release today...... "All Squared Away" templates. Here are a couple layouts I did using these really versatile templates.

I haven't mentioned it yet.....I guess because I've been so busy with Sam's surgery and recovery and the start of school......but I am a new member of the ScrapMatters creative team! I am so thrilled and excited to be part of this great site. I'm honored to have been chosen......the talent of this creative team and design team is INCREDIBLE. I'm very excited to have this opportunity to get to scrap with such great products and share them with you. Here are a couple layouts I've done in this first official week as part of the ScrapMatters CT........

This LO uses a REALLY PRETTY new kit from Pressed Petals Designs called "Softly Spoken."

This next page uses another kit that's new today. This one is "Miss Mary Jane" by Jennifer Barrette Designs. It's a super cute kit!

And this last one is using "Dessert" by Juno Designs and a template from Jennifer Barrette.

Well, I gues that's it for now! I'm BEAT!! Been lifting Sam a lot and it's taking a toll on my back!

I hope everyone has a great weekend. And to those in the States, I hope you enjoy the holiday!

See'ya!

Speed Scrap at SM

2009-09-01T12:05:00.001-05:00

I'm hopin' to be there!

Back To School

2009-08-28T09:33:00.003-05:00

This was finally the week. Back to school at our house. Last week was a little crazy because of being at the hospital with Sam, but I was able to pull all the school supplies together and get everyone ready. Monday afternoon was open house. We took Noah and Grace in to meet all their teachers and see their classroom and find their locker....all that fun stuff. And Tuesday was the big day. It was a little odd to just send Noah and Grace. Hopefully Sam will be able to go back in a couple weeks (he started home instruction yesterday.) The first week of school is always so nice.....everyone is on their best behavior and no one has gotten "bored" yet! So we will enjoy the peace while we can and brace ourselves for the days to come.

In the spirit of Back To School I wanted to share with you a few awesome new scrapping kits available now at ScrapMatters

First is Elementary, My Dear by Jeni Hopewell Designs and Hafen Creations. this kit is filled with such great stuff! I love it! And here's a layout that I did of the kids first day....

Next is Back To School by WM[squared] Designs. Such cuteness!!

This is Kindergarten Kid by GG Digital Designs. I like the "outside the box" colors of this one.

And last, but not least is Explore, Learn, Grow from Sahlin Studio. Another great kit from Krista!

Here's a LO from me.....

Such a fun time of the year!

Have a GREAT weekend!!

Where I am....

2009-08-22T20:38:00.003-05:00

Wonder where I've been at and what I've been doing for the last five days??? Here's a clue:

(image linked for credits)

Happy Birthday Haynay Designs!!

2009-08-21T06:29:00.006-05:00

Today marks one year that Haynay Designs has been selling at ScrapMatters. To celebrate, Heather and the Haynay Hunnies have cooked up some fun for the weekend.....including a huge 30% off Birthday Sale!! Take a look.....

Unfortunately, I am at the hospital with my son Sam who had surgery on Tuesday, so I probably won't get to participate much.....but I wanted to let you know. There are some great games and contests planned to win GC's to Haynay's store or a free kit. Plus the Speed Scrap on Saturday has a really cute participation prize. Check it out!

In the mean time, Heather has a BOATLOAD of new products being released today!

First is a GORGEOUS kit called "Pebbles and Butterflies."

I LOVE this kit!! Here is a LO I did with it....

Next is "Together Forever" photo cluster templates.

These are a great tool for making blocked layouts. So much easier than trying to figure it out yourself! Here is my LO.

And next are these great rub-ons! You can use these for LOTS of things!

And last, but not least, Heather has put together two QP albums for Baby's first year. They are made from her "Angel Baby Boy" and "Angel Baby Girl" kits and have pages for every month of your baby's first year. What could be easier to help you get all those baby photos scrapped?

Angel Baby Girl First Year Album

Angel Baby Boy First Year Album

And don't forget that the whole Haynay Designs store is 30% off during the birthday sale!!!

Before I go I want to introduce you to my new friend Denise of Denise Beatty Originals. Denise is an AWESOME scrapper and, lucky for us, she helps US be awesome scrappers also by making some of her layouts available in templates. She has a new set of templates out today called "On The Edge." Check out Denise's shop at ScrapMatters to see all her template packs and other goodies!

You might want to check out the whole ScrapMatters store.......there are a ton of new releases today! The weekend's almost here......GO SHOPPING!!!

Have A Good One!!

A good article

2009-08-12T11:00:00.002-05:00

Just thought I would pass along this link to a good little article today at thedailydigi.com. It's about making your digital scrapbooking layouts look more real, like a paper layout. Good tips!

thedailydigi

Speed Scrappin'!

2009-08-12T08:31:00.003-05:00

I've done three speed scraps over at ScrapMatters in the last few days. Here are the layouts I did....

Santa's Little Helper

Sisters

You Are My Sunshine (Photos by Sally Kelly)

And here are two others that I have done in the last couple days.

Shabby Chic
Blessed (Photo by Sally Kelly)

So I've been having a lot of fun. I have a lot of other things I should be doing though......like buying school supplies, cleaning and organizing our house so it can be appraised (and so hopefully we can get a loan for an addition). And in one week Sam will be having another surgery on his hip. On one hand, not looking forward to it, but on the other I just want to do it and get it over with! So it should be busy around here. And yet, I scrap! Keeps me from totally losing my marbles, I think! Or maybe it's too late!

It's A Celebration!!!

2009-08-07T13:22:00.008-05:00

Happy Birthday ScrapMatters! This weekend is the big birthday bash for ScrapMatters' second birthday!! They have tons of fun stuff planned.....and a SALE.....of course!!

