New RAK at Gotta Pixel

Well I've managed to forget everything I learned about blog design again!  So excuse the looks of the place.

I have a fantastic Gotta Pixel RAK Fairy giveaway going on now - a free kit of your choice from Kathryn Estry!!

Here are some of my favorite kits by Kathryn:

 
Click HERE to visit the RAK thread and HERE to visit Kathryn's store.  Also, today is $1 Pixel Tuesdays at Gotta Pixel so stop by and do a little shopping!

Sale!!!

Go shop now!

Snow!

We got about 8" of snow Friday & Saturday and the kids are just loving it!  Here are a few photos from the big event:

 

And I admit - I laughed my butt off when this one happened:

Joshua was yelling at me - "It's not funny!"  And he went over to help his sissy which was very nice of him but I think he really just wanted the sled.

Don't know if it will stick around for Christmas or not.   It's nice while it lasts though!

Win a Free Kit from Connie Prince!

Want a free kit from Connie Prince?  Visit this thread at Gotta Pixel, tell me your favorite kit, and you could be a winner!  Plus everyone who participates will get a coupon from Connie for 25% off.

Click here to leave a comment for your chance to win! 

Also, the Daily Download for December is just adorable.  It's a mega collab between Connie, Bella Gypsy, Doohikey Designs, and Colie's Corner called Holiday Whimsy. Be sure to visit Gotta Pixel each day to pick up all the pieces.

Gotta Pixel Club Members-Only Freebie

**BLOG TRAIN FREEBIE IN NEXT POST DOWN** 

Another freebie for our Pixel Club members from Kristmess Designs.  Not a Pixel Club Member yet?  Well, just click on the Pixel Club blinkie to the right and sign up!  You get member exclusives every month and access to tons of free stuff.  Be sure to tell them that I sent you!

This 4 page Bracket Album plus front & back covers was created by me (chbranch), using Snow Fun. Hope you enjoy!

Be sure to check out the full Snow Fun page kit and coordinating QP's in Kristina's store.

Gotta Pixel 4th Birthday Blog Train Freebies!

This month, Gotta Pixel is celebrating its 4th birthday. And we have been having a blast with all the exciting events going on, but we are also giving away over $2,000 worth of Prizes! Each week new things are being given, and new events going on, and this week is nothing short of it! We are kicking off this weekend with a HUGE Blog train! And its just for YOU! The entire team has collabed together to bring you an amazing shabby chic collection with something sure for everyone! This just kicks off the events we have listed here, as well as the Grab Bag Event going on, that is packed full of savings.

Here is My Gift to you for our Blog Train:

 Sorry - Link Has Expired

This is just one stop on your blog trip. Here is a list of all the participating blogs that have something special waiting for you, The links will remain active on these blogs until 22nd of November at 11:59 pm EST. Should you get lost along your way, you can always visit here, or the Gotta Pixel Blog for complete list of participants:

