This could become a problem....

Seriously. My love for all things crafty will probably be my undoing. I need to learn to finish one project before I try and start another, lol. I bought a TON of fabric last night for 3 new projects. But first, I need to make 2 of the projects I started for SSD. Oy, lol. I just get so excited about an idea that I run out to start it, and then realize crap, I can't do that yet!

The other problem is going to be that I am NOT good about taking my photos off my camera for P365. I don't like to upload photos 1 by 1, I like to do it in bunches. I think that for this project though, that's really gonna make the project hard for me. I still haven't uploaded my photos from the end of last week. So I need to work on that.

Not a whole lot going on otherwise. I'm really busy at work, which is good and bad, lol. Good because I'm grateful to have a job in this crazy economy, bad because I don't like being SO crazy busy. I feel overwhelmed sometimes. I'm working on a plan set submittal, but this is the first time my boss is letting me do all the checking on it first (usually I print it all and he makes the corrections). So I'm a little stressed about that, but I do have to learn it to grow and move up in the company. Such is the life of a grown up right?

I can't leave without posting some more LO's. This one I started over a month ago. I redid it like 7 times before I finally bought the kit I ended up using. I REALLY like the way it turned out.


This one is for my Project 365 photobook. I'm going to use Viovio to print it since Shutterfly can't handle the number of pages I'm hoping to do. I'm going to make it's an 8.5x8.5 pro bound book hopefully. I want something nice that I can put out on the coffee table next year :) I'm not sure this style is one that I want to keep throughout the whole book, but it's a LO done and that's all that matters right now, lol.


That's all for today :) I'll be back soon with more 365 photos to share, and hopefully my first official project as a Hybridbabe for SSD!! WOOT!!

Have a wonderful day :)
~Col

Oh My Stinkin Heck!!!!!

I am having the BEST WEEK EVER!!!

Ok, so Monday blew. I was cranky, I did NOT want to be back at work, and my boss drove me a little insane. Jordan and I were both really snippy with each other too, which always gets to me. I haaaaaaaaaate fighting with him or being mad at him. So Monday was not so hot.

Tuesday was better. I was in a decent mood, I rode the bike for 20 minutes (WOOT!), we had a good dinner. I bought myself a custom font from Darcy Baldwin @ SSD, and I was all excited to get it made. Life was good.

Then came Wednesday. Ooooh wednesday. I have a great group of friends whom I met on myspace a few years back. We've had our fair share of ups and downs and drama-rama's, but there's a core group of us who have always stuck together and been really close. For the past few years we've decided to do a Secret Santa to keep costs down for everyone during the holidays. Well my SS informed me of herself, and she happened to be my good friend Sue who lives like 2 miles away. So instead of buying me something, she gave me the best gift ever. A huge home cooked meal for Jordan and I, delivered to our house!! She made us a delicious oven roasted chicken (which Jordan LOVED so I have to get her recipe, lol) with carrots and potatoes, a salad, biscuits, an appetizer of cheese and crackers, and a dessert of angel food cake with vanilla topping! FREAKING DELICIOUS!
So as if that wasn't enough for the day, Jordan surprised me. He knew I really wanted this dinner to be just for us, to share together, by ourselves. Well his brother was still in the house, but while I was down the hall he set the table in the dining room, turned down off the lights, and lit candles and opened a bottle of wine. It was just exactly what I needed from him amid the stress of life at home as it is currently. He really surprises me sometimes and sweeps me off my feet all over again. We had a wonderful dinner and enjoyed each other's company both during and after :P
As if that wasn't enough to keep me happy for several days, I got the GREATEST PM ever later that night. From Robin Carlton, the owner of Sweet Shoppe Designs, asking me to (finally) be a Hybridbabe!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!! See, I'm even up on the staff page (scroll down, bottom left corner)!! I've talked to Robin a lot in the last year, to find ways to improve myself to try and make the team. SSD is my digi-home, and to be on the site team is truly a dream come true. I've been waiting for almost a year, but it was 100% worth the wait!! The funny thing is that after the last round of rejection, I had decided to "give up" on making the team in a way. Not literally give up, but try to not make it my main focus and just do what I do because I love to do it. Well boy did that pay off! LOL! I'm seriously seriously, SO excited to be an even bigger part of the most amazing digi-scrapping community out there. There are some big things planned for the future and I'm so excited to get to be a part of them from the start!! So Wednesday was amazing. I was literally like a kid on Christmas eve that night. So excited I couldn't sleep!

Thursday was excellent. I got set up in the "behind the scenes" forums at SSD and worked on catching up things. Robin announced that myself and another wonderful scrapper, Jen Tapler, had joined the team, and I basked in the awesomeness that was my life. And then the next most awesome thing happened. Darcy finished my font!!! I consider my handwriting to be a mess. It never looks the same way twice, which makes it rather difficult to create a sample LOL! But Darcy persevered, and here's my font!! I LOVE it!!


Friday was excellent because a)it was friday, but also because of b) we booked the flights for our honeymoon!! WOOT!! We're flying into Paris on the 13th and out of Milan on the 30th. 17 days in Europe!!!! OMG I'm SO freaking excited.

