The (End of) July Color Challenge Kit

Talk about cutting it close! I started to just chunk it all in a zip and call it a grab bag, but then I went ahead and made the crappy previews. I absolutely HATE doing those, and I'm not good at it. I don't like not being good at something, so it's really frustrating! KWIM?

I am particularly proud of the gold and silver wire brackets, I hope I can get some time to scrap this weekend so I can use them. I haven't even been able to scrap a page with this yet, so if you do, send me a link and give me some ideas! Password is: late There's more in the zips than what you see in the previews, it was 10:30 and I got tired of messing with it.

Check out the award that Mabelle http://myscrapworks.com/mswdigi/ sent me! If you are not familiar with her, you should be. Check out her blog. I'm supposed to nominate three blogs, but that's gonna have to wait till later!

Today's (late) gift: Link Expired
Remember?

This Is MY Blog!

To the "anonymous" person who is offended by the word "turd", this is MY blog and I can pretty much do or say what I want. If you don't like it, don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out. I do have the class and courtesy to put my name on everything that I write. And no, I do not live in a trailer park. There will be no more anonymous comments allowed on this blog. TURD! TURD! TURD! Oh my! I said ass, too! Call the blog police!

Earth Tones QP

This LO was made from the new "Earth Tones" kit from vicki20 @ http://vicki20.blogspot.com/ Check it out! I don't know how she does it, I can't keep up with her! LOL! I'm such a doofus, I was in a hurry and saved the LO minus the journaling to the flash drive. No biggie, this pic is of Ms. Lil with her nap time bed head enjoying a push up pop. Password is: posie I was really pleased to finish this LO, that sorry so & so Mr. MoJo seems to have pulled a disappearing act again. I am tempted to just dump what I do have finished for the July Color Challenge into a zip and call it a surprise! I can hardly wait for Friday...it will be August and this month will be over. Yeehaw!

Gift for today: Link Expired
Remember your manners!

Just a fast note, I will have something for ya'll tomorrow.
Hugs,
Vicki

Just a Quickie! Well...maybe a longie!

Hey girlfriends! It's Friday, the door is locked, there is a Miller Lite in the koozie, the industrial sized fart fan is on and there is a smoke in the ash tray (I figure once the door is locked, my office is no longer a public place!) and I can finally take a minute to write a few words. I wanted to touch base with ya'll, and let you know I haven't forgotten you, the poo has just hit the fan around here and there is not enough time in the day for me to accomplish everything I need to do. I hadn't caught up from my vacation, then it was the end of the second quarter, then I took a week off to be with my Dad, then when I came back the secretary took vacation! Needless to say, I am drowning in a sea of paper. But enough of my whining! I am bound and determined to finish up the July Color kit tonight. I will try and get it packed up and posted for ya'll tomorrow. I really appreciate the favorable response to the photo tip (although Rena's family is probably ready to lynch me, read her comment under the post for an explanation) ROTFLPIMP!!!! Jessica has another one today for dealing with over exposed pics, I don't have time to do the easy peasy version for you right now, but if you would like to check out her article, here it is http://spraguelab.squarespace.com/ While you are there, sign up for the newsletter, besides photo tips you will get free fonts and a whole lot more! She is a genius with Photoshop!
For those that liked my LaBodega page, this kit is now on clearance @ 70% off. Yes, that's right, you can get the whole thing for $2.55!!!! See it here http://ashaleeandsweet.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=24&sort=20a&filter_id=&alpha_filter_id=76 Grab it while you can, at the end of the month it's gone and you will be kicking yourself saying "I should have listened to Bubbles!" While you are there scoping out the clearance items, you might want to pick up the "Gingerbread Lane" kit. This is my absolute fave for Christmas and Thanksgiving pics! And no...I don't get anything for pimping these kits, I'm just doin' it as sort of a public service thing! I'm serious, any digi scrapper needs to have these two on their hard drive! I have made multiple albums using these two fabulous kits.
One more little tip for ya, Atomic Cupcake has a special going on, until July 31, 2008, for $30.00 you can download EVERYTHING! If you have been yearning for some torn paper actions, not to mention all the others she has available, now is the time! I downloaded the whole store, so we should start having some more variety around Babbles! (If I can just find the time to create!)
Well...I think I'm gonna wrap this one up, see ya'll tomorrow!
Big 'ole Texas hug comin' at ya!
Vicki aka "Fag Ash Lil"

Faded Treasures

I decided that I would make the LO I made of my Memaw into a QP for ya'll. This LO was made from the "Faded Treasures" by Anita http://nanas-attic.blogspot.com/ She is taking an extended leave of absence to try and recover from her loss, please keep her in your prayers.

