life

Anniversary!

2011-09-15T17:15:00.001-07:00

It's our Anniversary! We have spent six full years working together to inspire readers all over the world and we have loved every minute. A few months ago, as I was doing some archiving, I counted up the number of published pretties in our storage. At that point, we had published more than 10,000 gorgeous scrappy creations.

10,000.

What an honor it is to be able to share our love of scrapbooking with others who share in the excitement that comes from snapping the perfect shot or finding an alphabet you adore or buying your daughter a shirt that perfectly matches the hue of a paper you have been hoarding. We love our job!

We know that it is because of all of you that we have the pleasure of our magazine work. It is all of you that submit, that share, that read, and that enjoy our issues that make it possible for us to do what we do!

So we have a present. A great big scrappy present.

Inside is more than $100 worth of scrappy goodness. I cannot show you it all yet since the final items are on the way to us this week (brand new Summer CHA releases!). I can share that it includes pretties from Pink Paislee, Theresa Collins, Webster's Pages, Simple Stories, Jillibean Soup, American Crafts--to name just a few.

How do you win? The luck of the randomizer. How do you enter? So glad you asked. You may have up to five entries:

1. Leave us a comment.
2. Join as a follower and leave us another comment telling us so (if you are already a follower, tell us that. it counts!)
3. Blog about us and comment with the link.
4. Join our facebook followers--and comment about it. (if you are already a follower, post on our wall and then come back and comment about it).
5. Tweet or facebook about our Anniversary and comment about it.

There you go! 5 chances to be richer in scrappy goodies. We will stop counting new comments at midnight Sunday, Central time. We will announce the winner on Monday!

Thank you for being a part of our magazine! We appreciate you!

Proactive

2011-09-11T16:34:00.000-07:00

On the first day of my new job as a program developer, my boss said "proactive" was the one thing he most desired in this role. He really did not seem to care what I accomplished as long as something got done. He described the many different programs that were in my portfolio and the areas that could be included. Let's see if I can make sense of this.

It is my job to develop, coordinate, and manage programs for the college. My main area is high school--anything from testing to summer school, but nothing vocational. I also have anything related to computers--but only if it does not help train you for work as those classes belong to the workforce division. And I get music--as long as it is not for credit since the regular music department handles those. Music scared me the most since anyone who knows me understands that I am tone deaf and can barely play my ipod. Next, I have anything that works directly with all of the credit areas on campus. I also am to contribute to "big events" like guest speakers or performing arts shows. And then there is the usual "maintain records and do anything else the boss asks" statement tossed in there.

Proactive, boss says. Pick an area and go to it. Wow.

I would definitely describe myself as active. I have never shrunk away from life and get bored if I am doing the same thing over and over. In high school, one of my first jobs was assembly line work for a florist. Pick up a corsage, stick in ribbon, set it back on conveyor belt. Let me tell you that conveyor belt work is NOT as much fun as Lucy and Ethel made it seem. One weekend was enough to refocus my energy on getting a college scholarship.

I like to be busy. For many years, my motto was "the more you do, the more you can do", so this proactive directive did not phase me. Still, I had to wonder if my definition of proactive would match the one in my boss' head.

Six weeks later . . . I am so in love with my job. I love having so many different avenues to pursue. I have not been bored a single second. And I have used every bit of knowledge from past jobs to be successful. All of my high school teaching and administration work comes in really handy to create programs for the schools. My work as a college prof for the last 8 years makes understanding the needs of the students easier and means I already know most of the "important" people on campus.

My scrapping experience has REALLY come in handy. Little did I know that learning design, developing my eye, and mastering photoshop would be so important. My flyers and presentations are not the usual Office template variety. And because I understand the feeling of receiving a hand made card, I started sending out thank you cards from my stash after each initial meeting with a new person.

This touch has made such a difference. People are very happy to answer the phone when I call to set up follow up meetings and have been lovely about thanking me for brightening their day with a card. Because many of the people are in and out of each other's offices, I have not been batch making them, but creating unique cards for each. Right now, I need 8-10 each weekend which is much more cards than I usually whip out. Especially since I have layout mojo going right now.

Here are a few from this weekend. I was feeling a bit floral--perverse since the leaves are falling and the flowers fading.

Restoration was probably my all time fave Craft Paper line (so far!) which is saying something since they have always been a fave manu of mine. I paired their goodies with some bold Thickers and a Pink Paislee bling brad.

A little more Crate with some October Afternoon minis. I am loving these and using them like mad--they are just a smidge bigger than others and line up nicely.

More October Afternoon letters paired this time with a Pink Paislee die cut and some Theresa Collins bling. I also used my goto scallop punch--definitely a super purchase.

I am so very grateful for my new job that I am having an easy time making card after card to express my thanks. It is just marvelous to head into my office knowing that I can tackle a variety of challenges daily.

It's July!

2011-06-30T19:43:00.001-07:00

It's Time! The new issues are up and going out. I love fresh magazine inspiration! Summer Issue of ScrapStreet.com Magazine:

And the July issue of GingerScrapsStreet Magazine:

Head on over to the ScrapStreet blog for more!

Simply Summer

2011-06-16T18:23:00.000-07:00

I have been on a quest to simplify this spring. It seems that I spent a good bit of my thirties adding things to my life. They were good things. Valuable things. Often even happy things.

But.

There were an awful lot of things. I became the girl who just could not say no. Need a volunteer? I was your girl. Need help? I can lift that, do that, organize that. The thing is that I really do enjoy doing a little bit of everything so saying yes was never outside of my comfort zone.

But.

Enjoying everything and trying to do everything did not work. I ended up missing out on life. My kids were growing and I was not fully present in their life or my own. So it was time for a change.

So.

I took a breath. A really long breath. I learned how to step away from the screen. I stepped down from some committees telling myself it is time to give some other moms a go. Those ones in their thirties look hungry for experiences.

Now.

After several months of removing, I can begin to add again. To really relish the items that I add back in. To enjoy. To breathe. To live.

I love capturing moments of my children on film. In my business, I found I was taking photos primarily for assignments and with a specific need in mind. I am rediscovering my love of photography. And I am keeping the camera as a side note while the family fun takes center stage.

On Monday, I headed to the Morton Arboretum with my mother in law, sister in law, and all of the kids. 7 in total from age 1 to 11. I took an assignment in mind inspired by a challenge at the blog Simple As That. It was to take a photo of a simple moment this week. LOVE!

As we wandered along a lake, the older five kids sneaked under a tree off the beaten path and found a big rock where they could sit and look at tadpoles and search for frogs. I was across the way pushing the baby stroller when I glanced back to see this sweet summer moment.

I added just a simple title to make a postcard to send to my inlaws as a simple reminder of a wonderful day.

Would you like to see some more simply beautiful photos, click the logo and wander through. These are some totally talented people! Thanks to Rebecca for the inspiration.

Sketching Crate

2011-03-24T14:54:00.000-07:00

My desk is covered with gorgeous new Crate Paper products and I could not be happier! I just adore them--every single collection. Today, I decided to try the current Crate Sketch:

I flipped it on its side and worked it without flowers and using Portrait collection. I have had these two wedding photos unscrapped for 13 years now! This was the perfect moment to pull them out and play. I wanted a pop of blue so I used a Copic marker to color the bling and the pearls. I love the little pops!

Supplies: Paper, Die Cuts, Chipboard, Trim, Stickers, Buttons: Crate Paper, Alphabet: American Crafts, Font: Shannon, Bling: Kaisercraft, Marker: Copic, Other: thread. Tools: Sewing Machine: Brother, Punch: Fiskars.

Journaling: Of all of our wedding pictures, these two remain my favorites. They show our wedding party for their true selves. A little bit of elegance hiding the screwballs that we love so much. Above all, our wedding kicked off our life together with a celebration.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a super day!

Happy Hump Day--Freebie!

2011-03-23T08:19:00.000-07:00

Howdy all! How is your mid week treating you? I am looking out the window watching the crazy Chicago weather. We have had 70 degrees, rain, sleet, and snow all rolled into 3 days. Insanity!

Last week I was on "spring" break (we midwestern college folks use that term very loosely) which usually amounts to spring cleaning week for me. My kids have a different schedule and I am not the type to pull them out of school to race off to a tropical location--though it was tempting!

First up on my cleaning list was the mudroom. Although (looks out window in disgust) we still get snow in March and even April, it wont be the heavy snow pants type. I cleared out all of the serious winter gear and broke out the lighter jackets and rain gear. As I was sorting, I noticed just how into hats my kids are. We have winter hats, ball caps, cowboy hats, holiday hats, silly hats, stylish hats--the list goes on and on.

It is completely my fault. See, when my daughter was born she was completely bald. She could have doubled as Mr. Clean's love child. And she stayed that way until after her SECOND birthday. Just a little soft blond fuzz. What is a mom to do? Buy hats!

After looking at the collection, I was inspired to make a little mini kit to share. Maybe I am not the only one that has a bunch of pictures of kids in happening hats. Hat's Off to all of you!

Downloads: {papers} {elements}

Please understand that this kit is for you to download and enjoy. As with all of our freebies, you may NOT upload them and post them in any other location. I know it seems horrible that I have to type this, but our site is being pirated with each freebie we post. Please download with respect. Thanks.

I am a bad blogger

2011-03-21T19:10:00.000-07:00

and I am not sure why. Let's take the quiz, shall we?

Blogger Aptitude Quiz:

1. Your level of comfort with a computer is:
a. what's a computer?
b. I compute
c. I *heart* my computer
d. if left on a deserted island you Macgyver one together from coconuts and duct tape

2. You are online:
a. never
b. once a week
c. once a day
d. your smart phone is attached to your hand

3. Your friends would describe you as:
a. quiet
b. speak only when spoken to
c. a talker
d. you can have an entertaining chat with a turnip

4. When it comes to writing:
a. you hate it
b. you can manage with spell check
c. duh, it was your major
d. even your grocery list reads like an episode of Falcon Crest

5. Your amount of free time per week is:
a. does on the potty count?
b. an hour or two
c.   you have time
d. shhh we shouldn't talk about it

Eeeek! Hmmm apparently there is no real excuse for my bad blogging.

*lifts right hand and places other on copy of Blogging for Dummies*

I hereby solemnly swear to blog ~~daily~~ more than I have been. Really!

I even have a layout to share today. Made with this month's ScrapStreet.com Kit featuring the fabulous My Little Yellow Bicycle. When I first looked at the goodies, I thought girl, girl, girl! When I pulled it out, though, this photo of my Zack jumped off of my photo board at me.

Favorite Friday. Supplies: Paper, Stickers, Die Cuts: My Little Yellow Bicycle, Die Cuts: Jillibean Soup, Buttons: BasicGrey, Font: Traveling Typewriter, Other: thread. Tools: Sewing Machine: Brother.

Journaling: This was your favorite day of the summer--baseball at Wrigley Field. As a new Little League player, you are starting to love and understand the game. I am sorry to tell you that being a Cubs fan brings plenty of frustration along with the joy. If you can remember to enjoy the warm sun on your face and the cold drink in your hand while you watch the boys of summer play, you will be ok. If you want them to win, well . . .
Until next time!

Free print!

2011-03-03T13:33:00.001-08:00

Ready for a bonus freebie? Our amazing friends at Persnickety Prints offered our readers a special gift--a free 12x12 print with no strings attached. Just use the code scrapstreet at checkout. If you have not used Persnickety Prints, you really need to give them a try--you will be more than satisfied!

Have a great day!

Five Faves

2011-02-22T18:48:00.000-08:00

Time to share a few things that I am loving right now! I find this one of my fave scrappy pages to look back on. Just a few months and it changes. I really wish I had a list for every year of my life. How totally cool would that be?

1) My new iphone. Ok, I have had it all of one day, so I better love it. However, if I did not list my iphone, it would have been my itouch. It was a Christmas present from mom and I have been in total love with it. Now that I upgraded to the phone, Allie is the proud owner of my touch and is absolutely loving it.

2) My new cocktail. Cucumber Cilantro Margarita. I know. It sounds totally strange, but it is YUMMY! It actually does not taste like a margarita (which I love) but has this really unique mix of flavors--a little sweet, a little tart.

3) My students. Both my current ones and the ones that stop by to visit. I really really love my job and that is something that I love to be able to say. It totally keeps me sharp to be around the 18-25yo peeps so often.

4) Hellcats. I admit to being a tv junkie. I have a ton of fave shows for every mood, but Hellcats is my guilty pleasure. And my workout motivator. After an hour of looking at their little cheerleader abs, I am totally ready for my crunches.

5) 40. Yep. You read that right. I am loving being 40. I feel strong and healthy. I have a new sense of contentment--I know who I am and no longer feel the need to prove it to anyone.

So, what are you loving right now?

Look, Mom. It snowed!

2011-02-02T07:57:00.000-08:00

Ok, grumbling first. Isn't the purpose of canceling school the night before to allow mommies to sleep in? Someone forgot to mention it to my kids who wanted to go out at bright and early. *yawn* Convinced them to let me make them eggs first so they had something warm in the tummies.

We knew it was Blizzard Watch 2011. Supposed to be one of the worst storms ever in a city that does not get excited about snow. Actually the first snow day Zack has ever had--in 3 years of school. Not really sure how many inches we have. The official total for our town is 17 inches. But it is still snowing and it is blowing. one side of our yard is four feet deep. The other side more like 6 inches. It is a bit crazy.

This is the view from my door. The fence is 4ft. The bbq is on blocks so it is 6ft.

I must say that Wolfie loves it. She keeps whining at the door wanting to go back out into it. If you live here, a husky is the perfect dog choice. The kids love it, too. They are out and playing in the madness. Allie admired the snow before heading out:

and here she is ready to head out into the frozen tundra:

Here they are. My little snow bunnies playing in waist deep snow.

The town is closed down for today--shocking to those of us who are used to snow, snow, and more snow. I wonder if it will continue tomorrow or if we will be back to normal. The word from the weather dudes is that it will soon be too cold to snow more.

Uhm, goody?

Sunny Wednesday Freebie

2011-01-26T07:11:00.000-08:00

Hi all! Are you ready for the last piece of the Sweet Sunshine digi kit? Today we are having a "heat wave" here in Chicagoland. Which simply means that the temps have almost reached 40. Clearly the weather dudes and I have COMPLETELY different definitions of the word "heat". I did pick up a bunch of tulips at Target this week to try and trick myself into believing that spring really is right around the corner.

I will let you know when it starts working.

Until then, here are the elements for my Sweet Sunshine kit. I hope you enjoy playing with it as much as I enjoyed creating it!

Sweet Sunshine

Download from the ScrapStreet Blog

Today we have the elements filled with flowers and sunshine!. The link is good until next Wednesday when it is time for a new freebie!.

I hope you enjoy a little bit of sunshine from my world to yours!

My little winner

2011-01-22T11:28:00.000-08:00

Today was the pinewood derby for Zack's Wolf Troop. He worked diligently on his car all week long. His idea? To create a car that looked like a Wii controller. His goal was to try for a design award. Last year's derby taught him that plenty of the experienced dads took speed seriously. They made cars that quite simply flew.

