Affordable Scrapbooking Craft Supplies From Scrapbuck.com and $25 GC Giveaway

Today I get to introduce all of you crafter's to a wonderful company called Scrapbuck which is a paper crafter's paradise! As a big time scrapbooker and cardmaker...I love this company!

Here is a little bit about them - Scrapbuck.com is the premier online store and community for the value-conscious Scrapbooker and Cardmaker. Scrapbuck sells all of its merchandise at 50-75% less than other scrapbooking stores. We carry between 2,500 to 3,000 products and sell over 750 items for only $1. Any purchase $20.00 or more in the continental US ships for free and leaves our warehouse within one business day! This store sells all of the name brand items that you love!

My Review: The generous folks over at Scrapbuck.com sent me a box full of craft supplies to review for all of you. Today I am going tell you about those supplies and how I used them for this review. First let me tell you a little bit about what I received. I got a huge pad of ColorBok Deluxe Textured Cardstock which contains 50 sheets of pastel colored cardstock, 2 of each color and the colors range from beige up to lilac and several colors in between. This 50 sheet pad of cardstock sells for ONLY $6.00. I also got a 6 sheet paper pack (12x12 size) in a beach vacation theme by Forever in Time (tm). This 6 sheet vacation paper pack sells for ONLY $1.00.

The next several items are a bunch of high quality scrapbooking embellishments! From Phrase Cafe I got a pack of epoxy stickers in a vacation theme that sells for $1.75, a pack of Soft Spoken "toddler" theme embellishments that sell for $1.80, a Jolee's Boutique 21 pc. "Princess" page title or embellishments that cost $2.00, a pack of 3D White Pearl Halves that costs $1.25, a Making Memories Glitter Die-Cuts 76 pc. "Just Chillin" design for $2.50 a pack, a package of Pop-Dots that sells for $1.00 and a large package of Chipboard Embellishments in the Starfish Design that sells for $2.65.

The third group of items I received is a sheet of Embossed Cardstock Stickers in a beach/vacation theme that sells for $1.00, a set of 8 clear stamps in the "Life at the Beach" theme that sells for $3.50, a large roll of Double-Sided Tape that sells for $1.00, a black Ink It Up! stamp pad that sells for $1.00, a 4 piece Sparkle Glitter Gel Pens set that sells for $1.00 and finally a Clear Stamp Tool (to use with the clear stamp set) that sells for $1.00. Wow!!! I got a lot of great stuff!

Here is a 12x12 scrapbooking layout that I made using supplies from Scrapbuck.com. For this layout I used a pink piece of scrapbooking paper that has "Princess" wording all over it from my own paper stash as the background for the layout. I had 3 photos of my little grand daughter wearing a pink princess costume that I wanted to use in the layout. I cropped 2 of them down just a little bit and then I cropped down the third one so that it measures 3" square. I then used 2 sheets of the pink textured cardstock and 1 sheet of the white textured cardstock from the Colorbok Deluxed Textured Cardstock pad that has 50 sheets in it from Scrapbuck and it only costs $6.00 to triple mat all three photos. The inner mat is pink, the middle one is white and the outer one is pink and I left an 1/8" border around each mat. I used double sided tape to mat them all and to apply them to my scrapbooking page.

I had a sheet of pink vellum in my stash and I cut the vellum on the diagonal and then placed the triangle of vellum onto my layout running from the top right down to the bottom left. I used their double sided tap to attach the vellum to my page and was pleasantly surprised that you can't see the tape underneath the vellum, yeah!!! I then cut six squares from the pink vellum that was leftover and each square measures 2 1/2" and then I cut each little square on the diagonal to make vellum photo corners for each of the three photos. Again, I used their double sided tape to adhere them onto the corners of each photo. I then took the tiny self-adhesive pink rhinestones and placed one in each corner on each photo to add a little Princess "bling" to the layout.
For my page title I simply used my Cricut on the #1 size setting and cut out the letters CUTIE from medium pink textured cardstock and then did the shadow setting and cut the same letters out of white textured cardstock (cardstock from the Colorbok Deluxe Textured Cardstock pad). I ran all the letters through my Xyron sticker maker to apply adhesive to the backsides and layered them together. I used my glue pen to glue them onto my layout.

