8. September 2008 by admin.

College football that is.  I love Saturdays in September and throughout the fall.  I literally can sit and watch college football all day long.  I’ll start with College Game Day on ESPN just to find out what’s going on outside of the Big Ten and then I’ll flip through games, of course unless Ohio State is on.  But 1 thing I’ve discovered I hate about watching games at home is Tivo.  Now 99% of the time I love Tivo.  I think it’s the best thing since sliced bread.  But if I don’t have control of the remote it’s a never ending flashback.  “Oh, did you see that?  I gotta go back and show you.  I need to see that again.  What….that stupid ref missed/called that”.  Do you get the picture?  He drives nuts with that.  But I do like the pause feature, great for potty breaks, so I guess I really do love my Tivo. 

One would think that since I enjoy Saturday football so much that Sunday would be the next day in heaven for me.  Nope, not even close.  I really hate watching the NFL.  I don’t know if it’s from my upbringing in Detroit, where all we had to root for were the Lions (even if Barry Sanders was there those years) but I find NFL very boring.  Maybe it’s the money.  So I do Nascar Sundays. 

As you can tell, my weekend wasn’t the most exciting.  We stayed home.  Shannon has a friend who is moving to China and we went to the bar for his sendoff.  Eh, not my first choice but it was fun.  Hope that yours was much more exciting.

Don’t forget about the challenges that I’m a part of this month at Digital Scrap Garden and Heather Manning’s CT.  Also watch for an upcoming announcement about a birthday party.  Shhhhh…..it’s a surprise. 

Have a great day!

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

5. September 2008 by admin.

Well the last part of the title is most important.  I love short weeks at work.  Made the entire week fly by.  Of course in saying that I probably condemned myself to an agonizingly long day.  Yep, first Friday of the month.  It’s gonna be a long one.

So while I was off I finished up 2 new paper packs and then yesterday got started on another one.  They are almost all set and in the shoppe over at the Garden.  I thought I’d go ahead and show you a sneak peek.

I love the concept behind the first one.  I was having trouble with a name last week, so I threw it out to the forum over at the Garden.  I loved Cate’s idea for a theme so here is the next installment of Cate’s Sweet Muffins - Banana Nut. 

For Equinox, I got to playing with my fall color palette and some brushes and here’s what I came up with.  I used one of the papers on my Imagination layout for my quote challenge.  Take a look.

And this last one, I just fell in love with these colors.  It’s really one of my first non grungy paper packs.  Autumn Orchard.

All 3 will be available in my store for only $2 a pack.

So in addition to playing with new papers, I’ve also been trying to do a few challenges too.  As always, I adore Kim B’s over at DSO.  It’s the color challenge and is one of the most amazing.  It and her CU grab bags are what got me hooked on playing with papers.  Here’s my freebie for her challenge.

You can pick it up here.  Do you like the new look of the preview?  I’m really excited and have to thank Blythe Evans for reworking her preview action so it would work in my PSE program.  I’m horrible at previews and even worse at descriptions, so this will help me a lot.  So if you use PSE or even PS and are looking for a good way to do previews, stop by Blythe’s shop and check it out.

I hope you all have a great weekend.  I’m not sure what our plans are exactly.  It’s either the campground and a party down at a friend of ours from the horseshoe pits or just the campground.  It’s been so hot here lately that it’s almost better to stay indoors.  Anyway, have a great weekend and stay safe.

Posted in Digital scrapbooking, Freebies | 11 Comments »

3. September 2008 by admin.

I’m back at work after a 5 day vacation. And wouldn’t you know that this was the only morning I couldn’t get my butt outta bed. I’m so tired. I’m sure that part of it is the dogs whined to go out about 4:30 this morning. I’m so glad it’s a short week. I really can’t believe it’s Wed. already, not to mention the 3rd of Sept. Where or where is the time going?

I did pretty well yesterday with my old desktop. The only thing it’s really missing other than speed is my FTP program. I’m gonna end up overloading the store as soon as I get the issue fixed. I finished 1 pack of papers that I had been working on and another complete set. I sat there with the 70’s music channel on my satalite all day yesterday in front of the laptop. I also got 4 challenges done over at the garden. Here’s my page for my quote challenge.

