Fantastical Friday

I am SO excited it's friday. This week went surprisingly fast and I'm SO glad. A bunch of people I met online are coming into town and we're having a big huge get together and I'm SO excited. I'll have lots of new pictures to scrap, lol. One friend is flying in tonight, and then we're all heading down to VA tomorrow to party the night away and play endless hours of Guitar Hero (which btw I am WAY excited to get for Christmas, lol). I caught the South Park episode where they spoofed GH last night and I could not stop laughing! Absolutely hysterical, lol.

So, I'm pretty proud of this LO. It's the one I completed for week #6 of the SUAS contest, and the challenge was to scrap about what you're going to do to make an impact on the world. So I scrapped about a bunch of the things we're already doing in our home. Jordan and I car pool to work almost every day of the week, all the light bulbs in the house are compact fluorescents (and they REALLY make an impact on teh electricity bill, I HIGHLY recommend them), and our appliances are all Energy star rated. If the county didn't make it such a PITA to recycle, we'd already be doing that. I want to start though, I just need to look into it more. So anyway, here it is, click for credits.

Now I MUST remind you to go to Kim's store one last time. The sale ends sunday (at midnight I'm assuming) and after that the glorious contents of her grab bags will go back into the store at full price. And when you see what's inside, you'll kick yourself for not buying them (AND getting a giant brag book for free).

Here is the LO for today's template. Personally, it's my favorite of the 5 so I'm glad Kim saved it for today :o) Click for credits.

And here is the template. Enjoy! And don't forget, no hot linking, send ppl here, and if you use this template send me a copy of your LO and I'll post it here on the blog!


I hope you all have a glorious weekend! I know I will!!
~Col

Template Day 4

Where did the week go?!?! I swear, the worst part about getting older is losing all sense of time. I can't believe it's NOVEMBER! Where did the year go?!

So I think I have a new favorite layout on my hands, making that 3 favorites, lol! I did this one for the Sweet Shoppe Designs Treat of the Month feature. I was looking for a LO to spin and lift, but I found this one and didn't want to spin it, LOL! Click for Credits.


I just really love how that one came out. I don't usually cluster elements and things like that, but I'm really proud of that one.

Quick shout out to Tink! I'm glad SOMEONE enjoys my rambles! LOL! I'm really going to try and keep up with the blog more now. It's just fun!

Here's the LO I created for today's template. I was inspired by Hillary Heidelberg's "Got Game?" on page 28 of the 10/07 edition of Memory Makers, and had to lift it. I came up with this:

And here is your template (no word art today, sorry). But tune in tomorrow for a surprise :o) I've got something special planned for those of you who've played along and gotten my templates this week.


I would be a bad CT member if I didn't remind you again about Kim's goodies!!

Personal Use Grab Bag comes with the fantastic Christmas Kit I've been creating these templates with. Commercial use grab bag has more of Kim's amazing goodies. If you've ever bought something from Kim, and enjoyed it, then snag BOTH bags because at these prices it's a STEAL! PLUS when you buy both bags, you get a 21 page brag book that all of us on her CT created! It's a win win! AND her whole store is 40% off, and all of DSO is 30% off for their first birthday celebration!! What are you waiting for???GO NOW!

I hope you're all having a great week! See you tomorrow, TGIF!!
~Col

Wacky Wednesday

Hellooooooo everyone! I know, I know, I'm late! Sorry! I posted twice yesterday, so I'll be short and sweet today :o)

Here's the LO (click for credits):


And here's the template and wordart! Enjoy!


Ok have a good one!
~Col

Feeling chatty

I'm feeling chatty today, so I'm posting twice. SSD does a "from our blog to yours" bit every week, and last weeks was interesting, so I'm posting. :oP The post was about your absolute favorite LO. Well, I have 2 so take that ;o) It's my blog and I'll cheat if I want! LOL!

