Retiring My Designs at The Digi Chick and Commercial-Use…SALE!!!

My schedule has been so incredibly crazy for so long…I just haven’t had the time to devote to designing.  So after much consideration, I have decided to close my shoppes at The Digi Chick and Commercial-Use.  The good news is, that means it’s sale time!  All items are 50% through the end of February!  I will still leave my CU products up in my site store…and hopefully have time to design sometime soon.

Thanks so much for your support of my designs and for being such an incredible community of creative souls.  I have truly been blessed by “meeting” so many wonderful friends in digi-land and will continue to be blessed by your friendship!

New Release at TDC

I was one of those students who was constantly doodling in the margins of my notes…flowers, trees, birds, swirls….a little bit of everything. No sense in putting that doodling practice to waste! My new release today at The Digi Chick is a collection of shapes filled with doodles, Doodle Stamps. This little element set is on sale today for $2.00! I’ve included a sample using the stamp, created by TDC creative team member Sharyn. I just love her hybrid card, especially the little green accordion element behind the heart – how creative!  Sharyn used another new release to create the card, Donna’s adorable Sugar Blossoms set.

I have one more TDC new release share, a layout I created with Jenn’s awesome Just Chillin’ set – great for teen and tween boys and Fiddle-Dee-Dee’s Fuss Free Tiny Bubbles Templates!  I was so glad Heath actually agreed to some pictures so I could play with this fun kit!

one little word…

one little word…..

Ali started it …in her blog post here:
…A single word can be a powerful thing. It can be the ripple in the pond that changes everything. It can be sharp and biting or rich and soft and slow.

Last year I began a tradition of choosing one word for myself each January – a word that I can focus on, mediate on, and reflect upon as I go about my daily life. Last year my word was something I wanted to bring into my life in a more tangible way. My Word was Play.

You can read about Ali’s word of the year HERE.

For a few years I have chosen a word of the year, but I haven’t ever blogged it. Today, however, I decided to share my word.

2011…I had my word selected…I was good to go….

My word was SOAR…I had visions of Jonathan Livingston Seagull pushing the limits of his existence…sure there was more to life than his daily reality of flying to get food and back.

OK, then I watched the news. Then I heard things like “SOARIng gas prices”, “SOARing grocery prices” etc…and i thought…”I don’t want to meditate on this word”….

SO….

I followed my stream of consciousness thinking today to come up with a new word…
…almost instantly, I had it!  Unequivocally my NEW word, my word for reflection for 2011 should be…

1.1.11

Welcome 2011!  Starting a new year is like slowly opening a present you weren’t expecting…you don’t know what is in store but you anticipate a wonderful gift!  I’m always careful about what I do on New Year’s Day.  I’ve always heard whatever you do on New Year’s you do all year long.  So believe me, I don’t do laundry, pay bills, run to the store for something I forgot or do paperwork.  I know I will do those things in the upcoming year, but no sense in writing it in stone!  Instead, I try to bring in the New Year doing things I enjoy and today I did just that!

Now,  those are things I would like to do all year long!  I haven’t made any resolutions but those are all things I would love to spend more time doing in 2011!  To help with the scrapping part of it, I bought a subscription to 52 Inspirations at O’Scraps to spark my scrapping and journaling!  I’m anxious to start this creative journey and hope the weekly goodies will keep me on track

I know lots of you complete Project 365 – a photo a day.  I know better than to try that.  I may go days trying to remember where I put my camera…but I do have a template to share with those of you organized and disciplined enough to complete this fun project.  You can download the template HERE!  Good luck with your creative journey and may God bless you in 2011!

Soothe the Soul

I’ve had a wonderful week off – relaxing, organizing and visiting. I went to visit a friend, Laura, who lives a few hours away. We did what girls do…we shopped, we ate, we laughed, we cried, we painted. We reflected on the past and set goals for the future. One thing we both want to do is experiment with mixed media art so we played around with a few techniques while I was there. I mainly experimented with a few painting techniques and then decoupaged a canvas for a later creation. But Laura went straight to work and created a wonderful piece! Mixed media really does suit her I think…she is so incredibly creative.

