Day 31 -final LOAD & Happy Halloween!!!!

I woke up this morning with this layout in my head. I
already had to quick page but the photos I used were
part of the Botanical Gardens trip I used yesterday.
Since I used pictures of Daddy & Punkin yesterday I
thought I would use pictures of Punkin & Mommy today.

I can't wait to print it out and put it together with
the layout from yesterday.

The quick page is by the same person who designed the
quick page I used yesterday and I really like her designs.

With this layout I finish up a Lay Out A Day for the whole
month - that is 31 layouts for October. It went really fast
and I learned several new techniques and how to drop photos
into digital quick pages. I also decided that, while I like
the look of the digital pages I prefer to add paper and 3-d
embellishments to them -which makes them all hybrid layouts.

Of course, I had to print each one out and then add the extras
so that hasn't happened for todays layout yet but it will after
all the Halloween Trick-or-Treaters are done in our neighborhood.

The twins and I have been hard at work decorating our
house this morning and in a few minutes we will be
heading over to their elementary school to set up the
Fall Festival that will be going on from noon until
6pm today. They are beyond thrilled and I am beyond tired...
ah well, it will be fun.

Have a wonderfully spookalicious Halloween!
See you tomorrow!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 30 - some Botanical Gardens photos...

These photos were taken in April of 2005
on a trip to the local Botanical Gardens.
Buddy was with Grandpa that day visiting
GreatGranny and Daddy & I took Punkin to
see the flowers.

I used a quick page called The Earth
Laughs in Flowers Quick Page by ValerieN Designs and
Daydreamer Designworks.

Well, back to getting ready for Halloween!
See you tomorrow for the last day of LOAD!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 29 - Hangin' Out in the Pumpkin Patch...

I took these photos last year at a pumpkin patch near
Wimberley during our 'Get Out of Town Weekend' in the
Hill Country. Buddy posed as a Scarecrow while Punkin
chose a pumpkin. They laughed so hard at this photo
that I was tempted to title it LAUGH -and I might still
do that if I can ever find the letter stickers I plan to
use on it.


Now, this is a photo I took last night as I was cleaning
up from our impromptu
'Fancy Dancy Fou Fou Chocolate Fondue Dessert'

Buddy was 'helping' to clean up the mess! We don't
call him SugarMan for nothing! (Oh- he had the
'Yep! Go for it!' from Daddy to do this!-Figures!)




Of course, now he is convinced that is the BEST way to
enjoy chocolate fondue! Well-he may be on to something
there but he won't be repeating this stunt anytime soon.: )

Only 2 more days of LOAD!
See you tomorrow!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 28 - Train ride...

This is a quick page by LLIELLA
and I added photos of the twins with
Amma on a miniature train during a
younger cousin's train-themed birthday
party in 2005!

I can't believe I've never scrapped
these pictures before but, thanks to
LOAD, here they are!

Enjoy!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 27 - Neighboring Beauty

I took a couple of these photos of a tree just a couple
of blocks away this past Spring and a couple of them
today. I was making up the grid and realized I didn't
have enough photos to fill it the way I wanted to. I also
needed a sample for my landscape class tonight and, after
asking permission last week, Daddy & I stopped and snipped
the leaf and seedpod this afternoon.

The County Extension Agents think it is a Red Royal Poinciana
but they're not 100% positive. I think the foot long seedpod
really threw them and they are looking it up in the plant books
and will let me know for sure next Tuesday night.

Of course, I couldn't let the photo grid go to waste so I used
it for my LOAD challenge layout today. The prompt was to make a
layout without using any patterned papers and I was very surprised
to discover how difficult that can be.

I shopped my scrap drawers and had to keep putting the patterned
scraps back in the drawer after pulling them out and laying them
across the photos.

So here is my resulting page...



Enjoy!
See you tomorrow!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 26 -Together Today...

This is the "Falling for Her Quick Page" by Scrapping Rainbow Designs

I cropped photos of each of us from this week and dropped them
into the hearts and then added the title "Together Today". I have
a couple of journal spots that I am going to add once I get this
page printed out. That, of course, makes this digital page a hybrid
page!

