Hunter's Cake and Template Freebie

Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day yesterday. :)

Last weekend we went camping for Hunter's birthday. Man, what a wet weekend it was, too. :P By the time we came home on Sun we no longer had a black & white Shih Tzu. Instead we had a black one. :O Thankfully on Saturday when we had Hunter's birthday party with his friends it was dry until it got dark. We had the pleasure of setting up and taking down in the rain, too. lol. Unfortunately with all that rain that meant no sitting around the campfire at night too. Good thing we had packed games in the campers to play instead. The kids had a great time as usual, though, so it was all good. :)

For Hunter's birthday we decided to go with a Super Mario Bros. theme. I made funfetti cupcakes with red, green and blue frosting for his party with his friends and a funfetti cake for his family party. The decorations on his cake took me quite a while to make, but I have to say I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out. Everything on it was edible except for the Mario figurine on the top.











This week I'm thinking about trying a strawberry lemonade cake and cupcakes. I found a recipe that sounds pretty good and it's a flavor Lisa would like to try for her wedding. So I'm going to give it ago. Will try to remember to take pictures so I can post them here. :)

I'm hosting the Tuesday Template challenge at ScrapMatters today. :) You can snag this free template from me in this thread. Since it's the end of May, you have until the end of June to get a page completed!



Here is the page I created using The Design Girl's Fairytale and Erica Zane's If You Give a Girl a Castle that inspired the template.



It's been a fairly productive month scrapwise for me, too. Here are some of the other pages I managed to scrap. :)


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I've got some fun things I've been working on the last couple weeks, hopefully if all goes well I can show them to you soon. :) Until next time...

Happy Scrapping!

New look

As you can see I've been busy changing up my blog this week. :) I figured it was long overdue. Make sure to keep checking back in the next couple weeks because there will be a lot of exciting things happening around here.

I figured while I'm at it I would share a few of my recent layouts with you. This first one has to have one of the longest credits list I have had recently. ScrapMatters started a new thing this month called Mix A Kit. All the designers worked with the same color swatch and came out with all these awesome products. This month's color palette was so pretty! It was so hard to choose just a few to work with so I decided to go ahead and see how many I could possibly fit on my layout. lol. ;) I think I managed to use 12 different items. Can't wait to see what they come up with next month.


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Until next time...
Happy Scrapping!

September has been another busy month around our house. (Actually what month isn't busy. lol.) The kids are getting into the school routine and Kailee and I are getting used to it, too. Michaella's activities are in full swing. This year besides dance Michaella has decided to give volleyball a try. She did it for a week this summer and really enjoyed it so when the opportunity came this fall for her to do it again she jumped at the chance. So two days a week afterschool she has practice. One day it's just the fifth graders and the other day the sixth graders join them. They are going to have 2 games against a neighboring town. Michaella is pretty excited about it. She is also in dance again this year. This too is with the sixth graders, though, their dance teacher is talking about splitting them up again since the class is so large. She seems to be enjoying dance much more this year, also. When volleyball is done for Michaella we have a couple weeks before Hunter starts basketball practice. All of this makes for never a dull moment around here.

Last Friday was my anniversary. We decided to take the kids to a large county fair about an hour from here on Saturday. It was so cold and wet. Definitely not the greatest fair going weather. We got there around 1:30 and headed straight for the commercial buildings to get out of the rain. Apparently everyone had the same idea because those buildings were packed. Thankfully the rain finally quit by the time we were finishing up the last building. The temperature didn't get much warmer, but at least we weren't getting wet while we walked around the rest of it. For Christmas last year Paul got a gift certificate for a hotel about 20 minutes from the fair, so we decided that it would be a great time to use that, too. We got a 2 bedroom suite and it was so nice. The kids even got some time in the pool when we got to the hotel that night. I really liked that the kids had their own room, so they could go to sleep but Paul and I could still stay up for a while.

My scrapping mojo apparently is still on vacation. I so wish it would hurry up and come back. I sure miss it. I did manage to get a couple layouts done the last couple weeks though.


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Andilynn Designs has a great freebie up on her blog today that coordinates with Forget-Me-Not.



You can download it here.