Once again, I don't have much time, maybe once July is over I will be able to get back on track. Password is: flower I do hope to get the July Color kit finished before the month is gone! Papers are done, and I finished a couple of elements last night. This one is probably 'gonna be kind of a mini kit, but I think ya'll will like it.

Gift for today:
Link Expired
Remember your manners!

A New Trick!

I learned this WOW technique from Jessica Sprague's PhotoShop Friday's. It really makes the colors pop! You can find the whole article here: http://spraguelab.squarespace.com/ It's the post called Photo Shazam! Here is the easy peasy version. Open your photo. Make a duplicate layer. Close original. Make two more duplicate layers. Name the top layer "screen", the middle layer "overlay". Now for the fun part! Make the middle layer (overlay) active, and change the blend mode to...you guessed it, overlay. Then make the screen layer active and change the blend mode to "screen". Play around with the opacity of both layers till you are pleased with the look. Try screen @ 44% and overlay @ 65%. Sometimes I like overlay @ 100%, and use the screen layer to tone it down just a bit. When I get it lookin' good I merge the layers and save as "original name-edit". I always keep my original version untouched. Try this, it's really cool!

To Sue: I checked the new link for Built Tough 2 (Tuckered Out) and I was able to download, try again, and if you still have trouble email me, we will figure something out.
To Sarah: Please email me with your secret blogger trick!
My email addy is in my profile, but just to make it easy for ya'll, it is txbubbles@gmail.com
I have several projects in the works, including the July Color kit, so stay tuned!

Here is a "thank you"

Just when I was starting to get cranky because the blog is starting to pick up more of the "grab & run, their Momma didn't teach them any manners" types, (and if you are a long time reader, you know how that burns my butt!) this came. I received this in an email today from one of my faithful readers, who never fails to say thank you.

Hi Vicki

Attached please find a LO I have done for designers like you who so kindly share their talent in providing us with freebies. I for one dearly appreciate this, as people who are on a limited income can continue to do digi scrappin, it means so much. I know sometimes it can be a thankless task as unfortunately some people do not take time out to leave a thanks.So a BIG THANK U from me who loves your work.My sympathies to you on the loss of your grandmother. My thoughts and prayers are with you. May you have a good day.

Hugs, Aggiexx (aussieland)

Ice Cream, You Scream!

This LO was made using vicki20's kit entitled "Cinnamon Toast" http://vicki20.blogspot.com/ Everything that she is creating now is absolutely free, so get 'em while you can! I really loved the photo pocket, the charms and the bling strings in this kit. About these photos, Wyatt is first in line when the ice-cream man comes, and dives right into whatever confection he has chosen. Hey...a little ice cream nose never hurt anybody! ROTFLPIMP!!!! Password is: coldnose
No long post today, I am swamped (so what's new?) and I wouldn't even had the time to post this if I hadn't gotten it ready on Sunday. I will be SOOO glad when I finally get back on track. Now I am going to sneak out back, just call me "Fag Ash Lil" LOL!!! This new nickname came from susie2shoes after my rant on the no smoking city ordinance!
Here ya go: Link Expired
Remember your manners!

Links fixed?

I think I have fixed the broken links that 4shared screwed up. The ones that I know about are as follows: All About Me, June Papers, LaBodega, Built Tough Janni, and all of the Worn Out kit. If anyone has a problem, let me know and I will do my best to fix it.

