Black Friday's Featured blogger!

Yes, it's true, this is what time I was up and at 'em this morning trying to get a jump on my Christmas shopping. This is the third year in a row that I have been up and running at or before this time. I think my record was last year when I was at GameStop at 330 waiting in line for a Wii! Call me crazy, but I'm addicted, have to make it out and get at least one good buy. This year there is not as much on my list and most of the things I'm going for aren't really doorbusters, but there are a few things I'm trying to pick up for friends who are too smart to get up at this crazy hour to go fight a huge crowd! Well, better get going but before I do, I wanted to introduce today's Friday's featured blogger, my sister Shelly! Shelly has recently started a blog to showcase all her wonderfully creative ideas in scrapbooking and papercrafting. Go check out her blog, you will love the little matchbook she made for her scissor charms, very cute and a great little gift for those on your list that you want to remember but don't want to break the bank on by buying a big gift. I think these would work for about any little thing you could think of like a bracelet, necklace or even a gift card...cute and so easy to make. You will want to check out http://craftyideasforyou.blogspot.com/ often, as all her ideas are super creative, have superb instructions and are really easy to make! Now I am off to shop til I drop and I'll post more soon! Wish me luck :o)

What I am Thankful for...

Here he is, my son, my best Christmas present ever, my biggest blessing and one of the many many many things I am thankful for! I love this picture taken of him in the Omaha airport when we were going on our fall break trip. I look at it and can't believe how much he has grown and how fast time is flying by! He will soon be a teenager, he's almost taller than me, and his feet are already bigger then mine at age 10 !! As you reflect on your blessings today around a table piled high with lots of turkey, stuffing, and all the fixin's don't forget to say a prayer for all those struggling in the world today, those who have lost jobs, are sick, or who are alone today. It's the small things that bring us such joy, the priceless things money can't begin to bring to you, so remember even if your 401K isn't as padded as it was last year, these little joys are our true blessings and what we should stop and remember everyday to be thankful for! Happy Turkey Day folks!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Here's what we were up to tonight...getting ready for Christmas and getting our lights out! It took us about 3 hours and we worked well into the darkness, as with it getting dark so early, it's hard to find time after work to do it, but we found out it was actually easier to put the lights up when they were lit, as you could see exactly where you needed to make adjustments! I am not good at night photo taking, so its a bit dark, but you can get the picture. We spent all night last night trimming the bushes and trees, so haven't done much creating in the last few days. I did work more tonight on my party favor boxes and really like how they turned out. Now I just need to make a few more and I will be totally ready for the party. Just need to cut the paper for the projects we are making (they are cute...so you won't want to miss 'em!) Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving tomorrow. Tune in Friday for my Friday's featured blogger post!

Christmas is coming...

I've been busy this weekend getting ready for my annual Christmas scrapbooking party. We have so much fun every year and I am sure this year will be no different. This is my invitation for this year. I like how it turned out. The paper is last years Stampin Up Christmas paper and the stamps are all by Stampin' Up as well. I love my new punch, it is so cute and very versatile. This shape is so popular now, wish I had the Big Shot to cut out the larger version of this shape, but the die won't fit in my sizzix and I can't justify buying ANOTHER die cut machine just because I want this one shaped die! I wish I could show you the other stuff I have been making, but it's a SURPRISE! I don't want everyone to see it until the night of the party. The party is December 6th and I will post pictures after that! We will be making a cute scrapbook page, another little goodie as well as having a gift exchange. My gift is all planned and I am working on my wrapping now. I am either doing an altered gift tin OR a gift bag, haven't decided yet. Plus, I have been working on my goodie bags...this year I am doing a bag/box cut out by my Cricut. I have it almost done, but need to do some modifications. So even though I have not been posting, I've still been busy. We hope to put up our tree the night before Thanksgiving, so that we are scurrying around right before the party decorating! I wish I could invite all my cyber friends to my party, wouldn't that be fun! Hey, if you want to come email me, I'm sure we can work it out! For those of you wondering about Friday's featured blogger, let me tell you, I had the post all ready to go and post automatically (or so I thought) as I had a class to attend after work that night and knew I wouldn't be on the computer much. Well, when I checked it Saturday afternoon, no post, guess, I messed it up somehow, not sure what happened. So instead of posting it late I decided to wait until this Friday BLACK FRIDAY! I won't be around much that day either, as I hear some great bargains calling my name, so let me see if I can get it to post automatically then, I'll make sure and check it right before I head out around 4 am!!! So look for my Friday Featured blogger on Black Friday, and my use your stash Tuesday this week. I'll be back up and running again full force after the Thanskgiving holiday!

