Let's do a Giveaway!!

I have some goodies that need to go to a loving home. LOL! Interested? This giveaway includes: a Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Zing "Mustard" embossing powder, Little Yellow Bicycle gem brads and diamond gem stickers, and a 4 piece chipboard circle set from 7 Gypsies.

If you'd like to play along, then leave a comment by Sunday evening at 10 p.m. MST to be included in drawing. I'll post the winner on Monday so be SURE TO CHECK BACK THEN!! :)

Enjoy the last day of June. Crazy, huh, how quickly this month has flown?!!

Digital Challenge #6

Man, I'm tired! I think my allergies are the main part of it. I feel unhealthy too--going to start changing that tomorrow with some early morning exercises.

Today is church, which means meetings for Brett and I and then actual church attendance. I feel like I've had to miss for a few consecutive weeks because of our vacation and then illness. It makes me feel so out of the loop. Plus I miss hearing the wonderful lessons taught in the classes. We have great teachers!! I do enjoy the Spirit that I feel at church. It's uplifting and peaceful. Sometimes it was hard that first year after losing Joey because there are places where his absence is most obvious. Church is one of those places. But I'm doing so much better, and when I do think about him it is typically positive and happy.

I find playing around a little with the digital kits soothes my creative soul. Sometimes I need something not work related to get the juices flowing again. And I took the last three days off so I need to work some tomorrow. 2Peas stuff--which I always love doing. But still needed to get back in the flow.

Got my Dad's cat this week. Funny thing! Tried to jump on my keyboard to get my attention. Ah, NO!! Don't think so. :)

And got my daughter's ears pierced just last week. I don't know who was more worried--she or I. Poor thing! I surprised her (so as not to worry her), and her lips got so translucent with worry during the procedure. And then she was lightheaded. I react in much the same way to stressful things so I wanted so much for her to be ok. She made it through like a trooper and now looks so cute with her little blue ball earrings (blue is her favorite color).

Here's something you may not know about me--I don't have pierced ears. We didn't grow up in a house with them. Neither my grandmother or mother have pierced ears. I did get them pierced when I was in my 20's but it grossed me out so much to push earrings through the hole, that I let them grow back in. Yep, I'm a chicken (and easily grossed out with stuff like that). Just thought you'd like that little tidbit of info.

Have a peaceful Sabbath Day!

Workin' on That!

Where have I been? Well, yesterday I was sick! :( My allergies sometimes make me so congested that it makes me dizzy--like room spinning without stopping for hours and hours, and then that makes me queasy and sometimes even lose my lunch. Yesterday, thankfully, it was just queasiness and dizziness all day long. But I'm feeling MUCH better today!!

Other than that, I've been hard at work on CHA projects. Just wait!! You're going to be so happy.


I was able to help work on some of the Little Yellow Bicycle catalog. I'm drooling. Seriously!! Every release seems to get better and better. Fun new stuff, beautiful lines. You will NEED IT ALL!! LOL!


And then I got to play around with Karen Foster Design's new release. Some very cool new altered items showing up from them this year. Have you seen their Countdown Calendar? It's awesome and so is the new stuff. And that's not even mentioning the fun new seasonal line releases I worked with. I love CHA. I really new to pad up my pocketbook in preparation.

I also worked on some stuff for Scrapbook Trends, and I got to see an entire magazine's worth of layouts before print. You guys are AMAZING!! Intimidating and inspiring all at once. I am completely impressed with people's ideas. WHOA!!


Because I can't share ANY of the stuff I was working on (at least yet). I'll share some other things.

The first is a card I made for Cards Magazine. Just a "home improvement/new home" tag. Love the little embellishments Karen Foster makes. So fun to play with!

And here is a layout from the May "Stories to Tell" article for Scrapbook Trends. The article was on perspective, and I wrote the journaling similar to the book "Where the Wild Things Are." Did you see they are making the book into a movie? Love movies based on books!!

And then if you blinked, you missed the "Stamping" idea book from Scrapbook Trends. I'm not sure I even got a copy it sold out so fast. You can still download it from the website, but here is one creation from that book to whet your appetite:

Oh, and one little confession piece of advice: When working on a REALLY BIG deadline, do NOT restart the Twilight series!! (What was I thinking? I've read them all in five days. Good grief! I have no self-control.) LOL!

