Thursday, April 30, 2009

Swirlydoos Sketch

I had to make time last night to do the Open Sketch Challenge from Swirlydoos. Besides having a fabulous prize (Primas!), the sketch wowed me and I just had to do it. You can find out more about this awesome kit club and see the sketch at http://www.swirlydoos.com/!


Here is my layout:


NSD crop!

Here is some info on an exciting crop coming up (starting tomorrow!) Hope you can join me there for TONS of scrapping fun!

Come join us for National Scrapbook Day at Scrapdango on May 1st and 2nd. There will be early bird challenges starting on Friday and games throughout the day on Saturday. One winner will be getting a fabulous monthly kit from Scrapdango. There will be some smaller raks along the way as well.

Participants will have until midnight the following Saturday, May 9th to load their creations into the gallery and link them to the individual challenges. Yes, that is right you have ALL WEEK to get them done. (more time for us to have some fun on the boards as well) All creations must be newly created for the crop.

So come join us for lots of fun at: http://scrapdango.net/forums/index.phpWe are looking forward to getting to know you! Come celebrate our passion of scrapping with us!!!!!

International Winners will be responsible for paying the difference in shipping after a $6.00 shipping credit.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

A Giveaway!

Here is a fabulous giveaway to check out:

http://scrappincecile.blogspot.com/2009/04/happy-spring-blog-candy.html

Have fun, and good luck!

Something to think about...

Here is a a story I got via email last week, and I thought it was worth sharing.

THE STUMP

His father takes him into the forest, blindfolds him and leaves him alone. He is required to sit on a stump the whole night and not remove the blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shine through it. He cannot cry out for help to anyone... Once he survives the night, he is a man.

He cannot tell the other boys of this experience, because each lad must come into manhood on his own. The boy is naturally terrified. He can hear all kinds of noises. Wild beasts must surely be all around him. Maybe even some human might do him harm. The wind blew the grass and earth, and shook his stump, but he sat there, never removing the blindfold. It would be the only way he could become a man.

Finally, after a horrific night, the sun appeared and he removed his blindfold. It was then that he discovered his father sitting on the stump next to him. He had been at watch the entire night, protecting his son from harm. We, too, are never alone. Even when we don't know it, our Heavenly Father is watching over us, sitting on the stump beside us. When trouble comes, all we have to do is reach out to Him.

Moral of the story? Just because you can't see God, doesn't mean He is not there. "For we walk by faith, not by sight." (2 Corinthians 5:7)

One a similar note, I spent last week making prayer journals for the Moms & More steering team. we are going to keep track of prayer requests and the answers to them as we go through the upcoming year. I am looking forward to seeing what God will do.


~Alyssa~

Friday, April 24, 2009

My life...

Hello, ladies! Thanks to each of you for being faithful readers of my blog. I feel as though I am always apologizing for not posting more often, and I want you to know I appreciate it everytime one of you comes by.

My life has been chaotic recently. I have been dealing with several difficult situations and my stress level is through the roof. I know that something is going to have to change, or be dropped, I am just trying to decide how to proceed. I recently took on a responsibility that I felt was important, that it needed to be done and I was the only one willing to do it. But it has been nothing but stress, and maybe I can't do it, you know? Not because I am incapable, but because I can't sacrifice my health and my family for it. But I am not a quitter, I hate quitting anything, and so this is a rough decision for me.

So, all of that to say, hang in there with me. One way or another, the stress level will (must) recede, and I will be back to posting more and creating more, and having more fun.

Pray that God gives me wisdom to know what to do!

Love you all!

~Alyssa~

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Something Fun for Tuesday

I learned of a new site today. It's called My Scrapbook Social, and it is Facebook for scrappers only. You are also allowed to advertise other sites on there, such as DTs you are on or stores you like.

Check it out at www.myscrapbooksocial.com and make sure that you "friend" me!

Have fun!

~Alyssa~

Friday, April 17, 2009

And the Winner is....

The winner of todays RAK drawing is...



LISA L!!!!


Congrats, Lisa! Send me your mailing info at upordown777@yahoo.com, so I can get your package out!


One more try on the photo of the paper I am sending:


It worked!!! I did the exact same thing as yesterday, but today it worked. Sigh. I get so irritated when that happens!
Have a great weekend, everyone!
~Alyssa~

Thursday, April 16, 2009

I am SO sorry...

