Ahhhh Saturday

And you'd think I'd try to sleep in since I don't have to be to work until 10. Yeah I know, yuck. But I was awake at 7 and since I didn't get to play last night, I thought I'd see what I could come up with after a good nights sleep. Actually I'm pretty impressed with myself on this one. I used Heather's I'm Blushing and her part of the Purple Paper Flowers designers collab Come What May. The flowers and butterflies are by Flergs from Caramel Pudding and Strawberry Delight. The template is by Doreen Stolz. I just love photos of Em sleeping. She looks like an angel, but really she's just a ball of energy. So now I'm off to work. Hope you all enjoy your Saturday.

Thinking about refinancing?

Have you been thinking about refinancing to get a better rate, get out of an adjustable rate or debt consolidation? Not sure where to look? Check out DollarBlvd.com. You can get information from 5 different lenders without a credit check or giving your social security number up front. Make the lenders compete for your business. After all they're the ones who are looking to get paid. So check out this site for comparative no obligation refinancing or home equity loan quotes. Florida Refinance is just one area that can obtain great quotes. Stop by today.

Look, a layout finally.

Hi there. Look I actually got some pages done. I still don't have my files in place, but I just had to scrap. Emotionally I just needed to create and then get frustrated. lol. If you're a regular reader you know that I'm rarely happy with my pages. But I'm learning to scrap for me and not be so self critical. Good luck, bwahahaha. So here are my two masterpieces I finished last night.

Credits: Heather Manning- keep your eyes open for more info to come.
I'm sure that most of you know what this is. This is my page for the Flergs CT competition. I'd be happy with a guest spot. There have been over 1000 downloads of this kit. I don't envy Megan on having to go through all the entries to choose people for her CT. While working on this, I found that a few of Megan's freebies I'd collected aren't on my backup and I don't think my disc either. Bummer. The butterfly and flowers are from her Caramel Pudding and the journaling strips are by Jessica Gorny. (I got those on sale at OAKS- there's still time).

I'm really hoping I can get back on the ball and get more done for my Christmas book. I have 9 out of 20 pages done. I also went to Target yesterday and got 2 of the Shutterfly codes for 8 X 8 books to print out some of my layouts. Now I'll need to resave them all and resize some of them. Oh yeah, I got the Shutterfly codes for $15 each. And they had the calendars down to $10. I may go and get some more of those just to have. I'm a sucker for a sale.

Gotta go get dressed for work. Thank God it's Friday!! Even if I do have to work for a bit tomorrow. Hope you all have a great day and enjoy your weekend!

It's short today

Mornin all. Hope today finds you well and scrappin happy. I'm still working on getting files back to where they need to be and real life has prevented me from doing any scrapping. I am falling way behind on my CT and challenges. Such is life though. I quit worrying about it. I just hope that my mojo doesn't get too lost in the process.

So have you checked out Prima yet? I never paper scrapped so I really doubt I'll do any hybrid stuff. I am in awe of paper scrappers though. I see some truly fabulous paper pages over at Scrappers Daily Dose and I wonder how they do that and how can I get my pages to look like that. I so need to figure out how to adjust drop shadows on PSE5. The generic shadows just aren't getting it. Anyway, I did go check Prima out but not sure if I'll end up doing any shopping there.

Ok, fess up. Who watched American Idol the last two nights? I used to love the audtion shows. Much like watching a train wreck or reading the drama threads that really don't pertain to you at DST, you just can't stop yourself. I've been a little disappointed in the show so far. Nothing overly outrageous so far. It still amazes me that people who go and audition and are horrible, have no clue that they are that bad. They either are clueless or just really good actors. Now the borderline people, I can understand. But did you see the guy who sang "Go Down Moses" in Philly? Just bad.... I guess everyone wants 15 seconds of fame. I was on TV once. Entertainment Tonight. Way back in the 80's. But that's another story for another time.

Keep an eye out for a new grab bag from Heather. Should be available shortly. I downloaded and unzipped it last night, but haven't played with it yet. But let me tell you, it's FAB!!!! I'll let you all know the minute it's available.

Hoping your day goes well and that I have more scrappin news next time. Enjoy your day.

