Pin it to Win it! Giveaway - Baby Poshkini from Haute and Posh Designs!!

HEY! Summer is here and it's HOT out there! Who doesn't like to cool down at the beach?

 I just created  a super cute Poshkini to wear on those fun summer beach trips and I want to give one away to a lucky winner! Just keep scrolling for the deets.

This weekend we took a little trip to the beach in Jacksonville. It was way windy because it had just stormed and I was so disappointed because I couldn't wait to take some decent photos of my princess in her posh new suit. Instead all I got were these crummy ones in the house. :-( She thought she was oh so cute once I put her in the mirror, but quickly lost interest once TMNT came on.

 

 Once we got there she spent a lot of time looking like this...

 

...and this.

Needless to say she was not amused, but loved her suit none the less.
Anyway, I loved it so much I decided to add it to my shop and even better GIVE ONE AWAY!

To snag one for your posh princess all you have to do is:

1. Like my Facebook PAGE and Share the giveaway post on Facebook for your friends to enter (make sure the share is "public" so I can verify.

2. Repin THIS PIN and FOLLOW ME on Pinterest.

3. Come back here and comment "Liked, Shared, Pinned!" with your Pinterest/Facebook name

****For an extra entry you can subscribe to my blog!!****

The winner must be a fan of my page. I will verify that she/he has followed all the rules for entry.

Giveaway runs from Tuesday, July 2nd - Sunday, July 7th 11:59pm EST

If you can't wait to get yours I am offering 15% off on my Etsy. Use code: PSH15 good through JULY 31st!

Coupon is good for the ENTIRE SHOP!

 Happy Pinning!
                            -Tara

What I've Got Brewing

     Well you may or may not know, but I have really gotten into creating clothing, mostly children's (more specifically girls) and I've decided to start a business separate from Haute & Posh to sell clothing and accessories. I have a name, but I'm not ready to share until I purchase the DBA for it. Below is my cutie pie niece Anna in a skirt and embellished top I made her when she visited for a month in March.

My niece Anna

  I also took the photos, I'm beginning to think I'm a Photo Hobbyist. Photography definitely excites me, but I think more on a personal level, like a I-am-just-playing-around-with-a-camera-type-of-way. Here is my daughter in her mama exclusive romper. She's not as easy to shoot ans my niece, who's a little ham. I loved the colors of the fabric so bright and summery. I made both outfits using patterns from Create Kids Couture. If you sew or are thinking about trying they have a wonderful sewing community on Facebook that you can join HERE.

My little munchkin Kiwi

Loved using my gorgeous maternity photos for this sample

  "A new business?" you might say. "Did you have a business before that?", well yes, I do. I own Haute & Posh Designs where I design digital and printable paper goods like invitations, announcements, flyers and brochures, but I also make and sell event decor and provide styling services. A friend of mine calls it my "Party Hustle".

 The same way that Yoga is really about breathing, my business is really about creating experiences. I believe that through detail and personal
touches an event is a well designed life experience. Also, I like to create modern fairytales: beautiful clothes and parties and special occasions and elegant invitations. I sort of try to live in one myself. I very much have a passion for crafting and I would like to turn that passion into something where I can be happy doing something I love, but still provide for my family.
 

Candy bar I created for a Pink Safari- themed shower I co-hosted

How has that been working out you say? Honestly, not very well. I have a tendency to put more into a project/request than is possible to profit from; by letting my client give me an impossibly low price that limits the spectacular-ness that I can give them. The only other problem is when I charge what I need to I get less interest in my services, but I have come to the conclusion that I just need to make better stuff! It's not you or my fans or maybe not even me: it's my resources... As a start-up I have very few resources and that's where I have to get creative, which I think I've done so look for some pretty little things to come from me around the fall. :-)

1000 Fan Celebration (aka a GIVEAWAY!!)

I have come so far from the first giveaway I ever did on this blog. As a matter of fact my page has come so far; from an extension of this blog it has grown and so have I as an individual, a business woman, and everything in between. My crafts have gone from hobbies to becoming polished pieces of who I am and what I do, but enough of the deep soul searching growth and maturity....on with the goodies!
I have been blessed to find (and sometimes coerce) a great group of individuals to part with some of their
wonderful products and services for my awesome fans! The celebration will run Friday September 14th - Friday September 28th at Midnight EST. Good luck everyone!! Enter via the Rafflecoptor Widget at the bottom or my facebook page tab

These are the rules:

• Must be a fan of Haute & Posh Designs to participate

• Must be a fan of the business who's prize you'd like to win

        and remain a fan through the duration of the giveaway

 

PRIZES!!!

