Happy Halloween from Harry and the Firefighter!

Happy Halloween everyone! I had made it a goal to get last year's Halloween page done before this Halloween, and I made it with just 7 hours to spare! HA! Nothing like waiting until the last minute huh? This year Jakob is not dressing up, he is going to watch his cousins trick or treat, he is more into passing out the candy vs dressing up. He has never been one to dress up, he won't wear a mask for sure, and when he does dress up, it is for less than half an hour usually. So since he couldn't find a "cool" enough outfit to fit his new status as a "tween" he decided to forget dressing up. So, I will only scrap pics of my niece and nephew this year it looks like . Last year Jakob was Harry Potter but notice the glasses, he lost the real glasses that came with the costume so he had to go with these Groucho Marx glasses he got from a carnival along the way, and thus, no one recognized him as Harry Potter, much to his dismay. They kept thinking he was dressing as a graduate...but I might add these were an older crowd, who may not have been familiar with Harry Potter anyway! I love the letters I got for this page. They are from Making Memories. The paper is Stampin' Up and I love it! The colors are great! So have a safe and fun Halloween, don't eat to much candy and don't forget my drawing is tomorrow for the blog candy, so you still have time to submit those sketches! I am hoping to finish up one more layout for the LOAD contest tonight after trick or treating, and I will try and share that tomorrow as well!

An Attitude of Gratitude Creates Blessings!

I love this saying and I think it is so so true, don't you? I recently bought a picture with this saying to put on my mantle during the fall/harvest season. I decided I liked the saying so much I would use it on a scrapbook page. I love how this page turned out. Of course we are coming upon the season of thankfulness and gratitude and Simple Scrapbooks had an excellent idea in its most recent issue (see the last page of November/December issue). The idea is to make a fast formula GRATITUDE album. You take a basic photo album with 4 x 6 sleeves and make 30 or 31 journaling cards and then each day of that month you write what you are thankful for! The best part of the deal is Simple Scrapbooks gives you the templates to create the title page and the journaling cards for your album! Just go to http://www.simplescrapbooksmag.com and click on free downloads and then download Cathy Zielske's template. I plan on doing this with my son each day in November. I think its a great idea, and will get us in the mood for the upcoming holidays. I'd love to hear what you are thankful for, please leave me a comment telling me what you are most thankful for at this moment. I am thankful that my Dad came through his surgery A-OK! He is doing better and hopes to be coming home from the hospital sometime this week. I may not be posting as much this week due to spending evening after work at the hospital, but we should be back to normal schedules next week. This layout did serve my other purpose for today: USE YOUR STASH TUESDAY...everything here is from my October 2007 PS kit EXCEPT the chipboard letters, brads and circle paper. I get so excited when I match some older paper with some newer paper! Hope all is well with you and your family, & I will catch up with you all real soon!

My first sketch and blog candy!

Happy Saturday everyone! Today I am revealing my first sketch ever! I love sketches and have found them to be so helpful in getting pages done quickly. In honor of my first sketch I am having a contest. My sponsor is Scrapbooks On the Go. Shelly at Scrapbooks on the Go has generously donated one of her beautiful photo bracelets for me to give away. There are 2 ways to win. Way #1: go to my post for Friday and leave me a comment on what your favorite product is on the Scrapbooks on the Go's website. Way #2: complete a layout using this sketch and post a link in to it in the comments section on this post. You have until midnight on October 31st to leave a comment with a link to your layout and until Sunday October 26th at midnight to leave a comment on Friday's post. Do both and you will be entered to win TWICE! I will draw a random name from all the entries on Nov. 1st and announce the winner that day! I can't wait to see your layouts! On a different note, my dad is in the hospital, so please keep him in your prayers.

