This is totally amusing...

Have y'all seen this? http://www.shaveeverywhere.com/ you'll need your speakers on, it's pretty entertaining...

I'm off to take the munchkin to school then wrap presents!!!!

Another wedding layout and the flu!

Ugh! The flu has hit our home! Alyx has it the worst. Anthony and I are just starting to feel it. I called the doc this morning and he's calling in some tamiflu for Anthony and I so hopefully it won't hit us full on....

Here's the 2nd wedding layout that I made last night. Submitted it to Simple Scrapbooks too. Hopefully they'll pic up one of these...as always, click the image for a larger version. You can see the full credits here

Our Wedding - nearly 10 years later...

Yep, we're coming up on our 10 year anniversary and I have never scrapped our wedding pictures. So, Simple Scrapbooks is having a call for digital layouts. One of the calls is for Weddings, in particular themed weddings like Renaissance, etc. Well, since we had a medieval wedding, I thought what better time to scrap them. So, here's my first...You can see the full credits here

A year later and I'm getting started scrapping...

In case you don't remember or you didn't know me in November of last year... here's a link to my posts about my trip to Vegas with Gena! Vegas Blogging ( it's toward the bottom of the page...)

I've been scrapping....

WWWednesdays...

So, Jane has been giving us some inspiration for posting in the daily moos over at oscraps. Wednesdays have turned into WWWednesdays. WWWednesdays are simple, you just post your 3 www's for the day - wishes and wants of things you want to get done or wish would happen. I've already posted my www's for today in today's daily moos, but I've got a few more to add...

1. I wish I had gone to the grocery store yesterday like I was supposed to when it was a beautiful 60+ degree day.
2. I wish that I had not walked all the way across the warm grocery store to go out the far set of doors because my car was parked in that end of the parking lot.
3. I wish that I had actually parked on that end of the parking lot instead of the other end.
4. I wish I hadn't walked all the way across the parking lot in the freezing drizzle and just thrown my groceries in the back seat.
5. I wish I had actually taken the donations to goodwill so that the back end would have been empty and I could have put the groceries back there.
6. I wish I hadn't taken that corner so fast on the way home, tipping over my bags of groceries and knocking over a mostly full can of coke all over the bag seat.
7. I wish my bag of fruits and veggies hadn't fallen out upside down when I opened the door to get the groceries out.
8. I wish I had actually picked up *all* the grapes that had escaped packaging in the fall.
9. I wish I had cleaned out the refrigerator before I went.
10. I wish that the tub of butter hadn't fallen out on my foot when I tried to sneak another tub in behind it.
11. I wish I hadn't stepped on that grape that was on the ground when I got more groceries out.
12. I wish that grapes didn't look so yucky when squished on the bottom of your shoe.

Thanksgiving 2006

We had a fantastic Thanksgiving this year! We spent the day with my mom, my sister and her family and their extended family and friends. Boy, that is a mouthful.

We ate and ate and ate, of course, celebrated Bethany's birthday, the kids got in the hot tub (naturally my camera battery had died by this point), and generally just hung out enjoying the gawgus weather! Alyx ended up having a sleep over at my mom's house, so Anthony and I came home and watched TV and ate the potroast I had put in that morning. It was a wonderfully relaxing and fun day.

Here are a couple of layouts so far from the day!





Hopefully I'll get more layouts posted later as I've got some serious scrapping to do with all my Black Friday purchases!! Ooooh, thank goodness for ACDSee 9!!!!!! Getting me all organized and schtuff or I would be a MESS - ok, a bigger mess....

OMG! I think hell has frozen over!!!

Or rather, my own personal hell appears to be thawing out and turning into heaven! My son and hubby have been purging!!! Anthony has started cleaning out his closet - he's gotten rid of 6 very old and very large computers! Alyx has gotten rid of 5 HUGE trashbags full of toys. He is finally over power rangers and dinosaurs it appears. Well, he still wants to watch Power Rangers and dinosaur movies. But, all he wants to keep are just a few favorite items and dino books! I'm so proud of him. All of these years of taking him with me when I go to donation and talking about how some parents can't afford to buy "new" toys for their kids, so they buy them at donation stores has finally sucken in. He wants a lot of kids to be able to get a lot of toys for Christmas so he's donating most of his. Ah, I love that boy.

Oh man... I just realized something... this means it must be time for me to purge too.... Oh crap, guess I better start sorting through the old paper scrapbooking supplies. *looks around in panic*

Some things just don't work as planned...

