Day 1 of Flying lessons.

Well here it is... my second blog back in action. Here is the deal...

I AM LEARNING TO FLY!

Ok... not flying as in with the birds (sorry Jeremy) Flying as in
Finally Loving Myself.

I found this wonderful site trough a friend's blog. THANK YOU STEPHANIE!!! I will forever be in your debt! Here is the run down



This web site below is my new motivation!
http://www.flylady.net/

For a long time I have needed a change in my life. I knew that.... what I didn't know what HOW to make that change! I needed a schedule... a routine... a DIRECTION! I have never been able to make this change for myself. It is just to hard... to much.... to overwhelming to think of it all on my own. But now I have a friend to help me! The FLY lady. This lady is my new best friend! I LOVE HER! The whole site is dedicated to ladies like me. Ladies who need a little outside direction... some love.... a big hug... and a SHINY SINK to get me started! This site is all about learning to love yourself ONE GOOD HABIT at a time!

So I am taking the challenge.... I am learning to FLY. I am SO EXCITED about shining my sink today!! It is soaking in bleach as we speak! Am I intimidated.... OH YEAH!!! The negative voices keep telling me to stop now... that it is too much.... I will loose my interest so why start... I don't WAN'T to change, I LIKE being lazy!! But I know those voices are lying... they are the easy road voices. I can do better.... I deserve better.... I WANT to be better. So I am taking the plunge!

So why spill my guts on a blog?? Well.... I am very much a "words of affirmation" person. (If you have read the 'Love Language's' book you will know what I am talking about... if not... you should read it!) Anyway... I need to talk... I need people to KNOW what I am doing and tell me how great I am! lol. Lame I know. Instead of putting all this on my husband I am opening my heart to the web. No I don't expect comments on every post... or most of them. It is more that I feel like someone KNOWS what I am doing... and that is important. So the next time you come to visit me you can say "WOW.. your sink really IS shinny!" Also this is a motivational journal of my journey. This is my 'DEEP' blog. lol.

That brings me to another question. Why make a NEW blog for this? Why not use my other blog? Well basicaly..... because they are different catergories for me and need seperate spaces. I have a confesion..... I LOVE KIERANS BLOG! Kieran is always so open and honest in her posts. I feel like I know more about her than I ever thought I would. I check her blog daily hoping to get some of her inspiration. I would love to open up like she does... but I can't on my other blog... that is just me. My 'Family blog' is where I post the things people who want to keep up with my life MIGHT want to know. Funny thinks the kids do and say... what is going on in my home. Basic daily stuff. This blog... this is a personal journal. This is were I am going to grow... outloud. If you care to read along with me you can. If not... well I know I have a journal now.. even if it is just for me.

Ok.... enough blabbering?? YEAH I THINK SO!!! Just wanted to give a good intro to what I am doing here... for me... A guideling to remind me what I am doing when I get discouraged.

So today is Day 1 of my babysteps! I am Shinning my Sink! That is IT! nothing more. Not trying to shine my whole house in one day... that would discourage me. I am also working on laundry just because it is laundry day and my family needs clean clothes... but for once I am not going to beat myself up if (when) they are not all folded and put away at the end of the day. If my sink is shinny when I go to bed tonight... I will be happy... and I will feel good. This is a promise to myself.

Once my sink is shiny I MAY take the daily challenge and clean my garbage cans... I may not. We will see. I am excited to see what tomorows baby step will be. I am excited that I am excited about cleaning! So here we go! I am going to
FLY

I feel so loved!!!!

Ok, So I just have to tell you how loved I feel right now! My hubby comes home the other day and tells me he won a $100 gift certificate to Kohl's from a radio station drawing! SWEET! Then he tells me he is going to let me spend it! EVEN BETTER! So today I have to go pick it up from the station. Scott forwarded me the e-mail telling him that he had won and where to pick it up at. In this e-mail it says "Thanks for the sweet e-mail. How about this as a prize for your wife's first kiss? $100 to Kohl's" So I read this and think....My first kiss??? What does THAT have to do with a random drawing!!??? (p.s. my first kiss was with my sweet hubby) So I start bugging Scott about what the lady was talking about. He gets all shy and won't tell me!!!!! Finally he is bright red and he tells me that they were having a debate during the morning show on whether or not high schoolers should kiss around or wait for their first kiss to be truly special. Scott wrote in to them and told them that I had kept my first kiss special and given it to him and how much it had meant to him!

AAAWWWWWWWW...................

.

Then I was like "was that really so hard to tell me?" And he says.. "yes... my face is boiling.. now go away and let me sleep!" ROTFL! He is SOOO CUTE!!! It embarased him to tell me our first kiss was special to him! What a silly boy! (he dosn't share his feelings easily!)

