a wee bit of reminders...

How was your weekend?
Well thank you guys for playing along with me on Sundays with my Let's Share & Be Friends Party :)  I love what you guys share!!

So a few things wrapping up this week:

My Memories Suite Scrapbook Software giveaway!!  Very low numbers folks!  This is a great scrapbook software.  If you are wanting to try Digital scrapbooking, this is a great place to start!  This Ends tomorrow night!

UPrinting Giveaway Ends Wednesday Night!  You have a chance to win 50 printed brochures!  These are great quality prints to help you with your business needs! 

You gotta get on these!  You don't want to miss out on this.

Also, a heads up, another eCraft blog hop will be happening on Sept. 5th!!  This time, we are doing anything sewing with it...So excited about this!  I love experimenting with fabrics.  Hopefully something good will come from it :)  But you have another chance to get in the big drawing for an eCraft ;)  So watch for that.
Have a great Monday!

Let's Share & Be Friends Sunday Party #2

Thanks everyone for linking up last week!!  What a great turnout.  I love seeing everyone's links.  You guys are awesome!

So the link with the most clicks was from The Liz Marie Blog with this number right here:

I LOVE mason jars!  What a cute way to serve drinks!
Well it's your turn!
link up anything you want to share:

-thrifty finds

-something you've made

-tutorials

-scrapbooking!

-Thrifty redos

  

Grab a button and help spread the word!!
Please link up specific posts
Add button or text link to it so people can find us :)

<a href="http://www.bornagaincrafter.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i529.photobucket.com/albums/dd340/lyssabz/sundaypartybuttoncopy-1.jpg" /></a>

UPrinting Giveaway!

I am excited to share with you another great giveaway this week.  It's kind of odd, having awesome giveaways on my blog, but I have been lucky to have been contacted by these lovely companies.
UPrinting is one of those companies!  They are a printing company that can meet all your advertising and marketing needs!

They have everything from Business cards to Calendars and everything inbetween.  You seriously need to check out their website for their large array of items that they can print.  It's a businesses dream!

Another great thing they print are Brochures! 

Do you know what you could do with brochures?
Well, for one, it's perfect for a new business wanting to get the word out!
You take them around local businesses and have them available to customers.
These brochures can be customized with the highest quality printing.  It will be a perfect addiction to your company.

I haven't told you yet but I am starting a photography business, Lyssa Beth Photography and these brochures will be perfect to help me grow this little venture of mine.  They make it really easy with their brochure templates.  I can't wait to get started on designing them.  And when you are done, order them off and no more worries.  Their print brochures are wonderful.  I can't wait to see how mine turn out!

Sooooo UPrinting is giving one of you 50 custom brochures!!!

That's right, you get:
-50 pcs Brochure printing for One (1) Winner
-8.5" x 11"100lb Paper GlossWith Folding (Half Fold, Trifold/Letterfold, Z-Fold, Roll Fold, Accordion Fold),
-Outside and Inside Printing
-2 Business Days Turnaround
-*Free shipping

Restriction: Limited to *US residents 18 years old and above only

So in order to win, i'm going to make it really simple:

Leave a comment and tell me what you would do with your 50 brochures.
That's it.

If you want extras:
Spread the word about the giveaway via Twitter or FB (there are buttons for those beneath this post, super simple!).  Leave a comment for each.

Giveaway ends Aug. 31st at midnight :)


Disclaimer: This giveaway is sponsored by UPrinting and I will receive brochure printing services for hosting. Visit UPrinting.com for more information about brochures and available brochure templates.

My Memories Suite giveaway.

One of the things I love about digital scrapbooking is that I can download a picture on the computer and immediately scrapbook it!  I have done digital scrapbooking mainly through free sites, like scrapblog.com until the end of last year, when I got a photo editing program on craigslist for a killer deal.  That has helped me to get more familar how things work on the computer.  Yet the program I was using wasn't digital scrapbook friendly...BIG learning curve!

Well recently I was contacted by My Memories about their digital scrapbook software called My Memories Suite.  My fears and confusions are out the window folks.

The program is so simple.  It immediately downloads into your computer so you can access it right away.  Do you want to see what I made in 5 minutes after downloading the program?  Seriously, i'm not kidding.  This thing is so easy and user-friendly...

And this wasn't even their papers and embellishments that are found on the program!  So you can imagine how much easier and faster it would have been to make something already in the program!

Speaking of stuff, their designs are adorable and so fun to play with!
I made a chore chart recently from them just to show you that there are many things to do with their scrapbook software:

Inspiration is from here.

