We have some winners!

*Crystal* said...

oooh! I would so love to win! I haven't ever had a copy before! :)

I want to see a tutorial for iron on's for little onesies! I know it's supposed to be easy, but I am so dense! LOL! I would love to see that completely spelled out for me! Thank you so much for the chance Kelleigh!

KB said...

Well, it's getting to be the season. How about some cute Christmas ornament ideas or trick or treat bags?

Congrats gals! Now, I just have to figure out how to get the codes to you. Go ahead and PM me wherever you saw the announcement for this giveaway. If I don't hear back from you by Monday night, I'll start searching you out . . .

This giveaway was GREAT because it gave me some ideas for projects I must try, and it also reminded me to TAKE PICTURES when I'm actually doing projects!

Oh, and Crystal, I still have not tried the onesie thing, but I HAVE TO soon for a benefit I am helping out with. Maybe I'll do a TDC blog post about that . . . unless Jen Tapler beats me to it. (And she should, 'cause she is the hybrid onesie queen.)

And KB, I have some COOL ornament ideas swirling around in my head that I am so excited to try!! I'm just waiting for ONE of my designers to come out with a Christmas kit. As soon as that hits the virtual shelves, I am ALL OVER it.

Yay! Thanks for participating everyone!!

Bella Scraps Giveaway and other stuff!!

The newest issue of Bella Scraps (online) Magazine is now available, and it is gorgeous!! I have a FUN little tutorial (and free template) in there with an adorable project. I can't post pics of my project (although I am sorely tempted), so you'll have to just go purchase your own copy!

OR, better yet, win one from ME!! I'd like to give away two copies of the September issue of Bella Scraps Magazine. All you have to do is tell me what kind of hybrid tutorial you would like to see next. As I mentioned recently, I am a new contributor to Bella Scraps, however my brain is totally fried right now and I need some inspiration for the October issue . . . and the deadline is quickly approaching! Anyone have any suggestions?

Post your idea (or just a shout out if your brain is fried, too) for a chance to win one of two copies of Bella Scraps! My random number generator will pick the lucky winners and I will announce them on Saturday.

And, I also wanted to show you one of my newer products that I just uploaded to The Hybrid Shoppe last week.

Click here to see it in the store.

I found some name badge holders at the Dollar Tree, and I just HAD to make a template for a mini album! Think of the name badge holders as little page protectors. So cute! And, here is what Jen Tapler (my marvelous Creative Team) created with my template:

Click here for credits and to leave her some love!

And (I'm almost done) The Hybrid Shoppe is having a Grand Opening celebration complete with giveaways for 3 lucky customers! Just place an order on the site by Friday night and your name will be entered into the drawing!

Grant's second first day of school

Well, I did it. I sent my son off for his first day of kindergarten. Oh, I can't even explain what that was like. But . . . I'll try anyway. ('cause you know me!)

The morning was rushed! I watch my friend's two kids on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, and they arrived a little after 7:00 this morning. Thankfully, by that time Cole had already taken a shower and was dressed to go to MOPS. I welcomed the two little additions and promptly threw their clothes at them. Okay, that is not EXACTLY what I did, but I did pull their clothes out and had them get dressed right away. They come in their pajamas, and it is SO HARD to get 4 kids and myself ready to get out the door in the morning unless I get these two dressed right away. So, although I'm sure they would have loved to snuggle under their blankies with their nice, warm jammies on, not gonna happen at my house. At least not on hectic days . . . like Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. So, now 3 kids are ready, plus I was able to take a shower while Mitch took the trash out ('cause Tuesdays are ALSO trash days. Ugh.). I tried to wake Grant up, and he begged me for "ten more minutes plus one", so I let him sleep a little longer while I put my makeup on and generally got myself ready for the day. When I came out of my bedroom, I saw Grant snuggling on the couch with his brother. (THAT warms the heart. You have no idea.) Time for breakfast, and since my friend brought pears, I decided to feed them all pears. My kids loved them. Her kids started to cry. Hmm . . . maybe they have had too many pears.

