Any of you like a good challenge? I know that scrapping challenges get me very motivated, all the more so when there is a good prize involved. Well I want to make yet another plug today. This time I'm encouraging any of you who like a challenge to check out the ANYTHING GOES CHALLENGE for November at one of my favorite scrappy sites, Scrapbook.com. There are daily, weekly and monthly challenges and lots of fun and camaraderie. Go check it out and give it a whirl (and if you decide to play tell them Marci sent you!) I'm happy to answer any questions you may have!

Just want to put a plug in for a really fun challenge site for those of you who have boys in your lives (and your scrapbooks!) You will see a layout of mine here that I completed for the great ad-inspired challenge they have going on this month. But you better hurry; the month is almost over!

SCRAP THE BOYS

I'm still here and expecting to be fully back before too much longer! I've made it through the beautiful wedding and will be ordering pictures hopefully today...and if that doesn't force me to find time to scrap, nothing will!

In the meantime, I just want to put in a plug for PRE-PLANNING your pages. A couple weeks ago I took a day off and went to a crop. I took time the day before to pre-plan my pages. By that I mean I gathered a set of pictures I wanted to work with, selected a cardstock and some patterned papers I liked with it, and then some embellishments that I thought might work well. Then I tossed it all into a large ziploc bag. I did this for quite a few pages. When it was time to go to the crop I simply loaded these up as well as my "basics" and some additional embellishments that are easily portable (for example, all my ribbon is stored in one shoebox.) I added a couple of my newest things because that is always motivating, and with the addition of the vendor available at the crop (just in case) I had everything I needed to actually complete my pages with much less packing required. I've heard that this is a more efficient way of scrapping because the planning part uses a different part of your brain than the creating part. I'd have to agree because I completed 20 pages in 16 hours! Even when you add in the hours I spent on preplanning that is a pretty good pace for me!

Here are the rules for this award: To pick up the Circle of Friends Blog Award cut and paste the award logo and use it on your own blog. Nominate 5 other bloggers you feel have become part of your circle of friends.Link to your nominees within your blog post. Include these instructions on how to pick up the award in your blog post. Link back to the person who gave you the award in your blog post, to show your appreciation. Comment on their blogs to let them know they've received the award.

My nominees:

Creating Sensations
Life Reflections of the Untamed Scrapper
The Scrappy Side of Me
Bits n' Pieces of Me
Sunshine Memories

Thanks to Linda at A Day in the Life of... for giving me this award; I hope you will go check out her charming blog as well!

I don't think I ever mentioned it here but I took a little move over at If It's Groovy and am now leading up the Faithbooking team! Our challenge this month was to create a layout based on Genesis 1:1. Check out If It's Groovy to see my layout as well as those of my teammates Vanessa and Anna. I would love to see your take on this challenge as well...email me if you do one and I will post it here!

Laura ready for her first day -- EVER -- of going off to school! (Either that or posing for a Sears catalog, still not quite sure.)

Happy September!

Just checkin' in! I am going to take a hiatus from posting challenges while I focus on getting back into the swing of the school routine and preparing for Julia's upcoming wedding, but I will still be scrapping, I'm sure, so I will still be dropping in to share. Hope you will stick around!