A Simple Girl's Scraps O' Life

I've Moved!!

noreply@blogger.com (smplgrl) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 17:00:00 +0000

I've moved my blog! Please click here to visit my new blog home, don't forget to update rss feeds or sign up for the newsletter when you get there.

Tuesday....again, New releases & a CT call.

noreply@blogger.com (smplgrl) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 13:47:00 +0000

Well here it is Tuesday....again. Has anyone else been watching the next food networks star? I love that show. I get so many great ideas from watching those chefs compete. I love to cook so its pretty fun to watch. Anyway....one of the recipes this past week was the beer can chicken in the oven with a spice rub on the outside of the chicken. It looked so yummy! And my husband loves chicken, buuuuuttttt, we no longer drink....ever.

So I spent most of the day yesterday trying to figure out how to make that without using beer. So I modified it a bit. We love the flavored teas so I picked up a can of the mango tea by Arizona. I dumped about a third of it in my fabulous mario batali enameled cast iron dutch oven....a wedding gift I totally love....and then mounted the chicken on the can. Let me back up a sec, because I dumped some of the rub into the can before inserting it in the chicken. I cheated on the rub...I was in a hurry...and I picked up a ready made rub from World Market, which I cannot pronounce, but it did mention the "taste of North Africa" on the label. It was a tasty combination of spices including paprika, cumin, nutmeg anise, rose petals, and a few others. I combined about half of the package of that with some brown sugar, granulated garlic, salt and pepper. Dumped a little in the can along with a few pinches of red pepper flakes for good measure. Then I rubbed the rest of it on the chicken after I put it on the can....probably backwards, but I didn't want to rub the rub off trying to get it on that can!!! Put it in the oven and roasted that fella til he was done...about an hour or so. Once it was out I took it off the can and poured everything in the can back into my pan and put it on the stove to make a little glaze/sauce....I added potato starch rather than flour or corn starch for thickening (I try to cut out gluten when I can). Served it with rice and pan steamed green beans(with butter...I detest margarine).

It turned out to be quite a tasty improvisation. I think my 11 year old was completely appalled at the perversion done to the chicken for our dinner...he had a really hard time eating it...but he's not much for chicken anyway. The six year old however raved all through dinner how wonderful the chicken was. I think the sweetness in the mango tea, may have helped. He ate his and his brothers and asked for more....which in my house is nearly a miracle....my boys are annoyingly finicky. I do think your kids become less finicky if you starve them real good before feeding them(it was near 8 pm when we sat down to eat)!! Just thought I'd share my little cooking venture. Of course I have no pics, I have been quite slack about taking pictures during July.

My husband's poison ivy is finally beginning to clear up. Apparently he is extremely allergic to it. He has been to the doctor now six times in 2.5 weeks. He has had 2 shots, 2 steroid packs, he's been taking benedryl and was also given allegra and clopex lotion this past friday. He has used every over the counter remedy to seek relief...none of them worked for him. I even put him in a baking soda bath. He's been miserable....poor fella.

Well don't forget its new release day over at digital freebies today. I've released an addon kit to my A Little Elegance kit called "A Little Extra Elegance" as well as the Elegance bracket album. You can pick them both up for 30% off until Monday, August 5 here.

And you know I totally forgot to post last week that I was having a CT call! I guess I'm going to have to extend my call, since I forgot to mention it. I'm pretty laid back, I just need a little help getting layouts and promotion done! And I would like to see layouts made with my kits to help me make a decision...so pick something up. It can be a freebie or two. Right now you can pick up several freebies right here from my blog or from my Designs in Digital Store. I'd love to see what you have to show me.

so here's the fine print:

-2 layouts per kit requested-post to digital freebies, designs in digital and dst
-promote my designs at DST forums or anywhere else
-participate in SGD CT forum

How to apply:send an email to simplegirldesigns@gmail.com with:
-a link to your favorite layout using Simple Girl Designs(you can use any kit or blog freebie, or combination therein, but it must be all SGD product)
-any ct’s you currently serve on (and your handle)-a link to your best gallery
-tell me your favorite element
-anything else you think will convince me! (blinkie makers and preview masters this means you!!!!)

Check back because I'm going to have to extend my call....and maybe there'll be another freebie in it for ya! Plus later this week, there will be mega kits coming out at both stores....fun, fun, fun....and I have some pretty snazzy new releases coming out next week too!

Jeez....where did the weekend go and New Releases!

noreply@blogger.com (smplgrl) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 18:50:00 +0000

Can anyone tell me where the weekend went? I can't believe it is already Tuesday. Seems like it was just Friday and I was celebrating the 5000 hit mark with some fabulous freebies!

Well for starters, we spent most of the day Saturday getting my rising middle schoolers room changed over from little boy to big boy. That took some doing. We went through his closet, he has grown so fast, I pulled out three bags of clothing that no longer fits the boy. We got him a new desk and rearranged the room. We've gotta start putting some stuff on the walls, they are looking a little boring. I'll have to get some pics of the newly arranged room posted soon.

Then on Sunday, we had two separate birthday parties to attend in the afternoon, plus I was trying to catch up on laundry. In a house full of boys, there is always a mountain of dirty clothes. Later on Sunday I surprised Alan with tickets to the RUSH concert that evening. His birthday is in August and kinda got pushed to the side with all the wedding stuff last year, so I wanted to make it special for him this year. He was completely excited and suprised and we had a great time!

So my celebration of blog visitors continues. So I am going to make a great offer for all my blog readers that stop by. I have posted a grab bag in my store at Designs in Digital. Its a great deal. Its three mini/sampler kits for three (3) dollars, that's just $1/kit. These are not duplicate items and coordinate with several of my kits available in the store 19 items in all. Click on the bag for more details.

