Would you like a couple of peeks????

I finished up my DT stuff for Coordinates Collections last night. I still need to take a picture of the last project and write my newsletter blurbs. This month I was working with the "Rumba" kit...the other kit "tango" has sold-out in preorders already.

So there you go 2 different peeks at this kit. The 2nd picture shows some Creative Cafe stickers...these were an add-on available in the store.

So yesterday I went off to the DMV to renew my license. (It actually expires next month, but with a trip to CHA planned I knew I'd probably forget to renew) Apparently the day after Christmas is a great time to go. I walked in and was backout within 5 minutes...new license in hand. Came home played games with the kids, finished up my last layout, and just relaxed.

It was a good day.

Today we are going to a family Christmas party. Tomorrow I'll try to post some December Daily updates.

Merry Christmas!!!

It all started last night....


when Santa made an early appearence on the fire truck...giving out the 1st present of the night. Everyone seemed quite pleased with the first gift. We then had some homemade Canadian Cheddar Cheese soup, salad, and warm pumpernickle bread.



Afterwards I prepared a breakfast casserole while the kids either played or tracked Santa's progress on the computer. We awoke this morning at 7:15am and got busy opening the gifts.



Everyone was quite pleased with what they found under the tree. Oh, remember those strips of fabric I had to cut earlier this month???? Well here is the present.






This is one of the gifts I found under the tree. Someone was quite proud of her creation. It's now hanging in the kitchen. LOVE it!



This afternoon has been peaceful...everyone busy playing with their goodies. Even DH...he got a Zune...so he's busy downloading music/videos.



I figured while I had the turkey in the oven I'd take the time to update the blog. I even have a few more pages of the December Daily to share.




The back of "14" with that totally YUMMY picture of our baking day. Scenic Route Stickers & Heidi Swapp journaling spot were used. Page "15" is a 6 1/2 x 6 1/2 " digital page adhered to an acrylic page. I stole this idea to document some of my favorites directly from Ali's book.



Here's the back of "15". I used the digital template by Jessica Sprague that you can download from the January issue of CK. I just resized the template before I used it so it would fit my page.(By resizing it, the circle element became an oval...kinda like it that way). I plugged pictures into all the boxes and then added digital elements (tree by Katie Periet...Designer Digitals) and some journaling. "16" is the Jenni Bowlin card with Kaiser rginestones placed around the date.



On the back I used a bunch of Scenic Route...stickers & pattern paper. a small strip of cardstock punched with the threading water punch, and then my picture.


So there you have it for now...hope you are all having a great holiday.

page 14....

Well I've made a little progress this weekend scrapping wise. I managed to get 2 layouts done with the Rumba kit for Coordinates Collections. Maybe later this week I'll share a little peek. I also finished page 14 in the December Daily and "15" is going to be a digital page...so I'm working on that.

Here's a look at "14":



You can see the back of "13". An Ali Edwards brush "hello Santa" from Designer Digitals, 2 chipboard accents from MM and a picture of the "big Guy" from last Saturdays Christmas parade. Now "14" is on a 6x6 piece of Hambly Transparency. Since the transparency has a circular print...I stayed with circular accents on the page. "14" are stickers from Making Memories placed ona chipboard circle covered with a piece of Scenic Route pattern paper. A Heidi Swapp journaling spot is placed on the bottom and a "before" sticker from Scenic Route is included with the journaling. This is just some of the supplies laid in for our baking day last Sunday. The back page has a totally yummy picture of the "after". Stay tuned for that.

So tomorrow after the kids get on the bus I'm off to get my massage...ahhhh! But right afterwards I'm hitting a few stores on the way home...only a few things left to get present wise and some stocking stuffers. Then the wrapping begins. I use to like wrapping, not so much anymore.

Hopefully after I get all the stuff on my "to do list" accomplished I can get back to scrapping and will have something to share.

I am SO behind!!!!!

Yikes...nothings wrapped, a few things still to pick up, a December Daily album going on, and DT projects to do. In my last post I said nothing was going on this week??? How very wrong, 2 different scout events and a Christmas Concert...plus everyday life. Thank goodness I'm now off until Dec. 29th...then I work for 2 1/2 days then get another little break. whew!

So I guess you want to see what's going on in the December Daily album. Truly I am having so much fun documenting our month. At first I thought it was going to be hard finding something to share each day...it wasn't. Last weekend I bought 1 1/2" binder rings to replace the 1" rings that came with the album. I've now moved on to 2" rings...I hope I can get thru the month with them.



This is the back of "8" and front of "9". On the back I used a Teresa Collins stamp for my journaling then added some Basic Grey chipboard shapes that I inked, then covered with Stickles. "9" is one of my felt pages to which I added a picture of my computer screen, some American Crafts photo corners, Thicker "9" and some MM tiny alphas.




