25 Days Until Christmas - Days 19 - 22

I have more pages in my 25 Days Until Christmas book to show you! I really love working on this book! I've kept up with the pages, and I'm loving how this is all coming together!


Day 19 was the day that I FINALLY got some gifts wrapped!


Day 20 shows all of our mini stockings hanging from the tree skirt. Princess didn't have a mini stocking, and Jessica got one in school, so she added Princess' name, and Princess now has one too!


Day 21 features another photo of Princess. I was throwing her soccer ball toy, and she was having so much fun and getting snow all over her face! I just had to snap a photo! I just love her! I also took a photo of a Santa decoration that is on our mantle. I just love that Santa!


Day 22 features our Target bags from our Secret Santa shopping. The four of us draw names, and we spend ONLY $20. The person who gets closest to spending $20 WITHOUT going over is definitely cheered on and admired by all of us! This year Emily got the closest to $20! The Secret Santa shopping is really a lot of fun. We are all in Target at the same time trying to keep our presents a secret! Love it!

I hope you are having a wonderful Christmas Eve day! We've done a bunch of baking, and we'll be going to my brother's house tonight to celebrate Christmas Eve! Have a wonderful time with whatever you are doing to celebrate! Thanks for stopping by!

25 Days Until Christmas - Days 15 - 18

Here are more pages from my 25 Days Until Christmas book!


This is a photo of tube sock snowmen. The girls each made one in 2nd grade, and they love putting them out every year. I love when they come out too!


This is another decoration. Dave's dad got this musical mailbox for us on our first Christmas as a married couple. So, I've been putting this on our mantle since 1993! I love it! It makes me smile! You can see another page for Day 16 peeking through.


The main Day 16 page features the photo card that I sent out mostly to family. I love sending out a photo that I took of my girls!


Day 17 features the symphonic band at the Junior High School. The girls had their Winter Concert, and it was AMAZING! They are in both choir and the symphonic band. The concert band also performed. GREAT night of music! The other photo features Jessica holding up her Amelia Earhart photo biography project and on the table is her family tree. She left both of these projects that were due on Friday until Thursday night to finish! Whew!


Day 18 features my festively dressed girls! On the last day of school before Winter Break, the Junior High has two assemblies, and the girls get to sing with the choir and play their instruments with the symphonic band. They love this last day before break! They only have a few classes, and they get to perform in front of the rest of the school, and then they perform a second time for the younger kids that come from one of the other schools in the district. It's a lot of fun for them!

I hope you're having a great day, and I hope you're ready for Christmas!! We are baking today and having lots of fun! I love this time of the year! Thanks for stopping by!

25 Days Until Christmas - Days 12 - 14

Here are some more pages from my 25 Days Until Christmas book. I love putting these pages together!


Day 12 has two pages. On the first, I snapped a photo of Jessica when she was on her way down to the basement. It's cold in the basement, and she has on thick socks, a sweatshirt, and her winter hat! She cracks me up! I love the lace that I added to the edge of the page.


Instead of putting up the BIG tree this year, we decided to put up the small tabletop tree. We love this crazy little tree. I snapped a photo of the girls decorating it, and I snapped a photo of it all lit up. Colorful Christmas lights are so pretty!


On Day 13, the girls and I FINALLY went to see New Moon. I even clipped the ticket stubs to the page. The movie was VERY good! We'll be anxiously awaiting the release of Eclipse in June!


Day 14 is also two pages. On the first, Emily is lounging in the living room with her afghan. She is reading a book, and she has a furry friend close by!

On the second page for Day 14, Jessica is playing the Wii, and it makes me laugh that she has a Santa hat on!

I hope you're having a wonderful weekend. Thanks for stopping by!

25 Days Until Christmas - Days 8 - 11

Here are four more pages from my 25 Days Until Christmas book. You can click on any of the pages to view them larger!


Christmas candy comes in the prettiest packages! So colorful and fun! I snapped a photo of some candy that I picked up, and then I couldn't resist using the HUGE glitter chipboard letters on this page! I love the little penguin with the candy cane! This page is just FUN to me!


