Friendship

Friends are such a treasure in life.

I've been blessed with a long time friend who I met while in the 4th grade. We've remained friends forever just like we promised all those years ago while on the playground at Pleasant Plains Elementary School.

I did this layout to capture some of the small memories of those days.

Tuesday....

I thought today I'd share with you some products I really like

Michael's sure has been improving lately. I find in the last 3 months I have been finding more & more quality scrapbooking supplies there as compared to Joanns (only buying lace trim & ribbon there right now since nothing excites me).

The new EK Success punches. I've been making do with either a roladex punch or a round hole punch & pulling thru the holes for years now to make my own torn notebook paper look. Since I had a 50% off coupon from Joanns I thought I would buy the Notebook punch from EK to make my life a little easier.

Great selection of Prima Flowers.... I can never seem to get enough of. The new layered ones are beautiful but somehow I just can't bring myself to spend even $3 with a coupon for 4 flowers..

Making Memories - they have the complete Chloe line & a pink/black line. You know me I only buy the spiral notebook, buttons/flowers, small journaling letters.

The dollar spot has some great chipboard albums by Colorbok. I got several flower & butterfly shaped ones.

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Hobby Lobby is still the best for crafts....

I know it's all old news...

Great creative & inexpensive storage products

Nestabilities (yes you can use coupon on these)

Making Memories spiral bound journaling book - older Noteworthy style that I can't get enough of

Thickers - on sale or with coupon they are a must have

American Crafts Embossing Powders. I love the variety of colors they come in

The Paper Studio (Hobby Lobby brand) products are pretty good. Love some of the styles of brads & bags of buttons. Now they have paper flowers - love the brown in all the different sizes for layering. Retail $ 5 so a must have on sale or with coupon.

Paper Resources brand packaged Kraft Paper. Retail $4.99 for 25 sheets of 12x12 is a must have on sale.

American Crafts or Hobby Lobby brand D ring albums - everyone should leave the post bound albums behind & switch over at these prices

Hobby Lobby brand sheet protectors - good quality at great price on sale

They also have the best selection of Cricut Carts around - even on sale the most popular can always be found
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All these little savings leave me more money to spend on my patterned paper & embellishements at my favorite LSS. Nothing like some Webster's Pages, Basic Grey, My Mind's Eye or Pink Paislee to help me make some wonderful layouts.

Too Funny

Check this out - Funny Scrapbooking "Commercial"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_duMORCX0EU

Multi-tasking

Good Morning All

I spent most of the day yesterday cleaning my house so I would have plenty of "me" time today...

Right now I'm scanning old photos (I got another stack from my mom) while visiting some of my favorite spots on the web.

http://www.kwernerdesign.com/blog/ is a favorite. Kristina Werner is an amazing talent. I love her cards & the videos really break down the steps into something really do-able.

Back to the scanning.... how do you all do it? I'd love to hear if I'm doing it wrong or it could be done better....

I lay as many on the scanner as I can then edit the scan into individual photos. It seems like the quickest way without sacrificing quality. Photoshop has turned into my best friend. I'm in no way a power user & would like to take a class to become better at it (like my best friend is doing right now).

Really I just wish my son's girlfriend Stephanie had enough time to sit down with me & show me more of what to do. She is just amazing how she can take different photos & make a totally new photo. In just a few minutes I learned more from her than I did watching hours of Youtube video or reading manuals/tutorials. Here are a couple photos she merged together just flawlessly - you can't even tell (my fault for the glare from the flash on the finished project - it was blown up too large to scan & the colors were just magical & dreamlike - I sure didn't do it justice with my little point & shoot camera) .... AREN'T THEY JUST AMAZING?

Hope you have a fantastic Thursday....

What's on tv tonight? New Survivor season (the jury is still out if I'll get hooked or not - last couple I watched at first but drifted away),

Grey's & Private Practice are crossovers & the story lines looks really good.

Of course I can't forget my favorite ER (we will DVR it) I think Noah Wyle is coming back tonight - it's hard to believe it's ending but I guess it's time....

Deals of the Day

I've been on a scrapbook spending diet. More like a fast. But the fast is ended.....

I placed an order yesterday at 2peas using my $20 for 20 discount. I had to get some of the new Jenni Bowlin papers & embellishments.

Then today I stopped at Michaels for some Kraft Cardstock & Xyron adhesive.

Well I left with:

2 of the flower shaped $1 spot chipboard albums

4 Valentine $1 spot stamps 60% off so I paid $1.60 for all of them

Amy Butler 5x7 pads, chipboard letters & diecuts were $0.99 each (I bought 6 all they had)

Making Memories journaling letters in tan/brown were $1.49 each so I bought 6 - they have become a staple in my layouts

Making Memories small glitter letter stickers were 30% off so $2.29

Used my Joann's 50% 0ff coupon for new Prima Flowers in the round tin so that was $4.98

4 sheets of The Paper Company Kraft Cardstock

No Xyron permanent sticker cartridge in stock oh well got a raincheck

Not bad for less than $26.00

Still Time to Join In...

There's still plenty of time to join in on the fun over at Scrapperie month long challenges, games, chat & prizes

http://scrapperie.com/forums/index.php?showforum=283

Hope to see you there

Laptops...what a wonderful invention

I'm a bit "under the weather" today & decided the best medicine was to stay in bed.

