14,000 Miles

Some friends of mine over at Tally Scrapper had this bright idea:

Since there are some of you who have decided to work out would you like to join me on something? ... It is just over 7,000 miles to get to Iraq from where I am and I want to bike to Iraq and back, since the hubby is heading over in June. That would be 14,000 miles and I could use some help!

They setup a blog to help keep track of all the miles. Here's the address:
http://tallyiraqandback.blogspot.com/

I'm part of the Tally Team! So, as I make my way to Woodsfield this year, I'm also on my way to Iraq and Back! Be routing for us!

Happy New Year!

Time to make some personal goals for 2008. Here is my list:
1) Have my kitchen cabinets and counter redone
2) Learn how to use Photoshop Elements as well as I use Photoshop 7.0
3) Post one photo a week to my blog to document my family's everyday life
4) Run from Mission Viejo, CA to Woodsfield, OH

Hahaha! For #4 I don't really mean actually run it, but I want to log enough miles this year running/walking for fitness to reach my best friend in Woodsfield by New Year's Eve. I'm going to keep track of my miles with the ticker at the top of my page.

My son Chris (the cross country runner) is starting his trip around the world. His stop at the end of this year is going to be Potter's Hill, NC. Then he'll start his trek across the Atlantic Ocean in 2009.

Merry Christmas to ALL!

...from our house to yours!



It's my Christmas tradition to wait until Christmas morning to make 2007 Christmas ornament for the families. I use photos that I take on Christmas Eve. Each year they're different. Here's this year's ornaments.

Scrapping the Music - Baby it's Cold Outside

We got our dog from the pound. She's a mutt, but must be some type of warm weather mix.

She hates the cold. If it gets below 50F, you can find her bundled under her blanket.

I add the snowflake and title to the photo. Then printed the photo out, and added pretty patterned paper from Sassafras Lass, bling, and subtitle. The clear snowflake is a QK diecut with the edges painted with a pink paint marker.

Look at my new stamps!

I had clear stamps made of some of my son's cartoons and just got my stamps today. I'm so excited! They came out great! The clear rubber is not as durable as the the store bought stamps. I pulled on a piece of scrap rubber to see if I could break it and I could given a little effort. However, the images stamp clear. I tried using both cat's eye chalk ink and Stazon... both work great.

Here is the original image that I sent in:

Here are the stamps:

 

Hmmm... maybe I should have taken a photo when they were nice an clean, LOL!

If you are looking for a unique gift, I highly recommend http://www.villageimpressions.com/index.htm . The lady that there is named Anna-Mae and she is very very nice. I placed my order on a Monday, and they were in my mailbox the following Monday. How's that for service?!

Mary's Sunday Blog Challenge

Our challenge this week is to pick a layout from our gallery and highlight it on our blogs. Here is my pick by BethJ. Beth takes the most beautiful photos of her children. I like how she did the title and that the large photo is the center of her layout.



Here is another one I found in the gallery. It's not a layout, but it cracks me up everytime I see it. Mary you need to get around to scrapping this picture.

Scrapping the Music - Little Wonders

Here's my layout for the Scrapping the Music challenge, Little Wonder's by Rob Thomas.

This photo just breaks my heart...
My daughter played Varisty soccer last year as a Junior. This year because of repeated ankle injuries, she didn't perform well at tryouts and was cut from the Varsity team (they have a new coach this year).



I used the lyrics from Little Wonders instead of the title. Journaling reads:

All of my regret will wash away somehow...
But, I cannot forget the way I feel right now.

PP is from Basic Grey and We R Memory Keepers. The flower is Prima Essentials collection. These flowers are gorgeous! The doodle is made using a Crafter's Workshop template.

Scrapping the Music - Best Days

This week's song at ScrappingTheMusic was Best Days by Matt White. I've been real busy this week, but I still wanted in on this challenge. This is a hybrid layout... The photo, frame, title and journaling are all one piece printed off the computer. I just added background paper and chipboard.

This is my hubby and me. We used to do a lot of camping in our younger days. The background paper is from the Basic Grey Obsure line I got from the 2ScrappyChixDesigns store.

Double Page Layouts

I see all these great works of art single stand-alone layouts, but I am double page obsessed. Even when I show only one page, I usually have a companion page to go with it. For instance this layout that won the Scrapping the Music contest last month has a second page that I didn't show:



Here are some more two page layouts! I love showing off my photos... and I do have a whole lot of them!

Smoke and Fire

SCHOOL'S OUT!
The entire school district has closed today. They are using the high school gyms as evacuation centers. Some of my daughter's high school friends were packed last night, just waiting for the signal to evacuate their neighborhoods. The smoke is very thick today with the Santiago fire on one side of us and now the Camp Pendleton fire on the other side.

Scrapping the Music - You'll be Here in my Heart

Here is my latest layout for the Scrapping the Music challenge. This week the song is "You'll be in my Heart" by Phil Collins:



This is my daughter, I scanned a few old photos to add to the layout too. I used PP from the new BG Obscure collection, primas and quickutz die-cuts.

Get BG Obsure from 2SCD:
http://2scrappychixdesigns.com/zencart/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1&keyword=obscure