Friday, April 2, 2010

a layout and my first blog giveaway!

I started blogging six months ago as a way for my family to see what is going on in our lives and to share layouts with my scrapbooking buddies. Blogging also serves as a little daily time capsule that I can look back on and remember, "Oh, yeah, I forgot we did that." It's quicker than a scrapbook page and when I'm ready to scrap, I can easily pull up a blog post and have some journaling ready to go. Speaking of journaling . . . Do you ever get stuck in a rut? I sometimes do. Here is a layout I recently put together with the March kit with a little twist on the journaling . . .


Have you heard of the book, "If You Give a Cat a Cupcake," by Laura Numeroff? It's one of my kids favorite books. I recently gave them my old point-and-shoot camera and let them go crazy with it. They took pictures of the most random things. And then they started taking pictures of themselves . . . all behind closed doors of course. When I uploaded the pictures, I had quite a treat waiting for me! I fashioned the journaling off of the book . . . it was a fun and different way to record the story!

And now for the giveaway . . . in honor of blogging six months and of journaling and of SPRING CLEANING . . . I went through my stash and pulled some journaling cards from my endless supply. And I threw in a few extra things too! A few of the things are partially used (barely), but I am done with them and want to pass them on to a new home. All you have to do is leave me a comment telling me why journaling is important to you and/or your favorite journaling jumpstart. Post the comment by Monday, April 5 at 9pm PST and I will draw a random number and ship you your goodies! Below are the pictures and descriptions of what you will get!

Heidi Swapp journaling spots: ledger and days
Heidi Swapp writers block: circles and squares
Making Memories spiral journaling books: 1 of each design (5th Avenue, Flowers Ledger, Noteworthy)
Jillibean: Journaling sprouts (various colors)
Various other journaling cards


Making Memories: Word Fetti Family
Doodlebug: Spring cardstock stickers
Luxe: Rub-ons
Jenni Bowlin: Adore, Lucky and Grow cards
Jillibean: Ribbon
Flowers: Prima, American Crafts
Orange embellishments: Prima
Anna Griffin: Green word stickers
Ribbon: Stampin' Up!
White photo corners

BTW: I only recently started commenting for blog giveaways . . . I never did before because I always thought there's no chance I'd ever win. Last week I won an entire pack of Basic Grey goodies and this week I won a magazine from Scrapbook and Cards Today! I've only been blogging for 6 months, so it's not like I have hundreds of readers . . . I think your chances of winning will be pretty good!! : ) You have until Monday night!!

Have a wonderful Easter celebrating the reason for the season!

7 comments:

Denise Z. said...

Journaling is the hardest part for me--I know what I want to say, I just have trouble getting it on the page. Maybe I need some cute journaling stuff to inspire me! :)

I treasure all the pictures my dad took; he wrote on the back of each and every one (in pencil, thankfully!)who was in the picture, where and when it was. I may not recognize all the faces or places, but I recall all the stories.

tginguyen said...

Journaling is the toughest part for me -- that is because my English teacher in high school told me that I couldn't write. Yeah, what a way to crush a kid!! Anyway, I only started journaling about three years ago because I got sick of looking at my pages with just titles. I decided not to worry about my grammar, spelling, etc and just go for it. And so I did. My pages are much better now with bits of journaling.

Cravinchoc said...

I think the reason journaling is so hard for me is b/c I KNOW it's important and so I want to get it just right. But usually I have no quiet thoughtful reflective moments in my day (or at scrap nights!) to write up just the right thing to say. I had a CM director once tell me that doing "Who, what, where, when and why" is a valid journaling method and will at least get the basics down, if nothing else. Sometimes that's what I resort to, even though I want more emotion and details than that.

Congrats on winning to much stuff! :)

5Bazocs said...

Hey Brenda! I love your blog! I try to keep up in reading it. I love blogging too...but life seems to keep me too busy to post as much as I would like...which leads me to my comment.... I think sometimes I don't keep my blog updated....is the same reason I tend to not keep up on my scrapbooking....and other journals I keep for my kids....I think it is because I tend to think that my journaling has to be long, in-depth and brilliantly written. lol I love writing...I love creating keepsakes for my children to have when they are older...to revisit our life from an earlier time...I am very sentimental and value the memories of our lives. And sometimes because of the rat race of life...we forget the details...so journaling...even little tidbits of our lives...is a great way to time capsule the moments that make up our wonderful blessings in life. So one day... when I am in heaven...my children, grandchildren and great -grandchildren will be able to look back into our lives and see how wonderful life really is and where they have come from. Something I have found that is working for me at times with journaling...is I keep a journal book for both Ben and Avery in my kitchen...where we seem to be about 75% or more of our day...:) and whenever the kids say or do something cute...that I want to remember...to share with them...I write it down...that seems to be a little more time friendly.... mom of preschoolers friendly. Brenda since you like give-aways...you should visit this site...she is inspiring...and writes beautifully and gives away lots of amazing things... http://audreycaroline.blogspot.com/2010/03/needle-and-thread.html Angie Smith, her husband is one of the lead singers for Selah.

brandi said...

ok...i finally signed up so i can partake in all of the bloging fun!
after talking with you girls, i am going to start my blog up again aswell, like you said it is a great way to take notes of your days and refer back to it when it comes time to scrapbook it...

Jan said...

When I look back thorugh my scrapbooks, I love reading the journaling. However, it is the hardest part up front. It never sounds right to me at the time. I have my kids do there own journaling on their pages, and they are so much more clever than I am and it makes it so much more personal to each child.

Tara said...

Journaling is important for me because it reminds me of my mindset at the time the pictures were taken. I'm always very frank in my journaling and re-reading it later cracks me up!