&&& the product of tonight!

This was the Basic Grey challenge over @ tlss

Happiness has Arrived!

The wonderfully talented Celine Navarro has finally sent her kit!!! I am so excited!

And then, you know what she did??? She signed it for me with a little love note!! awww!

I'm Famous!

(well, not really)

I've got an article featured in today's blog over at the little scrap shop! While you are over there, take a look around. They have AWESOME challenges and great give aways. Their forum is chuck full of a variety of helpful, useful, and hilarious topics. They are planning a cyber crop at the end of the month (February). I've never participated in one of these before. Sounds fun, though. Let me know what you think. Also, sign up in the gallery to upload as many photos of your creations as you want. We are always into admiration and inspiration!

frustrated!

I just hate it when I am working on a layout and it just stinks and no matter how hard I try to salvage it. It just doesn't work. Here's my disaster!

Maybe this is a result of my exhaustion. I worked yesterday at The Paper Niche from 9am to 5pm. And I forgot to pack a lunch! I taught two classes back to back and of course standing the whole time did a number on my feet! The night before I had to prepare all the books for the teen altered book class....

Of course, all Mimi wanted to do was play ...

UGHHH! I just can't stand that 12x6 I did!

((((shocking))))

Actor Heath Ledger was found dead Tuesday of a possible drug overdose in a Lower Manhattan apartment, the New York Police Department said.

Heath Ledger was unresponsive when a housekeeper found him in a Manhattan apartment Tuesday.

Ledger was found naked and unresponsive, facedown on the floor at the foot of his bed by a housekeeper trying to wake him for an appointment with a masseuse, said police spokesman Paul Browne.

"Pills were found in the vicinity of the bed," he told CNN.

"This is being looked at as a possible overdose, but that is not confirmed yet."

Browne later told reporters some prescription medications were found in the room, including sleeping pills.

"I had such great hope for him," said Mel Gibson, who played Ledger's father in "The Patriot," in a statement.

"He was just taking off and to lose his life at such a young age is a tragic loss. My thoughts and prayers are with him and his family."

Actress Nicole Kidman, a fellow Australian and close friend of Ledger's, said in a statement, "What a tragedy. My heart goes out to his family."

At the time of his death, Ledger had just finished playing the villain The Joker in "The Dark Knight," the latest installment in the Batman series. The film is to open in July.

Ledger was born in Perth, Australia, and named Heathcliff Andrew after the main characters of Emily Bronte's "Wuthering Heights." He began acting at a local theater as a child. Find out more about the actor »

Ledger's first American film was the teen comedy "10 Things I Hate About You" in 1999, and he immediately attracted attention from Hollywood. He passed up several scripts before taking a role in the Revolutionary War drama "The Patriot" in 2000 and "A Knight's Tale" in 2001. He also played a supporting role in "Monster's Ball," among other films. See a photo gallery of Ledger's life and career »

"In a way I was spoon-fed a career," he told the Glasgow Herald in 2005. "It was fully manufactured by a studio that believed it could put me on their posters and turn me into a product. ... I hadn't figured out properly how to act, and all of a sudden I was being thrown into these lead roles."

Controversial role

But Ledger was perhaps best known for his 2005 portrayal of Ennis Del Mar in "Brokeback Mountain," about two cowboys who had a secret romantic relationship. The role earned him an Oscar nomination.

"I felt that choices were being made for me, so I feel this has been my time now to find the good stories and test myself," Ledger told the Glasgow Herald in the 2005 interview. "It has been an interesting year, where I finally have a sense of accomplishment."

Asked how he felt about filming love scenes with another man, Ledger said he and his co-star Jake Gyllenhaal simply focused on their roles.

"We can't say that we weren't nervous about it," Ledger told Oprah Winfrey in 2006. "But once the first take was over, it's like, 'OK. So what? It's kissing another human being. How are we going to finish this scene? Let's get on with it and let's get out of here.' "

Ledger has a daughter, Matilda Rose, born in 2005 to his then-girlfriend, Michelle Williams, who played his on-screen wife, Alma, in "Brokeback Mountain." The couple have since separated.


"He was just so respected in the industry," said Kim Serafin, senior editor of In Touch Weekly.

"It's just horribly tragic. He was just a fine actor and a good person, so this is horribly sad and very unexpected."

The Beginning of the END

It is now the Beginning of the END of my vacation. I've had a whole 10 days off!!! AND now I just don't want to go back to work. Fortunately, I was able to spend a very good amount of time with my brother. He is such a super talented young man. I pray for his success. Of course, I was able to roam freely around town completing tiny little errands with any time constraits. I've also been putting a lot of time into scrapbooking. As a matter of fact, I recieved a long awaited email today. I am to start my challenges for the Design Team Call Round 2! There are a few girls that have ALREADY submitted entries. I can't believe it! I have been working hard all day just on ONE! I will post it when I finish. I'm actually pretty happy with what I have come up with. In the meanwhile, there is work (work, work) sitting in my bag that I brought home weeks ago. There are THANK YOU cards desperately waiting to be written. Here I am playing with paper!!! I admit it -- I'm an addict!

This is the [scrap]life!

I've been scrapping now for hours, while listening to Project Runway epis. I am just so amazed by the talent I see. Youtube is just the best! Here is today's creation. I call it Your Kiss. I was going to write the song lyrics up on the top right hand corner of my hubby's photo. But idk. If anyone is reading, would you care to comment?

The Little Scrap Shop

After recieveing this email...

Hi Melissa,
Thanks for uploading the additional layouts to the gallery. My girls are in love with your work, however we're concerned with the quality of the photos of the LOs that you placed in the gallery. They are pretty hard to see, crooked, and fairly low quality. One of the most important tasks as a design team member is to be able to clearly show completed projects as well as step-by-step projects in the gallery and on the blog. We want our readers to see us as professionals, and quality photos of our work are a big part of that.
I wrote an article on the blog not too long ago about placing layouts online, which included some tips about scanning and photographing your layouts.
If you can, please read the article and re-photograph or scan your layouts for submission and email them to me so I can share them with the other girls. If we can get good quality images of your layouts, you will be advancing to the next round!
Thanks,
Angel



I asked my husband to please buy me a camera.

AND HE DID!!!!




So, I took more pictures of my pages and reposted them. I figured it would be better to reload them on the DT Contest page. It would show my effort than just emailing them. And guess what? I was right. This is the email that followed.

They are perfect! Thank you for taking the time and effort to reload the images. I can let you know that thanks to your extra time, you'll definitely be going through to round two, so be prepared - we have some lovely challenges ready for you guys!! ;)
~A~

I am definitely happy about this.
I wonder what challenges lay before me.....