Friends Furever Hop Winner! :)

Yikes! I was suppose to post the winner several days ago. I'm really sorry for making you all wait so long. I guess I kind of spaced out the last week or so lol :)

Thanks everyone for your comments on my pet pages, I was happy to share them with you :)

The random winner of my giveaway, 3 Bugs in a Rug "Frisky" caboodle kit, is...

Silvia!

Congrats Silvia! Please contact me with your mailing info and I'll get this sent out to you very soon :)

Have a great week everyone! :)

TPV Challenge and Blog Hop winner! :)

Hi friends!

Today there is a new challenge at The Paper Variety and it's a real simple one so I hope to see everyone join! :)

The challenge is to use stickers! Flat stickers, chipboard stickers, cardstock stickers.. whatever type of stickers you have!

Our sponsor this week is SRM Stickers and they're offering a great prize package to the randomly chosen winner :) SRM Stickers sooooo kindly provided the entire TPV DT with stickers for our projects. Yay! Here are some cards that I made using SRM Stickers...

Also! Thanks to those of you who celebrated with us last week at TPV for our Blogaversary Celebration! We had so much fun and we're looking forward to many more great years at The Paper Variety :) And thanks for all your comments left during the blog hop, sharing your favorite online scrappy stores! I found so many great new places to shop! Woohoo! :)

The winner of my blog candy is...

 How cool is that? That rarely happens lol

Congrats Jessica! 

Please mail me at oceans972 at yahoo dot com with your address and I'll get this in the mail to you before the end of the week :)

Hope to see everyone's sticker projects at TPV!

Thanks for stopping by :)

Abby

Supplies Used:

Happy Birthday, The Paper Variety - Blog Hop! :)

Welcome to The Paper Variety's one year anniversary blog hop! I'm so excited it's finally here! Woot! :)

This week TPV is hosting 5 daily challenges of our "favorite things" and awarding 5 great prizes!  We hope you'll play along with us each day!!

We begin today with a fun blog hop and our 1st challenge which is sponsored by My Favorite Things stamps.

I'm your last stop on this hop :) If you've reached me from Sandi's blog, you're in the right place! If not, you'll want to go back to The Paper Variety so you can start at the beginning. There are many projects to see and so much candy to win - you don't want to skip any blogs in the hop :)

Our first of 5 daily challenges is to create a paper project including stamps - clear stamps, rubber stamps, image stamps, sentiment stamps, digistamps. My Favorite Things stamps is awarding a random challenge winner with a $25 gift voucher to their store!

You'll have until Tuesday noon to enter your project here for a chance at the voucher prize.

My Favorite Things also generously provided the entire TPV design team with stamps to use on our projects. Thank you, MFT! For my project, I made a card using their "Up, Up & Away" stamp set. MFT has so many beautiful stamp sets, clear and digi. You're sure to find many sets or singles to add to your collection ;)

Here is my card..

 I went a little crazy with the embossing and clouds lol but I like how the white pops off the blue cardstock :)

Before you go, I have some blog candy to giveaway! Yay! I put together a few items that I won't be using myself so they need to go to a good new home :)

(1 6x6 Cosmo Cricket Mini-Deck, 4 Cuttlebug embossing folders and 3 pkgs StudioG Halloween/Thanksgiving stamps)

For a chance to win my candy just leave a comment telling me who is your favorite online scrappy store. I'm always looking for new places to shop and I thought this would be a great opportunity to learn of a few from all of you :)

My giveaway is just for fun.. but I do hope you decide to join the stamps challenge, you could win a $25 My Favorite Things stamps gift certificate! Just create your paper project using stamps and enter it here. :)

Dont forget, there will be other challenges and prizes daily until Sunday at TPV inspiring you to use your favorite things! All 5 of our challenges are due Tuesday at noon, so stay tuned to TPV all week :) There's also a giveaway on the TPV facebook page! You could win the new My Mind's Eye "Mischievous" collection- so don't miss that!

Thanks for celebrating with all of us! Now go make your stamped project

and join us at TPV this week for all the fun and prizes! :)

I'll be back tomorrow with TPV's 2nd challenge! :)

Abby

Supplies Used:

MFT Stamps - Up, Up & Away	Bazzill Cardstock	Colorbox Chalk Ink - Blackbird	VersaMark Watermark Pad	Zing Embossing Powder - White
Heat Embossing Gun

InLinkz.com

Giveaway Winner!

I'm a bit late today announcing my blog candy winner. My nephew is with us all day and he's being a big booger!

A big thanks to everyone who left comments and also shared my giveaway on their blog. I appreciate it :)

The winner is..

Congrats Lisa! 

There's a big bunch of stamps coming your way soon!

