Think Happy Thoughts

Well, I don't know how it was where you are, but this weekend was FABULOUS! Really...it did so much to lift my spirits! We had sunshine and temps in the high 50's that even eked into the 60's at one point! It was so very nice!

Of course, now it is snowing, but we aren't going to talk about that, now are we. No. Okay...

Moving on.

Because it was such a wonderful, fabulous, super-fantastic, open your sunroof and DRIVE kind of day, I decided to make the journey out to my lss with the Gift Card that my dear and thoughtful friends Rachelle, Leah, Joey, and Mandii gave to me for my birthday. THAT was super inspiring! Gotta love a sunshiny day and the smell of fresh paper! Plus...when I got there I found out that they have a new policy...instead of dealing with coupons and rewards programs they are just offering the whole store at 20% off! Okay...so, I'll be honest, this worries me a bit, as I know how much that will cut into their margins and I am concerned that they are suffering, however, for that moment, it made me very happy because ... well, I got everything at 20% off! LOL!

Because I picked out some super cute stuff I just HAD to go home and use some of it right away! Yes...I bought scrapbook supplies and then.... you had better sit down for this.... I USED them. I KNOW! Novel idea, isn't it? LOL!

I decided to check out Amanda Probst's awesome challenge over at CK. In case you are not familiar with Amanda, she pretty much just rocks! Her kids are adorable, too, which makes her pages even more fun to look at! LOL! I have her super fantastic book, Month to Month Scrapbooking and it gives you TONS of great FRESH ideas on how to scrapbook through the year. Seriously...anyone else a little tired of the SAME layouts for the SAME events each month? Yup! Amanda makes it all fun and new again!

This month she challenged us to record some of those things in life that just make us smile! Okay....so that part was easy. Lots of things make me smile! I didn't even cheat and do a page about Sean, because, well, let's face it...we all know he makes me smile, so I decided to challenge myself a bit more than that and go outside the box. The other catch for the challenge is that you have to use photo 'slices.' You know... crop those suckers into strips that show off just a piece of the full photo. That was hard for me, I'll be honest, but I really love the results! I trimmed my photos down to 2x6 and I did it the old fashioned way to be sure I got exactly what I wanted in my photo. Yes...as in, I took out my magnetic mat and my magnetic ruler and my retractable craft knife...okay...so maybe it's not ALL that old fashioned! LOL! But the concept still is! Cut those suckers with a ruler and a blade!

I also handstitched around the title to ground it a bit. I had to do something fun with the journaling to make it really fit into the layout, so I decided to curl it a bit and make it a design element.

Overall, way fun layout!



And here are some closeups!







So, there you have it! A great weekend, some fun scrappy time, and a wonderful Sunday with my husband! Really....does it get any better than that?

Don't forget that I have TWO - count 'em - TWO giveaways going on right now!

My Scrapbook Room De-Stash giveaway is still open
and
The Online Poster Prints Giveaway just got posted over the weekend!

Watch for another giveaway in the next day or two! I know...the excitement is overwhelming me, too! It's fun!