Happy Memorial Day!

I hope you all are having a safe, fun-filled weekend! We've really had a great weekend of just family time. I'm not sure what's in store for today though. =) Just please remember while you're BBQing why you have this long weekend. Take a moment to remember all of the men and women who have given their lives in service to this country, as well as those that still continue to serve. I know a few people that will be celebrating this Memorial Day as their very first in memory of someone that they loved dearly. I'm also thinking of quite a few of my friends whose husbands are in Iraq and Afghanistan this Memorial Day. Be thankful for your friends and family!

I did this layout a few weeks ago for the new sketch going up at Scrapbook Challenges today. At the time, I didn't realize that it was going to be posted on Memorial Day.. but how fitting it is! I'm starting on Daniel's deployment album, so you all will probably start seeing more of those. I'm thinking that it definitely needs to be done before he leaves again. Anyways, I'm really excited that I finally get to post it today.. I'm realllly happy with how it turned out!


Here's the sketch:


If you do the sketch, feel free to upload it to the thread in the group and to the gallery and be entered to win the monthly sponsor prize!!

Also, there's a new challenge forum that you all should check out! It's just getting started, but of to Scrap for Therapy and set up an account!

Have a safe Memorial Day!!
-Dani

Calling all creative thinkers!!

Sooo that most likely applies to all of my followers! haha! Anyways, Jonah's first birthday is coming up in July. I've been putting off planning for it because I'm in denial. I can't believe my baby boy is growing up!

I've decided on a theme: Whales. A Whale of a Birthday... eh? Ok, so I need to practice my catchy title, but either way.. whales. His name is Jonah.. he needs whales. The only problem with coming to this conclusion is that I can't find whale party supplies anywhere. Good thing I'm crafty, I suppose.

That's where y'all come in!! Anyone have any ideas for a whale first birthday party? Any cake decorators out there that have tips for me??! The only experience I have with cakes is making them taste good (I can make a mean semi-homemade chocolate covered cherry cake.. yeahhhhh), but the frosting is a no-go. LOL I'm horrible at that. I wanna try fondant though. Any tips!

HEEELLLLLPPPPPP!!!!

Thanks girls!
-Dani

HURRY HURRY HURRY!!

Oh my gosh! How would you like to win this amazing blog candy?! Go over to Passion For Crafts to enter!!

Just finished my very first layout for Momenta.

WooHoo!! I've been staring at my box of goodies for a few days now. There's just so much stuff, it was hard to know where to begin! Finally an idea came to me!



Supply List:
All paper: Pure Textured Cardstock pad
Chipboard accents and gem stickers: Family Ties Chipboard Icon Stickers
Small alphas: Black and white puffy alphabet
Large alphas: Pure puffy alphabet
OTHER
Font: Tahoma
Ink
Marker

If you'd like to shop Momenta, here's the coupon again!! It's good through the end of May!

Sketch 201 at Scrapbook Challenges

It's Monday again! It seems Mondays are bad for a lot of people, but not for me. I'm just thankful for the day. It's better to have a Monday than to not have a Monday, ya know?

However, I'd rather not be awake this early this morning. Jonah woke up before Daniel left this morning, so being the wonderful daddy that he is, he gave him his sippy cup. I laid there and listened to him eating and moving around for a while, and it sounded as if he were up for the day. So I finally got up and got dressed, still listening to him "talk" in his crib. Well just as I'm walking out of my bedroom to go to his, I notice he's quiet again. I peek in, and yep.. sure enough, he's asleep. Figures! But on the bright side, at least I'm getting some free time!

Anyways, there's a fabulous new sketch up at Scrapbook Challenges. I didn't get a chance to do this one this week, but I'm saving it for later. I really like it a lot! I was actually thinking that it would be perfect to turn into a card!