I would personally like to thank Scrapbuck for allowing me to do a product review for their company and for hosting a giveaway here on the Passionate About Crafting Blog.

Disclaimer: Shelly Hill has personally reviewed the product listed above. Shelly has not received any monetary compensation for her review. Shelly did receive a free product to try out so she could evaluate and use it for her review. Her thoughts & opinions in this review are unbiased & honest and your opinions may differ. The Passionate About Crafting Blog is not responsible for delivery/shipping of giveaway items won from this blog nor are we responsible for mis-use or injury caused by items won from this blog.

PandaHall.com Has Great Glass Beads for Jewelry Making

This is a compensated post written by me on behalf of jewelrybeads. All opinions are 100% mine.

I love to craft and I have been dabbling into jewelry making for the past year or so and at times I get very frustrated with the selection of glass beads that are available at my local craft supply store so I have had to resort to shopping online for all of the jewelry beads that I need. I used to spend hours scouring our local craft store and then I would come home and be disappointed that I couldn't find pretty beads and things that I needed to make my jewelry with.

A few weeks ago I stumbled upon a site called PandaHall.com and was very impressed with their selection of jewelry making supplies, especially their large selection of glass beads. They have jewelry beads in every shape, size and color imaginable and they are all affordably priced. I really like working with cat eye beads and I love those the best! (but they have all kinds of beads that you will fall in love with).

In addition to glass jewelry beads they also have a large variety of chains, jump rings and jewelry making tools that you can purchase too! And if you sell your jewelry that you make at local craft shows, art galleries or at trade shows they have jewelry boxes and jewelry packaging/storage products that you can purchase too!

PandaHall.com is an excellent store for buying all of your jewelry making supplies and make sure you check out their FREE shipping offer as they offer that to over 18 different countries! yeah! If you want to be kept up to date on new product offerings or product specials, you can subscribe to their email newsletter. So the next time you are looking for jewelry making supplies head on over to PandHall and check out their nice selection.

Scrapbooking | Taking A Walk With My Grand Daughter Scrapbook Layout

Today I am featuring another 12x12 layout I made using supplies that I received from Scrapbuck.com. If you have never shopped at Scrapbuck you really should! You can get name brand scrapbooking supplies at an affordable price! Every item (except for the printed background paper) came from Scrapbuck and here is what I used and how I used it!

My background paper is a muted floral colorblock 12x12 piece of scrapbooking paper from my own stash. I used 2 photos in this layout which feature me walking my grand daughter and my mother walking my grand daughter a few weeks ago one one of our weekly walks with her. I wanted to document that "her grandma's" have been taking her out for walks once a week all summer long so decided to scrapbook a page about it. I used a piece of the light sage green, medium sage green and yellow cardstock papers from the Colorbok Deluxe Textured Cardstock pack that contains 50 sheets of cardstock. I matted each photo first with the light sage green cardstock and then with the yellow cardstock and trimmed them down so that only an 1/8" border remained. I then attached those photos to the darker green cardstock using double sided tape. I then used my paper trimmer and trimmed down that sheet so that it was rectangular in size and offset the two photos on it so that space remained under the left photo and so that space remained above and below the right photo.
I used the "Stop" "Slow" and "Go" embellishments from the Soft Spoken 'Toddler" embellishment pack under the right photo. I used the green glitter corner mounts from the Glitter Die-Cuts 76pc. "Just Chillin" Pack in each corner of my layout. I then used one of the green glitter rectangular journal blocks under the left photo and a green "Dream" tag with flower above the right photo...again, all of them are from the "Just Chillin" Glitter Die-Cuts Pack. I used the green Glitter Gel Pens to do my journaling under each photo on the yellow mat and on the glitter green journal block under the left photo.

I am really happy with how this layout came out. I wasn't sure what to do with one vertical photo and one horizontal photo so I solved that by mounting both on one big sage green cardstock photo mat.

If you are looking for name brand, quality and affordable scrapbooking supplies you need to head on over to Scrapbuck and check out their selection...they have hundreds and hundreds of scrapbooking supplies that everyone can afford!

