LO's GALORE!!

I've been in a scrappy mood lately. First though, my first LO for ScrapBookMate went live this morning!! So exciting! http://adailyinspiration.blogspot.com/. What's great about this blog is that there is a new layout everyday by a super talented European scrapper. And it gives a complete materials list and tells you how it was made. It's definately worth checking out.

Here's a LO for the latest ScrapDragons challenge. Pardon the mess on the left hand side of the LO. Just as I was finishing up, I leaned into the WET puff paint and dragged it all over the paper. >:O I tried to salvage it with some black paint though. LOL.

Yesterday I got my prize from the Chit Chat Challenge I won a while ago from Care Free Glimmer. She makes these CUUUUUUTE felt flowers and you can see them on this layout on the bottom right. I got a BUNCH too. eeee!
Another simple layout. It's a bit far from my usual, but I do enjoy clean lines too!
Sorry Starbucks fans, but I found a new coffee to brew at home. Not only is the taste smoother, but it's alot cheaper than Starbucks. This LO is my "Dear John" letter to Starbucks. Oh, and this is for my All About Eve entry.

Well, I have more to talk about, but I'm currently doing a "cyber crop" with some of the ScrapBookMate gals tonight and I must go concentrate on scrapping!! I'll update tomorrow.

xoxo

Say the Word and I'm Gone

Man, it's been a week since my last update. Not much out of the ordinary going on. I did an orientation today for daycare for the kids. It's just for hourly care if and when I need it. I asked about preschool for Anberlin since she's at that age. Wow. I didn't realize there was a "tuition" for preschool! For 5 days a week, it's $140 a month. I'm still waiting to get her in to see a developmental analyst, so I'm going to hold off on enrolling her in that.

Sebastian's surgery scar is pretty much healed. He had his stitch taken out on Friday and he screamed bloody murder. The scar is really nice and straight and flat. I wish my C-Section scar looked like that!!! GEEZE.

Here is some scrap goodness.

The new challenge over at ScrapMojo is a "trash" to treasures (add staples too) type of thing! I used drink umbrellas that I had in a memory box, a tangerine bag, and a beaded coaster. LOL. I know, a coaster? Well it was a gift from a long time ago and I've never used them. So, don't be fooled by seeing me in a bikini in this pic. I won't be caught dead in one in public (this is my parent's backyard). Pregnancy was not so nice on my stomach and thighs. Anyways, on this particular day I was sporting a dollar spot hat and I felt, well, fab! I was able to spend the day in the backyard, poolside with the kids, and didn't have to feel self-consciouse in my bikini. Moments like that are great. Our guest designer is Rachel Denbow!! How friggen great is that?!! Check us out! http://scrapmojo.blogspot.com

LO for the Scrapping the Music challenge blog. This week's song is "Blessed" by Martina McBride. I know I know, country isn't exactly my cup of tea musically, but the lyrics are beautiful. :) A pretty simple layout...simple is good sometimes, you know? And I just noticed the date on the LO is wrong...the photos were taken in 2006! DOH!! The sponsor for this week is "A Page in Time." Join in on the fun. http://scrappingthemusic.blogspot.com

In June I think we're going to go to Holland!!! There's a scrap expo that I want to go to...http://www.scrap-a-ganza.com/. Just look at who's going to be there. And there's a 24 hour cropping hall! Eeeee! I checked prices through an airline called Ryan Air? I'm not familiar with them but flights were RIDICULOUSLY cheap...like it was cheaper to fly than, oh drive? Or even take a train a few cities down. Maybe I was reading it wrong, which could be very likely.

I finally got my first goody box from ScrapBookMate. WOW. I can't wait for my LO's to go live on the site so I can post them here too. If you haven't checked out the site, you should. There's a few big namers (well at least in my eyes) on the team and their LO's are just gorgeous. I hope to meet these ladies in real life someday!

Ta ta for now.

xoxo

Back from the Hospital

Let me start off with the Urban Lily Secret Keeper album. There were was a bit of confusion on how it works, so here is a photo of the boards pulled apart to expose the journaling. :O) Cool, huh?

