Numbers!

How many of you realized that on Wednesday there is a cool number thing going on? Well i hadn't realized it either until i was catching up on blogs and found this post from a fellow scrapbooker (Dear Lizzy). Document what you're doing at this time (either the am or pm option). Write it down, take a picture, tweet it or whatever, just be sure to leave a reminder so in 20 years when someone asks you, you'll remember!

Online reading...

i'm not sure if it is a good thing or not but i have been getting lots of reading done online lately. i don't seen to ever read from an actually book or magazine in my hand anymore. As the summer is approaching i'm sure this will change slightly but for now, i'm online charging my brain. One article i read was here. It is mainly about photography but there are so many other pieces to it that it applies to artist in general, actually anyone really. There were two main points that i gained from this piece.

• Being creative and being inspired are two totally separate things. i know i've always thought that but this article really put the words behind the thoughts i'd had about it.
  
• "Success is continuing to try in the midst of repeated failures because we believe that there is a solution to the problem we are working on and that it is only a matter of time until we find this solution. In this respect failures are nothing else but valid attempts that did not materialize into the outcome we expected."

Another piece that i read was all about the benefits of using gmail and other google gadgets. Read about it here.

In other news i found out this week that i won't be presenting a session at the ADPi convention this summer. This is a relief for me. Since i've switched positions the session i was going to lead was in the old area (alumnae). It will be good to be on the recruitment side of things instead of feeling like a cross-over. i'm sure there will be times that i'll be pulled in both directions but i at least won't have to be nervous about presenting (because as many of you know speaking in front of a group is not my true cup of tea).

Tomorrow a group of us from FCC are going to be working on an outdoor painting project for Shine '09. i'd like to ask that you pray for us that the rain will hold out long enough for us to work on dry equipment and that all of the other volunteers out there will be able to shower our county with these 3 hours of service.

Mother's Day gifts!

This year I challenged myself to make all of the gifts that we gave for Mother's Day. I did it! The cards I created were fun because I decided on a color and found coordinating papers in my stash (just went to the green folder - love having my PP organized by color!). I used the cricut to cut out the butterflies. The piece that I made was creating hybrid bracelets (8 total - yes we are blessed!). I used photos of the boy and digital bits from various Songbird Avenue kits. In addition to the bracelet the mothers each received a really fun fabric wrapped decorative photo thing (that is the true technical term for it). More pictures are on facebook if you want to see some up close shots as well as the second version I made for Nana Susan with pictures of Addy. Full credits for this piece can be found at TheDigiChick (hybrid pieces from Sugarplum Paperie & Ali Edwards).

Now we're off to help with Abby & Caroline's babies. They have something at school with the big kids so Jameson & I are going to watch the littles. I told Jameson about it and he said but mom I'm not a girl so I can't help babysit. Such a funny boy.

Hybrid!

Check this out...DST Insider May edition! I have a project featured! I honestly meant to post this over the weekend as it was {inter}National Scrapbook Day. However with our schedule it didn't happen. For anyone interested in any digital items there were lots of freebies out there. I know that The Hybrid Chick still has some challenges going on throughout this next week. Be sure to check it out!

Giveaway!

I'm feeling like a giveaway today! What am I giving away? Since I already purchased the songbird avenue kit this month I'd like to give it to someone else to play with and enjoy! Here is the catch, we're not going to just leave your name you have to play a game. The game is to guess what dress up item Jameson & I were playing with today. To give you a little hint it is something that would be worn by someone in a specific career (i.e. not spiderman). Get your guess in by Wednesday at midnight. You can guess one time each day (so if you are reading this on Monday you have the opportunity to guess 3 times total). If no one gets the right answer I will do a random drawing from all participants. So what do you think we dressed up as today??

Giving...

In the digital scrapbooking world something wonderful is going on today through the end of the month. An additional $4 will be donated to the Autism Speaks fun through the purchase of the current Songbird Avenue kit. I actually picked up the kit earlier this month and have so enjoyed playing with it. Some of the Mother's Day gifts I've been created include pieces from this great kit.

"An Overwhelming Need: Today, nearly 27,000 children age 5 and younger will die of preventable causes. That's about 18 children every minute. Compassion's ministry focuses on preventing these deaths and releasing children from poverty in Jesus' name. But we can't do it without you." As quoted from the Compassion International website.

