This blog was getting too complicated, so I’ve moved to a single feed. Find me at http://keepinglifecreative.com!!

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Happy Valentine’s Day!

Mini kit includes: 3 papers, lowercase felt alphabet, and a handful of fun elements in high-quality JPEG and PNG files.

Layout by Julie (scrapmommaof3)

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and then watch this week for a coupon code which will allow you to download the mini for free!

ETA: Coupon code (will expire February 15th): PamBeMine210

Mini kit includes: 3 papers, lowercase felt alphabet, and a handful of fun elements in high-quality JPEG and PNG files.

Layout by Jacinda

Not sure if this is a “better late than never” case, but I finally got my Christmas kit finished! 

Be sure to check out the detailed images, my CT girls have been hard at work. Now if I could only find some time to scrap. LOL

Pretty girl, a mini kit filled with lots of things little girls love.

Did you download the 12th day of Christmas treat from The DigiChick?

I had this in it:

(Originally posted December 2009)

I have a large extended family (over 42 first cousins on my dad’s side) and one of the ways we stay in touch is by doing an annual family wall calendar. This year the calendar was my responsibility. I’ve been working on it over the past several weeks, meanwhile keeping my eye out for good printing deals since I would need to print several calendars as well as pay for shipping. I love that there are now so many companies out there to print digital designs, and that and this time of year when they are all running great deals! Anyway, this morning I found the deal I had been waiting for and placed an order for 25 calendars. I think the sale might be ending in the next few days, but calendars (and several other photo projects) are 50% off right now at Vista Print. When you get to the “check out” page of your purchase, you will receive your exclusive discount credited to your order.

What a relief to get those calendars finished and ordered!

Here are just a few pages I did (tops only). (I mixed and matched lots of designs, so ask me about something if you really want to know whose it is!)

“Special Occassions” of the year page. It’s fun to stay updated on who graduated, got married, etc.

We have family reunions every other year and with all the inlaws and greatgrand babies, our family is big enough now that it’s hard to find a place big enough (and still affordable) for all of us so we are building some small cabins on my uncle’s property. So that’s what this page is about.

(Originally posted December 2009)

My kids LOVE the book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (by Laura Joffe Numeroff)

And have you seen the similar books, If You Give a Pig a Pancake, If You Give a Cat a Cupcake, If You Give a Moose a Muffin, If You Take a Mouse to School, If You Give a Pig a Party, and If You Take A Mouse to the Movies? So cute and favorites of my students when I was teaching first grade.

So the the other day I was cruising blogs while nursing the babe and found this CUTE poem:

If You Give A Mom A Muffin
by Kathy Fictorie

If you give a mom a muffin,
She’ll want a cup of coffee to go with it.
She’ll pour herself some.
Her three-year-old will spill the coffee.
She’ll wipe it up.
Wiping the floor, she’ll find dirty socks.
She’ll remember she has to do laundry.
When she puts the laundry in the washer,
She’ll trip over boots and bump into the freezer.
Bumping into the freezer will remind her she has to plan for supper.
She will get out a pound of hamburger.
She’ll look for her cookbook (“101 Things To Do With a Pound of Hamburger”).
The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail.
She will see the phone bill, which is due tomorrow.
She will look for her checkbook.
The check book is in her purse that is being dumped out by her two-year-old.
She’ll smell something funny.
She’ll change the two year old’s diaper.
While she is changing the diaper, the phone will ring.
Her five-year-old will answer and hang up.
She’ll remember she wants to phone a friend for coffee.
Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup.
And chances are…
If she has a cup of coffee,
Her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.

I thought it was so funny, and described me perfectly (except that I’m not a coffee drinker). Some days I feel like all I do is run around doing little things here and there but that I never actually accomplish anything.  I’m sure many of you can relate. And last night at dinner when my husband asked, “so what did you do today?” It took me a second to realize that he was just trying to find out about my day and not accusing me of doing nothing since yesterday had been one of those non-accomplishing days. LOL

Anyway, this poem got me thinking about a fun gift idea and so I created a quick card using Homemade Happiness. Then I grabbed one of the packages of muffins I recently bought (yay coupons!), tied a bow to it, and now I have a quick gift for one of my mommy friends. Actually, I think I’ll make up several of these!

If you’d like to make some of these quick gifts, here is the flattened (JPEG) file. (Personal Use only, please) I created it as a 4×6 card, so it’s easy to send to the photo lab or print at home. Or maybe sign up for Artscow and print some of those 1200 free prints I mentioned yesterday!

(Originally posted December 2009)

Last year I spent a fun girls’ weekend with my mother-in-law and sisters-in law in Seattle, Washington. Afterwards I put together an album for them and then created a template set (Build-an-Album) to make building a themed album easier next time.  This summer we were able to do our girls’ getaway again (and hope to be able to make it a yearly tradition), and once again I’ve been working on an album for them. I created a template set out of this album (Build-an-Album {No. 2}), and included it in my November grab bag. I’ve been keeping my eye out for photobook printing deals since I will need 5 copies, and last night I found a pretty good deal which motivated me to quickly finish the album and get it ready for printing.

Artscow is a company I have printed with before, and have been happy with. Shipping can be a little pricey since they are based in Hong Kong, but quite often you can find coupon codes for free shipping or free product (and then you just pay for shipping). Until December 14th you can get free shipping on orders over $30 when you use the coupon code: FREESHIPPING30. The 20 page photobooks are $9.99 each, so with free shipping I was happy and have Christmas presents ready! The shipping code took almost $40 off my order!

HERE is my book if you want to see!

It looks like Artscow is offering a deal for all NEW members right now. Wish I was a new member. LOL.  When you sign up  you get 1200 FREE prints and 3 FREE 8×8 photobooks! WOW. Those would have come in handy for all the Christmas play invites I just printed. Hope you can take advantage. Sign up HERE.

(Originally posted November 2009)

Yay, I’m so excited! I won November’s scraplift challenge over at The LilyPad! So fun. I don’t enter a lot of challenges for lack of time, but sometimes they help me get a creative jumpstart, and scraplifting can be so fun.

The challenge was to choose one of The LilyPad CT members and scraplift something in her gallery.  Peppermint has been one of my favorite digital scrappers since I made the switch from paper to to digi, so I quickly searched her gallery and chose to lift this layout:

And here’s mine.

(Click for credits)

Pretty similar. But not… Same colors and basic design. Anyway. It was a lot of fun, and hey, winning motivates me to want to do another challenge or two!