Aren't you feeling So Sketchy?!

Wow! Long time no blog...our Christmas holiday was a great time and a whirlwind of activity, but I am back in the saddle so to speak and back to creating! What a great way to spend the last day of 2008. I created this page for a design team call at the So Sketchy site. Ally shares some amazing sketches and I was so excited to be able to try out for her design team. Of course, I am sure the competition is tough, and I really don't think I will be choosen to become a page sista, but hey, if you don't try you for sure will never be given any opportunities will you? I just found out about the design team call two days ago so I created my two pages in a short time, but it really was easy using the sketches off of this great site. For this page I used the November 7th 12 x 12 sketch. So run on over and check out Ally's site...http://sosketchy.blogspot.com/ and if you create something awesome with one of the sketches leave me a comment with the link so I can go check it out! Catch you peeps next year! HA!

My baby is turning eleven today!

Can you believe my baby turned eleven today? I can't seems like yesterday I was bringing him home from the hospital! Here are a couple of quick pictures from his family birthday party today. He is with his best buddy who wants to be just like him, his cousin Ryan. Ryan seemed to manage to get in every picture since he was almost as excited as Jakob to open the gifts! We celebrated with double fudge chocolate cake and a lunch at Jakob's favorite place to eat Applebees! Jakob has really been celebrating all month as he had a sleep over with his two good buddies two weeks ago as well. Nice to have two parites huh? Well, we are off to our evening Christmas Eve service soon, gonna have pizza for dinner and do a Christmas gift exchange this evening, our new annual family tradition we started three years ago, so gotta run. Wishing everyone a blessed Christmas day. I will try and post again next week after all the holiday chaos simmers down.

Black Friday revisited!

Well, its suppose to be Git 'R Done Wednesday but I am desperately trying to finish up my challenges I started for the online crop at Personalscrapper and was not able to dig into my "to be finished" pile to work on any of those layouts, so here is one of the layouts I did finish for the "ALPHABET SOUP" challenge . We were to use a minimum of 2 alphabets on a page, I ended up using five. Black Friday is something I started doing three years ago and have not even scrapped about yet, so thought I would while this years Black Friday is still fresh in my mind. I used a sketch from the STUCK?! blog http://stucksketches.blogspot.com/. I used sketch #65. I love their sketches as well as the layouts they feature using their sketches, lots of inspiration there! I really like the black and white look, although to make my title stand out I ended up going with a light pink paper from Breezy Designs, I was trying to keep it totally black and white, but my letters really didn't pop on black or on white, so I added just a "touch" of color. This is one of those layouts where you keep going back to it and adding a little bit more here and there. I finally had to put an end to that by putting it in my album otherwise I might still be altering it! I had a lot to journal so I used my favorite journaling trick..stick it behind the picture in a pocket, works great when you have a lot to say and its only a one page layout. Even though the crop is over I plan on continuing to finish up the other layouts I have started as the challenges were super this time, so I'll continue to share as I get them done!

Use your Stash Tuesday the Christmas Card edition!

Ok, its use your stash Tuesday again, and although I thought I was finished with my Christmas Cards I realized a few more peeps I left off, so I went back to the drawing board to make a few more cards. I decided in honor of Use your stash Tuesday that I should dig into my SUPER JUMBO SLAB of Christmas paper. I bought this giant slab 2 years ago, and have really not even made a dent in it. I keep telling myself I don't like any of these papers, but in reality I do like most of them, I am just overwhelmed by such a HUGE stash of paper! So after seeing what my friend Rose (who is a creative genius by the way) had done with some of these papers, I decided to try my hand at using them on Christmas cards...it went pretty well, I am pleased with the results. As you can see I stuck to one basic layout, but used different papers and stamps. That saved me time, but yet allowed me to continue on my mission of making each person an individual card. I promise this is my last Christmas Card post, well...unless some long lost relatives appear out of nowhere that I need to send a card to! HA! So get to it girls, use up that old Christmas paper you've been hoarding, and if you run out, call me...I gotcha covered!

It's raining Christmas Cards!

Ok, I was running out of time making each person an individual card, I had so much fun doing it though, so I had to pick up the speed a bit, especially after seeing on the news that time is running out to get things there by Christmas. So I pulled out my Simply Sent Card Element set by Stampin' Up and created away. I was able to make my cards fast using these preprinted elements, I did change them up a bit and add embellishments to make them each unique, but I was able to get them all done in record time and finish up my cards! I like the way they turned out, simple yet elegant. I hope the recipients like them as well. Now I plan to get back to croppin' as we only have one day left in the online Personalscrapper crop. I haven't gotten much done, but considering its the holiday season, I am happy to have gotten even one page done! I'll take pics and share when I finish up with the 2 layouts I am currently working on. It's super cold here today and it may ice up in the morning, so I may have extra time to play if I can't get to work tomorrow! Oh...a gal can dream can't she? I know those of you on the East Coast and in the Midwest don't feel to sorry for us, but if it drops below 30 here its news!

Enabler Alert!

Ok, nothing new created today (not yet anyway, I'm still working on it) but I had to share before this sale ends....go to http://www.scrapbooksongthego.com/ and check out the HUGE sale they have going on right now. Not sure when it ends but a bunch of stuff including the jewerly is 50% OFF!!!!! I hate to enable everyone this time of year, but hey, these make great gifts, so hop on over and check it out! I plan on picking up a few things myself, and click on the new altered portfolios (that's the baby girl one I am showing here), those are SUPER cute and cheap too! Plus, if you spend $50, shipping is free!! LOVE that word this time of year! YEA! Ok, off to crop, gotta get to work on all 15 challenges I am trying to complete!