So yea, best freaking week ever. 2009 is off to a very very good start. Fingers crossed it stays that way for a while :)

Ok, time for some 365 photos. I'm almost done with my LO for week 1, which is good since week 2 ended today :P But I'll talk about the LO when I post it.

Day 6 was Tuesday, which was the first day I used the new exercise bike.


Day 7 was Sue's glorious oven roasted chicken.


Day 8 was my debut on the SSD staff page!!!


Day 9 and 10 are still in lightroom. I'll post them soon. :)
I spent a lot of today organizing my scrap space AGAIN. But it's got some fun new things in it thanks to some metal bins from the new tv stand that Jordan didn't want to STAY in the tv stand. So I took them :) Now I have bins for my rub ons, my acrylic stamps, my endless amounts of chipboard, and my card bases! I'm loving the way it's working into my current system so well!! WOOT! Plus, that means my desk is almost cleared off and I can get back to crafting! WEEEEEE! I've got some card sets that I want to make for friends, and that's my first project :)

Ok, enough rambling for tonight. Have a good rest of the weekend everyone!
~Col

Poop Face

Yes, you read that correctly. Poop face. (Yes, yes I'll explain, just hold your horses!)

We're doing a monthly team challenge over on Bree's Team Blog called Mix It Up. Once a month, we pick a template, and then scramble it all up and make something TOTALLY different with it, and then show the LO's off. A lot of people think that once they use a template, that's it, game over. NO WAY MAN!! That's what we aim to show you with the Mix It Up posts (the challenge will be up sometime today). Kim picked a LO from Bree's newest Collection, #23:


As soon as I saw the 3 smaller photos, I knew I wanted to do a LO with my scanned pics of my brother and sister and I as babies. So next, I hunted for pics of us as babies in similar positions. I had a few to choose from for my brother and sister, but there was really only one for me. So, I edited the pics, changed them to a sepia tone to match the kit I was using ("Heart Strings" by Laurie Ann) and went to town. I REALLY like how it turned out. I used all the pieces that came in the template and didn't even resize or change them. I just moved them into different positions (and changed the large photo to a block in the center. Here's the LO:



So I'm in the top left, Caitlin is top right, and Patrick is on the bottom (hence the little monogram type letters on the photos). Now, look at that face I am making. If that is not a "I'm pooping" baby face, then I don't know what is. I STILL cannot stop laughing just looking at it!! What a moment to catch on film, thanks Mom and Dad! Hahahahahaha! Oh goodness, I love it.

So last weekend Jordan went through the GIANT PILE of clothes that has been sitting in the corner of our bedroom for over a year now, waiting to be sorted and taken over to Goodwill. I decided that instead of holding onto some 10 pairs of jeans that no longer fit, I was going to donate them. I'm tired of the subconscious pressure I put on myself to lose weight every single time I opened the closet and saw those jeans. So, peace out jeans! Hello clear conscience!
I bought 2 new pairs of American Eagle jeans, and I feel like a new person. Yes, they're a size 12 and it still makes me cringe a little to think that (I thought 10 was bad enough), but they FIT! Comfortably! No doing lunges in the morning in a lame attempt at stretching them out to make them easier to get on! I feel good in the morning. It feels awesome.
Yea, I still wanna lose weight. We're getting an exercise bike for Christmas and I hope to get myself on it M/W/F and really make an effort at it. But you know what? If I don't, I'm not gonna let it get to me. I look HAWT in my wedding gown right now, as a size 10/12. Yea, it would be nice to lose 10lbs (more like 20 but whatever), but I figure if I don't, and my wedding isn't motivation enough, then it's not meant to be. Jordan loves me despite the size of my jeans, and that's all that really matters.

So, if you're hanging onto old clothes because you plan on losing weight to fit back into them, just get rid of them. There are plenty of ppl out there who can put them to good use RIGHT NOW, and when you do lose the weight, do you really want to wear old stuff? Heck no! You want fun new clothes for yourself! So let goooooo of the baggage!!

So in crafty news, I followed along on Tim Holtz' blog for his 12 days of tags (I triiiiied to get on here to post about it, and then never did, oops). Absolutely amazing and inspiration stuff here folks. Makes me want to run out and buy every single he makes or touches. For reals. It also makes me want to run home and get my hands all dirty and play :) I bought a little wooden house back in October to make a Haunted House with, but now I think I'm going to make a "gingerbread" house with it instead. HOPEFULLY I can work on that sometime this week. But I suppose we shall see.

Oh, and remember that whole "I'm going to bed early" thing from yesterday? Totally didn't happen. I got sucked into finishing that LO and was up til 11:30. Awesome. LOL! At least I'm only working Monday and Tuesday next week, so I'll have lots of time to catch up on my sleep :)

Ok, I think that's all I wanted to say today. Or at least it needs to be so I can finish off this plan sheet. :p
Have a great day!
~Col

What? 2 days in a row?

Saaaa-weeeeeeeeeeeeeet!!!

I'm just tired of working on this plan set. Drafting gets to me after a while. So, I came here to be a little random for a bit.

