If you are here for the Scrapbook Challenges’ Blog Train please see the post below!

Welcome to the second blog train that I am participating in this weekend This blog train is brought to you by the wonderful ladies over at DSA and I am so happy to be one of the stops along the way. You should have made your way here from the blog of Farynar’s Wings. If you didn’t head on back to the forums and start from the beginning, you’re not going to want to miss one stop of this blog train <3

After you grab my freebie your next stop will be over with the designers of MScraps.

{Direct Download Here}

ETA: It was just brought to my attention that the original alpha was missing the P. I am so sorry for the inconvenience. The link has been fixed so you can re-download the whole mini or click here to download just the P.

I hope everyone has a wonder NSD. Most of all I hope you find a little time to scrap, because isn’t that what today is all about anyway?!?!?

Welcome to all the madness that is NSD. This is my first blog hop of the weekend. I’ll be back tomorrow with another hop including a freebie for all my digi fans <3

I hope you have had fun on the Scrapbook Challenges blog hop with a twist. You should have made your way here from the wonderful Amanda Pace. If not head on back to the site’s blog at www.scrapbookchallenges.com/sbc-blog for the complete list. You’ll want to visit every blog to collect all the pieces to our puzzle.

First the most important part of the stop…here is your next piece in our sketchy puzzle:

And here is a little sneaky peek from my completed layout:
I just have to brag a little about the kit that I used for my layout. I can’t show or tell too much but please, please keep an eye out at The Lilypad tomorrow. One of my very favorite online people, Jacque Larsen, has put this amazing collab together for a very special cause.

Before you head on off after your final piece of the puzzle I thought I would give you a little reminder about those “mystery” prizes we have up for grabs

First to one member of SC who participates in the hop on section of the blog train:

Next to one member of SC who comments on all the participating blog in out Puzzling NSD Blog Hop:

And last but not least one lucky random brand new member who joins the site between 5/4 and 5/6:

Thanks again for hopping along with us. You next {and final} stop is back at Scrapbook Challenges in the Hop on Thread You’ll find your last piece to the puzzle and all the information on how you can join in on the fun posted there!

I just posted a brand new Facebook Exclusive freebie on my page <3

Click here to go to BZB Designs on FB.

It’s no April Fools…

I PAPER SCRAPPED!!

well hybrid…but still this is pretty big for me…I have done some projects but I haven’t done an honest to goodness page in quite some time.
{Credits Here}

And here are some more recent pages:

For March Madness at Scrapbook Challenges {Credits Here}

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And while I am sharing all these great pages, I have to tell you where some of  the goodies came from…specifically my hybrid page, Dare to be U, Jar of Hearts & my hybrid wall sign….

One Story Down is now open for business!! There are a bunch of fun things going on in the forum, lots of amazing prizes to be won and tons of great shopping to be had in the store.

P.S. Don’t forget to grab the freebie that I posted yesterday

We decided to start a new mini kit digi challenge over at Scrapbook Challenges this month. Here is the mini that I created for it:

{Download Here}

I had a lot of fun with this mini and some trouble stopping so I decided to keep going…and since it’s been a while since I have done a full size kit I thought it would be fun to give some copies away. So everyone who completes a layout with the kit and uploads it to SC (has to be at SC not here!) will get a copy of the full size kit  in their inbox at the site.

Also one random winner will be drawn at the end of the month to win a $25.00 GC to my shop

Head on over to SC to find out more details <3

I’m a total sucker for a cute piece of pallet art. I couldn’t even tell you how many different pieces I have pinned for future inspiration on my various Pinterest boards. Months ago I was particulary drawn to this little beauty from Alicia at  La Famille:
I loved the simple sentiment…the rough edges of the wood…the banner…heck I loved everything. So I thought I could do that….only one problem…no pallet. Kinda essential when making pallet art huh?!?!? So since I was in the process of moving around my craft spaces and  organizing I took the time to look through what I had to see what I could come up with…and here is what I did.

I started with a blank 8×10 canvas I found in a cabinet in my living room.
Next I found a couple thin pieces of leftover Balsa Wood from my Theory and Development of Form class I took a couple sessions ago.
An idea was starting to come together. I decided to paint my canvas with a coat of brown acrylic paint.
While my canvas was driving I cut my balsa wood into strips. I wanted them to have a little more “rustic” feel, so I just used a craft knife to score my wood then using the edge of my table I broke my pieces. My balsa wood was very thin so it was very easy to break.
Then using the same brown that I used on my canvas plus some water I “stained” my balsa wood strips. I didn’t worry about getting each stripe too even looking…again I was going for a more worn & rustic look.
Once they were dry I started placing them on my canvas. I decided to give them a little bit of a staggered look. Once I had the placement I liked I glued them down with my hot glue gun. Next using some red acrylic paint and a sponge brush I freehand painted the word love across my strips.

