IvyScraps Designer Challenge

I haven't been on here much lately... due to spending most of my free time working on designing mini kits for IvyScraps Designer challenge!  It's been great, I've been learning so much in my programs... how to make bumpmaps work for me, making patterns, and making things three dimensional.  It's been great.

Here is my first week's submission.  You can vote for me, Scrappy Sab Designs, here.  And you can download the kit from the links provided in the gallery.

I was going for an earthy type of kit.  The colors provided are shown in the top corner, and the theme was "Daddy and Me".  We were to make 4 papers and 6 elements, one of which needed to be wordart, and the paper needed to include a pattern we made ourselves.  I tried my best to make elements that seemed a more manly type of look... since there are a lot of feminine kits out there.  I figured it would be nice to have something that suited men a bit more.  The wordart scribble is one of my favorites.  And the daddy and child stamp was taken from a photo of M and my husband.  I thought it would be perfect.  I spent a lot of time working on the little details.  If you look at the thread on the ribbon, it has a bit of a texture to it as well.  And the brads have a 3D look to them.  I learned how to play with patterns and textures most with this challenge.

And here is week 2.  I absolutely love this kit.  You can download it here, and you can vote for me here (Scrappy Sab's Designs). 

We were given the colors (top corner of the kit) and the theme of Romance... and not cutesy, but adult g-rated romance.  The rules were not to use any commercial use items... we were to make everything from scratch ourselves (which was fine with me... that's what I wanted to do in the first place).  We needed a plaid paper, an alpha, 4 papers and 6 elements, one wordart, one flower, and one tag. 

The first thing I thought of was something like a glam photo shoot or similar.  Rose petals, gemstones, and a chaise lounge.  I made my chaise lounge first.  It was my jump point for the whole kit.  I used my path tool a lot for the main outline, and then drew in the detailing myself.  Played with shadows and such.  I also learned how to make my own textures.  And my favorite paper is the purple one... I designed some flowers, leaves, and swirls, and made a pattern in the bottom corner, and textured the whole thing.  It's great!  I love it!  I made way more papers and such, and I plan to add them all together in the mini kit later for a mega kit to sell!  If I ever get to selling kits, haha.

One thing that took forever was the diamonds.  I looked at an actual gem to create it.  Used a whackload of layers, too.  Took forever.  I spent WAY to much time on the little details of this kit, but I think it was totally worth it.

Both kits are at 300dpi.  They are both for personal use only.  I hope if you make some layouts of them, that you would post them to the gallery in ivyscraps.  I'd love to see what you do with them!

Thanks for looking, and I hope you vote for me!  :)

Weeks in Review

Here are the latest two weeks in review.  I haven't done this last week yet... but I will soon enough.  It took long enough for me to post these.  If you want to read them, you have to click on them.

NEW 101 in 1001 List

Well, my old 101 in 1001 list is now over, as the 1001 days have been reached. I managed to finish 98 of the 101 items on my list. The three that didn't get done? Finishing the office (it is currently in the works), washing the rugs (pointless until the office reno is done), and getting a massage (really... I thought this one would be easy). I will attempt to still do these things, as I want them to happen, but they are not on my new list. No... a new list should be new! :)

Note, here are some goal setting tips I came across.
Some common goal setting tips:
1. Be decisive. Know exactly what you want, why you want it, and how you plan to achieve it.
2. Stay Focussed. Any goal requires sustained focus from beginning to end. Constantly evaluate your progress.
3. Welcome Failure. Frequently, very little is learned from a venture that did not experience failure in some form. Failure presents the opportunity to learn and makes the success more worthy.
4. Write down your goals. It clarifies your thinking and reinforces your commitment.
5. Keep your goals in sight. Review them frequently, and ensure that they are always at the forefront of your thinking.

Click here for more info on the 101 in 1001 project.

My 101 in 1001

As before, I will italisize the ones in progress.
Start date: Feb 16, 2011
End date: Nov 13, 2013 (hmm, a week before my birthday...)

