Wide Open Spaces

I can't believe I never shared this layout... it's an older one, but I made it for a Creating Keepsakes call and then the page never got picked up to be published anywhere so I just kind of hoarded it away. ;)

This is me and my brother, Michael - the pilot. He took me up flying one year for my birthday. After going up with him and seeing the world as he does, I can totally understand now his fascination and love for his passion and career. It is just so blissful up in all that blue...

Harmonie Design Team Call

I just found out about a great Canadien company, called Harmonie, that is having a new design team call. I looked at their papers and fell in love with their lines. I'm so frustrated that I've never seen their products before... if you haven't seen them before - check them out. There's a link in my favorites section... Here's a link to their blog. Enjoy!

Totally you...

I tell ya, I love making pages about my nieces, Sadie and Madison. Here's a photo from a few years back when I was able to take them to Pages in Time in South Bend every week while they were on summer break. I found this pic and loved it, so I had to scrap it. They are such little goofballs and I love that it comes through in their pics!

The papers on this one are a bit older, from Scenic Route, but I'm loving going through my stash to look for the perfect paper to complement my photos. You can expect a ton more with older papers coming soon - I think I have about 15 or more pages in the works! I hope you like it!

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!!

Today is my Mom and Dad's 27th wedding anniversary! I am so, so, so glad my Mom met and fell in love with my Dad all those years ago... what a different life I would have if it was not for him. I love you both so very much!

Here's a photo of them, celebrating their 25th anniversary...

New day, new page!

Today I'm going to share a layout that I did for the crop over at Scrapgal.com. We were challenged to make a layout about books and I chose to make a layout about Stephenie Meyer, the author of the Twilight series. It's all her fault that I love reading again... :)

I'm also loving doing these nifty little rolled flowers.... here's a close-up:

Well, shoot!

I got an email tonight from SEI saying I didn't make the team. I *so* wanted this one. They were very nice, though and said they really liked my work and that I was in their top picks, but to please try again next year...

Tonight, I'm going to bury myself in some ice cream and go scrap a page with some pictures that I took of my niece, Ava, tonight. Little things make me happy. :)

Thanks so much for all the kind comments as I waited - I really appreciate it!

I'm nervous!

Well, I do have to admit: I'm rather nervous about the SEI design team call. I just went to browse the boards at 2ps and I saw that some of the girls that submitted for their design team call actually got an email right off the bat that said something like "Thank you but you weren't selected..." I got an email that explained what they were looking for and it asked us if we agreed with the terms. It also said they would let everyone know by the 21st of this month. Well, it is now officially the 20th, and I'm really nervous! I would be SO OVER THE MOON EXCITED to be chosen for this design team. I adore their products and I've been creating layouts like crazy the last month. I have like six that I want to submit to all the magazines. I think I can do this. No. I'm sure I can do this... but I'm so nervous!! LOL

Happy Friday!

Good morning! Lots going on today... I have to work this afternoon, so that will eat up a good portion of my day, but I thought I'd share a few things.

Scrapgal is having a crop tonight. You should definitely head over there and check it out. Such a fun place and so full of inspiration! Tons of faces that I know from Scrapperie too, so that is really nice.

Scrapdango is having a Design Team call and the owner, Heather, is truly a sweetheart. You would be silly not to apply if you are wanting a great team to be on and a great community to call home. Here are all the details of the DT call here.

Finally, I want to share a page that I did quite a while back, but with the gorgeous weather outside today, I couldn't resist. I am so in love with this page. I took the photos when Mom, Dad and I went for a drive to Amish country and just spent the day shopping and having a good

time together. I love days like that!

My page is called "Autumn's Sweet Splendor." What do you think?

Family party night

Since we have so many family birthdays in the middle of September, we always do a group party for Morgan, Michael and Sadie. the party was tonight and man, was it a fun night! Dad cooked pork chops on the grill, Mom made her baked root veggies that we all love and then we had salad, homemade bruschetta and my pecan pie and cheesecake!

Mom took pictures of Mike, Morgan and me and I will share them when I get them edited - but I really love them! Can you believe it? Pictures of *me* that I actually like! LOL

Here's one of me and Morgan:

And one of me and Mike:

Finally, one of all three of us together:

Did I mention I was on vacation?

Hehe... just kidding. I know I did.