Summer officially ended for my kids 2 weeks ago. If felt so strange sending them back to school in August. But I'm really looking forward to them getting out of school in May instead of June. So far school has been going great for both of them and they both like their teachers. I can't believe this is Michaella's last year in elementary and next year I'll have a middle schooler. AHHH!!! :O lol. Kailee and I have already gotten settled back into our routine. I think that is one of the things I look forward to the most about school starting. Finally getting some what of a normal routine back, especially this year. The entire month of August was kind of crazy around here. I only had one or two of the kids at home at a time the entire month.

My scrapping mojo decided to take a vacation in August without me. I hardly scrapped a single page the entire month. :( The last few days though it has started showing signs that it might have finally returned. I have made more pages this last week than I did the entire month of August. :)

Andilynn Designs has another beautiful kit in the store today called Rosalie. The colors in this kit are so pretty! There is also coordinating wordart and clusters, too. Here is a page I made using the kit. The pictures are from our trip to Walt Disney World in 2005. We met Sleeping Beauty and Prince Phillip during Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party, so the kids were dresssed up in their costumes. Andilynn has also made a Quick Page Freebie for you using Rosalie. You can grab it here.



I have officially started my term on the ScrapMatter's Creative Team. Oh yeah I forgot to mention that didn't I. :) In August they had a short CT call and I made it as a permanent member now! I'm so excited to be a member of such an awesome team.

I had a chance to work with Haynay Designs fun new My Magical Place Bundle and Erica Zane's great new Wave the Date. I used them to scrap our pictures from Chef Mickey's.



ScrapMatters is also looking for some more people to join us ScrapMatters Girls! I ablsolutely love being a ScrapMatters Girl. We have such a great time. I can't wait to see who is going to be joining us. You still have a week to get your applications in if you have applied yet. So what are you waiting for? Hurry and get your application in. :)



Until next time...Happy Scrapping!

Scrap Matters is experiencing some technical difficulty due to the recent server move and is currently down. I'm going through withdrawal! I never realized how much time I spend there until it is down. Hopefully it is up and running again very soon.

Tonight Paul and I are headed to his 15th class reunion. It should be interesting. So far the last I heard most of the people I talk to that he graduated with aren't going to be there. It will be nice to have a night without the kids though. We'll actually get to sleep in if we need to on Sunday. lol.

The kids are finally getting a chance to ride with Paul in the truck this summer. On Monday night, Paul made it through town so we met him up at the shop so Michaella could go with him. Hunter was counting down the days until he came home and he gets to go with him. I think that this is one of their highlights of summertime-spending alone time with their daddy. They talk about it the entire year.

On Monday Kailee had her 18 month checkup. Her Dr. confirmed that she is probably allergic to peanuts and prescribed an epi-pen for her. He also said we should have have Benadryl with us all the time, too. Her reaction to them got worse than it ever has this past weekend. Her eyes started swelling shut. Normally she would just get a rash. We have had a feeling that she was allergic since Jan, so we have been really trying to make sure we avoid them around her as much as possible. Now we just have to make sure that everyone else she is around her knows can't have them.

So while it's down I'll show you some of the other layouts I made this month during my guest spot. lol.

First up is a page using Andilynn's newest kit, Festiva.


Check out this fun new kit by Trixie Scraps & Bella Gypsy called Saffron Blues.


So these pictures are about a year after the pictures in the previous page. Can you believe how much she has changed? I know I sure can't. When I seen I Scream, You Scream by The Design Girl, I just knew I had to use it to scrap these pictures.


This page is actually scrapped with pictures that I took during our weekend in the Twin Cities. I just love Haynay's Love My Doll and Love My Baby kits. They were just perfect to scrap this special moment. She is already wanting to be like her big sister. lol.



On Saturday that weekend we went to the Como Zoo. I'm the first to admit that I'm a shutterbug. lol. I took over 60(!) picture of this little guy! He was just being too cute. Someone had dropped a plastic cup in their enclosure and this baby orangutan was so interested in it. I used Boys in my Backyard by Stolen Moments & Stacy's Backdoor Scraps.



Also went through the conservatory there. These pictures are from the Japanese Garden. It was about ready to start raining while I was checking it out. This page uses Spring Whisper by LDrag Designs.



Sunday it was time for Valleyfair! Thoroughly Amused by Haynay Designs & Plum Dumpling Designs was the perfect kit to scrap these pictures of Paul & Michaella going on the Corkscrew for the 3rd time in a row!



