Just checking in....

It's been a long weekend! Robbie's new shift is kicking in, so he had to work today :( He'll have Monday off, just for this week, and then he'll have Fri/Sat off until the next shift change.

I've taken the weekend "off" in terms of posting layouts - I still have several to share that are waiting, so expect to see them tomorrow or maybe even Tuesday.

I will share one I did today though!

Here is the info: Abigale's first carousel ride!

Between Katie's inspiration for scrapping a carousel ride and this fun sketch over at scrapartist, I have a page I love! :)

Journaling reads: Your very first carousel ride!! You were so fascinated by how the horse went up and down and up and down that you spent most of the ride looking down! I was a little nervous that you might slip off your horse, but you held on with all your might and didn't budge one bit!














Credits: Topic inspiration from Katie's Month of Memories - July Issue (available at acherryontop), Sketch inpiration from Scrapartist, Kit is Emma's Sundress and Handstamped Alpha, both by Michelle Coleman, Fonts are: susie's hand, man's print, butterbrotpapier

Sun Sun go away, come again another day!

Okay, I know, that's not how the song goes...but it is so HOT! It's not as hot as last week, but just enought heat to totally exhaust you!

We went to playgroup today and did some water play outside - the poor girls didn't want to have anything to do with the pool or the sprinkler and wanted inside! Abigale wanted in so bad that she actually said inside - and she doesn't use her words unless she is really motivated! lol :)

Anyway, I think they had a good time, but I know I'm totally exhausted, and I really think it's just from the sun!

So, in the spirit of the heat...I'll share an icecream layout! :) These are the same pics from the storyboards I shared earlier this summer. I used Dani's Puppy Love kit from the This Love CD.



Journaling Reads: After a hot walk through the zoo, I knew the perfect treat! We stopped at the “old time” ice cream shoppe for some Blue Bell Icecream! The strawberry waffle come was light, refreshing....and melting really fast!!! You enjoyed it and begrudgingly shared a bite here and there with Mama. A perfect way to end a rainy steamy day at the zoo!

Have a great day!!

Quick Post

This is just a quick post to hopefully share another layout. My yahoo browser is having some problems, so everytime I click on a link that opens in a new window, the whole thing just shuts down! Hopefully restarting the computer will do the trick in fixing it!!!

I'm still working on transfering layouts and saving them to be printed. My main hang up is... I open up the file, then decide I need to change a drop shadow, and mess with the layout a little, then I check the spelling....and it's just taking a long time. Then there are about 5-10 layouts that I did about a year ago that I'm just not happy with - I'm chalking it up to learning new stuff over the past year - so they are going into a redo folder. BUT only if I just really don't like the total layout - if I can tolerate it, it's ok - I don't want to redo every layout!!!

Okay, so enough about the computer - here is another layout using Dani's CD! This one is using the kit "Bold Moves" and also uses Dani's circle stitching which can be found in the Ala Cart part of the store. The picture was from earlier this summer - I have so many pool pictures, it seems like that's all we've done all summer!!! :)

A little furry around the torso, alot like humans, even more so...

I was so disgruntled by my fil comment yesterday I forgot about our big trip yesterday. We had the opportunity to go to an author discussion/book signing of Mike Berenstain - of the Berenstain Bears!!! He is the son of Stan and Jan Berenstain and is carrying on the book writing tradition!

He did a reading of his newest book, written with Jan Berenstain, where they come to Texas to visit uncle Tex! He was really great with the kids. Then he did a demo and showed to draw a "real" bear and how the Berenstain bears are a little different and the human characteristics they take on. He also did some facial drawings showing happy, sad, sleepy, etc. It was great!!!

It was held in a tiny family owned bookstore - so very very packed. We were number 81 through the door in terms of the signing - so we held out for a while and after about 45 min had passed and they were still in the teens... we finally opted to leave our books for him to sign and pick them up later. I hated to do that, but it was really hot, Abigale was sweating buckets and couldn't even hold her head up. So we took my tired girl home.

Robbie managed to snap a few pictures over the crowd (he ended up in the back), we luckily were able to squeeze in and a really nice man gave me his seat so I wouldn't have to stand with Abigale - what a gentleman!!

After I download pics, I'll try to come back and update. ;) :)

As I said yesterday, it's time to post all my layouts using Dani's New CD, This Love! Here is the first!



Always always always working on back pictures! This is a picture from Abigale's dedication - just love it!

Journaling Reads: For this child we prayed...On this day we dedicated you to the Lord. We promised to raise you with a knowledge and love for Jesus. We pledged to love and cherish you for all the days of our lives!

how she's grown!!!! I'll post more soon, my plan is one new layout a day!

