Personal Scrapper Online crop Layouts

As I mentioned earlier personal scrapper dot com is having an online crop.  There are 15 challenges and I had done three previously then this weekend and today I did five more specifically for the crop. 

The challenge on this one is to use at least three different kind/color buttons and I have four here.

The challenge here was to scrap grandparents and this was the wedding photo of my grandparents.  Who did love until death do they part as my grandpa passed away six years ago and my grandma says she still occasionally wakes up thinking he is there even though she lives in an apartment instead of their house.

I enjoyed this challenge as it was to do a layout on something you have learned recently.  My twist on the challenge was to list a few things I have learned over my lifetime (which is 32 at this point :D)

I really like this layout and these sassafras lass papers.  the challenge was to use punctuation.

Again loving these sassafras lass papers and this challenge was to use a sketch and I did the sketch spot on so this is what the sketch looked like.  :D 

This was the last layout I did today and I really love it.  The die cuts are from my Slice and Just chillin design card.  I just need to do the journaling which is a bad habit of mine.  I really don’t like to journal which is like why do I even scrapbook but I love the art aspect of it more I guess then the story telling.  AND I hate my writing so I just wasn’t in the mood.  I hope I am not the only one who gets that way!

Online Crops rock!

So do “in real life crops’ but well I don’t get to those often.  :D  personal scrapper dot com is having an online crop and as usual it rocks.  I didn’t participate too much i the last one but so far did three tonight.  It goes until next Tuesday and I love all the challenges. 

Here is my take on a challenge to do something different for journaling so I used the tree branches as a place to put my journal thoughts.

This was in honor of 9-11 and was to use only the colors red white and blue.  I really like this layout and it is of Alex waiting for Aaron at the hospital and waiting for the hospital helicopter to land.  He loved watching those things!

This one was to lift the Design Team.  I am not sure who did this one but when I find out I will update or leave a comment if it was you :D  It was on my sheet Erica the owner puts in with the kits for inspiration. 

I went to michael’s today and purchased some items.  I only took a picture because they are having an awesome sale on loose paper and those felt ribbons.  BUT also I got a punch I have been wanting awhile so I am excited.  (don’t worry I won’t take a picture of everything I always buy :D  but I want to share the sales with everyone. 

The 50 cent ribbon up close.  I wish they had more boy colors and themes but for girls it would be super awesome!

And you could really stock up. 

One last thing I have found ebay is the perfect place to get these cards if you are patient.  So I am up to six and I love them all!  I am thinking of getting the embossing tips so I can use it with awesome C’ordinates papers.  Another reason I put the picture above is I had to buy the slice card holder because I kept getting paranoid that i was going to lose the cards.  It wasn’t on sale but sometimes peace of mind is worth full price!    I have twelve more challenges to go…. wish me luck!!

a little ramblings

Last week I managed two layouts.  One was for cramfest through scrapbookdeals4u that I never got around to submitting.  I just know it wouldn’t have won as it is fairly simple but I do love it.  It is using Nikki Sivils Henry’s Brilliance line. 

It was to use two pictures three papers and one chipboard element. 

The alternative kit at LPS was some Prima Rebellious papers.  I paired them in another simple layout of when my oldest and I went to Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

Sorry it is blurry I didn’t realize it until now.  I found the cutest in with my oldest son’s school work.  This is what he wrote for Constitution day.

 

This is the funniest thing to me as we are not really into those things.  I think it is awesome if you are but we just are not.  So I have no idea where it came from?  And it is just so serious.  Thankfully we live at the beginning of the south so this didn’t raise any red flags at school!  :D

And here is my oldest and youngest goofing around tonight.  It has inspired me to do a see, hear, speak no evil picture of the three boys soon.

Do any of you get in these moods where you want to do your hobbies or housework etc but just get side track by doing nothing?  I do want to go downstairs to my scrap room but this is premiere week for tv and have been watching a lot of new tv shows to see which ones have potential.  Castle was back yesterday.  (I LOVE me some Nathan Fillion!)  And today I watched the forgotten which had way potential and the Good Wife mainly due to Chris Noth but apparently he is only guest spotting and not permanent so not sure how much longer I am hanging on as it was alright but kind of stale on the emotions of being humiliated like the politicians wives are when there is a scandal (or I am sure any wife really public nation wide or in your own home town wide).  Tomorrow is Eastwick which I have high hopes for, Cougar Town, and I think Modern Family which again I have high hopes for.  I am loving my usual like Bones and Fringe of course and I can’t wait for CSI LV and NY to be back on.  I was all excited by Vampire Diaries that I even made it second on my 9/11 post now I wish I had left it for another day as it is turning into some teen dude for me.  I think I am just to old to be into anything CW related.  I use to love smallville too but I just can’t get into it anymore.  I hate getting old.  lol  Then again I might get into five years later as I am just now getting into Buffy on Hulu! 