Disclosure: I was given free products by the company mentioned in this blog post to try out in my own home for all of my blog readers. My opinions, thoughts and ideas on those products are 100% unbiased and honest. I did not receive monetary compensation to write this post nor did I receive monetary compensation from the company. Your thoughts & opinions may differ from my own. Please read my Terms of Service & Disclaimer Policy here on my blog for further information. All information on this blog is copyright 2009-2011, all rights reserved.

Scrapbooking | Look At Me Toddler Girl | Quick and Easy Scrapbook Layout

Today I am sharing with you another layout I did in the 12x12 format using scrapbooking supplies that I received from Scrapbuck.com. If you have never shopped at Scrapbuck you are really missing out! They have name brand supplies at affordable prices!

This layout is for those of you who love quick, easy and inexpensive designs and want them to look cute and organized. My background paper is a mint green color and is from the ColorBok Deluxe Textured Cardstock pad which contains 50 sheets of textured cardstock. I then used the embellishments from the Making Memories Glitter Die-Cut Pack to accent my page. I used the 4 corner mounts that come in that package in each of the corners on my layout. Also in the pack is a glitter die-cut that says "heartbreaker" on it which I placed to the left of my photo using a self-adhesive pop dot and to the right of my photo I used 2 glitter stars and 2 round glitter frame circles from the pack to accent that side of my page.

My focal point is a 4x6 photo of my grand-wee-one which I matted with mint green textured cardstock from the ColorBok Deluxe Textured Cardstock pad and left an 1/8" border around my photo. I then matted it again on dark burgundy cardstock from my scrap pile. Right above the photo is a piece from the Soft Spoken "Toddler" theme embellishment pack that says LOOK AT ME applied with a few pop dots. You can purchase Soft Spoken embellishments from Scrapbuck.com for ONLY $1.80 per pack! wow!

Then from my scrapbox I grabbed 3 oval shaped stickers with one of them saying "Chic", one saying "Vogue" and one saying "Fashion" and matted them with scraps of dark burgundy cardstock and applied them to the bottom of the layout (under the photo) using more pop dots.
I used the green Glitter Gel Pens in the bottom right corner to date my layout as I didn't want to journal on this page at all.

This layout is super easy to make and really quick, it took me about 20-25 minutes to make it and you make this layout for about $1.30 if that...when you buy your supplies from scrapbuck.com.

I will be posting all of my layouts that I make from supplies I received from Scrapbuck in a special section here on my blog called Scrapbuck Scrapbook Layouts so check that section to see more!

Disclosure: I was given free products by the company mentioned in this blog post to try out in my own home for all of my blog readers. My opinions, thoughts and ideas on those products are 100% unbiased and honest. I did not receive monetary compensation to write this post nor did I receive monetary compensation from the company. Your thoughts & opinions may differ from my own. Please read my Terms of Service & Disclaimer Policy here on my blog for further information. All information on this blog is copyright 2009-2011, all rights reserved.

Scrapbooking | Toddler Girl Messy Chocolate Donuts Scrapbook Layout

Today's featured layout is one that my daughter made of my little 2 year old grand daughter. My hubby took the wee one on a car ride and bought her chocolate glazed donuts and when they finally came back...she was covered in chocolate donut glaze from her chin to her nose! I just had to get a photo of it! (gotta love those toddler moments).

This was done in the 12x12 scrapbooking format. Daughter used a piece of muted lavendar solid scrapbooking paper for her background. She took a coordinating piece of striped lavendar scrapbooking paper and trimmed it down to measure 7" by 12" in size and glued it down the center of the background paper. The wee one is wearing a striped purple shirt so she wanted to incorporate stripes into her background. She took braided self-adhesive stitching (fibers) and ran those down along each edge of the striped paper. She then took another piece of the braided fibers that measures 7" long and ran that across the bottom section, just across the striped paper.

She used a 4x6" photo as her focal point and framed in in lavendar scrapbooking paper and glued that onto the page using glue dots. She did her journaling in her own handwriting on the bottom edge of the photo frame. Along the sides of the background she took purple self-adhesive letters and spelled out GIANNA on one side and DONUTS on the other side.

