Meet one of the newest members of the Kiwi Lane Design Team!

I can not express just how honored I feel to have been selected for the Kiwi Lane Design Team for the first half of 2013. I am so humbled to be working with such an amazing company and so many amazing people. I look forward to sharing my scrappy-ness with the Kiwi Lane community and learning so many things from the other Design Team members. If you haven't checked out Kiwi Lane Designs head over to their blog and Facebook. They are so worth following and their products are wonderfully fantastic.

Also, click right over there -----> to the right and follow my blog through Google Friend Connect. You don't want to miss anything fun, especially the giveaway I will be having once I reach 50 followers. (There might be a few Kiwi Lane templates in that prize. ;) )

Scrapbooksteals.com MWM Coral Series

Another MWM series has come to an end over on Scrapbooksteals. I enjoyed them, as usual, and am grateful for the weekly inspiration that allows me to get some scrapping done.

 Coral 1

Coral 2

 Coral 3a

 Coral 3b

Coral 4

 Coral 5

Coral 6

 Coral 7

 Coral 8

 Coral 9

Coral 10

A Special Gift

About 10 months ago, my dad asked me to create a shadow box to display his and my mom's wedding rings. I willingly obliged, but have had a really hard time doing it. It wasn't that I didn't want to do it, it was just really hard emotionally. Every time I sat down to work on it, tears would fill my eyes and I just couldn't continue. My mom passed away in November 2011 at the age of 62 from a heart attack.  She had just spent 6 weeks staying with us as I recovered from having our fourth baby and my parents had actually just moved in with us. They had moved to Utah from Oklahoma and were looking for a house. Her passing caught us totally by surprise and was a life changing experience for all of us.  Over the past year, I have battled many emotions and inner conflicts but am not at peace with my mom's passing.  After going through all those emotions, I was finally able to get to the point where I could work on the shadow box.

The perfect collection came in the form of Pink Paislee Mistables that I bought from Scrapbooksteals.com.  I loved that I could make it whatever colors I wanted.

I was going through some of my mom's things and found their engagement pictures. They were just what I needed to compliment the rings. The browns and greens in the pictures offered great vintage inspiration.

I gave it to my dad on Thanksgiving and he was just in awe. My dad liking it was the biggest compliment I could have received. I have such a hard time making scrappy gifts for people because I worry that they won't like the look of it. I guess it proves that it is the thought that counts.

Supplies:
Pink Paislee Mistables
  Scalloped Ribbon
  Fuzzy Stickers
  Fabric Flowers
  Paper
Glimmer Mist-Spanish Moss, Creme de Chocolat, Bronze
American Crafts Cardstock
Pebbles Candy dots
Imaginisce Foam Tape
Colorbox Ink- Chestnut Roan
Paper Studio Gemstones- Rainbow Crackle

A perfect gift to commemorate a special day

My niece, who was born shortly after we got married, turned 8 a couple of days ago. In the LDS church, that is the age when we can decide to be baptized or not. My niece has made the decision to be baptized and will be next weekend.  I wanted to make her something special to give her to commentate this important time in her life. With a little help from Scrapbooksteals.com and Kiwi Lane Designs, I was able to make her the perfect gift.

Scrapbooksteals had these great wooden lace-up albums as a steal and the Kiwi Lane templates are so fantastic that it made creating so easy.

The Kiwi Lane templates I used were
MAdison Ave 3A
Spook Alley 3A, 2B, and 3B
Floral 2
Sweetheart 3T

I can't say enough good things about Scrapbooksteals.com and Kiwi Lane.  Scrapbooksteals always has such great daily "steals" and absolutely wonderful customer service. Their blog has great inspiration and fun challenges each week. Kiwi Lane's products are so perfect for scrapbooking and cards and they are always so helpful and have such fast shipping. They also have a wonderful blog with great challenges and great projects to show how versatile their products are. If you haven't checked out those great companies, I highly recommend them.

Scrapbooksteals.com Retreat 2012- Oct. 12-13

After last year's fabulous retreat, I was counting down the days 'till the 2012 retreat. Let me just say that it did not disappoint! I had the best time ever, especially seeing friends I only see at the retreat and getting to meet my online besties for the first time.  It felt so good to just have a kid-free weekend and all the time I needed to scrap. I stayed at the hotel Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and it was a blast. The classes and make and takes were fantastic. It was such a great deal and I definitely got my money's worth. I am so excited to go again next year!

 Mini album class by American Crafts

 8x8 Album from WeR Memory Keepers

Here are the layouts that I completed while at the retreat.

Authentique October Sketch Challenge

I love the Authentique sketch challenges, but I just haven't had a chance to do one the last couple of months.  I had a little extra time this month, so I was able to fit it in.

Here is the sketch:

And here is my take:

I used the Fresh collection for this picture with my kids on Mother's Day 2010. (I am a little behind.)

Perfectly Pearl

 Pearl 1

 Pearl 2

 Pearl 3

 Pearl 4a

 Pearl 4b

 Pearl 5a

 Pearl 5b

 Pearl 6

 Pearl 7

 Pearl 8

 Pearl 9a

 Pearl 9b

 Pearl 10

Another fabulous 10sketch series has ended over at Scrapbooksteals.com and I am happy that i completed every sketch, even when there was two for the week, on time. Even if it ends up being the only layout I get done for the week, I am happy to get at least something done. I am really looking forward to another sketch series. If you haven't checked it out, head on over and participate. It is a lot of fun!