After that, it was all about Grant. I threw him in the shower, which he enjoyed very much and was loath to get out of, and we picked out one of the new shirts we bought yesterday in anticipation of his first day of kindergarten. My little guy was SO handsome!

After many false starts (Cole LOVES to open the garage door . . . even though we were not ready to go, yet) we finally piled into the car to take Grant to school. The short drive to school was filled with last minute instructions and encouragement. It's hard to get very deep, though, when there are 3 other kids listening in. We parked and got out of the Jeep. I grabbed my camera, and Grant, of course, faced AWAY from the camera. (He's in an uncooperative stage whenever the camera comes out!) I got a couple of decent shots. The teacher opened the door, and Grant walked right on in to the classroom. He remembered to hang up his coat and backpack, just like he was shown, and he found his name at the table. He sat right down, and the teacher explained his morning work.

THIS is when I started to lose it. My baby is a kindergartener. Watching him act so mature, so in control of his environment, really reaffirmed our (my) decision to put him in kindergarten rather than hold him back. At the same time, it was tough for me. Most moms get an entire year to prepare themselves for the idea that their child is going to be going to school every day, is becoming even more independent, and is slowly spreading his wings. I had about two days.

I walked over to Grant and got down to whisper in his ear. He continued to write his name while I told him how proud I was of him. I reminded him that if he needs help, he can just ask his teacher. He sneaked a peak at what his neighbor was doing so he could figure it out himself. I kissed his little cheek and told him I love him. He whispered back, "I love you too, mom," as he continued to work on his worksheet. Then, it was time for me to leave. Ugh. This was so much harder than I thought it would be. The teacher, my friend Alex, came over and asked me how I was doing. I started to tear up as I said, "I'm feeling a little emotional."

I was all choked up the entire (short) drive to MOPS. Al during MOPS I wondered how he was doing. I was sure he was fine, but still . . . I wondered. We went to pick Grant up from school at 11:30, and he came bounding out of his classroom like he has done it a million times. He told me he had a lot of fun, but some things were not so fun. He had to do a lot of work, and didn't get to play with the dinosaurs or the bugs. I explained that they were for his math work, so maybe tomorrow. He told me he likes his class and his new friends, then he ran off to the playground to play with them.

I'm so proud of that little guy. He is a mother's dream. He is such an absolute joy and I am so honored to be able to call him my son. This was a big day for him (and me). He's on the road to becoming a world changer.

Weekend recap, and then some . . .

I decided I really need to do a weekend recap post since I am really bad at keeping this thing updated with anything personal. So, here ya go:

Friday - Hmm . . . oh yeah!! Grant had his very first non-family-member sleepover. He and Katie had been talking about having a sleepover for the LONGEST time, and it finally happened! Yes, his first sleepover with a non-family-member was at Katie's house (who is practically a sister anyway) and they both had a great time. Grant had no problem being away from us. In fact, he didn't want to call us on Saturday morning because he thought he would have to go home if he did. So cute! They watched Strawberry Shortcake, "Because boys can watch Strawberry Shortcake if they want to, mom," and made light sabers with the tinker-toys. Grant is looking forward to the next sleepover. (Oh, and just to sort of nip-it-in-the-bud . . . we are not really ready to have Grant sleep over at anyone else's house. He's a popular kid, but we only want him to sleep over with family members or Katie at this point. We're kind of protective!)

So, while Grant slept over, Mitch and Cole took me out to Thai food, then we stopped in at the scrapbooking store and Sportsman's Warehouse. Then, back to our house with some movie rentals! It was a fun date night with just me and my two boys!

Saturday - After a leisurely morning, we picked Grant up from Katie's house and took him to McDonalds for lunch. Lazy day. We discovered the Red Box machine (thanks to Moriah) and rented a movie for Grant. The rest of the day was spent doing nothing much, then watching a movie with Grant and Cole while eating fancy cheese and crackers. It was a wonderful day!

