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September 6, 2008, 9:34 am

Sorry that I didn’t post a tip yesterday - I’ll continue with some tips next week. Probably not daily, but as often as they pop into my head, I’ll post about them! Today I wanted to share with you some layouts that my readers have posted with my Green: The New Black kit (tomorrow is the big day! It’ll be at SBE tomorrow!) Click on any of the images to be directed to a larger image in the gallery:

I think they all turned out fabulous, don’t you?! Kudos to Jeannie (first 2), Debbie, Aly & Terri for such fab layouts! I’m amazed that most of them turned out to be related to some of my environmental posts! It’s great that not only can I make a kit being inspired by the environment, but that you guys can then go & create layouts with the same inspiration. I think the kit definitely lends itself to that, but as you can see in Terri’s layout, there are so many other uses for it, too!

Stay tuned tomorrow when the kit is released, because if you have it already or pick it up this week, I’ll give you the chance to win a $10 coupon to my store at SBE. I’ll give you all the details about that tomorrow!

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Paper or Plastic?

September 4, 2008, 11:10 am

Paper or Plastic? That is the age old question of grocery shoppers everywhere. So which do you choose? You know what really bugs me about this question? When I go to the grocery store & they ask me if I want paper or plastic, if I say paper, they automatically bag the paper bag IN a plastic bag. Uh, what? If I wanted plastic I’d say plastic. I don’t get it. Years ago this question came about because people were concerned about plastic bags. So there was a drive back to paper bags. But nowadays, it’s like they ask it out of convenience instead of environmental concern. I personally can’t stand those grocery store plastic bags. We get them everywhere. The drugstore, Target, the grocery store. I have a little caddy in my house that stores them & I do reuse them when I can, but they are so unbelievably frail that it’s hard to reuse them sometimes. And, reusing them usually is for trash bags or doggie poo bags, so they end up in the landfill anyway. I do try to get paper bags at the grocery store because we use them to recycle our newspapers. So it’s always helpful to have some on hand. Plus, I figure we get enough plastic bags from the other stores that we never need any plastic bags.

Of course the “green” answer to paper or plastic would be, “neither.” Reusable bags are always better. Lately I see canvas or other reusable bags popping up everywhere. Almost every grocery store has them, I’ve seen them at CVS and Target, too. I purchased a few at Wegman’s a few months ago:

You know what my biggest problem with these bags is, though? I always forget them. I’m trying really hard now to organize my shopping trips better - clip coupons, read the sales flyers and make sure I’ve got everything in order before I shop, because if I don’t, I either a)forget the bags or b)shop on a whim and end up spending more money. So by planning and making sure I remember my bags, it’s actually saving me money.

What if you don’t have reusable bags? Which IS better - paper OR plastic? You’d think paper, right? Well, not necessarily. Paper makes a pretty big environmental (or ecological?) footprint. The amount of trees it takes to create the bags is almost unfathomable. This source says a 15-year old tree makes 700 bags. I have no idea how reliable that is, but here, MSNBC says to make all the paper bags we use each year, it takes 14 million trees. Wow, that’s a lot of trees. Add the actual amount of trees being used to the amount of fuel needed to run the plants to produce the bags, chemicals, etc. and you’re talking some major air pollution. (A whopping 70% more than plastic, according to MSNBC.) OTHO, plastic is not much better. Again, MSNBC says it takes 12 million barrels of oil to produce the plastic bags we use each year. And they amount to 4 times the amount of solid waste as paper. And the plastic never decomposes in a landfill. Biodegradable plastic bags would be nice, but I just checked my stash of plastic bags and not one of them says it’s biodegradable.

The whole thought of solid waste to me is just daunting. The amount of packaging used in everything anymore is sickening to me. I hate it when we get something new & I see all this plastic and cardboard, packing peanuts, plastic ties, large boxes used to shop a small battery…it just makes me so angry that things have to be that packaged. And that’s not even considering food packaging. I already admitted yesterday that I run a disposable kitchen, using rolls and rolls of paper towels, individual servings of crackers and cookies…gosh, I’m just adding to the mounds of trash out there, aren’t I? It’s depressing to think about. Before my last job as an environmental specialist, I worked as a waste disposal coordinator for both hazardous and non-hazardous waste in industry, so I saw the amounts of waste generated each year by industries and it’s amazing to me how much of the general plant trash is packaging waste.

