SassyPixie Blog

The Blog Collector

2009-05-06T09:31:00.000-07:00

So it seems that I have started collecting blogs like most people collect stamps or bakugans. What can I say, I love to blog! I also cannot figure out for the life of me the whole OpenId thing that will direct you back to the blog of choice. I seriously will not get back the hours I have spent trying to figure the whole thing out! So if you have been directed here, to my old blog that I miss dearly, here are my blogs to choose from...

http://pixiekeepsakes.com (Digital Scrapbooking Blog)
http://pixiekeepsakes.com/project365 (Project 365 blog) So far behind btw!
http://novelideasbymel.com (Book Blog)
http://ourfullerlife.com (Family Blog)
http://estesfamilyblog.com (Estes Family Blog)

Ridiculous, I know!

Move Along, Move Along!!!!

2008-11-21T17:57:00.000-08:00

Nothing to see here!!! Join me at my new home on the web! Pixie Keepsakes!!!

http://pixiekeepsakes.com

Pssst!!! My Own Blog Train!

2008-11-15T19:33:00.000-08:00

OK! So if my new blog wasn't pretty enough before it is simply breathtaking now!!! I had Flergs give me a whole makeover! If I could only be so lucky in real life! LOL! So this is my absolute last post on this blog! I have been playing with my new blog for weeks now trying to get it all ready! I have a few more things to do but it is simply gorgeous! I have been teasing you for 3 weeks with an addon pack for my 'Retro Fall' kit. So here goes...

Here are the links for the 'Retro Fall' mini kit... Download here and here
*Important* This is the same kit as the one at SUN for the contest. Just in case you don't want to download the same thing!

You can get the add-on pack on my NEW Blog http://pixiekeepsakes.com
There are 5 extra papers and 1o extra elements. Don't miss the Bonus Owl!!!
Please bookmark my new blog, tonight will be my last post on this blog!

Grab the add-on here!

Don't forget to leave me some love! I love hearing from you!

New Blog... http://pixiekeepsakes.com

Time for a change!

2008-11-01T00:55:00.000-07:00

So we have found Ellie and her new home, or should I say Studio! Congrats Ellie! I don't know if all of you know this but this is a huge step in the digital scrapbooking world! I've been teasing your for a few months now about a new blog! Well, it's still not perfect but it's time for a change! In more ways than one! I am also taking new steps in the digital scrapbooking world! Here is my first step! I hope you will join me...

Where's Ellie???

2008-10-29T16:14:00.000-07:00

So you found your way to me! Are you ready for your next freebie and link? Are we getting closer? You'll find out! Here is your next freebie! Inside is tomorrow's link and another fabulous template from Lisa! Lisa has saved me this week! Thank you Lisa, you are a true Angel!!!

Download Here

My Night Out!

2008-10-25T09:01:00.000-07:00

Tonight I get to get all dressed up and attend a yearly event that my husbands company provides every October. We stay in a 5 star resort, have an incredible dinner and most importantly, I get to sleep in tomorrow morning! I am very excited! I am in need of a night away from the kids, we both are.
Just a few things before I leave. We have brought the Speed Scrap to Scrapbookgraphics...

Tomorrow night at 8pm(est) we will have a mgl Style Speed Scrap in the SBG Chat Room. I will be hosting tomorrow and would love to see you there!

Also, for those of you in my area(Mesa, Az) There is a benefit concert for Stephanie(NieNie Dialogues) and Christian Nielson at Mountain View High School Auditorium tonight at 7pm. Mindy Gledhill, who is one of Stephanie's childhood friends and singer/songwriter will be performing. NieNie's girls Claire and Jane will be performing a song with her. There will be crying! But what a wonderful thing! People are actually flying in from Colorado, California and Buffalo to attend this event. Tickets are still available!

$15 tickets available now at www.mindygledhill.com

and at Pioneer Book in Mesa

2820 E University Dr # 102

Mesa, AZ 85213
(480) 832-8433
If you don't know about the details about NieNie there are links on my sidebar. I read her sisters blog daily to get updates! You will be amazed by the generosity of the blogging world, or maybe you won't, it's so big yet so small. I promise you will laugh and you will cry. The latest news is that the doctor's are slowly waking her up from her 2 month slumber!
I made some flair buttons for you today to sport on your blogs or forums if you wish. They are 600px so you will need to resize them down. I also included the PSD format for my flair so that you can make your own flair! I would love to see what you come up with!

Download Here

Don't you love my new product preview! Flerg's is the best!

Also, make sure you check our Angels' team blog tomorrow, we will be starting our Where's Ellie Week. This means a blog hop and a daily download for you. We will search for Ellie until we find where her new home could be!!!

One more thing! I have entered a Design Contest at SunshineStudioScraps! YAY! My first assignment is due Tuesday by midnight! Stay tuned and wish me luck!

That's all for now! I am all packed and ready to go for my night away! Have a fabulous weekend! I hope to see you all tomorrow night at the Speed Scrap!

New Team blog for mgl Scraps!!!

2008-10-13T15:55:00.000-07:00

I'm now on Monica's(mgl Scraps) Creative Team and part of her Team Blog! Fun Stuff! You will have to check it out! There are some fun new things happening in the next few weeks! Can't wait to reveal some of them! Until I can I guess I will show you my latest layouts with Monica's 'Nameless kit' hint-available in her grab bag soon to be opened up! Both are layouts of Hunter...

So to recap... Monica's new Blog here.
Monica's new Team Blog here and
Studio mgl here.
And, fun changes coming....that's all I can say!

Ok, and do you want a sneak peak of my new Header! Made by Flergs down under...

Isn't it beyond gorgeous? Thank you Flerg's for the header and Thank you Ellie for making me a new beautiful blog! (To be revealed very soon!)

Until later! Have a great Monday!

Got me some lovin's!!!

2008-10-09T11:25:00.000-07:00

I keep waiting to post until I had a freebie to give all of you, but at this rate I may never post. I have gotten 3 sweet awards that I have been shamelessly neglecting. So while I am sitting here watching my little guy tot around my house, forgetting how stinking cute it is when they first start walking and trying to ignore the fact that i have 5 kids today(watching my friend Misti's kids) and one of them just hid in my dryer, I am going to write a post.

First of all, sweet JillianRoze sent me an 'I love your blog' award...

...and then another fun member from my CafeMom group PinkaholicMom from Aloha Monkey Tales tagged me. By the way she has a way cute blog and then another blog dedicated to 'Twilight' which I haven't checked out yet because I just finished the 3rd book.

Then this morning I had another message from sweet JillianRoze(PriddySweetScraps).

This award is called the
"Proximidade Award" or "Friendship Around The World Award".
Originally this award was written in Spanish, but it translates to highlight blogs that are pleasing or special in some way, and also to extend the hand of friendship around the world.

So I am supposed to tell you 8 things about myself that you didn't know, I hope I can think of that many!

1- I have 6 brothers and 4 sisters.

2- I've been to Hawaii once when I was 12. (Too young to fully appreciate the beauty)

3- I was born in Oregon.

4- I wrote a screen play when I was 13. (I didn't like the way North and South ended)

5- I fed all the stray cats when I was little so they would stay and we'd end up keeping them.

6- I played the violin for 6 years.

7- I had a horse when I was 4.

8- I have a tatoo on my back of daisies and ivy.

Whew! I had to dig deep there. And now to pass these on. These people have awesome blogs, are amazing people in some way or are truly good friends and some, all of the above... TAG, you're it!

Ellie Lash

Flerg's (Have you seen her new blog)

Monica

Jillian

Channon

NieNie (Still being updated by her sister)

CJaneRun (NieNie's sister)

Aloha Monkey

Rachel (A friend since I was in 7th grade)

Amy

Nikki

I know I could think of a ton more!

Also, I have had some requests for me to tell the my daughter and the bishop story so quickly, here goes...

We have our primary presentation and so the kids sit up on the stand. Hensley is a sunbeam so she is right in front and the bishop is sitting directly behind her. I don't know why, maybe she's got a huge badankadonk that I don't realize but she always, always has a wedgie, ALWAYS! So Hensley in the middle of the presentation lifts her dress up almost to her head and pulls out her wedgie, with the bishop directly behind her! What are you going to do? I always thought little girls were prim and proper! I have learned a lot having a girl!

My daughter mooned the Bishop

2008-09-28T21:31:00.000-07:00

We had our primary presentation today at church. Hensley was in it this year as a Sunbeam and well, the title says it all!

The End

Some fun news and a freebie!

2008-09-27T16:07:00.000-07:00

OK everyone! I have made my final decision, I'm sure no one else has as hard a time than me with making decisions that just really aren't that crucial! LOL! My blog is almost ready but I have decided to keep my digital scrapbooking here on this blog.
So, for my fun news, I actually have a few fun things. First of all, I went onto my Cafe Mom group this morning and I have hit over 1,000 members! How did that even happen? I started it because I couldn't find a group and wanted to connect with other digital scrapbookers. I was afraid no one would even join! Now a little over a year my group is over 1,ooo and I'm on the creative team of my favorite designer. Even better than that, Ellie has become a good friend. We had dinner at Chili's last week and let me tell you she is as sweet in person as she is in our little scrapbook community. I leant her my Twilight and New Moon books(because I haven't finished Eclipse or Breaking Dawn yet) and she has read the whole series twice since then. So if you are a Twilight fan go to Ellie's blog because she is requesting feedback about the interest of some Twilight freebies! Yes Ellie Please!!!
Also, Ginger from Gingerscraps Freebies blog has opened her own store!!! YAY! (She is having server problems at the moment but keep checking back) Ginger is one of my members at CafeMom and is the sweetest person ever. I went to her website last night and clicked on her team members link and all her team is from our group, including her sister Julie, Jill from Priddy Sweet Designs and Becka, who does the most amazing layouts!!! I'm so proud, I have a little tear in my eye! LOL! She has a couple of fun freebies but this one is my favorite...

Why aren't you designing Melanie? Good question! I've got a few things in the works that I am really excited about but more about that later!
One more fun announcement! Tracy, my fellow team member has opened her own store also! Yay Tracy! She has some really cute products in there and her site is sooo cute! She has an awesome Halloween kit out called 'All Hollow's Eve' and I have already played with it. Here is my fun page...
And as a special treat to you, Tracy has given me permission to give all of you the Quick Page to my layout! Thank you Tracy! So here is your QP...

Download Here

Have a great rest of your weekend!!!

Decisions, Decisions

2008-09-24T11:20:00.000-07:00

Well, as you can see I have started dressing up my blog again. I'm finding it hard to part with my sassypixie blog but then my wordpress blog is soooo pretty. I haven't decided quite yet if my wordpress blog will be a design blog or my personal blog. Decisions Decisions! I can't stay long, I have to pick up my house that my son has ransaked while I was on the computer this morning. I get to go to a salon and get MY hair done by someone other than me. I am in for a fall change! YAY! I will be back soon with updates and a freebie!!! I have something wonderful in the works. Until then, have a fabulous day!!!

Chat Tomorrow!

2008-09-11T19:39:00.000-07:00

I have been sooo bad at blogging! I actually have my new wordpress blog thanks to Miss Ellie but I haven't finished making it way cute yet and you know me! Hopefully the next few days I will be making the switch! I wanted to let you all know about a fun chat going on tomorrow at Sunshine Studio Scraps. Ellie and Vasco(Moon Scraps) have a fabulous collaboration kit coming out tomorrow! I've gotten to play with it already!!!

Don't forget to check out the team blog tomorrow to see what Ellie is releasing tomorrow!

Be Patient!

2008-09-03T17:07:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am at it again! LOL!

Where are my widgets???

2008-09-02T16:03:00.000-07:00

My widgets are gone! Oh my! I was playing with my blog again and bye bye! But I am actually getting ready to transition over to word press! I find it a lot more user friendly since I've been writing the team blog! I will let you know! So in the meantime, if you need me just shoot me a comment!
Hensley started preschool today. YAY! I actually tried to get her into a five day a week one but it hasn't happened yet! LOL! Hayden is getting used to his schedule and Hunter is already in trouble with teachers. His problem is he is too smart. He challenges everything you say and talks down to you! His Spanish teacher is not liking it! What can you do? His mom says it's no big deal. I guess she wouldn't since she's the same way!
Landon is still not walking yet! It looks like he is going to be like his brother and sister and wait until 13 months. I really think he could he just won't.
I am officially not on ScrapMatters CT as of yesterday. They should be announcing their new CT soon. It's kind of bittersweet, I will miss them but then I will have more time to do things that I have put off. I scrapped myself crazy the last week of the month! I will try to put a slide show up today or tomorrow. I did well over 20 layouts the month of August! Whew!
So, I will be back soon with a freebie and maybe a new blog! This one will still be here with the link to my new one and all my freebies on this blog will remain active!

Lazy Monday!!!

2008-08-18T12:55:00.000-07:00

Ohhh, it is such a lazy day! I have been down all weekend with what I'm guessing is a migraine. I've never had them before but I have been so sick and my head just kills and it makes me feel sick! Fun huh! I am feeling a little better today but I definitely am not feeling myself!!! I have been really busy with the new blog which I am having so much fun working on Ellie's team!!! My parents came into town, school started again and the baby had his 1st birthday last weekend. I think I just had too much going on at once.

So, as I mentioned before, my little Hayden started school. He's kind of having a hard time getting used to those long hours again. Hunter is doing good in 8th grade but he's never had a hard time with school, except for thinking he knows more than the teachers and then they don't like that very much! LOL!