1.) I bought this adorable hat off etsy ( crafttealady.etsy.com is the shop I got it at). I wasn't sure it would look good on me, but it was red and cream and screamed my name until my willpower crumbled and I bought it. I fought the urge for a good 2 minutes! :p Turns out though? I look freaking CUTE in this hat! And I don't care what Jordan thinks, I'm wearing it all the time now. Well, not all the time, but you know what I mean. :)



2.) I really like my most recent LO. I didn't even know I had gotten that smaller photo, and I totally love it. I'm gonna print it and frame it and stick it somewhere I can see it everyday :) The kit is Preppy Autumn by Traci Reed and it's one of my most favorite kits of hers!


3.) Jordan bought a huge tv for the bedroom this week. Found a deal he couldn't pass up, and we just got our bonus checks from work, so, he bought it. It's 46 freaking inches! Unnecessary for a bedroom I think, but whatever. I know better than to argue with him on some things. I voiced my opinion on the size and it was disregarded and that's life. And besides, who complains about a pimp 46" tv?!?! I'll just be buying one of the things on my "Camera stuff I HAVE TO HAVE" list next month for my birthday :)

4.) What the fuck kind of time warp do you get thrown into when you graduate college? CHRISTMAS IS IN 8 FREAKING DAYS!! When did that happen??? Thank god for a free month of Amazon Prime and free 2 day shipping, that's all I'm gonna say on that matter.

5.) If I don't get Tiger to the vet this week, I'm gonna hurt myself. She's overdue for shots by about 2 weeks, which isn't a big deal, except one of them is her rabies shot. Which I find mildly important. *pauses* She has an appt at 11:10 on saturday morning. Done. Excellent.

6.) I've been EXHAUSTED lately. Staying up too late is not good for me, especially not for like a week straight. I'll be going to bed early tonight, come hell or high water!

7.) I never shared this LO and it's FREAKING ADORABLE. So I'm sharing it now. The kit is "Jingle Baby" by Kristin Cronin-Barrow and Meg Mullens. Isn't my lil bro CUTE?!



8.) I think that's all for today. It was extra random, you'll need time to recover. ;)

Have a great day!
~Col

Rambling Tuesday

So, I'm getting sick. I can feel it. My throat hurts, my back is achy and my stomach has been acting up for a few days. So NOT how I want to spend Thanksgiving weekend and 10 hours in the car (give or take). I'm drinking tea and sucking on Halls like my life depends on it.

This weekend I finally finished a hybrid project I've had in the works for what seems like forever. It took a long time to paint it (2 coats) and then it took forever to finish it off (waiting for the mod podge to dry). But, I love it. I'm probably going to make a few more and give them to friends with little girls as christmas presents. It's small, but perfect for little bows and hair ties and barrettes :) I couldn't get all the yellow tones out completely in post processing, but it's a cream colored paint. I used the new kit by Kristin Cronin-Barrow and Susan Bartolini, called "Live.Laugh.Love."




Since Thanksgiving isn't over yet, I have not done anything in terms of Christmas. No listening to Christmas music, no decorating house, nothing. I HATE that right after Halloween the stores started pimping their Christmas schtuff. I love Christmas as much as the next person, but come on! Give Thanksgiving a CHANCE! My designers however, have had Christmas on the brain for a while. So here are 2 LO's using recent releases.
"Tis the Season" using Arose Such a Clatter by Julie Billingsley:


And "Where are the Presents??" using And to All A Good Night by Traci Reed and Meg Mullens:


I'm looking forward to decorating the house for the season. I love the smell of the tree (which I'm sure will be 3 times bigger than necessary since Jordan goes and gets it while I prep for it's arrival), the look of the house with the lights on, and all the little details. I'm thinking of starting one of those little villages on our buffet in the dining room. My moms parents had a huge elaborate one, and I always remembered that about their tree. Grandpa built a special platform for it to sit on and everything was laid out (to perfection as that is Grandpa's way) so that all the cords were hidden underneath and out of the way. I did go ahead and buy some pretty new stockings from Pottery Barn a few weeks ago (did I mention that? I can't remember). They're going to look so cute hanging up under the cutout in the kitchen wall. I have the BG ornament set (I can't remember if it's from the Dasher or Figgy Pudding lines) so I want to get those made to hang around the house. I have so many projects I want to do! LOL! Not to mention all the gifts I want to make. I need to put on my Uber-Productive hat in the next few weeks! At least I can knit my little hands off in the car all weekend.

We're leaving for Pittsburgh on thursday morning (to try and avoid traffic). Doing random stuff on friday, including taking one of Jordan's sisters to try on the bridesmaid dress so we can order the right size. I'm hopefully meeting up with my girlfriend on friday at some point to hang out. Saturday we're driving to central PA to visit more of Jordan's family. We're either coming back that night, or spending the night there and coming home on sunday. Phew. It's a lot of car time. Thankfully we're taking the comfy new car and this time I'm riding shotgun :)

Oh! And we found a wedding photographer! After much arguing and disagreeing between myself and Jordan, he made the wise statement "Whatever you want." I think he's learning ;) We're going to go with Roy from Black Dog Photography. Friends of ours recommended them, and I'm confident they'll deliver the photojournalist style that I'm looking for, mixed in with traditional posed shots. We're having 1 for 5 hours and 1 for 8 hours. It was really important to me to have a second shooter. I want to have pictures of the guys getting ready, as well as some different angles of shots from the ceremony and then an extra pair of eyes at the cocktail hour. After the cocktail hour, Roy will probably take off, and the second shooter will stay until around cake cutting time. Just thinking about it all gets me so excited! Lol!