Ok Finally,

I have time to do a post.  Isn’t it funny how life just speeds by when you sometimes wish it would stand still?

I want to finish some old business before moving on to new :D  Here are the mediocre layouts I did.  They are not awesome but I do like them. 

This one was from a page kit they gave us to work with.  I just didn’t have the size they wanted in the sketch so I improvised.

 

This is of me after I lost about 75 lbs.  I had friends over and I tried on one of my friends corsets.  I do like this layout but it is not a favorite.  The bird is from grungeboard and is painted with shimmer stuff (dern it I can’t remember the brand)  It is really shiny in better light.

This one will have a title but my slice was running out of juice and it as late in the night to worry about it.  It will be “Andrew’s Many Faces”

I wanted to document the date 09/09/09 because it is fairly unique though i guess we have been having a 1-1-1 etc but I wasn’t so self aware then.  lol  So I decided to take a picture of what I was doing most of that day, which was driving. 

I am thinking to add the letter I to the title to say I miss you or maybe We and maybe an arrow.  I just am not sure.  I love this picture as it is a rare one I have of my grandfather before he passed away suddenly.

I am going to add the title Mother but I am thinking of using chipboard and some twinkling H2O which I didn’t bring to the crop so it is on my list of one of these day items.  Most likely when I finally go to put it in an actual album.

I do like this one as it is (to me) a good example how you can use more traditional girl colors in a boy layout without it seeming out of place.  (again just my opinion :D  )

And here are the ones I really love that I did. 

I love all but the playing in the title but now I am not sure how to fix it.

 

I loved this paper it just made it easy to do a simple layout.  And the flower is homemade and even nicer in person.

Again just a fun simple but lovely layout.  Though I could have done better on the journaling.  I just hate my writing.

This was a page we got and was shown how to use it but again I had to do my own thing.  I actually like this paper but could not have tolerated using a whole kit of them.  I am glad I did not purchase a kit I saw with this paper as I just don’t do well with animated papers like owls etc.  I can if I have too.

 

I loved working with these papers which was form the April ps kit.  I also love this layout because of the theme.  It was a challenge to do a layout when you are 100.  So this is a picture of before I was married and I think probably 20 or maybe just 21.  I wrote things like still read smutty books and dance etc.

I love this picture in general.  What a beautiful baby :D  This is my youngest and when I re-saw these pictures it made my biological clock tick slightly again.  I wish I could make time stand still sometimes.  This was probably my favorite sheet of the paper mainly as I love red and the the white scrolling was a perfect accent. 

I wanted to finish this post with pictures we were sent of our son’s CT scan and MRI.  Just a couple.  At first I wasn’t going to publish them because it is personal to him but I have shown a few people and he has not been upset by this and in fact will also talk to them about it.  So I decided to do this because I know most of you (if not all) who do look and follow my blog did pray for my son and I want to show how dire the situation and how much of a miracle he just is. 

This is the original CT scan that shows the tumor.  It is the lighter grayer “hole”  The darker areas are not suppose to be there area but show where the brain fluid was backing up.  It was filling in any area it could and what made it all an emergency as it was running out of room quick.

 

This is the MRI scan.  Which is a horizontal view of his skull/brain.  As you can tell you can see his optic area/sinus areas, and ear canals.  It is primarily on the right side which is why he is having left side issues still.  He was left handed typically but he could use both so it isn’t a huge shock for him to use his right hand only now.  We are suppose to make him use is left but anyone with children knows it is hard to make them consistently do anything.

This would be a vertical view of the tumor.  See how clear it is you can see the lines in the brain matter.  It freaks me out that this is the inside of my child.  (does that make me too weird?)  If you can see the tumor was pushing his cerebellum into the spinal column so they had to surgically move some of the vertebrae up to make a shelf and keep the brain from wanting to go back in that groove.  Once you body knows it can do something it wants too.  And it was loosing space and had no where to go so down it went.  Another reason it was hard to tell he had it as his body was accommodating the tumor until it got to be too much.

