Happy Birthday Jesus!

Here's all the CHRISTmas pages I created this year...posting them so they are printed in my Blog Book! I love all of you and am very thankful you are in my life, yes, even the cyber ones! Merry CHRISTmas All!
(They are in order that they are named in my file folder since there were so many of them...LMBO)
First one is ME in a page created for all my FB friends and family using a Christmas Card from Neli, a frame from Miriam and the background music paper is from (uh oh forgot to write it down).

Amy, Michael, Annabeth and Eliza in a lovely QP by Valentina at Digital Scrapbooking Studio.

For my friend Anne with me and her DIL Jannette in a page I offered on Miriam's Scraps.

My friends Bill and Jan with their son Billy and fur baby Wukee in a QP created using freebie from Manda King.

My cuz Nancy with her Al in a cute frame from Lugar Encantado Da Neli.

My friend Christine (Turkey 1967-1969) in a frame from Neli.

My friend Diane (School chum 1961-1962) in a frame from Miss Edna!

My sweet friend Debbie in a frame created using kits by Kimeric Kreations.

My nephew Jason with his family, Christina, Jade, Ruby and Jayson. This is a Christmas Card by Neli with the frame from Fecnikek.

My nephew Jeff and his lovely bride Tiff in a pretty frame from Neli.

My dearest friend Kaye (longest Texas friend) in a creation using BooLand Designs OSB 85 kit.

My sister Kathy with her Groom of 48+ years in a lovely frame from Neli.

My sweetest SIL Inez with her spousal unit, Larry...love them dearly...in a gorgeous frame from Neli.

My nephew Lance, his Maggie and Hayden, with Calvin and Wayne in this lovely train themed frame from Kimeric Kreations.

My friend Sugar in a frame from April The Scrapaholic called Home for the Holidays!

And one of Me in this gorgeous free QP from GTD.

My dearest friends, Jannette and Mike, in a QP I created for Miriam's Scraps.

And in another QP I created for Miriam's Scraps, my SIL Myrl with her friend Thomas.

My sister Penny and hubby Weymond with their children and grandchildren in a love QP from Vero's Yuletide Season Album at DSS

And my niece Sebrina with her honey Jeffrey and his Thomas in a QP from Arlene, CT at With A Russian Dutch Heart.

My friend Teri with her brother Jimmy and sister Shannon in a lovely QP from ETDesigns

And dear "sister" Nina with her family in a beautiful frame from Miriam on a Christmas Card by Neli.
I think that is all my friends for this post! I just watched a lovely sermon by Charles Stanley, let's not forget the reason for the season....Happy Birthday Jesus.  May there be Peace on Earth and may we always be kind to each other.
To all the FABULOUS and very GENEROUS Designers that make my scrapping so much easier, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for all you share. Appreciate each and every one of you!
Until next post...many hugs sent to all and enjoy making soooooooo many memories with your loved ones!
Love, Mat

Merry CHRISTmas Y'all!

Merry CHRISTmas from my fur babies and me! We hope it is a very merry one and that you are able to share it with all your family, friends and loved ones! Can you believe another year has come and gone so fast?  I have been busy (but for the life of me, I can't tell you at what) and haven't posted in a few weeks! We had a bout with the cold frigid temps (dropped 50 degrees in a couple hours and stayed below freezing for 40+ hours), but no snow yet this year. Not likely to get any either as the temps are going up again. This yo-yo weather has lots of us sick and out of sorts....me included with a case of bronchitis.  Sucks when you have so much you need or want to do! On the bright side...I am very happy to still be here to celebrate the holidays! YES I AM VERY GRATEFUL!
I have made a couple of birthday pages for this month and missed a few birthdays even...guess you do begin to slip with the sharp memory when you get old....LMBO! Here's a page for Jade, can you believe she turned 10 on the 15th? She looks so cute in Neli's Birthday Frame!

The 22nd, Maggie celebrated another birthday and I made this card for her and put it on Facebook.  I used a photo that is on canvas (it's gorgeous) and the cluster is from Kimeric Kreations.

These 2 are from a TBT post I did while scanning some older photos. The one of Amy and I is probably from about 2003 or so... the QP is from Manu Scraps from her Whispers Past kit and the one of Jan and Scotty is their wedding day back some 20+ years ago (I was her maid of honor). Their page is by Neli and WA is by Miss Boots.