Good afternoon, everyone! I am so sorry that this has taken me so long to post a photo of the RAK. I have been having technical issues. :( But I THINK they are resolved now. Here is the photo of the paper:

(OK, so there have been more technical issues! I keep uploading the photo and it is not showing up! I am sorry to have to do this, but I have got to get off the computer and work on other stuff, so I will be back to try again tomorrow!)

The rest of the stuff is not in the photo, but it is everything I listed and a little bit more! ;) Thanks for being patient.

So today I bought a new printer. The old one died, and the back up printer was a dinosaur that needed $60 in ink cartridges! Call me crazy, but I just couldn't see spending that much on ink for a printer I don't even like. So, for $150, I bought a new Kodak ESP-7. That's the one that is supposed to print photos for 10 cents, and the black cartridges are only $10! According to the box, I can print 104 - 4x6 prints for one $14 color cartridge. If that is true, that will be cheaper then ordering prints, especially factoring in the shipping. And now I have the control to print what I want, when I want it. Yay!

~Alyssa~

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Happy Easter and 100th post RAK!

Happy Easter!!! I am so blessed today to be able to celebrate the resurrection of the Christ in freedom and peace. So many around the world don't have that opportunity, and I am grateful. This is the day that celebrates the foundations of what I believe, that Jesus Christ died, was buried, and on the third day rose again in victory over satan and his plan for the world. It is because of Jesus' resurrection that we can be saved from ourselves, our sin, and have a great hope for the eternity we will all face someday. Now THAT is something to be thankful for!

Since today is also my 100th post (love that!) I am also giving away a RAK! Here is what is included:

4 sheets of assorted Bazzil cardstock
12 sheets of MAMBI "Fashion District" patterned paper
1 set of clear stamps
An assortment of journaling spots

I will do my best to get a photo posted tomorrow.

To enter to win, here is what you need to do. Go to Heidi's blog: http://seesterk.blogspot.com/, and leave her a comment about her work. Don't forget to tell her I sent you! Then come back here and leave a comment telling me that you checked out her work.

I will draw for this RAK on Friday, April 17th.

Happy Easter!

~Alyssa~

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Wednesday Whispers

Today is Wednesday. Around here that means taking garbage out to the road, cleaning the kitchen sink, soaking the sippy cups, and scrapping! I can't say I have a lot to say today, but I do have a few projects to share from the WTTS crop I went to last weekend.





~Alyssa~

Monday, April 6, 2009

Exciting News!

I came home yesterday from a very fun crop in Michigan to discover that I made the ScrapDango Design Team! I am excited to work with this talented team of ladies and rock the monthly kits! Head over to check it out at http://www.scrapdango.blogspot.com/.

Here is the entry I sent. The fourth project is the one I showed you yesterday, so here are the others.




~Alyssa~

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Wow.

Check this out! I have never seen anything like it:

http://www.breadartproject.com/

Thursday again???

Sorry I haven't updated in a while! I had a full weekend with Elijah being sick, I spent most of the time sitting on the couch coaxing him to take sips of water and Gatorade. Thankfully, he is well now, and no one else has contracted his sickness. :)

This weekend, we all have big plans. I get to go to a weekend crop with Heidi and Rebecca, two of my girlfriends that I design with at Scrap N' Art. We are meeting up in Michigan and crashing Heidi's house. It is going to be a blast, and hopefully I will return with lots of completed projects to show you! Don is taking the kids to his parents for the weekend. I am sure they will have a great time seeing Grandparents and other family while they are there.

Starting next week, work begins on the July/August issue of SNA. We are doing an altered art issue, along wth tons of new articles and features. It will be fabulous... but you will have to wait till the issue comes out for details. I can tell you that I have two awesome tutorials in the works... :)

I leave you with a new layout that I made for the ScrapDango Design Team call. Their awesome April kits have just been revealed, so be sure to head over there adn check them out: http://scrapdango.net/index.html. I am looking forward to the reveal, can't wait to see if I made it! I made this layout using Making Memories Greenhouse Paperie line and some Tinkering Ink thrown in there for good measure.


Enjoy the weekend!

~Alyssa~