"Behind the music" -- *THE* dress

I finally sat down and made a list of "required" pages for my wedding album. I have around 1000 photos, and I will never be able to scrap them all, so I decided that I'd just make a list of what I'd like to see in it.

Kinda like writing a list of goals or resolutions, it's really kicked me in the pants, because when I sit down, I don't hmm and haww over what to scrapbook. I have a list. I have pictures. I have paper. I have my cricut! GO!

So I wanted to share a page I finished this past week. It's about my dress. Yes, I know some of you think it's weird - guess what. *I*do*not*give*a*damn* It made me happy, I felt beautiful in it. I'll remember it the rest of my life. I'd wear it to the grocery store if I could.

Here's my journaling:

"They say when you find "the" dress, you'll just know it. Well, long before an engagement ring or a proposal, I happened to be watching a show. On this show, they featured a bride that got married during a concert, and she was wearing this American flag dress. I instantly fell in love, it was so different from anything that I've ever seen, and being a non-traditionalist, patriotic, and a republican, I knew it was the dress for me!

So it was the dress, that set the stage for the entire wedding. It took a bit of research, but I finally found the dress. It is designed by Lady Roi and was part of a line they did after September 11, 2001.

The dress received some flack from many, it's a love it or hate it type of dress, but it didn't matter what others thought, I loved it. Unfortunately (or fortunately??) it leaves pretty much one day of the year that you can really pull off a dress like this! July 4th.

I ordered it, and waited 3 months for it to come. I had it shipped to the glass shop in Riverside so that it wouldn't sit outside all day. I was so excited! Now, I was either optimistic, or stupid (or both) but I ordered it what I thought was one size smaller. Unfortunately it really was about 2-3 sizes too small (I suppose so they could get more $$ out of me). I could have probably lost 10-15 pounds, but 50? Yes, I suppose I could, but It wasn't happening. So, non-returnable dress had to be altered, and me, being the sewing queen, said NO WAY was I paying for alterations when I had a sewing machine, made my own prom dress, made patterns out of my own head. So I set out to alter it.

My original plan was to add straps and a 3/4 sleeve to it since I do not wear strapless or sleeveless. Sorry, I don't feel THAT good about myself. :) After a while, I realized, that it was going to have to go on over my head if I did that, and I wouldn't have an army of women to dress me so plan C. A jacket - which by the way, I made, and I merged 2 patterns into one, AND put all the beading on myself. Yes I'm a glutton for punishment.

Altering the dress was probably one of the hardest sewing experiences I've ever had. There were some tears, and it was very scary cutting down the middle of the back of the dress. You see, the zipper went up the side, and if I was going to give myself a couple more inches, I needed a panel in the back, so I had to CUT THE DRESS right down the back. That was scary! The panel went in, along with a corset. The first time I actually got the dress on, and zipped, was almost a year after I received it. I nearly cried! I had to add darts to the top to help keep it up properly, and it was done! I toyed with the idea of hemming it but decided that I'd be happy with it as it was - and I was tired of sewing on it. I rebeaded about 20% of the top, and it was ready!

Regardless of how anyone else feels about the dress, I loved it, and felt beautiful in it, and wish I had a reason to wear it again!"

Won't you be my {Paper} Pal?

This weekend was a nice slow weekend. Little was accomplished, that's what Mondays are for.

I spent a good chunk of the weekend cleaning my scrapbook room. Yes, after the last big clean, I had to clean it again, and it's not really clean yet. After I had it exactly how I wanted it, I ended up having to clean out the storage pod in our front yard, and there was more stuff in there that needed to be put away. Most of that has been sitting in 5+ boxes in the corner.... overwhelming me. That's my problem, I can clean up and get everything *almost* perfect, and then I end up with that one last basket/box/bag of stuff that I don't know where it's home is. It's when I get a couple of those, that I start to feel unorganized and overwhelmed... and I hate that. So I've learned to play a game with myself, and it works well. Well one of 2 games.

First one... If I touch the item, I have to find a home for it. whether it's the trash, donate or keep, if I keep it, it has to be in a logical place. Not just stuffed in a drawer.

Second game is a flylady spinoff. Quick pick up 10 things and put them away. Only have to count to ten. Slightly better, now let's do it again. After counting to ten 3-4 times, I end up not counting but still going. I guess it must flip a switch in my brain because then it's easier and things make sense. So now, I'm down to just a couple boxes in the scrapbook room that need homes, a full box for donation and a bunch of stuff I've been honest with myself that need to be trashed.

