December Daily 2012

For this year's holiday season, I decided to challenge myself to be a bit more creative and truly document the day to day happenings of the season.  The bits and pieces of my Christmas experience that truly make the season special for me and my family: our traditions, favorite things, and fun and unique experiences that I am going to have this season. :)

I absolutely fell in love with this idea from one of my favorite papercrafters/scrapbookers/cardmakers, Nichol Magouirk.  She made an amazing album last year that documented her family's traditions and everyday life during the holiday season and it made me want to have one of these of my own.  I can just imagine looking back on it in years to come and remembering some of my favorite holiday traditions and seeing how things have changed. I also loved Nichol's actual design of the album and I used her provided PDF sketches as a springboard for my album. You can see Nichol's December Daily album here: http://nicholmagouirk.typepad.com/things_that_really_matter/december-daily-2011/

The actual idea for this album came from Ali Edwards.  She is an amazing photographer and captures everyday life in a truly amazing way.  I am also in *love* with her stamps and will be using several sets in my album. To see more about the concept of the December Daily Album and also to see Ali's past albums, you can go here: http://aliedwards.com/2009/12/december-daily-compilation.html and here: http://aliedwards.com/projects/december-daily

For my album I am sticking with a pretty dedicated supply of products for the majority of the album with some fun doo-dads and such thrown in.  Here are the basic products I am using this year:

Simple Stories Snap Album: This is an amazing new product and I just love the smaller album concept for these types of albums.  There are also divided pages and all sorts of fun stuff for use in these albums as well as your full scrapbooks too. :)

 

Echo Park This and That Collection: A perfect collection with gorgeous patterns and colors to create my pages with.  Love, love, love this collection...oh and pick up the 6x6 paper pack too. Its perfect for diecutting small shapes.



 

Silhouette Cameo Machine: The perfect diecutting machine.  It lets you cut pretty much anything you want and if they don't have it you can create your own diecuts using any JPEG or PNG image...And the intricacy, oh the intricacy! It cuts images that my other digital diecutter could only ever dream of doing. 

 

Diecuts from Kerri Bradford Designs: About 90% of the diecuts I am using in my album are from Kerri Bradford Designs. She creates the most gorgeous diecuts and they are pretty reasonably priced too. Here is a link to her online store: http://www.kerribradford.com/products-page/  She is a whiz with the Silhouette and if you want to learn more about your Silhouette, take one (or all) of her classes over at JessicaSprague.com. 

 

Ali Edwards Christmas stamps: As I mentioned above, I *love* Ali Edwards' stamps.  They are perfection....the perfect blend of words and design to use on scrapbook pages, cards, and other projects.  I have become quite the collector and user of her stamps and this album will be no exception. You can check all of her stamps out here: http://www.techniquetuesday.com/category/Ali-Edwards-Designs.html

 

I also pre-prepped all of my pages prior to beginning the album. I drew out sketches of what I wanted everything to look like and precut all the background papers and most of the diecuts for each page.  I then just put the pieces in the album pages so all I have to do is pull out the pieces I need and look at my sketch, print my pictures, and put together my page. This should speed up my process drastically.

 

 



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These are my first few pages for this year's album:

 

 

 

Around our house the holiday season kicks off the day before Thanksgiving when my dad and I head out to do our Christmas shopping. We love it because we still get a lot of the great deals you get on Friday but without the crowds. This layout documents our traditions and some of our stops this year. :)

 

The details: The large tree is a Hero Arts diecut for Silhouette.  Love how elegant the tree is but it is super delicate and I had a heck of a time getting it off the mat.  I ended up having to piece it back together again for my layout.  I think next time I will make it a bit thicker with the offset feature.

But altogether this was a super simple and easy layout to put together.

 

 

Just higlighting a few of my favorite photos and stories from Thanksgiving Day.  This was a relatively quick page to put together because all I had to do was print my photos, stamp the date and phrase and do a bit of journaling and it was complete.

 

The details: I created the quick photo collage in photoshop elements and printed it all out as one photo. The "Gathering Together" piece is a grouping of several different diecuts from Kerri Bradford and the Silhouette store.  Love the holes in the red paper that let the text paper peek through. 

