new Soup Staples from Jillibean Soup!

I absolutely LOVE it when it's CHA sneak peek time!

The first Jillibean Soup sneak is up on the blog this morning:

Cute, huh? Leave a comment on the Jillibean blog for your chance to win some!

http://jillibeansoup.typepad.com/my_weblog/2012/06/soup-staples-ii-sneak-peek.html

a Pebbles Inc. Sunny SIde discount for you

I got an email today from Brenda Birrell, Creative Director at Pebbles Inc. and designer of the Sunny Side collection and she had a great deal for me to share with my blog readers.

You, my lucky readers, have been given a chance to receive a 25% discount on the Sunny Side collection simply by leaving a message in the comment box (The Scrap Review discount) and they will give you the discount as the order is processed.

You can find the Sunny Side collection here:
http://www.qbaroo.com/pebblesinmypocket/main.cfm?categoryoid=28&productoid=4418

Isn't that such fun news?

Run to the Pebbles Inc. store online (or if you are lucky enough to live close to the outlet store you can use this promo as well) to get some of this cute collection before it sells out!

Have a great rest of your day!

a couple of cards

Just a quick post this Saturday morning.

We took the girls to see "Brave" at the drive-in last night and we are all so tired and kind of dragging a bit this morning but we had a great time. At least it's Saturday, right?

There isn't anywhere that we HAVE to be today.

I keep looking around, though, and see so much stuff that I'd love to go through or just get rid of. The girls are going to a couple days of camp at our gym this next week and maybe I can make some progress while they're gone (so that they don't see all of the stuff I throw away or put in a give-away box!).

Do you have any tips for keeping the clutter and STUFF under control?

I have lots of CHA work to do still and since I've taken a couple of days off from scrapping I should probably get to some of that today.

For now, I have two more little cards to share with you that I created for my article at The Scrap Review using that cute Pebbles Sunnyside collection.

Have a nice weekend!

and another Sunnyside project

Hi again!

I wanted to share another project with you where I used the cute new Sunnyside collection from Pebbles Inc. I just found out that this page was featured on Amy Tan's blog today, which, to me, is pretty cool!

These pictures are from our Spring Break camping trip this year. There was a lake and the water near the shore was a bit on the murky/muddy/brown side but the kids still had lots of fun playing and splashing and building castles with moats.

Do you have any big plans for the weekend? 

Have a great one!

Pebbles Inc. Sunnyside collection

Hello Friday!

It has been a crazy, up and down week here at our house.

We've been able to do a lot of fun things but have also been sick and I am still hanging onto whatever but it is we've been sharing with each other all week.

I did get to do some scrapping, including some fun work for The Scrap Review using the new Pebbles Inc. Sunnyside collection.

Here are a couple of my projects:

One of the patterned papers in the collection has lots of tags and journaling spots that you can cut out to use on projects. I used a few on this card along with some twine from The Twinery. 

I cut the banners from another sheet of paper and used some of the cute dimensional butterfly and flower stickers. The "You make me smile" came from the "From Me To You" patterned paper with the tags. I used one of my little pinked circle dies from Lifestyle Crafts and my Sizzix Big Shot machine to make the zigzag edge on the tag. 

These corrugated alphas are so fun and come in 3 colors for this collection.

Do you like the looks of this collection? 

There is a giveaway at The Scrap Review: 

http://www.thescrapreview.com/2012/06/pebbles-inc-sunnyside-collection.html

Have a fantastic weekend!

a few things to share today

Wow! It's been a bit of a whirlwind week around here!

I am scrapping like crazy to get projects ready for CHA and while the load seemed daunting at first I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. It's a fun thing to be able to participate in but the late nights are catching up with me and I am working hard to make sure that my pages don't start looking the same. Know what I mean? Sometimes when you are scrapping for a long period of time (at least for me) things start to look a little similar.

I am having fun, though, and love the new collections being released by Jillibean Soup and Bella Blvd. I can't wait to show you some sneaks!

For today I have a few things to share.

