Uh Oh

Changed my template & deleted all my blinkies and links! (rips out hair) Looks like I'll be reconstructing tomorrow.

My Superpower

I saw this great blogthing over at Joy Kuoha's blog today:

Your Superpower Should Be Invisibility

You are stealth, complex, and creative. You never face problems head on. Instead, you rely on your craftiness to get your way. A mystery to others, you thrive on being a little misunderstood. You happily work behind the scenes... because there's nothing better than a sneak attack! Why you would be a good superhero: You're so sly, no one would notice... not even your best friends Your biggest problem as a superhero: Missing out on all of the glory that visible superheroes get

What Should Your Superpower Be?

First one for Michelle

I've been able to create a LO with her Teenage Memories kit:



Works for preschoolers too!

1 More CT!

I must be insane! Oh yeah, I have that in writing, LOL!

I get to create for the fabulous and talented Michelle Pieters!


She sells her designs over at Gotta Pixel.
Woo hoo! Time to get creatin'!

Has it been a week?

Wow no wonder no one reads my blog, LOL! Not if I go 10 days between posts.

I've done 3 layouts in that time, some of them are even good!

This one features Emma Moore's Sassy U kit, found in her store at Scrapstreet. They appear to be doing maintenence, and I hope it'll be back up soon! Everything but the button (K Myers) and torn paper template (Scrapgirls) is from the kit.

This one features Seebee's Take Notes Journaling Mats (in the center, enlarged). Everything else is hers, except the frames (Scrapgirls). Her store is here at Digitals.

Another one for Chris/Seebee~ I love this ribbon she just turned out called Ribbons in Bloom. It goes well with her Flowerpress Paper Pack which I also used here. Rose clips are by NBK, journal paper by Manu70 (altered), frames by Molly & Max Digital Creations, and metallic glitter style by Alexis Green/PAOJava.

The Price of Children

Something absolutely positive for a change.

I have repeatedly seen the breakdown of the cost of raising a child, but this is the first time I have seen the rewards listed this way. It's nice.

The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child, from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140 for a middle income family.

Talk about sticker shock! That doesn't even touch college tuition.

But $160,140 isn't so bad if you break it down. It translates into:

* $8,896.66 a year,
* $741.38 a month, or
* $171.08 a week.
* That's a mere $24.24 a day!
* Just over a dollar an hour.

Still, you might think the best financial advice is don't have children if you want to be rich." Actually, it is just the opposite. What do you get for your $160,140?

* Naming rights. First, middle, and last!
* Glimpses of God every day.
* Giggles under the covers every night.
* More love than your heart can hold.
* Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.
* Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies.
* A hand to hold, usually covered with jelly or chocolate.
* A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites
* Someone to laugh yourself silly with, no matter what the boss said or how your stocks performed that day.

For $160,140, you never have to grow up. You get to:

* finger-paint,
* carve pumpkins,
* play hide-and-seek,
* catch lightning bugs, and
* never stop believing in Santa Claus.

You have an excuse to:
* keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh,
* watching Saturday morning cartoons,
* going to Disney movies, and
* wishing on stars.
* You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets and collect spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas, hand prints set in clay for Mother's Day, and cards with backward letters for Father's Day.

For $160,140, there is no greater bang for your buck. You get to be a hero just for:

* retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof,
* taking the training wheels off a bike,
* removing a splinter,
* filling a wading pool,
* coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and coaching a baseball team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream regardless.

You get a front row seat to history to witness the:

* first step,
* first word,
* first bra,
* first date, and
* first time behind the wheel.

You get to be immortal. You get another branch added to your family tree, and if you're lucky, a long list of limbs in your obituary called grandchildren and great grandchildren. You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human sexuality that no college can match.

In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there under God. You have all the power to heal a boo-boo, scare away the monsters under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them forever, and love them without limits.

So, one day they will, like you, love without counting the cost. That is quite a deal for the price!!!!!!!

Love and enjoy your children and grandchildren.

2 For Emma!

I've been very bizzy lately! Emma's kits are just so easy to work with, and I have pictures perfect for both kits I used.

On top I used Critters 'n Wheels papers, stickers, brads and word art (cropped some extra words off). (overlay by Nancie Rowe Janitz). You'll be able to get the kit at ScrapStreet soon.

On the bottom. I used Spring Fan. It was perfect for my friend Jenn's wedding! Everything but the fonts are from the kit, found at ScrapStreet. I did recolor the ribbon and tag just a bit. :)

Another one for Seebee! :)

I just love this new kit, Date of Birth! It's soooo very versatile! Any of the patterned papers would have worked for my pictures. I love that you can go pink, blue or neutral purple for baby pages. You can find the kit at Digitals.

