layouts, sales and games

I am so pleased at how many visitors I have gotten to my blog so far this month! Who knew a blog train could do all that? LOL. And I am equally shocked at the number of comments I have received. Now granted it is no where equal to the number of downloads but I am still pleased that people are taking the time to say thanks. It makes me wanna do more freebies!

I havent had any time yet this month to design. Working full time does that sometimes. But I have had time to scrap a little. I love scrapping more than designing so when there is a little bit of free time (and the motivation) guess what I choose? Here are a couple of pages using newer kits by Ellie Lash. You can find her at Sunshine Studios and she also has her own personal shop now. I used templates from Berry Sweet Designs for both of these layouts. I was never a template girl but I am in LOVE with all of Berry Sweet's. You can find her products at Polka Dot Plum and MScraps.

This layout is created with Cinnamon Cocoa by Ellie Lash.  Its a wintery type of kit but as you can see, it can really be used for any kind of layout.  Template is from Simply No2 by Berry Sweet Designs. 

This layout is created with Sweet Snowflakes by Ellie Lash Designs.  Another wintery type of kit but very adaptable.  The page stitching and the photo border are also by Ellie Lash.  Template is from the Cut Outs set by Berry Sweet Designs.

I love this layout!!!  Ok, I know it looks bad, but seriously, it was sparkling cranberry juice!  I just love the profile of my baby's face and that skinny arm holding that glass.  I created this layout for the Color Challenge at Sugar Hill Co.  You should try it, you get a free little add on kit by Victoria Feemster to use or you can purchase the full kit.  The background paper (recolored) and the photo border are again from Ellie Lash.  The stamp behind the papers are from a Sugar Hill Collab called Sweet Memories.

This is the last layout I created this week.  Vintage Colors is a new release by Michelle Underwood and you can find it only at 2 Peas in a Bucket.  I just love Michelle's style and ease of putting random colors together for a great look.  The photo is me and my bestie, Joyce (aka Becky).

Well, I have more info for you.... a sale!  Who loves a sale?  LOL.  But its not from me!   ha.  Its from LouCee Creations.  I have had the privilege of knowing this awesome gal as fellow CT mates and recently as a fellow designer at Digiridoo Scraps.  But alas, she is packing up and moving!  Its sad but you know what makes me happy?  She is having a 50% off sale!   Heck yea!!!  The sale ends this Sunday but I bet I could pull a few strings and get it extended!!!   LOL.

I love LouCee's kits!  Like LOVE... I have a desktop calendar that I made last year with one that is still my fav to use even tho its not September anymore.  Plus LouCee has excellent Commercial Use products that have all been Quality Checked.  No Strays, No Jaggies, No random crap in the middle of the image!  Seriously, I use her stuff and I use it because the quality is good.  Go check it out, see for yourself and if you are not happy, let me know!

Yea, long post for me.  I think I am really trying to beat my own posting record. So I will leave you with a little freebie.  I had posted info about it in December but I just want to make sure that everyone grabs it that wants it before I take it down at the end of the month.  I created an Add On to my Country Holiday kit and it was available as part of Digiridoo Scraps 25 Days of Christmas. So if you didn't run over and grab it there, then here is your chance.  Just say thanks if you take it... using your nice manners and all.

freebie no longer available

PS... Are you a Swagbucks stalker? LOL... if you know what Swagbucks is, then you are a stalker! You can now play Free Games on Swagbucks!!! So Cool. These are Flash Games so you play directly from the site and there is no downloading. Sign up now for Free Games and you earn 30 additional Swagbucks right away. New to Swagbucks? Sign up and you get 30 for signing up, plus 30 for signing up for the Flash Games. Just click on any of these Free Games links.

want to win a free kit?

One of my favorite designers, Michelle Underwood, is offering a chance to win one of her kits... All you have to do is decide which of her kits you like the most and leave a comment on her blog!! How easy is that? You can find Michelle Underwood's kits at 2Peas in a Bucket. Click the image below to go to Michelle's blog...

And for some inspiration, this kit is Michelle Underwood's newest release, The best days of our life. I loved this kit~~ So many fun elements!

Here is the layout I created with this kit. It took me forever to do all the flowers and circles because I had my layout originally with a frame and then decided that I liked the pic bigger and had to rearrange all the flowers and circles! But I love how it turned out!!

Click on the layout to see full credits in DST Gallery

I don't wanna grow up...