These cute little guys are in the courtyard in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle. I used Forest Friends by Erica Zane. Love those cute little critters in that kit.



Yep, finally getting a couple more pages scrapped of our vacation to California in 2007. lol. I guess I'm trying to draw it out until we make it back to Disney again. These pictures are from Sea World. I used Bella Gypsy's At the Dropoff Value Bundle.



Love scrapping my Disney pictures & sometimes some of them just call to be scrapped more than once. I already have this picture scrapped and in my FINISHED Disney World album, but Sahlin Studio's Innovation kit was just calling for me to re-scrap it digitally.



One last one for today. :) This one uses Celebrate (bold) by Chelle's Creations. It has such fun birthday elements.



Can't wait for Scrap Matters to be up and running again so you can all see the awesome new releases that the great designers have coming out this week.

Well it's just the kids and I again this weekend. Paul got unloaded in Kansas on Friday and the truck decided to spring an oil leak. grrrr. So he is unfortunately stuck out there until at least Monday. Hopefully the part he needs gets there then and he can get moving again. (anyone looking for a truck? I have one I'm looking to get rid of. ;) )

I picked up Michaella's Girl Scout cookies on Friday. So far I have been very good and they are still closed. But boy are they calling my name from the cupboard. lol. :) I'm thinking this is going to be her last year in Girl Scouts so I really have to make those cookies last. They have the meeting on Saturday mornings and she has probably only been able to make to about 3 of them so far this year. Paul thinks we should put them in 4-H, so that they both are involved and we don't have to worry about a ton of different meetings for various activities then. He was in 4-H when he was younger, so he says he can help them with their projects. (The catch is he would have to have time when he is home to actually do that though.) We have a couple more months to decide what we are going to do.

Well Michaella's dance performance went fine on Saturday morning, even though about half of her class wasn't there. (neither was the teacher, for that fact.) They did a good job of improvising where they needed to. I received a call from my mother-in-law at 1:00 that afternoon wondering were everyone was. I didn't think to call and tell her that the time had changed for when they dance, so she went by the time that was printed in the paper and all the advertisements. (normally she has a tendency to forget about it and not show up.)

Just found out this afternoon that school is starting early next year. In the state of Minnesota, schools are not allowed to start before Labor Day. Well last year our school along with 20 other ones in the area petitioned the state to start what is called a "flexible learning schedule". The state made it sounds like they were going to approve it then, so the schools all went ahead and made a school calendar with that start date and sent the new schedule home at the end of the school year. They were supposed to find out in May or so if it didn't go through. In the middle of June, they suddenly we told that it wasn't going to be allowed. So they all decided to try again this year, and it finally got approved. So that means my kids now start school on Aug. 23 instead of Sept. 7. That also means that we should get out before June though, too. (I'm kind of excited about that. :) ) It also puts our schools more in line with the area schools in Iowa and South Dakota. Hopefully it also means they will be able to build a couple snow days into the calendar again next year, unlike this year.

I forgot to mention who I'm going to be guest CT'ing for in my last post. The official announcement was made earlier this week in the Scrap Matters forum. :) I'll be doing a one kit guest CT for Man in the Moon Designs! I'm so excited! I have loved her designs since the Design Star contest last year. One of her recent kits is being used for the Quick Page Exchange. (for details on that see a couple post below. :) )

Andilynn Designs has two great new products out this week, Fair are the Meadows and Facts Matter Vol. 1. I just love the colors in Fair are the Meadows. They feel so springy. Here is one of the layouts I've made using these awesome products. She also has a great freebie up on her blog until the 18th to go with this.

Well that is all for now. :) Until next time, Happy Scrapping! :)

Big Sale at Scrap Matters

What a weekend we had. It started with Hunter staying home from school on Friday because his stomach hurt. I'm pretty sure that was just because he was overly tired, though. The kids started their extended school day on Monday to help get rid of 3 snow days. That means they get on the bus shortly after 7 and don't get home now until a little after 4. By Wed I could really see the effects it was having on them, so Thur they were in bed by 7 already. I get to look forward to one more month of this, but I guess it's better than having to go the second week of June. They lost on vacation day in April (teacher inservice) and the school year did extend by one day. Now just have to keep our fingers crossed that we don't have anymore snow days. Anyway on Saturday the kids went to my parents while Paul and I went in to get our taxes done (yuck :P). When we were done I went to my parents to have supper there because they were having my grandma over to celebrate her birthday with her while Brian was home. Paul had to come back to town to work on the truck and trailer, so he could leave on Sunday. Just as we sat down to eat, Hunter got sick. :( He went and laid down on the couch and fell asleep, so I waited to go home until he woke up again. Seemed like it was going to be a one time thing.