Git 'R Done Wednesday seeing double edition!

This page is another Git 'R Wednesday edition started well over 3 years ago. The funny thing about it is this title was glued down already and before I started to rework this page or even pulled it out of the drawer it was in I realized that this title was one I had used on a recent page. de ja vue? I can't believe this is a title I did 3 yrs ago and then thought of again last week, thinking how original and cute it was....guess it was floating out there in my subconscious these last three years huh?! To finish this page I had to add some ribbon to separate the two different papers, as I couldn't find the original paper and believe it or not blacks and browns are not easy to match. I then added only the middle envelope which was actually already in with the page as was the picture. I was able to find the original word bubbles and add the word "baby". I then added the journaling on the tag ( kind of copied my page from last week again) and then added the cute little felt heart that I recently got...it is from Making Memories. All in all, I like the end result. My favorite part is seeing these two boys together 4 years ago in this Cousins friends for life page and then seeing them together in the other Cousins friends for life layout. My how they've grown, but Jake is still holding Ryan! Ryan hasn't gotten to big for Jake to still hold him! Plus, you can see how my scrapbooking style has evolved as well. Soon though I won't have any of these old layouts to finish, cuz now when I start a page I don't start a new one til it is finished! Yeah, for me! Have a wonderful Wednesday and don't forget Friday I will be featuring a really fun blog!

More Mr. Campy

Well, I did it, I used up all my Mr. Campy paper on this layout done for use your stash Tuesday. Now, how come I am left wanting more of it? I just love this line from Cosmo Cricket! I didn't know if I would use it or not, so I just bought 3 sheets of it. I ended up using all of it plus the sheet of stickers I got at Hobby Lobby too. I got 3 layouts out of these 3 sheets, plus 2 cards, so not too bad. The store I bought it at didn't have the entire line, so I was limited to these 2 designs, but they are double sided, so that helps a bit. I love the wood grained paper. I also used my star punches and some older buttons and felt on this layout, as well as a journaling card by My Mind's eye I have had in my stash for a long time. The colors look much richer in real life, the green on my computer screen looks like kelly green, but in real life it is more of an olive green and meshed well with the lighter green of the leaf paper. This layout is based on Inspired Blueprints Sketch #3. This is a new blog, with just 4 sketches out so far, but I love all 4 of them. I plan on using #4 soon, as its a double page spread. You can click on the blinkie on my sidebar to go check them out. They have recently added a gallery and it is OOZING inspiration for those of you in need of a good healthy dose. Don't forget to check back tomorrow for Git 'R Done Wednesday, I have another cousins page to show you! I had a hard time getting pictures without shadows tonight of my 2 cards, so I will try and get them photographed in the day light hours tomorrow and upload them soon as well. Have a great night and hope this inspires you to dip into some of your older stash and try to use it all up! Good luck!

Princess Party

Well, as promised here is a picture of little Princess Katie on her first birthday and here is a picture of the card that I made for her to go with the Disney Princess chair that Jake and I got her for her first birthday. As you can see she is really enjoying her castle cake. Now, she didn't really enjoy the gifts as much but she did like her hat. I can't believe she left it on the entire time and didn't get a drop of frosting on it. She did like the sparkle of the sticker on this card and that's what I thought when I picked them up at the Target Dollar spot. I think it looks as if she is wearing some lipstick in this picture! But she is a super sweet little girl and we both love her to pieces! Back to creating...don't forget the deadline is tomorrow for Valerie's sketch challenge over at Got Sketch? I'm started but not done, hope to finish tomorrow! Have a great rest of the weekend!

Friday's Featured Blogger & Happy Birthday Katie!