So, here it is... covered in glitter. I'm covered in glitter. My living room is covered in glitter and the turkey for the Pin the Feather on the Turkey is atrocious!!!! So, I'm off to Walmart to buy more poster board so I can redo it sans glitter!


How hysterical is this!

Simply Holiday :: Page Kit ::

I got one of my Wednesday wishes done today! (see today's Daily O's thread in the Oscraps forums if you don't know what I'm talking about 8) )

Here it is! Ronee's and my collab kit!!! I love the way this one turned out.

AND! It is on sale at an introductory price of $4.50 for one week only!

Here's the link

In other news:
We're having a snow day today with no snow - only bitter cold and extreme winds. The power lines outside of Alyx's school were on the ground today so no school. Which is a good thing as out power went out around 3 am (imagine that rude awakening with 7 UPS's all blaring and beeping randomly!!!!) and we slept in because the alarm didn't go off.

Confused on how to use the Alpha templates?

Here is a little sample to test the DIY Alpha Templates. I've included a psd, a tiff, and png versions so you can see which type works best for you before you buy! I've also thrown in the how to :)

Download sample HERE

DIY Chipboard Alpha :: Layered Templates :: at PDW & Oscraps

Create your own unique alphabet with numbers and special characters!

Layered templates include chipboard base and drybrushed overlay giving you endless possibilities! Use the chipboard base 'as is'. Layer with colored and/or patterned papers. Use the drybrushed overlay alone or layered. Mix-n-match to your hearts content!

Available at: PDW and Oscraps

Commercial use license available at Oscraps.

Trick or Treating with his best friend!

This is Alyx and Ethan getting ready to go trick or treating! Alyx came up with his costume idea himself. He is an Undead Knight. LOL! This boy :)

Ethan's mom took the boys (that is Ethan's little brother there with them) around the neighborhood. They had the time of their lives I tell you! I actually ran out of candy this year - 6 big bags wasn't enough.../sigh.

Alyx's Bag O Treats has a hole....

My son, Alyx, has been wandering around the Oscraps.com website, looking at all the goodies. He was having so much fun, he never realized he had a hole in his Bag O Treats! Will you help Alyx find his treats and fill your treat bag as well? There are 10 treats total!

Alyx's first stop was in the Oscraps forums because he wanted to see why his mom was always chattering about getting her "daily moo". What do cows have to do with digital scrapbooking anyway? Alyx made his first post at Oscraps.com on Monday, Oct. 30th...

PS~ you'll find this image when you've correctly solved the clues! The goodies will be available all week!

Zen-10 Mini Kit

Here's my latest mini kit!



Available for just $2.99 at

PDW
http://www.plaindigitalwrapper.com/s...3&cat=0&page=1

and

Oscraps
http://www.oscraps.com/store/index.p...roducts_id=204

Have you been KISS'd lately?

WOW have I totally fallen in love with sketch templates!!! For some reason I totally freeze up when I try to do a digi layout from scratch, but if I make a template first, then make my pages I'm good to go! So, expect to see lots more templates from me!

Here's a new set in my new KISS line - Keep It Simple Sketch templates. These sketches are super quick and easy to use with a minimal number of layers and designer details included!

No. 2 - Clean lines with a little twist - notebook paper!

Designer elements include:

• Torn Spiral Notebook paper (thank Atomic Cupcake)
  Lazercutz - Chipboard Bookplate Tab with Rice Paper label insert and drybrush layer to paper, recolor, or leave as-is
  Staples

No. 3 - Slightly wonky layers make this page appear just like a paper scrapped page (I never could cut straight even with a trimmer!)

Designer elements include:

• Realistically "straight" Stitching
  Craftpaper photo tab

Both layered .tiff and .psd files (available in separate downloads). 'How to' included.



Available at:
Oscraps.com
http://www.oscraps.com/store/index.p...roducts_id=208

and
PDW
http://www.plaindigitalwrapper.com/s...8&cat=0&page=1

Celebrity in a red cast...

OMG! first off, I'm sitting here watching TV - have y'all seen the new Burger King "eat like snake" commercial? I can't even count the number of ways it is wrong! LMAO! OMG!

so, back to the originally scheduled update...

Alyx is doing really, really well with his cast He's definately enjoying all the attention - everyone wanting to know how he did it, how he feels, etc.

Here's the promised pics :)

At home, after the ER - with all his requested comfort snacks around him :)

His best friend, Ethan was the first to get to sign his new cast.

His dad and I got to sign next - his dad drew the T-rex head :)

He was the definate center of attention as all his classmates got to sign his cast before class. We found the coolest metallic sharpies!

