Look What I'm Playing with Today...

Today, I'm working on my template for October, and I'm playing with

this...

and this...

and this...

I can't wait to show you the finished project(s)!

September's Template - Typeset

Well, my September Template has finally made it's (delayed) arrival!  Thank you all so much for your patience.

September was a very busy month for me - my oldest went back to school, I was knitting and sewing for the market during the week, then working at the market every Saturday, I published 2 new knitting patterns, and I cut into my "work time" by about 4 hours every night.  (Pregnancy makes me VERY tired.)

But, now I'm back and I have a FANASTIC template to share with you all.  :)  It's one that I'm most proud of, and I hope that you all enjoy.  If you are frugal, or enjoy teaching to groups, you will love this template too.  The cutting is simple and fast, and there is very little waste with the paper you cut, but LOTS of leftovers!  In fact, just by supplementing a few sheets of cardstock, you can make BOTH projects (cards and mini album with box) TWICE with one paper packet!

Check it out!

And here's some close ups of the details:

With this template you can make:

An accordion fold "Year in Review" mini album with matching box

8 cards (2 each in 4 designs)

This template can be purchased for only $5 by clicking here -->  

NOTE: Templates and Licenses are sold separately!

A limited teacher's license can by purchased for only $10 by clicking on the Typeset name,

(or other desired license name) and then clicking "add to cart"

Kit Template:
Typeset Dreamin' Fanfare You and Me Thrifty 30 Sophia Lucky

To read about Teacher's Licences and what they allow,

click on the "Nona's Papercraft Templates" tab above.  It is all outlined there.

You can also see all of my other available templates on that page as well.

New Template for you TOMORROW!

Look what I finished this morning!?!?  Yup - it's the prototype for a BRAND NEW TEMPLATE!  WOOOHOOO!!!!!!!

I'm super proud of this one.  It is JAM PACKED with a two HUGE workshop projects, and best of all - you only need 1/2 a paper packet to make BOTH!

Once nap time comes I'll be working on the template.  Hoping to have it 100% ready to go by tomorrow morning!  Keep checking back.  You are NOT going to want to miss out on this one.  :)

Presenting Latisha Hale Photography

My sweet cousin Latisha has recently started her own photography business, and I had to share some of her images with you!  Latisha is a sweet, kind, and patient person, and she is a fantastic photographer.  If you are in the greater Seattle area, and would like to book a photography session with her, you can find more info here on her facebook page!

Here is my favorite image of hers (yes, it might have something to do with the baby modeling one of my hats!)

Here are some other fantastic images that Latisha has taken!

Featured!

Hey Everyone!
Look at this - two posts two days in a row.  I'm on a roll.  :)

I was honored to be featured on the Studio J blog yesterday.  They showcased my Slip 'N' Slide layout that was posted here a few weeks back.  You can see the post by clicking HERE.  Additionally, did you know that they feature great Studio J artwork pretty much daily over there?  It's a great blog to for digital inspiration.  So many great ideas are being posted, and with Studio J, replicating them with your own photos is easy as pie!

As a refresher, here is the layout:


Hope you have a great day!

New SJ Feature

One of my favorite new features of Studio J is the template "No Limits".  For a long time, I've been both a SJ digi scrapper, and a photoshop digi scrapper.  I've had my layouts from SJ printed through Close To My Heart, and the photoshop layouts printed through Costco, or other printing services.

But I've always been much more satisfied with the printing quality of the CTMH pages.  That's where No Limits comes in!  It's a totally blank canvas, and I can load whatever jpg files I want into it.  So now, I can take my photoshop layouts, save them as a jpg, and then load them into the No Limits SJ template.  Voila!  All of my digital scrapping needs printed in one convenient place!

Check out this layout that is coming with my next SJ order.  I got the idea from a scrapbook magazine over 6 years ago!  Unfortunately, Samantha was already a few months old, so I didn't have the opportunity to do it with her.  But when we adopted Ruby, I jumped at the chance to put together this photo op every month.  It's harder to do then I thought it would be.  We often had to take 30 or more photos just to get 1 usable shot, but in the end it was totally worth it.  :)  I love seeing the growth progression of our sweet baby girl.  I hope to do a similar series of photos with our new baby coming this spring.

