Isabella rode the mechanical bull.

We ate deep fried Oreos. And don’t be hatin’ until you try’em. I waited all year for these and this was the highlight of my day. Its a good thing we had to leave the food area to see other sights or I would have just gotten back in line for more.

We saw Demi Lovato and the Jonas Brothers in concert. Let me just say, Demi Lovato was definitely NOT lip-syncing, and I think I would have preferred it. Granted, we’re talking kid bop pop here, but she probably needs to just stay in the studio where they can make it sound all purty and stuff. Jonas Bros, on the other hand, were also NOT lip-syncing (from what I could tell, maybe some of it?) and they were really quite good. And um, when did Nick Jonas acquire those guns on his arms?

And yes, I realize I am old enough to be his mother. And yes, he’s wearing a cowboy hat because they sang a country song during their show as a sign of appreciation for being in Texas at the rodeo. They sang it pretty well too. And no matter what you think about boy band pop, I am predicting Nick Jonas to be a force to be reckoned with as he grows up. His voice has already changed and its still great. He plays the piano, the bass guitar, the guitar, and the drums. He writes songs. He’s pretty awesome and his mama should be proud. And yeah, yeah, whatever for Kevin and Joe as well. They’re pretty good but little brother Nick is knocking it out of the park.

I like this photo.

And this one. I don’t know who this girl is, but we were walking down the aisle of pigs in the livestock arena and there she was. Tired. Exhausted. And perfectly comfortable in the stall with her pet. By the end of the day, after watching the kids feed, clean, and show their livestock, after cheering on the teens in the calf scramble trying to win $1500 to buy a calf for next year’s shows, after yelling my lungs out for the six-year-olds riding sheep in the mutton bustin’ contest, I decided THIS was what rodeo was about. Not fancy superstars on stage, and not even fried oreos. The love of kids for the outdoors, animals, and a way of life that most of us wouldn’t want, but means everything to them. Excellent stuff, folks. Excellent stuff.

Credits: Digital Kit: “Beach Bum” by WM[squared] Designs; Font: Piquarnic

This layout was an exercise in blending. The original photo was taken by the staff at our local water park and had a water park logo in the corner and all sorts of lame computer framing. I didn’t want any of that in my layout. The photo was also extremely overexposed because of the bright sunlight and the blue water. Using my blending options in Photoshop, I blended the photo with the background paper from the kit and then used my eraser tool to eliminate the edges of my photo. I think it turned out great and this one will definitely be in our 2009 album.

Credits: “Happy Together” by Gwenipooh Designs; Font: Piquarnic

This one was fun to make. I had a lot of photos with green backgrounds. I need to be sure they were seen against  my background so I added a white border to each photo. I also added a lot of stitching to this one simply because I love the look of stitching on scrapbook pages.

There are LOTS of layouts using product from ScrapMatters in the new issue of Scrap N’Art magazine. In fact, every issue is packed full of over 100 pages of inspirational projects, tutorials and product reviews. Go grab a subscription and join in on the fun!

This photo makes me laugh every time I see it. This IS Bailey and Bella. This IS Bappy and Bippy. This IS our girls and their friendship. Just love it. I also had fun working on a forgotten technique in the TNT Challenge at Inspiration Lane.

Credits: Tami Miller “Chatterdoodle” and Kim Gehring “Funky Frames”.

This one is all about my hubby. I wanted to just put MINE in big letters. Because he is. But that seemed a bit. Possessive. But anyhoo, he is MINE and I am HIS and that makes me happy. This was created for the February Template Challenge at Inspiration Lane!

Credits: Kim Gehring “Boy Oh Boy” and Jen Yurko “February Template” forum freebie.

And last but not least, I like this one a lot. I have lots of photos of Isabella sitting on her Dad’s shoulders. At various times, for various reasons. And no matter when or why, Scott always said yes. No matter how tired he was, no matter how heavy she felt. He can’t do this anymore and I know it sometimes makes him sad that she is too big to do this. Such lovely memories for all of us. I created this one for the February Quote Challenge at Inspiration Lane and it was even chosen as Layout of the Day on Friday. Pretty cool!