Even his teacher, Mrs. Allen signed :)

Quick update on Alyx's arm...

He is doing great! got the permanent cast on today and the doc thinks his arm will heal beautifully. He will wear this full arm cast 4 weeks, then a forearm cast 4 weeks, then a splint 4 weeks. Yikes!

We got some kick butt metallic sharpies for signing his red cast - its very cool!!! I'll try to post some pics tomorrow.

Them bones....

Alyx broke his arm tonight. They sedated him and set it temporarily at the ER tonight and we've got an appointment with the orthopedic tomorrow. I might be MIA for a bit takin' care of my boy.

He was such a trooper. Anthony drove on the way to the hospital and I sat in the back with him, singing "his" song (a song I made up when he was a baby). It was so sweet. Every time it would start to hurt or he would get a little scared, he would sing along with me in a trembly, little voice. It's funny, I have to admit, I was a little surprised he new the words - DUH! I know... I've only been singing this song to him for 6+ years now. It's just that he never sings along, he just listens and occassionally hums.

He did really well at the hospital. The only time he got upset was when someone new would walk in the room and comment on his arm (it looked very, very bad). After they set it, he was telling them all about his toys and even got to eat a grape popsicle. I must say, the ER staff was amazing. It's a brand new hospital in our town - thank God it was there and close - so I didn't really know what to expect. They took him back immediately (there were others ahead of him, but his was an urgent need) and treated him (and Anthony and I too) so incredibly well - they were kind and caring and gentle and took their time and I'm just so impressed.

I'll try to update tomorrow after we visit the specialist.

5 Wierd Things about me

Ugh, I've been tagged....

5 Weird Things

I've been tagged by TaniaJPS for a rousing game of blog tag.

so here are the rules to play blogtag:

* List 5 weird things about yourself or your pets.
* Tag 5 friends and list them.
* Those people need to write on their blogs about 5 weird things, and state the rules, and tag 5 more people.
* Don't forget to let the people you tag know by posting a comment on their blog!

here are my 5 weird things ::

1. I am in love with Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor (Dr. Who)
2. I hate feet.
3. I'm a trekkie
4. I like Wierd Al Yankovich and am excited his new CD is out!
5. I work on 3 computers at once.

here are the 5 lucky bloggers I'm tagging ::

Anna
Genevieve
Lauren
Lucrecer
Sue

You may not see me for a few years...

Ok, so I've had it! I can't find a darn thing on any of my computers without a 10 min search. I've got 3 computers that I use on a daily basis. Technically, each one has its own purpose (1 design, 1 gaming, and my laptop)... but things have become rather, um, meshed together is a nice way of saying it. Nothing is where it is supposed to be, many things are in 15 different spots - ugh.

So, after seeing a few threads on DST about organization and Gina Miller's blog showing off her organization system, I've decided it's time to bite the bullet... it may take a few years and I'm sure I'll give up before I'm done... but today I'll try. I should have taken a 'before' screenshot of my laptop desktop before starting this since this the puter I'm starting with.... Oh well, here it is after I've already been moving/deleting/etc this morning. See all those empty spaces? Every single space on there had an icon in it before I started... let's see how far I get today.



Oh yeah, I gotta go get the munchkin ready for school and fix him some breakfast before I can get back to it.... see ya later and HEY! le-go my eggo!

Oscraps is back up!

and, um, has been since last Friday. Everything is working great, we lost nothing and I did a ton of brainstorming during my 15+ hours in the car alone last week! So, I have plans now... lot's and lot's of plans... maybe someday I'll actually do them too.

PS~ Thank you miss Holly McCaig for the reminder that perhaps I should blog more frequently... especially on important topics like this LOL!!!

OY VAY!

Hello. My name is Vicki and I am a bad blogger.

Do NOT attempt this yourself...

Leave it to the professionals! OY!

Ok, I just got Holly McCaig's Purdy Pics actions and WOW! what a difference they make. I tried to edit this picture myself and while it looked ok, it really didn't look 'GOOD' and it printed so nasty - bleh. So, I got Holly's actions and started playing around with them this morning and voila - easy, peasy, super quick and prints just lovely!

Check out the difference!

And here is my layout... I used my Some Like it Hot papers and LazerCutz {one} for the embellishment (used the striped paper from Some Like it Hot as the overlay on the embellie!).

I saw the sun rise over dallas - oh yeah, the Oscraps Server is DOWN...

Hi y'all.

