Fed Ex Came To My Door

So as I was completing my last post, the dog downstairs starting barking. Then someone was running up my stairs. I ignore it, because my neighbor gets a lot of visitors. Then a knock! Wait a minute, that is my door. I walk over to my door, only to hear them running back down, that is weird! I open my door, look down, and it is a box! I never get packages, I hollar thank you to the Fed Ex man as he is climbing back into his truck. I look at it, it says it is from CK Media, I got so gitty, if I could jump, I would have! I immediately opened it up, took a picture, and here we are! I won a happy hour contest a couple weeks ago. I got Ali Edwards' "Life Artist" Book. I can't believe it came so quickly! I am so excited. It even came with a poster, which will hang gracefully in my scrap corner, as a reminder. Tigardlilly won a CKMB contest over a month ago, and still hasn't gotten hers! Actually, it was the HOF name scramble, I gave her all the answers, so that prize should be mine! Come on Laura, you know it is funny! lol

I have been tagged!!

Ok, so I randomly asked Erica about tagging, what is it, how does it work, etc...So she tagged me. Here are 7 random things about me...

1. I love history about The Civil War. One of my dreams is to head back east and visit all the historic sites. I have a great, great, something or other uncle who was a general for the confederacy, Longstreet. He was with Lee at Appomatix Courthouse for the surrender. I did a project on it in the 8th grade and learned a lot. This is where I fell in love with it. The funny thing, was there was a boy in my class, who was related to General Lee!!
2. I love Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice! I have the A&E movie and watch it at least once a week-I never get tired of it.
3. I hate onions. YUCK!!
4. I used to play the bass. It started in 6th grade on the violin. 7th grade the viola, 8th grade the upright bass. In highschool, they put me on the viola again in 9th grade. Then in 10th grade, back onto the bass. I ended up joining the jazz band in 11th and 12th grade playing the electric bass! I miss it so much. Music has always been an important part of my life. Thank you mom for playing all those records when I was a kid.
5. I love to cook. Finances right now limit me from creating masterpieces, have to keep it to the simple meals. But when I get the chance, I make a huge mess cooking, and try out all kinds of new meals. Rachel Ray is one of my biggest inspirations. I also enjoy Alton Brown, Paula Dean and Giada DeLarentis. I gotta tell you though, it is really hard to cook without onions!!
6. I can't have children. I love kids and always wanted to have them. I am dealing with it pretty well. Luckily I have my cousin's kids to enjoy and my own 15 year old nephew. That is what most of my pages are about. God intends us all for different things.
7. I love movies! I watch at least one movie everyday (don't have cable anymore). I enjoy a wide spectrum of movies.

Now I call out some others to post thier 7 random facts. Since most the blogs I look at on a regular basis have just recently been tagged, I only have a few to tag.

Inara, Tigardlilly, AFScrapperMom, YOU HAVE BEEN TAGGED!

Since I am lacking on blogs to visit, I encourage you to leave me a comment with your blog link and you are now tagged as well!!

I am in LOVE with the Cricut Design Studio

I finally downloaded the trial version of the Cricut Design Studio! I created the following layout using it tonight. I used the George Font (only one in trial version), slanted the letters at 30 degrees, welded the letters together (totally awesome feature), and crammed as many flowers as I needed in the smallest amount of space possible. I save so much more paper this way. You can also go smaller than 1 inch. The normal contraints of the basic Cricut operations range from 1 inch to 5 1/2 inches, in 1/2 inch increments, very limiting. I MUST have this!!

I also used the new KI Memories Pop Culture Sheet, on top of a Bazzill Cardstock. I used a pink glaze pen, it gives an embossed look and adds dimension to the layout. I really need to get a photo corner punch, it is so tedious hand cutting these by hand! UGH, I just noticed my title is crooked-time to embrace imperfection!!

This is the left overs after I took out my letters and flowers, see how much I was able to cram into this little piece of paper?

Bazzill Swatch

What scrapbooker doesn't want a Bazzill cardstock swatch? Since I cannot afford to buy all the swatches Bazzill puts out, I am starting my own! Actually, it is me, Tigardlilly and Scrapamac. It is so easy! We cut our Bazzill scraps into 2x2 squares, write the color on the back, punch a hole with our trusty Crop-O-Diles, and VOILA, it's a Bazzill Swatch. So far we have about 105 swatches and looking forward to many more! It is both economical and "green". We are using scraps, and not spending any money to do it. I encourage all you other Bazzill lovers, to do the same, you never know when you may need to know the exact color you used, or if you are on the hunt for the perfect color for the perfect layout!

I went cropping!!!

I finally got to crop with one of my CKMB buddies, Inara! She is great to hang out with, we had a blast. We seem to have lots in common. I think we could turn out to be great friends. We look forward to more crops together. My other 2 scrap buddies couldn't come today, so I was a little disappointed. Christmas is only 2 1/2 weeks away, so I know everyone is busy. Another CKMB buddy, Kaydrenth wanted to come, but had other plans as well. I am very excited to meet her someday as well. I just love cropping with other people, it makes everything more enjoyable. It is very tiresome cropping alone all the time.

I am currently working on my 2007 Portland Rose Festival album. I am still on the first of 5 events, so I have a long way to go. I usually just do a few pages of the whole thing, but this year I decided to do a whole album, with all the pages coordinating together but each page completely different. Here are four out of eleven pages-so far...just a sample of what I am doing.

My Scrap Corner

So I finally got my Scrap Corner cleaned up and usable. I messed it up right away of course. But I keep it cleaned up every night, well mostly! My brother and sister-in-law gave me their old computer, so now all I need is the Silhouette! I sit here everyday, thinking of something to create. I haven't done an actual layout in sometime. I have been doing a lot of altered things lately. I made some holiday planners, which were fun! I am working on some chipboard word books, and a chipboard perpetual calendar. I miss layouts, but I am lacking pictures-actually the money to develop them. I have over 400 pictures ready for printing. I need to still do a "photo shoot" of my brother and sister-in-law for a special project I am working on, shhhhh, it is a secret! Someday I will get my mojo back, so I can enjoy scrappin' again.

Macy's Holiday Parade--Portland Style

The Friday after Thanksgiving brings the Macy's Holiday Parade to Portland. This was our first time attending this parade. It was very cold, but very worth it. The kids enjoyed it very much, especially when the paraders threw candy-who doesn't love candy. This is the beginning of a new tradition for us. We would have hung out downtown for the treelighting, but we had other engagements. Next year!

Here we are, freezing our tushies off!

Macy's, what else can I say!

I told you it was cold!

Welcome Santa!!

The beginnings of my blog.

I finally gave in to the urge to start up a blog of my very own. This is very difficult for me, as I am so shy. I want a place where I can tell my stories, share my experiences, and post lots of pictures! Please be patient as I continue to discover everything I can do with my blog, and eventually make it a better design.