February Collab Kit at GDS

"Timeless" is a love themed kit created in the soft colors of romance and sweet love! So versatile, this huge collab kit can be used to scrap any type of memory you can think of. Includes coordinating styles from Tricia Designs and Davis Chronicles as well as (5) themed wordart pieces from our very talented Jab Designs. Your first $10+ order .(excluding coupons and gift certificates) qualifies you for this month's collab

Here is a LO I made using this beautiful kit.

Crusin

It's been awhile since my last post, but I have a really good reason.  I was on a romantic get-away with my darling husband.  On the spur of the moment, we decided to take a cruise to the Bahamas.  It was  a wonderful way to celebrate our anniversary.

Our cruise was on the ship Fascination from the Carnival Cruise line.  The Fascination is part of the Fantasy-class for Carnival. It has 10 decks, is 855 feet long and has a passenger capacity of 2,052.  The ship departed from Jacksonville Florida.

Here is our first view of the ship.  It was taken from inside the Carnival transport bus we took from the airport.

It was very easy to board the ship. The staff was friendly, and checked documentation quickly.  I had never been on a cruise before, and have heard stories of how small the staterooms can be.  I was pleasantly surprised at the size.  It was larger and nicer than I had expected.  We had an ocean view room on the Empress deck. Inside the cabin room, there was a TV, safe, phone, private bathroom, and desk and a large closet. The bathroom was stocked with soap, shampoo and a sample size of lotion.

inside our cabin

There was wide assortment of food on the ship.  Most of it was good, but not fantastic.  There was, however always plenty to eat.  YOU WILL NOT LEAVE HUNGRY!!! Coconut Grove Bar and Grill serves all three meals in a casual, buffet style.  The two dining rooms, Imagination and Sensation, offer traditional dining with two seating times. We got to choose between the 6:00 p.m. seating and 8:00 p.m. There was a formal night in the dining room on the second night of the cruise.  Other option include: a sushi bar, a 24 hour pizza place and ice cream. For beverages, they offered coffee, tea, water, lemonade and iced tea, at all times.  Pop and alcohol must be purchased separately.  For $6.00 a day, you can buy a stamp that lets you have unlimited soda.

 There was quite a bit of entertainment on board. For us, this was a very good thing beacuse it was very cold and rainy during our trip. There were 2 major dance and singing production shows, a tribute to 80's music and one for Latin music. Having grown up in the 80's, I prefered the 80's show! Nothing like hearing Thriller, Like a Vigin, and Money for Nothing all in the same show.   The Fascination also hosts kareoke everyday. Other things to do inculded an onboard casino, a night club, and a comedy club.

Overall, I would highly recommend this ship!  It was very clean, the staff was always courteous and friendly, and I think it was a great trip for the money.

Kits from Studio4 Designs

Studio4 Designs kit "School Daze" is perfect for all those class pictures of your children.  It has all the bold primary colors you think of for children and lots of cute school themed embellies.

Here is a LO for some inspiration.

 Studio4 Designs has a brand new kit called "Ryan's Ride". It definitely has the "boy" and color theme to it, great for scrapping young to older boys photos. The kit contains 19 vividly colored papers and 63 elements. All papers are 12x12" and 300 dpi. All elements are 300 dpi png files.

For inspiration, check out this cute LO of my son.

Reminder to self

Project 365

I just finished two weeks worth of pages for my 2011 365 Book.  What is a 365 Book? Basically you take a photo a day for an entire year and put all the photos into one album. You document every day creating a Year in Review scrapbook. I thought about trying 365 last year, but just didn't. Now I regret that I didn't create one. I think it would be very cool to have a completely done 2011 album at this time next year. What an awesome thing for my family to look back on, a year of our everyday life captured in one place … the good, the bad, and the ugly. Believe me, there is LOTS of ugly! Dirty dishes, mountains of laundry, 2 very misbehaved dogs, 5 wild kids, a herd of dairy goats… ! But I think doing this project would at least keep me in semi-scrapping mode throughout the year, whereas currently I only seem to scrap when I have a project due. 365 would force me to at least be taking some pics and jotting a few details down on a regular basis. Maybe it will help me remember all the joys we celebrate in our daily lives.  One things for sure, I can't wait to see what this year has in store for us!

My pages were made with the January Collab kit from GDS.  My font for the word "January" is Papyrus and the font for my journaling is ITC Kristen.  You can pick up the Kristen font for free over at DaFont. http://www.dafont.com/

Yikes...I'm so far behind!

Well as I told you a few weeks ago, I decided to participate in Project Love Me.  After only 4 prompts, I am now 4 prompts behind.  HHHHHHMMMMM.  I know the reason... I really hate writing about myself and my feelings.  I guess that's why my LO's are always about other people. LOL.  I am really going to try  to get at least 1 or 2 LO's done today.  Here were the first 4 prompts: Week 1- iDream  Week 2- Flashback  Week 3- The Flip Side  Week 4- Words of Wisdom.  I think I may try to work backwards because I have tried 4 or 5 times to journal week 1 and for some reason I can't write anything that I am happy with.  BTW, this very cool photo is courtesy of http://www.thenotebookdoodles.com/.  Be sure to check them out!


Here it is...I kept my promise to myself and actually did a LO and it was Week 1.

Winter Engagement Photos Ashlee and Darrin

I had the pleasure of photographing a wonderful couple for their engagement photos.  Ashlee and Darrin were so much fun to work with.  Despite the fact that temperatures were in the teens, this couple never complained once about the cold.  They wanted a mix of head shots and some full body shots to show off Ashlee's growing belly.  They are very excited to become parents in just a few more weeks.  Congrats Darrin and Ashlee! Here's a look at a few of their photos taken near a local park.