Here are a few awesome videos about moms. A new and an old favorite…that I can’t get through without crying

And there is a free ebook that I’ll be reading this weekend. It’s the best articles on mothers from LDS Living magazine. Enjoy!

We’ve been working like crazy people and are finally ready to tell you that PREMADE LAYOUTS ARE BACK!!

We are soooo excited to finally offer premade blog designs again. These are the easiest and cheapest way to get a professional looking blog design as quickly as possible. Take a look through our brand new designs! You can choose which background you would like the blog to have and then we’ll customize the blog header exactly how you want AND do the installation for you. These designs are templates instead of blog backgrounds and come with tons of fun extras.

Premade blog designs are $30 but today we are having a special Mother’s Day deal where you can purchase a Premade blog design for only $15! They come as a gift certificate so you can use them when you’re ready. These gift certificates last a full year, so as we continue to add new premades, you can switch up your blog design whenever you’d like.

There is a limit of 5 gift certificates per person. Blogger blog designs only. This discount is only good through Sunday, May 12, 2013!

Take a look at our new premade layouts (so far we have 4 new designs with 15 style to choose from and LOTS more on the way).

To get the special Mother’s Day deal for your mother, a friend or yourself, click here.

So I went looking for an awesome swimsuit this year, which is ironic because I actually hate being in a swimsuit. I had 4 kids in 6 years and things just aren’t as perky, firm and tight and  as they used to be. In fact, everything is quiet droopy and jiggly if you really must know.

So I’m always looking for the perfect swimsuit that will conceal my baby left overs, all while making me look thinner than I really am. I have not had the best luck if you can imagine. UNTIL I found this sweet swimsuit from Albion.com. It’s called the Blousy Suit and it rules. It fits kind of like a shirt in that it’s not skin tight. There is a white band around the waist that keeps thing in place and looks oh so cute. Mama needs some padding (which happens to be removable, FYI) and I love that the neckline is higher. It covers up modestly and looks oober cute. (It also comes in navy blue and black.) I seriously LOVE it!

Albion has some adorable women’s fitness and swimwear. (They also have great workout clothing too.) These suits are some close runners up that I almost got instead:

Time for the giveaway! Albion is going to give one of you this Emerald Blousy swimsuit! To enter to win, pin an item from the Albion website onto your Pinterest board with the hashtag #albiongiveaway. Enter as many times as you’d like by repinning items from their site. Giveaway ends Sunday May 12, 2013 at 9:00 PST. No purchase necessary. If you don’t have a Pinterest account, just leave a comment below telling us your favorite item from the Albion website.

Need a suit now? Mother’s Day is right around the corner. Treat yourself or someone you know to a new suit or some cute workout clothing! Albion has given us an exclusive promotional code. Save $15 on any purchase of $50 or more by using the code leelou15 at checkout. It expires this Friday, May 10th so hurry!

This weekend, there are lots of fun places online celebrating National Scrapbook Day. Are you a digital scrapper? I switched over about 5 years ago and never looked back. It’s so much easier, cleaner and cheaper! Give it a try if you haven’t already. Creating your own scrapbooks, invitations, cards, printables, etc. is so convenient and fun.

Here are a few fun deals that are going on this weekend:

• Aside from my freebies, I have also created several scrapbook kits, printables and templates that I sell over here. They’re all 25% off this weekend.

• Persnickety Prints is having their semi-annual sale with 25% off 12×12, 8.5×11, and 8×8 prints. Order today (May 4th) and you’ll receive a free Mother’s Day word art print.   If you aren’t ready to order your prints yet, you can buy credits this weekend for 25% off and then use them later. They never expire so you can get a sweet deal any time.

• If you’re looking for a fun challenge, Studio Calico has a bunch going on right now. The grand prize winner gets $100 gift card to their shop. Their stuff is so cute!

• Scrap Orchard has hundreds of products on sale this weekend for just $1. After this weekend, those items are retired, so get them now while you can!

New to digital scrapbooking? See what program I recommend using and give it a try. It really is super easy and sooo much fun

Happy National Scrapbook Day!!!