We did a bit of trimming and a touch of weighting and then got to work on the design. He used spray paint to make it a nice and glossy white. Then we grabbed the camera and took pictures of his wii controller. After printing out the best shot, he trimmed the decorations and we modge podged them to the top of his car. After that, he spray painted a clear gloss coat. It is definitely easier at age 8 to work with spray than a brush. Here he is with his creation:

He headed to the race feeling hopeful. Allie and I headed to the health club for Tae Kwon Do and a work out. As soon as the races were over, my phone rang. A very excited Zack could not contain himself. He won his very first trophy--for original design. Zack is still bouncing around the house filled with excitement. He came in 2nd place a couple of different heats for speed, but did not make the finals.

I was proud of him for winning, but even more proud when Drew shared that one of his classmates was sitting crying after losing and Zack handed dad his trophy and went to sit and talk to his friend. Talked to him about how Zack felt last year when he did not win anything and the crying kid won the speed prize. Then they headed to play a bit of basketball together. If I could give him a trophy for kindness, I would.

I am so proud of my little man.

Wednesday Freebie!

2011-01-12T05:35:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year all! Did you start 2011 off with a bang? Or at least a photo opportunity? I hope it is a banner year for you!

I am a one month winter girl. I love a nice snowy December filled with carols, hot cocoa, and big white flakes. And then when the new year hits, I am ready for new flowers and warm weather. Sadly, I have yet to find a location with just one month of winter. Here in Chicagoland, we can work those snowflakes from October to May without any trouble.

Since in my heart it is already spring, I took to my design space and started scrapping and creating with bright colors and garden tools. I captured a bit of sunshine and am happy to share. For the next three Wednesday freebies, you can download pieces of my kit Sweet Sunshine for free!

Sweet Sunshine

Download at the ScrapStreet Blog

We start with the papers today--a dozen textured ones sure to brighten your day. The link is good until next Wednesday when it is time for the alphabet.

I hope you enjoy a little bit of sunshine from my world to yours!

Freebie tomorrow

2011-01-11T20:35:00.000-08:00

We start a New Year of Wednesday freebies on the ScrapStreet blog tomorrow! Sitting in lovely Chicagoland watching the snow fall, I just could not resist creating my own little window of spring. I pictured getting out the gardening supplies and starting to plant and before I knew it, I had plenty of pretty tools and flowers to play with digitally.

I will give the kit away in three peices--paper, elements, and alphabet. Here is a bit of a hint:

Digital Supplies: Kit: Sweet Sunshine by Dora Phillips, Stitches: Stitched by Anna White No. 04 by Anna Aspnes (Designer Digitals), Font: Sweetheart Script.
Journaling: I love your spirit. you are so confident in your style, in your wardrobe, your hairstyle, your walk. junior high looks so good on you!

Pop back in tomorrow and I will link you to the first part of the freebies!

Happy New Year!

2010-12-31T22:27:00.001-08:00

We have so much to be happy about as we start 2011! Not only do we have a fabulous new issue of ScrapStreet.com Magazine AND a full (and gorgeous) free digital kit to share, we also have the first issue of our brand new sister publication: GingerScrapsStreet Magazine. This new mag puts an emphasis on all that is digital and hybrid. We hope you will love it!

You will see the work of our darling new dozen staff members between both issues. We could not be more excited about having all of these talented writers and designers with us. Here is to an amazing 2011.

Ready for some inspiring reading?

ScrapStreet.com Magazine:

GingerScrapsStreet Magazine:

Free Digital Kit by the super talented Jennifer Labre Designs!

Downloads available all month long!

{paper 1} {paper 2} {alpha} {elements}

We wish you the happiest of New Years and look forward to chatting and creating with you all year long!

Sweet fun with GCD

2010-12-17T07:43:00.001-08:00

I had such fun working with one of our fabulous December sponsors: GCD Studios. My absolute favorite papers had to be the ornaments pair. I am not normally one to cut items from sheets of paper, but I could not stop myself. I put these ornaments on EVERYTHING.

I always like to have a few little sweets on hand that I can grab for those last minute gifts. I made up several of these little containers of mints. They took only a few minutes and I love the results!

Supplies: Paper: GCD Studios, Die Cuts: Jillibean Soup, Alphabet: American Crafts, Bling: Kaisercraft, Marker: Copic.

Thanks, GCD Studios for being our sponsor and for creating such adorable papers. You inspire me!

Welcome New Street Staff!

2010-12-01T06:34:00.001-08:00

We were humbled by the amazing applications we received from so many talented artists. Thank you all for taking the time to share your work with us! The decision was difficult, but lots of fun! We are so thrilled to share the six amazing women who are now part of ScrapStreet.com Magazine's Staff.

Without further ado, congratulations and welcome to:

Robyn Schaub

Blog: Dreaming In Scraps

Christa Paustenbaugh

Blog: The Paustenbaughs

Frances Sylvia

Blog: Forever and a Year

Sarah Mullanix

Blog: Welcome to my Neighborhood

Liz Qualman

Blog: My Little Sketch Blook

Romy Veul

Blog: Scrapstuff and More

We cannot wait to share more of their work with you!

That Much Stronger

2010-11-29T13:47:00.000-08:00

This summer I made a fabulous new friend quite by accident. We were matched up for the download of the day at Divine Digital. Only Divine was down with horrible server problems. For weeks and weeks. Yet somehow Chelsea and Aimee and I managed to exchange emails and create a cute school kit on time.

We enjoyed each other so much that we began a fall collab together. In the process, each of us mentioned needing a day or two off to celebrate a birthday. We quickly discovered that all three of our birthdays were the same week. Within 4 days, actually. As my 11yo would say, "how random!"

Just as we were rocking and rolling together, Chelsea received a string of bad news. Her husband, Clayton, was diagnosed with skin cancer right below his left eye. It is a Squamous Cell Carcinoma, if left untreated it will start to effect the nerves and then move to the eye. This comes on the heels of other medical bills for their son, Luke. Clayton has also recently lost his job, the Doudy’s have no insurance and have been told Clayton will need the Mohs surgery in the next two months. We all know how when it rains, it pours. My heart aches for her. I am thrilled to be a part of the digital community where taking care of our own is what we do.

Please take a second to consider helping.

The kit is super full looking like this:

I am off to scrap and play with mine! Grab yours soon!

catching up!

2010-11-28T13:39:00.000-08:00

Goodness! I have fallen behind again. The last post I made was about our new digi collab magazine and that is where I have been for every spare second. Well, when not working, cooking, cleaning, or starting the holiday shopping. I need more hours in the day!

Or a wife.

Yes. That is it. I want a wife for Christmas. If you see one on a good sale, shout at me.

So here it is almost the beginning of December and I have not blogged my October ScrapStreet pubs. Better late than never! Here are some of my pretties:

Little Sister by Dora Phillips

Supplies: Paper: Bella Blvd, Die Cuts: My Little Yellow Bicycle, Flowers: Making Memories, Sassafras Lass, Alphabet: Bella Blvd, Pins: Jo-Ann, Tulle: Bazzill Basics Paper, Font: Traveling Typewriter, Other: thread, Tools: Sewing Machine: Brother, Punch: Fiskars.

Journaling: Big sister Isabelle has such a strong personality that we worried Hannah might get run over at times. We were so wrong! From the first, Hannah showed that she could hold her own and do her fair share of being the driver in her relationship with Isabelle.

Cool Shoes by Dora Phillips

Supplies: Paper, Stickers: Sassafras Lass, Alphabets: BasicGrey, Buttons, Flowers: Making Memories, Fonts: Rusted Plastic, Traveling Typewriter, Other: thread. Tools: Sewing Machine: Brother, Software: Adobe.

Journaling: You are counting down the days until school starts. not because you want to go to school, but because you want to wear your brand new school shoes. check out those cool plaid converse kicks.

My Walk Wish by Dora Phillips

Supplies: Paper: BasicGrey, Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper, Transparency: Fancy Pants, Die Cuts, Acrylic Words: Little Yellow Bicycle, Alphabet: American Crafts, Charm: Around The Block, Pins: Heidi Grace, Ribbon: Making Memories, Font: Rough Typewriter, Markers: Copic, Other: buttons, thread. Tools: Stamps: My Favorite Things Stamps, Other: sewing machine.

Journaling: Wolfie loves learning new tricks. Except one. Heel. She boldly goes dragging her humans behind her. Perhaps it is instinctual for a Husky to want to mush and pull a sled. Perhaps it is simply a love of running. Most likely it is a puppy thing that we will someday master. But, until then, we don't walk her--she walks us. And runs us. And gallops us. And then she comes home and sleeps like the baby she is . . .until the next "walk".

Falling by Dora Phillips

Supplies: Paper, Chipboard: Crate Paper, Rub Ons: Scrapworks, Markers: Copic, Ink: Stampin’ Up!, Other: glitter. Tools: Stamps: My Favorite Things Stamps.

Journaling: (inside) for you.

I am off to do some digi scrapping with a new charity collab I participated in. I will be back tomorrow to show it off and share links. Happy Sunday!

Exciting News!

2010-11-12T07:23:00.001-08:00

We are thrilled to announce a new partnership between ScrapStreet.com Magazine and GingerScraps.net. As we roll into the new year--and our SIXTH as a magazine--we have joined forces to create a new digital and hybrid ezine called GingerScrapsStreet Magazine!

Some of you may recognize Ginger's name from her many years with us as a ScrapStreet digital designer. Others will know her name and those of her talented Gingerbread Ladies from their amazing work in the digital scrapping world. We could not have wished for a better partnership!

As of today, we are closing our own digital store and moving everything to GingerScraps. You can see my LemonLove Creations available starting today. Katey will be moving soon with a brand new designing name and a fabulous new look. Keep an eye out for her announcement soon!
Would you like to be a part of our new venture? We are now accepting applications for staff AND we have brand new submission calls! Here is all of the info you need.

Do you have a passion for all things digital or hybrid? Do you love sharing new ideas and hot trends with your fellow scrappers? Are you interested in increasing your online presence reaching thousands of subscribers each month?If you are selected for our new digital team with GingerScraps, you will write a monthly article which will include selecting and requesting the work of designers, combining the work into an interesting article, and meeting your deadline. You will receive products from GingerScraps and other industry designers as a thank you for sharing your talents. It is an excellent opportunity to increase your visibility in the scrapping community while having fun.

To Apply:

Send the following to digistaff@scrapstreet.com

1. contact information
2. a short statement of why you are interested in joining us.
3. a link to your blog.
4. a link to your gallery.

Would you love to see your art featured in GingerScrapsStreet Magazine? Check out our current calls:

January Calls:
Each month we will choose one layout to grace our cover and that designer will receive a wonderful package of goodies as our thanks. All layouts submitted for our article calls are eligible. Good Luck!

Hybrid: Are you a hybrid scrapper? Submit your layouts that use any hybrid technique and tell us what you love about this style of scrapbooking!

Digital Designers: Would you like to be our featured designer for an upcoming month? A kit made by you will be the central point of our magazine and we will show off you and your work to all of our subscribers!

Resolutions: Do you have one big one or whole list of changes to make? Resolve to scrap them and share the layout with us!

Fonts: Are you an addict? Do you love to mix and match and create with typography? Show us your layouts that are in tip top type shape.

Girls Night Out: Show us anything and everything that says Girlfriend time to you. What do you do when you can ditch the menfolk and head out? Coffee? Cocktails? Creativity? We would love to see.

Confetti: Nothing says party like a handful of confetti! January starts off with a party. Toss some confetti on a layout and send it our way.

Organization: January marks the sale of organizers as everyone insists that this will be the year that they perfect the todo list. We want to see your layouts using any and all office supplies. Bonus points if you scrap in a nice todo list or calendar.

Color me WHITE: In the month that tops the snowfall across the country, many of us look outside to see white day after day. How can you make WHITE sing on your pages. Show us your creative uses of white!

Deadline is midnight November 29th ... for all calls.
Please send your work to gsscalls@scrapstreet.com.
Please send a separate email for each submission you would like to be considered for publication. Please keep the image size around 600 x 600 pixels. Thank you!

Are you ready to be a part of this fabulous new magazine? We cannot wait to see everything you have to offer!

A freebie!

2010-11-10T07:52:00.001-08:00

Howdy Digi Friends!
Did everyone have a fabulous International Digital Scrapbooking Day? I did! I certainly did not make it as many places as I would have liked, but the ones I visited had such fun sales! I admit to overshopping a bit. There were just so many pretties!

But my overindulgence is your gain, too! I seemed unable to resist CU grab bags. I loved the surprise of it all. Inside one was a cute quartet of twitter birds. I confess that I am not a tweeter. I know. I tried. But I found my life was just not that interesting. Even I did not want to know what I was doing most times so why would anyone else?

But the birds were too cute not to play with today. So I did them up in a bit of felt and am offering them free for you this week as the ScrapStreet Wed Freebie.

Download Us {here}

They will be active for one week. And, as always, we appreciate your kind comments!

Did you notice my new packaging? Its a hint to big things coming! Stay tuned!

Nov DAD bonus freebie

2010-11-06T06:48:00.000-07:00

I am up for the download of the day kit at the fabulous Divine Digital. I worked with talented designers Snips And Snails Designs (love that name!) and Cali Designs to create a winter beach themed kit. It was a departure from my normal bright and silly style, but I loved it. Felt so good to stretch my creativity into a new direction.

Seaside Solitude

Ahh, the Atlantic Shore during those fall/winter months.

It's a time when the ocean is stormy and grey,

and you can often find that you are the only one on a long expanse of
sand enjoying the solitude and cold ocean breeze.

I created a bonus blog alpha to complement the kit. I chose to go in a different direction from the driftwood one I included in the kit. I hope you enjoy!

Download: Bonus Alpha

Thanks for stopping by and for being a Digital Design Friend! Have a super weekend!

Project Team Ewan is HERE!

2010-11-05T10:21:00.000-07:00

I am so thrilled to be a part of Team Ewan. Last year, I put out a call for new magazine staff at ScrapStreet and had a wonderful response. Some talented and amazing women applied, but one drew me immediately. Her blog was so adorable and full of life. I admit it. I had a girl crush. I just knew we could be friends--how could anyone not be friends with Melissa?

By the end of the summer, I was picking her up at the airport to stay with a bunch of us other "cyberfriends" for CHA week. I did not want to give her back! She is two hoots and a half and that was before we gave her some special punch. Melissa's spirit fills a room and touches everyone making each of us feel better than we did moments before. It is her gift and her blessing.

When Melissa shared that one of her friends was struggling with bad news in her pregnancy, my heart broke. As a mother, I can not imagine anything else worse in this world. I have watched my own mom struggle with the loss of her adult son and cannot comprehend losing a baby within moments of meeting him. I wished that I could sit and hold Melissa's hand to replenish the strength that she was giving to her friends. Instead, I listened and prayed. Sadly for those of us on Earth, Ewan headed to heaven after too short of a time in the arms of his family.

Melissa put together an amazing tribute to Ewan and an opportunity for us to raise money to help Seattle Children's Hospital help others. I contributed a template class and a set of the photo templates that I use over and over in my personal scrapping. They provide a fast and easy way to drop your photos into strips and blocks before printing. All of the work is done for you. I use them constantly so that I can get to the fun part of playing with my supplies. I hope you enjoy them.