Now take a look at my latest kit, A Little Elegance. I released it at my store at Digital Freebies last week and tomorrow, July 23 it will be released at my store in Designs in Digital. And because Meg the new owner is sooooooo crazzzzzzy generous, you can pick it for the first day for half the price! What a steal!

So mark your calendars, sign up for the DID newsletter, because from now on DID will be releasing new products each Wednesday and every Wednesday new releases will be half price. After that (Thursday-Sunday) they will be 30% off. So even if you can't get into the store on Wednesday, you can still pick up a great deal through the weekend.

And because I'm feeling so generous, here's a super steal. Everyone that buys the new kit, A Little Elegance, from July 23-July 27 will receive this bracket album for FREE! Better get shopping!

Have a great day!

~Tanya

Simple Girl Designs

Whoops....and another freebie

noreply@blogger.com (smplgrl) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 22:52:00 +0000

ok.....in an effort to thwart (dontcha just love that word) early birds who hack in to the 4 shared account and download my freebies before I had actually released them I had so cleverly checked the box "only publisher can download" and then went and unchecked it this morning when 5000 hits were counted. Unfortunately.....I overlooked the special save button next to that box and hit the one at the bottom instead.

Sooooooooo.....all the 200 folks that stopped by looking for the freebie got an error message. Jeez....I was too smart for myself. So I have fixed that and the link should work just peachy keen so give it a whirl again and if it doesn't work...Please leave me a comment letting me know if its still not working. And just because I value your time, especially those who stopped by twice. I've uploaded another little goodie just to say thanks and sorry for the oops! I was saving it for another freebie day....but....I felt so bad, just wanted to give you a little something!!

Download here
from my store at Designs in Digital
or here

5000 Hits & counting!

noreply@blogger.com (smplgrl) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 04:58:00 +0000

Well, you did it! I hit the Magic number, 5000! So, I'm throwing a little party to celebrate 5000 hits and have a fabulous party treat for ya!

Just for stopping by today you can get a door prize! A teaser kit for free just cause I think its pretty cool that I've had 5000 visits to my blog.

download it here
from my store at Designs in Digital

or here

I'll be back later to post more party news. Just wanted to get this out to you right away!
~Tanya
Simple Girl Designs

I promised....and a couple of other things!

noreply@blogger.com (smplgrl) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:31:00 +0000

Ok....so I promised to post a freebie today no-matter-what and I will. But first I wanted to give you more info about what's coming up in Simple Girl's Little Ole Scrap World! Ok....do you notice the counter over there to the left of the screen....you may need to scroll down. Well it is quickly approaching the 5000 hit mark! Unbelievable (to me). And my guess is that once I post all around the digi-scrap town that I have a freebie on my blog, it will go beyond 5000. So....to celebrate that little fact, I am locked and loaded to fire off a "5000 Hits Thank You Prize".

Its all ready to be linked up as soon as I am made aware of the 5000 hit mark! So be sure to come back by in the next couple of days and see if its here for you. I'll leave it up for a few days.

I also wanted to give you a little looksy at a portion of the August Collab kit (Punky Funky Firecracker) that will be available at Designs in Digital starting August 1. The colors are so much fun with this kit plenty of brights here! All of the designers over at DID have contributed, so it should be pretty awesome kit!

Okay, so here it is, the well deserved freebie that I promised yesterday. Its a simple quick page made from items available in my Almost White Mini-kit (which comes with another QP that you can embellish further) which you can pick up at DID or DF.

download here
and please remember to route people here to pick up this freebie, thanks!

Oh...before you leave, mark your calendar to come back soon for the 5000 hit freebie and also come back after that, cause I'm planning a special deal for next week over at Designs in Digital.

~til then,

Tanya
Simple Girl Designs

New releases! Upcoming Celebration and More sales Soon!

noreply@blogger.com (smplgrl) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:11:00 +0000

Summer has been so busy this year. I can't believe we are appoaching the last leg of summer and school is right around the corner. So close, we are going school shopping this week.(well I got 30% at kohl's on top of their sale....can't miss that right? Since I have an up and coming middle schooler, we need to shop for some more appropriate middle school clothes and shoes. And then of course there's my 6 year old fashion diva....who really only wants to wear Tony Hawk or something that looks like it could be Tony Hawk. We've been getting Josh's room ready for middle school...got him a desk, we're going to get in there this weekend and organize it better, (there are still some winter clothes in there...ahem). I think all this getting ready is just to help get me ready more than anything. 5th grade was a pretty easy year for us. And I have heard nightmares about kids starting middle school.....so I am bracing myself for a wild ride.

On the scrapbooking front, I am currently selling at two stores, Designs in Digital and also Digital Freebies. Designs in Digital has recently gone through an ownership change and those of us still over there are working to make the store really great. Right now there's a super cool design contest going on. So check it out and vote(free download) for one of your friends or a rising designer. The winner will join the Designs in Digital Design team.

We have so many things coming up at Designs in Digital. In August we will begin the Scrap Factor Contest with a fabulous grand prize, so check back for more details. Each of us at DID have designed original mini-kits as part of the start-up packet you can get to participate in the challenge. Here's a peek at my kit that's included in the start up packet:

This kit will not be available for sell until after the challenge, plus I have an add-on kit I will offer at that time too. BUT I will offer a coupon to get the add-on for FREEEEEE for all of those who buy the start-up packet! Check back here for more details about this contest and also hopefully soon a preview of the entire startup kit!!

Later this week I hope to tease you with the upcoming August mega kit at Designs in Digital....so far it is looking awesome! And again....I will have an accompanying pack of some type!

I have some fabulous new releases this week at Digital Freebies. As I am setting up store there, I am adding product and all of my stuff will be on sale as it is added to the store over the next few weeks. At digital freebies this week you will find my latest kit, A little Elegance, where it is currently on sale for 30% off this week only.

You'll also find my recent Almost White Mini-kit at 30% off there as well!

