Jennilyn’s Journal

3 days until the girls go away for almost 4 days! Whoopie!! LOL I am seriously stoked and would be bitterly disappointed if it ends up not happening. I seriously need this time to myself. We went to the mall today and got Kristen’s hair cut (her idea…I wanted to wait a few more weeks) and I picked up the 2nd and 3rd books in the Twilight series so I’d have something to read this weekend. I’m about half way through the 2nd book already. I wanted to get them all in paperback, but Eclipse isn’t coming out in paper back until next May! Holy crap! I can NOT wait that long for that and Breaking Dawn! At least now that I’m getting the hard cover books I don’t have to slow down my reading. I am loving this series! It’s one of those books where you keep thinking about it after you’ve finished reading and start to think they are real people. I am going to see the movie in December even if I have to go by myself! I can’t wait!!

I’ve continued on with my scrapping (& non-designing) so here’s the newest! I still have one more but I can’t show you until Saturday since the kit isn’t out yet.

Have you guys checked out ScrapbookPictures lately? They are having another sale! 25% off selected size prints, which includes my 6×6! So, I went on eBay and bought a slipcase of 3 albums that go with the 2 slipcases I already have, in preparation for the 65+ layouts I am going to get printed out before the sale ends on the 23rd. Can’t pass up 75 cents per print!

Tomorrow I have my last laser hair removal treatment that has been pre-paid. If I think I need more treatments (I think I might do one more), I’ll have to shell out $115 per treatment. I am not looking forward to the pain or the redness or the messy looking face for a few days, but I can’t wait to be hair free…or at least have lighter thinner hair. No one should have to wax/shave/bleach unwanted hair for their whole life. Now to start saving up to do my legs

That’s it from me until I get bored on Thursday! LOL Terrah!

I had a lot of fun going to the Wildlife Park on Friday with Kristen’s class! I had to chaperone 3 other girls besides Kristen and they were really well behaved. We named ourselves the Otters, because they are cute and love to swim, just like my girls. Whenever it was time to go to the next animal, I’d yell “Okay Otters!” then they’d all come to me

For the From Our Blog To Yours at SSD for June 19th…

What Your Fridge Says About You

You aren’t greedy, but you don’t really deprive yourself either. You strike a good balance with the stuff you buy. You are a very thrifty person. You don’t like to waste money… or food. You don’t tend to be a very adventurous person, but you do surprise everyone now and then. You have a bit of a wild side. You try to be responsible, but you don’t always succeed. Your heart is in the right place though. You are likely single - and a workaholic.

I only did one layout since the last post but I used a kit of Misty’s that isn’t out until next Saturday so I can’t show it to you. I can, however, show you the front and back covers of the Shutterfly book I ordered the other day. It’s of all (minus one that I forgot) the layouts I’ve done with both girls in it so far.

Man, I hate it when DH is in a bad mood (which is often) because then everything bugs him, even the stuff that shouldn’t. He was getting annoyed at Kaylee because she was trying to give her sleeping sister (who isn’t feeling well) a stuffed animal. I asked him why it was annoying him and he said I didn’t understand then went downstairs, as usual. I wish he could handle the kids better because he obviously can’t. I’d say at least 90% off his “tantrums” are kid-related. The big baby can spend the rest of the night down there for all I care.

That’s how I feel. Blah. No desire to design much anymore…not for more than a month. Would anyone miss me if I did stop designing? Probably not! I will definitely keep my site since it doesn’t cost that much to run, keep the challenges going and put the occasional designs in the Toybox, but for now, I am not going to force myself to design and put out 3 or 4 things a week. If something pops into my head, I’ll make it. Maybe this is all the summer slows or something, but for now, I’m just going with what I feel is right.

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So Corina Nielsen has this Bucket Full of Fun over at FPD and it’s only $4.50!! SUCH a deal for what you get! Take it from me, if you like her designs, you NEED this bucket! Check out what I made with it!

