Here’s what I just pulled off the Paper Crafts website:

Attention: We are in the process of converting our old web site over to our new site. Due to circumstances beyond our control, voting for Gallery Idol’s “Round 1: Patriotic Cards” will not begin until noon (MST) on Wednesday July 9th. You’ll have until noon (MST) on Friday, July 11th to cast your vote for your favorite designer. The top 15 finalists will be announced Friday afternoon, and given a theme for the next round.

uuuuuuggh!

I am dying over here.

I can’t wait a WHOLE ‘nuther day! LOL

pffft! Hair-flip (stomps off)

LOL

………Not much going on over here. Hope everyone had a great 4th of July. The girls and I are just hangin’… out playin’… having one of those “lazy days of summer”. I got my first Design Team goodie box from CMK on Saturday so I played a bit with it today. It’s a bunch of Daisy D’s newest line called Chloe Marie. It’s yummy! I’m not normally a pastel kind of girl. I tend to reach for the brigther and bolder colors but these are AWESOME!!!! I have several more things to create with these products but here’s what I did today.

I was supposed to be able to share the link to the next round of cards to be voted on for the Paper Crafts Gallery Idol Contest but it won’t be up until tomorrow instead. The TOP 20 finalists got an email saying they were switching over to a new site today and posting our cards is getting pushed back a day. Bummer! But that’s okay. Like Shane said to me this afternoon, “What’s one more day, right?” LOL Uhhhhhh….. feels like an eternity when you’re dying to see the competition!!! HA HA!!!! I can wait.

Aight!! I’m out.

I *heart* the 4th of July. I need to go around my little town tomorrow and get some photos of all the flag-lined streets everywhere. This is one of the fun aspects of living in a small town. When the holidays roll around…. it feels small and personable and friendly. There is a celebration at Liberty Park tomorrow where we can go have free lemonade and watermelon then watch the huge fireworks display they have planned. And for those of you who are wondering…. NO… it’s not that hot here! LOL I was just thinking today how nice it’s been outside compared to what we would be living with in Arizona right now. I mean I still do my walking in the park after dinner with my kiddos here. THAT would not be happening in AZ. And FIREWORKS are NOT illegal here. BONUS!!! HA HA! I do miss my family and friends though and am counting the days until Brody and I fly out there for our 10 day visit the end of this month! Woooo! Hooooo!

Okay so the card I posted up there is actually one I made to enter into the next round of the Paper Crafts Gallery Idol Contest but it didn’t make the cut. LOL I mean MY cuts. I made another one as well and thanks to the opinions of a few friends I ended up submitting a different one I am excited about but we will see how it does! Voting for the next round starts on Monday the 7th. I will keep you posted on that!

Here’s a layout I created for Triple the Sketch #14 this week. I also used the goodies from the June kit over at Create My Keepsake. This photo of Bailee & Macey has been in my photos-to-be-scrapped box FOREVER but I kept putting it off until I saw the kit from CMK. Love how it turned out. I tried to keep it pretty simple so the photo could shine! I can’t believe my girls were ever this small! My girlfriend Lori who lives in Michigan is the one who bought the adorable little Ralph Lauren dresses the girls are wearing in this photo. It made her smile all over again 8 years later to see this picture…. this time on a layout! Thanks again girl! Love ya!

So what are your plans for the 4th??? Anything exciting going on? We are having a low-key day then heading to the park late in the afternoon. I might fill up some more water balloons for the girls and let them go at each other in the backyard. I’m just grateful for the freedom we have to do that. Thankful for our military who serves our country by choice and so self-lessly. There should be more than a couple of these Holidays a year to celebrate our Independence. But I remain grateful every day of the year!

Have a safe & happy 4th of July!!!

I can’t believe my sweet lil’ man is three months old already! CrAzY!!!! He’s getting so big so fast! As you can see by these photos I took today! I can’t even explain to you how much I love this kid! He’s starting to really talk to us more now! He’s found his voice and let’s us know it. He loves to giggle super hard and loud! It’s hysterical! He definitely gets lots of love and attention from everyone here! If the girls aren’t doting on him then Daddy is playing with him. He certainly has been a miracle for our family. Here’s a couple more pictures. Brody won’t smile at me with the camera in my face so it’s not so easy to get a smile out of him now for photos! LOL But I love these. Chunky cheeks and all!

OH.

GOSH.

Somebody pinch me quick!!! I still haven’t been able to pick my jaw up off the ground! I have had THE BEST scrappy-news day ever in history!

I was asked along with two other lucky ladies (Congrats Emily & Staci!!!) to join the Design Team over at Create My Keepsake! This has been my home on the web since I found them back in January! I tried out for their Design Team once before but didn’t make it. Tried again and my stubborness or persistence has paid off I guess! WOOT! WOOT!

CHECK OUT THE COOL NEWS HERE!!!

How fun is that??? The inspiration never ends over there so come join our fun community! Every single chick over there is awesome! I can’t wait to start on my assignments!

As if THAT news isn’t exciting enough…….