This is a LO I did for SUAS, week #3. The challenge was to use lyrics. I'd heard this song a few times in the days before the challenge was posted, and I knew I had to use them, even though it would be hard. That song reminds me of my best friend who passed away 5.5 years ago. I heard it for the first time very soon after I was told she had passed (bad car accident, though no cause was ever determined), and it's stuck with me ever since. It's a gorgeous song, and I'm sure other people take something different from the lyrics, but for me it will always be bittersweet. I don't often talk about Jaclyn, so this page was a little like therapy. Click for credits.



And this is a recent LO but has quickly become a favorite. I love the grungy-ness and the colors and the textures. Absolutely love this page. :o) Click for credits


I hope you all enjoyed my little extra share, and have enjoyed the templates too!
Have a good night!
~Col

Music soothes the soul

I love music (as you can probably tell from the blog header). There's nothing better to me, than "re-discovering" a great cd. The way that music can transport you through space and time never ceases to astound me. Just a few weeks ago I found a cd I thought I had lost, and boy did it bring back some summer memories. :o) I just love that. I've been rockin out to John Mayer for 2 days (all the cd's, the live stuff, the stuff you can't get on cd's - I love that man's voice and style) and I am still sitting here diddy-bopping in my chair. Reminds me of dinners at home when we were younger. We always play music at dinner, and inevitably mom would start "diddy-bopping" and then me or my sister would too, and dad would say in his "serious but not really so you can't actually take him seriously" voice "No diddy-bopping at the table!!" And mom would pretend to hang her head in shame, and the rest of us would just giggle and continue to at least bop our heads in time to the music. Ooooh good times.

So. Have you gone to DSO yet? Have you been to Kim's store and discovered that HER whole store is 40% off because it's her birthday and she's so awesome she's passing the goodness on to everyone else?

No? Well what are you waiting for?!?!?! :oD


The personal use grab bag has a GORGEOUS Christmas kit in it, and the commercial use bag is just full of awesome goodies too!! Seriously, if I wasn't on her creative team I'd be going nuts in the store! She has such amazing products, and at 40% off, you can't go wrong!!

Ok ok, you're probably looking for a template with some word art included in it right? Right. Here's the LO that inspired the template (click for credits):


Aaaaaaand here's the template. "Season's Greetings" word art included!!


I hope everyone has a wonderful day! And don't forget, not hot linking, send people here, and if you use a template, show me what you did with it!

*Hugs* n Love
~Col

Kim's Big Birthday Bonanza!!!

How fun is that word, Bonanza. Makes me smile just thinking of it :oP

SO! Hooray for Kim's birthday!! Can you believe her WHOLE STORE is 40% OFF at DSO!!! The woman is nuts!! Now if you like Kim's kits and creations, you are DEFINITELY going to want to pick up both her commercial and personal use grab bags. Not only do you get 2 amazing bags FULL of awesome goodness, but if you buy both you get a 21 page brag book that all of us on her CT put together!! 21 PAGES!! That's huuuuuuuuge!!!

Ok so you're all probably here cuz you want my template with freebie word art. I see how it is ;o)

Today's LO using Kim's stuff is "Joy", and inside the template you get the word art for free! Click for credits.


And here's the template! Click to download.


Don't forget, Kim's WHOLE STORE is 40% off @ DSO this week! What are you waiting for!?!?! GO SHOP!!

~Col

Well it looks like....

The cat is out of the bag! KimB included info on her awesome surprise in her freebie for today!! You guys have no idea how fun next week is going to be! All of us on her CT have put together some seriously awesome stuff for you guys. She's got grab bag's, she's got kits, she's got extra goodies to give away. You do NOT want to miss it. :)

