Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Some Christmas Shots

Monkey and Princess reading together.

My two and a half men.
The Princess and The Daddy

Steve and his kiddos

We had horrible weather when we went to pick up the Rugrats!

Jeremy holding a baby! Had to get a shot of it because it might never happen again! Unless Sarah has a say in it. Maybe he's warming up to the idea...

Love a full house!

Opening presents at Popa and Grandma Patti's.

What Monkey really thinks of Christmas.

Jess modeling the cool, new hat from Mom.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Aunt Erika




Erika Ryan, my huge-hearted, sweet aunt, lost her battle with cancer early this morning. She will be gravely missed and always remembered.
Rest in peace, Erika.

Giveaway and more

Check out this *amazing* give away at Life As Lou. Tons and tons and tons of Cosmo Cricket yumminess!

How's your few days before Christmas going? I've been working hard on scrapbook projects and just having fun playing with paper. Most of what I've done cannot be shown yet because they're gifts. I have them posted on online galleries, but they'll have to wait to come here just in case. You know how it is.


I did not take this pledge, but most of my gifts this year, aside from the kids' gifts are homemake. Only I didn't buy them, I made them. And I had tons of fun doing them. Hope they don't mind homemade gifts next year too.

Have you gotten snow? Are you in one of the many areas who got dumped on recently by Mother Nature? We did. Steve got stuck in the driveway and could not get out! It took a snow plow to get his car unstuck. There was just too much snow. Okay, we did cheat there. I'm sure with a few hours of shoveling, (yep, that's hours) we (okay, he) could have gotten his car unstuck and parked where it's supposed to be. Looking out the window this morning (at 6am) it looks like we got hit again last night. And it's still snowing. Guess we're homebound today.
I'm not one who has to get out of the house all the time, but if I get stuck at home due to a storm or if I get so sick I'm stuck at home, I get antsy. I have to get out the moment it's clear, or I'm somewhat well. Take away my wings and I feel the urge to fly, I suppose.
This layout came from a So Sketchy sketch. I flipped the picture layout and made it a 12x12 instead of an 8.5x11. Monkey and I were baking cookies and I decided to snap some pictures while they were baking. The smart lil bugger got out the oven mitts all by his self once I said the oven was hot. The last picture there with the oven mitt at his ear is my favourite. He just stopped what he was doing, brough the oven mitt up and said "Hello? Grandma?" Of course it came out "A-row? Gann-mommy?" Yep, my child sounds like a cartoon dog when he says hello...

This is another So Sketchy page. I have been meaning to scrap these pages since the summer. Monkey absolutely went nuts for this transport truck. Thanks to the trees at the side of the lot there, we didn't have to watch the workmen install new telephone wires and such, but we did see their big transport truck. They parked there everyday for a good week or so. Monkey was in Heaven every single day. Like a true little boy, he loves trucks. When we're out and about all I hear from his little mouth is "Ohh...Mommy! Lok! Big tuck!" At least he says "tuck" now instead of the c@%k he used to say...
Until next time....