Well, I think I've babbled enough for today. Tomorrow I'll stop in with one of my other holiday projects (which is kind of 2 combined into 1). :)

Have a great day, and if I don't see you tomorrow, Happy Thanksgiving!!
~Col

Things that make me happy......

• TGIF! Omg, I'm so glad it's finally friday. This week sucked just as bad as the last 2! Lol! But it's Beth and Steve's big wedding and I'm UBER excited.

• My new Nick and Nora monkey slippers. Pretty much perfection if you ask me :) (See photos below)

• The rented 24-70mm f/2.8 lens that I rented for the wedding (Beth asked me to play unofficial backup photog). I LOVE the versatility of it! I can be wide open and get some nice depth of field, and I love that I can be at a 24mm or zoom in to 70mm, and anything in between! It's a nice change of pace from my much loved 50mm f/1.8. I'm gonna play with the 85mm f/1.8 that I rented too :)
  

• Here are a few shots with the 24-70 (played with crops just because, boosted a lil, defogged, white balance adjustment).

• I'm beyond excited for Julie and Johnny and lil miss Olivia to arrive tonight. Miss O makes my ovaries do flips, but I just love her so. And of course, I love spending time with her mom and dad and too :)

• These 2 LO's make me happy :) First one for Digi Dare #101, second for Cookie #50 @ SSD. Click for credits please :)

• Lunch with a college friend today. I haven't seen her in like 3 years! Can't wait :)

I think that's enough happiness for today :P It's gonna be a loooooooong but good weekend for me. Have a good one, I'll catch you all on monday!

~Col

GO GO GO GO GO!!!!

Go right now to DSO and Kim's store because she is having an amaaaaaaazing sale!! It's her 1 year anniversary of selling at DSO and to celebrate her WHOLE STORE is 60% OFF TODAY ONLY!!!!


I repeat. GO GO GO GO GO!!!! :D The sale is only good TODAY, so hurry up and finish reading, and then scoot over there!

Now, as if that wasn't enough (and we all know Kim, and it isn't! LOL!) She's got 2 fantastic grab bags up too! Both of them are LOADED with more goodies than usual (do I need to repeat myself again? GO!).

There's a commercial use bag:

And a personal use bag:


And as a special treat, if you buy BOTH you get this amazing set of brag book pages Kim's CT put together!! (Well not me, I've got something else up my sleeve now that I have time to breathe, lol!) The brag book pages all coordinate with what's inside the Personal Use Grab Bag.


Phew, all that promoting really takes it out of ya! :P

I've got more to talk about, but for now I'll let you go spend some dough at Kim's store. :)
Have a good day!!

Bad things come in 3's??

Today they did!
So today I walked my 3 miles for training. I decided to do a different route that was more on sidewalks and through the neighborhood. It’s pretty much a 1.5 mi loop on either side of our house. So we head out, and do our thing. I’m about 3/4 mi in when my cell phone rings. Apparently my ipod managed to unlock my cell phone in my sweatshirt pocketand call 911, and when emergency services couldn’t get me on the phone, they hung up and called back. Awesome, now I feel like an asshole. So I hold the phone the rest of the way, despite how uncomfortable that actually is. (note to self, buy a small bag or fanny pack despite how unfashionable said things are.)

As we head back, I get a text message. We’re near a playground, but on the other side of the street, plus a lady wtih a huge english bulldog was walking towards us, so I put Tiger in a sit (which she did oh so nicely). No biggie right? I answer the text, look up, and see a small child waddling across the street towards. OMG! AND to top it off, there’s a car coming way to fast down the road. Holy f@$*. Luckily the mom was already making her way over to the little boy, who was staring at Tiger saying "woofie", and the car slowed down. So that car passes, and I’m like hey little guy why don’t you come over here, while trying to restrain Tiger from jumping at him to gives him kisses (she's not so good wtih small children, or children at all for that matter until they hit 11 or 12) OY.

Ok fine. So we get back to the main road we live off of, and I see a bunch of dogs in neighboring yards running along the fences playing. Ok cool. I’ll let Tiger get a few sniffs in, see what’s up, but then we’re on our way. The big fluffy dog (looked like a collie maybe? it was far away) goes up the deck and back inside. So there’s a little fluffy dog running back and forth along the fence. It was barking, but it was small and moving quickly, so I couldn't really get a good look at it. It finds a spot where the wood planks are more separated, and then tries to eat Tiger’s face off. Awesome.

THANKFULLY we made it back to our house, and then on the other 1.5mi loop without any incidents. I was really close to just giving up for the day though, lol.