BE

STILL

MY

BEATING

HEART….

CLICK HERE FOR SOME EXTRAORDINARY NEWS!!!!

I was already not expecting the Design Team position so this is just some SERIOUS icing on my scrappy cake today! Please Please Please stick around over the next 6-8 weeks! Now that I made it into the top 20 I will need your votes to advance thru each round. That’s only if my card is your fave of course!

ALOHA FRIENDS!

Okay…. that will seriously go down in history as the world’s longest Blog Title. HEE! HEE!!! Some Pink Paislee love here on this layout I did last night at Scrappin’ Divas… my local scrap store! I was finally able to get to a crop and had a lot of fun! Thanks to my sweet hubby who was happy to watch all six kiddos while I went and met some new scrappy friends! The ladies I met there were super sweet and we even exchanged blog addy’s. If you’re reading this…. HI MARY & ELIZABETH!!! It was so fun to meet ya and I look forward to it again soon!

Hip-Hip Hooray! It’s your Birthday! This is my card for this week’s sketch over at Triple the Sketch. There’s always some awesome inspiration going on over there and I think Patter even has a special sketch in the works to celebrate CHA next week! One of these years I hope to attend one of those shows but until then I am happy just having some of my designs being displayed there! This is just a fun one I made playing around with the Making Memories “Animal Crackers” line.

Alrighty…. so I wanted to get out of the house like crazy yesterday and our weather has been on the fritz for weeks. Some days it’s bright and shining outside…. other days it pouring buckets. Welcome to Mississippi I guess right? Well…. last week when the girls were gone to their Dad’s and I was out driving with the baby I found this really cool natural landmark I guess you could call it off the side of the road heading towards Tupelo. It was actually pretty creepy to me at first but my curiosity got the best of me so I pulled over and got out for a closer look. This place is called Cypress Swamp. You need to click on the photo of the sign with Cassidy and read what it says. It’s pretty freakin’ cool. It looks like hell on earth at first but when you get down in there and walk across the bridge you can see and feel really how beautiful it is. And peaceful. I took the girls to see it on the way to a little picnic lunch we had next to the lake. They were hesitant at first to get out of the car and take the bridge walk but when they did….they loved it. Here’s some photos. It was a cool place to stumble on.

And I mentioned the picnic lunch we had at the lake. We were only there for a little bit. Long enough to eat, enjoy the scenery, and watch some water skiiers and wakeboarders whiz by behind the boats. I wish I had found these places before my family came out to visit. They would have loved it. Oh well. Sorry these photos are so dark but hopefully you can see a little how pretty it is. And how big little Brody is getting! LOL

Oh and Bailee wanted me to post pictures of her tree frog she caught. She has set “Hopple” free (yes…. my kids HAVE to name EVERY creature on the planet they come into contact with… you think I’m kidding?) since I took these photos but at least we got a picture of it. I had JUST found these cute little bug bins at the Dollar store too the day before she caught her frog. My girls would spend all day catching bugs and creatures if I let them. I am constantly shooing living organisms out my back door! LOL Ahhhhh…. fun, carefree days of summer as a child. Complete with 257 Otter Pops a day.

Okay…. so who would like me to scrap a layout for them using 2-3 of your favorite photos????

Doing the RAK/giveaway thing was getting boring for me so I thought I would change things up a bit! I need some more feedback because I am finally getting time to work on my classes for Scrappin’ Divas. I’ve decided to have one of them be totally geared towards learning 3-5 new techniques while creating our project or cards. When I went to Creative Escape they had a class where you roamed around to different tables and learned new techniques. They called it the “Technique Boutique” and I am totally ganking that name for my class…. LOVE IT! ANyhoo…. this is what feedback I need from you!

Please post and tell me your TOP 5 techniques you would want to learn in a scrappy classroom setting. Even if it’s something you’ve learned how to do once before but want to become even better at it! Anyone who posts and lists their TOP 5 Techniques for me will have their name put in a drawing to win a layout scrapped by me! I love getting my hands on other people’s photos so this is a totally selfish giveaway on my part! HA! Okay… hurry and tell me what you think! You have until later next week!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend! Toodles!

So I am super-stoked that I made it to the final round of Last Scrapper Standing over at Create My Keepsake!!! Wahooooo! Our last and final challenge was to create a layout using circles somehow. I definitely went crazy with the circles on this! HA! I am excited I got this far in the contest because it forced me to scrap these photos of Brody I’ve been wanting to get to. I will be SHOCKED to high heaven if I win and get that design team spot (the competition is fierce!) but at least I had fun and accomplished a few creative goals in the process! And it’s all about the process right?

So do you remember these photos and the blog post that went with them??? Another one of the MANY reasons I love the whole blogging thing! All I had to do was go to THIS POST and use it for the journaling on my layout. Easy Peasy!