Landon turned one on the 10th and I just can't figure out where the year has gone! He is such an awesome baby! He cracks me up daily! He is the happiest little boy! He truly is my little angel!
My sister-in-law and I went to Kiddie Kandids last Thursday and got Landon's 1 year pictures and Teaghan's 1 month pictures taken! They all turned out perfect!

Aren't all those just precious! I'm just so relieved that my baby is 1 year and sleeping through the night! I don't envy the newborn stage at all! She is precious though! I am really enjoying holding her, loving on her and then giving her back to mom and dad! It's usually the other way around!

Not much else is going on! My parents went back to Utah and will be back in October. Hensley will start preschool the day after labor day, she is asking to go to school everyday and can't understand why she can't go!

As for my scrapbooking, I have been busy getting Quick Pages done for the blog, of course I changed my blog again after working with the 'She Dreams' kit. It is one of my favorites. Here are a few things that I worked on this last week...

I've already used this picture but it just worked perfect with the page. This is my 1st QP for the blog.

This is my 2nd QP. My mom brought this dress from Utah for Hensley! It is the prettiest little Sunday Dress.

This layout was for the Speed Scrap last Monday at ScrapMatters. I love this picture of Landon. I actually just caught it at the right time. He was smiling up at my mom when we were at Lagoon in Utah back in June. The kit I used is 'Country Stars' from Ellie Lash.

I've made some freebies this week also. They are for the team blog and available there.

This a template made by yours truly. It is for Challenge Me Thursday... it is a journaling challenge to tell a story of your pictures.

This is the WordArt that goes with the QP download of the day.

And this is for the Weekend Project. It is a template for a Bingo Card. You can customize your cards however you want. I used the 'So Sweet' mini kit that was part of Ellie's Grab Bag.

Also, don't forget that there is still the Download of the day. You can find all of these fabulous treats at our Ellie's Angels' CT Blog.

I also have received a fun little reward from sweet JillianRoze but I will have to come back in the next couple of days to pass this on! My children are losing patience with this long blog post!

On a very,very sad note, NieNie from nieniedialogues and her mr. nielson were in an private airplane crash here is Arizona. I'm really not sure what is going to happen. The pilot died yesterday. I am very sad!

I will see you soon!

Pardon My Mess!!!

2008-08-12T08:31:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am remodeling again! I don't know why for sure! Just wanted something different...again! Will be back soon with a way cute blog and a new post! Meanwhile, don't forget about the Daily Download over at our Angels' Blog.

It's A Blog Train!!!

2008-08-08T15:26:00.000-07:00

You are on the blog train!!! Welcome to my little corner of the world! You are in Sunny and very Hot Arizona!!!

Pick up your freebie here and keep going west until you reach the beautiful coast! Heather has quite the treat for you!!!

Download Here

Heather is your next stop... http://joyrevisited.blogspot.com/

Need to backtrack? Here are the first 18 stops...

1. http://www.scrapmatters.com/wordpress

2. http://andilynn.wordpress.com/

3. http://brittishdesigns.blogspot.com/

4. http://zane-escraps.blogspot.com/

5. http://scrap-stuff.blogspot.com/

6. http://www.scrappingwithkatie.blogspot.com/

7. http://happyscrapgirldesigns.blogspot.com/

8. http://taterscraps.blogspot.com/

9. http://scrapitbybreeza.blogspot.com/

10. http://digikeepsakesbymonica.blogspot.com/

11. http://www.jeniscraftyblog.blogspot.com/

12. http://www.stacysbackdoor.blogspot.com/

13. http://wendys-craftycreations.blogspot.com/

14. http://www.neeceebeedesigns.blogspot.com/

15. http://www.fluffybunnyfeet.blogspot.com/

16. http://ellielash.com/blog

17. http://matahatiseni.blogspot.com/

18. http://haynay.blogspot.com/

Have a great trip!!!

Our new CT Blog is up and running!!!

2008-08-08T07:50:00.000-07:00

I am excited to tell you that after working very hard to get everything up and running, our official CT Blog is ready to go! You can check it out here. Tracy put the 1st post up early, early this morning and then I will be back later today to feature Ellie's new products and host a new challenge for our debut!!! We are waiting until this afternoon for ScrapMatters to open their brand new beautiful site! Looks more like 4pm PST before it will be ready! So check back in a little while because there will be a blog train and I will have a freebie on my blog!!! But for now go check out our new CT blog! There will be a download a day for our first month!!!

In a more personal note. Hayden and Hunter started school on Wednesday! It came really fast this year! Although I am not complaining! On the 1st day Hayden ended up on the wrong bus and back at the school! Yes, similar thing happened last year too! I haven't even put the pictures on my computer yet so I will have to post those later. Landon's birthday is in 2 days! I can't believe he will be 1. This year has flown by!!!

All right! That's it for this morning! Check back later for the blog train!!! It will start in ScrapMatters forum!!!

Update!!!

2008-08-01T21:17:00.000-07:00

We will be starting the new team blog next Friday 8/8/08 to coordinate with the re-grandopening of ScrapMatters! Fun things to come! Keep checking back!

Scroll down to the next post for the FREEBIE!!!

Where Have I Been?

2008-07-30T07:46:00.001-07:00

Oh my, this might be a long post! I haven't posted forever!!! The kids have a week left of summer break. They start back next Wednesday! I have to be a mean mom and say I am soooo glad! I have no rhyme or reason at my house during the summer. They stay up way late and then I love the quiet in the morning so I let them sleep late. It's a vicious cycle! In fact this is what I found Sunday morning when I went to wake up Hayden and Hensley for church!

In case you were wondering, yes, they do have beds. Why they choose to sleep on the wood floor, I have no idea! LOL! They are precious when they are sleeping aren't they?

So I will be glad to get the kids back on a normal sleeping schedule and take back my quiet evenings. Before school got out Hensley was in bed by 8pm. I don't know if I will ever get that back again. I would settle for 9pm.

I had Bunko last night and as usual it was a lot of fun! I have been subbing for a friend that couldn't do Tuesday nights but starting next month she will be able to make it again. But there is always someone gone so I'm sure I will just be a floating sub!

Monday night I went to dinner with a few of my hair clients. We went to Chili's and had a good time! My client Jennifer is older than Deb and I but she is so fun you wouldn't know it. She's the life of the party. I needed a few nights out. My patience is wearing very thin these days! It's being cooped up with these kids, I will be so glad when they can go outside and play more.

My mom is flying in on Saturday and will be here a little over a week. My dad will fly in next weekend for Landon's birthday and then they will leave together the day after. I can't believe Landon will be a year old in a week and a half! It doesn't seem possible. He's not quite walking without the use of furniture yet but he gets into everything just the same! I forgot what it was like to chase around a baby all day! He's got such a fun personality!

So in the scrapbooking world I have some changes going on. I am now on the personal CT of Ellie Lash who you know is my favorite designer. I will be in charge of running her CT Blog and I am sooo excited to be a part of her team! I am having so much fun! As of the end of August I will no longer be on the CT at ScrapMatters but I am excited for their re-grand opening on the 8th of August. Of course I will still be participating in their community because I just love everyone so much there and Ellie sells there but I am excited to branch out a little and have already met some great people in Ellie's CT and the ScpapOrchard community. And of course Ellie is a member of the Sunshine Girls and I love all the Sunshine Girls! So I am just really excited for this opportunity!

Did you see my new stinkin' cute blinkie on my sidebar? Feel free to snag it. It was made by fa11enan9e1 from ScrapOrchard. She has amazing talent. If you are looking for any kind of blinkie, she is definately who I would recommend!!! I have her blinkie on my sidebar also, it is linked to her store.

So this is what I have been busy doing this past week. Ellie and Shauna from Pineapple Plantation came out with a new kit called Summer Lovin' and I had so much fun working with it.

Click on the layouts for credits...

This last one was from ScrapOrchards very first Speed Scrap(Make it Snappy) Which I am excited to announce that there will be more of in the future. It was a lot of fun!!! I have missed the last 2 at ScrapMatters. I will keep you posted of upcoming Speed Scraps.

Also my niece is finally home from the hospital and is doing very well. I did a layout with her newborn pictures. Seriously, I cannot believe these newborn hospital pictures. They have a studio in the hospital now with props and stuff! My kids all have the same striped blanket in the background, laying in the bassinet with the same expression on their face! OOOOOO someone pulled the binkie out of my mouth!!! LOL!

...and here are 2 more that I worked on this week. 6 layouts in a week, that might just be a record for me!!!

Of course I wouldn't go this long without posting without giving out a freebie! I have a template from my Chasing Seagulls layout for you. Click on template for download!

We are hoping to get the CT Blog up and running by August 1st so I will keep you posted on that! Have a great rest of the week!

Speed Scrap Preview and a Freebie!

2008-07-16T14:41:00.000-07:00

I'm back and I have a preview of the participation prize for the Speed Scrap tomorrow night and a new freebie template! Brittney made the participation prize and it is such a fun mini kit you won't want to miss it. I love the colors...

So fun! Remember I am hosting this one so I hope to see you there. For those of you that don't know what a Speed Scrap is, I will be starting at 7pm (PST) and I will give you an instruction. Then every 10 min. I will give you another instruction and you will add to your page with what I tell you to add or embellish. You might start out with one picture but when I tell you to use a certain background paper it just might now be the paper for that photo! You never know what you will end up with but some of my speed scrap layouts are my favorite layouts.

I am trying to enjoy a quiet afternoon but my baby doesn't seem to want to take a nap! I've kicked my other kids out of the family room. I made a HUGE mistake of showing Hayden(my 7 year old) how to use the DVR. He's watching and rewinding and fast forwarding the same shows all day long! And then of course he has to act them all out. Which right now it's either Ben 10 or Star Wars so he's jumping all over the place. It's enough to make a sane person crazzzzy! I'm not even a sane person!LOL! So this morning I told him that the TV was broken and his dad would fix it when he was done working today. So he's forced to watch regular cable in his room without the DVR. Poor kid. So the moral of the story is do not teach your children how to work the DVR. We have at least 15 shows scheduled to record and every time we go to change the channel it warns us that we have 2 shows recording and do we want to cancel it! He's out of control! 3 weeks from today! Arizona is too hot for summer break! We should have our break during the winter so the kids can go outside!

I am on the second book of the Twilight series and I really like it. I'm trying to take my time so I won't be waiting too long for the last book to come out. Everyone that has read the book has told me that they didn't like the 2nd book but I have really enjoyed it. I haven't quite decided which team I'm on yet! I almost favor Jacob at this point. Please don't leave me mean comments, I haven't finished the series yet so I could change my mind! LOL! So I am going to get off the computer today so that I can read more of my book. But not without giving you your freebie. I made a template of my Daddy's Hands layout and if you missed the Word Art freebie from last month I have the link for you again! My layout has a hanging clip on it. I love that look. If you don't have any hanging clips in your collection check out Brittney's store at ScrapMatters, she has some great kits with hanging clips in them. She also has a template pack called 'Hang Em High.

Download Template HERE

Download WordArt HERE

See you on Friday for the new kit previews! Have a great day!

Tuesday Template Challenge

2008-07-15T15:31:00.000-07:00

We have a new challenge at ScrapMatters today and I have to say that this was one of the funnest templates I have used in a long time. Very simple and endless possibilities. The Challenge is hosted by Rhonda and she created the template!

Credits here

You can download the template in the Team Blog or the forum. Remember there will be a favorite and a random picked by Rhonda for a $5 GC to ScrapMatters!

So far this week I have accomplished DEEP cleaning my kids rooms, you know clothes and toys and all that stuff. I have a ridiculous amount of baby clothes that I need to pass onto someone and Landon will not stay in anything that confines him now so I also need to find a home for his jumper and saucer. He had his first Dum Dum today at Peter Piper Pizza. I was trying to appease him so the kids could play a little bit longer. There is this new Deal or No Deal game at Peter Piper Pizza and poor Hunter waited the whole time(at least 2 hours) for this middle aged guy to stop playing it. I'll have to take him back because when he politely asked the man if him and his brother could maybe have a turn the man told him, 'Yes, it's my turn' Seriously????

Anyway, it gives me a chance to get the kids out of the house. I decided my next home will have a basement so the kids can just go wild and I will keep my sanity. Is it time for school yet? LOL!

My niece is doing good. She will still be in the hospital for at least another week but I was able to hold her last night. She was in the room with Brigette and Wes. They are still there 'nesting' I guess. She looks so much like Hensley did!

I am working on a freebie, hopefully tomorrow I will post it and don't forget the Speed Scrap on Thursday night 7pm (PST) I am hosting! Woo Hoo. I will post the participation prize as soon as Brittney gives it to me!

Have a great day and head over to ScrapMatters for the new challenge!

I got an award!

2008-07-12T16:15:00.000-07:00

I have been given an award by 2 people. Ginger from GingerScraps and Miss JillianRoze. Both girls are in my Cafe Mom group and are quickly adding to the Digital Scrapbooking community. Apparently I have an awesome playlist! LOL! So now I need to pass the award onto 7 other Brillante Weblogs! So here goes.

Pineapple Plantation- I cannot go on Shauna's blog without getting a good laugh. She is hilarious. She is also one of the very talented designers at ScrapOrchard and frequently will pass out some freebies.

