Scrap Pals - Week 2 - Layout Challenge

Here is my first layout contribution to the Scrap Pals Week 2 Layout Challenge.

The challenge was to take a sketch and make a layout - most of the scrappers will be doing paper scrapping but Tee was kind enough to let this digi gal play along. ;)

Here is the sketch we are using...

I hope to have time to do more. I am allowed to do up to three for a total of 9 points.

To find out more about this challenge visit Tees Blog.

And here is my layout - no pictures yet - I am waiting for this years Christmas pics.

What do you think?

Scrap Pals : Week 2 Layout Challenge

Kit Credits
Last Christmas by Baers Garten Designs / Studio Baers
http://www.scrapbookgraphics.com/

Sketch Credits
Alicia Redshaw

Scrap Pals is a wonderful group of women who gather in their love of scrapping and friendship. Special thanks to Teresa Angel (Tee) for letting me be a part of this challenge.

Tee's Scrap CARD Challenge

Ok - I realize I am WAAAAAYYYYYY out of my scrap comfort zone here by trying to make a greeting card with PAPER scraps. We all know I am a digital scrapper...lol

My co-worker Teresa (Tee to her friends) is hosting a challenge and I just really wanted to try something new. This tr-fold card is ADORABLE. Well the ones SHE made are anyway...lol

You can find the links to the directions and a video on how to make it on her blog. I promise it looks wayyyyy more intimidating than it is. And if I can do it - ANYONE can do it...lol

Here is my first try. I am NOT thrilled with the outcome - but I AM thrilled that I gave it a try - learned something new, and I had fun doing it. Pink is really not my color scheme - but I have several girlfriends and Family members who would LOVE this. I am working on another one - that I will call "Hybrid" because I plan to use some of my digital scrap kits and print out the elements and papers to use on this card.

My only fear is that I will begin to LOVE paper scrapping so much that I will have to go out and buy TONS of stuff (which I have already started.....)

Anyhoo - here are my results...I would LOVE to know what you think.




If you know of any other fairly easy card making tutorials out there - please point me in the right direction. = )

Gearing up for the Twilight - New Moon Party

Preparations are in full swing.

We have been shopping away for decorations and party ware for our New Moon party....

I would say this party is going to be "Classy" - Definitely an ADULT version of your typical Teenage New Moon Party. My Girlfriend Karyn and I (co-hostesses) are going all out.

Here are a few things we have in the works. Feel free to snag some of these ideas for your own party and please leave me a comment if you have any more fabulous ideas that we might incorporate into our party.

DEFINITELY wear your heart on your sleeve. We all plan to wear our Twilight and New Moon T-Shirts, even going as far as to declare our Team status. (I am Team Edward - OF COURSE) Here is what the shirt I am wearing looks like - I got it at Torrid on clearance with an additional 50% off - it was like THREE BUCKS! Can't beat that. I also bought an awesome layered CROSS necklace in silver and black that is going to go GREAT with this.

And here is my necklace - HOT RIGHT? lol - Also from Torrid.


I also bought us some FUN Vampire Bite Tattoos to wear on our necks...lol - These little beauties were on eBay and I spent about four bucks. I bought these from eBay user carcar1047 - The items came promptly and were packaged SO CUTE. I will definitely be shopping with her again. She even threw in a little gift for me! What a sweetie! Another find on ebay is this super fun Scrabble Necklace that says "Twilight Mom". Can't wait to get this and see how cute it is. I got this from eBay user sns_creative_bowtique. She has a lot of really cute stuff.



And my last eBay purchase, I have to admit - is quite silly - even for me- But I saw it and HAD tohave it...lol - Check out this adorable Bella & Edward BELT BUCKLE....lol CUTE right? Anyone know where I can find a BELT with no buckle on it? I got this from eBay user kyrielkustomkollection94 and I can't wait to get it.


I think I am going to have my nails painted in a french manicure style but black with red tips. That should look good I think...lol - and RED LIPSTICK of course.

We will be decorating in a red & black "gothic" type theme with Twilight accents thrown in as well, apples, glitter, etc.

