My Darling Kit Release

Kimi's gorgeous new kit, My Darling, is now in her store at My Life and Scrap! It's beautiful, and TONS of fun to work with. I made my new blog layout with it, as well as a few other non-regular page projects. I plan to do more pages with it as well. I also wanted to get a template up to post with this, but we're trying to get ready to go on a long road trip next week, so life's been pretty hectic around here lately (though I've been playing Pet Society on Facebook more than anything else...I know, bad me). At least we got all the laundry washed and put away, and even some of our clothes packed - until Emma UNpacked them tonight...anyway. Back to scrapping.

My Darling contains 16 papers and over 45 elements!! Click on the preview to head to Kimi's store for more previews and details. And, of course, to purchase;) Both the kit and the glitter are 30% off until Wednesday, August 5th, so snag this deal while you can! Trust me, it's worth it!

The kit:


The alpha (included in the kit):


The CU glitter (available in both styles and sheets):


Kimi has a couple of cute QP freebies up on her blog, so be sure to check those out! She also has a sampler freebie of this kit a few posts down:)

And now for what I've done with it. First, there's the blog layout, which you can clearly see. It works best if you have a widescreen monitor (at high res), since that's what I have and therefore what I designed it on;)

Then, I made a graduation card for my sister-in-law. She just graduated with her Bachelor's in music last week:)



And lastly (so far - more to come with this kit in the future!), I made a new signature for myself. The new pictures used should do at least something to appease my parents for me not posting recent pictures of their adorable little granddaughter;)



Isn't she adorable? We think she's the cutest little girl ever. Not that we're biased or anything;) She looks SO much like me in that middle picture! I desperately need to write an update on her, but not tonight. Hopefully I'll be able to get to it before we leave on Wednesday! But before we leave, we have the big gender ultrasound on Monday!! If you haven't voted in the poll yet (on the side), you have a few more days to do so...;)

Anyway, that's all for tonight!

Template 43, Kimi's New Contest, and CT LOs

Wow am I behind on scrapping! I have lots to post tonight, including a template and a chance to win a gorgeous free kit from Kimi's Kreations!! First, Kimi's contest:

Kimi needs a great name for her newest kit, so she's having a contest to pick one. If you submit a name and win, you could win the kit for free! Runners-up will win a little something, too ;) So head over to Kimi's Blog and check it out! You could win THIS!



Either way, you'll get to download an awesome freebie sampler from the kit, so head on over! I can't tell you HOW excited I am to play with this kit when it gets released. I already have a few things in mind for it. I don't know if I can wait that long!

I swear, I've been the biggest scrapping slacker since I joined CTs. I blame morning sickness for starters;) Then it took me awhile to get both the energy and motivation to scrap again. I DID scrap a couple of things in June - my mom's birthday card and a sign for church - but that's about it. I never posted them, so you'll see them here tonight. I'm so bad that I didn't even make my dad's Father's Day gift/card until today. Yes, I'm over a month late. It's pathetic. He's been asking about it all month, too. I feel SO horrible! I'm the worst daughter ever!

Anyway, first of all, I made Mom's birthday card and this sign for our monthly linger longers at church using Lemonberry Fizz by Kimi's Kreations:





I made those pages in June. Everything else I've done since last night. First, I made my sister's birthday card and our neighbor's birthday card using Little Man by Kimi's Kreations:



LOL, I think my sister was about 12 when this pic was taken. She turned 26 today. I haven't heard a response from her on this yet, so I have no idea how much trouble I'm in for it yet!! She never reads this blog (she's not at all interested in digiscrapping), so shhh, don't tell her it's up here;)



(If you're wondering about the blur at the bottom of the text, I blurred out our last name. Don't exactly want the whole internet to know who we are;))

And last but not least, I FINALLY got around to making my dad's Father's Day card/gift. I used geniaBeana's Dad's A Geek kit. It's absolutely PERFECT for my dad - he's a programmer and has about a billion random electronic odds and ends.



I realized as I made the family cards and such that I really don't have any recent and decent pictures of my family. Hmmm. Must rectify that when we go home to visit in 2 weeks! As for our neighbor's card, I stole his pic from his mom's Facebook profile:D (Don't worry, she knows;)) I tried to lighten up the darks and darken the lights, but it was difficult to do without messing up the photo.