DigiTreats- She used to go by Princess Pamela but you'll have to check out her blog to see why she changed. I am amazed with her generousity. She is working so hard on not one but 3 alpha kits and they are freebies until they fall off of her page. She is constantly responding to everyone's comments and has a wonderful repore with her readers.

Britt-ish Designs- I look forward to reading Britt's blog. Especially on Friday's when she releases her new kits for that week. They are always fabulous! She also is doing a 52 blessings challenge so every Sunday she has a new blessing. And then there are her show-offs where she has a slide show of everyone that sends her a layout that they had done that week with her products!

Hawt Mama Blog- This is Traci Reed's team blog. They always have a Hybrid project and a challenge going on. Also her team always has awesome layouts of her newest projects, which if you haven't seen Traci's work you really need to. She is amazing!

ScrapMatters Team Blog- OK, I know I am partial but ScrapMatters has a posting everyday. Sunday Spotlight

What Matters Monday

Tuesday Template Challenge

Words for Wednesday

Theory Thursday

Fotography Friday

and Saturday's Special Challenge

Brittney works very hard coordinating the blog and there is always something fun and there are frequently freebies!

Ginger Scraps- Right back at ya Ginger. It has to take such a long time to find and post all those freebies. Thank you for all your hard work!!!

Flergs- I love Flergs style. She always has clusters of flowers and glitter. She often will have a freebie and takes a lot of time to make sure you have the instructions you need to make her kits look as fabulous as she makes them.

So there are my 7 Brillante Weblog's you can find all of them on my sidebar.

Now onto the Saturday Challenge. Sya is hosting this week and her challenge is to scrapbook your talent! So I thought through my talents and decided to do it a little different. I decided to do my layout on one of my forgotten talents. Not quite as forgotten as the violen, that one is forgotten and buried. Playing the piano...

I have not sat down and played my piano since I was pregnant with Hensley. So sad! So I've decided that I am going to start up playing the piano again. I really enjoy it.

So 2 things for this week, start playing the piano again and finish my unfinished projects(yes from like a month ago)LOL!

Hope you have a wonderful Sunday!

Speed Scrap!!!

2008-07-10T22:14:00.000-07:00

Speed Scrap was awesome last night! Leah did such a great job with her instruction and making you stretch past your comfort zone! Here is how my turned out!

It took me an hour to figure out the title. Still not positive if I'm happy with it! I will be hosting next weeks Speed Scrap. Same day, same time!

So, at the beginning of the week I was excited to announce that my new niece had arrived. She was born on Monday at 8:02 am. She was 8 lbs. 6 oz. and 10 days early because like me, my sister-in-law has to have her babies C-Section! She is a beautiful baby girl that they named Teaghan October. She has the same mouth as my babies so it was crazy looking at her. I feel like I am looking at Hensley.

Newborn hospital pictures have come along way in just 11 months.

My baby is a year old in a month! He is sooo big! He's a tank. Not like chunky, just solid, ok a little chunky!!! LOL! He's walking around furniture now. I can't take my eye off of him for a second. He's fun though. I had to get him a new car seat. He has completely outgrown his infant seat so I got him a regular car seat. He loves his new big car seat!

We have just a little less than 4 weeks until school starts again. It starts so early here and we are not even on year round. They will go back August 6th. Hunter is going into 8th grade and Hayden into 2nd. Hensley has 1 more year of preschool. I don't even know what I'll do when I only have 1 kid during the day, or when they are all in school. Long time away, but I know it will come quick!

So I added some more kits to the preview below that came out today. Brittney has a really cool Shapes kit, you can do anything with them. Ellie came out with 2 awesome kits and an alpha!

Preview and Freebie are in the next post. Don't miss out!

Have a great weekend!

Previews and a Freebie!

2008-07-10T11:19:00.001-07:00

Here is my preview of all the awesome new products this week. You can check them out at ScrapMatters.

Also, the new Tuesday Template Challenge is going on right now in ScrapMatters right now. The template and host is Heather Lee and it is a fun challenge about a special day. I have a ton of special days but I felt that Hayden's 6th birthday fit the template the best!

You can find the link on our team blog. Also, don't forget the Speed Scrap tonight. It is at 10 pm eastern (9 pm central, 8 pm mountain, 7 pm pacific.) The host tonight is Leah and she has a fun mini kit for everyone that participates.

I'm planning on playing this week so I will see you there.

My Scavenger Hunt ended on Sunday and my last download was a template that I decided to share with all of you. I have recently started using Box.net for my downloads so your download will be instant. If you want to leave my some love please leave a comment here on my blog. I love to hear from all of you!

Download Here

I guess just a lot of business today. I've got to take my kids to Peter Piper Pizza. If I sit in this house one more day with them I just might go nuts!!!

Have a great day!!!

Check out my flair!!!

2008-07-02T21:17:00.000-07:00

Did you see my way cute flair on my blog! Flergs made two sets of flair from her 'Evilicious' and 'What dreams may come' kits! Absolutely love it!!! If you haven't heard the story behind her 'Evilicious' kit you really need to head over and read about it! So funny! While your at it head over to Pineapple Plantation to read how Shauna and her family were headed for Utah and ended up in Tijuana! I love Shauna, she is hilarious! Yes I have been blog hopping today, among other things! I have a Scavenger Hunt going on over in my CafeMom group as a Happy Birthday event. It's going very well, but while I've been checking my messages and sending links to a kit that I made(scary huh) I have been keeping myself busy doing a CafeMom beach Scavenger Hunt and it is very addicting. So, in a nutshell, I have not been productive at all this week! One productive thing I have done this week is host the Tuesday Challenge at ScrapMatters. The challenge is to scrapbook a summer tradition. Here is one of my favorite childhood traditions that I am trying to give to my children. It's a little harder living in Arizona but not impossible.

Credits Here

Challenge will end on Tuesday. I will pick 2 winners for a $5 GC from the ScrapMatters store. My favorite and a random winner.

Details and download is on the team blog.

All right, I am going to watch a movie with my hubby. 2 out of 3 kids are sleeping and the oldest is with his mom! Yay! Quiet time! Have a good night!

Back to the Valley of the Sun!!!

2008-06-29T21:26:00.000-07:00

Well, I am back to 110 degree weather. It is good to be home though. 10 days is a little long to be gone with kids I decided. We had a lot of fun and packed a lot of activities into the trip. I saw some friends and co-workers from my Albertson's days. Lagoon was fun but I was exhausted by the end of the day. I remember going there when it first opened and staying until it was closed. I was done after 5 hours. I did go one my favorite ride, the old wooden roller coaster. I always sit there and wonder if this is the time that it will crack and fall apart! LOL!

I took probably at least 1,000 pictures. I had to empty my card twice. Of course more than half of those can be discarded but I haven't gone through all of them yet. My cousin and I were taking pictures the day after we got there and we kind of went crazy! I got some priceless ones though. We started taking pictures of things you can't find or do in Arizona. By the end of the trip it was what we couldn't find or do in Arizona and things you can only find in Utah! So here is my top 10!!! Just for fun!!!

OK, this one is just for this time of year but you would never see my kids playing outside right now in Arizona!!!

As I mentioned in my last blog! There is nothing like walking barefoot in the grass in Utah. It's so soft and cool!!! I tried to plant lilac's in my town home when I first moved to Arizona, they died within a month. Lilac's are my absolute favorite. They smell heavenly!!!

My neighbor had this tree in their front yard. The little green 'things' doubled as a helicopter and a Pinocchio nose!!!

OK, I guess you could see this sign in Northern Arizona but you would never see this is Mesa!!!

This is just too cute not to post. You would never see my kids rolling down a hill in Arizona. Why? Because it's too stinkin' hot and the grass feels like glass!!!

You can see the Mesa Temple in Arizona but there is absolutely nothing like the Salt Lake Temple. I don't care if you are L.D.S. or not, it is breathtaking!!!

OK, the next 3 are things you will only find in Utah! You won't appreciate it until you move away.

These last 2 would have come in very handy when I sent away my 3 missionaries! HeHe! Didn't marry one of them! I ended up marrying someone else's missionary! (The first time)I have a soft spot for Gordon B. Hinkley. I was very happy to see his face on a Billboard!!!

OK, there is my list! Now keep in mind! I love Arizona!!! It is just way too hot, but the summer only last about 4 months and then it is paradise while everyone is cold and shoveling their driveways!!!

That's about all for tonight! I just wanted to add that my husband got a brand new Plasma Screen T.V. He kept complaining about the picture on our other T.V. and I just couldn't see what he was talking about. But now that it is sitting in my family room, I didn't realize a T.V. could look so good! I got a vacation and my husband gets a new T.V. I love it when I can benefit from both! LOL! SpongeBob has never looked sooo good!

Now for your freebie! I made you a new freebie template! This is the template from Landon's first swim! This was my first speed scrap. I probably wouldn't have added stars to my layout but that is the fun of a speed scrap, you never know what you are going to end up with!!!

Download Here

Speaking of Speed Scrap! I was actually able to catch the Tuesday night one on my vacation! Here is my end result!

I took these pictures of Landon is Park City. It was one of those Speed Scraps that all the instructions turned out perfect! I loved this layout!

I will have to get back to you on the details of this weeks Speed Scrap.

Check back on Tuesday though because I am hosting the Tuesday Template Challenge at ScrapMatter! You won't want to miss out!

Also, my Digital Scrapbooking Group on Cafe Mom is a year old! We started the 2nd year with 727 members. Way more than I ever expected when I started the group a year ago. There is a link on my left sidebar. We are starting a scavenger hunt tomorrow! I recently added 2 administrators to help me out since my time is more limited now with kids out of school and a 10 month old running the house! He learned how to pull himself up to furniture while I was out of town! Nothing is safe!!!

Have a good night and check back soon for the Tuesday Challenge and an update on the Speed Scrap this week!!!

Checking in!!!

2008-06-23T23:23:00.000-07:00

Just a quick one tonight! Although I do have a ton to blog about! I am having a fabulous time here in Utah! I forget how beautiful it is here. It's sooo green and the mountains are amazing! My kids are having a lot of fun and absolutely love being outside and laying in the grass. You can't do that in Arizona, any time of year. I don't know what it is but the grass always feels sharp and like weeds, even when it is green. So we have spent a lot of time outside laying in the grass. I sat the baby in the grass and he didn't even know what to do. So he started eating it. I promise to post and scrapbook lots of pictures but I am very tired tonight.

I just wanted to quick mention that I went to lunch today with the fabulous Brittney from ScrapMatters and fellow CT member Dacia. We had a great time and it was so nice to sit and actually talk to these girls that I correspond with on almost a daily basis. We realized last minute that we needed to take a picture and asked a guy in the parking lot to take it. I'm almost positive that I went to high school with him but I am having the hardest time remembering names anymore. Everyone has changed so much!!! Anywho, just wanted to post our kind of blurry photo and tell Dacia and Brittney thank you so much for meeting me in A.F. and having lunch today! It was a ton of fun to sit and visit with friends that share the same interest(addiction) with me.

My little Hayden is turning 7 tomorrow, actually today. I can't believe how big he is getting. We are going to Lagoon for his birthday. I love Lagoon! Have a good night and check back soon for some fun pictures and a fun little post that I have been working on putting together. Maybe I will even be able to throw in a freebie!

Before I Leave...

2008-06-17T20:20:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to post this for the last 4 days. Definately before Father's Day. I'm anticipating a very long drive with 3 children under the age of 6. Therefore, I cannot be excited yet, just nervous. I am bringing my 17 year old cousin with me to help out, so that should make it a lot better. We are going to visit Grandma and Grandpa in Utah. It should be a lot of fun once I can get there. It is getting so hot here, I'm excited to get into the mountains.

So, I just wanted to share a few things. 1st of all, last weeks Speed Scrap was a huge success! There were a ton of people participating. Our next one is tommorow night 8pm MST. I will hopefully be in Park City by then. Here was my result from last week.

I used SHARIng Creations 'My Independence' kit. I went perfect with these pics that I have been waiting to scrapbook!!!

Then the Saturday Challenge was a '10 things' challenge, so with it being Father's Day I decided to do a page on my husband! I hardly ever scrapbook anything about him! I ended up framing a copy and giving it to him for Father's Day...

I used ScrappyBlueStones 'Love Letters ' kit. I love this kit! And then I decided to do some Word Art for Father's Day and came up with this layout! This is absolutely one of my favorite pictures!

Hard to believe the same little girl is just in the other room, refusing to sleep and causing trouble! Who said girls were easier? This is Brittney's newest kit called 'Just Married' You will have to check out the actual kit. Obviously it can be used as more than a wedding kit. It is packed full of fun and elegant!

And then is today's template challenge. The template is by Brittney and it is a Text Path challenge. The kit is from Digi-Keepsakes and is called 'Hopeful Wishes'

I didn't have time to put together a preview but we have 2 new designers and a bunch of new kits in the store! 'Ever After' is amazing. Also HappyScrapGirl has a Text Path kit that I cannot wait to use. So check out the store.

OK, so now for your freebies, yes I made 2!!!

First is a template that I made from my 'All American' layout...

Download here

and then the Title and Word Art from my layout 'Daddy's Hands'

It comes in both black and white

Download here

All right! Wish me luck! I don't know how much Internet access I will have, or time. I will come back with a ton of new pictures.

I am excited to have lunch with Brittney and the Utah ScrapMatters girls.

Enjoy your freebies!!!

My Obsession!!!

