I've been inspired and a freebie

I've had a burst of inspiration lately about scrapping. It's probably for the first time in a while that I've been able to scrap what I want to scrap without a pressure of a deadline (because I'm not on any creative teams anymore), and probably because this is the first time since January that my eyes haven't been causing me problems. (read the roundups from January and February to find out more about my eye issues) I made this layout in just a few minutes one afternoon.

And this one in less than 30 minutes today.....

The first one I used a pretty kit called Spring Sorbet by Teri Mayo of Teri's Thing-o-my-jigs. You probably remember her. I used to CT for her, and probably still would if my eye issues wouldn't be causing me recurring problems because she is an amazing designer and a wonderful person. She was in the Designer's spotlight for Pretty Scrappy this month, so I was more than happy to buy half of this beautifully sophisticated kit for $2 and get the rest of the kit for free when I posted in the forum.

The second one I did as a result of an inspiring ad challenge at Pretty Scrappy. You can read about it here. I used Digi-Designs by Nicole's kit called Family Ties. I thought the ad challenge was so fun, I made a layered psd template for you to download so you could make your own...

It's 12x12 size in photoshop format. There's lots of room to tell your story, and there are drop shadows on the photo blocks. Does anyone need a tutorial on using layered templates in Photoshop? If so, leave a comment, and I'll do a post on it.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE TEMPLATE

Enjoy!!!

Inspiration for Weight Loss

I don't know if you remember, but in October, Teri Mayo released a kit called, "I'm Losing It."

Well...she's having a sale!!! If you've resolved to lose weight (who hasn't), but you enjoy sitting and scrapping at your computer (who doesn't) Then check this kit out!!!

25% off on any I'm Losing It products!! Hurry, sale ends on the 15th! You can go to Pretty Scrappy, Inspiration Lane, or Ginger Scraps to take advantage of the sale. Here are a few layouts I've made with this kit...

And you can make "non-diet related" scrap pages with it too!

December 1

I'm on my way with my December Daily Album! I've gotten nearly all of my foundation pages made, and I've made my first page for December first! It really was so quick to have the foundation page made first. I decided along the way that I would take the numbers off the foundation pages and add them as I go so I can choose the page that best fits the photos I have and the story I want to tell. So initially this page was labelled December 4th, but I used it first. The Journaling reads: Our Family Tradition is to strap the Christmas tree to the top of the Jeep. It started the year I was pregnant with Andy - the first year we had the Jeep. At first we had it sticking out the back, but now, with every seat in the Wrangler filled, we strap it to the top. This year we bought the tree from the youth group fundraiser, and we set it up the Sunday after Thanksgiving. since there was no PM service. We got to do our tradition twice because we took Grammy Lu’s tree to her house too. We’ve been slowly decorating the house this year, which is unusual for us. Tree, lights, and blow-up nativity on Sunday; Ornaments on Monday; Christmas Village and wreath on Tuesday. Still more decorating to go but I kinda like being able to take my time. The kids enjoyed putting the ornaments on the tree, seeing pictures of themselves on them, and Andy’s starting to read some of the words. We sat tonight and pointed out some of our favorites. It was fun to hear the kids’ reasons for liking

what they liked. The Coca-Colo choo-choo is the favorite because it makes NOISE!

Black Friday

Who doesn't love a good black Friday sale? Go to Pretty Scrappy or Inspiration Lane to take advantage of the savings...

Birthday Sale

I just wanted to let you in on a great sale....Teri's birthday is this weekend, and all of her designs are 25% off!! If you haven't found just the right Christmas kit, you should check out Teri's kit "Merry and Bright." I've been making cards and album pages with it right and left. And at 25% off...you can't beat it!

Also, some of Teri's retired kits will be less than a dollar each during this sale! Some of my favorites are Hometown USA, Weekend Getaway, and Somethin's Fishy.

Go to Pretty Scrappy and check it out! Stop by Teri's blog and wish her a happy birthday......