And here’s one for the COOL w/t Mojo - It’s an AAM challenge.  We had to use photos from our childhood.  These were actually on the old desktop, so I has happy I could grab them.

So I think I got alot accomplished yesterday.  I think that things will be rather busy here at work today.  Usually the begining of the month is.  I’m sure that yesterday was really tough on the old lady I work with.    I’ll get my turn next week with her on vacation.

 Don’t forget about about the Template with a Topic challenge over at Heather’s CT blog.  We supply the template and the topic and you do a fabulous layout.  You can get a chance to win a $10 GC or even a $20 GC to Heather’s store.

Have a wonderful day. 

Posted in challenges, Heather Manning, Digital scrapbooking | 4 Comments »

2. September 2008 by admin.

I hope that your weekend was wonderful.  The weather here in Central Ohio was gorgeous, if not a tad too hot.  My face is a slight shade of red from being out in the sun throwing horseshoes.  I played in the big tournament on Sunday.  It was an all day affair with 24 teams and went for about 8 hours.  Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) I didn’t have to stick around that long as I lost my first 2 games.  I threw really well on my first game and even though we lost it (it was close) I was happy with my performance.  And for a change, my partner was the one making all the apoligies.  I’m really hoping to get Most Improved for this year, but they changed the criteria from how it was done in the past and there are some women who’ve been playing for several years in the mix.  Whatever happens, I’m getting better and can hold my own and that makes me happy.

 What doesn’t make me happy is that my Dell desktop crashed on Friday.  Two weeks out of warrany.  Isn’t that just the case.  So I hauled out my old one that is ancient and SLOW but works so I can still surf.  I’m not sure what I’m gonna do about my Dell.  I really would love a MAC but I just paid off both the laptop and the desktop and really can’t afford another payment.  The good thing is that almost ALL of my scrap products have been backed up to disk or the laptop so I didn’t lose anything that I paid for.  However, all my layouts are on there and haven’t been backed up.  I know Barb mentioned how important this is a few months ago, but silly me didn’t listen.

There’s a new blog challenge on Heather’s CT blog.  It’s a good one if you ask me.  A great chance to scrap and maybe a chance to win a GC from Heather’s store.

You can get all the details and the download link on the template here.

Don’t forget about my Quote challenge over at the Garden.  I think there’s a pretty good posting bonus that goes with it.  You can find the link in the prior post.

Off to back up everything on the laptop and try to get a few more papers done on the next paper pack I’m working on.

Have a great day and happy scraping.

Posted in challenges, Heather Manning, Digital scrapbooking | 3 Comments »

29. August 2008 by admin.

Why is it that when you’re on vacation or have a day off, your body automatically wakes you up before your normal wake up time and you can’t get back to sleep?  If I had to work today, my mind would automatically tell me to go back to sleep.  Funny isn’t it.  But I’m incredibly happy today.  I have a 5 day holiday weekend.  I had orignally planned on spending it all down at the campground, but the best laid plans…….It’s ok though, I get this much more time connected to the internet and can play all day.  Yea!!!

First I want to show you what I just put into the store.  It’s filling up nicely.  I did an entire collection of papers called Mediterrean Terrace.  There are 4 paper packs and an alpha (actualy 2 alphas in 1 set).  Take a peek.

There is also a super saver pack where you can get the entire set of papers and save 25%.

Also over at the Garden, I’m hosting the Quote challenge each month.  I’ve already posted the Sept. challenge.  Here’s the posting bonus.

Stop by and check out the quote.  Post a layout with it and you’ll get the bonus mini kit.

Earlier in the week, Joni left this for me on her blog.

Now here’s my list to pass it on.

Amanda’s Household sixx - I love Amanda’s sense of humor and her way of telling it to you straight.  No holes barred. 

Ladybug Graphix - I love to open her blog up just for the beautiful song she has on it.  If you like country music, or just songs to make you stop and think (and maybe tear up) than stop by and say hi to Dawne.  But she’s also a complete sweetie as well as a darn great tease.

Scrapsations of Cate - Cate is one of the first friends I made from the Blog Train.  She is an amazing Supermom, who does more before she goes to work than I do all day.  It’s really been amazing to see her grow over the last year in her scrapping.  Her layouts rawk and now she’s selling her magnificent templates too.

