I can’t believe it’s been so long since I’ve posted a layout! I’ve been making them, just forgetting to post them. There are a bunch, but I’m going to split them up into different posts so each designer can be by herself.

I made this one for the Back to School template challenge on Heather Manning’s CT blog. I also used her gorgeous new kit, It’s a Beautiful Morning. Be sure to check out the challenge, as always you can win a $10 or $20 gift card to Heather’s store for a winning layout! And as always, click on the layouts in my blog to see full credits and links to kits.

This is an old picture of Kyra that I thought went perfectly with this kit. Everything is by Scrap Shana. I’m not going to link up all of the kits, but if you want to check out any of these products just click on the layout. It will take you to DST where you can find kit links in my description.

Here’s another old picture of Kyra, this has always been one of my favorites. She just looks so funky! And this is another kit by Scrap Shana, isn’t it perfect?

I think this is the last layout using Scrap Shana’s stuff. Isn’t it cute?

I love this next layout! I think the picture of Sophie is so perfect for this kit. The picture is from Kyra’s 6th birthday party at a girly salon place that had dress-up clothes for the kids. That hat was just too funny! Oh! And I need to tell you about the kit. It’s by Pineapple Plantation Designs, and I’m on her brand-new creative team! Yep, that makes 3 new CTs in the past few weeks. I’m on a roll! You really, really need to check out her stuff at ScrapOrchard.com, it’s just awesome!

And here is another layout using the same kit by Pineapple Plantation Designs. Isn’t it adorable?

I’m also a guest for Jule Designs this month! Man, I’ve been lucky lately! I’ve only finished one layout for her so far, but her stuff is absolutely gorgeous! Again, click on the layout for full credits and kit links.

Happy now, Erin?

Have you heard about the Charter Laptop-a-Day Giveaway? This is such a great opportunity, I just had to pass it on. All you have to do to win is order any Charter Communications service online from now through September 22, and you’ll be entered to win a HP Compaq Presario C770US Laptop! This laptop is a $600 value, with an Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core Processor, 15.4″ WXGA screen, 2GB RAM -160GB hard drive, DVD burner, built in Wi-Fi and Ethernet, plus a NEOtec Laptop Backpack! Those laptop backpacks are the most convenient things ever. They’ll actually be giving away 30 laptops, one every day for the month of September! Charter Communications is offering three great deals on their services right now, too, with perfect rates for back-to-college or new college students, or anyone else who is looking to save on their internet, cable, and phone bills. And as if the great, low prices and chance to win a laptop weren’t enough, once you sign up for a Charter Communications service, you will be sent a free $100 Shell gas card! What a perfect way to save a little (okay, a lot) of money right now. This is definitely an offer that is worth checking out.

We finally got the splint off of Granola’s foot today! I’m so happy! Eight weeks is a long time to have a dog with a bandaged foot, keeping it dry is a pain, and the poor boy really needs a bath. His foot looks pretty icky right now, the tape took off most of his fur and some skin, so it still has some healing to do. But at least it’s not broken anymore. Yay!

As gas and food prices skyrocket, it’s getting harder and harder to pay off debt. People who were able to pay much more than their minimum payments just a few years ago are now finding themselves unable to even meet the minimum payments. We all know that it takes forever to pay off debt that way, and we end up paying so much more in the long run than the original amount of the debt, but often people feel that there simply is no other choice. Fortunately, there are Debt Relief choices. At Freedomdebtrelief.com they offer an innovative Debt Reduction Program that can significantly lower debt levels and monthly payments, which can save their clients more money than traditional credit counseling or debt consolidation. Using their program, you could be paying significantly less than the minimum payments you are currently paying, and that money can be going toward your actual debt rather than interest charges. They will negotiate with your creditors to reduce your debts, with the goal of reducting those debts by at least 50%. Of course your personal circumstances will vary, but with this program, you could be debt free in 12-36 months! How great would that feel? If you’re looking for an alternative to bankruptcy, consolidation, or credit counseling, you should definitely check this out!

