Last night around 11:30, my oldest son decides to drop the bomb on me. “Mom, we’re out of cereal.” I know just how much cereal dh brought home from the store on Saturday, so I find this a bit incredible. I start naming the cereals. “Did you eat all the Cocoa Krispies?” Yes, yes, yes, they ate it all, four boxes in three days. Okay, now what? Eggs, I’ll have to make them eggs, but… there are only 7 eggs and 5 of us. So, what is any self respecting mother supposed to do in the face of a breakfast crisis at almost midnight the night before? Bake! I got up early (for me) and made them their favorite chocolate chocolate chip muffins and they’re in the oven right now. The kids themselves are still in bed, but I expect to hear the pounding of not so little feet thundering down the stairs in just about 7 minutes, when the smell of chocolate should begin to permeate the house. So before my children invade my quiet, here’s the recipe for your own cereal deprived mornings.
Chocolate Chocolate Muffins
Whisk together:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
In another bowl, combine:
3/4 cups milk
1/4 cup oil
1 egg
Add wet ingredients to dry and stir until just combined. Don’t over mix it. Toss in about 1 cup chocolate chips, more or less, give or take a few for quality control purposes.
Scoop into muffin tins sprayed with Pam or lined with cupcake papers. Have you heard the Cake Mix Doctor’s tip on cupcakes? This really works. Use an ice cream scooper (the kind with the lever to whisk out the ice cream) to make perfectly proportioned muffins. Bake for about 20 minutes at 400 degrees.
Quickly, before the invasion occurs, I did the final two LOs in the swimming portion of my Labor Day 2005 series. The first one, which will the first one printed in my MIL’s book, is done with Nature Walk by Tracy’s Scraps. The font is Especial Kay. The second LO is done with Happy by Amelie Scraps, which I told you about in yesterday’s freebie list.
Ha! The masses are descending upon my kitchen right on time, but I can search for freebies and eat hot, chocolately muffins at the same time.
Freebies:
I love previews in freebie lists. It lets me know if it’s worth following a link, don’t you think? But yet, I only JUST figured out how to add it to my blog without it being one image per line, which would get kind of long. So from now on, I’ll have previews for you.
Let’s go to the hop with Tracy’s Scraps 50s Diner Add-on by Candee.
Lindsay Jane has a stitched leaf. These stitched elements are awesome!
The second part of N.B.K.’s Candy kit is available on her blog.
 |
  |
Magdalena has a Late Afternoon kit that’s shades of purples and rose.
Anita at Nana’s Attic has the very lovely Sweet and Sassy papers available for download.
Boy Zone is a great, not girly, kit by Jeann. It’s available for free until August 2nd through the Scrapladies store.
Fun and Games:
Today is the last day to get this lovely In the Pink kit for free at Moo Two Designs. Tomorrow a new Needle in a Haystack Scavenger Hunt will start with a new kit to find.
Today is also the last day to sign up for August Bingo at Moo Two. You can win the Lil’ Mexico kit shown above. Everyone who plays is guaranteed part of the kit.
Tomorrow, the first of the month is bound to have tons of new freebies starting. Look for the Daily Download list to get much larger. I’ll also be highlighting challenges around the web, with a few challenges every day, to help keep you organized and informed about what’s going on. Later!
I told you I would. lol. I finished THREE layouts yesterday. I still have enough lakeside pictures to complete at least two more layouts. Phew! My MIL is going to love these in the book I’m making for her for Christmas. I already gave you some background yesterday on these LOs, but here it is again in case you didn’t see that thread. Labor Day weekend 2005 we all (dh, his brother, sisters, their kids, our 4 kids and his dad) went to Kentucky for his dad’s family reunion. We stayed at MIL’s (they’re divorced) on the lake. These first LOs are of our first full day there.After Katrina had stopped being a hurricane, it proceeded to dump tons of rain in Kentucky. These pictures were taken on what is usually called Sandy Beach. As you can see, the sand, is a bit wet, as in under knee deep water. I just have to toot my horn a bit here too. In the original picture of my daughter holding the clump of sand her bikini was twisted to the side, and even though she hasn’t developed yet, it looked like she had a boob hanging out. So I copied the bikini triangle on the left side and copied and mirrored it on the right side. Then I blended the two parts together so you can’t tell that it was altered (at least I hope you can’t). I was so angry when I saw what bathing suit she brought. I’d told her to pack a different one. But try finding a new suit in Kentucky in September. Hah! The kit is Nature Walk by Tracy’s Scraps and I made the mats using a leaf template by Kris Myers.
