how about a sneak peek?

Would you like to see a sneak peek of the upcoming October kit at My Scrapbook Nook?

Of course you would!!

Isn't that gorgeous? Just wait until you see more.

I'll have more peeks later for you so keep checking back.

This kit is going to be absolutely gorgeous, as they always are. And, if take a look at the kits and decide you'd like to join the kit club at My Scrapbook Nook, just let me know and I will get a $5 store credit for each person who uses me as a referral. You get a $28 kit each month valued at much more, filled with the latest and most beautiful scrapbook products on the market today. Yes, just go to http://www.myscrapbooknook.org/club.shtml to see the kits and the let me know if you decide to join and we both get a great deal :)

time for a giveaway

Happy Sunday to you!!

It's been cold and rainy today and guess what?

I LOVE it!

I love this time of the year when I can pull out my warm, cozy tights for church, my jackets and sweaters and other comfy things.

It's the time of year when I start to pull out the fall decorations, start to think about Thanksgiving and Christmas even though they are still months away.

This is my time of the year.

Well, so is Spring, I guess, but I do love fall.

I love to watch the leaves change from green to yellow and orange and red.

I love to watch the girls go stomping through the piles of fallen leaves.

I love the crisp feel to the air.

And, because I am loving this time of year I am going to do a giveaway.

A big one.

Full of Maya Road and Cosmo Cricket and American Crafts and Pink Paislee or whatever I end up putting in there. I have lots of stuff that I've accumulated and I'd love to share some of it with you, my lovely blog readers. I surely do appreciate those who come to visit and really love it when you leave comments.

Would you like to win some fun scrappy stuff?

There's just one catch.

Of course. There's gotta be a catch.

Because I'd love to increase my blog readership here, if you bring a friend to join my reader list you will both be entered into the drawing.

Otherwise, you can still enter by leaving a comment here and telling me what you like about fall or what you'd like to see more of on my blog. Did you like the sketches? Card Wednesdays? Tell me about it.

I kinda got out of the habit of doing the extras when our computer was down but want to keep my blog fun and interesting.

So, if you do tell a friend, have them tell me here in their comment who sent them here so that you get credit and an extra chance at winning. The more people you bring the greater your chances.

And, hey, if we get lots of people I just might do a few giveaways. I certainly have enough stuff, that's for sure.

I'll give ya until the end of this week- Friday night at 11pm EST on September the 18th.

Have a great day!!

where were you that day?

I found this picture online at the Wikipedia site. I think it's interesting that the Statue of Liberty, which is a symbol of our freedom, an invitation to others to come and enjoy the blessings we have as citizens of this great nation. Alongside that symbol of freedom, though, is a reminder of those who sought to take those freedoms away.

Today is September 11, 2009. It's been eight years now since that horrible day when terrorists made their mark on the United States.

I will always remember where I was that day when I heard the news.

Matt and I were attending Idaho State University and we'd just gotten to school and were walking to the library on campus when one of Matt's friends stopped us and asked if we'd heard the news.

We hurried to the computer lab so that we could look up anything we could find online about what was happening and were glued to the televisions as we passed by them.

I remember watching as the second plane hit, then watched horrified as the towers started to come down. It was almost surreal, and like I mentioned before, it was like something you only see in movies.

Then we heard about the plane that hit the Pentagon and the other that went down in a Pennsylvania field.

I was saddened that something so horrific would happen in our country, saddened at the number of lives lost, grateful that no one close to me was hurt. Even today, eight years later, tears come to my eyes as I think of that day.

I was also lifted up by the heroism shown that day by airline passengers who fought for their lives to the very end. I am grateful for the firemen and others who sacrificed so much.

I'm proud to be an American and hope that we will always remember that day.

"Let's roll."


Even in all the destruction the flag still stands for freedom.

I hope we don't take it for granted.

We are so very blessed.

more Amber Road layouts

I am having so much fun with this kit, can you tell?

It is absolutely gorgeous and so easy to scrap with.

