Just a Thought

Time to revive the old blog

2010-11-10T08:12:00.012-05:00

My poor neglected blog. A funny little thing called facebook came along in to my life and I neglected my poor little blog. I just realized how long it has been since I have posted on my blog and how sad am I??? Let's see if I can do the cliff notes version with some pics. We went to Charleston, South Carolina last December to go house hunting. We found our house on day 2 and put in a offer. They accepted and we were on our way to home ownership again. We spent the rest of our days checking out the local sites. In January we made the move from Maryland to South Carolina. We enjoyed some nice weather including being able to go to the beach in February on a day that hit 70 degrees! Then one week later their once in a 20 year freak snow storm hit here and we got 5 inches of snow. It melted in a few hours but it was cool to see the snow on the palm trees. We finally closed on our house in April and started some fun tasks of re-painting some rooms. In June my mom and nephew came down to visit for the summer and we took the kiddos to Disney World. Wow, what an adventure that was. Lots to do and no rest, so not a good vacation for relaxing. Fun was had by all though. In August I had the honor to fly to Texas to photograph Vanessa and JR's wedding. I was so glad to be able to be there for her big day. In September I registered to start school at The Art Institute of Charleston to get my Bachelors degree in Graphic Design. It is now mid term and I have 2 A-'s and 2 A's. So not too shabby for the girl who almost didn't graduate high school. LOL!! Oh ya, Walter put on the rank of Master Sergeant in February and I am so proud of him and his accomplishments with his career. Whew, okay, I think that is the quick update version. If I remember more, I will post more later. Now for the pics!!

Another victim of the over the hill club!!

2009-10-03T14:00:00.015-05:00

Yep Walter has joined the ranks of over the hill. We celebrated his birthday this past Monday in true 40th birthday style. I had a guess a little too much fun with this. We had a nice party for him in the evening where we were joined by friends and family. I think he really enjoyed his day. Although this is what he woke up to. LOL!!

I did have a little too much fun with balloons, but hey you only turn 40 once.

That is not a Christmas tree in the background, LOL, it is our Halloween tree. Here is the cake I made for him and some of the food we had.

Here is the birthday boy and his inferno cake. (Yes I got a fire permit, LOL). He almost got them all blown out, but there was one stubborn candle.

Summer 2009 in Pictures

2009-09-27T14:18:00.011-05:00

Well I have been a bad, bad blogger over the summer and thought I would do a quick recap of what we were up to over the summer, but do it mostly through pictures. We went camping to Fort Meade, Maryland near Baltimore, took a quick trip to Ocean City, Maryland, went to Chocolate World in Hershey Pennsylvannia, had a fun get together at our house on the Fourth of July, went to Hershey Park in Hershey, Pennsylvannia, took a trip down to Charleston, South Carolina to scope out the area before we move there next year. Went to the beach there and got to see our first alligator!! Celebrated Vanessa's birthday, enjoyed some summertime thunderstorms and finally sending off the kids to another year at school. Whew!!!

Crazy, busy weekend!!

2009-04-28T10:21:00.012-05:00

Well we had a whirlwind weekend here in the Bennett household. Vanessa went through the temple on Saturday and a friend of her's from Washington State flew out for it. Walter was still sick and Nicole was coming down with the same thing so he stayed home with the kids while I got the great opportunity to go with Vanessa. It was a gorgeous, hot day here in Maryland and the temple was packed. Parking was hard to find, which is a wonderful thing. We enjoyed our session and spending this special day with Vanessa.

After the session and photos we headed out to a late lunch to Red Robin in Germantown. I haven't been to Red Robin since Spokane. We had a nice lunch with Vanessa, David, Ben, Kathy and me. Walter graciously agreed to pay. LOL!! It was a long day and we finally got home in the evening. Then Vanessa, David and I headed to Sam's Club to pick up Skyler's birthday cake and decided after that to show David the covered bridge. We got home pretty late and we were exhausted and had to get up early the next day to head into D.C. Oh ya, the dogwood blossoms at the temple grounds were just stunning!! These are my new favorite blossom. Just gorgeous!!

On Sunday, Vanessa, David and I headed into D.C. for the day to show David the sites. It was going to be another scorcher day here on the east coast. In fact it got into the 90's there and I thought I was gonna die. LOL!! We took him to the White House, Washington Monument, Holocaust Museum, World War II Memorial, Lincoln Memorial and then walked the entire mall up to the Capital building. Whew!! That's alot of walking if you know D. C. We then headed to Union Station for lunch and a little shopping. After that we caught the metro back to Shady Grove to head home for Skyler's Birthday dinner, cake and ice cream. (I will post about that tomorrow). It was a jam packed weekend and my feet are throbbing and even managed to get a blister, LOL, but it was fun and exciting. Okay, I am off to design for NSD!!!

New assignment!!!

2009-04-16T10:22:00.004-05:00

Well we knew it was coming and we were waiting, well not so patiently. Walter turned in his Base of Preference list to personnel back at the beginning of March. They said they would load it right away. We had a list of 8 bases we would like to go. Walter was nice enough to let me pick 2 of the 8. This list we were allowed to do because of the kind of assignment Walter had this time. Well he kept checking with personnel to see if it was loaded yet and it was not. We were getting concerned because the window allowed for us to use this was running out. So the other day Walter yet again called down to Andrews AFB personnel to see if it had been loaded. Still not done. Then just barely 2 hours later he gets and email telling him he has an assignment. What? LOL!! During that slim 2 hours, personnel managed to finally get his base of preference loaded and he was selected for an assignment!! I still am shaking my head in disbelief that the Air Force is even capable of giving us this much notice. LOL!! So without further ado here is where our assignment will be to. Oh ya, only pics right now, ya gotta guess!! Oh one more thing, of the 8 listed bases this assignment was one of my 2 choices!!

Cherry Blossoms DC Style!!

2009-04-05T13:13:00.007-05:00

I finally (after 3 years of living here) got the chance to go down to DC to see the Cherry Blossoms at the Tidal Basin. I carefully watched the weather forecast and the blossom forecast for the perfect day to catch them and well it was absolute perfection. My FIL and I went there last Thursday and it was absolutely breathtaking!!! If you ever get the chance to visit DC I recommend trying for late March, early April then you have the chance to see these!!!!

Will not try this again!!!

2009-03-15T22:55:00.002-05:00

Mystic tanning, yep spray tanning. I thought why not give it a shot. How bad could it be? I went tanning with my SIL Vanessa yesterday and decided to give the Mystic a try. She laughed and said I would look like an Oompa Loompa. The girl was giving me instructions and from the booth next to the front desk we hear "Oompa, Loompa" (My lovely SIL singing). The girl stops the instructions and everything goes silent. So she starts again and we hear "Dompity Doo". Yep she started singing again. I about died laughing. When they took me back to the room with the "Paint booth" she showed me the lotion I needed to put on my feet and hands and told me how much to use and not to rub it in, just leave it all gloopy. She shows me the sensor door opener and closer and the sensor starter for the "Paint Booth". So she leaves, I lock the door and proceed to get my tan. I slop on the inches of lotion on my hands and feet as instructed, put on my hair net and step into the booth. I wave my hand in front of the the sensor to close the door and nothing, I try again, still nothing. After several attempts of this I figure it is the 2 inches of lotion on my hands causing interference and use my arm to wave to shut the door. I then wave my hand in front of the start button (not learning my lesson obviously) and again nothing. So once again I resort to my arm and then take my spray tan position with eyes closed. The machine says, "Spraying to start in 5 seconds" and counts down. It then goes through my head, "what was I thinking?" The spray starts and moves up and down. Once it stops the machine mumbles something, wasn't sure what she said but I figured I better turn around. So I take my stance again and the machine counts down again and sprays the back. 30 seconds after it starts it is done and the door pops open. I tried not to fall out of the booth with my lotion slick feet. I got out trying not to breath in the fumes and chemicals and then proceed to wipe off the excess (as instructed to). They told me it would take about 4 to 6 hours to show up. I left thinking, "Wow, why don't more people tan like this, fast, easy and instant tan!! 6 hours later I had an answer as to why they don't. While I am not an Oompa Loompa, the tanning is not even at all and where they told me to slather all that lotion on, got NO tan what so ever. So I have white hands and white feet with funny white lines on the wrists and ankles where I had lotion on. It also did not cover all over very nice and I have some spots on my thumb and the palms of my hands are dark (that wasn't suppose to happen according the instructions). So lesson learned, never go the quick and easy route, cause well, you just may end up an Oompa Loompa.

New addition to our family....

