Blah, blah, blog

Favorite finds

2008-12-08T16:45:00.001-08:00

Check out my latest addition to my shop at Oscraps. These are just my favorite Christmas ornaments ever!

>> store link <<

Songbird Avenue - revisited

2008-07-16T19:10:00.000-07:00

So, I don't think the totals have been posted yet, but I just wanted to say how thankful I am to everyone who purchased the Leap of Faith kit last month at Songbird Avenue. We raised over $1250 for Mercy Corps! How awesome is that! Seriously, thank you all for your support!!!!

This month, Songbird is hosting another fab-o kit by Dani Mogstad, Jan and Meredith. Check it out!

>> Songbird Avenue store link <<

Sugar Giggles {A Sweet Summertime Collab}

2008-07-03T06:39:00.000-07:00

I recently had the incredible experience of collaborating with some amazing digi designers!

Nikki Beaudreau, Edeline, Amy Hutchinson,
Janosch Designs, Summer Simmons,
Kim de Smet, and Sunflowers

Check out what we created:

And here are some of the incredible layouts created by our creative teams:

>> store link <<

Guess who is the guest designer at Songbird Avenue this month!

2008-06-03T06:35:00.000-07:00

Yep, you guessed it! ME!

I am so incredibly happy and honored to have this opportunity to work with the fab-O-lous Jan Crowley and amazing Meredith Fenwick on this project. I admire both of them and what they are doing at Songbird. Really, I am just a bit verklumpt about it all.

Go! No really, go NOW and grab this kit! It's only available for the month of June and then it will be gone forever.

Songbird Avenue: http://www.songbirdavenue.com/

And, while you're there, check out the OMG amazing Inspiration gallery!
http://www.songbirdavenue.com/view.php/area/4/inspiration

Due to popular request...

2008-06-01T17:16:00.000-07:00

I finally broke down and ordered a fan blinkie for y'all! Sport it if ya wanna!

Here it is:

I think Kitty did a fab-O job! Don't you?

No. You can't call me Martha...

2008-05-27T17:43:00.000-07:00

But! You can call me doggedly determined. At least when it comes to attempting to make something fabulous food-wise. Now, those of you who remember my very first contest at the O, you'll be thinking to yourself, "Vicki? Making fabulous food? Um. WHAT?!?!"

Seriously, though.

For real.

This is what I made!

Mama's Angel Food Cake
w/ Bourbon Creme Anglaise

I know, I know... You're all thinking. "WOW! You did a great job Vic!"

Relax.

The pic above is NOT mine. LOL. That pic is Martha's. Ya know, Martha Stewart. The one who makes everything look SO easy. Anywho, I'll get to my pic in a bit, mostly because it involves me going and getting it off the camera and on the computer and photoshopping the heck out of it... and, heaven only knows when that will happen... but I digress... I wanted to share with you a few things I learned through this endeavor.

First things first...
1. Martha has been cooking a lot longer than me.
2. Martha had the author of the cookbook standing there with her.
3. Martha had the right pan.
4. Martha had all the ingredients.
5. Martha has a staff.
6. Martha has those magical TV 'supplies' that magically appear already done (see #5).
7. Martha probably has one of these...

{it's an egg separator - who knew!}

8. Do not be fooled when watching the 10 minute segment at around 11:30 pm that the recipe is really that quick, easy and painless. It's not. Ok, so it's not if you're *me* (see contest link above and #5).

9. Separating 12 eggs by hand is messy and rather icky. Apparently there are special tools for this. And, if you're really smart, I hear you can buy a carton of egg whites at the store. Hrrrmph.

10. 30 min spent watching for the said 12 egg whites to magically turn into soft peaks is probably 30 min in which you could have run to the store, bought a cake and started eating it.

11. Staring forlornly into the mixing bowl will not make the whites stand at attention any sooner.

12. This particular recipe is just fine without the almond extract (see #4 above).

13. A bundt pan is not an angel food cake pan (see #3 above).

14. Read the bit at the bottom of the recipe about the cake having to cool for 2 hours atleast 3 hours before you think you're going to be wanting to eat it soon.