Of course packaging is probably a topic for another blog post completely, as you can see I’ve rambled on about it enough already.

So that I don’t end this blog entry on a really depressing note, and since we’re talking about the grocery store, I wanted to share with you an amazing product find I’ve recently discovered. This is completely NOT environmentally-related, but I love this stuff so much, I had to share. For some reason, I can’t find this in every grocery store, but I did find it at one of the several in our area:

I simply love this stuff I am a sucker for sour things. I love a good, tart lemonade. I LOVE Rita’s tart water ices (green apple, lemon, their old lime & even their new Key Lime). I had this stuff at my brother’s house a few months ago & just had to find it here. If you like the tart stuff, you’ll love this.

Oh, yeah, and another layout share. This is another one from our Pocono trip this summer and another one of my DS, Ty:

I used a template by Jen Caputo, but everything else is by me. The red ribbon wrap, bow and crown are from Cosmic Bowl at SBE. The little flower in the bottom corner is from He Loves Me at SBE and everything else is from my new kit, Green: The New Black, coming to SBE on Sunday!

That’s it for today! Happy Scrapping!

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When you buy a new computer, what do you do with your old one?

September 3, 2008, 11:13 am

Today’s e-tip is about computers. As digital scrappers, we’re pretty reliant on our computers, right? So what do you do with your old one? Me? I’ve donated them to a local charity that rebuilds them to distribute to needy families and schools. Have you thrown yours out? Recycled it somehow? Here’s the scoop on computers. I did a little digging around the EPA’s website for most of this info, just to back up my dusty old knowledge of it. So, some of the specific info here may only be geared towards those of us in the U.S.

Why is it so bad to just dispose of a computer in your trash? Well, besides the fact that it’ll just sit in the landfill, along with lots of other bulky stuff, computers have all sorts of nasty stuff in them that are hazardous to the earth. There’s lead - lots of it, in a CRT (the monitor). There’s cadmium in rechargable batteries used in laptops. Those are both heavy metals which, when put in a landfill, will leach into groundwater. Surely you’ve heard of all the toy recalls because of toys being made with lead paint - well, that lead from our computers getting into the groundwater is just as bad. You’ve got a flat panel montitor, you say? Well, there’s mercury in those - another heavy metal.

So what can you do? Well, you could donate old computers to charities. I totally forget how I found the one near me - I think it was listed in the newspaper or something, but you could try calling your local government & asking if they have any places that accept donations of old computers (or e-waste, it’s sometimes called). Now, I haven’t checked out this site much very recently, but here is a link to a site that offers info on finding a place to donate your computer (or cell phones, printers, any electronics). It’s called Earth 911.

How about recycling? Instead of donating, there are places that actually recycle computers & electronics. The EPA has a helpful little page here that can help you find a recycler in your area. As an example, I’ll use my own EPA Region III. I’m in PA and when I follow the links, I get to this page. It tells me county by county how to recycle my e-waste. And, it even lists Electronic Discards Collection Events. How cool is that? I can find out exactly when they’re having an electronic discards drive & bring my stuff right to them.

Is there anything else I can do? Yeah, you could try to buy green. There’s that word again - “green.” Look for products that claim to have fewer toxic parts - less mercury, less lead. Maybe ones that use less packaging or use recycled materials in the make-up of the computer. This is kind of hard for us as consumers because we really rely on the computer companies to be honest with us & to tell you the truth, when picking out a computer, there is so much to look for, trying to find “green” computers may be difficult. You can always start with ones that are energy efficient. There’s the “Energy Star” rating to look for. That tells you that it’s energy efficient. That’s a good start.

Finally, EPA has this little partnership thing going called Plug-In to eCycling.