Environment
1. Do something special for Earth day one year (DONE April 22 2013)
2. Have a completely handmade Christmas… no bought ornaments, gifts secondhand or made, etc  (Christmas 2012)
3. take a nature hike and make educational for kiddos (DONE July 2012)
4. change our furnace from oil to electric do cloth diapers (DONE June 2013)

Family/Relationship
5. Visit a museum we’ve never seen before (DONE Oct 2012)
6. DONE!! Celebrate five strange holidays 7/5 (white day, pancake day, etc)(ones we did:  National Video Game day (played an old game, made a game brownie, Sept12 2012), Star Wars Day (May4 2013), pillow on fridge day (May29 2013), peanut butter cookie day June 12, banana split day June 7, butterfly day June 19th, and fairy day June 24th)
7. Give M a 5th bday party for kids (done sept 2013)
8. Start our own family Christmas tradition (done dec2012)
9. Visit something at convention center (finished july15 2011)
10. make plans to have a family day twice/month for one year (DONE 24/24)
11. go sledding as a family
12. go skating on the river as a family or date night
13. go to disneyworld (finished May 17-27 2011)
14. take family picture with an iconic character (finished May 20)
15. go to five local fairs (DONE 5/5)
16. do a date night going to the Taste of Manitoba
17. DONE have a night at home where we explore other cultures (food, map, activity, etc) (3/3) Oceana, Asia, Central Asia/Eastern Europe, Middle East,
18. visit Festival of Fools (did April1 2011)
19. Go to the International Children’s Festival
20. Take part in Teddybears picnic (June 2011)
21. Get the kids to feed ducks (DONE June30 2012)
22. find 5 interesting places/events to visit in local area (not already listed 5/5 DONE dec2011, sep2012, nov2012(SantaParade), dec2012(park), dec2012(train))
23. go to get ice cream from BDI and go for a walk after
24. go for a bike ride with both kiddos (august 2011)
25. have a scrapbooking day at my house with friends (finished april 2013)
26. spend a weekend with spouse away from the kids (finished july17 2011)

Farm/Business
27. Write/publish 3rd book
28. Write a craft book with all the crafts I’ve come up with myself
29. Start selling crafts through Etsy?
30. Start creating and selling digital scrapbook kits (April3 2011)
31. Plan a proper composting site for farm and implement
32. Clear out back of garage of things we haven’t used in over 5 years
33. Do a book reading at the local library

Financial
34. Save up $10 for each item I complete on this list
35. Pay off van (nov2011)
36. Place at least $10,000 into TFSA’s (feb2013)
37. Start making monthly payments into the RESP
38. Save and buy a bike trailer/two person stroller (august 2011)
Giving Back/Community
39. Volunteer in a Soup kitchen
40. Send someone flowers (June 2013)
41. Release a book via bookcrossing.com
42. Buy a larger item (about $100) for Gospel for Asia
43. Create a nice cake for someone (aug 2011)
44. Make at least 5 Shoeboxes for Samaritan’s Purse (5/5) DONE 2012

Health/Fitness
45. Walk for ms (or something similar)
46. Go berry picking (July 2013)
47. Bring down waist to 30inches across bellybutton (May14 2011)
48. Try quinoa (march 2011)
49. Omit dry cereals for breakfast for 30days… all hot, homemade, fruit, etc (march18 2011)
50. Try baking with spelt flour (may6 2011)
51. Don’t use any bought salad dressings for 3months… make own (finished July1, 2011)
52. Colon cleanse for 1 month (may 13 2011)
53. Try 20 new recipes (20/20) (done early 2012)
54. Try Leeks in a recipe (May3 2011)

Hobbies
55. Participate in a Cosplay (finished july 16 2011)
56. Finish mom’s started school scrapbook
57. Participate in a bake/craft sale
58. Catch up on scrapbooking (digital) DONE sep2012
59. Finish daughter’s 1st year album (traditional)
60. Finish son’s 1st year album (traditional)
61. Create album for honeymoon (traditional)
62. Print a digital scrapbook (I have a tendency to just let it sit… oops) (feb 2011)
63. Do a ‘week in review’ scrapbook for one year (at least) and print it (done jul 2012)
64. Try to finish cross stitch
65. Make a belly dance costume (May12 2011)

House/Home
66. Label breaker panel
67. Redo living room (couches, etc) (done late 2011 or early 2012)
68. Renovate basement
69. Build another bedroom (done Feb2013)
70. Put up baseboards/trim on main floor (sep2011)
71. Build a fence around portion of yard
72. Build a sandbox/play area for kids
73. Put up 10 picture frames/wall art (done feb 2012)

Learning
74. Play guitar 100min/week for 4 months… thus learning to play
75. Make homemade ice cream (July 11 2013)
76. edit July23 2011 - Learn metallurgy
77. Learn a little Japanese
78. Learn to sew/machine embroider actual clothes (not costumes - started dec2011, did Aug 2013)