Friday's Featured Blogger

As you all know there are so many great and inspiring blogs out there. I have decided to share my fav and highlight where I get much inspiration from every Friday on my new Friday's Featured Blogger post! If you would like to be a featured blogger shoot me an email or leave me a comment with a link to your blog and I will get back with you regarding being featured on my blog! It's so fun to share, don't ya think? So without further ado...my first Friday's featured Blogger is AmyInky with her inspiring blog Memories by Amyinky. She makes such great layouts and can really make astounding pages from just scraps! One thing I learned from her blog is that you can alter any of your embellishments that don't fit in with your page...for example in on one of her pages she painted over the chipboard letters color to alter it to fit her page! Little things we don't sometimes think of. So go check out her blog, I know you'll love it too! My page I am sharing today was totally inspired by her layout you can find here: http://amyinky.blogspot.com/2008/10/croptoberfest-31-layout-challenge.html I have a few of these circle papers, and just totally LOVE the look, but have been intimidated to make a layout using them until I saw Amy's simple yet adorable layout and decided I could do the same. These papers are by Crate Paper called Lemongrass, simply perfect for your fall pics! You can get these in the October Personalscrapper kit! I hope you don't get tired of seeing buttons, cuz I am in LOVE with buttons lately...isn't it weird how we go through phases like that? OK, now for even more fun things...TOMORROW is the big reveal...but lets get started today working toward some fun blog candy, which is sponsored by Scrapbooks on the Go (my sis's company). There will be two ways to win an entry into the random drawing: #1 post a comment here telling me what your favorite product is from Scrapbooks On the Go..no fair saying everything...give me a specific item you have and love or would love to have LOL! If you haven't checked out their website, go here: http://www.scrapbooksonthego.com/. They have some AWESOME stuff that would make great Christmas gifts! That gets you ONE entry into my drawing, you have until Sunday October 26th at midnight CST to leave the comment. THEN tune in tomorrow for an actual picture of the blog candy, the BIG reveal, and another chance to get entered into the drawing! I will draw on Saturday Nov. 1st. See you tomorrow!

Git 'R Done Wednesday ~ Disney Style

Welcome to Git 'R Done Wednesday Disney Style! I hate to admit it but I have not scrapped a single layout from our 2005 Disney trip until now! I have had this layout in my to be completed drawer 1/2 finished with no pictures on it for the last 3 years. I have been waiting for the "RIGHT" paper, the "RIGHT" idea or the "RIGHT" embellishment, cuz of course these will be "SPECIAL" pages. Well, the main goal here is to capture the memory, not get caught up in how "GOOD" or "SPECIAL" my page looks. I do like the way it turned out. I especially like the ticket journaling tag from Maya Road. These are really fun ways to get you to journal fast and use your own handwriting. I plan on starting to slowly work on completing my Disney album. I have enough stuff Disney to complete 3 albums! I just need to put it to good use. I am planning on using some the new sketches from Valerie Salmon...she has added to and expanded her website "GOT SKETCH?" Go check it out, the new gallery is really great and she even has a giveaway going on! What more motivation do you need then a give away? Speaking of which, stay tuned for a new addition to my blog on Saturday....hint hint....it starts with the letter "S"!

How many photos can you fit on a layout???

WOW! I can't believe I got NINE photos on this layout! I could have gotten more if I had not used such a big photo on the first page, but it was such a good photo I couldn't resist blowing it up! The way I used up some of my stash on this page is by actually modifying the journaling box by covering the preprinted ends with my own patterned paper, this allowed me to use this journaling box I have had sitting around for awhile. I really liked these journaling boxes from the April Lisa Bearnson KOTM but the colors just never seemed to go with my layouts, so I finally had a "WOW" moment and decided I could actually fix that little problem. The same goes with your chipboard, if its the wrong shade of red, paint it black or cover it with patterned paper. It funny how there are so many shades of red, brown, navy etc. I also used up some ribbon by adding just a small strip over on the right hand page. I have SO much ribbon and find I rarely use it, so I have decided to try using it more on my layouts. I used the Fancy Pants All Fall paper for this kit, it was featured in my September Personalscapper kit and the colors are just gorgeous for those outdoors photos! So get to cropping and use up some of those long held treasures to add that extra sparkle to your pages! Tune in tomorrow when I will share one of my Disney layouts for Git 'R Done Wednesday ~ let's just say, it 's been 1/2 finished since 2005!

