Mega Giveaway Vendor Spotlight: Meet Splendid Jewelry and CJN Flowers

Today I'm introducing you to two of our awesome relaunch celebration vendors.

First up is Carrie of CJN Flowers & Primitives

Carrie and I "met" through a common friend who organizes a monthly themed sale on Facebook that features only handmade crafts.  Here's what Carrie has to say about her business:

Freelance floral designer offering services for your wedding or special occasion serving most of New England. In addition, we have an online boutique with floral theme hair and jewelry accessories for girls of all ages.  CJN.... Where style blooms.

Next up is my friend Mae of Splendid Jewelry.

Mae is my real-life friend and fellow jewelry maker.  She describes Splendid Jewelry as "specializing in up cycled designs and vintage inspired jewelry creations that are sure to please. Splendid was started by Mae Reedy, as a fun hobby to re-use old broken jewelry in fun new ways and soon a business was born. We strive to keep prices low, and quality high as we keep broken and discarded jewelry out of the landfill as much as we can in the process."

Check out what these awesome ladies have donated to our Relaunch Giveaway!

You can enter to win these and all of the rest of our awesome prizes here!  And be sure to be stopping by throughout the week as I'll be introducing more of our lovely vendors!

Relaunch Mega GIVEAWAY!!! 14 Prizes, 14 Winners!

The day is finally here!  I'm so excited to bring you this way awesome giveaway!!!

I've teamed up with 13 amazing ladies to bring you 14 awesome prizes.  I wish I could enter to win them!

I am beyond thrilled that all of the lovely, talented ladies have so generously donated these awesome prizes for you all to win. 14 lucky winners are going to score big time!

Here's what you could win:

A prize bundle from The Rustic Lily that includes a pair of their popular Lime Green Rose Studs, Winner's Choice of 3 custom-made Single Bloom Headbands, Winner's Choice of 1 Wristlet Camera Strap and a Halloween Onesie/Tee in Winner's Choice of Style and Size.

A 12 piece Elastic Hair Tie Set from CJN Flowers & Primitives

A $10 shop credit for Shabby Chic Soap Company

A $15 shop credit from Hippy Chic Diapers

Vintage-Inspired Chandelier Necklace in Winner's Choice of Chain Color (Silver, Brass or Gunmetal) from Splendid Jewelry

Chevron Bunny Ear Teether in Winner's Choice of Yellow or Orange from Bright Eyed Owl

$25 gift certificate from Jamberry Nails Rep Kylee Shaw

1 It Works Body Wrap from It Works Rep Kathy Padua

Photography Prop Set from Peek-A-Boo Props-includes newborn hat and legwarmers and layering fabrics

Mommy & Me Braided Crochete Headwraps from My Bella Accessories

Newborn Pants and Tieback Set from Ti Amo Bella

Crochete Goodie Basket from Southern Girl Accents-includes 3 pack of Backpack Flower Clips, Hippie Flower Headband and Wrap Bracelet

Say No to Auto ebook from Kristen Duke Photography

Wholesale Membership (or $35 towards a kit) + Oil Trio Starter Pack from doTERRA Rep Brittany Roscheck

You'll be getting to know some more about these ladies throughout the week.  Stop by their pages and leave them some love!

The giveaway runs today through Saturday, October 11th.  Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Some fine print: Winners will have 24 hours to claim their prize once winners have been posted.  All items (excluding shop credits and gift certificates) ship for free within the US-there might be a small shipping fee for those outside of the US.  If that is the case, the vendor donating the prize will be in touch with you about that cost.  I will be verifying all entries, so make sure your are completing the entire action required.  Failure to do so will result in that entry becoming void; in the case that a winner is chosen based on an uncompleted entry, that person will forfeit their prize and a new winner will be chosen.

Re-launch Celebration Week COMING SOON!

