Bytes of Love

More CT Bragging!

Is anyone else amazed that it is already past the middle of September?  And that today is Thursday?  I had such great ambitions for this week and so few have gotten done.  But alas, there is always tomorrow! 

I want to share some more of my Creative Team's layouts using my Come On and Celebrate kit!  The first one is by Kimberly (Kimmi34) - she did the most adorable layout of her daughter taking her first bites of cereal!  It just makes me feel so honored that she chose to use one of my kits for this special memory!  I love how she used the frame and photo corners!

My wonderful friend and CT member, Traci Reed, created this fantastic layout of her son at the park recently.   I love the focal photo of Karsten's - he's such a charmer.  The whole layout is clean and flows so nicely!  I love the photo arrangement especially!  I wil be adding this layout to my list of layouts to lift!

And my last layout to share today is by Diane!  She did an amazing job - as always - with this layout.  Diane is wonderful at journaling.   Nearly all of her layouts have really wonderful and meaningful journaling!  I also love her use of multiple backgrounds and stitching!    Really terrific layout!

I am so lucky to have such a terrific team of talented ladies help me promote my designs!   

I am off to download the craft of the day to do with Zoey and when Eli wakes up take the kids outside on the swing set.  Hope everyone has a great day!  Drop me a "note" and say Hi!  Thanks for stopping by!

   

Yay for me!

I have been chosen to be on Jennifer Layden's Creative Team!  Wooo hooo! 

That's it for now!  Just had to share my excitement!

Where does the day go?  I swear I blinked today and it was gone!   When I started this post it was about 10 minutes before Aidan would be home from school.  A girlfriend and I switch off picking the kids up and today is her day!  Usually she drops him off at about 2:50.  So at 2:50 I was standing at the door.  At 2:55 I was thinking - "hmmm that's weird"  At 3:00 I was starting to get really worried.  My neighbors who are usually home with their kids much later than we are with ours (kindergarteners get out 5 minutes earlier than the rest of the school) were actually already home.  So I decided on the off chance my girlfriend went home first before bringing Aidan to me, I called her house!  AAAAAAAAAck!  She spaced and thought it was my day!  Hehe!  Fortunately we live minutes from the school so she ran over there and got them.   Aidan did complain that it wasn't the longest wait ever but he quickly forgot as the girl across the street was waiting to play! 

Okay off to other topics, since that was NOT on the list of things to talk about!  First and foremost, I have been horrible, terrible about bragging on my CT!  So, it is high time!   Last weekend I came out with a new kit - Come On and Celebrate and my CT has done a fabulous job producing layouts for it!  Take  look!  Maria (Maria in CT) did a wonderful job with her layout "Fun."  Piper is so cute - I love that look on her face in the polaroid frame!  Too cute!

It is so fun to see how one kit can produce so many completely different layouts!  Alane's (aka marnie4two) is fantastic - love the dark blue background agains the backgrounds and her adorable son!  Such a cutie!

I have to admit to being the worlds worst blogger!  There is a way to make all these pictures line up but I have yet to figure it out.  So if this post looks strange!  It is because I am a dunce and don't seem to be able to make it look right!  If you can tell me how - I'd really appreciate it! 

I love this picture of Rona and her son!  Wow - it is great!  She did a great job of embellishing her layout without taking away from the photo!  Love it!

Well Eli has woken up from his nap and since the big kids are outside he thinks he must be.  He has even brought me his shoes!  So outside we go for a while.  I'll be back with more great layouts from the CT later!

Poor Neglected Blog!

My blog has been sad this week!  It has been lonely and unloved!  I have not been here to post anything as there has been nothing really exciting, or even mildly exciting, to post about.  Life has been pretty much what it always is, manage kids, cook, clean and design and scrap in whatever free time that leaves!  But this weeks highlights are:

1)  I started exercising again; 2)  Aidan's teacher is really impressed by him; 3)  starting to volunteer at the school; 4)  Zoey did better at Gymnastics this week; 5) Eli is still adorable; 6) Gas prices are going down! 

And I did some layouts and some designing!  Yay!  Here are some of the layouts I did this week!  I am going to add all of these to my Layouts Photo album and in there I will include all the proper credits!  Thanks for stopping by!  Don't forget to leave me a comment and say Hi!  Pretty please?!!! :)

New Designs!!