Wow, I can’t believe that I haven’t posted in a whole week! It’s all Stephanie Meyer’s fault. She’s the author of the Twilight series of books. If you’ve read them, you know exactly what I’m talking about. If you haven’t read them, stay far, far away unless you have about 3 weeks to devote to them. Seriously, I can’t stop reading them! I have about 200 more pages to go in the last book, then I’ll finally be free. They’re about vampires, and I’m usually not interested in vampire stories, plus they were written for teens, which should have been another strike against them. But the story is a lot of fun and the books are lacking in bad language and overt sex scenes, which is fine with me. So anyway, hopefully I’ll be able to finish the last book today and then I can get back to scrapping!

Are you interested in finding out all you can about mobile computing in the commercial and government fields, including moblie games, mobile softwares, and the mobile environment? Are you looking for the latest information about Samsung products and lots more? Check out the SJA Mobile website for all of the information you need.

Since I just posted about Heather’s sale and new products, I should probably show you some of the great stuff that I get to work with for my other creative teams! Check out these adorable kits by Amanda Kay over at Sunshine Studio Scraps. The previews are clickable.

I haven’t worked with this one yet, but I can’t wait to get the chance!

And here are some of Scrap Shana’s gorgeous kits!

If you’ve been injured through no fault of your own, and you can’t work, how do you pay your bills? With many legal cases taking months or years to be settled, your financial situation could quickly spiral out of control. Law Max can help by providing Pre-Settlement Funding that does not need to be repaid until your case settles.

Heather is having a back to school sale at her shop! You can save 40% on everything in the store through August 23rd. Plus, she has some new products that I’m so excited about! Check them out. All images are clickable.

Are you already thinking about Black Friday 2008 thanksgiving specials? If you know me, you know that I am so not a shopper, but this year I’m actually going to take advantage of the Black Friday deals. I won’t be leaving the house to do it, though. Nope, no leaving the house at 5:00 in the morning to get in line, no mad dash to the items I want. I’ll be doing all of my Black Friday shopping online. Since Kyra is determined to get a Nintendo DS for Christmas this year, I’ll definitely be checking out the Circuit City specials to see if I can get a deal on one. Plus I’m sure that I’ll spend lots of time shopping through the deals at Target and Toys R Us. I’d love a nice camera for Christmas, so I’ll be checking Target, Circuit City, Comp USA, and Best Buy to see if I can find a really good one at a good price. Christmas shopping always turns into such an ordeal for me, I’m really looking forward to getting the bulk of it done right after Thanksgiving! Maybe this year I’ll be able to enjoy more of the Christmas season without worrying about getting my shopping done!

I was really sick last week, but I’m feeling much better now, which is why I haven’t been posting. I’ve been trying to spend lots of time with the girls to make up for practically ignoring them last week. I did spend lots of time scrapping while I was sick, though, so I have lots to share.

First of all, I’ve had a huge shakeup in my creative teams! I really need to get those blinkies in my sidebar updated, because there’s only one that will be staying. I quit the Scrap Scandi Style team and Purple Paper Flowers is closing down, so that team went bye bye. I’m not upset with them, though. They offered to take all of us CT members along to their ’sister site’, but I declined. Instead, I’ve been accepted to join the creative teams for Amanda Kay at Sunshine Studio Scraps and Scrap Shana, who has stores at Been There Scrapped That, Scraphead, Digiscrapaganza, and Bits 2 Kits. Of course I’m still with Heather Manning, and she has some awesome new stuff in her store right now. It was the perfect time for me to get so many new teams, I really needed something to occupy my time last week!

Here are the layouts I’ve gotten done. As always, click on a layout to see credits and links to kits.

This is my most recent one. I used a bunch of stuff by Amanda Kay. Isn’t Kyra just too cute in this picture? I can’t believe I haven’t scrapped it before now, it has always been one of my favorites!

These pictures are of Kyra while she was walking to school the other day. I loved this outfit on her, so I couldn’t resist taking some pictures. This layout was mentioned in the Best of Digital Scrapbooking blog! Isn’t that too cool? Almost everything is from Scrap Shana’s August grab bag.