GottaPixel: http://www.gottapixel.net/blog

Liz : http://www.sweetdigiscraps.blogspot.com

KarenS (Alpha): www.myownfont.blogspot.com

Karen Lewis : http://scrappingmum.blogspot.com/

Kristmess Designs : http://www.kristmessdesigns.blogspot.com/

Sara Ellis: http://scrapsillysara.blogspot.com

Crisdam Designs: www.busyfingers-digiscrap.blogspot.com

Heather T : http://oohlalaartsy.blogspot.com/

Laura Burger: http://digidesignerlaura.blogspot.com/

Sarah : http://blog.sarahbdesigns.net/

Connie Prince: http://scrapinfusions.blogspot.com/

simply.scraps: www.simply-scraps.net

Kathryn Estry: http://kathrynsdigitaldesigns.blogspot.com/

Marta Van Eck : http://www.martavaneck.blogspot.com

Jennifer Barrette : www.jenniferbarrettedesigns.blogspot.com

Colie's Corner: http://coliescorner.blogspot.com/

Elka Romero : http://elkaromero.com/

Julie Marie : http://juliemariedesigns.com/blog

Captivated Visions : http://blog.captivatedvisions.co.uk

Doohikey Designs: http://doohikeydesigns.com

Cherie Shields: http://cshieldsdesigns.blogspot.com/

Creations by Rachael: http://www.creationsbyrachaelb.com/wordpress/

Lorie M : http://digiscrapdesigns-by-lorie.blogspot.com/

Dustybear: http://dustybeardesigns.blogspot.com/

Melinda: http://mindys365project.blogspot.com/

Leigh :http://tricertifiedx2digitalworld.blogspot.com/

Kim: http://time2scrap.blogspot.com/

Danyale: http://bygonesscrapbooks.blogspot.com/

Cindy: http://cindyb-scrappinlikecrazy.blogspot.com/

Wendy: www.inadigitaldaze.blogspot.com

Dana : http://scrappydoosordonts.blogspot.com/

Kerri : www.kayjaysdays.blogspot.com

Chris: http://fmndesigns.blogspot.com/   **You Are Here**

Katie: www.felixfam.blogspot.com

Lisa: http://scrappylisa.blogspot.com/

Leilani: http://leidee-q.blogspot.com/

Gotta Pixel Birthday Blog Train

Hi Everyone!  So glad you stopped by on your travels through the Gotta Pixel Blog Train!

Click here for a full listing of all the stops.

I apologize that my gift is not up yet - we've had our PC at home destroyed by ANOTHER adware invasion and I am only able to get on from work.  I will have it up today - I promise!

My Lifetime Story - Leave Your Legacy of Faith

Join us at Faith Sisters in 2010 as we work together to create My Lifetime Story.  You'll be challenged to leave your legacy of faith for your loved ones to cherish.  

Click here to learn more about it and to start preparing to create your own story.

Win Giving Thanks by Julie Marie Designs!

Want to win a beautiful Thanksgiving and Fall-themed digital scrapbooking kit by Julie Marie Designs?

Giving Thanks by Julie Marie Designs

If so, just visit Gotta Pixel's Birthday forum and leave me a comment.  I'll be choosing a winner on Wednesday.  Here's the link!

A New Team!

I'm so excited to be joining Julie Marie Designs as a Creative Team member.  I love Julie's designs and am looking forward to working with them.

Click on my newest blinkie to visit her store at Gotta Pixel where there is still a lot of birthday fun going on!  Plus, today is $1 Tuesdays and there is a lot of great stuff to snag.

Gotta Pixel is Turning 4!!

November is birthday month at Gotta Pixel!  There are so many exciting things planned that I can't even list them all.  Click the link below to see all the fun activities planned.  AND the prizes are so awesome - designer gift certificates, a Canon PIXMA Pro9000 Professional Inkjet printer, a Wacom Bamboo Craft tablet, and many more!

Click here for more birthday fun details!

Scrappin' & Stampin' for October

It's time for our October Stampin' & Scrappin' Fellowship time!  Join us this Friday & Saturday, October 16th & 17th for a Scrappin' Spooktacular!  We'll meet on Friday from 6:30pm until whenever and on Saturday from 10am until 5pm.  We'll have some little tricks & treats for all who attend.  Remember, RSVP so we can have enough tables set up.  The cost of admission is a goodie to share.  I plan to work on some cards and make a couple things for Halloween.  We'll see what actually happens though!

Close to My Heart ~ October

 

 The October Stamp of the Month is Christmas themed for those of you who are already thinking ahead.  If you haven't already seen the newest Idea Book, be sure to give me a call and I'll get you a copy.  There are some beautiful new paper sets and stamps available.  You can always look at the Idea Book online too.  Just click here to virtually turn the pages!

Keep Scrapping!

Check out some of my newest photos and layouts.

Well, since I'm still figuring out the best way to show you all recent pictures of the kids and scrapbooking layouts, I'm just going to post the links to my galleries for now.

I'm on the site Creative Team at Faith Sisters.  I really like it there - there are a lot of talented designers and the whole community is very positive and supportive.  You can click here to go check out my gallery at Faith Sisters.  I'm trying to use more recent photos so you might see how the kids actually look now (the cats too!).

