Fourth of July sale!

Happy weekend everyone! Well, we're officially a week away from July 4th. I've already started seeing the posters and radio ads fly up for fireworks...it really gets me excited. I just love Fourth of July...not too big of a fan of fireworks, lol, but I just love the look of them and going to the city fireworks show is always exciting for me. Hopefully this year, we can find a good place with good view of the fireworks. I found out last year that my camera takes pretty decent shots of fireworks, so I'm pretty excited to get some.

Since I love the BBQ's and the fireworks and all that so much, I'm having a sale. 25% off my entire store - which makes some of my items only $0.75. If you missed my Daditude QP when it was a freebie at KJoi, you can now pick it up for only $0.75, as well as some other Daditude items if you don't have the whole collection. If you're more interested in the whole thing, my Daditude bundle is only $3.50 with this sale! You can also pick up Love By The Lakeside, my newest kit, for only $3.50 as well. And while you're there, you can pick up the word art to match Love By The Lakeside for only $0.75.

We hear whether we go to the next round of DSI's The Next Best Thing very soon. In less than an hour, I believe. I'm so nervous. I had a whole kit planned, the idea was fantastic, and then at the eleventh hour the entire idea just caved on me. The items that I was planning to extract wouldn't scan or photograph at good enough quality and I just didn't have time to mess around with them, but they were what made the kit so charming, so I had to start over with a different theme. I'm disappointed, but that's the way life goes right? So hopefully what I came up with is good enough to make it. I'll let you guys know.

Well I have a ton of things on my to-do list today and some really need to get done before 4:00 (5 hours away!) including cleaning, so I better go and get started! I'll have a few new things coming out very soon, including a blog train scheduled to take off on the 1st, my first blog train!

New kit and a freebie!

Okay, finally I have a freebie for all of you lol! I've been so busy with the Next Best Thing contest and working on this new kit to put up in the shop that I haven't even had time to scrap! I know, what a catastrophe!

I have a new kit up in the shop today, it is called Love by the Lakeside and it is inspired by one of my favorite movies since high school, A Walk to Remember. The color scheme is directly taken from some of my favorite stills in the movie. It captures the romance and beauty that is a night by the lake with your significant other or other loved one. I've included the rich colors of one of the characters clothing, the beautiful deep and light greens of the greenery, and the burgundy color in the sunset. This kit is huge and contains 12 highly-textured papers (some of the overlays used are Tiffany's!), 38 elements including scalloped frames, roses, tags, and bows, and a full glittered alpha as well! It's well worth the bargain of $5.00 if you ask me!

I have also put up a set of 5 word art in the shop to match the kit as well. These word art are all created at 300 PPI and in .png format, and would be perfect as titles for all your wedding, Valentine's Day, and other romantic event layouts. They are only $1.00 and not included in the kit!

And last but not least, I have created a freebie for all of my customers so you can preview a little bit of the kit yourself. I have made a frame cluster using some of the elements in the kit.

You can go to my storefront right here to download the freebie and check out all of my other products.

Our anniversary was definitely eventful. It was fun, but sort of disastrous in a way. But aren't plans always that way? lol By the time we got out to the lake the heat had all but spoiled our picnic lunch, so that wasn't very good. Then about 45 minutes after sitting down we had to gather everything back up to go into town to buy sunscreen because Isaac was starting to burn. When we got back everything good was taken so we had to go to a different lake. We found shade but Heath and I fished a little on the bridge...by the time 20-30 minutes was passed, I was sick from the heat and pain medicine mixed together for my TMJ (I know, not the brightest idea!). So we left and then Heath and I got into an argument about going to the mall vs. going somewhere else - there's way more to it than that but why hash it up on a blog. We finally worked it out and went to the mall to walk around in the air-conditioning for a little while. Met up with my mom, purchased the best shirt for my father for Father's Day, and then we left to go home and get ready to drop Isaac off with my mom and go to dinner. By the time we got to dinner I noticed I had a horrendous sunburn that hurt pretty bad. It got worse through dinner and all through the night - dinner was uncomfortable for me, and after we picked up Isaac we came home and laid in bed. That was uncomfortable. I couldn't sleep on my back all night. Still can't and it's been two days!

So while it was fun, it could have been done smarter...more ice in the cooler and lots of sunscreen!!!

