Inkin' & Thinkin'

Burst of Summer Part 1 Freebie

So here's the deal...as part of my CT Challenge at Digital Arts Cafe this month, I chose a set of brushes by Vivayne called Blooming Brushes to work with.  I was able to make up to 10 papers and 10 elements to give away with those brushes so I decided I would do a mini kit.

So I went in search of some color inspiration and the color challenge at Pretty Scrappy this month was so delicious that I decided to go with that.   So I started making a mini kit but then I just couldn't stop!  So I will show you what I made with the brushes and then I will show you the rest of the kit.

Aren't those brushes awesome?!  I seriously could have made a million things with them!

Then, I made up the rest of the kit...14 hours total time went into making the pieces to this kit.  It was awesome and I gladly would have spent another 14 hours making more but I thought 185 pieces was probably more than enough.  LOL!

So here's the deal...I'm going to give you six daily downloads for this kit.  Each day at 6pm MST you can pick up that day's portion of the kit but the portion from the day before will also be taken down at that point.  So if you want it all, you'll need to come back each day and pick it up. 

On Sunday, June 14, I will list the entire kit for sale so if you missed some, you can purchase it then if you'd like. 

Here's a preview of the entire kit...

This is the first of a few layouts I've made with this kit so far.  If you'd like to make some, I'd love to see them!  Just send me a link!

Today I'm going to give you the papers.  There are 17 papers and 1 overlay in these downloads.  I broke them up into smaller downloads so that it didn't take all day to download. 

Download the Pink Papers 

Download the Orange Papers 

Download the Blue Papers 

Download the Yellow Papers 

Download the White Papers

I'm sorry these links have expired.  Please come back on Sunday, June 14, 2009 to purchase them if you'd like to have them.

Remember these are for personal use only and will only be available until Tuesday at 6pm MST.  Thanks & Enjoy!

Ps.  I'll be hosting a Speed Scrap at Pretty Scrappy on Saturday and I might just have a little more to add to this kit that you will get as a bonus for playing along!

Feel like voting today?

Well, if you do...I'd love you to vote here.  The CT at DAC had a little contest this month and now it's up to you to vote.  Go check it out...download all the free QPs and then vote for your favorite!  Easy as pie!

Vintage Chique & A Freebie

Can you believe I made it 5 days of continuous posting?  Pick your jaws up because there's more to come! 

Today I'm showing you a few layouts from Lynn Griffin's kit Vintage Chique.  I got to do a few more of my heritage pics with this kit which I love to do so I am a happy girl! 

Let's start off with the reason I scrapbook.  There really are a few reasons.  For starters...to put a name, a time and a relationship with the faces in the photos...this one is pretty obvious and if you scrapbook...probably among your reasons as well.

Secondly...to tell the story.  Now these pages that I did with this kit don't have much journaling.  Mostly because I don't know much about the people in them.  If I'm lucky, I have a name and possibly a date.  I want the next generation and the next after that to have the stories that go with my photos.  I want them to know my words and my personality through them.  I would kill to have a scrapbook of my Grandma's life.  She was such an amazing woman and I would love to be able to read her words and her thoughts and her emotions, especially now that I can't ask her to tell me. 

I would love for my mom to retire and spend the rest of her life writing about her life.  She is such a gifted writer and I would love to have her stories in writing for my girls and my future grandchildren and great grandchildren to know her.  I have a million pictures of her (okay...maybe not a million since she runs from the camera or puts her hand in front of her face...I guess her hands will be well documented.  LOL!) but they don't tell the story of who she is and how she came to be the amazing person she is.  I know there are stories I don't know that I would love to read...even if it's much later in my life.

When I started scrapbooking, I thought it was all about the pictures.  Now I feel like the photos are only second to the stories we'll pass on.  My view on this changed when I attended a CTMH convention in 2006.  One of the keynote speakers was Tracey White (former editor for Creating Keepsakes and author).  She really made a light bulb come on in my head and the more she spoke, the more I felt like she was the reason I was there.

She put up a picture of a little girl at a birthday party...balloons, gifts, cake, the whole bit.  She said something along the lines of "We can see that this is a birthday party and that she is happy.  These things are obvious and tell part of the story.  What we can't see is how her mom felt on that day as her little girl turned six.  What we can't see is that she was so excited she couldn't sleep the night before.  We can't see the real story, the real emotion behind the photo."  Now I know for sure that those are not the same words she used but you get the idea. 