Sunday - In Sunday School, we are doing the James Dobson Series, Bringing Up Boys. Mitch and I read this book back when Grant was itty bitty (like, days old) and we now have the opportunity to learn from Dobson again from a different perspective. We are really enjoying the video series and love the conversation that sparks from it. Wonderful stuff. After church, we came home for leftover Thai food and a nap for Cole. I got some designing work in while Mitch took Grant "crawdad fishin'", which is the ULTIMATE father-son adventure. They both LOVE the time they spend together doing this, and I love the stories they bring back. They are talking about fishing a crawdad out of the creek to take to "share" at school. Yikes!

Speaking of school . . . we decided to put Grant in kindergarten. I don't know if I have ever posted here about all of my emotions and decisions regarding Grant's schooling, but if not, then that might be a good thing. I have been struggling with this whole thing since he was 2. For me, it was not a matter of public vs. private vs. home school. I already know what I want to happen there (and hopefully I'll get my way). For me, it was about timing. You see, Grant's birthday is mid-July, and the cut off is September 1st. To make a super, emotional, long story short, I wanted my child to be the biggest and smartest rather than the youngest and smallest. So, we started him in the 3-year-old preschool right after his 4th birthday, and 4-year-old preschool right after his 5th birthday. However, he has proven to be so much more advanced than his peers that it has caused us concern. I taught the 4-year-old Sunday School class this summer and I saw a HUGE difference in maturity, academic skills, etc. At the end of the first week of 4-year-old preschool, Mitch once again asked me if we were doing the right thing. I panicked again. Then I relaxed. Then, I started to think about how this was going to effect Cole. See, if we "hold Grant back", we need to do the same thing with Cole to make sure they are 3 years apart in school. Problem is that Cole's birthday is in June, so he would be even older. Yesterday (Sunday), I was sitting in Sunday School talking to the mother of one of Grant's friends from 3-year. She said that her son misses Grant and we should get them together. I said, "Well, aren't they in the same Sunday school?" She explained that they decided to push their son ahead into Kindergarten this year, so he is in the Kindergarten SS class. Ugh. And this gal is another teacher - who knows her son and his abilities - and she is making the decision to push her son ahead. Yikes! My heart started racing and I started freaking out about the decision we (I) made about holding Grant back when he is clearly ready for Kindergarten.

SO, it kept me up all night. I spent the morning visiting classrooms, meeting teachers, asking for special consideration. And, Grant's first day of kindergarten is tomorrow. He has been evaluated (and he really is a genius - although the teacher said he did "well") and he is very excited to be in kindergarten. He loves his classroom (especially the dinosaur toys) and I am thrilled to pieces at what he will be learning this year. Grant's teacher is a good friend of mine, so that is a wonderful plus, yet I truly did "evaluate" her to make sure she really was as good as everyone says. Yes. She REALLY is.

I am relieved. I am excited. I feel so very blessed to have such an awesome church and preschool/kindergarten. And, I am so glad they decided to let Grant in!!

So, anyway. That is my big news. I'll leave you with a couple of fun things to look at. First, is a new product for my store. These are just my thoughts, put together in word art. A perfect addition to any page about a newborn, etc.


Click here.

And, here is a layout I did last week. Did I mention that I am on the CT for Funky Playground Designs?


Click here for credits. (Oh, and I used one of my own templates!)

And, The Digichick, where I am honored to be on the hybrid CT, has revealed a new look and we are keeping the party (which started this weekend) going! Check out my notebook for my covered notebook challenge:

Treasure

Click here for credits!

New stuff!

As I mentioned below, my store opened on Saturday! Our grand opening will be on the 22nd, but you can still go check it out!

Here are some new stuffs from me:


here


here


here

Monday!