And there's a BUNCH of great new stuff in the ScrapMatter's store today. The girl's went all out for this party!

Haynay Designs has a birthday grab bag that has three fun new items in it.....only THREE bucks folks!! Here's a LO I did using the grab bag.....

AND........if that weren't enough......

Haynay Designs has also teamed up with Plum Dumpling Designs for a REALLY fun collab. kit called "Thoroughly Amused!

Here is my LO using "Thoroughly Amused".......This photo was taken just shortly after we became a family of FIVE!

One of the fun activities going on in the ScrapMatters forum tomorrow is Birthday Bingo! I've got my bingo card all ready to go!

Fun stuff!!

I almost forgot to add that both Heather and Mary have freebies on thier blogs to go with this kit! Go grab 'em!!

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Yowsers! Tuesday already???

2009-08-04T07:55:00.010-05:00

Boy, time sure does fly by fast!!

We were gone over the weekend so I didn't get to post. We left early Friday morning and drove up to Michigan to visit with Mike's sister and her family. They live in southwest MI just a couple miles away from Lake Michigan. We arrived around lunch time. In the afternoon we went to climb the dunes and check out a beach. This is a day I will never forget. Hopefully, some day, I will have the time to blog about our experience there. But let me just say that God used total strangers to really bless us on Friday!

So we returned home Saturday evening and finished out our weekend here at home. Cool thing....I get about two hours off my laptop battery so I was able to scrap for two hours in the van on our way there and two hours on the way home. Very cool! I've never been able to do that before. The kids actually traveled really well this trip (we've learned that movies and food are the key) and we had a lot of fun. So here are some layouts that I've done lately.....

[credits]

[credits ]

[credits]

For this LO I used Haynay's new release, "My Happy Life." It is a really cute and colorful kit that I thought was perfect for the camp photos.

This is my Round 3 entry for Battle Of The CTs at DigiScrap Addicts. Go check out all the great entries and VOTE!!!

[credits ]

So there's a post full of scrapbooking goodness for 'ya!!

Have a great day!!

Another opportunity

2009-07-27T17:30:00.004-05:00

I'm excited to announce that I've been invited to be a guest on the CT for Chelle's Creations!

<-------See the new blinkie over there????? I'm really looking forward to this......and will be for a while since it won't be happening until January! Ha ha! Wish I could dig in now. But it's gonna be fun! While we wait, let's go take a look at Chelle's store over at ScrapMatters and her blog too! She's got a lot of great stuff!!

BOTCT Round 2

2009-07-27T13:45:00.003-05:00

Round 2 voting has begun in the Battle Of The Creative Teams over at DigiScrap Addicts.

Click HERE to go see all the Round 2 layouts and vote!

This week's assignment was difficult and the Hunnies worked REALLY hard!

Go Hunnies! Go Hunnies!

Battle Of The Creative Teams

2009-07-25T19:47:00.005-05:00

I forgot to post my Round 1 layout, so here it is.....

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And here is my layout for Round 2. For this round, our team's pages had to have a musical theme. Our team chose to use lyrics from the song "I Hope You Dance" by LeeAnn Womack in our layouts. Our pages have to be posted at DigiScrapAddicts.com by Sunday night at midnight and voting will begin sometime on Monday.

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GO HUNNIES!!!!

Hope you're having a great weekend!!

Rock the VOTE!!!

2009-07-20T07:55:00.002-05:00

The Haynay Hunnies are competing in the "Battle Of The Creative Teams" over at DigiScrapAddicts.com (DSA). Each week for four weeks we have an assignment/theme and have to come up with LOs to submit. Well, the deadline for the first week's assignment has come and gone and now it's time to vote.

To learn more about the competition, see the Hunnie's and other team's LOs, and to vote for your favorite......click HERE!

GO HUNNIES!!!!!

Christmas In July!

2009-07-16T10:02:00.007-05:00

Ho-Ho-Ho!!! Merry Christmas!!

Happy Friday everyone! Today we're celebrating Christmas in July! Haynay Designs has a WONDERFUL new kit out today......"Once Upon A Shabby Christmas." Check it out!

This kit is full of great shabby elements and has a color pallete that will cover all your needs in scrapping those MANY Christmas photos you have. Here's a LO that I did with this kit.

And here are two Christmas in July presents for you.......

From today until Tuesday (7/21), ScrapMatters is having a Christmas in July sale. All Christmas kits in the store are 25% off.....including "Once Upon A Shabby Christmas!"

AND.....Heather has put together an add-on freebie to this kit that is available at her blog. Go give her a visit and pick it up.

Merry Christmas! Stay cool and have a great weekend!!!

Grace's Birthday

2009-07-14T18:09:00.006-05:00

So my little girl turned 9 on Sunday....YIKES!!!! Saturday night we had a family party. Grace had asked for a High School Musical party. When I took her picture by her HSM cake, she wanted to pose like Sharpay. So I took her picture and told her to do a "Gabriella" pose.....and then a "Grace" pose. I thought the photos turned out cute, so here is LO I did.

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It was a fun party. Grace got roller skates from us. I will have to take some pictures of her *trying* to skate and post them.

K......guess that's it for now!

Happy Friday!

2009-07-10T11:02:00.005-05:00

I'm excited because I am going DIGI shopping today!!! I will show you why in a minute......stay tuned!

But first, I want to let you know that Heather at Haynay Designs is starting to reveal some of the awesome items from the June Mystery Grab Bag collab. First up...."Attached At The Hip." This is a wonderful collection of little doo-dads for fastening your papers, photos, etc. in your LOs.

Cute stuff, huh? And here's a LO I did using items from "Attached At The Hip" as well a a bunch of other Haynay Designs products....

