Have you done your challenges yet?

I'm a huge fan of Oscraps as this is where I first really discovered digital scrapbooking.  The O has fabulous challenges and I love participating in them.  Reason being, it provides me with inspiration and jump starts my creativity.  I was totally inspired by the O-stash challenge, lift a layout from Helen's gallery.  Now my friends, finding a layout that your love from Helen's gallery is not hard, you will just have to lift all 818 of them.  So I began the challenge by lifting, Capturing.  I love the squares and the little extra elements around it.  So here is my lift.  The photos are of Bostyn at a week old.

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Then I saw a lift of Helen's, Live, Love, Play, and had to do one more lift.

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Could I stretch myself even more?  Hmm, yes, I can.  How about a rotation?  For this layout, I used a photo from my Alaska trip.  This is the US/Canadian border in Skagway.

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Since becoming a decorator for Design House Digital, I have found their community to be just as warm and fuzzy.  Did you know they also have really cool challenges?

Scraplift Challenge - lift Barefoot by Pokey79

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Journaling Challenge - a list: you could use only one word per line of journaling

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Blueprint Challenge - you have a list of materials that you have to include on your layout

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I plan on submitting my photo for their photography challenge soon.  It was to photograph an animal.  My brother-in-law just got a new puppy so I had to snag some photos.  I just need to upload them and do some final edits.  I'll be back to post those later.

Now for some new goodies . . .

Sue Cummings just release her 52 Inspirations, Week 34.  I can't believe we are already in week 34.

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Karen Funk has a new kit, Happiness Is You and I paired it with a free template by Roadside Designs.

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I just wanted to say thanks to Krista Sahlin for noticing my 3 Step Bubbles layout and including it in the Gallery Standouts.  It is just a surprise to find your layout among the ones you drool over every day.  I am completely honored and humbled.

Whew, that was a long post.  I'll be back later in the week to share a new release.

Bostyn's First Music Video

Tate got Bostyn a toy hoe and she turned into a microphone.  It is less than 5 seconds long but it will leave you with a smile on your face.  I think she is watching too much Korean variety shows at grandpa T's house.  Enjoy!

Grand Love Story

Creations by Tinamarie and Wild Blueberry Ink teamed up to create this super kit.  This mega monster is filled with all things old and new.  You can find antique photo frames, clocks and crochet flowers (to name a few) that is perfect for heritage pages.  However, there are also some really nice modern papers when combined with white makes for a beautiful modern feel.  You can also get a twill ribbon set and handwritten word art for free when you purchase this kit from Little Dreamer Designs.  Be sure to check out Tina's blog for a chance to win this kit and see more layouts from her creative team.  Here is one layout that I made using a picture of my grandparents.  This was taken sometime in 1940 at Kailua Beach Park.

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Busy week

Boy, this has been a busy week for me.  It has sure been hard getting back to work.  I had a 2 day workshop in town on Thursday and Friday.  I'm not used to driving 45 minutes in morning traffic.  For those of you who don't know, my usual commute time is less than 5 minutes.  It was also hard being the student for a change.  On Saturday, I helped my husband unload a truck full of rocks then did some major damage at the GAP.  They had an awesome sale on jeans and got 40% off for using my Banana card.  Today we went to a birthday party for my cousin's daughter who just turned 1.  I think that tired out Bostyn and Tate as they are both napping while I am typing this post.

I managed to get a few pages done over the weekend.  Karen Funk continues to release beautiful kits at Design House Digital.  I just love her Just Peachy and Friends for Life kits.  Here are a few layouts featuring these kits.

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My husband, Tate, will probably love me just a little bit more for showing off this photo.  It was taken in Osaka 3 years ago.  This page was made using Sara Schmutz's School Is In Session kit for DHD's blog feature 1 Kit 4 Ways.  If you have never checked it out please do, it is so fun to see what other decorators do with the same kit.  They also write a short summary of how they approached their layout.  It is my favorite blog feature.

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This week I was extremely lucky to win a free kit, Morning Breeze, by Kitty Designs at Oscraps.  I also snagged a free Whimsical Sketches template on her blog.  Isn't this the cutest?!

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I've also been busy working on some layouts for a **new release** on Tuesday.  So stayed tuned . . . 

New Look

Well, I changed my blog header . . . I used Melissa Esplin's The Love Song blog kit.  I tried to put some of the other cute things such as backgrounds, post separators, and side bar buttons, but I couldn't figure it out. I need to do a bit more research on the web.

I was a scrapping mad woman yesterday.  It all started with the DHD chat with Karen Funk at 5am (Hawaii time), talk about being obsessed.  I think talking digi so early in the morning inspired me to create. So here are some of my layouts.  The first set is using some of Karen Funk's new kits at Design House Digital.

My little nephews who are not so little anymore.

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My little Bostyn chasing a leaf at the park.  I made this layout in 1 hour at DHD's first speed scrap.  It was a lot of fun so I hope they have more in the future.

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This one I created for DHD's scraplift challenge.  Here is Bostyn watering her little grove of papaya trees in front of the house.

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Leiko Beck now has over 50 facebook friends who "like" her so she is giving away a free mini kit, Hamptons, on her blog.  Here is a layout that I made with this kit.  I {heart} this word art.  And I just had to use one of my favorite photos that Leiko took of my family.

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A few weeks back, Angie of Twelve by Twelve Designs, released a new freebie kit called Spontaneity.  I just love the bright colors in this one.

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Gotta run now, Tate returned with lunch and Bostyn.

Sail Away With Me

I promised you a preview of Sue's newest release, From My Notebook: Sail Away.  Here is a preview of this kit:

Did you like what you saw?  If so, you can get this set of quick pages free with the purchase of Sail Away.  There also is a special offer if you spend $5 or more in Sue's shop.

Here is what I made with Sail Away.

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By now, you all should know how generous Sue is.  She just gave away $100 to her store last month, now this month, she has a $25 certificate to her store.  All you have to do is check out August Challenge: Summer is Pure Magic for full directions and free download.  I better get started on my layout.

Next posting will be more layouts with Karen Funk's new kits at Design House Digital.  I also hope to give my blog a facelift soon.

Welcome Karen Funk to DHD

Did you hear that Karen Funk is the newest designer to join Design House Digital.  As a DHD Decorator, I had the privilege of getting my hands dirty with her new kit, Color My World.  Check out DHD blog for their 1 Kit, Many Ways feature.  Here is what I came up with:

Here is another recent layout that I made using Carina Gardner's Dress Up kit.  I loved the colors in this kit.

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I hope to be back tomorrow with another new layout previewing Sue's newest kit.  I can't wait to share it with you.  Her creative team has been busy creating such gorgeous layouts!