Oops, back up...

I got a call from Stampin' Up this week. I won the September contest "Where the West Was Won" with my scrapbooking page here.

I'm totally excited. I thought I would never win. Now I have to figure out which 3 stamp sets I want...actually I think I already have, the expensive ones I do not own yet! :)

Thanks to all of you for your encouragement. It totally keeps me going. I have the BESTEST OF FRIENDS! So for those of you who are Stampin' Up Demonstrators, look for my face & project in the next On Stage Magazine. Wow, that's such a weird thought!

Now HOPEFULLY I will hear from Stampin' Up again about this Helper Postion I applied for! :)

All the best,
Linz

The Many Faces of Me

Here's the e-mail I got today:

Hi Lindsay, (I'll ignore the misspelling of my name...)

Congratulations on winning the September How the West Was Won contest! Your coordination of stamping and patterned paper was nicely done.

My name is Heidi Clark and I’m with On Stage magazine. I’m pleased to let you know that your winning project will be featured in our upcoming issue. As you’re probably already aware, we like to run photos along with the pictures of the winning projects. And, along with the photos, we’d like to print a few tips to help other demonstrators re-create your fabulous project.

When you get a chance, would you please send me the following:
1. A photo of yourself in .jpg format. Your photo should be at least 350 ppi and 1200 x 1500 pixels (at least 300kb when attached to an e-mail).
2. Two tips for creating your Going Home page.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions, or if you’d like to discuss your tips in person.

Thanks, and I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Sincerely,

Heidi Clark



Here was my response:

Hello Heidi!

This is so exciting!! Thanks so much for selecting my scrapbooking page, I had a lot of fun making it. I have attached my picture, as requested. Please let me know if there are any problems.

Here are my two tips in creating my "Going Home" page.

1. Scrapbooking is all about recreating memories. When I saw my daughter put the cowboy hat on her head, I knew this was a photo opportunity. It is often difficult to find a cohesive color that matches the pictures and the paper, so by enhancing the pictures in a sepia tone, I was able to create the color flow that I desired for this page.

2. Finding the perfect lay-out for a page is often challenging. When taking pictures I try to keep in mind what the scrapbooking page could look like. I go into each event looking to achieve all sequences at different angles. When I begin selecting my photos for the lay-out, I'm never afraid to crop or enlarge to create my focal point.

Thanks again! I hope to get to do this again (fingers crossed!)

Lindsey Blackhurst

And after taking a butt-load (thank you Jacob) of pictures, I was happy with this one:

So Sydnee & I will be officially famous for the next issue of On Stage magazine! :)

Side note: Have you ever looked over so many pictures of yourself that you start to look at yourself differently? Meaning, for the first time tonight I noticed I have a crooked smile. No, you may not have ever noticed it- but trust me, it's there! Maybe I should post some of the reject pictures to give everyone a good laugh...

Don't Feel So Well

Everyone's been under the weather since late last week. While Lindsey had her Stampin' Up! weekend, the girls and I just took naps and went to bed early. The girls still haven't fully recovered and Lindsey hasn't been feeling too well. When I got home from work today, I found all three of them lying down on the bed watching TV. Hopefully everyone will be back at 100% by this next weekend.

Why my closet is never tiddy

my slip
my scarf


my skirt

my girls in their adventure

just thinking about trouble

trouble

Ahh Children

Yes that was a very embarrasing moment. Our pews are positioned where there is room for people to fit between the wall & the pew...so naturally I couldn't contain both children & when Sydnee saw Daddy & bolted, Ava was right there with her & there I was...not sure what to do...so I go up & retrieve them. Yes Ava escaped one more time, but I assure you after that she was going NO WHERE! Ahh, children.
This week is a busy one. I have technique class on Thursday & a workshop on the next day. This week I will also begin my preparation for Aggie Mom's fair, Retreat, & my October 20th Charity Event...so it's a busy stampin' one! :)
Hope all is super duper with all of you!
Love,
Linz

Morning Surprise

This month's speaking assignment was in the Waco 1st Ward, which meets at 9 am. I had left this morning before the girls got up, so I didn't expect to see them at least until noon. While sitting up on the stand, Lindsey walks in with Ava and Syndee along beside her and they sit on the third row on the side of the chapel so we could see each other perfectly. A couple of things happened to me in that moment. First, I felt joy at seeing them and was happy to have them there (although I worried the girls would escape from Lindsey since it was just the 3 of them on the bench, and they have a knack for bolting in opposite directions simultaneously). The second thing I felt was a calming feeling. Even after speaking every month for over a year, I would still get apprehensive about standing at the pulpit. All the nervousness went away after seeing them. Thanks, Lindsey!