This is an after MRI where you can see (if you look closely the brighter color in the back of the skull) where they cut him to take it out and some of the mushed brain matter that they cut and moved up.  The holes are receding where the brain fluid was backed up (the shunt was still in for good measure at this time.)  I think it shows a little of the atrophy he will have.  But you can see it is gone from the brain.  YEAH!!  :D 

Finally some layouts.

I am starting with my least favorite.  I don’t mind this layout in general but I hate the picture.  I liked the idea of the layout which was a challenge at PS during the crop last month.  It was to use a name and someone had mentioned doing a maiden name layout so I did.  And the picture kind of fits as I took it with my camera and in my own dark room back when I was trying to be an official artist :D

This one I just don’t like how it turned out.  Really the ribbon.  I so need to invest in a ribbon punch but when I have the money I can’t find one.  I do like the paper and I am leaving it unless I finally find something to top it off.   Both of these were done with the April Personal scrapper kit which at home I was intimated by as it is pretty girly but I ended up loving it and found it universal. 

Tomorrow I will have more to post… my mediocre ones I like.  BUt wanted to leave with some family photos.  Sunday we were invited to a birthday party and Aaron finally got to be a kid again.  I didn’t let him actually get in the lake but he floated in the water just fine. 

And Andrew had a blast as well swimming and jumping from the block. 

So I did some research

and you can put the crackle paint on the grungeboard so I am totally trying that out soon.

I was going to start posting my layouts but my SD card is in a bag somewhere.  I hate it at the end of a crop and nothing is put back where it should be.  So I am stuck with just one picture today.  I made the mistake of going back and looking for a specific product they didn’t have (even though I emailed and they said they would ) and found some alpha’s I wanted.  I very very rarely buy alphas not in a kit because you rarely use a lot of the letters.  I do my best but I hate all the numbers etc.  that I can never think of a creative way to use. 

All this came to a smidgen under 15.00 so that was cool.  I went over my budget since I went back but I am thinking it is worth it.  I have already used a sticker from the Dad sheet you see there. 

I also was lucky enough to get my name drawn for a free gift from Partylite and it is gorgeous…. not just some cheapo thing you sometimes think you might get from drawings but really nice.  I just have to remember where I put some partylite candles I have somewhere from a long time ago. 

So the rest of the day went ok.  The food was decent.  It is just kinda sad for me as last time was so awesome and this time was just meh… even with winning.  At least it had a couple awesome highlights.  I know for sure I am not going to the January one as the weather could be bad and then my money is a waste.  I kind of feel I don’t want to go again but I think I was just wanting it to work out so aweseome that I let the little thing get to me which is silly.  So I probably will go in the spring.  That will leave enough time for my crankiness about it to wear off.  It is just I did exactly what I did at home minus the loss in my pocketbook.  :D  So we will see. 

Oh and one more awesome note is I talked to Nikki a couple more times throughout the night and at one point I thought she was leaving for the day and just to be nice was going to say bye to me.  Well she actually asked me what paper’s I was wanting purchase that they didn’t have.  I told her the Henry’s Brilliance line which is a school paper line.  So she gave me what she had with her which was about five or six sheets!!!  I mean she TOTALLY didn’t have to do that!  How generous and kind.  Sometimes you hate to meet people you kind of idolize because they are disappointing and all too human but she was just a regular gal who is proud of her work and is super nice but not in a forced way.  You can tell she has always been that way and not just for PR.  As soon as my room is back in order I am going to bust these out and show you all how perfect the papers are.  I have even tried to get LPS to showcase them when the owner Von asks us for input in lines we may want.  :D  That is how much of a fan I was before can you imagine how much more I am now!!

I think here shortly I am going downstairs to get my room in order again.  I kind of made a mess on both sides of the room trying to find some items i needed for the crop.  Also I need to put away my crop items which are not organized int he bags like they were when I got there.  Funny how anytime you pack even for vacation your suitcase never is as perfect as when you originally left. 