Credits: Papers are from Tami Miller’s “Craft Box Basics”. Tag with screw is from Tami Miller’s “Serenity Fields”. Split rivets are from Steel City Scraps “Date Snippets”. All are available at Inspiration Lane. The Love in chrome was made by me. Other elements are from the Songbird Ave Feb 2010 Collab Kit “Port Au Prince”.

This first layout was created for the Ad Sketch Challenge. We had to use a specific ad, it was a film festival poster, as inspiration. I used Tami Miller’s beautiful kit, Serenity Fields, for this one.

The mock wedding was fun. The synagogue does this each year with the fourth graders which felt a little odd, but when I thought about it… they are young enough for it to NOT mean anything other than a chance to dress up, but old enough to understand the traditions and the various parts of the ceremony. Isabella informed us she was divorced, before she even made it to the reception! Although she did agree to have her picture taken with her newly divorced un-groom. It was a fun morning.

This photo of my husband resting on a bench was taken at the zoo last year. I like how the sun was in his eyes through the trees and he really was quite peaceful. I used Kim Gehring’s Hippie Chick to create this layout, and I used it for the Playing with Numbers Challenge, which pushed me to be super minimalist by only allowing a certain number of items/elements on the page.

I encourage you to check out Tami and Kim’s kits, they are really beautiful. AND to check out the digital challenges at Inspiration Lane, there is something for everyone!

So one of the things I wanted to get a handle on was cooking. Eating at home is infinitely better for so many reasons. I can control what goes in our mouths, I can control how much goes in our mouths, its cheaper, and its faster than getting in the car, deciding where to go, sitting down, ordering, waiting, eating, waiting, and driving home. I would rather spend that extra time doing something else. So in one of my many blog reading sessions, someone (sorry, don’t know who) posted a link to Once A Month Mom which caught my eye and being the type-A person I am, decided instantaneously to give it a try. Last Saturday, Scott and I shopped from her grocery list, using some of what we already had in hand. We got everything we needed for a marathon cooking session on Sunday.

And marathon it was. I took no photos because I was too busy cooking but from 9am to 5pm, we cooked. With a 1 hour break for lunch.We ended up with about 30 dinners, 20 breakfasts, and about 10 lunches. Seriously, in 8 hours. Our freezer was completely confused when we got ready to load it up. Had no clue how to handle that much food, but where there is a will, there is a way. So now, we have meals.

We’ve been eating them this week and I have to say, they are all yummy so far, and our dinner time is easy. We spend more time talking, less time cooking, and we don’t have to GO anywhere. I love that. So, the food and dinner situation is under control. And even school day breakfasts for Isabella and breakfasts and lunches for Scott. Sweet. Oh. And the entire grocery bill for everything we cooked, plus some extra snacks for Isabella, and some household cleaning items, was under $450. I don’t know how that compares to your food budget, but that is HUGE for us when I think about how much we have spent on restaurants, fast food, and even groceries bought several times a week for various meals.

And yes, we’re still married after spending 8 hours in the kitchen. We rocked it. It was fun and awesome. Reminded me how totally GOOD my husband is. Did I mention how much I love him so? Well, I do. He’s the best. And I will try to remember to take photos next month.

This is Shimelle doing a make-and-take at the consumer show on Saturday afternoon. I went to the consumer show, held before the industry trade show, specifically to meet Shimelle. Shimelle has online scrapbooking classes full of inspiration and ideas, and has a wonderful, sparky outlook on life. I love her blog and her classes. It was a joy to meet her in person.

Canvas Home Basics was another favorite of mine. Since I like to do more than layouts, this gem of a vendor really caught my eye. I can see canvas on layouts, yes, but I can also see canvas on all sorts of home decor, cards, you name it, I can put some canvas on it. They even have rugs. Gonna have to get my hands on one of those. Seriously.

And this is Janet. Janet of J Designs. Janet of the shopping spree maniac Janets. Janet of the “wanna share my hotel room” Janet. Love Janet. I met Janet two summers ago at CKU Houston, she was one of our little gang who have stayed in touch. Many have been to other retreats and conventions together since that fateful meeting. I have not. But I am this year. And it started with hanging out with Janet at CHA. And her helping me spend money. Oh my.

