Happy New Year!!

I can't believe how long it's been since I last posted! Sick kids, holidays and the stress of holiday shopping has me way behind. This year I plan to be on it again...every week an update!

As I'm sitting here watching the wind blow outside, worried a tree is going to fall on my house, I can't believe it's almost 2009!

This last year has been a very different kind of year for me. It wasn't one I want to remember so much and I'm looking forward to a new year to begin a fresh outlook on life.

I have been thinking of so many things I want to start fresh and new...focusing on my health is at the top of my list. It isn't bad now, but times a tickin' and I'm not getting any younger. As a mom I push aside so many things for myself to do for others - aka - KIDS and just don't make any time for me.

I also want to fine tune those digital scrapping skills I have been playing with. I subscribed to a site with lots of tutorials to teach me how to actually create digital elements for myself. That's one area I really, really want to explore...me, a designer...hmmm...sounds kind of cool, huh?? With all the madness this last month, I miss not creating and need to get back into it. I did some fun projects (not digital) for gifts, but it wasn't enough for me...I need a big kreative fix!

Laura and I are working on our second weekend scrapbooking retreat for February. Registration begins tomorrow and I can't wait. We had a great group of ladies at our last crop in September and I'm sure we'll have a great group at this one as well.

Have a Safe and Happy New Year Everyone!! I'll be back soon with some fun projects to share!!

Here's Hippo!

Yeah, it's Friday at last! We have a great weekend ahead...nothing but Sunday school/church and that's it!!! Soccer was over last weekend - YIPPY! I love that Kasey plays. I think it's great for kids to participate in teams and such, but 3 days of soccer a week, I'm ready for it to end after 3 months! She loves it, so we support her and cheer her on.

Did you guys notice that I figured out how to do a playlist and add it to my blog?? I was so excited! These are just a couple of my favorites - my ipod has over 300 songs...I figured I didn't want to overload the blog with lots of music so I stuck with my man Chris Daughtry (YUM! did I just type that outloud??!! LOL!) and some others that I like.

This summer, Jordyn finally convinced Mike to let her get a rabbit and join the 4H rabbit club. It just happened to be around the time that our neighbor's bunny had babies. She was in the rabbit club so we got one from her. It was such a tough decision when we went to get the baby bunny. They were all SOOO cute! But, Jordyn finally decided on an all black baby named Hippo. Lyndsay (our neighbor) had named each baby as it was born and Hippo was named such because he was the largest of the group - a chunky little monkey!

The girls fell in love instantly and that poor bunny hasn't had a moments peace since he came to live with us! They keep him outside in their playhouse for now. The girls and Mike cleaned out the chicken coop (dumb chickens won't use it!) for him to live in, but he just hasn't been moved yet.

Here is a layout I did using Latte Dah Designs Nature's Beauty kit. You can see just how much Hippo is loved and how darn cute he is!! Enjoy!!!

By the way, my digital friends...go over to Tracy's site (Latte Dah Designs) and check out her newest kit. She created this kit for her friend who suddenly passed away this week. It's a gorgeous kit with lots of great colors and elements!

Election Day!!

We are all watching history happen today! I am not a big political junkie or anything...could care less about the debates or who has the most commercials on TV, etc. But, today, no matter who wins or how you vote in this presidential election, it will be a first in our history! I keep telling my girls how cool this is, but they just give me that blank stare. We haven't gone to vote yet, but will later this afternoon after Mike gets home. I was watching the news this morning and I am amazed at how long the lines were in our area before the polls even opened! WOW - just WOW!

I haven't had the time to create any new layouts this week, but hope to over the next day. I'm also thinking of a new class to teach at MCC. I still have to think about the details and iron out how I'll teach a digital class, but hopefully it will all come together soon.

I was reading a blog of one of my favorite digital designers today. It was a post from the other day that I didn't get to see. If you get the chance, go to Summer's blog and read her latest entry. Her new kit is amazing - I just love her work. Not only that, she posted about her best friend and some very sad times for her friend's family. If you can help, I know that it will be greatly appreciated. http://summertimedesigns.blogspot.com/

Oh and how could I forget Halloween!? I took the girls to our usual spots - hit the community center for the Trunk or Treat festivities and then headed through our small town. We walked for almost 3 hours! The girls were thrilled at their loot! Me too...they got snickers bars!! I hope they don't notice that they all mysteriously disappeared!! Luckily, they didn't get too many of them...they are my favorites! I'll leave you with a picture of my girls - the 50's girl, the snow princess and Tinkerbell.



