Look Where I Went

This past summer my Mom purchased a Biltmore Season Pass through Groupon. She went on Saturday to begin her membership and took me with her. This was my first trip to Biltmore and OMG - if you have not been you must go! I have always wanted to go but this was so much more than I ever expected!

Want to know how you get a picture of Biltmore with no one in front of it? You are the last people to leave! Seriously! We shut the place down! We arrived for our tour at 12:30, 1 potty break, 5 floors and 1 audio tour later we left the house at 3:45! They close the tour at 4:30 so we just made it out before they kicked us out!

 Just to the right of the house (off to the side in the picture above) is what once the stable and carriage house. It now has some very cute shops, an ice cream parlor, a coffee/pastry shop, a sandwich shop and a restaurant. We were starving as neither of us had eaten that day so we went to the restaurant and had some totally yummy food. I highly recommend the herb roasted chicken with buttermilk potatoes and seasonal veggies! The tables in this restaurant were actually set into the former horse stables - it's actually very cool. 

The tour was amazing (definitely get the audio tour if you go - it is absolutely worth it), the food was delish, the shopping was amazing and the company was the best. Thanks for the great trip Mom!

A Birthday Card from the Bright Side of the Dark Side

I made this little birthday card for my niece's 4th birthday last weekend.

Now before you go thinking that I'm sort of totally evil aunt or something let me explain. Never in a million years did I think I would use these materials for a birthday card and certainly not for a 4 year old. However, my niece and my daughter have discovered a new show on Netflix called Ruby Gloom. It's a show from Canada that was unfortunately canceled a few years ago. I think it started out as a bedding/apparel line that then became a show. Anyway, it is super cute and they love it. So my niece decided she wanted to have a Ruby Gloom birthday party. Of course you can't buy anything "Ruby Gloom" any more so my SIL had a great time trying to pull it off but it was too cute and all the kids loved it.

This is the inside of the card with Ruby Gloom (she's the little red haired girl) and all of her friends: Skull Boy, Misery, Iris, Doom Kitty, Scaredy Bat, Frank and Len and Boo Boo. It's all about the "Bright Side of the Dark Side" - so they are all fairly happy little characters but in a dark sort of world LOL The show is really cute and if you have Netflix you should definitely check it out!

A Few More Valentine's Projects

Back again to share a few more Valentine's Day projects I created with the MemoryWorks Express Kit for January called "Smitten" - appropriate no?

These kits are too fun! So many different products, so many different companies, so many possibilities! I still have a TON of stuff left and I'm still creating! Can't wait to share more with you later. If you would like to begin subscribing to the MemoryWorks Express Monthly Kits, Email me to find out how to get started! There are still a few "Smitten" kits available if you are interested. Just let me know!

Some MemoryWorks Express Projects

Each month MemoryWorks sends out an AH-Mazing kit full of the most luscious products you've ever put your Distressed Stained fingers on. This kit is automatically sent to everyone who subscribes to the MemoryWorks Express Kit ( The MemoryWorks Express kit is only $29.95* per month *Does not include shipping, handling or sales tax ). 

This month's kit was lovingly named, "Smitten"!

The kit came with all of this:

 Patterned Paper

{1} 12x12 Valentine - Paper Hearts (Crate Paper)

{1} 12x12 Petals - Paper Hearts (Crate Paper)

{1} 12x12 Delivery - Paper Hearts (Crate Paper)

{1} 12x12 Love Letter - Paper Hearts (Crate Paper)

{1} 12x12 Numbers Grid - Love Me (My Minds Eye)

{1} 12x12 Love - Love Me (My Minds Eye)

Solid Cardstock

{1} 12x12 Cherry Splash (Bazzill)

{1} 12x 12 Hot Fudge (Bazzill)

{1} 12x12 Date Swirl (Bazzill)

{1} 12x12 Walnut Cream (Bazzill)

 Embellishments

{1} 12x12 Paper Hearts Chipboard (Crate Paper)

{1} 12x12 Sweet Threads Alpha Sticker (BasicGrey)

{1} 6x12 Sweetness Canvas Borders (Pink Paislee)

{1} 3x4 Love Struck - XOXO Clear Stamp (We R Memory Keepers)

{1} 3x3 Vintage Metal Heart (Maya Road)

{4} Red & Cream Heart Stick Pins (Maya Road)

{2} Kraft Die Cut Doilies (Maya Road)

{1} 3x4 Valentine Mini Bingo Card - Assorted Styles (Jenni Bowlin)

{3} Valentine Printed Tickets - Assorted Styles (Jenni Bowlin)

{1} ½ Yard Brown with Cream Dots Ribbon (Creative Impressions)

{1} ½ Yard Soft Pink and Cream Gingham Ribbon (Creative Impressions)

Cards 

{1} 5.5 x 8.5 Cherry Splash (Bazzill)

{1} 5.5 x 8.5 Hot Fudge (Bazzill)

{1} 5.5 x 8.5 Date Swirl (Bazzill)

{1} 5.5 x 8.5 Walnut Cream (Bazzill)

{1} 5.5 x 8.5 Raspberry Splash (Bazzill)

{5} 5 3/4 X 4 3/8 Natural Envelopes

I was so happy to get this kit in the mail! I love Valentine's Day - mostly because I'm a serious pink lover! Today I have a few of the projects I created with this kit.

