wanted ... your favorite faces for a chance to win a 100 dollar gift certificate to florabella!

Greetings y'all!

I am still working on my blogoversary scrapkit for you, so don't give up on me yet! *smile*

Yesterday was a be still my grandma's heart day culminating into a lingering session of reminiscing with my sweet man, Robert and his baby sister, Corinne. We YouTubed 60's and 70's music for several hours! What a sight ... and sound we were! *wink*

My office space is small and my oldest son was on the computer (Robert's) directly behind me, headphones on and doing his own thing. Matthew did lift an earpiece every once-in-a-while to check out a tune we were singing to! Anyhoo, Robert was standing behind me and Corinne was sitting to my left upon my exercise ball that I am normally sitting on while at the computer! I won't tell you what happened to my beloved exercise ball or my sista on it! *big grin* I bet you can guess though! He, he ... let's just say, I still have my beloved sista, but NO ball! ROFL!  Where was the camera on that sweet little trick? LOL!

We had a fab time as I played DJ, took requests and hooked 'em up! Technology never ceases to amaze me!

As my sweet friend Sarah commented on my Facebook post, sometimes we just need some downtime and that is exactly what took place yesterday!

Have you ever experienced this kind of a day? You know, where you have a long list of things to accomplish or a particular project goal in mind, only to be completely caught off guard by a pleasant distraction that kidnaps your original intentions for the entire day?

A little spontaneity is good for the soul, don't you think?  I would love to hear about yours!

So ... I just have to share with you what hijacked my heart early on yesterday and kept me mesmerized for hours as I played them over-and-over again, digesting every precious moment, babble and expression ...

There are two very short clips, both under 60 seconds. My precious granddaughter, Katelyn Rose, who is now two months old, can you believe it?

Check out the expression on Kate's face after her daddy, who is driving, coughs. I melted ...

Joan cracks me up!  I adore the way she interacts with her little "buddy" as she referred to her during our phone conversation yesterday!  I think they make a pretty awesome duo, don't you? 

Okies, now that you've seen a couple of my favorite faces, I shall now share an amazing opportunity for y'all to share yours with a chance to win a $100 gift certificate!

The girls over at Love that Shot have an exciting surprise planned for the Love Your Shot Link-Up this Thursday, September 30th. There's going to be a theme, a couple of guest photographer judges (you may know them pretty well), and a fabulous prize for the winner! You're definitely not going to want to miss this one ...

So y'all, tell all of your friends to join us this Thursday for the Love Your Shot Link-Up because hey, what's a party without the guests, right! Oh, and if you're not quite sure how the link-ups work, click here for our FAQ page, or click here for the Link-Up archives.

We can't wait to see your favorite faces, so get out there and start shooting!

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my blogoversary and a sneak-peek!

SNEAK-PEEK!

Hi y'all!

Just a quick post to apologize for missing my own party, however, I am certainly not beyond celebrating after the fact! LOL! I hope you will still come and celebrate with me! *wink*

I have been distracted this past week and today, in just a short bit, we are leaving town to celebrate our grandson, Lohgan's third birthday and are meeting our brand new grandson, Mylles!

I SO wanted to participate in Kim B's Colour Challenge this month and decided to use the September palette for my Blogoversary gift to y'all!

Challenge is an understatement, yet a good thing for me since I've not designed in several months!

Long story short, y'all know I won't just throw something together and this has taken a little longer than I anticipated so I will have to finish up when we return and then, hopefully, will post the entire scrapkit for you on Monday.

As always, I thank you for your continued support, your friendship and for keeping me inspired to create!

Have a gorgeous weekend everyone and keep on scrapping ...

MWAH!

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it's my bff's blogoversary and she has "no tricks, just treats" for y'all!

Oh my, the weather is feeling more like Autumn/Fall every day, however, it is going to warm up again this weekend. ARGH! I am not looking forward to the 90's, but will be off celebrating our grandson, Lohgan's third birthday along with meeting our new grandson, Mylles! Not a thing to complain about. Nope. Nothing. Nada!

Today. This very day is my BFF's third blogoversary! TOOT, TOOT! WOOT, WOOT!

I cannot believe that the two of us have been blogging three years, but we have and we want to celebrate with you!


Dawn, aka Snowsmoon's Design, surprised me today when I found that her post was also a "thank you" to me for giving her the little persuasive push to start blogging and funny thing is, she actually launched her blog two days before I did mine! ROFL!