In world news...have you heard about World Malaria Day? Through Compassion International you can help out by donating just $10 which will purchase a mosquito net to help prevent the spread of this awful disease. Click here to help. And if you're interested in giving more to Compassion through sponsoring a child to release them from hunger...let me know. I signed up to share the information with our small group (aka Life Group) and compassion sent me packets for some children. I will be sharing the information with our LG but also thought I would put it on the blog so that if anyone else is interested, the files for 4 children are at my house.

'For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' Matthew 25:35-36

Featured!

Oh my goodness I'm so excited. Sarah just called to asked me if I'd seen that I was selected as the Well I'm Amazed layout for today at Vintage Plum. I don't scrapbook for the praise but it sure it nice to know others like some of what I create. The best part about this feature, for me anyway, is that this is a fully digital page featured on a paper site! Here are the details on the page. Now I'm off to play a bit with the little boy that just got up from nap...he is the real reason I scrapbook!

The little things!

This phase of my life seems to be centered around the little things...and I love it! Here are some recent things that have happened that I don't want to forget.

• Today Jameson was going on a field trip during school time. We were talking about it as we were getting ready this morning. He looked at me and asked "well which field are we going to go visit". He is so literal at times! I told him no you aren't going to visit a field, you're going to the elementary school for story time and then to a local dairy farm. He proceeded to ask if I thought the bus could handle the field that they would be driving through. So he was still stuck on the idea of field.
• Earlier this week we met up with my friend Sarah at a local park for music in the park. It was fun to meet up with her. I am amazed at how much Layla has grown already! Sarah does an amazing job with her kiddos. At the park there were so many people that we decided to just walk around outside of the actual playground portion. I was on total sensory overload with the noise and not being able to see the kids at every moment. It was nice to be able to just chat with her and enjoy the awesome weather that is settling in these days!
  
• For nap time today he shared a few things that he wanted to pray about (I usually ask him what things he wants to add to the prayers before nap then I say the prayer). Well today I asked him and then when we were praying I said "Lord hear our prayers", instead of actually repeating everything. Jameson did not like that so he said okay God I'll tell you. Like everyday we pray that daddy will come home safely to us after work and that Jose (our compassion child) will feel God's love surrounding him. Jameson's other prayers today were that he could drive better at Monster Truck Camp (the latest make believe location) and that he could learn to play golf as good as his dad. So sweet.
  
• Yesterday we all had a wonderful day. Started out doing a little shopping at the outlets. Jameson really needs new shoes but we can't seem to find his size crocs. I did find a few fun dresses for the summer and I found a new pair of white shoes. I needed a pair to wear at the ADPi convention and the ones I found will be good for other things this year too. After doing a little shopping on our own we met up with Sarah & her kiddos. (The picture here is from my iPhone while we were taking a break and letting the kids play before heading to Chick-fil-A for lunch. We ended up being there for 2 hours. The kids were all playing so well together! Straight from there Jameson & I headed to a park new our house. The Crooks were meeting us there for me to take some pictures to celebrate Caleb's first birthday. We had such a great time. I shot 359 pictures and from what I could tell on the screen on the camera there are some really cute ones. I'll post a few here once I get them processed. Oh that little guy loves me...which makes me love him even more!
• I just took a quiz about colors. I'm all over the board but slightly lean toward red (which isn't necessarily my favorite color but the description matches). It says "Red Scrapbooker: You have a real passion for this hobby. Your pages are colorful, bold, lively and full of adventure. You may enjoy travel and have many vacation photos. You like your albums to reflect your zest for life and the varied experiences you enjoy." I was close to green, blue & white as well which all blended together does pretty much describe my scrapbooking style. Take the quiz and let me know what it says about YOU!
  
• Our weekend activities...see the pile of mulch? Need I say more except that my AWESOME husband will be spreading about 95% of it. Okay maybe more like 85% with Jameson picking up that other 10%. I don't really help, unless you count supplying food and drink. I've helped in the past but I don't seem to do it the way James prefers and because I tend to get blisters. I'll post some pictures of the updated yard once it is all spread. He does such a great job keeping our home looking beautiful!

Us!