Please mail me at oceans972 at yahoo dot com

with your name and shipping address.

I'll get these sent out to you next week :)

On a side note - You may have noticed I spent the last few days revamping my blog. I changed my blog title to Midwest Memories (thanks again for the suggestion, Suz!), I added some page tabs to share about me and my favorite projects, and also I created the header from a bunch of my favorite collections. I really like how everything is set up now and I hope you all enjoy it, too :)

Have a great weekend!

Abby

Blog Candy!

I was going through my stamps drawer the other day and realized I have a lot that I don't use anymore. Some I bought and some were given to me as gifts - I had good intentions to use them, but I haven't in a long while so I decided to pass them on :)

Most are brand new, never opened. Some I've used just once. A few I've used several times but are still good for many more projects. There are 9 sets and 24 minis.

If you'd like to have them all, just leave a comment and I'll choose a winner randomly the morning of Saturday July 30th. Open to US & Canada only - however, if you're international and will pay shipping charges then you're welcome to comment also.

If you'd like a 2nd chance to win, post my giveaway somewhere on your blog and then leave a 2nd comment telling me you've done so :)

Thanks!

Abby

Artful Delight April kit & *Huge Giveaway!* :)

Hi friends!
I'm soooooo excited to bring you this post today!! Be sure to read all.. you don't want to miss out on anything! Really!

Today I'm sharing a simple layout I created recently using the Artful Delight March kit. I think the March kit is now sold out, so I hope you were able to get one for yourself! :)

This layout featuring my son was made using LYB "Twig" and some woolies from BG "Marjolaine" too, all from the kit. This was a super fun collection kit to create with, and I still have so much left for more projects! :)

If you haven't visited Artful Delight before
now is the time!

Leeanne is celebrating her blog's one year anniversary!! Woot! I've just started creating with the Artful Delight team, but I can tell you most definitely that all the kits are so lovely, jam packed with the latest and greatest scrappy supplies and also, Leeanne and her team are fantastic! I'm just so honored and fortunate to be a part of it all :)

Leeanne is celebrating in the most fabulous way!
She's giving away a 3 month kit subscription including this April kit!! Isn't that super fabulous!??

Just look at all this goodness! Brand new Pink Paislee "Hometown Summer", brand new My Mind's Eye "Good Day Sunshine", October Afternoon "Modern Homemaker", matching cardstock and so many great embellies! It's scrappy heaven! I can't wait to get started creating with this wonderful kit!

Click here for all the details on Leeanne's huge giveaway!

And don't forget!
I have a little giveaway going on also :) You could win the new Echo Park "Playground" as my thanks to you for being a follower of my blog!
Click here to comment on my giveaway post. I'll be choosing a random winner this Friday! :)

Good luck!! :)
Abby

A new trend, personal goal and my thanks to you

Happy St. Patty's Day! I invite you all to create something today that includes green! I did :)

I love to visit other blogs, love to meet new people, love viewing projects and learning about new trends. Sadly, I don't get to do that a quarter as much as I'd like to. I could spend hours hopping along to all the AWESOME blogs out there - if only there were more hours in a day {sigh}. So when I do get the opportunity to jump around, I get so excited about all the crafts and designs and trends and techniques. I'm like a kid in a candy store. :)

Recently, on a trip around my blog roll, I saw sooooo many cards that included a photo. I'm guessing this is a new trend.. and I LOVE it! Love it bunches! Why didn't I think of that before?!

So I quickly looked through my photos for a nice one to add to a card.

I've had this over exposed photo of my son and nephew for a while- it's so cute! It's one of those rare "love the day" photos that I don't photograph often. Although its not a clear photo, I knew I wanted to keep it and use it someday.

All of the supplies I used are included in Artful Delight's March kit! (with exception of the "joy" stamp and staples, of course) The March kit is packed with LYB, JBSoup, Basic Grey and so much more!Leeanne only had a few kits left, so you'll need to hurry to purchase one! I really enjoyed making this card, and I LOVE the idea of using a photo. I'm sure I'll see a lot more popping up here and there. If you make/made one, please leave your link so I can come check it out! :)

Speaking of photos, I have a lot! Photos in photo boxes just waiting to be placed in a scrapbook. However, as I look through them, they're mostly vacations, special events, holidays, parties, gatherings. It's hard to believe that within all my photos, only a small amount are actually of just everyday life.. those random daily moments like the above photo.

I'd like to capture the everyday little things that make me happy like.. my son at the table drawing, our kitty waiting in the window for my son to come home, my son helping me cook, a special gift from a friend, my scale showing I've lost another few pounds, my son's quirky random smile as well as his "whatever, mom" look, my nephew seated quietly watching his favorite Toy Story movie, my son dancing, my son dancing with our dog...