So I was all excited to go home last night and work on some of ideas for Kim. I get home and I've got the house all to myself cuz Jordan went home with Tiger to go to the Penn State game this weekend with his Dad. I have a TON of stuff I want to get done so I'm not behind for the holidays, so I decided to sit this trip out. So I get home and get into jammies and set up the tv and start dinner. I go turn on Jordan's desktop (my poor old lappy can't handle PS CS2, lol)......"drive not found. please insert system disk and press enter". Um....what? So I call him, and he can tell that I'm disappointed, so he has me turn it off, unplug it, and let it sit for a while before I turn it on again. So I do that.....same thing. So now he's telling to unscrew this, go check that....yea, no thanks. I was too disappointed to deal with it. Then of course 2 hours later I was bored and wanted to call again! LOL! I'm gonna try and figure it out tonight with him on the phone. It could be as simple as a cable coming loose inside the tower and that's why it's not reading his hard drive. If it's something more serious I'll cry because then I won't be able to make all kinds of goodies this weekend. I wanted to start our christmas cards, I have presents to make, etc etc. PLUS, it's Digital Scrapbooking Day! So there will be oodles of fun things going on, and dang it! I want to play!!!

So I put my name out there a few times recently to try out for more creative teams, with no luck. But to be honest, it's not all that disappointing. I still consider myself a newbie in the digi-scrap world, I know I've got lots more to learn. I got the nicest rejection letter last night, I couldn't even be upset that I wasn't chosen! Lol! But she did say that she's holding onto my app for consideration in case a spot opens up, so that made me feel awesome. The Stand Up and Scrap contest really pushed me and challenged me, and I'm all about self improvement. I've really loved some of the pages I've made lately and that's such a great feeling.

Here's a fun one I did for the Slogan Challenge over at Sweet Shoppe Designs. I have some of the best friends, we have such a blast when we're together! Click to see it in my DST gallery.
Not too much else to report. Work has slowed down CONSIDERABLY for me in the last week or so. Some of the projects I'm on just can't move forward until we get more information or get the go-ahead from the state. I love what I do, but that can be frustrating sometimes, even my boss complains about it occasionally, lol. My company is doing really well, and we keep winning contracts. We've got tons of jobs waiting for us in the wings. I like being busy and learning new things and I get to do both at this company, it's really awesome.

It's so wrong of me, but I can't WAIT to start decorating the house for Christmas! Lol! All the craft ads in the paper are for sales on Christmas decorations and I'm just dying to get in the attic and pull our stuff out, lol. I've got a bunch of stuff I want to do in the house this year, I can't wait to get started. I'm especially excited to decorate the outside with lights. I want 2 little trees wtih lights on either side of the door, and lights all on the banister on the steps, lights around the garage doors.....Jordan's gonna hate me! LOL!

Ok, I think I've rambled on enough for today. :o) Everyone have a glorious weekend, I'll see you on Monday for the fun festivities!!

*Hugs*
~Col

I'm back

And this time I SWEAR it's for good, lol. I had a really busy couple of weeks there. Plus I got into a bit of a funk. One of those moods where you don't know where it comes from, or when it's going away, and all you can do is ride it out. Well the ride is over thank goodness! LOL!

Good thing too, KimB has some awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwesome stuff coming up next week and a big surprise that I can't reveal quite yet. ;o) It's going to be really awesome and everyone is going to want to play along. All of us on her CT have a few tricks up our sleeves too! Lol! It's gonna be a BLAST, but you have to wait til next week to find out, so stay tuned!

Since I've been MIA, I thought I'd post some of the LO's I've done this month. Clicking on any of them will take you to my DST gallery where you can see credits.

This is my first month for my shutterfly calendar. I won 1 free from one of their contests!


This one I did for a challenge at SSD. I took those pictures last fall on a walk with Tiger. I wish the leaves were that pretty this year.


This one started out as a submission for the SUAS contest, but I ended up submitting something else instead. It still feels a little unfinished, but nothing I was adding clicked, so it stayed as is. :o)


And last but not least. This is the LO I did for KimB's last release, "Bug-ing". Super cute kit, I hope lots of you bought it. And if you didn't, I suggest you wait a week before buying it :oP


I think that's all for now. I've got some freebie's in the works (I think I say that every time I post, lol), so stick around. :o) Have a great monday everyone!!