She had a punch out plaque that has the words MEMORABLE MOMENTS printed on it and she matted that onto lavendar paper and trimmed it so that only an 1/8" border remained. She then used a glue pen to glue it onto the braided fiber trim (under her photo). She finished up the layout by taking a heart shaped cardstock cutout and placing adhesive foam dots on the back. She wrote MESSY onto the heart using a purple marker and placed the heart near the top right of the photograph.

It is Important To Backup Your Computer - Consider Using Carbonite

This is a compensated post written by me on behalf of Carbonite. All opinions are 100% mine.

I have been working from home for over 20 year now and for the past 14 years I have been working my home businesses online so I understand the importance of having my computer backed up at all times. Today I would like to talk to you about Carbonite which was founded in 2005 and Carbonite has safely recovered over 7 billion files that otherwise might have been lost in cyber space forever.

Carbonite is easy, fast and hassle-free and is a must have for computer backup. It works automatically and continually in the background backing up your files while your computer is connected to the internet. You can access those backed up files anytime from any place which is a huge bonus when considering Carbonite. With the free Carbonite App you can even access your backed up files via your Smartphone or iPad.

Unlimited backup for your PC or MAC with anytime and anywhere access is only $59 a year. You even get to try it for FREE for 15 days to see if you like it before you sign up and you don't need a credit card. If you decide to buy you can get 2 months FREE by entering coupon code BLOGAD during checkout.

I know as a home business owner backing up my computer is a must and having Carbonite is the answer for me and my business. I hope you head on over to the site and check it out today!




Disclaimer: I was compensated on behalf of the advertiser to write this post and talk about their products/services. The post was written in my own words and conveys my own personal experience with the product. Please read my Terms of Service and Disclaimer Policy for additional information.

Scrapbooking Layout Idea | Using Rub-on Transfers In Scrapbooking Layouts

A few months ago we took our little grand daughter out to eat at our local chili's restaurant. Our little Gia loves to go out to eat and at times...she gets really silly! During this particular outing she finally learned to say "cheese" because we kept saying to her "Say Cheese Gia" and she finally said it and wouldn't stop saying it LOL She then was busy making funny faces and trying to get us to laugh. Oh yeah...she had her favorite meal too...Macaroni & Cheese! (more cheese).

For this particular layout I wanted to use up some sage green rub-on transfers that I purchased at my local scrapbooking store for only .50 cents (yes, a deal). I did this scrapbooking page in the 12 x 12 format and my color scheme was sage green and peach. My background is a tone on tone piece of peach scrapbooking paper with a floral and vine pattern. It's hard to see in this photo. I had the coordinating sheet of paper in sage green with the same pattern so I cut it into a semi-circle and glued it at the bottom of my page after I chalked the edges in sage green. I then went around the peach paper and chalked those edges too.
My rub-on transfers are vines and flowers in sage green and I rubbed them on across the top of the layout. I had 2 photos that I cropped, rounded their corners and mounted onto sage green cardstock leaving an 1/8" border and mounted those onto the bottom. (see photo for placement). I used my Cricut on the 1 1/2 size setting and cut the letters SAY CHEESE GIA from dark sage green cardstock and used my glue pen to glue the letters onto the page around the edge of the semi-circle. I made my own journaling block out of matching sage green floral paper and dark sage green cardstock and journaled onto the block & then mounted it onto the page under the left photo. I had a few more rub-on flowers and butterflies left so I just randomly rubbed them onto the layout where-ever I wanted them.

This layout took me about an hour to make but over all I am really pleased with how it turned out.

Great Supplier of Jewelry Findings for Your Jewelry Making Projects

This is a compensated post written by me on behalf of jewelrybeads. All opinions are 100% mine.

Do you make jewelry as part of a jewelry making business or just as a hobby? If so, you know how important it is to find high quality, affordable jewelry findings to use in all of your jewelry crafting projects. I know that when I shop here locally for my supplies my choices are limited so I usually buy my supplies online because I can find a larger selection and I can find them at better prices.

I found a really cool store today called PandaHall.com where you can find various types of beads, jewelry findings, gems, tools of the trade and various other supplies that one would need if they are making jewelry. PandaHall.com has a very nice selection of products at prices you can afford.



Shopping their site is quick & easy and you can shop by the Best Sellers, New Arrivals, Mixed Products or PH Categories. I think you will really like this jewelry supply site so I hope you will check them out the next time you are looking for some supplies.

