Nettio Designs

Design + Creativity + Adventure = LOVE

An Update on my 28 at 28 List

POSTED ON IN Life Adventures, the 28 at 28 List 9 Comments


One of my big goals for this year is to complete my 28 at 28 list. I heard about this project a few years ago after seeing it on both Elise and Kelly Purkey‘s blogs.

For those that haven’t heard about this before, it’s really simple. Around your birthday, you make a list of goals equal to the age you are turning that year. You then have until your next birthday the following year to complete your list.

I chose to make my list full of fun things that I’ve been wanting to do for awhile but you could easily make a list of crafty projects, scrapbooking layouts, etc. It’s totally up to you and it’s an awesome way to get yourself into your scrapbooks a bit more too.

My original plan had been to create a list in 2009 for my 27 birthday. But as Adam deployed to Afghanistan just a week after my birthday, I had other things on my mind at the time and just never got around to writing out a list. So when my 28th birthday rolled around last May, I was determined that this year would be the year.

I’ll be turning 29 (eek!) on May 24th, so with just under three months to go, now seemed like a good time to share an update on my progress and what my plans are for the rest of the unfinished items. So without further ado, my 28 at 28 list as it stands right now:

  1. Go on a picnic

    Done. Adam and I took advantage of the gorgeous weather last weekend to knock this one off the list.

  2. Bake something from scratch

    Not yet, but I love to bake so this one should be fairly easy.

  3. Start a blog

    Done. Obviously, haha.

  4. Visit a state I’ve never been to

    Done. Not only did I visit one new-to-me state but I knocked this one out of the park by visiting THREE new states in ONE day: Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Take that item number 4.

  5. Complete 3 mini-albums

    No, but I do have plans for this one. We’ll see how it goes.

  6. Go on a dressy, romantic date night once a month

    Once a month sadly didn’t happen. So unless someone invents a time machine in the next 3 months, I think I’m out of luck, haha.

  7. Keep a positive attitude during our move

    Done. Military moves are always stressful but I’m going to give myself an A+ on this one because I think I actually handled everything really really well. Certainly a lot better than our last few moves which was my goal.

  8. Sew something pretty

    Technically I completed two projects that would count for this but I’m not ready to call this one done just yet. I’m going to see if I can fit in the project I really meant when I added this to my list.

  9. Start my own business

    Done. A little something called NettioDesigns.

  10. Complete a December Daily 2010 album

    Sadly, not done. I honestly don’t know how Ali Edwards does it. Maybe she has scrapbooking elves who come in the dark of night and create her pages for her? I managed to get through about day 16 so it is more than half done. Maybe if I get a second-wind of Christmas-yness in the next three months, I’ll try to finish mine up.

  11. Take a weekend trip to a new city

    Done. Adam and I took a weekend trip to Houston last October to see the Houston Texas play the New York Giants.

  12. Visit a new National Park

    Done. We stopped at Carlsbad Caverns National Park on our way from Colorado to Texas. If you’ve never been there you should go. It is AMAZING.

  13. Go on a bike ride

    Not yet, but I’m thinking it needs to happen soon – preferably before it gets super ridiculously hot here in Texas.

  14. Make three new friends

    I largely put this on the list because I knew it would be a big challenge for me. But I’m going to try to make this more of a priority over the next few months and see what happens.

  15. Learn to shoot in Manual mode

    I’m kind of undecided about this one but we’ll see.

  16. Read five non-fiction books

    I’ve read 4 so far: The Happiness Project, Craft Inc., The Art of Nonconformity and Eat, Pray, Love. With just one book to go, I’m thinking this one should get done fairly easily.

  17. Do something that scares me

    Done. Adam and I went ziplining in Hawaii and even up to the morning of I was tempted to back out. But I went and I LOVED it. It was a highlight of our trip for sure.

  18. Complete at least one themed scrapbook album

    Definitely a no. I’m kind of scared at the idea of tackling this large of a scrapbook project. So we’ll see how it goes. If I do, you can be sure I’ll share it here.

  19. Go on a romantic vacation for our 5th anniversary

    Done. We went to Hawaii for 14 days. It was awesome.

  20. Expand my jewelry collection

    Well if going from zero to two counts then yes, haha, but I’d still like to work on this one a bit more.

  21. Create a system for my photos & scrap supplies

    Not yet, but this is on my list to work on this month and I will be sharing my progress here on the blog.

