A Special Birthday Blog Hop!

That's right! Today is a very special day! Bella Blvd owner, Stephanie Hunt is having a birthday today!! Here's a little card I made for her with some super fun Bella Blvd. products:



So, Happy Birthday Stephanie! I hope you have a super fantastic day!!!

Even thought it's Stephanie's birthday, we have some gifts for a few of you lucky readers as well! We know how generous and giving Stephanie is, and we know she would never have a fun blog hop, without a few giveaways up for grabs too. So we got permission from Robin, who works alongside Stephanie in the office, to pick TEN lucky winners, who will each receive a Bella Blvd collection. All you need to do to be entered in the random drawings, is to leave Stephanie your birthday wishes in the comment section. You have lots of opportunities to up your chances, since you can leave a comment on each blog you visit, as you go through the blog hop. There are 26 blogs, plus the Bella Blvd blog, for a total of 27 chances to get your name in the pot. We will randomly choose winners, from 10 randomly choosen blogs, and announce them on Friday!

And, if this is your first stop of the morning, be sure to head over to the Bella Blog and start the hop from the beginning. If you're coming here from Suzanne's blog, then your next stop is the super talented Melissa Stinson! Be sure to hop over and leave Steph a little birthday love on the Bella Blog!!

Some Bella Blvd. Love

I have been having a blast playing with the collections from Bella Blvd!! All this week they have been showing off projects with the 2 brand new collections Spring Flings and Easter Things and Winter Wonder. Here are a couple of peeks at 2 of my layouts done with these lines!





To see the entire layouts, be sure to stop by the Bella Blog today!!!

I also played around with the Too Cute to Spook line...so whimsical and perfect for these pictures of my little Yoda from last year!





We're getting ready for lots of fun Halloween festivities over the next few days...my favorite time of the year!! Hope everyone has an amazing holiday!!!

New Bella Blvd. Starts Shipping Today!!!

Today is the big day! The Bella office is all a buzz, with our NEW Mid-Release collections starting to ship out to your favorite LSS's and online retailors! You will want to pick these up as soon as you see them, since they are limited edition collections. Once they're gone, they're gone.

Be sure to stop in at the Bella Blog...the design team has been working hard with these new lines and they will be showcased all week long!!

Fall is such a busy time of year for us, but one of our favorite things to do is going to the pumpkin patch! Miles especially had fun this year since he could walk around and pick out his own pumpkin! He actually spent most of his time with a pumpkin stem that he found on the ground. He walked around tapping every pumpkin he came to with it.






I'll also be teaching my next class at Chasing Rainbows in Independence on November 5th. We'll be doing 3 seasonal layouts...just bring yourself and your basic supplies! Here are the layouts we'll be doing:





Super fun stuff! I'll be working hard this week making some goodies with the new Bella lines...look for my layouts on the Bella Blog on Thursday!!

Have a fantastic day!

Bella Blvd's New Mid-Releases!!

Ohh, I have some awesome fun to share with you today! Bella is showing their new mid-releases today on their blog! I got to see them a few days ago and I have been IN LOVE! I can't wait to get these amazing lines in my hot little hands!

The first line is called Winter Wonder. You can see the entire line HERE, but here are 3 of my favorite patterns:







The second release is called Spring Flings and Easter Things...SO stinkin cute! And the chevron patterns...ohhhh the chevron patterns! I have a bit of an obsession with those right now and these 2 lines delivered! You can see this entire line HERE and here are 3 of my favorite patterns from this line:







And, if you stop by the Bella Blog today, there's also a fantabulous giveaway! You could win $100 in Bella product INCLUDING these amazing new releases! These releases are limited edition and once they are gone, they're gone! They start shipping out in just a few weeks!!

A Fun Weekend!

I've become a bit of a concert addict in the last year and a half and luckily my sweet hubby indulges me. He won't go with me because we have totally different taste in music, but luckily my good friend and neighbor loves rock/metal music just as much as me! We headed down to Tulsa Friday night for the Carnival of Madness tour...some of my favorite bands were playing! I've come to love the smaller venue concerts rather than the large arenas...it's so much more intimate and there really aren't any bad seats...or bad standing areas in Friday night's case. I swore I would never go to a concert where there was standing room only, but there we were...standing for 5 and a half hours, rocking to some amazing music! It was fun! And my feet didn't hurt too bad the next day :) The lineup included Emphatic (which I had never heard of before, but they were really good!), Adelitas Way (love!!), Black Stone Cherry (love!), Alter Bridge (love, love, LOVE!), and headlining was Theory of a Deadman. It was an amazing night, but I'm still trying to catch up on sleep from that night!









Aaaand a crafty project to share! I did this layout using mostly Studio Calico products.









And in other news, there's an awesome giveaway on the Bella Blog today along with some amazing card inspirations! So stop by and leave a comment for your chance to win some awesome Unity Stamps!!

Some Super Exciting News!!

Holy heck!! Yes, that's my name on there! In the midst of some really amazing designers! I am thrilled and honored to have been chosen to work for such an amazing company. I have been a fan from the start and am so excited to see what's to come! Congrats to all the new Bella Artista's! I can't wait to work with all of you!! Thank you Stephanie and Laura for this fantastic opportunity!!

And now I get to share one of my DT submissions! This was created using one of Bella's older fall lines called One Fall Day. I just love the vibrant colors and fun patterns!! And the picture of 2 of my guys sure makes it even sweeter!



Thanks for letting me share my excitement! I will be sharing lots of fun new Bella projects soon! Be sure to stop by the Bella Blog for so much more inspiration!!

A 2 Page Layout? Me? Why yes, I Did!

