Thursday, June 11, 2009

'Love You Always' layout

Another layout of mine posted today on the QuicKutz blog

The colors are not showing up very pretty on my screen. Oy.

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Hero Arts Product: 'Raindrop Background' (polka dots embossed on '16') and the vine heart (which I embossed) from the 'Hugs N Heart' clear acrylic set.

QuicKutz Product: Bookends_1345, swirl_1429, heart_1439

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

QuicKutz & Hero Arts

I password protected my blog over the weekend while I was messing around. Back up again.

Hey! If you're a scrapbooker or stamper, check out the QuicKutzHero Arts blog! They've been doing some fun product giveaways on them both this week. I was asked to do a couple layouts using my Silhouette (a digital craft cutter) and Hero Art stamps. Those layouts are featured there this week. I am a huge fan of both companies so it was fun to play. I don't do it enough these days.

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Thursday, June 04, 2009

Let me tell you about today.

A bird flew down our chimney! And ended up in the fireplace, which happens to be located in my room. 

Freaked. Me. Out. 

You see I have this awesome non-functioning 1978's fireplace located on one side of my room and have feared for some time that something was going to fall from the sky and end up crawling on me in the middle of the night so I sealed it off with a foam board & cardboard. Today it sounded like there was a hurricane in my fireplace when I realized it was a ragging trapped bird! Thankfully it wasn't able to fly into my room. Oh, could you imagine... 

I decided to wait for my loving parent to take on the chore of catching it (I so did not want to be that girl that got attacked by an undomesticated bird... in her own home), but by the time he was able to help me out the bird was nowhere to be found. Apparently it escaped. Or is deceased somewhere in our chimney. I really don't want to think about it. We searched from both ends though. Inside-out.

Bird, I do not know how you escaped, but I appreciate that you did.

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Our chimney's seen better days.

Monday, May 18, 2009

203 years old...

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...in dog years. What a lovely thought.


I just wanted to thank my friends & family for the sweet birthday wishes I received today. I love you guys!

Me and my niece (both May babies) last weekend. 

Saturday, May 09, 2009

In honor of Mother's Day

Sharing a page I did of my parents a while ago. I sat down with both of them and asked them questions one night and then typed their answers out to print and tuck away in the pocket on this layout - I really love this method of journaling (Q&A's). I learned al lot about their courtship and early years of marriage that I wouldn't have known unless I had taken the time to ask. I also enjoyed hearing their answers. Sometimes your parents share a little too much information when they think you're old enough to hear it though.

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I was thinking in honor of Mother's day I would interview my mom over the weekend about motherhood and do a layout sometime next week with the answers. I've included some of the questions I'll be asking...


Q&A

1. How did you feel when you found out you were going to be a mother for the first time?
2. How many children have you had? What are their names, birthdays, birthplaces?
3. Were there any unique circumstances surrounding their births?
4. Why did you give them the names you did?
5. What are some of the funniest moments (things said or did) you can remember about your children?
6. Do you remember anything your children did when they were small that surprised or amazed you?
7. What are some of the blessings you have received from raising your children?
8. What did you find most rewarding about raising a family?
9. What was the most difficult thing about raising a family?
10. What advice would you give to your children about being a parent?
11. If you had it to do all over again, how would you change the way you raised your family?


Have a great Mother's Day weekend!

Friday, May 08, 2009

Wedding season

Apparently it's that time of year again. One wedding after another it seems.  My younger brothers best friend Chase just tied the knot yesterday. He lived with us for a while so he's like a little "big" brother to me.  A very cool kid. He told me at the reception he's taking his new wife fishing for their honeymoon, which made me laugh. Such a Chase thing to do, I love it. 

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Congrats, Chase!

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Another friend of mine, Tiffany, and I at her wedding reception last weekend. I was her Visiting Teachers... the one who counted an evening of shoe shopping together as a completed month. I know... sinking into my seat... I'm going to hell.

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She looked beautiful. Congrats, Tiff.

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

The things you can do with cardboard & tissue paper:

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This is clearly where years of crafting & scrapbooking experience come into play when you can make a pinata out of a cardboard box and tissue paper. (All in honor of Cinco De Mayo.)

Sweet ride, right? I really only contributed the tires, headlights and license plate. All of the hard stuff. Libby & Whitney, below, did the rest.

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I don't know how to explain this photo, but I thought I'd include it anyway. Why not, right.

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Oh, that dreaded word: change!

2009 has been such a crazy year so far. One big learning experience after another, and not particularly easy either.

One of the biggest changes in my life this year is that I am no longer with CK Media, due to the economy. My official last day was the 15th of April.

I'd been with CK for almost three years and absolutely loved my job as a Creative Director over product development. CK was so good to me and I learned so much in my three years there! So much. And I really loved the group of people I worked with on regular basis. We were a small team, but good friends, which made me love what I did that much more. Two sets of us even shared the same birthday's with one another! I miss them...

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Anyway, I guess I just wanted to publically express how grateful I am for the opportunities I've had with CK and the role they've played in my career within the scrapbook industry. I really loved my time there.

Now (deep breath) I'm just a wee-bit nervous about what the future holds for me, BUT, trying to be optimistic at the same time. After all, change is good, right?

Right?

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

The sweetest face, ever.

My handsome little nephew. He's so cute. Sigh.

More photos to come soon...

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Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Strike a pose

It has been MONTHS since I've pulled out the "big guy" and taken photos. I think the last photo I took with it was back in December. So not normal behavior for me. I've used my little point & shoot here & there, but not my SLR. Last week I got the itch though so I found a willing participant (my clearly-camera-phobic teenage niece) and snapped away, on several occasions. It felt nice. 

Here are a couple of my favorites from last week... love this gorgeous niece of mine.

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Wednesday, April 08, 2009

spring cleaning

I've been trying to re-vamp the design of my blog recently but nothing is screaming "this is the one!"... or none of that "This is so me, yippie!" , like I had naively hoped for. I'm sure I'll figure it out soon and really like the design I come up with, but in the meantime, I hope you'll continue to stop by and say "hi" even with the ever changing (and messy) appearance of my blog right now.Cool? And hey, if you have any suggestions (colors, fonts, etc. design) help a girl out. I am very open-minded to design. I would only reject the idea of using 'Comic Sans' for the typography. Or, 'Girls Are Weird'.

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Family of 5

Sharing another layout I did from 2007. Photos are from a shoot I did with my older brother & his family that same November.

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Gonna stick with tradition and watch some American Idol tonight and cheer on some of my favorites... which does not include this guy. Sorry. Just not my cup of tea I guess... although I can appreciate the week he sang in his metallic silver dress suit with the Elvis hair! Last week... oy. Not so much.

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Are you watching? Rooting for anyone in particular?

Friday, April 03, 2009

April already?

Wow. That really blows my mind. *sigh* 

It's been a while, hasn't it? Thought maybe I'd check in and say "hi" and share a layout I did a couple years ago. A layout I did about my older sister.

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  • I painted the flower pattern down the side with spraypraint and a Heidi Swapp mask.
  • The dotted border at the center is American Crafts that I covered with vellum.
  • Painted the chipboard ribbon charm a blueish color and used buttons at the center as flowers.
  • I cut a slit to the side of the photo to create a pocket to tuck the journaling tag in and out.

June 2009

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My Photo

So true:

  • "Those who think they know everything are really aggrevating to those of us who really do." -Unknown