Visiting the new baby...

Kaitlin and I went to see Becky, Shane and their new little baby girl, Kendra today. She is so adorable!! Kaitlin held her quite a bit and she was really enjoying herself. We also got to see her room and it is so cute...decorated in brown, pink and baby blue. Our baby gift to them was a decorated initial and picture frame in their baby room colors.
I also got quite a bit of laudry done today and while working on that, I did a little scrapping. It was a good day all in all.

A little bit of progress...

It's day three (already) of my nine day vacation. I did get floor and tub in the bathroom cleaned and washed the shower curtain and rugs yesterday. I even cleaned out the fridge today...so, that's enough cleaning for the week, right?

Kaitlin & I also went out to lunch with Rhnissa and Jeanne today at Mexico Viejo (mmmm) after I picked her up from preschool.

Thought I'd share a picture today. This is a picture I took of Kaitlin a few weeks ago after we got a good deal of snow. Did a little editing to it in Picasa to turn it B&W and give it a dreamy look...hopefully, I have this is a layout before the week is up!

Sunday Spur for Scrapbookers #3 - Colorstrology

Color certainly plays a huge part in scrapbooking. It can evoke emotion, help tell a story, or express how you feel about the subject which you are scrapbooking. But did you know that you have your own personal color? What does that color say about you?

Read the challenge and my results below, then visit Colorstrology. Watch and read the introduction, then choose you month of birth, then day.

Either answer the following questions in a comment box here or leave a link to your own online journal so we can visit your results!

1. What is your birth month and day?
2. What is the name of your color?
3. What three words are given to describe you?
4. Do you like you color? Why or why not?
5. What one sentence in the description MOST sounds like you?
6. What one sentence in the description brings your eyebrows together (either you do not think sounds like you or you are questioning somewhat)?
7. According to Colorstrology, what will wearing, meditating or surrounding yourself with your color do?
8. Does this make you want to incorporate this color more into your life? Why or why not?

Secondary Challenge: Scrap your Colorstrology results!!

My Colorstrology Results:
(Unfortunately, this website does not allow for copy and pasting, so I had to retype my results. Therefore, you do not need to include your full profile. I just wanted to give you a taste of what you will find.)

Most people born on this day are artistic and imaginative. You also have the ability to be quite logical and are often able to merge your special talents into lucrative endeavors. You have a strong spiritual calling and the people and circumstances that you encounter serve to move you closer to an enlightened state of being. Your personal color encourages you to believe in yourself. Wearing, meditating or surrounding yourself with Fragrant Lilac helps ease monetary concerns and reduces fiction within relationships.

1. What is your birth month and day? July 2
2. What is the name of your color? Fragrant Lilac
3. What three words are given to describe you? Artistic, Partner Oriented, Independent
4. Do you like you color? Why or why not? I do...I'm not really a 'pink' person, but the grey/silver tone to this color is quite beautiful
5. What sentence(s) in the description MOST sounds like you? "Most people born on this day are artistic and imaginative. You also have the ability to be quite logical and are often able to merge your special talents into lucrative endeavors."
6. What sentence(s) in the description brings your eyebrows together (either you do not think sounds like you or you are questioning somewhat)? "You have a strong spiritual calling and the people and circumstances that you encounter serve to move you closer to an enlightened state of being." (Maybe this is why I feel guilty when I skip church!)
7. According to Colorstrology, what will wearing, meditating or surrounding yourself with your color do? "ease monetary concerns and reduces friction within relationships"
8. Does this make you want to incorporate this color more into your life? Why or why not? This is a little scary...if I had to list my top two concerns in my life currently, these would be it. It makes me want to paint my whole home and office this color...wait, that would probably be a little overkill, huh?

remember to sing

OK...this is my last post for the day...I promise. Here's layout #2 - "remember to sing" I did this one based on a sketch by Becky Fleck for a challenge on Pub Calls Blog, so will be submitting that tomorrow...we'll see if I win anything. Here's what the sketch looks like:I had to flip the sketch or Kaitlin would have been looking off the page in the main photos and that's just not good design. I made some other minor adjustments/changes, but followed the sketch pretty closely. What do you think? Did I do a good job?

Supplies:
Cardstock - Bazzill
Patterned paper - Melissa Frances
Ribbon - Offray
Epoxy letter stickers - unknown (got them at WalMart)
Metal word - Making Memories
Rub on - Basic Grey
Font - Garamond

Journaling:
Kaitlin’s first Christmas Program…what an event!
It was postponed from the 20th of December to the 21st due to bad weather. The 21st wasn’t much better…it was bitter cold.
It was scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. and we were just down the street from Yankton High School (the program was being held in their theatre) at shortly after 7:00 p.m. when we got a call from my parents.
“It’s filling up fast. Do you want us to save you some seats?”
When we arrived it was bustling…a little overwhelming for me.
We got Kaitlin settled in the room with her teacher and headed to our seats.
We ended up on the left towards the back and we would soon find out this wouldn’t be optimal for viewing pleasure…it was a little hard to see our little Sacred Heart preschooler with the way they arranged them on the stage.
Regardless, watching her ‘perform’ was still amazing! She did a wonderful job singing the songs.
There were times when she was just tapping away her little feet to the music, which mad e her too-big tights all the more evident.
Nonetheless, it was adorable and I am certainly looking forward to many Christmas Programs to come. Sing your heart out, honey!

