Catching-up and Me, Scrapbooking.

I know this may come as a shock to some of you, but I have been scrapbooking! I know. But it's true. Unfortunately, not on my own layouts, but I finished up the second of two mini albums. Two mini albums in the last two months -- what in the world is up with that? I did the Halloween Mini Album; fun, easy and apparently a jumping-off place for the latest. I completed a December Daily album. What? A December Daily album. The idea came from Ali Edwards' blog. I love her album, but I haven't got the time for that type of album, or frankly the creativity, so mine was a kit. But mostly I love the idea. Something to help me slow down and enjoy all the little things during the season. I try to enjoy the season, but like most people get caught up in the chaos. So, this little album is the perfect thing, PLUS it's all finished and waiting for a photo or note of the day to be popped in there. And the kids really get into it too -- looking for something to photograph or asking what my picture of the day was.

Fun idea, isn't it? And I have to say, since having kids I've become a total "lifter" and this kit came with instructions, but I went out and did my own thing, with the instructions used only for inspiration. Wow!! That felt really good. I was beginning to wonder if I had it in me anymore. Don't get me wrong, I still love sketches and will totally use them, but it was nice to rely on my own brain -- which I also wondered if it was in me anymore. Now, on to some housekeeping items. First, Hazel, I'll need you to send me your shipping address so I can get your Cookie Jar Treat in the mail. lori@apronstringsdesigns.com. Linda, I think I have your address on my shipping log. Drop me an email with your last name, just so I can verify that. Look for 25 Days of Sketches starting tomorrow and the return of 5 on Friday, as well. Hope your week is good one. I'm off to unearth Christmas decorations!

Monday Challenge #18 - Faux Stitching

Good morning, everyone! How was your Thanksgiving? I'm hoping that it was wonderful. Are you ready for Christmas???? Did you start your Christmas shopping? I did, finally...but still have a long way to go. LOL. Ok, today's challenge is a very easy one just like last week. I know that a lot of us are getting ready for Christmas with decorations and all that stuff. This challenge is to use the technique of faux stitching - to hand stitch on your LO or card that is. I have an example that I will try to upload later because for some reason blogger is not letting me upload at this moment. :-(

ETA: Ok, here's my take. Sorry for the lateness but blogger was giving me problems this morning...it was taking forever to upload the picture. As you can see I did my faux stitching with a white gel pen around my card.

Now, on to last week's winner which is Linda. We had great participation last week and I want to thank you all for playing. Some amazing cards and beautiful LO's from Hazel and Irit. Once again, thank you all for playing. Remember you have until Sunday evening to post your creation for a chance to win a delicious yummy treat. Until then, Bessie

After-Thanksgiving Sale

We'll return to the regular scheduled blog posts after this short message. So, you cooked all day on Thursday, then spent the evening cleaning up from the wonderful meal. Friday, you were up early, really early, to stand in line at 4 AM with a bunch of other sale-shoppers - steaming coffee in hand - and got bumped and shoved around. But you came away victorious! Saturday you spent time taking down your Fall/Thanksgiving decorations and hauled up the gigantic tree (by yourself) to begin the Christmas decorating. You've spent the past three days on your feet! Today, you're putting up those weary feet and letting your fingers do the walking. Cyber walking that is and you can start at Apron Strings, where the items are plentiful, the discounts deliciously deep and there's no shoving, no pushing, your coffee stays hot and pajamas are always welcome. Come stock up on Second Helpings (that won't go to your thighs) of paper packs starting at just $1.50 (only $2.50 for papers from Bigger kits). TV Dinners (naturally low in fat, but high in fun) are 50% off. Past kits (no calories, but totally sweet) are 50%, with some as low as 70%! To make a good deal sweeter, add a pinch of FREE gift with purchases over $35 and a dash of a Return Rewards on all orders for savings of 25% on your next purchase. Sale runs through Cyber-Monday. Come spoil yourself! We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog -- be sure to tune in for "25 Days of Sketches."

Monday challenge #17 - Thankful

Good morning ladies! Another Monday, ha? Can't believe that time is just flying and flying. This Thursday is Thanksgiving and Christmas is right around the corner. Sigh! Too much to do, so little time...right?

Well, today's challenge has to do with Thanksgiving. It's an easy peasy because you can do with this challenge whatever you want. You can scrap pictures from past Thanksgiving like I did, you can do a thankful/grateful LO, you can make a thank you card, you name it....anything goes as long as it's a thankful/Thanksgiving LO or card. Here's my take:

Remember, you have until Sunday evening to upload your creation to the group or link it in the comment section here....for a chance to win a cookie jar treat...that as you can see from yesterday's post there are yummy-licious. :-)

Now on to last week's winner...and random.org says that it is: Hazel. Thanks for playing along, and a cookie jar treat will be on its way. Here's is her card:

Thanks to everyone that played along...there's is so much inspiration from you ladies, its amazing. Until next challenge!

