Sunday, November 29, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!



We did our annual running of the Manchester Road Race (~5 miles) in the morning. I convinced my brother-in-law to join my brother (so glad he's back from school - missed him last year) and I. Alas, I finished a close third out of us three. (The other people in the picture are family friends or friends/family of those family friends ...)



Then, we had 13 people over for a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner. I must really thank my lovely mother and sisters for doing so much to help with the cooking, baking, cleaning, decorating and last but not least, childcare. I couldn't have done it without them!



I hope your holiday was just as good as mine!



*~*~*



Oh, have you been wondering where I've been? Well, I've been right here ... but with no Internet! I thought my cyber woes were over, but they were just beginning.


I was actually in the middle of a fantastically long and detailed blog post with several pictures ... and my browser 'encountered a problem and needs to close' which completely ruined everything.



Between the browser problems and the recurring Internet connection problems, I'm about ready to pull out some hair ... but God is good and I will choose not to let this get me down!



*~*~*

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Change of pace ... GGS trade album (August)!

I went a bit old-school for my August Girls Gone Scrappy Trade Album.

My trade partner, Kathy, has a very ecclectic style, so I didn't know if she would like this simple one, but she did. I must admit, the hanging scrapbook is a cool idea :)


This is a hanging scrapbook. You can check out my gallery to see some other awesome ones I've done :) I think it's a rather cool idea and there a lot of different ways to implement it. This time I cut my own pages out of chipboard, punched the holes and connected them with book rings. I also tried to create the pages before attaching them to the chipboard ... it's a bit different than other times, but I did it because of the metal accents (brads punching through the background paper). We'll see if it works out better or worse.

I apologize for the sideways pictures. I didn't notice until just now and I don't want to have to change them all and re-upload them ... so just tilt your head to the left and imagine ...

Cover:


So, I used some very old Plum Mist patterned paper from Close to my Heart, some metal words from Making Memories, misc. ribbon and other metal accents (mostly from CTMH).

Page 1 & 2:
Flip open the first page and you get two photo mats and the one on page 2 hinges open for space for more pictures.


Page 3 & 4:


Page 4 has a tri-fold mat that folds and opens out for room on both sides.


Page 5 & 6:
Page 5 has tags behind and in front of the photo mat.

Page 6 has a fold out held closed by photo turns.

Pages 7 & 8:

Page 7 has a tag. And because the page is longer, the tag is, too :)

Page 8 has a fold open page held closed with a photo turn.


Pages 9 & 10:

Page 9 hinges to turn up (or down) with a tag behind the hidden space. Triple layers :)

Page 10 has a pocket and tag.

Pages 11 & 12:

Page 11 has a tag and a fold-open page.

Pages 13 & 14:


Page 13 is triple layered again, but not quite as hidden with two tags and a pocket.


Page 14 (and the end) has a fold out page.

That concludes my purple hanging scrapbook.
I hope you like it!
*~*~*

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Today - Samantha

Alright, this is an odd one. I don't even know where to begin describing it.

Dawn, from Createwings Designs, gave a freebie mini-kit on her blog about a month ago. She then had a contest for people to use the freebie.

At the time, I had no digi stuff on my computer (because it crashed - long story), so free was nice. I really didn't have any digi stuff to work with. I finished it about 90% of the way (using Danielle Young's Halloweentown tree - it's what I had!) and then didn't have anything for a title ... so I forgot about it. The blog contest is long gone, but I finished it up and thought I'd post. I just inserted some word art from Sue Cummings.

It's a little odd, but still cute ... I think.

I hope you like it (or at least smile)!

*~*~*

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Little Shop of Sketches Wednesday (a day late)

Yes, it's Thursday. Due to a combination of forgetfulness, procrastination and computer challenges, I am posting a day late. Please forgive me.


Sketch #55:


And this is my take on it:

5 Siblings = one big happy Family!

I used all Danielle Young elements from several different page kits. Let me know if you want to know about something specific.

I hope you like it!

*~*~*

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Sue Cummings Design Challenge at Oscraps - Day 1

Almost every week, there's a digital scrapbooking design challenge at the Oscraps forum. This past week Sue Cummings was highlighted and she gave away a beautiful freebie page kit called Each and Every Day.



I had this horrible photo that I wanted to try and salvage. The original photo looked like this:

Why waste a good photo, right?

You tell me, did I salvage it?






Because of course, each and every day I love my husband :)





I hope you like it!

*~*~*