Which reminds me. We're going on a roadtrip soon! We'll be gone most of the month of August, but I'll likely pop in here now and then. I won't be scrapping during that time, however, since Photoshop and my stash is on my desktop and we're leaving it here. But I've set a goal for myself to make at LEAST one LO and/or template each week, so hopefully I'll be posting more pages and freebies until our trip!

And lastly, I have a template for you! I know, I haven't made any in FOREVER. Hope you like it! As always, it's in PSD format and I'd love to hear from you! Here's the preview:



You can download it here.

On a random note, my gender ultrasound is on August 3rd (my dad's birthday)!! Yay! I'll post a poll just for fun momentarily:)

My Ideal House

(FYI, this post has nothing to do with digiscrapping; just sharing my thoughts on houses:))

It's funny how opinions change over time. As a child, I dreamed of living in a huge castle-esque mansion. My sister and I would concoct elaborate designs for such homes. We had various software programs over the years that we used to aid us. One was just a 2D home design program with walls, rooms, and furniture you could put wherever you wanted. Then we upgraded to Sierra Home Architect, which is also insanely old now. But it was 3D and in color and you could go on a 3D tour of your creations! And then we discovered the Sims. LOL, even now, when I play Sims 2, I am much more interested in designing the houses than I am in playing with the people (a fact that drives my sister insane because I'll play each family for a couple of days in Sims time and then move on to another family and home). As a college graduate, I wonder why I never considered going into interior design. I think I'd enjoy it. Oh well, too late now! Maybe I'll take a class someday, just for fun.

Anyway. My idea of the perfect home has changed dramatically over the years. I used to want a gorgeous castle, but with all the modern ameneties; I like my indoor plumbing, electricty, and high speed internet too much;) I still want a decent sized house, but I don't want something that is ridiculously huge like I did as a child. Now that I've been the adult in a home, I realize that the bigger the home, the more cleaning I'd have to do. That, and houses are expensive. Now, my thoughts on the perfect home are more in tune with our actual needs as a family. I definitely want something bigger than my current 2 bedroom apartment!! However, that won't be an option for a long time. It is sufficient for now, but it won't be forever.

Recently I've been looking at floorplans online at eplans.com, just for fun. We're nowhere NEAR being able to have our own house, but it's fun to dream! It's important to know what you want in a home before house hunting, I think. That, and I'm just a nerd who loves looking at floorplans. I've looked at 220 floorplans within the last week that met my search criteria (# of floors, bedrooms, bathrooms, and garage spaces). Some I like, some I don't, and some have areas of potential. Overall, I've come to a better understanding of precisely what I want in a home.

I used to be of the opinion that we'd need private bedrooms for each child. But, we're planning to have 5 kids...it's hard to find a 6 bedroom house!! That, and sharing a room is good for kids anyway. Now, I've decided I want a 4 bedroom house. Ever since Emma was a tiny baby, I've had the distinct impression that we'll have 5 kids; 2 girls, 2 boys, and another girl. Of course, I have no idea if it will really end up that way, but that's what I have in mind as I look at potential floorplans. I'm thinking the older girls can share a room, the boys can share a room, and the baby gets a room of her own (closest to us). That is, going on the assumption that my impression is correct. John has had the same impression, so it very well could be. We'll see if we're close to that on August 3rd! Oh, and of course John and I would get the master suite;)

I mentioned I want a 4 bedroom house. John and I both prefer 2 story homes with all the bedrooms on the upper floor. We really don't need more than 2 floors, and we don't want just one. Two stories is perfect:) I also prefer to have the laundry room on the same floor as the bedrooms. It would be SO much more convenient for washing clothes if I didn't have to cart loads up and down the stairs! In our apartment, our laundry closet is next to Emma's room and across from the bathroom (which is next to OUR room). I love how easy it is to do laundry in our apartment. Why make it more difficult unnecessarily? Also, who wants to walk through the laundry room when they come in through the garage? That's how it is at my parents' house and it's kind of annoying...but mostly because that's where all the litter boxes are!

Speaking of garages, my ideal home would have a 2 car garage - that faces the same direction as the front door. I don't understand the whole side-of-the-house garage door thing I've seen in several floorplans. Or why people put WINDOWS in the garage! Um, isn't that just asking to be robbed? Seriously! A bad guy could very easily peek through the garage window to see if someone is home, or see if the car is worth stealing. No thanks. No windows in MY garage, thanks! But I've seen it in so many floorplans! I don't get it. But, everyone has their own individual preferences. And these are mine:) Oh, and the garage must be attached to the house. I don't want to have to walk outside to get to the garage.

