Taking a breath

Ah, late with the updates again! If you've followed me on Facebook, you would have found out that I retired from selling my designs at the end of July. I had no problems with Digitals; I merely became "burnt out". No desire, no inspiration, no time. And while I still have some scrapping to do, I can tell you that I haven't opened Photoshop nearly as much this year as in the past few years, and I haven't regretted it. :) I still am a scrapper but I'm taking a much needed break.

My time lately has been spent reading & cooking, with a splash of cleaning thrown in there. While our house is still a mess, it's on the right track to getting it back to a clean-ish state. ;) My daughter starts school in a few days, and I'm sure having my Little Destruct-o out of the way for several hours in the day will help. (I love her, but our house has never been the same since she became mobile. Seriously.)

Hey! I can tie these two topics together by mentioning that I did open Photoshop to do a little scrapping, in relation to her starting school! She picked out this cute ladybug "purse-style" lunch bag for school. (Like a lot of stuff around here, it's from Target.) So I was trying to find a good thermos/drinking cup to go with it. It's more challenging than you might think because my daughter is autistic and she still hasn't figured out how to use a straw. I needed something that was not going to leak, but would allow her to tip & drink like a regular cup. I ended up deciding on the insulated coffee cup with removable insert by Aladdin. I believe it's this model. And I used my A Bug World kit to throw together an insert that works with the lunch bag. I'll see if I can get around to taking a pic for you.

Have a good weekend!

This week's update

Still working on the new kit. The working title is Sherbet Forest. There's a mild floral theme & the colors are pastels that remind me of sherbet. Now you know! :)

On a different note, a few weeks ago I was blessed to be led to the Mars Hill Church podcast sermons, originally through the Stitcher app but now I subscribe through iTunes. God has been rich with His Spirit in Pastor Mark, and it's been so refreshing to hear these sermons. Highly recommend checking these out. Search for Mars Hill on iTunes or check for videos on YouTube.

Bye 'til we meet in blogland again!


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Scrapping update

Hey there! So today I'm outside, listening to the Betamouse podcast on my iPhone. It's motivated me to give you a post. I've been doing some design work over the last week, but am having trouble focusing, as usual. The pirate kit I've been working on for months continues to be in limbo. I've come to realize that pirates are just something I don't have a passion for! Sorry, Jack Sparrow! I think I will finish it eventually but I've put it on the back burner.

So I started another kit which is zipping along. I decided instead of trying to do something trendy, or trying to create something with the thought in mind of "Will it sell?", I would make another kit with my own taste in mind. That's why I started designing in the first place but I kinda lost sight of that. And it's amazing how much faster I can work when my goal is to just create what I want. I finished 6-7 digipapers in about 2 hours! I really have a feeling this kit will be available soon. Stay tuned.

Also I have a lot of pics from our recent WDW trip to scrap. I finished a few layouts, and I'll get you a link to view them when I get back on my computer. (If you're on my Seebee's Facebook page, you can view them there.) I'm currently scrapping Small World pages, so I may have a little freebie up on the Seebee's Freebies blog. I can't promise anything but I'm trying.

That's all for now!


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Quick update

Hard for me to believe, but 2 weeks ago I was walking around the Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World resort! It doesn't seem like that long ago. I've been working on a (way too wordy) trip report, which I'm posting exclusively at the Be Our Guest podcast forums. (I believe that's at www.beourguestpodcast.com/forum if you're interested.)
I'm also in the process of finishing up that pirate kit that I've been working on for Digitals. Keep up with my Seebee's fan page on Facebook for the latest on its inevitable release.

Of course a trip to WDW means I've got pics to scrap! Once I get into that, it wouldn't surprise me if another Seebee's Freebies or two comes out. We'll see how inspired I get!

Take care; have a good Wednesday! :)

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Cupcake picture

Not the best picture, but I never claimed to be a food stylist. I can tell you they taste great, though! :)

Yummy Red Velvet Cake w/ cream cheese frosting!

Ok, I don't have time to type up the recipe and I haven't taken any photos yet. But here's where you can get the recipe for the red velvet cake & cream cheese frosting that I used for my cupcakes yesterday. The only difference is that I portioned the cake batter into 24 cupcakes, and cooked them for 18 minutes. I also halved the frosting since I figured half would be enough for the cupcakes, as opposed to the layer cake. (I was right; I have almost a cup of frosting left over in the fridge.)

The cake is good, but I'm particularly impressed with the frosting. Perfect texture, easy, and it's more reminiscent of a buttercream frosting flavored with cream cheese. I find it to be a perfect blend of sweetness with a light cream cheese flavor. Already I'm thinking of trying this on my favorite banana chip snack cake. (Also an ATK recipe from one of their cookbooks; it's fabulous!)

You'll probably need to create a login account with Cook's Country TV, but it's free and believe me, the ATK crew's recipes are well worth having. Cook's Illustrated/America's Test Kitchen/Cook's Country are my go-to recipes. I've loved them for years. :)

Go here to get the Red Velvet Cake & Cream Cheese Frosting recipe from Cook's Country. (Remember that you may need to create a login to view it, plus the recipes are only free during the current season of Cook's Country. So this recipe may not be available for free, depending on when you're reading this post.)

Not much today

I'm sitting here with a sick kid on my lap. I expect I'll get very little accomplished today unless she takes a nap. I did get some nice red velvet cupcakes made yesterday, so that's something, right? I think ATK has created a recipe for the best cream cheese frosting I've ever tasted. I'll post it if I get a chance.


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Yeah, there's a "new" product

I just popped on here & noticed I never added the latest paper set, "Party Elegance" to my Kaboodle feed. So if you look over on the right>>>>>>> and see something you hadn't seen before, keep in mind this is not exactly new but it IS the latest product I have at Digitals. You'll never be able to call me super-speedy, apparently! :)

And again, become a fan at my Seebee's Facebook page to get the latest updates on freebies, my Digitals products, challenge givaways, etc. Go to the Seebee's by Chris Beasley fan page by clicking here. (And yes, I did actually mention when the paper set was released there, so it's definitely a good way to keep up with the Seebee's stuff. ;) )

Testing iPhone blogging

You can pretty much ignore this post. I just wanted to make sure this whole "posting from my phone" thing works. :)


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