It's been a while since I've posted! So, first, here are 4 new digi layouts I've completed:

I am sooooo loving this digi class! It almost makes me want to give up paper scrapping and just go all digi. But that won't happen for 2 reasons: 1) I really love the process and feel of "real" paper scrapping and, 2) I ain't ABOUT to get rid of my, uh, collection of paper scrapping supplies, which is vast. Uh uh. No way.

Here's a few newsy items:

• it's rained - a LOT - and has cooled to more autumn-like temps
• now it's gorgeous again
• the trees are still showing their colors, but the rain knocked off lots of leaves
• we got our first frost - finally, now, it's time to take my plants out of their pots, snip the clematis and bring in the huge philodendron (but the bionic ferns are STILL going!)
• Dustin led the worship/music at church last Wednesday - what a blessing to be led into worship by my own son...
• the Boy also sang a song he wrote in church Sunday a.m.
• Matthew has a beard!
• we saw "Across the Universe" last Friday - FABulous!! It started out a little slow and curious, but, got WAY better and blew us away!
• we've officially started our Christmas shopping
• I'm presently reading Metamorpha by Kyle Strobel - it's excellent (recommended by Dustin)

That's it for now. I'm off to work on a journal page. (That's a whole 'nother project that I haven't even posted on here at all. It's like a scrappy journal with the emphasis on journal.)

Oh, and - BOO!

Over at SIStv, they are hosting several scrapping challenges each week for the month of October (as a sort of grand opening for the new boutique). For these challenges, the challengER will choose her favorite and the challengEE will win prizes! Prizes are a boatload of goodies from the boutique. So, even though I'm supposed to be working on THE Wedding Album x 2 (one for M&M and one for me), I do enjoy doing a couple challenges each week - especially when there's possible prizes involved. It gets other stuff scrapped AND just stretches the imagination and creativity.

I participated in two challenge contests this week. For the first, there were two photos. One was a lush photo of Marie Antoinette lounging in this rich, red boudoir, with lace and candles and silk, etc. And there was another totally different picture of Beck (the singer) surrounded by post-it notes - very contempo. You were to choose one of the photos and do a layout somehow inspired by the photo of your choice. Here's the one I did:

I thought it turned out nicely. There were a LOT of layouts submitted, though, and I didn't think mine would be picked. It wasn't. Oh, well. I still end up with a layout I really like and I like doing this size, too.

For the second challenge I chose to participate in, you were simply to use someone ELSE's handwriting on your layout in whatever way you wanted. Well, a couple weeks ago, we hosted Dustin's birthday party (more like a hot dog roast - well, it WAS a hot dog roast and we encouraged him to invite some of his friends in addition to family). He still had a couple friends here after everyone else had left and Chris and I just had to go to bed, old people that we are, since we had to get up for church the next morning. In the morning, though, we found this note that Dustin had left us expressing his gratitude for the party and more... I told him that I was going to have to scrap that.... SO, this challenge was the perfect opportunity to do just that. Here's the layout I made:

For this one I just so happened to have WON!!!! Woooo hooo! If you click on the actual layout, you should get a large enough view of it that you can read it. If not, just click on the link to the right where you can see my layouts at SIStv. Then you'll find it in my "just layouts" folder or "recently uploaded" folder. It's pretty sweet (the note). And the peeps in charge of the website and the challenges kept saying all week long that the prizes THIS week were going to be REALLY good! So, I'll post what I end up with when I get it! Yee ha! They like me, they really like me! :)

I've been getting TONS of email wondering where in the heck I've been since I haven't posted anything new lately. Okay, one email. But it was a very IMPORTANT email. So, rest assured all my peeps and fans. I'm back. And, yes, I have a new scrap page for you. But, I want to warn you that THIS time it does NOT feature my son and his lovely new wife. I know. I know. It's disappointing, but keep in mind - we DO know OTHER people, too. And a few of them are featured on this next layout. It's a little piece I did called CRAZY Dancin' and it features some of our wild and crazy friends at our most recent annual Dancin' on the Deck party. It mainly focuses on ONE wild and crazy guy in particular. Yeah, you'll see what I mean... Oh, and, for some reason unknown to me, I can't upload this layout, but you can see it via this widget thingy from SIStv which is why it actually says SIStv in the top corner. If you run your cursor over that layout, magic stuff happens! :) You can go to SIStv land where ALL my layouts and MORE are stored!






Anyhoo, as the layout journaling says - we have a wild and crazy time, but it's good, CLEAN fun! I don't know what got into my friend there in the 2nd photo. Actually, that was a photo of him and myself, but I cropped myself out. Chris was taking a lovely photo of me dancing and our friend, (let's just call him "Chip" - because that's his name) decided to "flash" Chris at the same time. Obviously, the better half of the photo is the part I posted!

That's all for now. Gotta save SOME news for next time.... Peace out.

I just did this digi layout for an online site that was having a little contest and, more importantly, because I highly doubt I'd ever win the contest, because they were giving away a really cute little digi kit to everyone who participates. Scrap for free stuff? Heck, yeah!

Well, it's very un-fall-like around here. It's actually been hot and fairly humid around here. So, I'm keeping the house shut up so it stays cooler. I think it's just put a slamming halt to the trees turning colors, too.

Which brings me to the next sad subject. Chris and I are heading up to Cedar Run tomorrow for our annual 3 day, 2 night getaway and it looks like there's a good chance for rain the whole time, especially the last day, which is the day we tend to drive around or hike, etc., because we want to stay in the area so we can go to Oktoberfest at the Blackwell Hotel for dinner Friday evening. There have been several times where all my fall photos taken on this trip have been in the drizzle up on the mountain on Friday. This time it may be more than a drizzle.

The good news is that I am prepared! I downloaded our second computer copy of PSE 5.0 onto Chris's laptop and I'm going to put some of my fave fall digi files on my external drive and I can literally sit there and scrap. All I'll need is photos! And Chris has a bunch on his computer even if I can't take any good ones up there... Now THAT excites me. Because, the only downside of being up there with a computer is that I'm sure there will be no internet connection. And, okay, I admit it, I've become just a tad "addicted" to being online. Well, there's so much to do and my SIS site is just like a little community to me. And who the heck talks to me here in this house, anyway, if you know what I mean...

