Happy Birthday Lena!

Yep, today is Lena's birthday! 26 years ago today she made her grand entrance into the world! I just want to wish you a wonderfully happy birthday!

We are going to have a lovely evening, I think. Chick Flicks, yummy dinner and chocolate cake. I can't wait!!

Today is the absolute last day of our BIGGEST SALE EVER! Rush on over to ACOT and grab up all the yummy stuff we have :)! K, shameless plug over LOL!

So....whaddya think? I made a new layout for our blog last night. It took me FOREVER. I thought I would never get it done. I was determined though. Look for more neat improvements in the near future. I used our Berry Sweet kit for the layout and the blog header, which isn't new --but still, just thought I'd let you know!

A couple days, a long blog post!

Well, where do I even start! Friday, we were all going out to run some errands and to Wal-Mart. We weren't even TWO miles from home when our front passenger side tire blew out bad! Lena called her ex-husband and he came to help us. Of course, that couldn't go smoothly, we were out there struggling to get it changed for almost two hours.

Then we went to Wal-Mart and they didn't want to completely honor Lena's tire protection warranty. So they had to call a manager and haggle about it. I was very proud of Lena, she stuck to her guns and eventually they agreed to do what they were supposed to do. Lena even ended with the next most expensive tire as a replacement.

Well, if you are wondering why Lena called her ex-husband, instead of David, her current husband. It is becuase he got stupid and cheated on her with a teenager. So she kicked his butt to the curb. Good for you, Lena! She has some awesome layouts to share soon!

I got up Saturday morning and had a wonderful, yummy breakfast of CANDY! Man, I love being a grown up. I know I certainly wouldn't have had the opportunity to eat a bunch of candy for breakfast as a kid. Of course, unfortunately, I have the thighs to prove it. If only we could have the best of both worlds!! Lena and I vegged out last night and watched Notting Hill. We also had breakfast for dinner. We made biscuits, gravy and eggs last night! How's that, candy for breakfast and breakfast for dinner LOL!

Today has been a nice slow day so far too. We got up and took the kids to church this morning. There was a play put on by the kids who attended summer camp, so it was fun for Nathan too watch. My little guys went to the rooms for their age group. Tristan was so excited to be in playing with other kids, he didn't even say goodbye to me!

We've spent the afternoon, with me taking care of business stuff and Lena studying for her science test. I told Lena I was getting excited to start designing when she was done with her studying and she asked me if I could get excited about designer dinner *lolol*! Well, I guess I had better get to that dinner designing!

Hurrah!

Well, I have a bit of CT news! I am officially a Scrapfaery!! I made it onto Becky Vosburg's team at PDW. I'm so excited. That's not all, I am also creating for Brenda Kempf again :)! I was previously a member of her CT prior to my hiatus from my so called life. I'm just head over heels today!

We are going to do laundry tonight, what fun :)! Yes, I'm being sarcastic LOL. However laundry time has it's merits when it's a big fun family affair :P! Lena and I are very much enjoying our visit together. We talked for hours last night about EVERYTHING. Gosh, I love having a sister.

Here is the layout I was trying to post yesterday, Blogger finally cooperated with me. Soft and Pretty Paper Pack by Traci Reed. Ribbon (recolored) by Ronna Penner. Alpha by Laura Alpuche. Stitching by Shabby Princess. Font is Pharmacy :).

Longing for fall!

I like summer and everything, I like all the seasons. My favorites are fall and winter though. I am so DONE with summer! I'm ready for October and Halloween and fallen leaves. I know it's still only July and August and September lie ahead with icky sticky days.

I've been trying to share my layout on here all day but I keep getting an error from Blogger. I guess it will have to wait until tomorrow or whenever Blogger figures out what it's doing.

Had a rough night with the boys, neither wanted to sleep. So everyone is tired today. Well, Lena just walked in the door and I want to catch up with her. See you bloggers tomorrow!

Where it all started!

Yay, I safely made it up to see my sister yesterday! It's so nice to be back here where it all started. Lena and I formed Bella Gypsy Designs when I lived with her here for a few months earlier this year.