Things have been good lately. Nothing major going on, which has been really nice. Jameson has been on a mega hot wheels kick. The other day he decided to line them all up and look at them all at once. So I of course had to pull out the camera and document it. Oh boy there are lots of them...in total 80 right now (good thing they only run about $.97 each). The really cute part is that this smarty pants can tell you where almost all of them came from...this one came from Uncle Greg's house, this one came from that girl (aka Nana), I got this one with my own money at wal-mart, etc. And for the first time this week he got two duplicates. They are the same cars except different colors. These two pairs at this moment are napping with him, he loves the idea of matching, kinda like rhymes!

As many of you know our family loves Tervis tumblers. This week I found out that the sparkly ones can't go in the microwave. It didn't even dawn on me that they were metal. No one was harmed in this error except the cup.

This other pictures is a silly one I captured of him the other night playing with his new glow stick. He was having a blast with it while watching a little tv.


Yesterday Jameson went to hang out with Jenna for a little while. My friend Sabrina came over to scrapbook. It is always nice to connect with friends through this awesome hobby. I created this page about James' great-grandma E. The day before I had started working on the mother's day gifts. Jameson was having so much fun helping me measure the fabric. Oh he is such a cutie! I did do another page but I created it for a design team call for Vintage Plum. I can't post it elsewhere until after they make the decision. I used the song lyrics from this video on you tube! I love being challenged to create things I don't know that I would have thought of before. I knew I wanted to document Jameson's obsession with Chick-fil-A but I don't think I would have thought to include the lyrics from this silly song on you tube. How about you, what has inspired you lately to create something that you wouldn't have originally done?

We're having friends over for dinner so I'm heading now to get some veggies cut up!

Video!

We've been enjoying some good family time today since James is off of work with a long weekend!

I thought I would share this great inspirational video on how to cut fabric using the cricut! Check it out here. The last few baby gifts I've made have been iron-on transfer using digital elements, next I'm going to be trying this fun option with fabric!

I'm recovering from a short bought of major allergy suffering. I went to the doctor yesterday and am on an antibiotic and allergy meds. I suppose I need to face the fact that I now have seasonal allergies and must take the medication this time of year and in the fall if I don't want to get sick!

Recording the everday moments...

Today it seemed like there were a ton of simple everyday things going on all around us. The odd part was that I had the urge to freeze time. I don't typically have that feeling as I'm excited to live in the moment with the thought that the future holds so much to be excited about. So today some of the moments I wanted to freeze:

• While we were working on Jameson's hat for crazy hat day tomorrow we were painting. We had the hat done and he wanted to continue painting. So I turned around to the scrapbook table and started working on my own project. He ran to the bathroom and when he returned he held his hands in the air and said "Ummm, now where was I?" It was so funny and dramatic. The page here is the project I was working on while the little artist was at play!

• After the painting adventures this morning we had delayed our showering until this afternoon. I was straightening up downstairs and Jameson had gone up without me. When I got up to our bathroom, the boy was laying on the rug, snuggling under a towel. He said "you know it is cooooold up here without clothes on" (with the lowered temps today we didn't turn on the heat upstairs since it is going to warm up soon)

• After we were all cleaned up we were walking down the steps to come back downstairs. Suddenly Jameson tripped (another proven point that he is my son) and stumbled a bit. I was holding a cup and as I reached to stop him from falling even more I spilt a bit of the coffee on him. He was so upset that his clean shirt had gotten messed up. He is so funny about his shirts and white tees while at home (this new shirt would have been his third for the day since he got paint on the first one). So the real reason I'm telling you my son has trouble with steps was what he said once we were sitting down on the couch. He was telling me that Jesus doesn't always walk down the steps either. He likes to slide down on his belly. It is so neat that this boy has daily conversations that involve God and Jesus. It so warms my heart.

Week prior to Easter...

Here we are the week prior to Easter. This time of year the excitement is in the air, especially at FCC. They are anticipating nearly double the normal attendance. We're doing our part by going to the early service and we're taking Greg along! I can't wait to hear the message. If you're in the area and want to join us, let me know!

In preparation for Easter I just read that Rachel Olsen is exploring the readings that Jesus did the week prior to the cross. Sounds like a very interesting study of the bible. Want to join me in this reading?

I also thought I would share another CT project that I did a few weeks ago. The kit hadn't been released yet so I couldn't post it earlier. It is such a simple little thing that I just printed out on the printer here at home and slipped into a plastic frame (the kind with the magnet on the back). It is fun to have fresh pictures on the lockers while I create in the office.