15. Whisking 6 egg yolks with 1/4 cup of sugar would be easier in the stand mixer. Go ahead and wash that bowl you just dirtied for the cake. You'll thank me for this.

16. When a recipe for creme anglaise calls for 6 egg yolks and you've already gone to the trouble of separating 12 eggs for the cake, go ahead and reserve those extra 6 egg yolks in case you get impatient at the end of cooking and turn the heat up.

17. Do NOT turn the heat up at the end of making a creme anglaise to speed along the process - it will break and you will not be happy.

18. Amaretto may not be the best substitute for Bourbon in a Bourbon Creme Anglaise sauce (see #4 above).

19. Amaretto in a glass with some Sunny D - AWESOME!

20. Angel food cake is yummy (see pic below) and Amarretto Creme Anglaise is, um, not worth the effort (see #19 instead).

{me & my cake - it's a good thing}

>> link to recipe on Martha Stewart's site <<

M & M's ROCK!

2008-01-21T07:42:00.000-08:00

Alyx's birthday is quickly approaching and I'm soooo excited I actually remembered to order the personalized M & M's in time this year! They are so cool!

Here's how I spent yesterday evening....

Halloween 2007

2007-11-03T09:53:00.000-07:00

Here's a layout I just did of Alyx on Halloween. I've got a ton of pics I want to get posted, but this will have to do for now!:: Credits ::

Behind yet again...

2007-11-03T09:48:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I see that I am waaaay behind on posting again.

I've got a new kit in the Oscraps shop!

Wrap Me Up :: Grunge Two

2007-10-10T14:37:00.001-07:00

Just loaded in the Oscraps store!

:: LINK ::

the best day in a really looooong time!

2007-09-13T12:31:00.000-07:00

We've been trying to walk most every night trying to get ready for all the walking we'll be doing at Disney next month. So, the one person I was really worried about getting too tired is myself, cuz ya know- I lead a pretty sedentary lifestyle. So, I decided to go for an extra walk today and I was trying to kick it up a notch and was jogging part of it and a guy drives by, then turns around and drives back by to get another look!!! woooohooo.... go me!

So, I was so jazzed by that, I went around the block a second time, then broke into the neighbors house to work out on the bowflex in his garage. Ok, so I didn't break in, I have a key and it's our bowflex, we just don't have room to leave it set up in the house, but I digress.... so anywho, I worked out and it felt soooo goood! We have struggled for so long feeling crappy from the battle of the mold that I had forgotten how good it feels to be active!

Then, I went to lunch with the hubby and his co-worker and then ran some errands. Well, it was such a gorgeous day that I had the windows down and the stereo cranked. Naturally, I was dancin' in the car having a grand time, all by myself and got checked out twice more.... And, not just by mullet boys in 1972 camaro's this time lol

Of course, that could be because I was dancing to this song (both the english version and this version)

and I learned my chair dancing from this guy...

Or maybe, it was just because of the other song I was jammin' to... (ok, so I guess I should say this one would be pg-13 for animated violence, blah, blah, blah.....)

So, there ya go :) a totally fun day in my world....

So, it's sorta fixed...

2007-08-24T09:34:00.000-07:00

Yay me, I only took a month plus nap... lol. Ok, so I finally fixed the layout snaffoo... maybe one of these days I'll actually take the time to update the header and links and make it all pretty and stuff - but I doubt it. There's too much on my "to do" list right now to worry about it.

For those of you asking me to get back to blogging - well, I promise I'll try!

On that note, here's a few pages I've done recently...

credits

Credits

credits

Credits

I just broke it

2007-07-11T13:28:00.000-07:00

Just broke the appearance of my blog that is.... i'm gonna go take a nap and forget about this thing for now.... blech

George and Taylor brought me Carla's camera!!!!

2007-07-11T13:17:00.000-07:00

Ok, so its been awhile since I've posted here.... If you want to read more about how I came by this wonderful new camera, check out the "Guess who's coming to dinner" thread here: http://www.oscraps.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3820

I'm taken this shortcut because I really just want to getting to posting of some pics!

This first one is sorta how I feel about my new camera

(Actually, that's the neighbor boy in the pool)

Same neighbor boy...

