I know April is almost over, but....

How cute is this??? I have always made digi scrapbook layouts in landscape size to use as the display on my desktop and laptop's home screens. It's much more fun to look at that then the orange bg that came with windows 7!!! Well, one thing that is lacking on the desktop is a calendar that's easily accessible. Well we KNOW that a true crafter can't just look at a black and white calendar and call it good, so I created this to set as the homepage background!!

I love it!! It works perfectly (you have to select stretch image) on all 3 computers I've tried it on. A desktop running Windows XP, the laptop running Windows XP with a 15" screen and the laptop running Windows 7 with the 17" screen. If you'd like to snag it to use (or even to pring out smaller to stick on your desk...that's okie dokie by me! If you click on the picture it will take you to the original image. From picasa you can click download and it will pull up the full sized/res image. You can then click the actual image (there will be a little magnifying glass if you hover over it) to make it bigger and right click and save.

To set it as your background is easy peasy. It differs for each operating system, but in general the steps are very similar. Right click in the background of your computers desktop. Select the option for changing your background image. Click browse and find the folder you saved this image to and select it. Make sure you select 'stretch image' so that it fills your screen.

I'm off to go create one for May-Dec!!!! I'll be sure to share :)

Young at Heart

I have been in the mood to scrapbook lately, but I've yet to master the art of keeping the baby occupied (happily) while I toil away at my scrap table. It's a bit easier with the laptop because I can just pull myself up to wherever she's playing and accomplish some digi scrapping. So far she lasts one whole layout before we take a play break! I followed a sketch from one of my very favorite sketchers, Julie Bonner. She has amazing sketches and even more amazing work so check her out here.

A few weeks ago we took the baby to the nursing home to visit her Great-Grandpa again. It was hard for me to visit there at first, because it was just a reminder that my Grandma wasn't here anymore. Seeing how happy the kids make him eased that pain right away :)

Below is the sketch I followed from Julie's blog, Starting Now. Clicking the link will take you to her blog, clicking the sketch will take you to the individual post.

Announcing: a future scrapper

It has been a while since my last post, but with good reason. After what seemed like the longest 9 months in the history of time, Baby Alivia is finally here!! She came this past Monday morning and our family couldn't be more in love with her. It's been a rough recovery so far for me, but it's only been a week since the c-section, so it's expected. It's still a bit ambitious to try to sit at my scrap table, but I did sit down to do some digi scrapping and managed to create a birth announcement that I actually like. I was having a hard time finding a photo card announcement that allowed me display a picture of all three of our kiddos and let the older two do the 'announcing.' They are so very proud to have Alivia here and it seemed very fitting. So after searching through every photo processing site I could find, and finding nothing I liked, I decided to make my own. I am going to try to print it as a 4x6 print and see how I like it.

Christmas 2009

I tried to narrow down my favorite photos from the kids Christmas morning to only one page. It is a landscape digi layout for my slideshow I am working on. It was designed as a way to show off all my pictures in a digi frame without having to sit through 1000s of photos to get close to seeing most of them. :) Thanks for looking.

Ron Jon- the original

Here is another layout from my kids trip last week. They spent a few days in Long Beach Island and had a blast. I loved how this layout turned out!

A few digi layouts for my year of challenges.

My kids recently took a trip to Long Beach Island, New Jersey and New York City with their grandparents. They had a blast, but I'm so glad to have them home!!! I wanted to share a few layouts from their stay in the next few days. Enjoy!

These are all digi landscapes for my slideshow.

First up is the Creative Scrappers sketch for this week. It is an awesome sketch. Check it out here.

Here are a few more from the trip:

My Girl layout and a sketch

Another digi layout that I created for my digital picture frame. I love creating layouts for it because it pretties it up so nicely from just slideshowing regular pictures!!!

I used a sketch from pencillines.com that is just too adorable to not try out.

