Three Posts in One Day!

Woohoo! :) I guess it's feast or famine around here, huh? That's life I suppose.

I am trying to keep up with a challenge on the http://www.123-scrap.com/ site where you take a photo a week and post it. Some weeks it's harder than others, but this is my latest photo of the week. It was one of those days where I needed to go run a couple of errands and just couldn't get out of the house. The phone kept ringing and they all needed me to DO something RIGHT AWAY! So when I finally did gather up all the packages to mail and grab my purse and keys, I looked out the window and saw this flock of ibis in my front yard. It's always fun to see them because they're so quiet and they don't come very often. But suddenly there they are and it's so cute! The ones with the brown spots are less than a year old. So I dropped my stuff into the nearest chair and ran to grab my camera. By the time I got it turned on they were outside one of my office windows and so I took this through the closed window AND the screen! Pretty cool, huh?

And yesterday I was finally able to meet up with my BFF Shelley and our friend Irene and just scrap the day away. I've had almost 40 pages planned for a month now and have only done a couple so it was good to just sit down and work on them. I completed 6 pages and I'm really happy with them. They're heritage ones from my Dad's side of the family. Once those 35 or so pages are done I think I'm FINALLY done with the pre-60s photos! It's only taken several years and about 7 albums to get them all done so I think I can safely call myself a heritage photo expert! Here's the slideshow. Enjoy!

March 28 Layouts

Guess I'm a RED!

So I'm on Andrea's blog and there's this quiz about what's your color. I took it and the results are below. Interesting because red is one of my fav colors! :) And it's pretty true about my personality too. Funny how these things work huh? The picture even works! I'm a tall blonde with long hair who wears sunglasses all the time outside because the glare hurts my eyes (even when it's cloudy)! Hehe!

My Scrappy World

What's Your True Color?

My Result: Red

Your color is red, the color of racy sportscars, blushing cheeks, and luscious roses. Red symbolizes passion, romance, and love. So, since you're ruled by red, you probably trust your feelings more than your brain and tend to act spontaneously. If you see something you want, you go for it without thinking twice — impulsive is your middle name. You don't wait around for people to make decisions, either; you dive right in. Quite the romantic, you pay close attention to your emotions. In fact, if your heart isn't in what you're doing, you won't be satisfied. Of course, even when you do pour all your energy into the projects you tackle, your impetuous nature means your passions can shift as frequently as the wind. That's why some reds have trouble with commitment. Our advice? Next time you're feeling fickle, think before you act, if possible. You might be surprised at the results. Overall, though, it's great to be red. No one lives life more completely than you do.

What are you?
http://web.tickle.com/jumpto?test=colorogt&c=50652

A Swarm of Bees!!

Two days ago I filled my bird feeder and decided it was nice enough to open the windows again. I love it! I got to the third window and looked out my back yard to see the hugest swarm of bees I've ever seen outside of TV or a movie!!! I was terrified as I'd just been there at the feeder and I'm allergic to bee stings. I eventually calmed myself down and called Steve (my hubby). When I told him what was going on his reply was "I'll take care of it when I get home." "NO YOU WON'T!!!" I said. "Those could be killer bees and you know it!" "I'll be fine. I need to get back to work but I'll take care of it when I get home." And yes I did say killer bees. We have actually had reports that they have been found down here and this is exactly what happens when they're found. They're called killer bees because they swarm whatever they feel is attacking their nest until that thing is dead.
So a few hours later Steve returns home. Meanwhile, I'd been praying HARD! "Lord Jesus, please keep him safe! Think about the boys going through their mom dying and keep Steve safe. Give him wisdom and help him Lord. Protect him!" Knowing my husband, I wasn't going to talk him out of this one.
"I'll put a long-sleeved shirt and thick shoes and jeans on plus a hat and some glasses and I'll be fine." So off he goes in a hat and jeans and a jacket that I made him put on (even though it was probably close to 90 degrees). "You'll open that door for me if I come running right?" "Sure I will" but I'm thinking maybe not if he's got bees all around him! I don't want them in my house!
He started to spray around where I told him I'd seen the bees coming and going and really gave me that "I know you were totally exaggerating on this" look. "That's NOTHING compared to what I saw!" When I got that look the second time, I said "That swarm was as tall as I am (I'm 5'9") and about 3-4 feet wide!" That finally got his attention. The fact that bees were starting to come out more quickly now helped. After spraying about 1/2 can of bug spray he went after the next can which was about 1/3 full and emptied that. The bees were STILL coming out of the ground!!!
He finally came back in and said "I need to get stronger stuff." After cooling off for a minute or two, he donned a rain slicker and his respirator and said "I'm the bee killer" in his best imitation of Darth Vader. :) So I grabbed the camera (I figured a picture would be good for something at this point). And back out he goes with a gallon-sized container that had about 3" of liquid in it and a long sprayer.
Finally after spraying about 1" of liquid all over the neighbor's trees that the bees were landing in and doing some digging under the shed where they were going, he said "I can't find the nest. Maybe they were moving and we got them early." They hadn't swarmed him, he hadn't been stung and they were slowly dropping to the ground or landing on the trees. So I figured that was all we could do.
The next morning I carefully went out to feed the birds again and ventured over to the area where the bees had been. There were still a few flying around and when a couple more came out of the hole I decided it would be prudent to go back inside my house. But I think they're honey bees as they are blackish brown with a couple of orange and black stripes in the middle. I'm just glad they're not killer bees! Betcha can't guess what Steve will be doing this weekend though! :)