2008-06-10T21:01:00.000-07:00

I made it back with the Tuesday Template Challenge. This weeks challenge was to scrapbook your obsession. So I was trying to think which of my obsessions I should scrapbook about. My kids, no, everyone knows that my kids are my obsession. My computer, digital scrapbooking, no surprise there. So I decided to scrapbook one of my fun obsessions. My Roxy flip flops...

I know, it's a problem. It drives my husband crazy! At least their flip flops! I could have Coach purse addiction...oh wait I do!!! LOL!

Don't forget Speed Scrap tomorrow night! 7pm PST! It's going to be fun!!! I'm also feeling another template coming on!!! Maybe a little Father's Day Word Art!!!

So, I came to the realization that I have too many dogs! I am overwhelmed with 6 dogs and 4 kids. So today I finally broke down and put 2 of my doxies on Craig's list. Brandon has been asking me to for a couple of months now. I had to keep one of the puppies so I had the mommy, daddy and baby, plus my husbands Black Lab Ranger, my Llasa Apso Romeo and another Daschund who is the old man Waldo and the same age as Hunter. Way too many dogs! 10 minutes after I had posted to Craig's list I had a phone call, 4 calls in total, all wanting both dogs to keep them together. A lady showed up tonight with her 2 boys and took home my Dax and Rowdy. I kept Paige who is the momma. I feel bad but I know it is the best thing for all the dogs. I was so overwhelmed by all of them that I just kept them all outside and now it is too hot for them to be outside all the time. Also Dax and Rowdy will have a great home with 2 boys that will play with them.

So Sad!!! The lady said she would keep in touch! At least I still have Paige, she was the runt of her litter and is just little. She loves to play catch and when my baby is crying she comes and gets me and follows me until I pick him up and he stops crying. She's my favorite. So now we have 4 dogs.

OK, I've been tagged again! This is going to be hard!!!

I married someone who's mother insisted that all his kids needed to be named with the same letter. He already had Hunter, so then we had Hayden and Hensley and thought we were done. Then our little surprise miracle baby came and I loved the name Landon from 'A Walk to Remember' My mother in law is still mad at me and wouldn't call him by his first name for the 1st month of his life! She would introduce him to people as Heath because that was the middle name we gave him, just in case he felt left out! I would do it all over again! I love his name!!!

I still cry at the end of 'Sense and Sensibility'

I have 6 brothers and 4 sisters and haven't seen 3 of them since I was 16 years old.

I love going to the ocean. I don't make it there very often but when I do I love the sound of the crashing waves.

I love the smell of rain. The Monsoon season in Arizona is awesome! Hot Rain and a relief from the heat! I love Arizona!!!

I hate snow and the cold, that's why I am here in Arizona and not still in Utah!

I love to put my Ipod on and sing and dance around the house. But only when I'm alone or with my kids.

Now I am tagging...

My girl Channon Z.- http://channonstorybooking.blogspot.com/

Our Aussie Stacy- http://www.stacysbackdoor.blogspot.com/

My friend from Jr. High and High School Rachel- http://www.everylittlememory.blogspot.com/

My favorite blog Flergs- http://flergsblog.blogspot.com/

I love Pineapple Plantation(have you heard her lizard story?)- http://pineappleplantation.blogspot.com/

Sarah from ScrapMatters- http://mythreehens.blogspot.com/

The other AZMelanie- http://digiscrapforfree.blogspot.com/

Ok there you go, I'm going to read my book! I'm likin' this Edward guy a lot!!! My friend Misti sent me a little saying from MySpace...

Someone should sue Disney for making little girls think that there is a Prince Charming!!!

I loved it!!! My poor friend Krista is depressed that she is done with the 3 books that are out and has to wait until August for the last one!!! And that someone like Edward does not exist! I think I will pace myself!!!

Have a great night and I hope to see you tomorrow night at ScrapMatters!!! Don't forget you have to be registered to the forum to participate and to post in the gallery!!!

Quick Post!

2008-06-09T21:54:00.000-07:00

I'm very tired tonight! I had a very emotional day today and it has completely drained me! I just wanted to pop in and let you know that I am hosting the Speed Scrap this week. We are doing it on Wednesday this week and it will start at 7pm PST. I am really excited to be hosting this week and I hope you will all join us. The more people there are the more fun we all have! For those of you that don't know what a Speed Scrap is, I will start at 7pm and I will give instructions of what I want you to put on your pages. Every 10 minutes I will give you a different instruction for 1 hour. You will then have 1 additional hour to put the finishing touches on your page. You will need to be registered in the ScrapMatters forum to participate. All questions including a breakdown of the different time zones can be found in the forum. You can also check out the previous Speed Scraps to get an idea of how they work! The Participation Prize this week is from the ever so talented Ellie Lash. You won't want to miss it!!!

I've been tagged again by miss Jillian Rose! She has the most beautiful baby girl named Madison!!! That is my favorite name is the world!!! I will try to get to this tomorrow. It was hard enough thinking of the 1st 7 random things about me! LOL! Have a good night! I'm not going to say I'll be back tomorrow with the new template challenge because everytime I say I'll be back, it takes me a week to get back! Keep your fingers crossed! One thing is for sure! I will be at ScrapMatters at 7 pm PST for an awesome Speed Scrap!!!

(Oh yeah, I am loving my new book! Somehow reading a book in a whole day is long gone! But what I have read I absolutely love and I am hooked. My friend Krista is almost done with the 3rd one!)

Are you ready for this?

2008-06-06T18:58:00.000-07:00

All of a sudden I have a very old late 80's early 90's song in my head. You know the one! This is going to be a huge post, so I thought it only fair to make you a freebie to go along with it. First of all, I'm sure you noticed my redesign of my blog again, unless you're my friend Misti and when I told her to go check out my blog because I worked so hard on it and stayed up until a ridiculous hour finishing it and my blinkie she Instant Messaged me 'What am I looking for'? Hello Misti!!! LOL!!! Gotta love her!

So, the kit that I designed my blog with is called 'Sprite' and it is a collaboration between none other than Britt-ish Designs and Erica Zane. They also of course have freebies on their blogs to coordinate.

http://zane-escraps.blogspot.com/

http://brittishdesigns.blogspot.com/

Funny story! My husband is always wondering why I need to check my email and blog and ScrapMatters and my CafeMom group throughout the day. I always tell him that the Digital Scrapbooking world may go on without me. So, last Friday I was soooo busy doing hair and completing this graduation scrapbook for a friend and didn't have time to check anything! I checked my email Saturday morning and had an email from HappyScrapGirl telling me that she had 'Tagged Me' and to check her blog!(Still to come, remember, mondo post!!!) So I go to HSG's blog and start looking at her freebies list and all of the sudden I see 2 freebies, one from Britt and one from Erica Zane that looked like a Tinkerbell theme! See, the digital scrapbook world went on without me and released the kit I have always been waiting for. My SassyPixie is actually my daughter because she's got so much spunk and we also went through a big Tinkerbell phase when she was about 2. She's moved on to Disney Princesses but I'm still stuck on Tink. Just a background story!!!

So I promised the Hunter hair story, but now it is been so long and hyped up it probably won't even be that interesting but here goes.

Anyone that knows me at all know that I can't stand Hunter's long 'skater' hair. It was a battle that I gave up on long ago. So about a month ago Hunter started talking about cutting his hair because it's hot and doesn't even look good and so on and so on. I keep my mouth shut because if I say something like, 'Hunter, I really like that shirt' he will never wear it again. Is it a teenage thing? I really don't know!

On Memorial Day we had Brandon's family over for a BBQ and I of course was doing everyone's hair. Hunter decides he wants me to cut his hair but he has always wanted to cut his own hair and just play with it and then when he is done messing it up then I get give him a summer haircut! Yay!!!

So we are all watching him cut his hair and it's kind of funny because he's taking a little off this side and a little off that side and chop chop and I don't even what how he messed up his bangs as bad as he did. A little layering, which even though he thinks he is a master with the scissors, he is not. So let's just go with the phrase, 'All jacked up'!

Which is fine because I get to shave it off when he is done right? Wrong! He decides he doesn't want his hair short and even though it is 'Jacked Up' he doesn't want me touching it because if he just lets it grow through the summer it will be fine for school.

So I'm thinking, I know his mother is not going to let him go around in public like that and she will make him fix it. Wrong again. She tells him to wear a hat this summer and it will be fine for school!!! So frustrated!!! The kid gets away with whatever he wants. Anytime we do anything that he doesn't like he gets his mother or my in-laws involved and it ends up all out war. So now I get to look at this terrible haircut and know that people are wondering if I did it!!! I'm frustrated all over again!

You think he would have learned last summer that you can't cut your own hair with the whole Hensley incident. For all you new readers and for those who just never heard the story this is what happened last July, one month before Landon was born...

Really sad!!! For a while she had a mullet until it was long enough for me to cut it into an A-Line Bob. It's now to her chin, almost a year later!

So I mentioned that I had been tagged by my chickadee HappyScrapGirl!

So here goes...

I have been a Cosmetologist for 15 years.

I have 6 dogs, I get puppy hungry like most people get baby hungry. My favorite are Daschunds(weiner dogs)

I hate to cook and if I could get away with it I would have take-out every night of my life.

I was born in Oregon, grew up in Utah and live in Arizona.

I am a recovering shop-a-holic. At one point my step-son thought the U.P.S truck was the QVC truck and my husband realized there might be a problem when the U.P.S driver brought a dog treat for my dog. I know, I'm not proud.

I sold Mary Kay Cosmetics for 6 years and at one point drove a red Mary Kay car.

I have a crazy obsession that I NEED every pair of ROXY flip flops out there. There are some styles that I have in every color!!! Love Roxy Flip Flops!

There you go, a few random facts about me!

I am tagging...

Ginger - GingerScraps

Stacy(Tater) - TaterScraps

Jeni - Jeni's Crafty Blog

Dacia - Strange Brewings

Sya - Scrap Stuff

Ellie - Ellie Lash Designs

Heather - Joy Revisited

I was kind of MIA this past week because last Sunday my external hard drive took a dive. So then of course I had a melt down because that was 60GB of 8 years worth of pictures, 4 years worth of Digital Scrapbooking Goodies and all my pages. Finally on Wednesday, Julie, who did my murals, her husband came over and saved what was on the hard drive so that I was able to put it back on my computer. 'Sigh' of relief. So I missed Ellie's template challenge and the Speed Scrap on Tuesday. Ellie's challenge is still on until next Tuesday so I still may be able to get to it.

The ScrapMatters store has exploded with new products this last week. I am amazed by how much new fun stuff they have. I seriously will never get this posted if I post every single one so I am going to highlight a few of my favorites but you seriously need to check out their store to see everything!!!

We also have a new Collaboration kit by Andilynn Designs, SHARIng Creations and HappyScrapGirl. It is called Refresh and it is such a fun summer kit!!!

It also has the color scheme of the Saturday Special Challenge. Here is my take on it...

And the kit we are using this month for our Quick Page Exchange is Flower Girl from GG Designs...

Whew!!! That was a lot of business!!!

OK, so a few more things before I go. 1st, I don't know if any of you are a 'DigiTreat' stalker, but I am. I stumbled on her blog about a month ago and was instantly a daily visitor. She has 3 different Alphabet kits. Skip, Run and Jump. She gives away a piece everyday but once it falls off her 1st page then it goes into her store. I came into it about the beginning of I and the end of her personalized name kits, luckily for me I discovered her just in time to order one for each of my kids...

So my wonderful intentions this summer is to make each of my kids an Alphabet book and then have it published by Heritage Makers into an actual book! This is my wonderful intention, but you know me and my projects...oh wait, you don't because my hard drive crashed before I could post last Saturday's 'So Me' challenge by Tater. She gave the challenge because while she was on the computer, trying to think up a challenge her husband was picking up around her and said, 'Do you think you have enough flip flops? And what are all these half empty bottles of water?' The 'So Me' challenge was born and I laughed out loud when I read the email and read it out loud to my husband. He said, "That sounds familiar, you on the computer scrapbooking, me picking up all of your flip flops and half empty cans of Dr. Pepper." I instantly had to email Tater and tell her that it was 'So Me' also but that I would have to come up with a different one. This was my end result...

So, as I was saying, really good intentions. And I will certaintly post it as I go along. I am going to start with Hayden 1st. I also thought I might post the template for each letter. Another project to put on my list. So far this week I've only completed Tawny's graduation book because her graduation party was last weekend. LOL. So Me!

I had to cut Landon's hair again. That is 3 haircuts and he isn't quite 10 months yet. The kid has a full head of hair. He was born with a full head of black hair. So black I was afraid my husband was going to wonder who the father was if it wasn't for the fact that all 4 of his children are clones of when he was a baby.

I just sit him in his Bumbo on my salon chair and he let's me cut his hair. He's such a good baby! He is crawling all over the house, actually jungle crawling around the whole house. He can get up on all fours but when it comes to getting around he drops down a pulls himself all over the house! Nothing is safe anymore.

I also got his pictures back this week...

I have to admit I am a little disapointed. These 9 month pictures are such a big deal and they did not capture how stinking cute he is. I guess I was just expecting something more like Hayden's.

They are very cute though!

Well, I will leave with one more thought tonight.(Does it take anyone else 2 days to do a blog post?) Just curious. I think I just need to keep up on it more often.

