How much is too much mojo?

I got a little busy over Father's day weekend. And didn't get a chance to post last weeks mojo monday's card.. so here it is! Mojo # 143. I still have to work on this week's.. that'll probably be posted late too, but I LOVE this week's design. What you havne't looked? Well, go here! 

Next up, is the newest How Much is Too Much challenge: 1999. A 1 word title. 9 squares. 9 patterned papers. 9 brads. My total count: 1 word title (check). 10 squares (including the metal bookplate that's square, many are tucked under other squares and peeking out- check) 9 patterned paper: orange stars, green circles, colourful stars, black with dots, yellow polkadots, stripes, grid background, stripe circles, and a tiny red star on the last E in reece (check). And finally, 9 brands, 5 colored, 4 black (check).

This next card was inspired by my DSD. She informed me earlier this week that she thought a perfect wedding dress would be black with splatters of neon colored paint everywhere. She's 17. Where she came up with this idea, I'll never know....

And finally, I channeled my inner Michelle Zindorf. I love her work, She does a lot with silhouette's and unique ink patterns that she creates with masking techniques and ink rollers. And she always gives a tutorial on how she makes her card. so here is my take...

yea, me.

I walked 2 miles today. I finished 2 layouts. I took 128 photos, mostly of my nephew... Did you catch the begining of that? I walked 2 miles. It's not much. But when you're 100lbs over weight, it's a start.

I also learned today, that while there are lots of strictly digital companies operating, there are only a few paper companies that offer their products digitally as well. I first got curious about this when I picked up Zoe Pearns "Persimmion ". The colors of this kit, as well as the flower patterns are very similar to the My Minds Eye original "Bloom and Grow" line. I looked a little closer and, bam, there it was, in type. designed by Zoe Pearn...right there on the MME website...

Then a thread at 2 peas popped up today about which paper lines have also gone to digital. I learned that Carina Garner, Jen Allyson, and Deena Rutter (sold at design house digitals) also design lines for MME as well as the afore mentioned Zoe Pearn (Sweet Shoppe Designs). And that Chrystal Wilkerson's sweet summer line (sold at jessicasprague.com - used on my HMITM DT entry) was picked up by a new company called Echo Park. And that along with Basic Grey a few other companies have joined the digi revolution! KI memories, Kaiser Craft, DCWV (digitally known as 300dpi), and SEI all offer digi products. I wonder should this continue; if there will be more people switching to digi or hybrid? time will tell, but for this scrapper, this information makes it easier for her to think about parting with most of her paper stash.

Would I be trading one stash for another? Yep. You betcha... But then I wouldn't run out of my favorite paper, or hoard it for years knowing I'll never be able to use it again. See, look at the layout I did today...See that beautiful, just right kraft colored cardstock? It's by Vinnie Pearce (sold at 2 peas), it cost $0.99. I have used it 5 times. I'll never run out of Kraft paper again. I love that.

Notes From The Week & a Card...

This week:

Monday: I was laughed at by a drug rep. The office was listening to the radio, and a old Hootie & The Blowfish song was on.  I was caught, dancing in my seat to the refrain of "hold me, hold me, 'cause I want to get higher and higher". The man stopped in his tracks, did a double take and laughed. I just smiled and kept dancing... till that annoying invention called a telephone rang.

Tuesday: Card class with my Stampin' Up demonstrator. Carol is just an awesome, and her cards are uber cute! I love hanging out with the girls for a couple of hours ever couple of weeks, and she let us sneak peak the new catalogue... you're gonna LOVE it!

Wednesday & Thursday: Home Depot delivered the new dryer to my DBF's house, and I was asked by one of the nurses in the office if I would make a card for her nieces high school graduation... needs it by Friday. No problem.  I used a set of $1 stamps that can be found at Michael's (from last summer). and see those tiny tassels!? White embroidery floss colored with (you guessed it) Copics, to match and glued down and a clear spica glitter marker to add a bit of sparkle!