Father's Day

My heart is torn a little tonight. I suppose that on a day that focuses on fathers it's only natural to think about Joey. Perhaps it's because we just finished watching a video from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints about an amazing father. You can watch it here--grab a tissue or two. It's called "A Father Indeed."

Watching Brett watch it kills me because I know he's mourning the loss of a father/son relationship. All he wanted and wants is to be a dad to his kids. Including Joey. I won't go into details to protect his feelings, but I know the ache is so big for him without Joey. They were the best of friends--truly. They really loved each other in that special father/son way that seems so magical and so tangible.

So even though Brett doesn't read this blog, I think it's important to state what an amazing father I find him to be. He promised he would take care of us, and he has--in so many ways. And I find him to be the greatest Dad that I know!! Happy Father's Day to all those dads out there. There isn't a more noble profession out there for a good man!

Just Me and The Boy!

Kate's off at Girl's Camp. (I really hope she's surviving all the crazy rain we've been getting.) Brett's off to run a relay today and tomorrow. It goes from Logan to Park City. Crazy, huh?!!

So today and most of tomorrow it's going to be me and the boy. I think we'll have a photo shoot or two. Hit the mall. Watch a movie tonight and then just chill. I kind of like when I get one-on-one time with each of the family. Time slows a little bit more.

Went to Book Club with several friends and neighbors last night. We read "Three Cups of Tea." Interesting story about a man who builds schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. It's on the bestsellers list. It was a little slow at first, but the meat of the story is quite good. I always enjoy the company of friends at bookclub. I come home rejuvenated and refreshed. (Although I tend to talk waaaaaay too much. LOL!)

Got an e-mail this morning from 2Peas. Several things are marked down on the website, including the Slice Machine from Making Memories. It's only $30 right now. I don't have one of these, but several of the Garden Girls do and love it. There are several other items marked down 25% to 50% down. Plus if you sign up for their e-mails you get a free shipping code for spending $50 or more. One of the items on sale are the tags from Making Memories--thus the layout at the top. :)

Well, I'm off to have breakfast with the boy. Have a great Friday!!

What's in Your Wallet?

Well, not much is in mine after my trip to Park City; but I still have an ongoing wish list of new scrapbook products. (Tell me I'm not the only one--LOL!)

I thought I'd like you up to a couple of things I'm wishin' for, as well as, some awesome projects I saw in the Garden from the latest release.

Did you see that Michelle Underwood is designing digital kits for 2Peas now? Yep. Awesomeness!! I love this "Shiny Happy Life" kit so much:

And Fancy Pants has a delicious new line of boy products. If I share this with you, you'd better not scoop it all up, k?!! I love this star paper in particular.

And then Jen McGuire is teaching an entire 9 week class on cool inking techniques, and this recently showed up in the shopping section. Crackle paint!! And I love the name of this color: Shabby Shutters. It makes me want to paint something--anything!!

And I already bought these stick pins so I'll share them with you. I need a map or a globe to stick these on. Too cute!!

Ok, now I want to share some layouts/projects that were just so awesome in the gallery this release:

* Jen Johner and I both focused on mini photos for the "mini" this month, but I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE her colors on this layout. Yummy!!
* Brooke Starnes (a new GG) made the cutest mini board book here. You must check it out!
* Rebecca Trump's color scheme in this wedding layout are just gorgeous. She's awesome with the colors and the embellies!
* Wendy Bretz always knows just when to stop adding stuff to her layouts. Graphic style is her strong suit!! Check it out here!

On another note, I'm always on the look out for things to feature on the Scrapbook Trends Magazine blog. Link me to your blog or gallery so I can see what you're working on, and you may be featured on an upcoming blog post!

Give Yourself Permission!

To take as many photos as you want. To document the every day. To capture all the sillies, the tantrums, the disappointments, the hugs, the kisses . . . EVERYTHING. Because you never know if that photo is going to be the last.

I have a hard time sometimes doing layouts about Joey because I think "will this be the last time I get to document a memory of him?" So I take it slowly and only scrap him when I feel good about it.