I have heard about the book 'Twilight' for months now. In fact it was on my book shelf for probably at least 4 months and then my friend took it to give to another friend to read. I keep thinking, I am just not into the whole Vampire thing, especially since I decided that my sister-in-law is an actual Vampire! Ha Ha! LOL! Only some of you will really appreciate this because you have actually met her. So back to the book. My friend Krista is telling me earlier this week that her friend had given her this book to read and she seriously has never, ever read a book. The next day she tells me that she was up the whole night reading this book and for the 1st time ever she can actually see in her mind what she is reading. I love reading, but haven't read a book since I was working in a very slow salon during the summer of 2005. It was a Mary Higgins Clark book, she is my absolute favorite author. I love mystery novels!

So I decided that I must read 'Twilight' I went from store to store the last couple of days and could only find the brand new book. Finally today I went into Borders in our mall and found a copy. I am going to read a book tomorrow. I am not going to turn on my computer and I am going to read this book! So I will tell you if I liked it when I am back on Monday. I am a little burnt out on the computer after being obsessed with fixing the stinkin' hard drive.

So you made it through my novel post. Either that or you scrolled down until you found the download link. It's actually at the 1st of my post. JK!

Here is my freebie template. It is from my Special Saturday Challenge. Enjoy!

Download Link HERE

Have a great rest of your weekend!!! I'm outta here, I am exhausted and my Muse has gone to bed without me!

LOST!!!

2008-05-29T22:10:00.000-07:00

OMG! Is anyone a LOST fan! Just watched the season finale. I don't think I would ruin it for anyone. Isn't Pacific the last time zone? If not you probably better stop reading for a while! AHH! How is Locke in the casket? How is he even off the island? I'm dying! Well at least last years questions have been answered, now for this years questions. Like, where did the island go? And more importantly, where is Sawyer? He is so on my list! You know the one! Him and McDreamy! OK, I promise, story tomorrow, I have to go to bed!!!

My Heavy Heart

2008-05-28T21:08:00.000-07:00

I have such a heavy heart tonight. I usually try to keep my blog very positive and happy but my heart just hurts tonight and I guess I just want to express it.

I have a very good friend that I have been friends with since Hayden and her Rachel were babies, we actually knew each other way back to when my ex-husband and I first moved to Arizona and we taught one nursery class and she and her husband taught the other nursery class in our church. We also lived in the same apartments as them but Jenni and I didn't make that connection for many, many years. Anyway, I have been doing Jenni's hair and her parents and her sister from Minnesota when she comes into town for a long time, so I know the whole family! I've known since January that her sister in Minnesota, who was pregnant, had an ultrasound in early January where Cassi and her family found out the gender of their baby. At this ultrasound they were told their baby was a girl and were so excited, they have a 2 year old boy. They were also informed that she had a problem with her heart. This finding set in motion an emotional cascade of further testing and appointments that culminated in the baby being diagnosed with a unique chromosomal disease that most closely paralleled something called Trisomy 18. They soon learned that the outlook for children with this disorder is not good with many pregnancies resulting in stillbirth and few living beyond one year.

I've talked to Jenni and her mom and dad each time I have done their hair and have heard the progress of her pregnancy and their trials. At one point Jim, Jenni's dad told me that a so called friend had emailed Cassi pictures of other babies with this same disease, that had died and were disformed, which I thought was horribly cruel. It of course upset her deeply.

Jenni called about 3 weeks ago to let me know that the baby had been born and as of that morning the baby was still alive but they had taken all the tubes out and were waiting. Cassi was able to hold her baby and they were able to bless her and give her a name before they took her away to a different hospital. As soon as Cassi was released she went to the hospital that her baby was at and was able to spend a little more time with her before she died. I had heard this from Jenni and her dad and luckily both her parents and brothers and sister were able to be there for her.

Today I did Jenni's hair and was talking to her about everything and she gave me the url to Cassi's blog, which I feel is too private to share with everyone. So the blog hopper that I am, I went to her blog tonight and was soon in tears looking at the pictures of the grave side memorial and the words of her husband who spoke at the memorial, I think what hit me the hardest was, 'For having so many problems, she had a surprisingly tight little grip – enough to consistently melt the heart of her 27 year old father.'

I am in tears again. This just breaks my heart and I feel so thankful that my 3 children have been so healthy and I have had the opportunity to raise them and be a mother to them. I admire Cassi's strength and they will be in my prayers daily.

So, I am going to kiss my children once again tonight and leave you with some word art. Our Speed Scrap was alot of fun last night and one of things we were instructed to do was create word art for our page. This was my final result...

This is my sweet little miracle, we know for everything we did to prevent another child, he is our miracle baby and has added so much joy to his mother's life. I'm sorry for the sad blog tonight. I promise for a more upbeat one tomorrow. I still need to tell my Hunter's hair story, I have pictures and maybe a video if I dare post it. He will be furious with me if I do. We'll see. Here is the download link for the word art, it comes in black, white and red. Go kiss your babies for me tonight and thank God for all your blessings!

Tuesday Challenge and Speed Scrap Tonight

2008-05-27T11:55:00.000-07:00

Time for another Tuesday Template Challenge at ScrapMatters. This week is hosted by Kate with a way fun template.

You can check out the details for the challenge here.

Here is my layout...

I so miss my baby girl, she is getting so big. She cracks us up daily though, you never know what she will say next.

Here is my entry this month for the quick page exchange! I love HappyScrapGirls 'Inspire Me' kit, it is so pretty! That picture of Hensley was taken when she was 9 months, here are Hayden's 9 month...

I absolutely love these pictures. Last week we took Landon to get his. I put him in the same outfit as Hayden and had total Deja Vu. They turned out so cute, I don't get them back until next week.

Here is one more layout that I worked on the last couple of days...

Template, papers and elements are all from Dirty Feet Designs. Full Credits are here.

One last thing, I was going to tell you my Memorial Day/Hunter's Hair story but I need to post this before the Speed Scrap is over!!! Speed Scrap at ScrapMatters tonight at 8pm Mountain Time. I actually can participate this week. These are so, so fun!!! So we will see you at ScrapMatters tonight and I will tell you my story hopefully tomorrow!

Saturday Special and a Freebie!!!

2008-05-24T15:28:00.000-07:00

Again, it has been forever since my last blog! Hopefully I a making up for it with a new Template freebie. Summer break has officially started. Summers are so hard here for kids to be out of school. I really wish we were on year round. It is way too hot for them to do anything but swim. So, except for the couple hours of the day we can swim, they are usually stir crazy in the house and getting on each others nerves. Oh well, at least I'm not pregnant this summer. Anything has to be better than last summer. My kids and I are actually going to Utah next month for about a week. I am excited for that. We will be there for Hayden's 7th birthday, we are going to Lagoon for that, I love Lagoon!

My Mural is finished and it turned out fabulous!!! Even better than the picture she initially showed me before she started...

The detailing is just amazing! Thank you Julie! My daughter is a very lucky little girl.

So, I am a little late showing you ScrapMatters Tuesday Template challenge. This week was hosted by Teresa and her template was a lot of fun...

I used Andilynn designs Summer is Here Remix and Sun Kissed Porch kits.

Today's Special Saturday Challenge is hosted by Staci. It is 8 Simple Rules challenge. You can check out all the rules here. Here is my layout...

My little Hayden is growing up way to fast! He is such an awesome kid though, I am very proud of the little person he is becoming.

I used Britt-ish Designs and GG Digital Designs collaberation kit 'High School Never Ends' This is such a fun school kit, for any age. I also used Brittney's 'Clearly Square Alpha' So fun!!!

Speaking of Brittney, she released a brand new kit yesterday called 'I'm a Dreamer' It is such a pretty kit. And as usual there is a fabulous freebie to go with it on her blog.

Here are some new kits that have just been released from ScrapMatters...

Misschifis has been very busy! Love all her new kits!

And now, as promised here is your freebie for enduring yet another long blog.

Download here

It is a template of my Wild Thing layout. Enjoy and have a great holiday weekend!!!

Speed Scrap at ScrapMatters

2008-05-12T20:06:00.000-07:00

Quick post tonight! Tomorrow night 6pm Pacific Time, ScrapMatters is having a Speed Scrap. We had a lot of fun on NSD with them and have had alot of requests to have another one! Come on over and join us! Remember tomorrow 6pm Pacific Time!!! I'll be back tomorrow with the new Tuesday Template Challenge and some more pics of the mural. Almost done...

A Mural, a Preview and a Freebie!!!

2008-05-11T14:33:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day from sunny AZ! I am actually sitting at my parent's house across the street from mine by the pool. My parents are winter visitors which makes this an excellent home to escape to in the summer. I told my husband for mother's day I wanted to sit by the pool all day and not worry about kids. So far so good.

Also for Mother's Day I got a brand new camera. I got a Sony Cybershot 8.1 megapixel 10x zoom camera.

It is awesome, it's like a normal film camera, you push the button, it takes the picture, no delay!!! And, I love zoom! I love being able to take candid photos from across the room. So, of course the new camera and my day by the pool is all I would possibly need for Mother's Day, but then I went to Costco yesterday to pick up a cake for my sister-in-law's baby shower and saw the coolest thing ever....

It is a digital frame in the bottom left corner and then the other frames are for still pictures. It even plays music. Had to have it. So I was very spoiled this year.

I have been trying to update my blog all week and everyday something has happened. Monday I was so excited to blog about Cinco de Mayo which is kind of a fun holiday here in Arizona and I love Mexican Food so I have been excited for weeks to eat at Arriba's which is actually owned by my father-in-law's boss. He's the guy that goes around to all 4 (almost 5) Arriba's and makes sure everyone is doing there job. My husband also has their accounts with his sales job, still no one brings me home chips and salsa everyday!!! We take the kids there every year, they have mariachi bands and pinata's and of course, Mexican Food. My husband got the flu Monday morning, followed by Hayden and then that night, when I should be at Arriba's and my husband is in bed because he is sick, Hensley got it. Luckily the baby and I never did get it but still, no Arriba's. Monday night, while Hensley was sick, my laptop died, like just died... so my nephew who luckily is very good with computer's had to crash it and start over from scratch. I have been very good to keep all my picture and Digital Scrapbook stash backed up and on a separate hard drive, but I never backed up my music and never even thought about all my fonts. But, it is almost like I have a new computer. I just can't ever update my ipod again or it will wipe out all my songs.

Also this week, the same person that painted Landon's mural last year...

Julie Hughes-Konishi from Phoenix Valley Murals graciously offered to paint a princess mural in Hensley's room, we have been trading ever since last year for the one in Landon's room. So she started the mural this week. I wish I had the picture of what it looked like when it was just a sketch but my computer died and I hadn't moved those picture's over yet...

She is doing all 8 princesses on her wall. She is amazing, there is so much detail in her work. So she just needs to finish the last 3 princesses and it will be done. It is so fun to watch it all come together princess after princess. I will post the rest of the pictures when she is done! So, so fun!!!

Well, as promised I have a preview for you...

Great new kits out! Available at ScrapMatters.

Brittney's new kit is called 'High School Never Ends' and the fun thing is that she graduated from the same High School as me(years later) and her kit favors the school colors. It is actually a collaberation kit with GG Designs. They both have freebies on their blogs to go with the kit. Brittney's has a 'High School Musical' feel to it and Leslie is designed for the grads of '08.

Brittney's blog
Leslie's blog

This layout was for Tuesday's Template Challenge hosted by Kristie from Suzie Belle Designs. Walk Down Memory lane challenge. Mine is a photo of me when I was almost 1. I used Andrea's new 'Sun Kissed Porch' kit. I muted the colors so that it would coordinate with my dress. Her kit is very vibrant and colorful. It really reminds me of summers at my Nana's house in Utah.

This layout is for the Saturday Special Challenge that started yesterday. Tell a funny story. You probably think this is yet another layout of Landon, but it is actually my 6 year old Hayden when he was about 8 months old. I used Brittney's 'Dreams do come true' kit with the 'Mouse Encounter' mini freebie.

One more thing, the Quick Page Exchange this month is with HappyScrapGirl's 'Inspire Me' kit...

Maybe I will get it done before the last day of the month. I'm hoping that this week I will have a little more time to scrapbook! There is so much to do and so little time.

Now, for those of you that made to the end of this very long blog. Here is your freebie! I am giving you my template that I made for NSD weekend as a participation gift...

Download here

So there you go, enjoy. I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day!!!

National Scrapbook Day

2008-05-03T13:03:00.000-07:00

It's National Scrapbook Day today, YAY! And I am sitting here, my husband had to go into work and my real quick appointment turned into a double process color! Oh well, I'm here now! So I posted my challenge at ScrapMatters. I had it all ready to go, I was just waiting for midnight to post it. So 11:30 I layed down for just a minute because I couldn't see straight, I am such a party animal!!! Well, then I am dreaming about NSD, I know, scary huh and woke up a t 4am. So I got out of bed, came out in the dark and proceded to post my challenge. OK, so 4 hours late! I hope the members in Australia weren't too irritated with me. LOL! So just a quick preview of my participation prize and layout that I did for the challenge.

You can check out my journaling challenge here.

Also there is a new Saturday Special challenge in the team blog, check it out here.

OK,now my baby is crying, next year I am checking into a hotel. LOL!

Happy Scrapping!!!

It's Starting!!!

2008-05-02T16:43:00.001-07:00

Events are up and running at ScrapMatters, Shutch and KateyPie have already started their challenges since they are in New Zealand and Australia. The Queen of Scrap challenge is up and running too!!!

