A perfectly good Saturday, spent indoors

The rest of my family is at the Mets game (which just ended), but where am I? Stuck inside doing a mountain of laundry to get ready for our trip. There are no laundry facilities at the camp, so I have to bring enough clothes for four people for seven days plus any spills, mudbaths, or accidents that may occur. Not to mention all our own towels, sheets, blankets, comforters (it gets cold at night) and pillows. Add in all the craft supplies I bought, and where on earth are we going to fit all that in our little Maxima? I'll be leaving that up to the Car Packing Master. I have some fun news that just made my weekend, though. My layout "The Sweetest Smile" (which you can see a few posts below) was honored with a runner up title in the Precious Child layout contest at Sweet Shoppe Designs! Thank you to MandaBean for the gorgeous kits, and thanks to the judges for selecting my layout! I get $15 to spend in MandaBean's shop, which I'm very excited about. So that's about it from here. We're off to MA tomorrow sometime, and back in a week or so. Have fun and get some scrappin' in!

The countdown

I'm counting down to two events: one, my stores closing; and two, our Massachusetts trip. All of my products are marked down to clearance prices, and they'll be removed from the shelves for good on July 31st. On Sunday, we're leaving for Camp Kinderland in Tolland, MA. Dan has been asked to do some of the traditional camp games that his father used to do when he was alive. It will be nice to have the son continuing in the father's footsteps, although emotional I'm sure. I'll be doing some paper crafts with the campers, including an "explosion" origami greeting card and a mini scrapbook album. I've spent the past three days mocking up samples and buying supplies. I still have to do all the laundry and start packing, but I'm feeling pretty prepared. In acknowledgment of the fact that I'll be computerless for a week, I did three layouts in the past couple of days. One is a 12x24 spread and I think it will be too large for my blog's column set up, but here are the other two. I created this layout for this week's Spin-A-Lift challenge at Sweet Shoppe Designs. I spun and lifted Emily Merritt's layout called "Pirates Cove". Journaling: "The Clearwater Festival began in 1969 when Pete Seeger and many of his activist friends built a sloop and sailed it down the Hudson River, entertaining and raising awareness of the damage pollution was causing to the river habitat. This year we attended the Clearwater Festival where we got to hear fantastic music, dance, learn about the river and its inhabitants (Rebecca held a horseshoe crab, but Ben was not interested), and feel a part of a caring community. " Papers and elements: Urban Vintage by Traci Reed at Scrapbook Graphics Glitter edge: Ronee Parsons, Oscraps Banner: from Jessica Bolton's Road Trip CD at Scrapbook Graphics Font: Ghostwriter We were thrilled that the kids got along so well together on our recent trip to visit family in North Carolina. Although he played a lot more with his younger cousin, Ben also adored his big cousin Taylor. I caught this photo on July 4th at a family party. Kit: Courage & Strength, Mindy Terasawa, Sweet Shoppe Designs Template: by Julie Billingsley, based on the layout "Look! A Flower" by Melissa Lewis at Sweet Shoppe Designs Alpha & Tape: Teeny Tag Alpha, Jessica Bolton's Road Trip CD, Scrapbook Graphics Journal Stack: Cindy Simon, no longer available for purchase

Just finished Deathly Hallows

No spoilers here, so read with abandon. I'll just say I truly loved it, and I can't wait to reread, probably in another year or so when my slow reading DH finishes it. Kids go back to camp for their final week tomorrow, and then we're off to Massachusetts for a week. We're going to the camp that DH attended as a child, and I'm supposed to do some crafty things with the kids while I'm there. I still don't know what the heck I'm doing, so this week will be a major planning week for me. I can just see me, standing up there with a glue stick and a cutter with a confused expression on my face, asking "Where's the keyboard? Does this thing have a mouse?" LOL! D-Day (Doggie Day!) is drawing nearer, and although I'm excited I still don't feel prepared. After we get back from camp I need to really set to work buying supplies and studying the training book. I wonder how big the puppies are now? Well I'm off to bed...nothing to read though, so I guess I'll just have to sleep. Have a great week everyone!

Blackout!!

And I don't mean of the electrical variety. I'm going on a media blackout until I've finished reading the 7th Harry Potter book, which should be arriving sometime later today. So I checked my emails and read the comments on my most recent layout, but that's probably all I'll do online today. I'm taking Rebecca out for a Mommy/Daughter day, in which I'll avoid the radio and newspapers, and then when we get back I hope to settle in for a nice long read. So until then, I'll leave you with last night's fun layout. Credits: Papers and elements from Eve Recinella's "Trendy Trousers" collection, my latest purchase from Sweet Shoppe Designs that I just LOVE. Template: Jen Caputo's 16th collection at Scrapbook Graphics. Date tag: from the Girl Next Door collection by Robin and Christy at Sweet Shoppe. Sun doodle is by Susan Cyrus from the Art for Asher doodle set at Digital Design Essentials, and the font is Kallamar.

