A LONG day

So today I had to take my car in to have my brakes worked on. It is a long story, but we knew this last Friday and the service department was having to get with other dealers to get the needed parts so that they could complete the repairs this morning. They had originally told me that it would be ready around 9:30am. BUT when I arrived at 8:45 I found out that they were still waiting for one of the parts to arrive. Long story short, I didn't get out of there until 1:45!!! The only two good things were that my husband was home today so he was able to keep Cooper with him AND that I thought to take my laptop with me, so I was able to scrap until my battery ran out.

Here are the two LO's I did sitting in the waiting area at the car dealership today, LOL.

(credits: Kim Crother's Primary kit)


(Christmas Dots kit by Stacey Stehley, My own reindeer doodle)

My Nana

My grandmother passed away in 2002, but this is the first time I have been able to do a LO in her memory. I really miss her! :O(

My July99 board had a color challenge this week and I got inspired to design a little kit and used the kit to make this two-page LO.

Journaling reads: Nana was such a little fireball and never allowed herself to rest. She spent her whole life taking care of everyone else. She worried about everything and everyone and their problems became hers. She would literally offer you the clothes on her back or the food on her plate if she thought you needed or just wanted them.

I will always remember her little "love-pats", her love of a beautiful camilia bloom, her fried chicken at Sunday dinner, and most of all, her face in the window as we drove away. She would stand in the window with a huge smile on her face and her little hand fluttering a goodbye wave. When I think of her now I overwhlemingly see her standing in that window, waving at me. I truly believe that one day we will walk through Heaven's gates and see a house with a window and Nana will be standing in that window waving, waiting for us to "come on in".

Which scrapbook magazine am I? (a quiz)

I was one of only 9% of quiz-takers to get this result:


You are Memory Makers. You were scrapbooking when
it all began, and you like to stick with
variations of the basics. You love punches and
punch art because it is decorative without
taking away from your pictures, which are your
primary focus. You believe in the basics and
are careful not to get carried away with the
trendy and new. Your photos are preserved and
save in classic-looking layouts that are never
over-decorated. Your scrapbooks are mostly
chronological, and focus on major events in
your family members' lives.


Which Scrapbook Magazine Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Working on my journaling...

I have never been good at journaling. I want to be, but I struggle. A lot of my LO's are just titles, but I have made it a goal this year to do better and so far I am pretty pleased with myself.

I finished this LO yesterday and I was so happy with the way the journaling just naturally seemed to "fit" the LO. Maybe I'll get the hang of this journaling thing yet, LOL.


Journaling reads: One by one you watched your friends lose their first tooth and every time you would ask us to check to see if your teeth were loose. Every time we said, “Not yet, but you’ll get a loose tooth soon.” After a while it seemed like everyone had lost at least one tooth except you. Some of your friends had lost two, three or even more. You were getting very discouraged.

Then one day you told me, as you had so many times before that you thought your tooth was loose. I expected to give the same answer, but to my surprise, when I tried to wiggle your tooth it actually moved a little! Neither of us could believe it and you couldn’t wait to tell Daddy and call your friends and family to tell them the exciting news.

Every day you wiggled and wiggled that tooth until it was barely hanging on. With a little help from Daddy, FINALLY, on DECEMBER 7, 2005 you lost your very first tooth...the same tooth that almost six years earlier was the first to come in. It was very bittersweet.

(Credits: Fernlili's Dirty Boy papers and ribbons, buckle by me; Fonts: Bernard MT Condensed, CK Tailor Sloppy, Brady Bunch, Artistamp, Sketchy)

Another oldie

I am still trying to get some old photos scrapped and this was one photo that almost begged to be scrapped, LOL. I will never forget walking into the dining room and seeing this face staring back at me. We were both laughing so hard at the end.



Journaling reads: You were sitting at the table having a snack when I looked up and saw you wearing your Mr. Potatohead glasses. It was one of the funniest things I had ever seen! By the time I could get my camera, you were laughing so hard and that big grin just made it that much funnier.

(Credits: Midsummer Swelter kit by Rina, Bows by Carrie Stephens, Alpha by Cashew Style (recolored))

Noah is just so adorable, I swear!

I just LOVE these photos of Noah from Christmas morning. Yes, they are funny...yes, he looks like he has lost it, LOL...but nothing in life is worth more than seeing that much excitement on your child's face. I have never seen that level of energy come out of a person before and it was priceless. Combined with the fact that it was Cooper's first awareness of Christmas, it was honestly the best Christmas yet.



(credits:Digichick's 'Tis the Season De-zine freebie, large background by me, green ribbon by Terry Himes; Font: Garton)

My first 2 page digital LO

Even as a paper scrapper I was never big on 2 page LO's, but sometimes it just seemed to be a better option. Since I started digi-scrapping, I had yet to do a 2 pager, but today that has changed.

