I've been tagged!

Nadya tagged me (thanks, Nadya!) and so I'll play along!

The Rules:
1. Link to the person who tagged you - Nadya
2. Post the rules on your blog (this is what you are now reading).
3. List 6 random things about yourself.
4. Tag 6 people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know they have been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.

Random things about me:
1. I am wearing a purple t shirt right now
2. I have one brother and one sister
3. I grew up just outside Buffalo, NY (Go BILLS!)
4. I'd rather be cold than hot
5. I love to read
6. One of my goals within the next year is to take a photography class

I am tagging Colleen, Melissa, Jessica, Karen, Candace (hoping she will actually post to her blog! LOL), and Rene.

Now I have to remember to tell them I tagged them!

Finished my mini album!

I mentioned a few days ago that I was still working on my first week's mini album from The Big Picture Scrapbooking's Product Playground 2: The Albums class. I finally finished! The album has 46 pages, so I won't subject you to all of them - lol - but here is a sample.

Last year, our wedding photographer called us and asked us if we wanted all our wedding proofs - apparently he was cleaning out his files and 9 years was long enough for him to keep them. Even though we have a traditional professional wedding album and I did some layouts in our family album, I have been wanting to take a bunch of the proofs and put them into a little album - so that is my topic!

Almost everything (papers, chipboard, die cuts, most rub ons) are from Crate paper's Blue Hill collection. I also used some Bazzill cardstock with an edge, a bunch of miscellaneous ribbons and rub ons, and I created the clear pages from regular ink jet transparencies, and embellished those with MORE rub ons. I love the way we were encouraged to use papers of different shapes and sizes.

Enjoy!

Superstar Dad

Alexa has been a bit...well, challenging...lately. I love the way this photo captures Adam smiling even when she has attitude. I did this layout for today's challenge at Sisterhood of Scrap.

Credits:

Doodles by Amanda McGee

Canvas photo mask by Amanda Sok

Worn threads brush set (used to create denim look background paper) by Brandie Valenzuela

Doodles, doodles - everywhere!

I did this layout for this week's Color Challenge at The Digi Chick (black, white and yellow). Credits:
Papers from the "Night and Day" kit by Beth Rimmer
Canvas photo mask by Amanda Sok
Doodle pad paper and elements by Amanda McGee
Pen/ink quote and mat by Cherise Oleson
"Worn threads" and "grungelle" brush sets by Brandie Valenzuela
Paper tearing action by Melissa Renfro

Fall is my favorite season

Today's challenge at Feeling Scrappy is to scrap your favorite thing about fall. Here is mine!

**Disclaimer - I am in a creative frenzy but I'm not able to take photos today, so I pulled a couple photos off the web.

Credits: The majority of papers and elements are from Keri Schueller's Falling collection - isn't it gorgeous?? The notepaper is from Valerie Randall's Journaling 2 Biggie collection. I also used a paper tearing action by Melissa Renfro.

I am in love!!

Cheryl from the DigiChick posted a super cool photo technique called "Sassy Sepia" on the DigiChick blog this week and I just had to try it!!!
Credits:

Swirl and tag elements from the Vintage Fall kit by Mari Koegelenberg
Papers and other elements from the Moments Like These kit by Kelley Mickus
Atomic Cupcake felt and crumpled actions
Stitching and holes by Mandy Steward, including layer styles

Woo hoo! A paper layout!

This year, I switched to scrapbooking "Big Picture style" and a lot of the layouts I would have put in my Book of Me are now going behind the "Tracy" tab in our "Who We Are" album. However, I am wrapping up my BOM and still put the occasional layout in it, and I will continue to do so until the album is full (another 6 or 7 layouts). My BOM is strictly paper (no digital!) so this layout had to be traditional! I just love this paper by My Mind's Eye.

The journaling is from an old blog challenge (I think by Stacey) and was originally posted on my now-defunct first blog.

Feeding my mini-album addiction

I'm taking the Product Playground 2 Mini Album class at Big Picture Scrapbooking and I love it so far! It's structured to use the supplies you have to make lots of mini albums. This week's theme was "the softer side." This was a really challenging book for me for a lot of reasons:

• The album is small and awkward - not much room for anything other than photos
• My photos span 10 years and the earlier ones are not digital - and not terribly high quality (in composition and print quality)
• I am doing most of my scrapping digitally these days and have very little in the way of "soft" supplies

Although I didn't have any felt or fabric to use, I did stick to the guidelines around patterned paper (number of patterns and manufacturers) and I also punched the corners of my photos and used other punches in a couple places. I tried to use plenty of "soft" ribbon!
I'm still working on my album from the first week (On the Edge) because it has many more pages than this one!