I try to post everything at Gotta Pixel so that I can have all my stuff in one place.  I'm a RAK Fairy and a member of the Praiser Team there.  GP was the first digital scrapbooking community I ever stumbled across and I really like it there.  I got my start as a Creative Team member there too with some of the designers who were kind enough to give me a chance.  I'm on Kristmess Designs' CT and she is a designer at Gotta Pixel and all-around wonderful lady.  You can click here to check out my Gotta Pixel gallery.  You can visit Kristina's blog by clicking her blinkie in the side bar.  There are also blinkies for Gotta Pixel and Faith Sisters.

One thing I've really enjoyed about getting involved with digital scrapbooking communities is the opportunity to "meet" people literally from all over the world.  It's interesting to learn about other cultures by seeing the layouts of their special occasions.  And of course, digital scrapbooking is how I learned how to use Photoshop so that's always a plus too.

So anyhoo, if anyone has any suggestions for putting the layouts here in an easy manner, let me know.  Otherwise, I'll just post some links on the side bar later.  I'm still trying to figure out how to make this thing look pretty too!

Diggin' Dirt

I was up until the wee hours last night cutting out paper trucks for Josh.  Yes, that's right - paper trucks!  He loves paper toys.  Actually, he loves most things.  But when I saw these trucks, I knew he would love driving them around.

Link to kit here
For my fellow digi-scrappers out there, there is a whole coordinating kit to go along with them!  Check it out - they're by Kristmess Designs and are available at Gotta Pixel.  I'll post again a little later with some photos of my handiwork and hopefully of Josh blissfully enjoying them!  I just need to find a piece of string for the crane...

100 Cricut Cartridges!

Cricut is celebrating their 100th cartridge release - Winter Woodland.  I'd like to celebrate my 4th cartridge by winning this one!

Check it out by clicking on the photo below:

I Can't Believe I Finished the Whole Thing!

The Faith Sisters' Birthday Bash week just flew by! Luckily I was able to keep up with all the fun challenges late at night and over the weekend. The designers were all so generous and came up with some really fun and original ideas for challenges.

I'm just going to post a link to my gallery so that you can see all my submissions rather than post each one here. If you are a digi- or paper scrapper, this is one site you definitely want to bookmark. It's a great community of ladies (maybe a gent or two too!) and home to some really talented designers.

Here's just one of my most favorite layouts from the week. You can click on it to go to my gallery at Faith Sisters.

Word Jumble Challenge at Faith Sisters

Here's my submission for the Letter Jumble Challenge over at Faith Sisters. You can click on the image to go the gallery there. I used a kit by Kreative Karma called Drama Queen. (For full credits, click the image.)

The Monday Night Challenge has been posted too so I'm off to do that now!

Birthday Bash Fun Has Started!

The birthday fun has started over at Faith Sisters! Challenge #1 - Letter Jumble - is posted. Hop over and check it out!

While you're there, check out the two great freebies to go help you along with the challenge. Both are from Meredith Cardall:

And don't forget the sale this week too - All Digital kits over $1 are 50% off!

Church Secretaries Unite!

In search of... FREE Christian graphics (not cartoons!).

I'm an Administrative Assistant at my church, Fairmount Christian. One of my duties is creating the Sunday bulletins. I like to match the clipart and graphics I use to the Scriptures or topics that are being discussed during the sermon but, more often than not, I can't find what I'm wanting.

So I've been creating them using free stock photos and Photoshop (see the one above). So I decided to share them with other Church Secretaries and AA's out there who may be having the same problems. A wonderful friend and talented photographer has agreed to help me out by providing the photos and we're going to post the freebies here. For now, you can just click on the image to view it full size and then save it to your hard drive. Please don't hotlink cause I don't have any bandwith! Once I figure out a better way, we'll change the download procedures.

So tell your friends to come visit when they're looking for something and maybe we'll have it. You can also let me know if there's something in particular you're looking for and I'll try to create it for you. We'll see how this goes!

Faith Sisters Birthday Bash!

I don't have a pretty picture for you yet, but this week's Birthday sale at Faith Sisters is awesome! 50% off all Faith Sisters Collabs all week long! Be sure to hop over there and pick up a few. Here are some of my favorites:




























And don't forget that all the fun birthday challenges start next week. There will be prizes!

Birthday Bash Continues at Faith Sisters...

This week at Faith Sisters, all digital Quick Pages are only $1 each! As the Birthday Bash continues... And don't forget all the great challenges from 8/24-8/30!

