December Daily

My MMM blog post is up! I posted some of the pages from my December Daily album. I have been having so much fun creating this album, lots of different product, lots of playing! I am so glad that Ali came up with this wonderful idea. I have through page 17 done. I will post some more pages tomorrow!

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends. Grams and Poppy were not able to make it and we sure did miss them, hopefully they can make it up next week! We spent Christmas eve with the whole family at my parent's house - plenty of good food, happy kids and presents! Christmas morning we opened presents with the boys and of course Zach had to be different - he DID NOT want to open any presents, in fact he threw a fit when we tried to make him. What 3 1/2 year old doesn't want to open presents? I am happy to say that he is enjoying playing with them though (Mommy had to open them all). In the afternoon my Mom and Dad came over for a late brunch and I made this it was delicious! It went perfect with the mimosas too! Then we spent the afternoon playing with the Wii that my Mom and Dad gave us for Christmas. I am not normally a video game kind of girl (I have a hard time sitting still) but this game is awesome! The bowling is a lot of fun and Nate is so good at it already -he keeps beating us. But my favorite is a game called "Face breakers" it is a boxing game and it is by far the most fun I have had playing a video game! Greg will not like me posting this but I am 3-0 in knock outs against him ;)

Today was catch up day on normal household stuff and tomorrow I get to have a scrappy day!!! So I promise to post some pics of my December Daily tomorrow, I am on day 7th and hope to get to about day 17 by the end of the day tomorrow.

Have a great night!

Christmas is almost here!!

It is almost time - and Nate is about to burst!! Zach kinda gets it and I think he will understand even more Christmas morning! I am happy to report that I have started my December Daily (I know a little late) and I have through day 3 done. I have photos and journaling for each day ready I just have to put it all together, hoping for a great scrappy day Saturday to finish it up. I think this little album is just what I needed to get me in the mood to scrap our Christmas activities and I will definitely do one again next year!

Last night Zach was so wore out from playing with his big brother and being out in all that Michigan snow that he fell asleep in the chair.



Then Sparkles the Frog had to take a bath in the sink - at least that is what Nate said.



Today Mom came over and we made fruit pizza for Christmas Eve dinner.




and my MMM blog post is up! Have a great night!

Thank you!

This January project kit will mark my 1st year anniversary of creating project kits! What a fun adventure it has been, trying to come up with fresh ideas each month can be a challenge - but I love it and I have some great ideas for kits this next year (it seems most of you like the mini albums so expect a lot of those!

January's kit is a card kit, with 24 cards to cover just about every occasion, Birthday, Valentine's day, Christmas, Anniversary, Thank you, New Baby Girl/Boy, general gift and even a get well. Enough cards for you to get done in January and then have all ready for the year ahead! I have even included some found book paper from my own stash. I wanted to do something special with this kit - seeing as it is my "anniversary" kit so I made these cute felt bags that you can keep all your completed cards in. I made a bunch of these last Christmas to give gifts in and thought they would be the perfect "thank you" to go along with this January's project kit. So with each kit ordered you get a free felt bag, I made them in three colors, blue, grey, burgundy but no two are alike! Just my way of saying thank you for a wonderful year of being able to share my creativity with you! I will post a link when they go up for sale on January 1st 2009!

Woo Hoo Snow Day!

If you live just about anywhere in MI you woke up to NO SCHOOL this morning! It was a great way to start Christmas break -we stayed in our pjs till noon, then after lunch we headed out to play in the white stuff! While Daddy used the tractor to pile up the snow banks we dug a tunnel and played king of the mountain. Anywhere we walked I had to lead the way to make a path for Zach and Deli Joe, it was just too deep for them to walk in it by themselves. I am happy to report that the presents are all bought and wrapped, the house is decorated and scrubbed clean, all 62 of the Christmas Cards have been mailed and I am ready to just sit back and enjoy next week! I have been in such a scrapbook slump the last few weeks (notice the lack of layouts being posted) not sure if it's due to all the other things demanding my time or the fact that I don't usually scrap about Christmas. I have made a conscious decision to start scrapping Christmas, I have been so inspired by all the December Daily albums out there that I am going to start working on one, I know a little late but I have written down stuff for each day and taken some photos - just waiting for my Christmas scrap goodies to arrive in the mail so I can get started on it! I have also set aside a couple albums and when I organize my photos this January I am going to get out all the past Christmas photos and just put them in the albums - nothing fancy, just get them together. Then next year I will be all ready to tackle a new Christmas album. I promise to post some pictures of my December daily as I work on it.



Happy Friday everyone!!

December musings

Today was a good day - I needed this day. I was feeling so overwhelmed with my Christmas "to-do" list, that I was craving January 2nd when life would be back to a normal routine. I don't like when this happens to me at Christmas I want to be able to enjoy this special time of year with my family, it just gets hard to slow down when so much needs to get done. But today was a good day - Zach and I spent part of the afternoon with my Mom, we finished up the Christmas shopping, had lunch at McDonald''s, made some of my favorite cookies, had a cup of coffee and just had time to "be together". Nothing fancy just spending time with one another. Being with my Mom calms me - it is strange how fast time can fly yet slow down when I am with her. Then later when I had to get Zach up from his nap he wanted me to just hold him, and I did. You know how sometimes when you hold your child close and they are all sleepy and warm, and it makes you heart ache with the pure joy of it - well that was the feeling Zach gave me today. The last of the Christmas cards didn't get finished, dinner was late and I didn't care one bit!

