Seventh Anniversary

This one was done from scratch, using mostly freebies and other assorted pieces from the Jessica Sprague NWR class. Me & my sweetie!

Journaling: After seven years of marriage (on top of seven years of dating), I still find myself completely in love with you and wondering what life still has in store for us. On our anniversary this year, we actually hired a rare babysitter to have a night alone at Appare, a Japanese restaurant in Des Moines. I wonder where we’ll be in seven more years. . . they say seven is the “perfect” number, so maybe we’ll be lying on a beach or strolling through Europe together on our 14th anniversary!

Michelle Coleman topper
Katie Pertiet On the Edge Flourishes 3 6G
JSprague stapled heart and Valentine background page and pieces of flourished frame.
Herald and CK Becky fonts.

TFL!
Cheri

Final Layouts from Jessica Sprague's Class

Michael and a friend-of-a-friend's little boy playing the piano (gently even) at Jenn's house during a Christmas party. They were so cute playing their duet!
Teletype font
brusheezy grand piano brush
Obsidian Dawn treble, bass clef and group brushes
I think Robert Redwood music score brush over photo
Scrap Girls ABR Beloved music paper (using Photoshop Friday tutorial to desaturate, invert, and screen mode...I ended up keeping this only at the very edges of the layout, as I liked the other better on the photo)
Class materials: JSprague red paper & corner rounder brush
K Pertiet: background, dots papers, frames/brushes, & stitching
Mary Ann Wise: school paper lines

The base layout was Jessica Sprague's design from class. The added music embellishments are mine, including a very subtle (easier to see in person, 12 x 12) music paper blended in at the top and right side.


The last layout from class (boohoo, I can't wait for Digi in Deep to start!!!)
Journaling: Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, (Knees and Toes) Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, (Knees and Toes) And Eyes and Ears and Mouth and Nose. . .Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes (Knees and Toes). Not to mention your adorable little hands and feet, fingers and toes, belly button, and chubby little legs!
All class materials except Obsidian Dawn fractal brush from her "confusion" set (freebie). Class materials: Little Dreamer Designs:
JHE twilled phrases, Leora Sanford journaling tag, MCO Boho flourish, scalloped paper mask, topper, & Beautiful journey paper (recolored).
JSprague Dauphin alpha, Katie Pertiet sanded overlay

TFL!
Cheri

Pirate Party

Christopher is a big five years old today! We had his party a week ago on the weekend as I had/have to work last weekend and this. He is "in" to pirates right now, mostly thanks to Scooby Doo Pirates Ahoy. He has also loved a few pirate books from the library, including How I Became a Pirate It was fun doing a "real" theme party:) Michael's party was loosely based on Scooby, but we went all-out for the pirate thing.

Christopher has a pirate coloring book, so we taped up pictures he had colored. We hung black netting from some picture frames in our living room for the nautical theme. I ordered a paper pirate treasure chest and filled it with chocolate and plastic gold & silver coins, pirate eye patches, pirate hats, candy, and geodes for the party favors. C got his own special fabric pirate hat, two plastic pirate swords (which he is sporting in his mouth, true pirate style) He also has a "hook" hand, and wears one rainboot for his peg leg.

Food included an awesome, awesome 3-layer pirate ship birthday cake (from Hy-Vee), carrot "doubloons", pineapple and cheddar "gold chunks", Pirate Booty brand (yes there really is such a thing) air puffs in both white cheddar and mango flavors, other assorted fruits, and fried chicken (pirates love to gnaw on chicken legs you know...that was in the aforementioned book).

And some of the gifts were quite apropos as well. Jeff found an older LEGO pirate ship on Ebay (I'll see if he has a link to a pic, otherwise I can upload my pics of C's). It was a very piraty sort of day:)

Tagged

Tagged by Janet:

A: The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B: Each player answers the questions about themselves.
C: At the end of the post, the player then tag 3 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

10 years ago: We were living in Iowa Falls. I was commuting 35 minutes east to Parkersburg to work full time as a physician assistant (PA) in a very small clinic with one doctor. Jeff was commuting 1 hour (1 way) south to Ames to work at EAI. We had Reuben (beagle) & Max (miniature schnauzer).

Things on my to-do list today: Today is DS #1's fifth birthday, so I'm making dessert and something yummy for dinner, oatmeal cookies to take to the preschool BD party tomorrow, a little cleaning and laundry, a quick trip to the grocery store for cookie ingredients, and I hope, a little time left over for scrapbooking!

What I would do if I were suddenly made a billionaire: Go delirious just thinking of the possibilities!:) (Seriously, it'd probably happen!). Donate a bunch, buy a new house (hm, where) and of course it would have a kick ASS scrapbook room!, go on MANY, MANY trips, skiing, Europe, get the best Canon or Nikon camera and lenses money can buy, hire a housekeeper (BLISS)...heck, she could even live-in! Oh, and a COOK!:) No one can accuse me of not being a dreamer, that's for sure. Oh, and I'm practical too...invest the rest wisely:)

3 of my bad habits: swearing (yes me...those who know me well and personally will attest...as aforementioned when I confessed to being "loud" the last time I was tagged, this doesn't happen professionally oh, and note use of "kick ass" phrase above), procrastinating at things like housework, and not picking up after myself at home.