2009-03-03T16:07:00.004-05:00

I would like to introduce Zoey to our family. She is 9 weeks old and weighs a whopping 2 lbs 9 oz!! She is a Shih Tzu and is just the sweetest dog, she is even winning over Walter!! We picked her up Saturday and she is adjusting really well and is doing really good on the house training. We look forward to many years with her!!

Eating is no fun!!!

2009-02-10T13:09:00.001-05:00

So my youngest thinks he needs to live off of candy. We have mini-meltdowns most nights now when it comes to dinner time. This particular night he went in the bathroom and we could hear him muttering and hitting things. So I broke out the camera and I give you Eating is No Fun. Sorry it was just too funny not to get on film. LOL!!

15 and seeing Red......

2009-01-25T21:59:00.007-05:00

Well my oldest son is now 15 and I cannot believe how big he has gotten. Tyler celebrated his birthday on the 19th and I am in complete denial we are 1 year away from driving!!! He had a great birthday and had his first boy/girl party and boy was that crazy, LOL!!!

I also finally got the rest of my furniture in (it is only 1 month past the original delivery date), but I am so glad it is here. I got one wall in the dining room painted red and will be finishing the rest this next week. Figured I better get the hutch wall done so I don't have to move it. I love my new couches too!! So much better than the old ones.

Merry Christmas!!!

2008-12-25T21:15:00.007-05:00

I cannot believe it is already Christmas day? Where has this year gone? I hope you are all well and enjoying your wonderful day with family and friends. We had a great day, opened presents, ate candy and had our turkey dinner!! Here are some pics from our day.

It's The Most Wonderful Time of The Year.....

2008-12-22T10:20:00.019-05:00

to decorate that is. LOL!! I LOVE this time of year and I just love decorating for it. I hate having to take it all down as the house looks so bare. Walter was so nice to let me add another tree this year (yes I have a slight issue with wanting lots of trees) to our rec room. I wanted it to be all red and white ornaments and I am happy with how it turned out. So here are some pics into the world of my tree obsessed holiday home.

I guess I should really admit....

2008-12-20T20:30:00.005-05:00

that I have a serious addiction to buying furniture. LOL!! Poor Walter, he is being so patient with me and my fetish of wanting new furniture. Here is some pics of my new dining room table. The hutch is coming later as my new family sofa and love seat are back ordered and it was with that order. The folks at Ashley Furniture have really gotten to know me this year!!

Yo .....

2008-12-15T20:18:00.005-05:00

yo garland!! I had some fun with some red and white Christmas fabrics. I saw a yo yo garland in a magazine and had to make me one. I wanted a red & white Christmas tree for our rec room and figured I needed a matching garland for the fireplace. It was supper easy to do and I am happy with the way it turned out.

It's about time!!!!

2008-12-13T12:10:00.003-05:00

I can finally, finally say we are no longer home owners!!! Yep I am excited about not owning a home. When we found out 3 years ago that we had orders to the East Coast we put our house on the market in Eastern Washington state. We thought we had a buyer, turned out to be a scam and a tenant from, well you know where. After 2 horrible tenants, 1 good tenant, many months of frustration, 1 awesome, patient and incredibly helpful Real Estate Agent (Thank you so much Wendi!!!) we can finally say that the house is sold!!! We closed this last week, it funded and we are all done!!! It was a great house, with lots of wonderful memories but I am glad this chapter in our life is complete.

We've been elfed!!!

2008-12-05T23:20:00.000-05:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Add a little glitter.......

2008-09-16T17:41:00.014-05:00

I decided while I was shopping at Michael's and A. C. Moore today to pick up some things to make a couple of fun Halloween projects. These were very easy, inexpensive and took very little time to make. Here is how to make them:

I bought the large white wood letters to spell out "Boo" and small wood letters to spell out "spooky"

I painted the large letters with a purple paint and the small letters with an orange paint.

I used an acrylic craft paint.

Once your paint has dried, apply a good thick coat of Modge Podge or white glue to the top surface. Work fast so it doesn't dry.

Sprinkle on your glitter quickly and evenly over the surface of the modge podge or glue. I always put on alot to make sure the entire area gets good coverage.

Now gently shake off the excess glitter. Let dry and coat with a spray matte sealer. Add a ribbon or metal hanger and you are done!!! Try using seed beads or sequins instead of glitter. Have fun creating!!!

Shoes!!!

2008-08-27T11:13:00.003-05:00

Well I found my love of shoes again. It has been years since I have felt this. I think it may become a new obsession. I found a couple of pairs of shoes lately that I just absolutely fell in love with and had to have. My sister-in-law Vanessa sacrificed and let me have the brown polka dot pair, even thought she wanted them really bad. Now to find the perfect outfit to go with them!!!

Letting go......

2008-08-26T09:47:00.008-05:00

I thought this day would be an exciting day for me. I thought the freedom would be very welcome by me. I was looking forward to this day I thought. Today was the first day of school for my two youngest. Nicole and Skyler are both starting kindergarten and will be there all day. Nicole I am used to her going to school, since she has been attending preschool for the last 2 years. Skyler was so excited today and wouldn't take off his overloaded backpack all morning. We walked them to the bus stop and waited patiently (well the parents did anyway) for the bus to arrive. They got on the bus and found a seat where they could wave at us from the window. It was then it hit me, my babies are growing up. Skyler would not be home with me during the day and I felt the tears start falling down my face. He was so brave and I fell apart. Now I am sitting in a too quiet empty house and I am having mixed feelings. I am excited for them to start school and to learn and have fun, but I can honestly say, I miss the noise, the distractions, yes even their arguing. I know each day will get better and that I will be able to let go. But until then I miss my babies.

Grab Bag Time!!!

2008-08-17T12:27:00.007-05:00

Since the digi grab bag reveal blog is no more, I guess I will post the reveal of my grab bag on my blog. Sorry I won't post others on here, I would never get anything done if I did. LOL!! So here is what you get in mine this month for $2.00. There is 5 brand new products which includes 1 full kit. Let me know what you think by leaving a comment!!!

Just 4 fun!!!

2008-08-11T11:59:00.003-05:00

Just a little typing fun. Thanks Jenny for the link!!!

62 words

Speedtest

Where has the time gone?

2008-08-04T10:42:00.005-05:00

Yep, I am still alive, but have really neglected my poor blog. I even gave it a little make over. Well alot has happened in the Bennett household since my last post. Walter's parents flew out to visit for the summer. One night right before father's day we went out to dinner and we were looking at a house magazine while waiting to be seated. I ended up finding one I really liked and commented on. The next day my dear sweet hubby looked at the website for the realtor who had the home listed and found a home for rent in a town nearby. So I called the realtor right away to schedule a showing. We headed out to look at the house and I fell in LOVE!!! It was gorgeous!!! So we filled out an application to rent. Then she informed us that another couple had put in an application too. So we waited and waited. Meanwhile I started looking at some of the other houses in the same developement that were listed for rent. I found a 5 bedroom 3 1/2 bath home that had a living room, family room, formal dining room and rec room with 3800 SF in the same neighborhood for rent. So we scheduled a showing for that house. I thought this one would work much better for us. So again we put in the application. Which in turn helped the other landlords pick the other couple for their house. Within a few hours we found out we got the 5 bedroom house and a few days later we were moving!!! It all happened in a weeks time. It had everyone's head spinning since we were not even considering moving just the week before and now we were loading a truck. So Walter's parents are moving out to live with us and we are so excited!!! Walter's sister came to visit last week and ended up getting a job where he works so she is headed back in a couple of weeks to join us here. It is all so exciting and amazing to see the way everything has fallen into place. So here are some pics of the house. I still have alot more to take, but those will come as we get settled.

Free June Desktop

2008-05-31T20:29:00.000-05:00

Well it has been awhile since I updated this blog and figured I was way overdue. So to get back in the swing of it I have created this fun June desktop for you all to enjoy for free!! I used my kit Summer Lovin that you can find where I am now selling at The Sweet Shoppe!! Yep I finally got my dream store!! You can also find the kit at my personal store Melissa Bennett Designs. If you download the kit please leave a comment here on my bloggaroo!! Thanks so much!!

1024x768 Download Link

1280x800 Download Link

Saying goodbye to a dear old friend

2008-04-25T16:17:00.003-05:00

Today we lost out dog of 12 1/2 years. Simba we got as a puppy for Tyler's 2nd birthday and today we had to make the incredibly difficult decision to have him put down. It was of the hardest things I have ever had to do. I got to be there with him the entire time and comfort him and pet him and tell him how much of a good dog he was. My heart is just broken right now and Tyler is just so sad. I have never seen him so sad. We love you Simba and will miss you so much!!!

Play Ball!!!!!!!!!

