I didn't wait quite as long as the last time to post a new entry. Thought I would jump on and post some layouts I have done over the past month or so. Here goes....

This uses a template from Scrapping with Liz @ Scrap Orchard called Scrap Strip Templates as well as the kit, Summer Blues Grab Bag from LCC Amy Stoffel which is now broken in to 6 different kits!

This was to showcase Scrapping With Liz's Faded Masks set. I used the kit, Family Ties, by Tracie Stroud.

This is my own design using the kit, Dreamsicle, by LCC Amy Stoffel.

Again, using Dreamsicle. This was a scraplift of another Scrap Orchard member, Britanee. Her layout can be found HERE.

LCC Amy Stoffel & Wild Dandelion Designs teamed up to create to Preppy 101 kits. One is for the boys & one is for the girls. I used the boy theme, of course! This is my design.




5th Avenue by LCC Amy Stoffel....I {heart} this kit! It is such a great "big girl" kit!! Again, this is my own design.

This is a combination, template by Scrapping With Liz called Simple Square Temps along with the kit, Smarty Pants by LCC Amy Stoffel.

One of my favorite layout designs I have ever created without a template!! Again, this is the kit I spoke of above called Summer Blues Grab Bag that is actually now broken in to 6 separate kits in Amy Stoffel's store.

Summer Blues Grab Bag items again and my own design.

I just did this one and absolutely LOVE how it turned out. It is my design and I used the kit, Mercado Salvage by DeCrow Designs & Tangie Baxter (Studio Tangie). This fun little layout was created for an upcoming challenge I will be hosting at Scrap Orchard.

This is a template by Scrapping With Liz called, Front Page Temps and I used it to showcase a large number of photos. I am getting ready to work on one of these for the other nephew, Caiden as soon as I see if I have enough photos. Ps- I used the kit, Little Charmer by Amy Stoffel for the Paper/Elements and the Alpha is from Retro Whimsy.

Once again, Summer Blues Grab Bag by LCC Amy Stoffel. Can you tell I love love loved this kit??? My design :)

Another one using Retro Whimsy (my design) as well as Torn Bits 3 Element Pack from Creashens.

And last but not least, my design, using the kits Perfect Summer from Designs by Kat & By The Seaside from Designs by Julie Bullock.

And there you have it......I will be back hopefully this week with a post about my two weekends with Trevor & Caiden. I have lots of pics from those adventures :)

xoxoxo
Helen
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I'm still here!!!

Wow! July 5th was the last time I posted here. That makes me so very sad :( So much has happened since then I don't know where to even begin. I will kinda make some notes of the highlights and use that as a reference on posts to make in the future with more detail.

Let's see....the big event that took place after my last post would have been Trevor's birthday. We celebrated his 2nd bday out at Brian & Andrea's place. I made his birthday cake like I did for Caiden. I realized with this last cake I do not have the patience for cake decorating. Way too much precision is needed. I will buy their cakes next year from Kruta!!! Funny note from that afternoon was when Trevor, not being closely supervised, decided to jump in his little whale shaped pool (Tanti Helen bought him) and go for a swim in is clothes and shoes! It was so hilarious!

July 15th marked the beginning of a major event at Scrap Orchard (the digi scrap site I live at). We started a month long contest with daily/weekly challenges allowing people to earn points (like a raffle ticket) for some AWESOME prizes like an IPad, Iphone, big $$ gift certificates, etc. I was promoted to an Appletini at the site (fancy name for moderator & party girl). I have been learning the ropes as well as working behind the scenes with my other 'tini girls to plan a promotion we are hosting for September! It has just been non-stop at the Orchard. I am also still the Facebook girl there as well.

Because of my recent promotion and even before that to be honest, I opted to step down from 3 of my 5 creative team jobs. It wasn't because of the scrapping requirements as much as the blogging requirements. Even if a designer didn't have a kit released, there were still blog posts to be done. I found being on 5 teams meant a minimum of 10 blog posts per month. Hence the reason I have not been on my own blog. Now I am just on the teams of LCC Amy Stoffel and Scrapping With Liz. I am already feeling the burden lifted and I have even scrapped some pages recently "just for the heck of it".

Speaking of Amy, she recently contacted me and asked me to write the catchy little kit descriptions for all her new releases. I am so honored she asked. And all because of a blog post I did for her that caught her eye with my words.

We just celebrated Mom's birthday this past weekend by gathering at Olive Garden (her favorite restaurant) and then going back to their house for cake. It was a house full of people and two toddlers running around like wild things......FUN!!

