Blog Rating

What a fun surprise to find! Thanks, Heather & Gabrielle, for naming my blog one of your favorites! Truly made my day. :)

Here are 10 of my favorite blogs:

• Diamonds, Fur & Laundry - always enjoy reading Jenn's latest adventure. Her fun sense of style and upbeat attitude put a smile on my face. :)
• handmade by linda - Linda's scrapbook pages & cards are always a treat.
• Living as a [Life Artist] - love Melina's self portraits. Especially those daring train track ones!
• Moved to the Mountains - Toni's fun cards never fail to crack me up! :)
• SpiderGirl's Web - I've found quite of a bit of scrapbooking eye candy & inspiration from Angela.
• Scraps of Me - I can sum it up in one word: Cheesecake. If you haven't seen Debbi's Cheesecake album pages, you must check them out. They rock.
• of cats and cardstock - love checking in for inspiration and to see what adventures Lily & Tinsel have been up to.
• Just a minute of my time... - I can't resist checking out Tina's mini albums and photos.
• Random Pondering - one of my Calendar Girls. :) Colleen has awesome scrapbook pages & cards.
  
• Aimeslee's Antics - another friend I "met" via the Calendar Girls. Love Aimeslee's artwork and reading her posts.
  

Well, that rounds out 10, but I could go on and on. I keep a list in the right sidebar of the Blogs I regularly read. It just keeps growing and growing. LOL Not quite making it to some as frequently as I might like, but I get there.

Finally, a little update on Cali. I spoke with the vet today. We're going to try what I've started already - giving her more canned food and keeping an eye to make sure she's eating it all vs. Chester stealing some. In 4-6 weeks, I'll stop back by the vet's office with Cali for a re-weigh. If she's gained an ounce or two, we're looking up. If not, we need to investigate a little further. The vet is concerned that if her weight loss is not caused by a lack of calories, then she has a problem processing them which could mean inflammatory bowel disease. For now, I'm thinking positive and going to keep careful tabs on Cali's eating. Hopefully, it really is that simple.

Believe

Here's a card I made tonight. Inspired by Feb 21st of dw2008 to use a fortune as a greeting. I found this fortune in my stash and thought it would be perfect for a graduation card. It reads:

Believe in your abilities, confidence
will lead you on.

Supplies: Die Cuts with a View card; Paper Salon patterned paper; Making Memories clears tag & brad; fortune; staple.

I Can See Clearly Now...

No rain, but definitely clear blue skies. :) After work I had my yearly eye exam. I had been pretty excited to see this time come as I could tell my vision was off. Surprisingly, it was only my right eye which had worsened. I was expecting to hear both had changed. I happily drove home with a new set of contacts. Amazing the difference that can make especially at night. Will have to wait on new glasses though until we have time to go look around. I haven't had a new pair in 2 years and want a some so I'm not stuck with only the option of contacts, but I also hate picking them out. Always so hard to find a pair that fits my face & looks modern. Not trendy. Just up-to-date.

I appreciate all the well wishes on my last post! Migraines are miserable to say the least. I am always relieved to return to normal after one passes.

Managed to continue my early walking again today. I'm pretty excited because it's really fitting my schedule better. Now I can truly come home and collapse and not feel guilty. ;) Also, last night at the grocery store I treated myself to a gossip magazine for a little guilty pleasure reading while on the treadmill. The catch - I only let myself read it while walking.

Finally, a small update on my furbaby, Cali. Last Friday the vet left me a voicemail to say the bloodwork came back a-ok! She still wants to talk to me about what to do to help Cali with her weight. I haven't had another call so I'm going to try calling tomorrow and see if I can get more feedback. In the meantime, I'm spoiling both cats with canned food twice a day (they normally only get some at breakfast) in hopes of Cali eating more. Of course, this means I have to stand guard or lock Chester up temporarily as the little piggy likes to steal Cali's canned food. No wonder the girl is so skinny.

Back on my Feet

Feeling much better today. Perhaps I needed that forced day of rest to prepare for the week. I'm back on my 5:30am walking routine and had a hectic day at the office. Now I'm ready to relax and crash soon so I can be ready for my walk in the morning. Thank goodness for our treadmill as there is no way I'd be outside that early in the freezing temps!