I have ordered some lovely black acrylic goblets from Target through Amazon.com. Aren't these cute? I look forward to using them for Halloween's to come as well.

We also plan to rim our Martini glasses with candy to look like blood. We found this fabulous idea the "Hostess with the Mostest" Blog. I LOVE her blog - so many fabulous party planning ideas.... You must check her out.


We plan to make the cocktail "Vampire's Kiss" in these adorable glasses - I can't wait to drink one of these - it sounds delisc. Here is the recipe...

VAMPIRE KISS

Ingredients:
1.5 oz. Finlandia Vodka, chilled
1.5 oz Korbel Champagne
.75 oz Chambord Black Raspberry Liqueur

Directions:
Pour vodka and half of the Chambord in a martini glass, top with Champagne and pour the remaining Chambord over the back of a spoon to make it float.

We plan to have food - beverages - cocktails - the WORKS!

Check out these apples we plan to make. Aren't they PERFECT? We fouund these over on MattBites.com Blog and just couldn't resist. I hope ours turn out this well. They are called Adam's Scary Apples.


Karyn has put together an amazing Trivia for us to play complete with PRIZES!!!
That is going to be FUN to try to wrack our brains to remember the books - it has been awhile since I read them.

We have black tablecloths, red lacey platemats, red, black, silver candles, blood red drink cups, black plasticware, and of course the New Moon party plates, etc.I plan to strew silver glitter around the tables because well - hello? - Edward Sparkles....lol. OHHHHHHH - I need some RHINESTONES - Adding that to my list now. We will also hang red ribbon around the room. Oh Karyn also bought one of those Room Scene Setters it is of creepy looking woods - PERFECT to have a photo op in front of.


I also have a few projects up my sleeve.... I have made everyone a New Moon bookmark, I will show a pic when they are done. Also Karyn found these awesome Vampire label printables that we are going to put on bottles of Hawaaiin Punch, as well as some water bottles that I ordered online. We will use the water bottles for our cocktails while we stand in the loooong line to watch the movie. You can find these adorable labels at the Hostess Blog as well.....see - I told you she has great stuff. Here are what her labels look like.


And here are the water bottles I orderd for us - Mine will be blank of course and I will label these myself. I may even personalize them with the guests names and some Twilight icons like Apples, chess pieces, etc.


She also has some printable movie quotes that would be FAB to hang around the house or dress up in frames to display about the tables. She has Twilight AND New Moon version. I will be using them ALL! The more the merrier I always say.

And lastly - I bought a variety of jars, a couple bottles of different wines in red and black and used some from my fridge at home that I plan to label with some of these awesome potion labels I found courtesy of Flickr user Love Manor. This is going to be SO FUN! I can fill them with fake blood, or candies, snacks. I haven't decided yet. Here is one of the labels I plan to use. Isn't it GREAT!


Here are a few "Before Shots" I took of some of the stuff I bought - I can't wait for the party and to show off some "After Shots". Mostly - I am looking forward to spending silly girl time with my Best Girls.



I am SURE that I am forgetting something - we are doing so many different things.

I am looking for a really reasonable candelabra or black candlesticks if anyone can point me in the right direction, and please be sure to share YOUR fabulous party ideas with me.

(everything you may want to explore further should be clickable with links to the sites we found these great ideas on.)

HAPPY PLANNING
Have a great day!

Freebie New Moon Party Invitation

So...My Girlfriends and I are going to "nerd out" and have a New Moon party. We are going ALL OUT. From blood rimmed drinks to vampire bite tatoos....YES - NERDING OUT.

It is going to be so much fun though - to act like a teeneager again...lol

Here is the invitation I made using things found around the net....
Feel free to snag it for your own New Moon Party!

BLOG IN PROGRESS

I am working on a friends blog so I am using mine as a test page
- please bear with me in the transition....

Freebie Quick Page

It has been a while since I posted here....I was off having a baby five weeks early and I am sure you all know how time consuming a baby can be....lol.