The rest of my blog today is a direct copy from Melissa's blog The Profound Brunette. She says it all more profoundly than I ever could. I urge all of you to join us in this cause!

Project Team Ewan is HERE!

It is with GREAT excitement that I announce Project Team Ewan is ready for sale! For more information on how to obtain a copy of your Project Team Ewan Class Package, click here. This takes you to the page on blog. For future reference, there is and will always be a tab at the top of my blog.

I am so excited for this fundraiser because 100% of the money raised is going directly to Seattle Children's Hospital and research that will help further care for children who have congenital heart defects. The reason why this fundraiser is called Project Team Ewan is because of Ewan himself. My dear friend and former roommate Kirsten and her husband James found out early on in their pregnancy that Ewan had some serious heart issues. They knew that God had given Ewan to the world for a reason and chose to go on this adventure of heart ache, joy, sorrow, grief, grace, growth and, ultimately, watching lives change.

Kirsten is a very gifted writer and has put into much better words than I ever could, the journey that she and James have been on. She is very transparent in how she has processed learning of Ewan's condition, the birth and then, sadly, the death of sweet little Ewan Eliezer.

Seattle Children's Hospital provided excellent care as they always do. The nurses and staff were smitten with Ewan and when I cam down to visit, I was very impressed by the loving care they gave towards all. The tenderness, the compassion and the generosity. Children's is a non-profit hospital running solely on donations from anyone who is willing to give. It is my hope to give back to them what they have so selflessly gave to thousands, if not millions, of others in the Northwest.

Thank you in advance for your generosity and I hope you do enjoy the class package. Click on the link/button above that will take you to the page with instructions. Please let me know if you have questions. Also... we have some AMAZING prizes to give away! If you purchase the package during the month of November, you will automatically be entered to win one of these prizes:

One lucky winner will receive the FULL class from the very talented Kristina Proffitt and Crystal Wilkerson. HUGE thanks to Kristina for offering up this prize.

Available to U.S. and International.

Wow! Check out this amazing pack of GOODNESS! The lovely Jen Gallacher has put together this awesome collection of scrapbooking heaven! Yes... you could win ALL of it.

Available to U.S. residents only.

One super duper lucky winner will receive a $75 gift certificate to Janet Carr's fabulous digital shop! Wowee! Thank you Janet!

Last but not least.... Two Peas in a Bucket has so wonderfully offered up $50 in the latest and greatest product! Yahoo! Who wouldn't want some brand new goodies??

Thanks in advance all who will purchase this kit! You are going to LOVE it and know that you are supporting a wonderful cause.

Hugs,

Melissa

Pocahontas and Question Mark Man

2010-11-03T11:06:00.000-07:00

Halloween rolled around and Zack had a definite idea of his costume. He would only be The Riddler. He took great delight in showing me how he prances along cane tucked under his arm, fingers on the brim of his hat. He was everthing Zack adored right now: the color green, word puzzles, cool typography, and sneakiness. Perfection.

Do you know that The Riddler is not actually a desired costume creation for children? You can be Batman. You can be Robin. Batgirl. Catwoman. But a bad guy from the Batman world? Nope.

Zack rolled his eyes at my google abilities and suggested with the calm voice he usually reserves for explaining concepts to the cats that I should try searching his real name Edward Nygma. And then spelled it for me. I was torn between a mother's pride and exasperation. Is he really supposed to believe he is smarter than I am at age 8? To his dismay, the real name did not help.

Off the the fabric store, Mom. I can design the costume and you can make it for me. At least he has faith in my crafting abilities. I crossed my fingers that he would choose a simple concept--without sequins--and off we went.

It took him only about 15 minutes to find the perfect green lycra. He described the ensemble. A body suit. One question mark. And then added, "do you know what has always been wrong with The Riddler?" What, sugar? "No cape. My Riddler needs a cape to swirl about." Of course he does.

I realize that his fashion statement might start a stampede of little boys needing to don The Riddler costume for next year, so please allow me to dispense some advice moms. Fabric glue. Do not attempt to stitch those darn question marks. Glue is your friend.

and with the cape swirl:

We arrived at school for the annual costume parade. Imagine Zack's frustration when kids would call out, "Hi Question Mark Man!". The pitying looks he gave them made me chuckle. And he heaped praise on those bright enough to be able to correctly identify his character.

Allie, on the other hand, chose her costume simply. The costume catalog came and she selected the Indian Princess. Ok, so it was not politically correct enough to list it as Native American Princess, but she was good with that.

Her choice thrilled me. She is in teen sizes now that she is a proud Jr High gal. Have you seen what they sell teen girls in costume land? In alphabetical order you can find all of the costumes filed under S. Slutty Nurse, Slutty Alice in Wonderland, and Slutty Red Riding Hood topped this year's list. Joined by Slutty Witch, Slutty Ladybug, and Slutty Nun.

Doesn't she look both darling and age appropriate?

Trust me. With the long hair and the attitude she got from somewhere (why are you laughing?) she could work the trampy in some of those naughty costumes. Even in the innocent one, she can toss a smoldering look.

Of course, it would have been too easy for everyone to KNOW that she was an unnamed princess. Instead she heard, "what a darling Pocahontas" at every door. Oh well. It made Question Mark Man giggle.

The hours of watching Next Top Model are starting to pay off. She is all about the poses now. And has already decided on next year's costume. She is ALL about the unit on Egypt in school. Next up: Cleopatra. Toss me the eyeliner, please.

so many things!

2010-11-01T06:38:00.000-07:00

I love the first of the month! Such a busy time both online and off. And with Halloween closing out the last weekend of October, I have been crazed.

I will be back with Halloween shots and stories of the kids. And I am hard at work on one charity collection kit for a dear friend and have info to share on a charity class set I contributed to for a Children's Hospital. Each deserves their own post to share the stories and details. And I have fabulous news on a change for ScrapStreet and me!

The November issue of ScrapStreet Mag is live and wonderful (if I do say so myself). What a talented team we have and such amazing designers submit and create for us. I am making a list of what to try first! Here is the cover and link to get in:

And, of course, the free kit is live on the blog for an instant download. It looks like this:

If that was not enough for the day, I am also on the Download of the Day team for the first 2 weeks of November at Divine Digital. We created a winter beachy kit called Seaside Solitude that has such a lovely, yet lonely, feel. I will have an additional freebie on my blog later in the week. Be sure to watch for it! Here is the flip showing off the kit:

To download, pop in HERE each day!
Ok, I think that is everything for this morning! Hope your November starts off on the right foot!

Fabulous Fall!

2010-10-19T06:58:00.000-07:00

I live in "The Arboretum Village" according to all of the publicity put together by the town and yet I had never been to visit The Morton Arboretum. No, I do not have a good excuse. I live moments from it. I drive by it constantly. I receive info about events by mail. The kids enjoy each field trip to the arboretum at school.

This fall when the event flyer came, I put it on the calendar instead of tossing it in the recycle bin. We are enjoying such beautiful fall weather that I wanted to enjoy a Saturday wandering through the woods. I am soooo glad that we went!

The scheduled Saturday events included a taffy apple bar and a scarecrow walk. Sounded great. There are miles and miles of trails to walk, bike, or drive. Different themes for each hike with different trees. Zack loved China--seeing the trees that grow native to that country just tickled him. Allie loved the Great Plains finding miles of golden wheat to be stunning. Both enjoyed playing a bit in the kids area. Here is Allie climbing a bit:

All along a lake stood scarecrows created by different scout troops. Zack fell in love with a frog:

And Allie with a hippy gal (of course):

I have a ton of fabulous shots to play with over the next few scrappy days. Tons of textures for my digi creating. Some items to extract. And lots of pictures to print and enjoy. I loved it so much that I upgraded our day pass for an annual one. My poor kids are going to spend lots of time doing photo shoots in the arboretum!

Here is one of my favorites from the day:

Happy Fall

2010-10-18T06:52:00.000-07:00

Just a quickie card today! I soooo adore Bella BLVD for card making. I can look at their sticker sheet and just see a card pop out at me. Add a little stitching and a bit of bling and I have a card that is exactly perfect to send out.

Love Grows Happiness. Supplies: Papers, Stickers: Bella BLVD, Bling: Kaisercraft, Other: stitching.

Sparkle!

2010-10-17T12:50:00.000-07:00

I am back from Palm Springs--did you miss me? Ok, so no one knew I was gone. Every once in a while, I see something about safety and the internet that freaks me out with insistence that we should not be so visible. Recommendations that we never show pictures of our kids online just do not work for me. After all, I run an online scrapbooking website. How would that work?

But I did decide that it is not a great idea to announce that I am leaving the kids home with Grandma while I travel away for a few days, so I kept it on the down low. The kids had an absolutely fabulous time with a mix of Aunts, Uncles, and Grandparents. They made it to Great America and the Field Museum over the long weekend. I am grateful to have inlaws that love spending time with my kids.

I had a relaxing time enjoying sunshine and warmth. I spent some time reading at the pool. Had a massage. Danced for hours with good friends. And the highlight was falling madly in love with my friend Michelle's darling 4yo son Corey. We met for some Starbucks (naturally) and had a couple of hours to chat. Corey taught me to use his personal laptop, drew pictures of me, and showered me with flowers. What a charmer!

It is always nice to be in the company of other women. I honestly believe we NEED that. After all, who else would notice that I changed my hair color, dropped 8 pounds, and worked out harder after that magical 40th birthday so that I look "great for this age"? And who else could understand that I feel completely differently at 40 than I did at 39? It actually made sense to them that at 35 I felt I was too old for sequins, but today I feel fabulous wearing it? Don't overthink it--just accept it and see me when you are 40.

Here I am wearing sequins--feeling 40 and fabulous.

New Collab coming!

2010-10-02T19:07:00.000-07:00

I have had the pleasure of designing with two of my fave gals Chelsea of Caged Bird Designs and Aimee of Girlboheme Studios.

It is a warm and happy celebration of fall with plenty of yummies for all of your fabulous fall pictures. I will be back with a full preview when it goes live. Have a happy Sat night!

First of the month!

2010-10-01T12:22:00.000-07:00

Woohoo! The new issue of ScrapStreet.com Mag is out! I absolutely love this issue. Thank you to so many fabulous designers for sharing your art with us!

Run and download the free kit--a totally fun collab just right for your fall and Halloween pics. While you are in there, check out all of the articles from our crazy talented staff. I adore these gals and feel so lucky to be inspired by them every month. Happy October!

Once upon a time

2010-09-24T08:28:00.000-07:00

I used to sew. I taught myself during my high school years out of necessity. My family did not have the money to keep up with the cool kids in clothes shopping. What I lacked in funds, I made up for in creativity and ingenuity. I started with clothes purchased at garage sales and would turn them into something new. Many a pair of pants became fabulous 80's mini skirts with a bit of sewing machine magic.

Later I moved on to buying material and starting from scratch. Only I never learned properly. I still find patterns to be more trouble than they are worth. *waits for real sewing peeps to go thud* Yep. I just look at material and make things that fit me. Of course, I could not sew without a live model, but I did create items for friends and later my kids. Often during my high school teaching years, I would help girls turn thrift finds into prom gowns.

I spent a little time quilting. I made a few blankets for family, but never really found it to be the right creative outlet for me. When I discovered scrapbooking, I boxed up my sewing machines and tucked them into the closet. However, years (and several scrapping styles) later, I brought one back out and began stitching on my layouts. And it felt just exactly right.

The layouts I love best have 3 elements: journaling, stitching, and shine. Yep. I like a bit of fashion in my scrapping. Knowing this about myself lets me create easier. I zipped this layout out in only a few minutes and loved it fore it's simplicity. Wanna see?

Irish by Dora Phillips
Supplies: Paper, Stickers: Sassafras Lass, Letters: American Crafts, Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper, Markers: Copic, Bling: Heidi Swapp, Sewing Machine: Brother, Other: thread, buttons.

Journaling: Every Irish girl loves St. Pat's Day. You don your green with pride.

Dog Gone Cute!

2010-09-23T06:02:00.000-07:00

Is the name of my new kit and I am loving it. I really am surprised how long it took me since we brought Wolfie home to design a doggie kit. Over the last 4 months I have taken a ton of photos of our darling--and insane--new family member.

Honestly, as soon as someone tells me that dogs never do that, Wolfie does it. She will pee in her bed while in it. Ok, so that is not her fault--she is incontinent and on medication now. She refuses to potty on a walk. I have this cute little bag filled bone attached to her leash and have never whipped out a bag. She gobbles her meds down, but won't touch bacon flavored treats. Who doesn't like bacon? Every day is a new adventure with this darling.

One thing she is for certain--a total girly girl. She adores her stuffed friends. Her babies. She will chew on anything--my scrapbooks, a tree trunk, various veggies from the garden--but she does not chew up her babies. She adores them. Here is a layout with her current favorite baby.

Froggy Love. Digital Supplies: Kit: Dog Gone Cute by Dora Phillips, Fonts: Traveling Typewriter, Sweetheart Script.
Journaling: Wolfy loves her soft friends more than any other toy. She carries them everywhere and refuses to sleep without one. Froggy is her favorite--this week!

Lucky

2010-09-22T08:28:00.000-07:00

I am lucky. My kids are absolutely adorable and really fun to be with. I am totally enjoying these kid years. Although they definitely love hanging together and have a bunch of similiarities, they are definitely in different places in maturity. Sadly, Allie (big jr high girl that she is) figured out that all of the magical little fairies and creatures of her childhood do not really live in our house. Or visit. She happily said goodbye to the tooth fairy, Santa, and all of their friends. Especially the Easter bunny. She never could quite rationalized rabbits and eggs in that brain of hers.

As a nonbeliever, she was immediately promoted to house fairy. It is now her job to trade out teeth for cash. Her job to eat Santa's cookies. And her job to wreck havok on the house as Lucky the leprechaun. This spring, she had an absolute blast leading Zack on a merry chase to capture the gold. I have always enjoyed this holiday and game, but she definitely took it up a notch. He was one BUSY leprechaun.

My favorite or her ideas had to be the paint footprints leading from a window to under the couch. Zack just beamed when he found them! I cannot wait to see what she comes up with next year!

Lucky by Dora Phillips
Supplies: Paper: Crate Paper, Buttons: BasicGrey. Letters: American Crafts, Die Cuts: Crate Paper, Font: Traveling Typewriter, Ink: Colorbox, Sweing Machine: Brother, Other: thread.

Journaling: Every year on St. Patrick's Day, our resident leprechaun, Lucky, spends the day playing tricks on our family. He dyes toilet water green, hides shoes, short sheets beds, and loves making a mess. He also leaves little presents behind. All day long we chase him hoping to get his gold. Sadly, footprints and shamrock glitter are the closest we have gotten so far.

it's easy being green

2010-09-21T19:39:00.000-07:00

for me this week. Honestly, I cannot stop scrapping with green this week. I started out with one of my favorite collections from Crate Paper. I am on my second collection kit and still adore it. The green, orange, and gold are such beautiful hues and perfect for any season. And the glitter diecuts? Heaven!