Friday: Took photos of the dogs playing with the hose & in the kiddie pool (see post below to meet my dogs) also got a really good pics of some of the flowers around the yard. This one is of the lavender by the front walk... and I played in PSE 7,just for fun!

Saturday: Today, I'm a blogging fool. But also wanted to share some fun scrap stuff with you... first, Jessica Sprague is going to have a free class on digital card making, to celebrate her sites 3rd birthday. They are also having a large blog hop with a total of 33 freebies (this weekend only)! I love freebies. I bet you do too. Second, if you have time, I'd loved it if you checked out Operation Write Home. They are a non-profit group that sends hand made (blank on the inside cards) to our armed force members serving overseas so that they can write home to their family and friends. Since I have more than a few friends, and family in different branches of the military, this is one group I keep close in mind and heart. Thirdly, 2 fonts for you... Matchbox and Chunk. I love Chunk, it looks so much like the QK font Roxy. bet you could mix and match in a breeze.  And last, I love this blog, she has some amazing ideas!

Oh, and on a personal note, I'm getting a bit nervous about the HMITM DT call entry.. I should know by Monday if I made it onto the team,  but to be honest, I'm biting my nails to the nubs and crossing my fingers!

Meet the Dogs...

Ever heard the phrase, "worked like a dog"? Well not in this house...they don't work hard at all! My Step- dad says that when he dies he wants to come back as a dog, as long as he is a dog at our house.

Meet my fur babies that bark...
First up, head to head is Spirit (left) and Bella (right). The are both Shiloh Shepherds. Bella is a beautiful big girl. At 5 years old she stands close to 30 inches at her shoulders, and weights about 110lbs. Spirit is our 6 month old puppy that is about 65lbs. With any luck, we hope that she will rival Bella in size when fully mature between 2 and 3 years.

This is Bella in our wading pool. We've has this for 4 years. We got it for Bella, for this purpose...to lay in the water and get cool in the hot New England summer... for 4 years she has wanted NOTHING to do with the pool. Nothing. Wouldn't even drink out of it. And then Spirit came into our life. Spirit loves everything about water. Since the weather started to get warm, Spirit has laid in the pool numerous times, without a care in the world. We are pretty sure that watching spirit play, and learning that the pool is nothing to be scared of has brought out Bella's inner puppy.  The pool has about 6 inches of cold well water in it, A I think she looks like a hippo in a tea cup. Watching her lay down it we realized that we need a bigger pool, maybe oval shaped. Now that she's got hang of it, she spent all afternoon running around, then laying in the water, then running some more.

And this is our adorable Spirit. Aka: Zoomie, Thief, & Sneaky. She is highly intelligent, and stubborn. Thankfully, she'll do just about anything you ask of her, for a cookie. So, we use food as a huge motivational tool. Despite her stealing dirty socks from the laundry, flip-flops from you feet if she can, or mail from the office garbage can, she is a good girl. She just has a healthy amount of puppy energy to burn off (or as we like to say - she needs to get her zoomie's out). She likes to play with Bella, swim, chase the water from the hose...And she likes to chase Thor, and when he isn't looking she'll try and thief his ball away too.

And finally,Thor. He is my "best man". He's a 10 yr old Shepherd mix rescue that we have had for about 5 years. He has a bit of a split personality. We think someone may have beaten him while he was inside, because all he does is hide in his crate. But outside, he's a happy go lucky boy. He definitely has more of a working dog attitude, and sometimes he's too serious to play with the girls, but he loves to play ball games. We also thinks he had a fair amount of training in his life before us. He knows way more than the basic commands, and he does things on his own like, identify our car by sniffing the wheels an all the car handles. Or he'll perimeter search a new place before settling. He is also forever the guardian and babysitter. Occasionally we'll let our cat, Hootie, outside. He generally stays in the yard, but if he should happen to wander out of sight, we tell Thor to "find Hootie, find the cat" and he searches util Hootie is found. He's also the first to alert us when someone has arrived home.

Crap, I Forgot...

