Yep- it’s time.  I cannot seem to keep up with this particular site and it’s needs.  Besides that, it’s costing me some cash that I really need to be saving.  So… I’ll be phasing out this blog as time goes on.  I have a few months left on this site, so I may post here and there while the time is left, but once that time is up, it’s gone.  The gallery will move, but I haven’t figured out where yet.  I still want to be able to share that part with others- it’ll just move somewhere else.  Once I figure that part out, I’ll post it and let everyone know.

So where do I begin?  It’s been a LONG time since I posted anything here and I have no real good excuses.  That’s okay- I won’t give any excuses.  I’ll just tell you that I haven’t done it because I honestly haven’t thought about it.  But with all the recent blog usage by some people I know, I thought of it today and figured it was high time for me to get my site up to date!  So, here I am updating it a bit.

I feel I’m so far behind in all I “should” be posting… so here’s the scoop on what’s been happening since I last posted anything here:  My sister was getting married, so I sewed a dress for my daughter to wear to the wedding, I sewed a vest for my son to wear since he was ushering our mom to her seat, I sewed the “purple cow” dress that I had to wear to the wedding, and I made sure that the children had all other articles of clothing needed for her special day.  In the middle of making my dress, however, my sewing machine decided it was going to quit working on me, so I had to borrow one in order to finish my dress.  I did, and I ended up finishing it before my sister even finished her own wedding gown (yes, she sewed her dress)!  Oh- did I mention in the middle of all of that that I threw a bridal shower for my sister?  So I spent a couple of weeks making sure I had all I needed for that and it went off without a hitch (YAY!!).  Once that was all done, there were all sorts of little prep-work things to do, so they were done little by little… until the week of the wedding when all the last minute stuff that couldn’t be done any other time had to be done.  It was all done at MY house, with my parents and grandmother in town, too.  There were a lot of people at my house, so the week was filled with laughs and, surprisingly, not as much starbucks coffee as I thought!- even though I made 96 crescent rolls from SCRATCH.  Then came the wedding- one absolutely GORGEOUS day and it went very well.  We survived the ceremony and reception- and yes, I even survived wearing the purple cow dress… and then I fed and took care of their cat for the next week while the newlyweds were on their honeymoon.  Ah- newlyweds…  they came home relaxed and truly happy.  Can I have a break like that, too?  Somewhere in there I had to take care of my two darling children by myself while DH was on a business trip- not once, but TWICE.  That’s okay- as I write this, he’s on another business trip and the kids and I are partying hard (yeah, right!) while he’s away.

So, now it’s June, my husband’s birthday was a week ago, and Father’s Day is THIS Sunday.  The children and I need to go get the perfect gift sometime this week, but with gas at $4 a gallon now, all errands are run on ONE day of the week (okay, maybe two if necessary) anymore.  So, I think the kids and I will head out tomorrow in search of that wonderful Father’s Day gift and do some Goodwill “hunting” with my newly married sister after we do a few necessary errands.   I would love to fit in some “crafty” time for myself, but I have to be patient and wait until Friday for that.  In the meantime, I’m attempting to get my pile of paper crafting magazines (mainly card ones) dwindled down to a reasonable amount that I can actually USE.  So, in order to do that I am looking through my piles and noting which issues and which pages I would like to save.  Once I do that, I’ll go back and either tear the page out and save it in a sheet protector in a notebook, or scan it and save it electronically.  The first one may be more time effective, so right now I’m leaning toward that solution.  I’m also ATTEMPTING to downsize my scrapbooking stash.  *gasp!*  Why on earth?!?!  you ask?  Well, because all of my scrapping supplies are at my sister’s place, and as a newlywed, they aren’t going to be in an apartment forever.  That being said, I need to downsize my excess “stuff” so that when I do have to take it all back to my already crowded little home it’s a tad bit more manageable.  This is where completing all my projects for 2008 come in.  If I can complete my projects this year, then I will have eliminated items from my stash that have just been piling up waiting to be turned into something new…  Believe it or not, completing 208 scrapbook pages in 2008 is a part of that goal.  To date I have completed 118 pages!!  YAY me!  I’m 10 pages ahead of where I need to be, but if I don’t get anything done this month I’ll be behind again.  So, Friday night needs to be productive for me.  I have some ideas… just need to get them DONE!!

