Project Life Storage

Since I've been bitten by the Project Life bug I've acquired 3 core kits, a couple themed cards by MAMBI, and some assorted page protectors.  I don't keep all of the core kits, depending on the kit I keep about 1/2 the kit so the boxes they came in were just too big for what was in them.  Plus having 3 of them made shuffling the boxes a little tricky.  I've been scouring pinterest looking for a solution and none of them were both cost effective and realistic for me.  Today while I was at Michael's I found this:

It's the extra large photo keeper from IRIS.  Michael's had their storage on sale this past week for 50% off so it was only $20.  There are 16 4x6x1 inch boxes in the carrying case.  I was able to consolidate all my cards into 6 of the small boxes with room to spare for all the new Project Life goodies that were just released last week.  I will never buy any Project Life products without a coupon.  

The top row holds all my Honey cards, the middle row holds my Midnight cards and my MAMBI cards, and the bottom row holds all of my Blush cards.  

My favorite part about this storage is that it's portable, easy to store in a closet, and if I can buy another set of these boxes if need be.  

Getting started with Project Life can be a bit expensive, however, you can use coupons at Michael's and Hobby Lobby for all Project Life branded products. 

Lots of good things!

Has it really been over a month since I posted?  Seems like just yesterday!  Well, LOTS of things have happened in this past month, some good, some bad, and some fantastic.  

I'll just get the bad out of the way.  Someone hit my fiances car in the parking lot of our apartment then took off.  Then the motor blew up unrelated to the accident.  Then our landlord went insanely batshit crazy on us, but that takes us to the good.

We got a new apartment!  Since our landlord went off the deep end we figured it would be better to cut our losses there and move.  We were able to negotiate an early end to our lease and found a much better place to live.  We have a washer and dryer so no more schlepping to the laundromat, which ROCKS.  I'm so stupidly excited about that it's not even funny.  We also have a garage which I'm sure I will come to love in the winter.

And saving the best for last, the most fantastic news ever...

These two sweet adorable little ones have come home where they belong.  I'm loving life right now.  I've only mentioned it a couple times here on my blog but they're coming home.  August 9 to be exact.  Welcome home kiddos!

Project Life

I jumped on the Project Life bandwagon!  I've always liked the concept, however, not being to actually see the physical product for the cost of it, I never partook.  Now that Hobby Lobby and Archivers, and soon to be Michael's, are carrying it I decided to give it a go.  You can also use coupons on them which makes it even better!  I'm really enjoying the Blush edition.  I also have Midnight and I'm not loving it.  The only thing I dislike is not being able to see everything in the kit.  

I must say, this is a super easy way of keeping everything simple and quick.  So far, I love it!

It may have been a month, but I have *HUGE* news!

I'm getting married!!!  

My boyfriend proposed on Friday morning!  We spent all of the weekend celebrating and just being together, we went for a bike ride, cleared out some junk, went to dinner with my future in-laws, drove around aimlessly through Wisconsin, ate dinner in Lake Geneva, and just enjoyed every moment of this amazing weekend.  I'm guessing you want to see the ring, huh?

He did an amazing job and it just sparkles endlessly!  I can't stop looking at it and just being so enamored by it.  

I'll try to keep this blog quilty related but can't promise a I'll get away from the wedding posts ;)

Heading to bloglovin'!

By now we all know that Google Reader will be no longer come July 1.  Why they would get rid of it is beyond me.  I have been looking at other reader options and Bloglovin is simple and user friendly, just like Google Reader.

So, you can find me over here at 

Do you Shopkick?

Since joining the iPhone world I've discovered a wonderful app called Shopkick.  Basically you earn points for shopping, browsing through the app, and walking into stores.  With those points that you earn you can get gift cards for various places like Starbucks, Best Buy, Target, iTunes, Old Navy, Macy's, Sephora, & Lowe's to name a few.  You can also get gift cards for Tiffany's and Coach!  

Some of the ways to earn kicks (points):

• Just by visiting the app each day (1 kick)
• Browsing through the look books and opening the surprises (can vary from a bonus board piece to kicks)
• Walking into stores (Varies but usually over 50 kicks)
• Scanning items in the stores
• Purchasing a certain dollar amount with a linked VISA or MasterCard.

You can see in the above photo at the bottom "Find kicks waiting nearby", you click on that it will find your location and give you places to get kicks in the area, excellent if you're in an unfamiliar place!

I've only been using this app for 5 days and already have 1130 kicks, they add up quickly!  I haven't used the linked card method yet but you can get some sweet deals, works out to way more than $1 per point if you meet certain limits.  As you can see Toys R Us gives you 2 kicks for ever $1 spent PLUS more kicks if you spend over a certain amount.  Best Buy is 1 kick per dollar and 350 bonus kicks for $75 spent, 800 for $150 spent, and 1250 for $200 spent.  This is in addition to any points you may earn with their Reward Zone card!  Wish I had this when I bought my iPad!

The 85 kicks you see in the upper right hand corner are the walk-in kicks I unlocked just by browsing the look books available for Toys R Us.  Next time I walk in to TRU I pull up the app and it will give me my 85 kicks.  Some of them have expiration dates but usually are within a week, others are just a few days.  I also have received 160 kicks in the last 2 days just from walking into Target, so that one resets every day.  

Clicking on the heart on the bottom right will bring up any in-store scans that may be available.  All you have to do is tap on the item to be scanned and it will bring up the camera, it will 'scan' the barcode and you will get the number of kicks it says for that item.  These are some of the kicks I have available to me for my nearest Walmart.  I'm not sure if others are different.  If I scan every item in my list I have a potential to get 105 kicks.  

Sometimes you will get 'scavenger hunt' type scans.  Today at Target for example, there are Easter scans.  There are 3 items listed that you can scan, after scanning all 3 items I got a 50 kick bonus.  I think each scan was worth 10 points.  

A word of caution, not all items will be available at each store for scanning.  For example, I had those Oreos you see to the left available to scan at Walgreen's but my local Walgreen's didn't carry them. 

Here is the Bonus Board.  Most of these are found by opening the surprises within the look books but as you can see there are some that you can scan and earn points for.  There is an error on mine, it shows the Target one as being un-scanned but the Pantene one as scanned, but when you click on it it's correct.  You can collect multiple bonuses for each time you complete the grouping.  I've completed the Crystal Light bonus 2x already and working on a 3rd time as you can see.  

So far I really love this app, it's SO much fun!  I went to Target today with the kids and they really had fun looking for the products to scan.  They truly couldn't get enough of it.  

The only thing that will delay your kicks are purchases with the linked cards.  Debit cards cannot be used because they can't be tracked from VISA and MasterCard.  Those kicks are also 'banked' until the return period has passed, when that happens it will release your kicks.  

So do you Shopkick??

**DISCLAIMER** I'm not in any way compensated for this app review, I just happen to love it!.  The app is free in the Apple App Store and in Google Play.  It's not compatible with all devices, my old phone (T-Mobile Prism) was not compatible and was not compatible with my wi-fi only iPad, not sure if it's compatible with the 3G iPads.  Also, clicking the above links will send you to my referral site and I will earn kicks for you signing up.  You can do the same for recruiting your friends and family!  

What happens when...

...you have a BUNCH of Vintage Modern leftovers from the Designer Mystery BOM?

Simple, you buy Vintage Holiday and start making some blocks!

So far it looks like I'll only have to buy some border fabric and backing.  I'll most likely have enough left over from the finishing kit and BOMs for the rest of the top.  The blocks go together SUPER quick and even with having to cut all the pieces I was able to crank out all 4 in a little more than an hour.