A Holiday Gift for You!

I wanted to show appreciation for everyone who has supported me this past year - especially my Creative Team (The Awesome Blossoms!). They have been so terrific. Thank you, ladies! I have made a little freebie for everyone to have. I hope you can find a use for it and that you'll enjoy using it. Please send me links if you create a layout with it and post it on the web. I would love to see! Click on the pic to go to 4shared and download. And I also wanted to remind everyone of the sales I have going on right now. 50% off everything at SOL and $1-3 at SOTB. Happy holidays. Be safe and remember the reason for the season! Larisa

It's Been a While!

Sorry! It's been a while since I updated this blog. I have been crazy busy preparing for the upcoming holidays and designing kits. My newest kits (and my favorite so far) are Fall Splendor and Santa's Helpers. Here are the previews. You can click on them to go to my store and check them out more.

Here are some layouts my CT and myself created with these kits:

Falling for You by Garden Girl Designs

Thankful for Silliness by drfenning

A Beautiful Day by magicalreality

Fall Splendor by Ina

Fall by Sokkie

And with Santa's Helpers:

I Believe by magicalreality

Santa's Helpers by Ina

And a cool hybrid project from Mom_of_5

I also just finished a new alpha. Here's a peek:

Okay, just a few more things! :) Over at SOTB it is Dollar Days so everything in my store is only $1, $2, or $3. That's a huge savings!

And I put everything in my store at Scrappin' Out Loud at 50% off! This deal is just for the holidays, so don't miss out!

I had so much fun with the collab this month at SOTB. It's a SWEET kit. :) Definitely take a peek. Also, this is the last month that I will be hosting the Twice as Fast Template Challenge at SOTB. You get a free template to create your layout with and then if you post a layout with the template you get a posting bonus for free! All of the bonuses coordinate, so the more you participate in, the bigger your free bonus kit is. Also, if you complete all the challenges at SOTB, you get a gift certificate to the store. It's pretty cool! Next month I will start a new challenge called It's Elementary. I hope you'll join in because it should be super easy and fun!

Posting Bonus for Template Challenge:

As always, I am hosting the font challenge over at SOL. This month's posting bonus is my new Snow Alpha Set. Let's admit it - this is the easiest kind of challenge ever! Just make your layout and then toss in this month's font. Post it in the forum and gallery and tada - you get the bonus. I definitely need more participation there, so check it out!

Well, I guess that is finally it. I hope you are all having a fun and happy holiday season! I finished my Christmas shopping last week, so I am sitting back and relaxing - yeah right. LOL. I'm busy cleaning up after sick kids and trying to keep up with laundry. But I am so glad to have the upcoming holiday. I look forward to spending some happy time with my kids and my hubby. I also can't wait for all the good food, opening my presents - I mean watching my kids open their presents, and seeing family and friends. Also, I will be taking lots of pics! Happy scrapping, y'all!

Hypocrisy

Like the rest of the United States, I watched the recent elections with great interest. I was not too surprised at the results of the presidency. But I was amazed when I heard that Proposition 8 passed in California. There are actually more people that believe in traditional marriage than those who don't? Wow! I was excited to hear the news until I read about what has been happening as a result of this proposition passing. You see, I am a Mormon. Actually we call ourselves members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. My church president asked its members to vote yes on Prop 8 because we believe in the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman. Now, don't think that we are against homosexuals. For some reason, this is how our support of Prop 8 has been interpreted. This is not the case at all. I grew up in the Portland, Oregon area and had several friends and acquaintences who were either bisexual or homosexual. I had no problem being friends with them because their sex lives were their own business as my sex life is my own business. I would never judge a person based on one single characteristic of who they are. As for my church's stance, we believe in being kind to everyone. We believe in being Christians in the truest sense of the word. Our support of Prop. 8 was simply about defining "marriage." My church has no problem with civil unions between whoever! But if a law were passed that marriages must include homosexual unions, our church could be sued and forced to perform those unions - or risk losing their tax exempt status. Taxes would then be taken from the voluntary charitable donations of its members. So, suddenly the freedom of our church and its members would be in jeopardy. Isn't that what our nation was founded for - to protect freedom of religion? I wanted to clear up the confusion a bit, but now I want to discuss what has brought me deep sorrow the past few days. After the passing of Prop. 8, illegal protests were held on the grounds of the LA temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Protestors mocked our religion in signs and posters. They attempted to climb the gates and storm the temple. Some people tried to remove graffiti left on the temple gates and were beaten. The temple was forced to close to protect patrons. Members of my church had their homes and yards vandalized and their lives threatened. For those of you not familiar with our temples, they are considered sacred to us. They are supposed to be places of beauty, peace, and contemplation. The temple is a precious gift God has given us to grow closer to Him. To even think of the temple being vandalized or mocked nearly breaks my heart. The part that bothers me most, next to the desecration of the temple, is the hypocrisy of the situation. Those protestors are angry because they feel that my church is being intolerant. So, they are being intolerant to my church? It seems like an obvious contradiction, but somehow those who are angry don't see that. If someone began vandalizing gay bars, or beating up homosexuals, there would be a public outcry! If someone stood in front of a Mosque with degrading signs or mocked Islams, it would be a national headliner. What I don't understand is why the government sits back and does nothing about this situation in LA. Since I am just one person and I can't do anything to stop what is happening, I wanted to do something to share my feelings about the temple. In the temple, couples are married not just until death do they part, but for eternity. Even after death, they are joined together. Isn't that great?! I am so thankful that I can be with my sweetheart forever. So, I created a quick page using a photo I took of the Salt Lake City Temple. I hope some of you will find use for it. Either way, I hope that you will join me in encouraging tolerance and love between all men.

