McScraps5

"Love Me Do" Blog Hop Layout

2012-01-18T18:09:00.000-06:00

Welcome to the “Love Me Do” Valentine’s Blog Hop! This week, January 16^th-20^th, we have a group of 5 talented designers sharing projects with you on their blogs to get you prepared for the upcoming season of love! Whether you use these designs to create something for your loved ones or spring-board off the inspirations given, we would love to see your work as well, so leave a comment on the blogs as you go through.

On January 24^th, we will be giving away a collection of goodies from the group to one lucky participant. The giveaway will be hosted through filling out a Google Docs form, on Live.Teach.Create on January 20^th, asking various questions about the posts throughout the week. All those who enter with the correct answers will have a chance to win!

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I am a Close To My Heart independent consultant. The products I used for today's project include the Roxie kit, Bling Assortment, Designer Brads Rhinestone, Designer Ribbon, and Cricut Art Philosphy set. The only non-CTMH product was the foam letter stickers from American Crafts. (Hey, we all have an assortment of scrapbooking products, right?)

I love how I was able to use the Cricut designs to cut out the hearts in different sizes and also the fancy overlay design. I also used one of the stamps that comes with the collection to stamp on the inside of the smaller hearts.

The layout is super simple - obviously. I kept wavering from adding a little more text, or a tag, but ultimately decided I really just wanted the photo to stand on its own. I guess if it bothers me later down the road I can add some journaling on the bottom half or tuck a tag behind the photo. For now, I like the simplicity of it.

I don't have a technique to show with this project. I did want to let you know that the design was inspired by a page I found on Pinterest. You can find inspiration many places on the web, and I hope that you've found something you like from this page.

Thanks for joining me today for the “Love Me Do” Valentine’s Blog Hop! Next person in the hop is Jayma. Check back again with me tomorrow as well for another new idea.

"Love Me Do" Valentine's Blog Hop

2012-01-16T08:00:00.003-06:00

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As a Close To My Heart consultant, I wanted to show you how you can use our products to create a cute "french fry" box to fill with goodies. The box was cut using my Cricut and the exclusive Art Philosophy cartridge sold by CTMH. I used papers from the Roxie collection and the the tag stamp set that comes with the cartridge. I also used the "Love Life" stamp set.

To start off today's project, I stamped the image on card stock cut with the Cricut to match the ticket stamp with Versamark ink. The ink is clear but you will be able to see the image while it is wet. Immediately sprinkle embossing powder on the image and tap off excess. Heat with a heat gun until powder has melted and you can see the complete image.

Next I stamped a background image not he card stock and wrapped some B&T (background and texture) paper around the box.

I cut a piece of patterned paper just slightly smaller than the inside for a liner.

Then I used my adhesive runner to glue the sides together. I added the embossed image and a couple of stamped images, along with a couple of paper flowers inked on the edges and a sparkly rhinestone in the center of the flower.

The treat box can be filled with some sweets for your sweetie!

Thanks for joining me today for Day # of the “Love Me Do” Valentine’s Blog Hop! Next person in the hop is Jayma. Check back again with me tomorrow as well for another new idea.

Kicking Off 2012 In Style

2012-01-02T22:51:00.000-06:00

On Sunday I checked the mailbox for any mail that may have come in while we were out of town and I found a surprise box from my Close To My Heart upline. In it was a beautiful card and the tote bag pictured above as congratulations for reaching my Straight To The Top sales goal. Now, I am a bag lover. I have several bags in my closet but I never use them. Well this one is too pretty to leave with the others. It's such a great size for carrying my planner, purse, and of course, the latest CTMH Idea Book!

As we ring in the new year, I set some new goals for myself with CTMH. I definitely want to set up a monthly scrapbooking workshop. I want to set aside some specific creative time and also get new people involved in this hobby. I want to get into the habit of scrapping every week and posting to this blog. I'm preparing to participate in a blog hop later this month, as well.

Speaking of blogging, I've been neglecting this blog and really want to work on posting on a regular basis.

I've got to finish cleaning up my scrap room and organizing myself for all the projects I want to get done. I've started another few classes at Big Picture Classes, including Stacy's "12" class, which has the ambitious goal of creating 12 layouts a month for the whole year. That 144 layouts!! And don't forget that in February is Layout A Day, where I hope to keep up.

What are your scrapbooking plans for the new year?

Typeset Layout

2011-07-24T20:57:00.000-05:00

I got my new consultant kit in Friday, I think I posted that already, lol. When I went home and had time to play, I knew exactly what I wanted to scrap. It didn't take long for this layout to come together and I was very happy with all of it.

Then today (Sunday) I started to get my supplies ready for my Jumpstart/Open House. I also wanted to try my hand making a video demonstrating how to make the card I'll be showing at the party. I've got some things to learn, but overall was happy with the result.

I need to set the camera to record horizontally instead of vertically or it makes the video narrow. It only took splicing four videos to get this one complete version.

And here's the finished card.

I'm ready to start creating with CTMH!

2011-07-22T13:37:00.000-05:00

My consultant kit came in today!! I've been waiting for it all week, anxious to see the new Idea Book and new papers and stamp sets. My box did not disappoint!

Inside were two of the new paper kits which I hope to make plenty of pages from and maybe a few cards so that I can show at my jumpstart party next week. A very nice black album comes in the kit. Looks great! There were also a variety of supplies that will definitely come in handy: some blocks, stamp cleaner, glue, glitter gel. And then plenty of business supplies for taking orders!!

Here's what the majority of the contents looks like out of the box. There were still some items in it, if you can believe that! So much good stuff to start off my business.

And I'm also getting ready to participate in Ali Edwards' Week in the Life project, as I did last year. Basically you document your life for a week, whether routine or something out of the ordinary. It will be fun to compare last year's project to this year's. I had a regular week last year, which is great. It shows what we are on a regular basis, what we do on a regular basis. This time around, it will include my new adventure along with some of our summer activities. I just know it will be a great week for so many reasons!

I hope to share my new creations over the weekend! If you're working on a new project, participating in Ali's project, or want to share you craftiness, please do! I love looking at new blogs for more inspiration!!

I'm a Close To My Heart Consultant again!!

2011-07-19T22:26:00.001-05:00

Really, how could I stay away!? I became a consultant for Close To My Heart way back in 2004 and enjoyed sharing my love of scrapbooking with others. I was lucky enough to introduce scrapbooking, cardmaking and stamping to many fun ladies. But as other priorities took over I stepped down from teaching and eventually dropped out of the business. Over the last few days that passion was re-ignited after reading all the fun tweets coming from consultants enjoying the annual convention at Disney! The price to become a consultant again was right and the new products were too beautiful to pass up.

On Monday morning, I signed up with a great team and now I'm tracking my FedEx package as it makes its way to me! Looks like it will be here on Friday. As soon as I get the new goodies I plan to make some new layouts and schedule my Jumpstart gathering right away.

I'll be updating this site to include links to my online store once it is set up. Meanwhile, if you're interested in learning more about Close To My Heart or if you'd like to schedule a home gathering where you can earn FREE PRODUCT please contact me.

June's 4x6 Photo Love-Inspired layout

2011-07-07T13:12:00.000-05:00

I'm back with another layout inspired by Shimelle's 4x6 Photo Love template. For June's layout, we were to use 6 photos. I like sketches that mostly use 4x6 photos as it really makes it easy for me to print what I want and then use on a layout without having to worry about resizing or special sizes. I especially love that Shimelle makes putting together great pages so quickly.

Here's my page:

I'm going to try to also do my layouts for the first four sketches of the year, now that I know how easy layout 5 & 6 were to put together.

Have you tried using these sketches? How do you like them?

4x6 Photo Love? Oh yeah, I love it!

2011-06-14T22:57:00.000-05:00

When Shimelle posted the May 4x6 Photo Love page, I knew it was a layout I would have to follow. It was perfect for scrapping a series of photos over two pages.

Here's one of her sample layouts that is on the link above:

If you click on the link above, she even has a short video that walks you through the process. I always find it interesting to watch others' scrapbooking methods.

Here's my take:

Once you choose your photos and papers, the layout comes together easily.

I plan on going through the previous months' 4x6 layouts posted on her site and at Two Peas so that I can get a few more pages done. I love Shimelle's style. It's just the right amount of clean and simple, yet layered and full of fun stuff, for me.

My desk is a mess

2011-05-11T21:03:00.000-05:00

Just look at this! My table is awful and you just know that it doesn't exactly call out to me to scrapbook. A stack of photos on the far left that need to be sorted. Many of them go in last year's project life album. My camera and bag on the far right that need to be put away...after I download photos from Easter and our recent trip to Arizona to attend my sister's graduation. And some baseball photos. And probably some other stuff that's on the card that I've forgotten. I also need to put away the books I've been reading and sort through some new supplies I bought. And order adhesive for my ATG gun. This list could just go on and on. You know the feeling.

So as a coping mechanism, (let's be honest, I'm a BPC addict) I purchased two classes from Big Picture Classes. Guess which one was at the top of the list? That's right, Stacy's Finding Photo Freedom. I have read both her books and have begun to incorporate some of her methods but I know that I really need an in-depth course to get the most from it and really set my workflow in order to get the most out of my scrapping time.

The other class? Nic Howard's Color or is it Colour? class. When I took Nic's class during True Scrap it was the one that really struck a chord with me and inspired me to create a page immediately. I love how the page turned out and scrapped about it here.

As for some of my iPhoto pictures, here are the boys at Cabela's in Phoenix/Glendale.

And at TGI Friday's at Chase Field in Phoenix right before the graduation ceremony. We were able to have lunch with Howard's sister and neice which was also a good reason to come out to Arizona. It had been about a year since we last saw his sisters. We even got to visit with his other sister who lives in Tucson.

Here we are at the field waiting for the ceremony to begin.

And since we were on the road the week before and during Mother's Day weekend, I didn't get my gift until yesterday. (I wasn't expecting one as Howard had taken me to a scrapbook store in Tucson on Saturday where I got to pick up a few new things.) Howard picked this out for me and I love it. I don't know if I would have picked out a bracelet that is so Texas-specific, but it really is cute. It just feels like home. Maybe because he kept talking about how we could always move to Arizona if we wanted a change. That's okay, hun. I'm a Texas girl.

So I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day and spent some time scrapping during National Scrapbook Day this past Saturday. Won't you share how you enjoyed your weekend?

Making cards and reading, but not at the same time

2011-04-18T22:04:00.000-05:00

Last night I cut and made about 60 baby shower invitations for my youngest sister who is due in June. I haven't made cards in a long time so I was surprised that between us we cranked them out in about 2 hours.

Papers are from DCWV stack, ribbon from Michael's, stamps by CTMH, and brackets cut from my Silhouette. The Silhouette has its own story this week! I've had the darn thing for exactly a year and had a heck of a time getting it to cut anything straight out of the box. I tried every trick I could find online and then put it away because I was so frustrated that I spent good money on a machine that didn't work like it promised. Then last week I emailed customer service about the problems I was having and they immediately sent out a replacement blade. Guess what? That was my problem all along. I put in the new blade and it cut through paper like butter! I was so happy!!

Tonight I'm trying to find some scrapbook inspiration, but I really need to read. I'm having a hard time with my OLW this year: FOCUS. I start lots of little things and can't seem to get to the end of any of them.

One of my lifelong dreams has been to become a published author. I don't consider writing newspaper articles as being published because, well frankly, it doesn't take much skill or effort. Or maybe that's just my articles.

I want to write a real story, not a real-life story, just fiction that gets published. Just one time. LOL So I'm reading this book "Story Engineering" on my iPad. It's a new experience, but I'm enjoying the digital reading more than I thought I would.

I'm also reading a Dummies book on Wordpress. I want to learn to build a website for the newspaper but there are lots of things to figure out. I'm a firm believer in the Dummies books because they really break things down in a tangible way.

And my to-read list wouldn't be complete without some vampire romance novels. They are my guilty pleasure!

So what have you made lately? What are you reading? Do you generally have multiple projects going or just focus on one activity at a time?

Inspired...

2011-04-11T00:09:00.000-05:00

This past Thursday thru Saturday, I participated in the first ever online scrapbook convention put on by Lain Ehmann. The event, True Scrap, was three days of classes put on by some of the top scrapbookers in the industry. It was so inspiring straight out of the gate!

After the keynote interview, the first class was by Nic Howard. The class was all about adding texture to your pages. In this class, Nic showed how she put a beautiful and very dimensional page together and the elements that go into building a page full of layers.

I was so in love with her page, I broke out the sewing machine. I had my sister bring a bottle of gesso from Michael's, and I even used Smooch Spritz that I bought a while back but had really not figured out when or where to use effectively on my pages. I even used a water brush so that I could wet down my page edges and roll them in.

This is the base of my layout. I sewed a white sheet of cardstock to the green. Painted on the gesso and then sprayed with Smooch Spritz. Then I watered the edges and curled them in and inked the edges.

Here I added some scraps of papers I had used in a previous project. Watered, rolled and inked the edges again.

I also added some scraps of corrugated cardboard that I ripped from a box. Put in some scalloped edging by Bazzill, a few journaling spots from Jillibean Soup, some other accents I've had for a while and some fabric. There are even a couple of tags tucked behind the photos on the right side with some journaling. You can also see some of the mess on the table that hasn't been cleaned up just yet.

And a better view of the layout.

I love this page. It's so NOT what my usual pages look like, but I had fun putting it together. I realized that I don't have a big stash of embellishments for my boy pages. I usually scrap much more flat pages. And while I can't see myself always scrapping this way, it's a nice change of pace. I might have to add more of these types of layouts into my usual routine. As for the amount of time it took? Not much more time than a regular page. I think I got this page out in about an hour just because I went looking through my stash for stuff.

Thanks for looking. Did you attend True Scrap? Create anything by being inspired by one of the instructors? Please share!

This should keep me busy for a while...

2011-03-31T09:23:00.000-05:00

A few days ago I FINALLY put a whole bunch of photos in my cart and hit print. Over 600 photos that needed to be printed. 6-0-0 PLUS!!

In these stacks are the remainder of my Project 365 photos from last year, plus photos from our trips to Arizona and the beach. I need to go through and do a good sort so that I can hopefully complete my 2010 album with photos. The journaling is a whole nuther beast! I'm also thinking about doing mini-albums for the trips or I'll go back and do photobooks. I can use the prints for a few layouts.

The remaining prints will get sorted as I start to plan for May's layout a day challenge with Lain Ehmann. I attempted this last May and completed it. Did not fare as well in October or February, but I'm going to try again.

I've also got a few classes still in my queue over at Big Picture Classes. What are you working on?

Boys live here

2011-03-23T22:41:00.000-05:00

As I walked to the car this morning to go to work, these scenes in our front yard and driveway caught my attention. It's obvious that boys live here. Wild, crazy, fun-loving, sports-playing, imagination-filled boys.