Did you notice the new ad at the top of my page??? The one that reads Digiscrap-apalooza?? I am so incredibly psyched to be planning a trip to Las Vegas in the spring of 2011. The chance to meet all these fabulous (and oh so crazy) gals I have been chatting with online now for 2 years just makes me giddy with excitement!

Well, that's all I have time for right now. Sorry, no pics today. But, now that I have a little more time on my hands I hope to be back sooner than 5 weeks and 2 days from now!!

Hugs!

Squeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

Since my last post {far too long ago} I finished Breaking Dawn; watched Twilight twice; watched New Moon three times and today..........................I saw Eclipse on the big screen. That would be the reason for my squeeeeeeee!!! The best movie so far in so many ways. The directing was amazing.....makeup & wardrobe was right on.....special effects were intense and I have to admit that even Kristin's acting skillz improved some. The absolute best part though???? More of Jacob without his shirt. Yep, I admit it.....the boy is just too smokin'! I fell in love with Edward from the books and know beyond a doubt had I never read the books and just watched the movies that would not be the case. The books go into so much more detail about why Edward does what he does and is how he is. I also fell in love with Jacob long before seeing the movies or laying eyes on Taylor Lautner. Yes, he was childish but come on, he was 16, had raging boy & wolf hormones but he truly loved Bella and wanted to protect her no matter the cost! The body that came with the movies was icing on the cake in my book! Just sayin'.

Here are some scrapbooking layouts I did using Amy Stoffel's Breathe Me kit. The first one says it all..............I refuse to choose between them. Nope, I will forever love them both for different reasons!!!

I love this one because it shows the books and since these are the first books I have read in a LOT of years it is a special layout for me!

Ok, moving on from my obsession of all things Twilight!! Like I said, it has been far too long since I have blogged. Probably because I am so busy blogging & creating for designers as well as keeping up with things at Scrap Orchard so I can post FB posts for them. I am not complaining, however, I do miss my own personal bloggy time.

I recently revamped my scrapbook room and took it from a messy, scary and basically not some place to be creative to organized, cheerful and a place I am proud to be in! Here is a few shots of the cuteness....

Yeah, I think I should have a "wear your sunglasses" warning on the door to the room, lol. Isn't it so stinkin' cute? Sorry, I know that is brag-a-docious but I just love the colors!!

Getting ready to head out and meet a friend for dinner and do some planning for an upcoming single's event later this month.....a progressive dinner! So, I need to cut this short.

xoxo

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EdwardBellaJacobAliceJasperEmmetRosalieCarlisleEsme

If you are a Twerd aka Fanpire aka lover of the Twilight Saga Series then you understand the title of my post!

I just finished the 3rd book in the series, Eclipse. Today I move on to Breaking Dawn. I am told it will blow my mind so I am very excited to start it.

I was asked if I was Team Edward or Team Jacob. My answer is complicated much like Bella is, lol. It wasn't until near the end of New Moon (#2) that I was able to get past Edwards physical characteristics of being a vampire such as 1. no heartbeat 2. icy cold 3. rock hard 4. sucks blood to sustain his existence. However, who he IS inside is what makes me swoon over him. He is steady---loving to a fault---protective (not controlling)---a gentleman. Jacob has great qualities, too. First off, he is human (when not phased into a wolf, that is). He is majorily hot in more ways than one :) He is more spontaneous & silly than Edward BUT also can be a bit too childish & unpredictable. I love Jacob but it is Edward I choose in the end. I guess that could change before I am done with Breaking Dawn. I have been wrong about so many things when it came to this book series.

Ahhhh, the first in the series....what hooked me!!

#2.....I fell for Edward near the end!

#3 Nail biting from one chapter to the next....


#4 I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A sideline book based on a character very briefly introduced at the end of Eclipse. I have this in my possession ready to read when I am done with Breaking Dawn

I would love to get this, too :)

And there it is.....my addiction laid out before you :)

xoxo

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Sneak Peek....

I have been inspired to give my old scrapbook room a makeover. I never sold my traditional supplies so I boxed it all up. In recent months I have dabbled in hybrid (combination of digital & traditional scrapbooking). I want to do more but it is a pain digging through boxes and working in a room that has become a "catch all" for everything I want out of my sight. A few days ago I watched a video of one of my online digi friends and her SBR made me green with envy. There is no reason for me to go as elaborate as hers is but it did make me want to revamp my own room.


So, this weekend I moved the dehumidfier (ok, my brother did it for me....darn thing is heavy) back to the basement get it dried out. I sprayed the gazillion spiders with Home Defense spray and pray they DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! {major shudder} After a week or two of letting the dehum do its job and hopefully have a de-spidered basement I am going to pack up everything in the room currently and get it all moved out so I can have an empty space to work with.