Sebastian's surgery went well! Thanks for all the well wishes. My experience was pretty good despite the language barrier. Some of the nurses spoke a bit of english, others didn't at all, but I toughed it out. I'm going to admit, despite the fact that I was there helping Sebastian recuperate, I had a pretty awesome break from everyday life. We had a private room. All of my meals were brought to me (and unlike American hospital food, the German food was YUMMY), in the afternoon a lady brought me cake and whatever coffee drink I wanted (regular coffee, cappuchino, machiatto, etc). I didn't have to do any cleaning, and I was able to do a bit of scrapping and Sebastian got alot of one on one time with me. :) Plus, just down the hall was a fab coffee maker at our disposal. It was SWEET! Seriously. At the push of a button (choose which type of coffee you'd like) it would grind fresh coffee beans, and then make your drink. FOR FREE. lol. Josh kept going back...he'd get an espresso, then cappucino, macchiato, regular coffee, then hot tea. LOL. And they also had about 7 tea bag assortments for us when we tired of coffee.

(I brought my old digital camera and it's been on the fritz. Alot of my photos came out blurry.)

Anyways, enough about coffee. So the day of Sebastian's surgery, they gave him some drops to make him "sleepy." He seemed fine to me! When it was time to go to the operating wing, the nurses said we couldn't go past the doors. :( He seemed fine when they wheeled him away, but I started sobbing. I've always been one of those "what if" type of person and a million scenarios were going through my mind. The night before I sat all of us down and did a quick family photo just because IF anything happened, I didn't want that regret...you know, not having a family pic. I'm a sap. What can I say? About 2 hours later, they brought Sebastian back to his recovery room and he was screaming bloody murder. The nurse was holding him because he tried clawing his way out of his bed. When he saw me, he nearly jumped into my arms. He was shaking and my heart nearly broke. I hate seeing my kids like that. It took about 20 minutes for him to calm down. He was kinda out of it for a couple of hours, but once the anesthesia wore off, he was nearly back to normal. He was sitting up in his bed, playing with toys, watching movies that I brought. :) The next day he was out of bed and didn't even act like he had surgery. He only has one stitch on his abdomen and I think it took like one or two stitches to fix the problem on his inside.

Anberlin did pretty well with the whole experience. After her visit on Saturday, she got to spend the night with her best friend (Josh's bandmate's daughter). Josh stayed the night there too so they could leave together in the morning. She loved it. The next day she talked nonstop about it.

Now that we are back at home, he's back to his normal, hyper, crazy self and it's driving me crazy!! LOL. I guess I'm freaked that he'll rip his stitch or hurt himself. Anyhoo, here are some older pics from a couple of weekends ago when we ate sushi. This was the best Chirashi bowl I've EVER had. I just wish it wasn't so darn pricey.

Anberlin couldn't quite get the whole purpose of chopsticks down, so she used them the best way she could. :D LOL. She was really proud of herself. Pardon the grainy photos. I'm still figuring out the settings for indoor, lowlights on my camera.

I'll leave you with some sneaks. If you haven't yet, you NEED to check out the European DT that I am on. http://adailyinspiration.blogspot.com/. It's pretty awesome. Everyday a new layout is posted by our extremely talented design team. Seriously. These ladies blow me away! Also, don't forget that Scrapping the Music has weekly challenges and ScrapMojo will be having an uber cool new challenge coming up. PLUS we're having some pretty friggen cool guest designers in the upcoming months. Some serious talent that will make you shriek. I know I did. hee hee.

It's DONE!

Geeeeze, this took forever to do, but I'm officially in love with the Urban Lily Secret Keepers. If you are not familiar with what they do, then you're in for a treat. The sides pull out, exposing a blank slate on the inside. I know, I should have taken a picture, but I'm in a bit of a rush and if I don't post this now, I probably won't have time to do it later. The bottom set is what I used, which is "Lush."

