The Scrap Angel

Leaving on a jet plane....

2012-02-19T13:24:00.000-08:00

....with two kids....alone....please pray for me! We're heading out to visit my family this week. We'll be gone until mid-March, so I won't be blogging much. I'm taking some PL planning sheets with me so I won't get behind or lose ideas. When I get back it will be a mad PL marathon! I hope everyone enjoys the rest of February and into March. I'll be relaxing and watching my girls enjoy their grandparents!

P.S. Currently obsessed with this song:

Project Life 2012 - Week 6

2012-02-15T16:38:00.000-08:00

Wow- week 6 already? Where did these weeks go??? Here's what our week looked like:

I had one insert this week, which is the envelope from the card that my husband sent me. *I put a little card over our home address there.

This week, my older daughter went bowling for the first time - and won!

I really wanted to include a funny Caylan quote about her dad. Where does she come up with this stuff?

I included a copy of a letter from Josh's squadron approving me to be a Key Spouse and also included some journaling about it. *Another card used to cover our home address.

Josh sent me some pictures from overseas and I'm SO happy he did! I love being able to include him even if he's not here.

Josh sent us some Valentine's presents - a bracelet for Caylan and an iPod shuffle for me. I also included a note from Josh's dad that came with some books they sent for the girls. And, included that Adele swept the Grammy's this year - Love her!

This was a good week and I had to pair down what to include. I cut some of the smaller stuff that can be included at a later time. This week came together quickly because a lot of it was already done for me! I'll post week 7 on Monday, then I'll be traveling to visit family for three weeks....aka not scrapbooking. BUT I'm taking my Project Life planning sheets and collecting memorabilia and making notes for what to include when we get home. Hope everyone has a great rest of the week and weekend!

P.S. SO excited that this started back up - but hubby won't let me watch until he gets back....boo.

Project Life 2012 - Weeks 4-5

2012-02-06T11:44:00.000-08:00

I spent this weekend catching up! Most of it was done on Saturday night. I flipped on SNL (hello, Channing Tatum) and got to work. Here are weeks 4 and 5:

Week 4

Lots of journaling this week.

Loved including a text message between a friend and I about going out for dinner (her husband is deployed with mine).

Lost focus on my weight loss efforts and wanted to document it.

Found some Apple stickers that we got with a purchase a long time ago. I'm glad I hung on to them!

Week 5

As I created this layout, I realized it was a week of birthdays! We celebrated 4 birthdays this week!

I took a picture of my planner for this week because it was INCREDIBLY busy.

Stole Amy Tan's idea for documenting my dog's birthday.

The "Great Gift" journal spot is from Smash.

Downloaded the Superbowl image online.

So that's weeks 4 and 5. I'm so loving this project. The only thing I'm struggling with right now is working on my full layouts...they're being neglected. I really want to carve out some time this week to do some full layouts, especially on Layla's first year album. That will be a focus this week.

My husband...

2012-02-02T08:32:00.000-08:00

...is amazing! I told him what was wrong with the computer and he did research and figured out how to fix it. Then, spent two hours on the phone with me walking me through the steps. And now it's all fixed and we didn't lose anything! Yay! That being said, I'm working on my Project Life and I'll post the next two weeks in one post Monday or Tuesday of next week. Gotta play a little catch up. Thanks for being patient and have an amazing weekend!

*We're still going to replace it with a Mac sometime this year, just waiting until we don't have to refinance our house to buy it. :)

Don't Mess with My Technology

2012-01-30T22:22:00.000-08:00

I'm blogging from my iPhone right now. My computer decided it doesn't like me anymore and crashed. Something got on it and it's unusable. So that means all my pictures are not accessible, which is putting my scrapbooking on hold. The silver lining is that we might be getting a Mac desktop that I've been begging for. So while it's annoying and I'm freaking out about not having a computer, we finally get to upgrade our desktop. So I'll be absent until we actually do get one, we're in the research stage right now. I'm keeping diligent notes on my PL weeks and doing what I can without pictures so I don't get too far behind. Hope you all have a great week and thanks for being patient!

Project Life 2012 - Week 3

2012-01-23T14:17:00.000-08:00

This week was a little difficult. I didn't have a lot of pictures to share. I just rolled with it and ended up doing A LOT of journaling, which I'm ok with. I didn't have a ton of pictures, but I did have a lot of stories, so I focused on telling them.

The biggest thing for me this week was going to a Tool concert. It was AMAZING!

I got a copy of the setlist from the concert and stamped out the songs they played in order.

I saw an image from MaryAnn Perry's PL where she printed pictures of movie posters so she would remember the movie years from now. Love that tip!

Caylan and I jumped in a photobooth at the mall. That was fun!

I'm so loving this project! I love treating each little slot like it's own mini layout. I love looking back on our weeks and seeing what memories we made!

Project Life 2012 - Week 2

2012-01-16T13:44:00.000-08:00

I thought that I would be struggling to find things to put into my Project Life album each week. So far it's been really easy to pick and choose what I want to include and what can wait. Granted, it's only the second week, but it's been easy. I know there will come some weeks when I don't have much to share. I plan to start a list of things I can use during those weeks to fill in gaps when I need to. Stories that don't necessarily need to go with a certain week. Here's my second week:

I used one insert - an 8.5 x 11 of a picture my daughter colored. I added her name and date on the bottom of the picture.

For the far left center - I used a 3x4 grid journal card and lightly sprayed it with the color spray paint I used on my project.

The two empty slots on the center right are going to hold a metro ticket that Josh used in StL and his ticket stub for the Arch. As soon as he mails those to me, I'll put them in.

The center square with the tag talks about mailing Josh our first package. I included the date stamp from the Post Office from the customs form.

I am really enjoying this process and love sharing all the little things that we don't normally think about on a regular basis. I know Caylan will laugh when she looks back and sees that she wanted to put Christmas cookie sprinkles on her pizza....and I let her!

Project!

2012-01-13T21:12:00.000-08:00

I did a very cool project this week that I absolutely LOVE! I was on a mad hunt for this storage piece at Harbor Freight Tools after reading what Shanna did with it. She posted it on Studio Calico and she started a revolution! Everyone went out to get one and now the company is backed up on them until April! I had to drive about 45 minutes north to get mine, but so worth it! It's basic black, but I got some spray paint to jazz it up and it goes with my scrap room really well. Here's what I used:

Storage bin, two bottles of Tropical Oasis spray paint and metal pain primer from Lowe's.

I started by putting the layers together first. Got that tip from the message boards. If you paint before starting assembly, the paint chips off from banging, screws, etc. After assembling the separate layers, I painted a layer of primer. Then added about 4 thin coats of spray paint until it was completely covered. Took a while with drying time, but so pretty!

After putting it together, I added some black woodgrain washi tape from the Studio Calico January kit along the edges of the tiers. My scrap room color scheme is teal/black/white, as you can probably see!

And here it is all full of yummy products! I love that I can just reach over and grab what I need. I plan to keep tapes, mists, inks, stuff like that in here. I'm also going to keep some random small things that I'd like to use. I'll keep adding product as I use things so I can be sure my products don't get lost in everything else I have. This thing holds so much! Love it!

Here are a couple more of these bins that people have done:
Kinsey Wilson
Susan

Project Life 2012 - Cover Page

2012-01-11T13:00:00.000-08:00

Here is my cover page for my Project Life album. I love the pre-printed cards. Literally just added a couple of details and slipped them in. Took no time at all!

I'm using the Turquoise core kit from Becky Higgins (which is currently unavailable) for my album this year, along with random things from my stash. My album is a We-R-Memory Keepers 12x12 leather album in Vanilla. I will probably need to order another one as many albums I see are filling up quickly and need two or even three albums depending on how much you include. I'm gearing up for week 2 and getting some organizing going for that. Loving this project!

Project Life 2012 - Week 1

2012-01-10T18:24:00.000-08:00

*My title page is STILL not complete. My Studio Calico box came late and there was no good light, so I'll get a picture tomorrow and post about it then!

Week 1: And I'm hooked! I absolutely loved working on this. I love collecting little pieces from our everyday. I loved decided what to include and what could be left out. I loved recording little bits from our everyday lives that we normally don't even think about. This was a big week for us including an ear piercing, starting a dance class, and leaving for a deployment.

Here's how it looks in the album. I'll work on getting straighter pictures!

I wanted to really capture our family goals this year. I'll point out when we meet some of these goals as the year goes on.

The tag is from my husband's office. I love when he brings me things I can use in my scrapbooks! I stamped the AF logo with a wood-mounted stamp I have.

A couple of things I learned this first week is that I need to write on my planner with pencil! I did a lot of switching as I was planning my placements. I learned that I need to print pictures throughout the week so I don't spend an hour editing and printing pictures when all I want to do is sit down and create. I also learned to take a few minutes here and there when I can and do some journaling, or embellish a card. Any little bit helps, especially with two young children and not a lot of free time to sit and work.

But I'm absolutely hooked! I love the process and how easy and NOT intimidating it is. Title page post coming tomorrow!

Are you doing a Project Life album? If so, please link me up, I'd love to see it!

Stay Tuned...

2012-01-09T09:15:00.000-08:00

Happy Monday everyone! Just wanted to pop in and let you know that I finished my title page and my first week of Project Life. I'm waiting on one item to complete my title page (coming from Studio Calico in the mail tomorrow), then I will be posting both pages tomorrow night....I PROMISE!

I'm starting work on my One Little Word album today as well and will be sharing that, and my word, later this week.

Stay tuned!

Welcoming 2012

2012-01-03T12:35:00.000-08:00

Happy 2012! I'm so excited for this year to get started. I have two projects in the works right now: Project Life and One Little Word. I haven't gotten a huge jump start yet because my husband is leaving for a deployment on Sunday, so most of my free time is spent with my family right now. That being said, I'm planning two big posts focusing on these projects for next week. I do have my cover page for PL done and I'm working on our first week (which will end on Sunday, when my hubby leaves). Stay tuned for those posts!

I'm signing up for an Amy Tan class that will be offered through Studio Calico for the month of February. My number one gift wish for Christmas was a subscription to Studio Calico, which my husband got for me! Amy is teaching a class on how to stretch and use your kits up every month. I really feel like this will be great because I'll be getting a new kit each month and I don't want them to outlast me! Very excited for this class. Anyone else taking it?

I'm also planning to revamp my blog. It's a little....blah. That's something that will be a focus for me in the next coming weeks. Hopefully by the end of January it will be a lot prettier!

So be prepared for a lot of good blog posting, a new look, and some awesome new projects in 2012! What projects do YOU have planned for this year?

December Daily - Days 25-31 and a Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T12:39:00.000-08:00

Hi! I finished my December Daily today! So proud of myself for not getting too far behind. So happy I was able to finish today and get a good jump start on my project for next year, two of which start tomorrow! Here are the last days of our December:

As you can see, it's a biggun! I love it though. It feels good to be done and put it away. I'm putting all of my December Daily's in storage with our Christmas goodies and I'll bring them out each year to display during the holidays.

Now, I'm gearing up for two big projects in 2012 - Project Life and One Little Word. More on those in the coming week....so excited for them!

I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe New Year's celebration tonight. So long 2011...

December Daily - Days 15-24

2011-12-24T14:40:00.000-08:00

Yay, I caught up on my album this week! Here are days 15-24:

Caylan loves her first Advent calendar.

Painting mugs for her grandmother's gifts.

My husband's squadron Christmas party. So much fun!

Our favorite holiday movies. Actually sat down to watch them this year!

Just normal, everyday stuff.

Lights on the house!

Our holiday scent: North Pole.

Baking cookies for friends.

Stockings

Our wish list. Thought it would be cool to look back on what we wanted.

My next update will be at the end of December, when my album is complete. So far I've always done all 31 days in December, but I think I'm doing it differently next year. I'm already thinking about doing an Elf on the Shelf album for next December. We'll be doing the Elf for the first time next year and I thought it would be cool to document what he does each night and how my daughter reacts to him. Then the last day will be Christmas to see if the Elf told Santa the right gifts to get! Anyone doing Elf on the Shelf and have some suggestions on what you've done? I'm already taking notes!

I did find this post on Pinterest of Elf on the Shelf ideas. So cute!

Merry Christmas to you all and thank you so much for stopping by to read my ramblings. I have big plans for my bliggety-blog next year including a redesign, some series and some links to some ETSY goodies. Again, Merry Christmas and I hope you all have a wonderful last week of 2011!