So that was my anniversary. Not exactly what I wanted it to be but special all the same. Hopefully I'll be back in the next few days with another freebie or some layouts to show you with Love by the Lakeside. Enjoy and let me know what you think!

Next Best Thing Week 2!

Well I made it into week 2 of the Next Best Thing contest over at Digital Scrap Ink. This week the theme was 25+. We were given free reign on colors, amount of elements, and everything else as long as the subject could be used to scrap anything important to 25 years and up. I took something very close to us this week for my theme - Heath is trying to lose weight, as he has been overweight for most of his life. I noticed this has become increasingly important to an older generation, but not so much in the younger generation (which is sad, really). So I designed a kit called Making Progress, in hopes that all those who are trying to lose weight will scrap their progress. I believe scrapping the progress you're making could be taking a step in a great direction. If you see how good you're looking in pictures, you're more willing to make the sacrifices in eating healthy and exercising because you're seeing the payoff. Plus, scrapbooking is a form of therapy for many. Besides, it's a great way to see how you're progressing and capture the memory of how you got there once you meet your goal!

Making Progress has 8 papers and 24 elements and includes a chart for tracking weight loss, exercising, or anything you'd like. I've made 7 day of the week flair to match the chart, but they are also full size flair so you can use them just like you would regular flair, for an accent on your page or to help tell the story. It also includes a menu paper, which you can use for tracking what you're eating, or you can just use it for regular journaling as well. There's also a notepad paper for journaling, 3 word flair, 3 stitched heart frames, 2 curled ribbons, 2 bows, and some other great elements.

I'm not allowed to post the direct download link but I am allowed to post the link to the gallery to get my kit. You will have to register to get it, but it is worth it because while you're there you can download all the week 2 kits (some are not up yet, deadline is not until Thursday), and check out the week 1 kits as well. This kit will not be available for that long, as after the contest I intend to either put it in my store as-is or expand on it and put it in my store. So grab it while you can!

Week 2 Gallery

Also I forgot to mention before I hit post...I made a QP out of Daditude for the June 15th Blog Freebie at K-Joi. I just love the way it turned out and I hope you will too! Here is the link to K-Joi's blog, where you can grab the link to the QP!

K-Joi Blog

This will probably be the last post from me until Wednesday or most likely Thursday. Heath and I have a little outing planned for Wednesday (the lake and the picnic lunch I told you about) and it seems the weather is going to cooperate :D ... and then we also have a date night that night - without the kiddo. :D So I will probably be back after that. Hope you all like the kit!

Day at the lake and huge thunderstorms

Today, Heath, Isaac and I went and spent a fabulous early-afternoon at the lake. Since Tuesday we have been trying to get out to the lake to do a little fishing, since today was Heath's 23rd birthday, and since Tuesday horrid thunderstorms have been getting in our way. Tuesday we went out to the lake outside town and literally five minutes after we sat down we heard thunder rolling. Isaac and I had to take shelter under a tree while Heath pulled the car around to the other side of the lake to come get us and the supplies. That night we had 70+ mph winds and quarter-sized hail, but we were lucky that we didn't hit any of that coming back into town, except the torrential rain. Wednesday we tried it again, but again, 5 minutes after sitting down the sky began to get dark and we could see lightning in the distance, so we high-tailed it out of there - but not before I got some shots of the looming storm in the sky. (Just so you know, the pictures don't do it justice - it was dangerous-looking, but so beautiful!) Thursday was the same way, except we didn't even have a chance to get out there since Heath and I both worked. But we did sit down to watch Twilight (I've never seen it!) after Heath got off at work, we started it around 2am, and by 3am (just when it was getting good) our power got knocked out. Shortly after there was more hail - oh, it was horrible. We couldn't even hear ourselves talking to each other because the hail and rain was so heavy. Lights didn't come back on until at least after 4am - Isaac was woken up by the lightning and we all three fell asleep on the couch. I do remember Heath waking me up around 5 or 6 to go lay in bed, and the power was back on by then. We slept in, of course, and decided around noon that it may be a good idea to head out to the lake before Heath had to go to work and before it decided to rain on us again - lol! Luckily the weather stayed nice and we had a beautiful couple hours out there before we had to come back so Heath could head off to work. I got some fantastic pictures for a birthday layout for Heath, and some great close-ups of Isaac as well. Now I only wish I could put them up for everyone to see! My card is not wanting to read in my reader and I haven't gotten up to find my cord for it yet. Hopefully Isaac will stay asleep just a little longer so I have a chance to do one layout. I would really love to scrap some of these photos.

