I'm Kind of A Big Deal...

Have you guys heard of Ana White, formally "Knock of Wood"?
Well if you haven't, go check her site and then come back and finish reading this post.

She is am.az.ing.
I love to look at her galleries and dream of building things that she does.

Like this bed.

It screams "Lauren!"
Get in my room!!!

Any way.. back to the point.
As I was browsing her site, I decided to check out her about page.

Among some of her photos I see this one...

Kay... hold the phone. Let's take a closer look... yes Ana is quite the babe..
but see that logo right by her foot...
I DESIGNED IT!

Yup, little ol' me. {blushes}

I created the watermark/logo for Exposures Studio Photography last year.
And Ana had her photos taken by them!!

How cool is that?
SO FLIPPIN' COOL!!!

Ahh... feels good to see my work around the 'net.

So, if you were wondering.. yeah, I'm kind of a big deal.
You can find me a designerblogs.com.

Don't be afraid to drop my name... maybe I'll design you a little something for free. ;)

Quiet Book

If you noticed in my last post, Mark got a quiet book for his birthday.

My sister, Ashley, who is incredibly crafty started making one for her son, Ty and I had to join the fun! So together and with a lot of help from our talented mother we each made one!!

Here is the cover of Mark's!
I loooove the polka dot and cowboy material.

Up close. Cute as a button!

The book is held together with grommets and large binder rings.

Now on to the fun stuff.. the pages!!

The first page is a tool box. Made with a template from Serving Pink Lemonade.
She has so many cute felt projects, I could die!

Next is a barn, complete with finger puppets. Inspiration from Homemade by Jill.

Tractor has moving tires and loader. Inspiration from Mustard Cut.
Ashley made the gumball machine as part of her present to Mark.
I'm not sure where that idea come from.. maybe just her pretty head!

Moving rocket that blasts into space.
Held on with elastic, for stretchy fun.
Inspiration from Mustard Cut.

Next there is a cookie jar with a dozen cookies to take in and out of the pocket at the top.

Idea credit: My Mom :)
The tent has a little pocket inside for a sleeping bear.
Inspiration from Homemade by Jill.

The last two pages are more presents from Ashley. She and my mom put these together.
The caterpillar's body comes apart so you can put the numbers in order.
The robot has stretchy arms and legs. His chest opens to show a cute little heart!

This was such a fun project and enjoyed all the girl time!
Its safe to say that we are addicted to felt.
I have one for Estefan and Allie now in the works!!

Public Lands Day -- Gold Butte

Saturday September 25, 2010 is National Public Lands Day. National Public Lands Day celebrates service and recreation on public lands. The Public Lands Conservation Committee (PLCC) is working to get people involved to help keep the Gold Butte region clean and accessible for outdoor recreation. We are working to strengthen the community of good public land stewards.

Saturday morning, my family and I are all headed out to Gold Butte to work on a Historical Documenting project. Basically we are going to drive around all day visit our favorite spots, take pictures and GPS the coordinates for maps and such. Just another day in paradise for us!

Wanna come???!

Meet us at Whitney Pockets between 7-8 AM Saturday morning to sign up. I'll be there to greet you with a donut and a smile!

For more info see SAVEGOLDBUTTE.COM

Save Gold Butte: Unified Message

Please read Dustin's newest post on Save Gold Butte and take action TODAY!

SAVE GOLD BUTTE: Our Unified Message

Love/Hate = Giveaway

I'm having a love/hate relationship with this blog...
why don't my pictures post themselves?

I'm having a love/hate relationship with my house...
why doesn't it stay clean?

The kids haven't ever really been motivated to help me around the house. I can yell and plead and beg.. but I've found bribes rewards work better.

 Recently, I found a job chart template from Brooke at Little Wonders. Brooke is amazingly crafty and well... she's super mom! So I downloaded her template and made some job charts for the kids. When they get their "jobs" done they get to do something fun like watch a movie or eat a cookie or something.


Brooke recommend laminating the charts but I got these cheap frame at Wal-Mart and you can write right on the glass with a dry erase marker.

Allie loves her pink chart. Every morning she checks to see what she needs to do and what she's already done. At the end of the day she says, "Mom we need to read our scriptures, I need a star on my chart!"

Mark just likes to erase all the stars off everyone's boards.. but he'll get it... someday.. I hope!

The job charts are really helping improve the love/hate relationship with my messy house.
So what do I do to improve the love/hate relationship with my blog?

Have a giveaway, of course!!

I'm going to give away a job chart design to one of you!
Just leave a comment, saying that you are a follower and that you love me.
On Friday I'll draw a name and announce the winner.