I have also uploaded an older kit, which is quite lovely for this time of year, Fishin' Hole and the Fishin' Hole QP's...all 30% off this week!! How cool is that!

Be sure to check back I am working on a little celebration because my hit counter is approaching 5000 hits! Wow! 5000 hits. That's something worth celebrating, right! So I am planning something special for all you folks that stop by and check out my little life. I've been trying to get together a freebie for blog readers....so hang in there, its a coming. And I'm toying with a grab bag sale to celebrate hitting the 5000 mark. I'd love to hear what you think about grab bags!

Ok...this was incredibly long....I promise to be back in the next 24 hours with some kind of a freebie, you deserve it!

~Tanya

Simple Girl Designs

getting back into the groove of things!

noreply@blogger.com (smplgrl) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:52:00 +0000

Brand new mini-kit in my store at Designs in Digital:

Almost White mini-kit and it comes with a bonus quick page.

find it here.

Also available as separate paper and element packs!

find it here.

find it here.

And that is a perfect way to celebrate a Brand New Shopper Sale going on now at Designs in Digital!!! If you've never shopped at Designs in Digital, this is the sale for you! The entire store is 60% off for first time shoppers. Click on the ad to go the store page and get more details!

Enjoy the sale!!!

~Tanya~

Simple Girl Designs

summer, summer, summer

noreply@blogger.com (smplgrl) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 02:47:00 +0000

Where on earth did spring go? It was a glorious spring here in the Carolinas. And summer has been quite bearable. I guess the beautiful spring kinda kept me busy and away from blogging. Lots has happened. Let's catch up a moment, shall we?

The school year ended with a bang. Two graduates, my kindergartner and my fifth grader. So I am just a few short weeks away from being the frazzled mother of a middle-schooler. Not too happy about that either.

My little garden patch has kept me quite busy. I am now harvesting tomatoes, cukes, eggplants, watermelon and peppers, tons of peppers. We had our first watermelon on Saturday...the boys were super excited to eat a watermelon that we planted and raised. I made pepper jelly last weekend and made peach jam from peaches we picked up at a peach farm on our way back from the beach. I picked wild blackberries on the side of the road Saturday, got two whole quarts!!! I made blackberry jam with those. Not sure why I am making so much jam...but hopefully it will turn out tasty! I plan to make pickles and maybe something with tomatoes to can as well. Our pumpkins are coming along nicely as well. Hopefully we will have our own pumpkins this year and not have to buy any from a market.

my little basket of harvest goodies!

Proud watermelon farmer!!

Homemade Peach Jam!

Homemade Golden Pepper Jelly!

I also have been busy creating stuff for my digital scrapbooking store over at Designs in Digital. Check out these new kits just loaded this week!

I just recently got an opportunity for a three month stint at Digital Freebies, so I am super excited! I have new releases coming out tomorrow at Digital Freebies. Check back here for a fabulous freebie and updates on what's going up in the stores. Take a peek at my latest layouts on your way out!

credits here

May Day, May Day...WooHoo, I'm a Designer

noreply@blogger.com (smplgrl) — Fri, 02 May 2008 03:42:00 +0000

Ok....so here's the really brief summary of the last two months so I can get right to the current news.

March: In a word "mayhem". OMG....it was so crazy...work kicked my butt, ADSR kicked my butt so bad, I bailed before finishing. Hopefully Cole has forgiven me for recruiting and then flaking out! She keeps returning my emails, LOL. My husband got bersitis or something in his knee hobbled about for two weeks, poor thing. My kids swung my mothers porch screen right out of the support beams...way to go kiddos. I was so glad that March was over so April could just be an "easy" month.

April: Not quite as a chaotic as March, but sped past. My designing mojo returned with a vengence at the end of March and has been fueling me for weeks now. Let's see apparently six months into our new neighborhood we have been deemed the "crazy ones" from the us four and no more crew up the street...oh well, somebody's got to be the "resident crazy". I won't even go into the neighbor issues...jeez....but I have a plan to renegotiate our crazy status on the block. Onto other April news, hubby was back at the doctor for a splinter gone really wrong that led to an infection...this was obtained during the repair of the great porch swing calamity of 2008. I finally gained the nerve to begin applying to digi-scrapping stores for designer spots. Which leads to my big news!!!

I am so thrilled to announce that I have been picked up by Designs in Digital as a designer there. I have been working diligently to package my wares and stock my shelves there. And in an attempt to get my name out there I made a banner to advertise. Check it out below. I will be sporting it somewhere on the blog eventually.

click on the banner to check out my store! Once I get all my current stock into the store I am going to have a "grand opening" so be sure to stop by here or my new store for more details.

so stop back by, there may be a little treat for ya!!

A Million Little Pieces.....Not a book review, trust me.

noreply@blogger.com (smplgrl) — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 03:47:00 +0000

I heard a noise today, sounded like a small contained explosion in my kitchen. My 11 year old, said it was nothing...the next sign that it was definately something. I went to check out the situation. When I arrived in the kitchen, the boy sat very still...another sign, something was amiss. I asked him again what the noise was, he stated calmly the microwave, his snack exploded. Great, I'm thinking to myself, another microwave casualty. I open the microwave and nearly fall over...a million little pieces is what greets me. A million little pieces clinging to every possible surface inside the microwave. And upon opening the microwave that hovers above my stove, some of the million pieces begin to drop, onto the stove and the floor.

Oh...you're probably wondering at this point, hmmm a million little pieces of what? Well, a milllion little pieces is what you find when your 11 year old hits the high button for one minute and walks away after placing a hard boiled egg inside. For those of you keeping score, there were about 20 seconds left on the timer, factor in the sprint to the microwave to stop it, I figure about 32 seconds is the threshhold for a large cold hard boiled egg to handle the high heat of the microwave before actually exploding, but don't take my word for it.