I started to go through a box of memorbelia (and I have quite a bit of that being a scrapbooker/mom), and found some paper dolls I had as a child. I really hated to get rid of them, because I remember playing with them a lot when I was a kid. I tossed them in a recycling pile, then *on the way to recycling bin* I realized that they were bright colored, and flat, and paper, and not yellowed a bit, so wouldn't that make a fun scrapbook page accent?

So I just decided to make a super simple, super quick page about my old paper dolls. I will be tossing all the clothes. It hink it's a nice compromise. Any other 70's girls remember the Honey Hill Bunch? I think they had a line of real dolls too. Lenora Smith gave this set to me in the 4th grade for christmas. she paid 79 cents, which was probably a lot for a 4th grader back then.. you know... in the stone age.

I decided to share that one, and while taking that, realized I had other pages never shared, and I did go to that crop last weekend and never shared those pages either.

Here's a page I did FOUR YEARS ago. Yes, it's never been put in an album. I don't know why, because I've assembled albums since then. (I keep all my pages in a pile, and then once in a great great while, I put them in albums).

yes, It's a page about W winning re-election. Yes I'm a conservative girl. Yes I'm proud of that and get this.... Yes, I'd vote for W *again*. Shoot me, but I like him. *sigh*

Yes, I know that the E has fallen off my "4 more" on the right. I need to find a replacement.


Madison being the princess that she is. These are some of my favorite pics from the mini session we did when she was here.

Also...
A few layouts from the wedding album. OK, ALL the layouts from the wedding album. I only have 3 so far. It will take me 20 years to scrapbook all the pics we have.

This one is about Cheyenne being Gene's "Best Gal" (that's what he called her the whole time). Needs journaling, which won't be much.

"The One".

I love this scalloped paper. I could use it on every single layout I do. LOL

The opening page to the album. Yes, I know the colors are not "fourt of july" but there are reds and blues, and I really wanted to use more muted colors for the wedding, but frankly, I'm not anal retentive enough to chase down every single thing that needed to be tomato red instead of fire engine red. Seriously.

I didn't spend the *entire* weekend in my sb room. I did venture out for a while to trim out the guest room door so I can get it stained and the knob put on finally.

I started to trim out tanner's door, but it's a MESS. GRR. I think the whole thing needs to be undone on one side (of course that's the side with the most screws in it) and straightend up. I'm so ready to just put up a curtain and be done with it, but I think 14 year old boys tend to like doors. I dunno I haven't checked lately.

Lots of things to get done today... which ticking them off the list as the day goes on. The usual monday chores like dishes, laundry and vacuuming. I also need to take some things to donate, order some prints for a client, go make a deposit, order some christmas presents online and swing by storage to pick up a load. I think I'll also try to get some of this stuff sitting my my dining room that need to be moved out to the shed GONE. Driving me nuts!

I have laundry backing up on me! Must go.

accomplishments - schmaccomplishments!

I'm going to have to quit saying "more later" when I repeatedly do not make it back by the evening. I could have probably posted again, but I was on a roll so I decided to just run with it.

I accomplished a lot yesterday. Here's my biggest accomplishment:

I installed this door in our bathroom! I got it going, and then when tanner got home, he helped me finish it up. We had to cut the door down by 1/8" which was a gigantic PITA.

I also had a big accomplishment at WW. I officially lost 2 pounds which in their books put me at 11 lost total. At home I'm always around 1.5 more than what they show. I'm very happy with that number. 2 pounds a week is 104 pounds a year. wow. I could be done in 4 short years! LOL. :p

It took everything I had not to stop while I was at WW and take some more really cool macros of wet spider webs outside the door. I'm sure they probably already think I'm weird.

I stopped by the storage unit when I was in town, and took some pics of some crap I have in storage so I can get rid of that unit before winter. I have 2 small units right now, and one is only half full, there needs to be some reduction, and some re-arranging and I'll cut that bill in half. Anyway, got some of the bigger stuff listed online for sale.

I also worked in the evening on the girls albums. We started an album called "Today I..." and they would use a pic of what they did that day. It was a nice little craft project, but I couldn't imagine doing that with 15 little girls. 3 was hard. Anyway, it didn't get finished while they were here, so I told them I'd finish them and mail them. I'm wanting to get that last box of junk mailed out tomorrow. Only 3 more pages to go, and then I think I'll put on some page protectors for the pages - a cover layout and I'm DONE.

Today, my goal is to finish trimming out the doors. I have my door on my scrapbook room, but the trim hasn't been put on because no one wants to hassle with assembling the miter saw. LOL. So I'm gonna give that a go today, install all the trim and then probably stain it this weekend.

