Sweet&Simple Blog Spot

2009-10-07T17:44:00.002-04:00

{Fall Freebie}

Just to show my Love to all of you, I'm making available for free download my Sweet N Spooky page kit. You can download it right here. Please return the love and leave me some feedback after you download; I'd really appreciate hearing from you! {Side note: If you would like to share this page kit with your friends, please send them to my blog to download it for themselves. THANK YOU, Ladies!!} Hugs to you all and Happy Fall!

2009-10-06T11:22:00.003-04:00

{The time has come...}

...to say good bye to my time as a designer at Digitalscrapbook pages. I feel much sadness, but I've come to a point in my life where my babies take priority and my hobbies have no choice but to take a back burner. The flame is not out, but subdued for the time being. My children will only be small for so long...and I want to enjoy every single second of that time as much as I can. My blog will stay alive, so drop by every now and again for updates, pictures, and maybe even some freebie scraps as time permits.
Just wanted to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who has been there every step along the way with me these last 5 years and a special thank you to Sophia for giving me the chance to work along side of you. Thank you Debbie for taking my products and making them into something pretty..and thank you to Stacey for giving me some place to call home. Last but not least a big thank you to my fans who have bought all of my page kits, and encouraged me to keep designing as long as I have. I've many friendships that will not be forgotten. ((hugs)) to you all!

2009-05-13T14:16:00.004-04:00

{Happy Birthday, Luke Ethan!!}

After two amnios (one at 37 weeks and one at 38 weeks), we were given the go ahead and were scheduled for a 3pm surgery on Friday, March 13th. We were taken in right away and given a bed in the sugery prep/recovery area. By 1:00pm, the nurses had my fluid drip started and the wait began. Interestingly enough, I began having contractions and by the time 3pm approached, they were regular and becoming painful. At about 3:15, the nurse came for me and we walked down the hall to the operating room. I was given a spinal and was prepped for surgery. Just as they began, a nurse brought my husband in to sit by my side. It took about an hour for my hernia surgeon and my obgyn to get through to my uterus and Luke Ethan was born at 4:02pm. (Ironically, all of his older siblings were all born between 2 and 4 in the afternoon, so all of my babies have been afternoon babies!) Daddy got to hold him for quite a while and then they both were off to the baby nursery for a check over. My hernia surgeon got to work and an hour later I was back off to the surgery recovery area. Another two hours (7pm) and I was moved into my room on the maternity floor. Luke weighed in at 10 lbs 15.7 ounces (just shy of his big brother Cole's 11lbs) and was 21 inches long. After some inital breathing issues (common with C/S babies) and then some blood sugar issues, we were finally reunited. The nurses continued to monitor his blood sugar problem but he finally started to have consistantly good levels. We had no more issues thankfully, and Monday morning discharge was a happy time for Mom, Dad, and baby. Big sister Lauren is in love with her baby brother and is momma's big helper. A big thank you to everyone who kept us in your prayers!

2009-02-24T12:44:00.002-05:00

{Baby day coming soon!!}

I've not posted any update in a while- I apologize for being a bad blogger! I've had a few more ultrasounds to track the progression of my polyhydramnios. It's much worse this time than it was with my last pregnancy. Baby is now head down and far into my pelvis. I have a large incisional hernia and it has been quite sore/protruding the last few weeks and I'm thinking that just may be why...up until now he's been transverse. Baby seems to be doing just fine despite all the amniotic fluid, but they estimated his weight to be 9lbs 11oz. Both the tech and the head Dr. admitted weight estimates at this point are not always accurate but the technician said she feels confident that he is at least 9lbs. His amniotic fluid levels have been high since 24 weeks but they've skyrocketed to an estimated 39cm (5cm is considered low-25cm is considered high). They asked that I do a 3 hour GTT just to make sure I don't have GD that the 1 hr test didn't catch. I did that last Wednesday and passed with flying colors, thank goodness. It's normal for me to have "big" babies and I've never failed the 1hr tests they've given me, but I was a bit worried. They are recommending early delivery to avoid complications with my incision scar and my hernia (I've had two previous C/S) and have scheduled me for an amnio with intent to deliver at 37 weeks. I'm a bit nervous about having a baby in less than one week's time(and three weeks early), but it looks as though they feel that is what's best this time. Prayers for a safe amnio next Tuesday with good lung maturity results as well as an uncomplicated C/S and hernia repair and healthy baby on Wednesday would be *very* much appreciated!!

2008-12-08T19:13:00.003-05:00

{It's a.....}

I have a baby update! I went last Monday for my 24 week appt and was suddenly measuring ahead at about 32. I had polyhydramnios with my daughter, so I was sent for an ultrasound on Friday to see if I had developed it again this pregnancy. I do have a bit of excess fluid (not sure how much as they didn't give me a #) and baby is measuring large..2lbs already at only 24 weeks 3 days. The Drs at the Maternal/Fetal Center didn't seem to concerned. They seem to think this is just how I grow them- big and with extra fluid. (My oldest was 11lbs and my youngest was 10lbs 4oz.) I'm hopeful that my Obgyn will agree with them and doesn't start any restrictions yet (with my daughter I had to do NST's 2x every week from the time I was diagnosed) but anyway I just wanted to share our BIG news.....Daddy was sure we were having a girl; my oldest son kept saying it was a boy and no one listened. I guess he really did know what he was talking about because baby totally surprised us all and is a BOY!!!!!!!!!

2008-11-18T11:56:00.003-05:00

{Happy Thanksgiving}

One more week and the holiday season will be upon us. I always love this time of year.. The coming of Thanksgiving for us always means my dear daughter's birthday and then the approaching Christmas month of December. In celebration of this time, my newest page kit SweetNSpooky will be on sale through out the rest of the month and I have a little free "sweet" for you to download. Enjoy this Thanksgiving card- stick in your favorite fall photo, email it to family and friends, or print it out to give to your Thanksgiving day guests. Check out the bonus downloads section at Digitals for this latest freebie OR you can download it right here. Please give me some feedback after you download, I'd appreciate hearing from you! {Side note: If you would like to share this quickpage with your friends, please send them to my blog to download it for themselves. THANK YOU, Ladies!!} I hope you all have a blessed Holiday with your family and friends.

2008-11-01T09:37:00.002-04:00

{Digital Scrapbook Day}

2008-10-24T13:40:00.003-04:00

{SweetNSpooky!}

October finds me at almost half way through my pregnancy with my newest little one and with finally enough energy to do some scrapping! My youngest son is adjusting to preschool and my oldest is enjoying life as a Kindergartner. I can't believe how much the temperature outside has dropped in the last few weeks.. Autumn has made her presence known! I have put together my latest page kit just in time for scrapping all those fun Halloween photos that you'll be taking soon. It's called SweetNSpooky and it's available now in the Digitalscrapbookpages store. As you can probably tell by the name, it's not really your typical Halloween kit. but it's lots of fun so go check it out!

2008-10-22T09:15:00.003-04:00

{Creative Team Call for the Digitals Store!}

Want to work with a variety of fabulous designers, earning free kits and making gorgeous layouts for an established site? We have the job for you! We need 4-5 more members to join our Creative Team at Digitals. Each CT member will work with a designer for one month at a time, making at least 2 layouts with each kit provided and posting them in our gallery, DST, and a minimum of 2 other galleries of your choice Emailing LOs through Yahoo groups, writing reviews in the store, and submitting to magazines are big pluses. You will be given a minimum of 2 kits per month (4 layouts total) for free, but you have the opportunity to do more if you and the designer wish. CT members will rotate to a new designer each month. Please be willing to make a minimum 3 month committment and sign a confidentiality agreement.
Email Stacey at stacey@digitalscrapbookpages.com with a paragraph explaining why you want to be on the team, links to the galleries where you are most active, your other involvement in the digital scrapbooking community (moderator, teams, etc.,) your username at our site, and a little about yourself. This call will remain open until we find people that fit our team. We look forward to your applications!

Digitals: http://www.digitalscrapbookpages.com/digitals/

2008-10-01T09:51:00.000-04:00

{Digitals Birthday Bash #4!!!}

2008-09-03T16:03:00.005-04:00

{Preschool, Baby!}

(Papers from the "IN MEMORY OF MILES" Eclectic Team Colabrative kit from www.eclecticscraps.com. Layout template from Shandy Voight. Font is LD Slanted.)

2008-08-27T14:30:00.003-04:00

{Just a quick note}

Change is circling around the Hess household these days. This morning my four year old had his "Meet the Teacher" conference at his preschool. This will be his first time in school, but he is very excited for class to start next Wednesday. Today was also important to us for another reason..it was my five year old's first day as a Kindergartner! What a bittersweet time for this momma, let me tell you. In just a few short days not one but both of my boys will be gone for a few hours each day. Who said they were allowed to grow up?! I certainly wasn't me; although I am sure my daughter will love having more time with Mom- especially since today also marks the 10 week mark in a new pregnancy for me. We've already had some ups and downs, but it seems as though everything is progressing and a new little baby should be joining us come next March! (School time quickpage from Shabby Miss Jen.)

2008-07-14T14:33:00.003-04:00

(¯`'•.¸12 day Sale and CROP News!!¸.•'´¯)

Digitalscrapbookpages is having a Christmas in July Sale..Participating designers will have their products discounted in the store now until July 25th, 2008. SHOP NOW and get 15-25% off of all of my designs! http://www.digitalscrapbookpages.com/
Have you attended one of my crops before?! Here's your chance if you haven't..I'll be hosting a Christmas Love Crop next Tuesday at 8pm EST. Come join in on the fun! Here's what you need to know:
When: Tuesday, July 22nd@ 8pm EST
Attendees will have a chance to win a gift certificate for my store. Also, anyone who attends and adds a layout to the crop gallery using any Christmas kit from any designer from the Digitalscrapbookpages store will get a freebie from my new Christmas Love kit.

2008-06-30T16:45:00.007-04:00

{Happy Fourth!!}

This summer is flying by fast. Before I know it August will be here and I'll be sending my oldest son to Kindergarten! I'm not looking forward to it, but I know he'll do well. We've had an interesting few weeks with him; he has allergies and asthma and it was recently decided that he should have his adenoids and tonsils out. It's been a week since surgery and things are slowly getting better but I'll be glad when my happy little boy is back and this whining, grumpy child that's been pouting around our house the past week is gone. We are headed off for our first vacation of the summer on Thursday. I am sure that will do much to improve his mood (and mine for that matter!). In the spirit of the holiday weekend, I added a brand new quickpage using pieces of my Americana Style page kit to my products in the Digitalscrapbookpages store and for one day only you can have this page for FREE! Use coupon code fb99dba7d0 at check out on Friday, July the 4th. Wishing everyone a safe and happy weekend!

2008-05-03T13:33:00.002-04:00

{Happy National Scrapbook Day!!}

We would love to have you join us at Digitals http://www.digitalscrapbookpages.com/ for our massive, week-long National Scrapbook Day event May 3-10.
Stop by the store for a 30% off almost everything sale (some exclusions apply) and special NSD grab bags for $3 - personal use and $7 - commercial use. While you are there, score a free mini-kit from our Weaving Time in a Tapestry Mega Kit and download a new card each day from Glenda Ketcham. (THIS MEANS you can get my brand New Christmas Love Mini kit for UNDER $2.00!!!!!!!)
Then swing over to our forum for a fun Treasure Hunt hosted by Amanda Thorderson where you can win free kits daily and prizes! Then scroll down and join some of our 22 challenges, 20 of which reward your finished tasks with another part of the Mega Kit! While you are there, click on our forum calendar to see the 8 fun crops scheduled this week to be held in our chatroom. Each crop hostess has several prizes to give away to participants.
Then take a hop to our store blog where you can join Karla of Lifesong Kreations in a layout contest to win prizes.
And be sure to subscribe to this forum for all the latest info and be sure to thank our sponsors for their generous prize donations.
Let the fun begin!

2008-04-30T13:26:00.003-04:00

{Christmas Love is here!!}

My newest mini kit is in the store *NOW!!* Go check it out! I've got a sample layout to share with you and as usual, a cute little free "try-it-before-you buy-it" quickpage for you to download. Check out the bonus downloads section at Digitals for this latest quickpage OR you can download it right here. Please give me some feedback after you download, I'd appreciate hearing from you! {Side note: If you would like to share this quickpage with your friends, please send them to my blog to download it for themselves. THANK YOU, Ladies!!}

2008-04-23T12:11:00.004-04:00

*Christmas in April?*

Guess what?! I have a brand product set to hit the stores and it's...a Christmas mini kit! I know it's a bit behind the times, but I started this kit last fall and finally decided it was something I needed to finish. (If you are anything like me you still have pictures left over from the holidays to scrap! No matter how hard I try, I always seem to get behind on things I want to do..maybe it's the three young ones under foot?!) More news coming soon, so stay tuned! In the mean time, I've got a kit preview to share with you. TFL!

