Thursday Musings

Okay, just a quick post tonight about two really fun things happening in the digi world that I thought some of you other digital scrapbookers might be interested in.

First, Audrey Neal is having a contest! It's going to be so much fun. I really hope you'll join in - there are several AWESOME prizes! You can read more about it and get all the details at Audrey's blog. The bottom line is create a layout using one of Audrey's word art quotes (which ROCK!), post it, link your page to the comments at her blog and you'll be entered into the contest! Trust me, you don't want to miss this one!

Okay, and secondly, The Digi Shoppe is under new ownership and that means a big SALE to celebrate. Rose Farver's entire store will be 50% off and anyone that purchases anything from her will receive her new My Funky Valentine kit for FREE!! To get the free kit, just add it to your cart with any of her other products and use the coupon code:roseluvsu when you're all done shopping proceed to check out! You can see this AWESOME kit here. And you can find her entire store here. So, while your shopping the TDS sale, be sure to stop by Rose's store and see all of the awesome things she has to offer. Some of my personal favorites include her Muted Memories Collection, Something Sweet, and her Simple Stuff Collection. Here are previews of these ...

Okay, so there you go ... two great digi things you should definately check out!

Wednesday Musings

I know, I know. Bad Amy!!!! I really did intend to be a better blogger. But life seems to always get in the way. I'm going to aim for twice a week and ask Kirsty to keep me in line. (Although she really did try since my last post - she hello'd me on a regular basis to remind me!)

Okay, so what's been going on. Well, let's start with some exciting digital scrapbooking news that I have ... those of you who also digiscrap can probably understand what I mean when I say that I have a wish list of designers that I'd love to work with as part of their Creative Team. Mine have included Audrey Neal, Amanda Rockwell, Jan Crowley, Karah Fredericks, Jen Caputo, Ashley Olsen, Dani Mogstad, Kimberly Geswein, Shawna Clingerman, Lauren Reid, Holly McCaig, Miss Mint, etc.

Well, earlier this week, Audrey Neal made my day by asking me to to join her Creative Team (talk about a dream come true). Then, I was asked to spend February as Guest CT for Karah Fredericks and March as Guest CT for both Toni Berman and Kimberly Geswein. I am just so excited about each of these opportunities what a wonderful, exciting time for me! Each of them are incredible women and so talented that it blows me away! I can't wait to get started!

Then, I found out that Jen Beschinski, who was the first designer to offer me a spot on her Creative Team, will now be selling her beautiful things at The Digi Shoppe. WOO HOO Jen! I'm so excited for you! Lots of exciting things going on in the digi world right now.

Okay, so let's get on to showing you all the pretty LOs that I've done since I posted last.

First up is a LO that I did using my Amazing Race partner's (Wendy Zine) heritage photos as part of the race. This is not the size LO that I typically scrap in so it was quite a challenge for me. It was also my first heritage page which was good practice for the family history album I hope to start this year! And the blank spot in the middle will allow her to journal for herself!

And here is the layout that Wendy did for me, using some great photos of my grandparents. I need to add my own journaling but I really love what she did with these photos!

And now here's a LO of Alex using Jeanelle Paige's Starry Eyed Surprise kit and one of Traci Reed's Sketch Templates - Look how little he was!

And this is one that I did for a CT scraplift challenge for Melissa Rose's CT, very different layout for me but I like it!

And now, another of my Amazing Race layouts, this one using Nina Scraps' new Celebrate Love kit. This one is about my hubby who I rarely do pages about. I need to do more Paul pages!

And now a Meighan page using Jeanelle Paige's designs - aren't these Clusterifics incredible?

And then, a Meighan and Alex page using Jen Beschinski's new Pucker Up Kit and Valentine Decorations. I also used an Audrey Neal Template but I altered it quite a bit to fit with waht I was going for here.

And here's a LO that I did using Traci Reed's new Punk Love kit (which debuts at ACOT tonight). I just love how this turned out!

And last, but not least, is another Amazing Race LO this one for my All About Me book - the challenge was to do an all about me page and to include advice to your younger self. I picked my high school self and found one of my old photos. Can I just say how wasted youth is on a 17 year old girl? I look at this picture and think 'WOW, I was looking good back then!' but I remember that I spent all my high school years feeling like the ugliest person on the planet - overweight and downright ugly! Gosh, to have such a terrible self image at such a young age! Anyway, here's my page using Jeanelle's new Funky Elegance Kit!

