my big BIG news!

PREGNANT!

We’ve been trying since summer and are beyond thrilled. And then of course, I had to scrap it:

(click image for details)

Another page I created recently:

(click image for details)

And now, the reason I won’t be at CHA…
I was actually planning on participating in the Disney Give a Day, Get a Day program beforehand, then going and seeing friends and having fun seeing all the new yummy goodies. But instead I will be going to…

Russia! A group of ladies from my church (and other churches across the nation) will be going to Moscow as an outreach to women and an orphanage there. I leave this Sunday and will be back on Feb 5th. I knew it might be a possibility that I could get pregnant before the trip. My thought has been, “Well, I’d rather be pregnant in Russia than not pregnant in Russia.” At one point, we will be doing a craft with the Russian ladies making Valentines Day cards. Glue Arts was kind enough to donate a bunch of their Glue Glider Pros and Fiskars is donating heart punches! How awesome of them especially while in the midst of planning for CHA!

Please pray for safe & smooth travels for us! I hope to do some updates via Facebook while I’m there. I hear we will have access to computers and the internet.

Gotta keep this post short. I just got word that there was an error made with my visa so now I have to make a trip out to the Russian consulate in San Francisco (about 2.5 hrs away) to get it taken care of. Please pray for me in this too! The weather is frightful with this rain & wind storm. I have to be there first thing in the morning and have so many things to do today!

xoxoxo

lots of catching up to do

Seems a LOT has happened since my last post. But you know how it is in December. Especially if you’re planning for 20 people to be in your house for four days! So that kept me pretty busy. Plus, the week before Christmas, our beloved kitty Phideaux (pronounced “FI-doh”) got sick and we had to put her down. So very sad. But I want to keep this post focused on other stuff so…

I scrapped the photos from my last post:

I love how it turned out. All products available at Designer Digitals.

We did have a beautiful Christmas and a wonderful time with family. I enjoyed having it at our house. We have done that now once with my side of the family and then this year was the first time we’ve done that with Ron’s family.

I’m working on a “Days of December” album (kind of like the “photo a day” idea, but only for the month of December) and I’m trying to get that finished before I do any other scrapbooking.
Here’s the cover:

made with supplies from Designer Digitals. For all the December pages I’ve completed so far, check here:
Days of December layouts

Speaking of Designer Digitals, it was announced on December 31st, that I’m now a member of their Creative Team! Words simply fail me when I try to express just how honored and excited I am to be a part of that amazing team!

Also on December 31st, Issue 43 of Scrapbook Magazine (published in the UK) came out on stands, and oh my, guess who has the cover layout! I haven’t seen the actual issue yet (it takes awhile to get across the pond!) so all I have is this tiny thumbnail from their website:

I also have a feature article in that issue on digital scrapbooking which includes four layouts using Kaisercraft digital products. I don’t know who was more excited about this – me or Kaisercraft: on December 31st, these were delivered to me:

with a sweet note congratulating me. Now that is classy!! And I am blessed!!

Also in issue 43 of Scrapbook Magazine, I created a sketch and made a layered template too (my layered template creations are called “Diagramorama”) which they’re offering for FREE on their site! You can download that HERE. The layout I made to go with it:

I have tons more to share. Like why I won’t be going to CHA this month. I will be out of the country! But I’m going to post more about that later. Until then!

SNOW!

This just doesn’t happen where I live. But it did last night in the wee hours and I was awake to see it!!

The kids played with it this morning before school:

(how cute is THAT?!)

Currently

Was checking out some blogs and saw this on my old friend Jill’s blog (hey Jillybean!) so I decided to do it too! Nothin scrappy for this entry – I can’t show anything I’m working on right now. Yet!

Current Wishlist: a new computer, a Nikon D90, an external hard drive, ACDSee software, an upgrade to PSE 7 or 8 (I currently have 5), an iPhone. Lookit that… all technology. I’m a geek.

Current Color: pink. brown. together or not.

Current Drink: Water. I’d like to say “venti, breve, no water, no foam, Chai Tea Latte with Pumpkin Spice pumps” from Starbucks. But that has waaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy too many calories and, for the first time in my life, I’m actually dieting (er, uh… changing my lifestyle?) and there’s no sugar allowed.

Current Food: organic healthy stuff.

Current Favorite Shows: Lie To Me, Survivor, So You Think You Can Dance, Biggest Loser

Current Shame-Inducing Guilty Pleasure: see “Favorite Shows”

Current Needs: a trip to Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s

Current Triumphs: Apparently did well enough on my article and sketch projects for Scrapbook Magazine (UK), that they asked me to do both again for the following issue!

Current Bane(s) of my Existence: The fact that we’re STILL not done unpacking from the move. *groan*

Current Indulgence: Facebook. Not the games though. Had to hide all those. Nope, just the Live Feed for me, please.

Current #1 Blessing: My husband and three children. I am SERIOUSLY so blessed!

Current Outfit: jeans, Ugg boots, cute jacket, cute scarf, cute hat. Yep, still dressed from having shopped at Old Navy earlier this evening. P.S. got crazy good prices with the 50% off outterwear sale combined with a 30% “give and get” coupon!

Current Excitement: Having the $$ to shop at Old Navy (and Costco) today.

Current Mood: Sleepy. Should be in bed.

What’s on your “Currently” list?

more good news

What an exciting day!! I got another request from Scrapbook Magazine! They want me to create a sketch and a digital page based on my sketch. That’s going to be such an enjoyable project. And Kaisercraft announced the new Digital Creative Team and I’m on it! Such an honor to be among such talented women from all over the world! What an amazing team that’s going to be.

Here’s my latest page:

Well, actually that isn’t my latest page. It’s just the latest one that I can display publically at this point. I have a dozen or so that I’ve created lately that I can’t share yet!

So “National Digital Scrapbooking Day” is this Saturday. Designer Digitals is having their quarterly sale and special chats that are going to last all day! I love these festivites and am feverishly working on my to-do list so I can scrap and attend the chats guilt-free. What are you doing?