Free Chocolate!

Well, sorta...free clothes for your chocolate. I used my contribution to the August Scrap Outside the Box mega kit to create a chocolate bar wrapper. I did these up for a couple of dear friends and I think they came out pretty cute. Now, these are designed for the Hershey's Extra Dark (60% Cacao) bars. I am totally hooked on the one with cranberries, blueberries and almonds. Hey, and it's a natural source of antioxidants, so it's health food. [grin] They measure about 5 1/2" x 2 3/4". I don't have any standard Hershey bars around to compare, but I think with a slight adjustment to where you fold, this would work out ok for these, too.

Download your free chocolate here. Enjoy!

Be sure and leave me a comment if you snag it!

I can't believe it! Blogger actually let me post a picture! I was all set to use photobucket again.

A couple of folks made a wish at the Wishing Box at Scrap Outside the Box for a water park themed kit. That sounded like fun so I decided to see what I could come up with. Actually, I probably got carried away. I tend to do this when I have a clear cut theme. There are TWENTY backgrounds! There are 5 with "Splash" word art covering them, 4 that are tiled, a pool water one, several solid textured ones and my favorite are the towels, especially the stripes. I threw in a bunch of fun elements and even some digital water so you can make a wet layout without actually harming any photos. :-)

This isn't in the Scrap Outside the Box store yet, but I am feeling totally exhausted today and needed to sit for just a bit, so I thought I would post about it. It will be there very soon, I'm sure.

For some reason, I have been so physically tired the last couple of days. I felt way better after lunch yesterday, and am wondering if I just plain and simple am not eating enough. I have been SO careful with the gestational diabetes and I really have not been gaining any weight. The baby is still growing, though. I am thinking that maybe I have reached a point in the pregnancy that I need more fuel. I am off to eat a good lunch and see if that helps. I have way too much to do to be lethargic! I am thankful for my scrapbooking/graphics outlet because at least I can feel productive while I am just sitting.

**EDITED** Splash City is already up in the store and can be found here.

Sorry about the lack of posting. Every time I try to post I have had blogger troubles. Hopefully I will get lucky today.

I forgot to mention last week what scrapbook graphics I used for the materity layout below. I was looking for a kit I had to use and didn't have anything that quite matched, so I created my own.

It is called Little Pinky and I had lots of fun with this little baby doodles! I really wanted something in the softest pink and white with just a touch of black to match my photos.

I also created another layout. This one has some journaling and it is more personal.

In case you can't read it, here's the journaling:
Here I am at 34 weeks into this pregnancy. Now, I feel like I can begin to count down the time. Only 6 more weeks until we get to meet this sweet baby girl I have been carrying. Her movements constantly remind me she’s there and I am continually praying for her. Although I have not met her, I know that God has already planned her days and knows exactly who she is and her purpose. Amazing! I am faced with the reality that soon I will be caring for a new fresh little blessing. I think about the sweet closeness of holding her and feeding her at my breast. This is tempered with the knowledge that this comes with loss of sleep and hands that will rarely be empty for a long while. But, having gone through this with my four other children, I realize how short this season of her life is and how soon it will be gone. In mere months, she will begin her journey into independence by crawling and walking on her own. I need to remember that the discomfort I feel right now while carrying this child is very temporary. Help me, Lord, to cherish these moments right now while she is so very close.

I have my weekly OB appointment today. I am now less than a month away from my due date. I think it is time I drag out all the baby gear and get it washed and ready. I am really hoping this will be my early baby. Actually, on time would be early for me. (All the others have been late.) Perhaps, if I have everything ready, the baby will take the hint! ;-)

The Big Belly

Ok, I am trying to post this again...

As promised, here I am in all of my BIGness!

Would you believe it took me five babies before I ever made a real attempt to take a decent maternity shot? I think with my last one, I had one of my daughter snap a quick shot of me in the bathroom right around my due date (and I think part of my head was cut off!).

I often see these beautiful pregnant shots of people and think "Ugh! Why can't *I* look that good pregnant?" I opted NOT to do the bare belly - just couldn't bring myself to do it. Between the stretch marks and bruises from the insulin shots, it is just NOT a pretty sight right now. I would have had to do some major Photoshopping of them if they were to ever be seen by anyone else! [grin]

I decided to make the photo soft and pretty by using a Virtual Photographer filter on it. I used a black and white one called "Diffuse." To bring some of the pink back into the photo, I placed it in a layer over my original, applied a layer mask to it and used a soft round brush at a low opacity to paint some of the original photo back in. (Let me know if that doesn't make sense and you want to know more.)

