Thank you!

I just wanted to tell everyone who came to my blog party this weekend a HUGE thank you! I had so much fun and can't believe the overwhelming response to the Holy Cow! kit! There were 43 people who sent me links to their layouts. (See them all here.) It was difficult to choose just one winner for the Scrap Artist gift certificate, but with the help of my daughter, we chose Sandra's gorgeous layout. I just love how she put this together. The writing is so fun and the pictures are great. And to top it all off, I believe it is her birthday today!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY Sandra! I will get your Scrap Artist gift certificate to you later today.

And for all of you who posted Holy Cow! layouts, I will send out the link to the Iron Orchid Designs paper pack as soon as I get home from work. Thanks again! I had a blast!

The posting prize!

So far I have received over 40 links to layouts made with my Holy Cow! kit! HOLY COW!! I wanted to let you guys see the beautiful paper pack that you will be receiving from Iron Orchid Designs. It's called Adelaide's Letter and it was just released! I will be private messaging everyone tomorrow with the link to the paper pack so check your email! For those of you who have not yet sent me a link ... you have until 11:59pm EST tonight!! If you haven't yet downloaded my Holy Cow! kit ... here's the link.

CLICK HERE to see all of the awesome layouts already created with the Holy Cow! kit. I am so impressed with all of them. You guys really amazed me!

YEE HAW! Confessions and gifts!

Howdy! Welcome to the last day of my blog party! It's been so much fun that I don't want it to end. But like all good things ... it must.

My first confession is that I love cowboys! So I thought I would give you a better view of the "wanted" man from my banner today! There were some definite benefits to attending Texas A&M University! (The 'A' in A&M stands for Agricultural.) I swear - those cowboys would walk around in their tight, starched blue jeans and long-sleeve shirts, boots and hats even in the 100+ degree Texas heat! But did they ever look good! LOL! Did I marry a cowboy? Well, no. I did better and married the best guy in the world but he's far from a cowboy. However, our first kiss was at a country bar!

Confession #2 ... I chose my own song to play on the blog today. So that means there is no official winner of the music contest. Don't get me wrong - there were some awesome suggestions but this is the song I felt should be played. So to be fair, I have decided to give EVERYONE a gift for reading my blog today! This kit is called Howdy and was created by Maya at Scrapbook Graphics. It's one of her older kits and is no longer available but I just love it! It's perfect for a western-themed layout and also has some alterable goodies. Download it HERE. (This link will only be active for 24 hours.) I used some of the images from the kit to create my banner today. The bandana paper, saddle, wanted poster (minus the hot cowboy) and the rope are all from Maya's kit. Please be sure to visit her store to see her other lovely creations. She is a great friend to me and an awesome designer!

IT'S NOT TOO LATE!

If you haven't yet created a layout with my Holy Cow! kit ... you have until 11:59pm EST tonight to post it and receive an awesome paper pack from Iron Orchid Designs. And one lucky person will receive a $10 gift certificate from Scrap Artist! (My daughter is going to help me pick out our favorite layout!) Just download it, create a layout and send me a link! Thank you to IOD and Scrap Artist for graciously giving me these goodies to pass on to you! CLICK HERE to see all of the awesome layouts already created with the Holy Cow! kit.

GET OUT AND VOTE!

And finally ... one of my very sweet friends (webchyck) has nominated me for a Scrapper's Choice Award. I'm up for the favorite site for digital shares from non-commercial designers. Polls for voting will be open until tomorrow. I would appreciate if you would vote for me if you have a spare minute. Winners will be announced August 1st. Also, be sure to vote for Digital Art Quirks and Doris Castle in the categories they are nominated for!!

Like...this is a totally tubular party!

The 1980's ... seems like yesterday! Valley Girl came out in 1983. It's still one of my top 5 favorite movies of all time. So many other memories from the 80's, but I won't waste your time with my reminiscing! I need to get down to blog party business!

MUSIC WINNER AND TOMORROW'S THEME!

You can't believe how hard it was to choose an 80's song! So many great ones. But I'm giving the prize to Gina (cre8tvlyyrs). She suggested Just Can't Get Enough by Depeche Mode and that's the one I wanted but I couldn't get the video so I chose Strange Love instead. And since I am a Texan and a country girl at heart ... tomorrow is going to have a country music theme! Leave me a comment with the song you think I should play and the winner will receive a cool kit by Maya at Scrapbook Graphics!