Do you want to hear GREAT news?

My Memories is giving away a My Memories Suite Scrapbook software package to a lucky reader!!

That's a $40 value for free :)

So how do you win?

1- head on over to My Memories and pick a favorite digital goodie they have :) come back here and tell me!

Extras-
1 - Follow My Memories Suite on Facebook, Twitter or their Blog.  Leave a comment for each.
2 - Follow yours truly via Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Blog. Leave a comment for each.
3- Tweet or FB about this giveaway!  LEave a comment for each thing you do.

Giveaway will be open for one week.

So for those of you who can't wait and want the software right now, have I got a deal for you...

My Memories is giving you readers your very own coupon code that provides a $10 discount off the purchase of the My Memories Suite Scrapbook software AND a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com store - $20 value!!!

Coupon Code:  STMMMS33862

You will not regret having this product in your home.  It makes digital scrapbooking a snap.  Think how much family history you can do with this thing?  ;)

Let's Share & Be Friends Sunday Party

Today's the day!  I think it would be fun to link up anything you want to share:

-thrifty finds

-something you've made

-tutorials

-scrapbooking!

-Thrifty redos

The possibilities are endless, my friends :)

So for now, it'll go for a week.  We will see how it goes.  This is a test, this is only a test.

And I would love for you to help spread the word!

Grab a button and add to the post you link up.  Or you can do a text link too.
Either way, just link up back to here.

<a href="http://www.bornagaincrafter.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i529.photobucket.com/albums/dd340/lyssabz/sundaypartybuttoncopy-1.jpg" /></a>

Let's Share & Be Friends Sunday party

So I've got something new to share with you tomorrow!
So I don't know if you remember all the linky parties I used to have?  Like 3 a week?  Whoa, way too many!  So I am consolidating!
Cue Sunday Linky Party!

I'm calling it "Let's Share & Be Friends" Sunday Party.

I figure it's a great place to share ideas, things you've made, thrifty finds and redos!  I would love if you would come and join me tomorrow!  It will be a weekly linky party.  More the merrier, if you ask me!

See you tomorrow with things to share!!

My friendship bracelet.

I signed up for the Friendship Bracelet Swap over at Ruffled Sunshine.  It was so fun being part of a wonderful idea and group!

So I took a different approach to the traditional friendship bracelet.
I did a fabric bracelet :)

I used THIS tutorial but changed it up a bit.  I used buttons and a button hole instead.  This was my first time doing that and I practiced over and over again so I wouldn't mess up!  Not as hard as I thought though...after doing it 100 times ;)

I really like the yo-yos on them.  They are so bright and fun.  And I just really love gray these days so I couldn't pass up using these fabrics!

 

I got them mailed off to my new friends.  I hope they like them!

"Hello Friend" printable found HERE. 

Linking it up to THESE parties

eCraft "Back to School" Blog Hop!

Welcome to the BACK TO SCHOOL BLOG HOP!

All of the fabulous designers on this hop are showing you a BACK TO SCHOOL project using the
Fabulous and versatile eCraft.

If you just arrived here from Erika's Blog then you are in the right place. If you just happened upon my blog please start at the beginning over at Raven’s Blog. That way you will be able to see all of the amazing projects and you will have more ways to win.  After me, you will go to Faith's Blog :)

Here is my project for the hop :)

I decided to make a cute little "Survival Kit" for my daughter's Kindergarden teacher.  Heaven knows that that many 5-6 year olds will drive you crazy!  So i figured this little stash of treats will help her survive the first day of school!

So I began by getting a pencil case, on sale for .50 :)  talk about cheap!!
I gathered some paper I had on hand and measured and cut my paper...courtesy of eCraft, duh!
Next, with the help of some modge podge, I started putting the paper on the case.

I cut out my letters via eCraft.  The small letters were 1 inch and the larger ones were 2 inches.

Done with the modge podging!

Next I grabbed some treats and filled it up!

Then I got some cute "back to school" ribbon I had and tied it around the case.

It's ready to go!  I hope Emma's teacher likes it. :)  It's a great & very inexpensive teacher gift!

Thanks for stopping by!

Ok so back to business...