EPA has partnered up with lots of retailers and manufacturers to help out us consumers and enable us to e-cycle. You may have seen this - I know I have with my HP printer ink. When I buy new ink, there’s always info there on how to return the old ink cartridges so they can recycle them. (I don’t do that, though…I donate all my used ink cartridges to my kids’ school who then sends them all back to HP and they actually get money for it - even better, right?)

So there you have it. Put that in your pipe and smoke it. That’s enough info to last you a lifetime, huh? Recycle, e-cycle, freecycle…seems “cycle” is the hot word this week. On that note, let me first say that I’ve emailed a few people who have contacted me about yesterday’s entry and given out a few free kits to those that promised layouts. So have a look in the galleries this week for some layouts with the new kit, Green: The New Black coming to SBE on Sunday. Here is a layout I did with the kit:

(Credits include other items, too. Everything is by me & in addition to the new “Green” kit coming to SBE, I’ve used the following: Flair from Jelly Buttons by me at SBB, Dotted ribbon from Just4Girls by me at SBE. And I modified a “Smarties” template by Teresa Ferguson.)

Oh, and a little “it’s a small world” update on my Freecycle post. After I posted a few times on my local Freecycle Yahoo Group, I got an email from one of the mods. She was a childhood friend of mine & lived down the street from me all my life. How’s that for weird? So Freecycle does more than help you recycle, it helps you touch base with old friends, LOL!

That’s it for today! Happy e-cycling!

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A little running news & freebie announcements

August 23, 2008, 8:08 pm

First off, all next week, starting on Monday, I’m going to have some blog freebies which match my Round 3 submission for FPD’s Teacher’s Pet. It was a mini kit called Strawberry Fields Forever (and, that mini kit will be available as one of the freebies, too.) I’ll have 3 different new freebies each up for 2 days at at time and then the original mini kit up for 2 days before all of it goes into the store as a complete kit. Here’s a preview of what the final kit will look like, so be sure to stay tuned all this week & up through next Monday so that you can grab the entire kit for free:

It will be available for sale on September 2nd at ShopJMT and my store at SBB, but, as I said, get it all for free here on my blog in parts over the next week or so.

Next bit of news: I broke my PR for a 5K this weekend. My previous PR (personal record) was 33:06, but today I ran a 32:54 5K. I was SO happy to make it in under 33 minutes! Yay me! I did finish 120th out of about 140 people, but I’m estatic about my time. Of course I came home, pigged out on carbs & then crashed for 3 hours, but that’s pretty much what I do after EVERY race. This makes 6 races for me this year& that alone may just be another personal record. Especially since I’ve got at least 1 more coming yet in November, and maybe one in October, too. Heck, if I can find a late September one, I’d do it.

And finally, a couple of laytouts to share that I did recently. Girly ones, too. Click the images to see the gallery postings with all the credits:

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New LO with my grab bag items!

July 1, 2008, 4:09 pm

Ty lost his first “big” tooth - one of the top ones & I thought the pics called for scrapping. It’s amazing how he already lost 2 of his bottom teeth, yet everyone notices now that he lost the top one. (I should have journaled that, huh? Hmm, I see a revision coming to this LO!)

Credits: Everything from my Grab Bag! at SBE

Boyish Charm elements & papers
She’s Krafty background paper
She’s Krafty type key alphas
Urban Labels

Font is Hockey is Life

Go pick the bag up now for just $2.95! It’ll only be on sale until Saturday and then each product will go into my store separately!

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A LO from me and a new product

June 6, 2008, 12:18 pm

I was inspired by the cover of Sports Illustrated that came in the mail yesterday - has anyone seen it? It’s got the Celtics and the Lakers and shows an old picture in a vintage-looking frame. I thought, “How neat! I wonder if they did that digitally or if it’s an actual photo of an old slide/photo?” I took that as my inspiration and then started making my own slidemounts and photo frames. I wanted to incorporate some stamps, writing and miscellaneous numbers and, well, “Mangled Frames” is what was born from that inspiration.