Girlfriend, I thank YOU for always challenging me to get 'er done! *big grin*  I'd still be talking about it and you'd be off doing it!  LOL!  Can y'all tell which one of us is the indecisive one?  Ah, yah, that would be muah!  UGH!

Dawn and I have been friends for five-and-a-half years after meeting on a well-known site back in early 2005! We've still not met face-to-face, but I don't think there is much of anything that we do not know about each other after numerous hours of Skype chats, emails, Facebook and telphone calls! I love Dawn like a sister and I know that she is always there for me no matter the reason, good or ... not-so-good!

This might be hard to believe but, you would really need to know the circumstances of my life up until five years ago to really understand me when I say, Dawn is the first BFF I've ever had in my entire lifetime. Well, my sweet man mind disagree just a teensy-weensy little bit about that and say that he is my first BFF! LOL! He's right on one hand, but not quite so on the other! After all, there are just some things that "guys" really don't wish to get into a deep and/or extensive conversation about! He, he ...

Anyhoo, I am sending y'all off to my girlie's blog, which has been wonderfully renovated, where you can download the makeover of her VERY fist blog freebie, No Tricks, Just Treats! A perfect kit for this time of the year as we enter into Autumn/Fall and our favorite holidays, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas!

Awesome job Dawn and I am loving your unique, coordinating alpha! 

Thanks for everything and for being the loving and giving person that you are girlfriend.  Happy Blogoversary darlin'!!!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD FROM SNOWSMOON'S DESIGN
(please leave her some love and a hug from me! *wink*)

Come back and check in on me this Friday, September 24th, when I shall be celebrating my blogoversary!  You just know you will find something special as a thank you for your faithful visits and continued support of Bon Scrapatit Designs! Remember: it is scrap-happy hour in Scrapland 24/7 y'all - get your scrap on!

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welcome to the world baby mylles!

Happy Monday y'all!!!

Our daughter-in-law, Sofie, was to have been admitted to the hospital this past Friday to be induced, however, they did not admit her until Sunday afternoon.

We had a surprise visit from Robert's oldest son, Robert late morning and he was talking and texting back-and-forth with his wife, who was preparing to leave for the hospital to accompany Sofie and other family members for this MOST magical and miraculous event!

Robert left late afternoon.  Still no baby!

We went to bed Sunday night with no news and at 2:00 am the phone rang and I literally sprung out of bed to answer it!

Baby Mylles was born at 1:26 am this morning. He weighed in at 7 pounds, 14 ounces and 21-1/2 inches in length! Daddy is 6'4", so it appears that we will have another tall grandson in the mix!

Photo courtesy of Mylles' mommy via her iPhone! 

Photo enhanced for the web using a variety of photo actions from the amazing Annie Manning of Paint the Moon Photography and Photographer's Tools - thanks Annie! SO totally amazed at how well Annie's actions helped to clean up a cell phone picture.  It was grainy (noisy) and yellow, but I'm sure a lot of that had to do with hospital lighting! ;)

Precious Mylles has found himself a birthday sandwiched right between my son-in-law, Travis, who celebrated yesterday and my oldest son, Matthew, who celebrates his birthday tomorrow! (As I type, I have three out of four of my boys gathered, along with my SIL, Corinne and Robert to watch Monday Night Football and to celebrate Matthew's 28th birthday!) 

How can that be?  I am only 29!  ROFL!  Try telling that to my 30 and 32-year-old daughters!  He, he ...

Funny how every one new to the family by way of birth or marriage falls next to or on the same day as another family member! I love it! Sure does make it easier to remember more birthdays and anniversaries as I get older! LOL!

Anyhoo, Papa and I shall get to meet our new grandson this coming Saturday as we attend his big brother, Lohgan's third birthday party!

Mylles was determined to have his very "own" day as his mommy's was on the 9th and his big brother's was on the 14th!  

Wishing everyone a MOST incredible week and please stay-tuned as my BFF, Dawn aka Snowsmoon's Design and I prepare to celebrate our blogoversaries this week!

Can you guess how old we both will be in blog years?? LOL!

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friday at the farmer's market, i scrapped and a freebie for y'all!

WOOT, WOOT! It's Friday y'all and time for another Friday at the Farmer's Market!

How are y'all doing? Hoping to find everyone winding down from their week and, perhaps, preparing to get your scrap on this weekend, eh? *wink*

I've got some good stuff to share with y'all from my travels out-and-about in Scrapland and beyond!

