(diva)logues

There's something about orange...

I love autumn.  I also love that I live in a place where the leaves change colors on the trees during this time of year.  In fact, the only request I had for our yard when we built this house was with regard to trees.  I wanted one that would change colors in the spring & fall.  The rest of the yard was fair game... that's Bob's territory.  Now the inside of the house... that was another story... ;-)

The newest challenge at These Are A Few of My Favorite Things is to create a Thank You card using your favorite fall color.  Mine is orange, so I wanted to make it the focal point of my card...   

 

I think it's safe to say I'm addicted to making these handmade dimmensional embellishments.  You know how I go through phases & do the same thing over & over again.  At least there's no clouds though, right?  LOL

 
I mostly used some remaining things from my October HIP 2B SQUARE kit and added a couple Recollections pumpkin stickers from Michaels (only $1 for a set of 5) & a SRM Stickers sentiment to finish it off. 

Julie chose this particular challenge after reading this post.  We'll be sending off our thank you cards in effort to help in some small way.  Post your cards here, if you'd like to join us!

I can see the forest for the trees...

There's a new challenge posted today at These Are A Few of My Favorite Things.  This time it's all about your favorite ANIMAL or PET.  I picked a monkey... what can I say except I think they're cute.  Especially in the stamped form...

 

I also love using SRM Stickers + my Marvy Uchida border punch cartridge system for my grass!  And since I loved making this tree with so much dimension to it, I made it again for this page about Bryn's drama club performance last school year.  Granted, once I put it into the scrapbook, there will be no more dimension to my tree, but for now it's cute... 

  

The wagon & the tree were essentially the only props on stage for the performance, so I wanted to highlight that in my design.  I mostly used my leftovers from my September HIP 2B SQUARE kit.  My wagon was clip art that I downloaded from the internet...

 

I'm excited to say that I have another layout published in the October issue of Scrapbook Trends.  It's a Halloween page I made with lots of Nikki Sivils Bootiful line.  You can see the layout on Nikki's blog.  She told me it's her first pub in that magazine.  Yay for Nikki!

 

TGIF!  I'm looking forward to hosting lunch today with girlfriends!  I'm also looking forward to an overnight "date night" tomorrow night!  ;-)  It's another action-packed weekend!

Hope YOUR weekend is GREAT! 

Patrick Star...

 

Do you ever have an assignment due that you wish someone else could just complete for you?  Well, sometimes when I'm really busy, I wish that.  Like the other day for instance.  I said to Bob, "Umm, can you just go run for me & let me know how I did?"  Heehee.  If only.  But this time, I got my wish.  I asked an endlessly creative & gifted artist (aka. my daughter) to draw a picture of my favorite fictional character.  Then I asked her to color it and cut it out for me.  She willingly obliged!  The only alteration I made was to add some google eyes.  I love when she draws pictures.  She really is gifted. 

 To make a long story, short... the new challenge at These Are A Few of My Favorite Things is your FAVORITE FICTIONAL CHARACTER.  Mine is Patrick, from Sponge Bob of course.  It's really not my favorite, but I happen to immitate him all the time (mostly his laugh) so now Bryn thinks I love Patrick.  So... I just go along with it.   I mean, Wikipedia calls him a lazy, overweight, unemployed seastar, who spends most of his time sleeping & watching tv.  What's to love?  I think I'll stick with my employed, hunk of hot burning love of a husband, who only wants to watch tv in the craft room...  with me.  ;-)

Also... a new challenge has been posted on the Nikki Sivils blog today!  Create a "back-to-school" themed layout, card or project for the chance to win a Nikki Sivils prize package!  Here's my take on it...

 

It's a mix of Henry's Brilliance & My Friend Birdie (plus a few SRM school-themed stickers!)  Check out all the details here!

One last thing... this sickens & saddens me.   I pray this never happens to Bryn and feel major sadness that it's happened to any other child dealing with food allergies... 

I'm a poet and didn't know it, but my feet show it, they're long fellows...

 

I don't think I have a favorite poem.  I do like a lot of children's poems though... probably from reading them to Bryn over & over again since she was very little.  For time sake though... I kept it simple for this one.  I have too much going on lately & waited until the last minute to tackle this.  So... I used some leftover stash from my August Hip 2B Square kit, some of the new brown SRM Sticker sentiments, AND my new Marvy Uchida Quick Borders punch! 

Head over to These Are A Few of My Favorite Things to tell us your FAVORITE POEM for the chance to win a $20 gift certificate to Borders, generously donated by Julie!  There's always such great prizes up for grabs! 

What's your favorite?

 

Can you name your favorite scrapbooking manufacturer?  That's a tough one for me.  At the top of my list, of course, would be Nikki Sivils & SRM Stickers.  They have both been SO good to me & I can't say enough what an honor it is for me to design for them.  I adore both their products & find it easy to get inspired when creating with them.  The funny thing is though, I didn't use either one of their products to make this page!  It's just a mix of random things I found on my table & kept adding.  It really is how I like creating the best... by mixing different manufacturer's lines together! 