On the back of "9" I printed one of the Ali Edwards digital overlays on to cardstock and used as a journaling spot. For accents I used a small chipboard heart, a 7G's photo turn and a brad. To begin day "10" I used a Teresa Collins die cut, added some Scenic Route letter stickers, MM tiny alphas, Heidi Swapp journaling spot, American Crafts Thickers for"*10*" , and another Basic Grey chipboard shape inked & Stickled again. (love that I'm using up some embellishments that have been laying around)




On the inside of the diecut I placed a small picture, a journaling spot, a chipboard ring(American Crafts) accented with some Kaiser rhinestones, and a small chipboard accent by MM. The next page is on one of the acrylic pages from the original album. This time I stamped a scroll image in white all over the page. To this I adhered some Scenic Route paper & sticker, some American Crafts velvet rickrack and journaling strips.




To the back of the acrylic page I used the same paper sticker combo from Scenic Route and adhered one last picture from when we decorated the tree. "11" is a piece of Creative Imaginations paper that I punched with the Fiskars "threading water" punch. Number stickers are Making Memories and the picture is accented with American Crafts Thicker scrolls.




To help conserve space "12" is adhered directly to the back of "11". I used a small Heidi Swapp journaling spot which I stamped the numbers in Red (Amuse stamps) added the dot border with a pen. Letter stickers & hearts are by Making Memories. "christmas" are letter stamps by Hero Arts. Page "Thirteen" is a piece of red Creative Cafe chipboard, a strip of pictures created in photoshop, some Pink Paislee letter stickers, and some stamped journaling lines.

Well today is a gray cold day here in NJ (since we're all the way down south...yesterdays storm was nothig but rain for us...tomorrow possibly another storm with some snow??) I have lots to do here around the house and Becca has declared today "Polar Express Day" When asked what this ment I was told it means you get to stay in your pajamas all day, watch the Polar Express and drink hot chocolate. Guess what "20" will be in my Dec Daily Album??? This works perfectly with my plans of doing laundry and settling in with my monthly kit from Coordinates Collections. (I haven't even started my DT projects which are due next weekend...told you I'm SO behind in everything!!!)


Maybe tomorrow I'll share a peek from m y projects and another Dec.Daily page?

6, 7, & 8

So here they are...




This is the back of page 5 (which you already saw) and the beginning of "6". Last Saturday was a busy day. Lots of things got accomplished. To highlight the day I put some pictures together in photoshop, and then printed out. The tag infront of the photo collage is a red Creative Cafe tag to which I added a small scrap of MM papers and lace. Some Prima flowers, an MM sticker and K& Co. ribbon.




On the back of said tag I stamped some journaling lines and journaled about all we did. I then traced my shape on to my photo collage and cut out. Oh, before I cut I added another image to the back of the collage(2 pictures glued back to back).




Here's a look at the back of "6". Just a picture of the kids playing under the tree in the living room. I added the text in photoshop. Now "7" is an addition to my original book (glad I didn't number the pages in advance :wink:) It is just a plain white envelope that I stamped a dotted circle (Hero Arts) and then Stamped a number (Amuse-from One Little Spark the Shop).



On the inside I added some Scenic Route striped paper, placed a picture, some AC photo corners and used some Doodlebug letter stickers.



On the back of the envelope I did some more stamping...journaling lines in red and that cute little reindeer in black. I then filled in the reindeer with some cinnamon Stickles. (Said reindeer was another little goodie picked up at Pat's shop.) The next page is just a picture from inside the conservatory at Longwood Gardens. In between these 2 pages I have some 4x6 photo protectors (currently enroute to my house) that I plan on inserting to showcase a few other pictures.




This is the end of "7" and the front of "8". "7" is another picture from Longwood that I added an Ali Edwards overlay available at Designer Digitals and some text of my own. Since I miss calculated the size when I printed out(oops) I added a strip of felt ribbon from K&Co down the side...it perfectly filled in the gap. Page "8" is a shaped piece of cardboard that I stamped on. Happy Holidays in red and that cute little reindeer again. This time I colored in the reindeer with colored pencils. (Yep, you know where I got the stamps from :wink:) The chipboard frame is Creative Cafe placed upon a scrap of ScenicRoute paper and a glitter Thicker for the "8". Rubons are Basic Grey.


Well I have the pictures for "9" & "10" printed. Hopefully I can get those pages done tonight. Tomorrow is our annual cookie baking day. I don't think I'll get anything scrappy accomplished tomorrow. Not to much going on next week...so hopefully I can get the book caught up.

I know, I know...

I'm promised you something didn't I? I just need to find time to sit down and printout the pictures. If you can find a way to get inside my brain, it's all done in there. I'm keeping a notebook that I jot each days idea in so when I sit down and print the pictures I can crank out the pages. Stay tuned.....

