Mrs.JayBob's all my bloggable things

A new site - Mrsjaybob.com

2010-01-21T17:11:00.001-08:00

I've got a new site and it's ready and waiting for you to come and explore.

Check it our here

Winter Formal, Cake Balls and Football!

2009-12-13T15:55:00.000-08:00

Last night was our high school's winter formal. We also had a 40th anniversary and retirement (combo)party to go to. So I headed out the door and left Mr. Wonderful home with the dogs and headed for town. I stopped at the grocery store for more Oreos and cream cheese since Mr. Wonderful got into the hidden stash. I met my friend and teaching colleague Karin and we were off to the party. Great crowd at the anniversary party and a wonderful opportunity to see many former students and old friends. About 11:00 we decided, with cameras in hand, that it was time to go to the school and embarrass our children! The dance was hoppin, (and grindin') the kids were really having fun. It always makes me feel good at these events when my students come running, or in this case, sort of dancing, up to me to say hi or introduce me to their date. We took several pictures, many of which turned out blurry. Left the camera in the truck when we went to the anniversary party and it kept fogging up in the school commons. I'm sure the kids got some fun pictures that they'll be taggin me in on facebook.

foggy camera lens :(

Cute of Ali but Chase has a "pouty face"

Of course, the couldn't let me get two nice pictures! :)

This morning/afternoon, Ali and I are making Cake Balls (see Bakerella's Blog) and Oreo balls. We've got two batches of Oreo Balls and one batch of Cake Balls "chilling" in the "Big" freezer (outside). We decided on yellow cake and plan to coat them in chocolate coating.

Brownie Balls! Crushed Oreos and cream cheese.

Chill and dip in chocolate

Cake Balls: Bake a package cake according to the directions, cool and crumble.

Stir in one container of cream cheese (or any flavor) prepared frosting.

Roll into balls and chill.

Dip in chocolate

Garnish with more chocolate~!

In between rolling things into balls and dipping them in chocolate I managed to catch some of the football games this afternoon. There's pheasant and rice in the crockpot. All in all, a perfect day!

Yuletide Coupon Hunt!

2009-12-06T06:09:00.001-08:00

We're celebrating the holidays at Designs in Digital with a cool little Yuletide Coupon Hunt. Every five days or so, you'll find the five designers have hidden coupons somewhere in their stores. My coupon runs from December 6th through the 11th and is for 40% off your purchase of $6.00 or more. Keep your eyes on this thread for hints and information!

Here's a sample of the image you'll be hunting for!

New wintery goodies!

2009-12-02T10:10:00.000-08:00

My latest release is Frosty Mornings! Inspired by the play of the sunrise off of the frost covered grass and trees here on the upland prairie. Frosty Mornings is on sale for 50% off all day Wednesday and will be 30% off Thursday through Saturday!

Pick up your copy of Frosty Mornings here

Frosty Mornings in action from my CT:

The next bit of coolness I have to share with you is Northern Lights, available at Designs in Digital. This kit really reminds me of the colors in the winter sky! This kit is filled with great traditional scrapping elements, and a few not so traditional.

Available here

Northern Lights in action:

I've got a new set of stitching clusters sure to add a little pizazz to any layout! Check them out here!
Be sure to swing by Designs in Digital and check out all the great new challenges for the month of December. We've got Bingo going all month! There's also a great special in the store - you can get a collection of the DID designers favorite recipes with your purchase of $5 or more. There's also a coupon hunt happening in the store. Every five days, five of the DID Designers will hide a coupon somewhere in their store. Be sure to hunt up some great bargains!

CT Call

2009-11-03T10:05:00.000-08:00

MrsJayBob Designs is having a CT Call!

Requirements are:

*2-3 layouts per kit posted in my shop gallery and 2 open galleries of your choice. One kit per month minimum.
*participation in at least one challenge per month at Designs in Digital
*Promote MrsJayBob Designs when possible.
Interested? Send an e mail to mrsjaybob at hotmail dot com (subject: ct call) with a link to your most complete gallery, a little about yourself and why you want to be a ct member. Call closses 11/9/09
Can't wait to hear from you!

Be sure to check out the Recycle Bin Challenge at Designs in Digital! This month I've got an interesting collection of "trash" for you to creat a layout with! Stop by the forum here to check out the rules and pick up the kit!
Coupon code and download instructions here

A new mini kit!

2009-10-31T11:04:00.000-07:00

I've got a new mini kit out that helps to say so long to summer. It's called Symphony of Summer. Here's what's really exciting, my kit was selected as a featured kit in the DSA Enabler - the monthly newsletter from DigiScrapAddicts! This kit is available exclusively in my store at Designs in Digital for the extremely low price of only $2.00!

Be sure to check back at DID on November 1st to see what all the new challenges will be. I'm hosting the recycle bin challenge again and have some fun goodies in the garbage can for you! Hopefully you've been enjoying the Vintage Circus Train from DID called Come One, Come All. You can still pick up some of the pieces for free for a few more days yet. Here is my portion:

Snag my part here
~or go straight to the DID store and use this Coupon Code: 304e85d7bf

We've got some really fun things planned at Designs in Digital for the Holiday Season - be sure to hop onto the forum and register for the newsletter to stay up to date on all the festivities!

It's time to give my blog a facelift, I've been working on new graphics for the past couple of weeks, if only I can decide which look I like best.....

A Weekend in Paris

2009-09-21T09:43:00.001-07:00

Tink's Trinkets and I have teamed up to bring you a Designs in Digital Designing Duo Collab. A Weekend in Paris features 31 papers and 45 elements as well as a complete upper and lower case alpha with numbers and characters.

Find A Weekend in Paris here

For a limited time, you can pick up two coordinating Weekend in Paris Pagestaerters FREE with your purchase of the Designing Duo Collab A Weekend in Paris. Simply place both the collab and the page starters in your cart and enter the coupon code "Paris0921".

I've got some new sister inspired word art available in the weekly new releases category at DID this week too! Weekly New Releases are 50% off on Wednesday and 30% off from Thursday through Saturday.

Check it out here

Designer Survivor Finals!

2009-09-10T15:22:00.000-07:00

That's right, it's the final week of Designer Survivor! What a whirlwind this experience has been. I've had so much fun and gotten to know some really wonderful designers!

My final kit is inspired by the mystical beauty of the East. You can snag it for a very limited time! Voting to choose the "sole survivor" of Designer Survivor will take place by members of the jury - those designers who have already left the island. The final tribal council will be held Friday night! Thanks so much to everyone for your support and following this dynamic design event!

Here's my final Designer Survivor kit; Midnight in Morocco!

Download here

"Project Scrapway" and Week Five Reward Challenge

2009-09-02T12:03:00.000-07:00

We're hosting an amazing event at Designs in Digital beginning September 9th! It's going to be the scrapping version of Project Runway - it's all about the layout!

Sign up for the newsletter by clicking this link. You'll find out how to get the August collab " Oh the places you'll go" for FREE by subscribing to the newsletter. You'll need the collab for one of the challenges! This is three week challenge with great fun and prizes! Can't wait to see what you create! Here's a preview of the fun filled Oh the places you'll go kit:

We've arrived at week 5 of Designer Survivor! Wow - what a fun and amazing ride this has been! I've met some of the most amazing and truly loving designers through this competition. I'm pretty sure I'll be a little lonely for all of them when my time on "Extraction Island" comes to an end! Our reward challenge this week was to make a set of at least five word art items following a theme of our choice. As the mother of four daughters, I chose Sisters as my theme. Here's a preview of my contribution for this week's reward challenge.

In order to snag these fun word art pieces here's the scoop:

1. Go to the Designer Survivor Blog

2 . Click on the voting link (voting will open on Wednesday night (September 2, 2009) after 9:00 p.m. PST and remain open through Thursday at 3:00 p.m. PST)

3. Please, please, please - vote for MrsJayBob Designs

4. Follow this link to the gallery where you can pick up all 7 of the competitors contributions!

As always, thanks so much for your support. Your votes have helped myself and the teams that I have been on to win immunity and some awesome rewards each of the last three weeks!

