mama's world

steppin' outside of my comfort zone...

Twice last week I was the lucky winner of a kit from two different digi designers.  One of those kits both excited and scared me.  I was excited because the kit was gorgeous (as always), but scared because the elements where from nature and much more "real" than I normally would use.  I nearly always scrap "paper style".  I make a digital layout, but with the effect that it was created with paper supplies.  I rarely scrap graphic style and I never use items that I wouldn't be able to use if I was scrapping with paper.

Here are the two items that changed my mind:
Verde by Sausan Designs (thank you Melrio and Sausan for the gift of the kit)
There is an element pack, a paper pack and an add-on.  Images are clickable.

And here is the layout I did:
The Traveler
 
Click HERE for full credits.

Boxed in by Paint the Moon Designs
(this was a purchased product, but I have been eyeing it up for weeks...unable to commit as I can't get my brain around putting a box on a scrap book page...)  Image clickable.

This is what I did with my first try on the boxes:
Grateful

Full credits can be found HERE.

Tonight will be a busy night.  I need to finish folding laundry and put it away.  I also need to get some photos done and uploaded for a Shutterfly mini album.  I have a coupon code that expires today and I really, really want to use it.  I've decided to just do full page photos (it's 5x7) rather than scrap pages.  It's a combo character photo and autograph book from our recent Disney trip.  I scanned the autographs in the other day and I'm hoping they will clean up nicely with the background eraser tool since they are pen signatures on white paper.  Then I will just put them on the photo they belong with.  One can hope, right?!

On the knitting front, I on Friday finished both my A Better Bucket hat and the EZ Baby Surprise Jacket I was making for DH's great-nephew.  I just need to sew some buttons and block both.  Hopefully will have some pics up soon.

I was also fortunate enough to be in my LYS on Friday when a new shipment of Malabrigo came in.  It was HEAVEN!  My stash is now grown by 6 skeins of Aquarella (3 in Minas and 3 in Arapay) and 1 skein of Tiger Lily worsted.  The Aquarella will be scarves two people near and dear to my heart and the Tiger Lily will likely be another Better Bucket to go with my long coat.

Now the rambling changes to mommy things.  I'm not sure why...maybe it's the age, I don't know.  But it seems that more and more frequently lately I look at P-nut and am amazed at the little person she is turning into.  When I look at her now I see a little person.  At 5, though she is small in size, there is absolutely no trace left of the baby/toddler/preschooler she once was.  It simply blows me away.  She is adamant that she doesn't want to grow up and will never move out, marry or have babies.  I'm guessing this might be age appropriate (sort of, since boys are yucky), but there was a glimmer of hope the other day when out of no where she said "if I have babies when I grow up" I forget the rest of the comment but it was positive and it was something we do that she wanted to do with hers.  Just the fact that she can't think that way warms my heart.  *sigh*

Well, off to get some work done.  Send me some "get the album done vibes", please.

a layout, an enabler and a bit of knitting...

Last night I threw caution to the wind and ignored the Disney autograph album that needs done and uploaded to Shutterfly by 3/31 if I am going to make use of the free coupon code someone kindly gave to me (thanks, Oriana!).  I ignore the Easter photos.  I ignored thoughts of going to bed early. 

Instead, I went to focus on this fun kit by Micheline Martin and Melissa Bennett:

Room A Zoom Zoom (image clickable)
 
And I'm glad I did.  It's packed full of great stuff, lots of texture and SO FUN!  Yes, I am on Micheline's team, but it really is a fun kit.

As I sat down and thought about what to do with it, I realized that I have far too few layouts about Daddy-o.  Sad, but true.  So I decided that he would be my focus.

Okay, so physically he isn't the focus since you can't really see his face, but it sheds a bit of light on his personality and one of the reasons I love him!  Full credits can be found HERE.

I've been knitting like a fiend for the past week.  Last weekend I was working on straightening up the back bedroom/spare room/craft room/MESS and I realized just how much yarn has accumulated that I didn't quite realize.  Nothing like trying to put it all away to make you 1) realize how much you have and 2) find yarn for a gift you completely forgot you wanted to make.

That is when I found this:

It is Art Yarns Superwash Merino in color #139.  I had purchased back in November or December when I was taking the baby surprise jacket class at my LYS.  I was enjoying the pattern so much that I decided I would make one for my newest great-nephew-to-be, Paul, who was due in March.  Plenty of time, right?  Wrong.  It got buried in the closet under other new yarn, cast of WIPs and holiday knitting gone awry.  I took it out and looked at it fondly.  Knowing the baby was due to come in 3 or 4 days (mom was being induced) I knew there was no way I would get it done in time.  Oh well, you know what they say about good intentions.  I stuffed it back in the closet.

