Another Contest!

My mom started a "pool" with my family, asking each of them when they thought the baby would be born and what the stats would be. I'm having fun seeing their guesses, and thought I'd open up a similar one for everyone who wants to play.

The 'winner' (second-place, since the first place winner is the one who gets to bring home the baby ;) will receive their choice of my kits (one complete kit).

So...tell me your guesses as to:

date
time
gender
weight
height

Sound like fun?

(don't forget to leave your name and email address so I can get in touch with you if you're right!)

Pain Scale

(don't forget, you can still get the awesome quickpage until this weekend! Grab it quickly!!)

This is something I've been wondering about for awhile now, but I thought more about it today, after pinching a nerve in my neck and spending the day trying to find some relief.

You know that lovely "scale of 1 to 10" they use at doctors' offices and hospitals? Just how important are those numbers, to the medical professionals? If they hear "3," do they behave differently than to a "4"? And how, exactly, do I determine if this is the most horrible pain I've ever been in, or ever will be in, with those numbers?

I remember hearing years ago something to the effect of "the toothache you feel now is the most pain you experience" or something like that...basically how you feel now makes the past pains seem inconsequential. So how can the scale be reliable?

Am I the only one who wonders this? Has everyone else figured out how to use it?

My Funky Valentine

I had a blast putting together that challenge yesterday, and I hope the people involved had fun too. Maybe I'll do something like that again someday :D

My kit is up now for people to buy! And as a promotion, you can get the quick page made by Rowena Grall, who got me her quick page first yesterday, for the next week (until 2/2).


Go here to see the kit and get the quickpage: My Funky Valentine

2-part mini-contest

Ready???

Okay. All five have been given out...so watch for a free Quick Page to come this way soon....

I just finished my newest kit (no, I didn't create them both today!!) and could use a little "publicity," since I don't have a store. Here's a preview:



Watch for more information very soon.....

And for the people who got kits: Rowena Grall already got me a quick page, so feel free to just have fun, but no need to hurry and get a quick page to me! I'd love to know when you use it, though :)

Buttons Galore!

I finally have my new kit up on our website:
(click on preview to read more)
I had so much fun making it, especially playing with all the awesome Atomic Cupcake actions I have at my fingertips (you didn't think I actually created all those awesome, realistic looks by myself, did you?)

I'm also working on another kit for Valentine's Day...it's called My Funky Valentine and is fun, bright colors. I was commenting last night to Josh that people looking at my kits really don't get a true taste of my style and color preferences, and wondered why that is. As I was falling asleep last night, I think I figured out why. Scrapbooking and designing is very right-brained (creative), which isn't my dominant side (I'm extremely left-brained). I've tried to design in more "me" colors, but find myself trying too hard...which means I'm thinking and analyzing, i.e. using my left hemisphere. So when I go with colors that inspire me, I stay on the right side, and it just flows out of me. I can't believe how much of this kit I've made in about two days...at this pace it should be available by the beginning of next week! :)

I'm 37 weeks tomorrow. We meet with the midwife, and then start going out there weekly (and at this point wish her office wasn't quite so far away). I know the Lord will provide (He always does!) but I also believe prayer is awesome and effective, so I would love any prayers you would be willing to give, for the weather and roads to be clear when I go into labor. I told Josh that I think summer would be a much better time for a baby...the thought of going into a labor in a Buffalo Snowstorm isn't exactly a pleasant thought!!

Today I'm sore. We did a lot of walking last night, grocery shopping and walking through the mall in a fruitless search for a day-by-day Cathy calendar. (the calendar kiosks were gone, the bookstore is now closed, and the two stationery stores didn't have much selection. I've had her calendar the past 4 or 5 years...I can't suddenly stop now! We'll have to try Barnes and Noble or Borders, I think). But I'm in a wonderful mood, holding a sleeping little girl in my arms and thankful that I don't have to go outside at all today. Unfortunately Josh isn't coming home for lunch today and he left before I was up, but it meant he got in early today and that means he'll get home earlier tonight, so it makes it more endurable :)

Here are a few layouts I've done recently. First is two I made with Tamra Burwick's newest kit: "Let's Hear it for the Boys":
(click on this one to see it animated!)