Right Now

2011-12-22T13:52:00.000-08:00

So, today is my day to post my past week of my December Daily....well, that's not happening today unfortunately. Not only am I a few days behind, but our printer ran out of ink! Therefore I can't print pictures or anything else for that matter. We took this opportunity to get a new printer. We need one anyway and now we don't have to get replacement ink. So we hit Best Buy last night and got a great all-in-one printer. It's still in the process of being set up, but should be go to go later tonight when my hubby comes home and plays with it. Once that's done, I'll be catching up. I'll try my hardest to get caught up tonight and get a post done tomorrow or Saturday at the latest!

While my scrapping is on hold, I'm using this time to get organized for some upcoming projects. I'm taking Ali Edward's One Little Word class. I have my color scheme chosen so I pulled a bunch of supplies to use in the album.

I also got my Project Life station set up. I've seen on a few blogs that people have stations which help them to keep up on the project and use up lots of bits from their supply stash. I need this! I got my station set up with my album and I can't wait to start!

From the back left: white Becky Higgins core kit box with my Turqouise Core Kit. Blue tin is from Target (from a while ago) and holds a bunch of stickers, letters, and little bits that will work in my album. The red box is from our Christmas cards that I'll use to collect our everyday stuff I want to slip into the album. It already has two invitations for January in it! I may need to upgrade to something bigger for this, but I'm trying this one out to see how it goes. If it overflows too much, I'll get something bigger. And in front is my album. As you can see, I've already started putting together my cover page. I can't wait to start putting this album together! I'll be doing a Project Life "series," if you will, right here on my blog. I'll be posting my pages, hopefully weekly. Keeping my fingers crossed I can keep up with it!

If you want to see some more Project Life stations, check these out:
Marcy Penner
Lisa Truesdell

If you've seen others, please let me know! I tried searching Pinterest, but it doesn't seem to want to let me search today....hmmm....

December Sketch at the Sampler

2011-12-20T08:04:00.000-08:00

Hi! It's sketch time over at The Sampler for the month of December. The December kit, All That Glitters, is so Christmas-yummy! Here's the sketch:

And here's what I did:

I kept the same basic plan, but moved the swirls on the side to the bottom of the page to anchor it more. I used the "MERRY" tag in the kit, although the silver stamping didn't show up well on camera. I used the gold paint dabber to outline the edges of the paper squares I used. I just love how everything works together from this kit. Everything on this page is from the kit (except the date stamp and the sewing thread).

Please play along with us for your chance to win a great prize from Scrapbookingsuppliesrus.com! Create your own layout or card from this sketch and upload it to The Sampler's Flickr gallery to be entered. This is my last sketch challenge as a design team member.... :( To check out the new design team for 2012, check out this blog post introducing these awesome ladies!

Lastly, be sure to check out the sketch by the other current design team members:

December Daily 2011 - Days 8-14

2011-12-15T13:32:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the second week of my December Daily. This week, my husband returned from a TDY, therefore, I got a little behind. But I went to a friend's house to scrap and took my album with me to catch up. And I did! Here are days 8-14:

My husband returning from his trip.

Finally got our decorations up. Snapped some pics of my favorites.

DATE NIGHT!

The squadron children's Christmas party. Santa came in on a C-130 and gave out presents.

Our tree.

Favorite holiday tunes right now.

Thought it would be cool to include the book I'm currently reading. Fitting, since it has a heavy religious storyline.

I'm going to try my best to keep caught up this week, although we're looking at another busy week. Including an adult squadron party, doctor's appointments, making cookies, post office visits....etc....etc....etc....

December Daily 2011 - Days 1-7

2011-12-07T15:06:00.000-08:00

Hi there! I've actually been making time each night to work on my December Daily. What's really helping is that I pulled lots of things from my stash and put it with the Studio Calico kit that I got for it and I keep it all together. That's all I'm allowed to use! Since the pages are small, it's easy for me to bust out the days' page quickly. Here's my progress so far:

Our Santa visit - we did this on Black Friday. We were visiting family, so the two girls on the outsides are mine. The boy is my nephew and the girl holding Layla is my sister-in-law. Layla's smile just warms my heart and makes me laugh. Not to mention Caylan's cheesiest of the cheese smile!

Starbucks - no explanation needed. The kraft image is from a giftcard that someone gave me.

Georgia Bulldogs - we lost, but whatever.

Used an entire package of snowflakes that I've had for YEARS!

Saw this idea on Pinterest and loved it! I used a few grid journal spots from Project Life and I'll put the return address from our Christmas cards we receive this year. I may also collect the different stamps people use on one of them.

This is the front of the Christmas card we're sending this year. I may also include our newsletter we do every year. If I have room.

Cookies! And I finally used the awesome Mister Huey's that came exclusively in the kit. It's called Holly Berry. Love!

I have a slight obsession with peppermint this time of year. Used the packaging from my favorite treats on this page.

And that's my first week. I'm hoping I can keep caught up with this project, but so far, so good! It's actually relaxing to work on it after the day is done and I can reflect on what I want to document. Are you working on a December Daily? Link me up, I'd love to see it!

Here are a few of my favorite December Daily's that are going on right now:
Geralyn Sy
Ali Edwards
Nicole Reaves
Ursula Schneider

December Daily - The Foundation

2011-12-01T10:38:00.000-08:00

Hope you're sitting down, this will be a long one! I didn't realize how many pictures I had until I got them on the computer and renamed them...oh man! Ok, so this is the foundation of my December Daily. I purchased the kit from Studio Calico (sold out). I also purchased the daily overlays from Designer Digitals. The layout goes like this:
Left side (back of previous page): patterned paper and embellishment
Center: decorative transparency with day number
Right: overlay with details of the day, pictures, journaling, etc.
My concern right now is how full it is, and I haven't even added any pictures or anything like that. I mean, check this out:

Scary huh? I'm thinking I might go back and change out some of the thick brads and anything else I can do to make not so bulky to start off with. And here are my foundation pages:

Inside the cover is a calendar page that came with the kit. I stamped the dates and added in things that are already on our calendar for the month. I'll add to it as things pop up as well. I may add in some small pictures along the bottom, haven't quite decided yet.

This will be the cover page. It's not done yet, obviously. Hint: that painted red "S" up in the corner is going on there.

I've added little post-its to pages to remind me of what I want to share that day. Most pages already have these!

This envelope will hold small journal cards and I'll paste return address labels from Christmas cards we get from friends on it. Saw this on this Pinterest post.

So there you have it, my December Daily foundation! I really love it! I'm excited to get started on it today. I'll be updating weekly with my pages, so you'll see one week at a time. Time to power up my Pandora Christmas station and get to working on Dec 1! If you're doing a December Daily, please let me know where I can see it! Happy Scrapping!

Working, Working, Working

2011-11-30T20:41:00.000-08:00

Hi! Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend! My husband left for TDY on Sunday and it's my first time alone with both girls....and...yeah, it's hard! So I've been very busy not only taking care of them, but also working on my December Daily album. Which I finished today! I got the whole foundation done and will finish taking pictures and will post them all tomorrow when I have more time. For tonight, I'm exhausted. I'm making a hot mug of tea and zoning out in front of the TV with my Boston terrier, Brody. Until tomorrow...

The Sampler November Sketch

2011-11-20T10:09:00.000-08:00

It's sketch time at The Sampler! This month's sketch was so awesome, that I had to decided which page to do because I immediately had four different ideas! Will definitely use this sketch again in the future. Here's the sketch:

And here's my page:

I used the Amy Tangerine paper from the kit and turned it on it's side, using the clouds as some journaling spots. Everything on this page (except some of the flowers, brads, and mixtape) is from the November kit. Please check out the design team's pages for their takes on the sketch and start working on your own!

December Daily 2011 - The Cover

2011-11-16T14:24:00.000-08:00

I finished my album cover for my December Daily last night. I decided to paint it. I was terrified of messing it up, and then where would I be? But in the end, I decided to do for it. And I LOVE it! Here's what I used:

Chipboard album from Studio Calico's December Daily add-on kit (sold out)
Tim Holtz grungeboard letter (d)
Chipboard snowflake
Ribbon
December button from Ormolu
Red acrylic craft paint
Liquitex Matte Medium
Mister Huey's spray mist in Pickle
Glossy Accents

I mixed the acrylic paint with some of the Liquitex Matte Medium. The medium drys clear so it's not noticeable. It helps the texture of the paint not be so rough on the chipboard and helps keep it from fading or chipping. I painted the entire album, inside and out, and also painted the "d" with the same paint mixture. I really like the tone-on-tone look. I then adhered the ribbon using the Glossy Accents to be sure it wouldn't come up. I adhered the "d", the snowflake and the button all with the Glossy Accents as well. It's very secure! Here is the finished product:

I love the way it turned out. I have my Ali Edwards Overlays printed, I ordered some transparency overlays online today, so as soon as those come in I can really start building my album to get ready for December. Right now, my plan is to have the overlay pages (right), with the opposite page (left) being a patterned paper with a Christmas quote on it. And I will have the transparency overlays in between with the dates on them. I'm super excited about this project. Are you doing a December Daily? If you're interested, see Ali Edwards' blog posts about her process. It's amazing!

Sampler Reveal and a Giveaway!

2011-11-15T11:34:00.000-08:00

The November kit for The Sampler, "Seasonal Sweets," is up on the blog! And to "sweeten" the deal, there's a big giveaway with your comments. Holly has a whole bunch of stuff to hand out and she's in a giving mood, so be sure to check it out and answer the question from the post for a chance to win! A couple of the designers, yours truly included, have already started posting projects with the Nov kit, so be sure to check those out on the blog as well. The sketch challenge will go up on Sunday and I'll have a second layout done next Tuesday as well. SO, go leave your comment for the giveaway and good luck!

The Sampler Reveal

I'll also be back later this week with the cover for my December Daily. I'm painting it...I'm terrified, but I'm painting it. Wish me luck!

I'm thinking....

2011-11-09T11:21:00.000-08:00

...about a lot of things. Such as:

1. Getting my December Daily kit from Studio Calico today and I CAN'T WAIT to dive in. Still don't know exactly how I'm going to do it, but I'm sure seeing the kit will inspire me.

2. Setting up a Project Life station. Lisa Truesdell wrote this great post about her Project Life process and I plan on using some of her tips.

3. Submitting my Weight Loss Smash book to their blog. Maybe they'll feature it???

4. So much scrapping inspiration on Pinterest!

5. Lots of projects I want to take on. Hoping I can get them all done and do them all justice.

What's on YOUR To Do list lately?

The Sampler Design Team Call!

2011-11-02T14:37:00.000-07:00

You all know I've been a member of The Sampler's design team for the past year...wow...a year already??? It was such a great experience and, hello - free kits every month to play with? Yes please! The site is now looking for it's 2012 design team. Are you one of them? Here are the details to enter and I strongly encourage you to go for it! It's a great team to be on and I had a blast with it. You have until December 5th to get your entries in. Good Luck!

The Sampler Design Team Call

November: Currently

2011-11-01T09:08:00.000-07:00

Reading a good sci-fi book for our next book club meeting and really enjoying it.

Needing to finish my mini books for the Spouse Home Business Expo this coming weekend.

Trying to stay away from the Halloween candy in our house right now. Unsuccessfully.

Planning so many big projects: December Daily, Project Life 2012, selling ready-made albums on ETSY.

Thinking about Christmas gifts to send to family (all gift cards though - I refuse to pay more in shipping than on actual gifts)

Really needing to upload and share photos from our San Diego trip and Halloween.

Wishing my girls weren't growing up so quickly!

Looking forward to my mother-in-law visiting for Thanksgiving.

Also needing to get my coupon binder organized and my grocery list ready.

Being very busy with an ever-growing To Do list and Want To Do list.

Project Life

2011-10-21T19:09:00.000-07:00

I've finally decided to take the plunge and do a Project Life album. If you haven't heard of Project Life, here's a little bit that I've picked up from my research. It was developed by Becky Higgins. It's a kit that you can purchase that will help make your scrapbooking life a little simpler. With two children now, I need a little simplicity around here! The kit comes with a 12x12 album, slotted page protectors, a "core kit" that has journaling cards and embellished cards (called filler cards), month bookmarks and some 12x12 cardstock. The idea of the album is to use the slotted page protectors (think baseball card type) and all you have to do is add in your pictures and some journaling cards. Super easy. Everything is there for you and everything matches already. No thinking, just doing. I'm going to do this to document our year for 2012. I will also add in my own supplies to jazz it up a bit. It's something different for me and I'm excited about it! I will still make pages to go in my other albums, but this is something that will help me use all the pictures we take of everyday things and it takes some of the pressure off of having to do an entire page to document one small thing. Here's some more info on Project Life if you're interested:

I have enlisted a few friends of mine who are excited to do this project with me as well. We're going to start meeting once a month and work on our albums while our kids play! I'm super excited to get it and start! I'll be blogging about it and showing you my progress each month.
*I have an album that's ongoing that's documenting my "100 List." 100 things I want to do before I die. I'm not loving my album anymore and I'm thinking one of these kits might be perfect for that project as well. Might have to revamp it!