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Heather says she is working on a new kit to release next Friday hopefully, so stay tuned. I can't wait!!

Now I just have to show you what has me so excited to go shopping. Britt-ish Designs and Sahlin Studios have released this collab. kit today called "Land Of Fantasy."

I think I actually squeeled a little bit....OUT LOUD.....when I first saw this! I can't wait to play with with this little package of Disney goodness!

So follow me over to ScrapMatters......Let's go shopping!!!!

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Catching up and a couple LOs

2009-07-07T13:26:00.004-05:00

I've kind of been absent from the blog, huh? : /

Well, last week was camp week. Sam, Grace, and I went to Camp Straight Street. And Noah went "Camp Gram." Everyone had a fun time!

CSS was filled with team competitions, video games, scooters, singing, screaming (OY!), Bible Time, friends, and oh so much more. On Thursday we were supposed to go swimming at the lake, but the weather didn't cooperate. So instead we had the fun treat of the whole camp going to the movies for a private showing of Ice Age 3. It was a lot of fun! Sam's highlight of the week was getting to play Mario Kart. He loves his video games! He'd probably do a lot better if he had someone helping him besides me. But considering that he's only playing with one finger and he's got ME helping him, he does REALLY well!

On the 4th, we went to the annual picnic that Mike's sister and BIL host. Good food and fun was had by all. In the evening we met up with my family at Blossom for the Blossom Festival Band concert and fireworks. It was a great day!

On the designing front it looks that the store opportunity I thought I had is going to fall through. It's kind of a bummer and a long story. The situation has kind of stolen my mojo and so I've been trying to just get some scrapping done instead. So here are a couple LOs I've done in the last couple days.

credits: Inspired By Aly Templates by Britt-ish Designs and Broad Stripes & Bright Stars by Designs By Jill

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Guess that's it for now. We have VBS tonight and I know a couple dirty kids that need a bath!

Friday's here already???

2009-06-19T10:27:00.004-05:00

Man, where do the days go??

Well, happy Friday everyone! I just love Fridays! So many new digital releases on Fridays and I just love seeing everyone's new stuff!

Here are the LO's I've worked on this week.....

I just loved this picture of Grace and Mike! This LO is using "Diamond All-Stars", the new kit from Haynay Designs available today at ScrapMatters.com. It's a really cute girl's softball kit. Obviously, I didn't have any softball pics, but this kit has a lot of great stuff for any kind of girlie photos. It's really cute! And Heather has a great Add-On freebie to this kit available on the Haynay Designs blog. Go check it out!

I was lucky enough to get a sneak peek at one of these Grab Bags this week. Haynay teamed up with three other designers and their bag is GREAT!

Here is a LO I did that will give you an idea of what is in this bag. It has templates, an alpha, and a couple mini kits.

And there are five other Grab Bags available today too. I think I need to go shop! Grab bags are always the BEST deal! I love 'em!

Well, I think that's it from here. No major plans this weekend. Father's Day, of course. But Mike's idea of a great Father's Day is getting to take as long a nap as possible.....so we make no plans. :\

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Hey there....

2009-06-12T10:18:00.006-05:00

....and happy Friday!!

This week has just FLOWN by! Last weekend was our family reunion with my Dad's family. We had the BEST time. We hadn't had so many of us together in many years so it was just great to reconnect. We really had a blast and laughed SO hard. The kids all got along so well and had fun swimming, boating, and playing in the sand on Saturday. Then Saturday evening, we headed over to our church to watch old family movies and eat pizza. Sunday most of us gathered for breakfast at Mom & Dad's before those from out of town headed home. It was a fantastic weekend and we realized we need to get together more often.

Samuel had two doctor's appointments this week. The first one was with his orthopedist. I was a little nervous because we hadn't seen him in over a year and I was worried that there might be changes in Sam's him. But he did x-rays and everything looked okay. He said the left hip (which has had 2 surgeries) is not totally in the socket, but it's not out either. So while it's not the BEST news, the doctor is satisfied and said he would only want to do more surgery if Sam starts having pain related to the hardware in his hip. So that was a relief for Mom!!

Grace spent two nights with Grandma and Grandpa this week. So it's been fairly quiet around here. LOl!

We took the boys to a Cleveland Indians game last night. The rain held off and we had a really fun time. The boys were super-good and really enjoyed themselves. Noah ate a TON of popcorn! He was too funny!

I've been working a lot on my designing this week, but just seem to keep having one problem after another. So I'm not even gonna go there. Let's just say I'm going to take a break until next week!

I did get to do some scrapping this week with some great new products from Haynay Designs!

This is a LO I did of my Dad and his brother from the reunion last weekend. It's Heather's new "Simplicity 2-Page Templates" as well as her Mint Chocolate Chip kit. I am just starting to get into using templates. They are really great when your not feeling too ispired or need to get a bunch of LO's done fast.

And here is one I did with Haynay's new "Colored Bubbles Alpha" which is also new today.

You can pick them both up at ScrapMatters!

Well, I think that's it for now. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Oh my goodness!!

2009-06-07T19:51:00.003-05:00

I'm stunned!!!

Look whose LO was chosen as Layout Of the Week for last week at Scrapmatters.com!!! I'm speechless!! (click on image)

Never saw it coming! How cool is THAT?????

A word about freebies....

2009-06-02T07:52:00.005-05:00

Hey there! Just wanted to let people know that I will be taking some of my freebies down in the next couple days. No worries though.....it's just to get ready for more. There's a lot of exciting stuff going on around here at Designs By Jill. A big announcement is coming, but can't tell you yet. I'm VERY excited about it!!!