Just Resting

Okay, so I starting with the scrapbooking instead of the cleaning...can you blame me?

These are some pics that I took at Grandma Sue's house back in November. We went to visit one day when the guys were hunting west river.

Journaling:
Your days of afternoon naps are long past, but here I caught you...

Supplies:
Patterned paper - Crate Paper
Cardstock letter stickers, brads & ribbon - Making Memories
Flowers - craft supply
Ink - Rubber Stampede

What? Nine days off...

Yup...this is DAY ONE of a nine day vacation for me.

Pam, Kaitlin's daycare provider, is taking a much deserved vacation and going to Vegas for a week. That meant trying to find someone else that I trust and has nothing else to do for a whole week. If that doesn't sound easy, that's because its NOT! So, what's the best solution? I get a week off, too!! :-)

What am I going to do with 9 whole days off? Well, here's my 'wish' list (in no certain order):

• Spend some quality time with Kaitlin, of course...maybe watch some 'toons' together! :-)
• Clean...like it or not (NOT!), I must do some cleaning...the bathroom is in dire need. There are other areas also, but I come to believe that there's just no use...i.e. the basement. Between all of Kaitlin and Justin's stuff, there's just no hope!
• Play 'stay-at-home-mom' and drop Kaitlin off and pick her up from school personally on M, W, & F next week.
• Visit my Grandma Marcella to collect old photos. In college, I borrowed many old family photos for a family history project. At the time, I didn't have access to a scanner, so I just made photocopies of everything. Well, those are certainly not going to stand the test of time, so was hoping to now scan and make digital files of them instead...that will make for much better reproductions also if I ever do get around to my family history scrapbook.
• Speaking of scrapbooks...yes, I definitely hope to get a bit of that in this week. Okay, really I'd like to do a lot of this. Of course!
• Go out to lunch with my co-workers, Rhnissa & Jeanne, at Mexico Viejo on Monday...see, I can't even stay away from them when I have the week off! I would miss them too much
• Clean....
• Take some pictures!! With the cold weather, I just haven't been taking pics as I usually perfer outdoor pics...better lighting, better scenery. We'll have to give the indoor photo shoot a try again this week.
• Visit Shane, Becky & their new baby, Kendra. A friend of mine from MMC had a baby a couple weeks ago and I still haven't been to visit...I feel aweful about this! Bad friend! It's just been so busy and, again, with the cold, just don't feel like going out at all!
• Blog!! I'm still playing with all the extras...might just change my template this week...you might see some major changes ahead!
• Go out to the farm to visit Mom & Dad. Yes, Mom, I heard your little hint the other day! :-)
• Maybe go to Sioux Falls. I know as soon as Lynnie finds out that I have the week off, she's going to be asking when we're coming up!
• Help Kaitlin make her Valentine's for for her friends at daycare and preschool.
• Finish the book I am reading now - The River King - and start the new one that I have waiting - Crow Lake.
• Take Kaitlin to McDonald's for lunch and an afternoon matinee. It will have to be "A Night at the Museum" - that's the only PG movie at the theatre right now.
• Clean...sorry...just reminding myself because I know this the item I would most like to forget about! Anyone want to help me out on this one? No, didn't think so...
• Try not to think about the pile of work that is going to be in my inboxes (physical and email) next week!!

Notice I said 'wish' list? Let's just say I will be entirely amazed if I get all of this done in my time off. Nine days sounds like a lot, but we all know how quickly time can go when you want to to go slowly.

Caffeine for the Creative Mind by Stefan Mumaw and Wendy Lee Oldfield

I just got a book from Amazon the other day called Caffeine for the Creative Mind by Stefan Mumaw and Wendy Lee Oldfield and it is awesome!! I got it because it looked cool. Yes, I tend to judge books by their cover...sometimes I end up disappointed, but not this time.

Here is the description from Amazon:
*Chock-full of useful exercises designed to help readers tap into a daily creative buzz
*Features an edgy sketchbook design (by the authors) for visual allure
*Appeals to anyone looking for easy ways to jump start their creativity
For any designer or creative type who wants to quickly limber up their imagination on a daily basis, Wired helps readers get into the creative zone, from which all their best work springs. Packed with 15-minute simple and conceptual exercises, this guide will have readers reaching for markers, pencils, digital cameras, and more in order to develop a working and productive creative mindset.

It is certainly what it says! I started tabbing all the exercises that I especially wanted to try right away. Well, let's just say the book looks like it's growing some very colorful hair with all tabs sticking out of it! A lot of them that struck me initially seemed to be photography challenges, but I guess that makes sense since that is one of the things I'm really hoping to improve on this year.

It addition to the exercises, they also have numerous short interviews with some leading designers across a spectrum of website, logo, promotions, illustration, animation, etc. In these, I found numerous ideas and concepts to ponder, some of which I will be sharing with you here in the coming weeks.

Although this book is certainly not specifically geared towards scrapbookers, I think any serious 'creative' would find great value in this book.

MY RATING: 5 STARS