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July 31, 2009

We got us a convoy.......

Well, not exactly. Actually it's a blog train. And it's a REALLY REALLY BIG ONE.

Here's the complete list of participants.

Now, the designers are from all over the world and we all have "real life" to deal with, so if you go to someone's blog and their contribution isn't up, check back later. You are welcome to refer back here if you get lost. Or you can go to http://blogtrainblog.blogspot.com/ which is "headquarters" for the blog train. There's also a fancy slide show of all the previews at that web address.

So, my preview looks like this:

If you like this, please take a minute and sign up for my newsletter. Of course, there are freebies and coupons and things like that through the newsletter and it gives me a chance to show you my latest designs. Now, I know what you're REALLY looking for--the link to download. Just go here:

http://www.4shared.com/file/122113836/3ef050b2/HFD_Back2SchoolMini.html

If by any chance that link doesn't work, just copy and paste, okay?

Have fun!

Marci

Posted at 10:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

July 30, 2009

You'll never guess

what's sitting on my kitchen counter! SEVEN (yup, 7) jars of homemade cherry jam. I did all the hard part--pitting the cherries without a cherry pitter--a couple of weeks ago. (I am happy to report that my hands are normal colored again--no longer stained with cherry juice, LOL.) Then I froze the cherries because I had to wait for my canning jars. I looked online for canning jars and was just shocked at the prices--$60 and up for a dozen........and that was BEFORE shipping!!!!! Yes, I know they're an investment and can be re-used, but who has $60? So, I went to Plan B--E-bay. Sure enough I found some jars that are perfect for jams and jellies, a dozen for $13.45 and the shipping was only a dollar! Joe even frowned about me spending the $14.45 for the jars, but I'll bet he'll smile when he gets that jam on an English muffin!!!

Yesterday was my day off from work, so, in the afternoon, I put the defrosted cherries in my biggest cook pot and started making the jam. I had two problems. I vastly underestimated how long it would take to get the jam mixture to begin to boil. And, I had more jam than I thought I would. So, when 5 o'clock rolled around, I found myself praying my 5 o'clock client would be late. She was, but just not late enough. So she sat at my desk and every 5-10 minutes I'd get up and run to the kitchen to check on what was going out there. (Fortunately, she's my friend and was very understanding.) Finally, I was done. Five jars of jam, all water processed and ready to put away. Only problem was I had more jam in the pot. Well, there just wasn't much I could do about that with my client here, so I finished up with her. Then I had to sterilize some more jars, rings, and lids, get the water hot for the processing, and get the jam hot to put into the freshly sterilized jars. So, we ended up with 7 jars and I still have extra in a Tupperware container which is what we'll use first. It's yummy stuff! Wowzers!

For my next trick, I'd like to try peaches. (Peach jam, to be more specific.) I've already found a recipe, but, of course, I have to find a heck of a sale first. I figure peaches will be easier--the pits are bigger!! And, most likely, my hands will still look normal when I'm done with the pitting process!

I had planned to take photos of the process, kind of my amateurish answer to Pioneer Woman Cooks. My first problem with that plan was that all my camera-sized batteries were dead. And, of course, I wouldn't have been able to do that with my client here anyway. So, I've got the batteries charging now and I'll take pictures of the finished product--my 7 garnet-colored jars of delicious cherry jam. Who knows? Maybe I'll even make a cherry scrapbooking kit just so I can properly show off my cherry jam loot!

I'm outta here for now. I have a lunch date with a client in just a little over an hour and a half and I'm still in my nightgown. Gotta get moving! Later, gators. Oh, today is probably the last day for my quick page offer for signing up for my newsletter. Just click on the button to the right and within 48 hours I'll send you a link to download your free Quick Page, made with my latest kit Grasshopper Pie. I'm ready to upload the next kit (probably tomorrow night) which will have a different offer........

Posted at 09:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 28, 2009

What a day!

Yesterday was a total mix of the good, the bad, and the downright evil. Crazy. I started in the morning with a meeting with a new client. It turns out she needs 4 tax returns done which is worth at least $450, given the amount of work that will be required. She didn't flinch at my guesstimate on price and I walked away with her tax records, so I think I am hired. And, I happen to know she has a friend who also needs some tax work done so I will be giving maybe a bit more than my usual excellent service in hopes she will report back to her friend with rave reviews. We met at a local coffee shop because my living room is totally upheaved due to the painting project that started in November before Joe took on this 12 hour a day job. Furniture pretty much all piled in one corner, half the ceiling painted, a ladder to walk under if you're not superstitious--we're not--and a garage FULL of carpet and padding (our gift from God) just waiting to be installed. When we were all done with our meeting, we went our separate ways, her to her car, me and her records to the van. I climbed in, stuck the key in the ignition and NOTHING! I called Joe and he came and got the van jump started. It was so hot outside, he could barely stand to touch the metal to raise the hood! But we had to wait around in the heat for whoever was parked next to the van to move their car so we could get access to the dead battery.

I headed home for a couple of hours where we were able to get away from the incredible heat by hiding in the air conditioned house. By the time it was time to leave again, my hair had actually stopped dripping perspiration......Then it was time to go to work. The van needed another jump to start.

It was so doggone hot yesterday (there were reports of 118 degrees) that the van never got cool, even on the half hour drive to the work-side-of-town. I stopped at this lovely place called Shelton Battery. Dropped a cool $72 on a new battery. I've bought batteries from them for years and they are worth the drive, even if they weren't located a block from the office. They installed it. I swear, if I'd been them, I'd have laid on the floor of the shop, kicked my feet, and screamed "no" at the prospect of going outside, but they behaved better than I would have. Fortunately for them, their work area is covered which helps some, but honestly, the heat was just stifling. But, I believe yesterday was the hottest day we've had all summer, and here it is the end of July, so we can't complain too much about that. If we can live through August, we're on the downhill.

So I had the excitement of the new client (coupled with a coffee drink made with REAL coffee, not decaf) and the opportunity to stand out in the overwhelming, brain-frying, energy-sapping heat for about an hour yesterday. I got to spend money on a new battery. Then I got to go have our "talk" with Matthew.

I believe he would have sent me home again yesterday afternoon. I got to the office first in spite of my battery install, and, of course, started to work. When he walked in and saw that I was working, he made a comment to the effect of "See, this is why I wanted to be here first, before you started work". I can't for the life of me think why that would have been important unless he intended for me NOT to start work. But I HAD started work so I stayed and continued what I was doing.