For fun, I found this little online quiz a couple days ago while working on my Nemo & Friends layout. Which character are you?

Which Finding Nemo Character Are You?

You're DORY, the happy fish with mad skills.
Take this quiz!

Grandpa's 86th Birthday

A brief post as I'm a bit under the weather today fighting a migraine. Not so much pain at the moment as a drug induced haze courtesy of Zomig. But it's much better than how I felt earlier. I'm just slower and run down feeling. Needless to say, no creating has occurred.

Yesterday, we traveled a bit northwest to visit my grandfather for his 86th birthday. Below is a photo of me, the birthday boy & my sister. All in all, there were 10 of us for the celebration. We had a good time catching up. And Grandpa enjoyed a couple slices of his favorite cake - coconut.

Just realized how behind I am in my scrapbooking. Although I visited with Grandpa for his birthday last year (and have pictures), I have not scrapped it yet. I did make a page 2 years ago for his 84th which I'll share:
Supplies: misc. dark green & blue cardstock from my stash; number templates; EK Success patterned paper; Miss Elizabeth tag; misc. ribbon; Micron black pen.

Good Customer Service

There was a time when the motto "the customer is always right" ruled. I'm often doubtful these days that some have even heard the phrase. Every once in a while though, I'm reminded that not all is lost. Here are my recent 3 examples:

Coca-Cola - In mid-December, I purchased a 20oz Coke from a local convenience store. Halfway through drinking it, I realized that the bottle felt & looked different. The new bottles have a textured "grip" design below the label. I glanced at the date - Oct 27 07. It tasted fine and really, I don't think a 2 month old Coke would harm me. I sent the company a comment via their website just noting the fact that the beverages weren't being properly rotated. Well, I got a response that afternoon. After following up with additional information they requested, I found an apology letter and a coupon for a free 2-liter of Coke in my mailbox the next week.

Starbucks - Earlier this month I purchased a 12-pack of Starbucks Mocha Frappuccino from a club store. I took one to work with me the week before last. Popped the top, took a sip, and YYYUUUKKKKK! I've never ever had a bad tasting Frap before, but something was very, very wrong with this drink. Now I was worried that the entire 12-pack would be this way and that would be a big loss of money. So, like Coke, I went online to contact Starbucks. I was at work and didn't have the time for the 1-800 #. By the week's end, I did receive a response and was asked to call. I spoke to a very nice customer service rep in Seattle who heard out my complaint. [Note: I've checked the date codes on the remaining bottles in my 12-pack -- none match this particular bad bottle and there are noticeable visual differences as well so I'm confident it's the only bad bottle I bought.] Yesterday I opened my mailbox to find a letter from Starbucks with 2 coupons for free Frappuccino bottled drinks.

Finally, DirecTV - This one has not been quite as simple. We signed up with DirecTV about 3 years ago(?) and have a TiVo dvr receiver in our living room. Everything was wonderful until last summer. We'd be watching TV and suddenly, whatever the show was, it would be black & white. Didn't matter if it was live or recorded. We figured out if we hit the replay button on the remote, that would correct the problem. But then the b&w happened more and more frequently. And occasionally, the box would just restart. That's a bit frustrating when you're in the middle of watching or recording something. Trent called and called. We were told to reset the box. Clear off recorded programs. Etc, etc. None of their suggestions worked. Most recently we were told we could get a new box, but it would COST us $99 plus shipping.

Now, I don't get terribly angry often. I like the world has a half-full glass, but this fired me up. I'm paying for a service that I'm not getting and now being told I have to pay more?? For $99 I'll switch to another provider. I asked Trent to try one more time (or I would but given my anger - it would have been ugly! LOL). On Monday he did. He called to cancel our service. Aha! The magic word - "cancel." On Wednesday, our new DVR showed up via FedEx. We did pay shipping, but we did not pay for the box and we are getting a reduction in our bill for the next 12 months. :) While it took some effort, I'm now pleased that we have a working receiver again. And Chester is happy with a box to rub against . . . at least until we put it in our recycling bin.

