Tried It Tuesday - Class Dojo

Howdy!
Welcome back for another edition of Tried It!

Holly over at Fourth Grade Flipper is also working off this same theme. Go check out her post as well.



 I'm starting to have 'Teacher Dreams' with only three weeks left before I say Sayonara to Summer. You know those dreams that put you into a classroom situation and then you have to figure out what to do? I'm talking those nailbiting situations like someone throws an eraser at you, or one of your little darlings talk back, or you forgot to pass out the report cards, or the principal shows up right as the science experiment blows up.

What? You've never had these? Hm, maybe I'm just weird.

Anyway, it's these 'walkthroughs' of what would you do that I start analyzing my classroom strategies and trying to figure out, well, what I would do. I'm constantly having to discuss the idea of talking and how it is NOT good during worktimes. I have gone through so much research on what to do with an overly chatty class, and they always offer the same stunted suggestions such as move clips, or give a child three cubes, or a behavior chart. I've tried everything! Nothing curbs those eager mouths that sometimes talk right over you no matter how close to their desk you stand.

One program I ran across that I thought would solve it all was a cute little site called Class Dojo. It works on the idea of a visual reminder for both positive and  negative behaviors. Each student is assigned a funny little monster icon. Look below:

 And you get to set the awards into categories of your own selecting, such as the list below. I'm sure you can guess what types of Negative choices there are.

The site allows you to make some custom settings for your room:

As the day progresses you have the class screen up for all to see. Then as someone  makes a great choice or needs to rethink their behaviors you can simply click over and reward or take away points. You'll need to discuss with your class beforehand what types of rewards will occur if they have so many minuses (maybe they lose 5 mins of recess for -2) and what happens when they have so many pluses (extra computer time, or call home with a good note) at the end of the day, or week as you move to wean them off this process.

Now, for my experience the first time it didn't work for me. Analyzing the hows and whys and whatfors during my 'Teacher Dreaming' I believe it was because I started this process way too late. It was something new but they never really bought into it. I want to start it right from the beginning of school and see how that affects their behaviors. Also, I don't like to keep my monitor on all day. I'm stingy and those lightbulbs in the machine are very expensive. I wouldn't want the school shelling out tons of dollars just to keep my kids quiet. I might be trying to have it on only during the major worktimes such as reading workshop or math class.

I will check back in with you in September after a month of school to let you know how it is coming. But until then I'd love to hear your responses to this program if you've tried it, or suggestions on how to make it work better in your room.

So, give it a try and let me know your thoughts.

Mentor Monday - Social Media Buttons

I've been on such a journey in just a short week. This time last week I had a BBB on my hands - that's mespeak for boring, blah blog. Through the help of some very creative people I brought that mess into the future and made something I like looking at each day.

This is a good thing, because I also have developed a format for my blogging that will keep me coming back more and more to share my world with you. Before I just posted things I thought you might want to hear. Which, if you look back far enough, you'll notice the thoughts were few and far between. With an established routine, I will blog more and be more consistent so you aren't waiting forever to hear from me.

Mentor Monday is just a rehash of what I've learned in the past week that is will make my TpT store better and how I can share it with you. The biggest lesson I've learned this week is that you have to promote, promote, promote to get your message out there. Especially if you are brand new to the blogosphere. You've got to literally SMEAR yourself everywhere to increase the amount of people that see your presence and will come in to visit your site. More people means more sales, more sales means more vacations!

In order to get yourself out there make sure you've got all the social media arenas covered. There's the biggies like Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and of course Tpt. Then you can add in some other personal favs like Instagram, youTube, and flikr. All of which you can direct them back to your humble blog. If they like you, they want to know more. Once you've set up accounts at all of these places come back to your blog and make sure that your visitors can find you at all of these places, so they can tell their friends all about you.

If you do a Google search on Social Media Buttons that you can add to your blog, you'll find a ton to download and most of them are free. There are so many styles of the same buttons you are sure to find a set that works perfectly with your blog esthetic. Here's a site that had a lot of different styles to choose from called Slodive.

Download the set you love to your hard drive.  Next you'll have to upload them all to a sharing forum such as Photobucket which will give you some HTML codes that you can post onto your blog. You'll need to add a gadget that includes all of these codes that link the image icon say of Facebook to your actual FB page.

Go to your blogger design section and click on "Layout" where you can click on the "Add a gadget" section and select the HTML choice that's about 2/3rds of the way down the selection window. In there you can add in the HTML code for each button. Here's the code for you to use:

I found this idea on the All About Kimberly blog.

So, count up how many different social media icons you have and cut and paste the above code that  many times into your new HTML gadget. Then go through each HTML code and put in the website link and the photobucket image code for each.

When you are done, your visitors have easy access to all the places that you hang out.  Now you can sit back and watch the traffic to your blog multiply. Believe me,  it works! Last week I had a view count of 0 for the past six months. Today, I have over 200 views in the past week. Whoo HOO!

Hopefully, this helps you on your path to greatness. If you have any questions feel free to contact me in the comment section or click on the little envelope icon at the top right of my blog to send me an email. If you like this and it does help you out, I'd love to hear that as well.

Until tomorrow!

O-M-G! Huge TpT Giveaway Contest

If you aren't already aware of this huge (over 50+ items) Scavenger Hunt  happening over at I'm Loving Lit you definitely need to rush over there right away. You can choose from any of the following packages or all of them!

It was super easy to do. Choose the set you most want, click on it then go to each of the websites listed to collect the secret words to turn in on a form. Then a huge set of Freebies arrives magically in your inbox. I can't believe how much work Erin at Loving Lit put into this project. Makes my head explode.

But you will definitely benefit from it, so go take a look. You'll thank me.

BlogLoving Blog Hop

I'm awake at 6 A.M. and school's not even in session. So why not throw down another post, eh?

Since today was my first ever Linky Party (see the post below this one), what better way to celebrate than to join one myself. I am linking up with A Teacher Without a Class and her awesome LAMINATOR giveaway to let folks know that Google Reader as a blog reader is gone. I'm trying out Blogloving as a means of keeping all the blogs I'm following in one neat little place for me to go through.

It's free and fun as you scroll down all the recent posts from each of the blogs that you are following. You can even catch up with your blogs on your mobile phone, how cool? You can follow my blog once you've signed up on Blogloving by clicking  on the button on the right column of my blog.

Also, here's the code to enter your link if you decide to join in on the Linky Party fun.

Friday Fun - Math Literature Linky Party

You may use this title icon on your posts as well. Just right click on the picture and "Save Link As" to your own post so that it links back to this page.

Here's the fill-out form for your book to post on your blog:

As promised, here is my first Linky Party EVER!

For this section of Friday Fun, I am going to ask y'all to share your favorite Math Literature connections. Last year we had an amazing Math Coach at my school that loved tying math and literature together for students to further their knowledge of both topics.