2008-03-24T14:46:00.003-04:00

{Happy Easter..and a freebie!!}

I've been told I need to update my blog, so here I am and guess what? I have a free little something for my girls! I hope you each had a very Happy Easter weekend. Easter rates right up there with Christmas for my sons. They love painting eggs and looks forward to the Easter egg hunts at Grandma's every year. This year was Lauren's very first egg hunt, so of course we took TONS of photos of both her and her brothers. I put together a quick layout of her in her this morning and made it into a sweet little quickpage for anyone who is interested. Check out the bonus downloads section at Digitals for this latest quickpage OR you can download it right here. Please give me some feedback after you download, I'd appreciate hearing from you! {Side note: If you would like to share this quickpage with your friends, please send them to my blog to download it for themselves. THANK YOU, Ladies!!} Love you all!

2008-03-24T14:16:00.002-04:00

{Tagged!!}

Sweet Jolene tagged me! I stink at filling these out, but better late then never, I guess..so here goes!

Rules:
1. You must post the rules before you give your answers.
2. You must list one fact about yourself begining with each letter on your middle name.
3. After you are tagged, you must update your blog with your middle name and your answers.
4. At the end of your blog you must tag one person for each letter of your middle name.

(Be sure to leave them a comment telling them that they've been tagged and that they need to read your blog for details.)

M---Mommy to three sweet little ones.
A---Always have my nose in a book.
R---Really do love taking pictures of my babies.
I---Interests include gardening and being outside.
E---Enjoy both digital and paper scrapbooking.

Hmm..now for my tags! This isn't going to be easy..

M= Mari K
A= Amy
R= Reid, Lauren (ok, so I fudged that one a bit!)
I= I have no clue
E= Some one help me out here?!

2008-02-20T14:05:00.002-05:00

(¯`'•.¸Storewide Sale¸.•'´¯)

30% off all day Wednesday in celebration of the new site design at Digital ScrapBook Pages!
*Some exclusions apply including advertising, CD burning, gift certificates, affiliates, and custom services. SHOP NOW!! www.Digitalscrapbookpages.com

2008-01-21T15:05:00.001-05:00

{It's a New Year!}

Christmas came and went in a blur here at our house; it seems like some one or another has been sick this whole month of January. Welcome to the new Year, huh? I've been keeping busy though, and I've got a new digital page kit in the works. I'll be sure to post as soon as I have more details to share!

It's almost February which is a time of birthdays for us. Mine comes first, then my oldest ds's birthday is on the 23rd. He is going to be a BIG FIVE year old. *sniff* He'll be starting school in the fall..I just can't believe it. I know I am going to cry, but I am trying not to think about it just yet. (My first "baby" in school!) It's hard to be in denial though when school registration month in our school district is in March! {sigh}

Have any of you watched QVC in a while? Creating Keepsakes aired a new program and I was just lucky enough to catch a part of it one day while I was sitting on the couch sick this past month. I spied this cool new tool from Making Memories called a Tag Curler Embellisher Tool. Have you seen it? Anyone have it? It's $27 (shipped) with 108 assorted metal tags. I checked in my LSS, and the same tool was $25, but with only 18 tags! What a deal! Guess what dh is ordering me for my birthday? I can't wait until it comes so I can try it out. I'll share a layout with you once I get to use it. Oh- btw, next CK show on QVC airs February 2nd. Show times are at 12am, 10pm, 1pm, and 3pm.

2007-12-14T15:12:00.000-05:00

{Oatmeal Cookie Recipe}

Heat oven 350 Degrees.

In a mixing bowl combine these ingredients:

3/4 Cup of Butter Flavored Crisco
1 & 1/4 Cup of Lt. Brown Sugar
1 Egg
1/3 Cup of Milk
1 & 1/2 tsp Vanilla

Beat on medium speed until mixed well.

Add the following:

3 Cups of (Quick or Old Fashioned) Quaker Oats
1 Cup Flour
1/2 tsp Baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Raisins (Add as much or as little as you like)

Cook for approx 10 minutes.

2007-12-14T14:12:00.000-05:00

{My beautiful Girl}

Is everyone surviving the holidays? Thanksgiving came and vanished and now we are in the Christmas rush. I can't believe we only have ten days left..TEN days!! Is everyone finished their gift shopping? I am usually one to plan ahead- I will start shopping for Christmas as early as September in the hopes that I will be completed by the time December rolls around. (I hate fighting my way through all the pushy crowds at the mall that always seem to appear once Thanksgiving says goodbye!) I don't know if it was the fact that we added another birthday in the mix this fall or what, but I suddenly found myself behind in shopping this year. I hurriedly ordered online from some of my favorite websites and am happy to say I am done. Everything has arrived and is stashed away..now if I could just find time to wrap everything! Hopefully this weekend. Tonight we are taking the children to Hershey to see the Sweet Lights and Santa at Chocolate world and tomorrow we are going to bake some oatmeal and sugar cookies. I am looking forward to a nice Christmasy (is that a word?) weekend. There is even snow forecasted for tomorrow evening.. which I know my boys will be so excited to see! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend as well and stay out of the cold..I know quite a few states have been hit with storms this week- of both the snow and ice variety. I'm leaving you with a layout I put together using a photo I took this morning of my big one year old. Happy weekend! (Layout using papers and elements from the Shabby Princess.)

2007-11-23T11:15:00.000-05:00

(¯`'•.¸Storewide Sale¸.•'´¯)

30% off Friday 20% off Saturday & Sunday
*Some exclusions apply including advertising, CD burning, gift certificates, affiliates, and custom services $20 and up More than 30 Grab Bags! $3 for Personal Use Bags $7 for Commercial Use Bags All contain at least 3 never seen before products and have been quality checked. Available Friday - Sunday only! www.Digitalscrapbookpages.com

2007-11-21T18:23:00.000-05:00

{Happy Thanksgiving}

My son Cole has been asking for weeks, "When is Thanksgiving going to get here?". He is anxiously awaiting getting all of our Christmas decorations out and I told him..no Christmas decorating until after Thanksgiving! The big turkey day is finally here and he is so excited. We are off tomorrow to spend the day with family. I hope you all have some one special to spend the day with, or some special tradition that you like to follow for the day. May you be blessed in all that you do and be safe in your travels! As you go about your holiday weekend, I've a little "Thank you" for you all...another cute little *free* quickpage from my Sweet Stuff page kit. Check out the bonus downloads section at Digitals for this latest download OR you can download it right here. Please give me some feedback after you download, I'd appreciate hearing from you! {Side note: If you would like to share this quickpage with your friends, please send them to my blog to download it for themselves. THANK YOU, Ladies!!}

2007-11-13T14:23:00.000-05:00

{Layout Share}

Time flys by so fast when you don't want it too, doesn't it? My little girl will be a BIG ONE year old in just a few short weeks. It's hard to believe some days just how fast babies grow. I know soon she will be taking her first steps...the anticipation of the day is bittersweet. My little girl will no longer be a baby, but a toddler! I've been busily scrapping some of her old photos to get ready for those all important birthday pictures that I am sure will be calling out my name to scrap as soon as I take them. Here is one layout I did today that I thought I'd share since there is actually a picture of me in it! Well, me at 6months old anyway. Hope you like..the Photo film frame and brads from Amanda Thorderson's Song Of Hope Kit available at Digitals. Paper Fold Action from Marcie Reckinger and Traci Murphy. The rest are all from my Blue Simplicity Kit, also available at Digitalscrapbookpages. Thanks for looking! Happy Tuesday!

2007-11-02T10:44:00.000-04:00

{Trick or Treat Day}

My little ones are like most other children..any mention of sweets gets them excited. Every year for Halloween, they dress up and go to Grandma's in hopes of filling their little trick or treat bags with candy. This year, my boys were James the Red engine and Thomas..my baby girl was a little fairy princess. I wasn't sure how the baby would do -this was her first Halloween- but she loved all the fun.. Jabbered away the whole time until she fell asleep! I just couldn't get enough of her in her little costume, so I thought I'd share a quick pic! Oh, the Cuteness!!

2007-10-10T16:43:00.000-04:00

{Sweet Stuff}

Sweet Stuff is available in the Digitalscrapbookpages store NOW! *Remember** If you want to try this kit before you purchase it, I've got a free sample quickpage made with pieces of the kit for you. Just check out the bonus downloads section at Digitals, OR you can check out the blog entry below and use the 4Shared file link. Hope you enjoy!

2007-10-09T10:53:00.001-04:00

*PINK SWEETS*

Ok, ladies..remember that new kit I was working on? Can you believe I finally finished it?! *happy dance* I loved the colors of my last page kit, Sweet and Shabby so much, that I had to do second kit with those yummy pink shades of color. It's finished and will be in the store soon, so stay tuned for more details in the next few days. In the meantime, I've got previews for you and as usual, a cute little *free* sample if you want to try out this kit before you buy it. Check out the bonus downloads section at Digitals for this latest quickpage OR you can download it right here. Please give me some feedback after you download, I'd appreciate hearing from you! {Side note: If you would like to share this quickpage with your friends, please send them to my blog to download it for themselves. THANK YOU, Ladies!!} Love you all!

2007-10-01T16:34:00.000-04:00

*Digitalscrapbookpages.Com Birthday Bash#3*

Games, Contests, Freebies, and More..so come join in on the fun. Check out the 30% SALE in the Digital's store as well. Runs October 1st through October 7th, 2007.

2007-09-05T09:59:00.000-04:00

*Summer time= busy*

At least at our house it does and as a result I've been neglecting this blog of mine. My youngest son celebrated his 3rd birthday in August and my daughter just turned 9months last week. Only three months until her first birthday, I can't believe it! We just got back from an extended Labor day weekend vacation and my first thought was that I need to do some scrapbooking. It's been a while since I've been able to devote some time to do some layouts, much less work on my latest page kit. Hopefully things calm down soon for me..my latest project only needs a few finishing touches before it can be released. Stay tuned for more details on that front. In the mean time, a layout share- just a quick simple one of my baby Miss L. Paper and flowers from PepperMint Creative, "Miss Mint, Foxy Lady" kit. Black Photo corner also from PepperMint Creative, but from Miss Mint's "Party Pants" kit.

2007-07-15T13:15:00.000-04:00

{BIG NEWS!!}

Have you heard the buzz about Lifts With A Twist? I know I've talked about this fun blog before..well my pal Susan contacted me this week to see if I could fill in an opening for a designer sponsor. Of course I jumped at the chance! Want to get in on the fun? Check out this week's spotlighted layout on Susan's blog, pick something from the layout to lift, and then post to Susan the link to your layout in this week's lift thread. ALL Lift participants will recieve a FREE quickpage from me as well as a 25% off coupon for my store. Anyone who does the lift and uses 2 elements or papers of mine (And PLEASE - feel free to add in any other designers elements and papers as you like) will be entered into a drawing to win a $20.00 gift certificate for my store!! Susan will enter all the names of the scrappers and pick the lucky winner..No contest, it will be a random drawing. Everyone has an equal chance to win, so ENTER and have FUN!!

2007-07-04T10:48:00.001-04:00

{Happy Fourth of July!!}

From my family to yours, I hope those of you in the US enjoy the Fourth! May you all have a blessed day today and a wonderful Independence Day weekend! We are taking the children in town to see the fireworks display this evening and this weekend we are off to the mts to enjoy some time with our extended family. The kiddos are looking forward to going fishing with their uncles and are excited about spending some time with their cousins.

In celebration of the holiday and our recent server move, Digital Scrapbook Pages is having a STORE WIDE SALE July 4-6....20% off EVERYTHING except CD burning, gift certificates, and commercial licenses. Take of advantage of this sale to get some of those products on your wish list! Happy shopping, Ladies!

2007-06-18T10:08:00.000-04:00

{Happy Father's Day}

I hope everyone had an enjoyable weekend. Thankfully, the weather was wonderful here. We took my Dh out to eat on Saturday afternoon and then in the evening we took our boys to Chuck E Cheese to celebrate our two year old's progress in potty training. We just finished week three of trying and he's been almost accident free for over a week and a half. *Go Evan!* Mommy is so proud!

Sunday we were up bright and early for church and then headed over to my sil's for my niece's 10th birthday party. (Happy birthday, Olivia!)

We finished the weekend off by hanging out in the yard at home. Did some cooking on the grill and then took a nice little drive before bedtime. The whole weekend went way too fast!

(Layout of my kiddos using pics from this weekend is using pieces from the Eclectic team's collaborative kit, "In Memory of Miles".)

Oh, before I forget.... just wanted to mention... Lettering Delights is having a dollar days sale during the month of June, so head over there and check out all the cool new stuff. Creative keepsakes has some free downloads available this month as well including some CK fonts and a new kit from Jessica Sprague, so while you're surfing the 'net this week, head over there as well and check those out!

2007-06-07T15:23:00.000-04:00

{Layout share and more}

Check out my new blinkie from the DigiScrapDepot. I recieved a nice little email from Vicky Laursen- Administator at DigiScrapDepot.com asking me to consider submitting my freebie quickpage from my Sweet and Shabby kit to her download list. I thought, why not? Her site is a win/win situation for designers and freebie hunters alike. Designers get the news out about their kit samples... digiscrappers get links to the designer's blog or site to access the download. Everyone is happy. {Thanks, Vicky!} Anyway, this week I stoped by... added my quickpage, and then started browsing through some of the selections and came across one from designer, Shandy Vogt. She has a nice little blog with several freebies to choose from. I downloaded a sweet little .png full of paint scribbles she calls "painted swooshes". So cool! I recently had gotten a new kit from the store at Digital Scrapbookpages from Designer Amanda Thorderson called "Song of Hope" that I was just itching to use, so off I went play. Here's what I came up with using some pictures of my oldest son, Cole that I had sitting around "collecting dust" in my picture folder on my desktop from weeks back when our spring flowers were still blooming in the backyard. It's called, "The Sweetest Flower".