I hope everyone has a fabulous Monday! If today gets bad, just remember that it could be worse! =)
-Dani

Paint technique up at Scrap That Baby

Today was my day to put together a technique post for Scrap That Baby. I, of course, decided to use paint. I'm not going to pass up any opportunity to get paint on my hands!! It seems to me that a lot of people stay away from paint for some reason or another. I just want to encourage you all to bust out some paint! It doesn't have to be the expensive kind or anything.. I use the cheap acrylic paint that you can get for like $1 or $2. And they have so many colors, you can't go wrong! And I also recommend puffy paints too.. you can get those for cheap as well!

Anyways, the topic of my post is using paint to add texture and interest to your mini albums. Of course you can use these techniques in everyday scrapbooking too. Head on over to Scrap That Baby to see my tips!

Here's my mini album (visit Scrap That Baby for the bigger pictures of the techniques):


Two awesome things I must say about this mini album. 1--I used all scraps!! 2-- I took all of the pictures in it!! I know it's a simple mini album, but that was the point. I wanted the emphasis to be on the paint.

Don't forget to check out my post at Scrap That Baby!!
-Dani

Not scrappy.. but I'm pumped =)

I know this isn't scrap related (don't worry, I have a scrappy post scheduled for a few hours from now anyways), but I just have to blog about how proud of myself I am! First off, let me start by saying that I gained 60+- lbs when I was pregnant. I lost 30 of that in the first month or so, which left me with about 30 more. I hit a plateau I guess, and it stayed that way for a while. Finally, I got motivated to do something about it.
Some of you may already know that Daniel and I started the 50 Million Pound Challenge meal plan last month. (Yeah like he needed to lose weight.. he runs at least a few miles a day.. butt head LOL) Oh gosh, it was horrible at first, but we eventually got used to it. I'm proud to say that we stuck to it for the whole month and I lost nearly 15 lbs just from eating healthier. It wasn't until we started this meal plan that I realized just how bad the food we were eating was! Just thinking about the fat content of a Whopper with cheese makes me cringe now! And now that we've finished the meal plan, we've decided to create our own. We've been doing that for a week now, and it has been working well. I think the key to sticking to it is designating one night a week as "cheat night" where we eat what we want. It gives us something to look forward to, though this week I didn't even feel like I needed one because the food we have chosen for ourselves has been so good! Eventually we'll probably cut that out too. I feel so much healthier!
But here's what's causing me to post this today. I just got back in from a 1.6 mile run/jog with Daniel. Before I lost my weight, I struggled to just get .2 miles done without walking. Today, I did the whole thing without being too out of breath. I actually carried on a conversation with Daniel the whole time, and could have definitely went longer. I'm positive that the 15 lbs made a huge difference! I really hope that we can continue this.. it was nice to just talk to him and bond. Plus, the idea of maybe being my old fit self again is pretty awesome! I'm proud of myself. =)

Unity stamps anyone??

Who wouldn't want to win a kit of Unity stamps?! Head over to CJ's blog to enter her giveway for Unity's April kit. You won't regret becoming a follower either.. her work is amazing! =)



Enjoy ladies!
-Dani

It's Monday already?!

Aw man!! Why can't the weekend be 5 days long and the regular week be 2 days? Wouldn't that be much nicer? I had a great weekend, even though we didn't really do anything. I had big plans for the weekend.. so much I wanted to do. Buttt the weather was crappy. I haven't seen sunshine in about 3 days or so now.. so much for sunny California. And it's cold. It feels like winter outside. I saw my breath yesterday in the middle of the day. BRRRRRRRR! I think I'm ready to head back to the South! Ahhh wouldn't it be nice to just go fishing, dip my toes in the water, and sip on some good ol' sweet tea all the while not freezing my little butt off! Don't get me wrong, I love California.. but SHEEESH!

Anyways, I've got a sketch reveal!! As soon as I saw this sketch, I knew I had to do it! I love it so much! It's sketch 200 at Scrapbook Challenges. If you do the sketch, join the group and upload it to the gallery and sketch post to get your name entered in the drawing for this month's fabulous sponsor prize!

