Disco Dylan

If you didn't know, Dylan loves Britney Spears. I just couldn't resist posting this.

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{24 Days of Christmas}

My friend, Katie, is doing an awesome series of blog posts for the month of December called {24 Days of Christmas} on her Scrap Log Blog. I invite you all to go peek and join in! It will be featuring Christmas crafts and really yummy recipes. A new post each day, it'll be like an advent calendar online!

She's very talented. You can view her etsy shop, Smart Lil Cookie, to get a feel for things to come. Her first tutorial includes a step-by-step on how to make these gorgeous glittered Christmas tree tags.

{source: K. Thornton}

I've ate Katie's baking, you're gonna love her food. Sooo good in fact, she uses her goodies to bargain favors {I would have done them anyway, but whatever, just saying....} with me.

Looking for someone to hold a giveaway for your website/etsy shop? Katie would happily love to! Follow/DM her on Twitter- @kmthornton or leave a comment here and I'll pass it along it to her.

EverythingScrappn.com Blog Hop {Pink Paislee Mistletoe & Co.}

These are my last projects as the guest designer for the month of November at Everything Scrappn. I am so happy I tried out. I enjoyed challenging myself. I probably made the most shabby-chic type pages ever this month playing with all the different products. And ya know what? I love them! Thank you Everything Scrappn for having me. :)

I don't know if you know, but Everything Scrappn has started a forum. You should join! Click here to check it out.
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This month's challenge was thought up by Design Team Member Jana. Create something to use with your holiday gift-giving. You should do it, because there will be a prize! Enter a photo of your project by leaving a link in the comment's section on the Everything Scrappn November 27th blog post, also found by clicking here.

I am so lucky, because I got to scrap with my favorite Christmas line introduced this year! I'm not just saying this either. I think I like it so much, because I can see myself using it for more than just Christmas pages. Another reason, these are the perfect shades! I'm not into super traditional pine green and red, but I also don't like the newer trend of mixing in pink. Pink Paislee's Mistletoe & Co. is fantastic! You can view the entire line of it all by clicking here.

I decided to make a gift card holder. Can you guess what this above originally was? It's one of those Starbucks VIA instant coffee sampler packages.

You can write the gift card recipient's name on the outside and even hang it on the tree as an ornament. So much better than some random envelope laying amiss in the pile of presents under the tree!Supplies: Starbucks VIA packaging, Pink Paislee Mistletoe & Co patterned papers, WeRMemoryKeepers grommet, Hobby Lobby brads, Marvy corner rounder, Fiskars border edge punch, Fiskars circle punch, Staz on ink, Autumn Leaves swirl stamps, American Crafts Thickers shapes, traced Maya Road classic scroll frame coaster chipboard, Making Memories magnet alpha stamps, Stickles Cinnamon, SNS lace, & SNS ribbon.
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I REALLY love this red dotted paper. It's more distressed in person. I had a similar most favorite paper ever stockpiled that was made by Daisy D's, but I am running low and that company is now defunct. I believe this paper called Naughty or Nice from the Mistletoe & Co. collection by Pink Paislee can take my old fave's place!

Feeling ever so inspired, I created this layout below. It is a scraplift of a layout by Miranda Wedekind. Santa visited the kids at church this year in the photos. I was told a professional photographer would be there and I'd get some of the pictures in the mail after Christmas. Yeah, was not too happy when I opened up this tiny envelope full of wallet sized pics! The design of this layout was perfect for this size of photos.

Of course, I had to add my little touches of pop-dot craziness and a little teddy bear to keep it from looking too stuffy to be a little boy's page. Not only is this paper line perfect for Christmas, but it matched my little boy's outfit too!

Here's a close-up view. I think I have 3 different levels of pop-dotted heights!

Supplies: Pink Paislee Mistletoe & Co. patterned papers, Bazzill cardstock & swiss dot cardstock, Zva Creative pop dots, Fiskars circle punch, Fiskars border edge punch, Staz On ink, Target dollar spot ampersand chipboard, Basic Grey half pearls swirl in pearl, Prima say it in swirls in pearl, Pink Paislee Fashion Script alpha stickers, Zva Creative light blue pearl, Magistal Memories bear chipboard shape, SNS lace, & SNS ribbons.

