Rays of Sunshine

This week has gotten progressively better as Dave has improved in health!

His flu bug passed, and he is back on his feet and happy to be there!

The weather is gorgeous here today, fall crisp in the morning when I went on my walk with my friend and comfortable warm this afternoon as the kids are home and happy to be here.

I am supposed to packing to leave bright and early in the morning, but of course I am procrastinating a little.

Thought I would share my layout from the latest kit at PcLayers this week. The kit is called Spruce and it is by Victoria Brown. It has a ton of great products in it, and has a really warm, rich feel! Perfect for fall or more masculine projects.

Anyway, I want to thank everyone for their kind words and positive thoughts, it has really helped me get through this week.

And I hope that everyone enjoys their last few days of September!

B-

Tough Luck...

I just have to laugh at myself (trust me, it isn't that hard!)

I was so relieved to get our car back and thought that maybe our little run of tough luck would be over, but alas I was wrong.

Dave the superhero husband that he is went to the gym on Saturday for a long workout, then he came home and worked in the yard for a few hours and made it look so much better!

Then the poor guy got a little bug and spent the night in the bathroom, heaving his guts out (blech!)

Well, the long and short is that while spending so much quality time in the bathroom, he strained his abdominal muscles and threw out his back badly!

So he is miserable and there is not much I can do but try to make him comfortable and leave him to recuperate. I spent the day telling him to go lay down. Men are miserable patients.

The house smells like Ben-Gay and the ibuprofin bottle is half empty, LOL!

I hope that he feels better soon, and that we can get back to something resembling normalcy in our house!

On a more fun note, the Method Playground has a new technique challenge up and I somehow managed to get my layout made during all of this fun!

The challenge is to take some item from your household and use it as a stamp! I used an empty ribbon spool and Lil Davis glitter paint for my large sparkly circles!

Hope that I get to see some of you playing!

B-

Friday (phew)

I am so glad it is Friday. It was kind of a long week, and I am ready to find a bed and have a long nap!
This layout that was in the Creating Inspirations Newsletter is how I feel today, I kinda just want to hide, recuperate and get some juice back in my coconut!

So glad, got my car back this afternoon, yay! That is a very good thing, I am so happy to not be driving Tyler's car anymore. Again perfect for him, for me not so much!

Went on a nice long walk this morning with a friend, it was a beautiful day and we had such a pleasant chat. really needed that!

I also received my kit to work on for Creating Inspirations for October, and lets just say it SERIOUSLY ROCKS!

Got my layout done for the Method Playground and it is a really fun challenge, I hope that it inspires others to play with their art! Go look on Monday for the layouts we all did and what the technique will be! I have to admit that this technique was really a challenge for me! So if I can do it, so can you!
B-

Mixed Bag

Don't you just love how life loves to give you a mixed bag?

This week has been one of those.

So a good thing I was really excited about was the October Scrapbooks Etc. had this layout I did in it!

The bummer was that I had my name spelled wrong and that I still haven't received my check for it because they had my mailing address wrong!

A good thing was getting to play tennis and have a luncheon get together with all of my favorite tennis girls, and celebrating a dear friends birthday! The bummer was that after tennis my Yukon died and now it is in the shop and I am driving Tyler's "vintage" (read as old pos) Porsche 944, perfect car for a teenage boy, not so much for a carpooling mom!

Another good thing is that I am busy with scrapbooking, it has me wondering whether to sit or stand, the bummer is that I make no money for any of my work! Gotta a love a hobby that is so encompassing that you become an enthusiast (right April?)

Just wanted to clarify that I am not going to Denver until next weekend, and of course I am very excited! Just to add a fun silly me twist to the whole thing, my kids reminded me that they have Friday off from school and they are glad that I will be gone because when it is just them and dad they get away with more. Great.

Anyway, mixed bag or not, life is still good, and I am grateful for all I have and all I get to do, very worth the roller coaster!

B-

Purple is IN...

It is kind of a now color, but at our house it has always been in.

It has always been Laurel's favorite color and has never left us!

So when I was at that crop and was working on some older pictures of her, of course I had to use the purple!!!

I was really excited, I got four layouts done and had a great time doing them!

It was so fun to create just for the sake of having fun and keeping some precious memories that had been waiting for me!

We had some great laughs about the pictures being "called up" like going to the big leagues and getting into the book instead of being in the photo bin!, it was hilarious!

But when you think about it a little, that is what this hobby is all about, getting to those moments that you really don't want to forget!

Anyway, I get to go to Colorado next week for the Scrap Pink crop that Scrapbook Destinations is hosting! I will kind of be the EmCee and entertainment, and I am excited to go and help this fundraiser be really successful! Thanks for the opportunity Mary Kay!

