Scrap N' with Kristi

Christmas is Coming!

2011-11-29T16:46:00.000-08:00

Yes! It's true-Christmas is coming...it'll be here in just a few short weeks! The digi-community is already bursting at the seems with new holiday kits and Scrap Orchard is NO exception!! I've already scrapped a couple layouts using some of these new goodies.
Christmas is in the Air

Credits:
The Twenty5th (Mega Bundle) by Captivated Visions & Little Green Frog Designs.

Christmas Memories

Credits:
Christmas Blessings (Full Kit) by Captivated Visions & Litabells Designs, Christmas Blessings (Worn Papers) by Captivated Visions & Litabells Designs and Sassy Starters Cute Clusters Vol.7 by Nanie's Designs.

Christmas Memories Merry & Bright

Credits:
Merry & Bright Bundle by Designs by Kat.

Merry Christmas 2011

Credits:
Spirit of the Season by Jady Day Studio & Kay Miller Designs and Christmas Card Templates 2011 by Scrapping with Liz.

Be sure to sign up for the Scrap Orchard newsletter before the beginning of December to collect pieces of the all new 2011 Scrap Orchard Advent Calendar

It'll be hitting email inboxes starting this weekend until right before Christmas. Sign up for the newsletter at Scraporchard.com :)
Here's what's you'll collect On top of some awesome deals at the market.

That's it from me tonight. Have a great week!
Happy Scrapping :)
-Kristi

Just some "News"

2011-11-26T23:45:00.000-08:00

Well, welcome back to the bloggin' world Kristi LOL.
It's been a L-O-N-G while since I've blogged about anything or shared any new layouts. Real life a.k.a. work has been keeping me REALLY busy!! Seriously I've been working 6 days a week for what feels like EVER! I've lost touch with my blog and readers :(
So much has happened the past few months....
1)We've done a LOT of fixing up/remodeling our house.
2)I've worked a LOT of over time at the shop (and "LOT" is a definite Understatement)!!
3)Though I've scrapped a LOT of layouts...I haven't shared any for a couple reasons:
A)The wireless card on my old laptop went out and I had to send the computer in to get fixed-which took like almost 3 weeks.
B)Only 3 days after getting said laptop sent back to me-the hard drive crashed-I had to send it in to be replaced.
C)A month later the charger died so I had no "juice" to power my laptop. I had to wait a couple days for the new charger to come in the mail.
D)A week later...my house was broken into and my laptop was stolen (among some other electronics).
GRRRR...can we say "Bad Luck". Seriously folks, if it wasn't for bad luck I wouldn't have any luck at all.
I now have a new laptop. No thanks to the local P.D. (because they didn't do ANYTHING to help find my stolen laptop) OR to the insurance company who insures our home from crap like this(who didn't give us ANYTHING for having the house broken into and stolen out of).
Anywho...like I said I have a new laptop and was FINALLY able to scrap a few pages this past couple weeks.
Enough chit chat, I'll just share a few of my latest pages (the ones I've got saved on the new laptop because I [again] didn't save ANYTHING [hardly] from the old laptop before it was stolen).

Thankful

Credits: 3's a Charm Journaling Templates by Scrapping with Liz, Truly Blessed kit & overlays by Captivated Visions and Laura Banasiak. (Scrap Orchard)

Blessed

Credits: Sassy Starters Little Boxes by Nanie's Designs, Autumn Fun-Give Thanks by Jady Day Studio. (Scrap Orchard)

Moon & Stars

Credits: Fuss Free Holiday Memories by Fiddle-Dee-Dee Designs, Blustery Fall (Nov. 2011) Mega by the Scrap Orchard Design Team. (Scrap Orchard)

I have more but it's 3am and I'm not feeling well at all- flu, I think is coming on :(
So if you want to see all of them you can check out my Scrap Orchard Gallery (Link in sidebar) where I post ALL my layouts with full credits.
Hope you enjoy and here's to blogging again!!

Happy Scrapping!!
-Kristi

Scrapped for fun AND a freebie template for YOU!

2011-07-22T20:49:00.000-07:00

Hiya all my digi scrap friends. It's been a while again since I wrote...or scrapped a page other than a ct layout. It was rainy here today so I got some scrappin' time in and since I'm all caught up on my ct work (finally) I wanted to scrap and extra fun page.

Lately it seems as though all the pages I scrap have been done using templates,lol. While templates are very fun to use and not to mention super duper easy-I wanted to create a page totally from scratch..and though it took a lil longer to get everything "just right" for my taste-it was refreshing and I L-O-V-E the finished layout!

So here it is:

I created this page using The Joy of Life by Captivated Visions. I just LOVE how it turned out!!

After I finished my page I decided (being the nice person that I am) to create a template based on my layout. Ok, it's also because my friend Sarah told me on Facebook that this layout could be a template,lol. I liked the idea and ran with it. So here it is for all of you to snag and use if you'd like and it's free too,hehee-that's always fun Right?! Here's the LINK!

Ok that's it for now...I'll be back soon though! Hey if you like the template and you use it, send me a comment so I can leave ya some love in the gallery! Happy Scrapping!!

-Kristi

So ExCiTeD!

2011-07-09T07:53:00.000-07:00

Hello friends and welcome back!
I am Super Duper EXCITED today because later this afternoon we are going to a cookout at my dads house. I haven't seen my dad in a lil over a year so you can imagine why I am so happy!! On top of that I have all SIX of the children over this week so they ALL get to see their grandpa. Him and his girlfriend have invited us over to a bbq/bonfire. I do believe Pat's family will be there too which would be pretty cool considering Pat and my dad have been seeing each other for a couple of years now and neither me or my sisters have met any of Pat's family. And Pat's never met my step children.

In my "digi" life, I have created a few more scrap pages to share with you all. Yesterday was Friday which means the Fresh Fruit has hit the market over at Scrap Orchard. Let me tell you the Orchard girls have been working pretty hard to produce some pretty amazing products. I am so happy to be a bee so I have the chance to work with a lot of this awesomeness!! Ok, so without further delay lets just get on with the good stuff.

*Credits*
Here Fishy Fishy by Tracie Stroud & Micheline Martin

Sassy Starters Inspired by Paper 4 by Nanie's Designs

Font: Pea C Squared

*Credits*
Proud Mama by Designs by Kat

I also used the coordinating Proud Mama Alpha.
and for my cluster I used All Stacked Up Clusters Vol.8 by Captivated Visions (Part of her May 2011 Grab Bag)

*Credits*
Ianthine (Bundle) by Captivated Visions

Ianthine Templates by Scrapping With Liz

*Credits*
Matching Masks by Scrapping With Liz

Sand, Sea & Surf (June 2011 Mixed Fruit Mega) by the Scrap Orchard Design Team.

*Credits*
Fruitie-Pa-Tootie (Mini kit) by Ziggle Designs

Fuss Free Angled by Fiddle-dee-dee Designs

Before I show you my last Fresh Fruit layout I want to share with you that the above layout using got GSO twice on the same day! One at DST and the other at MSS. Can I get a Woot Woot!! LOL Thanks goes out to the two ladies who mentioned my layout at both sites!

My final Fresh Fruit layout is this one

*Credits*
Girlfriends by Laura Banasiak & Boutique Cute Doll

I also used the Coordinating Girlfriends Word Art
and Fuss Free Funky Paper Play 5 by Fiddle-dee-dee Designs

Phew, that's a LOT of Fresh Fruit deliciousness goin' on. Remember! All Fresh Fruit is 20% off for One Week Only!! And believe me when I tell you that there is a Whole Lot More Fresh Fruit than what I have shared here!!

One last thing before I go... Iron Scrapper 2011 has officially started and the First weekly challenge has been posted!! Check out the awesome grab bag that the Orchard Girls have cooked up for you to use for this weeks challenge.

You can pick it up HERE.
Because I'm a Honeybee I am not eligible to win any of the prizes but I still played along with this challenge.

Be sure to visit the forums to participate in loads of FUN and try to win some cool prizes including the Grand Prize which is an iPad2 with wifi and a $200 Gift Certificate to Scrap Orchard!! WOW!!
WOW, this has been a L-O-N-G post and my fingers hurt from all the typing so I'm gonna end with this..Have fun shopping (and saving $$$) and happy scrapping!!

-Kristi

Happy 4th of July!!

2011-07-04T05:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Independence Day to all my American peeps out there in digi land!! Are you all just as excited about some awesome fireworks shows as I am?! I sure LOVE me some fireworks!! The colors, the way they sparkle and Boom! Every year my family goes to Heritage Landing on Lake Michigan in Muskegon, Michigan to watch the fireworks over the water. They never cease to amaze me, ever since I was a small kid I've loved fireworks. So tonight just like any other Fourth of July night we're going to watch the show and then come home and probably just go to sleep because it's going to be a L-O-N-G day! The in-laws want us to go tubing this afternoon. We'll drive to the drop site, ride the river for 4 hours, then we'll be picked up at the pick up site where we'll then drive to get our car and come home. I'm not a big tubing or river person but hubby wants me to go and we don't get to see his mom very often so I'll probably end up going and with a smile on my face to show good deed. I love my mother in law and we get along great and I also get along great with my SIL and BIL too! So it should be a hoot if nothing else! They are a hilarious bunch that's for sure!

So who all is paying close enough attention to my side bar (more specifically my CT's?) Well then you may have noticed that there's a new blinkie there! The awesome Liz of Scrapping With Liz has asked me to join her CT and I accepted. Seriously how could I turn down the chance to be on her team? I LOVE Liz's templates!

I am officially EXCLUSIVELY CREATIVE for Scrap Orchard!!!

It's been a "digi-dream" of mine to be a CT for Scrap Orchard since I found the site back in 2009 and now I am! That's right! I'M A HONEYBEE!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOO HOO!!!!!!!

2011 is turning out to be quite the year for me if I dare say and I am LOVING it!!

Guess what?!! Billy lost his first tooth a few weeks ago and then a couple days ago (the night before his birthday) he lost his 2nd! He lost his two bottom front teeth! I'll post a pic as soon as I find it! Speaking of Billums, he just had his SIXTH birthday! My baby boy isn't a baby anymore!! He had a few prezzies to open on the 1st (his birthday) but we are having his birthday party on the 16th so Shaun's grandma can be there. She hasn't been able to come to any of his parties yet so we are all excited about her being here this year!

I made this cute layout of Billums a couple weeks ago to get me in the celebratory mood for his birthday (because I was a lil sad to see him grow up) and for Independence Day.

I used the Little Patriot BUNDLE by Ziggle Designs to create my page.

I also used Sassy Starters Strips Vol.1 by Nanie's Designs to help me with my page.

Well, it's 8:36am and I want to go make breakfast for my guys (Shaun and Billy) for when they wake up. Bye for now and Remember: Happy Scrapping!!
-Kristi

Sales, Sales and More Stuff..Ha! thought I was gonna say Sales ;)

2011-06-28T21:22:00.000-07:00

Happy hump day everyone!! Kristi here with LOTS-O fun stuff going on over at the Orchard and the Market!!
First up I posted this the other day but want to share again that Faith True Originals is having a Store Wide 40% off sale but you gotta HURRY cuz it all ends on June 30th! That's only a little over 24 hours away people!!

Do you know what's going on at 10pm tonight over at the Orchard?? I do and I can't wait to join in on the fun! I L-O-V-E Scrap Orchard's MIS'!! You can join us too!!

Hey check THIS OUT!! If you wanna save $$$ and buy TONS of Fantastical products from some of the most Fabulous designers out there in digi-land then NOW'S THE TIME!!

YAYYYY I can NOT WAIT to see all the goodies on Sale!!

July is almost here and you know what that means don't you?!? It's time for...

Woot WOOT!! Love Iron Scrapper. I got to play last year for the first couple weeks (then my evil pc crashed and I LOST everything and had to wait and save money to buy a new computer). But this year I am gearing up and ready to roll!! You should come and join us in all the fun HERE! I'm talking about challenges and TONS of new goodies to share Oh, and they're are prizes too!

Psst, can you keep a secret?? There are not one but TWO new designers coming to the Market on July 1st! Can you guess who?? Hahaa!! Maybe. I know but you'll have to wait to see for yourself!

Before I forget, I want to tell you about a fun chat coming up on July 2nd. over in the Orchard's chat room.

LOL, are you sick of my ads yet?? Well I don't have anymore to share with you today and right now it's almost 1am here so I am going to catch some Zzzz's and I will talk to you all later and Remember- as always, Happy Scrapping!!

-Kristi

Monday Madness...Getting Back On Track

2011-06-27T10:09:00.001-07:00

Phew, it's been a While again since I've been able to blog. The family and I have started settling down as far as being in the new house is concerned. The internet is back up and running and I have been ONE heck of a Busy lady trying to play catch up on all my CT work as well as my real life work (which is hard getting used to even though I work at home-it's been a while since I've had any type of "real" job other than being a SAHM!

I was FINALLY able to squeeze in some scrapping time the other day and this is the page I made.

It was created using the following digi scrap products:
Freshly Hatched Kit by Faith True Originals

I used the coordinating Freshly Hatched Word Art by Faith as well.

I put this pretty little layout together using a template from the Here and Now Templates pack by Scrapping With Liz.

In other news I want to share with you an AWESOME SALE going on ONLY UNTIL JULY 30th!

Faith and her family had a tree fall on their house a couple weeks ago due to some very severe weather and the damage that was done was so severe as well that their house was no longer inhabitable! So they need all the help they can get right now to get into a different place. Please help out if you can?!
I picked up this pretty little kit and matching word art for CHEAP! using the discount.
Starshine

and Starshine Word Art

I feel better knowing that even though it may not be a whole lot, I DID help and every little penny helps when in need.
That's it for now but hopefully I'll be back soon with some new goodies to share with you!
Happy Scrapping!
-Kristi

Digiscrap-apalooza 2012

2011-05-21T18:49:00.000-07:00

So, who all is going to Digiscrapapalooza 2012 in Las Vegas?? I am so hoping I'll be able to make it. Hubby said I could go because I missed it this year, however, with just buying our house and putting Soooo much money into it already I'm not entirely sure I'll be able to afford to go. BUT the awesome ladies behind the event are offering up some Fabtabulous SAVINGS so there is still hope! Check it out!!

Lock in the largest savings you will ever receive for Digiscrapapalooza 2012! Purchase the Digiscrapapalooza 2012 Discount Coupon for $50.00 and receive $100.00 coupon to use towards the purchase of a Digiscrapapalooza 2012 Retreat Ticket! Hurry up and get yours today because this limited time offer expires on 5/31/2011.

Wait! There is more! Gather up all your friends who are going to Digiscrapapalooza 2012 to purchase the discount coupon now because if more than 75 Digiscrapapalooza 2012 Discount Coupons are sold, everyone who purchased the Disfcount Coupon will receive an additional $20 coupon which can be applied to Digiscrapapalooza 2012 Individual Classes, Class Bundles or the All-In-One Class Pass.

Click HERE for complete details! (Please read Terms & Conditions)

I'm off to read all about it!!

T.G.I.F

2011-05-20T12:05:00.000-07:00

Whew! It's been one heck of a lllOOONnnnggg week let me tell ya with the move and unpacking and the repairs and remodeling we've doing on the house it's time for me to take a break! For me scrapping is a form of relaxation a stress reliever for my body and my mind so for the past couple of days that's exactly what I've been doing. Scrapping!

I had some awesome new products to scrap with too!

First up is a new collab just released today by Faith True Originals and Laura Banasiak called Five a Day. It's great for all you veggie lovers out there and those of you like me who are learning how to eat more and love veggies.

Here's what I created with this kithttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

I also used Faith's Five a Day word art pack that's available free with purchase for one week only if you buy the kit in the Fresh Fruit market over at Scrap Orchard.

Laura has a coordinating freebie you can snag here if you'd like.

Next up I created these two pages using kits by Captivated Visions and Lyndsay Riches. I also used some new releases by Nanie's Designs: Inspired by Paper Vol.3 and Paper Stackers Vol.2.

Here's my page using Inspired by Paper Vol.3 and Goodnight Moon.

Here's my page using Paper Stackers Vol.2 and Cuppy Cake.

Both of Stephanie's new releases are also available in the Fresh Fruit market at Scrap Orchard and all Fresh Fruit is 20% off for the first week!

OK, that's it for the fresh fruit today. However, I do want to share with you a collection that Faith True releases last week that I also had the pleasure of playing with as well.
Summer Delights
is chock Full of gorgeous summer fruit themed mini kits and matching alphas.

There's also a coordinating Word Art pack available.

Here are the pages I've created using the Summer Delights collection by FTO.

Those last two pages were a two page spread I put together.

I'm Back with some "NEWS"!

2011-05-14T10:43:00.000-07:00

Hello and good morning (well afternoon now, it's 1:45pm here LOL). I have been super duper busy lately with Real Life. My family and I have just bought our first house and have been exhausting ourselves with the repairs. It's a fixer upper that needs some TLC which we are all for doing and putting forth the effort and money...it's just stressful and time consuming...but it's ours and we can do what we want with it YESS!!

In Digiscrap news I've resigned from my spot as Sugar Plum from Polka Dot Plum's Creative Team..too much to keep up on with the move and all as well as too many other ct's to work around. Including the two NEW creative teams I've joined. Faith True Originals and Designs by Kat (both from Scrap Orchard) have offered me creative team spots as layout artists on their teams.

Speaking of Faith True Originals and Designs by Kat, I have some New Releases to share with you.

