tomorrow is Easter...

Part of me is so excited. I can't wait to wake up and dress my kids in their Easter outfits, cook a big dinner, hunt for eggs and talk about the reason we really celebrate Easter. I miss the sunrise church services of my younger days but I have been lazy about finding a new church so I really wouldn't know where to go. Anyway, part of me is really approaching this holiday with a heavy heart. Last Easter was my grandma's last holiday with us. She had been ill for a long time and we honestly hadn't expected her to make it to Easter. A few days before she became very lucid and started making plans for the holiday. On Saturday she had us all cooking up a storm and running around to find Easter treats for all of her great grandkids. By Sunday morning she was starting to slip back in to that 'fuddled' state of consciousness and while she knew we were there, I don't think she realized it was Easter nor was she able to really enjoy the holiday. It was difficult. It was also truly the beginning of the end for her. She passed away a few weeks later.

I know she wouldn't want me to sit here and dwell on all of that though so I am trying to stay chipper and just remember the good times. This year has definitely been odd though, I threw myself in to planning what the kids would wear and what treats would be in their baskets. I was so busy planning all the details that I forgot totally that I would have to cook at home this year. We've always had dinner at Grandma's. It was so strange trying to plan an Easter menu. I finally decided to go with what Grandma always made since I know the familiarity of it all will be comforting to my family.

Anyway... the Easter bunny was at our local Walmart yesterday. We decided to take the kids down. My daughter has had an aversion to characters in costumes for a long time so we were afraid she'd go running when she saw this life sized bunny. Instead she went over, told him hello and stood beside him careful to make sure she didn't touch him. LOL. She's a girl after my own heart, she told me she wanted the picture for her scrapbook. In all honesty, she could have cared less about actually seeing the bunny had it not been for the picture. Our little guy on the other hand, he was rather oblivious. He sat on the bunny's lap and chewed on his hand.

We got the obligatory photo taken by the person running the event and then Dh snapped a few for us so that I could have something to scrap. This was my favorite of the bunch.

See that frame around the picture? That's a sneak peak of something that is in my Easter Basket Surprise. I love goodie bags and grab bags and I haven't offered one since November so I decided to do one for Easter. Its full of 100mb of goodies. There's a little something for everyone.

This is only available through Monday so hurry to pick it up... for just $2 you get all the goodies inside. :)

You can pick it up at Digi Scrap Divas , Digi Scrap Shak , Elemental Scraps or One of a Kind Scrapz. Its the same at each store, choose your favorite. :)

And... lastly (before I get busy cleaning and take my daughter to a birthday party) one of my fabulous CT members, Dodo, has created two fabulous quick pages using my Easter Blue's kit. These are just adorable so be sure to pick them up! Here are the layouts she made...

Download them here. If you see Dodo around, please thank her for the awesome pages!!

bad, bad blogger

Yes, I'm a bad blogger. I don't update nearly enough.

Anyway.. first off, the Bowl for Kid's Sake donation drive... thanks to the wonderful and supportive digi scrapping community, I'm just $15 from my goal :) Thank you everyone! Its not too late to donate, I am accepting donations through Friday. On Monday (we have a big weekend planned) I will announce the winner of the year of Sherri goodies!

Okay... on to other things...

I've been busy today! Not only did I finish a cute new kit (which will be at Elemental Scraps sometime Monday) but I did 2 element packs, started another and two layouts!

First off... my new kit. I have to show it off because I'm proud of it. My daughter was a little put out that I had done a boyish Easter kit and not made a kit for her. While this started out as an Easter kit, it didn't end up that way. I'm much happier with the end result though.

See? I told you it is cute! I had so much fun with this one. I didn't want to stop adding more goodies to it. When I was finished, I did something I rarely do... I scrapped with it! I don't take time often enough to scrap with my own kits but I was sorting through some old pictures and saw a batch of Easter ones from a few years back. I just had to scrap this one!

It seems like I am always scrapping Caity pictures. I promise, I do scrap my son now and then, lol. He is such a busy blur that I don't get as many pictures of him as I'd like... and Caity is 3.5 years older so I have tons more pictures of her of course. I took some fun ones of the boy on Saturday though. It had rained all day Friday and our back yard was a mud pit. The sand box was standing in water despite having the lid on it. Of course, the kids (especially Declan) decided it would be fun to play in it, water and all.

Melissa Bennet over at Elemental Scraps has this great kit called Mud Tracks. I was so excited when I realized that it was perfect for my mud pictures! Here's my layout using Melissa's fun kit...

Isn't my dirty boy cute? He was right back out there in the mud today... I can't seem to keep him clean, or ind0ors!

Anyway... its 3am here and I need to get myself to bed. Spring break is over and my girl goes back to preschool tomorrow. She is really looking forward to it, but I am not looking forward to getting up early with her. She has this funny sense and knows which days are school days and she gets up bright and early to be ready in time (though she doesn't go until after noon).

Before I go though... be sure to check out Elemental Scraps' designer challenge. Just one week left of challenges (my goal is to post a new one on Monday afternoon) and the participation prize for the last week will be a good one! Also, to wrap up my month as the featured designer I will be having a big sale... stay tuned!

a huge thank you!

I am so excited, impressed, and genuinely thankful for the donations I've received for the Big Brothers Big Sisters Bowl for Kids' Sake tournament! This community is just fabulous and I feel blessed to be a part of it! I've nearly reached my goal already and I couldn't have done it without the support of you fabulous digi-scrappers!!

I need your help... its for a good cause! (and a freebie!)

Every year my husband participates in the Bowl For Kids' Sake fund raiser. Every year I cheer him and the rest of the team on. This year I've decided to join in the fun, bowl a few games with my friends and raise some money to help out the kids.

Here's where you come in... the tournament is to raise money for our local chapter of Big Brother Big Sisters. I'm a SAHM and I just can't get out and wrangle up donations like I used to be able to do. I decided to see if my friends in the digi world could help me out.

Here's the deal... for every dollar you donate (directly to the BFKS website) I'll give you two dollars to spend on my products at Digi Scrap Divas, Elemental Scraps or One of a Kind Scrapz. Not only do you get to claim this donation on your taxes but you can treat yourself to some digital goods while helping out a child! What could be better??

I'll tell you what!! For every donation of $10 you will be entered in a drawing to win all of my designs for an ENTIRE YEAR! You will get everything that is current as well as anything I release for a whole year (not including collaboration kits with other designers or store mega kit contribution pieces)!!

So... donate to a good cause... claim the donation on your taxes... get twice the amount you donate in digital goods (you can use the coupons yourself or give them as a gift! I'll create the coupons in any denomination you wish) and possibly win everything I design for a year!

Can you help a girl out?? Click here to go directly to the donation page.

After you make your donation, please email me (simplysherri@sbcglobal.net) with your first and last name and your reference number (this will be on the email confirmation you receive) so that I can get your coupons to you!

And, since I believe in this cause so much... the first 3 people to donate $5 or more and email me will get my newest kit Easter Blues FREE!

And now... after you've read all of that... I have a little freebie for you. This layered template was created for a template chat at Digi Scrap Shak. It is in .psd format with multiple .png layers for those of you who use DIP.

Download here... enjoy!