Friday, November 14, 2008

I forgot these 2 layouts......

I forgot to include a couple of layouts in that last post, I don't know what I was thinking, well I guess I just wasn't thinking. Wellsville had a bonfire again this year before the football game against Southern Local, it was a nice night for the bonfire, it was just a bit cool so that was nice with the big ole fire. I took loads and I do mean loads of pictures from the time the parade lined up until the fire had burned out that night, I think I took like 100 shots, thank goodness for digital cameras. I did these 2 layouts but there will be more to come from that night, the first one of the layouts is of Doug and the twins, if you look close enough you can even tell that Chad was grinning just a little bit, I only had to threaten to make him stand there until I got a smile to get the grin so I took what I could get. I never have a problem getting Chelsea to smile, that girl has a beautiful smile and does not mind sharing it. The second layout is of Chelsea and my sister-in-law Karen, bless her heart, Karen is the shortest one in the family, when I married Doug she was still taller than the twins, not any more, they have certainly shot up over her in height.





You can find this really pretty kit designed by Katelynn's Designs at Treasured Scraps. Be sure to check out all her kits at the store.

Still Scrappin'

I wanted to post some more layouts I have done this past couple of days, I am really enjoying being on the Creative Team at Plain Digital Wrapper, everyone is very friendly and eager to help one another, that is something that is wonderful to see and be a part of.

This first layout I am posting is a picture of Madison, she had only been home from the hospital a few days when this was take, if I am not mistaken this is one of the ones I took on her 2 week birthday. Beth had laid her down on a nice soft stuffed tiger that was Johnathan's but he said his baby sister could have it now since he is a big boy. Johnathan was amazed at how small Madison was and he acted like he was a bit afraid to touch her for a while, thankfully he has gotten over that. Now he wants to play with her but he is still not keen on holding her, he gets a look on his face like he is afraid she is going to break and this is one sturdy little girl now.



I made this layout using a kit from Gypsy Couture called Starlight Dreams you can get this kit and many more at Plain Digital Wrapper.

Christmas around my in-laws house is crazy, every year my mother-in-law says she is cutting back, not going to buy so much again this year, we all smile at her and nod yes because we all know better. Every year the living room is filled to overflowing. We all pile in the house and start munching out like crazy since we all bring stuff to eat, we pile our plates high with good stuff then head into the living room, everyone sits in the same spot every year, Mom gets the big green chair, Dad sits in his computer chair, Don and Karen sit on the sofa, Kathy sits in the rocker, Ron sits on the other chair. Doug and I snag the love seat, Chelsea plops down on the floor next to Doug and Chad gets to hand out the presents. Everyone is given 1 gift, then the first person opens their present and shows it all around, then the next one goes and this goes on until everyone has opened their gift, then it starts all over. This takes a while since there are so many to open, during the midst of all of this Don is busy sending Chelsea out to the kitchen to fill his plate back up, I Doug and I usually sneak out from time to time to get more goodies to munch on also. Then poor Chad is stuck handing out the presents and doesn't get to eat, but that's alright since he makes up for it later. The layout here was taken at Christmas 2005, we always try to get some family pictures in there some time and these pictures were to cute to pass up using on a layout, the one of the twins I have used before but I just never get tired of looking at those expressions on the kids. Chad is always so stoic and will not smile for a picture so I have to catch him before he is ready.



I made this layout using a kit from Gypsy Couture called Farmhouse Country, the kit will be in the store soon and I know you are going to want to grab this one, you can find all of Gypsy Couture's kits at Plain Digital Wrapper

My mother-in-law is a florist and really has a knack for decorating Christmas trees, I guess from listening to Doug and his brothers Mom always decorated her tree with ornaments that they had made and multi-colored lights, well she got a new tree and she really does a gorgeous job on this tree, she does it all in gold with tons of the little white lights, it is breath-taking to look at. Now you have to know that the "boys" (boys being the term that Doug and his brothers are referred as)are all grown ups, adult men who live in their own homes and have their own families now, these "boys" could not believe that their Mother would change trees, she is not using their homemade ornaments anymore, these are grown men for goodness sakes, I just laugh at them since they are so silly and I just wish I could decorate a tree like Mom does.



I made this layout using Gypsy Couture's Farmhouse Christmas which will be in the store soon at the link above for Plain Digital Wrapper.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

My first assignment on the Plain Digital Wrapper Creative Team

I am so excited having been chosen to be on the Creative Team at Plain Digital Wrapper, I got my first assignment yesterday and the kits are absolutely wonderful. I had a lot of fun working on layouts with all 3 of these kits and everyone I have come into contact with on the CT are very nice and also very helpful so I think I really lucked into a great situation. I really hope that everyone will take a minute to stop in at Plain Digital Wrapper and have a look around, I am sure you will find lots of great things to work with in your digital scrapping.

The first kit I worked with is called Grunge Baby by Athena, the minute I saw this I knew just what pictures would go perfectly with it, Steven and Johnathan had a mud fest one day, they had a blast playing in the mud, I was not sure which one of them were having the best time but they sure were laughing and giggling a bunch. The end results of their playtime was muddy clothes, muddy feet, muddy hands and muddy faces but hey, everything is washable and a little dirt don't hurt.


This kit is beautiful, the background papers are fantastic with texture and I love texture, the elements are plentiful and there is just no end to the usefulness of this kit. You can find Athena's Grunge Baby kit at Plain Digital Wrapper.