2008-04-20T15:29:00.010-05:00

Baseball season is in full swing and Tyler is so excited to be playing baseball again. He had his first game at Union Bridge and it was a beautiful drive out there. It was about 30 minutes from where we live. It was a perfect day for a game too. The weather has finally warmed up and we were in the mid 80's for temp!! The kids were so excited to have a picnic there and we found a nice spot under a tree that I thought was providing us shade. However my sunburned face and arms tell a different story. Tyler's team did really well, but was up against a team with heavy hitters. We lost by 10, but everyone had a good time. His next game is monday night and I hope to get some better pictures of him playing. He didn't get a chance to bat this game and was in the outfield for the last half of the game. I also got some fun pics of the kiddos while we were there.

Of course with it being such a warm day we just had to have popsicles!!

And the winner is......................

2008-04-01T08:15:00.002-05:00

Okay so the 2 prim angels have a new home!! I just wanted to thank everyone who posted!!

Sonja n you are the winner!!!!!!! Please email me at melissabennettdesigns@comcast.net with your full name and mailing address and I will get these sent off to you this week!! Remember to keep watching the blog for more goodies in the coming weeks!!!

My Crafty Side!!

2008-03-27T14:10:00.003-05:00

Well some of you who have known me for awhile, know that I used to do crafts, a lot!! I used to do quite a bit of shows in Utah and Washington State. My favorite kind of craft to make is well anything Primitive!! I still have alot of my supplies and have decided I need to start playing with those poor lonely supplies. So since I don't do shows anymore or Ebay, how fun it would be to do blog give aways!!! So as I craft and get things done, I will be giving away some of these goodies right here on my blog. This first give away is for a set of Primitive Blessings Angels. This is from a Terrye French Pattern. The large Angel has a wire hanger and the very small one has a magnet on the back. This is being given away as a set and well I will ship to anywhere!! So you gals not in the US, join in too!! Now, how do you win? Simply post a comment on my blog between today and March 31st and I will take all those names and draw one out and they will be the new home for this Angel duo!!! I am very excited to get this going, I really miss doing my craft and I think this will get me motivated into creating again!! Good Luck everyone!!!

Easter Fun!!!

2008-03-24T09:10:00.007-05:00

Oh wow, I let the time slip didn't I? Well a lot has happened and I have been very busy. I have put out a lot of new products but they will be at my new business blog which you can find here http://www.melissabennettdesigns.com/wordpress
. I also opened my own store!! I am so excited about this and I am still selling at Scrapbook Bytes. You can check out my new store at Melissa Bennett Designs. We had a fun Easter with a house full!! We had 3 extra kiddos with us, making the house kiddo total 6!!! It was actually easy and we have been having a blast. On Saturday night we dyed Easter eggs and decorated sugar cookies. Oh ya we had 7 kids here for that!! They all had a blast decorating the cookies and well I am enjoying eating them!! LOL!! Here are some pics of them having fun with cookies and eggs!!

Valentines Day Hybrid Projects

2008-02-18T22:44:00.005-05:00

So I got to make some fun stuff for Valentine's day for Nicole's Pre-K class and her teachers and bus driver. For the treat bags I used Shabby Princesses Confection Collection. These turned out so cute and will definately be using that collection over and over!! For her teachers and bus driver I used little mail boxes I got at Target in the dollar section (woo hoo, love me a good dollar deal!!). I then printed out some papers from my kit Stupid Cupid and modge podeged them on the mail boxes. I added some fun ribbons, filled with tissue paper and candy and that is it!! I was a little heart broken when we took them to school and her teacher says, "Oh those are so cute, did you buy them somewhere?" I answer "no". Then she says, "Oh did someone make them for you"? Um, I guess I don't look like the type that can create anything!! LOL!! But those of you who know me, know I have quite an extensive crafting past!! My garage full of craft supplies, just proves this further. To finish off the day her bus drive was just thrilled and surprised to get hers, that made up for the teachers comments.

Turning five

2008-02-10T16:43:00.000-05:00

So my baby girl has turned five!!! I just can't believe she is this old! She is growing up way to fast and I am having a hard time with both of my little ones going to be starting kindergarten this year. Nicole has really made leaps and bounds in her progress since joining our family. She is forever overcoming the obstacles placed before her and learning and developing at a wonderful pace. Here she is on her 5th birthday!! Happy Birthday Baby Girl!!!

Snow!!!!

2008-01-22T00:19:00.000-05:00

It has been a fairly quiet winter for us here in Maryland so far and the kids are not real happy about that. So last Thursday it started to snow, and kept snowing. It was so beautiful and the kids were dying to go out and play in it. Of course it had to pick this day of all days. Walter was coming home from his TDY and I needed to pick him up at Reagan International Airport in DC. So the flights started getting delayed in some areas of the country and his out of Chicago was delayed almost 2 hours. I had the joy of driving down to DC at 10 o'clock at night after a snowstorm!! LOL!! Luckily the drive went well, I got to see the city at night after a fresh snowfall, simply breathtaking, and my hubby was home!! Anyhow here are some pictures I took that day from the snow.

Happy Birthday Tyler!!!

2008-01-19T22:11:00.001-05:00

Today my oldest turned 14!! I can't believe I am the mother to a 14 year old. He had his party last night with his friends. They watched movies, played video games and oh ya, turned the house into a war zone during their nerf dart battle. I thought a few times the house would fall down. But I am happy to report that there is no casualties including the house. Tyler asked for an ice cream cake for his birthday, but not just any ice cream cake, the one that we saw on a show featuring the Duggar family on TV. So here it is!! This cake is AWESOME and definately not low cal. LOL!!

So if it looks too yummy to pass up here is the easy squeezy recipe!!

24 Ice Cream Sandwiches
2 Tubs of Cool Whip
Chocolate Syrup
Caramel Syrup
2 King Size Butterfinger bars

Line a 9 x 13 pan with ice cream sandwiches, one layer only. Spread cool whip over the top. Drizzle with chocolate syrup and caramel syrup. Crush up one of the butterfinger bars and spread all over. Repeat the following steps again for a second layer and put in freezer to freeze and there ya go!!

Here is Tyler opening his gifts and blowing out all 14 candles!! Happy Birthday bud!! We love you and are so proud of the incredible young man you are becoming!!!

2008 is in da house!!!

2008-01-11T21:53:00.000-05:00

Where has the time gone? I can't believe it is 2008!! Makes me long for my 80's hair even more, LOL!! So this year we all managed to stay up until midnight, little ones included and for those of you who know us, yes Walter made it too!! Barely but he made it and after the poppers and confetti he crashed. It was so cute, because we took the kids shopping for party hats, poppers, streamers and noise makers explaining to them we would be having a New Years Eve party. They were all excited and kept asking all night when. So when midnight hit and we let them go wild with their fun goodies and after it was all gone, we told them it was time for bed. Skyler looks at us with a crushed and puzzled look and says almost crying, "That's it?" When we explained to him, yes, he started to cry. I guess he thought is was supposed to be a longer party, LOL. Poor little guy, guess New Years will never be the same for him anymore.
Today was a great day, Walter and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversry. I cannot believe it has been 16 years since we got married. Time has really flown by. We are more in love now than the day we married. It is just amazing to me as I didn't think back then it was possible to love him more. I really feel it is all of the good and bad that we have gone through that has brought us to where we are now and made us as strong as we are. He is truely my best friend and soul mate. Thank goodness for time and all eternity!! We went out to dinner to TGI Fridays and had a really nice dinner minus the kids. We have not gone out to dinner for our anniversary in over 10 years so it was a great treat for us and we enjoyed going our alone (well as alone as you can be in a restaurant on a friday night) time together. Anyhow here are some pics of our New Years and a LO I did of Walter and I for our anniversary. Also a pic that Tyler took of Walter and I tonight. We don't have alot of pictures of me and him. Anyhow, happy new year all!!!

Merry Christmas!!

2007-12-25T22:16:00.000-05:00

Hope you all had a wonderful day!!

Family Night

2007-12-14T08:33:00.000-05:00

On monday night for our family night we went down to the Washington DC temple to meet some friends and see the Christmas lights. Wow, they were spectacular. There were so many people there, yet it was such a beautiful and peaceful setting. They even had a live nativity, which was very neat. So I will let my pictures do the talking for me today. Enjoy!!

This little light of mine

2007-12-09T21:59:00.000-05:00

Oh so the competition is on! LOL! We love to decorate for Christmas, and we have always put up alot of lights outside each year, but we just found out that the post here where we live is having a contest for the best outdoor holiday decorating!! So we are gonna try our best to win!! There is some good competition out there, but we may have a few tricks up our sleeves. Bwahahahahaha!! Okay, maybe not, but we will see what happens when they judge on the 19th. There is $100 at stake. LOL!! So we have got some of them up already and hope to add some more soon. Here is what we have so far.