Review sites for loans with less than perfect credit

With the economy taking a turn for the worse, a lot of people are finding themselves in over their heads. It doesn't take much to take a good credit rating and turn it into a bad one. So what do you do if that happens to you? You still may need to refinance your home or find a credit card to use. Check out this site, bad credit loans and see what a great resource is can be to get you back on the road to good credit. Instead of taking offers that come in the mail, you can review several companies that extend offers to people with less than perfect credit.

Maybe you're looking into credit counseling or debt consolidation? Check out their page on that here to compare companies. Auto loans, credit cards, home loans; if you need to repair your credit, this is a good site to start at.

Catchin up

Today is my catch up day. I looked at my recovered files a little last night. I would say that I only got about 1/2 of them from the online recovery. So I need to go back and load them from the back up discs. grrrrr. But at least I have those discs. Cuz most of my "good" files are going to be on them. None of the Christmas kits were on the online recovery. So since I'm working mostly on the Christmas book those will be the first files I find.

Monique had this on her blog for me the other day. Kristine had it on her blog for me the next day. I feel so loved. So I get to pay it forward.

1) Yen - Her photos amaze me, her little boys are just the most adorable little ones and she scraps amazingly. Thank you Yenny girl!

2) Cate - Cate continues to amaze me with her organizational skills and the way she cranks out layouts, challenges and takes care of her family. When I grow up, I wanta be just like Cate.

3) Andrea - Andrea was one of the first people to jump aboard when I started blogging. She's a faithful reader and friend.

4) Barb - As a fellow Michigander living in Ohio, I salute you. I've recently found her 2 blogs and love to check them out on a daily basis.

5) Azrood - Another new blog I've found recently. The antics of her family amuse me greatly.

Ok, next award came from Yen. She is just the sweetest. Best Blogging Buddies award.

This I send along to Kristine, Heather and Cate. Not only are you good blog buddies, but great friends. Thank you so much.

Now I have several Top 5 Lists for you. This idea came from Monique's blog on Monday.

My Top 5 stores:

1) SBB

2) Ztampf!

3) Pickleberry Pop

4) SBG

5) Purple paper flowers _ While it just opened, there are lots of great designers there, several from OAKS which would have been in my top 5 hands down if it wasn't closing at the end of the month. Still have great sales over there. Go check em out.

Top 5 things I love to find in a kit

1) Ribbons

2) doodles & swirls

3) flowers

4) stitching

5) frames

Top 5 things I want to learn to do better in scrapping

1)Blending

2) photo actions

3) journaling

4) textures

5) font design

My top 5 scrap sites

1) DST

2) SBB

3) Scrappers Daily Dose

4) Purple paper flowers

5) Digital Scrap Garden

Top 5 designers that are new to me (of course my CT designers are my absolute faves)

1) Flergs

2) Kiki Halbert

3) ChereKaye

4) Birgit Kerr

5) Melissa Bennett

These are designers that I just recently found out about.

Top 5 Blogs for great freebies

1) Kristine - Wenchd Grafix

2) Kim B Designs

3) Andrea Gold templates

4) Lindsay Jane

5) Ikeagoddess

Come on share your fave 5's with us. Leave em here or put em up on your blog. They don't have to be the same topic as mine. I changed some from Monique's. That's what's so much fun.

I need to go jump the train before I go off on a rant about my unprofessional supervisor. Hope you all have a good day.

Affiliate Marketing with Pepperjam

About a year and a half ago I tried affiliate marketing. It didn't work and I wasn't sure why. I don't know if it was because no one explained to me what it was all about or how to succeed at it. Now I find Pepperjam Network - a leading Internet marketing agency that is taking their years of affiliate marketing experience and putting to good use by taking what is wrong with the industry and making it right. Check out their latest press release:


"Pepperjam Announces Launch of Next Generation Affiliate Marketing Network Pepperjam, a two-time Inc.

Magazine fastest growing company and industry leading full-service internet marketing agency, today announced the launch of Pepperjam Network, a proprietary next generation affiliate marketing network.

If you are an advertiser or affiliate and would like to sign-up for Pepperjam Network please visit http://www.pepperjamnetwork.com/.

“Pepperjam Network represents an evolution in affiliate marketing. The creation of Pepperjam Network represents eight years of research and development and the combined ideas, feedback, and intelligence of hundreds of affiliate marketers and advertisers. Pepperjam Network will forever change the face of affiliate marketing by putting power back in the hands of affiliates and advertisers to build long-term, profitable partnerships through better communication tools and transparency,” said Kristopher B. Jones, President & CEO of Pepperjam.

