I've been trying out for a couple of contests and design team spots.
No success. None. Haven't even made it to the second round of contests that are "elimination-based" (think Survivor).
I wasn't really prepared for how sad and disappointed this would make me feel. Had I known, I would've never entered. Not to sound full of myself but I've always seemed to just naturally do well at things, that when I fail, I don't really take it well. Adam is the same way, and now I understand that he gets that from me.
So no more contests. If/when I scrapbook, it's just going to be for myself. If people don't like my work, fine, but now they'll have to not like it to themselves.
Bah. Who was I fooling, anyway, thinking I was some kind of artist. *sigh*
We went to Spokane for Kayla's fourth birthday party at the Chuck E Cheese, and on our way up Division it rose out of the horizon, surrounded by mist and shimmering. I did a double-take, since I couldn't believe what I'd seen - it was that wonderful. What I saw was...
...
a brand-new Sonic.
There is a God.
"She looks just like her Mama."
People say this all the time about Kayla, so when my friend Nancy - whom I've known since we were four - sent me a picture of the two of us as little girls, I had to wonder - do we really look that much alike? You be the judge. Oh, I think I'm about a year older than Kayla in these pictures.
(Kayla's on the right on the couch, I'm on the left of the other picture.)
I heard this tonight for the first time, and started crying.
Look at the two of you dancing that way
Lost in the moment and each other's face
So much in love you're alone in this place
Like there's nobody else in the world
I was enough for her not long ago
I was her number one
She told me so
And she still means the world to me
Just so you know
So be careful when you hold my girl
Time changes everything
Life must go on
And I'm not gonna stand in your way
But I loved her first and I held her first
And a place in my heart will always be hers
From the first breath she breathed
When she first smiled at me
I knew the love of a father runs deep
And I prayed that she'd find you someday
But it's still hard to give her away
I loved her first
How could that beautiful woman with you
Be the same freckle-faced kid that I knew
The one that I read all those fairy tales to
And tucked into bed all those nights
And I knew the first time I saw you with her
It was only a matter of time
But I loved her first and I held her first
And a place in my heart will always be hers
From the first breath she breathed
When she first smiled at me
I knew the love of a father runs deep
And I prayed that she'd find you someday
But it's still hard to give her away
I loved her first
From the first breath she breathed
When she first smiled at me
I knew the love of a father runs deep
Someday you might know what I'm going through
When a miracle smiles up at you
I loved her first
It is SO FLIPPIN HOT!
Thatisall.
I entered these in a contest and lost, so I guess I can share them here now. No more contests for me; I was too depressed when I didn't make the cut.
Edited to add: I should say that I did not create this layout; I bought it on eBay. All I did was select and add the pictures.
I finally got around to putting pictures in Lindsey's baby book. Hope you like!
... get a brilliant answer.
Well, the Mall Crawl is over, so the inevitable boatloads of email have been pouring in over the last week. It's always the same kinds of things - problems claiming prizes (which I hate), praise of the event (which I love), difficulty logging in or changing email addresses (which is just a slog). I know how to answer everything (this was, after all, our twelfth such event), but I can't help but resent the demands on my time that seem to come from every direction. It seems like, no matter how well I try to plan my day, a million-and-one things nibble away at my available hours until there's no time left to do what I really want to do.
Kids must be fed, dressed, read to, educated, changed, corrected, and otherwise attended to. Dishes and laundry must be washed. Events in town require driving to and from them, plus packing, unpacking, and planning. Shopping, working - it all takes its toll. I want nothing more than to just sit down at 6 in the morning, scrap all day long, then go to bed at midnight, but days like that are long gone. Now I do well to just get in a few minutes a week of "paper therapy."
I tried the eBay thing. Gave it three weeks, and am finally giving up in disgust. I sold several layouts, but only at giveaway prices. Between eBay's fees, Paypal's fees, shipping costs, and the lack of enthusiastic bidding, it is simply not worth it. I'm going to keep scrapping for myself, and maybe enter more contests and design team calls. I want to develop my abilities at this - to push and challenge myself so that I can grow and change. Scrapbooking is not, for me, just about getting pictures in books. It is an artistic expression - one that I find I really need to maintain my sanity.
I'm also still learning C# and ASP.NET under Mike's tutelage. The hope is that I can learn enough not only to redesign QuiltIndex and 2Frogs (both of which are badly overdue), but also to take on some development-for-hire to bring in a few extra bucks. God knows it can't pay any worse than eBay!
Mike got a new color printer for us. It arrived today, and seems to be working really well. It's a big monster of a machine, though, so I'll have to do all of my scrapping at the card table since there is now not enough room on my desk. You can expect to see more color printing in my scrapbooks now. :) Speaking of printing, I'm working on uploading pictures for a new photo-print order, full of pictures from January (when I placed my last order) to the present. I'm going to use up the rest of my pre-paids at Shutterfly, then switch over to Snapfish (which is not only 7 cents per print cheaper, but is also offering free shipping and 20 free prints). I also might try doing some photo printing on my new color printer. We'll see how that goes.
I guess that's all the news that's fit to print!