Interpretive Scrapbooking?

Chris over at HSS (www.happyscrappinscrapbooking.com) issued an Interpretive Scrapbooking challenge the other day. Well, I have heard of interpretive dance, but never scrapbooking! So I decided to check it out. I have to tell you folks, I am HOOKED on this fun, new take on scrapbooking.

What happens is the host gives you a supply list and a set of instructions for creating a scrapbook layout. However, there is NO photo to look at. You must following the printed directions ONLY. Everyone interprets the directions differently, so no two people will get the exact same layout. It was fun to look at the gallery on upload day and see how we all "followed" the directions!

There will be more of these challenges (and chats!) in the coming weeks so head on over to HSS and check it out! This is the layout I created from the directions. The bonus - from picking out my supplies to finished layout was less than an hour! And normally I take FOREVER and a DAY to do one layout.

- G.

MOSD Guest Designer Search

The search is on! MOSD is looking for a guest designer for November 2008. If you have the mojo, would like to work in a 6x12 format, and love Page Maps sketches, you are the woman (or man) MOSD is looking for! Check out www.mosdinc.blogspot.com to see all the details!

I have seen the Page Maps sketch and the Big Boy Album, and they ROCK! And I can tell you first hand that MOSD is a great company to DT for! Christy and Ali are amazing and the MOD Squad girls are super talented! Can you tell I'm proud to be part of the original MOSD DT?

- G.

Check out the Crop Stop Gallery!

The Crop Stop Gallery is now open! In honor of the new gallery I thought I'd post one of my pages that uses both the Cricut die cutting system, and the Big Shot/Sizzix system. The Disney title and Mickey head are from Cricut and the date is from my very first set of Sizzix dies, cut with my Big Shot. The stamp is Heidi Swapp. I'm pretty sure the scallop paper is Die Cuts with a View...from a pad of paper.

Go check out the gallery. http://www.cropstop.com/. The Crop Stop message board is not far away...so keep checking back here for news!

- G.

Blog Candy!

Get your blog candy here! The wonderful Haylie-Jo at Crop Stop has so generously given her whole DT, not just the full-time DT, but the Guest DT as well, a 10% off coupon code for us to post to our blogs! So that means you - wonderful readers - can get 10% off your next order of $20 or more from http://www.cropstop.com/! Just enter GDTB-91 at checkout!

All About Me...sorta...

I am not totally sure how this works, but I read my name at the bottom of my friend Patience's blog, under a tag post...so was assuming that she was tagging me! So here goes!

What was I doing 10 years ago?

Well, that puts it August 1998. We'd just moved from MN to NC in March 1998, so I'm guessing by August I was suffering through my very first southern summer. You know, where it's 98 degrees in the shade and so humid it feels like you are walking around wrapped in a wet, wool blanket? Yep, good times! Oh, but that's also when I met my BFF, Sandy!

What was I doing 5 years ago?

Five years ago makes August 2003. Guess what?! We'd just moved from NC to PA in June 2003. (Anyone see a pattern here?) And I know that it rained non-stop that whole summer. I've never seen so much rain! The new basement flooded, the creek flooded. I worried I could not get out for groceries. Horrible! My life seems to be marked by moving and bad weather!

What was I doing 5 months ago?

That was March. I was doing what I'm doing now. Homeschooling the kids, dealing with Matt's travel schedule, staying up too late playing on the computer, watching train wreck TV late into the night, reading so much my eyes itch, eating too much junk, buying too many scrap supplies, making too many mini albums, and just being me. I can't even complain about the weather now that we live in CA. (See, no one asked what I was doing THREE years ago - that would be moving from PA to CA!)

5 things I want to do in this life.

1. Travel more

2. Write a book

3. See my kids get married and have kids of their own

4. Learn to swim

5. Learn to speak another language

5 bad habits.

1. Denying I have bad habits.

2. See #4 below.

3. Gossiping

4. Being selfish with my time.

5. Hoarding chocolate.

5 things you don't know about me. (Are there 5?)

1. I love sappy romance movies and novels.

2. I also love military thrillers and spy novels.

3. I really don't care for music all that much.

4. I take the good candy out of the kids' Easter baskets and Halloween bags - and eat it.

5. I've seen Cool Hand Luke about a million times.

5 place I've lived. (Didn't we cover this already? Oh, I'm limited to 5!)

1. Jersey Shore, PA

2. Dayton, OH

3. Maple Grove, MN

4. Cary, NC

5. Coopersburg, PA

5 people to tag. (Let's see, who reads this blog...)

1. Paula M.

2. Sandy C.

3. Vickilyn

4. Lauri T.

5. Marcie

Tag!

-Gloria

Cards by Gloria

Here are some cards I created the other day. I tried to create cards by ONLY using my scrap bin. I also did not want to get into a big stamping deal - pulling out all that mess just made my head hurt. I just wanted to use my greeting stamps. Yeah, I know, why do I have those 100's of image stamps then?! Why do you people want to ask me stuff like that?! Just stay with me here!

I ended up with about 40 cards, all sizes. And not one full-size piece of paper was harmed in the process! Not sure if that's a good thing or a scary thing! These are some of my favorites from the pile. As you can see, I was also digging in my button bin. OK, I have 6, count 'em, 6 button bins! I also have a shoe-box size bin of flowers (not mentioning the bottles of flowers on the shelf). And 4 bins of large brads (again, we won't talk about the mini brads!). So, 40 cards...walk in the park!

Enjoy!



- Gloria

CropStop Design Team!

I can announce it now....I was selected as the Guest Designer for December at http://www.cropstop.com/! I am super excited to see the kit and participate in the new Message Board and Gallery. The Gallery and Message Board is not quite up and running yet, but it will be soon. They've got a wonderful line-up of designers and guest designers. I'll post some sneak peaks probably in November (or sooner) of my projects!

- G.

You Gotta See This!

Midnight Oil Scrapbook Designs and Page Maps are teaming up with a FUN contest. Watch this blog for details! Or you can visit http://www.mosdinc.blogspot.com/, http://www.pagemaps.com/, or http://www.pubcalls.blogspot.com/ for details - coming in about a week!

In honor of the new contest, I made a fun project using Becky Fleck's Page Maps cards and the covers of MOSD's Clearly Designed Accordion Album. For a more detailed view, go to the MOSD blog on Friday, Aug. 15th at 8am, ET (http://www.mosdinc.blogspot.com/).

- Gloria

My Parents

Today, August 6th, should be my parents 60th wedding anniversary, but my Pop died in 1997. They just missed out on 50 years by a tad more than a year. I try to call my mom on this day each year, to let her know I remember.

I don't have a wedding page of my folks, since they did not take any photos! But here are a few pages of my folks, just to say I'm thinking of them! The first page is of my Pop and my oldest brother, taken around 1949. The second is of my mom, the large photo was taken here in 2006 and the small one is about 1938 or so. The last photo was Christmas 2003. We have spent very few Christmases with my family, so this one was very special to my kids.

- Gloria