There is also a two page version of this sketch in the group. Here's my take:


It didn't turn out quite as I had hoped that it would, but eh.. sometimes that happens I guess. I still love the sketch though and will probably end up doing it again sometime! =)

Also, I would like to remind you that the new prompt is up at Scrap That Baby. This time the prompt is Fun and Games. We're urging you to either scrap that baby doing something fun or maybe come up with some fun craft project or game for your little one! I didn't take part in this prompt this time, but there are some awesome examples from the rest of the design team!!

Lastly, I'd like to repost the May coupon for Momenta.

If you haven't added Momenta on facebook, you definitely should! Here lately they've been giving out some coupon codes that are pretty sweet. On top of that, once the page hits 600 fans, they're giving away a $50 gift certificate to one lucky fan!

Well, that's all for now! Hope you ladies have a great week! =)

I've got paint on my hands!

I'm working on a special post for Scrap That Baby about paint! There's just something about paint that soothes my soul. I've been playing around in my scraproom for a few hours now with nothing but some paint. And let me tell you, I haven't been so scrap-induced happy in quite a while! I just love paint! Anyways, I wanted to post a few sneaks of what I'm working on! (Yes, I'm that excited about paint!)

Just did some late night hoppin'...

*Yawn* It's late. Ok, maybe I'm getting old as it's only 10:42 pm. I definitely don't feel 21 3/4 years old. Wait.. am I too old to be counting fractions of years too? Ehhh, I think I'll try to hang on to my youth as long as I can. Anyways, my husband, the night owl, is up playing video games. I'd love to go to sleep, but I'm a hopeless romantic and won't go to bed without him.

Since I'm here anyways, I figured I'd do something a little fun. I went hopping around on the Pink Ninja Addicts' blog hop. Holy WOW! What a bunch of talent they've got floating around over there! It's definitely worth the hop! And look at the kit they're giving away!!

Isn't it just fabulous?! I want to get my hands on it sooo bad!! This may be one that I have to order it if I'm not lucky enough to win! Head over to their blog and check out the hop! And stick around too.. lots of inspiration! =)

Holy Moly! What a giveaway!

In celebration of getting one million hits, this blog is having an amazing giveaway!!

She's giving away:
1) Cricut Summer Vacation cartridge
2) Cricut Summer in Paris cartridge
3) a pack of SEI Happy Paper (12" x 12" size)
4) a package of Tim Holtz grungeboard

AND

A Cricut GYPSY!!

Go check it out! =)

Who Likes Mayo??!

I know this isn't craft related.. butttt.. I like Mayonnaise! As some of you may know, I grew up in Alabama. Back in Bama, we ALWAYS ate Bama mayonnaise. LOVE that stuff! Anyways, when I got married, we moved to Fort Bragg, NC. Guess what they don't have in NC? Bama Mayonnaise! Sooo.. we had to find another brand. Well actually, I pledged to not ever eat mayo again until the whole country decided to sell Bama mayo. UNTIL Daniel tried Duke's mayonnaise. It's good.. I've got to hand it to them. Well, then we moved to California (where we now live), and they don't have either mayonnaise here. However, today I stumbled across a giveaway at Thrifty Wifey for Duke's!! Long story short, I'm posting this blog entry to get 5 extra entries into the giveaway! Y'all should go check it out though.. maybe you'll win and get to try Duke's mayonnaise (if you haven't already).

I wish Mother's Day would've lasted the whole week.

Yesterday was awesome! I didn't change a single diaper, and I didn't have to make any bottles!! I slept as late as I wanted and did what I wanted all day. I got to forget about our diet and pick anything I wanted for dinner and Daniel made it!! He also built me a really awesome HUGE planter box for my veggies. I'll post pictures of it later. The only thing I forgot about yesterday was to take a picture of Jonah and me. I'll have to do that today and just pretend it was yesterday.

