My First Speed Scrap Ever!

I'm hosting my first-ever Speed Scrap over at ScrapMatters. Don't you want to come and play along? I'll try to be easy on you! And check out the beautiful participation prize...all you have to do is finish your LO in time and I'll send you the link to this:


Hope to see you there!

P.S. SM has invited the current CT to stay on until August!! I can't tell you how excited I am to stay! So this won't be the last SS from me...

I'm still here!

Merry Christmas! I just thought I'd pass on a little Christmas budget saver: Andilynn Designs is offering 30% off of all orders over $5.00 until Christmas! That is a sweet deal! She's also offering some of her kits 50% off and giving away gift certificates on her blog every day! While in her shop, you should definitely buy her Winter Whites kit. It is beautiful! I used it in a speed scrap last week and came up with this: Also, have I told you how much I love Speed Scraps? For some reason they push me beyond my normal scrapping limits and I usually rise to the challenge. FYI: the next one is Dec 18th at 6:30 Pacific. Here's a couple of my latest SS's:

Off to scrap!

Merry Christmas!!

Welcome to Northern Virginia! Hope you've had a great ride so far, only a few more stops on this amazing train of Christmas goodies! You should have come from Monica's blog. If you missed hers, click here. How much do you love this Christmas collab? Remember, it's free with a $10 purchase at the ScrapMatters store. And everything is 40% off today, so think of how much you can get for $10!!

I've got more a tip than a tradition for you if you don't mind. Don't you hate it on Christmas morning when the little ones have opened a present and then you struggle to really open the present? You know what I'm talking about, the millions of twist-ties, plastic layers, and seemingly indestructible rubber bands that keep all those toys in the box! DH and I were so tired of dealing with crying kids as we fought with their presents so they could actually play with them. So last year, we started a new tradition. Before we wrapped anything, we took it out of all the packaging! Okay, maybe you already do this or maybe your kids are extra patient, but it made last Christmas awesome!! The kids could unwrap the presents and get right to playing instead of waiting for us to do battle with the zip ties. So that's my advice to you for a smoother Christmas morning: remove from packaging!! And here's something else to make your season easier:

Download Here

Easy Christmas gift tags! Just print and attach, then give! The one on the left is meant to go with a bag of M&M's, and the one on the right is for a bottle of sparkling cider. Hope you enjoy them! Your next stop on the train is Christy (click here).

Who doesn't love a sale?

And ScrapMatter's Black Friday Sale is HUGE! Start your shopping in the store where most everything is 40% off! If you spend $10 or more, you get a great collab kit for FREE. There will also be a ton of fabulous grab bags chock full of great deals! And don't forget to ride the blog train to over thirty stops (including here!!) of freebies! Also, a new daily download is beginning in the forum that day. Be there!

Come on ride the train..

Welcome to Northern Virginia! Hopefully, it's your second stop on the Andilynn Designs Thanksgiving Blog Train! If you missed the first stop, click here to start at Andilynn's Blog.

Little known fact about us: We hit McDonald's on Turkey Day...no, not for our Thanksgiving feast, but sort of a precursor. When we first moved to Virginia, we didn't have family nearby and it was just my husband and I. We thought it would be hilarious to start our day at the most unlikely destination...McDonald's. We were surprised to see quite a crowd there! Since then it just became a funny yearly tradition. And actually, now that we have kids, we love it! We hit the big McD around 10 am, order breakfast, and let the kids run wild in the play place. By the time we leave, the kids have had a break from the house (too cold to play outside), and we've had a late breakfast that wears off just in time for Thanksgiving dinner! Okay, enough blah-blah, I know you're here for a freebie and here it is!

Download Here

I made place cards for your Thanksgiving dinner. Just print, fold in half and fill in the guests' name! Happy Turkey Day!! Next stop on the train is Krista! Click here.

Ta da!!

I made the Simply Sweet CT!! Yeah!! Kim's designs are too cute and I'm so excited she picked me to join her first creative team. Check out the official announcement on her blog. Here's a few of my favorite kits from Kim:

All Sorts of Excitement

Dear two readers,

My scrapping life is awesome! I was invited to join Andilynn Designs' CT out of the blue!! Andilynn, aka Andrea, is the co-owner of ScrapMatters and also designs adorable kits.