Even though I really haven't done much of anything, I've had a really nice week, just relaxing and enjoying time with my family. Today, I went to my Mom and Dad's house - to spend some time with them and my brother, who was in for his days off. Mom and I did some running around and then made Mike's pecan pie for his birthday party tomorrow night. For once, I think my pie turned out perfectly! Whatcha think?

After hanging with them, Danny had called to see if Jeff and I wanted to meet the gang at Bridges for the Sox game. Jeff didn't go because he said he still had too much work to do for class, but I went and had a great time. Wings, beer & friends - what could be better?

hello

I thought I would share a fun little card... it uses some older SEI papers, but what can I say? I love them! I also used alphabet stickers as a mask before inking the patterned paper. What do you think?

Happy Birthday, Michael!

Happy Birthday to my brother, Michael. I can't believe you're twenty-six years old today! It seems as if it was only yesterday that Mom was telling Morgan and me that we were going to have a little brother or sister. I remember bing so excited! My feeling about having you in my life have not changed - you make everything more fun, more exciting and more ... well, just more. We are all so proud of the man you have become and what you're doing with your life.

Keep it up!

xoxo

Happy Birthday, Sadie!

I cannot believe my oldest niece, Sadie, turned eleven today! Where in the world has the time gone? It just seems wrong that my sister (who is three years younger than me) can possibly be old enough to have an eleven year old! I still think of her as eleven! LOL

For her birthday, she wanted to have a dance party, if her Uncle Jeff would be so kind as to come and DJ for her and her group of friends. When I asked him if he would do it, he got the biggest grin on his face and then promptly called my sister to ask what "toys" he should bring! Needless to say, come Monday morning, anyone who didn't get invited to her party is going to be J-E-A-L-O-U-S! The girls all had so much fun- they laughed and sang and did gymnastic moves for almost 6 hours! Granted, they would all disappear for about 10-15 minutes at a time to go reapply their "make-up" but they would pop back in and dance until they were sweaty. I took so many fun pictures - I can't wait to make some pages... the ideas are endless and just swirling in my head!

After the dance party, most of the girls stayed for a sleepover. Sadie said they stayed up until 4 am doing make up and hair and watching TV. I picked her up today about noon, so we could go have a girls' day and go shopping for her birthday. We started out at Rue 21, where she got a bunch of shirts and some jewelry. Then, we headed out to Michigan City, where we hit Justice, Gap, Hollister and a bunch of other places. She finally settled on getting a skirt, a pair of super cute shorts and a shirt from Hollister. She even spent some of her own birthday money at Bed, Bath & Beyond.

After shopping, it has kind of become our tradition to go to the Lake and just veg - so we went and ate dinner at Swingbelly's first and then made sand castles and walked along the lake front, talking and just having a fun time. I hated to have to take her home... but we had such a good day!

ahoy!

I think I mentioned the other day that I joined a really fun scrappy website, right? Well, it's called Scrapgal.com and they are having a month-long "crop" with all sorts of fun little games and challenges to get you motivated. I participated in a challenge called "Scrap tag," where I was emailed a lift of a lift of a lift, etc... I was also the anchor for our team and I don't think I've ever scrapped a page so fast in my life! LOL Really. From start to finish, it was just under an hour - which just may be a world record for me.

This is the page I ended up with - and I hate to admit it, but I plan on redoing it. I'm not quite happy with the colors and there 's just not enough "stuff" on it for me. :) Anyhoo - here's my take on the "sketch" I was given:

The background is really not black, that's just my computer screen, which I found makes a really dandy page holder in a pinch. This photo was taken by one of my Dad's crew-mates on board the ships this summer. He had come home just a few weeks before they came to port in Hammond, but he went up for the weekend to work and just generally, help out with the tours & such. I think we were all so surprised to see how small the ships really are and that he lived on board them for three whole months! We are all so proud of him!

Ahhhh... vacation!

So, I'm sitting here today at my house and I am so happy that tomorrow is Thursday and it's the first official day of my Fall Vacation. I don't have to go to work. I don't have to listen to people who are calling me on (most of the time) their worst day. I can just sit and do nothing, if I so choose.

