Black Belt Scrapping

Peas - I'll Take Two, Please!

Good news!  I'm thrilled to announce that I've been selected as one of the new digital creative team members at Two Peas in a Bucket!  I found out earlier this week and haven't been able to say anything. Now that the cat is out of the bag (or should I say the peas are out of the pod?!), I can share with everybody!

I have not been doing much scrapbooking this fall, just because I've been so swamped with a lot of things, but with this and my gig at The Digi Dares, I should be getting back in the scrapping groove ASAP! Hopefully the upcoming holiday season will bring forth a lot of photos and creative inspiration.

There are a lot of neat digital designers at Two Peas, most of whom are actually new to me, so I'm looking forward to working with their products and telling you about them, although I've always been a HUGE fan of Two Peas fonts. I already work with Sande Krieger, Two Peas Garden Girl and digital designer extraordinaire, and I can't express enough how much I love her stuff! To give you an idea just how fabulous she is if you weren't already aware, she's designing a whle new product line for Basic Grey, which will make it's debut at CHA this winter! Here are some layouts that I've created with Sande's goodies:

  
And speaking of photo inspiration, I'm hoping to get a bunch this weekend, as Andy and I are scooting out of town for a football game.  A big one, that is, with about 115,000 of our closest friends! I think it takes a BIG HOUSE to hold that many people. Unfortunately, I will not be taking my big camera due to stadium restrictions. At least this place posts the rules in a clear and consise manner!

That's about it for now, lots to do, lots to do.....

Got Myself in Trouble

I had a family photo shoot this weekend. Everything was going great, the family was a blast, the weather was lovely, and there were great places to pose people. Little did I expect to "get in trouble" when we went inside a popular local venue to take a few shots inside. 

Evidently, and unbeknownst to me, there are "rules for people with fancy cameras".  Of course, these supposed rules are not posted or written down anywhere. Keep in mind this is a a building in a public park, and no admission is charged. I have taken photos there for years and years and seen everybody else doing the same. For some reason, however, on this particular Saturday, a little lady with no sense of humor and bad shoes singled me out for some "revenue enhancement". She told me that I would not be allowed to take another photo until I filled out my permit application and paid them a hefty fee for the right to schedule a photo shoot in the future. Hey lady, thanks but no thanks! And hey, what about those people taking photos over there?  Oh right, they don't have a "fancy professional camera". 

Now I don't have a problem with anybody setting rules for things like this. It's certainly their prerogative. However, if they want people to actually FOLLOW the rules, then it might be a good idea to post them someplace or even put them on their website. I'm the webmaster in my day job.  Really...it's not that hard! I checked there website before the shoot, as well as when I got home and there was NOTHING. 

They might also want to clarify who gets to take photos without a permit and who has to pay for one. Having a digital SLR camera certainly doesn't make someone a professional, nor does shooting with a point-and-shoot turn a pro back into an amateur. If you ask me, that's a pretty arbitrary way to decide who has to pay the $150 fee to take pics of their people in front of a bunch of plants!

Needless to say I was HOPPING mad. I'm still not over it. I feel a nice little letter coming on later this month. But regardless, we did manage to get some lovely photos outside, before the place opened up for the day.  

Tracy and Michelle, here are your peeks!

   

   

   

 

and finally, the photo that got me in trouble....

  

The rest of your gallery will be up this week! 

Oh, and for you LuAnn who gave me crap the other day about "the Bungles", well maybe next time you should save the trash talking until AFTER the game. I won't rub it in, however, because we're 7-2 and we've beaten the Steelers twice now. I'm sure that's painful enough! Have fun playing Baltimore twice, I know we did. We beat them twice too.  Go Bengals!    

 

Hey, Somebody Really Needs to Dust Around Here!

This place is really dusty. Get to work. It looks like crap in here. Let's pick things up and make it look like it should again!  Oh wait, I don't have an almost-13-year-old to do my own dirty work here. I"m the one who needs to do the dusting and damn it, I'm going to do it! 

I could go on all day about messed up knees, volleyball season, swine flu, and assorted other crap, but I know that everybody who might still be out there reading this is juggling the very same things.  And if you are, and you're still here reading, I thank you for that!  I know I'm not the only member of The Order of the Spinning Plates on Sticks. 

It's November already, can you believe that?  I actually planned my THanksgiving menu this week, and I'm almost done with my Christmas shopping already.  Now don't be hatin' on me for that, I've actually been doing some here and there all year. With all the economic uncertainty around, I wanted to take advantages of specials and cash flow when the opportunities presented themselves. 

I'm getting ready to roll into full holiday mode here soon, as the ACME Christmas Gala will be held at my house this year. I'm pretty pumped about that too. You know I love to show off my house at Christmas time, that's when it truly looks it's best. The Santa Collection will be out in no more than two weeks! And speaking of my lovely Santas, I recently did this layout for the Digi Dares:

That guy on the right...isn't he just the BOMB? Love him. I love all of them, really. And it's going to be a problem this year, as I no longer have the large Santa Display Table coffee table that I have had in the past.  This Santa Mama is going to have to get a bit more creative this year. I"m also thinking about adding another full sized tree in the family room. I've been wanting to do that for a while. All white lights and a bit of tinsel, nothing more. I think I'm going for simplicity this year. Simple, elegant and easy. Okay, easIER, perhaps. 

