Sorry, gang.I’ve been really busy this past week. I thought I was going to go crazy this weekend with everything that was going on.

We went to a party at the home of a co-worker of Beloved’s. It was a crawfish boil and I am NOT a crawfish person. In fact, I don’t want to even watch people eat them. Fortunately, there was a lot of food, including meatless pasta since this was a Lenten Friday. I took my plate of food and moved away from everyone else while they ate.

On Saturday, we went to a wedding reception. This, again, was for a friend of Beloved’s although I kinda know the groom a bit. We gave them a check and a gift certificate for 10 pages of digital scrapbook pages (printed) done by RomanceChick Designs and an offer for any more pages in the same album for 1/2 price. Maybe this will be a good start in getting my Scrapbook Business started. Who knows?

Along with that, I uploaded a new kit in all my stores.

Note the new preview style and that I figured out how to make my papers look rolled! I know this isn’t a big deal to most of you, but I see all these other kit previews with rolled papers and I couldn’t figure out how to do it. So, I searched for a plug-in or something and almost right away a blogger I follow posted a tutorial on how to do it! So, yea!

Also, someone suggested that I try to make my previews look more like art all on their own. So I’ve been working on it. I’m not sure I have it down yet, but I think this looks cool.

Also, this was a personal challenge for me because I used a palette from a generator made by Serenidipity and named it with her Princess Name Generator.

I kinda got a little over eager with this one and made a few too many papers and too many hearts, but that turns out to be cool for you.

You can get these here

Plus, I made a Quick Page for this kit:

You can pick up this QP here.

I’d love to see what you do with it! Don’t forget to add a comment when you download!

Okay, so I’m late. It’s after 6 pm here, and I’m just getting this freebie up for you. Sorry about that, but my mother and brother and mother are here and we’ve been doing stuff so I haven’t been able to get to the computer.

In all my stores, there is a kit called Irish Wedding in the Rain. I wanted to do something a little different for St. Patrick’s Day and as the RomanceChick, I kinda like to focus on wedding stuff.

Here is the preview of the kit:

Check out any of the stores on the sidebar to buy the kits.

In the meantime, here is a quick page I made with this for you:

You can get it here

I have a beautiful daughter. As I’ve shared scrapbook layouts of her, I’ve had strangers comments on how lovely she is. She is that age where youth and enthusiasm and health come together to create a woman designed to attract a mate. She is lovely.

I just hit 50 years old and while I’m trying not to let that number bother me, I don’t see beauty when I look in the mirror anymore. My husband says I’m beautiful; the Boy is always calling me his “beautiful Momy,” but I don’t see it anymore.

This post kinda got to me this morning.

If I try to look at things through wiser eyes than mine are generally, I can see a woman who has lived a good, fairly full life (not that it’s over, mind you!) and the marks of that life are visible.

I have scars from an emergency C-section to deliver the above mentioned beautiful woman 19 years ago, and 9 weeks before her due date.

I have scars on my right shoulder from a month of hemo-dialysis and a scar on my right side from a kidney transplant.

Those abdominal surgeries have left stomach muscles that are weak and probably will never be flat again, even if I do lose the weight I want to lose. They sag a bit.

My hair is gray if I don’t color it. I have, increasingly, wrinkles that echo my mother’s and droopy eyelids that are clearly my dad’s.

Yet through all this, I usually feel young inside. I’m learning more about writing, graphic design, and life every day. I have a 6-year-old son who is a challenge to raise but a joy to be with, a real gift from God.

I have a husband who adores me and dare I say it? Still wants me, physically, all the time.

Am I 100% comfortable in my skin? I don’t know. I like me. I like the woman I am, most of the time. I have good friends, a wonderful family, people who look to me for advice and sometimes leadership, and I laugh pretty much every day, and I bring out laughter in others.

By our society’s standards, I may not be beautiful like Madonna (who is 6 months older than I am, so what’s up with that??? Lend credence to my “sold her soul to the devil” theory) or the super-model-flavor-of-the-week, but do I need their approval?

I see my writer friends, many of whom are older than I am, and I honestly believe every one of them is a beautiful woman. Do they see me the same way?

I need to stop being so hard on that woman in the mirror. She has a lot of very nice qualities that she needs to celebrate more often.

Gang, I uploaded a couple of my kits to two more stores yesterday and you get a gift!

