NAS and Pxl Cafe Reveals, FREEBIE and Some Musings

Okay, I have several for you tonight! The featured kit at Pxl Cafe is Rhapsody . Here's my layout that uses my FREE template Layered Up 3! Go grab it!

Another fabulous new kit at Pxl Cafe is Down To Earth . Here is my layout with it. I also used a few flowers from Fun Fabric Elements at Pxl.

Both layouts use old pictures of my middle dd, Anna. A few days ago, I picked up my journal from the first two years of her life and was inspired to create Spunky Beautiful Girl. The journaling is directly from what I wrote 4 years ago. Having been a scrapper for 8 years now and converting to digital 3 years ago, my best advice would be to keep a journal of everyday things about your children. You should write down the funny things they say or do, their habits, their "favorites," and they way you see/feel about them. Not only will they one day cherish these journals, but as most of us are always at least a little behind in scrapping, whenever you are inspired to scrap a particular picture or time in their life, your journaling will be accurate.
Up until this past year, I was always WAY behind in my scrapping. However, I have learned to quit pressuring myself, scrap what I am inspired to,  and use challenges, templates, classes and quick pages to speed things up. In 2011, I scrapped 191 layouts and 4 photo books! Woohoo! My goal this year is 200+ layouts and 3-5 photobooks. I'll keep you posted on how I am doing. Having scrapped many of my "new" pics, I have gone back and scrapped quite a few from the past four years. I have been SO thankful for my journals! Because of the things I recorded back then, I am able to accurately tell my story even with four year old pics!

So, pick up a notebook (or create a beautiful one yourself) and start recording all those wonderful everyday memories! I made personalized journals with pics of each kid on front at ArtsCow.com--their prices are very reasonable! To give you a bit more inspiration, check out my list of favorite sites for sketch blogs. Also, Scrap Orchard is a fabulous store with daily challenges that earn you money to spend in their store. How awesome is that? You get wonderful inspiration and free digi products!!!! Two Peas also has weekly challenges (with prizes) as well as free classes to keep you scrapping. If you have a favorite site for inspiration, please leave me a comment and let me know. I am always up for more!

Finally, I want to share the sketch from NAS and my layout. It was a 2-pager. I don't often scrap 2-pagers without a sketch or challenge, but they are a wonderful way to get loads of photos into "one" layout! Most of our day events have so many photos I could never squeeze them onto one page, but a 2-page spread works great! Try this sketch out-it is a good clean one! If you make a layout, share it with me. I would love to see your work!

Kit used is the December Mega 2010 from Scrap Orchard called Merry and Bright. The journaling talks about how my youngest dd has been scared of Santa for 2 years, but she finally conquered her fear this year. After she realized Santa was her friend, she couldn't get enough of him and went back to have another picture five times!