To summarize his major points of consternation, the Accounts Payable are not right. Duh! The mail is delivered to Greg's home. Greg is as bad with paper as anyone I've ever known. Further, Greg has personally admitted to me that the thrill is gone for him as far as the company is concerned, so it is difficult to get the bills to even enter them into the Accounts Payable system. It is common to receive bills a month late, so for example, he will wander in with May's bills after I've already tried to figure out the bills for June. Believe me, it would be a lot easier to make sure A/P is correct if I actually had ALL the bills. It would even be easier if I had only the company's bills. But when Greg brings in a pile of mail, there's no telling what might be in there, including, for example, his personal mortgage payment coupon. And, we never pay the amount billed. Don't ask me why, but checks get processed out of there all the time and I have no idea why they are $5 more or $12 less than the amounts billed. No, I'm not surprised the Accounts Payable are not right. Greg is a total artist when it comes to work done with his hands and he is very intelligent; but paper is his anathema.

Matthew also brought up that I did not have our payroll deposit for June ready until late in the afternoon on July 15. Well, it's a bit of a long story, but the week of June 22-June 26, I was laid off because the company had no money. I did work a few hours that week but only because we had an auditor there. Being laid off for the week and preparing for the audit put me more than a week behind coming into the week of June 28-July 3, during which time I should have been "auditing" various accounts, making sure the balances were correct, finishing the bank reconciliation, etc. Of course, the 3rd was a Federal holiday. So, I was behind going into the subsequent week, the week of July 10th. And we were still broke........ No money to cover any check I might have written and, you know, the IRS gets a bit testy when you give them a rubber check. We expected a large payment on an account receivable which was supposedly going to be paid on July 11th. But July 11th was a Saturday. So the money did not come in til the following week. Meanwhile, I woke up on the morning of July 11th with my back out of place. I did not work Monday the 13th or Tuesday the 14th because I was flat on my back, knocked out on pain pills and muscle relaxers. I specifically got out of bed and went to work on the 15th just to make sure that payroll deposit was prepared on time and it was--with 35 minutes to spare to drive the two blocks to the closest branch bank and deposit them........which I offered to do. He sat at his desk engaged in no visible activity other than surfing the net until 5:02. Then he announced he was going home. He deposited the checks the morning of the 16th, which by my estimate cost us $25 in penalties for a late deposit.

Each day when I go into the office, I go online and print out the bank activities. Then I bring the computer system up to date for any transactions that have cleared since the last day I was there. And, I reconcile the bank to the day's balance. Several weeks ago he told me he did not want me to leave any more of "those bank printouts" out because he didn't want employees to see what was going on in our bank account. Point taken. I have been downright religious about making sure those babies are put away or, if I know I'm completely finished with them, I bring them home and shred them. So, he says to me, "I told you not to leave stuff out on the desk and I came in here the other day and you'd done two payrolls (we were behind one) and left them lying out on the desk". "No", I said. "You told me not to leave banking information out on the desk and I have left no banking information out on the desk. You never said anything about payroll." So, we decided that payroll would be left in a certain drawer from now on.

So, for now, I am back at work. Whether I'll be at work next week or next month is yet to be seen. I am learning to take it on a day to day basis. But, I got through our meeting. I didn't allow myself to become frustrated with this hokum. I didn't say an angry word or give an angry response. I kept reminding myself I was there to emulate Jesus and in that I think I was successful. Every response was reasonable and without rancor. Now, I wonder what he and his best friend, satan, will cook up for the next round?

Here's the funny part of all this. You will probably remember that he went to Greg and complained that I whistle while I work and it disturbs his concentration. Well, if I whistle while I work, I am unaware of it but I have tried to be very careful not to whistle since this was mentioned. My work is complicated and I know that noise is disturbing and I am more than willing to be a good office mate. We got all done with our discussion and he went over and turned on the radio LOUD with country music. It was so loud, I put on my headphones but I could still have danced to the music even with the headphones on. Then he used the speaker phone function on his cell phone and made a phone call where he was on hold for about 45 minutes. The site he was calling was playing elevator music which was broadcast through the speaker phone and also audible in spite of my headphones. Then he began "drumming" on the desk to the beat of the country music--all this while I was trying to work. Hmmmmm, maybe whistling isn't so bad after all.

I am reminded that satan does not like those of us who walk around with Jesus inside of us and will do anything he can think of to make things miserable for us. But, I am also reminded of the passage in the Beatitudes where Jesus says we are blessed when people revile us for His name's sake, so I'm lookin' for that blessing! I know when this job ends I am in for a promotion so it's all okay. If the Lord really blesses me, He will bring about a major increase in scrapbooking sales and I will no longer have to do accounting work (other than tax season) to help us keep body and soul together. That is where my heart lies........ I wonder where His heart lies?

Gotta get some stuff done. Have a blessed day!

Posted at 12:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 27, 2009

Ch-ch-ch-change, I hope!

Pissed off, angry, irritated, frustrated, depressed, critical, negative, these are my husband's frequent moods. I'd say they are the result of him being tired because of his work schedule, but truthfully, though the frequency of these moods may have increased from 60% to 80%, these descriptive words would have worked for him a majority of the time 6 months ago, 5 years ago. Lately, for some odd reason(?), depressed, fearful, stressed, and hurt have been good words to use for me. I hope, after yesterday, that these words will change.

We have had a very special speaker at our church, Mrs. Heidi Baker. If ever you have a chance to hear her speak, buckle your seatbelt and show up. She is the most God-filled woman I have ever known. There is no "playing church" with this woman. She could not possibly be what she is and spend less than 3 hours a day in worship, praise and prayer--she didn't say that, I just know it. She is so full of the Holy Spirit she frequently refers to herself as "snockered". She is a missionary to the Macua people in Mozambique. She feeds 10,000 children a day. She holds street meetings in Muslim towns, people are healed, and most of the towns are converted. She has started 1200 churches in Mozambique and they are flourishing. She has the highest rated school, a Christian school, in all of Mozambique--rated higher even than the international schools. "Her" children are educated there, and many many of them become ministers of the gospel. She has stopped counting the number of people "her" children have raised from the dead when she hit 200. She is also seeing AIDS babies totally healed, so many she has stopped counting them as well. She spends many of her nights at "the Starlight Hilton", her tent....she sleeps in there when she goes to the outlying villages. Many other nights she spends in native mud huts. She has a gift of healing for the deaf. She drives into town, sets up a PA system and asks the town to bring its deaf people to the public square; they come; she prays; they are healed; and the town accepts Christ as their savior...... It is her business in life to do as Christ commanded his followers to do: raise the dead, heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, and cast out demons. And she does it all using two tools--faith and love.

