Sugar Cookie by Megan Turnidge

I used a really cute kit by Designs by Megan Turnidge named Sugar Cookie for this page. This kit is retired now, so that is why there are no links. She has lots of other cute kits in her shop though, so go HERE to link to her other stuff. :) Here's what I did with it:

The Great Outdoors by Ziggle Designs

Wow, 2 pages already using pictures from this current year. That might be a record for me! ;) I am SO behind! For this page I used The Great Outdoors by Ziggle Designs - such a cute kit!!

Just The Way You Are by Secret Stash Designs

I used Secret Stash's Just The Way You Are kit for this page - it is absolutely perfect for these pictures! Sadly, this kit is retired now, so I can't link you up. I still wanted to post the page though! I also used a freebie template by Britt-ish Designs called Leave The World Behind. It was a freebie that came in The Daily Digi newsletter this morning. If you aren't familiar with their site, it is definitely worth checking out! :)

Adorable Everyday Journal Cards Freebie by Miss Tiina

I came across this super cute freebie by Miss Tiina today & thought you'd like it too! Click HERE to link to her site where you can get it too!

Me plus U by Lliella Designs

Last time I posted I mentioned that we were moving. Turns out that the buyers had a problem getting their loan at the last minute (by last minute I mean like 24 hours before we were supposed to close!) so we are still here & the whole deal is up in the air at the moment. My husband has been having second thoughts about moving since we don't have another house in the works yet anyway, so overall it's a blessing, but still such a pain! I've been busy unpacking the stuff we use all the time & trying to decide if I should just unpack everything. I'm trying to hold off until we have a plan, but all these boxes are driving us nuts! :)

Onto other news that is much more fun!

Lliella Designs just released this super cute new Love/Valentine's themed kit named Me + U. My husband absolutely hates his picture taken, so unfortunately we have a shortage of pictures of him & I together. (And even when we do get one, he just glares at the camera, so they aren't very fun to scrap!) Lucky for me though, I have two cute girls who will (usually) smile for me, so I scrapped some pictures of them. :) Here's what I did with this kit:

Moving and Parties and Elves, Oh My! (and some scrapping too!)

It's been a long time, but I'm still around! A lot has happened since I last wrote...Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year...plus, we sold our house & will be moving to a rental next weekend. We had hoped to find a new house before we sold this one, but that's not how it all worked out. We expected it to take a couple months for our house to sell & it ended up selling in less than a WEEK! Yikes! It caught us totally off guard & though it's a bit unnerving to feel like we are out of a house with no long term plan, I'm just having faith that it will all work out. I'm not looking forward to moving twice, but it doesn't look like there's any other choice!

I've had some fun things I've been meaning to post about. First, I want to tell you about this fun party I did for my 4 year old just before Thanksgiving. I was seeing all these adorable Thanksgiving themed ideas on Pinterest & decided to put some of them to use. My daughter invited some of her little friends from preschool over & we had an "I Am Thankful For Friends" Party. It was SO much fun!

This was our invitation:


I made each of the girls these super cute & easy turkey aprons. (Using the pattern found HERE. I also got the idea for the turkey off pinterest, but the link is no longer working.) We put them on as each guest arrived.


Next, we had a turkey-themed lunch. I got the idea for these cute sandwiches HERE. I forgot to take a good picture before they started eating them, so this is the best I got!


After lunch they made turkey hats. (Idea found HERE) I made one for my baby too! :)


Then we decorated turkey cookies. I got this idea out of a magazine or something, but we've been making these for years & I no longer remember where I got the idea from.


It was such a fun time! I think this is something I will definitely do again for my younger daughter when she gets old enough. :)


The next thing I want to post about is our Elf On The Shelf. I had heard a lot about this, so we decided to try it this year. I'm so glad we did! My kids LOVED it!! Every morning they were so excited to wake up & find the elf! I decided not to go with the "real" elf on the shelf...mainly because of cost & because I don't love the elf that goes with it. I found this little elf at my local craft store & he worked perfectly! Plus he was only $6. Much better! :)

Because I didn't have the "real" version, I also didn't have the book that goes along with it. After talking to a few people about their elves, I've decided making our own rules suits us better too. The "real" one says you can't touch the elf or it will lose it's magic. Our elf didn't have that rule & that works better for my family. My kids are little & I'm glad I didn't have to stress about them touching it. Also, I like to clean up whatever he was "doing" & not have to have the mess of it all day.

He arrived on December 1st & went back to the North Pole with Santa on Christmas Eve. He just showed up on our doorstep all wrapped in a box & had this note from Santa included with him:

Our elf wasn't naughty, he just did silly things. During the day, we would move him back to the shelf. Then each night he would wake up & play. Here's what he did each day: (Again, thank you Pinterest for almost all of these ideas!) Click the collage to enlarge.


And last, but not least, I got some pages scrapped too. Yay!

This first one I made using Holiday Hoopla by Lliella Designs:


This one was made using Give Thanks by Kristin Cronin-Barrow:


And this last one was made using mainly Fall Remix by Kristin Aagard, plus some stuff from Falltastic & Autumn Joys by Lliella Designs.


I have some other fun projects I'd like to share, but this post is long enough, so I will save them for another time! :)

Happy New Year!!

Kite Flying Fun & cute cluster frame freebie by Jady Day Studio

I made this layout using a cute cluster frame freebie by Jady Day Studio (it was made using her Park Play kit that is a collab with Kay Miller) and a bunch of misc. pieces from different kits by Lliella Designs. If you want full credits, you can find them on the layout that is posted to my gallery at DST (link to that on the side where it says "click here to see all of My Layouts").