One of the books she used in her series of Math Literature was the Greedy Triangle by Marilyn Burns.

Now for my write up:

After you read this book to your students, you can pass out the following sheet for them to fill out on their own. (It's available here The Greedy Triangle Write Up)

 The students get to choose one of the shapes the Triangle goes through and apply it to shapes that they've seen around them. Encourage them to think of some really unique uses for their shape, like the shape made by people bending their elbows! This lesson will get them thinking about how the author gave several creative ways that geometric shapes can be found in the world around us. Their unique minds will think outside the box and show you some insight into their personalities. Be prepared.

Go ahead and click on the link below to add your Math inspired literature ideas. Can't wait to see what everyone posts. Thanks for joining my party!

OH, if you want to add the links to the bottom of your post as well, there's a neat little "grab the code" button underneath the Add your Link button below. Just stick this HTML code at the bottom of your post and Voila!

An InLinkz Link-up

Thursday Tutorials - Linky Party

Happy Independence Day y'all!

I heard the history of this day put into perspective by my niece's FB status this morning:

"Okay guys, one more thing, this summer when you're being inundated with all this American bicentennial Fourth Of July brouhaha, don't forget what you're celebrating, and that's the fact that a bunch of slave-owning, aristocratic, white males didn't want to pay their taxes." ;)

 She's so cute.  Love that she used the word brouhaha, it's such a throwback to seventh grade English class with Ms. McGovern.

 Today I thought I'd focus on providing a little tutorial. This is going to focus strictly on technology and not specifically for use in your classroom. Once I got the idea settled I had to think what I wanted to share on this day of Independence. The problem I've been trying to solve in the past few days for myself was the mysterious phenomenon known as a "Linky Party." A ton of the blogs I've been visiting through the TpT community seem to have conquered this strange method of binding themselves together into a tight knit group. 

 Never wanting to be left out of the loop, I want to decipher the code that surrounds the Cool Group. As I struggle to get it working for my blog, you are coming along with me for the ride. Are you ready? Got a cool drink and a cookie? Let's go!

1. The first thing I always do when trying to create something is to head over to Google. So I typed in: How do I create a linky party. The first site it took me to was It's a Blog Party that claims to  know the secrets behind linkies in the post "Building your Blog: Host a Linky Party." We shall see. 

2. One of the things you definitely need in order to host a linky party is a 'button.' This is a little image that acts as a link back to your blog. You can see mine off to the right under the Grab My Button heading. You can add this to your Blogger site by adding the gadget HTML to your blog and sticking the code you see under my button into the gadget box. Just make sure that you change the information between the parenthesis over from my blog site to yours and then change the information between the second set of parenthesis from my image location to yours.

You'll have to load your image up to a separate  sharing site such as Photobucket and grab the direct code from that site in order to plug into the HTML code above. 

3. Next you'll need to build your own linky platform. There are two choices that I looked into Inlinkz and Linky Tools. Both are free to join, but if you want the real benefit from the program, you'll need to pay about $2 a month for the upgrade. YES! There's money involved. Just wanted you to be aware of this before we move forward. 

I think I'm going to go with Inlinkz. Their website just looks cleaner and they offer a discount of $20 for the year if you pay at once. Save yourself $4 for some Starbucks, right? Once you are all logged in and confirmed your subscriptions through your email (there will be two, one for newsletter and one for the site itself, make sure you confirm both or it won't let you log in) you'll have two choices: Go to Dashboard, or Project Manager. 

Your first Linky Party with thumbnail images is totally free. After that you are allowed text only Linky Parties. If you want thumbnails (much more fun for me) you'll need to change your subscription over to the paid service. Let's do that first. Click on "Account" at the top and click on the blue "Extend your Plan" button next to link-up tool subscription. You'll see payment options there. I chose the $19.99 for one year - save 18% option and paid it off. 

If anyone also wants to join this site, here is My Referral Number

4. Now you're ready to start your very own Linky Party, or "Collection" as Inlinkz calls them. Click on the "Create New Collections" button and give your Linky Party a name. 

5. Give it a duration of time that you'd like it to run:

6. Then set up the information for how you want the links to display:
(here I am going to go with the suggestions provided by It's a Blog Party
since they seem to know what they are doing).

7. Finally, you have the option to be emailed when someone links up. This way you can check for spammers and such to delete that mess right away. Also, if you are going to repeat this type of collection again in the future and want to save the settings, create a "Meme" name for it and it will show up under the "Add new based on" pull down at the beginning of your dashboard. Save yourself some time.

SUBMIT!

8. You'll get this gobbledy-gook HTML code that you can include in your post. When you're ready to start the Linky Party, create a new post and go through the motions of explaining it all to your loyal readers. Then when you are ready to include the Inlinkz information (usually at the end of your post) you can switch the post content "Compose" to "HTML". I see it sitting at the top left of the screen underneath the Blogger icon and my blog name. Once in HTML, just insert the Inlinkz HTML code you saved earlier at the end.

9. Preview your blog to see the actual link box happening to see if it all looks perfect.

10. Then you are ready to publish your first Linky Party.

I really hope this was helpful. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave me a comment or email me (that icon is at the top of the page in the far right corner, just click on the little envelope icon).

Stay tuned tomorrow when I release my first ever LINKY PARTY! Hope to see you there. 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday Writings - Mentor Text

TWO LINKY Parties for me in one day! 

I love writing. Words fascinate me, especially how several different people can take a handful of words and put them together is such different ways. Writing is a way to express your soul and connect with others through visual experiences. Writing opens up doors and gives people impressions of you before you even walk in. I love writing.

For this week, I thought I would try up a LINKY party with those Collaboration Cuties. They are compiling a list of great mentor text to use at the beginning of school. Check out their site for a terrific list of books to use when those fresh new faces wander into your room.

My book choice for the sheer fun of it is definitely:

I Wanna Iguana by Karen Orloff and David Catrow is a personal favorite. The letters written between an overeager son trying to convince his mother, and a mother having some serious doubts is wonderful. I think it's the illustrations that really grab me about this fun little nugget. They just so fun and goofy that the kids love looking at the book over and over.

I would use this text to get them started thinking about the Opinion Genre (Persuasive in another life). They have to express and opinion and back it up with proof, just like Alex in the story. He does do a little begging, which is a trap we don't want students falling into when writing this genre. Rather, backing up your ideas with evidence will convince your reader to agree with you. The students would write to me or another student in regards to something they feel strongly about. Then that person has to write back to give the author that sense of communication, just make sure to remind them to be positive with their responses.

If you like this one, you'll love the new edition to the series: I Wanna New Room. Check them out.