Monday Monday Monday....

Gotta love Mondays!

We went out to dinner for a belated birthday dinner with Robbie's family. It was nice, except for the fact that his dad feels that my scrapbooking isn't "real" scrapbooking. My feeling are a little hurt over that, but I don't know if that was his intention. I think he thinks it's graphic art and not "scrapbooking" because as he said I'm not piecing things together that you can "feel". So, I sweetly offered to take back his father's day album and he said I would have to pry it from his hands - so I guess he doesn't hate it - just wants to pick a fight...grrrr either way!

I was on DigiShopTalk and there was a forum post about googling your user name. So...I thought maybe I should do that and see what happened. Surprisingly, most of the links were acutally mine and related to either the blog or digiscrapping. There was another Amanda Gale who is ironically plays the flute in Australia (professionally though) and then there was one that I was afraid to click on...lol...but all the rest were mine.

And - during that search, guess what I found - lol. On July 1st my layout was chosen as DigiChick layout pick of the day! That just cracks me up! I'm honored, but you would have thought they would have sent me a pm or email or something! :) Of course, I could be a better blog reader as well! :)

Here is the blog thread.

I'm having hard drive space issues. My poor hard drive is overloading and I'm getting an out of space message frequently. So I've been working on deleting images - like the pictures that end up blurry - but somehow stay sitting in the folder for months anyways. I'm also going through all the psd files - making sure they are on the EHD - putting them in a printable format - and deleting from this hard drive. I think ultimately that will be a huge space saver. So - in the process I'm hoping to get caught up on printing and also determine where the gaps are in Abigale's 0 to 1 and 1 to 2 scrapbooks...whew, I'm tired just thinking about it!!!

I've also been working hard on layouts using Dani's fantastic new CD that I mentioned the other day. I'll share them on the blog and in the galleries soon - I've had so much fun working with her stuff!!!

Before I go on a spree with my Dani layouts - here is one I did about a week ago, but haven't gotten around to posting! This layout was inspired by the June issue of Katie's Amazing Month of Memories - showing your best smile! I just love this picture of Abigale - so when I saw the prompt I knew exactly what photo I wanted to use!!!! I also really like this shabby shack kit by Gina Cabrera - really fun and unique kit!!



Hope everyone is having a good Monday - and an even better rest of the week!

Trying to get back into the groove...

of everyday life!

We're back home - but still really exhausted. I think the problem is we really haven't stopped moving since last week! Something going on each day!! I took a little bit of a nap with Abigale this afternoon, but still tired!

Thanks for all the notes of condolences. The funeral was nice and Abigale slept through it (thank goodness!) The graveside service is another story altogether.... It started sprinkling on the drive over, which wasn't a good sign. We all huddled around as close as we could to the tent, it started with a small sprinkle and ended in a complete DOWNPOUR! My dad took off with Abigale before it all came down, thank goodness - so she was dry. My grandmother insisted that I stand under the tent with her, so I slipped under just in time BUT I had to get to the truck without an umbrella - so I was SOAKED. Fun Fun. We then went over to Aunt Becky's for dinner and about the time I finally started to dry, it was time to head home. It was really nice to see my family though, dispite the circumstances.

Nana stayed over at my parents house for a few days, so she was able to spend lots of time with Abigale. I think she really enjoyed that. :) She of course had to take a nap when Abigale did - I think Abigale really wore her out!!

The drive home seemed soooo LONG. Abigale fell alseep about 30 min into the ride so I decided I would wait and stop when she woke up. She slept all the way to Arlington!! (Probably about 3 hours!!!) So no stops made for a long drive for me - but no fussing, so I'll take that!

Like I said, since we've been home I still feel like we've been running! I've been trying to catch up on my posting of layouts I've finished and have had little time to create new layouts - but I'm planning to go scrapbooking with Crystal on Friday - so I hope to get lots done!!! :)

I also wanted to share something BIG that fabulous Dani has been working on! Her very first CD collection and it is WONDERFUL!!! Packed with rich papers and fantastic elements - my pages almost create themselves! ;) It's on preorder now - so run and buy it - you won't regret it!! Click on the image to see previews and sample layouts!!




I also wanted to share a few pictures I took on the way down to Houston. We stopped at a Sonic that had a great playground in Fairfield, Texas. The only downside was that some employees were sitting at a nearby picnic bench cursing (and by that I mean every other word they spoke should have been *** out!!) about some woman with too many kids - so at that point we just left instead of ordering food. It was a great place for Abigale to stretch her legs though!