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It looks as though I'm the last stop on the Blog Hop, but if you got out of order look below for links to the rest of the Design Team's projects and check 'em out! xo

Jana
Michelle
Suz
Teresa
Everything Scrappn Blog

Savvy N Sassy October & November DT Projects

Again, I'm running late on blogging these. I still wanted to show off my creations though! Have a peek!
This is the October Ribbon Kit called Spooky Shivers. If you're needing to stock up on staple black ribbons, this is a great deal at $4.25 {Canadian dollars} and hasn't sold out yet. Click on the picture above to purchase. I was on a scrapbooking retreat while making these and photos were due, so the pictures are kinda wonky. It was beyond humid and my lens kept fogging up! No editing program either.

You can't tell, but this little altered bird is super glossy. I did each tile and the C circle in diamond glaze and it has a glass-like appearance. A dear friend should receive this in the mail any day now. I hope she likes it!

This is one of those layouts you just have to see in person! I wish the pictures came out better, because I feel silly telling you it's probably my most favorite layout I've ever done with you seeing pictures like this.

I made a few more cards, but I love this one! I gave it to my soon-to-be niece's momma! She's due at the end of March and I can't wait to meet Allison!

Here's the November kit! This photo has NOT been highly edited. This kit is seriously this bright. Fun to scrap with if you are going with funky Christmas colors, great with orange for summer pages, and awesome for them boy pages too! This kit is also a great deal at only $3.25 {Canadian dollars} and hasn't sold out yet either. Click the image above to purchase!

I altered a baby food jar. It's spritzed with white Glimmer Mists. It's more sheer than splattery in person. I love that scalloped loopy ribbon on the bottom, probably my fave from this kit.

This card has lots of different layered heights on it. I used lots of pop-dots!

This card is also pop-dotted all up! I drew and cut out the clouds and popped them as well. They are glossed up with a little bit of glitter swirled in too. I love these fresh type colors.

I made a set of four of these! I think I'm really starting to like stamping.

This card is also pop-dotted with different heights of layers. The gear circles are my favorite part. I shadowed them by tracing and cutting out in matching cardstocks.

Thanks for looking :) :)

Lilac Hotel

Featuring Etsy sellers: smartlilcookie, frankievintage, JenniferBirge, SmallEarthVintage, ohvotrecouer, breagha, posiesforlulu, missbrigette, moonlightandlaughter, Balanced, MarcellasExcess, and rewindtime.

See it here: http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=76396

EverythingScrappn.com Blog Hop Winners!

Stace & Rebecca Kvenvolden are the winners. They were drawn from Denise's blog. Stace wins the Basic Grey Indian Summer page kit and Rebecca wins the Glimmer Mists set. Congrats girlies! Make sure to contact Heather by the 18th!

EverythingScrappn.com Blog Hop

I am the guest designer at Everything Scrappn for the month of November. I am so excited to have been picked! It has been so gloomy and rainy here in Georgia as of lately, so these pictures aren't as fantastic as I hoped; but the weather forecast on Wii last night said it will be super sunny today, so I may go and re-do these pictures. I had a ton of fun playing with all these goodies! (Edit: Just re-did the layout picture, much happier now!)

This blog post is part of the Blog Hop Contest. I am just one stop on the way, so make sure you leave me a comment and keep-a-hoppin' for your chance to win. You could end up winning a Basic Grey Indian Summer kit or a set of 3 matching Glimmer Mists. Both very cool prizes indeed!

My favorite scrapbooking company is most definitely Cosmo Cricket! I think I could easily find a way to put it on every page I create! On this thank you card below, I used papers and one of the cardstock stickers from the Early Bird collection. I implore you to check out the all the backs of your Cosmo Cricket papers. That is where you end up finding some of the best background papers!Supplies: Bazzill CS, Cosmo Cricket Early Bird-Ribbon Sandwich PP, Cosmo Cricket Early Bird-Brunch PP, Cosmo Cricket Early Bird Sticker Sheet, Maya Road Classic Scroll Frame Coaster chipboard, Zva Creative Pop Dots, Zva Creative Pearls, Zva Creative Flowers, American Crafts ribbon, Staz-On ink, and Marvy Corner Rounder.

As this next card is a sympathy card, I wanted it to be simple yet still uplifting in mood. The dandelion puff print paper from the Cosmo Cricket Earth Love was completely perfect for what I was going for.Supplies: Prism CS, Cosmo Cricket Earth Love-Remember PP, Making Memories magnetic stamps, Staz-on ink, Paper Salon brad, and Stampin Up ribbon.

