The long and winding road... of July!

Apparently, there's a blog called the Scrapbook Lady and she does these awesome questionnaires for the wrap-up of a month...
So, here's mine:
(Thanks Colleen for the idea!)

What movies and/or tv shows did I watch this month?
Hmm... I watched a lot of reality TV because to be honest, there isn't much else on and I like to have noise when I am scrapbooking. So, I watched most of the season of Deadliest Catch and So You Think You Can Dance. Shark Week has been a blast so far. I've been re-watching some good older movies (like Sweet Home Alabama, Tin Cup, The Greatest Game Ever Played) as well as some that I haven't seen (the Lake House) which I have really enjoyed.

What special days did I celebrate and how?
The 4th is Annde's birthday... we went to the parade, an all-day party, and the fireworks. We've also had a LARGE party for her. Otherwise, it was Denise's birthday and Kira's birthday this month. Since they moved to Arizona, we didn't get to see them...

What illnesses or health concerns did I have?
These freaky new allergies that Annde seems to have is driving me nuts. We've tried all kinds of meds but nothing has really happened. Today, she spiked a fever of 104.5! The doctor said that the allergy drainage wasn't draining properly and ended up in her ears, causing an infection - hence the fever... Not sure if I agree or not that she has allergies and not some stupid sinus infection that won't go away! She's on medicine now so hopefully this one will work.

What fun things did I do with my friends and/or family?
Annde's week-o-birthday fun was about enough to kill me. There was also the scrapbook retreat with Tracy that was absolutely fabulous!

What new foods, recipes or restaurants did I try this month?
I tried raspberry French toast casserole - very yummy!!.

What special or unusual purchases did I make?
Nothing much ... other than a lot of supplies to fix the whole in the side of the house...

What were this month's disappointments?
We aren't pregnant... still. Not much more needs to be said.

What were my accomplishments this month?
I finished my Masters application and got it into the mail on time. I also scrapbooked at least 3 days a week and finished 14 books. I also competed in a 4 week challenge at Scrapdango and completed some really awesome pages! My "In My Words" came out in the August CK - so it was cool to see that in print as well as get the prize for being selected.

Anything else noteworthy to record?
I have a couple of secrets from friends and family but it isn't my place to share... so I will just pass on congratulations to those who are celebrating and to those who are working through some struggles - hang in there... The road will be difficult but if everything turns out as expected, then it will have been worth taking the steps to resolve the issue and stay strong in your pursuits...

Off to sleep - and it's not even 11pm yet!

I've got more important things to do than my "TO DO" list anyway...

Wanna see a box of blocks that really rocks? Well, my best friend Tracy had a 3-Day Breast cancer crop last weekend, hosted by a very generous and wonderful woman, Katie Hovanec. This crop was VERY successful and we wanted to make a really nice thank you gift. I had seen a block project last year and made up kits for the Christmas cookie exchange. Sadly, due to schedules and sickness, that exchange never happened so we decided to take one of the kits and then "spice it up" with some additional embellishment for Katie's gift. They came out FABULOUS! I totally need to make a set for myself.


I want to thank everyone who came to this fundraiser! We have another one in August and another in October. FUN! FUN! FUN!! Feel free to post a comment if you would like information on attending and I will get it out to you...

On another note - Diana, you won my RAK from A WHILE ago... can you email your address to me? I would like to get your gift out to you!!

On to much more - I am just full of fun today, aren't I?

The last challenge of the SCRaPDaNGo contest was this week and man! It was a difficult one!! You really don't realize how much extra stuff goes on a page until you can't use it. This challenge was super hard for me to do... I just love to embellish!

We were allowed to use: 5 different patterned papers, 4 different pieces of chipboard, 3 different buttons, 2 colors of cardstock, and 1 5x7 picture of ourselves scrapbooking.
Here's the "kit" I made for the challenge:

We were allowed to use pen for journaling - so I chose to do my journaling in true Jana style - I doodled! Otherwise, no ink, no stitching, no nothing other than the tools (sanding, cricut, etc...)Here's "the list" of what I scrapbook... I took little squares and punched them so that they look like I tore them out of a notebook. However, someone said they look like the side of a film strip - so which ever idea you like better, go with!
Here's the final page:

I am still not sure that my list didn't get me DQed. I see the doodles as part of the journaling but I can also see how other's might not agree with me. After debating internally for several days, I made the decision to leave it as is and risk the DQ because while I would love to scrap from Dango, I need to stay true to myself. The blocks basically showwhat I scrapbook and then it moves into me stating that I scrapbook to re-live, rejoice, and give thanks for living my life right now. The announcement will be on Monday so I only have to wait a few more days... It was an amazing contest which 24 of us participated in from start to finish, through 4 rounds of multiple challenges. There were some amazingly talented folks so it's going to be a tough choice....