You don't even want to know what the play area inside the house looks like. A quick glance would show puzzles, trains, small aliens, baseball equipment, stuffed toys, wrestling action figures, and dinosaur books. Sounds great, except that it's strewn throughout the room. Ah, well, they are just signs of the blessings we call our boys.

What evidence of your blessings are spread all over your home?

To be or not to be...private

2011-03-22T21:45:00.001-05:00

But before I get into the discussion I want to share a photo I took this morning of the bluebonnets that are starting to bloom around here:

Taken with my Canon Rebel, ISO 100, 50mm 1.8 lens in aperture mode

(yay me! no auto on this. LOL)

I posted this comment on someone's blog earlier as I think about whether or not I would want to make my blog private or to censor what I share online.

"I've been blogging for about 2 years or so now and I have worried about the privacy issue. At the same time, it wouldn't really be all that hard to find out anything about me with just a few morsels of info. I believe there are more good people than bad people reading my blog. If someone wanted to do me harm, they wouldn't do it because of what I wrote on my blog, Facebook, or Twitter. If I was someone's target, my online presence would be irrelevant. So I choose to just go about my business, posting as if my readers were 100% friends. You can also see that big name scrappers share a lot of their personal info and family's info on their blog and it hasn't been harmful that we've heard of or they would have stopped. Ali & Stacy use their family's real names."

I decided a long time ago that I like having a public blog. I like putting myself out there to share my scrapbooking and to get feedback and make new friends. I've yet to have a negative experience and even still would not let someone else determine whether I post or not. I have nowhere in my life to have a private thought, I don't worry about my blog.

Whatever decision you make for you blog, I hope that it gives you peace of mind.

Beauty is no substitute for substance

2011-03-21T18:35:00.000-05:00

So I made this Italian Cream Cake yesterday, after putting it off for several months. When I made it for Thanksgiving it was sooooo gooooood. Really rich and moist. We finished the whole darn thing. I spent the afternoon slaving in the kitchen making this baby from scratch: shaving the coconut, toasting the coconut shavings and pecans, separating the eggs and mixing in all the various dry and wet ingredients. Phew! Baking is hard work. (Not really, I enjoy it!!)

And when all was done, I realized --- I didn't use the right amount of butter in the recipe. I assumed each stick of butter was a cup, instead of only 1/2 a cup. When I ate a slice today I could tell the difference. Not as moist or rich. But still very edible.

On another note, today was the first day of Shimelle's Blogging for Scrapbookers online course. I didn't get to take the class the first time around in 2009. By the time I found it in 2010, it was a self-paced class that I downloaded and tried to incorporate into what I already knew about blogging. I'm excited to take this class "live" so that I can do a better job of blogging but also in preparation of the next phase of this class - Beyond Blogging for Scrapbookers. My goal at this point is to blog at least 3 times a week, with those posts being scrap-related. I'd like to post pages, but also share tutorials or links to other inspiring blogs and resource material. I will probably discuss upcoming or currently-running scrapbook classes that I'm taking online to share my progress in the class or to give my review of the class.

I hope you'll join me, either as a blogger or a scrapbooker, or both!! Please share your plans for your blog/scrappy projects.

Travel Scrapbook in the works

2011-03-19T16:54:00.000-05:00

I've been wanting to take a look inside Ali's Scrapbook on the Road self-paced class that she recently posted on her blog. (You know Ali Edwards, right? If not, check her out. She's amazing!) I made sure to collect lots of ephemera during our trips to Arizona/Grand Canyon last May and Missouri/Silver Dollar City last Christmas break. I've put them in a craft keeper because I've been debating how I want to handle documenting those trips.

For the Arizona trip I took lots of photos. LOTS. I think it would make a great photobook and will consider that option. But I like making pages. I like having either scrapbook pages or a mini-book to really relive the experience for myself. The hands-on of making a scrapbook is awesome. LOL

So when Ali introduced this class a few weeks ago, I knew I was going to get it. I've tried her other mini-book offerings before, like Week in the Life and December Daily. So much fun! I'm sure this will be just as rewarding.

Here's just a little bit of the ephemera, as well as travel-related scrapbooking embellishments to make the albums.

How do you document your travel adventures?

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2011-03-17T19:15:00.000-05:00

Photo from http://bakerysquare.blogspot.com/2011/03/happy-st-patrick-day.html

With a name like "McDaniel", you'd think we might somehow be able to find some Irish roots. Last time I tried looking for the McDaniel family history, I think it revealed some Scottish heritage. The family has been here for a long time and doesn't/didn't celebrate any heritage-type holidays that I know of. Yet, this would probably be a really fun holiday to celebrate if I weren't trying to get over the birthday we just had for Oscar a few days ago. I need to plan these things better.

i.Scrap and I love it!

2011-03-14T23:38:00.000-05:00

Halfway through February, I came down with a cold (or the flu) and missed a couple days of the LOAD layout a day challenge. So while I didn't complete all 28 layouts, I did complete about 16 or 17. Obviously, that's way better than nothing. I'm happy with that progress but realized I still have plenty of scrapping to keep me busy.

I really enjoy taking online scrapbook classes from Big Picture Classes. I have several that are still going and several that have ended, but I haven't "completed" any of them. They are works in progress and I like that I can access them forever so that I can go back and do the lessons as I have time or as I feel inspired.

A recent class is Stacy Julian's i.Scrap class. It's only two weeks long, but in it I will complete a 20-page 8x8 album. I like that Stacy had an outline for each of the pages we were to make and how it would all come together. I followed along and pulled out my photos, papers, and embellishments for my pages the first week and began putting all the pages together. Over the last couple of nights I have been able to complete the layouts, including painting the edges. I've already put them in the album as I wait for the journaling pages to dry.

I've been mulling over in my mind how the journaling will come together so that I can get it on my pages and finish this album in the next few days.

Here's the title page. Just needs a little journaling about what the album will be about.

And here's the last page. It was supposed to be a full 8x8 photo, but somewhere along the way I ended up printing the photos as a 4x6 and used it similar to the inside pages. Rather than take it apart, I just used it as-is. That works for me.

So in the next few days I should have a completed album. Yay me!!

But it doesn't end there. I am also taking a class with Karen Grunberg called Finding Your Way. It's similar to LOAD in that we are trying to find out true scrapping selves. Since I've tried LOAD a few times now, and was actually successful in May 2010, I've been able to narrow down some of my habits. I'll soon be re-organized enough to start my layout a day challenge again for this class and really hone in on my scrapping style. What I need to do in the meantime is upload all my photos to Snapfish and get them printed! It's such a chore, but it feels so good when I get that big box of printed photos back in the mail.

After that class ends, it will just about be time to jump into the May 2011 LOAD challenge. I have some things coming up in May that might derail me if I'm not prepared so I need to get ready. And for those days when I won't be home to paper scrap, I can always make digi pages. I've always got a computer around!

And then? Well, there's a new class at BPC that I want to sign up for: 28 Days of Sketches with Lisa Day. I like to use sketches when I need layout ideas. This class will have a daily sketch during May which will help with LOAD.

I hope that you'll join me in any of these classes. And if you think that you're too busy to scrapbook on a regular basis, know that you have the same 24 hours in a day as the rest of us. You just have to make scrapbooking a priority. A few minutes a day can turn into layout in a short matter of time. If you don't tell your story, or your family's story, who will?

My scrappy week

2011-02-12T23:25:00.000-06:00

Ha ha!! Scrappy as in lots of scrapbooking going on (not crappy).

Still doing pretty good with my layout a day challenge. I've scrapped every night this week even if I didn't blog them separately. I'll be showing you my pages below, but I wanted to say a few things about scrapbooking first.

I got "the comment" the other day from my sister about how I must have lots of free time to scrapbook and how she's too busy to do it (even though she used to love it!) She didn't mean it in a derogatory way, I think she meant it more of a "how do you have time?" kinda way. I have a full-time job, as I am self-employed; 3 kids and a husband; never ending loads of laundry; and a house to keep up. But I can find the time to scrapbook (and use untold amounts of time on the computer - Facebook & Twitter & blogs) because I make time. Once the kids are in bed (around 8:30-9:00) I come into my scrap room and surf the internet for a while. Then I grab a photo or two and look through Evernote for some layout ideas.

I've found that I'm a simple scrapper. Very simple. That's okay with me. I like the almost-instant gratification of a quick page that is still fun. I've learned not to stress about making the "perfect" page or using every-single-photo of each event. Sometimes I have a story. Sometimes just a thought. Sometimes just a date. I'm totally okay with all of that. I love scrapbooking because it is a creative outlet for me. I could put all my photos in a photo album and that would be okay, too. And I will have a combination of layouts, mini-books, and photo albums. It's all good.

So what about the laundry and all my other responsibilities? Laundry gets washed. Dishes get done. House gets vacuumed. People get fed. Work gets done. It's all manageable. Everything in its own time. Besides, at 11 pm, what else would I be doing?

So after that long rant, here are my pages:

Day 8:

Day 9:

Day 10:

Day 11:

Day 12:

Another 3 layouts for LOAD

2011-02-07T22:55:00.000-06:00

We are now 7 days into our layout a day challenge and I have been keeping up! I've found that if I keep things simple, I can get those photos I love scrapped.

Here's day 5: I used a premade page from an old Creating Keepsakes calendar. All I did was add the photos and a few stickers.

Day 6: Inspired from another beach page that I saved to Evernote. I love this photo of Howie. He looks so grown.

Day 7: I only had one photo from a Father's Day breakfast at daycare. But it's a photo I love. It came together really quickly.

So how are you coming along with your scrapping goals? Every page is one more for your album!!

This is what it's all about

2011-02-04T23:29:00.001-06:00

LOAD4
Originally uploaded by mcscraps4

I love these photos of the boys taking a break from playing basketball at the house.

We have a winner!

2011-02-04T16:53:00.000-06:00

Thank Kim for your comment on my 100th post.
I don't know how to post the random number generator box, but I put in 1-4 and it choose #3.
Thanks everyone for reading, and thanks to those who posted. Hope you'll keep up with my February layout a day progress.

Another boy born to be wild

2011-02-03T23:09:00.001-06:00

LOAD3
Originally uploaded by mcscraps4

David is probably my original wild child and I love the look on his face in this. It clearly says it all! He's always looking for adventure and whatever comes his way.

Inspired by a purse

2011-02-02T22:59:00.001-06:00

LOAD2
Originally uploaded by mcscraps4

Day 2 of LOAD was to find inspiration from an item on ebay. When I searched my name, a bunch of purses came up and the third one had colors and pattern that instantly caught my attention.

These photos are obviously from the birth of my third son, almost four years ago. Wow, time goes by so fast!!

Welcome to another round of LOAD - layout a day!

2011-02-02T00:08:00.001-06:00

LOAD1
Originally uploaded by mcscraps4

Last May, I joined a month-long scrap challenge with Lain Ehmann and at the end of the month had 31 layouts!! I was very proud of myself and joined again in October. Unfortunately, I didn't complete that month, but I did realize some things about my scrapbooking. I was happy about that because I didn't want to be scrapbooking just for the fun of it. I wanted my layouts to really share a story.

Since then, I've realized that some of my layouts will share a story, some will be for fun. They don't all have to be gems!

So for day 1 of the layout a day challenge for February 2011, I made this simple page. It's one of my favorite photos!

December Daily Wrap-up, 100th Blog Post & a Giveaway!

2011-01-24T22:44:00.000-06:00

Yay!! I finally finished my December Daily. It only took me until January 23rd. I had originally intended to document November 26 through January 1, but by December 25 I was done with having photos of the season and felt like I'd pretty much documented all the good stuff.

Here's what the finished album (except for covering the front and back and maybe cutting down the chipboard to better fit my pages) looks like from the side view.

I'm posting a few days that were unfinished when I last posted. Here's December 12 and I used Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas prompt to remember a Christmas past. It's a photo of my sisters and me many, many Christmases ago having some fun in our footed pajamas.

December 16: Another JYC prompt on being grateful.

December 17: Looking for deals on Christmas decor at Home Depot. No, I think it was Lowe's. You get the point.

December 20: Some journaling about a special card we received today.

Here's the card and accompanying photo that goes with the journaling. I adhered it to the back of my "20" page so that it opens up to show the inside of the card and I also adhered the photo to the inside of the card.

Day 21: Christmas cards we received.

December 22: Day at the office. Made a little cash.

December 23: Finding a way to incorporate the Starbucks coffee sleeve.

December 24: A 7 Gypsies journal card about David's gift to Howie on Christmas Eve. The photo that goes to it is on the backside.

Still December 24: The backside of the card and also documenting about finally watching A Christmas Story with the boys.

December 25: I could have gone with the usual Christmas photos of the kids opening their presents, but chose a photo of all the cousins playing together. I imagine that I'll end up using the traditional "opening presents" photos for regular-sized layouts.

I'm so happy with myself that I actually finished this project. It's a potpourri of papers and styles, but I tried to keep some sort of format so that it wasn't too random. I'm okay with some of the technical mistakes like mismatched holes on the pages and my handwriting that isn't all that neat. But it's real and it was fun!!

I haven't been that good of a blogger during my blogging lifetime. Here I am a little over two years since starting and I'm barely hitting my 100th post. But I'm happy to have shared all that I have and I'm grateful for those of you who have visited and for those of you who have commented.

In appreciation of your readership, I'm going to send one lucky commenter a box of scrapbooking goodies from my stash. I haven't put it together yet, but whatever I can fit in a priority box will be going out in a week to someone (sorry to my overseas friends, but this will have to be for my stateside commentors. I hope that's not rude to say. I've seen others post that on their giveaways as the postage overseas is probably not cheap. But know that I love you, too!) I'll be going through my stash and pulling out stuff as I prepare for LOAD in February. (LOAD stands for layout a day. I'll post more on that in the next few days.)

So thanks for reading! Please post a comment and let me know what you've been working on or a project you're proud of, or if you plan on participating in LOAD, or just leave a note! I will choose a winner from all the comments I've received by midnight (Central time) on January 31, 2011.

A Mish-mash of December Goodness!

2010-12-20T22:14:00.000-06:00

I'm a few days behind on posting my December Daily/Journal Your Christmas pages. But I have been keeping up, for the most part. In fact, my album is already full and I love it!!

Day 10: Stockings on the bar

Day 11: Night in San Antonio to watch a show.

Day 12: Haven't written it up yet.

Day 13: Christmas cards

Day 14: Got happy mail!

Day 15: Picked up some gifts I ordered online

Day 16: Needs to be written

Day 17: Another unwritten page

Day 18: Gifts are wrapped!

Day 19: Spent the day at work. Plus an extra photo of Oscar.

