Anniversary Album Complete and a thank you

Thanks to everyone who downloaded my sampler and left comments. I truly appreciate your thoughts and thanks. I also appreciate everyone who took the time to remind me that Gianni's hair will grow back and that it doesn't look that bad. Thanks for the reassurance. I wouldn't feel so bad if my hubbie would stop laughing at it. He's going to give the kid a complex and he's already given me one!

As some of you know, I've been working hard on an anniversary album for my best friend's parents. They will be celebrating their 40th anniversary on the 17th of June. It has been a fun project, but it's been the focus of 90% of my scrapping for the last month. I'm ready to tackle something else! Here's a slide show of the finished album. I just have to send it off to the printers now.

Now I can get back to other layouts and designing. I hope to have something to share with you very soon!

You can view the credits for all these layouts at my Gotta Pixel Gallery.

Denim and Diamond Sampler

I hope everyone is enjoying their Memorial Day weekend. Ours has been pretty busy so far, so we're trying to take it a little easier today. Friday we went garage sale shopping. Gianni got a great little train set for $2.00. He has spent hours playing with it. Yesterday we went to a flea market and spent a $1.00 whoo hoo! Then we got a few groceries, an external hard drive for my scrapping supplies (yay!!!), and some other odds and ends.

Today I decided to cut Gianni's hair b/c it was getting scruffy. I wasn't paying attention and started buzzing before I realized I didn't have the attachment on it. I started up the back...buzz...buzz...buzz. He looked like Marshall on How I Met Your Mother only in the back instead of the front. So I had to shave around the rest of the back and sides. I left the top longer. John keeps laughing. As if I didn't feel bad enough already! At least it's May and not the end of June. I would have hated to ruin his birthday pics. I keep telling myself it doesn't look that bad. Here's a look...



From this angle I don't think it looks that bad. At least I keep telling myself that. At least the kid loves hats. He looks so pathetic in the pic though. The little bugger topped it off by saying, "Bye, bye hair."

I've spent some time designing this weekend. I want to get Denim and Diamonds completed. I worked on papers and ribbons yesterday. I've put together a little sampler today to show you what I've been up too. I hope you like it.

Here's a preview.



Click here to download. Please leave a comment if you download them. I'd love to hear what you think of the sampler.

Where have I been?

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. I think this is probably the longest I've gone without posting. I've working on layouts for the anniversary album I'm doing for friends and doing creative team layouts.

I'm now 2 for 4 in my CT applications. I'm not sure why at 36 I still get bummed over rejection. I know there is fierce competition out there for creative teams. There are sometimes hundreds of applicants for each call! I know I shouldn't take things so personally. It's just my nature.

The good news is that I'm now part of two CTs! I want to take the time today to tell you about the team I was accepted to first. I am now a member of the CT for Tina Williams Designs. Tina is an amazing designer, and I'm so happy to be part of her team. She does these fantastic vintage feel kits. I love them so much that I'm on my second kit for layouts already after just one week! I get a little gungho at times.

The first kit I worked with was Yesterday's Remembered because it had beautiful soft papers. It was perfect for the anniversary album layouts.



Here are the layouts I did with this pretty kit.






Now I'm working with a second kit. I'm using Grandma's Kitchen which is one of Tina's newest kits. Here are some previews. Don't you just love it?













Here's the layout I created with Grandma's Kitchen.




Tina's having an amazing sale right now to celebrate her son's graduation. Don't miss it!




Visit Tina's Store here.

New Denim and Diamond Freebie

Well, taking some time off from designing this week forced me to get serious about getting the anniversary album pages done. I now have seven pages done. I also submitted two creative team applications this week. I'll update you on that later in the week. I want to have the time to tell you all about it. Right now I'm focused on getting the freebie up for you!

I did spend some time this morning designing. I did four more Denim and Diamond frames. I think I'm going to break it into two sets, because I still have more I want to do. I think I have around 14 right now. I'd like to have 20 if I'm going to do two sets. I still have no idea when I'll get around to do the whole kit. I just love doing elements. That's been my passion as of late. I just love the frames too. I think that's my favorite thing to design overall.

Here's a preview of the freebie. Special thanks go out to Atomic Cupcake for her always amazing actions.




This one was just too pretty not to share. I hope you enjoy it. Please leave a comment if you download it. I love hearing your feedback. I also love seeing your layouts made with my freebies and designs. Just send me the link in the comment section. Thanks!

Okay, here's the link to the freebie! Remember this is for personal use only.

Click here to download!

Another Denim and Diamond Cluster Frame Freebie

I hope everyone had a great mother's day. I did. Gianni is my constant reminder of God's faithfulness. He truly is our little miracle, our answered prayer. I pray it's God's will that Gianni will get a little brother or sister very soon.