Anyways, since today is Monday, that means the new sketch is up at Scrapbook Challenges! I didn't get around to doing this one, but I figured I'd post it anyways.


What a great sketch, right?! You should head on over there and check out what the rest of the DT did with the sketch.. simply amazing! If you do it, post it in the group for a chance to win the awesome sponsor prize this month! You don't wanna miss out on that.

Also, I new technique went up at Scrap That Baby this weekend. Go check it out to learn how to make adorable little prize ribbons!! So cute! I'm going to give it a go later today.. they're just too adorable not to try! =)

Hope everyone has a great Monday!

I'm not much of a floral designer.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you wonderfully amazing mommies! I've had a great day so far. I got to sleep in until 10 this morning! Oh, it was awesome! It was especially good since we stayed up late last night with our friends that were visiting. We met them back when we lived in NC. The trouble with the military is that you always move away from all of the awesome friends you've made. I'm glad we've kept in touch with them though. And Jonah just loves his Katie! Here's a picture from this weekend of Jonah and Katie! It's too cute not to share!

We had a GREAT time! =)

Anyways, so today during my free time I finally finished up something I've been working on. At Scrapbook Challenges, Pamela always has a Pick of the Week, and there is a challenge to lift the pick of the week. This week's pick was a bouquet of handmade flowers by one of the members of the group. As soon as I saw it, I knew I could use a take-out box!! And you all know how much I love those take-out boxes! I've also been trying to learn new ways to make handmade paper flowers, too. So this was exciting!!

I was looking through tutorials for handmade flowers and saw some like these that were made out of fabric. And of course I thought they would be perfect with paper too! I love how they turned out!! And the little bow is made out of old book pages (I actually found the PERFECT old book from Goodwill... an encyclopedia from 1953.. P-E-R-F-E-C-T!). The tutorial for these can be found HERE. I just inked them to match my paper. And isn't the take-out box the perfect "vase"? Uh YEAH! =)

Well I hope you all have a great Mother's Day! =)

I've got reveals... and a coupon! =)

Oh my goodness, how much fun was this weekend?! I "scrapped" all weekend. And the reason scrapped is in quotes is because I only actually did 2 pages.. the rest of me "scrapping" was me blog hopping and cropping. Ahh.. the joys of talking too much. It was a good weekend though. I actually got Daniel (my husband) in to my scraproom Saturday night. He started a page, but hasn't finished it yet because he just had to go grill some steak (who cares if neither of us had eaten in HOURS.. and who cares if we were starving?? I'm sure it was just a cheap ploy to get out of scrapping with me.. haha). I'll keep y'all posted on that!

So to my reveals. First off, it's Monday! That means it's sketch day at Scrapbook Challenges! WooHoo! I love Pamela's sketches!

(There's also a 2 page version of this sketch posted at Scrapbook Challenges)
Here's my take:

Quite a mix of manufacturers there.. I've got Crate Paper, Lily Bee, and some KI Memories (Elsie of course). I just love these pictures, too. Captain is such a sweet, patient soul.. he'll put up with just about everything Jonah throws at him!

Also, there's a new prompt up at Scrap That Baby! May 1st's prompt is all about Easter!! So yes, it's time to pull out those Easter pictures from a month ago and get to scrapping that baby!!

I can't believe how perfectly the Anna Griffin "Darcey" collection matched these pictures of my little man! And thank goodness for my friend Jenny who let me borrow her bunny punch! =)

In other exciting news, I've been too busy to properly announce it.. butttt.. I've been asked to join the Momenta design team as well! There's all sorts of exciting things happening at Momenta right now. One thing that's new and awesome is that they've launched their new online store! It just went live a few days ago, and there are some bugs being worked out still. Anyways, I've got a coupon for you!!

Just go here to start shopping!

Hope everyone has a great Monday.. and recuperates well from all of the NSD festivities!
-Dani