Ok so tomorrow I should be able to start actually showing you my layouts I did.  I can’t believe I managed 20 which was two an hour when you take away eating and shopping.  Not too bad.  I think I could have done more but I was in a funk.  Most I like and think turned out well at least.  oh and I did want to highlight the movies I watched.  I finished The House that Preys.  It was ok.  Sunshine Cleaning was decent but pretty disappointing.  I just was kind of anti-climatic in a lot of ways for me.  I do love Alan Arkin who was in it though.  Then I love you Man.  It was decent.  Then finished the night with season six of Sex and the Season.  I watched about four or five episodes.  They NEVER get old!! 

Let the story begin…

I am not sure I will get back to actually work on any new layouts so I am going to totally drag out Saturday and I think I have enough little things to do it.  :D  it was either let you guys wait or just give you little bits at a time and since I have ADD and get bored easily with long posts I figured I would do a longish one first then fill in the rest of the week with smaller ones :D

First I want to say I don’t know if I will go back.  In general it was a Dud to me.  I am not going to focus on the negatives as I don’t want to be that way on here but it just kind stinks that they joy I had for my first one totally died out with this one.  some of it was CS issues and some was just me.    Ok so on to the day.  I got up really early and wanted to leave by 6 am.  It is roughly an hour and half drive and I had a plan to be there right when it opens since i went alone and I didn’t want to have to keep asking if there was an unsaved seat and I wanted to make sure I got close to an outlet as I had my slice and laptop to watch movies.  I took a few extra minutes to play Farmville and farm town on facebook as I addicted AND I can’t let my crops go to waste if I can help it.  My husband said to me… don’t you need to leave (he knew I was excited and had a plan) and I was like yeah but this won’t take too long.  So I left about 6:40.  I could have chose two ways to get to Springfield from where I live.  I decided to go the country way as it is just a nicer drive.  I get five minutes in and am passed by a trooper obviously in a hurry.  Ten minutes later I come across why.  There was an accident with a semitruck.  (I later heard no one was hurt thank the Lord!)  My first thought was “Wow, life is amazing.  I could have been in that accident if I had left on time.”  Now there is no way to know for sure BUT it had very recently happened because I had to turn around and go back to my town and I was passed by another cop and ambulance so very new.  So due to this I didn’t get mad or uptight about having to go back to town and take the longer way.  And I called my husband and informed him my obsession with certain things can save my life.  lol

So I get to town actually right on time since I left pretty early to begin with.  I was going to go to starbucks first though as you all might know I am IN LOVE with starbucks.  I felt confident I knew where I was going in Springfield.  I DID NOT!  I spent at least a half hour getting lost.  Finally through my cell phone MapQuest I managed to find it.  Apparently that street splits and there is streets in-between and doesn’t go straight though.  I then decide I am already late so why not stop at starbucks which fairly right next door.  No it had a LONG line.  GRRRR.  SO I get there grab my stuff (so glad I only had the three bags to bring in) and have someone help me find a seat.  It only took twice for her to find a single seat for me.  (still remember I was trying to avoid this) and I then have issues trying to find juice.  (this was part of the CS issue but I digress)  Finally I was able to figure it out since thankfully I brought a power strip so a couple ladies let me feed from there main line.  Ok so I am irritated at myself and others but life is still good I made it and I only have up from there. 

I sit down maybe 15 minutes and settle eat some fruit (I was there too late to get any pastries… grrrr)   Raffle tickets were given out.  When I left in the am I said to myself.  I am going to win today.  And I can say that with confidence as I can think of at least six times that I have had that vibe and won.  (at work raffles (got two baskets for ten dollars once with a ton of stuff), at the casino (only once kinda big), scratch offs, a slice, etc.)  So I show up half hour + late and the first ticket drawn is MY TICKET!!!  Wow I couldn’t believe it!!  (which is like duh with what I said above but I think it but then I think I am silly of course I won’t win.) 

So I am way excited and come to find out I win a mini Halloween kit from Nikki Sivils.  I ADORE her.  She is a fairly new designer but is amazing and she is a local gal and I am all about supporting people in my community.  she even went to the same school my boys did.  (come to find out)  In fact I talked about how I adore her and am going to specifically buy her products here.  The link above is her blog about meeting me with a pick of us and the kits.  Here is a close up of the kit I took while there.

I am doing more mini books but I don’t have the confidence to do them a lot.  But I am going to use this one to perfect my style even if I have to lift every page! 