Later this week we will officially be in on spring break at our house. Jameson has one more day of school, which will consist of crazy hat day and an egg hunt. We're excited to have some extra time together. I'm planning to come up with some special activities here at the house and possibly some day trips. Does anyone have any suggestions for fun things to do with a wild almost 4 year old boy that loves car. The only thought I've come up with is to create a cool road one night after he goes to bed so he wakes up to it. If the weather cooperate we may do some day trips or something. Tomorrow it is supposed to possibly snow here. Is it really April? Okay I'm off to have dinner with some friends!

Digiland...

I recently made a big change with regards to my digiland commitments. Earlier this year I had been feeling like God wanted me to step away from this responsibility. I kept praying about it because after so many years of wanting to be on creative teams, surely He wouldn't want me to walk away. So I kept praying about it over the last month. I finally gave in and sent in my notice to the designers. I am sad but at the same time I'm excited to just be creative on my own terms (not that their terms were very strict, really). The reality of it is I have so many products already in my office and on my computer that there isn't a need to keep downloading kits to use only once or twice. My goal over the next few months will be to make things using things I already have on hand, either physically or on my hard drive. I will be sad to not to be quite as active in the forums but at the same time I'm excited to have a little more time away from the laptop (my boys are excited about that part too!)...especially with summer coming. We all know Jameson & I have a daily date with the pool around these parts!

And just as I am walking away I had the honor of having a layout showcased in the After5 ad last week...check it out here. Speaking of After5, check out this product spotlight for Cafe J. Janelle has offered up a 30% off coupon (good until 4/18) for anything in her shop at After5. Be sure to take a peek!

You will still be seeing me around The Hybrid Chick blog. I have a tutorial there in April. And in May I'll have a project featured in the DST Insider. So I won't totally be falling away from digiland!

The Hybrid Chick!

There is an exciting new blog on the net! You MUST go check it out!

Hybrid layouts!

My latest obsession...hybrid layouts! For anyone that isn't sure what that means, it is the combination of paper items with some digital pieces to it. I do a little creating on the computer, print it out and then assemble the page with at least one piece of 12x12 cardstock and sometimes some other IRL (in real life) elements. I'm having so much fun with it. I've challenged myself not to spend any money on the things I'm creating. What that means is that I'm only printing what I can do here at home, using pictures I already have printed and

not buying any more cardstock, embellishments or patterned paper...at least for a little while! I did tell James that I might need to buy some adhesive if I ran out because that is a necessity! So far I'm doing pretty good. I think I've created almost 8 pages with my new 'theory'! I also wanted to let you all know that I hosted the Sugarplum blog yesterday. Check out the fun Easter banner I made for Caroline! I hope you're having a wonderful week!

I almost forgot...here is a picture from our green dinner last night. Green jello, green pizza (Jameson was almost afraid to eat it) and lots of green veggies (cucs, green peppers & lettuce). We had a fun day being green!

Time with Friends!

Lately we've had some great times with various friends. This past weekend we had a typical neighborhood Saturday night...hanging out at the Ratliff's house (we missed you Carrie); eating dinner together and just plan relaxing (it was in the mid 80s without a cloud in the sky). Then on Sunday afternoon we went on a hike with a bunch of other friends from church. Abby put it together and let everyone know that it was about a mile hike. Lucky for us we didn't know how long it really was until we were well on our way. Turns out it was probably about 2 miles each way, and slopped. So the return to our vehicles was a bit tiring, especially on the 12 kiddos that were along for the fun! I had a great time chatting with little Olivia, she was my hiking partner on the return. Normally she is pretty quiet but she chatted almost the entire way back up from the falls. It was so sweet! Notice the new blog header picture? It is from this hiking trip!

Then yesterday, Sarah and the kids came to our house to hang out. We took the kids down to the beach and boy did they have a good time. Now if only we could have set up our scrapbook tables down there...we would all have been in our element! When we did finally get back home the kids were enjoying some popsicles. Jameson was so sweet sharing his with Mallory. He would hold the top of her head so he could get the popsicle up to her mouth. Cute!