The paper in the second LO is from Life is an Adventure by Mary’s Scrapgalerie and the Twiggy Frames are by Carol Abram. In the third LO, the frames are also from Life is An Adventure and the font is Emboss. The sunset photo is a photo I took off the back of the boat on our way to the house.
Important Reminders:
July is over tomorrow. Why do I consider it important to remind you of this obvious date? Because the new month at Gotta Pixel means two new huge FREE mega kits. One is for immediate download, the whole thing, the other is a daily download. Gotta Pixel has a policy, that makes sense when you think about it, you must be a member to access the downloads, and you must have at least 30 posts. Yep, you need to participate for at least 30 posts to get the links. I’m giving you two days notice, so you’ll have time to post 30 times, because although I haven’t seen the daily download kit yet, I can tell you it’s bound to be awesome, and if you don’t have 30 posts by Wednesday, you’ll miss out on the start of the kit. Oh, and here’s a great hint for you. Comments in the gallery count towards your posts. So if you’re kind of shy about jumping into an established forum and posting 30 times right off the bat, why not head to the gallery and spread some love?
Fun and Games:
Tomorrow is the last day to send in your words for August Bingo at Moo Two. I thought I’d show you the kit you can win, just to give you some incentive. The winner gets the full kit, but everyone who plays wins a portion of it.
Free Downloads:
Amelie Scrap has a lovely Happy kit on her blog. I think I’m going to use it on some of my Labor Day LOs.
Rise Up with this bright and sunny paper pack from Sugar Ink Studios.
Lindsay Jane has a True Blue mini kit on her blog. Don’t let your kids see you open the page. Now mine want a Titanic cake.
There are more Rose Tags on N.B.K.
Janni has two gifts for you today. She’s made a wonderful August desktop (I didn’t have one yet, and this one is great) and a new kit called Windswept.
Sweet and Sassy is both the new name and a perfect description of the new kit on Nana’s Attic. Anita is starting us off with some lovely quick pages, but there’s lots more to come.
See, I told you Miss Vivi would have an alpha for Home Sweet Home. This one is full of bling. I love it!
Did you get the Bohemian Collection from Digital Scrapbooking Freebies on Wednesday? Well there’s another part of the same kit on Retrodiva today.
Okay, I’m off to go visit my neighbor, Elsie, and do some cleaning up around the house. Then I want to finish the swimming LOs. Have a good day!
Filed under: Uncategorized
We’ve got a huge storm rolling in, which means I’ve got to keep this short and sweet in case the power goes out. Florida thunderstorms are the price we pay for having great weather when the rest of you are freezing your tushes off. I didn’t scrap again yesterday, but I planned to scrap. Does that count? My next series of LOs are from a Labor Day weekend family vacation 2 years ago. When I say “family”, I mean lots and lots of family. We all headed to Kentucky for dh’s family reunion. They do this every year, but this is the first time we’ve gone, and so did his brother, sisters, dad, just the whole lot of them. So of course I have tons of pictures. In fact, I’ve narrowed it down to 32 photos that just have to be scrapped. An undertaking that big needs some type of planning and organization. That’s what I did yesterday, rather than just dive in.
I should have some LOs to show you tomorrow though, including, quite possibly, Challenge #5 for the ADSR2. Have you seen it yet? It isn’t even on the ADSR2 blog yet, but the link to the challenge is making it’s way around the web. My partner, Chelsea, emailed it to me first thing this morning. You can read about it here.
Here’s what I downloaded today. It’s not a very big list. Sundays are usually pretty slow.
