I wanted to give My Mr. Right a little souvenir, if you will, from our ABC Date.  I saw this idea on Pinterest.  It popped up a few times, so I had to take a look at it.  What a cute idea.  So, I whipped one up for My Mr. Right one night after Little Monkey was asleep.

Here’s the How:
1)  You will need to come up with something for each letter of the alphabet.  I tried to think of things that were unique to My Mr. Right and myself.  It was a bit of a stretch with some of the letters and that’s what took the majority of the time (about an hour and a half). 

2)  Then I opened up my favorite Photoshop and made each letter it’s own little card.  I chose to do the letters in four different colors in random order.  I also typed out a little explanation of what the letter stood for in our relationship.  Some things were memories, some were inside jokes, and some were just reminding him of things I like about him.

3)  During naptime the next day, I printed those cards on to white cardstock and cut them apart.  I print the letters to 3.5×5”.  I cut out some scrapbook paper to 4×6” squares and used Tacky Glue to stick them together. 
 
4)  I then hole punched each card and slid it onto a… well, this thingamabob.  I searched for the technical name of this little ring, and couldn’t come up with anything across the board.  If you know what it’s called, please inform a girl…  Thanks.


5)  I then wrapped up my ABC Book in some brown paper packaging and it was ready to be gifted.  Not too bad and, he liked it.  I’m also contemplating displaying it our room… but that’s another post for another time.

Krista

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The seasons are on the verge of change and that means away with the shorts and sandals and in come the sweaters, boots and scarves.  I love Fall Fashion.  To me, it has always been so much easier to personalize my wardrobe and style when it isn’t too hot to wear layers.  This Fall, you’ll want to be on the look out for these gorgeous pieces to keep yourself looking hot while the temperatures begin to cool.

1.  Charcoal nail polish.  This shade is much like the smoky eye, but on your fingertips.  It will add a touch of sophisticated cool to any outfit.  Look for an iridescent shade, which will flatter all skin tones.  You can apply more layers for a darker, more dramatic look.  I am in L-O-V-E. 

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2.  Sparkly shoes.  Sparkles and metallics are what this fall is all about.  Add some shine to your wardrobe.  It doesn’t need to be loud, just a little shimmer with go a long way.

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3.  Simplify your baggage.  Sometimes, simple is best.  That’s this season’s trend for handbags.  Ditch the clunky, chunky blingy bags for something simple, yet stunning.  A bold print or classic, sharp lines are wonderful for this Fall.

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4.  Shiny tresses.  Do glossy locks every go out of style?  Nope.  But, it can be hard to achieve after a whole summer of sun and salt.  To help revive your hair and protect it against the quickly approaching winter, use a good conditioner and a shine serum.  Avoid heat tools unless absolutely necessary and don’t brush your hair while it’s wet (if you can), since wet hair is more fragile than dry hair.

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5.  Hold your horses, the ponytail is in.  The ponytail is a classic.  Sometimes, it gets a bad rep as the “mom do” and I’ll admit I’m guilty of that.  Take a few extra minutes a dress up your ponytail with a clip or some curls.  Go all out and get a stunning up-do.  In any case, get out those rubber bands, girl!

6.  Neon pop of color.  The key to this is the POP of color.  Don’t go overboard.  A cami under a neutral-colored top, a fun handbag, some bright shoes, an eye-catching hair accessory or paint your fingernails with a pretty shade of bright pink or yellow.

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7.  Mid-calf Skirts.  This Fall you will see skirts flitting around the mid-calf length.  Perfect to still show a little leg, but keep you warm too.  Pair with some strappy pump or a clunky peep-toe.

8.  Metallic Eyes.  A bit of shimmer to your peepers will draw the attention to those gorgeous eyes.  Golds and a shimmery pearl or silver are perfect for daytime use.  Bronze and shimmery charcoals will glam your evening look up a notch.  Throw in a pop of shimmery color (blue, green, or purple) for an extra bold look.

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Krista
What are your fave Fall trends?