Now for the best part. As soon as I stood up, both girls ran from the bench and up to the pulpit. Sydnee even climbed into the 1st counselor's lap! Since not very many people there knew us, I had to say something about my wonderful family coming to surprise and support me during my talk so that no one would think these were just random kids running amock. Sometime after finally getting them to go sit back down, Ava made another visit. She may have done a little dance for everyone, then someone up on the stand invited her to sit in my seat, but she quickly lost interest in that and went back to sit with Lindsey.

People there may not remember anything from my prepared talk, but they'll remember my girls and that family is what counts.

Well since Todd is MIA

*This was written last week but I forgot to publish it here...sorry!*
I've taken pictures all day long of the girls. I think it's because I've had my mind in the scrapbooking mindset for weeks now that I feel like I have to document every moment. Oh well, I think you will enjoy the slide show. I love the nerd test. I have to admit, I thought Todd's would be off the goof in nerd-i-ness. My friend Carli is Nac used to say that she didn't mind having a geeky husband, because he was the cool kind of geek- I feel the same way! :) Anyhow, I digress...

This morning after a long night of visiting with the Galloways & meeting baby Kennedy (who slept the whole time) the girls slept in till...a little after 6am- WHAT? Oh well, guess I need to adjust since they don't seem to be budging. In fact, naptime was short today too. It's interesting, though, because this means that my little girls are getting older- not needing as much sleep- and that they want to be up & with Todd and me. It's not all bad, they are very sweet girls.
We've had a fun day as the pictures show. I wanted to do something fun & different today, so I thought we would make Spritz cookies with my cookie press. I think EVERYONE should have one of these- do any of y'all? It was a ton of fun to decorate the cookies with the girls. You can see from the pictures that they really liked it. ANYHOW- the cookies are SO yummy! We'll do it again soon. I'll post the recipe later on...

My contests entries are going really well. I think I've done my best work on them. Cori & Melanie are coming by today to pick up their orders, so I'm hoping they can advise me. I will post the pictures of everything when I am finished. You can see the scrapbooking page http://stampwithlinz.blogspot.com/2007/09/its-all-in-this-page.html & a few of the cards http://stampwithlinz.blogspot.com/2007/09/somewhere-between-perfect-too-much.html & http://stampwithlinz.blogspot.com/2007/08/christmas-in-august.html separately on my blog. I have my 3-D project and another card to turn in. I won't be posting one of mine of MY blog until the contest dead-line. It is a cowboy-themed scrapbooking page with Sydnee in Stephanie's cowboy hat. It's precious- I hope I win! :)

Love to you all, now enjoy the show!

Confirmed

Confession!

A request from Ava causes me to make a confession: I love to sew! In fact, Lindsey had always wanted to learn to sew, so for her birthday a couple of years ago, she got a pretty good machine and all the accessories and tools and instruction books and videos, but I've used her sewing machine more than she has because I like it!

Back to Ava's request: she wants to be an elephant for Halloween and wants me to make the costume. She also asked that Sydnee be a monkey. I ordered the patterns yesterday and will purchase fabric this week. This will be fun!

Ava's little likeness

Ava came in this morning from venturing into our room for a bit to show us this...I guess she's taking after my little brother! He was found in a laundry hamper painting his nails when he was little. My mom wouldn't let him paint his fingernails- for obviously reasons- so he snuck off & did it himself! He would be so proud! :)

Not to be forgotten

Sydnee is so verbal these days, it's so fun to hear. Since there is a video option, we are trying it out with a very short video of what Sydnee does when she sees a camera. :) Enjoy!

Caught Chocolate Handed

Another discipline moment down the drain...look at that cute & funny face!

Today I went to check the e-mail as Todd went to the bathroom & we incidentally and accidentally left the girls alone for a bit...this really isn't a big deal, we do it often...but then Ava came in the room carrying a cookie, followed by Sydnee. I asked Ava if her Dad said she could have that even though it is right before dinner. She said yes, of course. So I go to inquire of Todd and he is just walking into the room & says, "What's up with this?" So I'm thinking we have 2 little sneaks on our hands. And darn! They ate the last 2...they sure were good!
I'm looking forward to seeing your posts! :)
- Lindsey