October Sketch at The Sampler!

2011-10-20T08:18:00.000-07:00

Hello all! It's sketch time again over at The Sampler. Here's the sketch challenge:

And here's my page:

Can you believe how similar my daughters looked as newborns? Caylan definitely had a ton more hair than Layla, but they are definitely sisters! This whole page is done with the October kit, "Mrs. Weasly." The only things not in the kit are the teal letters, circle frame, brad and stamps. Everything else is in the kit! I love the colors of this kit, the oranges, teals and purples. Perfect for Halloween and just about everything else too. Don't forget to check out the other design team's pages and pick up your October kit here. I'd love to see your interpretation of the sketch! Happy scrapping!

FYI:

2011-10-13T17:52:00.000-07:00

{LOVE} {LOVE} {LOVE}

That is all.

Away We Go....

2011-10-04T22:47:00.000-07:00

If anyone needs me for the next week, I'll be here....lounging on the beach with my family and relaxing...see you next week!

San Diego, CA

The Sampler October Kit

2011-10-03T13:48:00.000-07:00

The October kit for The Sampler has been revealed! And it's awesome! I can't wait to get my hands on it. The ideas are swirling already, just from seeing the picture. Check out the details here and make sure you get one for yourself! Stay tuned for my pages using the kit.

Adventures in Couponing: Go to CVS...like now!

2011-10-02T18:30:00.000-07:00

After seeing the CVS circular today and comparing them to my coupons....I RAN to CVS! Such great deals to be had. Here's how I did:

Dove Shampoo and Conditioner: on sale 2 for $3.00 - had a B1G1Free coupon - final price: $1.50 each

Suave Men's Shampoo: 3 for $5.00 - had a B1G1Free coupon - final price: $1.10 each

Suave Kid's Shampoo : 3 for $5.00 - had a B1G1Free coupon - final price: $1.10 each

Colgate toothpaste: B1B1Free - had $0.75 off coupon - final price: $2.12 each

Dawn dish liquid: on sale for $0.97 - had $0.50 off coupon - final price: $0.47

Pull Ups: on sale for $7.99

Skintimate shaving cream: on sale for $1.99

Tampax Pearl: on sale for $3.99 - had $2.00 off coupon - final price: $1.99

Pampers diapers: $11.99 - had $1.00 off coupon - final price: $10.99

Total Price Paid: $40.00 even

Total Saved: $38.46!

Pretty darn good huh? Needless to say, my family will have the cleanest hair ever! We also threw in some M&M's and Dove chocolate at the end there. Shhhhhh...

Happy Birthday to me!

2011-10-01T23:18:00.000-07:00

My husband gave me my birthday present today, a week early. He's taking me to.....


SAN DIEGO!

He totally surprised me with this trip! We're staying at a hotel on Pacific Beach. He also arranged for tickets to the San Diego Zoo and Legoland! I can't believe he did all this and I'm so excited! This will be our first official family vacation. Every time we go away, we go to one of our parents' houses and I'm sorry, that's not a vacation! I'm so looking forward to sitting on the beach, eating at great restaurants and just hanging out with my family. We definitely need this. My husband is THE BEST!

*It's also important to note that as soon as I was told about the trip, I was immediately planning a mini album about our trip in my head. Sad, I know.

The Sampler September Sketch

2011-09-20T12:26:00.000-07:00

It's sketch time at The Sampler! I highly suggest you play along as the prize is HUGE! Here's the sketch:

And here's my take on it, using the September kit:

I followed the sketch pretty literally this month. I used some Mr. Huey's mist to create the background (not in the kit). I love the diagonal layout, not something I would've done on my own, which is why I love sketch challenges. They get me out of my box! If you want to join in on the fun, go make your layout and post a comment on the blog to be entered into the contest. You need to include a link to your layout on your blog, photo gallery or our flickr group in your comment. The winner will receive a FULL KIT, either August or September's. That's an amazing gift! You have until October 20 to get your comments in. Can't wait to see what everyone does! And please check out the other design team member's pages. So creative! Happy scrapping!

The Sampler's September Kit

2011-09-13T13:29:00.000-07:00

I'm SERIOUSLY in love with this kit. It's stunning! When I got it in the mail, I sat right down and started planning pages. I came up with 5 different layouts (including the sketch challenge coming next week) and plan on doing some cards with it as well. This is the most I've made with one of the kits so far. They just keep getting better and better! Here are the two layouts I've posted on their new blog and I have two more coming this month.

If you don't subscribe to The Sampler, I suggest you go and check it out. The kits are amazing! Happy scrapping!

The Sampler September Kit

Ten Years

2011-09-11T08:00:00.000-07:00

Ten years ago. I can't believe it's been ten years. When I think of that day, my heart feels heavy and my eyes tear up. Every time. And if there's images on tv about it...forget it, I'm a goner! I remember exactly where I was on that day: I was doing my student teaching in Pensacola, FL. I taught fifth grade. My supervising teacher took the kids down to music class and she came running in the classroom and said, "Did you hear what's happening? People are dying!" I was super confused while she turned on the tv in the classroom. We watched in horror as the details developed. The rest of the school day was cancelled while we all stayed in the classrooms and watched what was going on. The kids didn't really understand it. One girl did come over to my desk and asked me a heart-wretching question. She asked, "Why are they doing this to us?" And I couldn't answer her. My eyes teared up and I told her I didn't know while she hugged my neck sadly. How do you explain something like that to a child? The most vivid image I have of that day is watching people actually jumping from the buildings. I can't begin to imagine what they were feeling. It breaks my heart to this day.

8 months after the planes hit, my husband joined the Air Force. It was a hard decision, but easy at the same time. I was proud of him for wanting to serve his country. On the flip side, I knew he'd be going to war. And he has, three times. I'm so proud of be a military wife and knowing that my husband is fighting to help keep our country safe is so humbling and satifying. With all of our faults and political disputes, we're still the best country on Earth! Part of which was proven when we finally found and took out Osama bin Laden. My thoughts and prayers continue to be with the victims and the families of that fateful day in 2001.

We will never forget.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9l7Nyvdh2Q

*This video was made by a co-worker while my husband was working at Travis AFB in California. He was an in-air refueler on the KC-10. This is what his squadron did and the video was made for our annual holiday party, celebrating the year. My hubby is in his blues uniform with two other guys, on the far left side. The bald one (he has grown his hair out now!). And I'm with a group of ladies towards the end, in the orange top on the far right (while I was pregnant with our first daughter). Enjoy!

To cut, or not to cut?

2011-09-09T13:13:00.000-07:00

I've been pretty against die-cutting machines from the beginning. I always thought they were too commercial and would make my pages look too cutesy for my style. However...I'm seeing some designs using these machines that are really pretty and can be manipulated to look really modern and cool. So now I'm considering getting one. I'll probably be asking for it as a gift, but I'm doing some research. I'd like some opinions. Do you have one? Want one? Which one? What's your experience like with them? I'd love any feedback you're willing to give me.

Thanks in advance for your input! We're heading to Phoenix this weekend to take my father-in-law to my sister-in-law's house and spend some time with them. Have a safe weekend everyone!

Hospital Mini Album

2011-08-26T12:47:00.000-07:00

Almost 5 weeks ago (yikes!) my little Layla was born. I knew I wanted to document her in the hospital. Recently I bought an Instax camera and got the idea to take that to the hospital along with a premade mini album so all I had to do was take pictures and stick them in. It worked out perfectly! By the time we came home, I already had a little album finished for Layla. I love the way it turned out and loved having a project to help keep me busy in the hospital.

I love the way it turned out! I got the small chipboard album at Joann online. Right now it's living on the bookshelf in our living room and will stay there for a few months.

As for the weekend, my husband is going on an overnight Bachelor Party adventure tonight. Then, tomorrow night I'm going to a Bachelorette Party (same couple!) where I will be partaking in a few glasses of wine....because I deserve it. And on Sunday I'm sneaking out to see this:

I. Can't. Wait! Have a great weekend everyone!

Giveaway on Holly's Blog!

2011-08-25T16:11:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Anyone in the mood for a giveaway? Holly is doing a giveaway on her blog, sponsored by The Sampler. Head on over an enter for a chance to win a basket full of goodies!

http://experiencelifewisely.blogspot.com/2011/08/week-mission-accomplished-maybe-next.html

I'll be back tomorrow with my hospital mini album!

Adventures in Couponing - Mission Organization!

2011-08-14T09:39:00.000-07:00

This is what my kitchen table looks like right now:

I have quite a project ahead of me. Being pregnant and having family in town really put my couponing on hold for a few weeks. I wasn't clipping or searching for deals. The inserts (when I decided to venture out to get them) started piling up. All coupons that were printed at home or sent in the mail just went into a pile, waiting to be loved. That's my project for today. Get all this under control!

And this is what my craft table looks like:

Not quite as much, but I do have quite a few projects to catch up on. My husband is doing some training this week so I'll have some time to get in there after my oldest goes to bed and I can hopefully start catching up. I'm putting the final touches on the hospital mini album I did, which I will be posting this week. It's pretty darn cute!

And, I am officially obsessed with Adele! Especially this song, it's on repeat!

Adventures in Couponing - Back to it!

2011-08-06T14:17:00.000-07:00

It's been quite a while since I've gone couponing. There were even a couple of weeks I didn't go out to get a newspaper for the inserts - GASP - I know! 9 months pregnant was not agreeing with me and not even the coupons were worth leaving the house for. But now that Layla's here and I'm MUCH more comfortable, I'm getting back into the swing of things. I was excited to go through my coupons and get it all organized to start it up again. A friend of mine sent me a text letting me know that Walgreens had a ton of baby items on clearance. I'm SO there! I got out my binder, grabbed all my baby coupons, checked out the week's insert for sales and made my list of what to get. Here's how I did:

Transaction #1:

Crayola Washable Classic Markers - $2.00 with $2.00 Register Rewards = FREE!

Dove Shampoo ($4.99) and Treatment Conditioner (5.99) - BOGO 50% off and had a coupon for BOGO Free! Got the shampoo for free and the conditioner for half off!

2 Pampers Swaddlers Diapers - $10.00 each with $3.00 Register Rewards. Also had two coupons, one for $2.00 off and one for $3.00 off any Pampers diapers

Total Spent: $23.26

Total Saved: $18.96

Transaction #2:

Huggies Wipes Refills - $7.99 - $2.00 off coupon in the Walgreens savings booklet and had a coupon for $2.00 off Huggies wipes made it $3.99!

Disney Princess doll - clearance for $1.73 (not pictured because Caylan wouldn't let it go!)

TGIFriday's chips - $1.00 (love to snack on these while I'm scrapping)

Dawn dish liquid - on sale for 99 cents, and had a 50 cent coupon which made it 49 cents

Princess Party cup - 99 cents, just because

M&Ms as a filler

*Used $5.00 in Register Rewards from the first transaction

Total Spent: $4.95

Total Saved: $16.06!!!

Unfortunately, there weren't that much on clearance that I needed, but I did find great deals on diapers and wipes, which I need a lot of, and have a lot of coupons for from companies. All in all, a great first trip back into couponing! And definitely going out tomorrow to get a newspaper!

Meet Layla!

2011-08-05T15:37:00.000-07:00

Hello all! My little Layla Kayleigh was born on July 25 at 7:58am. She was 8lbs, 4 oz and is just a little bundle of joy and cuteness! She looks just like her sister did when she was born, so she's definitely going to be a gorgeous girl just like Caylan.

We're all home and doing very well adjusting to our new little one. Caylan absolutely adores her sister and is so good with her. I hope everyone has been well and it's time to get back to the scrapping and blogging! Have a great weekend!

Taking a Break

2011-07-22T10:03:00.000-07:00

Hello friends! Just wanted to pop in and let you all know that I'll be taking a blogging break for about a week or so. My family is coming into town today and then I'll be having our precious daughter on Monday morning! I'll be back later next week to introduce her to everyone! I hope everyone has a great weekend and a great week! Love you all!

Updates, Updates

2011-07-17T10:22:00.000-07:00

Hello! Yes, I am still here! Still been crazy around our household. My husband has returned from his deployment. He's been back for a week and we've really been enjoying some good family time together. We're also gearing up for our new addition, who is coming one week from tomorrow, if she can hold on that long. We're finishing up the nursery and getting ready for my family to come into town for the birth. It's all happening and I'm so excited!

