Merry Christmas!

Buttons

Oh, buttons, lovely buttons, how I love thee! No, I don't usually use them on my pages, sadly, but I have a gorgeous jar full of these beauties! When I noticed I was getting low the other day, I went to the etsy shop of my friend Bran, and ordered a couple of her Vintage Button Soup Blends. I got them this weekend, and am so in love!!

Thank you so much, Bran!!

A couple of Pink Paislee Projects

It's no secret that I really love Pink Paislee. But I have totally been talking myself out of applying for their design team, knowing that there is very little chance that I will make it. But, last night, I reminded that myself that by not trying, I have NO chance, and if I try, I at least have some chance. So, I busied myself today making a couple of mini books. They actually came together really quickly - have I mentioned lately how much I love making minis? The first book is made using thier Soiree collection.

It's a book with lots of photos from my youngest daughter's birthday party this year. We made the invitations with Soiree, and decorations, so I thought it quite appropriate commemorate it with Soiree as well!



The second book I made was with the Hometown Summer collection. I used a book cover that I cut from an old book I got at a library sale. Oh, how I love my Big Bite Cropodile!



These are photos of our summer vacation at home this year. I love the colors in this line! And the paper I used on the inside covers is my favorite - I love those houses!

Have a great weekend, my friends!

December Book Days 5-13

Hello, hello! How are things in your world today? I hope all is well! I've been finally getting into the Christmas spirit. Looks like the lice are a thing of the past, thankfully! And I've grown to really like my new hairstyle. And packages are starting to roll in for the big day next week. I've not gotten as many handmade gifts made this year as I usually do, but it's all good, right? I'm sure I'm the only one that cares if my gifts are handmade or not! Has anyone else noticed that as the kids get older, their gift requests get more and more expensive?? Anyway, on to the pages of my book. I got a bit behind, but Tuesday I got myself caught back up, well, at that point I was at least! I'm finding if I keep a paper where I jot notes down to myself about each day, it makes it much easier when I go to make my pages! Some days I forget to take any photos (like yesterday), so I'm learning to just fudge that a bit...

December 5th - just a quiet boring day. I had the kids fill out a card with their Christmas list, and am using those to fill in on uneventful days. One fun thing today though was that while I went to the dentist, Dave took Jake out for lunch at McDonald's. He loved that!!

December 6th - another fairly uneventful day - I kept Lily home because I found another louse in her hair, and worked on getting a prescription for them. Fun stuff, right? So, here's another Christmas list.

December 7th - I gave myself the whole day to craft, and it was awesome! Okay, so I did other stuff too, but I totally gave myself permission to play, and I loved it!!

December 8th - Umm... not much going on today either. But at least I got a few photos! Lily has become a really good reader, and had fun sitting on the kitchen floor reading the library books she had gotten that day to Jake.


December 9th - Our first real snowstorm! Dave and the boys went out to move snow, and the kids bundled up for school. In the evening, we watched Christmas movies - I did print a photo of Frosty the Snowman to put in here, but Jake took off with it, and I couldn't find it again (and was too lazy to print a new one.) Notice the photo of the mouse in the lower left corner? Just a little reminder to me that mice are not quiet when they get caught in a trap - yes, that is how I was awoken this morning. Yuck, right???

December 10th - Dave surprised me with a new mattress today! We really needed one, and he was able to get a REALLY good deal on a really good mattress! Yay! It was a bit of work getting it all set up, as our bed rails were not long enough (we switched from a full to a queen), and we had no sheets that fit, but I can tell you I slept SO WELL that night!! We also had Elizabeth's first choir concert of the year. I was shocked when I got there to find the auditorium was full, and there was nowhere to sit. I was resigned to the fact that we would be standing for the concert, when someone started setting out folding chairs, and we were able to get those.



