i rock paper & scissors

Today's the day...

Yes, I do see the humor in the fact that I am hosting a scrapbooking crop and have only attended 1 before in my life!  Hopefully I will be able to pull it off-  Thursday night I packed my stuf to take with me to the crop-  being that I am more concerned with all the details of making the event happen I didn't want to spend a lot of time sorting and packing- so my solution... bring it all... well not ALL but a lot... instead of sorting through paper- I just grabbed my 4 most grabbed paper containers... (for those that want to know they are my American Crafts 1 & 2 container, Jillibean Soup and my favorites container- where I put all my other favorite pieces of PP that I want to use) I also grabbed a stack of white cardstock and a few different shades of brown! After that I pulled my oh....  20 or so favorite packs of thickers, and filled up 2 big ziploc bags with embellishments and a layout holder with stickers.  Finally I grabbed my punch tote with all my favorite punches and I threw in my go to stamp pads, stamps and pens.  I printed pictures in common sizes I use for 6 different layouts...to be honest- I will be happy if I complete 2 of the 6 ;)  so I think I am all set! 

I also finished up the last layouts for the crop kits...  the "be silly" layout of my niece Anna and her BFF Maddie is my favorite of the lot...so fun to do a girly page every now and then! "Whoooo loves you?" and "1st Day" are both slight revisions to layouts I had done before...  but also are 2 of my faves of the bunch!  So off to begin set up and get things ready to roll!  Have a Happy Saturday- I know I will!

     
 
 

Lots of Layouts...

OK... for those of you attending our "fun"draising crop this Saturday... here are the layouts we will be making with the different kits... for those that aren't... hopefully you will find some inspiration and enjoy the layouts featuring American Crafts products!

Halloween Kit

    

Sports Kit

 

Christmas Kit

You can see the layouts from the Love Kit in this post before... and one of the layouts in the diva girl kit in this post.  I will have the School/Kids kit layouts and the remaining diva girl layout posted tomorrow... and for the record, those 3 are my favorites!

Oh, and on an NCAA note... I should change my banner since U of L lost in the first round... makes me sad, but I still love my Cards so I am keeping it up a bit longer!  Tonight I will be rooting on the UK Wildcats!  Would love to see them make it to the finals... as for my brackets... well the Kansas loss did me in!  I haven't really even looked at them lately- not sure how many of the sweet 16 I picked... but I am sure it is not many!
  
 

I LOVE March Madness

When you are born a Kentuckian I think there is a basketball gene that runs through your blood... and I certainly got it... 

I started playing basketball in 5th grade... and to be honest- my coach probably wished I had stuck with gymnastics or cheerleading- I wasn't very good that first year, but I learned the game and loved it even more...  I played 4 years in highschool---  I became a U of L basketball fan around the age of 11 when the 1980 team won the NCAA championship...  and have been ever since... I - unlike many Kentuckians- cheer for both U of L and UK...  and am excited to see when either of them wins...  so the next few weeks are fun weeks... I have my bracket all filled out...  as do Kenny and Jake- after the first round I will share how we are doing! 

Jake just finished up his basketball season last week when his Fern Creek Allstar team won the AllStar post season tournament.  He also played for his school team as well- they had a heartbreaking loss last month in their post season tourney after leading most all of the game...  Eli- played his first season of basketball- the first quarter of the first game he just stood on the court, didn't even run from one side to the next when possession changed, but after a while he got the hang of it, and really started enjoying it... at halftime of each game every player got to shoot 2 free throws, and every week Eli made at least one of the shots, and sometimes both!  I loved watching him play- he is already excited for next year. 

I have always been discouraged by my ability to take photos in a dark gym with lots of action going on- like a basketball game... not too long ago I purchased the Canon 85mm 1.8 lens...  and so I decided to give it a go... even scarier I decided to shoot in full manual mode... I was so excited about the pictures I was able to get... they aren't perfect or Sports Illustrated type quality... but oh what a difference that lens is making...  I don't use the flash, and have to bump up my ISO quite a bit (1000 or so) but I could usually get an OK exposure at shutter speed of 400 or 500 with my apeture set at 1.8.... 