Franzi has a beautiful flowery pink mini kit called What Would You Create? on her blog. It sounds to me like there might be more to it later, so I’ll keep checking and let you know.
Kirsty has two overlays today, Brook and Posy. I’m not sure how she does it. If I’d eaten the wonderful food she describes in her blog, I’d be comatose.
There are elements to go with Princess Pamela’s Julia kit (scroll down to yesterday if you didn’t get it) on her blog.
Downloads 13 and 14 of the RAK July Mega Kit is available now.
It’s gotten so dark in here, I can’t see the keyboard. I’ll post again if I find anything else.
Filed under: freebies
I didn’t do a single teeny tiny layout yesterday. What a surprise. I think since I started digiscrapping two months ago, I’ve missed maybe two days of scrapping. Make yesterday the third. I do have some stuff to show you though. Today only, Karie has her Shirley Jean kit on sale at Seaside Scraps for just $1.50! That’s a steal. And if you go to her blog, you can get the quick page that I made to go with it, for free. If that’s not enough to encourage you though, here’s another LO I made with Shirley Jean. As you can see this is a very versatile kit. One LO is more old fashioned, while the other is a Christmas LO. Click on the ad to go right to the sale at the store. Oh and the fonts are Arial and Christmas in my float LO.
Fun and Games:
Kathryn has a new Fun, Funky Mystery Number at Gotta Pixel. This is your last chance to win Kathryn’s lovely pewter numbers.
Free Stuff:
Princess Pamela has the very pretty Julia Kit Part I on her blog.
Lindsay Jane reloaded the zip file for Pink Licorice. There was apparently something wrong with the files and she’s fixed it now, with a bonus glittery element that wasn’t in the first file. She also has a new template for today’s download.
I completely missed the Good Night Moon mini kit farther down on Janni’s post yesterday. I don’t have any little baby pictures to scrap, so I was just keeping up on My Sweet Baby Boy for my blog readers. Today she has You Are My Sunshine, the daytime version to complement the night time kit.
There are more curled edge papers to the Rose Kit on N.B.K. She also has some polka dot ribbons and bows for you.
Anita at Nana’s Attic has the last of the A Little Muddled kit for you today. The download has the elements and some quick pages.
Julie has the second download to Feelin’ Wonderful available on her blog. And if you follow the link to the forum, you can find a bonus download.
Filed under: Uncategorized
I finished my second LO for this week’s ADSR2. Our challenge this time was to scrap the letter G and it had to contain the word Goal. Taken literally, they wanted us to scrap about our goals. I’m not particularly good at scrapping about me, however, so I decided to scrap about another type of goal. The kit is Starlight by Jenny’s Scrap Place and the font is Bend It.
Freebies:
Karie at Punky’s Pixels has a free QP that goes with her Shirley Jean kit and guess who made it? That’s right, ME. 
Shirley Jean will be available tomorrow (Saturday) for just $1.50 at Seaside Scraps.
Kirsty has a Felicity overlay on her blog.
Princess Pamela has two templates on her blog. One, Theme Park Template, looks like a famous rodent.
Lindsay Jane has a Pink Licorice Add-On.
Janni has the last part of My Sweet Baby Boy on her blog. If you didn’t get the whole kit, just scroll down.
Yesterday, I called Kim B’s new free kit Christmas in July, but she calls in Ho, Ho, Ho. Since she’s the designer, we’ll go with her neame. lol. The second part of Ho, Ho, Ho is available today. Scroll down if you didn’t get the first part.
There are more curled papers to the Rose Kit on N.B.K. She mentioned that she has more to go with yesterday’s Candy elements, so it looks like that’ll end up being a kit too.
Anita at Nana’s Attic is A Little Muddled. No, I’m not insinuating that she’s lost her marbles, that’s the name of her new kit.
Amy W. has some BLING to share with you.
Mz. Cora has a few things for you. First is a Just Like Home kit. It’s kind of hard to describe this kit. It’s a funky blend of brown, aqua and hot pink. Just go see it, it’s really cool. She also has some fun doodle stamps that can be converted to brushes.