So first up from Designs by Kat we have Blocks of Fun -Boys the kit and FWP Blocks of Fun Stickers.

You can pick up the kit for 20% off for the first week in Scrap Orchards Fresh Fruit Market and you still get the sticker pack Free With Purchase.
I had the perfect pics to use for this awesome kit. My son Billy loves building things with his Mega Blocks!!

Next up we have one of the most adorable collections (in my opinion) to hit the shelves of the market over at Scrap Orchard. It's perfect for all the spring/summer photos that are gonna have to be scrapped soon. Summer Delights by Faith True Originals is full of pretty pinks and oranges and yellow and peach colors, fruits and the sweetest matching alphas to each of the 3 "not so" mini kits and the most adorable word art pack that corresponds to each kit.

I made an adorable two page spread using the Cherry Apple pie kit and Summer Delights Word Art Pack.

Here's the spread separated into the two different pages
(Left)
(Right)
All the mini kits in the Summer Delights Collection are available individually as well and all the kits and the collection are available for 20% off in the Fresh Fruit market at Scrap Orchard.

Well that's it from me today...off to do some more unpacking and cleaning! Have fun shopping and Happy Scrapping!!

-Kristi

Nanie's New Release!

2011-04-21T10:35:00.000-07:00

Good afternoon all you lovely scrappers! Today is Thursday and that means that the Fresh Fruit has hit the market shelves over at Scrap Orchard.
The lovely Stephanie has 2 new template sets included in the Fresh Fruit this week! These templates were inspired by traditional or paper scrapped layouts. Hence the name Sassy Starters Inspired by Paper Vol.1 & Vol.2! ;)

I had the utmost pleasure in creating with one of the templates in Vol.1

I also used an older SuzyQ Scraps mini kit Heart This Lil' Boy.

That's it for now. Hope you like what you see and remember that every week the Fresh Fruit at Scrap Orchard is always 20% off for One Week Only!

Come back tomorrow when I share tons of goodies and a New Release from Terese of TforMe designs!

Happy Scrapping!!
-Kristi

New Layout and Another GSO!!

2011-04-19T20:10:00.000-07:00

Hello all, I'm back to share with you the layout I created using the kit Whimsy Spring by Designs by Kat (you know the kit I won on her blog,lol)... so here is Sunshine.

**Credits**
Whimsy Spring by Designs by Kat
All Stacked Up Vol.6 by Captivated Visions
Font: Pea C-Squared

I was bored tonight and started looking through the galleries around "Digi-Town" and when I got to DST I found that the very nice kathitownz added my Sunshine page to the April 19th GSO thread!! WOOT WOOT!! Another GSO! I'm so happy because my day/evening has been pretty crappy for real (depression set in hard core this afternoon coupled with the rain and thunderstorms all day) left me pretty "down". But Miss.Kathi made my night with the GSO so thank you again!

TGIF!

2011-04-15T15:53:00.000-07:00

This week went by fairly quickly, however I'm glad the weekend is here! Lately I've been so tired that it doesn't matter how much sleep I get, it's just not enough...I'm still tired. My scrapping has slowed down again since the birthday bash weekend at Scrap Orchard. But now worries because I'll some pages again for you soon to look at. For now I'm going to share with you a couple of new releases from Nanie's Designs along with my pages.
First up is Sassy Starters Tell It. These templates are perfect for those photoless layouts that focus on the story you are telling through only your journaling.

I used one of these new templates to create my layout for my Project: Love Me album (which I'm SO far behind on...they just posted prompt 15 or 16 and I'm only on week 3, LOL) oh well, it WILL be finished by the end of the year!

Other than Stephanie's template I used the iDream collection by SuzyQ Scraps and Ziggle Designs.
Oh by the way, the layout above got me GSO over at Digishop Talk yesterday!!
The second set of templates that Stephanie released is Sassy Starters Half Pack 7.

Here's what I created using one of these awesome templates and the collab kit Play Together by Laura Banasiak and Tracie Stroud.

Remember that both these sets of templates are in the FRESH FRUIT section of the Market at Scrap Orchard which means for the first week only they are on sale for 20% off!!
Hey while you're there be sure to check out all the fresh fruit including this kit by the wonderful Designs by Kat called Whimsy Spring.

I totally love the colors of this kit and those owls are so stinkin' CUTE!! I won this kit over on Kat's blog and can't wait to use it!!
The only item I was able to purchase so far are these 12X12 frames by Scrapping with Liz.

Just like Steph's new releases, Kat's kit and Liz's frames are also 20% off for one week only!

Ok, now onto my Friday Fives... which it's been a couple weeks since I posted one of these entries.

1. I cooked dinner not once, not twice but 3 times this week...which is good for me because I never cook. Chicken Fettucini Alfredo with 5 cheese garlic toast, Baked pork chops with twice baked/mashed potoes and butter flavored biscuits and last night-Tacos!
2. Shaun had to fix my bumper because we took it through one of those automatic car washes and the extreme under body washer ripped the darn thing 1/2 off! What's worse is the car wash manager said the car wash can't be help reliable for any damage to any vehicle that goes through there. Hmm, whatever!
3. I received some grade reports from the kids' schools and their are all doing FABULOUS!! Nikki even brought her F in Social Studies up to an A!!!
4. I won a Digiscrap*apalooza swag bag from the Viva Las Orchard Birthday Bash!!!! Can't wait til I get my goodies in the mail!!
5. I got a couple GSO's (already shared this week) AND a Blog Feature from Krista (Sahlink a.k.a. Sahlin Studio)!

Well that's about it from me this week friends. Stay tuned though for some new goodies being released next week and some new layouts to share too!! Have a Great weekend!

Happy Scrapping!

-Kristi

Viva Las Orchard Winner!!!

2011-04-13T13:58:00.000-07:00

Hello again friends, it's been a while since I posted due to being under the weather a lot lately. But I have been a scrapping machine lately...I went through a dry spell with no mojo for scrapping what so ever but for some reason it just all of a sudden came back *with a vengeance* too! It happened the other week during Scrap Orchard's Viva Las Orchard Birthday Bash. I participated in All the chats and All the challenges and now I have a dozen more layouts to share with you all, including one that made it on the GSO blog at Me So Scrappy! Thank You Leah (a.k.a. paperboutique)!
Ok, in order of their appearance to the S.O. gallery here are my new layouts..
For the First challenge we had to scrap a page using the title of an Elvis song as either the title of our page or in the journaling. I chose the song Because of Love and used it in the journaling AND as the title of my page!

**Credits for Because of Love**
My Words Only Vol 2 by Captivated Visions
My Project Mega by Captivated Visions
What's Your Story Add On by Captivated Visions
Dry Brush alpha by Faith True Originals
The second challenge was a font challenge called Bright Lights Big City. We had to download the font Budmo Jiggler and then scrap a layout using that font somewhere on our page.

**Credits for I WIN!**
Viva Las Vegas Mega Collab by the S.O. Design Team
The 3rd challenge was "Roll the Dice MIS (Make It Snappy=Speed Scrap) with Rachel of Captivated Visions. We were given a certain number instructions during a chat and had 1 hour ONLY to complete and upload our layouts.

**Credits for Sweetheart**
Birthday Bash Grab Bag by Captivated Visions, Designs by Kat, Nanie's Designs and Tracie Stroud.
Challenge 4 was Under the Vegas Sign. We had to use the famous Welcome to Las Vegas sign as inspiration for our layout. I chose to scrap about my sister Heidi and her husband Josh because they were married in Las Vegas just last year!

**Credits for Vegas Wedding**
Viva Las Vegas Mega
All That Glitters (#5) was a chat and crop with a photography challenge. We had to take a photo of something - anything shiny! I took a photo of my wedding bands.

Yeah so not much bling on this set but we were young and broke and honestly the rings don't mean as much as the "I Do" does to us. They do shine better when they are clean! LOL.
**Photo was taken by me using my Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS10K**
Challenge 6 was the Full House challenge in which we had to scrap a layout showing one of our favorite spots in our homes. Also we had to use 1 of the papers 2 times and 1 of the elements 3 times.

**Credits for My Room**
Everything Changes by Captivated Visions
Cut Out template by Scrapping With Liz
(I used the turquoise paper for my background & the arrow. I used one of the flowers 3 times.)
Challenge number 7 was the Vegas Strip Challenge. This is where we had to RE-scrap an older layout. We didn't have to use the same kit but we had to use the same photo(s). I did use the same kit for my challenge layouts.
The OLD page

and here's the NEW page.

**Credits for Halloween 2010**
Spookalicious by Ziggle Designs and Lil Spooks template by SuzyQ Scraps
Challenge number 8 was another Make It Snappy challenge.

**Credits for Happy Birthday To You**
Hip Hip Hooray kit & Add Ons
Every Day Stuffs alphas in black
Happy Snappy Flair alpha in black
Crazee Kinda Love alpha
ALL products are by Captivated Visions.
Next up was the Texas Hold 'Em challenge by Stephanie (Just use the given template to scrap about anything you want.)

**Credits for 2010 Year In Review_March**
Texas Hold 'Em Free'bee' template by Nanie's Designs
Laura Banasiak - Borders Vol.1
A Year In Review by Captivated Visions & SuzyQ Scraps
The Next challenge was the hardest for me by far, LOL. The No Limits Challenge is where we had to "Scrap Outside of Our Comfort Zone". So what's the ONE type of page that I rarely IF EVER scrap?!? Scene pages using extractions!! So that's what I did for my No Limit Challenge...

**Credits for Moon and Stars**
Magical Mischief by Irene Alexeeva
Next we had the Four of a Kind challenge where we had to use 4 of everything we used!

**Credits for I Want To Be There**
Viva Las Vegas Mega
Cut Out Masks by Scrapping With Liz
(4 papers, 4 "bar" type elements, 4 "casino" type elements, 4 word strips and 4 cut out circles).
The Final challenge was the Black Jack challenge in which your layout had to be comprised of a TOTAL of 21 items, whether it was pics,ellies,papers,alphas etc.

**Credits for Happy 3rd B-day Scrap Orchard**
Birthday Bash Bag by Captivated Visions, Designs by Kat, Nanie's Designs and Tracie Stroud.
Recyclables 1 by Scrapping With Liz (template)
8 papers
3 candles
1 "photo"
1 journal block
4 alphas in the title
1 font
1 word strip
1 stitched flower
1 button with bow
TOTAL= 21 items on my page

WOW, that's a lot of challenges and layouts to scrap in just ONE weekend! It was very fun and WELL WORTH it considering I was one of the winners of the Digiscrapapalooza Swag Bag which was the Grand Prize that everyone was playing for!! What's inside the Swag Bag you ask?? Well it's everything that the Digiscrap-apalooza attendees received when they got to the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas!!
Comprised of:
* A Scrap Orchard Tote bag,
* Digiscrapapalooza T-shirt (sizes subject to availability),
* 1GB Convention Thumb Drive loaded with all the convention materials and over $100 in Scrap Orchard coupons,
* A Scrap Orchard Pen
* A Scrap Orchard Mouse Pad
* and other fun goodies!!

I was one of four winners!! Talk about Excited!!!! I can't wait to get my goodies and then get my shop on!!

GSO's!!

2011-03-29T14:29:00.000-07:00

I am SO excited to share with you that in the last week and a 1/2 I've had 3 different layouts chosen as GSO's! What is a GSO? GSO is short for Gallery Stand Out. Where designers, ct's and other members of forums go through the digi community galleries and find layouts that stand out from the rest for one reason or another and then share those pages with the rest of the digi community.

First up Scrap Matters member and CT gal Heidi, a.k.a. Scrappin5kids chose my page Breakdown to be shared on the Scrap Matters Gallery Stand Out Blog. Thank you Heidi.
This layout tells a very personal story and it was almost therapeutic to scrap it!!

For this page I used the following products: Always Raining In My Head by Amy Stoffel which is available at Scrap Matters and I used a template from Captivated Vision's My Words Only Vol.2 available at Scrap Orchard.

The second layout is my page titled Family Movie Nights and the lovely Laura Banasiak of Scrap Orchard shared my page on the Me So Scrappy GSO Blog. Thank you Laura!!

This layout was created for Scrap Orchard's March 2011 Lift a Honeybee challenge. I lifted a page from Honeybee Britaneejean. I used the collab kit Now Playing by Lyndsay Riches and SuzyQ Scraps and it's available at Scrap Orchard.

The third layout of mine that was shared as GSO is the layout I made showcasing my bff's daughter's 2nd birthday.

Thank you to Sandy a.k.a. Sansan for choosing my page as Scrap Orchards Facebook Fan Page GSO for TODAY!! I created this page using the Scrap Orchard Newsletter March 2011 Designer Spotlight Free'bee' Your True Colors by Rachel a.k.a. Captivated Visions with a template from Rachel's Captivated by Andrea pack.

Well that's it from me today. I hope I have shared a lil inspiration for you.
Happy Scrapping!!

-Kristi

Tuesday Treat!

2011-03-22T10:29:00.000-07:00

Hiya blogger pals! I've got a couple sneak peek treats for you today and if you visit the links you can have yourself a chance at winning either of the two collections that are coming out this week!!
First up is a yummylicious looking collection by Molly Decrow and Tracie Stroud from Scrap Orchard. Check out the pretty colors they've chose to work with! I can't wait to see the whole thing!

If you visit this link: http://scraporchard.com/forum/showthread.php?28750-WIN-the-new-bundle-from-Molly-and-Tracie! you can find out how you could win this collection.

and secondly we have the next installment of the Project: Love, Me collection.

I'm loving those colors too! I can't wait to see the whole collection.
It would be SO awesome to win this collection and if you head on over to Suzy's blog here: http://suzyqscraps.com/blog/ you have the chance to do just that!
I'm hoping to get caught up on my PLM album as well, I finally finished my album cover lol. I used iDream to make the cover!

I've also got all my journaling finished for my prompts so it's just a matter of scrapping and copying the journaling onto the pages!

Well that's about it for now but I'll be back (hopefully very soon) with some more layouts to share with you all!

RAK...What's a RAK??

2011-03-19T08:51:00.000-07:00

I was showing my kiddies the RAK I received from Carrie last night when my youngest asked "Mommy, what's a RAK"?
Well my dear in the digi world a RAK is a Random Act of Kindness!
With my digi scrappin' friends we RAK each other with layouts created using photos that are traded.
This is the page I received from Carrie a.k.a. Pinkadoo using a photo of my dd's, Nicole and Alexandra.

Carrie created this layout using the following digi scrap products
"Stand By Me" by Dunia Designs from MCScraps, Black Paper and Elements by Studio Flergs from Scrapbookgraphics and "Peek-A-Boo Set 1" by Fiddle-Dee-Dee from DigiChick
Thank you SO much Carrie!! I LOVE IT!!

Here is the RAK I created for Carrie!

I created this layout using the Helping Hands charity collab which I purchased a couple months back from Scrap Orchard, unfortunately it's no longer for sale. I also used the gorgeous family photo from Carrie!
Thanks for allowing me the chance to scrap your family Carrie!

Friday Fives

2011-03-18T18:23:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been quite a while again! I've been in kind of a mojo funk lately and I just couldn't create. I mean I would start a page or project then delete everything and stared at a blank canvas for like ever,lol. But with a few days away from the computer I was able to catch up on some major cleaning..like Spring cleaning almost, but not as intense and then voila! all of a sudden I was ready to get my scrap on again. And I've been a scrapping fool,lol. Since March 1st I've created over 20 pages! For my 5 today I want to share with my 5 most favorite layouts of the past week!

First is "Baby Boy". I created this page using the following products:
Sassy Starters Blocked Vol.1 by Nanie's Designs and "Heart This Lil' Boy" by SuzyQ Scraps. (Both available for sale at Scrap Orchard)
Font is Glider Girls.

Second is "Sassafras". I created this page using the kit Sassafras by Amy Stoffel. (available to purchase at Scrap Matters)

Thirdly I have "Walk in the Park". This page was created using the following products:
Cute Clusters Vol.5 by Nanie's Designs and "Beauty in the World" (the bundle) by Tracie Stroud. (Both available for sale at Scrap Orchard AND for ONE WEEK ONLY starting today you can get Cute Clusters Vol.5 FREE with the purchase of Sassy Starters Blocked Vol.1!
Font used was Highland Perk

Next up I have "Lucky Charm" which was created with the following digi scrap products:
"Dreams of Eire" by Farynar Wings. (available at Polka Dot Plum) and the scallops were made using Back to Basics Circles by Tracie Stroud. (available at Scrap Orchard) and the photomask was a blog freebie from Bouille. (which I got a long time ago and am unsure if it's still available).

Lastly I have "Year in Review" which is actually a 2 page spread...although here I'm separating it into 2 different pages. I think this is actually going to be the album I print. (I've never printed an album yet)
Ok this set of pages was created using the following products:
Year in Review templates by Scrapping With Liz and "A Year in Review" collection by Captivated Visions & SuzyQ Scraps. (Both available at Scrap Orchard)
*Page 1*

*Page 2*

Well that's it for my Friday Fives this week! Hopefully with my mojo back I'll start blogging regularly again too! I miss blogging and sharing!

Until next time, Happy Scrapping!

Friday Fives!