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Let’s talk scrapbooking… I don’t know about you, but I really enjoy it.  Always have.  I remember the summer before my littlest sister was born… My mom was on bed rest pretty much the ENTIRE pregnancy.  It was a LONG nine months, for everyone!  Especially since my sister was born in September.  That meant a whole summer of my siblings and I being stuck inside our house.  It’s a nice-sized house, but definitely not big enough for a three month confinement without going a little stir-crazy!  None of us were old enough to drive yet (I was only a freshman in high school) and we pretty much had to fend for ourselves, as my mom couldn’t get out of bed and my dad was at work all day.  The point of this story?  I scrapbooked my little brains out, at the time, for lack of anything better to do.  The more I did, the more I realized I liked it. 

Unfortunately, physical scrapbooking isn’t in my budget these days.  All those supply costs seriously add up, and fast.  So, I took to the digital version of my hobby.  And it’s perfect.  Most of our photos are digital anyway; and, it’s allowed me to not just scrapbook our lives, but learn some web design and things like that too.  All the digital elements on While He Was Napping are all things I’ve done myself, with the help of some awesome digital kits and Google.  I’ve begun creating my own digital elements.  It’s exciting to learn something new.

The digital software available is numerous, from the crazy expensive Photoshop (which is my preferred program, but it is CRAZY expensive, think multiple hundreds of dollars) to some of the more basic stuff.  And you know what, for the most part, the far less expensive software is just as fantastic as Photoshop and it’s so much more user-friendly!  Who doesn’t like user-friendly?  Ease of use is a major upside, right?  Which brings me to… My Memories Suite Digital Scrapbooking Software.

Image courtesy of My Memories

When Liz at My Memories contacted me with the opportunity to try and giveaway a copy of My Memories Suite, I couldn’t turn her down.  This program is pretty darn awesome!  It’s easy to use, even if you’ve never done any kind of digital scrapbooking.  But wait, you can do so much more than just scrapbook layouts.  You can make photo cards, add music and video to your pages, share them digitally or have them printed into a photo book.  All of which is super easy to do.  You can use pre-designed templates where you drag and drop your photos into place, add your background and any embellishments you want and save. 

The software comes pre-loaded with some great embellishments, papers and other goodies.  On their site you can download digital kits and elements.  They are reasonably priced and also offer some great free downloads, as well.  You can upload your creations and share them with the My Memories community, too.  Get ideas and be inspired by other My Memories users.

Image courtesy of My Memories

The My Memories Suite retails for $39.97.  That’s an awful lot of digital power at your fingertips for an affordable price tag.  However, one While He Was Napping follower will win a copy of the software for FREE!

Would you like the chance to get your hands on a copy of My Memories Suite?  Here’s the how: 

Image courtesy of My Memories

MANDATORY ENTRY:

1)  You must be a public follower of While He Was Napping blog via GFC.  Just hit the blue follow button.  If it isn’t showing up, refresh the page and try again.  You must also visit My Memories website.  Come back and tell me which of their digital kits is your favorite in the comments section.

Optional Entries:

1)  Follow My Memories on Facebook.

2)  Follow My Memories on Twitter.

3)  Follow While He Was Napping on Facebook.

4)  Tell me, what is your favorite thing about Autumn?

That’s a chance for five entries.  Please leave SEPARATE comments for each entry or you won’t get the correct number of entries.  Also, if you would like to be contacted if you win, leave an email address.  This giveaway will close Monday, September 19, 2011 at 9am PDT.  I will announce a winner later that day.

If you would like to go ahead and get your own copy of My Memories Suite, you can get $10 off the software, as well as $10 to the MyMemories.com store.  Simply use the code STMMMS52335.  Copy and paste the code into the “Coupon/Promo Code” box on the “My Cart” screen.  This code never expires.  It is good for $10 off the My Memories Suite v2 (the current version of the software) and your software will come with a $10 coupon code to use in the My Memories store.

Good Luck!

Krista

Welcome to the party!  I know there are lots of places to party and I thank you for joining us here.  So, let’s get to it.  A few features from last week:

Here’s a fun, inexpensive date to do with your sweetie.  This is what we did for our sealing anniversary this year.  It took some planning to come up with some thing for each letter, but after that it was fairly simple.

Here’s the How:
1)  I started by making a list of the ABC’s down one side of a piece of paper and then went back and filled in each letter with activities that started with that letter.  For example, A is my intro letter to the whole date, so I chose to do A is for Adventure.  B is Breakfast in Bed.  I is for Ice Cream.  L is for Lunch.  S is for Sonic Run – sometimes you just NEED a slushie or Dr. Pepper with fresh limes.  U-X were a little more “Mommy and Daddy” activity oriented…  And Z is for Zzzz’s.  It’s the last one (obviously) and closes out the day.  (To protect the innocent and keep things family-friendly here, I blacked out some of the letters.  If you really want to know what they were, you can download the whole list HERE.)