Altering Jars

I had a couple of questions regarding the altered Valentine Candy Jar I posted earlier today and wanted to address them. The "i love you" on the front of the jar is a rub-on by Making Memories (Rub-on Minis Love 2). I first came to the idea of adding rub-ons to glass jars while flipping through the November calendar pages of designing with 2006. The prompt for Nov 10 was to "embellish plain containers with rub-ons." I tried it on a small spice jar that I store buttons in and was thrilled with the results.

Last summer I decided to play around with a large jar for the family beach house. One of our favorite activities is to head a few blocks south to the arcade. Quarters are forever piled up here and there around the rooms. I picked up a jar from the kitchen section at Target to give these quarters a festive home. Since the theme was "arcade" I picked some fun rub-on letters by Making Memories and created a top inspired by PacMan. :)

The rub-ons can be applied the same as you would to any other material. For some, it might take a little more pressure. The jars with flatter areas (Valentine Candy Jar and Arcade Fund Jar) are easier to apply the rub-ons to than rounder jars such as the Buttons Jar.

To create the top for the Arcade Fund Jar, I cut a circle of Scenic Route patterned paper just smaller than the lid. I loved this particular design since it has the feel of movement and the PacMan dots. I used my QuicKutz to cut a circle of yellow cardstock and sliced out a section for the mouth with my X-acto knife. A Making Memories brad created the eye. I hand drew and cut the ghost shapes from other scraps of cardstock I had in my stash. All three figures are outlined in black pen. Finally, I adhered the design to the lid using my Xyron 510.

As with the Valentine Candy Jar, I tied a scrap of ribbon around the neck of the jar. For this jar, I added a Making Memories clip to hold any extra tickets from the arcade - another item that's found loose around the house. Now, we can grab a handful of quarters and any extra tickets before we head out to play. :)


Button Jar Supplies: spice jar from World Market; Making Memories buttons & stitches; Li'l Davis rub-on letters; misc. green acrylic paint (scuffed w/ a sanding block).

Arcade Fund Jar Supplies: jar from Target; Making Memories rub-on letters, metal clip & brad; Scenic Route patterned paper; QuicKutz circle die from Icing starter kit; misc. cardstock & ribbon from stash.

Garden City Arcade layout Supplies: misc. dark brown and green cardstock; We R Memory Keepers patterned paper; Marcella K rub-on stitches; Making Memories TinyAlpha letter stickers, eyelets & date stamp; Miss Elizabeth foam letters; Uniball signo white pen

Valentine Candy Jar

2ps blog challenge:
Are you making anything special for Valentine's Day? If so, share it with us.
Well, I can't share anything for this year as I might spoil a surprise, but I can share something I made last year. Part of Trent's gift was this altered candy jar - filled with M&M's. :)


Supplies: Provo Craft jar from Michael's ($1); Making Memories metal tag rim, sweets heart, pink/white ribbon, and "i love you" rub-on; misc red ribbon & patterned paper from my stash; Micron black pen. Inspired by Nov 10 of dw2006 and Feb 10/11 of dw2007.

Nemo & Friends

I did manage to create one page in my cat mini album. And start a list of supplies I want for it. LOL Thankfully, it's a short list so far....

Afterwards I decided to work on my Disney album a bit more and created another digital page for The Seas with Nemo & Friends attraction at Epcot. I used one of my photos to create the background - simply lowered the opacity so it wouldn't stand out as much.


Supplies: frame, photo clips & swirls from Peppermint Creative's Twinkle Toes kit; 2peas Squish font from Two Peas in a Bucket; Finding Nemo font from TypeNow.net. Inspired by Jul 12 of dw2007 to create a storyboard.

You Make My Day award

Thanks, Toni, for naming me as one of your "You Make My Day" people! :)

And now... drumroll... I'd like to award the following blog friends whose blogs I enjoy visiting regularly and who kindly visit & leave comments for me regularly...

• Tina
• Sherry
• Melina
• Aimeslee
• Linda
• Kim
• Colleen
• Theresa
• Jenn
• Gabrielle
• Ter
• Heather
  

Making a list is harder than it looks! I so appreciate all my blog readers. It's nice to know I'm not just "talking to myself." ;)

The Princess & the Down Feathers

While I'm on the subject of Cali, I thought I would share this layout I made of her in January 2006. (Click on the image to enlarge it and read the journaling.)