Scrapbooking | Playtime With Grandpa Scrapbooking Layout

Well...My hubby has finally made his first scrapbooking layout! yeah!!! He told me he actually enjoyed it and would scrapbook with me again! Since this was his first time I decided to show him a really simple layout which is great for beginners but I wanted to teach him a few scrapbooking techniques with it (easy ones) so I think this page accomplished that. He didn't want a "girly" page so he wanted something masculine with just a "hint" of girl.

Hubby had a play date with the wee one and they had made me some new refrigerator art. (coloring). So I showed him how to crop down their refrigerator art along with how to crop and mat his photo. He matted the artwork onto black cardstock and he matted the photo onto black cardstock and medium pink cardstock. (he picked pink since wee one had a pink outfit on).
He then used one of my templates and made himself a library pocket and library card and I showed him how to ink the edges which he did in black. He did his own journaling on the card and stuck it inside the pocket. He used a Soft Spoken (tm) tag that simply says GRANDPA on it and placed that onto his page and he used my Cricut (tm) to make a black flower with a mini yellow flower and glued them together and placed them onto his page.

Now this page did take him an hour but that was because he was learning (his first attempt at scrapbooking) but I think anyone else could probably do this in less than 30 minutes. It's a nice clean uncluttered page and I think he did a great job!

Straight Talk 2 Offers Fabulous Cell Phone Plans To Fit In Your Budget!

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Straight Talk. All opinions are 100% mine.

I work from home as a writer, blogger and professional crafter so when it comes to cellular service I need a reliable and affordable service to fit in my household's budget. I recently discovered Straight Talk and it has everything you need all rolled up in one nice cellular package with no surprise bills, no long term contracts and no credit checks!

I am a heavy cell phone user since I use my phone for my craft business and for personal use. Straight Talk has a All You Need Plan which comes with 1,000 minutes, 1,000 texts and 30 MB of web data. The unlimited plan costs $45 a month and includes calls, text and web. Wow, can you imagine getting your cell phone service for around $499 a year? With all of the money I will be saving, I can reinvest that savings back into my craft business or take my family on a vacation.

Straight Talk only uses reliable phone manufacturers like LG, Nokia, Motorola and Samsung and you get nationwide, reliable coverage. All 411 calls are included for no extra charge. Like I said, no surprise charges with this company! I like being able to call a friend, a family member or fellow crafter whenever I want without paying a slew of money to do it.

There are no activation, reactivation or cancellation fees with this company and that also impressed me. My mom knows best and she told me to never lock myself into any long term contracts and this company doesn't have that! Like I said, this company has everything you are looking for in a cell phone carrier. If you need international service they have a plan for those of you who have family and friends who live outside of the USA.

If you need a new cell phone they have reconditioned phones for $10 and those phones include cameras, MP3 players, mobile web access and more! Wow, that's a nice price! I would like to invite you to watch the video at this link to hear what a real customer has to say about Straight Talk and how to get everything you need .

If you have a home business like me and need affordable and reliable cellular service then I hope you will consider checking out Straight Talk.

Disclaimer: I was compensated on behalf of the advertiser to write this post and talk about their products/services. The post was written in my own words and conveys my own personal experience with the product. Please read my Terms of Service and Disclaimer Policy for additional information.

Scrapbooking | You Are My Princess Toddler Girl Scrapbook Layout

Today's featured 12x12 scrapbooking layout was made with supplies received from Scrapbuck which is one of my favorite scrapbooking supply stores. If you have never shopped at Scrapbuck I highly recommend it. They have affordable scrapbooking supplies and over 700+ of their items are $1.00 and trust me...they are high-quality name brand supplies!

This "Your Are My Princess" scrapbooking layout features my 2 year old grand daughter and was done in the 12x12 format. This layout will take 30-45 minutes to make and will cost less than $5.00 if you purchase your supplies at Scrapbuck.com. (if you have the basics of adhesive, inks, etc. this layout will cost you about $3.50).