Bad news. The oscraps server is down. It went down yesterday afternoon around 5 pm CST. I spent several hours on the phone with tech support (or rather on hold for tech support - grrrrr) and they were unable to get it back up. I got up at 3:45 am and hit the road at 4:15 am to drive down to Dallas to pick it up and bring it back here for my hubby to try to fix. I just got home so I don't know what's wrong with it yet.

I'll keep you posted...

Wow. Yeah. There's 88 min. of my life I'll never get back...

So, um, yeah, since we've all got mono - yeah, yeah, the kissing disease... I know. Too bad we didn't get it the 'fun' way. We got from drinking after each other ---> my 6 year old son got it from his 6 year old girlfriend - hopefully from drinking after her as well. I'd hate to think they were making out at 6! LOL. Ya know, come to think of it, the only one who probably did get this the "fun" way is Anthony, cuz he never drinks after Alyx but he does kiss me - gosh, sorry babe!

Anywho... back to the original reason for this post... I've been renting movies so I can just sit in front of the TV and veg. So, I rented Friends with Money with Jennifer Aniston and Joan Cusack. I guess I expected a comedy, but, uh, nope... not funny. Really, it's rather boring and depressing. Teach me to judge a DVD by its cover - really -they're laughing on the cover! Oh bah... I'm not going to waste any more time on this movie, you can go check it out for yourself if you are so inclined and have a bit of time to throw away...

here's a link:

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/friends_with_money/

Holy Dust and Debris Batgirl!

So, anyone wanna come visit us? You'll breathe better in our home if you do!

We had a our vents cleaned the other day. Can I just say... Oh My Freaking Ghoulish Nightmare the crap that came out of there! No wonder we all live with constant drippy noses. These vents had never been cleaned in almost 20 years. The guys pulled BUILDER DEBRIS (read: freaking trash!) out of the vents. Lazy Bastage builders. We're talking a full gallon of dust, dirt and debris came out of the vents.

Can I get a collective - UGH!

So, anyway, we're breathing better now :)

That 70's Shoe

I had too much fun with this kit! I started it several months ago for a friend and never finished. Then Anna found out about it and wouldn't give me a moment's piece til I finished it! Boy, am I glad cuz I love the way it turned out.

Check it out!

PDW
Oscraps

I've got a new Vixen!! ChristinaS has joined my CT!

I'm so thrilled to announce that Christina has joined my creative team! She is so talented and has completely blown me away with her first layout.



Christina used my Love Birds kit and the alpha is by Shabby Princess for this layout of her cousin. Can you believe how gorgeous this is? And, her cousin is truly an island beauty - simply a breathtakingly beautiful girl. Go leave her some scrappy love at scrapbook-bytes!

Lovebirds is available at Oscraps.com.
The alpha is available at Shabbyprincess.com in her Sweet Serenity kit.

PS~I seriously need to get this page updated with links to all my Vixen's fabulous work. I'm going toget this done this week!!! I think.

Back in Black Blog Contest

So, I posted on my blog on Tuesday about a little unfortunate incident involving my lunch and me gallery hopping while finallizing my CT Call and since I just released my Back in Black elements on Tuesday as well, I thought they would be perfect combo for a little contest reward on the old blog...

So, here are the details...

You must answer one little question correctly....
What did I NOT get to have for lunch on Tuesday (what is that blackened yucky mess in the picture?)

The first 15 people to post the correct answer in the Oscraps.com Forums (in the contest area) win my Back in Black elements!

Easy-Peasy!

Here's what you can win!!!

Wooohooo! My first official contest! Go me!

My girls!

Check out my new Creative Team!!!

I'll post some links tomorrow... but for now, I'm takin' my tushie to bed!!!

Ok... so the smoke alarm is going off... {CT Call related}

I know I said I would post this here today... but it looks like its going to happen WAY LATER today.... I was just going through the 40+ applicants one last time and totally forgot my food in the oven until the smoke alarm started going off!!! So, now I'm completely bummed cuz I actually wanted to eat those yummy leftovers... and I'm exhausted from staying up til 4:30 am with all the last minute details for the opening of the Oscraps store today (can someone please tell me where I got the insane idea to make the store and ct announcement for the same day? A #1 Idiot, that's me)...

Anywho, I'm going to get some non-blackened-food... now maybe if it was cajun blackened chicken... hmmmmm. Perhaps I need a nap too. Back later!

Where in the heck is Joe Pesci when you need him?