I am hoping to figure out how to get up to the second story to put some lights up there. We shall see. I also made a wreath for the front door. I am pretty happy with the way it turned out. I found everything for it at AC Moore and it was all on sale, which makes it even better!!

Last night we got to go to the ward Christmas Party. I baked 4 Caramel Apple Pies for it and I got alot of compliments on them. There was 1 left over to bring home just for us!! Yum!!! The kids got to see Santa there and I got a couple of cute pics of them visiting with him. I love watching their faces this year with Christmas. It is so magical and exciting. We had a great evening and alot of people were in attendance. They had a great dinner and program. We really enjoyed it.

In my non-blogging mode last month, I totally forgot about Nicole losing her first tooth!! We freaked out of course, because we never expected a 4 year old to lose a tooth and thought for sure one of the boys had knocked it out. LOL. But we had an oral surgeon look at her and he examined the tooth and Nicole and said it was a natural lose!! So here is a pic of her toothless!! Anyhow, that is it for today, hopefully I can keep this blogging streak up.

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas...

2007-12-07T20:00:00.001-05:00

all over my house!! Okay, I took some pics and I am ready to share them. Just remember I LOVE this time of year!

This tree is the main tree in the house. It is just a modge podge of ornaments. I buy the kids a new ornament every year and when they are grown and married, they will get each of their ornaments. They look forward to helping pick out their ornament every year.

This next tree is my Kitchen tree. I had always wanted a tree in my kitchen and a few years ago I started working on it. I made some permanent gingerbread ornaments for it, totally not edible as they are made with glue, but they look and smell so real. I added some little baskets, small rolling pins, small antique metal cookie cutters, and small kitchen utensils and pots and pans.

Next is my new tree I just did the other day. I had seen the idea at a craft show I went to. This is the one in the giant ceramic mug. I am really please with the way it turned out.

I also have an Americana tree. This one is in my office which is also Americana decor. I did this tree the Christmas after 9/11.

The newest one is my tree in my master bedroom. This one was my hubby's idea!!

I also have a trio of smaller trees behind my love seat, these are my funky trees. They have bright, fun and funky ornaments on them. They match nothing in my house, but I love them!!

I did my first hybrid project this week. I altered a Barn Star, thanks to inspiration from Janet (As You Wish at DST). I used my kit Cinnamon Sticks and printed out the papers and modge podged them to the star. I am really happy with the way it turned out and could really get addicted to this hybrid thing!!

On tuesday they had the tree lighting ceremony here on the post where we are living. My oldest Tyler had to perform there with the middle school band. I was so proud of him. He plays the trombone and has really come along way with it! They held it indoors because of how cold it was. I was really glad for that. The little ones got to see Santa and I got a pic of them with him. They were so excited and not as scared as they used to be.

We got our first snowfall of the season here in Maryland on Wednesday. The kids were so excited and Skyler kept peeking out the window saying, "Is is deep enough yet?" He was dying to go outside and play in it. We finally went out and found the neighbors out there too. While she and I talked I kept getting hit with snowballs from Skyler. It was beautiful to see and this is earlier than what we got last year. We ended up getting 5 inches and the next day they ended up doing a snow day for all the schools here.

Well that is about it for my catch up post. Two posts in 1 day, man I am on a roll!! LOL!! Hopefully I can do better at this blogging thing. Have a great weekend!!

Is it December Already?

2007-12-07T11:33:00.000-05:00

Wow! Where has that time gone. It just seems like yesterday since I last posted and here it is December already and Christmas and the New Year are almost here. We had a great Thanksgiving with just us at home and it was nice and non stressful. We stuffed ourselves on Turkey and Pumpkin Pie and I don't feel guilty about it!! LOL!! Of course we put up Christmas decorations the week before Thanksgiving, but that was late for us. We normally have them up the first week of November. I got my 3rd big tree this year and I am so excited. It was actually my hubby's idea. Our Master Bedroom is big so he thought a tree would be good in there, so I got one!! I got a 7 foot, sorta skinny tree with white lights and decorated it with red and gold decorations to match our room. I also made another kitchen Christmas tree. This one I got a giant red with a swowman scene, ceramic mug and saucer at Michael's (I think it is a planter) and put a small Christmas tree in it and decorated it with small snowball ornaments and snowflakes and then tied red bows on it and white lights. I am happy with the way it turned out. I will post pics in a day or two. My camera battery is dead and I need to recharge it. I have also been busy creating lots of Christmas kits!! I will also be going exclusive at Scrapbook Bytes after the 15th of this month. I am so excited for this. Well I think that is all for today, got alot of things I need to get done. You can check out all these kits at my store at Scrapbook Bytes

I've lost my Gall!!!

2007-10-28T21:12:00.000-05:00

Bladder that is! Sorry had to have a little fun with it. I have had issues with it for years and a little over a week ago had a really good attack that put me in the emergency room. Well explaining what was going on to 2 four year olds was an adventure, but I think they got it. We were in the drive thru at McDonald's before my surgery and was ordering the kids lunch and just me a drink, trying to explain to Skyler why mommy couldn't have any food. So when we get to the window to pick up the food, Skyler tells the lady, don't give my mommy any food only a drink! I almost died laughing!! So this last wednesday I had surgery to have it removed. I cannot say I am sad to see it go. I am recovering and hope to be completely back to normal within a few days. It was a fairly easy procedure that only took an hour. It left me with 4 little incisions that hurt pretty good, but that is better than a major surgery. I was even home the same day as the surgery.
For other news I am no longer selling at The Digi Shoppe. It got closed and we were sad to see that happen but I did manage to get picked up at one of my dream stores, Scrapbook Bytes!!! So you can find my digi goodies there and still at Elemental Scraps. Oh and I am no longer selling at Plain Digital Wrapper. It was just time for me to move on. I've added many new and fun things to the store since some of my posts here on the blog, I will try to catch up with all of the goodies. I also have a new Christmas kit coming out tomorrow at Scrapbook Bytes and I have 3 others in the works and 6 or 7 color schemes for more!! Yes it is my favorite time of the year. Oh ya almost forgot to mention I am making fonts now!! Anyhow enjoy the new digi goodies and if you like something please leave a comment. LOL! *Note to self, quit waiting so long to update blog with products so you don't have an incredibly long line of photos to add!!

Fall has arrived, finally!

2007-10-12T10:27:00.000-05:00

Well as you can see I have let my poor little blog suffer. We have been busy with family visiting and touring the many areas around here. Walter's Mom and Dad came out to visit for 3 weeks and we had a blast. We were so sad to see them leave and really wished they lived alot closer as we enjoy being around them and spending time with them. We ventured out to Gettysburg one day and wow, that is one amazing place. Here are some pics from that.

We also went to Harper's Ferry, West Virginia one day. It was my first trip to West Virginia. It was GORGEOUS there!!! If you are ever in the area I highly recommend a stop there. Here are some pics from there.

On the last weekend we went down to Solomon's Island for some crabbing and sight seeing. The crabbing was a blast. We got almost 2 five gallon buckets full of crabs and boiled them up!

We also got to see the museum and go on a harbor tour for free. It was so much fun. Just too hot. We were in the 90's with humidity, in October!! Yuck!! But the sights were so worth it.

One afternoon while we were crabbing Skyler caught his first fish. He was so excited and so proud of himself. We put it in a bucket with water and he proceeded to sit down next to it and talk to it. Everyone that walked by he told them he caught a fish, they would smile and say how fun, then he would instruct them to come over to look at it. He was so proud. He told everyone it was his friend!! When the fish stopped swimming and was well belly up, he got upset. We had to tell him it was sleeping. He asked if he could take it to bed with him that night and when we got back to the trailer, he took that bucket and carried it off to his bed. Of course we had to explain to him this would not work. We told him we would put it outside. So that night we of course had to get rid of it and they next day he asked for his fish. He was so upset when he saw it was gone. Just broke my heart. Here is a pic of him with his first fish and a pic of the sunset that night.

While Ben and Kathy were visiting us. The celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. The day before their anniversary we went to the Washington DC Temple and did sealings with them. It was such an incredible day and a wonderful spiritual experience. I am so glad we were able to share that with them. Here is a pic of them together at the Point Lookout Lighthouse. Also some other pics from Point Lookout.

Oh ya, forgot to mention. Ben and Kathy bought me this teddy bear that I had fallen in love with. It is HUGE! The mama bear is holding 2 baby cubs, it reminds me of my 2 little ones. Skyler thought it was his and had to take a nap with it the first day. Here is a pic of that.