Lastly, although I went back and forth a couple of times on doing it, I did submit my 5 layouts for the Masters contest. I know that the chances of me winning are like 1% but I also know that you can't win or complain if you didn't participate. It's a dream of mine to win so I will just keep trying. I did my "I believe" page as "The Time is NOW!" - a page about how I believe the cure for breast cancer will be found in our lifetime. I do strongly believe that because everyday, someone contributes money to the research and those scientists are so dedicated! They have to be close... MM will announce the team around the 22nd of August. Maybe, just maybe, I will have good news! Good luck to everyone else who entered!! I truly loved each of my pages but I can't show them to you or I will get DQed.... Wouldn't want to do that, eh?

Well, I am off for now. We're taking the kidlet to see "Give a Mouse a Cookie" tonight on stage so I have to get going... Got lots to do before then!! :)

Do you know where the title of this post came from? It's from Sugarland's "Do" song. I am thinking that it would be a fun way to start my posts so look for other song titles in the future...

Cyber Crop fun with my Zone Kit!

So, I got a few pages done this weekend, combining my kit from The Scrapbook Zone and some fun challenges over at the Cyber crop... I love how a challenge allows you to go around the traditional thought process to create new and original pages...

I was really excited when Kelley told us we were getting *NEW* stuff to scrap with (from CHA)... How cool is that? It's not even in the stores yet! Fabulous... Hopefully, Kelley likes the results. I still have to finish the last layout and a little minibook with the second kit... she didn't ask for one but I have this really cool idea in my head...

My first kit was Making Memories new Spellbound line. GREAT for Halloween - even better for boy because the papers have this grungy feel to them - you can do so much more than just traditional Halloween pages (even though I did). Think: "My Messy Kid" or "That Little Devil"... Even though I don't traditionally use this style, I had a lot of fun with these two pages. The kids are my BFF's because *GASP!!* I am all caught up with Halloween! {Ouch! Tracy, stop smacking me in the back of the head!} So, I borrowed her kids and had some serious fun. I kinda like scrapbooking other kids because I can look past the traditional girly pages I usually do and get grungy! The other fun thing was except for the cardstock (Bazzill and CTMH) and some ribbon, these pages were completely made from the Spellbound line!

This page was inspired by the Candy! Challenge: we were supposed to use our favorite candy to inspire our page. This was really easy for me with this kit because I *heart* M&Ms... the background paper with all those circles - mini M&Ms. I did the journaling block with a circle split in two which mimicked the rounded corners I put on the pictures and the paper strips. I love the graphic, classic look of this page... I still have to add the journaling obviously.

This page was inspired by a Ad Inspiration from Crate & Barrell. The picture had an olive green bedspread with quilting on it... Fabulous match to this great skull paper! This layout came together VERY quickly and I love the simplicity of it. There are some fun little touches, like the white chalk and the doodled title, which add to the clean look of it. As soon as I add the journaling, it will be all ready for Kelley... it's about how my friend "buys" the candy off her sons after Halloween so that they don't feel bad about not being able to eat most of it (allergic)...

My second kit was the Frosty line by Reminisce. It's a beautiful line but it's very *NOT* me... pastels, large cartoon-y animals and snowmen with glitter (okay, that's me)! and shine... Don't get me wrong - it's a wonderful line but my first though was "baby" and "winter". {OUCH, Tracy!! I didn't say I was out of baby winter pics too... wait for me to at least say it!!}

So, my friend Jill had shown me these great pics (She's getting into scrapbooking too) and I thought - Fabulous match! I begged her to let me scrap them and here are the results! This page is 85% Frostly line, 10% Bazzil card stock, and 5% Prima film strip (was 6 openings to start with and I cut out the dividers to make it 3). I think I will go back and add the polar bear to the bottom of the page... since Jill doesn't have a lot of journaling and it would look so cute with Spencer sitting in the snow. This challenge was to use something from a CHA line that we really liked. Blues and greens seem to be hot this year and I love the sparkle look of these pages. My favorite product is a toss up of multiple companies but the blues and greens remind me of the Surprise Line by Scenic Route so I went with it. Who knows, with as cute as this page came out, it might become a favorite too!!