Our Week Five challenge was to create a kit representative of a specific time in history. I chose the era of 1900 for my Victorian Rose kit. This kit contains 12 papers and 15 elements.

You'll be able to download my Victorian Rose kit only until Tribal Council concludes on Friday, so you may want to hurry! While you are at it, you'll be able to check out all 7 of the remaining designers' kits!

Download here

We hope you are enjoying the Designer Survivor competition and creativity as we are. Next week will be the final week with 5 of the remaining 7 designers advancing to the finals! Thanks again for your support!

Be sure to stop in at Designs in Digital tonight (Wednesday, September 2 at 8 p.m. cst for another fabulous speed scrap!

Week 4 Reward Challenge!

2009-08-25T09:58:00.000-07:00

Wow - time is flying! School started again this week. For those of you that don't know, I am a high school teacher so I'm busy getting back in the swing of the school year!
It's also reward challenge time again! To bring you up to speed; the Designer Survivor game is full of twists and turns. We're now down to ten designers and instead of working and competing as teams, we are now all on our own! Our regular challenge this week was issued by the folks at Digiridoo. Look for those "white wedding" kits by Thursday of this week! Our reward challenge this week was to create quick pages or a brag book using our kit from last week's emotions challenge. I've got six 8x8 quick pages for you this week. I hope you like purple!

Here's a preview of the quick pages:

Link Expired

As always, thanks so much for your support! Immunity is getting to be more and more important in this game, so all of your votes mean the world to me!

* Votes needed* Week Three Reward Challenge Votes needed

2009-08-18T20:00:00.000-07:00

I successfully survived week two's Tribal Council and we are now well into week three! Our challenge this week was given to us by the folks at Brownie Scraps . You'll be seeing that kit very soon. Our third reward challenge was issued by JustDigi Layouts. Our assignment was to create cluster frames using our week one, two and three kits. Each frame also had to include at least one element not found in any of the other kits. The "Eyelet Team" of FlutterBye Faery, EyeOpening Desings, Marni Designs and myself met that challenge and are proud to present these unique, fun and varied cluster frames!

Did I mention that this is Survivor and this is a Reward Challenge? Of course I did! In order for our Eyelet Team to win the Reward Challenge, we need your votes. What's in it for you, you ask -If the "Eyelet Team" earns enough votes to win the reward challenge, you'll find a little something extra for all of you on our blogs later this week! So, please come vote for the "Eyelet Team"! There could be goodies in store for you!

So how do you get these gorgeous cluster frames?

Here's the deal:
Step 1. Go to the Designer Survivor Blog and click on the voting link
Step 2. Vote for the Eyelet Team - the voting link may not be active before midnight August 18th, so if you visit prior to the link being posted, please make a trip back to vote for the Eyelet Team. Cast your vote by 3 p.m. PST Wednesday afternoon.
Step 3. Go to the Brownie Scraps Gallery and Download here

I also would like you all to join us for a great Speed Scrap at Designs in Digital on Wednesday night August 19th at 9:00 p.m. EST. There's a great participation prize from Page Frocks Designs!

Thanks so much for your support in Designer Survivor!

Thank you!

2009-08-12T18:11:00.001-07:00

Thank you so much to all of you that voted for our Autumn Afternoon paper pack in the Designer Survivor Reward Challenge! Your votes helped our team to win the reward challenge as well as immunity at the next tribal council! We won a fabulous prize from the great folks at Pretty Scrappy! We are very thankful to them for their generosity! So - I said that there would be goodies in it for you if you put us over the top. Well, I'm a woman of my word. I got a great coordinating page starter to go with our Autumn Afternoon Paper Pack!

Tommorrow all of the full challenge kits are due and will be posted at Brownie Scraps in the gallery. Be sure to check them out and stay tuned to the Designer Survivor Blog for more updates in the game!Link Expred

Many of you may have known that Designs in Digital suffered from a hacker a few weeks back. Well we are totally up and running and better then ever. Our weekly new releases are on sale for 30% off on Thursday, Friday and Saturday! I've got my Celebrate Reload kit on sale right now too! Find it here

Inspiration from my wonderful CT

Gabbina>

KaraBear>

Hondachicc>

Ohana>Once again, thanks for your support in Designer Survivor!

Designer Survivor - week 2 - Votes needed! Bribes possible:)

2009-08-11T09:56:00.000-07:00

I successfully survived week one's Tribal Council and we are now well into week two. Our challenge this week was given to us by the folks at Moo Two Designs. You'll be seeing that kit very soon. Our second reward challenge was issued by Pretty Scrappy. Our assignment was to chose a color scheme and develop a fall themed paper pack. The "Ribbon Team" of FlutterBye Faery, Tootlebugz, Punky Princess, Joe G, Mad Genius Designs and myself met that challenge and are proud to present this beautiful Autumn Afternoon paper pack for you!

Here's a preview of the papers:

Did I mention that this is Survivor and this is a Reward Challenge? Of course I did! In order for our Ribbon Team to win the Reward Challenge, we need your votes. What's in it for you, you ask -If the "Ribbon Team" earns enough votes to win the reward challenge, you'll find a little something extra for all of you on our blogs later this week! So, please come vote for the "Autumn Afternoon"! There could be goodies in store for you!

So how do you get these gorgeous papers? Here's the deal:

Step 1. Go to the Designer Survivor Blog and click on the voting link

Step 2. Vote for the Ribbon Team - "Autumn Afternoon"
the voting link may not be active before midnight August 11th, so if you visit prior to the link being posted, please make a trip back to vote for the Ribbon Team. Cast your vote by 3 p.m. Wednesday afternoon.

Step 3. Go to the Brownie Scraps Gallery and Download here

Make sure to check out Mad Genius' blog for a great coordinating freebie!

Thanks so much for your support!

Be sure to check out the Speed Scrap Wednesday , August 12 at 9:00 p.m. EST at Designs in Digital hosted by Cara of Sweet Tomato Designs. She's got a great participation prize from Page Frocks just fpor playing along!

CT Call

2009-07-20T19:00:00.000-07:00

I need a few more ct members
Requirements are:
*2-3 layouts per kit posted in my shop galleries and 2 open galleries of your choice- one kit per month minimum
*participation in at least one challenge per month at Designs in Digital
*Promote MrsJayBob Designs when possible
Interested? Send an email to mrsjaybob at hotmail dot com(subject: CT Call) with a link to your most complete gallery, a little bit about yourself, and why you want to be a CT member.Call closes 8/5/09
Can't wait to hear from you!

New Release - Celebrate Reload Kit!

2009-07-19T19:07:00.000-07:00

I've reloaded my Celelbrate mini kit from the NDIDDS warm up challenge. The original mini had only five papers and a few elements. I've more than tripled this kit for you! It now boasts 18 papers and 38 elements! All great pastels with super textures and great details for scrapping all types of celebrations. Here's a preview of Celebrate Reload:You can find this kit, only in my Designs in Digital Store. Or click on the image to go straight to my Celebrate Reload kit! I'm hosting the Recycle Bin Challenge at Designs in Digital. Each month I place some scrapping items in the "trash can" for you to scrap with. Follow a few simple rules and post your layout to the gallery. We'd love to have you join us for the July Recycle Bin Challenge!
Download here
Here is a layout that I did with the goodies in the recyle bin! Can't wait to see what you will do!

Holiday Sale at Designs In Digital!

2009-07-02T06:52:00.000-07:00

We're having lots of special sales at Designs In Digital to celebrate Grand Openings and the fourth of July! Several fellow designers are having their Grand Opening Sales. Here are some to check out! Tootlebugz, PageFrocks, Sweet Tomato Designs, Day's Digi Designs, Designs by Chris, Scrap Warrior. Also, of course, my store here. The designers joining me at Designs in Digital all competed in the NDIDDS Design Challenge and were selected to join the design team at DID!

Our special Holiday Sale is as follows: July 3, 4 and 5 only, spend $10 in the store and get a coupon for the July Collab free! Spend $15 and get the July Collab and the Scoops Template set for free! Here's a look at the fabulous Freedom themed July Collab kit!
We've got some fabulous new challenges at DID. Speed Scraps will start July 8th at 7:30 p.m. cst (that's 8:30 est, 6:30 mst, 5:30 pst) hosted by MERCHi Makes it who will be joining the store later this month! MERCHi will have great prizes for Speed Scrap participants!