The Cyber Crop is Over

But it was a total blast! I wanted to do so many more projects than I did, but I just wasn't feeling up to it. However, I did 10 pages that I really love and from the comments in the gallery my fellow scrapbookers love them too! YAY!

I did lots of chatting and won two Bingo games and a game of Cyber Darts as well! Once the moderators ("faculty" in our 123-Scrap world) gather up points and draw names there may be more prizes. Time will tell!

My fav challenge is always Pam's 100 Items List. She gives us 100 scrapbook-related items to either do or add to our pages. Then as we do our layouts and projects we add items from that list. The person who uses the most number of items wins and the person who uses the most items on one page wins. I used a total of 51 items on 10 pages! And I had 20 items on one page! But I think someone else had 23 items on one page. But that's awesome! If you wanna see her list, check it out at http://123-scrap.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=9410. Try it for yourself sometime!

Meanwhile, enjoy the updated slideshow of my completed projects and have a very scrappy week!

123-Scrap 4th Birthday Cyber Crop Projects

Day 2 of the Cyber Crop

Well, it's 2 AM Sunday and I'm still awake. Anyone who really knows me knows that I'm a real night owl. Especially when it comes to scrapbooking! Hehe! I just get lost in my scrappy world and forget all about everything - especially time!

So today I completed three more pages and including chats, accomplished 13 of 30 challenges on the www.123-scrap.com 4th Birthday Cyber Crop! I wish I could have done more, but I'm not feeling 100% so it's been difficult to sit for long periods. Thank God for my laptop!! I can put my feet up and get some relief for a bit and still get stuff done. :) How did we ever survive without these wonderful technological tools?!

I've added another slideshow of the projects completed for this Cyber Crop. Even though I haven't produced as many projects as I've wanted to, I'm really pleased with the ones I've done so far.


Enjoy!

The www.123-scrap.com Cyber Crop has officially started!!!

I've been waiting on pins and needles for this weekend to arrive! I just LOVE the cyber crops on 123-Scrap! Everyone is so supportive, we all have fun and I get TONS of photos scrapped! Plus I learn lots of new techniques, and sometimes win a prize or two! So here's my very first posting entry for the weekend. It has 20 items from the Pam's 100 Items Challenge List, and everything is not only from my stash prior to February 1st but all of the paper I used here was scraps as well! YAY! Sometime over the weekend I'll do a slideshow of all my projects, but meanwhile, enjoy the first one!

Did you know ...

... that digital cameras take pictures in 4 1/2 by 6 1/2 size?! Learning new stuff is what keeps you young I'm told. Maybe that's true mentally but certainly not physically! Don't we all wish! Haha! The universities would be full of us old people trying to BE as young as we FEEL! :)

Anyway, I've updated the slideshow for my parents' scrapbook with the completed pages so far. I have several more that are done except for the pictures that have heads or half heads cut off. HELLO you photo developers out there ! Don't you LOOK at your work??? I guess not or else they don't care. So I called my man Bob at Ritz Camera here and he told me about the digi format and how Ritz has developed a new processor that prints piccies in this size but no one else has jumped on the bandwagon! Seems that Ritz was the first to do the 4x6 after the 3x5 format too in the 70s. Go figure!!! Needless to say, I'll be taking those few piccies to him to be printed. So I'll post those last few pages later. And then there's the 20 or so more pages for the rest of the weekend that we spent with all our fam and friends who came from 7 states! It was SO much fun and I've had fun reliving it all. But it will take me a few days to get my pictures there to be reprinted ....

You see the www.123-Scrap.com CYBER CROP has officially started!!!!! They have already posted the Early Bird challenge and the first Ad challenge plus the chat times when we play BINGO! I've been on pins and needles all week just waiting for this to start! So I'm all set and ready to start first thing in the morning. Just need to finish cleaning up a bit tonight and we're off! So check back often if anyone's out there reading this and not commenting cuz there's gonna be some scrappy time for sure this weekend! I love it! Come on in and join the fun!

