It was a MONDAY!!!

and it sure felt like it!!! Autumn went back to school today - as a senior. Holy cow! How did that happen? Anyhow, it seems that we have to get her a couple of new uniform skirts after all...the ones she has are too small and she can't button them. If she is caught doing the rolled waist, she will receive conduct points and potentially Saturday school. Guess I get to go to the uniform store tomorrow.

Emma returns tomorrow for her first day as a fourth grader. We were smart enough to have her try her skirts on a couple of weeks ago. We had to buy new ones - go figure!

Anyhow, back to my Monday of laundry, dishwasher loading, meal prep, childcare, and cleaning the bedroom of my 4 year old & 9 year old. It took us three hours, but it's finally done!!! OMGoodness! It was awful! There was a 3 foot walkway through the room to the beds & dressers and that was about it. The rest of the space was full of Barbies, dollhouse, webkinz, coloring books, story books, markers & crayons. They must get it from their dad's side of the family - certainly not from me. Being the scrap-mom that I am, I took before & after photos for a layout. Yep! I really did that. Look for it soon. The sketch based design is due to S4L by September 1. I think it will be called "A Girls' Room: Before & After (The Great Cleanup of August 2007)" or something like that.

Back to the grind....

A PeaK & A Pic

I really did it!!! I submitted to the October Afternoon DT Call. Saying a hopeful prayer that I will be taken notice of (in a good way). I did have a lot of fun creating items for this call too. I made a mobile for the girls...bluebirds. Also cranked out one the best layouts evah!!! I really am proud of this Nora page. For the record, it is based on a Becky Fleck sketch. She absolutely RAWKS!!! The sketch can be found here.... The one I used is toward the bottom of the page - the published LO is from Marla Kress. Of course, I did take some liberties, but isn't that how the creative machine works?

If you're wondering, the mobile was created with wood embroidery hoops for the structure, a polyfill cloud covered in "pixie dust" (white glitter), ribbon, and recycled chipboard for the birds (my own design). Right now it's hanging for the antique copper light fixture on my scrap "porch", but it will eventually move into Emma & Maggie's room. Maggie now wants me to make some butterflies for the wall next to her bed....

And here's a photo I snapped of Nora early this morning (around 7:30 AM). The morning light was just perfect...I couldn't resist. Somehow, I even managed to get some smiles out of her! It's hard to believe that she's almost 6 months old. Where has the time gone, Nora Mae?

IT'S FRIDAY!!!

How did that happen?!? This surely has been one of those weeks. First, I decided to go for it with a manufacturer DT call. I need to put the final touches on my BIG project tomorrow morning, photograph it, touch up the digi file, then get everything emailed off before midnight their time. YIKES! It is overwhelming.

This was the girl's last week of summer break too. Hard to believe that Autumn will be a senior. My baby Emma will be in 4th grade. Maggie will be 4 years old in just a few short weeks. Time has flown by!!! So many memories...so much to scrap...so little time...

I am happy that they are returning to school though. Maggie & Nora will be with me during the day as always, but I hope to get our "routine" back. We'll be doing our toddler story time at the library again...preschool workbooks for Mag too...it will be so much fun.

Tomorrow or perhaps Monday, I find out if I got the part time job at the local market. I think it's in the bag (hah!) as they called me in for a second interview tonight. All went very well. It was very short & sweet...seemed to be part of their due process for hiring. I'll find out soon enough.

Emma starts riding lessons in just two weeks. She's counting the moments till the day arrives. She has found her passion! Just look at her... Have you ever seen a little girl so in love with a horse?! BONUS...she gets to help our friends out with their horses at the boarding stable again tomorrow afternoon. What I wouldn't give for her youthful exuberance...

New Layouts

I am so pleased with how these pages turned out - especially the page with Nora! Both of these were completed as part of my assignments at Scrap4Life this month. Once again, I can't say how much fun it was to work with the new 3Bugs collections. Not to mention the pleasure it was to play with my new Crop-o-Dile and stretch myself to use my tools for a change - used my corner rounder punch (along with the CoD) to create the punched scallops. Even pulled out my old photo corner punch for that embellishment too....and the polka dots on the "Sisters" page - those were made with a pencil eraser dipped in white paint!!! I'm all for scrapping on a budget ;)

Now I have a huge decision to make...and I can't reach my conscience to pick her brain! Jodie sent me information today for a new manu DT chance. Do I audition or stay in the wings? What to do!!! I love the product of this fledgling company and it would be so exciting to get in on the ground floor, but am I ready with 4 daughters in the house - the oldest getting ready to start her Senior year in High School, and the baby at just 5 months old. I going to have to really think this one over. And I'm not going to say the name of the company in fear that I might jinx myself if I decide to go for it!!!

A New Color Scheme

I've been playing around with different color schemes on this thing & think I've finally found one that I like! What do y'all think of the pink? Be brutally honest now. I want to hear the truth! I may have to live with it for a few days to get a real impression of it all. Then again, if someone suggests something else that they think just screams me, I might go with it.

Early August Scrap

In August, the S4L DT had the privilege of working with 3 Bugs in a Rug latest collections released at Summer CHA. I received the Cotton Shop and Back Porch collections. Here are two of the pages I have created (that I am allowed to share at this time).

I just love the expressions on Maggie's face in the "Back Yard Swim" page! She really is quite the photo-hog!!!

A Promotion of Sorts

As many know, I have been on the Scrap4Life DT for almost 18 months now. Well...this past week, Jodie (the site owner) contacted me to inquire as to if I would be interested in being a Co-Coordinator for the Team. I am so honored to say that I have accepted this additional responsibility. I really look forward to pushing myself to drive her site ever forward. My additional responsibilities will include maintaining the S4L Blog. YIKES! I suppose I really should get this whole bloggin' business figured out so I don't muck it up!