One Mama Duck

Crafting my way through life - one adventure at a time.

Hi! I'm LisaDV. Thanks for stopping by. This is my life, crazy and chaotic most of the time, and I wouldn't change a thing.

Thursday, July 31, 2014

Reworking a Layout

There seems to be two distinct camps with regards to reworking a layout. Those that do it a lot. Those that never do it. Typically, I fall into the never do it. However, if my kids taught me one thing, it that the only never EVER allowed is to not say NEVER. It bites you on the butt, every. single. time.

Although I don't think I've ever reworked a paper layout, digital layouts happen to get reworked every now and then.  Case in point. Last week I made this layout of my daughter.
Overall, I like the bright colors and general layout. But I went a little too crazy with the fonts. I have 6 different title fonts going.  It's muddied and not visually pleasing.  So by just replacing one font with a similar one, I got this:
Definitely an improvement.  It's one of those layouts that came together in my head much better than IRL.  But I can live with this version.

So will you rework a layout or not?

Layout credits: P&Co: Scotty Girl Design/Mommyish - QandA; SnapClick: Carta Bella - Beautiful Moments; Echo Park Paper - Hello Summer;  :LilyPad: JustJaimee - Doilies4; Sabrina Dupree Designs -Only Love Bits;

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Is It Friday, yet???

I seriously woke up yesterday thinking it was.  Today isn't any better. Not that I work outside the home and not that my weekend will be more relaxing.  But my husband will be home to either help me out or irritate me, either way it's a win for one of us. lol. Both actually make me happy so I guess it's a win for me both ways.  **Actually, he just called and said we're leaving Saturday for the farm and we'll stay the week.  He'll be traveling to and from the farm for work during the week - He's going to Canada.  But I can get more basement painting done and maybe some mowing. 

 I have 4 more layouts to share with you today. All digital.
 P&CO: Gennifer Bursett: Playful Mini, For the Love of Mini; Mari Koegelenberg - Oh Happy Day the wood chips; Robyn Meierotto - Spring Sweetness Enamel Dots; Anita Designs- Some Flairs Vol 8; Mommyish - essential styles; P&Co Collab Kit - Laid Back; :LilyPad: JustJaimee - Doilies4; Sabrina Dupree Designs -Only Love Bits;

I am seriously crazy about the For the Love of Mini kit by Gennifer Bursett. I loved lace on my traditional layouts. I used to use it a lot, but tired of it and stopped using it and stopped buying it and now I  use it every once in a while. This kit has made me want to revisit this, plus I'm looking for more lace in future digital purchases.  The ombre effect of the paper is *to die for*.  There is the pink one and a greenish blue one.  Love them.  Then there is a gray weathered wood paper.


Hot Chocolate and Cinnamon Toast - Nothing gets me better hugs in the morning from my girl than to offer this combo for breakfast.

P&Co: Digital Scrapbook Ingredients - Fresh from the oven; Mari Koegelenberg - Oh Happy Day the wood chips; Robyn Meierotto - Spring Sweetness Enamel Dots :SnapClick: Fancy Pants Designs - wonderful Day; Crystal Wilkerson - Beautiful Day Papers


 P&Co: Southern Serenity - Yankee Doodle Template Sugarplum Paperie - Gray Skies;

Seriously, I don't even know how this happened. Only a template and 1 kit - massive kit, but only 1 none the less.



P&CO: Scotty Girl Design/Mommyish - Q&A kit, Deena Rutter - Every Little Bit Brush set#2; Anita Designs - Some Flairs Vol 08; Scotty Girl Design - 2014 Summer Flair; Mari Koegelenberg - Oh Happy Day the wood chips.

There you go.   Thanks for stopping by.  Hope you're having a wonderful day and that you don't think it's Friday when it's only Wednesday. ....yikes.



Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Sickness Productivity

We came home the 19th of July, only to have last week mean that we were all sick with a nasty cold.  The germ ridden kiddos shared the infestation first with Daddy and then with Momma.  Of course, a Mom's job is never done so in between bouts of resting I still had meals to make, dishes to clean, laundry to do (I'm caught up on all the previous 4 weeks now - woo hoo - happy dancing), and still packing boxes and moving them to my staging area (the living room) for loading in the trailer. 

But bouts of resting means digital page productivity was happening here. Eleven pages in total, although 2 are a double layout awaiting the journaling from Don.  I love getting his perspective on things he's done with the kids. All of the following 4 are done using only Pixel and Company products.