I also want to get some more items listed on ebay and such, get caught up on emails - then I need to work on my photo website as I have cards to give out with the url, and yet, no website is there. *I hate it when someone does that*. Bad form. At the very least I need a page that says "under construction - visit here" (pointing to the blog).

OK, need to get moving, I started out kinda late cuz I overslept!

I'll *try* to post later. LOL. we'll see.

101 Things...

I was reading my friend Laurie Ann's blog the other day, and she had a post of 102 things about her. I thought it was fun, so decided I'd do it too!



1. I'm married to an awesome guy, Gene, (looking at watch) around 6 weeks.
2. I have 2 boys, Seth is almost 19, Tanner is almost 14.
3. I just bought a house in the country last year.
4. I'm currently unemployed
5. I have 2 cats. Mack and Jingles
6. I'm the middle child of 5.
7. I've known my best friend Stacy since we were 14.
8. I have a natural tan for the first time in my life.
9. My favorite color is pink.
10. I used to be a teddy bear artist.
11. I won the CK scrapbookers hall of fame the first time I tried (2001).
12. I could probably afford to buy a new car, but I don't because my old car (2000 dodge neon) is the *best car ever made*.
13. I wear false nails.
14. Sometimes I wear false eyelashes too.
15. I used to be a body builder wannabe.
16. I can legpress over 600 pounds.
17. My favorite food is probably LaBonita taco salad.
18. I prefer silver/white gold over yellow gold.
19. I love photography.
20. I have to read all my blogs every day - there's around 12.
21. I still love to scrapbook - I have my own room.
22. I've owned this computer since 2002
23. My first job was washing laundry at a care facility
24. I have a huge spice drawer, but would be ok with just salt and pepper.
25. Sometimes I think Gene and I are psychic.
26. I believe in past lives (and I think I'm really old).
27. I love celebrity gossip - but NEVER buy the tabloids.
28. My favorite places on earth are England, Utah and the california redwoods.
29. People say that I'm creative, and I feel like I"m not good enough to warrant that opinion.
30. I kill plants (not on purpose)
31. I really like socks - they have to be really snug
32. I wear said socks wrong side out.
33. I collect pottery.
34. I have a bear collection I don't add to anymore.
35. I also have a mini metal lunch box collection.
36. My favorite candle is hazelnut cream from walmart.
37. I love old lady garage sales.
38. I love LOVE vintage embroidered tableclothes - but don't like to use them.
39. My wedding dress looked like an american flag.
40. I think the 3 most beautiful women in the world are Angelina Jolie, Tyra Banks and my sister Amber. In that order.
41. I've seen the movie 16 candles around 40 times.
42. I love corn fields.
43. I hate the taste of corn.
44. I can cook pretty well, but don't like to.
45. I rarely listen to music.
46. If I do listen to music, my 2 favs are Faith Hill and Lynard Skynard.
47. I'm a night owl
48. I drink diet coke instead of coffee
49. I HATE being interrupted while speaking.
50. I love pink tourmaline.
51. My favorite tv show is American Idol.
52. I listen to court shows all day long.
53. I hate clutter
54. I wish I had a garage.
55. I love to vacuum.
56. Gene and I installed all our own wood floors.
57. I'm proud of the life I lead and the things I've accomplished.
58. I'm supposed to wear glasses but havent since 2001.
59. I pick peaches at the grocery store by smelling them (so if I don't buy it, my nose has touched it... sorry).
60. I think the 3 most handsome men are Matthew McConahey, Big Paul Tuttle Sr and my husband. In that order.
61. I want to own a log cabin someday.
62. I plan on moving to England at some point in my life, if just for a couple years.
63. I love anything sparkly.
64. Finding Nemo is probably my favorite movie.
65. I eat cereal in bed every morning.
66. I'm clausterphobic
67. I don't have a degree, and wish I did.
68. I'm a windshield savant.
69. I don't do weekly shopping trips. I buy bits and bats as I need them.
70. I hate walmart.
71. I do almost all my shopping at walmart.
72. I sleep to a sound machine - a babbling creek.
73. I'm proud of my mom.
74. I feel sexy in flip flops.
75. I like alone time.
76. I have a tattoo of tigger from winnie the pooh on my ankle.
77. I want a tattoo of our monogram on my left wrist.
78. My favorite flowers are pink gerbera daisies.
79. I always cry at weddings, proposals and those stupid on-star commercials. LOL.
80. Tanner has 3 mice, but I take care of them when he's gone - so they are my mice too... and they're cute.
81. I love to blog.
82. I like to guess where planes are flying to that I see streaking across the sky.
83. I have a dead bat framed in my scrapbook room.
84. I believe in God.
85. I don't keep any secrets from Gene (well, nothing big ;)
86. I have a collection of antique cameras
87. I love old melamine dishes
88. I have a magazine and scrapbook album addiction.
89. I prefer men with facial hair
90. I hate being late, and I think it's disprespectful if you are late to something I invited you to.
91. I love wrapping presents.
92. My favorite holiday is Halloween.
93. I'm a republican
94. I love getting snail mail.
95. I have over 10,000 photographs
96. I also used to collect antique baby photos
97. I recycle.
98. We are completely remodeling our home on our own.
99. I kiss Jingles at least 10 times a day.
100. g is the prettiest letter in the alphbet (lower case)
101. I'm the happiest I've ever been in my whole life.