More to come in the next day or two... I'll have the other Frosty pages and the Round 4 entry for Scrapdango! Have fun everyone!!!

Cyber Crop this weekend at Coordinates Collections!

One thing I love about the online community is that you can go to a crop without spending any money or leaving your house!!

The ladies over at Coordinates Collections are having a Crop this weekend with lots of fun door prizes and prize challenges! Join in the fun, like I am, and win some free stuff! (Who doesn't want free product?!?!?)

Head on over just by clicking this link: CC Cyber Crop

More of Suzanne's Blog Challenges

Oops!! Fell behind in Suzanne's blog challenges again!! Here's the next three...

Number 28: How cold is too cold? Describe the perfect winter day for you.
Hmmm... about 20-25 degrees with no windchill. A little bit of nip in the air, snow on the ground - good packing snow for sledding or snowman building - and the sun in the sky. This was how it was growing up in NM- when we got snow - we got lots but there wasn't the windchill to go with it. You could go outside and really play without freezing off any vital parts. Here in Michigan, everything revolves around windchill - why do they even bother saying, "the temperature will be..." when they immediately follow it up with,"... but it will feel like... due to the windchill factor." For me, too cold is anything -10 and below... I can hack it but I dislike it and it makes me feel like packing up and moving south!


Number 29: What's a daily activity you must do that's not one of your favorite activities? Be specific. Once you have it, write about something that is worse than whatever activity you thought of.
Hmmm... normally I would say something like going to work but really, that's not that bad... I guess it would be a toss up between "being yelled at by my customer just because they can and they like to do so" and "shaving my legs".
What would be worse? Being unemployed. Growing up, we had this issue at our house for periods here and there and it was horrible. It isn't about the money - it's about the feeling of uselessness, about not being good enough to keep your job, about hopelessness about finding another job when the future looks so bleak.


Number 30: It's Christmas in July! Post a holiday creation that you made and describe in detail the materials used and any special techniques you used.
This one is easy - especially since it didn't say *NEW* (because I don't have any X-mas left, I don't think, to scrap)...

This was a funny layout I did about my daughter getting My Little Ponies for Xmas and how everyone spent ALL day playing with them... Since I didn't give myself much journaling space, I want to think about the words to use... I love the fact that I have this really bright layout in the middle of all my Christmas pages... I individually placed each piece of bling and glued into place. I trimmed around the pictures to get rid of the distracting backgrounds.

Products used: Paper (Provo crafts), Bling (CTMH), Flowers(Misc including CTMH), Acrylic Letters (Oriental Trading), Buttons (Close to My Heart), Photo Corner (Heidi Swapp), Ribbon (Misc), Tag (Luxe), Ribbon slide (MM?).

Here's another one. I didn't use any special techniques other than I used minimal embellishments and no overlapping - not my normal style! :)

The title reads: Believe in Christmas Magic

The embellishments read: tag arrow: Date: Dec 2005, Notes: Miss Lynne's Xmas Party HO HO HO!! while the ribbon reads "Seasons Greeting", and the 3 small stickers (Right top) read "Believe, Memory, and Magical"

My journaling reads:The magic of Christmas is so special... When you become a parent, the holiday seems to take on new meaning: full of touching moments and love abounds. It is one of my favorite holidays, not because of the presents and my birthday, but because the season creates memories that last a lifetime. For your 1st Christmas, you blessed us with rolling over for the first time. I still remember the moment clearly. For your 2nd Christmas, you weren't too interested in opening gifts. You just wanted to walk around and check things out. When it came time to sit on Santa's lap, you shied away from him in fear... So, this year, I was really hoping that you would get it: the spirit of Christmas, in all its wonder, would wash over you. This year, your first Santa experience was at your daycare Xmas party. And, as I hoped, it was magic! When Santa walked in, you were mesmerized by him: you fought to sit next to him, let him twirl you around, sat on his lap, even danced like a crazy reindeer when he asked! You were completely enamored for the bearded guy with a twinkle in his eye... What a wonderful time I had watching you experience this. I know that I will remember this wonderful, magical moment forever. I am so glad that you believe in the Christmas magic!

