Another conversation with James

sitting around the dinner table tonight...

Me: I'm going to miss you boys.
John: You're not going to miss us!
Me: Yes I am.
James: Yeah, because we're going to Grandma's house and they're going to India for forever.
Me: not forever, just two weeks
James: Yes I know; forever is two weeks!

I guess when you're four, two weeks probably does feel like forever!

Getting Ready...

Tomorrow's the day... this is what my dining room table looked like this morning:

...everyone's clothes laid out in stacks, being double-checked and then crossed off the list. Slowly the piles are getting packed into the suitcases; there's only one load of laundry left to do and our carry-ons to be packed and then we're set.

One step forward, two steps back...

I felt like I had too many online commitments, so I left two of my teams over the past few weeks, but then one of the applications to a team that I had sent in on a whim was accepted, so I added a new team. Fortunately the requirements are much lighter than the two that I left, so I feel more confident that I'll be able to keep up with everything. It's been so long since I posted that I'll just share some of my favorite pages and projects that I've done over the last month or so. (Pages are linked for credits as always!)

First I want you to know that I have been using ALL those pencils that I bought! As I have time, I've been participating in the sketch challenges on the Stamping Bella blog. I'm really enjoying the coloring and blending process, and it's something that I can sit down and do with the boys... they LOVE to color together. The second card is made with digital paper and elements from Sugarplum Paperie's Pretty Little Picnic kit which is available in this month's Digi Files. I love being able to resize papers until the pattern is the right size for a card, and then just print what I need.


Nicole is putting one of the kits in her Twist collection on sale each Tuesday during the month of July. It's hard to believe that these are already a year old... she was releasing them right around the time that I first joined her team. I never got a chance to play with the Tangerine Twist when it came out, so it was fun to have a chance to scrap with it this week. I mixed it with a few other goodies and this photo of John from last year that's been sitting on my harddrive waiting to be scrapped and came up with this page. I love this picture of John; it seems to perfectly capture the carefree way he goes through life (well, that and his love for cereal. We go through cereal so fast in our house!)


I got to continue guesting for Kate Hadfield this month since she didn't have any guests already lined up. I was so excited that she asked us all to stay, because I'm loving her handcrafted style. These first photos are of Peter and my little brother when he got back from Marine boot camp last summer. Actually, I had accidentally deleted these photos from my memory card, and my brother was able to retrieve them for me so I'm doubly indebted to him for these photos now! The second photos are of James on the beach in Hawaii two summers ago. He loved playing in the sand and the beaches were not nearly as crowded as the Southern California ones are so there was plenty of room to build sandcastles and drive trucks and all those other boy things.


I've done two more projects for The Hybrid Chick blog. The first was for the Baby Shower and was a box to put in the back of your car to keep an extra set of clothes, some diapers, etc. That was actually for a giveaway and has since left my house via the ever-faithful postal service and is (hopefully) now residing in someone's trunk! The second project was a quick little album made out of printed digital pages and ordinary lunch sacks. I've linked the finished project pictures to the directions on the blog. There are some really adorable projects that the other girls have done so you definitely should go check them out! One of my recent favorites is these Hybrid Hairclips. I know what my nieces are getting as stocking stuffers this year!!


One last hybrid project; the first for my new team at Shabby Pickle Designs. I actually already owned this kit, but hadn't used it yet. This was probably the hardest hybrid project I've done so far because trying to figure out the measurements and how to cover it neatly when I was limited to 8 1/2 by 11 inch paper was very challenging! I think it came out pretty cute though (at least the front... notice there's no picture of the bottom!) and it actually was mentioned on the GSO blog yesterday. (That's a good thing Mom, in case you're reading this!) Anyway, now that I've done one, I'm thinking about heading back over to Michaels some more of these boxes to see if it gets easier the second time around.


Even though I'm not creating for Funky Playground anymore, I had to show you this page because I love how it came out. Kitty Designs is guesting there this month, and I used her Toy Box kit and made this page with a photo of my sweet Pete. This was definitely outside of my normal scrapping zone, but it was so fun to try to think of creative ways to use the same photo.


Last pages to share, I promise!! These are with Shen's newest products. The first one is just a photo of Simon and me that James snapped in the front yard a few nights ago after we got home from a walk. The camera's pretty heavy and you have to actually look through the viewfinder, there's no display like with a normal point and shoot camera, so I'm pretty impressed that he got both of us (mostly) in the frame! This is the "real" me... no makeup, hair's a mess, and "kick-around" clothes. (Kick-around is my word for anything that you would wear around the house, or maybe for a quick trip to the grocery store, but other than that you wouldn't want to be caught dead in it! I come from a family that's big into making up our own words... like gulch - defined as a pile of stuff that isn't junk, it's just where it's not supposed to be. For instance, "stop gulching up the dining room table; we have to eat there you know." I'm pretty sure it's a real word; look it up!) Returning from my rabbit trail, the second page is photos that I've been waiting for the perfect kit with which to scrap them, and when Shen created Lulu & Rocko I found it. Love, love, love this kit!!