However, I am choosing to spend my free time cleaning out my pantry. Maybe making some dinner for Jeff and I for once. (I work straight afternoons, so dinner making usually doesn't ever get to happen.) I am also walking, every day - sometimes with Jody (my best friend) and sometimes with Payton. And sometimes, just with me and my Ipod. It makes me happy. The walking, not the Ipod - but well... I guess that makes me happy too! LOL

I am also choosing to spend my free time getting back into the groove of scrapbooking. I have once again joined an online site where I know a few of the members and just enjoying spending my time there and sharing the love of scrapbooking. I didn't really realize how much I missed it until it was gone. I've got lots more pages to share and I think I'll do that over the next few days as well... We'll see how the night goes. I am going to meet Jody to go see a movie and then we are going to walk, so it may be late when I get back. If not, I'll share another one. :)

all just a blur

If I didn't know it was true, I would never in a million years believe it. I actually made TWO pages today! (I've got another in the works, too but it may need a trip to the scrapbook store to finish.) I'll share one of the pages with you tonight, because that's all I was able to get photos of tonight. This one is a page about my nephew, David. I just simply cannot believe how fast time has flown and how he's gone from a baby to a little gentleman - all in the span of just a few months. I had some really cute photos from St. Patrick's Day, when Morgan, David and I went to lunch at Old Chicago. He had such a good time, sitting like a big boy in the booth next to me. He was dancing to the music and just having so much fun, I couldn't help but snap some pics. I love that they came out a little blurry. It helped me see my inspiration for this page. I hope you like it. :)

Faux Hawk

I think this might possibly the most simple page I have ever done! It is sooooo hard for me to do simple. LOL This is my nephew, David, with the cutest little haircut when he was about sixish months old. (He's now 2 and a half.... I'm a wee bit behind, eh?)

I used some SEI, some Jenni Bowlin and KI on this page, along with my favorite Doodlebug things - alphabet stickers. I am reallllly starting to enjoy scrapping again! I hope my mojo never leaves me again.

Just me...

I know that in the past, I've kept this blog just scrapbook related, but hey! It's my blog and I think I want to start blogging for not only my scrappy stuff, but for my own itty bit of sanity. So today I'm going to share some personal stuff. (You've been warned. *wink*)

Most of my family and good friends know that last year, I started to finally get healthier. I was tired of being overweight and tired and loads of other things, so I got my act together and joined Weight Watchers online. (This was the easiest for me since I work Thursday-Monday straight afternoons and most WW meetings in my area are always on Thursdays, while I'm at work.) It's been over a year now and while I am in NO way near my goal weight, (I still have roughly 50 pounds I want to lose to get there.) I am so much happier in my "new" skin.

I've been frustrated the last few months though, because I've plateaued out AGAIN. I think this is maybe the third time. I had a trainer that was helping me work out for a while and he says that my body is trying to get over the shock of losing the weight and that it will take a while for my metabolism to catch up with the rest of me. That makes me grumpy. Silly, but true. I'm really tired of being stuck at this weight and I've tried a bunch of things to get past it, but I'm not having any luck. I've tried eating less, I've tried exercising more, I've tried doing only cardio, I've tried just walking, heck - I even tried, for one month, eating more (not excessively, just more and more often). That did nothing but help me gain back about 5 pounds. I've since lost that and am once again stuck at my plateau weight. So I've kind of just had it and am afraid I may be resigned to being 50 pounds away from my goal weight forever. *sigh*

Is there anyone out there that has any ideas or maybe some thoughts on why I can't lose any more?

You & Me

This one I made for Sadie, my niece, because she said there were no good pictures of just her and me. I love her so much and I cannot believe she's already ten years old! Where has the time gone?

So guess what?

I'm about halfway done with a NEW LAYOUT!! Can you believe it? Me! I did it! I really did it! I found my mojo again!! (Can you tell I'm a wee bit excited about this?)

I even found some cajones and submitted a whole bunch of "older" layouts to Scrapbooking & Beyond. I'm kind of excited about it. AND I'm applying for the SEI design team! They have always been one of my favorite manufacturers. I'd be SO stoked if they picked me! Wish me luck?

2 Cute 4 Words

So, I'm sharing a page that I've had in my stash of goodies for a very long time... it's my sweet as can be nephew, David, when he was only a few months old. I love this picture of him trying to figure out how to suck his thumb.

I cut out the circles from paper and added it onto the grid paper. I also doodled the photo mat and hand-wrote the journaling in and around the circles. What do you think?