HOLY COW! LAYOUTS ... IT'S NOT TOO LATE!

I said yesterday that I would feature a layout here on the blog but there are so many great ones that I decided to just make a whole web page with them. CLICK HERE to see them all. If you created a layout and it is not on that page, email me the link so you will receive your posting prize. Also, if you have not yet created a layout with my Holy Cow! kit, it's not too late! Just download it, create a layout and send me a link! Everyone who posts a layout by Sunday, July 30th will receive a paper pack from Iron Orchid Designs. And I just talked to the IOD ladies and found out that this will be a not-yet-released paper pack! So you will get the first look at it! And one lucky person will receive a $10 gift certificate from Scrap Artist! (My daughter is going to help me pick out our favorite layout!)

MORE ANNOUNCEMENTS!

Once you are tired of partying here in the 80's ... head on over to Scrap Artist. There's an anniversary pool party going on! Fun ... games ... and 40% off everything in the shoppe! And finally ... one of my very sweet friends has nominated me for a Scrapper's Choice Award. I'm up for the favorite site for digital shares from non-commercial designers (I've decided to call this the FSFDSFNCD Award! LOL!). Anyway, polls for voting will be open from July 29th through the 31st. I would appreciate if you would vote for me if you have a spare minute. Winners will be announced August 1st.

AND ONE MORE THING!

This is too cool! Melissa G's Pick of the Day: Layout of the Day was Sandra's layout using the Holy Cow! kit! How cool is that?! Congratulations Sandra! It is an awesome layout.

Winners! ... A Theme! ... Layouts!

I finally got some well-needed rest after the first day of this blog party! I got my bearings together and chose some new music for today. Thanks to Lorraine and Kimberlee for this rockin' dance tune by Shakira! You have both won the awesome Bohemian Spirit kit by Maya at Scrapbook Graphics! Maya let me choose any kit I wanted and since this is one of my all-time favorites ... AND one of the background papers has music on it ... I thought it was the perfect choice for the music contest! Huge thanks to Maya! I will get the link out to the winners today.

A THEME! AND A NEW MUSIC CHALLENGE!

I am loving this tune by Shakira ... I had never heard it before. Brings back memories of my days of dancing in the Latino clubs when I was in college. So today we are having a fiesta! And since this is so much fun, I've decided that tomorrow and Sunday will also have themes. Here's the new music challenge: tell me your best 1980's dance song. The 80's were a good decade for me and the music was awesome so we'll be partying to some great 80's music tomorrow! Leave me a comment with your music recommendation. If I pick your song, you will win a kit by Maya!

SEEN AROUND THE WEB!

I've seen lots of great layouts made with my Holy Cow! kit! Keep them coming! If you haven't yet downloaded it ... here's the link. Remember, everyone who posts a layout and sends me a link to it before Sunday, July 30th at 11:59pm EST will receive a paper pack from Iron Orchid Designs! And one lucky winner will receive a $10 gift certificate from Scrap Artist!

Isn't this layout on the right just too cool! It was created by Amy Pytlik (kapytlik) and posted at RAKScraps. I'll feature another layout tomorrow so keep sending me those links!

Late-breaking news!!!

I just received confirmation that in addition to the posting prize by Iron Orchid Designs, Maya at Scrapbook Graphics is sponsoring the music contest. And the grand prize layout will be receiving a gift certificate from Scrap Artist! Thank you to all of my fabulous designer friends for giving me these gifts to give to you!!!

SOME REAL PARTY PICS!

This cyber party is fun and all but I thought I would show you what makes me happy in real life! My family is my world! My husband (Marty) took me out to dinner tonight and when we got home, we had a little party with our children and my mom. Left to right, that's Lauren (6), Mackenzie (6), Nick (9) and Austin (almost 8). I really do have the best family I could ever imagine! Mom took these pictures but rarely gets in front of the camera!!

BACK TO BUSINESS!