Alrighty… I need to go do something exciting like pick up my house and do some dishes. It’s been somewhat neglected the last 24 hours as I’ve been busy creating and playing with my kiddos. I’m embarrassed to admit it and my sister will give me a load of crap for this but I’ve been slightly addicted to some of the games on Webkinz that my kids love so much. I swear everytime I called my sister’s house there for about a month or so she was on the computer playing games on Webkinz too and I used to tease her about it. I’m sure for those of you who have younger children this requires NO explanation whatsoever. LOL Okay…. back to the chores at hand. Have a great weekend everyone! I’m sure I will check in! Toodles!

I totally just ganked this photo off my sister’s blog. She snapped this of me and Brody when she was here visiting a few weeks ago. I had to share it because this is pretty much how it is these days. This kid sleeps on Mama’s tummy probably more than his own bed. I’m not kidding. I can’t put him down still. You’d think the “newness” would have worn off by now but it hasn’t. I just love this little man to pieces. He’s getting so big so fast. As long as he’s small enough to still sleep on my tummy…. that’s where he’ll be.

It’s 1am here and I feel an all-nighter coming on. I was SUPPOSED to be scrapping at Scrappin’ Divas but she emailed me and told me they cancelled the crop. Sniff. Sniff. I was really bummed. Mostly because of the “meet new scrapping buddies” factor but also cause I actually needed to get some scrappy things done tonight. Kacie & Karlie are here this weekend so we played a game of LIFE earlier (the family fave) and Shane taught Kacie to make some brownies. YUM. Brody finally went down about 10pm and I’ve gotten a layout and a card done. So…. I am just taking a lil’ break. Doing a bit of blog surfing and posting here real quick. This Easter layout I’m sharing is one I did for this week’s sketch over at Triple the Sketch. Ain’t Kacie & Karlie cute? Alrighty…. gotta get back to work! Have a great weekend everyone!

So I haven’t posted my exciting scrappy news but I made it past the first round of cuts in the “Last Scrapper Standing” contest over at Create My Keepsake! They need to fill one design team spot for the next 6 months and are having this contest to determine the winner. I am actaully shocked I’ve made it THIS far with all the insanely amazing talent over there! They posted challenge #2 on Monday which was to surf the net to find a slogan on a t-shirt then use it on a card or altered project. It’s been an entertaining task to say the least because there are some pretty flippin’ hilarious t-shirts out there and some I can’t even post on my blog. LOL

Anyhoo…. here’s my project. I’ve posted the befores and afters as well as the T-shirt that inspired the finished piece of art! It’s funny cause this Rooster wall hanging/key holder/chalkboard thingy has been sitting in the pile to go to Goodwill ever since we moved in. There were soooo many other scrappy projects running through my head but I’m glad I stuck with this one. Even if I don’t advance to the next round of Last Scrapper Standing at least I have something fun hanging in my scrappy space that makes me smile!!!

You have NO IDEA how excited I am that I get to use my “out for Pub” sign this time!!! I have been trying FOREVER to get one of my layouts published in Scrapbook Trends magazine and my efforts have finally paid off! And I couldn’t be happier about the layout they picked up. I can’t share it now until it comes out in the October issue but it’s one that I did about Shane. Yup….my man is gonna be in a scrapbooking mag! HA HA HA!!! He prefer it be Dirt Wheels Magazine but knows how happy this makes me so he’s excited too. I am sooooo stoked to see it in print! WOOT! WOOT!

I mentioned in my last post that the plan was to get a few more cards done to submit to Paper Crafts. Well….. I only got one more finished. It’s not my favorite but it was fun to make! The heart, house and grass are all my hand-drawn patterns. Everything on this is from Bo Bunny so that’s good! Hopefully out of the four cards I got submitted at least one will get picked up. We shall see! It’s funny…. I was just noticing how much I REALLY LOVE patterned papers. I RARELY use plain cardstock on any of my projects. It just seems so plain to me. It seriously gives me scrapper’s block! HA HA!! Is that weird???

How did everyone’s Father’s Day go? I miss my girls already but I know they are happy to be spending Father’s Day with their Dad and hangin’ out there for a week. It was a good day here because we were able to have Kacie and Karlie for the day. Shane missed them terribly last year while we were still living in AZ so it was awesome to be here. I love Kacie & Karlie to pieces…. they are such sweeties! Shane is such an amazing Daddy to his girls and mine. I’m blessed to have him in my life and look forward to raising Brody and all our girls with him. I get all emotional talking about my husband. He really is my best friend and soul mate. (gag! I know… but it’s true! LOL) Okay….. enuff with the sappy stuff!!! I promised to show a few pics from last week so here they are. I still need to play with the Brody pics. Anyway…. hope ya’ll have a great week!

Oh HEY!!! I need to mention for all you who live anywhere close to me here in Madison, MS….. come scrap with me this Friday night!!!! I was talking to Wendy today, the owner at Scrappin’ Divas in Flowood and I told her I would spread the word about the open crop she’s having from 6pm-Midnight! I don’t know a lot of scrappers here locally so I thought I would just post it here for her! The number to the store to reserve your spot is 601-919-2030. This is the cute little store I will be teaching classes at! IF you can’t come scrap then at least call Wendy up and get your name on her email list so you are notified about my upcoming classes!