what I want for Christmas...

I've had this Kitchenaid stand mixer for 11 years. The bowl is missing because it's currently in the dishwasher from making some yummy cookies. And there's probably food on the side of it. It's well loved :)

My hubby bought it for me our first Christmas together. I never asked for it. Somehow he knew...and it's been one of the best Christmas presents I've ever received.


Cause I love to bake. Especially at Christmas time.


But check out this lovely from Kitchenaid...

It's a thing of beauty. A 7 qt bowl-lift residential stand mixer. Seven!! To me that translates into double batches of Christmas cookies. Drool....


You can win one by going to Mom Spotted and entering her giveaway. 


Someone's Christmas is going to get a whole lot merrier!!

hello fall! {and a giveaway)

Last Friday marked the 'official' first day of fall. Now, I can tell you that having lived in GA the last 5 years this day meant absolutely nothing when it came to the weather. Because in the south you don't really have a true spring or fall. It stays pretty warm hot through October (at least).

But here in WA...fall is definitely in the air along with all of the wonderful things that go with it. Crisp mornings, shorter days, leaves just beginning to change colors, pumpkins, apples, baking, pumpkin spice candles, pumpkin muffins (or any muffins for that matter!), Halloween costume shopping, sweaters & sweatshirts, and inevitably the countdown to Christmas :)

Bring on the sweatshirts, this is my time of year!

And for the giveaway...

Apparently my brain is not functioning properly. Because, I purchased not one but 2 of these magazines:

I guess I liked the cover so much that I noticed it not once but twice! Anyway, I thought I'd share my extra one with one of my readers :) There's some cute stuff in there including a mini-album from Ali Edwards. So if you'd like a chance to win, just leave a comment & I'll pick someone at random. This giveaway is open to anyone but if you live outside of the U.S. I will ask that you pay for shipping. Sorry :(

I'll leave it open til Sunday afternoon. And maybe you could share what your favorite thing about fall is :)

sometimes a disappointment is a blessing in disguise

I have to remember that. Because sometimes when we don't get what we want we get upset and wonder why. Why can't I have what I want???

This past year has been filled with a lot of disappointment. A lot of change. A lot of growing spiritually. A lot of waiting...of learning patience. Of learning that just because I didn't get what I thought I wanted, that didn't mean that there was something better right around the corner.

In the last year we've gone through a major death in the family, losing a beloved pet, thinking we were never going to have more children & ultimately IVF.

It was filled with learning patience. Learning to wait. We had to learn that lesson yet again. When my husband's job came out with some possible job transfers we put in for Charleston, SC. We were excited about it but I honestly, in my heart, didn't think we would get it. Not being pessimistic...sometimes you just know. And a week ago we found out we didn't get it. My husband was very bummed. 

You know what? I wasn't. I want to move. Where we live now has never really felt like home to us. But maybe SC wasn't where we were meant to be. Maybe that wasn't the path we were meant to take. Maybe there's something better. And there was. We ended up considering a location that we wouldn't have realistically considered had this opportunity not fallen through. And now it is looking like this new location might be where we were truly meant to go.

I don't know if we'll like it there. I think we will. It seems like a good fit for our family. We won't know anything til we get there.

When I prayed about moving I didn't ask God to 'give us' SC. I prayed that if this was the right move for us that it happen. And it didn't. But He did answer my prayers. You know what they say, when one door closes another one opens, right?!

So, bottom line - we're moving!!!!  And this is the biggest one for our family yet. I'm excited, scared, nervous, thrilled, and about a million other adjectives. Thinking about this while I'm 5 mos pregnant is a scary prospect. Thinking about moving while either a) 8 mos pregnant, or b) with a newborn is even scarier. But I'm up for the adventure!