Wow! It's amazing how much cool stuff can happen over a weekend. Keeping up with this blog and the rest of my life sometimes feels like a chore, however I need to keep it in perspective. Why did I start this blog? Basically, to share a little, to journal a little, to have access to my words for quick journaling on my pages, etc. I really love having a place to put things that I have been working on, and to reflect on what is going on in my life. So. Oh, well. Maybe I get behind. Maybe I dump a bunch of stuff on here in a single post. Maybe I'm not very deep, and I might seem shallow because I'm not writing from my heart. Whatever. I'm sure I'll get to that stage eventually, but for now, I'll just share quickly.

Thursday - As you know, I have been without email since Thursday when the server had to be moved out of Houston due to the impending hurricane. I am having SUCH a hard time being without my email. I can't even imagine being without electricity or clean drinking water or a dry bed. My thoughts are with everyone affected by hurricane Ike. I wish I knew more about how my friends and their families are doing. Hopefully we will get an update soon.

Friday - It is so wonderful to have a morning with no one else but Cole. I love these mornings! Even if all we do is snuggle on the couch, we have such a fun time. On Friday night, we had some friends over for dinner. Lots of fun, as always!

Saturday - We decided to do something special with the boys, so we went to the movies! We NEVER go to the movies, unless it is our local drive-in. It is getting SO expensive, and with two very unpredictable kids, we would rather not waste the money. However, we had a gift card, so we decided to risk it and go to see a kid movie. We ended up watching "Fly Me To The Moon", which was the ONLY rated G moving playing in ALL of Salem. How crazy is that? Well, we loved the movie anyway. It was in 3D, so that was a fun experience. The boys were wonderful and really enjoyed it!

That evening, Mitch went to a friend's guys only birthday party, so I stayed home and partied with Grant and Cole. We had popcorn and watched a video, then it was off to bed for them and play time for me!

Another class layout:

Click here for credits.

I should also mention that my store opened on Saturday. Go check it out: The Hybrid Shoppe

On Sunday, we went to church, then Sunday school. Man, I love our church! We have a great church family and I totally enjoy our Sunday school class. We are doing the James Dobson video series "Bringing Up Boys". Mitch is the "push the play button" man, and he does an awesome job of facilitating our discussion. I leave church feeling energized, encouraged and filled up. Sundays are the best.

Right after church, we dropped our boys off at their cousins' house and met up with some friends to go wine tasting. Another favorite activity! Actually, one of the guys from our group belongs to a cellar club, so we went to a winery and had a picnic. We could have taken the tour, but it was too hot for that. We just enjoyed our wine and cheese and fruit and relaxed and talked. It was wonderful. After that we brought pizza back to the cousins' house and hung out with family for a while. I would say that our Sunday was perfect!!

And today, Funky Playground Designs, where I am now on the site CT (yay!), is debuting a BUNCH of new designers and the website has an awesome new look. Check it out here.

Here is a new layout with some new stuff from a new gal at FPD:

Click here for credits.

And, that was our weekend! That wasn't so painful, was it?

No email for me!

I just wanted to put a quick note out there to let you know that if you are trying to reach me via email, you can't! Let me 'splain.

My amazing parents, who own/run a wonderful international adoption agency have generously allowed me to have an email account with their server (or whatever). Thus, the not-so-generic ending to my email address, right?

Anywho . . . they have offices all over the country, and one of their main offices, which houses the server, is located in the Houston area. I don't have TV, so I don't know all the details, but I received an email this morning telling me that they were going to be moving the server to a safe place. Of course, I was like, "huh?" Then, as I kept reading, I realized that there is a hurricane headed toward the small city where the office is located. I used to live in this small city, so I know that there are creeks that snake up and down and all around the place. We used to live on a creek, and it is amazing how quickly it rises when a hurricane threatens. Actually, the house we lived in flooded several years ago (and it wasn't the first time this happened), so the government decided to tear it down.