Suzee Q’s Stuff - Freebie pimp queen.  If you love to look through freebies but don’t like thumbing through pages of stuff, Suzee’s blog is perfect.  She picks the cream of the crop and occasionally my stuff out for you to view. 

The Chronicles of Nani - Yet another transplanted Michagander in the Buckeye state.  Great posts, awesome photos and she’s contimplating starting to sell her designs.  Stop by and give her a little encouragement.

Blackbelt Scraping - Another transplant, and she’s in the opposite end of the state.  Barb has a sharp sense of humor, takes the most Awesome photos and on Tuesday has the best recipes out there.  Her other blog, Pixelated is just her photos.  Take a look, I promise you won’t be dissapointed.

And last, but certainly not least, Da Wench - Wenchd Grafix  There are days that I doubt I would keep my sanity if it weren’t for Kristine.  Wickedly funny, has the greatest email jokes around (even if I don’t always understand the Newfie jokes) and my greatest cheerleader.  Mwah! says it all.

So here’s the rules ladies:  According to the rules for this award,
the winner:
- may put the logo on her blog.
- should create a link on her blog back to the person who gave them the award.
- may nominate at least 7 other blogs for the award and put links to those blogs on hers.
- should leave messages on the blogs of those nominated.

Well, off to play some.  For those of you in the states, Happy Labor Day and enjoy your long weekend.  Stay safe!  Everyone have a wonderful weekend and scrap happy!

Posted in challenges, Digital scrapbooking | 8 Comments »

27. August 2008 by admin.

My store is all set up at Digital Scrap Garden.  I have 4 paper packs and a freebie back in there for sale.  I’d love for you to stop in and see what I’ve got there and let me know what you think.  and grab the freebie while you’re there.  But don’t stop at just the store.  Check out the gallery and forums.  We’ve got a great bunch of ladies that call the Garden their home and they are incredibly welcoming.  Stop in and say hi.

So do you wanta see a sample of what’s there?

That’s Key West Grunge.  15 papers of soft colors with a grunge feel.  Making papers, to me is a lot of fun.  I discover new things everyday and it’s a great way to pass time when it’s slow at work.  And it’s been really, really slow latetly.  I think that more and more people are finding it harder to put food on the table and that’s a bit more important than paying your car insurance in their eyes. 

We’re finally getting the remnants of Fay here in Ohio.  I think the Cincinnati area’s getting much worse than we are.  I know it really reeked havoc on Florida but we really needed the rain.  The lawns are brown and not growing at all.  My neighbors tomato garden is fried, and I never got any green tomatoes.  I just hope that it’s gone by the weekend.

Joni Gray  has this award for me on her blog today.  Very sweet of her.

Now I need to pass this along to 7 people.  I need to think on this and since the office is about to open, I’ll have my list tomorrow.  This way I can leave comments on everyone’s blog letting them know about this award.  Thanks Joni!!! I can’t leave a comment on your blog until I get home from work tonight.  Hopefully she’ll check back.

Gotta run, I have actual work to do this morning.  Hope you have a great day.  Don’t forget to check out my store.

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments »

26. August 2008 by admin.

I’m feverishly pulling together paper packs for my new store over at Digital Scrap Garden. My store should be set to open Sept. 1st. I hope you’ll stop by to see what goodies I’ve been working on. In the meantime, I’m struggling with a name for one of the sets of papers and thought that maybe you all would like to help me out. Take a look at the papers and then go to this link Digital Scrap Garden and leave me your suggestion for a name for this beast.  The one I choose will get this pack for free and all other suggestions will be put into the random number selector and I’ll give away one additional set.

Thanks for playing along.  I hope that you’ll stop by the Garden to see the amazing other talent that has just joined the Shoppe.  It’s a terrific place to plant your memories.

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments »

24. August 2008 by admin.

How’s that for a title?  Well, you’ll just have to read down to find out the meaning….hehehe.

Never in my life has a shower felt so good.  For those of you who know a little about me, I’m a creature of comfort.  My idea of camping is the travel trailer camper with all the comforts of home; AIR, WATER, and tv…..basic stuff.  So I think that a lot of you were surprised by my declaration of roughing it this weekend.  Well, as always, life is an adventure.