This is a set of pics from last March of my little cutie. Of course, the layout is hybrid and stitched with a little ink and a lot of love.

Not So Green Day. Supplies: Paper, Die Cuts, Brads: Crate Paper, Alphabets: Maya Road, My Little Shoebox, Pink Paislee, Fonts: Traveling Typewriter, Stone Inscription, Other: stitching.
Journaling: Look Mom! I am all ready for school. See my green for St. Patrick's Day? I thought about a green shirt but did not want to overdo it. Do you like it?

See you tomorrow with more green and maybe a story.

feeling zippy

2010-09-20T18:45:00.000-07:00

today. I scrapped with a zipper and it was fun! I was cleaning out a drawer and found a broken zip that I tucked in there for a completely unknown reason. As I rolled it up to toss it, inspiration struck. It looked just like the ribbon flowers I am loving making right now. I stitched it up and got ready to scrap.

I decided to use the My Mind's Eye sketch #15 as my starting point. I am really enjoying playing along with their excellent sketches. Here it is:

And here is my version of it. Simple, but lovely. After adding the zipper rose, I hand stitched the other half of the zipper as a twisty border. I really love the look and may need to break another zipper soon.

Family. Paper, Die Cuts, Stickers, Overlay: My Mind's Eye, Brads: Making Memories, Other: zipper, stitching.

Off to peek in the junk drawer to see what else I might find.

A freebie today!

2010-09-15T14:45:00.000-07:00

Happy Anniversary ScrapStreet! Can you believe we have spent FIVE years together already? Oh the places we have been and the growth we have enjoyed! Big kisses to all of you!

I did my grocery shopping early this week and the Halloween candy lined the aisles. I resisted. Lets face it--if I get it now, I will eat it long before the holiday. However, it did get me in the mood to start my Halloween designing. I put together a little set of epoxy stickers for you as this week's freebie. I hope you enjoy. You can grab it at the ScrapStreet blog.

Some Crate Sketch Fun

2010-09-13T03:19:00.000-07:00

I confess. I love Crate Paper. They have been one of my favorite companies since the first time I got my hands on them. Now that I have my darling google reader up and running, I am able to keep track of some favorite manufacturing blogs.

I was thrilled to find that Crate Paper will be sharing a sketch once a month. I enjoy the creative nudge that sketches provide sooooo much. The August sketch left much of the decisions to the artist by not identifying spots for title, journaling, etc. It looks like this:

and my version looks like this:

Supplies: Paper, Die Cuts, Stickers: Crate Paper, Alphabet: American Crafts, Flowers: Making Memories, Ink: Clearsnap, Font: Bodini, Sketch: Emily Pitts for Crate Paper. Other: machine stitching.
Journaling: two silly cousins, two diet cokes, too many giggles to count.

Thanks for the inspiration, Emily and Crate Paper!

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL?!?!!!!

2010-09-12T12:19:00.000-07:00

I so am. The only reason I can let summer end is to bring on football season. Yes, I do love football. Not only do I not mind the husband having a fantasy team, but he does not mind me having one. I know. I look blond and clueless, but never underestimate a gal who grew up in the 70's outside of Pittsburgh.

Which makes me--and my family--Steeler fans.

As gametime approached, we got all dressed and ready for our pregame photo shoot. Daddy and friends were off playing a morning round of golf, so it was just Team Mommy. And Wolfie. Puppy is new to the concept of football. She refused to wear her kerchief. And had no interest in sitting pretty for a photo. She did, however, do her best to make us giggle.

Finally, kickoff time rolled around. The house is full of people ready to watch our NFL package. Laptops are opened. Chatter begins. Chips and beverages make the rounds. The kids head upstairs or outside to play checking in now and again for scores. None of them are really ready to watch full time yet, but they do enjoy cheering with us.

And they look really cute in the Steeler gear.

Today I turn

2010-09-01T18:59:00.000-07:00

forty. Eeeeekkk!!!

It is true. I no longer get to be "in my thirties." I keep hearing that 40 is the new 25, but I hope not. I have come a long way since 25 and I am not going back.

I wondered how I would feel today. Would it be horrible? Would I feel older? But I must admit that I had a great day. Got tons accomplished. Had a fabulous dinner and chocolate cake. My kids made me sweet gifts. My friends sent me flowers. Aren't they the cutest ever!

I even found time to scrap today, but I cannot show since it is something for the mag. I did have Allie and Zack each take a few pictures of me. Allie did hers while I was on the phone thanking Meesh for the flowers. Here I am--frozen at exactly forty. And happy about it.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes, loves!

DAD Freebie--Day 31

2010-08-31T03:55:00.000-07:00

Here is Day 30 of So Studious by Aimee at Girlboheme Studios, Dora at Dora’s Lemon Love Creations and Chelsea at Caged Bird Designs! Bookmark our blogs because you will surely want to download this collab kit for FREE before it goes into the store!

Download Day 30:

Download at Girlboheme Studios

This is the last day! I hope you have a ton of fun scrapping with our kit! Head to Divinedigital.com for more fabulous scrappy fun!

Divine is back up! Still, we didn’t want anyone to miss out on an opportunity to download our kit in time for school, so we decided to offer it at our blogs for a limited time. Enjoy!

DAD Freebie--Day 30

2010-08-30T03:52:00.000-07:00

Download Day 30:

Download at Caged Bird Designs

Tomorrow, you will be at Girlboheme Studios!

Divine is back up! Still, we didn’t want anyone to miss out on an opportunity to download our kit in time for school, so we decided to offer it at our blogs for a limited time. Enjoy!

DAD Freebie--Day 29

2010-08-29T03:51:00.000-07:00

Here is Day 29 of So Studious by Aimee at Girlboheme Studios, Dora at Dora’s Lemon Love Creations and Chelsea at Caged Bird Designs! Bookmark our blogs because you will surely want to download this collab kit for FREE before it goes into the store!

Download Day 29:

Download [Link Expired]

Tomorrow, you will be at Caged Bird Designs

Divine is back up! Still, we didn’t want anyone to miss out on an opportunity to download our kit in time for school, so we decided to offer it at our blogs for a limited time. Enjoy!

DAD Freebie--Day 28

2010-08-28T06:50:00.000-07:00

Here is Day 28 of So Studious by Aimee at Girlboheme Studios, Dora at Dora’s Lemon Love Creations and Chelsea at Caged Bird Designs! Bookmark our blogs because you will surely want to download this collab kit for FREE before it goes into the store!

Download Day 28:

Download at Girlboheme Studios

Tomorrow, you will be back here!

Divine is back up! Still, we didn’t want anyone to miss out on an opportunity to download our kit in time for school, so we decided to offer it at our blogs for a limited time. Enjoy!

DAD Freebie--Day 27

2010-08-27T03:18:00.000-07:00

Here is Day 27 of So Studious by Aimee at Girlboheme Studios, Dora at Dora’s Lemon Love Creations and Chelsea at Caged Bird Designs! Bookmark our blogs because you will surely want to download this collab kit for FREE before it goes into the store!

Download Day 27:

Download at Caged Bird Designs

Tomorrow, you will be at Girlboheme Studios!

Divine is back up! Still, we didn’t want anyone to miss out on an opportunity to download our kit in time for school, so we decided to offer it at our blogs for a limited time. Enjoy!

DAD Freebie--Day 26

2010-08-26T03:12:00.000-07:00

Here is Day 26 of So Studious by Aimee at Girlboheme Studios, Dora at Dora’s Lemon Love Creations and Chelsea at Caged Bird Designs! Bookmark our blogs because you will surely want to download this collab kit for FREE before it goes into the store!

Download Day 26:

Download [Link Expired]

Tomorrow, you will be at Caged Bird Designs

Divine is back up! Still, we didn’t want anyone to miss out on an opportunity to download our kit in time for school, so we decided to offer it at our blogs for a limited time. Enjoy!

School!

2010-08-25T18:04:00.000-07:00

As in the first day! (ok, so my first day was yesterday, but the kids started today) They were more than just a little excited. Check out the calendar page:

Allie's alarm went off first. The Jr. High bus comes at 7:15 and she definitely did not want to miss it on her very first day as a 6th grader. I thought she would be more nervous, but she was calm and prepared. She memorized all of her codes and combinations, had her gym clothes bag over one shoulder, and her new backpack over the other.

Zack just could not stay in bed, so he popped up and joined us for breakfast. And then grabbed Wolfie for the walk to the bus stop. This is the ONLY day I was allowed to go with Allie. (gee, twist my arm and force me to stay inside on those frigid winter days).

Once she was safely on the bus, we had half an hour to kill before Zack's bus. He posed for plenty of pictures of his new shoes and of his old backpack. Yep. Third year of the same pack. Boys are SO different from girls. He just says, "it is still my favorite color." Exciting favorite colors--black and gray. *rolls eyes*

At 7:45, he was on the bus and I was in my truck dashing to the elementary school. As he exited the bus, we walked together to the playground to find his teacher for the first time. It is madness! 800 kids and many parents all milling around together. Finally, he was in line and marching in and I was off to grab a coke and celebrate with some back to school scrapping. Ahhh a quiet house.

*looks over at Wolfie* mostly quiet.

I know that I should say that I sniffed back a few tears, but I refuse to lie to you. I love the routine of school and seeing the kids challenged.

Someone remind me of that when I sit down to do Algebra homework with Allie, ok?

DAD Freebie--Day 25

2010-08-25T03:17:00.000-07:00

Here is Day 25 of So Studious by Aimee at Girlboheme Studios, Dora at Dora’s Lemon Love Creations and Chelsea at Caged Bird Designs! Bookmark our blogs because you will surely want to download this collab kit for FREE before it goes into the store!

Download Day 25:

Download at Girlboheme Studios

Tomorrow, you will be back here!

Divine is back up! Still, we didn’t want anyone to miss out on an opportunity to download our kit in time for school, so we decided to offer it at our blogs for a limited time. Enjoy!

Divine DAD freebie day 24

2010-08-24T02:11:00.000-07:00

Here is Day 24 of So Studious by Aimee at Girlboheme Studios, Dora at Dora’s Lemon Love Creations and Chelsea at Caged Bird Designs! Bookmark our blogs because you will surely want to download this collab kit for FREE before it goes into the store!

Download Day 24:

Download [HERE] at Caged Bird Designs

Tomorrow, you will be at Girlboheme Studios

Divine is back up! Still, we didn’t want anyone to miss out on an opportunity to download our kit in time for school, so we decided to offer it at our blogs for a limited time. Enjoy!

freebie here today!

2010-08-23T00:01:00.000-07:00

Here is Day 23 of So Studious by Aimee at Girlboheme Studios, Dora at Dora’s Lemon Love Creations and Chelsea at Caged Bird Designs! Bookmark our blogs because you will surely want to download this collab kit for FREE before it goes into the store!

Download Day 23:

Download [Link Expired]

Tomorrow, you will be {here} at caged bird designs

Unfortunately, Divine is still down. We didn’t want anyone to miss out on an opportunity to download our kit in time for school, so we decided to offer it at our blogs for a limited time. The links will only be active for a short time, so tell your friends!

Another freebie day!

2010-08-22T08:39:00.000-07:00

Here is Day 22 of So Studious by Aimee at Girlboheme Studios, Dora at Dora’s Lemon Love Creations and Chelsea at Caged Bird Designs! Bookmark our blogs because you will surely want to download this collab kit for FREE before it goes into the store!

Here is a link to the next download:

Download [HERE] at Girlboheme Studios

Tomorrow, you will be back here for day 23!

Free Download of the Day! Day 21

2010-08-21T06:52:00.000-07:00

Here is Day 21 of So Studious by Aimee at Girlboheme Studios, Dora at Dora’s Lemon Love Creations and Chelsea at Caged Bird Designs! Bookmark our blogs because you will surely want to download this collab kit for FREE before it goes into the store!

Here is the Day 21 download:

Download at Caged Bird Designs {HERE}

Tomorrow, you will want to download Day 22 at Girlboheme Studios HERE!

Giving away!

2010-08-20T08:27:00.000-07:00

Today I have the next piece in our Divine Digiatl Download A Day and I have a chance to win more than $100 worth of paper scrapping goodness! Are you ready?

ScrapStreet.com Magazine is celebrating 10,000 subscribers with a HUGE prize. Here it is:

How to win? Head on over to the ScrapStreet Blog to enter! It is a drawing with 5 chances to win.

AND

Today I am the download for Day 20! So Studious by Aimee at Girlboheme Studios, Dora at Dora’s Lemon Love Creations and Chelsea at Caged Bird Designs! Bookmark our blogs because you will surely want to download this collab kit for FREE before it goes into the store!

Here is the Day 20 download:

Download { Link Expired}

Tomorrow, you will want to download Day 21 at Caged Bird Designs!

More DAD fun!

2010-08-19T07:04:00.000-07:00

Here is the fourth day of So Studious by Aimee at Girlboheme Studios, Dora at Dora’s Lemon Love Creations and Chelsea at Caged Bird Designs! Bookmark our blogs because you will surely want to download this collab kit for FREE before it goes into the store!

Today's Download: Day 19:

Download at Girlboheme Studios {Here}

Tomorrow you come back here for the next download!

Free Digital Fun!

2010-08-18T07:53:00.000-07:00

Here is the third day of So Studious by Aimee at Girlboheme Studios, Dora at Dora’s Lemon Love Creations and Chelsea at Caged Bird Designs! Bookmark our blogs because you will surely want to download this collab kit for FREE before it goes into the store!

Today's Download: Day 18:

Download at Caged Bird Designs {Here}

Tomorrow you head to Girlboheme Studios for the next download.

Today is also Freebie Wednesday for ScrapStreet! Head on over to the blog to pick up 2 alphabets to go with the papers from last week. Next Wednesday, we will offer the embellishments for this fun Cocktail kit!

This Week's Download:

Download at ScrapStreet.com Blog {Here}

Tune in tomorrow for more fun! Smooches!

Summertime Sketch

2010-08-17T17:30:00.000-07:00

I took way more pictures than I had time to scrap this summer. Now that I am getting back into the school grove, I actually have more time to scrap. I know that the math does not seem to work out--back to work=more time, but it does.

I love using a sketch or challenge to jump start the mojo and this one from My Mind's Eye is the perfect combination of both. The sketch is bold and fun and I always love working with MME products. Yummy!

Challenge #14--Summertime

I used a few shots of Lauren with her favorite summertime buddy--new baby Rachel. Even though these two of my nieces are not related with each other, they bonded instantly. Rachel giggled and bubbled every time Lauren came within eyesight.

Best Baby Ever. Supplies: Paper, Rub Ons: My Mind's Eye, Chipboard Alphabet: American Crafts, Other: stitching. Journaling: Lauren took one look at Rachel and fell in love. She is such an easy baby, but for Lauren she just radiated joy. They were inseparable at every event this summer.

I stayed pretty true to the exact sketch, shifting the main stip over just a smidge. I also used a stitched block instead of a paper one. I do so love stitching and I love letting the fabulous MME rubons decorate the square. What a fun challenge to kick off my scrapping!

More Freebie Fun!

2010-08-17T07:55:00.000-07:00

I have double the freebie fun for you today!

