new year, new home

I've been mentioning off and on that I won't be updating this blog anymore, but I wanted to make one last post here to give you updated info. This blog has been around long enough that it still draws a lot of people to it, so I didn't want to take it down completely. I've just decided that it's in my best interest (for my sanity) to only maintain a single blog. My home on bluebirdchic.com is much more robust and suited to the growth ahead for both me and my business, so all of my future posts can be found there. You can find the info to subscribe via wordpress, feedly, or bloglovin' in the sidebar there. I have a lot of exciting things planned for the upcoming year, including Project Life that I can't wait to share with you!

See you there!

December JBS Mercantile kits

I'm sharing my December JBS Mercantile projects on my bluebird chic blog today! Stop in and see if you'd like! As mentioned previously, I'm slowly phasing out this blog for now and trying to bring everything together in one place. Happy Tuesday!

this week's posts

{journal expressing my gratitude}

I had mentioned previously in one of my posts that I won't be maintaining this blog as actively with my projects - it has become a lot to manage to keep two sites going, and I feel that pulling things together at this point is a much better idea! I hope you'll join me over at bluebirdchic.com!

Here's a roundup of this week's posts!

{holiday papercrafts shop update}

{brilliant ideas notebook DIY}

{christmas cranberry sweet bread recipe}

Have a lovely weekend! ^_^

november olw prompt - grace

Sharing my layout for the November Word Up! prompt on my blog at bluebirdchic.com today!

thankful - a gratitude journal

I'm sharing details on the inside pages of the journal that I put together using the November project kit from JBS Mercantile on my bluebirdchic.com blog today!

us - and a thankful journal

{photo by megan klauer photography}

Sharing a peek at what I put together using the November JBS Mercantile kits today! I'm still in love with feathers - and I love the colors in these kits! ^_^

I've also put together the November project kit! It features more custom made flair and and two pages of handdrawn, watercolored printable journaling cards. Can't wait to share more of this!

Also note: I will slowly be moving my posting of all papercrafting projects over to my bluebirdchic.com blog. It has been a tough decision to let this little blog go, but I've decided that I've outgrown it. And to better be able to share who I am and all of the things I'm involved in, I felt that I should move it all to one place. I'm doing a lot less scrapbooking, so it won't take over the other blog to post 5-6 projects there per month. This blog will stay up, I just won't be posting to it as actively. Eventually, I'll sign off with a post directing traffic to my other blog. I share lots of other fun creative things that I do there - recipes, craft projects, what I'm reading, and thoughts on life - like the cultivate gratitude series for November. I'd love it if you decided to join me there!

november kit peek & a journey of gratitude

I can not. Wait. I helped put together this November project kit for JBS Mercantile - and when it all arrived on my doorstep, it made me so happy. Just looking at it all come together is a beautiful thing when you've trawled sites looking for the best products to pull together to make something that you love! the kit will also include custom chalkboard style flairs that I designed, and not one, but TWO printable sheets of 3x4 cards to help journal your gratitude for the month of November! Eee!! the cards include hand drawn illustrations/graphics that I put together, and I so love them. Can't wait to dig into this kit!

I'll also be putting together a few prompts for ideas on journaling the things that you're thankful for, and cultivating a spirit of gratitude for yourself and your family. It's something I've been working on in my heart and life daily, and it can help you get through even the toughest times to remember the things that you're blessed with! I'll be putting together a series of blog posts in the month of November highlighting those prompts, and they'll be posted on my blog at bluebirdchic.com if you'd like to join in. I want it to be a time of lifting up, sharing thoughts and love with others. One of the biggest things that I've learned through this discipline is that gratitude for the things that we're blessed with builds into so many other positive things in life, and I so want to share that with you!

autumn faves

It was fun to take the time to put together a little "round up" page featuring some of my favorites in autumn. Morel eftoveres from my October JBS Mercantile kit - mixed with some goods from my stash of Maya Road and American Crafts. ^_^ I'm still loving feathers! Oh, and these are flairs from my papercrafts shop. The geeking out set is one of my faves. ^_^

Stop by the Maya Road blog for details on the layout and supplies! ^_^

Happy Wednesday!

carve those pumpkins

Pumpkin carving is one of my all time favorite autumn activities. I love that the boys are getting old enough to design and do most of the carving on their own (though the youngest does need a bit, yet). It's so fun to see what they come up with and how each one is uniquely their own.

