Social Media Blog Hop and Giveaway

(if you are looking for the Paper Haus Magazine and Giveaway, go here)

 



Hey friends! I cannot believe another month has come and gone! Crazy! This month on the social [media] blog hop, we are being inspired by other members of our team, as well as incorporating these colors into our projects:

 

I chose to be inspired by fellow DT member, Suz. Seriously, you should check out her blog - it is so inspiring! The layout I was inspired by this month was this one:

 

 



I loved the layering, the paint splatters, the pie chart. All of it just works so well together! And here is my layout:

I really enjoyed incorporating some of the same general design elements that Suz did. Of course, I changed some of it up a bit, but in general, I think the inspiration piece shines through on my page.

Here is the list of the rest of the Blog Hop. Don't forget that we are giving away some FAB goodies over on the welcome post of the hop! Here is a sneak of the goodies to be won:

BLOG HOP ORDER

Melissa P   - thats me ;)

Ellie 

Jenny

Angel    

Suz  

Patricia

Erika

Trisha 

Amanda   

Sabrina   

Shay   

Kristin    

Color Run 2012

(if you are looking for the Paper Haus Blog Hop and Giveaway, go here)

 

There is something about me most of you probably don't know. Want to know?

Five months ago I went to Disney World and Daytona Beach with my husband. While we had a great time, I was totally uncomfortable with myself. It hit me how much weight I had gained, and how out of shape I was in.

Don't misunderstand me. Alex thought I looked beautiful (and he still does!). He never once complained or made me feel back about the extra pounds.

But I felt bad...I felt bad about myself. And I wasn't living the life of loving yourself unconditionally that I have always tried to teach my boys.

Literally the day we got home from vacation, I joined a gym. And I changed my eating habits. And I started running. I am an 'all or nothing' kinda girl and I knew I had to do this completely or else I would just make excuses.

Later on I will tell you about the gym and my eating habits. Today I want to tell you about my running. Lordy, when I started, I could barely make the block. And I definitely wasn't fast. But little by little, I began to run further and further. Sadly, I haven't picked my pace up that much. I am slow.

But the point is, I ran and ran. When it was hot, I ran. I ran in the rain. I made some new friends, and we ran together. I ran alone. Every week since the beginning of April I have ran. Most weeks, I run atleast 18 miles.

To date, I have ran in a race every single month since April. I run knowing that I won't win the race - but I run because I can. I can run 3.1 miles without stopping. That is something that I could not say before April.

Since my life changing decision to start exercising and running, I had lost almost 30 pounds. And 18.5 inches. HELLO PEOPLE. That is a crap load of extra weight that is gone now. And for the fist time, in a very long time, I feel in control of me and my body. I feel like I am living up to my rule of loving myself unconditionally.

This past Saturday, two of my running partners and I headed to Albuquerque, NM to run in The Color Run.

Before the run (see? We are all clean!)

 

Paint, anyone?

 

Me, afterwards.

And trust me. The Color Run is truly the happiest run on Earth. Oh, we had a blast. Oh, and we wore tutus. And tall socks. And white headbands. And WE TOTALLY FIT IN! LOL

This race wasn't a timed race - and we ended up wagging (walk/jogging) because of the thousands of other runners - but this race was a goal of mine. I ran this race because I could, and because running has become something I truly do love. I chose to spend the weekend running and I NEVER thought that would happen.

Now, I still have some work to do. Mainly on my tummy. But I am not worried about it. I have conquered some big obstacles in the last 5 months. I know that I can flatten things out if I continue to watch what I eat and I make time to run and workout.

I am a work in progress and I am ok with that.

But this weekend? It was worth all the sweat, all the miles. It was the happiest run on Earth for me.

PaperHaus Magazine & A Giveaway

I am so excited to be a part of The PaperHaus Magazine launch!

Have you heard about PaperHaus?? PaperHaus Magazine will be a season-based magazine for every scrapper, card maker, altered artiste, mixed media maven, and papercrafter out there. A new issue will be released every Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. Right now, we have a powerhouse line-up of contributors and guest designers. And the best part: WE'RE BRINGING IT TO YOU FOR FREE! The first issue comes out on September 1 - so get ready!

Seriously, when I was invited to be a contributor to this up and coming magazine, I was delighted! We have had the absolute BEST time planning the debut Magazine! You will not want to miss it!

So, to help celebrate the magazine launch, all the contributors are sharing a layout or project that we have made that we love. Well, I love this page! The colors, The papers. Most definitely the people. I love it all! Just like PaperHaus is starting a new chapter with their Launch, my best friend Sarah and her husband Andrew were starting a new chapter with a baby!

The Good Stuff

Now, for the good stuff! PaperHaus Magazine is going to be celebrating their new magazine for a whole week on their blog - prizes to be won every day, and tons of fun to be had! Make sure you are following them on Facebook (as well as their blog!).