She also took the pressure to scrapbook chronologically off my shoulders.  She gave me permission (and I know...why did she even need to...but she did) to scrapbook the photos that evoked emotion first.  She gave me permission to forget the who, what, why, where and when of the photos and to simply journal how that photo made me feel or the thoughts it brought to mind.  I cannot even begin to tell you how incredible that was to me.  It was a foreign concept. 

Here I had been thinking all this time that I had to scrapbook every photo and in order for my children's books to be perfect.  I was already a mother to 3 and Lexi was already 7 at that time and I'd only scrapbooked her first 6 months.  I hadn't even begun Kaylee's book and Izzy's?  Yeah right!  And I'd been scrapbooking for 7 years already!  Sure I had a few random pages done but really I was so scared to scrapbook anything because what if I missed a picture to go on that page or what if I forgot those moments  from Lexi's first bath because I was busy documenting the here and now?  I was petrified to scrapbook and I didn't realize it until just then.

I came home from that convention with a totally different perspective on scrapbooking.  I no longer had the pressure to do it "the right way."  I could just scrap what I wanted when I wanted and I didn't have to know the details.  I could simply journal whatever I wanted on that page.  It was my page after all and it was my story I wanted to tell.  It was my love for my children that I wanted to come across in those pages.  Would they really care that they received another barbie on their 4th birthday and that the cake was white with blue frosting?  NO!  They would care that on their 4th birthday I spent the entire day before creating the masterpiece of a cake that was a barbie swimming pool complete with water slide and hot tub because they had requested it and helped me design it.  They would care that we spent hours at the table making it look just perfect and that we giggled and laughed about a silly story she told as we did it.   They would care that we had a frosting fight once the cake was decorated.  They would care that we stayed up late that night and watched their favorite movie on the couch.  They would care about the real story...the real emotions that happened that day.

And that is what I wanted them to remember.   I want them to feel my love in my words.  Needless to say, I am now continually working on 42 different albums...all out of order but all full of my real emotions and my real love for them.  They will have those stories when I'm long gone and I hope that they'll enjoy them as they are meant to. 

Take this layout I posted earlier this week for instance...

I could have scrapbooked that we were at the Wildlife Refuge in Bonner's Ferry Idaho in May 2009 for a field trip but instead, I took that photo and wrote about my real emotions.  I have known these girls since kindergarten.  I know that they don't always get along like they appear to be in this photo.  I know that this photo started out as a pic of one particular girl who didn't want her photo taken but when her friends all jumped in, she smiled a huge smile and they all laughed together.  Imagine if I had just written Wildlife Refuge in Bonner's Ferry.  May 2009 Field Trip and their names...which way will your story have an impact?  What will future generations carry on from your hard work?  Make it worth it...tell your story...even the sad ones.  You'll find it was more worth it in the end.

WOW!  I guess I kind of went off there, didn't I?  Who knew that two photos could do that to me?  LOL!  Well, these two photos caused this.  These two photos are of people my mom and I couldn't identify.   There were no names on the back and no dates either.  Simply nameless, timeless beauties.  This is why I scrapbook.

Credits:  Vintage Chique by Lynn Griffin

This second page is much the same.  I know who the people are in these photos but really, I didn't know my Great Great Grandmother because she was gone before I was here but I love the information that was given in her obituary...it shows a part of my family's history that I was unaware of.  She lived to be 100!  That's amazing in itself.  But to read how she came to America was exciting for me.  I then added photos of my Great Grandfather Joseph...I didn't know him at all.  I don't know many stories about him nor will I ever, probably.  I also added a photo of my Grandpa Phillips (Richard) who I also don't feel like I knew at all.  I can remember his smile and his laugh and his voice but I really don't know much about him.  Then there is my dad (Robert) who I do know but would love to have his stories documented as well.

Credits:  Vintage Chique by Lynn Griffin

This last page documents my Uncle Gary's wedding to my Aunt Lori.  I don't know much about this day so I haven't included any journaling but I wanted to at least document it and put a name with those beautiful faces in those funky suits!  LOL!

Credits:  Vintage Chique by Lynn Griffin

So now that you've scrolled down through all of my ramblings, how about a freebie? 

You can find the kit here at Digital Arts Cafe.

You can download your QP here.

Enjoy! 