I started with a piece of 12x12 scrapbook paper that is purple with pink dots (from my own stash). The rest of the supplies that I used in this layout came from Scrapbuck I used Colorbok textured pink and purple cardstock to mat and frame my 5x7 photo. I trimmed my mats down so that they had an 1/8" border around them. I used self-adhesive faux 1/4" diameter half pearls and attached one in each corner of my photo mats. I then used their double-sided tape to attach the framed photo to the top of my page, centering it in the middle.
I used their "Princess" 3-D embellishment pack to make the title block for my page. I took all of the embellishments in the pack and placed them onto the textured purple cardstock and then trimmed it into a rectangle. I then used their black ink pad to "lightly" ink my edges just to frame it a little bit more. I then matted this onto the textured pink cardstock and trimmed it down so that an 1/8" border remained. I took 3 more of their faux pearls and added one of them to the princess wand and 1 on each princess shoe just to carry my "pearl" decorations down to the bottom of the page. I love all the "bling". I did use a piece of scrap sheer 1 1/2" wide by 13" long ribbon in a dark pink color frame out the title and attached the ribbon and title block to the bottom of my page. I used their pink gel pens to sign and date my layout.

I decided to not do any journaling on this layout as I wanted a nice, clean & stream-lined layout with my little grand daughter as the focus point and I think I accomplished that. I absolutely LOVE the high-quality and affordable scrapbooking supplies that I got from Scrapbuck.com!

Disclosure: I was given free products by the company mentioned in this blog post to try out in my own home for all of my blog readers. My opinions, thoughts and ideas on those products are 100% unbiased and honest. I did not receive monetary compensation to write this post nor did I receive monetary compensation from the company. Your thoughts & opinions may differ from my own. Please read my Terms of Service & Disclaimer Policy here on my blog for further information. All information on this blog is copyright 2009-2011, all rights reserved.

How To Make Homemade Bath Soap Crayons For Kids

You can make your own bathtub soap crayons for the little ones quickly and easily by following the recipe below and making them yourself which is so much cheaper than buying them in a speciality bath store.

We use the following recipe all of the time and our grandkids, nieces and nephews just love it when I hand them a pile of homemade bath soap crayons for them to enjoy while getting a bath.

Homemade Bath Soap Crayons For Kids Recipe

You will Need:

1 cup grated Ivory Soap
1/4 cup warm water
Food Coloring
Plastic Cookie cutters

How to: Mix water, soap & food coloring together in med. size bowl. Stir the crayon mixture until it begins to stiffen. Remove the mixture from the bowl and knead until it is the consistency of a very thick dough. Spoon Crayon Mixture into plastic cookie cutters or other plastic molds (playdough molds work great too!). Press down firmly. Place the plastic cookie cutters in your freezer for 10 mins or in your refrigerator for 30 mins. When firm, Pop the bath crayons out of the cookie cutters (or other molds) and allow them to air dry overnight or until hard.

Molds: Ice Cube Trays, Playdough Molds, & Cutters Tupperware Cookie Cutters, Plastic Cookie Cutters, Plastic Guest Soap Molds (buy at local craft store), The Plastic divided tray that comes in choc. candy boxes and so forth! Inexpensive Fun!

Sprucing Up Your Home With Fresh Flowers

When you walk into a person's home you want to feel like that home is comfy, clean, organized and you want it to look good. When it comes to decorating...adding fresh floral arrangements to several areas of your home can provide your home with the perfect decorator's touch.

I like to buy flowers online because I am get some great deals and have them delivered straight to my front door. I like to purchase my floral arrangements from Serenata Flowers because they are a large selection of beautiful arrangements that are affordably priced. These arrangements are perfect for your own home or if you need a Birthday, Anniversary, Sympathy or Holiday gift...this fabulous flower shop can help you out!

Need a floral arrangment tomorrow? Well, if you order before 8pm the day before they will get your flowers to you (or to whomever you are shipping them to) the very next day and it's free delivery!

If you are looking to keep your fresh flowers looking nice for weeks then you can find information about Additives For Freshly Cut Flowers by clicking on the link. I know when I purchase or receive fresh flowers I like them to last as long as possible.

DIY: Make Your Own Outdoor Candle Holders For Summer

I love recycling and upcycling everyday trash that I would normally throw away and this project is a great Trash to Treasure project because you are using all of those glass condiment jars that you normally would toss away and then they end up in our landfills. This project will save that from happening and in turn you will be making yourself some beautiful outdoor candle holders for summertime use!