3, 4 & 5

Had a great day up at Longwood (it was VERY cold & windy, there was even a light dusting of snow) as promised here's a few pictures from my December Daily. Days 3, 4 & 5. Have some great pictures from yesterday and today I need to figure out how to incorporate in my book. May be another day or two before I get anything to post.

So here's what I've got so far:

From this you can see the back of "2" and front of "3". Day "3" is just about taking time to relax...I spent Wednesday night enjoying this book. I just adhered the picture to some Scenic Route paper, used American Crafts letter stickers and then did some stamping and journaled.

(I have nothing in mind for the back of this page...I may just do a peice of PP and some embellishments. Along the outside edge I used the "threading water" punch by Fiskars.

I didn't add much to the bones of "4". After the kids completed their tags I just added the Thickers to the bottom of the pocket.

Okay this is "5", I'm using the 1st acrylic page that came with the album. It is stamped with snowflakes from a Basic Grey Christmas stamp set. Pattern Paper is Scenic Route and journaling spot is by Heidi Swapp. "5" is a glitter Thicker. Oh yeah to the top of the picture I adhered a chipboard MM sticker.

This is the back of "5" where I adhered another picture from the event and journaled about it.

The PP on this side is KI memories.

You can see I have my book apart right now...the binder rings are just too small. I'm going to pick up some new rings at Staples this week.


So that's it for now. I probably won't have anything to show you for a couple of days.

Silly Question

This Sunday we're going up to Longwood Gardens to see the Christmas display. Every year growing up we'd all pile into the car and drive thru the grounds at night during the holiday to see the outdoor Christmas display and occasionally we'd pay admission and actually go into the conservatory. So this year, after seeing an article in Southern Living magazine, I asked my sister if she'd be interested in getting together and taking the kids. She was totally up for it. Now this brings me to the silly question. Last night I got an email from her "....Do you think it would be silly if I put Kylie in her Christmas dress and tried to take some pictures while we are there?" She's asking ME if I thought it would be silly????!!!! I've already been trying to plan what I'd have the kids wear so they'd look good in all the pictures I took as soon as I uttered the phrase "let's go to Longwood"!!!

She knows I'm never without a camera, she knows I scrapbook, I guess she doesn't realize how obsessive we can be.

Sorry nothing creative to share tonight. Probably won't get anything done until Saturday, but 1st thing I have to go out shopping for black pants...someone has his 1st holiday band concert coming up soon. That will certainly be included in my DD album.

Page 1& 2

Sorry I didn't post anything last night, got busy doing stuff. Anyway here's a look at what I've gotten done so far.





Page 1 is a piece of cardboard that I cut into a bracket shape and painted with acrylic paint. On the front I placed a picture of Becca removing a number from our "Christmas Countdown " that I made a few years ago. I added a few stamped lines to journal on, a stamped circle, and the "one" is a glitter Thicker. On the back I placed a closeup of the calendar accented with American Crafts metal photo corners and journaled a bit more on a Heidi Swapp journaling spot. Page 2: two pictures of hot chocolate in holiday mugs that I merged together in photoshop( I break these out for the month of december). In the winter hot chocolate is a favorite snack at our house. The page is made of a piece of Creative Cafe green chipboard and the accent stickers are Scenic Route& letter stickers are American Crafts.


How are your books coming????


That's about it for now. Had teacher conferences this afternoon(all went as expected there) and I plan to curl up with a good book tonight..."One Mississippi" by Mark Childress. I've only read about 50 pages so far, but I'm finding it pretty funny. It's about a teenage boy who's family just moved to Mississippi in his junior year of high school.

December, can you believe it?

I can't belive it's here already. Now if I were a kid Christmas would seem like it was SO far away, but seriously...just 24 days! Yikes!!!!


Anyway since it's the 1st here's one of my projects from the FABULOUS- Gumdrops kit over at Coordinates Collections. (All that American Crafts...I thought I died and went to heaven. Only a few manufacturers make me feel that way and AC is one of them.) The other kit for December was a holiday themed kit and it sold-out during pre-orders just a few days ago.





My pictures were one of those fun photobooth strips from our vacation last month. Everything except for the white cardstock came in the kit. All the products were American Crafts except for the PP in the upper right-Basic Grey Urban Prarrie.


Looking forward to next months kit arriving. I was having a hard time deciding which kit. I was 4th to pick and actually still had a choice (it doesn't always work that way) Here's a preview of what I had to pick from:







They are called Tango & Rumba and are available for pre-order starting today. I LOVE products in both and was having a hard time trying to decide. Since I knew somebody else (you know who you are) really wanted the Tango kit and they picked after me I decided to take the Rumba kit. Truly I would have been happy with either one.


So since it is December have you started your December Daily??


I've got pictures for mine, just have to print them out. I've got afew other things to do first...mainly some "housekeeping issues" over on the CC message board. Shouldn't take me too long.


Maybe tomorrow I'll post a December Daily update.