Fabulous Fall-o-ween Festival

Come join the fun at the Scrapping Garden! October 22 - 28 we will be having our Fabulous Falloween Festival!

The Crop Schedule is as follows:

Sunday, October 22

10pm - Halloween Card Crop


Monday, October 23

9am - Hayride - Landi & Kat
1pm - Fall Recipe Crop - Kristie
9pm - Fresh From the Pumpkin Patch Crop - Tracy
10PM - SticKit Crop - Lynne
11pm - Bingo - Angie & Robin


Tuesday, October 24

10am - Fall Photo Crop - Newtty
8pm - Template Crop - Leia & Julie
9pm - Check This Out - Sherry
10pm - Scary Movie Crop - Cheryl


Wednesday, October 25

9:30am - Bobbing for Apples - Seyla
1pm - Fall Photo Crop - newtty
7pm - Bobbing for Apples (Repeat) - Seyla
10pm - Sketch by Design - Robin


Thursday, October 26

9pm - Paper Patch - Kristie
10PM - SticKit Crop - Cheryl


Friday, October 27

8pm - Digital ScrapRoom Chat - Robin & Cheryl Meier
10pm - Charity Garden Crop - Joni & Sherry


Saturday, October 28

Fall-oween Costume Party
9 - 9:30pm - Kat & Robin - Decorate the Pumpkin
9:30 - 10pm - Leia & Pat - Spooky Stories
10 - 10:30pm - Joni & Sherry - Element Templates
10:30 - 11pm - Cheryl & Robin - Falloween Leftovers


The prizes to be given away are just as the name describes .... FABULOUS!

