i'm a blog designer... its true.

and i'm lovin it!! :)
here is another one i finished up today.
check out amy's full blog HERE.

thanks again amy for approaching me and asking me to design your blog. i had a LOT of fun with this one. <3


this was for my dear friend marta!
hope you like it girl! you're worth it.
luv ya girl!

i hope you all have a great weekend.
i'm busy creating and designing and scrapping!
luv*luv

{things i love} thursday

its been a couple weeks since i've done one of these... been a busy month
here are my recent Flickr faves. *swoon*


1. fairy light, 2. Untitled, 3. Untitled, 4. Summer is knocking at the door, 5. Lilacs Through The Viewfinder Photo Print, 6. Senior - Brandi, 7. Failed opportunities, 8. sunshine (329/365), 9. Untitled, 10. Untitled, 11. Senior - Brandi, 12. polaroids<3, 13. another fake., 14. Senior - Brandi, 15. Imaginary, 16. I swear by now I'm playing time against my troubles.

okay...so i've decided i really should be making lists of the things i find during the week so that i have something i can pull from when it comes times to do these posts...
cuz i'm totally drawing a blank. :(
i'm having a bad day.

something happened last night that made me furious!!! kinda ruined my mood today still...
so how bout we turn this into a {things i HATE} thursday! LOL.

so yesterday the copier here at work went out finally...just meaning it needs new toner. no biggie! i just drive a half hour to moses lake and go get some at Staples. so chris and i went after i closed the shop. picked out the toner i needed and went to the counter to purchase it. i had brought a check from the business account to pay for it. filled it out and gave it to the guy... who after running it through the machine, gave it back to me asking for a different form of payment. i was like "what? i don't have another form of payment. its a business account and we have checks." to which he told me i could not purchase said toner because their computer had rejected my check! wtf?? i'm like, "the only resource we have to purchase things for the business is checks! i need this toner to do my job tomorrow!"

i was obviously irritated, so he called over his supervisor Veronica. she was a snobby witch of a woman, who ran the check again for herself and told me the same thing. to which i ask the most obvious and rational question: "why?" she passes me this piece of paper with a number on it and tells me i have to call this number and it will tell me, cuz she 'didn't know.' (retard) so i call the number... turns out whatever bank Staples uses has an insurance company that monitors check purchases to prevent fraud. the automated voice proceeds to tell me there is nothing wrong with my account (duh!) or check (double-duh!) and then the call ends.

so helpful!

am i alone here.... or does this make any sence to anyone??!! they are willing to just give up $275 worth of business because their computer randomly selected my check to reject?? the geeky teenage boy with braces and glasses seemed to agree with me, but kept saying there was nothing he could do.

so i called my boss. who asked if i could use my paycheck that i had cashed earlier to make the purchase. that turned out to be the only solution for the problem. so i bought the toner and left the store fuming!!!

living in a small town, its not even like i have an option of taking my business elsewhere. that's the only place around that carries the toner i needed for our copier. dude....i was pissed! i don't think i've been that mad in awhile.

rediculous.
totally ruined my mood and still has me fuming today!
so...this is all i have to say about that:

its a new week...

and i can share my secret blog design!
my cool scrapping blogging friend ally e-mailed me awhile back and asked me to design the blog and logo for her new inspiration blog she and her friend started. i was so honored! (i guess she liked the design i did for her blog!)


so head on over and check out their cool ideas. and they've got a design team call going on now too!! :) the pink ninjas

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in other news....

so there is going to be this big party on the 6th up in penticton (my old stomping grounds before i got married) with all my peeps and new friends i met at nate and abi's wedding and I CAN'T GO!!! i'm so bummed. :( turns out that my permanent resident card has expired. that's the card that lets me live in the US... (i'm a canadian citizen for those that don't know). i totally thought that i had till september, but it turns out i was wrong. in big letters on the card is says: expires 4-30-09. maybe it was the "09" part i had stuck in my head that made me think september. oh well. so i can't go to the party... and i can't go to my cousin's engagement party either. :(
i miss canada! and i miss my family too. its been a really long time since i have been to see them, and i was looking forward to it. gonna get on that really soon so i can cross the border!