Here is a list of all the designers on the hop in case you get lost along the way:

Raven Baca http://love4stamps.blogspot.com/
Carley Carter http://the-real-icarley.blogspot.com/
Debi Tullier http://fabric-ecraft.blogspot.com/
Denise O'Connor http://purplepaperparadise.blogspot.com/
Erika Valdez http://www.craftysprouts.com/
Lyssa Zimmerman http://bornagaincrafter.blogspot.com/
Faith Freeman http://faithfulecreations.com/
KimberlyRae Forde http://kreationsbykimberlyrae.com/blog/
Rosa Ahrens http://www.for-micaela.blogspot.com/
Zeni Pradel http://www.scrappyzeni.blogspot.com/
Craftwell USA http://craftwellusa.com/

Okay so you probably want to know what you can win, right? As some of you may have heard from this hop, the amazing eCraft machine that we are all using is created by CraftwellUSA.com. This company is really amazing, their customer service is fabulous and the products are top notch.

Well when they heard about our hop they decided to giveaway (1) One eCraft to (1) One lucky winner!!

So what do you need to do right?!

1.)     Please leave one comment here on my blog (Only one comment will be
qualify per person additional comments will not count.)
2.)     Like eCraft’s facebook page  so you can see more awesome projects and tutorials.
3.)     Follow my little ol' blog ;).  You can also follow me via twitter, Facebook & pinterest...but not required ;)

***PLEASE READ***

Due to blogger difficulties going on, the Giveaway will end next Monday at 6 AM!!! 

Each blog on the Blog Hop will pick a winner.  Since there are 11 of us participating in the Blog Hop, there will be 11 winners that will go into the pool to win the eCraft machine.  We are also having another blog hop on September 5th.  ALL comments left this week and on the September 5th blog hop will be eligible to win the eCraft so this will give you more chances to win.  So at the end, there will be 24 chosen winners that have a chance to win an eCraft!!  Which means you better hit every blog on this Blog Hop and enter for more chances!!

(1) One lucky winner will win an eCraft Machine & be announced on Raven’s blog on September 10th. The winner will also be listed on the eCraft Facebook page 

All are welcome to hop, however the eCraft giveaway is only open to U.S. entries. Thank you so much for your understanding.

Want to win an eCraft machine?!

Before I get to the big BIG news, Just a heads up!

I'll be over at Young & Crafty today, letting you get to know me :)
Hannah is so great and it's fun to go visit her again!
So come on over and check me out ;)

Ok so big news...

Who wants an eCraft machine?!?

You know what the eCraft machine is, right?  I've talked about it before on here and have made many things with it.  Well here are the details on how you could win one!

Starting Aug. 15th, there will be a blog hop, which I will be part of :)
We are showcasing "Back to School" projects made with the eCraft machine.
Each blog you hop over to, you have a chance to enter into winning a exclusive spot for the big eCraft machine drawing, which will take place Sept. 5!  During that time in September, there will be another chance to get chosen for the big drawing!!

Seriously, There are going to be great projects with additional giveaways and ideas for Back to School!!  You don't want to miss it!!  The Blog Hop will start at Love 4 Stamps on Aug. 15th!
I'll see you over there :)

Craft Room Transformation!

So I'm finally done with my blasted craft room! 

It's been months and months in the making & it is finished!  I started this project in January after we moved in and it's now the end of July.  Wow, it really shouldn't take someone this long!

Well let me show you a sneak peak of what it looks like now:

Before I go into detail, let's take a walk down memory lane of the transformation of my craft room, shall we?

Here we are in January, right after we moved in...yikes!  Just looking at this picture makes me feel overwhelmed!

Over the month I started decluttering and trying to make some order:

                       

Then i got me one of these babies from Costco and made a huge dent!

It went from this:

To this!

Then I dejunked some more and tried to put stuff away.  It was so close! 

Then I stopped.  May came and I got busy with end of the year stuff, then summer came so my room stopped.  But in the meantime, i picked up some more pieces for my room. 

So a few weeks ago, I sat down and went to work!  And here it is:

This is the view you get when you enter the room.

Closet view & costco shelf

Free sewing desk with adorable Bumblebee & Sophie Sewing Machine cover!  They did a great job and I love the fabrics they used!!

Lovely shelf all organized!

More drawer space is awesome & my ribbon rack is a must!  (those cake plates were waiting to be used for something I will be showing you soon ;)  )

My inspirational quotes up on the slanted ceiling.

My closet all orgainzed :)

It feels so good to have a functional room to use now!  Most important things i've found is:
1- everything needs a home!  When it does, then you know where to put it back so you will find it again later!
2- Look in your home for things to use!  I had that dresser in another room!  It's been a great addition!
3- Dejunk!!!  So important!

Anyways, I am so glad that I am done with this project so I can move on to the next one with out feeling guilty ;)  Thanks for stopping by and taking this walk down memory lane with me!