Scrappin' Army Life

Oy..... Time sure flies!

noreply@blogger.com (Scrappin' Life) — Sat, 17 May 2008 22:46:00 +0000

Wow. So this has been over a month now since my last post. A lot has happened in that time too. My husband left for Iraq on April 9th. It's been the hardest month for me. At least I can say that we have one month down and fourteen more to go. I do get to talk to my husband just about every dingle day though, so that is a true blessing. There are so many spouses that don't get to talk to their soldiers on a regular basis. I'm lonely, and miserable, but I am also a very lucky spouse.

School has been kicking my butt and no matter what I do I can't seem to get ahead. I really can't wait until this term is over. The classes aren't ridiculously hard, but I just can't seem to get my head around anything. This one is a little over half through. Maybe next term is going to be better.

My body also decided to do some functioning on its own for the first time in almost a decade. It's such a wonderful thing. Thanks to my husband encouraging me to exercise, I actually started a menstrual cycle on my own. I was so excited. Then I wanted to kick myself since if I had listened to my husband a year ago when he started pestering me about the exercise we could already have a child. He is probably going to miss out on most if not all of the pregnancy and birth if and when it happens. We'll be together in January again for eighteen days when he goes on leave. Let's hope for the best.

I took my first set of portraits for someone a few weeks ago. I am very surprised that they turned out so good. My friend, Ryann, gave me permission to use them for a portfolio. Here are a couple of my favorites.

I liked them so much I thought I would try my hand at some self-portraits. I mainly did it to get my husband off my back, but I completely shocked myself at how good they turned out. I thought they would look crappy since I had no help, but I was pleasantly surprised. Here are a few of the best, in my opinion.

My friend Jessy took her favorite picture of me and created a poem page specifically dedicated to my husband.

I'm thinking that I may open my own studio and bring her in on it. She is really good.

Now on to the scrapbooking Layouts I have made lately. I've kinda lost my mojo a bit since my husband left. It seems to be coming back now. Thank goodness! I hated taking a few hours to do something that came so naturally to me that it used to take only a few minutes. My stuff is shows a lot of distress and grunge and has a lot more journaling than it used to since he has been gone. These first pages are ones that I made before he left.

These next pages are for a memory book I am creating for my husband's deployment. The pages started taking on a different life. They got a little darker and a lot more emotional.

Even the last page I made which has pictures from my own photo shoot turned out a little dark. I guess that is going to be the one thing I see in everything now. A touch of sadness and melancholy.

I finished a kit the other day. Wondering if there is any interest in it. I could sell it if I had a store, but I am not so sure it's very good. If anyone is interested in it I will have it up in the next couple days. Well, that's about all there is to update on for now.

Pleasant Eve All!

Monday... Always Monday!

noreply@blogger.com (Scrappin' Life) — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 21:59:00 +0000

Treasures To Scrap forums are rockin' and some serious action is going on!

There have been some changes to the way the challenges happen. Now they are posted once a month and can be completed at any time during the month. Check out the new thread for the full instructions.

The April Template Challenge by Fabella is up and running. Let me tell you this.... if you have never tried this one you gotta do it now. The template is amazing. Have a look at what I did with it using the April Treasure Chest available in the digi store:

The Colors of Paradise Challenge is in full swing also. Every month we are challenged to use a color scheme. This month it is any colors of the tropics. Check out what I created using Sunfire's A Fairy Tale Kit:

I also used Amanda Carlson's Template #111 from her blog. There is also a digi challenge for techniques. The April technique is clustering and the challenge is to use at least 20 elements and/or papers on one layout. Check out what I did for this challenge using Laura Burger's True Affection:

I'm not totally happy with the way this one came out, but it is still very pretty. I love these challenges for just one reason: they give me a wonderful outlet for my creativity!

I also got some wonderful shots of my nephew's first birthday party. I finally managed to make it to someone's first birthday.

I got so many more pictures I think it would take me a lifetime to show them all. I even managed to fill up my disk in the camera! Yep! Over 1000 pictures at one time! WOOT!!! I RAWK!!! I'm a photo fanatic. LOL

Well, I suppose I should head out. Need to spend some more time with my husband before he leaves this week for Iraq. My father is already there, he left last week.

Pleasant Eve All,

Melissa

Such a bad little blogger!

noreply@blogger.com (Scrappin' Life) — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 23:27:00 +0000

I know, I know! It's been a month since I posted. It's sad huh?! Things have just gotten so busy for me here. I finished up one term of classes only to start another term. Hubby was on leave for a couple weeks so that we could have some quality time before he leaves for Iraq in a month or so. We spent every day together. I had forgotten exactly how weird it was to have him around all day every day. Woah! He even took me out to scout some shots. He has a great eye. I couldn't believe some of the shots he found for me.