Well I will have to post my scrapping update later or tomorrow cause this post is way longer than I thought it would be. Hope you all stayed awake through it. Have a great day!!

Family Day Road Trip

2007-09-02T20:17:00.000-05:00

So with it being a long weekend and the weather has been incredibly beautiful here in Maryland (little humidity). We decided to venture out today and explore some areas we had not been to. So we loaded up the Suburban, turned on a movie for the 2 little ones and headed west on I-70 towards Hagerstown. We climbed our first mountain here in Maryland, for those of you on the west coast please don't laugh to hard at this part. That's right, a mountain here in Maryland and when we hit the summit it said 985 feet!!! Yep you read that right!! I really tried not to laugh, but well, where we come from, that is just a hill. It was a beautiful drive though and Walter and I are really beginning to enjoy the area more and more. We pulled off at the outlet stores in Hagerstown and browsed around for awhile. Boy the damage I could have done there!! From there we headed north on I-81 towards Pennsylvannia. We stopped in Chambersburg, Pennsylvannia for lunch. The kids were starving by then and loved their lunch. We headed out again, full tummy's and giant chocolate chip cookies in hand and this time headed east on 30 towards Gettysburg. The drive was so beautiful!!! The towns were small and it was rolling hills, farm land and forests. We drove through downtown Gettysburg, which I immediately fell in love with!! I can't wait to go back in a few weeks and hit all those fun, home decor stores I saw. After leaving there, we jumped back on 15 towards home, but took a side detour at Thurmont to find a covered bridge. I have been waiting to see one and take some pictures. So here it is!!

There was a nice little park there so we let the kids out to play for a little bit. They did not want to leave when it was time because they were having too much fun. Here are a couple of pics of them playing.

Now to some digi scrapping news. I have finished a new kit and hope to have it in my store at http://www.elementalscraps.com/ by tuesday. I really loved this color swatch and couldn't wait to create a kit with it. Hope you like it. Well until next time!!

Back to School

2007-08-30T09:03:00.000-05:00

Well it is that time of year. When you start to feel the season's changing and well the kids are gearing up for back to school. Tyler went back to School on monday and is loving being in Middle School. It is so weird having him back in public school, but hopefully things will be good here. He loves having a locker and is so excited about all of his teachers and classes. He is in band again and will be taking up the trombone again. Gotta go rent one today. Nicole starts her first day tomorrow of Pre-K and is so excited. Poor Skyler is on the waiting list and is going to be so sad when he realizes he will be home alone. Hopefully a spot will open up soon. But mom has some plans for him until then. We are gearing up for the long weekend and I think I am gonna fill it with canning. I have not been able to do that in a couple of years and we now live in an area with lots of farms and orchards. So I am gonna hit them this weekend to start building back up our supply. Hopefully peaches are ready.
Well I got a new paper pack done and I am so excited about this one. It is called Grid Grunge and is availabe at my store at http://www.elementalscraps.com/ Here is also a couple of LO's I have done with it.

I survived!!

2007-08-23T11:24:00.000-05:00

The big 40 that is!! Boy I gotta tell ya, that was a hard one for me. I was really down in the dumps about it. I guess it was because, growing up I always looked at 40 as old and then bam the age hits me. Guess I need to look at it different. Oh and mother nature can sure be cruel. The day before my birthday I found my first gray hair!! ACK!! So I did survive the day, I didn't suddenly get wrinkles or anything and I am finally coming to grips with the fact that it is not that bad and it will be another 10 years before I have my next horrible birthday. LOL!

So it has been awhile since I updated my blog, I know bad blogger. The move was well, an adventure. We now know that after 15 years of marriage, you accumulate stuff. We loaded one 26 ft. truck and still needed more. So we picked up a 16 ft. truck and filled that all the way. The rest we had to cram in my Suburban, Walter's car and the travel trailer. Yep, you guessed it, time to down size, I mean REALLY downsize!! LOL! So a few days after we move into our new house Walter has to leave to go to a 2 week military exercise up in Pennsylvannia. Well one day after he leaves he calls me to tell me he was in the ER the night before and that they diagnosed him with a kidney stone. ACK!! They told him that he could stay up there as it should pass soon. So the next day I see a car pull up in front of the house and Walter gets out of the passenger side. They brought him back cause they said in his condition he was basically uselsess. So we spend the next week making many trips to the ER because he is in so much pain and the stone is not passing. It was very hard to see him like that. I have never seen him that sick before or in that much pain. We told the Doctor's over and over again that his dad has a history of kidney stones and that he cannot pass them as his tubes are too small. Finally on day 10 we pleaded with the Doctor down at Bethesda Naval Hospital to do something different. They brought down Doctors from Urology and we had to beg them to do something. They finally agreed to surgery. They got him in that night and after waiting 2 hours they finally came out and told me they were done and that the stone was stuck and would have never passed as his tube was too small. Hmmm, just like we told them was a possibility. In a matter of days he was back to his normal self eating ice cream again. He did lose 20 lbs during the ten days. Hmmm, new diet trend? LOL!

So we are almost setteled in our home, which I love by the way. So much bigger and I love this area. We are trying to adjust living on an Army Post. This is a first for both of us. Being Air Force, it is definately different. The nice part will be putting our kids in public schools. Tyler and Nicole start on monday and well poor little Skyler is on the waiting list for pre-k. Hopefully something will open up soon.

I have been back in the designing mode too. Just starting to get my mojo back. So here are my new goodies that are up in my stores at http://www.elementalscraps.com/, http://www.thedigishoppe.com/, and http://www.plaindigitalwrapper.com/.

Bad, bad blogger!!

2007-06-27T08:47:00.000-05:00

I have been horrible at updating my blog. I think it is with all the craziness of packing my house and still trying to design. I figured I better get an update done before we move and I lose internet for a few days. We move saturday and we are so excited. This is the most ready we have ever been for a move, so I am hoping things go very smoothly. I have also got some exciting news. I am now selling my digi goodies at The Digi Shoppe!!! I am so happy to be selling there and have put tons of new goodies in the store. Anyhow, thought I would just do a quick post to say I am still alive. Here's all my latest creations.

Summer is officially here!

2007-05-29T07:52:00.000-05:00

Okay, maybe only because the temperatures and humidity have indicated summer, but I hope this is not an indication of what this summer is going to be like. We were in the low 90's with humidity. Bleck!! Well we are getting closer to our moving day and I am so excited!! The packing is going good and we are getting alot of the cleaning done now, so after we load the truck it won't be so much to do. We had a good weekend and the kids had fun playing in their pool. Tyler went to the pool on base and insisted he had on enough sunscreen. Well obviously he was wrong. He got burned pretty good and whined all weekend about it. Next time he said he will let us help him put it on. Last weekend was the Air Show here at the base. It was 3 days of airplanes buzzing our house. The kids loved it! We couldn't go on saturday because Walter had to attend the University's graduation. Since he was selected as Service Memeber of the Year he had to walk in the graduating class of Doctor's and Nurses. He had to carry the mace and was the Sergeant in Arms for the ceremony. So proud of him, *sniff*. I will post some pics when we get them. He said he was really nervous. I can imagine he would be.

I have also been busy creating new digi goodies and got a couple of things done and up in my stores at http://www.plaindigitalwrapper.com and http://www.elementalscraps.com

Ch, ch, ch, Changes!!

2007-05-14T08:51:00.000-05:00

Oh my goodness how fast life can change on ya!! We decided last tuesday night after much prayer not to move back to Washington State. Then tuesday night we get a call for our ad on our house for rent. They met with our realtor on saturday and loved the house so they want to rent, but even more they want to buy it!!! So the realtor is going to start working on that end of it and said if they won't quailfy right now they should in a few months. Then thursday Walter gets a call at work from the housing office at Fort Detrick which is over an hour north of DC near the PA border. We have been on their housing list for almost a year to get into one of their new 4 bedroom homes. Well they offered us a house!! So we are moving to Fort Detrick at the end of June!! I am so excited. We are going from a 1300 SF 4 bedroom home to a 2100 SF 4 bedroom home and it is in an area where I can send my kids to public school!! We love it up there. It is beautiful and out in the country and near all the scrapbook stores, finally. So things have really turned around for us in just a matter of a week. It is truely amazing what the power of prayer and faith in God can do to your lives. So now I will be busy trying to get my house packed and ready to go. I have barely a month to get it all ready.
I did manage to get another kit done and this one is completely different from anything I have ever done yet. This kit is really along the style of the crafts I used to do. You can find it at http://plaindigitalwrapper.com and http://www.elementalscraps.com

We also had an amazing opportunity last tuesday night to see the Queen of England and her husband Prince Phillip fly out of Andrews AFB here. Tyler and I went and stood in line and waited almost 2 hours to see her. It was amazing and a once in a lifetime opportunity. My pics did not turn out so great as it was night time and with the shutter speed and all the movement they were blurry but here they are.