She told us last night about a time that "her" children were ill with cholera. They lost 7 children, and she and her staff were interceding for about 80 more children and staff members who were hospitalized. She asked God what to do and He told her to love them, cheek to cheek. God provided a way into the hospital which was guarded to keep people out, to keep them from carrying the disease to more of the population. She went from bed to bed hugging those deathly ill children, holding them, loving them, cheek to cheek. The doctor told her she was a crazy woman and that she would die. Heidi declared that she would live, not die. The next day 20 people left the hospital, completely healed. The day after that, another 30 left the hospital, completely healed. The third day, the hospital was emptied by the exodus of healed cholera victims--children, pastors, etc. The doctor now works for her in her medical clinic.

The stories like this, and of her times in communion with God, and of her own healing, and of the healing and conversion of various villages in Mozambique are more than the mind can handle unless one has seen God work in these ways with others. But the real kicker is that while she has been doing all these things as God's Warrior in Mozambique (she reminds me of a Warrior Angel), her own husband has been at death's door. A little over two years ago, he went to the Congo to minister. There he found missionary friends of theirs and converts hacked to pieces, literally, by those peace-loving Muslims we all hear about. Feet cut off, hands cut off, breasts cut off, just hacked to pieces. Many of them were dead when he arrived. Everywhere he went he faced death, dismemberment, incomprehensible cruelty, plain out evil. Finally, he returned home, sick. He went to bed, and finally after two years was sleeping 23 hours a day. He did not shower or bathe, he did not feed himself, he did not dress himself.....she had to do all those things for him or have someone do them for him when she was away. Finally, two months ago, the doctors told her to call all of their friends and family and have them come to Mozambique as Roland's dementia was so bad he clearly would not last more than perhaps another month. And during all this time, she raised the dead, cleansed the lepers, cast out demons, healed the sick, and taught about the love of Jesus wherever she went. As their friends and family began to gather in Mozambique to honor this loving man of God who had ministered throughout Africa for 30+years, he arose from his bed and is healed. Now, the story of his healing is a wondrous story, a story of God's love toward one of his sons, who he brought back to life. But the more amazing part of this story is that her faith in God was so strong that despite the fact that her husband was dying back in their home, she still stayed at the Starlight Hilton or in mud huts, still traveled into the outlying villages preaching, teaching, healing. She still fed 10,000 children a day. Her ministry continued. She did not dissolve in tears or walk around helpless, wringing her hands as her husband deteriorated. She got up each day, dressed in the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth, the shoes of peace, grabbed the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit, and went out attacking satan at every hand, even as satan attempted to steal and kill her husband's mental health and physical life, as well as destroy her ministry. What an amazing woman.

Things have been hard here. There is seldom enough money to go around. Joe works 60 to 72 hours a week. And, my work circumstances are totally disagreeable and crazy-making. Jennifer called last night to tell me to clean out her refrigerator because she will be gone for a week and she is afraid the food will spoil. And I was thrilled. There's cheese and milk and fresh veggies and fruit and grapes (Joe's fave) and so on. I am to take anything I can use and throw away anything else that is perishable. What a blessing that is to us. There is never ANY extra money. There is no need to plan menus because, with Joe working, there is no one to eat if I cook and we can't buy the food anyway. We drive nowhere we don't absolutely have to because of the cost of the gasoline. Yes, things are tough. But, it's time for each of us to give up our moods which are simply reflections of our circumstances but have stolen our peace, are on their way to killing Joe and me from the stress, and on their way to destroying our marriage. We've got to put on that armor of God, described in Ephesians 6, and go do a little of that raising the dead, cleansing the lepers, healing the sick and casting out demons ourselves. And we have to learn to just trust God with the circumstances, just as Heidi has had to trust God with the sick and dying husband. And, somehow I have to figure out what love looks like to Matthew and love on him until he just can't stand it.

And, so today, I am called back to work to "have a talk" with Matthew. I guess this is a good time to strap on that armor and pray that God will so fill me with love for Matthew that it will radiate from my whole being. I shall need some time in prayer before that!

In the meantime, I have been designing and designing. I've completed two full kits and am well on my way to finishing a third in the past week. And, I've managed to get myself organized as far as all this goes. Yesterday I inventoried the bits and pieces that are on my hard drive and prepared a spreadsheet to summarize what is done, what is not done with each of them. I figured out that I have 7 kits that are within 1-2 hours of completion. Two for sure need nothing more than to be zipped and uploaded. I want to look over 4 of them and make sure everything is what I would want it to be with them. One will take the longest as I know I'm not yet thrilled with the papers in that one. Then there are 4 more that need re-working. A couple of them will be fine with minimal work, maybe 4 hours. One needs re-thinking based on some feedback I got from the store Creative Team. And one is a mini kit I did for a charity collaborative kit that I will be expanding into a full kit. But, I'm well on my way to having a good stock of kits to draw from. The newest kit I'm working on has a sort of "tranquil nature" theme to it. I imagine myself by the reservoir in Kolob and then I make a paper. Or near the ocean on the North Atlantic coast on a sunny day and then I make a paper..... Or lying in the sun reading a book along a lonely lake shore and then I make a paper. It's working out well.

No kits from LaWanna, Cori, or Amanda this week, but there were three from Bella Gypsy Design. I scrapped with two of them. Until my new granddaughter, Miss Elizabeth Jane, arrives, I still have a tough time scrapping with pink......

The first kit is called "Let's Hear it for the Boy".

It looks like this:

Here's the page I scrapped with it:

The photo is from Atticus's first birthday. Hard to believe how much he's changed in the last year and a half since this was taken. I really want to slow down the process of growing up and just relish him in all his baby boy sweetness a while longer......

In the last week, Lena (one half of Bella Gypsy Designs) has suddenly found herself without a spouse. She finds she needs a divorce fund, so the girls put together this special kit for that purpose.

There's also an add-on to the kit which features some weathered and worn papers and some lovely word art. Here's the page I did with Hope Floats:

Well, that's the extent of my rambling for today. I have to meet a new client who needs 4 tax returns done. I have an hour and fifteen minutes to get ready and get there! Have a great day.

I had just finished this page when Will and Atticus arrived yesterday to stay with Grandma while Mom went to a class. Before I knew it, Will walked up behind me and was reading what I had written. His eyes filled with tears, and Grandma wrapped her arms around him. We talked a bit about what a hard time that was for him and how there have been hard times for him since as well......... I love that boy and it just rips me apart to see him hurt........

