{me}anderings . . .

happy fall ya'll . . .

so . . . last weekend i decided to have a scrappy fall marathon with my li'l davis goodies . . . my goal was to get five layouts done . . . i managed to do four . . . not too bad . . . i just LOVE fall colors . . . mmmmmmmmm . . . so fun . . . not quite sure i'm happy/done with the last one yet . . . so let me know what you think.  :D

this weekend it's a scrappy christmas marathon!  weehoo!  . . . my holidays are all whacky this year anyway . . . my poor sis didn't get her christmas loot till her birthday in march . . . and the gman still hasn't dyed his easter eggies . . . he will though!  never fear! . . . lol.  i'm calling it "the year of belated holidays" . . . :D 

which came first . . .

o

You already know I'm your number 1 fan...so blog more about how you come up with your journaling. Even though your layouts are gorgous, it's your journaling that makes them remarkable! So which comes first, the journaling or the the layout?

thanks chelle!  your question has popped into my brain quite a few times since you posted it . . . oh . . . a month ago . . . no shocker there . . . you all know it sometimes takes me a while to get to things . . . anyway . . . the answer is . . . both . . . meaning i always write the journaling last and rarely write it out ahead of time (heidi swapp would shudder) . . . but i never start a layout without deciding on a title first . . . this lets me know what direction the layout will go in . . . which then guides the feel of the layout . . . what pps and embellishments i'll use . . . and the whole time the thoughts are in my mind percolating . . . so when i'm ready to add the journaling at the very end it's there . . . ready to flow from my pen . . . :D

the title/idea for this particular layout came to me in church . . . i get a lot of thoughts there . . . it's the one time in the week when i'm still . . . i'm sure most of you moms can relate to that . . . and i really think God understands that my mind wanders just a little bit . . . :D

hmmm . . . i feel i have lots more thoughts on journaling stored in my brain . . . i'll try to share some more of those with you . . . soon . . . ish . . . :D

oh!  and most of these goodies came from jenni's . . . lovely . . . and a little disclaimer . . . the felt birdie is really a most delightful shade of green . . . i have no idea why my scanner changed it to that odd shade of baby who's had too many carrots color . . . :D

scrapping chameleon . . .

that would be me.  you saw the big mess of a layout i made yesterday.  and then this is what i cranked out today.  they hardly look like the same person made them.  my style is all over the map.  just curious.  do you see any similarities?  :D

good weekend.  so bummed it's sunday at 10:20.  gotta be in bed in a half hour or so.  we should probably already be in bed, but we took a 3 hour nap from 4 to 7.  anyhoo.  bummed.  that's me.  not so much that the weekend was too short.  just that last week was so long.  so very long.  and this week probably won't be much better.  oh well.  6.5 more weeks.  just 6.5 more weeks.  gotta keep reminding myself that summer freedom is coming soon.  :D

jigsaw puzzles . . .

i adore jigsaw puzzles.  really love them.  the 1000 piece ones are just too much fun.  my mom used to get me one every christmas in high school and college.  one year she thought she'd be smart and get me a 2000 piece one . . . a good north florida landscape of pine trees, azaleas in bloom, and pine straw . . . that one wasn't really fun . . . it got shipped off to goodwill . . . but i'm rambling . . . :D

haven't had much time for jigsaw puzzles . . . or much of anything really since the gman came along . . . was just telling melissa today that i really need to borrow her harry potters #5 and 6 and get them read before the final installment arrives in july . . . dang i'm rambling again . . . :D

anyway . . . i do make time for a little scrapping . . . got this one done at annie's today . . . went there to keep her company while she painted her scrap room . . . it's a lovely shade of pink now . . . an exact match for bazzill's cherry vanilla . . . a most excellent shade of bazzill . . . you should check it out if you've never met it . . . and we decided "cherry vanilla" was a much classier name than the "pink fluff" that was on the paintcan label . . . can you tell i'm still decompressing from work this week . . . i SO can't stay on topic . . . :D

so where i was meaning to go with the puzzle analogy . . . this layout was kinda like a jigsaw puzzle . . . i laid my pics on a piece of carstock and then just kept adding little bits here and there . . . kinda therapeutic . . . very relaxing . . . as is annie's new kitty . . . bou is delightful . . . the sweetest cutest little furball . . . glad i got to meet him today . . . and now i'll publish this before i find another random topic to bore you with . . . :D

sherri would be proud . . .

i ruthlessly shredded the edges of yet another layout . . . and she's not here to see . . . the predator's are in the playoffs you know . . . but yea . . . this is the third layout that's gotten roughed up now . . . i'm getting distressing skills . . . totally makes sense for my scrapping style . . . don't know why i resisted for so long . . . don't know if you've noticed . . . but i'm a boxy kinda scrapper . . . so i like softening my edges a bit to make up for that . . . lots of torn edges . . . and scalloped edges . . . and now distressed edges . . . so thanks sherri for teaching me scrapping violence . . . hope you saw some good fights tonight . . . oh . . . and i hope the preds won . . . really i do . . . :D

love in the time of cholera . . .

