PolkaDot Door Blog Hop

I was extremely honored when I was asked to be a part of the blog hop this month along with all of the other extremely talented ladies at PolkaDot Door. For those of you who haven't heard of PDD, they are a wonderful challenge blog who every month give you an inspiration photo and you create something that you love by what inspires you...you get the chance to hop along and learn about some new amazingly talented ladies, and play along for some fabulous prizes.

I am not going to lie, when I saw the image for this month, I was stumped, for quite awhile. I sat and stared at this photo, I asked friends, I even asked my hubby....and wouldn't you know it, he was the one who finally helped me find my inspiration. Talk about a shocker!! LOL!

First I will show you the photo for this month, and then I will try and explain what inspired me, because I can almost guarantee you won't be able to tell from my layout. ;)

Here is the photo for this month:

Very adorable photo, I was just super stumped...I was taking it way to literal, and was really struggling with it....so when I showed the hubby, the first thing that he noticed was the "sibling rivalry" in the photo....of course his solution was use pics of the girls arguing...at this point I was desperate, so I started going through photos to find that I didn't have any of them not getting along, not playing around and just being the buds that they are...so I got to thinking, and they really don't fight much, they are best friends, soooo....I decided to scrap that. The fact that right now there aren't those kind of issues, but that I know one day it will happen, I just hope they get past whatever it is to stay as close as they are now.

Then once I decided not to be as literal, I started looking at the photo in a different way...I was then inspired by the pops of red against the light blue, the patterns of the outfits and how they contrasted so beautiful, the sprinkling of the little gold and green circles along the floor,...and I was inspired...I knew exactly what I was going to do.

The reds are photographing really off on here, but super cloudy day, and I am still learning PSE. :)

Now please hop along and see what all of the other fabulous ladies have created:

Lindsay

DeeDee
Amanda (You are here)

Debby

Aki

Nicole

Valerie
Smitha

Sabrina

Joanne
Marivic

Tammy

Diana

Mazlina

Polkadot Door Designs

This month's prize sponsors are:

Berry71Bleu is giving away a $20 shop certificate to the Challenge winner.

UmWow Studio is giving away a prize package to the blog hop winner.

Scrappy Doodads is giving away a complete kit to the featured designer!

Thanks so much for hopping by my blog, I hope you are inspired to create something you love. I hope you take the time to not only visit all of the other ladies, but play along yourself! Make sure to link your creations up at the PolkaDot Door!!



I'm still here :)

Hi all! :) I know its be awhile, but I promise you I am still here! :) I have so much going on right now with projects to get done and the kiddos, I swear I need a few more hours each day and then I *might* get everything done that needs done! :) I'm sure you can all relate! :)

I thought I would hop on and share a new layout.

These are some pics from last year that I hadn't got around to scrapping yet....I can't believe how much the girls have changed in just a year...I am really not prepared for how fast they are growing up!

Had some fun layering and playing around on this layout! I am really happy with the way it turned out....I had to add in a banner, of course :), but I tried to kinda change it up a little.

I used Crate Paper's Farmhouse almost exclusively on this layout...I love all of their new lines...just got the Random collection in this week, finally! Hoping to get some scrappy time SOON!!

Heading out to the Pumpkin Patch this weekend, so hopefully all those new photos will inspire me to get crafty!! :)

What projects are you working on these days??

Holy Moly!!!

I am so honored and excited to share that I am one of the newest members of the Sketchy Thursdays Design Team!!! Someone seriously needs to pinch me!!! :) You all know that I LOVE the sketches and inspiration that I find over at ST every week, I am so excited to be a part of that team, and maybe inspire someone just as much as those ladies always inspire me!! I also want to tell all of the other ladies, including Melissa Johnson ( who is a very talented "peep" that I have come to know from Club Ck) that will be on the team with me! Also be on the lookout for an AMAZING guest designer for the month of October, Ms Ashley Horton!

I also want to share that I am going to be one of the members of the new Cycling Team that Little Yellow Bicycle has started. I get to work with the amazing Head of the Class collection! Be on the lookout here and at the LYB blog to see not only mine, but all of the other talented ladies who will be guest designing!!

Hold onto your seats, I am going to be in crafty overdrive!! ;)

Scrappy Weekend!!

This was a very busy weekend for me, my LSS held a weekend long retreat...I had so much fun!! Its the first one I have been to, and I went with such high expectations of getting so much done, next year I will know better!! LOL! I met some amazing ladies, and we definitely talked and laughed much for that we scrapped. I did however, manage to get a few layouts in....and came home with lots of inspiration!
First up is my layout based on this week's sketch from Sketchy Thursdays. When I first saw the sketch I was a little intimidated, kinda out of the norm for me,but the sponsor of the retreat this weekend was Authentique, so one of our challenges was to make a layout using their products, I immediately knew what I wanted to do.

I knew these photos of my silly ladies would be perfect for the Uncommon line from Authentique, and this week Sketchy Thursdays not only had an amazing sketch, but the teamed up with Scrapfit to give us the theme of "friendship" to work with, and you can tell by looking at these two that they are definitely best buds! :)

My next layout is for the first challenge I am hosting over at Scrap-Friendzy. Our theme this month is Design Star, so I gave an inspiration photo for the ladies to work with:



I just loved everything about is room! The colors , the mix matched goodies, and mainly the fun placement of the frames and the word "read"

Here is my layout based off of the photo, using the fun Summer Days collection by Simple Stories.