Well, speaking of scrapping, as I so often am, I'm off to begin getting our Christmas album from last Christmas finished. The photos are all printed out and ready for me....

Tomorrow morning I'm packing and off to Octoberland!

I've been staying up in the wee hours - scrapping. Digi scrapping. Why, oh, why have I not learned that I cannot start a project at 12:30 in the morning - I'm talking 12:30 A.m. here. I guess I think I can just whip something out or work on something for just a little while but then, before I know it, it's 2:30 p.m. Gah.

Anyway, here are my most recent digi works of art:

The photo in this second one is taken along Pine Creek in Cedar Run, where Chris and I will be heading next Wednesday for our annual getaway at the Cedar Run Inn. I can barely express in words how much I love this little retreat. Fabulous food. Lazy days. Gorgeous scenery. None of the usual pressures of life. Did I mention the fabulous food? It's just always such a lovely time and, of course, God will be putting on a spectacular foliage show in the area next week. Can't wait to see that.

We had a little "taste" of it tonight as we headed up north with Jack and Tina for dinner at the Manor Hotel. The restaurant is on Pine Creek and they have a great deck that overlooks it beautifully. And it was quite warm today and this evening, so perfect for a little dinner al fresco. We had a great time and the drive was lovely. The trees have a ways to go yet, but we weren't as far north as we will be next week, either. I'm sure it will be beautiful, anyway. Chris just mentioned that there could be some rain coming in, so I'm going to get my magazine and book stash ready AND - a brilliant thought here - I am going to download PSE 5.0 on Chris's computer and then bring a CD with some of my digi scrapbooking elements so, if it is raining all day - I can sit there and scrap away! How great will that be? (I think I'm pretty darn smart sometimes...) :)

And, to prove it, I'm going to sign off and head for bed. (It's only 11 p.m.!)

Last year I participated in an online scrap contest and, while I truly never expected to win, I was stretched to the gills and made what have turned out to be a few of my most favorite pages. Well, the contest is back on. (It's Last Scrapper Standing, Volume 2). A gazillion people sign up and the each week a different challenge is given. Everyone submits their pages and then half are CUT. The same thing continues week by week until there is one - or "the last" scrapper still standing. Cool!

THIS week's challenge (week 1) was to use 8 transparencies on your page. No more. No less. Now, transparencies are really BIG in the scrapping world these days. They're clear elements (hence the name transparency - clever, huh?) that you can do such fun stuff with. The contest sponsors are looking for innovation here.

For my page, I printed all 6 of the photos out on transparencies, and for the 5 little ones that are in slide mounts, I de-saturated the color and they really do look like little slides in real life. They're so cute. I also added a transparent frame to the main photo and then the big word art strip is number 8. I love how it shows under the bigger photo. I put a backing on all the little photos, so they wouldn't appear so blurry (as transparencies do if they're "floating" at all). I LOVE my page. Is it innovative? Well, to be honest, I don't think so... It's been done before, so I may not even make it past this first week. (Last year I got cut after the 3rd week.) But, in the end, I get to KEEP a page I really adore! Gotta love that! :) Oh, and I cut out that whole black flowery-viney thing. Love that. And it's no accident that I just so happened to take my photo on top of a transparent table and next to a transparent candle holder. But that don't count for nothin'! It just amuses me....

Here it is:

And here are a few details:

Like I said, the transparencies photography very blurri-ly. It looks so much better in real life!We'll see how it goes, and I'll certainly report back to my blog one way or the other...

Winter? No, I just happened to pull out a winter photo for this layout - because I wanted to scrap something with this collection of papers and Matthew was wearing a hat that matched!

So, I did this page for 2 reasons (well, besides the fact that I LOVE to scrap!) First, for the Elsie 52 week challenge. This time the challenge was to use a ribbon border and I bordered the photo with some. But also, over at SIStv this week, the design team (aka "fashionistas) were picking only layouts using this collection of papers (called "Sonora H.S.) for their "best of". Their selection of favorite layouts for the week is also known as the "catwalk". (Everything on the site is fashion related as far as names go.) So I wanted to use the collection for a layout and get it in for consideration. And guess what? I MADE the catwalk again!! Woohoo! I made it last week as well (for the 1st time) and so now that's two weeks in a row. (The other layout that got picked was the "I Do" one, below.) This is like getting an academy award on this site. So I'm pretty excited! They like me, they really like me! :)

This is just a shortie because I actually have some work to do! What a concept! I'm off to enjoy this gorgeous day!

A new one:

This is the last layout I made for my online class. I'm using a photo technique I learned on this one, but the whole page is ALL my creation. I love how it turned out. (For any digi scrappers out there, I used Diana Rigdon's (scrapartist.com) "Grunge Factor" kit.) One of the big plusses of digi scrapping (besides the fact that it's quicker) is that there's NO MESS to clean up afterwards! Sweet! I'll never give up on my "real paper" scrapping, though.

Well, as I write this, Matthew and Martha are enjoying the gorgeous SW Irish coast view from every window of the cottage they're renting for the week. They arrived at Shannon yesterday a.m. and Matthew, for all his concerns about driving, said it was fine. They've already downed a few Guinesses and sang (American songs) with the locals. So they're off to a great start of what promises to be a trip of their lifetime! I'm just beside myself with excitement for them, which is only more pronounced by the fact that I know just what they're experiencing. It makes me long to get back there my own self!

And our nest is again empty as Dustin is finally actually spending the nights at his new apartment - just 10 minutes from here! :) He was gone over the weekend and we hit WalMart and Sam's and dropped off "a few" goodies for him to find when he got back last night. (We didn't want him to starve!) He still has a phone situation to work out, but he can easily walk to a pay phone or call from work, where he'll be putting in about 40 hours this week - a GOOD thing!