Of course, I'm still intending to make a mini book about my trip to CHA, but when given the newest challenge at These Are A Few of My Favorite Things, I decided to make a page about CHA where ALL the manufacturers hang out!  Check out the blog for a peek at the prize up for grabs this time.  Michelle Baca, on our team, has started her own company making her own 12x12 display frames & she is sending one to the winner of this challenge!  I purchased one the other day & I LOVE it!  You can find them here!  And as for the challenge... clearly I'm not alone when it comes to trying to choose just one favorite.  Most of us said, "we love them ALL!" 

Dance Club started today, so Bryn was at school at 8am.  Long day.  I'm off to Spin class!  My work-out schedule changed beginning last week when my Zumba class was switched from Monday to Thursday.  So now I'm doing Spin twice a week, instead of once.  It's a GREAT work-out so I guess it's all good, but I'd RATHER be starting my week off with Zumba...   

Happy Monday!

Saturday night fever (minus the disco lights)...

I love Saturday nights.  It's the night we usually deem "game night" or "movie night" or sometimes we just end up in the craft room.  LOL!  I don't know what it is, but I enjoy it.  Really... I do.  Not sure if it's the getting older factor or perhaps the fact that I just might be addicted to popcorn.  I mean, you do NEED to have popcorn on Saturday night.  Well... assuming you're at home, that is.  If I'm not at home, I guess a boatload of chocolate will suffice.  Heehee. 

I think by now you've figured out that the newest challenge at These Are A Few of My Favorite Things is your FAVORITE DAY OF THE WEEK.  And since we're talking about days of the week, I thought I'd use a sheet from my 8x8 SRM Stickers calendar as a background.  I made my own moon by cutting a circle with my circle punch & then I just hand-cut the rest until it looked like it was in a decent crescent shape.  (Shocking that I made a moon instead of a sun, eh?  Well, it is night-time, you know!)  I also snagged a card from our "80's Game" since that's the game we were playing in the photos...

And can I just say that Bob is so NOT amused that I used a photo of him wearing his reading glasses.  I said, "Well, that's how you look on game night... that's how you read the questions."  He said, "It makes me look old."  I said, "Well I know people younger than you that wear reading glasses."  He just shook his head.  I guess that would kind of stink if I wasn't in control of what photos went into the scrapbook.  Can't imagine the flattering photos he might choose of me.  LOL!

And speaking of Saturday nights, ours involved the movie Sideways.  We've seen it at least 4 or 5 times now, but it's always entertaining.  We also watched the movie Death at a Funeral on Friday night.  It was pretty funny & had a LOT of laugh out loud moments!  Tonight we're going to watch Seven Pounds.  I rented it to watch it last night, but since I'm pretty sure it's a major tear-jerker, I put it off until tonight.  Going to Zumba with swollen eyes on Monday morning will be so attractive... LOL

     
I hope you're enjoying your weekend!

Getting back into the craft room makes me a happy girl...

It's been a great weekend so far & I was even able to fit in a little scrapping time just for fun yesterday! 

I used up some leftover October Afternoon paper that was included in the June HIP 2B SQUARE kit + some of my new 72 and Sunny stuff from Jing-Jing!  I I purchased the Jenni Bowlin sun paper before I found out it was going to be included in the July HIP 2B SQUARE kit.  I don't have my kit yet, but it looks like you'll be seeing it again.  Promise to use it in a different way though.  LOL

I curled out my sun rays to add a little more dimmension to the page (this also means it's going to get smashed the minute it goes into the scrapbook)... 

In addition to creating, I was also able to FINALLY finish editing my (diva)logues blog book for 2009 last night.  I had slurped it all using Blurb back in January, but this year when I slurped it, every page had all these funky symbols where my typed words should've been.  I thought to myself, there's NO WAY I'm going to have the patience to sit & edit over 300 pages so the wording is all correct.  So, I gave up, all-the-while wondering why this year didn't slurp correctly, when last year I had no issues?  Then a couple months ago when I was reading Laura Vegas' blog, she posted about the SAME exact issue as mine.  So, I emailed her & told her I had the SAME problem & she told me how to correct it.  So, last night, I picked up where I had last left off, finished up editing the photos in the book, & deleting anything that didn't have to be there.  So... I'm happy to say that I'll have my 2nd year of my blog committed to print!   

 

Also, there's a new challenge up at These Are A Few of My Favorite Things.  This time the challenge is your FAVORITE BAND.  With all the chaos of creating for CHA and then actually attending it too, I didn't have a chance to create something for this challenge.  BUT... my  plan was to do a play on words & make a page about the "Silly Bands" craze going on with Bryn & everyone else we know.  So... even though it will be late, I'm planning to make a page about that eventually!  Check out the blog for more inspiring ideas, as well as to see the FABULOUS prize up for grabs this time!

Have a great week!

Blogland...

I love blogging. 