December 11th - We woke up to find that even one more flush of the toilet was NOT a good idea, and had to get our septic tank emptied. On a Sunday. (I had just noticed it was getting to be a problem on Friday afternoon, but we thought it could make it through the weekend.) Fortunately we found someone willing to do that, and while we waited for him, we made a few trips to town to use the bathroom.

In the evening, we had all the family at home, and had yummy barbequed ribs. We all had the dirtiest faces and fingers, but it sure was good! I made a little pocket with this photo strip, and put the receipt from the septic tank pumping in the pocket. I thought it was a fun piece of ephemera to add!

December 12th - A fairly relaxing day, until late afternoon, when I had promised the girls we'd do a little holiday baking, and we had an orchestra concert to go to. Both Elizabeth and William play in orchestra, so it was a big night. I got really lousy photos of it, but oh, well. I was really excited to see that William is now 1st chair cello!

December 13th - Dave took Jake and I to Applebee's for lunch - that was fun for a change. After that, I finally was able to get prescriptions for the lice, though I had to wait at the pharmacy for about a half hour, because they misplaced one of or prescriptions! We ran home really quickly to do some online Christmas shopping, before returning to town to take Lily to her book fair (always a good time...). She was so sweet, trying to find gifts for others, but I only had a very limited amount of money with me, and she had the hardest time trying to find a book that SHE wanted. I was so glad when we finally were able to get out of there!


I am seeing that I totally am going to need bigger book rings! This is only half filled, and it's already this fat! But, I sure am loving it!! Take care, my friends!

December Book Days 1-4

Hello, friends! What a ride it's been over the last few weeks in our home! We've been dealing with one of those dreaded things families sometimes have to deal with when they have kids in school - lice. Yuck!!! My girls with beautiful long hair... No fun at all! And I got them too. Yucky, yucky, yucky!! When I noticed I had them, I knew I'd have to deal with them myself, and the thought of my super long hair was too much! So, on impulse, I told my hubby he could cut my hair like he's always said he wanted to do. Kind of a mistake... But, I've gotten over it. Kind of... But, I digress. We are still dealing with the darn things, and it's been a struggle.

But, I am finding a lot of joy in working on my book to cheer me up! Here are the cover pages and the first four days.

The Christmas cards I made this year. The sentiment stamp was an exclusive from the Elle's Studio 'tis the season limited edition kit. Seeing it always makes me feel so calm... I wrote Shimelle's Christmas Manifesto inside of it.

December 1st - Having trouble dealing with the fact that it was December, and I did NOT feel in the holiday spirit. I had just discovered I had lice, the little girl staying with us had them really bad, and Jake had a stomach bug and was waking up during the night vomiting. But I felt a bit of peace in the afternoon, when the hubby came home and sat with the little guy so I could get some work done. Everyone eventually fell asleep in there, and I had some quiet time. I love seeing my little guy on his daddy's lap!

December 2nd - Trying to cope with my new short hair cut. Kept the girls home, and we had a pajama/lice killing party. Wouldn't you like to have been here... Not a fun day, but I tried to make the best of it.

December 3rd - It was so exciting to round a corner at Walmart and see Santa sitting on a bench! I had a couple of kids thrilled about that!! Jake sat right down next to him, and told Santa he wanted a fire engine.

December 4th - The grandbaby FINALLY got to come home!! Mom and dad and baby showed up in the afternoon, while I was working on bookwork, and the boys were cutting wood. He is still so tiny - seriously, smaller than some of my kids were when they were born! But, I got to snuggle with him... and burp him... and change his diaper. I'm in love! Everyone must have had a long day though, because while watching our beloved Packers play, all of them, plus her little girl who had been staying with us, plus Jake fell asleep! It was supper time, and half the house was asleep! There must have been sleeping potion in the air!

Oh, my poor neglected blog!

Yes, I know, it's been a long time again. I'm sorry my blogging is so spotty lately. Fair warning - I don't expect it to be much better until after the holidays.