Woke up to 40ish degree temps this morning and a chilly house. But the sun is shining now - it's gorgeous out. Fall is definitely in the air, though I heard it's to warm up again later on in the week. A good frost wouldn't break my heart, though - I'm tired of waking up all congested and sneezing all the time...my hay fever has made a reappearance this season. On the other hand, I hope our flowers hang out long enough for our annual Dancin' on the Deck party this coming Friday. We'll see!

Here are a couple new layouts:

Oh, I just realized they both "star" Matthew! Well, he IS a star, isn't he? Well at least I think so! The top one is a digi that I just did on my own (using a template, but I chose all the papers). The bottom one was the template we used from yesterday (final) online digi class. I just popped in the photo and did the journaling after doing all the other stuff - which everyone else did. What I'm saying is that the 2nd one - though beautiful - isn't unique, like the top one.

I'm definitely going to take the next digi class in the series so I can learn even more. This has been great. And even though I can pop out a digi layout in about an hour, I'm going to try not to start them at 1 a.m. (Geesh)

Speaking of Matthew, he and his lovely wife, Martha (I love saying that) are leaving for IRELAND on Friday! Wow! Can't believe it's here already and I am now officially VERY jealous. I find that I can't allow myself to think about Ireland too much, because then I just get this intense longing to go back. Hopefully, we will realize that next spring!

I think I'm actually feeling a spark of energy today after a week of this nasty cold. Well, at least I'm typing just a little faster... I hate feeling crappy.

On that happy note, I'm off to pour cuppa coffee #2 and get started on some "work"!

Here's a couple new layouts I've done:

This one was for a challenge book I'm working through (the 52 challenges mentioned previously). The idea was to make your focal photo black and white. The journaling around the edges is a prayer for the lovely couple. (In the photo a prayer is being given.)

And this one I did because I was given that "quickpage" in my online digi class. All I had to do was add the photo and my journaling (which, interestingly, I did exactly the same way as the previously laout!). This page took me all of about 20 minutes from start to finish - a real record for me! (The first layout - done in "real" paper - took me about 2 hours - which, actually, is still pretty fast for me.) When I saw the template, I knew right away what I had to use for a picture...

Well, I am still down and out with this nasty cold. Yesterday the coughing phase began (during the Penn State game, which made it very difficult to be my normal overly-excited self). And this morning I woke up with THE most painful cough I've ever had. A couple cups of hot coffee have soothed it some, but, UGH. Crapola city here. No church for me today. I anticipated that and had Chris put the song service together with songs HE could do! At least I still have half a brain...

Off to cough up a lung....

Well, I'm whipping out the digi layouts now! I can't stop. This one uses a template where all the elements are there and you just choose which papers, fonts, etc. to plug in. These are more photos from our last Sunday at Kellie's pool.

Matthew sent me this link to a blog where he was written up since he played at the guy's store in Sedona this past weekend. I'm such a proud mommy. What I'm SO looking forward to, since I'm beginning to believe that M&M are actually moving back here next summer, is hearing Matthew play around here! I'll be the groupie Mom that annoyingly follows him everywhere. Chris will be the louder, more obnoxious version of same.

Well, I'm feeling crappy today. I have a yucky sore throat (day 2) and just generally feel yuck. I'd love to blow off all the banking I have to do today. But then it will be looming and waiting for me tomorrow... Either way, I'll probably be in front of this computer most of the day!

It's an UNbusy weekend coming up, thankfully. Sounds good to me. Hope yours is great!

My latest digi page. It captures what may well be the last romp in the pool. We were at Kellie's (Chris's sister) pool on Sunday for a picnic and the weather was gorgeous. As you can see, Chris and Dustin were up to their usual antics. What can we expect, really? I could make a politically incorrect comment about that main photo, but I won't...

Chris and I did our annual Memorial Day Road Trip yesterday, on Labor Day. We started off with a big, greasy breakfast at May's. Mmmmm. (Probably not the best thing to eat just hours before fasting for bloodwork the next a.m.) Then we headed to Rickett's Glen where one of the spectacular falls there is just off the road - Adams Falls. Whew. Amazing and the setting is stunning. Yet only a matter of yards off the road.

From there we headed to the Scranton area to Frances Slocum State Park. Located there are the rocks where Indians, who had kidnapped the young Miss Slocum, took her the first night. I read about this true story in a historical fiction book called The Red Heart by James Alexander Thom. This is just an amazing story - one of the best books I've ever read (as are all his that I've read, my favorite being Follow the River). I highly recommend it. You can get it here.

The rocks were just a short hike in the woods that surround the lake at this beautiful park. It went kind of like this:

Me: We have to go up that hill?

Chris: It looks that way.

Me: I thought they told you this was an "easy" hike.

Chris: That's what they said.

Me: I don't like uphills. This isn't "easy".

Chris: What can I say? I've never been here before.

Me: (grumble, grumble, pant, pant, pant. Stop to grasp for air and keep from fainting...)

Me: (at top of hill) Is (pant, pant) that (gasp, gasp) it (pant, gasp)?

Chris: Yep, there's the sign.

Me: (pant, pant, pant) Okay. Let's go.

Chris: Okay.

(Note to self: start that walking program TOMORROW!)

One of the reasons this story interested me so much was that Frances Slocum's travels (with the Indians) took her through PA and across OH and into IN where she finally settled near Ft. Wayne - just 20 minutes from where I was born. So I was familiar with the terrain and area through which she ventured. I won't give away the end. Read it.

After the park, we headed towards Clarks Summit and played mini golf at a GREAT course. I hate those stupid, boring courses that it took no thought to create. This was NOT one of those. It was very hilly, had lots of steps, waterfalls, "creeks", plantings and each hole was challenging and unique. Way fun. Oh, by the way. I must mention one little factoid. I BEAT CHRIS!! (He GOLFS!) Sa-weeet!