Erin at Chickypow Designs (I just love that name) has a very pretty paper pack called Rider. She says it’s inspired by some Victorian horse pictures she found in her grandfather’s garage. They’re very old fashioned and gorgeous.
Digiscrap.CH has the coolest retro Sixties Freebie available for download. It’s in that avocado green that your grandma’s kitchen was probably decorated in.
Part 3 of The Beauty Within is available on Boo Land.
Digital Freebies has a cool Celebration Mini Kit to help kick off Cathy’s Boy’s Birthday Bash.
Jenny Cereal has a swimming mini-kit and QP on her homeschooling blog.
Fun and Games:
Moo Two is getting ready to kick off their August Bingo game. All participants will receive a really sweet Mexico kit that would be perfect for either your vacation or Cinco de Mayo pictures. Click on the link to find the thread with the words and PM them to participate.
The last piece of the Moo Two Needle in a Haystack Challenge was posted today. What that means, is that if you follow the link to the thread, you can go find all the pieces to In the Pink (a lovely mega kit) now, without having to wait. If you do wait, all the links will be removed on August 1st. So don’t wait.
Filed under: freebies
I didn’t scrap a single LO yesterday. I was too busy reading. I finished the last Harry Potter at 3 this morning. lol
I’m astonished and touched by the number of people who have come to visit my blog today. Wow! I hope everyone who stopped by for my Pirate Template comes back and visits frequently for all the latest news of freebies and fun around the digi scrapping world.
Yesterday’s Freebie list was so big, that I didn’t find many new downloads today. Here’s what I did find:
Amelie has the absolutely gorgeous Soft Memories kit on her blog. I just love the colors she used.
I love Kirsty’s overlays anyway, but this one just might be my favorite. Go check out English Garden on her blog.
Lindsay Jane has a very pretty stitched flower. She also has her first grab bag for sale. The links are on her blog.
There are THREE freebies on Princess Pamela’s blog. She created these little bubbles to go with her Abby, Josh, and Brady kits. They’re so cute.
Kim B. has the first of her two part Christmas in July kit. Is anyone else singing carols with all this Christmas in July?
Hey fellow Candy Girls, N.B.K. has some candy elements that are right up your alley. There are also more Rose Papers there.
Amy W. has a Goal Template (great for those ADSR2 Challenge #4 layouts) on her blog.
Have you seen the RAK Scraps Members RAK kit? This is a kit where RAK Scraps members each contribute their own pieces to match the monthly theme. The pieces being added to the kit this month are fantastic! You can read all about it here.
Barb has a huge seven part Frangipani kit on her blog.
Ruthie has the very beautiful Vintage Mark kit on her blog.
Filed under: freebies
Wow, have I got a big freebie list for you today! The past few days have been kind of slow. This more than makes up for it. To start with, I have a freebie of my own. It’s a template from of my Dead Men Tell No Tales LO. Just in case you didn’t see it a few days ago, here’s the LO (I know some people like to see the template in use first — I’m one of them). The kit is Sand in the City by Ronee Parsons, the font is Blackadder.
The template is available in 6×6 and 12×12.
Lindsay Jane has a More Melon Papers available on her blog. These match a melon kit that she had a while back, and it’s still available here.
Julie at Stone Accents has the first part of a new mega kit called, “Feeling Wonderful“. And she certainly is feeling wonderful. She announced that she’s planning to open a store next month. She’s looking for designers, CT members and a co-administrator.
Kirsty has a gorgeous new overlay called Arrival. I used one of her overlays for the first time on my second Halloween Spooktacular layout, and I loved it. You can be sure they’ll be making their way into more of my LOs from now on.
I found this one thanks to Amy W’s blog, so you’ve probably seen it already. But if you haven’t, Newlife, has a beautiful kit called Envolée de Papillons on Digishop Talk.
Krista has a truly stunning kit called Blue Bay Cottage.
Magdalena has a very pretty, oriental inspired, Dream Garden kit on her blog.