I have also put quite a few Christmas themed freebies on Miriam's Scraps too if you are interested, check them out, you might find something you like.
I have created about 2 dozen Christmas pages for family and friends that I will share with you later. don't want to make this post too long. I need to get up from this chair and stretch out a bit, this crap just makes me feel tired and weak...so think I will take me a short restorative nap and a quick snuggle with my fur babies. It is misting rain here and just cool enough with the wind to give you a chill if you go out, so I'm staying in...LOL! Y'all have a great day and as I said before a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!  Make lots and lots of terrific memories to share. Until next post....HUGS! Much love, Mat

Wow, time is flying!

This year was on a bullet train, can you believe 2016 is almost over! Don't know what I did all year, but I stayed busy for most of it...LMBO! Can't even believe I've not posted on my blog since Thanksgiving either!  I've not done a whole lot of scrapping (except for some Christmas presents) and making a couple of things to put on Miriam's Scraps! I have finished all I intend to do for Christmas and even got my (drastically cut down) cards in the mail....now I can relax a little.  I have downloaded some of the World Wide Christmas freebies, but not all yet! I need to do some reorganizing of my computer and unzip all that I have downloaded so far! I have been reconnecting with some old acquaintances by RAK pages (that has really been fun)!
We are experiencing a 2 day spurt of below freezing weather, so I have been vigilante with putting plant pots in the storage barn and covering those I cannot move...got all the hoses put away and outside faucets are covered...all the fur babies have clean beds and warming blankets are all plugged in for them to stay out of the weather and I think my vehicle and home are as protected as I can get them so I really think I can just sit back and relax a little...now it's time to pay the yearly taxes and insurance and get a new lease signed by my fabulous renters. 
All my family seems to be doing pretty good and nieces and nephews (and "great" ones, too) are all asking me to come home for the holidays, but just will not be able to this year! I really miss them, but when I finally do manage a trip home, they will appreciate it more right? (Really ROFL here)
Here is a page I created for both my sisters...it's our mother (who's in Heaven watching over us) with her 8 great grandchildren. My how they have grown since the last one I did...

Here are a couple of frames I did for Miriam that you can find on her blog if you want!

This one is a duo, the frame by itself or as an overlay with snow...the background and the shadows are for display only.
Anyhow, news is rather short, so will hush for now and wishing all of you a marvelous weekend of making lots and lots of memories to share! Chat more next time...hugs, Mat

Happy Thanksgiving to All of You!

As I sit here drinking my 3rd cup of coffee and reflecting on all I am thankful for, I decided to update my delinquent blog!  I am very thankful for my life, my fur babies, my family, my friends and all the awesome and very generous designers that share their talent with me. So, I want to take this opportunity (in case I have told you before) to wish you and yours a most wonderful and Happy Thanksgiving! I hope God shines his grace on you and your family this day and always! I'm also sending all of you a big hug! (This is a QP I created for Miriam's Scraps using a "Thankful" circle from Marisa Lerin at Pixel Scrapper).  The Scarecrow photo was a selfie from last May.
I have been busy being a lazy bum....LMBO....yes, I have been binge watching some TV, been winterizing my home inside and out, finishing up with all my medical checklist for the year, trying to get ahead of the Christmas holiday by purchasing and mailing off some packages early, creating some of these gifts too (since the budget always seems to be tight this time of year because of house insurance and taxes) relaxing by coloring and/or scrapping or reading and generally goofing off! I surely do love retirement! Of course, all the fur kids just had to have a hand with helping me! Especially with getting all their beds freshly washed and litterboxes all cleaned!
Last Sunday was my sister Penny's birthday....so I created a couple of special pages for her on Facebook!
The first is a photo of her sometime back in the late 70's or early 80's in a frame that I doubled and layered that was created by Neli at Lugar Encantado Da Neli...she is so very generous with offerings for free daily on her site...give her a visit...you will NOT be disappointed! Thankful for you and your friendship Neli!

Then I did this one of her that Maggie sent when she took the photo in Penny's office.  She is holding her oldest (Hayden) and youngest (Wayne) grandchild in her lap.  I just adore the red nose! The page was created using several kits from Kyra at With A Russian-Dutch Heart. The border is a free gift from Snickerdoodle at Digital Scrapbooking Studio.  Kyra, too, gives very freely of her talents with marvelous kits and special treats from her CT Arlene! Kyra and Arlene, so very thankful for you and especially your friendships!