Pottery barn. have you looked at their stuff lately? It's always good...but WOW! So freakin' pretty! I love their color combos, the mix of warm and cool, muted and bright. And the way they ties the same colors together for indoors and out, as the season change.. Now I don't own a singe thing of theirs, not even as a gift, but, what great inspiration.. and we could all use more of that, right!? 

                                     

The Plan That Fell Apart

The Plan: Sleep in. Get a LO or 2 done. Figure out how to customized the blogger background to something that matches my header. Go home celebrate an early fathers day with DSD and DB & families...

Well...got a call last night,nephew has a fever of 102. canceling plans for early fathers day... not the end of the world.  things went down hill from there. I didn't sleep in. I did get 2 LO's done and bought a new digital kit from basic grey. the I spent the rest of the day FIGHTING with blogger about getting a background loaded.. and when it finally did, it was wrong, totally, completely, utterly wrong. so after 4 tries I'm giving up for the day. I reverted it to what I started with... which will work for now. And I'll try again another day.

Plans for Home Improvement...

This week was more or or less unremarkable. Yep. It's true. Back to work, same old routine. some weeks are just like that... and then I got to see my DBF. We went to Chili's (there went my diet) and saw the new Princes of Persia movie (it was pretty good, Jake Gyllenhaal never looked so irresistibly sexy). 

Today we ordered new laminate to cover the existing kitchen counter tops, we also purchased a new dryer. We lost ours to the flooding about 6 weeks ago, but DBF finally tested the washer, and that at least still worked. The basement seems to be at a stand still, at the moment. We have the demo work done, but need to get some rewiring done before we can put insulation and drywall up. We also don't have anyway to get the dry wall home...but I hope we'll get that done before he gets the kitchen started. Once the basement is done I want to start working on the 1/2 bath on the 1st floor. No major over haul here, just some patching of holes, maybe a new lighting unit for above the sink, and maybe build a frame for the mirror,  and some paint. but as anyone who does home repairs knows, it the prep work that takes the longest, and it's the little details that make it look complete.

I'll keep you posted about home improvements as we go...

Did you know that there was a huge thread over at 2 peas discussing paper v. digi scrapping?! I was shocked to see some of the opinions and comments... I love both mediums, and I think both have some amazingly talented creators! I was saddened that some people still think that digi scrapping isn't real scrapping. I thought the point was to capture memories and moments in a meaningful way for you and your family. I'm glad I missed the "no, digital isn't really scrapping" memo, because the LO I did today would not have been possible to do with paper. The photos are from last summer, and I just can't get over the fact that we are closing in on the Litha (the summer solstice), and it's been a year since I've seen my Colorado family. it feels like it's been a lifetime...

Want to know how I did this? Easy peasy, lemon squeezy! Ha ha. I know, I hear you groaning from here. But really, it wasn't hard.

First I picked the photos I wanted to work with. I cropped the the smaller photos down to get rid of any distracting stuff in the background of the photos. I then picked a photo to make big, I chose one that had some "white space" in the upper right hand corner. Note: white space is any space where there isn't a subject, or something going on in a photo or a lo. In this case the sandy beach was my white space. I decided that I didn't like the hard edge the big photo created so I took my eraser tool. and chose a soft brush (if I had been painting this brush would look like an airbrush spray, but on erase it erases in the same pattern, creating a soft edge). I turned down the opacity down to about 30%, so that I only took a little away at a time as all I wanted to do was get rid of the hard edge rather than create a new hard edge. so I clicked on the hard edge about 4 times to get rid of it entirely then I went in about 1/2 a stroke inside the edge of the photo and took it down 2 clicks, creating a feathered edge.

Next I picked a neutral cardstock called "old paper" and over layered it onto of my big picture, I then reduced the opacity of the paper to about 50% so my photo was able to be seen through it. (if you look close you can see the text from the "old paper" on the photo. Note: If I didn't want that look I could have chosen to use my eraser brush again where the subjects are and gotten rid of the paper all together to make the photo stand out more, but I liked it this way and left it.