Happy Friday everyone! All you all as ready for the weekend as I am? TGIF! A big happy birthday shout out to my favorite neice Katie who is the big ONE years old today! Here is a layout I did in honor of her first birthday, but the photo was taken in July on the 4th. This paper was so perfect for this picture as it goes perfectly with her dress! It is from Paper Salon. Isn't she absolutely a doll? She loves the grass (and I don't mean just rubbing her little toes in it - she likes to eat it) in fact, I am wondering if she might prefer it to birthday cake...we will see tonight at her party! LOL! I will post some more recent photos tomorrow showing her eating her grass cake...I mean he birthday cake! Now on to today's other fun topic.....Friday's featured blogger. Today's featured blogger is Jenn from My Creative Mess! Her blog is super funny, witty and charming and her layouts are super cute as well. I love how she uses so many different patterned papers on her layouts. You can also check out her etsy store for some really neat journaling tags and other goodies! So head on over to Jenn's blog and leave her some love and tell her Lisa sent you! http://boysmamaxtwo.blogspot.com/ And don't forget the deadline for the blog candy on Alecia's blog is tomorrow. Have a great weekend!

Blog Candy Alert!

It seems Alecia is giving away some FAB blog candy over on her blog, head on over and register for a chance to win these wonderful goodies! Oh, and she has some gorgeous layouts for you to check out too :o) So hop on over right away, don't want to miss the deadline, which is this Saturday! http://aleciac.blogspot.com/

It's family night here folks, so won't be doing much creating tonight, but remember to check back tomorrow for Friday's Featured Blogger!

Git 'R Done Wednesday the Shamu Edition!

Here is my Git 'R Done Wednesday page for today. I had glued all the photos down and the title. Nothing else was done and it has been sitting for almost 4 years folks..pitiful I know. Well, I think I had meant to do some journaling under the picture, but I decided it needed some paper and since all the fond memories and minute details I may have journaled then have since escaped my overloaded 40 something brain I decided to just use my FAVORITE ALL TIME mini Making Memories stickers as my journaling. I like the page, just wish I had done the journaling at the time I started it. So did you see that other hint for a Christmas gift idea? Mini stickers, love 'em, use them lots, and they are a perfect page enhancement for any page. I hope they come out with some new colors soon, I would love to see them in red and green for Christmas! I just know I'm gonna get lots of presents this year from everyone reading this! This page didn't take long to finish, but I was happy to get another page out of my junk drawer and into my album! I can even shut the drawer now without too much trouble! Have a happy hump day everyone! The weekend is getting closer and more cropping is calling my name! I will be back Friday with another featured blogger and a special birthday post for a sweet little gal !

Count your blessings!

It's time for Use your stash Tuesday again! Well, this time I really dug deep and didn't use even one little thing new, its all older stuff I need to use up, PLUS I used some tools that had been gathering dust. The paper is once again from my October 2007 Personalscrapper kit, the stickers from my January 2008 kit and the brad, button and floss are all who knows how old. I also used my Stampin' Up tag punch to make my tag and my cricut to cut my letters! I love the look of the letters cut by the Doodletype Cricut cartridge, but am most often too lazy to dig it out to use it. But I think it is going to be a staple in some of my upcoming pages as its soo hard to match alphabets sometimes. I just wanted to share another tip I learned from my PS friend and blogging buddy AmyInky..you know how we all have TONS of 1/2 used sheets of alphabet stickers? Well, Amy gave me to tip to put almost empty sheets on a bullentin board so they are in plain sight and then play Boogle with the remaining letters to form some words, which I did tonight with this old doodlebug sticker sheet and I was able to make the word GRATEFUL FOR... I had originally wanted the word THANKFUL but I didn't have an "H"...now one dilemma, I didn't have 2 "O"'s either, but I made one "O" out of a "G" by cutting it with my scissors...now I am down to very few letters on this sheet. My son and I had fun coming up with some remaining words and I wrote them on a sticky note and stapled it to the remaining sheet! How useful and easy huh? Plus we had fun over dinner doing a "word find" together! Wondering where I got this idea? Well, it is a lift of the Nov. 2007 CK cover. I was cleaning this weekend and went to toss it out in the recycle bin and it caught my eye...glad it did, I LOVE how this page turned out! I knew right away what photo I would use, as I love the look of these little sweeties with their drumsticks, don't you? This photo was taken in 2006, and its hard to believe they have changed so much in just two short years! The journaling reads: "At Christmas this year when I stopped to count my blessings, I counted you two boys!" Don't forget to count your blessings before you go to bed tonight and tune in tomorrow for Git 'R Done Wednesday!

