Can I hear a HIP-HOP!!!

Hello again! It's another Unity Hip-Hop Thursday!!! If you have just popped in (not as part of the hip-hop), then you need to join in the fun and head on over to Angela's blog. From there you will hop your way across the DT blogs (and some gorgeous, inspiring artwork) until you get to the final blog where there will be some blog candy so be sure to leave a comment at the final blog.

If you are here from Maren's incredible blog, then welcome! I have a couple of fun things to share with you today.

This first project is a card using this month's KOM, Remember Happiness. This darling kit (go check out all the stamps if you haven't seen it) is only available through the weekend so be sure that you don't miss out on it. It's definitely been my favorite so far...so cute!!! Isn't that Cosmo Cricket paper perfect for that little camper stamp?! I love it!
Supplies used:
*Unity Stamp Co. August kit- Remember Happiness
*Unity Stamp Co. Memory & a Photo (postcard)
*Cosmo Cricket Mr. Campy paper
*American Crafts ribbon
*popdots
*watercolor pencils
*brown inkpad


So, what is the highest number of photos that you have put on a single layout? This one has 10!?! {click on the photo of the layout to see it better!} I have been dying to do a layout like this ever since I got this great single stamp, Memory and a Photo, from Unity. These are {some of} the photos that I took from our daytrip to Fort De Chartres last month. I simply printed them up 3 photos to a 4x6 piece of photo paper which made them the right size for the layout.

Supplies Used:
*Unity Stamp Co. Memory & a Photo
*Unity Stamp Co. Vintage Accents (the fleur de lis)
*Pink Paislee Vintage Moon paper (the orange)
*7gypsies paper (the green)
*Stampin Up paper punch (notebook paper edge)
*Marvy Uchida scallop circle punches
*brown and black inkpads
*buttons
*crocheted trim



And if you haven't seen what amazing fun is going on today as far as the store, well then let me tell you about these amazing deals:

HERE IT IS CHICKS!!!!

ONE PENNY for Trifle Sentiments with orders OVER $20.00 {before shipping} ONE SET PER ORDER!

SINGLES.... ONE DAY ONLY! HIP HOP THURSDAY! WOW!

Present from "It's a Party" - $4.00

Dazzling Departure Butterfly from BUTTERFLY Beauty - $2.50

Cheery Santa from Holiday Cheer - $4.00

Vintage Emblems from Vintage Blue Bells - $2.50

Slim Vase from Bouquest of Blessings - $3.00

NEW RELEASE is "Sweet ZZZ's" by Jessica Rose.

ALSO! If you are placing your FIRST ORDER with Unity Stamp Company you get a FREE "So & So Loves...." You just need to write FIRST ORDER in the discount area at the bottom of the page when you order!

Also as an ADDED BONUS just this week, every order will have one of our MYSTERY SURPRISE Stamps in their box with EVERY ORDER on HIP HOP THURSDAY!!!! Just our way of SAYING THANK YOU for continued support of Unity!

AND there is going to be $300 worth of stamps given away over on the HipHOP thread on SplitCoast so be sure to join in on some of the fun!

Now, HOP on over to Linsey's blog to see what gorgeousness she has been creating this week!

How are we already on a Monday again? I swear that I must have slept through one of the day's from the weekend because it sure doesn't feel like the weekend should be over yet, but I guess if that were the case, I would feel more rested than I do. LOL!





It was actually a really fun weekend. Jacob was gone to Scout camp so Kat, Ben, and I went out to a gorgeously, historic little town, St. Charles, on Saturday to watch a kayak race come to an end. We had a picnic on the shore of the river, walked through that beautiful little town, and overall just had a really fun day together.












This week's motivational/inspirational quote for our household:

Keep steadily before you the fact that all true success

depends at last upon yourself.

~Theodore T. Hunger

Today is Monday and that means that I have a Monday sketch for you. This is the last one for the month of August. Remember if you complete all 4 sketches from this month, you will have your name entered to win a stamp kit of your choice from Unity Stamp Co. Even if you haven't done any of the sketches yet, it is not too late to do them...they just have to be done and links sent to me by next Monday, Sept 1st. The other three sketches are here: August 4, August 11, and August 18.

And here is today's sketch:

These are some photos that I had taken while packing up to move in July.

The journaling says, "July, 2008- moving with Kat at age 1 definitely did not make the process easier, but there were times when she definitely made it more fun. She loved the boxes and tape. (moving from Ft. Bragg, NC to Scott AFB, Ill)"

I used the Floral Fantastical kit from Unity Stamp Co. and colored in those butterflies with watercolor pencils and did just a bit of detail work on the borders using my white sharpie.