I came across these photos of our last family outing before the cancer made him too sick to do anything but sleep. We almost didn't go. But we laughed and played until Joey was too worn out. And then we had lunch at McDonald's. All seemingly unimportant things--but we had no idea then how soon we would lose our son. That we wouldn't be able to get crazy while playing, squeeze him in a giant hug, run our fingers through his glossy hair. I just had no idea that the cancer would creep so silently and so quickly with such aggression that it would steal our boy away from us in so many unexpected ways even before he passed away. I just didn't know.

Go take a photo. Share a moment. There's no such thing as "too many photos."

(To see all digital supplies, you can check them out at 2Peas here.)

I'm Baaa-aaack!!

I already have post-vacation blues from our trip to Park City. :( It just wasn't long enough, and I'm realizing that we need to get away just as a couple and with the kids more often. Even if it's just for a Saturday adventure. Brett was sick for the first day and a half. (We've been overcoming a very yucky virus.) But the condo we stayed at was perfect: a separate bedroom, a kitchenette, and a soft couch for naps, which was good since it poured almost the whole time. We didn't care because the condo was such a retreat though and it made everything green, green, green.

We hit the outlets, and I ended up with some cute tops for Kate for school (I find that if I shop for her a little at a time that I can find what she needs without killing the budget). But mostly I just read. Here are the books that I read, that I loved: Thornspell by Helen Lowe, Goose Girl by Shannon Hale, and Enna Burning also by Shannon Hale. I love a good fairytell retelling or fantasy book, and these were great!!

The Garden went up today. I had one more thematic layout for the "mini" theme. I chose to do mini photos and tags. I stamped the little tags and hung them from the open scallop border punch. It was strangely relaxing work. LOL! You can see the supplies here at 2Peas.

Speaking of "minis" . . . thank you for participating with me in my first Mini Album class at 2Peas. The response was amazing! I really love mini albums for telling a shorter story. Easily completed and a finished album--that certainly can't be beat! Don't miss out on two new classes this week: Kelli Crowe's "Truck" album and Jennifer McGuire's first week on inking.

And then for the seasonal layout of "wedding" I chose to focus on some of the hilarious things my little guy has said about marriage. Things like wanting to either marry his sister or I. How cute is that?!! You can also see the supplies here at 2Peas.

One last layout share before I let you go. LOL! This was my last layout I created for the Hero Arts/Quickutz blog share. I hope some of you won some good prizes. I wonder who won the Silhouette Machine. That is SOME PRIZE!! :)

Well, I'm off to clean the house, finish up the laundry, and try to ease back into the swing of things. Hope you had a nice weekend!!

More QK/HA Fun!!

Sharing a few more layouts using both the QK Silhouette cuts and Hero Arts stamps. Don't forget both blogs are giving away some AWESOME things!!

This one is featured on the QK blog today:

And this one is featured on Kerri Bradford's blog:

I love photos of Joey interacting with one of us. Here he is chasing Jimmy at the elementary school in Georgia. Jimmy loves him fiercely and often talks about him. In fact, he's already got big plans for his big brother when they see each other again. He says that he's going to buy a big Lego set and take it over to Joey's house and they're going to build it together. I don't know if they'll have Legos after the resurrection, but I think it's a great idea!! :)

You can see more awesome samples at the Hero Arts blog, and Nichol Magourik's blog.

I'm heading out tomorrow for my little anniversary getaway. I could really use a break. And the kids can't wait to spend time with grandma!! Here's to good books, good food, and a nap or two. LOL!

Hero Arts & Quickutz blog fun!!

Both the HA and QK blogs are having major giveaways this week so be sure to check out the HA blog here and the QK blog here.

I was thrilled to participate. I could stamp and cut die cuts all day. :)

One of the HA/QK projects I completed was this fun card, which you can see on the QK blog today.

And this was the card I created for the Hero Arts Blog:

Both cards use HA stamps and Silhouette shapes. And can I just say how awesome they work together? So check out the blogs and win something?? K?!!

