Well, I guess the way to put yourself into labor is to create a scrapbook page about how much you are ready to have that baby! The day after I created my Ready & Waiting page, our new little one arrived.

Meet ...

Josephine Grace Peterman



She was born January 22, 2008 at 8:45 pm.
She weighed 6 lb. 5 oz. and was 19 inches long.
We are so very much in love!!!

Amy

of Winter that is. Yeah, I know. It's only January and living in northern Indiana means we have a few more months of this but I'm tired of it! It's been just down right frigid out there lately. So much so that walking to the mailbox takes my breath away. Which also means that the kids don't get out much either resulting in a little cabin fever for them and a little insanity for me. <sigh> So we spend our days indoors. Trying to entertain ourselves without watching too much tv and without getting on each other's nerves too much.

Ashlyn does a lot of playing in her room getting every imaginable toy and doll out. Her newest entertainment is to set up her dolls and then have me come take pictures. Gotta love their imagination, huh? So here is one from the other day.

I should learn to be so imaginative! But in the mean time, I'm still hoping for warmer days very, very soon!!

Greta

I'm at that point in my pregnancy where I am just ready to be done with it. I'm in the really uncomfortable stage where I'm not sleeping very well at night (rolling over is a major ordeal) and by lunch time I'm ready for a nap. I'm also very moody and emotional right now. Ugh! Hormones! So, I'm ready to be done. Ready to meet this little one inside of me.

Today, I decided to take some photos of my pregnant self and document how am feeling. I created the layout below. I'm glad I did this because I barely have any photos of myself from this pregnancy and creating this page was a good way to deal with my feelings today. I love how therapeutic scrapbooking is!

So, here I am in all my pregnant glory!


products used:
Adhesive (Beacon, Duck) • Buttons, patterned paper: Autumn Leaves • Paint (Making Memories) • Rub-ons (Three Bugs in a Rug) • Pen (American Crafts) • Stickers (7Gypsies, Cloud 9, EK Success, Melissa Frances, Sandylion) • Tags (Martha Stewart) • Trim (Karen Foster Design) • Misc.: Wite-Out tape, vintage trim

Amy

I just saw the Feb issue in Borders today - this magazine seems to be going from strength to strength. The articles were fantastic and I especially loved the Everyday Moments bit by Nic - she is soooo inspiring. Anyway to go along with the theme of the mag and just appreciating who you are in your own space and all that,  I have this layout....

Using mainly Scenic Route pp, with some AC thickers and hand stitiching. People have asked me how I do my stitching...there is no trick...just poke holes with a paper piercer and then go backwards and forwards with thread on a fairly small needle. Usually I go back over the pattern so that the design becomes more "filled in", but if you use more strands or thicker thread then that may not be needed.

Cheers,

Amelia

Is anyone else out there doing this?  I saw this on a blog (or two) and decided to give it a shot.  It's been fun.  There have been days that I just haven't felt like doing it but I've made myself and in doing that, I ended up documenting something I would have missed otherwise.  Besides actually taking a photo a day... the next daunting thing is what to do with all of those photos.  Many of them I will turn into full blown scrapbook pages... but some just don't warrant a whole page and then there's the problem of getting around to doing the pages.  So, I found these cool digital templates designed especially for this project.  It allows me to get the details down and record those pics that might get lost otherwise. 

Here's my page for last week....

This album will probably end up being just a 6x6 (although I'm doing the pages as 12x12 at the moment)... but what a cool thing... to have a day by day record of our year.  I had to keep myself in check with the descriptions... I had to remind myself that this page is just for the highlights.  Details can come on separate, more elaborate pages.

Supplies:
Photoshop CS3
Photo-a-day by Two Sisters Designs and Once Upon a Storyboard
Font - Arial

If you're doing the photo-a-day thing... I would love to see your photos and hear what you're doing with them!

Tracie

Headed to Auburn University with some friends in my photog group to photograph the campus grounds.  If you are interested in photography, I highly suggest joining or starting a photography group in your area!  It has been so very rewarding to meetup with other enthusiasts!  I for one never feel comfortable venturing off by myself to photograph areas early on a weekend morn' when nobody is around.  It feels much safer going as a group!  Here are a few from that outing that I printed in the darkroom last night:

 

Okay...the first one I printed dark with the highest contrast filter.  The sky that day was a deep dark beautiful blue.  Through the lens it had a creepy feel...so I accentuated it.  Looks like a horror flick setting;)  It was about 9 in the morning here;)

 

 

 

Thanks for looking.  Have a great day.

