Toot for the New Year

With all the commotion of the holiday, I am just getting around to sharing some exciting news. I was chosen to be a member of the design team for the challenge blog, Scrapping the Music.

If you haven't checked it out yet, please do! Each week, a new song is posted for inspiration. Music always inspires me - whether it's the title or lyrics.

Let's see, what else...
Overall, Christmas was wonderful - my parents came and we had a wonderful time.
We all shed a few tears missing Fritzi. :0(
My poor sister and her family had an icky stomach virus in their household, so we weren't able to see them, which was of course a downer.

Here are a few pictures from our holiday:

All is calm...



Running down the stairs...



Wiiiiiiii!!!!!!




Pop giving Bren her annual crystal angel ornament:



Stocking stuffers:



Holiday hugs:



and some silliness in our traditional matching Christmas jammies:





Wishing you and yours a happy & healthy New Year!

Mod Squad Toot

I'm finally allowed to share my exciting news! I've been chosen to join the design team (aka "the Mod Squad") at Midnight Oil Scrapbook Designs.
http://www.mosdinc.com/
Take a moment to go check out their beautiful acrylic and chipboard albums. I can't wait to get started!

A Sad Day

Well, today is the day we had to say goodbye to our sweet dog, Fritzi. She'd been steadily declining over the past several months and the time came to make the decision to be kind to her and end her struggle. Even though I know it was the right thing to do, I am just heartbroken. Our vet was wonderful and made the whole ordeal as peaceful as possible. I was able to stay with her until the end.
Anyone who's ever had a pet knows how painful this loss is.
Goodbye, sweet friend.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

We had a foot of snow fall the other day and there's a big Nor'easter coming in tonight. Looks like a white Christmas for sure!

I finally had some time to scrap last night, and oh, did it feel good!
Here is a page I made for this week's Scrapping the Music challenge:




Here's a page I made for Scrapper's Haven. It was fun to go from a frosty cold LO to a summer page with warm colors. I Heart the KI lace cardstock!

Random thought

So the other afternoon, I'm home with the two little guys and suddenly
Jimmy says, "Hey Mom, when I get my drivers license, I'm gonna smile like this for the picture!"

Where did this thought come from? I don't know. But it made me smile.

It's just a number, right?

So today was the day. I turned the big FOUR-O. It was low key, as far as birthdays go. Mike had to work tonight, so we celebrated last night and it was fun. Chocolate cake, yum.
I can't believe how time is simply flying by. My sister called to wish me happy birthday and said that she still remembered me going out on my first date. She threw sand at me for some reason after I was all fixed up in my purple dress. Gotta love little sisters, huh? I don't really remember the incident, but she did. (Yikes, is my memory going?) Anyway, it seems like that was just yesterday and inside, I'm still the same girl, maybe just a bit wiser.
Oh well, time marches on, and there's nothing to do but to enjoy each day for the gift that it is.

We decked the halls

As I expected, we had a snow day on Monday because our corner of the world was a sheet of ice. The kids and I decorated the tree. We put old fashioned Christmas carols on (the kids wanted to know who Bing Crosby was!)
They were so excited to remember which ornaments they had made and took great care to find just the right spot on the tree (even if it was on the same branch as another ornament).

And then they cut loose for this picture:


This is really more what trying to get a picture with five kids is like. But I wouldn't change it for the world....

This movie

is a holiday classic, in my opinion. I watched it this afternoon with the kids and we all laughed and laughed. The pink bunny suit scene is one of my favorites, as is poor Ralphie's visit to Santa. The kids thought Farcus got what he deserved when Ralphie beat the crud out of him and giggled with me as the father opened his leg lamp.

It's freezing rain here tonight, and I expect the kids to have a snow day tomorrow.
We baked cookies today, Snickerdoodles, to be exact. We'll probably bake again tomorrow too.

I had a run in with a stomach virus this week, so not a lot of scrappy time, but here is a page I did for Scrapper's Haven:


Poor Jimmy detested the snow that year.

If I were a rich girl...

I'd buy myself one of these Diva chairs from Mackenzie Childs. Isn't it just to die for? Pink and posh and oh so yummy. But sadly, $3,500 for a chair simply isn't practical. (SIGH)

Not much scrappy time the past few weeks, but I do have a few pages to share.
Here is a page I did for Scrapper's Haven - Colin is learning the hard lesson that kids can be mean to each other, especially if you won't go along with the crowd. So I made this page to let him know he's going to be okay.



Here's a page I made with the gorgeous fall line from Daisy D's. These two are such good buddies, it really fills my heart with joy.


Here's one of Jimmy - the pictures were taken this fall. I loved them all so I actually made a layout with NINE pictures! I think that's a first for me!

Blogs, birthdays & bones

I was surfin around tonight and realized I have this list of blogs that I thought were cool. A really long list saved in my favorites. Frinds and DT member blogs.
Challenge blogs. Celebrity scrapper blogs. Sketch blogs. Manufacturer blogs. I don't spend nearly enough time visiting them all and updating my own. I need to spend some time revisiting them all and deciding which are worth keeping in my faves. Do some virtual decluttering.

This week was birthday week here - Brenna yesterday, Jimmy today. There's been a baking frenzy with cakes and muffins for school treats. Everyone enjoyed their treats and presents. So four birthdays done, one more to go in a few weeks!

Bones. Ugh, mine just hurt. I've been having some serious joint pain issues lately. I went to the doctor this week and had a gajillion tubes of blood taken for every test under the sun. Hopefully I'll hear something tomorrow.

