More scrapping.

Man, I'm loving all this time I have to get scrapping done. It's been a while since I've done this much! I'm definitely going to enjoy it while it lasts. I'm sure I will be bored out of my mind by the time my job starts, though...I still have like 6 more weeks.

So, for the past couple days I've been working on the Inspired by Amelie challenge....Likes and Dislikes. This was fun. I also took inspiration from the way they described her mother and father's likes and dislikes in the movie, and structured my journaling that way. I thought it was cute and funny.

I bought the Basic Grey Obscure papers way back in November when I went to Ruban Rouge in Tampa, and I'm FINALLY using them. One of my favorite paper lines EVER.

Next up on the to-do list, a header for Sara's blog, and layouts for a couple more challenges. I also have some new photos, but I have to go through them and process them first. They should be up tomorrow. We've had to batten down the hatches in case Fay decides to visit. Luckily, at this house, we have the clear corrugated shutters, so it's not like living in a cave. My Breaking Dawn book is supposed to be here tomorrow, so I'll be able to read during the storm.

New Header.

Well, as you can see, I've updated the header. I finished it last night. I had a lot of fun making it....it makes the blog look more crafty. I LOVE wood grain contact paper. Thank you to Sara for putting it in one of our kits a couple months ago!

I have also found a new favorite website. My friend told me about it the other night. Pandora.com. It's a free site where you type in a band or song, and it creates a music channel for you with music similar to your choice. If you don't like a particular song, you can check the "thumbs down" and it won't play stuff like that any more. It's awesome...check it out!

All kinds of stuff.

I finished a couple ATCs for my 7gypsies card holder as I had planned. The first one was inspired by this post on Lucrecer's Art Slam blog.

And, as promised, I took a quick photo of my scrap room. 

I still need to get some curtains for the windows. I think I'm just going to get some short valance curtains in a funky color. Most of my stuff is in the dresser. There are 3 more drawers behind the doors in the middle. I put all my acrylic stamps on the mirror, and I found that I am now actually USING THEM! I have all my adhesives and the tools I use the most out on the table, as well as some other assorted things I like. There's a little more, but I'll take more in-depth photos later! 

Last night, I was messing around with some of the pictures of me in my costume from my performance a couple weeks ago, and came up with this. I think it turned out pretty cool. I'm using it as my profile photo on MySpace.

On the agenda today....I am going to make a header for the blog out of paper. I should have it updated sometime today or tomorrow.

Insert witty title here...

So, I have a new layout. I took a bunch of really good pictures of Chad the other day, so there will be lots of layouts with him coming up. I love this picture. Chad always tells me he doesn't like Pickle just to bug me. Now I have proof he DOES like him! Hehee.


In non-scrapping related news....we got a new toy. A freaking awesome golf cart! This will be my ride when I start working in October. It's so fun, and much easier to zip around town in. Not to mention that it's electric, so NO GAS, thank goodness!

That's about it for now. I am going to start making some ATCs, I think. I have had the 7gypsies card holder since October, so I think it's time to use it. I like being able to make something small and quick when I don't want to get into doing a whole layout. I've been wanting to follow Lucrecer's Art Slam, so now that I have time to sit and scrap, I'm going to do it on cards instead of in a Journal.

Oh, and if you haven't seen the Inspired by Amelie blog, check it out. I just found it through the SIS TV site. Two of the SoML girls are on the team, and I didn't even know about it! The work all the ladies do over there is awesome.

SoML Layouts

Okay, I have LOTS of stuff to post, all form the Story of My Life kits. Here is everything from the July kit:

And here's my work from the August kit:








That's all for now. I'm going to do some more scrapping today, and I took more pictures at the beach last night, so we'll see how those turned out. Pictures of my scrap room are also coming up soon! I'll try to remember to take some today.

Boca Grande

We are in the new house in Boca Grande. It will be 4 weeks on Thursday. Wow. Time flies. Everything is all put away, my scrap room is done, and we are all settled in. Chad loves his new job. This place is amazing. It's how living in Florida is SUPPOSED to be.

I finally went out and about yesterday to take some photos on Friday. Our beaches here are gorgeous. The water is so green and clear. And I must say, I love my polarized filter.

I also took some random shots around town. Here is our "downtown" area, if you can really call it that. It's a nice, small town.

Here's our local grocery store. For big grocery trips, we go off the island to Publix or Wal-Mart. Next to it are a couple little restaurants. Everyone drives golf carts around the island. 


Another restaurant, The Temptation. I just like the name. We haven't eaten there yet.

This is where I'll be working when season starts back up in October. It's a gift shop and clothing store. 

This is our local weekly newspaper. All the little kiosks are painted in cool designs like this one.

That is about it for now. I still need to take pictures of my scrap room and the inside of the house. I love living here, and I am looking forward to season. Apparently there is something going on ALL THE TIME when everyone comes back. It's pretty quiet here now. I was told there are only 1,000 full time residents on the entire island. 