Chris had planned another lookout with a very short walk (he said), but, being that it's a road trip, which means nothing is set in stone and spontanaity rules, (and also that my heart rate was just finally getting back to normal) I suggested heading to the Target complex out of Wilkes Barre which we weren't too far from. Of course, being that we were going to drive through Clarks Summit first, we HAD to stop at Krispy Kreme. (Yeah, those are gonna help the fitness level, not to mention the upcoming bloodwork). We mostly took home what we got there.

So from there we hit Target and managed to quite easily drop a few bucks. We actually bought our first Christmas gift, though. I found a ton of scrapbooking stuff on clearance, big time. Couldn't pass that up!

We concluded our trip by dining at the Outback Steakhouse, since we don't have one near us. We split a blooming onion (and actually didn't even finish it) and then both got steak salads which we also didn't finish. I thought I had done very well trying to get some veggies in there and stopping before I had reached the point of naseatingly full. I guess the hard lesson about lack of fitness was starting to sink in... Oh, and I had to fast beginning at 7 p.m. for the bloodwork in the morning.

All in all, it was a great day. The weather was spectacular, again. Good stuff. I came home and resisted eating my fresh KK donuts. :( Because, you know, the fast, the bloodwork.

So I pryed myself out of bed at the last possible minute this a.m. for the said bloodwork. I was STARVING! Got myself out the door and arrived just in time for my 7:40 a.m. appt. Hey, I wasn't going to waste ANY time being coffee OR food-less. Well, I didn't get called in until 8 a.m. :( I warned the tech that I was a "hard stick" which she was so very unhappy to hear. I've had them try to draw blood from me before at the doc's office - unsuccessfully - and should have used that past experience to influence where to get it drawn this time, but they just moved and I thought maybe that meant the tech had improved as well. Nope. She stuck me once and got nothing. Couldn't even find a vein in the other arm, so tried my hand. Nothing. She took a deep breath, swearing she'd get it this time and plunged in again, digging as she went. OW. As it turns out, she "blew" that vein and called in another tech who also couldn't find anything. Apparently, I am veinless. :( So NOW I have to do the whole fast thing-y again sometime - but up at Williamsport Hospital's lab. Not happy! :( I do have a mammogram scheduled up there next week, but it's not until noon. Well, if I show up in the lab at 8 a.m., it might BE until noon before they get the blood out of me... or else I'll be passed out from starvation.

Don't ask me why, but all this is making me hungry!

Here's the latest REAL paper page I did. It's for yet another challenge I'm doing. This time it's to do all the challenges in this book. The first one was to use a quote and to cut it up into word strips. That's pretty easy, because it's something I like to do anyway. So my page was sort of in celebration (or should I say remembrance) of the "last" day of summer, which I really consider August 31st to be.

Yeah, so, can you believe it's SEPTEMBER? Wow! See? Now doesn't that just seem like fall to you? Even though on my msn home page the forecast for the next four days shows perfect little suns, no clouds, no rain, 80-ish. Dang! That sounds pretty summer-ific to me!

We had a friend (and her family) from Penn College over last night. We did a little hot dog roast. We have been doing a lot of those this summer. I find it ever so enjoyable. Besides the taste of fire roasted hot dogs (not too shabby, if not nutritious) the fire is always so nice and it's just fun sitting around in the semi-dark. We have tiki-torches going and the deck lights are on and then, of course, there's the fire light. It's just a nice atmosphere. And, being as clear as it was, the stars were amazing last night. And we had a barn own join us as well. I looked and looked for him in the trees with a strong flashlight, but to no avail. But it was being very "vocal" so we knew it was there!

I have a little scrapping in my immediate future (i.e. today!) but, first, I must get the song service on powerpoint. So off I go...

Such a beautiful light is streaming through my windows. Must be the light of early autumn!

I did it my own self! Here's the 1st digi page I did on my own - since taking this online course, that is:

(Scrap Night -Credits: pp - whitie tighties, Amy Teets; 12x12 overlay - Leora Sanford designerdigitals.com; flourish stamp - Michelle Coleman, designerdigitals.com; Stamp - Stamped Moments by KPertiet, designerdigitals.com; Tags - Noir Blanc by Tinkering Ink; Alphabet, Photo Frame - Jessica Sprague; Funky Flowers by JDesai at Dancing Lines)

I'm pretty happy with the way the page turned out. (For some reason, the pics look odd, but irl, they're fine.) But, I'm so totally happy with the way this online course is going. I'm learning SO much. And I decided to go ahead and download the free trial of PSE 5.0, so I'll be purchasing that, too, I suppose.

It's so still out. I mean, not a breeze, barely a sound. Summer is winding down. It's been a strange summer in a way. I've been totally happy being the boss of my own self and of my own time. I can't get over it. But you'd think that with not doing Fresh Air anymore and having the summer off (A.W., that is, i.e. after wedding) that we'd be lolling around at every beach and forest and grassy expanse, etc. Nope. In fact, we haven't been to World's End once this summer, as Chris pointed out the other day. We've just barely been swimming a few times. Not that it hasn't been hot enough... We did have our wonderful week up in Blackwell and also the family reunion (also in Blackwell), at least we did that. I think Chris has just had a ton of reviews to work on and I've been content as a little bee in my scrap room (or on the computer) and haven't bugged him to go anywhere! It's okay, but as summer is coming to an end, I find I'm not really ready to give it up just yet. Gotta make time for sure to squeeze out a few more summer activities. We have a few planned.

Tomorrow we're having a friend from my work at the college over - and her family - and we're going to have a hot dog roast. And we were planning to take the canoe out on Sunday afternoon, but now Chris's sister is having a get-together, and she does have a pool. And since we didn't do our annual Memorial Day Road Trip (again, the wedding) we're going to do a substitute Labor Day Road Trip. To HECK with gas prices, I say! We will be heading out to who knows where and capturing the last little bit of summer goodness.

Made reservations yesterday to go to Mom's for Thanksgiving. I figured since we were going to AZ for Christmas and both Chris and I haven't been to Mom's (together) this year, we would head out that way. She should be recovered pretty well from her shoulder surgery by then and it should be more of a "social" visit and less of a "nursing" visit. Hopefully! :)

Today is banking day. I guess I've put it off long enough. So off I go to drown myself in financial foo-fa-la for a few hours....

