Fun and Games at ESS

A week long birthday celebration - are you missing it?  Here is the first one - guess the designer #1, posted in the Gallery.  Click the link to go there, guess right, and you could win!  More details are listed on the blog - click the blog heading for today to go straight to the ESS blog.  Also the first pieces of teh collab kit Astrological Dreams is hidden in the shop, just waiting for you to find it.  To give you an idea of how awesome this kit is, here is my first layout:

We've Captured the Fairy Princess

My original layout was slightly different - but after finishing it I felt like showing Bianca's feet in the picture took away from the barred window idea.  ;-)  Here's the original, tell me what you think:

I'll have another one for you tomorrow.  You might even see me don a party hat for the celebration.
Until then, Scrap The Night Away!

Birthdays are in the Air!

August rocks.  Of course being my birthday month might have something to do with that.  ;-)  Today I have a new equation.  25 + 12 + Faith X Blessings = Tania.  It's a wonderful life.  Dad and I celebrated my birthday when I visited him for the American Idols concet at the beginning of August.  Nicole, Dana and Logan had a birthday celebration for me when John and I visited them last weekend, complete with double chocolate cake (yum!).  John made me breakfast this morning - pancakes, and made just the way I like them (as thin as they get without becoming crepes).  He actually made a special batter just for me (he likes his pancakes a little thicker).  And Mom invited me over for a birthday dinner this evening.

On Monday, August 30, E-Scape and Scrap will be belatedly celebrating their 6th birthday.  The original plan was to celebrate in July, but then the site had that unfortunate incident and Julie spent the entire month recovering from internet fraud and lost data.  So now that ESS is back and better than ever, it's time to have some fun.  Check out their blog for more information.

Happy Birthday to anyone else out there lucky enough to have an August birthday!

Until next time, Happy Scrapping!

Going Back to School

The kids will be going back to school next week (or the week after, probably, for some kids).  I thought we'd take a look back at Sandy's children on the first day of school 2009, it will be fun to compare this picture to the one Sandy sends me from 2010 (maybe I should remind her I'm expecting a first day of school picture, lol).

This layout was created using Coppercurl Designs new kit "School, Etc.".

First Day of School 2009

Don't forget all that school shopping!  Although if you're starting now the stores are probably already out of the really good stuff, it's been on sale here for a month.

Looking Back on Our First Disney Cruise

Obviously I didn't meet my self-imposed July deadline to scrap our entire first Disney Cruise, so now I have two of them to work on.  I'm doing them separately so I got back to business and finished several more layouts from the first cruise, finally finishing the first day, lol.  Take a look (although if you are going on one and want some surprises, you might want to skip over the journaling, because my goal is to describe the entire experience).  Click on the linked title to go to a gallery posting where all the journaling is typed out and close-ups of the page are included.

Check-in and Boarding
Arriving at Port Canaveral and pulling into the Disney terminal ends the stressful portion of this journey.  Once you are in Disney hands, you are in good hands.  Hi, Mickey!

Our Stateroom
Our checked luggage and our room were ready at the same time, and we were settled in and ready to explore by 3.

Up On Deck 9
Deck 9 - where the party is at.  It's also where the pools and snack bars can be found.  Deck 9 is a great place to be.

Adventures Away
The Sail Away party - say goodbye to the daily grind and hello to vacation!

We Are On Our Way
As the party winds down the shore melts into the background; time to enjoy life at sea.

Animator's Palate
The first night of dining unveils a whole new facet of this experience - fine dining with the Mouse's touch.

First Things First

Logan is growing by leaps and bounds!  As he approaches his first birthday, he's getting quite a few other firsts under his belt.  Take a look!

Logan's First Solid Food
(Rice ceral, of course!)

Logan's First Teeth
(two of them on the bottom)

Both of these layouts were made using Rose Thorn's new kit "Baby's Firsts."

A Hot Mess

"Hot Mess" is the new collection of mini kits that the E-Scape and Scrap Designers are putting together after dealing with several months of downtime due to internet fraud the site fell victim to.  It's has a gorgeous color scheme, perfect for layouts of strong, independent girls/women.  There have been 4 mini kits released in this collection, created by Sus Designs, Cheryl McCain, The Busy Elf Designs and Gouzinette Designs.  I've already finished a layout from each of the mini-kits, take a look:

Take a Picture of My Glasses
The pictures in this layout are of our niece on a recent trip to Disney where she insisted I take a picture of her sunglasses which she had hooked onto her shirt.

Mini-kit by Sus Designs
Fonts used – LD Skinni Minni, LD Steep, LD Normal

Don't Stop the Ride
These are pictures of our nieces on a recent trip to Disney.

Mini-kit by Cheryl McCain
Fonts used – PC Bang, PC Brita

Make That Change
These are pictures of my sister working on one of her school projects; after years raising children she returned to college last year to become a Medical Assistant (which she now is) and to earn her 2 year degree (which she should finish by the end of the year).

Mini-kit by The Busy Elf Designs

One of a Kind
This is a picture of our niece during spring break.

Mini-kit by Gouzinette Designs
Font used – PC Lewis
 

Don't forget to stop by the ESS blog to pick up the free mini kits!

Back and Better Than Ever

Not me, silly.  I'm talking about E-Scape and Scrap, Julie Mead's Digital Scrapbook Boutique.  (I'm on the Creative Team at E-Scape and Scrap.)  At the end of June the store was forced offline due to fraud at their server host.  All changes made to the site and the gallery since April were suddenly gone, with no way to recover them.  That included the custom design of Julie site.  It was obviously devestating but Julie preservered.  Throughout July she worked tirelessly to restore the site, and when that was not possible she worked to rebuild.  The site is now back online, with the added bonus of being available both at .com and .net addresses.  Designers are reloading their products and there might be a surprise or two on the way (don't tell her I told you ;-)).  Also, the designers have created a collaboration kit called "Hot Mess," available free on the blog, as a call-out against the crimes committed here.  Check it out!

In the meantime, the Creative Team is back to work.  Here are the first couple of layouts I completed since the site was up, these are using Cheryl McCain's new Mosaic kit, which she designed in celebration of the reopening of the store.

She Waits
We recently had the opportunity (Lisa, Tabatha and I) to attend a book signing at the Romance Writer's of America Annual Conference at Disney's Dolphin Resort.  Approximately 500 authors were available to sign books, and books were available to purchase.  We found out about it because two authors that we love were a part of the book signing - Maria V Snyder (Poison Study) and Melissa de la Cruz (Blue Boods).  One of them sent it to Lisa in their monthly newsletter.  It's a good thing one of us is reading newsletters.  Here is Tabatha as we waited in line for the conference arena to open - she missed the parade of authors (and Melissa de la Cruz) but she did get to meet and talk with her after we were inside.

Maria V Snyder
Once inside we made a beeline for the authors we knew before wandering around to see who else was there.  Maria V Snyder had one of her new books for sale, Inside Out (which is amazing).  She also had news on her newest of the Glass series books, Spy Glass.  She assured me we'd see plenty of Valek in that book.  Yay!  She was super-nice and talked to us for a while.

I'll see you again soon!  In the meantime, check out the restored E-Scape and Scrap Boutique as well as a couple of my favorite authors.