The Beginning of my December Daily

For a few years, I have watched with creative jealousy at Ali Edwards' December Daily album. She always does such an artistic job of telling her life story. I want to try to make a December Daily album. I loved the idea of documenting the little things that make up the holiday season. The first step, according to Ali, is to gather your materials. I've gone through all my scrapbooking materials in iPhoto, and tagged all my Christmas kits with the Keyword "Christmas." (For more on keywords and organizing in iPhoto, click here) After doing this, I realized that I had a big variety of Christmas and winter kits, and if I used them all, I was afraid that I would lose a cohesive look. Then Teri Mayo came up with an amazingly huge holiday kit called Merry and Bright. It's awesome, full of traditional and not so traditional colors and textures. It feels totally festive. This kit is huge too - 20 papers, 65 elements, a plain and an embellished alpha, felt and glitter styles......Check it out...

So here's my first page of my December Daily album. I'm hoping that each page will have room for 1 focal picture and a spot to tell the story of what's going on. Keep coming back to see more pages...

I'm Losing It!

A few weeks ago, Teri challenged those of us on her CT team to join her on a weight loss challenge. I had been thinking (read: postponing) starting a diet because I really needed it, and she was just the kick in the pants I needed to start. And in Teri's style, she made a kit to help her document her journey.....

Here it is....

She's also included all sorts of add ons, from blog wear to pieces of flair to hybrid journal pages to organize your day and keep track of your progress. I've had so much fun making my journal this week. The pages come in 5x7 format, which is a typical size for lots of organizers, but I wanted to make mine out of a 5.5x8 3 ring binder. It was easy to modify the pages Teri designed to fit my format and customized to my needs. The guy at Office max showed me plastic page protectors that fit this size binder, so my pages slide right in! No holes to punch. On the daily pages there's a spot to record what you ate, things to do, and a spot to write an inspirational scripture or quote. There's also a cute monthly exercise tracker. Here's a preview of some of my pages

I'm also trying to make some mini scrapbook pages to record my thoughts along the way. Here's one about how I feel about myself at the start of this weightloss journey.

So far I've lost 8 lbs! Can't complain!

Another Layout with Freshly Picked Fall

Hey everyone! I'm loving Freshly Picked Fall by Teri Mayo! I made another layout with it yesterday. Check it out!

My #3 gives the best hugs! He'll grab me and we'll rock back and forth and one of us will start humming "Big Baby! Big Baby!" It makes my day! If you like it, you can check it out at Pretty Scrappy!

Fresh Picked Fall Layout

I just got Fresh Picked Fall by Teri Mayo of Teri's Thing O My Jigs today, and it is so nice. It's a great combination of fresh fall colors. The embellishments are nice and very useable. No filler here. One thing that I've really enjoyed about this kit is the beautiful frames. They are very unique! I hope you'll go over to Pretty Scrappy and check it out. (PS is in the middle of changing servers, so if you get an error message, just try again. They'll have all the issues worked out in a couple days). Check out this beautiful preview....

And here's my #3 doing what he does best....pushing my buttons....

Three Things Thursday

I'm feeling like I need to document my life as it happens, so here's my version of "Three Things Thursday."

1. I'm totally overwhelmed by birthday party preparations. Who would have thought that we'd have over 30 people in our house to celebrate #3 turning 2? I have a lot of cleaning to do, and I can't help but thinking that all the cleaning that I do will be "uncleaned" by Saturday night. So I kinda have a "what's the point" attitude.

2. I'm feeling like I need to spend more time with #2. She hasn't had a lot to look forward to that's special for her, and she's starting to act out a little to get attention. Maybe she can stay up and help me paint the backdrop for the birthday party....if she'll take a nap.

3. I feel like I'm running in circles. My husband calls it "wallering." Instead of moving and acting with purpose, whatever I do doesn't seem to accomplish what it should. Maybe a little time of thinking and praying this afternoon will help me with that.

This was a melancholy "3 Things Thursday." Hope yours is better.

I'm going to leave you with a new preview of a kit Teri made called Freshly Picked Fall. You can get it at Pretty Scrappy.

New Kit by Teri!

I was looking around the gallery at Pretty Scrappy a few days ago, and I saw this preview...

Teri's back!!!! Let's call her the Brett Favre of the digiscrapping world. Out of retirement and better than every. And this kit is very, very adorable. Great color and texture. Fun elements. Great frames and little spooks to adorn your page. It's perfect for those of us who like the fun part of the Fall season, but don't get into the scary, gory stuff that can accompany it. Here's a layout I made last night..

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