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!