Big News! Grand Opening Sale!

2009-07-01T07:55:00.000-07:00

I'm honored to announce that as a result of my participation in the NDIDDS competition at Designs in Digital, I've been asked to join their design team! As a part of my new store at Designs in Digital, I'll be providing custom banner and blinkie services. Check that out here I've also got a cool new kit called Watermelon Pickles! The inspiration came from an old family recipe for sweet, spicy, dilly watermelon chunks. Here's a layout I did with this kit:

Here's the preview of Watermelon Pickles:

Please stop by and check out the store. There are several other designers having their Grand Opening Sales at this time as well!

Last few days of my MooTwo Sale!

2009-06-19T05:14:00.000-07:00

I am the Manic Monday sponsor this week at Moo Two Designs! I've got a great freebie for you in celebration of Manic Monday! In addition, you can save 50% off everything in my store at Moo Two Designs until June 21, 2009! Check out my store here.

Here are a few sampes of what you'll find in my store:

I've got exciting news to share, but not quite yet:) Keep an eye on my blog for further information. I'm so excited and it's so hard to keep secrets. I'll give you a hint.......... I'm now making custom banners and blinkies! But there's more, much more than that! If you're in need of a banner or blinkie, let me know!Here's the Manic Monday Freebie preview. This one is called Melon Twist

Download Here

2009-06-15T09:46:00.001-07:00

Manic Monday and a Sale!

2009-06-14T19:49:00.000-07:00

It's my turn for Manic Monday at Moo Two Designs! I'm so excited to share a sweet little kit called Melon Twist with you all in honor of Manic Monday! I'll also be having a sale this week, beginning June 15, 2009 and running for a week! You'll find everything in my Moo Two store on sale for 50% off! I've got lots of new kits uploaded for you so take a look and save!

Here's a preview of my Manic Monday Freebie kit called Melon Twist!

Download Here

I've got some other really exciting things in the works, can't tell you yet, you'll just have to keep watching and reading for details coming very soon!

Having the Family Together!

2009-06-08T07:20:00.000-07:00

It's finally that time! Time that Jenna will be coming home for the summer! It's been since Christmas Day that the entire family has been together. On December 26th we took Jenna back to the airport to fly back to California and then to Arizona for Stanford Women's Crew winter camp. What a year she has had! I can't wait to spend time with her this summer and hear about some of her adventures! I am sure there may be some that I will NOT be allowed to hear about:) Noelle's busy working several places this summer. She's learning all about pruning and training grape vines at a vinyard north of here. Who'd have though - grapes and a wine industry in South Dakota? She's also working at our golf course and a restaurant in Brookings where she worked during the school year. She'll be a senior this fall, hard to believe that the time has gone so fast!

Ali is playing softball this summer and gearing up for various sheep shows and FFA events. She plays third base as well as being an occasional pitcher for her softball team.

Tori is working her way through driver's education this month! Scary - that we'll have all four of them driving! She's also playing softball this summer.

Jay and I ust got home from a vacation with friends about 10 days ago. It was our first vacation in almost 9 years! We headed to Wisconsin Dells and had a fabulous time. Highlights of our trip included a sunset cruise and a winery tour. Simply getting to spend time together without the worries of the remodel projet was a huge blessing!

There, now I've got you caught up on the family, a little bit at least! We'll head to the airport to pick up Jenna tomorrow - then the party will begin! I'll have all my girls together again!

Final NDIDDS Challenge and a Freebie!

2009-06-04T20:27:00.001-07:00

The NDIDDS Designer Challenge closed tonight. Whew~ it was fun, but I'm glad to have those deadlines behind me! This final kit is a doozy! All elements that coordinate with the paper pack from last week. More than 50 elements PLUS a FULL upper and lower case alphabet with numbers and characters! Just to refresh your memory, here's a preview of the paper pack from week four.You can snag this paper pack at Designs in Digital right now for only $2.00! AND, if you use the coupon code "NDIDDS_B2G1" you can buy two NDIDDS paper packs and grab one for free! Hurry though, this coupon is only good through June 15, 2009!

Access the paper pack here

For week five of NDIDDS contestants were tasked with creating a coordinating element pack to go with their week four papers. I'm SO excited about the kit I came up with! This kit will also be available beginning June 5, 2009 at Designs in Digital for a very, very resonable price. You'll be able to grab all 50 plus elements and complete alpha for just $2.00! Preserve prom or college formal memories with rich jewel tones and textures with a touch of glitz and glamour. These elements coordinate with my Grungy Peacock Paper Pack! This kit has everything you will need for scrapping your favorite photos with a twist. Glitter Peacocks and other embellishments grace a wide variety of elements in this jewel-toned kit. Tons of flowers, ribbons, strings, and tags as well as more glitter make up just some of the elements in this collection. There are more than 50 elements in this collection plus a full alphabet and numbers and characters.1 glitter border, 3 ribbons, 4 strings,6 paperclips, 2 frames, 5 Gerbera Daisies, 2 round vellum tags, 3 round vellum tags with chain attached, 1 glitter/flower swirl border, 1 raffia bow, 2 glitter Peacocks, 1 photo corner, 3 word art ( Love, Joy and Peace), 1 stem of Leatherleaf, 1 glitter scatter, 1 heart string with flowers, 2 stems of Eucalyptus, 1 scroll doodle, 1 piece of crumpled notebook paper, 1 bow wrap, 1 beaded wire, 4 buttons, 1 clipped flower, 1 glitter accent, 1 plain heart string, 1 set of journal strips, 1 Plumeria, 1 glitter flourish, 1 Peacock journal tag. Coordinating upper and lower case alphabet with numbers 0-9 and 7 punctuation marks. Here's the preview of my element pack!

We've got a new coupon code for this week! This one is good for 30% off any combination of papers and elements for NDIDDS kits. Minimum purchase of $4.00 is required. Valid until Friday, June 12th. Coupon can be used 1 time at each store. CODE: 30forNDIDDS

Check out the element pack here!

Finally, I have a cool freebie for you that coordinates with my new Grungy Peacock kit. I just could not stop working with these colors and made even more cool stuff for all your scrapping needs! Here's a preview of the freebie:

Download here
Click on weeks 4 & 5

Thanks for your kind comments and support during this challenge!

The Half-Baked Girls Blog Again and a Super Coupon!

2009-06-02T16:10:00.000-07:00

The Design Challenge at Designs in Digital is beginning to wrap up. Week Four's challenge was for each designer to complete a paper pack of at least 20 papers. Between now and June 15th you can buy 2 NDIDDS paper packs and select third for free! Just enter the coupon code "NDIDDS_B2G1" at check out. For week five the designers will be making HUGE element packs to coordinate with the papers!I thought I'd post a few of my favorites for you to check out:

This patriotic themed kit by Merchi is wonderful, it is titled "Land that I Love"

Check out "Land that I Love" here
Sheila at Remember Me Digitals has combined these beautiful colors to create a kit called " In a Lifetime". This kit will be perfect for scrapping everyday memories and special events as well.

Check out "In a Lifetime" here
Finally, I've got to share with you again my "Grungy Peacock" kit. I'm excited about the elements I'm creating to go with the jewel tones of this kit!

Check out "Grungy Peacock" here

Once again, thanks so much for your support during this challenge! The download numbers and views have been amazing! I'd love to see any layouts you've done with my NDIDDS challenge kits!

Ok, enough of that, I promisded you a Half-Baked Girls Blog Train and here's the info on that This month we've chosen to honor Dad with our Number One Dad Collab. I got a little carried away on this one so my part is pretty large :) Here's a preview:

Link Expired

Here are the other stops on the train, there are 14 in all:

FlutterbyeFaery Designs

Remember ME Digitals

Ohana Designs

Wyld Web Designs

Snuggle Berry Pie Designs

Design by Sonja

JewelScraps

JayaPrem's Hangout

MrsJayBob Designs You Are Here

MissTrishs Digi Designs

Mariposa Designs

Digi Dandy Designs

Mad Genius Designs

Paper Ma Chez Designs

Don't forget to leave the ladies some love!