HootyCutie Designs

Unique. Custom. Kids. HootyCutie Designs offers trendy, high quality, handmade, boutique style fashions for little ladies and gents. Use this $25 certificate on anything from the shop, or towards a custom designed outfit for your little one.

 

 Sparkling Dragon Designs

$20 Gift Certificate

 

Haute & Posh Designs

$10 Gift Certificate 

 Fashion House Boutique

Necklace & Earring Set ($2.00 Shipping US Only)

 

 Bunting Babes

  Girls' Headband

 Mommy's Little Diva

 Cute Halloween Korker Set (Shipping - $2.00 US Only)

 

VIP Handmade Creations

Fruitrcake Legwarmers 3-6months

 

  Petal Paperie

 Minnie Mouse Pillowcase Dress (up to sz 5) 

Haute & Posh Designs

Red & Zebra Tutu Set Sz: 6-12months

 

Paperclipped Memories LLC

Bespoke Word Art Custom Digital File Only

Announce the birth of your baby with customized flair! The original image designed as 12" x 12" canvas art. You could also use this image on cards or banners to present your little bundle of joy to the world!

Haute & Posh Designs

Custom Invitation Design

Nola Cooper Designs

 UPS Ground Shipping is FREE.  Matte or glossy finish, heavy weight (140#) paper, printed in full color on BOTH sides.  Using your logo and specified content, we will design a beautiful business card for you, and ship you 500 cards that are printed using your final (approved) design.  

Jenetech 

Custom Business Media Design

 

 

PRIZES FOR LOCAL WINNERS ONLY

Smart Look Photography

Free 30 Minute Portrait Session (Tallahassee  Locals Only)

 

All About U Photography

Complete Photo Session Certificate (Tallahassee Locals Only)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Looking for Models for a Breast Cancer Awareness Shoot and 1000 Likes

I am calling out to any and everyone for this project I have been wanting to do and bring to fruition. I very much want my brand and myself to be impactful to something besides consumerism so I am championing a cause that really heats up in October: Breast Cancer Awareness. I was contacted on my facebook page by someone in Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Leon County, FL and came to realize this could be so much bigger than I had even imagined. After reading the story in September's Newsletter I've decided to take it up a notch, so the information is as follows.

Breast Cancer Awareness model call info:

Similar to my last model call the photos will be used for product advertising for my business Haute & Posh Designs (formerly Creative Hobbies and Designs). I am looking for models of all ages. I especially welcome any Fighters and Survivors of Breast Cancer and would absolutely love a multi-generational family of models. The tutu sets, tutus, and shirts will be Breast Cancer Awareness themed. Each model will receive a custom made tutu, tutu set or shirt (males and females). There will be a professional photo shoot in groups and individually so that I have images to use for advertising on my website, Etsy, Facebook page, etc. Models will pay a fee so that I may cover the costs of production and photography, but of course will get to keep the item(s) as they are made to fit the model.

These are also charity items; half of the profit from the actual sale (not model purchases unless funds exceed production costs) of these items will go to Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Leon County, FL. There is a BCA walk Oct. 21^st and these items would be awesome for a team participating. If you’d like more information on how to sign up, donate, or volunteer please visit http://www.putonyourpinkbra.com/leon

 As always, models will have the opportunity to purchase prints/images from the photographer.  Haute and Posh Designs and Smart Look Photography retain all copyrights of the images and each model is required to sign a model release PRIOR to the shoot. The photo shoot itself is scheduled for the weekend of September 29th. At this time Haute and Posh Designs is tentatively providing a free print to each model. This is subject to change as we move forward.