You know what else I love - that Abigale has NO IDEA that those little boats and horses and such require money to make them move - she is totally happy just sitting there and climbing around!! lol - I guess I have to enjoy THAT while it lasts! :)

Here is a really cute page that Jacque did for me of Abigale at the park!! I had so much fun with our photoswap and LOVE this page!!! :) You can see all of the other swap pages over at the Girl Talk blog! :)




I have more layouts to share, but I'm fighting a horrible headache, so this is all for now!!!

When it rains....it pours

I feel like I've been down on my luck the past couple of days - lots of little things going wrong, and then some bad news... :(

First, I woke up yesterday and they were tearing down the play ground across the street. They put up a sign the night before and just got right to it - I feel like we didn't have time to say good bye - lol! We KNEW eventually they were going to do it, but now I'm just finding it rather sad. They will be putting a brand spanking new play ground in it's place....but according to the sign November is the estimated completion date - let's hope they work fast!

Then I found this mysterious cut on the bottom of the joint of one of my toes - don't ask me how it got there - but OUCH! does it hurt.

Then I get an email from a close friend of ours, he is announcing that he and his wife are seeking divorce - I'm totally in tears and shocked by this. :(

Then later that evening my mom calls to tell me that my Great Uncle has passed away. It was expected as he has been suffering from a relapse of cancer, but none the less, very sad. I'll be leaving early tomorrow morning to head to Houston and will spend some time with my parents and family. The funeral is on Sunday and I'm sure we'll spend the afternoon with extended family.

This will also be my first drive down to Houston, just me and Abigale - usually there is someone else in the car. So for instance, Robbie drives, and I am free to bend over backwards into the backseat to please Abigale. I get the cup she threw for the 100 time, or give her a snack, or just make funny faces...etc etc...so I see lots of stops in my future.

So I know, this is a rather "bad" news blog, but unfortunately life isn't always sunshine. Hopefully it will at least be in a happier state next week - because at this point I could still list off a million other things that are bothering me (most relatively unimportant to anyone reading) but I will spare you the whining.

Have a wonderful weekend, I'll return hopefully soon without the chip on my shoulder!

Happy 4th!!!

Hope everyone is having a fun and safe 4th! We've had a pretty busy weekend and actually celebrated on Saturday! Our friends the Thompson's threw a fantastic BBQ followed by a fireworks show their neighborhood association hosts! It was great - not too long, not too short. Abigale was a little bothered by the noise, she didn't cry, but she did eventually crawl out of my lap - up the stroller - and then planted herself in the seat....I can take a hint, lol! We made her wait it out though and I *think* she ultimately enjoyed it!

Yesterday, we went out to lunch and then caught a movie, The Devil Loves Prada. It was pretty good, Abigale was a little fussy, then gave up about halfway through and slept. All in all though - I would probably say rent it.

Today it's been raining off and on, so it's good that we caught the fireworks early!

Speaking of fireworks - several designers have some fun free firework freebies (say that three times fast) on their blogs! Check them out!

Dani has glitter fireworks and some really cute "blooms"!!
Michelle Coleman fun USA fireworks
Laura Alpuche glitter fireworks
Holly McCaig has an add on to her Glory Days Kit - cute tickets and elements (Scan down the page a bit to find it)
Kimberly Giarrusso cute mini kit

So that's FOUR fantastic freebies!!! What a find! :) (and the funny thing is I wasn't even looking, just browsing through blogs I like to read!)

Here's a layout I created using Dani and Kristen's Yankee Doodle Candy Kit and a few of Dani's cute fireworks! (Pictures taken last May after Abigale's First Ranger's Game!)



In other news, my child ate ketchup for dinner. That's it, that's all. Okay - maybe a fry or two made it in - but no chicken. It wasn't the healthiest of dinners - but Robbie and I gave in to Whataburger - unfortunately Abigale did not! Crazy child!

Well, a bit of happy sad news. First, the good news, Michelle sold the website (Digiscrappin.biz). Lori, the new owner, is really motivated and excitied - I know she's going to do a great job and bring some new ideas to the website! However, here is the sad news...I have decided that it's time for me to also make my exit. With a new owner coming in, my admin role is over, and even beyond that, it's time for me to rediscover my designs (or not). As much as I love Digiscrappin, especially the team!!!, I have really neglected myself. So I'm going to take a much needed breather - and make some decisions - do I continue to design here and there - or is it time to let that go?? If I'm going to design, I want to be unique, not just the same old same old - do I have that in me?? I just don't know! :) So, I'm going to take some time - without pressure, and figure it out!

I also have a really exciting project (really several) that are in the works - so I'll share them soon - just waiting for the timing to be right!

That's all I have to share for now! Can't believe it's Tuesday - with Robbie being off, it seems like it should be much earlier in the week!!! Anyway, have a happy 4th!!!