Once dry it was a little too “fresh” looking for me and I knew I needed to age it a bit…ok a lot I stared by taking just a plain old straight pin and running it up and down the “seams” of my balsa wood strips. This did a couple things…one it broke up the painted message and two it added just a little bit of rough texture. I then decided to run a sanding block over the the piece to take off a little more of the red paint. To finish it off I took to more of my balsa wood strips and added them as cross bar pieces. I liked that I was seeing, but It didn’t quite look done yet. I wanted to ass some kind of hardware to the cross bars. I thought about just putting a quick staple in, but I was afraid that the balsa wood would just split. So digging through my stuff I found 4 upholstery tacks left over from another past project.
All I had left to do was add a quick banner and hang on my wall.
One other tip…I made the banner so that it can be removed and changed when I want to…which means I need to get my but in gear and make a little shamrock banner ASAP

To further cure my willeveryoneelsethinkitsascoolasido? I am linking to:

Monday:
Skip to my Lou
Sumos Sweet Stuff
Craft-O-Maniac

Tuesday:
Tip Junkie
Todays Creative Blog

Wednesday:
Blue Cricket Design

Thursday:
Somewhat Simple
52 Mantels

Friday:
Tatertots and Jello
Just A Girl

Saturday:
Be Different Act Normal

Sunday:
Under The Table and Dreaming
Flamingo Toes
I Heart Naptime

I feel like I haven’t scrapped in FOREVER…seriously I may be in the running for worst CT member of all time. I really am lucky too…I don’t know how I am on the CT’s that I am. I must have some kind of Scrapping Fairy God Mother or something

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P.S. Hop on over to Scrapbook Challenges today…we have a fun new event starting today!

I DID IT…A SINGLE PHOTO A DAY FOR AN ENTIRE MONTH!!

This is huge for me. I usually give up on something like this a few weeks in. And to top it off…Not only did I take all the photos, I actually got them all scrapped in a relativity timely manner too. The prompts were fun and easy to follow. I worked off the list published by fat mum slim

February Photo A Day Challenge via @fatmumslim

I like that her prompts are pretty basic so they can really be open for interpretation. All my photos were shot on my iPhone and edited in Instagram**.

Here is a closer look at my pages:

These will get printed and added to our Project Life Binder. Chantelle at fat mum slim does the photo challenge each month so my goal is do complete a double page spread for the rest of the year!

**Ahhh my iPhone and Instagram. I feel like I should add those two things to my must haves for Project Life. Seriously I don’t think I would still be doing PL without them!

Are you sick of Project Life post floating around the craft blogging world?? I hope not because now that I can finally blog again I will be sharing some of my PL experiences.

My biggest fear/hesitation with taking on PL….I think we are like one of the most boring families ever. OK well maybe not boring, things are never boring with a 5 year old and a 2 year old…so we will go with…hmm…how bout predictable. Yes, that’s it…we are predictable. Once reason I have yet to complete a Week In The Life Album…you can only have so many pictures of my morning coffee, me in my sweats, Moo running around in her pull-up, etc. etc. How the heck am I possibly going to stick with something and document 365…err crap it’s a leap year, great one whole extra day of predictability…366 days in the life of our family?!?!?!

From BeckyHiggins.com via Pinterest

But then the ghost of projects past began to haunt me…and I’ll admit, I got a little wrapped up in the hype too. So after hours and hours on Pinterest and browsing blogs I began to think that maybe…just maybe this once I could actually start and finish a huge project like this…And that was pretty much all it took…I was in…for better or worse. I sat down and made a list (Hello my name is Brynn and I am a compulsive list maker) of supplies that I already had that could work and things I needed. The top 3 things on my list to buy:

from my iPhone via my pen

Binders:
I probably thought way to much about this part. I went back and forth on the number I would need, the colors I wanted, the style…It was a mess. Finally the over planner and organizer in me decided on Four Linen Binders by WRMK. Why four…well because I thought that it would be fun to organize by season. Plus if I give up say…I don’t know after February, I can say I was just doing Project Winter

Core Kit:

Project Life Core Kit - Clementine Edition

This was probably the one easy decision for me in the whole process…I went with the Clementine Core Kit designed by the wonderful Lili who sells her digi designs at The Lilypad <3