Here is the second day of So Studious by Aimee at Girlboheme Studios, Dora at Dora’s Lemon Love Creations and Chelsea at Caged Bird Designs! Bookmark our blogs because you will surely want to download this collab kit for FREE before it goes into the store!

Today's Download: Day 17:

Download {Link Expired}

Tomorrow, you will want to download Day 18 HERE at Caged Bird Designs!

My second freebie is in celebration of the countdown to the 5th Anniversary of ScrapStreet! I created a fun kit called Cocktails Anyone? so we can all lift a glass together. The download is available in three pieces released every Wednesday on the ScrapStreet Blog. Today is the LAST DAY for the papers. Tomorrow, the alphabets will be available and next week the embellies.

Here is a peek at the papers:

Download them from ScrapStreet {Here}

Remember each link is good for one week only! Head on in and grab yours today and check back for a new freebie every Wednesday.

I will be back tomorrow with more fabulous freebies! Have a super day!

Free Download of the Day! Day 16

2010-08-16T07:28:00.000-07:00

Introducing So Studious by Aimee at Girlboheme Studios, Dora at Dora’s Lemon Love Creations (me) and Chelsea at Caged Bird Designs! Bookmark our blogs because you will surely want to download this collab kit for FREE before it goes into the store!

Those of you who are familiar with Divine Digital know that we do a download of the day each and every day. Aimee, Chelsea, and I were so excited to work together on a back to school kit that works as well for teens as for tots.

Here is the first download:

Today's download is at {HERE} at Girlboheme Studios

The kit will be available one piece each day so be sure to keep a close eye on us! Tomorrow you will be back here to download Day 17!

Mini CHA

2010-08-15T18:47:00.000-07:00

We had a mini-CHA weekend at my house. Allie and Samantha did not get to join the older girls at CHA this year, so we decided to have one at my house. We started with the Silhouette and made some adorable tshirts. The girls decided on "Freebird" as their weekend theme. Not sure what sparked it, but they were in a very birdy place.

Here is a close up of the design.

We had such fun trying out the rhinestone treatment. It is soooooooo easy! Transfer tape is your friend. Here are the girls during their photo shoot:

And another shot:

We took the photos from their shoot and made a clear acrylic book--6 pages--using a favorite Crate Paper line. So fabulous that even Mom thought she might want to make one another time and she has avoided scrapping for five years!

Next up was giggling over the newer version of Annie and then a sleepover in the living room. The next day, after a picnic lunch, we made some cute cards and then put together a gift bag to take home. Allie has her own stash of supplies that she added to with some new goodies. It was a totally fun weekend filled with giggles and scrapping!

4 simple goals

2010-08-14T08:34:00.000-07:00

Elsie's blog has long been a fave of mine. I love her retro mixed with fun style and her upbeat attitude always makes me smile. A couple of days ago, she posted a bit of a challenge that was JUST what I needed. 4 simple goal for the end of the year. Perfect!

I need a little something to get me motivated along with back to school (and back to work for me) time. I took a couple of days to think of just what I really could commit to strongly. Here they are--my goals:

1. Drink water daily.

Although I prefer Coke at all times, I will drink water with lemon, but I have to remember to make it. And to make it EVERY day.

2. Take pics of ME.

I am doing a great job of documenting my kids' lives, but I realize that I would love to know what my own mom was thinking/doing/feeling when she was raising us. I look at my books and realize that I am missing from so many of them. I can do this! To start, I am taking this photography class. Looks so cool!

3. Play more.

With the kids, with the husband, with my scrapping--I want to be a bit more free and a little less structured. No, not abandon the schedule entirely as that would kill me, but make room for some more time to just play.

4. Blog better.

Ok, I know that "better" is not a measurable term. I want to blog at least 4x per week. And have the blogs share more of me than just the pretties I make. I need to add my digi in more and stories from my life, too.

Thanks for the inspiration, Elsie!

3 months later . . .

2010-08-09T12:06:00.000-07:00

I have now used my Silhouette!

I resisted buying a cutter for a long, long time. I knew that I did not want something that would use cartridges since I am not great about using the same images over and over. Wanting a true work with the computer digital cutter, I waited and waited.

For Mother's Day/National Scrapbooking Day (it is TOO a holiday worthy of gifts) I got the fabulous Silhoette SD. And loaded the software in it the same day. Unfortunately, I also downloaded a free digi kit with bonus virus the same day. A week later, the puter was clean, but the software needed reloading. And life got busy.

So I put it off.

Until CHA when I eagerly headed to the booth to figure out how to work the darling machine. Oh, and to order more supplies, of course. I had Lauren with me and she went nuts over the tshirts they had on display. Apparently, the heat transfer and bling applications were totally teen approved.

I loaded the software. Peeked around the site. Purchased some red vinyl and made letters for the magnet boards in my office. Cute and easy. Yay!

So I showed the kids the images and let each pick 2 along with 2 colors of heat transfer. And I made tshirts. And yes, dear friends, that means I ironed. Shhh! Don't tell Drew that I know how.

Zack, in typical boy fashion, chose a shield and a mythical creature. In total Zack fashion, he also wanted bling.

Allie created this darling caged heart design. I totally need to print this in paper for a card!

It is hard to see in this shot, but I added bling to the heart. She loves it! I cannot wait to start designing more!

where have I been?

2010-08-08T08:36:00.000-07:00

Ever have one of those "living under a rock" moments?

I was sitting at my computer, happily typing out a story on the ScrapStreet boards, the morning after my kids' joint birthday party. Sitting across the room was my friend Bri in for the CHA Show. We were having a bit of computer time before heading to the airport to begin picking up more scrappy friends.

She suddenly exclaimed, "I have 221 new items in my google reader!"

I turned and gave her my best blond look. "What is a google reader?" And she laughed, certain that I was kidding. Sadly, I was not, so I kept looking at her.

Realization dawned. I really did not know. Her jaw dropped open, "giiirrrlll."

And so she showed me. One spot for all the blogs you love. No more adding to favorites and popping in and out to all of them. It shows you when there are new posts. You can read it without going or link out to it. You can sort them all into lovely folders. With google reader, you can easily keep track of a hundred or more blogs.

Pretty sure I heard angels begin to sing.

I was the definition of short attention span blogging. I would go to a fave. Read it, then hit one of her favorite links. Or one of the links in her post. And I was off. An hour later, I would have found cool things, added a few new favorites, and would still have only visited my first on my own favorites list. I was hopeless.

Thanks, Bri, for lifting the rock off of me!

Do not resist!

2010-08-07T17:09:00.000-07:00

The new line from Pink Paislee and the House of Three--Parisian Anthology! It is positively gorgeous, but even better than that--it is fun!

Pink Paislee was one of the first booths we visited at the CHA Summer Show. When we approached, we instantly saw this collection.

It formed the centerpiece of the booth and deserved it! Although we loved (and ordered) a bunch of Pink Paislee (as always), the Parisian Anthology was especially yummy. A closer look at the papers showed them as white with a bit of cream and silver accents. My personal scrapping style almost always starts on a white or almost white base so I was already sold.

Then Therese took me for a walk to show me that there was more! The papers have special glossy resist quality to them. Intreguing, right? But I am not the "artsy" type of scrapper. I am more of a storyteller. In the past, I have tried "messy" scrappy techniques, but they are hard for me. Go ahead and call me a control freak--I can take it. I am the only one of my friends that does not go gaga for mists.

I received a sample pack of the papers after placing my order. Took them out today intending to scrap my usual way, it seemed wrong to not let the papers live up to their full potential. *Word of warning, friends.* Go ink shopping now. You will want and need extra to play with these papers.

I started out with a copic marker. Great resist! But not enough ink for the whole sheet. I will be ordering a refill for my Ice Ocean marker. After that, I grabbed a cat eye ink pad. And used the entire thing, too. I will definitely be grabbing more! In the end, I blended 1 copic with 2 shades of turquoise ink and some touches of a lime green ink to create the background. I am so jazzed by it, that I might even try some paint next!

Look. Papers: Pink Paislee, Diecuts, Brads, Letters: Pink Paislee, Rub Ons: Maya Road, Markers: Copic, Ink: Colorbox, Font: Teen, Other: Machine, Thread.

Journaling: What are you peeking at out of the corner of your eye, Sidney? Is someone coming? Is something going to happen? I guess I will never know.

I cannot wait for my big box of goodies from Pink Paislee to arrive! I need more!

Ready to scrap again

2010-08-04T07:05:00.000-07:00

Almost!

I had the bestest time with all of my ScrapStreet girls during CHA. I was super excited to get to meet 3 of our newer staffers: Pamela, Melissa, and Diana. It is always soooooo much fun to get real hugs from people I get to know online. Or "imaginary friends" as my family calls them. Stacey, Bri, Terry, Heather, and Janice all zipped on over to Hotel Dora for another go around. It is always such fun when we are together. I swear we go from giggles to naughty to scrapping to mommyhood in the blink of an eye during conversations. To anyone else, it would make no sense at all.

Now they are all back home and it is time to get my mojo up and running again. I HAVE scrapped this summer, but with the nieces in for 7 weeks and my own kids home, I only just met my commitments instead of getting to play. Today, I will put my scrap desk back together. It is actually a twin bed, but I built a wooden cover for it giving me LOTS of scrappy space. Love it!

I got a new tv for my scrappy room for my birthday present. Early. It is all installed and will save me a bunch of room on my desk since it is wall mounted. Which means I will spend some of today reconfiguring my desktop. I love organizing scrappy goodies!

Off I go to organize and then scrap!

Happy Anniversary to us!

2010-08-02T09:09:00.000-07:00

Today is 13 years with my sweet and handsome husband! We have dinner plans tonight, but I thought I would share a layout from the July issue. It is one of the rare ones with both of us. I really am making an effort to have more pics with us together.

Enjoying Life

Supplies: Paper: BasicGrey, Die Cuts: My Mind's Eye, Making Memories, Rub-Ons: My Mind's Eye, Bling: Heidi Swapp, Alphabet: American Crafts, Fonts: Veteran Typewriter, Other: thread. Tools: Other: sewing machine.

Journaling: What a perfect afternoon at the ball park! Triple A games are far more relaxing and low key than heading to a big game. The park is small with activities for the kids. We can sit right along the dugout and chat with the players. The margaritas are cold and affordable. I have so few pictures of the two of us enjoying life together--even though we do it all the time! I am making a better effort to capture us this summer. Here we are . .

Have you looked at the new issue?

It is so full of fabulous work! I am always so inspired by our team and the wonderfully talented designers who submit to us. Yummy!

Zoo Day!

2010-07-21T18:46:00.000-07:00

We went to the zoo this morning and had such fun! Ok, so it was 90 degrees, but that did not stop us from loving it. Last week, each of us picked something we wanted to do this summer. We managed to do three so far--bowling, roller skating, and now the zoo.

We got up early (8am which is the crack of dawn for our jr high girls) and were on the road by 8:45. Here we are at the front of the zoo at open--9:30am.

I love the this sign! How could I not take a picture here?

We took a few pictures of the animals, but (if we are being honest) the animals were mostly into lying still in the heat. But the zoo has lots of cool statues to take shots in, under, and around. I adore this shot of Zack being a baby roo.

We came home to find out that Lisa made plane tickets for the girls to head home now. We only have a few days left so this will be our last day trip. Boohoo. Thank goodness we got up and went even with the hot weather. What a fab day!

spoiled puppy

2010-07-14T18:13:00.000-07:00

Ok, so Wolfie is spoiled. We cannot seem to go anywhere without finding something that she just "has to have." She has toys and treats and now her very own pool. Not a tiny plastic one, but a blow up one about 4 feet high.

I know. But she is so cute. Allie played lifeguard for Wolfie's first swim.

Allie is definitely my animal gal and my brave one. The other kids were a bit slow to jump in with Wolfie. And, of course, as soon as they did, she shook water all over them. Screams ensued.

Pretty soon Sidney managed to climb in for a wet puppy hug with Allie.

Zack, dressed in his best shark gear, popped in for a minute--but only if big sister had a hold on Wolfie. After the kids got tired, Wolfie kept right on going. She is wet and wild!

My scrapping buddy returns!

2010-06-25T13:15:00.000-07:00

My nieces are back for another summer visit! Over the past few years, they have come for at least a week or two. Sometimes together and other times separately.

Last year we had a glorious 6 weeks together. Allie and Sidney (also called the Nines) were completely inseparable--dressing alike, chattering together, sharing adventures. Zack's partner for the summer was Lauren, but I stole her. They still were partners for chores and when we were out--Lauren at 12 could help 6yo Zack. But for fun? She was all mine.

Lauren is artistic. She loved scrapping and creating. We had the bestest time playing. We even gave the scrappy room a makeover so it was better suited for the 2 of us.

This summer we have Mom, Lauren, and Sidney! Woohooo! Allie and Sid are already dressed in matching outfits being happily ten together. Zack is happy to be Grammy's partner. She loves watching him play video games and he really appreciates the audience. They have such interesting conversations about them.

Which means I get full custody of Lauren. Well, when she is not texting, of course. She is 13, after all. We decided to jump in with a card challenge to warm up the mojo. We found a darling sketch at Papertake Weekly. It looks like this:

Lauren decided to use it with a darling digital stamp and make a card for Grammy's birthday. She went with Love You instead of a traditional happy birthday. Cute, right?

Love U by Lauren Astl. Supplies- Paper: Fancy Pants Designs, Stamp: Meljen's Designs, Markers: Copic, Alphabet: American Craft, Chipboard: Maya Road, Other: Glitter.

I wanted to play with this utterly adorable stamp for a thank you card. I wanted dimension so I colored it twice and popped out the swim gear and boat. So in love!

Thanks For The Fun by Dora Phillips. Supplies- Paper: Crate Paper, Stamp: Phindy's Place, Markers: Copics, Rub-On: Fancy Pants Design, Alphabet: American Craft, Font: Bold Buddy.

Our thanks to the fabulous gals at Papertake Weekly for the inspiration to start our summer!

Favorite Things

2010-06-23T08:07:00.000-07:00

I fell in love with a new blog this month. Stacey featured These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things challenge blog this month in the Blog Bay column. Love them! Yall know I am trying to do more layouts of me and my world after years of only scrapping the kids. These talented ladies create challenges about favorite things in our lives. Sure I can do them about the kids, but I am challenging myself to do more about me.

The challenge featured in the mag was Favorite Shoes. I just did a layout for All About Me's blog on my summer shoes, but I jumped in to do one about my faves. I did not finish in time for prizes, but that is not really the essence of a challenge. It is all about the inspiration--and I was inspired. Here are my super hot shoes!

Supplies: Paper: Crate Paper, Cardstock: Coredinations, Journal Spot: Jillibean Soup, Butterfly: Jenni Bowlen Studio, Alphabet: BasicGrey, Punch: Fiskars, Bling: Heidi Swapp, Other: tape, stitching.

Journaling: These are my absolute favorite shoes. My mood picks up the moment I slide them on and I feel that I can tackle anything. The black and white plaid with a bit of red are me--classic with a pop of color. They elevate jeans and a white blouse to an outfit. With a black skirt, the 4 inch heels give me miles of leg. Every single time I wear them, I receive compliments. I cannot lie and claim they are comfortable, but I am willing to sacrifice for beauty. Who wouldn't?

