The One with October Layouts

These are my two monthly layouts for the American Crafts Contributing Design Team:

A Little Bit Hippie
When I went to Washington in July to welcome my brother back from his mission, I noticed Allie had beads in her hair so of course I wanted some too. We had fun picking them out at the "BF" (aka Ben Franklin. When I worked at Yesterdays Scrapbooking and Stuff we always had to refer people to the BF for things we didn't carry. The BF is still in business, Yesterdays is not, sadly). The beads didn't last long in my hair, I couldn't sleep with them...but they were cool while they lasted!

Lake Sammamish
Also in Washington in July we went sea dooing on Lake Sammamish. I had fun cutting and tearing waves and clouds from this assortment of blue and white and cardstock. Check me out using glitter cardstock! Glitter is not my favorite :) but I thought it'd be appropriate here for "sparkling" water and clouds. I also busted out a blue crayon underneath the journaling. I forgot how fun crayons can be!

PS - Don't forget to leave a comment in the post below for a chance to win a plethora of handmade goodies!

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The One with the 500th Post Giveaway!

I think I need to go back to elementary school because I guess technically this is post #501. I can't count. So we'll just pretend...

In honor of this being my 500th post on this blog, I would like to giveaway some stuff! The theme is: handmade.

First - four handmade cards. Why pay $5 for a card when you can win some right here for free!? I've got three "thank you" cards and one "birthday" card.
Second - four intaglio (pronounced 'intallio' - the "g" is silent which I learned the hard way at school, haha) prints. I made these my sophomore year at BYU before I went on a study abroad to London, so naturally, I was interested in all things London-themed. I etched four copper plates with maps and such of the area and made 5 editions. That means in the entire world, there are only 5 of each print. The set I am giving away here is set 5 of 5. Signed, dated, legit. These babies would look absolutely awesome framed and hung on a sparse wall.
Third - 75 sheets of cardstock. Not just any cardstock - American Crafts cardstock! This is one of every color they make. It's high quality, has a nice linen texture, and has a colored core. Non-scrappers could use this stuff for making signs, banners, school projects, etc. And for scrappers it's perfect for card-making, paper projects, and layouts. Retail value: 50 cents a sheet x 75 sheets = $37.50. Good thing I stocked up before I moved eh?

Fourth - an original handmade book by me. I painted two chipboard sheets blue and then peeled off some of the paint for a distressed look. I used the coptic binding so it lays perfectly flat - much easier to write in than other styles of bookbinding. It's 5 x 7" so it can be carried around in your purse or backpack. Use for drawing, as a journal, or heck, give it away :)

Fifth - one of my handy dandy calendars. If you already bought one on etsy, you can give this one to someone for Christmas!
Sixth and last but certainly not least - not really handmade by me, but the food will be handmade by someone - a $25 gift card to any Brinker family restaurant. Mmmmmm.

Here's the fine print: Leave a comment on this post by this Saturday October 31st (that's Halloween!) and at 11:59pm Pacific Time I will randomly pick one winner to receive all of this STUFF - winner will be posted the following day. Anyone may try for the prize - friends, family, and foe, near and abroad. Thanks for reading oh ye faithful readers!

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The One with Old McDonald

Post #499 - this is the last post I've had in my queue for months and months and months. This video makes me laugh every time I watch it.

Now that this is out of the way, I can't wait until tomorrow. The big 5-0-0! I'm gonna start gathering and photographing things for a giveaway!

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The One with Mall Withdrawals

Last Saturday my friend Erica and I had a girl's night out - no husbands, no babies, or in my case, no birds, cats, rabbits, or chinchillas (and soon to be dog :) She heard there was a mall (mall!? That's the magic word!) in Glendale with fountains, I said cool, we googled it, found it, and went to it.I hadn't been to a mall in over a month! Who am I and what did I do with Paige? It was fun shopping, browsing, and eating a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Apple Pie caramel apple. I'm so glad I know where a mall is now, I'd been having major withdrawals.