I took some time today when perhaps I should have been cleaning toilets or folding laundry instead and finished up these two pages. I love the way Leah puts our kits together so that everything goes together so perfectly. This is definitely one of my favorite Scrapbook Nook kits to date. While it has a fall/harvest theme to the die-cuts and rub-ons you can use the patterned paper to scrapbook just about anything, as I've done on all of my pages so far. I do have some pumpkin pictures printed out that I'll most likely use for this kit as well but these pages certainly show the versatility of the kit.

This first layout I made today is one about Sarah and Aimee.

Journaling reads: "Having Hailey start kindergarten this year has been hardest for Sarah but she and Aimee are slowly becoming buds." September 2009



This next layout uses a picture taken by my sister-in-law, Ginger Williams, on our trip to Arlington this last weekend. I wanted to have a recent picture of our family and knew that this kit would be perfect for scrapping it. Thank you, Ginger!!


And some detail shots:

Aren't the colors of this collection just lovely?

I hope you're having a happy day.

I am.

and a quick layout

I have been trying to scrap more lately and sometimes that means doing a simpler page just to get in some scrapping time.

Today I used some pictures of Sarah jumping in puddles that we took while on our walk at a neighborhood park about a week ago. The green in the pics went perfectly with the packaging insert from the Prima cherry blossoms in my September kit from My Scrapbook Nook.

Aren't you proud of me for re-purposing my trash?

Otherwise the page is pretty simple, nice and quick and easy. A couple bits of ribbon and some staples and part of one of the journal cards from the kit and that's about it. I sanded the edges of the paper and blackened the red edge of the journal card to match my page.

One of the cool things that I like about this page is that the main photo was edited using a cool technique I just learned how to do in Photoshop. You simply create a duplicate layer of your photograph, turn it to black and white, then use the eraser tool to bring the color back where you want it. I learned it from a tutorial on Jessica Sprague's site. You can read all about it here

Have a great night! I hope to get some more scrapping done tomorrow :)

all nines- a challenge for you!

Yep, today is the ninth of September 2009

9-09-09.

Do you have some fun "nine" activities to do today?

I'd better think of some.

I'm sure I have more than nine things to do.

Today is such a busy day I hope I can sit down for nine minutes in a row :)

I hope your day is "dressed to the nines."

ha ha.

Maybe I can put nine of something on a scrapbook page or card.

Now there's an idea!

Anyone who wants to make a page or card- use only products in nines- nine buttons, nine flowers, nine buttons, nine different patterned papers, you get the idea.

Anyone up for it?

Leave a comment here with a link to your project by midnight EST on Friday and I'll do a drawing for a fabulous prize.

September Scrapbook Nook kit projects

I fell in love with this kit as soon as I heard what the contents would be:

Pink Paislee Amber Road paper and tags

Prima flowers and pearls

Black rhinestone swirls

Maya Road pins

...and more, of course, but these things are just gorgeous!!

I had some time today, thanks to my not feeling well and not wanting to try to do too much, and I was able to finish up some kit projects.

For this card I used one of the Amber Road canvas tags and just frayed the edges a bit. I also used some of the Pink Paislee chipboard alphas ( a kit add-on as well).

I love the patterns in this kit because they just call for distressing, inking and pleating, all things that I enjoy doing and haven't done on a layout in a while. The lace and aqua trim came from my stash, the other items were either from the main kit or add-on (chip alphas, pearls).

This is my sweet Hailey. I still just can't believe that she's 5 and in kindergarten. It seems like just yesterday that we were bringing her home from the hospital to our home in Boise. Man, has time changed so much since then.

I have lots of other ideas for this kit and tons of product yet to play with so come back in a day or two and I should have more projects for you to see.

Until then, have a great day!!

we're back!

Happy Labor Day!!

I hope that you have a nice, fun, relaxing day.

This is supposed to be a day when you can rest from your daily labors but after getting back from our trip this weekend there is so much to do. We'll see if I actually get to do any resting.

Up on the agenda today? Laundry, grocery shopping (a few things, anyway), unpacking, keeping the kids entertained, maybe some flower/bush shopping and looking for a new dishwasher since ours has gone kaput.

So, where did we go this weekend?

