What I'm Working On....

I'm lovin' this Rusty Pickle paper Tracey sent me. I had to take a picture of the layout because it's only put together with magnets. Once I take it apart to glue it permanently, I won't remember how I had it! So this picture isn't the best, just meant to be a map. But I wanted Tracey to see that I'm working with the paper and that I love it! I just have to figure out the embellishments....for some reason, flowers don't seem to be calling out to me.

And I found another great blog to share with everyone. That'll be coming up soon.

Google Translator

Thank goodness I found this thing. Every time I visit Iggydodie's site in France, I SO wish I knew what was written there about her layouts! Some sites have a translation bar where you can choose the language you want, but if they don't offer it....what the heck do you do? You go to GOOGLE! (Boy do I wish one of those brilliant kids were mine).

Click on Google Translator , insert a few phrases for translation, or use the second option and type in the URL for any web page...Google with translate the whole page! I can't tell you how I'm lovin' this thing.

It's been quite a week. I took both of my boys to the vet Monday, knowing one of them would have to stay. It turned out to be the wrong one! Geez....I had to give poor Magnum a knock-out pill just to get him there, had to have a bump on his lip checked out. I thought it would be an easy in.....bug bite-infected type of thing... and out again. But no....it was his canine tooth digging into his flesh and it had to be pulled. He ended up with 3 teeth pulled, while my older boy who needs regular dental work had only one broken tooth that needed to be removed. And since Magnum's such a feisty critter, the only way the vet could check on him was to keep him there...I wasn't going to try and catch him again, cram another knock-out pill down his throat and wait for him to slow down....watching him swagger from side to side trying to figure out what the hell's going on...NOT enjoyable. So he stayed with the vet all week and it was so quiet here I couldn't stand it. I had no idea he talked so much....he really does....he talks all the time...to anyone or to no one....doesn't matter.

Between vet visits, breakfast meetings and trips to the corporate office 2 hours away, the week went pretty darn fast. I feel like I haven't scrapped in a long time, and as usual...there's so much I want to do...so many ideas in my head. Boy, I've seen some gorgeous layouts lately. Scrapbook.com has an excellent gallery of "artists" where you can print out copies of the layouts. Let me tell ya...my printer's been smokin! Then there's this one here at Two Peas that I fell in love with. I'd like to try this with a picture of my mother....not even sure where to begin but it's worth a try. I love the ribbons, the heritage look, all the little touches. Yum. It's printed out...I have my copy right here and don't hold your breath waiting to see my version, because I have a long list of unfinished projects and not enough time. If I hadn't been so foolish in my youth I'd be retiring by now and spending my days doing nothing but scrapping and gardening....(insert very big sigh).

On Saturday, I visited the online crop at All Moments Remembered. I've never done an online crop and I probably never will....there's just too much going on for me and I'm not a fast scrapper. What I did, was use the time to finish some projects I've been working on for ages. I have two other mini albums going that aren't done, three albums I'm almost done with for my nephew, one for my niece and.....this one. My little tag album of favorite pictures of my big sister. She's 12 years older than me, and when I was growing up, I thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world. It wasn't until a few years ago that I saw pictures of her as a child and now think she was also the most ADORABLE little girl! (I'm sure I saw these pics before....I just didn't remember them!)

My mother had written our names in the border of one of the original pictures. I copied it and pasted it across the layout....it's nice to have that.

I must have taken 50 pictures of this layout at different stages, and none of them are very good. I'm going to try again this weekend when I can snap during the daylight hours....I think it would help if I laid off the caffiene too. The picture is a bit blurry....maybe it's the pic and not me? Nah.

I really like my new camera but I can never remember everything. I try using it on auto and the flash goes off, leaving a nice glare, which is great if you like that effect. Then I try it without the flash and it's too dark. OR I catch a couple of roadrunners and the pics are great! I have no idea what I'm doing.....

Well, I posted at CKMB that I have an award to pass on, but there doesn't seem to be any interest. I thought people would jump at the chance to add traffic to their site. I'm amazed at the traffic I get from other blogs, and I can see that people are jumping TO other blogs from my links...I really like that. I like for everyone to see the blogs that I love because I honestly think they're much better than mine, and that's why I have the links!

So, here's the deal, Friday night I'll pass on this award. If you would like one for your blog, let me know. I only have 7 and I have a few people in mind already.

Boy, that picture has GOT to go.

Lookey here....

Another Award!

This one was given to me by the Mini Album Queen herself, Miss Dedra Long! I'm so happy that she likes my blog....you don't think it has anything to do with my obsession for her books, do you? Well, I love it, and I'm happy to have received it from such a generous and loving person as Dedra.

Now I have to pass this on to 7 more people. I wonder who they'll be......?

Stay tuned.

Well worth the wait......

This was waiting for me when I got home yesterday. If I had known what a beautiful book this was going to be, I would have ordered two of them! Seriously! I'm so impressed with the layout and design of this book....from the perfect backgrounds that bring out brilliant color in the mini books, to the little scroll work under the page numbers! Whatever CK has been lacking in their magazine lately, they made up for with this book. Maybe it was all due to Ali Edwards, or due to the fantastic books inside, i.e., mini albums by the likes of Ali Edwards, Dedra Long and Mou Saha. I don't know. But whatever it was....it worked. This is one Creating Keepsakes book that is well worth the money.