Scrap Diner DT

I just found out that I made the inaugural Design Team at Scrap-diner.com! It's such a great new site...you just have to come and check it out! Sher is the owner over there and she is so warm and welcoming and the site is a lot of fun! We have a lot a fun things coming up, so drop by and say HI, you'll love it there as much as I do!!!

Superheros and Villians

This past Saturday was my niece and nephew's 12th birthday party. They came up with a cute idea to have a superheros and villians theme and everyone had to dress up as either. All of the kids had a ball and even my sister and I got into the act!

What party is complete without the sugar rush hidden inside of a pinata?

Here's my sister AKA Cat Woman in full party mom mode!

CHeck out the twin's younger brother Jaden AKA The Red Power Ranger! He was so cute with that mask!

Let the races begin! Birthday girl Jasmine AKA Supergirl and birthday boy Jamal AKA Batman compete on different teams in the Rat Race! Jasmine's team won!

What's a party without Wonder Woman?? Yep, that's me! I had so much fun dressing up - leave it to kids to make you feel like a kid again!

Here's my Donovan AKA Venom - he is obsessed with all things Spiderman. He picked his own costume out and has been wearing it since I bought it! I guess he knows what he wants!

I guess Spiderman is faster than a speeding bullet, too! I kept trying to take Donovan's picture but he kept running from me and this is all I was able to get!

Happy Birthday Jasmine and Jamal! I can't believe you guys are 12 already...I remember the day you were born!

Dry Spell

My mojo abandoned me for nearly12 days! What's up with that? I was finally able to scrap a simple LO of Troy and Donovan.

Journaling: There's no place he'd rather be than right here in his daddy's arms.

I also put the finishing touches on this birdhouse I started 2 months ago. My sister fell in love with it while it was a work in progress, so I'm going to give it to her. I even personalized it (so I wouldn't change my mind and keep it for myself, LOL)!

A few closeup of the details

AND THE WINNER IS...

...not me! I must admit, I was a little surprised. I'm talking about the Summer of ScrapLovin' Challenge that I participated in over the last 8 weeks. There was a first place winner, a second place winner, and 2- third place winners, but I was not among them. There were quite a few ways to earn points during this challenge. First, complete the 8 challenges - which I did plus, the 2 bonus challenges. So on the brighter side, I have 10 kick-butt LOs that I really like! Second, you earned points by being the celebrity judge's top 3 picks. There were 8 different celebrity judges from different areas of the scrap industry and my layouts were chosen as the top 3 for 5 out of 8 weeks...I'm quite proud of that, too! (the only other contestant to achieve this won 1st place) You could earn bonus points by completing the bonus challenges and using "secret" items (i.e. handwritten journaling, etc) during a given week. I earned points in this area, too. And lastly, you could earn points by being the site's moderators top picks, but this voting was kept private and only the moderators knew where each contestant stood at the end of the week. I guess this is where I fell short...I guess I should have befriended that mods and sent those boxes of Godiva chocolates after all, huh? LOL! Well anyway, it was fun...you win some and you lose some! HA!

Final Weeks

I just completed the last LO for the 8 week challenge at scraplove.com. I've gotta tell you this was one of the most fun contests I've ever participated in! I don't envy the judges, though because everyone ROCKED their LOs week after week!

Here are the rest of my LOs from weeks 6-8. For week 6, I had to create a LO using "at least TWO transparent items. In addition to using the Scraplove color scheme for your layout. (Think orange, yellow, brown, green, white etc...)" This is the LO I came up with and I was very proud of it (the entire background is clear as well as many of the elements), but somewhere along the line I had a brain fart and forgot I had to use the site's colors.
So then I had to rush at the last minute and came up with this one. The backgorund is also clear, I just took the pic on my rug - it's so hard to photograph clear LOs! I took this photo on my birthday and I thought it was great for the color scheme!

journaling reads: It's been nearly 3 weeks since my 33rd birthday, the day this picture was taken, and I can't help but wonder what this year has in store for me. Will I be blessed with another baby? Will I finally find another job? I guess I'll have to be patient and wait and see. I hope whatever is in store is good!

This LO was for week 7. I had to create a LO all about me using a self-portrait, at least 5 sentences of journaling, and paint. This is by far the most open I've ever been on a LO. It's also the most journaling I've ever put on a LO and let me tell you, I could have kept typing. The story is about overcoming the pain of a pregnancy loss. I won't post the journaling here because it it just too much, but it's posted here if you want to check it out.

And now for week 8...I had to create a LO using anything EXCEPT patterned paper or cardstock as my background! This was so much fun to do! I had every intention of using corrugated cardboard for my background because I've always wanted to do a LO like that, but then I was moseying along in AC Moore and I happened to come across this 12" scalloped circle mirror and it was just too perfect! I love how this turned out...it looks soooo much better IRL! I only adhered 3 sides of the frame so I can change the picture whenever I want!

Now I just have to sit back and wait until September 12th to find out who won that wonderful prize pack and GDT position!