New Forums and Gallery!

At long last, the new forums and gallery are up. I switched from Community Server to Invision Power Board. I am hoping (fingers and toes crossed) that this solution works well for everyone. For now, I have only set up a Design Team Idea Gallery. Once that is running well and stable, I will probably set up an open gallery for anyone to post to.

The Nantucket Freebie has been very popular and has had over 1000 downloads as of today. Needless to say, the first night it was slow to download and some experienced corrupted file messages. I have checked the file and it is not corrupted or damaged in anyway. I just think that the server was probably a little overwhelmed and something went wiggy in the download process.

Thank you to everyone who visited my Digi Scrap Fest Booth! That event was very successful and I met a bunch of newbie digi scrappers. Glad you all were able to take advantage of the Specials. I will probably participate again in the winter.

We are supposed to head to Vermont next week for some much needed family time. There is no internet service at the house so I probably won't be able to check in much. That is most likely a good thing. My family needs a little of my time sans ScrapKitchen and scrapping. Of course, I will be going through withdraw. ;)

Well...going to go outside now and wrestle my 100 lb golden retriever back into the house. Does he really need to bark at EVERY living thing? I am sure the neighbors LOVE us.

Bye,
Chef

Why is this considered news?

This was on the front page of CNN.com. Must be a slow news day.

Goats, cows offered for Chelsea
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) -- A Kenyan says he offered Bill Clinton 40 goats and 20 cows for his daughter's hand in marriage five years ago -- and is still waiting for an answer.

Honestly, is this really news? I truly believe our media and news outlets are crap.

There...I feel better now.

Chef

Welcome New DT Members!

Wow...I have been tres busy for the past two weeks. I spent the past few days selected and getting to know the new ScrapKitchen Master Chefs Design Team. Yes, it's a mouthful...but I think it's kinda cute. Anyway, the team is incredibly talent and is composed of longtime paper and digi scrappers as well as relatively new digi scrappers. They are all great gals and have come up with the most incredible layouts!

The Digi Scrap Fest also opened this week and I have been kept busy with that. I want to say a huge thank you to all of you who visited my booth and took advantage of the sales and deals I have going. I think I am going to have to reward you with a FREEBIE very soon! Speaking of freebie, I will have new freebie featured on Digital Freebies on July 29th. Make sure you check back then to get your goodies!

I haven't been on the computer for the past couple days. I have family in town and have been spending time with them. I love it when they come to town. It is so nice to kick back with a cold Blue Moon beer after dinner and gab it up with my MIL. She rocks! Here she is with my son at the park. So cute.



Well..gotta run. More later.

Chef

I need sleep! And a new kit coming.....

I have been staying up late every night this week. I am barely able to stay awake to post this message. I have finished my next kit, Nantucket Cottage.



It is going to be released at the Digi Scrap Fest on July 20th. I really enjoyed creating this one. I LOVE the colors. Hope you all like it as well.

Also, I trying to update the website. It needs a complete overhaul but I am trying to make small changes little by little. I hope to add an uploadable gallery soon, I just have to check into bandwidth issues.

I am going to be spending the weekend going through the design team applications. I haven't had a chance to take a look at most of them....but the ones I did peak at looked great! How can I choose just 3-5 designers? I hate saying no to anyone. I am so honored that all of you great scrappers are interested in working with ScrapKitchen. Really, I am.

Today was a little eventful. I went to The Container Store today to get a scrapbooking storage cart. Yes, I am biscrapual and just cannot part with my paper products. But, I needed something low key to keep my stuff safe.

Anyway, after loading my son into his stroller, I shut my trunk and immediately realized that I had sat my keys down inside the trunk! Ever have one of those moments that just happens so fast and you want to rewind it? The sucky part was that I was at least 30 minutes from my home (The Container Store is a bit of a drive) and it was rush hour on a Friday. By the time my husband could get there, it would be at least an hour. Luckily, I am a AAA member. They showed up in 20 minutes. The guy popped the lock in about 4 seconds....no kidding. He was fast. I asked him if he wanted to see my ID or AAA membership card and he said no! What the hell? I could just call them and have them get me into any car and steal it. I guess my mom outfit and baby in a stroller led him to believe I wasn't attempting grand theft auto. Crisis averted.

Well....I have to get some sleep. I am exhausted. My husband is going to take care of my son in the morning...so I get to sleep in! See you all later!

Susan

First Day of Pre-Pre-School!

Today was a big day for Ben. He started his first day of Pre-Pre-School! He is in an Early Intervention Program due to his prematurity and they offer an integrated pre-pre-school program. Some of the children receive services and others are just typical kids from the community. Ben just started walking but isn't really talking yet. We are hoping this group will help him develop his communication skills.