A new year 100 challenges

**WARNING** LONG post...but lots of ideas and worth the read IMO ;)

I had shared with several people my new years resolution of getting 100 layouts done. I decided to inspire me along the way, I'd make up a list of 100 challenges of things I don't do often on layouts or things I've always wanted to try. Well it's already 3 1/2 months into the year and I haven't accomplished a whole lot. So I decided to try to make myself accountable, I'd share my list with all of you! When I create layouts from the list in the future, I will share them too! If any of you would like to take on this challenge, I'd love to check them out. Drop me a line.

1. Use photo corners

2. Dry Emboss an embellishment

3. Dangle something from the title

4. Mix letters for the title

This is a digi page for my landscape digi album created on scrapblog.com

5. Journal on a photo mat

6. Weave a fiber behind title

7. Use a photo for a template letters

8. Make a monochromatic layout

9. Chalk edges of a torn photo mat

10. Decorate one side of photo mat with eyelets

11. Dangle tags from photo mat

12. Cut graphics from a patterned paper to use as embellishment.

The bracket is cut from My Mind's Eye Just Dreamy 2 patterned paper.

13. Use a flower cluster

14. Do a vellum overlay over a photo

15. Find one item in your DHs toolbox to use as an embellishment

16. Use your favorite shirt as inspiration

17. Rubber stamp on the page

18. Hand write your journaling

19. Journal using a list

I decided to list the kids 10 favorite gifts from Christmas this year rather than do multiple layouts.

20. Journal two points of view for each picture or a he said/she said layout

21. Use pop dots

22. Make a shaker box

I created this shaker box following my tutorial found HERE.

23. Use fabric

24. Use ribbon in a unique way

I looped the ribbon through the hole on each layer of prima and then tied it into a bow.

25. Use buttons

26. Mix 3 or more patterned papers

27. Use "wood"

28. Put your title down the side of the page

29. Journal under a "lift up" layer

30. Use journaling strips

I let the kids look at all the pics of our visit to Crayola Land and describe some of the action they got to do. I wrote each on a slip and then used the slips of paper as journaling confetti around the page.

31. Put title letters on individual tags

32. Use one word adjectives to describe the person in a picture

33. Write a letter to the person in the layout

34. Pick key words in your journaling to highlight with borders or larger font

35. Embellish your page with a paper doll

36. Dot the "i"s in your title with an embellishment

37. White as a background

38. Use something you got in a swap

39. Use the name of a TV Show for a title

40. Use the name of a song for a title

41. Use the word Love in the title

What more is there to love than a pouty face like that! This is a landscape digi from scrapblog.com

42. Use the title only to explain your pictures - no journaling

I thought the title "My Monster...Not Too Scary" was pretty self explainatory. This is another digi from scrapblog.com

43. Use crumpled paper on a layout

44. Use metallic paper somewhere in the layout

45. Use vellum on a layout

46. Use at least 3 shades of the SAME color on a layout

47. Use embossed paper

I used the Cuttlebug Divine Swirls embossing folder on the white cardstock.

48. Use diamond dust paper

The word 'brrr' is cut from lily white diamond dust paper with the Red Tag Sale Cuttlebug alpha die set.

49. Use mulberry paper

50. Scrap any celebration

51. Scrap a family tradition

52. Scrap an event that includes some sort of food

Another landscape digi from scrapblog.com

53. Scrap a sports event or a game

54. Do a layout that includes toys in some way

55. Do an Animal layout (zoo, pets, could be Halloween, ??)

56. Do a Heritage layout

57. Do a WATER layout (beach, pool, pond, bathtub, rainstorm

58. Use a quote on a layout

59. Do a mosaic layout

60. Do a Totally Me layout

A 12x12 digi from scrapblog.com all about MOI!

