sweet giveaway

No, not here. Head over to The Weed for a gift card to The Cheesecake Factory - oh, and a Little Thumper as well. And if you've never checked out his blog, prepare to laugh. It is not only funny but well written and highly entertaining. There's really no reason not to click on the link to The Weed. You will thank me. I promise.

winner!

I posted this on the give away post but thought I should make an official announcement that Aleisa is the winner of the You're Invited Idea Book. And since I asked you all what you're looking forward to this Spring, I will list mine as well. I am really looking forward to making my favorite yummy salad with strawberries in it (which might be more toward the later potion of Spring / the first part of Summer), wearing short-sleeved shirts without a thermal under them or a hoodie over them, not having to take my coat with me everywhere I go, lots of fresh fruit (especially berries) and hopefully a bit better weather for photo shoots. Thanks for playing along!

[A few of my favorite Spring images from Flickr. Credits: 1. Another TTV, 2. Faded glory, 3. Happy Monday!, 4. promise ~ glowing vow, 5. blues and greens, 6. The color purple!, 7. Be the student, 8. freshly-picked blackberries., 9. cherries, 10. splendour in the grass, 11. Red Red Red, 12. .pretty in pink, 13. oh look, more naturey crap, 14. spring art, 15. Nothing Compares, 16. .blue, 17. Shadow Dance, 18. Untitled, 19. farmers market strawberries, 20. Enjoy Coke.]

a giveaway!

ETA: Congrats to Aleisa, the winner of the Invitations Idea Book!

Giveaways are always fun and I could personally use a bit of fun with this dreary weather and relentless cold. It's almost more fun on the giving side too. I have an extra copy of You're Invited idea book. I have a fun little invitation in here and there are tons of cute ideas throughout this book. Leave me a comment and tell me something you're looking forward to this Spring...maybe how you plan to spend your days, a fun activity you have planned, it could be food-related...anything to do with Spring. I will draw a name on Friday.

I also wanted to mention that I have a brand new Nikon SB-400 Speedlight Flash for sale. It has never been used or even removed from the box. We shoot with a Canon so we have no need for it. If you are interested, you can email me or leave a comment. You can see the listing for it on Craigslist here. ETA: The flash has been sold.


And last but not least I finally finished editing pictures of these cuties. You can see my favorites here.

*winner*

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

4

Timestamp: 2008-08-18 23:02:52 UTC

So that makes the winner of the Paper Crafts book my friend Kristi. Congrats Kristi! I will try to find a little something to go with this and get it mailed out to you in the next couple of days.

Thanks everyone else for playing along.

a little something

Anyone want a copy of this issue? I have a project in it so they sent me some extra copies. It is not just for scrapbookers...it focuses on lots of fun projects made with paper such as home decor, cards, invitations, etc. It's full of cute ideas. Leave your name and something that is making you happy right now and I will draw a winner on Monday. I will also throw in a little something else from my stash. Friends and family are welcome to enter. Happy Thursday!

[a winner and some inspiration]

I have a winner to announce...
.....................................................................................
Hi Ashley,
I'm mostly inspired by music and quotes I find but I really enjoy reading blogs by photographers and talented scrappers like yourself :)
Jody
.....................................................................................
Congrats Jody! I used a random number generator, which picked the number 8 and that's you. Email me your address at ashleylschultz[at]gmail[dot]com. Thanks to everyone for telling me what inspires you. I thought it would be fun to list eight things that inspire me (since the winning number was eight).

1. Photography Looking at amazing photography inspires me to take better pictures. Some of my favorite photographers are Tara Whitney, Karen Russell (who I am taking an online photography class from this summer and I couldn't be more excited), Ali McLaughlin, Candice Stringham, and Allison Tyler Jones. Flickr also has a plethora of pictures that keep me visually inspired, such as these. I especially love pictures with bright colors.

2. Music Music inspires me to be creative and makes me happy. Some music also inspires and uplifts me spiritually. Some of my favorite songs for inspiration come from Regina Spektor. She is so creative and talented. I love this song and this song, and this song (and I think it's cute how these girls lip sync to it). I am also inspired by this song every time I hear it. It makes me reflect on my life and how blessed I am. I also love the soundtrack to this movie. As far as spiritual inspiration, Kenneth Cope's music has always inspired me. Many of the hymns also inspire me to be better.

3. People who advocate for change such as Jane Addams, Martin Luther King Jr., Crystal Lee (Jordan) Sutton, Alice Paul, and many others. I admire that these people stood up for what they believed in and did everything they could to instigate change and secure social justice.