Ever have those days where just nothin' will go right for you? Then, you realize it's almost 8:30 and your family hasn't had dinner yet. So, you're thinking, "Oh, yeah, food. Food will make it all right again!" You think about what you are going to get the whole way there... "mmmm, can't wait to sink my teeth into *insert favorite food choice here*".

You get there and the speaker thing is broken so you pull to the window and the woman opens the window and yells, "WE CLOSED!" and closes the window, then opens it again laughing. So, you chuckle mildly, all the while thinking, "If I throttle her they will spit in my food" and you place your order. She hollars it out to the folk in the back and she actually repeats it correctly - so all is good....

NOT! You get home, open it up and it's all wrong! BLEH! So, yep, I got F'd in the drive thru...Darn that Joe Pesci, never around when you need him!

*goes to flip through channels to see if Lethal Weapon is on TNN*

Women rule the world!!!

I was chatting with my friend, Raina about my little episode in the car and she said, "Yeah, diapers work great for that too!" The one thing neither one of us could figure out is why on earth I removed the cover from the adhesive backing?!?!?! *ooops, wasn't gonna tell that part* but seriously! If anyone was unsure before, this one act confirms my official dorkdom.

So, um, yeah, I'm thinking the contents of a typical american woman's purse and car could probably handle just about anything the world can throw at us... or atleast sodas, babies and men anyway!

Stayfree to the rescue...

So, like a lot of women, I keep some 'monthly protection' in the car in case of emergencies. Well, tonight, I opened my bottle of coke while driving and it decided to majorly fizz out. I had no napkins - well, real napkins anyway LOL - but there was a pad in the console, so, I thought, what the heck! (actually, heck wasn't my exact thought) That sucker sucked it right up!!! Better than any regular napkin that's for sure!

Who knew....

Creative Team Call

The time has finally arrived that I need a creative team! I just don't seem to find the time to actually scrap anymore lol. So, here it is, my first CT Call!!! As always, you may click the picture for a larger view!

Ack, now that I'm actually posting this, I'm kinda nervous LOL!!! What if noone wants to do it? Shhh, don't tell anyone I'm a total dork!!! Then, they really won't apply....

{Jen}spiration FREEBIE!

Ok, so I had a little accident with my computer the other night... long story, but due to my own stupidity and stupid microsoft update, I lost a TON of design stuff from photoshop. So, I've been laboriously working on rebuilding my 'tools'.

I posted on DST (digishoptalk) about it and everyone was so kind and made me laugh a ton, so I decided to post a little freebie from some of the stuff I've been rebuilding!

:: Click here for detail images ::

Add-on includes:

• 6 Papers - sort of solid, sort of patterned ;)
• 1 Funky Doodled Frame (approx 5 x 7 .png)
• 1 Funky Glitter Doodled Frame (approx 5 x 7 .png)
• 1 Shabby Flower with Glitter center
• 1 Fun Fur alpha (complete lowers with some special characters)

The original {Jen}spiration kit is full of funky doodles and HAWT, new embellies and is available at PDW

The freebie add-on is available to oscraps.com Members in the Download Gallery and is FREE for your personal use!

New Schtuff...

Here are my latest creations, {Jen}spiration and Fireworks Fun. Both are available at www.plaindigitalwrapper.com



{Jen}spiration was inspired by my friend Jennifer. Not only is she super hot and stylish, she's also very sweet and fun. I wanted the kit to reflect that about her, so I used trendy doodles, girly colors and some bling (and even some fun fur brads heheh!!!)!





Fireworks Fun was created for the 4th of July (yes, I am master of restating the obvious lol). I absolutely love the elements pack on this one. I print out all of my designs once they are done to make sure they are OK and everyone that has seen the printouts has touched the fuzzy, fiber trimmed star - it just looks so freaking REAL! I'm quite impressed with it LOL.

Wow, its been awhile...

Didn't realize how long it had been since I updated here. I've been a bit busy... Here is a preview of what I've been working on.




This is just a tiny, tiny portion of the huge kit I added to Oscraps this month. I've started the 'Donation Kit of the Month' that is available only to members who make a donation to Oscraps. Hopefully, we'll get that server paid off some day....