I haven't been scrapping as much because of all that's going on, but I will be doing a page that will be up on the ScrapbookingSuppliesRUs site on Tuesday.

I'm also selling some FlyBagz! They just rolled out some new items: a make-up bag, a clutch, and a mini pack for kids (so cute!). I just ordered a make-up bag for myself. It's on sale for the month of July for only $15.00! What a great deal!!! If you're interested in snagging one for yourself, please let me know and I'll get the ordering process started for you.

Caroline Make-Up Bag - on sale for $15.00 for the month of July!

Christine Clutch - on sale for $59.00 through August 15!

Kid's Mini Pack - $44.00

I hope you all are doing well and thank you so much for being patient with my lack of posts lately. I promise to try to post more often! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Happy 4th of July!

2011-07-04T14:01:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe 4th of July celebration!

And now for my newest announcement. I have recently become a part of a wonderful company that I'm so proud to represent. FlyBagz! FlyBagz is a company run by a military spouse. They take old military uniforms and turn them into all sorts of bags: handbags, diaper bags, totes, backpacks for adults and kids, messenger bags, guitar straps and more products coming out soon! How creative is that? You choose your uniform and you completely customize your bag. You can choose from her inventory of fabrics (or send in your own if you choose to). She literally can do anything you request. I love that this not only can give you a handbag literally designed by you, but can also help you show your support for our military and follow the very popular military trend. You can choose to send in your own military uniform (I sent in one of my husband's old flight suits) or you can choose from her inventory that she already has. That's right, you don't have to be military to get one of these awesome bags. Many military members are donating uniforms to be used for bags for people who don't have access to any uniforms. P.S. If you donate a uniform for someone else, you get 15% off of any purchase. Awesome, right?
So what's my role in the company? I'm a representative for them. I help them get the word out about the products and newest launches. I can help customers with the ordering process. I help walk you through it and can give suggestions and answer questions about the products. I'm still in the process of receiving all of my representative information, but I can start helping you NOW! I'm basically a liaison between the customer and the company. I'll be with you from beginning to end, checking up on your order and making sure you're happy with it. If you haven't been to the FlyBagz website yet, please go check it out! If you have questions or want to order something, please let me know and I can help you get the process started. I'm so excited to start this venture and I hope you'll come along for the ride!

Still here!

2011-06-30T14:59:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Yes, I'm still here! Yes, I'm still pregnant! Things have been pretty crazy lately. We're in the final stretch of my husband's deployment. He should be home in one week, God willing! My c-section is scheduled for July 25 and I'm sooooooo ready for it! I can't wait to meet our little princess and finally get my body back. It's been rough with the 110 degree weather we've been having everyday lately. I also have an exciting announcement coming later this weekend, so stayed tuned for that. Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend and stay safe!

The Sampler June Sketch

2011-06-20T09:41:00.000-07:00

Hi there! It's sketch time at The Sampler! This month's sketch is great and so versatile. Here it is:

And here's my take on it:

I used my sewing machine to represent the outline along the borders of the page. For the background paper behind the pictures, I actually ended up using the packaging from the Pink Paislee chalkboard stickers. Love the pattern and the way it worked! I also used one of the border stickers and laid it on black cardstock and punched circles to create the embellishments around the pictures.

What will YOU do with this sketch? As soon as the sketch contest goes up, I'll be sure to put the link here for it. Have you gotten the June kit yet? If not, RUN here and get it. You won't be disappointed! And please check out the other design team ladies' takes on the sketch. Again, awesomeness!

A Little Mini

2011-06-16T17:53:00.000-07:00

Hi friends! Sorry it's been so long since I've posted anything. Been pretty busy around here. Today I have a mini album to share. I literally did this mini in two sittings (could've done it in one, but my three-year-old wasn't having that). I purchased a "My Hometown" mini kit from Elise Joy's ETSY shop. The kit contained the cover (I added the license plate) and a few patterned paper pieces to help start the album. There were also rings, some washi tape strips, and labels. I used everything in the kit and then added a lot of my own stuff as well. I don't see them in her shop anymore, but she does have a ton of other yummy stuff in there. I also purchased her summer mini album and I'm currently working on that. So, I wanted to document my hometown, mainly because I don't live there anymore. With my husband being in the military, we move a lot. So it's special when I'm able to get home and see my favorite things and eat my favorite food that I can't get anywhere else. This is a small album at 4x4, but that's all I really need. The last time I was home, I made sure to get pictures of my favorite things and foods and collected business cards of my favorite places. It all came together beautifully! Now I have a wonderful little reminder of home when I need one.

Not sure why this is rotated, but I can't fix it. Sorry!

Have you considered making a mini album of your hometown? How about your kid's favorite places to visit around town? Happy Scrapping everyone!

June's Sampler Kit - Feeling Artsy?

2011-06-02T09:23:00.000-07:00

When I posted the sneak peak at June's kit, the word Love was highlighted. Here's why:

Is that not gorgeous? Woodgrain letters...swoon! Love everything in this kit! I've made two layouts (working on my third) and two cards so far with this kit. Trust me, you won't be disappointed. If you haven't snagged one already, head over to ScrapbookingSuppliesRUs.com/theSampler and grab one!

June Sneak and my Newest Obsession

2011-05-27T11:47:00.000-07:00

Happy Memorial Day Weekend! Here is a tiny sneak peek at the June Sampler kit:

And literally, that word says it all! The June kit is so gorgeous! If you haven't already entered the May Sketch challenge, better hurry up! Head to Holly's blog for details and you can win the entire May kit from The Sampler!

Now for my newest obsession. Hello, my name is Sarah and I'm addicted to SMASH! I first heard about the books and I was like, "Eh, not really my style." Then, I saw this:

And I HAD to have one. A few days later, I saw on CraftySteals.com that they were having a Smash deal. I hopped on it and ordered a Pink Smash Folio along with some accessories. All of the mini smash pads, the date stamp, stickers, tape, paper clips...I got a lot! I received the book and I've been "Smashing" stuff into it. I've taken things off my inspiration board and put them in it, which leave me more room on my board. I've put a personalized Thank You card from April Foster in there, thanking me for a baby gift I sent her. And I put a post card and business card from Elise, who super-inspires me. I'm in love with this concept! And, browsing around on Studio Calico...low and behold...they have some Smash on sale in their shop!!! I just ordered the Black Folio and the paperclip/flag set that I didn't have before. I'm so excited! I love it for memory keeping, that's not traditional scrapbooking. I'm using it for inspirational pieces and little things that I don't want to throw away, but don't necessarily want to keep in a big scrapbook. These would also make great travel books for a big trip (sigh...one day).

I hope everyone has a great and safe weekend!

Last Winner!

2011-05-23T08:33:00.000-07:00

Alright Doreen! You've won the last of my stash! Can you go ahead and send me your address again please and I'll get it in the mail this week? Sarahbr18@aol.com Thanks! And a huge thanks to everyone who entered my giveaways, I hope you enjoy your goodies!

My dear friend threw me a baby shower yesterday and it was incredible! The cake that she made was amazing:

Seriously, how talented is she? She took a cake decorating class at Joann and she has me thinking about doing it now. She's amazing! This is a busy week for me, with some babysitting for my friend, a book club meeting, a playgroup and such. But I'm excited because I'm ready for June to start! I'll be back later this week with my newest scrappy obsession....stay tuned!

Sampler May Sketch Challenge and Final Giveaway

2011-05-20T08:44:00.000-07:00

No takers on the tools giveaway eh? Ok, I'll up the ante a little. Now, I'm giving away all the tools listed here, PLUS the Christmas paper pack. And I'll throw in a couple of little goodies right before shipping! This is the last giveaway I'm doing, so jump on it while you can! You can leave me a comment here, mentioning the giveaway, since I'm also posting my Sampler sketch challenge. So, if you'd like to be entered in the giveaway, leave a comment mentioning it and you're in! I'll choose a winner Friday, May 27!

Now, onto the Sampler May Sketch Challenge. Miss Holly is hosting the challenge on her blog again this month and get this....the winner of the challenge gets the ENTIRE MAY SAMPLER KIT! How awesome is that? A whole kit! And it's gorgeous! I've made three layouts with it and I'm still using it! Here's the sketch and my take on it:

So grab the sketch and get creating! Then head over to Holly's blog to enter the contest and you could win the entire Sampler May kit! And don't forget to check out the other design team's takes on the sketch. How creative are these ladies? Have a great weekend everyone!

Giveaway #5

2011-05-16T19:54:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Hope you had a great weekend. Time for my fifth giveaway. This week I'm giving away my tools. This includes a Martha Stewart ribbon storage box, a tray of chalk, and an eyelet setter with eyelets included.

To enter, please leave me a comment about your best storage solutions. We could all use some tips right? I'll pick a winner on Friday, May 20. Good luck!

*US only please

A Winner and a Summer Album

2011-05-14T10:18:00.000-07:00

Congratulations Ellie! You get my acrylic stamp stash! Please email me your info at Sarahbr18@aol.com and I'll get them to you asap! Stay tuned for another giveaway on Monday.

In other scrappy news, I just picked up this great Summer 2011 album from Elise Joy's ETSY shop. How cute is that? I'm going to keep it on my desk and throw things in there from June to August of this year. This will include the birth of Layla coming up on late July. I'm so excited to get it and start documenting our summer. I've never documented a whole season (except for the Christmas album) so I can't wait to see how it turns out. Elise is also doing blog videos about how she puts her own Summer album together. Be sure to check it out and grab and album if you can. It's such a cool concept!

Giveaway #4

2011-05-09T08:55:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Hope you all had a great weekend! Today is Giveaway #4 and I have some more stamps for you. Some acrylic stamps! That's right, all of my acrylic stamps are up for grabs today. Here's what you'll get:

The flower stamp has never been used, I've only used a few of the letter stamps and only a few of the date stamps as well. To be entered, please leave me a comment telling me if you've ever used acrylic stamps and what you like/dislike about them. I'll choose a winner on Friday, May 13. Good luck everyone!
*US only please!

Stamps Winner!

2011-05-07T08:35:00.001-07:00

Congratulations to Jules! You've won my pack of wood-mounted stamps! Please send your info to me at Sarahbr18@aol.com and I'll get them in the mail to you asap! Stay tuned for another giveaway on Monday!

Today, is Give Parents a Break day at the base. I get to drop my daughter off for 4 hours for free! Then I'm going to lunch with some fellow spouses whose husbands are away and then we're going shopping and Mama's getting a pedicure. I'm a little to excited about all this! Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Giveaway #3

2011-05-02T11:11:00.000-07:00

Hi friends! Time for the third giveaway! This week, I'm giving away all of my wood-mounted stamps. Yep, all of them! Here's what you'll get:

The bottom two have been lightly used and the top two have NEVER been used! I'd jump on this one, people. To enter, leave me a comment telling me if you're a stamper and any cool techniques you use with your stamps. I'll choose a winner on Friday, May 6. Good luck!

On another note: I can't express the relief I felt last night when I saw that Osama Bin Laden is finally no longer a part of this world. I truly believe the world will be a better place without him. However, I am extremely concerned about the backlash that may occur at the news of his death by the Taliban and other extremists. Please keep our troops that are still deployed overseas in your thoughts and prayers and pray for their continued safety.

(a late) Winner!

2011-05-01T09:48:00.000-07:00

Alright Rachel, you get the paper pack! Congratulations! Sorry it took me a couple of days to post, busy weekend. Please send me your shipping info and I'll get it in the mail to you ASAP. Stay tuned tomorrow for a brand new giveaway!

Today, I'm heading to a Stampin Up party. I've never been to one, so I'm excited to see what it's all about. I'm also working on a new album project this week: A Week in the Life. If you haven't heard of this concept, it was made popular by the fabulous Miss Ali Edwards. You literally take a week and document every day aspects in the album. I'm excited to get started on it! To see where I'm getting my inspiration, check out A Week in the Life albums by Ali.

And now, I'm off to make blueberry muffins with my daughter and head to the gas station for two newspapers (great coupons expected today) and a mandatory Dr Pepper Icee! Have a great Sunday everyone!

Sneakage!

2011-04-28T17:34:00.000-07:00

Don't forget to enter my giveaway for this week! I'll be picking a winner tomorrow night and so far I only have one entry! Don't make it that easy!

Now for some Sampler Sneakage! I have some great pictures of what's to come in the May Sampler Kit. Have I mentioned that it's gorgeous? Well, it is! See for yourself:

See? Gorgeous right? If you want a little extra bonus, Holly is hosting a giveaway on her blog in celebration of the May kit reveal. Head over and enter!

