A day in the life of Kim

Win Prizes, Join the Challenge!!

To join in the challenge, please visit  the challenge page at CG Essentials at http://www.cgessentials.com/Challenge.asp

There will be three winners drawn next Friday (October 3rd).  Prizes to be awarded are:

    First Place - $10 gift card and Just So Tweet Kit (shown below)
    Second Place - $6 gift card
    Third Place - $6 gift card

There is no scrapping required.  All you need to do is review the layouts, choose the one that you think Zoe's mommy created, and then email your choice to me.  Easy peasy and everyone who submits a guess will be entered into the drawing.  :)

Take a look at the kit that we used to create this fun challenge:
 
And here is a closer look at the details:
 

Have a fabulous Friday!!  :)

New Sneak Peek Kit

Pssst, did ya hear?  A little birdie told me there is a new sneak peek kit over at CG Essentials.  The kit includes 12 papers and 44 unique elements in shades of blue, green, and brown with a few hints of yellow and red.  Get it  RIGHT HERE for just $3.00 today only.

 
Take a closer look at the details:
 

Have a terrific day and be sure to stop by for the Friday challenge tomorrow morning.  :)

Challenge coming on Friday

Just a quick post to let ya know that my team has planned a fun little challenge which will be posted on Friday.  The challenge will run for a week and doesn't require any scrapping.  You just need to make a selection, email it to me, and then some winners will be drawn next week.  Stay tuned here on the blog for more details, or you can register in my store and sign up for the newsletter to keep informed of the fun stuff coming up.

And here's a layout of our puppy lying on hubby's lap.  She is so spoiled rotten.  LOL  When he is not here, she actually thinks I am going to allow her to sit on MY lap.  Ummmm, not happening.  Most everything is from my Fall Splendor Kit (papers & elements), the title is my Cardboard Alpha.  I also used Worn Overlays by Something Blue Studio and the font is DJB KeelyB by Darcy Baldwin.
 

So David went back to school today.  He's not been feeling well and has been up a lot at night (since last Thursday).  Took him to the doctor yesterday and found out he has a bad ear infection.  Doc said it was bulging pretty badly and he was concerned about it rupturing.  We've got him taking Omnicef and Tylenol. I think it really is helping already cuz he slept through the night and went off to school today.  Taking the meds, though, is such a chore.  He has a strong gag reflex and doesn't like the taste of any of the meds we've given.  It takes a good 45 minutes and lots of coercing, bribing, and crying to get him to take 2 teaspoons of anything.  Just awful.

Well, that's it for me today.  Hope you have a terrific Tuesday!  :)

Spellbound Kit

So if you missed out on the sneak peek Thursday, you can now see what it was.  It's the Spellbound Kit with a bonus set of printable treat bag toppers.  Perfect for Halloween and yet it still has enough non-holiday-specific elements that you can use it for other layouts and projects.  Take a look:
 
Here's a hybrid card that Cathy made which would be great for a halloween party:
 
And here are some treat bag toppers that I made for the trick-or-treaters:
 
And here is a layout by Sussell:
 

Be sure to stop by the store to see detailed views of the papers and elements.  As always, you have the choice of buying the complete kit, or just the elements, or just the papers, or just the treat toppers.  Enjoy!

Hurricane Ike reaches all the way to New York

Well that's not something I was expecting!  Guess I should turn on the local weather at least once a day cuz we got hit with 50+ mph winds.  Normally, we would batten down the hatches if we knew ahead of time.  But this wind storm came in the middle of the night and unfortunately our backyard wasn't prepared.  Luckily, we mostly had downed branches.  But the kids' basketball hoop was knocked off the deck and our pool canopy is a twisted mess (not fixable).  Many schools around here have closed due to power outages.  It's lightly raining now, but when it clears up we will be out there cleaning up the mess.  This is nothing compared to what the folks down south got hit with, but I was definitely surprised that the storm made it this far north.  Take a look at my backyard:
 
 
 
 
 
 

Did the hurricane affect you?  If so, link me up to photos of the effects.

Another busy, but fun, weekend

Can't believe it is Sunday already.  Seems like the weekends just whiz right on by.  Ever feel like that?  I long for the days when I could sleep in til 10 am and then lounge around in jammies all day.  Now, weekends are spent waking up at the crack of dawn with the kids, and then doing all sorts of stuff.  It's all good, though.  :)

So yesterday was Mama Pajama's Playhouse grand opening.  The turn-out was smaller than I think she had hoped for.  But the kids that were there did have a great time and everyone enjoyed the music.  There was even a guest appearance by SpongeBob.  Take a look:

 
 

So today we did the weekly grocery shopping.  Gosh, the prices just seem to keep going up and up and up.  Luckily we bought a side of beef from our dairy farming cousins, so we're not paying high prices on that.  But still.  All the other stuff seems to have either jumped in price or they've reduced the amount of food you get for the same price.  Frustrating.  At least gas is hanging steady at $3.64 a gallon.....I feel sorry for the folks along the Gulf Coast - gas rationing, prices over $5 per gallon, long lines to wait in, etc. 