Credits:

~ Paper (all 3 pieces), ribbon, bow, graphic, and date/location stamp all by Seebee
~ Frames by Manu70
~ Inked edge overlay by Nancie Rowe Janitz

My road trip

I got to spend 4 days on a trip all by myself!

A friend from my first day of college finally got married, and I was able to go. There are 3 of us and she's the last~ I've been waiting a long time for her to find Mr. Right. It took a whole lot of Mr. Wrongs to get there, but I know he's the guy for her. PHEW!

On the whole, it was great to stay up late chatting, make funny innuendos, and generally acting 18 again. I got to see more of Iowa, and while it seems humdrum, I really enjoyed the feeling of being in America's bread basket. I loved seeing the rolling hills topped with endless acres of corn. Hopefully my shots came out all right because I really want to remember those days.

New one for Eyelet Scraps

I had a blast working on this page for Emma! The minute I saw this paper I knew what pix would be perfect for it. :) A random moment in an otherwise looooooooong summer. The journaling says:

"One boring day in June 2006, Zack, Hannah and I decided to have some fun taking
self-portraits with my digicam."

I recolored the title frames, but everything else (except the arrow and picture frames) is from Emma's kit Funky Fusion, found in her store at Scrap Street.

The picture frames are from Kylie M Designs (I recolored them) and the arrow is from PSE4.

I finally get to say . . .

I'm on another Creative Team! I get to work with Emma Moore of Eyelets Scraps. She's a wonderful gal and FABULOUS designer! Her work is available over at the Scrap Street store. The layout above features elements from 3 of her kits.

Credits:

~Lilac Grunge paper, title alpha from Spring Fan kit, heart from Purple Passion kit; all by Emma Moore

~Frame by Manu70

Martha vs. Erma

From my file of good thoughts:

From Martha Stewart:

Hi Erma,

This perfectly delightful note is being sent on paper I made myself to tell you what I have been up to.

Since it snowed last night, I got up early and made a sled with old barn wood and a glue gun. I handpainted it in gold leaf, got out my loom, and made a blanket in peaches and mauves. Then to make the sled complete, I made a white horse to pull it from DNA that I just had sitting around in my craft room.

By then, it was time to start making the place mats and napkins for my 20 breakfast guests. I'm serving the old standard Stewart twelve-course breakfast, but I'll let you in on a little secret: I didn't have time to make the tables and chairs this morning, so I used the ones I had on hand.

Before I moved the table into the dining room, I decided to add just a touch of the holidays. So I repainted the room in pinks and stenciled gold stars on the ceiling.

Then, while the homemade bread was rising, I took antique candle molds and made the dishes (exactly the same shade of pink) to use for breakfast. These were made from Hungarian clay, which you can get in almost any Hungarian craft store.

Well, I must run. I need to finish the buttonholes on the dress I'm wearing for breakfast. I'll get out the sled and drive this note to the post office as soon as the glue dries on the envelope I'll be making. Hope my breakfast guests don't stay too long-I have 40,000 cranberries to string with bay leaves before my speaking engagement at noon. It's a good thing.

Love, Martha Stewart

P.S. When I made the ribbon for this typewriter, I used 1/8-inch gold gauze. I soaked the gauze in a mixture of white grapes and blackberries which I grew, picked, and crushed last week just for fun.


Response from Erma Bombeck:

Dear Martha,

I'm writing this on the back of an old shopping list, pay no attention to the coffee and jelly stains. I'm 20 minutes late getting my daughter up for school, packing a lunch with one hand, on the phone with the dog pound, seems old Ruff needs bailing out, again. Burnt my arm on the curling iron when I was trying to make those cute curly fries, how DO they do that?

Still can't find the scissors to cut out some snowflakes, tried using an old disposable razor . . . trashed the tablecloth. Tried that cranberry thing, frozen cranberries mushed up after I defrosted them in the microwave. Oh, and don't use Fruity Pebbles as a substitute in that Rice Krispie snowball recipe, unless you happen to like a disgusting shade that resembles puke!

The smoke alarm is going off, talk to ya later.

Love, Erma

I got busy!

Last night I got on a roll and created 2 digi LO's~ 1 for Seebee and 1 for another designer I won't name yet. :) So I'll post that LO when she gives the OK. I'll just say that I love her creations!

Here's what I used: Code Words (barcode and cardboard pieces) by Seebee

Dark blue grid paper by Seebee

Inked Edges overly by Lemonaid Lucy (recolored white and resized to fit photos)

Code Words can be found http://www.digitalscrapbookpages.com/digitals/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=6442&zenid=224f788a732b279009c9d392a5285596