We thankfully had an uneventful trip up here. I never realized it would be scary to drive through Cincinnati for the first time by myself, it really was though! I gasped when I turned the curve and saw the whole city right in front of me. It's very unnerving!

Did you see the new video code I added! That's the song I've been raving about, Stars and Boulevards by Augustana. Isnt' it awesome. I'm so proud of myself for figuring out how to do it. Yes, she can be taught! Well, nothing else is happening this morning in Bella Gypsy Land, as Lena is gone to class right now. But we'll keep you updated if we do anything fun ;)!

So glad to be online again!

Whew! My internet has been totally messed up all day. I was going through such major withdrawal! I'm so glad it's all fixed now, I didn't know how much more I could handle. I actually managed to get some cleaning done this morning, can you believe it. It's amazing what can be accomplished with no internet!

Is it wrong to eat icing for dinner? Probably, huh? I guess I had better get off my tush and make something before it gets any later. I wish someone could send me some energy for that task.

BIG NEWS! I'm going up to visit Lena for a little while! I'll be leaving tomorrow morning and spending a week or two with her. I'm very much looking forward to some time with my sister!

Well I abandoned this post a few hours ago and now I'm finally back to it, to finish up. I did scrap one page today. I'm so in love with the song Stars and Boulevards by Augustana. Check it out at http://www.augustanamusic.com! This LO is based on those song lyrics. I used Shabby Princess' Olivia Collection. Font is CK Roxi.

Scrapping Away!

Naps are glorious! My boys are napping right now and I'm in heaven! I love quiet moments in the house, they are so soothing to the soul.

Have you all taken advantage of our sale yet? You definitely should, not sure how long it will run yet! K, enough product plugging!

I'm really enjoying Mad Girls in Love by Michael Lee West. It's slightly quirky and funny. You can practically here the southern drawl when you are reading her book. I wish I had more time to read, being a single mom cuts down on time for a lot of things. It's all worth it though ;)!

I'm thinking about taking another hot bath while the boys are asleep, they are so relaxing. And yes, it is boiling hot here too, but I keep it like a meat locker in my house, so I'm gleefully oblivious to the summer heat outside LOL!

Now, curious why I couldn't show my other two LOs yesterday? I couldn't share becuase I did them for my new creative team!!! I'm a new addition to Saskia Bokker's team :)! I just love her bold, vibrant use of colors and the nice clean shapes on her papers and elements. My first LO is with her Danny Kit...


My second Lo is wither her kit, Riley...


Aren't they awesome kits! You can check out more of Saskia's stuff at Addicted to Digital, Polka Dot Potato and Digiscraps.de!

I also have been scrapping away this morning. Also for CT work ;)! I had the great pleasure of using Paula Duncan's new Lavender Thistle kit!


And my new favorite LO, right now is using Lauren Reid's Kinda Krafty {Starlight} coming soon to digiscrappin.biz!

Walk, Run, Swim!

Everybody go and take advantage of our celebratory sale!! Okay, advertising over -- for now mwahhahhha!

Is it too early for Christmas carols? Probably, huh? I find myself listening to What Child Is This, right at this moment! I'm not crazy, I just put my song list on shuffle and play all, so this just happened to be on my list. Of course, a saner person, might skip the song but not me. I heart Christmas. Get back to me around October, then I break out the carols for real!

Ah, now the song has changed to Ms. Jackson, a little more seasonally appropriate. Today has been a really quite day in the Reed household. I've scrapped a bunch! I've done 4 LOs just today. I can only show you two of them today though, the others will have to wait at least until tomorrow -- you'll see why then :)!

I caught the boys napping earlier today and decided to take the moment to have a nice boiling hot bath - the only way I like them. Lily was so funny, she tried to jump into the bath with me. Of course when she realized that meant she would get wet, she skedaddled her tail out of there. Silly puppy!

Okay, I've tried my hand at sketching today and I'm pleased with the results :)! Here is my first LO done from my own sketch!! I used Paula Duncan's Daisy Chain Classic. Stitching by Shabby Princess. Fonts are CK Funky and Send Flowers.

Okay, my second LO from my second sketch! I used Traci Reed's Elemental Emotions. Font is 2Peas Hot Chocolate.

The Biggest Sale Ever!

