Just ramblings

Well I have been asked a number of times if I am going to get back into the whole blogging thing again or what. I have been so busy lately that it just dropped to the bottom of the list. I have 4 paper packs that need elements, 2 of those by Jan 31st, I have 3 maybe 4 layouts I need to do within the next 6 days or so, a big project I am working on, Colors Elements that need making since I am getting emails about not finishing them lol, um and like 100 other things I need to do - the most major ones being getting my house, body and children in order, and restarting homeschooling after this long break we have been having.

My mom wants me to start going to hot yoga with her. I guess they have an intro offer that is $10 for 10 visits to see if you like it. And they have a class that starts at 8:30PM. So if only I can get my night owl children to go to bed a couple hours earlier I'm set. Does anyone else have children that are SO different that even their sleep schedules are different? I am a night owl, Cassie and Adric are night owls, yet Frankie like his Daddy are polar opposites. I have spent YEARS trying to get Frankie to start getting more on the other children and my schedules. No matter if for weeks he doesn't go to bed until midnight he is still up at 7 or 7:30 at the LATEST. I have been at it for years, and nothing. So Clay now thinks it is time that I get the other children and myself on an earlier schedule. So I am starting to step it down 1/2 hour a week until we all get to bed at a regular time. Though I did stay up until 3 AM last night because of a silly obsession, I have otherwise been going to bed at 12:30 or so. Which anyone who knows me knows that I go to bed around 3 or 4 every night/morning, passing my hubby who wakes up at 3:30 AM for work. I have always wanted to be a morning person. I always have wanted to wake at 5, get laundry and breakfast going, and be able to drink tea and read my Bible and then wake the children for breakfast. Then again I have always wanted to be June Cleaver. So I guess I am going to try and start being an early riser and going to hot yoga. Life will be good.

So I haven't mentioned here yet that I am going to be selling at A Cherry on Top. I am very privileged to be working with so many other talented designers. Honestly I sure hope they put a lot of time, money and effort into marketing because somehow overnight they have aquired an AMAZING group of designers to start their store. I have no idea how it all will go but there is nothing to lose and I would love to see some great things happen for some of the great ladies participating in this venture. I hope it brings some great opportunities our way. I do have 2 paper packs done for the opening and am starting the elements. Maybe some sort of sneak peek tomorrow. Maybe.

Yunno this whole thing of not posting my HOF layouts is killing me. I am not someone who can crank out loads of layouts and keeping these aside wouldn't be a huge deal. It has taken me forever just to do the ones I have. And while I don't think I will even get an honorable mention, I have put a lot into some of these layouts and just am longing to post them here. Thanks to all who have encouraged me to keep working on the HOF and get it sent out. A main fear I have at this point is that I have a horrible super old printer and am SO afraid the layouts will look horrible printed on it and I don't know what I will do if they do.

Thanks to all who have emailed and commented to me about all the new kits I have been making. And a huge thanks to all who have been supporting me by buying my stuff in the store. It has meant a lot to me to not feel totally invisible lately. Oops icky diaper to change. hey it's 11:30, why is this baby still awake?? I thought I was stepping it down.

Okay here's another Warm pack. Only one more left in the warm series!! The last one is gonna have red I think. Yeah definitely red.

Ahh so I guess I have been tagged by both Regina and those sweet Eggers!

1. 4 jobs you've had in your life:
- cashier at a fancy high class pizza joint
- the amazing job of staying home to raise children, keep house and keep a happy hubby
- running a traveling kitchen that fed at Rainbow Gatherings
- um...

2. Four Movies you would watch over and over:
- Rudy ( I LOVE Rudy and have watched it 1000 times and cry every time)
- Goonies
- Empire of the Sun ( I have loved this movie since I was young and still love it just as much as i did then)
- Minority Report ( okay so stupid but I watch it whenever there is nothing on all the time)

3. 4 places you have lived:
- Taos, NM - lived out in the middle of the desert for years with no electricity in a very nicely furnished schoolbus complete with recliner, queen sized bed, propane stove and oven, bookshelves, wood stove - just rockin in general
- Middle TN - still own our home there and miss every single day that I am not there tending to the garden and watching chickens come running every morning
- Ca - ICK! Live there right now. Um did I say ICK?
- On the road- I hitchhiked around the country for about 2 years

4. 4 TV shows you love to watch:
- The OC (okay I admitted already some of these are dumb)
- Battlestar Gallactica (Hands down one of the BEST, if not THE best show on right now)
- The West Wing
- Project Runway

5. 4 Places you've been on vacation:
- DisneyWorld
- I don't know that I have been anywhere else

6. 4 Websites you visit daily:
- SBB
- 2peas
- Private Christian mothers board
- Hmmm... nowhere else I can think of, but I do read a few blogs everyday like the FAB miss Gina's famous blog

7. 4 of your favorite foods:
- Bread
- Pizza
- Lemon Bars
- Magic Shell! All ice cream is better with Magic Shell

8. 4 places you would rather be right now:
- Taking a bath
- In a peaceful place
- In a happy place
- At dinner with my sweetheart

Hmm I need to make lunch so I am not going blog hopping to see who has and who hasn't been tagged. Maybe tonight. Thanks guys, I needed something a bit light today.