The winner will receive a customized job chart file that I will email to them and they can get printed at Wal-Mart or online, or wherever!


P.S.
The final four logos are up at Somewhat Simple -- mine is #3!
Go vote for me, please!!!
Thanks so much!

Logo Design Contest

I've entered a logo design contest at Somewhat Simple.

This is my entry!!
I'm #5

Go vote for me!!! PA-LEEZ!!!

Thanks, Love ya!! :)

Good New and Bad News

I have to start this post out with a little confession...

ok a HUGE confession.

I don't know if you can handle this.

Ready?

Ok.. (breathe).. here it is.

I haven't scrapped once in the last 6 months! YIKES! I know!!

(sarcasm laid on pretty heavy here, if you couldn't tell)

Now can you guess my good news?!

I scrapped!!!

Five pages done, yesterday!!

But you ask, Lauren how is this possible?? Five pages in one day?

I've discovered a new best friend...Templates!

I used to be a template hater. I would say, its not really my work, its cheating. But let me tell you IT IS NOT!!!

Templates = Time and Time = Money Happy Family

Design kit and Template from Megan Turnidge

Design kit from Megan Turnidge and Template from Cindy Schneider at Peppermint Creative

Design kit and Template from Megan Turnidge

Design kit from GG Digital and Template from Megan Turnidge

Design kit and Template from Megan Turnidge

Now after my HUGE confession I don't know if you'll be able to handle my bad news....

here goes...

this time it is seriously bad... Cry your eyes out bad.

Megan Turnidge is retiring from designing!!!! :(

I told you.. terrible. I'm still crying over this. Truly, Megan's wonderful design kits made me fall in the love with digi-design. I love you Meeeeeegan!!

She is having a huge 50%-80% off sale at her shop.

So go get these wonderful templates and kits from Megan before they are gone forever.

I'm gonna go cry some more now.... :(

Wall Graffiti by Ike

My co-worker, Erin posted a super cute painting of her son Bryson, on her blog a while back (click here to see the post). She said her brother had painted it and that he was working on some for all his nieces and nephews. How sweet!

After seeing Bryson's picture, I knew that I had to have one.. or two or three!!

I asked Erin about it and she directed me to her brother, Ike's shop -- Wall Graffiti by Ike

I sent Ike this picture of Allie

and yesterday he sent me this picture of Allie's painting!

He's almost done with it, I guess he has some finishing touches to do and then its off to the mail!!

I can't wait!! Allie's bare walls in her room need some lovin'.

Go check out Ike's shop. He's doing everything for super cheap right now to build up his porfolio -- Allie's picture only cost me $24! Tell him Lauren sent ya. ;)

Mark's Birthday and CAKE!

This past Sunday we had a birthday party for Mark.

Anyone who knows me knows that I loooove cake and ice cream. Seriously, I love it.

So I will take any excuse to make a cake.

But this year I decided that I needed some help. I wanted to make Mark something fun.. like a boot or a tractor or something. But I was completely, completely lost on how to go about it.

Enter Jessica.

Jessica, my BFF (fur real, I said BFF. Yes, I am in 7th grade) is a cake maker extraordinaire!
Check out her website, a really cool girl designed it for her. **wink, wink**

Anyway, I called Jess up and she she started baking.

I knew she'd make something great, but I was blown away by what she did!!!

Look at the amazing cake she made Mark!

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It was three tiers high!! I had to rearrange the fridge for it to fit in! It was amazing!

Here, Mark is showing it to me. 

He says, "Mark's cake...

....don't touch it...

...ok."

Mark got lots of fun stuff.

(Raegan, I'm saving the silly string for when we come to visit you!)

But his favorite was a tractor and disc!

Dad trying to pry the disc out of the box. Holy twisty ties batman.

Hookin' up the disc...

Tractor = Happy Mark

Then he blow out his candles...

 but he needed a little help reaching the top of the cake! Thanks Papa Stan!!

Not only was this cake cute, it was yummy too!

We had a lot left over after the party. A LOT left over.

So Dad and Mark got a little crazy!!

Yum!

 Thanks Jess for the awesome cake! And thanks to all our family -- we sure love you guys!!

***sigh***

Mark is two.

Where did the time go?

Save Gold Butte

One of our family's favorite places is Gold Butte, Nevada. We love the beautiful scenery, the awesome trails and the amazing Indian writings. We also love to visit the same places where our grandparents and great-grandparents worked and spent time.