If you have any other questions at all please feel free to ask and if you are interested in this opportunity please email hobbiesandevents@yahoo.com with the model’s name, a recent photo, age and clothing sizes. Multiple models can be submitted in one email.

If you are not local to the Tallahassee area, this opportunity is still available to you, but You must arrange to have your own shoot or professional quality photos made and uploaded to me by Monday Oct. 1st.

 

Teronia Bayonne

Owner/Designer – Haute & Posh Designs

Email: hobbiesandevents@yahoo.com

Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/people/HobbiesandEvents

P.S. My fan page made 1000 likes as of Sat. Sept. 8th (yay fans!) and I will be hosting a fan celebration/giveaway starting Sept. 14th which will run for two weeks, check back for the links and details on that.

Free Happy Birthday Banner and Haute and Posh Update

Well I started a Facebook fan page for my new DBA (doing business as) Haute & Posh Designs. I finally just bit the bullet and created my logo which was part of the hold up.

 I'm aiming to upgrade my business and create more couture and designer styled events and items. I don't have a website as of yet but my fan page is already at 700+ fans after only a week of posting! Of course I owe it to two HUGE giveaways that I donated my design services to as a prize. Create Kids Couture's 8,000 Fan Celebration already ended, but keep an eye on them as they publish free tutorials and patterns every week in addition to selling fabulous clothing patterns. You can check them out on Facebook here and online here. The other is with Posh Little People and is going on through September 8th look for the post and a chance to win here. I have to say I love to order from PLP whenever I can; they sell brands like Mud Pie and Bonnie Jean who make adorable little dresses and outfits that actually fit Kirin well.

So I digress, to celebrate making 200 fans I gave away this handmade headband. Sorry for the crappy pics. I actually took them with my phone and doctored them up because I can't find my SD card.

 

 For reaching 500 fans I gave away a $25 shop credit and then I decided I made a free printable Happy Birthday Banner to share with my fans for being so great already. Of course that includes you lovely people as well so here's the link for the download. it's a PDF google doc. I realized that it would fit any of the themes below and could even be adapted to your own unique party theme. Of course what's a banner without a personalized name and matching invitations, labels, and decor? That's where I come in...or not, but this banner really will work and so I'm sure a lot of people could get some use from it. SO SHARE! 

Share it with your friends, neighbors and anyone else who might benefit from it. I just ask three things.

1. Take a picture and tag Haute and Posh on facebbok or post pics to the wall if you do

2. Please refer them to the link via one of my pages, that way I can see that people are really getting use from it and I can offer more freebies in the future.

3. ENJOY! : -)

                   

Good Things Come to Those Who Wait

Yay, boring post about me and my life, ha ha.....ha. Ok moving on, these past weeks I did lots! I wrote 5 short stories and a paper for my fiction class, read a novel for Amer. Lit, rough sketched a logo for a client and have been haggling back and forth with this one girl about the cost of her centerpieces. That's another post entirely that I totally intend to write. I have had decomposed Minnie Mouse and Rainbow Bright in my "craft room" for like 2 weeks and they are tired of being cloth zombies; it's time to make the costumes and ship them off. Also, I have been trying to get a job, like a GOOD job with benefits and a salary. I had a callback, but no callback form the callback and then another call back so, I will be harassing following up with them next week.

 Fun stuff: I taught my daughter to eat an ice cream cone, you know the ones you can get for under a buck and eat the cone. Oh the many gems of parenthood, that was so enjoyable. I made cinnamon rolls which were a disaster I should've shared, I created my NEW logo (very excited) and I finally finished all my classes.

SO... tired, but I will finally have time to catch up on everything, or as much of everything as I can fit in 2 weeks because GUESS WHAT fall semester starts back Aug. 27th oh joy.