Fun page, fun colors!

Isn't this a great picture? It shows the fun side of these two nutty boys! They have a love hate thing going on...all the paper and the tag where found in this months Personalscrapper kit. The paper is by We R Memory Keepers the Nonsense line...and it fits these two boys perfectly, they are full of nonsense! LOL! They don't know whether to love each other or hate each other...most of the time they love each other, unless of course one of them has something the other one doesn't then fights ensue. It doesn't matter what the "IT" is, it could be a baby bottle and if one had one the other would want one to!! I should have titled it "We're cousins but we act like brothers!" HA! Hey, more inspiration for me, I'll have to do that title soon. You know I will have plenty of opportunity the next time they get together! I really liked the playfulness of this paper line, it lets you capture the playful side of whomever you are scrapping. I plan on using it for some of my summer pics, and it is great for fall pics too. Very versatile. I also loved this tag which comes in the kit, its a quote by Erma Bombeck: " The family: We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant. Loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together." Pretty fitting of these 2 I might add and probably most siblings or close relatives! Oh, and I wanted to point out the letters, they didn't come with the kit (the ones that did are super cute too) but they are the new puffy letters from American Crafts, and I got these at Archivers when I visited my SIL and brother in Omaha last month. I wish I had gotten every color they had, I wasn' t sure if I liked them, but seeing them on the page, I fell in love....hint hint for whoever got my name for Christmas...I'll take one of each color! HA! Is anyone working on their gratitude journal? I have been doing mine everyday. I have the journaling done, and most of my pics taken, now I just need to put it all together so I can share. I did get a CUTE little scrapbook to put it in at Hallmark this weekend. I needed a small album that just holds 4 x 6 pics and not one with like 100 pages, simple thing to find right? NOT...I looked all over, until I decided to hit Hallmark for some Christmas decorations and wrap and stumbled upon this one. I'll try and post of pic soon. It's raining and dreary here, perfect scrapbooking weather, so I hope to get a bunch done this week! Tune in for use your stash Tuesday tomorrow, I have been digging in the bottom of my embellishment drawer for this page.

Friday's Featured Blogger!

WOW! Am I glad it's Friday or what? I have been struggling to get things done since the time has changed. It seems like it is starting to get dark when I am finishing up work, and that makes me SLEEPY...so if I sit down for even a moment, I am out like a light. I also stayed up late watching the election coverage on Tuesday night, so that may also be part of it. So I have been a bit of a slacker this week. But without further ado...I would like to introduce my featured blogger for today. Lynette is a member of Personalscrapper like me. I have enjoyed her blog for quite awhile now. I love her creative style, she always creates the best titles and word art on her pages. Plus, she does many double page spreads and fits SO many pictures on them, that it makes it look super easy. I love her funny and also inspirational messages too. She has some AWESOME pictures of her country (she is from South Africa), which is very beautiful, making me want to visit their someday to see it in real life! So hop on over to her blog and check out all her lovely creations! http://creativemoments-lynette.blogspot.com And thanks Lynette for letting me share your beautiful work with all my friends here at My Creative Endeavors! I hope to get some scrapbooking done this weekend, so keep checking back, I promise to get some of my creative juices flowing again real soon!

Did you vote?

I hope everyone voted today (or early) and made your voice heard. No matter who you voted for we are seeing history in the making right in our lifetime, exciting isn't it...you will probably tell your grandkids about it someday. Also, its good to take your kids with you to vote, so that they will have a respect for the process and become part of it proudly when they are old enough.