  22. Go local more often

    Done. And we’ve found some really great places that we love.

  23. Go to a professional football game

    Done. This one goes hand in hand with Number 11 when we went to Houston and watched the Texans play the Giants. It’s definitely a difference experience from watching on TV!

  24. Watch 5 classic movies

    1 of 5. We watched The Wizard of Oz a few weeks ago because Adam had never seen it. Crazy, right?

  25. Create an art/scrap canvas

    I actually forgot this one was on the list, haha. Oops.

  26. Go on a train ride

    Done. Adam and I rode on the Royal Gorge Railroad just before we left Colorado Springs.

  27. Start a new tradition

    Done. Although next year will really be the test to see if we keep them up.

  28. Document this list

    Technically done. As evidenced by the layout above, I have documented my list. But I would like to put together some kind of album documenting more of what I did for each item so for now I’m going to call this one 50% done.

So that brings my grand total to 13 items completed – 15 to go. So about half-way done? I think that’s good-ish considering how busy we’ve been since my birthday. I do find it kind of funny that pretty much all the travel/adventure type items are done and pretty much all the crafty ones remain. Not sure what that says about me, haha.

So what about you…anyone ever tackled a list project like this before? Were you able to actually complete your list? And is anyone thinking it would be fun to make a list for their next birthday? Adam’s birthday is on Friday so I’m trying to convince him he should make a list in honor of his 28th birthday too – we’ll see what happens!

If You Blink, You’ll Miss It

POSTED ON IN Announcements Leave a Comment

Does anyone else feel like February flew by ridiculously fast? I feel like I blinked and the month was over before. Perhaps it has to do with my being out of town/visiting family for 14 of the 28 days?

But it’s definitely been a busy but productive month around here!

I was lucky enough to be featured at both The Daily Digi (see my profile here) and the Sweet Shoppe (see my profile here) this month and of course my personal shoppe here at NettioDesigns officially opened too. I was even able to cross a few items off my 28 @ 28 list (which I’ll be sharing more about soon). Not too shabby in only 28 days, no?

Sadly the end of February means my time as the Sweet Shoppe Treat of the Month and as part of the The Daily Digi DigiFiles is ending, which means TODAY is your very last day to pick up these two exclusive sets of templates. So if you haven’t stopped by and picked up these templates, I highly recommend you do as after this month, they’ll be gone for good.

Darcy’s Inspired by Nettio templates at Sweet Shoppe Designs:

My contribution to the February Digi Files at the Daily Digi:

Don’t forget if you buy the Digi Files, you get ALL of these awesome designers’ products at a GREAT price:

Goodbye February, you’ve been a great month! Now bring on March!

Saying Goodbye to a Tiny Little Grandma

POSTED ON IN Life Adventures 4 Comments

Clouds

Photo by Chu

For the last few weeks I’ve been thinking about how I wanted to start off this new blogging journey. Should I share some of my scrap goals for the year? Chat about my plans for Faves: the 2011 Edition? Share my 28 @ 28 list? I hadn’t really settled on what topic I would choose – I just new I wanted it to be something special.

And then Adam’s grandma passed away. And all those ideas seemed a bit silly.

Last Saturday, Adam and I left for a last minute five-day trip to California to attend his grandmother’s funeral. The last time we had been in CA was in July, when we had stopped over for a week on our way Hawaii, specifically to spend some time visiting with his grandma.

When we were in college, we visited her quite regularly as our university was only a short distance away. But with deployments and living both overseas and out of state thanks to the military, our visits had become few and far between. Although both Adam and I knew in the back of our minds that it’s was always a possibility with her being 86 years-old, I don’t really think either of us left that visit in July thinking it would be the last time we would get to visit with her.

Adam’s grandma was much like you’d imagine a grandmother to be. Watching Adam interact with her was somewhat comical as at 6 feet tall, he towered over her petite 4’9″ frame. She spoke with a thick Columbian accent which made her both difficult to understand and incredibly endearing and cute at the same time. Our visits with her were never what one would call exciting, but that wasn’t the point. Watching her face light up when she saw that Adam had once again come to visit her made our time spent there absolutely worth while. There was never any doubt about how much she loved seeing him and how proud she was of all that he had become.