 

 

This is one of those layouts that I did more prep work on than others.  The presents and date were completely done for this layout, so all I had to do was add my photos, a bit of stamping, and my journaling and the page was complete.  It took me maybe 20 minutes to complete it tonight.  :)

 

The details: The presents were all created in my Silhouette software using a few different bow diecuts and squares of paper for the boxes. I used papers from the 6x6 paper pad so that the patterns would be more in scale with the size of the boxes.  I also nestled my journaling box in with the presents and added a bit of stamping  to personalize it.  I also added the holly stamping and the red dots to the top of the page because I felt like they needed more color. :)

 

 

Well this has turned into a CrAzY long post, but I will be back later to share more of my December Daily pages with you. :)

 

 

Thanksgiving

It has been fun sharing the little things I am thankful for in my life over the past few weeks. I had a few catch-up sessions but overall I did much better than I have in years past.  So today I am going to finish up this series of posts with my last 2. Enjoy!

Wednesday, November 21:  I am thankful for my parents. They have always been there supporting me and helping me along the way. I am so blessed to have them in my life and I love them so very much!

Thursday, November 22: I am thankful that God has given me so many blessings. When I look at all the things that He has given me, I realize how precious I am to Him.  :) Thank you Lord for everything you have given me!

Third time's the charm....

Arrrrgh!!! It happened again!!! This time in the middle of my typing. :(

So here goes try #3

Sunday, November 18: I am thankful that I live close to a scrapbook store. Today I was working on prepping my December Daily album (more on this later) and my Silhouette blade died on me. So I hopped into my car and drove over toArchiver's to get a new blade. Now I was grumbling the whole time, complaining that I had to go to the mall in this crazy holiday traffic and i couldn't even park close, but as I was driving home I realized that this is not something that most of our customers can do. They live an hour+ away from us and have to plan out their trips because of the time it takes and gas. $$.

Monday, November 19: I am thankful for technology like FaceTime and Skype so that  tonight we could have our small group with Matthew in it even though he is in Florida and we are here in Indiana.  It turned out to be a very fun evening. Also this is looking more and more like this is how I will meet my first nephew Conor because my sister will probably be having him the week I am in Disney. Thank goodness for iPhones and technology!!!

Tuesday, November 20 (today): I am thankful for books and reading. I love how a book can transport you to another place and time and how a book is like a dearly loved friend, always there to comfort you and help you see the eorld in new and exciting ways. :)

And this wraps up my long very extended catch up session of thankfulness. I am going to finish these posts of thankfulness up on Thanksgiving day because I am going to be starting my December Daily project tomorrow. So stay tuned...

Catching up

Well my iPad decided to do something weird so this is a continuation of my post from earlier...if you haven't read that one scroll down to it and then back up. :)

Friday, November 16:  I am thankful for Impromptu family hang out nights. Renee and Zach invited us out to dinner at Cracker Barrel and it was so much fun just hanging out, catching up on life and enjoying each other's presence. :)

Saturday, November 17: I am thankful for Saturdays off. I love hanging out at home with my family, eating together, and spending time in my scrap room with the paper and glue flying. :)

Catching up....

Wow it has been over a week since I have posted on my little blog. Trying to keep up with my month of thankfulness and I have been jotting 'em down but they haven't been making it to the blogosphere. So here goes...

Monday, November 12: I am thankful for friends who are there to cheer me up when I am feeling blue. :)

Tuesday, November 13: I am thankful for fun surprises like today's when Debbie invited me to go see Fiddler on the Roof with her and her mom and our friend Lisa. She had extra tickets at the last minute and it was a great pick me up in the middle of my crazy week. The show was amazing and I loved every minute of it. Plus the guy who played the main character, Tevia, was amazing!!

Wednesday, November 14: so very thankful for good meals shared with friends. Last night I went to dinner with my dear friend Rosalie and today I got to have a wonderful lunch with Debbie. Lots of time to catch up on life, share joys and heartaches, and plan fun future events like Disney and summer break plans!!

Thursday, November 15: I am thankful for my Thursday night group. We are a little crazy but we know how to have fun like we did tonight at our pre-Thanksgiving dinner.  The food was delist (especially the deep-fried turkey...yum!)

A Busy and Thankful Week

Hello all!

I've been busy with Make & Take at Archiver's this week helping customers make Christmas cards and other projects. :) It is pure craziness but good fun seeing all of our "regulars" and helping them be creative.

Also continuing on with what I am thankful for this week.

Wednesday, November 7th: I am so thankful for my good friend Debbie.  She is such an amazing woman and I love her spontenaity and joyful attitude towards life.  We have become really close this past year and I love her to pieces! 

Thursday, November 8th: I am thankful for days off.  I spent my day scrapbooking and starting my Christmas cards which was blissful. I also went out to lunch with my mom and Colten, the little boy she babysits. These days when I am free to do what I want and just hang out in my scraproom with my dog Bailey make my heart happy! :)

Friday, November 9th: I am so thankful for my friend Robin.  We are there for each other when things at work go crazy and I love her fun outlook on life and just hanging out with her.