Posted at 08:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 24, 2009

Grasshopper Pie

Well, Grasshopper Pie has made it into the store. I'd hoped to get that done last night, but got sidetracked. So, first thing this morning I was uploading and linking and all that stuff. In case you have a REALLY short memory, it looks like this:

Well, it looked a bit different in the last post because it wasn't in the NDISB wrapper and didn't have my new slick-lookin' red logo button with the lightning bolt. Get it? Hot=red, Flash=Lightning Bolt.... Well, I thought it was cute, but that just goes to show you my silly sense of humor. (I'm trying to draw attention away from the REAL reason for the name and if you're over 45 you probably have an inkling what I mean. You either have 'em or they're in your near future.) You can find the kit in my store at NDISB. Here's a linkie....... http://www.ndisb.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=95

You'll notice I've changed the style of my preview. A designer friend of mine, for whom I have a lot of respect, recommended the change, and so, it's changed. New kits will be previewed like this from now on.

Anyhow, I made a layout with this kit using a photo from the internet. I wanted to do a girly page, though you could certainly use this kit for a guy, and girly photos are tough for me to come by. Here's the layout:

If you click the button to the right and sign up for my newsletter, I have a small surprise for you. I've turned this page into a Quick Page, just for newsletter subscribers. I'll send you links to the quick page download within 48 hours of your name being added to the list. How's that for a deal? I've only done three issues of the newsletter (counting the one that I'm putting out today) and so far I've given away a mini-kit, a coupon, and now this quick page. It pays to be one of my subscribers.....

Well, I'm off to get a newsletter out to my favorite ladies. Then, I'm going to go back to bed for a couple of hours because I really didn't sleep all that well last night, or all that long, for that matter! Have a blessed day!

Hugs,

Marci

Posted at 09:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

July 23, 2009

One foot in front of the other

I have avoided updating here until there was some resolution to what's going on. I can't really say anything is resolved, but I can say I no longer care as much.

Tuesday around noon I received an e-mail from Matthew informing me that they were working on some changes around the office and I wasn't to come in until called. I about puked in my keyboard. My blood pressure immediately soared so high that I had the shakes. In fact I had the shakes most of Wednesday as well. We had just been sitting here, turning all our pockets inside out, trying to figure out if we were going to be able to pay July's bills. (That's a pretty important and unsettling conversation when 2/3's of the month has already passed.) Now, I was once again being told to stay home. I didn't really like it when there was no money and I was told to stay home, but now that we've been paid for a couple of jobs and there IS money, I was really upset.

Joe and I are both subscribers to the "the one who talks first loses" theory. So, other than requesting an estimate for that marvy rubber stuff for Jennifer for under the swing/jungle gym thingy, I have said nothing. Finally this morning I received another e-mail saying we should talk sometime on Monday or Tuesday. I simply replied that I could be available either day and he should choose which was best for him.

So, by the time we have a "talk" about whatever wild hair he has up his butt now, I will have lost at least a week's wages. And, of course, I will be further behind on the work that needs done than I was last week with more pressure to catch up. Or, maybe, I'll not be working there anymore. I certainly don't know.....

In any case, now that I'm a bit calmer, I know that if this job is gone, God will find another way for us to get our needs met. But, I admit, the pressure of being constantly broke is getting to me. Sometime in the next few days, we will be in position to pay July's housepayment--most likely within a week of when August's housepayment is due. So, though by turning all those pockets inside out we have figured we can just squeeze by for July, we no more than get that taken care of and we can begin to try to figure out new things to go without in order to make up for the deficit caused by the loss of a week's pay and the slow summer season coupled with the bad economy in Las Vegas so that we can pay August's bills.

However, I was reading recently about a Christian lady who began praying that the Lord would turn the recession to her benefit rather than allowing it to hurt her. And, sure enough, she got a promotion and a raise! So, maybe you can guess what the Lord and I are talking about?

Well, let's talk about the good stuff--scrapbook designing. First, I did some Quick Pages for LaWanna Desjardin recently and, since she has now posted them in the store, I'm at liberty to show them off to you. I think they are beautiful, not because I'm so talented but because I have never seen prettier papers in my life. That woman has so much talent and just doesn't seem to get the attention she deserves. Unfortunately, I'll have to save them to web-size before I can post them, but that will give you something to which to look forward.

I've been on a designing "roll" so to speak. Of course, I think my butt is two inches wider as a result of sitting in this chair day and night, but boy am I doing some designing. The space kit is done. I needed a mini-kit for a blog train but I turned it into a full kit. The contribution for the monthly customer appreciation kit is done. I needed a mini-kit, but I turned it into a full kit. The back to school mini kit is done. I actually tried to do a full kit with that too, but couldn't get in the groove on that one. But, I picked the best of the papers and all the elements that went with those papers and put together the mini kit and it looks darned good! I admit that when I participate in these things, I go look at everyone else's previews and compare mine to theirs. I know that I design to my taste, to the way I like to scrap, and I'm fairly sure that's the way other people design as well. And, it's not likely that every designer is going to design things the way I would. And, I also admit I'm pretty persnickety when it comes to my designs. If I don't think they're really good, they go into the recycle bin. But, with all those disclaimers in place, I think my stuff compares very well with what I'm seeing from the vast majority of other designers. That pleases me as I'm a frustrated overachiever at heart, LOL.

I have put together a zillion color schemes for kits. Among the zillion color schemes are some with only three or four colors. My original intention was to make minikits with these that could be sold at a lower price. But, the darn things are turning out so well, I can't stop making papers! It seems that when working with so few colors, every paper pretty well has to work with every other paper. And, I've been thrilled with what I've been able to turn out. Now, if I could just stop naming them after food, I'd be happy! The two kits I'm finishing up right now will be called Chocolate Raspberry Frapee' and Grasshopper Pie. See? Doesn't that make you hungry? Here's the preview for Grasshopper Pie. If you think it's gorgeous, please leave me a comment. If it makes you sick to your stomach, you'd better tell me that too!

Anyway, I think it's purty!

Well, that's about all I've got to say for now. Joe has gone to work, the house is quiet, and I can get some more work done. Have a good evening.

Posted at 05:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

July 21, 2009

Progress has been made

I had a relatively good day yesterday. I got a call from a man who was my very good friend when I still worked for the government. He invited me to lunch. Apparently he has been very blessed since leaving government service and the $70 tab (plus tip) for our lunch didn't faze him. We talked and talked and it was so good seeing him again. He has always been my "adopted" brother and I can't imagine anything I would have enjoyed more than spending a couple of hours with him, talking about developments in our lives, showing off photos of Jen and the boys, and reminiscing, all over a plate of scrumptious, perfectly prepared food. After lunch, I walked around the outside of the Palace Station taking pictures. There are numerous "trains" on the exterior of the building. If I can extract them, I see a train kit somewhere in my future.