2007-06-04T13:50:00.000-04:00

{Do a Good Deed}

You Reap what you sow.... What comes around goes around.... You've all heard these types of sayings, right? There are a lot of people out there who turn the deaf ear. People who are unkind. People who cheat.. who lie.. who have no respect for one another. I'd have to say though that the digi scrap community as a whole is a giving, loving group of people. This was shown to me once again this past week as I stumbled upon a new site. A digital scrapbooking site centered completely upon the idea of giving of yourself to those in need. This site's name is Song Bird Avenue and was founded by two talented artists that I admire, Meredith Fenwick and Jan Crowley. Make a point to stop by their newest spot on the net at least once a month just to see what they are up to- Each month they will be working with a different digital designer to offer you a new product available for purchase...get this...with ALL profits going to charity. This month they collaborated with Dianne Rigdon of Shabby Elements on a kit named "Petites Fleurs".... 100% of this month's profits will benefit The American Diabetes Association.

2007-06-01T13:35:00.000-04:00

*Pink*

I've been bitten by the pink bug. I admit it. Never thought I'd see the day, but I'm starting like the color pink. The new little princess in my life has opened my eyes to brand new colors and lately with everything growing and changing outdoors, it seems as though I've been stuck on spring colors like green and yes- the dreaded pink.
I've working on yet another kit. It's nameless as of yet, but let me give you one guess what colors I've been playing with....hmm....yep, P-I-N-K and G-R-E-E-N. My last page kit (Sweet and Shabby) was too much fun to put together and so...here I am again. Everything is coming together nicely and I should have previews and a sneak peek free download soon. In the mean time, here's a layout that I put together yesterday evening using some pieces from the kit. It's called- "Life is Tough". My sweet Miss L turned 6months old May 29th.

2007-05-24T15:52:00.000-04:00

*Happy Memorial Day*

Spring is definitely here, and I can tell with this most recent bout of warm temperatures, that summer is on it's way. We mark summer around here with the coming of Memorial day weekend. I hope you all have a blessed, safe weekend. Thank you to all of the U.S. men and women who have spent their life in military service to our country. (((hugs)) and love from my family to yours.

2007-05-14T13:26:00.000-04:00

{Happy Mother's Day}

Happy Mother's day to all of the other mothers out there. This weekend was my first Mother's day weekend spent as the mother of three. I look at these three children of mine and I am still unbelieving that these three beautiful little creatures belong to me. Amazing! All I ever wanted was to be a mother- to have someone to love and take care of. These children are my dreams come true- complete with their dirty hands, messy faces, and all the other "joys" that come along with them. *sniff* We had a relaxing weekend. Saturday it was just the kiddos and I. We went into town and stopped off at the library for some new books and then got a bite to eat before coming home. The boys always love getting new Thomas the train books for bedtime, so they love the library! It's so great to see them interested in reading. I always did and still do love to snuggle up with a good book.
Sunday afternoon Daddy took us to the local dairy bar and got us some soft serve ice cream cones. Something we don't do often, so it was a treat. Then we took the kids to the "Rail Trail"- a local system of bike riding and walking trails that curve their way through the country side following and old rail way. It was a beautiful day for walking and we walked over a mile. It was Miss L's first real stroller ride and she did great. All smiles. I'm so thankful that have these babies of mine in my life!

2007-05-07T13:02:00.000-04:00

{Inside Scoop}

Hope everyone had a terrific weekend. Mine was a blur to be honest. Saturday morning I took the kids to a local May day festival. There were plenty of games and fun things for the kids. My guys traded in all of the tickets they won playing games at the prize table for hotwheels. They were in Heaven all weekend playing with their new cars. It's not too hard to please them, really. Their worlds revolve around trains and cars right now!
Saturday afternoon was our NSD crop. Everyone had great fun chatting and we had so much fun that I realized just how much I missed doing crops. Sophia and I left the hour in agreement- we need to collaborate again in a few months for another chat. I'm looking forward to the opporunity of working with her again. She is such a sweetie. I'll make sure I post the details when ever we decide on our next crop date!
Ok, lets talk free samples. I've got two free quickpages here on my blog/in the Digitals Bonus downloads gallery. The QP made from my "You are my Sunshine" kit is gone, but the quickpages from my "Americana Style" kit and my brand new kit "Sweet and Shabby" are still available. There has been such a great response to my Americana Style kit that I've decided I needed a way to say thank you for all the great feedback. Get a $1 off the kit with this thank you coupon from me. Use code: Des1086faae02 at Checkout. (Offer expires soon.)
This gets me thinking...when the last time I did one of my "Inside Scoop" posts??!! Got have the goodies, right? So, here's some of what's going on:

DIGITAL SCRAPS-
Digitals: 20% off on the ENTIRE store at Digital Scrapbook Pages (almost 3,000 items) from May 5 - 11. Exclusions: CD burning, gift certificates, commercial licenses, advertising and all affiliates (ACDSee software, Heritage Maker bound books, and keepsake textiles).

Digitals Designer Sophia Davies has her brand new "Life is Good" kit 50% off the entire month of May. Check this kit out, you won't be disappointed. Stop by Sophia's blog and try the kit before you buy it- she has four great *free*quickpages available for download.

The girls from the Eclectic team have created a beautiful RAK for everyone in Memory of a little boy named Miles. To read about Mile's story and see this wonderfully touching kit, follow this link- "In Memory of Miles". Among the Contributing Designers is Amy Knepper a very sweet gal I've had the pleasure of working with in the past. Another sweetheart of a designer that I know has put together some quickpages with the kit and these are also available for download. You can find these on her blog- Lauren Reid Designs. If you download the kit, give the designers some love. One thing I love about the digital scrapbooking world is that there are so many who are ready at a moments notice to help out someone in need. Please keep Mile's family in your thoughts and prayers.

Oh, one last thing I just have to mention. There is a certain lovely lady who introduced me to digital scrapbooking who is constantly inspiring me. You may know her from her popular "Lifts with Twist" blog which was just featured in DigiShop Talk's April Insider newsletter. Susan's blog is an awesome way for you to get free stuff, layout inspiration, and coupons for your favorite designers. If you haven't stopped by yet, I'm challenging you to do so today. You won't regret it, I promise!

PAPER STUFF-
Addicted to Scrapbooking has a sales running this week, include a Cinco de Mayo sale on all new products. Sale includes products from Heidi Swapp and Queen and Co.

The sales at Herrschner's Paper Crafts have been updated and this week's special include paper basics and embellishments up to 80% off. This weekly sale ends Wednesday, May 9th.

SCRAP MAGS-
Simple Scrapbooks: Get one year (6 issues) for $14.97

Creating Keepsakes: Get (13 issues) of Creating Keepsakes magazine for $19.97. Free fonts and quotes download with paid subscription.

FONTS& MORE-
ScrapnFonts-Get the TXT Super bundle of 30 fonts at 66% off for a limited time.

Lettering Delights- Sign up for their newsletter and get 7 FREE fonts! Several Font bundles currently 50% off. Includes the May flowers bundle, the Jillustrations Spring Scribble Bundle, and more.

Kodak- Mother's Day is coming up soon, and for a limited time you can receive free shipping on orders over $25. Just enter Coupon Code: SHIP2MOM at checkout. *Expires May 14th, 2007.

Shutterfly- Buy one Mother's day gift and get 50% off another. 25% off greeting cards. Offer ends soon, so check this one out while you can!

2007-05-04T16:19:00.000-04:00

{Sweet and Shabby is here!}

Two posts in one day.. shocking I know! I've got great news though.. my newest kit Sweet and Shabby is now in the stores!! Just in time for National Scrapbook day. *So happy* I've got previews for you and a cute little *free* sample if you want to try out this kit before you buy it. Check out the bonus downloads section at Digitals for this latest quickpage or you can download it right here. Again, Please give me some feedback after you download, I'd appreciate hearing from you! {Side note: If you would like to share this quickpage with your friends, please send them to my blog to download it for themselves. Thank you, ladies!}

Have a great weekend. Hope to see many of you at the chat tomorrow! (1pm Eastern at Digitals!)

2007-05-04T16:07:00.000-04:00

*Too Cute*

So I was browsing around in the forums today at Digitals and I saw this great layout from Heather U. called "One of a Kind" using my Blue Simplicity page kit and I just had to share. Too cute! If you agree with me, why not stop by and give her some love? Here's the link to her layout. One of a Kind

2007-04-30T10:29:00.000-04:00

*Sweet and Shabby Update*

I'm almost done putting the last touches on this kit and I'm so excited! The bright pinks are a departure from the norm for me, but I *love* how everything has turned out. Check out my new blog header for a sneak peak at some of the elements and papers! What do you think?! Cool, huh? Stay tuned for a freebie from this kit. I'll have something available for download S-O-O-N!!

Speaking of free samples, head on over to my pal Sophia's blog if you love quickpages. She's got four- not one, but FOUR quickpages all created with her brand new kit "Life is Good" and they are all available for download! How nice is that? Here's the link: Sophia Davies Designs

On yet another note, a designer that I have had the opportunity to work with in the past and admire greatly has just opened a new scrap site. Who is it? Designer Christine Smith.. and her new site is called "Scrap Quick.Com". What makes this site different from most others? She offers a unique concept - a totally *free* graphics editor capable of everything you need to complete digital scrapbook pages from scratch or while using ScrapQuickArt™. Stop by her blog, find out all about her new Scrap Quick site, and give her some love! Christine Smith Digital Design

2007-04-28T17:52:00.000-04:00

{1 WEEK!}

One more week until National Scrapbook day! One more week until My upcoming crop with co-host Sophia Davies. Please mark your calendars for this event if you haven't already. The important details... Saturday May 5th, 2007 at 1pm EST. 12am Central. 10am Pacific. Free crop kit for all who attend. Free set of 3 quickpages for anyone who posts a layout after the chat! Featured here is a layout Sophia created using one of the quickpages. How cute is this?!

2007-04-16T14:08:00.000-04:00

*Coming Soon!*

Getting a lot done these last two weeks that I've been off work from my surgery...there is more free time on my hands then I am used to! I've got yet another kit coming soon the Digital Scrapbook Pages store. This one is called "Sweet and Shabby".

It's 2 styles in one:

Funky stuff= stripes and circles papers, felt pieces. Shabby stuff= flower papers, torn paper pieces. Oher fun stuff= Shabby Flower, "Gem stone" flower centers, "Gel" photo prong, photo clip, and hearts. The latest previews are coming soon. Stay tuned for more details!

2007-04-10T16:36:00.000-04:00

{Yay!}

Happy day here! I have the Lisa Bearnson Scrapbook Rewards Visa and I just got my first reward in the mail!! This is what I picked: A Memory Makers tag Maker set. I can't wait to use it..you can make custom tags from your pictures and paper. Anyone have this already? I'm anxious to sit down and learn how to use it!

I also finished smoothing out details for the crop I'll be hosting in just a few short weeks for National Scrapbook Day at Digital

Scrapbook Pages. With me with be my Pal Sophia from Sophia Davies Designs and I am so excited about doing this with her! *yay* We've got a cute little mini kit in store for anyone who attends the crop and a nice posting bonus as well for those who participate! Mark Saturday May 5th on your calendars. Crop will start at 1pm Eastern.

2007-04-06T14:43:00.000-04:00

*Sale, Freebie, and More*

What a busy week! My baby girl turned 4 months old this past week. She has grown so much- she weighs in at over 15lbs now and is almost 27inches long. The children have a new baby cousin..Aidan Michael was born this past Thursday evening. {Congratulations Dan and Ashley!} I just found out I had an incisional hernia and I had that repaired this week. *Ouch!* Trying to rest and take it easy, but I had to check in here to wish everyone a happy, and safe Easter holiday. My boys are so excited about painting eggs this weekend and are looking forward to Grandma's Easter egg hunt on Sunday!

I'm currently working on organizing some National Scrapbook Day festivities and I am very happy to let some of the news out of the bag..I'll be hosting a crop NSD weekend with a fellow designer at Digital Scrapbook Pages. I can't wait! More details on that to come!

In some other news- I recently revamped my "You are my Sunshine" page kit. You can find the new version in the Digitals store now. If you don't have this kit.. I encourage you to take a peek at it. Want to try it out? I've got yet another free quickpage available for you to download. I hope you love working with this one. You can download it right here: Sunshine Quickpage. Again, Please give me some "Love" after you download, I'd appreciate hearing from you! {Side note: Please help me out by not sharing this link or this file with anyone else. If you would like to share this quickpage with your friends, please send them to my blog to download it for themselves. Thanks, ladies!}

Last but, not least..Digitals is doing some Spring Cleaning and I am participating by adding a few of my products to clearance. Check them out- you can get them for 40% off the entire month of April, 2007. My "For the Love of Violets" page kit is included in this sale- you can get the entire kit for only $3.00!!

