Its all good…

Hey everyone! If you’re looking for some cheap MFD goodies, I’ve got a 40% off sale going on at SBG this weekend - Saturday and Sunday. Also a new little paper pack is up and a chat with me tomorrow night (Sat. May 3) at 10PM EST in the SBG Chat room and I’ve got treats as always!

So I’ve been trying to find my creativity as it seems to have completely left me these days. I’m thinking McLovin’ is sucking it all up so that kid better be really creative, LOL I took a trip to the local art store the other day and settled on some watercolor pencils and crayons and I’ve been working on using those with some hand-drawn pieces. I did some stuff that I wanted to scan and put to use for my NSD stuff, but it was not meant to be as my scanner hates watercolors. It looked good going in, but up close absolutely HORRIBLE. Disappointment is an understatement here. Anyways, dh tried photographing them and I wasn’t happy with those either, so I’m not sure what I’ll do. Maybe see if my parent’s scanner could be more compatible - theirs is pretty nice. Anyways - I took a couple of pictures of little pieces I did that I’m not sure what I’m going to do with yet - maybe I can get a little collection together and put it up on Etsy and see what happens. So here they are, Ms. Giraffe and Mr. Elephant

hey blog-fans…if any of you are still reading this blog that is   I am twittering now, here so I am going to try and be better about that than I am about this bloggy boo   Do you twitter?  Leave me your link in comments and I’ll start following you!!

Click here to go to my studio @ SBG!

as you know, I am back at SBG but haven’t explained why. Also, I still have lots of products up at Prima. Well, things are changing at PrimaHybrid - we are going to be emphasizing much more of the hybrid there, so I am able to sell my solely digital products at another store. Of course, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere other than SBG, it felt so much like home, I was practically homesick while I was gone. The SBG store is growing so much right now, it really is such a great place to be and I’m so happy to be there. So, over the next few weeks most of my products at Prima will be migrating back to their original home at SBG

So why did I even leave SBG in the first place? I have been trying to ‘crack’ the paper industry for a while now - I have designed for paper companies, but never anything that I felt was truly mine, that I could talk about, or had my name on it. Prima has given me that opportunity. At winter CHA, I had a crop of products that I am so proud of.

There are clear stamps, overlays, cardboard and chipboard shapes and the ‘is for’ labels that I’ve had digitally available, but a little different - fonts are different. The layouts on the display there were done by me (the one on the left) and my friend Celeste - she did the rest. She’s such a good scrapbooker, i am so jealous! She’s a simple gal and I’m very lucky that we’re friends and she lives close to me so could help out hehehe….

So that’s that… I am currently busy trying to work on hybrid stuff for Prima, real paper products for Prima, and digital stuff for SBG and Songbird Ave - nevermind living life and being pregnant with a three year old running around Balance is key right now and I’m struggling to find mine. I think being back at SBG though, with the support of the other designers, the amazing crew, Becky and Maya is really good for me. 

Sorry I didn’t update sooner - the doc called last week and let me know that I’m immune to fifth’s disease so it is no longer a concern for me, yay!  We were very relieved to find that out, of course, and I’m just hoping that the rest of this pregnancy is incredibly uneventful   When I was pregnant with Alex, we called him lil’ peanut.  It was cute and he looked like a little peanut in his first ultrasound.  So we’ve been trying to think of something to call this one - his first u/s he looked like a blob - Gordon didn’t want to call him blob though.  So I sort of took to calling him ‘new baby’ and sometimes ‘mean baby’ when it was making me vomit all the time.  But Gordon didn’t like those either.  I think we’ve settle on a name though - McLovin’.  If you’ve seen the movie Superbad, you’ll get the reference.  We just think it’s silly and cute and I like hearing people laugh when I call the baby that. 

that I am home again at SBG!  I am so excited that Maya and the girls have taken me back into the stop at SBG, I have so missed being a part of the SBG action!  So, my first ‘new’ product up in my store is…

To celebrate my return to SBG , I’ve done a Random Bag of Scrap! This is full of a bunch of different random goodies - some that will ONLY be available in this bag! Download is over 200 MB, so I hope that you enjoy this bag, only available March 15-18, 2008 here at SBG!!

Please note that there are no St. Patrick’s Day items contained in this bag - I was just feeling festive with my packaging!

And as a bonus, if you buy this bag, I will email you a coupon for an extra deal after the grab bag is available!

