Jenny and I never know what to get our grandma for Christmas… all the cousins typically fight over who gets to make the photo calendar each year, because we know Grandma loves to look at her adorable grandchildren.

This year, when we heard about personalized ornaments from CafePress, we knew we had the perfect gift for Grandma. The software on the site is incredibly easy - just pick from a wide assortment of designs, upload a picture, and voila, a gift Grandma is sure to love.

Because really, who wouldn’t want to show off these adorable grandchildren?

Wait! We’re not ready yet. (And what? We are her adorable grandchildren!)

Ok let’s try this again.

That one would be perfect… if we were the poster children for Blindness Awareness Day.

Hmm… clearly the pictures of Jenny and me together aren’t going to work, so let’s see if we can get the perfect shot of Jenny all by herself.

Jenny! This is serious! Please try to pay attention.

Yeah that is not going to work either. You are not very good at this.

Maybe Grandma is a Twilight fan… how about this one?!?

Ok I am going to have nightmares for months. The woman is 84 years old, I don’t think she can withstand that sight.

Clearly Jenny and I are a lost cause. Perhaps we should turn to the next generation for the perfect ornament. We’ll have Kate go first.

She takes after her mother. And her cousin.

Moving on… maybe Sammy is better at this.

Yes, yes… that is more like it. How about this pretty girl?

That would make any Christmas tree more beautiful. But this…

That smile is brighter than… something really bright. Which is obviously not me.

As you can see, Jenny and I had a lot of fun creating our own ornaments on CafePress, and we think you will too. So if you’re in the market for a last-minute gift for Grandma, a way to commemorate your baby’s first Christmas, or the perfect gift for your Twilight-loving little cousin, make sure to check out CafePress for yourself!

Order by the end of the day tomorrow December 15 to make the deadline for standard shipping, or by December 20 for premium shipping. And if you’re really behind the eight ball, you have until December 21 to order using one-day shipping!

I just love Crayola.  It must be one of the most trusted brands out there, don’t you think?  I remember Crayola from my childhood, and I always seek it out when buying art supplies for my kids.  So, of course I was thrilled when they asked me to review and give away some of their newest products

This summer, Crayola is encouraging children to let their imaginations run wild with a nationwide wellness campaign called the “Crayola Outdoor Challenge.”  They want families to commit to spend more time outside every day, being active and being together.  I took the pledge on Crayola.com, and I hope you will too!  You can also go there to find ideas for outdoor games and activities to keep your kids busy.

To promote the Outdoor Challenge, the generous people at Crayola would like to give TWO lucky Reviewin’ It Up readers this prize pack:

This fun pack includes:

– Sidewalk Crayons offer kids more than pretty pastels to create outdoor masterpieces. Once reserved for bringing coloring books to life, this new technology offers the richest, brightest, boldest colors for creating extraordinary outdoor artwork. The difference is striking, as the smooth, creamy colors lay down on driveways and sidewalks with unmatched brightness.

– The Rainbow Rake is a fun new way to create chalk messages and designs! Kids can adjust the arms for close lines or far-apart lines; use the rake to write giant messages and draw swirling, swooping lines!

– Kids can watch their art come to life with the 3D Jungle Safari Activity Set. Create a jungle safari, put on the 3D glasses and kids will feel like they are in the jungle! The set includes 1 bottle of sidewalk paint (7 fl. oz.), a paint brush, 1 pair of 3D glasses, 8 dual-ended sidewalk chalk sticks, 4 giant stencils and 1 how-to book.

Like I said - we love Crayola.  In fact, we already had the Rainbow Rake and the 3D Activity Set in our stash of outdoor toys.  Kate has a ball using each of them, and I love how they inspire her creativity.  My absolute favorite thing in this set, though, were the Sidewalk Crayons.  I love some sidewalk chalk, and we have a ton, but this was definitely a step up from the old standard.  I love the creamy texture, and the vivid colors were amazing!

This is a giveaway you won’t want to miss!  Here’s how you can enter to win one of two prize packs:

– Go to Crayola.com and take the Outdoor Challenge pledge, and then leave a comment here letting us know you did so.

For additional entries:

– Tweet about this contest on Twitter, and then leave a comment with a link to the tweet.

– Subscribe to our feed & then leave a comment, or tell us you already subscribe.

We’ll choose our two winners on June 10 using Random.org.  Good luck!

I have dabbled with digital scrapbooking before… I am SO not likely to ever do real scrapbooking, so it’s a fun way for me to get a little creative without straying too far from my computer. I’ve always downloaded elements from various webpages and have tried to teach myself enough Photoshop to make cute invitations and Christmas cards, etc.

However, I am going to stop being a Photoshop hack because I have found a program that makes digital scrapbooking SUPER easy. It’s called Digital Scrapbook Artist, and it is GREAT. It contains a ton of different themes and elements and you can customize your design in a lot of different ways. The program is unique in that it enables users to edit every object on their scrapbook page and perfect their designs to look exactly as they would in a traditional scrapbook. All of the paper backgrounds and embellishments in the program are hi-res and the program comes with a built-in photo editor.

Additional features of Scrapbook Artist include:
– Choice of 8”x8”, letter-size or 12”x12” pages
– Photo paintbrushes
– Decorative edge scissor cut out tool
– Filter effects for every object
– One-click sharing to post designs for others to see
– 10 free themed digikits

I made this in about 10 minutes:

Digital Scrapbook Artist retails for $39.95 and you can order it at www.serif.com/scrapbook. As a special offer for Reviewin’ It Up readers, you can get $5 off by entering coupon code DSAUSPR04. Woohoo!