Of course, I was totally honored and said yes! She also offered me a guest CT spot with Scrapmatters for the month of November. It has been so much fun! I've been able to scrap a ton of pages and love the 'behind-the-scenes' forums. I'll be sad when my month is over! Here's a few contributions to the 100 decent page count:

And, Grouch is up for Layout of the Week at Snap and Scrap! How awesome!

So anyway, life is good and I love scrapping. And keep an eye on this blog for an announcement on Friday a couple other exciting things!

I got my groove back!

Ugh, this has been the worst scrapping week ever!!! I trashed SO many ugly LO's and finally took a scrapping break. But, after a good day at church and a brighter outlook on life, I've gotten my groove back! Here's what I came up with tonight:

Man, those are cute kids...

Confession...

I only have 42 not-too-shabby layouts. BUT, I broke my cardinal rule and quietly applied for a CT today. I was perusing DST, avoiding my Halloween sewing, and came across a CT call with my name all over it. Diane Rigdon is switching stores and was looking for a laid back CT. Her kits are beautiful, shabby, and soft. I was in love! So I took the plunge and sent off a last-minute application. And guess what? I'm on the Not Too Shabby Creative Team...I told you it had my name all over it!! Check out the official announcement here and her store here.

The Rice Crispy Effect

So, I 've noticed this cool 'scattered' look to elements lately...for example a sprinkling of sequins, flowers etc. As much as I try, I haven't been able to duplicate the 'accidental' quality of scattering elements. I usually try a few set-ups and scrap the whole element because it looks too contrived or just plain lame. Of course in today's speed scrap, Britt asked for a 'scattered' element. Rather than waste my time re-sizing and rearranging endlessly, I had a brilliant idea: Rice Crispies!! The box was on my kitchen counter and I quickly counted out five pieces and dropped them on the computer table. Tada!! The perfect 'scatter'! I copied the arrangement with my flowers on the page and here it is:

So I finished in time and love the elements, never mind I had 2 buses waiting for me as I scrapped until the last minute!!

And here's last night's Speed Scrap:

'Chic' journaling: Shirt: upside down and unbuttoned. Underwear: showing. Pants: twisted sideways. Hat: jaunty. It's Blake bedtime chic! Haha, I love that Blake!!

One Hit Wonder?

So I've been working hard on my mad scrappin' skilz and holy cow! I can't believe it! I was chosen as Layout of the Week at ScrapMatters last week for my temple LO. So excited! Although this actually just increased the pressure to come up with 100 decent pages. What if this was my only decent page EVER? Eeek!! So anyway, I've been hard at work (aka ignoring my house and Grant's bad week at school) and have come up with a few more pages. The decent count is up to 18!!

Yup, this one's another scraplift! How adorable are Winona's kiddos? And of course I used Erica's super-awesome kits that I can't get enough of...I did it for a challenge over at The Digichick. I'm liking it over there. The store has tons of cute stuff and the forums are really friendly.

My latest speed scrap! It was a quick way to get these pics scrapped finally! And oh yeah, didn't even need to scraplift this one!

And I used some freebies to make this one today..How cute is that? The template and most of the papers are available at Oscraps, you should check it out!

Copy Cat!!

In case you didn't know, digital scrappers have a fancy word for copying someone's layout: scraplifting. In my quest to come up with 100 decent pages, I am totally into being a copy cat!! I troll the digital scrapping websites looking for LO's that I love. Then I totally copy them. Exhibit A: today's speed scrap. It had the following rules:

1. Choose your photos. Doesn’t matter how many!
2. Choose a white background. You can add other colors as mats and things, but the background has to be white.
3. Give me a curve of some kind out of paper.
4. Use 3 or more paper strips and/or ribbons.
5. Gotta have some stitches.
6. Add something hanging (i.e. from a clip.)
7. Get creative with words. You have 2 options here. Either use MORE than 1 alpha for your title, or use 3 or more fonts for your journaling, or do both! I guess that’s 3 options! Remember to date your LO.

And here's my scraplift of a LO I found on DST (Click the image for credits).

I really love how this turned out! I'm surprised how much I love the three different fonts even! So, until I can come up with good ideas of my own...I'm off to scraplift!

Reveal!!!

Check out my newly designed scrapbooking blog!! Things not to miss:

1. Sweet background, header, and signature made by me using a great kit I got for FREE from Snap & Scrap. It's called Moroccan Sunset and I love it.

2. Sweet links on the right..all my favorite places!

3. Most important of all: the slideshows dividing my layouts into crap (too shabby) and not crap (not too shabby). The not too shabby count is eleven. Only 89 to go!!