Nothing on tv - even on the on demand channel...

I saw my hubby's laptop on the dresser & thought that would make my downtime more productive... & it sure is. I can blog & visit my favorite sites. Even play a game on pogo.

I can hear Charley now... don't get too used to my laptop your computer is the desktop. I really do have a hard time using the mouse on the notebook so I'd have to get a real mouse if I was going to use this regularly. But it's been a nice distraction from the pain in my back for the day. Hopefully the spasms will be calmed down enough to go about my day tomorrow.

It's Monday

The start of a new week.



It felt good to stay in all weekend & really relax.



Here's another layout I did this weekend.




At first glance it looks like a layout about a bowl & cereal.



But it's really a huge thank you to an amazing & thoughtful gift my 19 year old (at the time) son gave me Christmas 2007. He took me to a ceramic studio in the mall for my gift. We each picked out big coffee mugs (that we love to eat cereal out of). It was so much fun & we sat there for hours creating & talking. He works & goes to school full time so I don't get to spend as much time with him anymore. It was just such a special day & one I'll never forget.... one I remember each morning when I eat my favorite cereal in my special bowl.



Have a great Monday.

Another Weekend Crop

I spent the weekend cropping at "The Nook" http://www.myscrapbooknook.com/

They have such a talented DT & beautiful kits.

There were tons of challenges & love sure was in the air.... the theme of the weekend.

I actually completed 12 projects! For a slow poke like me that is some serious scrapping.

Here's a couple of the layouts they inspired....

I even entered for a GDT spot. Keeping my fingers crossed (and everything else lol). It would be such an honor to design for them one month.

The next 2 are the ones for the GDT challenges. The first was SOMETHING you love & the second was design a card, layout & tag using the same supplies. After seeing everyone elses I started second guessing myself.... oh well you can only try... right?

Fun at Scrapperie

Come by Scrapperie www.scrapperie.com for Fantastic February

Here's some info from the message board:

The Fantastic February contest is based around a theme, "Love is in the Air." Since it is February and February is the month to celebrate Valentine's Day- I thought this might be something fun to do. I'm not one for doing lots of Valentine's day or lovey layouts myself so I thought it would be fun to not only challenge everyone else but myself as well! So, a lot of the challenges, the games, the classes and everything else you'll find going on in the Fantastic February forum will be based around this theme. Participation in the contest is completely up to you. Play along as little or as much as you want. The more you play along, the more chance you will have to earn entries into what I like to call the Fantastic February Prize Pool Drawing (from here on out, I'll just call it the FFPPD). The prize pool will consist of gift certificates to the boutique, tons of mini kits, mini-albums, acrylic albums, stamps sets (with inks) cardstock packs, cards kits, Essentials, Extras and Trimmings monthly kits- and someone can even win a Pièce de Résistance kit!

To win entries there will be challenges, games, classes & more. So there will be a lot of chances all month long.

How challenges will work:

Colleen will continue to issue her weekly challenges, as she normally does, each Monday. You will need to follow the rules that she sets in her challenges in order to earn your entry. All challenges that she issues during the time of the contest are eligible. Each challenge will have a due date. All challenges uploaded to the Gallerie and linked into the challenge thread by the due date will be eligible. At the end of the month, if you've completed all of her challenges, you should have completed 16 total challenges. But guess what? If you complete all 16 challenges, I'll double your entries into the FFPPD. Each week, I will issue some sort of a scrappy challenge. Each challenge will have a due date. All challenges uploaded to the Gallerie and linked into the challenge thread by the due date will be eligible to earn an entry into the FFPPD! I may also issue some MUCH easier and silly challenges along the way too- just for some easy entries.

How the Games Work:

Simply complete the game according to the directions of the game thread. Entry number for games will vary. It could be anything from 1-5!

How the Classes Work:

We will be offering some fun and informative classes throughout the month of February. Participation can earn you anywhere from 1-5 entries into the FFPPD! How What is it?

Each day, Michele will post a picture of something in a thread in the What is it? forum. All you'll have to do is guess what you think the picture is of and send her a PM with your guess. You MAY NOT post your answers in the day's question thread. Why give away your answers, right? Each correct guess will earn you an entry into the FFPPD.

TOOT

Hi I'm so honored & excited to be a guest designer for Scrapperie!
Thanks so much Sandi for this awesome opportunity.

Here's the link to the announcement
http://scrapperie.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=10509&st=0

http://www.scrapperie.com/ is a great place to hang out. I've been a regular for about 6 months. There's lots going on & they have a great live chatroom too for Wednesday fun.

Hope to see you there.

Free Prints

In this economy FREE is a great word.

I came across an online photo service that offers 1200 free prints

http://www.artscow.com/?Ref=542448

For all you digi scrappers they offer bound 20 page 12x12 albums for less than $25. That's cheaper than Costco by the single page & you will not have to buy albums.

I had a great time over the weekend at both the YMBD & Mon Ame crops. (except Saturday stuck in bed with a migraine - praying to sleep it away as nothing was working). Nothing like a good online crop for inspiration without the hassle of packing up the stuff & even getting dressed.... scrapping in PJ's is the best.

Have a blessed Monday

I Won Something!

Having a great time at the YMBD crop

I even won an award for a card I made....