The Last Binky

Here we have what was supposed to be a tribute to Lilly's last Binky. At the time I took this pic, she was down to one, and Matt and Shawna said they were buying no more, when it was gone that was all she wrote! It resided in her top drawer, and she could get it out when needed. Since then, we have discovered that she has Binkys hidden everywhere! Open up a kitchen cabinet, there's a Binky! Open up Matt's underwear drawer, there's a Binky! Dig around in the toy box, there's a Binky! Well...you get the idea. She is most definitely her Daddy's daughter! Matt had a "secret" Binky till he was five years old! I'm just an 'ole softy and couldn't bring myself to take it away from him. She calls it her "shasee". Who knows where that came from...our family has always called it a Binky. Password has to be: binky This LO was created using the kit "Vinegar & Brown Paper" from vicki20 http://vicki20.blogspot.com/ Be sure to check out her blog for some fantastic freebies, and leave some love when you do!
I want to let everyone that took the the time to say a prayer and leave some words of sympathy that you cannot know how much that it it meant to me and my family in this most difficult time. It helped more than you will ever know. God bless you all.
Here it be: Link Expired
Remember your manners!

Just Beachy!

This page of Miss Lilly was created with the "Beach Towel" kit from Vicki Parker at http://vicki20.blogspot.com/ . I just loved the stitched alpha and the texture in the papers and ribbons! If you will look closely, you will see that that is NOT torn paper for the journaling spot. LOL!!! I have a new action from Atomic Cupcake that makes it look like frayed fabric. Too cool!
Password is: hoodie I want to thank everyone that took the time to leave such kind words of sympathy here on the blog and 4shared for my family. All of the prayers really helped. My Dad was amazed when I showed him what ya'll had written. I'm gonna write a longer post on Saturday, but I wanted to post a quick one today.
Here's what you've been waiting for: Link Expired
Remember your manners!

I will be gone until further notice...

My Memaw has passed, and I am going to be with my Daddy. Please say a prayer for him. My heart is breaking and I don't know what to do. I made this page using Anita's Faded Treasure's kit.

News Flash!

Oh my goodness Gertie, I am SO excited! There is a new fast rising star in the digital scrapbooking world that susie2shoes (the matchmaker) turned me on to back in May. Her name is also Vicki. Check out her blog here: http://vicki20.blogspot.com/

She is really talented and creates at an amazing rate! There is on average two complete kits a week (with matching alphas!). She has a ton of great kits on her blog that she offers for free. Anyway, after some pretty shameless begging on my part, she has so graciously agreed to let me offer pages from her kits! I am now an honorary member of her CT (actually, I am the only member now, but it won't be long before this girl is picked up by a store and needs a full blown team!) This LO was created with her "The Great Outdoors" kit, inspired by her recent first camping trip. The only thing that is not included in her kit is the notepaper. I added that. This photo of Wyatt and my Dad is one of my all time favorites. Daddy has such amazing patience with the grands, and takes great pleasure in showing them the world! Password is: wonder

I already had this post ready to go when my world just fell apart. My Memaw has passed, and I am going to be with my Daddy. My heart is breaking and I don't know when I'll be back. Please say a prayer for my Daddy as he goes through this most difficult time in his life.

Here it is: The Great Outdoors QP.zip

A Perfect Summer Day

I made this LO using "A Perfect Summer Day" from Nani @

http://chroniclesofnani.blogspot.com/ She is offering this kit for free if you post a LO from any of her other kits! Head on over and check out her blog. I just love her style of writing, she really has a way with words, and the Monday Mug Shot is my fave! Password is: rosycheeks This pic was taken near the end of the beagle photo shoot, and Lilly was ready for some heavy duty AC!

Gift for today: Perfect Summer Day QP.zip What do we say?

Checking In

Thought I better check in with ya'll so you wouldn't think I fell off the edge of the earth. I'm about to go absolutely flippin' crazy around here! As if things weren't stressful enough, this stupid podunk town decided to try to pretend to be a big city and went and passed a no smoking ordinance. Now, I have always been a considerate smoker. When I moved into my new office, I had an industrial sized fart fan installed to vent the smoke outside. If I have someone in my office, I don't smoke. But now the city has decided there will be no smoking everywhere, even in the BARS!!! Come on, drinkin' & smokin' just go together! Smokers everywhere need to stand up and demand OUR rights. Even if you are a nonsmoker, you should be concerned about laws such as this being passed. The government is slowly chipping away at our freedom. Okay, I'm climbing down off my soap box now.