Then I took those 3 cropped photos and layered/placed them on top of the old paper, and reduced their opacity to about 85% so they blended a little, too. I added a couple of sea related elements (sand, netting, and word art, shells and clock) and put them all overlapping the small photos. I added a text box, and poof! Finished.

Alrighty, here are the 2 cards I made this week! and as an added bonus a layout too. The LO is for the HMITM challenge # 134. 6 of one and half a dozen of the other. I used 6 different patternd papers and 6 different things that were sticky. ( yes the challenge called for for stickers, but what makes a sticker? glue already on the back!) so I used 1.a flocked sticker, 2. 3 leather photo corners, 3. Chip circle sticker, 4. title, 5. journaling, and 6. brackets. all which came with glue on the back!

As for the 2 cards, as hard as I try this week, I cannot seem to get into the mojo monday card design. But as you can see there is no mojo loss here. The first card stamp is by Sarah Kay, and the second is just pp and a QK kite diecut.

And lastly, becasue I know Whome is going to want to see these.. photos from the week, Rigby, helping to guard my scrap table. If it's not made with cat hair, it's not made with love! And my nephew at 5 months old.

Just wait...

for tomorrow's post! I have 2 adorable cards to show off, but I'm too tired to get pic's edited right now. But I didn't forget about that fantastic watermelon salad recipe...

Ingredients:
Butter crunch or Cobb lettuce
1 seedless watermelon
3oz of finely crumbled feta cheese
Fragment mint
1/4 cup of oil
14/ cup of rice vinegar
dash of pepper

Directions:
Mix Oil, vinegar and a shake or to of pepper in a small bowl. Set aside. (Ta da, you have made dressing!)
Finely chop the mint. set aside.
Take the watermelon off the rind, place in a large bowl.
Pour the dressing over the watermelon. then toss to coat the watermelon.
Place leaves of lettuce on a dish, and spoon watermelon mix onto leaves.
Sprinkle feta cheese on top of watermelon.
Add mint
Serve.

Tips, tricks and other suggestions:
The most amount of time in the prep work  is used cutting the watermelon. You might want to do this the day before. This is suppose to be a savory dish so using olive or safflower oil is best (and both are considered healthy oils). This does use an entire seedless watermelon, so be ready to serve to a crowd, but expect some will want seconds. Don't add salt to the dressing, the feta is salty enough. If you want have this over the course of a few days, then simply cut the watermelon, and mint a head of time. Make the dressing and set aside, and put all ingredients together when ready to eat, because adding the vinegar to the high sugar content of the watermelon will get the melon fermenting fast. The freshly chopped mint really does add a new dimension to the salad, don't skip it. Also any lettuce will work but The butter crunches wavy leaves and bright green color make for impressive presentation. Cobb is also a lighter green and it's large leaves make for a pretty, natural bowl to serve the watermelon.

signing out for the night.

Off to a Good Start

Ok I should know better than to stay up until almost 3 in the morning the Sunday before I go back to work after a week off... Wait I do know better, but my body doesn't like to listen. I tossed and turned, and finally got up and re-watched last weeks Glee episode on Hulu (yes, yes - I'm a gleek, becasue who doesn't want to live a world that breaks out into song and dance?). Yet despite the obivoius lack of sleep, I had a decent day at work. Nothing and no-one got under my skin. I came home to happy fur babies. I made a wonderful watermelon salad (the recipe I will try and get posted tomorrow). I got new photos of my 5 month old nephew that were e-mailed to me...

And then I turned on itunes, checked  my blog and I have not one, but two comments! I so did a little happy dance! Thank you ladies. I know I may not always comment about comments, but it was a really nice surprise. Megan, yes, I did send you that card (and as instructed I hope you have it at work), becasue you are amazing! and as a double bonus I had a new follower too! and to think all I had wanted to do today was share some Scrappy/card stuff, and share a favorite photo....

