Tuesday, June 12, 2007

This weeks challenge winner is...

Jessi!!! Look at this beautiful LO... the fabric is the actual hat her sweet baby wore home from the hospital. (I will definately have to scraplift this idea-thanks Jessi)

PS check out her blog she did another LO with fabric as well www.scrappinmountainmama.blogspot.com







This beautiful LO was done by Patricia...(cool idea with the stamp, will have to try that!)





And then you have this LO done by Cathy www.cathymchung.blogspot.com I love the idea of adding a piece of your child's blanket to a LO!! Check out her blog too..she just took some super cool photos for a class she is taking.

Even though I named Jessi the winner, I am going to have a little something for all of you. I will drop it off at the store by the end of the week. Thanks for all the great inspiration ladies.

Love you guys for participating.

Dream, Design and keep Creating

Nikki

Monday, June 11, 2007

Lists, Lists, and more Lists

Last week I talked about the efficiency of making lists, so today I decided to write out my list of things I needed to do this week. I challenge you to write out a list of what you have to/want to accomplish this week. If you have a blog, post it! Leave me a comment with a link to your blog, I would love to see it! Ok, here is mine:

To Do:

-post a blog challenge on ScrapGalaxy Mon, Wed and Friday

-write a post each day this week for K2's blog

-write a post on my blog each day this week

-sewing class (monday 10-1)

-gym (M,W,F 5:30am)

-run (T, Th, S 5:30am)

-mommy and me craft Thursday 10-11:30

-shots for Brody and 6 mo check up

-teach Father's Day exploding Box class at K2 thurday night at 6:30

-dinner at Elena's tuesday night

-tuesday morning drop Riley off at PopPops

-wednesday pick up Gavin for the morning to play with Riley

-thurday drop Riley off to play with Gavin for the morning

-sat evening date night with Sean

-buy present for Kayla's 2nd birthday

-laundry

-grocery shopping

-get May pictures developed

-PLAY with my kids and my new camera

-scrapbook (complete my LO's for K2 this month)

-submit my work to MF for the last step of the DT submission

-put away this huge pile of "stuff" that has accumulated in my dining room

-clean out and reorganize knife and kitchen acessory drawers

-call Valerie at Dr Hamads to reschedule appt

-call Julie W. to tell her how much I loved her new book

-find a more organized way to write down blog challenge ideas

-get together RAK from last weeks fabric challenge and drop if off at K2

-

-



Well, here is my list so far...I am sure that I will be adding more throughout the week (that is why I left blank spaces).

Sunday, June 10, 2007

*K2 Fabric Challenge Update*

Ok, who did the fabric challenge???
I have a cool RAK (a cool sewing basket filled with fabric swatches and strips) for the winner!!!
Leave a comment here on this post or original challenge post so I can look at the LO's and pick the winner.
Get Scrappin...you have till midnight tonight!
Dream, Design, Create
Nikki
PS if no one submits tonight, I will extend it one more week.

WooHoo my new camera!

I am so excited. I got my new (to me) digital SLR camera yesterday.
I was down at Wolff Camera in Venice last week talking to Mike (who has been there for 7 years and is a WEALTH of information.) and was telling him what I wanted. Well, the more we talked the more I realized it is ALL ABOUT THE LENS!!!!
He explained that for what I wanted to spend, I was better off getting a good (canon or nikon) middle of the line (meaning a 6 or 7 megapixel) camera body and then spend a considerable amount of money on a good lens. I agreed.
This is what I got:
-a Canon EOS D60 digital camera body
-a manual 70-210mm lens (he gave this to me so I could take picts until I got a good lens)
-a battery grip (which is something my professional photographer friend told me to look for cause it holds 2 batteries and you will not have to change them till you have shot 2000 picts, and she told me it is great to add weight to your camera when you are shooting without a flash, you know...to keep the camera steady!)
-2 lithium batteries
-a remote control
-a dual battery charger as well as an AC adapter allowing me to plug my camera in so I can use it without batteries!
-AV/USB cords
-an off camera shoe cord (allowing me to connect a seperate flash)
-an off camera flash holder (that attaches to the camera)
-a memory card
-as many filters as I want (he told me that the ones I have to have now are the UV and the spolarized filter, but if I wanted to play around with some others I could)
I got all of this for 500.00 dollars!!!
The accesories alone would have cost me more than that.
I feel so blessed that I got this deal.
Then I found the amazing lens I wanted. It is a Tamron 90mm, f 2.8, macro lens (new this is a 800.00 lens) I got it used for 299.00 on B&H photo. Mike who also sold me the camera told me about this great deal. He said that he has this lens and that of all the lens' he own this is his favorite. I should be getting this on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week.
I will post some pictures as soon as I get my lens!!
Nikki

