WINNER!

Happy Monday everyone!  It's rainy and dreary here in NJ this morning and I'm having a hard time getting myself moving even with a cup of coffee already consumed.  What happened to spring?!?  LOL!  I did want to post the winner of my giveaway.  Thank you to everyone who played along - it was so fun to read all of your comments!

I used random.org to generate a number ...


which means that my lucky winner is ...


CONGRATS!  Just send me an email at lghahary(at)cevant(dot)com with your mailing information and I'll send your box of goodies out to you right away!  :)

How 'bout a giveaway?

Hey everyone!  I have been in *MAJOR* spring cleaning mode in my scrap room the last few days.  Just trying to pare down my stash which seems to multiply overnight.  I just purged my supplies 6 months ago but was feeling the need to do it again.  I am anti-clutter if ya didn't know.  LOL!

So what does this mean for you my lovely blog readers?  Why a giveaway of course!  ;)

Just leave a comment on this blog post (about anything you'd like) and you'll be entered into a chance to win a box full of goodies from me.  I've got a Flat Rate Priority Box here that I'm filling up with all sorts of fun stuff that could find it's way to your sweet home.  I'll leave this contest open until Sunday night at 11:59 pm EST and then choose a winner at random and announce the lucky name Monday morning. 

ETA:  Just wanted to add that since I'm using a Priority Mail Box this contest will be for U.S. folks only.  Sorry my international friends.

Enjoy your weekend! :)

Got Sketch 99

Hey all!  Just wanted to share a layout I created for the Got Sketch? blog today.  Val and I just wrapped up an online class so we are back to posting sketches and layouts over on the blog.  You'll definitely want to head over and check out what the other contributors have created if you're looking for a little inspiration this morning. 


I used the Knave of Hearts collection from Collage Press for this layout.  LOVE this line!  I know it's kinda strange to do a school layout in the middle of March but I've had this photo of Darian from last September just staring at me for 6 months now so I finally decided to put it to paper.  I used lots of die cuts on this one from the circle for my title to the calendar and stars for my embellishments.


I am off to get started on my day.  It's windy but thankfully the rain is gone and we are hoping to hit 60 degrees later on.  I know the boys will want to spend the afternoon outside playing.  Enjoy your day!

Happy Spring!

Happy first day of Spring everyone!  It's going to be nearly 70 degrees today here in New Jersey which is completely unheard of this time of year but I will definitely take it while I can get it.  Not only is it the first day of Spring but it's also the Persian New Year.  My hubby is Persian so we are headed off to see family later on today to celebrate. 

Since it's a gorgeous day outside and we're celebrating spring and new beginnings today I thought I would share this cheery layout I created yesterday using some of the fabulous Dear Lizzy collection by American Crafts.  This is Brandon when he was just about 4 months old.  Just take a look at those chubby cheeks!  And truth be told even at nearly 4 years old now he still has those chubby cheeks - I love them! 


This was such a fun layout to create.  I did some fussy cutting with the banner paper up top and basically cut the trees and hills out partially on my background paper and slipped my striped paper behind.  This is also the source of the huge cut I got yesterday from my exacto knife.  If you keep up with me on facebook you'll know that yesterday I nearly fainted because I sliced my finger on a brand new blade.  I am not good with blood and let's just say I definitely needed to sit down and take a breather after I that little episode - OUCH!


Okay I am off to get started on this gorgeous day.  I hope you all enjoy your first day of Spring!  :)

shiny happy people

Remember that song from R.E.M.?  That was one of my favorite songs growing up (did I just date myself?  LOL!).  That song was the inspiration for this layout about Darian.  He IS one of those shiny, happy, people.  Always smiling and beaming from within.


I used more of the Quilting Bee kit from Studio Calico for this layout.  It was fun to make - just one of those "for me" pages that I don't have to really worry about and can just enjoy the process.


I used one of the wood veneer frames from the kit spritzed with a little orange mist to frame this photo of Darian.  Just look at that face!  LOL!


And here I jumped on the banner bandwagon and added one of my own to this layout using the adorable banner stickers from Sassafras.

I just wanted to point out the little formspring box over on the left sidebar.  I get a lot of questions asked to me in blog posts etc but blogger doesn't have a super cool email feature like typepad does so a lot of times I don't really have a great way to answer them.  I saw my gal pal Kelly Goree had this on her blog and I thought it might be a great solution to this problem.  So ask away!  :)

alstede farm

Today is gearing up to be one of those crazy busy days.  So I'm squeaking in here with a blog post before I have to take the boys to school since it may be a long time before I get to sit down in front of my computer again today.  Or just sit down in general!  LOL  As promised here is another layout I created with some NEW Jillibean Soup goodies.  I used the Chicken Noodle Soup collection for this layout and some old pictures of D when he was just 2 years old!  