Here's another beautiful layout that I did as a result of the online digi scrapping class I'm taking. And another:

They are pretty gorgeous, aren't they? (If I do say so my own self!) Well, I can say so because, people, I'm only sticking photos and some journaling in these. The designs - the GORgeous designs - are already done by the very talented Jessica Sprague her own self!

But, I'm learning a LOT about Photoshop Elements (3). I mean, really a lot. Today, I pretty much spent the afternoon organizing all my digital elements onto that program. And I think it will be ever so much easier to see what I have and actually USE it (much as in real paper scrapping).

Chris and Dustin spent THE DAY golfing. They're just back (45 min. ago) and it's 6:30 p.m. Yep, that's a lot of golfing! Well, never fear! Someone around here DID do some actual housework around here today - if laundry counts as real housework. That person would be, of course, moi. I still have my journal page to work on this evening, so, back to finishing up my organizing!

This all equals a GREAT day for me! :)

Dustin babysat little Eva yesterday. (Dustin is dating a friends' daughter, who has a 3 year old - and we have known and loved them both from the time they were babies!) I do believe this was the first time Dustin was in charge of little Eva by himself for the whole day. I think it's really good experience for him since he's serious about this relationship. And I didn't want to "bail" him (not that he wanted us to, either), by taking over myself. So I just did my thing yesterday while he did his. Of course, Eva would come running in for hugs and cuddles from time to time and to see what Chris or I were doing or to show us something. But, other than that, it was ALL Dustin. And I have to say, he did just a marvelous job. I didn't detect even an iota of impatience or weariness. We decided to eat dinner out with (other) friends at one of our favorite little trashy restaurants (in a great country location), so before we left I thought perhaps I ought to impart just a little motherly wisdom by suggesting that Dustin change her and perhaps feed her a little something so she wouldn't be starving and cranky when we got there. Well, the boy had already done both things! *sigh* I'm so proud!

As it turns out, Eva fell asleep in the car and was cranky when we arrived anyway. But Dustin pretty much held her the whole time - when Chris wasn't taking her for a walk. She did great. Here's a pic of her enjoying her fries:

And, to change the subject completely, here's the latest layout I did.
The photo is from a couple falls ago when we were biking with the Delaney's (the very friends we ate dinner with last night). The layout is definitely not my normal style, but I wanted to play with the papers and play I did. It's wild, but it was fun! And that's part of the fun of scrapbooking; experimenting with your style and going out of your comfort zone from time to time to try new artistic avenues!

Well, after a week of absence, the sun is back out today. No more damp, dreary, CHILLY weather. In fact, there's a heat advisory out today - it's 90-something and VERY humid. Ugh. I hate this kind of weather more than any. And we were supposed to try out the new canoe on the river today. Sitting out in the sun, amplified by the reflection of the water, and to be working (as in rowing) does NOT appeal to me right now. Dustin and Chris and Gary can go, but I'm going to hunker down in my relatively cool house and do other things today... I mean, there's even a heat advisory out. I have validation. I can't breathe in this weather. Did I mention the heat advisory?

That's all my whining for now. I'm off to do some inside "work". :)

I started my online PSE digi scrapping class yesterday. Here's what I made:

That's Martha's mom, Katy, on the page there. I love that photo of her, looking so pensive. (If you click on the photo of the page, you'll get it bigger and can then read the journaling.) Anyway, the class was awesome. I only dropped in the photo and added a few other elements.The page was pretty much already set up. (Doesn't Katy's outfit match perfectly?) :)

I've always been one to "trial and error" my way through software. I actually find that I learn a lot that way. Reading manuals is something I only rarely do - and then, only as a last resort. But Photoshop Elements has really been a challenge. You can't just figure stuff out, you really kind of have to know what you're doing. Yeah, I've gotten some manuals for PSE, but, as I said!

So it was great to find this class. It's very straightforward and full of little extra tips. Of course, you can use PSE for enhancing and editing photos, but since this class is given by a scrapbooker - a digital scrapbooker - it was right up my alley! I've done a wee tad of digi scrapping already, but I want to learn how to do the stuff necessary to produce some of the blow-you-away digi-scrapped pages I've seen. Stuff that just can't be done with paper scrapping.

The class is four weeks, so there will be much more to learn. And then a more in-depth class will be available after that...

I'm off to work on a page for my "mom's album" (inspiring pages I'm sending to my mom on a regular basis that she can then add to an album I've already given her...) I have a doctor's appointment (nothing special) this afternoon, at which time I'll mail all the layouts I've finished for the SIS Circle Journal I'm in. Can't wait to get all the pages for my own book back in the mail!

Later!

This is the cover I did for the new online journaling challenge site, This is Me. (Hence, the name of the journal!) :) I love how it turned out and I'm looking forward to checking out the first challenge, which I'll do in just a minute.

It's a quiet morning here. Chris and Dustin are out golfing. They may be back soon, though, because it's also raining. (Chris says it doesn't rain on the golf course. Heh.) I love the rain, though. It's gentle. We need it. It means we don't have to water. And when I hear about the drought and heat conditions down south. Ugh. Yes. I LOVE the rain and the fact that I have been wearing a long-sleeved shirt for the past three days. (Haven't given up on the flip-flops yet, though!)

Anyway, I do love it when I have the house all to myself. No. No parties. No loud music. I don't know, it's just meditative for me. No pressures (not that there are any with people home...) I have an online class to do and my first journal page to do and I love that I can just think without interruption and play my music if I want - or play nothing. My choices.

So off I go to dig in to the rest of the day!

I attended my first-ever scrapbook "crop" - here at my house! I have forever been wanting to have some of the teens from church (and anyone else interested) over to make these cute little matchbook mini's that BasicGrey puts out. I've done several and they're so fun and cute and easy to do. They come in a punch-out kit that consists of two double-sided sheets, so, like I said - EASY!

