March #SMBiGbloghop : Glitz Design

Hello again ladies! This month we are bringing you inspiration along with one of my favorite companies, Glitz Design. I was lucky enough to meet and get to spend some quality CHA time with Laura, Ginger and Erin at Summer CHA last year, and they are just wonderful ladies. Gorgeous & glam, just like their fun paper products, I love everything they come up with and this release, Uncharted Waters, has got to be my favorite.

Here is my layout for today, a throwback to the most amazing Spring Break I've ever been on. The colors were PERFECT & just make me want to sing I'm on a Boat-- which came out during that week and just makes me giggle. I love how it turned out, and the sewn waves were my favorite little detail, and the whale paper clip just ties in great ;]

Next up on the hop is Corinne, head on over there & see her ammmmazing layout with watercolors! 

Need to get your hands on this collection? Some of the hard to find, sold out everywhere items are available in my shop Forever Young & Crafty, use the code GLITZ20 to get 20% off your entire order! 

OA Winner

TGIF. & it is beautiful here in Ohio, even if it's pretty cold for our spring break week this year! I wanted to come on here & announce the winner of some of the October Afternoon goodies that I have in my stash, and the winner is:


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Danielle, congrats! I will get that sent out to you on Monday! xoxo

If you would like to check out my guest post today, head on over to the OA blog, where I'm sharing a layout today!

If you're here for my scrap stash sale that's going on all month long as I move my craft items into my new space, check out my post here.  Thank you to all those of you who have taken some of these items off my hands, it feels so great to get rid of some of my hoarded items!!! 

papa.

I feel like lately, scrapbooking has become even more personal that ever before. With project life & the need to tell more about the stories in the photo, not just add pretty paper behind it, I feel so much closer to my scrappy friends, online and in real life. Most of my IG followers know the good & bad of my life before anyone else, because I feel like you SEE a huge part of my heart.

Thursday, my grandpa died, my Papa.

It hurts to type his name. We haven't had the heart yet to really sit Caleb down and tell him, he doesn't quite understand what that means yet. I also have yet to make it through a sentence about Papa talking, without bursting into tears. I have put homework and starting my new job off a little bit, because I am just totally devastated.

He spent most of the holidays in the hospital, and that was heart breaking enough. My grandparents were my everything when I was little, and I hate to say it, but I was clearly the favorite ;] As the first grandkid, that also had the first great-grandchild, I would stretch it to say I might've been a little spoiled-- a trip to Meijer for a toy most Saturdays, trips to Florida with just them every year, and all those little moments that mattered because I was the closest distance to them. We lived with them when I was little, as my mom was a single mom and worked a lot.

He will never get to walk me down the aisle. 

I will never get to see him AND Caleb go to our favorite places in Clearwater. 

He will never get to see munchkin grow up and graduate, but he was lucky to have him as long as he did, I know Caleb will cherish his BB gun. 

I will never get to hear all of his stories as a Vietnam Vet. 

I don't ever get to say goodbye.

It was almost fitting that just the day before I was collecting all my older pics, trying to decide which ones to hang up around the apartment and came across all the older family ones. With Mammy's help, I have a ton of them from over the years with him, and they will definitely be that much more important now. All of us loose close family and friends, so we all know how much it hurts, even knowing he's in a much better place doesn't make me want to cry any less.

If you know me, you KNOW I stay busy. I have a to do list at all times that's a million miles long, and I love it. But right now, I don't feel like doing much of anything, it's all been put on hold a bit. So if you're expecting an e-mail, or text me and I don't answer right away, please have a little patience, it'll take awhile for me to feel like myself again.

OA & Week 8.

First of all, I want to say a HUGE thank you for all the love & support I've received since being announced as this month's guest designer at October Afternoon, ya'll are the best! I am SO excited to be able to share projects with you all month long using one of my very favorite companies of all time ;]

Today on the OA blog I am sharing my Project Life week 8 spread, which is one of my favorites so far! I decided it would be a fun self challenge to use a themed collection for a completely different time of year, so the Make It Merry collection got me through a pretty busy week in February! Here's a sneak peek of it:

Make sure you head over to the blog & check it out, and in celebration of this great opportunity that I was given, I want to spread a little love! OA is SO generous, I could not believe the box of goodies I received to use for my projects! So, a giveaway MUST be held, here's what you can win:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This week's spread also includes my monthly currently folder. If you haven't hear of Kristin Tweedale & her prompt project, check it out on her blog, http://rukristin.blogspot.com/2013/03/introducing-currently-product-line.html

To see more of my projects for October Afternoon this month, head on over to their blog, http://octoberafternoon.typepad.com/october_afternoon/ each Friday, where I will be sharing what I created! 

Chic Tags Challenge.

SO I don't know about you ladies, but sometimes when life gives you a bit of trouble, an iphone pic will JUST have to do it LOL As a lot of you know, I just got a Mac when school started a few weeks ago, and thought it was about time I converted all the documents/pictures/programs from my old computer to this one. UMMMM it is NO fun. I will probably NEVER do the whole new computer thing again haha It was such a pain in the butt, and I want to cry just looking at my screen, so I am avoiding BOTH computers until after I finish my homework tomorrow.....