I'm very new to the blogging world, but it's SO EASY! I'm loving it! I've added a slideshow below which will show you my most recent work. There's lots of heritage pages in there and next is a post with layouts about my parents' 60th Wedding Anniversary which was January 24, 2008. We had a huge surprise party for them and my project the last couple of weeks has been to complete an album for them chronicling that party. I spent most of the weekend working on it and have almost 35 pages completed! I'm keeping it pretty simple for several reasons. There's LOTS of journaling to tell all the stories (and as you'll come to find out I can write a LOT!) but there's also lots of pictures. The first part of the album mainly has the journaling to tell how we came to have the party in the first place. So as I get pages completed I'll add them to the existing slideshow. I can't believe how easy that was to put together! :)Now I'm off to work some more on this 60th anniversary album. My goal is to have it completed by Thursday, March 13, so that I can concentrate fully on the http://www.123-scrap.com/ CYBERCROP this weekend!!! I can hardly wait!Until then,Happy Scrapping!

My Most Recent Layouts

60th Anniversary Party Scrapbook

60th Anniversary Party Scrapbook

Here are just a few of the pages I've completed for Mom & Dad's 60th Anniversary Party scrapbook. I have estimated that it will be 70 pages in all and I've completed 35 so I'm halfway there! These first pages have been journaling intensive so they've taken longer. From now on, mostly they'll be pictures only with little strips of journaling which I've already typed and printed. These are my favs so far. Enjoy!

What Does a Name Mean?

I found this on my friend Karen's blog. It's called "What's Your Hidden Name Meaning?" This is what it said about me.... What Ginni Means

You are deeply philosophical and thoughtful. You tend to analyze every aspect of your life. You are intuitive, brilliant, and quite introverted. You value your time alone. Often times, you are grumpy with other people. You don't appreciate them trying to interfere in your affairs. You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing. You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long. You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start. You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people. You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts. You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals. Check out your own by using the link below!

What's" Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

Pretty interesting and very close to the truth too! :)

My Dog Zoe

This is a recent photo of my wonderful dog, Zoe (pronounced with a long o and a long e). We've had her since she was just a puppy. She's 13 years old now and is starting to really show her age now. She was seven before we found out she wasn't really the pound puppy we thought she was! One night my husband, Steve, was watching a National Geographic show about indiginous and feral dogs. Suddenly, he started hollering at me to come watch the TV because "Zoe's on TV!!!" Sure enough, there as a dog that looked just like ours! Turns out instead of a pound puppy our Zoe is a Carolina Dog! (You can find out more at http://www.carolinadogs.com/.) She's a very typical female and has all those little personality quirks and the black tongue too! We love our little dog very much!

Welcome to My Scrappy World!

One of my goals for the year was to start a blog where I could share our plans to move to Alaska. But I also wanted to start a blog where I could share my thoughts, scrapbook pages and talk about life in general. So here I am!

I am an avid scrapbooker and would be perfectly happy if I could scrapbook 24/7/365! But that would mean I wouldn't have any pictures to scrap. So instead I scrap every chance I get. My favorite online group is www.123-scrap.com. It's a fun forum where we challenge each other and support each other in more than just scrappy things. In fact, I'm looking forward to celebrating their 4th birthday by participating in a cyber crop the weekend of March 14-16. If you've never participated in a cyber crop, check us out! It's a LOT of fun and a great way to get lots of pages done in a short time!

One of my scrapbooking specialties is doing heritage layouts. My grandfather was a photographer for the Army in WWI and was the historian for the building of the Panama Canal and the Washington Monument. Needless to say, photography has always been important to our family. And therefore, I have a TON of pictures waiting to be scrapped. I've nearly finished my Mom's side of the family photos and am working on my Dad's side as well.

Another specialty of mine is doing pages about my step-granddaughter, Molly, and my grandson, Noah. Molly is actually the reason I started scrapbooking in the first place! I have three full albums of her life. Molly is almost 6 now and lives about 3 hours north of here. And because Noah was a preemie and we weren't sure he would make it, and because he and his family lived in the South Florida area for just over two years, I already have 4 full albums about his life. Noah's about to turn 4. I miss them all terribly!

I also do albums called "Book of Me". Using prompts from sites like Angie Pedersen's www.onescrappysite and from www.123-scrap.com I make pages about myself and my interests. The purpose of these pages is to tell my family and descendants who I am, what I like and dislike, and other pertinent things about me since I'm usually the one behind the camera.

And with a man who grew up in Alaska and spent years as a commercial fisherman, I also have an album chronicling his years on the Fishing Vessel Volunteer. Plus I have several boxes and photo albums of pictures of Steve and his boys enjoying their lives in Alaska together. I'm hoping to start working on these pages sometime this year.

Add to these the many boxes of photos growing up myself with two brothers and our annual trips to fun places in the United States, and the many pictures of my daughter, Michele, growing up and I could probably fulfill my dream of scrapping 24/7/365 for at least a year without taking another photograph!

But photography and scrapbooking are totally intermingled so my camera and I are great friends! In fact, one of the ongoing challenges at 123-Scrap is the Photo A Week challenge. It encourages you to take out your camera even if there's not a special event or happening in your life. It's amazing what you find when you look for it!

And so I hope to update this blog a minimum of once a week, but sometimes it will be daily depending on what's happening in My Scrappy World! I plan to include my current scrapbooking projects and layouts along with some snippets of my daily life. So check back with me when you can and I hope to hear from you soon!