Okay, so those are the pages that I've done since my last post. Things have been fine here - we're all doing okay. The twins are getting bigger every day. Last weekend, Meighan spent the night and most of the day Saturday with her Grandma and Grandpa. She really enjoyed having some one on one time with them. And, we enjoyed having Alex all to ourselves. He really seemed to love being an only child for a few hours. Here are a few recent pictures to tide you over until my next post ...

Look how long her hair is getting? Isn't she adorable? She loves her Doodle Pro!

And here's our boy. I'm having a hard time posting anything but landscape pcitures which makes finding photos to post more and more difficult. I hope that they fix the problem soon. It's beginning to get annoying. Okay, more later ...

Wednesday Musings

Well, after Kirsty reminded me tonight that I'd promised to blog, I decided I better head over and get it done! (Thanks, Kirsty! - I love that I have a new blog stalker!)

We're all doing well! Things have been fairly quiet here. We all seem to be passing colds and coughs to one another but I think we're all finally starting to feel a little better! Hopefully, we'll be cold free for awhile!

Meighan and Alex are as funny as always! They are two VERY opinionated toddlers and they have no problem letting us know what they think. They are very demanding and are not particularly happy with Mommy and Daddy when we tell them no! Ahhh, toddlers!

They are really beginning to talk quite a bit - Meighan is talking in what I call toddler sentences now - 'Me want' "Mine Baby" "Me Mommy" "Me Daddy" "Mommy Daddy Puppy" "Me Juice" etc. Very cute! They really are quite smart and I love watching them figure things out and put it all together.

They are still driving us crazy with their waking up at 5 a.m. and wanting to play! Now that they can climb out of their cribs, Alex is constantly getting up at the crack of dawn, waking up his sister and playing! Most mornings one of us hauls ourselves down to their room and tells them its too early to get up, puts them back to bed and crawl back to bed ourselves. We've tried putting them to bed later, earlier, shutting out all possible light, etc. No luck. I'm hoping the excitement of getting out of bed to play will begin to wane and we'll all get to sleep til 6 or 7 a.m. at least!

Paul is doing well - he's had some trouble with his car but, luckily for the warranty we bought, it won't be costing us too much! YEAH for warranties!

I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow with my new primary care physician and I'm hoping to get a physical so that I can get started on my new 'focus on my health' thing that I've promised myself to do this year! I've started doing some small changes like drinking more water, eating less candy, and trying to be more conscious of my food intake. Next is finding time for excercise. No, not finding, making time for it! So, I'll keep you updated on my progress ...

Well, that's it for tonight. I need to get myself to bed soon! My goal is to try to blog every other day (at least) so I know Kirsty will keep me on track so hopefully you'll be hearing from me a bit more regularly!

Tuesday Musings

Well, tonight will be a quick one with a few layouts that I've done since I posted last. I'll try to come back tomorrow night with more details about what we've been up to lately although I warn you that it isn't particularly exciting!

This is a layout that I did using Traci Reed's Comfy Jeans kit with these adorable pictures of Alex!

And here is one that I did about Alex's obsession with Little Einstein. This was another of my Amazing Race Challenge LOs. This one uses Rose Farver's This Moment kit and the alpha/stitching is from Traci Reed's Comfy Jeans kit.

And this is an ATC card (artist trading card) that I did for the Amazing Race Challenge. I think it turned out really cute! This was my first ATC and I enjoyed working with the smaller size canvas!

And then Traci Reed released her Rectangle Sketches (thank you, Traci!!!!) after I all but begged her to do some and I spent most of the weekend working on layouts with those sketches.

The first layout, uses her sketch and her End of Summer Kit. This one is all about Meighan!

And this one is also a Meighan one but I have to say its one of my new favorite pages! This one is about how Meighan has grown over the last 2 years. The poem on this layout is beautiful and fit this page perfectly! This one uses a Traci Reed sketch and her Heart of Grace kit.

And here is one using another of Traci's sketch and her Linen Capri kit. This one is all about my two favorite boys!

And yet another layout for the Amazing Race Challenge, using Traci's template and her End of Summer Kit ...

And here is one of Sami, our sweet girl, using another of Traci's sketches and her very funky Holiday Chic kit.

And, last but not least, here is one of Meighan and her Daddy having fun together, using Traci's sketch and her Merry & Bright kit -

Okay, that's it for tonight! I'll try to come back tomorrow with a little update on how we're all doing and what we've been up to! And maybe even a picture or two!

