365 Template Freebie!

OK - so it's been a while since I've posted anything....let's just say that with end of the year stuff, 4 family birthdays, Christmas, Bennett's new job, 3 kids, home school, my work, and the usual day-to-day stuff, that life has been beyond nuts. I'm giving serious consideration to giving up sleep!! I need the extra hours in the day!

So - have you all been intrigued by the 365 Project?? You can get a feel for what this is HERE. But basically, it's a photo a day for a year - to track the everyday things that we all forget and take for granted but also the little moments that take our breath away but are so fleeting that if we don't take the time to record them, they are lost forever....

Confession time: I probably won't do this for 2009. Heck, I haven't even started scrapping most of 2007...except for our amazing trip to Okinawa which I did as a completely paper album....may be my last one of those for a while...I'm so behind it's not even funny. I look at it this way - when my kids leave home, I'll still have plenty of projects to keep me busy!

But - in the spirit of supporting my fellow scrappers (especially the digi ones), I've created a new template to help make things go a little more smoothly. A big thank-you to Atomic Cupcake for her amazing action that created the distressed edges to the various pieces of my template! So, you can click HERE or on the picture above to get the template. Enjoy!! As always, I love to hear your feedback - any & all tips appreciated! Take care & I promise not to be gone too long.....Meg

In honor of Bennett's 1st day at the new job!!

Hi everybody! Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.....we hosted my family - it actually was pretty OK. I had several days to prep and my mom kept the kids out of my hair on Thurs so I could do all the crucial stuff....plus my awesome grandmother - also named Meg - came over and it was great for her to see 4 of her 7 great-grandkids. Then, the 5 of us got Fri - Sun to hang out......personally, I know that we have SOOOO much to be grateful for - we have each other - after that, nothing else really matters.

It snowed here in metro Atlanta today!! Cool...kinda rare - especially for pre-Feb......

Today my dear hubby, Bennett, started his new job!! We are so excited - as a computer consultant, he had been traveling on and off (mostly on!) for the better part of the last 4 years....this job is less than 5 miles from the house! He's now with a local boutique consulting firm - he's the new director of their business intelligence practice (OK, I know...the geek stuff is gettin' heavy). In honor of his new job and the wonderful opportunities for our family that it brings....I made a new paper kit! It's Bennett's favorite color - PURPLE...and of course, it has glitter and fleur de lis...also faves. These 12 papers include grunge, glitter, snowflakes, glittered edges circles, fleur de lis, diamonds, damask, flourished edges, an entire 12x12 glitter sheet, and other goodies.

Click HERE for part 1 (the first 6 papers) and then HERE2 for part 2 (the next 6).

I do have to give a shout out for some of the awesome overlays (found on DigiFree - a daily addiction) that I used to help create this paper kit...in no particular order, they are:

TotallyD Overlay Grunge01
Scrapfiends Wallpaper Overlay04
Fryske's Harlequin 2
LynneSimmons Textured Overlays Grunge1
Beth Long ColdWinter SnowflakeEdge
lvd goingincircles001
05_O_Edge Flourishes2

That, to me, is the best part of the digi scrap world - we can share our creative talents and from that create things that are greater than the sum of the parts.....wow...deep...careful, the English major is showing! Anyway - Happy December 1st!

And we're off.....the Silly Season has begun!

OK - it's officially what I like to refer to as the "Silly Season." The time when (mostly) we women run around doing 4x what the normal person should be expected to do on any given day, cooking too many big meals, being too exhausted to enjoy them when we finally get to sit down, buying gifts for people that neither need nor want what we spent too much $$ and too much time and too much energy getting, wrapping, etc.

You know - it almost sounds like I'm sort of a Grinch....I'm not. I just wish with all my heart that we could get back to what Christmas REALLY means...make it simple - a time for real peace & joy - not chaos and all about the loot under the tree. I have been trying for years to get my extended family to agree to limit gifts to things we make or maybe to adopt a family that truly needs some help...instead we keep buying cashmere sweaters and too much candy for the stockings....sigh.....

But - in the spirit of what the Season means to me and my family - I have two things to offer: first, this set of four (4) glitter alphas in gold, silver, red & green glitter - each set includes caps, lower case, punctuation and the phrase "Merry Christmas" - enjoy! You can either click HERE or on the preview to download.

Second - try and be a beacon of true peace & joy this season - regardless of your beliefs or faith, nobody needs any more stuff - but there are a lot of people out there who need to know that somebody cares. Go care......I do.

'Tis the Season.....part Deux!

OK - this past week has been a blur - I won't bore you with all the gory details (and there were some, believe me) but let's just say that I'm glad to be back home & focusing on my favorite time of year again - Christmas!!

Despite the fun that was had by all at my hubby's 20th High School Reunion, I would much rather be making goodies to give to you all...so here goes: Today there are a variety of shapes in 5 different colors/patterns. This files includes all the shapes you see here in red, green, silver, and gold glitter AND in candy cane stripes - fun! Enjoy! You can click HERE or on the preview to download. A thank you to Atomic Cupcake for her amazing actions! Check back later this week for fun Xmas words & glitter alphas.

My uncle continues to improve - despite a major setback last week. More surgery is scheduled for this Thursday so your thoughts & prayers are requested. Now I'm off to cook dinner for the first time in almost a week - yes, it's been that crazy around here. I think we're on a first-name basis with the drive-thru staff of most of the fast-foods around here....and my waistline shows it!

Exciting new things on the way!

Wow - talk about a couple of weeks of ups and downs - both personally and for the country. Regardless of your politics (and for the record, I'm a Libertarian), it has to give you pause to think that in a country where less than 50 years ago, it was perfectly legal (and even encouraged) to discriminate based on the color of skin, that so many people could look beyond the evil of prejudice and vote for a candidate who is not a white man. It is my deepest hope and prayer that Obama's presidency be one of positive growth for our country and that wisdom prevails in all situations.

But - on the personal side, hubby, Bennett, got a great offer for a LOCAL job!! It's a good move for him professionally and it will drastically reduce his travel hours - such a relief! We celebrated by christening our new fire pit - it was such fun to have s'mores out by the fire, listen to the crickets and look up at the stars. We will definitely be doing more of that this winter!

So - on to freebie-time! I have created a new Xmas kit - did I mention I love Christmas?? Such a happy time for me and my family. In today's freebie, there are 8 papers in various shades of red & green. A big thank-you to Anna Aspnes for her amazing sparkle overlay used in 2 of the papers - go check out her stuff at Designer Digitals - simply perfection! Check back in the next few days - I have a cool set of Xmas shapes in 5 different colors and some alphas to give away, too. You know me - there will definitely be some glitter in there! You can click HERE or on the preview above to download the papers. The file is large (80+ megs). If you have any trouble, you can email me at megstocks (at) gmail (dot) com and I can break the files up for you. Enjoy!