Plastics:
I had fully intended on using just the Project Life page protectors. When I sat down and ordered my core kit from Amazon, I bought a pack of 6×12′s, The Big Envelopes and Design G…basically everything that didn’t come in The Big Pack. I thought I was being smart…rather than buying everything individually…wait and buy a huge set…seems logical right?!?!? Well Christmas comes…2012 is creeping in fast and of course I start to panic. That little voice in my head starts in again, taunting me, “You’re gonna fall behind…You’ll never catch up…give up now…” So I hop back on Amazon and decided to order just a pack of Design A to get me started….just my luck SOLD OUT. Are you kidding me?!?!? Full on panic mode ensues…that little voice is getting louder…it may just win. Then on a super quick trip to Georgia for my Grandparent-In-Laws 60th Wedding Anniversary….light bulb…apparently my list making skills are lacking because I forgot about the 2 packs of WRMK Page Protectors I had in my stash. Crisis adverted…now I just had to haul creative butt to get my title page done so I wouldn’t fall too behind

Those first couple weeks were rough. The voices were strong and the overwhelming feeling of failure that I was feeling about falling behind was huge. I stressed way too much about the “design” of my pages. I was also spending waaayyyy too long on my pages. It was becoming more of a chore than something that I was enjoying doing. Totally not good only a few weeks in. I knew that I needed to re-think my approach and quick.

The first thing on my to do list was get my space organized….or I should say I needed to create a space for myself. When we moved to Mississippi one of the things that I gave up was a dedicated craft space.  After some very creative re-arranging all three kids still have their own spaces and Mama has a space now too!

 The next thing I decided to do was to set a limit… 30 mins per week day is my max. That is more than enough to write out some journaling cards, print a few pictures, make a few notes, etc, etc. The weekends are a little different…I give myself a little more play time….but during the week no more than 30 mins each day!

Another thing that has helped tremendously…not worrying about making our lives all about the sunshine and rainbows. Who’s life is really that perfect anyway?!?! You have to take the good with the bad. I would much rather my kids look back and read what happened straight from my own pen then to hear it re-told and re-imagined from someone else. Also don’t be afraid to grab your camera and get that silly look on your child’s face even if you can see the huge pile of laundry waiting to be folded in the background. Life is messy and crazy and can throw you for a loop…but that is what makes it interesting sometimes. I’ll say it…most days my house looks like day three of Hoarders…you know, where it’s “clean” but not quite clean. You can see the floors, things are put away, but oh for the love of god do not open that door because who the heck know what will jump out at you…OK so maybe it’s not that bad, but you know what I mean. This is Project LIFE not Project Catalog.

As I enter month three of this crazy PL journey I have already learned so much….not only about taking on something like Project Life, but I am learning things about my little family unit. Like…we are not as “predictable” as I thought. In fact…we are anything but predictable. We are crazy, weird, rambunctious, crazy, loving, funny…did I mention we are a tad crazy…don’t worry…it’s a good kind of crazy though.

p.s. Check back on Friday for a little PL freebie <3 Writing about including all the not so perfect parts of life really got my brain working and I starting designing something new last night!

For my first 10 things Tuesday back from my bloggy “vacation” I thought I would keep it nice and light…and funny. If you haven’t seen any of the Ryan Gosling Hey Girl meme’s I think you are in for a treat. These things seriously crack me up…I could spend hours looking online at them.  First of all Ryan Gosling might be one of the absolute cutest men on the entire planet. The fact that he knows about the Hey Girl craze and thinks it’s funny makes him even more adorable in my opinion. Yes, I even have a whole Pinterest board called Hey Girl.

So presenting 10 of my favorite Hey Girls in no particular order, because I think it would be hard to actually rank them…

From Handmade Ryan Gosling

From F Yeah! Ryan Gosling

From Happy Zombie

From Handmade Ryan Gosling

From Hey girl. I like the library too.

From Feminist Ryan Gosling

From Handmade Ryan Gosling

From Handmade Ryan Gosling

From Handmade Ryan Gosling

From Handmade Ryan Gosling

So there you have it…looking at these is like my biggest internet time waster…of course that is right after Pinterest

Do you have a funny time waster like this?? Please tell me I am not alone lol….

Oh and before I go…if you’re a RG fan…this is quite possible the best open letter ever written to him….even if you’re not a fan it’s a pretty hilarious read.

Dear Ryan Gosling by Meghan O’Keefe at Hello Giggles