Another fun challenge

Erica at Personalscrapper not only has great kits but fun challenges as well. She has a great team who helps her with these but the one I am featuring today is one she designed. The challenge was to basically scraplift a layout she created using the October kit. I loved the layout and when it became a challenge I decided to use this one picture that my SIL Mari had taken last year of my son. I only had this one photo, which I have always liked but didn't really know how to scrap it, until now. I used the Scenic Route Liberty line that was an add on to the July Personalscrapper kit. I really like how it turned out! It was quick and pretty easy once I decided on my picture and what paper to use. Tune in tomorrow use your stash Tuesday. I'm off to watch the Bronco/Patriot game with my son, we're cheering on the Broncos tonite!

I've been a big slacker!

I've been slacking off lately, sleeping in this weekend, watching more TV then I normally do, nothing big going on to keep me from scrapbooking except for some reason I couldn't get motivated to get off the couch! I'm gonna blame it on the cooler weather, which made me want to snuggle up with my kitty Molly and stay in my warm bed reading or watching TV! But I'm back today with another double pager! I got 6 pictures on this layout. These are pictures from an overnight campout at Papa's house last week. Pretty good for me to scrap an event within a week...but I had bought these cute Cosmo Cricket papers and stickers and wanted to use them. The flower, square and line accent are felt by Fancy Pants - love that look, but anyone have any ideas how to adhere it down so it sticks well? I tried glue dots, but that didn't work and ended up using Crystal Effects by Stampin Up, but even that though it worked didn't really stick very well. So I will try something else next time out. This layout was inspired by a sketch by Valerie Salmon at Got sketch?. It is sketch #30 for those who want to check it out: http://gotsketch.blogspot.com/ Just scroll down to the end of the first page and you will be able to search for sketches based on # of pics- fast, easy and very versatile. I LOVE her sketches. I plan on taking her next class Got Sketch 103 when it opens next year. Got Sketch 102 was great, sorry I missed 101! I plan on spending the rest of the day watching football with my son and if I'm not too tired finishing up another layout I am working on, so check back again tomorrow...I am trying to play catch up on my LOAD (layout a day) contest at Personalscrapper! Wish me luck :o)

Git 'R Done Wednesday- October Tradition

It's our October tradition to visit my brother and SIL in Nebraska the first weekend in October. This was our fifth year to go. It is something we look forward to each and every year. I have been slack in scrapping all these photos we take each year. This layout was started about 18 mos ago at a crop and never finished. I don't know why, I just glued done the pics and patterned paper, painted the chipboard and left it in a plastic sleeve. Luckily I left all the paper in with it, so I could easily find it. Well, tonite I did the journaling, punched the circles, added the stickers (left over from my fall clipboard kit from http://www.scrapbooksonthego.com/) and glued it all down. One hour tops and its done. So why did it take me 18 mos? I guess because there was always something bigger and better to work on. I am now able to actually easily close the drawer that houses my 1/2 complete layouts, and I hope by the end of next January to actually see an empty drawer just ready to fill with new scrapbooking goodies! I hope you were able to finish up something that was 1/2 done today, of course most of you probably aren't like me and flit from one thing to the next! So whats up for tomorrow? Not sure, still waiting on pics to arrive, but I have a notebook page full of new ideas. Anyone interested in sketches? I am working on some and hope to post them here once I get a new scanner or can borrow a one. There are a lot of great sites that are full of sketches, check out some of my favs on my sidebar!