Here's what people will be getting:

24 Lightly textured , coordinated papers including:

• 10 Funky Dots & Shapes Patterns
• 4 Florals
• 2 Stripes
• 2 Plaids
• 6 Solids

Jam packet with tons of embellishments including:

• 4 Cross stitched 'ribbons'
• 3 Sheer ribbons
• 1 Glass Bead strand
• 3 Embroidered Hearts
• 1 large Decorated Tag
• 4 Mini File Tabs
• 4 Large File Tabs
• 4 Labels
• 6 Embroidered edges for Labels
• 9 Word Brads
• 3 Word Art Ribbon Overlays
• 1 Stamp (100% Dad for a 100% Family
• 4 Decorative Brads
• 5 Coordinated Large Brads
• 5 Coordinated Mini Brads
• 5 Coordinated Photo Prongs/Anchors
• 1 Metal Mini Brad
• 9 Small Metal Rimmed Tags
• 2 Jumprings (1 pre-cut to fit circle tags)
• 1 Huge Circle Template for cutting papers & photos
• 1 Cross Stitched edge for circle template (dots are on a seperate layer so you can colorize and add a dropshadow to the stitches)
• Coordinated alphabet set includes letters, numbers and some special characters.

I also included a freebie add-on for members to download as a test drive of the full kit. Here's a preview of it.





Of course, you can see and get the whole thing at www.oscraps.com!

Stress relievers....

I've been a touch stressed out lately trying to get a couple of new modules configured for Oscraps and have been in need of some serious laughter/entertainment. These two links fit the bill!!! Check them out!

Cubicities.com

What is a cubicity?
"Cubicities" is the name we have given to the quirkiness, people, events, procedures and random weirdness that occurs in so many offices across this world.

Evolution of Dance

I was quite literally laughing out loud and boy did it feel good!

My latest kit

I'm really happy with the way this one turned out. I finally figured out how to do realistic looking metal. This chrome actually looks real when printed! Yay me LOL.

This week....

Busy week this one....

Monday
Yesterday we introduced a new designer on Oscraps - Maggie Lamarre. Here's a preview of her lovely spring kit.
Maggie's kit is available for Free for your personal use at www.oscraps.com, of course.

Tuesday
Today, we went to Don's funeral. It was actually a very nice ceremony. Raina got up and gave a very moving and heartfelt talk about her dad. She talked about how she had no regrets with her daddy because she knew for certain that he loved her and was proud of her. There was never a doubt about it because he not only told her but he showed her, with the gleam in his eye, the joy in his face, and the warmth in his hugs. There was never anything left unsaid. Raina also talked about how he lived his life with love and abundant laughter. Don's laughter was mentioned over and over throughout the day and I think that is such a great testimony to the kind of man he was.

Wednesday
Alyx's last day of kindergarten is tomorrow. We've got Super Kid's day at the school and then we are leaving straight for Texas so he can spend some time with his grandparents and family down there.

Thursday
Don't know what we will be doing, but Anthony and I will be doing something together. It will be nice to have some alone time.

Friday
We are going on a date :) X-Men is coming out, so while its not the most romantic date, its gonna be a fun one and something we both want to see!

That's all I can think of for now....

The death of a dear, dear man...

Several of you have expressed concern regarding my cryptic post on Wednesday. I'm so sorry to have worried you all so. It's been a rough week with the unfortunate climax on Wednesday night. I was trying to get to quickly get the info out there that I wouldn't have the time, energy, or motivation to get something uploaded. I guess I wasn't thinking too clearly. So, now, I'll try to tell the story...

My dear friend, Raina's father died on Wednesday night. This is sad enough, in and of itself, but the truth is, it is so much worse than that. As some of you know, Raina lives in Florida and she was just here a few weeks ago visiting her mother in the hospital. Raina's mom, Sandy, has been in ICU for almost two months now. Two weeks ago, Raina got the call that it was time to come back as Sandy was in trouble, so thankfully, Raina was in town and able to be here when her father died.

Sandy is a diabetic who hasn't always taken the best of care of herself or her body so she was in fairly poor health to begin with. She had lost part of her foot to diabetic complications and was undergoing wound care for that. In January, she started complaining of terrible pain in her neck. She was taken to the emergency room on two different occassions because the pain was so bad that Don, Raina's father, could not get her into the car, she had to be taken by ambulance. Each time she was released with some vague statement about arthritic episode. Don kept on the doctor's until finally one of them agreed to admit Sandy to the hospital for some other reason so they could hopefully figure out was wrong. Finally, a neurologist was called in and thought her condition looked like meningitus. They ran some different tests and found she had a staph infection, apparently from the wound debrisment of her foot.

As it turns out, the staph infection had settled in Sandy's neck and had been eating away at the muscles and tissues in her neck, including her spinal column. Her neck started collapsing on itself so they did emergency surgery to insert a metal rod to stabilize and fuse her spinal cord and a trachiotomy for the respirator. A few days later, she was fitted with a metal halo to prevent her from moving her head until it had a chance to heal. Sandy was partially paralized from the neck down - she had no movement ability but could still feel everything. She could not talk because of the trachiotomy and respirator. She had no way of getting the nurses attention when she was in pain or hot or cold...