Today we headed to visit our other Sarah H! She had her 3rd baby just 3 weeks ago so we headed out to get some pictures! Jameson had such a good time playing with Pheoby! Here are a few of my favorite shots, I couldn't resist including one of Trey...he is such a stinkin' sweet boy!

It is nearly 1 am and I'm still awake. I have been trying to force myself to go to bed by midnight, I guess I didn't make it tonight?! One goal I can say we accomplished in our house...going green with our laundry. We have a clothes line so we can reduce the use of our dryer!

Song Bird!

There is a not for profit digital site called Song Bird. Each month there is a kit created and all of the proceeds go to benefit a different group. This month the kit is Easter themed and all proceeds go to The Make A Wish Foundation. If you are looking for an adorable digital kit for Easter (or really any theme), go grab this kit!

Okay now I'm heading back away from the computer. I've been reorganizing my scrapbook room this week, play outside (lots!) and basically just enjoying some face time with some friends and especially my boys!

Spring has sprung!

Wow have we had a real taste of spring here today! I'm almost in shock at how nice it was since we just has SNOW here this past weekend. Today it was 75 degree, sunny and just simply beautiful. Not only was the weather great, the activities for the day were dreamy too. For me it started out with not waking up to an alarm clock and then getting a few things done around the house (laundry, checked email, blogged, etc). Then I had the pleasure of taking pictures for some new friends from church. Amanda and Dave are expecting their second baby, SOON! She hasn't had maternity shots taken with this pregnancy or with Noah so I offered to take a few shots for her. They came out and we had fun (well at least I did!) taking some pictures. After getting a few with their whole family, James & Dave headed out for a round of golf. We stuck around the house to take a few more pictures and to let the little boys play together. Jameson was so stinkin' sweet to Noah (who is 20 months old). At one point Jameson had a picture from Disney and he was telling Noah all about what he was doing in the picture, who he was with and where it was from. This evening when we were doing prayers before bed Jameson told me that he wanted to pray that he could play with Noah again sometime soon. So sweet! My favorite shots are posted below!

Today I hosted the blog at A5D. There is a little tutorial on the rule of three and creating this hybrid scrapbook layout, take a look here. Another recent project included this birthday card (both projects are clickable for details).

While I was in Ohio I got to go see the movie He's just not that into you, with some friends from college. It is such a fun movie. I had actually purchased the sound track before I even saw the movie. Lots of variety...great fit for my ADHD mind! I can't wait for the dvd to come out, this might become my new Pretty Woman! (For anyone that doesn't know, in high school I used to watch this movie almost every single day while I would do my algebra or calculus homework.)

Speaking of movies, our house has been overtaken by HSM3 (High School Musical 3 for those that might have been under the same rock as I was before this week!). We borrowed the movie from the Ratliff family and every.single.day since Jameson has requested to watch it. I'm not sure if is the basketball that he enjoys or the singing and dancing. Either way he really likes it. These pictures were taken during one showing when he was 'dancing' along with Troy!

Today the post on the compassion international blog is great. Check it out here. I love the image of the father holding the child's hand with the verse "As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord" Joshua 24:15. This is one of my favorite verses. Paired with this picture...awesome!

What have you been doing this weekend with the warmer weather? Tomorrow our family is going hiking with some other families from church...awesome stuff!!

Heat?!

Will you believe me if I tell you there is still snow outside of our house? There is! Not much but there are spots that still have snow. Here is a picture I took last night and the snow is still there now.

This month I'm taking an online class from 2peas. It is called Sew Scrappy Happy. I've been sewing on my projects for sometime but I figured it was time to try out some new techniques and I've enjoyed the inspiration from Jennifer Johner, who is teaching this class. And it was only $5 so why not, right? Here is the layout I completed for week 1. Jameson even tried to help, which is really the reason I don't sew more because this boy wants to open up the machine and figure out exactly how it works. Oh the engineer brained little boy!

On the digital scrapbooking front, you have got to check out this contest. It is being organized by After5 & Shabby Pickle. I'm half thinking about stepping down from the CT at A5 just so I can participate...JK!

Now I'm heading to fix something for dinner. We've been avoiding the first floor today as we're having issues with the heater down there. It was only 57 while we were eating lunch. Not too bad but since nap time we're been hanging out upstairs where it is closer to 70. Oh how easy it is to take things for granted. When things like this happen I find myself pausing to pray for those that don't have half as much as we do.