Another layout share

Yes, it is true. I actually created 2 layouts in one day! OMG...the sky is going to fall...LOL! Last Sunday, I created the last layout that I shared. I then went to try to wrap Christmas presents, and it just was not working. I was in such a creative mood that I could not bring myself to sit down and wrap. I just had to scrap. So, I tossed all the wrapping paper, tape, and bows back in the closet and headed back down to my scrap room. After cleaning the whole thing up just a few hours earlier, I tore the whole thing apart once again! It felt so good, though. So, this is the second layout that I ended up with.

Since scrapping time has been short this school year, I figured that I would go with it while I had the mojo and the time. I used papers from the Fancy Pants Splendid collection, and that glittery swirl on the left side is a Fancy Pants glitter cuts. Love them! I channeled some Cindy Tobey with the knotted ribbon....she just makes it look so good that I had to try it. This was actually a pretty easy layout to put together, and I would have been done with it a lot sooner if I didn't have the television playing in the background. I never really watch television, so it was a little distracting.

Anyway....I am off to enjoy some time with Ryan...we are working on a Club Penguin mission together. Gotta Love it!

Merry Christmas

It's Christmas Eve here, and we are getting ready for Church and for a visit from Santa Claus. The eve is usually a pretty mellow day for us. We do our celebrating on Christmas Day, so Ryan will go with his Dad until it's time for bed. It's a nice day to relax for me, and since I am feeling a bit under the weather....I need it. I have been fighting something for a few days now, and I am hoping that it doesn't catch up with me for tomorrow. Ryan and I were in bed last night at 11:30 and slept until 10:45 today! I guess we needed the sleep. Looking forward to a nice relaxing vacation.
I just wanted to take a minute to wish everyone a joyous and safe holiday. I hope Santa is good to all of you. Enjoy your time with friends and family, and take a minute to count your blessings. I know I will be counting mine. Merry Christmas to all!

Creative Sunday!

Having a snow day on Friday gave me the chance to get some "real life" stuff out of the way. So, today I had the chance to do some fun stuff...scrapping! I brought out my Fancy Pants Daily Grind papers to create this layout about my first year teaching 8th grade.

I like the black background paper with it's grid...it reminds me of school. I also like how it makes the colors pop out at you. That small picture is of Ryan holding up the piece of paper that I received over the summer telling me what my "job" at school would be for this year. This has been quite a year for me, and I needed to get that documented.

On the Christmas front, I plan to sit down tonight with a hot cup of tea and help "Santa" wrap Ryan's presents. Ryan and I went out shopping yesterday (oy...that's a whole other story), and I am DONE getting gifts for the family, too. So, I have some work ahead of me. Feels good to be so close to Christmas and be ready! Hope everyone is enjoying their Sunday!

Snow Day!

From what I can tell, it seems like a lot of people experienced a snow day today.
This is what it looked like from my living room window earlier today. We got about 6 inches of the fluffy white stuff. Unfortunately, we didn't get to play in it today as it was coming down very fast for most of the day with sleet mixed in. I like to play, but I don't care much for the snow and sleet pelting me in the face.
I got a lot of icky housework done, which was good, but nothing fun...which was bad. I still have some Christmas shopping to do, so that will be tomorrow's fun! I also have a layout in the works that I hope to finish and share this weekend. Christmas is only 6 days away....are you ready?

CK 101 Expert Solutions!!!!

I know, I know...I seem to only post when I'm excited these days. Well, I certainly don't want to bore you all to death with my everyday ramblings about school, school, and more school. Since that is pretty much all I have been doing lately, I figured I would wait until I had something fun to share.

Well, I have something fun to share today. I was on the Creating Keepsakes website and found this baby up for pre-order:


This is the 101 Expert Solutions for Scrapbooking Special Issues from Creating Keepsakes. I have been waiting so patiently to finally see this as the cover layout was created by little old me! Go, me!! This special issues contains the artwork of the 2008 HOFers, the CK Dream Team, and the CK Scrapbooker of the year. It has been in the works since April, and it will hit the shelves at the end of December. I was thrilled to be able to contribute some of the layouts from my winning HOF entry along with some additional layouts.

Just knowing who is featured in this book makes me know that it will be a "must have." I am on pins and needles to get a copy. You can pre-order it here on the CK website. I am going to....have to get copies for the family!

And keep your eyes on the CK website when the new years rolls around because they will be having a launch party there to celebrate this special issue! It is sure to be fun!

We have a 2 hour delay today, so I get to enjoy some free time this morning....yeah! Hope all is well with everyone and you are all getting ready for Christmas! Enjoy your day!

So excited & a layout!

