Whats New for 2007

I have been working on a few things for the New Year and here is what I have come up with so far!

First, I have three kits in the store at 3Scrapateers. The newest of which is "Grandma's Love" that I uploaded just the other day! You can purchase any of these kits at the 3S Mall here:

http://shop.3scrapateers.com/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=202&cat=%2ACarla+Ware

And here is the preview of the newest one:

I have also started a new CHALLENGE at 3S. I would like for everyone to come on over and join in... there is always something free for following the prompt and posting a layout! You can find the challenge here: http://www.3scrapateers.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=497 This Challenge runs every two weeks. It's the Odds and Ends Challenge with Carla!
So jump on the train and come along!

Happy New Year!

WOW! What a blast starting out the New Year! I still can't believe that it is already 2007! I hope all of you have had a safe and happy one so far and that it will continue to be that way through out all of 2007.

Hubby and I spent New Year aboard the Carnival Holiday and we had such a great time! This was the first time in 28 years that we have not been home with our family for the big event. It was completely different than any thing we have ever ventured to do! Needless to say, the ship had a BIG celebration on the main deck...free champaign (not the cheap stuff) and all of the food that you possibly imagine. There was a live band and they were just fantastic! We danced and laughed with new friends, shared stories of friends and family, sang and just had a blast! At midnight, the ships captain blasted the horn several times and everyone went CRAZY!! An experience that I shall NEVER forget!

Reflections..... Kent and I are so very fortunate to have the life that we do and I thank God everyday that I have been able to share my life with such a wonderful, warm and caring man.
We have been many places and have seen many things but we have always been fortunate in those travels to have found someone along the way to share a cup of coffee with and tell a story or two!

On our last cruise, we met B and W from Dallas. They sat at our table at dinner every night of the cruise and became such wonderful friends to us. We keep in touch through e-mail and are planning another cruise with them soon.

On this New Years cruise, we met some wonderful young folks from North Alabama celebrating life and frienship, as well as a birthday or two!!! One is an artist, Dan, celebrating his 24th birthday! He was kind enought to share some his GORGEOUS sketches with us! Great group of kids just having a wonderful time!

We also met another couple from Mobile celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary on New Years Day! They sat at our table at dinner every night of the cruise and we were once again blessed with a warm and wonderful friendship! We are planning a dinner or two with them in the near future(they live just 45 minutes away!).

Happy New Year Everyone and may YOUR CUP be filled with all of the wonderful things that life has to offer!

Odds and Ends Challenge with Carla

Here is my new Challenge that starts on January 2, 2007 at 3scapateers! A new challenge every 2 weeks (1st and 15th of the month) with a posting bonus for following the prompts!

This is the link to the forum thread: http://www.3scrapateers.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=497 and here is the link to my ALL NEW gallery: http://www.3scrapateers.com/gallerypp/showgallery.php/cat/1157



So... I would like to invite all of my friends to come over to www.3scrapateers.com and join in my challenge on January 2, 2007. Start the new year out right by starting a new challenge!





Speaking of starting the New Year out right....Kent and I are off on yet another journey to theWestern Carribbean! I am so excited! We will be on the ship for New Years Eve!

And while packing for the trip, Spider decided that he wanted to go too and here is what he did!!!!

What a crazy Cat! His note on the right reads, "Dear Mom, I am going with Dad, You stay here! Spider" Yea...just for that...he's not going!

Awh...I hate to leave him at home but he will be alright. My son will be here with him!


Happy New Year Everybody and Bon Voyage!

Who is the hardest person to buy for?

UGH..... This question only brings one person to mind! She is absolutely the HARDEST person on my Christmas list and I always tend to wait until the last minute to purchase her gift. Oh..I start looking three months in advance, I just wait until the last moment to purchase! MY MOTHER!!!! Why? We are totally opposite in EVERYTHING! Our taste is different, our style is different...totally opposite. She has everything! She sits at my kitchen bar drinking coffee looking through catalogs and tells me all of the things that she likes and then says "But what would I need with any of that? I don't ever go anywhere to wear it!" So, now the question is... do I buy it anyway and listen to her tell me I shouldn't have because she will never wear it; and she never does OR should I not get it and listen to her tell me a million times, "I showed you all kinds of things you could get me in that book!" (bang-head) What to do...what to do...

