HOUSEKEEPING! Time to catch up on some important business. Looks like I’ve fallen behind in posting our most recent challenge winners. Way to go Miss Mint. High five. My sincerest apologies. I got all wrapped up in design mode for the last little while and it would seem that my mind can only focus on one thing at a time.

I am THRILLED beyond words to be typing my very first blog post from my shiny (well actually it’s more of a matte silver) new laptop. I feel so fancy. Everything WORKS….and FAST. Are you jealous? You should be.

Things aren’t crashing or freezing (yet). It’s a miracle! Seriously SO excited. Did I mention that I was excited? I’m excited. Even transferred everything over myself. I have to brag because it was no picnic. My email database corrupted and would not transfer or export. I called a local service expert who said he could give a try at $95 an hour but that Entourage databases were notoriously fickle and that he wasn’t too hopeful. So I had a go at it myself. And guess who did it? That’s right. This chick right here thank you very much. After some extensive Googling and some trial and plenty of error I got it done. Very pleased with myself (insert pat on the back).

So now that I’m mostly up and running it’s time to catch up on some important stuff. It’s time announce the winners for some of our most recent contests so congratulations to the following scrappers. You’ve won a $5 gift card to Peppermint Creative.

‘Pimp my Page’ Template Challenge – October
WINNER: dakotawinds

‘Pimp my Page’ Template Challenge – November
WINNER: Pixelhabit

Gallery Post Prize – October
WINNER: jamscraps

Gallery Post Prize – November
WINNER: DomesticDork 

Wait a sec. I want to win too!
Is that what you were thinking?
Good news. You can. 

Join the us every month for the Pimp My Page Challenge. Just download the free template, dress it up using mostly Peppermint Creative products and post your creation in the gallery and in the challenge forum before the last day of that month for your chance to win.

Get started here with our brand new template for December. Jazz it up any way you like. Add layers, take some away, rotate the entire template on it’s side. Anything goes! Just toss in your favourite mix of Peppermint Creative products and get to it. I can’t wait to see what you create with this cute template.

Not into templates? Don’t dig organized challenges? That’s cool. You can post ANY page or project you create in the gallery using Peppermint Creative products. Every month one lucky poster is awarded a $5 gift card just for posting. Yes, you can be the proud recipient of the esteemed Gallery Posting Prize.

Honest to goodness. It could be you.

Head on over the gallery and get posting. Note that you must sign up for the gallery/forum in order to post. Unfortunately you cannot login using your store account. However it’s just a quick sign up. If you DO sign up and I your membership gets DISAPPROVED, PLEASE EMAIL ME with an angry note. Your email may have gotten confused for a spam bot and accidentally deleted. 

And that’s the excitement for today!

Til next time, keep scrapping.

Hilarious and sad…”Maybe she’s born with it; maybe it’s Fotoshop by Adobé.” – a must see by filmmaker Jesse Rosten.

Fotoshop by Adobé from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.

I’m sure by now you all heard the very sad news that Apple CEO Steve Jobs passed away last Wednesday after having battled pancreatic cancer for several years. A huge loss to the world of technology, it’s amazing to think about how much one man has changed our lives and how his vision will continue to change our world and the way we navigate it for years to come.

I hadn’t intended to post anything about his passing until today when I passed an Apple Store in the Toronto Eaton Centre and saw this moving tribute.

I had to stop and take some pictures….with my iPhone, of course.

I was so moved by the colorful display.

I imagine the same thing is going on at Apple stores around the world, which is pretty amazing to envision. I wanted to share in case you haven’t been to or passed by an Apple store this week. I thought it was such a beautiful tribute.

You won’t believe it but it’s true…I’ve got MORE new goodies on their way!

Very, very EXCITED about this Fall/Thanksgiving themed kit. Lots of fall goodness in this one. Me thinks you’re going to love it. Rave reviews from the team and they’re a tough crowd ;).

So check out this bad boy.

This is my fancy new USB microphone for my Mac and it only cost me $30 BUCKS thanks to SWAG BUCKS. It’s this nifty little search engine that gives you points for searching. You can trade in your points for gift cards and I’ve been redeeming mine for Amazon.ca gift cards. I’d collected over $100 in Amazon gift cards and decided it was time to cash in. (Amazon.com also available). I highly recommend giving it a try. I just pop in once a day and type in several random searches until it awards me some points. Sometimes it doesn’t and I come back later. You can also earn points by entering bonus codes and answering the survey of the day. You also earn points through referrals. So if you sign up using this link (pretty please) then I will earn some points from you. And then you get your own referral link when you sign up so you can earn points when your friends sign up.

The best tip for earning points that I’ve found is to check out the Swag Bucks Facebook page. People post the words or phrases that won them points. I start at the top and try the most recent winning phrases and usually one of them gets me some points. I don’t know why as it’s supposed to totally random!

I’ve been dying for a microphone so I’m super excited. Excellent sound quality on this bad boy so if I can get my shit together I might even put together a tutorial or two. Yipppeeeeee.

In totally unrelated news. I went to Michael’s yesterday and found this monogram tape in the sale bin. It cost me like 60 cents. I thought it was pretty cool. I grabbed the ‘P’ for Pam (in case you didn’t know my real name) and for Peppermint Creative of course, but I have no idea what to do with it. I was hoping it was transparent this it’s actually like a milky white.