Big week around the homefront. Thursday is the last day of school! The kiddos are pretty excited. I'm trying to get some things done around town while I still have some freedom. I sure wish the weather would get nicer though. The weekend was nice but now the last two days have been pretty rainy and I just don't feel like going out in the rain. I know....I'm such a wimp!

Boy I sure wish I could tell you my news before I go though.

Hmmm.....maybe I could give you a little clue without getting into trouble.

Okay, here goes......

Stay tuned......

Catching up and Friday stuff!

2009-05-29T07:47:00.009-05:00

That ALMOST rhymes.....

Hey there....Jill Here! Remember me??? Ha!

It's been busy around here. We had a WONDERFUL Memorial Day Weekend! We have some family that comes into town just about every year for Memorial Day and we always have such a good time together. The weather was just gorgeous. We did a lot of visiting and eating and playing. Sunday was church. Sunday night I watched the Memorial Day Concert special from Washington D.C. on PBS. It was excellent and an important reminder of what the holiday is really about....put it all into perspective. Monday morning was the big annual Culbertson Memorial Day breakfast picnic. Lots of yummy food and spending time with some of Mike's family that we don't get to see too often. So....it was ALL good! A great weekend!

A week from today is the kid's first day of Summer vacation. Yikes....I am trembling in my boots! After the Summer we had last year, I said I was going to have a plan for this year. Still haven't come up with that yet. Hopefully Sam and Grace will have another week at Camp Straight Street again this year. We had so much fun last year. Sam will have summer School in July. And we hope to get up to Michigan some time to visit Mike's sister and her family. So, I guess we do have some plans. I just need to have "a plan" for the days when we don't have any plans so I don't tear my hair out!

I'm excited about NEXT weekend! We are having a family reunion with my Dad's family. They are coming here to Ohio....some from New York and some from Virginia. We don't get to see each other very often so I am REALLY looking forward to it!

Tomorrow night Mike and I are going to a dinner at church honoring everyone who volunteers in different areas of the church. (At this point I'm just Mike's date.) Mike's Mom is going to watch the kids so we will kind of get a little date. Should be fun.

On the scrapping front I've been busy both scrapping and designing. Here are some recent layouts.....

This is from our trip to the beach back in 2004. The kids are so little!! For this LO I used a brand new kit out today from Haynay Designs called "A Stone's Throw." It's a great boy/adventure kit.

And every day is a little more magical with a little Disney World in it so here are the lastest DW layouts I've done. (Great kit from Sahlin Studio called "Enjoy The Moment" BTW) One of these days I will get all the Disney photos scrapped and have books made up for the kids.....and me. Maybe by Christmas! On the other hand, it's kind of nice to drag them out because they're so darned fun to scrap and bring back such good memories!

I'm working on some new designs myself. And in that regard I will probably be taking down some of the current freebies to make room for some new stuff. Hopefully I will have some exciting news to share soon!

Okay, I think that's it for now!

Ooh....one last thing.....over on the Haynay Designs blog, Heather has made up a little freebie. It's a cute card for your kids to give to their teachers on the last day of school or with a thank you gift. She used her "School's Out For Summer" kit. It's really cute and you can check it out here.

Have a WONDERFUL weekend everyone!!!!

A little reminder

2009-05-17T20:44:00.003-05:00

If you are here for the Summer Blog Train keep scrolling down a couple posts!

I also wanted to let people know that all of my freebies that I've had so far are still active. So if this is your first visit to my blog, feel free to snag those as well if you'd like!

May Mini

Paisley Punch

Game Night

Spring Into Summer

Outdoorsy Alpha

Serenade Paper & Element Packs

Looky there.....I've done almost all the work for you! :o) Enjoy!
If you use any of my kits, I'd love to see your work. You can leave a comment here on the blog with a link to your LO!

Thanks for stopping by!
Hope you have a great week!

New Release Friday!

2009-05-15T10:00:00.008-05:00

***If your are here for the Summer Blog Train, scroll down to the next post. (But you're welcome to read this one too!) ;o)

Happy Friday Everyone!!

New from Haynay Designs today is "School's Out For Summer Add-On" available exclusively at ScrapMatters!

You asked for it and Heather listened.....this add-on is especially for the little students in your life and so much more!

And here's a layout I made with it.....

Cute stuff, huh?

Hope you have a great weekend!!

Here comes the train!

2009-05-15T02:01:00.003-05:00

The blog train, that is!!! The day has FINALLY arrived!

Chugga-chugga-CHOO-CHOO!!!

Glad you've stopped by for my little portion of the HUGE collab kit.

Introducing....."Hot! Hot! Hot!"

This has about 50 papers and so many elements that they couldn't all be shown in the preview. I think all the designers did a great job!

Here is my portion that you can pick up HERE.

There are 11 stops in all on this blog train. Be sure to stop at all of them and pick up the whole kit!

1. Carol - CPZ Designs

2. Jill -Designs By Jill **You are here!**

3. Amanda - MHK Scrap Bytes

4. Amanda - Green Box Creations

5. Hillary - Designs By Hillary

6. Val - Genia Beana Scraps

7. Lisa - Digital Designs By Lisa

8. Robyn - digiRobyn

9. Karen - Merchi Makes It

10. Jude - Jude Toone

11. Jen - Jen Wolfe Designs

Hope you enjoy!!

Another Friday already??

2009-05-08T10:45:00.011-05:00

Boy, I've been a bad blogger this week....

This week I've had sick little ones at home.....strep throat!! It started with Grace last Saturday and then Noah got sent home from school on Monday. Poor little guy is still feeling pretty bad. But at least we got some drugs!! (antibiotics-YEAH!!!)