Bessie

Fat-Free Yumminess!!!!

Take a look at this.....

Isn't all this yummy and delicious?....those are cookie jar treats and the big prize that I received for playing along in the croptoberfest. Yummy treats like these are waiting for you to play along with our challenges, so there can find a lovely home.

See ya tomorrow with a new challenge,

Bessie

Friday? Really?

It's been one of those weeks where you go to bed on Monday night and wake up Friday morning and wonder, "what the heck happened to the week!?" I feel like I'm falling off the track; the holidays are rushing in, Christmas shopping, that I was so good at starting a couple weeks ago, seems to be coming to a crashing halt and there's still SO much to do. Too much. BUT there are some good things too -- November kits are out the door and should be on your doorsteps, or being used, by now. December kits are all here and half are waiting to be sorted - the other half are done! (big WOOHOO on that one); peeks will be up next week -- probably on Friday because of Thanksgiving and associated prep work. January kits are all ordered and oh, my they are gorgeous, if I do say so myself. You'll be singing a "Serenade" while dreaming up "Colorful" layouts. (Was that a hint? Naw, I don't do hints.) SUPER BIG for all you Black Friday shoppers, I'm working on special sales and goodies for Apron Strings own Black Friday shopping. Things like, oh -- gift with purchase, return rewards, Black Friday discounts. We'll see what else shakes loose from my head. :D So be on the prowl for stocking stuffers for yourself, the good present under the tree, or maybe a good croppin' buddy needs to learn the joys of an Apron Strings kit club membership; there are prepay gift subscriptions for just such occasions. Next -- 5 on Friday. Last week's winner, thanks to Random.org is Nitasha! Congrats! I think I still have your shipping address - Arlington? Pop me an email to confirm that. So, what do I have up my sleeve today? Hmm, let's see. . .

• 2 sheets of cardstock
• 1 set of handmade items (make your own blossoms, handcut a scroll, use someone else's handmade goodie, etc.)
• 1 length of ribbon
• 1 frame

Outside of title and journaling, that's it! Link up your layout by Saturday night to be eligible for your own Cookie Jar Treat. They're good, right ladies who have received one? Not a stitch of fat in them!

I'm off to do a multitude of mini things; load some inventory to the site, double-check some goodies, do a little inventory countinbg, fold some laundry, download some pictures, get potato soup in the slow cooker for dinner, maybe work on one of my two projects (this would be the best!), do some planning for Black Friday and a 25 Days of Christmas challenge for the blog -- lots of little things. I'm hoping you'll be enjoying your weekend, too.

Monday Challenge #16 - Ad Inspiration

Good morning, everyone! How was your weekend? Was it a wet one? Over here in NY has been raining all weekend. Sigh! Its been so dreary...so that's what brings me to this bright challenge. I came across this ad and fell immediately in love with the colors...it sure cheered me up a bit. So, you already know the deal...let this ad inspire you in any type of way you like. That's what creativity is all about. It can be the colors, the tree in the wall, the stripes in the rug, you name it. I went for the colors, like I said...I fell in love with the cheery colors; and here is my take.

Digital stamp: Mo's Digital Designs

Well, like every week, you have until Sunday evening to upload your creation in the group or link it in the comment section here for a chance to win a delicious cookie jar treat. Now on to last week's winner. Not before mentioning that I loved every entry and interpretation of these sketches. You ladies are so talented. Thank you so much for all the inspiration and for sharing your talent with us. Ok, so this past week's winner is Molly again. :-) You really rock that sketch girl...and I, like you loved the vintage feel to it.

Hope you have a great week,

Bessie

Space Cadet

I totally spaced out giving credit back to Nuts About Sketches for the sketches in the 5 on Friday challenge. Dang, where is my mind. Thanks to Nuts About Sketches for again providing great inspiration.

5 on Friday

Hope everyone had a great week. This week was the shipping of the November kits and they are all out and heading your way. If you were lucky enough to win a treat during Croptober-fest, those are included in your kits. If you aren't a member, yours are winging their way toward you, too. No spoilers, but if you didn't play along in October, you NEED to join us the next time around, because (if I do say so myself) there are some delish Treats out there. There were: TV Dinners, Specialty kits, full-sized monthly kits and the Grandaddy of all Cookie Jar Treats, the Grand Prize. I can't say what it is, or it'll ruin the thrill of opening it for Bessie. So here we are, definitely slowing down from last month's free-for-all-challenges, and I think in general as people start to get ready for the holidays. We have a winner from last week's 5 on Friday, and it was Linda R. Super layout Linda; I'm really enjoying your work! Your Treat will be included with your next shipment (not this month's). Anyway, we need to get going on this week's Challenge. Here we go:

• 1 Sketch (pick one from the two below)
• 1 Sheet Cardstock
• 1 Sheet patterned paper
• 1 Set of brads
• 1 Set of Chipboard embellishments

Now remember, you can create elements for your layouts using the ingredients above, but you can't add any other items. Layouts are due, with a link to your completed work, by Saturday evening. So, come one ladies -- grab a little time for yourself and earn the chance to win something non-fattening. Heaven knows I could use some non-fattening. Stupid Halloween candy!