Remember when Kyra ran into her cousins at the Diamondbacks game? Well, I finally made a LO with one of the pictures!

Here’s a picture of Sophie from my brother’s wedding.

And another LO of Kyra. This is using Karah Fredricks’ new kit.

And finally, here’s my last LO for Scrap Scandi Style. I’m sad to be leaving them, but I feel like the time is right.

Whew!

I’ve never had a Payday Loan, but I once went with a friend of mine to get one. The payday loan store was terrible! It was really crowded, there was no place to sit, and the process took forever. I have no clue if payday loan places are always like that, but if they are, I would avoid them like the plague! That’s what I love about computers. These days you don’t have to go to one of those shady stores and wait forever for your transaction to clear. You can do it all online at paydayloansmania.com. Whether you need a payday loan right now, or you want to find out How Payday Loans Work, you should definitely check them out.

I’ve made several layouts, but I haven’t been posting them. Well, here they all are! As always, click on the layout to see credits and links to kits.

Here are my little fishies.

Can you see the Panda in the background behind Kyra? I added another panda picture to this one just in case.

Here’s my little Miss Personality telling me a story about the Jonas Brothers.

I love this one. I used a kit by Amanda Kay (I’m on her new creative team, yay!) and Danielle Corbitt. You can check out Amanda’s adorable stuff at Sunshinestudioscraps.com

So I already posted a few times about our dog breaking his foot last month. I took him in at 5 weeks to have his foot x-rayed, and they said that he’ll need to keep his splint on for another 2-3 weeks! That x-ray was so expensive, and we’ll have to get another one done before we’re through. We just bought Kyra a bunch of school clothes, she had to have a tooth pulled today (her adult tooth wasn’t pushing it out, not a big deal), my new glasses were not cheap, it just seems like so many things keep coming up lately! Thankfully we haven’t needed one, but I can really see why so many people are looking at Personal Loans these days. When one financial issue after another is thrown at you, sometimes it’s hard to keep up. If you need a personal loan, whether it’s a payday loan, auto loan, loan for bad credit, etc. look no further than personalloansleader.com. You can apply online and quickly get matched to the right lender.

Kyra started the second grade today! She was so excited, she jumped right out of bed this morning and I had to talk her into eating half of her breakfast. One of her friends from last year called her last night, so that made her even more excited to get to school. She couldn’t wait to get there, so we left a little early and ended up standing outside the locked gate for 10 minutes. When she finally got to her classroom, she didn’t even want to go out to the playground. She just wanted to sit at her new desk and talk to her new classmates. Her teacher seems really nice, which is great, Kyra has had awesome luck with teachers so far (not counting one preschool teacher, but Kyra doesn’t remember her, so that’s good). Anyway, here are some pictures of my second grader!

Did I ever mention that I wanted to major in Art History in college? I became interested in art when I was in high school, and by the time I got to college I was set on becoming an art historian. I wanted to work on restorations. Then I found out how long it would take to get to that level and quickly changed my mind, LOL! But I still love fine art and used to really enjoy going to the MFA when we lived in Boston. I’d love to visit the Park West Gallery, or better yet, I’d love to attend one of their affiliate company, Park West at Sea’s, events. These are cruise ship art auctions that are held around the world. I can’t imagine a better travel idea!

Isn’t this just the cutest layout of Sophie? I love this picture of her. The title comes from a Jonas Brothers song, because she is such a huge fan. Click on the layout to see credits and links.

I posted a layout of myself in my new glasses a few weeks ago, but I never said anything about my eye doctor experience. He dilated my eyes to do some test on them, so my vision was so strange that I got a terrible headache afterward. They always do a few tests that aren’t covered by our insurance, so with the exam and glasses, I spent a pretty penny. So then I started thinking about Lasik, but it’s so expensive and inconvenient, with the recovery time involved. But those are pretty bad excuses when you consider the long-term costs and inconvenience involved in eye doctor appointments. So Lasik is looking better and better all the time, especially after reading through the website for LaserVue Eye Center, which offers Lasik in San Francisco. Lasik is definitely becoming more and more of an option for me!