Organizing
79. Organize all old baby clothes, donate stuff and store the rest by gender/age (April29 2011)
80. Purge old toys that aren’t played with (remove at least 25lbs of toys from house 10/25)
81. Create a system that works to keep our van clean/organized (or relatively so) (finished April 8 2011)
82. Create an organizational system in my wardrobe unit for crafts/scrapbooking (finished early 2012)
83. Reorganize kitchen cabinets to make more room (May2 2011)

Spiritual
84. Go on a weekend retreat (march6 2011)
85. help in Awana… somehow… (dec2011)
86. buy a new devotional and use it (feb 2012)
87. start reading a Bible verse at the table at suppertime (DONE Jan2012)

Other
88. Tour MB, take pics in front of large statues (car in Steinbach, bison in Grunthal, etc)… at least 10photos
89. Swim with dolphins
90. Buy myself a new pair of runners
91. Have a Transformers party (sep 2011)
92. Have a Tinkerbell party (sep 2013)
93. Tie a note to a balloon and let it go
94. Fly a kite
95. get a pedicure/manicure (or even do one on myself) (March5 2011)
96. Slide down a park slide (finished May 19, 2011)
97. edit: Take a pic at 12:12 on December 12, 2012 (DONE dec2012)
98. Ride a hot air balloon
99. Take a tour of my local area… bring camera
100. Do a ‘trash the dress’ photo session with other girls
101. Create another 101 in 1001 list

61 down, 40 to go

Week in Review

My latest week in review.  I can hardly believe how full these weeks are... I almost need 2 pages per review!  I guess that's how it is with young kids... and reno projects.  But I'm not complaining!  It's fun!  I think we're going to really enjoy looking at these years down the road.  Especially since there is something there to explain the photos displayed... and a date to note as well.

List Crazy

Well, I've gotten down to work on finishing my 101 list, since it's over this month... ok... the 15th... crazy, I know.  I can hardly believe it's almost done!  I remember making this list and thinking it was SO LONG before it would be done, and now, I'm almost there! 10 days left...

Here are the things I finished.

24. Clean out garage shelf - Finished January 17!  Woo HOO!  Now I have a place to store some of our vehicular items besides in the van or the house!  How nice is that!

60. Make kitchen curtain -  I actually did this... finally.  This fabric I found kicking around, too.  Bought it over a year ago.  Didn't even think there was enough for the curtain, but it looks so cute there now that I don't know why I didn't do this sooner.  Only took about an hour to make, too.

Isn't it cute!  I love gingham, and was actually looking for something in a similar color.  Man, they only ended up costing me $2!  Hooray!

Oh, and I found these birds at Michaels this week and had to post a pic of them.  I LOVE them.  I kept going back to them at the store until I just couldn't resist and had to buy them.  Only cost me about $9.  Which isn't bad, considering how much I love them and how cute they are in my kitchen.
71. Fiddle on guitar 10x, 20min each. - Finished this sometime in january.  Yup, was playing at least 3-4 times a week since I posted about it in the beginning of January.  And I'm still fiddling with it, just not as often.

75. Make a digital kit with at least 6 papers and 4 elements. - YEAH!  I did this one this week too.  And I did overkill... 15 papers and 17 elements.  A little overboard, maybe?  I love it though!  Used the color chip from the February DST blogtrain.   I wish to sell it eventually, but I need a method of doing so first.

86. Family Winter Day - On Thursday, we had a winter fun day.  Last week we went swimming because it was too cold to do anything outdoors, so we were thrilled to see the temperature rise enough to take the kids outside for an extended period of time.  And we all had fun!  I'll post more on this later.

101. Create another 101 in 1001 list - Done... did that on the 25th.  Not posting until the 15th.

Now for the remaining items...

58. Renovate office - Ripped down the ceiling and portions of wall where the electrical work and door work needs doing. Yup... I'm a regular DIY'er. Lookit these muscles (actually, I think those came from carrying 20lbs of kid around all the time instead of weilding a sledge hammer... but a sledge hammer sounds cooler).



69. Wash carpets - Not happening until that office is finished. Or at least until the dusty work is done. Which probably means this is going to not make it to finished by the 15th. Ah well, I'll do it asap anyway.


100. Get a massage - sigh.
 
98 down, 3 to go... and 10 days left!  I don't think I'll finish.  Although, I might be able to get that massage yet... maybe... why haven't I done that one yet?