Oh and I finally figured out why the heck my pedometers weren't working right. Apparently my hips don't move enough, so I have to place it on the outside of my hip. On the side, not in front. Good to know, now that I have 2 since I thought the first one was broken.

Also, anyone have good ideas for protein snacks? That'd be great.

In other news, my scrap-mojo disappeared, but seems to be coming back in spurts. Here are a few LO's to prove it :o)
I love this one. This will always be one of my favorites pictures of my Tigah-now.


This one I'm totally in love with. It came out just as I was envisioning, which RARELY happens for me.


This one is just too cute. I'm loving Janet Phillips templates and grab bags lately. SO useful!! These are 2 of my favorite shots of the monkeys at the Naples Zoo.

This one, is using KimB's latest kit, Unda Da Sea, which is SO friggen FUN! It's a summary of our engagement vacation. I might just print that one and frame it :o)

And one last one. This one was for today's blog post over on the Hawt Mama Team Blog. Alane made a super fun template, and I had "Nicole's Graham" from Traci's "Those We Love: Just the Boys" that I hadn't fully used yet. So I dug out some of the scanned photos and found these 2 of my little brother practicing his golf swing in the front yard. I'm guessing he's 6, but I'm sure when my mom reads this, she'll confirm or correct said statement. :o)


Ok enough visual goodness. Not too much else to report. Easter weekend was good. Jordan's family came down (next year we're just going to have eeeeeeeeveryone come down here for Easter, except ppl will HAVE to get hotel rooms, lol) and I did some shopping/quality time wtih his mom and little sister. Plans are in the works for everyone to come to NY sometime this summer (hopefully June) to do some wedding dress and bridesmaid dress shopping. Tiger is randomly limping, but continues to play like a goofball and run around and go on walks with me, so I'm trying not to stress about it too much. Tomorrow I'm performing an experiment at work. And by experiment, I mean I'm going to wear a pedometer while we go out on inspections, just for kicks to see how far we actually walk (last time it had to have been at least 3miles, possibly more). Thank goodness it's supposed to be almost 60! Going out on inspections will actually be nice for a while, until it gets to be May when the humidity and 90 degree heat sets in, lol.

In other news, Jordan has completely given up on fighting with me over the dining room chairs, and the purchase of a DSLR. I SO win. I'll be going to Ikea this weekend to buy some chairs so that next time we have people over, they won't have to sit on the floor to eat at the coffe table. I'm still going to wait a few weeks on the DSLR, because it makes sense to wait until I can try out hte Canon Rebel XSi (step up from the XTi). Then I'll have seen all my options and can make a good decision. Whether I end up with the Nikon or not doesn't matter. I just don't want to buy the Nikon now, and then try the XSi in a few weeks and like it better.
Oh and I bought a laptop today! Jordan said I should just get it since I want one (want, not need). I think he's tired of me being on his desktop all the time. :oP

I think, that that is all for tonight. I've got a LO to finish for Mikkel, and then I'm going to go lay down and watch some tv. OH! And congratulations to Mikkel, who got engaged on her Disney Cruise last week!!! WEEEEEEEE!!! Another person to talk weddings with! LOL!

Ok, enough! Good night!! :oD

Fridaaaaayyyyyyyyyyy!!

Can ya tell I'm excited?? In just a few short hours I will be out of work and officially on vacation! WOOT!! I caaaaan't wait! Plus my sister has switched her flight and is coming in on thursday morning instead of friday morning! So she gets to party with us on thursday night for the bachelorette party! wOOt!! I think we're all going to have a really fun time.

So I'm tweaking the look of the blog a bit. Nothing major yet, just prepping. I'll work on a new header when I get back from FL. Are you itching for some 365 photos? Here's me on wednesday night at our favorite little italian place down in the city, Amicci's:

Since Amicci's didn't have a good dessert menu (ie they only had chocoloate chip canoli's), Jordan was a good man and drove me around to The Cheesecake Factory, where I picked up a slice of the heavenly goodness that is Adam's Peanut Butter Cup Fudge Ripple Cheesecake (here's a picture Kim! I can't believe you don't have a CF over there!!):
(and yes it counts cuz I took it yesterday. I was too stuffed to eat any of it on wednesday night!)

So there are my 2 photo's so far. I wish they were better, but this just strengthens my case for an SLR! LOL! Soon I hope. Fingers crossed and all that goodness. Actually, maybe I'll use that surplus check we're supposed to be getting from the government.....hmmm..... *gears turn inside head*

So this is a random post for the day, but I'm really close to 25 points for SSD's Sweet Rewards, and I'd REALLY like to get a 40% off coupon for next month. Too many designers have come out wtih amazing kits that I (obviously) MUST HAVE! LOL!

Youtube has some of the most ridiculous and random videos you've ever seen in your life. One such is as follows. I absolutely died laughing (since I'm a Giants Fan). My Dad sent it to me the other day. :o)

Hitler was a Cowboys Fan


And since it's so cold out, and I'm headed to a warmer climate in a few days, here's a cute survey:

You Are a Cappuccino

You're fun, outgoing, and you love to try anything new. However, you tend to have strong opinions on what you like. You are a total girly girly at heart - and prefer your coffee with good conversation. You're the type that seems complex to outsiders, but in reality, you are easy to please

What Kind of Coffee Girl Are You?