Look at how little he is!  LOL!  These photos crack me up.  When he was little he loved going to the local farm to feed the animals and I swear he would feed these goats one tiny corn kernel at a time.  And amazingly enough the goats would stick around and humor him! 


And so my love affair with these cardboard alphas continues.  I seriously cannot get enough of them.  *sigh*  And below is just another detail shot of a journaling sprout and some leaves that I stitched along the edge.


And that's all folks!  I am off for a crazy day - hope yours is great as well!  :)

sourpuss

Happy Monday everyone!  We had a LONG weekend here and truth be told I'm kinda thankful it's Monday and the boys are back in school again.  I need the break!  LOL! 

Today I wanted to share a layout I created using the NEW Old World Cabbage Soup collection from Jillibean Soup.  Love the colors of this collection and I think the lemon print paper has to be my favorite.  I decided to play off that paper a bit and create this layout of Darian and his sourpuss.  Seriously just look at that grumpy face!  I have no idea what I said or did that made him look at me that way but I'm glad I had the camera pointed his way to catch him in the act.  ;)


I played a bit with some vellum here as well.  I printed the definition of sourpuss on a piece of vellum, matted my photo on it as well, and then stitched it to the center of my layout.  I love how the vellum provides a subtle mat and a place for the words to lie but doesn't really interfere with the lines of the papers underneath. 


And of course my inspiration for my title and layout - that cute little lemon.  I punched it out from the lemon print patterned paper and popped it up with some dimensional adhesive.  I love running my titles over and into my photos especially if there is a lot of white space in a photo like this one here.  Again just a fun and easy way to tie all of the page elements together. 

That's it for me today.  I'll have another Jillibean Soup layout to share tomorrow so be sure to check back in!  :)

snowshine

Snowshine.  There is such a word right?  No?  Well there should be because that's what happens when Darian gets outside in the snow.  He simply shines.  I don't know where he gets it from.  I am so not a cold weather kind of gal.  Quite frankly winter sports scare me.  I nearly had a heart attack every time I had to sleigh down the hills by our house with Brandon this winter and quickly taught that boy to go down by himself  not so much for his independence but for my health and sanity!  LOL  And while Salar likes the snow he's not a real snow buff either.  But Darian?  That kid LOVES the snow!  I mean REALLY loves the snow.  And so a layout is born ...



I used my brand new Studio Calico kit for this one.  It just arrived yesterday and usually I tear open the box, fondle all the goodies (yes I do fondle LOL), and put everything away neatly to be used at a later date.  But this time I decided I was not going to put anything away until I at least scrapped a page ... or two or three or ...  The navy lace doily paper (a SC exclusive) is what started this whole layout since it looked like delicate snowflakes to me.  I loved the idea of incorporating some muted yellows and oranges to contrast against the blue and play off the word "shine" in my title.


I played with some mists on this layout.  It's hard to see but the vanilla cardstock is actually misted with Silverplated Maya Mist and gives it this really great shine.  The newsprint paper (from Studio Calico) was misted with some Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Pumpkin Pie as well.


I used a Dear Lizzy rub on for the "o" in snow and for my word "shine" in my title.  The other letters are from the June Bug collection by Basic Grey and were a part of an older Studio Calico kit.

That's it for me today.  Darian has been sick and so both boys have been home from school for the past two days.  All while Salar is in Las Vegas having a guy weekend.  Hmmm ... not sure about the timing of it all (hee hee!) but all I know is that if he does win big some of that money is coming to me!  Right honey?  ;)

Dear Lizzy layout to share!

Hey everyone!  Sorry for the quiet blog this past week.  I've just been super busy with all sorts of stuff and haven't had a chance to update.  I did just create a layout using the adorable new Dear Lizzy collection from American Crafts the other day that I wanted to share. 


These are pictures of my sweet niece when she was just 3 years old.  Isn't she a cutie?  She'll be 9 next month - how time flies!


I created this fun little scene at the bottom of my layout.  I simply cut the grass using my Cricut Expression (Plantin SchoolBook Cartridge) and then used a Sizzix die for the flower layers that I secured with one of the adorable fabric brads from the collection.  I sprinkled in a few chipboard flowers and of course added the glittery chipboard title as well.