 This page I just had to create! While scanning some albums and photos (Photomyne) I ran across the b/w photo of Penny (about 1961) and noticed the remarkable similarities of her and child Amy and her granddaughters Annabeth and Eliza.  What do you think?  Amy just adores the page that was a freebie offered by Katalin Thurzo at 7szindizajn, I love this free QP.

I also HAD to create this page for my sister Kathy....she is looking a lot better here lately! I am really thankful for that, I love you sis! I can't find where I wrote the information down on this QP, so will have to get back with you a little later, but she loves purple and orange and this QP fit the bill for both! LMBO!

This page I created for Veteran's Day to post on FB to thank all those that have served in the military! Of course, there is no way I can list them all because there are way too many. The photo is of my mother's brother, Worley Frank Dugger, who was killed in Luxembourg on Christmas Day 1944.  The page was created using freebies from Digital Scrapbooking Studio!

I think this all I can share right now, there are others, but they are surprises for Christmas and will have to be shared at a later date!
The lawn folks were by yesterday, sharpening up the edges, mowing, and leaf gathering so that all will look nice for Thanksgiving! My fur kids have all been wiped clean, fed and played with (loved on too) and are all sacked out, with one lying on top of my hand as I try typing this....my little man, Sideways (otherwise known as Bubba)....He got up when I tried to snap the photo, isn't this sweet? I desaturated the photo so you could see how gorgeous he is...he is sitting above my keyboard.  I used a couple of clusters from A-Manda Creations' Blue jean collection and Brendas Scrap Designs Christmas glitter paper and the grunge overlay is from Carin Grobe Designs at DSS

OK...so I got distracted and stepped away for a bit, but am back now to finish what I started at 7 a.m. (It is now 10:30).  I want to thank all the designers I have not mentioned in this post...keep an eye out for when I do post something of yours that I used and if I haven't given you proper credit, let me know as I will correct that as soon as I can...I adore all of you and appreciate so very, very much all you share!
Weather is a little nippy but is supposed to warm to 65F and the wind is to quieten down too! Tomorrow is supposed to be gorgeous...so, with that, I will say chat later, have a very Happy Thanksgiving and make sure ou make lots and lots of memories to share! hugs, Mat

November???Already!!!!

Okay, this year can go down as winning the derby, or races, it has simply flown by, right? Here it is time to turn our clocks back, don't you wish we could turn back the years as well?  I do at times!! Especially when I have had insomnia (waking at 2 a.m.) and start scrapping old memories....LOL....then I run into some new memories being created and I'm glad that time keeps marching on!  The trips down memory lane are so wonderful, but they were fraught with some bad times too that we simply choose to push away and bury! But the new ones being created....those are the best ones...cause I get to see my nieces and nephews growing their families and I get to spoil them as I did their parents. Of course, the most fun I have with spoiling....is for all the fur babies that come and go or stay in my life! I'm still at 5 inside and at least a dozen or more outside that need feeding daily! I could spend more on scrap kits if I didn't buy so much cat food or pay for vet bills...LMBO here....but I have so many choices of freebies from such GENEROUS designers, that I really have no need to purchase....just want to occasionally! ROFL!
This week has really been a strange one with my sleeping pattern...normally I get 6-8 hours of uninterrupted sleep...NOT THIS WEEK....it's more like 3-4 hours.  So, instead of lying around, watching things I have DVR'd or reading (which I have been doing plenty of both), I have been scanning old photo albums and/or making some memory pages...making sure I have all my digitized photos backed up...reorganizing files on my computer....put like scrapping items together...and yes, even cleaning and clearing out some cobwebs and down sizing my closet (things that others might be able to use, that I am not, after all...I love staying in my jammies on most days...LOL)!
It has been such a humid summer (or I'm just getting older and noticing it more) that I haven't been able to open my windows and/or be outside much, but this last front that came through on Friday....gave us some much needed watering, less humidity and even cooler that 90F temperatures...WAHOO...that means my windows have been open and even the dust bunnies are dancing around! It is so nice to have that freshness in the inside....and oh yeah, the fur babies are loving the window sills again...at least until I sit at this computer, then they "fight" over who is going to sit on the desk above my keyboard! I LOVE IT!!!
Hopefully, this week will bring an end to some of the nastiness that is being slung around on the airwaves and social media (I'm so tired of it all) as we start a new journey with a new government reign! We had new baseball champs (108 years since they won), hopefully our Cowboys will continue to improve their record, and NASCAR is winding down another year of great racing (they are here this weekend) that ends in the next 2 races...our VETS get their day of honor this month too...(they are honored by me daily as I am so very proud of all of them for all the freedoms I enjoy at their expense)...I have even changed my outside light to green to honor them and I tell them in person when I encounter them! We have Thanksgiving coming this month too (not that you would know as all the merchants just seem to skip over this holiday anymore).  And, of course, there are lots of birthdays to celebrate too...my cousin Nancy, my sister Penny, my great nephew Calvin just to name a few.
Alright...enough rambling from me...going to get this finished...put on some good old country music...finish up my mopping (that's what I have left to do besides dusting, but the open windows is relocating that for me) and get ready for DA BOYZ to play at noon (which means I have to DVR NASCAR to watch after the game)...don't you just love us sports nuts?  I can't help it...I do love it and I think we all should do things we love....Right? Can you tell I have been up since 3 a.m. and just finished my second cup of coffee? ROFLMAO!!!
So, with that....here are some of the pages I created this past week or so! First off, here's my page for this Halloween (which was very quiet in this neighborhood).