Time for me to decide on some music for the party tomorrow! The person who suggested the song I choose will be receiving a special something from my good friend Maya! And keep those layouts coming! One lucky person will be receiving a gift certificate from my friends at Scrap Artist and EVERYONE who posts a layout will receive something fabulous from IOD! I have to sleep now but I'll be partying bright and early! I hope to see you again tomorrow.

Welcome to the party!

Sing it with me ...

Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday dear happyrobyn!
Happy Birthday to you!

Thanks for coming to my party! There's going to be fun and presents all weekend long so be sure to come back. My first thought last week when I realized that I was about to be 36 was, "HOLY COW!" So I decided to make a scrapbook page with this title. Somehow this title turned into a whole kit and I would love to share it with my blog friends. Here is the link to my Holy Cow! Kit.

ANOTHER GIFT FOR EVERYONE!

Send me a link to the layout that you create with the Holy Cow! Kit and you will receive a special something from my friends at Iron Orchid Designs! If you have never seen their amazing work ... you have to check it out. INCREDIBLE! I will be featuring some of the layouts right here on my blog so don't forget to send me a link: Robyn@ScrapArtist.com.

ANOTHER WAY TO WIN!

I want to play awesome dance music all weekend. My favorite party tune is playing right now (come on ... you KNOW you want to dance!). Send me your suggestion for music and if I play it - you will win a little something special. You can either email me or leave your suggestion in the comments.

AND FINALLY!

I'm going to choose one grand prize winner out of everyone who posts a layout using the Holy Cow Kit and they will win something BIG!! You'll just have to wait and see. The winner is going to be chosen very scientifically ... I'm going to show my 6-year-old daughter (who is the true artiste of the family) all of the layouts and have her choose her favorite! Layouts need to be posted by Sunday, July 30th at 11:59pm EST.

INVITE YOUR FRIENDS!

I like a good party. The more the merrier so be sure to send your friends over here!

Are you ready to party?

Tomorrow is my birthday! You will notice my banner has changed and I have some party music going. But the party hasn't officially started yet! Be sure to come back tomorrow for a free kit, a challenge and a chance to win prizes. Although tomorrow is the official day - I plan to party all weekend long and I hope you will come! Invite your friends!

Crazy about ATC's!

I have been making these little ATC's for several months now and they are just so much fun to make. Now if you have no idea what I am talking about, let me explain what an ATC is! ATC stands for Artist Trading card. These mini-masterpieces are similar to sports trading cards ... only for artists! The only rules in ATC's are that they must measure 2 ½ x 3 ½ inches and must only be traded ... never sold. Artists have ATC "swaps" either in person, by mail, or electronically. I have participated in the Digital Art Quirks mail swap for several months and it's so cool receiving these little works of art in the mail. I had to borrow some plastic pages from my husband to store them in (he collects baseball cards). I'm starting to fill up an album and it's so cool to look through. For a whole lot more information about them, click here.

This card on the right is one of my favorite ATC's. It is a silly picture of me when I was about 4 years old. The nursery rhyme is one that Marty says and makes me laugh. I have an ATC gallery at Scrap Artist if you would like to take a look.

To create this card, I used background paper and the paper on the dress from Dianne Rigdon's Fresh Start kit at Scrap Artist. The hat, moon, dress stamp and words are by Hope Wallace at Scrap Artist. The ATC frame brush is by Nancie Rowe-Janitz at Scrap Artist. Arms and legs are from Maya's Broken Doll Parts at Scrapbook Graphics. Arrow is by Katie Pertiet at Designer Digitals.

It's almost my birthday!

I love my birthday! It's like I have a party for myself all week long! I don't really care if I get gifts and stuff - I just like having one special day just for me! Since my birthday is this week, I thought I would make my Heritage Challenge at Scrap Artist somehow have a birthday theme. But I wanted everyone to be able to participate so I have called it "This is YOUR Year!' And the challenge participants will create a layout about the year they were born. Click here to read the details of the challenge in the Scrap Artist forums. I hope you will join me in the challenge!

The journaling reads: I was born on July 27, 1970 in Saginaw, Michigan. The top news stories of that time usually revolved around the Vietnam War. The shootings at Kent State University were a result of Vietnam demonstrations. Music was also at the top of the headlines with The Beatles disbanding and 2 deaths by overdose (Joplin and Hendrix).

