Growing Pains

There have been some big changes around here the last year or so . . . and some bigger changes still to come. The biggest, most immediate change is that we will be buying and moving into my Mother-in-law's house. There was some debate about this being the right move for us - lots of pros and lots of cons - but in the end, the list of pros was much longer. For me, the biggest con was my emotional attachment to our current house but I've worked through it and am now very excited about the upcoming change.

We have lots to do at the new house before we move in. It was a bit of a 'project house' when my Mother-in-law purchased it and, in the end, she just wasn't happy enough with the location to put the needed TLC into it. She thought she wanted to move closer to her siblings and to her youngest son (my husband) but, once she got here, she realized that she had built her life in another town and that is where she really needed to be. So . . . it is becoming our project house!

Don't get me wrong . . . in this case, a project house is perfect. I would much rather have a house that needs a bit of cosmetic work than a house that is perfectly and tastefully done . . . in someone else's taste! I think it is awesome that there is damage to some of the walls . . . because those walls have a really ugly 'slap brush' texture. If those ugly textured walls were in perfect condition, I really couldn't justify the work it is going to take to change them. So, damaged walls are GOOD news! LOL

Anyway . . . you can expect many blog posts in the coming months to concern our renovations and our move. I can't wait to share!

Guess Where I Went for Christmas?

Do You Ever Lose Your Way?

Wander without purpose? Know that there is something you SHOULD do, but can't figure out quite what that something is?

That is where I've been.

Without going into all the ugly details about why I've been drifting for two-plus years, now is the time to grab the reigns and start living with a bit more purpose. And where that concerns this blog, today seems to be the day!

Really, it is going to be like starting from scratch here, but that is okay. My plan is to simply go with it and post regularly.

BLOG CARNIVAL - My Digital Studio

Welcome to the Stampin' Addicts Blog Carnival! We are going to keep this party going all month so you don't need to worry if you can see everything today! If you bookmark my blog, it will be easy to find me again . . . just a suggestion! LOL

I just LOVE Stampin' Up!'s new softward, My Digital Studio! There is SO much you can do with it! One of my favorite discoveries so far is how easy it is to use MDS to create and store sketches! I have been collecting sketches from scrapbook magazines and books for years and I am so excited to find that I can save each sketch as a template in My Digital Studio and use it over and over again! Want to see an example?


For the purposes of this post, I created my own sketch from a scapbook page I saw on page 78 of Stampin' Up!'s current Idea Book and Catalog. I could have also used someone else's sketch to recreate in MDS, but wanted to make sure I didn't violate any copyright laws! Here is a page created with my template:




Cool, huh? Want to see another?



It was SO EASY to create these pages once I had the template created and saved!

So are you convinced that you need your own copy of MDS? LOL If not (or even if you are) you need to check out the following links to see the wonderful creations my fellow blog carnival participants came up with!

DMDezign
Yapha
Willysgirl
Hollylogic
Lyssa
Lilysinkpad
StampinShell
JulieA
lovetostampandscrap
Melina Stamps!
BroncoMom
Britney
S1itcher46
Kelli
Scrapbookmamma



Thanks for stopping by and please visit again!

Starting at noon EST on Saturday, October 3, Stampin' Addicts will be hosting a Blog Party that will be done carnival style (this is new for us!).

The links will be posted here in this post instead of linking in a circle and each blog will have a sidebar button that will link back here to the master list of blogs. Each “Party Blog” will showcase different ideas on how to use MDS. You’ll see how to use MDS to plan traditional stamping projects, how to create hybrid projects (that use both traditional and digital features) and how to create completely digital projects. We have all had such a blast getting ready for this and we can’t wait to show you how incredible My Digital Studio is!

The party starts this weekend and keeps going until November 1st so you can come back as many times as you want during October. Be sure to join us as we celebrate the launch of Stampin’ Up!’s My Digital Studio

Big Event

Well . . . my only kid is a married man. Man? Oh my goodness . . . how did that happen? LOL

A Finished Album!

And not just finished, but converted to video format for the web!

My Digital Studio from Stampin' Up! ROCKS!!!