Monday Ramblings....

Hi all! Welcome back to my week of blogging! I hope you survived the rambling yesterday! :) I did get some rest and am feeling better now that I had a kit for you all to have this week. LOL

After I woke up (my hubby let me sleep in...he's a wonderful man!)..I was checking my email and got the sweetest message from Angie. Thanks girl, you totally made my day. I can't tell you inspiring and amazing it is to get "fan mail." :) Totally makes all my work worth it! And THEN later on when I started getting all the blog comments about the kit and my products...wow, I just felt so SPECIAL! So thank you to EVERYONE of you! You just made me the luckiest person and now I just hope I can keep designing well and living up to your expectations. :)

I did get one question from JAN through the comments, so let me make sure and answer her. She asked:
Question: By the way, for those of us who bought your last grab bag -- did we get the whole Scrapbook Essentials collection, or just parts of it? When I looked at the previews for the full kit, compared to what I had in the files, it looked like there were other pieces we didn't have, but I'm not sure.... Thx!

Answer: My last grab bag (at another store), did include PARTS of my Scrapbook Essentials Collection, but not all. It included Papers 1, Fasteners, and Embellishments 2! The other 2 packs (Papers 2, Embellishments 1) you will just have to head over to the store and buy. :)

Thanks for the question Jan. All of you are welcome to reply to today's posting and leave questions (and of course keep those comments coming. LOL)! I promise I will answer your questions in the next day's posting! So let me know what you want to know about me and my products! Anything at all!



When I am not designing, I spend most of my day being a mom! And as all moms know, your children become a part of you and you become a part of them. So I thought if I told you a little bit about my children, you just might know a little more about me too. :)

My family is struggling a little bit financially right now and I have really needed to get new portraits of my kids. So I finally broke down and decided to give it a shot myself. I don't have an SLR camera (on my wishlist) , but I still enjoy my good Olympus C-4000 Zoom Camera. It takes some good shots and I'm definitely satisfied. My kids do not hold still very long so I took about 50 pictures trying to get a couple that worked. None of the "together" shots worked out, but I was pleasantly surprised to get these 2 pictures that actually look pretty good? What do you think?


This is JJ (actually Joseph Clark Smith Jr.). He is named after his Dad and his middle name is from his Dad's best friend. He's 5 and he just started Kindergarten this year! When he was 9 months old we discovered that he was developmentally delayed. After much testing, no one knew what was wrong with him. He still progressed, but at a MUCH slower rate than most children. He didn't sit up by himself until he was a year old, he didn't walk until he was 2 1/2...his speech was delayed, his motor skills aren't up to par, etc. Basically in all areas of testing he rates at about a 3- 3 1/2 year old right now. Unfortunately, for us we still don't have a diagnosis after continual testing. But we have had him in the Early Intervention Program and now Special Education and he has come a long way. He started having grand maul seizures when he was 3 years old and after much testing again they think it is just fever-induced seizures...he has a very low threshold for sickness. He hasn't had a seizure for 7 months now, so we hope he has grown out of that one. :) He gets very overwhelmed and most of the time he has a hard time understanding and controlling his emotions. He lashes out a lot, but he can be a truly sweet boy. He is actually really smart and he will surprise me with things that he discovers and learns. Now he is in Kindergarten and we feel so incredibly blessed for the therapists, counselors, teachers and the Special Education program that helps him. I truly couldn't do it without them. He has an amazing imagination and I love the things he can play and do with simple things like blankets and pillows! His favorite part of the day is when he gets to ride the bus to school. I remember when he turned 3 and his first day of Special Ed Preschool...he was getting on the bus and of course letting go was very hard for me and I was so stressed over how he was going to be on the bus and at school without me. And then of course he just gave me a hug and got on the bus and was smiling so hard! He was completely in his element...he truly loves riding the bus. So now that he gets to ride the bus to Kindergarten, that is his favorite thing in the world! He loves watching the NOGGIN channel (Blue's Clues, Franklin, Diego, Backyardigans, etc.) and Disney movies. He loves Spiderman as well, really any of the action heroes and I think that is because his Dad is still into all that. :) Typical boy..he loves trucks, cars, and because his daddy and I are on the computer so much, he loves to pretend to have a computer of his own. It is really fun to see how much he keeps growing and changing!


This is Beth (actually Elizabeth Colleen Smith). Elizabeth for our (my husband and I) favorite character in the book, Little Women. Her middle name is for my grandmother who died when I was in high school. She is 2 1/2 and typical for that age she is emotional, stubborn, and vibrant! She has the sweetest smile and can be the cutest little girl in the world, or can swifly change to be mean and violent LOL. She adores her brother and they share a typical LOVE-HATE relationship. They will protect each other from anyone, but they fight constantly. Yet, they still enjoy playing together and I love to see their imaginations work as they create adventures and play around the house. Beth is a little bit tom-boy and a lot of a PRINCESS. She hates her hair being worked with, but when it is actually done, she loves feeling "pretty." She likes to wear nightgowns at night, because then she is a princess. :) She loves her Daddy and I can see a definite Daddy-Daughter friendship as she gets older. But she is quite a Mommy's girl too. When Beth was born, we were struggling even worse financially and my husband was working 5 hours away from us. So for her first 2 years of life, she only saw her daddy on the weekends, so Mommy was her life. Now we are finally back together again, she of course has developed that relationship with her Dad. She adores horses and My Little Ponies and of course has claimed my collection of Teddy Bears. She has to drag about 3 of them around with her all the time. And the bears she chooses are usually about her size...LOL. She too loves watching movies with her brother. She loves to have people sing to her and play with her. I really need to get some play dates set up because she loves having friends and playing with them. I grew up with 2 sisters (1 older and 1 younger) and 4 younger brothers. My older sister had 3 boys, my younger sister had 2 boys, I had a boy...so I was used to having boys, so when Beth came along, I didn't know what to do with a GIRL! I still feel that way sometimes, but life wouldn't be the same without her and I do see a lot of me in her. I just hope I can deal with all those emotions. :)

I don't know what I would do without my beautiful children. Most of the time, I get so caught up in designing and my computer world that I really struggle with finding a balance between designing, housework (which I LOATHE), and spending time with my children and my Joey. So I know that I don't spend the time that I should with them, but I just hope they know how much I love them. Because when it comes right down to it, they are the most important thing. They are my inspiration and without them I truly would have no reason to be here.


I wanted to let you all know that I am looking for 3-4 more members for my Creative Team!


If any of you are interested, please send me an email with links to your galleries, why you want to be a part of my team, and a list of other teams you are on!!! Deadline is October 1st!



Well It is almost midnight here and I should probably go get a couple more things done and get to bed, so I guess I will finish up with giving you today's link to my FALL CIRCLES Kit! If you haven't gotten yesterday's link yet, please scroll down to get it. It will only be available for a few more hours (I'm going to expire the link in the morning)! :)

Here is today's part:



SORRY, THIS LINK HAS EXPIRED

Well that's it for me today! I'll see you tomorrow! Don't forget to reply to this posting and leave some comments/questions that I can use for tomorrows Question/Answer Session!