http://www.photogize.com/bponet/photocentral.aspx?cl=graphx571 October 15, 2007 Hi everyone, It seems like every week is crazier and crazier. No exception this week. We found out last Wednesday that our dental office was invited to a health fare at Verizon Wireless. I kept telling everyone at the office that I have worked booths for food service before and actually know what I am doing. To everyone's surprise, I really did know what I was doing. We had the best display complete with light up signs. Now, we have to figure out how we are going to get so many new patients in the office soon. While it was nice to get out for a couple of days (one day fair turned into 2 days), it was exhausting printing and cutting out all the marketing materials, building and tearing down the display and being on my feet all day long. Whine, Whine... It did leave me with a sore throat and totally exhausted. Luckily, there is not much going on this weekend. I can rest up and get some designing done. Exciting news! I have a new Creative Team Member, Leigh. She has a wonderful blog where she has some of her very artsy latyouts. I have added her blog to the list on the left.
October 4, 2007 Hi everyone, Hope everyone had a great weekend and is ready for the new week. I had a great Sunday, other than getting up at 7:30 (too early for me on a weekend). The all day crop I went to was great fun and proceeds were donated to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Fund. As usual, we laughed a lot (one of the best reasons to crop with friends). Well, I survived my first day back to work after vacation. The boss made me just a bit angry mostly because he is clueless about computers and thinks that all you need to do to get one working is plug it in. Lots of stupid questions in a list form that makes me angry just thinking about it. SOOOOOO, I turned it upside down and didn’t speak to him unless I needed to. Don’t say anything if you can’t say something nice, right? Other than the man, everyone else was good and not too many things needed taking care of. Today, my girl left for 6th grade outdoor camp for 3 nights. She was pretty excited about going and running around in the mud. Her main complaint is that I wouldn’t let her bring her “girl” clothes to get filthy in. Up until July, she only wore boy’s clothes because she was self conscious about her body and she is a jock. I guess too many people that didn’t know her called her a boy this summer. She started middle school and didn’t want all the new kids to think she was a boy. I’m thinking that she didn’t want the new cute boys to think she was a boy, but what do I know. So, we shopped A LOT for girls things that are not super girly (no pink) and she wanted to take the new clothes camping. NOT. My husband started a new job today with the State of Maryland working on the computer networks for the state police. He was very excited and has been trying to get in there for 2 years. While he was a contractor, he spent many hours working on the police networks and made some great contacts. I am thrilled about the benefits working for the state compared to working for a 3-man company. Now, we don’t have to pay $7000 a year for medical. Yippeee… I have been busy this week hosting the TSG Blog (the link is on the left). It's been a lot of fun and I have gotten some wonderful feedback from people. All my daily ramblings on the TSG Blog this week. I am putting a new goodie in the designer sample gallery that matches my Shades of Autumn kit so go check it out. http://www.scrappinggarden.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=17218&limit=recent Also, I am having some great sales this month. You can see all my sale kits Here. http://scrappinggarden.com/store/index.php?
September 30, 2007 Hi all, We are back from our week in Ocean City. We couldn’t have better weather. It rained briefly a couple of times but otherwise was warm and sunny every day. One day, we went to the beach and I actually went in the ocean and jumped waves with Kirstin for over an hour. That is pretty major for me. I usually don’t go in the ocean unless we are in the Caribbean. One day we rode bikes on the boardwalk. This time they let us use bikes at the complex we were staying at. We went for a couple of nice evening rides and checked out the cool beach houses. We never do a whole lot on these trips but we do get to relax and I got to scrapbook. I set up a table in the living room and managed to get 47 pages done, including a gift album I needed to do. I have two big news items. First of all, I will be hosting the TSG Blog this coming week. Ahhh. It is one thing to do my own blog but to be responsible for the site. Ekkkk. Wish me luck. Check out the TSG Blog here. http://thescrappinggarden.blogspot.com/ Second big news, is that I was given a writing position with SS Reflections Digital Deck. This is a wonderful Stamping and Scrapping newsletter and website. My articles will be Photoshop tutorials and be published monthly. I am very excited about this. I’ll put the link on my site when the articles are published. I also have a new goodie in the Scrapping Garden Designer Sampler Gallery. You can check that out here. http://www.scrappinggarden.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=17000&limit=recent
9-17-07 Hi again, The crazy this week is the server at work. Luckily, it's not broke but Shon is building a new one and he is trying to get the data transfered over. I'll be trying to put it online on Wednesday. Wish me luck. My new crop Software Tips & Tricks went well. Mostly because another designer, Michelle Rodgriguez, saved my butt and answered questions too. Next month we will be hosting the crop togetheron Friday Ocotober 26 at 10:00 pm. This works great for me. I put all the tips we chatted about in the forum if you want our tips for doing text on a path. I have instructions for Photoshop and PSP9 (thanks Michelle). http://www.scrappinggarden.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=362 I have a fun new kit in the store called Seeing Stars. It is the featured kit for this weeks Fresh from the Garden Crop. It is on special until midnight September 21 for just $3.71. Hope to see you at the crop on Thursday.