There’s more of the Rose Kit on N.B.K. There are tapes, more curled edges, more papers, and if you scroll down to last night, photo corners.
There are elements and QPs from the Sweet Attitude kit on Nana’s Attic.
Teriann has a new grandson and a new template at Garden Scraps. Make sure you tell her congratulations when you snag the template.
Chelsea, my ADSR2 partner has another template, her third, available on her blog. The bottom of the template is white in her preview, which makes it blend into the blog. It’s a lot cooler than it looks. Scroll down to see her LO made with it, and you’ll see what I mean.
Mz. Cora has a ribbon element for her Tiffany kit that she forgot to include and she has a surprise Harry Potter kit. Why is it a surprise? Because she’s not showing us what it looks like in the preview.
The elements in this On the Beach kit by Tina are simply adorable.
For three days only, you can grab the really cool and funky Garage Sale Girl kit on Kara Perrien’s site. It looks like she posted this yesterday, so get it before Thursday is over!
Laura Burger has a surprise freebie kit on her blog. I haven’t unzipped it yet, so I can’t tell you what it is. And I wouldn’t give away the surprise even if I did. You need to look on the right side of her blog to find the download box.
These Pearl Frames at Soto Creations are gorgeous! I can think of dozens of times I’d have loved to have had them, so I’m sure many more opportunities will crop up. (ha, ha, get it?)
Boo Land is taking a break from The Beauty Within to offer this cute Ten Pin Bowling Mini-Kit. If you have any bowling pictures to scrap, this is the kit for you.
Lisa at My Little Studio makes some really unique papers and kits. Her Soft Scenes kit is just stunning!
RAK Scraps has parts 11 and 12 of the July RAK Mega kit available for download.
Wetfish Designs has a sparkly Christmas in July kit for you.
I almost forgot that it’s Wednesday. Digital Scrapbooking Freebies has a really neat Bohemian Collage Collection available for this week only.
Filed under: Uncategorized
I picked up my copy of the Harry Potter book from the library yesterday. I could have gotten it Friday night/Saturday morning at a Midnight Masquerade costume party they were having at the main library branch, but the weather was horrible! So I waited for them to bring my reserved copy to my local branch instead. Of course I couldn’t wait to dive in. The action takes off immediately, there’s no feet dragging or having to “get into it” in this 759 page book. But I don’t want to give anything away, so that’s all you’re getting out of me.
I did manage to scrap two layouts in between chapters. This finishes up my four page 2005 Sea World Halloween Spooktacular series.
Credits:
The kit for the first one is the June Mega Kit that Digital Candy gave away last month to all members. It’s still available for purchase through the store. This kit is huge, I barely dented it. I’m sure I’ll be using it many more times. Specifically, the sunflower paper is by Michelle Mauch; mats, tags & green paper are by Sarah Meyer; the flowers & purple paper are by Angela Niehaus; and the sequin is by Flow. The torn paper template is by Redju, and if you scroll down to yesterday’s freebie list you can find the link to snag it for yourself. The font is Snidley and it’s the font for the July Font Challenge #3 on Go Digital Scrapbooking.
The second LO is a blend of different things. I used a paper from April Bern’s Ocean kit and Kirsty Wiseman’s Ocean Spray Overlay. The frame is by digiscrap.ch and the patches are from SM’s Lato kit.
Today’s Freebies:
Princess Pamela has an add-on alpha for her Josh Kit.
Kim B. has a great tutorial on overlays as well as the overlay she used and three papers she made with it, at Scrap Your Art Out.
There are two more curled edge pages for the Rose Kit and a curly cluster (not necessarily for any particular kit) on N.B.K.
Anita has started a pretty new kit called Sweet Attitude at Nana’s Attic.
It’s Christmas in July at Scrapz by Mz. Cora, and she has a paper pack to help you celebrate.
Parts 9 and 10 of the RAK July Mega Kit are available to download. And lest you think this kit has been totally U.S.-centric, part 9 is a really cute Canada Day mini kit.
Dream Scrapping has a brand new blog and a Summer Frenzy kit to celebrate. The gold elements in this are fantastic. I love the sun.