Monday Challenge #15 - Sketches

Good morning, ladies! Hope you all had a great weekend. We know how much you love sketches so this week we bring you two amazing sketches from Valerie Salmon. A one pager and a double pager...of course if you do both you will get two chances to win. Great, ha??? So here are the sketches:

TOU: Valerie Salmon's sketches are for personal use only and not for the purpose of publication submissions, contest entries, design team projects, and design templates. For more amazing sketches from Valerie feel free to go here.

And so you can see how versatile these sketches are, I made a card instead of a LO with the above sketch. Sorry for the blurry picture...it was dark already when I took the picture. :-)

Now on to last week's winner...but first let I have to say that all the LO's on this previous challenge were amazing, so if you have a chance go take a look. :-) That being said, Molly is our winner for this past week and her LO is amazing...don't you think? Thanks for playing along.

See ya next week,

Bessie

5 on Friday and Much More

I started this post on Wednesday . . . WEDNESDAY! For heaven's sake. Now there's even more to talk about. First, let's get 5 on Friday out there so you can start planning your layout:

• 1 sheet neutral colored cardstock (black, white, or kraft)
• 1 sheet patterned paper with bright colors
• 1 set of "stitches" either real or hand drawn, okay, or rub-ons
• 1 over sized element that isn't a photo
• 1 set of brads

Outside of the listed ingredients only journaling and a title is allowed on your layout. Link up your layout to this post by Saturday evening to be eligible for a Cookie Jar Treat.

Next, I didn't get my photo, or in my case photos, from the final challenge uploaded, but being the challenge-issuer I don't have to play by the rules :D

My daughter created these goofy little cake balls for her friends who came over to trick-or-treat with her. OMGoodness they were scrumptious! If you aren't familiar with Bakerella's website, I HIGHLY recommend it. Not only does she have great dessert recipes, but the eye candy on her site will make you drool. Add how easy it is to create these yummies and oh, the insanity!

Here are my little monkeys this year. We have our "Rocker," "Long Live the Eighties Chic," "Legoman" and the little "Pumpkin." After all the snow, which was mostly gone by Saturday, it was a wonderfully mild evening -- no layers needed! Neexxtt . . . a couple winners to wrap up:

• 10/30's 5 on Friday -- Linda R. (Holy moly, Linda this is your month. Have you bought a lottery ticket yet?
• 10/31's Photo Challenge -- Jen J. (I love photo challenges and being able to actually see pieces of your lives. All the goblins I saw were simply adorable!)

Finally -- all my ladies who love challenges, scrapbook challenges that is. Apron Strings is the sponsor at Scrapbook Challenges this month. Paula just recently moved her site to Ning.com from MySpace so I haven't had the chance to browse around, but she's got sketches and challenges galore! And it looks like it's a little easier to navigate on her site. Thanks Paula for the inspiration!

Okay, ladies, I think that's it. I have a jammed weekend coming up - 1 soccer game tonight (the beginning of indoor season), 3 soccer games Saturday, 2 birthday parties to attend (one for my daughter and one for my husband) AND it's my middle son's birthday! Then Sunday we have 2 make-up outdoor games which ends the season. HURRAY!!

I hope you all enjoy your weekend and manage to get in some scrapbooking. Even with my overstuffed schedule, I am happy to say I am crafting. I have worked on my little project the past couple of days and will continue. Watch for photos. It's been only a little snatch of time, literally about 20 minutes, while my son hoarks down his lunch; when he's done, so am I.

Monday Challenge #14 - Color Inspiration

Good morning, ladies! How was your weekend? Did you go trick or treating? My kids were Cinderella and Iron Man. They looked adorable. Well, this week's challenge is this color inspiration that I created for all of you to be inspired. I included several colors, you do NOT need to use all the colors, but minimum you need to use 3 of the colors.

Here's my take on it...I used September '09 Smaller kit for this page.

Now, on to last week's winner. Her LO is just amazing...breath taking should I say...her photos are just stunning. Congratulations to Linda Richmond for her beautiful LO.

Have a great week everyone, and see ya again next Monday. :-)

Bessie