Now, as to the master suite, I want a spacious walk in closet (I have a TON of clothes...hopefully someday I'll be small enough to wear most of them again) attached to the master bath, an awesome master bath with a shower, whirlpool tub, 2 sinks, and lots of counter space. I prefer when counters and cabinets curve around the corner of a room, too. I've also found I like the idea of having the toilet a separate "room" from the rest of the bathroom. John also wants a fireplace in the master suite;) I would like one, too, but it's not at the very top of my list. We don't really need a sitting area there, though. It'd be nice, but not necessary.

As for other bathrooms, I want at least 2.5-3 total bathrooms. Obviously, there's the master bath. Then, I want another full bath upstairs for the kids, and either a half bath or full bath downstairs (either is fine, though half would be easier and cheaper). I find I like the idea of having the toilet and tub area separate from the sink/vanity portion of the bathroom. Especially if it's going to be shared between a bunch of kids, who will eventually be teens! I want 2 sinks in the non-master upstairs bath as well.

Now that we've covered bedrooms and bathrooms, let's move on to the kitchen!! I want a nice, spacious kitchen with lots of counter and cabinet space. I'm picky about the shape of kitchens. I don't like the kitchens with no shape whatsoever; you know, the ones that are just a straight line of counter and cabinets. Boring! And not very usable. I like square or triangular shaped kitchens, with either a bar or an island. I think I prefer a bar, since it allows for more walking space in the kitchen, but either would be acceptable - it all depends on the design, really! Also, I want my sink to be under a window facing the backyard, so I can see kids playing out there while washing dishes. And the dishwasher (an absolute necessity - otherwise I'd never do dishes) has to be on the righthand side of the sink. Any other way is backwards. We also want a VERY large pantry - big enough to hold at least a year's supply of food. It's easier to rotate food storage if it's all in the same place:) The pantry should be right off the kitchen, of course. Oh, and I also want to keep my stove and oven together in one unit, and I HATE built in microwaves. I LOVE my microwave with a grill element and have no intention of using anything else! We're short in our family, so putting the microwave in the upper cabinets doesn't work so well for us. My parents have theirs in up higher, and it's really annoying to take hot food out of it, and for someone as short as me, impossible to watch things cook properly. No, I want my microwave on the counter, in the corner.

We also want a very open study area, with room for several computer desks. We want it to be open to other rooms of the house, such as the entry, kitchen, family room, or whatever. Just as long as it's open and not closed in and private. No actual doors to it, just open archways - at least 2 from different directions. We also want a nice library. When looking at floorplans, in my mind, I replace the living and dining rooms with these. Depending on the floorplan, that is.

Most of the plans I've looked at had a breakfast nook area and dining room. I don't really need a dining room AND a breakfast nook; I'd be more likely to use the breakfast nook for my dining room honestly. We don't need 2 separate dining areas...one is sufficient. If we're having a lot of people over for holidays or whatever, we'll just get some cheap plastic folding tables and spread out into the family room. Oh, and I want the kitchen, dining/breakfast nook, and family room to be open and connected, in that order. And for the garage to be near the kitchen for convenience of bringing in groceries.

Also, I'd like a lot of storage space. It doesn't necessarily have to be it's own room, but that'd be preferable. Attic storage would be fine, as long as the entrance isn't in one of the kid bedrooms. I've seen that in some floorplans and it bugs me. Garage storage is nice, too, but I'd probably add a wall in so I wouldn't have to stare at all my storage containers every time I drove into the garage!

We want a large yard as well. It doesn't have to be ginormous or anything; just sufficient for a good sized produce garden, a play structure of some sort, and space for kids to run around and play. Oh, and lots of trees. Too many houses have no trees! A lot of the new construction houses are gorgeous, but they have virtually no yard. For some people, that works. For us, it wouldn't. Not with the size of family we want to have and the garden we want to grow.

I also want to have decent decks. I want a nice covered front porch that has room for a bench or 2 at least, and a large back deck with room for a nice BBQ and patio furniture. I prefer to have the back deck NOT covered - I want it open - especially if we're BBQing out there!

