Fairy Tale Princess freebie - Part 2

Here is the patterned paper pack to go with this kit - I had a lot of fun creating it! Hope you enjoy. You can download it here:

Paper pack 2 clicky

Fairy Tale Princess freebie - Part 1

Well, we made it back from Disney and we had a great time. We had lunch with the princesses and Alexa was completely star struck - it was really cute and funny! We spent Sunday at the Animal Kingdom and Monday at Epcot - Epcot was almost empty and we hardly waited at all for anything - rides or character visits!

Here's Part 1 of my Fairy Tale Princess Kit, which contains both solid and distressed solid papers in colors lifted from various princesses we saw. These should work great with your Orlando photos (wink!) or just general girly princess photos. Part 2 will be some patterned and multicolored papers, and Part 3 will be all kinds of fun and sparkly embellishments.

You can get the paper kit in 2 separate downloads - WARNING! The second download file is VERY large.

Paper pack 1a clicky

Paper pack 1b clicky

Here's a little preview:

I'm working on a Princess kit!

I should have a princess themed kit posted some time in the next week or so, so keep checking back! Other miscellaneous chatter:
1. We got the go-ahead from our adoption doc to continue with our referral. YAY!!
2. What main character do you think is going to die on Lost tonight? I'm banking on Sawyer but it's not a popular choice. Most people on the message board I frequent seem to think it's Sun or Jin.

Here's a paper layout I did recently with Basic Grey Two Scoops and some pens. It resulted from a challenge to scrap an imperfect photo. I love the way the layout turned out, although the photo of the layout itself leaves a lot to be desired!

Our adoption referral

This is a decidedly non-scrapbooking related post, but I wanted to share that we received our adoption referral from Russia today! It's a boy, born in June of 2007. I can't share any more information publicly because of the confidentiality of the process until it's "official." We should be traveling to meet him in late April/very early May and we hope to be home in late June or early July. Alexa is very excited about her baby brother, and he already comes with an "A" name that we will likely keep.

He is still listed on the Russia databank through the end of April and could be adopted by a Russian family until then, so although we are very excited, we are not going crazy. We are also sending all his medical info and photos off to an international adoption physician for evaluation, so if something unexpected comes back from that we could end up declining the referral. But, if that happens we will know within the next week or so.

It's hard NOT to be too excited!

A couple more digital layouts....

Did I mention that I'm really into white space?? Here are a couple more white space layouts - credits below each:


Credits:
Sketch by Stacey at feelingscrappy.com
Christine Smith for basically everything - from a customer appreciation freebie
Distressed action by Atomic Cupcake

The next layout was inspired by a prompt in Scrapbook Play (by Simple Scrapbooks) - scrap an inanimate object....


Credits: Paper and flower elements by Ronna Penner

A fun interview layout

I am really enjoying my copy of Scrapbook Play, by Simple Scrapbooks. I took some of the suggested interview questions for kids and did this interview/layout of Alexa today. There was definitely a recency factor in her responses, but it was really fun nonetheless! I am really getting into the whole "white space" (or in this case, green space) thing, so look for more of that in upcoming layouts.

Hope you like...credits below the photo.



Credits:
Jennifer Howland for background paper (www.thedigichick.com)
Daniela Peuss for the "take time" word art
Christine Smith for the ribbon wrap template (www.design.christinesmith.net)
Mindy Wade for the notepaper (www.scrapchicstudio.com)
Actions:
Embed from scrapgirls.com
Torn cardboard and distressed from atomiccupcake.com

Keep that Paper Rolling....

Here's another layout I did yesterday - this one is paper, too! I rarely get to use blue as a primary color in my layouts (despite the ALL blue digital layout a couple posts back) because we are girly girls! And I don't do as many layouts of Adam as I should. So, when Alexa ate some blue candy and ended up with a blue tongue, I was excited I could use a lot of blue on this layout! Someone said that is the true mark of a scrapbooking addict - someone who sees life through layout potential eyes.

All paper from Daisy D's Modern Romance collection and flowers are Prima and CTMH.

12 photos on the 12th

On one of my favorite scrapbooking sites (Scrapshare), one of my favorite scrappers is hosting a "12 photos on the 12th" challenge for each month in the year (I missed January). The thought behind it is to capture what your life is really like at least one day a month. What a brilliant idea! I am going to do a layout of this eventually for my Book of Me, but in the meantime I'm blogging it to share. Because it was a work/week day, I was just focused on getting it done, so none of the photos are masterpieces!

