I hope to get lots of scraping done today

But first I need to go and visit everyone's blogs. I feel that I've missed so much in the past 3 days. But I also haven't done any pages either. So I'll balance it out going from PSE to blogger and back and forth. :)

Did you know that this weekend is Scrapbook Bytes 5th anniversary? They're having a big sale and party. Spent a few hours last night at the chats and going through the store to see what I just can't live without (too much) and what I can afford. They have a terrific Collab that you get for free if you spend $10. And a lot of the designers are running sales right now. Unfortunately they are having some issues with the store and now I have to wait to get my goodies. But that's ok cuz I can spend time with you all.

Did you grab Heather's Grab Bag yet? What are you waiting for? Lots of goodies for a ridiculously low price. Plus you can use those goodies in the CT Blog challenge Now & Then, not to mention the Valentine's Day Challenge that I'm getting ready to post on Friday.

Guess I'm off to scrap. Hope you can get some good quality scrap time in too. Enjoy your Saturday.

Spotlights and flashlights

I was surfing the net for landscape lighting and came across this site MagnaLight.com. Now what caught my eye on this site wasn't landscape lighting but the wide variety of High Powered spotlights. Which would be perfect for the campground. Quite often we play horseshoes or cornhole until the light is all gone. If we had a set of GoLights we could play all night. In addition to the GoLights, MagnaLight has a great selection of hunting lights, boat lights and even military lights. It seems that they do quite a bit of business with the military and have several testimonials from some of our military men serving over in Iraq. To me it sounds like they need more lights and less red tape. So if you're looking for any type of spotlights, flashlights, HID equipment lights or mounting equipment for these lights, check out MagnaLight.

Friday, Friday, TGIF

Good morning. It's early here still. I got up to let the dogs out and decided to sit down at the computer and get some work done. Never fails. So I figured I'd come by and leave a happy TGIF message here. I am soooooooo glad it's Friday. 'nough said!

Last night Shannon and I went to see his niece play basketball. It's the first game of the season we've gotten to see and just about the last game of the season. It was a good defensive game, but they lost. It's her Senior season and it hasn't been a good one. The first 3 years she played on this team they had a 6 foot 3 guard who they parked under the basket. They won titles all 3 years, so this year is a big disappointment to her. And she sprained her ankle but tried to play through the pain. She wasn't in a good mood by the time I got to talk to her. And all she really wanted was some sympathy from her uncle and the blockhead didn't realize it. Men are so dense sometimes.

So while I was playing at DST with the grab Heather's grab bag game, I got myself some goodies too. Look.
This adorable Valentine's kit from Designs by Shelle
And this cute alpha by Tangie Baxter. There were quite a few others that I would have loved to have gotten, but can't get greedy. I find that a bit of Karma is good for the soul. Whenever Heather lets me give away her goodies, I get goodies in return. The other thing I've learned is that up to yesterday, everyone I've rak'd had done a turn on Heather's CT as a guest. We'll see if the trend continues.

I got the nicest Thank You card in the mail yesterday from my SIL parents. I changed a few of the photos on the calendar I did for my mom and my SIL ordered one for her parents. They are major paper scrappers and I am so in awe of what they can do. For her to be impressed with my digiscrapping skills (as basic as they are) and to say so really made my day.

Don't forget Heather's grab bag is on sale at her store until the 29th. I hope to get to play with it just a little bit more this weekend. Working on a great challenge for her CT blog for the beginning of Feb. Hope you'll keep an eye out for it.

Enjoy your weekend all. Happy scrapping!

What are you going to do with this "tax rebate"?

What are you going to do with the proposed tax rebate? Will you spend it like the government want us to to stimulate the economy? Or will you put it into savings? Maybe pay off some credit card debt? Have you ever considered how much you need in an emergency fund? Check out this blog for recomendations on emergency savings funds. Most experts recommend that you have 6 months in savings, some say $500. What is most important is that you have some sort of savings for emergencies.

Managed through

Well I made it through work yesterday without a major meltdown. I was pretty bored and gave up trying to stay away from the forums after lunchtime. I'm hoping that they won't take those too. See I have a job with a lot of downtime and not a whole lot to do. So internet access was ok until now. The IT guy will be in the office today. Debating on if I'll ask what is so wrong about blogs. I'm sure he'll tell me lots. I know, you're tired of hearing about it.

So I'm trying to get back on track with my Christmas book. I've still got at least 10 pages to go. And I've really lost the Christmas feeling. I wanted to try to get away from traditional colors but I still used a Christmas kit. I've got mixed feelings about it. I have decided that I need to journal more on these pages. So I'm really struggling with that. Credits: Jingle Jangle from Melissa Bennett, gift boxes by Mary Fran & template by Andrea Gold.

Well I'm off to pick the winners of Heather's gift bag giveaway. Stop by her CT blog to see who won.

Have a great day all!

Blogthings

You Are A Blue Girl

Relationships and feelings are the most important things to you. You are empathetic and accepting - and good at avoiding conflict. If someone close to you is in pain, it makes you hurt as well. You try to heal the ones you love with your kind and open heart.

What Color Girl Are You?

You Are Marcia Brady

Confident yet kind. Popular yet down to earth. You're a total dream girl. You've got the total package - no wonder everyone's a little jealous of you.

What Brady Are You?

A great guide to web hosting choices

Are you looking for a web host? I was, thanks to my desire to be able to read my blog while at work. So I was happy to have found web hosting choice. It is a terrific site that offers comparative info on different web host sites that are out there. There is a wonderful quick start guide and a FAQ area to help you improve your knowledge of what is important while you are looking for a web host. And I truly appreciated the section on scams. I don't need to fall into any of those. So if you are thinking of getting your own domain name for your blog or want to open a website of your own, start with the web host and get all the information you need.