The bad part of the day came when I had a conversation with a collector from our first mortgage company. We have still not been able to pay our first mortgage payment that was due on July 1. I allowed that conversation to depress me which I should not have done. However, I called Joe on the phone and he prayed with me and that helped a lot. It looks like we might be able to just squeeze out enough to pay the current bills, including that past due mortgage payment, with his paycheck from yesterday and everything I've made in the last 7 weeks........ So, we will have air conditioning, water, phone service, and a roof over our heads for a while longer. I've already decided I am just going to randomly take something out of the freezer and call it dinner. It may not be what I want at that particular moment, but it's food and that's kind of the object to the whole thing, right?

Last evening we had thunder showers here. It was actually kind of funny. The dogs who died last year, Indiana and Toby, were both deathly afraid of thunder. I've never seen any evidence of that in Punkin or in Max. However, the thunder continued for quite a while, and Max came out and started trying to climb on me. He's a German Shepherd so he's quite a lapful. Then Punkin started patrolling from the entrance to the hall to my chair and back again, repeatedly. It was obvious she wanted me to follow her. When we arrived at the bedroom door which was closed, I knew she wanted into the bedroom. Either she'd decided it was time for bed or she just thought she'd feel more secure in there. I opened the door and the two of them were on the bed in nanoseconds. But, they were disappointed that I wasn't ready for bed. When they realized they were going to be in there alone, Max came out and climbed into "his" chair, and Punkin waited by my chair for bedtime.

Of course, Joe is asleep this morning. When I got up this morning, he had somehow managed to get Punkin under the covers. In fact, she was laying there with her head on his pillow, all covered up with the comforter, just like she belonged there. I've never seen her under the covers before so that was pretty unusual. By the time I got back in there with the camera, she'd moved.... What a fun photo THAT would have been.

Joe has announced that we're going on a fast. Actually, he announced that HE is going on a fast, but I will join him. We need a breakthrough in our finances and fasting has always opened the spigot a bit in the past. Time to give it another go......

I've been following a news story on the internet. Seems an Assembly of God pastor, Gerry Stolzfoos, of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, was asked to give the invocation at a session of the Pennsylvania state House of Representatives. However, when it became known that he would be praying to Jesus and in His name, the House of Representatives withdrew the invitation. According to his blog, he's been flooded with e-mails, requests for newspaper and TV interviews, etc. AND, the Pennsylvania state Senate has invited him to pray over their session in any name he likes. Praise God! Guess he's still on the throne....... I read through the church's website and am impressed. If you live near Gettysburg, you should check out Freedom Valley Worship Center. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

I finished up the space kit last night! Whoopee! It's pretty darned cute, if I do say so myself. I can't show you a preview of it, not even of the part for the blog train, but if you check back here on August 15th you'll see it (hint, hint). I even have an extra freebie ready for my newsletter subscribers. Now I must get very busy uploading the space kit and another to the server at NDISB and finishing off that Back to School kit.........

Jen called at 9AM and wanted to know if I wanted to go with her and the boys to see a free movie. Unfortunately, I was sitting here in my nightgown and the movie started at 10AM. Not quite enough time given that I'd have had to drive somewhere as well. But, I'm really glad she thought to ask me. I get to see a lot of the boys because they frequently need a babysitter. But, it seems that Jennifer is so busy that I seldom see her. It was an opportunity I was sorry to miss.

Oh, and this is for President Obama who, of course, reads this blog all the time, right? It came in an e-mail from my mother and deserves to be displayed here:

Well, gotta run. I've got a pile of stuff to do. Have a blessed day.

Posted at 10:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 20, 2009

Good Morning!

Well, it promises to be hot and sunny here today. What a surprise, huh? The forecast calls for a high of 109 and at 7:30AM it's already 87 degrees out there! We've had some overcast weather the last couple of days, which has provided some relief from the heat. Yesterday, the overcast was accompanied by thunder and lightning. But, we did't get a drop of rain in our part of the valley. I'm sure someone somewhere did, just not us.....

I didn't have the greatest night's sleep. Woke up around 3AM with a throbbing headache and was pretty sure I knew what was going on. Wandered out to my desk and waited 10 minutes, then took my blood pressure. Yup, It was up. I still haven't figured that out since I took a blood pressure pill right before I went to bed, but......... I took another pill and sat here waiting for my blood pressure cuff to tell me it was on it's way down. Finally about 4:30 AM I wandered back in to bed. But, I feel pretty well this morning--even feel rested, so I guess that's what counts.

Yesterday was not an exciting day around here. We did get to go out for breakfast. Then I spent hours pitting cherries. I found a deal on canning jars on e-bay and hopefully have some headed my way. But, in the meantime, the cherries needed to be dealt with. So, they are all pitted and in a big container in the freezer. When the canning jars arrive, we will have cherry jam. My hands are all discolored from the cherry juice, so I hope the jam will be good enough to make it all worth while. Joe finally tasted the plum jam I made a couple of weeks ago and can't seem to stop raving about it. I think he thought I'd gone over the edge when I began that project. But, the other morning he had some toast with the plum jam and he decided it's about the best he's ever tasted. So, there's no more complaining about me canning! I'm thinking of running to the store after work tonight and picking up a stock of peaches. They're on special this week for 88 cents a pound. I'm sure they'll be easier to pit than cherries and peach jam sounds pretty good to me.

I sent Joe off to the grocery store yesterday. One of the local markets had "pork strips" for $1.17 a pound. These were somewhere between a country style rib and what we used to call pork steaks when I lived in the midwest. I made pork and sauerkraut for dinner last night, complete with dumplings and mashed potatoes. It turned out yummy. And, since the store was selling "family packs" for $1.17 a pound, we have two more packages of pork strips in the freezer. That's surely something to look forward to.

Joe did not get to work Saturday night. He was exhausted and didn't want to go, but went anyway because we needed the money he could earn by going. He went out of here, muttering under his breath "the joy of the Lord is my strength, the joy of the Lord is my strength, the joy of the Lord is my strength.........". Three hours later he was back. Apparently so many cabs are broken down that they just didn't need many drivers. I was disappointed about the money, but happy he got the night off as he surely needed it.