I wanna play all day. I wanna stay in pajamas and watch tv.... oh, dang, what am I singing? That isn't the Toys r' Us kids song. But speaking of growing up, a fellow CT friend turned designer, Scrappy Bits n Pieces by Becky has just released a new kit called Big Kid Now and she let me play with it. I love love how my layouts turned out! Seriously, how could scrapping this subject come out any cuter? Uhm... I did have some help though because Mrs. Mojo ran away with Sancho. So I used templates from Color with Caryn's new set of Template Essentials.

Fantastic templates +

adorable kit =

priceless layouts!

For full credits, click on each layout to view @ DST Gallery

Now... I have a treat for you! I turned each of these layouts in QP for you! Super easy for you to just put a photo in, add some journalling and Viola! Ready to send out for printing. To download each QP, just click on the preview. If you want both QP's, click both images!




Now if you download, remember your manners! It just takes a sec to show your thanks and that makes me warm and fuzzy! Warm and fuzzy me wants to do more for you!

Now, just a few more things... Tomorrow, April 1st, Digi-Designs by Nicole is hosting a SPEED SCRAP at Stuff to Scrap and you are not gonna want to miss this one. She is giving out an entire full Easter kit as the participation prize! Whoot! Click on the links for more info! And... more.... Stuff to Scrap designers are having a blog hop right now! Start at Digi-Designs by Nicole's blog and follow along to collect lots of goodies!

Hmmm... what else! Oh... I know. Michelle Underwood just released a new kit the other day called It's the little things. I love this kit and so I created a layout about ME... rare, I tell ya! And being a CT layout, I posted it around all the mandatory and not so mandatory places and guess what? I got LOTD at TheDailyScrapper~ Whohooo!

For full credits, click on the layout to see it @ DST's gallery

Hmmm... I also ended my Guest CT spot at Captivated Visions. I was so sad because this month was just crazy hectic for me and I never got an opportunity to work as many of Rachel's beautiful kits as I would of liked. I work 2 part time jobs and of course now its starting to get busy! Go Figure! Below is the last layout I did and I used Captivated Vision's Bellis Perennis kit, which is just cute as can be with flowers, leaves, awesome papers (I had a hard time picking so I used lots of strips), strings and ribbons! Plus I love this alpha! You can find this kit at Gotta Pixel where it is on sale right now.

For full credits, click on the layout to see it @ DST's gallery

Ok kids... have a good night! I am off to make more stuff! I work tomorrow morning, Friday morning and Friday night so I doubt I will be on again for the weekend. I really do have some thing for you all that I have been working for a while. Its done but doing the previews and splitting it up is just taking me forever. But I have decided to show you a little sneak peak (and if you recognize the color scheme, then you KNOW how long I've been working on this)

Say it isn't so...

I just have to share something with you.... I know its well past Groundhog's Day but the day after, I was reading a blog post by Pamela Donnis when I busted up laughing. All along I thought Groundhog's Day was something silly but little did I know it was even sillier than I imagined. You can click HERE to read the entire post but the part that cracked me up was this:

I was explaining the tradition to my husband, and he said, ”Six weeks until spring or six more weeks of winter–that’s the same thing!” Yeah, that’s why it’s funny

I just kept reading that part over and over until I finally realized how stupid it was! LOL. Of course, I had grabbed the cute little groundhog that Pam offered as a Freebie not knowing when I would use it, but having to have it nonetheless!!!

Yes, some days I am utterly lost! ha ha.... So, this whole thing comes into play when Michelle Underwood posted a new kit for her CT to play with. It is called I {heart} Spring and I just love the bright colors and fun elements in this kit! Within minutes of downloading I was already making a layout (seriously, not normal for me). I was inspired by the Spring theme and the entire layout came together with NO picture. I was done and then realized I needed to find a pic. Well, I didnt have any cute Spring photos, but when I saw the wide open, shocked look pic of my oldest son, an idea just POPPED into my head. I grabbed that lil groundhog and thru him in the layout, along with my son's freakingly wide opened mouth picture and tada!!!

Click on image for full credits

And look below for the full kit preview! So many possibilities with this kit. Click on the image below to see it in the shop at 2 Peas in a Bucket.

belated Nov news...

Yep... its December. I know. Thanks for the heads up. Goes to show you how far behind I am on just about everything. Seems to me that life just stopped around the, oh, I guess the 23rd or so of October. Yea, a while ago. Wanna know what happened? Well, I wont bore you completely.