DIY: Make Your Own Outdoor Candle Holders For Summer
Supplies Needed:

Empty Glass Jars (clear or you can used colored glass jars)
Colored 20-22 Wire, Needle Nose Pliers and Wire Cutters
Jar Filling: Sand, Small Pebbles, Tiny Seashells, Aquarium Gravel or Smooth River Stones
Votive Candles and/or tealight candles
Optional: Metal Charms

* All of the supplies mentioned above can be purchased at your local craft supply store.

For the next week or two save all of your condiment jars and wash them out and remove their labels. Take your wire cutters and cut off approximately 2 feet of colored wire and wrap that wire around the neck of the jar (tightly) and bring the two ends up to the top and twist the two ends together to form a hanger. Fill your jar with 2-4" of sand, pebbles or small river stones and nestle a small votive candle down inside the jar.

Optional: If desired, thread purchased metal summer-theme'd charms onto the wire as you wrap it around the neck of the jar to add decoration.

You are now ready to hang your newly made summer jar candle holders on garden hooks, tree limbs, etc. As always, never leave a burning candle unattended and that includes outdoor candles.

Scrapbooking | Abstract and Floral Mommy & Me Scrapbook Layout Design

This scrapbook layout is so much prettier in person and my camera did a horrible job at trying to capture how pretty this layout really is. It was done in the 12x12 scrapbooking format and the little wee one in the photo picked the papers that she wanted me to use...since I am the one making her a scrapbook of her life. I wasn't too sure how pale green and dark purple would look together but I think it actually looks nice.

We took an all-over floral print piece of paper and used that as our background. We then ripped a sheet of dark purple textured cardstock paper and glued two sections of that onto the printed paper to get our layout base.

We framed the 4x6 photo with a pre-purchased cardstock frame and then matted that on dark purple and pale green, trimmed the mats so that only an 1/8" border remained around them. We placed this at the top of the page but off-center and more onto the left-side of the page. We matted a preprinted journaling block that talks about a mother's love onto dark purple cardstock and trimmed it so that only an 1/8" border remained and put that under the photo. We then took a clear adhesive word sticker that says YOU ARE A PART OF ME and put it on pale green paper and matted it with dark purple cardstock...again...trimming it so that only an 1/8" border remained. We then took 3 self-adhesive foam dots and mounted it onto the journaling block, over-lapping the block on the right side.

To finish up the layout we took a punch-out word that says FOREVER and placed that onto the bottom right of the page. We took a clear adhesive word sticker that says SPECIAL and matted that on pale green and dark purple papers and used a foam dot on the back to stick it on the page (to the right) of the top photo.

Upromise Celebrates its 10th Anniversary with a $20,000 Giveaway!

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of UPromise. All opinions are 100% mine.

When I was a little girl I had always dreamed about some day owning my own craft boutique and touring around the United States participating in various judged craft shows. As time went on I was able to live my dream and have traveled to many places in the US and displayed my craft items for the world to see. I fell in love with crafting over 25 years ago thanks to my lovely grandmother who was an expert crafter and seamstress who taught me everything I know about sewing. She was so patient with me and would sit for hours with me teaching me all about that crafting medium.


Upromise has been helping our kids realize their dreams for 10 years through their Upromise program and now they are hosting a $20,000 giveaway where 10 people will each win $1,000 and the grand prize winner will win $20,000 and I invite you to check out their web site.

You can easily enter by writing your own dream story and posting it on the Upromise Dream Wall and/or you can vote on the dreams that are already posted there by "liking" them to earn entries into the giveaway. You can get all of the dream wall official rules right on their web site!


As parents and adults who have lived our own dreams it is our job to help the next generation realize their dreams. I would love for you to share with me your dream and let me know who influenced you or mentored you on achieving your dream. I hope you take time today out of your busy schedule to check out the Upromise Giveaway!