So I have a lot to do and blog, my windows still need curtains, I still have costumes to sew, giveaways to be in, training pants to make, a disaster to share and some really good recipes, and cleaning to do (but I won't be blogging about that). Oh, and I launched my new FB fan page, even though it's still under construction. You can visit it here and if you never went to my original fan page it is here. I plan to make the old one a part of this blog eventually. Like I said I have a ton to do so if you will excuse me I am about to take a nap before I get started.

Daisy Bug Designs Free Dress & Necklace Giveaway

The dress and necklace are just too cute! I had to share this (so I could have another entry) But you are welcome to enter for your little one, niece, God-daughter, or any little princess in your life.Of course if there isn't one, you're welcome to win it for my little princess (hee hee). It's on Facebook, here's the contest.

Here are the Rules:
FREE NECKLACE & DRESS One lucky person will win the necklace in the photo along with one of 3CutiePiesBowtique's NEW styles of dress...your fabric choice! To enter simply...

1. LIKE https:https://www.facebook.com/pages/Daizy-Bugz-Designs/123744337677503
2. LIKE https://www.facebook.com/3CutiePiesBowtique
3. SHARE this post! (to share click on the blue SHARE link below)
4. Leave one COMMENT under this photo, saying you have completed all steps!

5. BONUS entry! Share this on twitter or your blog etc, or your fan page or personal facebook page. For each additional share you may leave one more comment per share! (So if you share 2x for example, then leave a comment 2x, as each comment is an additional entry)

Contest runs until midnight Saturday the 14th. Winner will be chosen by random.org and I will check that the post has been shared. Good luck!

Necklaces can be seen in my Etsy store: http://www.etsy.com/shop/DaizyBugz?ref=search_shop_redirect

Dresses can be seen in 3CutiePiesBowtique's Etsy store: http://www.etsy.com/shop/3cutiepiesbowtique

My Boudoir Experience (Update)

UPDATE: Long's decided to change their website and actually published different photos from my boudoir session. Unfortunately for me they are the ones where I am smiling, boo... hiss...

Anyway, if you want to get a look see here is the link

Finally! I'd like to talk about my boudoir photos that were taken by Linda of Long's Photography. They are local to Tallahassee and I have to say...AWESOME!

I found Long's on facebook and liked their page. Linda posted a model call, I emailed some pics and she chose me. I was so worried and stressed about my mommy parts, but too lazy to do anything about it in the ten days I had before the shoot. I almost rescheduled, but they were a Father's Day gift for Dez so I had to press on.

I have to say, I had a FANTASTIC time. Linda is so warm, made me laugh and very feel comfortable. It was like talking to a good friend except you're almost naked and they are making you contort your body like an audition for Cirque de Soleil.  

Thrifty Curtain Project

Dez rearranged the living room today and moved the tv by the window. So, I decided that the guests (that we never have) would really notice that we don't have any curtains and so I budgeted 0> for the two cheapest and most decent panels we could get for $45 or less. Yes I need two panels for one window, just because I'm broke doesn't mean i'm tacky. That's pretty much why our house isn't fixed up. Even budget projects take money.

For my price I had the options of Target and Walmart. Background info: I live in a college town so Goodwill hardly has anything and thrift stores are practically non-existent; also Walmart sucks big time. Anyway, off to Target I went with my 21 month old. There were two aisles with curtains, the one for people who can only afford solid colors and the one for people who can afford patterns. So they had a display with some decent solid panels for $15.99, but low and behold, they were out of any color that remotely matched my living room.

Poop.

I just so happened to have checked Joann's on my phone and saw they were having a super sale on fabric AND found a 15% off coupon I could use on top of the sale.

To Joann's!

Kirin's Side Story: She hung in my arms like a limp rag doll then got down and made dirt angels on the floor in the store about three times. Mommy's cue to hurry.

...I found some $6.00 clearance home decor fabric that happened to match AND be half off AND had never even been cut AND turned out to be gorgeous once we opened the plastic.

 THEN, since the lady in front of me was obviously getting her own fat roll made from bolts of fabric I decided to look at the novelty fabric.
I have been wanting to get this Mud Pie dress for Kiwi which is on sale for $19.00 here, but the 4th is on Wednesday. So, I  bought these two fabrics to make a dress like this using this tutorial from Prudent Baby.