Southern Serenity_Everything is Awesome Template; P&Co Collab Kit - Go Bold – Papers, sequins, and most elements; Deena Rutter – Every Little Bit Brush Set #2; Gennifer Bursett -  Playful – chevron gelli arrows


  P&CO: Dream Collab; Mommyish- Essential Styles;  Fonts: Calibri & Champagne

 P&Co: Gennifer Bursett: Playful Mini, For the Love of Mini; Anita Designs: Some Flair Vol 8; Mommyish - essential styles.



P&CO: Simply Tiffany Studios - Year of Templates Spring pack 001 (2014) #004; Sugarplum_Hello Darling - PP’s and some embellishments; Gennifer Bursett - For Thethe Love of Mini Kit; Karla Dudley,T Life Story, March 2014 Vellum Bits; Mommyish Essential Styles Layer effects

I'm loving Mommyish Essential Styles Layer effects at the moment. I'm totally getting glitter styles next purchase.  I did download some free ones from the net, but had the darnedest time getting them to show up in my layers palette. 

Monday, July 28, 2014

When it rains, it tsunami's

Yep, the poor blog has been totally neglected this past month.  I'd like to say I've been enjoying summer with kiddos and living life.  But  that isn't the case. 

I'll give you the back-story here.  When we finally made it up to our Michigan house that we're refurbing in April, after not being there since October of last year, we found a busted water pipe in the basement. So that week was spent cleaning out the basement. It was what we were going to do anyway, but it turned a 2 day project into a whole week project. It was not only throwing away all the stuff from the previous owners but also mold remediation.  **I still have chemical burn scar on my arm where the rubber glove stopped to prove it.**  The basement trash was bagged and placed on the front lawn. Yep, real classy hilbilly style!  We hoped to be back in May and get a dumpster then.  But in our household, we don't hold to that mamsy pansy "when it rains, it pours" nonsense. In our house, it tsunami's.   

So it is now June, the 19th to be exact, and we trekked up with our loaded trailer to the Michigan house. We spent the next several days mowing and filling a dumpster with trash from the house and the property. 

Princess had her birthday that week as well. Her birthday wishlist were a stamp set designed by Kristina Werner and a camera of her own.  Her other wish was to go to the butterfly conservatory on Mackinaw Island. Of course, we drove up on Thursday leisurely stopping at places that interested them and spent Friday on the Island.  We'll definitely go back!

On Saturday the 28th, we went back to Ohio, and I spent the next 4 days loading the trailer up again. Then we returned to Michigan. We celebrated the 4th and even enjoyed a campfire with some fireworks of our own.   I started to work on painting the basement. Quickly realizing that it wasn't going to be a quick weekend paint job.  And that the HVLP sprayer wasn't going to work on the rough beams and concrete walls.  The paintbrushes came out.  Don went back to Ohio without us and worked through the week. Me. I painted and painted and painted and painted. I wished at one point that I was a prissy girl whose husband wouldn't even consider her working in a yukky basement...alone...One little bit had tears.  Then I put my big girl panties back on.  I would only stop to fix breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  I stopped early on Friday though.  I'm still not even  1/2 way through the basement.  That first coat of paint on the ceiling beams takes forever, and I'm working around duct work and wires and some places I can't even reach.  The old wood just sucks up the paint, even though parts of it had been painted before. I'm at 3 coats on the ceiling and 1 on the walls, and the kids helped with 1/2 of the wall.  Princess is having belly issues - feeling sick like she's going to throw up the whole week to add to my already waning enthusiasm.  I now realize that I'll need to stay another week.

Don comes up and works from home 3 days and takes off 2.  He is now an official Michigan resident, woo hoo. $15 deer hunting license instead of $150.  I also realize that I get way more accomplished without Don there than I do with him there.  However, I now have 2 out of 6 new block windows up in the basement thanks to the man.  They've been holes that are just boarded over. It lets light in and with the white paint, it really brightens the place up.  He also shot his 2nd squirrel, but the first one that we ate.  We (I) finish the ceiling and Don and I paint the walls with a 2nd coat. I clean up 1/2 of the painted area flooring and replace my freezer and we start moving storage things down there.  I start the next section of basement. I can't remember if I just got the first coat or if I got the 2nd coat on too.  Regardless, when we moved in August, I'll have to finish the basement before I can do anything else.

The  Before
 The After

I've decided that with these white walls and the ceiling that my treadmill can go down there. I don't think it would be horrible to walk down there.  Obviously the before, I didn't even want to go to the freezer.  yuk.

We'll be taking the next load up this weekend, but I won't be staying this time around. I'm at least viewing the light at the end of the tunnel as far as moving our stuff.  So I'll probably reload the trailer and then work the next 2 weeks at the Ohio house cleaning and painting there.  Unfortunately, it also means the kids probably won't start school until mid September if I'm lucky and first of October if I'm not.