2007-03-27T19:58:00.000-04:00

*Digitals Creative Team Call*

2007-03-23T13:28:00.000-04:00

{Here it is!}

Americana Style is now available at Digitals...this digital page kit is full of red, whites, and blues- cardboard pieces, notebook paper, torn paper pieces, hearts, and stars. There are 8 distressed backgrounds plus a sheet of notebook paper..plus 4 additional creased and faded bonus backgrounds. That's a total of 13 backgrounds.. all made at 300 dpi and printable! Other paper elements with inked edges abound--these include 8 deco squares, 2 photo mats, 2 arrows, photo corners, hearts, two torn paper pieces, index tabs, journaling blocks and more. Cardboard pieces and journaling labels are included, as well as metal doodads. Over 45 elements in all.

{For those of you who are experiencing problems with the Easy share link to the free Americana Style quickpage...you can now download the file through the Digitals Bonus Downloads gallery.}

2007-03-21T15:03:00.000-04:00

{The headline today}

Yep, I finally put together a new digital page kit! *yay* It's called Americana Style and is full of reds, blues, browns- cardboard pieces, torn notebook paper, hearts, stars, arrows, journaling blocks, stitching, and many more other goodies.
It's coming S-O-O-N to the store at Digitals, but if you want to try it before you can buy it..I've got a free download for you! Americana Style
Quickpage. Give me some "Love" after you download, I'd appreciate hearing from you!
{Side note: Please help me out by not sharing this link or this file with anyone else. If you would like to share this quickpage with your friends, please send them to my blog to download it for themselves. Thanks, ladies!}
Take a look... I used it here with a picture of my sweethearts... download DOES come with the little black "dream big" label, btw! Hope you like! (Font for journaling: CK Buzz)

2007-03-15T20:04:00.000-04:00

{A Pretty Flower}

Miss L is keeping me busy these days..all I have time for is a quick sneek online here and there. I am working on a new kit called "Americana Style" and hopefully I'll have more news on that soon but until then, here is another layout share! This one is called "My flower". Credits: Shabby Princess Vintage Floral kit papers and stick pin. Gina Cabrera Bright and Merry kit flower and Falling for you kit journal paper. Torn edges from Atomic cupcake Font: CK Buzz Swirls: Jessica SpraguePhoto effect: PS softlights Tfl...Hope you all are well! ((hugs))

2007-03-01T10:23:00.000-05:00

*Quick Post*

Just a quick layout share today. My babies are all under the weather this week and keeping me busy, but I managed to sneak in a few minutes to scrap this layout earlier in the week. It made "Layout Of The Day" at Digitals! It's a picture of me and my youngest son. I used the PS solftlights filter on the photo; Steph730's digital paper tears for the torn papers. Fonts are CK Duveeny and CK Carolyne. Kit "Falling for You" from DDE.

2007-02-12T17:19:00.000-05:00

{Just another day?}

My birthday has come and gone, but I had a great weekend. On Friday, dh took me to a movie and then we went to a Logan's steakhouse that just opened up in town last month. It was so yummy and I ordered their cheesecake for dessert. (I luv the stuff!) He took me to one of the craft stores on the other side of town that I haven't been to in a while to get some new paper scrapbooking stuff and let me order some new CK fonts that I've been wanting. (www.scrapnfonts has some fonts bundles on sale right now for 29.99 and if you purchase $30 worth of products, you get $10 off!!) My mil got me flowers and a Target gc and Sunday morning I had a box of my favorite chocolates waiting for me. I feel spoiled which is funny because I wasn't even expecting my birthday to be that big of a deal this year! *yay!!* I treated myself to an hour of scrapping this afternoon, so this week is off to a great start as well. I've been sadly lacking in digital scrapbook time the past few months and it feels so great when I actually get to sit down and play. My layout is called, "so blessed" and features two of my cuties- Cole and Lauren. You check it out here! Tfl!

2007-02-02T17:26:00.000-05:00

{Lovin' February}

In our home we love the month of February. My oldest son turns 4 during this month and I turn...well let's just say my birthday is this month as well! My son's favorite color is purple and so I have made a few pieces from my purple "It's a new year" mini kit available as a free download just for you! If you don't already have this kit, visit my home site to download them today. (http://www.sweetsimpledesigns.com/)

There is also a 30% off sale on all my products at Digital Scrapbook Pages.com for the entire month of February, so stock up on any kits that may be on your wish list now while the sale lasts!

FEBRUARY CONTESTS @ Digitals:
The whole month of February, Digitals is running a contest for anyone who spends $20 or more in the store. They are automatically entered to win one of these prizes: PSE 5, book: Digital Photography for Busy Women, or a $20 gift certificate to Digitals. One entry, per person, per day. We will be having a chat on Feb. 20 at 9 p.m. Eastern to give away 2 Unibind systems (valued at over $100 each). One will be given to a layout contest winner and the other to a random crop attendee. Watch for more info on both events!

2006-12-20T15:58:00.000-05:00

{Happy Holidays}

Happy Holidays from me and mine to you and yours...Here's wishing each of you a very blessed Christmas and up coming New Year!

(Layout of my sweethearts was created with Gina Cabrera's Merry and Bright page kit. Check it out now at DDE!)

2006-12-12T12:43:00.000-05:00

{A new little person to scrap for!}

How exciting! I am already loving taking pictures of her while she sleeps and I can't wait to get the opportunity to do some layouts with them. *sigh* If only there were more hours in the day!

I know I've been mia a whole lot more then is usual for me the past few months. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I'm sure now everyone is gearing up for the upcoming Christmas holiday...for those of you who I don't get to chat with before then- I wish you a very blessed Christmas season and New Year as well!

2006-12-12T12:36:00.000-05:00

{She's here!!!}

That's right..our baby girl has arrived! We woke up Wednesday, November 29th, the morning of our scheduled C/S and got everything together for the boys to go and stay with their grandparents. About 11am we drove them over to Grandma's and got them settled in. Got some hugs and kisses and then left for the hospital. Check in time for us was 12:30pm. We arrived right on time and the put us in pre/op room to monitor the baby until just before 3pm. The nurses took me then into the operating room, and at a few minutes after 3:30pm, they were finally able to reach our little one.
The baby was sunnyside up, so at first none of the nurses could see if it was a boy or a girl. They were all asking, "what is it?" and I remember one saying she couldn't see! Finally someone ended the suspense by saying, "It's a girl". Everyone in the room started cheering and I felt a tear rolling down my cheek. I couldn't believe that we were actually blessed with a little girl after our two sweet boys, but there she was...
Our little pumpkin weighed in at 10lbs 3.8oz and was 20 and 3/4 inches long. Apgar scores were 8, and 9. Her toes and fingers were a little blue at first, but everyone commented on what a healthy set of lungs she had and how handy that would be with two older brothers!
Grandma was called and given the news. Big brother Cole's only reaction to the fact that mommy had a baby sister for him was, "Oh, she's finally here!" He 'knew' he was getting a sister all along (and had told us all so from the begining).
The boys love their new baby sister and are doing a great job with her. Big brother Cole likes to hold her and brother Evan is always asking to help take care of her. I hear "I love my baby sister", several times a day and it just warms my heart. I have peace now that our family is complete even if there are no more babies in our future. I can already imagine Lauren running around and playing beside her big brothers some day!

2006-11-17T11:38:00.000-05:00

{The latest News}

Still waiting on this little one to come! An update from my post a few weeks ago...the baby is head down now! 9 pounds 4ounces...that is how much my little bun in the oven was estimated to weigh at our last ultrasound. (36.5 weeks) Along with the extra fluid I'm carrying, I've got the doctors worried about me& they are pushing for a scheduled CSection at 39 weeks- something I did not want. We now finally have our birth plan settled, but only after much discussion. The end is in sight..if I go into labor, it will be completely up to me if I feel like trying for a vbac or if I want to go ahead with surgery. If I don't go into labor on my own, I will have a scheduled C/S on November 29th. I am so happy to get everything settled and I am anxious to meet this new addition to our family. A huge heart felt thank you to all my scrapping friends who have kept us in your prayers! {hugs}

2006-10-23T16:30:00.000-04:00

*Layout Shares*

I've got a couple for you and one is even from me... imagine that! Scrapping time is limited for me these days, but some things you just have to fit in, right?!

The first is from my lovely design team member Juli and is using my new "Blues" kit. Thanks for sharing, Juli..what a cute layout!

The second one is from me.. I just had to scrap these new pictures of my boys. I know I am biased, but what a couple of cutiepatooties! (I used Laura Alpuché's new September Sun kit from the Digi Chick!)

2006-10-16T12:15:00.000-04:00

{Inside Scoop}

I haven't done a scrapbooking sales update in a while and I've been hording some emails in my inbox that I wanted to share. Just a few quick notes-
Visit ScrapnFonts right now and Buy 2 Fonts, Get 1 Free: Halloween fonts for treat bags and decorations, New exclusive Creating Keepsakes fonts, Charming fonts for tags and gifts. Get all the Great styles now for fall. Sale ends 10/26. Shop here.
Use promotional code PW6 at Paperwishes.com right now and recieve free shipping on all scrapbooking orders of $50 or more. (I confess I just used this code. I can't resist the selection of elements in the Paper wishes catalog!)

More Scrapbooking and Craft related websites- I just found this great list of websites and thought I'd share. Some I've already visited..some I haven't and plan to!

Scrapbooking & Crafts
CraftIdeas.com: Free craft and needlework patterns, projects, charts, chat, discussion, articles, contests, tips and ideas.
Crayola Store: Crayola products, segmented by seasonal projects, child's age, and project type, providing both online shopping and craft ideas.
Create For Less: Wholesaler of sewing, scrapbooking, quilting, decorative painting, floral and garden, and other general crafting and hobby supplies.
CreatingKeepsakes.com: Scrapbook articles, tips, ideas and message boards to help preserve your memories.
DIY Network: DIY Network is your television source for the latest do-it-yourself projects & crafts.
DLTK Kids Crafts: DLTK's Crafts for Kids features a variety of fun, printable children's crafts, coloring pages and more including projects for holidays, educational themes and some of our children's favorite cartoon characters.
eStickers.com: Kids Sticker Club. Beautifully designed stickers for the sticker artist and scrapbooking community. There are hundreds of stickers. Offers a wide variety of acid-free stickers to decorate your scrapbook pages.
MemoryMakersMagazine.com: Scrapbooking books, magazines, ideas and page layouts. Archive of pages from back issues, subscribe online, current issue highlights.
MyBabyScrapbook.com: Scrapping supplies to create albums worthy of a special baby or toddler, including books, stickers, paper, and embellishments.
PaperKuts.com: The original guide to fast, easy scrapbooking. Features articles, layout ideas and scrapbooking information.
Paperwishes.com: Scrapbooking online store with the latest techniques and products.
Scrapbook.com Store: Scrapbook.com: Thousands of scrapbooking supplies. HUGE daily discounts! 1,000’s of Products. Huge Sales. Rated 5 starts by Yahoo.
Sticker Planet: Acid-free stickers, papers and other products for scrapbooking, sticker-art and creative fun!

2006-10-10T17:19:00.000-04:00

{Sweet Baby Face}

2006-10-10T16:50:00.000-04:00

{Update on the Home Front}

Every year a small local town holds an Apple Harvest Festival. People come from miles around to taste the good food and to check out the crafts and homemade products. It is a traditional of mine to take the boys each year for a day of fun with mommy....they love it! There is a petting zoo, face painting, wagon rides, and games for the children. My boys' favorite activity? Jumping in a huge straw pile set up each year for the kids to play in. It's too cute to see them rolling around in the straw giggling and having fun. On the way home we always stop at our favorite pumpkin stand called "Pumpkin Hill". This year we bought two huge pumpkins- Cole is determined to carve them this year. (This will be Hubby's and my first attempt at this with the boys...wish us luck!)
Our littlest addition to the family is still cooking well in mommy's tummy. Too well! We've been measuring ahead the past few weeks even though our doctors are positive the baby's due date is correct. My big tummy was measuring 32 at 28 weeks, 35 at 30 weeks, and finally at our last visit- 37 at 32 weeks. I was sent in for an ultrasound this morning to measure the baby's size and I am proud of us- we didn't give in and take a peek between the baby's legs! This was our first ultrasound since our 10 week ultrasound for dating the pregnancy, so it was nice to see our baby clear for the first time. S/he is breech, so we had quite a few nice views of her profile and her face which was so neat for me. Both of the boys had their heads hiding during their scans and we ended up never getting any good ultrasound photos of their faces. The tech was great too and gave us two head shots, two feet shots, and a cute one of the baby's fist.
There are two reasons I am measuring big. First reason is that I am carrying extra fluid around the baby and two- the baby is big. They estimate her/his size at 32 1/2 weeks to be 6lbs 10oz.
Extra fluid can sometimes mean the baby is having trouble, but they could find no obvious reason for it with me. The baby looks healthy and has a good heart rate. They want me back in no more then 4 weeks to measure the baby's growth and they are also reccomending to my OB that I come in weekly for non-stress tests. They made me stay after the ultrasound for one and then I am to call in to my drs office sometime towards the end of the week to see when they want to scedule me for my next one.
I'll see if I blogger lets me share a pic- My favorite is the shot of the baby's face...you can see it's chubby cheeks. The baby's head is on the left and it's chest is on the right for those who have a hard time telling what is what.

