In Loving Memory

In loving memory of Molly McButter (Chops) my sweet little cat. Born October 1993. Died September 29, 2009. Molly was an independent and tough old cat, she was best known for scaling your legs by digging her razor sharp claws into your pants when she was a kitten. No one was exempt,she treated people like they were trees. She loved to eat, even though she weighed around 4 pounds soaking wet. She loved to play string and had to retire early and arise early. She detested it when I stayed up past nine o'clock! She did not like you to hold her,but she would sit on your lap for hours and be mad if you had to get up to go to the bathroom at any point and time. She loved to claw things. She was a well loved kicking bag for her big sis, Snuggles, and even though she was much smaller she stood her ground. She was born in Kentucky and every time someone said anything that resembled the word or sound of "tucky" she would perk up. Her favorite food was Kentucky Fried Chicken. She was a well traveled cat having lived in 3 states and at least 6 houses. She hated the feel of grass on her little paws, she was an indoor cat through and through, as she showed when we had a mouse in our house because I caught it faster and showed MUCH more interest in it then she ever did! Rest in peace my sweet Molly McButterball, you will be greatly missed by me and all the little kids who loved to try and pet you and who to your credit you put up with pretty well in your golden years.

A Blast from the Past!

This layout was created for the GRANDPARENTS challenge over at Personalscrapper for the online crop that is ending today. These photos really are a blast from the past. They are from 2000 and are of my son in my Mom's garden (I guess really flower bed, but GRANNY'S GARDEN sounded better!) I just loved these pictures and have been hoarding them waiting for just the right page and this challenge got me inspired to finally scrap them. I used October Afternoon papers from the Personalscrapper August 2008 kit. This crop I decided to try and focus on one kit so that I can use it up. It isn't at all that I didn't like this kit, in fact, I have been hoarding it I liked it so much! Letters are from American Crafts and Jenni Bowlin. Sticker from Making Memories. I even covered the chipboard flowers that came in this kit! This layout is based on Sketch #25 from Inspired Blueprints. If you haven't checked them out, do so NOW...great sketches and inspiration here. Check back in a few days, I am working on a double pager using another Inspired Blueprints sketch! See ya back here soon folks!

Sketch # 38

I finally got a 52 sketches sketch done before the deadline! YEAH! Their sponsors offer such awesome prize packages it is a great incentive to play along every week. I haven't won yet, but if I do you will hear me far away in blog land cheering and jumping up and down! This week's sketch was a real fun one, and let me use FOUR photos! I love multiple photo sketches. I used my October Afternoon papers again, found in the Personalscrapper kit for this month. They are from the lines Night Light and Farm Fresh (which is still not in stores yet!) I took a ton of pics of the kids playing baseball in my parents backyard when my brother came to visit over the Labor Day weekend. Isn't that a hoot how he is lifting up my little nephew to retrieve the gutter balls?!! It's so fun to capture these simple everyday moments. I used Jillibean Soup letters on this layout for the first time, loving that font, need them in more colors! In fact, this layout was created for the Personalscrapper challenge called PUNCTUATION, we were to use punctuation on our page. Now, gotta start thinking about next week's sketch, its up and it is an awesome one..I think I have an idea for it...maybe I can get it done tomorrow, right now I am working on a two page spread that is giving me fits...so I'm putting it up for tonight and will look back at it in the morning with fresh eyes, hope I have one of those "aha" moments! LOL! See ya next week folks!

Friday's Featured Blogger

Wow! This week has flown by. I didn't get much creating done until last night when I finished a layout except for the journaling, which I hope to finish after work and take a picture of so I can post it tomorrow or tonight. What I did get done was A LOT of organization. I literally cleaned out my ENTIRE scraproom. I got everything cleared out I no longer wanted and posted to ebay. Which by the way has almost all sold and is no longer in my house! YEAH! I really made nothing on most of it, but then I would have given it away if someone wanted to come haul it off! LOL! I just wanted it out of my room and into the arms of someone who will enjoy it and use it, so right now there are several scrapbookers who are so excited to have new stuff at a BARGAIN price to play with. And it's out of my house, I made a few bucks for my upcoming vacation, paid my ebay and paypal fees and now I can get back to creating, what I love the most! It is just in time too Personalscrapper is having an online crop this weekend and I am planning on doing several of the 16 challenges. Stop and crop with us if you want to, just go here to sign up!
Now, on to Friday's featured blogger. Today we are featuring Tanya at Moment Captured. Her motto is "It's the little things that matter most", how true isn't it. I love her simple style that lets her photos shine through, and shows me that you can create a lovely page without spending hours doing so. I stumbled upon her blog when she was announced as one of the new DT members over at 52 sketches. So hop on over and check out her blog, you can see a few of my fav layouts here and here. Enjoy!