If you get water in the water noodle, then blow really hard, it shoots really far.

Whatcha think? Am I the luckiest girl in the world or what?

Thanks again, Carla, George and Taylor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cruise!

2007-03-23T21:50:00.000-07:00

We just got home from our cruise! What a blast we had! I've already got a couple of layouts done so I'll share those for now and tell the tale tomorrow....

You all have blown me away!!!!

2007-02-10T06:26:00.000-08:00

So many of my dear, dear friends and even some aquaintances have given me the best birthday presents ever - the truly warm feeling of knowing people care. It's amazing to me how wonderful the online community is. I feel so blessed to be a part of it!!!!

Here are a few of the special gifts that were made for me this year....

by Sally (Cellomom)

credits may be seen here

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

By Sue (livelifejoyfully)
credits may be seen here

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

By Genevieve (SweetGenevieve)
from Genevieve's new High Society kit.

Thank you all SO MUCH!!!!!!!

It's my birthday!!!

2007-02-08T14:40:00.000-08:00

Today is my 38th birthday and I'm having a SALE!

38% off most Vicki Stegall designs (excludes collaborative projects and commercial use items).
Sale runs today (Feb 8,2007) thru Sunday (Feb 11, 2007)

PLUS!
Spend $5 or more in the Oscraps store,
and get my ‘Happy Birthday kit FREE!

Simply place the Birthday girlie kit in your shopping cart and enter the
coupon code: Birthday-Girl in the coupon redemtption field at checkout!
Don’t forget, you have to spend atleast $5 for the coupon to work.

Two new mini kits in the store today!

2007-02-08T13:41:00.000-08:00

I've got two new kits in the store today! As always, you can click any image to enlarge.

Sweet

Happy Birthday {Girlie!}

A few new scraps...

2007-01-16T23:32:00.000-08:00

I'll post credits on these tomorrow... I just wanted to get them uploaded tonight before I crawl into bed. Otherwise, it won't get done lol. As always, you can click the pic to view it larger.

Whine, whine, whine... can I have some wine please?

2007-01-11T08:06:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I took some time off from site business (backend stuff that tends to stress me out a bit - ok, a lot lol) and do some designing. I have an almost finished kit that I've been working on for over a month now, squeezing in a little here and a little there. So, I spent most of the day putting finishing touches, pulling together, packaging, etc. and realized that I wasn't quite happy with how everything went together. So, at 8pm I started reworking again. At 10:30, my munchkin - who should have been in bed an hour earlier, says, "Mom, do the people you work with know you have a son?"

WOAH! That was a "step back, take a look around" moment for me. I've worked pretty much non-stop since March of last year when I got this crazy idea to start my own site. With the new year, I made the resolution to not work so much this year. I thought I was doing pretty good. I mean, I haven't been working every waking moment like I did most of last year.

But, apparently it's still too much in Alyx's eyes. And, when I step back and look at it, it really is too much. I'm going to have to accept the fact that, as Genevieve's husband says, "There's only one way to eat an elephant. One bite at a time." I'm going to do what I can do and get done what I can get done during the day while Alyx is at school and Anthony is at work and then I'm going to shut it down at night.

Wish me luck.

Getting Organized and Say Anything FREEBIE!

2007-01-08T08:02:00.000-08:00

So, one of my resolutions for this year is to get organized - especially my computers and digiscrap sctuff! I've fallen in love with ACDSEE photo manager for this. I'm working on it a little bit each day. It's so fun to find all those photos and digi stuff that I thought I had lost forever... check out my latest find in my "in progress" designs folder!!!

They were all done and ready to go except for the preview. So, I threw that together and here they are (click here)! And, they are free for the first 1000 downloads, too!

If you want to check out ACDSee and start getting organized yourself, check it out here!

Did you see? Did you see?

2007-01-03T18:23:00.000-08:00

Lookie, lookie! I've hit the big time now! My newest kit, Comfortably Grunge, is Digi Kit Pick of the Day!!!!! Check it out here !!! Thanks so much Melissa!!!!!!!

Here's a few pics of the kit!

This is totally amusing...

2006-12-14T06:07:00.000-08:00

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!

2006-12-11T08:54:00.000-08:00

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...