The front cover of the book states my theme...goals for 2008. When you pull apart this section, it talks about how we should set goals for ourselves and try our best to keep them. I forgot to take a picture of the back section, but it's pretty simple. It says "family resolutions" in the Heidi Swapp block stickers and has a few of the "Out on a Limb" Hambly rubons (the cute little birdies with polka dot wings) under that. The inside journaling lists our goals as a family. Take one weekend vacation every couple of months, at least ONE family portrait a month, etc etc.

Each card has little tabs by ScrapWorks that I've been hoarding for forever. i found them on clearance last year for less than a buck a package. Each card also has either our name or our initials...just to serve as a bit of uniformity (is that a word?)

There's a bit of a pattern for each card. The front serves as personal goals and the back part is reserved for goals that involve other people. For instance, my goals for the family include taking the kids out to the park more often, teaching them more things, telling Josh I love him more often, etc.

Ok, ok. Obviously the kids did not tell me their goals, so I set some for them. Anberlin for instance is going to work on her language development (with my help of course), and will learn her alphabet, learn to write it, and learn to write her whole name by the time 2008 is over. Her goals that involve us include learning the appropriate time to tattle (something she's been doing ALOT, especially at bed time), eating healthier (an overall goal for everyone), cleaning up when told.


Ahhh, my little man. His goals are pretty simple because he's only 2. He NEEDS to be potty trained by the end of this year, and he needs to learn how to share.

Well! I'm off to do errands. We have to be at the hospital Neustadt A.D. Aisch at 3 to meet with Sebastian's anesthesiolgist. I still need to pack, and prepare snacks and entertainment for him and I for the weekend. I know it doesn't sound like a lot, but it is. I'm going to bring some scrap ish with me. Maybe I can get a few layouts done while he rests.

xoxo

OH NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! >:O

After 5 years, my computer finally crapped out on me this morning. Well, I think it's dead, I'm not positive. I'm not a big computer geek, so it could be something simple. Basically I was cleaning up around the computer desk and I bumped into the power supply. That caused everything to shutoff really quickly, but everything except the CPU came back on within a second. I've checked and rechecked all the plugs. I've tried resetting it with no avail. :( I do know thing...thank goodness for my brother. He sent me an external hardrive for Christmas. I backed up all of my pictures. There are a few things on my comp that I still need though. :( I'm so iritated. I have Josh's laptop right now, but UGH. The touch pad annoys me. I periodically touch it while I'm typing, it highlights a portion of my work, and erases it!

My Father-in-law built us a new computer as a Christmas gift, and we're just waiting for it now. I hope it comes in soon especially now that I REALLY need it.

Yesterday I spoke to a patient liason from the hospital and she put alot of my worries at ease. She explained where we would be going, the whole set up, and told me what pharmacies are open on Sunday (which here in Germany, pretty much EVERYTHING is closed on Sundays). I'm still a bit nervous, but not nearly as bad as yesterday.

Hopefully I'll have some work to post later. I'm a really slow scrapper. LOL.

Scrapping the Music, Let it Snow

It's been a busy scrapping week already, and it's only Tuesday! I've been in a bit of of an anxious mood lately. Sebastian has his little surgery on Friday and I've been stressing out about that day. I'm a bit nervous, needless to say...about his actual surgery, but also about staying two nights in a German hospital. My German is pretty non existant. I speak a little. Not alot by any means. I'm worried how Sebastian will be afterwards...will he lie still and recuperate well, or will he be his rough and tumble self and try to get out of bed once the meds wear off? Will he eat their food or do I need to have Josh bring all his meals. Where am I going to sleep? I'm sure it will all be fine. I'm just a big worrywort who has trouble playing things by ear when it involves the kids.

Here's my take on the latest challenge over at Scrapping the Music. I adore this photo of Sebastian, testing the waters so to speak. Our trip to Garmisch was the first time he had seen/felt snow. :) We haven't seen snow since then!! It's funny, when we first got here, we heard from a lot of different people that this was going to be a cold and hard winter. So far, the weather reminds me of Texas...well maybe if there was one cold front after the other. LOL.