If you haven't yet - GO VOTE!

Another Monday...

To most, Mondays are the worst days...they got to sleep in all weekend, relax and enjoy being home. Monday morning comes and the alarm clock goes off just too early and then they have to fight the traffic to get to work...for me, I love Mondays now! After what feels like a LONG weekend, the house is mine! After a weekend of kids arguing and messing up everything I tidy up, its so great to just sit and listen to the silence. I have to admit, it is a hassle at first to get the girls up and going some days, the end result is, I have time to actually sit in peace and quiet. Some days it doesn't quite work out this way, but I try hard to plan meetings and client work around these 3 hours of peace.

I did do some fun layouts recently - digital of course!! I'm getting better, but still have SO much to learn. There are so many great kits and tools out there...it's just crazy! When you can't get enough, like me, it gets overwhelming...I am starting to forget what I have! I better get these files organized before its too late.


Here is a layout I did last weekend, but forgot to post it. This was from last fall when we spent the week of Thanksgiving down at the lake. We took a field trip over to Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest. There is so much history down south, we always try to take a trip to somewhere historic while we're there.




This is another I did for Latte Dah Designs. This is using the eco-friendly kit. I'm working on making it a little better. There is something it needs, I just need to figure out what that is!! Anyway, this is just one layout of many that I will be doing for Tracy at Latte Dah Designs as well as one of many that I will be doing with pictures from the Alaskan Cruise that my mom and I took last June. That was an amazing trip and these photos are just a couple of the 600+ that I took that week! The Hubbard Glacier was our first stop on the cruise and it was simply incredible. You just have to see it to believe it...that's pretty much the case with all of the Alaskan scenery.

Let me know what you think!!

Have a great Monday!!

I miss summer!

WOW! It was a cool, brisk 30 degrees here yesterday morning! I went to take the girls to the bus and my car thermometer said 30! YIKES! My youngest is really having issues wearing coats on these cold mornings. She actually got mad at me and was all out of sorts during school yesterday! I finally got it out of her and she said she was mad because I made her wear her coat...crazy!

Since I'm missing some of the fun and warmth of the summer months, I did a layout from the girl scout trip to Williamsburg this past August. We spent time in Jamestown and Colonial Williamsburg. One day we went to Water Country USA and rode the water rides all day. The girls had a blast. These photos were taken at the wave pool...that was my place for the day. I used the Tropical Corkboard kit from Latte Dah Designs to do this layout. Enjoy!!

Wow! The leaves are falling...

I can't believe it. Yesterday when we were waiting for the bus, there weren't any leaves in the driveway, but by the afternoon drop-off, the drive was covered. I love fall...there is a tree down the road from me that has to be the most gorgeous tree ever in the fall. The leaves are absolutely beautiful. I have seen many people pulled over on the side of the road in front of this house taking pictures of their tree. Its an amazing transformation of color...brilliant red and yellow leaves, its just picture perfect.

So, as I have mentioned in my previous posts, I have found digital scrapbooking! I am so obsessed. It's addicting. I have been referred to many forums to chat with others who have my addiction. I can't believe how much stuff is out there!! You know there's lots of stuff for the traditional scrapbooking, but most is made by the same manufacturers. With digital, there are tons of designers and I truly think there are even more digital products for us addicts than "regular" scrapping products. The really cool thing about this...you can use products over and over again. With Photoshop, I can change colors on papers and embellishments to make them look different...no one will know I used the same ribbon for 10 layouts! I have even gotten my stepmother Sandi hooked! We sat on Sunday and did a cute layout of their dog Doogie. She's been out searching for more kits to download so she can do layouts on her own.

I made a new friend, Tracy! Tracy has Latte Dah Designs (link is in my sidebar). She has some really fun designs. I downloaded a couple the other day and can't wait to use them in some layouts. When I do get a few done, I'll be sure to post them.

Here's a fun layout I did of Mikaela. It was one of my first layouts...she's just so cute, I couldn't resist doing this one. Mike had taken these pictures one day in the yard. They were so her that I just had to use them in something. He has such a way of getting these girls to pose. He definitely has an eye for backgrounds and good photo ops.

Enjoy!! Kim

It's the weekend!! YIPPY!

Ahhh...Friday afternoon at last. I love the thoughts of lounging on Saturday mornings. Well, unless there is a morning soccer game. Getting up at 6:00 am on the weekdays to get kids ready for school gets old...I'm not much of a morning person!