Coupon Time!

2009-06-02T07:20:00.001-07:00

All the paper kits from week four of NDIDDS are on sale for $2, BUT - there's more: Right now, through June 15th, you can buy two NDIDDS paper packs and get one more free! Just enter the coupon code NDIDDS_B2G1 at checkout. I'll post a couple of my favorites for you! Of course I have to show you my Grungy Peacock kit again, I'm loving working with these colors!
Snag "Grungy Peacock" here.

I love this patriotic themed kit by Merchi

Here's the link for "This Land I Love by Merchi Makes it!

Sheila at Remember Me Digitals put some fabulous colors together for this kit!
Grab Sheila's kit "In a Lifetime" here

How about a little "Grungy Peacock"?

2009-05-29T09:00:00.001-07:00

It's hard to believe that we are down to the last two weeks of the design challenge at Designs in Digital! Weeks four and five are a two part challenge. For week four we create the papers and in week five we create the coordinating elements. These are going to be some prety amazing kits! Check out the gallery for week four here. Naming the kit for this week was a group effort. The colors remind me of the full and fancy plumage of a peacock as he struts his stuff. I need to appologize to my loyal followers and new folks alike. I got this post ready to go before I left on vacation, with no knowledge that the folks running this challenge would be making a change and adding a $2.00 charge for a kit that I thought was going to be free.

If you are still interested, knowing that this is now a $2.00 kit follow this link

Stay tuned to my blog for the final installment for the NDIDDS Challenge next week. Thanks for all of your comments and support in this contest!

Last day to download Tuscany, preview of week 4!

2009-05-28T04:53:00.000-07:00

Today is the last day to snag Tuscany, my week three kit for the NDIDDS challenge at Designs in Digital. Tuscany brings you back to old world beauty of Tuscany.

Dowload here

The challenge for week four was to create a paper pack of at least 20 papers. The cool thing is that the week five kit will be the coordinating elements to go with the paper pack! This week I've chosen some jewel tones that remind me of the lovely feathers of a peacock's tail. I can't wait to get to work on the elements to go with this kit! Don't forget to check back soon, this kit will go live in the store sometime on Friday, May 29th and will only be available for one week! You can check out all of the week four kits here.

Week 3 of NDIDDS Challenge Freebie!

2009-05-22T06:16:00.000-07:00

My kit for the third week of the NDIDDS challenge at Designs in Digital is now live in the store for FREE download!
Take a trip back in time through beautiful, romantic Tuscany! Explore this special place where a thousand narrow farm roads wait patiently for the wayward traveler to chance a wrong turn and discover their own secret treasure basking in the Tuscan Sun. Rich tones and textures of Old World Plaster and farm walls grace the papers and elelments of this kit! Tuscany includes 8 papers, 1 Bougenvilla branch, 1 bracket frame, 1 bracket journal tag, 1 filligree flourish, 1 glitter border, 1 glitter scatter, 1 shiny bronze hinge, 1 set of journal strips, 1 daisy, 1 folded flower, 1 embroidered sunflower applique, 1 tag, 1 triple frame, 1 copper flourish, 1 folded flower copper wire flourish. Complete upper and lower case alpha with coordinating numbers 0 through 9 and punctuation. Download for FREE here~!

Secrets, Hopes and Dreams Freebie!

2009-05-15T05:47:00.000-07:00

The week two assignment from the NDIDDS challenge at Designs in Digital has concluded. The theme this week was "girl friends". This kit was created in honor of those true friendships we share with other women; those special people with whom we share our secrets, hopes and dreams. This kit includes: 10 papers, 2 ribbon bows, 1 doodle, 2 glitter flourishes, 1 swirled glitter border, 1 birdcage, 1 string of folded hearts, 1 set of journal strips, 2 oriental lilies, 1 ribbon strip, 1 round tag, 1 shoe, 3 word bits, 1 word art, full upper case alpha, numbers 0-9, and four other common characters. The word art reads: "Friends share secrets, hopes, and dreams." You can view the gallery from week two here. Be sure to leave some love!
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Believe!

2009-05-12T06:33:00.001-07:00

Here's is my latest installment for the NDIDDS Challenge. This kit is titled "Believe" and includes 8 papers, 1 beaded wire, 1 hand drawn doodle, 1 glitter scatter, 1 ribbon, 1 sequin, 1 hummingbird, 2 frames, 1 index card for journaling, 1 tag, 2 leatherleaf borders, 2 brackets, 1 staple, 1 word art, 1 yarn piece with sequins attached, and 1 gerbera daisy.The word art reads:Believe in your dreams and they may come true. Believe in yourself and they will.No CU items were used in the creation of this kit. Follow the link below to download this kit for FREE! Link Expired

Another Half Baked Girls Blog Train!

2009-05-01T00:01:00.000-07:00

I've signed on to participate in the NDIDDS designers challenge at Designs in Digital! Here's a preview of my kit from the Warm Up Challenge. This kit will be available at Designs in Digital starting on May first! For FREE! Check out all of the Warm Up Challenge kits here.
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The Half Baked Girls from Brownie Scraps have put together another great Blog Train for you. This one's got a Mother's Day theme with the title "Mother, May I?" Be sure to make all the stops to pick up your goodies and please remember to leave the girls some love.

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Here are the stops on this train:

Flutterbye Faery Designs
Designs By Ramona
Wyld Web Designs
Remember ME Digitals Look for two downloads here :)
MrsJayBob Designs you are here!
JayaPrem's Hangout
Tinkay Designs
Scraps By Helen
Merchi Makes It
Get Designs
Elises Pieces Designs
Mad Genius Designs
Inspiredbydominic Designs

Celebrate National Scrapbooking Day!

2009-04-30T16:05:00.000-07:00

I've got a brand new kit, titled "Celebrate". Just in time for National Scrapbook Day. This kit is part of the NDIDDS challenge at Designs in Digital, you can see all the kits here. You can pick up "Celebrate" and all the other Warm Up Challenge kits for Free! Here's a preview of my kit, download link is below. Don't forget to leave some love!

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Last Days of my Moo Two Sale!

2009-04-28T10:01:00.000-07:00

Just a quick reminder that my Grand Opening Sale at Moo Two Designs ends on the last day of April. Hurry in to save 50% on all my kits! Access my Moo Two Store here.

I've got several new kits in the works that I'll be uploading soon, check out this preview of Sisters and Friends, let me know what you think!

This is my latest entry, Life is a Highway, in the Brownie Scraps Design Challenge, you can pick it up Free for a limited time! Link Expired

Name my new kit and check out Under the Sea!

2009-04-16T08:58:00.001-07:00

Here's a preview of a new kit I'm working on! I've got some of the papers done and just had to share them with you! I'm really loving these colors together. No idea what I'm going to call it, anyone have any suggestions? Just leave your kit name ideas in the comments. The person who suggests the name I choose will get a coupon for the finished kit for free! I'll keep posting updates as I create the elements and add to this kit!

I've still got sales running at both MooTwo Designs and Digi Style Designs! Both shops are 50% off! Moo Two is running a CT Contest which starts April 18th, check it out here. We'd love to see your talent coming through in great layouts made with Moo Two Products!

Here's a fun and fanciful kit for scrapping some of your beach adventures. It's called "Under the Sea! This kit will be available for a limited time, so grab it quick!

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p.s. I had a comment that the link was broken, I've edited the link, please let me know if it's not working! Thanks!

Black Tie Affair Release and a Sale!

2009-04-12T06:27:00.000-07:00

I've been doing lots of designing over the long Easter break. I've got some new things in my stores as well as great sale information to share with you.

There's a storewide sale going on right now at Digi Style Designs! Savings range from 25% - 60% off on most products! We've also got a huge collab, over 200 mb of goodies, free with a $3.00 purchase. Seems like a great time to stock up on great products and save money! Hurry in, the sale runs April 12th through the 19th!I've also got a brand new kit to show you! This one is called Black Tie Affair! All done in shades of black, white and gray with lots of bling to highlight prom or college formal memories. Pick up Black Tie Affair only in my shop at Digi Style Designs!