So, here are a few that attended (there were 7 of us all together):

And here's what we were making:

Mine is a Christmas theme, but the others' were much more "girly" (you can see the papers under my little book) - great for "friends", "family", etc. I brought out a bunch of my goodies to share, put on some tunes, set out the m&m's and we totally trashed the table and had a blast!

I've never had a desire to attend a crop before because 1) I work very slowly and 2) I want to have access to all my "stuff". So, having this at my house solved both of those issues. We had so much fun that everyone wants to come back and finish their books, so we'll do that in September.

I signed up for an online digital scrapbooking class here, not so much because I want to do digital scrapbooking, I do, but it's mostly because I want to learn better how to use Photoshop Elements. It's the OPPOSITE of Picasa (free from Google) as far as user-friendly and learning curve goes. Very complicated. Obviously, you can do way, way more with PSE than you can with Picasa. I've done a few digi layouts and I would like to learn how to really do the intricate ones. So that starts on Monday and I'm excited about that.

And, I signed up for a "me" (it's always all about me, isn't it?) scrappy-journal challenge that will give prompts/challenges twice a week. It's called This Is Me Journal Challenge. I really enjoy journaling, but sometimes (just like as on this blog), I just don't know what to talk about, Also, I want to challenge myself to work faster and to not obsess so much about my pages. While this isn't a scrapbook, per se (i.e. no pictures are really needed), I still tend to just THINK way too much and take too long!

I finished my circle journal pages for SIS and I'm going to scan/photograph them all this weekend and them send them all away on Monday. They're actually due on the 25th, but I don't want to be late. I'm sending all the pages to the organizer of the journal, who will take everyone's pages that she's received, sort them by the owner of the respective journal and then mail said pages to the rightful owner. In other words, when she gets all the pages from everyone that have been done for my own journal, she'll pack 'em up and send 'em to me.

So, I have to say, it will be sad to part with some of the layouts I've done. At least I will have an electronic version, but, I did put my heart into each one and I'm really happy with what I did, so I'm kind of attached to them. Some were really a blessing to do. I'm sure I'll post those on here for "all" to see...

It's a spectacular day out there in Muncy, PA today. The humidity is gone, my ankles are back to their normal size and it's so "cool" out, that the windows have been shut this a.m. But I think it's warming up now, so I'm off to fling 'em open, put on some tunes and scrap the cover of my journal! Happy weekend!

So, we stopped at our favorite local farmstand yesterday to buy some fresh sweet corn. And here's what we found:

Not a soul in site, all the goodies done up in bags with prices posted and the cash box. Full of money. In plain sight.

I LOVE it! I love that I live in a place where, not only do you not have to lock your doors at night, but we rarely do at all. Really, only when we go on vacation or out of town for more than overnight. And we leave the keys IN the car - at home, anyway. Yeah, it's a small town. Okay, there's not that much to do around here. But that's okay - I'm a "type Z" personality, anyway. I like the slow pace. I like that no matter where you go, you're bound to know somebody. I like the fact that there's never any bad traffic. Heck, there's never any traffic at all! (Actually, I LOVE that little fact of life!)

So, does it disturb me that I must leave my hard-earned - okay, Chris's hard earned - money out in plain sight - stuck under a rock just beggin for someone to steal it? No - because I'm so happy that I live in a place where you can trust most people. And, for heaven's sake, if someone comes by to buy tomatoes or corn or peppers and feels it necessary to take an extra quarter or two - or the whole dang thing - then let 'em have it. I'm willing to donate to their destitute situation - or their hunger for an ice cream cone down the road - whatever. It's all for the good of living in the wonderful little town that I do...What I get to take away is the happy truth that I still live in a world where you can use the honor system!

We had a lovely time in Blackwell at the family reunion. THIS is what we mostly did:

It was perfect swimming weather pretty much the whole time and this is just the greatest swimming hole. They are all on top of this huge rock that lies just under the surface. It's surrounded by a very deep creek bed. The water was super comfy, not too cold. Many of us (including moi) went snorkeling. Some jumped off the cliff, as seen here:

That's Dustin in mid jump. But almost everyone was in the water at some point. And when we weren't doing that, we were hanging out on the deck, painting rocks, riding bikes up into the canyon, reading, playing lawn games, or the family favorite, eating. It did end up raining Monday morning, but that just made it slightly easier to pack everything up and leave as planned.

It seemed a little more low-key this year. There were some people missing, most noteably, of course, was dad. I guess, also, with the kids being another year older, they weren't quite as noisy, wild, etc. So, it was nice. But - last night in my own bed - oh yeah, baby.

And we have now acquired the MOST ungodly hot, humid weather. UGH! When we came home yesterday, we opened up the house a bit because it was a little stuffy and actually cooler outside. But in the time it took to go see "Hairspray" (LOVED it), this super-oppresive humidity rolled in. Dang! So the house is again closed up for the day to try to keep it OUT!

Dustin has now moved back home, temporarily anyway. He had his last night of work at Russell's last night and today starts work at a restaurant in Hughesville. He's secured an apartment in H-ville, but can't get in until September 1st, so he'll be camping out here until then. That will be nice. And it will be SO great having him 10 minutes away as opposed to 50 minutes! (Especially as he doesn't yet have a vehicle!)

Now we only have to get M&M back to this area...and, unbelievably, it appears that they will be making that move next summer! I'm starting to allow myself to believe it a little bit. They, too, will be living with us for a time. I can't express in words how fantabulous this will be. Both boys together again AND right near US! WOOOOHOOOO! Ahem. I'm just trying to restrain the emotions until it's actually happening.

I've been away from my scrap room (and my circle journal projects) for 4 days now and I hear it calling my name....I still have 4 layouts to complete and have mailed by the 25th. Time is closing in. I'm off.

I've been creating! I can't stop! I don't want to stop!

I've noticed an interesting trend, too, which you can see in these last two layouts that I did. Well, it's interesting to ME anyway! I've been leaving scraps of papers and elements from the previous layout on my scrap table when I start the next project (because they're coming so fast - for me) and those pieces/elements are influencing, or making their way into, anyway, the next layout to come. For a while it was a green thing. Now I'm on a pink/orange thing. Notice the same alpha-letters in both layouts.