Real life stuff alert: In under a week now, Simon and I are headed to India for two weeks to visit some friends who run a NGO there that does work on university campuses and in slums. The purpose is to work alongside them, but we will get a chance to do a little bit of sightseeing while we're there, so I'm going to do my best to update the blog and post some pictures of our days. Our boys are staying here with my mom and dad, and I know I'm going to miss them like crazy, but I have to confess that the thought of taking them on the 22 hour plane flight also made me crazy!

Well, we're having company for dinner tonight so I suppose I ought to pick up some of the gulch around this place and take the meat out of the freezer! Hopefully I'll be back before we leave on Thursday, but if not, I guess my next post will be from halfway around the world!

Part Two!

More catchup

First off, my sweet niece as promised! She is so tiny and light; it's like holding a baby doll. We're planning to get together again this week; I can't wait to see her again.



This month I am getting a chance to guest for Kate Hadfield. She has such a fun, hand-doodled style and it is perfect for hybrid. I applied for her guest team in April and was so excited to get an email from her asking me to be her guest. I've been busily printing, cutting and gluing up a storm! Here's a card I made with some of her new doodles and a piece of cardboard I ripped off of one of the empty diaper boxes that I had. Of these, there always seems to be an endless supply; how I look forward to the day when I purchase the last pack of diapers!

And this one is for Simon for Father's Day from the boys. The razor is kind of an inside joke... everytime a new razor comes out, I always want to try it out and I'm always asking Simon if he wouldn't like to try a new one, but of course he's totally happy with the one he has! Now I ooh and aah over the new ones just to make him laugh. I'd seen the pattern for this somewhere on my blog travels, but I can't remember exactly where. After I'd creased and folded the cardstock, I measured out each piece that I would need and created a template in photoshop for them. I can't wait to see his face when the boys give it to him!


There's some more fun hybrid-ness coming up the end of this month over at the The Hybrid Chick... it's definitely baby season around The DigiChick with lots of the designers either expecting, or having just delivered their precious bundles of joy. The fun starts June 15, so be sure to stop by for some wonderful project ideas and even door prizes. I'm not quite sure what I'll be making yet, but I'm planning a trip to Michael's tomorrow to see what kind of fun things I can find to alter.



I added one more creative team last month; you can see my little FunkyPlayground Design blinkie over on the side there. They added lots of new designers at the beginning of the month so there's been all kinds of fun products to play with. Here's a couple of pages featuring James...


Another layout of James, this time with Creashen's Candid kit... that boy has the most expressive face! I'll never have to wonder what he's thinking. I know that he gets that from me though; I used to get in trouble without even having to say anything because my mom could see it all written on my face.


One last bit of fun stuff for today... during my blog hopping I stumbled across this blog called Paper Possibilities and loved her gorgeous cards so much, I really wanted to try her method of coloring and blending myself. I've always loved to color, and even now I'll sit and color with the boys (I have my own box of crayons!) So I decided to go on ebay and see if I could find some colored pencils... I put in a bid on a set of 120, but all the other sets were going for more than I had bid and I started thinking that I didn't really need THAT many colored pencils, so I decided to simply purchase a 72 piece set on buy-it-now and not rebid on the higher set. Unfortunately, no one outbid me on the first set, so I'm now the proud owner of 192 colored pencils. I have now sworn off ebay... way too dangerous for someone so indecisive as I am!! Anyway, as I was browsing through Paula's cards, admiring the eye candy, I came across some really fun stamp companies that I'd never heard of. One of them is called Elzybells, and it just so happens that their blog is celebrating it's first anniversary this month with giveaways and a discount on all orders so if you like to stamp, go check it out! I'm loving this set here (which will come as no surprise to anyone who knows me!)


Well, we're off to the wedding of my long-time friend's little brother so that's all for me today... I'll try to get some good photos!

Happy scrapping and crafting!

Freestyle Flair

A page for the current HodgePodge challenge which is to scrap a summer memory using bright colors. I mixed up all kinds of goodies for this page, including some stuff I downloaded back when I first discovered digi and was downloading everything in sight, but never got around to using most of it!

You can find the challenge here if you're interested. It closes on Sunday night.

