October Kit at Scrapwords!!

It's been a few months but the Scrapwords Kits are BACK{readmore}!! This one "Clearly Autumn" is filled with new products Meg, Missy and I found at CHA. I think you're gonna LOVE this kit!!! Here's what you get along with up-close photos to show off the goods!

-4 sheets of Sassafrass Lass double sided paper.

-4 sheets coordinating cardstock

-3 Calendar cards from JBS

-3 Mini Black Bingo cards form JBS

-1 Thickers "Jewelry Box" Brown

-1 Pink Paislee "Holly Doodle" Aqua

-1 Sassafrass Lass Cardstock Stickers "Fawn'd of You, too

-1 sheet of JBS label stickers in red

-20 Prima flowers

-2 mini kraft paper bags

-3 white tags

-6 Fancy Pants Buttons in Harvest colors

-3 pieces ribbon

-12 Bookworks epoxy sentiments by EK Success

-3 JBS Label papers

-10 pieces Fancy Pants felt shapes

-2 full sheets of chipboad shapes (various shapes and sizes)

-1 full pack of "In a Stitch Green Blossoms" from Sass Lass

1 full package of 12x12 acrylic Deco sheets from Clear Scraps

1 full size Zip Dry Glue

You also get 5 herbal tea bags from Celestial Seasonings "Tension Tamer". This tea is a personal favorite of mine and is the perfect way to relax at the end of a long day. This soothing tea is full of peppermint, cinnamon, chamomile, lemongrass and more. Like the box says "indulge in a moment of relaxation with a cup of this flavorful and restorative tea."

You also get journaling prompts to help you on your journey to become inspired and boost your creativity. I'll throw in several ideas to help you relax and enjoy the view, too!

You get all this for just $36.99!!

You can buy them here!! Limited quantities so order soon!!!

My life is coming together

You would think at almost 42 years of age I'd already have it all together, right? So very, very wrong. BUT, it seems like finally, at last I'm getting there or at least understanding how to get there.

I have tried for years to have some kind of routine. You know like Flylady or something. I tried to have it in my home, my weight loss struggles, with my kids and their schedules, etc, etc. Nothing has worked for very long. I never understood why. I mean I crave routine but I hadn't been able to come up with something that actually stuck...until now.

It was just recently I noticed my days evolving into one mad dash after another. It was like each day was a race and at the end of the day their was no winner. So I took a step back and wrote down everything that was working and those things that were not. I noticed if I tried to do it all in one day I wasn't accomplishing a thing. You know those days... Today I will: clean, make a gourmet meal, sort through all my papers, scrap 2 layouts, pick up my kids from school with a smile, help them with homework, grocery shop, get ready for our yard sale...oh, and while I'm at it I might as well clean and organize the linen closet. Do you know what I'm talking about here? Have you ever done something as insane as this? And then beat yourself up at the end of the day because you didn't get it all done?!!? How looney is that? The looniest, for sure!

So I noticed that every Friday I was doing ONE thing. I was taking a few hours and cleaning my home. I love to have a clean space for the weekend so I thought this sounded logical. Turns out I really got my house clean when I focused only on that! I loved it!! Then I thought well, you know Mondays are always busy business days for me. Lots of catching up to do on Scrapwords, blogging, challenges to post, etc. So I decided Okay Mondays I will focus on my business. So, now for the first time I'm figuring out several things...First off it pays to focus on one subject at a time. This is so hard for me as I'm a multi-tasker but seriously focus works out so much better! Second-I'm not just sitting down one afternoon and coming up with my life schedule. Rather I'm seeing what works, trying stuff out and when it works I go "Okay, this needs to stay.".

When I woke up this morning instead of feeling overwhelmed I thought...you know the house is still pretty clean and honestly I don't have to worry about that today...it's Monday and I need to get my computer work done.

Yeah, I still do daily housework. I mean we have mountains of laundry, dishes, etc. to do but by just picking up a bit I'm not overloading my day by saying "I'm gonna clean every bathroom in my home today along with blogging, working, vacuuming and saving the planet from pollution."

How do you make it all work? Do you struggle? Tell me what works/doesn't work for you.

Scrapwords Star Design Team Search

Do you have what it takes to be a Scrapwords Star? We are looking for 3 talented ladies to design and write for one of the fastest growing sites on the web-Scrapwords.com

Our community is full of amazingly talented and friendly women, daily journaling challenges to help you tell your story and preserve your precious memories, artistic pages and tips as well as inspirational prompts and ideas for helping you be your creative best.

We currently have 4 Wordsmiths (designers) creating layouts and altered items as well as sharing Challenges in the Forum. We are looking for 3 more designers to share their talents on Scrapwords!

Here's how Scrapwords Star is going to work...

The search begins Wednesday October 8th and runs through December 17th. The new Wordsmiths will be announced no later than December 20th with duties beginning January 1st, 2009.

Scrapwords Star is an Elimination type contest consisting of 5 rounds. Each participant will have 2 weeks per round to finish their project.

Round 1 will be announced on October 8th and be due October 22nd.

You will be judged on the following:

1-Your interpretation of each round theme

2-The overall look of the page, design, etc.

