A Couple LOs

I did this LO about 2 months ago- I tried submitting it to a few mags, but no takers. I love the way this turned out! I tried lots of techniques on this one: I cut away the edges of the WRMK paper and adhered to a transparency, I layered a butterfly, flourishes, and flowers on pop dots at the bottom; stapled the lace around the hand drawn scalloped circle and added stickles to the flourishes. I even added some handstitching- needless to say I had a ball with this one! These are photos of Troy and me from my sister's wedding last May.

I created this LO for my DT assignment for Zsiage- I love how simple this is, it allows all of those adorable pics of my little man to shine! Photos taken between the ages of 3 weeks and 4 years old.

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I had a doc appt today and ended up being there for 1 hour and 15 minutes. The baby's heart beat was up and down- nothing too drastic but the doc just took a few extra measures. She did another U/S to make sure he had enough fluid and everything was going the way it should. I had to laugh because she measured the fluid pockets in my womb, when she went back over one, it was bigger which means the baby peed! He probably said, you want fliud? I'll give you fluid!Then she put me on the heart monitor for a while- his heart beats would rise and fall between 120's and 140's- but everything is OK. She said this either happened because he was in a sleepy pattern or because I was hungry- I was starved actually! No internal exam today...good! I have an appt 1 week from today- hopefully it's the last!!!!!! I'm 38 1/2 weeks today and am quite eager to meet my little guy, not to mention tired of being uncomfortable!

This is what my belly looks like today! I am ALL belly which is probably why my back hurts so much!

It's Official

I started my maternity leave today! This has been a long week, today being particularly long but it's over...I'm out for the summer. I go back Sept 15 and trust me, I'm going to try to make the most of my time off. Just 14 more days to go!

When I was pregnant with Donovan, I left work 2 weeks before my due date, which also happened to be a Friday and ended up having him the following Thursday...8 days early! I wonder how things will compare this time around!

So Ready! And A Sneak Peek!

Here's a little sneak peek of my LO for challenge #1 at Dream Girls Challenge Blog. Don't forget, the first challenge is going up on April 1st!

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I'm feeling so ready to have this baby! Yesterday, I had such severe back pain that I started to wonder if it was labor disguised as back pain. I could barely walk and ended up leaving work early. Once home, I used a combination of icy hot and a heating pad- I even slept with the heating pad on. Today I felt a little better although I'm still miserable! Tomorrow is my last day at work until mid Sept and I couldn't be happier! I love the idea of having the summer off. I just need my little guy to hold off a little longer- I'm teaching a scrapbook class Saturday until 4 pm- he can come anytime after that! LOL! Only 15 days to go!

The Secret Is Out!!!

I know I've been teasing you all with my little hints, but I can finally let the "Dream Girl" out of the bag! There's a new challenge blog in the scrap world and let me tell you, it is AWESOME!!! Check it out here and you will see what I mean- http://www.dreamgirls.typepad.com/.

My dear friend Dolores and DebbieFitz have been working very hard on this new venture and I have been asked to be one of Dream Girl's Design Team Divas. Can you imagine my excitement? An even bigger bonus is that I will be working with a number of phenomenal scrappers from different countries! Really! Our talented design team members have either been published in scrap magazines around the world, many have been on a number of online and manufacturer design teams, and one was a runner up for Creating Keepsakes Magazine's Scrapbooker Of The Year!!! All of us offer a variety of different scrap styles to get you thinking out of the box! This is going to be so much fun and YOU will want to be a part of this! Our first challenge goes up on April 1st-- we will issue 2 challenges each month with RAKs for each challenge...so feel free to stop by at anytime to see what we are up to! The DT has already been working very hard on the first challenge and I am just blown away by what I have seen so far!!!

If you post a comment on the Dream Girl's blog you will be entered into a random drawing for a RAK!

Just A Tease

Oh, I'm Dreaming of the day when I can reveal my little secret- but for now, I'll just leave you with a little hint!

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone!! We didn't do too much today, Donovan was still at MIL's so I slept until 9 am, did some laundry and then Troy and I drove to have dinner with his family.

My MIL bought Donovan's outfit, I was so thrilled to see how handsome he looked...he knew it too! I took him outside to try to get a few pics- which didn't turn out that great because he WOULD NOT stand still!! I guess that's a 4 year old for you! In turn, he wanted to take pics of me- I was a little nervous letting him handle the Rebel because it's big and heavy, but he did a great job. He even instructed me to "act really silly, mommy"! I think he did a pretty goob job!

Isn't he just the cutest?

Here he's yelling "cheese, happy Easter"!

Here's my latest layout for week 5 of the Scrap Around The World contest at scraplovers.com. I had to create a white space layout and the background cardstock had to be white. I had to use one color (any shades of that color- here I chose red), and create a handmade embellishment ( I made the female symbol)

journaling:

I CAN:

create life

change my mind at the drop of a dime

bring home the bacon and fry it up, too!

cry when I'm angry or overjoyed with happiness

own 20 pairs of black shoes- because I want to!

make my man feel like he can conquer the world

heal aches and pains with nothing more than a single kiss

tell another woman she's beautiful

multitask

carry the heavy stuff

Guess Baby's Weight RAK

OK, I am down to the wire!! Xander is due April 11th, 20 days from today, which means he could come ANY DAY NOW!! I can't tell you how crazy thrilled I am...I can't believe I'm about to be the mother of 2! Before he gets here, I want to give you a chance to win some scrappy stuff. All you have to do is guess how much you think Xander will weigh and post here...that's it! The one who is closest to his weight will get some scrap stuff from me!

To help you with your "guess-timations" here are a few pics of my belly right now!

Full frontal view!

It's blurry, but you get the idea!