Saturday Musings (Part 2)

Okay - here are some Christmas pictures that I wanted to share but haven't been able to get up onto the blog until now. I'm having a hard time posting half of the good pictures because blogger keeps uploading them sideways. So, I'll definately be back to post if they ever get that issue resolved - it's not looking good though. I've posted several help requests but no one has ever responded. So, here are the ones that I can upload. More will come, I hope.

Saturday Musings

I'm back ... finally, huh? Sorry. Again, we've been busy and I've neglected the blog as a result. I have had this terrible cough for two weeks which has now caused my voice to go away completely. So annoying! I am now officially mute so if I'm not returning your calls or reaching out to you, its because I can barely talk!

I had this week off of work to get some things done around the house and catch up from the holidays. I did get a few things done but my cold really got in the way. I got the kitchen cabinets all organized and baby proofed (again!). I cleaned out the twins closet (I'll work on organizing the toys tonight). I got a lot of scrapbooking done which I really needed. I hadn't done a page since November and I really needed the release! So, here are a few of the layouts that I've done for you to see.

This one is of my sister Elizabeth - isn't that a great picture of her! This is using Rose Farver's kit which is so bright and fun!

And this one is my little Alex - this is a scraplift of VickyP which I did for Jeanelle Paige's CT challenge - all of the papers/elements are Jeanelle's.

And this one is one of my mom and Alex. This is one of my absolute favorite pictures! Again, I'm using Jeanelle Paige's designs.

And this is one about Meighan and her Mom Mom (Meighan's middle name is Rose, after Mom Mom). I love this picture and Traci Reed's new Satin Cami kit was perfect for this page!

And here is another of my sister, Elizabeth! Isn't she a cutie? This is another page with lots of Jeanelle Paige's designs.

And here is my Resolution page for the Amazing Digi Race (like the tv show but there are teams of digital scrapbookers competing for prizes for the month of January). Wendyzine is my partner and we are so excited to be a part of the race. Anyway, this one uses another of Traci Reed's kits - Ruffled Skirt - which ROCKS!

And this is one of Meighan, using some of Nina Scraps' new goodies! This is her Symbiosis kit which is really beautiful!

And here is my 2nd Amazing Digi Race layout - this one about Meighan and her new fascination with baby dolls. I used the Pajamas 4 Love Mega Kit for this one because the challenge didn't allow me to use more than one digital piece by any one designer. That was not easy for this primarily kit scrapper!
This is another resolutions page but this one is a bit more specific about my plans - more journaling than anything else. I did this one for a CT Challenge for Rose Farver's CT (thanks, Kirsty!) and used Rose's newest kit for it!

And last, but not least, a page about a musical concert that my sister and Sami put together for us when we visited Pennsylvania in the spring. This one uses Melissa Rose's new kit, Memories, which is so beautiful and elegant!


Okay, as you can see, I've been busy and I've really enjoyed the creative release. I'm going to be back with another post full of Christmas pictures to share. I'm going to go work on that right now! Happy New Year! I still can't believe that it's 2007!

Thursday Musings

Well, here we go again ... things have been so crazy with the holidays that I've just been too busy (and exhausted) to actually come on and post on the blog. Let's see, what have we been up to?

We had a wonderful, quiet Christmas this year. The twins really enjoyed opening presents - well, Meighan did, Alex was more concerned with playing with the things that Meighan unwrapped. We were on a tight budget this year so we didn't go crazy with presents. Each of th twins got a little toddler chair - Alex received an Elmo one and Meighan received a Dora one. Very cute and they actually like them and use them. The Elmo one giggles when you sit in it or move it. Let's see how long it is before that starts annoying me and Paul to no end! Meighan also got several baby dolls and she's had the best time taking care of them - feeding them, rocking them, etc. She's so cute. She asks for her 'baby' as soon as I pick her up from Christina's. She's getting to be such a big girl. When did she stop being a baby and become a girl??? It goes by so fast. Alex got 2 new Little Einstein DVDs which he LOVES and immediately demanded that he be able to watch them. He carries the cases around like they are priceless treasure. They also got some more 'kitchen' items to go with their plastic food products and plastic bowls. They got 2 lift the flap books which they love. They got some wooden alphabet blocks and a few other things. But, like I said, we kept things pretty low key this year. Christmas afternoon I went and picked Sami up and we came back home and headed over to my mom's for our Christmas with them. My mom made baked spagetti (oh, it was GOOD) and we hung out while opening presents. Mom and Dave did entirely too much for all of us this year. We are so thankful to have them in our lives. We are now owners of a DVD for our van (thanks Mom and Dave) which Alex and Meighan will LOVE. We're hoping that this will make trips a bit easier so we can take a trip to PA in February or March to see everyone!

