Super Saturday and a Rectangle Template

Phew, what a week! Thursday I was swamped but managed to finish off another template, and friday was a mess! LOL! One of my bosses wants me to take on some of the more administrative details of a bridge replacement project, which is great because it means learning new things. The only problem is that I'll probably spend the whole thing not knowing wtf I'm doing! LOL I'm currently writing an alternate study for the county. It's not difficult per se, it's just WAY annoying. Give me a program and a pain in the butt project over writing reports ANY day, lol.

Anyway, Beth was kind enough to email me with a LO she did using my template #3 and it's fantastic! Thanks so much for letting me share it Beth!


Amy has used my template #2 (slightly altered) to create a wonderful lo. As soon as she gives me the ok I'll post it right here!:o)

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand here's the rectangle template that I used for the LO I shared on wednesday! I hope you like it. I really enjoyed making it and I might even start digi-scrappin this size just so I can print my own. We'll see :o)



You know the deal. Give me credit, no direct links, etc etc. It's all in the TOU :o)

I'm off to paper scrap for a while. I've got some projects I really need to knock out, and some cards to make for friends. Check back on monday for a new 12x12 template!

*Hugs*
~Col

Yay!

Thanks to my super stealth, I managed to recreate this guy SUPER fast!




I used Tao Cosgrove's "Earthen Vessel" kit, and the flowers are from Syndee Nuckles' "A Collage Unleashed", kit, both available at Scrap Girls (who is having a sale right now btw). The embossed effect on the bottom page is thanks to Kim B's "Sweet Belle" overlays

As I said before, I'll post the template freebie that this LO was based on tomorrow. :o)

Good Ole Hump Day!

Not so good right now, LOL! Photshop just crashed and I had a beautiful glorious LO to show you! :o( So sad. It was so cute and I played with new things I'd learned and everything. I'll try and do it again this afternoon. We'll see. It's based off an 8.5x11 template I created. I've never scrapped that size before, but it's not too bad. I like the page composition of it so it works. I might start scrapping that size more (digitally) just so I can print them myself instead of sending away for them. The Epson Stylus Photo R1800 will not be in my possession for a long time. I think I'd rather get a digital SLR first anyway.

Not too much going on in this lil part of the world. We figured out why the house smelled so bad despite lighting candles and giving Tiger a bath. Our idiot roommate downstairs left CRABS somewhere. Ugh. On monday the smell was so bad I couldn't stand to be in my own bedroom for more than a minute! Thankfully that's over with. And only 29 more days left to live with him. ::sigh:: Lol.

Summer tv stinks. That's my only other rant for right now. I've got "The Closer" on monday nights, but that's about it! OH! I forgot that tonight is So You Think You Can Dance. I have so much fun watching that show! Oh yay, that makes me happier, lol.

Ok gotta do more work. Then hopefully I can recreate my masterpiece, lol. I'll put a template up tomorrow probably, so stay tuned!

Mindless Monday

Man, I didn't even do that much this weekend it seems like, yet I'm exhausted today! I did do a lot, I just didn't do a lot of what I wanted to do. I think that's why it seems like I didn't do anything, lol.

Friday night I managed to finish this super cute project to bring to work. I used Cosmo Crickets Lacings Cards and their Halfway Cafe line of paper to create it. It's currently sitting atop my computer tower looking oh so pretty. Here's a few quick (tiny) shots (no time to resize, sorry! LOL)!

"Front"



"Back"



Saturday was a beautiful day. I got up early and stopped at Dunkin Donuts, then went up to a friends house wtih goodies to see how she was doing. She was doing wonderfully and I was so happy she was so soon after her surgery. We talked and inevitably lost track of time and I was late to help load the van for the off site for the shelter. But Bonnie said everything was a mess anyway so it didn't much matter, lol. We spent 3 hours at Thompson Automotive in Dundalk and had 8 dogs and a bunch of kittens ready to go home for adoption. We raise a bunch of money and got 4 dogs new homes! So exciting. I snapped a few quick shots of some of the charges for the day.

The kittens

This cute lil guy is Walker and he had a home before we even got the van fully unloaded!!

This is Bear. He's an Australian Cattledog and a total lover. Unfortunately his breed, personality, and energy level are going to make it really hard to place him. His breed either needs acres of land to run on, or animals to herd, or another job that he can do, otherwise he will most likely lose his mind. It's sad, but it's a fact of life. I've got my fingers crossed for him though.

And this lil lady is Snow White. She found herself a home as well!

I also had the same charge as last weekend, Crimson. I brought along Tiger's prong collar to see how she responded to it, and it was amazing. She did just what Tiger did; turned into a completely different animal when the collar was on! Hopefully I can get up there next week and work on walking with her. I'd love to continue training her with the prong, I think it'll really up her chances at adoption.