Winter Day Outside Freebie

I was asked to be on the CT for Digital Arts Cafe recently and our challenge this month was to create 3 layouts and a QP freebie from at least 2 kits.  So today I have one of those kits for you and if you come back, I'll actually have a freebie for you each day this week! 

This kit is called Winter Day Outside and was designed by Darhena.  I was instantly drawn to the bold colors and of course snowflakes are always among my favorite beautiful things!  I hope you like them too!

This first page is about my first baby...my cat.  I've had Buddy since 1993 and painted some serious fence to have him.  I had always wanted a siamese cat and when my dad's boss's cat had kittens, I had to have one.  Well, my dad worked out a deal that I could have a kitten if I helped him paint the pasture fence.  Um, okay...no problem.  I guess I didn't realize how much fence there was at that time.  LOL!  Luckily, dad showed a little mercy and bought a paint sprayer and helped me finish/did most of it himself.  So I got to bring Buddy home and for the first year or so he slept with me every night, left gifts of dead gophers on my bed, rubbed his cold wet nose against me and clawed at my chest in his sleep (hmmm...starting to resemble my husband now!  LOL!).  Then I moved into an apartment that couldn't have pets so he moved with my parents to West Yellowstone. 

When I moved to Libby with Andy about a year later, he was able to come home.  He had to become an indoor cat at that point because I was afraid he would run off in his new surroundings.  He got to remain an indoor cat for a while.  Then when I got pregnant with Kaylee and we started putting together all of the baby stuff, he started spraying the crib and the carseat.  So, I had to send him packing back to the outdoors.  He became an outdoor cat again (maybe he did it on purpose so I would let him out).

When we moved into the house we live in now, I thought it would be okay if he moved back into the house...Kaylee was 3 and I was sure he knew her by then so probably wouldn't spray her stuff.  Well, not long after we moved in I found out I was pregnant with Izzy.  I waited a while to get out the baby stuff because after two kids...you just can.  LOL! 

I'll be danged if as soon as I got out the baby stuff, he didn't spray it.  So back to the wild outdoors he went.  He has remained an outdoor cat ever since.  He loves to come to the craft house where everyone babies him and gives him lots of attention.  I'll let him come in and warm up by the heater but for the most part, he stays outside now.  I love him but I think he's happier outside anyway.

Credits:  Winter Day Outside by Darhena

The next page I did features Miss Lexi enjoying a little bit of fresh snow.  We took a snowmobile ride a few months ago and ran across some of the most beautiful fresh snow along a creek bed.  The girls couldn't resist picking up a crisp glittery piece of snow and tasting it. 

Credits:  Winter Day Outside by Darhena

This last layout is a little funkier.  I love to blend and play with my digi supplies.  I love layering one paper over another to get a different effect.  This one is pretty funky even for me but I like how it turned out. 

This is Andy playing on the mountain...I think he loves that snowmobile more than any toy he's ever had.  I love that he enjoys it most days...somedays I want to take the key and hide it!  LOL!

Credits:  Winter Day Outside by Darhena

Now, how would you like a freebie from this kit?  I've got one for you.  I chose to give you my favorite layout from the three above as a QP.  This layout was chosen as the Gallery Jewel at Digital Arts Cafe this week so you're getting an award winning layout for free!  LOL!  YILM!

Be sure to check out the kit as well...it really is beautiful!

You can download your QP here.  Enjoy!

A Long Awaited Sip of Digi...

So recovering from the crop took a little longer than I thought.  I have been so exhausted lately that I've been going to bed around 8:30 and sleeping until 9:00 am...that's a lot of sleep for me and very unusual.  But apparently I have needed it since I've been falling asleep on the couch before dinner is even ready.  CRAZY!  Couple that with a couple of wonderful migraines this week and well...let's just say I have been less productive than ever!  But I did get a few things finished last week and a few more accomplished at the crop so I thought I would share them.

This is my Aunt Karen as a baby...so stinkin' cute!

Credits:  Days Gone By by Lori Cameron

This is my brother, Steve and I when we were sweet and innocent. 

Credits:  Days Gone By by Lori Cameron

My sister...the wannabe cowgirl.  LOL!  Really this was for a costume party but I think she pulls off the hat quite well!

Credits:  Wild West by Crystal's Designs

My baby brother...the real cowboy.  LOL!  These are a few pics from when he won the big buckle last year for bull riding.  He just rocks!