Here's a peek at that Blooming Spring Collab:

Creative Team Contest

2009-04-11T07:00:00.000-07:00

We are flinging open the Barn Doors to find a select group of scrappers to join our Creative Team and we're having a contest to do it. YOU could win a special and unique position on our team.
If you like to scrap, join us and test your skills as a digital layout artist! We have many designers in our store and therefore a variety of styles in the kits we offer so we're looking for scrappers with various styles as well. Even if you've never done anything like this before, give it a try! You never know what will happen! Scrappers of all skill levels are welcome.
The contest starts on April 18, 2009 and will run for 4 weeks. Each week you will be given a kit to use and a teme to scrap. Please register by April 17, 2009 to take part in the contest.Just go to Moo Two Girl Creative Team Contest and register and or/get more information.So come on ...

Don't be shy! Give it a try!

Blooming Spring Collab

2009-04-05T19:22:00.000-07:00

The designers at DigiStyle Designs have put together a fabulous collab for the month of April. It's titled "Blooming Spring". This is a huge collab is Scrap for Hire friendly and more than 200 mb of beautiful spring themed papers and elements, word art and an alpha. You can snag this amazing collab FREE with your purchase of just $3.00! Be sure to check out my new shop at DigiStyle Designs! Pick up something in my shop and add Blooming Spring to your cart for FREE! Check out Blooming Spring here

I've just uploaded a new kit into my stores, it's called "Lazy Afternoon". This kit features great soft spring and summer colors, an adirondak chair, patio umbrella, flowers, butterflies, and terra cotta flower pots along with plenty of other great embellishments for all your layouts. Lazy Afternoon is the kit that Kelly at Angel's Designz chose to make my new blinkie with. Check out her blog here. Kelly did an awesome job on my blinkie, feel free to snag it on the right margin of my blog! Kelly also makes custom banners, if you are in the market for blinkies or banners, look her up!

Half-Baked Girls Blog Train and a SALE!

2009-04-01T00:30:00.000-07:00

It's official, I'm having a Grand Opening Sale! Everything in my shop at Moo Two Designs is 50% off for the month of April! Check out my shop here. As always, I'd love to see any layouts done with my products!
Remember the designer challenge I was participating in at Brownie Scraps? Well, the third round of the challenge has ended and the fourth round has begun. The folks from round three got to be so close that we got together to cook up a little blog train for you all. Several of the Half-Baked Girls are also celebrating Grand Openings so don't forget to stop by and snag some great deals! The "Half-Baked Girls" at Brownie Scraps have a great Blog Train for you. It's our Ice Cream Shoppe collab. Stop at each blog to pick up a part of this fun collab. This blog train officially begins on April 1, 2009 some of the half baked girls are in different time zones so please be patient while everyone gets their links posted. Here's a preview of my contribution: Be sure to leave a little love on everyone's blog.

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And here are the stops on the train:
http://www.mrsjaybob.blogspot.com/ (You are here)

http://scrappergirldesigns.blogspot.com/

http://www.scraps-by-jayaprem.blogspot.com/

http://www.merchimakesit.blogspot.com/

http://www.groovygrannysplace.blogspot.com/

http://www.savascraps.blogspot.com/

http://bothmadandgenius.blogspot.com/

http://flutterbyefaery.blogspot.com/

www.browniescraps.com/blog

http://www.inspiredbydominicdesigns.blogspot.com/

http://www.mommytimeplus.blogspot.com/

http://www.elisespiecesdesigns.blogspot.com/

http://tinkay2.blogspot.com/

http://www.jewelscraps.blogspot.com/

ginnytallent.blogspot.com

http://girlfrienddesignz.blogspot.com/

Friends and Flowers add on!

2009-03-25T16:22:00.000-07:00

It's time to sign up again for the design challenge at Brownie Scraps! The challenge starts again on March 29th. Here's the thread that answers all the quetions you could possible have about this challenge, and here is the sign up thread. Now, if you've never designed anything - not to worry! Lots of tutorials and super helpful veteran designers!
Stop over to Moo Two Designs and get in on our Daily Coffee Chatter. Lots of great challenges and weekly prizes are yours at Moo Two Designs!
There's a Breast Cancer Charity Collab that I'm working on. This collab will be released in April to celebrate the Breast Cancer 3 day walk. Stay tuned right here for more information on when and where you can pick it up!
There will also be a blog train pulling out of the station next week by the Half Baked Girls! I'll get a sneak peek up for you soon!

I've got a little add on for my Friends and Flowers kit. I hope you'll enjoy it!

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A Preview of my latest kit!

2009-03-20T17:37:00.001-07:00

I'm attaching previews of my latest kit, For the Beauty of the Earth. The inspiration for this kit came from a color swatch and an idea for Earth Day from Mary over at Plum Pudding Designs. This kit is loaded with papers, elements and a full alpha. This kit has not been released yet, I'll keep you posted as to where you can pick it up. If you're interested in tossing your hat in for the fourth round of the designer challenges over at Brownie Scraps - here is a link to the FAQ thread and signup thread. The next round will start March 29th!
If you haven't dropped by Oscraps yet this week - YOU NEED TO! We're celbrating the O's third birthday. There are daily chats, challenges and awesome sales in the shop. Stop by and check it out. You'll love the O!

For the Beauty of the Earth

2009-03-14T11:11:00.001-07:00

Here's a preview of my paper pack for the Final Exam kit in the design challenge at Brownie Scraps. I'll have a full preview of the kit tomorrow!

Coffee and Chocolate!

2009-03-08T20:16:00.001-07:00

Here is my week 5 kit "Coffee and Chocolate". This kit is full of my favorite things. Coffee beans, Chocolate, flowers, glitter and a little bit of Hawaiian influence. Enjoy and don't forget to leave some love! Check this thread for all of this week's freebies!
All freebies will be posted for a week and will then be available in my store at Moo Two Designs.
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Sneak Peek

2009-03-08T09:52:00.000-07:00

Here's the sneak peek of my week five kit "Coffee and Chocolate" I'll be back tomorrow with the links to this kit as well as the others participating in the design challenge at Brownie Scraps. Now it's time to concentrate on the "final exam" for the design challenge. Each designer had to select a palette and a theme then post them on the forum. After the posting deadline the next instructions were posted. Here's the twist - find your post and use the color palette and theme posted below you! So - I've got some cool shades of blue, green and brown with a theme of Earth Day to work with! Final exam kits will be posted next Sunday!
My Boys Noise and Dirt and Friends and Flowers kits are now up in my shop at MooTwo Designs.

Burst of Spring!

2009-03-02T09:17:00.001-08:00

SandraK Designs has a new kit out that's being featured this month at 3Scrapateers as the Download a Day! If you don't want to download each day, you can get this kit as part of Sandra's economic relief sale for just $3.58. Keep your eyes peeled for a freebie from this great kit sometime this week!

Check out the preview of this great kit here (not all items are shown in the preview):
Sample layouts with this fun kit:

Get your free kits here!

2009-03-02T07:11:00.000-08:00

Here is the link for the free kits from week four of the Brownie Scraps Designer Challenge! the challenge for week five is to design a kit about ourselves! We can chose any color pallette. The kit must include no more than ten papers and twelve elements. So, I'm asking myself , "Who's going to be interested in a kit with coffee, chocolate, agricultural things and maybe some blue corduroy in it?" Some of you know me well, I'm open for suggestions :)

Spring Breeze Freebie

2009-02-26T16:56:00.000-08:00

My latest contribution to the design challenge at Brownie Scraps is my Spring Breeze kit. This kit is filled with great spring colors, word art, borders, glitter, textured papers and, of course, springs! There is still a layout contest happening at Brownie Scraps. Here's how it works; download any of the free kits a design a layout and post it in the gallery, linking back to the layout thread on the forums. At the end of each week a winning designer and layout designer are selected. Each receive a $5 gift certificate to the shop at Brownie Scraps. Here is a link to all of the week three kits!