As a result, this post is going up, late, from my iphone, pics included. So excuse the grainy quality, but I HAD to share my page for the Chic Tags Sunday Challenge, because I am TOTALLY in love with it! Here it is: [with a promise of editing later with better photos ;]

If you get the chance to join in on the challenge, jump in! I love what they've come up with so far, really great, fun challenges with some of my FAVE products ever. Link up [HERE] for this week's challenge, and every Sunday they post a new one, with giveaways!!!! Who doesn't like free scrap goodies?! Can't wait to see what ya'll come up with, thanks for stopping my to check mine out! 

One Little Word: MOVE

Which is ironic, because it becomes such a BIG part of your year. & this girl LOVES a play on words ;]

As we said goodbye to 2012 & moved on with a new year, I was and am still beyond excited about participating in a version of One Little Word, by Ali Edwards. Although I knew I wasn't going to take the class this year, I couldn't NOT do this after all the amazing things I have seen done because of these one little words ;] I cannot wait to see what I end up doing with it, and watching the others who have inspired me so far. 

I chose MOVE. 
move verb, moved, mov·ing, noun.

verb (used without object)

    to pass from one place or position to another. 

    to go from one place of residence to another.

    to advance or progress. 

    to have a regular motion, as an implement or machine; turn; revolve.

    to sell or be sold. 

I am SO incredibly excited about this project, and project life, and the projects I'm working on-- and that's only in the crafty part of life. I really had high hopes that my word would apply to a lot of things in my life, and am looking forward to how it inspires me. I went ahead and got a page ready with the emphasis on MOVE, incorporating all my goals for this upcoming year with my OLW, here it is:

Eventually, I will add in journaling, and tiny thumbnail polaroids of the year, but the layout itself inspires me to get a MOVE on things ;]
My goal with OLW is to make some kind of project with the emphasis on the word MOVE each month, but also to constantly use the word to keep it moving in my life ;] I'm ready for some changes, and 2013 is going to be the best year yet-- and pumped that I've already seen myself do SO many of the goals I set for myself already. Including moving into our cute new place this past Saturday, with my bestie right above us-- I've been sharing on Instagram, but I can assure you I'll be giving you all a tour of my new home as we finish the MOVE.

Now as things get even MORE crazy for me, I will definitely be making more of a point to share my one little word, especially since it has been working out fab for me, one goal at a time ;]

sketch challenge.

Bringing you another wonderful sketch from Shanna this month, which was created from an older digital layout of hers, here it is:

What I loved most about it was the photo spots, which I totally saw as frames on my pictures, but decided to twist it around a little bit, here it is:

Make sure you go hop along to the other ladies' blogs & see their take on the sketch, I am SO lucky to be included on a list with these incredibly talented designers!

Trisha www.trisha-grace.blogspot.com
Malika www.malikakelly.blogspot.com
Jennie http://jenniemcgarvey.typepad.com/
Suz http://www.livealifeEXTRAordinary.blogspot.com
Melanie http://melblackburn.blogspot.ca/ 
Adrienne www.adriennealvis.blogspot.com

Link up on Shanna's blog, http://www.shannanoel.blogspot.com & link up for a chance to win a $10 gift certificate to Freckled Fawn.

#SMBcolorchallenge

This year is really going great for my lovely ladies of Social [Media] Butterflies, and we are so excited to bring you even more inspiration each month than ever before. On top of the new fun hops with a featured company, we still have a few surprises up our sleeves, but wanted to also bring back the COLOR challenge-- each month, one of our Butterflies will be sharing with you a new color combo & inspiration project, and you have all month long to link up for chances at prizes, and even to guest host the challenge for us!

For the first challenge of the new year, I will be hosting, here's the color combo:

& a sneak peek of my project:

Make sure you head over to the Social [Media] Butterflies homepage for a look at the full project! You can link up from here on this post OR on that post, cannot wait for you to join in! Entries for this months color challenge will be accepted until midnight EST on Sunday, March 31st. 

PL blog hop.

A friend from over on the Studio Calico message boards, Michelle, hosts a Project Life blog hop, and I quickly offered to join in. LOVE the idea of seeing multiple spreads for inspiration in one post! For myself, I've been trying to share my own spreads here on my blog Sunday, but thought it would be fun to share a week I hadn't before for her blog hop!

Today I wanted to share with you my Week #6, which was the week of February 4th-10th. Make sure you go check out Michelle's post HERE to see what the other girls have shared this week, and if you want to see more each week from her & her project life friends, look for the #satplbloghop hashtag on instagram ;]

For supplies I use a LOT of different alphabet stickers, plenty of Studio Calico Here & There collection and printables, Chic Tags bits & pieces, misting & hand sewing.  It was a wonderful week, I really enjoyed making this week. Here's some detail shots---

I LOVE this bold gray alpha from Basic Grey, and I will be devastated when they're all gone, but thought it would be SO fun to cut some of the letters off the background sheet, LOVE it!

Thanks for stopping by to see my Project Life, I hope you have time to head on over to see the other girls spreads, and come back Sunday for another week! 

guest designer.

EEEK! I finally get to share my secret--

As one of my favorite holidays, Valentine's Day was pretty fab, lots of love with munchkin, the bestie & my favorite guy. THEN, I got a message from Jon over at October Afternoon, asking me if I wanted to guest design!!! Uh, yeah! How unbelievably exciting, and the box of goodies I got in the mail a few days later was enough to make me squuuueaaalll.  Today, my first post is over on the October Afternoon blog [here]-- a hello & a lit bit about me-- and you can see my guest posts on the OA blog every Friday in March over there! Make sure to stop by here and on my instagram-- @sbookinshay29, for extra sneak peeks, and look for an October Afternoon giveaway or two by me!