I hope you had a fun iNSD weekend last week. I found myself mostly shopping over the weekend....then downloading for a couple days (blah-hate that part!), and finally I got to scrapping about mid-week. One good thing about being stuck at home with sick kids is that I got to scrap a lot.

I have to show you my favorite kit that I bought last week. It is by Sahlin Studios....the newest Design Star apprentice at ScrapMatters. It's called "So This Is Love" and I think it is just gorgeous!

Here's a LO I did with it.....

Haynay Designs has a couple new releases today. "Chip Off The Old Block": words, frames, and alpha are all really great basics to have in your "stash." And they go perfectly with the "School's Out For Summer" kit, alpha, words, and papers that were released from her NSD grab bag. Check it out!

Cute stuff, huh? And you can also purchase all three together for a great low price. Trust me....it's a deal!

Here's a LO I did using all three....

Okay, I think that's it for now. Trying to get the creative juices flowing and get a couple pages done. I entered the Queen Of Scrap competition at ScrapMatters and I am SO behind. No chance I'll be the queen! I'm lucky if I end up a commoner. Some of those ladies have scrapped over 30 pages already since May 1st and I have a measly 7!! I gotta get movin'!

I'm also working on a new kit too that I will hopefully post in a couple weeks. And don't forget....next Friday the train stops here....the blog train that is....with my part of a great collab kit that you'll want for Summer. It's a HOT one!!!

Have a great weekend!!!!

And HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!!

Friday is finally here!

2009-05-01T07:51:00.009-05:00

Hi Everyone! Happy Friday to you!!

I think the official day is tomorrow, but since it's going to be one big extravaganza weekend I'm just gonna go ahead and say it.....

HAPPY [inter]NATIONAL SCRAPBOOKING DAY!!!

I'm so excited and I have so much to share with you....I'm afraid I'm going to forget something! Let's get right to it, okay?

Haynay Designs has some great things being released today at ScrapMatters! First up is "Just The Right Medicine."

This kit is full of great items to scrap everything from ER visits, to documenting a major surgery, to those minor little "boo-boos".

There is also a word art pack to go along with this kit. And this weekend ONLY, it is free with your purchase of "Just The Right Medicine" at ScrapMatters. How cool is that?

Check out "Just The Right Medicine" HERE
and see what great layouts the Hunnies made with this kit!

Also, head on over to the Haynay Blog to pick up a FREE add-on to this kit!

Okay, moving on.....

Haynay Designs also has a special NSD Grab Bag!! Let me tell you.....this GB is AWESOME!! It is full of great stuff! And it is a STEAL of a deal too! It has over $15 worth of goodies for only $4!

Here are a couple LOs I did with just some of the items in the grab bag to give you a little sneak peek.

(My BIL Kevin's graduation open house last weekend.)

(The kid's fun run at school yesterday.)

So run on over to ScrapMatters and pick up this great grab bag. It is full of items you will use over and over. The Grab Bag will only be available THIS WEEKEND. After that, all items will be sold separately.

Okay, I think that's all the business....

I hope to be able to spend a lot of time this weekend at my scrapbooking hangout....ScrapMatters. They have a ton of stuff going on this weekend. So if you don't have a scrapbooking home on the web, I invite you to mine!

And one last thing....if you are looking for my May Mini freebie, keep scrolling down to snag that!

Phewww!!! I think this is my longest post EVER!!

Have a fun weekend everyone!!

FREEBIE ALERT! May Mini Here

2009-04-30T17:16:00.003-05:00

May has to be one of my favorite months. It brings Mother's Day, Memorial Day, and happens to be the month of my birth as well. The days get warmer and some of my favorite flowers bloom around this time.

So to help bring in the month of May, here's a little early [i]NSD gift for you!

May Mini download

Enjoy! See you tomorrow!

Lots of exciting stuff!

2009-04-30T11:32:00.002-05:00

Wow! I have lots of exciting stuff going on today!

First of all, I am so excited to announce that I've been chosen to be part of the Creative Team for Haynay Designs!! I'm a Haynay Hunny!

How cool is that??? I'm so excited about this opportunity. I just found out yesterday, but I've already had a chance to "play" with some of Heather's (haynay) designs that she'll be releasing tomorrow and I'm having a blast. Wait until you see what she has in store for [inter]National Scrapbooking Day/Weekend!! I can't wait to show you tomorrow!

I'm also working on a little freebie of my own and hopefully I will it get posted for you later today.

I'm so looking forward to this weekend! I hope I actually get some time to sit and scrap and take advantage of all the wonderful activities and sales going on
for [i]NSD.

Friday Night Fun

2009-04-25T09:40:00.003-05:00

So yesterday, Sam comes home with this note taped to his tray....

Dear Mom and Dad,

I want to go spring dance at 6 o'clock
April 24, 2009, at middle school. My
friend Cassie wants me to call her. She
would like to go with me. There is
tickets for baskets to win different
prizes. One is Webkinz. Her phone
number is XXXXXXXXXX.

By SAM

Well, first it hit me that April 24th was "today!" And then I looked at the clock and realized it was already 4:00 and I hadn't done a thing to start dinner yet. So I told Sam I wasn't sure and we would have to wait until Dad got home to see what he thought.

Mike got home about 45 minutes later and Sam showed him the note. He said it was fine with him...."but you want to take him, right?"

I'd been BAM-BOOZLED!!

So I said if Daddy cooked dinner and helped get Sam ready, so I could get ready we could go.

Next we had to call Cassie. Sam said he wanted to talk to her himself. So Mike dialed the number, but Sam was SO excited that all he could do was giggle and Mike had to tell Cassie that Sam was coming and would see her there.