The QP is a freebie from the Digital Scrapbooking Studio girls...I just love that black cat...the photo is from 2008.

This is my sister-in-law, Inez, isn't she lovely? I had this QP by Brigit from DSS that I wanted to use and this photo from the middle 70's is beginning to deteriorate so I digitized it and desaturated it.  She loves it, as does the rest of the family, cause I put it on Facebook as a TBT for her.

The 9th will be my cousin Nancy's birthday...I had scanned a couple of her photos and decided to use this one in a freebie from Dea that I plan to put on FB as a surprise this week, and since she loves the changing of the leaves...I decided to make this page for her as well using a cluster freebie from ADS cluster at DSS and a background from Miriam's Scraps.

This one I posted on FB for my TBT photo this past week.....

 

This memory is of Penny's first visit to Texas (about 1983 I think) Fuzzy and I were dropping her off at the airport to return home. I used a free cluster from GTDesigns and used a background from Kyra at With A Russian-Dutch Heart that I recolored.

Found this older photo of Amy and Michael (pre kids) that I realized I had not used before...so I used her favorite colors to create this for her.  I used Kyra's kit Manuela and a cluster from her CT Arlene!

This photo was snapped of Daddy and Annabeth (dressed in her Halloween BatGirl) while out shopping on one of his rare days off...the free QP is from Eudora Designs.

Amy sent these 2 photos of the girls watching a movie and sharing their cookie bites together.  They are so very close and Annabeth says Eliza is her baby...LOL...I hope they remain this way always...nothing like a sister's love! This QP is from JulieCDesigns kit xxxs & ooos at DSS.

This is for my sister Penny who will celebrate a BIG birthday on the 20th...the photo is one I scanned from the middle 70's....and placed in a frame from Neli at Lugar Encantado Da Neli. I duplicated the frame and resized them to put one on top of the other with a colored layer in between.

On the 19th, her grandson Calvin will turn 3...he is crazy about Thomas the Train, so I created this page using a kit called Choo-Choo by Nibbles Scribbles at DSS (it was on sale for $1 and is an awesome kit for boys! He is going to love being the conductor!

His little brother, Wayne, loves playing in the mud...this photo that Maggie posted was so flipping cute, I just had to scrap it...used a from The Urban Fairy called This Boy that seemed to fit fairly well! This is from DSS.

And sister Hayden could not be left out...here is a photo for her 2nd grade. She is still excelling in attendance and straight A report cards...loves to read...and has almost got her 2 front teeth back. This is a QP from Just So Scrappy...also at DSS.

This is just because....I got an updated photo of my sister Kathy...and I used her 2 favorite colors to create this remembrance.  She hasn't seen this yet...LOL! The free cluster is from hyellen at dfdd and I used a freebie stacked paper for the background...I rather like it and is shows off her blue, blue eyes!

And lastly, not to leave them out....her grandchildren's school photos for 2016 that I put in a page I created using Just So Scrappy's kit, back2school. I love that they are all smiling.
Here's a frame I created and is free at Miriam's Scraps for the month of November if you would like it.

Thanks to all you lovely designers for your very generous hearts and fantastic talent in sharing all that you do to make scrapbooking so much easier and more fun. I applaud all y'all! That's it for now (I know you are saying about time she shushed)...have a fantastic month...keep on making those memories to share! They are so much fun to visit every so often! Chat later....Hugs, Mat