2006-12-10T12:18:00.000-08:00

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...

2006-12-04T12:26:00.000-08:00

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....

2006-12-02T08:28:00.000-08:00

WWWednesdays...

2006-11-29T07:37:00.000-08:00

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

2006-11-25T07:26:00.000-08:00

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!!!

2006-11-20T09:34:00.000-08:00

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...

2006-11-16T09:40:00.000-08:00

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 ::

2006-11-15T11:16:00.000-08:00

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?

2006-11-13T17:49:00.000-08:00

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

2006-11-13T17:40:00.000-08:00

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!

2006-11-02T09:58:00.000-08:00

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....

2006-10-31T13:05:00.000-08:00

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

2006-10-11T14:48:00.000-07:00

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?

2006-10-11T14:45:00.000-07:00

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...

2006-10-08T16:16:00.000-07:00

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...

2006-10-03T19:48:00.000-07:00

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....

2006-10-02T22:28:00.000-07:00

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

2006-09-28T14:22:00.000-07:00

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...

2006-09-28T05:55:00.000-07:00

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!

2006-09-26T08:52:00.001-07:00

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...

2006-09-26T07:25:00.000-07:00

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...

2006-09-20T09:44:00.000-07:00

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...

2006-09-14T12:02:00.000-07:00

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!

2006-09-08T05:29:00.000-07:00

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

2006-09-05T22:03:00.000-07:00

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!

2006-08-20T08:48:00.000-07:00

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

2006-08-03T16:35:00.000-07:00

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!

2006-08-01T16:16:00.000-07:00

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}

2006-08-01T10:53:00.000-07:00

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?

2006-07-28T19:21:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2006-07-26T22:10:00.000-07:00

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...

2006-07-24T23:34:00.000-07:00

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

2006-07-18T20:45:00.000-07:00

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!

2006-07-18T14:13:00.000-07:00

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...

2006-07-12T06:51:00.000-07:00

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...

2006-06-19T14:22:00.000-07:00

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....

2006-06-01T18:25:00.000-07:00

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

2006-05-31T08:07:00.000-07:00

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....

2006-05-23T12:31:00.000-07:00

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...

2006-05-18T22:03:00.000-07:00

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

2006-05-17T18:36:00.000-07:00

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

2006-05-09T17:30:00.000-07:00

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!

2006-05-08T13:51:00.000-07:00

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!

2006-05-05T09:55:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-25T07:15:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-24T14:22:00.000-07:00

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...

2006-04-20T13:10:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2006-04-19T20:02:00.000-07:00

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...

2006-04-19T19:26:00.000-07:00

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!

2006-04-17T14:54:00.000-07:00

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....

2006-04-15T21:25:00.000-07:00

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...

2006-04-13T04:55:00.000-07:00

[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...

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

Holy Cow Batman!

2006-04-12T16:22:00.000-07:00

Wow, I'm not so sure my poor little server (let alone me LOL) can handle the response to oScraps!

I've had over 75 members sign up in the last 1 1/2 days! Its so exciting!!! And, a little scary. I guess this means I need to keep designing! Or atleast designing faster LOL!

I feel like such a dork now. I had a little breakdown the other night. Whining to the hubby about how I was worried noone was going to like my designs. Well, apparently the word is spreading and spreading quickly. So, I'm going to stroke my own ego and assume that means that a few people liked my designs enough to tell their friends! Yay! Go me! LOL.

Ok, enough of that. Guess, I'll get back to designing. Or maybe I should fix some dinner and do some laundry since those are just 2 of the things that have been sliding so I can sit in front of the puter....

Talk to y'all tomorrow (hopefully!)

Monochrome Blonde!

2006-04-10T14:25:00.000-07:00

My latest creation is now available for free download at http://www.oscraps.com .
Is it odd that the first layout I do with my Monochrome Blonde kit is of a brunette? ;P This my dear friend, Raina and her son, Ian on their recent visit here from Florida. Ian is growing so fast! We haven't seen him since our trip to Disney last October. What a brilliant boy he is turning into!!!

Oh Yeah.... forgot to mention oScraps is back up!