It's been fun so far. Lots of Christmas stuff and regular life stuff. How's your December Daily/Journal Your Christmas coming along?

Christmas questionnaire

2010-12-13T22:42:00.001-06:00

I found this quiz on Melissa's blog who found it on someone else's blog. I, too, thought it would be fun to share. Here are my answers:

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?

I wrap my gifts, even though I don't do a great job. But I don't put bows or ribbon on them since I end up having to stack them to transport to Mom & Dad's for the exchanges.

2. Real tree or Artificial?

We've never had a real tree. Down in South Texas, the weather isn't likely to keep them in great condition. And I'm pretty sure someone in the house might end up being allergic to them. Then there's the mess to contend with. Nope, we do artificial. In fact, even growing up we had an artificial tree. When Howie was born, we bought our first pre-lit tree and last year I bought our second pre-lit tree - a big 12-foot tall tree that is just gorgeous (and it was on sale for only $99 at Wal-Mart).

3. When do you put up the tree?

I like to put up the tree on the Friday after Thanksgiving. I love to keep it up as long as possible, into the first weekend of the new year, if I can.

4. When do you take the tree down?

The first weekend after the new year.

5. Favorite gift received as a child?

I'm easy, I love anything!! But I specifically remember getting a stereo and the Bon Jovi "Slippery When Wet" cassette one year that I loved so much!!

6. Hardest person to buy for?

My mom

7. Easiest person to buy for?

The boys

8. Mail or email Christmas cards?

I've never emailed cards, but I'm not very good at sending cards either. Last year I posted a photo and sent greeting through Facebook. This year I mailed out a few cards!!

9. Favorite Christmas Movie?

I don't have a favorite Christmas movie. Usually the shows we watch on Disney will end up with some variation of "A Christmas Carol" and that's fine. I do like "Scrooged" with Bill Murray. That was funny.

10. When do you start shopping for Christmas?

Usually after Thanksgiving. I'm not one of those people who will stand outside the stores at midnight, but I'll try online at midnight for sales. Otherwise, I'll hit the stores at regular hours on Black Friday and shop from then on until I get it all done. This year, we did do some shopping online and I liked that a lot.

11. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?

Not that I can recall.

12. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?

Cookies!!

13. Lights on the tree (colored or clear)?

Clear

14. Favorite Christmas song?

I don't know the words, but I love to hear "Christmas Bells" because I remember having to learn the part for our Christmas concert in Junior High.

15. Travel at Christmas or stay home?

Since we all live in town, we stay here. First we open family gifts at our house with the boys, then go over to Mom & Dad's to open gifts with everyone else.

16. Angel, star or ribbon on top of tree?

I've had each at different times. This year there is a Santa hat on top of the tree.

17. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?

Christmas morning.

18. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?

I love this time of year and try to not get annoyed by any of it. I know people are stressed about having money or buying gifts, so if they are frustrated I let it slide. Most people, though, are happy and in good spirits. I like that!

19. What do you want for Christmas this year?

Want? Hmmm, scrapbooking goodies do the trick for me.

20. Traditional colors (red and green) or other colors?

Traditional colors.

So there it is! Now, how about you? Please let me know if you decide to fill out these questions, I'd love to hear your answers!

December Daily: Days 5-9

2010-12-09T23:26:00.000-06:00

In an effort to keep my days recorded on the blog, I'm not taking such sophisticated photos. These came straight out of my iPhone.

Day 5: Photo of the cover next to the journaling page. We didn't do anything that day that I had a photo of, so I just journaled along with the #JYC prompt.

Day 6: This page is attached to a 5x7 envelope. In the envelope are the various drafts of Santa letters that I've accumulated from Howie and Dave. I can only imagine how many more lists I would have if Oscar could write. And on my journaling page is my list of people to get gifts for and whether I've done it or not. Then some journaling on a prompt.

Day 7: The clear overlay is over the journaling page where I attached a photo of one of my favorite ornaments that says "Believe".

Day 8: Our Lionel train was delivered today. It's a Hogwarts Express train and fits perfectly under the tree. I also took photos of the boys today so that I could include with Christmas cards.

Day 9: I made the personalized videos from Santa at Portable North Pole. I saw some tweets on it today and thought I'd try it out. I don't recall who said that watching it made them tear up. Surely a video of Santa wouldn't make someone cry, yet after I watched the first one I WAS CRYING!! It was so sweet and I could imagine how my youngest would react to the video. He loved it! The other two enjoyed it but knew it was something I put together.

Feels good to be caught up on the daily stuff. I haven't kept up with each prompt from Journal Your Christmas, Picture the Holidays, or Reverb, but I've got the ideas in the back of my mind and will stick them in the appropriate place if/when I do them.

How's your December Daily coming along?

Keeping up with my December Daily

2010-12-05T21:00:00.001-06:00

Maybe it hasn't exactly been every day that I'm making my pages, but I think about it everyday and mentally put things together. Here's the last few days, December 2nd thru 4th. Still thinking about the 5th.
I was also recording my reverb10 in this album, but not sure if I'll continue to do that or keep it separate. It's not really part of the "family" documenting that I want to do. It's more personal and maybe something that should go in a personal journal-type book. We'll see.

Talk about running out of day to document anything. This was the most I could get. I was busy at work and didn't get anything worth photographing for the day.

On the backside, I did write out a response to reverb10's day 2 prompt.

A couple of baking photos, not really a story. And a photo of the kids playing outside and some thoughts on letting them play outside and use their imagination.

Again, reverb10's prompt 3 on backside.

Photo collage of stuff we did on Saturday with handwritten journaling. It's so much easier to write it out.

Working on the prompt for backside. Will get a couple more days under my belt before posting again. Also, I wanted to write out and capture some photos to include from Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas prompts. They are really good and will be excellent supplements to documenting December. Right now, I'm just trying to get in the regular everyday stuff, for sure.

Hope your December Daily is coming along, for those participating. If you're not, I hope that you'll find some way to record all the crazy and fun stuff you're doing for the holidays.

Documenting the Holidays

2010-12-02T00:26:00.000-06:00

So I made the foundation pages for my December Daily album in the last few weeks and I was ready to go on November 26, the day I usually start getting ready for Christmas. I try not to get any Christmas decorations out before Thanksgiving. I don't want to rush the holidays! I did manage to get in a shopping day in November and one day to buy new Christmas decorations, but I kept it all in storage boxes.

I started taking pictures for the album and kept some journaling in my notebook so that I could put it all together when I finally had the time and energy. Seems I have to wait all day to get into my scraproom and then I run out of steam! But not today, my friends.

I'm finding my Mac easy to work with, which is still hard for me to believe. I've just been a PC person since the beginning of time - like 1993 when it seems I "had" to learn how to use one. I printed photos from my iPhone and camera card without problem, opened up documents in Photoshop and InDesign and worked with them to print, again without a problem. I'm only telling you this because I really am amazed!

Here are the first few pages:

Using Ali's title page that she posted on her blog today, I changed it up a little to customize for my album.

Just to recap, I'm doing Ali Edwards' December Daily, Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas, Tracy Clark's Picture the Holidays, and as of today, Reverb10. I'm also getting Paperclipping's holiday photo tips. Lots of scrapping goodness going on! Mostly I just want lots of incoming inspiration. I will be trying to following the prompts by each as much as possible, but primarily I just want to document the season. We've got lots of things planned for the next month and I can't wait to enjoy them all and then record them!

My December Daily is coming together

2010-11-16T23:03:00.000-06:00

I've been putting together my pages for Ali's December Daily album. I hadn't realized that I had a lot of Christmas papers in my stash and still I bought more that caught my eye over the last few weeks. I cut down my pages to 6x8 so that I could use with Ali's page overlays. I'm using an American Crafts 8x8 album that I won a while back from Simple Scrapbooks, that's how long ago it was for those of you who remember SS magazine.

I also wanted to say that I'm participating in Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas class. She will be sending daily prompts to help document the holidays. I've looked at her prompts from last year and can tell this will be an album so full of wonderful past and present Christmas stories. The neat thing about Shimelle's classes is that once you're in, you're in for life! You don't have to pay again to take the same class next year and you can look back over the previous years' class discussions and prompts. The forums are awesome, made so by the other participants and Shimelle, herself! And there's never any pressure to "keep up". You can simply receive the prompts and work on them as you have time.

I'm not crazy about how narrow my pages are compared to the length of the album, but if after I'm done I feel I need to cut it down, Howard said it wouldn't be hard to cut through the thick chipboard. Yay! And I haven't even thought about what I'm doing for the cover since I'm not sure if I'll be cutting it down or not. I will have to decide something because I need to cover up those pen markings on the spine.

I've got a container with the scrap papers, embellishments, letter stickers and more to use for the album as I make the pages during the documentation period. I've decided to attempt to document the holidays beginning the day after Thanksgiving, since that's when I officially get to decorating for Christmas. I'd put up my tree now if I could, but I need to clear out that room first. I'm really excited to get my tree up because I found a 12-foot tree on sale after Christmas last year for $99!! And then a few weeks ago I bought a ton of new decorations for it. I've been using the same gingerbread man theme for several years and finally decided to start over with a new theme. It will be a combination of santas, reindeer, and snowmen (even though we never see snow in South Texas). The colors will be more traditional red and green, with white, silver and gold thrown in for variety. I'll share more about the tree when the time comes. It will definitely make for a great entry and probably its own full size scrapbook page.

Here are just a few of the inside pages I've started. These will be the divider pages to introduce each day. I used papers and odds & ends from different manufacturers that I've collected and/or recently purchased.

Just a look at the stack of pages so far. I fully expect this to be a nice, fat album at the end of December.

Will you be doing anything particulary special to document the holidays? If you're looking for something, I hope you'll consider doing your own December Daily or joining the Journal Your Christmas class!!

Planning for December Daily & Journal Your Christmas

2010-10-17T22:09:00.000-05:00

Yes, it's only mid-October, but I'm going to plan ahead and have some fun with this project instead of winging it. I need to remember not to overwhelm myself or my creativity stalls. I haven't made any scrapbook pages lately. I get into my scraproom and kill time on Facebook or Twitter and blogs. I'm desperately needing to MAKE something!

So LOAD (layout a day) isn't going so well this time around. I stopped participating within the first few days, but have been saving the prompts because I do want to get around to them. I've been trying to come up with some of my letter for Me: The Abridged Version. Once I get enough letters/words on my tag book, I hope to be able to fill in the rest. My book of stories isn't quite so hot, but I have made some notes in my notebook and need to re-organize my photos to try to trigger my memory.

Seems I am the queen of unfinished scrapbook projects and classes!

That's okay. Or at least, I'm okay with that. I have lots of projects started, but I'm just not ready to finish them up. Something is missing, whether it's part of the story or design or my creativity. I think if I can get myself organized again things can get back on track. I've had some stressors lately that have just shut me down. But they are gone: taxes are paid, work projects completed.

So in addition to the above projects, I still have my "week in the life" to complete and I need my photos for Project 365. Organizing and printing should get the ball rolling towards completion.

In the meantime, I've taken on a couple more scrap-related projects: December Daily with Ali Edwards and Journal Your Christmas with Shimelle. I plan to combine the two, as Ali's is more of a foundation for recording the holidays and Shimelle's is more of a memory-keeping/journal-writing style project for the holidays.

I wasn't sure what I wanted to do for this project because I have lots of supplies. I feel the need to have everything coordinated, but love the way others' albums looks with mis-matched stuff and so free-flowing, creatively speaking. I've been inspired by so many other scrapbookers online. I've decided to use an American Crafts 8x8 d-ring album with a chipboard cover and green spine. I won this album from Creating Keepsakes a couple years back and still haven't used it. I also went through my stash of papers last night and pulled out lots of Christmas stuff. Lots of varying styles and colors, but I hope to bring it together.

And since I've got plenty of time, I really want to make the base of my pages over the next few weeks so I'll be ready to take photos and journal in December without having to worry about the design.

How will you be recording your Christmas memories?

Friday Refresh

2010-10-08T15:28:00.000-05:00

It's time for me to step back and refresh my life - well, my scrapbook life, as that is where I am getting hung up here lately.

While I have the usual stresses of a working mom and running a business and running from soccer practice to football practice to the other football practice, I can deal with those in a logical and somewhat organized manner. I just make my little to-do list for work stuff and then work out logistics with Howard for the after-work stuff.

Then at night, after the boys have been tucked in to their beds for the night and I head into my scraproom, I completely lose it. I am so STUCK that I can't create anymore. I took on online class in September to document learning something new every day, and I made the base of my pages. But I haven't finished it. I took a class to use my stash, and made a couple of pages. Didn't really make a dent in my stash there with only a few pages. I took another class to come up with all these stories to scrapbook and another class to make an album about me. For October, I'm participating in a layout a day challenge.

Obviously, I'm not at a loss for inspiration or instruction. Oh yeah, did I mention that while I was in Wichita Falls recently I bought more stuff at a scrapbook store and Hobby Lobby, and then at Archiver's in Austin? Yeah, I came home with a nice new stash.

So as I was trying to gather stories and such, and then as I started LOAD, I realized that I'm not making the kinds of pages that are meaningful to me. Yes, I like what I've done the first few days. But I quit a couple of night ago. Not quit-quit. Just haven't made anything. I wasn't happy with just making a quick page to get something done when I wasn't recording a real story with it, just a cute snippet with the photo.

I decided that I really need to clear my mind and my table. I need to go through my photos and write down the story ideas that come to me. I need to work on getting those story ideas per my class instructions for more ideas. I need to re-organize my supplies in a way to allows me to use my stash, my older stash, more with my new stuff.

I hope to get re-organized in the next few days and start creating again. Maybe then I can catch up on those layout a day prompts, but have some good stories to go with them!

Perfect Pals

2010-10-04T23:20:00.002-05:00

Perfect Pals
Originally uploaded by mcscraps4

This photo is one of my favorites that's been in my pile of photos to be scrapped. I didn't have a particular story to go with it, which is why it's been waiting for me.

I was feeling a little overwhelmed by lots of good and regular stuff today. Nothing bad, just a long list of to-do's, I guess. But I love that no matter how much I argue with these kids to clean their rooms or to quit fighting with each other, at the end of the day, they make everything worth it. I know that the little things we get on them and nag them about are so not major issues. They are typical things that parents nag their kids about. So I get over it pretty easily and then start again the next day. I just love making pages with their gorgeous faces.

This page was really "out of my box" as they say. I don't usually layer all sorts of random stuff. But I was inspired by a layout that May Flaum posted in a recent Big Picture class that was focused on using our stash. I have had many of the embellishments in my stash for far too long. Far. Too. Long.

I think I like how it came together. And it was quick. And I think the focus is still on the photos with just a snippet of how I was feeling today.

Glad to have my 4th layout done for the month for Layout a Day!!

