{me}anderings . . .

we have a winner!

Thanks for all your lovely comments!  We have a winner!  Amy, please email me at [email protected] .  :)

What a beautiful layout! Thanks for sharing and the chance to win. :)

Posted by: Amy Baldwin | November 28, 2011 at 04:23 PM

jbs mercantile cyber monday blog hop! and prizes!

jbs mercantile is hosting a cyber monday blog hop!  so fun!  i have several things to share with you today, but first i wanted to mention that there are prizes!  we're giving away a $10 gift card plus jenni's new e-book "home for the holidays" (kit not included) to 15 lucky winners!  leave a comment here to be entered to win and then swing by the jbs inspiration blog to see where the 14 other winning locations are.

so this is my peek layout with the december jbs mercantile papercrafting kit that goes on sale wednesday at midnight CST.  i LOVE it.  it's full of kraft.  i could go on, but i'll stop there.  ha.  i did a fun hand cut title for this one, complete with a backwards "n".  oops.  i could have recut it, but what the hey.  i left it and called it creative license.  i also wanted to mention the paper stacking, a great idea i picked up from shimelle's pretty paper party.  anxious to do a few more of the tricks from that class when i get the chance.

here's a close-up of this month's exclusive stamp.  there's a sad faced smiley stamp too.  i think the pair would be so perfect for christmas projects with a "naughty or nice" theme.  i have to mention too that the background is version two.  version one was a total bomb and i had to rip my photo mat and title off it and start over.  luckily jenni's vintage paper pack came to the rescue.  whew.

the next thing i need to tell you about is jenni's new one-of-a-kind shop.  there's going to be a mad rush on these items as they're all literally ONE-of-a-kind there.  each design team member is previewing something you'll find in the shop tonight/monday morning at midnight CST.  i chose this bird book as i adore vintage nature stuff.  all the pages are this lovely.  i kinda want it for myself.

there's something for everyone in the shop.  you'll find everything from victorian baby shoes and photo albums to french books and lunch pails.  seriously varied and unique stuff.

so now's the time to get hopping (and midnight's the time to get shopping).  after you check the jbs inspiration blog, you can also stop by the blogs of the designers listed below.  and don't forget to leave a comment here for a chance to win too!  drawing closes at 8pm CST tomorrow, Monday 2/28.

mindy miller http://mysecretheart.typepad.com/my_secret_heart/

leah farquharson http://amusing-to-create.blogspot.com/

briana johnson http://mypaperlust.blogspot.com/

megan klauer http://meganklauerdesign.blogspot.com/

jenni bowlin http://jennibowlin.blogspot.com/

lisa dickinson http://lisadickinson.typepad.com/gettin_by/

betsy sammarco http://justapharmgirl.blogspot.com/

jill sprott http://wordplaywordwork.blogspot.com/

waleska neris http://myorganizedmess.typepad.com/talking_to_myself/

becky novacek http://www.beckynovacekphotography.com/

shimelle laine http://www.shimelle.com/

get inspired! get it scrapped! and get organized!

i found one more layout from my guest spot at october's masterful scrapbook design with debbie hodge.  the topic was "the times" and it really made me think and scrapbook some topics that i probably wouldn't have done without debbie's prompting.  she's so good for making me stretch and grow.  i'll be guesting again in december and the topic then is "the scrapbook page canvas."  believe me when i say i am all over this one!  even more exciting news for you . . . all four of my classes are on sale at get it scrapped!  the three product pizzazz classes are very helpful in mastering design priciples and then room with a a view is class that challenges you to get inspiration from your own home.  there's also a GREAT deal on a bundle of 11 classes (this includes my four plus 7 more from other teachers). 

i also wanted to give you a heads up on a jbs blog hop that's happening tomorrow at high noon CST.  jenni has some amazing fun new things in store for you and they'll all hit the shelves sunday at midnight CST.  come back tomorrow to learn more about the fun.