I recently had the pleasure of working with one of Pamela's newest kist Boo To You Too, an absolutely adorable Halloween kit. This kit is not in the traditional bold colors of Halloween which is one reason I love it SO MUCH. You can pick up the kit for only FIVE bucks over at the Polkadot Potato. I know.....a total STEAL.

Anyhoo - I hope you enjoy the QP and be sure to leave a comment...Pamela LOVES to hear feedback from her fans - it helps to inspire her to keep on creating these fab kits for us!

Here is the QP for YOU


And here is what I did with it!


ENJOY

Michael James has arrived

Well my little guy decided to make an appearance FIVE WEEKS EARLY. I woke up Thursday morning around 2am - my water had BROKEN. I was rolling to the other side when I felt it- and thought - NO WAY - So I waited a few minutes - rolled to the other side and yes - indeed - my water had broken. I am SO NOT PREPARED. I did not have a bag packed, I didn't have my maternity leave set up yet - I have no basinette - no car seat - and to top it all off my Work was holding my baby shower that afternoon. HOLY COW. I woke hubby up - threw some things into a bag, and off we went to make sure my water had broken. We arrived at L&D and the admitted me to the triage to have a look - well by the time they had me in a gown we were positive as my water was running down my legs....lovely. lol Doctor admitted me right away to start the pitocin as my body was not actually in labor and we wanted to avoid infection to the baby. Started pitocin around 5 am - had my epidural around 11 am - FINALLY started dialating around 4:15 - I was at about 5 cm when she checked me. HUbby and I tried to get some rest for a bit - and then the nurse came back in and asked me if I was feeling any pressure (I was indeed) so she checked me again and I was at 9 1/2 - 45 minutes later - WOW - that was FAST - She called the doctor and told me we were getting ready to start pushing. NOW I WAS NERVOUS....I had been calm the whole time, but started to have a little freak out. I wasn' too worried about the pain since my epidural was so good I could not even feel a thing. A slight tingle in my toes but that was it - WEIRD. It wasn't that good with my first born. Doctor arrived and we pushed for maybe TEN MINUTES and my giant preemie was born.

Michael James7/23/09 - 5:18 pm
6lbs. 14 oz. - 21 inches

Yes almost SEVEN POUNDS - can you imagine if I had carried him to term - holy moly. My little sweetie was placed into my arms for about five minutes before they took hom back to check him out a little better. My poor little guy is having some trouble breathing. His lungs are not quite developed, and they have placed him in the NICU to help him along until his lungs can mature. He is still in there - and we have been going back and forth to visit every day, several times a day. It is so hard to leave the hospital without your baby. I am very emotional. I wnat to hold him so badly. They have every arm and leg hooked up to IV, etc. He has a tube in his throat to give him oxygen, and a feeding tube as well, he has a tube in his belly button that they can draw blood from, he has not had any breastmilk or formula - he is on a liquid IV. My poor little guy. Now he has jaundice and has a mask over his eyes and bright lights over his bed. It is so hard to see him like this. I know how fortunate we are that he is a good size and I know he is in great hands but for it is just HARD. My four year old has not even seen his Brother and he just doesn't understand. But we don't want him to see the baby that way - I think it would really scare him.

Please keep us in your prayers - I will keep you all posted.

Family & Friends Baby Shower

My baby shower was this past weekend with my Friends & Family. My Mother-in Law, and Mother hosted it at Mimi's in Monrovia. It was REALLY nice. The flowers, tables, decorations, cake, diaper cake, everything was BEAUTIFUL. We had a lovely time other than it being SO HOT in the room....the restaurant didn't turn on the air until we got there. Ugghhhh - I wanted to pass out.

I really enjoyed spending time with my friends and Family and I made out like a bandit. I hate being the center of attention and especially when all the gifts are for me, I felt so guilty. Everyone was SO GENEROUS. Baby no-name is truly blessed to have so many people that already love him.

Here are some pictures of the big party. I am the GIANT COW in the black and white dress...lmbo

THANK YOU EVERYONE!
WE LOVE YOU