It was a rough week in school getting back into the swing of things after the Thanksgiving break. The students were NOT ready to be back which made for a difficult teaching environment. They did eventually settle down by Thursday, so I guess all turned out okay. After a particularly hard day on Wednesday, I came home to toss myself on the couch. I had a terrible headache and needed a rest. The light on the answering machine was blinking, but I figured I would check it later since it was probably someone responding to Ryan's birthday party invitation. Well, I forgot about that light, and it was not until much later that I actually remembered that it had even been blinking.

To my surprise, it wasn't a party response after all! It was a girl from BHG Scrapbooks Etc. calling to publish 2 projects of mine in their magazine! I was so stinkin' excited! I have been having a really tough time getting pubbed by BHG. I have been feeling a bit like they weren't liking my style too much, so this was a really pleasant surprise! So keep your eyes out for their May/June issue because yours truly will be in there...twice!

Speaking of not getting published, I thought I would share a layout with you that wasn't picked up. This one was so much fun to create because I had a chance to dig out my old, old college pictures for it.

Yes, that is me and my college roommate back in 1989! It felt so good to scrap something other than Ryan or kids. Not that I don't love him, but I never get to scrap ME! So, this was a blast. I kept those old stacks of pictures out because I hope to scrap more of them...maybe I'll get them all scrapped before Ryan graduates college!

Well, thanks for stopping by. Enjoy your weekend!

More Fancy Pants Fun!

Thank you to everyone who left such nice comments about my layout the other day. No matter who you are, I think it always feels good when someone takes the time to leave a comment and brighten someone's day. So, thank you all for brightening my day!

I love it when I get on a roll. It is especially great when I have time. There's nothing worse than being in the mood to scrap but not having the time. Thanksgiving break was good to me. I got all of my homework done for my College class, and most of my lessons done for school. I had to take a break from all of the intellectual things and spend some time being a bit creative. I created this layout with the limited edition Fancy Pants Arctic Chill collection.

The background is the Dotted Swiss Cardstock from Bazzill, which is one of my new favorites. I just love the texture that it has, and is comes in so many awesome colors. As you can tell, my layout is not a winter theme at all, showing that you can use the Arctic Chill collection for anything...not just winter!

Once again, I am proud to say that I used an awesome PageMaps sketch for this layout. While I have been in a creative mood, I have also been pressed for time. Becky's sketches are just perfect for when I am on a time crunch. I just pick a sketch that has the amount of pictures that I want to use and go from there! Perfect! Thanks, Becky!

Well, thanks for stopping by and enjoy your day!

Here's to Creativity!

Ahhhhh...finally the chance to create! I really appreciate the time that I have to get some scrapping done. It is such a great release and so relaxing. Fancy Pants has a great new line out for Christmas called Happy Holidays. It is whimsical and fun and filled with great colors! I had taken a few pictures of Ryan as we decorated the tree this year. Not our "official" Christmas pictures, but some quick shots for fun. They were perfect to use with this new line.

I adore the new printed chipboard shapes that Fancy Pants has come out with. Not that I don't like plain chipboard. It's fun to be able to design the colors of a title by either painting them or covering them with paper....but, it is sometimes nice to just throw some already designed chipboard onto a page with ease! My title, the star, and those cute trees are all printed! Go grab some because they are awesome! By the way, my design came together super easy with a PageMaps sketch from the fabulous Becky Fleck! She so rocks!

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your week!

Happy Birthday Buddy!

My buddy turns 9 years old today. It is hard to believe that he is 1/2 way to adulthood. It seems like he was born only yesterday, yet I cannot even remember what my life was like without him. Being with him everyday makes it hard for me to see that he is even changing at all. To me, he looks exactly the same as he did when he was 3 years old....only bigger! I was reminiscing and stumbled across this photo. It was taken on his birthday exactly 3 years ago. The photo on the right was taken this past August at the beginning of soccer season.

He sure is losing that baby face of his, and he is about 80 pounds by now...and getting bigger every day. I still think that he is as cute as ever! He's my buddy! Happy Birthday, Ryan! I love you!

Happy Thanksgiving

Hope you have a wonderful holiday! I have 5 days off from school and hope to relax a bit, scrap a bit, and share a bit! God Bless!

Important Reminder

Been taking a little break from the computer. I just needed some time to regroup and relax. I just wanted to give all of my readers a little reminder to be sure to take the time to back up your hard drives. That's my job today. Don't take the chance of letting your precious memories and/or important files get lost forever! Make it a monthly thing! Back later....enjoy your Sunday!

"Fancy" Frame

Being busy with school, I missed my friend, Joyce's, birthday. I knew I missed it right after it passed, so I decided that I would make up for my forgetfulness with a handmade gift to win her heart over...LOL! I was thrilled to have gotten the new Fancy Pants Splendid collection in the mail, and I was able to use it to make this sweet gift for her!