If you have a moment, go check out the "I Can See Clearly Now" contest at Couture Scrapbooking. http://www.couturescrapbooking.com/board/index.php?topic=529.0
It runs through the end of the month and you can win a very cool acrylic Page Frames album and goodies to go with it.

Speaking of Page Frames, Natalia sent me this fab acrylic album that she is using at her booth at the Memories Expo in Orlando. I also did up a few ornaments for her too - working with the acrylic is soooo much fun! Here are a few pages of the album and a couple of the other goodies:









Okay, time to get these achey bones to bed. Tomorrow's another day.

So much to say, so much to say...

Well, I can't believe I haven't blogged in so long.
Most of my friends know I've had a lot on my plate lately.
Sept 28th was a bad day. Mike called me at work to say Jimmy wasn't acting right, and he was scared. Trips to ERs, tests, doctor appointments.
Turns out it was seizures. EEGs confirmed my poor little guy's brain is not always firing as it should. Thank God it isn't being caused by anything horrible like a tumor or scary illness. He started on medication this week and will be on it for some time, it sounds. He is such a trooper. He takes the medicine twice a day without a fuss. I just want him to be happy and feel normal.

Dad went for a MRI today, to see how he's doing since the change in chemotherapy. He was here over the weekend and looked great. I worry about him every day. And some days I worry more than others. He's been on my mind a lot today. Hope we have encouraging news on Monday.

Working all weekend, gotta pay the bills. Our checkbook seems to have sprung a leak with all the car repairs needed the past few weeks. Still need to get tires for the Subaru. It never ends, does it?

Well, I have lots of DT projects to share, but it's getting late. So here's one of my latest, made for a challenge at Couture:


This was a breast cancer awareness guitar outside the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.

Okay, gotta jet.

What's going on...

Haven't updated in a while - been busy just getting the kids back into the daily routine of school and activities. I've managed to fit a little scrapping in, though!
I found this fun new challenge blog, called "Scrapping the Music". Here is a page I made for this week's song:



And here are a few projects I made for Couture Scrapbooking:






The first was made with the gorgeous papers and die cuts from My Little Shoebox.
The Halloween projects were made with the yummy flocked paper and glittery brads from Making Memories. Love that stuff!




This is my sweet little niece, Mallory and the gorgeous papers are from My Minds Eye. The big flower is by My Little Shoebox.
All of these goodies are available at Couture Scrapbooking.
Speaking of Couture, come visit us for our Scrap Pink Crop on Saturday, Sept 29th. All monies raised will be donated for breast cancer research.

Hmmm, what else...
I've been playing along with the Top Designer contest over at Bad Girl kits. Here is a page I made for the first week:



Well, got to get ready for work. Have a great weekend, everyone!

The Little Scrap Shop Blog

Have you been to this blog yet? Angel has a fun blog that is filled with cool tips, articles and challenges that will get your creative juices flowing.

http://www.thelittlescrapshop.com/blog

While you're visitng, check out the gorgeous September kit - Hollywood & Vine. Black and white - so sophisticated, so many creative possibilities!

Then stop by the gallery and be inspired by all the creative pages there. There are some very talented people posting their work there.

http://www.anotherangel.com/tlssgallery/index.php

Labor Day Weekend

Beautiful sunny almost fall like weather here today. Wish I didn't have to work tonight so I could enjoy it more. Mike and I are celebrating our 12 year wedding anniversary on Monday. My, how time flies.
Here are some new projects I've made since my last blog entry:



This one was done for a challenge over at Couture Scrapbooking - we were to use 5 different manufacturers and 4 different techniques. This was just total fun to create.
Here are a couple I did for Scrapper's Haven:



If you haven't come over to sign up for the Iron Chef 3 contest there, c'mon down!
You can sign up here:
http://www.scrappershaven.ca/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1759

This is how we roll...

Today was scheduled to be our annual "Family Fun Day" as a end of summer close out.
Normally, we take the kids to a local amusement park for the day. But there was a heat warning here - 95 degrees and oppressive. I can't imagine standing on line on pavement on a day like today. Surprisingly, the kids were receptive to an alternate suggestion - bovling! I never thought I'd get them to go for it.

Of the kids, only Colin & Bren had been before, at a birthday party. Tommy was only interested for 4-5 frames and then he abandoned his bowling shoes. Mike and I hadn't gone bowling since I had been preggers with C-man, so it was definitely a blast from the past.
Here are a few pics, not yet edited-




All in all, we had fun. We each improved during our second game. Mike and I bowled an extra third game by ourselves. The only thing that was a bummer is how pricey it was! With all of us, we played 16 games and it cost us $92! Of course, we had to rent shoes, but sheesh! We could have gone to the amusement park for not all that much more. Oh well, it was a nice day.

I've squeezed in some scrapping time in since my last post, despite working 26 hours this week. I had been very inspired after having read the latest " Designing With" books - "Designing wiht Details"
Here are my latest projects:







The "Love" layout was made with a Pink SugarPop stamp. I heat embossed the word, then painted over the cardstock with diluted and undiluted Colorwash, with a few perfect pearls added in. All materials supplied by Scrapper's Haven.
Very arsty, very fun to make. Love that picture of my folks.

Speaking of Scrapper's Haven, hop on over there to sign up for the Iron Chef 3 contest there! Donna is giving away a fabulous prize to the winner - you don't wanna miss it!