I should probably explain a little bit about this "dance," lest you think I'm letting my 10-year-old date already. The Spring Dance is an annual PTO fundraiser and is a family event. They sell tickets to the "dance" and also each grade makes up a gift basket and they sell raffle tickets for the baskets and give those away at the event.

So the real draw of going for Sam and Cassie was that one of the baskets was indeed filled with 17 Webkinz! And there was probably more "small children running around to music" than there was dancing. They did do the Hokey-Pokey, the chicken dance, and the limbo though.

But it was really sweet. Sam has REALLY good friends and I am very thankful for that. I took a bunch of pictures of Sam dancing and doing the limbo, but I will have to see if there are any I can post since there are other kids in most of them.

And, no, neither Sam or Cassie won the Webkinz basket. :o(

That was my Friday night!

This and That

2009-04-23T21:26:00.003-05:00

Well, it's Thursday night. I'm looking forward to tomorrow. It's supposed to be our first really warm day! Yay!!

I also love Fridays because many designers release their new kits on Fridays and it is always fun to see what is new to work with and how creative they all are.

Tonight I scrapped this picture of Grace in her very PURPLE glasses. Couldn't let that one escape the family archives! Ha! She's a riot....she's never liked to get her picture taken.....even as a baby....and now, all of the sudden, she's into posing. So funny! It's rare to get a good picture of her, so I was thrilled!

This was also my first real attempt at extraction. Could be better, but not bad for a first try I think.

This LO is using "Paisley Punch." If your looking to download the free kit....keep scrolling down. Also, the download links to all the freebies I've done so far are still active, so feel free to take advantage of those too if you haven't yet.

Well, I'm off to make school lunches for tomorrow. (UGH!)
Thanks for stopping by!! :o)

A new FREEBIE today! YAY!!

2009-04-22T14:07:00.005-05:00

Here's a new kit for you.....Paisley Punch! I hope you enjoy it!

You can download it HERE!

Don't forget that I will be participating in a blog train that will go live on May 15th. There are 12 or 13 designers involved and it is going to be one HOT kit!
So y'all come back now...'ya hear?

Easter LOs

2009-04-14T21:15:00.002-05:00

Just want to post these LOs I did of Easter. Gotta get to bed!!!!

A "Game Night" LO

2009-04-13T16:03:00.003-05:00

Here's a LO I did using "Game Night" with pictures from Easter at my Mom and Dad's. (Scroll down to download this free kit.)

I hope you all had a great Easter too!

I'm really excited about the blog train I will be participating in come May. I just turned in my part of the collab. kit this morning. I've seen some of the other's contributions and it is going to be one HOT kit! The blog train will go live on May 15th. Can't wait!

Just hopping in for a sec....

2009-04-11T15:37:00.003-05:00

I wanted to post this LO that I just finished with "Spring Into Summer." If you're looking for the free kit, keep scrolling down to the next post.

"Spring Into Summer"

2009-04-10T13:47:00.004-05:00

Happy Friday! It truly is a "Good Friday!"

Well.....I've been working on this kit and FINALLY got it all done, zipped, and ready to share with you. There are a lot of Spring-y kits out there right now. I wanted to do something that would be for Spring, yet could be carried over for use in Summer LOs too. I was also wanting to tackle a "pretty" kit and I just love blue and yellow together. So here is your freebie for today....."Spring Into Summer."

You can download it HERE.

The kit includes:
12 papers
4 frames
2 paper flowers
1 paper flower with stem
paper flower border strip (2 versions)
1 paper leaf bunch
1 doodle vine
1 brad
1 bulldog clip
2 buttons
1 tag
1 journaling mat
2 straight ribbons
1 tied ribbon
1 laced ribbon
1 ribbon flower
straight row of stitching (2 colors)
circle stitching
1 staple
4 vellum word strips

Enjoy! And leave me some love if you are so inclined.

I am so looking forward to celebrating Easter this weekend. I hope you have a wonderful time celebrating our risen Savior with your families.

He is RISEN!! Happy Easter!

Just a couple things.....

2009-04-04T11:01:00.002-05:00

Hi! Happy Saturday! Just wanted to pop in a say a couple things.

First of all, just wanted to say thank you to all of you who have visited my blog over the last couple days and have left such nice comments. They are much appreciated and a huge encouragement to me to keep trying this designing thing. So thanks VERY much!

I also wanted to mention, for those who were wondering, that the texture from the "Outdoorsy" alpha actually came from the bark on a tree in my backyard. I always though it was kind of cool and when I found the font, I though it would be just perfect for it. I'm glad people like it and I hope you find good use for it.

If anyone uses any of my designs I would love to see your work. You can leave me a link to your blog or gallery in a comment here on my blog and I will take a peek. I almost can't imagine anyone using my stuff so that would be totally CRAZY!!! LOL!!!!

I will be working on some more designs. I have lots of ideas rolling around in my head. I really need to do some scrapping too though. I've been neglecting it a little because I've been concentrating on the designing. May 1st I will have a contribution to a collab. kit on a blog train with some friends over at ScrapMatters. So be looking for that. And hopefully I will get a couple other things done in between now and then. So keep coming back, okay????

Thanks again for all the encouragement!!

A Friday freebie!

2009-04-03T11:28:00.003-05:00

Hey there!

Well, it's Friday already! Wow! The weeks just fly by! To celebrate the arrival of the weekend, here's a little alpha freebie for you.

You can download it HERE **LINK DISABLED**

Hope you have a great weekend!

Working on "stuff"....and a FREEBIE!

2009-03-30T11:05:00.007-05:00

First of all, for those of you visiting my blog for the first time.....WELCOME!!! It's a quiet, but friendly little place. :o)

I've been continuing to work on my design skills. Practice makes perfect, right? So this is my first attempt at a full kit. I've had fun working on this kit. I like working on something with a theme and I kept thinking of things to add to this. I'm still learning so much, but hopefully I'm improving. So, here you go......a freebie for 'ya! If you download, I would love for you to leave me a comment here on the blog and let me know what you think.....not a requirement, but much appreciated! (Click the title to download.)