No particular order. I am not a partial person. No favorites. I seem to be that way with everything. I suppose it is a blessing in disguise to be the indecisive individual that I am. I mean, after all, being mother to six beautiful babes and now a grandmother to multiple grandchildren, I cannot be playing favorites, can I? He, he ...

I'm for real here. I cannot really tell you my favorite of anything. I might tell you that my favorite color is blue and that it has been since I can remember, but ... I don't swoon over blue and have to have everything in that color if you know what I mean! I like a variety of different colors and they can change at any given moment!

Do y'all have favorites? And, that is surely not a bad thing, it just tells me that you are able to make a decision and stick with it! *big grin* I say, KUDOS to you. At least you don't leave a craft store with a headache because you are overwhelmed with all of the AMAZING choices! ROFL! Is there something wrong with me???

Let's see hands!!! How many of you can go shopping knowing what you will go home with? Okay, now how many of you go shopping, leave with a headache (or close to it!), arrive home with the goods and still debate whether or not you made the right choice or choices? One more. How many of you can do it both ways? My hand is WAY up there on the last question!

I guess it all depends on my thought process for the day.  You know.  What do I really need and what is my budget this trip, or do I even have one! ROFL!  Does anyone else relate with me on this?  Anyone? *blush*

Oh, OH my!  Let me add in here that being decisive is a GOOD quality, however, I still would not have favorites amongst my children or grandchildren! *wink, wink*

On to the good stuff ...

Misti Tracy over at Love that Shot has a GORGEOUS new package of Olde World Photo Textures that will help to beautifully enhance your photos!  Have y'all ever tried adding texture to one of your photos?  I'm hooked! Take a closer look at these beauties HERE!

I just adore the work that Misti and her sister, Michelle, are doing over at Love that Shot!  Stay-tuned the beginning of next week when I will be sharing with you from one of the new monthly tutorials added for Love that Shot members!

If you've not already been over to visit, you can read all about becoming a Love that Shot member HERE!  While you are there, check out their weekly Giveaway (OMG, this week is SO cool!) AND this week's Link Up!  These girls are shutter happy and are a wealth of photog knowledge and SO friendly and helpful too!

Oooohhhh Santa ... you do remember that new camera I am needing this Christmas, don't you??? I'm being a very good girl ... patient and everything! *cheshire cat grin*

My dear, sweet Scrapland friend, Sarah Cabana aka Simply Sarah, over at Digiridoo Scraps is hosting the coolest challenge I've seen in quite some time and it is VERY near-and-dear to my heart!  As a matter of fact, Sarah informed me that she came up with this challenge after I had commented on a post on Facebook about how she had inspired me to document my memories of 9/11 before I forget them entirely.

Thus cometh, I Challenge You!  LOL!  Sarah, if you happen to read this sweetie, I am SO reminded of Uncle Sam of my younger years and I Want You! *smile*

Have you documented your and/or your family's memories of this MOST tragic day in US history? If not, come with me to the Digiridoo Scraps forum (you'll need to register if you are not already) and let's get our scrap on!  There will be a random drawing for coupons and certificates to the shops of designers who have donated them.  You will find a list of those designers posted in the forum thread.  That sounds like some good incentive right there, right?  We CAN do this!  We should do this if we've not already.  I have not.  ARGH!

Thanks for sharing with me Sarah and please holler at me if you don't see mine in the gallery by the last week of this month, okay? MWAH!

Wondering why I am posting the above images?  Aren't they pretty?  Guess who designed them?

Nicole Seitler aka Sugarplum Paperie aka Girl Friday, and owner of The Digichick has got a five-part series going on over on her blog, "How to Get Started in Digital Design"!  If you've had a passion to create digital scrapbooking designs and wish to know the how, what, when, where and whys of it all, check it out ... Part One (passion), Part Two (ability) and tomorrow Nicole will talk about, originality! I guarantee she will help you to make a wise decision one way or the other and is giving us a plethora of knowledge from her years in the industry.

Nicole and her long-time friend and designer colleague, Megan Farrow aka Flergs, were both interviewed by Noelle Hyman of Paperclipping fame this past Tuesday.  If you've not heard it or have never been to the "roundtable" Paperclipping-style, check it out HERE!  It is not only informative, but a hoot-to-boot!  Noelle and her husband, Izzy, who is the videographer as well as announcer, are quite the team each week as they bring us a variety of scrapbook related topics! 

If you are a Flerg's fan, you've just got to take a listen to her sweet Aussie accent!  I swear, it really makes people that much more real when you hear a voice to go with the face!