Another Scraplift

Here is another layout I created for another round of Six Degrees of Separation over at the Personalscrapper board. At first I was totally stumped on what pictures to use, as I had this idea to use these day of the week journaling spots in my title. I wanted to use this picture on the right I took recently of my son at the waterpark (I just loved the look on his face) but didn't have any others to really use with it to fit the theme "I love you more everyday", that's when I decided to use these other random photos of him over the years and do a "remember" theme, cuz when I saw this recent pic I was astounded on how fast he was growing up! I used the BRAND SPANKING NEW October Afternoon Report Card and Farm Fresh papers as well as some patterned paper from Stampin Up and County Fair an older October Afternoon line. I know these new papers aren't available at stores yet, so are you wondering how I got some? Well, I got them cuz I am a PERSONALSCRAPPER kit club member and this month's kit featured these awesome papers PLUS MORE- like these super cute buttons from American Crafts! This kit is super and Erica at Personalscrapper always tries to get some of the latest and greatest stuff in her kits, that's why I've been a member for over 2 years now and have never been disappointed! I was also able to use up some old stash in these journal spots and the letters which are from Doodlebug. I think they looked great as the title. We have a busy Saturday today so I am off to do some shopping for my secret sis over at the Personalscrapper message board, plus some other fun things. And if I have time I plan on getting back on the 52 sketches wagon, as I have missed doing their sketches the last few weeks, but hope to be back in the running again with their cool sketch #37! Happy Saturday everyone!

Friday's Featured Blogger and we have a winner!

It's Friday again and time for Friday's Featured Blogger! I wanted to share with you today's featured blogger who has an awesome sketch site that I happened upon this week. It is called Sketchy Thursdays. I just love sketches and the sketches here are just awesome...but even more awesome are the prizes they are giving away! This weeks prize is from Unity Stamp Company, which until now I had not heard of. I checked out their website and found tons of inspiration, gorgeous jaw dropping stamps and loads of fun info on their site as well. So if you like sketches stop by Sketchy Thursdays for some great sketches to use on your next layout, and hey, maybe you will win a prize too! I am hoping to get to play with some of their sketches real soon!
Now onto my blog candy winner....thanks to all who signed up as followers and who left me well wishes on my blog birthday. But even though I hate to just pick one winner the one randomly picked winner is ........................SHELLY! Contact me with your info to claim your fun prize. I am planning a another fun giveaway when I hit 25,000 hits so keep tuning in, we might get there soon! Have a great weekend everyone!

Happy Rainy Monday!

Its still raining here this morning, its a dreary blah Monday morning! But what better way to cheer a person up then to share a fun layout. This layout is so bright and colorful and fun it should cheer up just about anyone! This layout was a lift from another fun round of Six Degrees of Separation hosted by Amy on the Personalscrapper board. It starts off with one layout then that layout is lifted by the next player in line and so on and so forth down the line until it has been lifted SIX times!!!! It is so fun to see the beginning and end results as well as everything in between. I can't believe how things that are left off on the lift after the first one will somehow reappear along the line. And of course, no one is allowed to share their layout or lift until after the game is over. Since this game is now officially over I thought I would share my layout with you. This layout uses papers from Summer Soiree from the Personalscrapper July kit. I also used up some of the chipboard in my stash that has been sitting around gathering dust! I was inspired to use some of my chipboard "naked" after seeing some of Amy's great pages doing the same thing, and let me tell you, it is SOOOOO much easier this way! Hope it is bright and sunny where you are and have have a Happy Monday everyone!

Happy Birthday!

Today MY CREATIVE ENDEAVORS officially turns one! I have enjoyed blogging throughout the year and hope to have another fun year of sharing with you family pictures/events as well as my scrappy creations. And its not really a birthday without presents right? Well, as a present to myself I am treating myself to Valeria and Janna's newest Got Sketch class. This class is all about double page sketches and should be packed full of inspiration! If you sign up or are signed up make sure and stop by and say "hi" during the class! This will be my fourth Got sketch class so I am hoping to see some "old" friends as well as making new ones.
Now enough about my present, don't forget I am giving away a present to one lukcy blog reader/follower as well. So you still have time to enter, see this post and follow the instructions, we haven't had too many entries yet, so your chances of winning are pretty good! Have a great Sunday afternoon everyone!

Friday's Featured Blogger

I almost thought I wouldn't have a featured blogger today cuz I didn't have much time to do a lot of blog hopping this last week, but low and behold I stumbled upon another awesome blogger by chance again just yesterday. Today's featured blogger has so many awesome layouts you can spend hours looking at them all. But look here you can find one of my most favorite ones, its called 2 pals and uses some of the Sassafrass Lass new stuff. I just adore this cute picture of a little girl and her kitty! So so sweet! And this friends page is another work of art! Love the fun patterns and colors from the Basic Grey June Bug line! So please hop on over and visit today's fun blog "HOW DID I END UP HERE?", love this name don't you! Too too fun! TGIF everyone and if you know of a fun and exciting papercrafting blog for me to share for a Friday's Featured blogger please drop me a note or leave me a comment, its so much fun to share all the creativity and inspiration out there in blogo land!

Blog Candy!