Speaking of downsizing, that seems to be a theme around our house.  DH recently downsized our vehicles by selling the one that didn’t run (woohoo!), and in turn that downsized our insurance bill!!  He’s also downsized our belongings that are stored in the shed and freed up some space in there- now to KEEP that space free!  We’re also working on getting all of my teaching notebooks scanned and saved digitally, so we’re downsizing my teaching files this year, too.  I figure if I can go back to teaching in a few years with only a few boxes, and most of my copied papers turned into pdf’s and saved onto DVD’s then I’m doing good.  Less to carry, but a whole lot more space to grow in other ways!  We’re tired of the excess, and through this downsizing of our own belongings we hope to teach our children that they don’t need a lot of  STUFF to be happy.  Did I mention that we are also doing this because we eventually want to move and we don’t want to rent the biggest truck in order to move us?  Yeah- that would be another reason for getting rid of what we don’t need and use.

WHEW!  I think I’ve said enough to get me caught up for a short while.  I’m going to work on getting more pictures on the gallery, so that should be updated relatively soon.  Stay posted… there will be more to come!!

Okay, since the first of the year I have made a number of personal resolutions, and then I got involved on this AWESOME site called SparkPeople and now I have MORE personal resolutions!! The good thing is, they are actually coming to fruition- and I made a few scrapping resolutions, too. Now you have to understand that these aren’t NEW YEAR’S resolutions… they are just resolutions that I made with/to myself- they just happened to be made around the first of the year! Here are a couple of the scrapping resolutions I have made:

1- Scrapbook 208 pages in 2008

2- Finish ALL of my scrapping and altering projects that have been sitting around

The first one is actually a challenge that I joined on SparkPeople, but it fits in with my own desires for scrapbooking, so I made it a personal promise to complete this year. So far I am on track! Only 18 pages need to be completed per month in order to meet the goal, so I’m definitely on track with this one. I have completed 50 pages so far this year, and I only need to get 3 more done this month to meet my monthly goal of 18 pages. As for the projects, I’m pretty much on track with that one, too, since I marked off four projects in January alone. The down side is, I haven’t worked on one project since then…

Okay- so who else has scrapping resolutions for this year? I’d love to hear what you have resolved to accomplish this year. Who knows- it may inspire other people!!

Until next time, take care and KEEP ON SCRAPPIN’!!

Does being busy ever stop?  I know that sounds like a rhetorical question- and really it is for me.  I know I am not going to stop being busy as long as I have two young children and I scrapbook.  That’s okay, though.  I don’t mind, really.  If I didn’t have anything to do I think I would go completely insane!  It is nice, though, once in a while to have a little time to just sit and relax or be able to pick out your own agenda for the day instead of following the agendas of the little ones in your life.  Again, I don’t mind- and I DO get my time to scrapbook and keep my sanity.  My DH is wonderful at giving me time away from the house each week (on Friday evenings) so that I can go be crafty and work on my various projects that I have going on.  So I guess you could say I have a good balance in life.  I’m not complaining at all- please don’t think I am.  I enjoy having things to do and I LOVE being with my children.  It’s just a delicate balance… that’s all. 

I look forward to this Friday- I get to “play” some more with my Scrapping tools and make some more “stuff.”  I’ve been working on altering some things, and I have two more CD tins to do, so once they are done I’ll post them on the gallery so they are able to be viewed.  They are part of my project list for 2008, so I would say that I may be off to a good start in getting this list narrowed down…  At least I hope so!  Well, on that note, I’ll sign off for now.  Until next time, take care and Keep on Scrappin’!