No more blogger at work.

So I've been having issues at work with my computer the past few days. When the IT guy called yesterday to go over things and reinstall and remove etc.. stuff, I just happened to have the site for my new blog host up. Well, later this afternoon I found that IT has blocked all Blogger based sites from my access at work. I have a feeling that forums will be next. I tried to clear out my history and stuff, but I know they have an exact printout of where I've been and such. Now I don't know why they feel that scrapping blogs are so dangerous to the server but I'm pretty sure that I've ruined it for everyone else in the company. However I doubt that anyone else is a ticked off about it as I am. I have a boring job and the only thing that makes it even remotely tolerable is my Internet access. So while I'll continue to blog I won't be by to read your during the day. I will however continue to visit my friends, nothing will stop me from my appointed rounds, lol. I just wanted to let everyone know what was up and why I'm not traveling the blog train during the day. (or at least until I figure out a way around this). I did get a domain name and started to set up a new blog. I'll let you know if I can access that one at work, not that it will matter, cuz I won't be able to read yours at work.

So it was very nice to see this from Yen yesterday on her blog. I truly adore all my regular readers and am an avid reader myself. It's nice to get to know what it going on in peoples lives. I am so majorly bummed out about this IT issue. Anyway, I would like to once again recognize Heather, Kristine & Cate. These girls are just such a part of my daily life. I can't repeat what Kristine said about my IT issue, but it at least made me chuckle. Which I believe has become her main focus in life. Cate is my lifeline on trying to figure out my Vista and PSE issues. I don't understand something, one email screaming help and the problems fixed. Heather believes in me, even when I don't believe in myself. Love ya girls~Mwah!

I thought I'd play around with Kim B's color challenge over at DSO. I don't know when it started to become a design challenge, but it seems that everyone is trying their hand at that. I think I'll stick to word art. But here is my very first attempt at papers. If you like it, snag em here.

Don't forget to stop by Heather's CT blog & leave a comment to be in the running for her newest grab bag. I'll be randomly drawing a name of everyone who leaves a comment. At least I'm getting all those at my email. lol. Ok, I know shut up and do your job.

Have a great day! I'll be missing you.

Obsessed and a grab bag rak

Good morning. It's snowing a little bit here and I swear that with the little bit of precipitation people here lose their ability to drive. I don't get it at all. There's about an inch of snow and it took me 15 minutes to turn left off the main street I live on. Anyway, the snow isn't the problem, the people who forget how to drive in it is.

So I've become obsessed with blending and the fact that I seem to be unable to grasp the process well enough to make a decent attempt at it. So here's one I did this morning since I woke up early. The kit is Flergs Deacon's Closet with recolored flowers. Anyone have an easy step by step tut that you can link me to. I see so many people who do this so beautifully and I want to do it too. Blending envy, how funny.

Look, Heather has a new grab bag out. 5 new products for only $2.75. Go check out the CT blog for an opportunity to win this fabulous grab bag. I will randomly pick 1 person from those people who leave a comment on the CT blog. I'll announce the winner here on Thursday. Also check out the great challenge that Charlize has posted at the blog. It's a "now and then" challenge and there will also be a random winner for a $5 GC there too. Heather is being sooooo generous.

Enjoy your day all!

Happy Birthday Cate!!

Well I did get to play a little bit yesterday. Unfortunately I can't show it to you until I post the new challenge on Heather's CT blog. Yeah! Another blog I get to go on and on at. The entire CT team will be involved and that's where we'll be introducing new products, challenges and give aways that Heather has planned for the upcoming weeks. So keep an eye out for the link. You know I'll have it here first. hehe

Ok, now I can show you the other thing I was working on yesterday. Yeah! Happy Birthday to my friend Cate!!!!!! Cate has been such a sweetheart to me and a good support system. Please stop by her blog and wish her a wonderful day. I think that she got buried in snow over the weekend. brrrrrr. Catie girl, I wish for you lots of time today to scrap to your hearts content.
Credits: Everything by Flergs from Caramel Pudding & Strawberry Delight. Word art by me.


Also, Purple Paper Flowers is officially open! Check out the gallery, forums and wonderful shoppe.

Baby it's cold.

It's so cold here, but then again, it's cold throughout the entire Midwest. It's 3 degrees with a windchill of -10 degrees. So glad I do my grocery shopping midweek. Feeling like I'm starting to come down with something. That's usually the case. First time in a month I've worked a Saturday and get overtime and I'll get sick and not get the OT. Oh well, I'll just pump myself full of Theraflu and junk, maybe I can beat it.

I tried to play around with blending a bit yesterday and this is what I came up with. Not sure that the blue dress went so well with the blue paper but I just loved that. Anyone have any CC for me on how to do this better? It would be so greatly appreciated. (Credits: Paper by Michelle Coleman Frosted Papers; Ribbon (recolored) by Paint The Moon - Annie Manning; fairy & fairy dust from Feral Faeries by Scrappin Hillbilly Sweetpea Designs; Snowflakes from Icy Sparkles by Heather Manning ; Snowflakes by Flergs from her blog; alpha by Debb Cozzi - Lucite Christmas.) This is the only one I did yesterday. I spent most of my time resaving the layouts I've done of my nieces to Shutterfly specs for a book. Since I bought 2 of em on sale at Target, I thought I'd get some of mine printed off. Didn't realize that I have 40 of the girls alone. Guess I need to make a trip back to Target to grab some more.

Well, time to go do laundry, dishes and all that other domestics stuff I hate. Cate, wished you lived closer~lol. Stay warm everyone!!