Here's my preview for Spring Breeze:
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Boys, Noise and Dirt

2009-02-23T06:43:00.001-08:00

Here is the mini kit I designed during week three of the designer challenge at Brownie Scraps. You can see all the kits and the links to grab them here . Week four's theme is spring, so that will give you a sneak into what I'll be designing for you for next week!

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Flowers and Friends Freebie!

2009-02-16T07:19:00.000-08:00

This is my mini kit for week two of the Brownie Scraps Designer Challenge. We picked our own color palette this week and had a few loose themes that we could build our kits around. I'm pleased with what I designed this week and think that I am really learning a lot about what my software and I can create. To browse and download all of this weeks' freebie kits, check this thread. Once again, you'll have to register at Brownie Scraps to be able to access the thread. There is also a layout challenge happening each week. See the flyer below for information. Each week you could win a $5 coupon to the Brownie Scraps store!

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Layout Challenge

2009-02-13T08:52:00.000-08:00

Check out the layout challenge at Brownie Scraps. There are new free mini kits each week to choose from. Here is the link to the forum where you can find the full listing of kits avaiable. The Gallery where all layouts should be posted. The thread where you'll post a link to your layout to compete in the challenge. There will be winners each week. The prize - $5 coupon to the Brownie Scraps Store!

My First Freebie!

2009-02-04T17:47:00.000-08:00

I'm doing a designer challenge at Brownie Scraps! Each week we are given a specific design challenge, color swatch and theme. This is a six week challenge with mini kits produced by each participant each week. At last count, there were 44 designers taking part in the challenge! Head over to Brownie Scraps to see all the new mini kits and their accompanying download links. Yes, that's right - a "boat load" of freebies for the next several weeks! You will have to be a registered user to access the thread with the free kit links. Well worth the time to register. I'm placing a preview of my first EVER mini kit below. Please let me know what you think. I'm new to this and learning a ton! If you happen to download and do a layout, I'd love to see it!

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Scraplift Chat at Oscraps!

2009-02-01T15:15:00.000-08:00

We had an impromptu scraplift in the chat room at Oscraps today. I used the blog freebie by Create Wings Designs. It matches her Live, Laugh, Love kit. Check out her blog here. Here's my LO from the scraplift:

I finally found an opportunity to participate in a challenge at Scrapbook Max. This was a weekly challenge hosted by my good friend Crops2Dawn. She made us a fabulous movie themed freebie to use for the challenge. The goal was to scrap one or more of your favorite movies! Of course, like most of you, I have more than one favorite but chose this all time classic for my layout.

Well it's Super Bowl Sunday and the game is about to start. Time to quit blogging and watch some football! Go Cardinals!

Deep Love

2009-01-30T13:07:00.000-08:00

Amanda at InAFog Designs has a lovely new kit out called Deep Love. Lots of hearts, flowers, glitter, and beautiful, rich colored and textured papers. Deep Love is available at Scrappy Thoughts and Bouquet of Pixels.
I've signed up for a design challenge at BrownieScraps. The challenge lasts for six weeks and will be filled with tutorials and design tips from BrownieScraps designers. Check out the FAQ section here . If you're interested, hurry to sign up by January 31st - the callenge starts February 2nd!
We'll be watching the Super Bowl this weekend - I love the commercials!
Here's a preview of Deep Love and a couple of Layouts made with this great kit!

2009-01-27T09:33:00.000-08:00

I got an award from Carol ~AKA Crops to Dawn! Crops is one of the most entertaining folks I've met online. She's also helpful and very friendly. So - Thanks Carol for just being you! I'll be sharing with some of my friends.

Here are the rules:

1. Put the logo on your blog or post.

2. Nominate at least 10 blogs which show great Attitude and/or Gratitude!

3. Link to your nominees within your post.

4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.

5. Share the love and link this post to the person from whom you received your award. I am going to try and NOT duplicate any of Croppy's peeps, but if I do, sorry!

LOLO k, here it goes my ten peeps:

Now, go share the love!

Where has the time gone?

2009-01-22T17:09:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's been a long time since I've blogged! Looks like I'd better get right after it! School started back up on January 5th. We've had some SUPER cold weather since then. I had the opportunity to take five students to our annual Legislative Breakfast last week. Thursday morning it was -39 air temp in one part of the state! Coldest place on the planet - well, in the US. Luckily, the school van started right up and we had a great trip.

This week we've had the inauguration of Barak Obama to follow. We watched all day in my classes on Tuesday. It was really interesting for me to watch and discuss with my students since I had been fortunate to attend the inauguration of George W. Bush in 2005. Watching and discussing the inauguration gave good closure to the discussions we had in class on election day.

I've been continuing to work on CT layouts for InAFog Designs and SandraK Designs. SandraK has a new kit out called "Forever My Valentine" This kit has great colors and textures and, of course, hearts galore! It is available at Sandra's store at Scrappy Thoughts and Scraphead.
Here's a preview of this kit:

and a layout using this great kit:Amanda at InAFog Designs also has a fabulous new kit out called "Sweet Love" it is available at Scrappy Thoughts and Bouquet of Pixels. This kit features pinks, reds, and a touch of brown, glitter, hearts, flowers - what else could a girl ask for?

Here's a preview:

And a Layout or two:

This last layout features a split photo script for Paint Shop Pro by Cassel, check out her blog and the script here.

99 Things

2008-12-29T14:27:00.000-08:00

I've seen this on several other folks' blogs and thought I'd play along.

THE 99 THINGS

Things you’ve already done: bold
Things you want to do: italicize
Things you haven’t done and don’t want to - leave in plain font

1. Started your own blog.
2. Slept under the stars.
3. Played in a band.
4. Visited Hawaii.
5. Watched a meteor shower.
6. Given more than you can afford to charity.
7. Been to Disneyland/world.
8. Climbed a mountain.
9. Held a praying mantis.
10. Sang a solo.
11. Bungee jumped.
12. Visited Paris.
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch.
15. Adopted a child.
16. Had food poisoning.
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty.
18. Grown your own vegetables.
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France.
20. Slept on an overnight train.
21. Had a pillow fight.
22. Hitch hiked.
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill.
24. Built a snow fort.
25. Held a lamb.
26. Gone skinny dipping.
27. Run a marathon.
28. Ridden a gondola in Venice.
29. Seen a total eclipse.
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset.
31. Hit a home run.
32. Been on a cruise.
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person.
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors.
35. Seen an Amish community.
36. Taught yourself a new language.
37.Had enough money to be truly satisfied.
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person.
39. Gone rock climbing.
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David in person.
41. Sung Karaoke.
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt.
43. Bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant.
44. Visited Africa.
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight.
46. Been transported in an ambulance.
47. Had your portrait painted.
48. Gone deep sea fishing.
49. Seen the Sistine chapel in person.
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling.
52. Kissed in the rain.
53. Played in the mud.
54. Gone to a drive-in theater.
55. Been in a movie.
56. Visited the Great Wall of China.
57. Started a business.
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia.
60. Served at a soup kitchen.
61. Sold Girl Scout cookies.
62. Gone whale watching.
63. Gotten flowers for no reason.
64. Donated blood.
65. Gone sky diving.
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp.
67. Bounced a check.
68. Flown in a helicopter.
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy.
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial.
71. Eaten Caviar.
72. Pieced a quilt.
73. Stood in Times Square.
74. Toured the Everglades.
75. Been fired from a job.
76. Seen the Changing of the Guard in London.
77. Broken a bone.
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle.
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person.
80. Published a book.
81. Visited the Vatican.
82. Bought a brand new car.
83. Walked in Jerusalem.
84. Had your picture in the newspaper.
85. Read the entire Bible.
86. Visited the White House.
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating.
88. Had chickenpox.
89. Saved someone’s life.
90. Sat on a jury.
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club.
93. Lost a loved one.
94. Had a baby.
95. Seen the Alamo in person.
96. Swum in the Great Salt Lake.
97. Been involved in a law suit.
98. Owned a cell phone.
99. Been stung by a bee.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T06:51:00.000-08:00

It's Christmas morning and I wanted to take a few moments to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

It's been a busy week or so and I'm way behind in my blogging :( I've got goodies to show you and news to share so let's get right to it:

Amanda from In A Fog Designs has a new kit out called "Purple Waves". She's also got a great alpha to match! They are available at Scrappy Thoughts and Bouquet of Pixels. She's also offering a coupon for 50% off anything in her Scrappy Thoughts store. The coupon code is FoggyChristmas. Not sure how long this sale will last so hurry over and grab some goodies.
I've also been working with a kit by desinger Blythe Evans. The kit is called Amethyst IHT ( I "Heart" Thee). Yes, more purple! Blythe's desings are availble at Oscraps and she currently has a snowflake ornament freebie in the store!
I'll leave you with some layouts, hope you enjoy purple!