Interesting, although I don't know about the girly girly part. Although I am thoroughly obsessed with the new shoes I bought yesterday to wear to the wedding (don't worry, you'll see them eventually, I plan to take a picture for one of the days assignments).

So I've been spending a lot of time at SSD and MSA. They're both smaller communities, which is nice. And since Traci sells there, it's good to whore out her product to some of the people most likely to buy it. Plus I get more one on one with people in the gallery, so I feel like I'm pushing Kim's products too a little bit.
I think that my favorite challenge over there is the Paper to Digi. They find a paper scrapper's gallery on the net, and you lift it and make it your own as a digi lo. It's really a lot of fun, and I feel it really pushes my limits sometimes. Here's one I just finished of Jordan. He makes it hard to take pictures of him, but at least he's kinda smiling in it :oP

I think that LO also has some pretty good clustering, which is something I really want to work on this year. I love scrapping because I really don't have a set style. Some days I feel like putting a million elements on my LO, and other days I go with a much more simpler style. I really find myself drawn to the opposites of the spectrum. Very graphic layouts with little to no embellishing, and then super busy layouts wtih millions of elements and amazing shadow work. I really struggle wtih putting oodles and oodles of elements on my pages effectively, so I'm really going to work on that this year.

I just finished my root beer, and I'm way sad about that. LOL! It was so tasty!

So my mom and I are definitely doing this: ScanMyPhotos.com. I went through all my boxes of pictures last night (seriously, teenagers should not take so many stupid pictures) and pull out what I want to be scanned. It was a little more than I was expecting, but when I put it all in the box (I went with the prepaid box for $99 plus a duplicate DVD for my mom) there is still TOOOOOOOOOOOOONS of space for all her photos. If I'm really awesome, I can get everything sorted at home and get the box to the post office tomorrow to be mailed out. It would be SO awesome to have all those photos waiting for me to play with when we get back from vacation. I'm really excited about scrapping pictures from my childhood. Now if only we could get all those REALLY old photos my grandparents. Then I'd be in hog heaven! Eventually I would really love to set up a Family Tree type book, but I have to see what kind of pictures everyone has first.

Good lord I wrote a novel! LOL! Ok ok, enough rambling for today. If you're good maybe I'll check in tomorrow and post the picture I take for today. I think tomorrow's pic will be of the dogs if I can get up before mom takes them to the vet to be boarded. Poor Scooby fell down the stairs last night. He's getting so old. :o(

Have a great night, a great weekend, and a wonderful week while I'm away!


PS~I got my hands on Kim's Valentine's Day kit, and whooooooooo-eeeeeee you will not be disappointed!!! Definitely pick it up when it hits DSO next week!!!

25

That's me. 25 years old. That's just crazy! Where did time go? How has it been 2.5 years since I graduated college? I feel old. I know that's silly, cuz honestly, 25 isn't that old. But I do. Last weekend we went to my cousin's 18th birthday party (a big party with her friends and a DJ and such). It was VERY comical to watch and made me wonder if I was like that at 18. Our future's leaders......scary! LOL!

So I mentioned that I'm starting a big new project. I decided to jump in on the Project 365 craze, and document the next year of my life by taking a photo a day. On the 23rd of every month, I'll take a picture of myself, so I can see how/if I've changed over the year. I'll probably upload my photos here every few days to share with anyone who stops by. A lot of people use flickr to share their photos, but I think I'm gonna stick with photobucket. TheDigiChick is doing something fun where each week you take whatever 5 photos you want, and then 2 of the photos you take for a "homework assignment" where there's a theme for you to interpret. I really like the idea of that, and I think that it'll keep me interested and moving with the project as the year goes on. I also got a set of templates by Amy Pearson over at Scrapbook Graphics, that she made up just for her 365 project. It's a simple way to fit one week's photo on a page, and the templates are all shutterfly ready, which is awesome because I want to get all my photos scrapped and printed for a keepsake book for myself. I probably won't use her templates for every single week, but I like having them for when I have a day or two without any mojo. I don't want to get behind on my photos and then get overwhelmed by them. So starting tonight, with a self portrait, I embark on this journey. I'm excited!! We're going out to dinner and I'm excited to eat mussels marinara. It's rarely on the menu at places we go to, so that's my special birthday treat. $20 says Jordan gets the chicken parm, lol.

My fellow CT member Beth sent me a super cute e-card. I DO love those annoying little singer guys Beth! LOL! Thanks so much hon, I appreciate you remembering!!

So I've gotten 15 LO's done this month. I have a feeling I won't be able to keep this up all year, lol. Kim's new kit "Forgotten Not" is so gorgeous. I just love it. Here's the LO I did with it, me and Tigah-now!

This one I did with Natali Design's newest kit, "Essentials". SO stunning. She's up there with Kim and Jofia and Annie Manning (Paint the Moon) for realism in their kits. I LOVE realism, I love doing shadow work to make the page look as realistic as possible. LOVE IT! This might just be a new favorite LO for me. I took this picture a day or two before New Year's in my front yard (in NY). It had snowed the night before, and there was ice on the trees, but the sun was out and had just started to melt it. It was so nice out that morning.

