All done!

Well, it's done! At my slumber party last weekend I finished my Daily December album. I love finishing projects and crossing them off the list! Here's a sneak peak.......................

I'm very happy with how it turned out and have already purchased the album I'm going to use for next year's album.

After I finished my DD album, I worked on finishing my 40th birthday celebration mini album (I know - I'm a few years behind), a few more pages and it will be complete. I decided at this point to finish up some of these little projects before forging forward on Emily's album. I'm caught up to Kindergarten for her. Not too bad considering she graduates in 3 1/4 years!!!! YIKES!!!!

Whew - I almost missed it...............................

Last night I had the FOLC board (Friends of Lynden Christian School) over for dinner.

Things went very smoothly, except the potatoes were a bit dry, the beans a bit wilted, .........I left them in the oven and turned the oven off..........but obviously too long.

It was great to sit and visit with everyone just about everyday stuff, play dutch bingo (you know - when you figure out who's related to who :-), and enjoy a meal together.

As usual I was busy right up to when they walked in, so I forgot to take a picture of the table.

I was busy serving, and then we went straight to our meeting. At one point, I thought "I need to get a group picture of everyone", but we were running late and could hear the snow/ice hitting the windows, so we barreled through, wrapped it up, and everyone headed home.

As I started cleaning up, I realized I hadn't taken a picture for my daily December album :-(. Sooooooo, I took a picture of what I could.............................................

I know, pitiful.........................but it will be on Day #14 in my book!
And last but not least....................HAPPY BIRTHDAY JUDY!!!!! Wish I could celebrate with you my dear friend! I hate how many miles are between us, but I love how close our hearts are! You are a precious encourager to me and I love you!

catching up

Today my friend Karla came over for coffee. Sounds like something very ordinary, except we literally have not sat and visited for years. I sang at her wedding over 20 years ago, and our girls were very good friends when they were little, they went to preschool together - lots of memories!

It was so good to sit and visit, ( of course I took a picture for day 10 in my Daily December album). Chris and Karla are Foster parents and she brought their little guy along. I soooo respect what she does......it is a complete sacrifice and I pray that God will continue to bless them as they give of themselves. I was in a foster home for 11 months, so foster parents have a special spot in my heart!
I sat down yesterday and put together a few more pages in my Daily December album.......here are a couple of the pages. I'm really enjoying this project........it really is an instant gratification type of project - that's what I'm all about!!

Day 7.............................
Day 5............................

I finally got the downstairs decorating done and cleaned up by bedtime Monday night. Now I just need to get busy and do the tree upstairs. Em and I are planning on doing that after school today.

The Daily December Album - day one!!

So good, so far - of course it's only Dec. 2nd, but I am off and running.

I have to finish decorating the pages and getting them ready to "slap" the pictures in, but my plan is to use my handy dandy little printer to print of the pages every couple days (or every day if the mood happens) and add them to my album.
Here is day one - Randy and I brought down ALL the bins with Christmas decorations and put them in the garage. Now it is my job over the next couple days to get them out and put them in just the right places.

I will keep you updated on the album - so far (again only 1 day) it's a project I'm really excited about since Tami encouraged me to have the album ready!

The choice..................

Last night we got together and worked on our "Daily December" albums. Tami was an awesome hostess, her house was WARM and cozy :-) (we weren't sure if it was the fire or a bunch of middle aged women having power surges:-), the food was delightful and the company was fabulous!Tami reminded me that Ali Edwards is the one that came up with the idea, and she talks about it on her blog - here:
http://aliedwards.typepad.com/_a_/2009/11/december-daily-qa-2009.html
(this is a blog you should have bookmarked!!)

I had to leave early to pick up Brandon in Bellingham (YEAH) and so I only got the cover and 6 pages done, but I've already been in my office this morning picking away at it. IT WILL BE DONE BEFORE Dec. 1st!

Here is the album I chose - with the help of the others!!

Before................................................

After.................................................

A couple of the pages inside......................................
I will post more when I get it done (by Dec. 1st)!! Nothing like a little blog posting to keep the pressure on to get a project done!!

Making a decision.....................................

So - last year I was going to try and make a "Daily December" album. My friend had talked about it and I thought it was a great idea.

A Daily December album is where you take a picture for every day in December and put it in a small album. I started out strong last year, taking pics of traditions, etc. but I failed miserably!! I found out that I was missing a key ingredient last year.......................the album all made up and ready to go so you have incentive to get those pictures taken!! BRILLIANT!

This year, my friend Tami is going to do another one and invited a few of us over to pre-make the album - just the push I need! So, tonight I am going to make my "Daily December" album.

Here is where the decision comes.......................I have several mini albums in my possession,
and now I need to make a decision as to which one I will choose!

I love this one with the red glitter poinsettias, but I would have to creatively add some pages.....
This one is also fun and has some great embellishments, but again, would need to pick up some chipboard to get more pages in it........................
There are these two somewhat boring options, but some patterned snowflakes, stickers, etc and they would be great.............................
This is a cool album with a built in stand..................................
So............................which one will it be.......................................I'll let you know!

