A little bit done!

I got some new stuff to help with the re-organizing. The 39-drawer set came from Lowe's. I'm using it to sort small embellishments by color in the top two rows, alphas and numerals in the next 3 rows, then things like chipboard shapes, frames, tags, flowers, etc in the bigger drawers on the bottom. I also hung a vertical file sorter on the wall to hold the larger packages of alpha stickers.

















I've finished four more pages in Hillary's class. Here are the two I finished tonight in what has to be record time for me.


















And here are my sweet little punkins playing in the leaves today.

well....I've been busy

scrappin'!!! The organizing isn't going so well, but Hillary's online class has really gotten me motivated. The good thing is I'm using up stuff. So there will be less to organize! (Always gotta look for that silver lining, huh?)

I've already finished five pages this month!!! And I'm not in love with ALL of them, but a finished page is a perfect page in my book.

Let's Get Organized!!!

I've got to get it through my little pea-brain that you can't keep adding more and more and more stuff to a limited space without it getting out of control. So, first and foremost, I've got to downsize a little.

So I'm starting a box...with things to either sell, RAK or donate to the school. I'm going to make it my goal to get at least 5 RAK's in the mail in the next week. So I'm going to start going through stuff intentionally looking for things I think someone else might actually USE!!! I'll post a picture of my packages when they're ready to go to the post office.

If you're joining me, please leave a comment. I'll also be sending out a small prize at the end of the month to someone (drawn at random) who helps keep me motivated !

Now for something REALLY SCARY!!!

This is the current state of my scrap area. If you scroll down a couple of posts, you'll see a layout with pictures of what it SHOULD look like. *sigh* I could blame the problem on a very small space, but I know it's because more supplies have been coming in than have been getting used.

So I'm on a Use It Up, Clean It Up or Get It Out mission in November. I have signed up for two online classes to get lots of LO's done this month, and my goal is to spend a few minutes organizing every day. I'll try to post an organizing task here every couple of days to make myself accountable. If you'd like to join me, I'd love the company. And I'd welcome your comments, opinions or advice on what organization method works for you. I'd even love to see pics of your scrap area if you can comment with a link.

So....look out tomorrow for the Organizing Task #1 !!!

Trick or Treat!

A. has really enjoyed trick or treating this year. Between Trunk or Treat at the church where she goes to preschool, her school party today, and the festivities tonight she's had lots of opportunities. On the other hand, C. was VERY uncomfortable in his costume, and Halloween is way past bedtime for him. He was much happier when he and Dad came home early, and someone just finally let him go to bed. LOL

Look what I WON!!!! & thoughts & prayers

I've participated in the month-long {self-exposed} challenge over at Creative Hearts Studio. This layout earned me the Week #3 Weekly winner:


















So...I know there's a little package on its way. I grab the mail this afternoon on the way to the grocery store....and I was so so so excited when I opened it. I actually had been looking at these online last night !!!











Thank you so much Carrie and Traci!!!! What an AWESOME prize!!!! (and one I really really wanted)





My thought for the day: There's nothing sweeter than a clean baby.













And if you haven't lifted up a prayer today, please pray for my dear friend Amy and her sweet husband. Here's the latest -

Amy's blog

So much for blogging every day this month...

It's been a crazy week. Busy, busy, busy. Catching up on a few things & getting further behind with others.

For my Grocery Game friends, here are the results of my trip to Harris Teeter today. Got everything in the picture for $35.28 and that includes almost $4 in sales tax. Sale prices and coupons totaled $57.45. I just love when that happens!!


















Tonight A. and I went to see Disney on Ice Princess Wishes. She really enjoyed it especially when the dragon breathed fire on the ice. I think I expected her to be more in awe than she was though. She asked when we could go again, and I told her when she was 9 or 12. So matter of factly, she told me that next time she wasn't going to watch the show, she would be Snow White IN the show. Who does that sound like? A little girl who just knew she could tap dance at her next fiddle performance??

I took this picture right before we left the house, then played with it in Photoshop.