Those fabrics happened to be half off as well as did the matching thread for each project AND I got embroidery floss 3 for $.99 (x2) so that I can finish another project I have. When I got to the register I ended up getting a 20% overall discount so most of my items were 70% off and I got all of this, plus Skittles for Kiwi for $23!

I start my summer C term tomorrow but I will be completing both these projects this week and the dress before Wednesday so look out for another "Yes, I made it yesterday" post soon. Goodnight!

I Made It Yesterday - July 4th One Shoulder Ruffled Dress

               

Like I mentioned before I wanted to get the Mudpie dress for Kiwi, but I ended up making one myself. We only got to go to Walmart in it because she and her dad fell asleep immediately after eating and didn't wake up until I could hear fireworks outside. She's such a little busy body.

Not the Blogger I Want to Be

     I started blogging because I was so inspired by all these great blog artists (it's a profession you know). But alas, I am not someone who would ever think to say "ooey-gooey" blabbity blah. Or have these cute anecdote-al stories or even really interesting ones that don't relate at all. Why? Well partly because I stay home reading blogs all day, but also because through unfortunate circumstances I became a cynical people hater. Now, for some reason whenever I am totally and completely serious and say something even remotely ugly, the people around me laugh. I try telling them I am dead serious and this seems to make it funnier. I don't know what's wrong with them. I don't get it, but hey however you need to deal with it. Because of this I seem to have a small handful of friends who just laugh at my people hating antics. The sucky part is none of them live nearby and I want to be friends with the bubbly, happy people full of ooey-gooey goodness. But happy attracts happy and insult-y attracts... craz-y?  I do have to say that I have been meeting my own little circle of awesome people lately. If you are reading, you're included Marlene. If not...awk-ward : |

I hate my teeth on this pic

     Another thing that I struggle with is being myself and being PG-13. I actually curse like a sailor, like dirty and strongly race related jokes and make fun of people to my loved ones, but never where the subject could hear and get his or her feelings hurt. I'm not that heartless. So, my dilemma is...do I go 100% real OR edit myself a little to be appealing to a broader audience of  people. Like I would probably turn off a lot of devout Christian readers, certain racial groups, and people who are easily offended but then I'm like, they don't have to read this! I just don't ooze ooey-gooey goodness (I learned on American Dad that referencing something 3 times makes it funny or something like that). I also started another blog where I was going to "be myself", but I want to change the focus of this blog a little to reflect my life more. Let's not dwell on the fact that I barely get any posts up anymore. I read somewhere if you don't bring it up, neither will your fans readers. I officially registered my business under a different DBA so this blog can be a lot more personal. I would ask my blog idols, but they are busy being fantastic and humorous on their own blogs. So what do you think? No blog post is complete without awesome pics, but I don't have any of those so these will have to do.

Yes, I Made It Yesterday - Pillow Case Dress (Tutorial)

So, I guess "Yes, I Made It Yesterday" isn't all that catchy, but if I were to post this on my Facebook that would probably be my response to a lot of the questions I would get. Maybe. If someone cared. So I want this to be an occasional series of basically whenever I craft. I am more than likely NOT going to sit down and write a lengthy blog post the same day my daughter turns an "x" amount of time project into a "2x" amount of time project. Like P90x, I don't have 3hrs a day to do a 1.5hr workout. If anyone ever makes anything from my posts I would LOVE if you shared either by email or on the Creative Hobbies Facebook page.

Kirin's 1st Birthday Part I: The (Actual) Big Day

  
















1st off, none of these photos are edited. If you waited on me to edit them you would never get to see them........That first sentence has been in draft status for over a month. Soooo many details. Let's start with the personal stuff. My little mommy turned one Sept 15th and at midnight her daddy gave her a cupcake he brought home from our favorite bakery in town Tasty Pastry.

Have a Designer Tree on a Knock-off Budget.