Maybe figured things out

Ok, blogger was giving me an error message saying that my Aug 06 archive was full and wouldn't let me post. I don't think that blogger like a couple of my posts with lots of photos. I took them off and it seems to be working now. I hope!

Testing....I just lost ANOTHER post.

It's 2am...

And I am exhausted but can't seen to find sleep. Silly hormones! I guess it is God's way of preparing me for when I won't get to sleep because I am feeding and snuggling my baby girl. Only 5 more weeks!

So, here I sit being fairly unproductive - just sitting here surfing. I suppose that I should really try to go back to bed or I will be exhausted tomorrow and there's lots to do. I had such good intentions, but wasn't near as productive today as I wanted to be. I pray I can be better tomorrow. I have a doctor's appointment fairly early. Hoping that will jump start my day! Good night!

Oh my word!!!

Look at that post below! Half of what I typed is GONE again! I'm feeling very frustrated. I think it is time to take a break and work on something else. {sigh} I will try this again later...maybe.

I hate blogger...

I had an entire long, nice post where I credited all the layouts below and then went on to share some things that were on my heart. [sigh] and you can see below what blogger actually posted. Most of it is completely gone - lost somewhere in cyberspace. I have retyped it more than once, thought it was there, only to have it disappear again. Perhaps it is time to jump ship and find a new space to blog. How stinky!

I will try this AGAIN, because I really want to give credit to the wonderful designers whose work I used for the layouts below. The first 4 were done using

You're A-maze-ing

Yes, I know, it's a corny play on words - but I couldn't resist this title for this mini kit. I thought it was perfect for this photo. This was a shot I took in out make-shift basement studio a few months ago. I told the kids to sit back to back and this is what I got - Abi looking adoringly at her big brother, Patrick. This is really a great picture to represent their relationship right now.

Journaling reads:
You can’t mistake it. Abi adores you, Patrick. Whatever you do, she wants to do, too. She loves you, looks up to you and admires you as her wonderful, big brother. There’s no doubt about it, Abi thinks
You're A-maze-ing

Speaking of studio shots. I got the bug yesterday to take some maternity shots of myself. I figure that if I keep procrastinating, I'll end up having the baby and never do it! My parents had taken my older two to a movie and my little two were napping, so I had a few moments to myself. What a mistake! I have a remote for my camera, but it is not long enough, so I had to use the timer. What I discovered is that if I set the camera up when I am behind it, it meters the backdrop and focuses there. So, when I step in front of it, everything is wrong. I end up being overexposed and blurry! Eventually I figured out how to overcome this and got a couple of decent shots, but I think I want to try it again with my daughter behind the camera. I still want to get some shots with all of the kids anyway. I'll have to post what I got later.

Timeless Beauty

I needed some sit down time this afternoon and decided to do some scrappin'. I began with the idea of doing a TOTALLY different looking page, but after I played with this picture in PhotoShop, I decided to go for a very different look. I like the timeless quality of the photo here.

The journaling reads:

Abigail, I am amazed at what a beautiful girl you are even at your young age of two. Often I look at a photo like this one and think that it could be mistaken for a photo of a long ago ancestor taken decades before. You have a beauty that transcends time.

I used one of my own kits called the Carpet Bagger Scrappin' Set. It is actually one of my very first kits I ever created.

Off, the subject, I had a doctor's appointment for the baby today. I only have 6 weeks to my due date and all is looking well. Baby seems to be the right size - big enough, but not too big that I can't do a VBAC. Doc asked me if I was getting nervous about what not knowing what type of delivery I would have. I am hoping not to have to do another c-section just because the recover stinks, but I am not really worried. I figure it is all in God's hands anyway, right? Now, I will be going to the doc weekly. Baby time is really starting to feel close. Yay! I can't wait to meet this little lady!

Ride Time!

I have had this fun kit completed for weeks, but life has been so busy that I have not had the time to actually get it into the store. I had a blast creating this kit! It started out to be my contribution to the Scrap Outside the Box July mega kit called Summer Destinations, but I got totally carried away, so I decided to create a whole separate scrappin' set.

When I was researching ideas for this kit, I was intrigued by the Tilt-A-Whirl signs. They always had that same distinctive look to them. So I decided to create one for myself. And since some might not have fond memories of what a ride like that can do to a stomach, I also created a "Hurl-A-Whirl" sign, too. There are MANY more signs included, too, that are reminiscent of the amusement park.

My oldest daughter and hubby are going with our church's youth group to Cedar Point on Monday and I plan on sending a disposable camera so I get some fun shots to use with this set. It has been ages since we have gone to an amusement park as a complete family. It seems that whenever the opportunity presents itself, I am "on the nest" and have to stay home with the little ones. Oh well - I won't be pregnant forever! Thanks for letting me share!