And I've been a part of an informal challenge on TheDigiChick, where we try various different scrapping "styles" to stretch ourselves. It's been so much fun!
Challenge one was "big picture." It turns out I like this one...I had a few in my gallery already in this style, I just didn't know it!

Challenge number 2 was "collage," which was very difficult for me. I like clean and simple, and collages are, by nature, full of lots of odds and ends. But I ended up having a blast, and my layout was even chosen as "layout of the day" on thedigichick.com, so that really encouraged me :)
The third challenge was "contemporary," which means simple, geometric, bright colored...basically think "Ikea" and you'll have it. I loved this one, too!


So there you have it!! :)

The countdown has begun!

According to the doctor's due date for me (2/19), I'm now 36 weeks pregnant. And if this one weighs the same as Jasmine s/he is likely close to 8 pounds now. Unbelievable!

We finally bought diapers this weekend, and I have a ton of newborn clothes and receiving blankets, waiting to get washed and sorted (though I won't spend much time sorting, since Jasmine thinks they're so cool!)

Overall, I'm feeling good. I'm getting more achy if I don't move for a long time (like during the night) and the baby is making sure I use the bathroom every couple hours, but I'm sleeping well (or as well as Jasmine permits) and feeling good over all. Just wishing Jasmine and I could get rid of this silly cold. She's much worse than I am, but I still don't enjoy the cough!

And I'm definitely starting to nest. I've done some interesting arranging/organizing things over the last week or so, and I'm getting more concerned about keeping things neat and clean. Not that you'd know it if you saw the apartment now, but I'll get working on it after Jasmine's long nap this morning :)

Oh, and for those who have asked...I have thought all along that this one is a boy. We'd both be completely thrilled either way...but I just think this one's a boy. Which means we should make sure we're happy with the name we have picked out (I think we are, and I hope we won't be in the hospital holding him, saying "are you sure he looks like a ______???") We have a girl's name that we love, which is funny since the same was the case with Jasmine, though with her we were never even close to having a boy's name. I'll just tell you: it's not Jackson (can't you hear that? Jasmine and Jackson???), it's not Dirk (Dirk Virkler!!) and it's not Joshua Junior. ;)


So...has anyone met anyone who had a very late first baby (Jasmine came 2 weeks late), whose mom has a history of late babies (10 out of her 11 were late, and Justin would have been, had he not been a C-section due to complications), who actually didn't go late the second time around? I'm planning on having this baby at the end of February, but I wouldn't mind if s/he decided to show up earlier. I can't wait to meet this baby!!

I had it all figured out...my grandma's birthday is on Wednesday. If I had the baby then, then both of our children would be born on 80th birthdays of their great-grandmothers. It was perfect that Jasmine was born on Josh's grandma's birthday since she's named after her, but it would be pretty cool if this one wanted to follow suit. I'd be utterly shocked, but it's a cool thought :)


I should have a scrapping update shortly...

8 months pregnant!

oh my. I think I'm looking pretty pregnant!! But then again, I am due in a month (or a month and three days, by the doctor's office's date) Either way, I'll be holding this baby by the end of February. If this one is near the same size as Jasmine, s/he is likely close to 8 pounds now! That helps explain the, um, large belly :)

*******

I've been thinking lately about silly little idiosyncrasies about myself, and thought I'd share some of them, just for fun.

I love finishing things. I love the feeling of something being done. BUT...I hate putting away folded laundry. And I don't enjoy packaging up new scrapbook kits. Once I'm done designing it, I want it to just be done...I don't want to have to rename the files and upload it anywhere.

I hate washing silverware. It doesn't matter how many there are, it doesn't seem like you get anywhere when they're done!

I love putting away dishes, as long as it's my kitchen (my parents' is okay, too). It's so satisfying to see a counter full of dishes, and in 5 minutes or less it's clear and they're done!

I would bake and cook far more often (and much more joyfully) if someone else was there to wash the prep dishes. I love baking, but hate the mess afterwards. I also don't care (usually) how hard something is, as long as it's all at once. I rarely make things that need to be baked twice (like a pie with a baked shell) or need to be frosted. Just let me be done all at once!