B-

Quick Sunday update

Had a great day yesterday! Spent it cropping at a Fundraiser for Cystic Fybrosis up in Ogden. A wonderful gal named Brenda Hurd organized the whole thing and it was a nice way to spend the day! Got to enjoy the company of two amazing friends and we seriously laughed so hard my stomach ached when the day was done. I am sure that it didn't help that I ate the entire day! Junk food, salads, popcorn, doughnuts, we had a little of everthing!
Also want to mention that the incredibly talented Natalie Malan has a new freebie on her blog and it is a great one!!!
No bad pics or oldy moldy layouts to share today, breathe a sigh of relief!
B-

Have you hugged your computer today?

No seriously!

I am on mine (both of them) all the time.

Don't know what I would do without them.

Last Friday when I hung out with Kayla, Natalie and Celeste for the evening, we got to talking a little bit about how we started including our computer in our scrapbooking. That was such an eye opener for me. I have always used mine. The very first memories I kept were DJ Inkers clip art printed out onto really cheap cardstock (the only kind at the time!) and some paint pens colored in the images and then I would try to write a few thoughts or a date.

So in that spirit, and since my mind is on Halloween, I thought I would provid for your entertainment some of my very first layouts! These are from about 1995.

Please don't judge me harshly, I know they are pretty hideous by today's standards. But that was 12 years ago, and I was trying hard to keep my special moments remembered! I know the stickers and I didn't know any better, so I used both sides of the same thin sheet of cardstock, one side printed out right, and then I ran the next otherside through for the skeleton crew and it was upside down, it broke my heart! So I said "Oh well..." and ran it through the right way and tried so hard to make it work! I know it isn't amazing, but the idea is that these are my memories, and who will care twenty years from now if they are gorgeous pages? They will look at those crazy costumes that I made, yes I hand painted five sets of sweatsuits with glow in the dark paint, and say what a goofball! That is something that I really wanted to remember! My kids loved those costumes so much they slept in them and wore them until I couldn't stand the sight of them anymore and then they wore them some more, LOL!

So my point, I guess, is that we use our computers so much more than we realize, we should embrace that and figure out new ways to involve one of our most reliable tools in our memory keeping more often! Our computers will love having our company even more, and you will be able to get more of those precious, crazy moments preserved!

B-

Go Fish!!!

New Kit called Oahu from PcLayers.
Super tropical, batik looking kit, great for vacation and beach layouts.

So do you do the digi?

PcLayers is looking for artists to join their creative team. We are looking for memory keepers who are comfortable sharing their art, knowledge and enthusiasm.
Who we are:
PcLayers is a new digital community with old scrapbooking heritage. The artists and administration have been providing traditional crafting product for many years. They have now brought all that talent and experience to the digital memory keeping scene.
What we need:
Enthusiastic, energetic, digital/fusion artists that love to share their work and inspiration. Cheerleaders and trendsetters that love to be involved in a great message board community and are willing to answer questions, be supportive, and have the desire to build online friendships. How it works:
If selected you will receive monthly credit in your pcpurse. You select the kits you want to work with and you share your work in the gallery, your enthusiasm for the product on the message board and your appreciation for others efforts by praising in the gallery. More details will provided at that point.
What you need to do to apply:
1) Send four samples of your work sized at 500 x 500 pixels at 72 dpi to
submissions@pcLayers.com

2) Please include a link to an online gallery.
3) If you participate on any teams, please list what they are
4) If you have an online resume, please include a link
5) Please share why you think you would be a good fit for this team.
6) Any other information about yourself that you wish to share!

Deadline for submissions will be Sept 30th midnight (mountain time)
Those selected will be notified by the 7th of October.
The team will be posted on PcLayers on the 7th as well.

I need team members, come join me!
B-

Tomorrow is Tuesday (wait that is today!)

Yesterday went by way to fast, I got up today thinking it was still Monday and that tomorrow was Tuesday, crazy!

This time of year just flies too fast for me, the kids are gone all day and I have tons of crazy stuff I want to get done, but never quite get to, ever have that feeling? Total treadmill, LOL!

I wanted to share the other layout I had been inspired to do by the Method Playground challenge this week of making a patterned paper out of cardstock. This one actually was my favorite of the two I had made, but the other one went so well with the other layouts that it made more sense to use it, so this one is in the stable.

It is a great technique to use a white core cardstock (DCWV) and put chipboard or other detailed items under it and sand!

Loved this color combo, and the Hambly Robots are sooooooooo cute! Perfect for these pics of Laurel and Carter beating the crap out of each other in the snow!

Also, PcLayers is doing a creative team call. It will be fun to see who they end up with on their team, they have talented product designers, so it will be great to see awesome people working with their stuff! If you have questions about that, let me know and I will find some answers for you!

I hope everyone has a wonderful day!

*smooches*

B-

fabYOUlous Method Playground

The first layout for the challenge blog!

I love these pics of Laurel, and even though the layout was hard to photo because of the transparency on it, it still looks pretty good.

The challenge is to make a patterned paper from cardstock. The brown layer has 3 different sizes of holes punched in it and then was laid over a white cardstock with strips of green laid randomly over it so the the dots are FUN!