February's Express Kit is called "Carefree" and here is a little peek at what is in store!

If you are interested in becoming an Express Kit subscriber, email me and I'll be happy to help you get started! I'll share some more projects from this kit later this week.

Fun New Sites You Might Be Interested In

So this past week I found two new sites I wanted to share. My mission in life is to make things as simple and cheap as possible and these sites help me with that mission!

First up is Creative Market.

Think of it like Etsy for digital content. You know all of those beautiful fonts, icons, banners etc that make you feel like a kid on Christmas morning when you find them on the net? Now they are in one convenient location just waiting for you to discover them! So excited to have one place to browse and shop instead of searching and searching for what I want. Creative Market isn't up and running yet but it should be soon. If you register now (free to register by the way) they will give you a $5 sign up bonus! Can't beat that!

The second site I discovered is eBook Fling.

This is the site for all of you in love with e books but maybe not so in love with the cost of downloading said e books! I haven't shared this with you all yet but the hubs got me this for Christmas:

Yep, Kindle Fire baby and I LOVE IT! It is not something I would normally pick out for myself but that hubs, he's good and it was the perfect gift! So anyway, I've fallen in love with e books but I'm not thrilled with the price most of the time. My local library has an e book lending system but all the books I've looked for aren't available from the library in e book format :(

That's why I was so excited to find ebook Fling! It's a consumer lending program! You lend your books to other users and get points for doing so then you can use those points to borrow books from other users! Love Love Love it!

So those are my two latest finds and hopefully they will help you out too! Don't forget, there is still time to enter my Simply Handmade giveaway. Just leave me a comment HERE! I'll be drawing a winner tonight!

Giveaway! Simply Handmade Magazine

UPDATE:

Congratulations to LYNN! You have won the Simply Handmade magazine! I'll be contacting you directly for your address! Thanks for playing along everyone!

I have a deep love and affection for magazines. I read them over and over and over again and when I finally have to get rid of them (I only have so much space after all), I cut out my favorite parts and put them in a binder for future reference. I especially love magazines that get my creative juices flowing and that is exactly what I get when I open my Simply Handmade Magazine from Northridge Publishing.

Simply Handmade is just one of many magazines offered by Northridge Publishing but it has just a little of everything I love. Paper, fabric, cards, scrapbooking, gifts . . . the list goes on. I want to share all of this luscious eye candy with you so I'm giving away a copy of the Simply Handmade 2012 Be Mine issue. This is a new issue (aka I haven't drooled on these pages - I have my own copy for that) and it can be yours!

All you have to do for a chance to win is leave me a comment below telling me your favorite thing about Valentine's Day or maybe a favorite Valentine's memory. I'll draw a winner using Random.org on Tuesday January 17th. Good Luck!

Welcome 2012!

Wow! I can't believe it's been so long since I wrote to all of you lovelies! The holiday's kicked in and I totally lost myself in the whirl wind.

I've been thinking a lot about 2012 and what I want from this year. 2011 was such a crazy year! Moving into the new house really consumed me and then there were questions about how long we would actually stay which put a lot of things in limbo for me. I know we are staying put for at least another year (minimum) so I'm trying to figure out what "normal" life should look like.

Part of planning for 2012 and this "normal" life I'd like to have involved thinking about this blog. When I first started blogging I thought I'd really be sharing my crafty/scrapbooking passions but as time has gone by I've realized that I have lots that I want to share that I haven't because they didn't fit in with my original vision for this blog. So, I've decided to change my vision :) - seemed a lot easier than trying to fit in more craftiness which is hard with a 3 year old.

In 2012 I hope to share more with you about all types of things I am interested in. You'll probably see more things related to me attempting to get my home in working order (I have lots of organizing and decorating to do), more things about activities I do with my daughter and step son (I have some stuff from over the summer I'm going to share), and just general things that interest and excite me.

I hope what I share will inspire you or at least amuse you (I have a lot of "epic fails" as my step son would say when it comes to brilliant ideas I have). I am really looking forward to a new year and sharing as much as I possibly can with you as well as getting to know you all a little better! So don't hold back, leave me comments, send me emails - let me know what you think about the things I post.

Here's to 2012! May it be a wonderful year for us all!