Before I forget, my Friday at the Farmer's Market will most likely not be a weekly feature as, well, it does take time to prep images and post and check links before hitting the publish button.  I'm hoping to bring you my fab finds at least twice each month.  Yes, I will still continue with Monday in the Marketplace as well, which will focus mostly on new scrapbooking products and sales that I find while out-and-about on Monday morning looking for some inspiration!  These posts will most likely occur at least twice a month as well.

So, I've mentioned that I will cover finds in Scrapland and beyond and my next find is definitely in the "beyond" category.  Etsy to be precise!  Are not these the SWEETEST bits of crochet you've ever seen?  OMGosh!  I bet you don't have to guess who I shall be buying these for!  Only, I shall have to wait until the talent behind these delightful goodies creates a set in a bigger size for Baby Kate!

The name of this Etsy shop is A Life Crocheted!  Is that not genius? I hope you enjoy browsing as much as I have and I WILL be back to buy! *smile*

My BFF, Dawn aka Snowsmoon's Designs has actually crocheted a set for Baby Kate already, along with making her a quilt and is just about ready to ship it off to my daughter.  Oh, I can tell you that she will have tears of joy in her eyes when she opens the package and sees all of the love that has gone into making these precious keepsakes!  If you'd like to take a peek at the quilt, which will match Baby Kate's nursery, you can see just how lovely it is right HERE!

Guess what???  I scrapped last night!  WOOT, WOOT!

Grandma's precious baby boy, Kaleb Jace!  The journaling reads, "Just when I thought I'd found my one true love, along comes another little pumpkin to capture my heart and Grandma finds herself falling in love all over again ...

I used a piece of the pumpkin background paper from the free Falling Again scrapkit,  posted HERE for those who might not have seen it, and lessened the opacity enough for the journaling to be legible and not overpowered by the paper.  I thought the addition of the pumpkin paper a nice visual to my reference, "another little pumpkin"!  At the rate we have grandchildren coming along, we surely will have an entire patch full of little pumpkins before long! 

Yes, of course, I just had to make it into a scrapatit for y'all!  I've included one with the word art and one without and have left lots of room for you to add extra ellies if you wish and some journaling!

Have a TOTALLY scraptacular weekend everyone!  I hope you find my finds interesting and useful and you will give them all a visit!

Please remember to leave me a comment here on my blog so I can I leave one for you too! MWAH!

EXTRA, EXTRA!!!  I just read, after posting this, that Scrapbook Graphics is having their VERY first ever open designer call!  WOW!  If you or any other designer you may know would be interest in being exclusive and want to apply, check it out HERE! 

EXTRA, EXTRA, EXTRA!!!  ROFL!  I nearly forgot.  Our newest grandson, Mylles, should be making his debut sometime tonight (or maybe tomorrow) as last we heard, Sofie was going to be induced today if she had not gone into labor beforehand.  I will keep y'all posted!  We are SO excited!!!

Bon Scrapatit! :D

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD FALLING AGAIN SCRAPATIT

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free "falling again" scrapkit has arrived!

LOL!

It is the wee hours of Tuesday morning in here in Northern California!

I am going to be forgoing Monday in the Marketplace, as it is no longer Monday! LOL! Sorry. I will think of a catchy title for some sharing on Tuesday,  as I have several things to share with y'all!  There are some pretty cool things going on out-and-about in Scrapland this week!

I was hoping to have Falling Again finished up Sundy night, but Robert and I had to take off and help a son in need and yesterday was my sister-in-law, Corinne's last day with us until Sunday, so we all started our day together and headed out for a walk and watched a couple of movies before I slipped away to the computer to work in Photoshop!

I am SO learning to relax and take my time, savoring each moment without allowing myself to feel so rushed anymore. This is a BIG step for me, but it is getting easier with time!

I've not seen many of you around for some time. Hope everyone is well and just busy enjoying the last week of summer. I am SO looking forward to Autumn y'all! This girl just does not tolerate the heat the way she used to and since we enjoy starting our day with a walk, we tend to have a better routine established when the weather is cooperative! ROFL! Yes, we LOVE a cool brisk morning to get our legs in gear and moving quickly! LOL!

I'm hoping that you are not having difficulty with the new Disqus commenting widget that I am using. It has been awfully quiet around here! Please help me on this. If you are finding it troublesome to leave a comment, let me know or please feel free to use the C-box, which is located on the right-hand side of my blog about mid-way down.