Then I thought "wait a minute".  This is my MO.  Buy yarn, paper, etc. (insert craft supply here) with grand plans.  Get bored, forget or wimp out and add to appropriate stash never to be heard from again.  What?!  This is great yarn.  This would have been a lovely sweater.  No flippin' way.  I was knitting this baby.

So on Monday I dutifully (and excitedly cast on).  I knit on this everyday on the train and at lunch for five days straight.  I even ripped back 6 or so rows to fix a big problem.  I knit Sunday night in front of the tv.  I knit some more.  Oh, and the baby did come last Wednesday.  I got to meet him on Sunday and he is BEAUTIFUL!

I am happy to say that I have two rows left on the sweater.  YEAH!  Oh the knitting gods are "tsk-tsk'ing" me know and I will pay dearly I am sure but I hope to be done all but the 2 little seams at the top and weaving in a few ends when I get off the train tonight.  And, to make it even better...I have a class tonight at my LYS where I can happily show off my new item.

Pictures to follow later in the week.  I'll also post pictures of the one I did in the fall for Em.

finally...

Last night I finished Challenge #7 for ADSR3.  Whew!  There was a fair amount of on my part and I likely would have dropped out if it were not for my partner.  I couldn't penalize her because I am lame, right!?  In retrospect, it was a pretty neat challenge, but boy was it, well, CHALLENGING!  My job was for member #2 if you are reading the above link.

Here it is:

Full credits (and there are a TON) and journaling can be found HERE.

Glad to be done.  I even started #8 and I am doing a very simple LO for that one.  Actually, in about 1/2 an hour I was able to get about 2/3 of it done.  I should be able to finish quickly tonight.

The Disney photos came in from Shutterfly a full 2 days sooner than I expected.  I did a rough sort and put all that would fit in the 2-up Disney album I bought on our trip.  Even though I only printed about 350 of the 500 photos (yeah, I really did) they still didn't all fit.  Not really a surprise since the album only holds 200.  I even put some like photos in the same sleeves.  I'll be ordering another soon and then will split the pages between the two.  At least most are ready to share with the family on Sunday.  YEAH!

digi enabler...

No layouts this week, but should be soon.  I am about 1/2 way done ADSR challenge #7.  This is after starting, deleting and restarting last night.  Whatcha gonna do?  I was not feeling it with the first one and, so far, I am much happier with the second try.  Hopefully I will finish tonight.  I have a Shutterfly coupon from a generous fellow-CT member for a 5x7 book that expires so I need to get some LO's done for that.  I am going to scrap the Character photos from Disney and scan in the autographs to make an album for P-nut.

I did have to hop on here and share though.  Dianne Rigdon opened her studio at Scrapbook Graphics today.  I am totally and completely enamored with her first release there:  Bursting Forth.  There is an alpha, a pattern paper pack, a solid paper pack, an element pack and an add-on.  Lookee here (images clickable):

 
Isn't the add on (below) cuter than the kit?  If that is even possible!

Dudes, I know I am on her CT, but honestly, I can't wait to get done my ADSR lo so I can get to work on this!!!  Seriously!

And here is the cool part.  Becky (aka webchyck) at SBG is running a challenge.  Create a layout using Dianne's Bursting Forth kit and you get a coupon to get the add-on for FREE.  Yup, free!  Details are here.

nothing much going on here

I never did get back to posting more photos and I haven't done a single Disney lo yet, but that is not because I haven't done anything with the pics.  I actually have.  Here is what I've done:
* printed contact sheets of all of them and Daddy-o and I have looked through them. 
* burned a back-up DVD---this was really for Daddy-o to look at them, but for some reason his old laptop doesn't seem to like it and chokes after reading 1/2 of the files. 
* made a slide show of the photos so Daddy-o could view them on his laptop.  This worked out well.  He left the laptop running at MIL's on Thursday when he went work and she got to see them too!
* uploaded all of the files to Shutterfly and went through them.  Paired down what I could and ordered prints.  I bought a Disney 2-up album at a store in Downtown Disney that also has a spot for a cd.  As soon as the photos come in (hopefully later this week), I will get them into the album.  Cross your fingers for me.  They are due to come in any time between Thursday or Friday and Monday.  I'd really like to have them for dinner on Sunday since we are hosting at our house.
* purchased some unofficial Disney compatible items from a few digi-designers so I can get working on the pages.  I had a problem (on my end) with some of the downloads so that is one reason I didn't do any lo's.

Here is another:
 
This is my layout for ADSR Challenge #5.  I had to get it done by last night (finished Saturday night) and had a few start and stops with it...We had to do an interview with an inanimate object.  Full credits can be found HERE.