I added some printed chipboard shapes, clear acrylic flowers, chipboard flowers, buttons, and brads to decorate it up...all from Fancy Pants! It was so much fun to make. I added the birthday wishes where a photo would go, and she can add whatever picture she wants. I really love doing projects instead of pages sometimes. Although, I am itching to create a page or two. It really has been a while.

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Happy (belated) Halloween!

We got home pretty late last night, and I went right to bed. I've been under the weather for the past few days, so Halloween kicked my butt. Ryan loved his costume!


Isn't he just the cutest bug that you have ever seen? I think so! So, tell me how your Halloween was!

Mixing Business with Pleasure

So, if you happen to stop by my blog on a regular basis, you know by now that I am currently in my first year teaching Civics to eighth grade students. It has been a challenging few months with lots of trial and error. I am always open to trying new things. I want to do what is best for the students, of course, but I also want to do what is best for myself. That means being as organized as possible. It really is the key to keeping stress levels at a minimum.

For those of you who are close to any children who are 13-14 years old, you already know that most of them are still a bit immature. I don't mean to say that ALL of them are, but in my experience....I will say "most." They are still learning self-control, discipline, and organization (heck, I even know some adults who lack these skills...LOL). I believe that it is a part of my job to teach the children these things. It is not entirely my job, but it is a part of what I do. Of course, Civics is important. I want them all to understand their government and the importance of their role in it. But, if they walk out not remembering any content at the end of this year....I would be just fine knowing they might have learned some self-control, discipline, and organization.

Enter my mad need for organization. I am an organization freak...spreadsheets, lists, daily planners. I live by them. I am always looking for a way to organize better to save time, save energy, and reduce stress. So, imagine how I must feel when 35 eighth graders bounce into my room with 50 questions at one time. They run right up to my desk asking all sorts of questions from "Can I go to the bathroom?" to "Can I have another homework paper?" to "Do you want to see my new cell phone?". I like to let them know that all of their questions are important, but I also want to make sure that we use our class time wisely. So, I made a rule that I will answer 3 questions at the beginning of class...the first three that are asked. The rest have to wait until the lesson is over. The students who arrive first have the advantage, so it also helps with getting the kids to class on time. In order to make this work, I have used my scrapbooking skills to create a sort of "Take a number" system. Using some of my Fancy Pants goodies, I altered these adorable clothes pins. There are three of them...each with a number from 1 to 3 on them.

I have them clipped to my podium where the kids can grab them as they enter the classroom. They then can sit down while I take roll. Once they see all of the numbers have been taken, they know that they will have to wait until after the lesson to ask their question, and they must go right to their seat. Now, if the question is not important, most of them forget about it once I am done teaching. Many times, if they allow me to speak before they bombard me with questions, their questions get answered before they even have to ask. For those who have bathroom or nurse emergencies, I do allow them to ask for that. You can tell who really has a problem from those who really don't. The system is still pretty new in my room, and the kids are still trying to get used to it....but, I believe that once they have done it for a few weeks that it will be second nature. It is all about developing those good habits.

I love that I was able to incorporate 2 of my favorite things, teaching and scrapbooking, together. I had so much fun making these clothes pins. I used paper, rub ons, and brads from the Fancy Pants All Fall collection. The tags with the numbers are chipboard tags by Fancy Pants, too. I cut the letters out with my handy dandy Silhouette! Gotta love that tool for school, too...the skies the limit for bulletin boards! How fun is that! I have lots of other ideas for my scrapbook goodies in the classroom, and I will be sure to share once I am done!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope every one's week started out on a good note!

The Next Survivor Series...a MUST read!

I normally get a bit frustrated by the amount of chain e-mails that I get. It gets tough wading through all of them trying to find the important e-mails. I do, once in a while, have enough time to open some of them to read. I am so glad that I had a chance to open this one. All of you Moms out there will love this one! It certainly is worth the five minutes it takes to read it! Enjoy!


THE NEXT SURVIVOR SERIES

Six married men will be dropped on an island with one car and 3 kids each for six weeks.

Each kid will play two sports and either take music or dance classes.

There is no fast food.

Each man must take care of his 3 kids; keep his assigned house clean, correct all homework, and complete science projects, cook, do laundry, and pay a list of 'pretend' bills with not enough money.

In addition, each man will have to budget in money for groceries each week.

Each man must remember the birthdays of all their friends and relatives, and send cards out on time--no emailing.

Each man must also take each child to a doctor's appointment, a dentist appointment and a haircut appointment.

He must make one unscheduled and inconvenient visit per child to the Urgent Care.

He must also make cookies or cupcakes for a social function.

Each man will be responsible for decorating his own assigned house, planting flowers outside and keeping it presentable at all times.

The men will only have access to television when the kids are asleep and all chores are done.

The men must shave their legs, wear makeup daily, adorn himself with jewelry, wear uncomfortable yet stylish shoes, keep fingernails polished and eyebrows groomed.