All these things and more make up who we are and I don't have many photos like that. It makes me wonder "Where were we between all the holidays and vacations?" Well, we're here. And I need to remember all those undocumented days, too, those wonderful days that I may forget about as time goes on.

So! I've decided to start a new.

I'm going to take at least one picture every day of something/someone that brings joy or that helps define who I am. Or funny moments, uh-oh moments, even sad ones... as of course, not every minute of the day is a joyful one. Or something that makes my son happy.. because capturing his memories are just as important as mine. (Although my child needs no help in the memory department lol He's got the memory of an elephant! He remembers everything while I can't recall most things that happened yesterday! Hense, this plan.) I won't be sharing all of my daily photos on this blog, because as we all know, I'm not a daily blogger... but I will share one occasionally and also will be using them in layouts that I'll share. It'll be so nice to scrap often a layout of just a random day :)

I'll start with a photo I took last night of my nephew, the only photo I took yesterday.


This photo warms my heart because just last week, Drake was bitten on the face by his family dog.. his face was horribly swollen and bruised. Poor baby {sigh} But now he is healing, looks happy and is his normal playful self again. As much as this little guy drives me bonkers, I've babysat him often since the day he was brought home 2 years ago- and he's so much a part of my life. I love him so much and I'm so thankful he's okay and doing better. :)

Now.. if you're still with me, you're in luck! Recently my blog topped 200 followers and over 10,000 hits. Yay!! And I'd like to give a token of my thanks for following/visiting me often :) I'm going to giveaway the new Echo Park "Playground" collection kit to a random commenter. All you have to do is leave a comment, that's all :) If you want 2 chances in the drawing, just post about this giveaway on your blog or place a photo of this prize on your side bar (and leave a 2nd comment with a link showing me that you've done so). Don't forget to link back to my page :) A winner will be announced 2 weeks from now, April 1st. Good luck :)

Thanks so much for stopping by :)
Abby

Blog Hop giveaway winner! :)

Thank you so very much to all who hopped along in our TPV blog hop last week!
Especially to those of you who left wonderful comments on my project and became my newest followers! Thank you! :)

My giveaway was a gorgeous 6x6 MME "Hattie" paper pad along with a few of it's matching embellies :)

Random.org has chosen...
Lucky #34 is...Congratulations Heather!

Please email me with your full name and mailing address and I'll get your prize sent out this week :) oceans972 at yahoo dot com

Thanks again everyone!!

-Abby

TPV Green Challenge & Blog Hop! :) :)

It's here! It's time! I'm so excited! :) :)

Good morning! Welcome to the first Paper Variety blog hop! We are so thrilled to announce this week's color challenge, generous prize and sponsor, share our projects with you and offer some BLOG CANDY for hopping today. We have some FABULOUS designers at TPV and want to showcase their personal blogs this week.

I'm first on the hop list so, if you are coming from The Paper Variety challenge blog, you are in the right place!

Our challenge this week is a COLOR challenge in honor of the
upcoming St. Patrick's Day holiday :)

Our returning sponsor for this week's challenge is Your Scrapbook Stash!

In order to win this GRAND PRIZE you need to submit your own
GREEN project to The Paper Variety by Tuesday at NOON. :)

To get you inspired, I want to share with you what I created..


These two handsome guys are my boys, taken during a park stroll last Spring. I used a bunch of different green patterned papers from SR, OA, and JBSoup that all coordinated nicely with eachother. I did alot of stitching on this layout, especially the title- I LOVE how that looks!

Thanks so much for visiting today! It wouldn't be a hop without some BLOG CANDY, right?! I'm offering this MME Stella & Rose "Hattie" 6x6 paper pad as well as a few other coordinating embellies from the same collection! :)

Please become a follower of my blog and leave a comment below to win! You do not need to enter the TPV challenge to win any of the designer's blog candy. :)

However, you ARE going to want to hop to the next design team member to see their GREEN!

Click here to check out Suzanne's GREEN project next!!

We are looking forward to seeing YOUR GREEN at The Paper Variety, too! Remember to link up before TUESDAY at noon for a chance to win this GRAND PRIZE! :)

Happy Hoppin'!!!

-Abby

WRMK "Be My Valentine" Winner!

I'm so glad that so many of you loved this WMRK collection :)
I'm normally not a fan of pink lines, but every so often
I see a pink collection that's just too cute - I can't pass it up! :)

Thanks so much for all your comments!
random.org
chose a winner and lucky #10 is..

Congrats Kristie!

Please email me before Saturday night to claim your prize.
You're gonna love this collection! :)
oceans972 at yahoo dot com

-Abby

TPV Challenge & a giveaway!