Filed under: Uncategorized
Let me just start by saying those three things don’t mix. I wanted to play with the continuous photo feature on my digital camera. So I went out back with the girls and told them to go swing. All was going well, until I felt the first little burning sting on my leg. It was a fire ant. Then another, and another. Yes, I had the misfortune of standing right on a nest. I react pretty badly to ant bites, so after about 15 minutes of itching and burning, I took 2 Benedryl. That may have been one more pill than body is able to handle.
I sat at the computer to check my email, read some boards, etc., and found out that ADSR2 Challenge #3 was already posted. Even better, we needed to create a fairy tale. While the layout I’m about to show you is new, I wrote the story in it, shortened to fit in the LO, for my daughter’s baby book. Oh, and can I just say how far digital cameras have come! These pictures were taken with camera #2, I think it was about 3.5 mega pixels. No wonder I used to carry two cameras (digital and 35mm) in my diaper bag.
So I’m at my computer trying to put the layout together and it’s slow, so slow, that I’m falling asleep between every step I take. Resize the picture, snooze, move the picture, snooze. DH comes in and asks, “what’s wrong with you?” I have no idea, I just can’t stay awake. He made dinner, sausage and peppers, yummy, and at the table, I’m falling asleep between bites. DH is starting to worry, the kids think it’s funny, and I can’t stay awake long enough to care. Then, during one nodding off period in between pepper bites, it hits me, the Benedryl! So after dinner I went up to bed and didn’t wake up until about an hour ago. Needless to say, I’m not taking 2 of those suckers ever again, or at least not without a doctor’s orders.
But, hey, I did finish my LO before I fell asleep for good. I just didn’t upload it anywhere because I didn’t have the energy to type the credits. Want to see? This is that wonderful Lazy Autumn Dayz kit by Scrapz by Mz. Cora that I told you about in my freebie list yesterday. The only thing I added, besides the pictures, is the text in Freehand Script. Scroll down to yesterday if you still haven’t snagged it.
The Pumpkin Patch
Once upon a time a little girl named Caitlyn lived with her mom and dad, her brothers and sister, in a Southern land ruled by a giant mouse [note: I kill myself sometimes, lol]. One day Mommy drove them to a place with strange orange things all over the ground. Mommy sat her down in the middle of some scratchy stuff, so she tried to walk away, only to be put back. Finally she did “cheese” so Mommy would leave her alone.
After that they walked around the orange things. Caty noticed some where small enough to pick up. She stooped to get one, then another, then one more.
“Caitlyn, don’t throw the pumpkins on the ground!”
Caty was upset. The naughty pumpkins were jumping out of her arms. She wasn’t throwing them.
Finally Mommy found the “perfect” pumpkins and put them on top of the microwave when they got home to “keep them safe.” But Caitlyn had other ideas. She didn’t know when or how, but she was going to get those big orange balls one day soon.
The End
(for now)
Today’s Freebies:
Princess Pamela has an alpha designed to match her Abby kit. Scroll down if you didn’t get it.
Lindsay Jane has a Summer Heat mini kit up, even though it’s winter where she lives.
Kim B. has a second sampler of her Pretty Twisted kit available. Part I is still available if you scroll down.
And yes, there is still more to the Rose Kit at N.B.K. There are some more tags and what she says is the last of the regular papers, but there are more curled papers to come.
Mrs. Miles has something she calls Barb’s Silver Deco Elements. It looks like a silver bracelet and is so pretty.
Miss Vivi has part 5 of Home Sweet Home available for download. Although this is the last part of a five part kit, I don’t think she’s finished. If she gets enough LOs made with the kit, there’s usually a free alpha that she offers later. So get scrapping.
Filed under: Uncategorized
Sandie was nice enough to let me know that the download links for my first template weren’t working. I have no idea what happened, since I haven’t touched those files since I first uploaded them, but I’ve corrected the links, and made sure they work okay. Thanks for letting me know, Sandie. I hope you pop back in so you can get the file.