First up, the new Bella Blvd newsletter went live yesterday and you can see it here:
http://bellablvd.typepad.com/.a/6a00e553a7b4ae8834017615a755fd970c-450wi

I had the challenge of creating a layout using one of Bella's older collections along with new products: 

I also have a layout up on the Jillibean Soup blog today:

And, I have my first article up at The Scrap Review where I give my opinion about the new Pebbles Inc. Sunnyside collection. Here's a sneak of one of my projects and I will share the rest here over the next few days:

You can read my review here:

http://www.thescrapreview.com/2012/06/pebbles-inc-sunnyside-collection.html

Have a great day!

learning to love the swing

Baby Lily hadn't been on the swing much before our camping trip this last Spring Break.

It took her a little while to warm up to the idea but after a few minutes she'd gotten over the fear of it all and started to really enjoy it! We bought her a little swing for her birthday and it's one of her favorite places to be, in fact she throws a fit when we try to take her out.

I created this page using a mix of Pebbles Inc. papers, American Crafts Thickers and some smaller alpha stickers from October Afternoon. The rub-ons are also October Afternoon and the tapes are from K & Co and Bella Blvd.

I have this thing lately for adding small strips at the top and/or bottom of my page. I hope you don't get tired of seeing it ☺ I think it's been a trendy thing in scrapbooking for a while but I haven't done it all that much until recently.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Lifestyle Crafts alphabets!

Hello again!

Today I have a quick card to share with you that uses one of the cute Lifestyle Crafts (formerly QuicKutz) alphabets.

For my card I used the Parade alphabet and some of the brand new Pebbles Inc. Sunnyside collection. You can find this alpha and others by clicking on the link. Also, if you use my special promo code SCRAPPIN you will get 20% off of your order.

and here is my card along with a detail shot of how I used the alphas:

Stay tuned for more projects featuring the awesome Lifestyle Crafts dies and also more with the Pebbles Inc. Sunnyside collection.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

and the winner is....Adele!

Good morning!

I hope that you had a nice weekend.

I have a quick post today and am happy to congratulate lucky poster #24, the last comment on my giveaway post- ADELE!

(I use random.org as my random number generator).

Congrats to you!

I will put together a fun box of scrappy things and get that on the way to you sometime this week.

Thank you to everyone who stopped by.

Have a wonderful day!

Saturday sketches with Bella Blvd

Happy Saturday!

***See giveaway post below***

We are surviving another week of summer vacation- barely ☺

I am happy to have a day at home to try and get things under control here after all of our running here and there all week! It's all fun for the kids and fun for me to watch them at swim lessons and gymnastics and karate but this mama is tired!

Today I have another Becky Fleck sketch to share- we are lucky to have her designing sketches for us every month at Bella Blvd. Here is the sketch that I got to use and my layout. You'll see that I rotated the sketch and changed up some of the design elements but kept to the basic idea.

You can see more designer takes here:

http://bellablvd.typepad.com/

some more Jillibean AND it's time for a giveaway!

Good morning!

Today is a great day for a giveaway, don't you think?

Before I do that I have another Jillibean Soup page to share with you featuring our silly Sarah once again. ☺ I promise that I do scrap my other girls as well. It just seems that Sarah is showing up a lot lately.

I LOVE the Pea Pod Parts that come with the new Jillibean collections. It's so fun to cluster and layer these for fun little touches on projects. The new aqua alphas are another one of my faves- for this page I used some Jenni Bowlin paint under the title to help it stand out from the cute background paper. 

Now, back to the giveaway...

Over the years I've done a lot of scrapping and a lot of scrap supply hoarding as well, things I've bought and haven't yet been able to use.

CHA is coming soon so as they say, "out with the old and in with the new!"

I will put together a box of fun scrappy supplies for one lucky winner and that box will likely contain a bit of paper (love it but it's taking over my room!), some stickers and buttons, maybe some flowers and stamps and ribbons and whatever other fun things I might find to add in there.

If you have any requests just leave it in the comments and that just might find its way into the box as well.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog- I do appreciate it and love all of your comments.