Supplies: Bazzill cardstock; misc light green & yellow cardstock; Micron black pen; Making Memories date stamp; Sticko sticker; 39 Smooth font; round corner punch; Therm O Web memorabilia pocket; feathers from comforter.

A Senior?

Today was Cali's annual check-up with the vet. I had scheduled to drop her off before work and have Trent pick her up at lunchtime when I made the appointment. At 7.5 years, this was to be her first "senior" check-up. I'm still stumbling over that as I think of my cats as my "toddlers."

The vet called me during lunch and said Cali was trying to "dig her way out" of the cage. Poor girl. Her check-up went well overall. There is a concern about her weight though. She's lost a 1/2 lb since her last check-up and had lost 1 lb the year before. The vet ordered a few tests and we should know the results by Thursday or Friday. Hopefully, it's just that Chester (our little piggy) is taking all the food. I'm going to try to feed her a bit extra without him in the room and see if that helps.

After work I had a church committee meeting so it was nearly 9 when I got home. I did manage to finish putting together the cover for my cat mini album which I gave a sneak peek of on Sunday. But still a ways to go. If I can steal some more time the next few days, perhaps by next week I'll have a finished project to share.

Almost Famous

I checked my Peamail this morning (ie, messaging system within Two Peas in a Bucket) and had a message from Janine Grohman. I'm featured on her blog explore, experience & expand your mind today. It's a new blog that I truly enjoy - a chance to "get to know" other talented artists and view their blogs. I was thrilled to get an invite from Janine to take a part in this. Thanks, Janine! :)

Snow, Sheep & Hot Cocoa

This morning I took my camera with me outside to get the paper. As you can see, there wasn't much left of the snow. The temps were already above freezing by 8am and the snow was melting.

I'm teaching the preschool Sunday School class this month so I made sure to be at church by 9:30. Three of the kids came and we had a good time playing with sheep masks and talking about God as our shepherd. Two of the kids posed for me to take their photo with my cellphone (forgot to take my camera!) and burst into fits of giggles when they saw the photos. :D One of the little girls pointed out a picture on the wall of Jesus with a flock of sheep. I hadn't even noticed it! Oops. But it did make me feel good that perhaps they were grasping a bit of the lesson amidst the giggles.

After Sunday School, Trent & I helped with set-up and clean-up for the lunch after the service. One of the members made his famous (well, famous to us) lasagna. Yum! Perfect for a chilly day. We came home briefly and changed for the gym. Before we left, I caught these doves relaxing in a sunny spot in our backyard out of the wind:
By 4, we were home and I was in my pajamas! Between keeping up with 3-6 year olds for an hour, running around for another 2 prepping & cleaning up lunch, followed by an hour at the gym. I'm officially worn out. I fixed myself a cup of hot chocolate w/ mini marshmallows in one of my favorite childhood mugs to help warm up and came upstairs to scrap.

I haven't made much progress scrapbooking. I'm toying around with a mixture of fun cat related items for a mini book. Here's a little sneak peek:

It's Snow...

Trent & I ventured east this morning even with the forecast of snow. At the time, only rain was falling in Raleigh so we decided to go ahead with our plans. We enjoyed a good visit with my sister & brother-in-law as well as my mother & brother who were there for the weekend. Around 6 we caught the Raleigh news and saw that it was in fact snowing at home. Fortunately, the snow wasn't too heavy and not sticking to the roads so we had an uneventful trip back.

Before we left this morning I had moved the potted evergreen from out front porch into the flowerbeds to get watered from the rain. I returned it to its spot on the porch as soon as we arrived home and snapped the photo. As you can see, it's not exactly 1-3 inches. I'm thinking a "dusting" is a better description. ;) But, I will agree that it did in fact snow.

Say it ain't Snow...

Last night we watched the weather before heading to bed. The forecast called for a chance of snow to the west with a few flurries in the Raleigh area and then turning to rain. That sounded good since we are planning to drive east to visit my sister & brother-in-law. Now, I wake up to this weather map and a news report saying in the last 24 hours (funny, I watched the news 10 hrs ago) the storm has shifted east. Hmmm.