Just a few previews, 1st here is ScrapMatters mega collab kit, free with a $10 purchase from the ScrapMatters store. The store is having a sale through the weekend!!!

It is a huge kit and so fun! Here is my layout...

And then here is the participation kit for the Queen of Scraps. You can get this kit just by submitting 4 layouts...

So go check out the Queen of Scrap here

ScrapMatters store here

ScrapMatters forum for other challenges here. I will be hosting a challenge tomorrow. Hope to see you there!

Get ready for NSD!!!

2008-05-01T20:50:00.000-07:00

Word Art Freebie

2008-04-30T14:38:00.000-07:00

I finally finished my Quick Page for this month and while I was at it I made a little freebie to go along with it. First, here is my Quick Page using the Luke kit by Ellie Lash. This is such a beautiful kit! For more information about ScrapMatters Quick Page Exchange you can go to that forum here.

And here my layout with the Quick Page...

This was Landon at 3 weeks. He slept through the whole photo shoot! I am so happy with how this page turned out. This one is definately going on my wall.
So here is your freebie, the wordart is saved in PNG file and is white lettering.

Download Here

Keep checking back for any new details about NSD either here or at ScrapMatters.

Have a great day!!!

Tuesday Template Challenge!!!

2008-04-29T16:40:00.000-07:00

It's Tuesday again, time for another Template Challenge. This weeks template is from Brittney. She has made a fun template from one of her layouts...

And here is my layout! It is a Happy challenge!!!

Credits here

He's such a chunk! I can't get enough of him! You can read more about this challenge and download the template at the team blog.

Also, get ready for Saturday! National Scrapbook Day! It's going to be such a fun day online! ScrapMatters has some great things planned for everyone. I'm hosting one of the challenges!!! I told my husband that I needed to be online all day Saturday and he asked me what was different than any other day. I know, right! Husbands just don't get it!!! LOL!!!

So, go check out the team blog and check back for more info on NSD!

Have a great night!

Saturday Special

2008-04-26T12:23:00.000-07:00

Make sure you check out ScrapMatters blog for the Saturday Special. Here is my layout for it...

Are you curious what the challenge is... Check it out!!!

Quick post today! I have a ton of cleaning to do!!! Have a great weekend!

New Kits from Brittney

2008-04-25T14:35:00.000-07:00

Well she went off and did it again. Brittney has come out with another series of stinkin' cute kits. Pirate themed girls and boys kits with a freebie on her blog.

So cute!!! My kids were pirate's for Halloween. Can't wait to use these kits!!! Check back tomorrow for the Saturday Challenge!

Yay, it's Monday!!!

2008-04-21T14:54:00.000-07:00

I know sounds strange, but I love my Mondays. The boys are back in school. My house is clean from the weekend, laundry done. It's an easy day! Very relaxing!!!

So I was in charge of the ScrapMatters post today. You can check it out here. I completed a few new layouts this weekend to go along with the posting. I had to update my wall with some new pages.

credits here

I thought they turned out fun. Also, we have 2 new designers at ScrapMatters that are amazing! I'm so excited, I'm downloading as we speak. Just a tiny preview because there is just a ton of new kits. We have Lisa of LG Perspectives and Leslie of GG Designs(Golden Girl) designs. I can't wait to start using their kits.

Awesome right? So, in review, Monday's are good, I've published my 1st article(haha) and awesome new designers are at ScrapMatters.

Enjoy the rest of your Monday and check back tomorrow for the new Tuesday Template Challenge.

Saturday Special!!!

2008-04-19T12:50:00.000-07:00

My blog is looking a little bit different. I'm trying new things so be patient. I haven't quite figured it out yet! And if any of you can tell me how to add elements to my background page that would be sooo appreciated.

Anyway! ScrapMatters started having challenges on Saturday now too. Tuesday will be the Template Challenge and Saturday will be different fun and creative challenges. Today's challenge is about opposites. You can check it out here.

Here is my take on it...

credits here

I know, a boy page! Crazy huh! I went to the mall last week because my 6 year old has this horrible habit of crushing the backs of his shoes down and his pair he got for Christmas were trashed! So I went to the new Vans store in our mall, I don't know why I love Vans so much but I do. I found these cool pair of Old Sckool vans for Hayden, way cool right? Then I turn around and they have the matching shoes in crib shoes for the baby! Sooo cute! So of course I had to have them. I was way excited that I actually had a reason to scrapbook them! Yes, I'm a dork!

Now I have to go because prom is tonight and I have like 5 updo's to do but before I leave I found this way cute thing on one of the members at Cafe Mom's home page. I loved it and wanted to share!!!

You Know You Grew Up In the 80's if:

1. You've ever ended a sentence with the word SIKE.

2. You can sing the rap to the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and can do the Carlton

3. You know that 'WOAH' comes from Joey on Blossom

4. If you ever watched 'Fraggle Rock'

5. It was actually worth getting up early on a Saturday to watch cartoons.

6. You wore a ponytail on the side of your head.

7. You got super-excited when it was Oregon Trail day in computer class at school.

8. You made your mom buy one of those clips that would hold your shirt in a knot on the side.

9. You played the game 'MASH'(Mansion, Apartment, Shelter, House)

10. You wore stonewashed Jordache jean jackets and were proud of it.

11. You know the profound meaning of ' WAX ON , WAX OFF'

12. You wanted to be a Goonie.

13. You ever wore fluorescent clothing. (some of us...head-to-toe)

14. You can remember what Michael Jackson looked like before his nose fell off and his cheeks shifted.

15. You have ever pondered why Smurfette was the only female smurf.

16. You took lunch boxes to school...and traded Garbage Pailkids in the schoolyard.

17. You remember the CRAZE, then the BANNING of slap bracelets.

18. You still get the urge to say 'NOT' after every sentence.

19. You thought your childhood friends would never leave because you exchanged handmade friendship bracelets.

20. You ever owned a pair of Jelly-Shoes.

21. After you saw Pee-Wee's Big Adventure you kept saying 'I know you are, but what am I?'

22. You remember 'I've fallen and I can't get up'

23. You remember going to the skating rink before there were inline skates.

24. You have ever played with a Skip-It.

25. You remember boom boxes and walking around with one on your shoulder like you were all that.

26. You remember watching both Gremlins movies.

27. You thought Doogie Howser/Samantha Micelli/Charles in Charge was hot.

28. You remember Alf, the lil furry brown alien from Melmac.

29. You remember New Kids on the Block when they were cool...and don't even flinch when people refer to them as 'NKOTB'

30. You knew all the characters names and their life stories on 'SavedBy The Bell, ' The ORIGINAL class.

31. You know all the words to Bon Jovi - SHOT THROUGH THE HEART.

32. You just sang those words to yourself.

33. You still sing 'We are the World'

34. You tight rolled your jeans.

35. You owned a banana clip.

36. You remember 'Where's the Beef?'

37. You used to (and probably still do) say 'What you talkin' 'bout Willis?'

38. You're still singing shot through the heart in your head, aren't you!

So fun! I am a product of the 80's and proud of it! Leave me a comment it this gave you a chuckle!!!

Finally a Freebie

2008-04-14T15:41:00.000-07:00

I know I have been saying forever that I would post another freebie, I finally came through. I meant to post this on Friday but my weekends get busy with everyone home and working.

So here is my template for you...

Download here

Yes I know, a little boring. But it is boring for 2 reason. 1st when I download a template I usually will choose the ones that I can use any kit I want and embellish it to my hearts desire. The 2nd reason is so that I can show you just how cute it can be...

For those of you that have not seen Brittney's new Her Royal Highness kit you have to check it out! It is a dream come true for me. How sad is it that I haven't even scrapbooked Hensley's 1st birthday yet. I guess I just needed the perfect kit. Here are the previews of Brittney's new kit and the 2 that coordinate with the kit. There is also a fun freebie on her blog that has some princess quotes...

Can you even believe how perfect this kit is. It is so fun to work with.

Here is the polka paper...

And Faith, Trust and Pixie Dust...

She also has a brag book...

Don't forget to check out her blog for the coordinating 'Who needs a fairy godmother' mini kit.

(link is above)

Here is how much fun I had with this kit...

Hensley got this dress for her birthday. She started stripping off her clothes the minute she opened it. Party guests and all.

Love, love, love this kit. And of course it is available exclusively at ScrapMatters.

Also, the Quick Page Exchange for this month we are using the Luke kit by Ellie Lash...

I haven't done mine yet, but there are already some awesome quick pages in the forum.

I'm extending a template challenge to my cafemom group, if you want to participate, there will be a prize.

Have a great day!

Tuesday Template Challenge

2008-04-08T15:46:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend!!! I got a lot accomplished. Unfortunately not much of it was scrapbooking. I have been really busy with my salon the last couple of weeks. My computer time has suffered because of it! LOL!

Check out ScrapMatters Blog for the challenge this week and then post your layout here. There is a chance to win $5 GC to the ScrapMatters store!!!

Here is my entry...

You get a fabulous free template and then there are certain items that you can and cannot have on your layout. No flowers!!! That was my challenge, I always use flowers.

OK, baby is crying and I still have to grocery shop so I will be back soon. With a freebie, I promise. Also, check back soon, I've decided to switch up my blog a bit. The link will be the same.

My Bad!!!

2008-03-30T20:32:00.000-07:00

Ok, so it's been forever again for a post! This month has been so crazy! We had my vacation, which was so fun and has not been scrapbooked. Then Spring Break, which my husband was on vacation for and we had a ton of projects around the house. We completely changed Hensley's room. She had wood now and a pretty little princess room. I haven't completely finished yet but it is going to be sooo cute!!! Easter was Hensley's birthday but we had the party the day before(not scrapbooked) and then Easter the next day(I have scrapbooked that one) My husband and I went to Payson for our anniversary, which is tomorrow and stayed at the new Matazal hotel and casino up there. It was really fun and nice to be away together. Why can I not sleep in on the mornings I actually can? So here are a few show offs for tonight and I'll try to get a template posted this week.

This is the princess poster that is going on Hensley's wall. I got it back a couple of days ago and it turned out so cute. I used the Sugar Princess kit by Ellie Lash and Sugarplum Paperie available at ScrapMatters. The template is by Penny's Miscellany.

This is my Easter layout. It is part of the Spring Recipe challenge at the ScrapMatters blog.

I used the True Delight kit by SHARIng Creations available at ScrapMatters.

Here is my oh so sweet baby boy! I used the Just For You kit by Sunshine Digi-Scraps. This was also my Quick Page for the month.

I absolutely love this kit by Scrappy Blue Stones called Wake Up! This is Hensley's 4 year Easter picture. She looks so beautiful in her little dress and hat!!! I love this picture!

This was such a fun layout to do. It is for a challenge on the Sunshine Studio Scraps new blog. 14 things about me. You can check it out here. I used the new Kissed Off kit by Ellie Lash available at ScrapMatters.

I am a over a month behind on my digi-journals. Hopefully life will slow down a little.

Have a great night!!!

Grab Bag Sale at ScrapMatters

2008-03-01T14:32:00.000-08:00

Don't forget to check out ScrapMatters for their Grab Bag Sale! There are some awesome stuff inside, you won't want to miss out!!! Also, I am unexpectedly going out of town on Monday and will be surprised if I have access to the internet(I might go through withdrawls!) I will be back on Friday!!!

New CT Call

2008-01-28T10:45:00.001-08:00

Just a quick post to let you know that there is a new CT call at Scrapmatters!

We have an awesome team at Scrapmatters so if you are interested, definately apply!!!

Can't stay long, I have sooo much scrapping to catch up on!

Internet withdrawls

2008-01-24T15:48:00.000-08:00

So, Tuesday afternoon I opened my laptop to check my email, gallery, Scrapmatters Blog, the things I like to check throughout the day and I had no internet. I played with it for a while and then we left to go across the street to my mom and dads house because it was my moms birthday. We were busy that night so Wednesday morning I got on the computer and I still had no internet. So I called Cox to make sure I wasn't late or something on my bill and I wasn't so they tried to walk me through it on the phone and nothing worked. They needed to send someone out and their earliest was today between 10 and 12. So about 1 the guy shows up and is here forever trying to fix it. Somehow we had been completely disconnected, shut down. The guy thinks that someone got the wrong house or street or something and disconnected the wrong house. Anyway, my email wouldn't even work, I found out from a friend today that it was bouncing everything back. I had to reactivate that even. So, I have my internet back and I have realized that I depend way too much on it. I didn't even know what to do with myself. Way too much time on the computer! Oh well! So I have been MIA for a couple of days.

We have a fun new challenge this week with ScrapMatters. It is a numbers challenge. You can check it out here. Here is my entry...The challenge is the numbers of the date 1/22/08, so I have 1 photo only, 2 alphas at least, 2 word title only, 0 ribbons or wraps and 8 or more flowers! I thought this was a real fun challenge. It is hosted by Brittney.

Have you checked out the store yet? So much fun! My layout is using the Love Letters kit by Scrappy Blue Stones. Awesome kit!!! Love it!!!

There is just so much new in the store but today when I checked it out. I was soooo excited to see a new kit by Ellie Lash...

So cute!!! I was barely thinking I needed a Hawaiian themed kit but now I can't remember why! He He! I need to start writing things down. Here are just a few of the great kits available in the store right now.