This is from my Be Mine kit and you can find this personal use kit at any of the stores on the sidebar, but especially check out TKO Scraps and Desired Designs. They are the newest stores I’m in.

Click here to download.

I’m still trying to get over this learning curve. I’ve made five kits already but one store wants the elements names one way and another wants them named another way, and then two stores accepted my application on the same day…and…well, I feel like I’m up to my eyeballs in being behind.

I finished work on my part of an Easter/Springtime collaboration kit that will be at Scrap Happiness next week. Here’s my part:

Tomorrow is Wednesday and again, The Creativity Box is having a Wacky Wednesday Sale. Stop by and pick up some great bargains!

WRITING UPDATE:

Last year, Beloved submitted our book Lady and the Necromancer to Baen Books after a major rewrite. They’d seen it once and had some suggestions. Their site said it would take about 9 months for them to respond after submission.

That 9 months ended around Christmas and we never heard anything. Finally, today, Beloved contacted them.

Turns out they never got it!!! We’ve been waiting almost a year for nothing.

The good news is that they remembered the story and said if a major rewrite had been done, they’d look at it, so off it went today. We got confirmation that they got it, so now we wait another year.

I’ve just signed an agreement with TKO Scraps and will probably start selling stuff there next week. In the meantime, they’re having a sale today!

Stop by and see what’s on sale!

If you like blog trains, mark your calendar for 1 April. This is when Michelle’s Angels Easter Egg Hunt starts.

And speaking of Michelle’s Angels, we’re looking for a Creative Team.

If you’re looking for a fun team to work for, consider applying.

LIFE UPDATE:

The Boy has been doing better in school, however, he got a red yesterday.

Beloved and I are planning our bed and breakfast trip, probably in two weeks. In preparation, I ordered a cute short satin robe for a romantic getaway. I had to order it online because every store I looked at either had flannel jammies, cute sets that said, “Hey, I’m a teenager on a sleepover” or strange house dress looking things that said, “Hello, I’m your grandmother.” !!

None of those said, “I’m a nice, Catholic woman going away with my husband of many years for a nice romantic night away from our kids!”

Oh, well, one store had stuff that said, “Hi, there, I’m a slut.”

I did find one store that had gorgeous silk kimono type robes that said exactly what I wanted, but they said it for $189!! Given that my budget was about $40, even with 60% off (which these were) I wasn’t sure they were saying what I wanted in the right tone of voice!

So, anyway, even though it sounds cheesy, I found exactly what I wanted at….

…wait for it…

Frederick’s of Hollywood!

Yeah, I know it’s Frederick’s and all, but honestly, I bought stuff from them when I was single and I always liked their clothes. My favorite blouse OF ALL TIME came from there years ago. It’s long gone now but I have fond memories.

Well, I need to go spend some family time. Leave me a note to let me know you’ve been here!

This is my new kit, Irish Wedding in the Rain. It’s now available at any of the stores listed on the side bar. If you haven’t been here for a bit, you’ll see a new store listed there. Scrap Happiness. I’m excited to be part of another design team.

I’m also waiting to hear about two other stores, both owned by the same person. I’ve signed contracts for them but haven’t heard anything about getting my store set up there.

In the meantime, one of my stores, The Creativity Box, is having a sale tomorrow.

Stop by and see what’s there!

WRITING NEWS:

I’ve had in my head the story of a spoiled princess who ends up married to a pig farmer who is more than he appears to be. I even have a title, The Pig Sty Princess. However, last night, I realized that I could use one of the characters from my current wip, Sword & Illusion as the princess for this new one. I actually got the idea for the book when I created this character but it never occurred to me that I could make the story work for her.

It wouldn’t be a direct sequel to S&I since it wouldn’t advance the over-arcing story, but it would be more like a spin-off. I see possibly a trilogy with this character and the situation she finds herself in.

The Boy didn’t have school today because of teacher conferences, so we went to Chick-fil-A for lunch and while he played I outlined the whole book.

I’m really quite excited about this, but I have to get S&I done first. To make the Pig Sty Princess work, I’ll have to do a little tweaking, but, heck, I’m tweaking it all over the place anyway!

So, guys, I hope you stop by one of my stores this week and check out my kits and I’ll try to make progress on my writing!

Until next time, hope you’re doing well!