So far, this week has been a bit crazy. On Saturday, we went to a birthday party, and picked up the sister of our grandson. The little guy in still in the NICU (though we hope he won't be there much longer), and his sister has been bounced around a bit, so we are taking her until they are ready to bring her home. She is only 5 months older than our youngest, and they are having times of getting along well, and times of fighting. I certainly have a new appreciation for my sister that has twins!!

I've also been trying to prepare for Thanksgiving. The house is a lot cleaner than it was (though it still has a long ways to go.) And today I have switched some to the food prep for Thursday, and preparing our meal for 22. I've been chopping veggies, and cutting up meat and cheese for appetizer trays, and I'll boil eggs later for the deviled eggs my kids love, and try to make some dried beef dip. Tomorrow will be pie making day (I'm making 6 different ones - it's one of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving), and I'll be making lots more things that can be made ahead of time. I sure hope the kids get along better tomorrow!

In the midst of all this, I've been trying to keep up with my online classes that I'm in right now, but I've decided that for today and tomorrow, I'm just going to have to take breaks from them. I've also been trying to figure out what I'm doing for Christmas cards, and working on getting some homemade gifts done.

That about sums up my life right now! In case I don't get back here before then, I hope you all have a fabulous Thanksgiving, and get some great deals over the weekend! Take care!!

Exploring the Light Workshop

In case you haven't noticed all my tweets over the past couple of days, there is a free workshop going on this weekend at creativeLIVE. Rick Sammon is the teacher, and I have to tell you all - he is incredible! The workshop he's doing this weekend is Exploring The Light. I have been so impressed by Rick!

creativeLIVE hosts workshops very often, and if you watch during the live taping, you can watch for free. Right now, they are playing free rewatch of todays class, and there will be class all day yet tomorrow. I highly recommend this! If you get a chance, I don't think you'll regret watching this!

I'm beginning to think a lot about Christmas...

Hello, friends! It's been kind of uneventful around here this week. Hmmm... the hubby has been taking it easy at work this week, so the little guy and I have spent more time with him, while the big kids are at school.


We rented a log splitter yesterday and split a bunch of wood - enough to get us through the next little while at least...


And I've been working on my December Daily/ Journal Your Christmas book. I knew that Studio Calico has teamed up with Ali Edwards to do a December Daily kit, which will be available next week, and as I had purchased a lot of goodies already for my album, I didn't want to be tempted by that. So, I thought I would at least put the bare bones together. I did very little embellishing yet, but I do plan to do a good part of that before December. I went pretty big, with the pages about 9 1/2" x 6".

Here's the front cover:

inside the front cover:

some of the inner pages:


I love this one for Christmas day:

inside the back cover:

And the back:

You might notice I went pretty heavy on the Crate Paper and My Mind's Eye...

I have a HUGE bag of things to embellish with. Probably too much, but we'll see. At least I have plenty of variety! (Sadly, I just ordered more from 2 Peas today, as they have their Holiday Card Making sale...) Here's just a couple of peaks in the big bag:





I hope you all are doing well. The grandbaby is doing well - his vitals are steady, and he is healing, so all is good!

He's Here!

My grandson was born yesterday morning, and has the surgery he needed. He's in a lot of pain, but is holding his own. I really appreciate all the thoughts and prayers!! Please continue to keep this little guy and his parents in your thoughts.

I want desperately to go see them all, but right now things just aren't working together yet to make that work. So, I'll keep loving him from afar for now.

I know, I know...

Yes, I realize I said I was back and then haven't been around. I have no real excuses, it's just that I haven't been doing too much that was worth sharing. Nothing scrappy, at least. I've been taking a class with Katrina Kennedy, Your Life Captured Through the Lens, and have been really enjoying that. Oh - I did finally get to upgrade to a DSLR. I love my new Canon Rebel, but it's taken some real getting used to. It's SO different than my Kodak point and shoot! I mean SOOOOO different. Here are a few photos I've taken.

