Big Trouble!

Aiden was a little devil today. Those teeth.....I swear I'm going to go mad before they all come in. He screamed and thrashed around in his exersaucer like a maniac. I couldn't set him down without headache-provoking wails. Ugh. During his nap I began scrapping a page about his uber-pissy day and then he woke up after only 30 minutes. AAARRRGGGGHHH!!!

Then Brian got home and was not impressed with the lack of housecleaning. I did manage to get a shower, do my hair, have makeup on, mail 3 packages, grocery shop, unload & put away groceries, feed Aiden solids in addition to nursing sessions, change his clothes and poopy diapers about a dozen times, schedule our tile appointment, feed the dog, cook dinner, feed the baby dinner and finish my digital scrap layout quota, all to the soundtrack of Aiden squaking, Major barking at nothing and without killing anyone. Funny how husbands can see your day so differently. *SIGH*. If you're not bringing home a paycheck then you'd better be housecleaning I guess.

Photoshopped almost all day! Shhh...don't tell Brian!

I am loooooving being on the creative team! Not only did I get a massive amount of new free stuff to scrap with yesterday, I actually get Aiden's scrapping done and have other sweet people comment on what they love about my layout. It's awesome!

You know how cheap I am and I can promise http://www.peppermintcreative.com/ is the highest quality stuff around at the very best prices. Sale items are often $1.50 with regular prices starting at $2 & $3 for things that never get used up!!! Miss Mint, the website owner, worked in Advertising for years and is now using all of her impressive Photoshop skills to crank out some of the coolest elements. Just go to her site and get the free template. Click on "Downloads" when you get to the home page to grab it. It's perfect for doing your newborn baby pages! When you're done, resize the image to 590 X 590 pixels (to meet size requirements) and then post it in her gallery. HURRY, there will be a new free kit in October and this month's free kit will be $2.

Here's one of the pages I did today. I just started doing this in July so you can see how great her elements are - they make everyone's pages look incredible!!





If you really feel like splurging on some slightly larger kits, check out www.ShabbyPrincess.com and click "Shoppe". She has incredible girl kits. To be fair, however, Miss Mint does have the best boy kits so don't even bother searching. Everyone else just has boring light blue with sky blue. Ick.

The Midas Touch

Brian is annoyed and amused by the way I hop from one thing to another. He says about every 3-4 months I change my mind and pick up a different business. (For the record, jewelry has been my only real 'business'. The custom candy wrappers, photo shop ads, graphics work, photo editing and invitations & birth announcements are all hobby things that might or might not make a little cash. And yes, I frequently do put down the jewelry when I get tired of it.) Why? The answer is easy. I hate customer service. I am artistic enough to put out what I would consider to be a great product, whether it's jewelry or graphics, and I can't stand people trying to "improve" upon it by asking for a thousand changes when I feel like everything is the best to begin with. I personally am cheap but professionally I opt for the best of everything. (For instance, do you know that I use higher quality stringing wire and crimps on my $7 baby jewelry than NORDSTROM'S does on their $200+ fashion jewelry?? I was a jewelry rep for a line sold through them and yeah, it shocked me too.)

I know it's common to get burned out and I'm really greatful that I can quit my hobby work and focus on other things. Right now I am gearing up to do holiday cards and birth announcements. This time Brian wants to help, mostly because he heard of a 17 year-old high school girl who is a millionaire from selling MySpace templates. I guess he has high hopes for my unbridled ambition!!

Here are some of the announcements I have put together. (Don't worry Bri, they're in 72 dpi here so no one is going to get anything but a super fuzzy, grainy print if they copy it off here.) The names & stuff are fake, they're just to illustrate the fonts available. Pictures, when I get them, will go in the frames at the top.

Leave me comments and tell me what other colors you think people would like for announcements.

Welcome to my little corner of the institution...

My parents are coming to visit. Ugh. At least they won't have the dog that we constantly have to shove off the baby. I can't wait until Aiden can do serious damage to that little Yorkie and the tables will be turned...


In other news, I'm on the Peppermint Creative Team and I'm designing away! Here are some of my layouts using the new Rebel One papers & element kit:








































I am pretty proud of myself. Aiden will have a pretty cool scrap book to look back on. The best part is I don't have to scrub ink off my fingers or curse when I misspell something in Sharpie!