You should be able to see a larger image if you click on the photo.

2 New Patterns

I have two new patterns up this morning on Knit Picks!  Both feature yarn just released in the latest catalog!

The first is in Swish Bulky - not a new yarn to Knit Picks, but definitely a new color!  I just love the bright red in this Serrano colorway.  It was *perfect* for my strawberry hat.  And I've included sizes from infant to adult - so the whole family can sport one!  You can find the pattern HERE.

The second pattern features brand new "Biggo" yarn.  It is super soft, and the ply and weight remind me of the Misti or Baby Grande Alpaca.  So yummy!  Biggo is actually 50% merino, and 50% nylon, but it is fantastic, and just the right yarn for "next to the skin" winter projects.  

I was so honored that my sweet hubby Dave would model for this pattern.  And I was even more flattered when he asked if he could keep the cowl!  Dave is very sensitive to wool - or any material that is itchy or scratchy or wispy or... you get the idea.  So to have finally found a yarn that he enjoys wearing is fantastic.  You can find my Rainier Cabled Cowl HERE.

Itching for Baby Sweaters!

I still have a goodly amount of knitting to do for my last two markets, and for upcoming Christmas shows.  But I'm just ITCHING to start knitting for our baby!

I was reading Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's blog (she is better known as the Yarn Harlot) and she has been cranking out baby knits for her friend Jen, who's baby is due imminently.  For the past week, she has been making a new woolie a day, and has promised to continue until said baby arrives.

While all the knits have been adorable, this one is stuck in my brain.



I really must knit this sweater.  I think I might go nuts if I can't start it!  So I guess it is bad for my sanity, but a VERY good thing that I don't have the right yarn in my stash to make it or I would ignore all the other earthly duties today and just get going on it.  (And I have a lot of earthly duties today...)

That said... I'm going to let my brain obsess on this, and go clean my kitchen, living room, bathroom, and desk.  And then pay bills.  Because I'm hosting knitting club tonight, and I don't want them to see how I really live.  Then maybe, just maybe, I might order some yarn to start this sweater...

Maternity Silliness

I did the market today, so I'm too zonked to post anything serious.  But I bought my first maternity shirts this week, and thought I'd share.  They are pretty silly...  Apparently, Cafe Press is my new favorite store.

This one was for me.  

And this one was for my geeky husband and daughter.  (I'll admit, it made me chuckle too).

Here are a few others that I liked (but will have to wait on for now...)

Winner!

We reached 100 likes on my blog's facebook page!  YAY!

Because of that, I'd like to offer one lucky fan a collection of 10 handmade greeting cards - this is a $30 value!

Using the random number generator (and Facebook's list of fans in whatever order they put them in), the winner is:  Christi Malone Priemer

Christi - please email me at nonapearl@firebin.net or send me a message on facebook with your address, and I will mail out your cards.

Thanks everyone!  I'll be doing another drawing for something special at 200 fans, so be sure to check out my facebook page HERE and click "like" to become a fan.  You'll also be updated every time I post to my blog!

New Template in the Works

Don't lose hope!  A new template is in the works and coming soon!  :)  See my box of new product from CTMH?  Templates are on the brain, just dealing with limited amounts of time, and I want to produce the best templates possible for you all.



Cheers!

I have a secret...

I need to confess, I've been keeping a secret from you all for the past few months.  It's a pretty big one, and so I'd like to announce it today.  :)



Here is a photo of our little bean (as Samantha likes to call him/her) at 8 weeks.  That was a while ago... I just hit my second trimester, and things are going really well now.  The first trimester had it's ups and downs, along with a few scares, and lots of hormones, nausea, and exhaustion.  But through much prayer, the Lord has gotten us through!

You may have noticed a lull in my blogging.  I used to blog between 11 pm and 2 am, but these days I'm in bed by 10.  Hopefully these coming weeks will mean more energy!  I could use it.  But for now, we are content knowing that sometime in March a new little one will be joining our family.  All the rest can wait.