I'm really enjoying the ability to leave you a reply to your comments and it is a fabulous way for you to have any questions that you might have answered! :D

I still have a few things left to finish up here on my blog and I thank you for your patience as I get things in order! I'm still playing around with different settings, sizes and such.

Question. Do y'all find the type large enough for you to read comfortably? I bumped the size up a bit from normal, but it is still much smaller type than what I was using with my old blog template.

I shall greatly appreciate your feedback and I hope you are liking the new look as much as I am! 

If you are not familiar with Wibiya, you will find it located at the very bottom of my blog. You can do all kinds of neato things down there! You can update your statuses to Twitter, Facebook and Yahoo too! I thought that was absolutely crazy, but I'm loving it now! I still prefer using HootSuite, but if I'm on my blog, it's pretty cool to have it right at my fingertips!

Okay, enough of my rambling, I'd like to leave you with one of my favorite scrapkits, which has also received a pretty major makeover as well as a new name, Falling Again! Hmm, wonder where that might have come from! LOL! *wink*

I hope you enjoy it as much as I have revamping it! I'm going to use it to scrap some of my son and daughter-in-law's wedding photos. They will be celebrating their first wedding anniversary on the 26th of this month! Where does the time go? I just know y'all would tell me if you knew, wouldn't you? *smile*

Have a GORGEOUS day everyone and I will have some things to share with you much later on today! I am off to LA-LA-LAND!

Scrap happy! 

Sorry, links have expired

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it's falling ... again!

SNEAK-PEEK!

LOL!

Hi y'all!

Just a quick in-and-out to let you know that I've had my head buried in Photoshop revamping a kit I was about to retire permanently. I did remove many of the original items, have added some new, as well as new papers and will have it all packed up and ready for you tomorrow ... uhm, lest another emergency present itself! ROFL!

I will catch up with you tomorrow as I bring another segment of Monday in the Marketplace along with my newly renovated scrapkit, Glitterfall aka It's Falling Again! *big grin*

I keep falling for the deep, rich colors in this palette with the lighter hue of purple thrown in the mix and I hope you will find some use for it!

I also hope you've all had a restful weekend and are re-energized and ready to take on the new week with gusto!

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monday in the marketplace ... amazing and inspirational finds in scrapland and beyond ... and a killer photo book deal!

Happy Labor Day y'all!

I'm late due to more labor than I had anticipated on the home front today! ARGH!

Well, even if you are not in the USA, I still wish you a Happy Labor Day as I don't think there is a single one of you out there that is not "laboring" in one way or another!

And speaking of laboring, we have another grandchild on the way ... like any day now! His name is Mylles and his mother thought it would be pretty cool if she found herself actually in "labor" during the Labor Day weekend! Not going to happen as it is now just after midnight, Tuesday morning!

Today, being Monday, marks my first segment of Monday in the Marketplace.  Please, just pretend it is still Monday! He, he ... *grin*

I'm not sure about the rest of you, but Mondays are, generally, slow-going for me. I am not quite sure as to why that is, it just is! So, I thought since I typically spend the greater part of my Monday cruising around Scrapland ... and beyond, looking to see what might catch my eye in the way of inspiration or a GOOD deal, that I would share it with y'all too!

You might be wondering if I'm being compensated in any way for anything or anybody that I promote here at Bon Scrapatit Designs during my excursions out-and-about Scrapland and the answer is "no"! This is something that I've long wished to do, but with my health issues the past year and then my travels, I just never could seem to get it going! All things for a purpose and the right time has presented itself for me to share with y'all some of the people, places and things that catch my eye!

The items I shall be sharing with you today have all actually just about fallen right into my lap! Or, should I say, I just happened to be in the right places at the right time! LOL!

I was on Facebook trying to catch up a bit and saw the image below, which had just been posted by Bunny Cates, owner of Digi Scrap Obsession (DSO), whom I had just featured here on Friday!

Bunny had asked Gaye Lambert of GS Creations to draw her a Goth girl and this is what she came up with! Isn't she just THE cutest thang? LOL!

I have long admired Gaye's artistic abilities and this sweet illustration, Morning Jinxy, just reaffirmed that admiration earlier this morning!