Only 5 more days of LOAD! Yipee!
See you later with today's layout!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 25

Last October we spent a weekend in Wimberley,Texas
just enjoying Fall in the Texas Hill Country. We
spent time in town and also visited a couple of
local vineyards and tourist attractions in the area.
I have stuff to make a mini album about it but
I just haven't done it yet.

This is a picture that Punkin took of Daddy & I
just after he bought me the necklace I'm wearing.
It was a very early Birthday present! We had our
hats on because it was so sunny and hot while we
were walking around town.



The Quick page is by Project B Designs.
I will be adding more info to it when I get it printed out. I have several
pieces of ephemera from the trip I want to include on the layout.

Only 6 days of LOAD left. Maybe I'll get my studio cleaned up and
be able to actually make some paper layouts so I don't go through
LOAD withdrawal! LOL!

Enjoy the rest of the day!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Days 23 & 24

Well, I have to admit this digital scrapbooking
thing is pretty cool. Of course, I have yet to
do anything other than add the photo and text
but I am sure I will be trying that out before
too long.

Anyway, here are my layouts for the last 2 days
of LOAD.



This is the Buddy @ 8 months on 5/2001 not too sure about sitting in Daddy's chair and being in charge of the remote. I will add my journaling with a pen once I print the page out.This is a quick page from the Seaside Kit by Thaliris




I have scrapped a few of the photos we took during our White Christmas in 2004
but these 3 got missed. When I found this quick page on Scrapping with IkeaGoddess's blog I had to try it out. This is the Candy Christmas Quick Page by Kimb's designs.

Only 7 more days of LOAD!
Enjoy!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Days 21 & 22 ...still plugging away & Blog Candy Winner

This is a photo of Wiley sleeping in his favorite position upside down
on top of all 3 pet pillows. He had been playing so hard and training
with me and the K9 Coach so he was completely tuckered out. I used a
quick page from Lindsay Sparkes of Spinky Dink Scraps





I used photos of Halloween 2008 for today's layout. This is Punkin as
Sacajawea and Buddy as Capt. Jack Sparrow. They have to dress up as
a character from a book in order to be able to wear their costumes
to school and we had a very difficult time finding a children's book
about Sacajawea. She was a character from the movie Night at the Museum
but the book didn't include her as a major character so we couldn't use
it. I had to hunt down a historical junior novel for Punkin to carry
with her to school.

Buddy's was much easier. We discovered there is a whole series of kids
books about Young Captain Jack Sparrow. They are pretty good too. At
least he loves them.

This is a quick page by Roseytoes Designs& JennCk Designs



I printed both of these pages out and was very disappointed with
the background of the Halloween layout - it is distressed and folded
on screen but solid black in the printed page. I am not sure how to
fix this for future printings but it really used up a lot of black ink.

I added all the names of anyone who has ever commented on my blog since
the very beginning to big bowl and had the Buddy reach in a pull out a
name... sooooo ....


And now, the Belated Blog-iversary Blog Candy goes to....


(drum roll)....


***Anonymous said...

WOW, 1 year!!! Glad to see you are back in the swing of things. I have missed visiting you on your blog. Laura

September 14, 2009 7:03 AM***

Laura!!

Email me with your snail mail address and I will get your
prize in the mail to you asap.


Thanks to everyone who has left comments on my blog since
August 2008! It's so hard to believe it has been around
for over a year!

Have a great night & see you tomorrow!
xoxox
Csmoferret




See you tomorrow!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 20

I used a quick page by Iseree for JM Designs
and scrapped this photo of Punkin in her
Brownie vest in 2007. I printed it out
and added the journaling and title but
I didn't get a photo of that part -only
the digitally scrapped layout.

It has been a very long day so see you
tomorrow!

XoXoX
Csmoferret

PS- I'll be posting the winner of my Blog Candy
from the comments since September 1 very soon.
Thanks to all of the visitors!

Day 19 -still going digital

I don't know what it is but the paper
layouts I've added to the LOAD Flickr
account just don't garner the comments
that a digital quick page someone else
created and I just added photos to. It
is kind of frustrating, actually. I mean,
it is wonderful that these beautiful quick
pages are recognized -that is why I chose to
use them after all. I just wish my own
creations were as well received.