As for fireplaces, we want at least one, in the family room, and possibly one in the master suite as well. MAYBE another in the study area? Not as important, though.

A bonus or rec room would be nice, but it's not necessary. We'd use it for a play room, but kids can play in the family room or their own rooms, or even in the study area if it's big enough (they'd likely be playing compy games in there anyway - I know I would be!). We DO need somewhere to hide John's unsightly treadmill where I don't have to see it all the time. Hmm, maybe we'll stick it in his side of the walk in closet;) As long as it's usable there. And I'd rather keep it away from small children if possible. Of course, who knows how old our kids will be when we finally DO get a real house.

Now for some stylistic preferences. I'm picky about the size and shape of rooms. I don't like long rectangular shaped rooms; I prefer more of a square shape, though it doesn't have to be perfect. Rectangular rooms are harder to work with furniture-wise. I don't like for rooms to be teeny tiny, either. But they don't have to be ridiculously huge. I want all the non-master bedrooms to be approximately the same size, with plenty of closet space. I don't want kids to argue over "her room is bigger than mine" and such. I also LOOOOVE bay windows. Love them. I'd love to have some in my house, ideally in the master suite, breakfast nook/dining area, study area, and library. Not necessarily in all of them, though it'd be nice;)

Also, I prefer houses with exterior dimension. The house I grew up in was literally a rectangular box. Boring! (And split entry with the garage literally as far as humanly possible from the kitchen. What were architects THINKING in the 60s?! Ugh!) Ironically, that house has been on the market for 3 years or so now. They're asking around $400,000 for it and it is SOOO not worth that!! I should know, I lived there for 16 years! No, I want a house that has some shape to it. Something with personality, but not one of those ultra-modern sci-fi designs. No, I lean more towards Victorian, craftsman, European type styles. I also like curves on the interior, like partial spiral staircases and such. Not necessary, but definitely preferable.

And now for the fun part! Well, the funnest part. I've enjoyed this; how bout you? Anyway. Now I'll share some of my favorite floorplans that I found! I was going to post my favorite at the top, but I can't find it ANYwhere! I looked through my saved plans and then back through all 22 pages, but I can't find it. Either I missed it, imagined it, or it got deleted from the site. But I've "only" looked at 220 on this site. 22 search pages with 10 plans each - and there are 219 pages under my search criteria. Will I get through them all? LOL, maybe!! Anyway, on to the floorplans!! Most of these don't meet ALL my wants, but can either be modified to do so or are floorplans I could see myself living in:)

http://www.eplans.com/colonial_revival_house-plans/HWEPL12132.hwx

"http://www.eplans.com/french_country_house-plans/HWEPL12450.hwx"

http://www.eplans.com/french_country_house-plans/HWEPL07886.hwx

http://www.eplans.com/new_american_house-plans/HWEPL01485.hwx

http://www.eplans.com/queen_anne_house-plans/HWEPL06218.hwx

http://www.eplans.com/new_american_house-plans/HWEPL01067.hwx

http://www.eplans.com/new_american_house-plans/HWEPL01100.hwx

http://www.eplans.com/new_american_house-plans/HWEPL67522.hwx

http://www.eplans.com/craftsman_house-plans/HWEPL14143.hwx

http://www.eplans.com/mediterranean_house-plans/HWEPL06216.hwx

http://www.eplans.com/farmhouse_house-plans/HWEPL10098.hwx

http://www.eplans.com/traditional_house-plans/HWEPL68141.hwx

http://www.eplans.com/country_house-plans/HWEPL13201.hwx

http://www.eplans.com/country_house-plans/HWEPL07919.hwx

http://www.eplans.com/colonial_house-plans/HWEPL10916.hwx

http://www.eplans.com/country_house-plans/HWEPL08654.hwx

http://www.eplans.com/cottage_house-plans/HWEPL63630.hwx

http://www.eplans.com/colonial_house-plans/HWEPL67691.hwx

http://www.eplans.com/new_american_house-plans/HWEPL67527.hwx

http://www.eplans.com/tudor_house-plans/HWEPL11703.hwx

http://www.eplans.com/craftsman_house-plans/HWEPL14504.hwx

http://www.eplans.com/country_house-plans/HWEPL10912.hwx

Hahaha, sorry it's such a long list! This is more for my benefit than for yours anyway;) This is about half my saved list...;) I hope someone other than me enjoys this post! LOL, hopefully someone besides me READS this post;) I enjoyed putting it together. Anyway, that's basically what I'd like my ideal home to be like. Someday, I hope to get it - whether that means we have it built or we miraculously find the perfect home for us on the market. Either way, I hope to find the right home for us when the time comes:)

Litte Man Release Announcement

Kimi's Kreations has released a new kit, Little Man! Both the kit and the matching CU glitter are 20% off until Wednesday, July 15th, so go check it out!