You've been booed

Happy Tuesday everyone! It's use your stash Tuesday today and that means I try to make a project that uses things I have hoarded for awhile and need to use up! Today I decided I needed to use up some scraps of last's years Halloween paper. I loved this paper and used almost 2 packs of it making sucker holders, cards etc. I had wanted to go "BOOING" last Halloween and never got around to it, so I decided what better way to use up those last few scraps and get a jump start on my "booing" baskets, so I created 2 of these cute little Boo baskets. For those of you who don't know what "BOOING" is, it is where you take a treat basket to someone's house, ring the doorbell, and run, leaving the basket on the front porch. Now I can't run too fast, so I plan on having my son do all the running, I'll be driving the getaway car! I have had these baskets around since I did a baby shower for my sister almost 5 years ago, in fact the side covered with paper is stamped on with baby stuff! I had stamped it, didnt' like how it turned out and stuck them in my scrap pile, where they have been for the last 5 years...time to move those suckers on out! The stamps used are the collage and rough edge alphabets from Stampin Up, oldies but goodies, but where gathering a bit of dust so decided to use them here. The bat is from an old Halloween kit that I never used. So mission accomplished, a bunch of old stuff used up and heading out to be used as boo baskets. The poem that I half way made up (I did get inspiration from a similar poem in a magazine, but it was too long for my tag so I changed it quite a bit) is on the back of the tag and reads : This is the time for goblins & bats, Halloween spirits, ghosts and cats, weird happenings and witches' brew, and these are the things I wish for you: May the only spirit you chance to meet be the spirit of love and warm friends sweet. May the only goblin that comes your way be this fast little phantom whom you've met this day. It's better giving then receiving we all know its true, so can you guess who the phantom is who left this yummy sweet treat for you? Happy Halloween! You've been BOOED! One bummer of this project is I BROKE my cropadile on it....I just got it a few months back and though you can't see it here, I attached the long striped piece to the sides of the basket with snaps that I have had forever. I thought it made it looked more finished since the piece was not quite long enough to reach the sides ends and kind of ends in the middle of the side of the basket, well after I did 2 snaps my little pointy end of the setter part broke off! I was very upset, as this is a brand new $30 tool and now it is unusable except for the punch part, and the whole not hammering thing is why I got it to begin with. Anyone else had the same issue? I hate to buy another one now, but I may use my 40% off at Hobby Lobby this week to get another, but I would hate to have it happen again. If you have heard of this happening to you or someone else, let me know as I won't waste my $$$ on another one! Have a good rest of the day folks and don't forget to tune in tomorrow for Git R Done Wednesday! And if you are someone who gets a similar looking boo basket soon, please act surprised, after all, I am sure a bunch of people will copy this idea! HA!

Fall Colors

I think this is the first time I have scrapbooked a layout without a single picture of a person on it. It was a lot of fun doing a layout showing off all the fun sights we see every year at Vala's Pumpkin Patch. It is such a fun place and certainly doesn't really "feel" like fall until we have visited each year! I got this idea from a sketch designed by Brenda Arnall. You can find her in the November Creating Keepsakes magazine article entitled " Easy Patterns". She has a book entitled that as well. Her articles are always excellent and give you basically step by step directions. I LOVE her style. I have take a few classes from her at CKC and she is a GREAT instructor. I have also got to spend time visiting with her and she is very down to earth and a nice lady. If you ever get a chance to meet her or take a class from her, do so, it will be well worth your while. The papers featured in this layout are from Crate Paper and look great with all your fall pages! I got all these great papers in my October Personalscrapper kit! I have a few pages still under construction and hope to finish them tomorrow, I am behind on the October layout a day contest and NEED to catch up! I am waiting on some pictures that I ordered online. I am trying several places for photofinishing as I have had troubles with Walgreens (long story) and their photos not being as good as I prefer. So I am trying out Wolfe Camera and Scrapbookpictures.com to see if I can decide which one to use for some of my photofinishing. I was pleased with Wolfe Camera but not OVERJOYED and I am still waiting on the ones from scrapbookpictures.com, so I will let you know what the verdict is when I get them. I am not sure I will like waiting on my photos to get here, after getting them in one hour its hard to change, but if the quality is better I plan on doing just that. I will just have to learn some patience ~ LOL! Tune in tomorrow for use your stash Tuesday!

Happy Birthday to a special little gal!

Just wanted to wish our sweet little Ellie a HAPPY birthday! We had a lot of fun at her birthday party today. Here is the card I made for her and a picture of her a month or so back at a fun night out at Chilli's! Also a shout out to star soccer player Ryan on his good game today! Go Sharks! I didn't get any pictures of the game today, but I will post a picture from the game next week, who knows maybe he will make the winning goal! I was busy playing catch up on the not so fun duties around the house today, but thankfully got everything caught up so I will have plenty of cropping time tomorrow ~ that is if life doesn't just rear its ugly head and interfere with my best laid plans! Hope you had a great day and hope you caught the great Red River Shootout today. Great game and congrats Texas. Better luck next year to OU. I am not a huge fan of either team, but did enjoy watching some of the game today. Don't forget to check out the new sketch posted at Creative Scrappers tomorrow, it is always a great sketch and fun to play along over there. All the ladies are encouraging and supportive. See the blinkie on my sidebar to link over. Hope to see you there!