I went home and absolutely passed out, lol. I was exhausted!! That night I lounged around with Jman and watched a whole bunch of "West Wing" episodes (he loves it and has me addicted too) from the box set he bought recently. I passed out pretty early, or at least I must have cuz I was up at 6am on sunday morning! LOL! I rolled over a few times, but once it was about 8 I just couldn't do it anymore. We turned on the tv and snuggled in bed for a while. A friend who is moving into our place after we move into our new house was coming by with movers to load some of her furniture downstairs. So I decided to start packing up the dining room. Jordan had brought 5 boxes home on saturday (like Xerox box sized) so I started wtih those. Well I have lots of pretty and breakable things on the bookshelf in there, so he went and got more boxes and some bubble wrap (amongst much anger at the price of bubble wrap). 4 hours later, the whole dining room was packed, the bookshelf was disassembled, and all hanging artwork was down from the walls and stacked against a wall.

Then my dear dear bf commented on how miserable it would be packing all my craft stuff up. So I started in on that stuff too! 6 boxes of craft stuff later, I predict another 4 will be needed. I think it's a sign I need to use more and purchase less, lol. Not that I let that stop me! Heaven's no!! Hahahaha.

I have several altered projects for friends that somehow made it onto the back burner recently. So I must must must finish those soon and send them out. Then I need to reorganize my craft desk. I failed to mention that the catalyst (aside from said dear BF) for apcking the craft stuff occurred when my entire top shelf toppled over and fell behind the dresser. Paper and stickers and rubons EVERYWHERE!! Naturally the craft desk stuff was thrown askew, so that's a mission for this evening.

Alright, that's probably enough rambling for today. If you've made it this far congrats! And your prize? Another freebie template!! I changed this one up a bit from a LO I saw in the most recent Memory Makers magazine. I can't wait to create something with it myself! Perhaps tonight.....

You know the deal. No direct links, give credit, etc etc etc.
I hope you all have wonderful days and evenings (whichever is pertinent to you!).

PS~I'm working up some 8.5 x 11 templates, so keep coming back throughout the week!

WOW! I feel truly truly blessed

First off, I need to thank Leslie H for putting a link to my blog on her page yesterday. And I was also lucky enough to be picked by Ikea Goddess and linked on her page!!

Secondly, I want to thank all of you lovely souls who commented me, either on my blog or on the 4shared sites for the freebies. I am totally overwhelmed by the response that I got!! Template #2 has over 300 downloads!! I am really really shocked and surprised, and just feel blessed that ppl like my stuff!

I do want to address one thing that "Grambie" brought up. She decided not to DL my templates because she prefers to scrap in sizes that are easily printable at home (ie - fits on an 8.5" x 11" piece of paper). Well, I'm all about expanding my horizons Grambie!! I'm going to make a point of creating the same templates in different sizes, and offering them all up. Well I hope to anyway! LOL! While I am primarily a 12" x 12" scrapper, I know there are tons of others who scrap in different sizes.

So. Tell me what you want! 8.5" x 11"? 8" x8"? 11" x 8.5"? Leave me a comment and lemme know what you're looking for. I would love to accomodate as many ppl as I can.

I have 2 more templates complete (12" x12"), but if the response continues like this I think I'm going to have to pace myself! LOL! I can't make a template a day, hahaha. So no freebie today I don't think. Sorry! But hopefully I can make some other sizes of the 2 templates I've already posted, as well as the other 2 I've already finished.

I really need to get a scrapping program at home to work with over the weekend. I'm gonna have to look into that. Any ideas anyone?? Lemme know!

And don't forget, if you create with a template of mine, send me a link! Either email me, or post a link in my comments. I love love love seeing other peoples work!!

Template #2!

Whoohoo! I made another template freebie and got it uploaded. I'll post it at the end (I'm so mean for making you read aren't I :oP)

I'm feeling much better about myself today. I went home and did pilates last night, and had a small dinner and managed not to eat any chips, lol. Which is a pretty big accomplishment. I feel really good today, so that's great motivation to keep doing the pilates. My muscles are already sore in good (ie: problem) places, lol. Tonight is a bowflex night. Amy mentioned grilled cheese and now I really want some! Lol. So dinner might be grilled cheese and tomato soup (who cares if it's JUNE!). The BF isn't home, so I can do whatever I want. Hopefully I can finish a project I started this weekend. Add some style to this cubicle!

In other news, my friend is sick and I'm worried about her. She doesn't lean on very many ppl, but I hope she leans on me when she needs to. All I can hope for is that she knows and understand that when I SAY I'm there any time, day or night, that I MEAN it. I've got my fingers crossed for her for whatever happens next.

