My first ever FREEBIE!

Okay...got a freebie for ya! Here is Grape Martini!



Element Pack
Paper Pack 1
Paper Pack 2
Paper Pack 3

Just something I made while playing around...figured I'd share! Oh, and the password for the 4shared files is "cloudnine". If you'd be so kind as to either leave me a comment when you download,or a link to any LOs you make using it, here on my blog, I'd be MORE than thrilled! Really, it'd probably make my year to just see a few LOs made with my kit! So thank you so much, in advance, to all who are kind and thoughtful enough to comment!

Am I Snow White?

Maybe you're thinking "why does she think she's a princess?". Well, It's not that I think that I'm a princess, it's that my husband seems to think he is Grumpy, the dwarf from Snow White. He wakes up in a horrible, seething, grumpy mood almost everyday. Grumbling under his breath, stomping, slamming doors. I know he detests his job, but what he doesn't realize is he sets the tone for everyone elses day too. I wish he could figure out a way to find atleast one good thing to think about each morning, to atleast get him out the door without leaving a trail of grey clouds behind him. So now I am starting this cold, snowy, miserable Monday off in a bad mood. Argh!

Oh, on a happier, less grumpy note, I started a small kit this weekend. By small I mean big. I'm hoping to give it away as a freebie later this week! I'm just horribly slow at getting my files all saved and organized and zipped and uploading things to a sharing site. :) But be on the look out...and here is a little sneak peek:

Don't leave me, the sloths and pantry climbers are invading!

I think my kids wake up and secretly synchronize their watches! They all seem to have those "off" days all on the SAME day. My oldest was moving at a sloth's pace this morning, being rude to his sister and his cousin, being disrespectful in both tone and manner to me, standing in the bathroom with the water running and the door closed with a dry toothbrush in hand, telling me he'd brushed his teeth, and attempting to put his clothes on OVER his pajamas. My youngest son is almost 3 and VERY independant and EVERY other word is "NO!" or "I don't like it!". When not being disagreeable, he can usually be found jumping onto or off of the couch, climbing the pantry shelves, or haphazardly throwing all of the tools from his Elmo Workbench. It drives me batty. My youngest daughter, almost 10 months, is teething AND going through a phase of seperation anxiety, which when translated to a home where I am here every second, means she NEVER wants to leave my arms. I spend half of my day just sitting here playing, rocking, and nursing her in front of my computer. The only child acting half way calm and normal, is my oldest daughter. She has pleasantly surprised me today, and has been being so helpful. Bringing the baby toys, playing with her brother and the daycare kids, and playing quietly by herself. She also helped me choose lunch and helped me set and clear the lunch table! I'm hoping to make it to the end of the day, but having a DH who works outside all day, usually means he is drained of all energy and patience by the time he walks into the door. So I'm probably on my own. If you see a blog from me here tomorrow, you'll know I survived it all. If not, send reinforcements and it wouldn't hurt if one of them was stocked with a nice bottle of wine, a heating pad, and some cucumbers for my eyes! I'll need them all! ;)

All about me...in one word...

Got this from the blog prompt board over at DSP!

This Moment: anxious
Your Shoes: slippers
Craving: pancakes
The State of Your Home: chaotic
Annoyed By: screaming
Noise In the Background: screaming ;)
Really Want To: scrap
Thinking about: money
Smelling: coffee
Favorite Product In Office Supply Aisle: bic
Don't Ever Want To: wreck
Your Eye Color: brown
The Weather: COLD
Have Never Tried: sardines
Think Everyone Should Try: PB&Bacon
Last Vacation Destination: Gatlinburg
The Last Thing You Had to Drink: coffee
Your Bad Habit: coffee
What You're Going To Do Now: scrap


Other great news!!! Faith True just put her new boy collection up at OAKS and DSD! I'm so excited. I saw previews over the weekend, and it looks GREAT! I know there always seems to be a shortage in fun, funky, and fabulous boy kits. So I think you should definitely check it out!