Don was her savior. He spent all day, every day at the hospital being her "nurses call button". She could make a small, kissy noise when she needed his attention and then he would read her lips to find out what she needed and could let the nurses know. The ICU staff fell in love with Don and were amazed by his dedication and grace under pressure. He never forgot to be kind and thoughtful to those around him - he brought them donuts and cookies almost every day. He never failed to have a smile and a kind word for everyone, even when his own world was crumbling further each day. For two months, Don spent almost every day in the hospital with Sandy, only leaving when visiting hours would end. Only one shift did Don miss during all that time. His van had broken down and he needed to repair it, so I spent the morning shift playing call button while he had a mechanic friend helping him. It was tough to see Sandy like that and tougher yet to read her lips, but the toughest part was how hard it was to leave her and her just wanting Don to be there. He was her rock, her safety net.

So, fast forward to Saturday night. Every Saturday for years, our group of friends has gone to dinner at a local Thai restaurant. Raina and John, her husband, and their son, Ian had come to Thai food to see all their old friends. They had driven her dad's van and he had taken his motorcycle to go back up to the hospital for evening visiting hours. He probably would have driven his bike anyway since it was nice weather and gas prices being what they are. He rode it quite frequently because of the long drive to the hospital anyway. On his way home around 8 pm, an illegal alien lost control of his truck on the highway causing a 7 car pileup. Don was in the middle of the accident. He saw the beginning of the accident and had time to lay his bike down rather than hitting head on. If he hadn't, he probably would have been killed instantly. Instead, he suffered a shattered pelvis, foot, ankle and wrist on one side. He was alert and doing OK considering his age and injuries. The only problem was he was worried what Sandy would do because he would be in the hospital himself for three months recovering from the pelvic reconstruction.

Raina got to spend Sunday with him, talking and going over details of what she needed to do to help out while he was going to be in the hospital. She had just gotten home when she realized she had forgotten to get his pin number for his debit card so she could pay his bills, etc. When she got back to the hospital, she walked into his room to find a team of people working on him. He was being intebated because a clot had apparently been knocked loose from the impact and had settled into his lungs. The next morning they did surgery to install a filter in his main artery leading to his brain to try to prevent any further damage. He was kept in a medically induced coma because they had placed him on a "rocker bed" to keep his blood flowing in such a way that no clots would move to his vital organs. Circumstances were such that he was just unable to recover from it. Raina and her half brother, Brian, got the call that he was going and were able to be at the hospital when he passed Wednesday evening.

I just spoke with both Raina and Brian to get their permission to post their story and the scrapbook page I made for Don. They both said they would be honored to share his memory this way. Sandy hadn't been told the severity of Don's accident yet based on her doctor's recommendation. They wanted to make sure they had a new feeding tube in place so they could administer anti-anxiety/depression meds in such a way that the original feeding tube would not allow. That is now in place and so, today they are going to tell her. Please keep them all in your prayers and thoughts, its sure to be a rough day.

I've decided to use my page for Don as my week three entry in the ultimate digiscrapper contest. I had already done two other pages this week to decide between, but this page means so much to me and has been such a healing experience to create that I want to share it with as many people as possible. Raina and Brian both agreed that Don would think that was pretty neat. Due to contest rules, I can't post the page anywhere but the contest gallery, so if you would like to see it, click here.

No new kits this week for oScraps

I'm sorry, there will be no new kits posted this week to oScraps. We have experienced some tragedies this week and I can't even think about putting the final touches on kits. Hopefully, will have some posted next week.

a little torn, a lot happy

I just posted my "week 2" entry for the Ultimate DigiScrapper Contest. You may see it

here

The assignment is an all about me page of how we see ourselves. Now, I typically only scrap AAM layouts with my glamour queen pics but thought I would go for the face I show to the world 50% of the time for this one. This picture was taken yesterday and was exactly how I looked when I decided to do it. I admit, the rest of the pic is staged to fit the idea of the page. I don't normally sit on the floor of my laundry room and rarely let my son sit on the dryer LOL! I also normally design on 2 desktop pc's and not the laptop, but hubby just set it up so I can now so I won't be chained to my desk anymore! He's the greatest!

WooWoo! Made it through!

