Any Minute Now

My sister-in-law is going to burst and I'm gonna be an aunt for the very first time! Her due date of April 28th has come and gone...so to say the anticipation around here has skyrocketed would be an understatement! While we're waiting, would you cross your fingers for me that my new nephew is born on May 5? That way I'll win the family baby pool and have enough cash to run out to the LSS and pick up all that baby boy paper and embellishments I'll be needing!

XOXO, Christa...praying for a speedy, uncomplicated joyful delivery !

Been Scrappin a Little...

This layout was based on a fabulous sketch by IBSS member Tina for the awesome 6 week sketch challenge on the message board. With Mother's Day sneaking up on me, I'm finding myself digging again into the last photos I took of my mom. This will be my second Mother's Day without her...and I still miss her like the day I lost her. The journaling is a poem that Ashley gave me that I've been saving for just this occasion:

Here's a layout I did with the Jenni Bowlin pattern paper line I've been dying to get my grubby mits on...the color scheme is totally timeless and classic, and perfect for wedding photos!

And finally, a little yummy card that reminds me of ice cream on a hot summer day! Once I had the design down in my head, the rest was super easy and this came together in about 20 minutes! I like this design so much, I think I'll make a few more of these tonight while I'm watching American Idol...won't they make cute notecards to send out with little raks?

Ok, off the computer for me. I've got a tutorial to work on for my technique of the week at Itty Bitty...it's called Creative with Chipboard, and I'm gonna get messy with some glitter and paint and stamps and stuff. I hope you'll pop over and check it out when it's done! I'll keep ya posted!

Spring Bling and Sweet Rallye Victory!

The Bi-monthly challenge is up over at the Itty Bitty Scrap Shack, and it's called "Spring Bling" The premise to use your bling in as many creative ways as you can. Here's my entry:

It's a photo from back in the day when Ashley was well on her way to becomming a professional dancer. A lot of the bling here is pretty obvious; the circle aroud the flower and the corners of the picture. But I snuck some in, too, that wasn't quite at obvious:

I finally pulled out the glimmer mist I got at CHA and in my Itty Bitty kit, and sprayed these tiny Primas with some pink, red and gold. I love the mix of colors, and I couldn't believe how shimmery they came out! I'm loving me some glimmer mist now, and want to spray everthing in sight.

Yeah, I put it away. Quick.

And before I go...I wanna give a a quick shout out to my dad the super excellent rallye car driver! We finally came in 1st place in our "First Friday Nighter" rallye, after months of finishing way behind and sometimes not finishing at all! Finally, the sweet taste of victory was ours, I knew we could do it!

Just don't ask how many cars were in our in our class this week...

Determined to get back on track!

I had such good intentions when I started my little blog all those months ago...I wasn't going to put any pressure or expectations on myself, and just enjoy posting when I felt like I wanted to. I did pretty good about posting consistently for a while! But recently, I got a bad case of the total blog blah's...and I was determined to figure out why.

I think it started when I left for Costa Rica. While I was gone, snapping gazillions of pictures and religiously writing in my travel journal, I started imagining sharing my photos and experiences on my blog. The longer I was gone, the more photos I took, and the more pages I wrote in my journal...I didn't want to forget a thing! Good for me, right? Well, you'd think so...but subconsciously I think I was like...*gulp*! The thought of sharing the stories and pictures became more of a chore than I first imagined. When I first came home, I put it all off for a few days to unwind, unpack, and collect everything in one place. After uploading some stuff once or twice, I felt like I wasn't even making a dent in the pictures. The chore turned into a nightmare, and the nightmare turned into total blog neglect. And the longer I neglected the blog, the harder it became to post anything at all. And I think because I never finished posting the photos from Costa Rica, I felt like I couldn't post about anything else until I had finished.

Um...Helloooo! Last I checked this was MY blog, and I get to make the rules and do whatever I want! And that includes not finishing something I started if that's how I feel. And I do. For now.

Whew! Now that I've lifted THAT ton of bricks off my shoulders...I feel sooo much better! Good enough to share a layout I made for no reason at all except these pictures have been begging to be scrapped for 3 months now:




When I was in high school, my best friend Jodi and I would talk about how we were still gonna be friends even when we were older and married, we'd live close to each other forever, and our kids would be best friends, too. Now, 25 years later, her daughter Justine really is my daughter's best friend, and it really is the coolest feeling ever!


So I think I'm off to a pretty good start as far as getting back on the blog train. At least, my intentions are good...

Little Bit o' Layout Love

Just a little change of scenery until things slow down a bit and I can write a proper blog post:

A couple layouts I've done using a little Creative Cafe...still loving the stuff! All the die cut flowers on the bottom layout came from ONE 12x12 sheet and there were still quite a few left over! Lot's of little tricks and techniques and haven't tried before on these...like the faux stitching around the circle on the bottom layout. It was made with a paper piercer and a white signo gel pen, but looks totally like machine stitching!

So things are calming down a tad around here, and I have my scrap stuff set up the best I can under the circumstances, but I gotta be honest...not having my own scrap space is really starting to stifle the creativity! I have everthing I really need, but being so cramped and squished just isn't working for me...I'm getting stuff done, but not enjoying the process the way that I usually do. It's a total bummer. I can't wait to start looking for a new place...and though I don't look forward to the actual "moving" of furniture and stuff, I am going to be super excited to set up a new space and have some creative room to breathe!