Lots of fun challenges over at Scrap-Friendzy, and the ladies are all super sweet. Would love to have some of you hop over and play along!! :)

Off to work now, and its going to be quite the day...I get the lovely job of restocking and unpacking everything from the retreat this weekend! 



Authentique Feature and Giveaway

Hey everybody!!
Just popping in for a quick post today, as I am busy getting ready to head off on my weekend scrappy
retreat!! :)

Just wanted to let everyone know that Practical Scrappers is doing a feature this week on Authentique! I have a couple layouts being featured, so head over and check them out! Also enter the giveaway for a fun Authentique prize package!! :)

Have a blessed weekend!!! :)

A Hot Mess

My youngest, poor thing, has a small issue with her jeans ( well, really anything she wears on the bottom that isn't stretchy), see she is the cutest little thing ever, but unfortunately, the poor thing inherited her Mama's booty, lol, so the jeans don't want to stay up on it. I couldn't resist snapping some pictures of her little booty on a recent trip to the park, and of course they had to make their way onto a layout. :)

I tell you this much, I wish it looked as cute on me, as it does on here! LOL!

I used the 9.8 sketch from Sketchy Thursdays on this one..when I saw it I knew it was perfect for these photos.

Had fun with this one! :)
Supply list:
Happy Days by Echo Park
Hot Dog Mister Hueys
Bluegrass Mister Hueys
Polka Dot Brad: Design by Diana

Off to a retreat that my LSS is having this weekend...3 days of uninterrupted scrapping!! Can't wait!!! :)

Blog Your Heart

I don't usually share alot of personal on here, other than the stories behind projects and layouts, but I am going to switch it up a little today. :) While visiting my favorite blogs this morning I stumbled across Stephanie Howell's blog, which is honestly one of my favorites. She constantly inspires me with her beautiful projects, and also on a regular basis makes me laugh out loud or cry depending on her post for that day. She issued a challenge today, for her readers to step out and blog straight from there heart, so here goes. :)

1. I am in love. I have been married for just over 8 years, and I still get butterflies everytime he kisses that spot on my neck, everytime he is with the girls and I see what an amazing father is he, everyday when he comes home from work, pretty much everytime I see him.

2. I am very emotional lately. I find myself randomly crying over very random things. Not sure the reason behind this, and not sure if its a bad thing. I feel much less stress, and this is SO nice!

3. I am struggling some with my faith, no I shouldn't say it like that, I am not doubting Him, I am doubting myself, and am not giving Him the time I should to work on building my relationship with Him back  up. Starting a new Bible study tomorrow, its with other moms, during the day so the kiddos can play. VERY excited about this, and feel its what I need to help get me back on track.

4. The girls are growing up so fast. I can't believe that in a year Emma will be in kindergarten and Katlyn will be heading off to preschool. They are amazing little ladies. I am so blessed to have been given the WONDERFUL job of being their mother. They teach me everyday about life, love, and God...so much more than I feel I could ever teach them. Some days I feel like they were given to me, not for what I might be able to do for them, but what they would do for me.

I am going to leave you with an image I found on Pinterest recently...it sums up how I am feeling lately. I used to think I had to be that "perfect" mom, my family had to be that "perfect" family, our house had to look "perfect" all the time, I found this and realized that I was spending WAY TOO MUCH time worrying about everything being "perfect" that I was missing out on everything right in from of me.

 Life is wonderful, and ever more so once you remember and live it as the beautiful thing it is.

I hope this isn't just a jumbled mess, it was very, I want to say liberating for me, I didn't put alot of "thought" into this, I honestly just typed what came to my heart ( and then spell checked and checked the grammar, which is probably still wrong,  all the while praying it made sense) ;)

I hope you decide to join in on Stephanie's challenge, and if you do, please link back to me as well as her. :)

My Beautiful Girl

I have had these photos for awhile, and for some reason never got around to scrapping them. I stumbled across them again here recently, and I was just struck instantly by the little lady. She is growing up so fast, I feel like I blink and miss so much. Next year she will go off to school, and then I know time will really start to fly.

Ahh! Look at her, my beautiful girl :)

Authentique has started having challenges on their blog, and I decided to play along and use their sketch for these photos.

There is still time to play along, the details can all be found here. This sketch is fabulous, hope you all get time to play along.

Here is my supply list for this layout, if you want to go and grab some of this yumminess! :)

 From the Uncommon Collection: Gifted & Unique

Blissful Collection: Fold-over Solids, Prosperity, Felicity, Icons, Excerpts

Other products: wooden butterflies ( unknown) ,buttons ( MME & Crate Paper), ribbon (unknown)

I am slowly getting back into the swing of things, plan on seeing much for on the blog again here in the next few weeks.

Also still be on the lookout for the giveaway coming soon!!

Have a blessed weekend!!

Busy Busy Busy

Hi all!! :) Sorry I have been kinda MIA lately...things have been super busy with me starting to work part time, Emma getting ready to start school back up, the holiday, and much more that I won't bore you with.

So, with all this going on, the first thing that got pushed aside is of course scrappy time. :( I need to have that time, at least a few hours a week, it helps me unwind. Hoping to get back in the swing of things in the next couple of weeks, after we get all of these new schedules down.
I don't have anything new to share, so I am going to share a layout I made last month for a challenge over at Club Ck...

Boy do I love these too...this is so them. Little Miss Emma so prim and proper...and then Wild Thing Katlyn there with here. LOL!  :)

Hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday weekend, and hope to be back next week with some new layouts to share! :)