Unfortunately that wasn't the case. At 3 am I woke up to Michaella standing next to me telling me she threw up on the steps. I quickly sent her to the bathroom. Got the steps cleaned up and went to check on her only to find out I had to clean the bathroom, too. When everything was cleaned up Michaella said she was feeling better, so sent her back up to bed with a bucket. Not more than 10 minutes after I got back into bed Kailee woke up. And you guessed it she had thrown up, too. This time I made Paul get up, too, and help me. Got her, the crib and carpet cleaned up. Got back into bed and within minutes she did it again. Thankfully most of it was on her blanket, so it didn't take much to clean it up. Again got it cleaned up and into bed only to hear both Michaella and Hunter upstairs starting again. :O Moved them downstairs to the floor with buckets. Michaella & Kailee ended up getting sick one more time before we were finally able to call it a night. By Sunday morning, Hunter and Kailee were feeling much better, but Michaella was still feeling pretty icky. They all pretty much just laid around on the floor and couch all day. Even got all 3 of them to take a 2 1/2 hour nap. Today seems to be much better. I'm so glad this was a weekend that Paul was home because it would not have been much fun taking care of all that on my own. Not that it was fun doing it with him, but it would have been worse.

Since the last time I posted I got a couple new CT spots! Woohoo! :) First I'm now a member of Sya's Blueprints CT. Love her templates! Make sure to check them and her great collab kits out at Scrap Matters. Speaking of Scrap Matters...I got a guest spot on the CT for July!!! I can't wait! I told Paul he had to take all the kids in the truck for the month, so I could spend the entire month scrapping. lol. Unfortunately he didn't quite go for the idea. ;) I also got a one kit guest spot for another great designer at Scrap Matter, but I have to wait a little bit to tell you who that is since the official announcement hasn't been posted yet.

Have you seen the awesome date elements that Andilynn Designs has put out recently? They are so neat. Check out Dates Matter Vol. 3 on my layout below. The square comes in 3 different variations and each section is customizable. Love the fact that you can thrown a little bit of journaling on it. If you want a chance to win it make sure to head over to Andilynn's blog and post a comment. The kit I used on it is Trixie Scraps' new collab with Madame Wing, Daisy Crazy. Aren't the colors of the kit just absolutely cheery and so full of spring fun? (which I am so ready for :) ) It was so much fun to work with.

So much fun stuff going on over at Scrap Matters this week! First up is the HUGE clearance sale going on. Make sure to stop by the shop and check it out. Many of the designers have items at 50-60% off! Below are Trixie Scraps' and Sya's Blueprints' ads. If there is anything there you want make sure to grab it now because on March 14 they will be gone forever.



Today is also the start on another great Quick Page Exchange. This month we get to use the adorable kit So Big by Man in the Moon Designs. It's perfect since I have so many of Kailee's baby pictures to scrap yet. They say that the more kids you have the less pictures you take. I know that is definitely not the case here. lol. I have way more pictures of Kailee than the other two combined probably. The joys of having a digital camera. :) I can just keep taking pictures and not have to worry about the cost of having to print them all.

And last but definitely not the least in any way, make sure you make your way over to the Scrap Matters forums on Thurs night to participate in the great speed scrap being hosted by the wonderful Tracy of Trixie Scraps. :) It starts at 8 pm EST/5 pm PST. Check out the beautiful participation prize she has created for it.



Like I said a lot of fun things happening over at Scrap Matters, so make sure you come and check it all out. :) Until next time...

HAPPY SCRAPPING!!!

So have you all checked out the new stuff at Scrap Matters yet today? Both Andilynn Designs and Trixie Scraps had new products. Cute Lil' Punkin by Trixie Scraps is the perfect kit to use when scrapping visits to the pumpkin patch or any other fall or Halloween type pictures. The best part is it's on sale for only $4.00 today and tomorrow. What a deal!


I used it to scrap this picture of Michaella dancing with Minnie Mouse at Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party a few years ago. I love the way it turned out.