It's amazing what social interaction can do for a child's development. Ben still has problems eating and sees a feeding therapist once a week. Since he was intubated for 6 weeks, he has a heightened gag reflex and any food with texture is a problem for him. Needless to say, that rules out just about everything but yogurt, ice cream and soups. Anyway, today, in pre-school, he actually ate a bite of cucumber! I guess he just looked around and saw the other kids doing it so he went for it. I was shocked! I wish I would have had my camera ready! Oh well. Here are some pictures from today.


Ben with his therapist, Laura




Walking like crazy!

What a happy day!

Susan

Design Team Call !

Hi Everyone!

I have decided to expand the ScrapKitchen Design Team. I need 3-5 talented scrappers to join Linda Barber on the design team for the duration of 2005. I have several kits in the works and would like to get the positions filled before I release them. If you are interested, please read below and respond accordingly:

Requirements

Create at least 2 layouts per kit for posting in the ScrapKitchen gallery and 2 other online galleries of your choice in accordance with their TOU.

Play an active role in our online forums.

You may be a member of other design teams.

While on the DT, you receive everything on the ScrapKitchen Menu for free!


How to apply? It’s simple!

Please send me a link to your online gallery by Friday, July 15th to designteam@scrapkitchen.com. You do not have to use ScrapKitchen products….I would just like to see your overall talent and scrapping style.

Include a brief description of yourself with your first and last name. Include any information that would be helpful in my decision (how long you have been scrapping, your style, other teams on which you are a member, etc.).

Please put “Design Team Application” in the subject of your email. You will receive an auto-response upon receipt of your application.

The team will be announced on Sunday, July 17th on the ScrapKitchen website! I look forward to receiving the applications.

Good luck!
Susan

Home at Last! And new forums!

I am home in Boston. We put off our return until today. Usually we like to drive home to Boston on a Saturday as the NJ turnpike traffic can be horrid on Sundays....but we were just too tired Saturday night. We really lucked out today. We did hit some traffic in NJ and NY, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. Ben was really sweet on the entire ride and just started to freak out once we were near home. I guess 6.5 hours in a carseat isn't terribly fun.

Needless to say, I am exhausted....sometimes I need a vacation from my vacation. Know what I mean? I just need some time to settle back into the routine, etc. I did, however, set up a new forum section on the site. I have been wanting to do this for awhile now....and my hosting provider just recently offered the software for free. So, I spent some time tonight setting it up. I have to say that it's not the greatest interface in the world. As it stands now, because it is an application run on shared hosting, it is not customizable. I am hoping the software manufacturer will change that soon. If they do not, I might have to purchase a different forum package. We'll see.

In the meantime, stop by and check it out. I know there are a lot of forums out there. But I decided to open mine and allow discussion and direct linking to other scrapping sites. I really want to support digi-scrapping as an industry and there really isn't a place where scrappers can discuss great kits, sales, freebies, etc. with violating some sites' TOUs. I am not really worried about the impact of competition....I just want scrappers to have an open forums where they can aggregate info.

So....I hope to see some of you there. I am going to be working on a new Gallery next. Also, I have a new kit in the works and a DT call to work on. Very busy. Better get some sleep.

Bon soir,
Chef

Vacation extended....

Well, we were supposed to leave Baltimore for Boston today....but we extended our vacation for one more day. We are having such a good time and we wanted to have dinner with some family friends and tonight was the only night they could fit us in. I had to leave early to put Ben to bed. Andrew is still out. Thought I would poke around the blogosphere....

I am looking forward to getting home. Lots and lots of emails to return, layouts to create with new photos, and kits awaiting! Also, I think I am going to put out a call for additions to my DT. I have to think about what I am looking for, how many designers I want to add, etc.

I am going through scrapping withdraw. I actually dreamt about layouts and kits and such last night. Came up with some interesting color combos in my dreams....now if I can only remember them!

Chef

London

I woke this morning to horrible news in London. My heart is aching for the people of London, the UK and the world. When 9/11 occurred, the guards at Buckingham Palace played the United States National Anthem, the newspapers in Paris declared, "Today We are All American". The world held our hand as we grieved.

Well, today, we are all British. We all are suffering with you.

Susan

Happy 4th of July!

Greetings from Baltimore! My in-laws got broadband so now I am able to surf and post! We have had a great vacation so far. Lots of things to do and people to see. We didn't go to see fireworks last night because it was too hot and Ben probably would have been scared of the noises and lights. Maybe next year. We did, however, go to the Orioles game Friday night and they had fireworks after the game. I took a couple pictures with my camera phone...but I don't think they came out very well.

Ben has been doing lots of walking. We are so excited! He has been cruising FOREVER but wasn't really interested in walking. For the past couple days, he has taken several steps before sitting down. Yeah! Almost there!

Well...just wanted to pop in and say hi. Here are a couple pics of me and Ben. I will post more of my family and Ben walking a little later.





Take care,
Chef