For my second Linky of the day (last week, I didn't even know what a Linky was, ha!) I am linking up with Ideas by Jivey for her ideas on setting up a workshop in your classroom. Since my topic today is Writing, I will stick with that.

One of the things I do before the kiddos arrive is to create a Steps to Good Writing board. This is an area in the classroom where the students come up and move a clothespin from each of the steps to show where they are in their writing. This way I can quickly see who is spending too much time in the Drafting stage. Now I've used tons of things for this in the past. I've had separate pieces of paper, plastic plates, one long wall chart, etc for the students to show where they are. None of these has worked perfectly for me. The chart gets ripped, or the clothespins don't stay on the plates and they fall behind my bookshelves (GRRR). If anyone has the perfect method for this, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE leave me a comment below!

The Steps I use are Planning, Drafting, Revising, Editing, Peer Editing, Final Draft, Publish. Each has a little reminder about what to do at each step. I am going to try and provide you with what I remember for each of the steps. Since I'm not at school right now, I don't have easy access to my files. So bear with me.

Planning: (15 min)
*Get your ideas down
*Jot down everything you know
*This is not the time for complete sentences

Drafting: (1-2 days)
*Choose one idea from your jots
*Jot everything you know just on this topic
*Choose one main character and two supporting
*Don't worry about spelling
*This is your Rough Draft
*Skip lines

Revising: (1 day) I usually attach a colored pencil to this step so they remember to use one for revising
*Make your verbs stronger
*Add sensory details
*Organize your thoughts
*Look for moments to EXPLODE (give more information to your reader)
*Take away extra ideas

Editing: (1 day) A different colored pencil is attached
*Check all spellings
*Watch your punctuation
*Have you capitalized correctly?
*Does your story make sense?

Peer Editing: (10 mins)
*Read your story outloud to a partner
*Partner is allowed 3 suggestions
*Make changes with colored pencil

Final Drafting: (1 day)
*BEST handwriting
*Don't skip lines
* INDENT

Publish: (1 day)
*Create a cover for your story
*Think about new ideas

Hopefully this helps you out as you get started in your Writer's Workshop!

Tried It Tuesday- Blog Makeover

WHEW!

I just spent five hours making my blog all pretty and inviting. It took me a while because I just switched my router over and it didn't help make it faster. Now it's slower. Grrr.

Thanks to Jessica Sprague and her Bloom Your Blog class I think I made it more open and inviting. I love the handwriting font. It just makes it look more personal. Jessica's classes are so great. She's got this way of making things that would boggle the mind so easy, even HTML!

For my Try This I would definitely tell you to go check out this self paced class if you want to give your blog some more flair. Don't worry. If  you have questions there are mentors available to help walk you through it.

Oh, what do you think of the new look? Post a comment or two, if you'd like. Thanks.

Mentor Monday - FB Tabs

It's JULY already? My poor teacher heart is shrinking three sizes at this news. That means I only have 30 days left of summer vacation. Oh WOE is me! To take my mind off of this, I thought I would use my corner of the blogosphere as a way to let you in on all the things I've learned over the past week.

Now this column is probably going to take many weird turns as the weeks progress. Right now it's going to be a lot about how it's going with my TpT store. That's Teacher Pay Teachers, which you can find my stuff for sale here: TpT.

When school begins again (EEK) it will probably morph into a Common Core tornado, so just be prepared.

Today's lesson is going to be about how to add some really cool links onto your Facebook page, I think they are called tabs. They are the buttons that sit under your cover image next to 'Photos' and 'Likes'. Christi Fultz has an incredible blog full of great tips and advice for the teacher bloggers. In this particular post I read, she was discussing how to add these buttons through a free program called WooBox. You can read her tutorial here: Ms. Fultz's Wednesday Work your Blog. Her video is very helpful in figuring out how to get these links to list to all your important information such as your TpT store and your Pinterest boards. Make sure you check out the one about how to add a FanGate in case you are thinking of including some giveaways. Very interesting.



The only trouble I had with following her tutorial was I couldn't figure out how to add a tab. I spent a lot of time clicking on the little drop down arrow next to 'Likes' on my page and trying to decipher the cryptic choices FB gave you to add stuff there. It wasn't until after I watched Christi's two videos that I figured out I had to go to another site (WooBox) to design the tabs. After that, I put up three in no time flat. Oh, while you are designing make sure you notice the teeny tiny size of the tabs you are to create. 111x84 pixels, really? That is small.

Tune in next Monday to see what else I learned. Should be fun since the Fourth of July is fast approaching. I think I might go white water rafting. If I don't make it back next Monday, you'll know what happened.

G'night. 

Have you seen my TpT?

It has just about blown up overnight!

Remember how I was telling you that Jessica Ivey had a great idea? Turns out it was much easier than I thought to repackage all of my old digital scrapbook kits into items to sell on my TpT Store. I was able to bang out SIX new items yesterday and they are all up at the store. If this keeps happening, I might need to have a sale soon.

Oh, it also kinda helped that I had to sit and watch the four gents from CoolRay troop through my house for nine hours while they replaced the entire air conditioning and heating units. Boy was it hot in here. We upgraded our system from an 8 SEER rating to a new fangled wifi 17 SEER rating. You should see the new thermostat we got. It talks to the internet and provides weather reports and can show us how much daily we are using for gas and electric. So cool.

Now if it would only do the dishes. But, I got a lot done and hopefully the trend will continue and you'll have tons to choose from the next time you visit me over at the TpT site.

Can't wait to hear from y'all about how you're using these products.

TpT New Upload

Okay, so while Jessica Ivey and I were cringing and covering our eyes watching World War Z, she came up with a plan.

She is doing some wonderful stuff on TpT and gave me the idea to go back through my old scrapbook kits to use for selling on this site.

*Lightbulb Goes Off*

As a way to get started on that, I came up with a little freebie for y'all to use. It's a little tutorial with screenshots and such to help you figure out how to put frames, papers, and clipart onto MSWord documents.

It's free, so go and download it today! My MSWord tut

Would you like a Free book?

In honor of my anniversary, I am giving you a present. If you go to this link and follow the directions on the contest post, you could win a free (FREE!) copy of my book.

You just have to like the post, or you can like it and share it. I would love that.


 Our Month in Paris Contest

Our Month in Paris - An eBook

After a year long adventure that ended with me strolling down the Champs-Elysee gnawing on a baguette, I managed to get my thoughts down on paper. Those thoughts turned into 124 pages when it was all done. What else could I do with it than turn it into a book. I had purchased many an eBook off the internet from this place called SmashWords not to look into it. SmashWords is a self-publishing institution that allows the authors to offer their works up for the public good. I thought it would be the best way to get my book out to the world. I pushed the button on Oct 14th of 2012 in honor of my furbaby, Scudder's what would be 13th birthday. I love looking at it online. It's gives me the giddies. If you have ever thought of traveling to Paris, you should check this out! Our Month in Paris

Math Exemplars - Gotta Love Them

I have a kinda Love-Hate relationship with math word problems. I see the basic need for the students to be able to attack these kinds of questions with skill. But teaching them to pull a four sentence prompt apart is harder than it sounds.