Prayers that our baby really is healthy, that s/he doesn't grow too much in the next few weeks, and that s/he moves head down...

2006-10-03T13:39:00.000-04:00

{20% off sale at Digitals and Retirement Bundles available}

For those of you who haven't stopped by Digitals recently, the site is in the middle of celebrating it's 2 year anniversary. Along with the celebrations comes a store wide sale..everything is currently 20 or more percent off and will stay that way until October 7th! This includes all of my products- my new kit Blue Simplicity as well as two new kit bundles that entered the store today.
I am growing as a designer and decided it was time to "Clean House" so to speak. I have 6 full kits as well as several quickpages and an alpha that will be entering into retirement in the weeks to come. First I wanted to give you one last chance to get these kits for yourself. The first bundle includes Just dreamy, a huge page kit with 22 backgrounds and over 80 elements also comes with it's seashore addon kit called Seaside Dreams. Wild Animals, a zoo inspired kit is inlcuded- as well as my Sweet Summer kit which is full of delightful water color backgrounds. In the past, these kits have sold for a total price of over $25. Get them now for only $7.00(or even less if you take advantage of Digital's birthday sale). That's less then $2.00 per kit! Take advantage of this deal now. It won't last long and once these kits are gone, you may never see them again!!! Visit the Digitals store and see my "End of Summer retirement Bundle" now for details.
The second kit bundle is a mix of old and new. Several backgrounds from my Fall themed page kits Autumn Wonder and Harvest Days have been selected- Tags have been revamped and a handful of new elements have been added to create two small mini kits. Get both of them together now for one low price! They've been bundled together to create a special "Fall" themed set and you can get it for only $2.50...until October 7th you can get it for only $2!! See my "Fall Delights" mini kit bundle now for details. Available for a limited time only and Digital's birthday sale will only last a few more days, so come shop the store today!

2006-09-29T18:01:00.000-04:00

{Simple Pleasures}

It doesn't usually take a lot to make me happy. Today is no exception. Some things that have me smiling? I've got a layout share for you and news from the Digitals store. The layout share is a digital art layout created by Kerri, one of the sweet ladies who one a copy of my new digital kit, "Blues". (I hope she doesn't mind me sharing this with you, but I just had to!) You can click to check it out here. Gorgeous, Kerri!

So now you may be wondering what my Digitals news is? Some of you may recal that I went exclusive to Digitals this past July. I am now offically back in action from my summer break and have some new products in the store. The first is my Spring Fling Kit. Not a new kit by any means, but it was out of the store for a few months and I felt it was time reintroduce it to everyone. If you haven't seen this kit yet, Check it out...it's worth a closer look!
My BIG announcement? Blue Simplicity, my brand new digital page kit has also been added to the store! This is a huge kit and consists of eleven backgrounds and close to 40 embellishments ...many of which are decorated with a simplisitic flower design sure to catch the eye.

Element List:
2 flower overlays
3 trendy arrow embellishments
9 deco squares
2 inked flower embellishments
4 journaling tabs/frames
5 tags
1 journal card
1 photo frame
2 circle stickers
2 oval tabs
1 large Journaling "Frame It"
1 oval journaling label
1 deco paper strip
4 paper Inspiration words and more!

Interested but want to "try it before you buy it"? I have several free samples you can download before purchasing- including one on my website and one on my news group. There is even a small sampler available for download in the Digitals Store. Check them out today and let me know what you think!

2006-09-27T10:28:00.000-04:00

{Layout Share/Free Quickpage}

The week is flying by and I've been working diligently to get previews done for my new digital page kit, Blue Simplicity. Hopefully they'll be finished sometime this weekend so my "Blues" kit can make it's debut in the Digitals Store. I did take a moment out to put a layout together and I thought I'd share it with you. It's called, "My Boys: One of a Kind". All elements shown are included in the kit with exception of the stitching which is Ms. Kathy Smith's from her "In Stitches" stitching pack (also available at Digitals). While I was at it, I converted the layout into a 300 dpi .png Jiffy Scrap File for you to download. I hope you enjoy this free sample from the kit. {Side note: Please help me out by not sharing this link or this file with anyone else. If you would like to share this quickpage with your friends, please send them to my blog to download it for themselves. Thanks, ladies!}

2006-09-25T13:55:00.000-04:00

{Tagged: 3x over}

Everyone is ganging up on me! I better get my butt in gear and get this posted! The rules of the tag are:

List 5 weird things about yourself or your pets.
Tag 5 friends and list them.
(Then, those people need to write on their blogs about 5 weird things, and state the rules, and tag 5 more people.)

Hmm...somedays I feel like everything about me is strange. {lol} Let's see if I can come up with five things!
1) I like eating my cereal soggy...I'll pour the milk into the cereal and wait a few minutes until I eat it just so it's nice a soft and sloppy! My favorite sloppy cereals? Apple jacks, Golden grahams, and Chocolate rice crispies.
2) I can't sleep unless all of the outside lights are on. (It drives Dh crazy.)
3) My son Cole's original due date was my birth day- Feb. 11th.
4) My whole family loves cantalope and watermellon...I HATE them both.
5) I don't like the color pink and I refuse to wear clothing in that color. It's fine for everyone else...I just can't stand seeing it on me! I'm a blue or green (olive) girl. Classic black or white is great. Just no pink, please!

I am off to tag some ladies...here's my list of 5:
Lauren
Mari K.
Laura
Becky
Debbie

2006-09-21T12:07:00.000-04:00

{Moving Tales Winners}

Yes, I said WINNER*S*. Thank you so much to everyone who joined in on my recent "Moving Tales" layout contest- although you each made my job a hard one! I had a lot of fun looking at everyone's layouts and had a very difficult time choosing my favorite. They were all so good!!! {sigh} In the end I decided that I would pick not one winner but two. Congratulations are in order for Kerri (her Home Sweet Some layout was amoung the layouts I previously posted) and Iris! Both of these ladies have recieved my newest digital page kit, Blue Simplicity. It's a huge kit...I hope you both love working with it!

Again- thank you to everyone who participated in the contest, and congrats to Iris and Kerri!!

(Credits for Iris's 2page layout: Paper and stamp from Amanda Rockwells "Colt"; Word art by Tia Bennett, Metal from Miss Mint's "Spring Jellybean", Ribbons and cream paper from Tania Cordova's "Berthound Blues".)

2006-09-21T11:05:00.000-04:00

*Life*

I've been so busy taking care of things here in "real life"- mean while trying to get back into the swing of things in the designing world. It seems like I've been gone for so long when in reality it's only been 2 months or so.
We've been busy with all sorts of "Fall" activities here at the house. Last week was not only my wedding anniversary with Dh- 6 Years- but it was also Fair week. Our city boasts one of the oldest Fairs in the US and it is always a big event in our household. The boys just love going into take in all the sights- the rides, the animals, and entertainment and this year was no exception. We all went in one night to catch the "free stage" and got to see one of my favorite new country bands, Little Big Town play. My brother bought us tickets to a concert in the grandstand, so hubby and I got to go in one evening to hear Dierks Bentley. We also took the boys in and spent a day checking out all of the animal barns. It rained half of the week and I some how picked up a cold. For some one who rarely gets sick...I've had more then my share of colds this past year. Hubby and I did get to go out to eat for our anniversary which was nice- it's been forever since We've gotten to sit down to a nice dinner without the boys along and the meal was yummy- so Ms.pregnant belly here was very happy. I can't believe I am 30 weeks along...only 10 more to go! How exciting is that?! We've been wanting this last addition to our family for some time now and I am anxious to meet the little peanut! I can't help but wonder if we'll be blessed with another boy or if we'll find ourselves parents of a little girl this time. Cole insists the baby is a girl and asks me daily when we are going to the hospital to have his baby sister. I hope we can pick out a name sometime within in the next few weeks, or this little one will be nameless!
Everyone is settling into our "new" house now and the boys are already concentrating on Halloween and Christmas. We already have our Christmas shopping finished (or almost so)...isn't that crazy? I dodn't want to have to do a lot of running with a newborn though, so Christmas shopping in September it is! We've already got some pumpkins on the porch- usually I make the boys wait until October, but they are in a hurry this year for Fall to get here. I do love their enthusiasm for everything, although I have to wonder where they get all of their energy at?!

2006-09-18T17:31:00.000-04:00

{Blue Simplicity}

I've got a brand new kit that will be soon be ready for release into the Digitals Store! Here is your chance to get the first look my new kit. It is called "Blue Simplicity" and you guessed it- created from several beautiful shades of blue. It's packed full of elements- over 40 of them!! Here's a sneak peek at just a few of the backgrounds...
What does this mean for you? New free samples are on the way. There is one available right now on Yahoo for my news group and a brand new one on my website. Blog freebie coming shortly! Also, if you submitted a layout during my "Moving Tales" contest- your participation thank you sampler made from a few select pieces from the kit should be in your inbox as promised. Stay tuned to my blog for more details on both the kit and the contest. Contest winner to be announced soon!

2006-09-14T13:34:00.000-04:00

{Moving Tales}

I issued a challenge for each of you to send me a "moving day" themed layout before my time off this summer. Several of you responded- thank you!! I loved seeing everyone's layouts and want to share a few of them with you.

This first one is from Kerry D. Whose family was also moving in July. Her layout was born from stress induced journa -ling on my Live journal. "Having found the photos and done all the writing, it seemed appropriate to make it into a layout as well.", She says. (Everything used to make the layout is from Melany Violette's "Sand and Sea" kit.)

Another Kerri put these two creative layouts together. She says, "These are my two pages that I made for when we bought our first house...we moved a week before this past Christmas! It was hectic, and I loved every minute of it!"
(Credits: Both LO's are done with Roberta D'Achille Page kits. 'Let it Snow' uses her Frosty page set& 'Home Sweet Home' uses her Santa Baby page set.)

This final layout share is from Julie J and is one she created after she and her husband moved into their first home. Beautiful layout, Julie!! (Carrie Stephens’ Family Ties Page kit and Steph’s Polaroid Template- recolored- from Digital Paper Tearing were used to create this layout.)

2006-09-10T22:35:00.000-04:00

{Moving Photos}

Everyone has been asking for pictures from our move. I have to admit that 2 months later, we're still unpacking! {Ack!} Here's some photos I can share from the week of our move- the front of the house and the backyard...the living room and the boys' room (after we painted it). So glad to finally be settling in!!

"Home Sweet Home" layout is using a torn ribbon from Misty Cato's All American Page Kit; Paper strip and the other ribbon from Meredith Fenwick's True Colors History Sampler.

2006-09-06T18:52:00.000-04:00

{Changes at Digitals!}

Have you seen all the new changes and latest happenings at DigitalScrapbookPages? If you haven't, I encourage you to stop by and take a look!

Check out this recent ad from the site!

2006-09-06T18:36:00.000-04:00

*A Letter From Me*

Hello to each of you...I hope you are doing well.

If you remember, some changes were scheduled for me this past June! My family our move into a "new" home in July. I knew there was going to be a time that I would not be able to be online...it did last longer then I had planned. Two months of unpacking and remodeling later, I am back and working through all of my emails and a long list of things that need to be taken care of. One thing I wanted to do as soon as possible is to update you on things that will be happening in the next few weeks.

First of all, thank you for sticking around during my absence. If you've been as a busy as I have been...you've been BUSY! Thank you to those of you who continued to be creative- posted layouts and made purchases of my products while I was gone. It's great to see that I have no completely been forgotten! {hugs to each of you!}

As of July, I became exclusive to DigitalScrapbookpages. Not an easy decision, but one I had to make. As those of you who visit my blog here at Blogspot know, I am expecting a new baby in December. The toll of moving/being pregnant has been great in recent weeks, so I will be scaling back until after the baby gets here. There are still good things in store for Sweet& Simple Designs however! I have a brand new kit almost finished! I am hoping to have it completed and in the store at Digitals within the next few weeks and I am very excited about that. I hope you are as well and are ready to do some scrapping! My "Moving Tales" contest is now closed and thank you gifts for the contest participants will be mailed out soon. There should be an update on my blog very soon about the new kit and also about the contest, so please stay tuned for details. If you have questions, feel free to post here on my blog or email me as I will now be back in the "office" so to speak. Look for updates on my website as well and don't forget to visit the digi-help forums there on the site as they are still up and running and available for your use.

I am sure there will be many new changes to come in the next few weeks and in the upcoming new year- thanks in advance for your patience! I am planning a product sale, a *brand new* news group and blog freebie, and also a team call to refresh my design team, so look for information concerning these upcoming events!!