To kick things back off right, we're having a party!  And what's a party without gifts and games?!  There's going to be an ENTIRE week of giveaways, with lots of awesome prizes from some terrific vendors, a BIG multi-vendor sale where you'll be able to score some great items (checking off that Christmas list early, anyone?) and some fun games here on the blog!  So mark your calendars-the fun starts on October 6th!

Since it's been a super-long time since I've really posted anything on here and A LOT has changed in that time, I thought it would be fun to have a little getting-to-know-you game where you can ask those burning questions you've always wanted to know about me.  So, fire away!  You can leave a question or two (or really, however many you want) in the comments below or post them on my Facebook page.

I also want to hear what YOU want to see on the blog.  So leave your suggestions, too.

One last item of business: I want to start introducing you to great blogs and businesses starting again soon, so if you'd like to be featured here in my Who's That? series, shoot me an email!

{Handmade Goodie of the Week} Painted Polka Dot Monogram Pumpkin

What a better way to come back to blogging than with a fun fall tutorial!

Today I'll be sharing with you all how to make this super-cute Painted Polka Dot Monogram Pumpkin.

Try and say that 10 times fast!  

It's no secret I love pumpkins.  Well, it might be for those of you who are new to Scraps and Scribbles.  So now you know.  I love pumpkins.  Which is probably why I love fall so much.  Each year I try to make a pumpkin-type craft to add to our Halloween/Fall decor.  This year, both of my littles are old enough to get in on the action, so I wanted something we could do together.  Little Man was really taken with the craft pumpkins at Michaels and they were half off, so I grabbed one for us to decorate.  I'd really been wanting to make a monogrammed pumpkin, so this was perfect.

To make yours, you'll need:

A craft pumpkin in whatever size/color you'd like
Paint-you'll want a background color, a dot color and an outline color
Brushes
Dotting sponge or pencil with unused eraser
Accent Ribbon

What to do:

I started by drawing a large "D" on my pumpkin.  You can either free-hand this, or use a stencil or if you have a crafty cutting machine, cut out some vinyl to use as a stencil-whatever is your style.

Then, using your background color, fill in your letter.  You might need to do more than one coat.  Allow to dry completely before moving onto the next step.

Once your paint is completely dry, it's time to get dotting!

I used the eraser end of a pencil for my dots, swirling it around to make some a little larger.  You can use whatever method works best for you.  Again, let your paint dry completely before moving on to the next step.

Once your dots are dry, take a fine tip brush and your outline color and outline your monogram.  Now, this step is completely optional, of course, so if you feel your monogram looks awesome without an outline, skip to the next step or call it done.

Once your outline has dried, take a piece of your accent ribbon and tie it in a nice bow around the stem of your pumpkin.

And that's it!  An easy, cute DIY project that's great for Halloween AND fall decor!  I'd love to see your take on this-if you make one, post a pic of your finished project on the Facebook page!

Making My Comeback

It's been a while, huh?  Well, I'm so very excited to officially announce that, starting October 1, Scraps and Scribbles is BACK!

Yep, you read that right!  

If you've been following along for a while, you may recall that one of the big reasons I had to take an extended break from blogging was because I was going back to school.  In May, I graduated from Ashford University with my Bachelor's in History.