Forgot I already had these done from weeks ago so here's the preview for these. These probably will be at least a week before they come out. I had that pink paper for like 2 months and never could make the right things for it. I made the solid pink then green paper and just loved em for some reason. It has made me start a new project actually!! But anyways, the first of the soft papers.

Okay a sneak peek, though these won't be out until next week :) Here are the next group. I really need to just finish all my work stuff and scrap some. I have been making these warm kits because I was really looking for something a bit "different" for some of my HOF layouts. of course I have 6 layouts done already and just finished these, so after I finish the elements for this one I am taking a break for a while to finish up my layouts and put some of my creativity into the layouts instead. I haven't posted any LOs anywhere for so long it is totally weird. At least the layouts I did for the past couple newsletters can be posted soon. I need to do that. I hate not putting anything in my gallery for months at a time. One of my major resolutions for this year is to really scrap. I always find it very sad that there are a lot of designers that get into designing because they love to scrap and then never do it. I don't want to go through this whole process with little layouts. I must admit that doing these HOF layouts has made me really reevaluate why and what I scrap about. I am not even sure that a couple of my entries are as loved by me as they were a few weeks ago, but they were so real and raw when I made them that they will stay in the entry regardless. Okay, kitchen is a mess and I am WAY behind schedule. Was SO not supposed to make papers today.

And the Elements :)

Here's another in the Dirty Line. Deep, rich color and texture. Ooo made one of my HOF layouts with this one :) That's all I'll say about that lol. These should be out Friday or so. The warm and fun packs will go in TOMORROW I think. LOL

Here's the elements for the second fun kit

Real quick, can I say how much I hate hate hate the "what are your favorite designers?" threads that seem to pop up each month at 2peas? Oh well.

Ya ever just kick yourself? So all these amazing CT calls go out, and I decide I am not going to apply. Just not. So now... all the girls are tooting and I am feeling so sad and stupid for not applying. Doing the HOF has really made me love scrapping again, has made me so comfortable in "my" style and I have grown by leaps and bounds. Now I WISH I was on some CTs so that I had more fun stuff to scrap with ( more than mine and Jen's stuff since it seems to be all I use lately). Oh well, you make your bed you lie in it. Now are there any more amazing designers that haven't made CT calls? *cry* Seems like everyone has theirs in order, Gina, Ash, Jen, Modscraps, Meredith (my friend, who I just kicked myself for not applying to) and on and on. All these FAB ladies with FAB designs and I didn't apply? OKay makes no sense. So all amazing designers out there who haven't made CT calls, let em know. lol. And let me know this whole thing of not ever posting your HOF layouts, sucks.

Okay okay another set of flowers LOL LOL. But I was making these mini flowers for something and just fell in love with them. So the flowers began. And threw in a big bonus carnationy type flower. Another soon to come pack. Hmmm think I'll ever put anything in the store?

And here are the soon to be coming Warm #2 Elements

Here are the warm 1 elements.

Here is a sneak peek at some stuff I have coming out. I agonized and agonized over names for these. Finally Sonya said I should just number them. I mean really I never can come up with all these witty names, naming my papers, etc with coordinating names, etc. I had these ideas for lines that were a bit different for me, so here are the first couple. I will keep adding to the line until I have a certain number then they will be consolidated onto CD. So far there are fun - more bright springy colors, probably all for girls - we'll see about that part. Then there is warm. I found this great website that had amazing abstract art. I was so inspired by all the warm deep colors they were using. So all the pallettes for those come from abstract art. Hmm maybe I will post later the pictures of the art so you can see the process. Another one in the works will be the Play line and it will probably be more for boys. Any ideas on lines would be greatly appreciated. Sorry to all who are waiting on Colors Elements. I had a huge creative block all December and these are what broke me out of it. So hopefully here soon the Colors elements will start coming back to me. Until then, I am gonna make the elements for these packs and see what happens. Don't know when they will be out, maybe when I have a few more element packs so I can upload them all at once.

The Fun #1 Elements

Fun #2

Warm #2

Warm #1

Warm #3

Oh the Hall of Fame

Okay so finally I have started my Hall of Fame entries. I know I have no real chances of even getting an honorable mention. I don't know why I started saying I was gonna do it. Probably for vain reasons, or some hope of some sort of recognition of sorts. But I got it. I started my HOF entries finally. For so long I have tried to emulate here and there some of my favorite scrappers as I try and find who I am as a scrapper. But yesterday I sat looking at my 3 layouts. They weren't graphic white space or clean lines, no curves, just my style. Slightly tilted, layered, inked maybe even a bit cluttered but mine. They feel like me. It's funny because 100 times I have heard people say they are doing the HOF to "push" them. And I know I have said it myself. It seemed like the right reason. And with the last layout that I did, I finally get that too. I spent hours tweaking that layout. Hours. It was the "life changing event" assignment. I found digiscrapping during the hardest time in my life. Since that day I have needed to do a layout about it. But in all honesty I probably never would. I'd put it off forever. So I sat looking at this layout that took 6 hours or more lol about the hardest time in my life and realize why I needed to challenge myself. I can't wait to work to start another layout.