2011-02-25T09:34:00.000-08:00

Hello friends and welcome back to my blog!
I'm sad to announce that Dawn has "did away" with Casual Friday *sniff sniff* but no worries here because I'm still going to post 5 fabulous "things" every Friday right here on my blog just to kind of keep up with the goings on in my real life and in my digi life ;) I'm going to call these posts "Friday Fives"!!
And to start off here is my first post!
Friday Fives for February 25, 2011

1. This week not 1 but 2 of my layouts were featured around the digi community! First was my layout titled "Let Love Grow"

it was featured over on the Polka Dot Plum blog as one of the challenge highlights for the last week of February 2011!
The second layout I had featured was my "Michigan" layout which was featured over on the Scrapping With Liz blog for a Product highlight layout.

I'm Super Duper Excited about this!!
2. My new van got a big ol crack in it's windshield how sad :(
3. Last night's dinner was very Yummy!! Pizza and stuffed crazy bread from Little Cesars Pizza!Pizza! LOL
4. I picked up the latest editions of Scrapbooking & Byond and Paper Creations-YAY for more inspiration!!
5. T.G.I.F.!!! Overall it's been an equally good and bad week and I'm SO glad it's over!

Well that's it for Friday Fives! I'll see you next Friday for another 5's post if not before then to share some NEWS and INSPIRATION (layouts) with you!

Happy Scrapping and TTYL
-Kristi

TGIF and Casual Friday

2011-02-18T06:53:00.000-08:00

YAY, it's Friday and I am SO excited!!!
A lot of stuff has been going on over here in my Real Life world!!
First of all I had my Birthday on the 6th and got to do a lot of shopping and received a lot of prezzies!!! Had a gorgeous birthday cake made by the local family owned bakery here in town and to top it all off it was Super Bowl Sunday too, so I got to spend some time with lots of family watching the big game as well, tons of junk food, family and fun!!
I got a new van...well new to me anyways...it was used but we finally bought a Pontiac Montana and I LOVE IT!!! Tons of room for the whole family and they love the dvd player so I get stuck listening to Megamind and Despicable me all the time,LOL.
Other than that it's a lot of sitting at home...net was shut off and I could only get online at the library or sitting in the McDonald's parking lot,LOL.

I'm trying to get back on track with all my regular blogging but today I want to start my weekly Friday post titled "Casual Friday" you can learn more about it by visiting the link in my side bar. Basically it's taking five "things" from the week and sharing them whether it be photos, ramblings, recipes, anything!! So without further ado here is my Casual Friday Post.

1. Monday (2/14)- Valentine's Day, hubby and kids took me to dinner, I got a rose and a soft teddy bear to cuddle with while hubby's at work at night.
2. Tuesday (2/15)- Kids 3rd day of school at their new school. They are loving it! I am loving that they love it!!
3. Wednesday (2/16)- Shaun and My 7th wedding anniversary was jam packed with family and "friends" (all I'm saying here) basically it was a bittersweet day for us, but hopefully things will calm down and get better.
4. Thursday (2/17)- Got new cell phone and wireless broadband so I can take laptop everywhere to do all my work. I even got caught up on some ct req's.
5. Friday (2/18)- Spending the day with my sister and our youngest sons and later this evening dinner and a movie with dh for our anniversary celebration.

That's it, I should be back very soon with some new layouts and the goings on in the digi community.

Talk to you later and Happy Scrapping!
-Kristi

Rainbow of Friendship NEW LINKS

2011-01-27T09:07:00.000-08:00

Due to the Overwhelming amount of people who want to d/l my Rainbow of Friendship kit and couldn't due to "no bandwidth" error, I've re-uploaded the zip files to box.net and also mediafire in case the box.net links don't work. I'm sorry about the error and not being able to d/l but I wasn't expecting my kit to be d/l'd so many times in such a short period of time that I didn't upgrade my account, nor do I have the funds to do so currently so hopefully these links will work and if not, check back in a week or so for that's when my account will be upgraded and I should have an unlimited amount of space/bandwidth to use.
Good Luck, Happy Scrapping and Thank You So Much!
-Kristi
P.S. I'm holding off on my newest kit just in case I open my shoppe in the next week or so (keeping my fingers crossed!!!) If not it'll definitely be a freebie on here. Who knows I may even offer it up on here for a bit before putting it in the shoppe. I haven't completely made up my mind on that one yet...

Links to Rainbow of Friendship on Box.net
alpha: http://www.box.net/shared/5333u0f5o2
ellies 1: http://www.box.net/shared/ropexejtz6
ellies 2: http://www.box.net/shared/jfk6f9zsqv
Solids: http://www.box.net/shared/iq9sc2e1hk
Patts: http://www.box.net/shared/15r5usbtqa

Links to Rainbow of Friendship on Mediafire
alpha: http://www.mediafire.com/?5f1osgc4dgikes2
ellies 1: http://www.mediafire.com/?32a3jree4h95o83
ellies 2: http://www.mediafire.com/?x61sivsct2q1g7j
Solids: http://www.mediafire.com/?irakw77wakh571r
Patts: http://www.mediafire.com/?avbncgzc226uno7

Back Again with a Grab Bag Release by Nanie's Designs

2011-01-26T04:47:00.000-08:00

Hello again friends, I'm so excited to be sharing with you today the release of Stephanie's very first Grab Bag, YAY!!! It's chock full of yummyliciousness!! She's got a new template pack to add to her Sassy Starters line but she's also started two new lines to her designs...Cute Clusters and Sassy Starters Singles!

This fantastic Grab Bag has 4 sets: Sassy Starters Vol.9, Sassy Starters Singles Vol.1 and Cute Clusters Vol. 1 & 2. All for One low price and it's only available at the Scrap Orchard Market! I had the pleasure of playing with 3 of the sets this week so far.
Here's one using Cute Clusters Vol.1 and I also used Coastal Holiday by Tracie Stroud (also available at Scrap Orchard). The photos in the layout are originals that were taken by my father, whom I created this page for.

Here is one using Cute Clusters Vol.2 and Goodnight Moon kit and Stacked Papers add on by Captivated Visions also available @ Scrap Orchard.

And finally here is my page using Sassy Starters Singles Vol.1 with the January Mega collab kit Picture Perfect by the Scrap Orchard Design Team.

Well that's it from me for today folks. Stop back by tomorrow when I start my weekly Casual Friday posts. If you want to know more about Casual Friday just click on the "Casual Friday" link in the side bar on the right. ----->
Have a great day. Happy Scrapping and TTYL.
-Kristi

Beautiful Disaster and other News

2011-01-26T04:18:00.000-08:00

Hello friends I'm back again, this time to share with you the new V-Day release by Sunflowers Studio, YAY!!! It's a kit full of bright happy colors like a brilliant blue, passionate purple and pretty awesome pink. With lots of greys and black too. It's also perfect for scrappin' those photos of your lil heartbreakers or that special someone in your life. Without the use of the traditional reds and light pinks usually associated with Valentine's Day. So without further ado here is Beautiful Disaster.

and I used it (and a 'Just my Style template' by NeeNee designs) to scrap a photo of my dh and myself on his birthday a couple years ago (though it doesn't seem that long ago already).

It's available at their Polka Dot Plum shoppe (Link in sidebar) and if you hurry you can snag this lil sweetie for 20% off!

Ok, now on to the "other" news. I'm sure by now you've all seen the added blinkie in my creative teams spot over there ------- >
That's right folks; I'm a Sugar Plum over at Polka Dot Plum. My friend Angela convinced me that I needed to apply and I got it!! I'm So Excited!!! I can't wait to start creating with the different designers at PDP and start chatting it up in the forum and even participate in more challenges (I even get to host one a month)! How cool is that?!
Well that's the goings on for me in digi land for today, but I'll be back Friday with a new release by Nanie's Designs of Scrap Orchard. Lots of gorgeous eye candy coming your way with that release!! Til then...
Happy Scrappin' and TTYL
-Kristi

Boyish Charm {FWP: Charming Templates}

2011-01-19T04:50:00.000-08:00

Good afternoon friends, I'm back today to share with you a sweat deal that's going on over at Sunflowers Studio's shop at Polka Dot Plum. Their new kit Boyish Charm was released today!!!

I LOVE the colors in this kit!! The ellies are awesome too, perfect for scrapping this layout of my 3 sons...

...and from today until whenever ;) there's a Free With Purchase offer. That's right if you buy the full kit you'll receive the Charming template pack for FREE!! Who doesn't love templates?!

Here are a couple pages I created using two of the Charming templates.

I used the kit April by Lauraskathi to create my layout.

and for this one I used the kit Butterfly Kisses by Pixel Perfect Designs and a freebie word art from Elegant Word Art by Bethany.
Well I hope you head on over to Polka Dot Plum and pick up this awesome kit and set of templates and I can't wait to see what you all create!
Happy Scrapping and TTYL
-Kristi

Over 100 d/l's Thank You!! and a Sneak Peek

2011-01-18T16:49:00.000-08:00

Just a quick short post to let you all know that I've already had over 100 downloads on my Rainbow of Friendship kit!! That makes me feel REALLY good. So to show you just how much I appreciate all the downloads and all the wonderful comments I've received I've made a new kit that will be posted in a couple days but til then how about a lil sneaky peek??

Stop by tomorrow for a look at the new release from Sunflowers Studio with a Free With Purchase offer!!! Don't want to miss it!
Happy Scrapping and TTYL
-Kristi

Rainbow of Friendship and MORE!

2011-01-16T19:25:00.000-08:00

Hello all you digital scrapbookers out there. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, I know I did!! I got caught up on some laundry and other chores that needed to be finished and I spent some "movie" time with the kids we watched 3 new movies this weekend: Despicable Me, Alpha and Omega and Megamind and let me tell you each one is great and funny and I love 'em all! The kids enjoyed them too...the lil ones are going around the house howling like wolves,lol. I recommend any of these movies or all of them for a great family movie night!!
Ok in my digi life ;) a LOT has been going on. I've been 'promoted' to a promo gal on one of my CT's (not mentioning names..yet) but what does that mean exactly?? Well I get to do the advertising for the new products (including create the ads and post them online) and some other fun stuff...FB enabling and Twitter posts etc. I'll also be posting a new monthly challenge so be sure to stay tuned to that, there could be coupons and/or freebies involved-hey just sayin'!!!
Speaking of freebies....lol....I just finished a new FULL kit and it's available for download right here on the blog! It's a fun lil kit-(well not really lil-it's got 14 papers and like 40+ elements PLUS a full lowercase alpha including numbers 0-9)! But it's very colorful and it's a very versatile kit I think; perfect for scrapping photos of children, adults and non people layouts too. Without further ado here is Rainbow of Friendship (like the name?? my 10 yr. old daughter picked it) :)

and here's the page I created using my new kit and a Fuss Free template freebie by Fiddle-Dee-Dee designs.

Here are the download links! (Sorry for asking you to copy & paste into the address bar but Blogger isn't cooperating with the clickable links in the body).
::ETA:: I HAVE NEW LINKS FOR THIS KIT WHICH YOU CAN GET AT THIS POST HERE: http://kristibigelow.blogspot.com/2011/01/rainbow-of-friendship-new-links.html
alpha: http://www.box.net/shared/d7b9sh65st
papers 1: http://www.box.net/shared/km4q8rn0fn
papers 2: http://www.box.net/shared/ycz2xx22v5
elements 1: http://www.box.net/shared/i3058idmnl
elements 2: http://www.box.net/shared/ni5shxspu0
If you download please leave a comment It'd really make my day! And if you created a page please link me to it so I can leave some love!!
Now do you want to see some of the other cool kits that I've purchased/won lately and then scrapped with?? I love sharing these kinds of posts with you.
Here is a kit I won while at a chat over at the Scrap Orchard forum hosted by the one and only SuzyQ Scraps! S.O. always has like 4 chats a month I think all hosted by different designers and honeybees and you can always have yourself a good laugh, and fun times including trivia where you can win prizes. Just like this kit I won...

It was cool because I won this kit before it was even released to the S.O. market!! I already scrapped a page using it (you can find it a couple posts down).
Here's another kit that I picked up (for a discounted 25% off because I helped create it-er sorta,lol ;) ok well I voted on the colors and the theme over at Captivated Visions blog every month on Saturdays you can vote on the Build a Kit where you the fans help Rachel build a new kit by choosing the colors and theme and all that vote receive a discount coupon for the completed link and one lucky fan wins the kit for free!! How fun is that?? So be sure to head on over to Rachels blog here: http://blog.captivatedvisions.co.uk/ to find out when you can vote next!!
Here's a preview of the kit Goodnight Moon (sorry I can't show you the layout til later in the week I used this kit to scrap a page using one of Nanie's new Sassy Starters templates that are releasing Friday at Scrap Orchard!!)

There's also a couple of freebies that match this kit which can be found on her blog too!
There are so many awesome kits that I've picked up lately that I could post all day long but I can't because that would just take too long,lol so you'll just have to keep coming back to see more pages!!
Well that's about it for me...gotta finish cleaning and then later some games with the kids (no school today) so I'll be back soon with some more pages and previews.
Happy Scrapping and TTYL
-Kristi

PLM winner and some New Releases too!!

2011-01-13T06:43:00.000-08:00

Hello again blog friends I'm back with some new releases to share with you all today. I also have some exciting news to share!
My layout for week 2 of Project: Love, Me was the winning pick on the PLM blog!!! I won a $7 coupon to SuzyQ's Scrap Orchard shop!!! YAY I'm so excited.
The prompt for week 2 was "Flashback". We had to scrap about a childhood dream that may or may not have come true. I scrapped about my childhood dream of having a "fairy tale" wedding and how it never happened, BUT I also added how I did find my Mr. Right and how we DID get married and that we are a happy family so that's a dream come true in and of itself! Here check out my layout to read the whole story:

I don't think I'll ever tire of reading that story!!
Come back [hopefully] soon to see my family project 52 photo and lo for week 2 that prompt was "snacks".
Ok, now on to the new releases first up is a template pack from t for me designs that is releasing at SugarHillCo. It's called Less is More and it's a great set of templates for scrapping those crisp clean layouts focusing mainly on the photo and subject(s) there in.

I created 2 layouts using these templates using other t for me designs products which are also available at SugarHillCo.
I created this one using Hello There (mini kit) with a word art from the kit (Take Time).

I created this one using the kit Every Day Magic.

Now I also have some other new templates to share and show you. Nanie's designs from Scrap Orchard is releasing 3 new full template packs, 1 half pack and also you can purchase a bundle to save even more money on the already low prices (as with all new releases at Scrap Orchard for one week only they are 20% off)!!!
Stephanie's templates are great for showing off photos of your loved ones, but you can share a lot of the kits you use to scrap those memories as well. Without making you wait any longer here are Sassy Starters Vols. 4, 5 and 6 and Sassy Starters Half Pack 2!
Sassy Starters Vol.4

...and my page using the kit Finding Balance by SuzyQ Scraps.

Sassy Starters Vol. 5

...and my page using the kit My Little Girl by Designs by Kat (lace is from the kit Spring Fresh by Julie Bullock and it was recolored to match my lo).

Sassy Starters Vol. 6

...and my page using the kit Joyous Skies by Faith True Originals.

Sassy Starters Half Pack 2

...and my page using the collab. kit Random Moments by Decrow and Vera Lim.

I a totally in LOVE with all Stephanie's templates!!! I'll definitely be watching the galleries to see all the pages that you digi scrappers create using them!!

In other news Saturday is the beginning of PolkaDot Plums Saturday Singles a store wide sale where you'll find many products for only $1 each!!! Be sure to check that out!!!
ALSO speaking of PolkaDot Plum they are having a site CT call. Want to be a Sugar Plum?? Visit the PDP website and see what all you need to do to apply! Good Luck to all who do!
(clickable link in side bar------>)
Well that's about it for me today, so until next time Happy Scrapping and talk to you soon!
-Kristi

T.G.I.F. and Newbies!!!

2011-01-07T07:07:00.000-08:00

WOw, where did this week go?? I can't believe we've already made it into 2011. I rang in the new year with the flu so I had to stay in bed, but hey I got some scrappin' done, YAY!!
I woke up the other morning feeling great though, then I checked my email and I felt even better!! Why you ask? Here's why...I was invited to join another CT!!! Scrap Orchard has a new template designer (Nanie's Designs) and she sent me an email telling me she liked what she saw in my gallery and asked if I'd join her creative team. I am super excited because she makes some AWESOME templates. Here, I'll show you...
BTW, Nanie's Designs is EXCLUSIVE to Scrap Orchard so that's where you'll find all her products!
This is Sassy Starters Half Pack 1

and here is the layout I created using one of these templates and the collab. kit Special Day by AnnaBV Designs and Designs by Kat (also available @ Scrap Orchard).

Here is Sassy Starters Vol.1

and here's my page using one of the templates and the following SuzyQ Scraps products (also available @ Scrap Orchard): Giggle Monsters kit, Free to be Mini (freebie from DSA's October 'Fix') Laugh the Rainbow alphas, Lifelines 1, and Stitch Hiccups Vol. 1,3,4 and 5.

Here's Sassy Starters Vol.2

and my page using one of the temps, plus the collab kit Posey Pinwheels by Decrow and Tracie Stroud (also available @ Scrap Orchard)

and the last one I have to share is Sassy starters Vol.3

and here's my page using one of these temps. and the collab. kit Second Spring by Captivated Visions & Stolen Moments (also available @ Scrap Orchard).

AND FOR ONE WEEK ONLY WHEN YOU PURCHASE ANY OF THE SASSY STARTERS TEMPLATE PACKS OR THE SASSY STARTERS BUNDLE 1, YOU WILL RECEIVE THE SASSY STARTERS HALF PACK 1 FOR FREE!!!

