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!