I made my first layout using products by Karah Fredricks! Her stuff is so much fun to use, and I am in love with her shadows! I made this layout using some pictures of Sophie that we took at the San Diego Zoo last year. I can’t believe how much she’s grown! If you want to see credits or links to the kits, click on the layout.

Who isn’t feeling the economic pinch these days? With the cost of gas and groceries going through the roof, it takes some fancy financial footwork to get by from week to week. If something unexpected comes up, there often simply isn’t enough extra money to cover it. That’s when Payday Loans can be lifesavers! At paydayloansmania.com you can quickly and easily apply for a payday loan online, and get approved in as little as an hour! And the best part about this site is that they won’t even ask you about your past credit history! So if you’re looking for fast, friendly service and an easy, quick application process, this is the place for you!

I just started my month-long gig as a guest on Karah Fredricks’ creative team! I’m so excited, I don’t even know where to start! She is a designer at The Digi Chick and has her own site called blueflombingo.com. Her stuff is so cute and fun, and I can’t believe the shadowing on her elements. I don’t usually use pre-shadowed elements, but hers are just so perfect that I may not have a choice! I can’t wait to get some layouts done with her products!

I’m always on the lookout for fun gift ideas. Here’s a good one I found. You can have your photos turned into a custom, machine washable Photo Blanket, duvet cover, shower curtain, pillow, or pillow case. Isn’t that a cute idea? It’s pretty obvious that I have a couple of the cutest photo subjects in the world living right here under my roof, who wouldn’t want their picture on a blanket?

Kyra got her hair chopped off today! It was driving me crazy because her hair is so thick that it gets really tangled when it’s long. So brushing it is an ordeal that can take 20 minutes or more, with lots and lots of crying. I’ve been trying to get her to cut it for a while, but she refused. I guess she finally had enough, though, and let me get it cut today. She loves it! I always think she looks so cute with short hair, so we’re both happy. Here she is posing with Sugar, her Webkinz.

I thought this picture was too funny! It’s my nephew on his toy motorcycle. Get a load of that tattoo on his arm, and of course the fact that he’s not wearing a shirt just adds to the look LOL!

One more picture that I just think is hilarious. I came in from the back yard the other day to find this looking at me! How would you like to wake up to this in the middle of the night? Spooky! Granola has decided that if the cat can sit in the windowsill, he can too!

I remember driving the worst cars through high school and college! They were breaking down constantly, and often there weren’t new parts available. My step-dad did most of the mechanical work for me, but it was up to me to find the parts. Sometimes it took lots of searching to find the right ones. I can only imagine what people go through when they’re trying to find obsolete parts when they’re restoring a vehicle! If you’re looking for a Beetle engine, or any other replacement parts for a Volkswagen or Porsche, be sure to check out BFY Obsolete Parts. They offer a huge inventory of replacement parts so you can find what you’re looking for quickly and easily!

Gabs has decided to close her promotional team. I totally understand, it was becoming way more time-consuming for me than I had expected, and I can imagine that it was taking up a lot more of her time. Instead of completely disbanding the team, she’s come up with a great idea! She is leaving it open for designers to hire us as temporary additions to their CTMs! If a designer has a new kit and they want some extra exposure, they can post it on Gabs’ forum and we can choose whether or not we want to work with the kit. It’s a great way to get a new kit noticed! If you’re a designer who is interested, check out this forum (you’ll have to register first). This is an easy way to get some great scrappers to work with your new release!

Did you know that there’s more to picking the perfect credit card than just finding the lowest APR? Of course finding low interest credit cards is important, but once your credit is established, you can look for more attractive features. Some great features include reward points or cash back credit cards. We currently have a credit card that offers rewards, and I can’t wait to cash in all of our points. I’d love to save up for a vacation, but that’s a lot of points, so we’ll see if that happens. But there are lots of rewards that I can get with the points I already have! But shopping around for the best features can be really time consuming, and who wants to spend so much time filling out credit card applications? There’s a website called iapplyforcreditcards.com that will help you find the right offer. You can get online credit card approval without all of the paperwork. If you want a rewards card, the website will help you find a card that offers the reward you’re looking for, whether it’s gas, hotels, travel, or something else. If you already have high interest cards that you’re having trouble paying off, you can choose to find lower interest balance transfer credit cards.