I created this layout with Michelle Coleman's Chelsea's Dream kit from Scrap Artist. The little paper strips were cut out of some paper from Maya's Weathered Treasures kit at Scrapbook Graphics. The newspaper clipping is a scan of my birth announcement in the Saginaw paper. I found it in my baby book.

Made in Canada [with U.S. parts]

Apparently I am greatly influenced by the t-shirts my students wear to class! In my last post I mentioned it and the layout I am posting today was totally inspired by a t-shirt I saw on a student. This page is a fun way to document that our kids were all born in Canada, but that Marty and I are American. We lived in Nova Scotia from 1995 to 2001. All four of our kids were born there so they have dual citizenship. It seems like so long ago that we were in Canada but I have such great memories. We made lots of friends and I am so thankful for the experience of having lived there. When the kids are a little older, we are going to take them to the Maritimes (Eastern Canada) to visit their birthplace. It's a lot different than Texas!

A brief history on the Canadian National Anthem:

"O Canada" was proclaimed Canada's national anthem on July 1, 1980, 100 years after it was first sung on June 24, 1880. The music was composed by Calixa Lavallée, a well-known composer; French lyrics to accompany the music were written by Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier. The song gained steadily in popularity. Many English versions have appeared over the years. The version on which the official English lyrics are based was written in 1908 by Mr. Justice Robert Stanley Weir. The official English version includes changes recommended in 1968 by a Special Joint Committee of the Senate and House of Commons. The French lyrics remain unaltered.

O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.

With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!

From far and wide,
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

I have fun extracting photos this way. I call it "primitive extraction" because it is meant to simulate cutting with real scissors even though it is all done digitally. I actually wrote a tutorial on this technique. Click here if you care to read about it. I created this page with Maya's "Made in Canada" kit from Scrapbook Graphics. But I don't think it's available anymore.

I make things up!

One of my students was wearing a t-shirt the other day that said "I make things up!" It cracked me up because it suited him so well. What an imagination on that little boy! Well, this week, I had the chance to make things up for our Studio Start on the Studio Matters Blog. (For those of you that didn't know ... I am one of the Blog Girls there. Read my bio if you would like.) The challenge is to create a card for a made-up holiday. Go to the blog to see the card I actually submitted. The card on the left is the one that didn't make the cut! ... Our editor, Becky, would never approve! ;) ... This came about because of a comment made by my friend Maya. She cracks me up!

To create this card, I used all Maya products. The background paper is in her Flower Girl kit (no longer available), the hand is in the Free Spirit kit and the face in in her Weird Is Wonderful Brushes Set. The fonts are CM Destroy, Century Gothic and DIESEL. The DIESEL font is available at Misprinted Type. You should really check out the fonts there. Lots of cool ... FREE ... fonts!

Well, HAPPY STICK IT UP YOUR NOSE DAY to you all! Just make sure whatever you put up there isn't too large or it might get stuck!! Make up your own holiday and post your card in the Studio Starts Gallery at Scrapbook Graphics.

My favorite layout!

Thank you to everyone who came to my blog "unveiling" yesterday! What a party for me!! While I still have a few readers, I thought I would share with you what I consider to be my best layout. I had so much fun making it but it did take me a very LOOOOONG time to create. It is all digital. I used my pen tool in Photoshop to cut out all of the people! I originally created this layout for my Heritage Challenge at Scrap Artist. The theme that week was "Montage of Memories."

A montage is a composition of many pictures or designs, put together in a way that conveys a particular mood, such as joy, sadness, enchantment, magic, fear, romance etc. Another web site defines it as: A single pictorial composition made by juxtaposing or overlapping many pictures or designs. Two of my favorite scrappers are Denise Docherty and Anna Aspnes. Both are masters of montage. Click on their names to see their galleries.

All of these people on this page are my direct ancestors. These are my parents, grand parents, great grandparents, great-great grandparents, great-great-great grandparents and even one great-great-great-great grandpa! I learned an interesting fact while doing this layout. I have exactly 50 pictures of my direct ancestors. Pretty cool! Hopefully someday I will have more!