3-How well you told the story using words, products and photo(s). Do the products used and the photo(s) support the story being told?

4-Participation on Scrapwords. We'd love to see a minimum of 30 posts a week. Each participant should create a Scrapword's Blog and share layouts, thoughts on life and anything else relevant to our community. This is an excellent way for us to get to know you and see your writing style.

Term runs from January 1st, 2009 through June 1st, 2009.

As a Wordsmith you must...

-come up with monthly challenges

-post at least 30 times a week in our forums. Be active!!

-LOVE the Scrapwords community and share on other message boards and in your Blogs with your own Wordsmith Scrapwords Blinkie. We want our site to GROW!!!

-Create layouts and altered items to share in your Scrapwords Blogs

-Come up with 1 contest during your time as a Wordsmith

-Be positive with everyone on the board

As a Wordsmith you will receive...

*15% off products in the Scrapwords store

*A Scrappy Kit every other month filled with products to create your pages...plus I always throw in a few extra goodies!

*First chance at our monthly Kits with a 10% discount on those

*The chance to show off your artistic talents, make friends and have fun

I will announce Round 1 October 8th-STAY TUNED and tell your friends!!!!

Pink Paislee at Scrapwords!!

Check out just one of the new alphabets from Pink Paislee!! We have 8 different/styles and colors to choose from. And the price is great...just $2.00!!!!!

Hard to believe another week has gone by and it's near the end of the month. My father in law told me this weekend that time just keeps flying by the older we get. :( Don't like that.

Okay, so we had some pages from last week's challenge. Thanks for posting ladies. Here is this week's...

"Scrap a 3 photo layout using only cardstock and handwritten journaling."

You know the drill...scrap your layout and send to me at les262@embarqmail.com bySunday at 3pm. You can win $15 bucks to spend in the store!

**This week I'll finish getting the new stuff on and we should have the NEW Fancy Pants by Friday and Pink Paislee shipped last Friday!! I purchased all their letters!!!:)

**Thanks to Megan and Missy for all they do for me. You girls have no idea how much behind the scenes stuff these ladies do for me. I appreciate them so much:)

I spent my weekend finishing up the third book in the Twilight series "Eclipse". It is due at the library today. I'm buying "Breaking Dawn" today!!

This week I'll be posting our "Scrapwords Star" challenge. It is a 5 round scrappy challenge that starts October 1st and runs through December 12th. Stay tuned for details!!!

Retro Friday Challenge on Scrapwords

This layout was first put on Scrapwords Homepage back in January. Our{readmore}Creative Director Megan created and posted. As always I find inspiration in her work.

This page just makes me want to dive right into my scrapping supplies and get to work! The colors, the ribbon strips and I'm so loving that white background!

**The challenge for this weekend is to take some time to gather itty bitty photos and use them on your layout. Meg has 5 mini photos of her layouts on this page...love that. It seems like everyone in the industry uses 2x2 and smaller size photos, I think it's time we try it, too!! Heck if you don't want to go to all the work of having them printed that way why not find a few wallet size photos you have lying around and use them in some creative way on your pages? We all have those whether they are our kid's school photos or Christmas card photos from friends...we got 'em!

Remember, we LOVE to see what you create! Be sure and post in your Blog. Don't have a Blog? Create one! It's easy and fun. Just go to the Forum area...you'll find out how to create one there.

Happy Friday!

There is just something about a morning walk in 60 degree weather that puts me in a happy place! Ahhhh, I love the fall. The smells, the sound, the crisp, clean air...LOVE IT!

So, what's going on with me? Well, I've decided that Body for Life may not be the way to go for me. It works-I know. But honestly I'm tired of trying to eat chicken, sweet potatoes and broccoli 24/7. Kind get old-KWIM?? Soooo, the past few days I've been thinking what to do what to do. I know I love to exercise. I mean I've been doing it now faithfully for 11 years! I enjoy food, all kinds but at the moment I'm just eating too much.

A few weeks ago I ran into an old friend of mine I hadn't seen in a couple of years. I hardly recognized her. She had gotten so thin. I just kept staring at her in awe. When I hugged her my first question was, "How did you lose all that weight?" Her reply, "I quit eating so much.". Duh! That makes sense, doesn't it!!?? So, I've just got to quit eating so darn much. That seems pretty simple.

It's all gonna go back to that plan I was talking about in my last post. When we plan we succeed-pretty simple. So today I'm back to keeping a food journal and gonna work on just eating enough-not too much. And, this is a biggie, I'm gonna try really, really hard to quit drinking so much diet soda. Lately I've been drinking like 3 a day. I used to drink just 1. I'd like to not drink any...it is so bad for you!

Speaking of my plan, it is going great! I've been planning my days not just letting them happen. I'm getting more done without becoming overwhelmed. Truly a genuis plan of mine!!:)

Went shoppin last night at Kohl's. Found so many cool shirts 60 to 80% off!! Hooray! And when I got to the checkout the guy he was feeling generous and gave me 20% more off!! I got like 10 shirts for less than $100!!!! I'm all set.

I've got to run. Scrapwords things to take care of today. You should stop by and shop and see all our new products!!!