Sophie has decided that she is one of the Jonas Brothers. For a while they were her brothers, but that changed a couple of days ago. Now she talks in a deep voice (well, deep for a two year old girl) and insists that I call her Kevin. What ever happened to Ariel or Belle? Why Kevin? Leave it to Sophie to skip right over the Disney Princesses and go right to the Disney pop stars!

Kyra has made friends with the girl across the street. I’ll tell ya, I think I need some tactical gear to deal with this kid! She tears through here like a tornado, yelling and making messes wherever she goes. I tell her to stop yelling, but I don’t think she ever realizes she’s doing it, because she doesn’t stop. She gets all of the kids riled up, and even though Kyra and Sophie know better, they start yelling too! It’s crazy around here this summer. Thank goodness school starts in a few weeks, I don’t know if I can handle much more of this!

Gina Marie Huff at Weeds and Wildflowers has a new collection called Delightful. I fought the urge to buy it for days, but finally I decided I just had to have it! I finally bought it today, and it’s awesome. I won’t tell you how much I paid for it, but I will say that I’m hoping to scrap at least 5 pages with it to get my money’s worth, LOL! So I put together this layout today with the kit, and I think it’s soooo cute. This picture is of Kyra when we went to Lego Land a few years ago. I was sitting right behind her, but she looked so much cuter by herself, so I edited myself out of it.

I really do love being a stay at home mom! Just a few years ago, we didn’t think it would ever be possible for me to quit working. We had huge credit card debts, a home equity loan, and car payment that were making my paycheck an absolute necessity. Then Andy looked into Debt consolidation. Specifically, he looked into the possibility of refinancing our mortgage and using the equity to pay off all of our other debts. We have really great credit, so we were able to refinance at a really good interest rate. He found out that, by rolling all of our payments into our mortgage, we would save enough for me to stop working! Of course we are taking a risk, because by extending the repayment of our debts we could end up paying much more in the long run, but we intend to sell the house in the next few years anyway, so the debts will be paid off then. If you’re having financial problems, remember that there are solutions out there. You just have to find the right one for you. At bills.com you can take the BillsIQ test to find out your financial health, and see what resources are available to help you get out of your financial nightmare.

I’ve been slacking on the blog lately because we’ve been so busy watching the Tour de France. It was awesome this year! I was a little worried after 3 riders were arrested for doping, especially since the third one was wearing the King of the Mountains jersey and had won 2 stages. But thankfully he was the last man to get kicked out of the tour, and it ended really well!

We’ve also been busy shopping for school clothes. We’re finally done with that, and Kyra is really happy. School starts in just a few weeks, but I think we’re ready.

Be sure to check out Gabs’ blog for this week’s featured designer! While you’re there, be sure to subscribe to her blog. She has an awesome freebie coming up that you don’t want to miss, and her posts are always so much fun to see! This week’s featured designer is miranda scrapdesign, and here’s the layout I made with her gorgeous kit Lazy Days of Summer. I made this for the Scraplifted Daisies challenge at Purple Paper Flowers. They have tons of great challenges, be sure to check them out!

I also made this cute little layout of Sophie in her fairy costume. I used the kit Land of Make Believe by Dawn Inskip at Scrap Scandi Style. Doesn’t it go perfectly with Sophie’s outfit? As always, click on the layouts to see full credits and links to the kits.

And I made this one using the Birds of a Feather kit by Connie Prince at Purple Paper Flowers. I just love the look on Sophie’s face.

And did you notice my new Maren blinkie? Isn’t it too cute? If you haven’t checked out Maren’s story yet, click on her blinkie in the sidebar. You can also see who created it for me! She makes awesome custom blinkies, so if you need one made, be sure to check her out!

I don’t have much time to post this morning, I have to go wake up the girls soon so Kyra can get to VBS. Just a couple of quick layouts first.