To create this little cloud accent I used one of the Remarks stickers along with the Rub Ons to add the word "sweet" and threw in a little glitter button as well (LOVE those buttons!).

That's it for me today.  I've got one sick little boy at home who had me up at 5am with his coughing and fever.  I have a feeling it's going to be one of THOSE days - wish me luck!  ;)

UR Handsome

Hey everyone!  I meant to get this post up earlier but blogger was acting really wonky for me this morning.  Still is for some reason but I'm sneaking this one in while it's behaving a bit.  LOL!

This is my first week as blog hostess over on the Pebbles blog and I am loving it.  The team is so wonderful to work with and the products are just so much fun!  I'll be posting daily Monday through Friday so I really do hope you'll take the time to stop by and leave a comment.  And I'll let you in on a little secret ... we'll be hosting our first blog challenge tomorrow so you'll definitely want to stop by then and participate for the chance to win some amazing Pebbles goodies! 

The theme for this week is "favorites" and it is well known that Lil Buddy is my favorite Pebbles line to date (that might change with these latest releases from CHA ... just sayin' LOL!).  I LOVE the color combination of Lil Buddy - I mean who can resist blue, green, and orange all together.  Combine that with robots and dinosaurs and you've got a match made in heaven. 

For my project I created this cute card for one of the many handsome men in my life.  Now I just have to figure out which one to give it to!  LOL!

 

Don't forget to stop back by the Pebbles blog tomorrow to read all about our first challenge!  See you there!

Zva Winners!

Hi everyone! The Zva winners have been chosen and their name will be announced sometime today on the following blogs:

Jana Eubank

Sherry Wright
Lynn Ghahary (that's right here!)
Anabelle O'Malley
Kim Hughes

One winner from each of the 5 blogs will receive a Zva prize pack worth $30.00 that consists of the newest Zva CHA release.  Congrats winners!

And now on to my winner ... Marsha (post #38) you are the lucky one!  Please contact me via email at lghahary(at)cevant(dot)com with your mailing information.   

I thought I'd also share another project I created using some Zva Creative goodies.  I used the February kit from My Scrapbook Nook as well for this layout.  This layout was part of a guest designer gig for Pencil Lines and here is the layout I came up with ...


Lots of Zva Creative pearl borders and individual pearls used here.  They pair so nicely with the Basic Grey Origins collection which just happens to be one of my favorite collections at the moment. 

Okay that's it for me.  I am knee deep in assignments and running on some tight deadlines.  I hope to have some more projects to share with you soon! :)

Zva Creative Blog Hop!

Happy Monday everyone!  I hope you're ready to be inspired this morning.  The Zva Creative design team is joining together today to share a project that we have created using some of our favorite Zva Creative products. I am hoping that you will take some time to join us for a little bit of fun!  There are so many Zva Creative products that I love.  One of my favorites is the adorable little pearl flourishes (PEW-02CB-105) - they are the perfect size for cards and tags! 

The Blog Hop begins at Kim Hughes' blog.  She is linking to one of the Zva designers and that designer is linking to the next and so on. There are 12 design team members, so be prepared
to be inspired along the way.  Hidden on 5 of the blogs is a Zva Creative prize package consisting of the latest CHA release...YAY!  Those blogs will be randomly chosen after the hop is over, so it's important to leave a comment on as many blogs as you can along the way.

This Blog Hop runs through midnight on Tuesday, March 2nd and the 5 winners will be announced on Wednesday, March 3rd. We will do our best to notify each winner, but it's best if you can pop in to all of the blogs once again on Wednesday...plus, you never know what kind of inspirational creation that you may find there.  All you need to do is leave a comment on this Zva Blog Hop post ... you do not need to leave a comment on each and every designer's blog post to qualify. The more times you leave a comment along the blog hop path though, the more chances you will have to be one of the lucky winners.

We've been getting a TON of snow here in New Jersey so I decided to create a card that evokes feelings of some warmer weather.  At this point, I can't WAIT for summer!  LOL!


Zva Creative supplies used: 
FL-01CB-115 (felt flowers) 
FL-01CB-117 (felt flowers) 
BR-01CB-105 (corduroy brads) 
PEC-02CB-106 (pearl border)
 

Other supplies used:
Cardstock (Bazzill Basics)
Patterned Paper and Cork Alphas (Making Memories)
Tag (Avery)
Mist (Tattered Angels)

Now please hop on over to see what the super talented Anabelle O'Malley has created for you today.  Thank you SO MUCH for joining us!