 

 

Green Week

Just a quick pop in.... this week is Green week over at the AC Studio Blog- a layout of mine is featured today on the blog- click here to go check it out! Had a fairly low key weekend- Eli finished up his swimming lessons and Jake had his last All Star basketball game. This week he has his first lacrosse game ever- I think this is going to be a sport that we all enjoy!

and the winner is...

So- I am not much of a random number generator- I prefer the human factor... so I stopped by my sister's office this morning and said... pick a random number between 1 and 292... her answer... 225.... and how totally appropriate... that the winner of my "be happy" banner is JOY!

Super, duper adorable banner!

Posted by: joy| March 06, 2010 at 01:21 PM

   It was just meant to be... Joy I will be sending you an email later today!  Everyone else- thanks so much for playing- what a fun blog hop!  And stick around- I will do another little giveaway in the next week or so and have some other fun projects and photography tips to share as well!

Wanna win some great stuff?

Well here is your chance... today is the beginning of the Jillibean Soup, Bella Blvd and Nikkis Sivils Scrapbooking Blog Hop.  There are plenty of chances to win- all you have to do is visit a few blogs and leave a comment or two ;)  All winners will be drawn on Monday... so you have the whole weekend to enjoy the blog hopping!

So how does it work- each of the manufacturers is giving away a big prize pack full of goodies- however, you don't go to their blog to win- you go to another companies blog to win! 

At the Bella Blvd Studio Blog you will be able to leave a comment and win a prize pack from Jillibean Soup.

If you visit theNikki Sivils Blog and leave a comment you can win a package from Bella Blvd and...

At the Jillibean Soup blog we are picking from one comment to win a prize pack of Nikki Sivils product!

And that is not all.... many of the Design Team members from all 3 companies are participating in blog giveaways themselves for some amazing handmade projects...  again, all you have to do is leave a comment on their blog post to win the item... to make it easy for you... members of the Jillibean Soup DT participating are:

Jill Yegerlehner

Ingrid Danvers

Kim Moreno

Kimber McGray

Laura Vegas

Sarah Hodgkinson

Summer Fullerton

and ME :)

So this is why I finally broke out the sewing machine... and man I should have done it years earlier... it was super easy!  My item to giveaway is a simple banner titled "be happy" made with lots of Jillibean Soup Product, including some Soup Staples and pieces of the Old World Cabbage Stew Collection but I am not going to be happy to give it away... I really want to keep it... maybe I will leave comments on my own blog so I can win it ;)  JK- I will be happy that it will be making someone else's place happy for a bit! And who knows, a few little JB Soup goodies for your own use might just find their way into your package too ;)  So just leave a comment for your chance to win- for international people if you win I will ask you to split the cost of shipping with me...  so keep that in mind before you enter! Good Luck, and have fun Blog Hopping! Check back Monday to see who is the winner of the "be happy" banner

  

 

Sew Scared...

OK...   see this baby

This was a gift from my husband a little over 2 years ago for Christmas...  I have a larger sewing machine handed down to me from my Nannie that I love but it weighs more than Eli and is reserved for major sewing projects... like the time I made a duvet cover and curtains for my master bedroom...  The purpose of this little cutie was for sewing on paper... I so want to be able to add those sewn touches to my layouts and projects just like Lisa does... just seeing her layouts has always made me want to pull this baby out of the closet... but for some reason I have been so intimidated by sewing on paper that I have yet to even figure out how to load the bobbin or connect the power supply!  But... the project I am working on for this Friday's blog hop/giveaway is just screaming for a little machine stitching on it... so tonight I am going to face this fear head on...  wish me luck! 

Totally Awesome

One thing my sister and I have in common is we LOVE to plan parties... I think if we thought we could make a living at it we would open a party planning business... This past fall Paige and our friend Jen planned a 13th birthday party for my niece Anna and her BFF Madison (Jen's daughter.)  The invitations invited the kids to "dress like their parents did when they were 13" and for the majority of the kids that meant dressing in full out 80s attire! Man did I ever have flash backs to Assumptino and St. X mixers in 1984!  Albeit I was a bit on the preppy side of the 80s trends... the kids looked just like it would have at one of my freshmen mixers!  I did this layout using the American Crafts Teen Line...  I love this line but with boys I don't get much of a chance to use it...  I also used it on a retro layout about my senior year in highschool...  For those of you who are coming to the fundraising crop we are having in March the Totally Awesome layout will be one of the layouts included in the Diva Kit!