It's the litte things

So, in the scrapping world there are various things to "toot" about - no, not when you eat beans or anything (that would entail and entirely different post!) ... people "toot their own horn" for getting published, making a design or creative team ... all kinds of things. I've been published a few times now - and have two more coming soon - but there's one thing I've been striving for; one place I check every day in the hopes that yes, I too will be represented there ... and until today, it's never happened.

Gallery Standouts is a site run by a group of digital designers, artists, and scrapbookers who scan a number of digital galleries to find their "best of" for the day. Perhaps a style inspires them, a design element, a great photo ... and today, I'm in there with a layout I just finished, literally, last night for Carina - Summer Memory. Here's a link to the 2Ps gallery, where you can find the specific kits I used from Carina, and also the word art from Mary Ann, and the crab (isn't he cute?) from Tia ... and the layout, of course:

Yeah, it might seem a little silly to scan a website every day in the hopes that perhaps my name will be featured ... but I'm tickled that it is!

On a scrappy-related note, I was happy to see that Kate is back designing at 2Ps. She's been away for a few months, recovering from a back injury. Kate has a few new things coming out today at 2Ps (will update this post with links, once they're active), but thought you might like a sneak-peek at the new things:

Weekend Wrap-up

So, it's Sunday afternoon ... nice "almost" Fall weather (but still a little too warm for my liking). NASCAR is on the tv, Redskins lost (oh, like THAT's a big surprise ... not!), dog has been walked and fed, bunch of cooking done for the upcoming week ... life is good (and the whole house smells of cooked food LOL).

Talked to my Mum last night, first time since we returned from vacation. Apparently she's been trying to send some emails to us, but she keeps getting everything returned with error messages. As a test, she sent a quick message and said to let her know if we got it or not. I replied: "Nope, didn't get it." I'm expecting a similarly smart-arse reply in return! ROFL

Finished up the "book" that I was working on at the office. First time I've actually had a book printed, bound, etc. Looked great, except that some of the pages were in the wrong order - oops! Thankfully, the printer I use has a great staff, and they have been very accommodating - and they've printed another copy for me, which should arrive tomorrow (I hope). The function/presentation will be Wednesday.

Got a few pages to share. The first uses Victorian Papers from Carina's new I Remember When collection. The vintage style is kinda outta my usual scope of pages, but I always enjoy a challenge to try something new or continue to work on my skills. I also added Mary Ann's Worn Frames. However, once I got done (okay, so I THOUGHT I was finished), I thought the page needed something else. What, I had no clue, and it took me quite some time going through my digi stash to find it. And "it" ended up being a couple of bright blue butterflies, a ladder, and a quote from Vinnie Pearce's He's Royalty kit.


The second page uses a lot of papers from Jen Allyson's Spot Color Simple Shades line - I think Jen's released eight or nine (?!) paper packs in the past couple of weeks in the Spot Color collection! Although the colors in Simple Shades are muted pastels, I still used them on a layout about DH and DS. I love that I was able to capture this photo of the two of them ... wonder what they were talking about? It seems so secretive. They were so engrossed in conversation that they didn't even know I was still taking pictures. The tree elements are also from Spot Color, but I added some rhinestones for something a little different. The template comes from Queen of Quirk ... and I enlarged a frame from Mary Ann's Curled Photo Frames (which I'm really loving - great basic "go to" pieces).


OMG! What is it with male genes?! While I've been typing here, I've heard 2-3 minutes, each, of NASCAR, football, CNN news, the weather (huh?!), and now golf. AND, the channels keep changing even though there are no commercials playing ... hhhmmm ... think I need to go get control of that remote!

What the ... *%&$&# ???

O - M - G!!! July?! My last post was July?! NO WAY! Why didn't someone say anything? There are people reading this ... right? Hello? *** sigh ***

Okay, so I was out of the country for about three weeks, but that doesn't account for entire time. Where did time go?! Between getting ready for and then taking a vacation to Australia, getting DS ready for a new school year, being swamped at work, and then scrapping my little heart out ... guess I just needed a break. But, break is over, and now I'm getting back into a routine.