Christmas Cards are in the mail!

OK, hope this doesn't take some of the surprise out of the Christmas cards I have mailed out or will mail out this weekend...but I just had to share some of my favs here. These are made with some Paper Studio stickers from Hobby Lobby and the Basic Grey Figgy Pudding paper line...love the vintage feel of these cards. I have decided to just make random cards this year, so each card is special and individual as well, no mass production this year, so no two people will get the same card, thus the sharing on the blog, so everyone can see all the pretty cards! Hope you enjoy, and if you don't get yours right away, well, its because I'm busy making it! But its worth the wait I promise! HA! Today was the start of our Online crop at personalscrapper , so I will be busy creating but maybe not posting until the end, so look for lots of new goodies coming soon! And if your not busy stop by and join us, the more the merrier! Visit: http://www.personalscrapper.com click on FORUMS. Erica has designed some AWESOME challenges for us, you wont' want to miss it! Hope to see you there!

Git 'R Done Wednesday Cowboy Style!

Well, its that time again, to just Git 'R done! And this week's edition features a fun two page layout I started last year but just didn't really know how to embellish it. I ended up using some of my stamps sets by Stampin' Up and I like the way it turned out. It's a deviation from my normal style of using my favorite patterned paper as well as my fav embellishment of buttons, but hey, its time to use these stamps! I was even able to fit my tickets onto the page, and I like how I was able to use a bunch of pics as well. We had so much fun last year at our first ever Cowboys game and we were able to go again this year too (still need to scrap those pics). Hope to do it again next year at the BRAND NEW Cowboys Stadium. I know my son is excited to see it as am I. So when you are scrapping those sporting events you attend, use a small (or big if needed) pocket as part of you embellishing to keep the memorabilia on the page, it will be neat to look back in 20 years and see how much those tickets cost! (although in this case they were actually free thanks to our WONDERFULLY generous friends ~ Lisa and Chuck, who were are so blessed to know) They are the best and I am still astounded by their generosity in giving us those amazing tickets! Our Got Sketch mini class ended today, but don't worry you can still sign up if you do it within the next few days, you will love it I promise, and best of all its free! What a great gift to yourself this holiday season. So check it out on Valerie's blog: http://gotsketch.blogspot.com/. Enjoy!

Countdown to Christmas!

Did ya'll miss me? Well, it's been one big party around here. My scrapbook party on Saturday was SO much fun! Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, but can you believe I did not take ONE picture? Shame on me. I think this is my fifth year to do this and I have yet to take a picture. We enjoyed ourselves so much that I am planning on doing it again next year (not next Christmas but literally next year, in a few months), why wait until the holidays to have so much fun and get together with a bunch of fun and creative ladies to talk about scrapbooking?! The double page spread is what we made for one of our fun projects. It uses last's years Basic Grey Christmas paper, Figgy Pudding. So as you can see I was able to use up some of my stash of Christmas paper with this project...I tend to save and hoard my Christmas paper, but figured if I start to use some of it up I can always buy more. Have you seen some of the lines out there now? I love the new Basic Grey Wassail line ( check out the December Personalscrapper kit it features this plus the FA LA LA LA line by Making Memories). My next fav is the Cosmo Cricket O JOY line. Also like the October Afternoon, American Crafts and My Mind's Eye lines. I guess you can say I am easy to please YUCK YUCK! These pics are from Christmas 2006, I hope to get a bunch of Christmas layouts done this weekend at the online Personalscrapper crop. My son is having a sleep over on this coming Saturday with his friends for his 11th birthday, so I will most likely be up all night, and I hope to get some cropping down, if I can hear myself think over all the boys laughing and playing! Catch you again soon, promise I won't wait a week to post again!

Another homemade Invitation

Today is use your stash Tuesday and although I don't have a scrapbook page to show you, I did use a lot of my older stash on this birthday invitation to my son's eleventh birthday party. I used some of my hoarded Stampin' Up paper as well as my discontinued, very old star eyelets. I was SOO into eyelets a few years back and have tons I need to use up! I also used my neglected star punches which I love but don't use much. The "its a party" was cut on my Cricut, which I am trying to use more and more and my goal is to use it for my use your stash Tuesdays. I won't allow myself to buy anymore cartridges until I have used the ones I have on a regular basis...need to prove to myself it is worth the price to buy new ones. Does anyone else have a Cricut? What are your favorite cartridges, drop me a comment, I would love to know which ones you recommend, because if I keep using it more I plan on buying myself a new one for my birthday in a few weeks. I couldn't come up with a design for this invitation, and as I was in a rush, so busy as we all are this time of year, I decided to use the same layout as my previous invite to my scrapbooking party. Try that sometime, its simple and makes you feel creative if you just cannot come up with something and need to in a pinch. You can look at my post for November 23rd and see how different they look by changing out the papers etc. Tune in tomorrow for Git 'R Done Wednesday, I'll have a scrapbook page completed out of my drawer again, and last count I will have just 8 more to go! YEA! Maybe I'll reward myself with some more scrapbook goodies! HA! One last thing...hop on over to Valerie's GOT SKETCH blog, http://gotsketch.blogspot.com/, she is having a FREE sketch class starting tomorrow December 3rd. YOU WILL NOT WANT to miss this! Believe me, her work and her sketches are AWESOME. So sign up, it is only a week long and if you don't have time to complete everything you can still download all the materials and do the assignments after the holidays. Now, that's a WAY better deal then anything you bought on Black Friday!

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 !

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"!