Among a variety of affiliate marketing enhancements, Pepperjam Network addresses the two primary shortcomings of other existing affiliate networks, namely (1) poor, unreliable communication tools and (2) lack of affiliate transparency. With Pepperjam Network, affiliates and advertisers can communicate in real-time via Pepperjam Chat™, thereby providing a reliable communication system to build stronger, more profitable partnerships.

Pepperjam Network also provides advertisers with an unprecedented measure of affiliate transparency, which helps to establish trust, protect brand integrity, and lays the groundwork for open, long-term, profitable relationships.

Pepperjam Network also introduces pepperjamADS, which is a first-ever affiliate marketing widget that affiliates can use to serve customized contextual ads from one or multiple Pepperjam Network advertisers at the same time.

Pepperjam Network was designed to make the experience of affiliate marketing profitable and educational, with the goal of allowing affiliates and advertisers to truly understand and maximize the critical affiliate marketing channel.

Unlike the traditional networks, Pepperjam Network uses Web 2.0 technology to provide affiliates and advertisers with an easy-to-use, cutting-edge interface designed to facilitate and optimize the affiliate marketing process. For instance, Pepperjam Network offers industry leading source-level tracking and reporting - this robust technology is especially beneficial to search marketing and sophisticated super affiliates that want to take advantage of the most up-to-date technology available to track commissions at the keyword level.

Here is just a sample of what many industry experts are saying about Pepperjam Network: “Even after all these years using Commission Junction on the merchant and affiliate side, I still find it terribly clumsy to find what I want. With Pepperjam Network it is quick and easy. Pepperjam Network is what an affiliate network would look like if it were built from a wish list from both the affiliate and merchant perspective,” said Shawn Collins, Cofounder of Affiliate Summit.

“As both an advertiser and a affiliate, I am on the lookout for affiliate marketing systems that meet all our company’s needs. Pepperjam Network is without a doubt the most comprehensive, practical and useful affiliate marketing system I have seen to date. Pepperjam Network demonstrates that it is possible to combine style with substance in a network that provides site owners and advertisers with tools and resources to increase their bottom line,” said Joel Comm, New York Times Best-Selling author and CEO, InfoMedia, Inc.

About Pepperjam:

Pepperjam is an industry leading full-service Internet marketing agency offering marketing services and advanced technology in the areas of pay-per-click, search-engine optimization, affiliate marketing, and online media planning and buying. The company was founded in 1999 by Internet marketing expert, accomplished speaker, and published author Kristopher B. Jones. Pepperjam has received numerous awards and achievements, including recognition by Inc. Magazine for two consecutive years as one of the fastest growing privately-held businesses in the United States. Learn more at http://www.pepperjam.com/. "

Sounds very interesting and very profitable. I plan to look into it more. How couldn't use a little extra money in their pockets?

Disclosure: “Carjaziscraps - The Rants of a Buckeye Scrapper” is a personal blog written and edited by me. In it I write about things that interest me and/or that I feel need to be mentioned. From time to time I will be writing about products, services, websites and assorted other topics in posts sponsored by one or more advertisers.Any claims, statistics or other statements about a product or service mentioned on this blog should be verified with the manufacturer or provider thereof. The opinions expressed in this blog are entirely my own regardless of the topic and whether or not it is a sponsored postings.

Retrevial complete

Well, my incredibly slow online back up system has reinstalled 401 of the 406 files it had in it's memory. They're all zipped files so now I get to go back and unzip and reorganize everything. I think I need a better system then I had before. I also found out that the back up files are only the most recent backup. So I figure it's about 2/3 of my files. The rest I'll need to get from the back up discs. But I learned a valuable lesson on that. So if you do use an online back up, check and see what it is backing up. There are some files that I have no idea what they are and then some that didn't get backed up because there's not enough room. My online backup only holds 10GB. I'm not sure when I'll get that chance to get everything unzipped and back to doing pages.

So I went to Digifree to see if yesterdays word art was on the freebie list. Maria is away on vacation I think and the computer has gone bizerke. There are freebies from last Oct on there. There are Halloween freebies, Christmas freebies. It's all over the place. I'm sure that most of the links are no longer valid. The funny thing is that there are only a few of the "usual" suspects there. It took me forever to get through them and no it wasn't there. Bummer. Cuz only a few people found it yesterday. I'll have a new one tomorrow.