So, here we go, really quick, A reminder that Mojo Monday has a new challenge out today, as does the How Much is Too Much? blog. Speaking of HMITM, I recieved a quick email stating that they recieved my application and LO for the design team, and that I should hear on the 21st of June as to weither I made the cut (fingers crossed). There are some amazing, talented ladies trying out for this and I would be honored to be chosen.

The next thing was to introduce you to 2 (new to me blogs) the first is A Guy's Guide to Surviving Scrapbooking, and the second one is No Bad Photos. So here is my not perfect, no bad photo to share with you...

This is a not so perfect photo that I love.  I have done just about everything I can do it in PSE 7 to get it to look more clear,  Ive tried changing it to black and white, played with layers, ect. This version is the one I like the best. This was my first wedding photography job, last summer. Of course then I was so excited! Every photo was SO good! I took over 700 photos. Now a year later I look back, and while some are still good, most are not. It was a beautiful sunny day, the wedding was at 2:00. I had over exposed skin, and deep shadows on faces. I had weird shadow patterns from trees... but this one stands as my favorite. Sure, It's a little blurry. But I love the FEEL of the photo. I love the moment alone, in their own world, fairytale quality of the photo. I love that they are facing each other,their stances casual, comfortable, and yet in admiration of each other.

A few more things...

A few more cards that never made it to the 2 peas gallery (more copics for patty). The Image for the Mother & baby came from Wiff of Joy, the Fairies are from The Greeting Farm, and the chick was from Pink Petticoat (i think).

These bottom 2 cards (obivously) were not made with copics. The one on the right was made with left over stickers from Joann's dollar scrap stuff, and an american craft rub on. The one on the right was with Prisma Color Pencils and gamsol, Basic grey paper, and an inkadoo stamp.


Have a great Sunday!

The End of Vacation

Today is my last day of freedom before starting the torturous work week again. Now don't misunderstand, I don't hate me job, and I like many of the people I work with, but there are so many other things I'd rather be doing!  Like gardening, reading, scrapbooking, walking, traveling, refinishing the basement for my scrap space (again).. well just about anything other than work. But money makes the world go round!

So here are few things I created over the last couple of days...

My DSD, with her new glasses. for a better view, and a full list of credits found at 2peas.

This one was done to pick on by DBF's sense of color. Again for a better look and credits, go here.

Random notes from the day.

You might have noticed a few changes, in the look of the blog (again) over the last 48 hours. I'm trying to figure out what will work for me... I'm sure there will be more changes to come.

The weather today is humid and stifling. My hair is still fairly damp from the voluntary cold shower at 10:00 this morning. And I'm miserable, sitting here with out AC trying to stay as inactive as possible, which leads to a lot reading, and water drinking, and trips to the water closet.

After my DSD finished her SAT test this morning, I took her out to lunch, and the cook got her order wrong. she wanted a small cheese pizza, and they gave her a large speciality pizza instead... The wait staff was very apologetic, but I was mos surprised when the cook came out and also apologized, and remade her the correct pie to take home (DSD was willing to try the speciality pizza rather then wait for hers she was starving), and then they wrote off both pies on the bill. now I know an error was made, but they did everything the could to correct the mistake in a timely fashion. I can't ask for better service than that.

Luck & Love

I want to wish my BFF, Who Me, a happy running morning, for her virtual race, today. And a shout out to my DSD...*hugs & kisses* try not to stress about your PSAT exam today (in a matter of hours).

Copic Markers...

These days when someone mentions Copic markers, I start silently purring. I know, weird right? but most often when the subject come up between my scrappin' buddies and I it leads to lots of questions... Do I use them? Yes. Are they as good as people claim? Yes. How many colors are there? Over 340. Seriously?! Seriously.  And the list goes on...