*Hugs*
~Col

Is there anything

more gut wrenching than a friend who's in a bad emotional place and not being able to help them in any way? It breaks my heart to see one of my closest friends in such a bad place. He's so hurt, and so many people expect so much of him. He can't heal, he can't escape his own head. He's so far away I feel totally helpless. I know he needs more time to deal with everything, I just wish everyone else saw that too. Thank goodness he's moving back home soon. That might be just the medicine he needs. Hopefully he'll get to stop here on his drive to NY and visit and see the new place. That would be the best thing ever.

On another sad note, I finished my LO for Stand Up And Scrap challenge #3. The challenge was to use song lyrics and interesting typography. Lately I've had one song stuck in my head, so I decided to go wtih that one. Except the topic it pertains to is really hard for me. To talk about, scrap about, even think about. The song is "Hear You Me" by Jimmy Eat World, and it reminds me of my best friend Jaclyn. Jaclyn passed away 5.5 years ago in a car accident. We never found out what caused it though. I miss her so much sometimes. I still can't bring myself to go to her grave. I don't know what I'd say. Sometimes when I'm sitting peacefully, just relaxing, I say a prayer to her and make sure she knows I miss her. Scrapping that song was so hard for me. I wanted the page to come out perfect. I'm very satisfied with the page though. Whenever I get it printed I'll have to add a tag or journal on the back of it or something. I didn't include anything other than the song lyrics. I'd share it, but that's not allowed until the contest is over.

I also finished my desktop for October. It came out awesome and I'm working on a template to give away. So stay tuned!

In other, happier news, Jordan has decided that he hates all of the churches in our area and now wants to get married in NY. And at West Point even! It's not what I really want, but it's his wedding too. I won't make him get married somewhere he doesn't want to. It's our wedding, not just mine. He's got too many opinions to just ignore anyway, lol. So we're going to have to go to NY sometime soon and get that ball rolling.

I spent the weekend driving around the east coast and had a GREAT time. A friend flew in from OK as a big surprise and it was so fantastic. We played guitar hero for a zillion hours and I'm now totally addicted, lol. Jordan won't let me buy it yet though, so I might have to wait til Christmas. But I'm mildly obsessed with it now and can't wait to visit someone who has it, lol. I have no shame ;o)

I think that's about all for now. Kim has a new kit coming out and I've got a LO almost done with it, so I'll post that tomorrow. Til then....
*Hugs* n love

~Col :o)

Hurry! Time is running out!

Kim has another AMAZING commercial use grab bag! But hurryyyyyyyy cuz it's not going to be up for too much longer!! $8 for 6 brand new products which will total $35 when released individually!!! I've got 2 LO's here to give you some sneak peaks on what's inside. :o)

So here's one. Jordan took this picture of my parents (while I took it using mom's camera, lol) last weekend at the party we had for my mom. They've been together 29 years now. Apparently they fought when they were engaged, like Jordan and I do now. So that gives me hope :oP


This one I did as an 8.5x11 for a friend. A while back I did one of her female Rottie, so it was time for handsome Murphy to get his page!

Click on both pictures to see credits.

I also FINALLY finished the cover for my EOL album. It sat there for about 3 weeks, patiently waiting for pictures, lol. I love how it came out and I'm excited to get some more pictures taken for the subjects of the pages. I've settled on a 2 page spread per letter, and using 3 topics. So one page gets 1 topic, the main focus for that letter, and the other page gets the other 2 topics. I absolutely LOVE the Stand Up and Scrap kit, I think I'm going to use that one a LOT.


Let's see, what else. I'm working on a new desktop for October. Hopefully I'll finish it today and I can show you guys tomorrow. I think that I'm going to make it into a template to give away, that could be fun.

OH! Head over to Shutterfly and play their fall game! I won a consolation prize of a free calendar! Now I just have to sign up another email or two and see what else I can get :oP

I think that's all for now. I promise I'm cooking up some templates to give away, and I've started the mini kit for the color challenge at DSO. So there's stuff coming I promise! :o)

*Hugs* n love!
~Col

PS~I'm headed to NJ on friday and RI on saturday and I can't wait to hang out with some of my friends!!!