3 places I have lived: Ames, IA; Atlantic, IA; and Iowa City, IA

5 jobs that I have had: PA at Fast Track/ED, sales associate/imprinter/cardstock queen at Memory BoundScrapbook store, physical therapy aid (in college), direct care worker at a group home (in college), pizza baker at Casey's (way early in college).

5 things people don't know about me: Can't remember offhand what I've said before, so hope not too many are repeats: I am left-handed, I LOVE to read, I LOVE tomatoes, especially raw, I had a 4.0 in high school and nearly that in college, and number 5...I must not be terribly humble, or I wouldn't have used that for number 4. LOL:) (Hey, I'm running out of things to say!)

I tag: Kristina, Ann, & Rosalie. :)

Raucous Laughter

Michael's Raucous Laughter
Disclaimer: Movie taken with a cell phone (thanks Jeff!) at Target. Michael is pretty much wetting himself laughing hard when Jeff puts the paci in the doll's mouth and it comes popping back out again! (Meanwhile, Christopher is checking out the LEGOs on the opposite side of the aisle)...yes, dolls and LEGOs are apparently in the same aisle at our Ames Target, go figure. Michael likes it!

Feed the Cute Little Doggie

This one's for the reader's of Janet's blog:) Check out her post on "The Look". This is also in honor of Uno, the Westminster top dog of the year! (The first beagle to do so!) Anyway, our video was shot by DH in 2001.

My Nerdy Little Secret (Shhhhh)

Journaling:
In response to Jessica Sprague’s challenge to scrapbook about a “nerdy” secret: My nerdy little secret is that I love to learn. My current obsession is learning Photoshop, for digital scrapbooking as well as photo-editing purposes. I have even delved into Camera RAW in the last week.
I keep plugging away at my Spanish too. I am fascinated by foreign languages and know well the practicality of speaking Spanish in the medical field. If I could go back in time, I would honestly want to be fluent in at least 3 languages (English, Spanish, and French or Italian).
If only there were more hours in the day. . .I have to-read lists a mile long, and in the last year, the vast majority has been non-fiction. Everything from religious discourses to health care reform to making your ideas “stick.” And don’t forget, my profession requires 100 hours of CME (continuing medical education) every 2 years. Even in childhood I remember an insatiable desire to read and learn new things. I never read the entire encyclopedia by any means, but I wasn’t beyond reading National Geographic or an old textbook for “fun.”
There’s always lots to learn and I’m like a nerdy little sponge, soaking it up and hoping it doesn’t all just drip out again!

Supplies: shabbymissjenndesigns school kit
MA Sexy, 2peas well-behaved & CK Becky fonts, Cbx Lovey Dovey for the heart
scrapgirls.com BHA stamped alpha from "A Little Worn Out" kit

I've been tagged TWICE!

Considering I've been tagged twice (love ya Janet and Ann!) I better do this one!

These are the rules: You must post the rules before you give your answers.You must list one fact about yourself for each letter of your middle name. Each fact must begin with that letter. If you don’t have a middle name, just use your maiden name. After you’ve been tagged, you need to up-date your blog with your middle name and answers. At the end of your post, you need to tag one person for each letter of your middle name. Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they’ve been tagged and need to read your blog for details.

L: loud. I’m pretty sure no one who knows me personally would argue with this one…now professionally is a different story:)
Y: yammerhawing…one of Christopher’s favorite words (almost 5 years old)…used to denote anyone who is talking when he thinks it’s his turn to speak.
N: nice…well, at least, I try to be:)
N: needed, well, at least I hope so, by my family

As far as who to tag...well, let's just say this is one prolific little game, b/c I'm pretty sure most every other blogger out there has already been tagged, lol...if you are a blogger and have not been tagged, consider yourself tagged!:)

Interior Design

I think I mentioned after Christmas that Jeff got me this awesome wall art for our 2-story entryway, but I neglected to upload pics until now:) This layout was a 30 minute challenge from my Jessica Sprague Photoshop class. I think the journaling is legible if you click for a larger image. Also, if anyone is interested, the company has a bunch of other cool wall sculptures: http://www.homedecorators.com/P/Wave_Abstract_Wall_Art/910/

Supplies:
SweetShoppedesigns-clyle january arrow brush
ScrapGirls-BHA Spiced Cider paper
2peas-RF Peachy Keen frame
SS-rcarlton The Photo Shoot filmstrip
Brusheezy brush (behind frame to let photo pop from background)
SS-clyle circle date stamp

TFL,
Cheri

Scrapbooking Retreat!

I spent last weekend at a retreat in Des Moines for my local group of scrapping friends...this is a yearly thing with us and much much anticipated. This year was no disappointment! Lori, Kathy, and Brenda work super hard to plan and prepare goodie bags, prizes for challenges, and games/themes. This year was a casino theme. Unfortunately I missed the Friday night activities b/c I was a little under the weather, but I rallied and was there Saturday and Sunday. Jeff & the boys came down to swim in the evening on Saturday and we had pizza right by the poolside. Though Michael was toweled off, I think the poor thing shivered through his meal:( He threw a fit when I finally took him upstairs to rinse off and get warm, but calmed down when I reassured him he could take a shower. How many 2-year olds get excited about the shower?!:) Bath yes, shower, usually no.

Anyway, I finished several pages and a bunch more just need titles and journaling now, so sometime soon I'll get those photographed and upload a few.

I hope you are all having a good (though snowy for most of you) week:)