Senior Storyboard

Last night I stayed up for a while and worked on this:

It's a senior storyboard and apparently all the "rage" at the moment I think I'll offer something like this for my seniors. This one is an 8x10. I have a hard time imagining someone wanting a 24 x 30 of themselves but hey, whatever they want!

Yesterday got a lot accomplished and unaccomplished. Gene called, said he wasn't feeling good, that he'd pick up my beadboard on the way home then he was going to bed.

LIE.

about 10 min before he got home, I heard a pipe burst under the house (thank god I was here) so I shut off the main to the house and he "got to" spend a couple hours fixing that. I felt bad for him, because I know he didn't feel well. I have water again, but only in the master bath! I have to carry water for a couple days until all the plumbing is completely finished this weekend. *it's ok*

Yesterday I also tried to socialize some mice together. Tanner has 3, and 2 are new (salty died about 2 weeks ago :( ), when we tried to introduce them, Pepper the older mouse kept biting the tails of the other mice. Well, yesterday I got out a big rubbermaid tub and made a playground and put them all in it. they did well most of the time, but Pepper was still being a bitch so I did more research. Come to find out, you need to wait until they are all the same size. The 2 new ones must be fairly young as they are smaller than Pepper. So maybe a month or 2 we'll try again.

Today, going to try to install that beadboard *by myself* :) I'm pretty positive it won't be a huge deal. Just getting it cut down to size will be a PITA tho, as it's very wobbly and loosey goosey. It'll look good when it's done tho!

Random Layouts

Oregon coast with my by-gone friends Michael and Kara. They were just sitting on my desk, so I scrapped em.

Jingles a frew years ago... climbing a tree at the old house. it was his new hobby for several months.

More Oregon. The tide pools. I LOVE THIS LAYOUT! 9 pics and it doesn't feel croweded. My new mantra is MORE PICTURES/LESS SPACE.

Why am I YELLING?

Cheyenne, Gene's grandbaby.

An old vacation (same box of pics on my desk lol) from 2003. Funny how with creative cropping, you can almost make an ex disappear from a trip. (ok, I included a couple small pics so my kids didn't think I was being a big old b-word)

BFF's

More scrapbooking. Excited aren't you?

Here's an album I bought at Archivers for likre $7. (the base, not the papers) It says Friend out of chipboard and I just thought it was cuter than baby kittens! I added basic grey paper. Erm, can't remember which set it is, I'm sure Stacy knows. I also added an "s" on the end so it could be "best friends". Inking, ribbon, buttons, a few rub ons and some office binder clips. Got an album made. :)

I'm counting it as 8 pages. That way, I'm up to 10 for the year! I'm 20% of goal and it's the freaking 5th of January!! wooop!

Need to print out another pic of Linda. I had to super crop that one, so I'll find another really nice one of her.

Left side, is supposed to be Sheree. Pics will be added when I find the box that pic is in. I knew where it was as of last sunday, but we moved rooms around again to work on tanner's room and poof.. gone.

Of course... the glass man.

Some new Scrapbook Pages!

I'm not playing, I said I was gonna post some layouts, and here they are! The 4 above are layouts I did for the boys for xmas. I started an album a few years ago, updating pics for the year, and a letter from me to them. They look forward to them. Last year, I had started working and just got behind, so I did 2 years this year to catch up!

This layout is from when we went to see the Lt. Dan Band! Gene surprised me one day saying he'd heard about a concert I'd probably want to see - turned out to be Gary Sinese's band - they raise money for a children's charity for children displaced in iraq. They came to KC so we ended up going and pushed our way right up to the front. Did I mention I LOVE Gary Sinese??? Major score. I was so close I could read the time on his watch! Been wanting to work on these pics for a while. not my best layout ever, but it's done!