Happy Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day!!

Memorial Day is a federal holiday observed annually in the United States on the last Monday of May. Formerly known as Decoration Day, it originated after the Civil War to commemorate the fallen Union soldiers of the Civil War.  Southern ladies organizations and southern schoolchildren had decorated Confederate graves in Richmond and other cities during the Civil War, but each region had its own date. Most dates were in May.  By the 20th century Memorial Day had been extended to honor all Americans who have died in all wars. Memorial Day is a day of remembering the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.

--taken from Wikipedia

As you know our family is a military family so we try to honor the soldiers as best as we can in our household throughout the entire year and not just on days set aside on the calendar.  A few years ago, my girls and I went to Arlington National Cemetery in Washington D.C. to visit a fallen friend who had died a couple months prior.  During our walk throughout the grounds, my girls were so respectful of the graves and of the soldiers who once served our mighty nation!   While we were there, reading the graves a WWII veteran came up to our family and commented about how respectful our children were towards the graves and the soldiers.  It was a proud mama moment for sure, but it also told me that we had done a good job raising awareness and respect for those who have died.

I took this from my husband's Facebook post that he made while I was sleeping last night: 
"I would like to take this opportunity to thank my brothers and sisters in arms that have made the ultimate sacrifice. From men who bled in the snow at Valley Forge, to the blood-soaked battle fields of Europe in WWI and WWII, to the Jungles of Vietnam, and the desert sands of Iraq and Afghanistan.

We…no, I too often forget the sacrifices these men and women have made in the name of freedom.

Men... like, Lance Cpl. Justin M. Ellsworth (USMC, OIF, 2004), CPL Mark Kidd (USMC, OIF 2007), SPC Benjamin Garrison (US Army, OIF 2007), PV2 Isaac Cortez (US Army, OIF 2007), SSG Christopher Smith (US Army, OIF, 2008), SGT Timothy Van Orman (US Army, OIF 2008) and SPC Michael Pelliciari (US Army, Martin Army Community Hospital, Fort Benning, GA 2010). Thank you for your sacrifice. You are gone, but not forgotten."

I was shown the above photo on Facebook earlier this week by another military wife.  The photo put me to tears thinking "that could be my husband"  and then I started thinking about the soldiers who have died and what their families are going through today...what pain they might be feeling that their loved one isn't here to give them that hug, the aching of their heart that they can no longer hear or say "I love you"  I didn't caption the photo, I am not making a political statement, other than trying to share with you some of the grief that families across America are going through today.  Today is a day of remembrance for those men and women who have died for our freedom. 

So what do you do for Memorial Day?

Do you take time to remember those soldiers who once served for our Nation, for your freedom?

 I hope you do.  I know that without those soldiers serving, our nation would not be what it is today.

Today I would like to continue honoring our soldiers and give you a copy of Liberty.

It is an older product, but since I am technically retired and not selling in a store, you can't buy Liberty.  I thought about putting Liberty in my blog store, but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to move forward with my designs as well as give back to the community that means so much to my family and myself. 

So here is to you, to your family member who is currently serving, once served or maybe passed away in the line of fire!  Here is to all the men and women who continue to keep our country free!

You can download Liberty through these two links at MediaFire:

Link One

Link Two

  **make sure you download both links**

OR

You can download Liberty through these three links at Box:
Link One
Link Two
Link Three
  **make sure you download all three links**

Does anyone have any other FREE sites they could suggest?

Until next time . . . .

May Stack Echange

It's that time of the month again when ScrapMatters is hosting their Stack Exchange!!  You can read about the stack exchange here in the forums.  But here is the run down.

Every month, one kit is selected and put on sale for the duration of the month.  Should you participate, you will create an element cluster, border, or paper stack using the featured kit and at the end of the month you will get back all the other clusters and stacks that have been submitted! So you will be able to create your own fabulous layouts using the pieces to jump start your layouts!