Now, all that said, my "routine" is a little different. Honestly, I'd pushed myself pretty hard the past few months, and it was starting to show in my scrapping: I was scrapping for CT assignments (which was a WONDERFUL opportunity, don't get me wrong), but didn't really have time for myself ... plus my S4H business has started taking off, so I needed time to devote to that, too. My office has even asked that I put together a "memory book" for a manager - drop dead on that is October 1 ... that's after everything has been proofed, printed, and shipped to me. I said goodbye to two of my designers *** sniff sniff ***. That was a hard decision to make - they are both wonderful ladies. One gave me my first start on a DT/CT; the first one that made me believe that my work was good enough for someone to take notice ... and the other designer was my 2nd CT group - an eclectic international group where I felt right at home. Ladies, I'm glad you understood my position ... but don't worry, I won't go away that easily - I'll still be snooping around the boards, seeing what new kits you're bringing out! ROFL

I'm still working with a designer or two, but just scaling back what I'm committing to - long overdue. I've even now found time to pick up my cross-stitch (after a not-so-subtle hint from my mother about a project I've had for ... oh, I don't know ... three years? Oops), and during our visit "down under", I picked up a new tapestry canvas. I haven't done tapestry in AGES!! Of course, didn't think I'd have SUCH a hard time finding DMC tapestry WOOL (yes, wool, not cotton or embroidery thread) - did you know you can't even buy direct from the manufacturer here in the US?! Thankfully, DMC hooked me up with a company in WI who has now shipped the wool to me ... waiting ... waiting ...

Well, I guess it's best that I just pick up where I left off and keep going on from here ... okay?

Today, Saturday, I've spent the bulk of the day online at a Back To School crop at Making Memories For You. Why the whole day - well, I'm basically running the show - the crop was my idea! I've got three challenges, and a mystery challenge was posted by another member. We've had games on and off during the day ... with my fave being one I ran: What's on my desk? The object of the game is for members to ask questions on the board and using my response (usually yes or no only), they have to guess what is ... well, on my desk! Now, these types of games usually take 30-45 minutes ... but TWO AND A HALF HOURS LATER (!!!), we were still going strong. Now, I ask you, if someone gave you these clues, you'd be able to figure out what the object is, right:

1. Is it hard or soft? Answer: Hard with a soft grip.
2. Is it used for work or pleasure? Answer: Neither really; used for a chore.
3. Do you use this daily? Answer: Yes, most mornings and certainly even evening.
4. No, it is not an iPod, laptop, mouse, hair dryer, brush, or toothbrush.

I added a hint ... it runs on batteries only. And then it began. Oh my, what WERE we thinking?! Well, I know what we were thinking - and thankfully it was an all-adult board! ROFL Hard with a soft hand grip (thankfully, I didn't mention that the grip is rubberized and has a nubby texture for even more grip! LMAO), used for work and pleasure (kinda), used every day, and runs on batteries.

FLASHLIGHT!!! C'mon, it was a FLASHLIGHT!!! We take the dog out too early in the a.m. and too late at night and need additional light to see what she's doing in the backyard (last thing we need is to ... um ... step in "something"! Sry, TMI?!). To save the neighbors from the disruption we use the FLASHLIGHT rather than turn on the outside lights. YOU got flashlight, right???

One of my challenges at the crop is to use things you learn early in school - numbers or the alphabet. The challenge was to create a "top ten" list of things that describe you as of today ... or use the alphabet - all letters - to describe yourself, e.g., A is for Attitude, B is for Blue Eyes, C is for Cunning (oh, and these have NOTHING to do with me ... really, they don't ... you believe me, right?!). So, I got stuck on the A-Z list (not good since it was MY challenge! LOL), and I did the list instead ... here's what I created:

I just picked up the Isabella kits from Erica Hernandez at Two Peas, and loved all the fun colors and patterns ... and JEN! Jen, what can I say?! The template I used here comes from Jen M. - okay, so I modified it a "bit", but it's still - basically - hers. Jen has gone from a baby Pea, was "promoted" to Garden Girl at Two Peas ... and now ... now she'll be offering her templates at the site, too! Oh, I can say I know Jen when. Okay, enough! I don't actually KNOW Jen ... but I know OF her. There, better?

I also did a few things with Carina's kits. Carina's recently released a new Halloween-inspired kit called Spider Web ... but I don't really have many Halloween photos - just not something I celebrated as a kid in Australia. Any-who ... I got what I thought was a good picture of my 2nd cousin during our vacation ... nope! Totally blown out - the "before" picture is here ... I had to tweak it quite a bit, add some layers, play with Levels ... and convert it to B&W (sorry, did I lose you with tech/computer geek talk?! Sorry 'bout that! LOL) ... bottom line: I created a grunge picture that I could use with Carina's papers, which had a kinda masculine feel about them; the word tags come from Sande Krieger's Teen Boy wordstrips. My page was inspired by "E&E" from Heather Bowser, SBE Mag Feb/Mar '09 issue:


Okay, I've still got work to do ... so I'd better get back to it. Later - and hopefully my next post will be much sooner than another few months from now - before Thanksgiving would be nice, right!? ROFL