I was recently talking to a friend and explained my Christmas ornament mishap: basically, they were never moved with us when we moved in February. Now, we are on a really tight budget and new ornaments don't really fit in it. Anyhow, he replied that they were expensive. I explained what I did to make my tree look expensive without blowing my budget and he said, "Cool, where did you get them, [My wife] is looking for some?" Hmm.... at the store. Are we still talking about tree ornaments here? They are everywhere! So it occurred to me that not everyone knows how to get the designer tree look, you know, like the ones on display at the store. So, I thought I would share some tips.

Giveaway Quickie

I am entering a HAM of a giveaway on the Laura Winslow Photography site with about $10,000 worth of prizes. Can you say "Merry Christmas" to all my loved ones? There are soo many great prizes and they have so convienently bundled all the pages together so you can easily like them. The required entry is to go to your favorite site and comment, as if I could choose! Anyhoo, check it out here. Toodles!

Happy Birthday Angel

Today would have been my mom's 42nd Birthday and the 2nd birthday she's spent in Heaven. I try not to get too down, but today is one of those days I would have been with her, like Christmas. I try to joke and say that she's at an awesome party and I bet they won't be running out of drinks. I try to make it light-hearted to keep everyone else up. I was recently contacted on Facebook by a childhood friend and the first thing she asked was how my mom was doing. Now, who has it harder? Those receiving the news of my mom's untimely death or me having to break it to them? It's a little like she dies every time I have to tell someone. I try to speed through it and say it as emotionless as possible, but I think people feel awkward. But then if I burst into tears how much more uncomfortable is that? I just felt the need to acknowledge that today is my mom's day and that I still love and think about her. I wanted to tell someone that reading all her birthday wishes on her memorial page makes me cry. That looking at her granddaughter and knowing how crazy she would've been about her can be a little overwhelming. I never thought about what I would do without my mom and I am surviving,but sometimes things feel empty.Like getting my A.A. with Honors, or celebrating holidays or even talking to family on her side. I honestly, feel like most of the love and warmth has gone out of my maternal family. She kept everyone together and made sure people showed up for weddings and graduations. She was the strongest woman I know and It's just hard emotionally without her. I didn't even realize what I keep at bay on a daily basis because sitting here truly thinking about her puts me in an all out sob. But you can't see the snotty, crumpled, ugly-cry face. So, thank you. Thank you for listening/reading. 

P.S. I plan to start an October recap. I have been so busy/lazy, but miss posting my little life moments. I'm used to sharing them with her, but now I share them with you.

On the Weekends We...

Hey! You busy? Obviously not you're on my blog page, but anywhoos...this and last weekend we took our daughter out to some FAMU activities. For those who don't know Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University is a HBCU (historically black college/university) and my boyfriend's alma mater. He kept asking me were we going to attend some games and requested that Kirin have a "FAMU tutu". So we bought tickets and at the last minute I whipped up a pettitutu (the really fluffy ones) and a onesie for her. We got sooooo many comments/compliments! Homecoming (a very big deal around here) was last week so I threw her back in it for the parade and at one point the people in our area were just watching her and not the parade. See my daughter has midget vertically challenged parents and we are none to chunky either so she is really small for her age and walks very well. Plus, she's super cute so it's an instant attention magnet. It's like she has paparazzi wherever we go. NO seriously, at the FAMU game this girl took a picture of her and walked off, umm...weird. Anyway I wanted to share the pics of my little precious in her FAMU regalia.

An Aside, a Story, and an Offer (Long)

Good Morning!
First, let me start by saying I think that I should write as things come to me. I've never been one of those people who had a rough draft and then edited it and had 2 or 3 other people read and critique it and then wrote another draft. I was more like I wrote as I wrote (if that makes sense) I MAY have on occasion had something written on paper, but I revised it as I was typing it. Once it was printed I may have asked an opinion, but what was done was done. How does that relate? Um, I have a blog and you have to write stuff. So, if I want my stuff to be interesting I need to write A.S.A. I have even one line of what I want to say, BUT definitely tweek it before posting.