I am DONE with school!  Like, forever!  Well, almost forever-my plan is to teach once my kiddos are all in school, so when the time comes, I'll need to get my teaching certificate, but that will be so fast compared to the lengthy journey it's been to achieve this goal.  Three and a half years, moving across country, and one more kid than when I started, and I can proudly say I am a college graduate.  No more late nights up writing research paper after research paper, no more discussion boards and no more final exams.  It's so nice to be done and it's even nicer to know that I accomplished something that I had set as a goal for myself, long before a husband or kids were in the picture.  I completed this-some days it felt like the end would never come, some days I really just wanted to quit, because it was hard, really hard.  As I mentioned in my "going away" post last year, I spent about 3 years as a virtually single mom, but I didn't expound on that.  When we made the move back to Florida, the hubs got a new job, a job that required him to travel.  And when I say travel, I mean they expected him to be on the road, visiting clients and making new contacts Monday through Friday EVERY. SINGLE. WEEK.  It hadn't started that way, but about six months in, that's what it became.  We had an 18-month-old at the time and I had not signed up to be doing it all by myself.  And then we found out we would soon be welcoming a second sweet little person to our family. Morning sickness with a very active toddler and no help and no breaks from being his sole caretaker was very taxing.  When the time was getting closer to our daughter making her appearance, the hubs sat down with his boss to talk about his current traveling situation and how it wasn't going to work for our family anymore once the baby came.  He was pretty much told too bad, so we decided it was time to move on and find employment elsewhere.  After a lot of praying and late night talks about what we should do, we felt it was best to come back to New Mexico.  Only problem with this was, we now owned a home in Florida that we couldn't just walk away from, plus there was the huge expense of moving across the country and finding somewhere to live in NM plus the hubs had to get re-licensed so that he could go back to his old job.  So, the hubs ended up going to NM ahead of us, to get re-established at his job, find us somewhere to live and give us time to figure out what to do with the Florida house.  We spent 7 months living in separate states on nearly opposite sides of the country.  Just over two years ago, we packed up all of our earthly possessions, hugged our family and friends good-bye and set off on a three-day drive to our not-so-new home.

All of that while I was in school full time.  With a 3-year-old and a still pretty new baby.  But we were just so happy to be a family under one roof again.  And now, the school part of my life is done.  I got to enjoy the summer with my kids without having to worry about homework or papers being due.

Because, starting last month, our family has a new school adventure.  My little man started kindergarten!  I can't believe how the time has flown!  Now it's just me and the little lady at home during the day.

Which brings me full-circle to the big announcement-the re-launch of this little ol' blog.  It's not going to be "BANG! I'm back!" but something I'll need to ease back into.  But I did want to mae this comeback big, fun and exciting for you, my awesome readers who have been so kind, understanding and patient while life took its course.  To kick things off, I am organizing a super-awesome party of sorts and what would a party be without prizes?!  There will be a WHOLE WEEK of giveaways from some of my awesome vendor friends starting October 6!  I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited!!  I'll be posting little teasers on my Facebook page, so if you're not already following along, you might want to get on that.

And if you're interested in being a vendor for the giveaway, I still have a few spots available.  Email me and I'll give you all the deets.

{Blast from the Past} Wooden Firecrackers

It's about that time again, where we start busting out the red, white and blue and all the craftiness those colors inspire.  Here's a flashback to these easy wooden firecrackers that I shared a few years back {in case you missed them or forgot about them.}

These cuties took me only about a half hour to whip up.  And I love them!  

If you want to make your own {and I know you do!}, you'll need:

three pieces of wood: 1 7 inches long, 1 6 inches long and 1 5 inches long and all about 2 inches wide

Red, white and blue paint

Wooden star

Hemp or twine

Hot glue and paint brushes

I started with this block of wood.  It was left over from the posts of our fence.  Pre-cutting, it was about 4 inches wide.  I divided it in half on two sides and drew some lines.  Then, my brother-in-law helped me do the cutting-I don't trust myself with power tools while being pregnant.  Once I had four pieces, I had him cut two shorter-taking one inch off of one and two inches off of the other.

So they looked like this.  Now, my pieces were pretty rough and I wanted them that way.  I liked the rustic look of them.  So I just lightly sanded the edges and tops and bottoms to smooth them out so there wouldn't be rough edges to catch on things or scratch up the furniture.

Once they were sanded and ready to go, I painted them.  Each piece got two coats of paint, which I let dry in between coats.

Like so.

Then it was time to add the "wicks."  I used three pieces of hemp for this that I just cut at random lengths.

Then glued to the top of each firecracker.

So they looked like this.

