Reach for a star

Credits: Sausan Designs- Mango bay paper, and star doodles, aspnes and m coleman brushes
The quote reads:
“If I could reach up and hold a star for every time you've made me smile, the entire evening sky would be in the palm of my hand.” thinkexist
I was upset when I went to Sears and the lady was toooo slow with the camera and missed so many shots. So , I came home and snapped a few good ones. Love how this turned out. Lisa

I am on a Creative Team!!

Sausan Designs Mango Bay Kit,and heart doodles (recolored),summer buzzin paper clip.NRJ-texture,distressing brushes Patti Knox-template
Fonts:cold coffee,century gothic,Jane Austen

I was looking at a message board and saw a really cute ad for a creative team and liked their
designs. They were more artsy. So I thought what the heck- I will try out for it -nothing to lose- probably too late as the deadline was that day. I found out several hours later I was picked. The ladies are from Germany- Sausan designs. I got a kit this morning and had to play. This is what I came up with.
Getting ready for camp - we are going to need a moving van to make it this year. Every year we say we are going to get a frig . Well this year we did and got one that is double the little one's .
Between the frig and the pack and play(which I borrowed-it is a portable crib) and the stroller and clothes for 5 people in a little hotel like room - it will feel like a sardine can.LOL Will be interesting to say the least. At least this year we got a golf cart to get around. That way Ben and I can get back to the room quickly if need be.
good night- baby calls!

Credits- sausan designs - flower pot freebie, denise docherty paper,fonts: vaguely repulsive, jane austen

Just had to play with this great freebie from Sausan designs. Too much fun. Have a great day! Lisa

Myquirk name

credits- brushesby:AVH,greenspoon,Maya,H,McCaigand Lee textures Fonts:PS Bluegum forest,book antiqua

THis layout was done to represent a name that we choose for ourselves- the first name and someone else creates the second name. Such fun!
Had the family picnic and the weather was perfect. I made hamburgers, hotdogs on the grill, pasta salad and a raspberry/strawberry trifle. Yumm.
All the kids went swimming except Ben - he took a nap as he was tired after keeping his Mother up all night!
John and Emily are off to a cardinals game tomorrow night. I will be here.

Not so serious

Credits: paper- Shabby Princess, Gina cabrera staple, stitches by Ronna Penner, hat by Maya
Fonts: franklin gothic, PS bluegum forest, glider girls

This layout was for a MAD challenge- about being a SAHM. I realize the Word of GOd says to "Be content in all circumstances and not complain"- paraphrase- and I am working on this. I truly thank the Lord for His many blessings- but lately I have really been struggling. Some days I feel smothered and exhausted. I realize a lot of it is due to sleep deprivation- having a baby that will not sleep and wants to nurse all night and a teenager that thinks he can stay out all night or have his girlfriend over . So between chaperoning the one and nursing Ben- I am pooped. I do not recommend having a baby and 2 teens at the same time. It affects one sanity.
Anyway- my art is an outlet for the sense of being overwhelmed I regularly feel.
Been so busy! Running on endless errands and we have a family picnic this afternoon. My dear friend Nancy had surgery and I went to see her and drop off food. She is such a dear - so giving , loving and a lady I admire and look at as a role model.
Off to get ready for the picnic. Bye

Legacy Series

brushes-avh,bl emporium& kazadoodle,jen wilson paper
I wanted to do another portrait collage for my dear Grandma Mattie .She hated having her picture taken,so there are very few photo's of this amazing lady.If you look in the tree,I have a pic of her home in Harlan, KY where I have wonderful memories. There is also a picture of her two children- my father and Aunt. I have her tombstone pic there also,as the cemetery is so pretty-sounds weird but true. I think I will call it my legacy series,and want to do more. The picture was incredibly poor,and I had to do a lot of tinkering to get it usable. I think I used masks on 8 layers. 2 months ago I did not know what that was. lol
We went to 2 new restaurants this weekend. One was barbecue- and the sauce was awful- too much vinegar. We also went to the new IHOP and love their pancakes- yum. My FIL made beer can chicken and it was luscious. Ben is getting another tooth and is crabby and refuses to eat solids. Enough of the mundane-bye-

Father's day

credits- Jen Wilson paper, brushes: kazadoodle, NRJ-old writing,distressing
My Dad died when I was 18 months old from heart problems. I saw a Mad challenge - using an overlay of a photo and I had a few old snaphots of him so thought it would be perfect for one.Everyone liked him, he was a teacher , a baseball coach and an umpire for the kids' world series. In one picture , he is with my Aunt Joanne- his sister. I miss her so much. She was like a Mom to me.
This is my tribute to my Father........

Another Mad challenge

credits- crown, stamps by Maya, IOD_paper, Fonts- tropicana, base01, vaguely repulsive
I had too much fun doing this challenge. The best part is that there is no glue, ink , paint, etc to clean or put away! I even did it one -handed nursing Ben. should have added multitasking to my layout! Well back to reality-sigh- cooking, dishes, kids ,sigh ...........

credits- maya's snorkel, spazmos bubble brush

I wanted to scrap this for awhile- Emily has always sung this song she made up and does the motions to it. Ben loves it and it is a surefire way to calm him down. It is also my first challenge for Digital art Quirks. This is so much fun. have a great one! Lisa

New art gallery!