Some scrapbook pages

A couple weeks ago you'll recall I got to spend a couple days scrapbooking with my girlfriends at an oceanside retreat!!

You'll also recall I GOT 26 PAGES DONE!!!!

Here are a few pages - I'm a very simple, straightforward scrapper. No time (or creativity) for fuss, especially since I have so many years to get put in these books!
Here's a fall page...........
I used a Cricut cartridge that Judy brought. I don't know the name of it, but all the letters are cut out in leaf shapes..........................here's a close up.
Every year since Emily was 1 1/2 my friend has taken "leaf pictures" of her. Here is her 4 yr old "leaf pics".
Emily's 5th birthday tea party...............................
Now I'm caught up to her 5th birthday - only 9 more years togo!! :-o
I guess I'll need a few more scrappin' get- aways!!

Some scrapbook pages

Okay my slumberless party was a success! In fact, I forgot to tell you some of the ladies decided I have a tonnage of friends - NOT fat friends - just a tonnage of them!! I think that is a very fun term, and I am BLESSED to have a tonnage of people that consider me a friend. We are all so blessed with our friendships aren't we.

Anyway - back to the subject at hand........the slumber party was a success, in that, we all had a great time and can't wait until next year, but as far as being productful scrapbooking wise for myself, I'm afraid, it was not! :-) I finished putting together a layout I had started, and then I completely finished another 2 page layout, started a second 2 page layout (the letters just have to be stuck down, and started the next 2 page layout. So, if you're doing the math I really only got 3 pages all the way done :-0 !!

Here's the first layout..............sorry it's dark, I was having issues................

This is the 2nd layout that the letters are not stuck down on yet................I am trying something new to help me get caught up, when you have an event with lots of pictures I'm using a pre-structured page that has pockets to hold 6/4x6 pictures. You can also put in fewer pictures and then cut a 4x6 piece of cardstock and embellish it or journal on it. I'll post some when I get some done:-)!

I'm wanting to get back in there and get going (for real this time), but today is work and tonight is a banquet at school with Brandon, so maybe tomorrow afternoon, evening. I have 3 years to get caught up, so I'd better get busy!! Help keep me on the ball girls ok?

Never too old to learn!

Last night I was invited to an "exclusive" training class :-) ! My friend Tanya Silves who is a digital scrappbookin' junkie, computer whiz, awesome photographer, PhotoShop Elements Pro, etc. invited a few of us over to learn how to zip and unzip! (Got your attention now don't I?)

Here is Tanya creating a digital scrapbook page. I think this could be addicting! I still love traditional scrapbooking (I love the social side of it, and I think it would be hard to drag my computer to crops since it's not a laptop:-). I am interested in Hybrid scrapbooking tho'. Do you know what this is? It is doing a partial layout ie: background paper, title and pics digitally, and then printing it off and adding embellishments. What I really want to do is just make photo collages in a 8x10 format and then print them off and scrapbook them. Can't wait until I "get" how to do this.

Also, I wanted to share with all of you, (even you "lurkers" - a new term I learned for people who read your blog but don't leave comments :-), that Grandiflora's blog is up and running! Check it out! Right now there is a drawing you can enter, so visit the sight and sign up ................... grandiflorahomeandgarden.blogspot.com Let me know what you think - I happen to know the blog administrator, so I can pass on your thoughts on the blog!

Happy Wednesday!

Yipee!!! 18 pages done!!

Last night and today I got to go to a weekend crop my friend Sherri was having. She sells Creative Memories and twice a year she has a big weekend crop. This is Sherri and her daughter McKenzie - I bet she didn't think I'd be blogging this picture when she made that face :-)!


Tanya and I headed out about 4pm Fri. PM, and then realized about 10pm that we were both staring at blank pages and just needed to call it a night. I do much better scrapbooking if I get a decent night of sleep. I was having a hard time cranking out pages last night. You know when you haven't scrapbooked for a while, it takes several pages (yukky ones at that!) to get into the groove again!

Today we headed out about 9AM, and about 11AM Kathi came out and joined our table. We scrapped all day and the pages came easier as I kept working! I finished 18 pages!! My goal is to have Brandon's book current by graduation. Today I got him caught up to the end of his Freshman year, so only 3 more years to go! That is a very attainable goal - especially since my slumber party is coming up soon!

Here's my favorite single page.........




Here's my favorite double page spread............

Scrappin' all these pages made me fully aware (once again) how quickly Brandon has grown up and how soon I have to let go............. :-{

Finally a Christmas card!

Here's the 3rd card from Stamp Club the end of Nov. It's a 3x3 card that uses the Season of Joy Stamp set. The background was done with the Versamark pad and I used bashful blue and chocolate chip CS. Isn't that a cutie?! :-)


Sorry I haven't been blogging lately, in the last 2 weeks we've been to Salem, OR, Spokane and Pullman, WA taking Brandon to tour colleges. He has chosen Whitworth in Spokane, which we are very happy about! Now it's time for all those fun financial aid and scholarship forms!!