Stop by the jbs inspiration blog to see more details in the layout and supplies! I'm sure we'll be pumpkin hunting this weekend to choose our pumpkins for carving!

word up #76! COLOR

I have to say - even though I mentioned it before, I really, really have loved working with the October JBS Mercantile kits. So much so that when I had the word COLOR come through for my assignment for the OLW blog this month, that I had to use it again. I've added a few bits and pieces to this layout that aren't included in the kits: letters, tapes, sequins, banner pieces, and feather stamp.

And as far as what the word inspired, I just have to say that this time of year, I miss the colors of autumn. I've lived for almost twelve years now in a place where the traditional weather seasons don't exist, and I really miss them some days. Oh, well! Perhaps not much longer. We shall see. All depends on where things lead.

I hope you'll take a moment to stop in and be inspired by what the other girls have put together for Word up #76! ^_^

FALL

Have I mentioned that I love fall? And I have to admit, that this collection of kits that Jenni has put together for the month of October is just amazing. The persimmon line from Basic Grey is so yummy!

I think I've talked a bit about the green witch's hat that I pull out every year for pumpkin carving - it's one of those lucky finds that I picked up for around $10 at Target years ago! Olive green satin, black tulle and feathers... Just plain fun. I do believe this weekend will involve putting together our haunted house, and some sort of apple dessert...

Happy Friday!

winning!

Or possibly, anyway! Stop by the bluebird chic blog to enter for a chance to win a $50.00 gift certificate to Big Picture Classes! Lots of good stuff there to choose from! Entries accepted through Sunday. ^_^

JBS Echo Park blog hop winner + October kit project

A peek at my first project with the October kits from JBS Mercantile... I had a few technical difficulties getting projects together when my little computer that could decided to max out the harddrive. I spent an afternoon uninstalling, moving, and reinstalling programs to free up enough space to get things to go. {Ahem. Photoshop. Cough, cough.}I learned a few things in the process, though, so that's cool!

That also slowed down my getting a winner picked an announced from the JBS + Echo Park blog hop. My apologies! Random number generator came up with #36 which is:

Lisa's Creative Niche said...

Love the red and black on here!

September 23, 2013 at 9:43 PM 

There was one comment that posted twice at the beginning, so I just counted it once! ^_^ If you could just shoot me an email with your mailing info, I'll pass it on to the peeps at  Echo Park for your prize ! The email addy is found under my contact info in my profile. Happy Monday! ^_^

Maya Road launches classic card kits

Maya Road has launched fun and exciting classic card kits! Yay! Caroline has done a fabulous job of pairing classic scrapbook supplies with the always classic Maya Road goods! ^_^ Stop in and check out the autumn notes kit and see what the other girls have made!

Have a lovely Friday!

mixed media - Maya Road clipboard

One of our assignments for the Summer CHA show for Maya Road was to create a clipboard that was "all about me". At first I had reservations, but once I got into it, I really had a great time creating.

It's messy. And includes one of my favorite current color palettes. Overall, it stretched me a bit, but I'm glad that I did it!

Jenni Bowlin + Echo Park blog hop

Welcome to the Jenni Bowlin and Echo Park Paper Design Team Blog Hop! Today the teams are showcasing projects from our latest "Jenni Bowlin" Photo Freedom collection. Be sure to follow the blog hop list below as you hop from one blog to the next. 