Oh I slipped.......

2007-05-08T07:41:00.000-05:00

big time and have not posted in almost a month, but I promise I have been very busy creating. Life has just been crazy here trying to decide if we are going to stay here at the base we live at right now or if we are gonna move to another base with bigger housing north of DC, or if me and the kids are gonna have to move back to Washington State since we are getting no calls on our house for the sale ad or the rental ad. Part of me wants to go back to Washington and live in my home again and in the town where we knew everyone and people were friendly. East Coast living is so different from what we are used to. No matter what we decide I will still be designing!! First thing I want to share with you is an incredible charity kit I was able to help head up. This kit is to benefit Emma Jo, the daughter of Joedee, owner of Elemental Scraps. She needs respiratory therapy and the insurance company needs $2600 up front before they can start. They have raised part of that and with this kit we hope to help them raise the rest. This kit is over 800 MB of digi goodiness. It is sold either in the whole kit for $15.00 or smaller (over 200 MB each) versions for $5.00 each. You can find it at ES here http://www.elementalscraps.com/shoppe/home.php?cat=266&catexp=266

Okay now for what else I have been up to. I have got 3 new kits and an element pack done. They are both available at http://www.plaindigitalwrapper.com and http://www.elementalscraps.com

I have also managed to get some scrapping done. For the first 3 layouts I used Lucy Marino's new kit Moonlight Mist available at Plain Digital Wrapper and Elemental Scraps. This kit is so awesome!! I love the colors.

This next set of layouts is from my new kits.

Oh I forgot, here is another one with Lucy Marino's goodies!!

Here is another couple of layouts I did using Cindy Simon's kits. You can find them at Elemental Scraps!!

Last but not least is my 2nd page for the hodge podge challenge. I am behind by two weeks, but I plan on doing them just for myself. I really enjoy doing this challenge.

Lot's of new goodies!!

2007-04-16T21:11:00.000-05:00

Well we had a great visit with Walter's parents when they came to visit and are sad that they had to head home. The kids LOVED having Grandma and Grandpa here. Nicole says they need to come home, meaning here. We hope we can see them again soon!!
I have been busy creating goodies for my store at http://www.elementalscraps.com and http://plaindigitalwrapper.com so make sure you check it out! I have lots of pics from our visit with family and will post them in the next few days. Here are the goodies and pages I have got done the last week. Enjoy!!

Who opened the freezer!!

2007-04-06T10:21:00.000-05:00

So it was 80 degrees on monday and we headed down toward Norfolk, Virginia to go camping with hubby's Mom and Dad who are here visiting from Washington State. So we check the weather channel to see what the weather is going to be while we are there and it shows 80's for almost all the days with a cool down on the day we are to leave. We think, awesome, we can deal with that. The first day we get there it is gorgeous and so warm. So the next day we decide to head down to Fort Story and Virginia Beach since it is supposed to be a warm day and we can go to the beach and let the kids play. Well mother nature had other plans. It started to cool down from the 70's to the 50's while we were heading there and the fog started rolling in. There was a good breeze coming off the ocean keeping it cold. We spent a short time at the beach and drove through Virginia Beach. The next day started out nice again, so in the afternoon we headed to the fishing pier to do, well some fishing. It started to chill down again, but not too bad. Then we could see the wind start moving across the Chesapeake Bay towards us. It was very weird looking and as soon as it hit us, it felt like the temperature dropped 20 degrees. The wind was brutal, but we were determined to catch something. We finally started catching some and then they wouldn't stop biting. It was so fun!! We even got to see a school of Dolphins go by. We really enjoyed our time there and had a blast. I will post some pics later after I get them loaded to the computer. Here is some new flowers I have in my Plain Digital Wrapper and Elemental Scraps store. I also scrapped another layout. Enjoy!!

More Itty Bitty's...

2007-03-25T23:32:00.000-05:00

are up in my Plain Digital Wrapper Store I am having way too much fun creating these and still have more ideas for even more. I am so excited the week too, because we have family coming to visit!! My inlaws will be here Tuesday night and we are so excited to have them coming. We are heading down Wednesday to Soloman's Island for some camping and then Monday we are headed down to Norfolk, Virginia for some more camping. I can't wait!! Of course my camera is going with me which means alot of pics to post when I get back and lots to scrap with. Speaking of scrapping I got 3 more pages done. I also bought me some goodies from Gina Miller's sale last week and man I cannot wait to play with them. There is so much I would loved to have bought, but I must wait until our house sells back in Washington state. Okay here are the new Itty Bitty's.

Here are my fun new goodies I bought at Gina Miller Designs

And here are my new Layouts

More new stuff!!

2007-03-20T13:00:00.000-05:00

I have been on a roll and creating somemore goodies. Basically I have ideas start running through my head as soon as I lay down at night to sleep. So I figure if I can get them done, maybe I could sleep at night. No luck!! LOL!! I have also been scrapping some too. I will get a break or sorts starting next week. We have family coming to visit!! It will be so nice to have family from the west coast here. The kids are so excited to see Grandma and Grandpa. We will be doing some camping down at Soloman's Island and Norfolk Virginia. I can't wait!! I will be bringing my notebook with me to write down ideas and my sketch book with me to work on some doodles! Of course I will be taking my camera with me so be on the look out for alot of pics!! Anyhow here is the goodies and layouts!! My new stuff is available at Plain Digital Wrapper and Elemental Scraps

Check out my Bloomers!!

2007-03-12T22:17:00.000-05:00

These ain't your grandma's bloomers!! This is one of my new kits. It is called bloomers and is full of rich colors and and a vintage garden theme. I also have a new spring kit perfect for Easter. It is called Spring Peeps, well because someone said the colors reminded them of peeps. Yum!! So here they are. I have also been scrapping again!! Enjoy!

For Lisa....

2007-02-26T20:28:00.000-05:00

Okay, I got called out today that I suck at updating my blog. So Lisa this update is for you!! Hee hee. I have been extra busy creating new goodies for my stores and actually had the time to scrap some. So here goes......

Okay and here is the scrapping I was able to do....

Creative Team Call!

2007-02-03T00:11:00.000-05:00

I am looking for 5 - 8 talented scrappers to join my first creative team. I require 2 layouts per kit and to post them at DST, Plain Digital Wrapper, Elemental Scraps and another gallery of your choice. You will recieve access to all of my creations in return. If you think your style of scrapping would fit my designs and you would like to be part of my team, please email me the following information to melissabennett@plaindigitalwrapper.com
Name and username
link to most complete gallery
Current CT obligations
and Why you would like to be part of my creative team.
Please put CT Call as the subject.
Hurry and apply as this call ends 2/09/07!!

I have arrived!!

2007-01-22T22:33:00.000-05:00

At Elemental Scraps that is!!! I am finally in the store and the new store at that! You should see the awesome new look. Right now to celebrate I have marked all of my products (excluding commercial use) down 50% until January 31, 2007! I also finished a new kit called Retro. If you purchase Retro right now at Elemental Scraps you can get the add on mini kit free! You can check out the deals here! http://www.elementalscraps.com/shoppe/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=25

Have a Heart....

2007-01-16T11:23:00.000-05:00

I finally tried my hand at creating my doodles into something useful besides a brush. This set contains 10 colored doodle hearts that are great as stickers for your layouts! They are in png file format and can easily be resized. You can find them at my store here http://www.plaindigitalwrapper.com/shoppe/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=7

I'm seeing spots!!

2007-01-15T10:20:00.000-05:00

Okay, maybe it is polka dots and way too many of them. That's right I have been creating again. The new PDW opened yesterday and man was there alot of shoppers in there all day. Almost 200 at one time!! I even had a few sales!! Woo hoo! Okay here are my new paper packs I did and some brushes. The brush sets are available for purchase for personal use and a set is available for purchase for commercial use. Hope you like them!!

The Countdown has begun!!

2007-01-13T22:03:00.000-05:00

I am so excited!! The new PDW will be opening tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time.

I will have 7 kits available and 1 set of brushes. I finished up another kit today and was so excited while working on this one. This is unlike any I have done so far. I orginally wanted to name it The Rusty Garden Gate, but the more I worked on it the more it reminded me of very old wallpaper, so I decided the name Off the Wall sounded better. Let me know what ya think?