On our drive home from the cemetery on Tuesday, Adam and I were talking and he made a simple statement – how he wished he knew more about what his grandma was like when she was younger. What was she like when she was our age? We of course know the basic facts of her life, but it was a bit of a sad moment when we realized that there are so many little moments and memories unique to her that are now forever lost. It made us wish that we had made more of a concentrated effort to ask and document these stories on our trips to see her.

It was at this moment that I turned to Adam and said simply:

“You see. THIS is why I scrapbook.”

Sure I love products, design, photography and technology as much as the next girl. But the heart of scrapbooking for me will always be the stories. Documenting all those little life moments that reveal who we are right now at this moment. Maybe I’ll never have children or grandchildren who want to know more about what my life was like when I was younger. But it makes me smile knowing that if one day someone does want to know more about what my life is like right now, there are five years worth of pages and stories documenting mine and Adam’s life together. And that is a really cool thing.

So I end this post by sending a huge thank you to a tiny little grandma. Thank you for reminding me that this hobby is about more than just the bells and whistles – what we’re doing here truly has real value. And thank you so much for being a part of our lives. I hope you’re dancing in heaven with your loving husband whom you’ve waited so long to see. You will be missed.

NettioDesigns Grand Opening Sale Coupon Code

POSTED ON IN Announcements Leave a Comment

Ok, everyone, slight change of plans. Due to a rather large quirk with the coupon system in the cart, I’ve turned off the automagical sale and we’re going to go old-school style using a coupon code instead.

So in order to save 20% off your entire order, use coupon code:

openingday20

Please make sure that you don’t input the coupon code until you’re 100% ready to check out. Making any changes to your cart (adding or subtracting products) will cause your cart to reset/and or not apply the full coupon amount.

Hopefully this will solve some of the weirdness that was going on with the cart. Fingers crossed! Thanks again for your understanding!

The NettioDesigns Grand Opening is here!

POSTED ON IN Announcements 7 Comments

That’s right, the day you have all been waiting for is finally here. Today, February 16th is the official NettioDesigns Shoppe Grand Opening!

I am so excited (and a weeeee bit nervous in an omg-i-can’t-believe-today-is-actually-here kind of way) that today is finally here! It’s been a long process getting to today and I so appreciated all your patience as I worked out all the kinks. I’ve got lots of fun things planned for this little site of mine and I can’t wait to share them all. But who am I kidding, I know what you all really want to hear about and that’s the GOODIES!

So without further ado, here are the first ever NettioDesigns New Releases…

That’s right. There are NINE brand-new templates designed to make creating awesomely amazing scrapbook layouts quick and easy. Each template can be purchased individually so feel free to mix and match to your heart’s content.

Can’t decide on just one or two templates? Bundle up and save!

All nine templates have been bundled up into three separate template bundles containing three single templates each. They’re a perfect way to get a variety of NettioDesigns templates and save a little cash in the process.

And finally what would a Grand Opening celebration be without a little sale…

It’s a SALE-A-BRATION!

Everything in the NettioDesigns Shoppe will be 20% off Wednesday, February 16 thru Friday, February 18 in honor of the grand opending. Sale ends at 11:59 EST on Friday night. No coupon code is needed – the discount will automagically appear in your cart. A coupon code is now needed. Use code: openingday20 to save 20%. Please don’t enter the coupon code until you are 100% ready to check out. Making changes to your cart after applying the coupon will cause your cart to be reset.

Well that’s all for today! I’m excited for all that is to come! I’ve tried my best to make sure everything will run smoothly as possible but in the event that there are some bumps along the way, I really appreciate your patience as I get everything sorted out since this is my first attempt at this whole shop-thang. I assure you no one will go without getting their goodies and I’ll keep you updated in the event something goes terribly wrong. Fingers crossed it doesn’t!

Thanks again so much for coming along with me on this new venture with me. It’s going to be fun!

– Lynnette

A Quick Update on the Shoppe Grand Opening

POSTED ON IN Announcements 6 Comments

Soooo….as you may have noticed the 7th has sadly come and gone and the shoppe is not quite open just yet. Unfortunately due to some family-related circumstances beyond my control, the shoppe opening will have to be postponed until later this week. It frustrates me to have to make this decision but this is ultimately the best option so that I can make sure I’m around on opening day to give you the best possible shopping experience.

Does it help if I say I have 9 brand-new templates ready to go into the shoppe?? How about if I give you a little sneak peek?

Thanks so much for your patience and understanding!