I haven't done much this week in the way of creating layouts. I have been busy trying to get my house in some sort of order. I've done a lot of the VA work these last few weeks and the house has gotten a little out of control. I've been purging so many things...lots of clothes for the girl scout clothing drive, lots of scrapbooking stuff, just throwing out stuff that isn't necessary anymore. How do I accumulate so much stuff???

So, here is another layout I did real quick this weekend. I downloaded it from a site (I am sorry I can't remember who to give the credit to!) and just plugged Kasey's picture into it. I love this black and white photo of her. I was playing in my friend's studio one day with the girls and this was one of my favorites from that day!

This was actually already done, you just plug the picture into the spot. I like those - simple and easy! But, most of the others I have done are my layouts using the kits.

I hope I have more time this weekend to create more (girls are going to grandpa and grandma's for a sleepover!!! WOOHOO!).

Once I figure out how to do it in blogger, I'll upload a gallery of the projects I have completed.

Have a great weekend!!!

It's fall...

Wow! I can't believe how quickly time is flying by. The girls are all settled into school and loving it! Mikaela thinks kindergarten is great. Mondays and Tuesdays are her favorite days. Mondays because she has computer lab and Tuesdays because she has library! Kasey also loves Tuesdays. She goes over to Lucketts Elementary for the Futura program. She enjoys the program so much. Jordyn is just enjoying school...no favorite days like the others. Blue Ridge is treating her well, but she is tired. The days for her are long, but she's adjusting. She's making new friends and still keeps up with most of her old friends.

I have been trying to keep up with my class on My Creative Classroom and doing my regular
VA work too. I haven't scrapbooked much lately,
but did discover digital scrapbooking. I always loved
to look over the pages people make using the digital kits, but was afraid to just dive in and do it. I took several photoshop classes, but never used it. I finally got the nerve to redo my blog (this one...what do you think?) and it gave me the courage to just do a layout! I did one and now I've done several. It isn't hard at all, but I know there is so much more I can do to jazz up my layouts...I just haven't learned all there is about photoshop yet! Here's my first layout ever - the girls on the first day of school.

Keep an eye out for more layouts to come...I'm addicted!!! I've actually started purging my papers, embellishments and other items in my scrapbook room. I can't see myself giving up the "old fashioned" way of scrapbooking, but this way seems a lot less cluttered and doesn't take up nearly the space! I took my car the other day for an inspection and while I waited for the 45 minutes, I scrapbooked! Can I tell you how cool that was??? Just me and my laptop...piece of cake!!!

Enjoy your fall everyone...I will post more layouts and more fun classes and stuff soon. I have a bunch of ideas for holiday classes to teach on My Creative Classroom and at Memory Lane!

Many, Many Thanks!!

Well, its Sunday morning of the Scrap Pink weekend crop and I have enjoyed every minute of this weekend! You ladies are awesome and I appreciate the support of you all!! Laura and I couldn't have done this without you. I hope you have enjoyed this scrapbook adventure as much as we have.


I wanted to give a special shout out to my girl Nancy - she was the most amazing "food woman" ever! She kept us filled to the rim with lots of goodies this weekend! Chocolate, brownies, cookies, cake, chocolate...oh and we did have some yummy lunch and dinners too! You are awesome Nancy!

For those of you who couldn't make this weekend scrapbook retreat, we are planning another weekend of fun in January or February.

Here are some pictures from the event. Enjoy!!

Welcome to my new blog!

I have been really anxious to "pretty up" my blog, but found that the other service I was using just wasn't too terribly user-friendly. I found some great digital blog kits and just had to give them a try but it was just too difficult, so I switched to Blogger! I am so excited about the new look I have going here.

I am hoping to do more digital layouts in the near future. I'll be posting those here in the Project Gallery as soon as I get them done.

My term on the design team for Kits 2 Remember is almost over and now I've taken on another new role. I am a new instructor for My Creative Classroom. I have my first class posted on the website and eagerly planning the next one! If you haven't checked out My Creative Classroom yet, go and see what's there. There are a lot of very talented ladies there teaching a variety of crafting classes. I have a long list of classes that I want to take myself.

The big Scrap Pink weekend is finally here...well, almost. Our festivities kick off on Friday night at 6:00 and don't end until Sunday at 3:00. Laura and I are so excited that we have such a great turn out! We sold out within a week and are already making our plans for our second weekend event. Stay tuned for more details as we get them.

Enjoy the new blog! Thanks for reading!!