More updates to come...I have LOTS of scrapbooking stuff to post!

A super huge update...

It appears that I have gotten behind on posting yet AGAIN. I have an excuse this time, though. We are moving! My husband got a promotion, and we will be moving to Boca Grande, FL on Gasparilla Island in a couple weeks. Here is my new house (which is super close to the beach):


And here is a view of the water around the island:


I can't wait! I'm not looking forward to the actual process of moving, but it will be exciting to be in the new house! At least we're only moving an hour north. Naples is nice, but I'm ready for something smaller and more quiet for sure. I've already packed my scrap room, so the BIG job is finished.

And now, lots of layouts. The first one is from the May SoML kit, and the rest are from the June kit:






Not only am I moving in about 2 weeks, but I also have my first solo bellydance performance coming up at the end of July. I still have to finish my choreography AND make this kick-butt studded leather yarn/coin belt. And dye my gloves. And do a trial run of my hair and make-up. And practice the whole thing once it's finished. And do all my layouts for the July SoML kit. It's going to be a busy month for me!

One SoML May Layout

I'm still working on finishing my projects with the May SoML kit. Having all kinds of stuff going on three weekends in a row really puts a person behind! Here's the layout I did so far:


The picture turned out really dark when I photographed the layout. I'll need to do a re-take, cause her eyes look AMAZING in the actual photo.

I went home the first weekend of this month to go to the Shrimp Festival. I got there on Thursday, because my sister was supposed to be in the parade with the bellydance studio she takes classes at. There ended up being a mix-up with the deadline for the parade application, so they were told at the last minute they could not be in the parade. I had just gotten all this cool new stuff I was going to dress her up in, and she was disappointed that she wasn't going to be able to wear it. We dressed her in some of it anyways...thus, Half Tribal. Man she would have looked awesome in the whole get-up but we didn't get time to do the whole thing to take pictures.

The weekend before, I was in Fort Lauderdale for 4 days with all my bellydance buddies for Spirit of the Tribes. I took lots of classes, stayed up late, and got to meet all kinds of awesome dancers. Man, it was rough going to work the Monday after, but I sure can't wait until next year to do it all over again!

Here's some of us Naples girls hanging out by the pool. Ariellah and Mavi were sweet enough to join us for a picture.


Everyone was so nice! I have more pictures that will be popping up on layouts soon. I have to say thank you to Ali for taking all the photos. I took a grand total of 2 the whole time. What the heck kind of scrapbooker am I?

Then, the middle of April, I did another 3-day workshop with Ansuya. I love taking classes from her. She is one of the nicest people ever, and I learn so much. My sister was able to join me for this one. This time, we did props....candles, fan, cane, and sword. I freaking love sword, but man were my knees bruised from the floorwork. And that's WITH knee pads.

More to come soon!

It's Official!

I am now officially a published scrapbooker! My first layout is in the May 2008 Scrapbook Trends under High School Memories:


It is so surreal to see one of my pages in a magazine. I still haven't gotten over it!

I also have a couple layouts I finished at a crop a few weeks ago, but never got around to posting. I finally broke out the Bazzill stitching templates for these. Man, I love those things.



I still have one that's almost done, and I will be working on the May Story of My Life (the kit is amazing!) stuff this weekend, as I've been out of town a lot. Pictures from my travels to come, too.

And, OH-HOLY-CRAP, the first trailer for the Twilight movie was released yesterday.



Is it December yet?

April Goodness...

As promised (and only a couple days late!) here is what I did with the April SoML kit, La Primavera:






I absolutely LOVE the Daisy D's Wonder Years line. The collaged, stitched look is just my style.

More layouts to come in a couple days. I did some really fun ones with lots of hand stitching over the weekend.

The May 2008 Scrapbook Trends is available now, too! If you already have it, check for my Band Geeks layout in the High School Memories section. I can't wait to see it!

Time for some big-time updating!

Okay, I have so much stuff to catch up on! I will start with this: I have finally read the Twilight books by Stephenie Meyer, and I am flipping OBSESSED. I am talking obsession of Harry Potter proportions. I walked around in a starry-eyed daze the entire time I was reading the books (I read the three that are out so far in about 4 days!), and maybe for a week afterward. They are that good. You must read them if you haven't. Period.

Okay, and I'm also a month behind on posting my Story of my Life work! Here's what I did for March:






Story of My Life also celebrated its 1 year anniversary this month! So, congrats to Sara on a great year! I'll be posting my April stuff on Monday, so I don't end up having the longest blog post ever.

I'm going to be super busy the next few weekends with all kinds of belly dancing events, including my second round of classes with the fabulous Ansuya, whom we are SO lucky to have living here in Naples, now. We'll be working with props this time, so maybe I'll have some pictures of me balancing my sword on my head to post. :)

Have a great weekend, everyone, and I am going to a crop tomorrow, so I should have all kinds of stuff to post next week, on top of the April SoML stuff.