Credits: Wild West by Crystal's Designs

My girls and their salon days...love them!  Of course, it helps that we have a fabulous stylist to work with!  I usually let the girls die their hair after school is out for the summer.  We usually buy the shampoo out temporary hair color.  Well, last summer, we picked up the wrong box and they were permanently died....so we had to do a little first aid and give them highlights so that they didn't look all greased out on top.  LOL!  Thank goodness for our stylist!

Credits:  Softball Stars by Trixie Scraps

A few pics of Kaylee playing t-ball last year.  She loves baseball!  She gets so focused on the game and I can just see in her face how much she loves this game.  She is pretty awesome at it too so that probably helps! 

Credits:  Softball Stars by Trixie Scraps

A Mother's Day Card I made for a challenge over at Pretty Scrappy last month. 

Credits:  You'll have to check out Pretty Scrappy this weekend to find the pieces to this kit!

I don't know what it is about photos like this that I love but I have a lot of pictures of my girls walking with their daddy.  I love how they're both wearing their camo jackets in this one.  I really love that bond he has with his girls.  I remember when I use to get to walk beside him and hold his hand.  I guess if I had to be replaced, I couldn't have chosen a cuter girl than this!  LOL!

Credits:  Moody Monday by Throwing Some Scraps Around

Lexi's teeth are a sore subject around here.  I am dreading the ortho bills I'm sure we'll be paying.  I am looking forward to her smiling confidently though...that will be the best part and most definitely worth the price!

Credits:  Moody Monday by Throwing Some Scraps Around

I love this photo of Izzy sleeping.  It has hung on my wall for the last 4 years.  She is just so beautifully perfect.

Credits:  Sweet Dreams by Farrah's Creations

Kaylee could not wait to hold Luke for the first time.  She was so thrilled to be the bigger person for a change! 

Credits:  Sweet Dreams by Farrah's Creations

I'm not sure how we came up with this nickname for Izzy but it has stuck and maybe we'll forever call her Monkey Butt...maybe she'll outgrow it...you just never know!

Credits:  My Lil' Monkey by Farrah's Creations

Lexi has such a great imagination for building.  I love to see her latest creations.  She is most definitely one of the reasons I'll never get rid of my legos, tinkertoys and lincoln logs!

Credits:  My Lil' Monkey by Farrah's Creations

I love this picture of Kaylee andIzzy.  I took this while we were on a field trip last year and I was so proud of how Kaylee handled having her little sister along with us.  She is such a sweet child.

Credits:  About A Girl by Designs By Mel

It's so hard to believe that Lexi was this little once.  This was taken at the beginning of her 1st Grade year.  She and her friend were inseperable at Soccer practice and we had a little photo shoot one day...such goofs!

Credits:  The BFF Kit by Stacey Crossley Designs

This photo was taken the same day as the photos on the last layout.  I love this one of the girls just being crazy in the grass.  It's what sisters is all about!

Credits:  The BFF Kit by Stacey Crossley Designs

Another Izzy sleeping photo...I'm telling you...you should see the amount of photos I took during her first month...it's sad!

Credits:  Oh Baby by Designs by Karyn

Just a little proof for future reference that I do the dishes too!   Andy is always saying that I never do but I have just one question for him...where's the proof that he does them?  LOL!

Credits:  Oh Baby by Designs by Karyn

These are a few pictures from the first time I was induced while pregnant with Izzy... she was stubborn but she was worth it!

Credits:  Oh Baby by Designs by Karyn

Last year was my first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean...just a few observations.

Credits:  Popsicle Toes by Teri's Thing-O-My-Jigs

I thought I might journal a little about my first trip to Seattle.  I have to admit that even though I love my small town home, I crave the city sometimes and I miss the city sometimes.  This was a treat for me and I loved every minute of it!  LOL!

Credits:  Popsicle Toes by Teri Mayo

My sister and I....I love her so much but I think that we have the same issues all sisters do.  We may be too much alike and that can lead to malfunctions.  LOL!  She is seriously one of my best friends and thank goodness we were born sisters because I probably would have beat her up by now if not!  LOL!  Perhaps someone a little higher up knew that I would need her in my life permanently.

Credits:  Bride To Be by Just Passin' Thru

Believe it or not, Kaylee gave herself this major wedgie.  She thought it was hilarious and Lexi and I could not stop laughing as she hung from the door knob by her underwear.  What a dork...but she is my dork!