4. Movies














Inspiring movies I've seen lately include Stardust (because I thought it was very creative), The Bucket List (because it was very touching), and Norma Rae (a movie from the 70s - I had to watch it for a class and I just loved it. I was so inspired by the conviction of the main character and her efforts to bring about change). Movies that have inspired me that I saw quite a while ago are Across the Universe, Big Fish, Elizabethtown, and Stranger than Fiction because they are creative and different movies.

5. Blogs. There are too many inspiring blogs to list all of them that I love, but I will list a few of my favorites. Karen Russell, Kelly McCaleb, Karla Dudley, Ali Edwards, Keisha Campbell, Ali McLaughlin, Pioneer Woman, Danielle Thompson (who I already mentioned in another post but I have to list her here to because she really inspires me a lot) Cathy Zielske (I adore her clean and simple scrapbooking style), Elsie Flanningan...so many more.

6. Pretty stores like this one in Seattle:

And this one in Arizona:


And this one in Texas:





And of course I love this store (I never shop there because it's too expensive...but a girl can wish. For example, I think this mirror is pretty dang cute but is it worth $700? I don't think so). And I have to add a few etsy shops to my list that are inspiring me as of late.
I love how simple the things are in this shop.




And Kelly's shop always has the cutest handmade things in it. I love these things especially:





People who can sew really inspire me.
I think the tags are really fun in this store:


And this store:

And the tags in this store are pretty darn cute too.


Okay, enough window shopping for now.

7. People who have faith and live their lives according to their beliefs like my mom and sister and my husband and many of my friends also really inspire me.

8. Wendel. He is so supportive of me finishing school. He really believes in me, which inspires me to reach my goals and my potential.

Wow, this is a marathon post! I could go on and on...so many things inspire me, but I need to get off the computer and spend some time with W.

Have a good night!

NSD Drawing

So today is National Scrapbook Day. To celebrate I'm doing a little giveaway. Leave a comment and tell me what you're inspired by (music, movies, photos, sites, blogs, stores...it doesn't have to be scrapbook related) and I will draw a name. The winner gets a bunch of patterned paper (Chatterbox, BasicGrey, 7 Gypsies, Fontwerks, Creative Imaginations, American Crafts, Making Memories, and others) some SEI ribbon, some Making Memories eyelet phrases, a few word embellishments, and some rubons. I have so much stuff and I want to purge a little so I thought it would be fun to share. Even if you aren't a scrapbooker, this stuff would be fun for making cards too. Also, if you don't have a blog or your blog name doesn't link to your blog, be sure to leave your email address so I can contact you. (You can leave a comment even if you don't have a blog - just choose "other" and type in your name.) If I can't contact the winner and haven't heard from that person within three days I will re-draw.

Have a great day! ETA: I will draw a name on Tuesday.

winner!

Okay, we have a winner. I put all the names in a basket and had my husband draw one out. Here's the winner:


Congrats! What a big milestone!! I've been visiting your blog for a little while now. Not quite sure how I got here....you know how blog land is...clicking on links and finding so much inspiration.
Heather lapalapa@hotmail.com

Congrats Heather! Email me your address and I will send this stuff to you. (ashleyLschultz@gmail.com)

Thanks everyone for playing along. This was fun. I'll have to do it again sometime.

one year

The contest is closed.

Today is the one-year anniversary of my blog! I really cannot believe it has been a year - time has gone by so fast this past year. In honor of my little blog, and to thank all of you who stop by, I'm going to do a little drawing. I have an extra copy of Paper Trends December / January issue (I have a fun altered project in it) and I will also throw in a few other scrapin goodies. And don't worry - this issue isn't just all about Christmas and Holiday stuff - there is also lots of other fun stuff in it. It is also not all about scrapbooking. It has ideas for lots of things you can do with paper - invitations, cards, altered projects, gifts, etc. so still enter even if you aren't a scrapbooker. So leave me a comment if you want to be in the drawing. I will draw a name on Wednesday. (If you don't live near me, I will ship the stuff to you.) ETA: You can leave a comment even if you don't have a blog. Just click on the comments link below this post and choose "other" or "anonymous" - but be sure to leave your name so if I pick you I know who the winner is.

In other news, I sang a duet today. I can mark that off of my goal list - yay! It was scary, I tell you. There were 100+ people there, all staring and Crystal and me. I seriously thought I was going to fall over because I was shaking so much. I didn't think my legs would hold me up. Any time I made eye contact with anyone this wave of nervousness washed over me. But we did it and I think it was okay. (So thanks, Crystal, for talking me into it.)

We are getting ready to go up to Seattle for W's work party. Should be fun. Have a great weekend!