I am the baby in the title and the two color pictures are my parents. Point to any other person on the page and I can tell you (without cheating) who they are! That's how much I have stared at these pictures over the years! LOL!

The journaling reads: What are the ODDS of me? Have you ever really thought of everything that had to happen to even be born? For generations, everything had to happen exactly as it did for you to be alive. Your great-great-great grandparents had to decide to emigrate from Germany, your great grandpa had to decide to work at that mill so that he could meet your great grandmother. Every detail of the past had to happen exactly as it did or you would not be alive. The odds of anyone ever being born are really astronomical. I have truly won the lottery a million times over by even being born. If every person on this page had not made the exact decisions they made, I would not be here. I owe everything I am to these people ... my ancestors. ~Robyn Marlyn England February 14, 2006

I hope this layout inspires some of you to try my heritage challenge and if not at least to try scrapping outside of your comfort zone a little.

I'm not usually one to toot, but...

I have been published a couple of times in some idea books as well as Simple Scrapbooks Digital 4 and Digital Memories Magazine. I have never thought of it as a big deal. But 2 days ago, the editor at Legacy Magazine (my favorite magazine in the whole world!) emailed me to tell me that one of my articles was going to be published in the Oct/Nov issue and another in the Dec/Jan issue. Not only is my artwork going to be published in a mainstream magazine, but my words as well. And then the cherry on top came yesterday afternoon. I got an email from someone else at Legacy saying that one of my layouts will be in the Aug/Sep issue! So that means I will be in the next three issues!

For those of you not familiar with Legacy, their website describes it as follows:

Devoted to creating family heirlooms for tomorrow, Legacy™ showcases all kinds of artwork that incorporates family history photographs, documents, and memorabilia. In addition to featuring elegant scrapbook pages, home décor items, journals, wearable art, paper crafts and other handmade heirlooms, Legacy™ offers solid advice from renowned genealogy experts on researching one’s family roots.

Being a heritage scrapper and genealogy researcher, Legacy has been my favorite magazine for a while, however, I also love the other Stampington & Company's magazines like Somerset Studio and The Stamper's Sampler. Anyway, more rambling than I'm sure you cared to hear but I am pretty excited about this and thought I would share it with the world!!

Holy cool blog, Batman!

I have FINALLY figured out how to customize this blog! I am so excited! I also added that neat-o little Flickr photo badge on the right. I'm going to see what other cool gadgets are out there. Also, look for a "HAPPYFREESTUFF" section coming very soon! Tell your friends. I am proud of my blog at last but I have no visitors. So, essentially, I am talking to myself. But what else is new?

England Math: 1+1=4

In a frenzy of scrapping the other day, this idea just came to me. Marty and I are always saying to each other, "We made ALL of them!" It's a pretty awesome thought! We were married almost 11 years ago and somehow, we have brought 4 little people into the world. This layout tells the story of why we have so many kids. The journaling reads: The plan was 2 kids. Then when they were both boys, we went for #3 which turned out to be #3 and #4. Although having all 4 of you was not the original plan, we’re sure glad it turned out that way!

We joke that Mackenzie is our "bonus boy" because we were trying for Lauren and he came along for the ride! But he's our little sweetie and we are so blessed to have all 4 of those little monkeys. They drive us crazy on a daily basis but we are so thankful for all of them.

I used Nancie Rowe-Janitz and Michelle Coleman's All-American kit to scrap this. The stamped alpha is also Nancie's (Shmootzy Alpha Stamps). All of this is available at Scrap Artist.

Collage Crazed!

I don't know what is going on lately but all I want to do is collage. Since it was my turn this week for the Altered/Collage Challenge at Scrap Artist ... and it's always my turn for the Heritage Challenge ... I decided to combine the challenges and have a "This 'n' That" collage challenge. It's virtually the same challenge except to qualify for the heritage part, participants must use a photo from the 1970's or before. These are both of my sample layouts. I really had fun with the "I am invincible!" one. If you can't read the journaling, it says, "I may not always win but I have never been defeated." I don't know where that came from but it was the first thing that came to me! And that's what an art journal is all about, right?!