so.  nothing profound in the title really.  nothing at all.  just wanted to talk about a little mail love and some pooting.  and love in the time of cholera came to mind for some reason.  (good book, btw).  :D

what to talk about first?  the joy or the stench?  stinky pete you say?  well, g had six eggs yesterday.  i probably could stop right there.  only i need to say that i have most definitely learned my lesson.  never again will he have six eggs in one day.  oy.  talk about foul.  he kept having these silent deadly ones at jb's tonight.  whew.  but that was nothing compared to later.  when we got home he decided he had to go to the bathroom.  yea.  took him a little while to catch on, didn't it?  i noticed he had tracks in his underoos.  that totally made me laugh.  i remember my brother getting those when we were little.  must be a guy thing.  so.  then he cleared the room.  yep.  that bad.  i totally couldn't stand to be in there while he was doing his business.  P!  U!   now look at my total sweetness there . . . mommy loves him even if he does smell horrid.  (so sorry for the bad scan, btw.  still haven't made it to staples for that card reader).  :D

on to the mail love . . . i got the most delightful little package from celeste today . . . lots of the little embellies that i love . . . and my march st goodie box came . . . all scenic route baby . . . and exactly what i've been longing for . . . so glad i waited . . . and i got my jb addon . . . cute cute CUTE!  now.  for time to use my new pretties.  man.  sure wish i could take off tomorrow . . . sigh . . . :D

happy easter!!!

so.  nobody much around today.  all off celebrating i suppose.  here we're sorta waiting for next weekend to do all the bunny stuff.  long story.  very long.  short version.  g was supposed to be with his dad but some of his dad's family ended up dropping into town unexpectedly so g showed back up here along with four more hondurans.  dios mio!  we made out ok.  but it was kinda funny at the gas station we frequent when one of the girls there (they all think the gman is a little hottie, btw) asked g if he'd gotten lots of candy for easter.  the little guy was clueless.  poor deprived child.  but never fear.  we already have plans for a big egg hunt at billy and melissa's next weekend and he's still young enough to not know the difference.  and he'll get lots and lots of candy.  clearance candy.  hee.  what a racket.  or is that raquet.  hmmm.  anyhoo . . .

speaking of billy . . . here's the layout i managed to get done today (and my house is the worse for it, believe me) . . . i decided i've gotten lazy about taking time to thoroughly embellish my layouts . . . so i lavished lots of time and embellies on this one . . . hope i didn't go overboard . . . also gotten quite lazy with technique-y stuffs . . . so i made an attempt there as well . . . look at me using a heidi swapp mask . . . or is that masque (ha.  kidding on that one!  i think . . . ) . . . i traced around the dots with a black pen after they dried . . . thought that added a little something . . . :D

gosh.  and i still have tons of layouts to post.  tons.  i'm not kidding for sure.  i'll be back soon!  :D

in the meantime . . . be sure to check out scrap it! online (see post below) . . . :D

now i'm off to see if i can make my blog background black like all the cool girls . . . not that i'm cool or anything . . . far far from it . . . but i do like the way it makes the layouts pop . . . guess you'll be able to tell if i've been successful . . . :D

happy happy hippity hoppity easter all!!!  :D

scrap it!

newsflash!!!  the best lss in the world has gone online!!!

run over there . . . quick!!!  you can get there here . . . scrap it! window!!!

i got to go shopping there thursday . . . was needing a little retail therapy (more on that later) . . . LOVE the embellishment collections . . . such a great idea . . . take the 7 gypsies gaffer tape for example . . . i knew i HAD to have green . . . and red . . . and the blue was nice . . . and, and, and . . . really couldn't afford all i wanted . . . and really didn't need 6 yards of each color either . . . scrap it! saved the day!  ann's remixed the packages so i got all the colors and in more manageable amounts . . . yay!  also picked up some 7 gypsies photo turns and american crafts brads . . . they have sassafrass lass and fancy pants this month too . . . yea . . . got some of that . . . and here's what i did with some of my new toys . . . hope you like it!  and hope you go visit scrap it!  soon!  :D

so.  as to my need for retail therapy . . . my computer crashed . . . argh!  i HATE computery stuff . . . hate, hate, hate . . . had to get a new laptop . . . and load the programs i needed on it . . . i have bad program loading karma . . . there's really nothing else to say about that . . . luckily i have a computer fairy . . . gonna get in trouble later for calling him a fairy . . . ha . . . got my scanner and pse loaded . . . so at least i can get some pics on here . . . you know i can't blog without pictures . . . gonna have to go get a card reader tomorrow . . . new computer has vista and canon hasn't gotten around to developing a vista driver for my rebel yet . . . imagine that . . . eyeroll . . . still need to get my printer loaded and microsoft office downloaded . . . the laptop will be going back to the computer fairy for that . . . cause i ain't doing it . . . too much stress . . . :P

on a more positive note . . . i think i have several layouts that you haven't seen . . . so thinking i'll be blogging again tomorrow . . . yep! yep! yep! (a la duckie) . . . so be sure to check back!  and in the mean time . . . check out my friends at scrap it!  :D