New Scrappin' Goodies

I'm baaaack with some scrapping goodies for you all! I wish I could get you all to understand how much I love to digiscrap. It's so relaxing, creative, and just fun! And look at these kits! They are so gorgeous! I'm sure you'll find yourself wanting to run hand-in-hand with them through a flowery field. Wait...you won't? Well, that's just crazy talk, because that's the kind of reaction I have to them! What do you mean that makes me crazy...YOU'RE THE CRAZY ONE HERE.

Onward to the goodies!

This is the new release from eNKay Designs at The Digichick. What a cute kit!

Dear Tooth Fairy by eNKay Designs

Maylee's too young to have lost any teeth yet, of course, so I went a different direction with my LO. I've been wanting to scrap her night time routine for a while now, and this was the perfect opportunity. Plus, Daddy did a great job taking pics of her brushing her teeth. 

For that page (up there. Yep that one ^ ^), I also used one of Lacey Bittner's templates, the Cute & Quirky Templates, for this LO. Templates are WONDERFUL. I find them very helpful and I also find that they actually help my creativity and inspire me. Here's the template pack, that is awesome.

Cute & Quirky Templates by Lacey Bittner Designs

Next I have some news and some goodies. I was offered a spot of Jen Yurko's CT and accepted! I am ecstatic! Have you seen her stuff? She has the cutest doodles and she always has these cute little people in her kits. And she's awesome. So here's her newest release at Digiscrappers Brasil.

Pedal Pushers by Jen Yurko

Once again, I didn't have a pic of M on a bike or anything, so I did a photo-less LO of what to get her for Christmas, because we've been debating this at our house recently.

And last, but not least, Misty has a new release tomorrow at Sweet Shoppe. It manages to be beautiful and fun at the same time, and I love kits like that! Here's the sneak:

Check the new releases tomorrow!

Here's the page I did with this great kit:

So, go on...check out these kits! I know you've got pics that one of these kits is just perfect for! I know it!

Love to all!

Today's PSA: Read to your children!

You all know how important books and reading are to me. It's kinda my livelihood. This week, Kindle joined up with public libraries (finally) to include quite a few of their books for library patrons. This was good for the library world. But I still don't even know if I want an e-reader. There's something about paper. Having a heavy, paper book in my hands. Love it. Anyway, this isn't even what I was going to talk about.


If you want to have some quality time with your kid, and you want them to be the smartest thing since the light bulb, read to your kids! It's fun for all! (Well, there are some books that I've read to Maylee so many times, that I'd rather bite my own toenails off than read it again...but I always do.) It's interesting! It's relaxing! And if you're a mom like me, what's even better is watching your husband read to your kid. *Sigh. Few things make me happier than seeing a scene like this:

 

So anyway, if you're an adult...read a book! They're way better than TV or movies (though I still like those things, too). If you're a parent, read a book to your child! And if they don't like it, persist. Just reading books will help their vocabulary, social skills, and comprehension. It really is amazing what words will do.

Thanks for stopping by. And reading my PSA.

Some new LOs

Haven't posted in a few days (and I was doing so well, too!!), so I thought I'd pop over and show a few new LOs I've done. Yeah, I know...bore you with more of my "art." I actually don't know if I consider it art, though it is very important to me. Now, I have seen some LOs that I consider art. But mine...nah.

And just so you know, I don't scrap chronologically. A lot of scrappers do, but I came to the scrapping game when my daughter was already almost 2, so I have a lot of older pictures that I use to scrap. Oh, not to mention the the pictures I already scrapped, but scrapped when I WAS NOT good, so I like to use them over to give them the LO they deserve (not that I'm like some super-scrapper now. I still have a lot to learn and will be the first to admit it!). Anyway, enough rambling. Now on the the scrapping ramblings.

This first one is of my new...ummm....2nd cousin once removed??? It's my mom's first cousin's daughter's son. Can you figure that out for me, Val? (She's my resident genealogist). Anyway, my cousin Mandy had a gorgeous new son, Sammy. I wanna squish him!!

Noah & Co. by Lacey Bittner Designs
Page Template volume 3 by Thaty Borges
Font: CK Alayna

Maylee looks so little and smiley here. She's still little and smiley, but much bigger than THIS little and smiley.

Life is Bliss by Meghan Mullens
Template: Cluster Queen freebie

This was Christmas day last year. Maylee was being such a typical toddler. She got tons of new toys for Christmas, yet she played with the box. Huh.

What I Love About You by Daybreak Scraps
A Lot Of Papers Templates by Meghan Mullens
Font: Courier New

My sweet, sweet babies. Maylee loves her Daddy so much, and of course, he is wrapped around her finger. I love watching the two of them together. It makes my heart melt and my soul sing.

Occasionally by Polka Dot Plum Designs
Shabby Princess Project Scrap August Template
Font: Eight Fifteen

Beautiful, not 100+ degree days are here! We went to the park to celebrate! Maylee calls this the "curly slide."

My Happiness by Sugar Pie Scraps
Page Template by Thaty Borges
Font: Carrington

I love this picture. Maylee looks so sweet and it's so cute with her little boots. This, more than the baby picture above, shows me how big she's getting, I think.