This month we are using Kim B's Another Ordinary Day

This is my layout that I scrapped using Kim B's Another Ordinary Day

**click here to see credits**

This month I've created this beautiful cluster, which if you participate, you too will get at the end of the month! My cluster comes both shadowed and unshadowed. 

Check the Stack Exchange out.

Come give a try!  The submissions are an extra added bonus as you use the kit!

until next time . . .

P52 Layouts {catch-up}

I'm all caught up-well sort of caught up!  I don't know why I let it slide, but there was one point earlier this month that I was almost six weeks behind on my P-52 layouts!  Yikes, that was some scary moments.  I thought to myself that I came so far, it would be dumb to quit now so I knew I had to make up those almost six weeks.  I worked hard and slowly got myself caught up to speed.  We are currently in our 20th week (May 13 - May 19) and I've scrapped all the way through my 18th week.  Since all my layouts are two-page spreads for two week's time, I am usually a week to two weeks behind until I get caught up with about a week of break to refresh. 

**cick here for credits**

**click here for credits**

**click here for credits**

**click here for credits**

Throw a two page spread about the Shuttle Discovery since it happened during Week 16

**click here for credits**

**click here for credits**

**click here for credits**

Whew, all caught up with a couple days to spare!

I've gone through all my photos, organized those by dates.  I have yet to pick out my next kit but once I do that I am ready to scrap Week 19 and Week 20 comes Monday morning!

Until next time . . .

I got sidetracked

It happens, you know it, I know it....when you are working on something, sometimes you just need to get sidetracked on something before you can refocus your energy back on what you were doing in the first place!  That's what happened to me this weekend! 

All last week I decided it was time to start going through my 2tb hard drives and clean out my digi stash.  I wanted to organize it, go through and sort out products that I scrapped so many times all the way to I never even unzipped!!

So earlier last week I started a soft delete.  I went through and deleted any file that was before 2010, with some exceptions.  After I was done that, took me Monday through Wednesday to do that, I had deleted almost 30gb of old products!  Then I started going through my templates, which was a disaster!!  It used to be so organized, but lately I've just been dumping and running whatever templates I owned!  After working for almost two days on that, Friday I deleted over 100 templates and deleted over 11gb's of templates!  I couldn't believe it!!  Throughout the remainder of the weekend I deleted almost another 90gb's of products just by going through my biggest store, ScrapMatters. 

It was scary how much stuff I went through and deleted! I was so excited that I deleted almost 100gbs that I figured I would go ahead and start deleting again today!  Well, I got a little panic attack and said I needed to do something constructive before tackling a few of my harder files, ones that I never touched since 2008! 

I sat back and wanted to scrap about my daughter's room that we decorated earlier this week.  We used wall clings that had flowers, fairies and a quote "once upon a time there was a princess"  As I went searching I couldn't find a castle to use as a base for my layout.  Then it hit me, why don't I make my own Castle?!  And I did . . .

The best part, not only is this castle for my own scrapping pleasure, it can be for your own scrapping and/or designing pleasure as well since I've added it to my blog store!

I am so excited about this castle, but even more excited as I feel I've done something constructive enough that I have the confidence to go through those files and delete things that I've been too scared to delete all these years in fear that maybe I'd miss them!  I think I can do it; in fact, I now know I can do it.  The best part, my computer will thank me in the end and I probably wont miss all these things that I've been deleting off my hard drive.  It is time for me to continue moving forward with digi!

Until next time . . .

Have you noticed?

Have you noticed that Neverland Scraps has been doing a little designing on the side? 

I have to admit, while for the most part I use my blog to promote the designers that I scrap for as well as neat things that I've found along the way, I need to take a moment and let you know that there is a Neverland Scraps Blog Store, which you can access anytime by clicking the link on the right hand side of the toolbar!  I don't make it a habit to promote my own products since I am not actively designing.  But lately, I've been finding myself designing more and more--even contemplated coming out of retirement and in to a digi store!

