As seen on the interwebs...

I'm not usually the type to forward emails or repost memes on my Facebook, but I came across a few this week that cracked me up! I think these will go in my Smashbook.

Keep Calm: I've seen so many variations on this, but I like this one since St. Patrick's Day is coming up. My other faves are Keep Calm Because I'm Chuck Bass and Keep Calm and Push 4 8 15 16 23 42.

What People Think: This one cracked me up, too. There are shout outs to the Jersey Devil and one of my favorite album covers and to the sad portrayal of my awesome state by crazy reality show people. (Don't get me started on the new Jersey Shore spin off they're going to be filming pretty close to here in Jersey City.) Yeah we have some ugly highways but so does every other state I've been, too. (Yeah, I'm talking about you Connecticut!) There really are lots of beautiful places. And I include the skyline view we have from here among them.

Hey girl: The Ryan Gossling "Hey Girl" images kill me! And this one is probably my favorite. I'm glad to know that when I go to Michael's with Melissa, Patti and Tina, Ryan's got our back!

December Daily

My December Daily book is finally done - and it's only February! I had most of it done last month, but I had to order another print, which I had forgotten to upload to Persnickety Prints.  My album is by American Crafts and I got three kinds of page protectors from We R Memory Keepers. I did all of the pages digi and then added embellies to some of them. I don't have entries for every day, but some days have multiple pages. I really love how it turned out!  

Here's the album cover ....

This is my intro page....

I wanted to remember my guest gig as a Pollywog at the Lily Pad in December so I printed some wallet-sized versions of my pages and made an ATC featuring TLP's frog Barth ...

Here are some of the pages... A visit with Derek...

My shopping list...

One of my first projects at work...

A tribute to Prep & Landing....

I also had these 3-pocket pages. These pages are all about my Christmas cups, but most of the other smaller pages were about different days...

Another pocket page featuring our new Christmas ornaments...

 I scrapped a lot of the multi-photo events collage style...

I saw this Kermit in Michelle Godin's December album and tracked it down for my Muppets page!

I included a leftover Christmas card on this page about cards...

And some fun times with the kids...

I pointed out to the ladies at the crop the other day that this was my third December only project! I seem to do them every other year. Can't help it because I love Christmas! 

Beating the blues

I am having a pity party kind of week. Don't know what's got me so down exactly but I saw this on Pinterest the other day and it just made me giggle.

Didn't that make you laugh? I need to print this out - or make my own version - to look at when I'm feeling sorry for myself.

Yawn!!!!

I'm sitting here trying to scrap, waiting for Top Chef to come on, but I don't know if that's going to happen! After a few months of a mixed schedule, I'm finally back to working days. It goes against my night owl nature and I'm so tired and confused! I'm sure I'll get used to it in a few weeks. And it really is better than working until 11 p.m. and then having to be back at work at 10 a.m. the next day.  

So I figured I'd blog a bit to try to keep me from passing out on the couch. Here's a new "lately" list!

Learning: I'm trying to figure out InDesign and have been watching lots of good tutorials at Adobe.com. Thinking about getting InDesign for Dummies on my Nook.

Trying: To save money! I changed my paypal password to something that's not so easy to remember so that I don't buy any digi kits for awhile. I've been taking lunch to work everyday - I just need to do a better job about cooking dinner. Also, I hid my Nook.

Reading: Still working on Inheritance by Christopher Paolini. That's my upstairs book. The Scottish Prisoner by Diana Gabaldon is my downstairs/lunchtime read. I'm trying to take a break from my Nook because I've spent too much money plowing through half of the Stephanie Plum books in just a few weeks!

Eating: My favorite thing lately is fruit in my salad. I used to think the whole idea was gross. But first I tried apples and craisins with a raspberry vinagrette. This week, I tried pears and grapes. Good stuff!

Also, Nutella. Yum!

Drinking: Black coffee. I ran out of milk one day and realized I like my coffee black, once it cools down a bit. I'm down to just one cup a day - and I think that's been good for me. I haven't had insomnia lately.

Listening: Hunger Games trilogy (again), iPod on shuffle every morning to get me motivated.

Watching: Lately, I love New Girl, Happy Endings, cooking competitions, Shameless. I'm getting ready to give up on The Office, the U.S. Being Human, Ringer. So glad 30 Rock is back. Now, I just need Community! I am sad that Downton Abbey's season just ended, but excited to hear Doctor Who is in production! 

Obsessing: Trying to get three stars on every level in Angry Birds Seasons. Stupid pigs!

Pinning: Is it me or is everyone on Pinterest now? I hope all these new followers of mine like my quirky Doctor Who posts! I decided to use Pinterest to help inspire me at work, too, so I've started boards for news design, type and infographics.

Rooting for: Paul on Top Chef; The Artist for Best Picture; George Takei on Celebrity Apprentice.

Scrapping: Here are a few more recent pages that I haven't shared yet!

I really like this page! I love circles - but never remember to used them! I also got to use blending, stamping and an owl on here - lots of my favorite things on one page! The pictures are from Smorgasburg last summer where we had lots of tasty things to eat. Credits: Dani Mogstad's Snap Happy from Sweet Shoppe; Amy Martin's Betwined from The Lily Pad; CD Muckosky's Hippety Hop alpha from The Lily Pad

This was a page on my to-do list for ages. I wanted to scrap this photo of me and mom and remind myself that I am lucky to have her in my life. I might complain about living with her, but she really does so much for me - and Penny, too! Credits: Emily Merritt's and Valorie Wibbens' Lucky Me from The Lily Pad; Amy Martin's Feb 2011 challenge template from The Lily Pad

And this little cutie is my SIL's nephew. I did an 8x10 version of this page for my December Daily album and resized it so I can eventually give Vez a copy, too. Credits: Kitschy Christmas by Rachel Young, Christina Kirk and and Jacque Larsen from Lily Pad.

