Friday, February 26, 2016

Somewhere In Time - Mixology



Softly calling to all of those timeless photos that need to be scrapped, your precious memories waiting to be turned into art.








My layouts

Made with Janece Suarez Designs and a template by LissyKay Designs.

Made with Arizona Girls mini 30 kit and template# 1 from A Fish Design.

Made with Arizona Girls mini 40 kit and template# 2 from A Fish Design.


Thursday, February 25, 2016

Personal Update

This blog was started for my personal use never dreaming I would go on to join CTs. So all I have posted in a while has been my layouts.

It has been a little over 14 months since my husband died and during that time our son and I have celebrated two Christmases, two New Years and two of my birthdays without him plus a year of other holidays. The house still seems lonely even though it still has Nick, Bella (Dachshund), Molley and Bear (the cats) and myself in it. Nick no longer hangs out in his room. The living room is where he is at during the time he is not at school or playing. Yes, he sleeps there on the sofa. I sleep in a special recliner designed for people who can't sleep in a bed due to spinal problems which I share with Bella and Bear and every once in a while Molley. I have yet to go through my husband's belongings except to give out the things to his adult son and daughter after the funeral which were earmarked for them. My bedroom looks just the same as the day my husband left to go to the hospital except Nick has now stolen all of Daddy's socks and sleep pants and a nice selection of shirts. It makes him feel better to be sleeping in one of Daddy's black t-shirts, sleep pants and his socks so how can I say no?!

We spend our time very quietly as we don't go out much unless it is to the dollar movies, his basketball practices and games which will be ending in a couple of weeks until next school year. Then for eight weeks starting the middle of April Nick will be starting another season of Flag Football. I can't afford to send him to both the Spring and Fall sessions even though I know he would love it. Then in April (usually March) we will be heading out to visit my stepdaughter's family for the eldest granddaughter's 11th birthday. It will be another overnight visit as I can't drive for 5-6 hours one way, stay for a party and head back home. My husband was able to do that being a professional truck driver but not I. I rented a room at a hotel that has an indoor pool. A luxury we don't get often. The next day we'll stop at the children's museum before heading home. We can't visit them without visiting the museum. Nick will be able to sleep in the car on the ride home so he won't miss any school the next day. Always a plus! We have a birthday close to home in the middle of March for another grandchild and one in May. I have two grandkids who have birthdays in January and May in another state but we aren't invited to those and haven't been since before my husband got sick. I don't know why his son stopped inviting us. I have 3 grandkids who live really far away so it not feasible to visit them for birthdays or holidays. :( Once school gets out then the fun begins. I will take Nick to trips to the state parks to explore and swim. Then another trip to his (half) sister's house for a birthday and maybe another trip to the children's museum and a hotel with a pool. Then it will be back to school and back to our dull routine.

I will continue to scrap as long as my arms and hands will allow me to. Pesky spinal problems! I will continue to miss my husband. Not sure what the guidelines are for grieving but I am still in my process. I don't cry as much but probably more times then I should be. My heart has a hole in it that I fear will never mend.


Nick and I spent my 49th birthday quietly. We ate at On The Border and he shared his sundae with me. The next night for Valentine's Day we stayed in just the two of us. I can't remember what we ate so it must have been pretty boring. Last year I had to spend the evening of my birthday watching one of Nick's basketball games and I am not into sports so this year was better.

Nick's basketball photo (taken by me)


Paris New York Blog Trains

I seem to get comments lately that I don't leave my freebies up long enough or they are not posted on time which is frustrating as I do not make up the rules for this blog train. I am not a designer I am just a CT on many different designers teams.

The rules for this blog train is that the links get posted at NOON Paris time. I try to post at that time. I live in Michigan so I am in the EST time and I sometimes forget the conversion time so my freebie will never get posted later than noon EST.

The time limit to give away the freebies is from the 15th to the 21st (states this right on that cute yellow train ticket we post) unless you are a designer and care to leave your freebie up longer. Again I am not a designer. I am using the same kits you can pick up along the way I just get them first and depending on whose kit I use I have to follow the rules of the game. I don't normally take down the links on the day after the freebies are to stop to give everyone an extra day to grab them. I'm sorry but I have better things to be doing then to watch my clock and at the stroke of midnight EST (because I am not going to be figuring out Paris time) on the 22nd to remove the link(s).



This quarters link wasn't taken down until around 11 PM or so on Feb. 24th so I think I gave ample time for people to stop by and grab my freebie. Personally I am sick and tired of all the complaining and I'm thinking about quitting this blog train due to the hassle.