Two Peas Mini Album Class: "A Week in Review"

My class at 2Peas is available here as of today. You can join in by completing your own week in review album. Your album can be any size, digital, traditional, or even hybrid. I pulled photos from my photo storage to complete mine or you could actually take a photo a day to complete this album.

To join in, see the forum thread here. This class is a "work at your own pace" class so join in when you can. :) I like the laidback style of these classes.

My fever must have broke last night so I'm hoping that I feel much, much better today. Thank you for the allergy recommendations. I think I might need to just go see an allergist. I'm so doctor wary though.

Digital Challenge #3

This time I rotated and changed the size of some of my embellishments. I pretty much already knew how to do that, but I wanted to play around with several different embellishments this time.

You can find the 2Peas digital kits here.

Feeling feverish and cruddy, but since little man is totally being my shadow anyway I thought I'd play on the computer while he stamped, made a mess, and generally complained. :) Now I'm off to watch a movie in bed.

Tomorrow my class at 2Peas will go up. Can't wait!! :)

Saturday is a Special Day . . .

Well, it would be if I could think of something special to do. LOL! It's beautiful today. Yesterday was hazy, windy, and crazy dusty. The dh and I did get out and shop a bit for some new books. Found this awesome photography workbook. Got up to the register and it rang up at $55. I DON'T THINK SO!! :( I want something to stretch my photography skills, but that's a bit much.

Still playing around with cards this morning. I'm trying to learn from card masters like Melissa Phillips and Kandis Smith how to pull together stamping and pattern paper. Their cards just leave me breathless. It's always fun to see what they're up to.

S here's my attempt at another pink card. Yep. I tried it again. LOL! You can purchase these stamp sets from 2Peas now.

This second card has more of the darker tones that come more easily to me. This set is also available at 2Peas now as well.

And then speaking of photography . . . somewhere along the line I got the opportunity to take some product photography for Little Yellow Bicycle. They are very sweet to let me give it a shot, and it was so much fun to see my work on this ad in Scrapbooks, Etc. (there is also a different ad in Creating Keepsakes):

I've also been writing some of their catalog text. I love the challenges of writing, designing, and photography. I've always loved learning so I'm definitely having fun.

On the allergy front, do you have any recommendations for allergy meds? I typically take Allergy sinus. Claritin does NOTHING for me. I've heard Zyrtec is pretty good. I should totally go see an allergist, but I hate being poked a thousand times only to be told I'm allergic to every green thing under the sun--duh!! ;)

Have a great weekend!

T.G.I.F

Are you having a good Friday? I was up at 6 a.m. and finished up 9 cards since then. Totally enjoying myself. It's overcast today and looks like rain but you never know. Kids are doing chores. Jimmy seems much better today but complains that his nose is "running and running like crazy." And it is poor thing. No sign of the fever today, though. Sweet!! Just busy enough to get a teensy bit on my nerves. But MUCH better than him feeling so yucky.

I challenged myself to play with a color that I struggle with: PINK!

I don't know what it is about that color, but it's really hard for me to work with. Do you have a color that's difficult for you?

Anyhoo, here was my first attempt. You can purchase some of the supplies here at 2Peas.

This one turned out to be my favorite. Seems a bit vintage. You can purchase some of the supplies here at 2Peas as well.

And I had to share my favorite color of stamping ink right now. "Sahara Sand" from Stampin' Up. Robyn Werlich brought it to a Stampin' Up class that she did for me, and I've loved it ever since. It looks awesome on oatmeal cardstock. Sometimes it looks tan and sometimes it looks khaki. It's a MUST HAVE ink color for sure. Robyn can hook you up if you're interested. :)

Here's a photo of it (note how dirty it is already):

On another note, I will be hosting a class next week at 2Peas for a mini album. Check the Education forum Monday morning for the class, pdf, and the sample. :) I'm really excited as this is my first class with them. And even better??? It's FREE!!

When Life Slows Things Down FOR You . . .

Yep, talked about being stressed yesterday and I jinxed us all.

Katelyn woke up yesterday (after I posted) feeling yucky. Still had to take our neighbor's daughter to the track meet but it only lasted an hour. Katelyn fell back to sleep while I was gone and slept for several hours. Then she spent the day on the couch with the crud. Obviously she wasn't feeling well.