I'm halfway done with my minibook. It's coming out cuuuute, but I am having issues. The outside (and inside) of the secret keepers are so slick, it's hard to use rubons or ink or well....alot of things. Anyways, I hope to complete that today, along with some other layouts.

Happy scrappin.

xoxo

Scrap Mojo Challenge 6

Whew. Today was a LOOOONG day and I am worn out! We took the kids to Wurzburg to a place called, "Kinderland." What were we thinking?? Picture a huge warehouse full of moonbounces, slides, ball pits, race cars, games, etc. Then add about a BILLION kids of all ages running around wrecklessly. Holy crap. I swear, if I had worked in a place like that while in high school, I probably would never have kids! LOL. BUT, the kids had a blast and of course, that's what is most important. Afterwards, hubby and I treated ourselves to our favorite food, sushi. Anberlin even had a child's plate of sushi rolls! I'll post pics later of her eating it. It was hilarious watching her.


The new challenge is up at ScrapMojo!! This time around, scrap your new year's resolutions and add some sort of sewing. I lucked out on this LO. Right around the time we got our assignment, I received an envelope of felt embellishments from a swap. I loved fellow Mojo girl Kristi's star embellishment, and used it on the LO. The sewing was done for me already! :) I did add a few stitches here and there with some embroidery floss. I love the background of this LO too. I used KI Memories cardstock lace as a mask and outlined any "2", "0" or "8" that I saw. Neat huh? I think so. I made the chipboard frame, using some of Elsie's work as inspiration. That orange circle near the bottom of the LO is one of those little drink umbrellas that I took apart. There's alot going on in this layout, but that's just me. :)

Right now I'm working on a cute mini album using Urban Lily Secret Keeper Cards. I can't wait to finish it and show everyone!

xoxo

more sneaks and potd

The new challenge at Scrapping the Music challenge blog will be up in a couple of days! I had a blast doing this layout!
POTD 2/365. Spot that striped necklace? That will be one of many necklaces going up on my etsy soon. Also added to the mix are some cute ipod covers! I can't wait to get them all up.

POTD 3/365. Josh gets his beer by the crate now that we're in Germany! But it takes him a while to go through the whole thing.POTD 4/365. There's this older lady who comes by our parking lot about once a week. She's from one of the local bakeries. She sells candy out of the back and fresh bread and pastries from the side door. I bought the kids a few gummies today and a hazelnut pastry for myself. YUM!
A random photo of my favorite ugly shoes/boots. I got them for pretty cheap and they're lined with fleece...perfect for the winter. :)

xoxo

POTD, New Work, Sneakie Peek, Toot!

Here we are in January again! 2008! I hope everyone had a safe new year's celebration. We didn't do much, it's hard with two toddlers. We were able to catch a meager firework display from our dining room window. The kids were impressed, so I guess that's all that matters! Last year I started doing a Photo Of The Day (POTD) and did fairly well for half of the year. THen we moved and things got hectic and I didn't keep up with it. So I'm going to try it again this year. :)


POTD (1/365) The kids got "Hungry, Hungry Hippos" for Christmas and they LOVE to play it (we only let them play when one of us plays with them). When they are not playing with it, we store the marbles seperately from the game. They have access to the board and the hippos though.



The new scrap mojo challenge will be up any day now! I had a lot of fun with this LO and can't wait for the challenge to start. :D




This is the accordian album I made for my parents for Christmas. Also, it's the one that is in the Basic Grey gallery!

I also won the last challenge over at Chit Chat Challenge Blog! I can't wait to get ahold of the prize!

If you head over to EBB Creations, one of my layouts is featured as the "Creative Inspiration of the Week." Thanks MJ!!

Soooooo...my Etsy has been closed for quite awhile, but I will be opening the doors again in a few days! There are going to be some new additions that I am stoked about. Seriously. They're fabu. And even better? THE PRICES. Everything is totally reasonable. I'll take some pics in a little bit. And I think I'll be doing a RAK to ring in the new year. Stay tuned!!

xoxo

PHOTOS!!