WOW, that's a LOT of templates, but they sure were fun to play with, I can't wait to use the rest of them, and there's more to come next week.
How would you like to snag a free Sassy Starters template to play with?? Well if you head on over to Stephanie's FaceBook fan page here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nanies-Designs/184048691607319 (remember you can't click the link you gotta copy & paste to your address bar up top-still trying to figure out what's going on with the linking issue on my blog) anyways-back to business :) you can snag this one here:

(sort of like a try it before you buy it kind of deal) ;)
I unfortunately haven't had the pleasure of playing with this template yet (too busy with the other ones, and the new ones coming next week,LOL)

I bet you thought I was finished sharing the NEW releases for today weren't you?? LOL, well I'm not!
Terese of t for me designs has a NEW kit out today. It's perfect for all your moments of "self reflection" or just "listening to your heart". Those moments where you see your lil ones just staring off into nothingness while quietly thinking to themselves and "taking in" the world around them. Just so you can see what I'm talking about, here's the layout I created using Take Time:

Do you get what I'm talking about?? This kit sets of sense of calm and relaxation, I just love it! Here's the full kit preview:

Remember this kit is ONLY AVAILABLE for sale at SugarHillCo. (all store links in Sidebar!)

Well that's it for me, thanks for sitting through all the previews. Have fun creating and I'll be waiting to see what you create with these goodies. ;)

Happy Scrapping and TTYL!
-Kristi

What's new?

2011-01-02T10:17:00.001-08:00

Hello again. I know I am a day late with this post but so much was going on yesterday that I had NO time to get anything done around the house let alone on the computer,lol.

So here's the happenings around digi land...

First is the new kit that Victoria released yesterday, it's called Afternoon Delight and it's made using a gorgeous color palette. It's available at Gotta Pixel.

Love those colors!! Such a soft feeling to this kit and I just like it so much!! Here's my page using this kit.

The next kit is a mini kit add on to Victoria's Renewed kit. Same color palette but a little bit different-themed for the New Years celebrations that were celebrated the other night. Hence the name 'New Years'. Here check out the preview...

and here's my layout...

**FYI-those photos are NOT mine. I found them online.**
You can pick up this mini kit for FREE over at SugarHillCo if you participate in the January color challenge!

I also want to share with you a recently released kit by t for me. It's another gorgeous kit to scrap those New Years party pics and it's great for non New Years pics too, I used it to scrap a couple of my older sisters wedding photos. Here is Celebrating by t for me designs and it is now available exclusively at SugarHillCo.

...and my lovely layout if I dare say so myself.

Ok, do you remember that silly photo of me I posted the other day for my 2011 Project 52?? I scrapped it using the new 365 collection by eNKay designs and I'm sharing it with you...I get a kick out of this photo and layout every time I see it,LOL.

Well that's about it for now folks but stay tuned because I have more yummylicious goodies to come ;)

Happy New Year!!!!!

2010-12-31T20:25:00.000-08:00

Hello there all my blogger friends, Before I get to what I want to share I'm going to say to everyone have fun tonight but be safe!! Have a Happy New Year!!

Now I want to share with you a project that I've decided to partake in this coming year and I thought it fitting to share with you tonight because it's my New Years Resolution to actually begin AND finish this project.

If you are a photographer or a scrapper then I know you've heard of Project 12, Project 52 and or Project 365. For those of you who may not know what I'm talking about these are projects that can be done by anyone who owns a camera. These projects involve taking a photo every day, week or month of the year. Then if you choose to, scrap a layout using those photos.

I've started a project 365 back in 2009 but didn't finish. I've also tried again in the beginning of 2010 and sadly I didn't finish that one either. I think it's the whole photo every single day that got me.

This year I've decided to try a Project 52. I can easily take a photo every week and scrap that photo! Call me crazy but I'm actually doing two separate project 52's this year (2011). One for the family using prompts shared on the eNkay designs blog and one is for Project: Love, Me (an all about me album) to share with my family and generations to come.

You can learn more about both of these projects by visiting the blog links for each of them. As always the links are in the sidebar --------->

I have for you tonight, two of the pages I've created for Project: Love, Me using the iDream bundle designed by SuzyQ Scraps and Ziggle Designs both of Scrap Orchard.

The first page was created based on the Pre Prompt: Why are you partaking in Project: Love, Me.

The second page was created based on the Week 1 prompt: Dreams-more specifically what is my biggest dream right now at this point in my life.

Next I'm going to share with you the photo for Week 1's prompt: Silliness from over on eNkay's blog. I chose this photo:

Yes that's me LOL, my son William got a Mr Potato Head for Christmas and my daughter Nicole and I decided to play around with him while Billy was napping, it was a blast too.
I'm going to scrap this photo tomorrow using the new 365 collection by eNkay Designs which I just purchased earlier tonight over at SugarHillCo. Here's a preview:

Cute right? I know!! It comes with this super cute alpha (included in the You Make Me Smile mega kit):

I also had to pick up the 365 collection neutrals that match:

Come back soon for my layout using this collection and that sillylicious photo!!

In other "NEWS" I want to share with you the kit that Victoria just released at all 3 of her shops on Dec. 31st: it's called Renewed and it's one of my faves to date.

and here's my layout using this gorgeous kit:

That was my senior high school pic from 1998. I can't believe that it's been almost 12 1/2 years since I graduated high school.

Well that's it for tonight..er..early this morning. But be sure to stop by later today when I'll have for you my silliness layout as well as a coouple other newbies from Victoria that will be releasing around digi land today January 1, 2011! Wow, gonna have to get used to that,lol.

Until then Happy Scrapping and talk to yo later!!
-Kristi

For Today 12/18/2010 and a SALE!!

2010-12-18T06:51:00.000-08:00

First things first I want to share with you the goings on for today December 18, 2010.

outside my window...it's cccCCCOOOOLLLLLD and icy, snowy and did I say COLD?? (-6 degrees right now)!!
i am thankful for...having a darling daughter who likes to help wrap Christmas prezzies so I don't have to do it all by myself, LOL
i am wearing...blue jeans and my brand new Scrap Orchard t shirt (it arrived in the mail just the other day)!
noticing that...the days seem to be getting shorter, but aren't they actually longer?? I dunno.
i am still reading...not reading anything at the moment, taking a reading vacation til the stress of everyday life calms down because I can't concentrate on the words typed on the pages.
on my mind...SO MUCH I don't even know where to begin, where to end or anything in between.
pondering these words... in SuzyQ Scraps' newsletter earlier this week was a quote by Helen Keller and I just can't get it out of my head so I'm sharing it here with you all.
When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.
-Helen Keller
around the house...noisy kids playing in their rooms, but I love that sound!!
from the kitchen...
one of my favorite things...Mmm stuffed cheesey bread from Little Ceasars. Don't much like their pizza but the stuffed cheese bread is scrumptious!!
i'm creating...lots and lots of scrap layouts who knows maybe I'm working on a new freebie kit for you all too.
a few plans for the rest of the week...enjoying the Christmas break my kids have off from school til after the new year.
from my canvas/lens...I'll share some of my recent Lo's with yas.

My maternal grandmother (1955) Created using the kit Fortune Pandas by Ziggle with a template from the Peek a boo template pack also by Ziggle.

My BFFs son and daughter (2010) Created using the SugarHillCo. collab kit Sweet Memories.

Not sure if I've already shared this page or not but I LOVE this photo of my step daughter Cheyanna (2009) Created using the kit For All You Are by Dydyge.

My son William (2010) Created using the kit Jingle Joy by Miss Tiina with a template by Farha (Fliffy).

Love this photo of my daughter Alexandra while sledding (Jan. 2010) created using the Scrap Orchard collab kit Baby It's Cold Outside.

***SALE***SALE***SALE***SALE***SALE***

Now come on who doesn't love a sale?? I know I LOVE a good sale and Terese of t for me designs has a sweet sale going on over at SugarHillCo from Dec. 17, 2010 to Dec. 31, 2010. Here Check out the ad then head on over and start shopping!!

'Tis the Season...

2010-12-15T09:39:00.000-08:00

...is a brand new kit by Sunflowers Studio and it's available TODAY over at Polka Dot Plum. This Christmas kit is packed full of radiant reds and gorgeous greens and some beautiful blues too. It's perfect to scrap all those Christmas photos you have taken and/or will be taking in just a lil over a week (10 days to be exact ;)) but it's also a great kit to scrap photos of the family decorating the tree, hanging the stockings or even stringing lights up outdoors, or in my daughters case putting lil bulbs on the bushes out front of our house,lol.
I bet you are excited to see this kit huh?? Well alrighty then, here is 'Tis the Season by Sunflowers Studio Designs:

and as always here's a little inspiration from me:

hehee, it's my son William checking out the bulbs that his older sister put on those bushes I referred to earlier.
Head on over to the Sunflowers Studio blog (http://www.sunflowersstudio.com/blog/) to see what the other ct ladies did with this awesome kit. Then make sure to head on over to Polka Dot Plum and pick up your own and scrap some gorgeous layouts for us all to ooh and aah over.

Happy Scrapping and TTYL
-Kristi

Holly Jolly Holiday and a Sneak Peek!

2010-12-13T13:11:00.000-08:00

Hello again my friends and welcome back to my blog. I have here to share with you today a brand new kit by Victoria Feemster and a win it before you can buy it sneak peek for SuzyQ Scraps' new collection! But first a shout out to my baby girl, my daughter Alexandra who is 10 years old today!!
Here's Holly Jolly Holiday by Victoria Feemster!

You can pick this up over @ Scrapbook Bytes (link in sidebar----->)
Here's a couple layouts by me:

I love this Christmas kit, so whimsy and fun!!

Now on to the giveaway...SuzyQ Scraps is almost finished celebrating her design-iversery/Birthday party over on her blog (http://suzyqscraps.com/blog/) and to wrap up the party she's giving away her new not yet released collection to one lucky fan!! Here's a sneak peek:

Head on over to her blog to find out the details on how you can win this awesome collection!!

Happy Scrapping and TTYL!

100th Blog Post!!! Must Read!!

2010-12-11T10:15:00.000-08:00

Hello friends and welcome back! I hope you are all having as good a day as I am. Today is very busy for me and the family because we are celebrating my daughter's 10th birthday this afternoon. I can't believe she's already going to be 10, where has all the time gone?!! It seems like just yesterday she was just 2 weeks old and learning to hold her own head up.

and now she's turning into this gorgeous young lady who is so much like me when I was her age. I love it, and I love her so much!! Happy Birthday Alexandra I love you baby girl (you'll always be my baby girl no matter how old you are)!

I have here today (for my 100th post) two BRAND NEW kits to share with you. The first is by Victoria Feemster and it's called Holiday Wish. Take a look at this beauty:

And a lil inspiration from me to share with you too:

I love this kit, it's a gorgeous holiday season kit. FYI: the photo I used is a pic of my momma and her brother in 1957, she was only 10mos. old. I thought it was perfect to scrap with this new kit. You can pick this kit up at Gotta Pixel for a few days for only $1.00 per pack! There are 4 packs to this kit: a paper pack, element pack, alpha pack and word bit pack. You can't beat a price like $4.00 for this awesome kit. Hurry on over to Gotta Pixel and pick it up today! (Link in sidebar------>)

In dedication to my baby girls birthday I have something special to share with you and I am OH SO HAPPY and EXCITED to be sharing it with you all. First here's a lil something for you to peek at:

It's a photo of my baby girl Alexandra and this kit is full of her favorite colors purple and violet!
This is Winters Here the kit and it's got 8 papers- 4 textured solids and 4 patterned papers and more than 30 elements!! Here's a lil preview for you all:

Want to know where you can pick this kit up??
Well you can pick it up RIGHT HERE ON THE BLOG!!!
Winters Here is my FIRST full kit and I am giving it to you for FREE!!! Just grab the kit by using the links here. (Copy and paste to get to the d/l page).
patterned papers: http://www.box.net/shared/t0lfijb1h8
solid papers: http://www.box.net/shared/tlcnp9sn00
element pack 1: http://www.box.net/shared/msmk5lm5ga
element pack 2: http://www.box.net/shared/hrfa40ucvb
goodies: http://www.box.net/shared/pevm5ltfjg

Have a safe and fun weekend and if you grab this kit and you scrap a page using it please leave a comment with a link so I can leave some love for you.

Happy Scrapping & TTYL!!
-Kristi

It's Friday!!!

2010-12-10T07:09:00.000-08:00

And you know what that means...Someones got a NEW RELEASE to share with you all and that someone is Terese of t for me designs!!!
Terese has a brand new mini kit that just hit the store shelves this morning. It's a yummy lil kit called Gingerbread and Hot Chocolate and I love the scrumptilicious creams and browns of this kit! It was perfect to scrap those photos of my children drinking hot cocoa with whip cream and making gingerbread santa sleighs that we had fun doing the other night. Bet ya can't wait to see the kit huh?? Well here's a preview for you:

and here's a lil inspiration by me:

So hurry on over to SugarHillCo. (Link in sidebar----->) to grab this delicious kit AND for a limited time you can pick this up on sale but that's not all if you head on over to the t for me blog (link also in sidebar) you can save even more $$ for Terese's Day 10 blog Christmas advent event! How cool is that?!! But that's not even all!! For every purchase made in t for me's SugarHillCo. shop you will be entered into a drawing to win a $5.00 gift certificate to her shop!! You better hurry though because this chance won't last forever it ends next week Thursday on the 16th. WOO HOO!! So much awesomeness!!

***In Other News***
If you didn't win Suzy's new christmas kit on Wednesday have no fear because she has a new bundle coming out that you can have the chance to win before it's released! Here's a preview of the new Not yet released Laugh the Rainbow alphas bundle:

geesh, with 14 different alphas in this bundle there's surely one to match all your layouts!! Just head on over to Suzy's blog (link in sidebar----->) to get the details on what you have to do to try to win it!

Be sure to stop by tomorrow when I'll have another preview for you from Victoria Feemster Designs, another inspirational layout to share and maybe even a freebie by me (to celebrate my 100th post on my blog!!)

Til then Happy Scrapping and TTYL!
-Kristi

NEW KIT & CHANCE TO WIN

2010-12-08T17:28:00.000-08:00

Hello and welcome friends! Just a quick note here tonight to let you all in on a lil secret, well it's not really a secret because tons of people know already..wanna know too??? LOL, ok, OK I'll tell you...SuzyQ has a new Christmas kit releasing very soon at Scrap orchard!! It's so fun, festive, whimsical and just Fantastical!!! Don't believe me, See for yourself here!

Wanna know a lil something else, if you hop on over to Suzy's blog: http://suzyqscraps.com/blog/ (clickable link in sidebar as always) you can have a chance at winning this kit (better yet more like 4)!! Hurry you better not walk...RUN!! lol

Now on to other things.... make sure to head on over to SugarHillCo. Friday (12/10) because Terese of t for me designs has a very Yummylicious kit releasing perfect for scrapping those delicious photos of you and your family sipping steaming cups of cocoa and eating yummy cookies ;)

Also, Victoria Feemster has a new Christmas kit coming out on the 11th over @ Gotta Pixel.

...AND...Sunflowers Studio has another gorgeous holiday collection coming next week Wednesday!!

that's it for the digi world news...here's my daybook posting...

For Today 12-8-2010

Outside my window...darkness (it's 8:48pm)

I am thinking...about how proud of myself I am that I got caught up on some reading, cleaning, work AND still had time to fit in ALL my CT requirements!!

I am thankful for...having an understanding husband who is helping with the kids so I can work a lil and also play a lil too.

From the kitchen...tonight we ate homemade beef stew.

I am wearing...sweatpants and my adidas hoodie (gotta stay warm & cozy)

I am creating...challenge layouts!!

I am going...to watch some LOST with Shaun after this post (we are finally on Season 3)!

I am reading...promise I'm almost finished with Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,lol

I am hoping...that my step son Ethan will be alright and better soon, his mom called and said he has the measles. (aww my poor buddy boy, momma Kristi loves you E-butt)!

I am hearing...lol, my nephew begging my husband to borrow one of his "nice" shirts for school tomorrow.

Around the house...all the kids are getting settled down and ready for bed.

One of my favorite things...making gingerbread houses and drinking hot cocoa with whip cream with the family!

A few plans for the rest of the week:finish the planning for my dd's 10th birthday party coming up on the 13th.

Pondering these words: The future is no more uncertain than the present.
- Walt Whitman

From my canvas/lens:

(My lil monkey {my nephew Hezakiah} is getting bigger...see)

(Mmmm...drinking hot cocoa w/ whipped topping while making gingerbread sleighs)

(Nikki decided to put Christmas bulbs on the tree outside when we put up the lights and other decorations,lol)

Wow, that seems like a lot of talking or typing ;) tonight,lol.
Happy Scrapping and TTYL!