Then I wrapped a piece of hemp around the whole thing a few times and tied it in a knot at the back, then slid the star in.

Here they sit with some of my other red, white and blue decor.

I quite like the way they turned out.  And since I had almost everything on hand already, they were super-cheap.  The only thing I had to buy was the little star, which was a whopping 79 cents at Michaels!

It's About That Time...

I've been putting off this post.  Dreading it, really.  As I'm sure you've noticed, I haven't been around much, and by much, I mean in  like well over 6 months.  And as I got further and further behind, it was just easier to put this off.  This post where I basically spill my guts.  But I can't put it off any longer, so here goes.

I love blogging, not that you could tell from my serious lack of posts or presence in these past months, but I really do.  It's given me a great creative outlet and allowed me to connect with some amazing people {yes, if you are reading this, that includes you.}  But a lot, and I do mean A LOT, has changed in my world since I started this blog.  Two moves cross country, starting back to school to finish my degree, another wee one, being essentially a single mom for the last 3 years, and my Etsy business growing in ways I never imagined-all of this has pulled me in different directions.  Since becoming a mom, I've had a hard time balancing life and making sure that the important things always stay at the top of the list.  I admittedly have not always done a great job of that.  It's a major reason why I've let the blog go as I have.  I got overwhelmed.  I really don't know how all the mommy bloggers of more than one small child do it and manage to get dinner on the table and the laundry done.  It's also gotten to that point where every time I sit down to write a post, I find myself at a loss for what to write, then I feel like I'm forcing myself to write something just for the sake of having something to post, which I never wanted for this blog.  I feel like most of the time, my efforts are in vain.  I could be blogging just as long as someone else, with the same quality posts and pictures and whatnot, making the same effort to market and get my name out there and be a quarter as successful.  So, often times, I feel like I'm making a lot of effort, taking time away from the things that matter, the things that need my attention, for nothing.  

Then there is my ever-present self-esteem issues.  A big part of blogging is putting yourself out there for people to judge and that makes you a little vulnerable.  And I'm not always good with vulnerable, or with feeling like I'm not good enough.  There are several things I know to be fact in this life: I love my husband and children more than I ever thought humanly possible, I have been immensely blessed by a Heavenly Father who loves me more than I can fathom and whom I love greatly, the laundry is never really done and I am just your average girl.  There is nothing that stands out or is special about me.  I'll never be the maid of honor or even a bridesmaid at anyone's wedding.  My face and name are quickly forgotten, even by people I see on a regular basis.  I have several people, aside from my husband, whom I consider my best friends, but I am no one's best friend.  I'm not really great at anything, just mediocre at a lot of things.  I'll never be the favorite aunt or sister-in-law or whatever.  I'll never be that person that other people say, "Oh, you get to hang out with ________, you are so lucky!" about.  I've watched my friends make real efforts to stay close to the people in their lives that they don't get to see everyday, I am not one of those people that is worth the effort.  These are things I've come to accept about myself.  They do get me down sometimes; I recently attended the wedding of the one person I've considered my best friend for longer than I can remember.  She was my maid of honor in my wedding, I wasn't anything besides just another guest at hers.  I won't say that it didn't hurt a little.  But it's just how things are.  Now, this is not a cry for attention or praise.  It just is what it is.  

How all of my ramblings relate to my blogging absence is this: first, I need to get better at managing my time. I'm still in school full-time and have two children 4 and under running around at home.  I have my business that I so desperately want to grow.  Second, I need to find that spark that I had when I first starting blogging.  I need to feel inspired again.  So I'm officially taking a break from blogging.  I don't know for how long, and I don't know if it will be permanent or not.  I just feel like I need time to take a step back, take a deep breath and really evaluate the things in my life and see where they fit, if they even still do.

For now, this isn't good-bye, just a "See you later."  I hope to be back {for reals} soon and I love you all for being patient and supportive and awesome.

TTFN!