The second layout is my Great-Great-Great Grandmother, Selma Hoetzel. The journaling there reads, "Born in Germany. Died about 1891 in Michigan. Wife of Carl Hoetzel. Mother of Marie Jenny Hoetzel. Maiden name unknown." If you want to know more about Selma, click here.

My scrap style is constantly evolving but it seems that I am really drawn to the Somerset or Legacy style. It's just so interesting to me. I still turn out a simple page sometimes, but I am not as proud of them. Sounds strange, I know. But when I finish a layout, either I feel really good about it or know that it is just ok.

Dirty Boy!

I decided to take the Scraplift Challenge at Scrap Artist. The challenge was to lift Jenn Olson. Her whole gallery is awesome so it was a tough choice. I settled on lifting her layout called Dimples.

This little guy is Mackenzie, my youngest son, and he sure can get dirty! The journaling reads: It is impossible to keep you clean when we go to the baseball field to watch Nick and Austin’s games. You and Lauren go to the playground and get dirty! However, on this day, you were dirtier than usual. It looked like you had rubbed dirt all over your face! I thought it would make a cute picture. But every time I tried to get a good shot, you made this silly face. May 2006

I used Lori Barnhurst's new Little Orphan Boy kit for everything except the background paper. For that, I recolored some of Michelle Coleman's Simply Spring kit paper and put 2 overlays from the Rough and Tumble kit on top of it. Everything from Scrap Artist. Font is Times New Roman. Created in Photoshop CS2.

Positively Puzzling!

We posted a new Studio Start this morning on the Scrapbookgraphics Blog. The very talented Christine (Fiddlette) had the awesome idea to use crossword puzzles as inspiration.

I used an online crossword puzzle generator to create the puzzle and then I used that as a template to create the grid and then slipped my picture behind it. Just some fancy Photoshop stuff! LOL! I love a good challenge and this one really pushed me. I hope you will join us in the challenge. We are giving away a posting prize if you participate this week.

The paper and hand are from Maya's Free Spirit kit at Scrapbook Graphics (one of my favorites).

Artist Quirking Card

There's a challenge going on over at Digital Art Quirks where we are making rolodex cards ... kind of like the calling cards of yesteryear. Historically, a calling card was used socially to signify a visit made to a house if the occupant were absent; or as an introduction for oneself (to new neighbors as an example). Modern day business cards were derived from this concept. Anyway, this was a fun way to get to know my fellow Quirkers. My card isn't too quirky, actually, but I had fun making it. I even used my own paper that I created for the Scrap Artist grab bag #4 that Christine (Fiddlette) and I gave away for the last Altered/Collage Challenge.

It's Hip To Be Square!

This week in my Heritage Challenge at Scrap Artist ... we are using squares (at least 10!) to scrap heritage pictures. This is a 2-page layout I paper-scrapped a couple of years ago. Then last year, I re-created it digitally but was never happy with the paper selection. But I found Iron Orchid Designs Sweet 'n' Trashy papers and I thought they were perfect and I am finally happy with the layout. This is my grandma. I miss her a lot! In case you're interested in what some of the journaling reads ... it is a sort of poem-type journaling about everything I remember about Grandma.

I remember Grandma … It's funny how you remember people that you knew as a child. Many of the things I remember most about Grandma Kent have to do with food! I remember eating ice cream cones with all of my cousins in Grandma's back yard. It would always be vanilla and you never knew what color the cone would be. It might be red or yellow or even green. I remember big Thanksgiving dinners and how Grandma never seemed to mind when I only wanted the whipped cream and not the pumpkin pie she had made for dessert. I remember eating blueberries in milk with a little sugar on top. I remember her cabinet in the kitchen with an endless supply of breakfast cereal. Most cereals were the non-sugar coated kind, but Grandma supplied plenty of sugar to add by the spoonful. I remember drinking lots of red pop. And I remember that Grandma never ate with us. She was always wandering around during meals to make sure that everyone had what they needed. Besides all of the times that revolved around food, I also remember lots of other great times spent with Grandma. I remember that Grandma had very thin hair and wore a wig. At night she would take it off and put it on one of her wig heads in her bedroom. I found this very interesting. Sometimes I would see Grandma putting on her makeup and I remember watching her use her eyebrow pen and thinking that was pretty neat. I remember that even though Grandma was a large woman, she could still bend over with her legs straight and put her palms all the way down on the floor. I remember going to the Saginaw Zoo and Grandma taking my picture in the big whale's mouth. I remember that Grandma was diabetic and always had lots of pills to take. She kept them in a pill box labeled with the days of the week. One of the favorite things that I remember is a trip in 1981. Grandma and Grandpa drove me and Paul from our house in Texas all the way up to Dad's house in Ohio. It was raining really hard as we got close to Dad's house and I remember Grandma kept telling Grandpa, "Don't fall off the road, Dad!" It was really funny. The last thing that I remember about Grandma is seeing her just a few months before she died. She had lost a lot of weight and her spirit was fading but I remember that she still loved me. Grandma was such a wonderful lady. I was lucky to know her until I was almost 23 years old. I remember that Grandma was very patient and loved all of us unconditionally. I remember that Grandma was loved by me … I remember Grandma.

