Where have I been????

It feels like years since I've been anywhere near my blog! Moving into the new house, getting Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years over with, then Abby's 5th birthday and then Superbowl!! Whew... I'm exhausted just writing about it!!

I am finally feeling crafty again and it helps having a scraprooom all to myself!! So creating is easier with everything where I can see it! I have found a few challenges that I am going to participate in to get me motivated scrapping again.

My DT term with Creative Scrappers ended at the 1st of January and I am so thankful for the time I got to spend crafting with some very creative ladies!!! A BIG thanks to them for letting me be a part of their wonderful online community!! If you ever get a chance, go over and check them out!!

So now that I am back in the swing of things, here is my first layout created in my new scrap room in my new home and in a new year!! What a combination!! Maybe it will be my lucky one!! This one was created for a contest over at PageMaps. When you have time you should definitely check it out!! Here is the original sketch!

House Drama.....

Here it is.... the day before Thanksgiving and I guess the one thing I have to be thankful for is that the financing on our house is done and we will finally get to close on Friday. After many extensions, heartache, letdowns and drama it will finally be over. I was supposed to leave on Monday for West Virginia but that trip got postponed indefinitely until the house stuff is taken care of. :( My Dad and kids were disappointed as was I, but I am thankful for our house and the fact that my kiddos will now have a new home with a big backyard and we won't have to worry about apartment living anymore. I am so happy!! Here is a picture of our new home.

Halloween Time

We had such a great time for Halloween this year. The 2 youngest kiddos had a party in the morning at pre-K and then another party in the afternoon with our playgroup pals. It was loads of fun and since they made out on the candy at both parties (and Mom was exhausted) we went to Ollie Koala's instead of the normal trick or treating. The kids had a blast! We also went ot Adventure Landing for a little pre-Halloween fun and the kids got temporary airbrushed tattoos (so did Mom lol) Here is a layout of my youngest getting his very first Tat!! I was so happy with this layout. I ran out of metal sheets (by Making memories) and ended up using an empty Dr. Pepper can!! This was also a DT reveal for Creative Scrappers!!!

Design Team Reveal

Well here it is.... another DT reveal from Creative Scrappers. I am so excited to be a part of this amazing group of women. There is so much talent on there, I can't even begin to try and keep up. In the midst of everything that has been going on I am struggling to find the time to scrap, but I am so grateful for the Creative Scrapper girls for keeping me motivated. Here is the DT reveal from the sneak peeks below.

OMG!!!!

I can't believe it has been nearly a month since I have done any blogging!! So if you can hang in there... this is going to be a LONG post!! :)

In the last month, DH and I have put an offer in on a house.... negotiated with the bank on the price (it is a foreclosure), signed our portion of the contract, (still waiting on the bank) secure financing and we are ready to lock in our rate!! But with the market fluctuating like it has, we may wait a week or so. That has been the home end of it. Anyone who has purchased a home KNOWS the hoops you get to jump through!!! LOL

In the meantime, I have been working on Team, Individual and Action shots for PAL Park Soccer League. That has kept me extremely busy lately! The shoot has taken longer than it should to finish for various reasons, but I was able to submit my last order for prints late last night!!! I am very excited about that part being over. Now delivery begins!!!

In the Scrapping area of my life (sound too compartmentalized? If it does, so sorry, my life is nothing but organized chaos!!!) I have been struggling to keep up with my duties for Creative Scrappers! I have been getting my assignments in just in time, or on the deadline. That is so not me!! I love to get my stuff in a week prior to when it is due. Hopefully once all of the house stuff and the business settles down a little, I will get back to my normal self! I did however get a couple of really fabulous layouts done (at least I think so). I am extremely happy with them and am truely glad that I am a DT member for Creative Scrappers. It has really given me the motivation to scrap. Lately I have just needed that extra nudge with everything else that has been going on. I'm going to post my last DT assignment and then post some sneak peaks for next week's DT Reveal!! Remember that you can visit the Creative Scrappers Blog to take a look at the past sketches and get some inspiration for yourself or just take a look around at what some of our fabulous DT has done!!!

Ready for some sneak peaks????

Just girl talk.................

Talk about procrastination! i have been so busy with this home buying adventure, that I didn't get my DT sketch reveal emailed to Creative Scrappers until last night!! I didn't even take the picture until 9:30pm!! WOW! I am so out of it!! We should be able to take a look at the DT reveal around Wednesday or Thursday of next week!! Be sure to stay tuned to see what is going on!

I also wanted to let you all know that the Creative Scrappers team has started posting challenges to get your design juices flowing and help provide some inspiration!! We have such a wonderful team of women that you might find it hard to pass up such a wonderful opportunity to learn from them through the challenges!!

Also.... my good friend Robyn has posted a little contest with a RAK gift for the winner, on her blog at Robyns Scrappy Nest. You can find her link to the right of my blog!! I will definitely get those sneak peeks out tonight and keep you all posted on the status of our home! I should know something tomorrow!!

If you are in the Jacksonville area and looking for some great people to crop with, you should check out JaxPark Scrappers. We rotate through 6 crops per quarter, from member hosted to in-store crops. There is a quarterly crop requirement of 1 crop. You can attend as many as you like!!! It is great fun and we always have an awesome time!! If you are interested, check them out and request to join! Just let them know that Angel sent you!!

Update.......

I know that it feels like forever since I posted on my blog. Since I posted about the DT reveal, DH and I have decided to become home owners. So we have spent day after day after day searching for a home. We have seen so many listings and seen so few within our budget and space requirements.

We found our house on Wednesday and put an offer in and we are now just waiting to hear back. In the meantime I'm dreaming about my soon (hopefully) to be scrap room. No longer will I have to share space in our bedroom! That is probably the most exciting thing! The second being the large fenced in yard that I can turn my kids out into so I can scrap!!!

While all of my energy has been fixated on this one area of my life, I have forgotten to post the DT Reveal over at the Creative Scrappers blog. I have also completed my second assignment for them and will more than likely be posting sneak peaks of that within the next couple of days!!

So let me know what you think of my DT reveal. The sketch was by Monika Martinson...