This giveaway is just a way for me to say thank you!

In order to win all you have to do is leave a comment here before midnight CST on Sunday and I will choose a winner on Monday! If you don't have a blog please leave your email so that I can contact you!

and some more Jillibean Soup!

I created this page for the Jillibean blog in May and wanted to share it with you:

This girl is so funny- I have tons of pics of her doing funny things and was laughing to myself that I have so many pages about Sarah and her silliness. I hope that she doesn't ever grow out of it- she is funny and confident and such a great kid!

Check back tomorrow for a giveaway!

and another dad card

We are putting the spotlight on flags this month as our Designer Challenge at Jillibean Soup.

For the challenge I created this card:

Have a great day!

Lifestyle Crafts Bloom & Grow

Hello once again!

Today I have a couple of projects to share with you featuring the Bloom and Grow collection from Lifestyle Crafts.

For this card I cut out multiple flowers from the die and cut away the petals on each layer so that each was increasingly smaller and then popped up the petals in the center and added a button. The pink corrugated alphas are from Pebbles Inc.

And for this little project I used the Cake Box die as well and Crate Paper patterned papers.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

As always, you can find more dies at the Lifestyle Crafts site and if you'd like a 20% discount simply use the code on my LC button on the right sidebar of my blog.

http://lifestylecrafts.com/products/dies.html

a Father's Day card with Jillibean Soup

Happy Monday to you all!

Thanks to everyone who stopped by for the Scrapbook Steals blog hop this weekend and thanks for all of the lovely comments. Good luck to you all- the prize winner will be announced soon.

And, later this week I'll have a giveaway here as well.

I have been scrapping for so long and with all that I've bought and all I've received from design teams I've been on I have WAY too much stuff. So, be on the lookout for that post maybe on Thursday. But don't hold me to that day, ok?

Today I have a quick card to share with you using the brand new Macho Nacho Soup collection from Jillibean Soup, some corrugated hearts and cute twine:

What are YOU going to do for Father's Day?

I know that my kids are planning all kinds of fun things for their daddy ♥

Have a great day!

Echo Park and Lifestyle Crafts daisies

Good morning!

If you are stopping by for the Scrapbook Steals blog hop, please scroll down to the next post!

We've had a whirlwind of a weekend.

Why is it that those days pass the quickest?

We had a quick visit from a friend from out of town, did a lot of the "normal" Saturday chores- errands, laundry- and made LOTS of strawberry jam. The scrapbooker in me thought about taking pictures while the girls mashed the berries but I decided to experience the fun without a camera in front of my face for once.

I do have a new page to share with you today, one that I created with the newest Echo Park collection. I like the fun mix of patterns in this line and since hexagons are quite the HUGE craze right now I had to use that paper and add a little bit of pop with some hand cut hexagons. The pics are of my almost-8 year old and the title comes from a Dr. Seuss poem.

alphas from American Crafts (you know I love my Thickers!)

tapes: K & Co., My Mind's Eye

flowers: Lifestyle Crafts die cut

brads: American Crafts and Crate Paper

I added foam adhesive to a few hexagons to bring added visual attention to the page. 

Have a great day! 

Stay tuned for a giveaway this week. 

Scrapbook Steals blog hop

Good morning and welcome to the Scrapbook Steals blog hop!

You should have arrived here from the Scrapbook Steals blog where the festivities began.

If you just happened upon my blog head on back to the start so that you don't miss anything.

Today we are featuring the fun new glitter tapes from American Crafts.

What girl doesn't like a little sparkle, right? ♥

It's especially fun when you can combine that bit of sparkle with scrapbooking.

So that you don't miss any of the great projects created for today's hop here is a full list of all of the participants:

1. Scrapbook Steals Blog

2. ME- you are here

3. Kimberli Bean

4. Maya Oren-Dahan

5. Ashley Newell

6. Miriam Prantner

7. Cathryn Hanson

8. Regina Mangum 

To start off I have a couple of quick cards that I created:

I love the sparkle of the tapes! 