Now back onto scrapbooking....I don't have my usual Use your stash Tuesday project as we had a busy day today and I didn't get my page completed, but I should be able to share it with you tomorrow...but today I stumbled upon this:

http://stacysbigpicture.typepad.com/altogether_too_happy/2008/10/the-weekend-r-1.html

Please read Stacy's post on how scrapbooking really does matter. It was an eye opener for me and I PROMISED I won't ever think about how bad my handwriting looks, or put off journaling til later. Because later may never come. So ladies, don't worry if your photo is "perfect" or your handwriting is "not very good" or if this paper "isn't the newest and best" ...JUST capture your feelings, that special moment and get it in YOUR SCRAPBOOKS NOW, not someday, not later, NOW. If you don't have time to scrapbook all 200 photos of Christmas 2007, then do a few and JOURNAL what you remember and what was SPECIAL about it now, before you forget, so your family will have those special memories of you and know how you felt about them and about life. I was so touched by this story and how this young man tore off the signature of his mother's check to keep, see handwriting is part of who you are, it is unique to you. OK...enough of my soapbox, I just hope you will be inspired by this young man as I was. So why not take time today to document this historical moment, your feelings, your hopes for your children's futures and what this day has meant to you. We are blessed to live in this great country . God bless America!

I'm hooked on challenges!

Since the LOAD (a layout a day) challenge has ended over at Personalscrapper I have been lost without a challenge the day, well, no worry I found one! Valerie at Got Sketch? has posted a new sketch and you had until last night to upload your take on it to be in the drawing for a prize giveaway! This is my take on Valerie's newest sketch #69. I love this picture of my nephew Ryan on a trip to the Fort Worth Nature Center. We had fun just the two of us and some possums, praire dogs, deer, birds and turtles! Oh, and a few fish too. Ryan loves animals like I do and we had fun exploring a swamp (or at least it looked like a swamp to me) looking for snakes and turtles. I have more pics, but this one was my fav so I had it blown up to 5 x7. I plan on using some more of Valerie's other sketches to make a double page layout of the rest of pictures. The papers I used here are All Fall from Fancy Pants...its my fav line of theirs to date. I say to date, cuz I am sure when they release another new line I'll love it too!! HA! I love sketches and sketch sites, so if you have a favorite site that you get inspiration from please share with all of us by leaving a comment. After all, who doesn't need a pick of inspiration now and then? Oh...one final thing, I created this page in under and hour as I didn't find the challenge until around 8 last night and the deadline was 9!! YIKES! I barely made it, in fact I had issues uploading my photo of my page, thus I may not even have made the actual deadline if you count my upload issues. That's why I'm posting this today, the other photo was bad and I took time today to fix it for my blog. Head over to the Got Sketch gallery (http://gotsketch.blogspot.com/) and get your fix of inspiration for the day! Have a great Monday everyone!

Blog Candy Winner of our photo bracelet!

Here's what happens when you try to steal Ryan's candy! (see photo #1). We had fun trick or treating last night. And photos 2-4 show all 3 kids in their getups or lack of get ups in Jakob's case! Katie was more interested in eating leaves, grass and flowers then candy (at least it won't rot your teeth!) and Ryan had fun counting his candy and handing out candy to Granny & Pappa's trick or treaters. Jakob had fun checking out his Yugio cards from Granny & Pappa and he didn't even have to dress up to get his treat! Can't beat that! Now on to the blog candy give away........We have a winner............and it is ........Deanna! Thanks ladies for playing! I wish I could give all 3 of you a prize! Unfortunately I didn't have any takers for my sketch challenge, guess no one liked the sketch but me! HA! So Deanna, PM your addresss and I will get your beautiful bracelet out to you soon! I hope you enjoy it and don't forget to check out our wonderful sponsor Scrapbooks on the Go (http://scrapbooksonthego.com/) , their photo jewerly makes wonderful gifts for the upcoming holiday season. I know I have a necklace and a few bracelets and they always get comments when I am out and about! My final total for the LOAD contest at Personalscrapper was 18 pages, 6 cards and 2 altered projects. NOT to bad for a months worth of creating huh? I had hoped to complete all 31 days but I did 20 days and that is actually a record for me. Now that I am in the groove, I hope to continue that trend. I have lot of holiday projects in the works, and will share them when I can, but its hard when someone might just get a peek of their Christmas gift early! HA! Ok, enough ramblings, have a great weekend !