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The One with Joey Puppy Pics

Holy crow - this is my 497th post. I should probably do something spectacular for the big 500 huh? A giveaway maybe?? Fo sho.

But anyways, the breeder emailed me pictures of our little Joey puppy this morning! I'm dying with anticipation to hug him and hold him and bring him home. One week from tomorrow and this little tyke will be ours!

He's gotten so big since the last time I saw pictures:Here he is now, about 6 weeks old.
He's the little guy on the right, his two sisters are on the middle and left.
I'm bursting at the seams here! Patience is not my best trait...

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The One with the Etsy Shop

Sooo....after much contemplation and thought, I've decided to put my calendar on my Etsy Shop. Please don't judge the state of my shop, it's appearance, or anything like that. It's a work in progress :)The listing says: I designed this 5 x 7" 2010 desktop calendar in Adobe Illustrator, printed it out in color on high-quality printer paper, mounted it on heavy white cardstock, then backed it with colorful cardstock so it's nice and sturdy. It's cute, fun, and functional! Looks great displayed on a mini stand, hanging on a clip, framed individually, etc.Our neighbors have an awesome aqua VW bus - perfect background prop and color!The colorful back sides.
We'll see how this goes. Maybe it will be the beginning of a beautiful new friendship between me and Etsy :)

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The One with Recognize This Guy?

Chris emailed a link the other day with the subject line: recognize this guy? So I clicked on the link and lo and behold, here is what I saw:

White Coat Ceremony Honors New Students By Beth Dunham 9/01/09 The USC School of Dentistry welcomed future dentists and dental hygienists to the profession during its 2009 White Coat Ceremony on August 28. Avishai Sadan, Dean of the School of Dentistry, told students that dental school is a challenging but opportunity-rich experience. “Make no mistake; dental school is an intense experience,” Sadan said. “The rewards, however, are immense; the public has long viewed dentists and dental hygienists as some of the most trustworthy and respected professionals.” Sadan spoke of the various paths that dentists and dental hygienists can take, from clinical practice and community outreach to research and leadership roles within the profession. “When it comes to career choices, the beauty of dentistry that it’s never all or none,” he said. “You can combine any of the aforementioned fields to create a unique career path that will make your journey on earth a meaningful one.” He also emphasized the solemn vow that donning the white coat symbolizes. That's a picture of my Chris and fellow-friend Ryan Malan! The funny thing is, I know who he's looking at and making that silly face to (ME!) because I have the same picture, except it's from my angle (and it's a lot less colorful and way more blurry...), see: Chris is like totally famous cuz his picture was on the USC website :)

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The One with Twilight and New Moon Tickets

I'm long overdue for a Twilight-related post. It's been hard not to blog every day about this phenomenon, believe you me. But I hold back no more, I'm just too excited! New Moon comes out in one month from today!
Where will I be at 9pm on Thursday November 19th? Watching Twilight AND New Moon on the big screen at an AMC theater! How fun! I mean, how often do you get to see a movie that's been out for a long time on the big screen again? Not very. This is a great idea. Then, right after Twilight, I'll watch New Moon! Confession: I have never ever been to a midnight movie before. I tend to fall asleep at 10pm. Even earlier if I'm just lounging away my night on the couch... So we'll see how this goes. Hopefully, and I'm pretty sure, I'll be able to stay awake because how awesome New Moon will be.Chris will be there with me (thanks babe), anyone else who wants to come, the more the merrier!

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The One with the 2010 Calendar

I don't know how 2009 is almost over already, but 2010 is only 10 weeks away! In light of the unbelievably fast approaching new year, my mom asked me if I could make her a calendar like the awesome one Jen made me for the handmade gift exchange at American Crafts last Christmas. Sure! I love a good, fun project.

I had some ideas bouncing around in my head throughout the week so when I went to sat down to begin everything just flowed. From start to what you'll see here, this 2010 calendar only took about 8 hours. Now I just have to print each month, mount them on colorful cardstock, then wrap it with a pretty bow. So, Malm, please act surprised when you open this at Christmas!

(Click on the images to enlarge.)

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