Yesterday was pretty weird. I was supposed to babysit the boys from about 10:30AM til 2PM. They were late, but that isn't unusual so I didn't think much of it. However, I got a panicked phone call from Jen around 10:45 saying she'd gotten the time of her appointment wrong and had only 15 minutes to get across town to the far south east side. She wanted me to drive down there and get the boys as she didn't have time to drive north west to drop them off and then drive in the opposite direction to get to her appointment. Unfortunately, Joe had the van and it is the van that contains the child car seats. I waited and when he finally arrived, described the problem to him. Of course, driving for an hour and a half or two hours wasn't on either of our agendas, but we got ready to head out when Joe got a text from Jennifer saying another mother had brought her kids so she thought it would be okay if she just kept them there while she attended her class. Well, it seems Atticus decided to be a two year old yesterday. He filled up about 6 cups with water from the water dispenser and wanted more. Jennifer told him no when she checked on him. She told him he needed to drink what he had before he got any more. He emptied all 6 cups--on the carpet. Then he wandered into the bathroom where he unrolled all the toilet paper. He managed to get ahold of the changing pad and dragged it around the place, claiming he was going to take a nap (no nap was taken, LOL). Finally, they were supposed to plant a seed (I think to help the kids understand about something growing like the baby in Mommy's womb). Atticus dumped dirt all over the carpet. Jennifer came home exhausted and Jason took Atticus to the hardware store with him while Mommy took a nap. William then had a bunch of needs that Mom needed to deal with which pretty well took care of Mommy getting a nap. When I talked to her around 9 last night, Atticus had dumped a bottle of vitamins on the floor and while she was picking those up (which isn't so easy given her 6 month pregnant body), he went into the bathroom and dumped a bottle of conditioner on the bathroom floor. I'm sure she was one happy mommy when she got them both to bed last night! According to her, he has two things to say whenever he's in trouble. One is "I love you, Mommy". The other is "I want my Wawa". (Wawa is Atty-speak for Grandma, LOL). I'm quite sure I would have been spanked for all of Atticus's activities yesterday, but Jennifer just says he's being two and tells him "Atticus James--NO!"

In the digital scrap world, I am busy as a one-armed paper hanger. I still have 3 kits to finish up. One is a space kit, one is a back 2 school kit, and one is a boy kit. I have all of the papers done for the space kit and some of the elements done. I'm in about the same place with the back to school kit. I really haven't started the boy kit, but it's not due til the end of August so I'm not worried. Really, all I have to have done by the end of July is two mini-kits--the space theme and the back 2 school theme. But, the way I've been working is by doing full kits at the time I start them. I have found it difficult to go back and flesh out the minikits later, so doing the full kit up front and then just using a small portion of it to meet my requirements works best for me. I think I'll have the space kit done sometime in the next two days. I also finished up a beach kit over the weekend which I hope to put into the store by the end of the week. I've got at least two more finished kits in my back pocket so I'm well prepared for the coming days. I think the next kit I will start will be a little boy-"construction" type kit. I have acquired everything I need for that kit so I just need the time to make it.

In the middle of all my deadlines, I volunteered for yet another. There is a reasonably well known designer whose husband had a tragic accident a while back. In the meantime, she has battled as best she could to make enough money to keep body and soul together for him and for their children. They expect to lose their home sometime in the next few weeks and plan on living in shelters and in their car. It's such a sad story and when I read about it, all I could think about was "there, but for the grace of God, go I". I immediately volunteered to contribute to a collaborative kit that is being put together to benefit her. It must have been a God-thing as it came together in one evening. I still need to do one ribbon and a preview and upload it, but I'll have that done today--no more than an hour's worth of work. I'm so glad I got to contribute to that charity kit.

Well, I do have a couple of pages to post here. Then I have to go post them around the internet. The first is from my new kit, AWESOME. If you like the page, just click on the "my store" link on the right and go buy it!

The next page is for a Bella Gypsy Designs kit called Tuff Guy, available at ACOT and Elemental Scraps today. This is a good deal at Elemental Scraps as there's a Free With Purchase deal there.

That's our dog, Punkin, who was a total rascal as a pup but has grown into a sweet dog.

Well, that's it for today. Hope you are all having a great day. See ya soon.

Posted at 08:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 16, 2009

Inspired!

My muse came out of hiding yesterday and I ended the evening by putting a new kit in the store. It's been sitting on my hard drive for a while, just waiting for me to get inspired enough to finish it. It needed a lot of additional elements and I even added a print paper to it. I have an old photo of Jennifer that is just perfect to scrap with this kit. I've got to dig through my photo files and find it.

Anyway, here's the kit and some close-up photos of the elements, print papers and solids.

With my last kit, I had a little mini add-on which was given free to my newsletter subscribers. This time, they all received a coupon for $2 off the purchase price which is good through August 31, 2009. I want to make sure those ladies are taken care of! You can subscribe by clicking on the newsletter button on the right.

Well, I know my back is healed, but it still has symptoms. Last night, I was ironing some of Joe's beloved Hawaiian print shirts and my back was popping in and out like crazy. Sure enough, it's sore this morning. But it's not awful. I think an Ibuprofen will do the trick.

I thought that doing some walking might help the back muscles, so I hit the treadmill last night. It felt good to be doing that, particularly since I haven't been able to do much walking since Friday. Five days of enforced inactivity. Not good. I took it easy, relying on distance rather than speed.

Praise God, the little company I work for collected on a major account receivable yesterday and today I get to take my backlog of paychecks to the bank and cash them. We are down to deciding whether to pay the mortgage payments or pay the utility bills, so this extra money will be a help. Of course, it was 109 degrees here yesterday, so you know the power bill will get paid. And, we can't exactly live without gas for the stove and clothes dryer and water for cooking, flushing, and laundry, so the water bill has to be paid as well. We had a sprinkler valve break about a month and a half ago and we are still paying for that on the water bill......ugh! I had to play "let's make a deal" with the water company just a couple of days ago because we just can't pay the total amount due. We have a variable rate 2nd mortgage and the interest rate on that is down to 1.5%. Our car loan is at 0%. But our first mortgage is at 6.99% so we are going to see if we can get a loan modification on that. We are living on a shoestring as far as groceries and gasoline and other "discretional" spending is concerned, but with our dear President telling people not to have conventions in Las Vegas and the state of the economy, Joe, who is the main breadwinner in our family, is just not able to make enough for us to survive. People are still coming to Vegas, but in fewer numbers than before. Also, the hotels and casinos are offering phenomenal deals on rooms, so folks are coming to experience Vegas, but they are folks who would not ordinarily be able to afford the trip. So, little things like tips for cab drivers are scrimped on. It is amazing how many folks will run up a $9.90 fare, hand him $10, and tell him to keep the change--10 cents! I kick in with a tax return here and there and some money collected from an accounting client, but it's just not enough.