So, all in all, we had a wonderful holiday! It was nice and quiet which was a relief. I'm sure that next year (and every year after) will be increasingly crazy as the twins grow up! Tonight we'll be having our Christmas with my dad, Nina, Elizabeth and the rest of my dad's side of the family. It'll be so nice to see them and spend some time with them. And, this is my Mimi's first Christmas without my Papa so I think she'll enjoy having all of us gathered at her house.

Another big event in our household has been that the twins are both climbing out of their cribs constantly now. And if I don't get to them quick enough, which is easy to do since they now know how to whisper to each other as they climb out, they go about making a huge mess, pulling things out of drawers, throwing toys around, and just generally wreaking havoc! It looks like we're going to have to figure out the toddler bed thing a little earlier than I'd hoped. My mom has Emmy's old toddler bed waiting for us to pick up but we have to see if one of the cribs we have will convert. I think one of them will. So, we officially have toddlers. Our babies are growing up! They are talking more and more every day. Learning more and more every day. It's wonderful!

I have some exciting scrapbooking news - Traci Reed asked me to be a Hawt Mama! YEAH! I just love Traci's designs and I had gotten to know her through our being on Rose's CT. I'm so excited to get the opportunity to work with her designs and promote them around the digital community. She sells at ACOT and NDISB.

Well, I'm still downloading all of our Christmas pictures so I promise to upload some for you to see soon!

Monday Musings

I'm so sorry that it's been so long! We've had such a busy time in the last couple of weeks that I just haven't gotten over here to update anything. Between work and the holidays, I've been swamped. I've been working on all of the great holiday gifts that I want to give to folks which has kept me really busy. I haven't scrapbooked a page in SO long! But, once the holidays are over, I'll have to catch up!


Let's see ... what have we been up to? Well, the twins are doing fine. They are growing up way too fast for my liking! At 5 a.m. this morning, Meighan begins screaming at the top of her lungs so I run downstairs to find her out of her crib. She's not even 22 months old and she's climbing out of her crib! YIKES! I was hoping I'd have a bit more time before they came out of their cribs by themselves. Now that Meighan has figured it out, I doubt it will be long until Alex discovers it too! In fact, I'm surprised he didn't figure it out. He's such a climber. But, it seemed to scare Meighan quite a bit which might work in my favor. Maybe she'll stay in her crib to avoid the being scared part. At least for a little while. We'll see!

Alex counted to 3 all by himself the other night. Paul was pulling sponges down and Alex clearly said 'One, Two, Three' as Paul pulled each one off. We couldn't believe it! What an amazing thing! They really are very smart but I was amazed that he actually got the 1, 2, 3 concept and connected it to the idea of counting. Very smart little guy we have!

I found out why Meighan was crying at night when they were put to bed for the night. Apparently, Alex was climbing on one of his toys and reaching over and turning on the light. So, Meighan was crying because he was turning the light on and off on her. I'd noticed the light was on in the morning but I assumed he was doing it when he woke up. Apparently not. As I left their room one night I noticed him reaching over for the switch which made me realize that they'd been sleeping with the light on for a couple of weeks. So, I thwarted all his plans by unplugging the light that was connected to the light switch. Now, they are actually sleeping better all night. Who knew?!?!?

Both of the twins have been fighting colds for a couple of weeks. Mostly just snotty and coughing but they obviously haven't been feeling that well. I'm hoping they will feel better by Christmas!

Here are a few recent pictures I thought I would share ...

Here's my Mr. Cool Dude lounging around.

And another funny shot of Alex. The boy finds the oddest positions to be comfy!

Here's our sweet girl - she wasn't feeling well this particular day, poor girl.

Their new thing is to sit on each other, usually Meighan does the sitting and Alex the laying. Too funny! This night they were cracking each other up by sitting on each other and jumping up and down. Alex took it all in stride. I love that they are beginning to play together and talk to each other (even if it is in their own little language).

On Saturday, my mom and Dave had their Holiday Open House and all of the kids and grandkids got together for food and fun. We were really excited to get to meet Samara, Brian and Monica's new baby. It was great to catch up with everyone and see what everyone is doing these days. Here are a few pictures from the night ...

This is Matlin with the newest Metz, Samara! Is she not adorable? Look at that little outfit!!!

They planned a big ornament hunt in the yard and Meighan had so much fun trying to keep up with the bigger kids!

Here's Dave with Aiden and Samara.

I have more pictures to share but its getting late and I have a lot to do tonight. I'll be back soon with more pictures, I promise!