When Beth went into labor a little over a month early and had to be transferred by ambulance to St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Youngstown we thought we would have plenty of time to get there, so we stopped for gas, Steven was hungry so we got subs from Subway to eat in the car, we finally get going and before we were halfway there Steven gets a phone call, it was Beth and she was being admitted to Labor and Delivery already, so Doug drove a little bit faster, as we are getting into Youngstown Steven got another phone call, the doctor was there and he decided she would need a C-Section, Doug drove a little faster, as we are trying to find the parking lot for the ER Steven got yet another phone call, they are getting ready to wheel her into a delivery suite, Doug really is driving way to fast now trying to get into the parking lot. Steven bailed out of the car and goes running for the ER entrance, they direct him to Labor and Delivery and very fortunately he made it upstairs, got changed into scrubs with the help of a nurse and made it into the delivery room before the events began to unfold. Beth was of course glad to see him but was a little miffed that we didn't bring her a sub..... Madison made her entrance into our world at 9:00 pm that night and was whisked away to the NICU after the kids got to hold her for a minute, it seemed like it was forever before we were allowed in to see her. Steven was taken in first, and she was doing pretty good, she needed just a little help and was on a little bit of CPAP but she was pink and pretty and had all the required body parts so we could deal with a little help. When they allowed Doug and I in he took one look at her and he was a goner, absolute goner over the little thing. Maddy weighed 5 lbs and 15 oz, seems Beth had developed gestational diabetes in the last 2 weeks of the pregnancy and Maddy had really grown which turned out to be in her favor actually. Maddy spent only 10 days in the NICU, she got a dose of Surfactant to help her lungs and she started to fly, the layout here is of Doug and Madison on Oct. 30th of this year, as you can see our little miracle is one healthy, happy baby and she has a Pappy who is totally stuck on her.


The layout was made using a really cute kit by TammyKat, there are so many wonderful pieces in this kit it was hard to chose which ones to work with. You can find TammyKat's Smitten kit at Plain Digital Wrapper.

I love boys, I have some I love more than others but I love boys, they are fun and adventurous and full of wonder about the world. I am sure girls are too but I just have more experience with little boys, Steven was always so curious about everything, he asked a million questions a day it seemed, now he is getting paid back, his little boy Johnathan who just lights up my heart with that smile is always wanting to know everything. That child has more why questions than I could ever imagine, I have always heard that you pay for your raising, well, Steven is paying for all those questions he asked me, he was always satisfied pretty well with any answer I came up with to his questions, Johnathan is not so easily satisfied, he does not take well to the answer "just because", oh no, he needs more than that to satisfy his curiosity. My wish for my adorable grandson is that he strives to be the very best Johnathan he can be and that he always reach for what he wants, I would give him the moon and the stars if I could. So my little angel boy, always reach for the stars.....


When I saw this kit I fell in love with it, the word art alone is enough to make you want the kit but wow, everything that is included in it is unreal, wonderful background papers and elements that just scream to be on a scrapbook page. The kit was designed by April Stalker and it's called Gimme Space, you can pick this kit up at Plain Digital Wrapper.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Another Freebie

I have some exciting news, at least for me it is exciting. I applied for the Creative Team at Plain Digital Wrapper and was accepted to be part of their team, I was thrilled when I got the email asking me to join them. I owe a huge thank you to my friend Enigma who really encouraged me to give it a try, I never really thought I would be good enough to get on a store's team like PDW. I have put together some Christmas stuff that I made that will coordinate with the paper packs shown in an earlier post (those are still downloadable) as a freebie and a way to celebrate my good news. I hope you enjoy these and can find something to use them for. There are no drop shadows on the elements, that is just on the preview. If you have a minute to post a comment it would be appreciated, if you don't that's ok too.


You can download the elements kit HERE.

Monday, November 3, 2008

I've been scrapping today.

Well I started scrapping this evening when Doug went to work and have been doing it ever since. I did find out this morning that my blog was picked up by DigiFree which is pretty cool, I will be making some more stuff in the near future to put up as freebies so I hope I get a little more exposure that way. Well, I started working on these layouts this evening and decided to try something a bit different, I made my daughter a tag to put up on her MySpace page, I hope she likes it.



This is another layout done from Homecoming of Chad and his date, the color almost matches her dress and if you look close enough you can almost see that Chad is grinning just a bit in one of the poses.





I don't think that I had ever scrapped a page of Ron and Kathy, that is my other brother-in-law and his partner, we were all gathered at Mom and Dad's last year after Christmas for a little dinner with Dad's side of the family.



This picture of Chelbug I took last year at Christmas time, the kids think I am obsessed with my camera, I don't know why they think that, just because I lurk behind the corner with it all the time, geesh, they are gonna give me a complex or something. I do enjoy taking pictures, don't want to be in them but I do love taking them and I have such a great family and they indulge me so it's all good.



I almost forgot to add the other 2 layouts I did today, I finally got around to scrapping this picture of Ruthie from Halloween LAST year, what can I say, so many pictures, so little time.



This is a man whom I have a lot of respect for, no, he is not my father, he is my sister-in-law's father and I consider her to be very lucky to have him.




Sunday, November 2, 2008

Freebie Christmas papers

I made some background papers playing around and I really like doing the papers, not so good on making the embellishments but I love paper, I think it is my favorite thing in a scrapbooking kit. Anyhow, these are just some textured papers, I hope someone can find some use for them.






You can download Paper Pack 1 and Paper Pack 2 from those links, now it is time for me to get back to scrapping pictures of my family.