Well, last year I had to resort to bribery for swimming lessons. My littlest, Raeleigh, did fine the first day. But, the second day she was very uncooperative. I forced myself to sit there listening to her cry the whole time (and you know at that age crying is contagious.) My friends assured me, almost holding me back that it was what the  “water exploration class” was all about. I talked to the teacher afterward. I said, I knew you’d send her to me if you didn’t want to deal with it.  The teacher asked if there was a toy she could bring next time.  So, from lesson three onward the little blue duck came to class. Then she didn’t cry. But, she didn’t pay much attention to the teacher either, she just sat playing with her duck for 45 minutes. I also promised that if she did what the teacher said when it was her turn then we’d go get candy after each lesson.

We are wrapping up swimming lessons this year, and I’m happy to say the little duck stayed home! We have continued the candy tradition. But, now it is just a fun summer treat, and not a bribe.

This page uses a collaboration kit from Recherché by KH Designs and Jennilyn Designs. And a template from JennCK.  Tomorrow I’ll post the opposite side of this two page spread with a little story about friendship!

I love Kraft papers paired with a bright color accent! Nikki’s “Sassy Chick” was the perfect choice. And, the “hound dogs” seemed to fit with the simple brown paper.

Talk about simple, I’m LOVING scrapping with templates these days! In this case I used Totally Braggin, but I just made the photos a tad taller.

I’ve been wanting to do some Kraft layouts since I saw the emerging trend in the summer of 2008 at CHA in Chicago! That means it has been a hot commodity since the winter of 08/09. And I’m just now using it?! How did that happen?

Oh well, this kit has so many cute Kraft papers I’m sure you will be seeing some more used at my blog! I may just pair it with everything, kinda like peanut butter.

The Bohemian Blush paper pack was perfect for achieving the “folded paper” effect in Liz’s template. I’m happy to buy templates like this because I would never have taken the time to build all of those folds into my own layout!

I hope you like the Quick Page freebie! I think it is very flexible in that you can easily make use of the paper filled squares like I did in the sample below. By the way, the balloon I added is from MK Designs. And the number “2″ is from Kiki Halbert’s “Rainbow Alpha.”

I also utilized some functionality that I had custom developed for my website. I can “feature” a tag or group of tags. So, under the “Feature” menu right now you will find “Happy Birthday USA.” It showcases all of the patriotic templates and quick pages I could find. Designers, you can still have your layouts featured here, just register, suggest yourself as a new designer, and tag the layout with “Patriotic USA” then it will automatically show up on this page! Scrappers go have a look if you are looking for a way to get your Fourth of July photos scrapped quickly!

Anyway, I stayed up way too late after the fireworks playing with her “Around My Home” kit. I have always wanted to make a “window” layout! These are a couple of straggler photos that have not been scrapped because they were not part of an event. I took these photos because I wanted to remember how my kids hang out in bed with us when I’m old and grey. I used to go grab them a cereal bar or a bag of cereal with a sippy cup, turn on the TV and go back to sleep. Now I trust Raeleigh downstairs with Danielle. So, I usually go down and make them breakfast and go crawl back into bed. The problem is that Raeleigh gets up early no matter what time she goes to bed.

So this layout already represents an era that is almost gone in our lives. And Raeleigh is in her footed PJ’s which she no longer wears. Sniff, sniff.

Our vacation spot of choice has been The Great Wolf Lodge for the past 5 years since we live in Oklahoma and there are not any beaches within a day’s drive. There are two Great Wolf Lodges to choose from though! This summer we are thinking of going to the new Schlitterbahn in Kansas City. I have a friend in New Bruanfels were the “original” Schlitterbahn is located. We’ve been dreaming of going down for a visit, but I just can’t imagine that long of a drive with my four year old yet! So, the “fake” river will have to do!

Like my layout and want the frames? Good News! I made a freebie for you! Disclaimer, I’m not a designer! I used a template by Flergs and an Atomic Cupcake action. And, I kept them all in one file in order to minimize file size. Just use your selection tool to grab the frame you want!

Recherché by KH Designs finally opened today! And, in case you were planning on some holiday weekend shopping…..all the brand new products are 30% off through July 5th! Cute banner, huh?! I love the new logo!

Today I will share my layout for the kit I named! Bohemian Blush. I really enjoy giving a little input on a new kit! Isn’t it fun?!

My layout is about potty training! The kit matched the PJ’s my daughter is wearing, aren’t they adorable? I’m so sad she will be outgrowing them soon. She was a little late in the second stage of potty training. We finally remembered the Dora playset we’d bought a piece at a time for our oldest. So, we recycled it and used it as incentive again. It worked like a charm. I gave her little pieces, promising the big house when she finally went number two. Her smile in these photos says it all. It was a big day. We even made up a song!

Other Credits: Balloon and swirl are MK Designs. Template is Studio Nee.

In fact, you can thank her too because she has generously provided a 35% off coupon code for DigiScrapQuickPages.com visitors! Her templates are fabulous for learning to cluster, give them a try! A little disclaimer, I met Nikki last week in person because she is from my hometown and I recently joined her Creative Team!

You will find the FREE quick page designs in 12×12 and 16×20 formats on DigiScrapQuickPages.com. If for some reason a pop up window does not make it apparent where to go, then click on “Featured>>Nikki Epperson.”

I hope you have a Patriotic Dad in your family, I have a few in mine!

Note: If you want to create a gift for Dad with this year’s Father’s Day photos but don’t have the proper software then let me know and I’d be happy to help you on a Scrap For Hire basis. The design is already done, so I can fix you up at minimal cost!

So, if you are new to digital scrapbooking, here’s a hint….you get free goodies in chats!

Other Credits: Titles were made with Atomic Cupcake actions and the mask is by New Life Dreams.

Well, is has now been nearly a month since I did a “soft-launch” of DigiScrapQuickPages.com to Digital Scrapbook Designers. My goal was to sign up 25 designers for the site, the newsletter, and for them to upload some products. Plus I asked them to “like” my site or my Facebook page. Well, I learned a lesson….I made it too complicated! I came close to my goal, I have 23 designers registered at the site! Thank-you for making my launch a success!

But, I only had ten people that followed through on all of my way too complicated requests!

My month anniversary is actually Monday, but that is the same day the Shutterfly codes expire. So, I’m ending the contest today to give the winners a chance to use their codes. As mentioned in a previous post, Janet Lawrence won the first book.

As promised I did a drawing among the second set of five designers…and the winner is…

Designs by CRK

Next I decided to give all ten of the people who so patiently followed all of my requests a second chance to win! And the winner is…

Jill Dzines

Finally, I drew two more names among everyone who has registered for my site and/or newsletter.  The winners were:

Litabells

Sweet Tomato Designs

Congratulations to everyone! And thank you for supporting the launch of DigiScrapQuickPages.com

You only have through June 14th to redeem your coupons! I will email them to you! Thanks to Shutterfly for picking me to host a House Party and providing the gifts. I had extras which worked out great for all of you!