One more day!

Until the grand reopening at DSD!!!! Have you seen the line up of designers? You can see the full list here. Here's my new kit that I'll have available at the store! It's called Willow Avenue. :)
There's going to be a big 20% off sale this weekend and all the designers worked on a gorgeous mega kit that's only $5 or FREE with a $25 purchase!

Here's the freebie I'll be giving out at my chat at Digiscrapdivas! It's at 1 pm EST Sept 1. I'll have a sketch/template to give out and a chance to win my new kit! Hope you'll come hang out with me!

And here's a page I created using the DSD mega kit! :) I've got lots to do before tomorrow, but I'm really excited!

And here's the full schedule of events....

Why I am exhausted...

We went to Dorney Park and Wild Water Kingdom today. I have been up since 7:30 am after 2 nights of hardly sleeping. But it was a great day. Randi made me go on these...

I have not been on a roller coaster in a few years so I was a little chicken.
Taylor on the other hand is not afraid of anything! She wanted to go on the big coasters. We told her she's too little. She said: No I not! I'm a big girl. Too cute. She even told me not to be afraid when I didn't want to go on the Sea Monster, which was more about my stomach not feeling it.

So I'm just beat now. I spent 1 1/2 hours catching up on email. Didn't even hit the message boards. But I need to collapse. Rocky is visiting and I'm going to have to fight him for my bed.

Notice anything?

I was looking in the mirror today and I really noticed a difference. So I put together some photos from the last few months. :)
So I'm now down 30.5! Still got a long way to go but I'm really excited.

I am weird!

I've been tagged by Gina!

List 5 weird things about yourself or your pets. Tag 5 friends and list them. Then, those people need to write on their blogs about 5 weird things, and state the rules, and tag 5 more people. Don't forget to let the people you tag know by posting a comment on their blog!

Hmmm, me weird?

1. I am a picky, picky eater! The only meat I eat is chicken, sometimes turkey. I hate when people try to talk me into trying new foods, especially fish. Gross! I practically eat the same thing everyday - especially since I've been on a diet - and I like that!

2. I love cartoon. I know how old I am. I love to watch the Simpons and Spongebob especailly.

3. At work, I am nuts about allignment. I use Quark guides all over the place to make sure my picas are measured perfectly. If things are not lined up properly in the newspaper - I won't read them. It makes me crazy!

4. While I'm really anal about having some things perfect (see 4) or having my music files and scrapping files in perfect order, I am a SLOB! I have clothes all over the place, dust on everything, piles of books, papers everywhere. And boxes, lots of boxes. I don't have time or the motivation to clean!

5. I talk about soap opera characters like the are real people. Usually with fellow fans.

So why didn't anyone tell me to watch Reality Bites before? Makes me think where the hell was I in the 90s? I think that movie came out when I was a senior in H.S. I just nexflixed it and it was so cool! Man Ethan Hawke was hot! Betty used to play that soundtrack all the time in college, but somehow I just never saw it.

I also just finished reading Running With Scissors by Augusten Burrows. I haven't done much reading since I read 6 books in a row in June. I read It's going to be a movie coming out in the fall too. Talk about dysfunctional families. These people were CRAZY!!! I'd love to see what their scrapbooks would look like LOL!

And I put up some new lists at 10 things :) Come join in the fun!

So did you see who's on the list! The list would be the one everyone's talking about - the creative and editorial boards for Simple Scrapbook's new digital magazine. There are some of my favorite scrappers and designers - including RAKScraps own Shelly Chua and Scrapdish's own Clara Wallace! Woohoo! So excited for all of them!

I got some scrapping done last night and today! :)
I made a sketch template for the last Night Owls chat and it was fun to use - even though it was mine. Everything was already set up so I just added papers, photo and journaling. Isn't Kylie so cute! :) (Credits: Jen Wilson's Bright Spirit, Atomic Cupcake tear action)

I'm about a week behind on Chick's Life pages. This one took me awhile! :) The theme for this one was a place you like to go - and most of you who read this blog should know what a movie junkie I am. The credits are ginormous - you can see here. These are actually all the movies I've seen in the theater this year! I did the math on that - ouch! LOL! At least one was a comp ticket and a few were early shows. From the top, they are: Devil Wears Prada, Brokeback Mountain, Scoop (which I just realized is on there twice LOL), Inconvient Truth, XMen III, Capote, Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe, The Producers, Ice Age: Meltdown, Failure to Launch, Parate 2, Scoop again, Nacho Libre, Superman Returns, Match Point, Da Vinci Code, Munich, Little Miss Sunshine, Lady in the Water, Memoirs of a Geisha, The Breakup.