During one of the six weeks, the men will have to endure severe abdominal cramps, back aches, and have extreme, unexplained mood swings but never once complain or slow down from other duties.

They must attend weekly school meetings, church, and find time at least once to spend the afternoon at the park or a similar setting.

They will need to read a book to the kids each night and in the morning, feed them, dress them, brush their teeth and comb their hair by 7:00 am.

A test will be given at the end of the six weeks, and each father will be required to know all of the following information: each child's birthday, height, weight, shoe size, clothes size and doctor's name. Also the child's weight at birth, length, time of birth, and length of labor, each child's favorite color, middle name, favorite snack, favorite song, favorite drink, favorite toy, biggest fear and what they want to be when they grow up.

The kids vote them off the island based on performance. The last man wins only if...he still has enough energy to be intimate with his spouse at a moment's notice.

If the last man does win, he can play the game over and over and over again for the next 18-25 years eventually earning the right to be called Mother!

After you get done laughing, send this to as many females as you think will get a kick out of it and as many men as you think can handle it. Just don't send it back to me....I'm going to bed.

I have to say it again...the new Fancy Pants rocks!

I know that I mentioned it on one of my last posts, but I just have to say it again. Fancy Pants has 2 new releases that are simply gorgeous! I loved them when I saw them online, and I love them even more now that I have seen them in person! I received a box in the mail today with the new goodies, and I am simply in heaven. The first line is a winter line called Arctic Chill. It was designed by Jackie Eckles and has some of the most beautiful colors and patterns. Love the touches of green!

The second line is called Splendid. Designed by Michelle Coleman, it is perfect for Valentines Day or for any pictures of your loved ones. I see an awesome mini-book here. Maybe a gift for Mom for Christmas.
I love the the blue, and red together in this line. I knew that I would love it because I love everything that Michelle designs!

These lines will be available very soon. You can check out the Fancy Pants website for more information. Keep your eyes on the Fancy Pants DT gallery, too. You will always see awesome new stuff from all the talented girls!

Off to bed to dream some "scrappin' dreams". Have a great night!

That's my boy!

Ryan has become quite conditioned to smiling for the camera. After all, I've been following him around for almost 9 years trying to capture him in all of his moments. That's a good thing....I guess. However, it sometimes makes for some dull pictures of him just smiling nice to get his picture taken. So, the other day as we were outside watching a neighborhood cat frolic through our yard, I told him not to smile for me, but to just be himself (whatever that means). This is what I got:
I guess I should be careful what I ask for!

Ahhhhh-tumn!

It is so hard to believe that Autumn is here already. Where does time go? The days and weeks are just clicking off so fast. Does anyone else feel like this, or am I the only crazy person around? I guess I must be having fun....LOL!

While I had my head buried in Civics books looking for up to the minute information to shower my students with, my eyes glued to the computer screen searching for new and interesting techniques to get (and keep) my students' attention, and my fingers permanently wrapped around a pen grading the homework that I manage to get only a percentage of my students to complete, Mother Nature went and did this:

Glorious, isn't it? How did I miss this? Have I been so preoccupied that I managed to miss what is right outside my window? In past years, I had my eyes peeled for the first signs of Autumn...one colored leaf would have me grabbing my camera and my son for a spur of the moment photo shoot to document the changing of seasons. Somehow, it just got away from me this year. Thank goodness I opened my eyes when I did, or I would have missed it all. So, on Saturday, I did what any self-respecting mother and scrapbooker would do...I tossed my boy in the car and headed out for the leaves. Thanks goodness I had the camera battery charged!

I took over 100 pictures, and I am itching to scrap. I'm thinking I might bust out the All Fall line from Fancy Pants later this week....sounds perfect to me!

Hope everyone is well. Halloween is upon us....I guess I better keep that battery charged! Enjoy your day!

Oh...and I almost forgot to mention that the Fancy Pants DT girls will be taking turns each week to showcase some cool projects done with FP goodies. You can check out this weeks project here. And..............the news is out.....Fancy Pants will be offereing 2 new, awesome releases very soon! How cool! I love new stuff! You can check both of them out here.

Finally....scrappin' time!

I cannot tell you how thrilled I was to have the chance to scrap yesterday. I feel like I have not done it in forever. Last week, I got a HUGE box of goodies from Fancy Pants, and I have been so busy that I didn't even have the chance to look through everything. It was like Christmas in October as I finally went through the box! Such fun stuff that I just had to take some time off from school work to do some creating. I used papers from the All Fall line and some of the All Fall chipboard letters, too. Of course, I had to add some buttons just because they are my favorite embellishment right now. The felt flowers are Fancy Pants, too! Can I say that I am just elated to be on the FP team and to get to work with such awesome goodies! So, here is what I came up with yesterday:

Mostly everything on my layout is Fancy Pants with the exception of some letter stickers from Doodlebug, a rub on from Melissa Frances, some DMC embroidery floss, and a tag from Making Memories. Have I mentioned lately how much I love scrapbooking???? I just wish that I had more time to keep creating, but lesson plans await!