Copics are a professional alcohol dye ink based art marker. There are literally hundreds if not thousands of tutorials on how to use, blend, and shade. The upsides: blending is seemless when done right. I have yet to find a surface they are not permanent on (once the ink is dry). They are dual tipped, with air tight caps. As long as the cap is on tightly, they are guarnteed not to dry out for a minimum of 3 years. The are refillable. I can almost always find a color or blend a color to match every project I've worked on. Downside: price. Some special products required. And the best place, based on prices for the sketch style markers, and they also have marker racks too(yay!)...Carpe Diem Store

And on this note, for everyone (espically Patti-kins) I wanted to share some projects that I haven't previously posted, which I have colored with copics. And of you want to view more, visit my 2 peas gallery, here, here, here, here, and finally, here.  Please note that the "Mermaid Couple" card only the skin tones, and water background were done with Copic markers. The rest (tail and hair) was colored using Gamsol & Prisma colored pencils. Also, On the "Sweet Child of Mine" LO ( from my never before seen "Unphotographable - The Songs" album) the title started out as Basic Grey's white chocolate chipboard, that I used a black Copic marker on and then coated it with Ranger's Glossy Accents.

My LSS has recently gotten someone to a certification class, and will be starting tutorials soon. I don't know how much I'll learn after all the you-tube tutorials, but one never knows until one goes.

The Untie-er of shoes

Last night DBF (darling boy friend) and DSD (darling step-daughter) met up with the musketeer's, and their  families for a night at the races. The husband of Musketeer 1, races at the Waterford speed bowl. This only served to remind me that I really need faster photography lenses for my D90.  I have my eye on the 60mm f1.4 at the moment (Christmas is comming, hint hint). Since getting clear shots (though a fence, of fast moving cars, at dusk) was an imposibility, I opted to focus on my friends. Musketeer 1's youngest boy, has this thing about untying sneakers, and he's FAST! I think he had them all un-done at the same time (and we were there with 6 people). Well, after my DSD double knoted her shoes, he was back at it again, but I caught him on film...

(and like a 3 lane jersey slide, I quickly chage the subject to something completly different, or so it seems)

I saw a post on 2 peas a few weeks ago about a woman organizing her digi scrap stuff. she claimed to have 3 tetrabits of goodness. I can't even imagine. That would be like spring cleaning Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt's house in France. By yourself. 

On that note, I spent the whole day, I'm not kidding, the WHOLE day on the PC culling through 35 gig's of digi goodness that I have collected over the last 6 month.  I managed to remove 7 gig's of stuff!! most I just threw away (err, deleted) but there were a few kits that I put on cd's just in case. I was actually surprised that I had that much digi dust built up. but thats the price you pay when 1. You say "Oh, I'll use that someday." or 2. Your new to digi land and you haven't settled into what your style is, or 3. You are a natural born deal finder, and anything thats free is for the grabbing... I am all three of those. But the deed is done,  the p.c. is cleaner, and freshly defraged, and I am better organized. I am more aware of what I have. And what I have left is stuff I really like, and I know I'll use it (someday).  I'm liking the end result...

Until...

Until I'm working on a LO that I just finished a few minutes ago, and what stumped me was finding an element that would work in the space between "caught" and the photo's. Nothing fit. Nothing was inspiring. Nothing worked. Even now I'm not thrilled about the "you are here" rub on... but it was the best I could do tonight. 

The credits for this is long and distinguised: Songbird Avenue (June 2010) "Summer Meadows", Studio Gypsy "Soft Ink Mats", Studio Manu "Worn Overlays", One Little Bird "Innovator", The Blog Train Blog collab (March 2010) "Shine On", Design House Digital's NSD collab "Spring Fever", Deane Rutter "Hotel California",  Stuff To Scrap collab (May 2010) "Because I Said So", Paislee Press "View Finder Overlays"

Vacation will be comming to an end soon, and I think I'll have to slow down on the posting (only a little, I'm not going to be slient for 2 years again).

Test Color's Personality Test

In need of a little fun today? take a few minutes and check out this personality test. then have fun looking at the rest of the test color site.