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I'm going to leave you with one last question just for fun - where do you think I'm moving to??? And if you're one of the few people that already knows you're not allowed to guess ;)

I'll give you a couple hints:

It is not a state we've lived in before (we've lived in MI, TN  & GA, and it's not SC)

This state has 4 distinct seasons & gets snow in the winter

This state has mountains

So what state do you think it is?? And I might just have a prize for the 1st person to guess it :)

As of Thurs morning no one's guessed it yet :)

determined to send out Christmas cards this year!

This year I am determined to get out our Christmas cards and a family newsletter. Last year I failed miserably with good reason. I thought about doing my own Christmas photo collage using Photoshop. But since I have yet to even take the pictures that will go on the cards I don't think it's reasonable to think I'll have enough time to make them as well.


That's where Shutterfly comes in. By simply blogging about their Christmas cards they're giving away 50 free cards! You can read about it here. 


I love Shutterfly and have always been happy with their products. And you can't beat free! Here's a few of my favorite photo cards (it was so hard to narrow it down to just a few!):

 

 

They have a ton of different card styles. I'm still not sure which one I'll end up picking!

I'm also thinking I might need to get some Christmas gifts. Why not do some one-stop shopping, right?! Like one of their photo books or calendars. I've done those before for grandparents gifts and they're super easy to make and come out looking great!

I'm also already thinking ahead. I'd like to have some family pics done when I'm a bit further along in this pregnancy (or maybe with the newborn??) and I would love to have a few of these canvases in my bedroom :)

Decisions, decisions!! This year is definitely going to be about giving gifts the time saving way. You can still give a great gift from the heart and not spend your entire holiday season in the mall!

Disclaimer - I am receiving 50 free photo cards for this post. However, I love Shutterfly and have always been happy with their service & quality of products.

winner!

Email me at meandmyscraps@yahoo.com and let me know which camera strap cover you want! You can pick any one that's currently in my etsy shop or wait til the end of this week when I'll have a few new ones in there :)

don't forget about the camera strap slipcover giveaway!

If you haven't already entered the giveaway for a camera strap slipcover you still have a few more days!!! 

Check it out here. 

Good luck!!

24 Olive Street is open!!

That's right! Be sure to scroll through to the bottom for a giveaway!! And I'm so excited to share some of the goodies I have in there right now and what will be going in very soon..

That last one is my fave :) Be sure to check out my shop and facebook page. The link is in my sidebar -------------->>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I'm giving away one of my camera straps ~ your choice of what's in my shop... and I'll be adding some Heather Bailey ones when I get back from vacation :)

You have 3 chances to win:

1) Become a follower of this blog

2) Join my facebook page

3) Post about this giveaway on your blog

Leave a comment on this post for each item.  I'll draw the winner on the 18th.

Good luck!!

wanna win Adobe Illustrator CS4?

Yep, another contest! Head over to Virginia's blog for the details...hurry!!

Lisa Leonard giveaway!

Oh how I love here jewelry. And I will have one of my very own one day....honey, you said you read my blog, right?? That one up there is one of my faves;) 

This is another one that I love:

Click here for the details on how you could win one :) Click here the direct link to her beautiful jewelry.

Want some Shimmerz??

It's that time again! CHA time that is. And some manufacturers are having some giveaways. Since I looove a good giveaway, head over here to check out what Shimmerz Paints is giving away. So if you have a blog, or post on some forums, be sure to head over there for your chance to win!
 

winner!

Sorry I'm late posting this guys. It's been a day of running here, running there, grab something quick to eat, running here....you get the idea! I had my first sewing class today. So much fun! We're making a bag next week so if it's presentable I'll be sure to share it. I know my way around a sewing machine a little bit but I've never had any "formal" training. After learning that I'd be making some pj bottoms, my kids commissioned me to make all of their pjs. I think the first order is for Star Wars pjs :)

Anyway, on to the giveaway winner...

That means that Carol's the winner!! I'll get your goodies to you :)

World Card Making Day...and a giveaway

I'm a bit slow in getting this post up today, I know. I had planned on posting something yesterday but my day got away from me. I'm sure you can all relate!! I had a couple friends over today to do some scrappin'. As usual, we spent the majority of the time talking, eating and enjoying Katie's 5 week old baby :)

By the way, before I forget....I have a link on the right for WCMD------------>>>>
you can click on that to see who's participating and find out about a deal on scrappy stuff!