Ah well, the challenge marches on
and I got it done between taking the
twins to Gymnastics this evening.

This page is a combination of a digital
quick page freebie by cardamome
and scanned photos of Punkin & Buddy
at 9 months of age in 2001. The only thing
I added to the title was the 'x2'.

It feels good to get some of these
older photos scrapped for the first time.

See you tomorrow!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 18 - back to digital

Well, I spent this afternoon and
evening trying to get a bit of the
garage straightened out and didn't
get the paper layout put together
that I had in my head so it will have
to wait until tomorrow after the kids
get to school.

So, I used another digital quick page
for my LOAD today. This photo is of
the twins after they celebrated Thanksgiving
at school in 1st grade, 11/2006.



This quick page is by Jaye from Monica's CT on
Mglscraps CT. and the Autumn
word art is by Kathy Winters Designs

I have been finding these quick pages using links from
Scrapping with IkeaGoddess' blog. She does a fabulous job of
listing all the freebies she finds on the web. She is an
awesome resource! Definitely check out her blog and then
the links she posts - but beware- you will lose lots of
time to the fun pages and kits you find listed on her
site. (Remember-the key word is "Freebie".)

It's interesting how many photos from 2006 I've scrapped
this month because of the quick digital pages. I haven't had
to print a photo, find stuff to go with it, come up with a
page layout, write and rewrite the journaling, etc. I've just
picked a digital page, picked a photo and mooshed them together.
(So technical, I know.)

Well, it has been a long day of cleaning and reorganizing
the garage and I'm only 1/4 done. So it's off to bed to
rest up for more cleaning tomorrow.

Goodnight!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 17 - finishing up the TKD 2pg layout...

Okay, on Day 11 I started making a 2 page layout
about Buddy's Tae Kwon Do experience and got the
first page of the 2 done. Then I couldn't find
the rest of my photos and it got put on the back
burner for a while as I tried out digi-scrappin'
and taking the easy way out of getting my layouts
done each night.

Well, last night while digging in the iPhoto
library I found the TKD photos I took. So, I
created a photo grid in Photoshop CS4 and
printed it out on regular letter sized photo
paper.

Then this afternoon I dug out the second
half of the TKD page kit stuff and rearranged
some of the elements that I had already stuck
down and added the photo grid. Wrote some
quick note journaling on the photos themselves,
took a photo of it and uploaded to Flickr.

Done and done! It feels good to cross off two
items on the 'To Do' list simultaneously!

We attended an Archery Class this morning
hosted by the American Heritage Girls troop in
town today with Buddy's Bear Cub Scout den
and I will have some photos of that up later.

Enjoy!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 16-Gettin' Digi' with it!

The prompt today was to make a digi-scrapped page
and I hunted around in my downloads until I found a
quick page I liked, scrolled through the baby photos
on iPhoto for a picture that would fit it and viola...



This is a quick page by Véro for Choubinette Designs

This is a photo of Punkin one morning in July of 2001 as Daddy entered
the room saying "Good Morning Sunshine!" she waved to him sitting in
her pile of rearranged sheets and smiling. She was enjoying the extra
space in the round crib since Buddy had moved to his own rectangular
crib.

I printed this out and will be adding the journaling to it before I add
the page to my album. In fact, I have printed out every digital page I
have made this month. I love to have them in my albums so they can be
flipped through and enjoyed.

Well, off to do something else for a while!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 15...

This is a quick page by GM Designs. I added a photo of
the Punkin in her favorite hat from July 2001 and called
it good.

See you tomorrow!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 13 & 14

Time got away from me last night and I forgot to post my
LOAD layout to my blog so I am posting both yesterday's
and today's layouts ...

Here is Day 13...
I printed out the photos as 2x2 squares and didn't realize that my
readjusting of print info caused the order of the photos to change
but one of the small photos of the kids should be in the center of the
top row -I just noticed that it didn't print the way I had it planned.
This is photos of the twins in August 2006 when we had tall cotton
and many of our neighbors had none. It was a strange year. Almost
as strange as this one.