Adventures in Couponing - Scored BIG at CVS!

2011-04-26T17:24:00.000-07:00

This was the most successful trip to CVS I've had yet! When I got there, I scanned my Extra Care Card at the coupon station to get the day's coupon. Low and behold, it printed out $4.00 in ECB's that were available to me because of my purchase credit. SCORE! So there was $4.00 automatically for me. It also printed out a $1.00 off Dove Hair Care product, so I stopped by to check that price. Here's the breakdown of what I got:

2 Dove Men's deodorants: they were on sale for $0.99 each. I had two $1.00 off coupons, which made them FREE!

1 Dove Conditioner (I have shampoo, but not conditioner): on sale for $3.00. I used the $1.00 off coupon from the machine, which made it $2.00.

2 Coke Zero 2-Liters: on sale for $0.88 each.

1 4-pack CVS toilet paper (needed some to hold me over until my big shopping day): $3.39

Grand total before coupons or ECBs: $10.13

Total after coupons: $7.15

Total after ECB's: $3.15

Total out of pocket cost: $3.61 including tax....Saved $6.54. SCORE!

So basically, all I paid for was the toilet paper. Literally! I got two 2-Liter cokes, two deodorants and a conditioner for free. You really can't beat that! P.S. My husband is good on deodorant for at least a year. Seriously! When I put them away, I counted my stock and he has 6 sticks of deodorant. And I paid pennies for them, if that. I heart couponing!

Giveaway #2

2011-04-25T15:41:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday everyone! Hope everyone had a great weekend and a nice Easter! It's time for giveaway number 2. This week, I'm giving away a paper pack: Provo Craft The Slab XI! It's a gorgeous pack full of beautiful paper. To enter the giveaway, please leave me a comment here answering this question: Do you use paper packs or do you like to buy loose paper? I'll pick a winner on Friday, April 29. Thanks and good luck!

Winner!

2011-04-22T23:38:00.000-07:00

Ok, for the first Scrappy Sale giveaway, I put the numbers in a hat (all two of them) and had my daughter pick one out. She chose #1! That would you Doreen! Please email me your address to Sarahbr18@aol.com and I'll get your goody box in the mail on Monday. Congratulations!

Tune in on Monday for my second giveaway! Hope everyone has a great weekend and a very Happy Easter!

April Sketch Challenge!

2011-04-20T00:04:00.000-07:00

It's sketch time over at The Crop Spot! Here's the sketch:

For April's sketch, the page came together so easily for me. I turned the squares into circles, which is always a challenge for me, but I love the way it turned out, especially with the butterflies. The April kit had the perfect feminine touches for this page (the only thing not in the kit is the butterflies, which are from Making Memories and the washi tape). For the title, I ran out of "t's" so I used the "f's" and cut them down to make "t's." Gotta be resourceful when you need to be, right?

The site is still undergoing some maintenance, so Holly is hosting the challenge on her blog this month. Go here to check out the details and do your own page based on the sketch! Be sure to check out the other Design Team members' takes on the sketch as well. They're awesome!

Giveaway time!

2011-04-18T09:58:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Remember that Scrappy Garage Sale I had a while back? I still have some items left and I'd like to feature them as giveaways! I have 6 things to give, so over the next 6 weeks, every Monday I'll feature a new item and pick winners on Fridays. So let's get to it!

First up is Goody Box #1! See this post for a refresher on what's in it. This is the only goody box left, so be sure to enter if you want it! In order to enter the giveaway, please leave me a comment on this post and tell me at least one thing you would use from the box on a project. Does anything inspire you? I'll choose a winner on Friday, April 22. Good luck!

Been too long!

2011-04-17T09:50:00.000-07:00

Hi friends! Wow, it's been a while eh? I've been super busy and actually trying to relax in my down time. I just hit 25 weeks of pregnancy today and I'm feeling every single week right now! Along with taking care of myself and my three-year-old, it's been a lot. I'm so happy Spring is here and the weather is warming up. Although, in Arizona, it's REALLY warming up. I can't be outside for too long because I start to get overheated and that's dangerous. I've been working on some good scrapbooking that I will be sharing this week. I'm taking Kelly Purkey's Sketchbook 3 class and, as always, it's amazing! I'm really getting caught up and using a lot of my supplies which is so great. I also have three orders from customers of my Scrap Angel FB page that I'm about to start working on. Two Disney autograph books and an engagement album. So exciting! I'm still couponing, although I'm trying to control the urge to go out and get every single deal. I don't need all of them! Anyone watching Extreme Couponing on TLC? They're excessive, but the deals are amazing! I rolled my eyes at the woman who had a wall full of diapers, but doesn't have kids. Really? I like how one guy used his couponing skills to send care packages to troops overseas. That was awesome. I hope everyone has a great week and I'll be blogging more, I promise!

Adventures in Couponing - Target and Walgreens

2011-04-04T15:04:00.000-07:00

Today, I hit Target and Walgreens for some deals. Got some pretty good ones. Here's what I ended up getting:

Target:

Suave Kid's Body Wash - read on The Krazy Coupon Lady that they were on sale for $1.75. However, at my Target, they were $1.87, not a huge difference so no biggie. I did notice that the 12oz and the 18oz were the same price, so I grabbed the 18oz to get the most for my money. Both were $1.87 and I had two $0.25 off coupons.

Final Price: $1.62 each

Suave Kid's Detangler Spray (we go through a lot of that in our house!). They were $1.92 each and I had a coupon for $1.00 off 2 Suave kid's hair care products that I got in the mail from Target.

Final Price: $1.42 each

Kandoo Flushable Wipes. On sale for $1.42 and I had a $1.00 off coupon from the P&G coupon book from 4/3.

Final Price: $0.42

Overall price: $6.50

Saved: $2.50 in coupons

Walgreens:

2 Crayola Wonder On-the-Go sets. Were on sale for $1.50 each. Had two $1.00 off coupons from the Smart Source from 4/3.

Final Price: $0.99 each (great Easter basket stuffer)

4 5 Gums. On sale for $0.99 each. Had two $1.00 off coupons when you buy 2 from smartsource.com. Also, when you buy 3, you receive a code to enter to win an Ipad or a Walgreen gift card that you can enter everyday until June 4. And you get a Catalina coupon for $1.00 off an 5 Gum multipack.

Final Price: $0.49 each

Gain Laundry Detergent. On sale for $4.99 (orginal price is $7.99). Had a $1.00 off coupon that I've had for a while.

Final Price: $3.99

Energizer AA Batteries - 10 pack. On sale for $5.99. Had $1.00 off coupon.

Final Price: $4.99

Dawn Dish Detergent. On sale for $0.99. Had coupon for $0.25 off from P&G from 4/3.

Final Price $0.74

Fillers: Pez Refills $1.79 and two Reeses Peanut Butter Eggs $0.39 each (both for Easter baskets!)

Final Price: $10.61

Saved: $22.45

*also used $6.00 in Register Rewards from previous purchases

So I did pretty good today. One thing I'm struggling with is sometimes the deals I'm hearing about aren't the same in my stores. For example, the Suave Body wash at Target wasn't the same as I had heard. Also, the Crayola Color Wonders were rumored to be priced at either $1.50 or even on clearance in some stores. At mine, they were $1.99. So I'm trying to adjust when I need to. I still got great deals, so I can't complain. However, there have been times when I couldn't find the deal I was expecting so I just walked away because it wasn't worth using the coupon.

Here's another great deal that I couldn't find. If you go to Purex.com and sign up, you can either get a free sample mailed to you, or you can print a $2.00 off 1 coupons for Purex with Zout. It's SUPPOSED to be on sale at Walgreen for $1.99, so that would've made it free. BUT, my Walgreens didn't even carry the Purex with Zout in it. Now I wish I had done the free sample. But I have a coupon so if I can find it on sale somewhere else, I can get it for $2 off. Things like that can be frustrating. But jump on that deal if you can!

Have you found any great deals this week? Also, don't forget that the Extreme Couponing series starts this Wednesday, April 6 on TLC! I'm super excited!

Adventures in Couponing - One stop today.

2011-04-01T15:55:00.000-07:00

Today I went out and got some great deals at Walgreens. I was planning to hit both Walgreens and CVS, but I ended up finding some better deals at Walgreens on what I was planning to buy anyway, so I got to skip CVS altogether. Here's what I found:

I did two transactions and here's how I broke it down.

Transaction 1 (left side):

All of the Dove items I got were 4/$15 - 2 Dove Men's deodorants, 1 Dove women's deodorant, 1 Dove shampoo. I had coupons for all 4 items! When you got the 4/$15 deal, you also received $5 in Register Rewards. Each item ended up costing $1.37 each!

I also got a small sunblock to keep in my purse as a filler item since you need to have more items than coupons in a transaction. It was $2.99.

Total Cost: $14.59 and got $5.00 in Register Rewards - Saved $11.35!

Transaction 2 (right side)

2 Ziplock storage bag boxes - on sale for $1.99 and had two coupons for $1.25 off Ziplock bags which made them $0.74 each!

2 Colgate Total toothpaste. Were 2/$6.00 and I had 2 $1.00 off coupons which made them 2/$4.00. You also received $4.00 in Register Rewards which essentially made them free!

1 Colgate 360 toothbrush. On sale for $1.99 and I had $1.00 off coupon which made it $0.99.

2 Skintimate shaving creams. Were 2/$4.00 and had a coupon for $0.55 off one. You also received $2.00 in Register Rewards which made them $0.72 each!

Dog bones as a filler. $5.00. Could've gotten a cheaper filler, but my puppies deserved them!

Used my $5.00 Register Rewards from Transaction 1 to help pay for it.

Total Cost: $12.93 and I have $6.00 in Register Rewards to use next time - Saved $19.00!

It was a pretty good trip! I'm still struggling with the Register Rewards part. It's hard to spend the money to get the rewards. I have to keep in mind that I have the rewards to use for next time. Although it may not seem like I'm saving a ton, in the end I really do. Have you gotten any great deals lately?

ATTN: Rachel!

2011-03-28T09:45:00.000-07:00

Attention Rachel! You've won the giveaway from Scrapbooking Supplies R Us! Please email me at Sarahbr18@aol.com with your info so I can get your prize to you. If I don't hear from you by Friday, April 1, I'll have to choose another winner. Thanks!

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I did, despite the gnarly sunburn I got on Saturday. Lesson learned: wear sunscreen when I'll be outdoors for a while, especially in this Arizona sun! I'll be doing some more givaways later this week of what's left of my Scrappy Garage Sale, so stay tuned!

Winner Winner!

2011-03-26T09:35:00.000-07:00

Happy Saturday everyone! Does anyone know how to get the random.org image onto the blogs? I used random.org, but couldn't get the image to put on here. Ok, according to random.org, the winner for the Scrapbooking Supplies R Us giveaway is:

Rachel!!!

Congratulations Rachel! Please email me at Sarahbr18@aol.com with your info so I can get it to Holly and she can get your prize to you. Hope everyone has a great weekend. We're off to the base today for a huge picnic with pony rides, jumpy houses and a petting zoo. My sweet girl needs some good playing time!

Giveaway from Scrapbooking Supplies R Us!

2011-03-21T13:05:00.000-07:00

I just posted my March sketch challenge for The Crop Spot. Normally, there is a monthly challenge for it, but with the site going through an overhaul right now, it's on a little hiatus. Therefore, the design team is doing a giveaway on our personal blogs. Here is the sketch for March and you can see my take on it here. Please leave me a comment on THIS POST to be entered in the giveaway. I'll pick a winner on Friday, March 25 and that winner will receive a prize from Scrapbooking Supplies R Us! And don't forget to check out the other design team blogs and enter their giveaways as well! Good luck!

The Sampler March Sketch

2011-03-19T23:43:00.000-07:00

It's sketch time over at The Crop Spot! This page came together so flawlessly with The Sampler's March kit and the March sketch challenge. The silhouette paper from Hambly is just so gorgeous and worked so perfectly with the topic of my page. This page is about my parents and we recently found out that they have an ancestor in common! How crazy is that? Here's the page I created for the March sketch challenge:

Definitely one of my favorite layouts that I've recently made! Don't forget to be sure to get your March Sampler kit...it's gorgeous!

And check out the other talented Sampler design team members to see their takes on the sketch:

Last Week of my Scrappy Garage Sale

2011-03-15T19:00:00.000-07:00

This will be the last week of my Scrappy Garage Sale! After this week, I'm not sure what I'll do with the items, so if you've been eying something, I suggest you jump on it because you might not have another chance! I've sold quite a few things already and I've dropped my prices. Please don't hesitate!

