Digital Scrapbooking Day!!!

It’s a great time of the year! Digital Scrapbooking day is Saturday, November 5th, and all the digi-scrap world is celebrating all weekend long. Stuff to Scrap is having a storewide 40% off sale and tons of great activities from Friday to Sunday. You an get the scoop on many of the events being hosted at STS in the DSD forum thread here.

 

  two speed scrapsComplete 5 special DSD challenges  and events and get all the pieces to the STS DSD collab “Spiced Autumn”    There will be a blog train, too, so stay tuned for that!!! I will have some goodies for you.

It’s My Birthday

Okay, so it’s not MY birthday (July 25th, in case you want to mark your calendar…I’ll wait…) But it was my daughter Katie’s birthday this month, and she turned five. It’s My Birthday by HD Creations was the kit I used to scrap the pictures from K’s princess party.

Katie wanted a princess themed party.

-As guests arrived we made crowns for each princess. Bottom left of the layout.
-We then played Kiss the Frog Prince, a version of pin the tail on the donkey, but with kissies instead of tails. Bottom right of the layout.
- The girls enjoyed Princess and the Pea a lot more than I thought they would. (Top left) They each sat on pillows. One girl would leave the room while another hid a tennis ball under one of the pillows. The girl who was out of the room would then try to guess which princess had the pea.
-Princess Memory: I have a personal pet peeve with Disney princesses. Most are flighty and man-dependent, not to mention dress immodestly. Not really the role-models I want for my girls. So I made a memory game (in photoshop, of course) with pictures of REAL princesses in their fanciest clothing (wow, real princesses are much more modest than Jasmine and Ariel). Then the girls had to find the matches. I used princesses like Crown Princess Mary Elizabeth of Denmark, Letizia, Princess of Asturias (Spain), Crown Princess Masako of Japan, and Princess Maxima of the Netherlands, to name a few. I hunted down photos of them on google images (same with my little frog prince)
-Then, of course, we busted out the cake, candles, and pink sherbet ice cream whilst singing the birthday song.

Our Love Story and a freebie

Since it’s Valentine’s day tomorrow, and it was my husband’s thirtieth birthday yesterday, I want to tell you a story… (and if you don’t want to hear it, skip ahead to the end. I just feel like jabbering tonight).

Once upon a time,

there was a poor locksmith who sometimes bartered his services to others who could not afford to pay monetarily. On one occasion, a horseman locked his keys in his carriage and the poor locksmith opened the door on condition of a trade of riding lessons for his sons. Not wanting to miss seeing the horses prance and gallop, the locksmith’s freckled young daughter went along with her brothers to the pasture and was introduced to the not so handsome, awkward son of the horseman. Over the summer, the lad and the girl teased each other incessantly. He shot BBs at her that whizzed past her head. She poured ice water down his shirt. He locked her in the horse trailer. She called him names and hid his prized possessions.

Many years passed and the boy and girl continued to tease and taunt like a brother and his slightly older sister while sharing family gatherings during holidays. The locksmith and horseman became the best of friends. The two children grew. The girl developed into a woman, and went to serve in the King’s Army. The boy, younger than the girl, also grew. He grew muscles, and chest hair and a much more handsome face. Both kissed lots of frogs, trying to find their eternal love, the perfect person with whom to sing their love’s duet.

For many years, the boy and girl were passing ships. They lived their own adventures. But one fateful day, the stars aligned, and they were reunited. The girl, searching for her prince, at first didn’t notice the now peculiar boy, but the parents of the two had plans to get them to notice each other. The young man should be a gentleman and escort the lady to a far away land. How could she possibly travel alone over all those miles? This would not do! They must go to together!

He played with her young cousins. She thought that was cute. He took her to play in the lake. She liked his adventurous spirit. Her hair had a way of shining in the sunset. He thought that was romantic. She slathered aloe on his sunburned back and since then, he craved her touch, so he got her to cut his hair as well.