I have 2 sons, so I am always happy to find scrapbook papers I can use for them. Cosmo Cricket's The Boyfriend paper line was made just for those special males in your life. Some of these papers make me think back to high school, remember passing notes in class? It was a lot of fun pop-dotting the various elements and easy too! All these papers have a faint outline around the illustrations you can use as a guide for cutting.Supplies: Misc Ohio Company CS, Bazzill CS, Cosmo Cricket The Boyfriend- Study Hall PP, Cosmo Cricket The Boyfriend- Borders, Pink Paislee Fashion Script Alpha Stickers, Zva Creative Pop Dots, Art Warehouse notebook stamp, Staz-on ink, Target spot stamp, SavvyNSassy yellow ric rac ribbon,Marvy corner rounder.

Thanksgiving is coming up! I don't scrap chronologically and sometimes it is hard for me to get in the mood to scrap holidays. I decided to not scrap with the usual orange and brown theme-y stuff and go a bit un-traditional with this page. It re-revved up my mojo switching it up a bit. I love the homey feel from the kraft tan, reds, and blacks.

Journaling reads, "I am so very thankful for you, Momma. I am even more so on every Thanksgiving that comes around. You scour recipe magazines for months in advance to find the perfect dishes to create. You make sure to cook up our old favorites: your famous green bean casserole, lumpy-on-purpose mashed potatoes, and that orange marshmallow dessert that I think only Brian likes. I appreciate your cooking, because I think otherwise it would be me cooking and we'd get food poisoning. It's because of you we are able to celebrate and enjoy Thanksgiving." Supplies: American Crafts & Bazzill CS, Pink Paislee Amber Road- Apple Cider PP, Jenni Bowlin Red/Black- Grandma's Apron PP, Cosmo Cricket Early Bird- The Elements PP, Prima & Sam's Club flowers, American Crafts Thickers, Jenni Bowlin alpha stickers, Everything Scrappn' cooking twill ribbon, Prima rhinestone swirls, Queen & Co. black rhinestones, Zva Creative pop dots, Fiskars border edge punch, Making Memories ruler decorative tape, Paper Salon brad, Staz-on ink, SavvyNSassy black twill-sheer polka dot-polka dot grosgrain ribbons, MISC-heart bead & buttons.

This is the end of my post. Thank you for stopping by! Make sure you hop to the next blog on the list, DT Member sweetheart Miss Teresa, for your chance to win! Here's the order for the hop:

Everything Scrapp'n Blog
Denise
Michelle
Kimberly
Teresa
Jana
Suz

Moppo the Pumpkin

I've said it before, but Halloween is my favorite holiday. There's not been a year I did not have a pumpkin. I even did my own pumpkin before I had kids and not living at home. Cliff's dad took Dylan to the Methodist church's pumpkin patch and got him one for us to carve up. I'm thankful for that, because we were running on broke and it's not fun only have your Halloween pumpkin for 2 days (our payday) before the actual holiday.

Dylan was ready to make his jack-o-lantern the moment he got home. I mean the moment he got home. I love to see him so excited about things. I think his favorite part was getting all the pumpkin seeds out. He was saying they were pumpkin brains. A little funny that made me giggle: Dylan asked me if we take the pumpkins brains out will it turn into a pumpkin zombie? Ha!

And then oh lord, I turned around for half a second and he was stabbing the thing to death. Ahhh! There are probably about 80 random stab marks all over. See that piece of paper laying in the background? Yeah, Dylan was not having that. We were not drawing a face first. So I had to breathe, remind myself he's 4 years old, and not everything has to be perfect and just let him go at it. It's a personal problem I have in me about these type things, it happens with coloring Easter eggs too.

The eye isn't exactly carved out, more like screwed and chiseled out. He made eyebrows, but no mouth or nose. And no mom, he doesn't want the pumpkin to have those parts either I was instructed. But Dylan did name his pumpkin Moppo and wanted the pumpkin to have its' name carved into it. No idea where this notion came from, but it makes laugh!

Isn't this just pitiful? He tells me we are all done and to take a picture. Right at this exact moment, he realized Moppo only had one eye. Besides the fact there's no mouth or nose, Moppo must have two eyes. Back to carving!