I am also taking Stacy Julian's Library of Memories class at Big Picture Scrapbooking.  It is a fabulous class that teaches a very adaptable photo organization method that fosters scrap booking and helps keep scrappers from being overwhelmed by their photos and organization.  It is very labor intense at the onset, but I can see where it will pay off in the long run.  I got a good bit done there this past week as well.  I am working backward on my timeline of photos so this looks odd.  lol
* tagged all highlight photos from 3/08 to 4/07 with year/season tags in ACDSee.  Highlight photos are photos that best represent the season you are tagging/sorting.  They are the most scrap worthy photos.  It doesn't mean I won't keep or can't use the others.  It just pares down what I have to look at when I search for photos.  These photos left untagged are ones I likely wouldn't scrap anyway.  AND my folder storage (on the pc) is already in year/month order so if I want to look at them still I can.
* tagged all Disney photos with year/season and Disney tags in ACDSee
* printed contact sheets of all photos (not just the highlight photos) from 01/08 to 7/07 (I think) to be put in binders by year/season so we can SEE all of the photos I take.  Daddy-o's main complaint about my being digital is that he never gets to see the pictures.  I am not up-to-date with printing lo's and even if I were he doesn't view them the same as a photo album he can browse.  KWIM?  The binders will allow us to look through the photos w/out taking up too much space and w/out the waste of 4x6 prints that I will never scrap since oh, about 98% of my scrapping is digital.

Now I meant to go through my un-printed lo's and tag them who/what/where/when/why this weekend, but I had no mojo for the above LO and that put me behind.  So, tagging the LO's and more year/season tagging is on the menu for tonight.

P-nut and I had a nice low-key weekend.  Daddy-o was away for something for work so we bummed around, slept late and ate out.  lol  I did manage to do some cleaning/straightening, laundry and grocery shopping though.

On the knitting front, I have added yet another project to my grown stash of WIP's.  I cast on a baby surprise jacket this morning.  While straightening up yesterday I found yarn for our great nephew-to-be that I had completely forgotten about.  I missed the shower (literally, we were in Disney) and bought a gift to send down this weekend.  But, if I work on it steadily it should be done in a few weeks tops and be a good welcome newborn gift.

Okay, enough rambling for now...

dude, we went to DISNEY!

YEAH! It was phenomenal.  Seriously.  I kid you not.  It was one of the best vacations we have taken.  It truly is a magical place.  I've heard of one family in my neighborhood that didn't care much for it, but I honestly don't see it.  Truly.  I don't see how you can go and not have a fabulous time.  It's incredible.  I can't even begin to describe it.  And, let's face it, do you really want a blow-by-blow description of our days?  Nah, I thought not.

So, here is what you likely came to see.  Keep in mind...these photos have not been cleaned up.  They are straight off of the memory card.  And, we only brought the point and shoot...neither one of us wanted to be weighed down with the Canon.  A little part of me regrets it as I am never as happy with the p&s photos even though I use the auto setting on both cameras.  There just seems to be so much more noise on the Fuji p&s...I don't get it... *sigh*  Okay, here goes.

Gotta have the photo with Mickey...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And this one with Nemo and Dory is cute...

I'm not sure it does it justice, but the Castle at night is amazing...

Okay...some background on my funny face...Goofy was, well being goofy, and was swirling his fingers through my hair over and over...I was cracking up!

Just cute...
 

 

As soon as I get caught up on the ADSR challenges (need to do #5 and want to do #6 even though only one team member had to) and some CT stuff, I will be scrappin' Disney like crazy.  So keep your eyes on the blog for updates.  I've got 500+ photos and I plan to scrap lots of 'em!

is it Christmas?

Surely it must be...I received my package from Pam at Yarny-Goodness today and I could swear it must be Christmas.  Not only did I order a few items from her, but I was the LUCKY person to be the first paid order and, therefore, won a contest.  My prize?  Six, yes 6, skeins of Lorna's.  SWEET!

Here's the booty (Pam, I hope you don't mind, but I took the liberty of snagging the photos from your site).

I ordered two cool little notions from KaratStix and a lovely skein of handpaint from Spindle City Yarns in Dirty Denim.

You can find these and other KaratStix notions HERE.

 
You can find this and other lovely hand-painted sock yarn by Spindle City Yarns HERE.

And the Lorna's....ah...the Lorna's...2 skeins each in Tuscany, Indian Summer and Camouflage. (photos taken from the Lorna's site).
 
Sorry, but I can't seem to find a photo of the Indian Summer...

And if all this Yarny-Goodness wasn't enough...It was all individually wrapped in tissue with the ends rolled (kind of like a tootsie roll) and tied with pretty ribbons.  And she even included bits of chocolate.  YUM!

I also have a lovely sock bag on order by Stuck in Illinois.
 
You can find their bags HERE.

Thanks, Pam, for a lovely package!  I can't wait to see what new things you have in store for us!

On other news...not long now and we are off to see Mickey.  Daddy-o, P-nut and I grow more excited by the day.  :)