merry Christmas to all :)

Reflecting

:)


I used Catscrap digital designs on this, as I am fortunate to be guesting on their creative team Dec and Jan. Thank you Catrine and Birgit for the honor.


Peace and love,
~Kristin

* Happy Monday! *

I so enjoy the fresh, new feeling of a Monday morning, with the week stretching out in front of me. At least when there are no urgent deadlines or to-do's hanging over my head. This one is starting with me having a bit of slow, leisurely morning waiting for DH to bring my van back to me from getting the flat tire fixed - ah! the joys of living on a gravel road. I bet he comes back with a Orange Stick latte for me too :). He is good at little treats like that.

This weekend was sooo nice and relaxing, too. I drove over the mountains to watch BigSon play tennis: ah! the joys of Wyoming sports travel. It was 480 miles round trip. But my mom came along, and TheDaughter had a rare Saturday off from volleyball, so along with LittleSon, we had a very pleasant roadtrip. It was sunny and a gorgeous fall day. The tennis courts were in a park, so we picnic-ed and LittleSon got to play to his heart's content on a really neat gigantic play structure that was right there, and we watched BigSon ace almost all his serves! yay! We then (after the obligatory walmart weekend stockup trip) drove home via the southern route that takes us through the charming little burg of Greybull with its A&W drive up. Ah! the joys of carhops and root beer, haha!
Sunday was laundry and cleanout day. Maybe not so fun, but definitely rewarding - I threw out three grocery bags of stuff - mostly paper. How does it accumulate so deep so fast?? but, it sure is nice to do laundry in a sparkling clean space now :)
We finished off the weekend by BBQ-ing at my folks', with my brother's family. Good times and good food. Then, we came home and I scrapped a page for the Team GMD blog challenge for this week. It's a fun one - scrap your home, or part of it, with flowers and cardboard embellishments. I chose to do the entry to our house - it always makes me happy to see my red door and flowers :) (thanks to my mom and TheDaughter for the garden help).
So I have ended up with two versions of the page, and I can't decide which one I like better. I like them both, for different reasons! I ended up posting the darker one?

Click here for page credits

This is the one I went with. But I am still not sure which one to print!

Oh yes, one little thing before I get my morning in gear. A little out of the ordinary thing for me... I was 'interviewed' by deann of DiScTalkRadio for the show Inside the Scrapper's Playhouse! It was actually kind of fun - deann is a hoot! I think I sound kind of spacey though haha. I am such a slow thinker, I guess :)

Okay, time to get this party started! Later gaters!
~Kristin

Digi Dare

Here is my take on Digi Dare #52.
My version of trying to scrap in Elsiecake's free style ways :) For the second part, I used product new to me from the new mystery designer coming to the-lilypad on Friday. ( there is also stuff on there from Gina Miller, Amy Wolff, Natalie Braxton, Kate Hadfield, and Nancy Comelab).
I can at least say I had fun haha. !
Peace out, Kristin

I'm leaving on a....

....train!

I went last week to Chicago to see my friend Terra, and meet up with the DiScTalkRadio crew and our press passes (ha!) to scope out the CHA show. More details to come!

Week 4...

is officially over. The last challenge was

Challenge - A Shift in Perspective

Shift your perspective and look at yourself through the eyes of another person. The other person could be a child, a parent, a friend, etc. What do you see? Scrap it.

In debating what to do for this, my daughter was sitting across the table from me (on the other computer) and I asked her How do you see me? She kinda glazed over, and was at a loss for words. I, in an attempt to make this easier, said Can you give me a few words like a list? ... One word?
She makes thinking noises, but doesn't come up with a word.

I go back to thinking. In a few minutes, my email dings, and she has sent me this poem... sniff sniff...

Dear beloved Mother
Most of the time,
It seems like you're my armor

Shielding me,
Protecting me,
And saving me

But other times, mother,
It seems like you
Are an anchor

Holding me in place
And sometimes not
Giving me my needed space

But isn't that a mother's role?
To be patient and in control?
So why am I not grateful?