10 Things I'm Thankful For...

Colleen posted a challenge on her blog to scrap the 10 things you are thankful for (in no particular order). Here's my layout. Inspired by Lisa Dickinson's it's a colorful life layout and Jan 11 & 24 from dw2008.


Supplies: Archiver's cardstock (it's a green shade IRL); Scenic Route labels; Making Memories TinyAlpha, rub-on letters & date stamp; Micron black pen; Doodlebug rub-on numbers; Heidi Swapp chipboard letters.

Etsy

I opened my Etsy shop (2pawsdesigns.etsy.com) yesterday! This has been a goal of mine for months but keeps hitting the back burner. I listed a few of the cards recently posted on my blog including this card I created tonight:


Supplies: Die Cuts with a View card; American Crafts patterned paper; Making Memories chipboard heart, brad, rub-on letters & word "love".

2ps blog challenge:
If you keep your photos on your computer. How often do you put them on a disk to back them up?
I schedule weekly backups to my external hard drive using the Windows Backup program. A few times a year, I will burn the photos to a CD. Currently, my 2007 photos will not fit on one CD so I'm planning to burn a DVD of them. For more detailed information about how I organize & store my photos, see my Photo Organization post.

Happy 3rd Anniversary...

to my sister & brother-in-law! Hope you two had a wonderful day!! :)

Supplies: Die Cuts with a View card & adhesive backed cardstock; misc. teal blue cardstock; Scenic Route, Chatterbox and EK Success patterned papers; QuicKutz circle die; Love, Elsie heart charm. Inspired by Jan 5/6 of dw2008.

Manic Monday

The Bangles keep running through my head today. It's been a LONG one. I was grateful to walk in the front door tonight and, at least for a few hours, leave work behind. We had planned to try and make the yoga class at our gym. However, Trent had stayed home today not feeling well so we opted instead to try the new Gaiam Yoga Conditioning for Weight Loss DVD my brother gave me for Christmas. We did one of the 45 min routines and both feel worlds better. Amazing how missing something that simple can alter how you feel. We need to reinsert it into our weekly routine one way or the other.

2ps blog challenge:
Do you tend to find yourself always trying to keep up with the in scrappin trend? Or do you just go with what your flow is at that time?
I definitely do not follow scrapping trends. Half the time my stash is full of "last year's" hot items. To be "in" doesn't matter to me. I prefer to enjoy the art form and work with what I find appealing at the moment.

Checking off the "To-Do" list

No scrapping today so far, but perhaps in a bit. I did finally get a few things off my to-do list. For starters, I bought a new keyboard & mouse. We have been having issues for several months now with the keyboard that came with the computer. It just didn't always work. After weeks of looking and 1 purchase & return - we realized it wasn't the keyboard but rather the port. I wanted a keyboard with a cord, but that is difficult to get these days. It seems everyone prefers wireless. So, here I am in grand form on the new wireless keyboard. For the most part, it seems to be working ok. It is occasionally not getting the signal which was one of my fears. Let's hope it manages to work 99% of the time because I've had it with shopping for these things.

While out keyboard shopping, I had holes drilled in my designing with 2007 calendar so I could put the pages in my binders. I prefer to store the previous calendars this way by category so I can easily reference them and pull out a page or two to use. They are so full of wonderful ideas and inspiration to help jolt me when I'm having a scrapper's block. :)

I did have one small misfortune. It seems the guy at the store wasn't very well trained in the process of drilling holes so the last 10 pages have torn holes. I used reinforcers to fix them, but I'm a bit irritated. Last year at least the first person admitted to not knowing so I took it elsewhere. Elsewhere being the store I went to today. Needless to say, I'll be more careful next year.

Finally, for a bit of humor....
I joined YouTube today (am I the last person to do so?) and uploaded a little video I made of Chester. ;) Cali makes a small cameo. Keep in mind, I filmed this with my regular Kodak digital camera so it's not high quality. Without further ado, I present Chester versus the Bag:

Saturday at the Museum

Today we went into downtown Raleigh to view the Mysteries of the Lost Colony exhibit at the North Carolina Museum of History with family members. The exhibit ends Monday so there was a rather large crowd for it. We waited in line for an hour for our turn. Interesting exhibit though as it was a mix of set props from the Lost Colony production in Manteo, NC, and watercolors & engravings on loan from The British Museum. [Some of the artwork we viewed is shown on this site: Index of White Watercolors and De Bry Engravings.]

