A Little Lift

I ran across an adorable layout on Two Peas, and I knew it would be perfect for a rare photo of my friend Sandy and me. (Both of us would much rather be behind the camera than in front of it.) Lifting this layout would also allow me to play with the Maya Road mini banners that are my single favorite thing out of all the winter CHA releases.



Now I'm off to run some errands with my girl. We have shoes to return and fabric to buy and perhaps coffee to sip.

I have really been on a Glimmer Mist binge recently, and I received some extra inspiration to play with it when the Scrapdoodles design team got to try out some new templates from The Crafter's Workshop. I had heard people raving about the Marshmallow Limited Edition Glimmer Mist, so of course I had to get my hands on some. It adds a beautiful sparkle and shine to white cardstock, but it really wowed me when I used it on black.



I took this detail photo to try and show how sparkly it makes the page...perfect for the photos of this romantic proposal while ice skating after dark in the snow!



I don't actually know the couple, but Ron and I were watching the kids skate at National Harbor the day of the huge December blizzard (don't know why I never blogged about our being snowbound in Maryland for three days). All of a sudden this guy knelt down in front of his girlfriend and I started squealing to Ron, "He's going to propose!" Naturally I had been snapping photos of Thomas and Annamarie, so I kept shooting. Because of the snow and extremely low light, the picture quality is pretty bad, but I love the dreamy silhouette look. We congratulated them and got their email address, and they were planning to use the photos on their save-the-date cards. What does it say about me that I scrapped photos of strangers before the ones of my own children skating?

Attacking the stash

After hearing many rave reviews, I finally signed up for one of Shimelle Laine's online classes. Let's just say the topic spoke to me. I am HIGHLY qualified for this particular class, whose goal is to get us to actually use the stash of supplies we've been hoarding. The first "assignment" was to think and journal about why we purchased those supplies and why we haven't used them yet. The simple answer, for me, is that it's often much easier to find inspiration to shop than to sit down and create. I have been realizing lately that the actual scrapping part was simpler in the days when all of my supplies fit neatly into my Crop-In-Style XXL bag. Don't get me wrong, though--I love my stuff.

In the past couple of years I have become better about not buying every embellishment in a line, so the bulk of my embellishment stash is several years old. Compared to paper and cardstock, these little items don't take up a huge amount of space, so I am less ruthless about purging them. There are an awful lot of them, though... this drawer alone contains three layers of these storage boxes.



And then there are a few jars.



And a couple of Clip-It-Ups. And if I must be perfectly honest, that chest over there on the left is full too.



I can't wait to get started!

Most days I consider it a major accomplishment when I get myself showered, dressed, and fed all in the same 24 hour period, and then there are days like today. Annamarie and I went to breakfast with a friend, and then to the supermarket, where we proceeded to spend the equivalent of Haiti's gross national product. Not only had the cupboard been bare for quite a few days, Ron and I are responsible for feeding dinner to our church's youth group tomorrow night. Almost exactly a year ago we invited some friends over for dinner, and the day before they were to arrive I realized that I did not own enough glasses or silverware to serve everyone. At 14 people, that was the largest group I had ever cooked for. I don't know what possessed me to agree to cook dinner for 50 ravenous teenagers, but back in September when I signed up, March 7 seemed awfully far in the future. We lucked out though because the high school youth are on a retreat this weekend and we only have to feed about 20 middle schoolers.

Anyway, I have prepared an unimaginable quantity of salad which, if my own children are any indication, none of them will touch. I made Pioneer Woman's Best Chocolate Sheet Cake Ever, and only had to start over once when I didn't follow directions. I won't detail all of the preparations, but I have to say this non-cook is very proud to be almost ready to serve spaghetti (with meat and vegetarian sauces), garlic bread, salad and chocolate cake to a horde of young people who would probably have preferred Domino's pizza.

Much more within my comfort zone, I also whipped up this card to go with a gift for a new baby who is soon to join our family (extended family --- my brother's stepson's girlfriend, seriously). I've only had the wrapped gift sitting on my desk for about two months. I really really hate going to the post office, but the baby isn't due for another couple of weeks. Nothing like waiting until the last minute.

I wanted to share a couple of layouts that I did this week for Scrapdoodles, where I have the honor of being the coordinator for the store's very talented design team. If you are within driving distance of Fredericksburg VA, do not miss Scrapdoodles. In a world where we are losing so many of our precious scrapbook stores to the sagging economy, Scrapdoodles survives and thrives because of its sheer awesomeness. It is packed to the rafters with amazing product, and the staff there is knowledgeable and always helpful.