Now we're watching football.  I'm not a super fan or anything, but I do enjoy watching Payton Manning play.  He is rather unpredictable and sometimes doesn't do the play the coach expected.  Makes it very interesting to watch.

Well, that's it for me.  Going to kick back and enjoy the afternoon.  Have a great one!

Fall Splendor

Well, it looks like autumn has officially arrived here in New York.  The leaves in our neighborhood starting changing colors a few days ago.  Kinda early this year.  Hope that doesn't mean snow is coming early, too! 

So I've got a new kit up in the shop, perfect for those autumn and back to school pics.  This is called FALL SPLENDOR and you can get it either at CG Essentials or A Cherry on Top.  I will eventually be loading it up over at Blue Bazaar too.  I'm kinda behind with my uploads there.  Oops.  Anyway, the fall kit has 8 patterned papers, 8 solid papers, and a slew of fun autumn-themed embellishments.  Take a look:

 

Here is a better look at the papers in the kit:
 

And here are some closer detailed views:
 

 

Other exciting news is that my friend, Kim, is having her grand opening tomorrow for her childrens' entertainment business, Mama Pajama's Playhouse.  As you may recall, I did the promotional photography for her.  And today's newspaper has a featured article on it.  I have to go grab a copy to see if they included one of my photos.  The online article is a bit brief, but the photo and by-line is there.  Check it out RIGHT HERE.  You'll need to scroll down a bit to see the blurb titled  Sleeping, twittering, infertility and early education.  So exciting!! 

Okay, gotta fly.  Hope you have a fabulous weekend.

Taxes suck!

I am so fed up with paying taxes for everything.  Yesterday, we received our school tax bills and the combined total is just over $3,000.  That does NOT include our property tax.  Ugh.  This is a major increase (about 1/3) from last year when it was just over $2,000 for the school tax.  Just awful.  I can't imagine anyone in states other than New York are paying such a ridiculously high amount of taxes.  If you are, I'm so sorry cuz it totally sucks.  :(

Anyway, now that I got that off my chest, I have some fun stuff to share.  First, yesterday's sneak peak kit is now available to purchase as a complete mega kit, or you can choose to buy just the papers or just the elements or just the alpha.  Take a look:

 
Here is a closer look at the papers and a detailed view of the elements:
 
 
And I made this fun layout of our puppy, Ellie.  She is certainly treated like a princess here.  :)
 

In other news, I'm working on three non-scrapping projects. First, I have to add a top coat of polyurethane to our park bench.  Even though I store it in the barn most of the time, it still seems to have weathered quite a bit this year.  I  use it for photo shoots, so it needs to look good. 

Second project is building a bridge.  I found this cute cedar bridge (5 feet long) over at The Christmas Tree Shop for only $49.  So last night I stained it an aged oak color to warm it up a bit.  Today I will assemble the bridge and top coat it with polyurethane.  This will be one of my autumn photo props. 

While over at the shop, I picked up a mulberry colored basket and some fall leaves.  Just waiting on our pumpkins to finish growing and that will finish off the scene.  Oh and I also picked up three wood suitcases to be used as props also:)
 

Third project is repainting a backdrop that I picked up on clearance at Amvona.  It wasn't nearly as plum colored as I had expected.  I picked up $40 worth of paint and faux-finishing tools at the hardware store yesterday and plan to work on that hopefully on Sunday.  Gotta finish the bridge and get that outta the workspace first. 

Alrighty, off I go.  Have a great day!

New Sneak Peak Kit

Good morning!  :)  As I mentioned the other day, I've been busy working on a new custom kit.  This one is for the girls in shades of red, pink, brown, gold, sage and country blue.  There are 16 papers, an uppercase alpha, and 31 unique elements for a total of 175 mb of digiscrapping yumminess.  The kit is regularly priced at $8.50, but you can get it today only for just $3.00.  So go get it right now when you can save 65%. 

 
 

That's it for me today.  Hope you have a fabulous Friday!!  :)

School is underway

Excuse me while I jump around and dance with joy at the first day of school having started yesterday.  The boys were more than ready to get back and so was I.  LOL 

David started first grade and had a great first day.  Bus ran VERY late, though, and he didn't get home til nearly 5 pm which means he was on the bus for a good 1 1/2 hours.  Ugh.  Then we had to hussle cuz he had gymnastics at 6 pm.  Nothing like a crazy first day for him. 

Christopher returned to preschool, having the same teacher as last year.  He was a bit shy at first, but warmed up quickly when he saw friends he had missed all summer.  Since I transport Christopher to and from school, there were no buses to deal with.  Phew!

So I've been working on a new custom kit request.  This one has an Alice in Wonderland feel to it.  I'm hoping to finish most of it up today and tomorrow, then will put it in the shop over weekend (**crossing fingers**).

And that's it for me today.  Going to get the first one on the bus and then I'm off to the gym.  Hope you have a terrific Thursday.