Photo 1: Unfortunately, my life is defined by the clock, which I HATE because I do not function well with schedules. In any case, these photos show four key times - when I woke up (7:10), when I finally stopped wasting time dilly dallying and left for work (8:22), when I finally got to work after getting stopped a few times by people while I was on the way to my office (8:55 - but notice that I had already been on a conference call for almost half an hour while driving!), and what time I went to sleep (11:37). That's late for me, but on Tuesday nights Adam and I watch a couple shows (more about that later) and we had to catch up with the second via TiVo because they ran at the same time, for two hours each.

Photo 2: The primary reason it takes me forever to get out the door - messing around on my computer while drinking coffee.

Photo 3: Alexa had climbed into bed with us at about 5am, so in this photo I'm waking her up (in MY bed) to get her ready for preschool - the second biggest reason it takes me so long to get out the door in the morning!

Photo 4: Here is my office, where I spend way too much time! At least I have a window. This is just a little corner of my desk.


Photo 5: My schedule for the day. 'Nuff said about work.

Photo 6: I'm home! This is the front entrance to my house. I got home at about 10 'til 6. Alexa opened the door for me and the dogs were jumping all over me to say hello, as usual!

Photo 7: Right before I walked in the door I took a photo of the sky - it was dreary and raining today, very unusual for February (where it's usually sunny this time of year).

Photo 8: I'm trying the low carb thing so dinner was a zucchini frittatta thingy and some sour cream. I had an Atkins bar for breakfast and some quiche and rolled up turkey for lunch.

Photo 9: Alexa was telling me about her preschool day while we were at dinner. In this photo, she is showing me what one of her friends taught her with her hands.

Photo 10: After dinner, Alexa and I went into the playroom/scraproom, and I worked on a layout as she played with her Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Dora playhouse.

Photo 11: Alexa snuggling on the couch as we get ready to sit down and watch some REALITY TV! At this point I feel compelled to mention that Alexa has been choosing her own sleeping attire and has decided to sleep in her regular clothes the last couple days. It's a battle we're not willing to fight.


Photo 12: What to choose??????? The Biggest Loser or American Idol? We are reality TV junkies, and Tuesdays are rough :). Right now, on Mondays we watch PrisonBreak, on Tuesdays The Biggest Loser, American Idol and House (me, not Adam) when it's on, there's usually a second installment of American Idol on Wednesdays, and Survivor on Thursdays, and I also watch Lost and Supernatural on Thursdays!

Well, that's it! Hope you enjoy this little snippet of my life!

I miss my music!

I did this layout for my Book of Me today, and it is one of those layouts that evolved into something that I really love. Not so much the layout, but the idea. I started by thinking about things that Alexa (my daughter) and I have in common, and one of them is a love of music. I was very involved with music growing up, and singing in particular is something I really miss. But the thing is - I didn't realize how much I missed it until I was working on this layout! I hope to find my way back to song, very soon. Journaling text is below the photo. I pretty much used just CTMH paper (Sonata pack) and a few brads! Sorry for the poor layout photo.


Journaling text:
It makes me so happy to see Alexa enjoying music so much. When I was growing up, I was very involved with music—I took clarinet, flute and piccolo and sang in our audition-only choir in high school. I also sang in the Orchard Park Chorale, another audition only group. I played flute for a little while in college but quickly got distracted by other things, and I never picked it back up. It’s something I really enjoyed and it makes me sad that something that was once such a big part of my life just isn’t anymore. I always enjoyed singing hymns at church, but since we don’t go—I don’t even get to sing there!

I would like to encourage Alexa to continue to pursue music and hope to start her on organ lessons (we have one from Adam’s grandparents) as soon as she is old enough. And, I just might dust off that old flute (the clarinet is long gone) and try it out again. What I would really like to do is to find a way to start singing again, sometime very soon.

Back to some paper!!

I have spent some time over the last few days with my paper and "real" embellishments. In some ways, I miss it, but it is SO frustrating when I can't find exactly the right shade of paper, or when I have the perfect embellishment but it's the wrong size. AAAAHHHHHHH!!! I did manage to do a DPS layout for my Book of Me, and another DPS layout for our family album and as my entry for a Scrapshare sketch challenge. I have 3 more paper layouts sketched out in my head and hopefully I'll get to those this week.

I had a lot of fun altering this Frappuccino four pack for my daughter's preschool teacher for Valentine's Day.

And, because I just can't stop with the digital...

Credits: Papers, bookplate, overlay, rub on and brads by Kristy Valshan; Atomic Cupcake flowers and inking action, Snowraven mesh, sketch found on digitalscrapbookplace.com

Springtime Elements Freebie

Here are the companion elements to the paper collection I posted earlier. I am really happy with the way this kit turned out! Hope you enjoy it and can use it for your Easter and spring layouts.

Download the alpha and elements here: ELEMENTS CLICKY

A Springtime Freebie

Hope you enjoy this little paper kit. I am working on some elements and should post them in the next few days.

