Don't Sweat the Small Stuff: Old Navy Sweater Review

You know a few months back when I talked about how my favorite sweater had got a hole in it and how sad I was to see it go? I loved it's half-sleeve length, it's neutral color, and weight. I was so sad to see it go! I turned it into a lovely pillow, but there was a space missing in my wardrobe that needed to be filled.

Thankfully shortly after retiring my sweater I was offered a wonderful opportunity from Crowdtap and Old Navy. They offered me and a friend a free sweater just to review it for them! I was thrilled to be chosen for it! I love sweaters, but I am so picky, so to be able to choose any sweater in the store no matter the price was awesome.

I rounded up a friend of mine and we headed out to the nearest Old Navy. We were impressed by their selection of wool coats the second we walked through the door, and wished we had the money to get a few! SO CUTE! We bypassed them as quickly as possibly and headed to the sweater section. The fun was about to begin!

The selection was pretty big, though I didn't see a few of the ones I had been swooning over online. We spent a few minutes combing the racks, picking out sweaters to try on. We ended up with about four each to try on.

A few of my selections:

 A few of Toni's Selections:

Toni's Favorite!

Torn Between the grey or the cream...

 Once we had made some selections we headed straight to the dressing rooms. I love how the new store design puts them right in the center of the stores! Makes it even easier to go grab more to try on. We each tried on our sweaters, coming out to model them for each other as we went. Soon it was down to a few favorites each. Toni Loved the cardigans, and was torn between the creamish shimmery one she went with, and a really soft black one. I was torn between one of two cowl neck sweaters. I loved the length, style, and sleeves on it, just wasn't sure if I wanted to go for the cream or the grey.

We contemplated our choices as we checked out their jewelry and accessories! I was so impressed by the quantity and price of all of it. i loved that they sorted it by color so you could quickly find just the right accessories for your outfit! I hope they do an accessory sample and share in the future!

Once we had decided on our selection we went to check out. The process was easy and all the ladies were asking about crowdtap! Who doesn't love sweaters? Especially when they are free!

Me being sassy in my fabulous sweater! LOL!

I ultimately chose the grey sweater. I love it and have worn it many times already, to great reviews. It is soft, has a beautiful chunky pattern, a lovely color, and has the half sleeves that I so loved in my last sweater! I wish I could go back and purchase it in every color! it is fantastic, and well worth the price! I know I will get a ton of wear out of it!

I am so thankful for the opportunity to try out Old Navy's sweaters and I can't wait to do more sample and shares in the future!

Bonus: Old Navy is having a sale on all their sweaters this weekend! Go check it out and grab some for yourself! You won't regret it!

Old Navy Sweater Sale!

Cinderella is Back from the Ball!

So I haven't posted in almost a week, and I have so much I should have been posting! I've got my December Daily stuff that needs to get posted, an Old Navy Sweater Review post, A tour of my house all Christmasified, my 12 days of Christmas countdown calendar, crafty stuff for the cookie party that is on Wednesday, and the Smash Ball I went to Saturday! So much goodness to go over, but I think I will have to start with the Smashball!

So here is what the Smashball is. Basically a bunch of wonderful ladies get together with their Smashbooks (which you can purchase all over the place, even on Amazon!) and have access to a HUGE array of scrapbooking products to smash to their hearts content!

I had seen the original Smashball on the fabulous Becki's blog Whippy Cake and had been so disappointed to find it was in Arizona, far far away. :( It sounded like such a fabulous event that I couldn't help but want to attend. I stored it away, and pouted a little to my husband about how much I wanted to go.

Well, long story short, a few months later I learned that Becki was bringing the Smashing fun to Utah!!!! She was having a giveaway for a ticket, and I jumped right on that, knowing that the $70 ticket was a little more than I could afford to spend right now. Unfortunately I didn't win a ticket, and I was so bummed. :( How was I going to go to the Ball without a ticket? Sad face ensued, and a few days of moping around sad that I would not be going to this fabulous event I had been dreaming about. :(

So Friday rolls around (the day before the Smashball), and I get an E-mail from Becki with a special promo code for a discounted ticket to the "Ball". With the ticket now only $50 it is suddenly in my price range to attend, since my birthday is next week, and my husband had not yet purchased a gift. So I got the okay from him, and started looking into how I would get there, and how I would get home. 2.5 hours on the bus would get me there on time, but I would have to leave at seven to get home by the same route, cutting my fun time down by 4 HOURS! So I got on facebook, posted a plea on Whippy Cake's facebook page and soon found someone else who was going that was willing to drive me home! So I bought a ticket an was off on my adventure!

My hubby had to work that morning, so I met him at the Trax station by his work with the boys. I then went and hopped on the new South Frontrunner. They were having a free day, so I got all the way from Murray to Provo for just a can of food! Of course I had to stand all the way there (about an hour and 15 minutes altogether) and my back was starting to kill by the time I got down there, but it was well worth the savings! The train was much roomier than I would have thought, and had it not been a free day I think I would have had a much better experience on my ride. It was fun to take Frontrunner for the first time, and my boys wish they had come too!

I got off the Train in Provo, asked someone which way University Avenue was and began walking the mile to the venue... silly me somehow got turned around though, and I ended up walking nearly a mile in the WRONG DIRECTION. When I finally figured it out I had a mini panic attack! Here I was in a city I hardly knew, lost... I then remembered that I am now the owner of a smart phone, and I typed the address into google maps and the wonderful GPS led me all the way back, past the train station, over the overpass, and straight to center street. I sighed in relief as I saw the Temple construction site.

I had a little time to kill, so I walked around for a bit, taking in center street, and then was drawn into the Indian Food place India Palace that was across the street from our venue for the night. It just smelled so good I could not help myself!