Anway used the white signo to do the journaling on the Hambly overlay, and I just love that pen!

B-

Little Sneak Peeks!

I got to spend a little time this weekend working on the very first

challenge for the Method Playground blog (please use link below

when you are done reading!)

Finished up a layout that had been giving me some design hiccups and then the one that is in the blue and green went together in no time, isn't that how it always is! Once I knew I had something to post, the ideas just started rolling and I still have more things I want to play with, this challenge is that much FUN!!!!

I hope a lot of people are inspired and want to explore the techniques that we present!

So here is the completed project that I will be teaching online at Lazar StudioWERX. It is adorable. I know I am biased, but let me tell you if you need a cool halloween project consider doing this class!

Anyway, I have a birthday dinner for my dad this evening, so going to put this to rest!

Hope to see you at the Playground!

B-

WOW!!!

576!

That is the number of hits that we got on the Method Playground blog yesterday!
We are having such a great learning experience, and we are so grateful for all of the people who are helping us put it together and who are as excited to play as we are!

I got to go and hang out at Paper Creations for a few hours last night with a couple of digi-gals that I just adore, and we spent some time getting to know each other. I needed some time out of the house, and this was a great way to get it!
Anyway, got a lot to do and tennis is the mens semi-finals and the women's finals today at the US Open, have to keep up with that!
B-

Method to our Madness!!!!

I am super excited, some of the Honorable Mention Girls have gotten together and put a blog out called Method Playground it is almost ready for viewing, so if you try the link and it doesn't get you all the way there, try again it is really close!

All of us that are involved (Deborah Mahnken, Jen Armentrout, Alicia Story and I) all love techniques and wanted to have a way to share what we do, have guests to share what they do and have a way to invite everyone to participate, learn and enjoy creating with great ideas in a supportive atmosphere! Please pass the word along too if you don't mind! We are going to be doing paper, digital, hybrid and all kinds of other things, so there will be something for literally everyone!

Can you tell that I am a little excited about the coming season?!!! I just love the fall and Halloween is just the best most fun holiday pretty much ever!

Anyway, got tons of stuff to do, and dinner is calling!

B-

Wednesday Wonders

I wonder why I can't get Filezilla to cooperate with downloads I needed to get done today.
I wonder why the things that I can't get done don't do themselves.
I wonder why my kids feel the need to have something right then and now when it just can't be done right then and now.
I wonder why people don't do what they say they are going to do when they say they are going to do it (I am guilty of this and wonder why I don't just do it when I said I was going to!)
I wonder why dinner can't just make itself.
I wonder why I can't just accept somethings as they are and get over them.
I wonder about many important political issues also (constantly) but I won't share those thoughts.
I wonder about many social issues also, but can't immediately fix them so try not to be depressed about them.
I wonder about spiritual growth as well, and wish I had more energy to pursue these interests.
I wonder when life will simplify.
I wonder when I will stop complicating my own life.
Does anyone else ever wonder?

September kit at Creating Inspirations

I think I told you how much I loved the kit this month, it was full of 7 Gypsies and Daisy D's in gorgeous fall colors that were so inspiring to me, but I couldn't share what I had been working on until the kit got revealed a few days ago.

I have really enjoyed making 6x12 layouts this summer, they are fast and just make me smile! I had these little pics of Chloe that were so cute, but I was just struggling to find a way to share them, and this kit was just perfect! The velvet letters are making memories and were not included in the kit, but everything else was!

I will share the newsletter layout after it is sent out, that project ended up being my favorite from this kit!

It is a wonderful weather day here in Utah, it is overcast and not to hot or cold, I love it! I have spent the day working on some fun holiday projects that I will be teaching in Vancouver B.C. in November. So the smell of Modge Podge is heavy in the air too, gotta love it!

B-

Featured Layout

I am such a ding-a-ling sometimes!

It is so much fun to share what I have been up to with my scrapping, that I post work on some of my favorite message boards like Creating Inspirations, Two Peas, Scrapologie, SIS and PcLayers. I also post once in a while to Creating Keepsakes and share some cards at PaperCrafts.

This is sometimes a lot to keep track of where I have shared what and when. So this last Friday I posted the layout of Carter called "It's a Good Day" at Creating Keepsakes and then went on my way to go enjoy some wonderful and much needed time with my FAB friends Kim and Nicole for the evening!

So yesterday I went to Creating Keepsakes to see all the wonderful work in the gallery and check out Erin Lincoln's blog and stuff. The home page comes up and there is Carter and that cute little layout that I had posted and forgotten about on Friday was the featured layout.

It just made me really happy and was kinda cool!

Also spent some time this last weekend working on the sample for an online class I will be doing at Lazar StudioWERX!

It is a very fun and over the top cute Halloween project! More info to come around the 15th of September, just wanted to share a little sneak peek!

Well enjoy the remainder of your holiday weekend, we still have one more day of relaxing, our school district also takes Tuesday off so the kids don't go back until Wednesday!

B-