That's really all I have for today. I've entered myself in The Next Best Thing contest at Digital Scrap Ink and will find out the results for that tomorrow, whether I'm moving on to the next round and what the next challenge will be. Tiffany has also entered, it would be fantastic if you could stop by and show us both a little love, and if you like, download our mini-kits (they're free!)...Next week will be a busy week, if I make it to the next round I will have another kit to do by Thursday, and our 3rd anniversary is this Wednesday so we have decided to take supplies for a picnic lunch to the lake on Wednesday and our fishing supplies, since we both have the day off. I may even buy a day license to do a little fishing myself, and hopefully we'll catch us some fish! And I will be sure to take pictures. I probably won't post again until after Wednesday, it will be a busy week like I said but I may pop in to update you on whether I make it to the next round. Have a great day everyone!

My secret's out!...

That's right! I've opened up a new (MY FIRST!) shop! I can't tell everybody how incredibly excited I am to be in such a wonderful store. I've been a member at K-Joi now for about 1.5 years (if I remember right) and have been on the CT for probably approximately half of that time. The designers are all amazing - their designs are amazing, and they as people are amazing. They are always willing to answer a question, do a favor, or help you out in almost any way. If you post an ISO, there's almost always someone who has what you're looking for, knows where to find it, or is willing to make it. When you need a shoulder to lean on, they are there. When you have an announcement, they are just as excited for you as you are for yourself. All of them deserve so much praise for what they do, and all of their wonderful designs, layouts, and all that they do to make K-Joi what it is. Kara, the owner, works so hard to maintain a wonderful, customer-friendly store. If there's ever a problem she's there ASAP to resolve it and remedy it beyond what a lot of stores may do. And boy when I say she works hard, she really works hard - it really must be a full-time job to do what she does!

Please, please, please...even if you don't stop by my store, please do stop by some of the other designer's stores and take a look at their designs. Tiffany designs over there also, so this may be your chance to pick up some of her stuff as well. You're also more than welcome to join the forum, we are an incredibly friendly, DRAMA-FREE group of people! While you're there you can sign up for the newsletter to see our great deals and any sales we have going on (I may be having a sale coming up sometime this month, maybe even more than one!), and there's also tutorials in some newsletters, featured layouts/designers/members, and a special freebie in each newsletter that you can only get in the newsletter. There are also coupon codes in each one.

Here is the link to go directly to K-Joi's storefront. Navigation is very easy, so if you're looking for the shop or forum or even the blog, it's easily spotted. If you're only interested in my designs, you can go here, but I do urge to check out all the other fabulous designers and things K-Joi has to offer.

And don't worry, I will still offer the occassional freebie. I have noticed that everybody seems to enjoy the QP's from Tiff's kits, so I will try to put those out when I can. I will also be making QP's from some of my work when I have the time. Also, I will be putting up blinkies for you to snag soon, and if I catch you wearing my blinkie in any of the forums I participate in, you may be RAK'd! I want to thank all of you for supporting me by downloading my freebie kits, even when they weren't so fabulous lol! I will also be redesigning some of these kits now that I'm in a store and my skill level and knowledge is a bit better. If you'll notice, all my products in the store all newly revealed...they have never been offered as a freebie before. And I have a special deal on the whole Father's Day collection, which I titled Daditude.

I will leave you to roaming the shop now and come back with more stuff later, must go get some fresh air now! It is incredibly hot in this house of mine!! Again, thank you to all my wonderful blog readers and I hope you take advantage of any of my deals, and enjoy them! Coupon expires Tuesday night at 11:59PM.

I have a secret...

It's been a while since I've posted, but for good reason. I've been hard at work!

I also have an announcement that should be coming in the next few days. It's a secret right now, and I cannot share it at this moment. But (barring any mishaps and unexpected setbacks) you should hear it from me in the next few days. :D

I don't have anything for you guys, but like I said, I've been hard at work on some things. You just have to be patient with me for a little while. I just wanted to pop in and let everyone know that I didn't abandon my blog or my designing...hopefully you'll hear from me and my secret again in the next few days! :D