Game Night **LINK DISABLED**

This kit contains:

6 patterned papers
6 textured solid papers
2 frames
1 game spinner
1 bingo card
1 string
1 string wrap
2 string bows
3 word art
3 staples
3 buttons
1 paper clip
4 puzzle pieces
1 score paper
1 note paper
4 charms
2 ribbons
2 pieces of ricrac
1 piece of flair
1 domino

Phewww...I think that's it! Enjoy!

Here I am!!

2009-03-26T12:16:00.005-05:00

I know that this blog has been so totally neglected. But we're just gonna move on....K???? (And it doesn't matter anyways....it's really just for me and Pam anyways! LOL!!)

So, it's been almost a year since I started digital scrapbooking. I am still loving it, but decided I needed a new challenge. My scrapbooking hangout on the web, ScrapMatters , was having a design competition for wannabe digital scrapbooking designers and I decided to enter. They had an overwhelming response and had about 90 entries! So our first assignment was to design a mini-kit (three papers and three elements) based on a specific color pallette we were given.

Here is my entry for the first round....

The first round was judged blindly....meaning that our name was not on our kit, we were all given a number. There were 9 judges and they each gave some entries constructive criticism. Sadly, I did not advance to the second round. I was disappointed, but not surprised. There were many entrants who had a lot more experience than me. I really just entered for the experience and was totally winging it! I received brief comments from 2 judges and honestly it was nothing that surprised me.

Fortunately, those who were eliminated were invited to continue playing along just for fun, which I decided to do. I have learned so much about what I can do with Photoshop Elements and have really enjoyed working on the projects. So, although I was disappointed about not moving on in the competition, I feel like I have really come a long way and have improved.

So for round 2, we had to design a cohesive, themed paper pack....5 patterned papers and three solids. Here was my "just for fun" entry.

For round 3, we had to come up with an element pack to match our papers from the previous week. and here is what my mini-kit of papers and elements together looked like....

After three rounds, it is down to 10 people. I am still waiting to see if we will be allowed to continue playing along. I've been working on some other things and have lots of ideas in my head. So I guess we will just see what happens.

Now if you've read this far, and have any interest whatsoever in digital scrapbooking, here are links to download my entries for your own use. Or what's known in the digital scrapbooking world as a "freebie."

Cookies 4 Sale Mini Kit

Serenade Paper Pack

Serenade Element Pack

And I also want to direct you to ScrapMatters, because you can also pick up a whole mess of free stuff by downloading everyone else's entries too. (Note: you must be registered and signed in to both the forum and gallery in order to see the entries.)

ScrapMatters Design Star Entries

Thanks for reading!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-23T13:00:00.003-05:00

I know I haven't been keeping up too well with the ol' blog, but my computer DIED a couple days after Thanksgiving. So Sam has graciously been letting me hop on his computer a couple times a day.

But I wanted to post our family Christmas card and wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy 2009!!!

It's that time again.......

2008-11-26T18:09:00.001-05:00

Time to Elf Yourself!!! Yee haw!!!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

The view from our house

2008-11-18T12:47:00.003-05:00

This is what we woke up to this morning!

(See what you're missing Pam? Gotta love that lake effect snow!) ;o)

Happy Birthday Noah!!!

2008-11-16T21:50:00.001-05:00

Nine years old......I can't believe it!!!!

A little reminiscing....

2008-11-13T11:38:00.001-05:00

...from Christmas 2003

Today's creativity

2008-11-03T14:13:00.005-05:00

Our Halloween....

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From back in January.....

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Happy Adoption Month!

2008-11-03T09:09:00.004-05:00

In case you didn't know, November is National Adoption Awareness month. I wanted to share this great video made by some fellow adoptive moms. Adoption is such a beautiful picture of God's grace and His love for us. I admit that it takes a pretty big step of faith, but the joyful reward is so worthwhile. I shutter to think what our lives would be like if we had not chosen to adopt. We would have missed out on three such wonderful blessings and so much love. I hope you will take a couple minutes to watch the video and consider what you could do.

**Be sure to pause my blog music in the sidebar before watching the video!**

Thanks to my friend Pam for sharing the video!

2 New Lay-outs

2008-10-27T08:42:00.004-05:00

Here's another camping LO.

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And here's one I did with some pictures of Sal's. The pictures were so cute and it was a really good excuse to get this kit I've been eying called "High School Never Ends."

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More "camping" fun

2008-10-24T16:04:00.000-05:00

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2008-10-23T14:23:00.001-05:00

Last weekend we had a "Family Fun Weekend" with Mike's family. We went somewhere new this time.....Camp Buckeye! We had a really fun time and the weather was gorgeous! And finally I have some new pictures to scrap! There will definitely be more to come!

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A new kit I love

2008-10-10T10:44:00.005-05:00

I've been playing around the last two days with this new kit by Erica Zane called "Where The Heart Blooms." I think it's gorgeous and has so many things to work with. And I had to scrap a picture of the kids with Grandma. We love her so much!!

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Feeling Fall-ish

2008-10-04T17:07:00.001-05:00

So I scrapped this picture of Sam from last year. The combination of papers is a little different....but I think it works.

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Still trying to catch up.

2008-10-04T14:56:00.005-05:00

Here is a LO I did of Dad's birthday back in April. This is with a cute new birthday kit from Scrapmatters.