Upon making this discovery, I simply closed the microwave, hung my head in shock and disbelief and asked my son...why? Why did you put a hard boiled egg in the microwave? To cook it he answered. Sweetie, it was already cooked, I replied. OOOOOHHHH, he said and then added, but it had been put back in the fridge and was cold I wanted to kill the tapeworms. Mom, I didn't want to get a tapeworm, he says to me, completely serious, as though this is common knowledge. At this point my head nearly snaps off from the million mile double take at that response....the whhhhaaattt?

I guess at this point I need to let you know my kids have this preoccupation with tapeworms...ummmm....not because we have them.....because they saw one show-one ridiculous episode of that moronic show on nickelodeon, Mr. Meaty, and they saw it like...8 months ago. We have had countless tapeworm discussions in the last 8 months. I'd been better off if they had seen a horror movie. Anyway back to the attempted tape-worm killing, egg-laden microwave incident....

I then explain to my son that boiled eggs are fine to eat cold, they don't need to go in the microwave....plllleaaasse...don't ever put one in the microwave again. Ok, mom, he says, he's terribly sorry, but still not sure how to stay safe from the tapeworms. In his mind, the cold temp provides parasites an opportunity to inhabit his food...again...I have no idea where this is coming from. Finally I look at him and ask him when the last time was he had food at home from the fridge or otherwise with worms or bugs in it. Never, he replies. Enough said kid, no bugs, or tapeworms in the food, got it. Got it mom. Remarkably all this did take place as a rather calm conversation...I think I was in shock. About ten minutes into cleaning up the mess, we both crack up...and he says finally, It was really something when it exploded mom.

It took me about 15 minutes to clean up the mess However, everytime we open and shut the microwave door now, we do have exploded egg remnants falling back through the little teeny vent holes that got pushed through the holes during the catastrophe. Wonder how long that will last. (just in case you ever find yourself cleaning exploded boiled egg, go with dry cleaning supplies, papertowels and a dustbroom and pan worked great for me, to clear away all the egg, then use your liquid cleaner to sanitize and really clean).

Thats the big excitement round her today....Check out this layout I finished up for my CT at digital freebies, before you go:

credits here

New Layouts!

noreply@blogger.com (smplgrl) — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 22:36:00 +0000

I've finished a couple of layouts for digital freebies CT.

This one is of my sister and her husband being silly at her birthday party.

credits here

This one is using the february club kits...only took me a whole month to get one done! The various flowers in the layout are pictures I took while we were on our honeymoon.

credits here

Ok...here's my #1 challenge layout for the ADSR:

credits here

Thanks for looking!!

ADSR starts today..working on a new kit...getting old...visiting the DMV

noreply@blogger.com (smplgrl) — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 19:55:00 +0000

Well, today is the day. The ADSR starts today. I am excited to see what the challenges will be like.

So I'm working on a new kit! The name of the kit is So In Love...inspired by and for my friends Denise & Franz's wedding. Here is a sneak peek of the color scheme on some of the first papers I've completed.

Not sure where that blue stripe came from...hmmm...suffice it to say it is not part of the kit!! You can see the inspiration for the kit from the photos below. My gift to them was a personally designed scrapbook of their wedding day.

Visited the DMV Friday afternoon, finally....Its only taken me six months since we got married to navigate my way to the DMV to change my driver's license. Partly because, well I 'm just a bit slow at times...but I had a little help with this one. To start out, our marriage license was signed incorrectly. So after returning from our honeymoon we had to retrieve our license from the register of deeds and mail it to my sister in FL so she could ahem...correct her signature. Some nonsense about signing her name differently than the way she wrote it out...that took a couple of weeks.

Then after getting that back sending it back to the register of deeds and then waiting a couple of weeks for them to wave their magic wand over it, we finally took a morning off to go about town and complete all the legal paperwork. Jeez what a mess. It took all morning to go to the social security office and complete my paperwork. Which is quite messy. Not only was I married before, but I kinda have two maiden names...crazy huh....the long and the short of it. A stepdad legally changed my name to his when I was 12. Upon adulthood I reunited with my biological father and he "undid" the name change and had my name changed back to my birth name. So here I come to the social security office with all these legal documents, adoption papers, divorce papers, marriage license. On paper I truly look like a basket case!! (After getting it changed at social security...which was really pretty easy when you have the right papers.) I am then told I have to wait for a minimum of 24 hours before attempting to get my driver's license, but I would really be better off to wait until I received my new card in the mail.

Well that took a couple of weeks. Then we moved and I lost...no misplaced my legal docs file that I would need to take to the DMV. Just found it last week...so now I have a current photo ID. Yay...It even has the right address on it. Very impressive, first time in about three years...shhhhh...don't tell anyone.

Apparently while I was at the DMV some lady was arrested for identity theft. I was so distracted, I was reading and listening to my ipod, that I missed that. Of course while at the DMV the picture taking station had to die and we had to wait forever to get our pictures taken. But its all done now and I don't have to go back again for two years!!

Well thanks for stopping by. No freebies today. I'll see what I can get together in the near future. On your way out check out another one of our engagement pages. I've still got a few more to do before I can start on our wedding.

credits here

Humpday, Freebie

noreply@blogger.com (smplgrl) — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 14:32:00 +0000

Ok, so I'm still dealing with the piracy aftermath. Don't want to seem like a big meanie. Here's the freebie I promised. Working on some layouts. I'll upload those when I get a minute. Looking forward to the ADSR starting on Sunday.

click here to get the last freebie that goes with the chocolate and flowers kit.

Gotta run...busy day.

ARGGGHHHH.....I'VE BEEN PIRATED!

noreply@blogger.com (smplgrl) — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 00:32:00 +0000

ummm...not sure exactly how it happened, but in this last batch of piracy issues (the notorious 6000+ usurped files) all my brand new not even released in a store kits got snagged and passed around, sold, what have you.

