Saturday, February 28, 2009

Crowned Week 4

For this week, Scrapdango's DT challenged us to take one of our roles and scrapbook it with a list of pros and cons. I chose the role of Mother and my sometime insecurity/lack of confidence...


First, I had Annde tell me good things and bad things about me. Her list is at the bottom of the page. My personal favorite is "bugging her about eating veggies". AHAHAHA! This week, Annde has been trying everything I put on her plate: Salmon (good), celery (not good), french fries (okay), and tater tots (not good)... In fact, the child has been eating a lot! She's definitely growing again. I think maybe we've turned a corner... but this could all be a joke on mommy. Who knows! This parenting thing is not easy!
Here's some close ups on the details...
This is the last week of the competition so the winner will be announced sometime next week. I didn't win any sashes (weekly challenge winner) but they said the voting was close so I guess I still have a chance. I love the layouts I completed so it's still worth it even if I don't win anything...

I also have to laugh about something. I was surfing the blogs and noticed that another Jana (Eubank) has the same blogwear now on her blog. Hopefully, we don't confuse everyone! You saw it here first, fans.

Check back tomorrow for my So Sketch layout... It's going to be on the site then. Pink Sketches will also be announcing their new DT members so there won't be any layouts from me on the board this week... I can't wait to see who Kelli picked to join us!

Also - this makes post 28. I managed to make my goal of a post per day (or the same number of posts as there are days)... Maybe I can keep this up for another month...

Friday, February 27, 2009

Great News

Yesterday was my BFF Tracy's Birthday... HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! I know this year will be Fabulous! :) (Well, it will once your family gets over that crappy flu thing!) Here's to a wonderful birthday week and great things in 2009!

Then, I got home from work and this was in my mailbox from Kelly Purkey:

I read her blog a lot and she was giving away a Fiskars punch. How great is this one going to be to do the swimming pages and summer pages... :) Thanks Kelly!! (I also love the rub on letters! VERY cute!)

I also found out this morning that my layout was picked for the Coordinates Collections February GDT Contest winner. Yippee!! I knew Cutie Pie was good luck! I get to design with one of the April kits. I can't wait to see what I get!

Well, I am off for now... Gotta go make lunches/breakfast for the family... Have a great day!

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

So Sketchy

My last layout for February has been posted over at So Sketchy... so I can now post it here.... yippee.... I just love the softness of the colors in this layout. I had a lot of fun putting it together. I've had these pictures for a while but I just wasn't too motivated to scrapbook them. Then, I got these fun papers from Close to My Heart, trim from an exchange on Scrapbook Doodle, and a sketch from Ally. I love the result!
The page talks about Annde's (and my hubby's) ability to sleep with an eye open. It's part of the lazy eye syndrome they both have/had. As I am the only one who can't do this in our family, it used to freak me out a bit. I could never tell if Annde was truly asleep in the dark. Thankfully, she doesn't do it as much since we started working on strengthening her weak eye but I thought the pictures were fun and it's another one of those fun Dad traits! Head on over to So Sketchy to see Cherie's use of this sketch!

Products used: Close to My Heart (paper, stickers, white letters), misc trim from Scrapbook Doodle exchange, Thickers, Kaiser pearls, Pop Dots, Kokuyo adhesive, DMC floss, and Zig ink.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Pink Sketch #22

Here is my Pink Sketch for this week - a layout I did about the scarf my mom sent Annde... She absolutely adores it...

I had fun swapping the sketch around this week. Instead of using angled papers and a straight picture, I used a straight block and mounted angled pictures. I also added an additional picture at the bottom and used 2 angled transparencies over the top of it. If you want to check out the original sketch or what the rest of the DT did, head over to Pink Sketches.

Products used: Sassafras paper, Close to My Heart paper, Creative Imaginations transparency, Little Yellow Bicycle journaling block, Stampin' Up chalk, Oriental Trading arrow, Creative Imaginations (?) tag, Thickers, Sakura Glaze writers, misc trim from Scrapbook Doodle exchange, and Uniball pen .

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Taking Chance

Last night, Steve and I watched an amazing movie.
It was called "Taking Chance".
It's the true story of a soldier named Chance Phelps and his journey home after being killed in Iraq. It's primarily told through the eyes of the Witness, or soldier assigned to escort the body home. I cried the whole time. Literally. Such a wonderfully simple story that is so powerful.

What made this movie even more powerful is that my husband was on the flight last Monday that escorted a young soldier from our town, US Army Specialist Byron Fouty, back to Washington D.C. where he was buried in Arlington Cemetery. His whole family was also on-board the flight. The whole plane honored him when the plane arrived in Washington D.C. It was truly a moving experience for Steve.