So I'm totally, not looking forward to this election. I really need to start researching the candidates and making some decisions. Iraq will be a big issue for me, and so will Same Sex Marriage. Although with gay marriage it seems like most of them are against it, but do not support federal law banning it. That might be all I can hope for at this point. We'll see.

Whoops I wrote a lot and it's almost time to head down to the city for dinner! Thanks to all who made this birthday wonderful and special!
I hope you all had a good day, and I'll catch you soon!

So much going on!!

Ok so first off, LET'S GO G-G-G-G-G-G-MEN!! Holy hell, I can not believe we pulled off that win last night!! Not gonna lie, I didn't have TOO much faith in my boys. Yea I love 'em, but this is Brett Farve and the Packers! The same packers that rolled over us like a Mac Truck when we played them week 2! I do kinda feel bad for Farve. He had such an amazing season. If they hadn't played us I would've been rooting for them to go to the super bowl.

So in the beginning of the year I set a goal for myself. 150 layouts. That's about 12 layouts a month (give or take ;P). I've already got 13 done, with another in the works, and plans for about 3 more after that! How cool is that!! Between Kim's awesomeness, and Traci's awesomeness, I really have my hands full with kits! My mojo is in full swing and I LOVE it!! Thank goodness Laura only does about 1 kit a month, and I've been pretty quick with layouts for Kim Hill too. I think that after these guests spots (just Mikkel Paige next month, who I might get to meet in person while we're in FL!!), I'm going to sit back and relax for a while, and just do KimB and Traci. Being a guest is awesome, but it really kinda stinks to leave after a month, the time just goes too quickly! My month with Bree really went too quickly. I just loved working with her. I hope that if a spot opens up she'll take me on full time.

Ok so how about taking a look at some LO's wtih all these goodies?? :o) (click on the images to go to my SSD gallery)

This one uses Kim Hill's "Memory Lane" kit. I just LOVE this photo of us, just before Jordan popped the big question. Such an awesome memory.


This one was super cute for an SSD challenge. The prompt was "If I've only one life, let me live it......", and naturally I chose "as my dog"!! Girl has got the LIFE I tell ya! I used one of Traci's V-Day kits, and Michelline Martin's :My Blue Valentine"


Another Tiger layout (I really need to take some more pictures, lol) using Kim's stunning "Close Knit"


And this one I finished last night. Tiger LOVES the snow, and she's so funny to watch playing in it. I got this cute pic as she zoomed around the yard enjoying the snow (and eating a lot of it, lol!). I used Traci's new kit, "3, 2, 1 Blast Off" which is a collab with the awesome Lauren Grier!


I have another lo almost done using a really special kit that Kim just finished. It's an amazing kit and I just love how the layout turned out. Just have to add my shadow-work and then it'll be on Kim's blog.

Today is also my first post as a Hawt Mama on the Team Blog! I'm so excited! The tutorial is for a super cute Valentine's Inspired project using wood blocks. Check it out and let me know what you think!!

I'm also starting a new project on wednesday (my birthday!!). But I think I'll just post about it then.

I hope everyone is staying warm out there! I still can't believe how cold it was at the game last night! I've got $20 that says Tom Cauhlin has frost bite on his whole face. That man was in bad shape. All I kept saying was "Someone needs to get him a ski mask!" LOL!

Have a great day/night everyone! See you tomorrow!

I can't believe I didn't post about this!!

We have a wedding date!! And a place for the reception! And we're having a chocolate fountain!!!
While we were home in NY for Thanksgiving, we spent 2 days running around looking at various reception halls. We were blown away by one and none of the others could touch it. So we called back the next day and booked it. We shall be married on October 11th, 2009! Hooray! It's the sunday of a long weekend (Columbus Day is that monday), so people can take their time coming
in, and Jordan's aunts and cousins can spend Saturday shopping at the outlet mall :oP It's so awesome to finally have that decided. It's nice to get the big stuff out of the way, you know? So YAY!

Kim has yet ANOTHER awesome kit hitting stores tomorrow. It's called Party On and it's fun and festive and bright and cheerful, just like Kim!! Perfect for all those holiday party Layouts!! Here's one that I whipped up, and I gotta say, I like it a lot. All the reds and oranges are so much fun!! Plus I used a template from my guest ct spot, Bree Clarkson! They're awesome, so check out the credits and see them too! Click for credits!


I'm working on another LO right now and I'm hoping to get it whipped up for Kim as a QP. So stay tuned.

MNF is on and I REALLY hope the Patriots snap out of it and crush the Ravens. I'll cry if I have to listen to the morons at work tomorrow. Although I'm sure they'll complain if they lose too. Looks like a lose lose situation for me! LOL!