*Yawn*

Ben got me up early this morning, so I've been surfing around and being a bit lazy. I don't have much to say yet today except I do have a layout from yesterday evening to share. It's for MandaBean's contest over at Sweet Shoppe Designs. I was also happy to be able to do some justice to this photo, using a B&W conversion action I got over at ATNcentral.com, as well as the "Oh Those Eyes" action from Kim Hill at Scrapbook Elements. I'm sure I'll be back later with more chatter of the Harry Potter variety.

Squelch, squelch

That's the sound my feet make when I walk across my basement floor. Thank heavens it's indoor/outdoor carpet, but still. We have fans and the dehumidifier running constantly. I hope we don't end up with mold, ugh. I have to go down there to get to the washer and dryer too, yuck. So, Jen Caputo is going to kill me but today's post is going to be about the digital trend that was over before it started for me: curled photo corners. What is UP with that? Very few designers can make them look realistic (Jen is one who can, just to make that clear, lol) and the rest look like cartoons to me. I don't know, I just don't like the look that my page might fall apart at any second, you know? LOL! I might--MIGHT--be convinced to use one where the corners were only a teeny tiny bit raised, like you didn't quite get the adhesive all the way to the edge. But those big honkin' ones...no thanks. I like my little subtle drop shadow just fine. Just had to get that off my chest, thanks for letting me!! I colored my hair today. It's been probably two years since I've done that, and I'm really glad I did. I used L'Oreal's Color Expert, which has the base color as well as a highlight kit. I'm red with copper streaks now! I was shopping for photo actions from Kim Hill while it was setting; all I needed was someone giving me a pedi at the same time and I'd be a real Long Island housewife! LOL! I'm just glad to put those grays under cover for a while. My normal color is just so drab. I'm positive Mother Nature meant for me to have gorgeous auburn locks, but she was busy that day and forgot. Mothers forget things sometimes, after all. EDIT! Did another layout today, just have to share ya know. And just to be clear, let me reiterate that it's the CURLED photo corners that I don't care for, not tears. Just so I'm not misquoted or nothin'. ;) Also, here is my new haircolor for Pam and Karen.

A pounding headache, a pounding thunderstorm

And hurray, my basement is about an inch deep in water. I thought we got this all worked out last year?! Looks like we'll have to add another pipe to the drainage system in the backyard, and maybe even run it all the way out to the street. Because when it backs up, the gutters overflow and the water runs right into my basement windows. I guess we need window well covers too. Ugh, what a mess. But what better way to take my mind off my troubles than to do a smidge of digiscrapping. I used Jen Caputo's new torn shapes again...hearts this time...and another kit from the Girl Next Door collection called "Granola Girl." I just love how these papers work so well with Rebecca's outfit. This is probably my favorite layout I've done in a good long while. Thanks for stopping by today! :D

Five more days!

I'm chomping at the bit to get my grubby mitts on the final installment of the Harry Potter series. I'll probably put myself on a media blackout to avoid having the ending spoiled for me. All those interviews on NPR every time I get in the car aren't helping either! I'm feeling very weird today. I've been wandering from room to room, not feeling like scrapping or cleaning or reading or watching TV or anything. Part of it is that I found out Ben's kindergarten teacher was hit by a car a few days after school let out. She's fine now, evidently, because I hear she is out of the hospital and taking a planned vacation to Florida this week. But it still struck me hard for some reason and I'm feeling rather blue and ill. Now that I'm not designing any new products (although my old ones are still on mega sale until the end of the month, when they'll be gone for good) I have time to create some layouts. Check out the cool torn star shapes by Jen Caputo on this one. She'll have them, plus some others up in the store at Scrapbook Graphics very soon. Have a wonderful week!

Cuteness alert!

We got to visit the puppies for the second time today. They're much more active, eating soft foods and running around like crazy. I just HAD to upload these photos right away. Brace yourself!

Hello friends!

We are back from North Carolina, and we had the best time. Fishing, hiking, 4th of July party, movies, all kinds of good stuff. The kids just love their family on the Justis side so much. The photos are still on the camera but I'll be uploading them to iPhoto soon. I've come back with a big announcement though. After careful consideration and long, tough looks at my life, I've decided I need to hang up my designing hat for a while. I enjoy it most of the time, but with the kids home this summer and a new doggie on the way, I think I need to focus more on home life for a while. I tried to quit once before and my sweet, supportive team and coworkers convinced me to hang in there for a while. But this time I'm sure I'm making the right decision. Who knows, some day down the line you may see my ugly mug in a digiscrap store again. But for now, I'm joining the ranks of the average scrapper (well, BARELY average, lol). I already celebrated my decision by rushing out and purchasing the new "Girl Next Door" collection by Robin Carlton and Christy Lyle at Sweet Shoppe Designs, and promptly creating two layouts with the gorgeous kits inside. I want to thank all of you who kept up with my blog and used my products. It's the sweetest gift to know that someone thought something I created was worthy enough to be used to capture their precious memories. Keep your eyes peeled for a big (HUGE) retirement sale soon. My products will be disappear at the end of the month.