Setting Some Goals and the DOODLEBOPS LIVE!

Ok, it might be a little silly to start setting goals knowing that I can go into labor any second, but I guess I've got the last "burst of energy." Today I will begin to clean up and re-organize my scrap corner. Over the summer I let it become the place where I just dumped all the things that I didn't know what to do with. In other words, it is a MESS!

After that, I'd like to at least organize the many scrappy projects that I neglected over the summer. If I can get them set up in "kits" then it might make it easier for me to find a few minutes here or there to scrap after Travis Chip Smith arrives.

In the meantime, enjoy some photos I took (and will eventually scrap) at the Doodlebops Concert at the County Fair:


Pure joy and excitement on Audrey's face! Her first concert (that she remembers)!



Excitement for Callie, but a little bit of wondering if she's just a little "too old" for a Doodlebops show!



Absolute bewilderment upon seeing the Doodlebops for the very first time!

We're going to try this again

I've just gotten myself so overbooked right now, that I am afraid hand-making birth announcements will be too much. So, I'm once again asking my friends in blog-land to help me out by voting for my two girls in a contest that will award a $50 gift certificate that I can use for birth announcements.

You can vote for each girl as many times as you want using different email addresses each time. So, if you can use (for instance) your home email and your work email, that would endure you even more to me!

Last week's winner was a runaway with about 150 votes (my girls got about 40 each). Clearly, that person was a lot more forward about asking her friends to vote. Oh well!

Here's the links to vote for each girl:

Vote for Callie here!

Vote for Audrey here!

Thanks to everyone who voted last week, and thanks in advance to all who will vote this week!

If you're so inclined, we could use your votes!

I entered my DDs into a photo contest, and I'd appreciate anyone who likes their photos enough to vote for them. The prize is a $50 gift certificate for this website that does cards. I'm thinking (just thinking) about going that route for the birth announcements. I'm just getting a little overwhelmed as the summer is winding down and Baby Travis's due date approaches.

Anyway, if you want to check out their entries and maybe throw a vote (or five) our way, I'd appreciate it! Here are the two links:

Vote for Callie Here!

Vote for Audrey Here!

You can vote up to five times from your IP address, but you need to use a different email for each vote.

Thanks everyone!

Summer Scrapping

It's exciting now that my girls are in organized summer sports. I didn't realize it, but in previous summers, I had done a lot of LOs about water play, sidewalk art, pony rides, etc. I haven't gotten them scrapped yet, but here's a preview of some photos and products I hope to work with in the coming weeks:


In case you're wondering: Our league requires that catcher and pitchers (even in t-ball) wear helmets. They often put Callie at these two positions, and her hair is so sweaty at the end of the games. I need to get a photo of that to scrap too! Good story, don't you think?

I'm hosting a challenge on All Moments Remembered

Here's the skinny on the challenge:
You're Not the Photographer LO Challenge:
1. All of the photos in the LO must be taken by someone other than you. You kids have been itching to use you camera, haven't they?
2. LOs may have any number of photos from one to infinity, the sky is the limit here.
3. LOs may be any size.
4. LOs may be one- or two-pagers, even a mini book will do.
5. If you are using photographs taken by a professional photographer or any copyrighted photo, please give proper credit when posting on the internet. In most cases, I would not post them on the internet without the photographer's permission. I come from a line of professional photographers, and believe me when I say violating a federal law brings stiff penalties.
6. Use whatever embellishments you want. The challenge here is using someone else's photo(s).
7. Because some of you may not have photos on hand for this, I'm going to give us all until July 31 to complete this challenge. That should give everyone time to locate the photos from a friend's stash or to have someone take and print new photos plus do the actual LO.
8. I'll offer up a nice little RAK to one winner to be chosen at random after the deadline ends.
9. Post your entry in the AMR gallery and then link it here. You post as many LOs as you choose, but each entrant will only get one chance to win the RAK to keep it fair for all.

The most important part of this challenge is to HAVE FUN!

If you're interested, jump on over to the All Moments Remembered Message Board and join in on this challenge. If you're not a member, it only takes a moment to register. Once you've registered, here is the link to the challenge post.


This challenge is open to AMR members only.

Happy July 4!

I hope you all enjoy your holiday weekend! Here's a patriot LO that I have to share followed by a few photos of my youngest daughter (3 years old) all decked out in a patriotic leotard at her gymnastics class!

And ... I'm out!

After a great deal of soul searching (aka reality checking) I have decided to not enter the Memory Maker Masters contest after all. With a baby due and two others settling back into their fall rotation of after school classes and practices right about the time that the MMM winners will be announced, how much sense does it make to be in the running? On the off chance that I was a winner, I don't think it would be fair to anyone for me to be so over-busy. I can handle busy, but over-busy is too much.

So, I'm back to scrapping for the pure joy of it for now. I'll still enter the occasional page calls (I have to catch someone's eye sooner or later), and I'm most certainly open to any design team opportunities, but no more big contests for me until the kids are all walking (and maybe even potty trained).

I offer my support and appreciation to all those who are still entering. MM is still on the top of my list of publications, so what an honor the winners will have IMHO.

Good luck remaining entrants (now, quit reading and get back to work)!

Red, Orange or Yellow Challenge

Today's challenge for the scrapbook.com blog challenge is to post a photo of something red, orange or yellow. I chose a photo of the van from the National Tour of Annie that carries the lovable pooch, Sandy (who answers to "Mickey" when not on stage), from city to city for the tour. I also added a photo of my girls with some of the cast. I figure Annie's (Amanda Balon) red hair counts!

Avast Ye! Me's got the Treasure! Plus Blog Challenge

Ok, I'm really milking this pirate thing, but I found the papers at my LSS in Swartz Creek, Michigan, Capture-A-Memory! I was able to order most of the embellies online between scrapbook.com and scrapbookpal.com too! What you see above are the chipboard pieces that I nabbed. I can't wait to show you all what I make of all this stuff!

Blog Challenge Update - We're supposed to visit three blogs today and leave some love. I've been trying to visit at least five each day, so this should be easy!

Ahoy! I gotta get me hands on this loot!

The big dance recital is coming up. Callie is in 4 dances, Audrey is in 3. They're in one number together - tumble to a pirate song! I have to get my hands on the Pirate Princess colletion from Rusty Pickle! Take a look:




These are just a few of the products in the line. I want them all! I'm on the verge of eating my own words and actually referring to this line as "yummy." Maybe not just yet though.
Ahoy and Arrg!