Here is a sum-up of my personality test:
You are 52 % extrovert and 48 % introvert.  You are a leader, you know how to organize the groups of persons and give them your energy.  You are you are attuned to others and you show a good emotional intelligence, which allows you to give support to people. You are thoughtful and deep, and able to listen to others. You know how to show your support to others.  Finally you are strong-willed and active, your actions are determined by your own will, by the goals you settled for yourself, and by your need to act and to move forward.

Your understanding of your environment :
At first, at 37%, you are focused on the facts and on the reality, and your decisions are determined by your perception of facts. Then, at a ratio of 32%, you are centered on your thoughts and your actions are determined by your knowledge and your experience. Finally, at 30%, you are attached to moral values and feelings, and you have an emotional relation with the environment.

2 postings in 1 day, you should be amazed!

But thats only because I was awake in the middle of the night.

I have 2 really great digi products for you today. Now, I'm not going to be one if those sites that always pushes product (unless I'm on a CT that needs me too) I'd like to keep that to a minimum.  But these are really cool! The first is Songbird Avenue. They pick a guest designer every month, and create a beautiful kit whose proceeds go to charity. The charity that benifits changes every month and is the choice of the guest designer. This months Charity is the National Psoriasis Foundation. Here's a preview of this months Kit:

Do you see all of that digi goodness, Flowers, embossed papers, ribbon, frames, stickers, and journaling boxes in a variety of pretty colors. For my paper scrapping friends - this kit is $8.00 (you know it would be closer to $25 or $30, for the same amount of product in papers goods that could only be used once). Price was a driving motivation in my switch to digi.

The Second Site, that I love is The Daily Digi. For the low price of $5.00 you get somewhere between 5 and 7 (this month it's 7) full digi kits that are worth a minimum of $5.00 each! the guest designers each month are chosen for their unique styles, and quality work.        

                               

The Daily Digi site over the course of the month will explore and showcase each kit that's included in the months digi file. But if you like surprises (I know I do) You'll be snatching this baby up, site unseen, right at the begining of the month, ever month! Yet this amazing deal is not all they offer. They are a wonderful resource for tips, tricks, product comparison,and general digi knowledge.

Wide Awake

I am a night owl. I don't think my days should start before 10:00 in the morning, I was born to work second shift. Of this I'm sure. But right now, I'm really glad I'm on vacation. It's about 2:15 in the morning, and I can't sleep. This is a rare occurance for me... not being able to sleep. I was so tired 2 hours ago I almost fell asleep re-reading Tale of The Body Thief by Anne Rice (book 4 of the vampire cronicles).

It's hot, and muggy (with a bit of fog). The windows in the bedroom are open, the fan is on high, my boyfriend is snoring slightly, and I was laying in bed wondering when, if, would, I please fall asleep. I have given up for the time being. I am thirsty. I have the Ana Nalick song "Breathe (2 am)" stuck in my head. I'm wearing suglasses.  The screen is very bright when it's the only thing emitting light in a pitch black room.

It's the fan's fault that I'm awake. I'm sure of this. It happens every year as it starts to get warm.  There's something about the noise of the air through the fan that bothers me. Snoring is rythmic, and usually helps me fall asleep. Air conditioners I can tune right out. Vaccumes don't disturb me. Even the garbage trucks, trains, lour car exhausts, church bells, police sirens, and my loud Italian neighbor yelling at her 2 boys will not stir me from slumber, or in any way inhibit me from nodding off. But that freakin' fan! UGGH!

Taking the Plunge

The scrapbooking challenge blog, How Much Is Too Much, is holding a call for new design team members. I have decided to take the plunge and try out for it. This is something I have thought about doing several times in the past, But many design teams are for specific designers, or for a specific company that only wants you to use their stuff. Which is, of course, understandable. However, I *almost* never use only one brand of product or one designer on my layouts. And HMITM is different. they are about using stash, any stash, all stash! Which is why I love their challenges. They make it possible for me to get stuff out of the box, and onto my pages. They force me to think about my LO's differently, from conception, design, and to fulfill the requirments of their challenges, they push my brain to work harder.

So, without further rambling.. here is my entry: