All About You in 52, Week 45

Debby’s Dream Studio is at Simply Me, Donna Downey’s blog, Tuesday (today) for a grand giveaway.

I went to look up my birth date specifics and found several treasures. One was my baby book. I found cards sent to me at my birth announcement, a clipping of my hair, a receipt where mom and dad “paid for me” for $150.00. Don’t you wish that’s all it cost to have a baby today! I found more photos and my dad slipped me some money. Granted it is all in Yens!

I do know this. I’m a “female,” “white,” my dad was 24 and my mom was 21 when I was born. I now have my street address where my first home was located. Dr. Morgan delivered me. It was fun to know these “Facts” about me. I know about my mom’s birth, but I don’t know much about dad’s as his original birth certificate was lost in a courthouse fire. No main frames and computers back when he was born. They recreated a new one with “what they thought” was the Facts!

Of all we have done in All About You in 52 we have not covered the very FACTS of who, what, where and when of YOU.

Question

What are the Vital Statistics of Your Birth?

My Answer

(not a great photo today...Ida is making it hard to get a photo in the natural light!)

Journaling
My journaling is hidden. I actually scanned my birth certificate and placed it under the photo and attached a pull-tab. Since I don’t think it is wise to give everyone everything including my birth certificate I’m not going to share my journaling this week!

Ingredients
Pattern Paper: ChatterBox artsy.licious –“in Bloom” fine paper goods (Debby’s Dream Studio)
Hand crocheted ribbon by Mom, Mikki Perkins
Lettering: Thinkers from American Crafts, Daiquiri; My Little Shoebox Alphabet stickers, Rose
Flowers: Maya Road
Hinge: Making Memories
Words and Little Girl: Etcetera by Pro-Craft
Rhinestone: in the floral section of Hobby Lobby
Swivel Clasp: Tim Holtz Idea-ology

Mary you are going to receive the RAK this week. I can’t wait to see your book! I’ve seen other layouts in various areas of the Internet and I’m excited that people are making an album about themselves.

HOMEMADE FAMILIES (I will turn the music off by Friday! LOL) I’ve had a few questions about the 2010 Dare Ya! If you don’t have 52 recipes or don’t think you have that many, go ahead and join in as you can (1) skip questions (2) you never know what surprises you might find in your family or here. Homemade Families is not a contest or a race. We will be drawing for a Giveaway once a month and your name is put in the drawing as many times as you post a link to your layouts that month. The main thing is to do all you can to document your family around what I consider an important part of our lives. Meals…Food. Read more and find out how to register at Homemade Families!

Blog Hop. It is going to be incredible. You can click on the badge on the top right hand side where it will take you with more information. I will be posting instructions on Friday and the Blog Hop starts Saturday. Scrapbook News and Review: A Faith Perspective is giving out some very outstanding gifts. Make plans to join and leave a comment when you come through Debby’s Dare.

Gratitude List
1. strength to do what I can
2. wisdom to know what I can’t do
3. friends and family that just put up with me
4. true friends that are closer than a brother
5. God love for me that allows me to love others

Wrapping Halloween

I had a great time using my 7Gypsies Binderie (Debby’s Dream Studio...20% off) to make a mini-book about several years of Halloween. What is unique to me is that is actually turned out okay! Those who know me or have been hanging out here know I struggle with mini-books. This was great fun.

I used the Binderie and the Starter Kit that comes with it as my base. I went with black cardstock for my center. Hey, it’s Halloween! I have three sections representing three years. For each section I actually cut one sheet 5” by 10 ¾” I used my Fiskars Border punch to one end of the long sheet. I scored so that the page folded in half at 5 inches. I cut one page 5” x 5” for the insert page. Each section then had 6 pages.

The advantage of doing the book this way was I could easily work on each section with it’s own unique look. AND the side of the book looked smooth with the three different folds. The Binderie actually made it easy to get each section to match perfectly. You can see the book as it is open is even across the bottom. Now this may not be new to you, but it made doing this mini-book fun! I hope you enjoy.

************CHECK OUT SIMPLY ME, DONNA DOWNEY'S BLOG TO SEE WHAT DEBBY'S DREAM STUDIO IS DOING TODAY!   hint... giveaway*************

ALL ABOUT YOU in 52 WILL BE UP TOMORROW. I’ve had a big project that will be completed this evening late and I’ll be free again. Tomorrow, Tuesday, involves you too. Make sure to come back and see what’s up!

See the links above for the BIG GiveAway and for information concerning 2010 Dare Ya! Homemade Families.

Don't foget the Blog Hop later this week!

Gratitude List:
1.  love that I don't understand
2.  discipline and instruction that makes me all that God desires
3.  a very cool daughter-in-law
4.  God's delight in my enjoyment in life
5.  all the people God has brought into my life

I Feels Like Christmas At My House Tonight

Really, check it out...



Debby's Dream Studio has lots of new products that have been added over the past few days and I will be spending the day adding more. I am not a computer genius but I have had to learn on my own how to become an IT person in order to make my website do things “they” told me it could not do. It is not easy. One place I would highly recommend is w3schools. They have been a blessing to me in teaching me how to make html work. AWESOME!