ScrapShana is the featured designer on Gabs’ blog this week. I really loved working with her kit, La Bella Natura. It was awesome! And while you’re at Gabs’ blog, scroll down a bit and check me out! My animated page suffered a bit in the transfer, but it will be easy to spot! Here’s the layout I made with the kit. As always, all layouts are clickable if you want to see the credits or links to kits.

I also made this layout using the fabulous Hush kit by Dawn Inskip at Scrap Scandi Style. You’re not tired of seeing pictures from Bryce Canyon yet, are you?

And I just love this page. It was made with the Birds of a Feather kit by Connie Prince at Purple Paper Flowers. Aren’t those birds too cute? This is my nephew playing at our house on Memorial Day.

Okay, off to wake the kids.

Andy and I were sound asleep last night when Granola started barking like crazy. He only barks at night if there’s a storm, so we knew something was up. Andy jumped out of bed and went into the living room to see what was going on. He got Granola calmed down, then came back to our room. As soon as he got there, our doorbell rang and Granola started barking again. Andy threw on some clothes and said something about helicopters and cars all around our house, then went to see what was going on.

I was FREAKING OUT! It seemed like I was laying there in the dark forever waiting for him to get back. He finally came back and said that it was a cop at the door. Some guy was arrested in our backyard!!! We didn’t even hear it!

We have no clue what the guy did or how he got into our yard, but everything looks perfectly normal this morning. If it weren’t for Granola barking and the cop at the door, we would never have even known anything happened!

And of course the girls slept through the whole thing. We’re not going to say anything at all to them. That would have given me nightmares for weeks when I was 7! So if you know us personally, please don’t say anything about this in front of the kids!

Okay, on to less scary topics. How about some layouts?

In case you haven’t seen it yet, ikscrap is the featured designer this week on Gabs’ blog. I got to work with her awesome kit, Music Was My First Love. Here’s another layout I made with it. I’m thinking of re-doing the journaling, I forgot the mention that it wasn’t possible for us to get the piano into working condition. Maybe I’ll have my mother in law help me with the journaling, she knew the piano better than I did. Click on the layout to see the credits.

I also did this layout for the Purple Paper Flowers Template Challenge. I used the Fuzzy Slippers kit by Amanda Geils at PPF. Click on the layout to see credits and links to the kit.

And I have one more layout. I used the Freedom Rocks kit by Sherri Tierney for this one.

It really is a happy Monday around here! After poor Granola battled a stomach problem for most of last week, and having the vet on Monday tell us to just wait and see, we took him back to the vet on Saturday. They changed his bandage and said that his foot is looking really good! Yay! They also said that he had a bacterial infection, which accounted for all of the intestinal issues. He was starting to feel better by then, so obviously he was doing an okay job of fighting it on his own, but they gave us some medicine to help him out. Wow, does he hate that stuff! It’s really funny to watch him try to get the bad taste out of his mouth. But he’s pretty much back to his old self now, minus almost a pound of weight that he lost being sick. Since he only started out weighing 6lbs. 4oz. that’s a pretty dramatic weight loss! He’s looking even scrawnier than he did before, but I’m sure he’ll put it back on soon.

Okay, enough about my dog. How about some layouts?

This first one is using the kit that is being featured on Gabs’ blog this week. It’s called Music Was My First Love by ikscrap, and her 3-D rooms are a lot of fun to use! The full credits and links are available here. For this layout, I used a picture of Kyra when she was about 8 months old, and a picture of Sophie at about 13 months. It’s kind of fun making a layout where Sophie looks older than Kyra, LOL!

Last week I told you about my new gig as a CT member for Purple Paper Flowers. Well, I’ve finished my first two layouts for them, and let me tell you, there is a LOT of fabulous stuff to choose from over there!

The first one is of Kyra while we were waiting for the 4th of July fireworks to start. I was thrilled to find out that it was posted in the Gallery Standouts at DST! I used an awesome kit called Freedom Rocks by Sherri Tierney. Click on the layout for full credits and a link to the kit.

