If you’ve visited this blog recently, you know that I’m a digi-scrappin fool these days.  I’ve done almost 100 layouts since December 4, 2005 – and I’m having a BLAST, and learning and getting better all the time (if I do say so myself).

Of course a good majority of my layouts are of my boys, and while I love doing them, I often get “brain-freeze” or blocked trying to do another layout with boy colors, boy themes, etc.  So, my friend Amy (a designer selling her kits at scrapmommies.com) sent me photos of her adorable daughter Zoey.  I did one layout, and had so much FUN doing a “girly” page!  I begged for more photos, and she sweetly sent me more.  Now, look at the pages below and tell me… don’t I need a daughter already?  I already own WAY too many “girly” kits, because I can’t help buying the super, duper cute ones!  Imagine how bad it would be if I actually had girl pics to scrap all the time?

Credits: Alpha from “Weekender” Kit by Jan Crowley (I re-colored to match); Flower stitching by Gina Miller; Green Ribbon from “Kind of Sentimental” by Gina Miller; Rose Ribbon from “Delicate Florals” by Gina Miller; Green Bow from “Zoey” kit by Clara Wallace (I re-colored to match); Swirl Paper by Jess Bolton   

Credits: Paper, ribbon, little bug stamps from “Girly Girl” by Taran Conyers; Green/Yellow Flowers from “Reborn” by Trish Jones; Stitching (recolored) from “What’s Cooking” by Amy Bleser

I’ve done a few of my niece too… I’ll showcase those next time.

 

Woohoo.. the upgrade was not as painful one would have thought!  I still have a little tweaking to do behind the scenes, but all in all…. great upgrade!

And in case you are wondering – yes, I have a new look too.  I needed a change, so decided to give all the personal sites a bit of an update.  (Still have one to go, but having issues with that one!)  The look for this blog is based on a 2 page layout I did today.  See the layouts below:

   

I’m not a big fan of any pictures that include me, but these are not so bad.  I am happy to have some good pictures of all of us together!

And I have a lot more to say, stuff to catch up on, but it’s late and my eyes are too tired to continue.  Till next time…

Edited to add:  It was LATE last night when I posted this, so forgot to give credit for the layouts.  Ribbons and flower from “Daisy Kind of Day” by Angi Jones found at scrapmommies.com

It’s time for a new look around here, but I’m having issues with my upgrades and updates. Bear with me folks, if you see craziness for a little while!

More soon…

I had to re-do the gallery one more time, because I was having major issues with uploading and saving. I don’t have time in my life for “major issues” with things of this nature, so I spent an hour to correct that, and installed a “real” gallery! So.. the NEW and improved gallery is HERE.

Thanks for looking!

I did a little tweaking to my gallery last night and this morning. It just wasn’t looking and working like I wanted it to. Lots better now! I’ll be changing it regularly, with “this week’s” layouts being updated as I put them together. Credit info for the layouts can be found when you click on the thumbnail and view the larger image.

In other news, the bridal show was definitely a success. I’ve received 3 calls, 2 official orders, and at least 3 other email requesting info or proofs. I was hoping for 10-12 orders in the next 6 months… I’m confident that it will happen now! That may seem like a modest hope, but not having ever done the show before, I didn’t want to hope too big. And 10-12 orders will more than pay for the cost of doing it. Actually, if the future orders are anything like the ones I have right now, I will only need 5-6 to pay for the show! And the best part of it, is that word of mouth is like fire with this business. If someone has 100 or 200 candy bars at a wedding, thats 100-200 people who see the product who might not otherwise have seen it. It’s really like a wildfire catching on – it happened in Nebraska, and I fully expect it to be the same here. So.. Bridal Show=awesome!

Updates on the kiddos – Baby Allan pulled himself up for the first time yesterday. It was SO much fun to watch him. He was so proud, and confident! Going to try and get pictures today if he does it again. And Samuel has been entertaining us with this imagination and “dialogueing”. He creates all kinds of little conversations with himself and someone else, even though they aren’t there at the time. He “talks” to my mom and dad, or Allan’s folks, or Allan while he’s at work. He works out in advance exactly how the conversation is going to happen, with “I’ll say…” and then “he’ll say”.. and “then we’ll both laugh…” and then “I’ll say”…. It’s about as cute as you can imagine! Definitely have a creative thinker on my hands!

Ok, off to get some work done while the baby sleeps…

Just a quick entry, because I keep forgetting to mention this…

I have uploaded most of my digital scrapbook layouts to a gallery page. You can see it here:
BellaJoy’s Gallery

More soon…

Woohoo, got tagged again.. This is a fun one!

What were you doing 10 years ago?
I was living in the bay area of California with my ex husband. We were struggling through anger issues (his), a miscarriage, and a lot of other garbage. I was working up my nerve to separate from him (the first time!), which I did at the end of 96.

What were you doing one year ago?
I was adjusting to life in Las Vegas, and trying to stay comfortable during a difficult pregnancy. I had pre-pre eclampsia/high blood pressure problems, and was pretty much on bedrest. That was SO much fun with a 3 year old – NOT!

5 Favorite Snacks: tortilla chips, peanuts, chocolate, diet coke (I know it’s a drink, but it’s my “comfort food”), and more chocolate!

5 Songs to which I know all the lyrics: Umm.. all I can think of are church songs, so Amazing Grace, Jesus Loves Me, How Great Thou Art, Our God is Alive, and Just As I Am.

5 Bad Habits:

Worrying too much
Biting my nails
Doing Laundry, but NOT putting the clothes away
Forgetting to plan dinner and calling hubby to see if he’ll bring home take-out
Letting email pile up for too long

5 Things You Like Doing.

Reading
Scrappin
Creating (any crafty thing!)
Having alone time with hubby
Writing (that novel will get finished SOMEDAY!)

5 Things You Would Never Wear, Get or Buy Again.

Ok, drawing a blank here. Thinking…thinking…
Oh – I won’t ever wear glasses again – gotta love contacts (or being blind is good too!)
And still drawing a blank…

5 Favorite Toys

My laptop
My PC
My Xerox Laser Printer
My camera
Um.. am I a geek??!!

The pictures didn’t turn out as well as I’d hoped, but here they are! I want to figure out how to add more depth and height next time, but it’s pretty hard to make small items look large and impressive. I just had to remember that I wasn’t in competition with anyone – and I just had to be the best ME I could be. It seemed to work just fine, and everyone loved the products. It was great to have so many options, because one person would LOVE, LOVE the tea, while the next LOVE, LOVED the Tic Tacs. It was the same with everything else. And they ALL loved getting free gum sticks! Definitely doing THAT again next time!