Visual Palindromes

I am so excited to be one of the new Studio Matters Blog Girls at the Scrapbook Graphics blog. My good friend, Christine (Fiddlette), and I are both going to be leading the Studio Starts challenges each Friday. I decided to do the first challenge and have named it Visual Palindromes. A palindrome is a word, phrase, verse or sentence that reads the same backward or forward (‘racecar’ for example). Some of you already know that I am a linguistics dork. I majored in Modern Languages and minored in Linguistics at Texas A&M. I just love the study of language! So I tried to carry this over into art. We are interpreting palindromes by using papers and elements. I hope you will join us in the challenge! We are giving away a posting gift just for playing! For more information on palindromes, click here.

Oh me, oh Maya!

I got Maya's new Quirky Grab Bag Volume 1 last night and dreamed about it all night! I woke up this morning in the mood to collage! So that's just what I did. I had fun with this one. I know what all of the images mean to me but feel free to interpret as you please!

Most of the stuff here is by Maya at Scrapbook Graphics including the background paper (a blend of papers in her Weathered Treasures kit), the flower crown (Joyful Fairy), crown (Maya Doll), butterflies overlay (Believe kit), hand (Free Spirit kit) and all of the fun and quirky images (Quirky Grab Bag 1). The cut-out words, pointy hat with flowers and the wings are by Hope Wallace at Scrap Artist. Created in Photoshop CS2.

Photobooth fun!

I posted the new Heritage Challenge at Scrap Artist this morning. I got this photo when I was in Arkansas last weekend and I thought it would be fun to scrap photobooth or small photos.

I used 2 of Michelle Coleman's kits: The papers, stamp and elements are from her My Gypsie Rose kit and the giant letter 'J' is from her Chelsea's Dream kit. Staples and tape are from Iron Orchid Design's Element Essentials pack. I made the metal frame by cutting apart a frame by Dianne Rigdon in her All in the Family metal set. All available at Scrap Artist.

Never Forgotten

We went to Arkansas last weekend to visit Marty's family. I came home with a few boxes of heritage pictures from his side of the family. Unfortunately, most of the photos are not labelled and I may never know who some of those relatives are. So sad when people are lost to time. One photo really struck me hard. It is a photo of a baby in a casket. Of course it is a sad picture because it is a dead baby but the real tragedy for me is that sweet little baby, who was obviously loved, will be forgotten. I have no way of finding out the name or even if it is a boy or girl. I have decided to name this baby Alex in rememberance of the baby in my previous post. Coincidentally, I was creating this layout the very day Alex died. This is going to be my sample layout for the Altered/Collage Challenge at Scrap Artist this week. The theme is going to be "Honoring Death" and I hope I don't scare anyone away because of the topic. But I feel that so many pages are devoted to happy, fluffy stuff. But life has good times and hard times and each life ends in death. This challenge can be taken on as a journaling challenge or any way the participant wants to interpret it. I hope we get lots of participation because I think each piece of art will be something special.

I'm saddened and stunned!

Mother Charged With Drowning Son
This is what has been on my mind today. This woman lives only about a mile from me and I actually met her and her baby about 3 months ago when she came to the gym and took a trial class that I taught. Poor baby Alex. He was such a cute little guy.