I am a worrier by nature.  I guess you could say I’m a pessimist too.  I’d rather not say, but hey if we can admit our flaws, that’s half the battle.  We load up all our camping gear and the dogs and swing by the campground to pick up a few things we forgot to grab.  Seeing how we’d have to back track to get to the freeway (following the directions given) Shannon decides that we can take the State route in the back way.  It’s pretty straight forward and we’ve driven it before.   The part we hadn’t been on, runs along the Little Miami river valley in Southern Ohio.  Hills and more hills.  Well, trying to get the Bronco up one of those big hills, we blow a transmission seal or line or one of those things you really have to have to make your car go.  Fortunately we don’t realize it until we check in.  The campground we all stayed at was awesome and the people we went with have reserved the same 2 sites for the last 5 years.  The sites are HUGE!  We had 10 tents and 2 vehicles on the one site, along with the fire area and eating area.  The other site was right on the water and that’s where we all parked.  We get unloaded and they start talking about the truck and what’s wrong with it.  I hear transmission and immediately I think Big Bucks.  Nothing that we can do about it until the guys can get under it and look at it in the morning. 

I am probably the worlds lightest sleeper.  I don’t sleep well and the slightest noises can keep me up.  I live with a snorer.  I used to tease my dad that he didn’t really need to worry about his little girl shacking up cuz we didn’t sleep together.  We have separate room and I love that arrangement.  Even at the camper, it’s separate.  Well, the tent is a whole nother story.  After about 3 hours of trying and trying to sleep, I give up and go sleep in the truck.  Not the most comfortable, but awfully quiet.

After about 2 hours of sleep, we’re up and trying to get breakfast started, rafts blown up and the day going.  That’s when I find out it’s not looking good for the truck.  Well, while things like this is what credit cards are for, I’m freaking out cuz I have 2 dogs to get home and we’re almost 100 miles away.  So naturally, because when I get mad or stressed, I cry.  Fortunately, I have a terrific group of friends there and they try to reassure me that things will be ok and not to worry about it.  Just have a good time.  Just have a good time???  How is that possible?  Well, after a little time and a few cigarettes (yes, I stressed out and started back up a LOT this weekend) I figured the hell with it, I’m gonna have a good time.  Now the dogs aren’t supposed to be left unattended at the campsite.  We have our 2 and one of the couples have this huge Bull Mastiff.  Looks mean as hell, but just a gentle giant.  Shannon was gonna stay with the dogs, but last minute they convince him that they’ll be ok as long as they’re on leashes.  So after about a minute of fretting and a few more scrambling to make sure they have food and water, we jump in the river and sail away.  And you know what, for about 3 hours I floated and sailed and paddled and laughed.  I forgot everything that had plagued me.  I think it’s a law or something that you can’t float down a river in the sunlight seeing the woods (and canoes) passing you by and have the weight of the world on your shoulders.  It was truly a beautiful trip.  There were 38 of us total in about 20 small rafts, intertubes and one party raft that holds 8. 

It’s really a small world.  When Barb read my post earlier last week about my river trip, she said that her dd and dh were gonna be on the river too that day.  But they were leaving a little bit earlier than we had planned too.  I knew that even though I’ve seen photos I’d never be able to pick out Andy.  But Shannon, her DD I’ve seen so many beautiful layouts of, I thought I just might recognize her.  So as canoe after canoe passed us by (and it looks like they were all working so hard, paddling all the time) I looked and I looked.  We had stopped on a sand bar to wait for a group of stragglers to catch up.  I’m beached but didn’t get out of my raft.  I look up and say “Shannon” and this little girl looks at me, so I say “Andy” and he says yes.  I get all excited.  I’m like “Wow, tell Barb you saw Diane down at the river.  I know her from the scrapbooking online stuff” and they floated away.  It was sooooo cool.  Even though I don’t know them, I feel that I do from Barbs pages and awesome photos.  So Thanks Barb.  That really made my weekend. 