Download the paper kit here: Springtime Paper Clicky

Another CASE

I am the shameless queen of scraplifting. This layout is based on one found in Creating Keepsakes magazine (February 2008, page 35). I also used a number of Christine Smith and Atomic Cupcake actions to complete it.

After this layout, I have one more digital layout to do and then I am going back to my paper for a little while as I work on my Book of Me. But don't worry, I am going to keep designing kits and should have another posted this weekend!

A shameless layout CASE

I saw a layout today created by Elaine and it made me go "wow!" So, in true scrapbooker fashion, I CASE-d it! Papers and embellishments are from Atomic Cupcake's Emma collection (green paper recolored), along with crumpled, curled and scalloped actions. The ribbon template and ribbon folding action are by Christine Smith.

How about those Giants??

Holy cow. I can't believe the Giants won the Superbowl. I didn't have a vested interest in either team, although we did live in Patriots territory for quite a while, and my friend Jenn's uncle is a Giants coach. I peripherally watched the game while doing some digital layouts on my laptop. Here's one I particularly love - although the shading on the flowers isn't quite right.

Credits go pretty much exclusively to Atomic Cupcake for the actions, alpha, papers and embellishments.

Thanks to Anne, I fixed a typo in the journaling!

Italian Countryside Digital Elements Freebie

Ok, I need to spend some time with my family. But I am truly obsessed and having a blast! Here's the element kit to go with the papers I posted earlier today. The applied effects changed the depth of color on some of the elements, but the tone should be the same and they should all work together. Enjoy!

Download the kit here: Element clicky

Italian Countryside Digital Paper Freebie

After the crazy bright yellows in my last kit, I had a great time with the subdued colors in this paper kit. I am working on elements now and should have them posted soon!

Get the kit here: Paper Clicky

A non scrapbooking post (about fish)

I have MTS. On the tropical fish forum I visit, that stands for Multi Tank Syndrome. It's the uncontrollable urge to set up more and more tanks and get more and more fish. Right now, our main tank is a 55 gallon that has zebra danios, neon tetras, corydoras catfish, a few guppies and two bala sharks. The danios are so much fun to watch - they play chase and tag all the time, and the corys to me look and act like little puppies. We also have some baby guppies (guppy fry) growing out in a 5 gallon. We're going to let nature take its course from now on or we are going to end up with hundreds of guppies!

We really, really want to set up another tank. A big one. We would leave the existing tank as a tetra/cory/guppy tank and add either another school of a different tetra species or a school of rainbow fish. The danios and balas would move to a new tank and we'd add a couple schools of barbs. I'd also like to add a couple gouramis and/or dwarf rams to one of the tanks.

This can rapidly become an expensive hobby. Almost as expensive as scrapbooking!!!!

Digital Freebie - Old Fashioned Beach Bum kit

Woo hoo! I figured out how to post a photo of my kit along with the three links to download it. I called it "Old Fashioned Beach Bum" because it's very beachy and the elements (distressed chipboard and chipped painted metal) are all aged. So maybe it's not the best name, but I like it! I was going for two very different looks anchored (no pun intended) by the blues - the first is softer and is blues/tans, while the other is bright and fun with yellows/blues.

Download the papers here: Paper clicky

Download the alphas here: Alphas clicky

Download the elements here: Elements clicky

Download the add on kit here: Add on clicky

I definitely need to get better at kit preview design. A lot of credit in this kit goes to Atomic Cupcake for their terrific PSE actions!

I have entered the digital age!

I identify myself as a scrapbooker. But until a couple months ago, I was all about the paper, the flowers (mmmm....Primas), the brads and eyelets (love my Crop-o-Dile) - in general the touchy feely creative aspects of scrapbooking. I told myself over and over that I didn't want or need to try digital.

Um, yeah. That's pretty much over. I have entered the digital age with a bang. I went from manipulating photos to using existing elements and papers designed by others in the space of less than two months. And today, I designed my first kit!!!! Crazy.

Things I love about scrapping digitally:
1. I love being able to scrap any time, any where on my laptop
2. I love not having to even think about how to crop or size my photos until I'm actually working on the layout (no more print agonization)
3. I love not worrying AT ALL about the size or colors of the paper or embellishments until I'm working on the layout.
4. I love that except for my laptop, mouse, Wacom and external drive, there is no clutter or mess. Not to mention how easy it is to take my "supplies" to crops or retreats.
5. I love that I DON'T SPEND MONEY on foolish things that I might use 5 years from now (or not). The number of Flat Rate Priority Mail boxes I have filled with RAKS of stuff I just won't use is ridiculous.

I am going to upload a preview and links to the digital kit I created as soon as I figure out how. I welcome any feedback - the more honest and constructive the better!