NSD, my anniversary, and a few LO's

Hope everyone is having a GREAT day!  Things are a little crazy around here!  We were told that our power would be cut today at 9:30 am while new electrical poles were being installed.  But then the wrong crane came and we had to wait for the new one to arrive.  And then it did...but still no power cut.  Ah, the fun of living in Asia.  So I got up a little earlier than I would have liked this morning so that I could get all my computer stuff done before we lost power.  I was saving every few minutes in fear of losing my work.  In the end, I finished three pages! And I still have power.

Alaina is sick.  This is new for us.  Really, our kids are never sick.  Sure we get a cough and sniffle now and then but not really sick.  But the other night when I was putting Alaina in bed I noticed that she was really warm.  Then I kept her home from school yesterday for a fever (that went to 102.5 in the afternoon.)  She's still running a fever today and I just feel so bad for her.  I'm am so not used to this.  I just want to make it all better!

So...National Scrapbooking Day!  Soooo much will be be going on in the States for the event but unfortunately I will be sleeping away in my cozy bed.  If Levi gets me up in the night I may feed him while I join in one of the chats at the SHABBY SHOPPE.  Soooo many cool things are going on there, so I guess it doesn't matter what time I am up in the night, I am sure to catch something fun.  There are TONS of sales going on too but I am trying to avoid those.  I have soooo many wonderful kits that haven't been used that I DO NOT need anything more (well, except for the few things I already bought this morning =)  I couldn't help myself.  In my defense, though, I used a gift card so I think I only spent about $5 for THREE kits!

OH...GUESS WHAT??  I am SOOOOO excited!  I thought I was going to have to wait until we got to the States for THIS:

But Jason's brother is coming on Tuesday and he got it for me!  I am super, super excited to see so many of my friends at 2peas in all their glory!  Congrats everyone!  I can't wait to take a peek!

Okay...I mentioned that NSD coincidentally falls on my one year anniversary of digi-scrapping. Yep, one year ago today I made my first LO.  It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great either.  So, in honor of this day I re-did my LO.  I tried to stay true to what I was trying to do before...so I used basically the same pictures and I used the same kit.  I added a few things but really tried to keep the same idea while making the LO better.  So...here you go.  My first LO ever -- May 6, 2005. 

Of course it was a Shabby Princess kit.  I think almost everything I scrapped for the first six months were by SP (as was my first purchased kit!).  Okay, like I said, not HORRIBLE.  BUT, notice the beveled edges (yuck) and the HUGE drop shadows.  Notice the distorted paper in the title.  And my favorite source for a good chuckle...the paper clip.  I didn't know how to actually "clip" it to the paper so I just laid it on top.  LOL!

Now here is my remake...again, nothing spectacular but much better.

Shabby Princess SHABBY SMILES kit.  Atomic Cupcake wild tear effect. Gina Miller notebook paper (from her NOTE THIS! collection).

So, what do you think?  A little bit better?  Even though I made a lot of mistakes at the beginning, I won't go back and re-do the LO's.  They still convey the love I had for the memory I was scrapping and it IS fun to go back and see my style change and evolve.

Okay, the second thing I was going to do in honor of NSD and my own scrapping anniversary is to finally write the story of how I got started in all this digi-scrapping madness!  I knew I wanted to use the SP Studio Chic kit for this so I got it this morning and had a blast with it.  It's just one of those kits that although the preview looks AWESOME, when you actually open the kit up you are BLOWN away by all the treasures inside.  (Yoo hoo!  Kristie!  You are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!...I am so indebted to you for this 'lil hobby of mine!) So here goes...it's a two pager!

Here's the journaling:

"My journey to the "dark side."

Ever since I saw my first "modern" scrapbook my junior year of high school, I have been fascinated with the art.  Preserving memories is something I see infinite worth in.  To pass on the memories and stories of our lives to future generations is a gift to which little can be compared.

I tried to paper scrap, I really did.  I owned lots of materials, had thousands of photos, and had every good intention in the world.

But it never happened.  I did a few pages here and there but the effort it took to get out my supplies and photos never seemed worth the trouble.  After all, it would just leave me a mess to clean up later.

Even the birth of my first child was not enough incentive to actually start getting my pictures in albums.  Guilt was my friend as I thought all the memories I wasn’t scrapping.

And then it happened...the moment that changed it all. 

A friend of mine was moving and she gave me all of her scrapping magazines to look through.  One night as I sat on my bed drooling over the gorgeous pages I was looking at, something caught my eye.  In the magazine was an article entitled, “Shift into (Hard) Drive.”  There I was, starting at beautiful layouts, and this article said these were created digitally.  What?  On a computer?  But they look so REAL!  I had to find out more.  The article gave some websites to look at and some other resource ideas.  I logged onto scrapbook-bytes.com and there was no turning back.  I knew I had found something that was for me. 

It took me a while to get the hang of things.  I bought a book to learn my software, downloaded lots of free kits and embellishments (especially from Shabby Princess!) and just played around.  There was a learning curve but I stuck with it because I knew that I wanted to do this. For my family and for me. 

One year ago today I created my first layout.  It wasn’t anything special in itself, but it was the beginning of a beautiful journey I have been on for the last twelve months.  Never would I have guessed where this road would lead me.  Not only am I preserving precious memories for my family, but also I am finding an outlet for my creativity.  I’ve always known it was there, but it never had an way to express itself. Until I found this. 

In November 2oo5 I stumbled upon 2peas (a scrapbooking website) and found a new “home” for my hobby.  I have met some of the most wonderful women through the gallery and message boards.  My love and thanks to my peas.  I love you! 

In January 2oo6 I was accepted to my first design team (thanks MandaBean!) and have since been accepted to numerous others. I love creating pages that show off another’s creativity. 

And so here I am, one-hundred and fifty layouts later, celebrating my one year anniversary of digital scrapbooking. Coincidentally, this day is also National Scrapbooking day.  It’s been quite the ride and I can’t wait to see where else this road takes me. Inspire. Create. Imagine. Scrap (digitally, that is.)"

I did this LO last night.  If you can believe it, this is the FIRST Christmas picture I have scrapped!  I just couldn't look at any more red and green at that time of year.  I think I am ready to face it now!  I better, or I'll be into THIS year's Christmas pictures before I know it!

Background paper by Jen Wilson,, tan paper, cardboard piece, and clip by Gina Cabrera, bows by Traci Sims, tags by Michelle Coleman, paper tear by Steph Krush.

And one more LO to share...this is the new MUMMY DEAREST by Jasbeanie. Metal tag by Kim Christensen.

Comments

[Kristi]

Beautiful!!! I love your LO's, especially the one using the Shabby Smiles kit, that is such a great, versatile kit and I use it constantly, you just ROCKED IT!! You are so very talented!

[Margie]

Will you tire of hearing me say how I adore your layouts LOL!!! So my layouts still look like your first one, although I am getting a bit better with the paper clip :)