Well, I made the first cut in the Ultimate DigiScrapper Contest. This weeks challenge is an all about me page. I think I can handle that ;)

Wow I'm a little behind!

Sorry I haven't posted here in a bit. I've been busy. I've been sick. I've been... blah, blah, blah...

Here are the highlights from the last week:

Lucrecer Braxton made her debut as an oScraps.com Original Designer. The response to her first kit has been outstanding!!! People love her work. Just between you and me, I knew they would!!!

Here's a peak at Lucrecer's CRUSHED kit. You may download it at oScraps.com of course!

The Ultimate DigiScrapper Contest
I entered the Ultimate DigiScrapper contest. Not that I really think I have any chance of winning - let alone actually finishing the layouts. I thought it would be a good motivator to me to actually do some scrapbooking. I've been so hyperfocused on designing for oScraps and maintaining the site, trying to learn more PHP so I can add new content to the site that I just haven't had time to actually do any scrapbooking.

We can't post our layouts anywhere else until after the contest is over, so you'll have to click here to see it. You can also see a sneak peak of one of my upcoming kits - HippyHot or HippyToile {I haven't decided on the name yet} there since that is what I used for the layout.

Meet the Element Team Chat at TheDigiShoppe

This AAM (all about me) page is for the 'Get to know the Element Team' Chat at TheDigiShoppe.com. Each designer did an AAM page from the kit that we made to give away as prizes to the chat participants. They have to answer trivia questions about us LOL! (this pic was taken Easter Sunday 2006)

Here's the kit I used to make the above page.

Sneak Peak of NeelyPurple DigiScrap Kit

My latest creation, NeelyPurple, will be available for free for personal use download after the new oScraps.com server goes live this week!

This isn't the official announcement but...

I'm just so excited, I have to share a little tidbit! I've been talking with some very talented ladies about becoming designers for oScraps
So.... the official announcement will come next week but I just have to share that I have just received the second set of papers from one of them and they are fabulous!!! She is fabulous! I just can't wait to show her off!

WOO! Alyx lost his first tooth tonight!!!

He's been using his aunt Libby's trick for getting loose teeth out... eating lots of apples! It came out very easily with no pain and no blood. He's so excited!!! He's already put it under his pillow for the toothfairy! I'm gonna have to design a tooth kit now....

it's official now, so I can blab...

I am now a member of the elements team at The Digi Shoppe. We will be designing lots and lots and lots I'm sure :) So, my already busy life just got a lot busier :) but its a good thing! Go check it out! It is a very cool site with some wonderful people!

We got the final box in yesterday and the hubby has been hard at work getting it all together before we take a road trip to Dallas early next week! More on that later....

For now, I've got to run!

Psssst... I've got a secret!

Lookie, lookie what showed up today... we are still expecting 1 more box. Fingers crossed it will be here tomorrow. Why is this important enough to post a picture on my blog. Because I think so! LOL! J/K.... its going to dramatically affect oScraps!!!!


More on that big news to come....

Freebies, Internet Explorer, Email Issues, Coding....

OY! I thought I was a designer LOL. Who knew that putting up a little freebie site was going to make me need to learn so much about stuff I still don't know about... Wow, that makes no sense whatsoever.

All I do know at the moment is that some, but not all Internet Explorer users are having problems registering with oScraps and some internet service providers appear to be blocking the block of IP's we go out through... did I say OY! already?

Anywho, if you fall in either of these categories but still want a free membership at oScraps.com then just email me at oscraps@gmail.com and we'll get you set up!

{Pssst, there is a new kit coming out in the next couple of days, so you'll want to get your membership setup quickly! And, yes, the new kit will be free for your own personal use!}

Tool to help combat digital piracy...

[b]Placing copyright symbol in image name information[/b]

Ok, so its a new *to me* tool, but maybe some of you don't know about it either.

In Photoshop CS2, there is an automation script that will take an entire collection of images and batch 're-save' them with the copyright symbol embedded in the name of the file. Even if you open the file and rename it something else, the copyright symbol stays in the top bar where the open images name is. Of course, this won't stop digital pirates, but it will make it harder for them to claim they 'didn't know'...

How to do it...

1. Open all the files you need to process
2. File ----> Scripts ----> Image Processor
3. Choose your options in numbers 1, 2, & 3
4. #4 Enter your Copyright information
5. Run

There is the option to do it from a file instead of opening all the files, but my file structure tends to be very messy with different versions, etc. Plus, this helps me find the exact files I want to put into the zip file. I haven't found a way to make it work on .png's yet.

Hope this helps!