Gamma

Hello! Well, today didn't go exactly as planned because our hot water heater was leaking. There was no flooding, thankfully! I'm glad Quent noticed it this morning. I usually exercise almost first thing in the morning, but there was no chance of doing that without a warm shower to look forward to afterward. So I dove into design work and scrapping instead...and now that the repairman has come and gone, we have hot water again! Yippee! So right after this I'm going to work up a good sweat! *smile*

Yesterday, Oprah had the entire cast of The Sound of Music on her show. It was amazing! I think I sat there with a smile on my face the whole time. It's my favorite movie!! At the end of the show four of the 'real' Von Trapp great-grandchildren sang Edelweiss. It was so beautiful that I started to cry. You can watch it here.

Here's another sneak peek:

You are awesome!

Hello! I love Thursday because it's my "Friday". It means I can stay up late because I don't have to get up super early in the morning. Working at a coffee shoppe means people go there before work...so I'm up and at the shoppe before everyone else has left for the morning. I try not to think about it... So I'm up tonight playing (aka scrapping). I've also been putting more touches to the current kit I am working on that's all about boys. And I have these pictures of my nephews that are perfect for scrapping! I like to test out all of the elements and papers I create because I want them to be what I would use + to test the quality. If I'm not going to use them, I don't want to create them or include them in a kit. That's my own personal designing policy. I hope I'm not spoiling too much by showing these sneak peeks.

Samuel: Sneak Peek!

Another Sneak Peek! The kit is coming along very...slowly... Tonight I had a creative burst! Too bad I need to go to bed now. *sniff* I'm not sure when this kit will be live in the shoppe, but hopefully within the next couple of weeks. I have a few kits percolating in my brain. Ha! Goodnight!

Bulky Baby Blanket

Hello! I didn't mean to take so long to post again. I've been working on a design project, plus I've been knitting. Yesterday I finished the project pictured below after starting it two weeks ago. I don't think I've ever finished any knitting projects under two weeks (well, except for the ipod sock). This blanket was super easy and fun to knit! When I saw the project for the Bulky Baby Blanket by The Purl Bee, I knew I wanted to knit it and use the same colors they had shown for the project. The blanket is soft and it has a warm and slightly heavy feel to it, perfect for baby!

When I was taking pictures of it today I wanted to put something on top of the blanket for scale. My first thought was a cat, but we all know that cats never do what we want them to do, so I found a Hershey's kiss from a candy bowl on the counter. I set the kiss on the blanket (which you can hardly see) and started snapping photos. A few seconds later Tigger came over to check out the kiss...and there is my scale for size! Of course he's a big kitty, so I'm not sure if it's going to mean anything to you viewers. The last time I weighed Tig (years ago) he was 13 pounds. He's still probably right around that. I haven't witnessed the kitties laying on this blanket yet, but they have tried out all of my other yarn projects in the past. They all have passed the kitty nap test. *chuckle*

LOvE

Do you love sneak peeks? I do! This is a little sneak-peek of what's to come...


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Hope ya'll are doing great! Last night I saw lightning and heard the rumble of thunder. Whoohoo! We don't have that a lot here!

This was on my heart today:

"For whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved." (Romans 10:13)

Our Silly Faces

Happy Monday! It's a beautiful morning here! I hope you are having a blessed day! This morning I finished scrapping a page I started working on last week. It's been great to get back into a scrapping routine!


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Happy Fall

One of my favorite creative places to visit online is the Creative Inspiration Blog. Yesterday they came out with their 61st Copy Cat Challenge. I thought I would play along. I love the simplicity of this layout. I realize that I don't create a whole lot of layouts like this since I like to make the pictures bigger or put as many pics on a page that I can. It was fun and fast!



Yesterday I started working on the outside edge of the gray sweater I started a few months ago. I had to pick up 408 stitches along the edge. 408 stitches!! *faint* And there are to be like 34-36 rounds of that. *faint* I pretty much think it's going to take forever and ever and ever to complete the sweater. I'm glad I'm working on a few knitting projects right now because I have a feeling working in rounds like that will become boring pretty fast. But maybe not since knitting is [usually] pretty relaxing to me. Maybe it will be a project that tags along with me through the airports and jets along the way to Michigan in a couple of months?

I hope you had a nice and relaxing weekend!