Tab and I just put 72 different items on Sale at ACOT to celebrate our birthdays! :) Check them out and stock up now! HUGE SALE

~Lena

Vintage Dream!

Tabatha and I just got the prettiest kit completed! It's called Vintage Dream and is available at ACOT. We had so much fun completing it, too!

Things have been hectic for me and Tab lately...I know my hyperemesis is back with a vengeance! It's been a rough week, including a hospital visit until 5 this morning, but I'm soooo glad to have had this kit to come home to and work on--it's a nice creative release for me!

I'm thinking we are having a sale soon...so keep checking back!
That's all from BellaGypsyLand for now...we need to get on here and introduce our new Bella Babes...but that's for another day! ~Lena

chit chat...

You know what I love? I love my octopus hair clip! I always admired that easily little flip up do that people would wear with those jaw clips. My hair has always been too heavy and thick to even think about using one of those. UNTIL, I found these great octopus clips, they are perfect for heavy thick hair. So nice to have a change from my pony tail some days!

So I'm just here blogging with one sleeping toddler and one entertaining himself, just loudly enough that the sleeping toddler is sure to wake any moment now. I finally tried burning a tart! Not a Yankee Candle one though. I'm much too poor to have one of those and the nearest Yankee Candle store is like 60 miles from here anyway. I've got a good old Dollar store tart. I actually like it pretty well :)! I still love my liquid potpourri though!

Yay, I scrapped THREE pages yesterday! Thank you Miss Kimberly Geswein! I used her sketches which come in these FABU layered psd files. I was thrilled to discover they worked perfectly in my PSPX. They made scrapping her sketches so fun and easy to do.

Okay here is one of my LOs, isn't if a fab sketch!? I used DSD's Priceless kit and the font is Pea Carrie Script.

Hot Hot Hot!

I'm so glad Lena posted our new kit preview in her last post! I agree with her, life is imitating art. It's MISERABLY hot here today. I'm tempted to go crack an egg on the sidewalk to see what happens *lol*!

Gabriel was supposed to have had a consultation for plastic surgery on his hand today (he has some webbing) but I ended up having to reschedule because I can't afford the gas right now!! Ack! Can you believe how high gas prices are?

I finally got out of my pj's today. Mostly becuase I HAD to go the grocery store. Have you ever seen one of those blinkies that said "live in my pj's" or something to that effect. I can't speak for everyone but in my case it's absolutely true. I only take off my pj's if have to leave the house (and not always!!). I really do wear pj's nearly 24/7, I have collected quite a lot of really cute pj's too so I don't feel too bad about it. I figure if I'm going to be at home all day, I might as well be comfortable too.

I have deciced to stop reading Intensity right now. It is very reminiscent of a foreign movie I saw not to long ago. I think the movie might have been based on the book, or someone owes Dean Koontz some money! I'm about to start another book called Mad Girls in Love by Michael Lee West. It looks like a good read :)!

Onto another bit of mindless chatter...flip flops!! I've always been against flip flops...for myself. I admired other people wearing them but I couldn't reconcile myself to walk around with something between my toes. I thought it would feel weird. I have now changed my stance. I'm pro-flip-flop! I heart them so much. Someone gave me a pair that were too cute not to wear. It did take me a little while to get used to the feeling of something between my toe but I endured for the love of shoe fashion! Now I own two pairs of flip flops and wear them both very often! It's the closest thing to not wearing shoes, which is my favorite! Despite the fact that I own 8 pairs of shoes and two pairs of flip flops, I still would rather be in bare feet!

It's going to be an Indian Summer

--at least in BellaGypsyLand it will be...but I think as HOT as it here right now, life might be imitating art!!! Here is our newest kit, Indian Summer, available at A Cherry On Top, right now! Oh, it has just been one of THOSE days and I'll have to explain later. But for those of you who are counting down with me, 31 DAYS till I have my bachelor's degree! And the way Naomi was squirming around today, I think she's tired of me sitting at school all day! I have read that babies in utero prefer the mom to be up and walking around because it sways them to sleep. Who knew? Well that's all from my world for now--at least all that's worth repeating.
~Lena

Sunday night!