Guess who's turning ONE in a few days? You got it, MY CREATIVE ENDEAVORS will be turning one on September 13th! So let's celebrate with a fun give away of a few of my favorite things! I will be giving away the awesome mix of goodies pictured here. This blog candy assortment features some of my fav products: Maya Road journaling sheers, assorted journaling blocks (can't live without those), a summer stamp set (great for cards or to accent your layouts), felt flowers, alphabet stickers in black and pink, Scenic Route assorted chipboard pieces and to celebrate my favorite season Fall, some Petaloo fall flowers, and in honor of my fav holiday Christmas, some really fun etsy finds! To be entered into this random drawing all you need do is either POST a link to this giveaway on your blog and leave the link to it in the comments section here OR if you don't have a blog then lift any of the layouts I have posted on my blog this past year and either email me a picture of your lift (to be shared here on the blog) or you can upload it to a gallery or your blog and leave me the link here in the comments section! If you want to do both the giveaway post AND the scraplift then you can be entered twice! And as an EXTRA bonus if someone signs up to follow my blog based on your referral, both of you will be entered once into the drawing! Just make sure they mention you name in the comments section when they visit to sign up as a follower. So refer away, you can get multiple entries one for each person that signs up to follow me. Alrighty then...lets get to work people! Deadline for all entries will be September 17th at midnight. I will draw the lucky winner on September 18th.

Summer don't go!

School's been in session now for a few weeks here and so its starting to sink in more each day that summer is slowly coming to a close, however, with these 90+ degree days it is hard to believe at times. It does cool down a bit now at night, which has started me thinking of Fall, but I'm still on a scrap those summer pics kick. Today's layout uses the Bo Bunny Mango Luau line which I grabbed just 4 sheets of because I just really didn't need anymore summer papers, but how could I resist these beautiful papers? Especially after I saw this awesome layout by Christine Ousley. I love the way my lift of her Summertime layout turned out. Letters are from Paper Trunk (love their new letters, they are a great size for when you need a smaller title) and the journaling block is from Kaiser Crafts (its really a rub on). The pics are from our summer vacation to Cocoa Beach. The colors weren't real good in these pics as it was dusk, so turning them to sepia tone really made them a better picture. So what's your favorite summer line? I really must say the Bo Bunny Mango Luau, Cosmo Cricket Snorkel and Fancy Pants Summer Soiree are my favs this year. Not sure about Fall lines yet, don't really have my eye on any at the moment, but give me time! LOL! Be sure and check back tomorrow cuz I am announcing some great blog candy here on my blog for all my awesome readers, because here in a few days my blog will be ONE YEAR OLD! WOW! Can you believe it? I can't...seems like just yesterday. Fun prizes people so be sure and check back for the announcement tomorrow! Catch ya later!

Friday's Featured Blogger

Happy Happy Friday everyone! I don't know about you, but when I am creating anymore I am usually pressed for time and don't have whole gobs of time to work on my project. Therefore, I usually keep my projects pretty simple. Today's featured bloggers are also short,sweet, CLEAN AND SIMPLE artists as well, in fact that is the name of the blog CLEAN and SIMPLE! This blog has several contributors all with a great simple sense of style. It is a great card blog and features many simply striking cards and stamping techniques. Look here to see one of the reasons I was taken with this blog. Here is another on of my favs as well. This beautiful card features a stamp set designed by another Friday's featured blogger from months past Dawn McVey. Go hop on over and see for yourself just how gorgeous simple can be! And speaking of simple my layout for today was created for the 20 minute challenge over at Personalscrapper's August online crop. This page features Fancy Pants' Summer Soiree line and was lifted from the Fancy Pants blog. I just LOVE it and yet it is so totally simple! So if you have some time this week challenge yourself to create a simple card or layout and leave a link here in the comments sections, we'd love to see what you come up with!

sketch #34

Still getting back into the back to school groove at our house. It would go more smoothly if I only had to work and scrapbook but now all these pesky housekeeping and yard chores keep wanting my attention and since we are expecting company this weekend I decided I better give them some attention or our guests will think they are visiting a pigsty not our humble home! Today's layout was completed for week 34 on the 52 sketches/52 weeks challenge website. Can you believe we are already on week 34?! I just LOVED this sketch...the multiple photos are really nice and its so easy to work with. I was able to create this layout in no time flat. I used papers from Pink Paislee and My Mind's Eye Breaking Free. The photos are of my son and his friend horsing around with his carpet slides he got for Christmas. They were pulling each other and falling down and just laughing and having a great time! The letters are from Basic Grey, the tag from My Mind's Eye and the button from Jenni Bowlin. I chose this title because one of the challenges for the Personalscrapper online crop was to use a song in your title and so I IMMEDIATELY thought of these photos (don't ask me why but I did)! I plan on using this sketch a few more times due to its versatility, but I have so many other challenges I need to work on it will have to take a back burner for now. Hope to be back in a few days to share my other layouts with you. Don't forget to check out the 52 sketches week 35 sketch, it is really fun and involves a circle, so it will be a hard one for me, but I already have my idea, just need the TIME to do it!