Adventures in Couponing - I love Walgreens!

2011-03-14T16:05:00.000-07:00

Today, I was loving Walgreens! Found some great deals! Here's what I picked up today at Walgreens and CVS:

Walgreens:

2 Right Guard Men's Deoderant - On sale for Buy 1 Get 1 Free...also had a coupon from the newspaper, I believe in Red Plum from 3/13, for Buy 1 Get 1 free on any Right Guard purchase = got them BOTH FOR FREE!

Walgreens Packing Tape - coupon in circular to get it for $1.99

Flushable Most Wipes - on sale for $1.99

Total Price: $3.69

Saved $12.88!

Loving Walgreens!!!

CVS:

Gillette ProGuild razor cartridges - $32.99 - not on sale, but hubby needs them and I got $2.00 in Extra Care Bucks back which paid for my.....

Skintimate Shaving Cream - on sale for $1.99 (free with my ECBs)

2 Gain Dish Liquids - on sale for 97 cents each

Glade Air Freshener - had coupon from coupon machine for $1.00 off which made it $2.59

M&Ms - Buy 2 Get 1 Free (we ate two of them in the car, but we bought 3!)

Total Price: $44.86

Saved $5.34

Doesn't seem like much, but we needed the razors, which NEVER go on sale OR have coupons! It's a conspiracy people! But everything else was on sale or had a coupon for cheap.

I also hit Albertson's because this week they have a ton of meat on sale. I got:
*Sanderson Farms Chicken Breasts
*Petite Sirloin Steaks
*Gordon's Fish Sticks
*ALL BUY ONE GET ONE FREE!
Found some Easy Mac on the clearance rack - 6 packs for 99 cents! Got some!

All in all, it was a good day!

Troubleshooters? Yes please!

2011-03-12T16:02:00.000-08:00

I finished the first book in a series called The Troubleshooters Series by Suzanne Brockmann. They're about a team of Navy SEALS and their families and the dramas that surround them. Each book concentrates on a specific person or relationship with others lightly tied in. There's a TON of books in the series and I believe the 16th one just released last week. I'll definitely keep reading them! The first one that I read is called The Unsung Hero. It honestly took me until about halfway through to get to a point where I didn't want to put it down. By the end, I was begging my 3-year-old to entertain herself so I could finish it. So I will continue to read the series. Hot Navy SEALS and some pretty good sex scenes? Sign me up!

Who's With Me?

2011-03-09T17:03:00.000-08:00

Another Kelly Purkey class? I'm so there! She just announced that Sketchbook 3 is coming in April!!! No words to describe how excited I am! I took Sketchbook 2, which you can see in previous posts, and I purchased the PDF's for Sketchbook 1 that I had missed. So when this was announced, I marked my calendar to sign up. Her classes are wonderful and she's so talented! You can register starting Monday, March 14 and the class begins April 4 and runs for 4 weeks. So....who's with me?

I Have Decided...

2011-03-08T09:40:00.000-08:00

That I need an Instax. Not just a fun little, oh, I think I want that....that looks fun. No. I NEEEEED it! And I'm going to get it. In a few weeks when I can save a little money since they're not super cheap. I'm going to treat myself. And I even have a project in mind.

I just signed up for Ali Edwards' self-paced class called Scrapbook on the Road. Ali is one of my biggest inspirations and to finally get a scrapbooking while traveling class from her is so exciting! She goes over her process and shows some really cool techniques that make me want to go out and buy some paint...real paint! I'm so excited to try some of these cool tricks. P.S. This class is only $14...soooo worth it! Highly suggested.

So anyway, not only am I learning cool things, now I'm really wanting to travel just so I can make a book! However, that's not in the cards for us right now. There is a big trip we will be making in July...a trip to the hospital to welcome a little angel into the world! I was inspired by Ali's class to make a mini book to take the hospital with me to document the birth of our second daughter. And I thought it would be really cool to take all the pictures with the Instax camera. Of course, we'll have our big camera and our video camera as well. I just thought it would be special to take the small, credit card sized pictures that print instantly and place them right into the album at the hospital. How special does that sound?

So I decided that I need an Instax. I NEEEEEEED it!

Adventures in Couponing - A Hectic, but Successful Day

2011-03-01T18:28:00.000-08:00

So, we went shopping today for some groceries and deals. Let's just say...we survived. It took a long time and we kept getting frustrated. Big shout out to my awesome husband for being patient with me! Ok, here's how it went down: we went to CVS, Walgreens, Fry's and Safeway. Here's the breakdown.

CVS: I had three checkouts today at CVS in order to use my Extra Care Bucks (ECB's) that I got for buying certain items. Luckily, the cashiers at my local CVS are so sweet and patient and understand that a girl just needs to save some money!
First transaction: Bought Physician's Formula Organic Mascara for $10.49 (received $7 in ECB's)
Second transaction: Bought Men's Dove deoderant which were 2 for $7, Crest Pro-Whitening toothpaste for $3.29 (received $3.29 ECB's). I used my $7 in ECB's from the first transaction to help pay for it, which made both of the deoderants FREE!!! That helps since my hubby needs to stock up on personal care stuff for his upcoming deployment.
Third transaction: Bought 2 Colgate 360 toothbrushes, which were Buy One Get One Half Off. I had a 75 cent off one coupon that I used and I used the $3.29 in ECB's from the previous transaction.

Overall I spent $19.14 and Saved $16.82! Almost half, pretty good! Basically, I got two free deoderants, free toothpaste and two toothbrushes for $1.73 each. I had to buy the mascara full price, but it was worth it to get the ECB's and I'll use it. Good trip!

Walgreens: I had two checkouts at Walgreens today. I made sure to group all the items that I would receive Register Rewards (RR) for in one transaction and then turned around and used them in the second transaction.
First transaction: Pull-Ups (on sale for $8.99 and received $2 in RR) and used a $2.00 off coupon I had, Baby Magic Hair and Body Wash (upcoming baby and all...$3 and received $3 in RR), Colgate Total toothpaste $2.99 (received $2.99 RR).
Second transaction: Neutrogena Naturals face wash were Buy One Get One Half Off and I had $1.00 of coupon for one, Excedrin was Buy One Get One Half Off and I had two coupons to use - one for 75 cents off 20 ct or larger and one $1.50 off 80 ct or larger. We also picked up some Walgreens brand thermometer covers since we ran out. I used all of my RR from the previous transaction on this one.

Overall I spent $35.07 and Saved $26.14! Close to half there as well. Basically I got Colgate toothpaste for free, Baby Magic wash for free, Pull-Ups for 4.99 and discounts on face wash and Excedrin, which are both pricey.

Safeway: It was a good day in Safeway. I won't go through everything obviously, but a few deals I got were Buy One Get One Free Round Roasts, Doritos were B1G1 Free, and everything was either on sale or used with a coupon or both.

Overall I spent $55.21 and Saved $49.38! Woo hoo, almost half again!

Fry's: Fry's was a big trip. Most things were either on sale, with a coupon or both, but not quite everything. We tried to buy a cheap as possible and scored some great deals including B1B1 Free Pork Chops, Free Ice Cream with a Fry's coupon that was mailed to me, and got a free AirWick Warmer plug-in when I bought a refill, which I had a coupon for as well.

Overall I spent $154.60 and Saved $93.41! Pretty darn good and we're fed for two weeks!

Despite the long shopping day and the frustration, it was worth saving all that money! Have you started couponing yet? I'd love to hear your adventures!

Jodi Picoult - Never Disappoints

2011-02-26T08:22:00.000-08:00

Happy Saturday everyone! If you haven't already, please check out my Scrappy Garage Sale and see if there's anything you'd like. I still have a ton of stuff left so tell your friends as well!

I just finished reading Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult. As always, it was great! Jodi really never disappoints me. She always walks that fine line between morality and legality. This book was no different. It's about a woman who finds out that her father kidnapped her and took her away from her mother when she was 4 years old. She has no recollection of it and her father told her that her mother had died. He changed their identities and they had a happy life. In the wake of finding out about what happened - and a trial for her father who was arrested for it - she learns a lot about her family and her childhood before the abduction. It's such a great read!

Now I'm on to yet another series. It's a series about Navy Seals and that's pretty much all I know about it. My sister is reading it and raving about it, so it's time to see what all the fuss is about. The first book is called The Unsung Hero and it's by Suzanne Brockmann. I have a book club meeting on Monday where the next book is Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. One of my favorite of all time and I'm so excited to read it again. I've been wanting to read it again before the movie comes out in May. Yay!

The Sampler

2011-02-22T15:28:00.000-08:00

Hi there! I completed my first page using The Sampler's February Kit. Because the site just underwent some construction, I'm unable to post this page to The Crop Spot blog, therefore I'm posting here. This kit is beautiful! The papers are gorgeous and it has some great embellishments to complement it. I didn't use much of my stash on this one, it's mostly the kit! The most fun thing I did was use the Tattered Angels Mistables. Oh my gosh! Isn't that rose gorgeous? To create the box for my daughter's hair, I used a piece of packaging from a previous scrap supply I bought. I literally ripped the plastic holder off the container. Then I cut two slips in some cardstock where I could pull the ribbon through the back to tie the hair so it wouldn't slide around. I then backed it with the cardstock and secured it with brads to keep it all together and on the page without moving. I love the detail it adds!

Be sure to get the Sampler's February kit. You won't be disappointed!

Adventures in Couponing - Bargain Hunter

2011-02-22T11:38:00.000-08:00

Hi friends! Don't forget to check out my Scrappy Garage Sale for some great deals on scrapping stuff!

Today, I went out in search of good deals and found some! I got a great tip from The Krazy Coupon Lady that you can get Dentyne gum at Target for $0.04!!! Seriously! That's worth a trip. I found a few other deals to take advantage of and I'll share them with you.

First, I hit Target to get the gum. The deal was a 3-pack of Dentyne Pure gum that's on sale in the store for $1.79. I double checked to be sure the price was correct and it was! Not all Targets have the same sales, so always double check! I had a store coupon for $0.75 off a 3-pack of Dentyne Pure, which dropped the price to $1.04. Then I had a manufacturer coupon for $1.00 off any 3-pack of Dentyne gum. Final Price: $0.04!!! And that's all I bought. I went into Target and spent less than a nickel. That has NEVER happened! Pretty proud of myself.

My next stop was Walgreens. I use Dove deodorant and I'm on my last stick, so I was looking for a deal. There was a coupon in this week's circular for Dove deodorant for $1.99. I also had a coupon for $2.00 off any stick of Dove deodorant. So I tried to use both, however, it wouldn't work. Using both should have made it free, and even have them owe me a penny. I think the problem was that I didn't buy anything else and the register won't let you check out with a negative balance. So, I ended up just using the $2.00 off coupon, which made the final price on the deodorant $1.81. Which is still a good price for it, but next time I'll be sure to get something else for less than a dollar so I can get the deodorant for free. In fact, I'm going to try to find another $2.00 off coupon online and see if I can get the deal this week.
*Lesson Learned: Always be sure you have a positive balance at the register to be able to use all of your coupons!

Last stop was Safeway. This deal ended today so I'm glad I studied the circular this morning! With your Club Card, if you buy 2 12-packs of Coke products, you get 2 free....AND you get two free boxes of Nabisco snack crackers. REALLY?!?!?! One 12-pack alone is $5.99. I jumped on it. So I got all of them for a final price of $11.98! I saved $18.96! 61% savings. That's fantastic!

That's the first time I saved more than I spent and I did it at all three stores! And it's all on stuff we're running low on and that we use. Go me!

Got all this today for a total of $13.83!

Sarah's Scrappy Garage Sale!

2011-02-21T09:30:00.000-08:00

It's finally here! All of my stuff is organized for you to "rummage" through. I have four Goody Boxes for sale, along with some paper packs full of patterned paper, tools, stamps and other goodies. This is on a first come, first serve basis so don't wait long to reply! If you want to purchase an item (or more), please leave me a comment on what you're interested in or you can email me at Sarahbr18@aol.com. I will reply promptly and answer any questions you have. I have included an estimated shipping amount with each item as well. If you buy a goody box along other items, they will all be shipped together for the shipping price of the goody box. I prefer PayPal payments, but will also accept sent money through the mail. However, I will not ship any item until money is received. Happy shopping!

Goody Boxes
I tried my hardest to get everything represented in these boxes. Each comes with approximately 54 sheets of patterned paper, 25 pieces of cardstock, a bag of ribbon, stickers, embellishments, alpha sheets and rub-ons. Some of the items have been gently used so there are stickers or letters missing from the sheets. There was no rhyme or reason to packing them, I literally split everything up by 4's and stuffed them!