The photo is of me with a statue of Frederick Augustus Olds which stands in front of the museum. Per the plaque beside it, he founded the Hall of History in 1902 which is today's NC Museum of History.

Goofy Size

Making progress on my Disney album. During the Keys to the Kingdom tour at the Magic Kingdom, our tour guide told us about the 3 sizes to describe characters. He glanced at us and chuckled adding that he & Trent were "Goofy size." :D Trent & I've joked about this ever since and it seemed like a fun way to scrap this photo of us with Goofy himself. For the BOS challenge at Two Peas, I lifted AnnaClaire's Two Friends layout.


Supplies: EK Success patterned papers (scanned); staple & dialog bubble from Twinkle Toes kit at Peppermint Creative; Walt Disney Script, Disney Print, Arial, Baby Kruffy and Brady Bunch fonts. Inspired by Jan 5/6 & 17 of dw2008.

Just for Laughs

Things around here have gotten a little un-tidy, to put it mildly. Kind of ironic when I have posts labeled with "organization." ;) So this afternoon, I began to do a little picking up. As I moved things to their appropriate spot - the shred pile, the trash, another room - I noticed a small problem and it reminded me of this email forwarded to me a while back:

A.A.A.D.D.

Thank goodness there's a name for this disorder. Somehow I feel better, even though I have it!!

Recently, I was diagnosed with A.A.A.D.D. - Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder. This is how it manifests:

I decide to water my garden.

As I turn on the hose in the driveway, I look over at my car and decide it needs washing.

As I start toward the garage, I notice mail on the porch table that I brought up from the mail box earlier.

I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.

I lay my car keys on the table, put the junk mail in the garbage can under the table, and notice that the can is full.

So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the garbage first.

But then I think, since I'm going to be near the mailbox when I take out the garbage anyway, I may as well pay the bills first.

I take my check book off the table, and see that there is only one check left.

My extra checks are in my desk in the study, so I go inside the house to my desk where I find the can of Coke I'd been drinking.

I'm going to look for my checks, but first I need to push the Coke aside so that I don't accidentally knock it over.

The Coke is getting warm, and I decide to put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.

As I head toward the kitchen with the Coke, a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye--they need water.

I put the Coke on the counter and discover my reading glasses that I've been searching for all morning.

I decide I better put them back on my desk, but first I'm going to water the flowers.

I set the glasses back down on the counter, fill a container with water and suddenly spot the TV remote. Someone left it on the kitchen table.

I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV, I'll be looking for the remote, but I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs, but first I'll water the flowers.

I pour some water in the flowers, but quite a bit of it spills on the floor.

So, I set the remote back on the table, get some towels and wipe up the spill.

Then, I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.

At the end of the day:
- the car isn't washed
- the bills aren't paid
- there is a warm can of Coke sitting on the counter
- the flowers don't have enough water,
- there is still only 1 check in my check book,
- I can't find the remote,
- I can't find my glasses,
- and I don't remember what I did with the car keys.

Then, when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all damn day, and I'm really tired.

I realize this is a serious problem, and I'll try to get some help for it, but first I'll check my e-mail....

Do me a favor. Forward this message to everyone you know, because I don't remember who the hell I've sent it to.

Don't laugh -- if this isn't you yet, your day is coming!!

Like the person who wrote the email, I found myself wandering from room to room as I put something away - thus, not accomplishing much. Thankfully, I realized pretty quickly what I was doing and finally stopped in one room - the scrap room, of course! At least maybe this one room will be neat and tidy again so I can finish my posts about my scrap disorganization organization. ;)

Small Space Organization {Master Closet}

When Trent & I purchased our home almost 5 years ago, we were both more than excited. I came across a book advertised in a magazine I was reading called Our House Journal. Basically, it's a scrapbook for the homeowner with pages set up with prompts, pockets to hold ideas, and a few sketch sheets. This book has been great for keeping up with the little details around our house from paint and fabric colors to ideas on how we'll remodel a space. One of those spaces is our Master Closet.