Now Day 14 is a hybrid layout...
I used this 'JennCk Spinky Dink Future Star Quick Page' by JennCk Designs
added a photo of The Buddy from August 2004 and printed it out on my
wide format printer. (Man is that printer getting used a lot this month!)
Then I added the title with letter stickers and hand wrote the journaling
under the bottom edge of the circle. Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy!
The journaling says "8/2004 My one and only favoritest Buddy in the
whole world! I 'golden hugs' love you! Love Mommy!"

Golden hugs are his way of saying he's giving you the best hug in the
world and it is more powerful than magic hugs -better protection from
nightmares, stronger healing powers, etc. Golden Hugs are a Buddy
Specialty!

Well, it's late so I'll see you tomorrow!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 12, just a bit early tonight...

I have a confession to make...

but first, here is my LOAD for today...

it is a hybrid layout that I added letter stickers and pen journaling to
after printing it out. The photos are from 2006 and the layout itself
is a quick page from Verena Karolyi's Autumnal Taste digital design
set. I don't have a link back to her gorgeous designs (it wasn't in the
terms of use file) but I think you could Google her name and find
all sorts of beautiful things she has designed.

I did get frustrated with Photoshop CS3 while making this page because
it decided to get finicky and refuse to save my finished project. It does
that sometimes (especially if I open PS before I open iPhoto or if I leave
PS open too long) but it is extremely aggravating to know that I'll lose
everything I've worked on just because the silly program has a bug.
I was able to print the layout out before quitting so I just waited to
add the title and journaling. It just seemed easier at the time.

Sooo, here's my confession...
I feel like I am cheating on LOAD when I mess around with the computer
to make a page. I don't have to rummage through piles and stacks of stuff
to make a gorgeous page. I don't even have to design it. I just have to
figure out how to the get the photos into the little spaces, get the titles
and journaling onto the page (in an acceptable way) and save it to my
desktop to be uploaded to Flickr, printed out and uploaded to my blog.

It just seems like I'm taking too much of a short cut! All my stash is
giving me the evil eye and I know if I don't spend more time at least
pushing some paper and embellishments around in my studio
something untoward is going to happen... I can already hear the
cracks of a looming paper avalanche! (Hopefully that is all in my
imagination!)

Granted, I am learning a new skill but I think I really enjoy
playing with paper and glue the best. We will see. I also really
love the way my first couple of digiscrapped layouts have
looked.

Well, keep tuned in for tomorrow's post - I haven't decided
whether to scrap paper or digi.
'Til then - Enjoy!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 11 - Tae Kwon Do (or don't)...

Well, here is my 11th LOAD page...

Buddy modeling his favorite 'uniform' in 2006. He hated TKD
but loved the outfit. This is part of a ScrapJammies.com kit
that has been in my stash for several years. I'm not sure I like
the journal page - I think I would prefer it typed out in a smaller
format so the entire story can be included. Also I fought with a
white pen and lost -as is evidenced in the title. I will be printing
out a strip of paper and gluing it on top of the icky white ink.
Tomorrow. LOL!

See you on Day 12!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 10 - I DID IT! I DID IT!

I made a completely digital page! It is only using a Quick Page,
which means all the decorations are on the page and I just had
to add the picture and the text but I'm taking baby steps here.

Check it out...
Yep, that is the Punkin & the Buddy at 1.5 months old in the same
bouncy seat having a bottle on Daddy's midnight feeding shift... in 2000.
So hard to believe they just turned 9 two weeks ago!

The layout is by Donna Rafferty and is called Pretty Pink. I got it as a
freebie from her blog. Click here to go there. (Scroll down to the
September 18th post.) I found the poem 'Two'
on a copyright/free page on baby poems, here.

It makes me happy to have actually completed adding a photo
to a digital layout. I knew it wasn't all that complicated but for
some reason I was all thumbs. Now that I have done it I am sure
I will be making digi-scrapped layouts more often (most
especially on trips and times when I am away from my studio.)

I'm going to add the date of the photo and a bit of Motherly
journaling to this page and add it to my albums. (Yep, I
printed this bad boy out on real paper!)