I'm having a blast designing Denim and Diamond Cluster frames. I will be releasing the entire set when I have them done. But I've decided I better take a design break and get some layouts done. May is flying and I need to get this anniversary album completed.

Here's the layout I did last night with items from Little Dreamer Designs.



The Little Dreamer Designs items include the paper are from California Zinfandel by Lori Barnhurst. Select elements are also from Lori's Drama Queen element set. The flourishes are from Michelle Coleman's Flourish Frames. Other elements used include the roses by Dani B and a vintage frame by Katie Pertiet.

Now on to the freebie. Here's a preview...



You can download it here. I would like to thank Atomic Cupcake for actions used in the creation of this frame. Remember this frame is for personal use only.

Denim and Diamonds Embellished Slide Freebie

Just a quick post to get this freebie online. I hope to be back later with an update. I got a little designing done last night as a stress reliever. I'm posting a Denim and Diamonds embellished negative slide. Leave some love if you download it. I hope you like it! There are more to come soon!



Click here to download the freebie! Thanks to Atomic Cupcake and Terry Maruca for actions used in the creation of this freebie.

New freebie page

I decided it was time I made a page just for my freebies. I'm sure this will make it much easier for first time vistors to pick up my latest freebies without going back through old blogger pages. Here's the link to the new page. I still have a few more to add, but it has the last 13 freebies I shared. I will leave them up for a while longer, and I'll try to add the rest soon.

I hope everyone had a great National Scrapbook Day on Saturday. I only bought a couple of things. One great embellishment set to use for the anniversary scrapbook I'm doing for friends of the family. I also got some ezines. I'm a sucker for those. As far as scrapping, I didn't get any done. I spent my scrapping time this weekend trying to do a little organizing of my files and unzipping all the freebies I had accumulated in the last few weeks. I'm a self-professed freebie addict. I visit IkeaGoddess' blog daily, as I'm sure most of you do. I know that a lot of my traffic comes from there.

Here's a list of my other current favorite freebie sites.

Brand new this week! Digiscrapdepot. Check out Vicky's great new site!

IkeaGoddess. Goddess and Queen of all things Freebie!

Amy W's Scrap-a-lot. Amy has a great list daily!

Selena has great freebies as well!

Deb has freebies on her blog and in her forum.

So if you haven't tried out some of these places, I strongly urge you to go visit. Don't forget to leave a comment to thank these wonderful ladies for all their hard work!

Storyboard Freebie and Storyboard Set Released

Well, I managed to change the template on my blog. I needed a little change. Eventually, I'll get around to making my own, but this is nice for now. I also changed my sidebar and put my design pics into a slide show format. I also made my first blinkie! That was fun. Just click below my blinkie to go to my store page to purchase any of my designs.

I am working on a Denim and Dirt Album, but it's just not coming together in my head yet. It's been one of those weeks. Work has been stressful- They're going to hire another reading teacher to work with me at my grade levels (K-1). After being the sole K-1 reading teacher for 10 years, this scares me. I shouldn't feel threaten, because I've always had the total support of our administration. However, our principal is retiring, and I'm so nervous about what will happen next year. Now I have the prospect of learning how to share a program that I've developed. It's terrifying and exciting at the same time. We are doing interviews on Monday. We only have three candidates. That makes me nervous.

On top of the stressors at work, I got myself all worked up and got a cold, topped off with other woman stuff (KWIM). Then I call the fertility clinic we used to get pregnant with Gianni to get an appointment to discuss trying for a second child. They're going to consider me a new patient and won't see me for four months. So that bummed me out. I was thinking we could start trying in early summer. Now I'm looking at not being able to try with assistance until the fall. The week has really worn me out. It's no wonder I can't seem to get the album done.

I do have a set of storyboard quickpages I'm listing in my story today. And the freebie is from that set. I'm also including rusty letters as well. Here's a preview. Click here to download. Please leave a comment when you download. I love hearing from you.



Here is a preview of some of the story boards available in the set. Click here to purchase for $.99.

Teacher Treat Topper Template Freebie

Yes, today's freebie is a teacher treat topper template. Say that five times fast! May 8th is National Teacher Day. I love this day, not because I'm a teacher myself, but because it recognizes people like my mom. She was a teacher for over 25 years before she retired 2 years ago. She gave her heart and soul to both her family and her job. She was able to balance them both beautifully. She has always been my inspiration, my role model, and my mentor. I'm truly blessed to have such a great lady as my mom.

Here's a preview of the templates. You get two. Click here to download.



www.craftsayings.com has a great archive board that lists M&M poems. They have some for teachers. They would go great on the inside on a tag or on the back of the topper. Go take a look! I'm sure you'll find M&M poems for any occasion!