61. Do a vacation layout

62. Use a poem on a layout (extra point if you write the poem!)

63. Do a Holiday layout

64. Do paper tearing on a layout

65. Do a HOUSE AND HOME layout

66. Do a SCHOOL layout

67. Do a BEFORE and AFTER layout (diet, pregnancy, dirty to clean)

68. Make a page that moves - Pop-up or pull

69. Make a layout without pictures - must have journaling

70. Put memorabilia on a page (like coins, baby bracelet, tassel from

71. Use a journaling genie or a coluzzle (shape), etc to make a journaling shape

72. Sew or cross-stitch on a layout

73. Use glitter or a glitter pen on a layout

74. Use 5+ pics

Another Christmas page from scrapblog.com

75. Use Circles on a layout

76. Make and use a paper piecing

77. Use stars on a layout

My son's birthday seemed the perfect occassion for a layout with stars as the focus. Page done with scrapblog.com

78. Use 10 or more eyelets

79. Do paper weaving

80. Do paper PIERCING on a page (with a needle or tool)

81. Use 20+brads on a layout

There are exactly 20 little brown brads on the curve at the top right.

82. faux-stitch on a layout

83. Use a decorative punch

The border to the right is cut with the Fiskar's Threading Water punch.

84. Use decorative scissors

85. Use black and white pictures on a layout

86. Use a 5x7 or larger picture on a layout

87. Crop a picture into a shape

88. Use a keepsake pocket

89. Use fibers

90. Use charms

Just below the pic is a ladybug charm tied to the page with a brown ribbon bow.

91. Scrap on an angle

92. Create a double page layout

93. Mat a photo multiple times

The larger focal picture is matted twice in yellow and then red cardstock.

94. Use staples

The first time I used staples. I used green staples to attatch all four ribbon pieces.

95. Use chipboard

The flower is a chipboard piece from My Mind's Eye.

96. Focus on one photo

97. Create a timeline

98. Scrapbook from a sketch

The layout I created about my husband was based on the sketch to the right. I am not sure who to credit the sketch too, but if anyone knows, do share ;)

99. Scrapbook about friendship

100. Scraplift something

Whew...DONE!!!

I was going to try and pace myself and not post any more layouts, but I just had to share. When you work hard on something, you don't care as much that you've made your um-teenth post of the day! LOL! Here is the last layout I am going to do and I am all caught up!!!

My son's 9th birthday layout. I used Sketch 74 from Got Sketch?'s blog. It took a little smooshing to get it to fit on a layout that wasn't square, but I like how it came out. I have had a lot of fun learning layering and opacity in digi scrapping to give the effect of vellum. The sketch also provided me a place for journaling which I've really been trying to add to more layouts. You can see the original sketch HERE and below is my take.

Happy Halloween?

Okay, so I'm still behind...but only 2-3 more layouts to go and my digi album is up to date. Of course that is until I take more pictures! LOL. I just finished this layout for this week's Creative Scrapper's challenge. They are some of my favorite pictures of Kate. Even pouting and being kind of a brat, she is still so stinkin' cute. The original sketch is found HERE and below is my take on it. Of course I expanded it to a landscape page rather than 12x12, but I absolutely love it :)

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Next up is the layout with the pics I took of the kids this Halloween. I've been trying to journal more and tell more of the story when I scrapbook. I know I can look at this picture and tell that they were Spider-Man and Snow White, but I may forget the little details like the rush we had to find ANOTHER super-hero because Nick just HAS to be a super-hero EVERY year and Katie begging Daddy to be a dwarf. This layout was my take on LAST week's sketch from 52 Sketches...52 Weeks. If you haven't joined...do so stat. She has AMAZING sketches!!! I know I'm a few days late and I will try to get on this week's sketch soon. Below is my take, but make sure you click on the blinky below it to check out the site that I got the awesome sketch from :)

Of course they're digi =)

Anytime you see a landscape layout on my blog I can almost guarantee it's digital. I have been working on my landscape digital album for almost 6 months now. It's getting there, but funny how scrapbooking is a never ending project. Everytime I THINK I'm caught up, Christmas sneaks up on me or one of those kids goes and has a birthday ;) LOL.

Here are three digi layouts I created for my DVD slideshow I've been putting together....stay tuned to see them scrapped for my paper/scissors album. These were both done on ScrapBlog.

Thursday's Layouts

Well I am working on my 93rd layout of the month right now, but thought I'd take a break and share some more. I am working on a virtual crop and I am just getting so much work done. I think I've hit more layouts THIS month than I've done in the last 2 years!