so my hubby has got a summer job! he's going to be driving combine for a company called Quincy Foods. he's going to be working 12 hour days (at least) 7 days a week. yikes! its gonna be hard on me not having him around all the time, but the money is good. we've got a plan! and we're hoping to work everything right so we can get our house. eekk!! so excited.
i was talking to my mum about not having chris around and she's like: "quit whining shaina... nobody ever sees their husbands." :( but the thing is... i do. we spend every day (minus the 5 hours while chris is driving school bus) together. and we like it! we get along.... we like each other's company. anyway.... i'm just gonna miss him.

speaking of chris.... its our 2 year anniversary soon!!! i can't beleive its been 2 years already. :D its been the best 2 years of my life.

my 503 photography workshop is starting on the 3rd of june!! i'm getting sooooo excited for it. i'm hoping to learn a lot and take some good pictures.
i will probably be sharing them on here!

be back tomorrow with this weeks edition of {things i love} thursday. :)

my girl Jamie is also having a big giveaway on her blog right now! check it out HERE. she is such a generous spirit. luv ya girl~!!!

scrapbook love and a blog re-design

hi all!
and a special hello to the members of my family who read my blog. i'm glad you like to stop by. say hello sometime! i'd love to hear from you. (you can always comment anonymously and just leave your name with your note!)

its been a busy week!
but i've managed to squeeze in some scrapping time!
wanna see?

this page is all about the house that chris and i are hoping to buy this year. eeek! so exciting.

i've also been busy doing some blog designs. having tons of fun too! a couple things are still secrets.... shhhh!!! but i can share one with you!
this was done for Kent a member of the design team over at THe CrEatiVe TyPe.
hop on over and take a peek at her etsy shops. she's got a lot of fun goodies!!

that's all for today!
now i've got to head home and take care of my sick boy.
i'm hoping he'll get to feeling better before his summer job starts. he' s going to be driving combine over the summer. he'll be doing about 14 hour days, but making decent money. that will definitely help us get into our house. :)

have a wonderful weekend everyone!!

*beautiful friend*

last sunday evening i did a photoshoot with my good friend marta. she'd found this perfect location in moses lake where she'd always wanted to take photos. i'm also doing a session for her and her sister next week, so i wanted to scope out the spot.
we had alot of fun, and the light was so pretty.
here are some of my favorite shots.





"sometimes you put walls up not to keep people out, but to see who cares enough to break them down."

she is my special friend.

is it seriously the 19th of may already??

i hope i'm not the only one who feels like this month, heck this year, is flying by. yikes!
but that also means its time for another challenge over at
THe CrEatiVe TyPe!!

its all about the numbers this time. :)
here is my take:

love this quote... and love the rest of the pages done by the design team. come check their pages out and play along with us!
<3

its a scrappy post!

a couple of my packages of goodies from blog re-designs have come in with lots of fun paper and pretties to play with.
here are a couple pages i did:

these are my best girls kelly and katie. and this is my first layout with woodgrain paper baby!!! oh yeah!

this is our favorite chinese food place in town. i had a lot of fun doing this page. :)
and yes micah... i realize i used the wrong spelling of "rolls/roles" on here. you don't need to point it out this time! hehe

and now for something special!
dear Leigh-Ann (yes that LA of FreckledNest.com) put this cute cute picture up on her flickr a couple days ago... and i commented that i'd love to scrap it. so she e-mailed it to me and here is the page i did for her!
lots of fun colors to go with that adorable picture.
thanks for letting me scrap you LA! you rock!

that's all for today!
its been a long week...
i'm looking forward to a relaxing weekend with that boy of mine.
luv him.

have a good weekend y'all!!

its about what makes me happy...

cuz sometimes we all need reminders.