Missed you all! {hugs}

2006-06-25T21:29:00.000-04:00

{Disappearing act?}

Yes, I am still alive! To everyone that has emailed me, I will do my best to get back to you as soon as I can.
Things are going well here at Grandma's house...my boys are having a blast as predicted. Grandpa bought them their first Hotwheel car (a cute little yellow two seater Jeep) and they've been having fun making tracks through the back yard everyday. Talk about spoiled rotten- the crazy thing even has a radio! Why wasn't this stuff around when I was a kid? {lol}
Only four more days left until our official move in day....I am so excited now and so looking forward to Friday when the house is ours! I am glad I was finally able to check in to say hello to everyone. I miss you, girls! {hugs}
I will be back in full force once we are settled in, but I wanted to take care of two items of business! A big thank you to Marjorie who let me know that her recent download of my kit "Spring Fling" revealed missing letters in the alpha! My sincere appologies to anyone else who has purchased this kit with the same results. I am working to get this glitch fixed. In the meantime, please download the missing letters {q} and {x} here to complete your alphabet!
Second order of business? Thank you to everyone who has sent in a "Moving Tales" layout. Love 'em girls...keep them coming! Remember, create a layout about your personal moving experience(s) and send me a copy at Alisha@ SweetSimple Designs.com and I'll send you a free sample of the next kit I release. (Don't forget, one lucky participant will recieve the entire digital kit!!)

2006-06-08T11:45:00.001-04:00

{Moving Tales: 1 More day Left to Pack!}

Six more days left in our house. The big move is this weekend! The family friends that we are buying our new house from have agreed to make some space for our things since we have to be out of our house on the 15th, so this weekend everything is getting moved out. Hopefully the weather is nice and everything goes smoothly! We'll be living in an empty house for a few days until our settlement with our buyers on June 15th...won't that feel strange! Then it's moving to the In-laws time! Cole and Evan are going to be in heaven, I know. Me- I am going to be without an internet connection, which means I am going to be one bad blogger until we get our new internet connection going once we move in to our new house on the 30th. I ought to have plenty of time to do some creating while I am gone..with any luck I ought to have a brand new kit to share with you by the time I return!

Something to think about while I am away in moving land? {I AM CHALLENGING YOU} Create a layout with a "moving day theme"...your family leaving your first house, your family settling into a new house...whatever your experience has been. Send a 600x600 72dpi copy of it to me at Alisha@ sweetsimple designs.com along with your name. {Write "Moving Tales" in the subject live of your email.} Use any Designer's kit you want, just make sure you give proper credits. I'll create one as well and I'll share them here on my blog! Incentive for you? Get a chance to show off your style! Not only that, but get the chance to win a free copy of the next kit I release! Everyone who enters will receive a free sampler from the same kit, but I'll pick one lucky winner who will receive the FULL page kit.
Yes, the kit is a surprise, but that makes it all the more fun! If you have a moving story or moving day photos that you'd like to share, send me your layout!
Deadline for entering is July 5th, 2006.

2006-06-01T11:16:00.000-04:00

{So excited!}

Did any of you paper scrap lovers catch the Creating Keepsakes Anniversary show with Lisa Bearnson on QVC Tuesday? I never actually sat down and watched one of these shows before, but I am glad I did! I ended up ordering one of the 12"x12" Wild Asparagus Cardstock Kits. I couldn't resist..it is beautiful! There are 18 themes that you can mix and match. 172 total pieces!! 18 titles, 18 frames, 18 word definitions, 36 12" x 12" double-sided & textured papers,
72 word blocks, and 10 coordinating ribbons all for $27.50. I can't wait until it comes in the mail!! Now to get it in the house without Dh making a fuss. I can hear him now.."the last thing we need is more stuff to pack up!" {Ack!}
Dh did pick up some boxes for us last night, so it really is time to get packing for our move. The count down has begun...only 13 more days until we have to be out of our house for settlement! I am going to be one busy lady, so if I don't get the chance to post tomorrow.....I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!!

2006-05-30T14:33:00.000-04:00

{Layout Sares}

I just can't get enough of Gina Cabrera's kit, "Lucky Star". I've used it for several layouts recently. It's so much fun to work with! Here's a rectangular scrap of my boys I just put together over the weekend.
This second layout is one I did for a forum friend, Elle. She sends me photos to scrap of her beautiful girls Olivia and Helena every once and a while, and I just love getting the chance to do work with them! (For this one I used a digi kit called "Your Love is Better Than Chocolate", from Ams Digi Scraps.)

2006-05-30T11:37:00.000-04:00

{Inside Scoop}

Boy does it feel hot! We've been enjoying mild weather this spring and suddenly this week temperatures here are in the 80's and 90's. It's been a little shock to the system! Dh has the air conditions up and running, thank goodness!
Despite the rise in temperature, we had a wonderful weekend. The concert was terrific- Kenny had a suprise guest with him...Uncle Kracker! Yesterday was a great day spent with family. It was so humid we decided to break our wading pools out and the boys had a great time playing in the water. Of course I snapped some pictures of them, so now I have some new photos to scrap with!
We had word from our Realtor this weekend and settlement will be June 15th on our house. We will be spending two weeks at my Mil and Fil's until our new home is ready on the 30th...I hope they don't get tired of us and that everything goes smoothly. We are going to have a busy month this month!
I haven't done one of my Scrapping lists for you in a while, so I think I'll give it a whirl today. Here are just a few things going on in the scrapbooking world that you might want to check out:

DIGITAL SCRAPS-
Just a little plug from yours truly, June is the last month for my campaign to raise money for the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America. Digital Scrapbook Pages and Divine Digital Designer, Lauren Reid have been with with me during this fundraiser and I thank them both. Lauren for bringing the need to my attention, and Digitals owner Stacey Mann for helping me distribute copies of my charity kit to everyone who has donated to foundation. Haven't heard about this worthy cause yet and want to learn more? Get all the information you need in the forums at Sweet& Simple Designs and help out today! A huge thank you to everyone who has generously given so far. As of today, our total is $86 raised!!
Speaking of Digitals, the designers have done a spectacular job putting together next month's Challenge kit. The theme is "Pearls and Roses" and this is one kit you don't want to miss out on, so head over to Digitals on June 1st and check out all of the exciting scrap challenges Digitals has to offer!

PAPER STUFF-
My fav online store, Paperwishes is offering free shipping on all orders of $45 or more.
Addicted to Scrapbooking has had on going sales as well, so stop by and check them out!

SCRAP MAGS-
Simple Scrapbooks: Get Two years (12 issues) for only $23.97
Creating Keepsakes: Get (13 issues) of Creating Keepsakes magazine. That's 2 years (26 issues) for ONLY $24.97!
Memory Makers: Subscribe today to Memory Makers magazine, and get 18 issues (2 years) for the low 1-year price of just $19.96!

FONTS& MORE-
ScrapnFonts- Have you downloaded their newest free quote pages? Here's a recent one I enjoyed- Happiness Quote page. Check out their latest Specials which include a $5 coupon code for the store when you refer a friend to their free newsletter and savings on font bundles. (Save every time you buy five fonts- Build your own bundle of five fonts for only $9.99)
Kodak- Shop before June 2nd and you'll save 20% on orders of $10 or more.* Father's Day is June 18, so you'll save and be ahead of schedule! Just enter coupon code: DADANDME at checkout.

2006-05-28T15:40:00.000-04:00

{Memorial Day Weekend}

We got in last night from two days at the family cabin. What a beautiful couple days of weather here in Pennsylvania! It's been cool, but today it is in the 80's so it feels so warm outside! We spent this afternoon with my family and this evening we are off to see Sugarland and Kenny Chesney play in concert. {Yeah!} Monday we are planning on spending the day with Dh's family. I don't know what your plans are for the holiday, but have a safe and happy one!

2006-05-24T13:58:00.000-04:00

Moving woes, Layout Share, New happenings at Digitals, and Last day for my 15% off Sale!

Everytime I sit down here to write, I feel like I need to unload everything that's happening with me. I hope I have some good friends who don't mind letting me ramble! {lol}
Everyone in the house is feeling better. {Yay!} Things are still going full swing with selling our house- the FHA appraiser came last Thursday and I heard today that the appraisal was good! The next step is to receive the buyers' mortgage commitment which is due by 5/31. Problem? It was in the contract that we would settle June 15th. The owners of the house we are buying were in Tennessee at their new house and didn't get back here to PA until last weekend. We spoke to them...they don't want to move their stuff out of the house until the 30th (moving out of state/needing a moving trailer/etc.) and they haven't even booked the moving trailer yet although they called one business who told them the earliest they can do the move is the 28th. Now me and my pregnant hormones just about had a good old cry over this. I so just want this to be all settled and figured out..done and over with, you know? I've been on Dh's case about making them confirm a date so we can try and work things out with our buyers, but so far nothing. Why do I feel like I am the only one worrying about everything? I am so praying that our buyers will be fine with a date change, that the change is made soon, and that we are in our "new" house before JULY!
Ugh! Thanks for letting me vent yet again for a minute...makes me feel better! I do have some scrapbooking related stuff to chat about today- thank goodness, huh? {lol} Some fun stuff to talk about! First let me say... tomorrow the 25th is the last day for me product sale at Digital Scrapbook Pages, so if you want to check out my new kit Happy Birthday, Baby...do it now while it's on sale, K? Oh- one of my Team girls Juli, did the cutest layout with this kit this week that I wanted to share. Guess what? It's not a birthday layout, but I do love it! Great use of some neat techniques and white space, Juli!!
One more thing before I am off to do some creating! Have you heard about the new Digitals store at Cafe Press? If you love hanging out at Digitals like I do and want something to remind you of your favorite site, check this out! There is Digitals logo wear, mugs, mouse pads, and tote bags. I so want one of those large coffee mugs!!

2006-05-22T11:39:00.000-04:00

{Just my Luck}

Sick again! Thanks to everyone who emailed me wondering what I was up to...I didn't disappear...I swear it! I finally got over that Mother's day cold last Tuesday in time to go to that Dimond Rio Q&A (which was great, btw!). Much to my disgust, I woke up in the middle of the night Wednesday with a painful "inner" ear infection. I waited until my daycare kiddos left that evening and then called my family doctor, but the office was closed. Paged him, and he called in a prescription for me to pick up at the pharmacy, but at about 3am Thursday morning, the pain was so difficult to bear that I ended up calling Dh home from work to take me in to the emergency room at the hospital. We bundled up the boys and headed in- the Er Doctor ended up giving me vicodin for the pain and sent me home. Now mind you, I am wreck- in pain and I hate even taking tylenol when I am pregnant! The vicodin made me soo sleepy and upset my stomach- which made it hard to keep anything down....what a weekend! I spent most of it sleeping {thank you, Dh!} and finally felt the pain lessen enough Saturday night so that I could stop taking the pain medicine. Phew! I still can't hear completely with that ear, but hopefully all will be well by the end of the week for my follow up appt with my family doctor on Friday!
I do have some good news {lol}. Through all of the commotion, I did have my first Ob appt on Thursday! The little one's heartbeat is still going strong and everything looks good!! A definite answer to prayer, that's for sure. I had a terrific talk with my dr who was very encouraging and supportive. Glad I took the plunge and made the switch after my last miscarry. I urge any woman who is unhappy with her obgyn to have the courage to find one you do like. A supportive dr can mean so much. Big {hugs} to each of my girls! Can't wait to catch up with everyone!

2006-05-17T13:35:00.000-04:00

2006-05-16T21:18:00.000-04:00

{It's here!!}

Happy Birthday, Baby! This cute little kit is perfect for scrapping photos of your son's birthday --at any age. It includes 7 backgrounds, two paint chips, two tabs for journaling, a coaster with balloons, two labels with rounded edges -perfect for journaling or for tucking behind a favorite photo. Also included is some word art, a row of simple stitching, and a full upper and lowercase (+plus numbers!) green alpha, and two quickpages(8x10 and 12x12).

BONUS! Buy this kit now and get extra bonus items! These items include 3 new backgrounds in shades of pink- perfect for scrappers with little girls! There are two pink themed quickpages (8x10 and 12x12) and a pink paint chip, tab, and wordart. There is also a balloon brush created in Photoshop elements. (Brush also included in .png format. Personal use only.)

Total items in birthday kit:
10 backgrounds
1 complete alpha
12 birthday themed elements
1 balloon brush
4 quickpages

2006-05-16T10:19:00.000-04:00

Sick for Mother's Day!

{yuck} Some how the boys and I managed to catch some nasty head colds just in time for Mother's day. I don't usually get sick, but I've not had a good run here lately. Evan's been doing pretty good; but then that's usually how it is. With Cole's asthma he has the potential to get really sick just from an ordinary cold. This one triggered an attack, so he spent yesterday morning at the pediatrician's sitting with their breathing machine. Luckily he seems a whole lot better today...I just hate seeing babies not being able to breathe easily! I think I am starting to feel better as well, except for a little nausea which I hope goes away quickly...
A local radio station is holding a special party with several members of the band Diamond Rio. 50 radio listeners are to be invited- each is allowed to bring one guest. Guess who won a invite through the station's website? Dh! Now to see if I can pull myself together to go...it's tonight! I so want to go though...I love their music and we've yet to see them live. Right now I am so hoping to goodness I feel better by this evening!
I had to go this morning to get some lab work done in advance of my first Ob appt this coming Thursday. I am very anxious to have the visit over with! I think if everything goes well and I get to hear the baby's heartbeat again, that I might finally be able to relax a little! Keeping my fingers and toes crossed that all goes well!
A few more finishing touches and my new Birthday kit should be in the Digitals Store this week. I plan on lowering the price of the kit for the first week it's in the store, so if you think you'd like to get your hands on it...snatch it up while it's on sale! Look for an update tomorrow :)
{Hugs} to all my mommy friends out there...I hope you each had a blessed weekend!!