These are just a few, there is a ton of new stuff in the store!!! I can't wait to start scrappin'

Another Freebie!!!

2008-01-17T15:47:00.000-08:00

Wow! 2 in 1 week! How about that! Well I got a little bit carried away. I found a fun kit called Upper East Side by Traci Reed and Kristin CB. I did a layout for my scrapbooking group on Cafe Mom called 'My Faves'. We were all supposed to scrapbook our favorite things, it's a part of the All About Me challenges I started at the new year.

So then, I needed to do my journaling page for the week and was running out of time, so I used it again for my Digi Journal...

Well, then I wanted an actual layout with it so I scrapbooked some pictures of Hensley new hair style. She chopped her hair off last July and I was finally able to make into some kind of style. Still so sad!!!

And then I decided to turn it into a freebie so I could share with all!!!

Download Here

So here you go! I would love to see how all of you used it.

Remember to check the Scrapmatters store tommorow to check out our new designers and sale!!!

Tuesday's Challenge from ScrapMatters

2008-01-16T09:31:00.000-08:00

I ran out of time yesterday, so I didn't get this posted. Tuesday's new challenge is Monochromatic challenge by Shari. You can read all the details here. Also Tami has Words for Wednesday, she has the most fabulous poem available for download. Here is what I did with the challenge.

Inspire Me kit by Happy Scrap Girl

I chose the color blue, I have been wanting to scrapbook these pictures for a while. I just used white but the other girls used a lot of black and white with their layouts.

Check the blog daily for fun challanges, tutorials and inspiration. Also, make sure you check the store Friday, we have new designers. Fun, fun!!!

Another blog freebie!!!

2008-01-14T15:05:00.000-08:00

Here is a new template for you. It is fun, it has 2 tears. I hope you all enjoy!!!

Download Here

Here is my layout...

This fabulous kit is Inspire Me from HappyScrapGirl available at Scrapmatters.
Until later!!!

Server problems at ScrapMatters

2008-01-10T14:26:00.000-08:00

ScrapMatters is having a server problem and working very hard to get things up and running. So please be patient! We have a new contest on our team blog, hosted by Teresa P. It is a blending challenge...

Here is what I did with it. After seeing all the other entries mine is left wanting...

You will have to check out the entries on the team blog, there are some great ones.

There are also some fun new items in the store!

This one is from Happy Scrap Girl and I can't wait to use it. I haven't been able to get it yet because of the server problem.

These are from Dirty Feet Designs. The templates look awesome and I love snowmen. I don't have a lot of snow pictures since I live in Arizona but I will find some. She also has some fun alphas.

These are from Melissa Ortega. I love the doodles and the coordinating alpha is fun!

Can't wait to get these myself!!!

Last thing, I wanted to share my Digi Journal that I have started for the new year. I'm not sure yet if I am staying with the same design the whole year or if I will switch it up!

Kit is called Blessings from Karla Marano. I also used Sunshine Digiscraps freebie from the team blog!
This concept was introduce by Brittney from ScrapMatters and I extended the challenge to my scrapbooking group on Cafe Mom.
Hopefully I can get a new template up soon! Til later!

New Bloggie!!!

2008-01-03T15:12:00.000-08:00

OK, so did you notice my so cute Bloggie Banner!!! I made it using Brittney's Life's A Party kit available at ScrapMatters. You can scroll down a little to see the full preview in my previous post! I figured out that I could change my little outfits on my avatar the same way I do a template! Duh moment! I realized that I should make note of where I got my little avatar from. I got her off of Scrapbook-Bytes by HuniBuni. They are called Sweetez and there are a variety to choose from, according to hair color and length. Anyway! Kind of wasted a whole day on my banner and blinkie but I am so pleased! Who says you can't still play dolls at 35!!!

Happy New Year!!!

2008-01-01T20:09:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it is the start of another new year! Last year we kicked it off by finding out that I was expecting a very unexpected baby! Crazy to look back now that he is actually here and part of the family. It seems like he's been here forever. I'm seeing everyone's New Years Eve layouts and they look so fun, if I were to do a layout of the majority of my New Years Eve's, it would consist mostly of my husband and I sitting on the couch watching T.V. WooHoo!!! When did we get so old and boring? Sunday was my birthday but we didn't do much that day either. We went to Cheesecake Factory for dinner, my neice watched the kids and then ended up spending the night. I love it when Taryn spends the night because she'll get up in the morning and get the kids breakfast and she loves taking care of the baby.

There are a lot of fun stuff going on at ScrapMatters. HappyScrapGirl is hosting a new challenge. It's called a cheaters challenge. You can read all the details here. Basically, you take a layout that you have done before, switch it up a bit and you have a brand new layout. Here is my cheat!

I switched up my 'My Little Ladies Man' layout by rotating it and changing the elements and pictures.

Keep checking the ScrapMatters Blog for daily posts. We will have weekly challenges, tips and more!!! Here are some new kits in the store. Brittney has a fun, fun New Years kit called 'Life's a Party'

Sunshine Scraps has a new kit called 'Tomboy' This is so fun since I have a little Tomboy myself!

And... our CT team put together a Quick Page collaboration using Brittney's Brown Eyed Girl kit.

Fun huh!!! This is a great kit! Mine is 2nd row 3rd page over. I used it for 'My Sweet Boy' layout!

Last thing! I am so excited to see how many downloads I have for my last Template! Thanks for the sweet comments!

New Template Freebie

2007-12-28T17:26:00.000-08:00

Just a real quick post today! I made a fun template, you know the one I was going to do 2 weeks ago! LOL!!! Anyway! I think this is my favorite one so far!

Download Here

Here is my page that I did with the template!!!

Journaling says: Hayden on the Dance floor with the flower girls at my nephew Richards wedding! 2003

Falling For Autumn kit by Ellie Lash available at ScrapMatters

Font: Adorable from Dafont.com

Have a great weekend!!!

Winding down!!!

2007-12-27T15:21:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you, but I feel a real let down after Christmas is over. We spend so much time and money shopping, decorating and wrapping. I get so excited just thinking of what I've gotten for the kids, I can't wait for them to open there gifts and to see their excitement. Then Christmas finally comes and they open their gifts faster than it took me to wrap their first presents. By the end of the day I just feel a little sad that all the anticipation is over. Our family has always done things a little different that the traditional Christmas. A lot of it has to do with the fact that we share Hunter with his mother and then my husbands parents do a ton for the kids, really a lot more than what they need. Because of this we always get up very early Christmas morning, wake up our kids and take them over to my in-laws house to open their presents over there. We usually just have the kids open their presents from us on Christmas Eve because there is no time in the morning to open and by the time we get home from everyone's house on Christmas it is usually night time. I really wish that we could have the traditional Christmas where our kids wake us up in the morning and come out to see what Santa has brought them. This year the kids didn't even see their Santa presents until late that night. But the whole Christmas morning thing is important to my in-laws. I guess I sound like a complainer, and I don't mean to sound ungrateful, it just feels so rushed and crazy all the time. Anyway, that is the end of my thoughts on that. The Saturday before Christmas we had some excitement. My little Daschund Paige had her 1st litter of puppies. I don't think I will ever do that to her again. Poor thing had 5 puppies. We own the daddy. Paige was supposed to only be here long enough to breed with Dax but then we have never been able to get a hold of the owner of Paige, so I guess that makes us the owner. Anyway, I have never seen this before and it was awesome yet quite disturbing at the same time. My sister-in-law helped us since she had done this sort of thing before. I thought they just had them and took care of everything but Brigette had to help her with every puppy. Two of them she had to pull out because Paige was so tired she wouldn't push. We lost the runt on Christmas Eve. She wasn't even strong enough to nurse. I was so sad! That was my Roxy that we lost. So now we have an extra dog and 4 puppies. Which makes 9 dogs! Yikes!!! I have homes for 2 of the puppies. I need to find a home for the other 2 also. They are so cute though. Little tiny wiener dogs. I thought I might keep breeding them, but after watching her go through all that and losing 1 of them I don't think I want to do that to her ever again.

On brighter notes, my baby rolled over for the 1st time today! I was starting to get worried because I haven't been giving him a lot of floor time, mostly due to his acid reflux. Tummy time really bothers him and I have to wait awhile after feeding him to lay him down. He's not too far behind when Hayden rolled over the 1st time. Hensley rolled over at 3 months but both boys have been in their 4th month.

I have had some time to scrapbook with all the excitement going on. Here are a few of my layouts I have done for ScrapMatters.

I scrapbooked my kids 9 month pictures which were both done at this Kiosk in one of the mall's here. They do heritage type pictures. Hensley's is done with Rose's Secret Garden kit by Andilynn Designs. I knew this kit would be a perfect match for her pictures. I did Hayden's with Private TMR kit by Scrapped Treasures.(Teresa P.) I love how both of these pages came out. I haven't scrapped them earlier because I wanted them to be perfect!

This page was done using Ellie's Adam kit! I love the colors! It is a perfect baby or kid kit.

This page was done for a Font Challenge at ScrapMatters. Brittney's challenge was to do a page with this fun font You Are Loved. The page also had to have at least 2 buttons, 1 patterned paper, 2 photos and of course the font!!! You can check out the challenge here.

I used Melissa Ortega's Xmas 2007 kit for this challenge. The buttons came from Ellie's Merry and Bright kit. The frames are from one of Ellie's freebie's on her blog.

I got a new printer and a digital photo frame for Christmas. I still need to set up my new printer. Fun, fun, fun!!! I got the new printer so I could print out my own pages, I've decided to switch to 8x8 size but now I have all my layouts on my photo frame so I probably won't print out as many as I was before! Still fun!

Santa Baby!

2007-12-21T10:08:00.000-08:00

I finally got my Christmas Cards out, I ended up doing a matching letter and labels with Brittney's It's Christmas time in the City kit. I'm relieved to have them done. I'm such a procrastinator. I took Landon to the mall on monday and got his 4 month pictures taken. I do them every month just because I did it with the other 2. They turned out so cute, I have been waiting all week to have the time to scrapbook them. I used Ellie's Merry and Bright kit. If you haven't already read on another blog, Ellie is taking a break from designing for a while. So sad!!! She has an awesome Quick Page on her blog using the same kit I did.

Here is her kit available at ScrapMatters.

So, so cute!!! Now here is my little Santa Baby!!!

Isn't this the perfect kit for this picture! Now I need to finish some other pages that I have been meaning to get to. Hope your weekend is fabulous!!!

TGIF

2007-12-14T11:50:00.001-08:00

I've gone from having a baby that sleeps all the time to a baby that seems to never sleep. Cat naps, that's what I'm getting from him. It is putting a real damper on my computer time. He has gotten tired of the swing, hates the floor and he's not quite sturdy enough for the walkers and jumpers yet, he is getting one for Christmas though. So TGIF because my husband is home tomorrow. I have also been super busy getting done with my Christmas shopping, I just have 1 more present to get for my dad and I am done! Wednesday night my church had a free babysitting night by the 12 year olds. It was so nice. We took Hayden and Hensley and they had a room for toys, a room for arts and crafts and then a movie room! They had a lot of fun and Brandon and I took the baby and went to dinner at The Cheesecake Factory(yum) and then went to the mall to finish up what we needed from there. It was a fun night!

ScrapMatters has come out with a ton of new products from their new designers! So fun! I've already showed you Brittney's awesome kits, but here are some more available at ScrapMatters.

Here are just a few from Dirty Feet designs by Heather. She has some really fun alphabets, frames and other elements.

Here are a few kits from Sunshine DigiScraps. I love the color and elements of the surprise party kit. Love the envelope! And I love the snowflakes on the Merry Little Xmas, the stitching is so fun.

These kits are by Melissa Ortega, I cannot wait to do a page with her Delicate Purity kit. It has Hensley written all over it. The elements are so fun on her Christmas 2007 kit, I love the popsicle sticks.

This is a beautiful kit from Teresa P. inspired by her grandfather. This kit would make perfect heritage pages.

These kits by Ellie are awesome. I love the elements, I think the Adam kit is so precious and I love the colors of Falling for Autumn. Annabelle is sweet and soft. She also has a preview of a new Christmas kit that will available soon, you can check that out on her blog.

Also available at the store Brittney has her We Zigged and Zagged templates. They were part of her grab bag. These are some fun templates, here is what I did with a couple of them.

I used her blistery paper pack for this one, I also altered it a little to fit all the kids on the page.

This is one of my favorites. I love the stitching. The kit used is Holly Jolly Ho Ho Ho by Andilynn designs, the same kit I used for my banner and siggy.

And, last but not least, ScrapMatters is having a template challenge. The template is from Kristie, a member of our CT. It is a really fun template! You can find the download link for the template at the ScrapMatters Team Blog. Winner will receive a $5 Gift Certificate.

Here is the template...

and here is my layout...

You can find other examples on the team blog or at ScrapMatters.

Whew, that was a long blog. I started at lunch and now it is time for dinner. And my baby has still not taken a nap. TGIF!!! Hopefully this weekend I can put a new template up! Have a great weekend!!!

Template freebie

2007-12-10T13:44:00.000-08:00

I have a new freebie for you! I made this template last night while I was making a page using Britt-ish designs Snowbound kit. I had to dig out some old pictures of when I actually lived where it snowed. Her kit is a lot of fun, I love the penguins and polar bear. So here is my template.

Download Here

and now here is my layout...

Full Credits Here

I hope you enjoy! I like to make my templates so that you have complete versatility when it comes to the papers and elements that you want to use. Hope you have a great day!!!