Click on the preview to download. God bless!

It's HERE! National Digital Scrapbooking Day

YAY! It's finally here! Today is National Digital Scrapbooking Day! A full day to celebrate our passion for scrapping and play all sorts of fun games, do challenges, and get freebies! It's going to be super mega fun. :) To start off the festivities, you can participate in the SOTB blog hop. Each blog has a piece of the fabulous kit "Spirit of Life." It starts at the SOTB blog and continues until you reach the end. You'll find tons of coordinating paper, elements, my fabulous alpha ;), and lots of quick pages. I just know you'll love it! Here's the preview for the full kit. Click on it to go to the SOTB blog and start at the beginning. Sorry this link is expired!

My part of the Spirit of Life kit is this funky retro alpha. Sorry! This download link has been removed!

The next link in the blog hop is Colie's blog. Check it out!

Please join me for my speed scrap tonight, too! We'll be starting in the chat room at 6:00 MST (my time) and it will last for three hours. The first hour or so, you'll receive directions and then you'll have a short time longer to finish up your layout and post it to the gallery. If you make it in time, you'll receive my Steppin' Out Add-On kit for free! Here's a sneak peek:

I hope to see you all there. It's going to be a blast! Happy NDSD, everyone! WOO HOO!

Larisa

I'm an Affiliate!

I just discovered the most fabulous scrapbook storage system. It's so cool. It's called The Original Scrapbox. I want, I want, I want! I discovered that if I signed up as an affiliate, I can post a link on my blog and for every person that clicks through and makes a purchase, I get to earn points toward my own system. Yay! So, if you're looking for a terrific way to store your paper scrap stuff, check it out. By going through my site, you also get $100 off shipping! The Original Scrap Box is a scrapbooking storage system for the stylish home with fold out table and cabinets. The scrap book organizing armoire converts into a storage craft table for the home. Also, it offers shelving, racks, carry totes, ribbon boxes and drawers, and tons of other features. Check it out! Now, I promised you a free QP with the Steppin' Out Kit. So, click on the pic below to download this little goodie.

Also, here are some layouts my fabulous CT and friends created with the Steppin' Out kit.

Mary's Graduation by DJ Whiting.

True Tianna Style by JenJen.

And, Beautiful by Mel, Mom_of_5.

You can find the complete Steppin' Out kit at SOTB or SOL. Thanks for visiting my blog. I will be posting again soon about NDSD. Happy Scrapping!

National Digital Scrapbooking Day

I have been busy gearing up for National Digital Scrapbooking Day. The websites I sell my designs on are both having lots of events to celebrate and awesome sales! At SOTB I am hosting a speed scrap. It should be lots of fun. It's my first time hosting one, so I hope I can come up with something grand. :) I have also been working on several kits soon to be released. I finally finished my kit called Steppin' Out. It's a red, white, and black kit with a touch of blue flair. You can check it out at SOTB or SOL.

I'll post a freebie QP with the kit tomorrow. I've got to get my body in bed so that I can get up for church tomorrow.

Halloween Freebie

Hi, all! I asked my creative team to come up with something special using my portion of the Halloween Collab at Scrappin' Out Loud and Mel came up with this adorable brag book QP set. I'm offering them here for free for a short time. You can buy the full collab kit at Scrappin' Out Loud. Below is a preview of my portion of the collab and a preview of the QP set. Click on either one for your freebie. Here is the full preview from SOL.

Here's a layout I created with my portion of the collab. This is my niece. Isn't she cute?

Happy scrapping, everyone!

Welcome to my new BLOG!

I am finally getting my blog set up! Yay! I feel like celebrating. Except that I'm so darned tired. So, for now I'm heading off to bed and I will add more tomorrow. 'Night!