I can't think of any more right now, but this is a start.

Selling from Home

I have made a decision I should have done a long, long time ago. It was so easy to do it, I'm laughing at myself for putting it off for so long.

You can now buy any of my kits directly through me. Since it seems that my store possibilities are constantly changing, this should hopefully be a more consistent way to do it.

Sure, I'd love to get the publicity that hopefully comes along with being in a store, but this way I can have one place to always send people, and anything else is a bonus!!

So I'd love to have you check out my Scrapbooking Corner, where you can buy any/all of my kits. Send your friends :)
(the calendar isn't currently available because it's after the 1st of the year...I'll likely turn it into a quick-page album or something but that isn't happening t0day)

Who'da Thunk

I was laughing to myself a few minutes ago, thinking how amusing it is that I, Charlene, have a "gallery." And that I am now a "designer."

See, I hated art class. I struggled all the way through it. I never really found myself to be creative, and my teachers tended to agree. They liked me, because I was a good student, but art and english were definitely my weakest subjects. Well, that and gym class.

And now, look at me! I scrapbook with all of my free time. I create. I play. I have fun. I design, and put those designs in a store. What changed?

Well, for one thing I have a super-supportive husband who thinks everything I touch turns to gold. That's a great start. And I think maybe the parable of the talents applies here...I worked with the talents God gave me, so he blessed me with a new one. (does that mean it's okay that I don't play clarinet hardly at all anymore, or should I be still playing occasionally to not lose the original talents???)

Here are the two layouts I did today.

This is pictures from yesterday morning, before she spent the rest of the day sleeping (poor baby is sick. Just a fever, but it's really made her quiet and subdued.) She's wearing a dress from a friend in India (who we've never met but he and his wife like to bless us with these fancy, fun dresses) and showing off in the mirror. (Credits: everything is from Shabby Princess' 'Sweet Serenity' kit except the black paper, which is from Claudia Campbell's 'Black Magic' kit (liddysloft.com))


These are very old pictures, but some of my favorites of her. Such a cutie!! This is a scraplift of jorgie5's Pumpkin Patch

Flower from Faith True's "Cool Linen" kit
Stitching and staples from Jan Crowley's "Little Black Dress" kit
all else from Amy Knepper's "Darling Dreamer" kit
Fonts: Artistamp Medium, 1942 Report

Two Layouts

Winter is finally showing its ugly face around here, but thankfully it doesn't seem too horrible at this point. It makes me really thankful for the warm weather last month. I love sunshine :)

I'm due in less than 6 weeks!!! In 7 weeks (or less) I'll be holding my baby!! I will try to update this as soon as I get the chance, or have Josh do it, when s/he is born, and since we're praying and believing for a nice, normal, EASY labor and delivery, hopefully I"ll be home and feeling fantastic 24 hours after the baby is born. :)

Layouts...I made one about Josh! How long has it been since I did that last? It's hard when there aren't many pictures of either of us, but I try :)

This is using Tamra Burwick's "What I Like About You" kit, which comes to TheDigiChick on Thursday :)













And this one is the same "perfect" picture of Jasmine from the layout last time I posted. I got this kit a few weeks ago and don't think I've actually used it yet for a layout! I really don't think she could be any cuter.

This is using Fee Jardine's "Bloomin Lovely" kit and some fun, fun Atomic Cupcake actions (frayed fabric, painted edges and torn edges :)

Photo Shoot trial-and-error

Jasmine doesn't sit any more still than she did when she was 2 days old. Not sure why I forget that when I pull out the camera!
Anyways, after getting frustrated, I loaded these pictures onto the computer and realized it really does say a lot about our daughter. So that became the layout!
Credits: notebook paper: Jan Crowley's 'Little Black Dress.' (thedigichick.com); other papers and arrow: Mona Minnie's 'Ice Cream Social' (scraptures.com)
Fonts: Mom's Typewriter

Oh, and the kits I mentioned in my last post have, indeed, been retired. But there are still a handful available there, as well as the 5 (soon to be 6) at liddysloft.com .