FREEbie + sale

Hello! This morning after a walk in the rain with Quent, I spent a few hours at the yarn shop knitting, drinking a decaf mocha, and getting to know some of the other knitters. I feel rather shy, but I'm opening up more and more. *smile* Anyway...I thought I should post about the NEW freebie at Little Dreamer Designs and about the sale going on there.

When you spend $10 from now until the end of October, you will receive 5 free kits!! You can't beat that! The Subtle Memories Templates (NEW) is one of the free kits. You can get yours here!



Also, Little Dreamer is having a 40% off sale on the fall collections through October 17th. These two kits are in the sale!

Are you brave?

There's this scene on The Office where the ignorant boss, Michael Scott, is told by coworker Daryl that Michael is brave because he continues to get up and live his life everyday in spite of being himself. Although this is said in humor and Michael Scott is a fictional character, I find some truth in what Daryl shared with him.

Am I brave enough to be myself? That may sound like a funny question, but as I sit back and observe life and those around me, I think so many are afraid to be who they are.

I recently read this quote by Kurt Cobain (which I thought was interesting):

Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are.

It's so true! We can spend our life trying to shift ourselves to fit some mold. We can try to hide the real person inside of us. We can think we are not good enough because we aren't like someone else. Or we try to tone down the person we are, thinking we will be liked more if we do. But it's a total waste of time!

Maybe someone has told you in some way that you aren't good enough or that you need to be less of who you are. Maybe you feel like it's more safe to hide the real you. But isn't that trying to be someone you aren't?

Another thing I like about what Daryl shared with Michael is that he chooses to get up each day and to live his life. We only have this moment. It's called RIGHT NOW. This is it. Are we going to spend our moments in fear and pretending? No way! Let's be brave just like Michael Scott. Let's take this moment, and then the next, and the next, and so on to be who God has made us to be...with our quirks and all. Maybe you are afraid to be yourself. Maybe you are fearful of the "what if's" Why not be yourself anyway? Why not do it afraid? Worrying about the next 100 moments won't get you anywhere in life. Worry is like being paralyzed in your mind. It steals from your life. It's a waste of time!

I want us all to be the best person we can be, with no more comparisons, with no more fear. Be brave my friend!

Yarn: Next project

Hello! So...last night/this morning we had another big storm roll through. That's the third big storm this week!! That's not really normal, so it's been really strange. We are becoming accustomed to preparing for a power outage. Candles lit? (Check) Headlamp in pocket? (Check) Extra water in fridge? (Check) Computers shut down? (Check) Last night's forecast was calling for 90 mph gusts. That's INSANE!! I don't think it got that windy here, but I haven't heard the facts yet.

On Saturday I received an order from Jimmy Bean Wool. This is one of my new favorite yarn shops on the internet because they have lower prices and the shipping is cheap or free if you spend $75.00. And they don't charge an arm & leg for Alaska shipping. Whoohoo! I love love love this wool. When I saw the pattern and color samples, I knew I had to grab the very same colors. Orange and cream! Aren't they so yummy together? *smile*

The yarn brand is called Spud & Chloe by Blue Sky Alpacas. The orange yarn is called Sweater; the color is 'pollen'. The cream yarn is called Outer; the color is 'soapstone'. I'm about halfway through the project already.



Last Saturday morning I went to the local yarn shop to join the group of ladies who knit together there. I plan on doing that as much as possible. It really makes me miss Loretta, Katrina, and Nettie from Wrangell all the more. I miss our 'play dates' at the scrapbook store.

Well, this is all for now...until next time!

Friend:Sister

Can you believe it? Another high wind warning is in effect this evening until mid-morning tomorrow. Whew! Hopefully we don't lose power! Well, we are off to a friend's house for dinner. I'm bringing pumpkin bars! (Thanks for the recipe, Bek!) They smell (and I know will taste) amazing! Have a great rest of your day!

This is a layout I created a few days ago. I saw an idea somewhere on a blog or site and I was inspired. It's been really fun to just scrap!

Cupcakes

Hello! Happy Tuesday! Today we were under a "high wind warning" from 6:00 am until 4:00 pm. I arrived at work at 6:15 am. Five minutes later when I was counting the till, the power went out. Now, I had brought my headlamp with me, but it was in my purse in the storage closet. Oops! So I stood in the dark contemplating what I should do when I remembered there was a flashlight in the drawer. I felt my way in the dark along the counter, opened a drawer, fumbled around until I found the flashlight--er, the electronic screwdriver, and then I found the flashlight. The power came on after 15 minutes. It was an exciting way to start the day!