So yeah... anyway.... I am feeling super loved right now! And I have 100$ to go spend at Kohl's! WOO HOO! (Scott is going to really be embarrassed if he finds out I put this up on my blog! lol... but hey... I am enjoying the loved feeling!)

October... hmmm... wasn't it just September!?

Wow I am so good at this blogging thing! LOL. Once a month isn't a great average. Maybe someday I will get myself organized enough to blog more often!

Well I am blogging today because I have some great news!!!! AND A FREEBIE!

THE GREAT NEWS! (and the freebie!)

At DSO we are celebrating Halloween all month long! We are going trick or treating! Everyday there will be a new goodie up for you on the DSO blog! Yep... a free treat EVERYDAY until Halloween... NO TRICK!!! The big treat will come on Halloween..... So make sure and stop by the DSO blog on Halloween!

I get to be first up to treat you with a freebie! So run over to the DSO blog and grab up these fun templates!


This was my first attempt at templates! It was so much fun!!! I want to go make some more!!!!! lol.

While I am here blogging I will show you my new product! I had a lot of fun making these! It's a set of rusted frames! These are great for masculine LO's and easily add some shabby chic to any LO! Get them HERE!



And last of all make sure to check out my new Picture Perfect Challenge for October! We had a great time with the challenge last month!! I can't give you a link to the new challenge because it isn't up quite yet!! LOL.. that is next on the to do list!

For now enjoy your freebie and have a great October!!

SEPTEMBER!???

Soooo... I must have been in a vacation coma for the last two months! HAHA! Sheesh... I didn't realize that I hadn't posted since July!!! The first of July no less! EEK! Well I have some major catching up to do don't I!!!

First up- Picture perfect challenge for sept!
This challenge has been my favorite so far!! These ladies are just blowing me away with their amazing photos!! You can check out the challenge and join in the fun HERE!
I wanted to show you some of the amazing LO's the girls have been doing! I was going to choose just 1 a week to show you.... but I just couldnt narrow it down any farthur than this!

Butterfly Butterfly by Loucee

Beauty of Life by abhall76


Untitled by Dinphy

Can you believe how beautiful these are!!! WOW WOW WOW! I am so in love with all the LO's that have been submitted for this challenge! I am going to lock my self to my computer and do some major scrap lifting!!!

New product!

HEART ATTACK.... I know.... I hardly EVER have new product to share! LOL. But this month I have something new in the store and 3 things on the way!!! WOOT! I am just going to show you what is in store now though.... you'll just have to wait to see the other three!

Here is the preview of my new Layer'em up set 3! It is on sale 30% off this week!
This is a great set of overlays and textures that has been specially chosen for how well they work together! Take any color background and place these 5 layers on top, then play with the blending modes and opacity to make hundreds of papers that are each unique but compliment each other! Use these overlays separate or in combination of 2 or 3 to get even more patterns! Don't forget to mix and match these overlays with my other 'Layer'em Up' set's 1 and 2! With your imagination the creative possibilities are endless!
Commercial Use OK!!! Use this set to easily create coordinating papers for your kits!


I can get you some freebies! would you like that???? OK! Here is a little blog hunt for you then! I asked some of the lovely designers to make a few papers with my sets and give them up as freebies on their blogs!! Here is a list of the blogs where you can pick up the goodies! ENJOY! and leave some love for the hard working designers you grab them from!

RCmama
Shannon
Nikki
Andrea

Thanks so much girls for these lovely gifts you made to give out on your blogs! YOU ROCK! And there are more goodies to come!! So check back and I will get you some more freebie links!
Until then
HUGS!

OIY- cars SUCK!

What a totally crazy week this has been!!! My car TOTALLY DIED on my way home from Idaho last Thursday. It threw and engine rod... so it is really DEAD! The car isn't even worth what a used engine would COST, let alone even putting it in! So we decided to get us a 'new' car. (that means highly used car) So we spend Scotts 4 day weekend test driving Mini Vans. UGH. In the end though we found a WONDERFUL Toyota Sienna with low miles and all the bells and whistles in our price range (cheep). We got all the paperwork and stuff done yesterday and picked her up! YEAH! I now own a MINI VAN! WOOT! I am really excited!! Isn't she a beauty!???



Now that all that is out of the way I can get back to digi scraping! YEAH! (at least for a few days before I go with hubby to NY!!! YEAH HAW!