and i am proud to report that i've finally begun using the dumpster diving shelf.  i am ashamed to admit, however, that upon filling said shelves i found out that i haven't put layouts away since july of 2009.  oops!  i've made progress though.  i'm up to october of 201o now and about to go slot a few more as we speak . . .

jbs garland + a bonus layout

I have instructions and detail shots for creating this ornament and layout up on the jbs inspo blog today! 

year in review bingo card mini-album

i've been working on this one all year as each jbs mercantile kit has had an exclusive 5x7 monthly bingo card in it.  i used these as the foundation of a year long mini-album.  i followed the same format all the way through.  each right side was the bingo card with a strip of pp at the bottom and an extra few bits.  on the left side i cut a 5x7 piece of pp with a 5x3.5 piece of pp for the pocket.  I stitched some sort of ruffle or border to the top of the pocket piece and then stitched it onto the 5x7 piece on three sides.  my intention is to use tags for journaling and stick ephemera in that pocket and then put a favorite photo on the right.  i think it's going to be a great christmas present for someone.  :)

sorry for the less than stellar photos again.  but sheesh.  if i don't take photos on the weekend it's really a no go for me.  it's been overcast a lot lately and paired w the early darkness anyway, there's really not been sufficient light when i get home from school at 4:00.  i'm not exaggerating when i say it was pitch black by 4:45 today.  i feel like i'm living in alaska!  only warmer (thank goodness).  florida girl can't take much chilly willy weather.

tomorrow at 3:15 starts thanksgiving break!  woot!  we've got a 5 day weekend ahead.  woot!  woot!

do you like random?  i like random.  i think i'm going to fill up the rest of this post with random.  if i can think up enough of it.  i'll give'er a go.

so angel hasn't been getting his homework done.  he's a junior in high school.  he's old enough to be getting his homework done.  his math teacher and i have been pestering him for several weeks now.  tomorrow's the last day she'll accept the late assignments and he still didn't have it done today.  i pulled him out of history class and made him call his mama on his own cell phone.  then i chatted w her.  "angel no esta haciendo sus tareas.  falta ocho y no va a passar este clase si no los hacen . . . "  then i made angel talk to his mama.  it was hilarious.  i laughed about it all day long.  but he'd better have his homework tomorrow dang it.

yesterday the gman asked if animals could survive after they'd been frozen.  i made the mistake of telling him that i though flies and cockroaches might be able to.  now he wants to conduct one of his little science experiments.  not in my freezer!  but i must confess to a little curiosity now.  hmmm.  maybe next time w go to grandma's house.  we can use her freezer then.  there are more cockroaches in florida anyway.

my very own angel baby is currently sitting on the couch in his boxers and holding a ziploc full of ice cubes to his forehead bc i won't turn on the ac.  in november?  seriousyly?  no.  he is such a delicate flower.

i've been listening to green day, the lemonheads, and bare naked ladies in the car lately bc i caught one of our biology students drawing green day covers in class.  it really amazed me that they were still popular.  gosh it's been a while.  and they're still popular.  then i realized it was kinda like me listening to my older brother's music when i was a kid.  then i felt old.  but hey.  i've got a cd player in my car now.  i know i know.  the rest of the world has moved on to the ipod thing.

i heard sons of the pioneers at the district cub scout meeting.  a little "riders in the sky."  yea baby.  my he's older than me but the younger brother and i used to sing "cigareets and whuskey and wild wild women" at the top of our lungs when we were kids.  good stuff.  boxcar willie anyone?  "cawliga" a little julio iglesius?  "changing changing ever changing like the waves upon the sand . . . "

i listen to country music.  why in the world did someone think this was weird recently?  do i not seem the type.  i think i seem the type.  the band perry.  seriously good stuff.  taylor can do no wrong.  lady a, rascal flatts, zack brown band.  yeppers.  i blame it on g.  or maybe my southern roots.