2006-04-06T14:40:00.000-07:00

Sorry about that... its been up for hours now LOL.

UGH!!!! Popularity has a price....

2006-04-06T09:56:00.000-07:00

The oScraps server is down. /sigh I'm not sure what we are going to have to do. We've already ordered a dedicated line for the server but apparently thats not going to cut it. I think we're going to have to investigate some other options.

Only problem with that is I'm not sure I can afford to keep the site up if I have to keep increasing my bandwidth every week. I suppose I could always start charging for some of the kits. I'd really like to keep the site free, but at this point, I don't know if I'll be able to.

Ah well, I'm going to go do some searching and see what my options are... and hope that Anthony calls at lunch so I can find out how to get the server back up. He's in a class this week so I can't just call him for tech support like I normally would LOL.

See you later, hopefully with better news!

Alyx's Award Winning Drawing!

2006-04-04T14:04:00.000-07:00

We finally got to see the picture that Alyx had drawn for the Reflections Program! Nothing like him drawing a picture in September 2005, getting a letter in January 2006 about the award program, getting the award February 13, 2006 and getting the picture March 30, 2006! When he showed me, he said, "Oh yeah, I do remember drawing this now! The paper wasn't big enough for me to fit both dinosaurs on it, so I just had to put the head and neck of the other T-Rex. See, these T-Rex's were fighting... cuz that's what T-Rex's do ya know... but then the big meteor came and hit and the earth and the volcanoes started erupting and these dinos didn't notice because they were fighting. So, when the ash and dirt covered them they died both together and later a paleontologist can find their bones both together."

Woah! I was so excited to get the picture that I hurried up and digi-scrapped it. Now that I write this, I realize I need to re-work to include the above journaling LOL! Well, thankfully that's the beauty of digi-scrapping --its easy to change things!

Kids spell love M-O-M!

2006-04-02T17:21:00.000-07:00

This layout is for my birthday pic with my munchkin. I used my new oscraps 'Fleur' kit. Fonts used were Country Blueprint and Dali downloaded from dafont.

The journaling reads

Kids spell love M-O-M
This quote originally read “Kids spell love T-I-M-E.” by John Crudele. But, in our world, Alyx spells love M-O-M! He tells everyone else, including his dad and grandparents, “I like you”. He saves all his I love you’s for me.

My new scrapbook site is finally up!

2006-03-23T17:46:00.000-08:00

Ok, so it took longer than "about a week", but my new digital scrapbook designs site is finally up! I decided to quit trying to reinvent the wheel and just get it up and rolling before I rendered myself completely bald from frustration. Its not how I want it to ultimately be, but I'm happy with its current incarnation. So, without further blah, blah, blah'ing on my part, here's the link -

http://www.oscraps.com

Exciting things on the horizon.

2006-03-08T05:24:00.000-08:00

I haven't updated in awhile because I've been busy, busy, busy working on a new project. Hopefully I'll have something to show off in about a week!

Hornets Game

2006-02-15T19:03:00.000-08:00

Alyx and I got to go to our first NBA game tonight - the displaced New Orleans Hornets vs. Portland Trail Blazers. I have no idea who won as we left at halftime. We had a great time, but the noise and how late it was getting made it time to go... Here's the pics!

LOL! Yes, I am a red head now...

2006-02-15T05:31:00.000-08:00

Boy, you are an observant lot! Yes, I colored my hair on my birthday. It was starting to get pretty dried out from the highlighting, so I put a temp color on it so I could go longer without bleaching it again.

It was supposed to be "light golden brown" but ended up red. Ah, well, so many of you noticed it in Alyx's award pics and seemed to like it so well, I may keep it. What do you think? A lot of you first met me as a redhead, maybe it just brings back fond memories LOL...

{these pics were taken on my birthday last week}

Alyx's Reflections Award Ceremony

2006-02-14T09:33:00.000-08:00

We went to Alyx's PTA Reflections Award Ceremony last night. He won 3rd place in the Kindergarten - 2nd grade division for his school in Visual Arts. That's 4 classes of Kindergarten and 4 classes of 1st and 2nd graders!!!