More Aruba...

I did this layout for today's sketch challenge at the Digi Chick. I just love the way these photos turned out - I wish you could see them enlarged because the raindrop detail is spectacular (if I do say so myself...lol).

Credits:

Sketch by Juli Fish

Ribbon template by Brandy Murry

Tag template by Amanda McGee

Pressed Tin action by Atomic Cupcake

Paper textures by Ariadna Wiczling

Grosgrain layer style by Mandy Steward

Paper templates by: Amanda McGee (Creative Expression collection)

Diane Miller (Bitsy collection)

Keri Schueller (Expressive Pages collection)

Is a squiggle really a shape?

I found this quiz on Lee's blog. Here is my result (I know, I know - too close for comfort!!):

You are a Squiggle
Squiggles are creative, witty, and impulsive. Squiggles are eccentric. Squiggles dont do well in a routine. The squiggle is the only pure right-brained thinker. Brain research states that only 12-15% of people are right brained thinkers, so fewer people are true squiggles than what is claimed. Squiggles get bored easily. The need challenges and freedom. Squiggles love to meet challenges because they enjoy peak experiences. Squiggles are random holistic. They not like to bother with details. Squiggles are the ones who ask why. They need to know the reason for things. They are a strong shape along with the triangle. Lots of squares are want to be squiggles. At work, you can recognize the squiggle as the person with the messy office. The squiggle lives in the future. A pure squiggle is as spontaneous as they are fickle. Squiggles are bright and having big ideas and big dreams to match. The squiggles motto is "To dream the impossible dream." Squiggles dont sweat things. Squiggles are the most likely shape to be in a supermarket at midnight. Squiggles are great to have as friends because they are so interesting. However dont count on a squiggle. Squiggles are dramatic, flamboyant, and the most likely to think of themselves as sexy! Meryl Streep and Mikhail Baryshnikov are squiggles.

A little Halloween freebie

I did this little kit for the October 2008 member add-on challenge at RAK Scraps. I'm very happy with the way the papers turned out and I think the acrylic embellishments could be used on any Halloween layout! All credits are in the TOU file included in the download. You can download the file here: CLICKY

Please leave a comment if you like it!

Also, please email me or leave a comment if you want any of the previously posted freebies - I've taken them down from 4shared.

Here Lizard Lizard Lizard....

Remember that Taco Bell commercial where the Chihuahua chases Godzilla saying, "Here, lizard lizard, lizard?" It's always struck me as hysterical. So when Alexa became obsessed with finding lizards on our trip to Aruba, it seemed to be the perfect title!

Credit for the background paper to Valerie Randall; layout completed for the October ad challenge at RAK Scraps.

Splish Splash!

This layout is based on a sneak preview sketch from Feeling Scrappy's Sketchapalooza 2 starting later this month. The sketch is by Amy Bell, and other credits to Peppermint Creative for their Miss Mint Tropical Popsicle kit (papers and embellishments) and Melissa Renfro for her paper tearing action and lifted photo templates.

Hello from Aruba!

I'll be back next week with some layouts....but for now, I thought I would let you know why I'm not scrapping this week!

Feeling Scrappy Changes!!

Wooo HOOOOO! I have mentioned Feeling Scrappy a bunch of times in my posts as a great source of inspiration. They have a new site, with a new look and new format focusing on the classes and challenges I love! You can visit the new site here:

An old Friday Feast!

I'm kind of bummed because it looks like Friday Feast is no longer being updated. So I picked an old one!

Appetizer
If you could live on another continent for 1 year, which one would you choose?
Africa. There is so much to see there that it could easily take a year!

Soup
Which browser do you use to surf the Internet? Firefox

Salad
On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being highest), how much do you know about the history of your country? I'm ashamed to say 6. Maybe 7. I am one of those future-focused people and the past really holds no interest for me.

Main Course
Finish this sentence: Love is…a dog's devotion.

Dessert
Have you ever been in or near a tornado? Nope!