Hunkering down...

Two things are supposed to happen this week: a big snowstorm, and the start of the L.O.A.D. (LayOut A Day) challenge at ScrapHappy. Yes, I finally decided to "pay-to-play" since I've been struggling to find a scrap/sharing "home" for more than a year now, without much luck.

Actually, I did pay-to-play at the Digital Scrapbook Artisian Guild this past year. While I enjoyed the online magazine, their digital designs weren't really my style. You can upload any product there now, but I found it to be a very quiet group, and there are no traditional paper layouts there at all (which makes sense, given the name)! I've let that subscription lapse.

I did recently sign up for Masterful Scrapbook Design through Get It Scrapped...and I really enjoy the lessons (when I take time to read through them...) There is a $10 monthly fee for the lessons, webisodes, chats, gallery, etc. etc. and so far it has been worth it. I need to take better advantage of it, though. My big roadblock is that I have to clear my IE cookies for it to work in IE. Since I have so many websites I've joined (with varying user names and passwords), I hate to clear all that info. As a result, I have to log in to MSD through Google Chrome...and again, I have to think of it in order to get it done.

In the meantime, I have been doing quite a bit of paper layouts...I had total fun working at home this past Friday and really let my creativity flow!

This one I did at a church crop with my local scrapping friends a few weeks ago. I really wanted to use one of two woodgrain papers I had (green, from SIStv, or brown, by Hambly), but both were too busy for my large photos. I ended up weaving them together and putting them at the bottom...a look I really love! Michelle gave me a Maya Road tree top & trunk she wasn't going to use, and I misted the heck out of them, then decorated the tree with pearl "apples" for fun. I really like how this one turned out!

This is one of the two I did this past Friday. It's an old photo (December 2009!) but I found a layout to lift from Gundrun's blog and took off with it. I especially love the subtle subtitle along the left side...it's what I imagine Ben is saying every time I look at this photo! Best of all, I used textured paper (on the right) that I've had since 2003 -- yay, me!

I did this one late on Friday, and feel like the bling is too much. I used Lain's End of the Month Inspiration photo, and my new fringe scissors (thanks, Becky!), though, and these pictures are scrapped (score one for me)! I love that I found another use for the ribbon I HAD to have this past spring...American Craft's rose ribbon. Only now I'm almost out ;)