I guess it’s that time again- time for New Year’s Resolutions.  This year I have made quite a few, even though I haven’t taken the pen to the paper and written them down yet.  I really should since that seems to be how I manage to get everything I have planned accomplished.  But with two children under the age of four it isn’t easy to find that time.  Even still, I will get them down and hopefully be organized enough to get them all (okay- most of them) accomplished this year.  We shall see.  I need to get my resolutions for this site written down as well or I feel I will never get it up and running the way I would like to see it running…  Maybe that will be my project for this weekend.  Oh my- I suddenly feel bogged down with things to do and stuff to get accomplished…  Isn’t that the way it goes, though?

Good luck to everyone who has a long list of resolutions for 2008- Hang in there and you WILL achieve all of your goals!  Until next time, Keep on Scrappin’!

Well, I’m finally “gettin’ there!”  Where, you ask?  To the end of Christmas items…  Okay- go ahead.  Throw something at me for being nearly done before Thanksgiving-  gimme your best shot!!  I’ve always had a love of Christmas and all it is- NOT the commercialized part.  I enjoy celebrating the birth of our LORD and Savior and remembering what it means for us.  Honestly, I love giving things to others, too.  I don’t expect things in return- I just like seeing the other person feeling blessed by what I have given them.  Maybe that’s why I try to get my stuff done before Thanksgiving.  Or maybe it’s that we are traveling for Christmas this year and I want to be sure it’s all done before December…  Maybe it’s a combination of both (this year at least)!  Either way, I’ve finished two things I had planned on making for my daughter for Christmas this year and I have started on the book I am making for my son.  I still have a couple of other items to make, but I’m almost there!  If I get my time to scrapbook and get the creative juices flowing tomorrow evening, then I should get the book completed and the other items near completion.  Sorry- can’t say what they are for fear of those people reading this and finding out their gifts!!

Anyway, check out the gallery.  I’ve placed 30 items up there for you to see, 27 of them being scans of the alphabet rhyming book I made for my daughter.  (The other three items are cards.)  The book was inspired by a lady on the cricut messageboards a few months back who created an alphabet book for one of her grandchildren.  I did my best to make mine different, but there are a couple (or 3) pages that were scraplifted in order to make my book work.  Go check it out and let me know what you think.  It’s in a new album titled “Altered and Crafted Items” in the Gallery.  I’m anxious to hear your thoughts!!

That’s it for now.  Gotta get back to crafting- and taking care of the family!!  Take care, and Keep on Scrappin’!!

Do you find it as difficult as I do to just keep up?  With life, kids, everyday events… oh, and SCRAPBOOKING?  Goodness knows I do!!  A few weeks ago (right before the convention) I felt as if I was actually getting somewhere in the scrapbooking world by getting some pictures from 1999 put onto pages and actually into albums.  Here it is nearly a month after that and I am feeling much further behind than I was before that!  Why is that, I wonder?  Maybe it’s because there are just so many things in our lives today that we feel obligated to put every appendage we have into the fire and we don’t leave any time to just sit back, relax, and enjoy the moments that pass.  Well, I personally know that something has to change- at least in my little corner of the world!!  So, as I begin working on Christmas gifts and cards and the like, I find I am just putting my work aside and cherishing the memories I have and understanding that the pictures aren’t going to go anywhere.  They’ll be there when I am done with my current project(s).  It helps that I write things down, too, so that when I go back and look at the pictures I can remember what took place or a funny quip that should go with a certain picture or group of pictures.  Of course, I didn’t always do that.  I learned the hard way!  Don’t we all, though?  At any rate, it is certainly hard to keep up, but look on the bright side… at least you will never be bored!!  :)  Until next time… Take care and Keep on Scrappin’!!