Basically, had a school function that required ALOT of prep work from me and the one other parent volunteer I could wrangle... plus lots of nights working late and then being at the school working on stuff all day... etc etc.. ya get the picture right? So, day after Halloween, I wake up sick. Yucky sore throat and stuff... just a cold but annoying. Then the kids get it and the hubby and for those of you with kids and hubbies, ya know how bad this is. Right, right. Moving on... finally get better and then we have several store visits (for work) in a row, leading up to the President (of the company, not the USA) stopping by which results in one really long shift... like till 5am. Yea... long long night. But we were great and the next week is the dreaded BLACK FRIDAY... OH... FYI - if I am moving really fast, its because that's how my life moves.... zoom zoom zoom - so Black Friday.... {insert evil laugh}... I get the 8:30pm Thursday night to 5:30am Friday morning shift. Its crazy crowded, its hot (because the A/C shut off thinking we were all in bed), half the people don't understand me (I don't speak Spanish), it goes on and on. But in the end, I stumbled home tired... but happy. I managed to get an awesome jacket at PacSun for 50% off... it was my size and the ONLY one there... I had been eyeballing it a few weeks prior but they didnt have my size. Destiny, I think. Went home and pretty much crashed because by now its after 7am and I have been awake a very very long time and those two Monster Loca Moca Energy drinks have long worn off. My MIL very generously had volunteered to watch my kids since she knew I would need sleep and hubby had to work - who knew the the day after Thanksgiving was a busy golfing day. Not me... Anyways, so hubby took the little devils to gramma's and my eyes were shut solid long before they walked out the door.... and they stayed shut.... until 5pm that night. Yep... I slept a long long time! Got up for a bit, ate, etc and pretty much went back to bed. I had to work the next 2 night so I need the energy. Skip past those two work days and you have Monday, Nov 30. I am feeling the need to scrap and stay up till 4am scrapping. 3 layouts done but I wake up in the morning sick... again! By Tuesday afternoon, I am running a fever of 102, so I lay on the couch with my BUG until hubby comes home and then I pretty much pass out... until Thursday night... yep! When I get a fever, I go out for the count. I am feeling alot better now, well rested. Just full of snot like you couldn't believe. But guess what I got a few hours after rising from the depths of my comfy bed... a little BUG with a temp of 101.7 and the sniffles. Ugh... yea, that means he cant go to school. So my one day home that I feel kinda decent, I have a sick kid with me. And of course this story cant end like that... nope. The other kid comes home from school sick... coughing up a small lung and spewing germs all over me.... again. I love being a mom. Yep. germs too.

Ok... was that alot? That is exactly how things go for me. Does it go like that for you? Well, if you made it thru all that then I want to share some recent layouts. Of course, these layouts are created with kits that I got for free - in exchange for working with and promoting the kit - blah blah... don't like it, don't read my blog .

So these first two layouts are created with a kit from CONNIE PRINCE called HEY SANTA. If you haven't seen Connie's stuff yet, then you are missing something. Plus, the girl is a kit machine. I think she cranks out a new kit every day. If you click on the layouts, it will take you to the Gotta Pixel Gallery and you can get more info on the kit there in the layout credits (and you could leave me some lovin'). Ok. Connie sells at Gotta Pixel and Elemental Scraps so click on either store name to check out her shop! She always has great deals and kits for $1 or $2... cant beat that.



This next layout was created just tonight during a speed scrap at Gotta Pixel hosted by Connie herself. I love her speed scraps! So much fun. Well, I used another of Connie Prince's kits, this one is called Deck the Halls. Isn't it cute? Click on the layout for the full credits because I used a couple of things that weren't Connie's.



This next layout is one of my favorite one's lately. First, I just love the photo! I used one of My Four Hens Photography Actions on it... can't remember which one off the top of my head but its one of the almost sepia ones. If you havent checked out Sarah's shop with all her amazing actions, do! And then follow her for great sales. I NEVER EVER used an action and then bought some and and now I use them each time.

Ok, back to the layout... hehe... this one is created from a new kit by Michelle Underwood Designs called Vintage Holiday Memories. Michelle sells at 2 Peas in a Bucket, which is a fun place that is both paper and digi!!!.


And that's it. I had 2 more layouts lined up but then realized they aren't released until Monday... so confusing for me to be early on a layout. hehe So come back to see 2 more adorable Christmas layouts.... from Digi-Designs by Nicole.