Update Finally!

Wow, I'm a super bad blogger! I just wanted to update anyone who may still be reading here, that I had our baby boy on April 7th. Hard to believe that he's almost 4 weeks old already and I hadn't posted of his arrival yet. So sorry! Jackson Avery was born at 5:15pm, after a quick 3 hr. induction and only two (yes, that's 2!) pushes. Guess he was really ready to greet the world! My labor with Ben was really long, and really painful, so Jackson's was a very pleasant surprise and it's amazing how quickly I felt back to normal (minus the lack of sleep, but that was to be expected). He was 8lbs, 2 oz, and 10 1/2 inches - perfectly healthy and just beautiful! Here's a few pics of our adorable little guy:


meeting his big brother for the first time:


Ben holding him for the first time:


on his way home:


and after a few days home:


My shop at Scrap Matters has officially closed for the time being. I'm really not sure when I'll get back into designing, but definitely am not giving it up completely as I enjoy it too much. Getting used to taking care of a newborn again as well as keeping up with my 3 year old certainly doesn't leave any time for designing or even scrapping at the moment but I'm hoping to eventually settle into a good schedule that will leave me some time to focus on designing again, too.

Thank you so much to everyone for all of your well-wishes throughout my pregnancy and for all of your support. Hope this finds all of you well!

Time really flies....

Goodness I can't believe that I haven't posted anything - something at least - in a month and a half! I had much better intentions of at least posting my latest digi layouts and maybe a freebie or two even though technically I'm not designing anymore at the moment. My creative bug seems to have been replaced by my nesting urge because I hardly spend anytime on the computer anymore. My house sure is clean though!

Just wanted to post a quick update saying that all is going really well. In fact, we should be welcoming our new little guy into the world within the next 10 days! I'm due on April 13th, but will more than likely be induced by the 6th if he hasn't arrived by then due to the gestational diabetes. I seriously can hardly stand the anticipation! Will definitely be posting pictures shortly after we get back home and settled.

I'm also super excited to post about the baby-themed kit that Michelle (MickeyB Designs) made in honor of our new little guy. I was so touched that she did that, and it's so "me" - I just love it. It's even named after him, too! I've already pre-made our birth announcement from this adorable kit. All it needs is his birth stats and to be printed! Will definitely be posting the preview for this kit once she releases it in her shop at Scrap Matters.

That's it for me until this baby decides to make his appearance in the world! Until then we're enjoying our last few days as the parents of just one little guy, and I'm counting down the days until I don't have to count carbs, don't have to poke my finger 5 x's a day, and can eat like a normal person again!

Hope this finds all of you well in digi-land!

Shop Update and Promotion

Well, it looks like my shop at Scrap Matters will be open a little longer! I had a very sweet offer from the owner to keep my shop open as it is right now, and who could resist that! Everything in my shop will remain at the reduced prices at least through February, possibly even longer. I won't be putting out any new products as technically I'm on an extended hiatus, but feel free to snag any of my current products at ridiculously low prices! Here's the link to my shop: JenLin Designs at Scrap Matters

Cute new Collab Grab Bag!


I had the pleasure of playing around with the Romantic Grab Bag, which is a new collaboration between MickeyB Designs and Chaos Lounge. What an awesome collection of Valentine's goodies! Here are 3 LO's that I created with bits and pieces of the grab bag - hardly even using half of what you'll get for only $3.99. Here are my layouts:

Last Day of My Shop Extended!

Well, yesterday was supposed to be the last day that my Scrap Matters shop was open, and I really want to thank everyone who took advantage of the great $1 and $2 deals! I had a last minute request to offer a "Buy My Shop" option and thought that wasn't such a bad idea! If you don't already own a majority of my designs or any at all - this is the deal for you! For only $40, you will get all 17 kits and over 20 different alphas/element sets/paper packs/quick pages for the one time price of $40! The following is the details and HERE's the link to purchase my 'entire shop'.



Once you make the purchase, you'll receive a small zip file including instructions on how to finalize the purchase and get all of your loot!

In light of this new offer, my shop will now be open for an additional week for anyone wishing to take advantage of this deal. If you'd still like to purchase any of the individual items, they'll all remain marked down to just $1 or $2 through my shop closing, too. Any questions, please don't hesitate to send me an email as I'm happy to help! Hope y'all have a great weekend!

