It's Giveaway Time!!!!

It has been such a long time since I have blogged. Why? Oh, I don't know. I just got really busy with work and school, and then there's the whole "two kids rather than one" thing.... And, I also blame facebook, haha. Once I started using facebook regularly, blogging took a back seat. But, when Gretchen and Brittney and the other girls invited me to join in on the giveaway fun, I jumped at the chance - I need to breathe a little life into this blog, huh?

So, what to give away today??? Well, you may not know that I have been branching out a little in my crafting. Scrapbooking, like my blog, has taken a back seat to my new obsession of jewelry-making. And since we are closing in on the end of football season this year, I thought I'd give a little something to a fashionable football fan out there.





Simply comment and tell me which team you pull for - I will choose one Bama fan and one Auburn fan to receive the earrings (I'll make sure to send you the right ones, haha).

Make sure to visit the blogs of my friends if you haven't already - they are giving away some great stuff!

Brittany
Christine
Gretchen
Lisa
Lucy

12 Days of Giveaways!!!

Hello!!!!! Check back later today for my giveaway - so excited!

Merry Christmas!

Hump-day scrappings...

For some reason, half of my post was deleted when I published it. So, I am going to try to remember what I had tried to post earlier, lol...

I was off today, and I spent the morning working on Prompt 5 and 6 (page protectors and stickers) for my Shimelle class. I kinda combined the two into one project. I don't currently own any 6x12 page protectors (that will not always be the case, lol), and I wanted to add this project to my 6x12 Celebrate Life album, so I knew that I would have to do a little creative altering to make things work. I do, however, have plenty of 12x12 protectors, and for this project I used a pocket page, with six pockets meant to hold 4x6 landscape photos. Since I don't sew, I simply folded the thing in half, creased it really well, and it totally held it's shape. I now have a folded pocket page, showcasing 12 photos from Eden's 1st birthday party. For the stickers, I reached WAY back and used my all-time-favorite line from KI memories. I used the bubble letter stickers, some gel candy, and fancy accents. I even used some paper scraps that I had saved for the borders. And, some punches, of course. I used Shimelle's layout for inspiration, and adapted some product that I already had: instead of printing Shimelle's labels, I used some Martha Stewart kraft label stickers. I adhered them (embellished with the KI stuff) right on top of the page protectors. The photos are in this order:
1. Front
2. Inside (with the page opened, showing the original 12x12 page protector)
3. Back
4. Detail, showing how it is folded.

The other photos just show some of the KI product up close.




































And to answer a few questions that I've been asked over the past week, the "Virginia" that I referred to in my last post is my local friend, Virginia Tillery. She is a super-crafty inspiration, and a link to her blog is on this blog's sidebar. Enjoy her :) And the butterfly punch I've been using is sold by Stampin' Up. There is also a stamp set that goes with it - you stamp the butterfly in a pretty pattern, then punch it out. I don't have the stamp set, though... And for those inquiring about the weight loss plan, it is called "SmartFit", and is offered to women only at this time, through my OB/GYN, Dr. John Foster, at St.Vincents hospital in Birmingham, Al. The phone number is 205-271-1600. Email me if you have specific questions at sburkett1508@charter.net

Busy weekend...

Why is it that when I am at work, I am always praying that the weekend will get here quick so that I can have some downtime, and then when the weekend actually arrives, it turns out to be busier than the work week was??? It's almost like I need to go to work to rest, haha.

I am off on Fridays, and I weigh in at the doctor on Friday mornings (for anyone who is wondering, I am on a physician-directed weight loss program...) As of Friday morning, I have lost 51 pounds :) I was hoping to be at 50, and what a happy surprise when I had passed that goal. Ahhh.... Only 20 more to go. Maybe by my birthday in June.

After that, I picked up my baby girl's birthday cake, and on the way home, SMASHED her smash cake. Had to go to a local bakery and have them make me another one on the fly. Grrrr...

While my son went skating with friends, I did manage to get one layout done for my Shimelle class (Prompt 4: Make a layout using lots of CARDSTOCK). I took the challenge literally and made a CARDSTOCK ONLY layout (plus a little metal, ink, and punch action). Here it is:





















Supplies:
Cardstock: Studio Calico March kit (except the 2 greens, and they are Stampin' Up)
Punches: Border (Fiskars), Large flower (EK Success), Small flower (the Paper Studio), Leaves (Sizzix), Small leaves (Stampin' Up)
Alphabet: Quickutz Studio Classic (my all-time QK favorite)
Brads: Making Memories
Ink: Tim Holtz (Ranger)

The photos are photo booth photos, one from this month, and one from March last year. My, how time flies when you are having fun. And having babies, haha.

Friday night, I cleaned the house for the party on Saturday, and then on Saturday morning, we celebrated this:

























Yep. Sweet little Eden Jamison Burkett is ONE. I can't believe it. Seems like I just had her.

We napped after the party, then me and Jackson went to the movies. We saw Diary of a Wimpy Kid. GREAT movie. Anyone with an elementary-aged kid needs to make it a point to take their kid to see this one. It teaches such a great life lesson. We had an awesome discussion on the way home from the movie about being yourself, being genuine, and not taking good friends for granted. Again, great movie.

