KOTM update

After spending a week in Maryland with my family, I'm back. Every time I go there, I can't believe how pretty it is. Rolling hills, dense trees, and green, green, green. And when you live in the desert, the green looks even greener. We had a great trip. I always enjoy going back to my home town.

And now ... back to life. Porter started Kindergarten today (I know ... seems so early to start the school year!). I don't ever want this kid to outgrow sitting in my lap. I'm just soaking it all in every time he does.



Today's after school snack? He's a big fan of my Andes Mint cookies, so I'm about to get a batch in the oven (with a few extras for his teacher). The recipe can be found in my Recipes section here (May 9).

[ school expansion kit ]

You may have noticed there is a new kit of the month available; this happens the first of each month. This Photo Folders kit looks awesome and I'll fill you in more soon. In the meantime, it looks like this:



In case you're wondering, you CAN still purchase my School Expansion kit. Click on this link to do so. With school back in session, I'm excited to get some layouts done with the stuff in this kit.

[ golden tickets ]



If you haven't heard about the golden ticket thing going on, here's the scoop.

There are a bunch of these golden tickets randomly placed in the kit of the month for this month (August), as well as the upcoming September and October kits. If you receive a golden ticket in a kit that you order, you will win all sorts of prizes like all the latest & hottest CK books and the CKU in a Box kit. Plus, you'll be entered to win the ultimate prize - a trip for 2 to Utah for 3 days, 2 nights. You'll tour the CK office, spend an afternoon with Lisa Bearnson, get a sneak peak of upcoming kits we're working on, meet the editors, and even get all of the 2009 kits of the month for free!

Okay - off to get those cookies in the oven. Later.

good read

Just finished this one.



Good, solid, sound parenting insight. Very much in line with my parenting philosophy and helped me solidify the way I feel about different scenarios and disciplining concepts. So yes - I'd recommend it.

pages, winners, challenge

First, the pretty stuff. More layouts created with contents from my school expansion kit. The scrapbook artist is Nichol Magouirk.







Alrighty. Our randomly chosen winners of the new "Mini Albums in an Evening" special issue are:

1. Crystal in Fountain, Minnesota
2. Debbie in Clackamas, Oregon
3. Kim in Mantua, New Jersey
4. Melissa in Amherst Junction, Wisconsin

Congratulations! Ladies, e-mail me (bhiggins@ckmedia.com) with shipping address & phone number and I'll get those out to you.

One more thing for today: I am a "celebrity guest" at The Sketch Book, which is based in New Zealand, and I posted a challenge in their forum today. Thought I'd share in case you were interested in a creative end-of-summer challenge. Just sign in here ... and this is the direct link to my challenge.

household tip & 2 new books

So you know how you go to pull some plastic wrap or tin foil out of its box and the whole roll sometimes comes out? I hate it when that happens. Did you know that on the sides of those boxes you can punch in the packaging and that actually secures the roll in place?

Learn something new every day.



Many of you know about Ali Edwards, so I hardly need to explain her talent. I just wanted to say "Yay for a new book from Ali!" because she has one coming out in this coming month. It looks like this and you can pre-order it here. Congratulations, Ali! I can't wait to check it out.



Simple Scrapbooks is also releasing a new special issue all about mini albums. It has great ideas from various artists ... and it's only $6.99 too! Check out the details here. And, of course, I have some of these to give away (along with these sweet little pins).



Want one? Leave your first name and where you live so I can randomly choose 4 winners to receive a special issue & pin. Here's one of the projects from the book.



Speaking of first grade ... we're getting to the last of the school expansion kits, so if you haven't ordered, check that off your list before it's too late. A new school year starts here in just a couple weeks and I'm getting more motivated to get some scrapbooking done. I can tell many of you are, too. That's awesome.

mini album

The talented Maggie Holmes put together this birthday mini album for her son, using stuff from the school expansion kit. There are a lot more pages, but I'm sharing just some of them so you get the idea.

You'll want to click on this image to see it larger. By the way, good for Maggie getting this party scrapbooked so soon after it happened. : )

more fun examples

I love hearing all your comments about how much you're enjoying the school expansion kit; that's awesome! If you're one that's been on the fence about ordering, it's not too late. Go here.

Of course there is more to share. Today I want you to check out some of what Wendy Anderson has whipped up with stuff from the kit. Notice how she used those library-style journaling cards for more pictures instead.



And here they are, labeled and tucked in the pocket:



I love Wendy's use of every little product on this page. The paper, letter stickers, torn-out decorative paper (behind the small picture), photo turn, metal clip, ribbon ... all of it. And the date stamp! I love how this becomes a decorative element on your page, while still being totally functional, since dating your memories is a great idea.







Maggie Holmes did a fun mini album with the stuff too ... I'll show you that tomorrow.