I love this photo of my little guy - his eyes just draw me in on.

Here he was trying to fly, I think, today.

My oldest daughter. I had some trouble getting focused photos today, but this one came out pretty good (though even here the focus is pretty soft).

My girls, having fun.

Sorry, I'm not really chatty tonight. We got word an hour or so ago that our grandson is on his way. Tiffi (my stepson's girlfriend) had an appointment today, and had some tests that didn't come back very good, so they decided to induce her. They don't think anything will happen for at least 12 hrs., so we're guessing tomorrow's the day. I can't believe I'll be a grandma soon!!!! If you all could pray for the little guy, I would really appreciate it! I'm sure he's a fighter, but I think he's going to need some prayer on his side for the next few days at least. I'll share more when I can!

I'm back...

I know, I know... long time, no see. What have I been up to? Well, it's been a bit crazy around here. A baby shower to plan, that finally took place last weekend (and sadly my camera decided to take a poo and not work after I got one cruddy photo of the food before the shower...) But, here are the invitations I made a huge number of.

Oh, you may be wondering who is having a baby. Well, our oldest son's girlfriend is expecting our first grandchild soon. The little guy has some problems, and will be rushed into surgery when he is born, but we have faith that everything is going to work out okay!

Anyway, between making all these invitations and the shower actually happening, we had 3 birthdays in the family. Yes, 3 of our children have their birthdays within the first week of September. Crazy, right? So, we had party after party, between family parties, and parties with friends. Lily's friends party was the one I worked on the most - here are the invitations I made for them - I was trying to keep it simple, so I printed out some Soiree cards I got from House of 3 before they closed. Of course, I wanted to glam them up a little bit... Then I didn't have any A2 envelopes, so I had to make some. That wasn't quite as simple... but they came together pretty quickly.

And with all those birthdays I had to make a new birthday banner, because the old purchased one I had just wasn't cutting it anymore in my humble opinion. So, one morning I made this with some fun older papers from My Mind's Eye. If I remember correctly, the alpha stickers are Sassafrass.

Other than all those parties, I've also been taking lots of classes! Let's see... right now I'm in Katrina Kennedy's Your Life Through the Lens at Get It Scrapped, Shimelle's Learn Something New Every Day (which I have fallen terribly behind on...), Jennifer McGuire's Inspiration Showcase (which I learned an INCREDIBLE amount from - I highly recommend it!). And today, Double Take with May Flaum and Nic Howard started! I've been really looking forward to this class - May is a teacher I really relate to, and I have pretty much decided that any class she teaches, I will take. This class is going to be a LOT of fun!! If you want to join me, you can still get into this class! Check it out here.

I hope to be back soon to show you more goodies - I've made a little tutorial for you, but just haven't had the energy to get that all put together and posted, but hopefully I'll get that up soon. Take care, everyone!

Grid it up

Well, I'm still working, but I finished this page that I started last night during some document uploads. The challenge from Shimelle on this one was to make a page with a grid element. I bounced a few ideas around in my head, but this one won out. I love Jenni Bowlin's mini papers, especially this set. I cut them down to 3" x 3" pieces and glued them on my page. At first I was going to try to make a perfect grid, but that is just not me. So, I made a messy grid, and that really dictated the way the rest of my page.

Oh, darn. You can't read that last word very well - the phrase on the bottom says "...hold such PROMISE"

I wanted to add a couple of quotes I've seen on pinterest lately - I ♥ pinterest!

Here are a few detail photos.

I'm not sure if I'll be back with more yet today or not. I've got a decent amount of work left, plus most of the family is here for a big meal on Sunday nights (all 9 of us - or 11 if our oldest's girlfriend and her daughter show up!) Oh, and we veg out in front of the TV late Sunday nights - there is a 2 hour block of Soap reruns, and most of us never saw it (as it was before our time), and we are really hooked!