So have you hopped over the Songbird Avenue this month yet to see the brand new kit?  It’s so fresh and springy, I am totally in LOVE!!!  Fresh Outlook is a collab with Kate Teague of Two Peas in a Bucket, with a special little add-on from Maya at SBG.  Both Kate and Maya have been diagnosed with MS, so the proceeds of the kit are planned to go to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.  It is an amazing cause that effects so many lives and both of these women are amazing for their willingness to share their stories and to help make a difference.  So here is the kit…check it out, seriously so fun!

In other news - we went and had the big ultra sound on Friday and found out we are having another little boy!  We didn’t find out with Alex, but decided to go ahead and find out this time.  We thought for sure it was going to be a girl - we thought the same thing with Alex though.  And though it would have been fun to have a girl to dress up, I am so not a girly-mommy.  Much more of a boy-mommy   So now we are on the hunt for a good name - which we won’t actually make a final decision on until we see the kid.  We like regular names, and I especially like names with nicknames. 

On the not-fun side of things - Alex has fifth’s disease.  For those of you that don’t know what this terrible sounding disease is, it’s no big deal for Alex.  He has a rash that doesn’t itch and that’s about it.  He’s going to be fine.  Apparently though, this is bad for pregnant women.  Not really bad - but potentially bad I guess.  So today I’m waiting to hear back from my doctor on blood test results.  It could turn out that I’m immune to it - because my mom is pretty sure she remembers me having it.  The toughest part right now is I can’t have any close contact with Alex - and that’s really hard.  I can’t hug him, or hold him, or kiss him.    These are things that you don’t realize how much you do until someone tells you to stop.  Gordon has stayed home from work to make sure that he is taken care of and I’m so thankful for that.  Okay - I will update when I hear from my doc’s office which will hopefully be soon with good news!!!

…would I go along with a tag My friend Denise tagged me and usually I don’t do the tag games, but since it’s Denise, I’ll go for it, just this once. So seven thing about me people don’t know…

1. I love staying up late and sleeping late. I’ve never been a morning person and worked nights for six years. I’ve never really gotten into waking up

2. I have one sister, Megan, who is a senior in college.

3. I went to two different colleges - the first being Lehigh University in PA for just one year and the second being a small military college where I was a civilian.

4. I played tennis in high school and pretty much sucked at it. We had lots of fun though we lost most of our matches

5. I played the flute from age 9 to 20 or so. I still have the thing downstairs and can still play a bit if I want to.

6. I shot rifles competitively for about 11 years.

7. Right now, Alex is cleaning me with a wipe, he says he’s “making mommy booteeeful.”

So things are going well on the potty-training front.  Alex seems to have confronted his potty demons and gotten past whatever was holding him back.  But we hit a snag - he got sick.  He’s been sick the past couple days so we sort of fell off the wagon of asking him every twenty minutes and letting him stay in his diaper.  But, the good news is he is going to the bathroom on his own accord now!  Even being sick, for the most part, he’s been using the potty, so that’s a great job by him

In other parts of my world - customer appreciation week has come to a close and I randomly chose a winner for the amazon.com gift card.  Staci is the winner and I emailed her, and waiting to hear back a confirmation before I send my card - so if you’re reading my blog Staci, check your email!

I also have a new paper pack up in the shop - something a little different.  It’s called wild child and is pretty heavy on the graphic and light on the grunge.  I like it - could be a bit of a change of direction for stuff for me for a little while.  I guess I’ll have to see if you like it!

So other than that, there isn’t much new.  Alex is getting over the sickies - finally seems to be feeling himself tonight and is playing some geotrax with Daddy.  I hope you are having a good day!

So we’ve been working on potty training with Alex on and off for a while now.  He is capable, and knows how to use the potty and all that stuff, but he is really resistant to the change.  It’s not that easy to reason with him about it either - because he has no interest in being a big boy.  He doesn’t want to be a baby, he doesn’t want to be a big boy - he wants to be ‘a little boy’.  And I can understand that - I appreciate that the kid realizes he’s got it really good right now.  But seriously, so sick of changing his diapers - it’s getting old.

So this weekend was potty training boot camp.  He did pretty well.  I think a lot of the problem is me - I expect there to be no accidents and it’s just not going to happen.  We’ve taken much advice and made it through the weekend with only three little accidents, and the last time he stopped himself and yelled POTTY!!!!

He’s also started asking whether he has a diaper on in the morning.  We are still doing diapers at night - maybe that’s confusing for him.  But he’ll wake up and say, ‘do i have a diaper on?’ 

So yesterday, we were having our thousandth conversation about potty and why he needs to use one - his friends do, Diego does, Dora does - Mommy and Daddy do.  And then he got quiet and just sighed.  I said to him, “What’s up Buddy?”  And he looks up at me and says “Mommy, diapers are my perfect potty.”