Andilynn Designs released a 2010 Quick Page Calendar. It's 8 1/2" x 11". It would make the perfect Christmas gift to give to anyone on your gift list. Grab it this week while it's only $8.95.

Ok, as promised here is the next set of zoo wordart for you.

Download it here or here.

Happy Scrapping,

Amanda

ScrapMatters has kicked off a *NEW* weekly feature -- MANIC MONDAYS!!! Don't miss out on your chance to get products at extra reduced prices.... Sales will last for one day ONLY.... Make Monday your FUN DAY!!!!! Check the ScrapMatters Shop for more details!! *Manic Monday sales go into the shop early Monday morning and will "disappear" around midnight! So don't wait!!!
This week, Trixie Scraps has decided to put her kit For the Girls, on sale for 50% off - it's just $2.50, today only!! Click on the preview below to hop on over to Scrap Matters to scoop it up.

Did you know that she has several coordinating products for this kit, as well? While they aren't on sale, they would be a great compliment to your purchase if you decide to snag the full kit! They include glitter styles, quickpages, and a scallop-edge brag book .

Andilynn also has her Hot August Nights kit on sale for 50% off, making it only $2.75!!

While you are there checking out these awesome kits make sure to see what some of the other designers have on sale, also. There are some really great buys to be had today.

I finally have all my little munchkins home with me. After Michaella got home from being in the truck, she and Hunter switched places. Michaella went to Paul’s mom and dad’s from Sunday to Sunday and Hunter went in the truck with Paul. Hunter ended up being in the truck with Paul for 2 weeks. They were all over with the truck (PA, VA, CO, MI and everywhere in between). So I ended up only having one kid home for 2 weeks. The second week Hunter was gone I had Michaella at home, too. It was nice to have some time with just one or two of them, but I’m glad to have them all home with me again. As the saying goes, “They drive me crazy, but I wouldn’t trade them for anything.” I think they are happy to be home, too, though they both had a great time being away.
Only 3 ½ weeks left before the older two start school again for the year. The girls and I did the school shopping last week. Still have to get them both gym shoes and some new clothes, but other than that they are ready for school to start. We got the school letter in the mail on Saturday with who their teachers are. Now they are both wondering who will be in their classes. Hopefully they both have at least one of their friends in the same class again this year. I can’t believe Michaella is going to be in fourth grade already this year. Two more years and she will be in junior high already. Ahhh, where has the time gone.
Kailee has grown so much in the past month, too. Her top two teeth finally broke the surface last week. Not only did they come in but she got another one on the bottom at the same time. I think the one on the bottom is working its way through, too. She has also started crawling on all fours now. She started getting around by doing a combination of sitting up and rolling to get where she wanted, but it didn’t take her long to figure out the “army crawl”. On Monday, she finally started to move on all fours. She has also started to pull herself up against anything she can. Boy does she get herself in trouble now. It’s amazing how fast she is and how far her little arms reach when she wants something. LOL. We are also one step closer to getting her moved up to Michaella’s room. My dad got the new window installed up there this week. Now we just have to clean it up a bit and rearrange the room.
I had to take Hunter to the dentist again on Wednesday. Apparently his mouth isn’t quite big enough for his permanent teeth. So he had to have two of his bottom baby teeth pulled to make room for his one permanent tooth that is coming in. He will probably have to have the same thing done with the other side because that one is coming in way behind the baby teeth, too. He was pretty excited to finally teeth because that meant the tooth fairy was going to come and he would get money. He thought that since they had gotten pulled he should get a million dollars, though. The tooth fairy on the other hand thought that was a bit steep. LOL. He got the going rate, instead.
Did you get a chance to check out Scrap Matters’ Birthday Celebration last weekend? I managed to get a few of the festivities, but not near as much as I had hoped. Since Paul was home we got a few things around the house done and took the kids to the zoo on Saturday. I did manage to do quite a bit of shopping at the sale, though. Andilynn Designs released an adorable set of page kits called Love You Forever Emma & Love You Forever Ethan. You can get them separately or as a set. They work great for baby pages to wedding pages to everything in between. I did a couple pages with Love You Forever Emma. Go check them out at Scrap Matters if you haven’t seen them yet.

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I also have some very exciting news, but I need to wait until it's announced before posting here. So check back later to find out what it is. :)

Happy Scrapping,

Amanda