MAD

2010-10-03T22:33:00.002-05:00

MAD
Originally uploaded by mcscraps4

Oh this boy, he's something else!

Today's LOAD challenge was to scrap a photo that said it all. No journaling, but a title was okay. I kept it super simple, because really, with a face like that, no explanation was needed.

I took the photo with my recently new nifty-fifty 50mm f1.8 lens. I haven't had a chance lately to really get into using it. But I took a few photos today, and used the aperture mode, to try it out. It's weird to have to "get in there" to get a photo. I'm used to being able to zoom in. It will take a little getting used to, but so far, I'm enjoying it.

Once Upon a Time...

2010-10-01T21:44:00.003-05:00

Once Upon a Time...

(will add image here, it was accidentally deleted)

Originally uploaded by mcscraps4
I had babies, not these grown boys I see. I remember bringing each of you home, tiny things. And I used to rock you to sleep and gently put you in our bed or in your crib. Now you are each too big to carry. And you each have your own bed to sleep in, but this is how I sometimes find you when I check on you before I go to bed: sleeping together.
*******************************************

I have started Layout a Day with Lain Ehmann for the month of October. This is a month in which scrapbookers are challenged to make, as the challenge is named, a layout a day! Each day we will get a particular challenge to complete if we choose, or we can just be inspired to create a layout of whatever we want.

For our first challenge, we were to create a layout using the title "Once Upon a Time." I took a photo of the boys sleeping together a few nights ago and it instantly came to my mind when I read the challenge. While some people might have taken that title in the direction of a fairytale theme, it didn't cross my mind to come up with some sort of fairytale story. I don't have one! I just have my stories of an ordinary life with some extraordinary people.

Using my stash!!

2010-09-18T23:59:00.000-05:00

You know that I'm taking May Flaum's class at Big Picture Scrapbooking to use my stash. I have a lot, a lot I say, of scrapbook supplies that I've been collecting for years. I can't seem to want to part with it because I really love it. I *LOVE* patterned paper!!

And I haven't made a page in over a week and was feeling guilty that even though I'm kind of keeping up with my online scrapbook classes, I'm not creating! The creative itch was finally too much to overcome, especially since I wanted to make something, so I went through my photos and pulled a few that I had some ideas for. Then I went through my papers and pulled some options.

Voila!

I love this photo of Dad kissing Oscar. And I had this beautiful kit from Basic Grey that I've been hoarding for a while. I even journaled by hand, but since it was lengthy, I put it under the photo. The photo lifts up to reveal the story. I don't generally use so much patterned paper, but I was happy with the outcome.

And another:

This one uses Rusty Pickle papers from about 6-7 years ago! Even the black strip of mesh is really old, maybe 8-9 years ago from when I first got into scrapbooking. The only thing new on this layout is the kraft cardstock that I bought today.

I'm feeling good to get two layouts made tonight, but even more so that I used some old supplies. I might be able to part with the rest of the kit from BG. Maybe.

I think a big part of what keeps me from using papers I love is that I'm waiting for that *perfect* layout. But what is perfect? And when will that perfect layout come if not now, if I don't make it? I recently read an article by Lain Ehmann that speaks directly to this idea of waiting to experience something because we have this idea of a perfect moment. But we are robbing ourselves of the enjoyment of an experience, or of making a layout, if we don't just do it and enjoy the moment NOW! And when we do, we will realize that it is perfect! Thanks Lain!

So are you using any of your old stash? Mix in some old with new and you'll find all sorts of inspiration!!

Howie's Homerun

2010-09-10T23:39:00.000-05:00

Yes, I know it's football season around here. I've got plenty of those photos to share (and scrap). But I recently joined a scrapbooking group called Let's Scrap and immediately jumped in on a challenge from a great sketch. I think the prize really encouraged me to scrap tonight because the kit they are giving away is gorgeous!! You can check it out here.

So here's my layout:

It's based on this sketch:

I love that I was able to not only complete a challenge for the site, but use up some papers and stickers that I had in my stash. I'm really trying to go through my stuff and use it up since I'm taking the Big Picture Scrapbooking class to specifically use it!! And while I almost busted out the sewing machine for the stitched border, I actually used a stamp.

It's coming together nicely

2010-09-09T23:03:00.001-05:00

Still working on my mini-album for Shimelle's Learn Something New Every Day class. All the pieces were stamped and cut and waiting for me. I had an idea of how the page would go, but I was having doubts about the design. I didn't want it to be repetitive and boring, but didn't want to make each page design different from the others for time's sake. I didn't want the design to overtake the message. And then I saw some pages from another student in the class. Thanks to Sue for giving me the confidence to glue it down! You can see her beautiful pages on her blog.

I laid out all the element so that I could alternate colors. It really helped to keep this simple and keep everything from a kit.

Not a great photo of the pages, but here's my stack.

Close-up look at the page designs.

And here's a look at the first page that will go in the album. I found the quote on scrapbook.com under resources.

So all I have left to do is journaling for each day. I've kept my journal with the days lessons and have been keeping up to date.

I also wanted to add that I've been using things from my stash! Which is great, as I'm also taking a class at Big Picture Scrapbooking with May Flaum called "Adventures in Scrapbooking: Use Your Stash"!

Album Cover...only a few days overdue

2010-09-07T23:21:00.000-05:00

This will be my album cover. I'm ready to move on to the pages!

After I got the idea for my pages sorted out, I had to work on the cover for this album. We are now into Day 8 of Learn Something New Every Day (an online class with scrapbooker Shimelle) and I thought maybe having my album cover completed would kick off the actual making of the pages.

I'm using up some Close To My Heart stash with this project. I just have so much of it from my days as an active consultant that I really need to use it up (which will lead me to another class). The album is a 6x6 album (but not CTMH) in a dark red color. I originally had some pages from other scrappers in an exchange when I was active on the Creating Keepsakes message board years ago. I'll be taking those pages out and putting them away for another round of swaps later.

I used the letter stickers for "Learn" and "DAY" out of the School Zone kit, as well as the border sticker. Then I stamped the other words, also with CTMH stamps, and used chalks to color in. The outlining and cutting out of each word really helped punch them up, I think. As for the apple sticker in the corner, I found that in my stash and thought it went well with the theme.

I'm really proud of my "n" which was an "m" that I cut and layered. Gotta love little tricks like that!

So I guess I'm ready to start assembling some pages...

Determined to Learn Something New Every Day

2010-09-06T20:53:00.000-05:00

6x6 album, pages, date stamp and library cards for easy set-up. All by Close To My Heart.

I got lazy over the summer, let me be honest. I had previously set out to accomplish all this scrapbooking over the summer and while I did find all sorts of inspiration on a regular basis, I did nothing with it.

First there was Scrap Camp at Big Picture Scrapbooking. I'd get the emails, I'd check in quietly, I'd get all excited at work about what I wanted to do when I got to my scrap room. Then nothing.

Same thing happened with Creating Keepsakes summer camp and the Big Idea Festival.

And I started to wonder if maybe not having a real routine over the summer and being worn out from having the boys all day was really doing me in. And it was. I couldn't get anything started because I feared having an unfinished project sit on the desk for days. I never felt like I had enough time in one sitting to get a layout done. But why? Why was I pressuring myself to 'get it done quickly'? What's the rush?

When school started up a couple weeks ago I figured it would be the perfect time to get myself back into the swing of things. I was going to establish a routine and GET SCRAPPIN'! So I committed myself to two more Big Picture Scrapbooking classes - Book of Stories and Me: The Abridged Version. The first is to start on September 9 and the other on September 16. But right at the end of August I caught wind of another class going on with a cute scrapper that I just love, love, love - Shimelle! And so I signed up.

The class started on September 1. It's called 'Learn Something New Every Day'. I've been writing down my lesson of the day in a little journal I keep next to my desk. I hadn't started to make any pages because I wasn't sure what format I wanted to use. For the first few days I would scope out the ideas posted on the forums, hoping the right idea would pop in my head. And then as I was looking through my latest Scrapbooks Etc. and Creating Keepsakes magazines, I came across a couple of ideas that sent me on a brainstorm of more ideas that I could use for my own album.

I settled on a 6x6 mini-album so that I can put some short journaling and maybe a photo on each page. I wanted colors that reminded me of primary school colors and I wanted to use a stamp I had of a library card for the journaling block. As I went through my stash of patterned papers that fit my color scheme, I then pulled out cardstock and ink pads. I stamped and cut the library cards, but as I was putting the stamp away, I found this cute date stamp. So I stamped those and cut them out, too.

It felt so good to get so much accomplished! I now have base pages and journaling cards and an embellishment all ready to go. I have each day's lesson recorded and some photos to use which I will print out at the end.

And I'm back, baby!

This boy

2010-07-23T22:17:00.001-05:00

I made my page. I think I like it!!

**I decided to add the journaling, in case you wanted to read it.

This Boy

Doesn’t know that he’s only 3 ½ feet tall and the basket is about 8 feet high. This shot is not easy and even if you did know how hard a shot it was, it wouldn’t stop you from trying. You approach everything with a willingness to try, to learn what it takes to accomplish your goal. You have an unwavering determination to meet a challenge and to overcome any obstacles. I don’t know if the shot went in the basket, but it wouldn’t matter. You are going to pickup the ball and keep making that shot attempt. And if it did go in, you’d still pick up the ball with a little more confidence and still keep on practicing. Even at four years old, you already know that with hard work you can accomplish your goals. Nothing’s gonna stop you.

I haven't scrapbooked since May 31

2010-07-23T14:59:00.002-05:00

The intended purpose for this blog was originally for me to share things about my family through my scrapbooking. My own little place to share. And I made some goals all about scrapping religiously and become a known scrapper in the scrapbook world. Hello self, you can't accomplish those goals if you're not scrapbooking!

I went into my scrapbook room yesterday evening and started looking around. What is it that is keeping me unmotivated? I have lots of supplies, plenty of photos, enough room, bunches of ideas...no motivation. And this morning I spent some time going through my digital photos and organizing them and tweeking them and uploading to Facebook. Killing time? Trying to act like I'm heading in a scrappy direction to cover up the fact that I'm not making anything? Hmmm...

Well I have this one photo sitting on my desk, and I wrote on a scrapbook blog comment today what my thoughts were for the photo. I have a design idea for the page. The last step is to get home and put that page together quick while I've got all the elements in line.

I WILL MAKE THAT PAGE TODAY AND POST TONIGHT!
IF I DON'T, YOU CAN CALL ME ALL SORTS OF LOSER NAMES
IN THE COMMENT SECTION.

I did want to tell you that while looking through my photos and updating my album on my Facebook page I realized that I take a lot of photos of our food. We are always eating! It's become a family activity, as in we actively seek new places to eat at or foods to make. I should be 300 pounds!

And that led me to think about a new page or even a mini-album about our favorite foods and restaurants and how much we enjoy going out to eat together as a family. There's a story there just waiting to be told.

(In my Arnold Schwarzenneger/Terminator voice) I'll be back!

Delicious and the company was great!

2010-07-14T14:05:00.000-05:00

We took Friday off (July 9) so that we could enjoy the day in San Antonio and catch a movie. The boys don't have summer program on Fridays, the weather was rainy as it had been for a while already, and things are generally slow to non-existent at the office by week's end. I don't have to justify a day off, I'm just saying...

A friend had recommended we eat at Maggiano's Little Italy restaurant the next time we were at the Rim in San Antonio where the IMAX is located. We've only been to the IMAX once before and have been wanting to go again. With Twilight's Eclipse movie out (and the mob frenzy subsided), it was a good day to see it in all its two-story high glory. So we packed up the boys and invited Bubba, and off we went.

We ate first because we had time to kill and so that we wouldn't load up on concession food and then ruin the after-movie meal. It was a good chance to try Maggiano's but as we drove up, we started to have doubts. There were people going in that were dressed in business attire. The lobby area was beautiful and looked a little expensive. We started to feel a little out of place, but the hostess welcomed us and had the waiter prepare a table for the six of us.

I love to eat at a table with a cloth cover and linen napkins. Even better when they have your appetizer plate set out and the butter knife, salad and dinner forks set out properly. We are not formal people, but we like to eat at nice places. We didn't order an appetizer but snacked on the fresh bread and olive oil dip that was presented. Once our plates arrived, we were in awe. The presentation was beautiful, the smell was wonderful, and after deciding we'd rather eat it than look at it, the taste was delicious. Best of all, I got to enjoy a fabulous lunch with my men and then see a movie!

Oh and the price, right about what we would have spent at Olive Garden. Sadly, I don't think I can go back to Olive Garden now that I know what a fresh parmesan chicken sandwich tastes like.

4th of July Celebration

2010-07-05T12:09:00.000-05:00

For many years now, we have been celebrating the 4th of July here in town at Veterans Park. It started about 2003 when we wanted to be able to enjoy the 4th here at home since we couldn't and most likely wouldn't go out of town to enjoy festivities and fireworks. When I say "we", I literally mean mom, me, Lala, and some other people from town. A handful of people, as volunteers aren't always handy, but good people who help every year to make sure things go smooth. And it was just a one-day festival at the park with food and game booths, some music, and a fireworks show. No big deal...until it turned into a bigger project to build a memorial wall at the park. That project was great and the first year we had enough money and bricks to do that was 2008. We added more bricks in 2009, but only a few this year. We went two days this year, but I think will stick with one day when it doesn't fall on a Saturday or Sunday.

The first night we set up a raspa stand and made about $20. It was rainy and not so much hot as it was humid. And we were only there a couple hours before we packed up the kids and went home as it got late. But Rosalinda and Bubba made some good money at their stand which will help pay for his trip to DC.

Sunday was much better, weather-wise. We were out at the park for a few hours and the boys thoroughly wore themselves out. They ate lots of junk and had plenty of raspas. After the fireworks, we headed home. It was already 10 pm by then, so it had been a long day. But it was a good one.

How it all began for me, this scrapbooking thing

2010-06-18T13:21:00.002-05:00

Several years ago I found that I was a cranky, mean, stressed, crazy person to be around. I needed a hobby. It was shortly after my oldest son, who is now 9 1/2, was born. So I'm sure you can understand where all the adjectives came from. Being a new mom is not easy. At the same time, I had this beautiful miracle and I wanted to document the heck out of everything!

It started out harmless enough. I had a shoebox with some photos, some scissors, pens, glue stick, and a book of papers and stickers. I had no idea where to start...but slowly I found books, television shows, and online resources that gave me lots of ideas and places to shop. Now I've got a room in the house dedicated to scrapbooking. (more after the photos)

In 2004 I joined Close To My Heart as a scrapbooking consultant. I would go to women's homes where they had invited their friends and would share my story and introduce them to scrapbooking and cardmaking. I was a very active consultant for a while, making extra money, and having parties fairly often. After my third child and some new commitments, I scaled back my consultant status and dropped to Jr.