Enough secrets!!!! :)

Ok, I know I had a little secret about DSD. But I didn't go around hinting and teasing people - and I don't think people care that much LOL! But in the course of reading a few blogs and messages boards in the last half hour - these secrets are every where! It makes me nuts because 1. I like gossip and 2. I am nosey!

Why not just suprise everyone instead of teasing and torturing us! LOL! I know some who are being sneaky, one of my favorite designers has something up her sleeve and then there are all these "mysterious" sites popping up that people are teasing about with banners and blogs and blinkies. It's just plain mean!!! :P

Blogger must have heard me muttering and cursing under my breath because I finally got some photos to post! Ugh, I don't want to convert! I like this. It's easy. It's free. But it's really getting on my nerves!!!! Ok, rant over.

Here's what I really have been dying to talk about! We threw a shower at work today for my friend Betsy (who's also a digiscrapper) and she was really surprised! We were so excited. She's the first woman in our department to have a baby in 20 years . Isn't that nuts. Working nights isn't really ideal for moms I guess. So I made Betsy these frames and I was really happy with how they came out. She doesn't know what she's having so I went with green and yellow!

It was so much fun to make these! I got the idea from Krista Mettler, who did a cool altered frame awhile ago and I wanted to try something. So I painted canvas frames with acrylic paint. Then I had to rip the backs off the little buttons with pliers (didn't realize they were brads!) and then glued those, the words and little charms on with crazy glue, which I also got all over me. It was so much fun to paint and to shop for this stuff! I can't imaging paper scrapping - but I do like being crafty! And the best part is that she liked them and, her dh, who we had invited, gave an "awwwwww." That really made it all worth it! :)

And check out our "cake" - made by my friend Toni. It was really so much fun. Even the guys had a great time since we got to take a break from work for about an hour and hang out in the conference room.

So busy!

I am so busy lately! Everyone keeps asking me how I do it - and I can tell you I have no idea! LOL! But I do I keep a very long list of things to do and get to things when I can! I make sure to put some things on my list that are fun too! I wanted to get some scrapping done and use my new kit, Dani's Shabby Rose kit and join in the scraplift challenge at SBB - because Tania's in the hotseat!!! I have so many photos of my nieces lately to catch up on. So here are some LOs I got done yesterday....

Here's a page using my Loca papers and elements at SBB! Taylor found this little kazoo and was calling it her whistle.

Here's my scraplift of Tania's Precious Babe LO. I just love her scrapping style and it was hard to pick just one! I used lots of stuff on this one: Carrie Stephens' Snuggles and Sunshine kit from Fishscraps; Katie Pertiet's On the Edge Brushes from Designer Digitals; tear action by Atomic Cupcake; and Amber Clegg's Mismatched Type keys from the Digi Chick

Here's the princess dress I got for Taylor! I used Dani B's Shabby Rose (Blue Collection) from SBB. This kit is so pretty - and you can get it in pink too. :)

So I am getting really excited that new fall season is almost here. I can't wait for Grey's. Check out what a dork I am...

Kylie's visiting so I'm off to go play with her for awhile before I need to head for work. :) Happy Saturday!

Hey that's me!!!

Guess who's going to be a new designer at DigiScrapDivas!!!


Wait to you see who else is lined up! :) It's a great group and I'm really excited!
There's going to be a grand opening on Sept. 1 with a whole day of chats and fun starting at 9 a.m. I'll be hosting a chat too, and I'll have more details soon. Mark your calendars!

AmyK ROCKS!!!!!!!!!

Amy Knepper is one of the coolest people I have met in digiscrapping! I just love her like she's a long lost sister. She rocks for so many reasons - she can play guitar being one! And because she's a FAB designer. Now she's going to be at The Digi Chick, too! How cool is that! You have to check out her new kit Young and Carefree!

Here's a page I did with it!

New stuff and HUGE Sale!

How you like my new Loca papers and elements at SBB! I just can't get enough of blue and orange, if you can tell by my kits. And I had a lot of fun creating these elements too!



And don't forget Scrapdish is having a HUGE clearance sale through Labor Day! Kits are as much as 67% off! These kits are being retired so get them while you can - and that includes some of the Day Old Donuts! I will be retiring My Mom, Stars and Stripes, Let's Play, Being Green, Rusty Red and more!

And.... you can now get the RAKScraps August Mega Kit on CD at Scrapdish!
It's available with or without the Admin Add On. :) All sales help support RAKScraps!

Little Miss Sunshine

Randi and I went to see Little Miss Sunshine this weekend. It was such a riot. And it had two of my favorite people, Steve Carrell and Toni Collette. The whole cast was just brilliant and the story was crazy. And you've gotta love the big number at the end. I was singing Super Freak all the way home and just laughing my butt off. But on top of being hilarious, it's a great story about family, disfunction and just being yourself.

As I was looking up the movie, I found this other Little Miss Sunshine.

