I Went Digi!!!

Well, the road trip is coming up veryyyy soon! In 2 weeks and a wake-up I will be starting the cross country journey! Yayyy!!! So I'm thinking about all of the stuff I will be packing! Considering I never pack lightly for even a week long trip....it is going to be tough keeping it to a minimum! Poor Stephen doesn't know yet, but his whole back seat is going to be taken up with all of my junk! Anyway I'm thinking about how much scrapping has been part of my life these past few months, and it is weird to think that I will be away from it for so long! But wait......there is a solution to this problem....I WENT DIGI!! I am still in the process of learning....I don't think that process will ever be done, Photoshop is a hell of a program! But considering I just started a few days ago, I don't think I have done too bad...Here are my first ever three layouts...




Also here is a little signature avatar thingy that I made for A Cherry On Top....

(**Notice the ladybugs)
I am absolutely psyched that I get to scrap in the car...think of all I will be able to get accomplished....AND I will be able to scrap the trip WHILE I'm on the trip! I gotta say this technology thing blows my mind! So in the mean time I am trying to cram as much photoshop knowledge into my brain....and download as many freebies as possible! If anyone knows any good websites with freebies or cheap kits please let me know!! So excited to see what else I can learn!

But back to paper scrapping.... there is an ACOT crop this weekend that I am very excited about! I just stocked up on Tombow refills at Joannes! K gotta go work on my photoshopping skills.....

The Wedding (...and some of my latest)

I am currently recovering from the wedding we went to last night! Stephen's brother Dave got married and the wedding was beautiful!!! I had such a wonderful time....Stephen's family (all of them) are so great!! Definitely a great bunch of people!! Since he is one of six (he has two sisters and three brothers) it was a little overwhelming at first. But, I have been accepted into the "Skoblicki crew" which is a gooooood thing!!!! Here is one of my favorite pics....

Maybe I'll post some more later!

Here is the latest layout I have completed...

And these two cards I will be sending out to family this week...

Out of control

I'm ready to admit the fact that this new craft I have started has officially crossed the line from "hobby" and is now well into "obsession"! I'm sure this has happened about a month or so ago but it is now at this point that I am willing to admit it. What makes me realize this now? Well.... here are the tell tale signs...
1. I get home from school and work every day and then stalk the mailman
2. The other day I got 2 separate shipments in the mail AND an envelope back from a cricut swap I have done
3. I have run out of ink in my printer...not from printing papers for school, but from printing Michaels, AC Moore, and Joannes coupons....EVERY DAY!
4. My boyfriend knows the difference between "cuttin-up" and "plantin schoolbook"...as well as what pop dots are
5. I sacrificed buying razors last week to get a new border punch

So yea...it is sad...but on the plus side I am having a blast which is great since I am BEYOND stressed during these last few weeks of college! Yea you read that correctly....In 10 days I am officially no longer a graduate student!!! My days at Long Island University are certainly numbered and I couldn't be more excited!! I have just 2 more papers to write along with some sort of presentation thing...and I AM DONE!! {Happy Dance}

And....in 24 days...or 3 weeks and 2 days I am leaving for the cross country road trip! {Continue Happy Dance}

Exciting stuff coming up...I can't say it enough! Now, I just need to find a job!!

This weekend was relaxing I got a little bit of scrapping done, there was a crop over at My Sketch WorldHere are a few layouts I finished....



This last one is gallery pick of the day today at MSW...and once again I am beyond thrilled!!!! Thank you to everyone for your awesome comments and also congrats to Ginni who shared the honor with me today! :)

As usual, I wish that I was able to finish more....Oh well! I'm a slow scrapper, I'm okay with it! :)

I also cut (or as I say "cricut-ed") a bunch of letters for the school I intern at....We are having a "College Awareness Week" in 2 weeks and check out the wonderful display case we made...and note the beautiful letters!!


I got this new cartridge for my cricut yesterday and I am loving it! It has a great variety of fonts...probably the most useful cartridge ever made for the cricut!

I was on line at Michaels with my $15 purchase when I spotted in my "periph" (lol) a huge display of cartridges, gave it the once over and sure enough, there it was, the one cartridge I have been waiting weeks for.....AND it was on sale for $39.99! Oh yea....there is NO WAY I'd be able to get that anywhere for cheaper! So...yea I'm a bit of an impulsive buyer....can that be #6?

Oooooh Guess what....

So it has been quite an eventful week so far! I have recieved a lot of validation....and if you ask me it is a GREAT feeling! I know I create my scrapbooking layouts for myself! Not only is it a creative outlet, and a form of stress relief but I also love being able to share it with friends, family, and all the wonderful people I have met online in the scrapbooking community! So....there is no greater feeling than the feeling of validation when your work is recognized and appreciated. This is the card that I made for Stephen on Easter... there was a challenge on My Sketch Worldwhere you had to make a masculine card. I thought that this was perfect for him especially since we had been through a lot that day! (Longggg Story)!