I am proud to say that both my Grandfathers, my Father, and my Father-in-law have all served this country in the military. I am extremely lucky that none of them were killed in their service.

Here's the HBO site about this movie: http://www.hbo.com/films/takingchance/

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Whole Bunches & Bunches of stuff...

It's been a super busy week, hasn't it?

Annde's class went on another field trip Friday. At first, I wasn't going to send her - they were going to see Hotel for Dogs. Each of the times we've taken Annde to the theater, she's wanted to leave after about 20 minutes. I didn't want the teachers to have to deal with that. They said that was okay and when Gabriella showed up to go, I knew that I needed to send Annde or it would be a very bad day. Gabi and Annde are pretty much inseperable at school... She went (2nd school bus trip) and she had a blast! She didn't really understand the movie too well but her and Gabi had a good time hanging out together. Next week, when she's back in school, she's going to be bored after all these fun field trips!

Friday night, I hosted a scrapbook night for the Women's group at our church. It was fantasticly fun! I was kinda worried - I had 5 people cancel throughout the day due to sickness. (That NASTY flu that's going around just seems to be a bear!!!) So, I was worried no one would show. I got there, set up 10 sets of make-n-take cards and tables and held my breath... And, then the women started to show! We had 9 women other than myself doing everything from making bracelets to scrapbooking to knitting to crafting with fabric. We listened to music, pigged out on Sandi's AWESOME chocolate fondue... mmmm...., and chatted. It was a pretty relaxed group and everyone had a blast making the cards. Surprisingly, I did 2 layouts in under 3 hours! One of them was for Pink Sketches - the sneak is here but it will be posted sometime on Sunday (link to site on left)... Yep, you guessed it... there's those scarf pictures from earlier this week!

The other was for So Sketchy and I have to say... it was truly an awesome page for me... I will post a sneak later this week. :) Obviously, Ally gets to have the fun of the reveal first!

I've also been participating in the Crowned Competition over at Scrapdango. This is week 3 of 4...

For this week, we were challenged to use only 2 patterned papers, 1 type of letters for the title, and 2 types of embellishment (unlimited ink, adhesive and cardstock). I chose brads and stitching. It was hard for me because you guys know my love of embellishing... especially with stickles and chalk, which weren't allowed. So, I did the next best thing. I grabbed this sheet of paper with an Owl on it from Sassafras.

This current trend to using deer and owls and such is not for me.... My BFF Tracy laughs at me everytime I win something with an owl or deer on it because I won't use it. In this case, I was generously given a Sassafras paper pack from Jamie for naming the January Kits at Coordinates Collections. I just don't particularly see the point of using them for "Whooo's the cutest" or "Whooo's turning five?"... They just don't do anything for me, creatively. So, in my quest to save money and use what I own, I figured this was a good opportunity to think outside the box and get rid of this owl paper.

So, first I cut the owl and tree out of the paper. Then I cut a large block and mounted it behind the paper, layered with a piece of cardstock that I distressed with a brown pen. Then I hand drew some brackets out of 2 more of the patterns on the paper and cut those out, also using the brown pen to edge them. Then, I cut out the stitching down the side of the paper to create stitched sections that I glued on and around the pictures. I added some stitching and a few brads and I was ready to get started with, in true scientist fashion, dissecting the owl:
His eyes became the flowers in the flowers in the corners.
His heart tummy became a heart.
His wings became another heart.
His feet became rays coming out of the date circle.
His stitched body became the arrow.
Then I used the flowers and leaves on the tree to decorate around the page. When I didn't have enough, I made some more out of the branch.

Here's the finished layout...
Here's a few closeups... By the way, it's really hard to write clearly on textured cardstock... So, I grabbed some correction stickers from CTMH and made it a little bit easier...


I have more stuff to post but it can wait until later this week. Better to not overload the system.

I hope you all are having a great weekend. And, Aiden - I hope you are feeling better! I missed your mommy at Scrapbooking Friday night!

Friday, February 20, 2009

I'm going Scrappin' tonight!

And I am soooo excited!
My church is doing a Women's night once every month or two and tonight is CRAFT NIGHT...

My stuff is packed...
New pictures ordered...
20 bookmarks are just about done...
40 cards are ready to be assembled (make-n-take I am doing)...
I have the raffle prizes and the pop...
Yep, I'm all ready!

It's been a rough week for me - work has been very stressful and I haven't been feeling super great. But, today's the day! I can't wait!

I'll leave you with this picture...