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Lots of Rambles

I think I just might be the busiest unemployed person I know. Maybe getting laid off right now was more of a blessing than anything thing else. I don’t feel comfortable enough to write about everything that’s going on in my life; some things are too personal to share on the internet with just anyone. But I will say I am up to my ears with scrap projects. So much so, the stockings I was making for Christmas will make their debut next year. There must be something in the water…Lately I have been brimming over with ideas for layouts and altered items. Not to mention the inspiration around every corner; okay, make that every bookmarked site, but you get my point.
Today I have an interview. Fingers crossed. Wouldn’t it be nice if I could land a job only a week after losing one? My luck has never been that good, but here’s hoping…
The Christmas spirit has finally bitten me. Last week I was cancelling Christmas, saying we’ll just focus on being together, presents don’t matter…The whole nine yards. But something inside me has changed. Yes, presents are still not a big thing. We have plenty of presents for Monkey to keep him busy until his birthday. We’ve also collected a small collection for the other two Rug Rats. I've started baking and just enjoying the meaning of Christmas.
Speaking of the Rug Rats, they will be here right after Christmas. I haven’t seen them in forever so I am super excited. Steve is even more excited. I don’t think there’s been a day since we found out that he hasn’t mentioned it. I have visions of kiddo pictures floating around in my head. I hate to admit it, but I don’t have a single picture of all three kids together. The first few months of Monkey’s life are such a blur. I know we had the Rug Rats a few times over when Monkey was just a newborn. I remember Steve’s step-mother and sister taking a video of the Rug Rats and their cousins singing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star to Monkey when he was only a few months old. I’ve been kicking myself for a few months (okay, like 8 or 9 months) that I never once stopped to snapped a picture. Bad pre-scrapbooker me. I wouldn’t dream of not having my camera attached to my hip anymore. Those poor kids will be seeing stars from my flash their whole trip here.
We’ve just got recent pictures of the Rug Rats. I see so much of Monkey in his older brother. I’ve always though Monkey looked more like my side of the family. His beautiful, large eyes and long lashes are from Steve I think; but his nose, hair colour, curls, lips…Always look like they’re from me. Then I look at Monkey’s older brother…And, wow, they look like full brothers. Certainly not the half brothers they are. I’m sure people are going to think all three kids are mine. Guess I’m either going to look really old, or people are going to think I was in my teens when I started having kids. I was 17 the year Steve’s daughter was born.
I suppose I’m going to have to come up with nicknames for the Rug Rats for here since Monkey’s got one. I’ve been calling Monkey his nickname since I was pregnant with him. It’s always suited him too. His other nickname from me is Pumpkin Noodle. I have no reason for it. It just comes out of my mouth. I’ve been calling the other two kids the Rug Rats since I first met them. It’s said very lovingly every time. I’m going to call Steve’s daughter, Princess. It fits her. She is the princess of the family, being the first born and the only girl. She’s also the first granddaughter to both sets of her grandparents; beating out her cousin by only a few weeks. I’m going to have to think about one for Steve’s oldest son.
And now I’ll leave you with a couple of Pencil Lines inspired layouts…

This one is Pencil Lines 113. Me and Steve. I had fun with a couple of Paint Dabbers.

This is Pencil Lines 111. I knew what I wanted to do with this sketch as soon as I saw it. The green is stamped on with paint. I found a leaf stamp, painted it and then gently tapped it with my fingers instead of pressing it down to get a sponged on look.

Close up. I used fake snow (that horrible stuff I used to like putting into Christmas cards so that it would make a mess all over when someone pulled the card out) for added texture. I really like the look of it and will be playing with it more.

Close up. I added Diamond Glaze to my alpha stickers for texture.

Close up. The bling! I cut up a frame bling and pieced it together like swirls. The blue gems are there only because their colour made me think of cold.

Okay, this last one is not from Pencil Lines. It's from a sketch from So Sketchy. The green circles on the reddish-paper were stamped on using paint and bubble wrap. I used a paint dabber lightly to make a wispy journaling block so my words stand out more, but you can still see the pattern behind it. Love KI's Bloom chipboard alphas too. They're so yummy!

Until next time....

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Best In Baby Scrapbooking



I found this only a few days ago. I still have hundreds of pictures of Monkey I have yet to scrap from his first year. Maybe this will jog my creativity to get something done.
I have a scrapbook just for Monkey's first year. It's not in order right now. I scrap all over. I find that being tied down to going in order just doesn't do it for me. I may be adding pages to Monkey's book for years to come.
I must admit, reading about baby products and seeing baby layouts just makes me want another one so much more. I just have to keep reminding myself now is not the time....now is not the time...now is not the time...
Until next time...

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Laid Off

Well, I'm unemployed again. Man, this sucks!
I was told they are hoping to be able to call me back in two or three months. What good does that do me now? And right before Christmas. Man, they suck!
Lately it feels like I just get getting kicked in the teeth. My goal is to stay as positive as I can. After all, there's people out there in worse conditions. At least I have a roof over my head. Any depressed mood I fall into, Monkey will pick up on and I don't want that. He deserves to be happy and to have a happy mommy to go along with it.
I've already started my job hunt. Hope I find something soon.
Until next time...

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

I WON!!!

Oh my gosh! I can't believe it!
I won a challenge over at Bad Girls. The challenge was called Shop Your Stash. We had to pick four products from a list, replace the items on the list with new products for others to pick. And we had to pick one journaling beginning and then replace it.
I made a mini album of Monkey.
***EDIT
There were pictures of the mini album here, but I just got word that it's going to be published, so down come the pictures. I'll put them back up once the publication is out. Hopefully, I'll remember. ***

I honestly did not think I would win. The ladies over at Bad Girls are so amazing and talented. I am so shocked and so honoured. You would think I won something more glamourous such as Top Designer or something. Maybe I'm just that big of a geek...Heehee...
Until next time....