15 Years Ago Today.....

2007-01-11T10:22:00.000-05:00

I married by wonderful husband Walter. I can't believe it has been 15 years!! We met in November of 1991 at a church dance. He came up to me with this line, "Hi, my name is Walt as in Walt Disney, but he's the one with all the money." How could a girl not fall in love with that? LOL!! We started dating and 4 days later he asked me to date him exclusively. 10 days after we met he asked me to marry him, to which I said yes. I knew the moment we met he was the "one". So 2 months and 2 days after we met we were married in the Seattle Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for Time and all Eternity. That's right, he is stuck with me forever!! Hee hee. It has surely been a long road and sometimes very difficult. But as I look back I know the hard times have helped us grow closer together and made our marriage stronger. He is my best friend and I could never imagine my life without him. We have lived in many places, (thanks to the military) and added 3 beautiful children to our family. He has helped me grow in so many ways and truely blessed my life. I shudder to think what my life would have been like if I did not meet him. Thank you Walter for 15 incredible years. I look forward to eternity with you!! Smooches!!

Another announcement!!

2007-01-08T19:14:00.000-05:00

I am so excited!! I have been approved to sell my items at the new Plain Digital Wrapper!! I love the site and cannot wait for it to reopen. That will be the last place I sign up for, for selling. So soon you will be able to buy my kits and goodies at http://www.elementalscraps.com and http://www.plaindigitalwrapper.com I am so glad I didn't have to keep this one a secret, I might have imploded!! Hee hee!!

Mud Tracks!!

2007-01-07T17:19:00.000-05:00

I have been working on a kit for boys pages. I realized I have not done that yet. Even though I have 2 boys, I seem to be drawn to more girly kind of kits and colors. So I started working on this kit with my youngest in mind. I just amazes me at how messy boys can get and how dirt is a draw for them. So I came up with this kit called Mud Tracks. Let me know what ya think. It will be available soon at Elemental Scraps.

Finally the announcement!!

2007-01-07T00:51:00.000-05:00

Okay it has been killing me to keep this a secret. I finally got the go ahead to announce where I will be selling. I will be adding my items to Elemental Scraps!! I am so excited about this awesome oppurtunity!! I literally cried when I got the offer. I know how pathetic of me huh? The owner is just so awesome and sweet and I can't wait to get to know everyone there. Anyhow go check it out. There are so many incredible designers there with some incredible kits.
http://www.elementalscraps.com

New Year, New kit!!

2007-01-01T23:23:00.000-05:00

Okay, I know it is the 1st and promised to spill the beans on where I would be selling, but I have to wait a little longer. Sorry!! Anyhow, I cannot believe it is 2007 already. Where did the 80's go? That's right I am missing my big 80's hair!! My youngest actually stayed up till midnight last night and was excited to see the ball drop and say "Happy New Year!" It was so cute and he was so tired. I thought for sure he would sleep really good, but oh no, he was up at 7:30 a.m. YIKES!! I did manage to get another kit done and this is a completely different style I tried this time. Let me know what ya think. This one is a winter kit, good for all your fun winter themed layouts. I can't use it right now as winter has not found us at all here in the DC metro area. We are warmer than normal and have had no snow yet. Anyhow here is the new kit, it is called Winter Haze.

On a roll!!

2006-12-29T11:05:00.000-05:00

Okay, I am shocking even myself!! Three days in a row of updating my blog and another kit done!! I am hoping to get one more done this week so I can have some new kits to put in the new store I will be selling at starting next week. I gotta tell ya, it is killing me to keep this quiet! Only a few more days and then I can spill the beans. LOL!! Anyhow, this new kit I had so much fun creating and the name was easy to come up with. I named it Lizzie's Party because the colors and patterns remind me of my great-niece Elizabeth, so I wanted to name this kit after her. Ouch, that was hard to say great-niece, that just proves I am getting old. Anyhow, let me know what ya think of this one.

24 hours of baking!!

2006-12-28T23:00:00.000-05:00

What was I thinking? I waited until December 22nd to start my baking and wrapped it up by early evening on the 23rd. My legs and back still hurt, but I managed to bake over 41 dozen cookies!! We gave some to our neighbors, the ER staff at the hospital here on the base we live at and all the guard shacks to the base. The kids had a blast delivering them and we plan on making it a tradition. It was great to see the joy in peoples eyes. It really helped our family to feel the Christmas spirit.

I have no patience!!

2006-12-27T12:35:00.000-05:00

Okay I just finished another kit and I am happy with the way it turned out. I love trying new things and working outside my comfort zone. This is my favorite one I have done so far. I just can't wait until it goes in the store I will be selling at to show it. So I had to blog it. I can't share where you will be able to find it just yet, but I can the first of the year!! I am so excited about this great opportunity I have been given to sell my items, but you will just have to wait a few more days. Hee hee!! Anyhow, here is the new kit, it is called Mocha Kisses. Let me know what you think.

Learning and moving on

2006-12-18T11:46:00.000-05:00

I am happy to report I am moving to a different store. I will announce where soon. I am very excited about this move. I am also sick in my heart for the lessons I have had to learn up to now. It makes me sad that there are people in this industry who are very dishonest and take advantage of others. I have learned from this experience and will be wiser now for it. I just wanted to update my blog really quick and will post more later today. Got some Christmas decoration pics I want to share. I am a little obsessed with Christmas trees. Hee hee!!

Pajamas 4 Love Charity Kit

2006-12-13T19:19:00.000-05:00

I am so excited to be posting this on my blog. I was able to contribute to a wonderful charity kit. This kit is the most amazing kit I have ever seen and over 75 designers contributed to it!! It is HUGE!!! You can purchase this beautiful kit here: http://www.elementalscraps.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=16

It is for a wonderful cause. The proceeds from this beautiful kit will go to purchase pajamas and other goodies for children batteling cancer. There have been some families in the scrapbooking community who have been affected by this horrible disease. As a mother to 2 three year olds, and one of them with Neurofibromytosis, this just tugged at my heart strings. Please take the time to check out the kit and purchase it to help these kiddos enjoy something special for the holidays!! Here is the preview and a couple of layouts I did with the kit. Still have so many more I want to do with it!!

Another Christmas Kit!!

2006-12-07T18:23:00.000-05:00

Okay, I really need to do better at updating my blog. Boy life is sure moving so fast these days. Well I got another Christmas kit done and had so much fun creating this one. Man I love this time year!! Anyhow here is the new kit hope you like it. I have changed locations of selling and will update that soon. Due to some issues with the other site I felt the need to move my products from there.

It's Done!!!

2006-11-11T01:14:00.000-05:00

I finished my new kit and I am so excited about it. I really love this time of year and already have my Christmas decorations up including all my trees. That's right more than one!! Yes I am a little obsessed with this time of year. Okay so here is the kit.

Busy, busy, busy!!

2006-11-10T14:33:00.000-05:00

Well I am a bad, bad blogger. I have not posted in almost a month!! I keep this up and the blogger police are gonna take away my keyboard. LOL!! I am also excited to tell ya, I am on a creative team!! I was picked to be on the Creative Team for Lucy Marino, MAL Designs. Her designs are awesome!! You can find her products at http://www.digiscrapshak.com and http://www.thedailyscrap.com
I have been working on quite a few projects and right now I am almost done with a huge kit for Christmas. It will be called Jolly Holidaze and will have so much in it!! I am still not done with it, but decided to include a sneak preview of it today,

Here is my contribution to a charity kit that we were hoping to sell for toys for tots, but it never took off.

Well it won't let me upload anymore previews so I will try to get to it later. I hope to be able to really knock out some kits in the next few weeks and I promise I will do better at updating my blog. So check back often!!

I'm a Liar!!

2006-10-13T08:03:00.000-05:00

According to my previous post, I said the only way to get that kit was to play and win the bingo game at Scrappin Secrets. Well I lied!! Not intentionally mind you, I am now on the Design Team at Scrappin Secrets!! (Insert happy dance here!!) Sooooooooooo this changes things some. This kit can now be purchased at Scrapping Secrets and since this is my maiden voyage on my journay of digital designing I am offering this kit for the next 2 weeks at 50% off the original price of $5.99 for only $2.99!!!! Here is the link to the kit. http://scrappinsecrets.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=15_30&products_id=242
So now I just need to get busy and get more product in the store. I am actually working on some brushes that I have hand drawn. I will try and get a preview up in the next couple of days. It is so good to be able to do my drawing again. It has been a long time since I have been able to sit down and create on paper and I am loving it!! Also I scrapped a page with just me on it. This is the first time in 11 years of scrapping that I have done that. Here it is.

So check back in a couple of days to see some previews of my new projects I am working on.