It started with a guilty pleasure I had formed over 3 years ago.  I'd grab lunch & sit at my computer to eat, while perusing through a handful of blogs.  It felt like a "guilty pleasure" to me because I was keeping up on the lives of people whom I'd never met.  I only had a few that I read daily back then, as I was new to the online world of scrapbooking & blogging in general.  Ali Edwards was a favorite.  I've been a fan of hers for a LONG time... much longer than her blog has been around.  I also found all the online scrapbooking galleries as a result of reading some of these blogs.  

These days I have a LONG list of blogs I keep up with & my own blog was created about 2 1/2 years ago as well.  I couldn't possibly begin to say which blog is my favorite though.  I mean, I guess I'd have to say my OWN blog is my favorite?  So when the new challenge at These Are A Few of My Favorite Things was posted, I decided that my favorite is the website I use to keep the whole list organized because it keeps me updated on new postings... Bloglines.

The photo I used was created by "snipping" a screen shot of part of my Bloglines website page.  The rest is random bits & pieces... old + new... hand-written/cut title letters to go along with my Thickers... & fun with a couple punches. 

Tell us about your favorite BLOG here for the chance to win! 

Shopping at Target... one of my favorite things to do...

And clearly, I am capable of losing my mind (as well as my cart) while shopping there.  I had wanted to document this particular story since it happened back in April, so when this challenge to scrap your FAVORITE STORE came up... my missing cart at Target came to mind...

 
 

I certainly have many favorites, but Target takes the cake for most frequently visited.  How about you?  What's your favorite store?  Tell us about it at These Are A Few of my Favorite Things for the chance to win!

Barbie may be PERFECT, but my pages are NOT...

A new challenge has been posted at These Are A Few of My Favorite Things.  This time it's about your FAVORITE TOY.  While I certainly have quite a few fun "toys" as an adult (Bryn thinks I should've made this page about my laptop), I was inspired to scrap about my favorite toy as a child... my Barbie Dolls.  Yes, I know... I have used these Barbie Doll playing cards before & let's face it, I'm sure they'll be used again somehow.  I think they're cute.  The photo is of me on my 7th birthday sitting next to my Barbie Doll cake...

   

The little purse at the bottom is one of my own hand-made felt creations.  I have others designs here.

  

Evidently I didn't measure correctly when I cut my paper, because when I used my Martha boder punch, I ended up with 2 mistakes.  And let's just say, I refused to start over.  Again I say... perfection is SO overrated.  No one is really going to care that I messed up my border someday anyway... all they'll care about is the photo & the story.

I found the bunting flags at Pretty Little Studio & machine stitched them onto the page to form the banner.  I thought since it was a page about my childhood, that the alphabet letters would be appropriate.  I used a little Kiki Arts glittery chipboard heart, and some more of my Cosmo Cricket Delovely paper for my background.  Stay tuned for LOTS of Delovely creations on Friday, when we have our SRM Stickers + Delovely bog hop!

If you love shoes like I do, take note of this...

These Are A Few of My Favorite Things is featured in this month's edition of Scrapstreet Magazine!  You can check out the article here.  As usual, after staring at my page for a week or so, I ended up changing it ever-so-slightly after submitting it for publication.  It just needed a little more yellow.  Oh, & one more cloud, too.  LOL...

As for the challenge this month... it's all about your FAVORITE SHOES!  I know, you're probably very surprised that I didn't pick one of my many pairs of HIGH heels for this one.  If you click on my page, you can read the journaling & my reason for picking this pair.  The photo on my page was downloaded from the Brooks website.   

Oh, and by the way, if you've never participated in a challenge with us, this one might be the one to pick!  I think we may have set a record for the biggest number of prizes for a challenge EVER.  I've donated one of the give-aways... some embellishments & baker's twine (of course!) from my Etsy store...

Play along with us for a chance to win one of MANY prizes... 27 to be exact!  Go here for more information!

Do you have a favorite book? I do...

A new challenge has been posted at These Are A Few of My Favorite Things.  This time we want to know what your favorite book is.  Personally I love children's books.  We've been reading with Bryn since she was just a baby.  I think it helped instill a love for books with her and she started reading pretty well by the time she was in Kindergarten.  She now enjoys writing her own stories and drawing the illustrations that go along with them.  I had the recent book she made printed into a hard-bound book through Snapfish.  If only you could've seen the smile on her face when I gave it to her.  I know she felt very proud of herself.  And pride doesn't even begin to cover it for me.

Once again... a mix of old + new here... my favorite way to create.  The big green & pink "frame" on the page is actually from the front of a K & Company Carolyn Gavin paper pad.  Loved that line.  The title of her book is "If You Give A Penguin A Pushpop,"  so I was pretty happy when I found an old penguin sticker from a zoo animals sticker set I had purchased years ago when we had her 5th birthday party at the zoo.  Sometimes holding onto random things pays off!

   

Since the topic here is books... I decided to go with an accordian-style fold out to display every page of her book.  I did this by cutting 3x12 strips of brown cardstock & adhering them together.  I added photos to the front & back of my fold-out...

Bryn keeps telling me how much she loves the page.  And as long as I have her approval, I feel I've done my job. 

Off to Zumba!  Hope you're having a FUN weekend!