last night i had a dream and in it i was searching and searching for my favorite book. it is a gem of literature. it is called "girl of the limberlost" by gene stratton porter.

you will fall in love with this girl and this story. purchase it here on Amazon.com.
*sigh*
now i need to read it again. :)

then this morning, after i woke up and remembered my dream with the book in it, that moved me to pull out a project from 11th grade english class. i included this book in the anthologies that were our assignment for the year.

an-thol-o-gy: noun. a book or other collection of selected writings by various authors, usually in the same literary form, of the same period, or on the same subject.

this was one of my favorite projects i even did in high school. it was a year-long project where we were supposed to read read read! and then write about the author, the work, and why we chose it. we needed 9 poems, 2 short stories, 3 essays, one novel, one play, 5 works of non-fiction, and then our "own choice."
i had a blast with this!
the theme i chose was taken from one of my favorite quotes:

"even as we are, we are becoming." -jerry spinelli

and here is one of my favorite poems from my anthology:
I Saw a Man Pursuing the Horizon
by Stephen Crane

I saw a man pursuing the horizon
round and round he sped.

I was disturbed at this;
I accosted the man.
"It is futile," I said
"You can never--"

"You lie," he cried,
and ran on.

and then part of what i wrote about it:
"this poem, though simplistic, exposes a profound truth. that other people may view your goals and dreams as futile, but if you believe in yourself, the horizon is within your grasp."

love this poem. loved this project.

*************

something else that is making me happy today??
this song.

its all about the TP this time around...

yup, you heard right... TP: toilet paper! now that's what i call "outside the box!"
hop on over for some design team inspiration and link up your fantastic TP creations... and share if you have some fun way to attach the TP to your page. i cut mine into strips and put it through my xyron machine. sticky... but it worked.
here's my page:

its a fun one!!
come play along with us over at Scrap Outside the Box!!
:)

film*love

i got my film back last night. some shots from our trip to whidbey and some from where we live. there is just something magical about film! *sigh*




i also have some pictures that were inspired by the latest challenge over at Work-Your-Soul. its all about the sunshine this time.....



thanks for the inspiration ladies!
<3

that day...

here is a closeup of me from the wedding. you can kinda see my red hair here. <3


here are some other shots from the wedding. i got them from nate's sister's facebook page. i'm soooo hoping i get a copy of the full cd from the wedding photographer too. i've got sooo many scrapbooking ideas in mind!!
but these show my dress nicely.



it was a perfect summer wedding...
<3

what a weekend...

i have no pictures yet.... :(
that doesn't make for a very interesting blog post...
sorry.

but here are some of my favorite memories from the wedding:

• my red hair (oh yeah!!) looked sooo stinking cool with the bridesmaid dress. and nate's sister julie curled it up to nice! i felt pretty. :)
  
• the weather was perfect. i even got a sunburn. lol.
  
• one of the groomsmen named Vinny, had a brilliant idea and got nate's family and us in on it. we got together and bought nate a brand new upright base. giving it to him was a moment i will not soon forget. lets just say there were a few tears shed... beautiful moment.
• the ceremony was delicate and soft and pretty.
• i cried. (imagine that!) i was doing ok till the part when its asked who gives this woman to be married. steve and anita (abi's mum and dad) stood up together and steve's voice cracked as he said "we do." that's when the tears started. :)
  
• pictures were a lot of fun. i'm glad i convinced the photographer to do some jumping shots! i can't wait to see them. :D
  
• and there were soooo many fantastic people there. some i knew and some became great new friends.
  
• everyone stayed and danced! great music and lots of fun people. awesome reception.

it was a beautiful, stressful, glorious, fun weekend.
hopefully i'll have some pictures soon to share with you.

now back to real life.

{things i love} thursday
may 7th edition

hello everyone! this week is going by fast and slow at the same time for me. i totally thought today was saturday. which is weird cuz the wedding is on saturday and i'm working right now. oh well! i think its probably just cuz the schedule changed cuz i needed friday and saturday off.
************************************
anyway, so on to the things i've found fun and inspiring this week.
i decided to do my flickr faves with the scrapbooking i've fallen in love with recently. so many creative people out there.