Well, it's been a long day of building Raingutter Regatta
boats for a Cub Scout event tomorrow, sewing patches on
uniform shirts (for the same event due to out growing the
first shirt IN 2 MONTHS! Because it fit perfectly in August!),
visiting Rockport SeaFaire, and we just got home from a
friend's family-style Baby Shower (Super Fun!). So, we're
all exhausted and heading to bed.

See you tomorrow! I'll have pictures of the completed
boats to share!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 8 & Day 9 - Why should the kids get all the

Dress-Up Fun? I love to dress up for Halloween. Nothing creepy, you
understand, but fun stuff. I have made several costumes over the years
and always dressed up when I was teaching. It's just plain fun.

Here is my Day 8 LOAD layout...
I cut around the bird at the bottom and along some of the glitter borders
to slide things in behind them. Then I just got carried away layering tags
and tickets in the space between the photos and the huge bingo card.

This was one of my favorite costumes. I even wore the wire and tinsel
crown from my first grade ballet costume! It worked perfectly!


This is today's (Day 9) layout ...
and it showcases just a couple more costumes. I thought of a 5th
costume that I need to track photos down of - I was Delenn of Babylon 5
in 1996. It was an awesome costume and I definitely will need to add it
to this page somehow. I love the way the Hambly Silver Web transparency
looks on top of the Making Memories glitter paper and the huge MM
Velvet spider makes the whole layout look even more creepy! I wish there
were more than just the one velvet spider in the package. I guess I just
need to buy another set...

There you have it! Two more days uploaded and completed on the
right days -just posted to the 'ol blog on the same day.

See you tomorrow!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 7 -Done & Re-done!

Well, I finished my layout for Wednesday October 7th and
uploaded it to the LOAD gallery and then decided I really
didn't like the letter stickers I used to spell out the title.

Here is what I uploaded...Can you see the messed up lettering? I can. It is supposed to be a bit
more sophisticated than it turned out. I mean, I spent the better part
of 2 hours coloring the Prima Paintable background with watercolors
and then using my water brush pen to 'blend' the colors. I don't think
a bad lettering choice should ruin it forever.
So...
Here is what I will be adding to my Inspired 2009 Album...

I added larger (glittery) letters that are easier to read and a trio of
photo corners to ground the pictures and draw the eye across and
the green tapestry brad in the journal box. I really like this much
better than the original but I got my layout posted on time and that
is good enough for now.

Enjoy & See you tomorrow (or later today!LOL!)
xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 6 - Eat my Wake!

I used photos from Labor Day 2009 when Daddy, Grandpa & the Twins
went water skiing and knee-boarding on the Aransas River. I used an old
ScrapJammies kit called "Eat My Wake" for them and they all fit perfectly.
Love it when that happens.

In other news -we got "Boo'ed" tonight. I had a class tonight on Landscaping
(it's a long story for another time) and when I got home at 9pm there were
tiny ghosts on sticks in the front yard! The elementary school PTO is using
this as a fundraiser. I can't wait for the kids to get up and see them in the
morning! I know what tomorrow's LOAD will be about! LOL!

See you tomorrow!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Would LOVE to win this...

from Here. And Here. Samsung and TwitterMoms
are giving away this refrigerator to someone and
it would be really nice if it was to us! They want to know our
top 3 tips for getting dinner ready in a flash and so here goes...

1) Plan menus ahead of time. I usually spend a little time on
Sunday afternoons with my calendar for the next week and my
pantry/freezer/refrigerator lists. I can usually come up with
an easy to follow menu plan and have some easily made (or
pre-made) meals for each night. Plus, I know what I need
to pick up during my next trip to the grocery store.

2) When I make meals (like Chicken Curry or Pasta) I always
make more than we need for one meal. Then, before serving
it I put away half for the next time we need it. If I don't do that
then, there won't be any extra left...at least not in this house.
Leftovers are not a usual occurance here. I refrigerate or
freeze the extra depending on when we will be eating it again.