-Kristi

Finally : )

2010-12-07T05:17:00.000-08:00

Yay, I am Super duper excited this morning because I finally get to spill the beans about my new CT!! Yep, that's right folks I just made my 3rd CT, and you know what's more awesome out of the 3 I only applied for 1, the other 2 came to me and asked me to join their teams! That makes me feel SO good, especially since the self confidence has been a lil low lately (too personal to talk about on here though). So who is the third designer whose creative team I have the pleasure of joining?!? Well it's none other than Terese of t for me designs!! Yeppers and I'm so excited, I mean check out some of these beautiful kits and my layouts using them by Terese of t for me designs...
This is Everyday Magic:

I also used a template from the template pack Add a Little Extra-Rectangular Edition:

Love those templates and that kit. Here's another one of my favorite kits by Terese, here is Christmas Star and it was just released last week over at SugarHillCo. (which is where you can find ALL of t for me designs' products-for now she is EXCLUSIVE to SugarHillCo.!) Without further ado here is Christmas Star and as always a lil inspiration from me:

I also used a word art (recolored of course) from Terese's word art pack Winter Season Stickers:

Wow, absolutely gorgeous right?!? I know how about another preview of another awesome kit?? Okie dokie here is a mini kit called Quick Click (love the red and blue together with the doodle type ellies)!

Wow, I have been a busy lil bee lately for sure!!
I have to get going for now but definitely be sure to come by later in the week (like say THURSDAY when I'll have a new release by t for me designs as well as another "delicious" layout to share with you!!
Til then Happy Scrapping and TTYL!

-Kristi

For Today (more like tonight) 12/5/2010

2010-12-05T17:08:00.000-08:00

Outside my window...It is very dark outside, all I see is the Christmas lights on the homes and porches around the neighborhood.

I am thinking...I'm kinda glad the weekend is over and I'll leave it at that,lol.

I am thankful for...having a blog to share just what I want to share so not to keep it all bottled up inside but yet not reveal too much.

From the kitchen...tonight was left over night so we had our choices between chicken, Chinese food, or pizza hut.

I am wearing...sweatpants and a tank top with my old navy hoodie (getting ready for bed)

I am creating...nothing but this blog post at the moment.

I am going...to go to sleep as soon as this post is finished, I'm very tired tonight.

I am reading...same as before

I am hoping...that my family and I don't get sick with the flu. (my sister came by for a visit earlier and then called to tell us that her youngest is sick with the flu).

I am hearing...commercials from the big screen television in the family room.

Around the house...the family just relaxing together watching television and chatting and laughing together. (I love nights like this)!!

One of my favorite things...see above answer! :)

A few plans for the rest of the week:create some homemade digi scrap Christmas cards to send to family & friends this holiday season.

Quote of the day:“Knowledge is not necessarily wisdom.”
-proverb

From my canvas/lens:nothing tonight, will share soon though..promise ;)

Lost my "mojo"

2010-12-02T11:57:00.000-08:00

Wow, I'm doing good this past week or 2 actually...I'm completely finished with all my CT stuff for the month already (well the stuff I can do for now). So all I have left to do is play for now, which is awesome don't get me wrong but for some reason I have no inspiration, my creative juices have stopped flowing, no scrapping mojo. So when we have no mojo and need to find some inspiration what are some things to do to get those creative juices flowing again? Well I'll share with you some of the things that I do.

First there are plenty of galleries you can go to to find some inspiration, some of my favorites are:
Digiscrap Addicts, Digishop Talk, and My Scrapbook Art, and all my favorite store galleries as well, Scrap Orchard, SugarHill Co., Polkadot Plum, Gotta Pixel and Scrapbook-Bytes. See Links in side bar -------->

Another thing I like to do to get back some mojo is participate in challenges. All over digi land there are challenges. Just go to your favorite forum to find challenges, the bonus to challenges is that sometimes you get great discounts from your fave designers and sometimes you'll even get freebies!! (Like over at SugarHillCo. every month Victoria Feemster hosts a color challenge where she gives a color palette that everyone can use to scrap a page with and she always has a gorgeous kit that you can use (plus there's a discount coupon to purchase the featrued kit) AND she also gives away a mini kit that matches (how awesome is that)?!!

There are also a few places out there in digi land where you don't have to join a forum. Two of my favorite places are the Digi Dares dot com and How Much Is Too Much dot com. I don't always play to win, sometimes I just go to get the inspiration to scrap a page for myself,lol.

The last thing that you can do to help gain a lil mojo is to use templates and there is a wealth of free templates out there. Again look around your favorite forums and shops, many times there will be a freebie template to try out with a new kit or new template pack. I love using templates, I purchase a lot of them (the best thing about templates is you can use them over and over again) HOW? Because they come in png files or a layered psd file so you can always switch the pieces around, add to or subtract from!!

As always ALL Links are in side bar -------->

Ok, now that I shared some helpful tips with you lets get on with my Simple Woman's Daybook entry.

FOR TODAY (12/2/2010)

Outside my window...SNOW, lots and lots of snow
I am thinking...I don't really like the snow, I mean it's pretty but it's wet and very cold.
I am thankful for...hoddies, gloves and long, thick socks,lol
From the kitchen...hmm had nachos for lunch but not sure what dinner will bring to the table
I am wearing...comfy blue jeans, a black t shirt with my adidas hoodie, and my fluffy slippers to keep my toesies nice and cozy.
I am creating...my christmas shopping list (I know I procrastinated big time this year)!
I am going...to start exercising more
I am reading...same as last time (still-but I'm almost finished and already have book 3 ready to start)
I am hoping...to finish my book tonight/tomorrow
I am hearing...Christmas music coming from the lil tree in the family room (yeah I have a mini prelit tree that's also musical)!
Around the house...lots of christmas decorations (care of my children)
One of my favorite things...cooking big dinners for the family
A few plans for the rest of the week:hmm nothing planned at the moment
Quote of the day:“For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful
lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with
the knowledge that you are never alone.”
-Audrey Hepburn
From my canvas/lens:

Me and my husband Shaun. Created using the kit Thanks by t for me designs.

My nephew Jonas. Created using the kit Quick Click by t for me designs.

Created using the kit Stay at Home by t for me designs.

My baby boy (who's no longer a baby,lol) created using the kit Everyday Magic by t for me designs.

Snow Baby

2010-11-30T06:49:00.000-08:00

Good morning everybody. I'm back to announce the release of Victoria Feemster's new kit Snow Baby. It's perfect for scrapping all those lil snow babies in our lives.

This kit is available @ Gotta Pixel, Scrapbook-Bytes and SugarHillCo. Be sure to stop by the SugarHillCo. forum tomorrow 12/1 and check out the color challenge with the one and only Victoria Feemster herself as she hosts the new challenge with a discount coupon to get the new Snow Baby kit and score yourself the matching mini for FREE!!
Check out the pages I created using both the full and the mini Snow Baby kits...
(Here's using just the Full kit)

(Here's using just the Mini)

(Using BOTH the full and mini kits)

Be sure to head on over to any of VFD's shops to pick up this gorgeous new kit.

Happy Scrapping and TTYL!

New Goodies!!

2010-11-28T08:40:00.000-08:00

Welcome and hello again! How is everyone on this fun relaxing Sunday afternoon? I am great. The house is quiet! Shaun's still sleeping (he was up til the wee hours of the morning playing Bejeweled Blitz on the computer,lol) the kids are all gone (went to my sisters for the night..a nice change from having the nephews over here all the time) and I don't hear the dogs barking at anyone (maybe that bark-off that Shaun picked up really is working-lol).
So I am just sitting here enjoying my nice quiet time to think, reflect and just relax!
So how many of you digi scrappers out there emptied their paypal accounts on all the great digi store sales this weekend?? I did! Between the Farmer's Market at Scrap Orchard and the Best of 2010 sale over at SugarHillCo. I can honestly say that I won't be able to spend any money on digi goodies for a while. Who can blame a girl when everything is ONLY $1.00? I mean come on!!!! I just wish the Black Friday sales in the real world were that awesome,lol.
This past week has been a great week for me though. I mean I got the paycheck I have been waiting for - (been waiting forever for) so I was able to get caught up on some bills and I also got asked to join another creative team (not mentioning any names though-at least not yet) the kids got along great (for the most part) all week long and I got some laundry done (quite a bit actually). To top it all off we celebrated Thanksgiving on Thursday and had family over (some that I haven't spent much time with at all this past year) and Shaun got like a 4 day weekend (paid even) So yeah, it's been a great week and today is my day to just relax. So here is my post for today:

Outside my window...chilly but sunny
I am thinking...about maybe going out to lunch with the hubby while the kids are away.
I am thankful for...days when my family gives me a break from the kids for once,lol
From the kitchen... nothing yet (it's 11:57 am and I just woke up @ 10:30am).
I am wearing...duh- I'm still in bed so my jammies obviously (I'd live in them if I could).
I am creating...this blog post at the moment,lol...seriously though later I'll scrap some more because the kids are with my sister for the day and Shaun will be playing his wii.
I am going...to just relax and enjoy the quiet time I've been blessed with today.
I am reading...same as last time...Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (I actually haven't been reading much...been too busy scrapping & shopping,lol).
I am hoping... that this coming year is better than this year!
I am hearing...the neighbor calling her dog (he got out of the yard again)
Around the house...nothing but quiet (well except the clicking of the keys on my laptop)
One of my favorite things...being able to sleep in (it's very rare though)
A few plans for the rest of the week: CT requirements, pay more bills, christmas shopping, don't know what else yet.
Pondering these words..."Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can't and the other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it".
- Robert Frost
From my digi stash (going to share w/ you what I picked up this weekend)
From the Best of 2010 Black Friday sale @ SugarHillCo.

I also picked up the entire Doodleville collection!
Here's what I picked up from the Farmer's Market over at Scrap Orchard:

I also picked up all the add on packs to go with this kit!

I also picked up some CU templates by Pixel Geek Designs (popcorn box and crayon box,etc)

I also picked up these packs from Suzy Q Scraps:
Basic checks-paper pack, date me acrylic, date me vellum, epoxy tiles in neutral, feeling chipper alpha, spotty dotties paper pack and stash builders kraft alpha.

and last but not least these two awesome template packs by Ziggle Designs:

So see what I mean about not having money to spend on digi goodies for a long while?!
Well that's it for now, be sure to stop by in a couple days for a couple new releases from my CTs and maybe a freebie or two ;)

Happy Scrapping!

For Today 11/26/2010

2010-11-26T14:46:00.000-08:00

Okie dokie I'm back to write my "For Today" post.

FOR TODAY
Outside my window... It's dark right now 5:51pm and very windy. Brrr it's also cold!
I am thinking... I must be crazy for letting the kids have 2 of their cousins stay the night last night,lol
I am thankful for... my online friends they help keep me sane!
From the kitchen...Mmm left over turkey, stuffing, sour cream & chive masked potatoes, candied yams, green bean casserole, warm wheat rolls and for dessert left over pumpkin and dutch apple pie w/ whip cream
I am wearing... pants and a long sleeve shirt because it's very chilly this evening.
I am creating... taking a break for the night because I just finished updating the blog and CT requirements for the coming week.
I am going... to relax in a few and watch Sons of Anarchy & Lost with my hubby.
I am reading...still reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
I am hoping... that I get some good deals while ordering xmas prezzies online this year!
I am hearing... my hubby is playing band hero and my 5 year old son is singing along..so cute!!
Around the house... children laughing and playing together and so far no fighting...hope I didn't just jinx nothing,LOL
One of my favorite things... listening to my husband sing our song to me. He's got an awesome singing voice!
A few plans for the rest of the week: Christmas decorating and shopping, running errands (got to pay those bills) start some creating for my new CT!! Yeah you read that right..but I can't tell who I'm getting creative for just yet.
I'm pondering these words...A great artist is always before his time or behind it.
-George Edward Moore
From my canvas/lens...

This first picture is one from my little sister (she's a photographer too). I just had to share this because I loved it so much!

This is my daughter Alexandra while having a sleepover with her cousins. Photo taken by me and edited by me using PSP X2.

This is an older photo of my daughter Alexandra (2004) while at a park. Recently edited by me.

I didn't take this photo of my son (from 2005) but I did some photo editing on it and wanted to share that with you.

This is my oldest daughter Nicole. Photo taken by me in (2008). Recently edited by me as well.

YAY the blogs finished!!!

2010-11-26T11:59:00.000-08:00

Yay, I'm so excited that I finally finished my blog!! I purchased the collab kit "Art & Soul" by Holly Designs and Krista Sahlin (sahlink studio) over at Ninth and Bloom a couple weeks ago after seeing all the gorgeous pages in the gallery and I was thinking "that would be the perfect kit to use for my blog" so I bought it, then grabbed some tutorials from Kevin & Amanda (dot) com and from Shabby Blogs and created my own blog background and page elements to create what you see here!! (I'm adding the links to Kevin&Amanda and to Shabby Blogs as well) so you all can visit and make your own blogs using your own purchased kits and these super easy to follow tutorials and for those who may not feel comfortable creating your own you can download some ready made blogger templates for free.
Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think..I know it's not perfect but I love my new blog.

Ok, so did all my american friends have a great Thanksgiving holiday yesterday?? I did. We didn't travel this year (we hosted dinner @ our place)...I have been very tired, and sore latelt so I didn't feel like going anywhere and our place is bigger than my sisters places so we had the extra room to have everyone come over. Dinner was delicious and we even had 3 different kinds of pie to choose from for dessert.

Well, I am pretty busy cleaning today (laundry...fun) so I'm going to go switch loads and fold/put away clean clothes so I'll be back a lil later to share with you my daybook post for today.

Under Construction

2010-11-25T22:29:00.000-08:00

Just a very quick post to say sorry about the mis-matched blog. I'm in the process of updating my blog so please bear with me. It's late right now or early depending on how you want to take it (1:31am) so I am very tired and will finish the blog tomorrow.

Can't Catch Me!!

2010-11-24T02:29:00.000-08:00

Hi all I'm back with a brand new cute Christmas collection available TODAY at Polka Dot Plum by the lovely ladies of Sunflowers Studio Designs. It's called Can't Catch Me and you can purchase this kit in individual packs or you can purchase the entire collection in one bundle and SAVE$$!!! Here's a preview of this gorgeous collection and some pages by me.

Cute right?!! Check out the cuteness in action with these inspirational layouts by me:

WOW, I LOVE playing with this kit! Make sure to head on over to Polka Dot Plum and pick up this cute collection for only $8.oo!
Check back soon for some freebies by me!

Happy Scrapping!

-Kristi

Just another chilly & rainy day.

2010-11-22T07:31:00.000-08:00

So yeah, not a whole lot going on today. Too cold and wet to do anything outside and when it's this cold my body aches too bad to want to do much of anything anyways...

FOR TODAY (11/22/2010)

Outside my window... rainy and very chilly
I am thinking... I really am not looking forward to Winter weather
I am thankful for... having a nice warm house to live in
From the kitchen... nothing yet, prolly gonna make a bacon,egg & cheese bagel
I am wearing... my grey sweat pants and my black Beatles tshirt (jammies)
I am creating... new digi scrap layouts (gotta get my Scrap Orchard challenges caught up)
I am going... to pick up my husband @ 2:30 this afternoon and take him to the dentist
I am reading... Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
I am hoping... to finish my book soon so I can start the next one
I am hearing... rolling thunder
Around the house... dirty clothes in each of the kids' rooms..gotta finish that today!
One of my favorite things... listening to the birds chirping outside the window (poor things are getting soakin' wet out there at the moment though)
A few plans for the rest of the week... start Christmas shopping and Thursday's Turkey Day!!
Pondering these words... "All children are artists. Th problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up." - Pablo Picasso
From my canvas/lens... a couple new scrap layouts by me that were for me not a CT!
Using the kit 'Audrey' by Pixel Perfect Designs

using the kit 'Cake & Icecream' by Tracie Stroud

List of credits:
Scrap Orchard
Creative Me bundle by Amy Stoffel, Play collab. by Decrow & Sahlin studios, Two Turtle Doves by Ziggle Designs, Lifelines 1 by SuzyQ Scraps, Hey Mr. DJ collab by the Scrap Orchard Designers, Random moments collab by Decrow & Vlim, It's about him by Captivated Visions, Happy Snapper by Captivated Visions, Online page kit by Captivated Vistions & Jenn Barrette

Little Dreamer Designs
(Background paper) from Collage Sheets paper pack by Agnes Biro, In Stitches accessory pack by Tickled Pink Studio

After 5 Designs
Heart of Nature collab by the After 5 designs designers (create wings designs)

Ninth & Bloom
Art & Soul collab by Holly Designs & Sahlin Studio

Deviant Scraps
Altered art doll set by Farrah's Designer scraps (key)
Got your number element pack by Holliewood Studios

The Lily Pad
Bring on the Cake by Karah Fredricks, threaded blossoms elements

Funky Playground designs
How I feel kit by Michelle Batton Designs

Sweet Shoppe Designs
Water color spills by Misty Cato

Polka Dot Plum
Beary Scary by Sunflowers Studio Designs

Designs in Digital
Mood for a Melody by T Bugz

Two Peas in a bucket
Dream Freebie by Vinnie Pearce, Proud to be digi collab brush kit

Other shops/blogs
Everlasting Love by Victoria Feemster Designs available @ Gotta Pixel, Scrapbook Bytes & SugarHillCo; I am-element pack by Cheeky Monkey Designs-Zig Zag Scraps blog freebie; Hazel Olive - Shabby Sheet freebie; Janelle C -finishing touches freebie

Suddenly Artistic Designs Blog
Bits of Life word art bits, Life word art, Wise Advice Word art set and Zodiac Girls word art.

I think that's it...if I missed anyone I am truly sorry!

That's it for now folks, I may be back a bit later but who knows with these things right?!?

You can share your own Simple Woman's Daybook too. Just visit the Simple Woman's Daybook blog to get started: http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/

TTYL and Happy Scrapping!

Freebie Friday!!!