1. scraps. , 2. The Copy + Paste Project, 3. cards, 4. Sunshine & Flowers, 5. Summer Love - Book Album, 6. Psst., 7. Bed, 8. new scrapbook, 9. *backyard babe*, 10. Creative Type, Handwriting, Handjob, 11. Free Thinker, 12. envelopes, 13. Autumn Mini Page 4, 14. - - -, 15. Set On Fire ((Vintage Plum)), 16. Little Rascal
************************************
this tattoo is so freakin cool! :D

************************************
one of my favorite ladies has got a Blythe doll addiction. she even started a new blog just for her collection. check it out HERE. i've never been big into dolls, but these look so cute. and they're customizable. fun fun!

************************************
some of my new photography blog finds. *swoon*

• red leaf studios
• jasmine star photography
• candace stringham

************************************

well, that's all for today!
enjoy your day and link me up to some of your favorite things from this week!!
<3

dude... check that out!!
on saturday, which was National Scrapbook Day i played along with their blog-hop over at the Hambly Screen Prints blog. and they picked me!! i get a $15 gift certificate to their online shop.
can you say: WOODGRAIN!!
yeah, that's what i'm getting!
can't wait to shop....its been soooo long!

the other thing i did for NSD was over at the Creating Keepsakes blog.
they had a magazine cover download for you to add one of your pages into. here is what i did:
kinda fun!
i didn't do as much on NSD as i had hoped to.
i've been feeling really sick lately. a headache for almost 3 weeks straight now. i'm kinda getting worried about it.

chris and i started a detox diet last friday (just for before the wedding) and he's lost 10lbs and i've lost 7lbs so far. he is so excited about it. its given him lots of energy and he feels better. i'm so proud of him. me: i'm ready for some real food...
and real food is on its way!! hehe!

Nate and Abi's wedding is this saturday the 9th.
they've moved the ceremony outside and we're all going barefoot! even the guys! <3
abi's mum is altering my dress for me and adding some straps. they were here on monday adding the finishing touches to it. i seriously love it. its such a pretty color. hopefully i'll be able to get together with my cousin hannah tomorrow night to color my hair. red! oh yeah! its gonna look so great with the color of the bridesmaid dress. <3 i'm getting sooo excited!

thanks to everyone who played along with us this month over at Scrap Outside the Box! it was a fun prompt eh?? look for a new challenge to be posted soon. its gonna make you giggle and hopefully inspire you too!!

a signature like yours...

Journaling:
growing up i used to watch you sign your name. that signature, that flourish, that name was all you. i don't think it gets much better than Zane Fricke. you would sign receipts, sign important work papers, sign letter to me, your daughter, and i wanted a signature just like yours. i wanted to sign my name with the same importance and conviction that you had. i wanted to be just like you. and now that i'm a grown, married woman i have found myself and found my signature. i am confident in who i am and what i stand for. now i have my own flourish...just like my dad!

this is really one of my favorite pages i've made in awhile.
its something i've been wanting to get down on paper...i'm so glad i did.

this page was done for the newest prompt over at THe CrEatiVe TyPe.
my page is kind-of a different take on the challenge. hop on over and take a look at what the design team has come up with and play along with us!!

may 1st 2009

i can't believe how fast this year is flying by...
pretty soon it will be our 2 year anniversary. wow.
but i digress...

i've always wanted to do one of those "what's in your purse" posts.
so i did one today!
here is the picture:

and go HERE for all the details!! :)
that was fun!!

now for some scrapping!! i've got a couple pages to share. i'm hoping to get a bunch more done tomorrow! its NATIONAL SCRAPBOOK DAY baby!! i'm looking forward to scrapping myself and some fun challenges over at SIS. so excited!




so what all do you have planned for NSD??
invite me along!!
i can't wait.
:D

and to the rest of you all....have a wonderful weekend.