Yesterday, Joe went down and paid the traffic ticket. If you missed that part of the blog, there is an area downtown where the cab line is really short. And, when the electric light show is over, people stream out of there looking for cabs. You are allowed to linger at the corner for one turn of the light, but if you stay longer than that, it's a ticketable offense. Joe tries very hard to get every ride he can and he lingered through two turns of the light, and sure enough, a cop got him. The ticket started at $750 (gulp)! An attorney friend of Jennifer's was kind enough to go to court for him and the amount was reduced to $570 and she saw to it that it was set up in such a way that our insurance wouldn't be effected by it. However, under current circumstances, $570 is just about as "impossible" as $750. We were blessed by one of Joe's Gideon buddies who gave us $270 towards the bill. We scrounged up $300 and yesterday it was paid. There wasn't much choice about it--had Joe not paid it, they would have issued a bench warrant, and he could have been subject to arrest. Lesson learned, I hope!

Joe and I talked the other day about how hard it is to do his job as a Christian and make money. He has a friend who is a gambler. He bets on sports. Just the other day he made $600 on a baseball bet he'd placed. Then, when he got into his cab, three guys climbed in and he talked them into going to one of the "gentlemen's clubs". Those clubs kick back to the driver, so he made an extra $150 just for driving them there plus whatever tip they gave him and his % of the fare. Of course, Joe doesn't bet on sports because we think gambling is something good Christian folks should not be doing. If we had extra money to throw around, it would go to support missions through our church. And, he doesn't pimp for the "gentlemen's clubs". Yes, if someone gets in the cab and ASKS to be taken to one of those clubs, he takes them. He'd lose the job if he didn't. But he doesn't try to talk guys into going to those places. By doing things we believe are wrong, his buddy made an extra $750 in one day! What a blessing that kind of money would be for us, but we still have to square up with the good Lord during prayer time, so that's a no-go for us. We don't regret the decisions not to do those things, but it's hard to see other's benefitting from them when we're struggling so. It definitely is cause to pray against the sin of envy!

Neither one of us is too fond of our jobs right now, but we are certainly grateful to God that we have them. Joe checked the Help Wanted ads just a couple of nights ago. For a city of at least 1 million people, there were 2.5 columns of jobs listed. And, thousands of people have been laid off by the hotels and thousands of non-gambling businesses have closed. So, while neither of us feels we have the "ideal" job, we are so grateful to be working. And, while our paychecks are not sufficient to meet all our needs, at least we have paychecks! Many, many people are in far worse shape than we are so we rest in the knowledge that we are God's favorite kids (all His kids are His favorites, you know) and we will be taken care of.

Well, enough! I have some accounting work that has to be done this morning. I'm under a deadline. As is usual, this client didn't provide any of her information for accounting until early July. Now she wants the whole year brought up to date by July 21. Yes, indeed, I AM superwoman. I can do this, right?

By the way, I apologize that my photos are being cut off on the right side. I reduced their size in order to try to get Typepad to stop locking up my computer. Guess I'll have to go back to bigger photos and pray for better cooperation from Typepad.

Posted at 08:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 14, 2009

bah humbug!

I spent a very frustrating hour or so this morning, doing some shopping on the internet. Because of budgetary constraints, I buy next to nothing for personal use these days (besides, I can make most of what I need myself), but I do still buy items for use in my designs. So, while reading through the forums at DST this morning, I found a new (to me) store that had designer use items on sale for as much as 50% off. I decided to take a little look. Well, I found they had 1371 designer use products. Now, before we talk about this nameless store, let me explain that I am designing with PSE6. Many people will swear you can't design with this program, but you've seen my products, so we know that's not true. But, PSE6, being a limited use program, also limits what I can buy to use in designing. So, some sort of index to products would be helpful. For example, many digital scrapping items are made using actions. Well, many many actions don't work in PSE6. In fact, many digital designers who create actions don't even bother to test them in PSE6. Us po' folks are just not taken into consideration. So, if a store indexes its designer items by type and shows actions in one part of the index, I know I can pretty much just ignore that part of the store. Well, boasting 1371 products, there was NO index. That meant, to see the complete inventory, I was going to have to wade through 137 digital pages.......... ugh. But, as it turned out, that was only the half of it. Let's suppose I'm on page 1. I want to go to page 2. But, up pops a warning that there are secure and unsecure items on page 2 and asks whether I want to see the unsecure items. Yes.......I click. Page 2 opens and there is an item I might possibly be interested in. I click on it so I can see a slightly enlarged version and read the detailed description. Up pops a warning that there are secure and unsecure items on that page too and asks whether I want to see the unsecure items. Yes.......I click. The slightly enlarged version with the more detailed description opens. But, I decide I still can't see the product well enough to decide whether or not it's something I'd like to purchase. But by clicking on the slightly enlarged photo, I can navigate to a greatly enlarged version which will solve that problem. Up pops a warning that there are secure and unsecure items on that page and asks whether I want to see the unsecure items. Yes.......I click. I decide the item is not for me and close that page. The slightly enlarged version of the product is still open so I click the back button to take me to Page 2 of the cu items. Up pops a warning that there are secure and unsecure items on page 2 and asks whether I want to see the unsecure items. Yes.......I click. I decide there's nothing on Page 2 that I want to buy and I click to proceed to Page 3. Up pops a warning that there are secure and unsecure items on Page 3 and asks whether I want to see the unsecure items. Yes.......I click. On Page 3 I find an item that is on sale and that I can use immediately in a kit I'm working on. I click on "add this to my cart" and up pops a warning that there are secure and unsecure items on the page that displays what's in my shopping cart and asks whether I want to see the unsecure items. Yes.......I click. When I've finished checking to see if the item is properly in my cart, I want to go back to Page 3. I click the back button and up pops a warning that there are secure and unsecure items on Page 3 and asks whether I want to see the unsecure items. Yes.......I click. And this continues. For.137.pages......... I will never shop at that store again. Initially I thought it was a Windows Vista thing since Vista is notorious for asking you dumb questions like this. But, not long after I finished up at the crazy-making store, I had a look around another store and there were no warnings about secure and unsecure items. In fact, navigation was smooth and serene. I don't think you could pay me to sell in the "secure and unsecure" shop. All it would do is piss off my customers and result in rants like this on their blogs. Fogeddaboutit.