Okay, so all that to say that I probably won't have access to email for the next few days. If you are trying to reach me, call me. If you don't have my number, but you just HAVE to talk to me, PM me at MSA. If you don't know what that is, then you probably don't really need to reach me urgently. Or, if you think you do, just comment under this post. Does that work?

And, just to reassure you, my parent don't live in Houston, they are in California. I live in Oregon. We are fine. The people who work for the agency and who live in the Houston area are evacuating. Well, probably. Of course, we never evacuated when I was in high school and we had about a million hurricane warnings, but then that was before New Orleans, right? Anyway, just wanted to let you know!

Stress level going down.

Yes. Finally! Our first MOPS meeting of the year was yesterday, and now I can relax. I'm on the steering team of our Dallas MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group, and I sorely neglected my duties this summer. I probably should have devoted one hour, one day a week to my job, but I didn't. Instead, I was pretty hit-and-miss, then it all smacked me in the face at the last minute. HOWEVER, it is over, and I can settle into the routine of being the Discussion Group Team Leader.

The meeting was so much fun! We have a lot of new moms, and it is always exciting to start a new year with a new group of moms at my table. I'm really looking forward to getting to know everyone better.

Next up: we have our first small group meeting tonight at our church. (This is not related to MOPS.) Mitch and I will be leading a small group with a focus on marriage. Remember when we went to A Weekend To Remember? Well, we had the opportunity to try out Family Life's small group curriculum, and we really liked it. We have been excited to bring it to our church! So, after tonight, I can stop stressing about that.

Hmm . . . the shoppe opens up on Saturday. I know I should be doing a few more things to get ready, but I'm pooped. Maybe I'll put something together tonight. In the meantime, bookmark this: The Hybrid Shoppe

And here is a little peek at what I'll have in there:


And a layout I created using one of my templates:


Click here for credits.

Since I don't have enough on my plate as it is, I decided to take another Jessica Sprague class. I'm loving this one. It is team taught by Jessica and my friend Liv Esteban, and it is called Type+Writer. This is a seriously awesome class. We are three days into the class, and I'm seeing a routine emerging that is so do-able with my schedule. First, Liv gives us a writing prompt (or several) and TOTALLY inspires us to write. I can't describe how wonderful Liv is. Amazing, amazing, amazing. The next day, Jessica gives us a template, a kit and video instructions (in true JS style). Awesome.

I have to tell you that I did not really know what to expect with this class. I should have expected a TON, but of course I just figured I would go along for the ride. Obviously, this class is going WAY beyond my expectations. We will be thinking, journaling, learning and creating 6 layouts along the way. In two weeks. I am in heaven!!

Here is my first layout from this class:


Click here for credits.

And, since I'm showing off, here is my new little nephew:

I'll link you up to the credits tomorrow!

Oh, and check out this little tutorial I did on The Digichick Blog today!

Brag books

Oh, I forgot to tell you that Dianne Rigdon put my brag books in her store last weekend! Hee, hee! So cute!

SO much going on!!

We have seriously had SO much going on that I'm feeling stressed. Let me explain . . . no, let me sum up:

Friday - We were invited out at the last minute to go to McGrath's with Mitch's family. Had a blast (love that place!), then went back to T&B's new house for brownies and ice cream. They have an awesome "family" house that will be perfect for them! I love the setting, too!


click here for credits

Saturday - We went to the coast (which is what Oregonians call the beach). Again, had a blast. We had s'mores and hot dogs and just played with the boys. Mitch brought along a bunch of dinosaurs, so we were digging dinosaurs most of the time! Arrived home to hear that my brother's wife was in labor! Wahoo! Little Jude was born on August 30th, 2008.