Okay, I’m going to post more photos over on the Scrap N’Art blog because I had lots of fun checking out vendors for the magazine. Head over there if you want to see more!

First, I am no longer designing digital scrapbook kits for sale. After Pixel Gypsy Designs announced it was closing, I applied and was accepted at two stores. I was very excited. But after a couple of weeks, when I realized I had really done nothing to start the transition, I realized that perhaps I had been hasty. I did some deep soul-searching, okay, that’s funny, none of this is deep. Anyhoo, I thought about it and discovered that although it felt really GREAT to be accepted into the new stores, that was the only part I was excited about. And from my previous post, I’m sure you can tell that I am/was feeling a bit crowded, too busy, out of balance. So I decided to stop designing products for sale. What that means for my dear readers who love digi is that I will be occasionally sharing freebies here on my blog. When I design something for myself, I will share it with you. I don’t know how often that will be and when the first freebie will arrive here, but they will eventually show up. I promise.

In the meantime, I am VERY excited to be on the creative team for two of my fave designers from Pixel Gypsy Designs. I will be creating products with their designs and am looking forward to scrapping again for FUN. I miss it. And I am still on the Scrap N’Art team as a digi designer and paper crafter. I LOVE working with Scrap N’Art and knew I had to keep that in the whole work/life/craft balance. No way I was giving that up!

So, I’ve got a couple of busy weeks in front of me, clearing some things off my desk, getting a new schedule set up with new priorities here at home, but I’m here, I’m good, all is well. I hope you will stick with me while I head down this new little path on my creative journey.

• Awesome husband. Check.
• Amazing daughter. Check.
• Two jobs to help pay the bills. Check. Granted, combined they aren’t doing what one of them used to do, but its helping pay the bills. So I’m not complaining. Well, not so much anyway.
• Scott is now a full-time employee for the county. Check. Which is funny in so many ways. Living in Texas. Government employee. But I digress. Its a fantastic thing for our family as it provides healthcare, job stability (somewhat), and some potential benefits down the road when we get ready to hit the road.
• We have a lovely home. Check. Albeit really too big for us and requiring upkeep that neither of us feel like doing. Home ownership can be smart but not always what its cracked up to be.
• I’m healthy. And so are Scott and Isabella. Check. Well, as for me, I’m as healthy as a 50 pound overweight person can be. Really, if I could just lose the weight, all would be well. Or that’s what I’ve been saying since the first 5 pounds hit my ass.

So, what the hell am I complaining about? Well, to be frank, I’m not complaining. I’m thinking out loud and this blog is where I have to do that. I set an intention, so to speak, to look after my health this year. I’m working on the weight and I’m pretending to think about possibly maybe doing a bit of exercise. But mental health seems to be what keeps throwing in a kink. I’m overextended, despite giving up A responsibility. I’m still overextended. I need to focus more on homework (Isabella would be thrilled to read that), I need to focus more on the house (oh god. here I go talking about laundry again). And I need to focus on cooking which leads back to the healthy thing as well as a time thing.

When I worked corporate, which is not like now when I go to a corporate office but get to surf the internet a bit, when I REALLY worked corporate, like 9 hours a day + another 1.5 hrs of commuting and picking up Isabella from daycare, I got a LOT done. I have to say, although my memory may be off a bit, I was a machine. We didn’t have dirty laundry. Our house was always mostly clean. We ate dinner every evening (not popcorn and ice cream, not that we eat that. ever. for dinner. uh uh. just sayin). The big differences between now and then are:

• Isabella is now older, in school, needs me more for school and less for everything else. Well, that’s not entirely true, but its the general idea. I don’t have to bathe her, change her clothes, etc.
• I work two jobs but they are both part-time so I have MORE time on my hands.
• I craft. A lot. I mean, a whole lot. I don’t always get a lot done, but hanging out on the internet with crafty gals, reading blogs, chatting in forums, that all counts as crafting to me. And I love it. I love it a lot. It keeps me sane.

But.

Its getting in the way. Of my responsibilities. Of laundry. Of homework.