The horseman and his wife saw that these two would make a good match, so they continued to invite the girl to their home and push the two together. A marriage was arranged. The Bride was beautiful, as was her Prince Charming, and they rode off into the sunset in his trusty steed.

Far into the future they would be torn apart by the ravages of war, as the young man served dutifully as a Dirt Sailor in the King’s Royal Navy. But one day, he will return, and they will live

Happily Ever After.

Just a few more weeks and my Prince will be home. I can hardly wait. Until then, he’ll sit on my desktop. This one I made with Scraps By Andrea’s Our Love Story kit. And now that I type that story above, I think it needs scrapped.

↓↓ Spitting image of his dad ↓↓

I put together this cluster frame for you. Happy Valentine’s day! I hope you have your Happily Ever After. What’s YOUR Love Story?

Download HERE

the winner!

The results are in for the FB Costume contest: Congrats to Lauren and her sweet little garden gnome. Isn’t she cute?! Lauren won $20 in CutieFruity credit, which I am sure will come in handy for the holidays.  Great job on this costume, Lauren!

handmade Costume Contest

If you didn't know that CutieFruity is having a costume contest on the facebook page, you obviously haven't "liked" it yet. There is a little box over on the right there that your face will magically appear in when you click the "like" button. Doooo iiiiiiit. you know you want to.  

The rules: Costumes must be homemade. They have to be from this year. Adults or children can qualify.
The Judging: The winner will be chosen by the fans on the FB page. Whichever picture has the most likes is the winner. I do realize this is totally unscientific and will just be a popularity contest in the end, but I hope that the fans will vote according to who really did make the best costume [much akin to last year when I lost a contest because I voted for my friend who's Colonel Sanders and Chick costumes were markedly cuter than my SeaBee].
The Prize: an unprecedented $20 credit for any CutieFruity,  in the store or not. If you can dream it, I just might be able to do it--but only $20 worth. This includes scrap for hire.
To Enter: Send your picture and name to cutiefruity@rocketmail.com by Thursday night midnight. In all reality, you could probably send it in any time before the judging is over next Wednesday, but the judging starts Friday at...oh let's say noon. Maybe sooner or later in the day, depending on how rowdy my children are. You just never know. Kids are unpredictable like that.

I hope you send in some awesome pictures because the ones I have already are pretty fetchin' cool. Good Luck!

Hallowed End (and an announcement!)

A few weeks ago I blogged here about the mega kit this month as a collab kit from the Stuff to Scrap designers. Soon after I did that, the store contacted me to let me know that I have been chosen to work on the store’s creative team. CT for the STORE! How cool is that?! I feel honored and overwhelmed. When do I not feel overwhelmed? I’ll get to work with a different designer every month and get to know more of the wonderful gals at STS. And they truly are wonderful.
So, as part of the CT, I got to work with the Hallowed End kit. Here’s a refresher, if you don’t remember that post.
The kit is gigantic and well worth the only $6.99 that they are asking for it. And if you are more into square quick pages, there are a buttload* of them for $3.99. Lo and behold: my projects. I scrapped the pictures from 2009’s Halloween long ago, and I had nothing that looked good with this kit. I asked the fans over on the CutieFruity Facebook page (go ahead, I’ll wait while you go “like” it) to send me some of their photos. I already showed you the Caziers and the Myers’. Above are the Laytons, and below are the Cunha twins. The fans really came through for me with these pages. I really appreciate all of you letting me borrow your pictures!
This one here is a mailing label. I am loving the bone frame and that skull. Totally badass. I mailed this one off to my friend in a gift exchange. the box was large, so the label was almost the size of a half sheet of paper. I printed it out on a huge label and just stuck it right on.
I hope you all have your costumes ready! My kids are dressing as a lion, witch, and a wardrobe. Pictures soon!



*Yes, buttload is totally a word. I am sure I didn't make it up, but...yeah. I'm going with it.