today when i left the house i had no glaring zits on my chin.  after first block i went to the bathroom and noticed the mother of all zits on my chin.  where in the heck did that come from?  after second block i got in the car to head to school #2 and happened to glance in the mirror.  the mega zit was gone without a trace.  i felt like i was in an episode of the twilight zone.

i am contemplating project life.  are you contemplating project life?  do you do project life?  maybe i should just contemplate life.  maybe i should just clean my house.  dust bunnies are us.

wella wella wella.  almost an hr past our bedtime.  eh.  who cares.  thanksgiving starts tomorrow.  rock on!  peace out.  :)

i've been Productive with a capital P!

i'm really rather shocked by how much i got done this weekend.  and i didn't even get started till saturday as i worked the gate at the high school football game friday night (go golden bears! we're playing in the state semi-finals this weekend!).  so chelle came over saturday morning and g had a playdate as one of his besties spent the night friday night (our first time having a sleepover at our place).  i was just a busy beaver all day long with chelle's encouragement (i like company when i scrap) and somehow managed to keep my momentum today.

this is what i got done:

1. december daily cover, binding, and christmas card page
2. october daily binding plus pages 4-13
3. calendar bingo card mini cover, binding, and sept-dec
4. unfinished october kit page
5. jbs christmas garland ornament
6. new page inspired by the christmas garland ornament

there will be lots of scrappy shares this week!  the page here is the one i finished from my october kit.  i think it's mostly the october artisan add-on actually.  it was originally intended for shimelle's pretty paper party, but got benched for something else.  i love the way it turned out.  i wanted the papers on it to look as chaotic as my dining room table.  yes, it looks like that quite often.  not today though.  i somehow managed to clean up between projects.  i am just out of control.  ha.

i've got a playdate at chelle's house scheduled for wednesday then a five day weekend.  woot! 

this is what i hope to accomplish the rest of the week:

1. finish dec daily.  only lacks the year in review page.  need to get pics printed for that.
2. finish oct daily.  days 14-31.  also need to get pics printed for that.
3. finish shimelle's learn something new every day mini.  days 19-30.
4. 4 cub scout thank you cards (by tuesday evening).
5. dig into the december jbs mercantile kit.  yum!
6. foundation for my 2011 journal your christmas/december daily.

and i just have to share these photos from this morning.  isn't my angel baby so adorable?  this is him when he finally woke up at 11:00 this morning.  i think he had sleepover hangover.

have you ever seen such amazing pillow tracks?  i laughed and laughed and laughed.  :)

the missing pages . . .

here are the missing pages i promised.  i think i mentioned that i only have 2 days, the cover, and binding left to do on my journal your christmas/december daily.  getting so close.  woot!  and just in the nick of time!  pun intended.  :)

i also have 12 days to go in september's learn something new every day . . .

and i ummm sorta have 27 pages to do in an october daily i started just before i got the blahs.

and i have this monthly bingo card mini that i've been doing all year.  4 mos and the cover plus binding to go there . . .

i have a 12x12 sleeve that i've been filling with this and that with the intent to make g a mini about this school year . . .

i just found a page i started with the september kit back in . . . oh september . . .

my december jbs kit goodies have landed . . .

and, well, i couldn't resist a little scrappy purchase at the lss this week.  isn't it nice to have so many delightful options?  ha.  :)

(not so) sweet dreams . . .

i don't normally remember my dreams.  maybe two a year tops.  which makes this week in dreamland even stranger.  and oh is it strange my friends.  i'm starting to worry about myself.

monday night i dreamed that my seventy-four year old mother was moving the lawn with a vintage pushmower and somehow managed to suck up my precious pepito in the contraption.  next thing i know i'm holding my poor kitty in my arms wrapped in one of my grandmother's old quilts and telling my mom to get out the phone book and find the nearest vet.  oy.  i was never so relieved to wake up and know it was just a dream.

tuesday night i apparently went to the psychologist to have some tests run.  he came back with the results and told me that i had a life threatening condition with my PERSONALITY.  and then he left me hanging.  all night long it seemed.  i was rather annoyed to wake up and not KNOW what my problem was.

last night in dreamland our cub scout troop was camping out in an abandoned factory building.  we discovered it was contaminated with a deadly disease and evacuated immediately.  i alone went in to set all the explosives and detonate the entire facility.  i am woman, hear me roar.  i've felt like i could conquer the world today.

i don't think i could possibly make this stuff up.  strange.  very very strange.