Layout Contest

Cannon Printer - Layout Contest Grand Prize

Creative Team Member at TSG for 3 months - Layout Contest Grand Prize

6 months Mega Kit - Layout Contest 2nd Place

3 months Mega Kit - Layout Contest 3rd Place

2 SticKits for everyone



Photo Contest

Photo Album Deluxe - Photo Contest Grand Prize

Digital Scraproom Program - Photo Contest Grand Prize

6 months Mega Kit - Photo Contest 2nd Place

3 months Mega Kit - Photo Contest 3rd Place

Kit add-on by Newtty for everyone



Bingo

Yellande Font - Bingo Blackout

3 Month Mega - Bingo X

Kit by Angie Galemore - Bingo Line

1 SticKit for everyone



Avatar Contest

3 months Mega & Kit of choice from Kat - Avatar Contest Grand Prize

2 months Mega & Kit of choice from Tracy Beck - Avatar Contest 2nd Place

1 Month Mega & Kit of Choice from Lynne Simmons - Avatar 3rd Place

2 SticKits for everyone



Bobbing for Apples

1. $20.00 TSG Coupon

2. $20.00 TSG Coupon

3. Yellande Font

4. Yellande Font

5. $5.00 TSG Coupon

6. $5.00 TSG Coupon

7. Opaque Woods by Landi Le Roux

8. Fall Time by Newtty

9. Floral Expressions by Kristie Bruin

10. Mini Bits I by Cheryl McCain

11. Mini Bits II by Cheryl McCain

12. Nature’s Spectrum by Cheryl McCain

13. Expressions I Mini Kit by Cheryl McCain

14. Expressions II Mini Kit by Cheryl McCain

15. SticKit

16. SticKit

17. SticKit

18. SticKit

19. SticKit

20. SticKit

21. SticKit

22. SticKit

23. SticKit

24. SticKit

25. SticKit

26. SticKit

27. SticKit

28. SticKit

29. SticKit

30. SticKit

31. Element

32. Element

33. Element

34. Element

35. Element

36. Element

37. Element

38. Element

39. Element

40. Element

41. Element

42. Element

43. Element

44. Element

45. Element



SCARY MOVIE CROP

1-gb flash drive



SKETCH BY DESIGN

1-gb flash drive





TO BE GIVEN AT CROPS

$2 coupon - Michelle

$2 coupon - Michelle

$2 coupon - Kristie

$2 coupon - Kristie

$2 coupon - Leia

$2 coupon - Leia

$2 coupon - Angie

$2 coupon - Angie

$2 coupon - Barb

$2 coupon - Barb

$2 coupon - Pat

$2 coupon - Pat

$2 coupon - Kat

$2 coupon - Kat

$2 coupon - Julie

$2 coupon - Tracy

$2 coupon - Lynne

$2 coupon - Lynne

$2 coupon - Lynne

$2 coupon - Landi

$2 coupon - Amor

$2 coupon - Kashia

$2 coupon - Kashia

$2 coupon - Linda

$2 coupon - Linda

$2 coupon - Chrissy





TO BE GIVEN AT CROPS

Yellande Font

Yellande Font

Kit coupon - Cheryl

Kit coupon - Cheryl

Kit coupon - Cheryl

Kit coupon - Newtty

Kit coupon - Kashia

Kit coupon - Angie

Halloween Kit coupon - Julie

25 SticKits – CT’s



So make sure to come on over to The Scrapping Garden and take part in our fun, fabulous, Falloween Festival!

New Collection available soon!

This past week I have been thinking how blessed I am to have such wonderful girlfriends in my life! Anisa, my best friend from high school has been an invaluable source of support for me even though she is so far away. Kim, is always there to help whether it be to vent or helping out with the boys when we're in the hospital. And Amy, my next door neighbor, is so awesome! In honor of these ladies I'm working on a new collection, The Girlfriends Collection!

So far I only have 1 kits done, but I really think I'm not going to have a hard time breezing through the others since I know each of them and their personalities. The Girlfriends Collection will be available only at TSG.

Tomorrow is our appointment with the surgeon to see of they will be able to take a biopsy of Ragan's new tumor and we will set the surgery date.

Kim and I have made a date for Wed. night to go out and paint the town and let off a little steam! I'm so excited! I'll try to take some pictures, although, I really hate taking my camera out with me LOL, I'm always afraid I'll get drunk and lose it somewhere LOL! Here's a small preview of the first kit.
Girlfriends Collection -Michelle

Oh how I have neglected this poor little blog!

I'm sorry to the 2 or 3 readers that I have LOL! There has been so much going on that I haven't had time to breathe let alone try to put my feelings down. No scrapping news today, just Real Life Drama LOL.

The doctors have taken us on a real rollercoaster ride the past 2 weeks! On the 5th they told us that Ragan would be having a Bone Marrow Transplant, so we got the ball rolling and had already met with the transplant team several times, had her stem cell harvest all scheduled, and even bought a plane ticket for my mother-in-law to come and stay with us during the 2 months we would in the hospital. She had MRI & CT scans on the 8th, and I went in to discuss the results on the 13th assuming that everything would be the same as the last scans a month ago. Much to my surprise, they were not the same. It seems that while undergoing the last 2 chemo treatments a NEW tumor has grown. So, now the transplant is a nix, and we have no idea how we are going to treat her.

I'm trying really hard not to let everything get to me, but the longer this goes on, the harder it gets. I'm tired, and want to be done with all of this. But then I see Ragan so full of life and joy and I feel so crappy for even complaining. She is the one that has had to go through all of this, and she's done it every step of the way without complaining. She is such an amazing little girl! I sometimes think "how did this happen to us? How could God let this happen to my only little girl?" Then I realize that he also made her strong, happy and unbelievably loving so that she could endure all she's had to go through.

So, for all the mom's out there, when your kids are driving you insane, go somewhere quiet and really think about what your life would be without their special little personalities and characteristics that make them who they are!

What a day!

Ugh! So, yeah, I had a terrible day today. I woke up crabby as heck for no apparent reason, only to be rushed to the shower to get ready to take Gabe to the dentist to get his poor little teefers drilled lol. The dentist is 30 minutes away, and his appointment was at 10:30. At 9:30 I told Ragan & Gabe to get their shoes on while I finished blowing my hair out. I finally get done and it's 10:00 and I'm feeling so great that I actually got ready in time .... WRONG! Gabe is still barefoot.

ME: "where's your shoes?"
GABE: "ummm right here" (he's holding only 1 sandal)
ME: "where's the other one?"
GABE: "ummmm I think someone stole it!"
ME: "don't be ridiculous! where is your shoe? where did you take it off?"
GABE: "no really mommy! a monster came while you were in the shower and he took my shoe!"