I've been a busy little scrapper too. Treasures To Scrap sure has been keeping me on my toes. Check out some of the great pages I made using their kits.

Made using Trevor's Treasures Kit:

Made using the February Treasure Chest:

Made using the March Treasure Chest:

We had some snow today. Can you believe that? Our dog had a blast doing nose dives in the snow. He loved it! I couldn't get any photos though. My camera battery was dead and I forgot to check the charge on it before we took him out. I was sooo upset about that. Maybe I can get some tomorrow since there is still a whole lot of snow on the ground!

Well, I guess I should get some sleep. It's after midnight here and I am exhausted. Check me out tomorrow too so that I can share some more. I have soooo much to share!

Pleasant Eve All!

New At TTS.....

noreply@blogger.com (Scrappin' Life) — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 21:35:00 +0000

New at TTS today is the February Treasure Chest!

We also have a whole new CT doing challenges now!

This is also new. We have the February newsletter out!

Also, below is the preview for the first kits I was assigned to use for the Creative Team of Treasures To Scrap.

You all should really check this out!

Pleasant Eve All!

I wonder.....

noreply@blogger.com (Scrappin' Life) — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 20:11:00 +0000

.... the question of the day now is will I be able to get the pics uploaded this time? I guess here goes...

The page on the left is of my nieces blowing bubbles. The page on the right is of my DH and the dog when DH was sick. The Kit used for both pages is the Treasures To Scrap Treasure Chest for January.

The four pages above are from the kit Denim & Diamonds by Karla's Kaleidescope Designs.

The two pages above are my nephew. The kit used was Blueberry Delight by Doin It Digi Designs available at Treasures To Scrap

The above page is of my oldest niece Willow. The kit used is a Fairy Tale by Sunfire available at Treasures To Scrap

The above page is of our last anniversary. The template is Fabella's February Template and the kit is Fabella's Secret of Magic available at Treasures To Scrap

The above two pages are of my wedding to DH. The kit is the February Treasure Chest available at Treasures To Scrap

All fonts are from HSDesigns.

Pleasant Eve All!

Hectic Life

noreply@blogger.com (Scrappin' Life) — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 00:26:00 +0000

Wow. This week has just been crazy. The big news first..... I was accepted as part of the Creative team for Treasures to scrap. I am so totally psyched. I'm actually on two CT's! Me! The person who still knows almost nothing about digi scrapping. It's just amazing. I'm hoping to become a very active team member for both TTS and Karla Morano. Karla has been so great and understanding with my lack of scrapping. But now that I finally have two of three finals out of the way for the term (I know, it's amazing) and the last one is on Tuesday, I can devote a heck of a lot more time to everything else. My DH gripes that I spend so much time in front of the computer doing homework and research papers. I guess he is right. I spend an average of 60-70 hours a week doing that stuff as of now. I have one more paper to do for my Criminal Justice class then I am taking a break. Cutting back to one class this term. I just gotta spend some time with DH before he leaves for Iraq. The bright side is that at least I will have a lot more time to scrap and maybe (if I'm lucky) learn some of the finer points of designing. Well, I am off to bed. DH is making me do the treadmill thing every day since I told him I want to lose some weight in hopes of being able to have a baby sometime this year. At least someone is pushing me. LOL. I will have some more stuff up tomorrow. LO's and such and maybe I will try to do a QP or something.... maybe.

Pleasant Dreams All!

New LO's

noreply@blogger.com (Scrappin' Life) — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 01:53:00 +0000

So let me say this first off. I love having family so close that I can go see them if I want to, but far enough away that we aren't up each other's butts. My sister's DH is stationed in Heidelberg. It's only like an hour and a half one way if there is really heavy traffic. I could make that trip no problem, it's just a pain when you are the one always making it. I understand that my sister has the three kids and traveling at all can be a pain. I really do understand that. But, they have lived here for over a year now and have only been to my home twice as opposed to all the time I have spent over there. Plus, my parents live like 2 minutes (literally unless the traffic light gets you) from me and she and the kids have been over there almost as much as they have been at their own home since mom and dad got stationed here. Sometimes it's a little annoying to always get griped at that I never go to visit, but there are times when I would like to say what I am thinking. I don't because I am so attached to the kids (not having any of my own ya know) that I don't want to screw that up. Not to mention that I really like being able to talk to my sister about stuff if I'm in a bind. So it's one of those things where I am learning to be grateful for the stuff I have and not open my fat mouth and insert both feet.