The scrapbooking industry has grown, evolved, and transformed completely from when I first began this hobby. For a while I had subscriptions to about 5 different scrapbooking magazines. Now there are only two magazines still printing and even those publications are suffering from the economy and surge in Internet offerings. It has evolved in the sense that scrapbookers are now very computer-savvy and looking to the Internet for constant inspiration, ideas, and shopping. There are scrapbooking communities at the magazine sites, at manufacturers' sites, and at Internet/brick & mortar stores. Scrapbookers are also turning to each other for inspiration at their own web/blog addresses.

As of today (June 16, 2010), there are several commercial online resources I use for inspiration:

http://www.creatingkeepsakes.com/

http://www.clubcreatingkeepsakes.com/

http://www.scrapbooksetc.com/
http://www.ellapublishing.com/

http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/

http://www.scrapbook.com/

I am also a member at http://www.paperclipping.com/ for scrapbooking video tutorials. Some shows are free, but the majority are member-only. The host, Noell, also has a live show on Tuesdays where she demos scrapbooking techniques. And the best part of Paperclipping is their podcasts. They have two shows that can be downloaded from iTunes: Paperclipping Roundtable and Paperclipping Digi Show. They aren't instructional, but more of a discussion format on subjects that are related to scrapbooking. I cannot say enough good things about those podcasts. They are great to listen to while scrapping or traveling or folding the laundry!!

On Wednesday nights I watch the ladies from House of 3 do live scrapbooking and techniques on Ustream. Their website is http://www.houseof3.com/.

I take online classes at http://www.bigpicturescrapbooking.com/. Some classes are free, some have a nominal fee, all are great. And the classrooms stay open for a long time, so you can come back to the information months later.

Youtube has lots of scrapbooking videos, tutorials, etc. There is so much on Youtube, it's amazing.

Moving on to blogs, I follow several. I have them set up in my Google reader so that I can automatically see the new posts without having to go to individual sites. Here are a few that I enjoy:

http://www.stacyjulian.com/

http://www.cathyzielske.com/

http://www.aliedwards.com/

http://www.shimelle.com/

And I think I'm a much nicer person now.

Mid-2010 Scrapbooking Goals

2010-06-11T14:04:00.007-05:00

So far this year, I have taken on Project 365, Week in the Life, and LOAD. Project 365 is a challenge to take a photo a day for the year as a way to document the everyday. Week in the Life was a week-long challenge to photograph everything, and keep memorabilia, for a whole week to document a, well, week in our life. And LOAD is a layout a day challenge in which I created a scrapbook layout every day in May.

Have I been perfect in taking on and completing these challenges? Not exactly. I don't have a photo for every day since January 1st. And I haven't put together my week in the life album. I did make a layout every day in May, though. Altogether, I'd say I'm doing a good job. I believe that something is way better than nothing when it comes to telling our stories and documenting our lives.

So what are my BIG plans for the rest of the year? Well, I have some goals...
1. Complete my "week in the life" album
2. Participate in Camp Scrap over at Big Picture Scrapbooking
3. Make a layout for the Paperclipping Festival
4. Participate in scrap camp over at Creating Keepsakes
5. Participate in the October LOAD challenge
6. Submit more pages for potential publication

The ultimate goal in doing all of the above is to:
1. Be published by Creating Keepsakes and Scrapbooks Etc.
2. Become a design team member for a club or website

And how am I going to accomplish this? Well, I could...
1. Scrapbook more
2. Post my pages in various galleries
3. Try, try, and try some more

Anything I do in pursuit of any of these goals will be win-win for me, regardless of whether I actually get published or get onto a design team. And that's pretty cool!

Kicking off June

2010-06-11T13:55:00.004-05:00

I really need to get into the habit of posting more often. Seems I haven't posted a P365 photo since mid-May. Not that much has happened. I have some photos of regular stuff going on. We did make a trip to Arizona at the end of May, and a side-trip to the Grand Canyon, but otherwise we are just doing our usual thing.

June 1
Just to show that everything truly is bigger in Texas, here is a photo of our mosquitos. It was on the window of the car. Wanting to get in and eat us!!

June 2

We had some storm clouds show up in the area. We were under some pretty serious warnings and the clouds were swirling in the sky. There were some reports of a tornado in the county, but luckily not in town.

June 3

Howie's minor league baseball season ended. The best part for David and Oscar is getting snacks from the concession stand. And they love raspas.

June 7
At one of the last games, Grandpa and Oscar enjoying some ice cream.

I could post them all, but...

2010-06-04T13:37:00.005-05:00

Yeah, I know, I haven't posted my LOAD (layout a day) photos since day 17. No good reason other than laziness. I mean, it was nearly midnight when I would post the layouts to the Flickr group. Afterwards, I would go to bed and then the next day would come around and I needed to do a new page. Catching up on the blog wasn't as much a priority as keeping up on the layouts.

To prove that I made all 31 layouts, I photographed my stack. Not all 31 are paper layouts. A few are digital and I haven't printed out for the albums yet.

I surprised myself that I kept up with the layout a day challenge. I find excuses not to scrap or sometimes don't feel like it. But I didn't give up on this one. I needed to prove to myself that I could do it, that I could find the time and energy to put together photos and a memory every day. It helped that Howard was my cheerleader and encouraged me every day.

I'm signed up for LOAD for October. Another 31 days!

San Francisco in 1998

2010-05-17T22:53:00.001-05:00

San Francisco
Originally uploaded by mcscraps4

I've never scrapbooked a page that didn't have photos. But I had this story that I wanted to keep and today it made it to the page. Howard and I spent part of today reminiscing about the trip and it brought back a lot of good memories that were made before we had children. Sometimes it's hard to remember anything before kids, but this was one of those memories that had to be told.
****************************
January 1998: Howard went out to San Francisco with Magic-Aire for the ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning Engineers) convention January 17-21, 1998, and invited me to follow. He and his co-worker went ahead and then her husband and I flew out a day or so later. Other than our honeymoon, this was the first trip for us after being married.

I arrived very early in the morning at the Warwick-Regis Hotel (although I don’t remember which day). I remember Howard was in bed and it was a full-size bed that was up high. I literally had to climb up into it. The room was nice, but the view was of the alley. Oh well, I wasn’t going to spend my time looking out the window! I do remember how beautiful the city looked as the drove over the Oakland Bay Bridge from the airport into the city.

The first morning we were there, we had breakfast at a little corner diner, Pinecrest Diner, that Howard had been eating at the past couple days. I don’t remember now what I ate, but I’m sure it was good. After breakfast, we walked from there to the Moscone Convention Center. After all these years I don’t remember many details, but I remember how it felt to be walking around such a famous town and wanting to soak it all in. It seems surreal now.

While I was there, we took a bus tour of the city that hit all the famous spots: Chinatown, Postcard Row (the street with all the famous houses on the sloped street that are in television shows), Lombard Street (the winding road), Golden Gate Park (a scenic spot that overlooked the bridge), Cliff House, Exploratorium, Mission District, Presidio, and some other spots. We took the trolley from the station to the wharf. We went to a company dinner party at the hotel one evening.

Another evening we ate at a restaurant at Fisherman’s Wharf called The Franciscan. Our table overlooked the bay. It was so funny, and we still laugh about it today, because I ordered lobster. Of course, who wouldn’t order lobster? When they brought my dish, it was a WHOLE lobster. The eyes were still on it, and whiskers, too. I’m a picky eater and Howard was so afraid that he’d just spent good company money on food that I wasn’t going to eat. Well, I didn’t eat the eyes, but I sure did eat the rest of the lobster and totally enjoyed it. It was a fabulous dinner!

We also took the ferry out to Alcatraz. It was a stereo-typically rainy day in San Francisco. I think the weather made the experience that much more real. We had to buy rain ponchos to keep dry, but it was still cold. When we got to the island, I called mom and dad from a pay phone to let them know I was at this famous prison. We took the tour throughout the prison and got to see inside the cells and everything. It was very interesting.

On the final day that I was there, I took a road trip with some of the wives of the company bosses from Carrier and Magic-Aire to Pebble Beach. We went to the famous golf course and had lunch. I had fish and chips, but it wasn’t catfish and potato chips. It was cod and french fries. And it was yummy. The other ladies had salads. While at Pebble Beach, I couldn’t resist hitting the gift shop and getting a coffee mug and sweatshirt for Howard, since he wasn’t able to come along.

It’s more than twelve years later as I recollect this trip. These are the things that have stuck in my mind, even if all the details aren’t there. Howard’s favorite part of the trip was when they brought out the lobster for me and he thought I wouldn’t eat it. My favorite part was enjoying the sightseeing tour through the town with him. (journaling May 2010)

Mama-razzi!

2010-05-16T23:32:00.001-05:00

May 16
Originally uploaded by mcscraps4

I'm starting a mini-album for Oscar of random photos of him. He's always asking me to take his picture, so I have plenty of shots to choose from. Here's just a sneak peak of two pages. I'll post the whole album when it's finished.

Quick Cut

2010-05-15T22:23:00.001-05:00

May 15
Originally uploaded by mcscraps4

A trip to the barber can change a man.

I see that based on today's LOAD (layout a day) challenge, I am mostly a linear scrapper. I rarely use photos off-kilter. Just looks neater to line up those photos. Now, my stamped title, well, that can be a little off and it's okay with me!

Celebrating the big 3!

2010-05-15T00:06:00.002-05:00

For my layout today I finished up a birthday layout for Oscar. These photos are from his 3rd birthday. I really liked these CTMH papers long ago, when they first came out. They were sitting in my stash for quite a while and I'm glad I was finally able to use them. There's even some quick hidden journaling on a little notecard tucked behind the bottom photo. You can see the tab sticking out.

I've been scrapping every night this month!

2010-05-14T13:01:00.010-05:00

The following are all the pages counting back from May 13 to May 3. I have scrapped a page a night since May 1. Every night. Without fail. And in most case in under 20 minutes. They are all simple pages, as you can see. Not long on story. But a fun way for me to showcase photos I love.

So the big question, as always, is how do I find time to scrapbook. I've answered before, and I'll say it again: I make it a priority. And so far this month, it has actually been my nightcap. At the end of a long and full day, I take some time to sit at my table, pull out the first photos, or photo, that stands out and calls to me, and just get it done. I have also been using Lain Ehmann's prompts for the day to challenge myself to do something different. Lain is the Layout A Day challenge creator. Her site is www.layoutaday.com if you want to find out more information.

May 13

May 12

May 11

May 10

May 9

May 8 (digital page)

May 7 (digital page using iPhone app)

May 6

May 5

May 4

May 3

The pages for May 2 and May 1 can be found in their own posts.

So if you're a scrapper, you should try making a layout a day. It's very satisfying to create on a daily basis. And it can be done. 150 scrapbookers are doing it this month in this group alone. No telling how many others out there are doing it too.

If you're not a scrapbooker, I invite you to become one. You'll love it!

IKEA anyone?

2010-05-13T15:07:00.003-05:00

May 9

For Mother’s Day, Howard made a detour on our way home from Olney to take me to IKEA in Round Rock. I fell asleep just before Lampasas so he had a chance to take the cutoff to I-35 without me noticing the change. As a bonus, when we got to IKEA and found the shelf unit that I’ve been wanting, we found out the price was lowered from $149 to $99. Yay!! We were really impressed with the store and wanted to look around more, but were pressed for time. Will definitely have to plan a trip to come back and make a day of it.

May 10

Just a random photo of Oscar today, jumping around in the car while at David’s baseball practice.

May 11

Another “Mom, take a picture of me” moment.

It's May! Already?

2010-05-13T14:51:00.004-05:00

May 2

Galayna had her First Communion today, and after Mass she had a dinner at the restaurant. We had the back to ourselves, of course, and Dad was entertaining the kids by taking them around on the big dolly.

May 6

“Mommy, take my picture.” So I took one with both of us.

May 7

Roadtrip to North Texas to see Grandma Joyce. We got to the hotel in Graham on Friday, and the boys were relaxing watching television after we enjoyed a huge and very delicious meal at Vetoni’s.

May 8

While waiting at the hospital, Oscar and David wanted their picture taken. Of course!

Birthday week photos

2010-05-13T14:47:00.006-05:00

April 26

It’s my birthday. I’m 36. My daddy gave me a box of filet mignon. Awesome!

April 27

These pretty flowers were from Mom for my birthday yesterday. I had them sitting on the kitchen table so they could get some indirect light from the window and open up. Hot pink roses and white lilies.

April 28

Strawberry shortcake dessert after a great meal of filet mignon (from my birthday present), mashed potatoes, corn, salad, and homemade bread. So, so good! We had to wait until today to turn on the pit because we didn’t have a chance on Monday, and Tuesdays are busy with the newspaper.

April 30

Just in the nick of time, my box of photos arrived from Snapfish. Not that I didn’t have a ton of photos already in my stash that needed to be scrapped, but this batch had the more recent events that would hopefully be more inspiring. 420+ photos just from mid-November up until mid-April. That’s a lot of photos!

From dirty car to tooth fairy goodness...

2010-05-13T14:39:00.007-05:00

April 22

My car needs a wash, desperately. But it REALLY needs a good cleaning on the inside.

April 23

April was the month for parents of first graders to come in and have lunch with their child. Howard and I had been trying (and forgetting) to go early in the month, but I ended up going by myself today. Every time we had free time, we forgot. And then we couldn’t go together on some days because Howard would go do a job with Dad. But it was getting late and our chances were running out. Poor David was disappointed every time we had to cancel. Well, I went this day, and took him a Happy Meal from McDonald’s. He was happy to have me and happy for his meal. After he ate his lunch, we went over to see the banners hanging in the cafeteria that listed the top Accelerated Readers in each class. David had the most points in his homeroom, and compared to the other classes, he also had the most in his grade level. I told him I needed to go, as lunch was just about over. I asked if he was too embarrassed to kiss me in front of all the kids in the cafeteria, but he said he wasn’t and gave me a quick kiss and said he loved me. I love you, too, David!

April 24

Had to enjoy some barbecue in Uvalde! We made a trip just for that because we were 1. bored at home, and 2. really wanting good barbecue. While we were there, we picked up Bubba to eat with us and he came home to Carrizo with us too. The boys just love it when he’s around. While at lunch, Oscar finally ordered a brisket sandwich instead of his usual corndog. He ate it up!!

April 25

David lost a tooth the night before and the tooth fair left him $20!

Born to be Wild!

2010-05-02T17:34:00.005-05:00

While on this layout a day journey, I'm supposed to be able to define my style. My goal, other than actually completing the 31 layouts, is to be able to make my pages quick. Not that I feel it's work, but I don't like for the simplest of layouts to take me two hours because I'm indecisive about what products to use. I'm not always going to have all day to work on a page or come to work on it in bursts. So really I just need to learn to settle on a few products and go for it!

