Keeper of the Scrapbook

FOR TODAY 1.23.10
Outside my window... I see lots of dead brown plants from the freeze earlier this month.
I am thinking... about all the things I need to do before I leave for my cruise on Monday.
I am thankful for... my eyesight. Even though I need glasses to read my eyes are healthy.
From the kitchen... I smell the brownies I baked for the boys. Gotta leave them something to eat while I'm gone. LOL
I am wearing... brown linen pants with a blue t-shirt and my new Merrel sandals.
I am creating... a layout of my Facebook wall with all my birthday greetings.
I am going... nowhere and I love it. :-)
I am reading... the first 2 lessons from Katrina Kennedy's Captured Through the Lens class.
I am hoping... for a fun vacation with my friends next week.
I am hearing... the music from Gabe's room.
On my mind... I'm thinking about all the pictures I want to take on my trip.
Pondering these words... He who began a good work in you is faithful to complete it.
Around the house... YIKES!! The Christmas tree is still up!! I've taken the decorations off but the guys have not put the tree away yet. Tomorrow is the day!
One of my favorite things... coffee, always coffee.
A few plans for the rest of the week: get packed and then have fun!
Here is picture for thought I am sharing... I'm going to miss this little guy next week.

--- @ WiseStamp Signature. Get it now

From The Simple Woman's Daybook

For Today January 11, 2010

FOR TODAY
January 11, 2010
Outside my window... I see dead brown grass and plants due to freezing temperatures for the past week.
I am thinking... of all the things I need to do before I leave for my cruise to the Bahama's in 2 weeks.
I am thankful for... warm socks and hot coffee.
From the kitchen... I'm loving a bowl full of fresh tangerines from my mom's tangerine tree.
I am wearing... black pants and a red shirt.
I am creating... the first of 52 weekly layouts for my year long photography project.
I am going... to 1) work on laundry, 2) organize my digi supplies in ACDSee, 3) spend 15 minutes decluttering.
I am reading...   just started Same Different As Me.
I am hearing... Zach and Josh talking and watching TV in the family room.
Around the house... I have all the ornaments off the tree and I need the guys to pack it away.
One of my favorite things... this coffee recipe I found on Pioneer Woman's website. She calls it "Dulce de Leche Coffee" but I call it "Heaven in a Cup". LOL
A few plans for the rest of the week: Continue to get caught up around the house since the boys will be back in school, work on Wednesday, and a TB Lightning Hockey game on Thursday night.

Here is picture for thought I am sharing... we are on our ninth consecutive day of temperatures below 60 degrees. The next similar cold spell was seven days in 1956! This picture is my mom's tangerine tree. The trees are misted when the temperatures fall below freezing to keep them from falling below 32 degrees. It was 1 pm when I took the picture and there was still ice in the tree - absolutely amazing for Florida!

Thank you to The Simple Woman's Daybook for the journaling format. Be sure and check out her entry as well as many others which are linked at the bottom of her page. Also, join the fun and add your post as well.

--- @ WiseStamp Signature. Get it now

For Today January 4, 2010

Over the past few weeks I've noticed several people in my Google Reader using this daily journaling format from the Simple Woman's Daybook  and I liked it so much I'm going to incorporate into my blog. Here's a link to her site.

FOR TODAY: January 4, 2010

• Outside my window... it is clear and sunny but very cold for Florida. The temperature high for today was 53 degrees.
• I am thinking... about goals for the year and what I need to do to make them happen. One of my goals is to post every Monday using this format from the Simple Woman's Daybook.
• I am thankful for... the warmth and safety of our home.
• From the kitchen... I'm smelling the black bean soup I heated up for lunch - it's one of my favorites! One can of black beans and one can of Rotel tomato's (I use the one with lime).
• I am wearing... blue velor pants and top to keep me warm
• I am creating... templates for my Project 52 photos
• I am going... with the family to eat at Chili's.
• I am reading... Choosing Gratitude by Nancy Leigh DeMoss.
• I am hoping... to upgrade my Razor phone to a Droid. ETA - the Droid ROCKS!
  