Well I think I've rambled enough. :o) Hopefully I can get a few more templates done soon. I'm just excited to get these first two up and posted!

Enjoy!
(You know the deal, no direct links, no reselling, give me credit, etc etc etc)

Well that was easy

I figured out how to zip stuff up, and I got it uploaded to 4 shared. So here is my first ever freebie, a template! Click on the picture and a new window to the 4shared page should pop up. I'll work on bigger previews for the next template :o)






You know the deal. No direct links, send ppl to my blog, no commercial use, etc etc etc. It's all in there.

If you use it, send me a link!

Not the best of days

Not the worst of days either. I'm just feeling very blah today. Pretty much everything in my life has been great and I've been so happy lately. I hate feeling down. But at least I can do something about it.

I'm down cuz when I went to get dressed this morning (in something other than just my jeans since I had a seminar to go to for work) my pants didn't fit. Like 2 months ago they fit awesome. Not a great start to the day.

So I went and got subway for lunch with apple slices instead of chips. And while I was in Walmart (where the Subway is) I got some healthier snacks. Still chips, but fewer calories per servings, etc. I gotta have that crunch. Tomorrow I'll go to the grocery store and get some apples and bananas, and milk and cereal to eat for breakfast. And I got on Ebay and bought "The Firm" workout system. Char swears by it, and I'm gonna give it a shot. I'm going to start walking/jogging Tiger on monday and friday mornings, since I can go to work later on those days. Wednesdays I'll do the firm (for now, I might like it a lot and want to do it more), and tuesday/thursday/saturday will be Bowflex days. I did alright in the beginning of the year but I fell way off the workout wagon. I'm so disgusted with myself today, that might be the motivation I need to lose a few (ok like 20) pounds.

In other, happier news. I'm almost ready to post my very first freebie. It's a template, and they are easier to make, but it's still exciting for me. Hopefully someone will care and like it ;o) Now I just need to figure out how to zip it up, and then get it up on 4shared and I'll be all set!

I'm so not in the mood to go play poker tonight....

Yikes I'm so behind!

Wow I really fell off the wagon there for a few days. Thursday was super busy at work, friday was a half day, and the weekend was, well, the weekend! And yesterday was a half day too. The new hours will take some getting used to, that's for sure. I don't like this early morning nonsense! Lol!

So Kim B. "tagged" me. That means I have to tell you 7 things you didn't know about me, and then tag 7 other ppl. Which is next to impossible, lol. So I'm just gonna tell you 7 things you didn't know about me, and hope that's good enough! I'm including pictures, cuz I can. But I'm too lazy to resize this morning. So enjoy my giant face plastered on your screen ;o)

1.) I'm an '05 Penn State graduate with a BS (which still makes me giggle) in Civil Engineering, and sometimes I still wish I was in college cuz I miss Penn State THAT much.
Me at the Nittany Lion Shrine

Old Main (I love this shot)

2.) Depending on my mood I'm either a big softy, or stubborn as a mule.

3.) I love brocoli and cauliflower, and hate carrots and peas.

4.) I'm an avid reader thanks to my parents. I hope to pass my love on to my kids as well.

5.) I'm head over heels in love with my BF (and soon to be finacee once he finishes his big proposal surprise trip), and thoroughly believe I'm the luckiest girl alive.


6.) I used to drink coffee like it was going out of style, but now can't. Unless it's iced and from Dunkin Donuts and has carmel :oP

7.) I constantly worry that I don't do my job well enough compared to a man, yet still have concentration issues regarding chatting online and surfing the web. Pot, meet kettle. ;o)

Hopefully that was mildly interesting. :o)

So friday, I don't even remember what I did on my half day. Pathetic. So it must've been gloriously relaxing. Saturday I got up early to help at an offsite adoption event for the shelter I volunteer with. I was in charge of a pretty 3 year old lady named Crimson.


After that we headed down to VA to hang out with Char and Z and get drunk and BBQ. It was a glorious time. Tiger got to swim in the pool:


And I got hammered. I don't even remember this picture.


Good times were had by all! Sunday was then a designated recovery day. I spent it laying around, drinking gatorade and eating crackers. For some reason I decided I HAD to make chocolate chip muffins, so that was fun. They're here at work now and still delicious. I lounged with my man and watched the last 4 episodes of The Soprano's, even though I have never paid much attention to the show. I tend to pick up on things quickly and get sucked in, lol. I also started going through all of my scrapbook magazines (there's 3 or 4 dozen of them!!) and tearing them apart. I pull out interesting articles and LO's that inspire me, and then throw away the rest that is unused, lol. It will greatly help cut back on stuff to pack once the big move comes around.