When Laura finished her piece, she gave it to me! I asked if she was sure because it was her first mixed media piece. She said “Of course! I really needed our visit and besides, read the inscription on it”. I read it and knew it would always remind me of our visit and friendship. It says: A visit with friends can refresh the body, ease the mind, soothe the soul. Thanks Laura!

Merry Christmas!

May the peace and joy of Christmas fill your heart today and all year long!

Merry Christmas!

Credits – quickpage from Kristin Aagard’s “Tis the Season Kit available at After Five Designs.

Happy Birthday to Mike!

Happy Birthday to the guy who would sing the Fred Flintstone song with his kids on a ferry in Puget Sound….

What?!?

My first year out of graduate school, I went to a convention in Seattle with a couple of colleagues.  While we were there, we took a ferry across Puget Sound and I spotted a man singing the Fred Flintstone theme song with his 3 children, oblivious of anyone around him.  I turned to my colleagues and said, “that is the kind of man I will marry…one who will sing the Fred Flintstone song with his kids on a ferry.”  From that point on – that was the litmus test.  When I would start dating someone, the question inevitably came up…”would he sing the Fred Flintstone’s song with his kids on a ferry?”  If not, that would be the end of the relationship.

Well, I married that very man for sure.  How do I know?  Well, who else would ride in a limo with 10 ten year old boys for 2 hours for a birthday party?

Who would stand up and hold his new Maltese puppy for an hour at a time because the only way she would let him hold her was if he was standing?

No one!  And that’s why I held out for the perfect man…the one who would sing the Fred Flintstone song on a ferry with his kids.   Happy birthday to my perfect man!

Last Minute Wrapping – Printables on Etsy

Just wanted to take a minute to show you some printable gift card / money holder goodies on Etsy. Download the pdf file, print as many as you need, cut and stuff – you are good to go!  You can find these and other printable holiday goodies HERE.

Dog Named Bird

So we have this adorable (most of the time) Maltese named Birdie…yes, we have a dog named Bird.  I get strange looks sometimes when I tell people her name…but, it suits her.  She didn’t start out as Birdie.  When we first got her, Heath named her Snow.  And, eventually, we started calling her Snowbird after News Channel 4’s Snowbird.  Snowbird gradually changed to Birdie and the name stuck!  It fits her personality and her occasional belief she can fly (as in, fly from the back of the couch to the counter where the pizza box is sitting).  Here’s a picture of Birdie in Heath’s houndstooth toboggan, ready for a snowy day!

You can download the png quickpage (minus Birdie’s picture of course) HERE through the end of the year!  This quickpage was created from my Polar Pals set which is the featured kit at ScrapWow this month.

The Perfect Gift

I’m quite sure that somewhere in our bathroom is an ESPN magazine with a cover that says something like “Nobody’s Perfect but Everyone is Trying”.  That thought came to mind this weekend when I heard a news report about Christmas.  Apparently, a study of the major networks revealed that of the over 500 holiday stories mentioning Christmas, less than 2 percent also mentioned God or Jesus.  REALLY?!?  So then what are these stories about?  Christmas shopping, the economy and finding the perfect gift.

Oh, I understand the perfect gift angle.  I mean, haven’t we all loved someone so much we just wanted to give them the most incredible, wonderful present in the world?  That’s how God felt about each of us when He gave us the perfect gift that very first Christmas….Jesus!  And while the story of the first Christmas may be no newsflash to Christians, it is the best news there is…so why not share it in every “Christmas” story?

I think, to date, one of my most popular designs at The Digi Chick is All is Calm…an element set commemorating the first Christmas.  I created a remix of that set this month,  All is Bright, in brighter, happier and with some playful elements thrown in…and why not?!?   It’s such a happy story!

Anytime I see a nativity scene, my mind eventually wanders to perhaps the funniest dream I ever had…I dreamed Mary and Joseph were on the Oprah Winfrey Show.  I don’t remember the full dialogue, though it was hilarious, but I do remember Oprah, shocked that Mary, visibly VERY pregnant, was denied a room.  And I remember Mary saying, “yes, they could definitely tell I was pregnant but they insisted there was no room” to which Oprah, in her best Dr. Phil voice, asked, “and how did that make you feel?”  I sure wish I could remember all of that interview!

Here’s a quick update on our floor project – floors in living room and master bedroom are officially finished!  Our house iss still in complee chaos while my craft / therapy room and son’s room are getting a face lift!