It's Black Friday!!!!

Yippie it's Black Friday!!! I hope you are able to get some great deals today...both in and outside of the digi world!!!

Well of course ScrapMatters is having a Sale!! Check it out the ad so you don't miss a thing!!! Everything at ScrapMatters including my shop is 40% off today...so nows the time to grab some goodies at an awesome price!!

For a limited time I even have a Black Friday Grab Bag in the store....take a look...


...so get it while you can!! Click here to purchase it in my store at ScrapMatters!


Also the November Daily Download at ScrapMatters begins today! Me and some of the other Designers at ScrapMatters have teamed up and created a FABULOUS new kit!! And were giving away bits and pieces of it each day!!

Click here to go to the Daily Download at ScrapMatters.

Ok....now here's what you've been waiting for...THE BLACK FRIDAY BLOG TRAIN has pulled into the station!!! I'm stop number 13 and you've just arrived in the Midwest!! But before you collect your gift...let me share with you a little bit about my family and my all time FAVORITE Christmas tradition...

For those of you who don't know...I am the youngest of seven children. (Yeah...that's right 7!) My parents adopted six children...myself included...and I feel so blessed to be part of such a huge family. My favorite Christmas Family Tradition that we would celebrate every year when we were living at home was called "The Seven Days of Christmas." At least that's what my mom called it...why seven???....for her seven children. It worked like this...starting on December 18th of every year just before we would go to bed we would all assemble around our huge family table. Usually my mom would have these two big Christmas tree candles lit to make it kinda of special. My parents would start off by reading a few verses out of the Bible and after that they would remind us about the true meaning of Christmas. After that we would go around the table usually from oldest to youngest and say what we were thankful for. Then my mom would pull out seven small presents and hand them out to each of us. Of course as a child this was my favorite part...the presents weren't anything real big...it was usually something like a candybar, or Christmas Pez, coloring books...things like that. So we would do this every night through Christmas Eve. Then on Christmas morning we would wake up....ummm....correction....I would wake everybody up!!....and we would line up on the stairs usually from youngest to oldest... sometimes we would alternate each year and do it from oldest to youngest. But if I put on my spoiled brat face then I would get my way and most of the time we would line up from youngest to oldest which meant that I was the first one in line!! Yippie!! As we would stand in line on the stairs we could hear my parents shuffling presents around and they would always put on Christmas music. Then we would hear them yell, "Ok....come on down...it's Christmas!" Now I'm not sure why I even bothered to beg to be in the front each year because whenever my parents gave the "OK" to come downstairs all I could hear behind me was feet moving at a fast pace and I could feel the stairs shake!! It was like a stampede or something! I'd start out in the front of the line and before I knew it I'd get pushed down (on accident of course...yeah right) trampeled on (usually my older brother would help me up) and then next thing I know I go from being the first person in line to the last one! Yep...I always end up being the last one down the stairs and into the family room to open our presents!!

Whenever my family all gets together...which is very rare because we are spread out all over the country...we always have such great laughs about this family tradition!! I miss those days! I don't really celebrate the "Seven Days of Christmas" like my parents did (mostly because I don't have seven children...LOL!) But we do something similar...on Christmas Eve we sit down...me, my husband, step-son (if he's in town) and my son and we discuss the true meaning of Christmas and why we celebrate it. It's important to me that my children know that it's not about Santa and presents but about the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. On Christmas morning...yep...I'm still the one that wakes everybody up...some things never change!! I make them wait in line just the two of them...while I light up the Christmas tree...shuffle the presents around and turn on some Christmas music...and then I yell, "Ok....come on down...it's Christmas!"

Thank you for listening to my favorite family tradition...I hope you enjoyed it! You definately deserve something for listening to my long story so here it is....

It's a Photo Tumbler Insert made with the ScrapMatters Design Team Collab kit "Comfort & Joy" that you get free with a $10.00 purchase at ScrapMatters! I made it for my tumbler that I got at Starbucks and I'm sharing it with you!! All you have to do is pop in your photo, print and cut then insert into your tumbler. Simple and Quick!! I hope you like!!

Download Here

All right this train is about to leave...time to hop on board...CHOO CHOO! The next stop on the Black Friday Blog Train is Kari at stop number 15. And just in case you need to back track stop number 13 was Bree.

Have a GREAT Black Friday everyone!!

Where do I begin...

Ok so we have lots going on...as I'm sure you do too with Thanksgiving just right around the corner!