Today's layout had took a little extra time because I went a little "artsy" with the acrylic paint. I wanted to grunge it up. I also found that my stash of supplies doesn't really cater to grungy layouts. I have a lot of little boys and baby and cutesy stuff. Haven't quite built up my rough and grunge. But I'm sure it's coming. Maybe I should hurry and make all those baby and little boy pages so that I can move on from that phase of the boys' lives in photos.

I liked this page when it was done. A little different for me, but good. I think I am very open to different styles. Just have to go where the mood takes me. I'm not quite seeing what my defined style is at this point. But I don't think that fitting a certain label is important right now. I just want to have fun creating!

May 1 layout: The Big Chair

2010-05-01T22:17:00.003-05:00

National Scrapbook Day is just about over. It was also the first day for my layout a day challenge. This is what I made today. Just a page that should have taken less than a half-hour took me almost the entire day. Not for lack of ideas, just kept getting distracted with kids, Facebook and Twitter. Of course, I didn't pressure myself to finish. Just took it easy today. Now cleaning up around my scrapbook area to get a little more organized and jot down some ideas for the next few layouts. Feels good to get a page done. I was feeling like a revved up engine this past week just waiting for the flag to drop so that I could go! I think the best strategy might be for me to pace myself so I don't burn out. A layout a day should be just about manageable.

I've got big plans this month!

2010-05-01T00:01:00.001-05:00

I got a big box full of envelopes filled with photos today. 420+ photos from mid-November through last week. Lots of candids, a couple of birthdays, some events, a roadtrip and a couple of major holidays.

But I have a plan...okay, not a great plan, but still. I intend to take these photos, and all the others I have in my little boxes, and scrapbook like a mad woman! I took on an online challenge to create a scrapbook layout a day every day in May. And that should help me get through these stacks of photos. I'm hoping (fingers crossed). I only say it's not a great plan because I haven't really organized myself to do it. I'm kinda winging it, but I have an idea in my head of how to take on this challenge and come out at the end with all my 31 layouts.

I have several friends who know that I scrapbook who often ask how I can find the time to create layouts. They say that they could never do it because they are so busy and don't have that kind of time. So what am I? I'm a busy person, too. I've got a husband and three kids, and extended family, and a business to tend to everyday. Yet I have plenty of time to scrap! I find that it's a matter of prioritizing. Well, let's use a better word...how about happy obsession?

Ever since having kids I haven't been able to watch tv like I used to. And while I like to be on Facebook or Twitter, I find that I can walk away from the computer for a while to get creative. It's more than a hobby, it really is a passion. I have to have a creative outlet, something to hold in my hands as evidence of the things I am experiencing. I blame my iron deficiency, but I just don't have that good of a memory if I don't write things down with my photos. And I'm always thinking about how I could scrapbook this or that event, relationship, or memory. I look through blogs and scrapbook sites for inspiration. I subscribe to scrapbook magazines. I was even an active scrapbook consultant for a few years, but have been more of a "hobbiest" lately. But scrapbooking is my way to relax and unwind. Creating a layout, having a finished product in my hand, very simply makes me HAPPY!

I've heard other scrappers say that scrapbooking is being blessed twice: once when you experience the moment, and twice when you scrap about it. So, so true!

So here's to May and a layout a day.

It's my birthday!! OMG, I'm 36 already?

2010-04-26T12:00:00.004-05:00

I made mini-cupcakes to share with anyone who came by the office today. Couldn't pass up a chance to have cupcakes, right?

So I'm 36 today. Wow, how did that happen? I don't really feel old, but I know I don't have the energy to be back in my 20's. When my mom was my age, I was about to graduate from high school. I'm glad Howie is only 9 at this point and that it will be a while before I have a teenager.

I don't know what I thought my life would be like at this point when I was younger. But I certainly thought that once I hit mid-30's that I would run out of fun-ness and wouldn't be able to keep up with the younger generation, like in terms of video games and technology. I think I'm holding my own technology-wise. I set up all the iPods and iPhones and things like that. I know the difference in DS, DSi, and DSiXL. I know what a Wii is compared to an XBox. And I can play some games, though I'm not the greatest. I like to have fun with the kids and play, I'm no princess!!

But I realize that I am an adult, for the most part. My kids rely on me to be mature and responsible. To care of all the little things that they have no idea about. But I think my responsibility is also to have fun with them. I don't have to hold back on trying new things or learning new things, or having new adventures. And so I'm not going to worry about how many years it's been since I was born. I really need to just focus on being old enough to know that I can do anything I want!

My goal for this summer is to do several things that are new and fun: paintballing, rock-climbing, and maybe some water skiing. I used to be afraid to do anything that might give people reason to laugh at me if I failed or made a fool of myself. But I need to learn to disregard the people who don't matter and not worry about their opinions. I need to just go out and have fun with the people who love me and want to have fun with me, too!

What new things do you want to try?

Benjamin Bratt & Scrapbooking

2010-04-23T13:18:00.004-05:00

How can I put into PG-rated words how I feel about looking at Benjamin Bratt?

I can't, so I'll just tell you my story...

I had a dream last night about Benjamin Bratt. And he was extremely sexy and a football player. I was in the mall going to down the escalator to go into a scrapbook store when the PA announced that players from the football team would wash your car in exchange for a scrapbook-related project.

And so Ben comes up to me and says he'll wash my car if I'll make something for him. And he smells so good, and he leans in close like he did with Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality. Mmm, mmm, mmm. But instead of taking my car keys so that he can go wash my car (which I never did even attempt to give him), he followed me through the scrapbook store so that we could decide what I would make for him.

The hardest part was that he had no idea what he wanted me to make: a card, a scrapbook layout, a mini-book, whatever. But for some reason he became fixated on the patterned papers and stickers with a baby boy theme. And we looked for items and went all around the store. The frustrating part for me was that I just couldn't decide what to make for him, and once I settled on making a quick tag book that he could easily carry around, I couldn't find tags!! And the freakin' die cut machine wasn't working. Ugh!!!!!

(Why is it that I'm more concerned with scrapbooking at this point than the fact that I'm me and he's Benjamin Bratt and I'm waaaaaay out of my league here?)

So this whole time, Ben is somewhat in my personal space A LOT, which I didn't mind, but totally was oblivious to the fact that HELLO! HE'S BENJAMIN BRATT!!!

And he never did wash my car, and I never did make the tag book. I think somehow I may have gotten to kiss his neck - OMG!! But that was the extent of it all. I don't know if I forced myself to dream that part. At least he didn't have to be forced in my dream.

AND THEN I WOKE UP!

I really don't want anyone to analyze this dream. The fact that I think scrapbooking is more important in my dreams than paying attention to Benjamin Bratt's come-ons falls somewhere in the "completely lost her mind" category. Completely lost my mind, even in my own dreams. And I would hate to be committed over this insanity, even though it probably registers as a totally legit reason.

I'm a mess this week

2010-04-21T14:20:00.006-05:00

April 18

About a week ago, I bought these shelves at Lowe's to put up in my scrapbooking room. I really needed a little something to put items I need close by and also for some decoration. My scrap room is pretty bare on the walls, even though the floors have baskets of supplies just sitting there.

I like how they look with a few items on them. The top one is probably more decorative than anything, but I like it. I think I might want a few more shelves for the other wall, but not sure if it needs it just yet. Maybe just a big collage of photos would be fun.

April 19

This is my desk at work. This is in better condition to show than usual. I've always got papers going in different piles and a Sonic cup blocking the view to the screen. But this is where I work.

April 20

The back of the office is a mess, too. Look at those stacks of papers behind the boys. But that's not the point. Allow me to re-direct your focus to the two boys who are also working! Yep, every Tuesday night this is their job. Don't worry, we don't overwork them. And child labor laws don't apply as they are our children. Ha ha! They only have to do one bundle apiece, while the rest of us are much faster and can get 3 each in the same amount of time. They mumble and groan, but they don't mind the $5 they get! Just teaching them a little responsibility. It's good for a kid to have a job, especially one that pays the bills for our family.

April 21

My rebellious streak strikes again! I left the house this morning without making the bed. OMG! What would my mother say? Yeah, well, I was in a hurry. And though technically another minute to make the bed wouldn't have mattered. But psychologically it makes me feel like I left the house that much sooner. Yet the fact that the bed is unmade has bothered me all day. Guess what I'll do as soon as I get home?

Oh yeah, I wanted to comment that I'm participating in Ali Edwards' Week in the Life project this week. Basically, I'm taking photos of the details of my life for a week and then putting it together to show what my life is like at this point.

What I'm really enjoying about this project is that this is the last week of my 35th year, April 19-25, that I'm documenting. Then I will be 36 on the 26th. It will be interesting to see how things change in a few years.

Mmmm...candied caramel apples

2010-04-17T21:32:00.006-05:00

April 17

Oh.My.Goodness! I have found heaven in a little store at the mall in Laredo where these beautiful candy-coated caramel apples (in various flavors of candies or otherwise) sit in big glass cases for people like me to drool over and spend ridiculous amounts of money. People who have huge, ginormous sweet tooths. People who don't have any self-control around caramel, chocolate, nuts, candy, etc. I am the leader of those people. And today I just could not pass up these beautiful apples. (from left to right: pecan-caramel, monster chocolate, m&m's, and cheesecake)

I was only going to get two of them and we were going to share. Yeah, right! Everyone wanted a different flavor, and today was not the day for me to say no. How could I resist, knowing we wouldn't come back for a long time? Why deny my children, my husband, and myself such a simple pleasure? Why let a mere $5.75 per apple discourage me? (That is seriously ridiculous money for an apple, isn't it?)

I didn't say no. I let reckless abandon take hold of me and I said, "I want this one, this one, this one, and that one!" And I hoped that the chocolate wouldn't melt when we left them in the car while we ate at Olive Garden. It didn't.

When we got home, salivating at the prospect of those beautiful apples making their way into our mouths, I cut 'em up! And we ate 'em up!! And they were every bit as delicious as I had imagined. And worth every penny.

Now off to scrapbook...see if I can get caught up with the UK scrappers at shimelle.com's scrapbook party! I just got my new Sillouette and can't wait to play! There's some enablers at Houseof3.com, I tell ya!

Some fun stuff, including a mini-book

2010-04-16T12:19:00.007-05:00

April 9

Lunch at the restaurant. It was Good Friday and the boys had early release from school, so we all ate together for lunch. Including grandma and grandpa. Oscar, too, got picked up early. As kids we probably took for granted how important it is to eat as a family. But one of the things that mom and dad love most is to have their grandkids around to sit down and enjoy a meal. And maybe they aren’t the types to be constantly saying “I love you” to us or the kids, but their actions show it beyond measure. They hug and kiss on the kids all they can, and dad will carry Oscar in his lap all the time. I’ve got lots of pictures of the two together and it always makes me smile!

April 10

We were in San Antonio today to get Howard’s riding lawnmower. After we had lunch, he took me to my favorite scrapbook store, Scrapbook Heaven. It’s on Bandera Road, and as we were driving to it, a truck was hauling this cool oldie on a trailer. Obviously restored, it was a beauty! It’s neat to get a photo of cool random stuff.

April 11

Finally, after almost 2 years of having a plain breakfast nook (which is really our dining room, too, cuz we’re not very formal people) we hung some “art” to decorate the room. It has made such a dramatic improvement. I love how the room looks, I love all the different prints. It just makes me happy and makes me feel like the house is slowly, but surely, becoming more complete, more US. There’s still more to do, obviously. We need to get the chair rail in. We need a bigger table to seat us all together. And that highchair has to go soon!

April 14
Yay! I made a mini-album!!

It’s a class kit from Bo Bunny that I bought at Scrapbook Heaven. I wasn’t sure that I’d be able to get back to SA in a few weeks for the actual class and the store owner said she could just sell me the kit. Well, great!! And everything in the book was from the kit, no extras needed, which is always a plus.

Here’s what the rest looks like:

The back cover needs a little something. I’ll probably put a 2009 summer pool picture there. And I need to add some ribbon to the rings just for a little more pizzazz. But I really enjoyed how quick it came together and how cute it is. Howard was impressed, too, which makes me happy!!

April 15

It’s tax day! But for me, it’s actually extension filing day. I hate doing the taxes. I hate bookkeeping. Really, I just don’t like having to get it all together and then see an amount that exceeds my bank account that has to be paid. So I put it off until October.

You can see the mini-album in the corner of the photo, cuz my highlight for the day was uploading it to share with my Facebook friends.

April 16

Okay, truthfully, I took these photos yesterday, but they are today’s photo of the day because I think I’m going to go back to the dollar store to get them. They are inspirational and make me smile. Howard asked me if I bought them, but I didn’t, yesterday. I had gone in the store looking for easels to put my mini-books on the shelf. I loved these cups immediately, but I had my little shadow (Oscar) with me and couldn’t let go of him to hold the cups. I was without a basket because he has started to tell me “no basket, just hold hands” when we go to stores. So I’m trying to give him the opportunity to build up that trust that he won’t go wild in the stores. He’s been good so far, but I’m smart enough not to push it!

Hello April!

2010-04-09T13:50:00.004-05:00

April 2

I didn’t go into work today because, let’s face it, if the kids are home from school I can’t get anything done. I know, I don’t do any “work” on Fridays at the office, but I gotta be there in case a “customer” walks in. Trust me, they don’t. And today is Good Friday so most people are either off of work, have their own kids at home, or aren’t really worried about getting something in to the newspaper.

I wish I had a photo to document today’s surprise for Howie. He went to see the Spurs play the Orlando Magic in San Antonio with Howard. Our friend Andres and his son had two extra tickets and invited them along. We kept telling Howie that he was going to the dentist to keep the surprise from him. He was convinced all day until they left and seeing Isiah in his Spurs shirt kinda tipped him off that he may be headed to a more fun activity.

The two Howards enjoyed the game, according to what they told me. I was glad for them to get a chance to do something together that didn’t involve the other boys. Sometimes the boys don’t get any one-on-one time with either Howard or me and I’m sure that they’d probably like us better if they didn’t have to split our attention. We’ll have to work on that one. It just got a little harder when we got outnumbered, but it can be done.

So while they were away at the game, I had Oscar and David at home. We even had Bubba over for a while to play video games, which they enjoyed. While that was going on, I made mini-cupcakes so that I could give some and have some for Easter. My little helper was there beside me to help!

I love making the mini cupcakes compared to the regular size. They are so much easier to enjoy. Just ask Oscar! And I really wanted them to be fun, so I made them in all different colors. Same cake mix, just used food coloring for blue, yellow, red, orange, green, and purple cupcakes with sprinkles.