3) The easiest thing I do to make dinner in a flash? Fill the
Crock Pot just before I go to bed. Refrigerate the crock and then
put it in the heating element when I get up in the morning (right
after I make coffee.) so it cooks all day. Then dinner is just a tossed
salad and french bread loaf away.

I have lots of other ideas for making dinner in a flash but I'll stick
with the top 3 for now...

Besides, it's kind of difficult to type with your fingers crossed.
Thanks Samsung & TwitterMoms, for the opportunity!!

xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 5 -proof I am so lame!

For my layout today I used a digital template from
Denise Tilley (DigiDesigns by Denise Tilley) but I
could not figure out how to 'drop' the photo into the
mat in the center. I tried lots of different things all
to no avail.

Finally, in a frustrated move, I printed the whole
page out onto a 13inch by 19inch piece of photo
mat paper that I bought when I got my HP large
scale printer (years ago!) I still have the first package
of the paper and I think this is only the 4th piece I
have used out of it. Like I said, lame.

Okay, the page printed out pretty nicely, the mat
in the center was measured with a ruler and then
I resized and printed out the photo from this weekend
that I wanted to use in the center.

While that was printing I fussy cut the center mat
out with an xacto knife (carefully, because we all know
what a klutz I am too.) and then trimmed the extra
paper from the edges of the page. I cut the extra
photo paper off of the picture, ran a tape runner
around the back of the mat and then arranged the
whole page over the photo and stuck it down.
Viola! A completed 'digi-look' page made with
paper, scissors and glue!

What should have taken just a few minutes
wound up taking the better part of an hour and
a half! Lame. I know. That's exactly what I've
been telling you!

Ah well, all's well that ends well, I guess.
Enjoy & see you tomorrow!
xoxox
-Csmoferret

I'm LOADin' again!!

Yep, this month is the latest in the LOAD challenge and I have been
creating and uploading my layouts on time every day. I did have a
rough start on the first day because of a hic-up between Flickr and
Google but once that was straightened out everything posted as it should
and has gone smoothly ever since.

Here are the layouts I have done since October 1st...

Day 1:
this was a pre-created single page layout that was printed by the
Epson Rep at the 2007 Creative Escape and given to all of the
attendees. The photo was taken of everyone as they signed in and
headed into the make & take section. The line through the m&t
section was several hours long and the photo was another item
given to the attendees (to add to the layout). I found the layout
in a box of other stuff and the photo was with it still in the blue
envelope the Epson Rep had handed it to me in. So glad to
get something from that trip scrapped!


Day 2:
is half of a Scrap Jammies page kit that I had planned to give
away or sell. Just as I was heading to the 'away box' with it
I saw these two photos sitting next to my computer. They
had fallen out of some of the twins last year school work
and I had just stacked them next to the keyboard. Well,
they worked on this layout. I am going to hunt down the
rest of the pictures and finish the other side of the layout
so that there are 2 pages for this.

Day 3:
this is a photo of a Japanese Maple tree on the street where
we lived in North Carolina when I was very young. Back in
2008, Mom and I had a chance to visit the area/ street
where we had lived before we attended the first Inspired
Event. This tree was so striking in it's Spring colors that I
had to stop and take the photo. I think Mom got a bunch
of pictures of it too. We did a lot of that. I tried to keep
everything around the photo pretty muted but not too bland
so that tree would pop.

Day 4:
this is a photo Mom took (my picture was too blurry to use)
of a poor robin that we saw hopping and walking through
all of the landscaping as we walked around in Charlotte
taking flower pictures. He finally stopped long enough for
us both to try to take his picture. He sure didn't look happy
though. In fact, we called him Mad Robin (after the Mad
Blue Jay photo) because he didn't act like he could fly and
he was angry about having to walk everywhere. It was funny
at the time but now? The explanation seems kind of
silly. Still, he was pretty neat to watch.

Well, there you have it, so far. I used up all the photos
from my 'Fall Inspiration' stand (I've had the last two
huge photos hanging from my antique chip hanger/stand
for quite a few weeks and now they are on layouts.) so
I guess I will have to search for some replacements. Now
that the craft show I was prepping for is over that
shouldn't be a problem!

See you tomorrow!
xoxox
Csmoferret