So, the original reason I started this blog was because I truly enjoy scrapbooking. Am I the best at it - no. But I find joy in doing it. Therefore, I started my own little scrapbooking business. It's been a lot of fun and A LOT of work. But as a stay-at-home mom, it has helped me to get my creative juices flowing.

I don't know if any of you have ever felt this way as you are raising your children. I thoroughly adore being a stay-at-home mom. And I would not have it any other way. However, it is very easy to relax and have days roll by where absolutely nothing is accomplished. Joining Close to my Heart has helped me immensely to pursue the hobbies that I really do enjoy doing. It has made me make time for the things that I do enjoy. And with that, comes a much happier and fulfilled me! Which is really best for everyone involved, right?

I have pictured in this post, my Father's Day Layout, my 4th of July layout, and my Somewhere Over the Rainbow layout. These are all made with Close To My Heart products. My business offers these layouts in kits for you to assemble. The cost is $10. Please comment to me if you are interested. Or you can check out my Close To My Heart website by clicking on the flashing STUDIO J square in the top right corner of this blog. This is where you can view all of my creations and purchase Close To My Heart products.

So, I am doing my first drawing ever!!! After you check out my website, http://www.lov2scrap.myctmh.com/ comment on this blog which of My Art you like best and one of you will win a layout of your choice for free! This contest ends July 24th!!! Spread the word! :)

Birthday Girl's Hero

Looking for a cake that doesn't break the bank or the clock and will leave your favorite little girl oooohing and awwwwing? Well then, this is the cake for you!!!

And the kicker is, it was super easy!

My daughter turned 7 this year and her party theme was flowers. I was browsing the net and found a similar cake to this one. However, I pretty much just did my own thing once I got the idea. What could better fit a flower themed birthday than a rainbow cake! Not only on the outside, but on the inside???? Cutting into this cake was very fun!!! When we pulled the first piece out everyone in the room stopped and said wow! Even some of the dads! So be your birthday girl's super hero - make her a rainbow cake with the super easy instructions below!

*I made my rainbow cake SUPER tall, so I mixed two yellow cake mixes as directed. Then I measured them out equally into several bowls (one for each color, I had 4 colors).

*Next, I added color. I used the neon gel colors. You can pick them up at any grocery store. You could use whatever colors you want. I however, wanted intense color and these worked very well.

*Then using 9" round cake pans, I baked 2 cake layers of each color so that I had 8 thin layers all together. I baked them as instructed on the box. However, remember to keep a close eye on them, because they are thin and you don't want to overcook them. I took them out when a toothpick poked in the middle came out clean. This took a little bit of time, but because they were so thin, it really wasn't too bad. Then let cool.

*As for icing, I used one of my fave icings and tinted most of it blue. I withheld just a bit of it though and added yellow to this. I then placed the cake layers on top of each other alternating the blue & yellow icing so that there were even more colors on the inside. Ice the outside with the blue for the sky. Build a rainbow out of jelly beans or Mike & Ike's or whatever! Use mini marshmallows to garnish for clouds.

Remember I just saw something similar to this and ran with it! Isn't it funny how things give us inspiration??!! Where do you get your inspiration? If you try this and change it up, let me know! I'd love to get other people's feedback and ideas! Remember your only limitation is your imagination!

Ahhhh, to be a newlywed!

Going to a wedding always brings back that nostalgic feeling of being a newlywed. I think most newlyweds probably have felt this feeling, or at least I hope they have - Carefree, Cloud 9, all is well with the world......not that being married for 10+ years isn't great. I'm not trying to knock the bliss that comes from being happily married to a great man. But that newlywed feeling is a feeling that I remember fondly too.

Over this past weekend, I had the oppurtunity to attend and be part of a wedding. The beautiful bride, my niece Chelce, was brave enough to ask me to help out with a few of my far fetched ideas. Now, I don't profess to know how to do everything perfectly - however, I will say that I like to give things a try. So, of course, I said yes. Hopefully she thought it turned out as well as I did. It always kind of makes me feel a little proud when some of my thoughts come to life and actually look good!

We started out with a fantastic view of the lake, but a rather ugly bbq pit right in the way! Therefore, we had to make a few adjustments to help this take shape.

The bride's colors were black, white, yellow and damask design. She initially wanted an arch that would go over by a building. I suggested that we get creative with the bbq. One of the best parts about the venue was this beautiful view of the lake. Therefore, what started out as the bbq pit, became this:

Can you tell there is a bbq pit hiding under there? It took about 5 minutes for the boys to cut me a piece of plywood to help create a shelf to rest our kissing balls on.

And yes, I did make the yellow kissing balls. They were striking! And they were suprisingly quite easy with the help of Oasis floral foam spheres and fifty flowers.com. The hardest part of this arch design was finding the damask white runner. I searched high and low for it at the last minute of course. But can you tell what it is? It's a shower curtain! From bbq, to plywood, to shower curtain, think outside the box and you might just create something that you adore!

Have you thought "out of the box" recently? Comment and tell me how! I love new ideas!