Products used: Paper, Ribbon: Close to My HeartRub-ons: Heidi Grace, Deja ViewsStickers: Heidi GraceTag: Misc? Adhesive: TomboInk: Zig

Just About Recovered!

So, I am back from the 3 day retreat and I am just about recovered from the lack of sleep and too much laughing. (like the pic? We laughed pretty hard about this one... :) ) I got to sit with my BFF Tracy as well as some new friends, Tracy and Heather... We had so much fun!! Who knew you could laugh that hard at 3:30am over the stupidest stuff?

Here is 3 of the 4 of us... (Tracy, Heather, and Me) We were totally crazy! (It helps that Heather manages a Starbucks and makes a mean cosmo!!)

I didn't get a whole lot accomplished (it's quality not quantity, right???) but I got what I needed to get accomplished completed. About a year ago, we went on a cruise with a bunch of Steve's frat brothers. It was an absolute blast. For the last year, I have been working on a mini book for me and one of those frat brothers, Kevin. I admit it - I was completely slacking and just needed to get it done. Now it's 95% there. All I have left to do on either book is journal. I'll try to do that this week and post some pics. The albums (Mine is 9x7 and his is 6x6) came out really cute. I think mini books are a fabulous way to document a trip when a 12x12 layout or two won't be enough. :)

I also splurged while I was there and got a pedicure. She used some aromatic oil on them at the end - that's why they're shiny. It felt awesome!! It would have looked awesome too... if I didn't break the little two AGAIN on my right foot. (see the bruising around it and up the toe next to it? I tripped over Annde's solid wooden stool for like the two hundredth time. Oh well!! That's break number 4 in that toe - that's why it angles out and then in - the bones healed that way the last time.



Here are some of the things I can show you that I did... I still need to photograph or finish the rest. This is a page I did for my All About Me book about my love to read... I also used it to show how much fun I have laying in our back yard while Annde plays on her swingset, reading a good book.



This page I did to remember about the tornado that went through. Originally I was going to scrapbook this as "Annde's first tornado" but decided instead to scrapbook it about my experiences with severe weather on Tracy's suggestion. The date is still in pencil because I need to confirm that it was the right date.





This is a page I did for Round 3 of the Scrapdango Challenge contest. I had to use the following to do a page:
* Red and Green as the dominant colors - any shade of either color
* Could not be holiday themed
* Needed to use at least 5 pictures - I used 21!
* One of the pictures had to be larger than 4x6
* The layout needed to be a 2-page 12x12 layout.


It's kinda hard to see here and not lose any of it. If you want a closer look, check it out at the challenge site here. I tried a new product on it - glaze writers... They are fabulous! You get the look of an embossed image without the embossing mess!

Well, that's all for now. I will put up pictures of Annde & Dad's camping trip tomorrow (still have to pull them off the camara.)... They got rained on but boy did they have fun!

Adios!

So, I have been wanting to do this page for awhile... and I am glad that I had a challenge to "help it along"... For the second round of the Scrapdango challenge, I was tasked with creating a layout using the sketch I created for the first round. Here's what I came up with...

First, the sketch:

Then, the layout...

This layout commemorates how my love for the color pink has changed over the last 5 years. Growing up, I had a pink bedroom - a REALLY pink bedroom. I shared with my sister and I think my Mom thought, "2 girls? Let's paint it pink!" And they did - Pepto Bismal Pink... Walls, curtains, bedspreads... everything but the carpet (white) and the dressers (white). As a tomboy, I rebelled against pink. Too girly for me!! That sentiment stayed with me through high school and college and into the "real world". Then I had a baby girl... and, as much as hated the color pink, she looked so cute in it that I started to like it... Then, I started to really see what the color pink means to millions of people - it means hope, it means struggle, it means strength - and hopefully, soon it will been a cure. I try to buy things now that are pink - that companies use to donate money to the Cure. I try to buy those things because I know that even ten cents can mean the difference...

Now on to the fun stuff...

This weekend, my BFF Tracy and I are going to our FIRST scrapbooking retreat... We are SOOOO excited!! It's in Chesaning, Michigan at a place called Creative Retreats. It's an old church that's been converted for a crop/quilt retreat. I just can't wait to go... I know that I am going to scrap tons!! Especially since Scrap for the Cure is also having an online crop this weekend... Check it out!!