I sang the "special" in all three services at church this morning, ate lunch at my cousin's house for lunch, took a three hour nap with Eden, and am now chillin' in my scrapbook room while the kiddos watch Elmo and Cartoon Network. Life is good, you know?

Before the movie last night, I went to Michaels and got a few new Martha Stewart punches. Have you SEEN all of her new spring punches? OMG. I need to get one per paycheck. I want them all. So great. This time, I got the embossed button, the owl, the Birds on a Wire edge punch, and the classic butterfly that I have been seeing on so many projects lately. Can't wait to use them SOON. I am off again Wednesday. Maybe then. Gotta get through 2 busy 12 hour shifts at work first. On that note, gotta go get daycare bag ready, give baths, and get in the bed. See you Wednesday :)

No scrap is safe...

From my butterfly punch, that is...

Friday brought with it Prompt 2 from Shimelle's online class: Use all of those paper scraps for something useful, rather than leave them in storage...

Coincidentally, a few weeks ago, after reading Virginia's blog post about what she does with her monthly kits, I was inspired to get my punches after my paper-scraps stash. I am talking about all of those bits and leftovers from layouts past. A couple of years ago, when I first started storing my supplies by manufacturer, I did the same thing with all of my scraps. I have a big ziplock bag for each paper company, and I keep all the bags in a chest. I took one folder (the one holding my A2Z scraps) and went to town. Little did I know that these would come in handy for this class. I mentioned this in my last post, and actually used some of the butterflies on my "Play" layout. Here are the 2 layouts that I did today for this prompt:


























Like Prompt 1's layouts, I used my SC March kit. Along with the kit, I used the advertisement tags that SC always sends with their kits - the tags are always a collage of the current SC papers - and are way too cute to just throw away. So, I punched a couple of butterflies from them. Also, the strip of grey woodgrain is cut from these tags. And, I am obviously still using lots of metal. That may be an ongoing theme for this album, along with the butterflies and rulers.

And my second layout:





































More SC March kit stuff, and some of that A2Z paper (the blue dotted paper). I also repurposed some of the packaging from the kit. I tell ya, that Studio Calico is awesome. The March kit has a package of die-cut woodgrain in it, and the packaging is about as awesome as the actual woodgrain. The starburst at the bottom is cut from that packaging, as is the yellow woodgrain circles. I used more metal letters from Scrapworks and a Maya Road journaling tag.

I am LOVING this class and am sooooo inspired. And, that's 4 out of 10 kit layouts. 6 more to go :)

Heavy Metal

My Shimelle class started yesterday (see last post), and the first prompt was all about using up all of those metal embellishments in your stash. I found LOTS of metal in my particular stash. For example:














Actually, I have a LOT of metal. Making Memories metal words, frames, brads, book plates, Scrapworks metal letters, brads, brads, and more brads... I bought all of it because I LOVED it then. And you know what? Apparently I still love it, because these 2 pages were super fun to make, and I remember why I bought all that metal years ago...


















I am using my Studio Calico March kit (remember last post, where I said that I would cut myself off from kit-buying unless I complete at least 10 projects per kit?) along with Shimelle's product challenges. Besides the kit, I added the Scrapworks metal letters for the title, and a square brad from MM. And that's it. Pretty simple layout. This is the title page for an album, also a part of the class :)




















Seriously. Who knew that playing with old product would be so inspiring? Well, I guess Shimelle did. That's why I am such a fan. She just KNOWS. Again, for this layout I used my kit, and added a MM metal word, some brads for the butterfly bodies, and my Stampin' Up butterfly punch. OH - and that paper that I used for the butterflies??? Old A2Z papers - one day a few weeks ago, I took my A2Z scraps and punched the heck out of them. You will probably see the products of that punch-session on many upcoming layouts. Again: I am trying to use up some of this accumulated product that has been collecting dust for years.

AND, 2 down, 8 to go on the SC kit challenge (for anyone keeping count). Woohoo. I *may* give myself permission to order April's kit :)

Ahhhhhh. A scrapbooking class. I can hardly wait :)

This one is awesome - it will help me use stuff from my current stash (which has become quite ample over the years...) Lots of challenges, page ideas, etc. I seriously can't wait.

Perfect timing, too, as I was about to cut myself off from buying supplies, cancel my Studio Calico subscription, etc... I had even thought I might do the "buy-no-more-product-until-I-complete-100-layouts" challenge. Instead, I think that I will challenge myself to use my kits over the course of the month after I receive them, before I get the next one. I was thinking maybe a 10 project per kit goal... BEFORE I get the next kit. If I don't consistently meet this goal, I may cut myself off from buying kits, as I have about 10 unused ones from various companies just sitting around, collecting dust, just waiting to be used. I hope to photograph my projects and post them here on the blog - we shall see how that goes.

As for couponing, we are in full force. Buckett is even involved now, which is really funny :) I think that rather than posting each trip here, I will set up a spreadsheet to keep up with our purchases, savings, etc. I may post a monthly summary at the end of each month. Again, we shall see.