Any of my scrapping friends know that I don't do 2 page layouts...I just have such a hard time with them for some reason, but some events just have so many pictures that it needs more space. I decided to push back my fears and give it a go yesterday...These photos are from over 6 years ago! That's how long I have been putting this layout off! Zoo pictures...and I have a thousand more since then...I struggled with it, but I really like how it turned out. I used the zoo papers/embellishments from the Bo Bunny Zoology collection along with some new Jillibean Soup kraft tags. This layout will be up at the store if you want a closer look!



I'm so ready for fall...and this week is going to deliver with highs only in the 60's in a few days! I love the cooler temps, I love the gorgeous colors, Halloween, Thanksgiving....it's my all time favorite season! It also makes me want to get out fall photos and get them in my album. For this layout I used a mix of some MME Lost and Found papers, Echo Park Apothecary (the orange polka dot), MME Mischievous brads, Jillibean Soup label stickers, and Studio Calico wood stars.



Some fun things happening this week, so be sure to check back soon!!

Turning Old to New

I have such grand ideas for redecorating my home (thanks in part to Pinterest), but a very small budget to do anything right now. So I have decided I'll have to do some repurposing. My favorite thing right now? Glossy white spray paint! It can take almost anything with a dated feel and turn it into something fun and fresh! Here are a couple of things I did last week and I love how it turned out!

The owl (a long time obsession of mine) was my grandmothers. It has sentimental value to me, but doesn't go with my vision for my home at all. The chicken...well...for a time I had a rooster/chicken themed kitchen...again, my tastes have changed and I prefer not to have any sort of actual themes anymore. But, with a little facelift, I think it can still fit into my mish mash style.

Before:


After:


It's amazing what a coat of white paint can do! (I also found another one of my grandma's owls to add to my collection) So, before you toss stuff away, think about it! Try it! Although, I warn you, now I am looking for anything else in my home to spray paint...it's a bit addicting! lol

In other news, the heat has finally gone here in Kansas! The temps have been anywhere from the upper 40's and low 50's in the mornings to perfect 70's and 80's in the afternoons! We have spent so much time outside this last week! This is what my boys have been doing:



Tate...he's obsessed with blocks and building everything he can imagine lately...maybe he'll grow up to be an architect? :)



Miles...my sweet, silly Miles. This is his laugh...he wrinkles his nose and he snorts...Love. It.



And of course, I can't let you all off without some bit of scrappy goodness! This is another school layout...1 of 3 that I will be teaching at the scrapbook store this Saturday. If you're local, there are a couple of spots left last I checked! I lifted the idea of listing the books he read from my friend Laura Vegas. If you scroll down a bit on her blog, you can see her layout!

First Day, First Grade...

School started today...a day of mixed emotions for me. My Tate is now officially a 1st grader! I know he will do amazing and make us proud...we love him so much! But now I don't have as much noise in the afternoons...keeping the boys from fighting, listening to "Mom! He took the toy I wanted to play with!", "Mom! Miles hit me!"...it's going to be a little quieter, although Miles will still keep me on my toes, I have no doubt! First day pictures are a must...I couldn't choose just 1 or 2 favorites, so you will get several...Miles wasn't being very cooperative for a good shot of the both of them, but the pictures are true to the boys they captured...and I like that :)













And, in honor of the first day of school...how about a school layout? I finally got the first day of Kindergarten scrapped last night...a little behind, I know. (Although, I still havn't even done pre-school yet either!) I just love these fun papers from Imaginisce. And the little canvas stickers are fun!



I also went to CKC in Tulsa last weekend...Creating Keepsakes Convention for you non-scrappers...yes, us crazy scrapbookers even have our own conventions! There are lots of classes offered, which I don't generally take...I go for the shopping, which I have to say was a bit disappointing this year. There was one booth that REALLY saved it for me...I was walking around, not finding much to spend my money on when I turned a corner...and there was a big sign sticking up from behind another booth...the words written on it were "Studio Calico." Bestill my heart!...this was new! One of my favorite manufacturers had a booth?? So I made a beeline and new the bulk of my money would be gone. They had some amazing sales and even had the brand new lines there! I picked up a bit of everything...kicking myself now though for not buying some of the new Mister Huey's though...but here was my SC haul:



And here is the rest of what I bought...nothing compared the amounts of stuff purchased in previous years, but I've gotten a bit more picky in recent years and I'm sure my wallet (and hubby) appreciate that! I'm a bit obsessed with label stickers lately, so I found quite a few that I had been looking for!



In a few days I'll post another project (non scrappy) that I've been working on and hopefully more layouts as well! Have a fantastic week!

Summer Days...

Here in Kansas, we've had a pretty hot and dry summer. Lots of temps at 100+...makes me not want to be outside at all and I sure can't keep the boys out in it either. It makes for some pretty bored kids! The last couple of weeks have been loads better though...we even had some 70-80 degree weather and I took full advantage of it! The boys and I have spent a lot of afternoons outside playing and I've even retired my dryer for the clothes line. The smell of clothes dried on the line makes me happy!



I even had a little "helper"--if you call throwing out the clothes I've folded and put in the basket "helping"...but I guess you have to start somewhere!



I've also been doing more scrapbooking the last few weeks! Hooray for being crafty! And tomorrow I'm headed to CKC Tulsa for some scrapbook shopping...hoping they have some of the new stuff that just came out!

Here's a layout I did for the store using the super adorable October Afternoon Rocket Age line.





And another one for the store using the Splash collection by Echo Park...clean graphic designs...love their stuff!





Been working on some other crafty projects! Will share those and my CKC finds soon! Have a great week!