• I am hearing... classical music on my computer Pandora station.
• Around the house... the boys are playing computer and watching old episodes of The Office.
• One of my favorite things... is Photoshop CS4.
• A few plans for the rest of the week: the boys go back to school next week so we are going to go shopping tomorrow and maybe go see a movie. I'm going to to in to work on Wednesday.
  
• Here is picture for thought I am sharing... this is what the local strawberry farmers will be doing all week as they try to save the strawberries from the freezing temperatures.

Have a great day,

--- @ WiseStamp Signature. Get it now

What are you doing to document your December traditions?

This will be my second year to actively document my Christmas traditions. Last year I participated in Ali Edward’s December Daily event and made a hybrid mini album. This year I plan to make a larger album and add a more journaling. I love the prompts from Jennifer Wilson and Jessica Sprague so I am going to incorporate some of their ideas into my album. I’m looking forward to lots of fun and craftiness.  So how are you going to document your Christmas?

 

Here are links for more information about the projects I'll be using.

Ali Edwards http://aliedwards.typepad.com/_a_/december-daily-2009-.html

Jessica Sprague Holidays In Hand www.jessicasprague.com

Jennifer Wilson http://www.simplescrapper.com/2009/11/27/capture-the-season-week-1/

 

I’m loving all the fun December Digi Sales. Check out this special from the Scrap Artist Shoppe. They will be offering one item each day of December for 50% off. Here’s a link to today’s marked down item. http://www.scrapartist.com/shoppe/

Now I need to get busy and take some pictures! I'm going to try to get some great bokeh shots like this one I took at Christmas last year. 

See ya!

Digital Downloading Frenzy!

Wow! I have been on a digital downloading frenzy with all the fantastic Black Friday digital scrapbooking sales. Do you want to see some of the kits I bought?

I love the colors in this Christmas kit that I picked up for just $2.75 at Go Digital Scrapbooking.


I absolutely love the versatility of Photoshop brushes so when I saw that Nancy Rowe Janitz at Scrapbook Artist had a new set up and on sale for just $2.80 I quickly dropped them into my cart!


My next stop was The Sweet Shoppe Designs where I picked up this Christmas kit. I love adding a little bit of brown into the mix of my Christmas colors so this kit was perfect.


Now I need to quit shopping and get busy working on my Christmas gifts and catching on my layouts of Yesterday and Tomorrow.

See ya!

New to Digital Scrapbooking? Check out our Guides for help. - Digital Scrapbooking Blog and Scrapbook Inspiration From DesignerDigitals

ABout a year and a half ago I discovered digital scrapbooking and I've never looked back! I still love paper, stamps, ink, texture, ribbon and all the other fun elements of traditional scrapbooking but the ability to easily print multiple layouts, the ease of creativity, the ability to scrapbooking anywhere, and the complete lack of clutter won me over to digi scrapping immediately. Another thing I love about digital scrapbooking is that the digi scrapping community is so friendly and helpful.

If you are new to digital scrapbooking or just need some help click on the link below to open the door to a whole new world.

New to Digital Scrapbooking? Check out our Guides for help. - Digital Scrapbooking Blog and Scrapbook Inspiration From DesignerDigitals Shared via AddThis

Happy scrapping!
Marcie

Holidays in Hand Prompts

It’s day 2 of the free Jessica Sprague class Holidays In Hand and I already feel better prepared for the Christmas season. I really think listing my goals allowed me to see things more clearly.

 

I love the daily prompts Jessica gave us for the month of December. Actually I loved them so much I made a modified version for the remaining days of November. I’m calling it Daily Gratitude.

 

Here’s my November 17 Daily Gratitude prompt.

And here’s a preview of my first December prompt.

 I’m looking forward to Wednesday’s assignment. Jessica’s been leaving hints in the forums about upcoming goodies!

 

See ya!

Is it Christmas yet?

I looked at the calendar today and realized that we are half way through November and that it is just about 6 weeks until Christmas! I really want to enjoy Christmas and Thanksgiving and not feel as much stress as I have the past few years. Actually this year Christmas should be very relaxing because my brother Dan and his family will be coming to visit for the week of Thanksgiving. So I will just move my stress from Christmas to Thanksgiving. Wait… is that next week?!!! Yikes!! Yes, it is! I love having Dan’s family here for Christmas and they are not the reason for the stress. So what is the source of my stress at Christmas?