A new look

Ok, I am like a kid in the candy shop here. I keep changing my blog look. I am working on a more custom banner that I won't have to switch out every season, but it is more complicated than I thought, so I will need a while to work on it and I just couldn't stand my BUSY BUSY blog anymore. It was so busy I got a headache from reading it. I like it a bit better this way, but not totally satisfied yet...so may change it again but not REAL soon, as I would rather crop the night away instead of stare at the computer! So leave me a comment and let me know if you like this look better, if you don't well, keep it to yourself ! HA! Just kidding! Since I don't have anything scrappy to share I thought I would share a few of my most recent fave pics I have taken. The first one is my blog banner. Isn't that house neat? It is so Victorian looking and I love looking at it. The next one is of my nephew Junior (he's the short stubby hairy guy peeking out from the fence) and the second is of myself and my son with Junior and his wife Sprint- she's the one I'm holding. Aren't they precious?! Well, I am off to play a few games for family game night, then scrapping later so I have something to hopefully post tomorrow!

Another Git 'R Done Wednesday Creation

Welcome to Git 'R Done Wednesday! Featured today is a page that was partially assembled in a Rusty Pickle class at CKC. The reason I didn't complete it was because I really didn't care for the crazy layout and all the busy paper, but fast forward 8 mos and now I take it out, look at it and decide I love the paper and the colors. Go figure! It's not a traditional July fourth layout, but this photo looked so good on it and I really didn't have another that went so well. I have already made another partial layout with this pic and some others, but I really have decided to use up these old layouts and finish them. And I love this picture of my son and his cousins so it won't bother me to scrap it twice. The quote is from Dr. Seuss: "Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." Now on a different note, I was bummed to wake up and find my coffee maker had died. Now this coffee maker is a legend in my family. It was given to me in 1990 by my cousin Brian as a Christmas gift. I have often wanted a "fancier" one but hated to throw out a good working appliance and get a new one when I didn't really "need" it. Well, last weekend I was bragging to my brother how my coffee maker was still working and it had lasted almost 20 years and then I come home and the first time I try to use it, its broken. Last time I brag about my old stuff! LOL! So this morning and a few more mornings until I have time to replace it I will have to go without my morning coffee, not a pretty sight I tell you! Have a nice Wednesday and hope you get a lot done today!

A Girly Page for a change

Seems like with only a boy to scrap I tend to shy away from pinks, purples, bling, and a bunch of floral girly paper. There are SO many scrapbooking materials that fall into this category that it is hard to pass them up sometimes. Kind of like when you shop for a baby girl you tend to buy like 100 things for the shower, but when its a boy, you get like 3 ! LOL! Or, at least that is my tendency, see it starts with infants. Way more girly stuff out there in all walks of life. Well, I have been floating around some ideas about how to "USE" some of this stuff I have that is too "girly" for my boys pages and this is what I have come up with for this weeks USE YOUR STASH TUESDAY. I got these papers in my July 2007 Personalscrapper kit, so you can see once again, stuff over a year old being used up, lets just say it warms my heart peeps :o) Its not that I didn't like the papers, just didn't have pics for them, but now I do. It's not the best pic, so bear with me, but I like how the page turned out. The title is PRETTY SUMMER FEET. JOURNALING: My first pedicure Age 41. I have also gotten out some of my baby pics and plan to scrap them using some girly stuff I have too, so check back often, maybe I will get to that soon. Catch ya tomorrow for another episode of Git 'R Done Wednesday!

The Great Pumpkin

Well, as promised, here are the pics from our Great Pumpkin scouting expedition at Vala's pumpkin Patch. The weather was gorgeous, the pumpkins were plenty and we had the BEST time. New this year was a GIANT corn maze. We would still be there if it hadn't have been for Mari's expert guiding ability. She led us out in no time flat, we didn't get lost once! Our pumpkin was suppose to read NEBRASKA #1, but unfortunately I cannot cut letters very well, and so to save my son from embarrassment we ended up carving out an eyeball where the letters had once been and just went from there! We had an uneventful flight back and are now at home catching up on laundry, grocery shopping and of course holding little Miss Molly who was so lonely without us. It's good to be home, but we can't wait to go back again next year! Now it's time to get cropping again, I am a day behind on the Octoberfest LOAD contest at Personalscrapper so tomorrow I will try and catch up. I will post my creations once I finish them! Have a Good Monday!