So it's 11 pm on a Sunday Night and I'm doing exactly what everyone else is doing. I'm eating corn! Corn on the cob to be exact LOL! I can't help myself, I had a craving. No, I'm not pregnant I'm just weird. If you want pregnant, you should talk to miss bagels with cream cheese and TOMATO :P!

So Sunday has been a nice quiet day here. I scrapped a little, I read a little, I played with my boys a lot! I just finished up She Walks These Hills By Sharyn McGrumb, great book! I love Appalachian fiction :)! I'm starting on Intensity by Dean Koontz, dramatic difference there! I just ordered a bunch of books off of ebay. Seriously, I ordered like 30 books LOL! I love to read and I figured getting a bunch from ebay would be more wallet friendly than Barnes and Nobles.

I went to Kim C's launch party for her new Rad CD! I can't wait to get my fingers on that collection. I love boy kits, if you can't tell LOL :P!

Here is the first page I did today. I have felt really blue about my little angel girl today. I used Jen Wilson's Snow Fairy kit and Katie Pertiet's messy stitching. Fonts are CK Maternal and CK Birthright. My second page today was little more upbeat, it's welcoming Lily, our new puppy :)!! I used Eve Recinella's Sugar Pie for this one! Fonts are 2Peas Hot Chocolate and 2Peas Fiddlesticks.

Happy Day!

It's been a pretty quite day here. I've designed some with Lena (look for some fab new kits soon!) and did a LO, which I'll post shortly. My big wonderful hurrah is that I got accepted as a member of Traci Reed's CT!! Her stuff is so fantastic, I'm so honored to be a part of her team, and I also think it's funny we have the same last name and initials and be both have two boys! I also got a guest spot on another CT, for another Reed too. Actually it's Reid, Lauren Reid :)! I get to be a guest on her CT for the rest of July and August :)! I'm so psyched!

In less fun news, we have two diaper rashes in the house. Boo! Hiss! My poor little guys are so unhappy. I can't wait until Tristan is potty trained, I think it will be soon!

Well, I'm feeling up for a nice sizzling hot bath, so that is where I'm headed! Here is my first LO for Traci's CT with her fabulous new Super Boy kit!

We have Winners!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS TO: Mandy Fickler and Lesley Reyes!


Well, the Baby's Got Style Contest didn't last very long at all. I was happy to see that I am not the only one who likes baby GAP enough to recognize thier colors. The baby GAP gift boxes and gift bags are ADORABLE!!!! They are brown bags, and the inside of the bags have a pattern that is navy, brown, white, pink, blue and yellow vertical stripes. The handle of the bag is a gross grain ribbon with the same striped pattern. You can see at the GAP website, where the colors come from, though I couldn't find a picture of the actual bag on the site....I do have a bag in my closet but I'm too lazy to go take a picture of it. LOL

It's not just me, though. Tabatha loves baby GAP too. Do you need proof? Here's Tristan.

Isn't he cute? But I'm the biased aunt, of course. We sent our two lucky winners coupons to pick up the new kit for FREE!!!! We also sent 30 percent off coupons to those of you who guessed incorrectly...but there were some good guesses! BUT WAIT!!!! If you are one of our blog readers, you are going to be treated today with a coupon just for that. Go to: http://www.acherryontop.com/digital/type/digital_downloads/company/bella_gypsy_designs/?sr=0 and you can pick up the Baby's Got Style kit for 15% off just by entering in the promotional code, blogreaders ---- It's our gift to you, without the tissue paper and stylish gross grain bow.

That's all the news from BellaGypsyLand, I suppose. Tabatha and I are working today on some new kits, Jubilee and Indian Summer. So keep your eyes peeled for the new kits....and who knows? Maybe a new freebie or a new contest! You just never know! ~Lena and Tab

CT Call and other things!

We can't wait to hear from you!! Email lena@bellagypsydesigns.com AND tabatha@bellagypsydesigns.com by July 18!!

Well I can't really say that anything particularly exciting has happened in the Reed household today! I finally got to watch my taped Big Brother yesterday but still haven't seen Rock Star. Big Brother was awesome yesterday though. GO KAYSAR!! I'm so thrilled that he won. I'm trying to stay away from Big Brother boards this year, they consume me if I start visiting them, I'm trying to watch only the show...let's see how long that lasts LOL! I don't even know who was kicked of Rock Star becuase I missed that show becuase of the concert. I'm trying not to look it up until after I watch the show I taped on Tuesday.