I could take a photo a day of just Princess. She amuses me daily! On this day, she was stretched out in the middle of the family room, and she had her paw possessively over her toy motorcycle. She cracks me up! She stayed that way long enough for me to get up, get my camera, and take a photo! She poses for photos! She really does! The next photo are the goodies that the marvelous Mario sent to me when I won on Tim Holtz's blog during the 12 Tags of Christmas! Awesome Ranger distress inks, crackle paints, and Stickles! Thank you Tim! So, I added a grungeboard arrow that I painted with fired brick distress crackle paint, and I added a trio of Stickles dots in both colors! Thanks Chris for the "lucky" bingo card that you stamped for me! I also added some Tim Holtz tickets (bliss and play), and the ticket at the top was stamped with one of my Unity sets. I also used my NEW tiny attacher to add the ribbon loops to my journaling at the bottom. I can already tell that the tiny attacher is going to be one of my favorite tools EVER! How have I been creating so long without one?


See, I told you that Princess amuses me daily . . . I just love taking pictures of her! On this day, she was resting and warming up on the sunny patch on the floor in the living room! Isn't she cute? She's my sweetheart! I also did some baking because the girls needed goodies for their library helpers' Christmas party in school, so I made brownies and oatmeal raisin cookies. Yum! The tab at the top was stamped with one of my Unity stamps, and the "Baking Cookies" sentiment is from The Cutting Cafe'.


The girls came home from school on the 11th with the gifts that they received from their Secret Santa's. They were assigned a Secret Santa during NJHS. Emily got such a gorgeous fleece blanket, and Jessica got a Mokena Video gift certificate and movie snacks! What fun!

I hope you're doing a good job getting ready for the holidays! I'm doing pretty good, but I just cannot believe that it's 10 days until Christmas! December is on fast forward! I hope you have a great day, and as always, thanks for stopping by!

25 Days Until Christmas - Days 6 & 7

Here are a couple more pages in my 25 Days Until Christmas book!


On Day 6, the girls put out our Nativity Set. I sewed some lace to the border. I used another tag from Chris. I love those tags!


On Day 7, we got our first dusting of snow. The top photo shows our snow puppy! Look at that face! The bottom photo is the view out our front door. The snowflakes were bright white foam, so I used some distress ink on them to tone them down. Worked great!

I really enjoy working on this book! It's fun to record a whole month leading up to Christmas! I hope you're having a great day. Thanks for stopping by!

25 Days Until Christmas - Days 3 - 5

I wanted to share a couple more pages from my 25 Days Until Christmas book. I really enjoy working on this book!


Day 3 features one of the nine bins that we have filled with Christmas decorations. They don't all get unpacked, and I really should get rid of stuff that I don't always put out! I like that you can see Day 4 peeking through!


Day 4 features a photo of my antibiotic that I got for my bronchitis, and it also features a photo of the Chicken Club Crescent Ring that I made for dinner. The crescent rings are so pretty!


Day 5 features my people all decked out for Christmas! Dave and Emily have on Santa hats, Jessica has her reindeer ears, and Princess is wearing her Christmas bandanna! What holiday spirit!

I'm still a little sick . . . coughing still and I have a cracked rib from coughing! It's crazy! I had one last year too! We have some crazy winter weather today too! I'm glad to be inside, and I'll be glad when the girls get home from school! I hope you have a great day, and thanks for stopping by!

25 Days Until Christmas - Days 1 & 2

I wanted to show you the first two pages that I did for my 25 Days Until Christmas book.


On December 1st, we decorated the fireplace a little bit. I always love hanging our stockings! (If you look in the lower right corner of the photo, you can see Princess! And yes, she has a stocking too!) I used the decorative element that I created and showed you in this post. It's one of the many sentiments from the huge Christmas Daily printable set at The Cutting Cafe'. You can click on the pages to see them larger. Most of both of these pages is Cosmo Cricket. Pretty simple pages, and that's just the way I like them!


On December 2nd, Emily and I ran to Target for some cold pills for me, and she got a much-needed new hat and gloves, so I took a pic of her once we got home. Isn't she cute!?! I also decorated a couple of shelves in the kitchen with my favorite miniatures. I love these shelves. I used awesome tags that my blogging friend Chris sent to me. She stained them and baked them. They're totally cool! I also added a gorgeous crocheted flower that Emily made for me. I thought it was appropriate to put it on a page that features Emily!

Well, I've been sick with a bad cough, and now I have an aching side from coughing all of the time. Hopefully this cough will go away already! I hope you had a very nice Thanksgiving and that you're doing well with Christmas preparations! Have a great day, and as always, thanks for stopping by!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving! I have so much to be grateful for!