2)  I typed up a little clue for each letter and then printed it out and cut them apart.

3)  After I put Little Monkey to bed one night, I sat down with my Netflix Instant service and folded 26 little envelopes.  You could totally just use something so much more simple; but, I figured for this anniversary, I’d go a little more all out.  And, it seems, I have more time than money.  I already had the scrapbook paper and everything else.  All it took was time.  I used an alphabet stamp set (that I got for half off, woot woot!) and stamped each letter on one of the little envelopes. 
 
4)  Then, I put each clue in the corresponding envelope and sealed it.  A couple of the envelopes had things in them too (K needed some Kiss Coupons and R was a coupon for a massage).  I made everything small enough to fit in the envelopes.  There are a couple letters that will be attached to larger items as well.  A CD will be attached to E (entertainment).
 
5)  Now, for the actually date.  I made sure that we had no pressing plans one Saturday.  When we woke up, I handed My Mr. Right the little “A” envelope.  He looked at me like “Oh, great.  What little scheme did she concoct now?”  He hates surprises and I love them, so he never does them and I do them all the time.  Might seem a little counter productive, but we’ve decided to just live with it.  Anyway, he opened it and the day began.  We both made breakfast and the the plan was to eat it in bed, but we decided that that was better suited for a meal without Little Monkey.  Maybe not the most romantic thing ever, but hey this is real life. 

6)  We continued through the alphabet.  Sometimes the letters were given out close together and sometimes there were an hour or more between letters.  I printed myself out an extra copy of the clues, so I could make sure to give them out when they needed to be.  I’m working with mommy brain and pregnancy brain here, so I need all the help I can get.  Enter my cheat sheet.

7)  It was a great day.  I planned inexpensive activities that would fit easily into our budget and that we enjoy.  Playing at the park, rummaging the thrift store, an easy (yet very yummy) lunch at home.  I spiced up my dinner plans a bit by doing crock pot rosemary and garlic chicken with alfredo penne.  Easy and not prep time intensive, so it allowed me to spend time with my family, yet it received rave reviews.  Remember, you don’t have to spend a lot of money to have a fun day and make some great memories. 

8)  If you don’t have a whole day, that’s ok.  You have options!  Split the date into several dates.  I saw (I don’t have any idea where though, if you’ve seen it too, let me know where so I can throw in a shout out) one couple who did a date with one letter each week/month.  They went and rode go-karts for G, had a picnic for P, went to the drive-in movies for D.  Things they had wanted to do, but never did.  It was great motivation to step away from the “dinner and a movie dates”.  If you only have an evening, pack the letters together.  You could do Appetizers, Beverage, (Main) Course, and Dessert all for dinner.  Or get food-specific.  Be creative.  Coming up with your activites for each letter will take you the longest of the whole planning process, but spread it over a week or so and it shouldn’t be too bad.
This was such a fun date.  It didn’t go exactly as planned, but when does life ever?  We had a couple of extra errands to run that we squeezed into the schedule.  Grocery shopping isn’t really romantic, but we still were able to spend the time together.  Little Monkey didn’t nap for very long and that cut into a few activities.  Our lunch was so big and late (not to mention delicious) that we didn’t eat dinner until 8pm.  Oh, and My Mr Right came back from his business trip sick.  And he’s been so kind as to share… Thanks, Honey (if you’ve ever been pregnant and sick at the same time, you know you can’t take any of the good drugs.  You just have to suffer).  Things still worked out just fine.  Sometimes TIME is the very best gift.
If you do your own ABC Date, I’d love to hear about it.  I spend a lot of time in planning some of our date nights and those are the ones that are always the most memorable.  Sometimes, it’s nice to do an easy dinner and movie date night.  I promise that camping on the living room floor, your little beach party, an at-home spa night, or the bookstore date will be remembered far more than the weekly (or monthly) dinner and a movie.

So, go romance your sweetie and put a little thought into it.  It really is the thought that counts sometimes.  Have fun!

Krista

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