April 3

Went to Eagle Pass today, don’t remember if we had a purpose. But we ate lunch at Chili’s where I took this photo. Whenever we go out to eat at restaurants where the boys get the activity sheets, they play tic-tac-toe with Howard. What’s important to note is that Howard always plays with them. Always. I don’t remember if he always wins, but they love playing against him. And this time he was explaining strategy to David and I love how Dave was really paying attention to him. Look at how he is focused on what Howard is saying.

Howard is such a good dad, and this photo is proof of that. He has always been a good dad, always involved in everything the kids do. And I love that they boys have that with him. They have a connection that I’ll probably not get with them because I’m a girl. That’s okay, we have our own connections. But it makes me feel all warm and mushy and I get all sentimental about how much I love all these guys in my family whenever this kind of stuff happens.

April 4
It’s Easter today. We have been having Easter at mom and dad’s for a long time now. And the number of grandkids has grown to nine, which is just WOW!

We usually have a good barbecue lunch, then hide the cascarones and plastic eggs, then hit the piñata. This year we had two piñatas, one for the kids and one for the big kids (adults).

April 7 & April 8 plus a layout

Oscar…there are so many opportunities to take his photo. Mostly because he sticks to me, he’s my momma’s boy. But also because he will literally tell me “take my picture, mom”. I have all these photos on my iPhone and camera of him making cute faces. As I was going through them all, I pulled a few just from the last few days and printed out to make a layout. I’m gonna try to do the same for Howie and David, too, of random photos of them to just stick in their albums.

Rounding out the first 90 days of 2010!

2010-03-31T23:17:00.005-05:00

Day 84 – March 25

Just a cute photo of Oscar. He’s sitting on Lala’s porch across from our house. Typical Oscar…take my picture!

Day 85 – March 26

Ama was ready to go back to San Angelo and needed to be taken to Uvalde to meet Mandy. Since Mom was busy getting ready for prom, Howard and I took her. We picked up Oscar to tag along. He was a little shy with her, and doesn’t understand her since she speaks Spanish. But they got along just fine.

Day 27 – March 27

Just some goodies for the GT Bake Sale. I made several items, since Mary told me I had to make twice as much as usual since I had two kids in the group!! Thanks!!

Day 27 – March 28

We’ve never been to the Palladium in San Antonio, even though we’ve been wanting to for so long!! It was kind of a treat for the kids, for us to take them to see “How to Train Your Dragon” in IMAX 3-D. I was impressed with the theater on the outside, but it was awesome on the inside, too! And to be honest, even though the tickets were $15 each, the concession prices were reasonable.

We got to the theater an hour before the show started since it was opening weekend and we didn’t want bad seats or to have to sit apart. Well, we sure got our choice of seats!! The boys were pretty good about waiting. The seats were comfortable and I liked that the 3-D glasses came in kids’ and adults’ sizes so that we could wear them without them falling off. Not only was the movie great, but we really loved the IMAX 3-D experience and plan on going back to watch “Clash of the Titans” soon!

Day 90 – March 31

A local person came by the office today to bring this trophy he found. Actually he said someone else had it and traded it to him for a few arrowheads. This trophy looks to be about 95 years old and has three names inscribed of people from 1915, 1916, and 1917. We’re not sure what the trophy was for, but it may have been a writing contest and perhaps sponsored by the newspaper. I’m going to look for more information!

From new tires to blooming beauties...

2010-03-30T16:32:00.006-05:00

(Previous posts just show day number whatever, but starting here I will also put the date and by next post will just use the date. It's easier to keep up with. The whole 365 thing is not exactly working out without some misses, but I'm getting most of the days in here!!)

Day 71 – March 12

Funny how we take simple things for granted. My suburban is only 4 years old, but it’s in pretty good shape considering the abuse it takes from a family of 5 and a couple extras here and there. I don’t pay as much attention as I should to the mechanics of the vehicle, but thankfully Howard does. He’s been looking around for a good price on replacement tires but 20’s are kinda expensive. I’ve had my old tires from the beginning, and luckily had not had a blowout, even though I wore the tread bald.

Howard took the suburban today to get the transmission oil and filter changed, hoping it would help improve the driving. While in Eagle Pass he was also able to find a good deal on the tires and had them put on. Nice, new, pretty tires.

Day 72 – March 13

Today is my baby’s 3rd birthday. Oscar isn’t a baby anymore, though. He’s given up his bottle and he’s in the middle of potty training. He’s 41 inches tall and 40 pounds. He’s stronger than kids his age and likes to hang out with his brothers. His blue eyes and sweet smile will melt your heart. Seems he can get away with anything. He loves to ask for chocolate candy when I pick him up from school. I think Whoppers are his favorite (perhaps because they are my favorite and I always have some in the cupboard).

Day 73 – March 14

We took the boys, Bubba, and Galayna to Eagle Pass to watch Alice in Wonderland in 3-D. It was really good. I had never understood the story behind it all until recently when I started reading it again and read some philosophy on it. But watching the movie really made it clear who and what everything represented. I especially liked when she rhetorically stated “lost my much-ness, have I?” Sometimes I wonder if I have lost my much-ness. Did I used to be much more than I am now, have more potential? The story is very deep.

After we got back home, we went to mom & dad’s to celebrate Oscar’s birthday with all the cousins (except Melissa and Diego who were with Edgar for the weekend).

Day 74 – March 15

I was so desperate to make a home-cooked meal, and I needed to use the turkey breasts that I’d had in the fridge for a week! Went all out and made turkey, stuffing (stove top), macaroni, mashed potatoes, corn, cranberry sauce, and rolls. It was so goooood!! Of course, everyone loves when I cook so that we don’t have to eat out. And those boys sure did eat!!

Day 76 – March 17

I was watching a scrapbooking show at reneepearson.com recently and the guest on the show was talking about photography and led me to Amazon for a lighting kit. The price was good, but I wasn’t sure if I would make use enough to justify the expense. Howard encouraged me to get it since the price really was good and said that once I got it, I’d have to use it! I really couldn’t resist after all. Every year I do the photos for the father/daughter girl scout dance and I always have to fuss over the lighting. This should help me take better photos if they’ll have me back this year.

Also, in preparation for our trip this coming weekend (and because it desperately needed to be done) I needed to hem David’s pants. They were just way too long and he kept having to struggle with the extra length and stepping on the back of the pants with his heel. I took out the sewing machine, which I happen to know how to use. Funny thing is that I bought it a few years ago so that I could sew on my scrapbook pages. And I’ve only sewn on one page in all these years when I was trying it out!!

So I cut and hemmed his pants, all without incident. I posted on Facebook that after all these years I could still manage to surprise Howard by using a sewing machine. Not sure if he was surprised or not, but I did a good job on the pants.

Day 77 – March 18

On our way to North Texas, and for years I’ve wanted to stop at the big rocking chair. I think the further we get away from Carrizo the more Howard loves me enough to give in to my little wants without protesting too much. This chair is on the side of the road at a store called Texas Hill Country Furniture & Mercantile. I didn’t get to look through the store, but they looked like they had some pretty unique items. I think there’s also a restaurant next to it – all out in the middle of nowhere (Lipan, TX near Mineral Wells). I wanted to have the boys climb on top and make a caption on the photo in reference to Alice in Wonderland when she ate the cake and became smaller. But Howard didn’t want any of us getting hurt so we took photos standing next to it. One of the ladies coming out of the store offered to take the photo for us so that I could be in it, too. Thanks kind lady!!

Day 78 – March 19

Well we weren’t really prepared to stay in North Texas if it was going to SNOW!! After visiting Joyce for a bit and watching the weather forecasts even Howard was convinced that staying would be a bad idea. I cancelled the hotel reservations in Wichita Falls and we came back south.

Howard and I usually hold hands off and on while we are driving. He wasn’t looking when I got this photo and posted it on Facebook that I beat him at arm wrestling. I thought it was funny.

Day 79 – March 20

We stayed the night in San Antonio so that today we might go to the zoo. No luck. The weather was cold and windy. We did get to go to the Witte museum and see the dinosaur exhibit. We also had lunch at Texas Land & Cattle, ran around town, and finally headed home.

Day 81 – March 22

Baseball season is upon us and the boys will be going into their respective divisions soon. As a warm-up and to keep them entertained, Howard took them out for batting practice with the tee and net in the yard. Of course, Oscar wants to play too. He watched the boys for a bit and took his turn. He did pretty good for his first time swinging a bat!

Day 82 – March 23

The view along I-35 on the way to San Antonio. Indian paintbrush flowers in the foreground and bluebonnets in the background behind the white fence. It is very scenic during the springtime to see all the colors of the blooming flowers. Howard took this photo on his weekly drive to San Antonio.

What a great week!

2010-03-12T15:43:00.005-06:00

Day 64

Howard and David were at a birthday party this afternoon, so it was just Howard, Oscar and me for supper. The Lions Club was having a fish fry that we wanted to try, but Oscar still isn’t much of a fish eater. His new favorite food is corn dogs.

He had earned $5 for giving Howard a kiss and had his money in his pocket for safe-keeping. When I went out for the fish, I took Oscar with me and we went to Sonic for his corndog (and some tater tots)! The girl on the intercom said the total would be $5 and some change. Oscar immediately spoke up and said he had $5!! And he went to struggling to get it out of his pocket.

Day 65

The fly catchers snoozed for about half the trip to Uvalde. They’re funny!

Day 66

We went to Uvalde again today, this time to eat at Oasis. While waiting on Howard, I got this photo out of a series of not-so-good ones. I love that Oscar is laughing.

Day 67

While in Uvalde over the weekend, I was able to pick up some really cute cake pans. The first on makes a giant cupcake which I made for my friend Nelly for her birthday this past week. The second makes small square cakes. The third makes little bundt cakes, which I can totally see making some cute, cute cakes with! The last pan makes mini-muffins.

Day 69

This past week I ran out of my regular Tombow adhesive that I use for scrapbooking. I was having to use some that I’m not familiar with but that I had stashed in my stuff. Knowing that I really wanted to keep on a roll with my scrapping, I started looking online for refills. That stuff is expensive!! I finally found a supplier online who sold it for about $1.80 per refill (compared to $6 each) and was offering free shipping on order over $50. Well, I made sure my order hit the mark and I ordered 30 refills!! Hopefully, I won’t be needing any adhesive for a while. But if I do, I know where to get some more.

Day 70

This makes me happy!! I’ve been trying to switch out our old raggedy towels for new ones little by little. I had the blue ones and then got some brown. Last weekend I got a couple gold and a couple orange, as well as some orange bath mats. Then today I bought a fun, striped shower curtain that had all the colors in it.

I’m loving the brightness it brings to the bathroom. Before, the beige shower curtain just made the room boring. I know, it’s just a bathroom. But it’s where I start my morning routine and these colors make me feel happy, which is a great way to start the day.

Like a whole week's worth of catch-up!

2010-03-05T14:46:00.009-06:00

Day 55

Woo hoo!! Got to do a little crafting. I watched Heidi Swapp on Ustream doing a live class, in which I followed along and made this envelope book. It was fun to have a little time to myself to make something.

Day 56

Got a call from daycare that Oscar had a rash and they were concerned it was chicken pox. I hate those calls cuz they make me worry. Not only will I have one child sick, it's guaranteed the other two will get it. And even worse...Howard never had chicken pox as a kid, so as an adult he is really not wanting to be around anyone with it where he might get it. This call automatically put him on guard.

I picked him up and took him to Dr. Doria. They sat us away from the general population, which was good. I really don't like sitting in the front with coughing, snotty kids. Sorry, but really, what parent wants to subject their kid to that? It wasn't long before we were taken to a room for evaluation. Dr. Doria said it looked like a heat rash and that he was fine. That was a relief.

Unfortunately for him, he was (over) due to get 4 immunization shots. And he knew it. And he was not happy about it. Elvia and I were able to keep him down so that he took 2 shots to each thigh. He yelled out a little and cried some, but overall took it very well. I gave him some Motrin at the office. Then Howard took him for some ice cream. The next day, though, he was pretty sore for a while. What a trooper!

Day 57
I am so loving these Scentsy candles. They use a light bulb instead of a flame, and the top part holds the scented wax. They are so pretty, and they smell so great. I'm just telling everyone about them!!

Day 58
My little driving buddy fell asleep on the way home from Eagle Pass. Just too darn cute not to photograph! But he was awake the whole way over there and almost the way back except for about 20 minutes he was able to doze off. He's a lively little guy even when he doesn't have to compete with his brothers for attention. But he's an angel when he's sleeping.

Day 60

Family meal: Chicken Parmesan, spaghetti, garlic mashed potatoes, garlic bread, and Ceasar salad. These boys love big meals!!

Day 62

If the ham didn't ham it up, would I ever have any funny photos? Probably so, but he makes it easier. I don't know where he got this idea, but he got on his back and started bench-pressing as if he was really working out. Too funny Mr. Oscar!

Day 63
Every time someone goes to Crystal City, Dad reminds us to get pan dulce from Canela's Bakery. Well, here's what I got!! So good...

Valentine's Day Meals

2010-03-05T14:09:00.003-06:00

Day 45

When you wake up to find your sweetheart making pink, chocolate chip waffles, you know it's gonna be a good day. Howard made us all waffles for breakfast and they were great. We spent the rest of the day lounging around the house, contemplating what the make for dinner now that we had a new, gorgeous barbecue pit. And this package of ribs was waiting for us!!

Howard smoked those babies for a good long while. The boys were getting anxious and hungry waiting for the ribs to be ready, too. But boy was it worth the wait. They were so tender that when you bit into them the meat came right off the bone, just like on Pitmasters! They were perfect, and a perfect ending to the day.

Watching the game

2010-03-05T14:06:00.004-06:00

Day 44

Just a quick shot of Howard in the stands watching the Harlem Ambassadors show at the high school. He and I were the only ones that went after a long day in San Antonio. We had a good time. Sometimes it's nice to spend some one-on-one time with my boys.

Superbowl Party

2010-03-04T16:30:00.005-06:00

Day 38

This year we had some great friends over to enjoy Superbowl Sunday on February 7. All season long we had an ongoing rivalry (and a bet) with Ronnie and Tanya about the Cowboys' ability to make it to the playoffs. I lost!

So for the superbowl, Ronnie, Tammie, and Garrett, along with Tanya, Derek, and Erika, came over to watch the game. As part of losing the bet I had to wear a Cowboys jersey. But not just any jersey, the most dreaded "Tony Romo" jersey!!

We had such a good time cheering: I was for the Colts, and everyone else was for the Saints. At the end of the night, after quite a few drinks all around, everyone celebrated the Saints' win.

And not to forget the star of the evening...

Bought this baby the day before after eyeing it for several months and having to save up for it! Made some damn good burgers, but a good portion of the credit for that goes to the grill master Howard!!

Ready for the Rodeo

2010-02-05T15:53:00.002-06:00

Day 35

Grandpa called today and asked if the boys could get out of school early to go to the rodeo in San Antonio. Of course!!