You & I

I just got a new Ippity stamp set that I ordered from JenMarie. I love them, and I decided to ink them up right away to make a card. This set is called Life's Little Moments. JenMarie also sent me the papers that I used! The papers are My Mind's Eye. Aren't they gorgeous? I also did more sewing. I am just loving my sewing machine lately! You can click on it to see it larger. I really like the way this card turned out!

I hope you have a great day, and as always, thanks for stopping by!

Can you vote for my layout?

Voting has begun for the December Guest Designer at Sketchy Thursdays. If you like my layout (seen in the post below), can you please vote for it? Voting is for one day only, and it's in the left column. I don't think I have a chance, but it never hurts to try!! Thanks!!!

I'm Thankful For . . .

Two pages in one day, and they're both for Sketchy Thursdays! They are having a December Guest Design Team Challenge, and I decided to play around with the very fun sketch! We had to use the prompt: "Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend". I used Autumn Splendor by Making Memories, and once again, I have to thank my fantastic blogging friend Chris, because she sent me papers from this collection too! She's the best! I got the journaling booklet and the ribbon on clearance at Michael's. This collection is so fantastic for fall, and it's perfect for this Thanksgiving page. I added a couple of silk fall leaves, and I also did a lot of sewing . . . did you notice how much I'm loving my sewing machine lately? It's so much fun to sew on projects! You can click on the layout to see it larger. I'm thrilled with the way it turned out!


This is the sketch I based my layout on.

I hope you are having a great day! The girls and I will be leaving for the parade soon. Enjoy the rest of your weekend, and as always, thanks for stopping by!

Happy Halloween 2008

I've been hanging out at Scrapbook Kit Club (SBKC), and one of the design team there is also on the design team for Sketchy Thursdays. They have an awesome sketch posted with an incredible prize by SBKC, and I just had to play along!! Here is my layout based on the sketch. These are Halloween photos from last year, and this page is all decked out in Making Memories Spook Alley! I love it, I love it, I love it!! Thank you to my most awesome and fantastic blogging friend Chris who sent me the pieces of Spook Alley paper! I then got a BUNCH of embellishments to go along with the paper when Michael's had it all on clearance. I went crazy, because it's all fantastic! One of their most awesome collections ever! Anyway, back to the page . . . I did a bunch of sewing and used some Bazzill cardstock. You can click on it to see it larger. I'm thrilled with it.


Here is the sketch!

I hope you are having a great day! The girls march in a Festival of Lights parade in our town tonight. It's going to be cold, but it could always be worse! I'll be walking with the band taking photos! Have a great day, a fantastic weekend, and thanks for stopping by!

Get It While It's FREE!!

I told you a couple of days ago that Regina at The Cutting Cafe' is giving away the brand new CHRISTMAS DAILY printable stamp set away for FREE! You only have until Thursday night to get it for FREE! I created two title pieces for my 25 Days Until Christmas Book! I used the sentiments available in the free set, and I paired them up with Christmas Tags. I buy a lot of Christmas Tags in the after Christmas clearance sales! I have these two title pieces ready to go in my 25 Days Until Christmas book! What FUN!!


I cut this sentiment out with my oval Coluzzle template, and then I added a Christmas Tag to the center. I love this!

I hope you're having a great day! In case you missed my BIG NEWS yesterday, check out the Making Memories blog!! Woohoo! Thanks for stopping by!

Pinch Me!!

I must be dreaming!! Making Memories is featuring ME as their guest designer today!! How awesome is that? I'm honored and just thrilled. Making Memories is one of my all-time favorite manufacturers, and I love their collections and products! This is a dream come true! Thank you Making Memories!!


I worked with ALL Vintage Findings! On this layout, I sewed on multiple layers of patterned papers to my cardstock background. After adhering my photo of my GIRLS, I added a cluster of embellishments to the right of the photo. I just love the way this came together! You can click on the layout to see it larger!!


Next, I decided to make a couple of Vintage Findings cards. On this one, I detail cut the geometric flowers from the patterned paper, and then I bent the petals in order to pop them up from the card front. I added various Vintage Findings goodies to complete the card! I love the way this turned out! Once again, you can click on it to see it larger!


I love the way this card turned out! I used various papers, inked the edges of all of them, and then did another embellishment cluster. I love the epoxy cream alpha! I placed the letters on an artisan label, and would you just look at that metal red flower!?! CUTE! I love the ticket finding too! I added a photo anchor, and on the bottom, I pushed a red flower pin through my ribbon knot. Love it!