What do I do with it? Any ideas?

Let me know!

My parents are taking a little vaycay in Newfoundland. If you are unfamiliar, it’s a province in the eastern part of Canada. They are attending a conference at the end of week so they went early to do a little touring. When they’re away they send me email updates. My Dad now has a Blackberry and has figured out how to use the camera and email the photos.

This was in my inbox this morning…

My parents are in Dildo, Newfoundland.

FOR REALS YO.

Apparently, this is actually a place.

Is he holding the sign over his man parts on purpose?

I know I’m 32 years old which technically qualifies me a grown up but I was a LITTLE disturbed that (a) my parents know what a dildo is and (b) that they think that I know what it is.

Is it just me?

Well, this evening Grandma calls to ask if I’ve heard from my parents to make sure they’re ok blah, blah, blah so I tell her yes and start to giggle thinking about the email. She asks why I’m laughing and I figure since we’re all adults I’ll let her in on the joke. So I tell her they are in Dildo.

Well. Turns out my 86 year old Grandma is the one who doesn’t know what a dildo it is.

AWKWARD.

Umm..it’s a sex toy Grandma.

She got confused and wanted to know why they are were in a town with sex toys.

Oy vey.

I don’t really know what the story is behind this picture but I thought it was funny.

Those Newfies are a wild bunch.

Pardon my randomness…that’s all for now!

Whoopsie poopsie!

I’m a day late. Forgive me – I was feeling very UNmintspired but I’m back at work, designing up a storm. Today I’ll start with a cute Pinterest find:

ROFL…aren’t we all?

That cracked me up. I’ll have to design my own in a less pretty more ‘smart-ass’ kind of way…as that is my personal preference. After all, I am the gal who taped a sign that read: “Of course I don’t look busy, I did it right the first time.” to my little cubicle at my first office job.

Anyone watching the Bachelor Pad? Don’t judge. It’s awesome. Well. It’s a little annoying this season. How are Vienna (barf) and Casey (triple barf) still in this game? How dumb are the rest of the contestants to keep trusting them and not voting them off week after week after week? How many times an episode to we have to hear Michael declare his love for Holly? How many times we have to hear Holly say she doesn’t want to hurt Michael? Yes Ella, WE KNOW, you’re doing this for your son. What’s wrong with Ericka? And what crawled down Casey’s throat and died? How can he stand Vienna? How can Vienna make out with him? He is such a royal douche. If I could flick him in the head through my TV I totally would. If they win, they deserve to because means that the rest of the contestants would have had to be total morons to let that happen. I hope the winnings will be enough to cover a lifetime of intensive therapy for both of them.

Ok I’m done. I had to get that out.

Thank you for listening.

So back to business… since Monday was a holiday I figure I was excused. Yes?
Ok great, glad we all agree. Let’s see what was cooking in the gallery this week:

VICA Nationals |  tkeetch
LOVE this page! The color, the placement of the elements, the layout of the title and journaling…the color coordination between the photos and the papers is perfectly matched without being too much.

Story Time | Cherry Limeade
The details on this page are just great! Love the how the photo is so much larger than the frame and that mock school crest at the top really stands out.

dream job | Keela
Cool use of color and creative use of this grad kit! Love the minimalistic approach and how the design and the color scheme really give you that tech/video game feel.

Ad Challenge 31 August 2011 | Kath
This page totally cracks me up every time I look at it. That bottom picture is PRICELESS. I feel like I’m sitting in the dentists chair as I’m typing right now. That photo, thanks to a fantastic extraction of the light, feels like it is popping right off the page. Let’s hope that light is the only thing that was extracted! Get it?…. Extracted? Dentist? I’m so funny. Love the title/quote too. Poor hubby looks a little scared. LOL.

Mixed Bag # 67 | birgit
Speaking of extractions..here’s another amazing example. That giant wheel pops right through the frame and off the page. This page is so neat – it almost looks like a funky travel brochure!

Mel-wedding-2-copy | ShandellyJ
This lovely wedding page is sweet! Love the use of the elements, all those fabulous clusters really adds to the page without pulling away from the photos.

Grade 5 Grad | originalcher1

Isn’t this just the perfect grad page? I love the large photo on one side with highlights from the day on the other.

Gardening | Scrappie Irene
Love this! Irene flipped this month’s PMP template on it’s side which works perfectly for this photo AND gives the template a completely different look. The lush use of leafy and flowery elements somehow become an extention of the photo and really give the feeling of being in the garden….well, for me at least.

Yahtzee! | Keela
This page is so striking. The head-on shots, the strong lighting, the bold design. It all works beautifully together to make a really stand out page!

Class of 2009 | Gabby
Awesome use of this month’s PMP template and the new Congrats Grad kit. Love the little arrow at the bottom pointed up with the ‘follow your dreams’

Popcorn Boxes | glumirk
Mmmm… popcorn! Megan shrunk these Popcorn Box Templates down to a single sheet to make the perfect sized snack for her little one. Great idea and the colors are so cute!

Thanks everyone for posting your fantastic pages and projects.

I’m going back to design land I will see you soon!