My Scrapbook Experiment

The pageant experience introduced me to the world of scrapbooking. After learning I was required to keep a scrapbook documenting my reign, I bought a couple of magazines and took the plunge. The reading materials I purchased lead me to the realisation that this was an amazing creative outlet which was limited only by my imagination. Soon my home was decorated with punches, ribbons, stickers, and paper of every imaginable colour. Yes that's right, I went completely overboard. But it was all necessary if I was going to create the most beautiful pages known to man. Right? Before long I had fallen behind; the perfect embellishment to finish off the page was an absolute necessity. I was never done. All too soon, my year was at an end and I had only 6 pages of "fun times" to show my prospective successor. What was I to do? Help!!! I tried to get some friends together, get an assembly line going, and churn out some lovely pages. No luck. So I decided to proudly display what I had, and wouldn't you know I was the only queen to have taken such time and care with her "art". Everyone wanted to me to work on their scrapbooks. Aaaarrgh!

Luckily, I've found I really enjoy planning and designing my perfect scrapbook, so I'm taking my time and getting it done right.

Of course it wasn't long before I found the world of digital scrapbooking. Reusable supplies, planning and designing on the computer (my fave), and the means to share my life with family members far and near. I got Corel Paint Shop Pro X1 with my new camera and I am really loving learning how to use it for creating scrapbook pages. It's a big learning curve for me, since I keep assuming that all the terms mean the same as the words would in English. I'm learning a whole new language here. It's kinda fun.

So in the coming months, I'll be posting my little experiments. Thankfully, there's tons of help from this fantastic community known as the worldwide web, and I'll be taking advantage of them at every turn. I would like to say thank you in advance to that wonderful online community for giving me the tools I need to take my creativity to the next level. Thank you so much.

Here's one of my first attempts. It is based on the Pink Gavey tutorial found on Kay's tutorial blog. Kay, whoever you are, thanks for helping me with these baby steps. My gratitude also goes out to the writer of the Created by Jill blog for the beautiful digital paper and embellishment kit.

Here goes nothing...

Christmas Cleanup

Smart me, I took a couple days off work for some rest and relaxation, and instead thought it would be a great time to give the place a good cleaning in time for the holidays. Of course those who know me realise that means the house is an even bigger mess than when I first started. So now, instead of straightening things up a little, I've got to clean up this new mess I've created. It gets worse before it gets better and all that jazz. It would appear that my lovely home can be likened to the current economic situation - gonna get a whole lot worse before it gets better. I'm just trying to prepare as best as I can for what comes next, doing what I can to control my personal finances and support my family in any way I can. If we just hang in there and look out for each other, we can make things better in small but important ways. Hey, if nothing else, at least I've got clean floors. Come on over and eat off them sometime.

Does Sugar Cause Wrinkles? - AOL Body

Does Sugar Cause Wrinkles? - AOL Body

That AVON makes some good stuff. Heading the list of skin aging fighters at the lowest price is the one and only ANEW PhotoRadiance SPF15, a real powerhouse. That's why I love their stuff.

www.youravon.com/tjeanhastings

Brant's Blog of Awesomeness: A Sports Fan Offers His Sporty Opinion About Sports

Brant's Blog of Awesomeness: A Sports Fan Offers His Sporty Opinion About Sports: "http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/2315424/22457528"

Way FM is my favourite radio station. I could listen all day long. Brant is the morning show host and I just love his quirky style. Check him out.

CHANTELLE ERNANDEZ

CHANTELLE ERNANDEZ

Starting to like this girl's sound. Check her out!

Have Fun!

beat me if you can

5 Workouts to Reshape Your Body - Diet & Fitness - MSN Health & Fitness

5 Workouts to Reshape Your Body - Diet & Fitness - MSN Health & Fitness

Time to start taking better care of myself. There are too many days where I wake up feeling tired and worn. I'm thinking this could be a good start - 5 exercises to get the blood moving. It's time to get rid of this sluggish feeling. Go me!

Party Central

There's so much going on this year. First there was Patrina's wedding in May - great music, good eats. Now we've got Erica's tenth (10th) anniversary in North Carolina this weekend - more great music, more good eats. I am so looking forward to seeing the family again. I hope you guys are all making the effort to take the trip out there. We'll have ourselves a mini reunion. Hope to see you there.
If you can't make it, start saving up for Kerri Anne's wedding in December. It's gonna be a fiesta of epic proportions! I am soooo looking forward to "gettin' down with my bad self".
A good time will be had by all at next summer's family reunion. Keep your calendars open people!

New Year

January 2005
It's the beginning of a new year, a time traditionally reserved for reflection and goal setting. It is my hope I will be able to realise any objectives I choose to focus on for the next twelve months. I've been in contact with family members close by and hope to continue our association in the future. As a group we are spread out all over the globe, however, we must find ways to reach out and become a closer, stronger unit. While we strive towards this goal, let us give some thought to the oft discussed and never arranged family reunion. Let's find new ways to come together.
Let FAMILY UNITY be our motto in 2005!
Have a wonderful, blessed year.