Exemplars is just a fancy term used to cover math word problems that require the kids to do a lot of thinking to find the answer. They combine reading skills, analysis, computation, reasoning, vocabulary, and writing skills to complete. They are a complete educational package in one! I've been using them twice a week in my classroom as part of our Calendar time.

I print out a word problem that uses their names to increase the participation. The students glue them into their math journals and then use a variety of techniques to complete them for the morning activity. I teach them simple strategies first, such as the CUBES method I found on Pinterest this summer. The kids just Circle important numbers, Underline questions, Box math vocabulary, Explain their thinking, and then Solve the problem.

Getting them to do this every time is a chore reminiscent of pulling teeth. But if you keep after them they will start internalizing the process. After the first quarter of school, I boost it up to the next level. G E P P S. This is more labor intensive but you get a really good insight into how they are thinking and if they can explain their process in a coherent manner. I've uploaded an explanation of this model over at TpT.

You can check it out here: GEPPS MODEL

I also put together my first set of 20 exemplars that start the school year off in one package that includes an Answer Key here: Set 01

I do believe the effort and time is worth putting in with these word problems. It really helps the kids focus on what the questions are asking and not to get tripped up in too much verbage. The BIG TEST is always chock full of these and this is a great way to help prepare them for that day. Have fun!

Planetary Project - Text Features

I was wracking my brain trying to figure out a project to do with the kids for our Science unit on Planets. I didn't want to be stuck doing the same old model of the solar system and have to grade tons of painted styrofoam balls this year. Flipping through our pacing guide for the second nine weeks, I spy my salvation. Text features!

I know, it doesn't sound like such an inspiring topic. But I began to think of how to make it work for me. Why couldn't I have the students create a research project on the planets that makes use of all the text features I have to teach? Kind of like a first hand experience, eh?

So I came up with this little seven page project that you can print out for the kids. You can pick it up for yourself, right over here: Planetary Project

 

Let me know how it works out for you!

Planet Postcard - FREE resource

I am so excited to start teaching our unit on Planets tomorrow. One of the first things I plan to do is share the story from Loreen Leedy, Postcards from Pluto. It's a tale of six children that venture out into the solar system and send their parents postcards from their stops. I plan to have my students make their own postcards to hang out on our bulletin board. The front has a spot for them to illustrate their choice of planets. The back has a traditional postcard format for them to write home with some amazing information they've learned on their journey. What's great about this is I am giving y'all the postcard for FREE! Send me a comment and let me know how you plan to use it. Teacher's are always the best at sharing, aren't they?

Planet Postcard

New Venture - TpT

If you haven't already been redirected to the site, TeachersPayTeachers, while browsing educational ideas over at Pinterest, then you are missing out! There are so many incredible resources available for the classroom and some of them are even free! Well, I have decided to throw my hat in this particular ring and give y'all a way to access my AWESOME brain. Actually, bragging aside, it's a way to acquire some really cool ideas and have someone else do all the hard work. So, if you are interested head on over to my 'store' at TpT and pick up some cool resources. Thanks! ScrappyGuy at TpT

Careful - Pinterest will SUCK you in!

As school got closer my Pinterest fascination grew exponentially. I am finding such awesome ideas to get my classroom ready for the new year. I am pinning like crazy and making so much. I love it, but I do need to spend some time doing other things, such as eating, sleeping, etc. My latest creation makes me so happy because it came out so cool. It is a behavior chart that also includes an area for students to move UP into the Outstanding column. So often those really great students are forgotten as you struggle to keep those interruptions in their seats. It's time we praise the GOOD! On that note, I created this chart with the Super Hero theme in mind. I used the amazing Super Pop Pack papers by DesignbyDani to be found at JessicaSprague.com. Here's a link for ya: http://www.jessicasprague.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.pbv.tabs.tpl&product_id=2399&category_id=31&keyword=super+hero&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=317

Y'all know I love me some WordArt. Wordle was a revelation. But now there's Tagxedo! Much more control and fun shapes to work with. It's a bit of a learning curve though. Here's one I made for the start of school!

Lookee what I made! It was Gordon's idea to save up all the Metro tickets while in Paris. For the entire month I couldn't stop myself from bending over to pick up all the littered tickets that were everywhere. This project uses all of the ticket stubs and restaurant cards we also gathered like squirrels' nuts. I used ModPodge to adhere everything. I wasn't liking how the tickets faded into the background so I modged them onto cardstock and cut out a small edge to make them stand out better. I like how it turned out, eventhough the S is a little wonky.

Lookee what I did!

Jessica Sprague is so COOL!

SADNESS! Blog Train has pulled out of the station

What fun we had, though. Right?
I can't thank Kelly enough for putting this together for all of us to enjoy.

I put all of your comments into the Randomizer and came up with one lucky winner.

She is going to get my FULL digital kit called Viva Venizia.

I am sending all of your names to Kelly for the opportunity to win other stuff. So if your name is not at the top of my random list, there is still hope!

Okay, so here's the winner:



Congratulations to Ann! I am going to send you think link very soon for your free kit.

Thanks again to each and every one of you for playing!

SCRAP SCRAP SCRAP Blog Train

Welcome to the Scrap Scrap Scrap Blog Train! All the participating designers have recently been certified as JessicaSprague.com Certified Digital Designers. We are celebrating our new status by giving away mini-kits on a subject we all love - scrapbooking! Here's what you need to know:

*All mini-kits will be available for download through October 18, 2010.

*You can also enter to win a full kit from each designer on their blog. Each blog has different rules on how to enter so make sure you follow the directions!

*We will randomly select one designer's blog and one random comment on that blog. If that person has commented on all 10 blogs he/she will win all 10 kits!

*Be sure to include your e-mail in each comment so we know how to contact you when you win!


Now that we have all that out of the way, let's get this party started!

Back when I discovered paper scrapping I wanted to be surrounded by people who got it, too. I jumped onto Scrapbook.com and drummed up a bunch of people. After several months of meeting together we nicknamed ourselves the GA Peaches. I created this MINI kit to honor those amazing people.



Peach Scrap Mini Kit by ScrappyGuy Designs.
Scrap Scrap Scrap Blog Train

LINK HAS BEEN TAKEN DOWN. SADNESS!

You can also enter to win my Viva Venizia full digital kit



I will give away this kit to one lucky commentor on this post. To enter, you can leave a comment on my post.
Please include your e-mail in each comment so you can be contacted when you win. Winner(s) will be chosen using random.org.

