Hello and happy Wednesday, scrappy friends!I am loving the weather in my neck of the woods, but I know it's still very cold in many places, so today I am sharing a hot chocolate inspired treat.I made these hot cocoa cupcakes for my twin girls' birthday this past weekend and they were a huge hit!!Ingredients: 1 box chocolate fudge cake mix 1 1/4 cup milk 2/4 cup oil 3 eggs 1 small instant hot cocoa packet 1 box instant dry chocolate pudding mix marshmallow buttercream frosting mini marshmallow bits chocolate syrupDirections: Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 2 muffin tins with paper liners. Beat the cake mix, milk, oil, eggs, hot cocoa packet, and dry pudding mix together in a large bowl until combined and smooth. Portion the batter evenly into the muffin cups. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the … [Read more...]
March Challenges
Hello everyone! It’s Polly Karen here and I'm here to show off a brand new batch of monthly challenges. Each month we have 8 brand new challenges that are posted in the forum Challenge Pad on the 1st (the BYOC Challenge is posted on the 1st Friday of the month.) You can use the challenges simply to inspire you to keep creating new layouts OR you can also earn yourself a fabulous coupon for your next shopping trip in the Lilypad Store. (2 challenges = 10%, 4 challenges = 20% and 6 challenges = 30%). Those who complete at least 7 challenges will be entered in a drawing for a $50 gift certificate! Isn’t that an awesome prize?!?! You’ll get lots of great memories captured in your scrapbooks AND you could win a fat gift certificate prize!!! Pretty great, right?! So let’s take a look at this month’s new batch of challenges!1. Template Challenge - First up we have Courtney … [Read more...]
Welcome, March BYOC!
Hi Pad Scrappers!Polly Liana here, with the honor of introducing you to the gorgeous new BYOC for March. For those of you new to the concept, BYOC stands for Build Your Own Collection. Imagine being able to create a “dream team” of designers for a collab… that’s what this is like. Each month, our fab designers create a group of products around a central palette and concepts. Then, you can pick and choose what works for you and everything coordinates perfectly. Great, right? It’s always released on the first Friday of the month (can you believe it’s MARCH already??). Just a tip– it’s actually released the evening before so for you eager beavers, just look for the newsletter alert and you’ll find all kinds of brand new goodness in the store. Let’s have a look at the collection for this month. It’s a bright, colorful homage to the potential approach of spring with some lovely … [Read more...]
February Challenge Spotlight
Hello everyone and welcome back to my regular challenge spotlight posts! It’s Polly Karen here bringing you the first regular Challenge Spotlight post for this year after my super sized MOC spotlights last month. Once a month I have the privilege of looking through the challenge galleries to find just a few of my favorite layouts and shine my spotlight on them here.If you aren’t familiar with the challenges, here’s a little information about them to get you started. We offer 8 monthly challenges in the forum each month. If you play along with these challenges you can earn yourself a coupon to use on your next Lilypad shopping spree. You will earn as follows: 2 challenges = 10% off, 4 challenges = 20% off and 6 challenges = 30% off. Also, if you finish at least 7 challenges, in addition to your coupon, you will be entered in a drawing for a chance to win a $50 gift … [Read more...]
Monthly Digital Declutter and March Wallpaper
Hi friends!!!At the end of each month, I like to do a little decluttering of my digital spaces. Today I want to share with you five things you can do each month to digitally declutter. I also have a cute March desktop wallpaper to share with you as well!Clutter overwhelms me and completely stresses me out! I find that this is true just as true in my digital spaces as my digital spaces. The end of the month or beginning of a new month is the perfect time to do a quick digital decluttering.Here are five things I do each month to declutter: Organize Photos - In Lightroom I go through and sync and organize all of my photos taken during that month. I put them into dated folders and delete photos that are not wanted. This is done with photos taken on my DSLR camera and phone camera. I also sync any photos my husband may have taken on his phone as well. This sets me up for … [Read more...]
Photograph Meal Time
Food is a large part of our lives, our daily routine. Take photos of meal time, so you can scrapbook about it.Before you start preparing your meal, have your camera ready, whatever camera you use is okay, just be sure that there is enough light to get a decent exposure for your photos. I use a speedlight with my camera if there isn't enough natural light to properly exposure my images, so I will keep that handy, in a dining room drawer, for easy access. I will take a test shot and set the manual settings on my camera so I'll be ready to quickly stop meal prep, cooking and servings, to take a photo. The key here is to be ready, so you can be quick about getting a photo. I've learned over time that both my hubs and my dog don't like any interruptions when it's time to eat, they don't appreciate my efforts to document meal time with photos LOL....so I try to be as inobstrusive as I … [Read more...]
Digital Photo Painting
Hello all my artsy friends! I hope everyone is enjoying the Love Our Designers event that has been taking place since the middle of February (and continues through the first three weeks of March). If you don't know what I am referring to, we are celebrating one of the TLP designers each day (with coupons and sales and challenges). Check out the Love Our Designers thread in the forum to find out who we are celebrating today. :) I just wanted to stop in today with a quick tip for sprucing up the photos on your digital layouts. One of my favorite ways to add some interest to a photo (or in my case, one of my daily sketches) is to add some digital paint to it. This technique works great on black/white photos or sketches, but can also be used with color photos. Here is an example of the technique: I added a painted flower stamp from the Bright … [Read more...]
Memory Pockets Monthly: Fresh
Hi Pad Scrappers! It's Monica here again with another fantastic collection for Memory Pockets Monthly that I know you're going to love!This month's collection, Fresh, is reminiscent of all the brilliant freshness that comes with spring. I'm so ready for this fresh new season of bright beginnings and growth. This fantastic collection is just what I need to get me geared up for spring even though the weather isn't quite there yet.Memory Pockets Monthly is a monthly pocket scrapbooking collection collaboration by six of our amazing designers. It is available as separate purchases or as a subscription. Each month has a theme with coordinated color palates and kits what work incredibly well together.The main kit contains: 24 – 3 x 4 journal cards, 4 – 4 x 4 journal cards, 6 – 4 x 6 journal cards, 94 elements, 1 alpha, 8 solid papers. 14 patterned papers and 1 template. The … [Read more...]
Scrapbooking Home
Hi friends!! I hope you are all having a fantastic month!My family is preparing for another big move this summer. As a military family, we typically move about every two years to a new location. This time we'll be moving from El Paso to the Washington, DC area. Each move makes me nostalgic and this one is no exception to that.Over the last fourteen years of being a military family, we have lived in eight different homes. Each one contains so many memories that I hold dear in my heart.As we are gearing up for our next move, I began thinking about the importance of home and scrapbooking each of the homes I've lived in.I've pulled some of those layouts to share with you as inspiration to think about scrapbooking your own home, or homes, as the case may be.I actually had this layout printed on canvas and I typically have it hanging around moving time. I need to … [Read more...]
Baking Up Some Inspiration
Hello all my artsy friends! I am dropping in today with one of my favorite comfort food recipes (and it actually falls into the "somewhat healthy" category too). Sometimes when I am struggling to overcome a digital scrapping creative block, I try to focus on other creative activities. Baking is not something I normally have a lot of time for, but I love to experiment in the kitchen when I can - and baking/cooking requires a good deal of creativity. One of my favorite grab anytime snacks are muffins. They are small and cute and you can have them for breakfast, lunch or even dinner/dessert. I love to create unique muffins that combine different ingredients. One of my recent faves are Blueberry/Oatmeal/Banana muffins. I substitute Greek yogurt for the heavy oils and unhealthy ingredients and have come up with a semi-healthy version. Without further ado, here … [Read more...]