I never thought I would actually look forward to warmer weather, but here it is

Last fall I planted some tulips and so far this is the only one out of the five that’s sprouted. An interesting note about this photo: while I was shooting, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. I turned and saw a squirrel had stopped halfway up my stairs and was staring up at me. He stared at me, not moving, and just as I aimed my camera in his direction, he turned and sprinted down the stairs and into the woods. It would’ve been a great shot!

Here’s the digital layout I created using the photo above. I hate to admit this but I think I’m really liking digital scrapbooking

Supplies:
Emma digital kit from Jen Martakis Designs
Fonts: FUTURA, Jellyka Gare de Chambord

It feels like forever since I posted, but it’s really only been a few days. My website has been acting odd lately, but the good folks at Media Temple have been on it since last week. Can’t say enough good things about those guys.

In the meantime, here’s where I’ve been:

Is that a one-man polka band, you say? Oh yes, my friend, it is. I’m part of a book club and one of the things we do that makes it a lot of fun is we have our monthly meetings at a restaurant that somehow relates to the book. This month’s discussion was about The Book Thief, which took place in Natzi Germany. So of course last Thursday we had to make a trip out to one of the few (if not only) German restaurant in north Texas, the Bavarian Grill in Plano.

What an awesome place! I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect, but I ended up having a lot of fun. Granted the polka music made it a little difficult to have a conversation with such a large group (there were about 11 of us), but how could you hate it? Plus they were able to accommodate us even though we just walked in (our waitress did a really great job considering she had to compete with the polka music and then deal with a large group of talkative ladies).

And you know, when it comes to ordering from a restaurant, I usually never have any trouble ordering from the menu. But one look at their menu online and suddenly I had NO idea what I wanted. My indecision was partly due to not knowing ANYTHING about German food, and partly due to not knowing German at all. Thankfully each item had a description in English I did order a lager off the menu, but I can’t even remember, much less pronounce what I had. It was good though. My friend Mindi and I already talked about bringing the boys back since they’re both beer aficionados. Plus I can’t say no to schnitzel now that I know what it tastes like!

Oh yeah, she couldn’t put it down all weekend

Here’s the latest release from Jen Martakis Designs: Robots! This collection is ridiculously cute–I love it I also created a digital layout with a photo of my nephew Landyn:

What a great weekend! I’ve been able to spend a little more time at my craft desk then I usually do. And if you’re wondering, I managed to meet my 2010 NY Resolutions by just a smidge! I made 2 cards earlier this month, one of which I didn’t post because it used similar supplies as this one, and a 12 x 12 layout yesterday.

I’m still trying to find an adequate photo editing workflow though. Right now I’m using a combination of iPhoto, Lightroom, and sometimes Photoshop CS. I love processing photos in Lightroom, especially now that I understand the awesomeness that is Nikon RAW, but I prefer iPhoto’s organization and face-recogition system. It just feels a little clunky switching from one to another in a session. And because the Lightroom version I have is version 3 beta, I’m hesitant to do ALL of my photo editing in Lightroom since I’m afraid of all of my photos getting “trapped” in an expired version, but I’m still going to do all my photo editing in it anyway.

Supplies:
Jen Martakis Designs Notebook Basics DigiKit
Stampin Up Ruby Red card stock
Stampin Up Kraft card stock
White card stock
American Crafts Small Sentiments stamp set
Colorbox Fluid Chalk ink in Dark Brown
American Crafts Precision pen in Black
American Crafts dotted grosgrain ribbon
Cricut Storybook Cartridge
Martha Stewart 3-in-1 Butterfly Punch

Sometimes I wonder if I’m spoiling Izzie too much by letting her sleep in our bed.

…But then there are mornings like this when she’s curled up like this with the sun streaming in the windows from behind, and for a moment I think, ok, just this once.

Valentine’s Day Tulips, originally uploaded by krisalis903.

In this layout, I used Jen Martakis’ February DigiKit as well as her Notebook Basics kit. The Notebook Basics is definitely going to be one of my new favorites! I love the versatility.

Supplies:
February DigiKit
Notebook Basics DigiKit
Bazzill Swiss Dots Paper
Bazzill Basics 8.5 x 11″ Kraft Card Stock
Bazzill Basic 8.5 x 11″ White Card Stock
Die Cuts With a View Rub-On Quote Stack for Cards

Pep Talk, originally uploaded by krisalis903.

Next week we’ll be having a very important client visiting us at the office so Vanessa and I had to gather the troops and break the news to them that they’d have to go on an “extended vacation” for a few days. Don’t worry, it wasn’t to the “farm.”

YES!! That’s right! I’m an official member of Jen Martakis Designs’ creative team this year (Visit her blog or browse her online store at TwoPeasInABucket.com) I’M SO HAPPY–I noted her as one of my favorite digital designers at Two Peas a few months ago when I first started exploring digiscrapping and now I can’t believe I’m part of her creative team! I was initially selected as a guest designer at the beginning of the month, but she liked my work so much she made me a permanent team member for 2010

Does this mean I’ll go entirely digital? Never say never I always say I love the tactile feeling that traditional scrapbooks have, no matter how much room the supplies or books ultimately take (and well, like Jabari said, I already bought the stuff, I may as well use it). I’m pretty sure this will remain steady for me for a long time. Instead what you’ll see is a hybrid mix of digital and traditional scrapbooking, cards, and other paper projects.

Besides, hybrid is something I’ve been exploring off and on for the last couple years and only recently have I begun to seriously incorporate it. Jen’s designs are the perfect source of inspiration for making that transition.

So without further delay, here are my first two projects which, oh yes, are entirely digital

March Digikit at Two Peas

March Whimsy Digikit at Two Peas

Team USA!, originally uploaded by krisalis903.

Izzie’s been rooting for Team USA She’s a big fan of speed skating, curling, and ice dancing (it’s the costumes).