December?

How can November have flown by so fast?! I've got 3 words for December - I'M NOT READY, lol. I may not have time to post over the weekend, so be sure to check out the December Poppy Ink newsletter (www.poppyink.com). I had such fun with Heather's blue, green, and black combo for December! Lots of sparkle too. If you've been wanting to jump on the PI wagon, you need to preorder January by clicking on the preorder button, and you can choose 1 month, 3 month, or 6 month subscription. These preorders are available at approx. 12AM mountain time (1am central, 2am eastern). They go really fast, so if you don't see the preorder button, they've already been swooped up. This is also the time you can grab Add-ons for December. They sell out quickly! Heather is working on a new site, and hopefully, in the near future, she'll have plenty of kits to go around. She's trying to keep it manageable right now, while working on the new site with great features. PI is worth the wait :D

And I know there are A LOT of you who got a kick out of my early layouts ;) Next time post a comment. I love hearing from scrappers all over the world.

five years ago

You guys took me seriously! lol I normally have about 25 hits by 10am and I have almost 150 this morning :D You just can't wait to see my moldy oldies, huh?

Okay, so here is my story: I began submitting in the summer of 2001. About 3 months later, September, I think, Simple Scrapbooks requested the left side of a 2 pager for their magazine - "Joy of Discovery". About a month later, Paperkuts requested "Big Steps for Little Feet", and it actually appeared in print before "Joy". You might notice they are both layouts of my youngest, Michaela...and yet most people seem to "know" my work by my oldest, Olivia, lol. I've never counted up how many pages of each have been published. They don't keep count either :) It's probably pretty close. Olivia has been on 2 covers. I'll show you those on another post later. I would like to get Michaela on a cover if at all possible (a girl can dream, right?)! I just thought it would be fun to celebrate my pub anniversary by showing where it all started.

little lace

ETA - I can't get the first layout to load fully, but if you click on it, it will show the full page.

I've been working on new stuff, but nothing I can show. So, I thought I'd post some older ones that I love. "Shine" was in Memory Makers last spring. I pulled out this expensive bit of lace leftover from my sewing days and put it on a page with lots of ribbon and pink. Totally girly page here :D "Swim" is a layout design I never tire of - 3-5 photos across the page. And I enjoyed using some HS tape on that one.

And tomorrow, I'm doing a REAL blast from the past - my first 2 published pages ;) All the way from 2002!

Mandeville, here I come!

I've been busy getting prepared for my classes in Mandeville, Louisiana, this week! Very excited about the trip, and meeting Lisa at Scrappily Ever After, her staff, and her customers :D I've never been to south LA, so it will be all new to me. I'm also in the midst of preparing my new spring classes that I will begin teaching next March. I need to get those ready before the holidays. December and January are not my most productive months...meaning, with girls here I find it hard to do scrapwork, lol. Add to that decorating, baking, shopping, family time, and just sitting with my feet propped up and it doesn't leave much time to scrapbook! And I've got a surprise coming up that demands some attention too ;) Yes, it is scrap-related, and I promise not to make you wait too long.
On the Christmas front, I have begun my shopping. Hoping to get that finished really early, so I can do some handmade gifts later (when the malls are so crowded). I'll put the tree up after my trip this week. The girls can't wait. I'm thinking about buying some lights for outside...the girls have asked the last 3 years, and Rich made the mistake of saying he'd put up whatever I brought home! lol We'll see about that ;)

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope you and your's have a safe and wonderful holiday! Enjoy the food, family, friends, and fellowship!

moments to grab

Chatterbox makes some of my most favorite scrapbook supplies. I combined their paper and alphabet stickers with a bookplate from BasicGrey, and a bg from Cosmo Cricket.

happy feet

Have you seen it? You HAVE to go see it. The movie is wonderful! We laughed, sang, and danced in our seats. You AND your kiddos will love it!

poppy day

In addition to being a scrappy day, it's been a poppy day :D You know how much I look forward to getting my Poppy Ink kit in the mail. It's one of my scrapping joys - the thing I do just for me (well, and for PI, too!) And, since I have several other irons in the fire this month, I thought I should start working on something - you know, check some things off of my "to do" list. Little did I know that once I started, I wouldn't be able to stop! So, 3 layouts and 1 mini album cover later...I'm feeling that "I accomplished something today!" high. Okay, so there are still dishes in my sink, and piles of ironing, and that kitchen floor could use a mopping...but, hey, I couldn't help it! I think that is why I'm still scrapping 8 years later. Because the joy is still there. I still love putting my photos onto paper and telling the story, while making the page look pretty. No other hobby has lasted this long.