The BIG NEWS:

DSO is having a GRAND RE-OPENING!!!
Some of you may have noticed that DSO crashed last month. NOT FUN. Bunny has worked her butt off to make a BEAUTIFUL new home for all of us digital scrappers! CHECK IT OUT!!!! The site is just TOTALLY STUNNING and SO MUCH FUN! Here is the ad for the MEGA SALE we are having!

Yep... you read it right.... 50% Store wide!!! You HAVE to go check this out!!! And don't forget to bookmark us!

Here is the newest kit I have in my DSO store. 'Heritage Baby' is a fun pastel colored kit themed for boy and girl pictures with a vintage feel! This is a fun kit for ALL your baby photos! Get it while it is 50% off this weekend! 'HERITAGE BABY KIT'



In celebration of the new grand opening a bunch of the designers have gotten together a GREAT free kit for you!!! You get to do some fun blog hopping and scoop up an AMAZING kit while you are at it!!! Here are some previews that Kim B made for us with all the goodies. TOTALLY HUGE! This doesn't even show everything!!





HUGE isn't it!!!! If you want to grab up this wonderful free kit here is a list of the blogs you will need to visit today! I think we are leaving the links up until Monday.... but don't wait! Grab it as fast as you can!!!!!

Andrea Dickinson
Beth Long
Boo Silva
Doodle LT
Holey Cow
Kim Broedelet + Jazzy

Kuoha Designs Ink
Livia
LJ Crochet
LPand3 Dogs
Luisa Potter
Melanie Ann
Nikki Fabulous
RC Mama

Shannon

Here is the 4shared link to my little bit of this great kit that we are calling 'My Scrap Journal'. (notice how the kit matches the theme of the new site!! TOO CUTE!
Grab my pieces here!

Just remember while you are snagging up all this free stuff to leave some love for everyone. We all worked really hard to get this to you. Also feel free to tell all your digi scrap buddy's about our free kit and our Grand Re-Opening! Make sure to send them to our blogs for the freebies though!

WHEW... well I am about typed out!!!!! I am COMPLETELY wiped out tired so I am going to shut up and go to bed so that you can all move on to the next blog and grab a piece of this great kit!!!!

HUGS!
Tina

Happy Vacation!

Well I am leaving town tomorrow for Yellowstone! I grew up in Idaho and went there at least every year, but I havent been in a few years. I think my DD is old enough to really enjoy it this time so it should be lots of fun! The problem is that it is also the end of the month and I have a MILLION loose ends to tie off before I leave town!! EEK! Ah the joys of vacation! Stress out for 3 days before you leave and then take a week after vacation to get life back on track! LOL... you'd think we would just stop going!

Ah well! On to the fun stuff!! Bunny is selling a GREAT new product! She has hybrid templates to make little gift boxes!! These are SO CUTE! You get to dress them up ANYWAY you like in your photo program of choice. Print them out and follow the folding template and VOILA you have an ADORABLE gift box that is PERSONALIZED! Here is a picture of the one I made with her template! It was SO EASY and FUN! Be sure to check out Bunny's store for this and ALL her great Products!! (if you are reading this on Thursday or later her product will be in the store HERE) The kit I used to decorate the box is my own 'Cherry Cordial' kit and you can get that in my DSO store. Here is a picture of the box I made! I can't wait to make another one!


I am SO HAPPY to have such a great CT!!!! I gave them my new kit 'Heritage Baby' (on sale 40% off for one more week!) and they came up with some BEAUTIFUL pages! Here is a page that was made by Christina. I love this LO!
And now to introduce my newest CT member.... SHANNON! Yeah! I am really excited to be working with this wonderful lady! Here is the page she made up with my kit.

Alright... I better get down to laundry and packing... ug.... do I have to?? lol. I am excited to go camping... just not to get ready for it! LOL

And the WINNER IS...........

LINDIE!!!!!!!

Thank you ALL so much for the kind comments! This was a fun contest! I may make this a regular thing! Anywho.... If you left the comment under the name Lindie please send me an e-mail to manatee25.tina@gmail.com Once I have YOUR e-mail I will send you links to the kit!!

I hope you all enjoyed the contest! The Heritage Baby Kit is NOW available in my DSO store! I am selling it 40% off for the first 2 weeks! So get your's now for ONLY $2.99!!!!

GET YOUR 'Heritage Baby Kit' HERE!!!!!!


Well... it is LATE at night and I have a HUGE day tomorrow! My sister is visiting me from out of state and we are ditching the 4 kids off at babysitters for the day and going to the local amusement park!!! WOOT! Can we say... E-X-C-I-T-E-D!!!!!!!!! I am going to need some serious sleep though if we are going to get out the door on time tomorrow! LOL Will let you all know how much fun I had when I get back! HAHA

HUGS! Thanks for stopping by my corner of Digi Land