Now what is in the blog store?  I have to admit, not much, but there are a few things in there that might catch your fancy! Have you seen Neverland Scraps Pixie Starters? They are slightly different from the Pixie Plates, which were just your templates as these are more of building blocks to help you create an endless possibility!

Each one of these Pixie Starters can be found in Neverland Scraps Blog Store!

One the newest things that Neverland Scraps has added to her blog store, just this month, has been the introduction of her Pixie Enchanter products!!  Currently there are two Pixie Enchanter: Knotted Ribbon sets available for purchase:

But these aren't the only products added to Neverland Scraps Blog Store!!

Did you happen to miss Magical CHRISTmas that was given out during the Christmas holiday?  If so, look no further as all Magical CHRISTmas products have been added to the store:

As well as other things that you might have missed.  Go look at Neverland Scraps Blog Store and see what is new.  While you are there, check out the new look of Neverland Scraps!

Until next time . . . 

Have you heard?

I don't know about you, but I am a template junkie!  I have a passion for all things templates!  For some reason, they help me scrap much quicker than if I were sitting at my computer trying to figure out the best place to put my papers and elements.  I know the possibilities are endless and when I scrap without a template, I see every possible scenario and usually end up stumped because I don't know where to start.  Yeah, I get overwhelmed.   But luckily for me, there are people who create templates to help me jump-start my creativity and push back the endless possibilities!!

Just this past weekend a designer friend of mine, Memory Clips, re-opened Brownie Scraps.  If you were familiar with Brownie Scraps before it closed, I have to admit, it has changed quite a bit since then!!  For now Brownie Scraps is a one-stop template shop with template packs under $2.00! 

Brownie Scraps has been a lot of fun and I know it will continue to thrive in our online digital community.   Take a look at the various Speed Scraps they are hosting this month:

Make sure you check out their forums because I just noticed that Little Bit Shop Designs is having a CT Call.  Her call is here in the Brownie News Forum.  I am sure as more designers come on board that there will be more and more creative team calls.  And who could pass up a template ct?!

Oh if you do check out Brownie Scraps, when you register, tell them that Neverland Scraps sent you!

until next time . . .

Digi Grab

Hello my friends.   Some time ago, I discovered a site called Digi Grab

Basically it is a site that offers daily deals such as Groupon, Woot and many other sites.

I dont remember how I stumbled across it, but I am thankful that I have as the deals are really good and sometimes too hard to pass up!!

Now if you register to DigiGrab, please do so through this link 

Through DigiGrab's  Refer Friends, I can earn $5 from your first purchase added to my balance every time a person I have referred buys their first DigiGrab (free deals are not eligible) and make as much money as you please"

There are some conditions:

If someone follows your links and places an order with us within 30 days after signing up through your link, you’ll get a notification on your email and see $5 from their first purchase added to your balance (free deals are not eligible). There’s no limit as to the amount of people you can refer. You can always keep an eye on your balance by signing in and going to My Info section

So what is DigiGrab?  Every day they have a daily special.  Check out Today's Deal

Today's Grab:  $3.73 BooLand Designs Birthday Bundle 2 Includes 3 Full Kits

Today's deal doesn't interest you?  Let's look at Recent Deals

75% OFF Digital Scrapbook products from Down This Road Designs iNSD

$6 for 4 months of The Fix from DigiScrap Addicts iNSD

60% off A Life Expressed ... {the Collection} from Suzy Q Scraps

Simple and Sweet Album Templates II - Scrapping with Liz

50% off Any 3 Mixed Fruit Mega Kits from Scrap Orchard [Your Choice]

See, every day is a different sale.  You have to be quick on your toes, buying when its available.  Because trust me, when its not available, you'll be kicking yourself, wishing you had purchased it when you had the chance!

Sounds like a fun way to save money while getting beautiful scrapping supplies?

So what are you waiting for?

Sign up under me through this link and start saving today!!

Until next time . . .