Saturday, November 10th: I am thankful for my family. They took me out to dinner for my birthday tonight and I just love hanging out with them.  :)

Sunday, November 11th: I am thankful for all the servicemen past and present who have sacraficed their time and even their lives to keep America free.  Thank you!!

Thankful for...

Today's post continues my season of thankfulness.

Sunday, November 4th: I am thankful for my friends. God has blessed me with some amazing friends who are there to support and encourage me as well as bring out my zany, ornry side.  We have so much fun together and I love them to bits! :) These photos are from my birthday bonfire that I had on Sunday night...so much fun!!!

 



Monday, November 5th: 

I am thankful for my small group.  They are an amazing bunch of friends that truly love God and inspire me and encourage me in my walk with Christ.  We have a ton of fun and love hanging out together. :) (more pics from the bonfire...)

 

Tuesday, November 6th: I am so thankful to live in America, where we can choose our leaders and have so many freedoms.  I exercised my right to vote today and made my vote count! :)

 

(This picture was sent to me by my amazing friend Debbie. Love it! :)

A Season of Thankfulness

Hello there blog readers. :)

As we quickly approach the holiday season, I wanted to take some time to reflect on all that God has given me and so today I embark on a month-long journey...a mission of gratitude, of remembering all that God has done for me, of all the wonderful people He has brought into my life, and of all the awesome things that He has done for me. Some days I will share pictures, and others I will just share my thoughts. I may even scrap about a few of them to share. So here goes...

(Today I will be sharing for multiple days since I am getting a late start.)

Thursday, November 1st: I am so thankful for my job. Even though it is stressful at times and crazy around the holidays, I really love the people I work with and the chance I have to share my love of scrapbooking and card making with others. I have made so many friends through this job and I am so thankful for each of them.

Friday, November 2nd: I am so thankful for homemade meals. Tonight we had homemade pizza which I haven't had in years and it was absolutely delicious. Yum!

 

And a few days ago we made this delicious honey chicken from Pinterest. Another hit with our family...it was heavenly!

 

Saturday, November 3rd: I am thankful for my photography skills. I love being able to capture the world around me and relationships between families and friendships.  This is a picture I took a few days ago of my friends as we celebrated Halloween. :)

And this afternoon I am heading out to capture my sister and brother in law as they are expecting their first new baby.  I am so excited to photograph them and their love for each other and little baby Conor. :)

Wedded Bliss...

When my sister got married a few years ago, she asked me if I would scrapbook her wedding. I of course told her I would and almost 3 years later I have started on this scrappy endeavor of preserving all the wonderful memories of that day through photographs and my creative muse.  This is just the beginning of this huge project with many more pages to come.

For the album I am using one of Basic Grey's older collections, Indian Summer. The colors in the papers coordinated perfectly with Renee's color scheme and it was released the year she got married. It was a match made in heaven. And with photographer Kris Gay's amazing images, I think that the album is stunning so far. I am using this collection throughout the album and it has been fun to challenge myself to use the patterns in new and creative ways. Also I haven't journaled on any of the pages....since I am making a copy for my sister and one for me, once the album is done we will each record our own memories of the day on these pages.

"Just Married"

I absolutely adore these photos of Renee and Zach exiting the church. The bubbles add so much fun here and I absolutely adore the picture of them walking off. I found the perfect sketch on Pinterest (my new addiction...more on that later) and used a gorgeous lace printed paper from SEI as well as several of the papers from th Indian Summer collection. I used my Silhouette to direct the word married and the cute hearts on here. A fun banner with the rest of the title finishes the page.

 

 

"The Processional"

This was the first page I created for the album.  I found this cute idea for a layout on Pinterest too and I fell in love with the heart border at the bottom. So I recreated the layout with my Fiskars punches and some of my favorite patterns from the collection. :) The title is cut with my Silhouette and is using the font I chose for this album "Great Vibes"...love how the letters connect and the elegant look for a wedding album.

 

 

 

"Beautiful Girls"

When I saw this amazing photograph that our photographer captured of my sister and her emotions on the day, I knew I had to make it the focal point of my layout. I paired it with other pictures of us girls getting ready and added some elegant embellishments to create this heartfelt page. Some pretty orange gems and butterflies from Prima finish off the page.

 

 

 

"Getting Ready"

One of the things we loved most about Renee's dress was the lacing going down the back of her bodice.  It was a process though getting it laced up and I ended up being the one who always did it for her.  So I love that the photographer captured these photos.  The large doily shape was cut on my Silhouette using the SEI paper and so was the pink mat. The flowers and pearls are from Prima and  lend a touch of elegance to the page.