I've been scrapbooking more. Yeah! Here's a page I think I created sometime last week:


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I've also been reading a lot more. Yeah! And I started a new knitting project, which maybe I'll talk about more later.

Toodles!

Could you be any cuter?

Well, our weekend was pretty exciting. We basically had a category one hurricane Saturday night/Sunday morning and we were out of power for at least 22 hours. We had sustained winds of 80 mph-100 mph. Ouch! But I slept like a baby through it all...because of earplugs, which I need to wean myself off of since I didn't quite hear the smoke detectors going off downstairs (don't worry, there wasn't a fire, just a detector malfuntioning because of the power outage). And then it was also very exciting to have two bear cubs wrestling in our backyard, about 6 feet from our house last night. Baby Bear #1 must have won because he rolled around and chewed on our bird feeder. And as Quent let it know, "We happen to like that bird feeder! Get! Get!" Mama Bear was in the woods watching her children...eek! And tomorrow we are in for another big storm!!


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Quote

I liked this quote:

"Beyond the very extreme of fatigue and distress, we may find amounts of ease and power we never dreamed ourselves to own; sources of strength never taxed at all because we never push through the obstruction."

William James

Family

It's been weeks since I've scrapped. That's just unheard of! So I'm taking some time today to relax and play. I thought it would be fun to play with some of the papers I designed for the Happy Fall mini-kit that came out in the shoppe this last week. It's hard finding pictures to scrap that are fall-like because I pretty much don't have any that haven't already been scrapped. And that's sad because I just LOVE fall!

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Have an awesome day!

Creative Team awesome layouts!

This post is long overdue! My Creative Team rocks! I am really enjoying seeing what they have been creating with my Greener Grass Designs kits! When I create the kits I often wonder what people will think of different elements/papers. And then I see what they create and I'm just in awe at their creativity!! Thank you my amazing team!! xoxo


I think I just about gasped when I saw this page that Bekah created using Subtle Memories. Look at those beautiful colors together! And I love the gray background! She changed the hue/saturation of the ribbon from blue to pink, which I just love! That's the beautiful versatility of digital scrapbooking!

The Beach Bliss kit was created especially with Jessica in mind because she requested a beach set. I had been thinking about it anyway, so her request was the perfect motivation. Her placement of the cute little elements is just perfect! And of course I'm bias because that's my sweet little nephew in the picture. *smile*

I'm a butterfly lover (and they are so fun to design!) that I was so excited to see this page Carrie created using the kit Raindrops & Butterflies. So beautiful!

I love, love, love the color combo Carrie used for these pictures! Everything flows together so nicely! Such sweet pictures, too!!

More awesome layouts!

I love the placement of everything on this page. I love the color combo Bekah chose! My eyes do a happy dance when I look at this layout. Ha!

It's so much fun seeing others put together pages using my designs. When I designed this background paper I wondered what others would do with it, and it's just amazing on this layout! I love what Jessica did with the colors for this page. It's just beautiful!

Carrie used the perfect kit (Forest Explorer) for this layout of the tree fort!

Baby Blanket-Finished!

A couple of days ago I [finally] finished the baby blanket! It was bittersweet though because I really enjoyed working on this and I don't think my hand were ready to leave the comfort and softeness of the blanket. This project even traveled with us up and down the Stikine River. It was nice to work on it and keep my lap warm in the process. It was a super easy project because every row was a knit row. It's the softest baby blanket! I have plans to make another one soon, but it will be a different pattern. And I still have a sweater I want to finish...


The sides of the blanket look better than shown here. This was like the 20th picture after getting frustrated with the camera set-up. Oi!

I love this view! Because all of the rows were knit rows, it makes the blanket even more smooth and soft. Perfect for a baby! Perfect for any age!

And just to show a scale for size, I threw a banana into the mix!

Spooktacular, Petal Harvest, & Words of Autumn

The designers from Little Dreamer designs came together and designed a combo kit called Spooktacular. It looks fabulous! I love the color combo! It's only $8.00 and you get TONS of stuff!



Also, here are my newest kits also available at Little Dreamer Designs:

You can get yours here!

You can get yours here!

Petal Harvest

Hello! It's Friday! Whoohoo!

This past week I had two mini-kits come out at Little Dreamer Designs. The first one is called Petal Harvest, which is what I am going to focus on in this post. The second one is called Words of Autumn. I really enjoyed creating this kit. It was fun combining my photography with graphic design!


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