We have no idea (well, we know it was a dinosaur, of course) what he drew and have not gotten to see the picture. I hope we get it back! When we do, I'll post it here as well!

He was such a big boy, walking to and across the stage all by himself!!! We are just so proud of him and he is so very proud of his trophy!!!

Here's the Pictures.

Its My Birthday!

2006-02-08T08:00:00.000-08:00

Wow! I'm 37 years old today. Scary.

I've got a ton of stuff on the ol' to do list today. One of those things is updating this page since I haven't done it in 2 weeks or so, so here are the pics from the last few weeks. {Click the titles to go to the albums.}

Incredible Pizza
We went to Incredible Pizza for Alyx's 6th birthday. I picked Alyx and Ethan up from school and my mom picked up Lauren and Andrew and met us there. That was the absolute best time to go there because there were maybe 20 other people there and there was no waiting anywhere! We had the best time!!!

Alyx's Birthday Party
We had Alyx's birthday party at Burger King. The kids had such a great time playing! When we were done there, we all came back over to our house to bust the pinata. That was a riot!!!

Jessie got a new camera
Mark & Pam showed up at Thai food with a surprise! An 8 month old baby... None of us realized how long it had been since we had seen them since only Anthony knew they were even expecting LOL! When we got back to our house, we were going to have margerita's but we were out of sweet and sour. I got a couple of recipes off the net and tried concocting my own but that didn't work out so well. I ended up making Val and Jessie some Bailey's Shakes and Jessie introduced me to a new drink - Sunny D and Amaretto! YUM!

Lilla {the new puppy and a bunch of humans}
Doug and Neely got a new puppy. Her name is Lilla and she's adorable! Since Jessie brought her camera again, we had a bunch of pics!

Jessie poses
We have really been getting on to Jessie lately for refusing to pose for pictures. I have threatened her with posting all the bad angle/full mouth/etc. pics if she doesn't start posing. Laura and I decided to teach her how to pose for the camera and she finally got it! It was quite an amusing process though...

Phew... I think that's it for the new pics. Anthony and I are going out to dinner tonight at a very swanky restaurant {Thanks Dawn & Jason for the gift cert!} and we have to dress up a bit. If we get a picture, I'll post that tomorrow!

I'm the coolest mom ever...

2006-01-22T18:14:00.000-08:00

Or so Alyx tells me :D

Here are the birthday party invites I designed for his birthday party.
As always, you can click on the images for a larger version.

Cover:

Inside:

friends on the side...

2006-01-21T13:40:00.000-08:00

In case you hadn't noticed. I've started putting links in the sidebar to some friend's sites. If you have a site you want me to link to, just let me know! Doesn't mean I'll link to it but.... ;P Check them out if you have a chance.

Raina's 8 hours sleep blog: Raina is worth travellng half way around the world to visit (I'll dig up the link to our european vactaion to visit john and raina pages one of these days

Brandon's myspace: Brandon is my neighbor and the guy who turned me on to Jack Johnson. He's also a mac daddy so check out his friends list on myspace lol.

Liz's E-Squared Blog: Liz is an online scrapbooking friend of mine. Shee is recenly married and has some great wedding stuff on her site as well as scrapping stuff.

Scrapbooking

2006-01-15T17:40:00.000-08:00

In a past life I did marketing for an industrial holdings company. I did all the artwork, design, and maintenance for 5 company websites and sales materials. When I became a stay at home mom, I didn't know how or where to find an outlet for my creative side. I tried my hand at painting - thought I could make money doing fantasy art but never ended up finishing the paintings. For one thing, in researching it, I found that pictures of women sold the best. I discovered that while I could paint them and do it well, I didn't have a 'passion' for it (how I had passion about industrial machinery and concrete stuff I have no idea LOL).