I do have a couple of pages in the works, I'm going to try and get home before 7:00 tonight, maybe I can finish up and have a goodie for you tomorrow. Please take note of the Cuss-O-Meter on the top left. One of my faithful readers, "sasa to 6", emailed me a link to this. It checks your blog for cuss words, and evidently Bubbles Babbles is considered clean despite the use of the turd word!


To Jessica: I couldn't email you, there is no address on your blog, but if you will go down a ways to the June Kit, the dolphin is included in the element pack. You can download it and plop him on the page!

Hope everyone has a great day, now I'm going to sneak out the back door and have a smoke! BTW, you have to stand 25 feet away from the door! BS, I say!

The Dolphin Foot Push!

Well, I finally finished this page. It took me a while to decide how to lay it out, I don't do very many "action" type pages. Papers and dolphin from my June kit, I just adjusted the colors to be more pool friendly. Password is: drawers This is another one of those pages you can customize to your liking. I think it would make a great pool page. No long ramble today, the story behind this page is in a previous post, and I am just smooth covered up at work. Everybody say it with me..."Damn you, IRS!"

Your gift for today: Link Expired
What do we say?

Get Out Your Shades!

This one is BRIGHT! I used the "Bright Enough For You?" kit from JanniDee http://janniscrapdesigns.blogspot.com/ for this page. The colors are great for summer pages, and I love the safety pin frame!
Lilly's hair is just barely long enough to pull into pigtails, but it looks so cute! The only problem we have is that she wants to pull off her bows and look at them, then wants you to put them back on. Password is: pigtail We will be using the turd word off and on, I figure if I use it everytime, it would kinda lose it's "shock" value. ROTFL!!!
Evidently I need to provide a little more background on Wyatt's day at the gun range. For those that don't know, my son Matt is a police officer. The gun range that they went to is law enforcement only. Most officers have large gun collections, and can possess automatic weapons. So yes, Wyatt did get to shoot a machine gun, and he was extremely well supervised. We are not a bunch of gun totin' turd speakin' heathens down here in Texas! ROTFLPIMP!!!
Here is today's gift: Link Expired
What do we say?

Red, White & Blue for you!

Here's a page that I whupped up this morning!

I used one of Anita's early kits called "Old Glory" http://nanas-attic.blogspot.com/ Matt took Wyatt to the gun range for the day, so My Girl Shawna and I did some scrapping and had a few pina coladas while they were gone. Password is: turd Wyatt had a really great time, he got to shoot a machine gun for the first time! After we ate, I surprised him with another cake and the Kung Fu Panda Playstation game. He has had a really great birthday week! I showed him the birthday wishes that ya'll left and he says thank you very much.

Today's gift: Link Expired Remember?

Want a really good laugh?

No freebie today, but I am going to be a really good girl and hang around the house this long weekend. I plan to get some well deserved rest, go grill some barbeque and make homemade ice-cream for the kiddos and work on some pages. So there very well may be a surprise post this weekend! We are also celebrating Wyatt's eighth birthday. He was born on the first, but that little turd is getting a whole birthday week this year. (See, it really is used as a term of endearment down here! LOL!!!) Yep, we are having a high ole time in the trailer park this week! In the mean time, if you would like a really good laugh, check out Rena's roundup of "southernism's" (is that a word? if not, it should be!) in the comments of "It's My Blog". Vicki (Chickivaney) also has some choice words to contribute to the recent TURD debate. Of course, if you are offended by the recent turd events, don't even look!
Hope everyone has a safe and happy Independence Day!

Sweet Kiss

I was going through some of my older LO's and came across these. Lilly was just a few days old and Wyatt was just so totally fascinated with her. I love the expression on his face! The paper is called "Old Girl". This was an old freebie from Kim B. The enameled frame is from JanniDee. They are basically a mirror image, but I included both versions in the zip for you. The pickins' are liable to be a might sparse this week around here, I am trying to cram 5 days of work into 4 days, and it is also the end of the second quarter, so there is no relief in sight for me. Password is: sweet I know that we had all pretty much agreed that the passwords should be TURD for the week, but I just couldn't bring myself to assign it to these pages!
Today's gift: Link Expired Remember?