I contemplated painting over the paneling but since I am going with a bright/happy theme of colors and my current walls are already light in color, I didn't see the need to paint. It wasn't hard to talk myself out of that part of the project. While shopping I found an awesomely cute area rug with colors that even from several aisles away jumped out at me and screamed "Helen!!!! Buy me!!!!!" And so, I did. That rug would become the basis of the entire color theme. From there I was like a Edward or Jacob on the trail of Victoria.....FOCUSED on one thing! Okay, sorry for the Twilight reference.....not really :) I have (as you can see in the photo below) a very very good start on the decor end of things. The next step (after the room is empty) is to measure and decide what kind of table & cubes/organizers I want to go with. I may stay with my little rect fold out table or I may go with a full size fold out table...I just don't know yet.


One thing I DO know is this.....the room has no windows at all. So, I bought these sheer, hot pink curtains and a long rod to hang them on. I plan to take the wall you face as you walk in the room and hang these curtains up. I want to find a pretty, framed print of a colorful garden or something to match the decor and hang it up behind the curtains to give the effect of a window. Under the print I will have (maybe) a 3ftx3ft set of cube organizers that will hold bins & other things.


Here is a photo of all the goods I have to decorate with so far and a scrapped page to give an idea of the faux window scene I want to create.

Of course, my curtains will be lying flat, not blowing in a breeze that doesn't reallye exist, lol

xoxoxo

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Sorry it's been awhile....

I would like to say I have just been soooo busy lately, which is why I have not blogged. Yes, I have been busy but not overly so. No, my excuse is.....are you ready for this? I started reading the Twilight books on June 1st (day after my last post). It is June 12th and I am on book 3, Eclipse and 100% ADDICTED! I would be much further along with Eclipse except Scrap Orchard did this really cool challenge about videos and I have been sucked into watching them. And, not to mention the usual digi-duties I have on my weekly plate. Today......soon.....maybe right after I finish the post and eat lunch I am nestling down and planting my nose back in the book!



So yes, I am working my way to becoming a complete TWERD! Never ever ever thought I would even like the books let alone, crave them! Well, it's Edward & Jacob I crave, lol. I am still just torn between what "team" to be on. But, enough Twilight talk.



Mom & Dad celebrated their 51st anniversary on June 6th. They didn't want any gifts but I twisted their arm into letting me taking them out to dinner. We went to Bella Milano's up in Edwardsville. A delicious Italian restaurant where I have ate the same thing all 4 times I have been there......Pasta Three Way (ravioli stuffed with meat, spaghetti & mostaccoli smothered in a few different cheeses & baked to perfection in their homemade sauce). I {heart} their salad, too. Has crisp pieces of prosciutto through out....oh so yum!



Looking forward to Father's Day next weekend and then just around the corner will be Trevor's 2nd birthday! Speaking of birthdays.....Blake, Caiden's big brother, turned 5 on the 9th! Happy Birthday Blake!!!!!!!! I will post a more recent photo later....this one is about 2 years old!

And, here is what I have worked on since I last posted........

Utah State Template by Scrapping With Liz @ Scrap Orchard also using the kit, The Great Outdoors by Ziggle Designs @ Scrap Orchard This was one of my panoramic shots of Bryce.....oh how I want to go back!!!

One Photo Template Set from Scrapping With Liz @ Scrap Orchard. Also using the kit, Strolling Through The Park by Ziggle Designs @ Scrap Orchard

This was taken just as we entered the Capitol Reef National Park. I almost look tiny on this huge fallen tree, lol.


I double teamed my efforts on this one. I used the template set, Zine Style Templates, by Scrapping With Liz & the kit was Two Peas In A Pod by Lyndsay Riches & simply.scraps at Scrap Orchard. Both released the same week so I killed two birds with one stone! These are various photos of Caiden & Trevor over the last 2 years.


Also using the kit, Two Peas In A Pod but no template....all my design. Brian & Trevor being silly!


Fingerprints No. 5 Template set from Brandy Designs using the kit, Perserverance, both at Polka Dot Plum Haven't scrapped Molly in awhile....she's so stinking pretty!




Using Big Daddy, a collab between Amy Stoffel & simply.scraps @ Scrap Orchard. Again, my design....no template, yay!!! Kind of a "then & now" them with a photo of my daddy long before I was a glimmer in his eye and another one from just a few years ago! He so cute!


Ahhh, Calypso, by Amanda Heimann Designs as she guests at The Digi Chick this month. I fell IN LOVE with this kit!!!! More Molly!!!