You can get Mangled Frames at SBB or ShopJMT and they’re $3.00 for a set of 13 frames, 2 labels and a large staple. The frames come in 3 different slidemounts and 3 different photo frames, each with several different versions. Each one has either labels, text, stamps and torn cardboard to make them look old and used. Here’s a preview:

And a LO I did using one of them:

Credits:

By me, Jennifer M. Trippetti - Sisal background paper, Lily doodle, red ribbons from Serenity Now; Mangled Frame, Blackboard Alpha, Red Matted Alpha, Embroidered Alpha and Denim Strip from Pick-A-Pocket, Feltie Heart.

Staples from Maya’s Personal Stash - The Ultimate Staple Collection.

Love from Springy Sayings by Traci Murphy (blog freebie, I think).

Tag, Stitching, Memories from Digi Scrap Tabs by Christina Renee.

Background Cardboard (modified) from Salvaged Creamy Cardboard by Rachel Young.

Oh, and the journaling: There’s a Void in my heart and I don’t think it’ll ever be filled. Memories - We miss you, Kip but we did what was best for all of us. (It’s referencing us having to give him up because he was biting the kids. But, fortunately, he was adopted by someone without kids just 4 days after we gave him up.)

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Harder to Breathe

May 9, 2008, 8:36 pm

That’s the name of my most recent iTunes purchase - Harder to Breathe by Maroon 5. I was at Saxby’s (a coffee shop) the other day & it was on Sirius’ The Pulse station. I googled it while there because I wasn’t sure who sung it & found out it’s Maroon 5. I figured it was a perfect running song & considering I’m doing my first 10K tomorrow, I grabbed it for my playlist. Nothing like doing a run with a fresh playlist. I used to be all strict with my playlist & whatever I trained with, I had to run with. But lately I’ve been mixing it up a lot. Here’s the playlist I put together for tomorrow’s run. Quite a variety, I think:

The first 6 songs are from a “Running Through the 90s” playlist I found on iTunes. Then I’ve got my Power Song, Bleed it Out by Linkin Park - that one really gets me going. So I mix in some hard stuff & then mellow out with a block of Modest Mouse. Then, at the end, I threw in a bunch of weird stuff, just to get me through the end. I *think* I’ve got more than enough songs on there. I sure hope I don’t even make it to the end because that would mean I’ve totally blown my goal of finishing in 1.25 hours.

Well, obviously, race-mode has already set in, because I’ve spent the last hour or so figuring out my playlist, so the stress has already begun. I already warned DH that by tomorrow morning, I’ll be in full blown race-mode, so he is to just ignore me. I get really wigged out on race days. It’s weird, because it’s not like I really am that stressed about the race, but for some reason, a few hours before the race (or the night before), it just consumes me and it’s all I think about. I spend 20 minutes fixing my shoes, blowing my nose, fixing my shirt…everything must be perfect for the start. I guess it’s how I get in the zone.

Well, I think I’m going to spend an hour or so vegging in front of the TV with my dogger-doo and then hit the sack. Sometime later this week I’ll have to update on my hives. Long story short: they’re still here. 4 weeks of hives. Bleh. I’ll leave you with a few LOs I did this week, one of the aforementioned dogger-doo and the other of Lauren. Both are using products I purchased on National Scrapbook Day, which was this past Saturday. Click the pics to see the credits in my DST gallery.

“Is there anyone out there cause it’s getting harder and harder to breathe” Maroon 5, Harder to Breathe

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A couple more LOs with my new kit coming Friday!

February 27, 2008, 11:21 pm

I posted a couple of LOs earlier this week and I wanted to post a few more LOs as well:

Jamie did this cute LO:

And here’s one that I did:

And one more here by Marianne. She desaturated most everything to really bring your eye in to Aiden’s jersey! How cute is he?

I can’t wait until Friday when my shop opens, because I’ve got 3 new kits in addition to Comfort Zone that’ll be available. So be sure to check back on Friday for the grand opening!