Perhaps I should be really, really devastated. But I'm not. Disappointed yes...completely. My stuff got unveiled before I had a chance to officially release it. I've been patiently waiting the opportunity to announce that I had stuff to sell. Oh well. As you can imagine, this little snafu will delay that announcement. Bummer.

And I'm not going to tirade about the evilness of modern day digi-pirates and what they are doing. That horse has been beaten to an incredibly bloody pulp all over the digi-scrapping world. The pirates know what they are doing and that it is wrong. Let me just tell you when it was brought to my attention that I had been pirated, I had this overwhelming feeling of confusion, shock and powerlessness. Its kind of like an invisible person, a ghost if you will slipping into your art gallery that is awaiting opening night and stealing all your pieces right off the wall, taking them to kinko's, making thousands of copies and then plastering them all over town. Rather deflating, to say the least, when you discover your "art" on display elsewhere unbeknownst to you, while you were progressing towards opening night.

I had one freebie left to give out...of course the hackers have probably already snagged it. Just not feeling in a giving mood. I need a few days to recover my mojo. Check back later this week, when I feel like giving away the mini-kit below for free...

Amost Valentine's Day, ADSR & a freebie

noreply@blogger.com (smplgrl) — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 13:53:00 +0000

Its almost Valentine's Day. Only two more days. Ok, so speaking as a total newlywed, why do we have to got to work on Valentine's Day. We should have that day off from work. They could call it relationship development day. I know, I know there are a lot of people out there who hate Valentine's Day...and have nothing to be excited about. I don't mean to sound like I am gloating...I'm just so fortunate to have such a sweetie for husband. He really is a sweet man and so very thoughtful..all the time.

Trust me...my first marriage was not so blissful and loving...even only six months in(I remained in that miserable marriage for 7 years)...so I deserve a minute to relish in the excitement of new, appreciative, respectful and healthy love....

So I'm a bit inspired these days...the ramp up towards Valentine's day has got me thinking about my hubby and our relationship, and how fortunate we are to have found one another. We knew right away we were soul mates...but waited (2.5 years) and took our time (because of my kids) before getting married.

I am scrapping our engagement photos, here's one of my favorites so far.

credits here

I really was very uncomfortable with having my photo taken. So in all the tight shots where we were facing one another...Alan kept crossing his eyes and making silly faces before the photographer snapped. Kept me laughing. He's definately a keeper.

I'm taking the plunge, joining the race, the amazing digi scrap race that is. I have partnered with Cole check out her Digital Freebies Gallery here. She's an up and coming designer...check out her blog here. She made a really cool blinkie for us!! And we even have a blog to post our ADSR (mis)adventures!!

And here's the freebie, as promised:

Download here

TGIF....finally!

noreply@blogger.com (smplgrl) — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 21:48:00 +0000

Ok so just a quickie here. My week has been so hectic. Its never a good thing to miss the first two days of the work week, ya know. The doctor called today. Apparently my son has had strept throat all week after all. Perhaps that explains why he's been so tired...which is unusual for him.

Why don't they just listen to moms? Doctors that is. I told her that he had had a lingering extremely sore throat for nearly a week when we went on Tuesday. I told her that my son had spent a lot of time over the last week or so with a child that had just been diagnosed (the day before our Dr. visit) with strept throat. I told her that he didn't seem to have any normal symptoms outside of a very sore throat, but that my gut was telling me it was more than a cold, because my child is up and at 'em in the morning usually and never complains of sickness. And that day, he just could not get out of bed and said he could not go to school and his throat hurt really, really bad. You kinda have to apply the "dog years" theory to my child's symptom complaints. By the time the symptoms have held his attention long enough to warrant complaining to mom more than once...he must be reaaalllly uncomfortable....chances are his discomfort and or sickness is several times worse than it would have been if he had complained at the first hint of it. Ok...sorry for the rant...but some doctors...well...they just make me crazy.

Ok...since I was sick this week I am behind on everything....so here's a little freebie for ya...cause I gotta run.

click here to download

Catching Up, Challenges...and a freebie

noreply@blogger.com (smplgrl) — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 15:53:00 +0000

Well, I've been horribly neglectful of my blog over the last little while, but I kinda have been a tad busy. We moved in November, barely got the house unpacked enough for Christmas, had a huge Christmas feast, featuring a roast beast, of which there were no leftovers. There has been one birthday after another beginning in November. The last three months have been a whirlwind. Its no wonder I am sick...again. Nothing major, but I have had three horrible, mind-muddling, energy snatching sinus infection/cough/cold thingies. Since November. Yuck!

So I am at home today, and my oldest is home as well. Will have to take him to the doctor later, he just might have strept throat. My youngest cried all morning at the sheer devastation that he would actually have to attend school and would not be allowed to stay home since his brother is sick. He actually whined to me that he needed a break from school. Um...excuse me, you are in kindergarten little fella...and you are not sick!

I am working on a couple of layouts using the club kit from digital freebies which is actually two complete coordinating kits from two different designers. This month's kit is designed by Karen Lewis and Danielle Engebretson. It is so cute and colorful. Take a look at the kits below.

It is such a bargain! Head over to Digital Freebies and you can pick up both these kits for just $5 total. And they both made all kinds of coordinating addons to go with their club kits that you can pick up in the boutique!! I'll post my layouts when they're complete...still gotta find the right pics.

I'm also working on a QP bundle for retrodiva using her All I Need and the add- on kits. Those kits are so gorgeous. I'll let you know when those are finished and posted in the store as well. Some of the other members of the CT have got some completely awesome QP albums in the store. Retrodiva is so awesome to be giving her CT a chance to design and sell in her store!!

I've got a few challenges going on as well and I've been bitten by the designing bug this past month. I've been wanting to design for a while, but haven't really felt ready for it. I'm hoping that the inspiration will continue and I will continue to improve my skills and maybe even carve out a style. So here are a couple of freebies you can get your hands on during the month of February:

Check out the Scraplift Challenge at Digital Freebies this month to pick up this little kit, "bring me flowers & chocolate add-on".