I woke up Saturday morning with my back screaming. I have no idea what happened while I slept to put it out of place or whatever, but it really hurt. Of course, I'd promised to take the boys for the day as Jennifer was out of town. They arrived at 11:15AM and didn't leave til dinner time. Saturday evening I sat here at my desk, struggling to get some work done, and the pain was downright awful, tears rolling down my face. 'Bout the worst I can remember. Sunday I had the boys again, this time from about 10:30 until about 4:XX. I was not in much better shape. But, at least I didn't end up sitting here crying Sunday evening as I had on Saturday. Today it is somewhat improved. At least, it's 8PM and I'm sitting and not crying, so that's a good sign. Of course, I did not go to work today as I just didn't know how the back would hold up. And I did take a muscle relaxer and lie down for a good 3 hours this afternoon which undoubtedly helped. I do wish I could find a muscle relaxer that didn't knock me out so that I could take one and still go to work and not have to undo tomorrow all that I'd done today, but so far I've not been able to find such a pill. Saturday night the one thing I really wanted was a masseuse who made house calls. Somehow it seemed if someone really put some counter pressure on my back, it would feel better. But, it was just Max, the German Shepherd, and Punkin, the pit mix, and me. No hope of a decent massage from those two.........

Joe worked Saturday night. It's the first Saturday he's worked in three weeks. Saturdays are pretty big nights so we're grateful for the extra money. But that was 6 days of work for him this week and he's been exhausted ever since. His Gideon breakfast meeting on Saturdays is a real problem. It means he doesn't have time to lie down and sleep when he gets home from work, and when he gets home from the meeting, about the best he can get is 4 1/2 hours of sleep before he has to get up and go to work again. That makes Saturday nights especially difficult and Sundays are just lost days.

He slept yesterday until about 2PM. Then he went down to Jen and Jason's house to help with the assembly of the remaining pieces of the jungle gym. Jason couldn't figure out how to assemble the slides so his solution was to throw the pieces away. Jennifer got involved and lined up Paul, a friend of theirs, and Joe to come and help him in order to save the slides from the trash. The thing is now about 95% complete, but it's been in the yard for a good 6 weeks and the boys are dying to be able to use it. It was ghastly hot out there, and even though the thing is in the shade, that didn't keep Joe from arriving home with clothes that were soaking wet from perspiration. He was dehydrated and exhausted and still tired from working Saturday night on 4.5 hours of sleep. To top it all off, Jen broke his sunglasses. Of course, it was totally accidental, but we bought those sunglasses in Mexico, probably can't afford to replace them til we go to Mexico again, and he's glued them back together numerous times. According to him, they can no longer be salvaged. We had dinner and he fell asleep in his chair........ Exciting day.

We had his new favorite sandwich (Marlboro Man's favorite sandwich from Pioneer Woman's blog) for dinner and I roasted some potato slices with olive oil and spices. And when I thought dinner was all ready, I realized I'd totally forgotten to cook the corn. Geez! I'm blaming it on the pain, the pain pills, and the muscle relaxers. It seems a viable story. Anyway, we didn't need the corn anyway. He actually ended up feeding some of the potato slices to the dogs as treats.

After the boys left yesterday afternoon, I took a muscle relaxer and conked out in bed for a while. When I woke up, Joe was gone. I figured he'd gone to the grocery store for the laundry detergent I needed. Well, yes, but while he was there one of the checkers poured out the story of her life to him and he witnessed to her. Meanwhile, with my back screaming, I'm in the kitchen, slicing up the cube steaks, slicing the potatoes and painting them with olive oil, slicing onions, cooking, and wondering where he is and getting more unhappy by the moment that he was not there to help me. Honestly, I had it all done when he wandered in, but he was quickly forgiven when he explained that he'd had a "divine appointment" at the store.

Funny Atticus story: Saturday afternoon, Will decided he was hungry so we looked through the kitchen to find something he'd eat. He decided on a cinnamon raisin bagel with cream cheese. He painstakingly covered every square millimeter of that bagel with cream cheese, so cute. Then he agreed to share it with Atticus who, of course, wants to have/do whatever his big brother has/does. Shortly thereafter Atticus came to me carrying a remnant of his part of the bagel saying something I just couldn't understand. I had to call William for a translation. Apparently in Atty-speak, a bagel is a donut. The things I learn from these boys!

One of Will's favorite passtimes is drawing. For Christmas, from Aunt JoAnne, he received a killer art kit and a sketchbook. I love that thing and, if he weren't my beloved grandson, would consider bopping him over the head, stealing it, and running like crazy to get away from him. Since he IS my beloved grandson, I just oooooh and aaaaaah a lot over it. Anyway, I have to produce a boy kit within the next coupla weeks. And William has a zillion transformers. So, I thought, perhaps he could draw some transformers for me and I'd use them in the boy kit. I knew they'd be "childlike" drawings, not professional, but thought that just might add to their charm. Well, Saturday he arrived with no art kit, no sketchbook, etc. But Sunday he brought it all. And ended up drawing the head of one transformer and nothing more. So, if any of you ladies is looking for a transformer kit to scrap your son's or grandson's collection, go buy from someone else. Obviously, since I can't draw a lick, I'm not gonna be selling one anytime soon.......LOL.

I am coming along nicely on my 4 kits. The one due 8/5 is completely done. I'm still stuck at papers only for the one due 7/31. But, for the one due 8/1, I am about 80% done. I'm a little thin on papers and could still use some elements, but good progress has been made. I've done nothing with the one due 8/25, but I've got more than a month for that one so I'm not too worried. One of these kits is a back to school kit and darned if one of the designer stores didn't put out a collaborative Commercial Use kit with Back to School as the theme. Just in time! The best part is I learn something new with every one of these things I do. A different way to use an overlay. A different way to use a ribbon template, etc. So, the more I do, the better I get. I don't think my early kits looked too shabby, but I notice the progress. Don't know if anyone else would, but it makes me happy.

Last time I was here, blogging, I mentioned some scrap pages I'd done but couldn't post. Well, the stuff went into the store today, so I'm good to go. So, here's some pretty pictures for ya.

This page was done with a kit called Smelly Ogre by Bella Gypsy Designs. The stitched border is from another kit.

This is done with a Bella Gypsy Designs kit called Indulgent. This Japanese garden is actually the courtyard of an office building here in Vegas.

This sweet photo was taken at Disney World when Jennifer and family visited there in March. That sweet little bundle in her arms is Atticus. I used Crabby Kid, another kit by Bella Gypsy Designs for this page.

Crabby Kid and Indulgent are both available at both ACOT and Elemental Scraps. Smelly Ogre is only available at ACOT.

And, last, but not least, here's a page with my own The Mighty Jungle kit. The Mighty Jungle is available at NDISB. You can find it here: http://www.ndisb.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=95

Okay, I don't want to test Typepad any further. My image-heavy posts usually result in locking down my computer. So, I'll sign off before that gets a chance to happen. Have a good evening.

Posted at 09:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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