DDS is looking for gallery submissions and sketches.  You can submit your projects at debby@debbysdreamstudio.com

Enjoy Debby’s Dream Studio!

Gratitude List
my very breath
God’s Word
reminders all around me of His presence in my life
His Peace

Debby's Demo Day EMBOSSING

(You can scroll down and on the left top corner of the slide show you can click off the music!)

I can't stop embossing! I'm crazy about it. I'm finding new things to emboss every day. I'm even embossing on a thin metal. It is outstanding. Today's Demo shows a couple of projects (pictured) and tons of EMBOSSING! I love it!

Guess What!!??!! Today my sponsoring ad for Debby’s Dream Studio is up on Simply Me. That’s Donna Downey’s Blog. I’m having a screaming great time. Also Debby’s Dream Studio is having a Sponsored giveaway featured on Simply Me November 10th. Mark your calendar and make your way over to Donna’s blog. By the way, she is reinventing her studio. You should see the photos!

Soooooo, are you joining us for the 2010 Dare Ya!? Homemade Family. I’m getting more and more excited. Honestly, I want to start now. I’ll wait for you. Click on the link Homemade Family or follow the music.

Don’t forget about the FACEBOOK FAN Dare. We are up to 382 Fans. If you are not on Facebook … join! It’s so much fun. If not, you can leave a comment on the Facebook Dare post and be counted in the giveaway, but your comment doesn’t count in the count towards 500 Debby’s Dream Studio Fans! What are we giving away? Check out the post.

The PaperLife has spotlighted my friend Sudie Alexander this week. As part of the spotlight Sudie is giving away an unKit. I’ve seen it and “Holy Guacamole” quoting Sudie. Leave a comment on The PaperLife to be in the running. I have!!

Don’t forget the Blog Hop sponsored by Scrapbook News and Review Faith Perspective. It starts next Friday the 14th. I’m excited to be part of the “hop!”

Gratitude List
1. energy
2. faith perspective of living
3. failures that grow my dependence on God
4. God’s grace and love that demands a response
5. God’s gift of life to me

All About You in 52, Week 44

Week 44, it’s like counting down to the end of the year. Halloween has passed and now we are coming up on Thanksgiving and honestly, I want to start decorating for Christmas!

Very Frightening Teens!

Another LIST! I love my lists, but we are going to start ending our All About You in 52 with the hard questions. If you are doing “catch up” let me know. If you are caught up, keep it up!! I can’t wait to see a picture of your books. I’ve pulled down my book(s) that I’m housing my All About You in 52 and will start loading it this week. After I had filled one album I started putting them in a scrapbook box for safekeeping!

When you go to the book store or places like Cracker Barrel to you remember seeing those little paperback books with titles like “1962,” “1974” or “1938.” I loved reading through 1959, my birthday year. I never purchased one. I don’t know why. So I decided this week to make my own page with information about 1959. Of course as a newborn I don’t remember many of these items, but some things stuck around long enough that I appreciate them.

Question 44

What was Happening in the World the Year You were Born?

My Answer

Journaling
{block one}
Car: $2,200
Gasoline: 30 cents/gal
House: $18,500
Bread: 20 cents/loaf
Milk: $1.01/gal
Postage Stamp: 4 cents
Average Annual Salary: $5,500
Minimum Wage: $1.00 per
Hawaii & Alaska statehood

{block two}
Lee Petty wins the first Daytona 500 auto race.
Roger Ward wins the Indy 500 averaging 138.6 MPH.
Penn State beats Alabama 7-0 in the first Liberty Bowl game.
LA Dodgers beat Chicago White Sox, 4 games to 2 in 56th World Series.
SF Giant's stadium named as Candlestick Park.

{block three}
Bonanza debuts on TV.
Groucho, Chico & Harpo Marx's final TV appearance together
Walt Disney's "Sleeping Beauty" released.
Annette Funicello made the charts with Tall Paul.
The Untouchables" October 15, 1959
The Miracle Worker, William Gibson

{block four}
February 3, 1959. A plane crash kills singer Buddy Holly
She's here! BARBIE!
Maxwell House inaugurates the "Good to the last drop" ad campaign
One billionth can of Spam sold.
The book Lady Chatterly's Lover banned by the U.S. Postal Service
The BIC ballpoint pen is introduced in America!

Ingredients
Pattern Paper: dasiyd’s
Cardstock: Bazzil
Ribbon: Making Memories
Flowers: Prima
Letters: Thickers
Screen: Tattered Angels
Ink: Stazon Timber; Time Holtz Distress Ink brush corduroy
Other: Maya Road Trinket Pins; Jenni Bowlin chipboard buttons, “time” Colorboc; white pen, inkssentials by Ranger Inks.
Tools: Fiskars Rotary Trimmer, Ranger ink blender, Tim Holtz ruler

To our “Catch Up Girl” Mariah you pick up the RAK this week. You know the drill. I admire those who are keeping up, but I’m amazed at those who catch up! Our digi scrapper Angie is at work catching up.

Can I recommend some sites?
Jump Create is for families including children to spend time together crafting.

The PaperLife is an awesome community. Amy Coon has a great community, wonderful spotlight guests, projects that are over the top. It is a “must” explore.

Check out Nancy Nally on Scrapbook Update…great products, updates on the industry and many giveaways.

Enjoy visiting these sites.

Gratitude List
1. Rest
2. my family
3. holidays
4. my church
5. My Father who art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy Name!

2010 Debby's Dare DARE YA!

Growing up I sat with my parents and brother around the dinning room table to eat and talk. I learned table etiquette, we shared are daily adventures.  It was fun for me to listen to mom and dad talk. My mom is a great cook and we had wonderful meals minus the liver and onions!

While dad served in the Vietnam we lived with my Grandmother and Grandfather in a log cabin. The kitchen was separate from the rest of the house and only connected by a long southern porch. My Grandmother Thomas moved around the kitchen like she was born to be there. Her cooking was over the top southern goodness. The most fun was watching her make biscuits. She told us her recipe once. Grandma told us about the flour, the buttermilk, etc. lastly add 11 children and 50 years. One fun thing about my Grandfather is that he always drank sweet tea mixed with red Kool-aid. What fun!

Family reunions in my family are another time for gatherings that involve an abundance of food. Our Fourth of July Reunions consist of Mom and Dad Lewis’s reunion with make shift tables set end to end with everyone bringing their special dish for which they were well known. Dolly Cake, Mom’s yellow rice and chicken, Bill’s fresh caught and friend fish. The best Southern Fried Chicken on earth. There are fresh vegetables galore. Although the food seems to be the center of activities, it was actually seeing family we don’t see once or twice a year and to see our immediate family all together. Kids running around. Teens playing video games, moms, dads, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and long time family friends spend their time catching up and showing off new babies and sharing photos of weddings, graduations and so much more. Photo moments are a must. No hiding from all the cameras.

Our family will watch our favorite movie together around the television. Sharing laughter and conversation. A time to sort of wash away the day’s work and school to spend time being a family.

I cannot even begin to tell you the funniest stories I have with my children or my Dad when we went out to eat! I’m smiling as I type this.

I have at least 52 stories about my family both past and present as it centers around family meals.

For Debby’s Dare 2010 -- I DARE YA! to participate in

“52 Weeks of
Homemade Families.”

Here’s what we will be doing:

• I’ll post a Dare Prompt each Monday.
• You make your TWO-page layout. 
• The layouts are to be 8 x 8 
• The first page will be a photo of family time centered on food. A meal at home, a meal out, reunions, church, festival’s, fun stories of your grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, great-grand parents, etc. etc. etc.  
• The second page is a page is a FREE downloadable layout (the first page is made from the book “Paper + Pixels” by May Flaum & Audrey Neal). It is a place you can write out a recipe that goes with the story or one that you want to preserve. THIS IS NOT a working recipe book. It’s a place to preserve your recipes. I will send you a new page every quarter. Although the page is digital, you can add your embellishments to make it your own. 

(No grey Dare Ya! on your copy)

• Post your layouts each week so that we can all see and encourage you as well as be inspired. If you post to a private gallery such as Fiskateers I would encourage you to continue to post there, but also add a post to your favorite public message board or start your own Dare Ya! blog. It is very simple to start. You will be so encouraged to see it grow.  

I’m working on guests to come write about Homemade Families, Recipes, Photographing families at family meals and photographing food for your recipe cards. I’m sure I’ll be adding more as the year moves on.

We will not have weekly drawings BUT we will have monthly Dare drawings for this Dare.  That gives me room to do RAKS inbetween especially for those who are not participating. 

I’m excited to see the New Year come with this Dare. Once completed you will have 52 recipes preserved. You will have a mixture of a heritage book and a current history book. Most of all you will have a scrapbook your whole family will love to bring out at family gatherings and laugh and tell more stories. It will be a treasure for years to come.

The Free Downloads will go out via email starting December 1st. You can sign up for the “52 Weeks of Homemade Families” by emailing me at DeborahL591@yahoo.com. Include your name, your signature name for comments and any questions you have. Your questions will be helpful for me to be better prepared. PLEASE put "Homemade Families" in the subject line of your email.

You will be getting more information by December 1st.

Join in as a scrapbooker, as a family, as a group of scrappers. Join, as you will have a beautiful book by the end of 2010. It does go by fast!

Gratitude List
 1. The Kindness of God
 2. God’s Will is my joy
 3. God’s wonderful love and grace for me
 4. Seeing my Hannah during Halloween
 5. Peace

To All Empty Nesters and Animals Lovers!

This is what you do when your children are grown and you get fleeting photos of them as they head out the door or when they come around.  LOL

Happy Halloween

Have Fun

Be Safe

{Thanks Pammie Jo for my Hat}

Gratitude List

1.  Men who stood up for God's Holy Word

2.  Truth revealed

3.  God, who enjoys when we are delighted

4.  CHOCOLATE!

5.  because He first Loved us, we then can love others