The Master Closet is 7'-0" wide by 3'-6" deep. Not overly large. When we bought the house, the closet had metal wire shelving - a single shelf on each side high enough to hang dresses and two 3'-0" wide shelves in the middle spaced to hold shirts or slacks. Sadly, I never took a photo of this setup. But, trust me when I say it barely held my clothes which meant Trent's were in the guest room closet.

Reworking the Master Closet layout was our first big project inside the house. In January 2004, we went to Lowes with the intention of purchasing additional wire shelving pieces to improve the space. As we were looking at the options, I realized none would work. They wouldn't fit within the size and current arrangement. Being the professional designer I am ;) - I dug in my purse for some scrap paper & a pencil and begin sketching a new option. Below is the much nicer sketch I created later for our journal which illustrates the before and after:

We ended up buying multiple wood veneer closet pieces by ClosetMaid. It took about 2 days because we had to remove the old shelving and patch & paint the walls. Then construct and install the new pieces. We did reuse the 2 wire shelves that were originally on the side walls. They are both on the right side wall now and stacked so Trent & I can both hang shirts & slacks.

I have a few photos on the pages below of our progress. Of course, the cats were both very curious and kept an eye on things - note Cali yawning and Chester found the shelves to make a great napping spot. ;)
We spent about $300 on the wood veneer pieces. For a more functional space, it was worth it. We've easily shared the closet for the last 4 years and still have enough room. :)

2ps blog challenge:
What are your scrapping plans for the weekend?
I would like to work on my Disney album a bit more. Also need to finish uploading photos to be ordered. Those 2 are top on my list.

My First Scrapbook

I had inspiration from 2 different spots for tonight's post. The first was a visit to SpiderGirl's Web earlier today & reading Angela's post about her first scrapbook. Then I saw the latest 2ps blog challenge & it was along the same train of thought. I confess, it took me a second to dig this up. I put it in a "safe place" - you know, the kind so safe that you can't find it yourself? Lucky for me, it was in the 3rd "safe place" I checked. ;)

My first scrapbook is a spiral bound, 5x7 notebook with lined paper. My Grandma Pillsbury made it for me when I was little. Perhaps a toddler? I can't find a date on the book, but looking through the pages that have her handwriting lead me to feel that around 3-4 might be accurate.

Here are two of the pages she made. Carefully attaching the photos and neatly writing in simple sentences a note about each.
As I got older, I began to add my own photos and notes. I have a good laugh now reading comments such as those on the pages below. The left side says, "I got play mackup for Chirstimas. I like to put it on." [Note: I copied the words directly - misspellings & all. ;) ] And on the opposite page, "I'm six years old. I like to blow out the candles."
I suppose it's safe to say my scrapbooking has evolved a bit over the years. But this little book is probably my most treasured as it was a gift from my Grandmother. :)

More Valentines...

Two more Valentine cards I created tonight. The "Love" one was inspired by the glittery accent letters in the layout for Jan 11th of dw2008.


Supplies: Die Cuts with a View cards; Making Memories note{worthy} paper, glitter chipboard flower, clears & felt letters, rub-ons, and brads; Provo Craft chipboard 'L'; My Mind's Eye patterned paper; Autumn Leaves A Rhonna Christmas transparent monogram.

Tagged

I've been tagged by Colleen! :)

1. Name your two favorite scrapbooking topics: Disney & any vacation we've been on. :)
2. What are the 2 best places you've been to? Grand Canyon and St. Lucia
   
3. Name 2 things you do every day? Check my email and read the paper.
4. Tell us 2 things that pretty much everyone knows about you. I'm married & have 2 cats.
   
5. 2 places you wish to visit. Europe and Chicago
   
6. 2 things you may not know about me are- I've only lived in 2 counties in my life and I have 6 siblings.
7. 2 nicknames you've had at some time in your life! Scooter and Philly
   
8. The question I'm adding is: Name 2 of your favorite drinks. Sweet Tea and Margaritas [separately, of course ;) ]

Notice a theme? :) All of the questions have 2 in them. Answer the questions, add one question of your own (this tag started with 4 questions) and then tag 2 people. Simple enough?