Ever have one of those mornings where you think you can't get anything right?  Well, I am having one of those today.  It started by me not thinking about how I answered Aidan's question about "can I wear these."  I said yes in my sleep deprived grogginess and then found out that in order to get to those he was going to go through the huge laundry basket of clean folded clothes.  So I came downstairs and found all the laundry I had done yesterday, on the floor.  Grrrr.   

And then, while doing another load of laundry, I treated a couple of things for stains.  Only problem is that I treated them with Kaboom - sink and tub cleaner.  Hmmm, wonder how that is going to affect them and the rest of the laundry they are being washed with.  Fortunately it is only miscellaneous towels and a few other items.

On a fun note, I have a few new items appearing at the Sweet Shoppe this morning. 

This cute mini kit is just $3.99 and you can pick it up here:  http://www.sweetshoppedesigns.com/shoppe/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=10&products_id=400

Here is a cute layout I did of my daughter using the fabulous DDE sketch challenge template for September and Orange You Blue?  Of course Zoey is being Zoey!  Making funny faces and being goofy - which is what Orange You Blue? is all about.   A cute little kit with a humor theme. 

I am excited to be re-releasing my Boysterous kit at Sweet Shoppes today too!  This kit is all boy and lots of fun.  I updated the ribbons and added a few elements and it is available at the Sweet Shoppe today too.  It comes with 2 full alpha sets and lots of fun elements for just $5.99.  You can pick it up here:   http://www.sweetshoppedesigns.com/shoppe/index.php?main_page=product_info&manufacturers_id=13&products_id=401

Here is the preview of Boysterous:

Here is a layout I did of DH and Eli from last weekend using the Boysterous kit.  Love the joy on their faces! 

I hope you all have fun plans for the weekend.  We had movie night with Grandma last night and DH picked up Chinese on the way home. Yummy!!!!  I was in severe chinese food withdrawal so we got Lo Mein, Spicy Green Beans with Chicken, Orange Beef and more!  It was wonderful.

Today Aidan has is Saturday am Art Discovery class!  He is looking forward to doing some oragami and sculpting with clay.  It is great to get away and have a few hours for just he and I.  Then I come home and scrap away and do some things around the house!  And then......date night!  Yay!  DH and I have a babysitter and we are going out.  Probably not going to do much but we will be out of the house without any of the kids.  I am so looking forward to it!

Thanks for dropping by!  I always love reading your comments, so please say Hi and update me as to what is going on with you!  Have a great weekend!

New Awesome Traci Reed Sketch Pack

I love, love, love Traci's sketch packs!  But her newest one - Petal Power - is so awesome.  It was made for my Zoey girl.  Here are 3 layouts that I did using Traci's sketches from ACOT!  This layout is using Laura Apaluche's Poolside Paradise kit. 

This 2nd layout is using Jasbeanie's Summer Surprise kit from ACOT!

And my third layout using Traci's new sketch pack is using the Sweet Shoppe Designs limited edition "Indian Summer" kit. 

Thanks for stopping by!  Please leave me a little comment to say "Hi!"

Autumn Meadow Kit! and a terrific CT Call!

Phew!  I finally finished my Autumn Meadow kit and am so pleased with how it turned out.   I generally design kits with more bright and vibrant colors but this one was really fun to do!  It is masculine yet pretty and works great with vintage type photos.  I created two layouts of my Father-in-Law using the kit.  The first one - Playing Along with Grandpa - I used a Gina Miller sketch for the layout!    The second layout is of my in-laws.  I was so lucky to get to watch them and their relationship for nearly 10 years.  They always seemed so in love even after 50 years.  Amazing!  and a definite inspiration.

Oh and one more thing!  Have you seen Suzy's CT call at Sweet Shoppe?  If not, you really need to go over and take a look!  Suzy's designs are fantastic and it would be wonderful to work with them!  In fact, I'd like to be on her team!  Check out the thread here:  http://www.sweetshoppedesigns.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1926.  And good luck if you apply! 

Okay I think that is it for now!  Thanks for stopping by!