As we got near the end of the river trip (5 hours and a heck of a sunburn on my legs) I start getting anxious about the dogs.  I’d hate it if they found we’d left them unattended and kicked us out of the campground for it.  But really, I was worried that someone would steal my dogs.  So I jump on the first bus back.  I can hear them as I’m walking back into the site and as I get a bit closer, Carmen comes trotting up to me.  She’s not supposed to be able to do that.  The little Houdini somehow got her collar over her head and was running around free.  Most likely taunting the other 2 dogs with her freedom.  She made up for it by sticking around the area.  Now if it was Jazi, she’d have been off to see the sites and make new friends with the other campers.  The thing that really freaks me out is that without her collar on, no one knows who she is or who she belongs too.  I really do have the best dogs though.

Saturday night I decided why fight it and crawled into the truck to sleep at a decent time instead of waiting til it was to the point of leave or strangle someone. :)  That’s where the cicada lullaby comes in.  At least I think that’s what they were.  There were several different nature sounds going on, but those were the loudest and most common.  It was extremely peaceful and after about an hour, I was out like a light.

Sunday morning was spent trying to break down the campsite and figure out how I was gonna get home.   It seemed like the plans were changing every 10 minutes.  That drives me nuts (and you can see it’s a short trip).  Eventually, we got it straighted out.  One of the people had AAA plus which will tow 100 miles and was headed near our place to drop off his son.  So he brought me and the dogs back while Shannon rode in the  toe truck.  So the moral of this story is  All’s well that ends well.  Well until we find out how much it’s gonna be to fix the transmission that is.  But I’m not gonna worry about that for another day. 

So I’m all unloaded and the food (tons of it left) is put away.  I took a 20 minute shower and washed away layers of dirt.  I was ready to watch the race we taped last night, but I hear snoring always, so I think I’m gonna grab my dogs, curl up in my own bed and take a nap.

 Have a great day!

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments »

20. August 2008 by admin.

We won’t be in Kansas anymore. We’re joining a group of friends from the campground this weekend and going rafting down the Little Miami River. It also means tent camping. None of the comforts of home. No cable, no air, no running water, no bed. What did I get myself into? Actually we did start out tent camping several years ago. I have a very nice Coleman 6 person tent. We did a few primitive camps before Shannon’s dad told him about the places that have electric hookups. After that, we were always at a state park. It was nice in the dog days of summer to have a fan to move air around while trying to sleep at night. And occasionally have a TV to watch at night. But when I bought the camper in 2005, that’s all she wrote for the tent camping. But tonight, after work, we’ll be digging through camping equiptment we haven’t seen in 4 years to see what we have, what we need and then smack us in the head saying, why did we agree to this? Oh yeah, it’s friends and fun and one last bash before the end of summer. We’ll be just fine. I’m sure that it’ll be Shannon bitchin about the heat more than anything. (My main complaint will be his snoring). I haven’t been rafting or tubing in years. I’m hoping for a little bit of rain before Saturday. According to the National Weather Service, parts of the Little Miami river are only at 1.5 feet deep. Somehow I don’t think my butt’s gonna float in 1 1/2 feet of water. lol.

It’s back to school time. Do I hear sighs of relief from all over? Well, count me among the kids cryin that they don’t want to go back. Back to school for me means ignorant bus drivers. Now, I’m by no means saying that all schoolbus drivers are ignorant. Just the ones in my neighborhood. And ignorant may be to strong a word. Annoying is a better word. I just don’t understand how a bus driver, with a bus full of kids can blow a red light? It’s commonplace here. So traffic’s a mess again and I need to remember to leave for work earlier just to avoid them.

Heather’s having a Back to School sale and her entire store is on sale right now for 40% off. She’s released 2 new brushes available for both personal or commercial use. One set is hand drawn wings and the other is a great back to school set. Also keep an eye out for the Sept. CT blog challenge and your chance to win a $10 or even a $20 gift certificate from her store. Ok, Wordpress is being a booger today and won’t let me link normally, so here’s the link to Heather’s store. Go check her out. www.digiscrapping.net/shoppe

Well, it’s time to work. And blog hop where I can. So many are still blocked from being able to leave comments. Rest assured I was there, you just may not know it. Have a great day and watch for another freebie tomorrow.

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments »

20. August 2008 by admin.

You Are an Orange Margarita

At first glance, you are very unique - but deep down you are still quite a traditionalist. A margarita may be “too fancy” for you, but you’ll never turn a free one down.

What Flavor Margarita Are You?

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »