Happy Leap Day

Even though we have an extra day this year... time is still going by real fast. It's going to March tomorrow... Spring is coming...

I just came home from taking pictures at the school this morning for the yearbook. Every Friday is spirit day and the kids wear their spirit shirts, but the last friday of the month they can wear a college shirt. While I was taking pictures of the students in their spirit wear a mom came up to me and asked if I have a business card. I told her I didn't have one for doing the yearbook and then she asked, "Aren't you a professional photographer? I see you taking pictures all the time, you don't do weddings and special functions?" I responded, "I wish I was a professional photographer. I'm just a professional mom taking pictures for the yearbook" Perhaps the big SLR camera around my neck while using the small compact camera made me look like a professional. Well a professional wouldn't bring the SLR without a memory disk. I forgot I downloaded pictures last night and didn't take out the card out of the computer and back into my camera. Good thing I carry my compact camera in my purse all the time. The students are also doing a Read-A-Thon all day today, so the students brought pillows, blankets, and younger students brought teddy bears, etc. So I stopped by my son's classroom and took pictures. They were so cute.

So now I'm back home and getting ready to go into work mode until the boys come home. We have to clean up today because tomorrow some licensed drivers (family and friends)are coming to help out on my son's science project. We have the livingroom set up with the steering wheel and pedals, a widescreen monitor, and a cell phone. They will be bus drivers with the task of picking up passengers and taking them to the airport. There are 3 bus stops that the driver needs to stop at. After the 1st bus stop, the driver needs to call someone (my older son, patiently waiting in my bedroom and is a great conversationalist) and they will have a conversation while the driver continues to pick up the rest of the people. You get points for using the blinkers, make smooth stops, stopping at a light etc... points are taken off if you don't do these of course. It's funny when you brake too hard, the passengers scream and become unhappy. If they are unhappy, you lose points too.

Just to let you know tomorrow will start my celebration sale 39-50% off most of my kits ($4.00 and up) and many kits are retiring and will be found in the clearance patch. If you purchase $10 worth of my kits in a single invoice, you will get Celebration free. Celebration coordinates with Funky Fresh. My husband told me that he's taking me out to lunch next Wednesday for my birthday. His birthday is the following day. When we were dating, we used to go to Denny's when they would give a free meal to you on your birthday. We would go around 11pm and we would show our driver's licenses. 98% of the time we got both meals free. We haven't gone since the boys were born.

Sharon-Shutterbug, the reason why I have so many freebies is because I make so many papers and elements for a certain color scheme. I end up making a kit with over 200 pieces, so of course in the end I will have 2-3 coordinating kits for a month. My coordinating sets are Splash, Retro, Artistically Colorful & Alpha Pack and then there's Passion, Overflowing Heart, Dreamy Days and Rugged Charm and my last coordinating set would be Funky Fresh and Celebration.

Dreamy Days is not in the store yet as it is half of the March Club Kit starting on the 15th. Rugged Charm is a store promotion kit you will get free if you purchase a certain amount... I forget, but check back tomorrow..lol. Celebration is my own promotional kit that starts tomorrow, if you purchase $10 worth of my kits on a single invoice you'll get Celebration free.

Here are your FREEBIES (Sorry, this link has expired). Enjoy!
These coordinate with all the other freebies given this week and my other kits. Now I've got to get into work mode. I just scanned over 70 baby pictures of the 6th graders and three 6th grade teachers. I now have to somehow fit them on a two page spread.

Happy Friday and big hugs!

Lynn

Sorry I'm Late

Hi All,

Yesterday, a mom came over to my house and I taught her how to use the yearbook program. She completed three pages at my house and one today. The parent volunteers (I've got 5 of them) will do the classroom collage pages (fit as many pics on one page) except I do my own son's classroom and help 1 mom do her children's class page. I flow all the classroom portraits on the left hand pages of the book and then when I get the completed collage page, import them on the right hand side. I do all the other pages like the Table of Contents, All About Me, Staff Page, Unity in the Community Page, performance page, inspiration page, etc. We even get together and the yearbook staff is in the yearbook. I always have a prop that I hold in front of me to hide my big stomach and wide hips. It's the previous year's yearbook...lol.

Today was my "day off". Every Wednesday is my husband's day off and so I sleep in (20 minutes the most), my husband cooks breakfast (usually oatmeal or makes the kids eat cereal) and he takes them to school (Elementary and Junior High) and picks them up. On Wednesdays, I usually go out with my cousin, who is my highschool classmate and one of my best friends. We went to two craft stores (Beverly's and Michael's), Ulta (beauty store with a great sale... I invest a lot of money on my big hair and need a sale big time) and ate at a Korean restaurant (yum!)

I then came home and uploaded 3 kits that will be out on Friday and my promotional kit. I created a thread in my designers forum, I went to the bank (I work for 2 carehomes and the checks are sent to me), I had a conference call at 6pm and went grocery shopping at 7pm. I washed the dishes while my kids ate their dinner (McDonalds)..still full from the Korean BBQ and munched on my son's french fries...lol. Then after dinner, I gathered some freebies, made a preview of the freebies, zipped the freebies and uploaded them... which leads me to right now.

Tomorrow is a late start for my junior hi boys. So I take the elementary school kids first and then go to the junior Hi. The other days it's the other way around. Since the Junior High is 5 minutes from my mom's, I visit her every Thursday before she goes to work and then I head out that way too (I work for my parents... 2 carehomes and a family practice) I work at the clinic on Thursdays until around 11 am. If a pharmaceutical rep. comes with lunch... Well then, I stick around. Tomorrow night is also karate so I bring some photoshop magazines or my knitting and watch the boys. Sometimes it's crowded in the school and I just stay in my car. The last time I watched, the only seat left was by the shoes.... oh my gosh, I was getting sick cuz I was smelling their shoes but visuallizing stinky sweaty feet. My family knows I have feet issues. I can't stand looking at peoples feet....even my own...lol.

Anyways I have chatted a lot to day. I have to prepare for my SticKit to Me Swap. Here is a preview of what I made. If you purchase my Funky Fresh Kit (in the store this Friday @ 50% off) and make a CD layout then you get all the CD layouts. If you make a 4x4 layout, well then you get all the 4x4 layouts. If you make both, everyone say it all together now, you get all the CD layouts and the 4x4 layouts. I hope you all get to participate in this swap/exchange. Last month we had 34 Stickits completed and were shared with all who participated. I will put size specs in the forum.

Thanks for all the great comments. I'm glad you like the kit. The Funky Fresh kit is going to be used in my yearbook. Each grade gets a color. I'm still learning how to make realistic elements and appreciate any comments you give me.

Ha... still talking... forgot to hand out the freebies. Here ya go Sorry, this link has expired.

Thanks for sticking around.

Lynn

Funky Fresh

Well I said I finished the kit that I'll be using for the yearbook yesturday, well I just finished 9 stickits that will be part of the SticKit to Me Swap starting March 1st. The kit is called Funky Fresh. Here is a little preview. The kit has over 150 items and will be 50% off for the entire month of March. Many of my other kits will be 39% to celebrate my 39th birthday. I will also have kits on clearance for $2.00.

I didn't get to make you a sample of a CD album, but I did make 9 CD Stickits that will be the beginning of the Swap. I would like to add 4x4 SticKits to the swap for those who can't create CD layouts or aren't interested in them. I'll make the 4x4's tomorrow.

Also during March, If you purchase $10 worth of my kits on one invoice, you'll get a coordinating promotional kit free. It's called Celebration and here's another small preview of that. It has over 100 items and the price after March will be $7.15.

Well I have to go to bed and prepare for tomorrow. I will have some moms here and will teach them how to use the yearbook software program. I hope they bring food...lol.

Oh yeah, thanks for the comments. Grammadiane, good for you that you're on the treadmill. I need some motivation. I plan to make a goal on my birthday. Kind of a 1 year journey to 40. I want to lose a total of 39 pounds and/or inches lost by my 40th bday.

And yes, Sharon, I definitely plan to have more ME time as that is one of my many "journey to 40" goals.

Talk to you all tomorrow.

Busy, Busy and More Busy

I'm Here! Sorry it took so long to get to today's blog, but did I mention I was busy? I originally signed on to take this week because I wanted to let you know that I'll be have a month long sale to celebrate my birthday, my husband's birthday and our wedding anniversary. I also have 3 nieces, 2 cousins, a brother-in-law and an uncle who are also celebrating birthdays in March. My husband, his niece and my niece celebrate their birthdays on the 9th!!! My birthday is the day before and our wedding anniversary is on the 11th, which is also Cheryl McCain's Birthday (she's not related, but a family member of TSG). Remember those logic problems in math... This sounds just like it.

I'm trying to get a lot of things done before the end of February because I have to take a time-out from designing and spend a lot of my time designing an elementary school yearbook. It is due a month from tomorrow and I just finished making the kit that I will use in it..hmmm about an hour ago. I even take some of the school event photos, like the Sock Hop I went to Friday night.

The kit I made (I'll show you previews tomorrow) contained 261 pieces!!! I made two kits from it. One kit is called "Funky Fresh" and it will be the kit for the March SticKit to Me Swap. We will be making CD layouts or 4x4 layouts. If you make a CD SticKit... you'll receive all the CD SticKits. If you just make the 4x4 layout, you'll get all the 4x4 layouts... and yup you guessed it. If you make one of each, well... you're going to have a fantastic album. We ended up with 34 stickits in our last swap. I've made some samples already and will show you tomorrow different ways you can display them. The other kit is called, "Celebration." It has over 100 pieces and will be my own promotional kit you'll get free if you purchase $10 of my kits (in one order) during March.

Okay, gotta go. I am helping my son with his science experiment. It has to do with driving while talking on your cell phone. We won't be driving for real, but using a video game with a steering wheel and pedals.

Please, if you have any questions that you would like to know about me, please ask.... please give me something to talk about tomorrow...

:)

Here are a couple of elements that didn't make it into any kits. These elements coordinate with my Overflowing Heart kit (Braving the Elements Challenge), Passion kit (Extra posting bonus), Dreamy Days kit (March Club kit) and Rugged Charm (TSG March Promotional kit).

Get your Sorry the Link has expired here

See you tomorrow!

Something Special Coming to TSG!

Good Saturday morning everyone! Hope you are all having a nice weekend so far. For my last blogging this week, I wanted to let you in on a little secret of something REALLY special coming to TSG.

On March 15th, the VERY FIRST TSG monthly Kit Club kit will be available!!! Each month 2 TSG Designers and one TSG CT member will create a kit filled with papers, elements, an alpha, wordart, a template and an 8x8 or 4x6 brag book album with covers. The March Kit Club kit has been created by Lynn Reloza and Pamela Yates and I created the brag book album. This is an 8x8 album with regular 8x8 size 2-page SticKits and front & back cover, but I also included a Shutterfly ready version of the album! What this means is that the 2-page spreads are sized to the Shutterfly specifications so all you have to do is add your photos and journaling, upload them to Shutterfly and create your own 8x8 story book for you to order from them. I have also included the front & back cover as well as the spine so it all matches on your book. This past Christmas I created my own 8x8 storybook albums to give to my parents and grandparents and they were a HUGE hit! These albums are such a great quality and I love the 8x8 size since they are so easy to handle and store. Anyway, I got off on a tangent there....
TSG will be selling 3-month, 6-month and 1-year subscriptions for the Kit Club which will give you access to the private forum and the monthly kits. So keep your eyes open for these to go on sale VERY soon!!!

I wanted to thank you ladies for the kind words and prayers for my little guys eye problems. Ok, I need to go get a few things done before my hubby gets home. Have a great Saturday!!

Finally Friday!

Ahhh!! It has been a LONG week for me :) Usually the week just seems to fly right past me, but with my husbanding being out-of-town all week on a business trip (he gets back tomorrow morning), it has been a LONG week this time. And what a week! Of course all the germs the boys have been sharing caught up with me this week and I have been fighting fever/runny nose/cough/sore throat/sore body and today no voice. Then we had a little more ice this week - thankfully not enough to do any damage or loss of electricity this week. When I took the boys to get their haircut, I got to experience some of that ice up close and personal...thanks to my 4-year old not watching his step and trying to jump up onto the side walk...which of course landed him on his bottom and me on my knee. What a sight we probably made as I tried to keep him from bashing his head into the concrete as well as me not landing on top of him and all the while hold onto my 18-month old whom I was carry! Thankfully I got the worst of it and it was only a nice large bruise on my knee. Of course our week's excitement doesn't end there- not in this household :) My 4-year old's eyes decide to start giving him trouble... with one sometimes turning in and causing him to see double. We go to see the only pediatric opthamologist on March 3rd to see what exactly is causing this to happen. Hopefully it will be something that can be solved with glasses or maybe even his having to wear a patch awhile each day....and NOT lead us to having to take him in for an MRI and something more serious being wrong. So if you think about him, I would really appreciate the prayers that the poor little guy doesn't have anything really serious wrong.

WOW! Sorry to bore you all if all THAT junk :) Let's move on to talking about what is going on around TSG!

Have you all visited the TSG forum lately? This month's "Team Best of the Garden Voting" is going on RIGHT NOW!!! So hop on over and check out the great layouts created by some of the TSG Team HERE and place your vote HERE. Every month the TSG Team members produce some WONDERFUL layouts...and no, that doesn't include me :) I actually don't remember the last time I got something scrapped...before Christmas...maybe as far back as before Thanksgiving. Anyway, make sure you go place you vote NOW since the poll will close on 2/24 (which is Sunday).

With that, I need to say bye for now and go get some cleaning done while my boys are down for naps. I found out yesterday that my husbands mom, stepdad, sister and her husband are all coming into town this weekend! And I thought I might actually get some rest - lol. ;) Hope you all have a great Friday!!

Chilly Thursday

I would like to ask you all to please remember Pat in your thoughts and prayers. She is having a lot of issues with her mother and is needing to handle that so she will be coming back another week to guest host the TSG Blog.

So, provided my power holds in with the rain/freezing rain/ice/sleet storm that is moving through my area today into tomorrow, I will be here for the next couple of days.

I wanted to make sure you all know about the great "Keeping It Straight" Challenge at TSG! It is a WONDERFUL way to keep yourself organized with all the crops & challenges you are participating in around TSG for the month. Just copy and paste the list of challenges into a reply to the thread HERE, then edit your reply and add the link to your layout in the TSG Gallery each time you complete one of the challenges for the month of February. For each challenge completed, you'll get either a stickit or a piece of the kit Bee Mine by Kristmess. If you complete all of the challenges, you'll end up with a complete kit at the end of the month! You can see a complete list of all the challenges and crops for the month HERE.