Now on to the good stuff. I made some new LO's yesterday. My nieces are so close in age, only ten months apart, that they are more like twins. This year on my youngest niece's birthday we had one heck of a time explaining to Willow that it was Lily's birthday and not hers yet. It didn't go over so well. In the end, I got a gift for Lily that could be used by both of them and asked my sister if Willow could help Lily open it. My mom even got Willow a mini cake so she wouldn't be upset and cry. Both of the girls are usually big camera hogs. I have it permanently attached to my hand when I go visit and that has become one of the first things they look for. So needless to say they have learned to "cheese" it up big time. They're both drama queens anyway, but now it's like worse than ever. So anyway, these two LO's are from Lily's party in September 2007 when she turned two. I am still working on the ones from Willow's 3rd birthday this past November (2007) and those should be up soon. These LO's were made using Karla Morano's Denim & Diamonds Kit, which is available in her store (linked via my blinkie I hope.....) with fonts by Heather Stokes.

(Having issues getting any photos uploaded now for some reason. Will update and keep trying)

I'm hoping to get a lot more scrapping done after this coming week. Thank goodness finals will be over! Dropping down to one class this coming term so that I can spend more time doing the things I want. Not to mention hubby leaves in a couple months to go to Iraq again (another 15 months down the drain for me) and I really want to spend all the time I can with him. Gotta do something to have kids right?! LOL This last LO was done for a challenge at Treasures To Scrap. The idea was to give the reason you scrap. Here is my LO. I used the Timeless Journey kit by Manuella Zimmerman which is available at Treasures To Scrap. The fonts are also by Heather Stokes. These are all awesome designers and you should check them all out. It's well worth it. You should also check out Treasures To Scrap. They have an awesome gallery and feature not only digi-scrapping, but also hybrid and paper scrapping as well. This is one fun group of people and the forums are always hoppin! Check it out!

(Having issues getting any photos uploaded now for some reason. Will update and keep trying)

Anyway.... time for bed. After 2:40am here. Ugh.... Hope you all enjoyed the LO's.

Pleasant Eve All!

New LO's and a brush!

noreply@blogger.com (Scrappin' Life) — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 03:32:00 +0000

Well, I finally managed to get the brush set of roses uploaded. I must say that I am pretty proud of myself for that. It's a bit of a miracle that I have managed to get anything scrap related done this week. With the two research projects due on Monday things have been a little hectic. Hubby went back to work this week and wow was I glad. I finally managed to get the bulk majority of the homework from my three class load done during the day. Yep! I finally got to sleep a full night this week for the first time since the term started! It's a miracle. I almost felt like my sister when she had her kids. Yikes! Anywho... I made a LO with the January grab bag Karla Made. I love this thing. It's black and silver and perfect for anything! The LO is called Battery Christmas Party. The pics were taken at the party my DH's battery had for Christmas. We finally got some pics of SSG Meucci with the guys and the girls. Yeah, that's me and the hubby (opposite sides of the pics for some reason) and our friends Gary and Ryann Sharpe.

I also made a QP for this which you will be able to find on Karla's blog some time this week. I can't wait to work with the next kit I got from Karla. Now I am hoping for something big, but I can't say yet until I get a word. Either way. I got a new kit from Manuela Zimmerman of Treasures To Scrap. It's called Timeless Journey. I finally managed to create some LO's about me. I don't get pics done of me often, but these I just love. Some of them were taken after hubby got back from Iraq last time and a couple were from one session (the only) while he was deployed. For the first time in a long time I think I managed to get a good pic of me. Here are the two LO's made entirely with her kit. Well, except the fonts anyway which came from Heather Stokes of HSDesigns. The first is called All of Me and the second is called Faces of Me. I love this designer. Her style just suits me. Anyway.... here are the LO's.

I also got a set of brushes made. I can't figure out how to do the previews of the brushes yet, but I can tell you they are all roses or rose parts. I hope that you all like them. Please leave some love if you download. They can be found HERE. Well, I am off for the night. Catch up to you all later.

Pleasant Eve All!

My Kit and a few new LO's

noreply@blogger.com (Scrappin' Life) — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 23:48:00 +0000

First of all I want to say thank you to all the people who have offered words of encouragement since I uploaded my first kit. Those comments have meant more to me than you could possibly know. I started doing some doodles which I hope will become a custom brush set. Bear with me since I don't have one of those fancy pad things to connect to the computer I have to hand draw, scan and convert. I am figuring it out though, so look for that in the next few days. I have also finished making a set of rose brushes which I am very proud of. Figured out how to create a brush from a photo and just couldn't stop myself.