I did manage to finish a few projects. You've seen me make my altered post-it note holders before. Today I made some of those along with altered notepads. I used the new Boo to You! papers by My Mind's Eye. So cute! I really loved the colors of these papers. 

I found some cute Halloween notepads in the dollar section at Target to go inside

Along with the cute Halloween notepads, I also found Halloween post-it notes

I'll be giving some of these to my kids' teachers and some will go in my etsy shop.

And I had to make at least one card in honor of World Card Making Day. So here's a cute little Halloween card using those same papers

 

I added some stickles to the spider web, google eyes on that cute spider and mounted him on pop dots to make him stand out. (or maybe it's a girl spider?? how do you tell? hehe)

 

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And the giveaway....

One person will get a set of my notepad/post-it notes (1 of each). Add yourself to the followers on the right------------------->>>>
and leave a comment here. If you're already a follower of my blog, just leave a comment to be entered in the drawing. I'll leave it open til Monday night.

one more peek & a winner

Happy Monday everyone! I'll start with some fun stuff...the winner of my giveaway :)
I know that's hard to see but if you click on it #9 is the winner. So that means that Carolyn ~ you're the winner! Send me your address to meandmyscraps@yahoo.com and I'll send you some Halloween goodies :)

I started my morning out at 5:15am because I had to be at the hospital by 7am for an HSG. It was a lot of fun, lemme tell ya. Anyway, turns out I have one good tube and one blocked tube. So I'm still trying to process. I'm a bit sad but tomorrow's a new day :)

I do have a couple more sneak peeks of the Sept Kraft Girls Kit. I know I said it before but I just loved playing with this kit!!

The Sept kit goes on sale tomorrow so be sure to check back. This is a kit you'll definitely want to get your hands on!!

gearing up for fall & a giveaway!

The kids are back in school. The stores are filled with fall (and Christmas ~ eek!!) decorations. Of course, it's still in the 90's here and definitely not fall weather yet. But nonetheless I've been in the mood to create some fall goodies.

Check out some of my creations....

If you have the most recent Stampin' Up! catalog, then these jars might look a little familiar. I did my own take of the ones shown on p.20. I bought the jars at Hobby Lobby on sale, paid less than $10 total for both. Click on the image to see the larger jar...some of the rub-ons are hard to see with the black licorice!

I used the rub-ons on multiple colors of cardstock, then cut and layered with SU dimensionals for a neat effect. You could achieve the same effect with stamping if you wanted. One other thing...I use glue dots when decorating these jars. That way, when the season is over you can remove your decorations and change it for the next holiday!

More rub-ons...I found the green jar at Hobby Lobby on sale for around $3. Each pkg of rub-ons come with 1 sheet of black and 1 sheet of white. So I used the white ones on that cute little black bucket I found a while back at the Target dollar spot. Don't you love that Target has that?!

Again, I used the rub-ons twice. Used one directly on the bottle and did another one on white cardstock, cut out the skull (ewww, that sounds gross!) and attached with SU dimensionals.

The little "Oct 31" jar is one of those Making Memories embellishment jars (sorry, can't find a link of anyone who has some but they're the ones that are sold in a pkg of 6).

More altered goodies. The "halloween" tin is a band-aid tin that I decorated with the new Cast-a-Spell DS papers, white rub-ons and pumpkin pie striped grosgrain ribbon. Love ALL of the new striped grosgrain ribbon!

Pillow boxes...love the pillow boxes. And if you tie your ribbon sideways it holds it closed and you don't have to use adhesive on the ends!

I hope this inspired you to start crafting some ghoulish goodies!!

Click here to place an order

And here's the fun part ~ leave a comment and I'll pick one person to get a few Halloween goodies! US only, sorry! I'll keep it open til Friday at midnight :)