So the day was looking up!!  Later on I went and did some shopping and here is a photo of what all I got for $94 dollars.  It is a lot really.  I am loving that Tim Holz distressor. 

I also got crackle paint which I am going to research and try to figure out how to use.  I got some prima items.  Different pieces of papers like some sassafras lass that i don’t really have any off but I think can be cute in layouts I have seen.  I upgraded to liquid pearl instead of just stickles.  And I have been wanting grungeboard forever and finally got some of it.  I am not sure I really like it but I am going to do some research on that too.  Maybe then I will love it as much as I thought I would.  If anyone has websites or ideas please share with me! 

Hmmm…. So I am thinking that is enough for now.  :D  Stay Tuned……

First I remember …

9/11 2001 like yesterday.  I remember the whole day and what went down in my mind in slow motion.  But my fear in my memories is nothing to those that lost loved ones.  I will be saying a prayer this day for all that died and all that continue to suffer and die for our freedoms. 

So then  not to be frivolous …. but OMG I can’t believe it!

I have always LOVED LOVED LOVED vampire and werewolf things.  This stems from a set of books I read in high school called the Vampire diaries.  I read it over and over again knew it word for word and the next set which was about witches called The secret Circle.  I would pretend to be the main character or make my own character in the novel.  Then I graduated and didn’t follow any of the authors books.  So fast forward forever!  (yes some days I feel that old) and I see this CW add for a tv show called vampire diaries.  I was like hmmmm that sounds familiar so I tivo it because well it says vampires.  But then I check info and the names and plot sound familiar and then the author sounds familiar for the inspiration and I googled her.  OMG it is the same books.  I am way stoocked (hmm do the kids use that word anymore or how you spell it?)  I can remember these books like yesterday.   Here is the 411 from wikipedia. 

So I also said I would post the agenda etc for my crop but I am really thinking I will forego all that.   I am just going to enjoy the excitement of a little bit of nostalgia.  Ahhhh……

I am SOOO ready for Saturday

My bags are organized and sitting in the entry room ready to be packed for Saturday morning.  I am very proud of myself I managed only four bags two of which I bungeed together.  I should be able to find things fairly easily and carry all in at the same time.  Here is the four bags and then inside that beach bag I got fairly cheap at Pier 1. 

So that is my computer bag that will have my laptop, personal effects (lip gloss, moolah, Tylenol, etc).  The beach bag has all my kits, extra embellishments, stamps, extra paper, and misc photos.  The crop tote on wheels has my organizer tool tote, box of photos, slice, and odds and ends.  (I almost forgot my slice cards until I went back downstairs for something else.  I need to make sure I get the glass mat in there too.  And then the tackle box is the rest of tools that aren’t used as much including my two trusty punches. 

I also finished two kits that had just a few papers left.  These three are from the June PS add on.  All the pics are the same but I have three boys so ya’ll know that happens :D 

And these are from Alex’s birthday and are from the last of the June scrapbookdeals4u kit by Bella blvd. (LOVED IT!!)  Some of the embellishments were from stash and Collage Press.  I LOVE them for tags and journal spots. 

 

Then I started using some older papers I have and managed one layout before I decided I needed to start focus on some real packing for Saturday.  I LOVE how it turned out as well.  Actually I have been liking a lot of my layouts and to tell you that is not bragging as often I am Uber critical of myself.  It is even getting me thinking maybe I could actually try some DT calls. 

Lastly Scrapbookdeals4u is having another contest (I know i said no more but it sounded interesting so why not :D )  It has a class theme.  So first there was English 101 which is one of the flip flops layouts above and was to do another page map with three photos and a full sentence for the title.  The other was music 101 and really LOVE how it turned out.  It was to find your heart song which right now is lady antebellum Run to You.  I had been wanting to lift a layout by Amy -- a regular on the PS board who had her whole background as lyrics to a song her boys love to listen too.  So here is my rendition of what she did.

This is a picture of DH and I during our family portraits at JC Penney.  I put all the lyrics in groups around the photo.  I hope I get a few votes for it :D  The flowers are homemade from a you tube video I found showing how to make them.  They are my new obsession.  :D

I might not be on again until after the crop.  I might feel the need to post all the email details I have been getting about the crop but I don’t know if I will have time.  Plus I bet that is boring for all of you.  But I AM way excited and so want to SHARE!  :D