For this layout, I couldn’t decide which recent picture of Kyra I wanted to use, so I decided to just use them all! I used the fabulous Fuzzy Slippers kit by Amanda Geils. Click on the layout for full credits and a link.

One more layout today, then I’ll stop bugging you LOL! This is a picture of Kyra and Sophie during one of our hikes while we were on vacation in Utah. I love this picture of them just sitting next to each other. I used the gorgeous kit Viva by Monica Larsen at SSS (I haven’t forgotten about my ScrapScandiStyle CT!). Click on the layout to find the full credits and a link to the kit.

This has been a BUSY week with a lot going on, so bear with me! I’ve been meaning to update the blog, but the situation with Granola just keeps sidetracking me. I won’t go into all of the gory details, but I’ll just say that a dog with a bandaged foot should never get diarrhea. Not pretty. After four days of it, I’m not a happy pet mommy. But on the bright side, I’m getting really good at giving doggy sponge baths!

Since I’ve been such a slacker this week, there’s a lot of scrap stuff for me to catch up on. First of all, I’ve been accepted to a new creative team!!! I’m now scrapping for Purple Paper Flowers! If you’ve never checked out this site, you need to! There are lots of awesome designers and very friendly people. Unfortunately, since I don’t have time for more than 4 creative teams, I had to quit AnnaDdesigns.

If you haven’t entered a layout in Heather Manning’s CT blog challenge yet, you really need to! Everyone who enters will get Heather’s awesome Some Gave All alpha. It’s a font challenge, so it’s super easy! Check it out here.

I made another layout with the fabulous new Balance is Beautiful kit by Dawn Inskip. If you haven’t checked it out yet, it’s the kit that’s being featured on Gabs’ blog this week. This kit is just packed with Dawn’s awesome doodles in black and white, so they’re super easy to recolor if you want! The popout is a picture of me and the girls sitting at the edge of Bryce Canyon, and the big photo is a different picture of the canyon.

I also made this layout with the fabulous Some Gave All kit by Heather Manning. See the little red, white, and blue 2008 on there? That’s the alpha you’ll get by participating in Heather’s CT blog challenge! Did I already post this one? Oh well, it’s cute so it won’t hurt to see it again. We took these pictures of Sophie while we were waiting for fireworks on the 4th. It was so windy that night!

It’s Monday, and you know what that means! Gabs’s team is unveiling a brand new kit today! This week’s kit is the gorgeous Balance is Beautiful by Dawn Inskip. I love Dawn’s stuff, it’s always so unique and beautiful, and this kit is no exception. I think it’s awesome how she uses black and white with just little bits of color. Check it out!

Isn’t that great?!?! And here is the layout I made with this kit. It was so much fun to use! I can’t wait to make another layout with it, there is so much in there!

…and guess what else? I’m going to be published! This layout is going to be in the July issue of Scrapbook News and Review! I’ve never been published before, so I’m very excited! And isn’t it such a coincidence that this layout is using tons of Dawn Inskip’s products? You can find the complete credits here.

On the 4th of July every year, they have a big celebration at the Peoria Sports Complex. This year they were supposed to have bouncers and huge slides for the kids to play on, so we went there on Friday so the kids could play then we could watch fireworks. Unfortunately, the wind was so bad that they had already deflated all of the big toys before we got there. It was okay, though. We parked ourselves in the outfield of one of the baseball fields and just let the kids run. They had a blast! We stayed for the fireworks, which were great. It was a really nice time, so I think we may have found our new July 4th activity. I made this layout of Sophie using Heather Manning’s awesome new kit Some Gave All. Be sure to check out Heather’s store, because she has info about how to get the matching alpha and add-on for free!

Then on Saturday we went to Gramee’s house for swimming and dinner. Andy and I had a lot of fun in the pool with our kids and my niece and nephew, then the kids played so well in Gramee’s house. I’m so happy that my kids are finally getting pretty independent, it’s so nice to be able to talk to adults and not worry about whether or not Sophie is playing in the toilet or putting small toys in her mouth!

I have another layout to show you. I’m absolutely in love with this one! I used a page tear by ON Designs and the kit is by Jeann Jeann G Design.