I am trying to learn Photoshop so that the people who complain my quick pages don't have enough photo spaces will stop complaining because it won't take me 3 hours to convert my layouts to a quick page using my current software and then having to open it up in another program to cut out all the photo holes and make sure there are no stray pixels and all that. You have no idea what I go through to make just a quick page with one photo slot. Which is why you never see any embellishments near the photo slots because it just to hard to get it right with my current software. I would like to offer in future clusters and all that from most of the designers I work with hence me learning a new software but when all I hear are complaints I just want to throw in the towel. A few people say thanks but for the most part people just cruise on by without saying anything and I get it your time is valuable. I can understand a complaint if my link was busted then hey drop a line and I will fix it. If you want to leave a suggestion for a future freebie that isn't given to me in complaint form then go ahead.

The one thing that I find works really well if you find out that I have deactivated a link and you would like that freebie is just leave me a message stating I missed your freebie, here is my e-mail could you send it to me? Thank you. Guess what? I'll send it to you. I have no problem with it. All I am doing is following the rules set forth in the blog train. I understand life gets busy and we forgot to stop back by a stop that wasn't posted the first time we cruised by. However we don't have to be rude to the people making the freebies.

Thank you to all that took the time to read my rant.


Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Golden Days


The beautiful rich colours of orange, yellow, brown, aqua, cream and olive green make this kit perfect for Autumn pictures.

My layout



Sunday, February 21, 2016

Shiny Happy People and Pocketful of Memories 8


There are some people out there who light you up, just by being around them.  They're happy, and they show it.  They shine their light of happiness on others around them.  Let it rub off on you too... and try a little happy on for yourself!


This is a set of four layered page templates to help you scrap beautiful pages when you need a little inspiration or are short on time.  Create a gorgeous project life or multi-photo page in a snap!


My layouts

Made with a free template from Triple J Designs.

Made with Pocketful of Memories 8.


Hold My Hand




We all need someone to hold our hand every once in awhile. From the time we start learning to walk, to first days of school, a wedding day, or maybe just when the wind and rain scared us. 

My layout

Made with Janece's Feb 2016 template for the template challenge at GDS.

Saturday, February 20, 2016

One Romantic Evening - Home Before Midnight


Were there stars? Was it love at first sight? Were you reliving that moment for your anniversary or wedding? This is the perfect kit for that evening of sweeping romance that you want to remember forever. 



My layouts

Made with One Romantic Evening kit and template.

Made with Home Before Midnight and a free template from LissyKay Designs.


Monday, February 15, 2016

Paris New York Blog Train #23


Here are you list of stops



  • Monkey's Musings - you are here
  •   



    My layout and a preview of your freebie



    Freebie
    Made with Winsor Digi Designs Mini kit


    Download link valid through February 21, 2016

    Saturday, February 6, 2016

    My Girl



    Is there a little Princess in your life? One that makes you laugh, makes you crazy, who can charm her way in and out of trouble?
    Who is full of mischief and gives you unconditional love all at the same time!!
    The lovely muted pinks, browns and cream will allow to scrap those adorable childhood photos and beyond including heritage.


    My layout


    Wednesday, February 3, 2016

    Mad Love


    Mad Love Embellishments are for scrapping that one that sparks that fire in you and makes you all bubbly inside. The bundle contains 61 unique elements, 21 pattern papers, 8 solid papers, 8 glitter papers, a full alpha with numbers and symbols as well as 6 journal cards . 


    My layout

    Made with a free template from Craft-Tastrophic




    Sentimental Valentine



    Red, Pink, Tan, Purple and Grey!  Not the typical Valentine's Day colors!  So you don't need to use "lovey" pictures with this versatile kit!  Gold and grey bring the pinks and reds to life!

    You can get these freebies either free through the GoScrapbooking newsletter or you can purchase them in this small bundle.

    My layouts

    Made with Cocolate Covered Everything template by A Fish Design

    Made with So In Love template by A Fish Design


    February Bits N Pieces


    There's nothing like cozying up with someone special on a cold day.  A snuggle under the blankets in front of a warm fire is my idea of a great way to spend a winter's day!


    ’Tis the season for love! Scrap those special photos of your loved ones with Paper Hearts Vol 2 from DoubleTrouble Scraps. Templates are provided in TIF, PSD, PAGE & PNG formats; each file type is provided as a separate link so you only have to download the files you need.



    Ready to tackle Project 365 this year? Then you’ll want to invest in these Project 365 template sets. Over the course of 2016, there will be 13 sets released with 4 unique templates in each set for a total of 52 templates in the series. Each template in the set will have room for 7 photos, making this a great way to keep up with your scrapping throughout the year. And these templates are great for your everyday pictures that just need some fun templates to get them scrapped.


    My layouts

    Made with Paper Hearts v2

    Made with Project 365 set 2