Dug out some of my altered art pre baby. I have tons of art that I created and have been storing in my closet. I found digital art quirks and made a gallery there and have been scanning and posting away. Need to stop and get ready to go eat pizza as it is my DH's Birthday. He finally caught up to me and is 44 . Here is the gallery link. I never considered myself an artist just a wannabe.hugs, Lisa

not finished yet- but look at the fun I've had!

credits- mo's wings, Gaylor- brushes
Finally got a pic of Ben sitting up to do this.I used to do alot of altered art and I went to see a great new site- digital quirks and realized - duh _ I can do it digitally! Yeah-Cute as a bug!

I got it !

I just got my new custom chick! I told them I had longish brown hair , glasses and usually wear hoops. They make you pick a title and I came up with Queen Geek Scrapsalot. Yes- I know - does not take much to entertain me! Anyway, I got it for less than 2 dollars at Bless this Chick. Much better than putting my real photo up there- would scare anyone away! LOl

great free software!!!!!

I am so happy to have found this great free software- called EverNote. There are so many useful applications for this gem- just about for everyone. For months I have been printing and saving tons of tutorials for Photoshop in a large notebook. The problem is I do not have time to go through the book, find the tutorial and then attempt to find space to read it while in Photoshop. Voila - now when I find a tutorial I can cut and paste with pictures ,the entire tutorial that I can find instantly! There is a search command and it automatically notes where you got the info from. You can categorize everything -and customize them. It even works with my pen and tablet and I can write notes . Just a note- I found out that if you have a pdf file you wish to save - you can't drag or paste it. All you have to do is use the snapshot tool - which takes a "picture " of your selection to the clipboard and you just paste it into evernote! Cool !
So what if you are not a digiscrapper? Well try it for saving all those recipes you find on the web- now you can find them instantly. Or you can do shopping lists with pictures. Or make to -do lists, wish lists, expense lists - book lists- and so on. phew-
Today I fed 9 kids and I am pooped. Several teens drove here about an hour and a half to see my son as a surprise. I was the one surprised and cooked for them all. We had the local parade and carnival this weekend. Ben loved it and so did my nieces.
Need to go get ready for church tomorrow. TTFN

Credits-mo jackson,gina miller,south paw designs-pin

I was looking all over the web for a pinking template and could not find one- so I made a brush ! I am sure this is silly to all the designers -but it is a starting point for me and I have made papers and alphas and hope to make lots of stuff in the future. I would share my brush - but do not have a clue how.

Anyway- Ben began sitting up on his own and I snapped a few pics- that I can't wait to scrap. Emily haelped me get groceries last night and then it was 1015 and Ben was crying so I went to get him to bed . I was dreading coming downstairs to put away most of the groceries and at 1130 I came down to a clean kitchen! Emily was surprising me and she put them all away and then mopped the floor!!! WOO HOO~~~~~~~~~~

Need to go and marinate some chicken- love that Stubbs marinade for chicken- yum! hugs-

kit byEve Recinella-sweet surrender,rivets-mccraig,tab-shabby princess,midnight photoblast action

I used my new kit and like how this 8x10 turned out. JD looks so handsome in his prom tux. The girls think so too. I scrapped it to hang in my stairwell as 1 of 3 pictures of my kids. Ben was up all night-sigh. Daddy likes to hold him &rock him to sleep in the evening and he is too well rested by bedtime to sleep.

Saw this and loved it. bye!

all doo dads by Mo Jackson

I confess - I went do dad shopping and came home with more doo dads that I can ever possibly need! In case you have not guessed , I love the "shabby " style and have lots of said real life do dads in my house. I redid my stairwell with - you guessed it- shabby stuff. I bought some ornate white 8x 10 frames and the layout shabby Ben is in one on the wall . I have 2 more 8x10 layouts to do. Such fun- my problem is that I do not have very many great photos. I could blame my 3 megapixel camera - but I think it is the photographer- lol ! So I am trying to take more with my SLR- film rebel. My dream is to have a digital rebel- but do not see that in the near future.

In my do dad picture- I did my first torn paper from scratch with a scrapartist tutorial- I like how it turned out- but next time I think I will add a tiny drop shadow to the top paper. I spent yesterday organizing and downloading some new kits. Eve Recinella is having a 40% off sale and I got some great kits.

Now I need to get busy and use them. I want to take some better pics of Emily- have some good ones of JD. But today is my knitting group and they must think I have dropped off the earth- so I want to bring Ben and show him off- wink. Emily has a basketball camp all week and she is actually going and not giving me problems. - She usually signs up and then decides she doesn't want to go.

Hello to all my DRU sisters - thanks for stopping by and I love the comments! I need to stop in and say hello more often. Seems like my computer time is spent trying to learn how to do things in Photoshop and my layouts take forever! One day I would love to design- but have to learn all the basics first!

Have a great day! Lisa

a new page...

credits- K Shulz- Bliss papers, Burns- Alpha Bella,Bird and rose- Josephine kit, Miss Mint Charm, flourish brushes- coleman, r farrer frame, ribbon- t sims, ac template, rage ,cygnet font,pertiet sun print stamps
I could not resist scrapping yet another "shabby" style picture of Ben. I got out my Canon film digital and got this picture and liked how it turned out. I took ben to Sears and liked this pic just as well. I just wish it did not take me so long to do one. I would like to know how to make seamless patterns and textures.
Need to go get Ben to bed. He has popped his first 2 teeth through and got his shots on Friday. He is not very happy. Lisa