***FUN GIVEAWAY***

When it comes to starting off your day right, a new survey from Kix found that 84 percent of parents turn to cereal with milk for a quick and healthy breakfast.  Cereal is one of the healthiest breakfast choices parents can make. Ready-to-eat cereal has fewer calories than almost any other common breakfast option, while also being nutrient-dense and convenient. In addition, cereal eaters consume less cholesterol and more fiber than non-cereal eaters.

With the same great taste kids have loved for more than 70 years, Kix makes it easy to serve your family a simple and healthy breakfast! Whether you choose to serve Original Kix or Honey Kix, you can be sure that your kids are getting a wholesome food with nutrients they need to grow.  The "Kid-Tested Mother-Approved®"cereal is made with whole grain corn and is an excellent source of iron. It also is a good source of calcium, fiber, and Vitamins C and D. Original Kix has no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives.

To find out more, visit the recently launched Kix website, http://www.kixcereal.com/, featuring background on the history of Kix, nutritional content, and special offers.

My girls love Kix cereal and to be honest I do too.  I loved Kix as a kid and it tastes just as good to me now.  The cereal fills them up and I feel good about giving them a simple breakfast that they enjoy. I like the slightly sweet flavor of the Honey Kix and feel good giving this cereal to my girls.  

Kix provided me with the awesome prize pack you see in the photo above and has an additional one to giveaway to one of my readers!  The floor puzzle and number flashcards have been a huge hit around here with the girls and we are happily eating our way through the cereal.

Do you want a box of goodies from Kix to arrive at your door?  Leave me comment telling me if you or your kids eat cereal for breakfast of if you eat Kix at your house.  I will pick a winner on Monday, November 22nd.  Please make sure you check back then or leave your email in the comments so I can contact you if you are the winner.  If you are reading this on Facebook and would like to entry the drawing please comment visit my blog at http://scrappingandtraveling.blogspot.com/.

***Kix provided me with the information I have shared in this post, prize package and additional prize package for my readers.  I have shared my opinion because I genuinely like Kix cereal and feel comfortable sharing this information with my readers.***

Holiday Cards

I have been working on my third December Daily album and decided to make some cards as a plug away on my album.  My album is 8x8 so that leaves me with scraps the perfect size for cards.  I purchased the adorable stamp set (by Hampton Arts) last year but decided to not make my cards so the cute penguin and snowman are making an appearance this year.  The papers are from Echo Park and if you haven't checked them out you really should.  Their papers are wonderful and they are quickly becoming a new favorite of mine.  The border punch is from Fiskars.  I used a ton of Stickles on these cards too.  I love glitter!

I would usually approach my Christmas cards in an assembly line fashion but find by the end I am not really enjoying the process so this year I am going to just go with the flow and see what I can come up with. 

Finally, today is my husbands birthday!  Happy Birthday JG!  We love you so much and are grateful for all you do for the Gibson girls!  ♥ ♥ ♥

Hedgehog Love!

We are big fans of cute hedgehogs here at the Gibson house.  The girls have adorable hedgie jammies from Old Navy and a cute hedgie inflatable toy we picked up from Ikea a few years ago.  Now we have a real live hedgehog in our yard!  This little guy (or maybe gal) has been a frequent visitor as of late.  A few weeks ago, just as it was getting dark, I told JG we had a giant rat running across our yard and he told me it was a hedgehog and after a better look I could see it really was.  Yesterday the hedgie returned several times throughout the day and I was able to get this photo from the safety of our patio!  Not that I am scared of him, I didn't want to scare him away.  I think he has been hiding out in our bushes and I don't mind.  I hope he becomes a regular visitor as he is fun to watch.

Party Prep

We are T-2 for the Gibson 2010 Halloween Party and I am starting to put things together.  Up until now I have had things scattered around the house because I had to do some rearranging to make room for this display and for some party food on Friday night. 

I love the Eat, Drink and Be Scary sign and the gal that created this has it as a free download from her blog, Craftily Ever After.  She also has another great sign here.  After you download them take a look around her blog as there are lots of great ideas and inspiration there.  The Crafty Witches Book of Magic Spells was also a free download from the Chickabug blog.  There is an abundance of great party ideas there and I have added it to my favorites.  For the book you simply download the file, print it, cut it out and stick it on a book you already have on hand.  The Apothecary label on the flower pot (a re-purposed Yankee candle jar) is from Echo Park.  I love digital downloads because you can re-use them! 

I really love DIY decorations and with the power of the internet, a few minutes and a printer you can find just about anything these days.  Now I need to actually get off the computer and start cleaning up!  Have a great day.



Just One More....I Promise!

Last Friday Creating Keepsakes Dream Team Member Cindy Tobey was the Guest Blogger on the CK Blog and she shared a pattern for this fabulous little paper pieced haunted house!  I loved this idea when I saw it in the Creating Keepsakes October issue and knew I wanted to make this ASAP.  So after printing the pattern and cutting out all the pieces and then busting out a craft knife so I could make all the little cuts I had an adorable house of my very own. 

Once it was finished I had no idea what I was going to do with it but knew I wanted it on display so I used an 8x8 piece of a Scenic Route chipboard album and printed out the background from Echo Park's Apothecary patterned paper pack (I have gotten so much use out of this line and to think I only paid $1 for it from the Jessica Sprague Website on One Buck Wednesday).  I used a thin coat of Mod Podge to adhere the paper and then used a dry adhesive to attach the house.  The adorable little bat is from a free download I got from the Paper Glitter blog.  It was originally part of a tag but I just needed the bat so I fussy cut it and attached just his body so the wings lift slightly off the paper. 

I love, love, love the way this turned out!  I seriously couldn't be happier.  I worked with supplies I had on hand and that certainly helps to clear out some of my stash. 

On another Halloween note my paper cone wreath is featured on the Creating Keepsakes Blog today!  I am so flattered that Megan Hoeppner was inspired by my project and asked to share it on the blog alongside her take on the project!  If you get the chance you should check it out! 

Summer Lovin'

I completed this layout in July and posted it in my Club Creating Keepsakes gallery and it was chosen as a Gallery Highlight for that week!  I love the way this turned out and I especially love the papers from Sassafrass's Nerdy Bird line.  I made the collages in Photoshop Elements 7 and had them printed at Shutterfly.  The photos are from the summer of 2009 and I was just waiting for the perfect papers to get them scrapped.  The Nerdy Bird lines compliments the colors in the photos perfectly.

Thanks for looking!

My Best Friend Layout

I have loved Cosmo Cricket's Nutmeg line since they released it.  The papers are gorgeous and the embellishments are so cute.  The entire line is perfect for pictures of my girls.  The layout is one I made recently from a sketch challenge Cosmo Cricket shared on their blog last January/February-ish.  I loved the sketch so much I decided to re-use it!

These photos are from 2 years ago when we first moved here!  I love scrapping older photos because it reminds me of how fast my girls are growing but I also get to remember the day I snapped these.  I am not a chronological scrapper so I jump around scrapping the photos that I love the most when an idea or mood strikes. 

All the papers and embellishments on this layout are from Cosmo Cricket and I used a Fiskar's border punch on the strip of brown patterned paper.

Thanks for stopping by to take a look!