Okay, so I wanted to talk about this failed giveaway. I was hoping, hope against hope, that people, mostly ones I know or their friends, would actually participate. While I don't have much traffic, I very much appreciate the people who do read it and I just knew I could count on the love of those people to sustain my little bloggie giveaway. I know that actually having to go and look at the site and come back and comment is a lot of work, but the sponsor wants site traffic so come on, give me a break. I was so excited that someone contacted me and that I was able to do a  giveaway with valuable giveaway-ware.

The results remind me of my first Mary Kay party as a representative. I invited the few people that I knew and actually liked. I was SO excited. I LOVE Mary Kay products and I could make money talking about it, WHAT!? But there's a script and they kinda want you to memorize it so that it flows naturally. Um, I'm not a good-product script-with-someone's idea-of-witty banter-type person. It's very hard for me to patronize people or fake being  happy. So, I gave it my best (I think) and tried not to drone on and on about the makeup ingredients and just get to the actual skincare part. Is this too long? Well, there's a part where you play a game to giveaway free stuff and get referrals. I was like, "...FREE STUFF!!!"... no response. "Come on, who doesn't like FREE STUFF?", nothing but blank stares. Hello! These people are my friends, where's the enthusiasm? Ok, moving on. Then I had painstakingly made and decorated these pale Mary Kay pink cupcakes. "Let's go into the kitchen for CUPCAKES and LEMONADE!!" Nothing once again. No one was excited about free stuff or yummy cupcakes. I wondered...was it me? Was I that boring? Did I make friends with aliens? Or terrorists? Or terrorist aliens? I know part of presenting is giving to the audience to get it back, but what more could I have given to get something from them. Could they have tried to have a little more fun? Well, I had a few more parties after that and had the best time! I..It's not me? Still not sure.

So, did I not talk about the software enough? Basically, it was like working in Publisher, but with the effects and editing capabilities you wish Publisher had. It's not as hard as Photoshop, which I can do minimally. And you don't have to deal with all those layers. I usually work in Publisher, but I always wish I could cut pictures into shapes, add frames and effects more easily and add embellishments that they don't have, things I do in Photoshop. Well I was able to do it in the my memories suite (yeah, I decided to plug it). So, for FREE I think it's pretty cool, BUT it's probably the highest quality scrapbooking software I have worked with just because I have yet to pay more than $10 for any. It had pretty good reviews on Amazon as well. So anyway, the free code doesn't expire until December so If anyone is interested GO TO THE WEBSITE ( can't get around it) look around,  leave me comment of anything at all that you saw, and tell me you want the software. First person to do it, get's it. For anyone else I have a coupon code that I will gladly share with you for $10 off the software and $10 in free downloads. Same requirements apply, but I would also like you to go and "LIKE" Creative Hobbies on Facebook (don't worry, I'm not one of those people who posts every five seconds) OR SUBSCRIBE to this blog, then LEAVE A COMMENT, also non-negotiable, that you did it. The coupon code offer is unlimited, I will deliver it by email.

Time...have any to spare?

I am soooo ready to talk about my daughter's first birthday and party. I have some pics I want to experiment with editing on first, but I wanted to give you guys a heads up as to if I'm ever going to get to that dress I was sewing, what the theme was and how it all turned out. Also, today we went to a football game (read: pics). I'm loving on some popular blogs out there and I want to share (read: features) and a few other things I've thought of recently. . And yes, I am going to talk about this give away that not ONE person entered (read: family vent). Plus, it's October so that means homemade caramel apples in our house and I'm attempting popcorn balls this year. Well, I'm off to study/project/entertain my child/be a good significant other/clean my house/lose my mind. I feel weird not having any photos so check this one out from Just Get Off Your Butt and Bake exactly what I need to do, insert everything in the world instead of bake. They look sooo yummy, mmmph. Goodnight!

Really Quick - Dez just asked if I took Kiwi's diaper off, umm no I'm typing. I totally got some naked butt shots and will definitely be embarrassing the crap out of her later (in life), HAHAHA! And I forgot to add sleeping and eating to the list of things I need to do. Bye for real this time.