Each week in August, another great product will be on sale. Be sure to get over there and pick up some great deals!

More Birthday fantastic-ness at Faith Sisters!


A new category of products will be on sale for $1 each week during August!

Faith Sisters Birthday Bash!

Don't forget all the fun planned at Faith Sisters for their 2nd birthday. Here's the calendar of events:

Faith Sisters is Turning 2!

Faith Sisters is turning 2! Come join the fun. I'm honored to be on their site Creative Team. It's a great place to be! Challenges start on August 23rd. Click above to be added to the Birthday Bash Notification List!

July Stamp of the Month

I can't believe July is coming to end! Below is the Stamp of the Month information. The special for July is for anyone who signs up as a new Consultant (if you know of anyone contemplating this decision, just let me know!).

YOU'VE GOT FLAIR (D1351)
JULY 2009 STAMP OF THE MONTH

Lacy Victorian swirls and flourishes highlight these graceful images, each one sending a message of flair and whimsy. Available July 1–31, 2009 only.

With a minimum qualifying purchase, get your Stamp of the Month set at a great discount or FREE!

US Pricing
When you spend:	You pay only:	You save:
$25.00	$17.21	25% off
$50.00	$11.48	50% off
$75.00	$5.74	75% off
$100.00	FREE!	100% off

Recommended My Acrylix® Blocks:
1" × 1" (Y1000), 2" × 2" (Y1003), 4" × 4" (Y1008)

I hope you are all enjoying your summer. It's going by too fast!

Close to My Heart for April

The April Stamp of the Month is called World's Best Dad:

















The special runs through May 31st for National Scrapbooking Day. It's called Tickled Pink and you can earn it FREE with a $60 purchase in stamps. You can also order it outright for $34.95.

















Have you seen the new Card Confidence book? The first book, Originals, contains 99 patterns to help you create beautiful handmade cards with confidence. On May 1st, the 2nd book in the Card Confidence program is being released. It's called Wishes and contains all new patterns. Wishes focuses on bulk cardmaking and contains 3 bulk card "workshops" to help you make 8, 12, or 16 cards in a jiffy while getting the most out of your papers and your time. Both Card Confidence books are configured much like the scrapbook page idea books, Cherish, Reflections and Imagine.

















Lastly, the Summer Idea Book takes effect in May. There are lots of great new products and a new quarter of Stamps of the Month. Let me know if you'd like a copy and I'll get one to you.
















Our next Scrappin' & Stampin' Fellowship is scheduled for Friday, May 15th from 6:30pm until we feel like going home. As always, the cost of admission is a snack or beverage to share. RSVP to me so I'll know how many tables to set up. We're enjoying our new spot in the trailer. It's much nicer than the Activity Center and the temperature is easier to control.

Happy Scramping!

February Close to My Heart Specials

So, it took me almost a year to come back! I'm going to try to be on here at least monthly to let my Close to My Heart friends know what the monthly specials are. If you're interested in ordering or need a current Idea Book, please just let me know. You know I'm not the pushy sales-lady type! I'll gladly do a home-show for you and your friends if you're interested as well.
So, for February 2009, here's the Stamp of the Month. It's a beautiful collection of Easter eggs, reminds me of Russian Eggs, and a short Easter egg verse "Easter eggs, yellow and blue, Easter eggs, for me and you." Hope the pictures are not too bad - this is my first time putting them up so bear with me!


Also for February is an Anniversary special. A free stamp set with purchase! When you spend $25 in stamps (Customized Name and Stamp of the Month excluded), you'll receive a custom-designed B-size My Acrylix Good Times stamp set (retail value $13.95), packed with fun and versatile party-inspired images. Offer good February 3-28, 2009. Tax and shipping may apply.
If there's every anything you need, feel free to email me or give me a call. I'm happy to help. And remember to come and join us for our Scrappin' & Stampin' fellowship held at Fairmount Christian Church. We normally meet on the 3rd Friday night of the month. For February, we'll be meeting on the 20th from 6:30 to whenever. We're going to try using Trailer 3 this time since some of us are allergic to the Activity Center! RSVP so I know to have enough tables and chairs brought over. The only fee is to bring a snack or beverage to share.

Hope to see you all there!