Now for the new LO's. I have spent my free time today doing some of the challenges over at Treasures To Scrap. These are my postings.

This one is my dog Pickles. I created this using Fabella's new template for the January Template Challenge. The font is courtesy of Heather Stokes.

This one is of some pictures I took on our second anniversary. We took a trip to Hawaii and these were at the Polynesian cultural center. The text is courtesy of Heather Stokes. The brushes are from Deviant Art. One is a tribal brush and the other is called dragon fire. I am sorry but I don't know the designers' names. Lastly, the paper is from the Spiced Cider kit available at Scrap Girls. This LO was for the Ad Challenge.

This LO is my oldest niece and my nephew all tuckered out on Christmas Eve. It's called Snug As A Bug. The papers are from the Cozy Collection available at Scrap Girls. The buttons are from a brush set available at Ephemeral Victorian. The design of the LO is from Lucy Chesna of TTS. Completed for the Sketch challenge at the same forum.

I have two rather huge research papers due this week for college, so I may not have much more time to donate to actually scrapping again until the weekend, but I will give it my best shot. Keep downloading and scrapping. And don't forget to send me a copy of any LO's done with my kit. I would love to see them (and post them here with your permission).

Pleasant Eve All!

New Blog and My First Ever Kit...

noreply@blogger.com (Scrappin' Life) — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 03:12:00 +0000

My blog has been moved. I was working with Wordpress, but after some consideration I moved to Blogger. The versatility here is so much easier to work with. I just created it today and have already moved over all of my posts from the previous blog. I got to add some slideshows (though I haven't figured out how to change the size of them so that they aren't hanging half off the side if I leave them in the sidebar. Last but not least..... I made my own header! The design comes from the new kit I just created called Dark Valentine. The designs are from various brushes on Obsidian Dawn and Deviant Art. The fonts are from http://dylanstokes.blogspot.com/.

On that same note..... I have finally tested my hand at designing a full kit. I saw a challenge listed on the forums at My Scrap Shop for a mega collab kit for Valentines Day. I thought I would give it a try. I used several brushes from the sites listed above as well as some found at The 5. Muse Photoshop Gallery. I am soooooo in love with this site! This designer is beyond belief. I also used several pieces for the embellies from The Ephemeral Victorian. Anywho.... without further adieu here is my kit.

The elements can be found HERE. Drop shadows and background not included.

The papers can be found HERE.

If anyone creates layouts with this kit I would love to see, and possibly post with your permission on my blog, what you create. I am going to work on some QP's soon..... I hope.Let me know what you think. I can't wait for the feedback..... Good or bad I take it all as long as suggestions for improvement are included.

New Years Eve

New Years Eve was very interesting for us here. We spent the money for dinner, champagne, and unlimited bowling for up to 8 people. I had an awesome time. Aside from falling once because I stepped in soda at the fountain and my shoes stuck to the lane that is. My scores sucked, but I still had fun. I don't think I did so bad for someone who doesn't get the chance to bowl more than once every six to eight months. Once of the couples we brought with us were celebrating their one year wedding anniversary at midnight as well. Even though the cost was substantial, it was a nice gift for them to get to hang out with our friends. We didn't manage to get any pics taken that night since I was afraid to take my new camera there since it might get broken or stolen. All in all, it was a great night.

Pleasant Eve All!

Christmas is over...

noreply@blogger.com (Scrappin' Life) — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 17:02:00 +0000

Christmas is over and I am so sad. I didn't get to do most of the things I wanted to do with my husband this year. I did however get some great scrapping done! My nephew is such a ham! Every time he sees the camera he makes a face. He even started looking for it on Christmas Eve! Speaking of Christmas Eve.... we went to my parents' house. Thank goodness they are stationed here in Baumholder as well. We had finger foods and boy were the kids not happy with having to wait to open their gifts. My sister and her family came from Heidelberg. We went to her house for Christmas Day before we had friends over that night. Brandon loves to hear the kids talk about him. I think it really makes his day to see that they like having him around. All in all we had a really great Christmas. I got a new digital camera and hubby got games and a scope. Anywho.... here are the LO's I did last night and this morning.

And here is one I did with the kit I got from Karla Morano. I'm on her CT by the way! The kit is called North Pole Cookies.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas. Look forward to the New Year now!