Your next train stop is Rill Studio. Click HERE


Here is the list of all the participating designers and their blogs in order. The designers are from all over the world so please be patient if the blog train posts aren't posted yet.

Simply Kelly Designs

Kelly Hedgespeth

Blog | Store

Erica Made Designs

Erica

Blog | Store

Latz Designs

Lisa Breuer

Blog | Store

Ka Boks

Siri Fjortoft

Blog

by the Shore designs by pammie~k

Pam Meeks

Blog | Store

Butterflies and Bluebells

Catherine Wood

Blog | Store

A Little Giggle Designs

Dodie Sarchet-Waller

Blog

September Blue

Kelly Sill

Blog | Store

Scrappy Guy Designs

Gary Fryns

Blog

Rill Studio

Jackie Hatton

Blog | Store

Happy scrapping until next time!

HERE IT IS!!

Art of Digital Design at Jessica Sprague

Sadly, this amazing class has come to an end. The first ever digital designers course has come to fruition and ended as of September 30th. My full kit

has been entered and generously critiqued by Carina Gardner. The final exam has been taken and passed. The actual certificate should be on its way in no time now.

I just wanted to thank Jessica Sprague for putting this amazing class together. I know I bugged her many times about creating such a class for all of us. I am thankful that she consented. Of course, she outdid my expectations. For that, I can never thank her enough.

If you have ever looked at designers kits and thought, "I wonder how they do that." Or, "I can make that." This class is for you! It's going to become available again after the new year, so jump on this bandwagon as soon as you can!

Art of Digital Design

Are you still awaiting the announcement?

And I hope you are, because the release date is coming soon!

Stay tuned.

Huge. HUGE! TH-UGE event

coming soon to this very blog!!

Yeah, you have to wait.

New Digital Kit? Check!

I've been on a digital kit bender ever since completing Jessica Sprague's awesome incredible Art of Digital Design course. Got my mojo back! I went back through all the elements and paper packs that I've created and found 35 full kits and several other element packs just raring to go. Spruced them all up and created previews using my logo design approved by Carina Gardner herself!

But I couldn't stop there now, could I? Not only did I finish the kit required for the class, but I pumped out three brand new full digital kits! My newest one has been haunting me since last year. Venice was such a beautiful city that I couldn't let it just fade into the past. I found tons of fun things to use as ephemera in this kit. Hope you like it.

I thought I'd share my latest preview with y'all and see what you thought. AND if I can get up to 25 comments on it by next Sunday night at 7 P.M. I will bundle up a small sampling of it to offer to you for FREE. Okay, okay. So I would appreciate the love, but there's no reason why you shouldn't benefit as well, right?

Also, check me out on Facebook. I need some friends!

SpragueFest - Album Day

Good morning, fellow friends.

It is I, Mr. Exhausted. And I am here to tell you that the last day spent amongst the SpragueMates was bittersweet indeed.

We got up a little later than expected, so I just ran down to get a few snapshots of the Bagel Breakfast then got some coffee and headed back to the room.

Meg and I showed up for the Album class right at 9 A.M. and found our seats quickly. The room was packed with a rainbow of laptop screens open and ready. As the class downloads were making their way through the room, Jess had each of us stand and give some background info about us. So inspiring to hear how all these far-flung folks came together on this day in history.

Jessica lead us in opening the Exclusive SpragueFest 3 mega collaboration kit. Whoo HOO! Some really great stuff to play with. Many many templates. My personal favorite. I spent a ton of time getting my pic files uploaded, organized, and labeled correctly. Not sure if you know, but real life descends again at 6 A.M. on Wednesday morning. School is set to depart from the Fun Harbor for the rollicking seas ahead. So, I needed to use this time productively and get my photos up and running. Especially the KUH-razy ones of Carina and the Tongue. >:-)

After three hours of goodness we broke for lunch and headed over to Giardino's for some Chicago Deep Dish Pizza. We took over the entire front half of the restaurant again and shared pie after pie. Such fun hanging out with Rayvelle, Deb and Pammie K. Joan made sure that everyone took the leftovers out of the restaurant. Then we gathered for a group shot.

Shopping was next on the list for many of the Spraguers. They were headed to the Nordstrom's Mother ship. I, on the other hand was headed back to the room for a much needed NAP! We were meeting up with Meg's friend, Byron, from school later on. The Hotel Wit has a fantastic rooftop bar where Meg and Byron spent an hour catching up with each other and sharing lives over the past 17 years.

It was time to meet up with Jana, Joan, Jeanne and special guest appearance by Meg's hubby, Bennett! We were going to Shaw's Crab House for some amazing LOB-stah!! Just as we were finishing we got a text from Kari. Their Blue Man Group show was done. Would it be possible to meet up for dessert? DUH!!

We busted in on Stetson's after hours and begged and pleaded. Deborah was more than happy to accomodate 12 sleep deprived punchy SpragueMates. we ordered every single dessert they had and even some chocolate adult yumminess. What a way to wind down an incredible five days. It felt like a whirling dervish sweeping me up, but with a smile on my face the entire time really helped!

Chicago Walking Tour - Making the Noodle Happy

I am very late getting this ready for today. Bagel breakfast started at 8 AM (EEK!) and then class at 9. So, I'm behind.

Yesterday was all about Chicago. The Great Windy City that hosted the 2010 SpragueFest. Jenn's husband Tim was so gracious to offer his history buff-ness for the walking portion of the tour. He even did vast research to make sure we hit all the highlights with great information in hand. He started off with a walk down Wacker towards Fort Dearborn. Then we headed straight down Michigan. Can you imagine over 30 people all walking down the street with camera viewfinders attached to their heads? It was fun!

Our next stop was the Millenium Park with its beautiful fountains and water areas. The most exciting part was seeing the Chicago Bean. I think it has an actual correct name, but it is a huge bean shaped mirror that was so fun to just walk around. I got some amazing shots of the city skyline that looks like I took it with a fisheye lens. We lost Jess to a NineWest store for a bit, but with her being such a good shopper, she was back with us soon.

On towards the Picasso Horse statue and some beautiful stained glass outdoor museum. Next was the Theater District and the original Chicago theater sign. People started to disappear around this time. We found them later at a popcorn store. Meg and I were getting hungry around this time so we headed towards the Noodle House for some rice noodles and curry!

The next few moments were about to make us very UN-popular with the SpragueMates. As we were walking back to the Hyatt, we happened near the Transformers 3 set. It's hard to miss since it takes up like three city blocks. Anyways, people were screaming and pointing and I thought, "Hm, I'm going to take a picture now and figure out why they are so excited later."

Turns out Patrick Dempsey was right across the street waving to his adoring fans. O_M_G! I start snapping away and then my D90 just stops working. WHAT? My card was full and the security was yelling at us to move along. So Meg stepped up and took up the slack. We made many people very mad later when they discovered our secret rendezvous with Mr. McDreamy.