Right now, there is a heated debate going on whether keeping the Gold Butte area open is a good idea or not. Many people feel that in order to maintain the environmental and cultural significance of the region, the best answer is to shut it off entirely. Others feel that it should be left the heck alone.

We want to see a happy medium. We want to see preservation to the incredible petroglyphs. We want to see designated trails, so that the desert landscape can remain in tacked. We want to see protection with access.

That is why Dustin started the Save Gold Butte blog. We want people to know that there can be a middle ground. We can still visit this amazing place of our heritage with out destroying it. Please help us inform others that our goal may be achieved. Become a follower of Save Gold Butte today and help make a difference!

Vote for Pedro.. I mean Me!

EDIT:
Soooo I guess right now people are just turning in their submissions for the design competition. The comments now are just opinons, the official vote will be next week!

Stay tuned and vote for me then, mmmmk!!!

Thanks, still love ya! Still love me? Yes. K thanks ;)

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I entered a banner design competition at Lauren's Bite.

The winner gets their banner on Lauren's blog, and braggin rights of course!

So everybody head over to the Bite and vote for my banner!!

Its entry #8

Thanks, Love ya, ba-bye!! :)

Designer Blogs

I've had an amazing opportunity pop up this week!!

Erin at Designer Blogs has asked me to join her blog design team! I'll be working with her and Amy in the Premade department. Since I'm joining forces with them, I will no longer be working through my business, Cute As A Button. If you've added my old button to your blog, please change it out for this spankin' new one:

But wait! I've gotten a little ahead of myself. Let me tell you about Designer Blogs!!

Designer Blogs, custom blog designs creates a tailer-made look to reflect the style and personality of each client.

Designer Blogs, premades blog designs are blog designs that have already been completed. We customize them with your photos, texts and anything else you'd like! The best thing about premades are that you get the samething as a custom blog base package for half the price!! There are lots of premade designs to chose from and we are coming up with new designs all the time!

Go check us out ----> Designer Blogs

If you'd like me to personally make you a blog design, just ask for me when you contact Erin!

I'd love to make you something fun for your blog!!

{Lauren Loves} What's New With The Nelson's

Hey hey hey!
I think its been a while since I've done a post about what we've been up too.
So here it is...

1. 5th Anniversary
Our get away was amazing! When we got to our hotel it was full of 12 year old baseball players. So to compensate for the noise factor they gave us an Anniversary Suite half price!! It was amazing. But no pictures because we forgot our camera. So lets just say it did not look like this....

2. SOLD
We sold our motorcycle. Its gone baby gone.
Dustin thinks I should blog the motorcycle's history... but I think it makes me sound mean. So that's probably not going to happen.

3. I love Bakerella
Go there NOW! This blog is amazing. I tried their chocolate chip cookie recipe. The cookies were yummy... but for some reason whenever I make cookies the end up looking like this...

4. Our Entry Way Remodel
Its coming along nicely! We (and when I say we... I mean Dustin) painted and painted and painted. And guess what we still have more painting to do. But its looking way better!!!
See. I helped. A little.
5. Estefan turned 7!
He wanted a Transformers cake. This is the best I could do... its a Decepticon face, if you couldn't tell.
He got a fish from my sister (among other things). He named it Timmy the fish after the cartoon the Fairly Odd Parents. Pretty funny kid!
6. Elise turned 4!
My niece Elise (ya I'm a rhymer) had a birthday party at the Mesquite rec center pool. It was lots of fun but I only got this one picture. I was too nervous to take my camera in the water!
Doesn't she look adorable with a frosting mustache?!
7. Mark is a Vampire
Yup.. see that little fang! He's got two of em. And because of them he doesn't sleep. So like I said.. Mark is a vampire.
8. My Baby Einstein
Mark's learning new words and tricks every day.

*He knows his body parts. His favorite is to show me his tongue.
* He says SHHHHH when someone is sleeping
*He points to the stove and says HOT! He also says HOT when he's outside on the cement without shoes!
9. Christmas in July
Allie is obsessed with Christmas right now. We watched Mickey Mouse's Christmas Carol and The Grinch yesterday. This morning she woke up and said, "Mom, is it Christmas yet?" When I said no. She said, "Ok, well I guess I'll just go back to sleep." Silly girl!

10. And of course...
I've been scrap booking.

Party Boy kit by Megan Turnidge
Slice of Summer kit by Megan Turnidge and Amanda Heimann
11. Last but not least
Dustin took me to see HP and the HBP again! My brother in law thinks I have an addiction.. oh well.
BTW- I love this scene. Kss kss kss!



Oh and guess what I'm doing today??!!

I'm going to Joann's! YAY!

Happy Wednesday :)