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Saturday's Akron Marathon

2008-09-29T15:27:00.002-05:00

Well, the 2008 Akron Marathon is history. Mike finished (yeah!) with a time of about 5:50. It was a great day. Sam and I were able to go and cheer Mike on along with Mike's sister Jen and her two girls, Lydia and Abigail.

They haven't put the race photos online yet, but when they do I will post them here.
But here is the start. There were over 10,000 runners!

From today....

2008-09-29T15:20:00.001-05:00

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What I've done this week

2008-09-26T07:47:00.006-05:00

So about 10 days ago my 30-day trial of Photoshop ended. I was missing it terribly! Last Sunday I found a really good deal on it at Amazon and I just happened to have a couple gift certificates. It also had free shipping which was good, but that meant it came on the slow boat from China and I didn't get it until this Monday. So finally I've been able to get back to some scrapbooking! This is a page I did with Grace's Spring school picture from last year.

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I also used Photoshop to make a new header for the blog. Yeah!! I've been wanting to do that for a long time. I hope my faithful reader(s) like it! LOL!

Tomorrow is the big Akron Marathon and Mike will be running! It is always exciting.....and a little nerve-wracking too. I'm always afraid he's going to get sick or hurt. but I know the Lord will protect him. I am always so proud of Mike for taking on this challenge.

So that's what our weekend will hold. Hope yours is a good one!!!

Diggin' out the old photos.....

2008-09-20T09:47:00.008-05:00

and found these from 2006 to scrap.

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Yesterday stuff....

2008-09-07T12:54:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, my sister Sally and niece Shelby took Grace out for a belated birthday lunch. Grace got to pick the restaurant (Cracker Barrel) and pick out a gift too (a new Webkinz Bluejay). Sal took this photo of the girls at lunch and I think it is so cute. Shelby and Grace are in some ways very different and some ways very much alike. But they are good friends!

Our House

2008-09-06T19:35:00.006-05:00

I did this page today for a challenge at ScrapMatters. You had to scrap something about your home. When I saw this background paper, I knew that I would use it for a photo of our house someday. I vividly remember the first time we looked at this house. It was May 2003.....on my birthday, in fact. When we got out of our car, the scent from the pine trees in the backyard was glorious! This is our "Miracle House." It took a LONG time for it to become ours. We made an offer and said, "It will be a miracle if we get this house!" The sellers laughed at that first offer. After a couple more offers and a lot of red tape, it finally became ours. We moved in October 2003.

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Okay....so I just think this is cute!

2008-09-02T11:00:00.002-05:00

I drug these photos out from 2006.....thought this turned out cute! Don't the kids look little? Awwwww!!!!

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And here's Noah.....

2008-09-01T17:16:00.003-05:00

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Sam, 3rd Grader

2008-08-30T21:01:00.001-05:00

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Back to School

2008-08-30T20:43:00.005-05:00

It's been "Back To School Week" at our house. It was VERY obvious that Mommy was more excited about this than anyone else! LOL!

Samuel moved up to a new school this year. He's been very excited all Summer. Last Thursday night we went to his open house and by the end he was totally overwhelmed. So, come Monday morning he was pretty nervous. But I just kept reminding him that he wasn't the only new 3rd grader and that everyone else would probably be feeling the same way. Of course, he wound up having a great first day and week.

Noah and Grace both had good weeks too. They seem to like their new teachers and we had no major incidents! Yeah!!!

So we're getting back into the swing of things and it's nice to be back in a routine.

I've been trying to scrap pictures from this week. The more I get into digiscrapping the more I realize how much better my layouts would look if I use PhotoShop. So I downloaded their free 30-day trial a few days ago and have been working with it and trying to learn all I can. It has a pretty high learning curve. But I think I've learned the basics and have been able to complete a few pages. It really does make a big difference in how they look. The one problem is that I don't really have enough memory on my computer so it runs really slow. It's very frustrating and I hope to get that worked out. So it's been hard to crank out the layouts like I would like too. I'll post the back to school ones as I get them done.

First up is Grace!

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For Grandma....

2008-08-13T13:41:00.003-05:00

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A new hangout

2008-08-11T10:16:00.003-05:00

I've found a new place to hang out (I know....just what I need! LOL!) If you're interested in in digital scrapbooking or even if you're a traditional scrapbooker, check out Scrapmatters for some great inspiration!

Life is rough when you're a kid!

2008-08-09T22:09:00.003-05:00

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A cute LO!

2008-08-07T11:51:00.003-05:00

I thought this turned out cute. I love this picture of Grace and her Nana (Mike's Mom) from 4th of July.

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Crankin' Em Out....

2008-07-31T15:17:00.003-05:00

'07 Birthdays.....DONE!

2008-07-30T13:57:00.003-05:00

I figured while I was on a roll I should get the boy's birthday pages for last year finished too!

Just A Little Behind!

2008-07-28T07:45:00.006-05:00

[Typing that title made me think that that would be the perfect title for my memoirs should I ever choose to write them....LOL....but I digress.....]

Our little Gracie turned 8 on July 12th......and just a couple days ago I actually scrapped her birthday party pictures from LAST year. It's true....I'm just a little behind!

So here's the scrapbook page for last year's birthday....

And some pictures from THIS year.....

So I guess we need to work on some more original poses for next year! LOL!

Extreme Makover: Blog Edition

2008-07-21T21:51:00.003-05:00

A new look for the ol' blog!! Woo hoo!!!!

More layouts....

2008-07-10T22:48:00.005-05:00

Here are some more layouts I've done in the last couple days. I've decided to do a photobook of our trip.....probably at Shutterfly. They only offer 8x10 in a horizontal album, so I've decided to go with 12x12....which I've never done before. So some of these may look familiar because I've been reworking some of the old pages.