It is sooo awesome to be back online, again! I live in central Illinois and got a big dose of that nasty blizzard that came through the midwest this past week. My power stayed on, but I lost internet for 3 days - it's great to be back in the blogosphere!

I should've scheduled my posts earlier in the week, but I didn't.. blah.. So a few days late, here are a couple things I wanted to share..

The Paper Variety Challenge!

The challenge this week at The Paper Variety is photo inspiration :) Maybe you like the colors, the hearts, the cute sayings.. grab whatever inspires you and get crafty :)

I put together this sweet lil card using the photo's colors and candy hearts :) I used papers and accessories from WRMK's "Be My Valentine" collection. You can see the whole collection here.

You still have a few days to enter the challenge at TPV as projects are due Tuesday at noon. Give it a go because you don't wanna miss out on the chance to win our awesome prize sponsored by Apron Strings Designs! Fabulous, eh?? :) :)

Did you click the link to see the "Be My Valentine" collection? Do you love it as much as I do? I hope so because I'm hosting a giveaway :) You could win some of this super sweet and colorful line just by commenting on this post. Just leave a comment and tell me the name of your lovable huggable Valentine :) Easy peasy!

My Valentine is my son, Braydon. He's the sweetest, most lovable lil guy I know! I'm so lucky to have a great kid that still loves to hug and snuggle with his Mom :)

I'll announce a random winner on Tuesday evening! Be sure to come back to see if you've won, as the winner must claim the prize by Sat 2/12. Sorry, US and Canada only due to high shipping costs. Thanks and Good Luck! :)

-Abby

Crate Paper Winner!

Thanks to everyone who visited my blog and left
comments for this giveaway.. much appreciated! A winner
was chosen via random.org and the result was
lucky number 4!

Congrats Tiffany!

Please email me with your deets by the end of the 24th
and I'll get this collection kit sent out asap. :)
oceans972 at yahoo dot com

Thanks everyone for entering! Be sure to visit again at
the end of the month when I'll host another giveaway!
Until then, hope you all stay warm and cozy! :)

-Abby

TPV DT Call & 3 Giveaways!

Hello friends!

The Paper Variety is seeking creative crafters
who would like to join our Design Team!

We're looking for 4-6 new smiles to share their love
of paper crafting and inspiring others - artists of all styles
and experience levels. If you love paper and enjoy using it to
create a variety of projects, then we invite you to apply! :)

Applications will be accepted until December 17th midnight.
The announcement of the new team will be posted on
December 22nd! :)

We hope to hear from many creative paper crafters!
Don't be too shy to try. :)

We're giving away a Crate Paper "Snow Day" collection kit!
I LOVE this collection! So cute, fun and colorful!

We're also giving away the Snow Day
6x6 paper pad and
a $25 gift certificate to
The Scrapbooking Cottage!

Sweet, huh?

Visit The Paper Variety to see all DT app
information and giveaway details.

Hope to see you there!!

-Abby

Bo Bunny "Noel" Giveaway!

LOVE me some Bo Bunny!! I love it even more when I have a chance to win it for free! :)
Stacy at The Scrapbooking Cottage is giving away some "Noel"! Woot! All you have to do is blog about it.. how super fab is that!? Hurry tho, she's posting a winner on Thursday!

Good Luck!!
-Abby

Happy Birthday to Me - Giveaways!

Today is my birthday, I'm now the fabulously young age of 38 and I'm loving life! I've had many special life events this year.....

I've decided to better my health by changing my lifestyle, eating better and exercise regularly. It's a long road to get healthy but I'm determined and will succeed!

My type1 diabetic son, Braydon, finally received his insulin pump several weeks ago. Knowing that his blood sugar levels are better regulated now is a huge stress reliever!

And my friend and I started a new scrapbooking challenge blog, The Paper Variety! It's something I've wanted to do for such a long time!

It's been a great 37th year and I'm so excited about my 38th! Better health for my son and me.. and also our challenge blog is going to be fantastic!

I'd like to celebrate my birthday by offering a giveaway! Since I work for our school district, I've decided to give one lucky winner this new CHA release - Crate Paper's "School Spirit" 6x6 paper pad and phrase stickers!


All you have do is leave me a comment! That's it! So easy! If you'd like 2 chances to win, then blog about this giveaway, link back to this post and leave a 2nd comment saying you've done so!

A winner will be randomly chosen on Friday Sept 10th! Be sure to come back then to see if you've won!

And also!! I wanted to let you all know that The Paper Variety is hosting a giveaway too! You could win Echo Park's "Life is Good"! Head on over there to learn how you could win this super cute collection kit!!

Thanks and Good Luck! :)