A new kit!!

2006-10-08T20:03:00.000-05:00

I have been busy creating a new kit. If you are interested in this kit there is one little catch. The only way to get this kit is to play and be the winner to the October Bingo game at Scrappin Secrets. Everyone who participates will get a mini kit from my kit. You can go to http://www.scrappinsecrets.com

I am on the Elements Team at Scrappin Secrets and I am having a blast making things for the ladies on the site. I am still trying to pursue my designing and hope to get picked up by a store so I can start selling my kits. I am really enjoying the designing aspect of it. Thanks for looking and I hope to see you all at Bingo!!

Just somemore layouts!

2006-09-21T19:12:00.000-05:00

Okay let's see how many layouts I can get posted today. I gotta stay on top of this as I keep doing more pages and I will never catch up at the rate I am making them. The first one is my all my own design. The second one is a new kit for Christmas that I am working on. Let me know what ya think! Things are still quiet here on the homefront. It has cooled down weather wise and I am looking forward to fall. So that is all happening here.

Okay that is all for today. They won't let me upload anymore.

More layouts

2006-09-20T09:34:00.000-05:00

Okay, I slipped and didn't post again. But I want to get some more of my layouts posted. So here we go!!

Wow!! I was able to upload a ton of them today before it stopped working!! Anyhow, hope you enjoy these and would love some feedback on them. Have a wonderful day!

Oops!

2006-09-17T22:32:00.000-05:00

So I have forgotten about my blog!! Yikes! I can't believe how long it has been since I last updated. We are now in full "school" mode here. Nicole has started preschool and goes 5 days a week for 1/2 days. It is so weird sending my 3 year old on a bus everyday. She is able to get her physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy there. We have already noticed a big improvement in her speech. She love to go and gets so excited when the bus comes. Her backpack is almost as big as she is. We just can't load it down or it would bring her down!! LOL!! Skyler is very jealous that Nicole gets to ride a bus. He is very lost without her here in the mornings. When she comes home he runs up to her and says, "I missed you so much" and gives her a big hug. Tyler is being homeschooled this year and I was so fearful of doing that, but with the Abeka cirriculum we are doing great and I am happy to report that Tyler's grades are awesome!! He is actually happy about doing his work (most of the time). It is nice to be able to spend time with him on something if he is not getting it until he gets it. I have to admit, I am actually enjoying it too.
I have still been busy doing digital scrapbooking and have some more layouts to put up here, but I have done so many lately that I will have to add a few a day. Here is my latest creations.

Okay the blog site won't let me do anymore downloads!! I knew that was going to happen. I will post more later.

My first attempt at a digital scrapbooking kit!!

2006-09-06T12:38:00.000-05:00

Well the bug has bitten me! I am not only addicted to digital scrapbooking, but I am loving the designing end of it. I used to do graphics for websites so I already understand the graphics program some. Still have alot to learn. Anyhow this is my first kit I designed. Let me know what ya think.

Taking it to a new level!

2006-08-27T20:23:00.000-05:00

So now my digital scrapbooking is heading in a whole new direction (and addiction). I could seriously be in some major trouble here. I designed my first papers and did a layout. In this layout I used my papers and tag. The overlays, stitching and tag string are from the Summer Lovin Kit that can be found at www.plaindigitalwrapper.com

I also managed to knock out a couple of layouts today. This first one I used Tia Bennett's 2peas Seventies free pea kit that you can find at www.twopeasinabucket.com

This last one I used Rhonna Farrer's 2peas Perfect Pets free pea kit. This one was perfect for this layout. My dog Marty is not very bright sometimes so I had to do this layout. A couple of weeks ago he was sleeping at the top of the stairs and while I was working on the computer I hear, BANG, BOOM, BANG, BANG, THUMP! I ran to see what happened and found Marty on the landing down below standing there is a daze. He had rolled over and went down the stairs!! Don't worry he was not hurt. But man was that screaming for a scrapbook page!! So here it is. Poor Marty!!

Playing with brushes

2006-08-26T20:34:00.000-05:00

Okay so I am discovering how much fun Photoshop brushes can be. I decided to change the look of my blog and designed a new header for it. Let me know what you think. I may be changing it frequently as I keep playing with all these cool brushes I have gotten. The brushes I used for this header I got at www.echoica.net and www.missm.paperlilies.com There are some great brushes there by some very talented artists. I have also been dabbling in making my own but I will put those on another day. I have been at it again for some digital scrapbooking. The first 2 layouts I used the Summer Loving Collaberation kit at www.plaindigitalwrapper.com The next one is a free digital kit at by Sande Krieger at www.twopeasinabucket.com and the last one is the Olivia kit at www.shabbyprincess.com So here are my new creations.

The more digital scrapbooking I do, the more I am learning. I can't wait to figure out more about my Photoshop program. I wonder if I will ever go back to paper scrapping!!

Busy, busy, busy!

2006-08-17T22:44:00.000-05:00

Wow, will life slow down just a little? I can't believe how many days it has been since I last posted. Oops! Well I have been back at it for the digital scrapbooking and boy is it addictive! Here are my latest creations.

So you can see I have been a little busy at the computer. I am loving this digital scrapbooking. I did get to spend the evening tonight at a place I just love with a man I love just as much! We went to the Washington DC temple and it was so peaceful and beautiful. I love nights like this. Then we leave there and of course hit the beltway traffic. YIKES!! Anyhow here is some pictures of the temple that I took tonight.

Well that is all for my update as it is late and I am beat!

Just my dumb luck!

2006-08-10T22:29:00.000-05:00

Wow, I cannot believe my luck. I love thunderstorms and I love to take pictures of lightening. My husband is always bugging me about it because he feels I take too much of a risk standing outside with my camera and tripod trying to get the picture of a bolt. So in early July a storm came through and I was outside trying to get a good shot and could not get one. The storm got too close for comfort so I came inside. So I decided to head to the computer to work on a project. That's right work on the computer during a lightening storm, I know not the smartest thing. Anyhow, all of a sudden a large bolt hits right over our house and a large cracking sound came into the house and a spark appeared in mid air near my hand that was on the mouse! I freaked out and ran away from the computer. My husband asked what that was. He saw the spark. My hand felt funny and I looked down and saw a black mark on the tip of one of my fingers. I think some of the lightening went through my mouse, my hand and out my finger tip!! It ached really good for awhile, but I was fine other wise. I look at my husband and say, "See I am much safer outside taking pictures!" So this week another storm comes through. This one is huge! I get freaked out trying to take pictures when I see the bolts coming down in from of the homes right across the street. I know it is time to head inside to safety (ya right!). So I come in and we open all the blinds to watch the storm. I was actually scared of this storm. All of a sudden another bolt hits right over our house and we hear lines crackling and frying in our house near the phone. So the next day we discover our phone lines are fried!! We can call out, but no one can call in and when someone tries, the phone does not ring it makes just one small crackly chirp sound. Poor phone, I think I faired better with my strike!! So I guess lightening can strike twice! Anyhow here is some pics of lightening that I have taken. The first one I took in Eastern Washington 2 years ago and was WAY to close to it. The others are taken within the last couple of months here on the East Coast.

Refelection

2006-08-06T23:45:00.000-05:00

Well as another birthday nears I find myself reflecting on my life so far. Am I happy with where I am at in my life right now? The answer is no. I am happy to have my family and the blessing that they are. My dissatisfaction is with myself. I will be the big 40 next year and I am so unhappy with my appearance. I have finally reached a point in my life where I know I need to do something about my weight. Maybe it was the heart attack scare I had in June, I don't know, but I am ready to finally do something about it. So as a birthday gift to myself I am going to lose my weight by my 40th birthday next year. I need to do this for myself mostly, but I need to stay healthy for my family. I know I can do this, I did a similar gift almost 9 years ago. On my 30th birthday I quit smoking, cold turkey and have not even had a desire for a cigarette since then. I will update on my blog my process, I know it is going to be a long and sometimes dicouraging road, but I have to do this for my health. Wish me luck!

I have a new addiction!!

2006-08-03T22:21:00.000-05:00

Okay not a bad addiction, well my husband would disagree with that! I am addicted to Digital Scrapbooking!! I was inspired to start doing it after seeing my very talented sister-in-law, Tia Bennett's work. So now I am spending every moment I can at my computer or behind my camera. My poor family is feeling so neglected. I have bought a few kits, but I have found some great freebies at www.twopeasinabucket.com great stuff there and some very talented designers! Here is my latest creation with the August Free digi kit, Garden Evening by Traci Turchin.

Will my family ever forgive me for neglecting them, if not I am sure there is a good scrapbook page I could do on it!!