Love, Tracy Austin

I absolutely love glitter but I hate it when it gets loose just when I have placed the layout inside my album and the glitter gets all over the plastic page protectors. I just thought of sharing with you four ways which in my experience really keeps the glitter from falling off.

1. Spray adhesive

I first inked the chipboard with a bright yellow ink and let it dry. Then I sprayed the chipboard with spray adhesive. This is very tacky but smelly too After that I just sprinkled the glitter and I laid a white paper over the chipboard and pressed it with my fingers.


 
2. Modge Podge

Next I tried adhering glass glitter with liquid glue but it ended up chunky in some parts. I tried modge podge and it worked nicely. It also worked well with spray adhesive. I just brushed two even coats of modge podge on the places where I wanted glass glitter.

 

3. 3D Dimensional Glue

I love this one. I would again ink a chipboard with the same color of the glitter, while wet pour on the glitter, shake off excess, and then I'll top off the chipboard with dimensional glue. I end up with an enamel look.

 

4. Glitter Glue and Glitter
For a thicker look, I would outline a shape or draw a shape with glitter glue (I like stickles by Ranger best), and then pour glitter on top of it and let it dry. I get a glittered outline that really pops off the page.

Hope this helps.

Iris

today is the second monday in january, which means it's national clean off your desk day! if you're like me, you have tons of papers and embellishments scattered around your desk because you're too lazy to put everything away after each layout. this week's how much is too much challenge challenges you to use at least 14 items om your desk - a perfect challenge for someone like me!

now i should go off and clean up the rest of my desk!

--caroline

Every time the New Year rolls around I find myself planning things and generally there are two types of plans - those that involve cleaning up clutter and those that involve preparing for things coming up during the year. So, during my latest planning phase I have combined the two...

I made this journal using lots of scraps from last year's projects and plan to use it for our next trip OS (the seeds of which we planted today - Cuba & Central America or Sri Lanka & the Maldives...Hmmm...) But back on topic... Using up ribbon and paper scraps I decorated this adaptable journal by "My Book" and now I have a journal that is ready to "GO". I plan to fill each small section under the ribbon with inspirational quotes about travel....my first will be "The compulsive need to travel is a recognised physical condition." (Michael Palin)....and let me just say that there appears to be no cure for it!!

Cheers,

Amelia

 

I went to the doctor's today and filled out the form indicating my age as 33.  Of course, I also had to fill in my birthdate.  So in the course of the exam the doctor marvels, in a non-impressive way, "Wow, 34 years old with over 18 cases of BCC."  He said more after that...but I stuck on the 34 comment.  He was looking at the chart and said 34 although I had clearly wrote 33.  Then, I started to do the calculation...born in 1973...2003 I was 30...2004 (mental finger counted, 31) 2005 (2 mental fingers counted, 32)...2008 ... OMG!  How in the world did I make a mistake on my age??  How utterly embarrassing.  I have even taken to calling my girls by the wrong names lately!  My Hippocampus is obviosly shrinking...lovely;)

No worries about losing half the monologue from the doctor... all too familiar with all he had to say anyway.  BCC is a form of skin cancer that eats away at the skin and if treated...won't kill ya:)  The cause?  Cummulative hours of sun exposure and severe sunburns in childhood.  I, a full Scot, grew up in Southern California with an olive skinned family.  We lived in the sun. I was never meant to be golden...but I fought that fact. 

Anywho...my point:  If you have kiddos...lather them in sunblock.  Their chances for developing skin cancer doubles from a single burn that produces blisters and peels.  And, well...my other point.  I start treatment tomorrow and lasts for about 6 weeks.  The treatment is chemical burns that produces rather large and angry lesions on the face.  Lovely.  No longer are they willing to do surgeries on me...I have had too many.  So...if I see you at CHA...or you attend the Alabama Scrapfest...know that the scabs on my face and neck are not from an infectious disease:S  Oh how I loathe traveling during treatments:S  The good news in all this is that the scarring from this procedure is minimal:) 

Trust me on the sunblock;)

Off to watch a foreign film with the husband:)

Love, Tracy Austin