They didn't want to dress up, but I didn't give them much option. They looked so cute before they left. Howard and I were happy to let them go, since they don't often get an opportunity to spend time with Grandpa and Grandma without us around nagging at them all the time. And I lectured them well before they left to behave!!

Here's how much fun they had...

Backyard view

2010-02-05T15:44:00.003-06:00

Day 34

It's been raining cats and dogs around here. Just wanted to capture our backyard view of the creek.

Take my picture

2010-02-05T15:29:00.003-06:00

Day 32

Told you he get photographed a lot. This one was per his repeated request. I wonder if it really is a burden to be that darn cute?

Ravenous Carnivores

2010-02-05T15:23:00.004-06:00

Day 30

After Howie's basketball game this morning, we headed out to Eagle Pass to make a deposit for the house payment. Of course, we couldn't pass up the chance to eat lunch at Chili's. The boys just love their baby back ribs, which was what they ordered. Half a rack each. With fries.

These are their empty plates. The bones were cleaned by ravenous little boys! And yet, even after all they ate on their plates, they ate off of Howard's and my plates too! I knew having boys meant they would be big eaters, but I didn't think it would be at ages 9 and 7! Pretty soon even Oscar will be eating off the full menu.

Chocolate keeps him happy

2010-02-05T15:18:00.003-06:00

Day 26

So it's a Tuesday evening, which means we are at the office doing inserts for the paper. Oscar is still too young to help out so Grandpa sometimes has to keep him entertained. Luckily for him, someone at the restaurant was having a birthday and they had enough cupcakes to share. One cupcake...one little boy. And he sat there and ate it in front of us like he was the king.

He gets photographed a lot!

2010-01-21T11:02:00.002-06:00

Day 20

Before going digital, well I should say, when Howie was born I was not a digital camera person. We had a digital camera, and let me tell you, an 8mb card was BIG! So I had a regular film camera. Then I got an SLR when David was born. Yes, I took lots of photos of both of them. Tons. I have boxes of duplicates, a box of negatives, a binder of cds with the photos that were digitally saved when I had the filmed processed.

But within the last few years, and certainly since Oscar was born, the digital technology has gotten to be less expensive and easier to own and operate. I have a digital SLR that I use for big events. I have a small point-and-shoot digital camera that I carry in my purse. And I use my iPhone to take photos of anything and everything on the go.

While Howard and David are used to me taking photos of them, and they generally smile and sometimes pose, they cannot compare to Oscar. I take more pictures of this child than I can keep up with. And he TELLS me when to photograph him. "Mom, take a picture of me!" he says when he knows he's being a ham. Or if he sees me get out my phone for anything, he thinks it's to take his photo. And he knows how to take the photos with my camera(s) too! Then he wants me to show him his photo on the playback. That's the part he likes best...seeing himself.

And why shouldn't he, he's such a cutie!

The big boy haircut sans tears

2010-01-21T10:50:00.004-06:00

Day 19

Finally this poor boy's momma took him for a haircut. His hair was really getting long and everyday we would say it was time for a haircut, but neither Howard nor I would take him. I couldn't stand it any longer (pun intended).

A little trip to the barber...gave him a candy...he sat in that chair and did not argue, cry, or whine in the slightest. First time! I think that's why we hesitate to take him for a haircut is because he has cried so much in the past, as if it hurt him. Apparently, giving him a candy is the key!

Being appreciated

2010-01-20T16:52:00.004-06:00

Day 18

Wow!! This was the best apprecation gift I've gotten for something that I chose to do of my own free will.

January is school board appreciation month. For the previous year's that I've been on the board, I always felt guilty that the schools would spend money to buy us appreciation gifts. I truly did appreciate the gifts but would have loved for the kids to benefit from that money instead. And finally the campuses must have understood that. This year each campus made a dessert for a chosen board member. And I was lucky enough to be chosen by the campus that my sister teaches at and my children attend - CSE.

Mary had asked me about a week ago what my favorite dessert was, but I didn't really question why she wanted to know. I found out! She made me the "bestest" cheesecake ever!! After the meeting was over, Howard and I both had a good taste of it as evidenced by the forks sitting on the plate. Thanks CSE and Mary!!

Again with the serving of Catch-Up!

2010-01-20T16:31:00.006-06:00

I did it again. Kept holding on to those photos in different cameras til I could get some time to play. But here are the last few days...

Day 14
Big Daddy made the show and avoided the sift easily, at 240 pounds. But before he could get into the ring he really needed to be washed down. Howie got in there and scrubbed that hog down good.

Day 15
This was Howard's first year showing an animal for 4-H and the stock show. He was very confident and had to keep ignoring instructions from me, Mom, and Cristy. He said we were just too distracting!

Day 16
I love this photo. The whole weekend was about Howard with hs animals. But instead of getting another show photo, I was able to get these boys loving each other for a change instead of fighting! David was very proud of Howard and Oscar just loves his brothers!

Day 17
Believe it or not, I still put Oscar to nap in my arms. He's a big boy, but sometimes that comfort just helps him drift off before I put him to bed. Now, this is only for naps! He goes to bed on his own at night. Otherwise, I don't think I'd have any feeling left in my arm.

Playing Catch-Up, not Ketchup

2010-01-14T21:29:00.010-06:00

For almost a week now I have neglected posting my photos from Project 365. I have been keeping up with the photos, though. So here we go...

Day 8

Spent the better part of the day updating iTunes and getting Howie's iPod ready for his birthday. Had some drama at Wal-Mart because the $50 iTunes card that came with the iPod had not been activated. So I basically had to prove to Wal-Mart that I had not stolen the card and that it was through their mistake that my card was not activated. Took about an hour, but it finally got straightened out. I can't wait for him to open this present!

Day 9

Woo hoo! Howard was able to get someone to come and put in our attic door/ladder so that we can get up there and store stuff. We actually have A LOT of room up there and if we had been smart in the beginning, we would have made part of this house two-story right where the attic is now. There is a ton of room up there. We need to get some plywood up there for flooring. Eventually we'll get some makeshift walls up in there for shelving. I'm excited!!

Day 10

Family photo on Howie's birthday. I'm so proud of him. He's 9 today, but sometimes it feels like he's older. Then he does something silly!

I made him a devil's food cake, at his request, with milk chocolate frosting and chocolate chips. Talk about sugar attack! And, of course, he loved the iPod that he got for his birthday.

Day 11

The weather was good today! A little chilly, but after work we were able to go outside with the kiddos and let them play a little basketball. Thankfully, the weather should be getting better soon enough to do this on a regular basis. They are not so fun when they are cooped up in the house!

Day 12

For some reason, both Howie and Oscar woke up sick today. Not just a little sick, but vomiting sick. And it was Tuesday...so I HAD to be at work. Howard stayed with them and cleaned up after them all day at the house. He took this photo of Oscar after he had taken in some gatorade and poor baby fell asleep on the sofa. He and Howie had a rough day!

Oops, no Day 13 photo!

Denise activated my sweet tooth

2010-01-08T14:26:00.004-06:00

Day 7

I was minding my own business at work, when my friend Denise posted on Facebook that she had made cupcakes with her daughter. While I would have loved to have just inivted myself over to her house and let her share her fresh cupcakes with me, I couldn't. Nooooo, Denise has to live out of state with her sweet cupcakes!

So the rest of the afternoon I kept dreaming about cupcakes...and I finally made a batch about 8 pm! It's okay, I won't eat them all. I even took some to my other friend, Nelly. And of course, I'll share with the kids!

The paint is dry

2010-01-06T22:23:00.003-06:00

Day 6

After stamping my album last night, I had to let it dry. But tonight I finished it off! I was happy with the results and hope to fill up the pages over the next few days.

"Me" time

2010-01-05T23:15:00.004-06:00

Day 5

I had some time to myself today while Howard took the boys to Hondo to pick up the newspaper. It was a little weird to have the house quiet, but I made good use of the time.

A while back I had cut out a page from a scrapbooking magazine that had a customized cover on a Close To My Heart album. I've had that page on my bulletin board because I knew I was going to have to try to replicate it at some point for one of my own albums. Today was that day!

I found the stamps I wanted and opened up my case of acrylic paints. I also found some rub-ons that I wanted to use. I stamped the cover, but right now it is sitting on the desk while the paint dries. I'm loving it already!

Mesmerized

2010-01-04T22:23:00.004-06:00

Day 4

We didn't do anything special today. It was the last vacation day for the boys before they start back to school tomorrow. They went to the office with us, then we came home at 5. See, nothing special.

But then, as if by some special force, we found a movie on HBO that we wanted to watch -- on a Monday! I love Shrek!! And we made popcorn and watched...

It's the simple things...

2010-01-04T00:05:00.006-06:00

Day 3

It's only the third day of the year and I already feel like I'm falling behind on things that need to get done. I feel like I'm rushing around trying to get this and that done: laundry, lunch, cleaning, dishes, etc. And sometimes it's like there's no real time to spend doing things I enjoy.

And then I turn around and catch this sweet child just playing quietly, enjoying a toy made of blocks of wood. That's the secret: enjoying the simple things without distraction. He wasn't worried about what needed to be done later to get ready for bed or what he needs to do tomorrow. He was enjoying the moment.

And when it was time for his bath, he took his bath. When it was time for bed, he kisse his daddy and me and went to bed. And tomorrow, when it's time to go to school, he'll go to school.

I know that as adults we have responsibilities that he doesn't. But maybe I need to learn to take his approach and deal with some things one at a time so that I can enjoy the good stuff. It's such a simple thing to remember.

My attempt at some form of fitness

2010-01-02T21:11:00.004-06:00

Day 2

I keep saying I'm going to do something about my weight, but I don't actually do anything. And with the start of the new year it is easy to say it again, but I doubt I'd do very much about it. Instead, I asked for these Reebok shoes for Christmas.

They are advertised to make your butt and thighs get firmer. "Great butt and thighs" they promise, while showing a very attractive and athletic woman. Obviously she didn't get her shape from mere shoes...but I'll try it out and see if I can get any results.

Hey, I need to wear shoes, right?

Out with 2009...

2010-01-01T20:38:00.005-06:00

Day 1

We are officially into the first day of 2010. As a goodbye to 2009, I took down the Christmas tree with a little help from Oscar. We packed away the ornaments and the boys took the bricks out that we used to prop the tree a little higher.

2009 was a good year. I don't have any complaints or reasons to wish the year be gone. But a new year always feels like a fresh start, a renewal of the cycle. I always feel like it's my opportunity to take on that resolution to lose weight, or work out, or scrap more often. I don't know that I'll actually do anything any different than I usually do, but I hope to do it better, whatever it may be.

I did want to try to take on Project 365...actually I wanted to do it last year, along with all the other scrappers who jumped on that bandwagon. But I didn't; I was lazy. (Project 365 is a big scrapbooking deal that famous scrapper Becky Higgins started in which you take a photo a day.) So this year I'm going to try. I've asked Howard to help make sure at least a photo a day. Then I will try to scrap a page a week with those photos for an album of at least 52 layouts at the end of the year documenting our lives.

I'm going to do better than last year for sure!

Getting ready for a new year...

2009-12-28T19:52:00.004-06:00

It's been such a long time since I posted, even though I'm on the computer ALL THE TIME! I just haven't felt like I've had anything worth blogging about.

Now as we come to a new year I feel like i need to reset this thing and try to do better in 2010. I've joined a Facebook group in which I will try to take a photo a day and then scrap them all together, week by week. Not necessarily make scrapbook pages - cuz that would be crazy to get one for every day of the year - but to just take the photo and do a little journaling. I should still be able to scrap a few real pages in between, try to catch up on old photos, and still get something accomplished towards documenting this crazy, wild, and fun McDaniel family.

So here's our Christmas family photo. That should be a good place to end this year's postings until I get ready to begin my posts on 2010.

Oscar delivers...

2009-10-30T15:05:00.007-05:00

Oscar won "most original" at the daycare costume contest. He looked so cute. Had to find a costume that he'd agree with. He doesn't like the scary ones like his brothers and dad.

Picture for Picture Day

2009-10-09T13:37:00.002-05:00

The boys had picture day at school on Thursday, and before they left for the day I got this photo. It amazes me that every time I look at their pictures they are growing so fast. David's only a few weeks from turning 7 and Howie will be 9 in January. Wow!

Filling up the pool

2009-08-20T16:39:00.003-05:00

So Mom emptied the pool at the ranch and we went over to help clean and fill it back up. She and Howard hooked up the irrigation pipes to pump the water from the well into the pool and it gave Oscar a chance to play with Howie and David in the big pool until it filled up too high for him. They all had fun together and all shared a little sunburn!

A haircut can change a man...

2009-07-24T15:08:00.007-05:00

I was doing a little bit of organization for my scrapbooking and as I was downloading photos from my phone to computer, I came across these two. They were taken before and after Oscar's last haircut. It just strikes me how funny it is that the simplest thing can change how he looks.

In these photos I see him looking like a toddler, to looking like a pre-schooler. Okay, maybe not much difference, but relatively speaking it is. He's only a few months past 2 years. But he easily looks at least 3 after the haircut.

In fact, when we went to Fiesta Texas and I went through the stroller lane and showed my pass to get in the attendant asked for Oscar's pass too. I told her he was only 2 and she gave me a dirty look as if I were lying about his age to get him in! Although I'm in no hurry to have him grow up, I promise I'm not trying to hold him back either.

Working on the house

2009-07-21T18:55:00.003-05:00

Over the last week we've been working on making this flower bed around the front of the house. We layed out the bricks to get a design, adn then had to bring in sand to level the ground. Once we got to where it was even, we layed the first row and with a mallet we leveled brick by brick. Don't think that Howard was doing all the work! I did my share.

Over the weekend we then had to bring in dirt from the hill in the backyard to build up in front of the wall so it wouldn't crumble in case of rain. I've got blisters to show that I worked to get that dirt spread out.

Then yesterday we even started laying out how we wanted the wall on the left side of the house. We're going to need some more dirt...and my blisters to heal!

Finally, a new layout!

2009-06-19T15:29:00.002-05:00

I couldn't help myself. I'm stuck at the office, but can't motivate myself to do any work on a Friday afternoon. After all, I have gotten something accomplished this morning that was work-related. But now I'm just ready to go home and start another book. Wouldn't mind a cool tropical drink to help my vision, either! But that's a different story. Anyway, I got a layout done. It was a quickpage, but it still counts!!

Last Day of School Awards

2009-06-10T14:03:00.003-05:00

On the last day of school, David came home with several awards, but he was most proud of his reading award. I asked him if he enjoyed Kindergarten and he says yes, especially playing with his friends. His teacher sent several notes throughout the year telling us how smart and helpful David was in class. But his folder always showed him to be a handful! That's my David!!!