Credits here for “Sweet”

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Cheaters Challenge for weeks 10 & 10B are up in the Playroom now! (8.5×11 template isn’t shown)

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Saturday I got a bit of alone time because my family was having a get-together at my Aunt & Uncles house about an hour and a half away and DH doesn’t like those sort of things. I wouldn’t have any fun chasing Kaylee around, so I went by myself overnight and she stayed home with her daddy. The next morning I went to the mall and got Kristen a Strawberry Shortcake lunch bag to match her back pack and a new pair of sneakers for me. Lemme see if I can find a pic online…

They are SO comfy! The website says they are $19.99 but because I’m in Canada, they were $36.99. What a price difference eh? Worth the money though… After I was done shopping I came right home. My parents were golfing all afternoon so I would’ve just been sitting around there by myself anyway. DH said I could stay until after supper, but I decided to come home early. Was a fun day/night anyway!

DH is home today because it’s a holiday (Natal Day). We are off to go to the boardwalk then have lunch! Have a great day whether it’s a holiday or not!

It’s been almost 2 weeks since I’ve scrapped! I can’t believe that! I did post one layout after that, but it was one I scrapped a bit ago and was just able to post it then. So, since I’m on a designing break (pretty much, might still do templates) I decided to scrap this morning, and here is what I came up with!

Credits here for “Sundress”

I’ve been playing around with different overlays trying to get the color to “pop” or brighten the photo, etc. For this one, I duplicated the layer twice. The 1st duplicate I set to overlay and the 2nd I set to Screen, then adjusted the opacity until I liked it. Just a little something that Kate Hadfield said to try. Check out the before & after! For the layout I blurred the background a bit because I didn’t like how it looked.

So is everyone enjoying the Cheaters Challenges? I know they are being downloaded a lot, but not too many people are participating in the actual challenges. I’d love to see what you do with the templates, so link me up! Weeks 3-5 for the 8.5×11 challenges are going into the Toybox tomorrow if you missed any of them!

Oh! Remember that “wear my blinkie” thing I am doing to find some new CT members? Well, you can still wear them, but be on the lookout for an official CT call next week. I am going to do 3 month terms instead and am starting an all new CT beginning August 1st!

I guess that’s it for me! Ciao for now!

This weekend wasn’t too bad for once! Saturday DH was at his parents house the whole day from 8am to 11pm helping to reshingle their roof then had to go back for a few hours yesterday to finish it off and took Kristen with him. When he came home, my MIL followed so she could babysit the girls while we went to see Pirates of the Caribbean 3! It was SO good! My butt was sore afterward because it is almost 3 hours long, but I loved it!

Scrapped a bit last night using Eve’s Trendy Trousers collection…

Credits here for “Ponytail”

Cheaters Challenge week 4 is now up at JLD and it is now weekly! So every Monday, you can find a 12×12 and an 8.5×11 layered template to scrap with! Don’t forget to post in the forum with a link to your layout so we can give you some lovin’! Check out this weeks template! It’s a 2 pager! (8.5×11 not shown)

I know it’s a bit specific, but I’m sure many of you have outdoorsy photos to scrap! Even if it’s not camping, you can just take out the fire!

If you’ve missed out on any prior weeks (except for the 1st one because I didn’t do that one) you can find them in the Toybox as a pack every 4 weeks (or 3 if there’s a 2-pager in there). So next week you’ll be able to find weeks 2-4 in the Toybox!
Anyway, I guess that’s it for me today! Until next time!

OMG, I had the scariest dream last night…woke up promptly at midnight crying because of it…I dreamt that we had to put Kristen down because she was sick (just like a pet and we called her Lauren instead of Kristen). Weird thing was DH wasn’t phased by it at all, and I never really started reacting until a few days later. I was searching for a silver claddagh ring that she had (doesn’t IRL) so I could remember her and kept saying “I can’t believe Lauren is dead”. Like what the heck kind of dream is that?? I haven’t been sleeping well lately because of my neck and feeling sick, and this didn’t help! Took me an hour to get back to sleep then Kaylee decides to wake up crying at 4:40am and comes into bed with me. Ugh!! I want to enjoy sleeping now that I have no snoring in my ear…

Yesterday I still felt crappy but well enough to scrap a page using Kristin’s new kit called Flutter & Fly. It is a beautiful kit and right now it’s on sale for only $4.20! I think the perfect touch was using my Fairy Dust overlays on it.