Here are the cookies we made, they are called Church Windows and they are super easy to make:
Melt a stick of butter and a pkg. of semi-sweet chocolate chips in a double boiler then let it cool for a few minutes, fold in a pkg. colored mini-marshmallows (and some finely chopped nuts if you want) divide the mixture in half place each half onto a sheet of wax paper and form into a log shape, wrapping the wax paper tightly around. Put in the fridge for a couple hours then slice. That's it - super easy and super yummy!



Saturday our nephews came over to play with Nate and Zach and Greg took them out for a sled ride:




I have been busy working on the January project kit and a special surprise to go along with it! I will post about that in a couple days!

My Monday MMM blog post is up and I talk about how to create these:


Oh-and tell me what you think of the blogs new look -I think this is how I had it before, I just can't decide between the all white background or this one.

Have a great week and please take a few minutes in this crazy busy time of year to just "be" with those you love!

The Hand Tree

OK - I feel safe in posting this now, as most of my friends and family have now received their Christmas Cards in the mail. Here is our family Christmas card. Ta Da!!! I think this is one of my favorites, to see how we got this shot and get some more info on making the card visit the MMM blog.


Here is the family photo that we included in the card, I had really wanted to have my friend Jill take our family picture this year, but time just totally got away from me! Jill I hope to have you take a great family photo this summer!!


Have a great Friday - I have more news to share and hopefully a sneak peek at the January project kit tomorrow!

Whew!

Ok a quick couple things:

First and most importantly I need to post a correction, The special issue out by Making Memories "Get Organized" did not list Greta Baksa as the person that took the photo used in my layout. I feel awful that she was not given credit and I do not want people to think I took that beautiful photo, when the credit is due to Greta. Making Memories said they would post a correction in the March/April issue of Making Memories. I am so sorry they didn't include your photo credit Greta!

Second, sorry to be gone so long between posts, I have been busy working on Christmas cards (which I will post about on the MMM blog on Monday) and decorating the house - it has been the perfect day to decorate what with all the snow blowing outside, it feels so "Christmasy" here in Michigan. Plus some fun birthday celebrating - yes it's my birthday tomorrow! The big 38! I can honestly say I DO NOT FEEL 38! Greg took me to our favorite italian place for dinner last night and we go to my Mom and Dad's for dinner tomorrow. I do not like birthday cake so Mom is making me a pumpkin pie -mmmmm!!

Lastly my layouts from this months Cocoa Daisy kit! Have a great rest of the weekend!

A frame, 31 gift tags and a punch!

Yup! That is all included in this month's project kit! I love how the frame turned and I can't wait to use the gift tags but I am so geeked that the Mega oval scallop punch is included in the kit! The frame came together super fast and you can switch out the picture each year if you want and the gift tags -well I can't wait to wrap my presents this year! Kit goes on sale December 1st at Cocoa Daisy and comes with a complete set of instructions. Have a great week! :)

So very Thankful!

We had a wonderful time in Virginia visiting family and friends for Thanksgiving, we feel so blessed to have so many precious people in our lives. If you have never been to Virginia you really need to plan a trip there, the state is so full of beautiful scenery and history. Here are a few of the pictures from our trip:

Taking a walk with Uncle Johnny and Aunt Heather to the playground, the mountains are beautiful even in the winter time:


Catching a ride back to the house (those little legs were all wore out):


A very wore out little Zach:


Watching the Christmas parade with friends:



Having dinner out with PaPa and Shirley:


Getting ready for Christmas pictures with Grams and Poppy:

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone has a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving. We are on our way to spend the holiday with family and friends down in VA. Have a great week!

Contest info and more!

The Daisy Diner Scrap-Off contest!! Get all the information here to join in the fun contest at Cocoa Daisy!

I also want to let you know about this great internet food drive that Cocoa Daisy has put together. The "Making a Difference" food drive is a great way to help your local community AND get entered into the drawing for some amazing prizes from some of your favorite scrapbooking manufacturers! Find the full details here.

And a little sneak peek of the December project kit:

Some Monday Randomness.

New MMM post is up, I show some examples on how to use found book paper.

I posted some ideas on how to use Maya Mist here.

Katherine asked me how I created the top edge on my "potato soup" layout -I used this spiral punch from Stampin' Up . Thanks for asking Katherine.

I have been busy working on my December layouts for Cocoa Daisy and here is a little sneak peek:


First big snow of the season started today - and they are saying another 4"-8" tonight!!! Greg took the boys out to play in the snow for awhile before dinner and they had a blast! Can't wait to see how pretty everything looks in the morning all covered in a fresh blanket of white!

We are about half way done with our Christmas shopping yeah!! I am hoping to get to the mall tomorrow with Mom and get some more done. Well that is is for now, have a great Monday night!

More celebrating!

Tricia has another great giveaway up on her blog at Cocoa Daisy, make sure to enter for your chance to win!

We are also starting a four week elimination type contest starting Monday November 17th, make sure to stop by Cocoa Daisy for more information on Monday and please play along - it is going to be a lot of fun!

November Cocoa Daisy!

Here are my layouts for November at Cocoa Daisy.

This one is my favorite this month. I love that this story about our first date and how we connected over something as simple as potato soup is recorded. I can just imagine our grandchildren reading it! I am going to type up my recipe for the soup and attach it to the back of the layout. I also used my new favorite technique, using a paper towel tube dipped in paint to create circles.


A fun layout about our nephew Joshua. The borders around the photos where just drawn black lines with a Zig pen and then filled in with a white gel pen.




Layouts about the boys first days at school.





And the rest of them.











Thanks for stopping by, have a great Thursday!