I was listening to NPR this morning and they had some women talking about some recent study that was done (by a male researcher apparently) that said women have more time than they think and everyone should carve out time for themselves. It sounded kind of like crap to me, cuz if I was still working that 9-hour day, I might have to shove mister male researcher off of a cliff. But me personally? I’ve got time. I’ve carved out so much of it for myself, that some of the other mundane but necessary tasks of life are getting shoved in a corner. Kind of like dirty pillowcases. And socks. Well.

I’m going to spend some time this evening, after running Isabella to hebrew school, to make a list of all of my obligations. All my chores. All my responsibilities. And I’m going to see if they fit in my schedule, which I’m pretty certain they do. And then I’m going to look at the time I spend crafting. And I’m gonna have to cut back. I’m not sure how that will happen yet, cuz I’m the one in charge of the schedule, and I’m the one in charge of the ass that likes to plop in the computer chair and sit at the desk playing with Photoshop. And pretty paper. And adhesive. And stuff. But I’m pretty sure its gotta happen. And fast. Before my speeding non-exciting car barrels through a highway barrier and really messes things up.

To be continued…

• Watching the new season of Chuck. So glad the Intersect is teaching him more than kung fu. Ballroom dancing is always a handy skill.
• Reading The Help
• Trying to complete Scrap N’Art design team projects before the deadline. With a complete loss of mojo.
• Repackaging my digi kits for my NEW STORES. Nope, not announcing yet. But I’m happy about it!
• Working on new digi products for said NEW STORES. Nope, still not telling.
• Planning for CHA cuz OMG, got a cheap plane ticket, a free pass from awesome friends, and a shared hotel room. I’m livin’ large thanks to my amazing hubby who truly understands that all this crafty stuff keeps me sane. And happy. And much easier to live with.
• Helping Isabella with her science project. Gonna have to go find a display board this weekend.
• Girl Scout cookie sales. Let me know if you need cookies. And um. are willing to pay postage, LOL.
• Working. Eh. Whatever. But there’s good stuff happening with this one, which helps pay for the aforementioned love of crafting. So its all good and well worth the effort. Ya know, in lieu of a big lottery win and all that.

So there. What’s going on in your neck of the woods?

If you have PGD discount coupons, gift codes or Gypsy Points from participating in challenges, please redeem them. They will no longer be effective as of March 1st, 2009. To check your Gypsy Points balance, log in to PGD and use the “My Profile” link on the left navigation. Any points you have accumulated will be displayed there, along with a link to redeem your points if you’ve accumulated enough.

Beginning on February 15th we will be having a Farewell Sale. All products in the store will be 50% off through the end of the month. All sales are final, and please download your purchases immediately, as the store will be closed as of March 1st and account access will no longer be available. Thank you for the opportunity to share this wonderful, creative craft with you! We’ve loved every minute of it!

All the products on these layouts are from the fabulous designers at Pretty Scrappy. Have a fab day everyone!

Physical health – related to weight, skin, better foods going in, all that stuff.

Mental health – related to being happy with where I am and what I have, not putting too much on my plate, finding balance, accepting what I can’t change, all those things that stress me out and make me want to go hide under a pillow or drop out of society.

I can do this although I am quite certain it will be rough road. I’m going to work on committing to it today while my awesome hubby heads out into the world to run errands, take Isabella to lunch, and do some shopping for fishing gear at Bass Pro Shops.

Do you have a word for 2010? I would love to hear about it if you do. And if you don’t, DON’T STRESS. Really, it will be okay.

I will say I am in the process of scrapping 2009 photos, things I missed during the year, so I can complete my album and order all my prints. My goal is to have the 2009 album ready for printing by the end of Jan 2010. We shall see. But while looking at photos, I found a few layouts that were created for Scrap N’Art a few issues ago and now I can share them here. Enjoy and hope you are having an awesome first day of 2010!

Credits: Polka Dots and Paisley, by Creations by Rachael and Wimpychompers Creations, available at Pretty Scrappy .

Credits: Hankey Pankey, by Stacey Crossley Designs and Teri’s Thing-O-My-Jigs, available at Pretty Scrappy.

Credits: Catch A Wave, by ScrapperGirl Designs, available at Pretty Scrappy.

Happy New Year everyone! I’m quite certain its going to be a good one!