Saturday, June 09, 2007

Guest Blogger

I was asked by Karen (one of the owners and blogger for K2 Scrapbook Studio) to blog for the store while she went on vacation for a week. Of course I said yes! Well to be honest it is a little nerve racking...it's like writing in someone elses diary!
I am mainly going to be blogging about what is going on with the store, new products...etc and a little about me.

So for the next week you will either find me here or at www.k2scrapbookstudio.typepad.com .
Hope you all have a great weekend.

Nikki

Friday, June 08, 2007

What kind of camera do you have??

...currently I have an Olympus C-60 digital point and shoot.
I have been pretty pleased with the photos I have been able to get.
Almost all the photos on my LO's the last year and a half have been taken with that camera.
I also have a Nikon 35mm film camera which I love.

I know the type of shots I really want and just can't seem to get them... which is very frustrating.
After talking with a photographer and looking through her camera I realized that it is all about the lens you use...so that is why I am upgrading to a digital SLR. I am getting a good quality digital camera body (a used one) and a really good lens. Everyone I know says spend your money on the lens!
I will let you know what I end up with. (I have a deal in the works with Mike at Wolff Camera)
Nikki

Monday, June 04, 2007

Happy Monday Bloggers

I am starting a monday blog challenge. Sometimes we are all at a loss at what to blog about. What is going to be special to me in years to come is the everyday things that could be easily forgotten. Today I challenge you to write about the everyday things...like what is your typical Monday schedule. Here's mine:
4:55am get up
5:30 am gym
6:45am arrive home and shower (Sean usually has made the coffee, fed the dogs and Riley has gotten up)
7:00am feed Riley, make bed, clean kitchen, and prepare Brody's bottle and cereal, eat breakfast (and this morning I am blogging)
7:30 am feed Brody bottle and rice cereal
8:00am make Riley's lunch (if we are going somewhere), finish straightening house, let the dogs out again
8:15am leave the house to go visit Bubbles (Grandma) and PatPat (Grandpa).
11:00am lunch for Riley, Brody (bottle and vegetable) and me
1:00pm naps for both Riley and Brody (this is my time to do what I want)
3:00pm feed Brody bottle and cereal and Riley gets up from nap
3:30pm play with Riley and Brody, Sean gets home from work
5:30pm Dinner time
6:15pm feed Brody a bottle and put him to bed for the night, Riley takes a bath
7:00pm read to Riley
7:30pm Riley goes to bed (unless he is fishing with his Daddy)
8:00pm alone with Sean at last!!!!

That is a typical day around here.
I would love to hear about your day.
Leave me a comment with a link to your blog and I will check it out. (**For all the ScrapGalaxy girls doing this, just leave a comment in the forum and I will check your blogs**)

Dream, Design, Create
Nikki

Weekly K2 Challenge

All right girls.
The challenge this week is to use fabric on a LO.
My favorite resources for free fabric is my local wallpaper/design store.You can also find some fun fabrics at Joanne's, Walmart and my new favorite store "Sew Worth It" (the most fantastic fabric store in all of Sarasota- Located in the Clark/Honore shopping center)
Here are three recent LO's I did that include fabric:
I am going to be giving a RAK to the challenge winner this week- a bunch of different fabric swatches, remnants, some torn strips of fabric... here are a few of the fabric strips you will be receiving.