It's a weekly challenge hosted by me and the kit will be divided into four parts for the month of February.

At retrodiva this month I will be giving away this kit "More Chocolate & Flowers" for the Font Challenge.

This challenge runs twice a month, so half the kit will be given out at the end of each challenge.

I also share the hosting with Conny for the Template Challenge at Retrodiva. Conny has posted a gorgeous template for Valentine's day for the first part of the month and the prize is a beautiful QP from retrodiva using her newest kit, Just So You Know. I'll be posting the second template this month around the 15th.

Terribly long post, but I have been neglectful. So for hanging in there here's a little freebie for your time. It coordinates with the kits above and I have more where this came from so check back! You might get lucky!

download here
Download it quick before the link expires! I'll be back later this week with more goodies.

Thanks for stopping by!
Tanya

Winter stopped by today....

noreply@blogger.com (smplgrl) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 17:54:00 +0000

So we got winter for one whole day. Don't get me wrong, it gets cold down here in the sunny south. Its been a strange winter. Two weeks before Christmas the weather was breaking heat records, and now we have icy-snow-rain day. And I know all you yankees think we are big wimps cause they close the schools or delay them for very little down here. But just remember this since we don't get as much as the northern states, we just don't have all the trucks and slag and stuff. its really not a great use of the tax money to have an army of salt/slag trucks that get used twice a year ya' know.

And, as of Jan 1, umm...its summer round here in the retail world. They had bikinis in the retail stores by the first of January, and good luck finding gloves or scarves if you didn't buy them before Christmas. I went to Target yesterday to get boots for the boys, my gut just told me we would get something today and the boys outgrew their boots and I hadn't replaced them, cause it had been such a warm winter. There were three pairs of boots left. So I bought a pair for each of the boys, don't think they will even fit properly, but at least they will stay dry.

Check out these pictures I took in the rainy snow:

Made a layout using the photos and a fabulous kit from retrodiva, blue christmas.

Full credits can be found here.

I'm working on a kit, we'll see what happens.

Let's see Christmas was fun around these parts. We had a nice Christmas dinner, with lots of friends and family and unbelievably not one picture was taken. My sister and her husband came up for Christmas. It was fun having all the family together. My sister got a major haircut, she hasn't had short hair in about 18 years. It looks great! The boys were completely spoiled. Its so hard not to be, they both have birthdays scattered during the holidays as well.

Here are some of the layouts I made for Christmas:

Full credits here

Full credits here

I tried so hard to participate in the 40 days of scrapping over at Divine Digital, but I only got one layout completed, before the holidays took over:

Full credits here

Well that's all for now. I'll stop in later with some shots of my new kit!!

The end of 2007

noreply@blogger.com (smplgrl) — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 13:57:00 +0000

So here it is the end of 2007. I gotta tell you...I am ready for 2008. 2007 has been a rascal of a year around here. There have been some pretty great things; getting married, buying a gorgeous new house, hosting a fantabulous Christmas party. But some serious low points and craziness of 2007. My mom and fiance(at the time) were laid off within days of one another in March and have been searching for full time work ever since. My mom was diagnosed with uterine cancer in July and had a full hysterectomy three weeks before my wedding; then underwent radiation for 6 weeks through September and October which wreaked havoc on her diabetes. I am really ready for this year to end, because next year has got to be overall a better year.

We bought a house!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (smplgrl) — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 19:11:00 +0000

Okay so I've been MIA lately, cause we've been running ourselves ragged to maintain the status quo at home while jumping through all the mortgage lender hoops and packing up our house at the same time. We did buy a house and we moved in over the weekend. I am still kinda not used to the new place. I find myself walking around in disbelief that it is ours. Its pretty much the nicest place I've ever lived, its brand new...which is really cool. We are up to our ears in boxes right now...and we are trying to get things in order. I hope to make tremendous progress over the long holiday weekend. We'll see.

I am really behind in my scrapbooking ventures. I've downloaded lots of kits so I can get caught up on my CT duties. There is some awesome stuff right now at http://www.digitalfreebies.com/ and http://www.retrodiva.net/.

The club kits are gorgeous on both sites and so worth the teeny tiny $5.

And if you are into totally free stuff...that's worth downloading because it is spectacular....check out this site http://www.digitalscrapbookingfreebies.com/. The club kit and free collection there are amazing right now. Join the mailing lists so you know what's going on and you'll rack up even more freebies.

North Carolina---The New Dust Bowl

noreply@blogger.com (smplgrl) — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 19:08:00 +0000

We need some serious rain around here. At my sons' soccer game this week there was a foggy haze hovering just above the field. It took me a while but I finally figured out it was the dust from the gravel parking lot just hanging in the air. Just a teensy bit eerie.

So halloween is just around the corner and of course Gabe has known what he would be for weeks, Dracula. Its a mild version of dracula. Really I think he just wants to dress up again, ya know since Dracula is kinda stylin' with his velvet tux, satin cape and bow tie!! He looks very cute and insists on wearing his black loafers because his sneakers are just not dressy enough. Josh is still trying to figure it out. He has to make a decision this week or he is gonna wind up being a hobo.

Hopefully we will being buying a house soon and moving. We have a house in mind and are hoping to sign a contract in the near future if we can actually afford it. Keep you posted.

Hey check out www.retrodiva.net. I recently joined the creative team there and will be hosting a font challenge. Retrodiva's stuff is gorgeous...I so have a secret scrap crush on her designs.

That's all for now. I'll be back soon and bring some picks too!

Template Challenge!!

noreply@blogger.com (smplgrl) — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 05:09:00 +0000

I've posted a new Template Challenge at Digital Candy. Come and play!!!! Great template, Great Prize!!!!