Thanks for stopping by and have yourself a great day!

Thank You & Getting ready for Halloween!

I just want to take a minute to thank everyone who left beautiful comments and sent sweet e-mails regarding the passing of my grandmother. It has been a tough week, and I am finally getting back into life. Please continue to keep my Pop in your prayers as he will most certainly need the strength to carry on without my Gram. I'm pretty sure we have convinced him to go to Virginia with my aunt. She doesn't work outside the home, and he will have someone to take care of him, keep him company, and help put some meat on his bones (she is an awesome cook). Of course, we will miss him dearly here in PA, but I do believe that it is what is best for him right now.

October is here and that means that Halloween is not far behind. It's hard for me to believe that it is that time again. It seems that every year, I am a bit behind in getting Ryan's Halloween costume. You see...he is quite picky. He has rules when it comes to costumes.

1. No masks.
2. No face paint.
3. Nothing scary.

Okay, so this just about rules out almost every costume that I can think of. Imagine the horror of trying to find something that he will wear. Let's see, we have been:

1. Tigger (2000)--my choice...he was not even 1 years old at that time
2. Mickey Mouse (2001)--he still had no say!
3. Spongebob (2002)--he'd be that every year if it were up to him
4. Jimmy Neutron (2003)--don't even ask???
5. Spiderman (2004)--I don't even remember him liking spiderman...and what made him wear that mask???
6. The Human Torch (2005)--you know, the superhero guy
7. A frog (2006)--what else can I say about that?
8. A Hot Dog (2007)--what a hoot that was!

Hard to believe that he has already seen 8 Halloweens! Where does the time go? As I type this post, I just decided that I am going to do a mini album with all of his Halloween pictures. Keep in mind that the earlier pictures are terrible quality. But, it is the memories that matter most.

Here's a layout that was published in Creating Keepsakes magazine. It was for the Becky Higgins Sketch back in 2006. Not only has Ryan changed so much, but look at how my scrapping style has changed! It is fun to look back on my old layouts, though, and see the difference!

Oh, and here is a picture of the costume that Ryan picked this year. He was determined to be a bug. Well, after an endless Internet search and too many dollars later, he picked this from Pottery Barn Kids:

Of course, Ryan is much older than this boy, but they did actually have this costume in a size 7-8, so we went with it! So, what are your kids being this year? I'd love to know. It's such a fun time of year, and I so enjoy seeing what all of the kids will be!

The world will never be the same...

...without this lovely soul.

My grandmother left our world this morning to take her place next to our Lord. We were all so very lucky to have her in our lives for as long as we did. How many people my age are blessed to have 2 grandparents in their lives for so long? I am so happy that Ryan knew my grandmother, his great grandmother. She adored him. He was her boy. He knew that and loved her just the same. She will be missed. Her stories will be missed. Her smile will be missed. Her wisdom will be missed. She took care of us until the end...if only in her prayers for us. That was what she did. Her prayers could work wonders in even the darkest hour.

In your daily comings and goings, please take a moment to say a prayer for my grandfather, who will continue on without her by his side. I cannot even imagine how it would be to lose the person who you spent over 70 years of your life with.

God bless you Gram! I will miss you with all of my heart.

Stick a fork in me....

...I'm done! Have you ever felt this way? I'm just done. I want to do nothing. No more school work, no more ironing, no more making lunches, cleaning litter boxes, scrapping, vacuuming, washing dishes, paying bills, talking on the phone, shopping, sitting at this computer! Any of it...I don't want to do any of it.

Nothing happened. I'm not miserable. No bad mood. Nothing. I just want to do nothing. Does that sound odd? Has anyone ever felt his way before or am I all alone in this world?

Hello There!

Just digging myself out from underneath a huge pile of homework papers. Let's see 167 kids times 3 homework assignments a week = one tired me! On top of that, it is hard to believe that it is mid-quarter already...which means sending out 167 progress reports by tomorrow! I hope this all gets easier as I go...or I get faster!

Blogging has taken a back seat, and I am going to try to update more. I actually had a chance to scrap today. It was for an assignment, so I can't share it right now. I do have a layout that I can share. I did this one a little while back for a call of some sort. It never got picked up which made me sad because I like it a lot. I need to do more 2 pagers!

Seeing these pictures from 2 years ago made me see how much Ryan has grown. I sometimes don't see it because I am with him every day. These pics are proof...he's a big kid now!

I'm also really excited about getting some goodies from Quickuts. They were super generous with the HOF girls this year, and I had a chance to pick some goodies from their website. I decided that I want to try out some wall art. I got myself some of this cool vinyl

I got several different colors, and I am so excited to get them! Since I did some home improvement over the summer, I have lots of empty wall space to get decorated...this will be perfect and fun!