Credits:  Bride To Be by Just Passin' Thru

I was looking through photos and thought about how crazy the road has been between these two photos.  In the first photo, I am newly married, pregnant with my first child and blissfully in love with Andy.  In the second photo, I have been married for 6 years, have two children and am pregnant with Izzy and still in love with Andy...although maybe not so blissfully as a new bride.  LOL!  But definitely stronger and better.

Credits:  Pretty by Delicious Scraps

This last layout is pretty personal but I thought I would share anyway.  It's just a few thoughts I have every now and then.

I hope you enjoyed a few minutes away and that something inspired you somehow.  Enjoy your weekend!  I'll be back a little later this weekend with more!

Batter Up!

So I had a chance yesterday to work with Teri's kit Batter Up  and I love it even more now that I've played with it!  I love rich colors and this kit has lots of them....and for my CTMH ladies...remember Breeze...well, this kit has it and it's mixed with Outdoor Denim, Cranberry, Chocolate and Citrus Leaf....this makes me a happy happy girl!  For those of you that aren't CTMH ladies, that was greek but you should know that I love the colors in this kit!

So I opened up my baseball pics from a few years ago and went to work....so fun to look back at these pics.  I can't believe how little Lexi was in this first page.  I remember her going out there and swinging like crazy to hit that ball off the tee and once she remembered to get her chicken wing up she was rockin' that ball out there!  I also did this page for DDBN's Speed Scrap this morning. 

Then I closed the baseball pics because I thought it would be fun to see where I could go with this kit outside of baseball even though it's really all about baseball.  I like to push kits a little outside of their limits to create something unique.  So I grabbed a pic from last year's end of school sleep over and came up with this page.

And then, Teri asked us to come up with a few bracket book pages for her and well, once I got started, I couldn't stop!  LOL!  So I made these 6 bracket book pages for her.

Here's another reminder of what the kit looks like...it's awesome!

And a coupon just for you!

Batter Up! is available at the following stores:
Pretty Scrappy
Scrapable
DigitalArts-Cafe and
DigiScrapShop

And if you hurry, you can save $2.00 for a limited time!

Family isn't always about blood.

We have this family member that isn't really related but she is none the less a member of our family.  I consider her my other mother and my kids call her Grandma Nina.  She has been my mom's friend for a very long time and I think we all loved her from the start.  She is amazing and I am lucky to call her my other mother and my friend.

This is from Teri's kit called He Loves Me...go pick it up!

Sweet Nothings

I was given the opportunity to work with Rhonda's new kit called Sweet Nothings and I have to tell you...once I got started I couldn't stop.   I saw so many possibilities and I kinda went a little crazy!  LOL! 

Here's what I made last night while Izzy was up all night.

This first page is about my two dear friends and their amazing love.  I knew both of these people separately before they met each other and I happen to think they are perfect for each other.

This next layout is about my Grandpa O's mom and dad.

Then I went a little outside the box for a fun little layout about Kaylee.  She was jumping on the trampoline one day and I was able to catch these funny photos of her.  She is rather embarrassed that I'm posting them here, let alone made a layout with them.  So please don't show her classmates if you happen to be a parent to one of them.

I think it's cute though and I'm sure in time she will too.

Go check the kit out here and be sure to stop by Rhonda's blog too.

Bee Mine!

The designers over at DAC got together this month to create an awesome little collab kit called Bee Mine.  This kit is so full of great fun colors and so full of versatility.  Each designer contributed a mini kit to make this collab so awesome.  Let's just say that there are about 100 elements and 40 papers in this kit....how's that for a Mega Kit?!  Anyway, I came up with a few pages and thought I would share them with you. 

So stop over at DAC and pick this kit up...it's totally worth the $!

Prom Night

So I have a friend who was crying because I haven't scrapped her yet...well, she'll have to wait a little longer because I came across this pic of her daughter and well, it was perfect for Teri's kit He Loves Me (Which, by the way, is another awesome Teri kit!)!  LOL! 

So if you're that particular friend, put your big girl panties on and wait a little longer.  In the meantime, you can ooh and aah over your daughter's pic.  LOL!

Now, the doll on this page is not part of the kit...it is however made up with parts of the kit.  If you look closely you'll find a bling border, some satiny paper, some brown textured paper, a glittery bracket and some pink gems!

The doll is a mixture of two templates created by Scrappin Diva.

Credits:
He Loves Me by Teri Mayo aka Teri's Thing-O-My-Jigs
Pretty Princess Template & Popular Paula Template by Kristi Westling aka  Scrappin Diva