Gaye has put her newest commercial-use doodle on sale for $1.50 this week, which is 25% off the regular price.  Click HERE to be taken straight to this adorable drawing in Gaye's store at DSO.  This sweet little gal will add a little whimsy to your layouts, bring a smile to the recipient of a homemade greeting card or even make for a pretty cool wall hanging, don't you think? *smile*  She has definitely found her way into my heart and I shall be picking her up tomorrow! *wink*

My next find was also one that I stumbled upon after having made a purchase and going back to check something out over at Memory Scraps! A designer there, Lauraskathi (Kathrin Pfetzing), who creates some really GORGEOUS designs, is retiring from designing and has put several of her scrapkits on sale for ONLY $2.00!

*40 Years* includes 21 papers, 112 elements and 2 alphas in 10 different languages, each of which can be downloaded separately! WOW! This gorgeous scrapkit is filled with happy colors and chock-full of scrapping goodness!

*Summer Vacation* boasts of 31 papers, 122 elements and 1 full alpha! This scrapkit is also on sale for ONLY $2.00 and is sure to scrap many a trip to the beach, an island get-away, or a tropical vacation. This kit is very versatile and will make for lots of wonderful everyday moments to be beautifully preserved as well!  The lovely patterned papers and meticulously extracted embellishments will make your layouts shine!  I cannot wait to snag these two!

You will find Kathrin's store at Memory Scraps HERE and while you are there, check out the other kits she has on sale for $2.00! More shopping on my list tomorrow!

Over at Digital Scrap Cafe this month, their talented designers have put together A Little Something for us! It is an AMAZING September collaboration for the super low price of $5.99!

I love the muted Fall colors that will scrap a multitude of events. You will find 70 papers, 122 elements and 4 templates in this plethora of scrapping delights! I'm sure you'll agree with me on the nice blending of traditional scrapbooking elements and darling doodles and I simply cannot fail to mention the sweet stitches and pretty paper flowers!

If you'd like A Little Something for your scrapping stash, click HERE!

The last of my finds out in the marketplace today were outside of Scrapland, yet very closely connected! LOL!

There is an awesome and pretty popular CoffeeShop I've been to a few times over the past several months and I just found my way back over there today since my time away! The CoffeeShop that I am referring to is owned by a very talented and generous young lady, wife and mother of two, Rita!

I shall let you stroll on over there at your leisure and scour the premises for all that your eyes can take in during one visit.  I guarantee you'll be back over-and-over again to digest all that Rita has to offer in the way of photography tools via actions, tutorials and more and the best part is that they are all free!   Rita's newest action is PowderRoom After Dark and you can find it HERE ... for free!  Oh, and you may as well grab yourself a cup of coffee because you will want to sit at the CoffeeShop for a spell! LOL!

If y'all stop on over and download, please make sure to leave Rita some love and let her know that I recommended her!  Thank you!  I know that she will really appreciate it since she and her entire family are still recovering from mono and she is still bestowing her readers with amazing gifts!

And, isn't Rita's puppy just the cutest?  OMGosh!  I love those big blue eyes against her chocolate coat!

Last, and certainly not the least, is a quick blurb for a killer deal from Shutterfly and Groupon!

I found this via a tweet with the hastag #digiscrap attached and, of course, just had to check it out! Am I glad I followed my curiosity as I am now the proud owner of a coupon that I only paid $10.00 for, which will allow me to purchase an 8x8, hardcover photo book from Shutterfly (plus shipping and handling)!  WOOT, WOOT!

I've been wishing to create a photo book for some time now, but whenever I get an email for a special from Shutterfly, I never follow through because they simply do not give me ample time to be able to design one the way I wish to! Yes, I know I can create and then wait to print when a good sale comes along, however, seeing as how I've not completed one yet to see whether or not I will be happy with preserving my memories this way on a regular basis, this deal via Groupon is perfect and will give me until November 22, 2010 to get 'er done! ROFL!

Here is where I registered to become a member of Groupon (I even uploaded an avatar and contributed to the forum! Can you tell I was excited? LOL!) and then purchased the coupon for Today's Deal: $10 for a 20-page 8"x8" Hardcover Photo Book from Shutterfly!

I just checked and 1200 have already been sold and the deal ends at midnight tonight (Tuesday).  What a great deal for a baby album, birthday book, family reunion, vacation, etc. I'm SO excited to finally have the incentive to get moving on putting a book together!  ROFL! So, if I go missing for any length of time, y'all will know what I am up to! He, he ...

I wish you all an AMAZING day and I will be back, hopefully later today, with a little goody for you as well as a really genius cake recipe that has everyone going gaga over here!  I'll give you a hint.  There are only two ingredients used and it is moist and delicious!  I am not a cake connoisseur, but this just might change my mind!