Grandma's Party

I finally finished my pages for Grandma's birthday album at the crop this weekend and ordered the prints from Persnickety. My friend Melissa is being featured in an article about creative things women do when they get together and needed some photos of us (which I'm stealing from her FB)! The theme of this crop was a pajama party - which made scrapping very comfy. We don't normally dress like this when we get together.

I've been working on this book all month using the February BOYC from Lily Pad and I've shared a few pages in past posts. Here are the rest. My fave is probably the page featuring Diane's jump into the pool.

I'm going to put all of the pages - and a copy of the page I made and framed for Grandma featuring lots of photos in the shape of an 80 - in an 8x8 SEI album and then I'll decorate the cover. I wasn't planning on doing a whole album, but I was inspired by the kit and there were just lots of great moments from the party I wanted to remember! It feels great getting another project done!

Rhyme & Reason

My good friend Kim Jensen had done it again! Check out here new kit, Rhyme and Reason, now at the Lily Pad. I love the colors in this kit. Sometimes, I get a kit and just want to look at it up close  - and that's what I did with that ribbon frame. 

Here are some pages I did with it!

 My nieces and nephew came over on Super Bowl Sunday before the game. While mom helped Derek defend the universe from Darth Penny, I helped Taylor and Kylie with their crafty projects. Tay worked on an American Girl mirror that I had gotten her for her bday and Kylie drew pictures and wrote a little story. So cute!!!! Credits: Kim Jensen's Rhyme and Reason and Pinned Purple Dates from Lily Pad; Kim's Chalked Alpha; Amy Martin's Tiny Alpha White from The Lily Pad; Heather Hess's The Dry Ribbon font from The Lily Pad

And I did a page about my nook because I love it! Credits:  Kim Jensen's Rhyme and Reason; Karah Fredricks' Heartbreaker; Heather Hess's The Dry Ribbon font; CD Mucksosky's Teeny Type Too - all  from The Lily Pad 

Scrapbook Roundup

I've been slacking on sharing my pages! I have been a scrapping fool this year!

 My nieces playing soccer! Credits: Misty Cato's Side by Side Soccer template from Sweet Shoppe; Michelle Godin's Varsity Chip alpha; Gina Miller's Soccer Buddy from Lily Pad; Kate Hadfield's Beautiful Game from Lily Pad; Various papers by Amy Wolff, Lauren Grier, Jennifer Barrette, Amanda Rockwell, Ashley Olson, Amy Martin, Aja Abney

 Some more pages from Grandma's Party. The little guys playing on the swings. My cousin's son Morgan is a year older than Derek - so that can give you an idea of how big my nephew is! Credits: Amy Wolff's Seasons of Love Papers, Skitchy Sketch Alpha 3; Kim Jensen's Bloomin Sweet; Jenna Desai's Scrap Essentials No. 4; Amber Clegg's Lovin' Life Trims all from the Lily Pad. Template from Studio Sahlin's blog.

 The kids spent most of the party in the pool. Credits: Amber Clegg's Glitter Sparkle Alpha and Lovin Life Trims from the Lily Pad; Gina Miller's Whimsy Love Papers and Flowers from the Lily Pad; Jenna Desai's Scrap Essentials No. 4 from the Lily Pad; Janet Phillips' 2 Page 2 Pack No. 6

 Here is Penny with her "DFF" Misty! Credits; Emily Merritt and Laura Banasaik's XOXO from Lily Pad; Amy Martin's January 2012 challenge template from Lily Pad

My pups love the pillows on our couches. Credits: Emily Merritt and Jacque Larsen's Pillow Pets from Lily pad; CD Muckosky's Splattered Alpha from Lily Pad 

 Here's another Penny page! Emily's kits lately are just so cute and make me want to scrap my pug! Credits: Emily Merritt's Unbearably Cute from Lily Pad; Micheline Martin's Don't Be Square alpha from Lily Pad; Amber Clegg's These Moments button stitches from Lily Pad

 I finally scrapped this photo from Becky's visit a few years ago! I chopped up the photo so that I don't look so short next to Krista! Credits: Amy Wolff's 11 a.m. papers and 11:30 elements, Autumn Artistry frames from The Lily Pad; Amber Clegg's Date Stamps from Lily Pad; Sugar Cookies for Kids 2011 template from Sweet Shope

And I scrapped some of my Instagram photos to test a template that my friend Holly made. I used Lauren Grier's Photo Op kit.

My super cool nails!

I love painting  my nails and after years of practice, I can paint them without getting polish all over myself. Seriously, that skill took me years! So no, I didn't learn how to make funky patterns. I bought some Jamberry Nail Wraps from my friend Holly, who is a consultant, and I love, love, love how easy it was to get this cool look.

All you need is a few nail tools and a blow dryer. It took me about a half hour. (I admit I used some of my scrapping tools - scissors and a Basic Grey file because they were already on the table!) Because I have little hands and short nails I cut the row of wraps in half - so I'll get even more use out of the sheets. The whole process took me about a half hour. I think I'm going to order some more very soon. There are some cool St. Patrick's Day designs calling my name!