September 6, 2007 Hi again, What a crazy week at work. We have so much going on with firing, hiring and illness that the days fly by from being so busy. Since, I am now home, I won't dwell on it and I'm moving on to my favorite topic, scrapping! I've had a couple of layouts printed in online magazines this month. One was in the latest issue of Ready, Set, Create and another was in the Untamed Scrapper. Now if I could only make it to a print magazine. Also, I have written another article for this month's Scrapping Garden newsletter called Getting Rid of the Negative. Here is a link for the Scrapping Garden Newsletter that is filled with goodies to download (including something from me) and my article. http://www.scrappinggarden.com/newsletter.html I have a new kit hitting the store in a couple of days called Felling Fall. It is on special for $2.00 until after my crop on September 13th at 9:00 pm est. Then, it goes up to the full price of $4.95. My Store: http://scrappinggarden.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=27 My big news is that I am getting brave in my old age and starting a new crop Software Tips & Tricks. This will be on Friday night September 14th at 10:00 pm. All the crop information can be found here: http://www.scrappinggarden.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=362
August 28, 2007 Hi all, This month has flown by. First, we went to St. Michael's and caught lots of crabs (91). The crabs were DELISH! The kids all got along great and overall it was a wonderful trip as usual. I have a couple layouts in my Scrapping Garden Gallery already. No sooner were we home then we turned around and drove to Michigan for Shon's family reunion. We started off Thursday with a hike and went mostly non-stop from there. Shon or Judy or his mom, thought about going to visit South Manitou island where his dad grew up. They still have a ferry going to the island daily in the warmer months. Friday, we had quite an adventure going to the island and taking a tour of the place his dad grew up. We got to see the farm where he lived and the one room school house where he went to school. Everyone got excited to see his dad's initials carved into the school house wall. I have done a couple of lighthouse layouts from the great photos I took of the lighthouse. It had nothing to do with my photography skills, the place is gorgeous. The family reunion was on Saturday with the highlight being Shon driving the big tractor. Oh, and we won the 50-50 raffle. Paid for the gas. yeah! I have new photos from the trip in the Michigan 2007 folder on the bottom left in the Photos that need to be scrapped link. Now, school is back in session and the kids are back on a schedule. Kirstin is now a girl, I mean, wearing girls clothes instead of boys clothes. She is in full blown teenage mode, complete with lots of girlfriends and constant chatter about everything, especially boys. Brian was lucky enough to be riding the bus with his good friend Olivia who walked him to his classroom on the first day. Of, course I was following behind him with the camera. Kirstin wouldn't let me follow her. Amazingly enough, I have actually managed some design time and made a couple of new Lil Bud mini kits, Cinnamon Teal and Victorian Garden. They are available Here in my store.
August 4, 2007 Hi all, We are packing up out stuff and getting ready to head off to St Michaels. It is always the best vacation. Relaxing and fun. The kids are getting old enough that we don't have to baby-sit them the whole day. We get to enjoy crabbing and swimming. I'm looking forward to eating some crabs. Hopefully, we will catch a bunch this year. I may even get some time to go thru my huge stack of magazines for inspiration ideas. Even though we will be gone earlier in the week, I'll be back in time for the Paper Patch crop on Thursday night. For this Layout, I used my Summer Scrapz quickpage that comes with the paper pack. Join me Thursday August 9th at 9:00 pm for the Paper Patch crop. This week I am featuring my newest kit Summer Scrapz. The bright summery colors and fun shapes work great with pool or beach photos. You can buy the 16 papers and 1 Stickit right now for just $2.00. Once you complete a layout, post it in the Paper Patch Gallery, I will send you all the kit elements for free. Link to the kit: http://scrappinggarden.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=84_86&products_id=1300
July 31, 2007 Hi all, Another busy week of work. Since we survived Kirstin's party, we sort of relaxed a bit in the evenings. Friday was busy but fun day. We started off by seeing a 10:30 showing of the Simpson's. My husband and I laughed a lot, but a lot of the humor was over the kids heads, especially my 6 year old. Then, I went home and packed up for my evening crop at Recollections. As usual, it was great to crop for hours on end with no interuptions from crying children. I got 13 12 x 12 pages done and a 20 page mini album. Quite productive even though I spent most of the evening chatting with friends. Next week, we will be in St. Michael's for a few relaxing days so I have been busy getting my kit ready for my crop on Thursday August 9th. Also, scroll down to see my latest sampler that is ready for downloading at the Scrapping Garden. Here are a couple of Previews for my latest kit Dorm Room Available Here: http://scrappinggarden.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1277