Back to the hotel for a brief 15 min shut eye, then down to the lobby. Wendella Boat Tours wanted us on site a half hour early before the Architecture Tour was to leave. Jana led us all over across the river to the meeting place. We boarded and then spent the next 90 mins calmly floating along the Chicago River, through the locks and out into Lake Michigan. It was a beautiful sunny day for doing this.

We got back a little later than expected so we walked immediately to the restaurant, Italian Village. We took over with all FIFTY of the Spraguers plopped down right through the middle of the place. Linguini and clams was yummy. But apparently nothing like Kristen's cream sauce experience.

I had saved myself for gelato, but made the mistake of telling Carina where we were going. What started out as an innocent gelato run quickly became a night of feral debauchery. Including wild taxi rides, noodle attacks (which Joan continues to deny), flying through the sky with just chains attached, 30 foot skyline turns, and finally begging for ice cream. We made it back to our rooms exhausted, but alive.

CHA - Day Two

I'm back and feeling fine! As soon as I had my coffee yesterday, I was good to go. And I needed it too!

Meg and I arrived back at CHA around 10:30. We didn't have to be in the Sprague Booth until noon, so we did our shopping ahead of time. We stocked up on some Christmas stamps and embossing glitter to make our cards this year. Did a few make-n-takes and Meg scored some great iron on Bling.

We had to fight our way into the booth because it was PUH-ACKED! We both jumped right in on the computer lines helping folks see just how easy Digital Scrapbooking is. The light bulbs going on and the looks of amazement on the thousand or so faces that stopped by was fantastic to see. Sadly we couldn't spend all the quality time we wanted to with each guest because the lines kept backing up. But they did get to play with the Lucky Me quickpage and get a basic gist of working with Photoshop Elements.

Before I knew it, two hours had passed. When you're talking a mile a minute about things you love, that Time sure does fly. Meg and I hopped over to the fruit smoothie boost and stocked up on strawberry and blueberry smoothies and mango smoothies. Then I sat down to make a painted letter G with glitter polka dots. Shhh! It was fun. Meg made herself a pair of earrings. BTW, Nicole? You would love CHA. So many beading booths.

It was time to go back to the booth where the eight folks or so who were working the crowd needed a break. So we all rotated duties. I found myself as the appointed computer guy who stocked inks and paper and then handed out prints for folks who came back later for their pages. Can I just stop for a second and extol the virtues of the Epson R1900? We had three machines working over time these past two days. Even with that, the quality of the pages being printed were amazing from start to finish. Even as ink ran low, I never saw any nasty striations or blurry inks coming out. We rarely had to redo anyone's pages. So many happy smiling faces went away with a gorgeous 12x12 keepsake from JessicaSprague.com.

Later on, I don't quite know how it happened, I managed to shift myself 180 degrees to the other side of the booth to work the camera. I was having so much fun telling folks to turn their shoulders out, pull their chins down just a bit, and give me some sexy hair flips. Candice, you would have been so proud of me! What a great feeling it is to see many people walk away with smiling holding a photo that you took. It didn't hurt that they also had a AWESOME Jessica Sprague layout to show it off, right?

As six o'clock was approaching and we were still clicking and dragging and printing people out, the concept of pulling down the booth began to enter our minds. I don't think any of us liked the idea of leaving poor Jenn all alone in the booth until 9 PM to pack it all up. The last guest skipped away and the lights in the convention center were lowered. We rabidly attacked the booth. There were cables flying, tape being ripped up, cords wrapping themselves almost, pictures being plucked down, banners trickled down and posters were rolled up. Joan and I had the most fun wrapping plastic wrap around the boxes being shipped. Yep, you just heard sarcasm there. When you're trying to flip a box with a 40" monitor and wrap it as well it is interesting.

Yet, the smile that lit up Jenn's face when we had everything packed and labeled and on the carts by 7:30 was worth it all.

We hobbled out to the beautiful white stretch limo driven by Driver Tom. He promptly took us back to the hotel expertly diverting around the movie set for Transformers 3. We changed and met back down in the lobby to walk over to the Tavern on the Park where Jana had finagled us a private room upstairs. The Grand Entrance was made and hugs were passed out. Here's another side note: Kelly (SeaTurtleBean), Pammie-K, and Anne (PinewoodToo) are just the cutest things in person.

We ordered and ate and talked and laughed and snapped many many pictures. So much that we felt like the papparazzi just spotted Nicole Kidman. Afterwards Meg and I were appointed the Hollywood Movie Set tour guides. We lead a group over to where they were filming a scene which apparently included the top half of a building being sheared off and embedded into the pavement below. More pictures ensued. Even one just for Meg and the hot cop.

Back to the hotel around midnight and crawling into bed.

CHA - Day One

OOF! This may take a while. I have the most amazing headache right now. I can't figure out why. I only had a glass of wine last night, but it feels like my head is having second thoughts.
Meg and I met up around 10 AM Atlanta time yesterday and drove to the airport. Made it and checked bags, then only had to stand around for half an hour til we boarded the plane. Uneventful voyage and landed around 2 PM Sprague-Time. We chose to use and EXPRESS van thinking it would get us to the hotel faster than the train. Boy, were we wrong. Traffic was amazingly bad and it ended up taking us an hour and twenty minutes. Drop our bags off in the room with the most gorgeous view of the Chicago River. Rush back to the train and take it almost all the way back to the airport. CRA-ZY!

Needless to say, Meg was about 45 mins late for her shift at the First Ever CHA Sprague Booth! Everyone did an incredible job setting it up and when we arrived it was slammed. Apparently it had been that way all day! Yay for Jessica. I managed to squeeze in hugs for all and a manly handshake with THE MR. JARED himself. So cool.

I was due upstairs for a market research group. Can you guess which product they randomly chose me to test? JessicaSprague.com. Can you believe it? I felt like such a ringer. Jenn, the marketing manager, got some really great information out of the other nine ladies though. So it was worth it to sit there and listen to all the great reviews. I almost fell over when one lady said she didn't like digi because she'd lose the social aspect of it. BWAAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! I set her straight on the fan-TAB-ulous group of people on this earth, otherwise known as the Spraguemates.

Afterwards, I went back down stairs and took pictures of the booth and walked around a bit to see all the stuff they have. This convention is humongous! The convention hall goes on for days and days. I highly doubt that Meg and I will get through it all in the two hours set aside tomorrow.

The show was over, the lights were dimmed to tell people to leave and dinner was calling. Joan, Meg, and I had the honor of eating with Ms. Carina Gardner and Crystal Wilkerson. We dined at Gibson's steak house and fought constantly with our waiter over whether Mormons were actually good people and which hunk of meat to order. He was funny. I am warning you now, though. If you order dessert be prepared to have it with at least eight of your friends. We ordered the chocolate mousse pie and it literally fed all five of us with plenty for Joan to take back to the hotel.