So, I felt REAL nice to find out that on Monday (4/13) Suzann chose me for the Gallery Pick of the Day!!!! Yippee!!
But wait it gets better....
Today on Let's Scrap Divas....I was chosen as Artist of the day for this layout...

Anyway, needless to say I am feeling Goooood this week... Is it silly for me to be so excited by this? I don't know...maybe it's becuase I am new to all of this?? Hmmm, whatever it is....it just feels good to be noticed an appreciated! So...yay me! HaHa!

What else is new.....oooooh this is another layout of a picture of a painting (make sense?) my moms best friend made! We framed this one and put it in the upstairs bathroom....my mom helped choose all the papers and embellishments and it was her idea to use the little table and chairs so I can't really take credit for this one!

I have so many other layouts that I want to make so badly! There are so many wonderful challenges going on at all of the websites I participate at!!! I wish I could do it all! Hopefully after school is over, when I get back from the trip, things might be a little less hectic! I certainly will have a LOAD of pictures to scrap then!

Here is a cute picture that I wanted to share on here of the two kids I babysit. I took them on a trip to my office over at the middle school yesterday....they were so excited to see where I work it was cute! Here is a pic I took of them...

What have I been doing all week??

So...I have had some time off! Catching up on some much needed rest has been wonderful...just as wonderful as waking up every morning and getting to lounge in bed with this little bundle of love....

LOL!!! I know she is thinking "How can you resist this belly....it's not going to rub itself you know!"
So I haven't been a total bum (only in the mornings).....I have filled out lots more applications, and packaged some resumes and cover letters that I sent out on Tuesday! That felt good to get rid of some of those! I also got some scrapping done! (Of course....but still not as much as I would have liked)
So this first one I actually worked on with my mom! I am trying to get her into scrapbooking so badly! I know that she would love it AND be so good at it! She is really good at coordinating colors and arranging things! BUT one thing she isn't so keen on....memories! Strange...i know...but some things just make her sad! I guess I could sorta understand that! But I am a huge reminisce-er (made-up word...add it to the collection)...so I still think it is a little weird! But as soon as she has grandkids I am sure she is going to want to join me in the giant scrap-fest that will ensue!!!!

So yea I LOVE how it came out! Seriously she helped come up with most of it...it was her idea to sew the thread in the buttons to make them look like they were holding the pictures on. She also selected all the paper and chipboard! These pics are awesome they are from when we went to California in 2000! I am 15 and Pete is like 12! Kinda awkward, huh? See these are the memories we must preserve!
Anyway this next layout I made for the April "Let the Music Move You" challenge on ACOT where we had to use lyrics from the song "We Are Family"
I chose "Living life is fun and we've just begun"
It is funny because I really was thinking about scrapping these photos and using something about "the beginning" in the title....since these pics are really from the first time I met some of Stephens siblings....like 2 weeks in! Awwww! I used the Basic Grey...Porcelain collection...isn't it beautiful?!?!?

And one last reveal for today...here is a card that I made for another ACOT challenge...actually it is Angela's Card challenge. I had to use this card sketch from Becky Flecks page maps....

This is what I came up with using some more Basic Grey, Porcelain....(I just love it, can't ya tell)...it is kinda simple, but I like it! I am going to give it to Stephen's mom and score some more points! (suck-up!)

Anyway I have a lot to get done! I need to finish doing my hair (taming the beast?) and then get a head start on this horrible long icky paper that I intend to do the bulk of tomorrow! Then my friend Joanna is coming over for wine and cheese night!! Yippee!

Spring Break!

Hello everyone! I am so "ecstastical" (made up word "ecstatic" + "fantastical" = ecstastical...spread the word!) about being off this week! It is Spring Break...which means....
NO INTERNSHIP
NO CLASS
AND Nooooo Work (Although I will certainly miss the children dearly)
I have an entire week of nothing...but of course I had to go and get sick today! Yucky stomach virus thingy...ewww! Oh well at least I didn't have to worry about calling in sick, getting coverage, or missing class.....none of that nonsense! I have a clear head...or I'm trying to clear my head. That is probably not the best idea because I do have a huge paper due on Thursday next week, and I am supposed to be making a big dent in that! But this is my break sooooo I'm going to make sure I get to fit in a bunch of scrappin! Here is what I worked on this weekend...

Challenge number 22 over at Scrap Whispers was FUN! I had to make a layout using every color of the rainbow...

Pretty, huh! I never worked with so many colors, or so many circles! But it's all about expanding my horizons, right?
This next one I did for a challenge at Let's Scrap Divas... I used 3 of the same picture, but each one has a dfferent color effect. I also submitted it for one of the April challenges at A Cherry On Top (Trends & Techniques challenge)....becuase I used a lot of distressing (distress ink, heidi swapp distresser tool, and torn coordination paper).