 

 

"Memorable Moment"

Since we had to do most of our photos before the wedding, Zach didn't get to do the traditional first seeing Renee as she walked down the aisle. So they did a quiet meeting...it was so precious and the joyful expressions on their faces as they skipped down the aisle was priceless.  I found the perfect stamp from Technique Tuesday that says "saying hello" and I thought it was the perfect embellishment to this page as well. I completed this layout at a crop and I borrowed my friend Peggy's Sew Stamper to create the scalloped stamped/stitched lines.

 

Well there are many more pages to come. This is just the beginning but I am really loving the rich, vibrant colors of my supplies and the gorgeous photos I have to work with. :)

 

URGENT NEWS: Disease Targeting Scrappers

"To all of us who are currently dealing with MOE and the other diseases/conditions that affect our daily life - there is hope! Dr. Scrapman, founder of the first treatment center solely devoted to Scrapbook Disorders, contacted me last week and has graciously offered one lucky FOLLOWER a courtesy stay at The Patterned Paper Treatment Center.

I have summarized the following information from the stack of materials Dr. Scrapman sent me, but if you have questions please feel free to leave a comment and I promise to answer. EllenBee

Welcome to the Patterned Paper Treatment Center, where we combine talent, creativity and imagination to help women battling the debilitating effects of Scrapbook Overload.

Dr. J Scrapman, the founder of The Patterned Paper Treatment Center, recognizes that each woman brings a different skill level to the treatment process. The Patterned Paper Treatment Center’s goal is to create a personalized treatment program to address each women’s unique issues.

Some of the areas we specialize in include:

· Most Own Everything (MOE) – the compulsive need to own everything from a collection

· Distress Ink Delusion (DID) – the overwhelming desire to collect every color distress ink on the market

· Tiny Tag Syndrome (TTS) - the obsessive need to add hundreds of tiny tags to mini albums

· Mini Album Madness (MAM) – the urge to make mini albums from such obscure objects as toilet paper rolls, coffee sleeves and paint sticks

· Coupon Palsy (CP) – a serious disorder that causes the woman holding a 40% off coupon to feel short of breath and shake uncontrollably

· Wandering Washi Tape (WWT) – a new phenomenon that results in searching stores, Etsy and eBay to satisfy a longing for new Washi Tape

Our guests reside in beautifully decorated Shabby Chic suites featuring tea stained lace curtains, paper roses from Prima Marketing and white Jetmax cube furniture. Daily group therapy meetings will be taught by the staff, who are all graduates of Michael’s 4-part scrapbook course.

The Patterned Paper Treatment Center currently treats adult women of all ages from 18 to 70+. But, as these diseases appear to be spreading to the male population, we have plans in the near future to expand the program to include men.

We firmly believe that treatment should embrace not only the woman, but her family as well. We hold weekly family meetings at our LSS in their Crop Room, located just a few blocks from our luxurious campus.

We happily give tours of the facilities and would love to have you visit. Unfortunately, you are not allowed to bring cameras, scissors or adhesives onto the premises. "

I found this on a scrapbooking blog today (http://thewomenswaitingroom.blogspot.com/) and just had to share...I know that I for one am suffering from MOE and DID! LOL!!!

The End of an Era

I have truly loved making birthday cards for my church's card ministry over the past 2 years.  It has taught me how to make multiple cards effectively and also has helped me collect some really cute birthday stamps! :). Plus, I was able to use the gifts that God has given me to serve Him and fellow believers at Pathway Community Church.

But last week I found out that January would be the last month that the birthday card ministry would be ending. So I created my last set of 100 cards. A sweet simple design using a birthday stamp that I bought awhile ago. They came together quickly and easily with the help of my Copic markers and stickles.  :)

And in tribute to this wonderful ministry, I thought I would share some of my favorite cards from over the past 2 years.  Hopefully they will give you a bit of inspiration.  :)

More Copic colored goodness...and a bit of sparkle!

Simply stamping with a fun Hero Arts set and Distress inks. :)

A fabulous design using the Oliver line from Basic Grey and my favorite...kraft cardstock!

Stamping with paint...divine!

Quick and easy...love how the stamps coordinate with the patterned papers from KI Memories.

Love these monster stamps and the bright fun papers that I paired with it create a fun birthday greeting.