So, I floundered around until my friend Dawn invited me to a scrapbooking party. Wow! There was something I was passionate about - pictures (my first job was a fotomat booth lol) and my family and pictures of my family! So, many years and, I'm sure, many thousands of dollars later, I've decided to try my hand at digital scrapping and designing my own materials. I've been talking with a couple of people about joining forces and creating an online business of digital scrapping stuff. I'm really excited about that! One of the women I have been talking to is an amazingly talented scrapper named, Liz. I admire her work so much and she is such a beautiful person - both personality and looks. You can see some of her work and read her blog here: E-Squared

Anywho, all that to explain the above picture :) I've also found scrapbooking to be healing as well. There's something about the act of creating a layout - the careful consideration of pictures, the journaling or telling the story, the transformation of memory into reality, I guess... The above layout was very therapeutic for me. I originally did it just to test out my new paper designs and it doesn't have the detail I normally put in my paper layouts (I haven't quite mastered that digitally yet). but, I do like the simplicity of it.

Here's a link to my gallery at scrapbook.com if you are interested.

Mom's Birthday

2006-01-15T17:39:00.000-08:00

Last Monday was mom's birthday. Libby, Lauren and mom met us at Bahama Breeze restaurant for dinner. We didn't think Shawn and Andrew were going to be able to make it as they had the first volleyball game where they were playing together on a competitive team for the first time. Shawn says his lifelong dream was coming true - to play competitively with his son. Anywho... they did end up coming by and eating on their way. After dinner, Anthony & I came home and everyone else went to the volleyball game.

We gave mom the group pics we had taken back in december as her gift. There was a 5 x7 of all of us together and a tri-photo frame with a shot of Libby's family, my family, and the three 'grands' in seperate mats. She loved them. :) Alyx thought it was wierd we were just giving her pictures for her birthday. He thought that was boring but I explained that old people like grandma and mommy like getting pictures as gifts. :-/

Here are

Mom's Birthday pics

Saying goodbye

2006-01-07T13:41:00.000-08:00

We said goodbye to Kitty last Thursday afternoon. She lived a long, long life - 13 or 14 years, we can't remember exactly - and she was the best dog ever. She was friendly and loving and so, so funny.

Kitty was my dog before I met Anthony, but she quickly became his too after we got together. For several years, she and Bookmark were our kids and we spoiled them like crazy. Then we had Alyx and everyone's life changed.

Kitty was just incredible with Alyx. She was so patient and loving to him - even when he sat on her and played horse, piled pillows on her, and generally made a nuisance of himself. She watched out for him and followed him wherever he went.

This pic was taken about an hour before she passed. I admit, I edited the heck out of the picture. I wanted a much softer, dreamy look to it rather than the harsh reality of my splotchy, red, tear streaked face.

Christmas is finally over...

2006-01-07T08:05:00.000-08:00

We finally finished Christmas. Since this was our year for Thanksgiving in Texas and Christmas at home, Anthony's parents brought all the gifts from the family down there, up here. Had a great time opening gifts and watching Alyx drive his new car! Then, we went to dinner at one of Alyx and Grandpa Eddie's favorite places - Pancho's All you can eat Mexican Buffet. Yum.

Final 2005 Christmas pics

Links added to the sidebar --------->

2006-01-04T18:55:00.000-08:00

I added some Warcraft links on the sidebar. The first batch is primarily tradeskill info. I'm putting them there so I can find them easily on the mac. I hate the way the mac handles bookmarks and its a PITA when I want to go somewhere quickly on the mac while playing on my regular puter. So, if you play warcraft, hey you might find something useful over there. If you don't, well, then you should ;p

I'll probably be adding other links as time and motivation allow. Hopefully, I'll get some of my scrapbooking stuff put over there so that people don't have to keep asking me what it is LOL. And, who knows, maybe some of my scrapper friends will find something new as well.

Happy New Year!

2006-01-03T08:49:00.000-08:00

New years eve was verra, verra fun this year. This was the first year since Alyx was born that Anthony and I got to go out! He stayed the night at his Grandma Lena's house and we went to a party at Laura's house. I don't have the pics from that night yet, so I'll have to post those later - when certain people share them with me *hint, hint*.