The journaling on this layout says...
"We had a huge snow storm in March 2009! We got a little over a foot of snow! It was SO great becuase we all got to stay home that day! There is nothing like a snuggly snow day when the whole family is home!"
This picture cracks me up because I have to admit...I wasn't shoveling at all! My dad and my brother were outside busting their butts shoveling and I was taking pictures of them. Then I grabbed the shovel from Pete and asked him to take a picture of me! That is why the title is in quotes on the layout...I was "shoveling", not shoveling....if ya catch my drift!

Soooo another week has gone by and I haven't heard from any schools about jobs yet! They are still requesting more and more information. After I gather my final few references I will be sending those letters in. It is still a waiting game at this point.
Meanwhile the trip is coming up soooo fast! Before I know it we will be going, going, going, gone....for just 3 weeks! That is a pretty long time....but it is going to be AWESOME!
Sooo here is the itinerary broken down day by day.....
May 14th - June 3rd

X-Country Itinerary

Day 1 - Thursday, May 14
LI to Harrisburg, PA
Day 2 – Friday, May 15
Harrisburg PA, to St. Louis, MO
Day 3 – Saturday, May 16
St. Louis, MO to Evergreen, CO ~12 hours (Stay w/ John @ his place)
Day 4 – Sunday, May 17
Evergreen, CO to Moab, UT (Camping @ Slickrock Campground)
Days 5-8 – Monday May 18 – Thursday May 21
Off-road in Moab, UT (Camping @ Slickrock Campground)
Day 9 – Friday May 22
Moab, UT to Northern Rim of Grand Canyon ~8 hours (Camping)
Day 10 – Saturday May 23
Grand Canyon National Park (Camping)
Day 11 – Sunday May 24
Grand Canyon National Park to Simi Valley, CA ~8 hours (Staying w/ Cousin Peter)
Days 12-13 – Monday May 25 – Tuesday May 26
Simi Valley, CA (Staying w/ Cousin Peter)
Day 14 – Wednesday May 27
Simi Valley, CA to Amarillo, TX
Day 15 - Thursday May 28
Amarillo, TX to Birmingham, AL (Staying w/ Anita)
Days 16-17 – Friday May 29 – Saturday May 30
Birmingham, AL (Staying w/ Anita)
Day 18 – Sunday May 31
Birmingham, AL to Nashville, TN
Day 19 – Monday June 1
Nashville, TN – Louisburg, NC (Staying w/ Madeline and Ray)
Day 20 – Tuesday June 2
Louisburg, NC (Staying w/ Madeline and Ray)
Day 21 – Wednesday June 3
Raleigh, NC to LI

My Sketch World

So my newest thing is that I want to be able to make a layout by working off of a sketch. I think in a way it is good that I don't rely on them becuase it means that I am comfortable creating layouts on my own! But then again, some of my layouts are pretty basic so it would be nice to "expand my horizons" a bit! There are so many AMAZING sketch artists out there! I think that if I put a little more effort into following a sketch as a guideline, I might be pleasantly surprised with what I end up with!

Soooo....what better way to do this than to join a new message board called "My Sketch World". I had seen the blinkie on quite a few blogs while I have been browsing around and I just couldn't resist! So I signed up last night, already recieved a warm welcome from the ladies on the board and I decided to jump right in and do the April sketch challenge!! This is the sketch...

I knew the perfect picture to use!! This picture is from one of Kaci's (the little girl I babysit) many trips to my house to visit Penny. I altered the picture on my i-Phone using an application called "color splash". It is pretty awesome becuase you can make the picture black and white and then choose which objects you want to put back to being color! It is sort of an easy way to do this technique without having to use photoshop! It is sometimes difficult to get into the little nooks and crannies with the touch screen but...still worth the $1.99 (I think) that I paid for it! Here are a few previous blog posts where I showed the technique I used with this app...
Color Splash
Painting
Okay so I was actually babysitting today and I decided to have a little fun with this sketch instead of doing boring school stuff! Here is what I was able to come up with...

Pretty cute, huh! Thank god Kim (Kaci's mom) is a scrapper too (actually she is awesome and a big reason why I got into it as soon as I did)...becuase I was able to use her cricut, glue dots, and brads! There is no way I was lugging my giant Cricut expression over there! Kim and I have an alliance....we borrow each others cartridges and she is allowed to use my cricut if she needs to scallop paper! It is wonderful! Especially since I am broke!!

So all in all, I'd say my experience over at My Sketch World is so far so good! Can't wait to get more involved in the whole wide world of sketches!

My Little Thief

I had to post these pics here becuase I think that they are absolutely adorable!!!! Yesterday Penelope was being very sneaky! Don't ya just love that face! This little love cheers me up on even the worst of days! Gotta love her! I couldn't help but sit back and snap these pics! She is so camera shy, but this time she was distracted! HaHa!!