Another one using Calypso My happy little bouquet of fresh flowers that are all still going strong even a week later. Well, the 2 large, orange gerbera daisies pooped out but the rest are still happy!

And that catches me up for now. Have a great day....whatever day you are here visiting my little blog! {smooch-smooch}

xoxoxo

Just popping in on this Sunday morning before I start getting ready for church to say hello. Hello!!!! It is Memorial Day weekend, which generally means a 3 day weekend for many hard working folks. I apologize in advance if you are not one of the lucky ones to have Monday off :( This weekend has long since become a "summer kick off" marker weekend. I would love to know the statistics that show just how many bottles of BBQ sauce, packages of pork steaks-hot dogs-brats & burgers are sold and how many gallons of iced tea are consumed on this one day alone!

My Sunday school group has a gathering every year to kick things off, although, this year we will be missing several people but I won't elaborate on that! I am very excited to say I was told to take Tuesday off work so my 3 day weekend is now FOUR!!! Thank you brother....you made my month :)

I have been busy keeping up with the (now) FIVE creative teams I am on for digital scrapboooking. I just recently applied to be on the team for Scrapping With Liz. Liz makes amazing template sets. The only reason I applied after saying "no more" was because she is exclusively at Scrap Orchard where 3 of my other teams are. I have to use 100% Orchard products in two of the 3 layouts I do for her each month so that will be easy-peasy and allows me to kill two birds with one stone, so-to-speak. I realize unless you are a fellow digi-scrapaholic and on a CT you have no idea what I am talking about. Trust me, it's a good thing. However, the one thing that takes SO much time when it comes to being on CT's is getting the layouts your create for your designers posted in all the various galleries. Along with that, keeping track of the links so your designers know 100% you are keeping up with your end of the bargain. And, there is the enabling.........I totally stink at this. So, I took a night recently and reorganized myself for the upcoming June requirements. I created a word document that has various things that need filled in for each kit I work with for a designer. It has a place for the kit/store name...link to the product in the store it is sold at...URL link of the kit preview (for enabling)...a place to put the various gallery links when I post the completed layouts...a place for links for any enabling I do with that kit. This document is stored in its' own folder inside the specific folder that houses the actual kit. I have also started going through my pictures and copying pics to this folder as well. That way, even if I cannot scrap a page right then, I have an idea of some photos I would like to scrap with for that kit. I feel very excited to try out my method for June to see if I can do a better job for my designers and not feel stressed in the process. After all, this is a hobby and it shouldn't stress me out!

Well, I need to be cutting this short. I have gobs of layouts posted. Here goes:

Created with Walking On Sunshine by Tracie Stroud & Jennifer Barrette. The wave shapes were taken from a Wave On Wave template set by Amanda Heimann

This was for a Speed Scrap at Scrap Orchard yesterday afternoon!!! This is by far my favorite SS layout ever!

Created with Serendipity by SuzyQ Scraps

Created with Birthday Bash by Wild Dandelion Designs & Nee Nee Designs

Using the same kit as above.



Using Fancy Free by Wild Dandelion Designs & a template from Scrapping With Liz called Heart Templates

Created using the kit, Curious, by LCC Amy Stoffel & a template from the set, Variety Temps, by Scrapping With Liz

Created using The Happiest Grab Bag from Wild Dandelion Designs & Tracey Howard. The template is from Lots of Circles set by Scrapping With Liz

Created using Dino Safari from Brandy Designs

Created using Refreshed by LCC Amy Stoffel. The wave cut out was created using a wave shape from the Wave On Wave template set by Amanda Heimann Designs

Created using Curious by LCC Amy Stoffel

Created using Going Green by Amanda Heimann

This was done for a May Lift Challenge for Amanda Heimann's blog. I lifted this layout from Chelle (aka Roxxygerlie)




This was created using Lucky The Kit by Amanda Heimann Designs

I created this for a blog post for Amanda's blog last week.

Well, I told you I had lots to show you. Have a great memorial day and be safe!

xoxoxo

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Happy Birthday Caiden....

Caiden, I cannot believe you are two already! You are growing too fast and these photos prove it!

Using Little Blue Box by Tracie Stroud & Empty (alpha) by Amanda Heimann Designs

Love,
Tanti

xoxox
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Weigh in & bed update

Today's official weigh in shows.....drum roll please...............................

2 lbs lost!!!

Me happy.

Well, I slept in my bed. But, not nearly as soundly as I sleep on the couch. I don't understand how a couch with NO support can be more comfortable on my lower back than a good bed with a 2" memory foam mattress topper!?!?!? I ended up putting a thin, small pillow under the lower part of my back and that helped quite a bit. I have this degenerative disc problem and from time to time it will compress more than usual causing sciatic nerve pain.