 

Stress Inducers:

• Gift giving - trying to find exactly the right thing for extended family that insists we still all give individual gifts.
• House cleaning – October, November and December are my busiest times at work and so I put off house cleaning until the last minute and then I feel frantic that I can’t get it all done.
• Being around people 24/7. I know that shouldn’t be a stress but for an introvert it really is. Plus I have a crazy conversation going on in my head that my brother is only here a couple of times a year and I should just suck it up and be there.
• Lots of going, going, going! I have a very large family and I feel obligated to attend all the events. I really do love my family and I enjoy spending time with them so I really do want to find a way to make this work.

 

Stress Reducers:

• Chocolate
• Laughing with the family.
• Looking through the pictures we take.
• Walking.
• Watching movies with the boys.
• Scrapbooking, card making, and crafting.
• Journal or document the holidays 20 minutes per day – every day.

 

So how do I make this Christmas different?

• Remember my goal is to having a relaxing time just being with my family as we celebrate Christmas.
• Realize that I need to let go of perfection.
• Make a plan of action to begin getting the house ready now.
• Make some homemade gifts to give instead of worrying about shopping for THE perfect thing.
• Plan to bake a few of the boys favorites like buck-eyes and cream cheese pound cake but resist the urge to overdo it.
• Be careful about which events I say yes to attending.
• Keep a calendar and check it before I agree to go anywhere. 
• Schedule down time.

 

I think that will do it and I’m looking forward to my best Christmas ever!

Here’s my favorite Christmas picture from last year. It's taken at the ICE exhibit at the Gaylord Palms in Orlando. Bet you can’t even tell I photoshopped myself into the group picture! 

What do blogging and scrapbooking have in common?

Both blogging and scrapbooking provide unique opportunities for storytelling and memory keeping. I began scrapbooking 5 years ago to make an album of high school memories for my oldest son but I continue to scrapbook because I love telling stories and recording our family history. Over the years I've developed my own style of scrapbooking and I even created a blog as a place to share my layouts, stories and pictures. I think in the past that I waited (and waited... LOL) to post until I had something big or important to share but I've decided to change the way I blog and make it an integral part of my  scrapbooking, not an afterthought. I am behind in posting for Shimelle's Blogging For Scrapbookers class but I'm reading the material and it is awesome! This is the first class I've taken from Shimelle and I love it. I'm really busy at work (YIKES! The auction goes LIVE in 6 days!) so I appreciate Shimelle giving easy assignments  as well as in-depth assignments. {Thanks Shimelle! That totally takes the stress off of me!}

For today's prompt I'm supposed to share a list of 5 of my favorite things... so in the spirit of National Digital Scrapbooking Day and all the AMAZING sales this weekend here are my top digi scrap sites. 

1. Jessica Sprague - THE best digital scrapbooking classes/forums on the web.

2. Designer Digitals - Absolutely awesome store and forum.

3. Scrap Artist - Love, love, love Nancy Rowe Janitz stuff!

4. OScrap

5. Little Dreamer Designs

6. The DigiChick Shop

See ya!

Marcie

It's auction time!

It's the beginning of November so it must be auction time! This is my 6th year organizing and hosting a silent auction and fall festival at the school where I'm the Volunteer Coordinator. It is a crazy busy and at times extremely stressful but overall I can honestly say I love what I do. Tomorrow I have to complete the auction catalog and send it to the printer. Yes, it has been stressful trying to make the deadline but it is so much better than staying up until 2 AM printing it ourselves! I've even used my Photoshop and scrapbook skills to design the Save the Date cards, posters, the catalog, and a 4x8 banner!

Here is a before and after picture of the gym from last year's auction. Haha I just noticed that I labeled the pictures wrong. LOL I'll have to fix them later.

I'm also taking a online class to learn how to incorperate scrapbooking and blogging. You can read more about it on Shimelle's blog. I'll post more about that tomorrow.

See ya!

Marcie