Yes...my Mother is the hardest on my list!!! In more ways than one! :)

Journaling

For the longest time, journaling on my scrapbook pages scared me to death! I knew all of the information...you know..the Who, What, When and Where and even the Why, but I was always at a loss for exactly how to say what I wanted to say! I am sure that everyone, who is not a journalist, that does any scrapbooking at all has had this problem. I haven't felt that way in a very long time thanks to a class that I took at DSP. Unfortunately, that class is no longer offered at DSP, but do NOT dispair! There is a place on the web that can help you open your mind and your pen to the joys of journaling. http://www.journalforyou.com/ This web site is full of
very helpful information about journaling how to's, whether you are journaling in a daily journal or on a scrapbook page or even in one of those Art Journals that are so popular right now.

So, I ask all of my BUDS that need a little journaling help or inspiration to hop on over to http://www.journalforyou.com/ and check out all of the goodies they have there. You might become inspired to do some journaling you never thought you could!

ATC Challenge at 3Scrapateers

Brenda, over at 3S has this realy fantastic Artistic Trading Card Challenge goin on through December of 2007! I would like to encourage all of my BUDS to come on over and check it
out! There is a small freebie with every challenge to help you make your card!

Here is the thread for all of the information and sign ups. Please sign up so that you will be put on the e-mail list to have all of the cards sent to you at the end of each challenge...

http://www.3scrapateers.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=418


If your not familiar with ATC's, here are some sites you may want to check out!

http://www.cedarseed.com/air/atc.html

http://www.outsidethemargins.com/atcs.html

http://www.ruthannzaroff.com/mirkwooddesigns/atc.htm

http://www.artist-trading-cards.ch/

And if you need some templates, you can find some here...
http://www.ruthannzaroff.com/mirkwooddesigns/atcenvelope.htm
http://www.ruthannzaroff.com/mirkwooddesigns/tcdiag.htm

I'll be looking for Your card at the swap!

Something new for the New Year

Wow!! December has turned out to be a wild and crazy month! I have been busy for the past few weeks trying to get my second (FUN) job up and running, Stacey resigned from DSP, Christmas is right around the corner and I am off on another cruise on the 28th!

Thank God for friends! Stacey, even though she has left the ranks of DSP, has been my teacher, friend and confidant for the past few weeks while I have been working on a few kits to submit with my application to 3Scrapateers. I just don't know what I would do without her! Well, I found out Thursday that I was accepted and I am now a new Exclusive Designer at 3Scrapateers! WHOOOO HOOOOO! Yea! I can scream! (happy dance going on here). Of course, Irene is at 3Scrapateers and it is going to be great working with her as a designer. So far I have only had the pleasure of working with her kits while on her design team.

Soo, I have two new kits going up in the store at 3S within the next week or so and I am working on another for after the first of January. Check it out!

This is Loves Letters and is one of the kits that will be in the store before the end of the Month. I am hoping sometime this next week before Christmas.

This one is Garden Rhapsody. The second one to go into the 3S store by Christmas! So come on over to www.3scrapateers.com and check out the store!

A curise for New Years! I was blasted away when my DH told me we were really going to go! I mean, my goodness, we just went on a 7 day cruise in May and now a 4 day cruise in December! I guess it's a little Christmas/New Years gift to ourselves! I am shaking at the thought of being on the ship New Years Eve! I just know we are going to have a blast!

Bon Voyage and see you all next year!

communicating with others

Blog prompt for the weekend at DSP. I am so much more myself when talking to my WEB friends! Most of the folks at DSP, I have known and loved for over a year now and they probobly know me better through my layouts and my journaling than my family sometimes does! Hey..well..they are my family! I have a few other scrapbook sites that I visit and I also have a few things that I have designed in the scrap shop at digiscrap central, but I am not as close to any of those folks like I am the folks at DSP. DSP is where I first got into digital and it will ALWAYS be my first choice for good chat, close friends, and family time on the web!