Kidzmet Offers More Tools for Teachers and Students

This is a partnered post written by me on behalf of Kidzmet. All opinions are 100% mine.
Kidzmet is a great online tool that helps match students and their teachers by providing the student qualities and needed areas of teaching to the teacher.  This a superb tool for both because the parents and students can rest easy knowing that the child needs are available and coachable.
Now there is even more tools available for the teacher.  The  Kidzmet Classroom Account provides a Student Snapshot of their students.  You can find information on  personality types, multiple intelligence preferences, major likes/dislikes, and  primary cognitive styles.  There is also recommended teaching approaches/tactics. The best part is that is all available for just $9.99 per year.
Plus there is a 45-day full money back guarantee, so if teachers DON'T love it for any reason, they can always get a full refund. That is a sweet deal!
Now Available for parents, the Student Snapshot can turn homework nightmares into a success for an amazing $0.99. Fill out the snapshot and send it to your child's new teacher or tutor. You can choose to send it to yourself to make sure homework is tackled in a way that's going to be most engaging and effective for your child.  Check out this Sample Snapshot  for more information.
Get a handle on your students work early this year and take advantage of these great new additions and fabulous pricing at Kidzmet!

Bath & Body Works and Slatkin & Co. Giveaway Ends August 9th, 2011

Bath & Body Works and Slatkin & Co. Present My Candle Recipe Winners & The Final Challenge!

The home fragrance authorities, Bath & Body Works and Slatkin & Co. are pleased to announce the three lucky winners of the MyCandleRecipe contest, selected by Harry Slatkin, Creator of Slatkin & Co., Erica Tucker, owner of Sweet E’s Mini Bakeshop in Los Angeles, and Givaudan Fragrance Expert, Jeanine Guerrero during a live cooking event held in New York City.

Tim Ong of Houston, Texas with Strawberry Pistachio Delight
Mary Shivers of Ada, Oklahoma with Tropical Tangerine Cake
Naylet La Rochelle of Miami, Florida with Maple Sticky Toffee Pudding

The Giveaway Prizes: Now the expert judges are turning the decision over to you to select the winner who deserves the ultimate grand prize – a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join Harry Slatkin in New York City to watch as his or her dessert turned into a gourmand candle. Simply log on to MyCandleRecipe.com to view exclusive cooking event footage and vote for your favorite contestant. FIVE lucky voters will also win a year’s supply of Slatkin & Co. candles!

Details: Head on over to MyCandleRecipe.com and take a look at the 3 finalists creations. You will see each of the 3 finalists listed and you simply vote for the one you would like to see win. (click on the vote button). A new window will pop up where you enter your email address and cast your vote. Please enter your correct email address as you will be sent an email with a link it that you will need to click to validate your vote which enters you into the giveaway.

What's In It For You? Well, FIVE lucky voters will also win a year's supply of Slatkin & Co. candles! Voting started on Wednesday, August 3rd and will close at midnight on Tuesday, August 9th, 2011. So head on over to MyCandleRecipe.com and cast your vote today!!!

I decided to post the info here for all of my blog readers as I know some of you are candlemaker's yourself and you all love a great giveaway! Good Luck!

~ Shelly ~

Scrapbooking | Toddler Girl's 2nd Birthday Scrapbook Layout Idea

Today I am sharing a layout I did from my grand daughter's 2nd Birthday party back in May of 2011. This layout is a LOT prettier in person since my camera didn't pick up all of the glitter and rhinestones used in the layout. This page was made on 12x12 scrapbooking paper.

I had a pack of chipboard theme'd 3-dimensional embellishments that cost me ONLY $1.00 that I used on the layout. For my title...I ran a sheer piece of dark pink ribbon across the top of my page and then glued the Happy Birthday chipboard title piece on top of the ribbon. I had 3 photos for my page that I cropped down into square shapes and I matted them onto a bubble textured piece of handmade paper in a dark pink color. I trimmed my mats down so that only 1/4" remained around the photos. I love that handmade paper...it has a raised bumpy texture to it!

I then took 3 pieces from that same chipboard pack and placed one of the birthday candles between the two top photos and then one chipboard piece on each side of the bottom photo. I didn't journal on this page because the matching page has a pocket and that is where my journaling is. You can see that page by looking in my scrapbooking section here on my blog.

Each of those chipboard pieces of tiny little rhinestones on them along with a slew of clear glitter. I love the clean and uncluttered look of this page.