Halloween is getting closer

These kits from Meagan’s Creations and Scraps By Andrea really put me in a trick-or-treat mood. The first thing I want to tell you about today is this Halloween word art pack from Meagan’s Creations. I used the lil’ spook art in this layout of my cousin.   I also used the Nothin’ But Treats kit form Scraps By Andrea to make that layout. I’m in love with the candy corn paper, and the candy corn alpha is super amazing, too. I was sad I haven’t had a chance to use it, yet. This layout features the Myers family. They are such cute kids!

I have a little freebie to go along with this kit: the little cat vignette above! You can download the PNG from 4shared HERE. It shouldn’t take that long of a wait since it’s a small file.

I really appreciate everyone’s comments this week. I have given out a freebie every day this week and I have enjoyed reading all the love.

Pioneer Day Costumes

As a former theater costumer, I always try to replicate things to the best of my ability and historical accuracy. I’m a nerd like that. This site was really helpful in designing the costumes. I was bummed when my oldest wanted her outfit a certain way, even though I didn’t think it would be as nice. Whatever. The customer (not costumer) is always right, I guess. Her bonnet turned out great and her shoes were good for the period.

The boy’s vest is made of wool and is one of the most nicely put together things I have made in a long time. I knew that there was no such things as plastic buttons, and I had some that look like wood, so used those. I flipped his collar in because a flat collar was the style of the day. His hat I rushed and made in 45 minutes and it was all wonky, but he rocked it. Couldn’t have asked for anything better.

The middle got to wear this pinafore I made of an old tablecloth. I am in love with it. Kids used to wear pinafores all the time for play and meals to protect their beautiful clothes. They didn’t have entire closets full of $3 t-shirts and $5 dresses from wal-mart. I made everything my kids are wearing with the exception of their shoes. I love that! All the materials are upcycled, too. Can you tell my kids are wearing tablecloths and curtains?

The church had a dinner to celebrate and the kids were invited to dress up and have the costumes judged. Sarah was given an award for strongest pioneer girl (totally generic), but the other two children (that didn’t argue with me about my sewing) won “Best Pioneer” girl and boy. I know every kid gets an award, but I felt pretty special that my kids were the “best”. Again, I’m a nerd like that.

Unconditional Love Freebie

When I saw this kit I was in LOVE. This is perfect for Mother’s day. There are 51 elements, 17 papers, and a lower case alpha included in this kit.  I knew right away what  I should do with it: a layout about my husband’s sister. She is an awesome woman and has felt in the past like her chance to be a mother is passing her by. I want her to know on Mother’s day that she is special and loved by her nieces. She is a strong influence in their lives, without the hassle of changing diapers or being woken up in the middle of the night to clean up puke and comfort a sick child (I’m not bitter). Here is to Kimberly Ann and all the other wonderful Aunts everywhere that love children.

I have a gift to share with you and you still have a whole week to make it your own and have it printed. Spruce up an old frame for it and present it to your Mother, Grandmother, or Aunt on Sunday with a bouquet of flowers or my preference, a box of chocolates. Image is linked.

Our Valentine's 2010

These are the valentines we made this year for the homeschool kids v-day party. It was a few weeks ago, but I thought we would share. We got our ideas from familyfun.go.com hosted by Disney. There were tons of great ideas there! Katie chose these airplanes and we made labels for each that say "Come fly with me, Valentine!" It was really hard to find rubberbands at the grocery store and I think I would have had better luck at an office supply store. She cut each lifesaver out of it's wrapper and stuck the smarties in when I got the lifesavers threaded. 

Sarah chose to make flowers like these and made a label for the bottom with her name on it. the label helps hold everything together. I cut everything out and she threaded the petals and leaves on the lollipop sticks. She had a blast.

For the boxes we just decorated some plain gift bags, but I have to say that these were the cutest boxes at the party. I was so in awe when I saw two brothers carry them in. They used bigger boxes and many eyes. SO CUTE!