first layout!

well i am LOVING my new laptop! It definitely made creating this layout for digital scrapbook place's (dsp) item of the week (iotw) challenge!credits: Heart's Delight kit by Tina Chambers of DSP; fonts: segoe print, segoe script, &georgia

i haven't completed an actual layout in so long & i stayed up entirely too long last night working on this one. for this layout, i used heart's delight kit by tina chambers of dsp. it was a delight working with the nice papers &patterns with deep reds, creams &silver accents. amazingly, i only paid $0.99 for this kit because it was chosen to be the IOTW! when i first started scrapping i couldn't really afford to buy any scrapbooking materials &the beauty of digi-scrapping is that you don't have to pay for anything with the amazing world of freebies. but $1 a week for a new kit is not bad at all, in fact it's great. have i found a new addiction? i think so!

oh for some backstory on the actual LO. my boyfriend &i celebrated our 1st anniversary on valentine's day (he's so romantic)! i wanted to do something to commemorate our special milestone and when i saw tina's kit as IOTW i knew i'd found the perfect kit to go with what i had in mind!

ETA for the laptop!

okay, the excitement is almost too much to bear. LAPTOP ETA: wednesday 2.20.08 16:30 (that's 430pm for the non-military lol)!!

when i ordered the notebook on 02.08.08 HP told me my estimated build date was the 20th & with 2 day shipping, i assumed i'd get on fri the 22nd. but because i obnoxiously check my order status throughout the day, i found out my order shipped yesterday (well it's sitting in a fed ex facility in shanghai because hp sent it out too late to actually do more than give it to fed ex for shipping)

anyway, i'm excited. can't wait to get scrapping &simming!!

in love with my NeW digi-cam!

behold my new digital camera: SONY's Cybershot DSC W55 series.
no really, BEHOLD

i've already taken so many photos & i absolutely love the quality of the shots. the colors are rich & they are so crisp/sharp (whatever the photog term is). before this camera, i used a Kodak Easy Share C series & let's just say photo quality was an issue i didn't even realize i had until i got this camera & could see the difference. the camera was purchased about 5 years ago though so let's hope Kodak has made some improvements. sadly, the reviews for Kodak i read while deciding on which camera to buy still weren't stellar. anyway, i have my camera, i love it, & i use it everyday.

Making time for myself

i created this blog to remind myself to make time for me. i realized that I'm always doing for my family (late night grocery trips), my boyfriend (love him to death but that's a long drive), or work (which i have to do pay the bills). with all that said, i realized that my only indulgence is basically reading a good book (which is a great way to pass the time). so, with this blog (& a few other great things i will discuss later) i am rededicating myself to a worthy cause:myself :)

before my daughter was born & during her first months of life, i developed a strong interest in digital scrapbooking. i wanted to create my baby's first year book from scratch because the pre-made ones in the store were lacking many features i wanted to include. so i spent a lot of time learning how to use my program (adobe photoshop cs2) & downloading a jillion scrapbooking files & i also made some great friendships on my 2 favorite digiscrapping communities: scrapgirls.com & digitalscrapbooking.com (really..check them out..they are great places). but as they say (who is 'they' anyway??) all good things must come to an end (or so i thought). i had to return to the workforce because while the government provides support for single mothers (it really helped take care of baby j), i wouldnt allow myself to rely on that permanently.

so..back to work for me. i struggled with being home full time w/my little lady to leaving her @home for a large chunk of time per day. also i got my first car which enabled me to visit my boyfriend more often who lives 1 1/2 hours away from me. after months of this, i was exhausted and left feeling burned out. just the thought of scrapping became daunting to me. i was too tired to be creative & when the stars & planets aligned just right & i did find time, desire & energy to scrap, the laptop i was using started having MAJOR issues. it took hours to complete just 1 layout because i had to save after every 2 actions lest i wanted the program to crash. also, when i wasn't fighting w/my laptop, i was busy downloading every single kit, paper pack, embellishments, you name it from the very very talented world of designers on the internet. i started a huge organizing project to get all of those files under control (um...i'm not done). so basically, i was overwhelmed....drowning in a list of must dos and crazy computer problems.

NOW....there's hope!! as we speak my BRAND SPANKING NEW hp pavillion dv6000t laptop is being built and will be on its way and it is being customized to fit my scrapbooking needs (& my other secret passion the sims 2). Also, this weekend, i'm getting a BRAND SPANKING NEW digital camera (either sony cybershot or canon power shot). it was very hard to wrap my mind around the concept of spending all of this $$$ on myself which made me realize i had a serious self-neglect problem. although i withdrew from scrapbooking i still lurked around my favorite sites & i read digital scrapbooking magazine for inspiration that i hoped to someday use.

so now i will make time for myself to do the things i enjoy doing purely for the sake of doing them & not because it'll benefit someone else. now that i will have the proper equipment hopefully my hobby wont be as frustrating. so...please visit me again. i'm sure the next post wont be as lengthy (although i can't make any promises lol) and soon i'll start posting my layouts!