Speaking of HOF, the 2008 HOF gals will have another HOF Product Challenge up at the CK website for October. Stop by after the 1st to check it out and play along! It will be a good one!

Well, off to bed as tomorrow is the start of another school week! Hope you all have a super Monday!

Checking In!

Swimming in school work and totally neglecting my blog. I never thought there would be so much work in teaching. Lots of papers to grade and lessons to plan. I know the first year with a subject is the hardest, and I know it will get easier. Believe me, I am not complaining. I do love my job...really. Like with any other job, I have good days and not-so-good days. The key is to let it go at the end of each day and start fresh. That keeps me sane. They are only kids, and kids will be kids. I know some teachers who have held grudges against kids for years because they acted up or gave them problems. I can't be that way. It's better for everyone.

So, not to much scrapping going on at all. I do have a few layouts and projects partially done, but that has been all I have been able to manage. My camera is getting lonely this month. I have barely touched it. I am patiently waiting for my goodies for the Fancy Pants DT...can't wait to get started! Hope everyone is doing well. I miss blog surfing and hope to have some free time tomorrow to see what you are all up to! Keep smiling and enjoying your week!

SBE Final Challenge is Up!

I am so excited to share this mini album with everyone! It felt so good to scrap something about myself. I spend so much time scrapping Ryan and everyone else. Of course, there are pictures of others on my pages, but it was hard to leave them out because they are such a big part of my life. So, without further ado, here is my submission for the BHG Scrapbooks, Etc. Ulitmate Summer Final Challenge!

I used Tinkering Ink's triangular shaped garland for the book itself. Love that stuff. I just thought it would make a darling mini book. I used BasicGrey Offbeat papers...my favorite BG line! I used embroidery floss to sew a bead border on one side of each page, alternating the side from page to page. That was fun...told you I loved beads! Lots of buttons, brads, and plastic rings to dress it up! The pages are held together with binder rings tied with some ribbon to spruce them up a bit. This surely was a fun project!

So, I would love if any of you guys voted for me. You can register here and vote every day up until the 20th. You have no idea how thrilled I would be to win....cloud 9, baybee! I am off to get some chores done....the weekend is here! Yippee! Hope you are all enjoying your Friday!

Getting ready for the Final Challenge!!

This past week was crazy! I had to take a short vacation away from the computer to try to catch myself up on things in life. I worked on my lesson plans all weekend, and then my final challenge for the BHG Scrapbooks, Etc. Ultimate Summer Challenge all this week so far. I finished my project yesterday and e-mailed the pictures today with less than 24 hours to spare. I am very excited about the mini-book that I created. I think it turned out kind of neat. I originally planned on using some Tinkering Ink Becoming Green papers for it, but I somehow ended up working the BasicGrey. It just happened. For whatever reason, the BG just spoke to me. And since I was on such a tight deadline, I had to go with it. I did start another project with the TI, so I hope to share that this weekend sometime.

Anyway, this was the challenge that the ten finalists received:

"About Me" Mini-Album
Showcase your scrapbooking skills with an "all about me" 8-page (4 pages front and back), mini-album. It's that simple! Just tell us about yourself and use everything in your repertoire to dazzle your peers on your way to becoming $2,500 richer!

I am really excited and nervous about this final challenge. I know the competition will be tough, and the stakes are high! Who wouldn't want to win $2,500?????? I believe that voting opens at 10:00 am E.T on September 12 and ends at 12:59 am on September 20. What a nerve-racking 8 days that will be! It is really tough to watch the votes go up (or not go up). I really try to stay away from the computer as much as possible, but it really is hard not to check.

I thank all of you who voted daily for me last time....you all helped me win and become a finalist! I hope that you will take the time to vote this time around. Remember that you can vote one time each day. And if you have not voted in any of the other rounds in the contest, you can register to vote here. I appreciate all of the help that everyone gives me!

I plan on sharing my mini-book here on the blog as soon as I get the okay. I am sure they do not want us sharing before the final round actually starts. I will, however, share this page with you.

It appeared in the Memory Makers Idea Gallery a few months back. I received a message the other day from a girl who wanted to let me know that she lifted my design. I was thrilled that I could give someone some inspiration. I really liked this layout and was happy that it got picked up. I think I might add "2007" to this layout and then do one every year to document Ryan's world each year. This was such a fun layout to do. I managed to get the important pics AND the journaling in!

Well, thanks for stopping by (if anyone is still around)! Hope your week is going great!

