Our Boys (and a little freebie)

I am finally getting around to scrapping all the fun we had while Juanita was in town. Interestingly enough, as many pictures as I have, it never seems to be enough. lol Despite that, I've managed to put together a couple of pages. Here's one of them:



I was really happy with how this one fell together, even though the GIMP screamed and kicked and fussed the whole way through. I guess it's time to upgrade. lol But I supposed I should have known; GIMP is notorious for not liking to make text on a path, which is one of the few complaints I have about this fantastic free program for scrapping.

Soooo... since it took so much trouble to make, I thought I'd share the little poem I made about our boys as a word art for anyone who liked it (it's the circular frame around the center photo). I have it at 4Shared for anyone who might be interested.

Ok, it's billing day at work, so back to the drawing board from my little break. Cheers!

Funny Faces

Funny Face
Originally uploaded by mawkinberd

I think the only thing I could have added to this page were subtitles to each picture, like rawr! and yum! and grr! and hehehe! Joe had so much fun while my stepmom was visiting and while we went to New Orleans, so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that Mr. Personality showed all different kinds of faces in his pictures. :D I really had fun with this one. Actually, some of the elements I used in this layout were part of a prize I won. Yippee! I hardly ever win fun prizes. :) Lie Fhong of Ztampf! Digital is celebrating five years of digital designing in her SBG store, and she graciously shared a coupon with me that covered some of these beautiful papers and such. If you haven't checked her out, you should; she has some really amazing things to offer, and I drool over her store a lot (especially since my wish list there is far too long!).

I've been having a grand old time lately. Daniel (my husband) will actually stop me in the middle of my surfing and ask what I'm so happy about, since I'm humming as a type. Why? Because I've been working on a project I really enjoy with people I really like. I haven't really had one scrapbooking "home" on the internet lately, mainly because I hadn't really found one place that fit all my wishes. Mostly, it was just too many restraints. I was constantly afraid I was gonna step on someone's TOU or toes. But luckily, I got in touch with Linda, the lady who intro'd me to the world of scrapbooking forums. She has made a new home, and I have been honored to help her out with getting the board humming along like it should. Linda has a store there, and there are some beautiful things there, primarily high quality stock photos. But the big thing forming up right now is the forum. Linda let me know that she has been dreaming of having a truly open scrapbooking forum, where people can share their pages and products and enjoy swapping information. Well, it's a match made in heaven. I highly recommend you come visit us at The Digi Scrappers forum and check out what we're doing. I think it's gonna be the next big fun scrappy family!

Ok, I've gotta get going. Having dinner tonight with the in-laws; should be fun. :) I know I'll be taking some fun pics, and soon I'll be sharing some amazing finds I've gotten from Joe's camera. Yep, our son actually took some fascinating pictures, so I'm sure you'll be seeing a crazy little layout with a Joe's eye view. ;) Until next time, mes cheris!

With this ring

With this ring
Originally uploaded by mawkinberd

One of my fav non-people photos from the wedding was this fantastic shot of the rings. Isn't it pretty? The furniture in the Dove House was so lovely, it really just made this photo happen.

I went to New Orleans this last weekend with Joe & Jo Ann. We really had a blast! We were able to go to part of the reception for the wedding, so that was so fantastic. We also got to eat at some great restaurants and to explore the Aquarium. It was awesome! I promise I will be doing some pages with these pics, although we didn't get nearly enough pics. :)

Until next time!

Feelin' Fine

I've been very busy. And I'm very tired. And I didn't get a lot of sleep last night. But you know what? I feel fine! I'm so excited about Juanita (my stepmom extraordinaire) coming to visit, I don't know what to do with myself. And we're making the last steps of getting the house ready, getting the couch over there, rearranging the living room and such. So it'll be awesome!

Part of the reason I've been scrapping so much lately is that I'm enthusiastic about sharing what I've done with her. She is, after all, the person who introduced me to paper scrapping. I loved the idea, but I didn't have the money available to commit to doing it by myself. So, when I found out about digiscrapping, it was a match made in heaven. I even get to learn new software all the time. That keeps me from getting bored. ;) And I know she'll enjoy getting to see some of the new stuff I've done. I'll have to save my new kits on a cd for her.

Speaking of which, I did a layout with my new mini kit to go with it on the challenge. :) See what you think!



I had a lot of fun with this one. For one thing, I fell in love with this paper once I made it. And I was proud to learn several new things while I did it. :D That's really the reason I enjoy doing a mini every once in a while; it stretches my wings a bit. And the turtle was so cute for the "frame" for my little man. I really liked the idea of doing it as something boyish. Makes me smile.

I've also done another layout for a different challenge on Scraps with a Mouse, which I must say is a fun place to be. I know that I need to branch out and spend time in different places so I can get more views and ideas, but I get so caught in spending time with the people I enjoy. :) Anyway, back to the layout. It was from pictures from the reception after our wedding. Things were coming to a close, and we were opening gifts. But by this time, we were so tired and goofy, it was a minor miracle that we stayed serious enough to do what we should. So I loved how funny we looked here.



I know that I'm not going to be able to do nearly as many layouts after my stepmom gets here, mainly because I want to spend every moment I can enjoying spending time with her. But don't worry, I'll be back. Now that I found my mojo again (or my mojo found me, if you will), you won't be able to keep me down for long. ;)

Love to you all!

Challenge: Mini Kit

So there is a challenge going on at Scraps With a Mouse, where a color palette is given and you can make a mini kit or a layout with those colors. So, it's been a while, so I made a mini.



So, if you like it, feel free to run by and grab it. :) Hope you enjoy!