Each box is ~~$20.00~~ $10.00 (plus $2.00 for shipping)

Goody Box #1 (minus the Maya Road chipboard - has been sold by special request)

Goody Box #2 (minus the Maya Road chipboard - has been sold by special request)

Goody Box #3

Goody Box #4

Paper Packs
I priced the paper packs at roughly 10 cents per piece of paper that's in the pack. Shipping for each will be $1.00.

Die Cuts with a View The Stack 6 - 12x12 ~~$6.00~~ $3.00

Provo Craft Slab XI - 12x12 ~~$15.00~~ $7.00

Me & My Big Ideas Paper Pad #1 - 12x12 ~~$15.00~~ $7.00

Me & My Big Ideas Paper Pad #2 - 12x12 ~~$15.00~~ $7.00

Die Cuts with a View Travel Stack - 8x8 $2.50 (priced at 5 cents per page)

Die Cuts with a View Ultimate Christmas Stack - 12x12 ~~$12.00~~ $6.00

Stamps
I priced the stamps based on usage, style (wood, acrylic) and size. Shipping for each stamp is 50 cents.

Inkadinkado Tree Wood-Mounted Stamp - never used $2.00

Hero Arts Vine Wood-Mounted Stamp - never used $2.00

Delta Viney Square Wood-Mounted Stamp - used $1.00

Vacation Themed Wood-Mounted Stamp purchased at Michael's - used once $1.00

Heidi Swapp Date Stamp (year dates 1998-2009 only) - a few dates used $1.00

Martha Stewart Spooky Letters Acrylic Stamps - a few letters used $2.00

Kaiser Crafts Mini Flower Acrylic Stamp - never used $2.00

Tools
Shipping for tools is 50 cents each.

Eyelet Setter (4 sizes) and bag of eyelets ~~$3.00~~ $1.50

Quilling Tool and Baby Themed Quilling pattern set ~~$5.00~~ $3.50

Other:

Martha Stewart Ribbon Organizer, Light Teal - ~~$6.00~~ $3.00 ($2.00 for shipping)

Inside of Ribbon Organizer

Decorating Chalk - hardly used ~~$2.00~~ $1.00

If you have any questions, please contact me and I will answer them promptly. Thanks so much and happy shopping!

Purging is Done!

2011-02-20T09:23:00.000-08:00

And it feels so good! I feel much lighter when I go into my scrap room now and I'm enjoying being in there more instead of feeling overwhelmed. I have things set aside that I'm going to put up for sale tomorrow. Today, I'm getting it organized and priced and the pictures taken. I can't wait to show you what I have!

And now I have a few pages to do in order to catch up on some assignments because I need to start making a quilt for my daughter's...wait for it...Big Girl Bed. Yes, that's right. We're getting her a Big Girl Bed for her birthday, which is coming up in about 2 weeks. She's turning 3 and she's ready. More ready than I am! But with the new baby coming and her being ready, it's time.

And being that today is Sunday, I will be heading to the store for a newspaper and my beloved coupons. I don't have much I NEED to buy this week, but I'll still be on the lookout for good deals.

As for the rest of my day - we're spoiling our dogs. We're heading to the dog park for a while, then home for baths and teeth brushing. Followed by treats and lots of cuddling. I love my puppies!

I hope everyone has a great 3-day weekend, if you have one.

The Nesting and Purging Continues...

2011-02-18T07:53:00.000-08:00

I'm on day 4 of my huge scrap room purge and organization project. My original idea was do to giveaway boxes full of stuff for my readers. Upon seeing what I'm already getting rid of (and I'm still not done yet), I feel it would be better if I instead sold the boxes of goodies. I'm literally getting rid of almost half my stash. A lot of money went into it, so I feel it would be best if I got a little of that back. I will be using this weekend to finish going through everything and then putting together boxes. I'll also have individual items for sale including some tools and paper packs. I'll be including pictures of all the products and the box contents that I'll be selling. Thanks for understanding my situation and have a great weekend everyone!

Nesting and Purging and Organizing and Nesting

2011-02-15T15:45:00.000-08:00

The nesting phase has most definitely hit. I got the urge to start going through things and getting rid of stuff and organizing. Luckily, I've been saving a big project for when I started my nesting. My scrap room. I have a lot of stuff! Most of it is already organized, I just need to purge. So that's my project this week. I started today on patterned paper. Oh boy. I have a lot of paper. A. Lot. I went through it for almost two hours today and I'm not even done yet. My back needed a break! This week I will tackle a few items a day and start purging. This weekend I will get some gift packs together full of random paper and embellishments that I've decided to pass on. As soon as everything is put together, I will do a giveaway and choose winners to receive the boxes completely free! So stay tuned. It will either happen this weekend or early next week.

For all those mothers and preggos: Did you have an intense nesting phase? What did you tackle? With my daughter, I cleaned out our back shed and purged and cleaned it. My husband was amazed when he got home and found me knee deep in our shed containers!

Adventures in Couponing - My First Time

2011-02-14T19:48:00.000-08:00

Hi friends! Today was my first couponing experience. I learned a few lesssons. I did pretty good, but I definitely learned a few things. After saying a little prayer outside each store, here's my breakdown:

CVS:
Things at CVS didn't go quite as I expected it to. First, the circular that I had was out of date. Lesson: ALWAYS CHECK THE DATES ON THE CIRCULARS! Therefore, there were some deals I was planning on getting that didn't happen. So I adjusted, picked up the current circular there in the store and flipped through it to see what I could get. First, I stopped at the coupon scanner and scanned my Extra Care card. I got a couple of coupons for candy, which I didn't want to get, so that didn't help me. After studying the circular, I found a few deals on things I was planning on buying today. A couple of things even gave me Extra Care Bucks (ECB) back. ECB's are dollars that you recieve for buying a certain item. It's advertised in the circular and on the item at the store. When you buy the item, you get your ECB's printed on the bottom of your receipt and you can use them like credit on your next purchase. I learned a little trick in using these. If you do separate transactions, you can use your ECB's on the same items you're buying that same day. You'll see in my breakdown how I did it. Here's what I bought and how I got the discounts:

I had 3 transactions at CVS - and I warned the cashier that I would be a bit of a pain. She laughed and said, "No problem sweetie."

1) Bought: 2 packages of Pull-Ups: when you buy 2 for 17.98, you received $4.00 in ECB's. I also had a $2.00 off coupon that I used.
Total came to: $17.62 (including tax)
*Lesson: I had a second $2.00 off coupon that I forgot to use on the second pack. Dum-Dum.

2) Bought: Gillette Venus Razor Cartridges: when you buy one, you get $2.00 ECG's back. When I paid for it, I ripped off the $4.00 in ECB's from my previous transaction and applied it to the total. I also had a $3.00 off coupon.
Total came to: $15.90 (including tax) Saved $7 on them!
*Lesson: I had a second coupon for $3.00 off the razors. If I was smart I would've bought 2 of them and gotten $4.00 ECB's instead of just 2. Dum-Dum.

3) Bought: Tide HE Detergent and 2 packages of M&Ms for my daughter. I used the $2.00 in ECB's from the previous purchase and I had a $5.00 off coupon for the Tide.
Total came to: $5.81 (including tax)
*The Tide alone with no discount was $8.99, so that was a great deal!

Total Spent at CVS: $39.33
TOTAL SAVED AT CVS: $21.38 (35%) with sales, coupons and ECB's

Walgreens:
Didn't get too much here today. They had Lysol wipes that were Buy One, Get One Free, so I grabbed a couple of those. I paid $3.99 for two. $4.24 including tax.

Safeway:
I didn't save quite a much as I was hoping here today. Everything I bought was on sale and I had two coupons to use. I did get some good deals, so I can't really complain.

Total spent at Safeway: $62.23
Total saved at Safeway: $22.27 (27%) with coupons and savings card prices

Fry's:
I did well at Fry's tonight. I had quite a few coupons that I used and just about everything we got was on sale. Not everything, but most everything. I was also lucky that Fry's had mailed me some coupons for free items, such as a pack of lunch meat and bacon. They also had the bottom round roast that were Buy One, Get One Free...and those were about $15.00 each so I jumped on those!

Total spent at Fry's: $104. 19
Total saved at Fry's: $78.99 (43%) with sales, coupons and savings card.
The only thing about Fry's is that on the circular this week, it says that all manufacturer's coupons are worth $1.00. On my receipt, we didn't get that deal. My coupons were worth their face value and we had quite a bit that were less than $1.00. So I'm going to call the store tomorrow and speak to a manager to see if that deal has expired and if not, I will see if I can bring in my receipt and get that money back. It will be a difference of $3.50, but if I should have gotten the extra discount, I'd like to get it!

So......overall today, here's how it breaks down:
Total Spent: $209.99
TOTAL SAVED: 126.53 (about 38%)

Not too shabby for my first time huh? Now I know to check the dates on the circulars! And to really utilize my coupons to my best advantage. We now have groceries for at least one week and we might be able to stretch it through the next two weeks (fingers crossed). Can't wait to do it again!

Have you tried couponing yet? What's the most you've saved in one trip?

CVS Couponing Tips

2011-02-14T13:12:00.000-08:00

I found these videos on YouTube from the show The Drs and the "Coupon Mom" has great tips for shopping and saving at CVS drug stores. And, let's face it, I wanted to see the hottie doctor again. I may or may not have wished for a slow-motion feature.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06y4fTUAZJg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNuwWLE_uiA

I'll be back later tonight with my first coupon shopping experience results!

Adventures in Couponing - Preparing the Shopping List

2011-02-13T18:53:00.000-08:00

Tonight I got my shopping list all ready. This took a little while for me to do because I'm new at this and still trying to get the hang of it. This was my process:

I started by getting a copy of the Sunday paper this morning. In the paper, there were two coupon inserts (SmartSource and a General Mills - I got Red Plum in the mail earlier this week) and the weekly circulars for the stores I plan on shopping at (CVS, Walgreens, Safeway and Fry's).
I went through my stores circulars to check out sales and specials. I used my pen and circled the sales I was interested in.
Then I went through all the coupon inserts and clipped all the coupons I was interested in using at any time. I also kept the inserts just in case something popped up and I can use a coupon I wasn't originally going to if there's a good deal.
Then I started comparing the sales with the coupons. I matched up coupons to see where the item is the cheapest so I can get the best deal.
*TIP: Don't forget to check CVS and Walgreens for food items. I'm getting a few great deals on food items at CVS!
I started basing my meals this week on things I have on hand and what's on sale at the store. For example, at Fry's this week, bottom round roast is on sale Buy One Get One Free. Awesome! So we're having pot roast one day this week and I'll keep the other one on hand for future use. It was hard for me to plan only one week of meals because we normally only shop for two weeks with smaller trips in between for more necessities, but I decided to start shopping once a week to help track sales.

One of the hard things for me was to not use coupons if the item wasn't on sale already. For a few things I did, because this week at Fry's, all coupons are worth $1.00. So, I have a coupon for 25 cents off Bounce dryer sheets (which we're running low on), but this week I can use that coupon and I will get $1.00 off. That's a good deal! I also have a coupon for 50 cents off Colgate toothpaste, which is on sale at Fry's for 98 cents...and my coupon will be worth $1.00 so I'm getting toothpaste for free. Score! I also wanted to use a couple of coupons that are about to expire. They're on items I need and will use and since the discount is going away before a new sale starts, I'm going to go ahead and use them.

So my shopping lists are ready and I'm hitting 4 stores tomorrow! I'm going to CVS, Walgreens and Safeway by myself while my husband is at work, and then we'll do Fry's together because that will be a bigger trip. Oh, and I'll make a little detour to Michael's and JoAnn's (with some coupons) for some scrapping items. I will share my savings tomorrow and break it down for you from each store. I'm excited to see how I do!

Adventures in Couponing - Organization (part 2)

2011-02-11T15:29:00.000-08:00

*Please read the previous post and view video before reading and viewing this one!

And here is the video for my binder. No disclaimers on this one, it's pretty good.

When I tried to put the video directly into the post, Blogger informed me that I didn't have enough space to post it. I guess it's because the video is so long. Therefore, I've uploaded it to YouTube so everyone can view it and I'll leave my intro video just for my awesome blog readers. So, here's the link for my binder video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XpuRG3kK-s

One thing I forgot to mention in the video is that I also like the binder idea because I can take it to the store with me easily. That way, I have all my coupons and if something pops up on sale or clearance that wasn't in the weekly add, I can use a coupon I have and it's all there for me. We'll see how it goes when taking my daughter by myself to the store. It will probably be a process and I'll probably be fighting others for those carts with the plastic cars on front so I can go through my binder easily if needed. I'll just hit them with my coupon binder...double duty!