2010-11-19T05:27:00.000-08:00

Just a short and very sweet post today. I have a freebie QP made by me to give to you today!! I created this page using the Sunny winters Day kit by Sunflowers Studio Designs. Here's the page I created and the quick page preview.

Here's the QP!!

Head on over the the Sunflowers Studio Designs blog http://www.sunflowersstudio.com/blog/ remember link in sidebar------------------> and snag this freebie by me, then after you scrap with it, please come back here and leave the link in a comment so I can go check it out in action!!

Happy Scrapping and ttys!

-Kristi

Sunny Winter's Day

2010-11-17T07:05:00.001-08:00

Today it is very chilly here in West Michigan, reminds me of the cold winter days that we having coming very soon. But with all things, the "bad" comes with "good". Just like in Winter it's cold but you sometimes may have bright sun shiny days-at least here in Michigan anyways,LOL.
The new kit that's being released at Polka Dot Plum by Sunflowers Studio Designs is perfect to scrap just those moments caught on film during those days I was just talking about. It's called Sunny Winter's Day and it's full of bright warm yellows and cool blues with shiny glitters to boot! Love the new kit. I can't wait any longer to share with you just how gorgeous this kit is. So without further ado here is 'Sunny Winter's Day'...

Told you it was gorgeous didn't I!?! Just like all PDP new releases this kit is 20% off. You can either purchase the kit alone or you can buy the bundle pack which includes not only the kit, but also a glitter paper pack, some glitter and brushes to make your own scatters, and extra bling! A $12.99 value all for ONLY $8.00! How can one say no to that offer??

Link to Polka Dot Plum is in the side bar -------------------------------->
How about a lil inspiration from me to get those creative juices flowing...

Have fun scrapping all those sunny winter pictures. I can't wait to see all your layouts in the Polk Dot Plum gallery using this kit!

It's a Beautiful Morning!!!

2010-11-16T08:57:00.000-08:00

lol, sorry I am just totally ecstatic today because I'm an auntie again!!! Yup my SIL had her son this morning at 3:13am, I got the call a lil after 3:30am from my husbands brother. We are All very excited to have finally met lil Hezakiah Sean! He is so adorable, I just wanna eat him all up. Don't believe me!?! Have a lil look see for yourself....

There he is; all 8lbs. 9oz. and 20 1/2in. of him! Handsome lil guy huh?!! Told ya so!
I can't wait to get lots and lots of new photos of the lil guy and scrap til my hearts content!

In other news I want to tell you about the *NEW* kit that Victoria Feemster has available at Gotta Pixel. It's called 'Fall in Love' and it's just as gorgeous as her other kits and perfect to scrap the photos of me and my loving husband Shaun. He is my rock, my shoulder to cry on, he is my best friend and my soul mate. I love you so much honey! What's better than an entire kit that's gorgeous and you can scrap amazing layouts with? How about Getting the whole kit for only $4? That's right, Fall In Love is the November "Gotta Grab It" at Gotta Pixel and today is the last day to get all four packs to this amazing kit for only $1.00 each!
Here's a look at this gorgeous kit separated in it's individual packs:

Like I said this is the last day to get this kit for only $4.00! So you better hurry on over to Gotta Pixel and grab it before it's combined into one full kit and charged full price.
Here's a lil inspiration from me to get you motivated...
First a layout featuring my sister Heidi and her husband Josh from their wedding day earlier this year (2010).

and now one of my favorite layouts ever; me and my husband Shaun. Photo is from 2007 but the story behind this layout is what the page is all about.

Gorgeous right? I know!
I also have a freebie for you available over on Victoria's blog here: http://www.victoriafeemster.com/blog/ remember clickable link is in side bar----->
Here's a preview of my freebie:

Well that's it for today friends. I'll be back tomorrow with a new kit being released from Sunflowers Studio Designs and you DO NOT want to miss it!

Happy Scrapping and ttyl!

-Kristi

It's been a while...

2010-11-12T07:51:00.000-08:00

Hello and sorry for the delay in posting. I have been SO busy trying to get all things caught up and finished before the weekend because I want to do some serious cleaning and rearranging this weekend while the kids are here to help.
I have a new kit preview to show you today. It's another kit by Victoria Feemster Designs and it's available at all her shops. (Gotta Pixel, Scrapbook Bytes & SugarHillCo.) All links are on the side over there --------->
so be sure to check 'em out. This kit is full of bright, fun colors and elements and it's a perfect kit for my daughters, although I'm sure you can probably use it for boys too. Here is 'Unordinary Girl'

and here is the layout I created using this kewl kit...

So head on over to any of Victoria's shops to pick this up.
In other VFD news, there is only 3 days left to pick up Victoria's whole shop (excluding collabs) for ONLY $20 that's over a $200 value.

So hurry on over to Gotta Pixel. Also over at Gotta Pixel Victoria is being spotlighted so don't forget to pick up the last pieces of the freebie kit 'Giving Thanks'.
Over at Scrapbook Bytes Victoria is part of the 'Grab a Byte' where you can get each of the 4 packs to Victoria's new kit 'I Am Woman' for ONLY $1 a piece. Ends this Sunday so you better grab it quick before it hits the shelves for full price. Here's a look at the four different packs included int this kit.

Here's a lil ispiration from me using this gorgeous kit...

and earlier today Victoria posted a freebie frame that coordinates with this kit over on her blog. Here is a preview for that....

again, it's on her blog and here's the blog addy (remember all clickable links are on sidebar too!) http://www.victoriafeemster.com/blog/

Be sure to come by next week when I show off the new kits available by Victoria Feemster (with a freebie), Sunflowers Studio Designs (with a freebie too!)and Ziggle Designs!
Happy Scrapping!!

Kit reveals and Layouts!

2010-11-04T10:33:00.000-07:00

So today I have for you a very quick post. I just want to show you the kit reveals for the 2 CT's that I'm scrapping for.
First up is the kit 'Get Well Soon' by Sunflowers Studio Designs and it is NOW AVAILABLE at Polka Dot Plum. This is the perfect kit to use to scrap all those photos of our lil ones (and big ones) that get booboos.
Here is 'Get Well Soon'

and here is my page 'Burn' that I created using this kewl kit!

Next up is 'Giving Thanks' by Ziggle Designs and this is NOW AVAILABLE at Scrap Orchard! Perfect for scrapping all those Thanksgiving day photos we'll all be snapping soon!
Here is 'Giving Thanks'

and here is my page 'Family' I created using this beauty!

Be sure to stop by tomorrow when I'll preview the NEW kit from Victoria Feemster and show you another inspirational layout!

Well that's is for now folks. I have a very busy rest of the day planned cleaning and running errands so I can spend all day Saturday partying and scrapping and RAKing for DSD!

TTYL
-Kristi

CT News and Sneak Peeks too!

2010-11-02T09:58:00.000-07:00

With DSD coming up in only 4 short days there are lots of sales going on and Victoria of Victoria Feemster Designs is no exception! Over at SugarHillco. from Nov.1st to Nov.30th all VFD products excluding collabs are 40% off! But that's not all! Starting on Friday Nov.5th every VFD kit that you purchase (regularly priced $5.99) you'll get one FREE!!! But you have to hurry on this one because it ends on Monday Nov.8th. That sale is going on at all her shops (SugarHillco.,Gotta Pixel and ScrapbookBytes). Here are just some of her awesome kits you can pick up at the BOGO (Buy One Get One) sale.

Oh aren't these just too cute!?! This is only a small amount of the gorgeousness Victoria has out there!

I have a sneak peek for you from Angela and Chris of Sunflowers Studio Designs. This kit is so adorable and it's perfect to scrap all the pictures of your lil ones (and big ones) who have ever gotten boo-boos, broken bones, sore throats or had surgery.

This will be available tomorrow Nov.3rd @ Polka Dot Plum!

I told you yesterday that I'm a guest designer for Ziggle Designs during the month of November. Well I started uploading my layouts using some of my favorite Ziggle products today and wanted to share 'em with you on here as well. First up is a layout using the kit 'Spookalicious' which was perfect to scrap a photo of the kids I took trick-or-treating this past weekend. I love the bright fun colors and the ellies were just the right amount of spookiness and cuteness. Here is 'Spookalicious'.

And here's my page 'Halloween 2010'.

Another older kit by Kami of Ziggle Designs that I absolutely fell in love at first sight with is 'Two Turtle Doves'. Oh my gosh I love this kit, the colors, the glitter, the cute lil ellies and the name really caught my eye because one of my favorite Christmas carols of all time just happens to be 'The Twelve Days of Christmas'. Without further ado here is 'Two Turtle Doves'.

I loved this kit so much that I've already scrapped 3 layouts with it! Here they are!

Gorgeous right?! I know. I love, love, LOVE this kit!!

In other news Ziggle designs has a new kit coming out this Friday (Nov.5th) to Scrap Orchard and I have here a sneak peek of this gorgeous kit that's gonna be perfect for scrapping those Thanksgiving Day photos. Here is a peek at 'Giving Thanks'.

Be sure to stop by Scrap Orchard Friday to pick up this kewl kit!

Well that's it for today friends but I'll be back tomorrow with another kit preview and a lil inspiration for you all to ooh and aah over.
TTYL
;)
-Kristi

November's Here!

2010-11-01T05:23:00.000-07:00

Hello fellow scrappers and friends alike. Wow, where has the time gone? It seems like just yesterday October was beginning and now it's the first of November?!

I am very excited today.

Early this morning (like right before 1am early) I got a call from my brother in law saying that our sissy was in the hospital with contractions that were a minute apart and she was dilated to 3cm already, so I'm thinking I'll have a new nephew here sometime during the day/evening-but who knows with these things right? Oh, well-I'm still stoked about it!

In other NON-scrapping news I have an update on Izzy-she's recovering pretty well, still on pain meds, still has the central line and chest tube but other than that the recovery is coming along swell! So excited about that!

Okay, now onto the digi scrap stuff! It's the first of the month which means all things new! New goodies to scrap with, new challenges to play, new threads in the forums, and I just happen to be starting a new guest gig with Ziggle designs today! WOOT!! See how ecstatic I am already?? LOL Any ways November just happens to be one of my favorite months-oh not because it's the start of the holiday season but because there is a digiscrap holiday coming up on the 6th-(which also happens to be my nephews birthday) ;). Know what November 6th is?!! Well I'll tell ya! It's Digital Scrapbooking Day or DSD!! WOO HOO, for all the digi addicts out there that means loads of games, challenges, prizes and sales!!!!! This is the perfect time to stack up on your digi stash!

What better way to start this holiday than with a gorgeous new MEGA COLLAB kit!?! I have here a sneak peek at a new mega kit coming out on DSD by the designers over at SugarHillco. OMG -you DO NOT want to pass this up! It's huge -like I mean *60 papers, 116 elements and a full alpha huge*! And the colors are to die for! Here take a lil looksie at this and tell me if you think I'm lyin' LOL!

What did I tell you?? I can't wait to scrap with that awesomeness!!

As I said earlier the first always brings it's new challenges as well. Well, I have here a lil info about the NOV. Color Challenge over at SugarHillco. too. As always it is hosted by the one and only Victoria Feemster! And she Always has gorgeous kits to work with and this one is NO exception! If you hop on over to the SHCO forum and play along with this color challenge you'll not only receive a FREE mini kit, but a coupon for the matching FULL kit! Here I have a preview of the kits 'In My Heart' & 'In My Heart-mini' AND a layout I created using BOTH the full and mini!

Here's my challenge layout...

How about a closer look at these 2 kewl kits?!

Oh, there is SO much more going on around digi land like what is this about?!?

I am so curious and so excited to find out, your guess is as good as mine but I heard there's going to be prizes and giveaways! This is being hosted by Scrap Orchard. The anticipation is killing me!!! Hey! Be there or be square! LOL
Ok, well that's about it for now folks, but always stop by soon for some more inspiration and "goings on" around digi land! I'm working on another freebie to give out soon to, hopefully by DSD!
TTYL!
-Kristi

Happy Halloween!!

2010-10-31T08:12:00.001-07:00

Hello everybody and Happy Halloween (for those who celebrate the holiday). Hope everyone is having a great day so far. I slept so good last night, we took the kids trick or treating last night and they can go again tonight (not too sure why they are doing the 3oth & 31st) but oh well more candy,LOL. Not sure if I'll go with them because of this headache I just can't shake, Shaun might have to take them himself.

Speaking of candy, I have lots of *eye candy* to show you and hopefully it'll give you some inspiration too. These are all pages that I created using products from all my favorite online digi scrap shops, whether for my own personal albums or forum challenges, there's a lil something for every scrap style I think.

This one here was for my FIRST EVER digi dare and guess what?! It was the darers pick!! Yes it was. I'm so excited about that!! I used products from Scrap Orchard, and Deviant Scraps, Digital-crea and Mscraps as well.

This one is a desktop calendar challenge for Scrap Orchard where we had to scrap what we have on our Christmas wish list. Loved this one.

This was another Scrap Orchard challenge for October. It was the 'Make Mine a Double' challenge. I love the colors of this 2 page spread and the feeling of autumn and family togetherness when I look at it. It's prolly one of my fave pages to date! I also loved the template I used by Scrapping With Liz for this one.

Here is the first calendar page I have ever made. I chose to do February because of ALL the birthdays and other special occasions we have to celebrate during that month, and there are a lot, LOL!

Here are some other pages that I want to share with you.

Hope you all find a lil something to inspire you to scrap a bit. Have a safe and FuN Halloween!! TTYL!

-Kristi

New Collection available today!!!

2010-10-27T07:47:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone I wanted to show you the new collection that's available at Polkadot Plum today by Sunflowers Studio Designs. It' called 'Falling For You' and it's a gorgeous fall kit AND you don't want to miss out on the gorgeous price either.

I have lots of cleaning and runnin' to do this afternoon so I am going to show you this beautiful collection and then I'm offline for prolly the rest of the day *sigh* but I'll be back soon -promise!

Here is 'Falling For You' the collection by Sunflowers Studio Designs - available at Polkadot Plum (link in sidebar).

and for a lil inspiration here's a layout by me. Enjoy!

Hope you all have a lovely day!
TTYL!!

-Kristi

Sunflowers Spotlight!

2010-10-25T10:39:00.000-07:00

Hiya everyone hope you're all doing fine this lovely Autumn afternoon. I wanted to let you know that the Sunflowers Studio blog is up and live and if you head on over you can get to know a lil more about me because I'm the first ctm to be spotlighted on the blog-yay me!! While you are there you can also score yourselves a couple of fresh freebies too! How cool is that?! Be sure to check back every Monday when a new ctm will be spotlighted and check out some of their awesome layouts to give you inspiration. Well I'm out but I'll be back soon with some yummy eye candy for ya! TTYL

-Kristi

All things NEW....

2010-10-22T06:10:00.000-07:00

Hello again everyone, how are you all on this bright but cold Autumn day?! LOL, yeah here in West Michigan it's pretty sunny but very cold this morning. I just got back from walking the kids to school, I love walking them to school everyday. Well, obviously we won't walk when it's raining or snowing, then we drive,LOL.
Anyways on to today's NEWs <~~hehee, like how I did that?? I do so NAH ;P
I have 2 NEW kits to share with you that I've had the chance to scrap with and I LOVE them both. One is Victoria's new kit that's been released today and the other is from a BRAND NEW design team that I'd like to introduce to you now. (Yes, the team of 2 wonderful ladies I was talking about in yesterday's post). So Angela and Chris, thank you so much for offering me a spot on your CT and even though I just started working with you guys I already love it and can't wait to do more! Please everyone say hello to the *NEW* Sunflowers Studio!!!! ((listening to wonderful applause))

Here is the preview for the "beary" adorable Halloween kit perfectly named 'Beary Scary' by Sunflowers Studio which is available at Polk a dot Plum! Go check out the new kit -you won't be disappointed!

and here is my layout using this adorable new kit

OH but wait...There is SO much more to this wonderful kit including frames, glitters and even QPs! Here check out these previews...

Isn't this bundle great?!!

Like I said earlier I have another *NEW* kit and page to show you by the lovely and very talented Victoria Feemster!! I love her style and she always has the most gorgeous color pallets to scrap with, perfect for any page! So without further ado here's VFD's new gorgeous kit 'Some Day'!

Isn't it gorgeous?!! I loved it from the moment I saw the sneak peek and I had the perfect photo to scrap with it (I thought the colors were a perfect match and that alpha WOW it really pulls it all together)! Here check out my page...

So go on over to any of Victoria's shops to grab this beauty cuz it's available at ALL of them. Here's a list of the shops in case you've forgotten: SugarHill Co., Gotta Pixel, and Scrapbook Bytes.
(Links are in the side bar)!

Well that's about it for now. I have to go start on the laundry (the never ending chore around here,LOL) so have a great day and happy scrapping. Remember to post a comment with the link to your Lo and also post one to any of the designers that you choose to use products from because we would ALL love to see these creations in action!

TTYL!