The current challenge is Favorite Toys. I admit that I was tempted to do one of Zack's, Allie's, or even Wolfie's favorite toys, but I resisted and scrapped my fave--TIVO! What did I do before Tivo? I am so in love with this little toy that I ordered the new whole house Tivo service from Directv which will be installed right after the 4th of July. Can't wait!

Supplies: Paper: Crate Paper, Cardstock: Couture Cardstock, Tape: Prima Marketing, Ribbon, Flowers: Jillibean Soup, Alphabet: American Crafts, Sticker, Metal: Heidi Swapp, Font: Momlove, Other: pin.

Jounraling: What did I do before my best friend Tivo entered my life? Children always seem to need to ask a question right at the best moment in a show. No worries. Tivo will rewind and pause while I go be Mommy. I can Tivo 2 shows while I watch a 3rd without worrying about VCR tapes running out or being taped over before I see them. I count that as saving me time. If that was not enough, my Tivo suggests shows he thinks I might like. Often, he is right. What a considerate friend!

I cannot wait to see what they come up with next!

water wolfie

2010-06-18T18:15:00.000-07:00

Wolfie loves water. To drink it. To play in it. To shake it on me. I was out rinsing some bins and she came racing over. So I gave her one to play in. Moments later she was trying to see how to fit herself in for a swim.

After drinking her full and splashing around, she decided to share. Wolfie raced over to gather up some of her favorite lovies and let them in for a drink. She was not happy about the floating and kept trying to push them under to swim.

Unfortunately, every time she pushed one down, it would pop up. She kept on trying though. Over and over and over.

I cannot wait to scrapbook these!

fresh kids rooms

2010-06-04T19:31:00.000-07:00

We had a busy week in the kids' rooms. Zack decided to update his room accessories from orange to lime green. He has the rest of the room done in black, white, and grey so changing the accent color is easy. He painted the picture frames himself while I zipped up some new fabric on his old pillows and changed out the band on his baskets. We redid his name with some fun BasicGrey with green colors. Finally, he selected just the right stuffed animal to put on his shelf.

Here is his book corner:

And his bed:

For Allie's room, we had bigger changes in mind. Now that she is going to jr. high she wanted a more mature room. And a desk. Those were her two big requests. She still loved her paris theme, but wanted to get rid of the hot pink walls with black dots. She let Zack pick a delicate yellow for the walls. Fabulous! It is so bright and sunny now.

She decided to learn to sew so she could make all her own pillows. A few pieces of remnant fabric and some straight stitching and she had a lovely collection:

Her window seat had seen better years, so we decided to recycle the wood from it into a simple desk. We dismantled it, donated a ton of stuffed animals to goodwill, and then reassembled a two tier desk. We took down her vanity--which was too low for her now--and decided to let the desk do double duty. A trip to Ikea for an accordian mirror will let her do both makeup and homework in one space. We also picked up a cool office chair while there for a great price. Love Ikea!

She did such a great job paring down her shelves that she has room for a few new goodies to make their way home. She will keep a close eye on garage sales for just the right items. Allie did most of the work in the room herself and I could not be more proud of her.

Gee, what should we do next week?

so many pretties

2010-06-03T18:52:00.000-07:00

in this month's ScrapStreet.com Magazine! Have you peeked yet?

I cannot even pick a favorite article this month. Our new staff started writing with this one and they each have such unique voices. And, of course, our fixture gals each brought some stupendous new pretties. This may just be my favorite issue yet!

feeling soupie today

2010-06-01T18:46:00.000-07:00

Jillibean Soupy that is. I have loved Jillibean Soup since the first moment I saw their sneeks before their first CHA. They combine my favorite bold colors with lots of yummy kraft and they always have something that is out of the typical scrapbooking box. Definitely one of my favorite companies.

I popped by their blog today to find Janis is their guest designer this month. How fabulous is that? She definitely works their goodies in a totally different way than I ever could. Hmm. Two Janis posts in a row--am I starting to sound stalkerish?

Two. Supplies: Paper, Ribbon, Alphabet, Flower, Journal Spots: Jillibean Soup, Button: BasicGrey, Font: Tweed, Other: stitching.

Journaling: The two of you may live across the country from each other, but you are very much the same and every summer you get to prove it. July 2009

My style could not be more different than Janis' but still she inspires me. I adore how complex her layouts are even as I embrace my own simple style. I cannot wait to see what she does with her guest month! Congrats, Janis.

eeek!

2010-05-31T19:30:00.000-07:00

I have been such a bad blogger! Someone come and yell at me please. Yes, I was crazy busy, but who isn't?

*raises 2 fingers in salute* I solemnly swear to do better.

I have been keeping up with the challenges at All About Me's challenge blog. I did not get to post the last one--the twist challenge--because I liked it so much that I am pubbing it in an upcoming issue of the mag. Today I am back with my version of the shoe challenge led by the fabulous Janis. I adore her blog The Reluctant Scrapper and feel so blessed to have her on my ScrapStreet team. Although she and I scrap in styles that are world's apart, I always find inspiration in her creations.

Summer Shoes. Supplies: Paper: My Mind's Eye, BasicGrey, Ribbon: Little Yellow Bicycle, Alphabet: American Crafts, Alphabet Stickers: My Little Shoebox, Die Cuts: Fancy Pants Designs, Button: BasicGrey, Rub-On: October Afternoon, Font: Veteran Typewriter, Other: staples.

Journaling: No one would pick these out of my closet as my favorites shoes. I love heels--the higher the better. I wear them with everything as often as I can. A new pair of heeled boots makes me more than a little giddy. When I need to go casual, I have a couple of pairs of darling tennis shoes, but absolutely no flats enter my closet. So what are thse shoes? They are my summer grabs. For the third year, I slide them on when school ends. They may not be pretty, but they are comfy and easy-just like summer should be.

*lifts hands* I promise to be back tomorrow with another layout!

am I done?

2010-05-12T17:16:00.000-07:00

with this layout? Ever have one of those? Where you think it needs a bit of something more, but nothing you try seems to work?

I started this one two weeks ago for the All About Me challenge. I was supposed to choose a new angle. I thought of using the angle of a conversation with my son--a moment when I realized I had become "every mother" but with a son that attacks life from his own angle.

Here it is:

One Million Times. Supplies: Cardstock: Jillibean Soup, Die Cut: Little Yellow Bicycle, Ribbon: Tim Holtz (Advantus), Rub-On: My Mind's Eye, Bling: Heidi Swapp, Fonts: Kristin, Bonded, Rebound, Other: pin.

Journaling: I know I have said this at least one million times I say to my children in true mother form. But before I can continue Zack puts on his thinking look. I pause knowing I have lost his attention.

Actually, Mom, it is more like two hundred thousand times. A million is a bit excessive.

(He is not being a smart aleck. Nope. He is just math obsessed. Zack is literal minded. Now he can tell a tale with the best of them, but NEVER if numbers are involved. He takes those very seriously.)

Thank you, Zack. Now, back to my point. Shoes go into the shoe basket. Then when you need them, they are always there. What do you think the chances are that this will be the lst time I have to say this?

I'd say about million to one.

Sigh. I knew better than to ask. What was I thinking?

So, what does it need? Is it done? Help!

8 days and counting . . .

2010-05-05T19:17:00.000-07:00

I have the best jobs in the world. Teacher, Mother, Scrapbooker--honestly, what could be better?

Ok, but now that we are being honest, each of these jobs offers a mixture of mountains and mosh pits. Or as my darling Allie said yesterday--some days we make lemon squares out of the lemons.

I absolutely love teaching, but I need to wrap up the semester. Grading, final exams, explaining to some students that they will have to take the class again, racing to enter grades, and final meetings for this and that all packed into 8 little days. And then I can breathe in summer vacation. Ahhhh.

I am heading into these last days feeling off balance. Why? Because I have not been able to scrap for over a week. Not creating for awhile makes me itchy. Off. I get the same feeling if I do not have a todo list going. I really am a mixture of organized brain meets creative brain. Without a bit of each, I am just not quite right.

Between family events on the weekend and kid activities every single night, I am missing some of that free time. I know it is all worth it, but I still feel like I forgot something. That little niggling feeling, you know?

Since I do not have anything new to share, I am going to fall back on my ScrapStreet items from the April issue. A few of my favorite pretties from earlier this winter.

Country Gals. Supplies: Paper, Alphabet, Twine, Flowers: Jillibean Soup, Stickers: My Little Shoebox, Buttons: BasicGrey, Markers: Copic, Font: Distressed Typewriter, Other: brushes created from clip art.

Journaling: We are not cowgirls. We do not rope & ride. We never say yee-haw. We do not own boots. We like to sleep late. We are country gals. We love the music and we make these hats look good! July 9, 2009. Taylor Swift Fearless Tour. Sidney (9), Lauren (12), Allie (9). Country Thunder.

Two. Supplies: Paper, Die Cuts, Chipboard, Rhinestones: Kaisercraft, Glitter: Sparkle N Sprinkle, Ink, Embossing Powder: Stampin’ Up!, Tools: Punch (Martha Stewart Crafts), Fonts: Kristin, Lucinda Handwriting, Franklin Gothic Heavy, Harrington, Cooper Black, Papyrus, Script MT Bold, Kartika, Freestyle Script, Arial Black, Impact, Magneto, Ravie, Gill Sans Ultra Bold.

Journaling: peas in a pod, compadres, pair, buddies, 2 of a kind, comrades, couple, dynamic duo, matched set, twosome, partners in crime, team combo, double trouble, birds of a feather.

Hello. Supplies: Paper, Die Cuts, Rub-Ons, Rhinestones, Pearls: Kaisercraft, Cardstock: Jillibean Soup.

Playing Rain. Digital Supplies: Rainy Play Kit by Dora Phillips for ScrapStreet.com, Font: Distressed Typewriter.

Journaling: Hey, Mom? Yes, Zack? (I look up from my lawn chair in the yard.) I want to play with my umbrella. Can you make rain? Sure, kiddo. (Up I go to set up the sprinkler just right.) Hey, Mom? Yes, Zack? Don't you want to get your camera? I look really cute. Sure, kiddo. (He is right. He does look adorable.)

Winner Time!

2010-05-03T17:33:00.000-07:00

Did you all have a ball during NSD? I would love to say that I scrapped my little heart out, but I had back to back family events and only managed to play a bit online. Still, I had fun!

Winner of my BasicGrey prize is:

TNScrapper said . . . Very nice LO. Thanks for the chance to win. I loooooove BasicGrey!

TNScrapper, send me an email--dora@scrapstreet.com--with NSD Winner in the subject line this week please and I will send your prize right out! You are going to love it!

And now on to our regularly scheduled beginning of the month . . .
The May Issue of ScrapStreet.com Magazine is live and fabulous! So many talented scrappers are featured this month.



Grab a beverage and enjoy all of the inspirational goodness! If you are not yet a subscriber, it is FREE. Happy Monday!

Happy NSD!!!!!!!!

2010-05-01T07:44:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the ScrapStreet Blog Hop!!!!!!!!

Did you start at the ScrapStreet Blog? And did you pop into the Forum Challenge Board? We have some fun scrappy challenges and are sharing all of the other fun scrappy spots as we encounter them. Equal opportunity fun! Make sure to peek in our digi store for a sale and freebies, too. Need a little inspiration? Peek in the Gallery for lots of eye candy!

I am so excited to have a whole day to scrap and play. That is the whole plan for today--just enjoy all of my pretties with all of my fun online scrapping friends. Perfection!

What do I have to offer today? A bit of inspiration in the form of my current favorite layout. Don't you just love when you make a layout and it just feels perfect? I made this one a month ago and it has remained my fave--maybe today I will replace it with a new much loved layout.

Share. Supplies: Paper: BasicGrey, Crate Paper, Die Cuts: Crate Paper, Bling: Kaisercraft, Acrylic Circle: Bo Bunny, Font: Tempus Sans Italic, Tools: Punches: Fiskars.

Journaling: We share our obsession with magazines. Perfect bites of knowledge wit bright pictures on glossy pages. We grab them out of the mailbox and drop to the front steps to start devouring.

What else to share? Blog candy in the form of a kit filled with BasicGrey goodness. See:

I will pull a random comment on Monday morning.

Where do you go next? Off to see the super talented Melissa. I know her blog is always inspiring to me!

Want a peek at the whole list? Here you go!

ScrapStreet.com Blog

Dora (hey, that's me!)

I hope you have an absolutely fantastic day filled with lots of inspiration and scrapping fun!!!!!

puppy love

2010-04-19T17:26:00.000-07:00

Yes, I love Wolfie. People would have bet against it since I am a cat person. My friends are still in shock. The mother-in-law was astounded. But it is true. She is my little girl.

I was playing in the grass with her yesterday and Allie grabbed the camera for proof. Wolfie and I spend plenty of time together when the kids are off at school. And, of course, I am chief dog bather and toy buyer.

She is becoming a good running partner. As long as I go full speed, she is happy. If I slow down even a bit, she tugs and pulls wanting to sniff everything in sight. Keeps me focused she does!

I cannot help but spoil her. Everywhere I go a cute little toy just jumps into the cart. I cannot help it. I especially like blue ones that match her eyes. Extra photogenic!

We are off to the vet again on Wednesday for more shots. You know that will require extra treats and a new toy, too!

imperfect.

2010-04-18T14:21:00.000-07:00

yep. I am. shocker, right? hmmm why are you giggling?

On an intellectual level we know there is no such thing as a perfect person. And we can all certainly share in detail the flaws of those we love the most. But share our own? Ouch! I like to think of them as "works in progress" because once I realize a flaw, I have to choose to accept it or change it.

Sometimes flaws are in the eye of the beholder. A neighbor of mine asked me recently if there was anyone I would not talk to. Nope. I am chatty. Ok, so I did not talk to him for a week since I knew he was not paying me a compliment. He sees this as a flaw and I see it as a personality trait.

I am certain there are a wealth of personality traits that I have that irritate the people who love me. Just as I accept that it is in my husband's make up to need to work the remote at lightening speed, he understands that I consider cleaning my own office to be optional. These are not flaws--let's go with quirks.

This week the AAM blog challenge is to scrap a personal flaw. Because I am diligently trying to include more of myself in my scrapbooks, I promised myself that I would play with them for 6 months. 2 layouts a month about me is not too much to ask, is it? Of course this was before I knew they were going to play dirty.

But I did it. See:

Keeper. Supplies: Paper, Die Cuts, Ribbon: Pink Paislee, Alphabet Stickers: Jillibean Soup, Font: Cambria, Other: pin, thread, beads. Tools: Other: sewing machine.

Journaling: I am a keeper and not in a good way. I have not crossed into being a hoarder, but I still keep more than I should. I convince myself that I might need this someday. It is hard for me to let go of things even though I am now in a financial position to replace them. I know it is a holdover from my childhood and I am taking steps to grow. My closets are organized. I actually light my candles. I have stopped saving my scrappy supplies for the perfect shot. Well, mostly.