Classic and beautiful using one of my all-time favorite Hero Arts stamps...Silhouette Grass. :)

Another favorite...lots of fun Copic coloring on this one too! :)

Love this card for so many reasons...plus I got it back as my birthday card in 2010. My family and I had a chuckle about that one. :)

"Whoo" knew owls could be this cute...lots of great stamps come together to make this card awesome!

Love the simple elegance to this one with alcohol inks...definately need to make more of these!

I first came up with this design while making samples at Archiver's and I knew it would be perfect for birthday cards.

Classic, simple, sweet, easy...a classic lift from Jennifer McGuire...love!

This is also my 100th blog post...woo-hoo! I will hopefully be back tomorrow with my 2011 Christmas card shares...a bit late but better late than never! :)

Looking Back on 2011

One thing I love about New Year's is that it forces us to look back on the previous year and reflect on the changes that have happened in our lives. We also get to look forward to the year to come and plan, and look forward to the changes that God has for us.
1. What did you do in 2011 that you'd never done before? Went to Israel, floated in the Dead Sea, ate my birthday cake, went to Pensacola Beach, Florida, and many more little things that are escaping me at the moment.
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I didn't make an resolutions last year.  I tend to be really bad at keeping them.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? My friend Paula. She had her darling daughter on December 23rd and we are hopefully going to see her for the first time today.
4. Did anyone close to you die? No
5. What countries did you visit? Israel...and a view of the country of Jordan from across the Jordan River.
6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011? A classroom teaching job and maybe a new car....or a boy. :) {Still working on this one...definately closer to the boy one than I was last year. ;) }
7. What date from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? I can't say that one particular date is etched in my memory...many of the days bring good memories, and a few not so happy memories as well. The highlights would be Israel, the beach with my family, and all the fun times I have had with my small group over the past few months.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Growing in my faith through many different events...Israel, my small group, teaching sunday school at church.
9. What was your biggest failure? Not trusting God's perfect plan in every area of my life. (Again this year, just like last year...this seems to be one of my biggest struggles.)
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Just the occasional cold...it was a very healthy year for me.
11. What was the best thing you bought? My trip to Israel...I wouldn't trade those 10 days for anything.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration? My sweet friend Debbie...she has been there for me through the ups and downs of this year and I have truly come to admire her faith and trust in Jesus. :)
13. What person most touched your life this past year? My small group...they are my perfect fit. They make me laugh, smile, and giggle, but they also are the people I can count on for anything!
14. Where did most of your money go? Scrapbooking supplies, of course. :)
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? my church's young adult group, Threefold, on Thursday nights....it truly is the best part of my week. Also my bible study on Monday nights with Debbie, Matthew, Richey, Deborah, Alex and Lisa...we have so much fun together!
16. What song will always remind you of 2010? I See the Light from the Disney movie Tangled.
17. Compared to this time last year, you are: So ready for change!
18. What do you wish you'd done more of? Spent more time in the Word, learning about Jesus. :)
19. What do you wish you'd done less of? Worried about my future...it is so much more worthwhile to lay it in God's hands.
20. How did you spend Christmas? Surrounded by family to celebrate the birth of my Savior.
21. Did you fall in love in 2011? maybe.... :)
22. Best movie of 2011? Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: part 2 - The end of a saga. I cried when it was over because we had reached the end.
23. What was your favorite TV program? Way too many to name....NCIS and NCIS:Los Angeles, Criminal Minds, Gray's Anatomy, and Hawaii 5-0. :)
24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? No
25. What was the best book you read? The Story...its the Bible in narrative form...we are going through it at church and I am loving seeing the story of Christ woven throughout the Scriptures
26. What was your greatest musical discovery? Re-discovering the Newsboys...definately not the same without Peter Furler but still a fantastic group! :)
27. What did you want and get? My new Silhouette die-cutting machine... it was my Christmas present and I love it!!!
28. What did you want and not get? To go back to Disney for the holidays. I will get there eventually!
29. What was your favorite holiday? Christmas...lots of time with family and friends. :)
30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 29 and had an amazing dinner with my family at Halls' Gas House. :) I also had a birthday bonfire where my friends and I hung out...amazing memories!
31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? A full time teaching job so I didn't have to work weekends. :)
32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010? Classic pieces with a few fun ones thrown in...
33. What kept you sane? My family and friends
34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Not really any...I guess I don't follow celebs.
35. What political issue stirred you the most? Ummm...I can't say I really followed politics much.
36. Who did you miss? My sweet friend Rebekeh...
37. Who was the best new person you met? Matthew...he and I are so alike, especially in our love for all things Disney!
38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011: Waiting on God's timing is hard work, but I can still serve Him and give Him the glory while I am waiting. :)