The next morning, I woke up early (insane after getting home so late!) and started taking down all the Christmas decorations. It was such a gorgeous morning that I didn't want to come inside so I cleaned the garage and rearranged the attic! I put all the leftover wood from my building projects out under the eaves in the attic and moved almost everything out along the edges. Its so wonderful to have it all neat and organized... all the Halloween stuff in one section, Christmas in another with indoor all together and outdoor all together, all the travel gear together, you get the idea. I should probably go take a picture now because its not likely to stay that organized and empty ;-p

Christmas Day 2005

2006-01-03T07:17:00.000-08:00

What a great day we had this year. I woke up too freaking early, but I was worrying about finishing my sis' gift and picking up the house, etc. So, I guess it was inevitable. Alyx and Anthony didn't wake up for hours. You would think, with all that 'free' time, I would have gotten ready before the official gift/photo extravaganza began. Every year I say I'm going to get up early and get ready next year so there won't be any more awful morning-look pics of me. And, every year there are the usual awful pics. Ah well.

Alyx got up around 5:45 am and came looking for me to let me know that Santa had "really brought me some stuff". I told him yep, but its still early, go back to sleep. And, for once he did!!! He ended up sleeping until around 10 am and immediately headed for the loot!

After he had made his second round through all the new toys/books it was time to see if Ethan was up. He was, so they had their gift exchange with much hoopla and yelling. What a great time they had playing!

Mom came down for lunch around 1pm. I had put a pot roast in the crock pot at midnight Christmas Eve and it was divine by lunch time! Getting Alyx to stop playing long enough to eat was a joke, so he basically didn't.

After lunch, I worked on my sister's scrapbook. Anthony played Warcraft and slept. Mom knitted and slept and watched something about UFOs on the Discovery Channel. Alyx played and played and woke up his dad and played and woke up his grandma and played...

My sister and her family arrived for dinner (roast beef sandwiches) and, yet again, more gifts. Lauren got a dance mat (where you step on the light) and said, "I don't dance." So, Andrew and I gave it a whirl - holy crap that takes energy, coordination, and stamina. Yeah, I don't got that LOL! Lauren and Alyx played like crazy people and Andrew played his new guitar for us. We had such a wonderful time, they stayed for hours!

After they left, mom and I went to check out the winners in the town Christmas light contest. The winners are based on shear volume of lights... not aesthetic appeal, layout, scheme, etc. Its insane the amount of lights/decorations at these houses. These people must have atleast 10 storage units to store all that crap. Insane.

Christmas Day 2005 pics

Christmas Eve 2005

2005-12-29T11:34:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve we went to lunch with my dad and Leanne at Mimi's Cafe. The food was pretty darned good. I'm not sure how often we'll go back, but it was a nice change from the same old, same old. After lunch, we spent some time at their house and exchanged gifts.

Their gift to Alyx was a crisp, new 50 dollar bill. Of course, he really had no concept of what $50 is. He just knew he had real money with which to buy some toys! Naturally, we went straight to Target after leaving dad's. He got a very cool triceratops and truck thingy. Happy boy. Oh yeah, Anthony & I got a bit O' cash as well. Anthony spent his on the Serenity and Brother's Grimm dvds and I spent mine on new boots!

After the newness had worn off on Alyx's new dinogear, he begged and begged to "open just one more present". We finally gave in and let him open them all. We figured with Santa gifts, a gift exchange with the neighbor boys and my family's gift exchange the next day it might not be a bad idea to spread the love, so to speak. That way he wouldn't be so overwhelmed all at once.

Ah well, enough blather....here's the link. Pics

My sister's Christmas gift

2005-12-27T19:25:00.000-08:00

I did the scrapbook for my sister and brother-in-law's trip to NYC this summer as their Christmas gift this year. They loved it so much and it was very gratifying to see how touched they were. I only had the pictures a week and I was finishing the book on Christmas day (ok, so it was ALL day) and its a good thing they were an hour late getting here because I finished it 45 min after they were supposed to be here LOL!

NYC Scrapbook

Bricktown Canal Ride 2005

2005-12-27T19:18:00.000-08:00

Mom, Alyx, Ethan and I went down to Bricktown Friday night for Santaland 3d but when we got there, we saw they were running the canal boat rides for free so we decided to do that first. We had such a great time doing it that we decided we didn't need to hit Santaland after all. Perhaps it was the 1 hour and 10 min wait in line and the fact we were all frozen after the ride... anyway, it was fun and the boys and I got these really cool lightup mouth things (I'll post a video of them once I figure out how). Here's the Pics