Ok, now I'm getting mad! LOL I search high & low for the freaking thing .... it's has literally vanished from the face of the earth! In the mean time my precious driving time is ticking away insuring that I'll be late. So I go into the closet, dig out his sneakers only to find that I can't find any socks which is bizarre since he hasn't worn any since spring! OK, no problem, let's raid big brother's drawer. Hmmm .... no socks there either. What's a girl to do?? I went to look in Ragan's drawer. She has socks out the wazoo! Only thing is, she doesn't own any white socks LOL they are all pink or purple or have flowers or hearts. Guess what? Macho man Gabe wore pink socks today!!

The dentist appointment went well, but the whole shoe/sock episode just threw my whole day off kilter & I couldn't seem to get it back! The kids were supposed to clean their rooms when they got home, but of course that didn't happen so I spent all afternoon nagging & I HATE that!

I'm going to curl up in bed & pull the covers over my head and hope that tomorrow's a better day.

I feel good .... Like I knew that I would now!

*sigh* ahhhh it's so good to be home! The shower at the hospital S-U-C-K-S!! It's like this little trickle of about 5 drops.... how the heck am I supposed to wash my hair in that?? Anyway, it's amazing how much better you feel after a nice hot shower & clean change of clothes!

So, I stayed up last night trying to catch up on my blog reading and I ran across this blog called Another Scrapbook Critic and I was shocked to find out that there was a war going on between paper scrappers and digi scrappers! Here I am, all oblivious and happy, not knowing people were hating me LOL! I wouldn't exactly call it a war though, because it seems to be being fought by only one side, the paper scrappers. I don't know about you, but I am perfectly happy to be in my own little world loving what I do. If for whatever reason paper scrappers are offended by my digi scrapping I guess that is their right, but I just find it odd because I harbor no ill feelings towards them just because they don't do it the same way I do. I have never tried paper scrapping. I'm a little on the OCD side and find the thought of getting my hands and furniture all gluey repulsive, but I don't hate anyone just because they DO like it! KWIM? Anyway, I'd be interested in knowing how many digi-scrappers are also paper scrappers and if you have encountered this "paper snobbery".

Tonight was Tracy Beck's new designer crop at TSG and I had a blast. She is really talented and I'm sure will have great things coming in the future.

Tonight was also the first part of the template workshop at The Scrapping GardenThe second part to the crop will be Tuesday night. One of my templates will be the posting bonus. I am so excited to see what people come up with!

I'm off to catch up on my TiVo shows since stupid football is on and Big Brother is delayed until 12:30 tonight!!

A New Freebie :)

Ok, so I couldn't sleep! Here's a new freebie for you. It's a layered template. The zip file includes a .psd version and a .tif version. I will leave this up for the week while I'm gone at the hospital. Don't forget to come on over to The Scrapping Garden on the 31st @ 10pm EST for the first of our 2 part template workshop!
Enjoy!

Download HERE

My new cut :)

So here's a picture of my new haircut!


I will have more pictures tomorrow of Tommy's first day of school :)

How about a FREEBIE??

Since I have been having problems with inspiration to finish this kit, I figured I'd make up a couple of Quick Page Freebies for you all! There are 2 QP's included in the zip file which I would love to show you, unfortunately, darn blogger is not inserting my photos!!

So, here are the previews :
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a33/chelerblondi/images/dude_QP.jpg

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a33/chelerblondi/images/Diva_QP_prev.jpg

and you can download it HERE.

A new cut!

There's not much to report, but just wanted to give everyone a little update. Ragan is feeling great! She has tons of energy and has been running me ragged LOL. She has really been enjoying the visit with Grandma, and the boys are too. Oh my gosh! I sometimes forget how obnoxious my kids are until they are around people that don't see them everyday! We went on an outing to K-Mart with my mom yesterday, and I truely thought I would lose my mind! :)

Last night was Tommy's "Meet the teacher" night at school, and Ragan had a blast playing in the housekeeping station while we chatted with the teacher. We met my sister up at the school (my nephew Cody goes there too) and she showed Mom & I some photos from her son's prom. They were so cute! I'm gonna have to try to get some uploaded so I can scrap them!!