I continued that endeavor yesterday afternoon (and will probably continue tonight, lol). And thank goodness, "The Closer" is back on TNT! And what a great first episode of the season. I love that spunky lil southern girl, lol. Comedy and cop drama make me happy.

Well. I think I've sufficiently rambled for now. Hopefully I can get to work on a template or two, or maybe a LO during lunch. I wanted to play in CS2 on friday and ran out of time. I need to get it on the laptop at home. That would make life grand.

Feeling creative

The office is quiet and empty today, so I was naughty and took advantage by playing in photoshop. Good thing I've got stuff set up to breeze through this afternoon and pretend I was hard at work all day ;o)

Well my girl Kim B sparked my creative juices this morning. Between her cute yet manly "My Guy" kit, and her preview for SBM templates, I was sold. Even though I don't use SBM, I took the idea for one of the templates and made it in CS2 instead. Not exactly the same, but close enough to still be just like the original that inspired me so.

(Credit to Jaana Saker for the template, and Kim B for the kit)

I then used the sketch from Kim's SMB templates, to create this LO.

(Credit to Kim B for the sketch inspiration, the The Shabby Shoppe's "Studio Chic" kit, and Shandy Vogt's swass masks)

And on another note, I think I'm going to try my hand at making templates. I find them to be an invaluable tool when I get scrapper's block, or when I need to finish a few LO's quickly. I'll give it a go and see what happens. Worse come to worse, no one wants them, lol. But at least I'll them for myself! Plus it'll give me more time practice my PS skills. There are so many things that I see other people doing, that I want to know how to do! I should work on that today since no one is around, lol. Actually what I really need to do is make a LO and banner for this blog!

I suppose I'll go do something now. Maybe work, maybe not ;o)
Have a good one!

A quickie

No not that kind, get your mind out of the gutter! ;o) I threw together a quick layout this morning using adorable pics I took on sunday morning. My friend Sue and I took part in a rescue transport. All the dogs were from southern states where they were in kill shelters. If rescues up north (NY and NJ in this case) hadn't saved them they all would've been pts by now. Sue and I had the fun of traveling with Lady Bug, 10 puppies, and Dylan. Lady Bug had 4 puppies of her own, and the other 6 were ones she was a surrogate to. The shelter basically took all the nursing pups and gave them to her. To her credit she took them on as her own, even though it drained her already emaciated body to produce all that milk. Since her pups were slightly younger, they were getting pushed away from her nipples by the others. I spent most of our 90 minute ride nursing the sickly ones with a small bottle. Thankfully, we got them all in much better shape. Only one little guy gave me a scare at the end of the ride, but the next leg got some water in him so he should be doing just fine now. Poor momma needed a break from all the pups and end up climbing over the seats and falling asleep curled up at my feet. She was such a doll, I really hope she gets a good home.

Anyway, further proof that I ramble. But here is the lo. :o)

Credit to Miriam Lima for her Fresh Linen kit, and Tracy Blankenship for her May template #4. (Eventually I'll link those I give credit to I swear!).

Mondays generally suck

But today is pretty darn good! I chatted with my boss and we agreed to some hours to work. 5 hours monday and friday, 10 hours tues, wed, thurs. That way the BF and I can commute together but I'll still be in each day of the week so no one else in the dept. gets jealous. 2 half days a week? Can't complain about that!

I loaded "Memory Mixer" onto my lappy at home, and let me tell you. Compared to CS2 it is a let down. I couldn't figure out layers, the quick pick book I DL'd from the Shabby Shoppe didn't work, and it's generally a very frustrating program right now. I'm sure if I play with it more I can figure stuff out, but I was hoping to breeze through some digi lo's this weekend. So much for that.

The BF and I decided on some paint colors for the new house, so that is exciting. We also thought out a plan of action for the big move. Of course things could change, but for now I'm very happy with where we are at with the whole situation. Only 45 days left.......

I suppose I should work for this last hour. Then I'm going home and taking Tiger for a nice walk, and hoping to bang out a few paper scrappin pages for my "Hobbies" mini album. I've got pretty much everything cut out so I should be able to bust out the pages pretty quickly.

Laters!

New in town

I've been contemplating getting a blog for quite some time. I spend a good bit of time every day reading other peoples blogs and snagging up digital scrapbooking freebies. While I haven't had time yet to try and create my own freebies, I'd love to have an easier way to share my creations with other designers. I love seeing the reactions I get from creating something with a freebie or a kit purchase.

Plus now I can ramble about my life all I want and no one can tell me to shut up ;o)

I think that's all for now. Just a quick first post to get the ball rolling. Later I'll upload some of my digital layouts. I think this thing has a gallery......