A DAY AT THE PARK

It's been fairly cold/dreary and the kids have been sick off and on for a while. We've been cooped up because of this, but we finally had a nice day last week, so we went to one of our parks.



















CHRISTMAS MARKET IN NUREMBURG

I wish I had more pictures, but it was packed and the kids aren't very patient with me when it comes to stopping for pictures. But the market was filled with stalls of yummy foods, Christmas ornaments/decorations, toys, etc. It was fun. Next year we'll have to go during the week and in the early afternoon to beat the crowds.

Have you ever seen those "toddler leashes"? Well I admit that we use those from time to time. This situation called for it. The market was too busy for a stroller and I am too paranoid to try to just hold their hands. Apparently, toddler leashes are not an item that is used alot here because we got even more stares than usual, lots of pointing and giggling. I do have to say that a few parents came up to us and inquired about them. I felt like a silly American, but I'd rather not risk losing my child in a crowd. LOL.

CHILDREN'S CHRISTMAS MARKET

There was a big section of the market specifically for kids. By the time we got over here, it was just overbearingly crowded. I'm a pretty patient person and don't get bothered by crowds. However, my husband is not a fan of the sardine effect that was surrounding him. We spent a few minutes here and left. We bribed the kids with some fresh cotton candy and that made up for leaving so fast.

CHRISTMAS
Josh and I did not go overboard this year with gifts...we just didn't have the budget for it. Luckily we started shopping in October, so we were able to get a good amount of gifts for the kids. I think the transition here threw us off, because we didn't buy too much for each other. I think this is the first year I didn't get ANY clothes or makeup! lol. But it was still a wonderful Christmas. I got a new zoom lens which I am dying to try out. I got a silpat mat and a big cookie cutter set. A couple of new DS games...a new external hard drive, some movies, the "Deceptively Delicious" book by Jessica Seinfeld...and I can't think what else.


Here are just a few pics of the kids. It took FOREVER for them to open up their gifts because they wanted to stop to play with everything! Sebastian got a good amount of toys, which was great because previously he had been playing with Anberlin's toys. He needed some little boy toys. Anberlin got alot of educational things...books, arts and crafts things. I bought her this big "Hooked on Phonics" set. They got a big art easel from my parents which I'm jealous off! I wish I had one when I was a kid! Anberlin likes to practice her letters on it. They also got a new video game system from leapster (Leapster TV) and LOTS of games for it from my brother. They had been using the "Little Leaps" gaming system before which they love. But the newer one is still a bit advanced for them. Maybe in a few months they'll be able to comprehend how to play.



BEFORE

AFTER










Here are the kiddies helping me make cookies. :D They're so sweet.




These are Anberlin's FAVORITE shoes, which she has named "Princess Shoes."







A few days after Christmas, we went out to eat. We don't do that very often simply because of the area we are in. There is a little "gasthof" or an inn outside of the base. It's pretty popular among the residents of the base simply because it's so close, the food is good, prices reasonable, and they speak english fairly well. I don't recall the name of this dish, but my husband and I have dubbed it "heart attack on a plate." What you cannot see under the sunny up egg is the two slabs of thick cut bacon and the HUGE pork steak under that! But it is sooooo good. The green beans and potatoes were very similar to what my mom makes at home.




I forget to tell everyone I chopped off my hair! It's a long bob right now, but that was NOT the original plan. I went into the salon with a photo of Elsie Flannigans hair as an example of the longer strands I wanted and a picture of a bob to show how I wanted the front layers. The stylist was stoked to do a "trendy" cut because she usually does normal everyday cuts for the ladies on the base.


So what was the end result?


Think of a bob. Now think of a wide "rat tail." Now combine the two images in your mind.


YUP. I had a bob with a rat tail. SIGH. As soon as I got home, I had Josh chop off that tail. Why didn't I say anything at the salon? I felt so bad because the stylist was SO proud of her work. She was GLEAMING! Plus I knew that the cut would be salvageable if the tail was cut off.


Next post will be of some work. :)