Credits here for “Waited”

You should read the poem Thena left for me at DST about it…it teared me right up I tell ya!

“Life offers us some moments
With those whom we adore
That if we had waited a liftetime
They would have been worth waiting for.
I love the moments that I have
And cherish every day
Thanking God above who in His great love
Sent two little blessings my way.”

Isn’t that the sweetest thing?? Thank you so much Thena!

So I’m wondering, which would be better…to have a weekly Cheaters Challenge @ JLD or have both 12×12 & 8.5×11 templates every 2 weeks? I’m not sure if I’d be able to do both sizes every week and wouldn’t want to let anyone down if I wasn’t able to. Leave me a comment and tell me what you’d like!

Okay, I’m off for the day…be back tomorrow to show you what you missed in the loot bag last week!

Nothing much to show you anyway. For the past 2 days I’ve done no designing or scrapping. Been dealing with a situation at home that has made me not want to do anything but surf the net and buy things. I realized that I never showed you my sampler for this month though! Remember the sneak peek of it a while back? Well here’s the full product!

You can get it in the DigiShoppe sampler pack this month for $6.99! Look at everything you get in this awesome pack!

After the month is over, each can go into the store on it’s own if the designer chooses to, so mine will go in the “They Once Were Samplers!” section. I have yet to put Aileen in there, but the rest of my mini-kits are in there for $3. Starshine (my first one) is $4 because it’s almost a full kit.

So yesterday the girls both had to go to the doctors for some needles- Kristen needed to get 2 booster shots before school in the fall and Kaylee had her 18 month check-up which meant she needed to get 2 needles too. She said that Kristen is perfect, besides her needing to drink 2% milk instead of 1%, but she’s a bit worried about Kaylee. She has gained less than a pound since she was 9 months old. We’ve gone and done 3 weigh check-ups since then and have to go back next month for another one. She used to be in the 90th percentile back when she was 9 months old and now she’s in the 40th. Also, she has yet to say one real word, which is a bit worrying. Not terribly, but still. So, the doctor is going to refer us to a pediatrician to get those 2 things looked at. I’m sure everything is fine with both her weight and her speech, but we want to make sure.

Just wanted to give a little prayer to my friend & CT member Melanie (KeeMacKayMom). I haven’t heard from her since yesterday at lunchtime and she said if I didn’t hear from her, it means she had to take her son Kayden (he’s 3 weeks older than Kaylee, but a preemie that was supposed to be a month and a half younger than her) to the hospital for a bit of a stay because he probably has pneumonia. Hoping the little guy gets better real soon!

Have a great day! MIL is taking Kristen over night with her around 4, so I know I’ll have a good day after that. LOL

What a response I got with my template! I didn’t think so many of you would actually comment. Thank you so much! For those who didn’t get it, it’s available now in my shoppe along with the other 3 templates I’ve given out as freebies. But, with this last one I added a double folded corner to it. Available in both 12″x12″ & 8.5″x11″!

New challenges started up at Sweet Shoppe Designs yesterday so I scrapped a page for the Treat of the Month lift. It’s Kate Hadfield this month and I have about 5 of her layouts in my favorites at DST, although I could have many more looking at her gallery. It is awesome!

Credits here for “Hot Chocolate”

For the SSD challenge “From Our Blog To Yours” the challenge was to pick 5 songs that describe your week and have reasons why. Here’s my list:

• Monday Monday by the Mamas & the Papas-  It was Monday..what else can I say?
• Drive My Car by the Beatles- Tuesday I took the girls shopping for the first time in my new car.
• Wanting Me Tonight by Liberty X- I had a freebie template on my blog and over 145 people commented to get the link to it!
• Money Money Money by Abba- I got paid! Which leads to…
• Shopping by Barenaked Ladies- I went shopping for some digi stuff today!

So DH had a long day yesterday. He worked from 8am to about 7:30pm then went out again at 8:45 and came home at 5:40am. Lots of moolah this pay period! He’s upstairs sleeping right now and has to go out again around 5pm to do another night job. Guess we’ll be switching sleep-in days this weekend!