And today, my littlest munchkin is taking his turn on the couch but he's got the crud times 10 with a "clugged" nose as he puts it and a low grade fever.

So I'm accepting the sign that we're just chillin' today. It's a good day to do that, and sometimes it's nice to slow down and just do nothing at all.

Ok, well I'm not exactly doing nothing. I need to get some work done but I wasn't feeling very creative so I crunched out these cards. Cards are like mini layouts: you can embellish the heck out of them but it's such a little canvas that it's not quite as intimidating as a full page spread. Hoping to now dive into the new prototypes from Little Yellow Bicycle. And yes, they've done it again--lovely new releases coming your way!! :)

The first card is another travel card. Are you sick of them yet? LOL! You can see the supplies here at 2Peas:

And then to celebrate my anniversary from last month, here's a love card. You can also find the supplies here at 2Peas:

I'm going to go check on the hooligans and make sure his "Sprite-ish" drink is helping his sore throat. Have a lovely day!! :)

P.S. Be sure to check out Quickutz Silhouette's new release today. I can tell there's going to be some AWESOME new shapes. Kerri Bradford gave some sneak peeks on her blog.

When does Summer (and relaxing) REALLY start?

Seriously?!! I feel overwhelmed, and waaaaay too busy. And I can't help thinking "When does my summer vacation start?"

I was up last night scrapbooking (ok, that is fun and relaxing), but I was up at 6 a.m. today unable to sleep with the stress and worry of the day. Katelyn has a three hour track meet this morning. Do you think she would notice if I napped in the van? LOL! Seriously, though, I'm totally proud of her and her running efforts. She's my hero for sure. Then there are work projects (both fun and time consuming). And then I've got laundry and some serious cleaning to complete.

Brett and I are heading out of town next weekend to FINALLY celebrate our 16th anniversary. Can't believe I've been married to that man for so long. Hee, hee. He really rocks my world though. Butterflies in the stomach and everything.

Because I was up and in the mood to play I put together two projects using the "Traveler" line from Little Yellow Bicycle. You can purchase now at 2Peas. It's a super awesome line. Truly!!

Here's the first one. You can see the supply list here at 2Peas.

And then there's this one. (I was completely inspired by Betsy Veldman's use of the clear frames cut into pieces. She's always inspiring me.) You can also see the supply list at 2Peas here.

Ok, now wish me luck that between the allergy meds I'm going to take to fight the pollen at the track and my lack of enough sleep I will stay awake for girlie's 800m race. ;)

Sharing a Hero Arts Project

Here's one of the projects I've been working on. HA asked me to create a "father's" layout for the Hero Arts gallery. I realized I need to take more photos of my cute hubby!! LOL.

You can see the layout, supplies, and instructions here. (Can I just say how much I love stamping? Hee, hee.)

The Garden is UP!!

I love the 1st and the 15th of the month when the 2Peas Garden goes up. It's like getting an idea book every month. And I always leave feeling so inspired (and a little intimidated) by the Garden Girl's amazing ideas.

Our theme this month was "mini's" and that could be anything from mini albums to mini supplies to whatever mini thing we could think of.

This first one was mini softies from KI Memories. I don't have a baby, but these baby boy softies are just too awesome! You can see the layout and purchase the supplies here.

My second layout was using mini jewels. This did not photograph well with the lovely embossing. I'm loving Zing Embossing powder lately. Such rich colors and an awesome variety of colors. You can see more photos of the layout and check out the supply list here.

And my last layout for today is the New Product Focus. I chose the alien pattern paper from Crate Paper. How cute are those little aliens? :) You can see more photos of my darling nephew and the layout here.

And now I just want to share some links to some other awesome garden projects today:

* Tia's darling "Around the World" mini album is not to be missed. You can see it here.

* "What I've Learned" from Moon Ko is just gorgeous.

* This is just going to make you giggle. Kelli, you're my hero! :)

* Shimelle's GENIUS embroidery hoop album. Sheesh!

* And you know I MUST link you to Robyn Werlich's layout here.

And that's just a sampling of the fun garden release this month. So check it out!! :)