Franklin Whittaker Zielinski dies at home

It was a sad day for us. Ryan's favorite hamster died after we arrived home from school. He seemed fine last night. I heard him in his cage chewing his wood stick. When I went to clean his cage out, I picked him up. He was not as warm as he usually is, and he was sluggish. I just knew he was dying. I told Ryan, who took it pretty well. He is sad, of course, but understands that death is a natural part of life. I placed him in a small container with some bedding, covered him with a paper towel, and sat him next to Ryan as he was doing his homework. He was breathing heavy, opening his mouth, and making an odd noise. I knew it was only a matter of time. He died about 10 minutes later. I watched him take his last breath. I am glad that we were there when he died. It would have been much worse to find him dead in his cage. Ryan was not afraid to pick him up after he died, and that made me happy. It showed that he is not afraid of death. He passed away surrounded by those who loved him. Some may say that he was only a hamster, but he was our pet...and we loved him. He will be sadly missed.

HOF Challenge: BasicGrey

I spent most of my "Creative Sunday" doing work for school, so I was feeling a bit stressed about not being able to scrap. Don't get me wrong, when I do my lesson plans, I am being creative...just in a different way. I do enjoy it, but it is just not the same as scrapbooking. So, I put the books aside and took some time out to let the scrapping mojo flow.

This month's HOF Challenge at the CK website was to use BasicGrey. I have to say that BG is one of my all time favorite companies. So much that I often find myself hoarding it a bit too much. The problem is that I hoard it for so long that I rarely get to use it. So, I was thrilled to pull some of my HOF goodies out and go to town. I had some birthday pictures that I wanted to scrap, so I chose the Cupcake collection, which turned out to be the perfect choice! Because it was an adult birthday, I chose some of the darker colored patterns. The swirly cardstock sticker down the middle was yellow, so I inked it up with a red stamp pad. I also cut the "happy" off of the "happy birthday" cardstock sticker and made my own "happy" with the BG letter stickers. Lastly, I cut some of the candles shorter to fit around my title better. Mostly everything on my page is BG with the exception of the small phrase stickers in the upper left hand corner which are Scenic Route and the "celebrate" rub on which is Creative Imaginations. I even used BG fibers to thread my buttons! I can't remember the last time I used fiber! Oh my!

If you have a chance, stop on over the CK website to see what the other HOF gals created, and if you create your own BasicGrey layout...you might be able to win a CK book of your choice! You can check out Erin's post here. Sounds good to me! I hope everyone has a super wonderful day!

Happy Labor Day!

And happy September! It's hard to believe that August is over already. Boy, time does fly! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. Mine was busy, but good. I want to shout out a big "Thank You" from the bottom of my heart to all of you who left comments and sent e-mails about my new Fancy Pants DT gig! I appreciate every one's congrats and support! I am eager to get started and am excited that you are all excited to see what I create with their awesome products! It will be fun!

I was downloading some pictures from my camera, and I decided to share this one of Ryan on his first day of school this year. 3rd Grade!

Oh my, when I first saw this picture, I about fell over. He is just getting so big so fast. For those of you who have known me for a while...do you remember when my buddy looked like this?

This face was just looking at me last night! Or it seems like that, at least! Mom always said that time goes by faster the older you get...she was right. But, shhhh...don't tell her that I admitted that she was right...LOL!

Hope you all have a wonderful Labor Day here in the U.S. Take a break...you deserve it. For those of you not in the U.S....enjoy your Monday! Stay tuned tomorrow for a layout share...yippee!

Fancy Pants Designs DT!

I am so super excited to report that I received an e-mail on Tuesday night from Jodi at Fancy Pants Designs asking me to join their design team!
From what I understand, they had quite a few entries, so I am honored to have been chosen. I love their products and can't wait to start creating with them! I tried out for their team about 2 or so years ago, but did not make it then. I did receive an honorable mention which was great. So, for those of you who have tried out for design teams and were not selected, keep trying. If you really like a certain manufacturer, don't give up. You never know what might happen!

You can see the announcement of all the awesome new members on the Fancy Pants blog! Off from school today, so hoping to get some scrapping done! Enjoy your day!

Woot Woot...Starting Points!

So, my first days of school were very busy. As expected, lots of technical difficulties with moving to a new room and beginning a new attendance/grading system. The bugs are not all worked out, but it will be awesome once they are. I enjoyed the day with the kids, but again....very busy. It does make the day go by really fast. This week will be mostly getting to know you stuff and paperwork. So far, so good!

Now, that I got all of my school news out of my system, I can move on to some fun stuff. I am excited to report that I received my copy of Linda Harrison's Starting Points book in the mail on Monday. I wish I could say that I had a chance to sit down and enjoy it, but I did not. I am looking forward to it, though. I did glance through it, and what I did see was awesome. I'd like to share one of the layouts that I contributed to the book. The "starting point" for this particular page was the song "My Everything" by Barry White. I have loved the song since my college days and since Ally McBeal (loved that show).