So we get the next eye in, I scramble around finding a candle and such, and Dylan is totally over having anymore pictures taken. Isn't that how it goes? This is his "you're lame, Mom" look you're seeing now. Oh teenage years are going to be so much fun. <>

He really does love Moppo though. After Halloween, Dylan has it in his mind that we will cut a hole in the bottom so that he can wear it on his head. I'm hoping the insides of Moppo will be gross by then to change his mind on this idea. Oh and if you didn't know, Dylan tells me that having a jack-o-lantern scares vampires away from your house. Awesome!

October 12 of 12: Birthday Edition!

Yup. October 12th was my birthday! It's a national holiday ya know. No, really it is. The Columbus Day holiday fell on my birthday this year as well. I had just came home the day before from a weekend scrapbooking retreat. People don't actually sleep at scrapping retreats so that extra day added on to that weekend was really great.

I was woke up in bed to a lit cake and singing. Cliff is usually kinda well... blah-hambug about birthdays, so this was a real surprise. It completely made my day. I cried, because it was so sweet and thoughtful of him.

Then, I had my day made even cheerier when I got an encore cake lighting and song from Dylan. He had been asleep the first time around. It's kind of funny, because in his sleep he said we got you a cake momma, it's a surprise. If Cliff hadn't done the cake-bit earlier, Dylan would have spilled the beans on that!

A very un-cool present above. Dirty laundry had piled up while me and the 2 boys were sick earlier that week. I had a severe sinus infection, Dylan had something awful that was like the flu but not the flu, and Sam *did* have the flu. Cliff washed all the laundry while I was gone on the scrapbooking retreat. At least it's clean. Even today, I still haven't got around to folding all of that.

He's kidding, he's kidding! Or is he? Hmmmmm. We have drove one another crazy with this bathroom. I'm to the point now that I'm not even giving out opinions or even really listening about it. I do have to say I am pretty proud of all the work Cliff has done though.

Here's a view of the bathroom. New, differently colored floor since last time is all put down. Pretty tile is all up too. I think grout will be getting done sometime this week.

Lots of birthday calls from my family. My mom and stepdad called from my grandma's that shows up on the phone the first time. Miss Mae is the feisty, old lady that lives behind my grandma that has known me since I was a baby.

I gave Sam his bath. That's one of the things I exclusively do, because I'm picky about how it is done. Sam has horrendous allergies and bad eczema. The doctor only has me bathe him once or twice a week to avoid drying out his skin so much. I've been buying natural soaps and a body wash from OsayinHolistics that have calendula with no dyes or fragrances that have helped tremendously. After that, I cover the boy in Aveeno lavender lotion. I have no idea why that doesn't break him out but other Aveeno products do.

Sam is getting so big. He's 8 months old now! Wow! He is now sitting in the big boy side of his tub. Sam has started to like his baths more since he has started splashing. It's funny when he tries to grab the bubbles that are on the water's surface before they pop. He gets so confused when they pop. It's really cute.

Here's the mandatory self-portrait. Oh and hey, you can finally see the haircut I got last month somewhat in the picture too. Okay, well not really, but it's about 2 inches below my chin. Exactly long enough to still pull back so Sam won't eat it.

This is my cat Princess. She's gone by the name Prin-Prin since Dylan could talk, because it was easier to say. She is 5 years old. I got her as a baby kitten the same week I got married. She is very shy and snooty. So much so that she was originally named She-rah, but I knew that wasn't gonna work because of her prissy attitude. She hates Cliff for some unknown reason to us. This is the best picture I could get of her even remotely looking up.

Woohoo! A birthday card! My mother-in-law and father-in-law came by to hand off my present. They had missed The Amazing Race the night before on t.v. and we still had it recorded so they also came by to watch that during their visit.

Here's Rick giving Sammy some belly kisses. I don't think I have ever seen a man as infatuated with babies as Rick. It's quite endearing to watch.

Here's a new little obsession of mine. It's called Monopoly City Streets. It's a free game and works using the maps of the entire world. You can go and buy any street on Earth. I own a lot of the main streets here in my hometown. For some reason or other, I have enemies from Spain that like to put factories on my streets. I never did anything to them, but 4 of them have decided to target me!

I ended the night by giving in and watching Dylan play the new Halo. He wasn't playing online with other real players thank goodness, because the boy would shoot the same bad guy 20 times and run out of ammo instantly. He kept killing himself with his own grenades too. I had a great birthday. I enjoy low-key and lazy days. :)