Dorm Room $4.95 Inspiration is everywhere. This years Dorm Room colors are lots of blues and greens. I combined stripes and funky flowers to create these fun teenage inspired papers and elements. I've included a full Alpha including numbers, lots of flowers and some torn mats. All pages are 12 x12 at 300 DPI, contact sheet included. Special Thanks to Atomic Cupcake, Stacy Carlson, Bannerwoman Designs Kit Includes: 14 Patterened papers 2 Torn Mats 1 Torn Tag 3 Twill Ribbons 1 Three Photo Cardboard Frame 2 Chipboard Tabs 7 Various Flowers 3 Metal Clips 36 Numbers and Alpha Characters
Here is a little samples of my photographs that I turned into papers. There are 3 papers and 1 Sea urchant. If you like these samples, you may also like my Sand and Sea kit available in the store. I have many shells and even a lacy coral element. Link to Scrapping Garden to Download the Sampler. http://www.scrappinggarden.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=14998&limit=recent
July 22, 2007 Ok, It's been a month since I updated this. It has been such a busy month. We went to Ocean City for a few days with another family over the Fourth of July. We spent 3 days on the beach with the kids playing in the surf. Kirstin was born to play in the waves. One day, she was in the water for 4 hours striaght just wave jumping. Daddy was nice enough to surprise Kirstin with a new boogie board and it sure got a work out. I have some of my favorite beach shots in my photos to scrap galley in the Beach section. I was lucky that it was a bit cloudy each day so I didn't have to worry about sun glare on my photos. Once again, we went to the Winfield Carnival and Parade. The weather was great this year. Not too hot. Kirstin decided to ride on the parade float with the church. When the float passed Grandma's house, they pelted us with candy. This was the first year that Kirstin, Kathleen and Olivia, wandered around the carnival by themselves. I can't believe that they are old enough to be by themselves. Of course, they were fine and had a great time without us parents. Last Week was filled with vacation bible school. Every night, Shon took the kids up to church. Kirstin was happy that she recieved 12.5 community service hours. So far this summer she has 14 hours and she found out she can volunteer at Brian's daycare. She will get 3 hours a day for that. If she works 300 hours by the time she is a senior in High School, she can get a special award. I think her goal is to get 300 by the time she finishes Middle School. This weekend was Kirstin's birthday party. She turned 11 and invited her football team to the party along with some other friends. I'll have to work on some layouts of the festivities. At first, everyone thought 5 hours was a long party but the kids didn't want to leave. Some of the adults entertained themselves with horseshoes while others bounced on the trampoline. Kirstin got some great gifts and needs to work on thank you notes this week. Here are a couple of Previews for my latest kits, Boys Like Dirt and A Horse, of Course.
Boys Like Dirt $4.95 When I think about my son, I think about him making a mess. His style created my need for grungy papers to reflect his knack for mess making. The variety of neutral patterns will work great with boy photos, nature photos and even heritage photos. There is a lot of chipboard elements to give your layouts dimension and a bit of funk. Contact sheet of all the elements included and all elements created at 300 dpi with no additional drop shadows. Special Thanks to Atomic Cupcake, Harold Fonts & Larabie fonts Kit Includes: 12 Grunged up papers 1 SticKit 6 Odd Shaped Frames 2 Long Wave Chipboard Shapes 2 Chipboard Coasters 4 Metal Brads 2 Stitched Torn Edge Borders 1 Circle Chipboard Border 1 Layered Title Mat 3 Chipboard Word Art 1 Circle Chipboard overlay
A Horse, Of Course $2.95 I love to photograph horses. There is such a beauty and grace in these creatures. I've turned my photos into some grungy background papers so you can highlight your fun horse photos. There are three different horses, 2 fences and 3 horseshoes to embellish your layouts with. All pages are 12 x12 at 300 DPI, contact sheet included. Special Thanks to Atomic Cupcake Kit Includes: 12 Patterened papers 3 Cut out Horses 3 Metal Horseshoes 2 Fences
June 18, 2007 Hi again, Well, it's offical. I am getting old and sentimental. My girl graduated from 5th grade on Wednesday night and I got teary eyed. Even though there was a downpour outside, there was no mistaking my wet eyes with rain drops. It started when the whole class sang the Star Spangeled Banner. That song has choked me up since my dad died. They sounded amazing. Then, she got her diploma, more tears. They finished off by sininging You Lift Me Up. Normally, I don't really like that song, but their sweet voices AND they were doing sign language. It looked so pretty and I just bawlled. The moment just hit me. I will be a mess when she graduates from High School. Brian ended up missing his last 2 days of school. He had the croup. I was sort of glad. He just seemed done with Kindergarden. I hope next year he connects better with his teacher. At least, he has the summer now at TLC with Miss Kathy, who has been his teacher there for 2 years. I managed to finally make a Basketball kit this week. My girl has been bugging me for a while. I just made a paper kit since I was mentally challenged to come up with elements. Slam Dunk is on sale now for $2.50 until the end of June.