So, what do you think? I am just blown away that I am being featured today! What a THRILL!! I hope you are having a fantastic day (I know I am), and as always, thanks for stopping by!!

FREE! Christmas Daily Printable Stamp Set

Regina at The Cutting Cafe' has created and is giving away for FREE a Christmas Daily Printable Stamp Set!! Click on over to get this NOW!! It's FREE for a limited time only!!

25 Days Until Christmas 2009

I am very happy to be creating a 25 Days Until Christmas book again this year. I love the way my book turned out last year, and I cannot wait to start filling this one up! My book this year is 10x12, and the front and back cover are chipboard covered with patterned paper. The papers on both the front and back cover and by Bo Bunny. The cover has miscellaneous letters and stickers to make up the title, and it also features a foam snowflake and a jingle bell!


The back cover isn't decorated yet. Last year, I let one of the girls jazz it up! This paper is a Bo Bunny plaid that coordinates with the front cover.


The inside cover is on the left, and once again, it's a Bo Bunny coordinating paper. On the right side, you can see a Teresa Collins paper that I cut in half. I will use a smaller paper like this on a day when we don't have anything too exciting going on! Under that half paper, you can see a Fancy Pants print.


On the right side is another Fancy Pants paper. I will use this page when we put up or decorate the Christmas tree.


I will use the snowflake Cosmo Cricket paper on the right on a day when we have snow. Unfortunately, we get a lot of snow in December!

These are my numbers are cut, inked, and ready to go. I cut them all from a Making Memories sheet of paper. Perfect! I do not put my numbers in my book ahead of time, because I like to rearrange the pages in my book.

Here are some border strips by Cosmo Cricket. They're all double-sided, so I'll just use whatever side works for me. They're all inked and ready. Once again, I add these in as needed.

Here are some journaling squares and sentiments. They're all Cosmo Cricket. Once again, they're double-sided, so if one side doesn't work for me, I'm sure the other side will!

I'll add journaling on these tags. They're all by Cosmo Cricket, and they're all double-sided.

On the right, you can see a smaller Teresa Collins page that I will use for my Christmas Day journaling. Behind that small page is the inside back cover. I am so ready to document our December leading up to Christmas 2009!!

I hope you had a great weekend. Thanks for stopping by!!

Love You

I created this fun card for Tricia's new Wacky Wednesday Hump Day Sketch #7 over on the Paper Popsicles blog! Check the sketch out, create a fantastic card, and link it up to the blog. Random winners each week win some fabulous prizes!! I used Making Memories patterned papers, tiny alphas, white flower and awesome brads, American Crafts ribbon, a circle sentiment that I've had for a very long time, and a Prima. I also added a trio of rhinestones. I love how the pink looks so awesome with the black and white!

I hope you have a great day, and as always, thanks for stopping by!

Happy Veterans Day

Thank you Veterans for everything that you currently do or have done for our country!

Strike A Pose

I bought a bunch of Cosmo Cricket Nutmeg at Paper Popsicles, and I couldn't wait to create a layout using it! It's so fun for these silly photos of the girls. All of the papers, stickers, and chipboard pieces are all Nutmeg. The journaling shape at the bottom of the layout along with all of the words within that shape are stamps from a Unity Scrapbooking kit that I got. I added some velvet ribbon, dew drops, and buttons. You can click on the layout to see it larger. This layout ended up getting a little cluttered on the right side, but I still like it, because the photos make me smile!

I hope you're having a great day. Thanks for stopping by!

More Projects!

I wanted to show you more projects that I created with the fantastic Polar Express Card Kit from Paper Popsicles. I really loved using these double-sided papers and thick chipboard pieces by Imaginisce. I have to brag just one more time about the fact that Imaginisce featured me and this kit on their blog! Here are the rest of the projects that I created using this kit!

This altered project holds two packages of powdered hot chocolate mix and a bag of mini marshmallows. I just love the mug shaped chipboard piece!


This altered project is a recycled ribbon roll! I created an ornament out of it! I used papers, stickers, a rubon, a bell and some ribbon on one side, and a photo with ball trim on the other. Using recycled ribbon rolls would be a great project for kids. They could make ornaments for their teachers!



The kit comes with so much, I was also able to create a layout! The stockings and the sentiment under the family photo are chipboard pieces! You can click on any of the items to see them larger.

I hope you are having a great day. Thanks for stopping by!