Happy New Year.... belated

I hope that everyone had a very Happy New Year! Since we have an almost 3 year old, and another one on the way, New Year's isn't quite as exciting as it used to be for hubby & I. We had a quiet night staying in and playing with our little guy's new Christmas toys. Got a chance to play around a bit with one of my new Christmas toys, too - my new Canon Rebel DSLR camera! Isn't my hubby the sweetest?! Total surprise and I was so excited! Now, I still have to figure out how to use it on more than just the Auto setting, but I'm thrilled with the pictures that I've taken with it so far just out of the box. The following layout has a couple of my very first pictures with it (click here for SM gallery and full credits):


He'd asked Santa for a "big red rocket", and ended up getting quite a few rocket/space related items this year. I hope to have his new room finished soon which has a space theme, too (as he requested). The room he's currently in will be used for the baby and we just purchased a brand new "big boy" bedroom set for him. I can't believe how quickly he's growing up.

Check out my layout of our New Year's Dinner. I did a little bit of experimental cooking and came up with a few "keeper" recipes. Since I'm not designing anymore I can definitely see myself spending more time playing around in the kitchen as I love to cook (click here for SM gallery and full credits):



Quick reminder that you still have until January 15th to pick up any of my designs in my Scrap Matters shop for only $1 or $2! After the 15th they'll be gone indefinitely :) A huge thank you to everyone who's already taken advantage of my close-out sale! I really hope that you enjoy working with my designs :)

Here's hoping this coming year is wonderful for all of you!

New Year, New Baby, and...

I'm retiring. Yep.... you've read it right. I've decided to retire from designing. January 1st is the one-year anniversary of opening my first digi-scrap shop, and although I've really enjoyed this past year immensely, I've decided to put my design "career" on hold indefinitely and focus more of my free time on my pregnancy and family.

The new baby is going to be here in just a few short months, and realistically there's no way that I would have enough time to put into designing and keeping up with my shop, while being a SAHM to two little ones with the amount that my DH travels each month, too. So it is with a very heavy heart that I put in my resignation at Scrap Matters and will be closing my shop there on January 15th. I don't ever like to feel like I'm not putting my best efforts into something, and ever since this pregnancy started I have just been too tired to really focus on my design shop like I really want to. I'm very sad to be leaving the Scrap Matters Design Team, as they're such a great group of talented and inspirational ladies. I'm really sorry that I've only been there for a few months, and will certainly be remaining a member of the community there, too, as it's a great digi-home :)

I truly enjoy designing so much, and there is still so much more that I'd like to learn and try - so I'm sure that I'll still be dabbling in it when I get the chance - just not actually selling my designs for a while. I'm hoping that I'll be pleasantly surprised after we get into the swing of things with our new little guy and find that I do have enough time to devote to designing, too, but I'm not going to promise anything right now. I'm happily walking away, knowing that I'll get to spend more time with my son & DH, be able to really enjoy the rest of my pregnancy, and not feel any added stress that I should be working on some new products :) I may actually join a CT or two for once and get some good scrapping done! :) :)

I'd like to sincerely thank all of my customers, blog readers, CT members (past & present!), and stores that took a chance on me for supporting my work. It's because of all of you that I was able to really enjoy designing, be proud of the products that I produced (well... maybe not my first few months of freebies! LOL), and really grow as a designer over this past year. I can't tell you how much I love seeing any of my designs used in layouts, personal blog designs, and really appreciate all of the wonderful comments that so many of you have left for me here as well as the email communications with many of you, too. You've all truly made this a hard thing to walk away from, but know that I really appreciate each one of you and hope to see you all around the digi community still.

From now through the closing of my shop on Jan. 15th, please enjoy the huge discounts! All alphas, paper packs, and element packs are marked down to just $1! and all kits are marked down to only $2! This is the lowest that my designs will go - and once the 15th is here, my shop will disappear so get them while you can! I'll still post here from time to time, but more than likely will be more for updates on my family and my own scrap layouts and such.

I wish everyone a very happy and healthy New Year! Happy Shopping! :) :) :)

Happy Holidays!

Just wanted to take a moment before all of the festivities begin to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas! We're spending Christmas Eve & Christmas Day with just the 3 of us - and I seriously can't wait to see Ben on Christmas morning :) The day after Christmas we've got some family visiting, and we're really looking forward to that, too.

Stay tuned for some major news regarding my designs! Will be giving all of you the scoop right after Christmas.

Best wishes for a safe and wonderful holiday to you and your families!