Let's see what goodness tomorrow brings!

FREE 6 mos. Photoshop Class

CLICK HERE

sounds almost too good to be true, but I am certainly going to try this!


also looking into their digital photography course as well!!

Logo Branding?

Today I am spending with Carina Gardner relearning all the goodness from her Illustrator 101 class (available over at Jessica Sprague's site). I need it for certain class activities. I thought Illustrator would be like riding a bike. But I can't seem to get the hang of it.
Thankfully Jessica allows us to access all of classes FOREVER! Otherwise I would be completely lost.

Blog Hoppin'

Don't know why, BUT my nose started running constantly right as I tried to lay my head down on the nice cool sheets and go to sleep.
Yeah, that idea is ruined.

I do have something else to while away the hours with, though. Wanna hear about it?
SURE you do. Otherwise you wouldn't be spending time reading my blog.

Jessica Sprague as we all know is ONE ROCKIN' CHICK! She really does come up with some inspiring ways to keep me digi scrapping. Amazing classes are certainly one way I keep racing back to the Spragueground. But now she's up to something different.

In order to celebrate the THIRD anniversary of this Happiest Website on Earth she's come up with a super fun way of making us all run around in circles.

Blog Hopping! I've heard of it being used as a way to collect a kit, but Jessica managed to make it that much sweeter by also including a word phrase with all 33 of the downloads. Once we've downloaded all of the pieces (not a quick task, let me tell ya) we've got all of these phrases to unscramble then send it all back in.

I don't even remember what the prize is supposed to be, or even if there is one. But I don't care. I love this blog hopping thing. Wait, my computer just pinged. That means download number 17 just finished!!

Wish me luck.

Type + Writer 2, Day Seven

What if???
What if Stacey Lewis is my means to becoming a rich and famous photographer to the stars? What if Sally’s Shih Tzu leads me to hand out my card to the head of the American Kennel Club? What if she wants me to photograph all 500 dogs being shown in Atlanta? What if I can support myself without having to teach? What if I went back to school to learn design? What if my family lived closer? What if we take that cruise at Christmas for two weeks and just put off visiting his dad? What if we decide to embark on redoing the kitchen and then hate it? What if I don’t finish my free calendar from Memory Maker by the due date? What if all of my students got the flu and were out for a week straight? What if these FreeMason conspiracy theorists are WHACK? What if Katie married Puck from Glee? What if Liv asks me to fly to the Phillipines to help teach a class? What if Jessica gets back to me about my ideas? What if I become a tshirt designer by accident? What if I am no longer afraid of success? What if I could lose weight without having to exercise? What if we could sell our house for a huge profit and move back to California? What if I finally write that children’s book? What if I scrapped more pages? What if I don’t finish my Christmas album? What if my family didn’t send me any Christmas presents? What if I get invited to be on Hell’s Kitchen? What if someone starts reading my blog? What if I finish with Julia Childs’s first book? What if I actually try an aspic recipe? What if I like aspic? What if Mia Michael’s regrets her new hairdo? What if my brother and sister can’t make it to Halloween Night at Universal? What if Robert Pattinson realizes that KStew is not for him? What if my parents LOVE my portraits of their child and ask me to do family shoots? What if Courtney hates me for stealing her customers? What if someone asks me to photograph a wedding? What if I take terrible pictures? What if Kit is a hardass about the shoot this weekend? What if I take too many pictures of BJ instead? What if it rains this weekend? What if it is so windy that my orange balloons never behave? What if I can’t find some gerber daisies that aren’t yellow? What if Gordon doesn’t want to come to the Dog Show with me this weekend? What if Sally accidently trips me and breaks my camera? What if the lighting is so horrible in the show that I can’t get a good shot? What if the dog doesn’t cooperate? What if this itchy spot on my face is skin cancer? What if I completely lose my hearing? What if this high pitched annoyance on the tv is put through on So You Think You Can Dance? What if she talks in this voice for the entire season? What if parents scream at me about grades?

October 21, Recipe #38

Puree Pommes de terre a l'ail

Wanna take a stab at what this one translates into? I'll give you the potato part. Go...
Okay, it's garlic mashed potato. Can't fault Julia for her comfort food. I got to push roasted garlic through a sieve and take out my secret weapon again. My loverly potato ricer. Add butter and cream and whip. I used it as a bed for my blue cheese meat loaf. I'm liking this thing called food.

October 20th, Recipe #37

Coq au Vin, Oignons Glaces a Brun, Champignons Sautes au Beurre

I LIT STUFF ON FIRE!Okay, it was cognac and only lasted five seconds. But MAN! I have always wanted to light my food on fire. Julia's recipe for the French classic seems a bit easy. It only took about an hour or so to finish. I was under the impression that this one was right up there with all day in the kitchen. My butcher massacred the chicken into ten weird pieces. I really had to watch the bones on this one. The onions and mushrooms were a nice base for the purple chicken.

Type + Writer, Day 4

Remember Me When
How funny is it that I was just thinking about my teenage self yesterday. I needed some photos to use on my JS template layout about traveling. I found some old shots of the trip I took to Canada with my French class. Out of TEN total pictures that I have. I can’t even begin to imagine how many pictures I would have taken if I went today. I wasn’t so involved in recording my life when I was 17. I was more consumed with living it. There’s a huge difference right there. I want to remember the little details and highlight them. Before it was all about getting out there and being in the moment, no thought to how this moment would shape my life. Let’s move on to another difference. As a teenager I was still wearing my kiddie pajamas. The green ones that were way too short on me. I used to pull up my athletic socks to hide the gap between them and the bottom of my pant legs. There’s a picture of me just like this scrunched up on the couch with a book planted in front of my nose. That’s what I remember most about myself then. I was always reading something or other. I still am. My tastes range from one extreme to the other. Take the last two books I have read: My Life in France by Julia Childs and Gil’s All Fright Diner by someone or other. One’s a biography of a great American chef, the other? A story about a werewolf and a vampire that travel the backroads of America ridding the world of zombies one head at a time. I was always so unattached back then. I had no idea what I wanted to be when I got to be an adult. I just took random suggestions from other people as to what I should do. Nowadays, I wish I could go back in time and smack the ever lovin’ heck out of myself. Why do they expect teenagers to know what they want to do for the rest of their lives? I certainly had no idea that educating wee minds would not thrill me to my fingertips and make my heart thump like the Energizer Bunny. I didn’t find my passion in life until I was 35 years old!! Such a travesty, I tell ya. Also, I took the easy way out of things when I was a teenager. That kind of mindset has gotten in my way too many times to count these days. I want to be successful, but when things get hard or weird I find ways to drop out and ease back. I think it’s a learned trait. One that I am working through. Another similarity? I still love horror movies. The creepier the better. I used to be okay with gore, but can’t seem to stomach the needless blood spatters going on in film today. I have so many of the movies I used to watch back then and drag them out every now and then to relive those moments when things were still dark and unknown.