Supplies used:
*Unity Stamp Co. Floral Fantastical
*KI Memories paper
*Jenni Bowlin journaling flower
*Amer Crafts Glittler Alpha Thickers
*watercolor pencils
*Heidi Swapp bling
*white sharpie
*brown inkpad
*Kraft cardstock

Random Ramblings for Friday....

Good morning! I have lots of nothing to share with you today...just some random ramblings which I have been thinking that I need to blog about, but simply haven't taken the time to type my thoughts out.


The Kids:
First, Little Bit is snapping her fingers. Can you believe that? Jacob taught her how this week and she does it all the time! How many 1 year olds do you know that can snap?!? She's so talented *said in an extremely proud mommy's voice*

Sorry about the awful photo...Kat's newest thing when I pull out the camera is to run to it as fast as possible and try to grab it. Definitely not the makings for good photos...LOL!



Jacob started school yesterday...8th grade. He was super-nervous esp. with it being a new school where he didn't know anyone. I think that it went okay, but it was only a half day so it was hard to gauge. I am crossing my fingers that today goes well. And being a horrible scrapbooker/mother, I just now realized that I didn't take any photos yesterday!?! Where was my head? We will have to have a do-over Monday...he will LOVE that! Gotta love a 13 yo, but he's a great kid and I am just praying that he has a good year...it can be such a hard age.



Me:
I don't think that I have mentioned it to you all, but I am on a new fitness regime...I just finished week 3.



For those of you that haven't read this blog for long, I swore off exercising a LONG time ago. Five years ago, I lost approximately 35 lbs with Weight Watchers and hit my goal weight (145 lbs.) plus some more (by using the eating plan alone...no exercise). When I had Kat, I gained approximately 50 lbs. I lost most of it although I never made it back to goal...I settled at about 150-155 depending on the week. When Ben came back from Iraq so fit, I started his eating plan and quickly made it back to my goal weight.



Well, I may have been at goal, but I have had this shelf on my abdomen from the pregnancy that I have NOT been able to get rid of. It's like a normal woman's pouch, but higher and yuckier so after seeing an infomercial for the exercise plan that Ben has been doing, I decided that it was time for drastic measures...I needed to add exercise to the mix.



So for the last 3 weeks, I have been getting up at 4:00 am (with him)- six days a week to exercise. After 2 weeks of this, I was actually at 146 and still had the shelf (not the results I was hoping for.) So this week, I have gone back to my old standby of journaling and counting points from WW and doing the exercise.



I measured this morning and things are looking up, although the scale still isn't showing much of a difference (a couple of pounds less)...I think that the results are finally coming. I keep hoping that my body is just in shock that I am exercising for the first time in a LONG time and is trying to hold onto everything and that one week I will just wake up svelt and slim...hey, it could happen.

The point of this...just to put it out there. I will keep you all updated as to how I progress. BTW, I am doing the P90X workout which is a 90 day program so I still have a ways to go.



Art:
Yesterday, the Hip-hop was a total blast (as it always is...those girls are fantastic!) I even managed to get another card made in amongst all the chat and fun.



Yesterday's Splitcoast challenge was to use tearing so the Unity hip-hop gals decided to step it up a notch and use a Unity tree too. There was an additional challenge to create a Green card so I combined that with the other challenges and quickly came up with this card....


It's kind of a mish-mash since I was working quickly. I started with one design and a different Unity tree (notice the right side of the base paper---yes, those are pine trees from the Simple Elegance kit...LOL!) and ended up going a completely different route using scraps laying on my work-table. I think that it kind of works.

Supplies used:
*Unity STamp Co. Tiny Trinity
*Unity Stamp Co. Simple Elegance
*Fancy Pants papers
*cardstock
*watercolor pencils
*crocheted lace trim
*Making Memories metal embellishment
*Marvy Uchida punches
*buttons

Life Quotes:
I really love this week's quote and am giving it some serious thought...hopefully, there is more to come in the near future in that area. BTW, every week, I write these quotes on a chalkboard that sits on my kitchen island so they are VERY visible and thought-provoking for the whole family throughout the week.

It's Time for some HIP-HOPping!!!

Welcome to Unity's Hip-Hop Thursday!!! If you have come from Patter's blog, then welcome! If not, you need to head to Angela's blog and start the hip-hop there following all the blog links to the final blog which will have a place for you to register for this week's hip-hop blog candy, School Rock Star.

Angela has some super-fun stuff planned for today:

***Of course there is a ROCKING new single by Jessica Rose, Love Builds a Home. I am so getting that stamp for Change of Address cards {which I still haven't made...oops!}

***There is also a new limited edition single that normally only comes in a kit, the Dream Tree from the kit Growing in Unity (although this is absolutely my favorite kit...EVERY stamp in it is gorgeous!)...this is only available as a single for a VERY limited time so if you want it, you better grab it...

For this card, I used that tree (the sentiment is also from that kit) and some K&Company papers, flat-backed gems, and brads.