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It’s a Care Bears Countdown 5-4-3-2-1!

February 8, 2008, 5:09 pm

I can’t get that song out of my head. The girls are both home today watching all our Care Bears DVDs and Allison has even pulled out the VCR tapes. (Which Lauren just doesn’t understand. She took a DVD and tried to put it in the VCR because she had never seen us use the VCR. Allison has been home sick the past 2 days with a bad cough and a fever. And yesterday she even had the “Hershey Squirts” as my neighbor so affectionately called them. Her fever was 103 this morning. She seems a little better now, but it’ll probably spike again this afternoon.

So that all means that I missed the gym again today. Man, I’m batting 1000 lately with the workout misses. Skipped Friday & Monday on my own accord, Wednesday my iPod wasn’t working & then today I can’t go. I’m going to try to fit a good run in either tonight or tomorrow. I’ve only got a week before my race & I’ve got to get at least 1 good 5-mile run in before then! And I want to do some hill repeats, too.

I have, however, taken the past 2 days to do some hard core designing. (For me that means that I got a kit finished, LOL, and I even started on a 2nd one and have thought about a 3rd one.) I’m getting ready for my shop grand opening. And I even got some scrapping done with SMJ’s new lil kits.

First is using mostly Playful, as well as Little Dudes:

My favorite part of the Playful kit is the wire & bead elements. The colors are also perfect for young boys and it really goes well with Little Dudes!

And the second uses mostly Shabbyful and Cheerful, with some other things thrown in, too:

Shabbyful is just such a beautiful kit. My favorite part is the flowers. The one on the left by the heart is from Shabbyful and they are just so perfect!

And now wanna see some previews of the new, exclusive to ShopJMT kits that I’m working on? I’ll post previews in the way of some layouts I’ve completed. First is a featured kit that will be free with purchase when my store opens. It’s called Comfort Zone and here are 2 layouts:

This one is a pretty but grungy kit. Maybe one of my grungiest to date, which is why I called it Comfort Zone;) It’s the style I prefer to design in and scrap with, even.

And next is a boyish kit named for my son, Tyler. I’m going to have a series of 3 kits named for characteristics of my kids. This one is Tenacious Ty and here is a Valentine’s Day cad I did with it:

The heart is actually from my Beaded Glass Embellies at SBB, but everything else is from the kit.

I hope to finish up my kit for my oldest DD, Allison, by this weekend, so maybe next week I can post some LOs with that! Until then, have a great day & Happy Scrapping!

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Novacaine on the Brain

February 5, 2008, 8:50 pm

Seriously, I feel like the dentist Novacained my brain. Which maybe wouldn’t be such a bad thing, huh? Man, dental work. I hate it. Most of my life I had pretty decent teeth. A single filling when I was 13 or so & then nothing for 10+ years. Then in my 20s, I get out of college, get a job and my own insurance and BAM, my teeth go to, well, rot. This year alone I’ve had a crown and 4 fillings. How sad is that? Especially since before this I had only had a total of 3 fillings! And now I’ve more than doubled the teeth that are filled. Besides that, I’m getting a mouth guard, because, surprise, surprise, after 3 kids, I’m clenching my teeth. Ugh, the joys of getting older.

In other news, here I went bragging about running50 miles in Jan. Wanna guess how many miles I’ve done so far in Feb? Yep, none. A big fat zero. On Friday I skipped the gym. And right now I don’t even remember why. Then on Monday I forgot my gym bag. I went all the way there (so it’s only 6 miles) and realized I didn’t have my gym bag. Came home & decided to ditch the gym anyway. Tomorrow, I promise, I’ll be back and get 5 miles in.

Oh, did I mention that I’m a guest CT member this month for Shabby Miss Jenn? How incredibly awesome is that? I love her stuff - just love it and purchased my first items from her just last month. I posted a couple of new LOs over on her team blog, too. 2 were from last month & the new ones I’ll post here. I love the way they turned out!

This one uses mostly Shabby Snowkisses. Such a great kit for snow!