Let's Hope Today is Better

Yesterday had such promise but then in the course of a little more than an hour - totally fell apart.  It started out dropping Aidan off to school and then coming home and coloring with Zoey and playing Candy Land.   Then the phone rang!  My friend Kathy's AC broke and she asked if I could do her a favor and take her son for a while. No problem!  Her little boy plays well with Zoey and it would give Zoey some fun time.  In the kids excitement to play with each other they left the sliding glass door open.  I was cleaning in the living room so I did not know.  Little Eli wandered outside and burned his feet on the deck.  When I heard him start to scream I went to look for him and found him outside on the deck.  The deck gets full sun and therefore his sweet little feet got burned.  He cried and cried for nearly 35 minutes while I ran his feet under water, put aloe on them, dermoplast and then all over again. I gave him tylenol and then benadryl to help with pain and to knock him out.  Fortunately the dr said I had done everything right and she gave us an antibiotic cream to put on his feet till they heal.  But they are going to hurt for days.  So from there the day was a total waste.  The house is trashed and Mommy was emotionally wiped out. 

I did some scrap therapy last night though and did a layout of Zoey and her new kitten.   Thank goodness the kitten is very tolerant otherwise Zoey would have scratches all over her.  Kit is Spring Blooms by Kim Hill, Sketch is by Traci Reed at ACOT.

Definitely need to work on the new kit today!  The name my CT choose is Autumn Meadow which was submitted by Marisa!  Congrats Marisa!  I will send you an email when the kit is done for you to download it!

Have a great day!  Thanks for dropping in!

Another Amazing Week!

Last week was a huge rollercoaster!  Aidan started school and I am thrilled beyond belief at how well he did!  He loved it!  In fact on Thursday night he went to bed saying he couldn't wait for another day of school.  Now on Saturday he was pretty pleased to find out he didn't have to go to school but then this morning no problems, he was ready and willing to go! 

Last week also marked another big change.  ScrapMommies closed.  After a year of it being the primary place I would show off my layouts and chat with my online scrapping friends, ScrapMommies is not more.  Traci decided to concentrate her efforts on her family and her designs as opposed to the technical work of supporting a website and consignment store.  I totally support her decision but none the less it is a little sad :(

So, now I will be an exclusive Sweet Shoppe Design designer and I am soooo excited about this!  The opportunity to design at one store where there are so many talented designers (I mean truthfully I am soooo out of my league there now but hopefully one day..) is very exciting.  Sales can only go up and my design style and knowledge only improve.  It will be an exciting transition.

Last week we also added 2 family members!  Yes we went to the SPCA and got 2 kittens.  Yes Mommy is a sucker but they are just so darn cute and I was incapable of saying no to one or both of the big kids.  They choose their two favorites - whiskers and spotty are their adopted names.

I think that might be it!  This morning I uploaded a ton of layouts to my layout gallery here so if you want to see what the kids and I have been up to, check them out there.   Of course I have to post my favorite one here.  I'm so excited that Aidan is loving school so much and he just thought art was the coolest thing!  He brought me this picture home on Thursday and I am still smiling ear to ear when I see it!

Have a great day everyone and thanks for stopping by!  Please leave me a little comment below to say Hi!   ((hugs))

Aidan's First Day

Today was a total surprise!  I was sure, for years now, that I would be a bawling mess when Aidan started school.  For literally a year or more I have been preparing for this day and just certain that no matter what, I would be crying.  Afterall, I had named this past weekend "Black Weekend."  But yesterday morning Aidan told me he was really looking forward to starting school and meeting a lot of new friends.  From there everything seemed to go great.  He was excited and looking forward to it and his attitude was contagious.   

He had a great day at school.  He walked into his room, knew just what he was supposed to do (hang up his backpack and put his lunch and towel in his cubby) and then sat down and diligently started to work on the coloring page she had left at each child's seat.   It was soooo cute!  Aidan drew tears on his little person had tears on it.  It was Eli standing up and crying Aidan told me.  He was content and within a few minutes I said goodbye and went and met up with Zoey, Dave and Eli.  The kids and I went to have breakfast with 2 friends whose children were also starting school today.  From there we did a couple of errands and then went back to the school and met Aidan for lunch.  He was happy and having a good day.

Already he seems more "mature."  I bought him a Lightening McQueen at the store today and left it on his seat in the car knowing he would see it as soon as I picked him up from school.  He was so grateful.  He told me "thank you Mommy, this was so nice of you.  I really really like it!"  And then again later he said something equally as amazing for such a little man.   

Here are a couple pictures of my sweet little man!!!

Aidan waiting for the teacher to come and pick up his class from the cafeteria.

Aidan and I just before I said goodbye.

Thanks to everyone who has given me support and encouragement in the last couple of weeks.  It made a difference.

I am sooo loving some of the names for the new kit!  Keep them coming - some of the names may require me to create a kit just to use that name!  Hehe!   

Thanks for stopping by!