Self Portrait Tuesday and other lovin'...

I've known about this whole SPT thing for a little while now, but I saw this month's challenge over on Ali Edward's blog and it really inspired me to start doing it. This month's prompt is all about time...taking a picture everyday to document how you spend your time. You could take a photo everyday at the same time no matter what you're doing, a photo of some ritual you do everyday, what you wear, what you see, the possibilities are endless!

Since I just started yesterday I only have two photos, but I plan to do it for the rest of the month. The first photo isn't the best, but it was me doing my hair yesterday. The second photo is one of my cluttered desk today. I'm not sure if I'll take a totally different picture like these everyday, but I chose to do these because they are two things that I encounter everyday in my life.

[DAY ONE]


[DAY TWO]


I think my desk says the most about me at this point, just look at that clutter!

• the stack of papers on the left are articles for my Master's paper
• the coffee mug...self-explanatory, I'm not a morning person
• the scrapbooking magazines
• the book of layout sketches
• the pens and a couple paint brushes...not sure why those are in with the pens, but they've been there forever
• the planner with my to-do list for the day...major list-making gal here
• my computer...what would I do without that?
• the cup of water...all I drink is water and iced tea when it comes to cold beverages, along with some morning frappaccinos
• the valentine candy...candy-a-holic here as well

Moving on...this last week was filled with a few different creative things. First, I started a new challenge at TDC about relationships called "Life is Better Shared." The first challenge was to create an album for the layouts each week, whether that be a CD case if you're going all digital, or an actual scrapbook or altered album. I was really excited to do an altered album since I've been seeing them all over the place and I've never done one. I went right out and bought my supplies, then came home and printed out the digital papers that I wanted to use on it!


Digital papers from Sweet Mindy's "Amy Jo" kit.
Fonts to use throughout are Piracy and SA Kiss.
Other elements are from my stash of tangible supplies.

After doing the first altered album, I really wanted to alter the layout sketches album I have, so I printed out digital papers for that one and completed it too!


Digital papers are from Sweet Mindy's "Sugardoodle" kit.
Alpha stamps are from Rebecca DiGrazio.
Mini sketch is from Becky Higgin's Sketches 2 magazine.
All else from my stash of supplies.

THEN, I spent pretty much the entire weekend trying to do TDC's Chick's Life challenge for last week. I just couldn't get this layout the way I liked it. I'd move pieces and do different things and nothing was working. Finally, on Monday night, I got it to a place that I liked. The challenge prompt was to review the month of February, so here goes...

[FEBRUARY '06]


Kit - Holly McCaig's "Sweet on You"
Straight stitches - Kathy Moore's freebie
Single cross stitches, stitched hearts and ribbons - Shabby P's "Splendid" kit
Fonts - SA Kiss and Donny's Hand

Speaking of the whole weekend, The DigiChick had their grand re-opening this weekend! They got a whole new look with the help of Robin Carlton, and had a TON of contests and fun! I participated in a treasure hunt for this amazing scrapping kit called "Refresh," put together by the chicks, Shabby Princess, and Jen Wilson. It's so cool, so many pieces to it!

Speaking of kits, Holly just sent us Fairy Chicks a new one today that she and Kristy Ann put together! It's FABulous! It should be up for sale on Friday, and Holly's looking to have a grand opening of her site, so that'll be exciting. Can't wait! In other kit news, the lovely Gina gave her blog readers a run for their money yesterday with a coupon treasure hunt. I ended up finding it and indulged myself in her "Build Your Own Bulletin Board" kit, along with her "Note This!" note papers. Now I just have to come up with some layout ideas to use all of these cool things.



Hmmm, what else? Sunday afternoon my mom called to see if Dan and I wanted to come over for dinner. She made a roast that was delicious! Well, her roasts are always good, so that's nothing new, but it was good to have dinner with mom and dad. Of course, Robby was at a friend's house so we didn't get to see him. Maybe next time. Mom talked about making Sunday dinners an every-week thing...apparently they miss me over there, hehe.

This is the last week of class for my students, and next week they have their final exam. I have to grade all of their journals this week and next week, and we're having parties on Friday for the last day of class! Each class decided on their own food, so two of the classes wanted pizza, chips and such, and the third class didn't really care. One of the guys was nice enough to volunteer bagels and cream cheese from his work. Man, that's going to be a ton of food that day!

So I've crossed over to the other side...of what, you ask? Coffee! I've always been a powder and water *stir, stir* kinda gal, but yesterday I bought a coffee maker and some French Vanilla creamer! Not that the FV creamer is anything exciting, but I have to start somewhere right? I'm excited, and apparently a huge nerd!

Well...tonight is IDOL and tomorrow is hump day! I've finished a major chunk of my to-do list today and I'm pretty happy about that, too. I'm off for now! Happy day!