That's all for now...........woo-hoo!!! Sorry, still excited about losing 2 more lbs :)

ps- did you see I changed my blogwear again.......it was time to get rid of the wintery one :(

xoxox
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Sunday Catch-Up

It's Sunday. I played hookie from church and stayed home. I am in perfectly good health. I just felt the call of the wild I suppose.

Did some online shopping with a $25 gift certificate I had to Scrap Orchard. I brought in the Sunday paper and pulled out he coupons and sale ads. I proceeded to clip, snip & browse thru the ads for the next 1/2 hour. Then I had to pick up all the left over ads I threw on the floor as I was done with them and pitch them. Would make so much more sense to bring the little trash can over to ME while I do the snipping. Next, I filed my coupons in my coupon organizer.

I called mom to see what she thought about us going up to Kohl's to just browse. She was all over that idea :) Yeah, and my "just browsing" idea cost me $56 but left with a new pair of black shoes that I have been seriously needing for months now. I found a this reed diffuser and just about

did a happy dance in the store when I saw the Eucalyptus & Mint scent. That was my absolute favorite scent in the same reed diffuser from Party Lite except this little baby only cost me $12.49 (on sale)! Then I found a cute little outfit for Caiden for his birthday next week. I love the Jumping Beans line at Kohl's. You can mix & match tops/bottoms and they were on sale for 2/$12 today. Sweet! Mom wanted to look at PJ's. I had already looked at them but as I was helping her find some I came across an adorable, crisp, white, cotton, eyelet 3/4 length night gown with wide spaghetti straps & a big ruffle at the bottom. I just had to have it. It looks so comfy. That was the extent of my "browsing spree". Lord, I will be in big trouble when our Kohl's opens up later this fall.

From there we went to Best Buy where I bought this..........

A new 22" LCD TV for my bedroom. I went in planning to buy the advertised 19" on sale for $159 but the salesman told me about an unadvertised special on the 22" for just $171. I am so happy. I have not had a TV in my bedroom for months since my little rinky-dinky 13" TV/VCR combo died. My poor couch has suffered the brunt of this problem, too, as I fall asleep every night as I watch a brainless TV show! Next stop was Value City Furniture where I dropped mom off to look for some new wall decor and I waited in the car. I had planned to go to Archiver's, however, I had spent more than enough $$ for one day.........shoot, one MONTH is more like it. Home was the final destination (after I ran thru McDonalds to grab a large iced tea, unsweetened). I hooked up my TV and all works perfectly. Except for the fact I need to call AT&T to get my Uverse remote synced to the TV so I don't have to use 2 remotes! Now I can lie in my bed and fall asleep watching this hunka hunka burnin' love......

Mr. Timothy Olyphant in Justified

Here are a few layouts I have done recently but don't think I have blogged yet. This first one uses a template from Brandy Designs from the Fingerprints 4 set and the kit is from Lyndsay Riches Designs called Playful. This is Mr. Trev having a blast on his slide!!!



This one uses a template from Fizzy Pop Designs....a bundle pack of templates I bought from her. I needed to do a layout using this kit, Dino Safari, from Brandy Designs. It is due to release next week. I remembered these photos I had of Trevor out in their yard, exploring. I thought they worked well with the kit.



And this one.....a new favorite of mine.......is using a template from DeCrow Designs, Blueprint No.9 and a kit from Wild Dandelion Designs called Day by Day. This Caiden and I absolutely love how he is standing at this fence with his little foot propped up and his chin resting on his hands. He is gazing at some cows in the pasture and he looks like he would be thinking "someday I am gonna rope me a cow....someday!!"


I have some more layouts but cannot post them just yet since they won't release for a little while.

In other exciting scrapbooking news........I was asked by the owners of Scrap Orchard to come on board and work for them in the capacity of Facebook Updater/Poster. I replied telling Kami I would try it on a 1 month trial basis to see if #1 I could handle it and #2 They were happy with my efforts. It's been a few weeks and I received an email from her yesterday with a gift certificate for my first months work. She sent it to me early so I could take advantage of the 45% off sale they are having this weekend. How very sweet of her to think of me like that. She said they were very happy with my posts. So, looks like I will stick with it. I will be paid in gift certificates to the store where I get to buy all my favorite scrapbooking kits & goodies! Yay!

It has been a lovely Sunday. Sad to see the weekend end especially considering the 8:15 a.m. appointment I have with a certain irs lady tomorrow. I pray the information I gathered for her will be just what she needs to close this case on our business so I can finally breathe again.

Have a great week! I will be back sometime to post more layouts :)

xoxoxo
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