Random Tidbits of a (too) Busy Life…

September 2, 2007 by · 18 Comments

First of all, thank you for all the incredibly sweet comments on my last post. I really do have the best friends in the world. I took a little break from the designing yesterday afternoon to watch some football games over lunch and do some retail therapy. Someone spoiled me and hopefully if we get some photos this week I’ll actually be wearing something different in them for once. I think someone may have been getting tired of seeing the same 3 outfits on rotation. :) He walked out empty handed though so we may need to plan a little day trip here, maybe on the way to some therapy of this sort?? We’ll see. A road trip would be good. That’s what finally gave me the breakthrough on Maegan’s blog design so maybe it would help with a couple that I’m stuck on at the moment.

As promised, a little video of Pixel and her best bud Murphy. I hung out with them Friday night for a bit while Nikki was working. They’re really quite hilarious together as you can see…

click here to see the video

Does that count for a Pixel update? Trying to check some things off that list a couple posts back. :)

And my to-do list for the week.

Balanced-To-Do-List-9-2

I used the template I’d made awhile back along with some Leora papers and goodies by Gina, Jackie, Shabby Miss Jenn, Natalie and Jennifer.

Havin’ a really hard time juggling everything lately so hopefully this will help. I’m finding when I let other priorities slip that my creativity seems to go downhill too so maybe keeping things balanced better will make me more productive in the blog design area. Right now I’m spending far too much time ‘stuck’ on designs and I really think it’s because I’m trying too hard. Now if I just need to step away from the laptop for a bit and refocus I’ll have this pretty list of things to remind me what else I need to be taking care of. :)

I know I’ve posted the template before but I tweaked it a bit while I was making this list so if you didn’t get a copy earlier or you’d like the new (hopefully improved) version you can download it here. I don’t claim to be a template designer and it would probably help if I used more templates for my own scrapping. In fact, if I did I could probably even add a little bit of scrapping for myself on that to-do list huh?! :)

Oh, and did anyone else watch the Sound of Music last night on tv? Well, if you missed it it’s on again tonight. I have the DVD but somehow there’s just something nostalgic about watching it when it’s on tv. It’s quite possibly my very favorite movie as you can maybe gather from my blog banner (which is WAY overdue for a rehaul). I put a little Sound of Music playlist on the blogpod for your listening enjoyment. :)

Kay, off to get ready for church. Then a full two days of blog designing with a little house cleaning thrown in here and there. Maybe a walk with Pixel. An episode of Big Brother tonight. Back to work on Tuesday, dinner at my favorite restaurant before they close for the season and ice cream at Charlie’s.

I’ll try and pop in here again before then with a couple more new blog links and that recipe I promised (if you can really call it that).

Hope everyone is enjoying their holiday weekend so far.

Filed Under: blog design, digi-scrapping Tagged With: , , , ,

{ Updates & New Music }

July 13, 2007 by · 16 Comments

First, Fifi’s blog is becoming more and more fabulous every day as she’s adding posts and updating the albums. If you haven’t checked it out since I first posted the link you’ve already missed a ton. I don’t know how she does it.  

Pixel had a GREAT time at the dog park. I wish it weren’t so far away ‘cuz I think we’d go there everyday if it were closer. Nikki was so sweet to invite us along. I just happened to be out watering the flowers on the deck when she was driving by & the afternoon out in the sun, rather than sitting on the computer all day, was just what I needed. Pixel and Murphy had a blast. Here they are terrorizing a poor little dog who was trying to enjoy a nice walk through the park. LOL

ShaggyPines

Pixel slept pretty much the entire rest of the day and evening. She’d wake up to eat a bit and go outside and then fall right back asleep. So…finding a closer dog park might be on the agenda for this weekend. I’ve had Koda all week while Scott’s up north fishing and dealing with the two of them has been rather trying.

I did get at least a temporary site posted for the blog design and also the boutique. Check out Jill’s purses. She’s been busy busy sewing. :)

EclecticWhimsySite

I know I’ve got a spelling error (which I’m usually so careful about) on the pricing page. I’d like to add paypal buttons to that page this weekend so I’ll fix the spelling error when I do that.