You can head over to Kimi's blog for an awesome matching quickpage!

I haven't made a page for this kit yet, but I totally will. I love that it's versatile enough to be used for girls, too.

Oh, and I have my big ultrasound scheduled for August 3rd - Dad's birthday!! Yay! I will definitely be posting about that ASAP! And hopefully I'll get some pages up between now and then;)

A Brief Update

Once again, I haven't updated in ages. I have SO much to post! A couple of digiscrap projects, general update, etc. But I have a headache and don't really feel much like posting, so this will be a short one (and everyone sighs in relief, LOL).

First, today is the 3rd anniversary of our first date! How cool is that? We haven't really done anything special for it, though. We were watching a movie, but then my phone rang, John fell asleep, and I got sucked into the computer. He has to work early in the morning (6 AM - ugh), so I probably won't bother him much...just enough to roll him off my side of the bed, since that's where he's currently snoozing.

Also, yesterday, I had an OB appointment. Everything looks great! My blood pressure is awesome (it always has been), I've actually LOST a pound (yay me!), and we got to hear the baby's heartbeat! Emma danced to the baby's heartbeat - it was SO cute! I wish I'd had my camera. But the super exciting news is that I get to have my big ultrasound at 18 weeks!!! RIGHT before we leave for our vacation home!! Yay!! Hopefully this baby is more cooperative about showing us than Emma was...she hid, and we had to come back in the next week to try again.

Oh, and zofran is AWESOME. It has made SUCH a difference!! I don't feel sick at all! It's great. I think from now on, I'll demand it the very day I hit 6 weeks!! I lucked out in that one a day is sufficient. Always a good thing when it costs $65/bottle of 30! And that's WAY cheaper than it used to be! The generic used to be around $30/PILL. Now if I could take a pain med that actually WORKS...Tylenol does nothing.

We've been doing LOTS of babysitting this week. Like, at least a little bit everyday. And Emma and I get to babysit again tomorrow. LOL, ironically, we want to find a babysitter for Friday, but haven't made any phone calls yet or anything, so we'll see if that happens.

We had a really nice 4th of July. John ended up working that day, even though he wasn't originally scheduled to. But they offered him an 8 hour shift with time and a half...I wanted to say no, but my responsible side won over and we took it. We need the money. While he was at work, Emma and I went over to the park. We just barely missed the parade, but oh well. We still had fun. Trying to get a toddler and a pregnant woman ready without assistance is difficult. Especially when there are unforeseen issues such as a blow out diaper in the 4th of July outfit or gag reflux kicking in while brushing teeth...yeah. Blow outs and vomitting weren't exactly on my list that morning;) And why is it that kids always have blow outs in special or favorite outfits?

Anyway. Emma and I went to the park and walked around the little booths and such. We got a few little trinkets, got our picture taken with Snoopy (for free), and entered several cool drawings. We didn't win anything, but I think one of them isn't being drawn till August anyway, so there's still hope on that one. I doubt we'll get it, but it's always worth a shot:) Then we played at the spray park there to cool off. We were just in our regular clothes and got completely soaked! Thankfully, I had a change of clothes for Emma. When we got back to our apartment complex, we saw some friends having a BBQ and they invited us to join them:) Yay for lunch! We hung out with them for awhile before going home for naptime. I then decorated my annual flag cake and it turned out SO awesome! I'll have to upload pics, but not tonight. I think this year's was my best so far.

After John got home, we went to some friends' for dinner and a game. Then we did fireworks with Nathan and Jessica at their place. Emma LOVED it. We had SO much fun! Next year, I hope to hit the parade and make it over to the fairgrounds to see the show there.

And I think that's it for tonight. I'll post pics/scrap pages later! Hopefully this headache will go away soon...