2008-12-25T06:50:00.001-08:00

Play Time and a Funeral........

2008-12-17T19:57:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, it sounds like a movie title :) Hubby's grandfather passed away last week and the family gathered for the funeral this past Monday. "Grandpa Gene" was 90+ years old and his health had been failing of late. It's still sad to say good bye to the patriarch of the family, but our faith helps us to know that he is now with his beloved Nelda. Grandpa Gene always told us that when he got to heaven he would pat God on the back and tell him what a wonderful job he had done with all of this down below on earth. I'm sure his message has now been delivered. The day of the funeral began with frozen pipes in our kitchen. It was 15 degrees below zero and winds were forecast to blow up to 30 miles per hour! Way Cold!! Our family had some great laughs and rememberances of Grandpa. Yes, tears were shed as well, but only because we will miss his remarkable sense of humor, not because his passing was tragic. In the short years that I was lucky enough to get to know Grandpa Gene he impressed me with his dedication to family, belief in God and his pride in serving our country during WWII.

Amanda at In A Fog Designs has a cool new kit out titled Play Time. It is available at Scrappy Thoughts and Bouquet of Pixels. Amanda has put together bright, vibrant colors with fun embellishments. She's also got a great word art kit to go with all the papers and goodies! Here's an image of the kit and a few sample layouts.

It's been busy around here!

2008-12-11T08:33:00.000-08:00

Life has been super busy in my world the past couple of weeks. My husband's Grandfather is very ill. He's been in and out of the hospital the past couple of months. He's now back in the nursing home and my mother in law has flown home from Arizona to be with him. He's lost the ability to speak and swallow and sleeps most of the time now. Noelle and I stopped to see him and more or less say goodbye on the way to Pierre last Sunday. He finally looks like he is 94. He's always looked much younger than his age, but now, his illness seems to be catching up with him. We pray that his last weeks and days will be peaceful and that somehow, the spirit of the Christmas season will give him peace.

Noelle celebrated her 21st birthday on Sunday, December 7th! She drove down from SDSU and rode along with us to compete in the State FFA Leadership Career Development Events in Pierre. We arrived on time on Sunday afternoon and got checked into the hotel. After the kids got changed we headed over to the competition site. Breanna presented the FFA Creed, Ethan competed in Prepared Public Speaking, Jeremy competed in the Job Interview CDE and our Ag Communications team completed their editing exercise and their communications tests. It was off to China Buffet after competitions. The reading of the fortune cookies was the highlight of the meal!
Monday morning we were up and off to competition again. The ag communications team of Stacia, Spencer, Joe, Shannon and Tucker gave the presentation of their life and led the judges through the question and answer portion instead of the other way around. After their presentation, it was off to the capitol to check out the Christmas Trees. Our capitol is a beautiful building and they fill it with real, fresh cut Christmas trees this time of year. Each tree is decorated by an organization or group from somewhere in the state. If you ever get to Pierre between Thanksgiving and New Year's, be sure to take it in.
We left the capitol in the rain and headed over for the awards luncheon. Some of us wer able to wait more patiently than others for results to be announced. Our major moment of excitement came with the announcement of the Agricultural Communications CDE ~ We heard what we'd been waiting to hear, "First place, the team from West Central". It didn't take long for it to sink in, that this team is now bound for national competition in October in Indianapolis!
Our drive home was a nightmare! Snow, ice, freezing rain, slippery roads - etc. I've added a slideshow below of pictures from our weekend.

State FFA Leadership CDE's

2008-12-11T08:32:00.001-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-29T11:31:00.001-08:00

I'm sure my story is not so different from anyone else's. I ate too much great food on Thursday, didn't sleep well that night and then got up at 3:30 in the morning to take Noelle and Ali with me for Black Friday Shopping! We had so much fun, met a lot of wonderful people busy getting in the holiday spirit. A nap was definitely in order Friday afternoon!
I want to share some samples with you. Amanda at In A Fog has a brand new kit out titled "Winter Blues" It is availble here at Scrappy Thoughts. This kit is versatile and great for winter layouts as well as many other pictures and themes. Great colors and textures and fabulous elements including winter inspired word art.The Scrappy Thoughts Design Team will have a great Collab Kit available December 1st. Here is a sneak preview of this georgous Collab titled "Lushious Lavender.

Sample CT Layouts

2008-11-29T11:30:00.001-08:00

Cool News and a Sale!

2008-11-25T18:43:00.000-08:00

First let me share with you that my mother is greatly improved and was to be released from the hospital today! Sure evidence of the power or prayer! Thanks for all the prayers sent on her behalf! The family is geared up to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday. This year we are so thankful for all of our blessings. I'm relieved to have my mother's health improving and my hubby and the kids are so much happier now that Dexter is slowly regaining his strength and becoming more of his old self.

Bouquet of Pixels is having a sale! The entire store is 25% off Friday through Monday. Stop over and pick up some goodies.

In more exciting news, I've joined the CT for In A Fog Designs and am enjoying doing some new layouts with her Olive Oil Kit. Olive Oil is available at Scrappy Thoughts. The image is clickable to the store.

Here's a layout with Olive Oil. I love the colors and textures that Amanda put into this kit! they go well with many pictures and themes and will even work well for some Holiday layouts!

More exciting news in the works, stay tuned...... Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Enjoy your time with family and friends.

Things to be Thankful for:

2008-11-24T11:33:00.002-08:00

With the Thanksgiving Holiday coming up this thursday and due to recent events in my life, I'm taking time out to reflect on my many blessings! My mother had a near fatal heart attack on Friday, November 21st. Luckily, she has great friends who insisted on calling for emergency medical personnel. After an angioplasty and placement of a stent in her right coronary artery, she is recovering at Straub in Honolulu. My weekend was spent worrying and praying for her. To make an attempt to keep my mind busy, I read the book "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer, cover to cover! It was great mind candy and I now find myself needing to read the other three books in the series!

My husband's best friend, Dexter, the chocolate lab, is also recovering. We had him at the Vet most of last week, not sure if he would live or not. First they thought he'd been poisoned, then a brain tumor, then a stroke. It turns out that it seems to be some sort of inner ear condition that is prevalent in dogs who have trouble with ear infections. He is slowly improving, can go up and down the stairs on his own but still has control issues with walking and standing up and laying down. I really wonder if he is milking his illness to become a "house dog"? At any rate, it's kind of fun having him in the house except he really is a bed hog!

School is busy with prepartion for the State Leadership CDE's in early December. Most of us are rather preoccupied with the short week and anticipation of Thanksgiving. I look forward to time with the girls. We'll miss Jenna but can't wait until she is home for Christmas break in about 19 days!

2008-11-11T14:11:00.000-08:00

Snow Day!

I woke up to freezing rain this morning. Lot of late schools scrolling across the TV. Soon the call came in, we were going to start school two hours late. About the time I was getting in the shower, the next call - no school today! I've worked on a lot of catching up here at home today. Been trying to get information posted on the Cherylbration website. I worked on the graphics most of the morning and have a banner already made at school that I just need to upload. We're getting closer to having this event ready to roll! I hope that attending the event gives Dan and Cheryl the boost that they need to continue fighting her cancer.

I found time to complete a page for this weeks' challenge over at ScrapbookMax. My inspiration is our weather. I guess winter has really arrived.

While watching election returns.......