2006-05-12T16:43:00.000-04:00

I don't even know where to begin. {freebie}

This week has been another wild one for me, that's for sure. We've had showings at our house almost everyday. We are located in an area that is fast becoming a popular area to live. Available property is hard to find and new construction here is becoming much more expensive. We have teeny tiny townhomes going in just down the road from us and they start at $230,000. {Ack!} Monday evening we had a showing with a couple who put an offer on the house. We met with our realtor Tuesday evening and came up with a counter offer. Not what we were hoping for, but we'd like to sell asap. Our 60 day deadline for the contract we have on the house we want to move to expires soon- as well as our lock-in period for the % rate on our loan. The interested couple signed the contract..but now the wait begins. They are going through FHA (Federal Housing Administration) for their loan which means our house and the selling price has to be approved before we can move forward with the sale. I am not worried about the condition of our house, but I am still not sure everything will work out...The couple offered us more then we asked for the house because they want us to pay closing costs. Now we will be on pins and needles until the end of the month waiting to see if the FHA approves or not. If this doesn't go through, not only will we be running short on time to sell our house, but the FHA has a rule that any buyer selling a house that doesn't not get approved for sale for any reason must wait 6 months before they can accept another buyer using a FHA loan. Prayers please, that everything goes ok for us!!
Mean while we've been trying to get everything else in order. Dh has been busy painting and sprucing things up and we've packed up a few things....We packed our desktop! Now I have to share my laptop with DH {sigh} I am getting excited though..I hope that in just a few short weeks this may all be over with! I definately need a break from all of the stress of everything. Dh has been so busy lately and I feel like I haven't gotten a break from the kiddos forever. I love them so much, but I've been so tired lately that my patience has been running low. I haven't been sleeping well at all, but not sure if it's from being pregnant or from having so much stuff to worry over. I never had a problem when I was pregnant with Cole or Evan, but I swear these days I could take a nice little nap every afternoon...too bad I don't have time to!
Tomorrow I am going to be home with the boys while Dh takes time to do some spring gobbler hunting at the family cabin. I am hoping to have my yard sale again, but we'll see. I had one a few weeks ago while Dh was away and ended up calling my Mil in exhasperation because my little guys wouldn't leave the yard sale stuff alone! My Fil and Mil are off the spend Bike week at Myrtle beach, so I won't be able to call them this time, but I am still going to attempt to sell some things. We have so much stuff to get rid of!! It's amazing how much you can collect over the years, isn't it? Just crazy!
We've had a lot of Dr's appointments lately. It seems like between Dh's weekly visits to the Chiropractor for a shoulder injury, my trips to the Ob, and checkups for the kiddos- we've not had a lack of places to go. Anyone else have an Asthmatic and Allergic kiddo? Cole started having problems over a year ago and we now make trips to the Allergy Dr every three months to keep him evaluated. He is on two different allergy medicines but they can almost always hear wheezing in his lungs when he goes in to be checked. They had done testing on him before for allergies and at his last checkup they decided that we should finish those tests. We took him in this week and my poor baby got 22 injections on his arms and 4 scratch tests on his back. TWENTY TWO needles in his little arms. He was so brave for about 8 of them and then cried for the rest. My little sweetheart...I felt so awful for him. Now we go back the end of June for a follow up to discuss where we go from here. {Prayers for him as well, please!}
I finished working on my new kit today...just in time for the weekend. Here's a little peek at the previews. The main kit is centered around boys since I made it with my Ds in mind, but I didn't want the little girls to be left out so I made a little pink Addon too! Wanna grab a free sample? I have an 8x10 quickpage that you can snatch up here: Quickpage This one will only be available for a limited time as it will later appear in the stores for sale. {Side note: Please help me out by not sharing this link or this file with anyone else. If you would like to share this quickpage with your friends, please send them to my blog to download it for themselves. Thanks, ladies!}

2006-05-10T21:40:00.000-04:00

{New kit on the way!}

So I realized that I have yet to scrap my son Cole's third birthday pics....his birthday was in February!! {bad mommy!!} I couldn't find any birthday kits I really wanted to use with his pictures, so I sat down and made some new papers and elements that I thought would accent the photos well. He was wearing a blue, orange, and yellow Elmo shirt that day and his cake was bright green...so of course those colors where my inspiration! I am not used to using such bright colors in my designs, but I like how everything turned out. Look for a freebie quickpage in a few days or so, but until then I wanted to share some layouts. I am so excited to be doing some designing again...it's been a few weeks since I released anything new! {yay!}

2006-05-07T12:19:00.000-04:00

{Events to Check Out.}

Instead of my normal weekly recap, I've decided to just mention some events going on at my two "homes" 3Scraps and Digitals. Head on over to 3 Scrapateers and find out more about the New Designer Events going on right now. Attend crops held by Digital Scrapbook Designers new to 3S and collect pieces of a free kit! www.3scrapateers.com
Many of you may know that Saturday was Nat'l Scrapbook Day. Many sites around the Digi Scrappin' world had crops and contests yesterday to celebrate. Digitals is doing things a little different this year and is holding a week long event! Join in on our celebration @ Digitals each day from May 6-12 at 7 a.m. Eastern and also at 9 p.m. Eastern for crops that include prizes, games, challenges and the opportunity to get a FREE Mega kit for coming to 5 chats or more. There will be free kits from the Digitals store given away and many exciting things going on all week long, so stop by and join in on the fun! Click here for more information about this weeks happenings at Digitals.

2006-05-02T17:10:00.000-04:00

Exciting News& a Thank you.

I just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone who has kept me in your thoughts over the last few months. A few of you know that my Dh and I have been ttc since last summer and have gone through two losses. Luckily, they were early in the pregnancies and the Lord has helped us to move forward. I've been hesitant to say anything until now, but we are pregnant again. We had our first ultrasound Monday evening. Everything went great....The ultrasound tech said everything looks perfect to her which is such a relief. I am almost 10 weeks, so our new little bean should join us in December if all goes well and I pray that it does! I now have two little pictures of the baby and was able to hear the heartbeat which was nice and steady at 162! Talk about an answer to prayer, I am so thankful and hopeful that everything will be fine this time. Thank you so much to everyone who has kept me in your thoughts. It is appreciated more then I can say...it's friends like you who have gotten me through the past few months!

Layout uses stiching from Gina Cabrera and paper& elements from Mari K's Twist of Lime.

2006-05-01T09:45:00.000-04:00

Inside Scoop.

I was so carried away with my weekend plans that I never got the chance to post my week end Scrap review last Friday! We are charging ahead full force with our moving plans and now have a signed contract on the table with the owners of the house we want to buy! Plans for today are to meet with our Realtor again to get our house offically on the market. I will be so glad when this whole moving thing is completely over. My poor Dh has been so busy every day trying to get everything in order with the lawyers and the loan officers and my mind has been so busy with the thought of it all, I haven't been getting much sleep either. I appreciate all prayers that our house sells quickly!

I do want to mention that Digitals' FREE Daily Downloads are over, but more fun is on the horizon! Digitals is hosting a Scrapbook Week Celebration in honor of National Scrapbook Day which is Saturday May 6th. This will be a week long event will start on the 6th and run until May 12th. The plan is to hold 2 chats each day, one at 9 p.m. Eastern and one at 7 a.m. Eastern. Come to which ever one suits your plans or your timezone, but please do come and join in on the celebrations and collect a Mega Kit from several of the Digitals Designers while you are at it! There will be several free kits give away by yours truly and other Digitals Designers like Sue Jones, Sophia Davies, Jen Maceyunas, and Cristina Blomberg.

Here are some other things going on in the scrapbooking world that you might want to check out:

DIGITAL SCRAPS-
ComputerScrapbook.com- New free downloads to check out. I think this one from Designer, Jeanine Beachtold is really cute.
Digital Scrabooking 5 is here! You could get a sneek peek at it from the Simple Scrapbooks website over the weekend. I checked out some of the links and I have to say there was definately some cool links that I bookmarked. I also downloaded some of the freebies...my favorite was the Lucky Star page kit from Gina Cabrera of www.DigitalDesignEssentials.com. Just beautiful!
The magazine will feature several Charity kits currently available around the Digital Scrapbooking world and I just have to mention that Digitals has one of ours featured called A Child's Love that benefits the Casa de Amor (House of Love) Orphanage in Cochabamba, Bolivia. One that caught my eye is the Eternal Hope Charity kit from Natural Designs.com. This wonderful Mega kit is the result of the collaboration between Natural Designers Anita Stergiou and Theresa Hernandez and guest designers Dani Mogstad of Design by Dani and Kim Hill of CG Essentials. One hundred percent of gross sales will be donated to Alex's Lemonade Stand (http://www.alexslemonade.org) to help fight childhood cancers.

PAPER STUFF-
My fav online store, Paperwishes is offering free shipping on all orders of $45 or more!
Addicted to Scrapbooking has discounts on Easter-themed items, pastel products, and selected discontinued products. It Takes Two, Crossed Paths, Bo Bunny Press, and Be Blessed Scrapbooking are also on sale. Offers end on May 2, 2006.
The sales at Herrschner's Paper Crafts have been updated and this week's special includes sales of up to 80% off on basics like paper and albums, plus enjoyable embellishments, accessories and storage and plenty of other goodies! These sale prices expire Wednesday, May 3rd.

SCRAP MAGS-
Simple Scrapbooks: Get Two years (12 issues) for only $23.97
Creating Keepsakes: Get (13 issues) of Creating Keepsakes magazine. That's 2 years (26 issues) for ONLY $24.97!
Digital Scrapbooking 5 is here and is brimming with more fresh and useful digital scrapbooking information than ever. The fifth in the Digital Scrapbooking series comes with tutorials with easy-to-follow instructions that let you easily add digital skills to your creative toolbox. Available in April. Get your copy today for only $6.99. There are three big downloads in this issue, so make sure you get your hand on a copy!

FONTS& MORE-
ScrapnFonts-has 12 new fonts, including some new Ck fonts! Get the exclusive new font TXT Personality free with any $10 purchase and while you are there, download the newest free quote page which features a humorous quote about chocolate, plus some sweet ones about Mom. Enjoy as a pdf or png download.
PhotoWorks- Free shipping in time for Mother's day. Free standard shipping on orders over $25. Offer expires 5/2/06. Enter coupon code C593-38-5182-91 during checkout.

2006-04-25T15:15:00.000-04:00

Size Matters.

This has been on my mind for a while, so I thought I would unload. What is the general public opinion on background size for digital papers?
Almost all kits I download contain papers in the traditional 12x12 inch background size.
I know there are plenty of scrappers out there who have fallen in love with rectangles and scrap a 8x10 layout.
I also know that when I walk into my local paper craft store...they are stocked with not only 12x12 inch papers, but also 8.5x 11 inch papers.

Now, I am a tradigital scrapper...I love both paper and digital scrapbooking and use both methods to preserve my families memories. I use a local print shop to print out my digital layouts and then I inlcude them in my paper albums. I also print a lot of my digital backgrounds on cardstock to use in my paper layouts...and why not? The Digital scrapbooking world has been gifted with many talented artists who create beautiful papers- the likes of which I can't find shopping at my local paper scrapbooking supply store. I have not been blessed enough to have a wide width printer and standard paper size here is 8.5x 11, so I've started keeping that in mind when I am creating. I've begun making papers in 12x12 and 8.5x11 inch format....I still plan on sticking with the standard 12x12 backgrounds in the kits I market, but you may see an occasional 8.5 inch paper thrown into some of my kits in the future. I am also making the effort to start including an 8x10 when I do quickpages instead of just a 12x12 version.
So, what is your opinion? I know you have one. Hit me with your thoughts...I'd love to know what background sizes you scrap with!

2006-04-25T14:36:00.000-04:00

Sooo0...

I saw this beautiful Easter themed kit called "Co tton Tails" from Melyssa Connolly at Digital Scrapbook pages that I just HAD to have. I put the kit in my shopping cart and then was off to find some Easter photos of the boys to scrap. I finally put everything together today and came up with this little layout of my oldest son, Cole. Pretty cool, huh? I'm telling you this kit, is a-d-o-r-a-b-l-e! The background paper and all of the elements in the layout are included with Melyssa's kit (everything except for the brown wavy stitching which is Gina Cabrera's). I just love the fuzzy little bunny rabbit and baby chick!