I got my haircut yesterday!! YAY for me lol. I have been dying for a good cut forever now, but it's really hard for me to be able to make an appointment because of the kids so I always end up going to one of those cheapy places that take walk-ins and really hating the results. I used to have a lady that just "knew" my hair. She always just instictively knows how it will look good and she has NEVER given me a bad cut! I usually just go in and tell her give me something different and she works her magic. I broke down and made an appointment since my mom is here to help with the kids, and can I just say ....I LOVE this cut!! It's pretty much the same style I had before, just sleeker, shorter and a much better cut lol.

Same thing .... different day!

Ugh what a long couple of days it's been! Ragan had a bit of a crisis with her blood counts and we spent 8 hours at the hospital on Tuesday. Soooo not fun with 3 kids LOL! (You can read an update about that whole situation on her caring bridge site.)

The funny thing is, my oldest Tommy, while he should be the best behaved & the easiest to keep happy, it turns out that he is always the one that gives me the headaches. He's 6 1/2 and in his "I'm bored" stage. Except he says I'm boring instead of I'm bored which makes me giggle everytime :) I'll be glad when he starts school again!

I am so creatively blocked I haven't been able to get any designing done! I started this awesome kit, and now I just can't come up with any more elements :( I need to try something to bring me out of my designing slump! I decided to do a little scrapping instead & did a page of my best friend's daughter that I think turned out beautifully!

Credits: Cottage Arts - Butterfly Wings

I'm a bad blogger!

Hello my scrappy friends! Sorry it's been so long since I've updated, I'm a bad blogger!! I always intend to write here, but just never seem to get around to it.

I got a new external hard drive YAY! My hubby is so sweet sometimes. I have been telling him that I wanted one for quite some time now, but with all the expenses I knew it was something that would have to wait. He came home Friday afternoon with a bag from Best Buy with my new 250 gig hard drive in it! Such a nice surprise.

My other new toy is Photoshop CS 2. I actually have had it for awhile but didn't have room on my puter to install it lol. I am a PSP girl all the way, but I'm really trying to give Photoshop a chance. I can say that I love the clipping mask, and the actions, but other than that I am totally lost. I have no idea where the tools are or what they do LOL. I did make some cool chipboard elements for my new kit though :) I will put up a preview as soon as I have one ready.

Home Again

Ohhhh it's so good to be home! There is just something about the hospital that makes time dragggg lol. Last night was the Charity Garden crop featuring For the Love of Ragan. The kit is so unbelieveable! I can't believe how beautiful an unique each page is and so many people collaborated to make this a success. I am so overwhelmed by the love that the Scrapping Garden community has shown not only me, but my family. I'm such an emotional wreck sometimes lol, I was crying through most of the crop last night because I was so touched by everyone's genuine care and concern for Ragan.

Today Home Health Care comes to give Ragan her Neulasta shot, so I have to get some house cleaning done. I hate coming home to a dirty house, but with the boys being here while I'm gone, it's inevitable lol. I want to try to get some designing done this evening as well, but I just have not been feeling very creative! We'll see how that goes LOL.

I have some papers that have been sitting here in a folder forever that I just can't seem to get any inspiration for so I decided to give them to you :)
Here's a preview :

You can download it here.

Head on over to the Scrapping Garden and take a look at the For the Love of Ragan kit! It's Beautiful!!

Back to the hospital ...

Well, it's been a nice couple of days home with the boys! Yesterday we went out for ice cream sundaes and rented some movies. (By the way, never go to rent movies on a Saturday night lol, there's nothing left!) I really think the boys needed some individual attention. It's so hard with Ragan being sick, they sometimes may feel a little left out.

I tried working on a new kit last night, but I just wasn't feeling very creative. I got a color swatch & one paper done lol & that's about it!

OMG!! Have any of you watched the movie The Hills Have Eyes?? Something you should know about me, I'm a horror film fanatic! This movie is the ONLY movie that I has ever actually scared me! There were moments during it that were so gorey I thought I might actually upchuck! Now, I like scarey movies, but this one was just gross! If you have a weak stomach don't watch this movie!

I'm off to the hospital for the next couple days so I will write again when I get home. Have a happy weekend! :)

~Michelle

I've been Tagged!

1. Do you still talk to the person you had your first kiss with? Um .... I'm not even sure I remember who it was with lol so that a big NO :P

2. What would you do with 1,000 plastic spoons? Hmmm probably buy myself 1000 styrofoam bowls so that I could save some time on the breakfast dishes for awhile LOL!