Anyone else remember these books? I used to have so many of the Little Miss and Mr Men books. :)

August's RAK File!

Check out the latest RAK File!!!! Correen and Co. did another amazing job! And you gotta check out Melinda's tutorial on making pinwheels!

Check out what my team's been up too!

The ladies of my CT are already ROCKIN' the galleries with pages! I have been just blow away!!!

Krista used Naturally Shabby Papers and Elements at SBB. (Full credits)

Nancy used The Chase Papers and Elements at SBB. (Full credits)

Emily used The Chase Papers and Elements at SBB. (Full credits)

Kelly used Hola Papers and Elements at SBB. (Full credits)

Joni used Flair Papers and Elements at Scrapdish. (Full credits)

And these are only just some! I'll have more to share later! :) I am AMAZED!!!

New buzzword - hee!

fauxtography
The staging, tampering, directing, Photoshopping, etc., of news photographs. They may look like news, but they're not. Several major news organizations have been burned lately by war zone photographers eager to make a name for themselves -- or at least a few bucks.

Some more pages and some new stuff!

Thanks so much everyone for your encouraging comments on my last post! :) I got two more layouts done! It feels so good to scrap.
Did this one for last week's Chick Life Challenge. The theme was your spot - and well I don't have much space here at all! I'm also a slob as you can tell from the photo! (Credits: Jackie Eckles' Moments kit from Designer Digitals, Meredith Fenwick's Brown Bag Glitter Alphas from SBB) I can't say enough about how much I love this workshop and Michelle Adams! It's really challenged me to journal and scrap for myself more than I ever have!

And I got this page done during the night owls chat! Melinda challenged us to use something that's been sitting around. I've actually had this page in my head for awhile, so Melinda just motivated me to do it! (Credits: Michelle Underwood's Tropical Funk)

So on to some new stuff! You Rock is now available at SBB.

And check out what's up early at Scrapdish ... It's the August Mega Kit Add On! Perfect for back to school and fall! :)

Catching my breath

I feel so swamped lately. My to do list is growing by the day and never getting any shorter! Well I decided to catch up on my Chick's Life pages last night and just do a little scrapping for me. :)

See long list of credits here.

I really did have an awesome time in July! Especially after that funk I was in during June. Got to meet some friends, hang out at the beach, swim, play with my nieces, see lots of movies, go to the zoo. And yes if you're reading that list, I have lost 20 pounds - actually now I'm down 25. I haven't blogged much about my diet because I don't want to jinx things because I really do have a long way to go. But I am really proud of myself. I really think changing my eating habits has played a big part in my improved mood too. I feel better and I have a lot more energy. :)

The girls are still here today so I'm going back downstairs to play! Hope you're having a great weekend.

Woohoo!

My computer is back and running! I took it to the Geek Squad at Best Buy and they were able to fix it right away! The door to the cd drive was prettty much shot, so they put in a new one and I was out of there in a flash! I also asked what was wrong with the sound. Well it seems my old speakers are not compatible with this computer so I picked up a new set and I'll be listening to music with out my headphones! :)

I spent the morning swimming with my nieces so I got nothing done all day and now I need to head to work!

My creative team ROCKS!

Here they are!!! I am so excited to be working with these amazing gals - Amy, Emily, Jadelyn, Joni, Kelly, Krista, Melinda, Nancy, Shawna, Stacey and Stephanie! Some are old friends, some I'm just meeting! Some are on a few teams, and for some this is their first one! And they're all ready at work so I'll have some pages to show off soon!

To celebrate my new team, here's a coupon for 25% percent off in my SBB store: rockin (good thru 8.31)

I am going to cry!

I am such a dumb clutz! Look what I just did to my computer. I walked right into the CD drive, which was open because a cd was done, and now it's off the track and making a scary noise. So tomorrow I'm going to have to take it to get fixed. UGH!!! On the one hand - I do have that other computer on the left there. But it is slooooooooooow! Wah!!!!!

Happy Birthday Jeanine!!!

Today is my good friend Jeanine's birthday! You can join in the party at RAKScraps and send Jeanine some good wishes. Jeanine was one of the first people I met in digiscrapping, one of the first designers who's stuff I needed to have, and one of the reasons I started hanging out at RAKScraps. I am amazed at her strength, and inspired by her. And she is really a big sweetheart! I just don't know how to say it all - but I am luck to have her as a friend! :)

(Credits for the card go to one of my other amazing friends Correen Silke, who created Flowers for Jeanine at SBB.)