Whew. I survived sharing a flaw. Wonder what the next challenge will bring?

Me Time!

2010-04-15T20:32:00.001-07:00

I took some. I took an hour and turned off the computer, ignored the chores, and scrapped for a bit. I have been going full speed for a couple of weeks. Research papers, traveling husband, new puppy, and the start of baseball season. What gets neglected? My scrapping! Eeek!

I took an hour and scrapped a card using Kazan's Sketch 50 from 2S4U. I grabbed some yummy Pink Paislee and played.

Thanks. Supplies: Paper, Die Cuts, Tape: Pink Paislee, Bling: BasicGrey, Alphabet Stickers: My Little Shoebox, Other: sewing machine, thread.

Using this fun sketch let me zip this card out and still have time to start a layout with my 60 minutes of free time. I am hoping to finish it up tomorrow. Scrapping is important to my sanity!

Congratulations ScrapStreet Staff!

2010-04-12T10:00:00.000-07:00

I have had the absolute best 24 hours! Yesterday was invite new staff day at ScrapStreet. This year, the editors selected the staff from an unbelievable pool of talent. We did not let the current staff in on the fun--it was hard enough to get 4 of us to agree, can you imagine letting everyone play? So many amazing applications to enjoy!

The team was so excited to find out who would be joining us! There were new friends and old, scrapping crushes, lots of squeals and laughter. Today we get to share the news with the world. Woohoo!

Run on over to the ScrapStreet.com Blog and see our returning and new staff! And then happy dance with me!

We now return to scrapbooking . . .

2010-04-08T20:11:00.000-07:00

I am still madly in love with Wolfie who is lying here at my feet having a bit of girl time as I type, but my poor blog needs more scrapping fun! I have indeed scrapped our darling pup already, but not to share yet. Top secret mag work you know.

To ease back in here is a look at my Showroom items from the March issue. I had such fun playing with BasicGrey Origins. I really enjoyed working with the papers! BasicGrey always challenges me as I am more of a simple gal than a patterned one, but I always love my layouts after I make it through. The extra effort all pays off for me which is why they are one of my favorite companies.

Just Us. Supplies: Paper, Stickers, Chipboard Alphabet: BasicGrey, Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper, Rub-On: Pink Paislee, Alphabet Stickers: My Little Shoebox, Font: Times New Roman, Other: buttons, thread.

Journaling: Today you decided to stop holding my hand. I do not remember exactly how old Allie was, but I know it was her Kindergarten year. She calmly told me she was ready to walk on her own. But you, little man, would exit the car and reach out for me. I loved feeling your hand in mine. When you turned 6, I expected you to pull away a bit, but each time I shut my car door there you were with hand extended. Until today. I reached out. You looked up at me and stated, “I’m good, mom.” Most definitely. However, I get one moment of sadness before I celebrate you growing up.

Teddy Love. Supplies: Paper, Stickers, Felt: BasicGrey, Cardstock: Papertrey Ink, Alphabet, Badge: American Crafts, Ribbon: Jillibean Soup, Font: Funnygirl, Other: staples.

Journaling: Mom, meet my new favorite bear. I am calling him Cocoa. His eyes remind me of a chocolate bar. Will you sew him some clothes? And help me make him a bed? Oh, and he will need his own pet. I am thinking a lamb or maybe a bunny. And can you make me matching bows for my piggy tails?

Hi. Supplies: Paper: BasicGrey, Cardstock: Papertrey Ink, Chipboard: Crate Paper, Brad: Pink Paislee, Ink: Stampin' Up!, Tools: Cuttlebug (Provo Craft), Dies (Spellbinders), Other: tissue paper.

Have a super day!

Easter shoot

2010-04-06T19:37:00.000-07:00

What happens when you come home from church and want to take pictures of your darling children in their coordinating outfits but you have a new puppy who missed her family that morning? Hmmm who wants to guess?

You get Wolfie sneaking up in between the kids:

And Wolfie running in to see if Allie needed a kiss:

And Zack needing to stop for a little snuggle mid shot:

I could not even begin to mind that it took twice as long to finish the shoot. The smiles were certainly twice as wide as before Wolfie joined our family.

More Wolfie Love

2010-03-31T18:35:00.000-07:00

Hmm. I remember when I used to share scrappy goodies on here. Of course, that was pre-puppy. I am pretty sure I will be back to it soon, but today the sun shone brightly and the weather reached an amazing 71. A shocker for March in the Chicagoland area.

The kids are definitely getting the most out of spring break this year! Zack spent plenty of time outside loving on Wolfie.

We took her for the first vet visit this morning. Poor puppy survived shots which certainly traumatized the kids more than her. They did NOT think it was fair that she needed to be poked. Allie spent the first two days working on leash training so she would be ready for the trip. Wolfie really behaved well.

Later in the afternoon we headed for a walk around the neighborhood.

As we walked, we attracted lots of attention and took home a couple of kids to play in the yard. It was so warm that they ended up curled up under the trampoline in the shade.

Wolfie is certainly one well loved little lady!

Baby's first shower

2010-03-30T18:13:00.000-07:00

When I finished work, we had just enough time for a puppy shower before we headed out for Tae Kwon Do. Allie was eager to tackle the job. She raced into a swim suit (note to self: take her shopping for a new one) and then took Wolfie into the downstairs walk in shower.

A little water. A little doggie shampoo (sunflower no more tears formula). A little scrub a dub dub.

Next, she got a hugs, praise, and some soft toweling.

As a reward, a nice little chew stick. Yummy! What a good girl she is!

and Wolfie makes 8

2010-03-29T18:39:00.000-07:00

When Zack was a little one, he fell in love with one particular stuffed animal of his sister's. Aunt Chris gave her the stuffed husky (mascot of NIU) as a Christmas gift. Allie loves all stuffed animals, but her heart was already taken by a white teddy bear.

When Zack fell in love with the husky, I purchased a couple of back ups having learned the hard way during the great teddy disaster (do not ask, we are all still traumatized). Zack named him Wolfie and over the years added to the collection with Wolfie Jr., Wolfie Jr. Jr., and Wolfina. All was well.

And then a few weeks ago as we were waiting for the bus, a man walked by with two huskies on leashes. Zack's mouth fell open. All this time, he thought his Wolfies were wolves. He had no idea of the husky breed existed.

Up until this point, we had been discussing adding a dog to the family over the summer. Drew was pretty set on a lab--his childhood dog of choice. The kids are the perfect ages, I am off over the summer, and the yard is all fenced. The perfect time to make the move. But, now, the breed needed to change. It was time for a real life Wolfie.

We spent a few weeks getting ready. Visited pet stores, read books, and the kids took a dog class. We hoped that Spring Break would be the week we found our own Wolfie so the kids could spend all week loving him or her extra.

Today is the arrival day for puppies at our store and in came 2 new huskies. A brother and sister pair. We headed in to visit and fell in love with the female. She has such a beautiful mask and the sweetest disposition. We adore her!

Want to see?

Wolfie and her toy--isn't she a stunner?

Allie is already head over heels in love. A bit of girl bonding happening here.

Zack tried to teach her hide and seek, but ended up with more of a game of tug.

So far, this lovie is her favorite. Right now she is curled up with it at my feet watching me type. Welcome to the family, little one.

Tomorrow we introduce her to the cats. Eeek! And for those keeping score, the women stil outnumber the men with 1 mom, 1 daughter, 2 gal cats, and a gal dog to 1 dad, 1 son, and 1 boy cat. 5 to 3.

Game Play

2010-03-27T09:44:00.000-07:00

I confess to being challenge oriented. I have always been quite competitive and have learned to use it as a motivator in my life. Yes, I play mind games with myself. If I finish the laundry, I can have 30 minutes of scrapping. Survive grading midterms? Off for a pedicure. Finish my weekly to do list by Friday and I get Saturday off to scrap and play.

See how it works? One of my favorite games occurs when new product arrives. You know I am DYING to rip open the packaging and dive into the scrappy goodness. But I stop myself. Before I can play with new, I must head into the closet and earn the right by using the same company's previous pretties. Once I create one layout or three cards, then I can open the new package and enjoy.

I have new Pink Paislee. Right here in beside me. Teasing me. I earned the right to open the first line and played happily with Bayberry. But now Queen Bee is calling to me. It wants to be opened and loved. I grabbed my PP stash and got to work!

I headed over to 2S4U and admired Laura's sketch 48. Lovely! I mixed up a few different PP lines and made this card--first of the 3 I will owe myself.

Hello. Supplies: Paper, Journal Card, Stickers, Chipboard, Brads: Pink Paislee, Bling: Heidi Swapp, Punch: Fiskars.

Because I love to be challenged, I love trying different scrappy challenges. Right now, I have joined a team (Go Lemondrops!) to play along with a challenge at The Greeting Farm. I love their stamps! It was their little girl that I had such fun making rain for last week. The first challenge was to go retro and use a posted color scheme. I was up first for our team and created this little girl:

Cat's Meow. Supplies: Digital Stamp: Dressy Ebony by The Greeting Farm, Paper: Crate Paper, Cardstock: Couture Cardstock, Markers: Copic, Fonts: Franklin Gothic, Bauhaus 93, Thread: DMC, Other: feather, sequins.

There are 60 teams entered in the contest with lots of talented designers. I cannot wait to see what everyone created! I love the way a challenge pushes me to think a bit harder about what to create. I hope my flapper has fun at the party!

Happy dancing and a head cold

2010-03-24T18:32:00.000-07:00

I could not have been more excited when Sunday morning I opened 2S4U and found my card as the card of the week! Mine. I love 2S4U and am blown away by all of the talented ladies on their team and who contribute each week. I still cannot believe it several days later!

Just as the good news came in, so did the germs. I feel awful. My head hurts, my throat is sore, and my nose is running away with me. I find it difficult to scrap on cold meds. It is like swimming in a cloud--slow moving and unclear. As a result, it took me three days to master my Monday Mojo.

I loved the sketch and knew I wanted to use the cute little houses from My Little Shoebox. And the clouds--I am addicted to cutting out their clouds lately! I also wanted to add in a couple of buttons to play along with the ScrapStreet Blog challenge.

Welcome to the Hood. Supplies: Paper: My Little Shoebox, Cardstock: Couture Cardstock, Ribbon: Offray, Buttons: BasicGrey, Fonts: Gordy Stout, Simple Script, Other: glitter.

Allie was sent home from school sick today and will stay home tomorrow. Spring break starts for her on Friday, so it is an extra couple of vacation days. We are hoping to keep the germs to ourselves and not share them with our menfolk.

I am hoping my head will clear tomorrow. And that my throat will survive 3 lectures as it is a teaching day for me. Sending you all smiles!

Happy Sunday!

2010-03-21T10:56:00.000-07:00

ScrapStreet is looking for a few new scrappers to join our fantastic team! We are looking for a couple of new team members who LOVE to create and to write. We are looking for people who are active in scrapbooking--blogging, gallery uploads, trying new things. People who tackle scrapping with enthusiasm! Traditional, hybrid, digital, layout, card, and altered artists are all encouraged to apply.

The Job:
Our team publishes a monthly ezine with thousands of subscribers and a 5
year history. We love finding and showcasing talented scrappers and
beautiful products. If you are selected for our team, you will write a
monthly article which will include selecting and requesting the work of
designers, combining the work into an interesting article, and meeting your
deadline.

You will also receive products at least 6 times a year from a variety of
manufacturers and will scrap several items to showcase their lines. It is
an excellent opportunity to increase your visibility in the scrapping
community while having fun.

To Apply:
Send the following to designteam@scrapstreet.com
contact information
a short statement of why you are interested in joining us.
3 of your favorite creations showcasing your style.
a link to your blog.
a link to your gallery.

We will accept applications until midnight April 10th. Announcements will be made on Monday, April 12th. We are so excited to add some talented new people to our family!

I scrapped last night. All week I knew I would scrap something of Ivan. I just did not know what it would be. The AAM challenge this week offered a quote about letting go that really captured what I was feeling. I flipped through pictures I have of him and came across his high school graduation shots. When I saw the one of Ivan and Dad, I knew just what I would do.

Letting Go. Supplies: Paper, Die Cuts, Tape: Pink Paislee, Buttons: BasicGrey, Chipboard Alphabet: BasicGrey, Sticker Alphabet: Making Memories, Trim: Webster's Pages, Font: Rockwell Condensed, Other: thread, sewing machine.

Journaling: This is the last picture taken of the two of you together. It was Ivan's graduation day from high school on June 7, 1992. you were together again a couple of times, but they were ordinary dinners with no photos to capture the moment. Dad passed away 5 years and 10 days later. If he had lived another 5 weeks, we would have had a ton of pictures from my wedding, but that was not meant to be. Ivan lived 13 years, 9 months, and 6 days after graduating. It might sound like a lot of time, but it was an instant. He was 31 when we said goodbye. I have many pictures of Ivan in those years, but not as many as I would have if I had only known how few there would be. I have learned to take pictures of the little moments now. Last week marked the 4th anniversary without my brother or my father. I was surprised to find that I have let go of much of the pain to make room for the memories. I love you both. Still. Always.

a little digi fun

2010-03-20T19:49:00.000-07:00

I spent several months with absolutely no designing time or mojo. It was painful! Another professor needed to leave mid semester and I picked up her course. It added hours more work planning, grading, presenting and 2 more days to my schedule. Something had to give and the digital designing was what suffered.

Over the last couple of weeks, I attacked my designing with creativity and enthusiasm. Everything I see seems to inspire items for a new kit. My notebook is overflowing with jotted ideas.

This is my newest kit available in both of my stores.

Zack inspired me with his recent obsession with gears. He picked a new gear building toy with a gift card he received and is having a ball playing with them. Combining them with his much loved legos, he has created entire worlds. I love his imagination!

I made rain

2010-03-18T10:35:00.000-07:00

on a card and I love it!

I picked up a couple of new digi stamps from The Greeting Farm yesterday and could not wait to get out my copics. What did I do before someone convinced me to buy these expensive, but glorious markers? I am thinking that I need a few more soon--they are addicting.

I started with Kazan's sketch 48 from 2S4U and my new stamp and mojo just flowed. I was stuck in a circle rut and the rectangle on the sketch helped me break out. The Couture Cardstock blog challenge of the day is use markers--perfect. I also started with their fabulous blending paper.

Come Rain or Come Shine. Supplies: Paper: My Little Shoebox, Cardstock: Couture Cardstock, Digital Stamp: The Greeting Farm, Font: Kristen, Bling: Heidi Swapp, Markers: Copic, Machine: Cuttlebug (Provocraft), Dies: Spellbinders, Acetate: Recycled Packaging, Adhesive: Plaid.

The stamp is on the inside of the card while the rain is attached to the front. I used the sheet that the bling came on and just snipped different lengths for some rain.

I wanted a ton of height so I worked the pop dots like mad. The clouds and mushrooms are snipped from the cutest My Little Shoebox paper and put at different levels. For the frame, I used several different spellbinder dies.

I had way too much fun with this card! Back to the scrappy desk I go. Smooches.

The sun came out

2010-03-16T19:49:00.000-07:00

during my nap. What? I am on spring break--sleep is a requirment!

I got the kids off to school and tried to focus on some work, but my brain was still on fall back time. Coding is hard enough without thoughts coming an hour late. *rolls eyes* So I headed back to bed and when I woke up it was 60 out. Fabulous.

I threw open the windows and grabbed some happy spring stamps. I decided to play along with the Too Cute for Words color challenge. Use green was just my mood. As I played, it ended up being a fun scene card. I could totally see Allie riding along feeling the freedom of spring while I scrapped.

Hello. Supplies: Paper, Die Cuts, Brad: Crate Paper, Stamp: InStyle Stamps, Markers: Copic.

I had such fun playing with the textures and dimentions. Here is a side view:

Hmm maybe another nap tomorrow will help me dream up some more scrappy mojo! Smooches.

Being Happy

2010-03-13T18:02:00.000-08:00

Is not always easy. It is a choice. One I make every single day on purpose. Honestly. I believe that life is better if I choose to be a glass almost full gal, so that is exactly what I do.

Yes, I have been ridiculed for my choice. Called Pollyanna. Told that I should grow out of my cheer years by this age. And some acquaintances have even suggested that my life has been too easy which allows me to have a happier life than their own. Not friends--they know better. But some people look at my blessed life and believe that I just grabbed more than my share of the Irish luck. I guess it is easier to believe than to acknowledge that hard work and a happy attitude might just be a formula for success.

Today is the 4th anniversary of Ivan's death. Losing a family member is always hard, but losing one younger than you adds layers of pain and regret. My brother did not get to live nearly long enough. And I am selfish enough to miss him for all the joy and aggravation that he brought into my life. I miss my little brother.

Time does help. It hurts less this year than last year. Still, there is pain and there is choice. I decided to put on some music and scrap. Started by making a card to remind me to embrace happy:

Happy. Supplies: Paper, Die Cuts, Chipboard: Crate Paper, Alphabet: American Crafts, Bling: Heidi Swapp.

It was a simple card, but one that made me smile. I think I will send it to mom in a care package this week to bring a little joy into her world. She could use some, for sure.

I took some time with the family, scrubbed a floor until it shined, and had some yummy TGIFriday's for dinner. Now I am back to create some more for few things make me happier than scrapping!

Thanks for stopping by.

I declare it Spring!

2010-03-12T18:44:00.000-08:00

No, I am not a meteorologist. I do not work for Mother Nature. I have no weather powers to speak of, but still I am ready to make this bold statement.

Today was day 3 of above 50 degree temps here in beautiful Chicagoland. And the first day of what we jokingly call Spring Break. As a student at Tulane University in sunny New Orleans, spring break was a glorious whirlwind of parties, day trips, and outdoor fun. Midwestern college break is a different kettle of frozen fish sticks. The lucky pack a bag and head for a warm destination. Those of us left behind prepare to hunker inside, watch the snow fall, and try to find motivation for spring cleaning.

Three days of warm and springy weather complete with sporadic rain (but not snow!) has me skipping through the day with a smile on my face. Allie and Zack had Thursday and Friday off of school and have spent every possible moment outside. They are mud covered, but happy.

The realist in me knows that one more snow is inevitable, but I am willing to ignore that little voice for as long as the weather holds. Who knows, I might even find motivation for a little spring cleaning later in the week. Right now what I am in the mood for is taking a ton of pictures of the kids and scrapping some spring--bright colors, fun patterns, and HAPPY!

First up on my spring scrapping is a card using Laura's Sketch 47 from 2S4U. I am in a scalloped circle place these last 2 weeks and this sketch fit me perfectly. My new Jillibean Soup yummies arrived this week and I fell madly, deeply in love with this little chick on one of the journaling cards. Is she not the cutest you have ever seen? I enlarged her, traced her, and cut her out as the centerpiece of my card.

Pick me! Papers, Cardstock, Die Cut, Trim: Jillibean Soup, Rub-On: Sweetwater, Pearls: Kaisercraft, Flag: Nikki Sivils, Marker: Copic, Sketch: 2S4U.

I popped her and the flag up a bit to give more dimension:

This chick is as ready for spring as I am!

i or e?

2010-03-08T19:28:00.000-08:00

A common question in an English course. Spelling is painful for so many students and they struggle to remember all of those little rhymes from elementary school. I before E except after C or when sounded like a as in neighbor or weigh--remember that one? Last week, my students learned a new i or e dilemna.

Each week brings a short story to read, annotate, discuss, and dissect. To aid in comprehension, I select 15 words from the passage to be the vocabulary list. Students need to define and learn the words. A little rudimentary for college, but effective.

When they study them, that is.

This week the word complement appeared on the list. It was accompanied by far more difficult choices, so many students took the easy route and assumed they knew the meaning. "To say nice things to someone," student after student explained incorrectly. "Not with an i, with an e," I hinted.

No response. Complement: to go well together. For example: if I am blending a margarita tonight, I would not choose chocolate pudding as a side item. Chips and guacamole would complement my drink far better. They have a midterm on Thursday and I am hoping they have mastered this little I/E lesson.

I love visiting blogs of creative people so I can compliment them on the way their design elements complement each other. I bookmarked a bunch of fabulous sites during the Bella/Jillibean/Nikki Blog Crawl this weekend. I even won a prize from one of the blogs I loved. How cool is that?

I had a fantastically busy day with lots of housework and midterm exam prep, but still managed to put together a couple of cards. This one was just a quickie:

Mischief. Supplies: Paper, Die Cuts: Sassafrass Lass, Rub-On: Kaisercraft.

I bought a new digi stamp from Mo's Digital Pencil that is too cute for words. One of those ones that I just HAD to scrap right away. I decided to mix it with Challenge 102--Lucky Green from Cute Card Thursday and today's Couture Cardstock Blog Challenge. One card with green, paint, and a darling digi stamp coming up:

Got game? Supplies: Cardstock: Couture Cardstock, Paper, Die Cut: G.C.D Studios, Bling: Kaisercraft, Stickers: Making Memories, Alphabet: BasicGrey, Digital Stamp: Mo's Digital Pencil Shop, Markers: Copic.

Time to run! I have Big Bang Theory on tivo and a hubby waiting to laugh with me. Smooches!

Just me.

2010-03-06T19:27:00.000-08:00

Me. I scrapped about me today. Well, actually it took two days for me to finish. I designed and typed yesterday, but created and embellished today. Like many scrappers, I rarely do pages about myself or Drew. I always mean to make more, but the kids go and do something funny and mojo is off and running.

I bopped on over to the All About Me Challenge blog where my crazily talented friend Stacey is guest designer this month. The challenge is an interesting one--take a personality test and figure out what words, colors, things best describe your personality.

I confess that I am a nerd who loves all kinds of tests. As a teacher, I use a variety of self testing so my students can determine how they best learn, perform, study, and deal with stress. I know from years of taking tests that I am a contradiction. I am not a left brain or a right brain, but a combo platter. I am a little of this and a little of that. My brain is a buffet. I do equally well with English and Math, but should not ever be given an instrument of any kind.

I decided to scrap one of my favorite school words--paradox. It means a statement that contradicts itself, but is still true. I torture students every semester until they can spout paradoxes in every piece of literature that they come across easily. I scrapped 5 paradoxes that perfectly describe me!

The present truck or UPS to normal people arrived yesterday bringing some fabulous brand new Jillibean Soup goodies. I had them out on my desk and knew that some of the goodies would be leaping onto my page. With new must come old on a paradox page, so I grabbed some fancy Pink Paislee brads that are a few collections back yet still delicious.

Before I started putting the page together today, I headed over to Couture Cardstock to peek at their daily challenge. Stitching--perfect. I pulled out my machine and got to work.

Paradox. Supplies: Paper: My Mind's Eye, My Little Shoebox, Cardstock, Alphabet, Ribbon: Jillibean Soup, Bling: Kaisercraft, Flowers: Prima Marketing, American Crafts, Buttons: BasicGrey, Ribbon: Cosmo Cricket, Brads: Pink Paislee, Journal Card: Little Yellow Bicycle, Font: Ariel, Pin: JoAnn Essentials, Other: stitching.

Jouraling: I am: 1. analytically creative 2. an outgoing introvert 3. an organized slob 4. a girly tomboy 5. childishly mature.
paradox--noun. a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth.
At the beginning of every semester, I introduce this fun little word to my freshman English students. We use it as we analyze readings, discuss argument topics, and examine current events. The final paper asks students to explain their personal paradoxes. I love reading these insights into my students after four months of immersion in the world of contradictory truth.

I am so glad that I took this challenge! I really love this page. The My Little Shoebox paper is pretty disguised--I flipped it backwards and trimmed the center out of the circle. With a little stitching it made the perfect frame and played a paradox of circle to my center block. I am heading back to play with more of their cute products. hmmm wonder if I can make a card out of the paper from the center of that circle . . . .

Happy Saturday!

Channeling Spring

2010-03-04T20:00:00.000-08:00

today with a butterfly, a bloom, and a bit of sunshine yellow.

I taught today and all three classes were brilliant! We were discussing Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" in all of its gruesome glory. For those who have not had the joy of reading this short story, think of it as an early version of "Snapped". A young woman realizes her beloved is not going to marry her, so she poisons him and sleeps spooned with his dead body for the next 40 years. Emily took "until death do us part" a few exits too far down the highway of crazy.

Today was day two of the discussion and each student needed to bring a theme with three specific story examples. Every single student found a great one and a fantastic chat ensued. There was shouting out, helping, arguments, and laughter--I could not be more proud.

Normally, I am exhausted by Thursday afternoon and my creative gauge is empty, but today I came home ready to play. I raced in to the Couture Cardstock blog to check out the challenge of the day. Are y'all playing along? Today’s Challenge: Use a butterfly or other bug somewhere on your project! Excellent! I have lots of little critters waiting to be scrapped.

Wanting to continue my theme this week of doubling up on challenges, I also headed over to Embellish Magazine Blog for the color challenge. I have peeked at them over the past couple of months and love the pretty inspiration photos.

I promised myself that this would be the week NO MATTER WHAT. And then I clicked and found THOSE colors. The ones that I struggle to use--yellow and peach. Could I actually use yellow three days in one week? Yes, I can! I can do anything today! And I have plenty of items in these colors since I rarely use them. Bonus.

The second part of the challenge is to use border punches. I have been obsessed with these lately. I have 4 that I use on almost every layout lately. LOVE. I decided to layer three borders and then run them through the Cuttlebug with a Spellbinders die to make this fun flower. I am going to try this technique again, for sure.

Sweet. Supplies: Cardstock: Couture Cardstock, Paper: My Mind's Eye, Die Cut: My Mind's Eye, Butterfly: Cosmo Cricket, Pearls: Kaisercraft, Bling: Heidi Swap, Punch: Fiskars, Die: Spellbinders, Tool: Cuttlebug.

A good day all around! I hope yours was every bit as fantastic! Smooches!

a little luck

2010-03-03T19:30:00.000-08:00

Today is freebie day on the ScrapStreet blog with a little word art to download.

I love hybrid card making. I confess to having a lovely carousel of traditional stamps. I used to only buy words, so I could use them over and over on my cards. Now, I am the exact opposite. I buy the cutest little images--especially digital ones--and then type up and print out my words. Every once in a while I spin the stamp carousel to keep the dust off, but sadly I rarely reach for a sentiment. Hmmm maybe I should pull out a different one each week to use?

Today I started with the Luck word art and then purchased a Mo stamp that I have had my eye on for a bit. I could not resist this darling girl. Honestly, I am so in love with the artwork of Maurie J Manning. Ok, and more than a bit jealous. I would LOVE to draw like her!

And since I am having an absolute ball playing along with the Couture Cardstock challenges, I had to race over and see what to scrap today. Color me thrilled! Today is: create a project with something you print yourself. Look up and see the stars as they align.

Just to round out the inspiration, I popped by Mojo Monday for this week's sketch. When I put everything together, I created this card:

and a closer look:

Lucky Charm. Supplies: Paper: My Little Shoebox, Digital Stamps: Mo's Digital Pencil, Dora's Lemonlove Creations, Pearls: Kaisercraft, Markers: Copic, Dies: (Spellbinders), Tool: Cuttlebug, Adhesive: Popdots.

I was so excited after scrapping this fun card that I finished a layout, too. I still need to take pictures of it, though.

Happy Wednesday!

Buzzing About

2010-03-01T14:40:00.000-08:00

What a wonderful day!

I know it is crazy, but I am a Monday person. I get more done on Monday than several other days put together. I also love the first day of the month. I flip the calendar over and there are so many possibilities. Ahhh. To have the first of the month on a Monday? Heaven.

On top of all this goodness, today is the first day I can SEE. I had Lasik on Saturday on both eyes and it went well. I was on restricted computer/reading/eye straining activities for the past week. The first few days were because I needed to wear glasses instead of my contacts before surgery and they were a really old prescription. I could not see much of anything.

Of course, when you are told you cannot do something, you want to do it more. I was not allowed on the computer, yet a fabulous idea for a new digi kit hit me. I could not do close up work, so I desperately wanted to play with my copics. I could not read, so my favorite author's latest book hit the shelves right next to the pharmacy window where I waited for my eye drops.

See the pattern?

Today I jumped out of bed and hit my chores at full speed. By lunchtime, I was able to sit down and read the March Issue of Scrapstreet.com Magazine:

Feeling inspired, I stopped by 2S4U to see the sketch of the week. Kazan's sketch 47 sparked a fun card idea.

I had some darling instyle digi stamps that I won a couple of months back. I used cute Bendy in her bumble bee costume and my beloved copics.

One more blog stop led me over to Couture Cardstock. Have you stopped by there yet? I am obsessed with them now. ScrapStreet will be featuring their fabulous papers in an upcoming issue and we are having a blast with them. They are simply luscious! Today was my first try coloring on Couture Blending Paper and it is copic fabulous! They are hosting a Month Long Party! Today's challenge is to use yellow. Perfect!

Supplies: Cardstock (yellow): Crate Paper, (black): Couture Cardstock, White Blending Paper: Couture Cardstock, Stamp: Instyle Stamps, Rub ons: Sweetwater, October Afternoon, Bling: Heidi Swapp, Punch: Martha Stewart, Die: Spellbinders, Tools: Cuttlebug, Scor-it, Other: rickrack.

Put all of this together and you get my BEEutiful You card. Exactly what I needed on such a beautiful Monday.

Have a super day!

Welcome Home!

2010-02-24T12:01:00.000-08:00

I moved my blog today! Not a huge move, but I went from being Dora's Days at dorasdays.blogspot to Life--with a twist at doraphillips.blogspot.com. Why? I fell in love with this new template and wanted to do a bit of spring cleaning. At the same time, I have known for awhile that my blog should be my name for easy locating.

So, here I am.

*stretches out feet and props them up on the new coffee table*

What do you think? Of course the next part is to be a better blogger. We all know I have the words in me--now I just need to get into the habit of typing them.

I did create a bit of a welcome home card:

Welcome Home by Dora Phillips. Paper, Stickers, Chipboard: Pink Paislee, Mini Stickers: My Little Shoebox, Pearls: Kaisercraft.

Yall have a fabulous day!