I created the prize for this challenge and it coordinates with a little blog freebie (prize) if you read through the previous blog post. Short and sweet today!!!

Married...3 weeks and holding!

noreply@blogger.com (smplgrl) — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 12:31:00 +0000

Forgive me blog world, for I have sinned its been 2.5 months since I last blogged. So very much to catch up on here. Strap on your seat belts, grab a snack and whatever caffeine laden liquid you prefer 'cause here we go:

Its hard to believe that three weeks ago I was running around like a total crazy girl finishing up the last minute details before our wedding on 8/18/07. We had such a fun and special day, it was all worth it. I just received my photos from the photographer yesterday. Very exciting...can't wait to start scrapping all those. We got such a great deal, the photographer is developing her professional portfolio, so she gave us a cd (actually 5 cd's) with over 300 photos from our wedding day and we have printing rights. I was thrilled at that, then I can scrapbook what I want.

So here are the details of our special day/weekend. I took off from work the week prior to the wedding...a lot was done, but there was so much last minute running around to do. On Thursday, my mom, sister and I had manicures and pedicures...super fun. Friday we set up for the wedding all day at the church where I work. We decided to do it there, because we were not going to have any booze, so we decided to have a BBQ reception at the church after the wedding...keep it simple, right? OK...sorry on to /set-up rehearsal Friday.

Thursday evening we tried on tuxedos...I have a layout to prove it...scroll down! Gabe had a total and complete melt-down when he had to take his tux off. He loved wearing it. I had to keep promising him that he could wear it again in a couple of days. Josh's tux jacket sleeves had to be let out, so I did not manage to get one picture of him in his tux at the bridal shop. We took the tuxes, my dress, my mother's dress, and the bridesmaids dresses over to the church where we were meeting all my parents to commence table cloth ironing. With about 20 table cloths its a good thing we got started early. One less thing to do on Friday.

We spent all day Friday setting up the reception. What took the most time, were the centerpieces of course. Pretty simple, but tedious none-the-less. It was through this process that I determined that I had absolutely no talent for arranging even a simple, simple flower arrangement, even while equipped with color photo and comments from Martha Stewart's magazine. So my sister, came to the rescue and worked it out. And the centerpieces (see below) came out looking quite nice. We had to add three tables to the reception area so I had to run out and buy more flowers at the last minute for the tables. I ordered seven dozen roses for the cake...it was gorgeous. Around 2:30 my best friend from college arrived from New Jersey, we hadn't seen each other in 11 years and that doesn't really count, cause she just crashed at my house over night in route to New Orleans. My nails had gotten ruined from the set-up so my friend and I were ordered away from set up and to the nail salon for manicures and catch up time.

Oh and during this time my wedding cake went missing. My very sweet girlfriend, Dawn, who hosted my bridal shower offered to make the cake for the wedding, she did a trial run at the shower and it looked great and tasted great too. Wednesday before the wedding her three year old became ill. Now she had already made the cakes and was planning to begin icing them that day. I checked in with her and visited with Belle, who just didn't look right. Dawn wasn't too worried(or wasn't letting on to me that she was), they were going to the doctor and would probably need to run a couple of tests, but she felt certain they would be back later that day and she would be able to get to the cake....no worries.

6:30 Thursday morning I received a call from Dawn's husband, Belle had been hospitalized over night and has been running a temp of 105 and Dawn has been at the hospital all night with her. OK...I called Dawn later, she thought they would be released sometime later that day, still not worried. By Thursday evening,they had called in the CDC to figure out what was wrong with her and were doing blood cultures, she was still running a 105 temp. Bypass worry head straight for scared, and oops...there's the whole cake issue to address. So here I am totally worried about my friend's daughter who has become suddenly very ill and now I am trying to get the wedding cake away from her, so she can worry about her daughter without worrying about the cake. Dawn is a total type A and was not wanting to let me down and wanted to finish the cake herself...she was completely exhausted and not thinking straight, but short of breaking into her house (which I considered), I could not wrangle that cake away from her. Finally she had her husband drop the cake off to a baker friend and we picked the cake up at 4:00 pm Friday evening, just before the rehearsal. I sent Alan out to the boonies armed with very little knowledge about the area and a cell phone to retrieve the cake on his way to the rehearsal. So the next order of business...get a couple of friends who had not seen the cake, touched the cake or been near the cake, to assemble the four tiers and the seven dozen rose buds all over the cake first thing Saturday morning, no problem!My college friend and best girlfriend round town jumped in and put it together Saturday morning. So my wedding cake was a labor of love by my three best girlfriends, kinda neat when you think about it. (BTW: Belle is on the mend, it was determined some time on Friday that she had an extremely dangerous strain of an e-coli infection, like the strain that can kill a person. She wasn't released from the hospital until sometime Monday, poor baby. She is still on medicine for this today.)

The rehearsal went well. We rehearsed the walking in, the walking out, the giving away, the seating of the mothers...we forgot to rehearse the exchanging of the rings, which apparently would have been a plus, as we learned during the ceremony on Saturday. After the rehearsal, we all went to the rehearsal dinner which took place a small restaurant in the area. My parents had arranged it and set it up while we were setting up the reception area. It was a nice evening. It was nice to see all the people special to us (except Dawn and Belle) there. After the dinner, Casey (Dawn's hubby) took Alan and the boys bowling for a family style bachelor party. My college friend, sister and another friend came to my house to hang out for a while. It was fun to sit down and relax and chat with an old friend.

My friend Kassia left around 1:15 am and I had to be back up at 6:00 am to give Josh his medicine and pack, and write the remaining checks to be given out later in the day and shower and get the boys ready and all of us out of the house by 8:30. I am a very lucky person. Even on the eve of such excitement, I fell right to sleep.