After eating I was off to the Ball! I received some wonderful swag! I wish I had got some better pictures of the event, but my phone was going dead, so I didn't want to waste the batteries, just in case. There were all kinds of fun accessories, scrapbooking elements, charms, so much goodness! I was so excited! There were some candles from Gold Canyon Candles that smelled amazing (ginger lime, OMG it was the best smelling candle EVER, and packed such a big punch for such little candles!). There was also some earrings from Hoopla Earrings that I just LOVED (so much that I put them on right away!) And of course there were some lovely headbands and clips from Whippy Cake! There was so much fun stuff! Oh, and can't forget the Grandma's cookie!! My favorite cookie in the world!

After I was good and done looking at all the goodies in the swag bags I made my way over to the "Buffet" This was not your typical buffet though. This was every paper crafters dream. A giant table filled with every embellishment you could possibly imagine! Bins, and plates, and cupcake holders FILLED with fabulous swag, and we could take as much as we wanted! It was all up for grabs, there were stickers, letters, pockets, ribbons, feathers, lace, rhinestones, paper, clips, brads, flowers, washi tape, stamps, ink, it just went on and on!!! I must have visited the buffet at least a dozen time during the night, and every time I came back with even more wonderful stuff! It was AMAZING!

I had forgotten my pictures to smash, so I didn't get a ton done, by I had so much fun getting to know the ladies at my table! They were all so much fun and were very welcoming. I was so nervous, since I had never been to something like this, and they made me feel so welcome. Alexes Brown, Jenny Purcell Nielson, Lori Allred, Staci Potter, and the other ladies at our table were awesome! So glad I met them, and hope I see them at other things in the future!

All of this made me realize that I need to be branching out more and meeting new people with my interests. The last few years I have pretty much become a hermit out of necessity, due to Dominic's schedule, and it has really not been good for me. I have been missing out on meeting people and doing things that I enjoy. I have been so focused on getting him through school and taking care of my boys that I have lost sight of all the things I once enjoyed! I need to start getting more involved in the crafting community we have here. Everyone I met was so wonderfully awesome, and I had more fun than I had had in a long time. It was so good for me! This will not be the last thing like this I attend, that's for sure!

I am so glad I got the opportunity to go to this! Thank you so much to all the sponsers. K&Company, Spark the Event Online, Carina Gardner, Amy Burchfield from GC candles, Hoopla Jewelry, Ellie Collection Jewelry, and of course Becki from Whippy Cake who made this whole thing happen! It was an amazing night, and I really enjoyed getting "Smashed". LOL!

December Daily: Day 3

Another day past, and another one that I am on the ball! I've got yesterday's December daily page all made! They might not be the most beautiful pages, but they are serving their purpose of getting the info down and recorded!

Here is Day 3!

 This is the spread. I attached today's photo to the back of the one from the previous day, and then journaled about a new tradition we are starting around our house, and how my husband surprised me with an early Christmas gift for it.

A friend talked about how one of her friend's family would set the table with all the nice dishes on the first of December and eat every meal together as a family at the beautifully set table throughout the month. I loved the idea, so I got out some nice glasses and dishes and set my beautiful table. The only thing missing was nice silverware. I didn't have a matching set at all, so I set it with some shiny plastic ones from the dollar store. When I told my husband about it he decided to give me one of my gifts early.

He had purchased me a beautiful set of silverware as a gift! And so I could enjoy them with my new tradition he gave them to me early. They really make the table look even better!

 Here you can see the journaling from the previous day poking through. I thought it would be fun to take these photographs on the table, since that is what I am talking about.

 A little more of a close up. Love the glittery letters I used!

And a very close-up of the photo! Even in the picture you can tell how wonderfully shiny and beautiful they are! He said he spent hours trying to find just the right pattern for me! How sweet is that?

So there you have it! Day three down! This week is going to be a difficult one to find stories, since we are pretty much sticking around the house. Next week should be more interesting, with a Holiday party, my birthday, and a few fun excursions planned! I am looking forward to getting to the more interesting stuff, but little things like this are great too!

December Daily: Day 1 & 2

Sometime soon I am going to track down my adobe suite and put it on this computer. So tired of sub par pictures! Need some editing done to them!

With that said, let's talk about December Daily some more! So excited for this project this year! I was planning on waiting until this weekend and getting all my pictures printed at Walgreens, but decided I would try printing some photos from my brother printer. the quality was WAY better than i had been expecting (it's not a photo printer, so I was not expecting much). The best part is, I have a printer app on my phone that allows me to print my instagram and other photos straight to my printer from my phone! So easy!! So I printed off a few pictures quickly and threw together the first few days.

 Here is the beginning. Added a calendar to the inside front cover, plus my fabulous divider for the beginning of December. Still am so in love with these!

 Day one. I went out to breakfast with my Aunt and Cousin and then went shopping for my FREE sweater from Old Navy and Crowdtap (more to come on that, writing up a review for the blog!). I printed off a picture of the sweater I chose and cut it down to fit the space. Journaled a little about the day on a printable card I found here. I added some fun green letter stickers to spell out "Fabulous". It was pretty quick and easy!

 Day two. Just realized this one needs a number somewhere. Will have to add that. Anyway, lots of journaling here. Wrote about our trip to the new trader Joes that just opened, and visiting with my friend Maryann!

 Here is a close-up of the picture I printed. This was us waiting in line! It wrapped all the way down the aisle! Pretty long for a grocery store!

 Pretty simple start. I think I want to go back and make an introduction page of some sort. I think i will use the picture of the Christmas tree Dominic took on Instagram.If you want to follow along with our December Daily fun you can follow us on Instagram!Just click on the little button below!