We drove about 6 hours to Arlington (just outside of Dallas) so that Matt and his brother could go to the BYU vs. Oklahoma game at the brand new Dallas Cowboys stadium. What a thrill it must have been for them to be there! It was quite a game, no one was expecting BYU to win so that victory made the trip so much more worth it.


Besides football, though, we got to hang out with Marc and Ginger and their kids, went to a beautiful park and had lots of fun.

Walk softly and carry a big stick. I can't remember who said that. The big stick part is right, anyway. Sarah is rarely quiet. ha ha.

We found these along the way on our hike through the woods...tempting but we didn't try them.

Happy Labor Day! I hope it's a good one for you.

I'm off to vacuum the floors and then to do some scrapbooking!!

a walk in the park and My Scrapbook Nook's gorgeous September kit

I thought that when Hailey started kindergarten this year I would have lots of time to get things done around the house. The opposite seems to be true, as I believe I've mentioned here before. I have found that instead of having MORE time I have less, mainly because the two younger ones are requiring more attention, more help to keep them busy with one activity or another.

This morning after dropping Hailey off at school we decided to go to the park by our house. Of course we stopped by home first to get the camera since I didn't want to miss out on any "Kodak moments." I'm grateful for that becuase we got some fun shots today!

Sarah and Aimee had fun walking around the little lake, watching the ducks, picking flowers and jumping in puddles left by the sprinklers earlier this morning.The girls both ended up soaked and muddy from the puddles but we had such a great time that I don't even care if the stains come out or not.

Here's a peek at some of our fun:

Sarah is becoming such a good bigger sister. She's the first to help Aimee when she needs something, will hold her hand to help her over a bump, anything to help her little sister.

Well...most of the time. Of course they have their moments when they don't get along and are fighting about something but for now I'll just think of the good.

Nothing could top puddle jumping except maybe a watermelon slush from Sonic on the way home. After that was coloring and painting and a little "Max and Ruby."

Now if I could just get myself motivated to finish that paint job and get some other chores done.

My September kit from My Scrapbook Nook should be here today!! WOOHOO!!!

Here's a little peek to tide you over until I get my first project done:

Isn't it absolutely gorgeous??!! I can't wait for that box to arrive at my house.

Have a wonderful day!!

what I've been doing

Besides getting up early to get kids ready for school/preschool, doing laundry, cleaning up messy floors for the umpteenth time in one day (having young kids will do that), washing and folding more and more laundry, giving baths and making meals and everything else that comes with being a mom, I have had little time for "extra" things.

I did squeeze in a quick layout the other day, and I mean very quick. Simple layout, not too many embellishments and nothing fancy but at the very least I got to scrapbook, something I am really starting to miss with our new schedule and extra demands with having the two youngest kids at home without their big sister- Hailey was often the one to keep Sarah going from one activity to the next.

Page credits: paper from Making Memories, K&Co, American Crafts, My Mind's Eye. Flower from Pink Paislee, alphas from Basic Grey, Creative Imaginations brad, Kaiser Craft rhinestone.

I have also been painting our dining room/kitchen. This is a project I've been wanting to do for quite some time but hadn't found the right color to go with our cabinetry, our furniture, our tastes. It's funny, though, because even after bringing home an assortment of paint chips from Home Depot on Saturday we decided to go with a color we'd had all along- a color we thought we'd use in our den but didn't like it in there. I LOVE it in my kitchen, though, so I've been hard at work the last couple of days trying to get that done. Believe me, it's no easy task to paint and keep three kids entertained and out of the wet paint. Here is what it looks like so far, or at least as of last night. I did get quite a bit more done today and am really liking the color.

I am using a Dutch Boy color from Walmart called "Useful Brown." The color seems more olive than brown to me but whatever color it is I am quite pleased with the outcome and it makes our kitchen look so much more inviting than the flat ivory paint the builders use all the time. Why they use flat paint I will never know (except that it's probably a ton cheaper) but it lasts no time at all in a house full of small children. We're talking food, crayon, boogers (sorry) and other unmentionables that come along with the territory.

What do you think?

I hope you're having a wonderful day!


p.s. Leah just told us that our September kits from My Scrapbook Nook were just shipped so I will have that loveliness to share with you soon!!!