Dream, Design, Create

Nikki

Sunday, June 03, 2007

Well, I have to say...

...i am a bit excited!!!!
I was chosen to be on the Design Team for Scrap Galaxy!
Scrap Galaxy (www.scrapgalaxy.com ) is a resource web site for scrapbookers.
You will find a forum, an inspiration gallery, free tutorials, contests, product reviews and much more.
Come check it out!! Don't forget my user name is everydayelegance.
Dream, Design, Create
Nikki

PS I will be doing a weekly blog challenge and a quote of the day on Monday's.

Thursday, May 31, 2007

My latest ATC's

Prompt: Note to self


Prompt: use a favorite symbol


Prompt: what do you find inspiration in today...


Prompt: something you miss...

These ATC prompts are from Emily Falconbridge's blog www.embers.typepad.com.
Dream, Design, Create
Nikki

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Yesterday...

...i made a list of all the things i needed to get done in the next week.
I had such a productive day cause more than half of the things I had on my list were checked off by the time I went to bed (there is something to be said about lists!) The last few things on my list I either completed this morning or am waiting for return phone calls. I just love the power of time management. It leaves you to do other things you enjoy.
Reading is one of my favorites. I just love getting sucked into a good book... so when I realized that I did not have a book to read, I stopped by the "book" Goodwill. It was the first time I had ever been in there, its located on Bee Ridge and Cattleman. All they sell in there is books...it is set up like a regular book store so books are VERY easy to find. I love a good murder mystery so I got a James Patterson and a Clyve Cussler book. I also went to Sam's and picked up The Best Life by Bob Greene (he is Oprah's personal trainer). I started 2 of them already and are enjoying them both.
One of the last things i have added to my list is updating my blog, my flicker pictures and my galleries...so off to work on those!
Thanks for listening to my rambling...
Nikki

Last weeks challenge winner

Last weeks K2 challenge winner was really hard to decide... so you need to go to both Charlene www.charleneemmons.blogspot.com and Jessi's www.scrapinmountainmama.blogspot.com blog to see their beautiful creations!
Charlene made this adorable 3 ring binder as a log for her triathalon training that she and her training partner Amanda are doing. (Speaking of Amanda...Amanda if you read this post I want to see what you made last week...and I know you made something cause Charlene spilled the beans) Who cares what the photos look like just take a picture of it and send it...i can always crop and change the size if need be.) And that goes for all you challengers out there, if you make a LO or an altered project PLEASE just send us a picture of it if you do not have a blog.

Jessi made 2 projects! An adorable altered mint tin as a gift for her sister in law, and she make this great "occasion card chipboard ring thingy" (ok, i made that name up :o)!)
Please take a look at their cute projects and check K2 blog

www.k2scrapbookstudio.typepad.com for the winner!
Dream, Design, Create
Nikki

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Fishing with Daddy

Sean and Riley go fishing a couple times a week off the dock in our back yard. They have re- named it "Riley's Pier". They caught this bass the other night on Riley's Finding Nemo rod...it was too cute. Riley came running up to the house yelling "Mommy get the camera, Mommy get the camera...LOOK at the Bass I caught!!!!"

Friday, May 25, 2007

School's out for Summer

...and there is so much to do in Sarasota (thank God!).

Here are some picts of Jungle Garden's.

Riley and I spent some much needed Mommy and Riley time while PopPop watched Brody.

This will definately be a family favorite for the summer.

Riley loves feeding the flamingos.




Mommy and Riley.



This is the first time Riley held one of the birds on his arm.

One of the huge tortoises' at the Gardens.