(oh.  and this is yet another image i was supposed to blog back in october.  the niece in england wanted to see grandma's new couch.  better late than never, right jessica?)

ketchup . . .

apparently i had the blah's for a couple weeks this fall and missed blogging several important events.  like g's birthday.  this is my attempt to catch up at least on the highlights as the fall has been whizzing by.  i mean really.  i can NOT not blog the bday cake.  i always blog the birthday cake bc the bday cake is always fabulous.  this year it was a crawdad.  so cool.  might be my favorite.  the angler fish and blue ringed octopus were super cool too though.  gma makes cool cakes.

this fall has been amaaazing.  this is the only fall leaf pic i took though.  i didn't bother to record it in photos, it is burned into my memory.  the leaves have never been so on fire.  the sky has never been so blue.  seriously.  and the weather.  love.  it's still gorgeous here.  i haven't even turned on my heat yet.  i could get used to this.  you know i love it when snowbird flies, but i'm almost hoping he decides to hibernate all winter.

the fall camp out was awesome.  we are so blessed with our cub scout pack.  this was a scene i stumbled upon in the woods when i went to take some innocent photos.  a dozen or so little boys and a couple girls too.  stick fighting.  you can see g in the middle going at it with his bff's little sister.  i took my photos and then went back and told the rest of the parents that they really didn't want to know what was going on back there.  lol.

i called cool renee the saturday before halloween, hoping to score a playdate.  woa.  cool renee don't play.  she had four halloween/fall events planned for the day and let us tag along.  we only made three of them and then i was wore. out.  super fun day though.  g actually got his face painted for the first time ever.  he's a sea creature.  i had to buy the vampire teeth and swedish fish at walgreen's to complete his look before we went to the cookout at terena's church.  he was a hit.

we did the pumkin thing the day before halloween.  nothing like waiting till the last minute.  went to billy and melissa's to carve it again this year per g's request.  the gman loves all his little traditions.

i've been finding several random photos and videos on my phone and camera lately.  perhaps g has the makings of a film director.  knowing his creature addictions, i expect he'll be into documentaries.

and here is my darling dressed as indiana jones for halloween.  not the best photo, but it'll have to do.  there will be no recreations as we've already returned the critical parts of the costume.  ah well.  even blurry he is still way cute.  and here ends october.  thus far i only have one photoed moment in november.  hmmm.   i should get busy.  or maybe i'll keep resting my camera eye in hopes that it's rejuvenated for december daily time.  :)

twice as many this year as last . . .

last year i made one two page layout because darling shimelle asked me to.  i actually loved the way it turned out and really meant to do more but didn't.  laziness i suppose.  what i really liked about it was the whole coordinating but not matching backgrounds.  that really worked for me.  apparently not enough to repeat the process though.  until briana.  i can be a wee bit competitive at times and i was in a little scrappy race with bj whilst working on the september jbs mercantile kit.  she had made a two pager as she is wont to do and i didn't feel like i could slam dunk her without a two pager of my own.  i was actually rather shocked at how easily this one came together.  i did the whole unmatched background again and learned another trick.  see i've been trying to include more journaling lately and i often run out of real estate there at the end before i get to writing.  woaa.  add the journaling space as a design element!  novel concept!  and it works!

see i did it again with my november kit.  actually, i did the left side and ran out of room for the journaling i wanted to do.  then remembered!  wait!  i can add another page!  which i did.  happiness.  i just might do it again soon.  i like it.  :)