Tomorrow we head back up to Blackwell for our, probably, last Barlow family reunion. Dad B. always treated the fam to this and, now that he's gone, the sibs are using estate money to fund one last reunion. Now, it's not like we don't see each other often - we do. But not everyone all at once. And...even this time, not EVERYone is coming. The especially noteable person not in attendance will be, of course, Dad himself. We'll miss him...

It's supposed to be stinkin' HOT, too (as it is now...) which, up there, is EXCELLENT news! I'm gonna just keep my swim suit on and be ready to jump in that creek at any given moment because it cools you off for hours afterwards. Can't wait for that.

And Chris and I have another "coffee moment" planned one morning. We'll pack our bikes with coffee and nylon folding chairs and ride up into the canyon, find a nice place to look out and then sit down and enjoy a lovely cuppa joe. Wonderful way to welcome in the morning - which we will have to do EARLY to beat the heat!

I predict several trips to the Cedar Run G.S. for ice cream as well... I'm not bringing much to do - basically reading and photo taking. That's about all the heat will allow for me energy-wise (when not helping in the kitchen, etc.).

It's late. I'm mostly packed, but have a few things to get together in the morning so I think I'll actually hit the hay!

Ah, Dustin has arrived. Chris went down to pick him up after his work. Let the reunioning begin!

Some pretties blooming on my deck:

I love how, in that top photo, the orange flowers look kind of spikey, harsh, but they open up to be gorgeous. And this one, right above. Wow, It's so lovely, so pure and fresh looking. Just love those. I forget what they're called.

We've been having some cloudy weather, with sparse rain lately. The rain could definitely step it up a bit, we really need more. People's wells are getting low and up in Williamsport the grass is brown and crunchy. At least here, in the woods, we manage to stay fairly green.

I'm still in super-scrapbooking mode. Still working on the circle journals that I'm in. Well, one anyway. The other one has hit a snag, but, hopefully it will resume soon. The delay allows me to work more on the other one, for which I have 8 more layouts to prepare - by August 25th. I don't think that will be a problem at this point because, thank the Lord, I have TIME!

I'm loving having time. Free time. Yes, I have the regular things I must do and maintain, but they're not very demanding right now, which is great because I'm craving all this free time. Tonight I was even perusing my new Cooking Light magazine and pulling out recipes I want to make! I do have cleaning/organization urges, but the scrapping is taking precedence over that right now and not working up a sweat is equally appealing. I think I'll save the cleaning for the cooler weather.

And now - it's TIME - for bed!

Summer goodness.

Yes, people, I actually BAKED! This is something that I do enjoy - on my own timetable. In fact, I'm learning a lot about my own timetable these days...

At ScrapinstyleTV (my fave scrapbooking site) there was a huge weekend of online challenges to compensate for those of us that had to stay home and weren't able to attend one of the biggest scrapbooking events of the year - the Craft and Hobby Association (CHA) show. It was called a cyber "crop". Now, in scrapping terms, a "crop" (probably derived from the fact that you often "crop" your photos prior to scrapping them) is a gathering of scrapbookers for the purpose of making scrapbook pages. Often, the idea is to make LOTS of them in a short amount of time. Personally, I've never really been interested in this because, a) I want, no need, to have ALL my supplies (all fiftygazillion of them) in front of me when I scrap and, b) I am a slow scrapper. I have no desire to "speed scrap".

Okay. SO. There must have been a dozen or so challenges at SIS this weekend - all with prizes for the "winner" of the challenge. A challenge is when someone challenges, dares, etc. you to do a scrapbook page or project within certain parameters, i.e. there was a "1, 2, 3, 4" challenge where you were to make a page - in this case "1" page, using 2 photos, 3 patterned papers and 4 embellishments (hence, the 1, 2, 3 and 4). And the subject was to be "great friends".

Now, I really enjoy a challenge. I like that some of what you are to do has been decided already for you. BUT - all of these challenges had to be completed by the end of the day (that is, whichever challenge you decided to participate in, your work had to be in by midnight Saturday). THEREIN is where it really became a challenge for me. As it turns out, many of the deadlines were extended and there's even two challenges that won't be decided until about an hour from now. But I didn't know that when I started on Saturday a.m.

So I did seven of the challenges. For two of them, I was albe to use one layout for two different challenges.

Please forgive me for the uber-long explanation, but having said that and having done these challenges, here are some things I've learned about myself:

1. I am a slowwww scrapper. Well, I already knew that. But the point has really been driven home to me this weekend. I like to think about a project for a long time in my head before I ever sit down at my desk. Roll it around in my brain like you would a fine chocolate in your mouth until it melts. And the thinking part, as long as that takes, is just half of the lengthiness...

2. I am a meticulous scrapper. As much as I love the fresh and funky, thrown together style that's so popular right now, I am just anal about lining things up and balancing stuff and having everything JUST SO. For me to depart from that - which is what I've been trying to do of late - takes me even longer! It's like trying to learn how to play a song on the guitar when you've never heard it before. Yeah. Hard. In my defense, I am a very organized person and so, not surprisingly, I scrap that way, too.

3. I really enjoyed the process and was happy to just scrap all weekend (said weekend would be excluding yesterday, but including Saturday and today...) and I'm a better person for it. I don't need to win. It's not about winning - it's about stretching yourself and having fun and getting some great scrapping done.

4. That's a lie. I want to win. I want praise and admiration from other scrappers, I want recognition for my amazing skills and I want prizes.

5. But that is NOT going to happen. Because I scrap just like ME and not like what is really popular and it's okay, sometimes really nice, but NOT amazing!

6. And I'm really, truly, okay with that. Because I LOVE TO SCRAP and it really isn't about what other people think. It really is about self-expression and preserving memories and doing what makes ME happy, ultimately.

So, yeah, it would be awesome to win, but I know I won't. But what I really love about this website is that whenEVER I upload a layout that I've done, someone will make a nice comment about it. And I do lots of the same for other scrappers. Because we like to encourage each other and it's just an encouraging, supportive website.