Monday, May 21, 2007

Weekly Challenge

Alright ladies my challenge this week is to make something other than a LO using your scrapbooking supplies. (There is an AWESOME book at K2 called "Great Gift Ideas using Scrapbooking Materials" if you are at a loss for something to make.) Get creative, I want to see some fun things this week. REMEMBER at K2 there are the Heidi Swapp playing cards which are FUN to play with! Scroll down a couple posts and you will see that I have made an altered frame, two teacher gifts, and I am working on some ATC 's which I will post as soon as I get them done.

Dream, Design and get CREATIVE

Nikki

PS don't forget to leave me a comment on this post with a link to your blog or online gallery or e-mail me a jpeg to nikkiclearypta@yahoo.com when you have completed this weeks challenge.

PSS the challenge winner's project will be posted on K2's blog next week!

More LO's...





TFL.
Dream, Design, Create.
Nikki

Graduation Frame

Karen (at K2) found a cute graduation frame made from Basic Grey papers and embellishments and asked me to teach a class on it. I really liked it except the quote so I went online and found a quote I liked better. Here is how my frame turned out.
I will be teaching this class on Saturday June 9th and Thursday July 19th. I hope you can join me, it will be a perfect gift for the 2007 graduate in your life. I made this one for my friend Meggan who graduated from the Physical Therapist Assistant program at MCC. Congrats girl I am soooo proud of you!!!


Dream, Design, Create

Nikki

End of the Year Teacher Gifts




Riley had the sweetest teachers Ms Connie and Ms Cindy for his first year of Parents Morning Out at a local church. They were so loving and nurturing... I wanted to make them something special for their homes. These are blocks of wood I covered in patterned paper, embellished with ribbons, buttons, flowers, glass rocks and dyed clothespins. TFL

Dream, Design, Create

Nikki

Sunday, May 20, 2007

I find it funny


I was sitting here thinking about the creative process... and thinking about when I am in the "zone" everything I touch becomes something beautiful to me...i get inspired by everything around me...my LO's turn out even better than i could have imagined THEN when I am in a creative "slump" I don't do much of anything. Well, I thought I was in a creative slump... but here I am 2 hours later still posting about all the things I have made lately (I have so many posts that I had to save some for later this week) and I just had to smile. TFL at my latest LO's I created in my "slump"...too funny huh cause they are some of my fav's.
Dream, Design, Create
Nikki

She said... He said.








This is one of my favorite mini albums that I have made lately. Sean and I wrote down our "top 10" favorite foods, TV shows, movies, date nights, songs, special days in our life, things we love about each other, places we like to visit and things we like to do in our spare time.


I used the 7 gypsies two sided accordian album (perfect for this type of mini album) and stamps, Reminisce patterned papers, tons of different Autumn Leaves stamps, Heidi Swapp stamps and chipboard letters, my sharpie markers (that I couldn't live without) for the doodling and hand drawn borders, MM tabs, K and Co stickers, metal embellishments and tags, Lil Davis chipboard sayings, foam flowers, Bam Pop letters stamps, AC thickers... TFL

Dream, Design, Create


Nikki

Each month...

...the K2 design team is going to try something fun and new to display on our "frames" at the store. One of us is going to pick a LO to scrapjack (or scraplift) and the three of us (Kim Bolyard, Jocie Stevens and myself) are going to display our take on the layout. This month I chose a LO by Sande Krieger (she makes those awesome stamps for Autmn Leaves) and here is her LO...

and here is mine...

TFL

Dream, Design, Create

Nikki

P.S. to see all our fun scrapjacks of Sande's LO... go to K2 and take a look at the design team frames at the back of the store

Jocies weekly K2 challenge

Thanks Jocie www.jocelynstevens.blogspot.com for the inspiration this week. Here is my take at using transparencies... I started with a piece of white cardstock. The paper on the left is Marah Johnson the transparency on top is Narratives and so are the word stickers , the gaffer tape is 7 gypsies (all found at K2), my own doodling. TFL
Dream, Design, Create
Nikki

7 Gypsies file folder

I started making this 7 gypsies naked file folder a couple of weeks ago. I just picked it up again...i am still not sure what i am going to use it for. possibly as a fun "idea" folder... i have added papers to the inside flaps as well... i like how it turned into a fun collage (i am really lovin the Heidi Swapp playing cards) i just started placing papers and ephemera and this is how it turned out. TFL
Dream, Design, Create
Nikki

Monday, May 14, 2007

Kim's K2 paint challenge and last weeks Winner!