Hopefully I'll be updating this a lot with cool scrapping stuff to check out! And keep an eye out for our family blog makeover!!

Test

Better

No Peeking!

Test 2

100 Pages

So I've decided I'm past the beginner's phase of digital scrapbooking. I've enjoyed my guest CT with Trish H. Designs, and am ready for the next level! But, the next level is not ready for me and I was rejected for the Scrapmatters CT. I was super bummed. Then I spent time in the gallery looking at everyone's LO's that made the team. Of course they were super good and mine were mostly mediocre. SO, I've made up my mind.

I need 100 decent layouts. I haven't decided what is decent, but I've had a couple okay ones lately, and I think I'm working my way there. So maybe just 100 'getting better' layouts. Then I'll try for another CT. Hopefully, by then I'll be good enough for Scrapmatters or another cool site with tons of super-awesome stuff I can get for free. Until then, I'm going to refrain from applying to any CT's (I don't take being a loser well...I like to live in denial!!) and I'm even glad to be almost done with my guest CT spot for Trish. Her stuff is great, but it's hard just using one kit for a whole LO. It's been fun, but I'm ready to be done. Of course I love Erica's stuff and LOVE making LO's for her, so I'm keeping that up!

Anyway,now I have to learn how to make a decent LO? It takes me FOREVER!! Sometimes I have to start over and over and over before I think I've broken out of my box a little.

For example, tonight's LO using Trish's kit, Bold & Beautiful. I started out looking at lots of LO's and deciding I like the clustered elements look. Got started and it just wasn't happening. Partly due to this kit having tons of flower elements which didn't really go with my ideas!

Ugh..time to ditch this and move to a new version...

A super-tacky knock-off of one of Denise's recent LO's with little squares. Still not working for me.

Next, I switch to a template because I'm totally lost. It's okay, but kind of blah. Now's when I give up and watch some 'Sarah Connors Terminator' with Travis. Lame show, but I got an idea as I sit there not paying attention...

Ta da! I think this is presentable. Not really a stop you in your tracks LO, but different for me. I love the graffiti font and stuff in the corner. So I think the decent count is up to four. Ninety-six to go...

EDIT EDIT EDIT EDIT EDIT EDIT

Holy Crap!!! As I typed that last couple sentences, I had the greatest idea!! If the part in the corner is my favorite part, then why is it all down in the corner...it's too much. Maybe I have an editing problem! So check this out!!!!

TWO simplified, better pages! I'm awesome...maybe I'll figure this thing out after all!!


Yup, that's way better. I do my best thinking at 1am!!

Misery

We bought an external hard drive specifically so I could use it for my trip to CA. I copied all my scrapbooking files onto it and took it to Mom's. Then I copied everything new from CA onto it and brought it home to VA. So, after plugging it into the home computer last night, I expected all my CA files to be transferred to the computer.

Much to my MISERY, not only did it NOT transfer the files, it DELETED all my CA files including layouts, entire kits I paid for, and EVERY picture from our six week long trip. After searching around, we found that the deleted files can be restored, but one file at a time. As in, one picture at a time, as in, I will be restoring hundreds of files one at a TIME!! I'm so bummed. So don't expect any new posts for awhile!! I'm hoping I can contact the stores I made purchases at and re-download the kits and hopefully a few of the pics are still on my camera. And to top it off, my $100 external hard drive has started overheating, so it only works for 45 min at a time. I'm hoping to get my stuff off of it and then exchange it for a new one.

Maybe I'll use my free time to spiff up this blog!

Ta-da!

I added link lists! And here's one more layout:

My First Post!

Yeah me! I set up my own customized blog! Special thanks to LeeLou Blogs for the cute template. I've been meaning to start a digital scrapbooking blog and here it is! I'm not sure if anyone will ever read it, but it will be fun to have a place to share my layouts and favorite kits!

Isn't this so cute? I made it for the ScrapMatter's Saturday Challenge using Trish H. Designs' Sweet Nothing kit. It's my first extraction (thanks for the lesson Erica!) and I like it.

This one's another Trish H. Designs kit, Dusty Wind. How cute is that grandkid group?

Here's another challenge LO for Scrapmatters. I love Erica Zane's Dragonfly Delight kit!

And another with one of Erica's kits (a brand new one!), EZ Shrubberies. Too cute!

So I hope you check back for new kits and updates! I'll be adding links, etc over the next few days.