Sunday - After church, we went to our local, major discount store to pick up a birthday gift for Grant's friend. While we were there, I found two twin-sized sheet sets for $7 each. Dinosaurs!! So, I bought them both, then we came home and I "redecorated" Grant's room. One sheet set for the bed, and then the extra bottom sheet to cover the box spring and the extra top sheet as his curtain. PERFECT! We have tall windows, so we have to buy 96" window coverings. So, basically we spent $3.50 on Grant's 96" window covering. Am I a genius, or what? And, the sheet looks awesome up there because it has a nice colored band at the top. We clipped it up with ring clips. Seriously cool. Oh, and last month, while I was in my local scrapbooking store, I saw a dinosaur sign that I had been coveting on sale for 50% off! Designed by one of my FAVORITE digital designers, Jen Wilson! You better believe I bought that baby. So, yes, Grant has a sign from my scrapbooking store in his room . . . and he loves it.

(Here's some more "genius" for you. I've been wanting to replace my high-water window coverings in the family room, but 96" curtains are hard to find and expensive (x6). Last night Mitch says, "Man, those sheets work great on the boys' windows, don't they? Why don't we do the same thing out here?" Hmm . . . for some reason, that hadn't occurred to me, but what a fabulous idea!! I'm keeping my eye out . . .)

Back to Sunday. After redecorating the room, we went to Grant's friend's birthday party. It was lots of fun for Grant, and a bit strange for me. I mean, these people are my friends from church, but they are also in a small group that I am not in. They had some inside jokes that I didn't know, but that was SERIOUSLY okay with me. Whatever. The strange part was that almost the ENTIRE time they all had their cell phones out blue-toothing each other. Yeah. Weird.

I digress.

I checked my email right after I got home from the birthday party and saw the final draft of my first issue of the DST Insider! Wahoo! So, of course, I had to read it, edit it, oooh and ahh. You HAVE to go check it out! I've heard many people say that it is the best one yet!! Hee, hee!

After that, Mitch and I went to a little reunion of sorts. Mitch's high school buddies all got together at someone's house for dinner. It was a lot of fun!! Each time I meet these people I have more fun. We should do that again!

Monday - After stopping off for a 45 minute quick-lube oil change (whatever!), we were FINALLY on our way up to Tacoma to meet my new nephew. It was a long drive. And the boys were pretty good. But, it was long. Maybe we should get a dvd player for the car?

Anyway, we arrived about 1 hour after my brother and his wife got home from the hospital and got to see our sweet, new nephew. He is adorable and has so much hair! I'll be sure to post pics, but I want to do a layout or project with them, so you'll have to wait.

We stayed in Tacoma for about 5 hours, just sitting around enjoying new life and eating some wonderful salmon, then drove back home! This trip wasn't as bad. 4 hours just flew by as Grant listened to a book on CD.

Gosh, I'm tired.

OK, so the stress really started right after that. See, the store I am going to be selling templates in is SUPPOSED to be opening on Saturday. I hate my logo, I have a lot more that I want to put in, and I don't even have a CT. I'm so not ready for this! (But still, it is very exciting!) So, I've been working my tail off, and I'm still not satisfied.

At the same time, I am supposed to be getting ready (finalizing, really) for our first MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) meeting. I slacked BIG TIME this summer, and now it is catching up to me. I spent almost ALL DAY creating forms and writing letters and all kinds of things that I should have done a month ago. Blah. Well, once Tuesday rolls around, hopefully the stress will roll right off.

Oh, but there is more. I have a parent meeting tonight for Grant's school, a "meet the teacher" thing on Friday, and his first day is Monday. And, small groups start next Wednesday and I still need to order our books. And, Mitch is starting his Sunday School class on Sunday, so we have to prepare for that.

At least I finally posted the assignments for the October DST Insider. That has been hanging on my back for a couple of days now.

Sigh. So. I'm stressed. And, now I have to go fix dinner. Maybe even clean the family room before Mitch gets home.

Through all this, I gotta say, "I love my life!"

We have a winner!

Congrats to mrsromer, our winner of the August issue of Bella Scraps Magazine!! This was so much fun for me that I will be sure to do it again with the September issue. And, look for a tutorial by ME!