Here are a couple shots of my laundry room - which - if you've been here you know this is what I look at when I'm sitting at the counter in my office! Nothing extraordinary, but I think the snowflakes and blue theme look adorable in my blue laundry room. I think this is my favorite paint color in the whole house!


Tomorrow Kathi and I are heading on a blitz trip to Idaho for not even 48 hours! We get to fly out of B'ham Wed. @ 5:40AM (YUK!) and get home Thur. @ 11:25PM! We are going to visit our good friend Judy (who left us 7 years ago!!!!!). It will be fast but fabulous! I will post again on Friday! Enjoy the rest of your week!

I just scrapped 4-12x12 pages in my scrapbook...........

I just had to share.......Remember the staycation we had a few weeks ago? Well I decided to print those pics off and scrap them right away. You see, I don't often get to work on pictures for my book. I'm busy getting the kids books done, and figure I can finish our book when the kids have all graduated, which our middle son is graduating this June, so I've spent all my scrappin' time on his book. I have him caught up to his Freshman year, so I think I'll have his book done for grad!

Anyways, here are the layouts I did. I'm definately not a fancy scrapper - pretty plain and straight forward - but they're DONE!


I'm also hoping to copy a project my friend is making this December. It's a Days of December scrapbook. It's a mini book and you just take a picture a day and scrap it.....you know.....like foods, decorations, people, etc. I can't wait to take my first pic tomorrow. I will keep you posted on how it's going!

Club and Cookies

Last night was stamp club and we made 3 great cards, so I thought I would post them for you to see. I'll show you the first one that I put on the blog a couple weeks ago.......

This card uses Pick A Petal and Wonderful Words stamp sets.

Here are some of the ladies hardly working - oops - I mean working hard..................

Aren't the color combos for this card fun? This card uses the True Friend Stamp set.




We made one more card but I'll save that for the next post.................now on to cookies!

The girls told me I needed to put this recipe on the blog. So here it is!!

CAKE MIX COOKIES

1 box any flavor cake mix
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil

Mix ingredients. Bake 10 min at 350 degrees!

These are a great quick and nummy recipe. You can whip them out last minute, and it's very easy - easy enough for kids to make by themselves. I do several variations as taught to me by my niece (thanks Marla!). Here are a few flavor options, but don't limit yourself to these...........
be creative.............

Lemon cake mix /top with cream cheese frosting
Choc. cake mix/creme de' menthe frosting
Funfetti Cake Mix

For last night's cookies I used a white cake mix and added white choc. chips. For Christmas I like to make the white or choc. cake mix, frost them with vanilla frosting and sprinkle with crushed candy canes!

I love leftovers........................

I sat down the other day and decided to make a bunch of cards with the stickers that I had left from the Simply Scrappin' Kit that I made the cards from for the class. These stickers were left after I made the original 16 cards that I have shown over the last week.

So far, I have made 10 mini cards (3x3) and 3 med. cards (3x6 which is the size of the 16 cards)!! Isn't that fun!! I still have stickers left too!!

All this translates into this: If you sign up for the Simply Scrappin' Card class, you will walk away with 16 cards and envelopes, a mini magazine holder plus cardstock to make 4 mini cards to go in the holder (see previous posts), and enough stickers left to make even more cards! See the class details ie: date, time, cost, etc. in previous post.

Just to tempt you all, as a demonstrator I was able to bulk buy textured cardstock in the brown, olive, and red, so if you sign up for this class, I will give you an additional free 12x12 of that to get you going on more cards. That is enough to make 4 - 3x6 cards or 8-3x3 cards, or 2 - 3x6, and 4-3x3, you can do the math :-).

Get signed up now - the deadline is Friday!!

Here's a closeup of the cards in the top picture, just so you can get a better look-see. (is that a word?)

#4/4 Simply Scrappin' Card Samples

Here are the green cards! I sure hope I've completely convinced you that you need to come to this fun and productive class!

Here are the details one more time....... I forget to mention that if you sign up for this class and sign up a friend too (someone that isn't a regular customer of mine :-) you will both get $5 off the class fee!!!

WHAT: Simply Scrappin' Card Kit class
WHEN: Monday, Dec. 1st @ 7pm
COST: $25 for kit to make 16 cards with envelopes, mini magazine holder, 4- 3x3 cards and lots of leftover stickers and patterned paper to make lots more cards. If you want to make cards with your leftovers, you can buy cardstock from me by the sheet at the class, or you can bring your own (red, old olive, choc. chip & white are the colors in the kit).
For $35 you can get enough for 32 cards plus lots of leftovers for extras just like above.
RSVP: Please email or call me no later than Friday, Nov. 21st!

Thought I'd post a picture of our Friday night dinner table that I set for our Staycation. We had barbequed ribs, smashed potatoes, swiss green beans, and of course - Crusty Bread. Have you made the bread yet?