Are you game for some new recipes?  Well I've got a bunch more to share with you on upcoming Tuesdays. I'll bribe you to come back to me with food, well at least cyber food. It's a start, right?  

This Wednesday was my one year anniversary working at ACME. Can you believe that? I know I can't. Time really does fly when you're old, especially the weekends. THis past Wednesday also happened to be Veteran's Day. I want to personally express my gratitude for all of our brave soldiers, past and present, family, friend, and stranger and thank them for all they've done for our country. In a time of such extreme political discourse, never forget that it's the brave soldiers that not only established, but preserve our right to support, question, and even criticize our government leaders. 

Since I'm talking about soldiers, I'd like to give a shout-out to a special local MP, Second Lieutenant Ben Franzosa of Loveland Ohio. He and his platoon, the 543rd Military Police, are currently serving a tour of duty in Iraq and helping their local Iraqi community at the same time through Operation Soccer Ball, established by Captain Daniel Merritt of the 511th Military Police. In Capt. Merritt's:

"My platoon and I have constant interaction with the citizens of Iraq, a proud people who want the same things for their kids as we do for ours. We have many roles in Iraq, and one of the biggest is to rebuild this country and help its people get back on their feet.  
 
Most of the citizens living in this area are so poor they don’t have many of the daily amenities we take for granted. While they rebuild their country, the one constant source of enjoyment, of hope, is soccer. When they play soccer it consumes them, it builds them into a team, it keeps them out of trouble, it makes them forget how hard their life can be and, most of all, it gives them hope for a better tomorrow; a hope all Americans should help to build.   
 
What we’re asking, what I’m asking, is to donate deflated soccer balls to be distributed throughout the area that my platoon serves. A small investment (by our standards) can have a powerful impact on the lives of Iraqi children. Hope is a powerful thing."

 

If you're interested in helping out or learning more about Operation Soccer Ball, you can find them HERE. Or you can become a fan on their Facebook fan page here:  Operation Soccer Ball on Facebook.  Thanks for helping me help them!

Hey, it's FRIDAY and it's time for some fun.  Let's go Bearcats, Wolverines, Cyclones, and Bengals!  Hell has indeed frozen over, the Bengals are leading their division!  It's a miracle, no doubt!  Have a great weekend. I've missed everybody!

Ties and Unties

Recently, an online friend of mine experienced a terrible loss. She and her husband lost their precious little eight week old baby, Ian, to an aggressive brain tumor.

 

I have never met Tricia in person. We were both part of a group of moms on an old AOL parenting message board. Those boards are gone, but a core group of us still remain as friends who are now connected on Facebook. While we could discuss the merits of "electronic relationships", I can say with certainty that a good handful of people that I initially met in an online environment have enriched my life tremendously and I truly love and care for them, and I know that they care for me. 

 

Our online group was both shocked and saddened to hear of Tricia and her husband Brandon's loss. One of the pitfalls of the online world is not being available to really help in a time of need, and I know I speak for many of us, we all felt helpless and really wanted to be able to do something to help Tricia. I never get political here on my blog, but it's always been my mindset that we the people should be doing more to help each other than expecting somebody else (hello...the government) to take care of our fellow citizens for us. 

 

This is my attempt to help Tricia and Brandon. I can't imagine the pain that these people and their family must be going through. If you're reading this today, you're part of my online community of friends and today I'm asking you to help me help Tricia and Brandon. 

 

Tricia has started a blog about her experience and the unusual path that this journey has taken her. I really hope that you'll read her story and maybe even contribute a dollar of two. If you can't do that, then please just leave her a comment and some positive thoughts. 

Here is Tricia's blog and story:  Want To Be Untied  It is truly a story of love, loss, and a chance to move forward.

I truly believe that the kindness of people combined with the power of the internet can make miracles happen. Please help me help Tricia.  Thank you for reading and thank you for being my online friend. 

Photos courtesy of Tricia Vlasek.

Digi Dares are Back!

Hello, hello.....is anybody out there?  Probably not, which means that I'm now talking to myself, but that's okay. I'll post about that later. Right now I'm struggling with whether to come back from my hiatus. I really have mixed feelings about it, but my advertisers are giving me the big poke to get rolling, so I know I have to make a decision. I'll do that soon...probably this weekend, I promise (and I will keep you posted either way!).

And speaking of coming back from hiatus, The Digi Dares team has been on holiday for about a month, but we're back again starting today. Come check out our new look, our new sponsors, and our new dares, of course.  Here's the link:  The Digi Dares  This week's dare has a multi photo theme, and here's my layout:

Isn't that group shot just a hoot?  I'm glad I wasn't the photographer trying to position over 130 people at one time!

A Somber Anniversary

One year ago, things were a lot different. I was looking for a job, I was getting ready for shoulder surgery. Eight years ago, I had just taken Shannon to her first day at preschool.

For me, every September 11th is unique and different, but from now on, it'll always feel the same. I wrote about it last year.

The Day My Blood Ran Cold

God Bless America! Don't ever forget.