So excited and so tired

Well I'm really excited about my new team. You'll have to wait until Friday to find out who they are. Can I just say that picking a team is one of the hardest things I've done in ages! Seriously, I got about 37 applications. I am floored by that and they are all AMAZING scrappers! I wish I could pick them all - and I really feel like a mean and horrible person for not taking in everyone because that's the kind of person I am. I will be beating myself up about this for awhile. But the gals I did pick are really awesome too and I am so glad to be able to work with them. I think they are a good mix of people, styles, etc. :)


So aside from this being draining, I was up super early today because we took Taylor to the Bronx Zoo. I didn't realize it was free admission day, which is good because it was free, but bad because the place was clausterphobic! There was no room to move and there were lots of school groups. And boys who are playing around on their field trips don't seem to notice or care that they are blocking the view or crushing a three year old girl! Seriously! I wanted to yell at some of these kits. Taylor was looking at the wild dogs and standing about a foot away from me, and somehow a pack of boys squeezed in there and she was up against the glass, and I am just so glad she was really good and didn't have fits or anything. We bought her a little stuffed toy dog, a lion puzzle and a little giraffe for Kylie, because their aunts like to spoil them. I didn't get to see as much as I did on my trip last month with the Staleys. And my photos are awful!!!
But we did see the gorillas and they were super active and we went on the monorail, which I haven't been on since I was a kid.

OK I was going to upload some photos but now photoshop is giving me trouble and not starting! UGH! First blogger and now this! I am tired so I'm off to bed!

Taking a break...

I'm taking a break now from going through CT applications! I am so amazed by all the talented people who applied. This is soooooo hard! There were more than 30 and I need to narrow it down to 10. And with a weird work schedule this week (working tonight, off Wednesday) it's going to take me a few days. So if you are waiting to hear... please hang in there!

I wanted to upload some photos from this weekend - my brother had a bbq and we took Rocky to the park... but blogger is being evil! I have never had probs, only heard about other people having problems, but in the last week or so - seems to be my turn. UGH!

Gallery Contest Winner!!!!

I picked a random number and counted down in my gallery and here's where I landed...
Congrats to Jan (godblessamerica)!!!! She used my Naturally Shabby Papers and Elements for this LO. And she gets a $10 coupon. Thanks to everyone who posted LOs!!!!

SBB store blog!!!

SBB now has a designers' blog! Be sure to bookmark or add to blogslines for news on sales and new releases!

Speaking of new releases, check out these super cool papers Jeanine's just added! Love them!!!!

Gallery Mixer

Don't forget the RAKScraps Gallery Mixer is at 9:30 pm E Friday! Join in the Treasure Hunt to win prizes!!!! Here's a sneak peak at the freebie... 4 quick pages from our Wild Child Kit! If you like these, there's even more great stuff in the kit!

And dont' forget my sale at SBB!

Some summery pages

Did this one for a Scrapartist Anniversary challenge. And I finally go to use Beachy Keen by Jeanine, Correen, Rachel and me at Scrapdish.

Did this one for the Chick's Life. The theme for this one was something that reminds you of summer - and I am a big fan of Bruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuce. Love to crank it up in the summer. Used Kim Christensen's Starry Eyes from her RAD collection and Dani B's House Alphas.

We have a winner!

Well actually two! Since there were two people who guessed correctly they'll both get my Chase kit!

So I had a lot of great guesses - and some of you know what some of my other favorite shows are - and some where shows I've never seen. Some of these guesses were: The Simpons, All My Children, Dukes of Hazzard, The OC, House, The Amazing Race, Prison Break.


But the right answer was....

Entourage is one of my favorite shows. I discovered in June - thanks to HBO on demand and nextflix - and now the new season has started! The main character is Vincent CHASE! And he's a movie star. And it's all about guys. And I got the ideas for the patterns from men's clothes. So there you have it - the inspiration!

Oh yeah and the winners. :) They are Audra (audimc) and Valerie (mcmartian). Thanks to everyone who played! And for all of you who are stopping by or who joined in the fun here's a coupon for 25% off my Chase papers: vincentchase . The coupon is good through Aug 3. :)

Greetings from Hawaii!

Mom just got home from Hawaii today. She said they have sea turtles everywhere - I wish I could have seen that. Turtles are my favorite! :) She's got tons of goodies and presents that I'll have to take some pictures of. She even got Taylor a hula skirt! She had a great time, but she looks a little beat from the long plane ride and the stomach bug she got. Poor mom! But at least she got to go. She's wanted to since she was in kindergarden - which was the year Hawaii became a state.

I have been super busy working on some kits and other things. The CT applications are just amazing!!! I can't believe the response so far. It is going to be soooooooooo hard to pick. I can't believe there has even been some talk in the DST forum. People cheering others on to apply. It's so funny. Today is the last day for the Chase contest too. You can see the details below. :)

I spent most of the weekend with Randi. We did some shopping and went to see Scoop last night. It was cute and funny. We are big Woody Allen fans.

Well I gotta get ready for work now!