What a rotten weekend!

Well, everyone has them but you hope that you don't ever see one...a horrible weekend! My mom came over on Saturday morning as she usually does and boy did we get into an argument! Not anything that I want to spill over to a blog page but it really wasn't nice at all. When she left, it wasn't on a very good note and for the rest of the day I was feeling pretty rotten. I called her later in the evening and we talked for about an hour and everything is alright now(thank goodness) but the rotten feelings that I had most of the day carried on over into Sunday. They were much better after talking to mom but still there and tha other bad thing about that is that I had the Grandkids for the night. I am afraid I wasn't the most wonderful Grandmother!

On the up side of the past week, I finally decided to join the SNL team. I have been batting this around for several months and finally came to the decision that it would be a good thing for me. So far, I have contributed with an October kit and a November kit with an Add-on. Immediately after posting it to the galley, I received a pm from one of the DSP members telling how much she loved the kit! That really made my day and, of course, I gave it to her! I hope that she enjoys it as much as I enjoyed making it for the SNL team.

Designing, Creating and Learning!

While I was waiting for my Monthly Club Digital and my DSU information for October, I created a little Alpha to go along with my Flutterfly Page Kit. Learning how to make these little patches, I think, was a great venture. I am not sure when I will put them in the store, but I have them made! My first Alpha!

Whats happening!!!

Things are moving on! I caught up with Tracy Rivera this weekend over at DST and landed a position on her Creative Team. She is a fantastic designer over at Scrapbook-Bytes and I have been eyeing her kits for a long time. I have already posted two layouts for her and I can see that I am really going to enjoy being part of her team. She has 7 other AWESOME CT members. Here are the two that I did today using her "Justine" kit available in the store at Scrapbook-Bytes:

I will sleep good tonight because...

I KNOW I won't have to worry about my DH jumping on the bed with a machette! OH, Tink! That was a wonderful story!

Seriously, I'll sleep good tonight knowing that my Mom is finally seeing some happiness in her life. She moved out of the house she was living in with her "friend" and is now living with my Aunt (one of her younger sisters). She seems to be happy for the moment, but I know that in time she will miss being right around the corner from my brother and me.

I will also sleep better knowing that my son finally cleaned out the storage unit that he had been using and I won't have to worry about paying the *&$% bill every month!

Cowboy Dreams!!

Cowboy Dreams is my newest kit to
hit the store at www.digiscrapcentral.com !

I am really excited about this one because it really got me out of my comfort box. I have learned how to do so many new things of late and this one has some of them in it!

If your interested in purchasing this
kit... it is $3.99 here:
http://www.digiscrapcentral.com/scrapshop/index.php?main_page=product_info&manufacturers_id=18&products_id=241

And, if you need word art to go along with the Cowboy theme, You can find some awesome Cowboy Word Art at DSP by Tina Chambers.
Find it here:
http://store.digitalscrapbookplace.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1965

I would do the word art myself, but Tina is the Best of the Best for Word Art. You won't find any that compares anywhere else on the web!

Happy Labor Day everyone!

Mr Personality!

This is my newest kit up in the store at www.digiscrapcentral.com Mr Personality is fashioned with my Newphew, Chris, in mind. He has such a funny little smile that I burst out laughing everytime I open an e-mail from my neice. I can't wait to see him on Labor Day! I am camera ready!

Look another new kit coming soon....Cowboy dreams.... a kit all about a little boys dreams to ride the big range of the old West!

Until then...happy scrapping!

Reflections...

Boy.. has it been a busy summer and it went so FAST! I am in a stupper that it is already the end of August. This year, the end of August brings about a melancholy time for allot of folks here on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. It is the 1 year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and there are still many people who have not been able to rebuild...they are still in FEMA trailers!