Finally!

noreply@blogger.com (Scrappin' Life) — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 20:44:00 +0000

I finally managed to be able to get some photos uploaded! Thank heavens the wonderful tip got passed to me by the CT at KKD. I am so grateful! I will definitely be looking it up to see exactly who it was to give a proper thanks. Oh speaking of CT's.... I am part of one. Karla from Karla's Kaleidoscope Designs was nice enough to give me a shot at it. I am so grateful. Now if I could just get the darn requirements fulfilled. Every time I try to upload my LO's to the galleries I get an error. I really am trying to get it done! It's very frustrating...

This is the LO I did for my sister. She couldn't do pics of the kids for Christmas. I took these shots at the two birthday parties for the girls. They were in September and November. I love the black and white photos. They are absolutely my favorites. The frames were the freebie.

The background paper is part of the XMAS Kit offered by NBK. The font is a creation of HSDesigns. These are amazing designers! If you download from them, leave some love cause they definitely deserve it.

Here are the two LO's I did using the Blessings Kit found in Karla's store.

Well, I'm off for a while. Gonna try to get some of these things uploaded again.

First Freebie Ever & Some Thoughts...

noreply@blogger.com (Scrappin' Life) — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 11:51:00 +0000

Woohoo! So I finally managed to get a file uploaded so I can share my work. I had to use eSnips to do it, so blah on 4shared, mediafire, and rapidshare. My first freebie is a triple frame cluster in sparkly christmas colors. I hope everyone likes it. I used a ribbon from The Ephemeral Victorian to make the wraps on the frames. It's part of the LO's I made for my sister's christmas page she mailed to everyone.

Download HERE

Since I am so new to this whole designing thing I would love some feedback with suggestions or constructive criticism. I sorta feel like I can use all the help I can get. I am also thinking that I may switch software. I am currently using PSE5 and I have a copy of PS as well as PSP to try. PSE is great, but sometimes I feel like the things I want to do would work and look better if I had been using a different program to do them. I would love to hear some experiences you all have had with your designing software as well as any and all tut sites you know of to help me get on the right track!

~Melissa

Christmas LO!

noreply@blogger.com (Scrappin' Life) — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 19:51:00 +0000

Okay so I finally figured out how to wrap frames and stuff. I was so proud of myself! I made a LO of my sister's kids for her to send as a holiday picture/card to the family and they loved it. I feel so thrilled right now I want to try to do more but can't figure out how. I'm working on trying to figure out how to get them uploaded so you guys can download the version without photos and stuff so as soon as I get something that will actually do the upload I will be sure to post them. Well, off for now. I will see you all later!

Awesome Brushes!

noreply@blogger.com (Scrappin' Life) — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 22:44:00 +0000

So I've spent a couple days doing some playing with PSE5. I got some awesome brushes from Obsidian Dawn today for Christmas. Now I just need to figure out the whole using multiple colors on a brush thing and I will be doing great! I need to figure it out tomorrow for sure. Some Great challenges going on at Stone Accents Studios that I just have to get in on. Well! I'm off to play some more. Maybe if I get them to look decent after the multi-coloring I can post them as freebies. Here's to hoping!

Merry Christmas!

Oh I almost forgot... here are the sites I mentioned incase you want to check them out yourself!

Obsidian Dawn
Stone Accents Studio

Finally blogging!

noreply@blogger.com (Scrappin' Life) — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 17:16:00 +0000

Well, I finally decided to start blogging. I am intending to do a lot of posting of my scrapbooking since I am very new to it, but I somehow have the feeling that this is going to also show a lot of ranting and raving. I'm a full time college student and an Army wife (Army Strong!) living in Germany. My whole family is Army: BIL, husband, father, etc. So this is gonna prove interesting. When not scrapping or studying you can almost always find me playing Everquest II. That's right.... always in front of the computer! Seems like a good way to pass the time since we don't have any kids yet and our dog sleeps while hubby is working. Poor Pickles (my dog) is always so depressed when his daddy is away. Anyway....

I am hoping that some kind designers out there will help me get started with this. Maybe I will get lucky and figure out how to make a layout in a generic form from stuff I have done so others can benefit from it. I love the freebies from other sites. Let me tell you.... those designers out there ROCK!!!! I may post some links in my stuff to get to their blogs if I get totally hooked on their stuff. So look for some of my work. You never know what you may find in my brain.

Now to my griping.... I am a college student studying criminal justice. I'm working on a paper and have spent the last few hours looking for information with no luck. Needless to say I am getting pretty flustered. These assignments need to allow the use of local libraries as well as the online versions my college provides cause this is insane!