So this is fun. Not totally accurate, but you know, whatevs :p

What Your Handwriting Says About You

You are a fairly energetic person. You know how do pace yourself, and you deal well with stress. You are reserved and not very outgoing. You are deeply thoughtful and introspective. You have a lot of control over your actions and emotions. You are extravagant, over the top, and indulgent. You set trends and influence people. You need a bit of space in your life, but you're not a recluse. You expect people to give you a small amount of privacy, and you respect their privacy as well. You are somewhat traditional, but you are also open to change. You listen to your head and your heart. You are a decent communicator. You eventually get your point across, but sometimes you leave things a bit ambiguous.

What Does Your Handwriting Say About You?

Ok. Time to finish my LO then work on the clutch I'm knitting. I'm sad it won't be finished in time for wednesday's holiday party, but I'm hoping I'll get it done in time for Dover's party next week. BTW, who decided that Company Parties on week nights was a good idea? Weak sauce.

Later lovers! Have a great night!
~Col

Funny stuff and a TOOT TOOT or 3 :)

Hellooooooo everyone! How was your thanksgiving? Do the pants fit again? I think mine finally do :oP

So I was going through the list of SSD challenges, and came across these two blog quizzes. I usually do the quiz and then don't post cuz I'm lazy like that (I mean it entertains me for a good 5 minutes so it's not totally useless, but it isn't exactly earth shattering news either), but these 2 made me laugh, so I'm posting. Plus, I want the sweet rewards points. I want a 40% off coupon dangit! LOL! I'm so close, but getting these calendars done is taking up all my challenge time!

So this is my Pilgrim Name. I don't even know how to take that, lol.

Your Pilgrim Name Is

Desire Mullins

What's Your Pilgrim Name?

And this is what part of Thanksgiving I am. I find this one hysterical, yet appropriate (or at least I hope so :oP)

You Are The Stuffing

You're complicated and complex, yet all your pieces fit together. People miss you if you're gone - but they're not sure why.

What Part of Thanksgiving Are You?

Funnyyyyyyyyyyyy.

So I have some kick ass news too. As I posted a lil while ago, I'm trying to get on some different CT. Whether as guests or permanents or whatever. Kristine was amazing enough to extend me an invite (love ya wench!!), but I want to branch out and spread my wings a bit. I sent in several apps, and got back several rejections, lol. BUT! I also got a guest gig! Whoohoo!! For December I'll be guesting wtih Bree Clarkson at SSD!!! Her templates rock my socks.

Then the other day at DST, someone posted a thread about wanting to be on a CT or get a guest spot, and I mentioned that I was in the same boat that she was. Well I'll be darned if I didn't get 2 more messages from designers asking me to guest for them! So in January I'll be guesting with Kim Hill, and in February I'll be with Mikkel Paige! I'm so excited!!

I still love Kim the best though, don't forget that! :oD

Sooo that's wonderful and exciting. I've gotten a LOT done on my christmas shopping, which is spectacular and ahead of schedule for me, so I'm quite proud. I'm doing a lot of hybrid stuff, and a lot of homemade crafty things to try and save money. Jordan's resigned himself to knowing that I'll spend money for Christmas (like he said, it's what I do) but I do still want to try and save SOME and not go overboard like I always do, lol. So we'll see. That's my mission this month.

Ok, time to eat, and get a whole bunch of digi stuff done. :o)
Have a great day!!

~Col

There's always something to be thankful for.....

There really is. Always. If you're alive and reading this, you have something to be thankful for. Sometimes it really is that simple! It's been a WEEK, but I'm still alive and kickin, so it's all good. :o)

So the freebie today is a card template. Something different. It started last week because both Kristine and Bunny had some VERY rude people contact them about their blogs. How many times does it need to be said that you (meaning people in general, not YOU specifically dear sweet reader :oP) get freebies because people are kind and generous. You aren't owed them. And you for damn sure have no right to dictate to someone what they put on their own blog. Let's get real here. There was a thread over in DST recently, that Australian was going to ban Santa's from saying "Ho, Ho, Ho". Seriously? PC terms are running rampant. Just because you take offense to something, doesn't give you the right to spout off on it, or demand that Santa no longer say Ho ho ho, get a life! If you don't like what someone says on a blog, LEAVE! Or go buy a sense of humor. Sheesh!

Ok, that was a hell of a ramble. But the audacity that people have sometimes really amazes me.

Now, back to being thankful :o) What are you thankful for? I'm going to whip up a LO today about some of the things that I'm thankful for, hopefully anyway. Might get pushed off til next week. So what am I thankful for? Here's a quick list (in no particular order):
To the troops over seas who give up so much to do their duty and protect all of us here at home in the good ole US of A :o) (you know I had to send to love to all my west point buddies!)
Amazing friends who stand by me through thick and thin
A wonderful loving family
My amazing and sweet fiancee
My ridiculously comical dog, who is also a top notch cuddler
KimB! For giving such an amazing opportunity
All the people I've met online,through blogs/digi-scrap forums who inspire me constantly

I could go on, I'd be here all day and don't want to bore you. So here is the card I whipped up for people out there like Kim and Bunny and Kristine, who take a lickin and keep on tickin :o)


And here's the template. Use it today to thank a designer who's freebies you just LOVE. :o)


Have a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving everyone!

~Col