And here are 2 layouts I've done this month for a challenge at Creative Hearts Studio. Tough challenge since I rarely (if ever) scrap about me. This challenge has really forced me to record some memories and feelings I otherwise would never have gotten around to.

Well...it's still Tuesday in my book

It's just a few strokes past midnight, but my head hasn't hit the pillow so I'm counting this as an entry for Tuesday. *wink*

I had to wait until dh woke up from his nap in the recliner to have him draw a name for the goodies. And the winner is............

CONNIE!!!!!

I met Connie on the Remember The Moments forum during Lorie's posting challenge. She's from West TN (I think) so she's practically a neighbor. YAY Connie!!!

Tonight I started some cards, uploaded some pictures to have printed, and finished up an altered magnet for a special friend.














Thanks everyone that joined in the little contest. That was fun!!! Now make sure you go check out some of those links. There's lots of great inspiration out there right now. Nite Nite!!!!

Happy Labor Day America!!!

I'm so thankful to have an extra day to the weekend. And man, does this house need my attention today! It seems like we always spend Sunday afternoon and evening getting ready for Monday. Since we didn't have to do that yesterday, we went to see the life-sized birdhouses at Cheekwood. The gardens are beautiful. Here's my favorite photo from our outing:














We finished off the evening taking the kids to Chuck E. Cheese's for pizza and playtime. A. had a blast!!!!

I finished this LO for a challenge at My Scrap Shak.


















Keep posting comments in the entry for September 2 to enter the drawing for a RAK! I know there are a few more challenges out there that haven't been mentioned (since they're on my list LOL). I also have a challenge for myself today: Finish cleaning up my scrap area. Get those desks cleared off !!!!!

Snapshots of Saturday

First, don't forget to post a comment in yesterday's blog entry to get your name in the drawing for a RAK of scrapbook goodies. Mention an online contest, challenge or crop in your comment, and your name will go in twice.

Melissa already mentioned Aggie's challenge over at Willow Traders. Alot of the gals are scrapping "the month of September", with a layout of daily life for a month. I didn't join in, but maybe I'll just try to blog the month of September. An entry a day? That would be a miracle, huh?

The weather has cooled off so nicely here, and we've resumed our daily walks around the neighborhood. Even though we take the same route every time, no one ever gets bored with it.

















Here's a layout I did yesterday for an online challenge.



















I have a couple of ideas floating around in my head for some more scrapping projects, although I should probably just challenge myself to do a little reorganizing of photos and scrap supplies. We've got some family fun planned for the day too!!!! We'll have to wait and see if any scrapping is in store for me today.

Hi! My name is Rachel and I'm a .....

Challenge Junkie!!!

What is it with the month of September? There are so many online contests, challenges and crops this month. I NEED the challenges. It seems like I only scrap when someone throws a challenge out there for me. I don't really do it to win. Of course, winning would be nice....but I usually join just for the motivation.

Here's a birthday card I made yesterday for the Daily Challenge at The Scrapbook Society. Melynda has a ton of great prizes this month including a Cricut!!!
















Following the spirit of contests, I've decided to have a little one right here on my blog. Post a comment to this thread and your name will go into a drawing for a RAK from me! If your post includes info on a online challenge, contest, or crop during the month of September, I'll put your name in twice! But hurry and post. I'll be drawing a name the evening of September 5th!

10 months old!

Hard to believe it's already been 10 months. Wish I could have gotten a good shot of those 4 top teeth that ALL showed up last week !!!! It's hard to imagine what life would be like without Baby C. !!!!

Where does the time go?

I can't believe it's been over a month since my last update. We're busy and happy here. I'm trying to work a full-time schedule to make sure all the projects are done for the September and October deadlines. Balancing a 40-hour work week with caring for a family and a home leaves little time to do much else. We are planning a couple of family vacations, so I'm looking forward to those.

C. found this pool on clearance at Kroger. A. is thoroughly enjoying her new pool DAILY (somedays 2 or 3 times). It was such a good deal that we went back and bought another one for next summer. LOL















And this picture of Baby C. taken a couple of weeks ago fits perfectly with this beloved quote I ran across again today:













"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take - but by the moments
that take our breath away."