The life of a teenage girl
Is so confusing and in awhirl
Sometimes I'm blind
And most certainly not aligned

But then you come to my aid
And I'm not longer afraid
For you become all ears
And wipe away all my tears

Sometimes I think I don't need you
But then find myself in need of your rescue
And you come even though I have said
Harsh words to you
So I reconsider what I think of you

And I see you always mean for the best
Even though I often protest

I finally see how much you mean to me
And how you play the role of mom perfectly.

It had been a bit bumpy of a week, mother-teenage-daughter-wise, so it was even MORE special to read it right then. Having this, solely made entering the contest worthwhile.

Click here to view credits in my gallery and to view page larger

Ciao! ~Kristin

Week 3...

...pages are up for voting (for Queen of the Crop contest).

Mine is here at SBG if you want to vote. :)

Click page to view larger.

Click here to view in digishoptalk gallery
Journaling reads:
I really do! I love to see the big mess of it, that sorts into piles that disappear one by one and are replaced by neat folded stacks. I love the feeling of plenty it gives me...
I see that we buy more than just the basics. I see that there is a full family that lives here. And that they are taken care of by someone that loves them. A lot.

Now, my Sunday afternoon looks like (laundry, of course!) running Big Son to graduation for band, picking up Daughter from youth group project, getting Small Son to eat his lunch, and need to do major stock up at Walmart in Cody. Birthday cake and ice cream for SisterInLaw tonight. so, ta-ta for now!
~Kristin

random post...

just to have something new up. ... HOW IN THE WORLD IS IT MAY already?? and the middle of May at that?? School is out in less than week. Summer. Wow. wow.

In scrapbooking ... I am messing around with the Queen of the Crop contest at Scrapbookgraphics. Week 2 layouts are up now, though week 3 goes up sometime tonight I believe. My page is one of my favorites, if not THE favorite, I've made ever:

Click on photo for page credits

Peace out! ~ Kristin

It's been a week...

.... so it must be time to post my next photo-a-day, right? lol! and two days in ... and I already didn't know what to photograph to represent Today--hahaha!

What winds up happening, I am on Hello with a friend in Chicago telling her I ended up buying the "machine" we had talked about at Thanksgiving time, with my Christmas money. I have a weakness for tools, and lettering/type/fonts, ... AND it can be used for scrapping?? Had my name all over it. ( and in this instance I mean real, get-the-glue-out, scrapping like I do for creating demo pages for this store.) Well, Hello is a neat instant messaging program that lets you share pictures while you are chatting, and so this friend wants to see what I made with my machine. Eureka! I have a photo for

Jan 2 2007See, with my new machine, I put in the Tags Bags Boxes and More cartridge, load a piece of cardstock, push a button.... and this cute purse-shaped gift box popped out!

Fun, fun, fun I tell ya! Though now that I am thinking about it, I am not sure what this box has to do with lettering OR scrapping LOL!

Would you like to receive your very own gift-box sized purse-shaped piece of mail?? It's always fun to send and receive real mail in these electronic email times... so, leave me a comment to say you were here-- and I will send you one! :) (and yes, Lovely - you are already on the list, snicker, snicker!)

Thanks to the wonderful, um.... peer pressure? LOL of my dear dear sister, granolageekmom... I am attempting to try and take almost-a-photo-a-day, maybe. LOL! Really- it sounds perfect for me, the chick that bought a big orange purse in New York for the express reason of "I want to always carry my camera with me." so, truly- no coersion involved on the part of my sis. But, I have no illusions that I would actually POST every day. THAT just won't happen. So, I am going for the take-a-lot-of-pictures-and-post-almost-every-day route.

Or often.

Or, even, just oftenER :) hahaha!

So, do I start with Jan 1's or pick up with today's while it is still current?? hmm...
sigh. I am very orderly, usually.

Jan 1 2007

A New Year really isn't a new year for us without FIL's caramel popcorn, chex mix and fudge leftovers we get to bring home. (And yes, the fudge was already gone before I could take a pic!)

Peace!
Kristin

our christmas card

Click to enlarge

(I used digital elements by Michelle Coleman at scrapartist.com)

Several cards I sent out, which by the way was the first year since the first year we were married (read: before kids) that I sent cards out - yay! anyway.... several cards came back to me as "no such number, unable to deliver" or "no such person at this address". So, if you read this and did not get a card from us.... leave me your (correct) address and I can send it on its way.
Cheers, Kristin