3. What kind of music did you listen to in elementary school? I was absolutely in love with Blondie and Pat Benatar .... I guess that dates me doesn't it??

4. What is the best thing about your job? Being able to work from home and still spend time with my kids.

5. Do you wish cell phone etiquette was required in class? It's been a long time since I was in class, but I do think that they should be banned in restaurants and while driving!!

8. Where are you going on your next vacation? Well, since I've never actually been on a vacation, that's a hard one lol

9. Quote a song lyric? Have you ever felt like breaking down? Have you ever felt out of place? Like somehow you just don't belong & no one's there to save you .... You don't know what it's like, when nothing feels alright, No, you don't know what it's like to be like me.

10. Are most of the friends in your life new or old? Both

11. Do you own any furniture from Ikea? Nope sure don't.

13. If you could be an animal what would you be? A house cat seems to have it pretty easy, all they do is eat and sleep lol

14. What state/country are you from?I live in Missouri, but grew up in Washington

15. Tell us about the last conversation/s you had. I chatted with the ladies at the Scrapping Garden :)

16. Where do you see yourself in one month? I probably won't have moved from this chair lol!

17. What is your favorite smell? Clean Baby!!

18. What is your favorite sight? My kids when they are sleeping .... somehow they are so much cuter that way LOL

19. Do you consider yourself bi-polar? Ummm nope ... why do you?

21. Have you ever done anything vindictive to your coworkers? I don't think so

22. Have you ever gone to therapy? yes several times.

23. Have you ever played Spin the bottle? yes, many MANY years ago lol

24. Have you ever toilet-papered someone's house? yes

25. Have you ever liked someone but never told them? probably, but it would be rare, I'm a pretty straight forward person

26. Have you ever gone camping? yes, that used to be my mother's idea of a "vacation"

27. Have you ever had a crush on your sister's friend? No, my sister's are a lot older & younger than me so that would be kind of icky LOL

28. Have you ever been to a nude beach? yes, but I just watched didn't participate LOL

29. Have you ever had sex on the beach? yes, but it's not all that great! *lol* Ever gotten sand stuck between your toes? Try having stuck in other places!!

30. Have you ever had a stalker? yes unfortunately, in real life & on the internet!

32. have you ever laughed so hard you cried? many times

33. Have you ever gone to a party where you were the only sober one? yes but it is very rare, I'm a party girl :p

34. Have you ever been cheated on? Too many times to count!

35. Have you ever felt betrayed by your best friend? yes

36. Have you ever lied to your parents? uh, yeah, a lot LOL

37. Have you ever been out of the US? only to Canada

38. Have you ever thrown up from working out? yep, maybe that's a sign I should work out more?

39. Have you ever gotten a haircut so bad that you wore a hat for a month straight? OMG yes!! When I was a senior in high school I was a model for a hair show & they cut off my LONG hair and shaved it down to spikes & dyed it an orangey color!!

40. Have you ever eaten 3 meals from 3 different fast food places in 1 day? Umm yes

41. Have you ever gotten so wasted you cant remember the nite before? Yes, and I really don't like it!!

42. Have you ever spied on someone you had a crush on? does hiding in the bushes outside their window count as spying? No! I'm just joking! No I haven't :)

43. Have you ever slept with one of your coworkers? yes, once.

44. Kissed more than one person at a time? Is that even possible?? I only have 1 set of lips so no lol

45. Pot? That's a weird question ... smoked it? once .... & never ever again!!

Doing some Scrappin'!

My daughter is one of those children that you can never keep clothes on and I'm a little scared of what that might mean for the future, but for now it makes for some darn cute pictures lol! Her other passion besides being a nudist is picking out her own "outfits". Here's a LO I did using my new Au Naturale kit .....

A New Kit!

I have just finished a new kit named Au Naturale and it will be available next week in the Scrapping Garden store.

I hope you enjoy it! I will post a LO I did using this kit in a bit :)

My first blog!

Ok, so this is my first blog .... I'm really going to try to keep up with it, but I am making no promises LOL! I'd like to get myself in the habit of writing a bit here each day and posting my new kit previews, as well as a few freebies maybe :) Wish me luck!