Ugh! Tristan is desperately fighting off a much needed nap and driving me insane. He's sooooo grumpy! I've hardly gotten anything done today! Just picked up the living room a bit and did a load of laundry, which barely the tip of the iceberg on what needs to be done. Dishes...ugh!

I got my cord for my camera today!! I can finally unload the pics off my camera *yay*! Now just waiting for the battery charger, so I can charge her up :)!!

Have I introduced to you Lily yet? She is our Jack Russel Terrier pup. What a handful she is!

Not the best photo of her but she won't sit still a second. She's quite rambunctious!

A New Kit and a CONTEST!!!!

Well, first of all, we have a new kit, Baby's Got Style. It's available at ACOT.

Now, for the contest! :) Do you recognize this color palette? We got the inspiration for this color palette from one specific thing. E-mail either one of us with your guesses! The first person who e-mails Tabatha and the first person who emails Lena and correctly identifies where the inspiration for Baby's Got Style came from will both receive the kit for free! We know it sounds a little silly, but trust us. SOMEONE will recognize where this color palette came from. We will notify the winners via email and post it here on the blog. If, in a week, we don't have the right answer, we will post clues on the blog and the contest will continue :) So, do you think you recognize these colors? Then email your guesses to lena@bellagypsydesigns.com or tabatha@bellagypsydesigns.com

Busy, busy, busy!

Just sitting down here to enjoy my lunch while the boys are having a bit of a nap! The house is so quiet and peaceful, I hear the whisper of the Wonder Pets playing softly in the background while my boys snooze. I'm feasting on a veggie burger and a ice cold glass of Pepsi. Have I ever mentioned how much I love Pepsi! I love it way, way, way to much. Being out of Pepsi constitutes an emergency in this household *lol*!

Well, I'm finally back from a nice long hiatus. Things got overwhelming in my life and I left Lena to run the business by herself. (Thanks sis ;), I love ya!) I'm feeling great now and ready to go! We have two fabulous new kits out now! Calypso and Berry Sweet are available at ACOT right now!. I love these so much and I hope you will too!
















I had such a great fun filled day yesterday. I don't usually get to do anything like this but I went to my very first concert EVER last night!!! My friend, Kesha and I, drop up to Riverbend in Cincinatti. We stopped at IHOP and I had the best chocolate chocolate chip pancakes ever, I'm so sad we don't have any IHOP's near us now! We got to see The Goo Goo Dolls and Counting Crows in concert!. The show was awesome! There was also a really cool band band that opened for them both called Augustana. You should really check them out here: http://www.augustanamusic.com/ they are great! I grabbed their CD while I was there.

Sorry, I can't share pics but I forgot my camera :(! Not that it would have done me any good because ONE, I lost my battery charger *gasp* and TWO I lost the cord that connects the camera to the PC *GASP*! I'm not completely scatterbrained (just mostly) but after spending some time with family I came home and can't find anything. I have ordered a new cord and battery charger becuase I've given up on looking for them. I'm so bummed I didn't get to take pictures :(.

I still haven't got to watch Big Brother All Stars and Rock Star I taped the other night. I'm going to try and catch it today. It's definitely a PJ day here at the Reed household. I just want to curl up with some yummy coffee flavored with Creme Brulee and burn a nice warm candle, watch tv and cuddle with my little guys.

Wanna free kit? Wanna Coupon? Here's how....

We are offering this kit 100% free!!! Here is how to get a 40% off coupon too!!

Download kit!
Make a layout using ONLY Bella Gypsy Designs
Post it to your usual gallery(ies).
E-mail either lena@bellagypsydesigns.com or tabatha@bellagypsydesigns.com with a link to your LO
We will then e-mail you a 40% OFF Coupon to use on our designs at ACOT!!!

Have fun and can't wait to hear from you!!

Download kit here!
http://www.bellagypsydesigns.com/limited/bellagypsydesigns_summerfun.zip