We have finally made it to May! Mother’s Day and National Scrapbook Day are this month. I’ve found some fun ideas I want to share for both of those holidays, but first…this months desktop calendar!

As always, change out your desktop wallpaper on the 1st of each month with one of our free backgrounds. You can customize them with your own pictures (like I did below)  or just take the standard one and put it up on your computer in seconds.

Check out the Tutorials page to help you customize and install them.

This desktop has digital elements from a few of Michelle Underwood’s digital scrapbook kits.  Follow our blog through one of our social media sites (you can find links to them all on the top right hand corner of this blog) or sign up for our newsletter so we can remind you of fun new freebies, giveaways and tips!

Did you happen to see the new blog designs that we put up yesterday? Update your blog while you’re at it

There are also 2 new matching blog headers to go with the designs.

These backgrounds were made with an exclusive digital kit from Bee and Elle. This specific kit will be available in their shop soon, but in the mean time you can find lots of other fun designs here.

Every once in awhile we are fortunate enough to work with amazing companies, doing sponsored conversations. For us here at Leelou, they’re how we are able to stay in business. We have hundreds of free blog designs and it costs a LOT of money every year to host the images for them. We are thrilled when we get to work with these companies. They truly keep our freebies free, so please check them out when we post about them! The free blog designs today are brought to you by Quaker®.

I was super excited to try some of these big ol’ granola bars from Quakers. We literally go through TONS of boxes of granola bars in my house. Tons. It’s our go to snack at all times. These new Big Chewy Quakers bars are 60% bigger than normal which is awesome. They keep me fueled during the day when I’m out and about and forget to eat lunch. And they especially keep us going from 2:30 on when we’re running around and it’s a madhouse up in here.

I never know what my days will have in store for me and my family, so keeping Quaker® Big Chewy Granola Bars on hand help make sure we have the fuel necessary to get the day. Did I mention that the Quaker® Big Chewy Granola Bars have chocolate drizzled on top too? So yummy!

Share what activities you need fuel for everyday and see other stories on Everyday Health. 

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Quaker®. The opinions and text are all mine. Thanks Quaker for sponsoring a post! You help keep our freebies free!!

To get this free printable, just click the button below. Check out our other printables here.

The design elements used in this free printable were created with the digital scrapbook kit: A Brand New Day by Meredith Cardall.

I’ve asked on Facebook, (and gotten some great ideas) but I thought I’d ask on here too…what kind of freebies are you looking for? Ones you can print and frame, party decorations, free blog designs, backgrounds for your electronics? Let me know in the comments below and I’ll see what I can come up with!

Did you see the updated social media icons last week? Get them for your blog and share all of your social networks with your followers!

If you haven’t seen these social network icons yet, they are little banners you can add to your blog to help share the sites you’re connected to.

You can put these in your sidebar

or even under your blog header

There are 3 different colors to choose from. You can even mix and match.

So I want to know, when some does something for you, how do you say thanks? Handmade thank you cards? Making them their favorite treat? My Mom always taught me that when someone makes you a meal, you can never return the dishes empty.

A few weeks ago I was introduced to Project Mahalo, which is put on by King’s Hawaiian. They’ve chosen 4 charities and for no good reason at all, they’re giving them each $10,000! Pretty awesome, right? King’s Hawaiian has the charities listed on their site and from now until Sunday, you can go vote for your favorite. The charity with the most votes at the end of the week will win $25,000! That’s so huge. So if you’d like to be a gem and help them out, they’d love to see which charity is your fav. I’ve made it real easy for you. Just click here to be taken to their site and then choose the charity you would love to see win.

Mahalo is the Hawaiian word for thank you.  You can say thank you to these wonderful charities- Big Brothers Big Sisters, Meals On Wheels Association of America, Family Caregiver Alliance, and One Warm Coat by voting for them on www.kingshawaiian.com/project-mahalo.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Kings Hawaiian® Project Mahalo. The opinions and text are mine all mine. Sponsored conversations help keep our freebies free. Thanks Kings Hawaiian!