And, it's very easy to use and is quite sticky. Some tapes aren't and I've had trouble with the edges peeling up. These are perfect! 

They are also easy to position and cut so they are great for scrapbooking and other crafty projects as you will see as you continue through the hop.

I also created this layout using the tapes as a border for my page:

Papers are from Pink Paislee, alphas from American Crafts, stickers from Sassafras. 

I received the green, blue, gold and pink tapes but there is a rainbow of colors to choose from. Make sure to check out today's Scrapbook Steal to see the other colors available and to get some of your own!

Thank you so much for stopping by today. 

Your next stop will be the blog of Kimberli Bean

Have fun hopping and I hope that you find lots of inspiration for creating with these fabulous glitter tapes from American Crafts. 

The hop will close Sunday June 10 at 11:59 pm MST. 

Make sure to leave a comment on each blog for your chance to win a $20 gift certificate to the Scrapbook Steals store!

sharing a Jillibean Soup layout

Good morning!

The monthly designer challenge over at Jillibean Soup last month was all about buttons!

Here is the layout that I created for the challenge:

Check the Jillibean Soup blog for more fantastic button projects

http://jillibeansoup.typepad.com/my_weblog/

and check back in just a little while for a fun blog hop with Scrapbook Steals!

cute little envelopes and things from Lifestyle Crafts

As I think I'd mentioned before, I wasn't much of a die-cut girl after my early scrapbooking days. I normally grab my paper punches and hadn't bought a die cutting machine of any kind until about the last year, and then came along the opportunity to do some work for Lifestyle Crafts and I am so glad that I decided to give it a try. I've had the chance to use some really cute dies, ones that are versatile and that I know I'll be able to use for many different projects.

I was excited to see these cute dies recently in the list of ones I could choose from, and there are many other box and envelope dies on the Lifestyle Crafts site.

I chose the little eyelet envelopes which also come with a template for the notecard that fits perfectly inside the envelope.

Here is a picture of what I created using some papers from Crate Paper:

a closer look at the cute envelopes and card insert:

I also used this treat box template which comes with a cute little flower die as well:

I used that little daisy flower to decorate the treat box and for the detailing on this card:

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

You can find lots of other cute dies at Lifestyle Crafts and get 20% off of die cutting templates, embossing folders, etc. by using the code on the button on my sidebar (SCRAPPIN). 

summertime and Bella Blvd

How is your summer going so far?

Or, are your kids still in school?

Ours are on their second week of vacation and they are enjoying being able to relax and have lots of fun. My six year old, Sarah, though, had a little bit too much fun this past Saturday. She was at a gymnastics camp at our gym Friday and again on Saturday and in the afternoon I got a telephone call from her gymnastics coach who said that something had happened to Sarah and "it's not good." I could tell from the panic in his voice that she'd gotten hurt. She'd fallen wrong on her hand when she landed from doing a back handspring; her arm was rotated slightly when she landed and her coach heard a pop and knew it wouldn't be good news. I rushed to the gym, took her to see the doctor who xrayed her arm and confirmed what we'd suspected- her arm was broken. Thankfully we were able to get her in to see a pediatric orthopedic surgeon on Monday instead of having to wait until Friday like we'd been told. The sad news we received there, though, was that the bones weren't lined up well enough so she'd have to go in the next morning, be under anesthesia, and he'd have to break her arm, essentially, to re-set the bones properly. We had that done and the dr. did another xray and found a small fracture of her ulna as well.

Sarah now has a bright pink cast and other than it being a little painful and a bit of a nuisance she is doing well. She went to practice for a while yesterday and got the coaches and other girls on the team to sign her cast. We wanted her to just sit and rest but she was in the gym doing some stretches and easy strengthening that she could do without using her left arm. There is no slowing her down for sure! I know that she'll be more than ready to get back to her regular routine once the cast comes off in 4 weeks.

Anyway, back to business at hand ☺

I have a layout up on the Bella Blvd blog today and wanted to share that here as well:

I love the bright colors of the Bella collections and can't wait to start playing with the new products coming out after this next CHA. 

Have a great day!