I really love Halloween (and fall)

This time of year makes me so happy, especially now that we're back in the northeast and the leaves are turning. Here are a few projects I've done recently to celebrate! As always, credits under each.
Credits: Spookville by Mari Koegelenberg

Credits: Spooky by Elise Hansen

Credits: Frolic Thru Fall by Creations by Rachael

Creative Explosion!

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm so behind on layout and project sharing! I've been creatively busy - too busy to write about it. There's something about fall that makes me feel homey - I like to cook and bake and decorate even more than at other times of year, so that's keeping me busy, too. But here's a taste of what I've been up to.

1. Photoless layouts. Sometimes I want to tell a story or say something but just don't have a photo to go with it...and I find these layouts to be a ton of fun, mostly because I don't have to remember to keep the design of the layout focused on a photo. Here are two I've done recently:

Credits: Transformers v9 and Road 2 Nowhere by Lauren Reid

Credits: Sign of the Times Collection: Zodiac Bundle by ViVa Artistry

2. "Event" layouts. Here are a couple of our recent afternoon trip to Paulus Farm.

Credits: Wild Oats by Chelle's Creations and Sarah Bennett

Credits: Terra Cotta by Elise's Pieces (also the kit I used to design my blog)

And here's one I did as part of a challenge at Ninth & Bloom. I'm especially proud of this layout because it took me HOURS to get the shadows on the intertwined ribbons right, and I normally don't have the patience for that kind of detail.

Credits: Ever+After by Lauren Reid and Micheline Martin

3. Altered items. I had SO MUCH FUN altering these clothespins with paint, rub-ons, ribbon, buttons and flowers. They're perfect to hold photos and notes.


4. "Moment" layouts that I do "just because."

Credits: Trademark by Lauren Reid and One Little Bird

Credits: Things That Matter by Kelley Mickus

Hope you enjoy! :)

A little blog revamp

I know. I'm so behind on blogging. I have so many layouts to post....sigh. But I did redesign my blog tonight! Yay for me!

I'm trying to figure out why my sidebar tags have a white background. They were saved as .pngs with a transparent background and uploaded from my computer just the way I always do so I have no idea what happened. Any ideas?

School and soccer

Well, school's in full swing again - Alexa loves first grade (although she did tell me this morning when I was asking her about her classmates that she didn't want to talk about school because it's boring) and for the first time, she is playing soccer in addition to her ongoing dance and horseback riding activities (although we are still looking for a new barn, which is a long story for another day). Wow that was a long sentence. And I used although twice.

But I digress - wanted to share a school layout and a soccer layout - here they are! Credits under each:

Credits: Kick It! and Kick It! Purple Team by Chelle's Creations

Credits: Back to School by Mari Koeglenberg and Melissa Wilson

Snapshots....

Here are a few layouts I did this week. Credits under each!

Credits: Click by Kelley Mickus

Credits: Happy by Vera Lim

Credits: Destination by ViVa Artistry

My laptop crashed (and some layouts)

I truly am obsessive backup girl. People (you know who you are) make fun of me because I am REALLY obsessive about it. HA! I have been vindicated! I lost my hard drive (actually I somehow lost the segment of my hard drive that contained the operating system) last Thursday and the ONLY items I didn’t have backed up were a couple layouts I had done between my Sunday backup and the crash. My super techno geeky husband was able to access those files through the DOS prompt and copy them over to my EHD, so I ended up losing nothing!

But…the saga continues. Not only was the hard drive shot, but the little connector thingy between the hard drive and the motherboard also needed to be replaced. This cheap but hard to come by wire thing had to be ordered from Dell and I got it yesterday, so I’m cookin’ with gas (BTW – I ADORE my laptop – a Dell Studio 1737 with a giant honkin’ screen and there is no way I wanted a new one. I know. Who am I and what have I done with Tracy?).

So anyhoo – here are a few layouts that I meant to post last week, plus one I did last night. As always, linked credits under each!

Enjoy!!

Credits: She's All That by Jennifer Labre

Credits: Chillin' & Grillin' by Chelle's Creations

Credits: Contemplation by Viva Artistry, August 2010 Grab Bag by Nikki Epperson

Credits: Daydreamer Kit, Dotty Papers and Necessary Neutrals Alpha, all by Danielle Engebretson

Credits: Bug Catcher, See Through You: Words, and Stitch Me Up: Frames, all by Chelle's Creations

So exciting!

Four times a year, the Digichick designers release grab bags - a whole bunch of awesome goodies bundled together at great prices. August is one of those four times, and as you can see by the number of layouts I did using bags, I couldn't contain myself. SO MUCH GOODNESS and really, at great prices. Linked credits under each photo - hope you enjoy!
Credits: August 2010 Grab Bag - Summer Days: Noon Picnic and Carefree Afternoon by Mari Koegelenberg.

Credits: August 2010 Grab Bag by Kelleigh Ratzlaff, Celebrate! Brite by Chelle's Creations.

Credits: August 2o10 Classy Kid Grab Bag by Laura Banasiak.

Credits: August 2010 Template Grab Bag by Nikki Epperson, Lucky Scraps August Grab Bag by Karen Lewis

Credits: August 2010 Grab Bag by Susan Robinson, He Loves Me by Amanda Carlson