Sorry Kim... I am behind with my challenges. Here is my LO. I took the new Teresa Collins Junkitz paper and cut out a flame and used it as a stencil. Then I got out my foam stamps and used paint to add the "2". Thanks for the inspiration. Check out Kim's blog http://itsallaboutme.typepad.com to see the original challenge.


Here is the pick for last weeks "circle" challenge posted on my blog last Monday. Thanks everyone for participating. Here is Amanda's LO!

Dream, Design and keep Creating!!

Nikki

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Muddy Buddy





Here are a few picts of yesterday's race. We had so much fun!!! It is a 6 mile race total with 5, 1.2 mile legs. You and your partner trade off between the bike and runnning. At each checkpoint you both complete an obstacle: rock wall, cargo net climbing with a big slide, balance beam, and the last one was a giant mud pit.

I owe my mother...

1. My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE. "If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning."
2. My mother taught me RELIGION. "You better pray that will come out of the carpet."
3. My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL. "If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!"
4. My mother taught me LOGIC. " Because I said so, that's why."
5. My mother taught me MORE LOGIC. "If you fall out of that swing and break your neck, you're not going to the store with me."
6. My mother taught me FORESIGHT. "Make sure you wear clean underwear,! in case you're in an accident."
7. My mother taught me IRONY. "Keep crying, and I'll give you something to cry about."
8. My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS. "Shut your mouth and eat your supper."
9. My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM. "Will you look at that dirt on the back of your neck!"
10. My mother taught me about STAMINA. "You'll sit there until all that spinach is gone."
11. My mother taught me about WEATHER. "This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it."
12. My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY. "If I told you once, I've told you a million times. Don't exaggerate!"
13. My mother taught me the CIRCLE OF LIFE. "I brought you into this world, and I can take you out."
14. My mother taug ht me about BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION. "Stop acting like your father!" 15. My mother taught me about ENVY. "There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don't have wonderful parents like you do."
16. My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION. "Just wait until we get home."
17. My mother taught me about RECEIVING. "You are going to get it when you get home!"
18. My mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE. "If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they are going to get stuck that way."
19. My mother taught me ESP. "Put your sweater on; don't you think I know when you are cold?"
20. My mother taught me HUMOR. "When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me."
21. My mother taught me HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT. "If you don't eat your vegetables, you'll never grow up."
22. My mother taught me GENETICS. "You're just like your father."
23. My mother taught me about my ROOTS. "Shut that door behind you. Do you think you were born in a barn?"
24. My mother taught me WISDOM. "When you get to be my age, you'll understand."
25. And my favorite: My mother taught me about JUSTICE. "One day! you'll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you

My friend sent me this and I thought it was too cute. Thanks Tomi and Happy Mother's Day
Nikki

Sunday, May 06, 2007

Weekly K2 Challenge

OK, my challenge is to "get out of the box" and into circles. I just love them. On this LO I cut them out of Basic Grey paper, my embellishments (buttons, brads and flowers) are circles... I can't wait to see the creative ways you use circles.
Don't forget to leave me a link to your blog in the comment section or send me a picture of your LO to nikkiclearypta@yahoo.com and the fav will be posted on the K2 blog!

Dream, Design, Create

Nikki

Saturday, May 05, 2007

Happy National Scrapbooking Day (NSD)!

I can't think of a more appropriate day for me to celebrate!
I spent my afternoon at my LSS, K2 hosting a "tool tasting" with Karen.
We had a busy afternoon creating a beautiful make and take using all the tools sold in the store.
I made one for my mother in law for Mother's Day!
Happy Scrappin.
Dream, Design, Create