JBS Mercantile http://jennibowlinstudioinspiration.blogspot.com/

Betsy Sammarco http://justapharmgirl.blogspot.com/

Doris Sander http://dorissander.blogspot.com/

Leah Farquharson http://amusing-to-create.blogspot.com/  {that's me! ^_^}

Lisa Dickenson: http://lisadickinson.typepad.com/gettin_by/

Tina Walker http://adogslife-thirteen.blogspot.com/
Kandis Smith: http://mycreativetreasury.blogspot.com/
Linda Auclair: http://elendae.wordpress.com/
Susan Stringfellow: http://creativelysavvy.blogspot.com/
Echo Park Paper: http://www.echoparkpaperblog.com/

Return to the Echo Park Paper blog at any time for the next blogger on the list in case you get lost or confused! ONE winner will be selected from each blog to receive an Echo Park Paper collection kit of their choosing. To qualify for the kit, comments will be due by midnight EST, Sunday, September 29th to qualify for the drawing. The winner will be announced on each blog Monday, October 1st so be sure to check back to see if you've won! 

And be sure to comment here with your favorite collection!

Jenni Bowlin has teamed up with Echo Park for their "photo freedom" line of goods, and I have to say, I'm loving it! I've had in my mind to start working on this type of project for a while, and just haven't pulled supplies together for it, yet. We're looking at a 4x6 photo printer to make it even easier to print out photos from our iphones and the boys' cameras as well! I'm really excited to get in to this style of scrapbooking, since it's something that I did digitally for many years, though not recently. Previously I was pulling together a "year in review" type scrapbook that I was able to print out, and then make whatever scrapbook pages that I felt like. I'd love to move into more of this type of scrapbooking to fill that spot...

Can't wait to try it out more! Have fun hopping!

OLW - word up for September: DO

For any of those of my blog readers who may be in the same spot as I am - isn't it just FUN {insert eye roll HERE}, when conversation comes around to what exactly it is that you do for a living? When we were assigned this word for the month's inspiration, I tossed a few ideas around - like, "what things would I like to be doing?" or "do what you love." or even "do less", but ultimately this was the thought that stuck out the most to me.

I really do feel blessed to be able to do what I do for a living. But it gets overly complicated when you try to explain to people what exactly it is. So sometimes, I just say that I own my own business in the creative industry. I do contract work, etc. But the more I try to explain, the more blank looks I get.

So, I've learned to just laugh, and settle with: " I get to do what I love for a living."

{For more on what I "do for a living" you can check out my website: bluebirdchic.com. I'm so blessed to have more doors opening all the time in the creative and crafting industry, the most recent being a contract to contribute two projects/chapters to an upcoming book that will be released in 2014. I so love the sewing and designing that I do, and I appreciate every single shop order that allows me to do what I love for a living.}

Be sure to check out One Little Word for this month's challenge to see what the other ladies have created and play along!

JBS Mercantile September kit awesomeness

This month's kits are, as always, really fun to work with! The bold, bright colors were a nice switch from so much of the soft pastels that are in right now. And I'm always such a sucker for a great circle stamp!!

And I can't forget to add that I so loved putting this album kit together. Be sure to grab one before they're gone! There are some great detail photos of the supplies that you get in the kit here. 

It includes this exclusive flair set that I designed just to go along with the kit! And the fun printable block alpha comes as a downloadable file that you can use in either pink of green. 

Hope you're having an amazing week!

fresh cuke salad

I recently shared the recipe for a summer favorite in our home on my blog at bluebirdchic.com - and yes, it's favorite enough that I had to scrapbook it! This is one of my very final projects for American Crafts, whom I had the privilege of working with for three years to make samples for and promote their products. 

I still love their products dearly and will be shopping them lots now that I won't be receiving the special boxes that I did from them every few months. (In fact, I just grabbed some adorable Halloween goods at a local Target while on vacation that included sequins in gold orange and black with STARS. Go look. Really.)

The really fun thing about this layout for me, is that my mom used to store this summer salad in the fridge in a quart jar - just like the embellishment on the right. In fact, she still does!

Hope you're enjoying an awesome week, and your weekend is fabulous!

say cheese

I'm so blessed to have these two little hams in our lives! Being a mom and dad is a lot of work, but definitely worth it!