Ready to spook

Wanted to share some cards I made in honor of World Card Making Day today. The cooler fall weather here and our visit to the pumpkin patch yesterday has put me in the mood for some Halloween hijinks! We had the best time at Vala's pumpkin patch yesterday and we DID find the great pumpkin, the only problem is I can't share a pic with you due to technical difficulties :o( We are returning home tomorrow so I will share pics of it then. Let me tell you this, it weighed in at over 50 pounds! I hope everyone was able to make some cool cards yesterday. If I can repair my technological issues later today I may post more, but for right now I plan on being outside and enjoying this beautiful weather here all day today! Have a fun Sunday and hope the weather is good to you wherever you are!

Hello from the Cornhusker State

We arrived safe and sound in Nebraska. We are having a great time. Today we got to do a bit of shopping, I was able to go to my favorite store - Archivers. I picked up a few things I "needed" and also got some chipboard letters for my friend Angie that she has been searching high and low for :o) You're welcome girlfriend! Then we headed over to the Pizza Machine for some good food and fun games. Jakob had fun winning a few jackpots as well as driving a Go Kart. Tonight we roasted weiners and marshmallows over a fire pit ...mmm. Junior and Sprint are sure glad we are here to play fetch with them , here is a picture of them waiting for scraps of food from our weiner roast! Jake also got to drive a ATV for the first time and he and Uncle Matt had a great time driving around their yard this morning and again this afternoon. We are heading over to Vala's Pumpkin patch tomorrow to find the Great Pumpkin. I will post some more tomorrow letting you know if we found it or not. If you want to see what Vala's is like, check it out here: http://www.valaspumpkinpatch.com/ its loads of fun. The weather was gorgeous here today and we are hoping for more of the same tomorrow. Have a great weekend everyone and GO BIG RED!

I'm leaving on a jet plane

Well, I did end up having time for one last post before we leave tonite. I have found myself missing a bunch of birthdays lately due to not having any cards to send out. For some reason I have lots of Thank U cards but no birthday cards. So in order to participate in the LOAD challenge (Layout A Day) for today I decided to whip up some fast and quick birthday cards and send them out today before I leave (cards will count for a layout too in this challenge) I will try and post some pictures of our travels over the next few days if I can get access to a computer to upload my photos too. I am bringing along my Lisa Bearnson kit of the month from a while back to work on, it is a travel kit and is very cute but I have yet to use it, and this is the perfect opportunity to do so. It has LOTS of room for journaling, so I am bringing it with me and going to journal everyday so as to capture all the fun as it happens, because we all know once we get back, we can forget some of the minute details that are so fun to look back on years later. So by journaling every nite I should be able to do some good journaling while my memory is fresh. Let's face it, my memory isn't what it once was! HA! Be sure and check back on Saturday as I will have some nice cards posted in honor of World Card Making Day!

Git 'R Done Wednesday again

OK...this is a fast and EASY layout. We are having a challenge/contest at Personalscrapper that is geared towards a page a day in October, so when you are done you will have 31 pages if you participate everyday...needless to say today I was strapped for time. We are leaving tomorrow for a short trip and I needed to be packing not scrapping. But I can't resist a challenge, so here is my page for today. Short, easy, but captures the fun of the occasion, which was my son and his friends last outing together before school started back up this year. This is a page that I had got at a class (can't even remember which one) and never even worked on more than to cut out the arrows and dot the buttons. I did not follow the design taught in the class exactly, but it suited these pics well. And I FINALLY used a page I made (or should have made) in a class. I tend to go to the class, do very little and leave with the stuff, stick it in a drawer and never look at it again, but now that I am weeding out and cleaning this "junk" drawer I plan on finding a way to USE all the class layouts, even the ones I didn't really "LIKE". Have a good rest of the week and when I check back in again, you might be seeing red...cuz we're heading to BIG RED country tomorrow! YEA!