So who else went shopping at NitWit Collections today? Mary Fran is having a 32 1/4% off sale and has a bunch of new awesome stuff to choose from! Here’s what I got!

I have so many other kits on my wish list but I don’t want to get them until I actually need them (like Kiddiegarter for when Kristen starts school in the fall) Love their new Scribbles! I hope they make more!

Tonight there is a birthday chat at Elemental Scraps for a wonderful girl I know…Melanie Colosimo (aka lemonyr)! She is exactly 2 weeks younger than me! It’s at 10pm EST so I’m definitely going to wish my girl a happy birthday! You better come too!

Now I’m off to do more shopping at ScrapbookGraphics and ScrapArtist…and maybe Twisted Lollipop. Can you tell I just got paid? LOL Have a great Friday!

Yep, I got to scrap today! 2 pages so far and the night is still young!

The first one I did for my Digi-Lift challenge that starts tomorrow. We are going to be lifting SharonD’s gallery this week. The kit is Savannah-Sophisticate by Carrie Stephens, frame by Nancy Comelab, folded corners by me, fonts are SP Wonderful Wendy, SP Toggle, SP You’ve Got Mail & SP Toby Unleashed. Scraplift of SharonD’s “A Dreamer”.

The next one is a picture of my nephew Spencer at 6 months old. Papers and ribbons from Angedawn’s “24″ sampler at SSD, stitches by Gina Miller, frame by Nancy Comelab, rest of the elements from Melany
Violette’s boys element packs (which are only $7.50 for 15 packs of elements!) , font is SP Wonderful Wendy, scraplift of Robin Carlton’s “I Love You” for the SSD Spin-a-Lift Challenge.

Also, I wanted to show you what I might be getting at the end of this week…

Cool eh? I’ve been wanting a DVD camcorder for a while now and having to register Kristen for school this month makes me want one even more. We don’t even watch the videos we’ve made with our older camcorder because of the tape thing and the quality isn’t that great. I want to have nice videos of her at her first Christmas concert, etc.! so depending on how much money we have after bills are paid this week, I might be getting it this weekend! Yay!

Well, I’m going to start on a new layout..have a great night! Go Jr.!

That’s all I did this weekend (besides the bent photos templates)! First one is of my youngest and I last May when were were outside playing. I took them myself, so I guess they aren’t that bad! Kit is Fab from Amanda Rockwell’s Back in Black I at SSD, fastener from her Beautiful Disaster from BIB2, bended photo template by me (see freebie in the last post), ribbons by Amy Martin & Natalie Braxton at The Lily Pad, semi-lift of Colleen’s Plugged In. Font is LD Letterpress.

Next is a picture of my daughters first “craft” she did all by herself from cutting it out to coloring it to taping it together! Kit is Flavorful from Amanda Rockwell’s Back in black 2 collection at SSD. Wrap around ribbon by Natalie Braxton, scraplift of “My Love” by Rezika, fonts are KGD Jennilyn & LD Letterpress.

And last is a gorgeous picture of Kaylee taken right after she yanked a hair band off her head, hence the messy hair. Kit is mainly Beautiful Disaster from Amanda Rockwell’s Back in Black 2 collection. Film frame from her Funky town kit, stitching from her Star kit, ribbon by Natalie Braxton, bent photo action by Jen Caputo, folded corners by me, font is LD Mixed.

I am addicted to doing folded corners! I do them myself and it is so quick and easy! I like the way they look more than the actions you’ve seen around. I especially love the double fold in that last layout.

Today we aren’t doing much. DH is just getting over a cold and Kaylee and I just got it from him. Kristen is pretty healthy, as usual. I think DH is going to take Kristen to WalMart today to get her hair cut. One last time before my brothers wedding in July where both of my girls will be flower girls. He needs to pick up some cold medicine and other stuff anyway, plus we still have a $25 GC from WalMart he got from his boss for Christmas so I figure might as well save some money while killing 2 birds with one stone. So while they are doing that, Kaylee and I will just chill at home.

Have a wonderful Day of Rest!