Next week, I will post my first coupon grocery shopping experience. I have some great deals lined up so I'll share how I used the coupons and how much I ended up saving overall. Have a great weekend everyone!

Adventures in Couponing - Organization

2011-02-11T13:42:00.000-08:00

Hi friends! I recorded a little video of my organizational system that I put together for my couponing adventures. Of course, my little preggo brain forgot to mention a few things, so I'll add notes after the videos. I do want to include a couple of disclaimers before you watch them. You have been warned!

1. I apologize for sounding out of breath. I am pregnant, therefore out of breath all.the.time. It sounds like I have a lisp...I don't. I was just out of breath.
2. I apologize for some of the background noise. My dogs always choose to act up and play very loudly while I'm recording a video or on the phone. Never fails.
3. I apologize for the lighting, especially on my face. I only have one window in that room so there's a little bit of a shadow, but the binder looks great!
4. I apologize for pulling a Michele Bachmann and not looking into the camera. I was totally watching my image on the iphone and not looking into the camera piece. Lesson learned.

Now, if you still want to watch and are prepared to overlook these little discrepancies, here you go!

Introduction:

Ok, so this is the first time posting videos and I don't have enough space to post both of them, so my binder will be in the next post, which will be above this one. Again, I apologize...I promise I'll get better at this!

YouTube links for organizational systems:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC3KW5PlPc4&feature=related (based mine on this one)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnU8JcYuBWs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RoefpEJX-4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGC4C9e7teU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I00Pgzy8Y-U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWxN7pSegSA

Beginner Couponer on Board

2011-02-09T18:58:00.000-08:00

Ok, let's first start out with a moment of silence for my Steelers..........thank you.

And now, for my next big project. I have decided that I'm determined to become a couponing queen! My husband will deploy at the end of March and I'm going to use that time to become a great coupon shopper. I've tried this once before. But I didn't do it right. I wasn't using the coupons while items were on sale and I was buying things I didn't need just because I had a coupon. So, I'm trying again and I want to do it right this time. I've been doing a lot of research and I feel like I'm ready to start. I know that it will take me some time to get really good at it, so I'm not expecting huge savings right away, but I'm excited to get started. I literally spent all day organizing my coupon binder, going through coupons I already have and studying this week's circulars for two stores near my house. And let me tell you, I already found a couple of great deals. I will be blogging about this experience and hopefully some of you have tips for me or will learn from some of my adventures. Scissors ready....and....clip!

Book Review: Sarah's Key

2011-02-04T08:33:00.000-08:00

Last night, I finished Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay. Wow. What a great book! It had been sitting on my Kindle for a while and I finally got a push to read it when my book club chose it as the next selection. Thank God they did, because I LOVED it! It's a very heavy subject being about the Holocaust and what happened in Paris in 1942. But the way she wrote it made it easy to read and digest. I didn't have to really figure anything out. The first part of the book goes back and forth between a little Jewish girl who was affected by the Holocaust and the present woman who's doing research on it for a magazine story. Then it starts showing how the two lives are linked. It's such a great and really sad story. I really enjoyed it and definitely recommend it to anyone!

Now I'm going to read Waiter Rant by Steve Dublanica. I've been wanting to read it and a friend of mine just let me borrow it, so I'm excited to get started. I've never been a server, but I have worked in a restaurant as a hostess, so I'm interested to see what it says about the industry. I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Let me just end by saying that we're hosting a Superbowl party on Sunday...and....GO STEELERS!

Hello February...Goodbye December

2011-02-01T13:34:00.000-08:00

I finally did it! I finally finished my December Daily! I carved out some time for myself today to get it finished. I'm so happy with the way it turned out. I'm sure I'll do it again next year. We'll have to see how it goes with the new baby and all, but if I prepare enough, I can do it! Here's the finished album:

Thanks for sticking with me through all the pictures! Did you do a December Daily? If so, did you finish it?

Book Club

2011-01-28T08:09:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! We had our first book club meeting and it was a success! We had 7 ladies there and there's 4 more who are interested, but couldn't make it that particular night. I'm very happy there's a lot of interest here. I was in a book club in California and have been missing it! We discussed Little Bee and everyone seemed to like it. I love hearing all the different interpretations of the writing and the story.

Our next selection is Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay. I'm so excited to finally read this book. It's been sitting on my Kindle for a while, so I'm glad that I'm getting pushed to read it. I've heard great things about it. Anyone else read this book? Thoughts?

On the scrapping front, I spent so much time catching up when I got back from vacation, that I'm taking a few days off. I'll hit it hard again on Monday, but in the meantime I'm catching up on TV and resting as much as I can. This pregnancy is hitting me pretty hard, so I'm trying to not overdo myself. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Let's Talk Books

2011-01-21T07:51:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I finished Hungry for You pretty quickly...3 days. I figured I'd read that one fairly fast so there it is. And I loved every single word of it. What I wasn't expecting was the read the next book I chose in 2 days....2 DAYS! That's just crazy. I'm a fast reader and all, but geez.

The book I read so ridiculously fast was Shaken by JA Konrath. I believed I've talked about him before, but allow me to again. He is the most sick, twisted, sadistic...genius author there is. Seriously, he's brilliant. He writes a series called The Jack Daniels series (Shaken is the latest installment) and it's fantastic. My sister started reading them and then bugged me until I finally started. Once I started, it was just over. I sped through those books like it was nothing. The background of the series is that Jack (Jacqueline) Daniels is a detective in Chicago and she focuses on homicide, which in turn she ends up hunting a lot of serial killers. The stuff Konrath comes up is just sick, but it's so interesting and actually makes sense. The killers in his books are serious monsters, no mercy, really twisted people. At the end of Shaken, Konrath writes a note to the reader about a new character that pops up at the end of the book. Turns out that character was created by Blake Crouch, a fellow thriller author. They are collaborating and having Jack Daniels face off against this other character in the last book of the series. Let's pause for a moment here because I was very sad to hear that the series is ending..... So now I want to go back and read the books by Blake Crouch to get the background on this new character, who just happens to be a serial killer as well. If you have the stomach for it, you seriously need to get these books and read them right away. Here's a link to a page that has all of JA Konrath's work and the order that they're in. Go read ALL of it! Seriously!!!

Ok, on to the next book. Next, I'm reading another book in another series that I really enjoy, The Dresden Files. The next book for me is Death Masks. The Dresden Files series follows a man named Harry Dresden, who works with the police department in Chicago. Oh, and he just happens to be a wizard. So he specializes in the supernatural crimes in the city. If you like supernatural fantasy type stuff, you'll love this series. He deals with fairies, goblins, vampires, demons...all sorts of stuff. And he's just plain adorable. So I'm off to start Death Masks. Let's see how quickly I can read it!

Do you have a book series that you really enjoy? Tell me about it!

The Crop Spot Jan Sketch

2011-01-20T08:26:00.000-08:00

Hi there! The January Sketch Challenge for The Crop Spot is up now! Here is the sketch:

Here's my take on the sketch, using January's kit, A Bright New Year:

Just about everything on this page is from the January kit. The only things I added were some Tim Holtz Distress Ink, a stamp from Office Depot and the blue ribbon. Everything else is the gorgeous kit! And here are how the talented Design Team ladies interpreted the sketch. Be sure to check out their blogs to see what they did with it!

Be sure to check out what the other ladies have done and then head over to The Crop Spot to check out the sketch and purchase January's kit, A Bright New Year. I've used almost ALL of it up already!!! That's how awesome it is! Happy Scrapping!

Catching Up

2011-01-19T08:43:00.000-08:00

Since we've been back from our Christmas vacation, things are taking a little longer to get back to normal. I had a good almost week of being EXHAUSTED. Literally didn't want to do anything. Not only was I tired from our trip, this pregnancy is taking a lot out of me. I think that's changing today. I slept great last night and even slept in a little this morning. Which is great because I have things to do around the house and at my scrap desk that are driving me crazy, tired or not. So today is the day to really start catching up.

Now let's talk about my December Daily. I said I would post my progress weekly, which I did until we left. Now, it's sitting on my desk unfinished. It won't take much to finish it, I just have to add pictures and a little bit of journaling. I already have the days planned out and know what pictures I want to use and what I want to say. It's actually doing that I gotta do. I promise to finish it this weekend and post it!

On a sad note, I would appreciate thoughts and prayers for my sister and her family. They had to make the hard decision to put their dog down tomorrow. He's only three and such a sweet dog. He has a condition where his hip bones are crushing his spinal cord. He's been living with it for a while and they said they would keep him going as long as he's not hurting too much and he's happy. He's no longer happy. It takes him 10 minutes to walk down a short hallway and she can tell it's painful for him. She had to tell my niece and nephew yesterday and they're very sad, but it's really the best thing for poor Duke. Please keep them in your prayers, I appreciate it.

The Crop Spot

2011-01-18T06:50:00.001-08:00

Hi friends! My first layout using The Sampler's January Kit, A Bright New Year, is up at The Crop Spot today. Please go check it out and then check out the kit. It's seriously so gorgeous! I've made quite a few projects and the kit is just about gone! You won't be disappointed!

Book Review: Decision Points

2011-01-17T17:28:00.000-08:00

Ok, this one might be a little touchy, especially if you really follow politics. I just finished George W. Bush's memoir, Decision Points. I'm a Republican, just gonna throw that out there. I am a fan of GW, I think he did a great job protecting our country. I really enjoyed this book. I feel like I actually learned something from it. I learned more about how the government works. I really like the way he wrote the book as well. It's not all MEMEME...it outlines the important and sometimes unpopular decisions that he made and why he made those decisions. Every decision came about through lots of facts and research. He explains where the country was at the time of these decisions. The biggest eye-opener for me was the Hurricane Katrina response. He got a lot of slack for the way he handled it. Guess what...it wasn't his job to handle it. He tried to take it over and help, but the state governor is responsible for asking the federal government for help and she refused to do it. By law, he was not allowed to intervene without a request from the state. Needless to say, she's no longer governor. That one made me say, "See? It wasn't his fault people!" Well, whether you're a supporter or not, I highly recommend that you read this book. It really explains a lot and he even calls people out on their bad decision points. It's very good!!

Now I'm onto the 14th book in a vampire series that I adore...the Argeneau Vampires. I'm starting Hungry for You, which just came out recently. Then, next week we'll be having our first book club meeting and discussing Little Bee and the next book will be chosen. Can't wait to find out what it will be! What are YOU reading right now?

Home Sweet Home

2011-01-13T08:46:00.000-08:00

My daughter and I just got home to Arizona last night...but not without a few hiccups. First, we were flying Delta, and the only layover option for where we were was Atlanta. Yeah....did ya see the snow storms up there? So my first flight was canceled and rescheduled for two days later. Ok, I can deal with that. Then I kept checking up on my flight status and everything was good. I checked one last time on our way to the airport...canceled. Really??? So we went into the airport and talked to the ticket people and they said I had already been rescheduled for another two days later. The ticket guy looked at me and said, "Let's do better than that." YES! So they ended up getting us on an American flight instead through Dallas, same day! It was awesome! Yay for the Delta ticket guy at Fort Walton Beach airport! Of course, traveling alone with a two year old is quite an adventure in itself. My carry-on bag was crazy packed and Caylan refused to wear her own backpack, so I was carrying that too. Oh, and of course she needed me to carry her as well. Sure, why not? I have nothing else to carry, right? I was quite a sight. But we survived. My husband came to pick us up at the airport, tulips in hand (my favorite)! The house was spotless when we got home and I've never seen my dogs so happy to see us. It was a great homecoming.

Now it's time to get back into the swing of things. I have an OB appointment today, we're having lunch with my husband, and we have to go grocery shopping. And I am most definitely diving into my scrapbooking!!! I have so much catching up to do!

Oh, and another cool thing last night - we were flying into Tucson as President Obama was leaving. We actually passed Air Force One in the air and got to see it. Well, it looked more like a lot of blinking lights because it was dark, but we all waved. It was pretty cool. The President landed at Davis-Monthan, which is where my husband works and he was able to get a couple of pictures of the plane. Pretty awesome.

I'm a Groovy Chick!

2011-01-04T12:43:00.000-08:00

Exciting announcement: I'm a Groovy Chick over at the If It's Groovy blog. If you haven't check it out yet, please go over and follow it! They have great challenges that will push you out of your comfort zone and the ladies over there are so talented. January's challenge is to use crayons on your layout, either using a rubbing or another creative way. I hope you will all come over and check us out!