I'm not sure what the other 5% of me is ?

Your Linguistic Profile:

40% Dixie

40% General American English

5% Midwestern

5% Upper Midwestern

5% Yankee

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Flowers for Dad

This is part of dh's Father's Day present.

Clean up before you play

Last night, I took on Tammy's (The Scrap Room) challenge to clean up our scrap spaces. I did a deep cleaning of my little corner in our Purple Playroom. The contents still need reorganizing, but I'm happy it's clean.

















Even inspired me enough to work on this Bonus Ad Challenge Layout at WT using an old TSR kit.

I'm thinking ya'll are shocked I'm updating so much

but I just HAD to share this pic of baby C. taken while we were out for our late afternoon walk.

Another layout & my pretty daylily

One SYM sketch challenge done! Finished this FUN layout last night using a Personal Scrapper kit that has been sitting in my stash WAY too long:

















And this bloomed yesterday:

As if I was going to run out of inspiration this month...

Tonight I found that Scrapping Your Memories is hosting a Sketch-A-Day contest for the entire summer !!!!

And I had almost forgotten about the online bash at Treasures To Scrap:













If anyone else knows of some great challenges please let me know. I'm on a serious mission to get pages in albums and see the supplies dwindle.

as promised....layout from last night

Used a sketch from Tiare at
Classy Coordinates and a kit in my stash from Leaving-Memories.

I'd love to work on another challenge tonight, but maybe I'll just organize my pictures for the 12 Layout Challenge at the online crop at The Scrap Room this weekend. I told you I was going to be a maniac in June.

8 months old already !!

This little guy is 8 months old today!! Time really does fly. And NO, I do not allow little ones to have balloons in their face. The thought of one popping and covering a windpipe scares me to death. But he discovered the string, so I let him hold onto it long enough to figure out the balloon moves if you pull the string a certain way. It's amazing to watch his mind work as he makes all these fabulous discoveries !!

I did get another layout finished tonight. I'll post a pic tomorrow.

June Scapping Mania

I have a couple of gift projects that I'm late on finishing.

I haven't finished many pages for my own albums during 2006.

The scrap supply stash that has accumlated here now qualifies as obscene.

I need to make room for more stuff since I'm seriously considering signing up to be a CTMH consultant in the next couple of weeks.

In my hopes to get lots of projects finished this month and reduce some of the obscene stash that has accumulated, I've signed up for several challenges. There's the Ads are Awesome Challenge, the Get It Out of the Box Challenge and Tiare's Sketch Challenges at Willow Traders. Also I'm going to participate in the Squash The Stash Challenge at Good To The Last Crop AND the How Many contest at Scrappin' With Grace.

Here's a layout I did last night....inspiration from the Ad Challenge.
















I also made 2 birthday cards, but no peeks on those....since the gals they're for might check my blog before their birthdays. *wink*

It's all about the education

Isn't it ironic ?????

that the day my stepson graduates high school,

A starts preschool.

The graduation ceremony was very nice, and how could you not help but be proud of such an accomplishment !!! And as excited as C. is to have this chapter behind him, A. is ecstatic about starting. When I picked her up this afternoon, in typical A. fashion, dramatically exclaimed, "Momma, I had SOOOO much fun !!!!" What's scary is that it seems like yesterday that C. was starting kindergarten. I know that A.'s Class of 2020 and little C.'s Class of 2024 sound like a long way off, but we've already proved it goes by way too fast.

Altered frame

for a bridal shower gift. I'm not going to apologize for the glare since the folks in the engagement picture may not really want their sweet mugs on the web. I hope she likes it.

Things are just DUCKY here!!!

When I saw the pics one of the gals from Willow Traders had taken of her son at The Picture People, I knew I had to do my own version of this photo shoot. I had the perfect props...a diaper cover given to A. by my good friend Laura and a big duck that held a flower arrangement sent to us when C. was born. They're not professional....but I'm pleased. Isn't he just the cutest little thing ???