I was going through old photos again (maybe one day, many, many years from now, I will actually be caught up on Noah's first three years) and found these photos from our trip to the zoo in 2001. Somewhere in the middle of the LO I decided to try adding a second page and I am pretty pleased with how it turned out. One point for me for trying something new. :)

(credits: Kim Crothers' Renew kit, flowers by PiNG designs (recolored), tabs and staples by me; font: tall paul)

Dare to Muse Me

I have finished my first challenge from Holly McCaig's exciting new Dare to Muse Me Challenge and I am so excited. OF COURSE, I'm behind, LOL, but I did it!!! YAY me!

The first challenge was to create a LO of the soundtrack of your life. I really had to think about this one, but I am very happy with my song choices. Here's my LO:


(Credits: Gina Miller's September Spice kit, fonts: Edda, Susie's Hand)

This week's challenge is to create a LO stating "Women are_______" This will take much more thought on my part. Hmmmmm.... Honestly...I am finding that the thing I hate the MOST about doing self-oriented LO's is the fact that unless I want every LO to use the same two or three photos, I actually have to get in FRONT of the camera once in a while, LOL.

BTW, Holly's grandpa is very ill (see her blog) so keep him in your thoughts and prayers. I know too well the worry of having a beloved grandparent so very sick and it is just terrible. :O(

120+!!!

Went to Gina Miller's chat at SBB last night and I couldn't believe my eyes when the number of members in the room hit 120! It was like a madhouse. Posts were just flying off the page...it was maddening to try to keep up, and yet it was a blast. Gina gave out a beautiful (as always) freebie and I used the freebie to do a scraplift.

Have you seen Susan's Digital Scrapblifting Fun blog??? It is so cool. She picks out a great LO and then you can send in (no time deadline)your lift and she will post it with the original. This LO by Sheri R at 2peas was the first LO there that I have lifted. Here is my scraplift using Gina's wonderful freebie from last night:

Journaling reads: All you need to make everything perfect is your paci and your "baby".
(credits:Gina Miller's Short Stack freebie, "simple" is from Lyndsay Riches' Sheer Alpha; Font-Susie's Hand)

Check out Susan's blog for inspiration!

Our Crazy Christmas Photo Shoot

I just had to make a LO using some of the terrible photos that we got trying to get just one good shot for our Christmas cards this year. Here's the LO I finished today:


Journaling reads:
I never dreamed it could be so hard to get two boys to smile at the same time for Christmas card photos.

We got the boys dressed in matching Christmas-y turtlenecks and sat them down in front of the tree for a “quick” photo shoot. It quickly became apparent that this was going to take longer than we expected. No smiles...fingers in mouths...dad’s hand in shot (with bribery drink)...too blurry...too silly...Cooper climbing out of the shot...the list went on and on. After about 15 minutes, Noah was tired of smiling and Cooper was tired of being forced to sit so I shuffled through the FIFTY-NINE shots I had taken, praying that there would be ONE decent shot that we could use on our Christmas cards.

Out of all that craziness there was actually one ADORABLE shot! From that shot came our 2005 Christmas cards...

(credits: Bkgd paper-Shabby Princess; Red Ribbon-Stacey Stehley; gingham ribbon-Anita Stergiou; "C"-Valerie Fowler; "R"-Michelle Pearson; "A"-Eyelet alpha from Cashew Style; "Z"-Canay's stencil alpha; "Y"-Gina Miller---credits for the Christmas card are listed in December archive)

Hopping on for just a minute...

to share one LO I did today. I felt like I have done so many LO's of Noah lately and none of Cooper, so when I ran across this cute photo of him today, I decided to get to scrappin'.


(background paper by Camille Diaz, dog tag and chain by Laurie Farrar, camouflage paper (recolored) by Holly McCaig)

My goal

this year, (and honestly, knowing myself with "resolutions", I don't think I'll do to well with follow through) is to start a scrapbook about me. I LOVE scrapping my kids and stuff, but I have always admired LO's that people do about non-kid related stuff. Holly McCaig is starting a new Dare to MUSE Me weekly challenge and maybe that's what I'll do. Maybe I can manage one LO a week on non-kiddie stuff. I encourage you to check it out.

Well, Dwight is going back to work today after being off since Christmas Eve. I have so many friends who would be so glad to finally get their husbands out of their hair after that long, but I have really been blessed in the husband department. I am so sad to not have him here every day, but I guess it would be nice to continue paying the bills each month, huh? Oh well...only 30 more years until retirement.

While I still haven't done our Christmas LO's, I was able to finish this LO from NY's eve:

(Be Merry kit [recolored] by Tracy Collins, fireworks doodles created on my new wacom tablet)