Umm-can't think of a title at the moment,LOL

2010-10-21T05:52:00.000-07:00

Hey all, I know it's been a few days since I posted anything, real life has had me down a bit. Right now I am sick (allergies actually) so I've been trying to get better. My heads been stuffed up, headache, sneezing, coughing and sore throat, you get the idea...so I've just been chillaxin' at home. Finally this morning after taking the kids to school I stopped at the pharmacy and picked up some claritin (doc said it should help), I hate taking meds. I only take them when I have to! So we'll see if it works. Hopefully it does and soon because when I'm suffering from allergies/colds I don't want to do anything. Seriously I get lazy and don't even want to get out of bed,LOL, but it's not really funny, y'know?! Anyways, other than that I have news on my best friends daughter Izabelle,(you remember her from a few posts down?)she's the lil baby whose been battling for her life since she was born (she made it to her 1st birthday in March-which the doctors didn't think she would) well, she's had yet another heart surgery last week and isn't doing too well at the moment so I'm sad and scared for Izzy and her family. The surgery last week was so they could finally fix the hole in her heart, well that surgery went alright but now her heart is beating way too fast so the blood won't flow right, they gave her some meds to try to slow it down and get it to beat/pump regularly but so far it isn't doing what they hoped and they are thinking she may have to go in for another surgery, ugh, I feel so bad for her. I will continue to pray for her and I know it's in Gods hands and he'll take care of her, I know he has big plans for Miss Izabelle for all she's going through she has to be destined for great things! On the lighter side (and digi) I have some more good news. I have joined another creative team! I was checking my emails one day and in one of them I had received a message from a very nice lady who said she had teamed up with another designer and they are now designing together, anyways she said she's seen my stuff around and she liked it and showed it to the other lady -BTW there's a reason why I'm not using names yet ;) and they agreed together they wanted me on their team so I said YES!! I was so flattered and excited. Made me happy for all the icky going on in my life so thanks ladies (you know who you are)! And as soon as I can get my digi life back on track (hopefully in the next day/2) I'll post the name of the new design team and let everyone know where they are selling at. You are gonna have to check em out cuz their stuff is C U T E !! Well that's about it and I'll keep y'all posted on Izzy and all the other stuff as soon as I can. TTYL!

Trick-or-TreatN' Cuties

2010-10-15T09:27:00.000-07:00

Good afternoon everyone just a quick post here to let you all know that Victoria Feemster has teamed up with Miss Tiina to create an awesome new Halloween kit. You can pick this up at Sugar Hill Co. here's the preview and my LO.

Isn't it cute?? I just HAD to put a page together as soon as I seen it!!

I even made a freebie ribbon cluster to go with this kit

which you can pick up here:http://www.box.net/shared/02cyjl4gxh
Have fun creating!!! If you use any of the kits I promote on here please send a link to it so I can see it and send love, and as always the designers LOVE to see their creations being used too so send them a link too!!
Later!

Just another day in the life of a SAHM/digiscrap addict...

2010-10-14T06:14:00.000-07:00

But before I get to my ramblings I want to share one heck of an awesomely sweet deal! For a limited time only you can buy Victoria Feemster Designs WHOLE shop at Sugar Hill Co. for only $20! Can you believe it?? That's OVER a $200 value all for ONLY $20! WOW, you'd better JuMp! This deal won't last long!!!

So what are you waiting for?? Go head on over here http://www.sugarhillco.com/shop/product.php?productid=916&cat=1&page=1 and pick it up while it lasts!

I can't wait to see all the pages that will be created with these awesome products by VFD!

Now on to the day's ramblings...

FOR TODAY...

outside my window... chilly yet sunny
i am thankful for... waking up this morning and every other morning since the the morning I was born Thirty years ago!
i am wearing... still in my jammies at the moment
noticing that... I am getting a cold...Another cold...get 'em all the time!
i am still reading... I finished Dracula and started on Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Ok,Ok, I know it's getting old but I'm just now starting and I love it, can't put it down) just started 2 days ago and I'm 1/2 way finished already-better put book 2 on hold at the local library!
on my mind... Pain...all kinds of pain...my throat hurts and my heads all kinds of stuffy (cold). I have a headache I can't shake (stress). Big toe on left foot (in-grown toenail that was removed). Big toe on Right foot (sliced it open on a nail). Ring finger on left hand (swollen and bruised with a cut (got jammed in the door this morning). Yeah, did I ever tell you I'm a clutz?!? Well now you know.
pondering these words... "The richness of the human experience would lose something of rewarding joy if there were no limitations to overcome."
Author: Helen Keller
around the house... it's quiet...very very quiet (Shaun's at work and kids are in school).
from the kitchen... haven't gone down to eat yet (kids all eat breakfast at school and Shaun had to be to work at 2am).
one of my favorite things... blogging
i'm creating... nothing at the moment (will work on some doodle freebies very soon-I have some ct freebies for VFD but not sure when I can post those-so stand by)!
a few plans for the rest of the week... finish freebies, get caught up on scrap layouts, continue to look for work (#1 priority at the moment) oh yeah, and finish the laundry which for some reason is taking FOR E V E R to finish this week!!!!
from my lens... Um, I'll post once I get the new pics uploaded (I'm WAY behind this week-in all aspects of my life)!

Dear Tooth Fairy

2010-10-07T09:38:00.001-07:00

So my sweet step daughter Cheyanna just lost her first tooth, and second! *Picture her singing 'All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth* She was so excited and I managed to grab the digi and snap a pic.

I think it's adorable.
I had to scrap this photo to put in her scrapbook for when she's older and when better to do it and get it done with when there is a forum challenge involved? ;)
Well over at SugarHill Co. they have their October challenges posted and the sweet thief challenge (which is a scrap lift challenge) was to scrap a page using the featured kit 'Dear Tooth Fairy' which is a collab by Victoria Feemster Designs and eNKay Design!
Here's what the kit looks like...

Cute huh? I love it!! And here is the page I created using this adorable collaboration kit!

Ok, well it's lunch time here and I have to get started on some laundry because we have LOTS to do when the husband and kids get home from work/school. But hey check back later because I'm working on my very first freebie to give away here on the blog!

Ok-It's now Oct.14 and I'm posting my freebie...It's a qp based off the above lo I created using the 'Dear Tooth Fairy' kit by Victoria Feemster Designs and eNKay designs. Link is for boxed.net and there is NO password and it's NOT a zip file!
Enjoy!!

http://www.box.net/shared/5954lz8htj

BTW, I'm trying to figure out how to make my links clickable because every time I post a link it disappears for some reason so you'll have to copy and paste the link in your address bar at the top of your screen. Sorry for the inconvenience!

No SneakPeek but she's got a new kit coming Friday

2010-10-06T10:36:00.000-07:00

YepYep, that's right folks, Suzy of SuzyQ Scraps has a new collection coming out Friday at Scrap Orchard. Check out her blog here http://suzyqscraps.com/blog/ to see some yummy pages put together by her CTMs, and also browse around the new blog she's got, loads of goodness to share and yes, even some freebies!

Just Can't hold it in any longer!!

2010-10-06T09:12:00.000-07:00

Hey all, how are you doing this fine and lovely day? Me? I'm greAT!! I am super duper excited!! Do you want to know why?!? Well, I'll tell ya...I made my first CT!!! Yeah I am SO happy! I am now (as of yesterday) a creative team member for the one and only Victoria Feemster!!! YAY!!!
There I just had to let you know, I couldn't hold it in any longer!
So what's going on in the digi world of VFD?? Well I'll point you towards her blog in just a sec so you can read all about well, whatever she writes and you wanna read,LOL. But first, I want to share something with you!
How would you like to get a free mini kit by Victoria? How about a discount on a full kit by her that just happens to match the free mini? Well then check this out!!!

Just head on over to the SugarHill Forum and you can register and play some awesome challenges, including this color challenge by VFD!! Want the link? Ok here ya go..wanna make it as easy for you as I can ;)
http://www.sugarhillco.com/forum/
Do you want to see a page I created using the 'This One Life' kit and the matching mini?? Here ya go!!!

Once again I used my darling daughter Alexandra as my model!! Love you baby girl!

How about a closer look at the full and mini kits....

As promised here's the link to Victoria's blog! http://victoriafeemsterdesigns.blogspot.com/
Also be sure to stop by her shops at Gotta Pixel, Scrapbook-Bytes and SugarHill Co. to check out ALL her gorgeous eye candy!!

Well I'm off to lunch now so I'll talk to you later!!

Black & White AND a filter...

2010-10-04T11:15:00.000-07:00

Hello again friends, today I want to share with you a new page I created for the Scrap Orchard's October 2010 Photography 'Say Cheese!' challenge. For this challenge we had to take a black and white photo, whether it be taken in B&W or a color photo edited afterward. I chose to take a photo of my dd Nicole, she's one of my favorite models! The original photo was a color one which I then took into my photo editing program (I use PSP X2) and I played around with the settings to convert it to a black and white photo. I wasn't completely satisfied with the photo yet so I again played around with the photo effects-more specifically the filters, and once I was satisfied I saved the photo and then scrapped with it. Here are the photos showing the 3 step process and then the layout I scrapped using the photo.

For this page I used the mini kit 'Fade to Grey' from Design by Ziska which was part of the Scrap Orchard August 2010 fruit basket.

My "Thang"

2010-10-02T20:23:00.000-07:00

Ever seem to notice patterns in your scrap layouts?? Lately I've been doing a lot of paper blocking and/or strips. Guess it's just my "thang". Lately with my scrappin' I've just not been able to decide on 1-3 papers from a kit...I love 'em all - I use 'em all! I just can't help it!! Guess I'm more of an addict than I thought!!

It's late but I wanted to share these two pages that I created today with you. Thanks in advance for looking. ;)

For this Lo I used many different products-all from Scrap Orchard. They are as follows:
'Friends dot com' by Amy Stoffel and Lindsay Riches
sqs - stitch hiccups 3
sqs- stitch hiccups 4
sqs - oopsie doodle arrows
'Ride Skate Roll' by Faith True and MLE card
'Color My World' by Tracie Stroud, Ziggle Designs and Designs by Ziska
'Live Like You Mean It' by Anna BV Designs
'Play Day' by Julie Bullock

For this page I used the collab kit 'Play' by Decrow Designs and Sahlin Studio.

Night y'all!

TGIF!!

2010-10-01T13:51:00.000-07:00

It's FRIDAY!!!! I am so glad the weekend is finally here. It's been an uber BUSY week for me, with the kids in school, taking care of the house, running errands, AND job searching it's amazing I found time at all to do the scrapping I did, but somehow I managed to get it done.

Tonight I think I'm just gonna take it easy and relax. All the kidlets are gonna be here this weekend! Tomorrow afternoon we have Connor's football game and dinner with the grand parents before they go back to Florida for the winter - man sometimes I wish I could go somewhere warm to get out of the cold Michigan weather sometimes! LOL

So since I don't have any LOs to share with you at the moment I'll just do the 'today' stuff.

FOR TODAY...

outside my window... the leaves on the trees are starting to turn all those pretty colors that let you know Autumn is in the air!!

i am thankful for... being able to be with my family everyday!

i am wearing... brown pants, brown camisole with cream colored flowers and lace trimming and right now (cuz I'm cold) a light colored sweater.

noticing that... It's really quiet in the house right now - the kiddies are out side playing.

i am still reading... LOL-still reading Dracula-don't know when I'll finish it either-every time I get a free minute to spare I want to scrap!!

on my mind... bills, financial security, everything that stresses me out!! UGH!

pondering these words... "If you want a rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain."
Author: Dolly Parton

around the house... nothing at the moment-kids are outside playing-dogs are NOT barking (which never happens LOL)

from the kitchen... nothing I have NO clue what's for dinner tonight, and I should get on it because it's about that time!!

one of my favorite things... sitting in the recliner with the cocker spaniel and scrappin' on my laptop.

i'm creating... working on creating a new background for my blog ;)

a few plans for the rest of the week... more job huntin' and chilaxin with the fam in the evening.

from my lens...

(the kids walking on our way to the park)

(kids by the old railroad tracks)

(trying to play around with depth of field on my camera)

New blog/forum AND lo's

2010-09-30T18:33:00.000-07:00

Hey there friends and welcome to my page...again ;)

I just found another forum that I've joined..it's awesome too, I just joined 2 nights ago and I've already completed like 4 challenges! What's cool about their challenges is they are based on a kind of points system, for every challenge you get 5 points (10 points if you use the featured kit) and you use those points in the shop for discounts towards your future purchases, how cool is that?! And everyone there has been real sweet and kind to me, making me feel very welcome! Ok, so do you want to know which forum I'm talking about???? Well alrighty then...here's the link to SugarHillco blog http://www.sugarhillco.com/blog/ where you can check out some awesome stuff and get the links to the gallery, forum and shop! Be sure to check 'em out because there are some great designers in there with some really cute kits and TONS of other goodies!

Here are my layouts that you can find in the SHCO gallery for the Sept. challenges. (FYI-product info is listed under each page)!

First up was for the color challenge...

For this kit I used the mini kit 'Hope' by the every talented Victoria Feemster. (FYI-you get the mini for free in the thread)!! Make sure you check out the FULL kit in the SHCO shop-it's full of gorgeousness!!

The second LO I created for the sketch challenge...

The sketch (template) was given as a freebie in the forum's challenge thread and the products I used from the awesome shop were...'Best of Friends' by Boutique Cute Dolls designs and a button from 'Color Pop Buttons' by Miss Tiina.

The third Lo I created was for the sweet thief challenge...

This one is SO adorable but then again I may be biased because it is mine,LOL...
Products used are as follows:
'Sugarshock' blog train collab by the SugarHillco. designers. Now this one was a 'lift' challenge so I'd like to link you to the LO I lifted...http://www.sugarhillco.com/gallery/s...ms&cat=500 it's called 'dream those dreams' by hutchie!! Great job on your page-I LOVED it!!

And the final challenge lo I posted wasn't for the shco forum but for the talented enkay designs blog potpourri challenge!

This challenge can be found here: http://enkay-design.com/blog/ (please keep in mind that the challenge I created this LO for is finished but never fear-there's a new one)!!!
Can't wait to get that one done AND just for participating there are prizes!!! How cool is that?!?! Just like McDonalds commercial says-"I'm Lovin' It"!!
-Ooh I got off track sorry about that,LOL-here's the products used for my LO above:
kit-'Sugar Shock' collab by the SHCO designers
template-'EezyPeezy2' by enkay designs!

Well folks that's it for me tonight-it's getting late and I have to get up early to get the kids off to school so I'll blog atchya later!

Guess who's got 2 kits releasing this week?!!!

2010-09-29T15:16:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah...that's right Suzy's at it again friends and this week she's bringing two YES 2 new kits and one is a collab. Head on over to her blog http://suzyqscraps.com/blog/ for your chance to win one of these awesome new kits, I know I'll be spending some money on these kits...that sneak peek has got me wanting to scrap SO bad!!

I've been busy...scrappin!

2010-09-26T06:24:00.000-07:00

Wow, I've been pretty darn busy again lately, catching up on all the scrap pages and challenges over at Scrap Orchard. I have lots of new pages to share again. But first a lil about what's going on around here (my home)...things are going good for the most part, I mean we are all doing great but financially things are getting tight....so I have to find a job... yeah I said (er...typed) it, a J O B. Not looking forward to that at all, I haven't had to work outside the home for a while, like since 2007. But with things getting increasingly more difficult around here and the possibility of having all 6 kiddies living here full time (Shaun's fighting for full custody of his 3 children...) we can't afford to live and raise our family on just one income so I have to work. I have already updated my resume and filled out a couple applications and emailed some other prospects online so now I just keep doing the job search and wait to see if I hear anything...it's gonna be hard though because with all the people out there looking for work, I'm not gonna be HIGH on the list of possibilities because I haven't worked for like three years!! Someone will call though....RIGHT?? I hope so because I really need a job!!

Okie dokie, now that that's off my chest...a lil more about what's been going on! Great news, I've been losing weight!!! Yeah!!! I'm so excited about that. I gave up drinking soda (pop) whatever you call it, I call it both,LOL. Anywho I figured with all the migraines I was getting it was time to change a few things I.E. diet, exercise routine, etc...so I stopped drinking the pop and stopped eating all the junk food and eating 'out' all the time and I've been exercising a lot more, it helps also that now that the children are back in school, I get to walk them to and from school Mon-Fri. But we also take family walks together around town and bike ride, it's great times shared with the family and it makes me feel good about myself which is helping a lil with the confidence issues I have been having!! (Didn't know about all that though huh?! I know Shaun says I hide my feelings pretty well, until I just get too overwhelmed)!

In other news, I hosted my SIL's baby shower the other weekend, which went off w/o a hitch!! It was fun and everyone had a great time, I'll scrap some photos and share with you of course!!

The kids are all doing great and doing very well in school, except William (Billy-my 5 yr. old) has been showing signs of separation anxiety again, like seriously freaking out every time I drop him off to school, and now that he goes to school with his older sister (Alexandra) he gets to eat breakfast in the morning with her and cries when it's time to go to their classrooms, and they play together at recess but he 'flips' out when he has to leave with his class and can't be with her. Last week I got a call from the school because William hadn't told his teacher that he had to use the restroom and he had an accident in his pants, William peed his pants in class, I know accidents happen but he's been potty trained since he was 2&1/2 yrs old. So WHY???? The only thing I can think of is he's acting out about something. So I am putting him back in counseling to see what we can find out and help with. (William has gone to counseling before for his ADHD, OCD - which I didn't even know was possible for a child that young, Nightmares, and Behavior Issues). We have come a long way with him and now all of a sudden things are turning for the worse again. The only thing I can think of is the stress increasing at home and I think he can sense that, It's a lil scary!! Hope all goes well and gets better again, and soon.

WOW, this is the first time I've actually gone this deep into my 'non scrap' realated life.

Well now you know a lil about my life anyways, It helps to write about it and then go back and reread what's posted so that I can reflect and really understand what's going on, so I do it for myself really.