It was the perfect way to start this page about Ryan. He really is my everything. I don't often do 2 page layouts. I'm not too sure why because I really like them. This one has various pics of Ryan from different times and events. I wanted to use a lot of pictures, so I created three 5x7 collages in FotoFusion instead of only using three 5x7 pictures. I love the way it turned out.

Starting Points is a wonderful book to give you lots of ideas for how to start your pages, and there are some very talented contributors besides myself and Linda, of course. Look for it in your favorite LSS or online...you won't be disappointed!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week. Thanks for stopping by. I am off to spend some time with Ryan. Mom's been so busy lately that I think he might actually be missing me!

Congrats to my Arctic Frog Buddies & Off to School

I just have to say a sincere and well-deserved congrats to three awesome designers who had the honor this past week of being named Memory Makers Masters 2009: Kim Frantz, Summer Fullerton, and Jaime Warren! I had the pleasure of being on the Arctic Frog design team with these three girls along with many other talented ladies. Being on the team was a wonderful experience. I think that they would all agree with that. Alannah was absolutely the best to work for, and she really knew how to spot talent! I also know that we were all very saddened when Alannah decided to close the doors at AF to pursue other ventures. I miss those days, but am thrilled to say that many of us still keep in touch and even design for other manufacturers together. So, if you have a moment, stop by their galleries or blogs to say a huge congrats! They are wonderful women who will be sure to knock your socks off with MM in the upcoming year! Congrats girls!

Summer Fullerton-gallery
Summer Fullerton-blog
Jaime Warren-gallery
Jaime Warren-blog

And in honor of Arctic Frog, I leave you with this layout that I did for them about a year or so ago. It is still one of my favorites! I loved the colors in this line, and my pictures did, too!
I am off to school this rainy Monday morning (no kids, but lots of room preparation)! How fast did that summer go by? Enjoy your day and thank you to everyone who left me birthday greetings yesterday. I will be sure to share pics once I get them off my camera....maybe even a layout for tomorrow (if I have time).

Happy Birthday to me & Rick Springfield!

Yes, I was always thrilled as a girl growing up that I shared my birthday with Rick. I was so in love with him! I still love him and his music. Nothing like jamming to Jessie's Girl! Happy Birthday, Rick!

I am not a big birthday person. Not that I don't like them, but I was just never raised to make a big deal out of my birthday. Unlike, my friend, Candy, who celebrates her birthday for the entire month of February, I usually allow mine to slip by basically unnoticed.

Actually, as a kid, I do not ever remember having a birthday party. I know it sounds sad, but it didn't seem to have too adverse of an affect on me....LOL! I only mention my birthday this year because I am thrilled and excited to be spending it with 3 of my college roommates. We are all meeting up at a small restaurant that is equal distance between each of us. We'll have some lunch and chat and stuff. I am so looking forward to it as it has been years since I have seen a couple of them. I think it is a great way to spend my birthday. I plan on having a wonderful and relaxing day...and that's my birthday present to myself.

I'll be back tomorrow with a new layout to share! Enjoy your day!

Hello Mojo & I've been tagged!

Well, thanks to everyone who sent mojo my way or told me where to find it at Target (Miss Summer)! I chose some pics that I took at the airport before our Disney vacation and just ran with them. I made it easy on myself by creating a photo collage in FotoFusion. Doing that gave me more time and energy to think about designing the actual page instead of worrying about photo placement. I wanted happy colors, so I chose some green, orange, yellow, and blue. I am surprised how easily it all came together once I got started. Does that happen to anyone else? It seems once I get going, I don't want to stop. It is just the "getting going" part that I struggle with. So, here is my latest creation:

The really cool thing on my layout is the letter stickers. They have been in my stash for 6 years! Imagine that! I was searching for letters for my title when I came across them. They are from 2002 and were made by My Minds Eye. Does anyone remember when they had their "Frame-Ups" line? They had coordinating frames and the little people called "Frame-Up Friends". I was thrilled to have found them! So there you have it!

I was the lucky recipient of a blog tag by the truly awesome Lisa Dorsey.

So here are the rules:

(1) The winner can put the logo on their blog.<--- Isn't it cute! :)

(2) Link the person you received your award from.

(3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs.

(4) Put links of those on yours.

(5) Leave a message on the blogs of the girls or boys you’ve nominated.

Here are the 7 I am tagging:

1. Suzy-She is super sweet and so so so talented!

2. Kelly-One of my fave scrappers ever!

3. Stayce-She's an awesome friend and scrapper & I love her!

4. Cindy-I stalk her work, but shhhhh...don't tell her!

5. Linda-Nobody does digi like her...amazing!

6. Jess-Because she rocks & she's not busy enough these days, so this will give her something to do! LOL!

7. Shawna-I love her, but she doesn't blog enough! Now she has to! Hee Hee!

I hope everyone has a super wonderful day. I must get off to bed as I will be doing some furniture moving in the morning...fun, fun, fun! Thanks for stopping by!