I'm tagging Sherry and Janet! Looking forward to seeing your answers.

2ps blog challenge:
Do you ever think back to when you were a child and wish you could relive it to get more photos to scrap the memory?
I'm on the fence with this one. My gut instinct was "absolutely!" I mean, it would definitely be great even just to have fresher mental images of those memories to enable me to journal them more completely. On the glass half empty side (LOL) - I'm thinking no because it adds to my already large pile of stuff to scrap. ;)

Layout details.... "Favorite Drinks" is a layout I created in July 2006 to record a few of the various drinks we enjoyed while vacationing in St. Lucia.
Supplies: Various scraps of patterned paper; cardstock lime & drink by me (drink sketch based off Making Memories metal tag); Akbar font; title: Lil Davis rub-ons.

SpectroMagic Parade

Another digital layout for our Disney album. I used a frame template from Peppermint Creative to easily organize 12 photos I took during the SpectroMagic Parade at Magic Kingdom.

Supplies: Office Date, Office Note Rip, Tape1, & Office Red Label from Rhonna Farrer's Office Supply Kit; paper & frames from Peppermint Creative's After Midnight Kit; Antique Type & Angelina fonts. Inspired by Jan 11th of dw2008.

Our Animal Kingdom Anniversary

2ps blog challenge:
Share what you have created lately...
Found a little time tonight to create a digital page for our Disney album. The photo was taken at Animal Kingdom on our last full day of the trip and our 4th anniversary. :) I was inspired by Jan 17th of dw2008 to scrap a favorite photo and to experiment with different styles & ideas. While I'm not new to digital scrapping, it's not something I do a lot of nor am very comfortable with. I still prefer traditional scrapbooking. However, I thought I'd play around with some different papers & techniques tonight in Photoshop. Here's the result:

Supplies: Lined Kraft paper from Back2School kit by Shannon Freeman; Blue Title and Yellow Border Strip from Color My World Kit by Rhonna Farrer; 2Peas Stained Glass font; staples from Miss Mint's Twinkle Toes kit; Making Memories note{worthy} journaling page; KI Memories Hopscotch Red paper (thanks, Terri!!).

Beetle Hunting

We just came home a short bit ago and I was thrilled to see comments that some of you are checking out Stop Hunger Now and Operation Sharehouse. It really is an awesome organization. And amazing that this simple meal can be so easily shipped where it's needed and provide nourishing substance.

Here's a photo with just a small portion of the pallets filled with boxes of the meals:

I had one of those "duh" moments earlier today after posting, but before we left home. I went back to the evite to see who from our group had replied "yes." And, oops! I never fully read our friend, Darron's, full note. As soon as I saw "Stop Hunger Now really needs our help", I signed us up thinking "let's make some meals!" I overlooked this statement:

Because of a bad shipment of rice, the warehouse has had a problem with a little insect called the Saw Tooth Grain Beetle. They have some meals that will be heading out to Guatemala, Bolivia, and Haiti very soon. Although the problems seem to be over with, there are some meals that cannot be shipped. In order to get these meals out, the bags that were infested need to be separated from the bags that are still good. My understanding is that these beetles do not provide any health risk - but still would not be allowed to be shipped across borders.

So, we didn't get to make meals, but we did manage to save some of the meals recently packaged by other volunteer groups. This is equally important. Better to lose a few infected boxes than thousands. In all, approximately 60 volunteers attended our 2 hour session this afternoon. We sorted through 9 pallets (over 14,000 meals!) and ended with 7 pallets of good meals. :)

The sorting process:

Repacking the good meals:

The work isn't done yet. Trent & I stayed after a bit and spoke with Chad Stutsman, the Operation Sharehouse Program Director. They are about halfway through checking packed meals for the beetles. Their goal is to be complete by the end of January so they can return to the process of producing more meals.

If you are in the Raleigh area and would like to help, the following dates need volunteers: January 16 from 5-7 pm, January 17 from 5-7 pm, and January 19 from 12-2 pm. Contact Chad Stutsman at c.stutsman@stophungernow.org.