Journaling:
it’s so much fun to watch the two
of you in the pool together! I have
many happy memories of summer days
spent mostly in the water. Grandma
and Grampy’s pool was also the scene
of the infamous Labor Day get-
together when it became obvious to
all that your mommy and daddy liked
each other. Seeing you paddle around
in your little float just makes me
smile, and although I hope that
someday you will learn how to swim,
I get such a kick out of the way
your feet thrash around in an attempt
to propel you forward! I am so thank-
ful that we live close enough to my
parents for you to play in their pool.
June 28, 2008

Part One :)

Overdue
What do I do?
What do I do?
This library book is 42
Years overdue.
I admit that it's mine
But I can't pay the fine--
Should I turn it in
Or hide it again?
What do I do?
What do I do?

Shel Silverstein

This little poem perfectly sums up how I feel about blogging right now... I want to, but it's been so long that it seems a bit overwhelming at the same time. I decided that the best way to catch up was to just post a little bit as I have time over the next couple of days.

Let's see... first happy thing is that I have a new little niece. I'm going to go see her again tomorrow, so I'll be sure to take some photos. She's so sweet and little and all of a sudden my boys seem a lot older and bigger!

I added a couple more CT's this month, and Shen invited me to stay after my guest term was up. I ended up winning the Hodge Podge challenge that I'd entered with her designs, and the kit is now available in both of her shop. I still can't believe how fortunate I am to get to scrap with her stuff! Here's a page I made this month with her Green collab and underneath are a few of her new kits that are just gorgeous!




The other fun thing I did was join the team at The Hybrid Chick blog. You can see the blinkie over on the side there. I feel a bit as if I jumped into water that is way over my head because there are some seriously talented girls on the team, but it's been so fun and the more hybrid I do, the more I am loving the flexibility of using the computer to plan out a project! It's also been fun to actually use some of my physical scrapbooking stash again. In fact, today was my first day to post to the blog and I created a fun little goodie can... click on the photo if you want to go check it out!


Well, the boys are up from their naps now so I'll have to share about my Ebay foibles later

Hodge Podge challenge

I've been watching all of the challenges over at the Hodge Podge blog for a couple of months now, and finally decided to join in the fun and play. This week's challenge was to scrap a page listing 10 simple pleasures and use a white background. Here's what I came up with:



The journaling reads:

As I sit down to make a list of life’s simple pleasures, the first thing
to come to mind is holding Simon’s hand. Maybe it’s because
I associate that with the joy of those early days of our engagement,
or maybe it’s because of the feeling of reassurance his warm, strong
grip provides, or maybe it’s a combination of those things plus lots of
other little factors, but whatever the reasons, there’s nothing like
reaching over and tucking my hand into his.
I’m ashamed to confess that dark chocolate made my list as
number two. Call me shallow, but there’s something so satisfying about
the smooth taste of it in my mouth, and if it has nuts in it, even
better! Right up there with chocolate is a good cup of coffee.
Maybe I should have put that as number two, because I love the
comfort of the smooth taste and the warmth of the mug between
my hands first thing in the morning.
The joys of family also made my list in a variety of ways: sweet, honest
compliments from James, who simply delights in making me
smile, and spontaneous hugs from Peter, whose childlike
affection has a way of lifting my spirits no matter how hard the day
has been. These remind me of the Lord’s daily blessings in my life with
his gracious gift of children. Another blessing is my mom, and her
willingness to speak the truth to me when I need to hear it and her
constant love for me and my family. Perhaps the treasure of this
relationship is close to my heart today because of the providental timing
of her call to encourage me to choose carefully what battles to fight
with the boys, and the anticipation of a family dinner tomorrow night.
It’s not just the sense of taste that provides pleasure in life,
certainly. As I hear the dryer buzzer sound, I am reminded of the
very great pleasure I find in sliding into a bed made with clean,
white linens. I also appreciate the warmth of the sun when I
step outside. I know that in a few months, I’ll be sweating in the heat
and wishing for the winter again, but for right now, I’m thankful for
the gentle spring sun warming the air and causing the plants
to burst into bloom.
Rounding out my list of simple pleasures that I’m enjoying this day are
two that relate to finishing something that I started. The first is the
little finished hybrid album that I can see from my spot at
the kitchen table. Remembering the delight of my boys when I handed it
to them and the number of times we’ve already read it aloud together
gives me incentive to finish the other assorted projects that are
currently cluttering my craft table! Lastly is a simple pleasure that I
haven’t experienced yet today, but certainly plan to... the satisfaction
of a clean kitchen. Although right now the counter is covered in
unwashed dishes, and they’re overflowing out of the sink, I know how
productive I will feel when I get them all washed and put
away, and the sense of accomplishment that a clean
kitchen provides is enough to motivate me to
put away the computer for a while, and
take care of my responsibilities.
April 27, 2009

I used Creashen's Pure paper pack for the background, and her brand new Sprung kit available only in The Digi Files this month. It was a lot of fun to make, and I had forgotten how much I enjoy the journaling process when I'm able to just sit and write as the thoughts occur to me. Anyway, wish me luck!