I am also giving away a $20 gift certificate to the Paper Issues Store! Want a chance to win? Become a follower of my blog, as well as a follower to the PaperHaus Blog. Leave me a comment telling me your following us both, and I winner on September 2. Easy Peasy!

Here are a list of the blogs participating in the PaperHaus Blog Hop. Many of us are having our own giveaways, so make sure you stop in on all the blogs and get entered! You've got all week to cruise through the blog list, so grab a beverage and take your time!

 

PaperHaus

Frank Garcia

Christina Colón

Paper Issues

Jodie Lee

Missy Gener

Peg Hewitt

Jodi Williams Baune

Carrie Walz

Lowri McNabb

Lori Hairston 

Diana Fisher

Aimee Maddern

Izzy Anderson

Jess Mutty

Christina Heeren

Corri Garza  

Sabrina Alery

Sarah Andreotti

Shellye McDaniel

Jamie Dougherty

Kate Vickers

Kristy Dalman

Melissa Priest --- Thats me ;)

PaperHaus

Summer Lovin'

Hey friends! Over on the Paper Issues Blog this week, we are featuring projects that celebrate Summer! The best part? Simple Stories is providing a great giveaway! Head over to the Paper Issues Blog to get the scoop on how you can win this lovely prize pack!

For my Summer Lovin' project, I used the Paper Issues Sunshine and Snowcones kit that I got to design. The papers and embellishments in this kit are perfect for Summer pages! (Hello!! Its called Sunshine and Snowcones for a reason!) There are a few kits left - and if you use my coupon code ( JUSTME) for 20% off! Score!

Ok, back to my layout...LOL

This photo is an old one  of John. He looks so small in it, and now? Yeah now he is practically a teenager. John has a real passion for all things water related, and this page acknowledges that! Everything from this page (excluding the turquoise twine at the top) came for the Paper Issues kit. Even the 'love the moment' stamp. Yep. I told ya this kit rocks!

Have a great Sunday afternoon! Alex and I putting in a new water feature in our backyard. Pretty sure that means there will be swearing, lots of eye rolling, and atleast a six pack of beer will be drank. lol



For those of you who won't be subjec to the tedious work that will be going on in my backyard (thats you!), feel free to cruise the Paper Issues Blog Hop. Everyone on it is sharing their favorite Summer projects. I bet you will be inspired!

PAPER ISSUES BLOG HOP

Susan  

 Bethany

 Melissa - thats me ;)

 Sara 

 Wendy 

Amy 

August FitKit

I am so excited to share with you what I have been working on behind the scenes! Paper Issues has teamed up with ScrapFit to bring you a new scrapbook kit each month. And this month? Yeah, this month I got to be the designer to pick all the goodies! I present to you 'Snowcones and Sunshine".



Each month, Paper Issues will bring you a new, affordable kit - debuting on the 1st of each month! And just like I designed this kit, each month a new designer will hand pick goodies to be included in the kit.

Let me show you what I've made this month with Snowcones and Sunshine!



First up, we have a card. Is it crazy that I started my projects by making a sweet card first? When I was planning out the kit, I loved this 'hello friend' tag, and when its paired up with the adorable Pebbles Butterfly, it is incredibly sweet! I've added stitching across the top of the tag in a soft pink to compliment the diagonal stripes in the pattern paper.

Up next is a layout using a friend's photos. When I saw these photos, I just knew I had to document Olivia playing in a redneck swimming pool. LOLL The Elles Studio bits were perfect additions to this page. To create the title, I cut out the words with my silhouette and then added the striped washi tape to fill in the negative space. Such cool technique, that I plan on using more in the future.

My next project was a simple card. I am always needing little cards to tuck into gifts and this card is just makes me excited to spoil someone! I cut the cloud square out of the back of one of the papers - it already had a flat butterfly on it, I just jazzed him up by layering the 3-D butterfly on top. After matting the butterfly square and rounding the corners, I was done.

My final project for today is another layout. I love the 8.5 x 11 pager size. Alex and I went to Walt Disney World in February, and believe it or not, I didn't take a whole bunch of photos. Really we just enjoyed the day. This photo, though, a stranger snapped of us. My legs really aren't orange, I swear! Not really sure what happened, but in my actual layout they are fine. Here though? Yeah they look orange.

On this page, I used the stamp from Unity that will be available in the Paper Issues store. I also included more of the Elles Studio tags - there are quite a few in the package, making them a great buy! The title was just a bit long for what I wanted to say - so I did a bit of creative 'smushing' to get it in.

Because I like you and because Paper Issues wants you to try out our new ScrapFit kits, so we are offering you a 20% coupon to use in the Paper Issues store. Just use the coupon code of: JUST ME.