Type + Writer 2: Free Write Day Two

First Trip
When I first saw this assignment to write about a trip to exotic lands, of course I immediately thought of Italy. The trip we took last June. It will probably be the highlight of my life for a long time to come. But as I thought more and more, I wanted to write about something else. The first trip that came to mind from my ‘gangly teenage’ years was the one my French class took to Quebec, Canada. It was the first real big trip I took away from my family. The first I completely paid for on my own. A bus packed full of my friends that travelled all the way to another country in eight hours was wonderful for me. I couldn’t afford the full trip all the way to France, but this would suffice. At that time I never thought I would travel anywhere further than a country attached to the one I currently lived in. I was happy to be traveling anywhere, though. If I remember correctly there were a lot of people I actually liked on that trip. People who hadn’t made my tween years hell in middle school. There was Les and Brenda, the fledgling couple. Irene, kinda odd girl from ROTC. Pete Laskaris who didn’t spend much time with us. Christa and Kerri. Boy, those two fought over who got to spend more time with me like a pack of hyenas working over a wildebeest. Snapping and yelling at each other. It was funny on some level, but then again watching your friends fight isn’t something you relish. I think we had more fun hanging out in the hotel then any of the locales we actually toured. Even the waterfall which was pretty awesome. Good thing I wasn’t into photography then, I would have totally missed out on the amazing sensation of standing underneath a torrent of water and feeling all of nature’s power. We were soaked for the rest of the day. It’s Canada, people! It was fah-reezing! Anyway, back at the hotel we were all teenagers alone in a hotel with no supervision. You can imagine some of the things we could have gotten into. Thankfully, we were all too innocent and pure to go there. However, Les and Brenda did spend an inordinate amount of time underneath those covers. Kerri and I turned up the faucets in the bathroom to scalding hot and closed the door. The ensuing steam made the others think we were up to no good. I can fully attest on the stand that NOTHING happened. I do remember wandering the city and coming upon the Hotel Frontenac situated on the hill up above Saint Lawrence River (at least I think it was that, Hudson maybe?). It was the first time I felt a vibration in my soul. The one that Nettie talks about in the Color Purple as she first views the shores of Africa. I had caught it, the traveling bug.

October 18th - Cassoulet du Porc et de Mouton

After reading the recipe I realized how incredibly time consuming it would be. So I've been holding off on this particular recipe. I woke up at 7:34 A.M. to feed the whiney dogs. I usually just go back to bed for a few more hours after the feeding when it's Sunday. Since I knew that dinner was going to be taking me a while today. I got started on it. Little did I know that NINE hours later I would still be in the kitchen layering and simmering the casserole from Hades. I shouldn't be so harsh on it. From the little tastings I've done along the way, I can already tell this is going to be an amazing dinner. Now I just have to wait for a crust to form so I can break it into the white beans with the back of a spoon and then ladle the yummy basting liquid over the top of the whole thing. Sounds delicious, right? I will have to let you know, in another 40 minutes.

Type+Writer 2: Free Write

Today I am going to tackle my first assignment for Liv Esteban's amazing Type+Writer course. Of course I am starting on the LAST day of class on my first assignment. Who knew my life would be this busy? Who had any idea that DSE would kick off a bevy of ideas and inspirations and thoughts and ideas and projects and stuff? I didn't realize how much I miss designing until I saw some of the amazing things going on in Provo that week. Maybe I just needed a jumpstart for my creative juices. However, getting a free class out of the deal didn't figure into my list of Things to Do. Oh, I was happy and excited to be getting free things. As usual. But I didn't have the time to focus and give this class my all. It only took two weeks to put a few eggs in my basket and get some balls rolling. I did research and looked up ideas. I emailed Jessica my few thoughts. Now I find myself sitting back and waiting for the fruits of my labors to fully flourish. I am not one to sit still though. So as soon as I found a few moments of peace, what did I do? Go running back to Liv's class, that's what! Before that, however, I had to volunteer to run a Bi-monthly challenge at my favorite website in the world: JS.com! It's going to be a Photography Challenge. I like being able to give back to the community that has always supported and encouraged me, no matter what crazy ideas I come up with. Just as an aside, my challenge is something near and dear to my heart - Horror Movies!! Uh, huh. I'm weird like that. I can be reading a sequel to Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, whip up a mean cassoulet that takes 10 hours to complete and crave an all day Fright Fest at the same time. That's just me. So many things go into creating the package that is ScrappyGuy. People can say many things about me, but never call me BORING. Bit of a stumble here, so I am going to go into my next topic. This meal I am almost finished with. It's Cassoulet du Porc et de Mouton. After reading the recipe I realized how incredibly time consuming it would be. However, Gordon keeps asking for it. He doesn't ask for much, so I like to give in every now and then. It's only fittin'. I woke up at 7:34 A.M. to feed the whiney dogs. He also got up. This isn't our normal routine. I usually just go back to bed for a few more hours after the feeding when it's Sunday. He wanted to whip up a batch of Cranberry Orange Nut muffins. Since I knew that dinner was going to be taking me a while today. I got started on it. Little did I know that NINE hours later I would still be in the kitchen layering and simmering the casserole from Hades. I shouldn't be so harsh on it. From the little tastings I've done along the way, I can already tell this is going to be an amazing dinner. Now I just have to wait for a crust to form so I can break it into the white beans with the back of a spoon and then ladle the yummy basting liquid over the top of the whole thing. Sounds delicious, right? I will have to let you know, in another 40 minutes. Hmm, this 15 minute writing time set is awfully long. At least I have episode 8, Season One of Ugly Betty to keep me company. One request from the producers? Show more Henry. MUCH more. How could Betty have ever chosen Walter over Henry at the beginning is such a shame. Tick, Tick, Tick. Where is that timer bell? Did I tell you that I am going to Universal Studios in less than two weeks? Yep, another way to feed my Chiller side. Lisa, my sister, and Darrin, my baby brother are meeting down in Orlando for a full 8 hours of Halloween Horror ripped from the Screen. Oh, it promises to be a night of screams and thrills. I just have to decide if I want to drop $100 on a Nikon Coolpix because I am NOT bringing my SLR into a darkened den of iniquity. The Coolpix is supposed to work pretty well at ISO 2000. I bought Darrin one for Christmas a while back, but I don't think I can give up the creative controls of the camera to someone else for the entire evening. Especially when there's tons of gory goodness to be had. Okay, it has to be 15 minutes by now, right?? Right?