If any of you think you know what the recipe is, please post below! ;)

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friday at the farmer's market, my new granddaughter, and a freebie!

Happy Friday and Happy Labor Day Weekend y'all!  Grab a drink of your choice and come sit with me for a spell ...

Welcome to Friday at the Farmer's Market! Hmm ... might you be wondering where I came up with that title? LOL! Yes, for those of you who may have seen my Twitter and/or Facebook statuses during my stay in Washington, it was influenced by my Saturday trips to the local Farmer's Market in Vancouver with my daughter, her family and friends! And then, our Friday drives up the hill to our local Farmer's Market in Angels Camp, California!

Friday usually finds me winding down from the week and, most likely, it finds you doing the same as we look towards whatever activities we have planned for the upcoming weekend or, perhaps, just a relaxing day at home with our beloved families.

There have been so many occasions where I've run across something while out-and-about in Scrapland (and beyond) that I've wanted to share, so I thought this would be a wonderful opportunity for me to do so.

I hope to bring you features and/or samplings (aka freebies) I find during my venturing out on Friday mornings!

Before I share my Friday Farmer's Market finds, I would love to share a video clip with you that my daughter, Joan just recently emailed to me. And what makes this particular video clip so special? You will see two portraits highlighted by photographer extraordinaire, Erin Tole, of my new granddaughter, Katelyn Rose! *big grin*

Erin came to the house when Baby Kate was just six days old! Erin specializes in newborn photography and as I learned, the younger the better due to babies being much more limber when fresh from the womb, which is why they are able to achieve some of the most incredibly adorable poses I've ever seen from babies!  So reminds me of many a photograph made popular by world-renowned photographer, Anne Geddes!

Erin was recently featured on a local television station out of Portland, OR, KOIN-TV and without further ado, I introduce you to Erin Tole and to my precious new granddaughter, Katelyn Rose. Katelyn was born on July 15th at 7:27 pm, weighing in at 6 pounds, 9 ounces and measuring 19-1/4 inches in height! Yup, a little peanut just like her mommy was! *sigh* P.S. I still owe you snap shots and those shall be forthcoming!

The image of the baby on (or in) the wood stump outdoors (an indoor prop!) followed by the black and white of baby in Daddy's arms are both of Katelyn Rose. The sweet little baby boy seen unveiled during the interview is the son of one of the anchor men at KOIN-TV. How special for him too!

Video courtesy of KOIN TV - Local 6 (Portland, OR):

Newborn Photography

See Erin's amazing work here: Erin Tole Photography (Portland, OR - Vancouver, WA)

If you would be interested in viewing more images taken of Katelyn Rose by Erin Tole, check out her blog post devoted specifically to the photo shoot at my daughter and son-in-law's home here: Words Cannot Describe 

Well, after leaving the virtual photography booth at the Farmer's Market this morning, I came across another virtual booth offering up an AMAZING digital scrapbooking service by long-time (since 2004) business woman, blogger, hybrid crafter, graphic designer, digital designer (and the list goes on ...) AND owner of Digi Scrap Obssession, Bunny Cates! 

I happened across Bunny's brand new Digital Scrapbooking Business Career Coaching service at DSO, while checking out some VERY cool Jolly Pirate Templates 4 by GS Creations! (Being an incredible deal at only $1.88, I am linking you straight to them here, as I am not sure how long they are on sale for and they might be off-sale by my Monday in the Marketplace post! There are also three additional sets on sale for $2.44, all of which are CU-friendly!)

Ms. Bunny is offering up a jam-packed hour of her time, on a person-to-person basis by way of Skype (worldwide) or telephone (USA only), in which she will answer ANY business related questions that you might have whether you are an established digital designer, store owner or someone contemplating a new business either as a digital designer or store owner and who is in need of some expertise within the field of Digital Scrapbooking.  And, YES, I am going to purchase an hour of her time in the very near future as I begin to progress toward putting my boutique together!  $23.00 (currently 23% off of the regular price of $29.95) is well worth the investment from someone well-established and successful in the Digital Scrapbooking industry, believe me!

I can also give Bunny Cates a personal recommendation!  I was blessed to have had a few one-on-one conversations with her a year ago when I was in the process of joining DSO as a digital designer, but had to back out due to health issues and computer issues at the time.  Nonetheless, Bunny gave me a wealth of important information most people do not possess when first pursuing a business in the digital scrapbooking industry.  I have forgotten a few of those important factors and I look forward to doing business with Bunny to make sure I have a good understanding of the necessary information I need to keep my future store safe online and out of the reach of hackers!  You might think this is not important, but it most definitely is.  I have seen a handful of well-established sites completely incapacitated due to malicious acts of hacking in recent months. There are ways to protect ourselves from this happening y'all and Bunny can help us along without missing a beat!