***Angela has also put the Worn Vintage Clock up as a single for the unbelievable price of $.01...Can you believe that price?!?! At that price, she is limiting them to only one per order. I have a card made with that clock that you can see here...that card is 5x7 so you can see just how big it is...incredible deal! I hope to get some more done with it today, but we will see how much I get done with the hip-hop going on... :o)

***Finally, she said that she wouldn't do it again, but the entire Unity website (excluding the kit of the month) is 10% off...WOW!

***And you absolutely have to come play with us in the Unity forum for the hip-hopping fun today...Angela will be giving away tons of fun stuff and there is the usual fun and frivolity going on over there!

And finally, here are my projects for today...I had promised to send Angela some notecards to have on hand over at the Unity office several weeks ago and am just now getting them done and sent out. I, of course, had to use that fun Growing in Unity stamp and used the Unity brown and teal color scheme...

Supplies Used:
*Unity Growing in Unity kit

*Marcella (old line) papers

*Marvy Uchida punches

*Martha Stewart ribbon

*Making Memories copper brads

*Zig Writer
*brown inkpad

For my signature on the back, I used one of the other stamps from this kit...isn't that little swirl perfect for adding a signature...I love it!

Now you need to head out to the ever-talented Jimmi's blog to continue along your hip-hop journey...you are getting close to the end!

Confession Time...

I confess...I created all of my summer sketches a couple of months ago before Ben got home from Iraq. This week's was the last of the pre-prepared sketches, but it's been a while since I did it so when I sat down to create, I simply found photos that worked and followed the sketch.



Well, I posted the sketch yesterday and at the time, I was about 3/4 of the way through with this layout. What I realized after I posted the sketch, was that I was working with the sketch turned sideways. Normally, I am a huge fan of turning sketches to create different looks, but for this one, I really think that it works better using the original orientation of the sketch rather than how I used it...LOL! I feel another layout coming on using this sketch turned the right way, mainly just to see if it really does look better that way



But anyway, this is what I did with the sketch turned...






For this layout, I used the Unity July kit of the month (the main background, the owl, and the swirl stamped in white around the edge of the brown cardstock....it's no longer available, but there is an equally cute one for August that you can see here.) I also used the Unity Tea Time Pattern Background stamped with white StazOn on the green cardstock.

For the "O" detail on the Kat's New Owl Friend title, I layered a couple of K&Company tags, as well as a small scallop circle punch, flower and Little Yellow Bicycle Epoxy button.



Supplies Used:
*Unity Stamp Company July KOM- It's the Little Things
*Unity Stamp Co. Tea Time Pattern
*SEI paper (owl) and die cut (tab with date)
*K&Company journaling tags
*CTMH inkpads (Breeze, Ocean, Sweet Leaf, Cocoa)
*Amer. Crafts alpha stickers
*Prima flowers
*Little Yellow Bicycle Epoxy stickers/buttons
*ribbon
*brads
*Zig Writers

Monday Mumblings....

Quote for the week:

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.

~Benjamin Franklin

Last night when I was starting to think about what to find for our household quote for the week, I asked the guys if they wanted any theme in particular. DH asked me to find a quote by Benjamin Franklin and this is what I chose...I wasn't thinking about the fact that I would be starting my Monday post with the quote and the added pressure that it would add based upon the content of the quote. Oh well, I apologize in advance for my mumblings today. :o)





I am running behind on my scrapbook page for today's sketch. It is almost done, but at this point, it will be after dark when I complete it which means bad lighting for photography. So I will just share the sketch today and I promise that the layout that I made for it will be up tomorrow.





Don't forget that throughout the month of August, I will post a sketch every Monday. Do them all by Monday, Sept. 1st and you will be entered into a drawing for a stamp kit of your choice from Unity Stamp Co.

It was a good party...

...when it's over and you have a new tattoo...









Just kidding, Mom...it's just StazOn, but wouldn't that stamp (from Unity's Growing in Unity kit) make the greatest tattoo? I just LOVE that stamp...okay, maybe not enough to get a real tattoo, but I think that it looks fun...LOL!



But in all seriousness, yesterday's Unity Hip-Hop was a blast! It ended up lasting all day with tons of chat, fun, and prizes from Unity's extremely generous owners, Angela & Chris. And the amazing thing is...we are doing it every Thursday! I am just not sure what I am going to do with Kat next Thursday since Jacob will be in school...yesterday cost me $20 so that he would watch her while I played. :o)



In the midst of all the fun, I actually managed to get a card made too in response to one of the Splitcoast challenges--an inspiration challenge. Here is the inspiration that was provided:







And here is the card that I created:




For this card, I again used the Unity kit, Growing in Unity (I get the feeling that you all are going to see me use this kit a TON!)