Christmas Card

2007-12-07T19:38:00.000-08:00

I made our Christmas Cards last night and I have to say I am so happy with how they turned out. I used the 'It's Christmas time in the City' kit by Britt-ish designs, available at ScrapMatters. I also used a little bit of her inspiration from her 'So this is Love' layout.

I love her kit, it is fun and crazy but then you can make it elegant also. She has a new kit today called 'Snowbound', I can't wait to use it but I am going to have to dig up some snow pictures

Also, ScrapMatters announced their new designers...

There are some fun kits, I am downloading them as we speak!!! My husband went out of town this weekend to go quad riding. My plan was too scrapbook all night, but sadly it is not even 10pm and I'm thinking about calling it a night! Sad huh!!! Where did my energy go?

So Lazy!

2007-11-26T12:33:00.000-08:00

I am having such a lazy day today. These days are nice sometimes. My 6 year old is home from school sick, he was up all night. Now he has quite the burst of energy, him and Hensley are driving me nuts!!! So in my laziness this morning I scrapped a new layout and then turned it into a quick page for a Quick Page contest at ScrapMatters.

Credits: Brown Eyed Girl Kit from DesignerBrittney available

at ScrapMatters.

Font: LD Hand

Christmas Pictures

2007-11-24T18:58:00.000-08:00

Pictures went so good today. My husband had almost talked me out of getting all the kids pictures taken but I decided to brave it anyway. They turned out so cute, I can't wait to start on my Christmas Cards. After we took them to see Santa and then when we came home we put up all the Christmas decorations. I love Christmas lights.

Isn't this just the cutest picture? I have to brag but I think he is just the cutest baby ever. But seriously, would you even know if your kids weren't cute. HeHe!!!

New Tempate

2007-11-23T13:21:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Mine was really nice. Kind of makes me feel bad about my previous blog posting. I did not go out this morning! The last place I wanted to be was at stores on the busiest shopping day of the year. I am going to attempt pictures tomorrow. I really want pictures of all the kids. I don't have any with Landon and the kids. We have Hunter this weekend so we will see how it goes. Hensley does not cooperate for pictures.

I made a new template that I wanted to share. It is very simple but you can add a lot to it.

Download Here

Here is my layout

Credits:

Snow Wonder Kit by Ellie Lash

Font: CK Bella

Black Friday at ScrapMatters!

2007-11-22T07:34:00.001-08:00

Don't forget to stop by ScrapMatters for your Black Friday shopping!!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

Quick Blog!!!

2007-11-21T21:02:00.000-08:00

Another quick blog! I am so excited!!! I found out this morning that ScrapMatters newest designer is Ellie Lash from SugarSnapScraps! I have been stalking her blog for a couple of months now and she is an awesome designer! She started designing for Scraphead and now is at ScrapMatters. I can't wait to start scrapping her designs! I will be back tomorrow for some store news about Black Friday!!!

Excited for the Holidays!

2007-11-20T14:27:00.000-08:00

I absolutely love the holidays. As soon as Thanksgiving is over I start decorating for Christmas and all that fun stuff. Thanksgiving is an ok holiday for us. My husbands family is a little, oh how do I say it nicely, dysfunctional! Ha Ha, not trying to be mean but I am just surprised sometimes by how they act. My parents are very quiet people and we never fight about anything. My husband is a sweet heart and so is his dad but throw his mom, sister and my nieces in the mix and they are just not happy unless there is some drama going on. They even will make stuff up if it's been a little too quiet and peaceful. My step-son is just as bad. The older grandchildren will have a contest to see who can feel the most sorry for them in their hard hard lives. Everything can be going along just fine and then my step-son will tell my mother in law that he is going to live with his mom because he has it too hard at his dad's house. We are so mean, we make him do chores, and he has brothers and a sister he has to deal with and if he gets in trouble he is disciplined. I know, someone call CPS. Didn't mean to go on a rant, just thinking about Thanksgiving. Last year we didn't even eat until 7pm. Juice was spilled in the oven so we spent a few hours outside because the smoke alarms were so loud we couldn't stand to stay in the house. It is kind of funny to think back now, it's a good thing we live in Arizona or it would have been kind of cold outside. So I guess we will see how it goes. I guess I kind of got off of my original subject. It is kind of different here in AZ though.The weather is still really nice so you have to remind yourself that it is Christmas time. There are Christmas lights on Palm Trees and Cactus. Growing up in Utah, it was so cold and every year we would go to Temple Square in Salt Lake City and walk around and then go across the street to the Crossroads Mall and shop. I still can't stand the cold, but snow is so pretty. ScrapMatters has a new Christmas Kit in their store called Holly, Jolly, Ho Ho Ho by Andilynn Designs. I used it on my Blog Banner. I absolutely love this kit. I love the Holly Berries and the little tags that say Naughty and Nice. It is such a fun kit.

New Template

2007-11-18T21:00:00.000-08:00

Just a quick blog since it is late. I have extended a challenge to my Digital Scrapbooking Group on Cafe Mom to create their own template. So I wanted to display my template and make it available for download for those who are interested.

Download Here

And here is my page

Credits:

Summer Brights Kit from Andilynn Designs

Available at ScrapMatters

Exciting News!

2007-11-13T14:15:00.000-08:00

I really need to be better about posting blogs. I have fun news today though. I applied for the CT Call at ScrapMatters and found out today that I am a new member of their Creative Team! I'm very excited. They have a new, fun site that I am excited to be a part of. They have some really fun challenges going on. I am really excited about the Digi Journal Challenge from DesignerBrittney. She has a fun template to go along with it and some awesome ideas. I really need to get going on it. There is also a fun template challenge from HappyScrapGirl and I received a template for a Birthday Card for participating. I will show you both of the templates as soon as I scrap mine.

Landon is doing much better. He still takes the medicine but doesn't throw up anymore. He is sleeping really long stretches at night so I've had quite a few nights that he has slept through the night. He is sleeping in his own room now, my baby is getting so big.

The kids had a lot of fun on Halloween. Hayden was a pirate, Hensley was a Pirate Princess and Landon was a Pea Pod. Hunter was with his mom that night and I guess hung out with friends. I have not scrapbooked my Halloween pictures yet either. I am so behind!

So, I will try to be better about keeping up on my blog!

This is my layout for the CT Call

Peace and Quiet Mini Kit from ScrapMatters

LD Journaling Font

This is my template layout

Template from DesignerBrittney - Tears, Tape and Stitches Template

Kit by Designs by Shelle - Primavera Kit

Blogging

2007-10-10T17:01:00.000-07:00

Have you ever just spent the whole day surfing all the scrapbook blogs! I think that it is one of the funnest things to do! I have not been on the computer for a while, life is just kind of busy! Today I dedicated to wasting time on the computer and thoroughly enjoyed it! I stopped off at Happy Scrap Girl and Ikea Goddess to download a few freebies and then wandered on over to Simply Sarah and had forgotten all about her calendar freebie. I had downloaded January before my computer took a dive and then when I had that figured out my baby got real sick! So anyway I spent almost the whole day catching up with that and was introduced to a few new bloggers!

I am excited now to unzip all my treasures and hopefully start scrapbooking again! Landon has been sick for about 3 weeks now and last week started vomiting every bottle back up! I took him to the doctor and they had me take him to the hospital for x-ray's to see if he need surgery. Luckily he didn't need surgery and they put him on Zantac for acid reflux and he also had an ear infection. The sad thing is he is such a good baby that he wasn't even that cranky, so I didn't know he was that sick! He was even sleeping good! I even had one night that he slept through the night last week. He seems to be feeling better so I think the medication is working. He is 2 months old today! I took him in for his well check and they gave him 5 shots! Poor baby just can't get a break!

Everything else is going well. School is good for the kids and Hensley is ornery as ever. She likes preschool though and the break has been nice. My kids are out this week for fall break.

I did the baby's birth announcements a couple of weeks ago and still have not sent them out! I procrastinate so bad!

Oh well, I guess it is good that I am so busy now, I feel much better!

September is here!

2007-09-02T10:21:00.000-07:00

I have to say that I love September! It is also a little bittersweet though because I love September in Utah. The air starts turning a little crisp and the leaves start changing. I really miss fall. There really isn't any season changing here in Arizona. The temperature drops from the 100's to the high 90's. I couldn't wait to get out of Utah 10 years ago and now it makes me sad to know I can never go back, besides visits. Anyway, enough of that! I have a few things that I want to make mention of, hopefully I will remember them all. First, I have a Digital Scrapbooking group over at Cafe Mom, it has turned out to be a great group. I have Weekly and Monthly challenges and there are a lot of great and helpful people. The link is on my sidebar. This months challenge is an ABC album and the weekly challenge is back to school pages. Check us out and say hello! One of my group members is HappyScrapGirl and she has a freebies blog, her link is also on my sidebar. She also has a great template for a chore chart! I am excited to get mine done. I am going to make one for my 3 year old and 6 year old! I'll show you as soon as I am done with it.

When I was checking my email today I got my weekly email from Sweet Shoppe Designs and they are having a really cool challenge! It is called Stand Up and Scrap. To register you pay $10 and then can download their mega Stand Up kit. All the proceeds go to the Alliance for Climate Protection. I thought that it was cool. Check out their kit and challenge information at their blog.

http://www.standupandscrap.blogspot.com/ It is a 6 week challenge!

OK, last but not least! Last week on Cafe Mom the weekly challenge was a puzzle page. I played with this all week and came up with a few pages. I also have one more page from one of my group members but I am still waiting for her to approve me to post it. The challenge and tutorial is still available on Cafe Mom!

Kit is by Eve Recinella

Flowers by Isabelle Kit

Kit at Scrap Girls

Precious Boy Kit

Template by Kim Liddiard

Here is the puzzle page by Beckag99, she is in my group at Cafe Mom, I am completely impressed by this page!!!

Getting Back to Normal

2007-08-28T14:55:00.000-07:00

I think life is finally starting to get back to normal. I am starting to feel human again and Landon is such a good baby that I know I am so lucky. He sleeps good at night. I usually only have to get up once in the middle of the night depending on when I put him to bed. He is so amazing! I can't even imagine life without him now. He wasn't exactly planned, but I am so glad he is here. Hayden has been in school for a couple weeks now and seems to be adjusting well. Hunter is in 7th grade now and likes it alot. He had a skateboarding accident a couple of days ago and broke his wrist. I am getting kind of tired of doctor's appts. Hensley will start preschool next week. She has really enjoyed having my mom here. I don't know how she will be when she is gone. She is a good sister though. I so far only have one page done of Landon. I have been spending most of my computer time downloading new baby kits, I guess it is time to start putting some pages together.

1st Day of School

2007-08-08T19:34:00.000-07:00

So school started today. My stepson started Jr. High and my 6 year old Hayden started 1st grade. I've already been nervous about him going all day, you know the usual. So I take him this morning. Just a waddlin', and he was completely fine but I just felt so sad leaving him there. I know it's the hormones but I just wanted to cry but I didn't because I knew that would be worse for him. I watched the clock all day and was excited to go to the bus stop and get him. The bus shows up, kids get off, No Hayden. I call the school, he's still there, somehow he ended up in the parent pick up line, which I guess that is better than getting on the wrong bus, I just felt so bad for him. He seems fine to go back tomorrow. Anyway, I didn't think it would be this hard for me. Kindergarten wasn't even this hard, but he was only half day. Oh well, I guess I can't keep him home forever. I just have 2 more days until my C-section, I'm excited but scared. I haven't posted a page for a while. I worked on this one today while I was waiting for school to let out!

Dr. Appt.

2007-08-02T16:45:00.000-07:00

Well, I went to the doctor today and he checked me and I still haven't dilated at all. I'm pretty sure this is why I had the 1st emergency C-Section to start with, I don't think I do dilate. I never got past a 2 with Hayden. So it looks like I will be having this baby next Friday, which is fine. I still have to get Hayden to school on Wednesday. I would feel bad if I couldn't take him to meet the teacher or to his 1st day of 1st grade next week. I can't believe he is going into 1st grade, that makes me so sad. Hensley will start preschool in September! I am excited to get this baby here and move forward with life. I feel like I have been in limbo for months now!!!

So stir crazy!!!

2007-08-01T15:58:00.000-07:00

I am so stir crazy today! I'm even sick of the computer! I need to have this baby and fast! Anyway, only 9 more days left and then I'll probably be wishing for some down time. I have Hunter and Hayden ready to start school next week except the socks that I ordered them are too big, you'd think that I could order socks but I guess not! I'll have to take them to the store and exchange them. Maybe walking the mall will put me in labor, one could only hope! Here's my newest page.

I got the template from Simply Sarah blog!!! I am so addicted to templates right now!

I've joined the world of the blogger's!

2007-07-29T12:34:00.000-07:00

I have been playing around with the whole blogger thing for months and never do anything with it, so here goes! Be patient! My whole interest in blogging is the scraper's blogs! I love looking at everyone's pages and reading their daily stories! So here is a couple of my favorite layouts that I have done recently and hopefully I can contribute to the scrapper blogger world!

Credits: The only element that I used that

wasn't mine was the stacked photo effect

from Jen Caputo. I duplicated the photo to black

and white and then added the color!

Font: CK Bella

This is my favorite kit from Shelle by Designs

Magnolia Kit

Font: Lucinda Handwriting

The Template is from HappyScrapGirl