Side view! This baby is heavy!

Good Luck!!!

A New Adventure

Are you just "Dreaming" of a newer way to get some scrap inspiration? Well I have a little secret...something very exciting is on it's way very soon! Stay tuned if you want to find out all about it! I promise, you won't be disappointed!

Good Mail Day and New Layouts

Today was a good mail day! I love it when something good is delivered to my doorstep! I won a Rusty Pickle Contest over at scrap-diner.com last month and this is what I received- RP's new white chocolate bunnies line- it's so pretty in person!

I created this LO for round 3 of the Scrapbook Around The World contest at scraplovers.com. I had to create a monochromatic blue layout and it had to be round and include a bird somewhere on it.

journaling: You stood on this ledge and pretended it was a rocketship and you were about to blast off on it. You can take the ordinary and make it extraordinary- a branch from a ficus tree becomes a stethescope and then a party hat. The other day you entertained me by pretending you were a cat- you tossed a giant ball around just like a cat does with yarn and meowed- plain hilarious. I love listening to the things you come up with when you play! You have quite the imagination.

The bird is my own design.

This one is for round 4 of the Scrapbook Around The World contest at scraplovers.com. I had to create a water layout with a multicolored title. I've wanted to scrap this photo forever and finally had the chance. I took this picture last July in Jamaica- this pic also serves as my screen saver.

journaling: the most amazing thing about the sun is that as it's setting on one part of the world, it's rising on the other part of the world at the same time. That just blows me away! Jamaica 7/2007

TFL!

My Baby Shower

I'm finally getting around to posting pics from my baby shower this past Sunday. I really enjoyed myself and laughed the entire time! My mother-in-law and 2 sisters did a fantastic job getting everything together. I loved having my friends and family members from both sides come together to celebrate the pending birth of my little boy. We got a lot of cute stuff and now I'm more anxious for his arrival...just 29 more days!

Some of my guests teased me because I took pictures at my own shower...don't they know that I am a scrapper and my camera is like another appendage? The first 3 pictures are ones I took using the self timer after the shower. Don't mind the big stain on my belly- I dropped food on my shirt at the beginning of the shower...I guess I wasn't feeding Xander fast enough. LOL!

Troy came downstairs and caught me taking pictures- all he could do was shake his head. I love this one...look at all of that belly!

OK, I'll admit it- I thought I looked quite cute for my event (stain and all)! LOL!

My baby sister made the hats and BOTH Troy and I had to wear them. She got really creative by attaching the balloon to the top. My middle sis was all too thrilled to help put it on. I laughed so hard because Troy had this "I feel really ridiculous" look on his face! I wonder how this tradition started.

My friend Melissa bought this little outfit and teeny little shoes to go with it. Love it!

Nice little family shot. It was so nice to have my guys sitting up there with me helping with everything! Donovan told everyone it was his baby shower! He's too much!

I forgot to get a good shot of the umbrella (see it on the right side). My sister made it and it was incredibly beautiful...row and rows of yellow, blue, and white lace! I'm not the only creative soul in my family!

Troy's aunt is also an amazing crafter- she really has an eye for things. She created this 2-tier diaper cake- everyone love this!

How cute is this cake? My MIL's friend made it and not only was it beautiful, but delicious, too!!! I just fell in love with that little chuckling brown baby.

My MIL also made banners with Xander's name and estimated due date on them. I really loved and appreciated all of the handmade touches that made my shower special and unique. My sister made these little favors.

My Car and new projects

Today started out a good day- I decided to take a personal day from work, I completed an altered project, went to the mall, and then to the beauty salon. I had to park a country mile away, but I made sure I had plenty of money in the meter so I wouldn't have to come back and put more. After the beauty salon, I needed to pick up Donovan to take him the the doctor, well on my way back to my car, my new car that I have had less than 2 months and noticed that some a-hole completely obliterated my driver's side mirror. I mean it's gone, knocked into pieces down the street!!! The only thing left is the arm and the cream colored thing that the mirror used to be mounted to!!! I am thoroughly pissed off!!! Did I mention I just bought the daggone car? This is really not the time to have to come out of pocket for something when I'm about to go on leave, most of which will be unpaid since I used my time! UGH!!!

Anyway...here's the project I completed today. It's an acrylic Easter plaque for my DT assignment at myacrylicalbums.com! Really love working with acrylic! This paper from American Crafts was perfect!
close-up of the eggs- I lightly dabbed acrylic paint on the back of each egg and decorated the front with pp and stickles then outlined each with puffy paint.

Close-up of the bunny- I printed it from clipart, cut it out and adhered to cardstock and then trimmed again. I went stickle crazy here!

This is a card I scraplifted from myself- I made this for our friends and gave it to them at their baby shower last weekend. We're due 6 days apart and she loves elephants!

Getting Close...

I have 37 days left to go!!! The way Xander has been kicking today, boy I tell you...I'm almost afraid to look down, he might wave to me! LOL! He at least needs to stay in until Sunday, which is the day of my shower.

This is my latest LO- I created it for week 2 of the Scrap Around The World contest at scraplovers.com. I had to use 1 large photo (5x7 or larger), the colors purple and gold and include a crown on the layout. I love these colors, they were my highschool colors! The photo is of Donovan on the beach in Jamaica. I love the look on his face!

journaling: When you're all grown up and you reflect back on your childhood, I wonder what are some of the things you'll remember. Will you remember that your daddy and I always tried to be good parents? Will you remember how much we loved you and that we always wanted the best for you? Will you remember the lessons behind any discipline we had to dish out? Will you remember the laughter...will you remember the good times?

I don't know why the pics of my LOs have been coming out so blurry and this one has a blue tint- gotta figure out how to fix that.