Ok, enough about all that, now on to the many pages I have created and want to share.
This page was created for the SO Sept 2010 Time Capsule challenge. We had to scrap about our favorite pair of shoes and since I don't have a fave. pair of shoes, I scrapped about my daughters!

For this page I used the kit 'Ride Skate Roll' by Faith True and MLE card and 'Inkabet' alpha by Faith true. Both purchased at the SO market.

This page was created for the 'Scrap that tune' challenge. I used the following pros. for this page:
BG paper - Faith True (part of the SO mega 'Apple of my eye')
Mask, dots and stars - Jcc Sept. Premiere template pack
(template 1)
Font is Pea Stacy's doodle script

The 3rd LO was from the 'Remember When' challenge and I used the collab kit by SuzyQ Scraps & Laura Banasiak called 'Under Construction'.

Here's one I created for the 'Ad Inspired' challenge! This one was fun-using all the 'old' and 'old looking' photos. I used the new collab kit 'Family Reunion' by SQS and Jady Day Studios!

The photos included in this particular page are:
my grandparents wedding day, the house my grandparents built that they lived in/my mom grew up in and later after MY parents were married we took over and I grew up in, my Mom on her wedding day, My Great grandparents, my son William, me at 5mos. old, my oldest daughter Nicole, my youngest daughter Alexandra, My grandparents, Me only a few days old and last is my dads senior high school pic.
The next page was from the 'One Word Prompt' challenge. The one word "Myself"! Which believe me was a lil hard to scrap about but I chose to scrap about me listening to my music to help me relax! I used the collab kit 'Color My World' by Franziska Altmann, T Stroud and Ziggle Designs of Scrap Orchard! Also a template from the 'Paper Cropz Vol. 6' pack by NeeNee designs!

Here's my page for the 'Twisted Lift' challenge with products from the 'Retro Whimsy' add on kit by Amy Stoffel!

This next one was from the 'Lift a Layout' challenge and I used the kit 'Families are Forever'
by MMullens.

This one is from the 'From the Heart-Journaling' challenge and I used the kit 'Why I Scrap' by Amy Stoffel.

And this one is from the 'By The Numbers' challenge using the kits 'My Wish For You and My Wish For You Add On' both by Tracey Stroud!

Here is my Lo for the 'Lottery' challenge and I used the collab kit by JBarette and MMullens called 'Press Play'.

And this LO was created for the 'Mystery' challenge in which Britaneejean asked us to scrap a photoless LO, which I love to do btw!!
I used the kit 'Expecting' by SuzyQ Scraps! I just love her stuff-but you knew that already LOL!

This is the FIRST ever desktop I made myself and it was for the 'Desktop' challenge, but I loved it and think I'm going to start making my own every month ;)

For that one I used the kit 'Pumpkin Patch' by SQS!!!

Well that's it SO FAR for the challenges this month, I still have a couple to do before the end of the month but I wanted to share those ones!! (I'm trying to get all of them done this month-something I have never done before,LOL).

I have a few other pages but will post those later, for it's time to get ready to feed my family lunch!

Bye 4 Now!

Quick post.....

2010-09-17T04:20:00.000-07:00

Hey there, I just wanted to show you the layout I created for last nights SQS blog party Blog Frog Speed Scrap 1!

Photos are from our family reunion this past August of all our kids and some other relatives playing the games which I was in charge of this year. I used the new collab by SuzyQ scraps and Jady Day Studios, available at the Scrap Orchard Market, and right now it's on sale 20% off PLUS if you buy now you'll get the coordinating add on pack for FREE!! How cool is that?!

Here's the Lo and the Previews of the kit(s). Enjoy and thanks for looking!

Loads of Goodness to share.....

2010-09-15T10:10:00.000-07:00

Oh man I have SO much to share with all of you today!!! Don't know where to really begin so I'll just start with what's happening over on my favorite designers blog... It's a PARTY!!!
Yup it's a blog party by the one and only SuzyQ scraps and it all starts today here's what's on schedule...
Oh and FYI..according to her blog this is a lil sneaky peek at her new kit coming out this Friday!!

So be sure to come and play along with all of us, I've gone to the 'baby shower' blog party and it was a BLAST!!
Here's the link to Suzy's blog
http://suzyqscraps.com/blog/
and the link to Suzy's Blog Frog community
http://theblogfrog.com/community/overview.aspx?cid=1377076

Want another sneak peek at the new kit?!! Ok here ya go...

It's another collaboration kit with another Scrap Orchard designer!!
I can't wait to see the whole thing!!

Ok now for a couple layouts by me...these are pages that were created for various Scrap Orchard challenges...(they are so fun, I love Scrap Orchard)!!!

Ok do you remember a few posts back when I posted the sneak peek at the bundle pack Suzy had to offer...the baby bundle pack?!?! Well here's a preview of what the whole bundle looks like....
Suzy's baby collection bundle....

I purchased it a while ago but when the PC issue happened I had to wait to get the links reactivated and well, they did and here is a page a scrapped using this awesome kit...(it was a challenge LO so I didn't put too much into this page, but OH I will be using this kit A LOT and sharing more!!)

Loving this post so bare with me folks...LOL....here are some more pages that I put together for other SO challenges this month.

my 1st ever 2 page spread...

for the color challenge...

for the 'what the font' challenge...

for the 'bring it' challenge...

and finally for the mega challenge...

Products used for all these pages are as follows...
SQS: baby collection bundle
mle- border stitch1 (recolored)
SQS: Lifelines 1
SQS: Journey 365 jumbo
SQS: stitch hiccups 3
Tstroud: all stitched up 2
SQS: Land of Learning bundle
"Ouchies&Ickies" by SQS & JDS
SQS: Cardstock Stash1
'Fall Festival' by dbkat
'In Bloom Ribbons' by Wild Dandelion Designs
and the following products from the Scrap Orchard Sept.2010 Fruit Basket
abv designs: papers, leaves
Ial: paper flower (recolored)
LRiches: paper, frame (recolored)
jbullock: stitches, paper, ribbon
dbkat: alpha

These products can ALL be found here http://scraporchard.com/market/home.php at the Scrap Orchard Market.

Okie dokie, enough LOs...I want to tell you the BEST news!!!
I had my husband look at my pc and got with a computer guy friend of his and we found out that the hard drive on my pc isn't what crashed!!! The power supply just went out on the darn thing....So what does that mean??? It means that I didn't lose EVERYTHING on that hard drive!! WOOHOO, I got back ALL my photos, scrap los that I've made, important info I had stored on there and MOST of my scrap stash...I would of gotten all of it but I got irritated trying to copy the files from the old hard drive to the laptop so I had my hubby do it and he forgot to get all my stash off the pc hard drive before he formatted the said hard drive so now there is NOTHING on the old hard drive,LOL.
No fear, I can get everything that's replaceable back and I am SO FREAKIN' ecstatic that I got all my photos and layouts back!!!!!

K, well this was long enough and I have to go pick the kiddies up from school so I will be back later. Til then....BUB BYE!!

For Today...er Tonight

2010-09-10T17:30:00.000-07:00

Hey, Howdy, Hi everyone. Hope you all had a great day today...I did. It's Friday and that means its the weekend YEAH!! Kids all had a blast at school, they got to see all their friends from last year and they all met new friends as well. Got all our bills paid and ran some other errands and I even got to spend some time with my bff and her kids. Speaking of which Izzy is having another heart surgery on the 29th of this month so I'll be praying for a safe recovery and a healthy Izabelle when it's all said and done.

I do want to share the LO I created today for the photography "Say Cheese" challenge over at the Scrap Orchard forum....

cute huh?? I think so but I may be a lil biased because it is mine,LOL. Anyways, the kit used for this LO is called 'Play Day' by Jullie Bullock available at the SO market.

FOR TODAY

outside my window... it's dark and a lil noisy...neighbors are having a bonfire

i am thankful for... waking up this am...another happy, healthy day

i am wearing... jammies

noticing that... I am really getting sick and tired of my 12 year old daughters mouthiness,LOL...I know, I know...it's gonna get worse b4 it gets better.

i am still reading... Bram Stokers Dracula...since I got my scrap kits back I stopped reading...

on my mind... my pillow, my bed, watching the backside of my eyelids...can't ya tell I'm tired?!

pondering these words... Love is the immortal flow of energy that nourishes, extends and preserves. Its eternal goal is life.
-Smiley Blanton

around the house... the kids, arguing...the husband reading...me typing...the dogs barking

from the kitchen... tonight my husband grilled burgers outside...they were yummy ;)

one of my favorite things... sitting in my room relaxing, listening to the peace and quiet...which is rare in our household now-a-days

i'm creating... a 'Back 2 School' page for the Scrap Orchard 'Bring It' challenge.

a few plans for the rest of the week... umm it's the end of the week so I'm just gonna relax and get my scrap on!!

from my lens...

RAK lo's, winner and a new blinkie!!

2010-09-08T16:48:00.000-07:00

I have just a couple things to share this evening before I go cuddle in bed and watch a movie with my darling husband.

First is a RAK (Random Act of Kindness) for me by my talented friend Tiff from Scrap Orchard...

It's me and my dd, Nikki from June of 2007. I love the black and white photo with these pastel colors and the simple but stunning design gives me enough room to journal after I print it out.

The second RAK is the layout I created for my talented and sweet friend Caits also from Scrap Orchard...

I had a blast playing with this layout, especially with the photo!! Best of all...Caits LOVED it!!!

In other news I am a WINNER!!!! I won the new kit 'Fall Festival' by Designs by Kat!! I also got the matching alpha for free. You can check those both out below.

and the matching alpha here...

How awesome is that?! I was SO excited when I found out.

Lastly I wanted to share with you the new blinkie I get to "sport" in the Scrap Orchard forum....

just for reaching 500 posts!!! WOOHOO, I wear this blinkie with pride. :) :)

Well there you go...wanted to share some awesomeness with you all.

Now I must say nighty night and I will be back tomorrow, hopefully with a new LO because the kidlets are back in school all day so I should have some time to get my scrap on, I've got my mojo back and got some awesome kits and now photos to play with!!

Nighty Night.

Good Morning

2010-09-06T08:02:00.000-07:00

Well I have some exciting news....The awesome Kami and Mel over at Scrap Orchard got the links reactivated for me and they were able to reset every order I had placed!!!! To say that I am ecstatic would be an understatement.

Any ways I saw this on another blog...here to be exact http://suddenlyartistic.blogspot.com/ and I thought that it would be nice for me to try so I could get back on track about blogging regularly. Hope she don't mind.

FOR TODAY...

outside my window... chilly, rainy and windy

i am thankful for... My family, I love each and every one of you

i am wearing... my jammies...pink tank top with plaid flannel jammy pants

noticing that... the kids are going back to school full days and I don't know what to do now...so used to having at least 1 of them with me during the day

i am still reading... Dracula by Bram Stoker

on my mind... all the pictures I can scrap now that I got all my scrap kits back

pondering these words...All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.
-Walt Disney

around the house...the kids are all laughing and having a great time together...cleaning rooms?! I don't get that,LMBO.

from the kitchen... hahaa, banging and clanging and kitchen sink parts strewn about the floor...dh is installing a new kitchen sink

one of my favorite things... laying in my bed listening to my mp3 player til I fall asleep

i'm creating... nothing at the moment...but I'm pondering...seriously pondering

a few plans for the rest of the week... laundry, reading my book, run errands (pay bills), shopping with the girls and who knows what else

from my lens...

The 1st photo is 2 of my daughters, my step son and my nephew playing a racing game at the family reunion last month.

The 2nd and 3rd photos are of my youngest son William playing a fishing game at the reunion and the prize he won for 'catching' the most bottle tops.

The final photo is our boxer Raja napping in the recliner with my momma's coker spaniel Bianca.

Thanks for looking and reading, I'll be back soon with some new lo's.

Just sharing some photos.

2010-09-04T07:35:00.001-07:00

Me and my dh, Shaun in January 2010.

Me and my baby girl Alexandra, 2007

Me and my baby boy, William again in 2007

Me and my princess, my oldest dd, Nicole in 2007.

I know the last 3 are a couple years old but it's because they are all I have on my laptop at the moment. My momma had them on her pc and she sent them to me so I could have something to scrap with until I get my new pics put on the laptop,LOL. So I figured I'd share with you and that way I could see them up here and figure out which ones help get my creative juices flowing.

Layouts from July 2010

2010-09-03T15:37:00.000-07:00

this is lil 'ol me on Christmas of 1980...wasn't I a lil cutie?!?!

My sister Jaimi, on her 28th birthday last March.

I learned a few new tricks to try with the photo masks and blending, this is my sister Heidi and her husband Josh on their wedding day a couple months ago.

My sister Heidi again, this time with her children Jhett and Jade, how adorable are these pics?!

Wow, here's what digi scrapping is all about...well part of it. No journaling but this is a photo of my father when he was a newborn and the guy holding him is his older brother.

Well there you go, I said I'd post my lo's from July and here they are...hopefully I'll have some new pages to post soon, I'm still waiting on my links from S.O.

Alrighty then, it's raining...again....and it's getting chilly and I've typed more than I should have so I'm gonna finish up for the night.

Hurting and depressed...

2010-09-03T09:14:00.000-07:00

Man I have been so depressed about my computer crashing and I want to scrap so bad but I lost everything on that desktop, I was able to get back some of the kits I had purchased from Mscraps and some from Oscraps, only 1 kit from Digital-crea and still waiting on my past purchased links from Scrap Orchard to be reset/reactivated.
I had to pay $10.00 for that to happen so hopefully it gets done soon because those are the ones I am REALLY waiting for, I mean I am crazy addicted to the whole digi scrap idea and I love all my kits but Scrap Orchard is my all time fave. shop and that's where my favorite designers are, so hoping that it gets taken care of for me soon.
I paid on the 1st of September and they said 24-48 hours they'd get back to me, so with today being the 3rd, hopefully it gets done today/tonight or at least tomorrow morning.

I know I know, patience is a virtue.....guess I just don't have it.....never have,LOL.

Hey I did get A LOT of extra cleaning done, I mean not just the regular dishes/laundry/sweeping and mopping/dusting etc. but I mean I packed some old stuff up that's going in next years yard sale, cleaned the basement and turned it into a family/play room for the kids and us, even did some yard work and cleaned and organized the garage,LOL...stuff I never did before!!

The weather here in West Michigan has been rainy and windy for the past 2-3 days, we even have a wind advisory today through tonight and it's making me hurt so much.

I have arthritis so for some reason when it gets cold, windy and/or rainy, my joints start aching and they hurt. I wonder why...maybe I'll do some research and see what I can find.....lol, anything to keep me busy since I can't scrap at the moment.

I have been reading a lot since the computer crashed in July. I re-read the Twilight saga, so I've read all those books twice now, including the new Bree book, well it's not quite new anymore...which wasn't hard to do because Stephenie Meyer is one of my favorite authors. I've also read the Host by her; anyways, I've also read 3 more books by my other fave. author Nicholas Sparks, and I've also found another author that I really like...James Patterson, big fan of the movies that were made based on his books so I had to read the books and now he is a favorite of mine as well. I also read a couple other books; Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, and I'm still working on Dracula by Bram Stoker.

I have watched a lot of movies with the family too, including Eclipse, The Last Song, the Expendables, Death at a Funeral, and some oldies but goodies Grease, The Outsiders and some Disney/Pixar movies too.

See I have been keeping very busy!!

We also did a lot of picnics and swimming and walking and going to library and parks with the kids, we also got new bikes for all 6 of the kids so we can go bike riding as a family...teaching our youngest 2 boys how to ride 2 wheelers was fun.

Well I gotta get the kids ready to go to my nephews birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese, unfortunately there won't be pictures from me because I'm not going and my oldest daughter who also a photographer will be too busy helping with all the lil kidlets to take pictures, but maybe I can get Trish to take some..maybe,LOL.

Talk to you later and I'll also be back in a bit after the kids leave to post the last few scrap layouts I finished before the computer crashed.

Been gone WAY too long!!

2010-09-01T15:19:00.000-07:00

Hey there, I'm back after a long not wanted vacation,LOL. Seriously it's not funny though, my computer crashed back in July and I was just only able to get a new laptop and get back to my blogging. Now I am trying to get some photo's and kits put on the new laptop so I can get back to my scrapping because I miss it SO much. I mean digi scrapping is a stress reliever for me, my way to vent and be by myself and just have that much needed 'me' time that every woman, er man too, needs every now and then.

So hopefully I'll have some new pages to share with you all soon.

For now here is a sneak peek at Suzy's new kit that's coming this week to the Scrap Orchard market that I just can not WAIT to see in it's entirety and purchase!!

SQS July blog party speed scrap LOs

2010-07-09T13:18:00.000-07:00

From July 9ths SS5. Theme was "Firsts".

From July 8ths SS4. Theme was "Love".

July Template Challenges

2010-07-08T16:47:00.000-07:00

The first template challenge is from SuzyQ Scraps blog and this is my layout that I put together using Suzy's kit "Rainbow of Flavor" and the vellum word tag is from the element pack "Life lines 1" also by SuzyQ Scraps.

and the font used for the date is Pea Shelley Belley.

This is the 2nd template challenge I participated in today and it is a template by Jendavey from LCC by Amy Stoffel's blog.

The products used for this LO are "Curious" by LCC by Amy Stoffel with MLE Card's "In Stitches Alpha" and again the font used is Pea Shelley Belley.

Thanks for looking every one and see you soon with some more layouts!!