I am bursting at the seams..I am that excited! I heard from Digitals owner, Stacey Mann that CompUSA was promoting Wacom tablets on sale...I've been wanting one of these and this was one of the best deals that I could find online, so I went for it! (Thank you, Stacey!!!) I placed my order on Sunday and my silver Graphire 4 Wacom tablet arrived this morning!! I couldn't believe it got here so fast! I opened it up right away like a kid at Christmas, and have been playing with it all afternoon making my first doodles! WooHoo!

Oh- before I forget. I've been wanting to update on the progress of my Crohn's fundraiser ever since last week's crop. We had several more ladies step forward after the chat to help support this worthy cause and we now have a total of $81.00 that has been contributed!! Thank you so much, girls!! {hugs}

2006-04-21T19:45:00.000-04:00

Inside Scoop.

Ready for the weekend here, that's for sure!! Just want to mention first that my pal, Sophia Davies is the featured designer at Digitals until April 23rd. All of her products are on sale until Sunday, so take advantage of this! She also has a layout contest going on in the Digitals gallery that you make want to check out. There is a free mini kit for all who enter!

Got have the goodies, right? Here's my week end review:

DIGITAL SCRAPS-
Digitals: FREE Daily Downloads started April 1st! Plan to visit the Digitals Store every day in April for a free gift. Just click on "Gifts of Promise" from the menu to see the item to add to your cart. Saturday is Digitals owner, Stacey Mann's birthday. Happy birthday Stacey!!
ComputerScrapbook.com- New free downloads to check out! 1 New Element Kit, 1 New Printable E-Cut, 1 New Paper Kit, 1 New Frame/Border Kit, 1 New Font, and 1 New Alphabet.

PAPER STUFF-
Addicted to Scrapbooking has discounts on Easter-themed items, pastel products, and selected discontinued products. It Takes Two, Crossed Paths, Bo Bunny Press, and Be Blessed Scrapbooking are also on sale. Offers end on May 2, 2006.
The sales at Herrschner's Paper Crafts have been updated and this week's special include select paper basics and embellishments up to 70% off. This weekly sale ends Wednesday, April 26th.

SCRAP MAGS-
Simple Scrapbooks: Get Two years (12 issues) for only $23.97
Creating Keepsakes: Get (13 issues) of Creating Keepsakes magazine. That's 2 years (26 issues) for ONLY $24.97!
Don't forget... Digital Scrapbooking 5 is coming soon and will be brimming with more fresh and useful digital scrapbooking information than ever. The fifth in the Digital Scrapbooking series comes with tutorials with easy-to-follow instructions that let you easily add digital skills to your creative toolbox. Available in April. Reserve your copy today for only $6.99. There are three big downloads in this issue, so make sure you get your hand on a copy!

FONTS& MORE-
ScrapnFonts-Take $5 off any order of $20 or more using code#: AB453 Plus, get the exclusive new font TXT Personality free with any $10 purchase!
Kodak- Mother's Day is coming up soon, and for a limited time you can save 25% on all personal photo gift orders over $25. Just enter coupon code IHEARTMOM at checkout. You can also take advantage of 50% off of all Calendar orders. Coupon code: SAVE365 *Expires 4/26/06. You can set the first month for the calendar to be any month you like, so you can order these any time of the year!
PhotoWorks- Download PhotoStreamer2® and use the Prints Express feature to purchase prints and receive up to 25 4x6" prints free in your first order. Coupon code C550-38-5173-41 valid through 4/30/2006 only. Also- Special offer of 50% off an Everyday Compact Photo Book valid through 4/25/06 only. Enter coupon code C601-38-5182-91 during online checkout.

2006-04-20T11:39:00.000-04:00

{Layout Shares from Two of my Girls}

The first one if from Lauren and is called, "My Girl". The second is from Juli and is called, "The Hunt". Great job, Girls!! Both of these layouts were created using pieces of my new Easter Eggs mini kit. Remember, you can get this kit right now at Digital Scrapbook Pages for only a $1.50!!

2006-04-20T11:14:00.000-04:00

Crop Notes. {"Easter Eggs" $1.50 at Digitals}

A big thanks to everyone who showed up to chop on Tuesday! I never held an afternoon chat before, and it was nice to see some familiar faces there. I hope you all enjoyed your free mini kit!

A little Recap for those of you who missed out-

Upload a layout using my Spring Fling page kit in my Crop Gallery by Today 2pm Eastern, and I will pm you download links to a set of brushes that coordinate with my "SF" kit and a mini kit sample from my In the Country page kit. (Sorry, quickpage layouts don't count towards the posting bonus.)

You have until June 2006 to make a $5 or more contribution to the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America. Send me your receipt {Alisha@ sweetsimpledesigns .com} and I will give you a coupon to get my Sweet Summer Delight Kit free at Check out from Digitalscrapbookpages!

You can get my New Easter Eggs mini kit for only $1.50 right now at Digitalscrapbookpages! Offer good until April 25th, 2006.

2006-04-18T10:35:00.000-04:00

Crop Day Ramblings.

My adrenaline is flying high today! So much is going on this week at our house. We were offered a deal on a home with 8 acres of land from a family friend who is moving out of state. The house is an older home, but compared to our measly .25 acres it's yard seems wonderful. We had a meeting with a realtor friend yesterday to discuss how much we could put up our house on the market for and she is going to get back to us on Friday with the details. Hubby is really excited about the prospect of having so much land, but we have to see if we can afford the place or not! I am on the fence...I really love the idea of having so much room for the boys to grow up with, but I am also anxious about being able to pay for it all. That and the fact that Dh just remodeled our kitchen last year and I don't want to give it up! We've lived in our house 5years and besides basic painting and new carpet in two of the bedrooms, we hadn't really made any big changes until we decided to do the kitchen. It was the first time I ever really got to pick out everything I wanted from the Ceiling fan right on down to the cabinets and the flooring. Now a year later, we've found we might want to move! {sigh} Anyway, I am on pins and needles wondering how our meeting with the realtor will go on Friday and if we'll end up putting our house on the market. {Ack} I am trying not to think about it too much just now. We'll see what happens, I guess!

I am on cloud nine this morning because I just ordered Kenny Chesney tickets for May18th at the Hershey Park Star Pavilion and I am so excited! {Yeah!} I can't wait to go hear him sing and I hear he is traveling with Dierks Bentley and Surgarland, so I am anxious to see if they are with him when he comes to Pennsylvania. He is on my list of singers I haven't seen perform yet and pretty excited that I get to go see him in concert!

Crop day today! Only a few hours a way! I hope some of you have the chance to stop by and visit with me and some of my girls in the Digitalscrapbookpages chatroom later. I'm in such a good mood- I have some yummy goodies to hand out. I have a little something for everyone to download and special goodies that include a mini kit sample from my In the country page kit and a set of flower brushes for anyone who purchases my Spring Fling kit. (Snatch it up in the Digitals Store today while it is still on sale!) I also want to talk a little about my friend Lauren's Crohn's foundation fund-raiser and how you can get a free kit from me if you donate to the cause. Stop and chat and a little...hope to see you there!

2006-04-17T11:07:00.000-04:00

New week, New kit, New free sample!

What a weekend. I am so exhausted! The boys talked us into staying at Grandpa's cabin until Saturday morning and we got back home just in time to get ready for the wedding party for hubby's sister. Cole loved the party..just danced his little heart out. It was so cute! Sunday morning we were up early for church and then had dinner at my Mil's home. The boys hunted Easter eggs in the yard and had a blast...it was my Evan baby's first time Easter egg hunting and he absolutely loved it! I can't wait to scrap the pictures I took!

I've never created an Easter themed kit before, so I decided to try my hand at a quick little mini kit. I've called it "Easter Eggs", and it is now in the Digitalscrapbookpages store! Includes 5 papers, two photo mats with rounded edges, an egg shaped photo mat, coasters, curvy word art, and Easter eggs. Oh- if you hadn't noticed, all of my other products are 15% off in the Digitals store in celebration of the Easter holiday and in advance of my Afternoon Crop on Tuesday the 18th (2pm Eastern). Sale started April 12th and will run until the 18th. I hope that I will see some of you at the crop!

{You can check out the texture in this new kit by downloading a free paper sample! This paper Is Not included in the kit, so this is an exclusive download!}

2006-04-11T14:20:00.000-04:00

Come Crop with Me.

Have you gotten your own copy of my New Digital Scrap Page Kit called "Spring Fling"?

Then grab a cup of coffee, or if you are like me, a cup of tea and join me and several of my Design Team members for an afternoon hour of chat chit Tuesday, April 18th at 2pm Eastern time in the Digitals Chatroom for some chit chat about the kit and my newest Charity Fundraiser which supports the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America!

*Purchase Spring Fling, come crop with me, and get a set of free flower brushes to use with the kit as well as a free mini kit!
*Make a donation to the Crohn's and Colitis foundation and get a free copy of my Sweet Summer Delight Kit.

Come to the chat for all the details and perhaps a goodie or two!

2006-04-10T14:06:00.000-04:00

{Yuck.}

We had "the crud" visiting us all last week at our house and between taking care of the boys and trying not to feel miserable myself, I haven't been up to devoting much time to the computer. We all have head colds and sore throats and a bit of upset stomach. {Blah} I think I still need a few days to recuperate, but I am starting to feel a tad bit better. Hopefully by the time Thursday gets here, we will all have to started to feel more like normal.
Thursday evening we are leaving for our cabin upstate and will probally stay there until Friday evening or Saturday morning. {Yay! There is no internet service, but I almost always get a burst of creative energy while I am up there and usually get lots of designing finished.} Saturday evening we have a wedding party to go to for my Sil and her new hubby. Congratulations, Amanda& Jeff!!
Sunday of course, is Easter...my Mil's favorite holiday. There is sure to be plenty of egg hunting and all kinds of Easter fun over at her house Sunday afternoon. I can't wait share some pictures!

Since I didn't get to do my usual scrapbooking related news recap for last week, Here's a couple for you this week a little early.

DIGITAL SCRAPS-
Digitals: FREE Daily Downloads started April 1st! Plan to visit the Digitals Store every day in April for a free gift. Just click on "Gifts of Promise" from the menu to see the item to add to your cart.
DigiChick: Have you checked out their March Newsletter? Yeah, you have to pay for it, but it's only $3.00 and includes the cutest little kit to download- a collaborative creation designed by the DigiChick Designers called "Cherry Blossoms".

PAPER STUFF-
Addicted to Scrapbooking has discounted some must-need items for your scrapping pleasure. Save 15% on Bazzill Basics and savings on Provo Craft, JanLynn, Around the Block, Sakura, and Scrappy Cat. This sale ends April 18, 2006.
The sales at Herrschner's Paper Crafts have been updated and this week's special include select paper basics and embellishments up to 50% off. This weekly sale ends Wednesday, April 12th.

SCRAP MAGS-
Simple Scrapbooks: Get Two years (12 issues) for only $23.97
Creating Keepsakes: Get (13 issues) of Creating Keepsakes magazine. That's 2 years (26 issues) for ONLY $24.97!
Don't forget... Digital Scrapbooking 5 is coming soon and will be brimming with more fresh and useful digital scrapbooking information than ever. The fifth in the Digital Scrapbooking series comes with tutorials with easy-to-follow instructions that let you easily add digital skills to your creative toolbox. Available in April. Reserve your copy today for only $6.99. There are three big downloads in this issue, so make sure you get your hand on a copy!

FONTS& MORE-
PhotoWorks: Last day for this one, but thru April 10th, enter Coupon Code: C583-38-5150-71 on all Photo book, calendar, and Keppsake orders over $25 and recieve free shipping.
Kodak- Mother's Day is coming up soon, and for a limited time you can save 25% on all personal photo gift orders over $25. Just enter coupon code IHEARTMOM at checkout. You can also take advantage of 50% off of all Calendar orders. Coupon code: SAVE365 *Expires 4/26/06. You can set the first month for the calendar to be any month you like, so you can order these any time of the year! I did these last year for Christmas and Birthday gifts and they were such a big hit that I am doing them again this year. In fact, I just ordered one for my Dad whose birthday is in May. Grandparents just love seeing photos of their grandkids on the wall. I have one for myself hanging in my kitchen. Try these out if you've never tried one before. They are only $19.99 at normal price, and you can get them 50% off, so go for it!

2006-04-03T13:57:00.000-04:00

{A Thank you for my Blog friends& news group members}.

Come to DigitalScrapbook Pages today and get my new kit, Spring Fling 25% off with coupon code: SpringFling

Hope you all love the kit as much as I do!

2006-04-03T13:26:00.000-04:00

Finally.

I finally did get some layouts done last week, but I never got the chance to share them with you. I got quite a few paper layouts finished and I finally used that "Sunny Side Up" kit from Jen Wilson that was raving about, so I thought I'd go ahead and share. Check out the papers in this kit! I just love the patterns and the bold colors... which is funny because I usually go for a softer color palette. Love Jen's word art as well. (You can get this page kit at Scrapbook bytes.com, stitches are from Kathy Smith at Digital Scrapbookpages however.)
If you head over to Sbb anytime soon, check out these awesome brushes from Barb Catron. Oh...they are just awesome, I so want a set of these!! I spied them while I was purchasing Jen's kit and they are definitely going on my wish list, that's for sure. What do you think?