Tara (Bella Pink), Maegan and Shari, I’ve got you all on my list and I’ll be emailing you today with questions to help get me started on your blogs this weekend. :)

I’ll be catching up on e-mails today. Last night I actually gave myself a bit of a break from my usual computer tasks and just spent time chatting with friends and finding new music. And I found some great stuff. I was originally in search of a song that had me in tears on the way home last night by this group. I’d have bought their whole album but it’s not available until the end of august and they haven’t even let the first single out yet. :( The song is called East to West and you can hear it by clicking the link above. It’ll definitely be on my blogpod as soon as it’s available.

I did actually discover two new artists that Lauren and Katelyn had never heard of though. Score! :) Sara Bareilles & Jon McLaughlin are fast becoming my new favorites. I’ve updated the blogpod with a couple songs from each of them, as well as some other new stuff that Lauren sent me and I think a song or two discovered on ‘So You Think You Can Dance’. One of the great bonuses of watching that show. :) This selection of songs best represents what I would consider my style of music. I like all kinds but if I had to pick a style these songs would fit it perfectly. I already see the lyrics from a few of these definitely showing up on a scrapbook page or two (or three).

Hopefully I’ll be back with 1 or 2 links to fresh new blog designs and maybe a purse or two by the end of the weekend. I have two that are so close to being done but just haven’t spent any time in the studio this week. And I really should work on my own blog design that is long overdue if people are going to be coming here to see what an Eclectic Whimsy Design blog could look like, dontcha think?

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

loveshawnsignature_19

Filed Under: blog design, life Tagged With: , ,

{ A New Bag & A Blog Tool Find }

July 3, 2007 by · 6 Comments

Kay, I’m on a break at work so this will be quick (hopefully). First in regards to the last post I realized after posting that I talk about wanting to do more photography and possibly make a little extra money at it in the same post as a really not so great photo of Pixel. I mean she’s cute and all in it but it was taken at night inside which is horrible lighting and I’m usually rushing to get the shot with her cuz within a second she’d have been back in the bathroom pulling a roll of toilet paper through the apartment. SO, I just want to acknowledge how silly that probably seemed that I would post a not so great photo in the same post as a discussion about wanting to make money taking photos. *blush* Also in response to some of the comments and emails (which have been awesome btw and I’m still working on responses to a few of them)…zippers – would LOVE to be able to offer them as a closure but I’m a bit of a perfectionist and zippers are sortof picky things to get just right so at least at this point I can’t imagine anyone would want to pay for the extra hour it would take me to include a well sewn zipper in one of my bags. But I’ll work on that. Maybe a trip to Utah and a week in Kim’s sewing studio and I’d be a pro at some of that fussier stuff. Wouldn’t THAT be fun?! :) Laptop bags – I have wanted to do these for ages and have lots of requests for them but here’s the thing…laptops are heavy. At least mine is. They’re also typically quite expensive. Personally I’ve just not gotten comfortable with the idea that something I make is responsible for keeping something that valuable from crashing to the ground and breaking into a million pieces. I also envision a laptop bag to have a zipper and ya already know now how I feel about those. SO, there ya have it on my current thoughts on those two items. Removable accessories, totally diggin’ that idea. And the green, black & white combo is SO happenin’. I think green is my new fav color of the moment so I’ll probably make two. :)

I did finish one up last night with some fabric that I found at one of my favorite fabric stores that’s normally dangerous to even walk into for me. I love looking through their remnants and found just enough of this denim-y blue batik fabric to make a purse out of. I can’t add a fancy picture here from work but here’s a view of the inside and if you’re interested it’s posted in my etsy shop for sale here.

Denimbatikbaginside_2 And Kimmy and I just realized how perfectly it matches my outfit today. It’s really kindof a shame to sell it for how perfectly it goes so I probably won’t be heartbroken if it sticks around. Extra money’s always nice too though. :)

I still have that little tutorial (or really more like a creative tip) to share but don’t have the image to include here at work.

I also found a new software for doing blog posts in that I just love. I can’t use it here at work and I’m already missing it after only using it on one post. You can find it here. Check it out. :)

Kay, back to work. Lots more to post about so maybe I’ll be back later tonight with more. :)

Filed Under: sewing Tagged With: , ,