New tooth. New toot.

After 3 agonizing days, and a little less sleep for both me and her, Ruby's fourth tooth is officially through! Thank goodness! The bad news is, I think I see tooth number five showing beneath her gum line. Well, now back to your regularly scheduled programming...

I'm so excited this morning! Elemental Scraps new site went live! If you have not checked it out yet, I highly recommend it. It's beautiful! I'm sure if you do not have a digi-forum home, you may have now if you visit ES! The color scheme is sophisticated and chic. The forums have lots of great women, scrappers, and friends roaming around. Adding icing to the proverbial cake...there are new designers too! So please check it out!

Dancing on the ceiling...

Well, not exactly the ceiling, but I did go out with hubby and friends last night. It felt great. I've been feeling like a mommy zombie lately. Like my only purpose in life is to wipe snotty noses, clean up toys, and fix snacks. I'm sure a lot of moms can relate. We sometimes lose our identities as women. Add in the fact that I run a small daycare in my home, and have 4 kids, and rarely leave my house, and you'll understand the zombie reference!

I love dancing, just good old fashioned booty shaking. It always renews my spirits, and it doesn't hurt that I got to actually get dressed up in my new velvet jacket and suede knee high boots that I got for Christmas...and...oh you will not believe it...I actually got to do my hair and wear makeup! Really. No joke. It felt great to feel like a woman, and mot just a mom and wife. And, personally, for me, there is no mood that can't be brightened by some booty shaking. Add in a few beers, some great friends, and a good beat, and you have yourself an evening!

Now that spirit feels renewed. I'll share a layout I made yesterday, BEFORE I was renewed...I was feeling very low and sad./ It was done as a scraplift challenge from Lifts With a Twist and was a scraplift of a LO done by the extremely talented, Anna, at DST. so here it is:

Behind These Eyes...

Credits:
BG paper is by Mary Ann Buchanan(Maybeyousee), from a paper pack called Skater Grunge.
Red felt heart, red velveteen trim, and red heart bead is from All You Need is Love by Michelle Coleman.
Red pinned ribbon is by Natalie Braxton.
Red glitter heart and wings(both recolored) are by the fantabulous Amanda Roberts, a blog freebie called Crushin'!
Glitter heart, newspaper heart trim, newspaper alpha, brown string, and staples are all by Faith True, from Valentines Odds and Ends, and Hot Cocoa.
Lace overlay on the photo is from a brush by FallN at devianart.
Paint strokes by Nancie Janitz Rowe.
Fonts are wooden nickel, vadim's handwriting, and turbo ripped.

Do you know where your soap has been?

The first job I ever had, at age 16, was for a small "factory". It was a sub-contractor for Bath and Body Works. The warehouse was set up into several different stations, and basically we put all of B & B's gift baskets together.

One station was to stuff the baskets with the filler, usually consisting of a base layer of crumpled paper, followed by paper grass or straw, in various colors. Station two was where the bottles of product were hot-glued together into little rows ranging between 3-5 small bottles of lotion, shampoo, bodywash, body spray, or oil. Station three was where the basket was packed with the goodies, the little glued bottles of product, usually a cellophane wrapped soap or two, and maybe a little gift item like a loofah sponge, hair brush, or votive candle, among other things. Station four was the shrink warap station, you artistically covered the basket with the shrink wrap then used a small hair dryer to heat the plastic so it would shrink around the basket set. Sation 5 was the finishing station, A sticker or tag with a basket content descritpion, price tag, and finishing embellishment (bow, twine, ornament, etc) was added. Fun times. It was almost all women or girls most either 16 and it being their first job, or retired grandmothers, just wanting to get out and do something while earning a few extra bucks. For all of these wonderful duties, I made a whopping $5 an hour. Those were the days, I tell ya. Those. Were. The. Days.