Ok, I'm not much into mentioning what's going on in the news, but this caught my eye. Dozens in Texas town report seeing UFO. Now you can't tell me that there is not 1 digiscrapper in Stephenville Texas, lol. A good scrapper ALWAYS has a camera in their possession. All those people and not one photo? Me thinks the govt. is testing new equipment in the heart of Texas.

I was running way late today. I have a few top 5 lists and a pay it forward from Monique that I'll have on tomorrows post. Sorry.

So I couldn't decide between a cute photo or a joke. I think I'll go with both.

Dear Lord,I pray for Wisdom to understand my man;

Love to forgive him; And Patience for his moods.

Because, Lord, if I pray for Strength,

I'll beat him to death. AMEN

Have a good day all~

Time for your yearly insurance and financial checkup

Every year right around tax time, I always take stock in my finances. I like to see where I'm at and where I'm going. It also gives me an idea on what I spent at Christmas. While doing this check up I also always re quote my insurance needs. I'm up for renewal on my auto, homeowners and RV insurance and I always want to make sure that I have the most economical pricing for the coverage I need. So I started surfing and found this site for FREE Insurance Quotes. In addition to auto, they offer home, life, health and speciality insurances. You enter a little information about what you are looking for and they match you up with a qualified, licensed insurance broker. That way you can pick and choose who you want to do business with. All information is kept in strict confidence between you and the agent. They will contact you at the number you list. No need to go digging through the phone book looking for insurance companies. The market is competitive, let them come to you. And do yourself a favor while you're sorting out your tax forms and receipts. Make sure that your insurance needs are correctly met, with coverages that will protect your assets and your family. A financial checkup is always as important as a yearly medical checkup. And with this website, it's very easy and less painful than finding out you're paying too much or don't have enough coverage to fit your needs.

Found a cure for my mojo?

So I was having missing mojo issues yesterday. Kinda upset me cuz I thought that I had gotten over that and was cranking out pages for my Christmas book. I decided that I would go ahead and finish backing up and organizing my files. I was deleting the zip files as I was going along after they were on a back up disc. I got to one and it was like this huge file and kept going and going so I thought, hmmmmm something's not right and stopped the delete. Went back to deleting more and the dogs started raising hell. I go out to the kitchen to see what's going on. Come back and the screen says "Do you want to delete, yada yada yada". So I hit yes. Whammo!!!!!! ALL my files gone. Wiped out with 1 keystroke. Not in my recycle bin. My old man is yappin at me from behind and I turn and tell him to "GET OUT" with that Exorcist voice. What did I just do? NOOOOOOOOOOOOO. I'm calling this the biggest Duh! moment of the year. Well it's a new computer with online backup up right. I'll just do that. So I go through and mark 406 files to be restored. No problem. (even though I know that is not all of them) Then my computer pops up this number at me. 61 hours to restore my files. ARG!!!!!!! So no files, no loss of mojo. bwahahahahahahahaha Duh!

So before I pulled my big Duh! moment, I was working on love related word art. Here's another one. I did 2, one without the heart doodle for those of you who have good doodles. It's on a 4 X4 page. I'm one of those who's in love with love. So while I can't do pages, you'll get word art.

You can download it here. If you use it, I would love to see it. Hope you can use it.

Heather's new store is open. Purple Paper Flowers opened this weekend. Quite a nice list of designers there, including some of my faves from OAKS. Get in early and maybe catch some possible pre grand opening sales???? (not sure but may be a possibility) and don't forget OAKS store is still open and lots of designers have most of their stuff on sale.

Check out Monique's blog today. She's starting a top 5 list. I'm going to have to think on this today and will have some for you tomorrow.

Enjoy your Monday. bwahahaha

More blogthings

Saving my really big rant for tomorrow. Stay tuned. haha

Now this confuses me, cuz I am the queen of 80's music. Wish the answers were given. Oh well, at least I do know what "She bops" is about. hehe

You Scored 65% Correct

You are a solid child of the 80s You'd never confuse Tiffany from Debbie And while you may not know Prince's first #1 hit You know every word to Little Red Corvette

How Much Do You Know About 80s Music?

You Are 71% Bitchy

While you may not think of yourself as the ice queen, admit it, you're often in a bad mood. And it's those around you who often bear the brunt of your annoyance, even if they haven't done anything wrong!

How Bitchy Are You?