New year, new things

Happy New Year (almost)!  I'm really looking forward to this year and anticipating lots of changes.  The scientist has applied to faculty positions all across the country.  We could be moving this summer or fall ... or we could be staying where we are.  I'm really, really hoping we will move to Oregon.

I hope that all of you have had a great Christmas season and will have a new year full of new things.  I have a little bit of news about a new thing for me.  I was offered a chance to be a monthly contributor to the Artisan Notebook, and I've accepted.  I'm a writer now!  I have "an editor." I've written my first article, and it will appear in the January issue, which will be available in the next couple of days.  The Artisan Notebook is a wonderful magazine about digital scrapbooking with great articles, tutorials and inspiration.  I'm really happy to be a part of it.

Here are some of the layouts I've recently finished.  These first couple of double pagers represent our anual portraits with the cousins (mine and my brother's and sister's children) on Thanksgiving weekend.  It's always a stressful experience, but in previous years we at least had quite a few good photos in a variety of shots.  Not this year.  Miller refused to wear the clothes I'd picked out, and he would not take any pictures by himself.  In most of the pictures he was either crying or making one of his fake smiles.  I don't even know if I want to do it again next year.

Simple and Sweet Album Templates by Scrapping with Liz; Joyful Christmas by Vera Lim; Hugs & Kisses Alpha,
Sweet & Simple Life #3 and #5 by Gina Marie Huff; Bohemian Spirit by Captivated Visions; Photos by Sears

Double Temps Mini Set 2 by Scrapping with Liz; Joyful Christmas and Christmas Magic by Vera Lim
Sweet & Simple Life #4 and #12 by Gina Marie Huff; Photos by Sears

And here are some Project: Love, Me pages. This first was a catch-up page from November on the topic iGive.

Ianthine Templates by Scrapping with Liz; Forever Autumn Paper Pack by Allison Pennington; So Grateful by
Sahlin Studio and Sugarplum Paperie; Sunny, Autumn Sunset Handmade Flowers, Country Fair Picnic, Everday
and a few freebies by Sahlin Studio; Make a Wish by Sahlin Studio and Valorie Wibbens; HoHoHo by Miss Tiina

And here are my December pages in the theme iRejoice.  There was one additional prompt on how depression fits into my life, but I'd already discussed that in previous layouts and just didn't feel like delving into that right now, so I skipped that one.

Comfort & Joy Collection by Sugarplum Paperie; Garland Mini V2 Templates by Amy Martin
Glitter Paper by Two Shutter Sisters; HoHoHo by Miss Tiina

Comfort & Joy Collection by Sugarplum Paperie; Traditional Temps II by Scrapping with Liz
Dreaming of Spring by Captivated Visions and Studio Flergs; HoHoHo by Miss Tiina

Comfort & Joy Collection by Sugarplum Paperie; FreeTemplate by Amy Martin
Sweet & Simple Life #4 by Gina Marie Huff; HoHoHo by Miss Tiina

I do have more layouts finished but wanted to at least get these shared now.  Over the next month I'll be filling in the gaps on Project: Love, Me, and I've started a few additional pages to include  - something a little controversial maybe.  I haven't decided yet if I'll post them online.  I'll also be going back through my photos and see if there are any more "old" things that need to get scrapped for the year.  I hope to have all that done by the end of January so I can have it all printed. 

Here's to a productive January.  Cheers!

Lilypad - BYOC graph

First off, I wanted to point out that my blog looks a little different now, if you hadn't noticed.  I've changed the header, and I've added some pages in the menu.  The pages display several of my "large" scrapbook projects that have been completed or are in progress.  I still have to add more layouts to the Project: Love Me page, but the other three are all current.

I have been shopping at The Lilypad lately, and at the beginning of each month they have their Build Your Own Collab event. The December one is happening right now. The pricing of the BYOC products is on a Buy More, Save More sliding system. I've always wanted to know ... if I had a budget of X dollars, could I actually load my card with "extra" items, bringing my total higher but also getting me into the next higher discount bracket so that in the end I still stuck to my budget of X dollars, just with more items to show for it? Does that make sense?

Well, I finally did the math. All of the BYOC is at a baseline price of 20% off for the weekend, and the spending levels are based on this baseline percentage off. The language of "Spend $25, get ..." means "spend $25 at the 20% off discounted price," and the rest are the same.

Spend This	Total Discount
$25 ($31.25 full price)	35%
$35 ($43.75 full price)	40%
$45 ($56.25 full price)	45%
$55 ($68.75 full price)	50%

Here is a graphical representation.

Along the bottom of the graph is the total value of products as you add them to your cart (the full non-discounted price). The vertical axis represents the price you actually pay. The dashed red line shows a target budget of $35.  If I had a budget of $35 ... I could load $63.64 (full value price) into my cart and spend $35 (%45 off).  Or, I could load $70 and spend only $35 (50% off). The exciting parts of the graph are the downward steps (at the discount thresholds), where if you add an additional item to your cart, your total price goes down.

I know you're all probably familiar with the concept of buy more, spend more, but I thought it might be fun to actually work it out with real numbers.  If you have a budget in mind, you can refer to the chart to see how the Buy More, Save More feature is maximizing your budget.

Here are some layouts I've finished recently. Miller has a favorite friend at our daily picnic outing with preschool friends.  And she favors him too.  It's so sweet.

Double Temps - Mini Set 2 by Scrapping with Liz; Dreaming of Spring by Captivated Visions and Flergs
Just the Way You Are by Secret Stash; Cardstock Stash by SuzyQ; Vintage Vogue Elements by Sahlin Studio

Here are two more Nero Wolfe Quotes. I think they speak for themselves.

Spring Sprocket Cardstock by Gina Miller; Color Swatch Templates by Sahlin Studio (modified);
Nostalgia by Paislee Press and creashens

Simple & Sweet Albums Temps by Scrapping with Liz; Country Road by Secret Stash; Delight by DeCrow Designs
Life365 Collection by Gina Marie Huff; CU flowers by Wendy Page; Nostalgia by Paislee Press and creashens

And here are two Project: Love, Me pages on the November theme of Giving. I really hope to finish up both the November and December prompts by the end of the year. I'm a little behind, but not terribly. I'm really excited to get this project printed as soon as I can.

Simple and Sweet Album Templates by Scrapping with Liz The Family you Choose and Well Documented by 
Captivated Visions Thankful Mini by Digital Design Essentials; Life365 Hodge Podge 7 by Gina Marie Huff
HoHoHo by Miss Tiina

Simple and Sweet Album Templates by Scrapping with Liz; Bohemian Spirit, My Project V3, My Project Year in
Review, I Should Have Told You and Well Documented by Captivated Visions
Art and Soul Freebie by Sahlin Studio; HoHoHo by Miss Tiina