Well, the convention in Huntsville, Alabama is over.  The weekend went quickly and I was SO psyched to get there, but when we arrived at the convention hall on Friday I was kind of disappointed.  Four years ago there were lines of people waiting to enter the convention, the hall floor was PACKED, and every booth was doing bang-up business!  When we walked in on Friday we were able to buy our tickets to the show floor immediately, we walked in to the hall with NO lines, and the hall wasn’t even full!  There was SO much space that I wondered where everyone was!  Don’t get me wrong, there were plenty of booths, but I was kind of disappointed!  Yes, there were people there and booths were doing business, but it wasn’t the crowded frenzy of business I remember from so many conventions in the past.  Not to mention you couldn’t take pictures!  I at least wanted to get some pictures to share on the site, but it wasn’t allowed.  Oh well.  I did find some great deals on various tools, but some of the bigger named companies weren’t there.  I actually didn’t spend much money at all- and that is what surprised me the most!  Approximately 90% of the booths featured pre-made scrapbook layouts by their own designers… not what I was looking for personally… and SO much of the stuff I saw there I either don’t need or already have.  So, after thinking about it, I have come to the conclusion that it wasn’t so much the convention that was a bust (for me, personally), but it was the area in which is was held.  You see, there aren’t very many scrapbook stores in that area, so not many people are into the craft.  Most of the people I saw wandering the convention hall floor were from out of state, so that tells me that they are die-hard scrappers and will drive (like me!) to a convention in search of a great deal or wonderful class.  Hopefully next year the convention can be back in Nashville.  That’s where it has been in the past, and it’s brought lots of people in before.  I may just make the drive next year if it’s back in Nashville!  Guess we’ll have to wait and see!  But, for now I guess I’ll just play with the great tools I do have and continue to work on my sketches and layouts…  Until later- take care and Keep on Scrappin’!!

I’m not one to usually toot my own horn, but I am going to today. Well, I should have done it yesterday, but it didn’t happen for some reason… Here goes: I had a layout published!! Okay- so it wasn’t in a magazine, but it’s HUGE to me nonetheless! I made a MiniMap for www.pagemaps.com and it was published with the October PageMaps!! You can see it by visiting the link above, looking in the gallery, or right here! Yes, I am proud of this little accomplishment! When I was making this layout based on her sketch, I also made a 12×12 layout. That one is also in the gallery and here. I hope you like them! Please feel free to let me know your thoughts.

…only 2 days until I leave for the convention in Alabama…

…That’s it for now. Take care, and Keep on Scrappin’!!

Yes, it’s true. The excitement is growing in my head. Why? Well, it could only be the opportunity to attend a scrapbook convention!! Having attended the Memories Expo in Columbus, Ohio earlier this year, I am more than ready to travel to Huntsville, Alabama and atttend the Simply Southern Scrapbook Convention. It’s their fifth annual, and I’m looking forward to seeing it from a consumer’s point of view. I was able to be a vendor there about three years ago (wow- that long already??), but having children and teaching forced me to step back after that experience. Now I get to travel to Alabama with my 13 month old daughter- who I hope loves scrapbooking as much as I do when she’s older- and my younger sister next week. My ultimate goal at this point is to eventually be able to attend a CKU and also attend the Great American Scrapbook Convention again. Maybe when the kids are older…

The excitement is also growing because THIS weekend- a mere ONE day from today- I have the opportunity to do the Scrap Pink crop at our local Cord Camera. I’m so very glad to do this since part of the proceeds from our crop fee go to the Susan G. Koman Breast Cancer Research Foundation! Maybe one year soon I can host my own crop and send proceeds to Breast Cancer Research myself. What a great dream!

Okay- now I’m just excited! I am really looking forward to these events and working on a few things- layouts, an altered three ring binder, a few cards… whatever else I can fit in- and I’m looking forward to traveling next week! And since there is a lot to do to prepare, I had better sign off for now. Take care- and Keep on Scrappin’!!