Scrapbooking, Valentine's projects and More

I can't tell you how good it felt to scrap again! I haven't really had time to sit and work on a project during the holidays. This layout was done as part of a 30 Minute Masterpiece Challenge that Cassie Jones hosts at Designer Digitals. For this challenge we had to scrap a photo of someone not in our nuclear family, have elements hang off the edge of the paper, use stamps, recolor an item, use at least 2 items in a kit and complete it in 30min. Whew! That sounds like a lot doesn't it? Well we are allowed 15 minutes of planning time and then set the timer for 30min. (I'll admit that it usually takes me 45min---which is still better than my usual 1-2hrs or more per layout). The layout is of my brother and nephew. Click the photo for supply credits.

 

Another project that I finished up this week was a new lens on Squidoo. I actually started this before the holidays but for some reason it just didn't click until this week, and now I'm happy with the results. Since Valentine's Day is coming up, I wanted to feature some fun, easy crafts to share candy with special friends and family. I was thinking along the lines of making something special to give to your kids or kids sharing with their classmates. Check out the sweet ideas: Valentine Candy Holders

I know that Swagbucks has been mentioned on many blogs lately. I just wanted to chime in with my experience using this service so far. I joined in November because I was looking for a way to help finance Christmas presents. I knew that it was too close to Christmas to make a significant contribution so my goal was to earn at least one Amazon gift card. I was able to earn 2 gift cards which totalled $10.00.  That might not seem like alot, but all I had to do for that $10 was use the Swagbucks search bar. Now my goal is to earn enough gift cards to take care of the majority of my gift-giving expenses for this upcoming year. Many other people have the same goal, which is why they are blogging about it in January. It takes time to rack up those bucks.:) You can sign up at the site, or you can sign up using my Swagbucks affiliate link which gives me an opportunity to earn some extra bucks. Once you join, if you have a friend join under you, you'll be able to reach the first gift-card milestone faster. :)

Well that's all the loose ends for now :)