All along the Coast, you can see the signs of rebuilding. This always makes me smile to know that the folks here have taken such a pounding but most have managed to get up on their feet and keep on going. The wonderful thing is that even the folks that are still in FEMA trailers are smiling and they are not leaving. This is their home. Most of them have lived here all of their lives and even though most everything that they owned was taken away by the storm, they won't leave...they want to live here and I can't blame them! I love the Mississippi Gulf Coast. I honestly, can't think of any other place that I would want to live.

My mother and I had this conversation on Saturday. She was feeling down and out thinking about my Dad and the sacrifices that we, my brother and I, had to make to move here from Pennsylvania so many years ago, I was 11. She said she thought that my brother and I had always held that move against her and my Dad.

This got me to thinking about my life. Where would I be had my Dad NOT made the decision to move here in 1970? Would I have gone to college? Would I be married and have children? WHO would I be married too? What would my life be like right now? Of course, there are no answers to any of these questions.... I think I would be safe to say that I probobly would not be married to the man that I am married to now. Thinking of that makes me shiver...I simply cannot imagine my life without him! Saturday was our 28th wedding anniversary and when I look back at the past 28 years, I thank God and my DAD that I have been here in South Mississippi for the past 36 years. That I met my husband right here in Mississippi, this is where my son was born and this is where my Grandchildren were born. That I had the chance to see life in another way and experience all of the wonderful things, and not so wonderful things, that I have over that period of time. All of these things have made me who I am today and I like who I am!

So... NO, Mom... I have NEVER held that move against my Dad or you. I have, if anything, LOVED your both more for it !

God Bless...

A Digiscrap Sale!

Here is a preview of my newest kit in the scrapshop at www.digiscrapcentral.com

and it's on sale right now for $1.99, but only until July 31st.

I really had fun making this kit. Inspired by my Grand Daughter, Alana and her love for pink, purple, and butterflies!

Friday, July 21st prompt

What is the best advice I have ever gotten.....My dads oldest sister, who was very much like a grandmother to me, had come from Pennsylvania to visit one summer not long after Kent and I had gotten married. She was staying at my mom and dads but would walk over to my trailer every morning to drink coffee with me on the back porch. On this particular day, we were talking about my mother and how she loves to know what is going on in every aspect of your life and is always ready with advice. (another one of my sayings, "I could just scream!") My aunt told me something then that made me almost ROTF, but it was good advice and I have tried to follow it ever since... "Listen to your mother, agree with her every word because she is your mother...then go home and do as you damn well please!" Her point was...don't let your mother run your household. Very well put and promptly taken advice!

Thursday, July 20th promt

I wouldn't say that I was proposed to... My aunt had a birthday party for my uncle that Kent and I popped in at about half way through. My cousin, who is about 5 year yonger than I am was just head over heals for Kent and, of course, latched onto us the minute we walked in the door. After we had been there for about an hour, she finally asked,"so..when are you two getting married?" and my response truely surprised all of us, "December 15th"! Needless to say, we started planning a wedding and went to get rings the next week. We ended up getting married in August, which is another story all its own!

until next time!

Wednesday July 19th prompt

This should be easy because I took DSU 295 and had to do a layout about this! My layout was about My Grandma Voice. The to words that I say the most around the house are "Tater" and "Punkin"! That's my names for my grandchildren. Other around the house words are, Hun, Ya'll, Awesome, Can't think of a thing, Oh my goodnes, Stupid cat, and I don't think so. When I am at work I am apt to say, You make me laugh or It ain't happen'. I have also been known to say a few choice words that I won't repeat here but they are something like, @!*? and ?!*#!! Ha!

Until next time!

IMO Dad

Here is a layout that I just completed using my newest kit "IMO Dad".

I love how the flower and the stripe paper look using the curve and the curley ribbon adds the perfect touch to compliment the tag and tie it down.

I did a similar layout of my husband using Lisa Carters curves and Kim Liddard's Raspberries and cream kit. I absolutely love the effect of the curves in a llayout. Everything seems to just flow so much nicer. It's a change for me because I am so use to doing everything in squares and circles!