If you told me even a few months ago that I would be a guest designer for American Crafts, I wouldn't believe it! This is an absolute dream come true for me and I am so honored and excited to have been selected. I got extra lucky because this week's theme is FLOWERS! As a true girly girl, I love all things flowers and I was so excited to create projects using this theme! Today I have FIVE projects to share with you, all involving flowers! So without further aideu, here we go!

First, the layouts:

Chickaniddy Supplies: Paper (DN14OS01, DN14OS07, TG14OS01, TG14OS02, TG14OS10, TG14OS03, TG14OS12), Stickers (TG14EB01, TG14EB04, TG14EB03, DN14EB03, DN14EB01), Gold Foil Paper (CN14SP001). Enamel Hearts (TG14EB07), Brads (TG14EB06)

I love the saying "I love you to the stars and back" or "to the moon and back" and I've used it several times on layouts. I saw this cut file in the Silhouette store and knew I had to have it! I thought it would be great for the photo booth strip I had from Michael's birthday. I enlarged the cut file, deleted the outer edge, and slightly rotated it so it would be at an angle. After I cut it out, I backed it in my favorite paper from the Maggie Holmes Styleboard collection, then cut out various sized stars from the Styleboard 6x6 pad. I glued them down, outlined everything in black, added my photos, and called it a day! I love the look that outlining gives! Anyways, that's all there is to this layout. It was surprisingly easy!

 I may be biased, but I think our wedding was pretty darn beautiful. Despite being nearly two years ago, I get regular questions and compliments on how we did things, so I thought I would write a little about it.


If you've read my blog before, you might remember that Michael and I don't do credit cards. We were generously given some money from family members to go towards the big day, but we didn't want to go into debt for the part that we had to pay out of our own pocket. All together, our wedding cost around $10,000, including the venue, dress, food, and everything!  Given that we planned and purchased for 250 people (sadly, about 100 of those people that RSVP'd yes did not show up), not bad at all! Here's what I learned while doing research for our wedding.

1. The venue matters. The largest chunk of money went to the venue. When researching, I learned that venues are crazy expensive! Most people charge per person and that does not include tables or chairs. Many venues will require you to order food through them, which could be a huge expense, especially if that's not the direction you'd like to go. We got married at Postlewait's in Canby, Oregon. For about $4,000 we were able to get the venue for the entire day, a dance floor, tables, and chairs. It was absolutely perfect! Plus the grounds were so lovely that it cut down the need for floral arrangements and excess decor.

2. The theme sets the tone. This might be obvious, but it wasn't something I had considered previously. When planning a Gatsby-esque wedding for instance, it might be harder to getaway with BBQ or something more casual. When planning a country wedding, nearly anything goes! Luckily a vintage-y, shabby-chic wedding was what I was going for. I wanted something casual and fun (i.e. girls in sundresses, guys in vests and rolled up sleeves). Because of this, we were able to do a dessert bar instead of serving dinner! We had tons of yummy desserts (mainly from Costco) and fruit. Yum!

I had never heard of a Liebster award before my fellow DT member and scrappy friend Carol Peixoto nominated me for one! I love the idea behind it, and was truly honored that the talented Carol chose me! I love her layouts and seeing pictures of her adorable sons. She has a truly beautiful family!



The Liebster Award is given to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers.  It is a way to bring attention to these blogs and build the blogging community.  The meaning of  Liebster in German means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome. Isn't that awesome? Here are the rules:

I'm loving the bright and cheerful colors in this month's mood board from Life.Paper.Scrapbook.! We've been having lots of rain here in Oregon (not that it's anything new) and I'm ready for some SPRING weather and spring colors!!

A couple of weeks ago Michael and I embarked on a much needed getaway to Seattle, Washington! It's a 3.5 hour car ride from where we live, and Michael had never been before. My mom generously agreed to watch our pup so we could have a worry free weekend to ourselves. After planning this for months, we were so disappointed when the forecast showed nothing but rain! But we had already made the arrangements and had been really looking forward to it, so off we went!!

The first thing we did was park at the hotel, and then we decided to walk to the Space Needle. It was about a 20 minute walk, and I knew we'd be back to the car before our next adventure, so I decided to leave my rain jacket. BAD IDEA!! After we realized how much of the walk was hills, we decided to take the bus the rest of the way. Plus it had started to rain! When we got there, we went straight to Chihuly Garden and Glass. Oh my word, this place was AMAZING!!! Michael and I were absolutely in awe of all the amazing works of art. It's right next to the Space Needle and absolute must-do if you're in Seattle. Both Michael and I agreed that this was our favorite!

It was so wet and windy!

After we went to the Space Needle, we took the bus to Pike's Place Market. Originally I had planned on picking up my rain jacket after the Space Needle, but taking the bus didn't allow for that. By this time it was raining very steadily! First we went to the original Starbucks during Frappucino Happy Hour. The line was insane!