Well I just have to tell you about a few exciting things that's going on at ScrapMatters this week...we are having a Speed Scrap tomorrow...

I'm going to do my best to be there!!

Have you been missing the Daily Download at ScrapMatters?? Well a few of the Designers at ScrapMatters (ScrapMuss Designs, Haynay Designs, WM[Squared] Designs and myself) have worked together to bring you this month's Daily Download at ScrapMatters. You do not want to miss it either!! If you like the ad...well that's just a preview of what's to come...

And of course I saved the best news for last....We all know what the day after Thanksgiving means...SHOPPING!!! ScrapMatters is having a Black Friday Sale....I will also have a grab bag for sale with 5 brand spankin' new items!

And here is a LO that I did the other day using my new kit "Expectant Moments." My childhood friend is expecting. She is actually due any day now....and when I saw these photos I just had to create something with them....

Well basketball season has started for us!! This is the time of year when life gets so busy!! But I'm looking forward to cheering on my husband's team and praying that they will have a successful season!!

Well that's all for now. Have a Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! See you on Black Friday...either on my blog or standing in the long lines!! LOL!!

Well I hope everyone had a great time this weekend celebrating Digital Scrapbooking Day! Hopefully you were able to get some great deals!

While my dh and ds were outside enjoying the beautiful weather we have been having I managed to get a LO done. It felt so good too! I love to design...but it just feels so good to actually get a chance to scrap every now and then too.

Ever since my ds was born every year in October we get so excited to go shopping for a Halloween costume. He just turned five not too long ago and every year I've always been able to have a big influence on what costume he's going to get. I like finding the costumes that not everyone has...or is at least different in some way. This usually means we have to travel out of town to find something. His very first costume was a pumpkin costume, then it was Thomas the Train...then he was a fireman...and last year he was a police man! All of these costumes I picked out and he just went along with it. Well earlier this year when we were discussing costumes I told him that he should be a pirate...he makes the cutest little pirate face!! Plus I already new which kit I could use to scrap the photos too!! (Ha ha....yeah...I had a plan)! Well all was good until we went into the Halloween store and he saw all of the Super Hero costumes!!! You know...Spiderman, Superman, Power Rangers etc...well I tried to steer him towards the pirate costumes to help persuade him into being a pirate...but my plan failed me!! He found a Transformer Bumblebee costume and he had his mind made up! He wanted to be Bumblebee the Transformer. Uggh!!! I wasn't happy...I just knew that I would see tons of Bumblebee costumes on Halloween night!! But then I had to pull myself together and remember he is at that age where he and his friends are always pretending to be superhero's. Well I finally gave in...and he went trick or treating as a Transformer!! He's put on this costume every day...and I mean every day...since I've bought it. Here he is with my dh and our cousins...whose house we have trick or treated at every year since he was born...The kit that I used is called Spookalicious by Simply Sweet Designs and the template is from Sya's Blueprints both at ScrapMatters.

My camera actually stopped working during our trick or treat outing so I didn't get a chance to take photos on the rest of our stops...but I am so thankful for our friends and family that let us trick or treat at their house every year!!

Here's another LO that I did about a week ago using WM Squared's Grab Bag which you can get at ScrapMatters...we love to eat Giordano's Pizza!!

On a serious note...I just wanted to remind everyone how important this Presidential Election is! We are 2 days away from the General Election and if you didn't vote early make sure on Tuesday you go and exercise your right to vote! My husband and I have made plans to get up early to go vote. I'm not sure if we will have long lines to wait in or not...but long or not we will be there and will not leave until we have voted! We are even taking my ds with us! I figure no matter who wins it's going to be history in the making and I want him to be there for that! Although he is only five he is very well aware that the country is in the process of picking a new president and he as even expressed to me who he is voting for. ( I guess I'm going to have to create a kiddie ballot for him so he can pretend to cast his vote...LOL!) But anyway we will be there standing in line...and of course I'll have my camera with me so I can scrap the event! And years from now...I will be able to show him the LO and let him know that he was there to witness this historical event. Now...I'm not quite sure how I'm going to keep him entertained during the wait especially if there is a long line...but I figured I'd take his wagon and some toys so at least he would be able to sit down and play for a bit while were waiting. I'll let you know how that goes!! LOL!

Well I guess I've rambled enough!! Now I have to go and get my LOST fix...yeah I'm still watching it! I want to be caught up when the new season comes out in 2009. Somebody please tell me though...are they EVER GONNA GET OFF THE ISLAND???!!!