News and sale

One of my favorite online sites for shopping, inspiration, and friendships announced they were closing yesterday (Down Memory Lane Co). Jill has always been top notch in customer service, as well as being a great person and friend. She's having a huge sale, with some awesome deals. I should know, because I shopped already :D So, pop on over to www.downmemorylaneco.com and check out the sale. I send my best wishes to Jill and her family.

album in a tin

After I posted the card keeper, I realized some of you might not have seen this album in a tin that I created for Creativexpress.com. This is for Olivia to document a year in her life with notes, memorabilia, photos, artwork, anything she wants. Each month has a layout on the backside for a photo and journaling. I attached a couple samples of those.

card keeper

Are you looking for Christmas gift ideas? I created this card keeper for a friend, and it can be seen in the Dec/Jan issue of Paper Crafts (love that magazine!) I should do a couple for Christmas gifts, because I really enjoyed it. Are you creating any handmade gifts this year?

new kitten on the block

And Puddin' isn't really thrilled, lol. Puddin' is our 2 year old cat that is accustomed to having the place to himself (since his mother, Prissy, came up missing in June). But Taffy is such a relaxed, loving kitten, I'm sure he'll warm up to her. The girls are in love!

Two

My two. One is home very sick today...the other scampered onto the bus when it arrived, but she seemed hesitant to leave her sister. I am blessed...sleepy, exhausted, but blessed. This layout appears in the MM Quick and Easy Scrapbook Styles idea book.

Destination Fun

Older photos that I wanted to scrap. Created this one at a crop with friends....would have never thought it would get picked up (CK Scrapbook Idea Annual). So for those of you submitting - don't hold back. You never know what they might need.

Turning 40

wasn't as bad as I thought. This layout was a lot of fun to create. It is found in the CK Scrapbook Idea Annual that just hit the shelves.

November?

You are kidding?! It can't be. I want more October. We are having the most beautiful fall colors here...the best in years. The girls played with their cousins and a neighbor in the leaves yesterday. Didn't hear a peep out of them all afternoon except the occasional "I'm thirsty" or "I'm hungry", lol.

Hoping today will be a scrappy day. I haven't created any layouts lately, and I've got piles of goodies that I want to play with. Odds and ends - velvet rick rack, some CI lime scalloped edged paper, AL Savannah bag of buttons...sounds yummy, huh?

and last but not least

I'll leave you with our family jack-o-lanterns :D Someone at 2 Peas posted a link to some Cinderella patterns. I loved them because they were small, and I chose
Lucifer, while M chose Jaq. Olivia was the rebel and wanted Wacko Jacko, lol. I wish I'd had 3 of the same candle, but I didn't so mine is not as bright. M transferred the complete pattern to her pumpkin and I did the carving for her. We were very pleased with our pumpkins! Enjoy!

I told you I would be back

and happy to share a layout I created for Scrap Supply (www.scrapsupply.com). I was thrilled to contribute to their November newsletter. Wendy and her team provide wonderful inspiration and ideas, and then there is the shopping ;) You can see all of the dt layouts plus a couple from me in the newsletter, or in the dt gallery at the site.

So many fun things

to post about today. First off, Poppy Ink posted their November kit and dt gallery. If you are interested in signing up for kits, you can preorder December NOW - or at least you could a few minutes ago. Click on the subscription buttons beside the SOLD OUT November kit. I've seen a sneak, and you WILL want December :D Heather used one of my layouts on her home page. That layout was inspired by Heather's "My Love" page in her February gallery. This month she gave each dt member an assignment to scraplift another. Check out the newsletter link for all the details! And Heather outdid herself on that Poppy Project too!
More later.

I knew it wasn't Christmas yet

Because last night we were carving pumpkins! Hope to have some photos later. In the meantime, I was inspired by Candi Gershon on the BHG Scrapbooks Etc. blog to create some special treats for Michaela's class. Or let Michaela create them. She chose the candy, stuffed the bags, stamped the tags, added the "boooooo" strip, wrote "from: Michaela" on the backside, and proudly carried them off to school this morning. The little owl stamp is from poppyink.com and makes a good solid image, even on Bazzill, but keep in mind these were done by my 6 year old ;) We thought he was so cute and happy!