2008-11-04T19:24:00.001-08:00

I watched election returns this evening while creating a couple of pages. The first is made with materials from the Colab Kit "Gratitude" from Kim B's surprise birthday blog train. Click here to follow the train. The other was made from Boo's kit available for the November color challenge over at Stone Accents Studios.

Home for my Birthday!

2008-10-28T07:00:00.000-07:00

For the first time that I can remember I am actually at home for my birthday. I got home from the 81st National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, IN on Sunday afternoon. The trip was great although a little bittersweet. My oldest daughter had worked to fulfill a dream that she'd had since about 8th grade. Disappointment was a part of our convention as she was not elected to serve as a national officer. She surrounded herself with supportive friends and they will help her through it all. The positive comments that she and I both received from my colleagues and friends helped to reassure her that she had the skills and talent to serve the organization. I got to spend a lot of time with Ali during convention. She had a great time with my students.

Jenna got to hang out with family and attend my cousin Dave's wedding this past weekend. She had a blast meeting family that she had never met and only heard stories of in the past. My cousin Jim took her flying and she actually got to fly over her dorm and the Stanford campus! I'm glad that she has family in the area that welcome her to spend time with them. It makes it a little easier for her to be so far from home. Jenna's also been officially invited to the Stanford Rowing Winter Camp over Christmas break! How exciting to have her walk on to the team and be one of four walk ons invited to camp. Her first race will be this weekend!

The weather is starting to turn. We had a hard freeze last night. I think we hit something like 15 degrees! Winter must be on it's way! Our football team begins playoffs tonight when they play Milbank here at home. Go Trojans!

Coming up for air!

2008-09-24T13:04:00.000-07:00

Boy, it sure never seems to slow down any around here! We had our district land judging near Parker yesterday so I hopped on the big yellow school bus with about 40 of my students and off we went to "play in the dirt". It was a beautiful day and a nice way to get to spend an afternoon outdoors.
It's Homecoming week here at WC so the craziness abounds! We have different dress up days each day. Tomorrow is "Fake Injury" day- hmmmmmmm, I may have to think about that one for a while?
National Convention is a little less than a month away. I'm so excited! It's just aobut my favorite time of year. Preparation for convention this year is totally different. Since Noelle is our National Officer Candidate I've been trying to help out wherever I can in developing test questions and sending her practice tests. I should have quite a database of questions when I'm finished with this process. Today I started a blog for Noelle today and will post writing prompts for her there. Ideally, she'll post her response then several colleagues will read and respond to her post. I hope it works as well as I think it will!
Jenna had her first crew practice today. She texted and said that "rowing is fun". They had their first workout over lunch today! As a result, she's eating granola bars in her math class!
I've finally downloaded pictures off of my camera. Found some real treasures! Pictures from last spring - evidence that Jenna and Rowdy have very little artistic talent!

Recovering from the water and electronics don't mix episode!

2008-09-18T06:47:00.000-07:00

Well, the week started out kind of tough! My freshman class was really a comedy of errors so if it could go wrong, it did! We had a little water episode which ended up soaking much of my classroom and my teaching laptop. Just to you know, water and electronics don't mix! The computer remained running, only a few of the keys would not work. We finished class and then things got ugly. No more computer. Not even the blue screen of death! After "baking" the laptop in my truck for the rest of the day I was able to log on and boot the computer and burn a cd of all of my tests that are stored on it's hard drive! YAY! The next day - only annoying beeping noises could be made by my laptop.
I've got another laptop rebuilt with all my software and my test files loaded. Now I just have to learn the new version of the software. I guess things could be MUCH worse.
On the kid front - Noelle leaves this afternoon for a National Officer Candidate training weekend in Minneapolis. I hope that the experience gives her a good bench mark for what she knows and where she needs to work. National Convention is coming up fast, I hope not too fast! Jenna is continuing with the New Student Orientation events at Stanford. She met with the Crew coach yesterday and is pretty pumped to try out this new opportunity.
At home things are pretty much the same. Jay worked until 8:30 last night. The grasshoppers are taking over the garden. They have stripped the broccoli and eaten 90% of the leaves off of the potato plants. Guess I won't be harvesting any more broccoli? Tonight is KRRO fest at the Canaries Stadium featuring Avenged Sevenfold, Buckcherry, Avenged Sevenfold, Shinedown and Saving Abel. Not my normal choice in music, but should be fun!

It's officially Fall!

2008-09-16T14:05:00.000-07:00

It must officially be Fall. School has been back in session for almost a month, we've had the first threats of frost over night and football season in in full swing. Jenna flew out to California today to begin her adventures as a college student at Stanford University! I'm excited for her yet so sad to say good-bye. We've spoken a couple of times and I know she is fine, but can't help but worry. I guess that's what mom's do best? I'm so excited to hear about her adventures and all the new experiences she will be having.

The Middle of April!

2008-04-19T08:55:00.000-07:00

Can you believe how time flies? It's already the middle of April. We just finished our State FFA Convention - our state officers did an amazing job and have much to be proud of. My senior daughter is going to the prom tonight - oh goody - more stuff to scrap:)
Here is the word art I made for my daughters' state officer team. They chose this as their theme for the year. I've used it in a layout published earlier in this blog. Help yourself.

2008-04-08T09:57:00.001-07:00

Our Weather just can't make up it's mind. One day it's sunny and warm and the next we get 15 inches of snow. The pics are two that I did for challenges over at www.scrapbookmax.com

Word art freebies.

2008-04-03T04:17:00.000-07:00

I'm helping my daughter sccrap her senior year in high school and working with my oldest daughter to capture some of her great memories from this year serving as a State FFA Officer. I thought these would work for both of them.

My First Entry

2008-03-30T08:51:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'm BRAND new at this. Thought it was time to begin and see if I can maintain a blog. I'm hoping this will give me a place to reflect on things happening around me and the world. I've recently gotten addicted to digital scrapbooking and my blog will be a place where I can post some of my efforts in that arena.

Mrs.JayBob's all my bloggable things

A new site - Mrsjaybob.com

Winter Formal, Cake Balls and Football!

Yuletide Coupon Hunt!

New wintery goodies!

CT Call

A new mini kit!

A Weekend in Paris

Designer Survivor Finals!

"Project Scrapway" and Week Five Reward Challenge

Week 4 Reward Challenge!

* Votes needed* Week Three Reward Challenge *Votes needed*

Thank you!

Designer Survivor - week 2 - Votes needed! Bribes possible:)

CT Call

New Release - Celebrate Reload Kit!

Holiday Sale at Designs In Digital!

Big News! Grand Opening Sale!

Last few days of my MooTwo Sale!

Manic Monday and a Sale!

Having the Family Together!

Final NDIDDS Challenge and a Freebie!

The Half-Baked Girls Blog Again and a Super Coupon!

Coupon Time!

How about a little "Grungy Peacock"?

Last day to download Tuscany, preview of week 4!

Week 3 of NDIDDS Challenge Freebie!

Secrets, Hopes and Dreams Freebie!

Believe!

Another Half Baked Girls Blog Train!

Celebrate National Scrapbooking Day!

Last Days of my Moo Two Sale!

Name my new kit and check out Under the Sea!

Black Tie Affair Release and a Sale!

Creative Team Contest

Blooming Spring Collab

Half-Baked Girls Blog Train and a SALE!

Friends and Flowers add on!

A Preview of my latest kit!

For the Beauty of the Earth

Coffee and Chocolate!

Sneak Peek

Burst of Spring!

Get your free kits here!

Spring Breeze Freebie

Boys, Noise and Dirt

Flowers and Friends Freebie!

Layout Challenge

My First Freebie!

Scraplift Chat at Oscraps!

Deep Love

Where has the time gone?

99 Things

Merry Christmas!

Play Time and a Funeral........

It's been busy around here!

State FFA Leadership CDE's

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sample CT Layouts

Cool News and a Sale!

Things to be Thankful for:

While watching election returns.......

Home for my Birthday!

Coming up for air!

Recovering from the water and electronics don't mix episode!

It's officially Fall!

The Middle of April!

Word art freebies.

My First Entry

* Votes needed* Week Three Reward Challenge Votes needed