Aunt Coleen

This is one of my favorite pictures of my Aunt Coleen that I found in an old box of pictures that my mom had stored in a closet. My Aunt Coleen and Uncle Doyle, besides my mom and dad, are the only people in the whole world who have always been there for me. My Aunt Coleen is quite a cook. Her stuffing and sweet potatoes at family dinners on Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays have come to symbolize that time of the year for me. It just would not be a holiday without them. She took my cousins and me to see Jaws in 1975 and sat through the whole movie with her hands over her eyes. She visited me in the hospital all during my growing up years (because I was in there a lot). When I woke up from any of several surgeries, if it wasn't my mom or dad I saw, it was Aunt Coleen. I know she prays for me regularly. She always calls me on my birthday and sings Happy Birthday to me. She makes me feel loved.

I journaled!

Okay. I admit it. I hate to journal. I always save a space to journal, but I never go back and fill it in. I never know what to say. It usually ends up with me saying something like "I can't believe how grown up you are!" or "where has all the time gone?" My scrap friends were making fun of me, so I decided to make sure I journaled on this layout. I designed it on the computer and printed it on yellow cardstock. Another admission- it wasn't so bad. Pretty painless actually. Maybe I'll turn over a new leaf and journal from now on. Maybe everyone will live in peace and be judged on the content of their character, not the color of their skin. I have a dream. Anyway, aren't these cute scout pics? I can't believe how grown up he is. Where has all the time gone?

Textorizer Rocks!

Textorizer (http://lapin-bleu.net/software/textorizer/ ), a free download, is a tool which can take an image, like the top one, and turn it into an image made up of text, like the bottom one. I found it super easy to use and am loving the results. I can wait to put this on a scrapbook layout! I did have to play around with the font size a little bit. I also created a text file which contained the words COOL, Attitude, CREDENCE, Teenager, MOHAWK. This will also come in handy next year as my class puts together the school yearbook. Let me know what you guys think.

Kick This!

Soccer season has come to an end for the spring. It was a great season. We only lost 3 games and all the boys' skills have improved dramatically. Christopher was fast and furiously went after the ball (most games), usually with a smile on his face. He has decided to give football a try in the fall, so we're not going to be doing soccer until next spring. We'll see how it goes. Why does it feel like he's growing up way too fast?

Layout Contest

The Original Scrapbox Company, makers of the most innovative furniture for scrapbooking, is giving away three of these cool, see-through topped desks at their web site (http://www.theoriginalscrapbox.com) to people who upload an image of one of their creations and get the most people to vote for them. It does not have to be a scrapbook page. You can vote for my entry here: http://theoriginalscrapbox.com/craftbox_giveaway/showContestant.php?id=370. C'mon, help a guy out. It's hard enough being a man who scrapbooks. There ought to be some perks!!!

Smilebox is COOL!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

I have just discovered Smilebox.com. It's so easy to use (just drag and drop) and the layout galleries are cool. I will definitely scraplift some ideas!

Wordle.net

To all my scrapbooking friends, I've just discovered the coolest web site ever! Wordle.net will let you generate a graphic like the one here out of words you type in, or you can grab words from your blog postings (like I did), or your Delicious account, etc. You could then print it on cardstock and use it in a scrapbook layout. I can't wait to do this! How cool would it be to just type in names of family members, co-workers, etc. Would any of you use this site? How?