So, this weekend was fun. It WAS challenging! And I DID learn a lot about myself. Will I ever do another challenge? ABSOLUTELY! I love the push myself to think differently than I might have otherwise. I love having someone ELSE think of an idea! But, I will only do challenges when I have time and I can roll it around in my brain...

like you would a fine chocolate in your mouth until it melts.....

Sure do love those guys...love to see them together...love to hear them play music together...love that they love each other. And it may be happening on a more regular basis sooner than later because now the latest on the front from M&M is that they may be moving back to - not only our half of the USA, but, well, possibly even our half of the house. Ok, it won't be quite that intimate, well, maybe for a while, but I have all confidence that they WILL want to get their OWN place soon enough after moving here. (Hear me, you guys???) :) No, seriously - heck, yeah! I am serious!

Well, I can't really let myself wrap my mind around it because, what if? Nope. Can't go there yet. I'll still have to see it to believe it...

So I've walked twice now in the last 3 days. (It'll never happen on Sunday a.m.) And I am eating better. I really want to make a change - I must.

So, anyway, Chris and I go to the fair tonight. For what purpose? To eat nothing but greasy fried crap. WHY, oh why do I do that to myself. Because I'm certainly sitting here regretting it now. My tummy is NOT happy with me! And, sorry for the details, but I'm sure I'm gonna - well, let's just say I think I'll take a good magazine and place it in the bathroom this evening before I go to bed. A magazine that I'll be interested in looking at for a while.... Ew.

Oh, in that scrap page up there, I actually made the pattern on the paper with all the letters. I stuck a bunch of alphabets down on white cardstock, then inked over them and then removed the stickers, revealing the white underneath. It was time consuming, but I really like how it turned out.

Well, I'm off to bed. and to get my magazine. for later. ugh.

The heat wave has finally broken. I feel like I can breathe again! Ahhhhh...

So here's what's happening on my Friday the 13th:

.slept in 'til 8:15

.had a lovely (UNhot and humid)devotion time on the front porch with my rye toast and cuppa coffee

.fixed a 2nd cuppa and watched 2 whole, lovely, uninterrupted hours of scrapbooking on QVC (yes, I bought one thing)

.hopped in the car with Chris to head to Williamsport. I got my hair cut while Chris ran to ML to make a deposit.

.visited the brand spankin' new scrapbooking store which was, like, a block from where I got my hair cut (I will be back!)

.went to the "Homemade Days" in Brandon Park where we hunted up Judy, who is selling some jewelry she made. I bought these:

Aren't they cool? The rest of the day should pan out as follows:

.Chris is making pizza (from scratch) while I scrap (if I get off the computer in time!)

.a little more scrapping after supper and then i have to watch "What Not to Wear" on TLC.

.must make myself stay up uber-late b'cause there's two MORE hours of scrappin' on the Q at 1 a.m.! (Thankfully, I can sleep in Saturday all I want!)

Sounds like a pretty good day! Hope yours was, too!

We're havin' a heat wave....

I used to have this game when I was a kid called "Park and Shop". I loved that game and always did very well. The idea was to choose "errand" cards and then maneuver your way around the board to get your errands done before the other players. This actually could be one of the things that greatly influenced my need for organization. No - wait - it was my perfectionistic parents. Oh, well. I did well at the game and any time I have a day like this (which, now that I'm "retired", I guess I will be every Tuesday - my "errand" day!) I think of that game. Here's how it went: McD's (ok - I admit that I love their sausage biscuits and the iced coffee didn't hurt, either); AC Moore to spend my 50% off coupon; Big Lots to check for a hammock pillow (got one); Wal Mart for the usual and then some; Merrill Lynch to make a deposit and ask Christine a question; and, finally, Wegman's to get groceries. I actually spent less money than I deposited! :)

But, DANG - it was HOT out there! I can't believe I ever drove a car without air conditioning. Man, if I didn't have that for all my running around, I'd be as melted as a box of chocolates left on the back seat while I did my shopping would have been.

Here's a sample of some new stuff I made:

I got the idea for these tags from one of the fabulous "Fashionistas" (i.e. design team members) on ScrapInStyleTV - my fave new scrapping website. The whole site has a "fashion" theme going on. And one of the cool things they do is weekly "webisodes" that feature interviews with scrapping "personalities" or projects, whatever. So last week there was one that featured a project using old (or "vintage" as I like to say) record albums to make postcards. I needed some tags and translated the idea to tags. They turned out pretty well and so funny with the whole fashion theme going on...

Well, now I'm going downstairs where it's cool to crash in front of the tube...relief!

My sweet little Rocky... Isn't he a cutie? Hard to believe he's 13 years old!

What am I doing up so late? It seems like this terrible habit I've had lately. Or maybe it has to do with the fact that I chugged a huge soda while watching "Transformers" earlier this evening at the movies. (My review: super-fantastic if you like great effects, lots of crash-bang action and really big metallic monsters. I think I prefer the fuzzy ones.)

I've been having so much fun (another reason I'm up so late) playing at my favorite new scrapping website ScrapInStyleTV. It's a great, positive and fun place. And I found out tonight that I have a chance to win this new book - by leaving a comment at Nic Howard's blog, here. I'd love to win it because it's all about the kind of scrapping I like to do the most - scrapping the ordinary, everyday things in life. (Did ya notice the name of my blog - or see the previous post and scrap page? See what I mean?)

Off to bed - finally!

So, I've been playing with digital scrapbook kits...finally! Yes, finally I have time! I made two yesterday and the one above is the second one. I'm very pleased with how it turned out. Don't know really what I'll do with it though - mainly post here and on my favorite web galleries. But, I can't print it out because it's 12x12. Well, I supposed I could make it smaller, but the other reason I don't think I'd print is because it will be flat - even though I did some stuff to make it look layered (i.e. drop shadows). Anyway it was really fun - and time consuming. So now - back to the hands-on stuff because I need to do some layouts for the circle journals I'm in!