Saturday morning my dad picked up the boys at 8:30 and I was packed and ready to go. I went straight to Starbucks for my fix...a Venti chai tea latte (thank you very much) and then onto the salon to have my hair and makeup done. Had to buy lip gloss from the salon, because I realized, I had not thought about lip stick for the day and had not brought any with me. oh well, new aveda lip gloss for me it is! The girl who did my hair and makeup did a fab job and had me out of there before 10:30. I moseyed...yes moseyed, over to the church and snuck into the reception area to see how things were shaping up. It was starting to look like a real event. My girlfriends had finished the cake and were awaiting my approval. I thought it looked great. Everything was getting exciting. I had to sneak up to the bridal suite to get dressed. I was the first one there, ahead of my mom and sister and step-daughter. My dress laced up the back, and my mom couldn't do it, so my sister was going to have to get busy lacing me up. The photographer came in and started snapping away while were getting ready. She took a ton of shots of odds and ends that really looked nice when I saw them. The grooms pictures were taking place while we were getting ready and then we went into the sanctuary for the bride's side of pictures. I think that really helped to calm my nerves a little bit...although I was not as anxious as I expected, actually I was pretty calm....I think it helped that I had some time to myself that morning. We finished up bridal pictures just 15 minutes before the ceremony started and would you believe it, we actually started on time.

The ceremony was a surreal experience. I expected to be a bundle of nerves and shaky...but I wasn't. I waved to people that I had not seen in forever and before I knew it I was at the alter. My dad gave me away. And a minister whom I work for, and who is just the sweetest man ever, performed the ceremony. He was the most emotional of us all believe it or not. He did our pre-marital counseling and had told us several times that he knew we were just right for one another. The ceremony was over before we knew it but we did have one little snafu...the rings!! We forgot to rehearse that part of the ceremony. So Bruce (the minister) asked for the ring and Alan got it out and while Bruce is going on about the ring and its symbolism, Alan is doing his darnedest to shove that ring on my hot, swollen finger. He finally got it on about the same time that Bruce announced, "Alan, place the ring on Tanya's finger and repeat after me"...Alan and I giggled and Alan let out this big "oops". Bruce then said, "OK, Alan hold the ring on Tanya's finger and repeat after me". It got a chuckle from the crowd. Pretty funny. Minutes later we were married...its still sinking in for us.

We made it to the reception about 45 minutes after the ceremony ended, with pictures completed. All told there were about 100 people for the wedding/reception. We did not sit down and did not get to talk to everyone either. I wished I had had more time with some folks, especially those from out of town. We served BBQ and beans and rolls and chips and fruit salad and a cheese tray. The boys had a blast at the reception, and they were remarkably well-behaved for both the ceremony and reception. I wanted them to have fond memories of the day, because this was not about just Alan and me...this was a huge event for them as well. Gabe was particularly happy, because now Alan can sleep over, and he hopes he will camp out in his room with him.

After the wedding, we drove up to the mountains. We are only a couple of hours from the mountains. We stayed at a friend's cabin in the Linville, NC area. It was so peaceful and quiet. It was a nice getaway for a few days. Alan has promised to take us on a cruise, once he gets settled into a permanent FT position...yes he is still trying to wrangle a FT job....more about that later. We went to grandfather mountain, Linville caverns, we went gem-mining...Alan wasn't really excited about that one, but ended up finding some great stuff and had a lot of fun doing it! We also drove down to Asheville via the Blue Ridge Parkway....which took way tooooooo long, beautiful, but slow.

So we had a nice, nice time. A fun and sentimental and spiritual wedding, shared with friends and family. A fun party afterwards and then we jaunted off for some honeymoon time. All and all it was great.

Now we are back in the real world. School has started, my baby went to kindergarten. My mom starts radiation next week for her cancer. She was diagnosed mid-July and had a complete hysterectomy on July 30. We don't think she will need chemo...which is good. Alan is still looking for a full-time job in his field...he currently has two PT jobs mostly in his field. My oldest son is in 5th grade this year...his last year of elementary school....and I really don't want to think about that. My sister is back in Florida with her hubby. And I am back to the grind...which is not so bad. I now alter my work schedule during the school year so the kids can come home from school instead of going to after-school....it has made a huge difference for my oldest. Its only our first week of the new schedule so I am still getting into a routine. Anyway this has been an incredibly long post and to reward you for your stick-to-it-ness...here's a little prize.

Til next time... and no it won't be months!!

Two days 'til I see the new Harry Potter movie!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (smplgrl) — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 04:02:00 +0000

Ok, ok I know it is nothing to do with anything ever posted before, but besides being a photoshop junkie and font fanatic I am a Harry Potter fan. I have been counting down the days until this next movie and have been watching all the previous movies to get ready for the new one this week. I can't wait!!!!! I had meant to re-read the last two books, also in preparation to the release of the final book, but scrapbooking has all but rendered me illiterate...see there, I'm not even sure I spelled that right! No time to read when there is scrapping to be done, but I will have to make time to read the new book.

Now, back to movie news. My mom is having a small surgical procedure on Friday early and I am taking her there. As a result a friend is keeping my boys over night Thursday so I can stay over at my mom's and rise and shine long before the sun to get to the hospital. So we are going to go out (mom and me that is) to the new HP movie and a late dinner.

In other movie news I read today on the M. Knight Shamaylan website that he has released the title of his next "thriller" type movie, "The Happening" to be released next summer. Can't wait for that one either....love his movies too. Something Alan and I share.

On the wedding planning front...can I just say here and now, I think I suck at this wedding planning stuff. So many decisions that really are not important in the grand scheme of things. I mean come on, why do we stress so over centerpieces, jeez -o-man. I am a big picture type of girl...all these little bitty details are driving me insane. I keep making to-do lists to no avail. And I am forgetting everything else I need to do, because I am thinking of napkins and tablecloths for 100+ of our closest friends and relatives.

Well enough whining about that.