I would like to interject one more important aspect of having a successful career as a digital scrapbooking designer and/or store owner, and that is adherence to "Industry Standards".  Those close to me know that I have questioned whatever happened to them many times as I began to see many new designers and stores cropping up several years ago that were not following any standards whatsoever. So, how does one stop such madness? Uhm, we can't actually, however, we can become educated as to what is and what is not acceptable in the digital scrapbooking industry and learn to make wise choices as with any other type of product we purchase for ourselves and our families.

 Whether it be purchasing digital designs to scrap our precious memories with or commercial-use items to make our own designs to use or sell, we can prevent a lot of disappointment on our part by educating ourselves as to what is quality product and what is not. This is an area that Bunny ensures DSO stands behind in that each piece submitted by a designer goes through quality assurance (QC) and will not be passed on to you (or me!), the consumer, unless it meets industry standards in numerous areas.

There is nothing more heartbreaking to me then to have spent hours, or more, on a project only to find that an item I am using is missing pixels, blurred, distorted, improperly shadowed or shadowed when it should not be, jagged on the edges, beveled incorrectly and/or light sources coming from multiple directions or contains stray pixels, etc. Some of you may shake your head and think not much of it all, but when you go to print pages or spend extra monies on creating photo books, I assure you, it will show and you will be disappointed!

On behalf of designers and store owners, I will say this, no one is perfect and mistakes are made and you will know those who genuinely care about their customer service in how they respond to your concerns about a particular designer and/or product.  In my honest opinion, a reputable designer/store will have the issue taken care of as quickly as is humanly possible.  That is simply good customer service, which means the world to a consumer and it will keep them coming back.

I would like to thank Bunny personally (you ROCK lady!) for allowing me to feature her new Digital Scrapbooking Business Career Coaching (follow link for details) service on my very first Friday at the Farmer's Market segment and I hope that y'all will join me again on Monday, when I shall debut Monday Morning in the Marketplace, which will focus on my wanderings around Scrapland on Monday mornings as I prepare myself to focus on my week ahead and, if the need be, find some inspiration!  Mondays shall generally focus on new products and sales.  I may even toss a found freebie or two into the mix on occasion!

You all surely deserve a goody for hanging out with me this long! It is an embellished frame to coordinate with my contribution to the Fall Carnival - September Blog Train. Grab it below before leaving!

I hope you are enjoying the Fall Carnival Blog Train and wish you all a safe and fun Labor Day Weekend!

Keep on scrapping and above all, scrap happy! :D

P.S. A sincere thank you to those who have not been afraid to leave comments on my new Disqus commenting widget! As you will find, I have replied to each comment thus far, minus a few new ones which I shall reply to once I hit the publish button on this post!  If you have any questions or comments regarding this post, please leave them beneath this post and I shall reply to each one just as soon as I spot them! Thanks SO much - MWAH!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD EMBELLISHED FRAME

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the september blog train has departed ... toot, toot!

As the end of summer draws near for those of us on this side of the equator, the September Blog Train begins making it's way throughout Scrapland today bringing about a Fall Carnival of color to help us scrap our memories with some very cool designs by 100+ designers!

You should have found your way here from geniaBean scraps

Here is a preview of what the September Blog Train has on board:



WOO HOO! Get ready to do some serious scrapping y'all! There are a plethora of delicious scrapping goodies ready for the downloading when you meet and greet the September Blog Train at each station! I do believe my EHD will have quite a tummy ache when all is said and done! ROFL! Hmm ... this actually reminds me that I am in need of a new one anyhow as this baby is nearly filled to capacity! EEEKS!

Your next stop will be at Designs by Angel

If you get lost along the way, you can catch up with everyone here on The Blog Train Blog!

Reminder:  Give the train a full 24 hours to hitch everyone up as we have designers from all around the globe and in different time zones!

The Blog Train Blog is a fabulous way for y'all to get to know some new designers.  While stopped at each station, take a peek at what each designer is up to and bookmark their blog and/or site for future reference if you find them to your liking!

All aboard and until we meet again ...

Love and hugs,

Linda XOXO

My contribution and also the debut of my new preview packaging, so it looks just a wee bit different than it does in the slide show! *wink*

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD FALL CARNIVAL

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