Ribbon Stacks by Lacey Bittner Designs
Fresh ‘n Funky 2 Templates by Lacey Bittner Designs
Papers and elements from Sweet Stuff and Noah & Co. by Lacey Bittner Designs

Minimal Mondays

My talented kid. She loves to count and sort things. It's pretty much the only thing that can occupy her for more than 5 minutes at a time.

Thanks for stopping by. Love to all!

Hobbies, old and new. And obsessions.

   Thought I'd share with you all a couple things that are a big part of my life. Some are VERY obvious, but some you may not know about.

   Let's get the obvious out of the way. Digiscrap. I love it. Like really, really love it. It's creative, beautiful, and I've met some wonderful people through it. I'm not going to post favorite layouts or anything, you can look back through my old posts and see tons and tons of stuff I've created. I DO want to mention some of my favorite digi people, though.

Tiff at Dotted with Dots (the MOST INCREDIBLE minimalistic LOs you'll ever see. Seriously. Did you know one perfectly placed picture, with just the right elements is pure bliss?)

Deb at Starlight-Creations. (She's my bestie. My BFF. My girl. That's that.)

Favorite digi-stops... Polka Dot Plum, Sweet Shoppe, Scrapable, The Digichick, Scrap Orchard, Digishoptalk,  Me So Scrappy. Love all these places!

Mars at scrap.teach.rant. (Great scrapper and all around fab lady)

   Next obsession: contemporary a cappella music. Have you even heard of that? I'm sure you know what a cappella is (singing without instruments), but contemporary a cappella takes it a step farther. These groups are truly bands, with every instrument done with the voice only. Drums, guitars, horns....the whole nine yards. Some of you know that I'm a singer. I sang all through high school and my college years. I miss it a lot. I miss being part of that community and I love the high of singing in front of people. It was a real joy. Anyway, if you don't know anything about contemporary a cappella, I have a few examples and starting points for you. First off, check this video out. This is the group Duwende. Lemme just say they are amazing...one of the best groups out there!! This is a great example of contemporary a cappella.





Another resource I love for contemporary a cappella is a podcast I listen to every week, Mouth Off!
They talk about what's currently happening in the a cappella world and review a record every month. I wanted to mention a big thing happening in the world of a cappella. Have you seen the NBC show "The Singoff?" It's been on for two seasons right around Christmas time. This has really brought a cappella into the mainstream and we're all looking forward to a new season starting in a couple weeks! With a cappella being kind of a niche "thing," this show is especially exciting to me, because I know a lot of the people that work behind the scenes on the show! I can't wait to see their names in the credits when I watch it. And, of course, I can't wait to hear the amazing music coming out of their mouths, too! Here's a favorite clip of last year's show, just to give you a taste.




And I have another video that is my favorite, because it's so good, yet it's so hilarious, that I want to share. Since I've already showed 2 videos, I'll just link you to it. But watch it. You WILL NOT regret it. Pour Some Sugar on Me by OTR.

   Okay, next on my obsession list is crocheting. I just learned how to about 2 weeks ago and I've actually made time to practice! My friend Val had a little crochet party, with her, me, and our friend Stacey (together, Val and Stacey make the photography duo that take our awesome family pictures every year), getting together to eat good food and learn my new obsession. We had a great time, but I picked it up rather slowly LOL. I learned one stitch and brought my "project" home and practiced until I felt like I had mastered that stitch. But the problem came when I thought I was ready to try a new stitch. Val lives too far away for us to just pop buy each other's houses, so she tried to teach me by just telling me what to do...yeah, that wasn't working for my thick head. So I popped on YouTube and found a quick and easy video showing me how to do it and I picked up that stitch, too. So now I know the single and double half crochet stitches. I'm practicing those stitches until I have them down pat and then I'll learn another one. From what I hear, there are only like 6, so I'm already a third there!

   Last but not least, my Pinterest obsession. Have you heard of it? Pinterest is a place to...store your visual ideas you see online. It's the ultimate bookmarking site. Check out my boards here. You set up different "pin boards" and pin stuff you see around the internet into one place where all your thoughts can come together. I'm probably not describing it's awesomeness well enough, but I really do love it. Not only do I draw digital scrapbooking inspiration from it, I get recipes, house decorating ideas, photography ideas, craft ideas....on and on. You follow people's boards that inspire you and people in turn follow your boards. If you think you might like it, send me your e-mail address and I'd be happy to send you an invite. Come join the madness!!

New releases

Hey all. Wanted to share some new releases from my CT designers. There's some awesome stuffs!!

First up is L'Posh. She just put out an awesome fall collab with Ellie Lash. And there's an owl! I'm such a sucker for owls!

Apple Picking {Collab}

She also has a great birthday kit. It's Polkadotplum's second birthday this month! Come on over there for all kinds of birthday challenges, games, and chats!

Birthday Bash

Lacey Bittner Designs just put out this cutie cute, sweet kit.

 Sweet Stuff

Use coupon code NEW20 to save 20% through Friday!

And last, but certainly not least, eNKay Designs put out this awesome template kit. *sigh* I love templates.

Eezy Peezy 5 Templates

20% off right now!! Go! Go fast!

Yes, I know what you're thinking. And yes, I AM the luckiest girl in the world to CT for these awesome designers and get to work with these awesome digi stuffs!! It's okay to wish you were me for a little while.

Love to all! Thanks for stopping by,