I highlighted some of the areas of the corner stamp using my white sharpie and flat-backed gems.




Supplies used:
*Unity Stamp Co. Growing in Unity
*Unity Stamp Co. Mix Up of Cuteness (sentiment)
*Chatterbox paper
*flat-backed gems
*Martha Stewart border punch
*white sharpie

BTW, thank you so much for all the amazing comments from yesterday's post. I promise I will be paying a visit to all of your blogs sometime this weekend!

Can I get a HIP-HOP...

Welcome to Hip-Hop Thursday!

Today is the first official hip-hop day for Unity Stamp Co...what does that mean? Lots of fun, inspiration, prizes, and some bargains thrown into the mix too!

The "hop" part starts over on the Unity blog {everyone should be all linked up by 10:00 am CST} so if you haven't done so, start there (I don't want you to miss anything!) and then follow the links for lots of fun and inspiration!!

And now for my bit of inspiration. DH got home from Iraq the day after our 16th anniversary, but even though he spent most of that week at various bases trying to get home, he STILL managed to get a card to me by our anniversary. Not only was that part awesome, but the card is an incredible inspiration piece and that is what I have created from for my project today. First here is the card that he sent...

And here is what I have created based upon this fun tri-fold design using the Unity stamp kit, Tiny Trinity.

And this is what it looks like when it is all opened up...

Isn't that fun? I colored the trees using colored pencils and just various shading based upon the colors in that K&Company paper.

The finished card measures about 4x8 and I just played with the curves and angles on this until I liked the look. I will definitely be using this basic design again as I think that it is so much fun!

Now "hop" on over to Jennifer's blog and see what she and all the other talented gals from Unity have been creating. Have fun and be inspired! It's going to be such a fun day!!!

We are what we repeatedly do.

Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.

~Aristotle

Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.

~Robert Collier

I couldn't decide on one quote to live by this week...so I chose 2, but I think that for this week that the 2nd one is my favorite and the one going on my kitchen blackboard.

So how are you all doing out there in blogland? I am running late today. I should have had this post up about 3-4 hours ago, but I have a little girl who is trying to give up her naps which I am NOT ready for yet...LOL!

As you all know, I have been hosting a Simply Scrapbook Sketch Challenge with Unity over on their Splitcoast forum. Well, Angela and AJ are constantly changing things up so that it stays super-fun which means that my challenges over there are no more... so for the time being, I am going to be running them from here on Mondays.

Last Monday I had announced that there would be a random prize drawn from everyone who completed all of the August sketches...your choice of Unity kits. I am still doing that...you will just have to link me up to your layout through my blog now instead. Just make sure to do all of the August one's by Sept. 1st. They are posted here every Monday in August.

So here's todays sketch:

For this layout, I worked with several pieces from the Work In Progress August Main kit. I LOVE Trish's kits and this one has definitely been one of my favorites. I just LOVE that SEI paper.


The theme of the layout is one that I have been planning to do for a while. Kat LOVES animals...almost to the point of obsession. She sees an animal {any kind-real, stuffed, photo} and she will just go ballistic trying to show you and get to it. This also applies to anything that might slightly resemble an animal...case in point, my fuzzy slipper socks. LOL! The day that I took these photos she carried my slipper socks around for a good 2-3 hours petting and cooing them. It was soooo cute!




For this layout, I used the Unity Kit of the Month from July. With the move, I feel like I have neglected this poor, cute little kit. I know that it isn't available anymore, but you probably are going to see more of it over the next couple of weeks because I really want to play with it some more. And if you haven't done so yet, go check out August's kit...it's just as cute! I just got in some paper today that I am planning to use with it!



Supplies Used:
*Unity July KOM-It's the Little Things
*SEI paper (WIP kit)
*Creative Imaginations paper (WIP kit)
*Chatterbox paper
*K&Co. paper
*SEI coasters (WIP kit)
*American Crafts Thickers (WIP kit)
*buttons

Saturday Salutations!

Good Saturday Morning!



I meant to blog yesterday, but I got to reading Breaking Dawn which put my life on hold until I finished it. It was worth the loss of yesterday though, because the author finished out the series PERFECTLY!!! If you haven't read the Twilight 4-book series, I cannot recommend it enough...it's simply wonderful!



I do have a new card to share. Yesterday on the Unity forum, our inspirational challenge was to CASE (copy-and-steal-everything) one of our Guest DT member's, Erin McKinney, pieces. I chose this card of Erin's...Floral Hi!



I am still playing with my Unity Cocktail Party kit...



I colored the images with my watercolor pencils...I am totally falling in love with these again, if you haven't noticed the trend lately...LOL!

Supplies used:
*Unity Stamp Co. Cocktail Party
*K&Co. paper
*Prima bitty flowers
*MM brads
*Ranger inkpad
*watercolor pencils